We’re backstage with OCW Hall of Famer and one-half of the number one contenders to the World Tag Team Titles, “The Lobby” - Paul Pugh. He’s sitting on a production crate, no heirs or graces, chatting to the camera
Pugh: It circles around, it never ends… it just keeps going - we just keep going. If I’d have told you three years ago that I was about to team up with the most successful tag team wrestler in history and make a run at the World Titles… you’d have laughed at me. You’d have told me I was washed… probably that he was washed too… but here we are.
He grins
Pugh: Weeks away from Wrestlution - the biggest show of them all. Weeks away from me, finally… finally… completing the Grand Slam. Weird right? I’ve never won the Tag Titles! And why? Well, mostly because I don’t play nice with others, but two years ago, Rust reached out to me and we had a conversation about legacy.. And what is legacy?
He shrugs
Pugh: Different things to different people… and most people’s legacies ain’t worth writing home about, but mine… mine certainly is. World Titles, International Titles, North American Titles, Hardcore Titles, Lightheavyweight Titles… Wrestlution Main Events, Hall of Fame rings… I have seen it all, I have done it all… apart from that elusive thing…
He looks up at the ceiling and takes a deep breath
Pugh: …so we did what we had to do. We formed The Lobby… but it wasn’t for entirely selfish reasons… yes, I want that Grand Slam, but you know what else I want? Tag Team wrestling not to be a joke…
He looks back towards the camera
Pugh: Summercide 2007, I walked into OCW as part of a tag team with my dear old pal Double J… and we sat at that announce desk and said that we would be the Tag Team Champions… I was sitting outside the ring looking up at Ed Reed and Sean Strider that night… watching them live up to their name as The Best Damn Tag Team Period… and you could just see it… they were the tippy top of the tippy top - true legends of this division… true Champions… and now?
He smirks
Pugh: We have a couple of tamale-guzzling hillbillies calling themselves Tag Team Champions. A couple of men who share a couple of brain cells… career losers who got lucky because they entered the division when there was nobody else available…
He shakes his head
Pugh: And what have they done to the division since? Defended the titles? Nope. They disrespected them by respraying them in their dumb colours… The tight permed taco monster stood in that ring and insulted a laundry list of teams past and present.. Nearly every member of the Tag Team Division. Everyone who couldn’t hurt them anymore… You know who they didn’t say a lot about? Us.
He smirks again
Pugh: …and I want to think that’s a coincidence, I want to think they were just higher than a giraffe’s sphincter, but… I don’t think that’s true.
He shrugs
Pugh: Despite them being the dumbest of the dumb, I think they recognised that we are incredibly vengeful men… and they didn’t want that smoke… but like I said. Wrestling circles around.
Pugh: Not only are they going to get the smoke, but they’re going to get much more besides. OCW’s Tag Team Division has been on its ass since they won the titles, and that simply will not do.
He’s noticeably pumped up
Pugh: Rust and I owe a lot to Tag Team Wrestling… it got me my start in OCW - It made Rust a star in OCW… and it deserves Champions who actually defend their titles… and don’t just talk nonsense.
Pugh: So look at Wrestlution as a rebirth. When we send Cold Front home, we’ll have rid the division of the garbage… We’ll start resetting it. To bring it back to where it should be. Bring it back to where it was when TBDTTP were champions… A-Team… CQC… Lucha Country… Sanctum… we owe it to this division. Baby Pugh’s dream of being a World Tag Champion will be realised… all in one HISTORIC night…
Pugh: …and that’s why we do what we did. That’s why we screwed everyone… because it completes my circle.
