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Thaddeus Duke · (06-21-2017)

[duke]Wednesday, June 21, 2017 | 2:12 PM | Sam Roberts Show | New York City [/duke]

”Welcome wrestling fans to the Sam Roberts Show!” Sam Roberts says as he begins his show with the intent of connecting, or reconnecting rather, with XWF star Thaddeus Duke. Previously, Sam Roberts was following Thaddeus with the intent of chronicling Thaddeus’ journey to High Stakes. About a month ago, Sam was promptly dropped on the side of a New Jersey highway by Thaddeus after pestering the young man with questions about Dolly Waters and whether or not he was “himself.” ”Before I introduce our guest I wanted kinda take a look back and just see what lead us to this point right now.”

On a screen off to Sam’s left, is a 40 inch flatscreen television. After a moment, a video begins to play with “One Thing” by Finger Eleven. It begins showing his big win at Lethal Lottery in which he became the number one contender to the XWF’s Universal Championship- the top prize in the entire industry.

It ventures forward, showing the in-ring debut of Revolution Prime, Thaddeus Duke and Dolly Waters. A debut that would prove to also be its conclusion. At least for a time. After the match was canceled at the last minute, the video shows exactly what happened, as it happened- Thaddeus Duke hitting an unsuspecting Dolly Waters with his Better Than You superkick. The video continues showing Duke walking away from Waters before cutting to the next episode of Savage where Thaddeus Duke tells the world where his allegiance lies- with AX3.

Moving on from there, the video shows clips of the match on Savage in which Thaddeus took down the overrated Chris Chaos and finally jumping forward to High Stakes. The music continues to play but fades to the background as a scene from backstage at the XWF’s grand pay per view plays showing an angry Jim Caedus and hearing but not seeing Thaddeus Duke. He’s late to the show. Later on, Thaddeus arrives only to kick Micheal Graves in the face and if we’re honest, he kind of deserved it. Regardless, Thaddeus Duke takes his beating from his now-former AX3 brothers until Theo Pryce arrives on scene to even the score. The clip ends with Thaddeus Duke carrying Dolly Waters from the ring.

Sam turns toward the camera. ”I am your host Sam Roberts, @NotSam on Twitter, and my guest today is kind of a jerk sometimes, but an all around good guy. He’s Thaddeus Duke and he can be reached on twitter @BetterThanU502.

“Thaddeus, thank you for coming on the show.

“What’s the haps?”

[duke]”I kind of owed you one. So here you go, Sam,”[/duke] Thaddeus adjusts his headset and smiles. [duke]”You get the big exclusive!

“You should really work on that catchphrase though man. You’re literally the only person in the world that likes that phrase.”[/duke]

"When we set up this interview, I told you of the video package that just played and you didn't even hesitate. I barely got the words out of my mouth and you said, 'Sam, use "One Thing" by Finger Eleven. Why?"

[duke]"I think it sums things up pretty well. It was an extremely rough road to High Stakes. One that, if I'm honest, took me out of my comfort zone. It appeared, that I'd given up everything to become Universal Champion and that's not the case. I think that song conveys that message pretty clearly.

"Really, I gave up everything for Dolly Waters and friendship."[/duke]

"'But you should be mine, across that line.' That's what the song says, Thaddeus. Is that in reference to @DollyWaters on Twitter?"

[duke]".....

"You really love plugging twitter."[/duke]

"I'm just getting the information out there. Some people might think things in the XWF are fake and delusional and maybe even fantasy."

[duke]"@ChrisChaos on LoserLand,"[/duke] Thaddeus jokes... or does he?

[duke]"Anyway, move on from Dolly for now, Sam,"[/duke] Thaddeus says stoically.

”How tired are you?” Sam changes the subject, taking the hint.

[duke]”High Stakes was a week ago, so… still kinda tired, but I’m looking forward to getting back to work,”[/duke] Duke replies with a grin.

”Before we get to the heart of things, Thaddeus, that looks suspiciously NOT like the Universal title.”

Thaddeus smiles and laughs in jest as he places his right palm across the Xtreme title. [duke]”No, no. It’s certainly not what I was after.”[/duke]

”What happened at High Stakes?”

[duke]”Holy shit where do I begin?”[/duke]

”Start with why you have that title and not the Universal.”

[duke]”Oh that. Jimmy Caedus won the match.”[/duke]

”That’s it? @JimCaedus on Twitter, won the match?”

[duke]”It was a great match. It was probably my personal favorite match I’ve ever been involved in. Jim Caedus is a hell of a lot of fun to go with in the ring. Add into it the Universal title, being a sixty minute Iron Man, no one getting even a single fall until the very end. It’s literally the reason I do this.

“It’s that damn fun.”[/duke]

”You mentioned Jim Caedus, what about Chris Chaos?”

[duke]”What about him? He’s overrated. He never deserved to be in that match to begin with so it is what it is.”[/duke]

”There’s no love lost between you and Chaos?”

[duke]”No, none at all. We’re just entirely different people ya know? He thinks that he’s better than he is, while I know that I am better than he is,”[/duke] the young man laughs.

”So you’re okay with coming out of High Stakes with the Xtreme title and not the Universal title then?”

[duke]”To a lot of people, the Universal title is the ultimate goal. And really I’m not any different. If you’re not in the wrestling business to be the top dog then why are you even in it? It was a great match and I’m proud of my effort. It really could have gone in either mine or in Jim’s favor that night, so while I’m disappointed at the result, I’m not bitter about it. I knew it’d be tough, I knew it’d be close going in. I knew either Jim or I would go home with the title.

“I didn’t know it’d go down to the wire like it did. Great match, great finish, sad outcome for me personally.”[/duke]

”But you still came home with the Xtreme title. How did that come about?”

[duke]”One thing people need to realize is that one match is not the be all end all. There will be a time in the future where I go for the gold again. I’m not going anywhere. The weak run. The strong persist. To think that winning the Universal was my only plan is laughable. Truly. I’m a military man and if you go into a battle with one plan, then what happens when your one and only plan doesn’t work out? You have to have contingency plans and when I make plans for events, I don’t treat it any differently. I went into High Stakes with three plans. Win it there, which didn’t work out in my favor. Win the battle royal, or try and pin Micheal Graves and start that long grueling road to the 24/7 briefcase.

“Time was running out in the battle royal and I had to secure Plan C before I could complete Plan B. It was just me Graves and James Raven left and I had to take the opportunity when it presented itself. Unfortunately, completing Plan C distracted me enough for James Raven to kill Plan B.”[/duke]

”I can see why you call it Plan C. It’s certainly the hardest road to get a Universal title shot.”

[duke]”It really is. I joke about it being the Plan C title, but nevertheless I’m proud to carry this thing. It’s the second most prestigious title in the industry. Second only to the Universal title.”[/duke]

”You don’t consider other titles from other companies to be as prestigious? Like IWGP out of Japan or WWE?”

Thaddeus scoffs, [duke]”Pffft, WWE, c’mon!

“Look I know you do work for them, but let’s be honest Sammy, WWE isn’t even in the same stratosphere as the Xtreme Wrestling Federation. Being a champion in the XWF is unlike most. There’s other companies like ours, but we do it better than any one else. Places like WWE and the one you mentioned out of Japan, yeah the action might be fun to watch, but unlike us, they have a guy running the show and calling all the shots backstage. They have a guy that basically says go out there and have a good match but oh by the way, guy A wins this. Let’s go with a DQ finish.

“That’s not the XWF and if it were, I wouldn’t be here. Whatever happens, happens. For better or worse.”[/duke]

”Let’s talk about AX3 and Dolly Waters,” Sam says. To which Thaddeus just smiles. ”A couple months ago on Warfare, you kicked her in the face and it seemed like you turned your back on Duke Nation, as Jim Caedus coined it.”

Thaddeus nods his head, [duke]”Yeah but I couldn’t just come out and say ‘hey guys, its all a plan. Dolly and I are still united.’

“I knew AX3 would come calling once I kicked Waters in the face, and it hurt me a lot to do that. But I had to protect her. Protect her from Graves, protect her from herself. I knew they’d plan something at High Stakes and I had to sacrifice myself in order to get inside the walls, so to speak. I had to know what they were planning. The only way for me to do that, was to join their ranks.”[/duke]

”So you’re saying Dolly Waters was in on it the entire time?”

[duke]”Yeah,”[/duke] he confirms with a smile. [duke]”For those that believed I did what I did over Dolly taking the Xtreme title out of my reach before Lethal Lottery, really have not paid much attention. And they have no idea who I am and what makes me tick. I pride myself on friendship and loyalty. I’m loyal to those that are loyal to me. The championships and the fame and notoriety, it’s all secondary. My friends are more important to me than anything else.

"And I always, always protect my friends even if it means me not getting what I want.

“As you know I’m a military man. I have cradled friends as they die, I’ve had friends step into the line of fire and take bullets for me. There’s no greater sacrifice one can make than to willingly maim yourself, or give your life for that of a friend.

“Dolly Waters is my friend. And a very good one. Hindsight being what it is, maybe the plan wasn’t a good one. Now, I think I could have protected her better by staying by her side. Instead I left her side to get behind the curtain, so to speak, of AX3 and things got crazy. They got disturbing and sickening and it took its toll on Dolly. It left her a shell of her former self. That wasn’t according to plan.

“But here we are at High Stakes and the time has arrived. And of course I couldn’t get my plane on the ground. They had me in a holding pattern above Las Vegas for about an hour and it really hurt our chances of pulling off what we’d hoped. I got to the venue too late. Dolly was already beaten and never put up much of a fight. That being what it is, I wasn’t waiting any longer to show where my allegiance truly lied. I kicked Graves and I took my beating.”[/duke]

”Before the biggest match of your life?”

Thaddeus shrugs. [duke]”Some things become a higher priority.”[/duke]

”You fended off AX3 with a little assist from your uncle, Theo Pryce,” Sam says, referring to Pryce evening the score.

[duke]”Yeah and the fact is, he called me just before the show the night I kicked Dolly Waters and we faked this whole split. He gave me the idea. We’re not all that friendly, he and I, but I think there’s a level of mutual respect as professionals. I ran the idea by Dolly and while she wasn’t excited about it, she knew as well as I did, that Graves and the lot of them would plan something.”[/duke]

”You walked out of House of Horrors, your face a bloody mess, carrying Dolly Waters. Did she say anything?”

[duke]”Nah,”[/duke] he answers, before continuing on. [duke]”She started coming to once I reached the stage. Once through the curtain she looked at me and put her arms around my neck.”[/duke]

”Is there something romantic between you?”

[duke]”No,”[/duke] Thaddeus replies with a wide grin. [duke]”I can see why people might jump to that conclusion, but we’re both very young and still figuring out this business and figuring out life. We’re very close and we’re very good friends, but that’s as far as it goes.”[/duke]

”So you’re saying some big power couple thing is not in the future for Revolution Prime?”

Thaddeus turns stone faced. [duke]”I’m not saying that at all. What I’m saying is exactly what I said, Sam. Don’t reach.

“I never say never. But that’s not the way it is, currently.”[/duke]

”How is Dolly Waters, now a week after concluding her ordeal with Micheal Graves, @XWFGraves on Twitter?”

[duke]”She’s spent some time at home in Kentucky, and was in Connecticut with me Monday and Tuesday before flying back home today. She’s recovering and recuperating. She’ll return when she’s ready and you better believe I’ll be there to welcome her back when she decides its time.”[/duke]

”I honestly can’t imagine going through what she has in such a short time, and at her age.”

[duke]”Most can’t. Even I can’t.”[/duke]

”What’s next for Thaddeus Duke?”

Thaddeus slaps the Xtreme title with both hands. [duke]”The long, grueling road to a 24/7 briefcase begins with Bearded War Pig and I can’t explain how excited I am for that. The Warfare brand goes patriotic on July 5th in Independence, Missouri as the United States celebrates its 241st birthday. He’ll have the stars and stripes, I’ll have the Illuminatus Cross. Both will fly above a cage. The title is on the line.”[/duke]

”So they’re going military theme for the July 5th show?”

[duke]”At least in the main event. I haven’t really seen the whole card yet. But it makes sense. War Pig is a military man just like I am. There’s some admiration and respect there, at least on my part, I can’t really speak for him and I wouldn’t try to. I mean, I’d hope there is, but that’s for him to say or not say. I’m pretty excited to move on from beating Chris Chaos every week.

“That kinda stopped bein’ fun.”[/duke]

”You’ve never faced Bearded War Pig?”

[duke]”No! I haven’t! I can’t fuckin’ wait man!”[/duke]

”Between now and then, what does Thaddeus Duke do to prepare for his first XWF championship defense?”

[duke]”Train and study up. The same as I always do. Tonight though, I wrap up my own respite as an invited guest of Aaron Judge. I’ll be watching the Yankees take on the Gayngels at Yankee Stadium. I’m pretty pumped for that.”[/duke]

”You know Aaron Judge?”

[duke]”We met at a charity fundraiser back in January in Haiti. We just hit it off.”[/duke]

”That’s our show for today. Again, I can be found on Twitter @notsam, my guest today, XWF Xtreme Champion Thaddeus Duke can be found @BetterThanU502. Warfare returns July 5th with Thaddeus defending the title against Bearded War Pig in the main event.

"Again, I am Sam Roberts, thanks to those watching and to those listening.
Thaddeus, thank you so much for doing this.”

[duke]"It was a pleasure and like I said, I kinda owed you one."[/duke]

The Sam Roberts Show fades out.

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