Not Losing Focus

Alex Kross was hanging from a bar by his knees somewhere in the bowels of the arena when Lauren Brooke found him. Sweat poured from his body as he did hanging sit ups. As he reached the zenith, he unleashed a series of shadow punches, holding the crunch before lowering himself, then repeating the process.

Alex? Alex Kross?

The exercise continued. Clearly "in the zone", Alex didn't notice Lauren. For a moment, she waited silently before venturing to speak to the wrestler again.

Alex?

Call me Lex. The exercises continued.

Lex, can you tell us how you feel about your match this week?

Alex paused, mid-exercise, reaching up with one hand to grab the bar his knees were latched around, and spinning to drop to the ground. He looked exhausted, but it was clear he intended to return to his exercises as soon as he was done with what he had to say.

How do I feel? I dominate one third of HEEL in my debut, then get shunted off to fighting some rookie on some developmental show? Don't piss down the back of my neck and tell me it's a shower! Look, the fact is, it doesn't matter. Fusion, Proving Grounds, Hunting Grounds... I don't care if it's the play ground! Same story, different chapter! Alex Kross is a natural born thriller, and soon enough, the whole world will know.

Now why don't you go stick a microphone in the face of the guy with the gold and ask him how many changes of underwear he went through when he saw my premiere and realized that soon or later, he'd be staring at me in the ring instead of on TV!