The TV Show 5: Conrad Ramsey

Pressure Point 66
July 7, 2003
Starring: Trey Vincent, Conrad Ramsey & Bradley Duncan
Writers: John Leary & Michael K. Dupin

This week, there was a minor change to the TV Show. Instead of a big opening, when Action returned to the ring, there was Trey Vincent, standing in front of a chair one might see on such talks shows as "Jerry Springer." Yes, Trey Vincent has altered his format.At least for this week. Vincent stood with a wireless microphone, wearing a black suit with a green tie, and looked somber to start with. Odd.

"Hello friends, and welcome to a very special edition of the Trey Vincent show," the host with the same name said. "Because standing out back, waiting to come out, is a courageous man. A man who has endured a great amount of pain in the last couple of weeks. And tonight, he's going to share his story. And he better get ready. Because it may be a sadder show, have your tissues handy, but I'm still hosting this damn show, and we're gunna run things the Trey Vincent way. And I'm foregoing the comedic bit tonight, as I haven't decided on something new to replace Hate Mail. Because now, all I have is praise. So, without further ado...

Ladies and gentlemen, my first guest tonight, please welcome, the lovely and talented, Conrad Ramsey."

And with that odd introduction, "Tomorrow" by SR-71 began to play. Fans cheered, as they were known to do. And out came the former Bantam Champion. He waved to the crowd as he headed down the ramp. Various chants of "CON-RAD! CON-RAD!" and "Conrad, he's our man, if he can't do it, nobody can!" Yes, the most odd of all chants. But hey, better than crickets, right?

The sixty-one year-old climbed up the ring steps and quickly entered the ring. Just like he always had when he came out in front of thousands of screaming fans, he smiled, broadly. It just tickled him to death that all these people liked what he did and enjoyed to watch him. After a few gestures of gratitude to the audience, he spun around and walked towards the TV Show's host, Trey Vincent, who was standing between the two chairs, on which they would sit.

Conrad walked over and extended his hand for a friendly shake, but Trey just ignored it and sat down. Ramsey stood there a moment, with his hand out, as the fans booed Vincent loudly. Conrad looked at his hand and at Trey, who just simply looked back up at Ramsey with a 'well, what are you waiting for, aren't you going to sit down' look upon his face. Conrad just rolled his eyes, picked the microphone up off his chair and sat down.

Before Trey could say anything, Conrad wanted to get the fans back on his side, and shouted out to the hometown crowd.

"Hello, Montreal!" shouted Conrad Ramsey. He then turned to Trey Vincent and smuggly added, "And hello, to you, too, Trey."

Trey either didn't care about Conrad's tone or didn't notice it. But, he wasn't going to bring the love either.

"Great to see you here, Conrad," Trey responded in the most insincere manner. "It's always great to have a guest with a sad story to share. And sad stories mean big ratings for me. So, tell me Conrad, your wife died. That must have been very hard for you."

Conrad was shocked at the question. He had expected some hard-hitting ones, but not right out of the gate. In his mind, before the interview even began, he had decided that he wasn't going to talk about Samantha or anything. It just wasn't the proper thing to do, and it still hurt to talk about it, and he wasn't going to do so in this venue.

The former Bantam Champion just stared at Trey. His shock slowly turning into a hint of anger. The gall that Trey had. But he pushed it aside for the greater good. The fans, however, did not. They booed and chanted, "Trey's an ass-holeY!" Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap. "Trey's an ass-hole!"

He simply ignored the chant and just looked at Conrad, waiting for an answer. Conrad looked around at the Montreal crowd and smiled to himself. He then turned back to Trey, ready to put his foot down, "Sorry, Trey, but I really don't want to talk about it right here, thanks."

Trey looked slightly disappointed in the answer. That was the juicy stuff. The stuff that would bring huge ratings to Pressure Point, and more importantly, to Vincent's interview. And, really, who cares about the rest of the show? The better ratings the TV Show got, the more money Reed Young was likely to send Trey's way. But he pressed on.

"I would imagine it's tough on you. Death is never a friend of anybody. I can only imagine how much pain you have experienced and," but he trailed off. Or it would seem that way. Instead, he was mumbling under his breath, so that Conrad couldn't hear him. "whothehellwantstohearaboutanythingelseotherthansamanthafromyou."

The fans weren't able to make out what was said and just starting talking amongst theirselves, trying to figure it out. They had their own theories, and none of them showed Trey in a great light, so they booed. Figuring the odds, they were probably right in doing so.

Ramsey had heard it, however. He gave Vincent a hard, "I'm going to shove that microhone up your damn ass" look. He looked ready to say something. Something that would probably get him a fine from the company and probably the WB. But, then again Daniel Phillips had said a ton of things. And KroW and Bobby Minio and various other people had done far worse things than Conrad was willing to do.

As he was rising out of his seat, ready to pop Vincent one, Trey saw the look on Conrad's face and saw that he was slowly getting up from his chair.

"Anyhow, I'll talk of more pleasant things," Vincent continued, hoping to avoid a fight. "One of my favorite sports entertainers, Max Danger. I loved that guy in PIW, teaming with that deaf guy. Anyhow, so you're gonna be teaming up with him, eh?"

Ramsey let the anger linger for a moment and then, quietly answered, "We already teamed, Trey. At the PPV. You did watch it, right?"

Trey began tugging at the collar of his T-shirt. "Sure, I did, heh, aww, hell, I missed it. I had a run-in with Jack Daniels that night. He kept me busy. Plus, night off, hello."

Ramsey just nodded his head with a very unbelieving look on his face. "Guess it's a lot of trouble keeping up with the company that employs you, huh? Isn't really important to know what's going on when you have a job as Roddy Piper wannabe."

The fans were getting on Conrad's side. Okay, so already there, but still. They were cheering for each jab Ramsey took.

"Reed Young brought me here to bring ratings, not be an Action mark," Vincent said, a bit agitated.

"And since when has Reed Young been the bastion of common sense?" asked Ramsey with a smirk. "He hasn't exactly proven himself to be a smart man, or know even one iota what he's doing."

The fans agreed completely with that, so they cheered. Montreal crowds were great!

"Ahh, right. Well, I guess he made the same mistake of hiring me as he did you then. So, what was the Great Depression like," Vincent verbally jabbed, taking a shot at his age.

The fans booed.

"Depressing," Conrad replied deadpanly.

Cheers and laughter... YAY!

"Ha! That was pretty good, Conrad. So, what is your new team name, then? Hearingaid Communication?" Trey began laughing like an idiot after that stupid line, he no doubt practiced all week.

Conrad just shook his head as the rest of the crowd groaned. "Well, we aren't exactly a team, Trey. We had just the one match at the PPV and that's all it was."

"Well, fine, I can't have a perfect line everytime out. OK, I'll ask you a real question then. You've obviously been in sports entertainment for a while. What is next for you?"

It was such a common question. No thought or imagination. Conrad would have answered it to, as they always answered the predictable ones quickly. But his eyes were focused beyond Trey, and the crowd's heads were turned as well.

It was Bradley Duncan, stomping down the ramp. The man who had been missing for the past week. He slid into the ring as Ramsey got onto his feet. Vincent stood and moved out of the way as Duncan pushed Conrad with both hands into his chest, drawing boos.

"What the hell!?" screamed Conrad.

Duncan began to sign frantically.

In the background, Vincent began doing a "Three Stooges" type of hand movement, wiggling his hand up and down and then pretending to slap somebody back and forth. There might have even been a Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk thrown in for good measure.

"What's the matter with you?" Ramsey said to Duncan again. He was watching Bradley's hand movements intently.

"Oh, I'm so rude, you need a mic, Bradley?" Vincent asked, very sarcastically, which would have drawn more boos from the crowd, but they were too immersed in the confrontation.

Conrad then spun around towards Trey, "SHUT UP!"

Trey motioned a zipping his lip thing, but as soon as Ramsey turned around, he was doing some sort of scolding type movement with his index finger, and then began giving the third-base runner some signals. Bastard.

Duncan continued his to sign vehemently. He was really showing some emotion with his quick hand movements.

"Then get out of his shadow, Bradley! Do something to make the people notice you and forget about Max!" Ramsey pleaded with him. Duncan continued to sign, growing more and more angry, just as Ramsey grew frustrated.

"Yeah, kicking me in the back of the head made them notice you, sure. But why did you do it? What did I do?"

The fans were booing Duncan. They didn't enjoy the Yakuza Kick at 'Til Death Do Us Part. Ramsey was ready to rip what was left of his hair, out. Bradley just continued with the signing.

: "What!? I've never looked down upon you, Bradley! Never! And it pains me..." he was cut off with more signing catching his attention, "Take that back! You don't mean that! She was special to you, too!"

Trey began moving his arms and body to spell out letters. His first one was D-E-A-F and then pointing at Duncan. The fans weren't too happy with Trey for the rudeness of just wanting to be noticed.

"I know you trained me, Bradley, and I will be forever grateful for it, but..." he was just angry. Duncan kept signing. "I'm sorry that I was able to win a championship, but that's no reason to call me..."

"BRADLEY! STOP IT!" Conrad screamed. "I don't think I'm better than you! No one does!"

Trey shook his head behind Conrad, indicating that he didn't think Ramsey was better than Duncan at all. He held his nose and did the "P-U" swiping of the hand and face and pointed towards Conrad. Duncan then signed more and more, and Ramsey just stopped caring, folding his arms in front of him. He then SLAPPED Duncan!

"OOOOOOOOH!" went the Montreal crowd, caught completely off-guard by the slap. Trey Vincent, too, reeled backwards after the sound echoed throughout the arena. Duncan just stood there, having taken the hit. He let his head hang for a moment and rubbed his cheek.

"OK! FINE! You want to make a name for yourself! You think that I think I'm better than you? Alright, then prove I'm not! Best of Seven series, Bradley! What do you say?"

The Silent One lifted his head back up and stared at the old man. He was breathing heavily. Like he wanted to just rip the old fucker's head off. He curled his upper lip and then simply nodded. The fans roared with excitement. Oh, it was going to be good, they could just tell.

Trey Vincent, remembering that it was his interview, decided that he should get the final word in.

"Hold on there fellas. You want to settle this, you gotta market it right. So here's what I propose. Ramsey, what have you got to put on the line here? Your pride. Duncan, what does he want? Glory. So for your series, call it Pride & Glory, and by gum, give these fans what they want to see. The best sports entertainment series of all time. What do you guys say?"

Conrad and Bradley looked at each other. Without taking his eyes off the Silent One, Conrad said, "Fine by me." And Bradley nodded his own approval.

The fans also chimed in with their approval, eager to see this series get off the ground. "All right then. We got ourselves a series. Good luck to you boys. And remember, the fans remember a winner, not a loser. Thank you all for tuning in tonight. I'd like to thank both these guys here and, mostly, you, for once again putting up with the Trey Vincent Show. Damn, I need a new writer..."

NEXT CHAPTER: The TV Show 6: Sylo >>

©2003 John Leary