Interviews weren't supposed to be in a place like this. In fact a bar was one of the last places Striker expected to be. At three in the afternoon no less. Matt stepped out of the car he had been riding in with the new Supervisor of Raw Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler. The young blonde turned and started barking orders to the driver as Vickie looked over the small wooden building and it's almost empty parking lot.
"This new talent had better be worth this" she looked over at Matt who was still eyeing the bar in front of them. The town car pulled away. Dolph adjusted his collar of his black button down before starting toward the building followed closely by Vickie and Striker.
The three stepped inside to the sound of the ancient floorboard creaking below their feet. A quick glance around the place and it wasn't hard to see just who they were supposed to be meeting with. Aside from him there were only a couple of other people in the place. They were all in tee-shirts and jeans, drinking and chatting.
He was in the corner alone, sitting on one of the stool which he had pulled away from the crowd. The dim lodge lights that hung from the low ceiling revealed very little since the corner was in a complete shadow. Even so Matt could tell that be was big.
Dolph cleared his throat and whispered something to Vickie before leaning against the bar.
"Well" She almost whispered to Matt.
"Well what?"
"Go" this time it came out more as a hiss than a whisper. The blue-eyed interviewer glanced over at the man then back at his boss before returning to the man in the corner.
Ziggler looked over his white framed sunglasses at the older man "You hear the woman, Striker. Go man!" The other bar patrons did not seem to notice the shouting blonde. Matt however winced at the order before turning to the dark corner. He took a few small steps toward him and turned back to Vickie. She was talking to Dolph and shielding her mouth from everyone.
With a few more steps Striker found himself standing only a few inches away from a tall slim yet intimidating figure. Now that he was closer he could see he was wearing a very clean-looking khaki-colored uniform with the sleeves rolled up to reveal his lightly tanned skin. He had curly brown hair which seemed to be a bit shaggy and in need of a trim.
"Señor?" He suddenly looked up from the bottle which he had been focused on.
"Um … Si" why hadn't Vickie given Matt the young man's name? Or mentioned that he spoke Spanish?
The younger man began to talk very quickly in fluent Spanish. Matt tried to understand some of it only catching bits. He knew some Spanish yet he was nowhere near fluent.
"Excuse me," Vickie suddenly appeared beside Matt with Dolph nowhere to be found. She pushed a strand of her short black hair out of her face before asking "Are you Antonio Carriedo?"
"sí señora" Antonio smiled at her then Matt before asking in very accented English "So am I in?"
"So you do speak English." Matt smiled back at the taller man.
"Yes"
Vickie tugged at the short sleeve of her dress "Yes, yes you are."
The young man's green eyes lit up and he stood up. He placed the dark brown bottle he had been holding onto a nearby table. "T-Thank you so much señora, you won't regret this."
Antonio continued to thank Vickie and Matt in both English and Spanish for several minutes. He even offered to buy them each a drink. Vickie declined saying that she had important business to attend to back at the arena for that night's show. She explained to Matt that he would be interviewing the new addition to the roster for the website and to get to know him better since he would also be interviewing him after his debut match which was still weeks away.
Matt agreed to both Vickie's orders and Antonio's offer of a drink. The bartender came over as Vickie disappeared out of the bar.
"Two dos equises" Antonio told him with his smile still growing about the news of his up incoming contract with the world's largest wrestling company.
Once they both had fresh drinks in their hands Matt forgot about actually interviewing the young man instead asking him general questions. During the small talk Striker learned a few things about the man.
He was from Spain and had just moved over to America a few months ago in order to train in FCW where he had gone fairly unnoticed until he got a recommendation by one Alberto Del Rio. Once Matt asked why Alberto would do such an uncharacteristically kind act Antonio shook his head.
"What?" The New Yorker found himself asking the Spaniard.
"So you Americans really don't believe him, do you?"
"Believe who? Alberto?"
His voice seemed to get more accented as he said "Yes Alberto."
"Believe him how?"
With a sigh Antonio turned to Matt "He is from the royal family."
"Oh yeah I knew that. He wouldn't shut up about it."
The younger man was silence, he turned back away from Matt and looked down at the starched up surface of the bar. Striker looked over at him, studying his clear cut features form profile before beginning to wonder if he had the same temper as Alberto.
Antonio muttered to himself in inaudible Spanish. He finally turned back to the interviewer with his face having lost all the joy from before. The two stared at each other for a minute as the sounds of the now somewhat full bar began to seemed to die down just as the young Spaniard spoke.
"He is a royal. I am a mere peasant, the son of senador while he is the son of the great Dos Cara. His father, his father inspired me to wrestle. Back home I was a giant let down to my father. He wanted me to follow in his footsteps. He talked about me someday giving up this tonto dream and maybe becoming el presidente but when I turned dieciséis I left for Madrid. There I became a wrestling and was soon contacted by a company over here in America when that deal fell through I contacted FCW and meet Ricardo. I met Alberto a few months after words and told him my story. So he got me moved up to Raw I guess."
"W-why do you care so much about him though?" Matt tried to keep his voice from shaking as he asked. Antonio narrowed his now expressionless eyes at him.
"Because if I were not for his family I would have never been a Pro wrestler."
"B-but aren't wrestlers from Spain?"
"Si" he snapped back. Matt suddenly noticed that Antonio had not only already finished the drink he had order but also the one from before.
"Um…how high is the prof in these?"
The tanned man did not answer him instead he mumbled Spanish to himself again.
At this point not only the interviewer in him but also the wrestling fan in him wanted to know why Antonio was so interested in Del Rio. However he was also worried. The younger man's chest rose and fell and his hands lie clenched on the bar in tight fist. The man was about to snap and Matt knew it.
Before he knew it Matt had thanked Antonio, pulled out about ten bucks, giving the younger man the cash and rushed out of the now full bar. The sky had begun to darken and he could just see the sun as it set. Although he didn't exactly take the time to admire the sunset. Instead he found himself a cab and had somehow told him where his hotel was without taking his eyes off of the bar.
He slumped in the backseat of the taxi. He really did want to know why the young man had seemingly an obsession for Alberto. However he didn't worry too much about his unanswered questioned. He knew that sooner or later he would have to interviewing Mr. Carriedo again. And he also knew that it was bound to be sooner rather than later.