WDE Presents: A Conversation with The Ted

by litw Mon Aug 01, 2022 7:00 pm

Wrestling Documentary Enterprises! Taking you behind the scenes, since 1993.

The CMV Universe has seen many different faces over the years. Presidents, snakes, alien creatures, rockers and rappers, demons, pretty much any possible archetype you can think of has been represented in some way in the wrestling promotion. However, not many have been quite as polarizing and widely known as The Ted. Everyone has an opinion on him. Most people loved him until very recently, some people hate him, some people hated Post Malone so they’re cool with Ted now. Wrestling Documentary Enterprises prides itself on bringing you the truth from every angle, so we have decided to interview the man himself and allow him to talk us through his new lifestyle. The following is an in-depth conversation with The Ted, led by our head interviewer Michael Michaels.

Interviewer Michael Michaels

Ted, thank you for joining us today. We at WDE appreciate it very much.

The Ted

No, thank you for asking me on the show. I think this sort of situation is pretty necessary at the moment.

The Ted sits on a white chair with a casual outfit on. His new, longer hair, tied up on top of his head. His head hung high, he clearly thinks well of himself at the moment. This confident look is a stark contrast to the attitude we saw in the Philadelphia hotel room not too long ago, however, his longer-than-usual beard is slightly disheveled. Perhaps this could be a subtle hint to the facade he is showing to the fans. Or maybe it’s just a small, unimportant detail. But The Ted is not one to dismiss imperfections in his looks. As usual, he keeps a very, very calm composure. Everything that comes out of The Ted’s mouth is very well thought out.

Interviewer Michael Michaels

Well, there’s a lot to tackle. Would you like to address the elephant in the room or slowly talk us through your time as a wrestler?

The Ted

The people want to know what’s up with me. I get that. Why not just start with that?

Interviewer Michael Michaels

Oh, sure. Recently, Ted, you’ve done things that seemed pretty out of character to your fans. Attacking Post Malone was one thing that set everyone off, but I couldn’t help but notice your use of the first person tonight. You’ve never done that!

The Ted

You have a great eye for this stuff, Michael. The truth is, I reevaluated my career and the choices I made throught it. Now, I have decided to be more serious. I’ve always been this silly persona, and while that did bring me some success and quite a lot of adulation, The Ted-...I want more than that.

Interviewer Michael Michaels

That makes sense, sure, but what about your actions, not your words?! I mean, attacking Post Malone, he didn’t do anything! People were very disappointed in you, and you lost many loyal fans due to that.

The Ted

I understand why they’d be mad. I get that, and I apologize to all my fans. But here’s the thing. I don’t do things for the public anymore. If you’re a fan of me, I love you and I respect you, but honestly? I’m in this for myself now. I want to accomplish what I have set out to do from the very beginning, and I want to do it on my terms. I won’t stoop to some specific levels, there’s extremes even for The Ted, but look at it my way. Post Malone harmed my career. I acted in a fit of rage and many people disagreed, but I can understand my past self. I’m not proud that I attacked an old friend during his own concert, but he’s not that good of a person like you all think he is. No one is. I’m not evil for what I did, that is not my goal- I don’t want to be seen as a bad guy. But if you think of me in that way, I understand that too. I’m not in a secure place where I can worry about what other people think of me- My career, my livelihood, that’s what’s on the line at this point.

The Ted’s previous standard calm composure breaks for a slight moment, and he gets to his feet at the apex of his speech. This level of emotion has never been shown by the former United States Champion, and even Michael Michaels looks at him in awe. The interviewer smiles slightly, realizing that he has just found a gold mine of content, as Ted relaxes and sits back down in his chair.

The Ted

Got a little carried away there. My apologies.

Interviewer Michael Michaels

No, no, don’t apologize! This… this passion, it’s… It’s beautiful to see. You’ve always been this rock which no one could cut through, but you really have changed. And I would say this is for the better. Um, going back on track, you just spoke about your career being on the line at Ascendance, but we don’t know many details about how you got to this company. How did you begin training, what were THE Ted’s early days like?

The Ted

Hm… So. I was born in Hawaii. No one knows that. Kailua-Kona, specifically. I was introduced to wrestling pretty late; when I was 15 I travelled to California and my family caught a live wrestling show there. It used to be a bigger thing in Hawaii, but that was all before I was born, I had barely heard about wrestling. I saw the sport as an art form, all these larger than life personalities were amazing to me, you know? From that day, it became all I wanted to do.

Interviewer Michael Michaels

Did you have an athletic background or anything like that before you got into wrestling? The things you do in the ring never cease to amaze me, you do Phoenix Splashes and Pop-Up Hurricanranas as a 6’6 guy!

The Ted

Oh, thank you! I did, kind of… I never played any sports growing up, but I liked exercising. I swam a lot too, but I don’t know where my athleticism came from. I only found out about it when I started training to become a wrestler, around the time I turned 16. I started training pretty quickly.

Interviewer Michael Michaels

That’s… crazy. Uh, when did you make the jump to the mainland United States? I’ve heard you live here, is that so?

The Ted

Yeah! I, uh, I wrestled in the local indies in Hawaii for a bit. Never won a championship, can you believe that? When I was, like, 18, I moved to Connecticut to attend college. Boring place. But eventually I started making a name for myself in the local scene. Didn’t get me at the level I am now, but people in the state knew me. I went by a different name then.

Interviewer Michael Michaels

Uh……….. What was the name?

The Ted

Next question.

Interviewer Michael Michaels

Sure! Sure! Well…..Uh…..Oh…Yeah! Ok, Ted, how was the process of making it into CMV? You made an early splash around April of 2021, but how did you get there in the first place?

The Ted

It took a bit. I graduated at 22, got a boring major, it doesn’t matter, and went back home for a year. I got a call to work in a promotion near where I went to college, so I packed my bags and moved. Again. Didn’t work very well. The main thing that came out of that place was when I was 25, a CMV scout saw me in action and contacted me. I began training in their facilities after that. I made my debut a few months before turning 27, and…… the rest is history. I’m 28 in, like, a month, if anyone is curious.

Interviewer Michael Michaels

That’s great! How did “The Ted” come to be? From my understanding you didn’t have this persona before you began training, right?

The Ted

Yes, you’re correct. I find that whole thing very silly and dumb now, but that was my identity, like, forever. The Ted was created during training, the whole persona was completely my idea, with some slight advisory from trainers and all. I was never the most charismatic wrestler, but I’d say I made “The” Ted work.

Interviewer Michael Michaels

Personally, I don’t want to spend more time on your CMV career, since most people watching this know pretty much everything. I just have one question. What was your favourite “era” of your stay in CMV? Well, not exactly era, but one specific period.

The Ted

Wow…… Tough question… My least favorite is easy to pinpoint; that was two weeks ago. But the best one? Well. I guess I’d say the start. Getting that United States Championship in one of my first six matches, that was what made me….me. The Ted’s whole personality came from that day. I wouldn’t be myself if I hadn’t made history like that. The tag title period with Tracy was great, but the origin is the most important part. I find myself thinking about my first few weeks in the job a lot recently. After all, these could be my last few weeks here.

Interviewer Michael Michaels

Perfect. That takes us right to the last question I had. Ascendance X. The biggest show…ever. We’ve taken a look at your career, your life, everything leading up to this point. This sudden behavioral change had an effect. Your actions had consequences. The famed RAPPER, ROCKER, Machine Gun Kelly, he called you out. He beat you up. And now your career is on the line against the man. What do you have to say before the match? What if you never wrestle in CMV again?

The Ted

What IF I lose. If. That’s the key word going into this match. I won’t lose. Not this time. First of all, Machine Gun Kelly is a joke. He’s just another celebrity who thinks he can keep up with the PROFESSIONALS who actually do this job day in and day out. Any self respecting wrestler could beat that guy in 5 minutes. IF I lose to Machine Gun Kelly, I’ll be sure to never show my face in public again. But even if this was an actual CMV competitor, I wouldn’t lose either. This is the biggest match of my career, in the biggest event in CMV HISTORY. Everything is at stake at Ascendance, and I won’t lose. I simply can’t lose. I can’t fail again, in the biggest stage of my life, because if I do….. If I fail…. That’s it. No more second chances for me. And I’ll deserve it. MGK can throw whatever he’s got at me. Whatever he does to me, I’ll do worse to him. I will not lose. I……….I can’t lose. Not again……

The Ted looks down, hands on his head. The previous calm composure he kept throughout 95% of this interview is completely gone, and all we see is a broken shell of a man. A man who has lost so much and might just lose absolutely everything. A man who put everything on the line, a man who risked it all… just to make it to Ascendance. This internal quest to write history has driven The Ted throughout his entire time in CMV. That want, that NEED to put himself in the record books is what made him do everything in his power to get a match at Ascendance. But maybe he has done too much. And Ted knows that. Win or lose, he can’t change his previous actions. He can’t go back to being loved by everyone. The people have seen what a desperate Ted might do to try and get his way. He can’t hide that anymore. If he loses, The Ted is gone from CMV. If he wins, The Ted, as we know him, is still gone from CMV. It’ll be time to meet an entirely new man.

The Ted

Thank you.

The Ted gets to his feet, shakes Michaels’ hand, and leaves the frame of the recording. Michael looks, astonished, at what he just witnessed.

Interviewer Michael Michaels

Well…….. Folks, that was The Ted! I hope you enjoyed the interview, it certainly was… something. Remember to look out for our next exclusive video release! On August 5th, right before Ascendance X, “WDE Presents: 365 Days - Violet Evans”, an in-depth look at a very promising CMV rookie! WDE merch is on WDE.com, you can find more exclusive videos on watch.wde.com, our youtube will be posting select clips of all our documentary releases as well! Tune in! Ascendance X! August 5th and 6th!!