Just Who Looks Better in Leather?

These two warriors, Travis "British Bulldog/Monster Truck/Lady Liberty" Gessley and Denny "Big Sexy" or as he's known in the R&D circuit, "Doctor gLOVE" Whiteside build their world around leather. Whiteside just added a new Leather cover to his Harley seat. Gessley refuses to moisturize his hands in the hope that they, one day, will become leather.

But this battle is more than a battle over leather. It is a battle that began to burn in Carlsbad.... yes, it is time for a quick history commentary by the most memorable run-ins each combatant has with the main office. Whiteside was honored with his name, hand prints, and foot prints permanently engraved in the Walk of Fame. Gessley sent up the new Worth batting helmet with the hope that he, too, would get his space in the Fame Walk.... but the helmet did not make it. Travis was angry. And that brings us to today.

Whiteside had learned quite a bit from his sparring matches/dismantlings of Biju Matthew, Curtis Cruz, Brian Hoying, and Bruce "Bruce" Dickmann. You see, while he had romped to victories, it had taken a toll on his body. Denny began to notice bone bruises developing near the base of his thumb... and there is no way he was going to get through Gessley without the ability to use his thuds to the head. So Doctor gLOVE developed a special Rawlings UFC fighting glove. This glove is a bit different, as it allowed him to shift his fingers over, reducing the impact area into the glove and setting himself up for years of additional warmongering.

And with this in tact, Travis did not stand a chance early-on. Denny delivered a stunning thud to the forehead. While Gessley stud in a daze, Whiteside outfitted him in a helmet, retreated a few steps and began to fire balls at Gessley's head with an air cannon -- allowing him to multi-task as we like to do at Rawlings... a little sparring mixed with a little R&D. Gessley would get to his R&D later. (for the interns out there reading, that is what they call foreshadowing.)

Back to the battle. 6-0 Whiteside early. Whispers of "Over-Rated" echoed from the offices of every Rawlings Product Manager taken out by Gessley (yes, that is all of them, with the exception of Scott Keene who was beaten silly by Cullinane.) Gessley quickly retreated to high ground -- aka his truck.

Whiteside followed, but had some difficulty withstanding the objects Gessley hurled from his 8' vantage point. The gap narrowed a bit to 6-2, but Whiteside responded by grabbing a ladder and beginning the climb to the top. He reached the top and grabbed Gessley by the arm, which he twisted - ever so gently but ever so painfully, extending his lead to 10-4.

But Denny has fallen down stairs before, and Gessley has fought dirty before. Those two add up to... a ladder on the ground and a hobbled Whiteside on top of it, with Gessley hanging from the truck door doing one-armed pull ups and watching the score even up at 11-11.

Whiteside was now in for a battle, and as the two traded air whiffing jabs, it was clear that he might be running on empty. You see, for those who don't know Denny, he has patented the 10-hour workday. But since the new Tech Center opened and he got his new space there, he is now making sure he puts in two 10-hour workdays each day. And as he sat, locked in a 13-13 battle, he needed some space for a break.

He went for it, delivering a smokescreen getaway move, escaping the battle scene to recouperate.

Gessley felt more alone than he had any time at Rawlings, (outside that one day at Dixie Sports, that is)... He needed a spark. So he popped open his protein shake, Salmon-Carrot flavored and began his battle cry. He stormed into the offices, found Whiteside stunned in his own cube, grabbed some art requests from former title hopeful Jeff "White Walls" France's office, threw them in the air, and followed them airborne -- grabbing hold of the wall and delivering a series of Thunder Tap kicks to the midsection of Denny, hitting him like some painful acid rain.

Whiteside fell to the turf, where Gessley calmly inserted him into his new all purpose equipment bag, the Body Bag, and took it outside for some testing. The bag held up well, Whiteside.... not so well.

Gessley wins 21-15. He advances to Thursday's Title Game:

Travis "British Bulldog" Gessley versus Wendy "Nasty Newlywed" Mathis...