Aftebrurn for Only the Strong Survive

[FGA Office]

Catch up with your favorite FGA grapplers on Afterburn! Get their thoughts on the latest, their opponents, and other backstage happenings right here, only on Frontier+.

[Seth Iser]

It’s been not that long since the curtain has closed on Only the Strong Survive as we head to one of the locker rooms here and just one man is populating it and he’s by himself. There’s some labored breaths every now and then coming from the runner up of the rumble now that the adrenaline has ceased but he’s sitting there alone with his thoughts. After a moment he just runs his hands through his hair in a bit of frustration.

Seth Iser: Urgh…damn it.

He mutters those words not with the usual fire but only from a true sense of being defeated. The cameraman walks a little bit closer even as just those three words echo for the slightest moment and Seth looks…statue-esq for more than an awkward moment, just blinking and digesting that defeat. He glances toward the camera and his face looks agitated.

Seth Iser: Son…don’t you know how to knock?

The scolding nature of that line is enough to think that the camera man is just being scolded like a teenager from a disappointed father. The camera man has no verbal retort to that from the elder statesman of professional wrestling. He doesn’t have to get up from his chair to look and feel intimidating even in his clearly fatigued state.

Seth Iser: Right now, I feel like absolute shit considering what happened. Someone can throw all the positives toward me they want. Yeah, I last the longest, fantastic…I got so many eliminations when I was in play but I didn’t get the most important elimination. I didn’t get my goddamn hand raised and that’s the only thing that truly matters at the end of the day. Everything else is merely window dressing. But I’ve spent the last little while trying to process…what I could’ve done differently tonight.

There’s more base creeping into his voice as his frustration is starting to spew out. Even through a labored breath and even a brief cough after spitting that out, he balls his hands into fists but suppresses any urge to take out frustration on the poor locker room.

Seth Iser: Should’ve conserved more damn energy even if I was targeted by so many people…that’s about the only thing I could’ve done, maybe then I might have had something left for Stokes. Maybe…but I don’t know what was stopping her once she came in that night and now I’m wondering if I’m just cursed at the Rumble at this point because that one felt like my best shot to win the damn thing. I might have had a great one if Stryker didn’t pull his little stunt the previous round…but even with a less then desirable entry number, this might have been my best shot.

The frown turns into a wry smile as he shakes his head and leans back on his chair, as he continues to mull his point over.

Seth Iser: Maybe not quite as cursed as Savannah Taylor considering her own Rumble luck but I think I’m second place on that one too…

And as soon as he mouths the words second place, his face darkens briefly as he shakes his head.

Seth Iser: Damn it!

He utters those words out, his body drenched in his perspiration from his fifty-five minutes of war but the old war horse seems like he’s still got a little bit of gas in the tank even right now.

Seth Iser: All I can do is try again next time this event comes up I suppose…play my cards just a little bit differently. But as for right now…I’ll figure out some new horizons within the company itself to try to conquer. I haven’t given up on my dream to be World Champion again…that is always the end goal, but it is clear as day that I still have some other weaknesses I need to work on myself. School of Tradition…

The man then actually wills himself to stand on his own feet through his fatigue after he’s thought through all of this but unlike with how broken he looked the last time we saw him in this setting with Izzy…here even if there’s disappointment in his defeat and the pain that comes with that, there’s far more of a steely determination in his eyes and his step.

Seth Iser: We never stop learning and attacking our weaknesses in the ring until the day we retire. And that day to retire ain’t today for me, far from it. Unlike a lot of people who would buy the tickets, I ain’t going to make a damned excuse. I was not the best person in that ring tonight. Nina Stokes was whether she would’ve been thirty or one. But things are changing around here…that’s the one constant in professional wrestling, change. But before I’m good and gone from the sport itself, what’s old will become new again in time. I vow it on my last name.

And with that last statement, Seth starts to walk away with labored steps and heavy breathing after dealing with his own thoughts before to cleanse himself of this defeat in more than one way.

[El Dragón]

The camera finds its way into the locker room area, where we see FGA Pride Champion Julian Tijerina getting tended to by the lovely Maria while the formidable Betsy Gallagher paces behind them. Julian is fresh from being eliminated from the Gold Rush Rumble. Maria looks worried about the dejected Julian while Betsy just looks pissed.

Julian Tijerina: Ace Voltage... I'm done with him. We're done with each other. He was a great campeon, and an even greater challenger, but I've beaten him for this title for the final time in the foreseeable future.

He pauses to check his jaw, wincing in the fresh bruises he's accumulated from competition in two matches in the same night.

Julian Tijerina: Now we look to the future, and I see TJ Techniques digging up the past, not content with his 15 Championship and wanting more, wanting my Pride Campeonato.

The Pride of Spain shakes his head, chuckling to himself, as Maria shakes her head as well, though less amicably. Betsy continues to pace behind the pair.

Julian Tijerina: Thing is, I was 15 Campeon, I held that very same belt a long time ago, and I've been in TJ's shoes a long time ago. Hell, my initials are JT, inverted becomes TJ, and isn't that a funny coincidence?

Julian turns to Maria with a playful smirk on his face and Maria immediately feigns a laugh of her own. He turns to Betsy but Betsy continues to pace, ignoring him.

Julian Tijerina: You know what isn't funny, perro? You making your statement at my expense! You eliminating me at the Gold Rush Rumble, costing me another victory on the very same night! A victory that would have made my home country of España very, very proud... Muy, muy orgulloso!

Julian and Maria exchanges glances, sharing looks of annoyance and anguish.

Julian Tijerina: That said, I welcome the challenge. I welcome the competition. This title, este campeonato, is all about el orgullo, and El Guapo? El Guapo has plenty of el orgullo!

Julian rises up from his seat, stares the camera down, and then walks off.

Maria then takes centerstage but as she is about to speak, Betsy puts a hand on her shoulder and interrupts her. The two share a look before Maria takes a step back. A frustrated Betsy gestures for the camera to close in on her face before delivering an impassioned threat.

Betsy Gallagher: Sparrow... I owe you one. I owe you my elimination from the Gold Rush Rumble. So watch your head, love. Heavy...wears the crown.

Betsy then storms off in the direction where Julian has disappeared to. Maria is left alone with the camera. She looks to where her two companions had gone and then to the camera and then back to the direction where both Betsy and Julian had walked off to before taking a deep breath and cutting her goodbye spiel.

Maria: Disfruta de la gloria de tu FGA Pride Campeon, el luchador más guapo, feroz, y talentoso del mundo, Julian Tijerina!

The camera then fades to black on a proud but confused Maria as she turns to look back at where Betsy and Julian had walked off to.