Flashbulbs blink like erratic heartbeats as a dark velvet curtain twitches behind Stu-E Price as he steps up to the podium—his walking crooked, like his ribs don’t quite remember how to move without splintering. He wears sunglasses too dark for the hour and a suit jacket too clean for the night he’s had. His lip is split. There’s a line of dried blood tracing the contour of his ear. Still, he doesn't flinch as the first reporter stands.

“Stu-E, can you walk us through what went wrong in the final moments of the match?”

He sighs, and looks down at the floor, “No comment.” Immediately another reporter jumps in, “Did you underestimate him? Did you think you had it in the bag?”

A semblance of a smiles almost crosses his lips, “No comment.” You can almost hear the dejected sigh from the reporter as another one of them tries a different question.

“The contract you signed was for a standard wrestling match, but that was anything but standard; will you be speaking with officials regarding this?” This one almost gets a response before Price sighs, “No comment.”

The mood in the room changes, almost like the sea of reporters are now desperate to get some sort of response. “Will you be requesting you rematch as soon as possible?”

“No comment.”

“How does it feel, going home without the title?”

“No comment.”

“Now you’ve won a World Championship, is it now time to retire?”

“No comment.”

“Do you regret anything?”

“No comment.”

“Did he say anything to you in the ring? After the bell?”

“No comment.”

“You’re bleeding through your shirt, should you even be here?”

“No comment.”

It’s been a back and forth, the reporters getting annoyed at his lack of responses, and Price simply not wanting to be anywhere near here. Stu-E stood motionless as a statue, he words and thoughts trapped in his own head. He leaves the podium wordless, his footsteps barely louder than the silence he dragged in with him. As the reporters in the room shout further questions but there’s that many of them and that many voices none of it is really audible as the scene fades.