Breaking the Tension!™ Episode 11: Clyde T. Gastin

Drat! Thwarted!

Oh, well. Clyde hadn’t set up a real match between him and Brittany, but that wasn't too big of a problem - the Internet had a way of filling in blanks. And Patty had enough sock accounts going that she wouldn’t have much trouble stoking the fires.

She wouldn’t bother pressing it for now, though. Not when there were other enticing nuggets to be mined.

”You say you’ll fight anyone, which is good, since there’s been a bit of a boost in the Tension roster over the past few years.” She gestured all around her, indicating the set. Her shoe was the cornerstone of the Tension brand, of course.

“The AFW Universe is curious - what’s your take on the new crop of opponents? Any potential prospects catching your eye? Old enemies you might tangle with once more?”

"Oh man, I love the new roster! And I'd fight just about anybody!" Clyde sat up with excitement and a beaming grin.

"Back in Sex Wars our roster was pretty small but now I look in the locker room and it's packed with folks of all shapes and sizes. Now I still think the weight ratio is kinda jacked up with how we got six foot, three-hundred pounders against girls who are just barely at one-thirty but the gals in Tension are some of the toughest ladies I've ever seen. There's a lot of people in Tension I don't like because their either violent assholes or dirty fighters but everyone is so talented that I have ta' honestly give my respect ta' everyone." Clyde said honestly as he gave a firm nod.

"Save for Aoi Tamazaki. She can't really fight. At all." Clyde muttered dryly.

"I had a really great and fun match with Abbey Abraxas and would welcome a chance to face her again. I think she's main event material for sure and I'd be happy ta' defend the world title against her. We don't get too many good hearted wrestlers." Clyde said with enthusiasm as he patted his world title.

"Mariko Ishii is very strong and talented. I ain't the biggest fan of her humiliation tactics but as a competitor I respect her. She doesn't fight dirty and isn't out ta' hurt people. But anybody who gets off humilatin' others ain't much of a friend of mine." Clyde said honestly as he thought of the very polarizing Mariko.

"I don't know how the fellas in the yaoi division fair aside, but I hear they plenty tough and this Soledad chick is a really good brawler at such a young age. I'm obviously a fan of Eliza Harenwood, Ninjette, my high flyin' friend Charlie. Those are good folk." Clyde said before he frowned just faintly and spoke up again.

"I'd prolly want another crack at Carmen Rodriguez and her brother Army. I dunno if she's gone down a path or not but durin' our 24/7 fight, she let her brother attack me." Clyde muttered with a hint of bitterness. He had so much respect for Carmen, but he couldnt forget how their eyes met before Army snatched him away and proceeded to beat him down. He heard Belle attacked Carmen but he didn't ask for that one, for all he knew, Carmen had let her brother attack!

"I'd really hate to group her with all the baddies Tension has like King, The Valkyries, The Thorns, Reira Kirishima or the Takeuchi siblings but if she's gonna stoop ta' cheap shit, I ain't gon hesitate ta' give her and Army the same asshoopin' that I'd give any of those guys I just listed." Clyde growled before he turned to the camera, holding the title in  front of his waist.

"And ta' all y'all  I just listed. King. Reira. Valkyries. Thorns. The Takeuchi's. I don't know or care what yer rank in the league is, all I know is, Ya'll are all the worst of Tension and  I'd gladly take any one of y'all on ta' show the world a real Tension wrestler,  because none of you thugs are ever gon' be champion as long I'm carryin' the gold and if you ever earn yer shot, I guarantee, the ass whoopin' you'll get from Clyde T. Gastin will knock ya all the way from Main event badass ta' losin' streak jobber before the Ref can even count ta' three!

Patty made sure to listen nice and close as Clyde went ahead and gave his surprisingly in depth appraisal of Tension’s current state. After all, he was saving her a lot of trouble.

There were so many matches going at the same time and so many threads and so much content the AFW spat out on a regluar basis that, even for someone with her considerable skills, it was all too easy to lose track of who deserved her time and who was just passing through the territory. She could use his assesment as recon.

Also, it made great filler, and gave her some good fodder to expand on. Speaking of which…

”Funny you should mention King and others like him. I wanted to touch on him.” She raised her finger for a caveat. ”Not literally. Never literally. However, there have been those who’ve criticized Tension over the years, saying that it’s nothing more than titalation for men who want to see woman in dominating scenarios. One could point to the recent revival of the Hentai Championship, a title that you’re quite familiar with.”

A little innuendo. Scandalous? Yes. Couldn’t be helped.

”Tell me,” She sat back and tapped her chin. ”What would you say to people with those sorts of thoughts? What do you think about the past, present, and future of Tension?”

"Ya hopefully not literally. You dun' know where that guys been!" Clyde snarked before hearing out Patty's next question, which Clyde was confident to answer.

"I would say they ain't watchin' Friction or enough Tension. Times have changed. The days of Ryu and Ataru Toranami gettin' smothered out are long gone." Clyde said with a cocky grin as he gripped the title.

"If Tension wasn't a competitive league. I wouldn't be proud to be it's Champion right now. It's a golden age of competition and the celebration of the pro style here, where men and women compete on an equal level. This is the Tension of today and will remain that way into tomorrow. The ladies and gents here are just as badass as the girls in Friction are!" Clyde exclaimed with a wide grin.

"...It does get a lil' steamy here though with all those girls who like ta' try and be on top." Added the cowboy with a cock of his brow to the camera.

Patty nodded along as Clyde addressed the camera, good shot for her thumbnails. He really had a good face for television - young, blond, handsome, the wrestling ideal. She was perfectly content to let the camera linger on him, too, as she did a quick check through her notes and saw something good for her to focus on.

Ah. There we go. Note 12B-14.

”You know, speaking of competition,” She wagged a finger his way and sat up. ”Let’s take a step back, revisit your recent title defense with Emi Keyes. You didn’t come alone, you brought Eliza along with you, and she played a critical role in your success. While,  yes, it was a no disqualification match and her presence was allowed, coming off your comments about Carmen and her brother doesn’t that seem a bit…” Patty rolled her wrist around, letting the audience synch in to where she was going. ”Hypocritical?”

Clyde was all confidence. Strong chin lifted high, carrying that title belt with the presence of a real champion... All that seemed to suddenly falter when Patty brought something up that caught the cowboy champion completely off guard. Was he a... Hypocrite?

"I-I uh.... I didn't ask fer help though I..." But neither did Carmen. "Emi was cheatin' anyway! She was crushin' my throat with a steel chair and I fought that whole match fair and square! If it wasn't for Eliza I woulda..." He froze at that moment, realizing he could have been injured by Emi or just lose his title.

He wondered if he was even a real champion. Did he only win the damn thing because he had Eliza and Mercy in his corner.

Doubt had finally settled. The champion bowed his head and grew quiet.

"I dunno." He admitted.

It seemed like a nerve was struck.

That was the cost of being a journalist - a good journalist. You always risked stepping on a few toes when it came to the hard questions. That was the price that had to be paid, but she was willing to go through with it. For her fans. For her people. For the 10,000 subscribers on her Youtube channel and the hundred-thousand subscribers that would surely be coming after this video uploaded.

For them.

Still, it wouldn’t do to have her subject so downtrodden. She had to perk him up a little bit.

”Pardon.” She reached over and patted Clyde’s hand. ”You’ve always been a reputable wrestler, Clyde. Beyond reproach. And you certainly weren’t acting beyond the bounds, so I’m not giving you fault there. I have noticed, however, that Eliza’s become a common fixture in your matches. What’s with that?”

Clyde's head lifted when Patty touched his head. It woke him up and there, he knew he couldn't look so weak and pathetic on live TV. He was the champion, the leader. He had to present himself as such. Even if he doubted himself. He just didn't think there was so much weight to being a world champion.

"I will... Always compete with honor here in AFW... But as long I'm champion, I ain't never gon' have any regrets." It sounded tough and that was good, but it felt like bullshit to Clyde. He felt like he was lying to himself.

He did however feel a little nervous talking about Eliza, even he couldn't sum up their relationship in one word.

"She's uh...." He had trouble with the words. "My partner! She wanted ta' be at my side and there was no tellin' her otherwise! Heh! She just might be my biggest fan just like I'm her's. We watch eachother's backs, ya know?"

For a long while now, The Takeuchi siblings- self proclaimed wrestling prince, Daisuke Takeuchi and his sister, Ami the supermodel, had been lingering about in the Tension locker room, passing themselves off as the two best wrestlers around in the roster. However, with their declarations of being ontop of everyone else, they didn't have anything to show for it. Losing to the tag champions, never had a title shot at the two single titles available in the Tension roster- for them to cement themselves as the two best, one of them needed to get a title. What better way to make a claim for the belt than to go right after it. Grab the bull straight from the horns.

Daisuke and Ami both had been on Patty's show before, so they knew how the gig worked. However, the show was all about the current champ and his recent title defence against Emi- it was a time for celebrations for him but they were about to be cut short. Unannounced, the two siblings were about to crash this interview and go right after Clyde.

The two came with a plan, the wrestling prince walked up right on the studio where the interview was taking place. Clapping sarcastically for the champion, "Well, well, well....congratulations Mr.Gastin, you successfully defended that title, for now. I got a question for you though, cowboy...." he said waiting for a response.

Meanwhile, Ami- was ready for a sneak attack. She was hiding behind some of the props backstage and as soon as Clyde would respond to her brother, the supermodel would be ready to jump in from behind for a sneak attack as the two siblings were ready to take out the champ.

Ami was eager, she was ready to pounce at the first opportunity. Whens he saw Clyde about to respond to her brother, she jumped out of nowhere from behind and clubbed her forearm into Clydes back "SHYAH!" she yelled as she began to rain down blows to the champs back and the back of his head.

"Come here you bastard, you think you're tough huh?" Daisuke growled as he grabbed Clyde's head and dragged him across the studio, looking to toss him over onto the studio props to take him down, where the two would then continue the assault off the pretty studio setting.

Clyde had just finished answering Patty when the heard the gasps of the crowd before Clyde lifted his head and saw Tension's very own Daisuke Takeuchi walking right up onto the studio stage. Clyde raised his brow before narrowing his eyes and standing up, he knew The Takeuchi's were bad news and Daisuke was a real piece of work who was no doubt up to no good. His condescending sarcasm really annoyed the cowboy champ.

So Clyde stood up, ready to stand toe to toe with Daisuke before he was suddenly struck from behind! "Agh!" He grunted sharply as he was suddenly struck with repeated blows to his back and hand, making him stumble foward, dropping the title as he shielded his head while Ami battered his back and skull over and over as Daisuke moved in, grabbing his head and throwing right into the the studio background, toppling it over as Clyde fell flat on his stomach, groaning in a daze as he tried to get back up.