The FFW logo appears on the screen before “Focus” by Ariana Grande begins to play. Then we see the studio being set up, the glass table sat in the center being cleaned, two cups sat on opposite sides of the table. Next we see Zack Hudson tying his shoes and checking himself in the mirror before he heads out to the set as a producer puts a microphone on his shirt before sitting down. When he looks across, we next see the various men and women who make up FFW and Future Shock flash by in images from their careers until it finally stops on Jake Chandler.
Then we go into the studio and find him across from Zack at the glass table. The host reaches across and shakes hands with Jake, who is looking around at the set and then to him.
Jake: Done some upgrades during the down time? Looks good.
Zack: Thanks.
Hudson turns to the camera next.
Zack: Welcome to the latest edition of Focus as we begin the third season of this very show. I’m Zack Hudson, known as the voice of FFW since I’m on all the shows doing commentary. For my first show of the new season, I invited Jake Chandler to join me. Many of you know him very well. We all know he was promoted to Future Shock Director this past April, so 2024 has seen a good bit of change for you.
Jake: You can say that again. Not just the promotion, but I also ended up moving across the country before that and relocated to Boston. So yeah, 2024 has definitely been a whirlwind of activity that’s uprooted my life. But I know the formula that you use here, so I’m sure you’d rather start much farther back than earlier this year, right?
Zack nods in agreement.
Zack: You would be correct. Tell me about where you grew up.
Jake: I grew up in San Francisco to an upper middle class family. I have one sister, which is something of a strained relationship. She still lives with my parents, and I haven’t lived with them in years. I think it eats at her. But anyway, my childhood was largely a happy one. I don’t have any real trauma to speak of here. Some of my happiest memories were of my father and grandfather taking me to see the 49ers play. They were both huge fans of the team, and I guess I didn’t have a choice but to follow suit. I still am, and follow them closely even if I’m on the other side of the country.
Zack: Glad to hear you had a pretty good childhood. That seems to be more of the exception than the rule anymore.
Jake: I’d definitely consider myself lucky in that regard.
Zack: What kind of a student were you in school?
Jake seems a little reluctant to get into that, at least going by the expression on his face.
Jake: I wasn’t a very good one, Zack. I did what I had to do to get by and move on. I never enjoyed classes too much all the way up to high school. I enjoyed all the socializing and everything else, like going to the games and school events. Just the classes…that wasn’t for me. So I did the bare minimum of what I needed to do to pass and move on from there. That changed when I got to college, which was UCLA Berkeley, before you ask.
Zack: Go Bruins! What made it change in college?
Jake: I don’t know, I think it was just the realization that school life isn’t forever. At some point, I knew I was going to have to go out in the world and make a path for myself. As soon as I got accepted, it was like something clicked in my head. I had 4 years to get myself set up for the rest of my life and what I wanted to do, and I kept that in mind throughout the whole ride. Especially when I realized my loafing around wasn’t going to get me a scholarship, and my parents footed the bill for it. They made it pretty clear that if I didn’t apply myself better, they weren’t going to pay for me to continue. So…I did. I studied Communications with a Public Relations focus, and graduated with a 3.8 GPA.
Zack: Well done there. I wasn’t that great of a student either, but it didn’t change much after I got to college either. Sounds like you got a good kick in the pants there.
Jake nodded vigorously at that.
Zack: Why the focus on Communications in school?
Jake: It felt the most natural to me. A big part of effective communication is giving people the message you need them to hear in the best way possible. So I dove into it, and did pretty well with it. But as most college graduates will tell you, your first job out of school typically has zero to do with whatever you majored in during school. I was selling wireless phones on commission for a while, which I didn’t enjoy too much. Then I took a job as a copy editor for a local news channel. I didn’t like that much either, but it paid my bills and kept me from having to call my parents and say I needed to come home. They were full of that from my sister, I think. I toiled at that for a while, bored out of my mind. So I started looking for something new, and applied to a few places. Only two called me back for an interview. One was another wireless store, the other was FFW.
Zack: I think we can all surmise which one you went with.
Jake: No kidding. I didn’t want to sell phones anymore, and I knew next to nothing about wrestling. So I thought that sounded like an adventure and ended up getting hired for the company’s Public Relations team. I was definitely the low man on the totem pole, but I learned a lot. And to be effective in the role, it helps if I know the product I’m trying to sell. So I started watching FFW.
Zack: And that was the first time you ever watched wrestling? What did you think?
Jake: Yeah, I’d never watched any wrestling before that. And my first thought? “Wow, we have some absolutely gorgeous women here.”
That brings a chuckle from Zack.
Zack: No lies detected.
Jake: Then one day, I got a text from the office saying one of the photography assistants called in sick, and I was going to fill in for him. I didn’t know anything about it, but I figured I could spend my day much worse than helping someone take pictures of a beautiful woman or women. So I went to the studio, that’s how I met Adam. Like he told you when he was here, we hit it off pretty well from there and became like brothers.
Zack: Fans who didn’t see that interview with Adam, it’s here on FFW All Access and I encourage you to check it out if you haven’t already. Speaking of those women, you got involved with some of them.
Jake: Yeah, to varying degrees of happiness. All of them but one, we pretty much parted amicably. Relationships are the hardest thing, but also the most rewarding when it’s all going well. For the most part, I have nothing but nice things to say about those women, only two of which are currently employed here. So I’ve had girlfriends, who hasn’t?
The host couldn’t disagree as he decided to change tacks.
Zack: How did it come to pass that you ended being the news person for the main FFW account on what used to be called Twitter?
Jake: By that time, Adam had asked me if I wanted to handle it. He had been promoted to the job I have now, and he was promoting that brand. He put in a word for me that the office could trust me to handle it for the FFW side of things. Who better to run the official company account than someone in Public Relations, right? So I did, and I think I did pretty well with it. I made a lot of friends outside of FFW, and many of those friendships are still going today. As a matter of fact, pretty much all of the friends I have now are involved in this business either directly or tangentially. So I did that for a while till I got shuffled over to the Future Shock account to promote it for a while. I got started hosting After Shock, which has been my favorite job here up until now, at least. And then earlier this year, well you know the story. Adam got promoted to CEO and he started looking for someone to take over Future Shock for him.
Zack: Now we’re getting up to speed on current events here. I’ve known you for a while, and I was surprised you wanted that job. As long as I’ve known you, you’ve not really been an administrative type. What changed?
Jake: Arabella.
Zack: She put the fire under you, huh?
Jake: You make it sound like it was some kind of intense negotiation. It wasn’t that grueling. I wasn’t planning to ask for the job. I was quite content to keep doing what I was doing for as long as possible. But she started telling me how good she thought I’d be at the job. And I’d always counter with some reason I didn’t think I would be. And she had answers for all the counters I had…till I ran out of them. I finally agreed and let it be known I was interested. I didn’t expect to get it, because I know some of the others who were applying here. But the worst he can say is no, right? I was sure Carson Black was going to get the job. As a matter of fact, I think he was offered it if I turned Adam down.
Zack: Huh, didn’t know that.
Jake: Yeah. Even when I applied, I was still having misgivings and a lack of self belief that I could do the job as well as Adam had, so I wasn’t sure I’d take it even when Adam called me to tell me it was mine. I told him at the time I wasn’t sure about it, and didn’t really expect to be chosen. So he got in touch with Carson, and pretty much offered him the role until I got one last proverbial boot from Arabella. I called Adam back, and said I’d take it.
Zack: And the rest is history from there. I’m sure Carson understood, he’s got plenty of irons in the fire with his agent business anyway. Tell me about the process of applying.
Jake: Part of what Adam wanted to see from everyone who applied was a plan for what that person saw for the future of the show and what they would be wanting to do with it. I came up with a few ideas, and explained them along with the timeline I saw that they could take place and off we went. One of them was the Adrenaline Championship.
Zack: I’m glad you brought that up. You have said the Adrenaline division was your favorite in SVW, but you also said you had only ever watched FFW. Square that circle for me.
Jake: I can do that. A lot of the girls in FFW worked in SVW also. So while I wasn’t watching SVW at the time, I would go check out what our talent was doing while they were there. I was particularly interested in Missy, Ruby, Shaw and Kelly, and wanted to follow them. So yeah, I did start getting into SVW after I came to FFW, but it wasn’t something that I was a rabid fan of before that. I became a fan though obviously, and that division always drew me the most. I found their matches to be the most exciting to me. When I made my list of goals for this job, that was at the top of my list. I wanted to bring that to Future Shock.
Zack: Okay, that all tracks. What else was on your list?
Jake starts to grin now.
Jake: Why ruin the surprise? There were a few, one of them was to go to the Sphere in Vegas, which we just did. But there were a few others, and I’d rather reveal them when the time is right. I’m still learning a lot in this role, because there’s more to the job than just making matches. My main goal right now is to learn and absorb all that I can, while being as fair to everyone on the roster as I can be.
Zack: I can’t speak for everyone else, but I think you’ve been doing a great job so far in the role. I certainly look forward to seeing what else you have planned for the Future Shock roster.
Jake: I appreciate the vote of confidence. I don’t proclaim that I’ll make every decision without flaw, but I’m still in the learning process. Give me a little time, and I hope I’ll be as good as my predecessor. If I’m lucky.
Zack: Jake, I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today. I feel like our fans and maybe even some of your own friends that you mentioned have learned a lot about you.
Jake: I enjoyed it.
Zack’s attention returns to the camera.
Zack: Focus’ third season will continue as I talk with more of the people who make up FFW and Future Shock. Thank you all for watching, and I’ll see you ringside soon.
Zack reaches across to shake hands with Jake once again as Focus fades to black on FFW All Access.
