Post by pwsapexstaff on Mar 16, 2023 0:01:36 GMT -5
PWS:APEX PRESENTS:
Demons Run - 3/9
02 Arena- London, England
“When a good man goes to war. Demons run, but count the cost. The battle's won, but the child is lost”
(We open to a soft, Southern rain somewhere around Hartselle, Alabama. We see a crowded small church wrapping up a memorial circus as we see the domes of such vivid black and white parasols almost as if to form a flowing picture as one parasol stands in the middle…just jet black in everything he wears and everything he is. We lower to see that it’s Levi Russow…completely dressed down but still in respectable clothing. He walks away from the procession musing to himself.)
Levi Russow: The battle is won…but the child is lost. But you weren’t a child, were you brother? You were THE man. When it came to PWS, man…you thrived! Your insight, your stories, your influence…it’s gonna stand the time.
(Levi kneels down and runs his fingers along the freshly engraved “NICHOLAS ANDREW POWELL”)
Levi Russow: You were heat lightning…you were the storm that never rolled in but was ready to hurl lightning bolts at anyone that took their own aim at our little slice of Heaven. You are the reason so many of us are still here…you are the reason a few of us are even still FRIENDS. YOU, Nic Powell, were the glue that held us together and we were scared…we were frightened, lost children when you left us. But you…you never really left us. I feel you over my shoulder…every day since you’ve passed.
(Levi wipes a tear from his eye…as he stands up, he’s joined by Star Stormz who leaves a rose on the gravestone.)
Star Stormz: …so what do we do now?
Levi Russow: We put on…the BIGGEST…the BEST…the GRANDEST STAGE WE CAN GIVE HIM. And we put the word out…WORLDWIDE…to come test our mettle. And we honor…our BROTHER…by dedicating this entire show to him.
Star Stormz: Nic. We love you, forever.
Levi Russow: Like Dan’s music so famously said…”But you will remember me…”
“YOU WILL REMEMBER ME…REMEMBER ME FOR CENTURIES!!!!”
Levi Russow: Brother…you have no fuckin’ idea…WELCOME…TO DEMON’S RUN!!!
(Levi and Star duck under their umbrellas as they walk towards their cars observing a trumpet line dancing through the cemetery in the traditional Louisiana traditions as we cut back to the arena as “Centuries” by Fall Out Boy blares back in the arena as pyros go absolutely nuts in the arena.)
JR Freeman: WOOOOW WELCOME FANS TO PWS: APEX, DEMON’S RUN! I am of course your friendly neighborhood JR!
Alfonso Banks: SHOW SOME DAMN RESPECT JR! We have lost a legend!
JR Freeman: Unfortunately my normally idiosyncratic partner is right on the money as tonight is dedicated…to Nic Powell. Nic wasn’t just one of the PWS pillars. He WAS PWS.
Alfonso Banks: He’s the one that convinced me to come back when the show kicked back off so I owe him a debt I can never repay.
JR Freeman: His presence is surely gonna be missed but now let’s remember him through what he loved most…professional wrestling!
Collateral Damage Title Match
GLITTER BOMB MATCH
Carmen Rodiguez © vs Candy
(The cameras cut to ringside where everything looks… pink… and sparkly. Very sparkly! The ropes are bright pink and sparkle as the lights move. The ring mat has been replaced by a light pink mat. There's buckets sitting around the outside of the ring filled with various colors of glitter. The cameras cut to the commentary team)
Jr: Guys… we are about to see a first in PWS:APEX history…
Alfonso: That's right! The first ever Glitterbomb match!
Jr: As you can see, the ring has been… candy-fied is the best way to describe it.
Alfonso: Everything is so pink and sparkly… I think I need to put on sunglasses.
Jr: But this match is unique. There is a case above the ring filled with "glitter bombs". The only way to win is to smash said "glitter bomb" on your opponent
Alfonso: No disqualification, no count outs, no pinfalls, and so submissions. Everything is legal!
Jr: We are in for… a very unique experience!
(The lights dim and a dense pink fog rolls over the platform at the top of the ramp as "Pour Some Sugar On Me" by Def Leppard echoes through the arena. The fans erupt as Candy comes prancing out from the back wearing pink and white gear with sequin accents on them and pink, fluffy furry boots. She is followed by her husband, Marcus Cage, who is wearing his blue and white camo ring gear.)
Alfonso: The challenger sure looks excited, and ready for this match.
Jr: Of course she's excited. She is about to play with glitter.
Alfonso: But that's not all that's on the line here. If Candy wins, not only will she walk out the new Collateral Damage Champion… she will also walk out with a new "bestie".
(Candy skips her way down to the ring, stopping to high five, hug, and even take a quick selfie with her fans. She slides into the ring and poses for the cheering fans as Marcus takes a place outside the ring in front of the announcers.)
Meg Reynolds: Introducing first, the challengers, from Malibu Beach, California… she is a 2x Queen of the Ring and PWS:APEX Hall of Famer… CAAAAAAAANDYYYYYYYY!!!
(Candy claps her hands excitedly and jumps up and down in the ring.)
alfonso: Candy is excited… I can't wait to see Carmen's reaction.
Jr: She is probably not gonna like it.
("Object Tango (Remix)" Shakira begins to play and the ring announcer steps into the ring. For a moment the music just plays, then it sounds like the record is stuck, before the beat drops and Carmen makes her way out onto the top of the ramp, Max is with her the two pose at the top of the ramp before sharing a passionate kiss.)
Meg Reynolds: From Tijuana, Mexico... CARMEN RODRIGUEZ!!!!
(Carmen makes her way down the ramp, slapping hands occasionally. She slips under the bottom rope and then up onto the turnbuckle, posing for a few moments, one foot on the top rope, the other on the middle. She puts both on the top and flips off, landing on her feet. Max motions for her to come to the corner and rubs her shoulders while he’s talking in her ear. She nods and then looks over at Candy, before taking a breath.)
Jr: Carmen seems unfazed by all the pink.
Alfonso: She's focused!
(Before the match gets started, Carmen slides out and flips the apron up, climbing under the ring and she pulls out a pink bag, tossing it into the ring. Followed by a baseball bat, pulling it out she notices it’s bedazzled and she rolls her eyes. She spots a pink kendo stick and shrugs, pulling it into the ring with her.)
Carmen: Just remember you wanted this!!!
Candy: It’s just glitter!!!!! It’s pink and it’s pretty!!!
(Candy grabs a handful of glitter off the ring apron and throws it at Carmen. Carmen grabs some more and throws it at Candy. Carmen places the kendo stick in her corner and Candy grabs the bat, doing the same. The bell rings and the two lock up. It seems like Carmen’s pretty much in control most of the start, before Candy gets a good move in, before scrambling to grab the bat. She spins around catching Carmen with it in the midsection, the hit causes Carmen to recoil back and shake it off, before the two run at each other again. Candy drops down, before catching Carmen in the back of the leg with the bat. Carmen rolls out of the ring and grabs a ladder, pushing it into the ring, to no one’s surprise, it was BRIGHT PINK AND GLITTERY.)
Jr: These two ladies both really seem to want this, neither is backing down.
Alfonso: Well look at what’s at stake. The Collateral Damage Championship.
(Carmen climbs in shaking her head at the ladder, but she turns to look at Candy. Candy goes for the attack and Carmen’s waiting for, hitting a lariat on her and taking her down to the mat. Carmen tries to get control of the situation, knowing that her title was at stake. She grabs Candy up, trying to set her up for a finisher, but remembers that the glitterbombs are above the ring in the briefcase. She gets the ladder and sets it up, starting to climb to the top, however the ladder is a bit closer to the edge than she thought and just as she’s climbing it Candy manages to get up onto the ropes and nails Carmen, sending her outside the ring. Carmen tries to get up quickly as Max runs around the ring, looking at Marcus. Candy comes over pulling Carmen back up onto the turnbuckle before popping her in the head with the bat. Carmen teeters on the edge of the ring apron.)
Jr: That was very close there, only to get back in and receive a bat to the head for your efforts.
Alfonso: I feel this is going to get very messy, very quickly. Did anyone bring a vacuum cleaner?
(Candy grabs another bucket of glitter, while Carmens out of the ring, she runs around the ring, and goes to dump it on Carmen, however Max pulls her out of the way and get glitter poured all over him. It sticks in his hair and on his skin. He’s shiny. Marcus busts out laughing and at thai point, Carmen has made it back to her feet, grabbing a handful of edible glitter from a glitterbomb she had hidden under the ring, she cracked it open, sending the glitter into Marcus’s face and his mouth was open. He started sputtering, trying to get it out of his mouth.)
Jr: Well that’s definitely a way to shut him up.
Alfonso: Hopefully that was edible.
(The two girls get back into the ring and start fighting again in a flurry of moves and holds and it looks like Candy might be on the upper hand in that moment. She manages to get Carmen downed with a lariat of her own, before Candy rolls out of the ring and searches under the ring. She pulls out a large bucket full of glitter and grins. She slides it into the ring and Carmen, seeing it, grabs it before candy can get back in the ring. Candy slides in and sees Carmen has the bucket in her hands, and without hesitation she grabs a big scooped handful and just… dumps it over Carmen's head. Carmen takes a deep breath before dumping the entire bucket on candy's head! Candy giggles with delight!)
Alfonso: I don't think Carmen has ever dealt with someone quite like Candy.
Jr: and it is definitely frustrating her… you can see it on her face.
(Carmen then slams the bucket right on candy's head! Candy falls into the pile of glitter as Carmen drops down and begins to deliver vicious lefts and rights ro Candy. After a few, she rolls Candy into the middle of the ring, before Carmen steps up the ladder, before standing on top of it. She winks at Max and nods before hitting Candy with the MAX VELOCITY.)
Alfonso: MAX VELOCITY!!! MAX VELOCITY!!!! MAX VELOCITY!!!
(Max is cheering his wife on from outside the ring, seeing her hitting his move. The crowd is absolutely electric!)
JR: Well they did just recently get married and with Max never being able to compete again, it’s fitting he would teach her his move.
Alfonso: MAX VELOCITY OFF THE LADDER! HOLY SHIT!!!
(After a few moments both Candy and Carmen manage to recover from their big move and Candy reaches the top of the ladder and starts reaching up for the briefcase, missing it by a mere fingertip.)
Alfonso: Candy’s on the ladder now, it’s only a matter of time before that briefcase falls.
JR: Well that could happen right now.
(She slowly climbs up one more step, noticing Carmen is half way up the ladder, reaching for Candys leg. Candy reaches once more and grabs the briefcase, but upon pulling it the ceiling appears to open up and drop a literal ton of glitter over the ring.)
Alfonso: I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MUCH GLITTER IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!
JR: Candy is in absolute heaven
(Candy, still holding the case on top of the ladder, let's out a huge squeal. Carmen looks around annoyed as she continues to climb the ladder. She reaches Candy's legs and turns around, allowing herself to go under Candy's legs, and grabbing her. Candy holds tight to the briefcase.)
Jr: OH DIOS MIO!
Alfonso: this is gonna be BAD
(Carmen lifts Candy up and powerbombs her from the top of the ladder into a huge pile of glitter. The impact causes the glitter to puff up in a beautiful cloud of rainbow sparkles. )
Alfonso: OH MY GOD
JR: Candy would have loved to see that…
Alfonso: I think some of that glitter flew over here and got in my eye.
(Carmen and Candy are rolling around in the glittery mess in the ring, brawling. Carmen gets to her feet and looks down to see Candy making "snow angels" in the glitter with a huge grin on her face.)
Alfonso: She's making… snow angels?
Jr: GLITTER ANGELS
Alfonso: uh… same thing?
(Carmen looks at her with disbelief as Candy grabs a handful of glitter and throws it up at Carmen. Carmen reaches down and grabs a handful and throws it at Candy.)
Jr: GLITTER FIGHT!
Alfonso: if I never see glitter again… it'll be too soon.
(Candy pulls Carmen's legs out from under her, sending her down into the massive pile of glitter with candy. They both get up to their knees and are literally just… throwing handfuls of glitter at each other.)
Jr: Is that a small… grin… on Carmen's face?
Alfonso: What makes you think that?
(Carmen is trying to brush glitter out of her eyes when Candy reaches over to the open briefcase, which in their momentary childlike excitement over that powerbomb into the mountain of glitter, had popped open, revealing the biggest glitterbomb pile ever. Candy and Carmen both grab one but Carmen is still trying to get the glitter out of her eyes so she can see Candy. She lobs it at her and it misses, hitting the referee. Candy without missing a second cracks it over Carmen's head. The bell rings.)
Meg Reynolds: AND YOUR WINNER AND NEEEEEEEW PWS:APEX COLLATERAL DAMAGE CHAMPION…. CAAAAAAANDYYYYYYY
Winner= AND NEW COLLATERAL DAMAGE CHAMPION …. CANDY
(Carmen pulls herself towards the turnbuckle hiding her giggle, as Max checks on her, getting the glitter out of her eyes. The referee goes to grab the title and Carmen see’s this. She runs over and grabs it before the referee can give it to Candy. She shoves him into the pile of glitter, before turning thinking about hitting Candy over the head with the title. You can tell there’s a war going on inside her head.)
Jr: Carmen’s not going to let this go, even though Candy’s won.
Alfonso: Sore loser is what she is.
(Carmen turns away looking at the title one last time, before turning around and moving over to stand near Candy, she tells her to turn around and Candy does so. Carmen puts the title around Candy’s waist, snapping the snaps and nods her head, before stepping back.)
Jr: What? Carmen no!!! That’s your title.
Alfonso: A show of respect from the former Collateral Damage Champion.
(Carmen backs away and starts to step out of the ring, before Candy grabs her hand and spins her around, throwing her arms around the woman.)
Jr: Does this mean Carmen will go through with being Candy’s bestie for a month?
Alfonso: One can hope she can get through to the Death Match Goddess. But Carmen doesn’t have a choice. That was the stipulation.
(Carmen still looks uncomfortable about it, but relents and hugs Candy back.)
ANTITHESIS: FRATRICIDE
(Fade in.)
(We open with a shot of the London skyline, viewed from far below. It’s nighttime, the moon’s full, pale face casting an eerie glow upon the foggy city streets below. We pan around this scene, filmed entirely in greyscale, focusing not on the sprawling urban architecture and modern transit systems, but instead on the squalor - the forgotten. Homeless beggars in the streets, huddled under thin blankets and winter coats to try to preserve a modicum of warmth in this frigid evening air. Public green spaces littered with trash and refuse, walls tagged with profane markings and graffiti - the telltale signs of popular unrest. As we continue to pan through the blight lining the underbelly of this well-beloved city, a pillar of the West, a familiar voice - as cold and bitter as the night itself - falls upon our ears.)
“And the first to come upon you… shall be Plague.”
(The footage abruptly glitches and cuts to a shot of Jonathan Sanders, PWS: Apex’s resident nihilist, leaning against a dilapidated brick wall in some nondescript back alley. Our footage is still black and white, but some occasional flickers of blue and red around the fuzzy edges can be detected, like an old failing VHS tape.)
"Tyson Sykes…"
(Sanders slowly lifts his head, his steel-gray eyes accentuated by the deep shadows and harsh lighting of the alleyway, glaring daggers through the camera.)
"We always knew that we would stand together at the End, did we not, Brother? …And yet, if I may be honest, I had always hoped that it would be as allies. Brethren. Two forces of nature, the Horsemen of the End, battling on the same side of the ring, against the broken remnants of the world that we had burned. But fate… ah, fate is a duplicitous and disappointing bedfellow - making liars into saints and saviours into heretics...”
(A pause, and Jonathan inhales sharply, breathing the night air as our footage flickers and jump-cuts again, now to the Lost Cause seated on a park bench.)
“I know that I need not explain to you precisely what I did. I am certain Kayla, the traitorous strangler vine entwined around your heart, has already done that FOR me. But I feel I must tell you WHY I did it. Because human minds demand an explanation, even when it will torture them far longer than their ignorance ever would have.”
(Another pause. The footage does not change this time, but Sanders leans forward, clasping his hands between his knees.)
“These feelings, Tyson… ‘love’, ‘belonging’, ‘family’ - they are a poison. A VIRUS of the mind, fed to us from birth by the brainwashed and the ignorant. These are the things the system TELLS us we must want - the CARROTS that they dangle to make us PLIANT and COMPLACENT. But they are not our real motives, brother. They are not the goals we should pursue. I had BELIEVED, once, that you knew this - that your will was as indomitable as mine, that your focus and your fire could NOT be made to waver.”
(A beat.)
“I see now that I was wrong. That the tendrils of mortal attachments had wormed their way far deeper into your spirit than I had anticipated. You could not COMMIT to our mission, brother - you always hoped, deep down, that we might find a ‘better’ path. A SOFTER path. One which might spare some wretched portion of this vile world and find a compromise with the oppressors. And I KNOW why you thought this way… because you were in shackles.”
(The footage flickers again. We jump-cut once more to Sanders walking through a gravel park.)
“These trappings, Tyson, these… fragile, mortal things, are chains upon us! They are ANCHORS in our spirit, WEIGHING US DOWN and keeping us drowning in the filthy cesspool of society! I could not bear to see you wear these chains so freely, brother War. I could not bear to see the Ripper made to tug upon a LEASH! So I simply… freed you, Tyson. I pushed her away - drove a WEDGE between your heart and her thorny vines - so that you could focus your attention on the mission. Because we cannot BURN THE WORLD if some part of you still lives in it! We cannot tear their bitter, broken kingdom down and start afresh upon the rubble if you have a PRINCESS in their CASTLE!”
(As Sanders’ anger increases, the footage grows increasingly distorted, until it flickers one final time and we find ourselves in the arena - the Lost Cause is now wearing his ring gear, and taping up his wrists with razor wire.)
“And I know what you will say to me, my Brother; you will point to my OWN beloved, Alexandra. You will question how I can so decry love and mortal attachments while sitting side-by-side with my Dark Queen. And perhaps this is a contradiction. Perhaps I am a hypocrite, who deserves the fullest, most destructive fire of your vengeance… but I do not believe I am. I believe our kind CAN find partners, Tyson, but they must be as COMMITTED to the cause as WE are! Alexandra holds no love for this world of hate and scorn - she is no product of the world of men. She is a creature of the Mirror - a Dark Reflection, just as I am; as I THOUGHT that YOU had been. She will GLADLY set this world ablaze alongside me, stand hand-in-hand at Ragnarok and watch the World Serpent devour everything they’ve built. Because Alexandra remembers who and what she is, Tyson. She KNOWS that she is not one of them - but rather, the ANTITHESIS.”
(A beat.)
“You swore to take my breath tonight, dear Brother… I wonder, are you truly capable of acting on that promise? I so dearly hope you are. Because I did not come here to battle Tyson Sykes…”
(The footage flickers and the Dark Reflection materializes in the shadows behind Sanders, its two white pinprick eyes blazing into the camera lens. Sanders levels his own eyes on the camera and he grins.)
“I am looking... for the RIPPER.”
Grudge Match - Steel Cage Match
Jonathan Sanders vs Tyson Sykes
(Meg Reynolds stands outside the ring, as it’s slowly surrounded by a steel cage. There are weapons strewn about every which way; in every corner of the ring, and several in the center as well. Everything from chairs, tables and kendo sticks, to garbage cans, thumbtacks, light tubes and barbed wire!)
Meg Reynolds: The following contest is a Weapon-Filled Cage Match!
(The crowd cheers loudly at the prospect of seeing two guys beat the shit out of each other with pointy things, but also with blunt things.)
JR Freeman: This match is going to be absolutely intense! The ferocity these two men are going to bring is palpable!
Alfonso Banks: *Inexplicably playing bagpipes* I was listening!
("Blood Pigs" begins with a resounding scream, the sound of Otep Shamaya's voice
growling "TRAITORS!" as the lights dim and begin to strobe in time with the music. )
Meg Reynolds: Your first competitor in this Bloody Revenge match, THE LOST CAUSE, JONATHAN SANDERS!!!
(Around the 0:15 mark, when the rhythm changes and the whispered repetitions of "Blood Pig" begin, the lights cease strobing and return to a dim, moody version of "normal". At this point Sanders steps through the curtain, clad in his typical wrestling gear of baggy black shorts (a la classic CM Punk), a black t-shirt (usually his own merch or a band shirt) and black boots bearing the anarchy logo and the peace sign overlapping in white. Beside him stands Alexandra, dressed in black torn up jeans and a band shirt, cut up to a crop top. Standing on the entrance stage for a long minute with a resentful, bitter sort of energy, Sanders takes a moment to adjust his wrist-tape (always dyed to look like blood-stained bandages over self-harm wounds) before beginning a slow walk towards the ring, head down and bearing a hateful scowl. He'll occasionally crack a wicked, sadistic half-smirk at audience members who heckle him before rolling into the ring and standing, scanning around as his dark eyes gleam with violent anticipation. The young man then rolls each wrist in turn, wincing in pain with the action, though it seems to bring him some modicum of sadomasochistic pleasure as well, as an evil grin blooms across his features. From there he'll peel off the shirt, discard it haphazardly, then make his way to the far corner, briefly testing the ropes with one pull. He then lowers himself to a seated position a la Raven as he awaits his opponent, grinning his sardonic grin all the while. Alexandra moves around the outside of the cage to the point where he is, reaching through the cage to place her hand on his side.)
Meg Reynolds: And his opponent, the man who asked for this match. “The Ripper” TYSON SYKESSSSSS
('A modern-day warrior
Mean, mean stride
Today's Tom Sawyer
Mean, mean pride'
Leo's metal Cover of Tom Sawyer hits and Tyson Sykes busts through the curtain. Usually sporting a backwards hat and a cutoff graphic tee slightly too big for him that hangs slightly over his wrestling trunks, he surveys the crowd for a moment before speed-walking an intense lap around the ring. He then jumps onto the ring apron and climbs to the top rope, and it's anybody's guess whether you'll get some air guitar to Tom Sawyer, two raised arms, or two raised middle fingers, depending on "The Ripper's" mood that day. He then leaps the rest of the way over the top rope and circles the inside of the ring.)
JR Freeman: This match is sure to be one of the most brutal of the night.
Alfonso Banks: Uh..duh.. Look at the ring, I think every weapon NOT used in Candy and Carmen’s match is now in the ring.
JR Freeman: Is that even possible? I think there’s still some glitter hanging around too.
(The two men wait for the bell and as soon as it DINGS, the two men lock up. It looks like Sanders might get the first hand up. However Sykes uses his size and strength to his advantage and starts to overpower him. Alexandra climbs onto the cage and Sykes yells for her to get down. While the referee has his back turned, The Lost Cause low blows Sykes and down he goes. Sanders scrambles away before shaking his head and smirking in Alexandra’s direction as she hops down.)
JR Freeman: Of course, that Jezzebel would get involved.
Alfonso Banks: I believe he refers to her as his Lilith.
JR Freeman: Lilith? Who the fuck is that?
Alfonso Banks: The first REAL woman of the bible, Adam’s first wife, Queen of the Demons of Hell.
JR Freeman: That’s no Queen, that’s a fucking harpy. A low down.
(Alexandra starts towards the announce table, a menacing look on her face. She’s pointing at Jr Freeman, threatening him with violence.)
Alfonso Banks: Can you shut up? I don’t feel like dying because you don’t know how to keep your thoughts to yourself. Do you really want to deal with them, let’s just.. Focus on the match.
(Alfonso motions that JR is crazy and Alexandra glares at them for a few moments before returning to Jonathan's side of the ring. The attention goes back to the ring where Sanders rolls out of the ring and slides under the ring. He pulls out a metal bucket of leftover glitter from earlier and just shakes his head as he tosses it back under the ring. He reaches back under and pulls out a kendo stick. He smirks as he slides back in the ring and begins swinging it at Sykes. The first swing misses, but the second one CRACKS across Sykes chest. The crowd goes "OHHHHHHH" as Sykes doubles over. Sanders goes for another but Sykes catches the kendo stick and rips it out of Sanders hands! Sykes swings right at the FACE of Sanders, leaving a red mark on his face)
JR Freeman: That was definitely a wake up call, perhaps Sander’s mental state will be better now?
Alfonso Banks: If a hit to the head was all it took, that would have happened in the match with Alexandra.
(Sykes grabs Sanders and drags him over towards where Alexandra is. He kneels down looking at the woman, before dragging Sanders face across the fence, causing gashes to happen on his face. Alexandra slams against the cage, trying to claw at Syke’s face. Sykes pulls back and throws Sanders into the ringpost. Alexandra paces back and forth, wanting to get in there, but knowing that Jonathan wanted to do this on his own and she STILL needed to fight her own match after this. Blood is trickling down Sanders face from where Tyson tried to turn him into grated cheese.)
JR Freeman: OOO Sykes taunting Alexandra with the harm he’s bringing to her husband.
Alfonso Banks: The fact that she actually married him.. That’s just.. Strange. She could have anyone, why that loser.
(Sanders is leaning against the ring post and trying to regain his strength to climb back into the ring. He rolls in while Alexandra is screaming at Sykes. Sykes is leaning against the ring apron on the side where Alexandra is with his back to the ring.)
Alexandra Sanders: Sykes you traitorous piece of shit, you’ll pay for that. As baphomet is my witness.
Tyson Sykes: Shut up you fucking whore!
(Jonathan hears that and spins around in the ring, grabbing Sykes around the throat with a chain, pulling him back into the ring. Sykes had no choice but to stop speaking to Alexandra the way he was at that point. Something in Syke’s taunting of Alexandra gave Sanders a strength no one knew he had. Sykes is in the ring with Sanders now, Sanders goes on the attack, Sykes still sputtering from being choked by a giant piece of chain that was among the weapons. Sykes is pulling the chain off his throat as Sanders manages to nail him with a float-over reverse DDT, before putting Sykes into the Dopamine Deficiency. Sadly there is no submission and Sykes manages to use his hands to put the chain around Sanders throat, pulling him off, causing Sanders to break the hold.)
JR Freeman: Excellent display between both men, but it’s only a matter of.. Oh my god.. Is Sykes bleeding?
(Sykes is spitting up blood at this point and Sanders has a nice crimson mask forming. Both men look as if they might fall over at any moment. Sanders from the amount of blood loss and Sykes from the loss of oxygen. Sander’s spotting a moment of opportunity goes over and grabs a couple of bricks, before setting them up. When he finds the opportunity he curb stomps Tyson Sykes face RIGHT into the bricks. The bricks crumble under the weight of both men and Sykes is now busted open, probably losing a tooth or two. Sykes is shuttering when Sanders goes back on the attack, but when Sanders is lost in the moment, Sykes manages to get his hand on the bag of tacks and takes a handful, throwing them into Sanders face. Sanders stumbles back and Sykes gets up, pouring the remaining amount of them onto the mat, before spreading them out with his foot. Sanders gets the thumbtacks off his face before Sykes grabs him and hits the Syko Bomb into the thumbtacks. Alexandra starts trying to climb the cage screaming at Sykes, he just flips her off. At this point he knows what she’s trying to do and he’s not falling for it.)
JR Freeman: HOLY SHIT SYKO BOMB INTO THE THUMBTACKS!!!
Alfonso Banks: How is Sanders still moving after that? Just lay down man.. Take the loss.
(Sykes glares at Sanders, standing over him, he grabs a pair of handcuffs and drags him towards the ropes, handcuffing a beaten and bleeding Sanders to the ring. At this point Alexandra has tried to get around the ring, screaming for Sanders to fight back. Sykes has him in a crucified manner, handcuffed to the second rope. Alexandra is forced to watch helplessly as Sanders is beaten, Sykes unleashing a flurry of punches on Sanders, at this point her husband is coughing up blood, when Sykes suddenly stops as he sees the steel chair laying there. Lifting it up, he looks at both Sanders and Alexandra.)
Alexandra Sanders: ENOUGH!!!! STOP!!!!
JR Freeman: Oh now she begs.
Alfonso Banks: Of course she does, that’s her husband.
(Tyson grips the chair tightly, his knuckles whitening around the legs as he raises it high above his head, physically snarling as he glares down at his former blood-brother. Jonathan Sanders grins up at him, the blood having spread to coat his entire face in a crimson mask now, and shouts loud enough for the cameras to pick it up.)
Jonathan Sanders: DO IT!
JR Freeman: Did he just say “do it”? Is he ASKING Tyson Sykes to hit him?! That’s insane, Alf! What is WRONG with this man?
Alfonso Banks: If I had the answer to THAT, JR, I’d bottle it and SELL it!
(Sykes tightens his grip around the steel chair, pure rage and hatred written on his face, as the handcuffed and vulnerable Lost Cause simply CACKLES at his former stable-mate.)
Jonathan Sanders: Do it, Brother War! HIT ME! FINISH IT, ONCE AND FOR ALL!
Alexandra Sanders: Fight back my love!!!!
(Sykes rears back with the chair, preparing to bring it down, when a voice rings out from cageside.)
: TYSON!
(The Ripper’s eyes suddenly widen as he turns towards the source of the voice, where we see an unknown woman making her way down the ramp. Alexandra’s gaze snaps away quickly and she slinks around the direction towards them.)
JR Freeman: What the?! That’s Tyson Sykes’ fiance, Kayla!
Alfonso Banks: Jesus, JR, what is this; “bring your lover to ringside day”?
JR Freeman: Th-that’s… FULLY not a thing.
(The colour drains from Sykes’ face as he watches Kayla rush towards the cage, tears streaming down her face. He begins to slowly, softly shake his head, mouthing “No. No no no…” as she reaches the ring. She stares up at him with wide eyes and tries in vain to open the cage door, tugging on it against the padlock before the referee asks her to move back.)
Kayla: Tyson, PLEASE, don’t do this! My baby… don’t be what he wants you to be.
(Sykes’ lips pull into a wide frown, his body struggling to keep the chair upright. He turns his gaze to Kayla.)
Tyson Sykes: You KNOW what he did! YOU KNOW! EVERYTHING he took from me! From US!
(Kayla shakes her head at her lover, her face a mask of tears now.)
Kayla: I know, baby, but it doesn’t matter! Don’t let him take your humanity too! Be the man I love, NOT the monster he made you!
(Sykes inhales sharply, his gaze turning from Kayla to Jonathan, then back to Kayla and back to Jonathan again. He cries out in a mixture of rage and pain as he lets the chair drop harmlessly to his side, the steel clattering to the bloody, thumbtack-strewn mat. Sanders’ eyes are WILD, and he pulls against the handcuffs, his face LIVID in response.)
Jonathan Sanders: NO! Don’t you DARE walk away from me, Ripper! FINISH IT! END ME!
(Tyson turns to face the cage door, casting one backward glance over his shoulder at Sanders. He simply shakes his head.)
Tyson Sykes: Nah… you’re not worth it. Goodbye, brother.
(Sykes steps forward as the referee unlocks the cage door, allowing him to quickly descend the ring steps as Alexandra Sanders rushes towards Kayla. Sykes leaps down the steps and embraces his partner, the Dark Queen snarling at the pair and darting into the ring to tend to the Snake of Eden as the bell rings, declaring Tyson victorious. Tyson throws the handcuff keys at Alexandra’s feet into the ring from over the top of the cage.)
Meg Reynolds: Here is your winner by way of escape: TYYYYYSOOOOON SYYYYYYYYYYKES!
JR Freeman: Dios mio! He actually walked out! I didn’t know if Tyson had it in him!
Alfonso Banks: Aww, man! I wanted to see him crush Sanders’ head into a bloody paste, JR!
JR Freeman: So did Tyson Sykes, I suspect - but in the end, he kept his humanity AND picked up the win. I’d call that the best-case scenario!
Alfonso Banks: Yeah… I guess. At least I’ve got my bagpipes…
(As “Tom Sawyer” blares over the speakers again, Alexandra Sanders kneels down next to her husband, having uncuffed his wrists and now cradling his head in her arms as she glares DAGGERS through Sykes and Kayla. The final scene before we fade is the juxtaposition of the two couples; Tyson and Kayla arm-in-arm, celebrating happily as they saunter up the ramp together, with Jonathan and Alexandra kneeling in the wreckage of the war they have just waged. We hold on to this image for a long moment before we cut backstage.)
Winner= Tyson Sykes
We cut backstage to where Claire Anderson stands ready for an interview with Alexander Lyons.
Claire Anderson: We have a lot of great action here tonight at Demons Run, including matches featuring ANTITHESIS. I’m here now with ANTITHESIS member Alexander Lyons. Alex, how are the other members of ANTITHESIS preparing for their matches tonight?
Alexander Lyons: You're a fool if you think I’m just going to spill the battle plans to you Claire. Just rest assured that Tyson Sykes will be dealt with, and we will come out on top in the rumble. Now that we are rid of the cancer that was Tyson Sykes, we can be free to rise to our full potential. I can be free to rise to MY full potential without being sandbagged by deadweight.
Claire Anderson: It’s been said that ANTITHESIS wants all the championships this year. Have you come to a decision who you wish to challenge?
Alexander Lyons: I’m a wrestler Claire. I come from a wrestling family. This is what I was bred to do. I want the championship that truly speaks to me being the best WRESTLER. The most PURE wrestler of them all.
Claire Anderson: So you wish to challenge Pure Champion Devon Ryder.
Alexander Lyons: And the circle gets the square! See, I’ve never liked Devon Ryder, he preaches his drabble over and over and just annoys the piss out of me. I’m making it known now, I am coming for that Pure championship, and Devon Ruyder or whomever is champion when I do is going to HEAR…
Alex is cutoff by a man in a suit, who hands him some papers.
Alexander Lyons: What is this?
Strange Man: I represent PWE Victory Champion, Victoria Lyons. I have been sent to inform you that the phrase HEAR ME ROAR, is now the sole property of Victoria Lyons and The Pride. Any further use by those following a false queen with a false family will have legal charges brought against them.
Alexander Lyons: Seriously? The bitch put a copyright on the family catchphrase?
Strange Man: I’m just the messenger, and the message has been delivered.
The man leaves as quickly as he arrived, leaving Claire confused, and Alex annoyed.
Alexander Lyons: It seems my power hungry cousin is testing the waters of her new found power. People like her and Devon love pushing their own beliefs on people, telling us what is right and wrong. All I’m worried about is what’s right for me, and what’s right for ANTITHESIS. If she thinks taking three little words away from me really matters at all, she’s mistaken and would to best to keep her little…”family members” away from me.
Claire Anderson: Well, best of luck in your quest for the Pure Championship.
Alexander Lyons: Don’t need it, as soon as I get the opportunity, that championship is as good as mine, and I dare anyone to tell me otherwise.
Alex scoffs at the camera and sulks off camera left, leaving Claire alone.
Claire Anderson: Well…back to you.
United Title Match
Jack Russow vs. Gracie Lopez
JR Freeman: And I can’t wait for this match partner, we’re gonna see what happens when two generational talents finally lock up!
Alfonso Banks: Jack Russow has done absolutely nothing to deserve this title shot and I need to make sure he knows it. LET’S GO GRACIE!
(The lights in the arena go out, as Def Leppard's “Kick” starts to play as the crowd cheers as Gracie walks on stage. Pyro sprays across the stage and around the videoboard as she walks down the ramp. While walking down the ramp, she high fives some fans in the front row before rolling into the ring. She leaps up on the ring ropes and pyro sprays around the lighting rig above her as the crowd cheers for her again.)
JR Freeman: This young lady lights up any room she walks into but don’t you cross her, I’d wager she got her Papi’s temper!
Alfonso Banks: Eddie Lopez is a bonafide Hall of Famer, what the heck did the Russow’s ever do?
(The lights kick out as “KEEP YOUR HOPES UP HIGH AND YOUR HEAD DOWN LOW!” can be heard weakly, like on a speaker that is underwater. Until there’s a record scratch and we see the Tron kick to life with Levi Russow walking through a dusty arcade. He approaches a dead machine that suddenly lights up and turns on on it’s own. Levi turns, looks into the camera with a cheeky wink, and then turns back sliding a quarter into the machine…the 1-Up chime plays as we see a pixelated visage of Stan Lee scream “EXCELSIOR!”
Levi Russow: The Prodigal Son…Returns.
(Levi blows the camera a kiss as the arena turns completely dark again until…)
“WE ARE THE TRUE BELIEVERS!!!!”
(Jack Russow comes bounding out onto the ramp looking like ten million bucks as he runs from side to side pumping the fans up as he stops midway on the ramp and holds a peace sign to the sky as he looks up seemingly speaking to someone. Gracie and Jack are both adorned with armbands that say “NIC” on them as Jack slides into the ring and hits the handspring superhero pose. He pops up and fist bumps Gracie as he paces around to his corner as they both shed their entrance gear.)
Meg Reynolds: The following contest is for the Vacant PWS: Apex United Championship!
(The referee holds up the sadly vacated title as he shows it to both competitors who both kiss their fingers and press it to the belt.)
JR Freeman: He wasn’t champion for a long time but Max Delgado turned heads with that very championship…you know either of these two would be massively honored to rise up in his stead.
*DING*
(Jack and Gracie walk to the ring and shake hands as they start to circle each other until they hit the first lock-up. Jack gets wrapped in a side headlock as he backs up and shoots Gracie off the ropes into a shoulder bump as he hits the opposite rope jumping over her prone body on the rebound as she pops up and rushes Jack on his rebound looking for a headscissor variation but to everyone’s surprise, mid-rotation around Jack’s body, the slender Gracie finds a way to instead roll backwards as she floats around and takes Jack with a wicked looking armbar. Jack immediately kicks outwards and JUST reaches the ropes.)
JR Freeman; That could have been it!
Alfonso Banks: Gracie gets better every time I see her, there’s no way she doesn’t win tonight.
(Gracie breaks clean as Jack takes a deep breath and crawls up to one knee applauding her and giving her props. They spin and lock up again, this time Jack getting the upper hand as Gracie backs up and shoots him off into the ropes but Jack doesn’t go. He baseball slides still holding Gracie’s head as the fans start to clap for Gracie to get back into this…she gets up and starts hammering at Jack’s ribs which are clearly still injured as he lets go with the first hit as Gracie locks him in a quick pumphandle and lifts him into a flatliner, but the quickness of Jack is too prevalent as he sticks his arms down and handstands out of the move as he flips over into a leg drop as Gracie still hit the mat catching her across the back of the neck as he dives into the pin.)
1!
2!
KICK!
JR Freeman: It’s gonna take a lot more than that to put young Gracie away.
Alfonso Banks: A little tip of the cap to Max Delgado there! Looked like she was trying for that El Dorado pumphandle flatliner that Delgado won so many matches with.
(Jack and Gracie both sit up where they are and smile at each other nodding their heads as they both pull themselves back up to their feet. Gracie leans her face towards Jack and pats her cheek daring him to hit her. Jack looks at the crowd who are egging him on with a chant of “HIIIIT HER! HIIIIT HER! HIIIIT HER!” and Jack finally shrugs and plants her with a superkick! Gracie bounces back up quickly with a bicycle knee which just glances off of Jack’s face as he turns around, reaching up to his face, and feeling a trickle of blood down his cheek. He turns around and she’s shrugging at him. He nods his head as they both take turns diving for the others legs until Jack realizes her next move and balks as she dives for air but instead meets a low incoming busaiku knee from Jack that plants her cold. Jack rolls backwards up to his feet he reaches out and grabs the ropes flipping himself backwards on top of them as he looks up to the lights while he stands. He pounds his chest twice and let’s the rare 630 splash fly!)
JR Freeman: MAX VELOCITY 630!!!
1!
2!
THR-KICKOUT! GRACIE KICKS OUT!
JR Freeman: OH I thought that was IT partner!
Alfonso Banks: C’mon Gracie! I’ve got a 20 riding on you!
JR Freeman: …wait, what?
Alfonso Banks: …what?
(Jack rolls off the pin with his head in his hands with a look of absolute disbelief on his face but while he’s collecting his thoughts, Gracie has slipped over and rolls him up in a quick three quick pin!)
1!
2!
THRE-KICKOUT!
(Jack kicks out backwards as Gracie pulls herself up off the mat…Jack rushes her but she grabs him into a big Blue Thunder Bomb! But she doesn’t go for the pin!)
Alfonso Banks: Gracie what are you doing!?
(Gracie absolutely LAUNCHES herself looking for the Style and Grace but Jack JUST gets his knees up. He rolls Gracie up in a tight pin!)
1!
2!
Alfonso Banks: KICK OUT GRACIE!
….
….
….and kickout Gracie does!
JR Freeman: Jack Russow is asking himself what he has to do to put this fiery lass away.
Alfonso Banks: I can’t fathom what this must feel like, growing up in a nurturing environment together to having to physically fight each other.
(Jack pulls Gracie up but she catches him with a stiff uppercut sending his head snapping back and buying her a little time to back kick him in the stomach to double him over as she hits a running Canadian Destroyer!)
1!
2!
KICKOUT!
JR Freeman: Now it’s Gracie’s turn to wonder what she has to do! She’s gone for her big shots, what do either of these even have left in the tank.
(Jack staggers back up into the turnbuckle as he collapses into the corner…Gracie sees an opportunity and Jack rolls out of the way accidentally taking the middle turnbuckle with him as Gracie dives head first into the exposed metal that causes a steady trickle of blood from her forehead as she staggers back tripping over Jack’s body. Jack has no idea what’s going on or what’s happened, he’s just in win mode. So he grabs Gracie’s legs standing up with his legs grapevining hers as he looks at the fans…and with hesitation he looks to the sky, Gracie has already knocked herself unconscious before Jack even twists his body and collapses to the mat locking her in the Desolation Row!)
JR Freeman: But I…Gracie is OUT!
Alfonso Banks: NO! NO! THIS IS HIGHWAY ROBBERY!
(The referee checks on Gracie and sees she’s unconscious as he calls for the bell and Jack instantly lets go, flopping his body over to try and rouse Gracie. Eventually Gracie regains consciousness as Jack gently pulls her head into his chest with tears of joy as he leaves her in the hands of the EMTs…he hasn’t even realized until Meg Reynolds calls…)
Meg Reynolds: Here is your winner by referee stoppage…and…NEWWWWWWWWW!
(When she says “And NEW” the referee has walked up to Jack and started putting the title around his waist. Jack almost looks like he’s being attacked until he looks down and realizes he has the title.)
Meg Reynolds: -WWWW PWS: APEX UNITED CHAMPION…JACK…RUUUUUSSOOOOOW!
(Jack absolutely collapses to his knees as he pulls the belt off and cradles it in his hands like he’s looking at the culmination of his life’s pursuits up to this point. He was finally champion in a company boasting his father’s name as one of the Four Pillars. Jack presses the title to his head and lets the tears flow.)
Winner= AND NEW PWS APEX UNITED CHAMPION… JACK RUSSOW!
(Scene switches backstage and we see Cameron Fernandez standing outside of Jenn’s locker room.)
Cameron Fernandez: Sorry if I’m bothering you….
Jenn Makarios-Lopez: Oh you’re fine. I know you have some hard-hitting questions you want to ask, so go ahead, and ask away.
Cameron Fernandez: That’s not the type of reaction I was looking for, typically people always get upset at interviewers.
Jenn Makarios-Lopez: I can always change my mind…
Cameron Fernandez: Ok! So, do you care what number you get in that Rumble?
Jenn Makarios-Lopez: No not really, I know I can’t get 1 but that’s fine. I figured whatever number I get I’m gonna go out there and I’m gonna make a showcase out of myself, I’m gonna prove everyone wrong that has counted me out of this thing. Look, I don’t care if you’re my sister, or a friend… I’m going to go out there and look after myself, something I should have done a long time ago.
Cameron Fernandez: Let’s say you throw your sister out, how would she react?
Jenn Makarios-Lopez: Honestly? I don’t care. She can be angry at me all she wants but she should know and we’ve been down this path before, once that bell rings, nothing matters. Our sisterhood doesn’t, our friendship doesn’t… it’s go time. People want to push me to the side, and that’s fine but after tonight you’ll see that there’s still fire burning inside of me, the passion is STILL there, and I will make it to the end even if it kills me.
Cameron Fernandez: Those are some harsh words.
Jenn Makarios-Lopez: Are they? Maybe it’s been there all along and you haven’t been paying attention to it. That’s not on me, it’s on you and everyone else that is a part of the rumble. I feel that should be a warning for everyone in that rumble match, and if they don’t take me seriously, that’s their downfall.
(Jenn pushes the microphone away before she walks down the hallway before disappearing.)
Jr Freeman: It’s been a while since I’ve heard Jenn that fired up before.
Alfonso Banks: I think she’s done taking bullshit from people, you can hear it in her voice, and you can see it in her body language, That means trouble for everyone in that rumble match.
JR Freeman: My god that’s gonna be a blood bath, so many people who could win!
Alfonso Banks: I think Jenn is in my top 3 but I guess time will tell!
World Title Match
Mike Hawk © vs Cleo Philips
Meg Reynolds: The following contest is scheduled for ONE FALL, and it is for the PWS: Apex WOOOOOOORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!
(A loud pyro explosion leads into the beat to "Gangsta's Paradise", which echoes throughout the arena, prompting a HUGE pop from the audience. As the lyrics begin, Cleo makes her way out onto the stage sans her usual swagger, wearing a black “NIC” armband on her left bicep. She cracks a small, sad smile as she taps the armband, showing it to the camera before pointing up to the sky.)
#As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I take a look at my life, and realize there's nothin' left
'Cause I've been blastin' and laughin' so long
That even my momma thinks that my mind is gone#
Meg Reynolds: Introducing first; from the Bronx in New York City, New York; weighing in at 145 lbs. - she is “THE BODY SNATCHER”, CLEO PHIIIIIIIIIIILLIIIIIIIIIIIPS!
JR Freeman: The challenger is not the first to show respect to Nic tonight, Alf, but it’s still nice to see. I wonder if we can expect the same from her opponent?
Alfonso Banks: I just still can’t even believe he’s really GONE, man. Jesus. But yeah… here’s hoping.
(Cleo gives a nod as she points to the sky and then makes a fist, bringing it down to pound her chest twice, then points around the arena before making her way down the ramp as the song continues.)
[/i]
#But I ain't never crossed a man that didn't deserve it
Me be treated like a punk, you know that's unheard of
You better watch how you talkin' and where you walkin'
Or you and your homies might be lined in chalk#
(Once at ringside, Cleo jumps on the apron and rolls into the ring, where she postures and poses for the crowd, flexing her biceps with a primal yell as some more pyros go off.)
#I really hate to trip, but I gotta loc
As they croak, I see myself in the pistol smoke
Fool, I'm the kinda G the little homies wanna be like
On my knees in the night, sayin' prayers in the streetlight#
Alfonso Banks: I can’t help but wonder what is going through Cleo Phillips’ head at this moment, JR.
JR Freeman: Well, she certainly looks focused, Alf.
Alfonso Banks: Oh, I’m sure she is - but you have to wonder how STRONG that focus is. I mean, she knew Nic for a lot longer than Mike
(Finally, she jumps up onto the turnbuckle and poses with her arms crossed, then pounds her chest and points at the sky again as the chorus comes in.)
#Been spendin' most their lives livin' in the gangsta's paradise
Been spendin' most their lives livin' in the gangsta's paradise
Keep spendin' most our lives livin' in the gangsta's paradise
Keep spendin' most our lives livin' in the gangsta's paradise#
JR Freeman: Cleo looks determined, even more-so than last time! I guess being a challenger really must bring her back to the days before wrestling, when she had to fight to survive!
Alfonso Banks: Or all that mean shit that Hawk said. Could be that too.
JR Freeman: Well, Hawk did say that Cleo has a hard time controlling her emotions the way that he can; I have to wonder, will we see that come into play?
Alfonso Banks: There is LITERALLY no way for us to know that, JR.
(A few moments of silence pass, as some workers bring out a large fake brick wall. A mysterious-sounding song starts playing, before giving way to some heavy guitar. Smoke starts billowing out from around the stage, as the song grows to a crescendo, getting faster and more intense, the lights changing rapidly from blue to yellow, until finally the main part of the song comes in, as a heavy metal version of the 1990’s X-Men TV show theme, played by the band Powerglove, comes in, and Apex world champion Mike Hawk punches through the breakaway brick wall, in trunks, wristbands and boots the same colour as the crimson armour of Cyttorak, worn famously by The Juggernaut in X-Men comics. With the extra red bit where underwear would sit, making him look even more like the character. He’s also got on a replica Juggernaut helmet and gauntlets, with a “NIC” armband on each arm.)
Meg Reynolds: And her opponent; from Toronto, Ontario Canada; weighing in tonight at 245 lbs.; he is your REIGNING, DEFENDING, PWS: APEX WOOOOOOOOOOOOOORLD CHAMPION; “THE PRESIDENT OF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING”, MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE HAWK!
(Hawk’s got the world title on his waist, and mouths “Nothing can stop The Juggernaut, let’s fucking GO!” as he slowly but surely walks down the ramp, slowly removing the gauntlets on his way to the ring, followed by stopping just outside the ring and getting on one knee, having 2 people lift the Juggernaut helmet off of him. Cracking his knuckles, he gives the NIC armband on his right arm a few pats, looking up, holding the belt and audibly saying “This one’s for you, buddy!”. Mike then steps into the ring through the top and middle ropes, and slowly removes his world title belt.)
JR Freeman: Mike Hawk recently said “nothing can stop the Juggernaut”, but will Cleo be able to stop him tonight!?
Alfonso Banks: That would imply that Cleo Phillips is nothing!
JR Freeman: Or that comics are wrong.
Alfonso Banks: JR! How could you SAY something like that!? Comic books are ALWAYS correct! ALWAYS!
(Hawk surrenders his title belt to the referee - though not before giving it a great big exaggerated kiss on the faceplate - and rolls his wrists, hopping from foot to foot and shaking things out as the ref holds up the belt in the centre of the ring. Hawk and Cleo then come face-to-face, jaw-jacking with each other, and Mike pops a little sideways, arrogant grin as he extends his hand to Cleo. Phillips looks down at the proffered hand and considers shaking it, but when she catches the look on Hawk’s face - and, possibly, hears the chorus of booing from the audience at the prospect - she slaps his hand away and throws a STIFF right hand that connects with Hawk’s jaw! He stumbles backwards as the bell rings, and the challenger wastes no time following up with another shot, then another, until she’s thrown the champion sufficiently off-balance to force him into the nearest corner to recuperate. Cleo does not allow this, however, as she takes off after him and NAILS Hawk with a Running Knee in the corner, sending him slumping to the mat.)
JR Freeman: DAMN! What a combination from Cleo Phillips to start this off!
Alfonso Banks: You’ll notice our “moral” former champion completely snubbed Hawk’s offered handshake.
JR Freeman: Oh, COME ON, Alf! Even YOU know he was only offering one to mock her over her words about respect!
Alfonso Banks: I mean… I don’t NOT know it.
JR Freeman: Boy, the bending-over-backwards to kiss his ass is startin’ EARLY tonight, Alf; you gonna need a Tylenol before the Rebel Rumble?
Alfonso Banks: No, thanks, I ate a BUNCH of brownies before I came out here. Delicious we-
JR Freeman: Not legal here, pal.
Alfonso Banks: Delicious, TOTALLY REGULAR brownies.
(Back in the ring, Cleo has continued to take the fight to Hawk, following up her corner knee with a Basement Dropkick in the corner to Hawk’s slumped form. As he hits the ground, she grabs him by the heel and drags him out of the corner, firing a few quick kicks into his ribs before nailing Hawk’s back and shoulder region with a Standing Elbow Drop! She seems to consider, for a moment, going for a cover, but just grins at the crowd and shakes her head, waggling one finger “no” with a smirk as she grabs Hawk by the hair, eliciting a pop from the audience. Cleo drags the champion to the centre of the ring before going for an early application of the Lockup, looking to wear down Hawk’s arm just as she did in their iron man match! She grabs the hold tightly and WRENCHES backwards, fully pulling one of Mike’s shoulders off the mat, as Hawk yells out and tries to scramble for the ropes. Cleo tries her best to hold him back, throwing her entire weight behind the hold and grabbing his fingers, pulling them backwards individually, which causes Hawk to shout louder and smack the mat once with his closed fist so it won’t count as a tap. He manages to twist himself around, actually throwing MORE of his shoulder into the hold, but he grimaces and pushes through the pain to use his feet to twist himself towards the ropes, finally able to drape one foot over and force a clean break.)
JR Freeman: Oh, this is a smart strategy from the champion; this arm injury nearly cost Hawk the iron man match, so it makes perfect sense to target what is, by now, a known weak point!
Alfonso Banks: *inexplicably playing bagpipes* …I was listening!
JR Freeman: Alright, what’s with the… how did… where the fuck did you even GET bagpipes?!
Alfonso Banks: Bagpipe store.
(Cleo separates from Hawk and stands up, allowing her opponent time to get to his feet - clutching his arm and grumbling the entire time - then IMMEDIATELY goes back on the offensive, rushing towards the champ for an Enzuigiri… but Hawk manages to duck under it and nail Cleo with a German Suplex on the rebound! She hits the mat and rolls, trying to shake off the move, but Hawk spins around and floors her with a Discus Lariat before she can get her bearings, eliciting a mixed reaction - though mostly boos - from the audience! Hawk simply smirks in response to this and swaggers over to the fallen Cleo, extending his hand again to ostensibly help her up. He grins down at her as she very nearly takes it, but when she shakes off the cobwebs and comes to her senses she realizes the gesture is insincere and smacks his hand away again! Hawk then frowns and grabs Cleo Phillips by the hair, pulling her up to her feet and extending his hand again.)
Mike Hawk: Shake my hand, god dammit!
(Cleo just glares at Mike and shakes her head.)
Cleo Phillips: Earn it.
(Hawk shouts in frustration as he begins throwing sharp rights, with Cleo answering in kind. The pair brawl around the ring, their right hands swiftly evolving into trading elbows. Cleo blasts Hawk in the jaw so hard he stumbles backwards, then Hawk responds in kind, earning a rubbing of the jaw and an appreciative nod from the challenger, who takes a few steps back and WHALES on him with her follow-up strike! Hawk staggers backwards and stumbles around, unsteady on his feet, but then as Cleo moves in to follow up he uses his momentum to spin around into a Rolling Elbow, knocking her off-balance as well! Hawk then scoops Cleo up onto his shoulders, possibly looking for an early F-Bomb, but the Body Snatcher kicks her way out of it and lands back on the mat. She immediately whirls around throwing another elbow, ready to keep the fight going, but Hawk blocks this one and answers with a left hand. He then wraps his arms around her waist and fully deadlifts Cleo to drop her on one-leg, a kind of single-leg Atomic Drop! Hawk then grabs the stunned Cleo by the hair, dragging her into the corner as he tosses her haphazardly onto the turnbuckle, before stepping back, across the ring, looking for Clean Up on Aisle YOUR FACE! into the corner, but Cleo moves, leaving Hawk to drive his crotch area into the turnbuckle, causing the world champion to fall to the mat, grasping his groin in pain.)
Alfonso Banks: Oooh, that’s GOTTA hurt!
JR Freeman: God damn, right in the gonads!
Alfonso Banks: Wow, that’s like something I would say!
JR Freeman: Yeah, I don’t know what came over me, I’m a little concerned.
(Back in the ring, as Hawk struggles on the mat, audibly swearing, Cleo Phillips grabs hold of the arm that she’s been working and slides out of the ring, dragging him further into the corner and SLAMMING his elbow into the steel ring post with ferocity! He recoils and tries to pull his arm away but she catches it and repeats the action, then twists him around so his elbow is bending AWAY from the buckle and cinches in the Lockup AROUND the steel ring post! Hawk cries out in pain and struggles, while the referee IMMEDIATELY begins to count.)
1!
2!
3!
4!
(Cleo eventually offers a clean break at 4.5, but she kind of smirks and shrugs into the hard-cam, mouthing “He deserved it. Punk-ass bitch.” before sliding into the ring to lift Hawk back to his feet, tucking his head under her arm and looking for the Set it Off! Hawk manages to gather enough wherewithal to shove her away as she begins to turn, though, causing her to rebound into the ropes and get caught with a German Suplex! However, the challenger lands on her feet and when Hawk turns around, surprised, he gets caught with a New York Minute! Cleo goes for a cover…)
ONE!
TWO!
NO! Hawk gets a shoulder up!
JR Freeman: Oh, WHAT a move there by Cleo Phillips! A stunning show of her athleticism for sure!
Alfonso Banks: Maybe so, JR, but it looks like she might be paying the price - she doesn’t appear to have landed on that knee very well.
(Back in the ring, it seems Alf may be right, as Cleo limps a little bit as she moves away to let Mike get back to his feet. Sizing Hawk up, Cleo waits until he’s gotten up, then runs at the stunned champion, looking for the Milly Rock, but Hawk grabs her and drives her into the mat with an FYIA outta nowhere! He smirks and pins her, but gets an IMMEDIATE rope break, as Cleo’s arm slides easily under the bottom rope.)
Mike Hawk: Oh, son of a-!
(He then drags her, by one arm and one leg, to the center of the ring, and pins her again!)
ONE!
TWO!
THR-NO, CLEO KICKS OUT!
(Hawk slams the mat in frustration, shouting “FUCK!” as he stands up, looking around at the crowd.)
JR Freeman: If it weren’t for that rope break, Mike would’ve retained his title right there!
Alfonso Banks: Whether Cleo wins it or not, he’ll ALWAYS be MY champion!
JR Freeman: Why is simping for Mike Hawk your primary objective in these matches?
Alfonso Banks: Why!? Fuckin’ LOOK at him!
JR Freeman: …Y’know what, you have a point.
Alfonso Banks: I do!?
JR Freeman: No, I just wanted to make you feel less insane.
(Hawk smacks the mat in frustration and stands back up, staring down at Cleo with a complicated set of emotions on his face. He thrusts his hand towards her as she begins to come to.)
Mike Hawk: Shake my fucking hand, Phillips!
(Cleo looks up, groggy, and nearly takes the proffered hand before realizing where she is and smacking it away again, lifting herself back up.)
Cleo Phillips: If you want it, EARN it!
(Hawk flies into a rage at this and runs back to hit the ropes, throwing himself forward for a jumping Shoulder Block, then grabs Cleo’s leg and pulls her towards the centre of the ring.)
Mike Hawk: Oh, I’ll fuckin’ EARN it alright! Hiyaaaaah!
(Hawk twists Cleo’s legs into a pretzel, locking in the Reckless Leg Syndrome! The challenger struggles and reaches out for the ropes, trying to crawl forward, but Hawk pulls her back into the centre of the ring.)
JR Freeman: Oh no! Cleo’s in a bad way here!
Alfonso Banks: Could it be?! I’m readying my bagpipes!
JR Freeman: Wait, what? Oh no, why? Should I be concerned about this?
Alfonso Banks: Don’t worry about it.
JR Freeman: I am ABSOLUTELY worried about it!
(Cleo reaches for the ropes, but Hawk, learning from his mistakes, walks to the center of the ring, dragging her away from them. She slams on the mat a couple of times with her fists, not counting as tapping out, instead psyching herself up, as she lifts herself up with her hands, walking on them over to the ropes, but before she can reach them, Hawk pulls her back to the center of the ring! He wrenches on the hold, saying “Tap out, damn you!”, to which Cleo responds “You’ll have to kill me!”, before finally powering through, dragging Hawk with her as she pulls herself to the ropes!)
(Hawk’s forced to break the hold, but lets it go to a count of 3 first. Cleo manages to stand, Hawk standing at the same time. Cleo goes on the offensive again immediately, hitting a clothesline that knocks Hawk off his feet, before heading to the top rope, jumping off with a 450 legdrop! The crowd applauds her impressive athleticism, but she doesn’t have time to bask in it, instead grabbing Hawk and lifting him to his feet, looking for the Set It Off, but Hawk punches her in the gut, grabbing HER instead, hitting a vertical suplex. He stops for just a moment to catch his breath, before picking her up again, hitting a running powerslam, then flips her over, locking in a crossface! Cleo struggles for only a moment, before elbowing him in the head multiple times, Hawk finally breaking the hold after the 5th or 6th one.)
(Hawk stands up, picking Cleo up off the mat, bringing her to a standing position as he brings her to the turnbuckle again, thinking it can’t possibly end badly a SECOND time. He gets onto the turnbuckle, bringing Cleo up with him, looking for the CTEmergency, but before he can even lift her, Cleo pushes Hawk off the turnbuckle, making him crash and burn in the ring! He stands up rather quickly, but Cleo dives off with a crossbody, then lifts him off the mat to hit the SET IT OFF! She nods, mouthing “I stopped you”, before dragging Hawk to the center of the ring and pinning him.)
ONE!
TWO!
THRE-NO! Through SHEER determination and animalistic instinct, Hawk kicks out again!
JR Freeman: Oh Dios Mio! Hawk actually kicked out of that!
Alfonso Banks: *inexplicably playing bagpipes* I was listening!
JR Freeman: What the- what store even sells ONLY bagpipes? I don’t think that store exists!
Alfonso Banks: Sure it does!
JR Freeman: Oh yeah, what is it?
Alfonso Banks: Bagpipe store.
JR Freeman: Oh, come on!
(Cleo mounts Hawk while he’s on the ground, laying into him with lefts and rights. She’s furious with the champion for continuously kicking out! She stands up, but her leg gives out, so she decides to stay on the ground, locking in an armbar on Hawk’s bad arm! Hawk grimaces, reaching for the ropes, but Cleo stays in the center of the ring. He starts swinging at her with his other arm, hitting her multiple times in the face and body, until Cleo finally releases the hold, making Hawk clutch his arm in pain! Cleo lifts Hawk up, but Mike’s one step ahead of her, hitting her multiple times in the gut with his shoulder! He then lifts her up, above his head and into a back body drop, before picking her up and tossing her out of the ring, diving after her with a suicide dive, sending both of them to the floor below!)
JR Freeman: One thing I like about Hawk’s matches is that, for all the shit-talking, nonchalant attitude, disregarding his opponents, and the use of jokes in his promos, in the ring he doesn’t fuck around!
Alfonso Banks: No, indeed, if he did then this would be a very different type of show!
JR Freeman: What?
Alfonso Banks: Sorry, I’m still really hi-
JR Freeman: Illegal!
Alfonso Banks: Um, FULL! Very full from the delicious, REGULAR brownies I ate!
JR Freeman: Nice save.
(The out-of-ring count starts, as the duo both stand.)
ONE!
(Hawk punches Cleo. Cleo punches back.)
TWO!
(Cleo hits some high kicks to Hawk’s chest, making him fall, but he quickly gets back and and retaliates with a big boot!)
THREE!
(Cleo jumps up to the apron, jumping off anf looking for a hurricanrana, but Hawk catches her in mid-air!)
FOUR!
(Hawk slams Cleo into the ring steps, before sliding into the ring himself!)
FIVE!
SIX!
(Cleo stirs, coming to and waking up!
SEVEN!
EIGHT!!
(Cleo slides back into the ring, with Hawk immediately whipping her into the ropes. On the rebound she tries for Milly Rock, but he ducks it, lifting her instead for an awkward powerbomb! He goes to pick her up, but Cleo grabs and sweeps the leg, tripping Hawk, before kipping up herself, bringing The President of Pro Wrestling to the corner, slamming his head into the turnbuckle pad a few times! Hawk catches himself after time 5, then, returning the favour, slamming Cleo’s face into the turnbuckle pad 5 times as well, before Cleo catches herself and hops up on the turnbuckle! Hawk mouths “Oh no you don’t!” and climbs up with her this time! Cleo throws a huge right hand at Hawk, trying to knock him off, but he maintains his balance and fires back in kind. The pair continue to trade blows on the top rope for several more seconds, with each strike from Cleo nearly knocking Hawk to the floor, and each strike from Hawk nearly knocking CLEO to the floor. The crowd responds with the obligatory “YAY!” when Cleo connects and “BOO!” when Mike Hawk does, but this split appreciation turns to joint concern when Cleo is able to take advantage of a dazed Mike Hawk, cradling his head under her arm, possibly looking for the Set it Off. Hawk’s not quite out YET, though, and he manages to - quite precariously, turn himself around while balancing on the top rope and pull Cleo up onto his shoulders, grinning as he looks towards the British Announce Table.)
JR Freeman: Oh no, I don’t like the look in Hawk’s eyes right now. He may be thinking of sending Cleo Phillips through our British Announce Table…
Alfonso Banks: Oh, yeah, I meant to ask about that! Why do we even HAVE one of those, JR? I mean, who is it FOR?!
JR Freeman: Well, the Brits, obviously.
Alfonso Banks: Okay, right, but, like - we don’t really NEED a British announce table, do we? I mean, they SPEAK English over here, JR - the country is LITERALLY CALLED England!
JR Freeman: I don’t know, Alf; have YOU ever tried to parse Cockney rhyming slang?
Alfonso Banks: …You know what? That’s fair.
(Hawk takes a moment to steady himself, trying to find better footing to allow him a more sure grip on his challenger… but at this point, it’s CLEO PHILLIPS’ turn to come to her senses in the nick of time, fighting her way off of Mike’s shoulders with a series of elbows to the head and controlled flailing. This sends the World Champion completely off-balance, but Cleo manages to catch herself on the apron, and she quickly climbs back up to the top rope to grab Mike’s head under her arm once more before leaping off the top… for a SET IT OFF FROM THE TOP ROPE THROUGH THE BRITISH ANNOUNCE TABLE!)
JR Freeman: OH DIOS MIO!
Alfonso Banks: HOLY FUCKING SHITNUGGETS!
Billiam T. Jameston IV: COR BLIMEY!
(The pair lie there for a solid 30 seconds, totally unmoving, as ringside medical staff quickly tend to them and check for consciousness and signs of concussion. After receiving an all-clear from the lead EMT, the referee begins to count them both out.)
1!
JR Freeman: My god, Alf, that was IMPRESSIVELY quick thinking on the part of the challenger - WHAT a reversal!
2!
Alfonso Banks: God, TELL me about it, JR; he was SO close to retaining this one!
3!
JR Freeman: I am seeing NO movement from the champion OR the challenger just yet, Alf; anything from your angle?
4!
Alfonso Banks: I’m sitting like 10-feet away from you at MOST - we’ve got pretty much the SAME angle, JR!
5!
(The pair have begun to stir, now, but still neither has reached their feet. Hawk has managed to roll onto his side and is clutching his neck with a pained expression.)
JR Freeman: We may be about to witness a count-out victory for Cleo here, Alf!
Alfonso Banks: Which means Hawk would keep the belt! YES! I’ve got 400 smackers on him in the betting pool!
6!
(As the referee continues to count, the pair are struggling to roll over and reach their knees, when suddenly BIG MO’ comes running in through the crowd, and steps over the barricade!)
JR Freeman: What the?! It’s Big Mo’!
Alfonso Banks: Oh no! And we STILL haven’t found Tiny Shemp!
7!
(Big Mo’ steps over Cleo’s fallen body, the challenger grabbing limply at her ankles, before deadlifting Mike Hawk with both hands and sliding him back into the ring. She turns around, ignoring the chorus of boos and trash pelting her from the crowd, then grins wickedly as she makes her way towards Cleo.)
8!
(She grabs Cleo Phillips and tosses HER into the ring, too, then sidles over to Mike while the referee is checking on Cleo and slides him something under the bottom rope. Hawk takes a look at the object and comedically gasps, revealing it to the audience to be a pair of studded brass knuckles!)
JR Freeman: Oh no, I don’t like this…
Alfonso Banks: Well I do, JR! Hahaha, GET her, Mr. President! Knock her out cold!
JR Freeman: Don’t you have a MASSIVE crush on Cleo Phillips?
Alfonso Banks: I mean, I DID, but I recently found out she doesn’t exactly play for the same team, if ya know what I’m sayin’.
JR Freeman: You mean she’s gay. Yes, I already knew that.
Alfonso Banks: And you didn’t TELL me?!
JR Freeman: It never came up! …Also I thought it would be much funnier this way.
Alfonso Banks: …God dammit, JR, you’re RIGHT, this IS funnier. Well done.
(Back in the ring, Hawk eyes the brass knuckles and then grins a sly, devilish grin as he surreptitiously slips them on, then turns to face Cleo Phillips, who’s also getting up by this point. Big Mo’ sees what Mike is thinking and smirks, stepping onto the apron to get the referee’s attention. Mike looks at Cleo, whose attention is ALSO on Mo’, then at the distracted referee, and then at his own knuckles. His face becomes a smirk again as he rears back to strike, taking a few steps back for a HUGE swing… but then abruptly stops himself! He looks back at his own fist, his face a mask of indecision and conflicting emotions. He looks out into the crowd, pelting him with boos and jeering remarks, as his face runs the gamut from anger to desperation to confusion to what looks like disappointment, back to anger again, before scrunching up his face and shouting “OH GOD DAMMIT!”)
JR Freeman: Wait, NOW what is he planning?
(Mike suddenly steps forward to grab the challenger by the shoulder and spin her around to face him.)
Mike Hawk: CLEO!
(She looks at Hawk apprehensively, as he raises his brass-knuckle-clad fist… and promptly TAKES THEM OFF?! The crowd EXPLODES as Mike then tosses the weapon away, staring Cleo in the eyes. Hawk extends his hand towards her one more time, all swagger gone, a serious expression etched across his face.)
Mike Hawk: Let’s finish this!
(Cleo smirks at him and does not take his hand, but nods and signals for a test of strength.)
Cleo Phillips: Aight, let’s go!
(The pair lock up in the centre of the ring again as Big Mo' jumps down from the apron, shaking her head in disgust.)
JR Freeman: I can't believe this! Hawk actually REJECTED the brass knuckles - and Big Mo' does NOT seem happy about it!
Alfonso Banks: What?! He REJECTED them?! Come ON, Mike, this isn’t that creepy chick from 6th grade who kept coming onto you at recess even though she had horrible fish breath and didn’t know how to spell the word “Pikachu”, you can’t just REJECT them like that!
JR Freeman: That was a… weirdly specific analogy there, Alf. You, uh… you feelin’ oka-
Alfonso Banks: I don’t wanna talk about it.
(It's very clear the pair are still nursing their injuries from earlier - Cleo Phillips is clearly favouring her left leg and Mike his right arm - but neither one is willing to quit, as they power through the pain - each person fully collapsing in the test of strength at least once and falling to one knee, but fighting their way back up - and ultimately Hawk takes the advantage, kneeing Cleo in the gut and lifting her up, looking for the F-Bomb… but the Body Snatcher fights out of it again! She fires a whole host of elbows into Mike's neck and head, then drops to the mat and spins around, looking for the New York Minute. Hawk manages to duck underneath it, however, and drops her with a Snap Powerslam! Hawk then takes a few steps back and hits the mat, as we’ve seen him do before, balancing on his fists and the tips of his toes as he waits for Cleo to get back up… then springs forward to nail the Fuck You, I’m Awesome!)
JR Freeman: FYIA! FYIA! THIS ONE MAY BE OVER!
Alfonso Banks: YEEEESSS! Oh, I swear, I am gonna play SO MANY sick bagpipes solos if he pulls this off!
JR Freeman: Oh… Good…
(Hawk goes for a cover, as expected.)
ONE!
TWO!
TH-NO! Big Mo’ pulls him off of Cleo!
(Hawk stands up, his expression LIVID as he turns around to face her!)
Mike Hawk: What the hell are you DOING?!
Big Mo’: That wasn’t the agreement! Why ain’t you use the knuckles like we talked about?!
Mke Hawk: …Fuckin'... BECAUSE, god dammit!
Big Mo’: Because why?!
Mike Hawk: …Because I have to do this myself, okay? I need to know I EARNED it!
(Big Mo’ steps forward, getting directly in the World Champion’s face. He tells her to step back, but she just shakes her head.)
Big Mo’: Earned SHIT! You PAID me to help you fuck her up - so DO it!
(She shoves the brass knuckles back into his hands. Mike looks down at them, furrows his brow and shoves them right BACK at her. Big Mo’ takes the knux, narrows her eyes and puts them on.)
Big Mo’: FINE. If YOU ain’t gonna fuck her up, I guess I will!
(Mo' shoves Mike out of the way, preparing to step past him… just in time to catch a MILLY ROCK from Cleo, sending her crashing to the mat! Cleo turns to shout at her fallen friend-turned-foe about what she gets for sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong, but Mike uses this opportunity to take advantage, running forward and leaping over Big Mo’s body to floor Cleo with an FYIA ONTO her fallen enemy!)
JR Freeman: FYIA! FYIA! Dios Mio, and ONTO the body of Big Mo’, too!
Alfonso Banks: Damn, that's gotta hurt at least TWICE as much as taking one onto the body of REGULAR Mo'!
(As the referee rolls Big Mo’s body out of the ring, Hawk covers Cleo, and the official hurries back for the count…)
ONE!
TWO!
THR-NO! SOMEHOW Cleo gets a shoulder up!
JR Freeman: Amazing! I thought that was over for SURE!
Alfonso Banks: WHAT?! Impossible! Where the Hell did this referee learn to count, in… uh… non… counting… school?!
JR Freeman: That one kinda get away from ya, partner?
Alfonso Banks: I think you KNOW it did.
(Hawk shakes his head, incredulous, then pounds the mat a few times! He looks up at the referee with a shocked, frustrated, bewildered expression on his face, then starts to argue about the count, holding up three fingers and shouting “COME ON! You’re JOKING, right?!” and “That MUST have been three!” before being assured that it was, in fact, only two. Hawk runs his fingers through his hair in frustration, exhaling audibly, but then he inhales again, closes his eyes and his expression becomes more determined.)
Mike Hawk: Alright. Alright. FINE. We’ll do it THIS way.
(Hawk makes his way towards Cleo’s fallen body, the challenger trying to stagger groggily to her feet, and grabs her by the hair, pulling her to a more-vertical base. She throws a few punches into his midsection, trying to regain some momentum, and manages to double Hawk over. Cleo’s clearly still not 100% recovered but she knows she can’t waste this opportunity, so she throws a swift Enzuigiri to the champion, causing her to collapse on her injured leg and sending Hawk staggering back into the corner. The crowd is champing at the bit with duelling chants at this point - “BO-DY SNATCH-ER!” and “LET’S GO HAWK!” - and the paire are both down for enough long agonizing seconds that the referee begins to count.)
1!
2!
3!
4!
(Both manage to slowly struggle to their feet now, though, getting vertical at roughly the same time, and Cleo TAKES OFF towards Hawk at a run, leaping into the air for another Milly Rock… but Hawk has the wherewithal to duck which sends Cleo crashing into the top turnbuckle, and allowing him to catch her on his shoulders. He then walks out of the corner, struggling to keep his grip with his injured arm, then yells out again as he falls sideways, driving Cleo into the mat with the F-BOMB!)
JR Freeman: F-BOMB! MIKE HAWK DROPS THE F-BOMB!
Alfonso Banks: YESSSSSS! *excited bagpiping*
JR Freeman: …Oh wow, I really truly HATE that!
(Hawk pants heavily as he drags himself over to Cleo’s body, draping an arm over her shoulders…)
ONE!
TWO!
THREE! IT’S OVER!
Meg Reynolds: Here is your winner AND STILL PWS: Apex WOOOOOORLD CHAMPION, “The President of Professional Wrestling'', MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE HAAAAAAAAAAWK!
(Hawk rises to his feet with an expression of astonishment, his eyes wide as saucers as the referee calls for the bell and raises his hand. Powerglove’s cover of the X-Men theme starts off again as confetti explodes from the ceiling, and Hawks’ bewilderment quickly morphs into amazement, as he beams triumphantly, raising the belt high above his head and running laps around the ring, whooping and hollering excitedly!)
Mike Hawk: I DID IT! HOLY JESUS FUCKING SHITTING ASSHOLE CHRIST, I ACTUALLY DID IT! NOTHING CAN STOP THE JUGGERNAUT!
JR Freeman: Well, he’s certainly, uh, passionate-AUGH!
Alfonso Banks: *Loud, horrible bagpiping noises, badly out-of-tune.* YES! I KNEW you could do it, Mr. President! Oh Champion my Champion!
(Alfonso’s horrific bagpiping continues as someone mercifully cuts his headset microphone, and the camera cuts back to the ring where Cleo Phillips is being seen to by the ring crew. Z-Money hits the ring again, carrying a slightly more reasonable number of water bottles this time - though still entirely too many for the situation - but Cleo brushes him aside as she pulls herself back to her feet. Hawk glances over at her corner to see what’s going on, then slings the belt over his shoulder and strides confidently towards her, extending his hand one last time. There is no swagger in it, no mocking energy, just pure respect for a powerful challenger. Cleo thinks about it for a moment, then gives a little half-smile and a nod as she shakes Mike’s hand again, pulling him in for a single shoulder bump. He laughs it off and raises her arm, eliciting a pop from the audience for both competitors, who then point to the sky and mouth “THANK YOU, NIC!” as we cut away once more.)
JR Freeman: Well, it was a hard-fought match, Alf, but in the end, Hawk actually pulled it off - and, it seems, won back some of Cleo’s respect in the process.
Alfonso Banks: They told me I had to stop bagpiping or they’d cut my microphone again, JR, but I agree! Both competitors put on a HELL of a showing tonight, but this just further serves to cement that Hawk is STILL every bit as deserving of that belt as those who’ve held it before him - hell, maybe even MORE so!
JR Freeman: Absolutely agreed, Alf - but coming up next we’ve got the Nic Powell Memorial REBEL RUMBLE, where we’ll finally get to see who will be the NEXT challenger Mike Hawk will have to overcome! Stay tuned, folks, it’s comin’ up next!
Winner= AND STILL PWS:APEX WORLD CHAMPION… MIKE HAWK
Nic Powell Memorial Rebel Rumble
Winner fights for World Title at Destiny
Entrants: Alexandra Calaway, Alexis Makarios, Miss Puppies, Spuds Guzzman Jr, Violet Amelia Holt, Dylan Howell, Cassie Wolfe, Chris Page, Heather Haze ,Chaz Holiday, Corey Bull, Mack McKane, Jennifer Makarios-Lopez, David Shane, Miles Kasey, Crash Rodriguez, Malachi, Devon Ryder, Marcus Redd, Marcus Cage, Dionysus, Richard Rider, Moondust, Max Johnson, Chris Blade, Juan Manuel Cabrera Jr, Travis Ryan, Patty, Stacy O'Brien, and The Squid-Man
(Meg Reynolds stands in the middle of the ring, microphone in hand.)
Meg Reyonlds: Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time for the Nic Powell Memorial REEEEBEEELLL RUUUUMBBBBLLLLLLE MAAAAATCH!
(The crowd cheers wildly, before breaking out into chants of “Nic! Nic! Nic! Nic! Nic!”)
Meg Reynolds: The rules are as follows.2 competitors will enter the match. After 2 minutes, and every 90 seconds thereafter, another wrestler will enter. This will continue until all 30 people have entered the ring. You can ONLY be eliminated by going over the top rope and having both feet hit the floor! At the end of the match, the last person standing will be declared the winner, and get a WORLD TITLE match at Destiny!
(The lights dim. A few familiar banjo notes play. The crowd is cautiously optimistic as the lights darken completely, before a single spotlight shines down on the stage, as, from a riser down below, the real, actual Kermit the Frog rises! He’s got a banjo in his hands, sitting on what looks like a log as he plays.)
Alfonso Banks: IT’S KEEEEERMIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTT!!!!
JR Freeman: You seem excited.
Alfonso Banks: Oh, who wouldn’t be excited by this, JR? EVERYBODY loves the muppets!
(Kermit sings along with the banjo playing, with members of the crowd knowing EXACTLY what to sing along.)
Kermit the Frog: Why are there so many songs about rainbows, and what's on the other side? Rainbows are visions, but only illusions, and rainbows have nothing to hide. So we've been told and some choose to believe it, I know they're wrong, wait and see!
(The stage parts, as another spotlight comes down from above, changing from red, to orange, to yellow, to green, to blue, to indigo, to violet.)
Kermit the Frog: Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers and me.
Alfonso Banks: Thank you, Kermit. We love you!
JR Freeman: Are you crying?
Alfonso Banks: I LOVE THE MUPPETS SO FUCKING MUCH, JR! I WAS JUST 6 YEARS OLD AGAIN!
JR Freeman: Aww, I’m happy for you, buddy!
(The opening chorus of Fall Out Boy’s “Centuries” starts to play as Rainbow Connection fades.)
“Some legends are told,
Some turn to dust or to gold,
But you will remember me…
Remember me for centuries!”
(A huge blast of golden pyro explodes as the lights turn on, with PWS: Apex Pure champion Devon Ryder now fully illuminated. He’s wearing a Canadian flag jacket, but the red parts are all replaced by gold, including a huge gold maple leaf. He’s also got golden maple leaf sunglasses, and he’s carrying a huge golden Canadian flag with him that’s draped over his shoulder, and he’s all the while wearing the Pure title on his waist, with a smirk. His wrestling trunks are pure sparkly gold, with a white maple leaf on the ass. He’s also wearing a golden NIC arm band with white lettering. He holds the flag out on either side of him, draping it over his back.)
Meg Reynolds: Introducing first, from Regina, Saskatchewan, standing 183 centimeters, and weighing in at 92 kilograms… he is the PWS: Apex PURE Champion… UUUUUUUNBREEEEEAAAAKABLLLLLEEEE… DEEEVOOOOOOON RYYYYYYYYYYDEEEEERRRR!
(The song continues, as Devon starts to make his way to the ring, an arrogant smirk on his face.)
“And just one mistake,
Is all it will take,
We'll go down in history…
Remember me for centuries!
(Hey yeah, oh hey, hey yeah)
Remember me for centuries!”
(Ryder takes his time, since he’s the first entrant and doesn’t have to worry about any others yet. He lets the song play for a bit, standing on the ramp and just taking it all in.)
“Mummified my teenage dreams.
No, it's nothing wrong with me,
The kids are all wrong,
The stories are off,
Heavy metal broke my heart.”
(Devon stands on the ramp as gold flakes come raining down. Showered in gold, he closes his eyes, taking a deep breath, in, then out.)
“Come on, come on and let me in,
The bruises on your thighs like my fingerprints,
And this is supposed to match,
The darkness that you felt,
I never meant for you to fix yourself.”
(Devon taps the Nic Powell armband he’s got, pointing up and nodding, before running into the ring, sliding under the bottom rope, spinning around, Kurt Angle style, with the flag in his hands.)
“Some legends are told,
Some turn to dust or to gold,
But you will remember me…
Remember me for centuries!
And just one mistake,
Is all it will take,
We'll go down in history,
Remember me for centuries!
(Hey yeah, oh hey, hey yeah)
Remember me for centuries!”
(Devon takes the flag off, folding it neatly and handing it to an official, before taking the jacket off and handing it to an outside official as well, before removing the sunglasses for the same thing. He stands in the middle of the ring, awaiting his opponent.)
JR Freeman: The first of 30. He has a hell of a task awaiting him. Do you think he’s up for it?
Alfonso Banks: If ANYONE is, JR, it’s “Unbreakable” Devon Ryder. He’s got the fighting spirit of… I don’t know, a gundam?
JR Freeman: What?
Alfonso Banks: A Pokemon? Something with a lot of fighting spirit.
JR Freeman: Saving your GOOD metaphors for LATER in the match, I see.
Alfonso Banks: Bold of you to assume I HAVE any good metaphors, JR.
(The lights go down and "Blow" by Eva Under Fire featuring Spencer Charnas starts to play. The arena is filled with Red and lights and fog. The Silhouette of Alexandra can be seen at the top of the ramp. She poses on the top of the ramp and as the beat drops, she starts to make her way down the ramp, towards the ring.)
Meg Reynolds: And introducing the individual who drew #2! From Dallas, Texas… ALEXAAAAANDRAAAAAAAAA… SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANDEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRSSSS!!!
(Stopping halfway down the ramp, she stops looking out over the crowd, looking at the red and black band on her arm that reads "SILVER" in bright red letters, and the one beneath it that says NIC. She taps the one that says Silver and blows a kiss to the sky. Finishing her walk down the ramp, she walks all the way around the ring, before sliding under the bottom rope quickly and nodding her head.)
(The bell rings, and the rumble match begins! The crowd is ecstatic to see The Dark Queen taking on the Canadian Hero. The two circle each other like old gunslingers, each waiting for the other to draw. Eventually Ryder stops, his hands out, as an invitation to grapple. He speaks, loudly enough for the crowd to hear.)
Devon Ryder: WRESTLE ME, ALEXANDRA!
(Sanders looks at Devon, deciding instead to slap him across the face, prompting Devon to nod, slowly turning his head back to face her, mouthing the word “Okay” a couple of times, before unloading on Alexandra with a few hard right hands. This prompts the ANTITHESIS member to return in kind with some rights of her own. Soon they’re going back and forth with rights and lefts, both competitors showing their ferocity. Soon they lock up, and Ryder uses his size advantage to push Alexandra towards the set of ropes to her back, but Ally kicks him in the face, sending him to the mat. She picks him up, going to throw him over the ropes, but Ryder, mouthing “Nice Try!”, grabs the top rope, elbowing her in the head a few times before whirling around, getting her in German suplex position! He’s able to hit one, then rolls through for the second one, only to be kicked in the crotch as Alexandra kicks behind her! He falls to the mat, clutching his sack, as Sanders walks to the ropes, leaning on them to catch her breath, before running at the downed Ryder, kicking him in the gut several times, even stomping on him, before grabbing his legs and locking in a sharpshooter!)
Alfonso Banks: Submissions don’t count in the Rebel Rumble!
JR Freeman: No, but this strategy is still very smart, Alf! With worn down legs, Ryder’s less likely to stay on the apron if he’s eliminated!
Alfonso Banks: I’d agree with you if it were ANYONE else, JR, but this is a man who WILL. NOT. DIE.
(The former Ms. Calaway wrenches on the hold, making Ryder wince. He reaches out, but the ropes are too far away! Alexandra holds the ropes closest to her for more support on the hold, since it doesn’t count as cheating, given that it’s the rumble! Ryder struggles, reaching out to possibly tap out, but he doesn’t do it, instead pounding rhythmically on the mat with both fists, using his hands to crawl along the mat, making Sanders let go of the ropes, as he manages to reach the ones on the opposite side, using their strength to help him pull himself out of the submission, kicking Alexandra in the face for her troubles! She stumbles backwards, and Ryder soon stands. He’s a little shaky on his feet, but he’s able to grab Alexandra’s arm, whipping her not into the ropes, but into the corner, where he unleashes a flurry of kicks! The audience counts along as he kicks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9… 10 times! He revs up for the last one, actually sending Sanders over the top rope with it, but she’s able to hold on, displaying some incredible athleticism to rival that of her husband as she flips herself back over the rope and into the ring! The crowd is electric at this point, seeing two of the fiercest warriors on the roster squaring off. Alexandra stops, cracking her knuckles, as the two stare each other down again. Alexandra finally makes the next move, going for a spin kick, but Ryder ducks it, grabbing her leg and turning her momentum against her as he nails Aurora Borealis!)
JR Freeman: Aurora Borealis!
Alfonso Banks: Sorry, JR, every time I hear those two words, I can’t NOT think of Steamed Hams. …Mmm, I’d love to try some of those in real life, too bad they’re just a thing The Simpsons invented.
JR Freeman: You… you know those were just hamburgers, right?
Alfonso Banks: WHAT!?
(Ryder smirks, stopping to applaud Alexandra’s efforts, before picking her up, looking for the Strong And Free, but Ally counters into a hurricanrana, sending him to the mat! She stands up again, this time doing a full-on kip up, before running to the ropes and nailing a split-legged moonsault! She picks Ryder up, whipping him into the ropes, but he stops himself, holding onto the top rope. She dropkicks him, sending him over it, but he pulls himself back up onto the apron, pulling Alexandra out with him. The two exchange blows for a bit, each one stumbling as the other hits them, but neither falling to the floor. Instead, Ryder grabs Alexandra by the head and tosses her over the top rope, getting back in himself. He grabs her by the leg, locking in an ankle lock! Mrs. Sanders yells, reaching for the ropes, but Ryder pulls her away from them before she can grab them. She starts kicking him with her other leg, but he doesn’t let go right away, holding it for a few moments more, leading to several more ferocious kicks from The Dark Queen. Ryder stops, stumbling backwards, but stopping himself before he hits the ropes. Alexandra pulls herself back up, before running at Ryder, looking for a bulldog, and it connects! She quickly follows up on this, hopping up onto the top rope and jumping off with a Senton Bomb! Having worn down her opponent some more, she picks up Ryder, trying to throw him over the top rope, but the most she can do is get him onto the apron! He holds onto the bottom rope for dear life, with arms and legs. Alexandra steps backwards, running at him, trying to kick him out from there, but Devon pulls the ropes down, causing Alexandra to tumble! She catches herself, pulling herself onto the apron, where the two remain. They smack each other hard, Alexandra even resorting to kicking, but eventually they end up both getting into the ring again!)
JR Freeman: Wow, this is already intense, and we’ve only got 2 competitors in so far!
Alfonso Banks: I know, I can’t believe how competitive this has already become!
(Ryder takes the upper hand here, hitting a discus clothesline, before picking Alexandra up and hitting a vertical suplex! He picks her up again, hitting a snap powerbomb, before stganding back and letting her get up. He smiles as she does, though soon attempts to follow up with a lariat, before getting intercepted by Alexandra grabbing his arm and chaining it into a ripcord rolling elbow! The audience begins to count down with the timer as it approaches 10. Alexandra smirks, facing the entranceway and motioning with her hands for whoever it is to “come get some”, before resting her hands on her knees. Ryder gets back up, whirling Sanders around and hitting a dropkick to drop her to the mat. He goes for a cross-legged STF, but is kicked away before he can! The audience counts down… “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!”)
(The buzzer sounds, and soon the lights go out. The audience cheers loudly for what’s coming…)
“ALL OUR GODS HAVE ABANDONED US!!!”
(Everything goes quiet for a moment, besides the crowd, who’s ecstatic for Mack McKane! A primal scream sounds through the arena as “The Knife” rises up from the stage, the lights a blood red as he shows up! A rest mist flows out where Mack is, the PWS legend wearing his trademark long coat and spiked mask. He quickly takes those both off, however, safely putting his butterfly knife aside as he runs to the ring, sliding in under the bottom rope. Both of the people in the ring immediately start stomping on the former world champion, as he’s by far the biggest threat!)
ENTRANT #3: MACK MCKANE
(Mack stands, through it all, and starts going back and forth with punches on both of the others, ending with a superkick to Alexandra, and a bicycle knee to Ryder, sending both people to the mat! He hits a Double O Negative on Ryder, before turning his attention to Alexandra, walking over and bending down, biting her head, causing her to flail a bit, as he stands up, smiling wickedly. The crowd cheers for the legend as he looks around at them. He picks Ryder up, but before he can do anything he’s punched in the gut by The Canadian Hero. Devon lands some stiff hits, including some European uppercuts, before catching Mack on the rebound, tripping him to the ground and locking in a cross-legged STF! Mack winces in pain, slamming his fist on the ground multiple times, before he’s finally able to get an arm in such a position where he can lift himself slightly off the mat. He elbows Ryder in the face several times, causing him to let go. Mack stands, facing down his two opponents, and Alexandra is the first to strike, hitting an STO that makes Mack fall to the mat, before picking him up and bringing him to the ropes, but he’s having none of it, grabbing the top rope and whirling around, nailing Sanders with a rolling elbow! He grabs her in a headlock, landing ONE suplex, TWO suplexes, and… no, Alexandra counters the last one, grabbing him around the chest, bringing him to the ground, hitting some furious punches while he’s on the ground! She backs up, looking for a curb stomp, but Ryder comes in outta nowhere and tries pushing her out of the ring! She holds on, still on the apron, and she smacks Ryder across the face, kicking him in the gut before coming back into the ring.)
JR Freeman: The crowd is loving this!
Alfonso Banks: Of course they are, JR, Mack McKane is in the ring! There’s no way the crowd could be anything but ecstatic to see The Knife wrestle!
JR Freeman: That’s a good point, Alf!
Alfonso Banks: I make a ton of ‘em!
JR Freeman: No. No, no, no… no.
(Alexandra and Ryder are back at it again, exchanging hard blows, punches, elbows, and kicks, until Ryder manages to get the upper hand, lifting Alexandra up for the Strong and Free again, but she slips out the back, pushing him forward into the ropes! She fights to get Ryder out, pushing forward while he pushes back. She punches him in the gut several times, managing to get him over the ropes, but he stays on the apron. She revs back, looking to kick him to the floor, but Mack is up, and he grabs her again, hitting O-Positive! The crowd cheers at the signature move, as Mack lifts her up, tossing her to the ropes, but Alexandra stops herself from going over, instead rebounding, hitting him with a guillotine leg drop! The crowd starts counting down, as the timer reaches 10 seconds. Alexandra grabs Mack by the legs, locking in a Boston crab! Mack winces, reaching out for the close ropes, but they’re JUST out of reach! He elbows her multiple times, hoping to make her stop, but she just wrenches on the hold harder! He yells, pulling himself forward, dragging The Dark Queen with him, grabbing the middle rope as he uses it to turn himself around, Alexandra stumbling to the mat, as the crowd chants along, the timer now at 10 “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!”)
(The buzzer sounds, before “Hey You” by Disturbed starts playing! Jennifer Makarios-Lopez walks out onto the stage, looking at the crowd for a few seconds, a smile on her face, before calmly-yet-quickly walking to the ring, high-fiving the fans as she goes.)
ENTRANT #4: JENNIFER MAKARIOS-LOPEZ
(She gets into the ring and starts attacking the only person not currently occupied with someone else, and that of course is Devon Ryder. Ryder looks at her as they stare each other down, and soon he holds a hand out, hoping to wrestle her, but Jenn is the first one on the offensive, hitting a dropkick, then immediately, as Ryder stands up, grabbing him and dropping him to the mat with a DDT! She stands up, working the crowd for just a moment before picking Ryder up again, but she gets thrown into the corner for her troubles, as Ryder unleashes his signature 10 kicks! The crowd counts along, 1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… 8… 9… 10! He looks at the crowd, asking “One More!?”, and upon hearing the roar of the crowd, kicks for an 11th time, but Jenn ducks it, lifting him up, trying to toss him out of the ring, but he holds onto the turnbuckle. Jenn kicks him in the jaw, causing him to fall, but he grabs the bottom rope, just BARELY clutching onto the apron! Jennifer shakes her head, pulling him back into the ring and going for a standing elbow drop, but Ryder moves out of the way, grabbing her arm and locking in a fujiwara armbar!)
(Meanwhile, Alexandra is fighting Mack McKane! Mack has escaped the Boston crab, but he’s not out of the woods yet! Alexandra mounts him, hitting a few lefts and rights, but Mack stops her with an eye rake! Alexandra falls to the mat, clutching her eyes, and Mack stands, running to the ropes and jumping off the middle one for a Type O-Negative! He smirks, helping Alexandra up, looking for Memento Mori, but she ducks it, getting behind The Knife, hitting a bulldog on him as they both go to the mat!)
JR Freeman: It’s clear, this match is taking its toll on Ryder and on Alexandra!
Alfonso Banks: True, and they only have MORE of a fight ahead of them! There are still 26 people left to enter this match!
JR Freeman: And we don’t know how much offense they’re going to get in!
Alfonso Banks: True. Devon Ryder may be unbreakable, but even he has a limit!
JR Freeman: Are we sure about that, Alf?
Alfonso Banks: Well, there’s one way to find out, I guess, JR!
(Jenn struggles, in the armbar, crying out in pain as Ryder pulls on the hold! She kicks at his head multiple times, hoping to get him to break the hold, and eventually he does. She clutches her arm, rolling to the ropes to recover. Ryder stands above her, letting her get up on her own, which she does. Ryder then grabs her arm, Irish whipping her into the ropes, but she rebounds, hitting a springboard Headscissors on the Canadian Hero! She picks him up, hitting an inverted DDT! She picks Ryder up again, bringing him to the ropes, but he counters, throwing her over instead! Jenn holds on, but is taken aback by Ryder’s actions. She jumps onto the ropes, grabbing him in a headscissors position, trying to get him out of the ring with a hurricanrana, but doesn’t let her, instead reversing her position on him and turning it into the Strong And Free! Jenn is out, but Ryder doesn’t have time to throw her out, as now Mack is dealing with him. Mack hits a Superkick onto the Canadian, making him fall to the mat, as Jenn slowly rolls herself out of the ring to recover!)
JR Freeman: She didn’t go over the top rope, so Jennifer is still in the match, despite being out of the ring!
Alfonso Banks: I don’t know why you had to say that out loud, JR, we could all see what happened!
JR Freeman: Look, there’s a lot going on right now, I take what I can get, okay?
Alfonso Banks: Fair enough!
(Alexandra follows Jenn out of the ring, sliding out under the bottom rope, as she grabs the fallen Australian, throwing her into the ring steps with a loud, clearly-audible “clang!” that resonates through the arena! She goes under the ring, looking for a weapon, and finds herself a roll of barbed wire! Looking into the ring, she gets another wicked grin, sliding back in and wrapping it around her fist, looking to hit Mack with it! Ryder is dealing with Mack, hitting a Snap Powerbomb on him, before immediately turning that into The True North! Mack kicks at him with the free leg, soon escaping and standing up. Alexandra runs to punch Mack, but is grabbed and hit with Memento Mori! He picks her up, tossing her over the top rope, but Sanders holds on for dear life, refusing to let go of the bottom rope, even with Mack stomping on her hands as he proceeds to do! Ryder comes up, helping him try and eliminate Alexandra, but she refuses to go down, instead rolling herself back into the ring, prompting stomps from Mack! Mack, however, is soon grabbed by Ryder, who throws him into the ropes, looking to eliminate him, but McKane shakes his head, waggling his finger at The Unbreakable One, hitting a Muay Thai roundhouse kick!)
(Alexandra gets out of the ring under the bottom rope again to check on Jenn, who’s managed to stand up. She walks her to the audience barricade, going to slam her face into it, but Jenn catches herself with both hands, kicking behind her, kicking The Dark Queen’s legs out from under her, making her buckle and letting Jenn get back in the ring! She’s unsteady on her feet, having taken an uber move AND gone into the ring steps really having worn on her. Alexandra follows her into the ring, and the audience starts to count again. The timer ticks down from 10, and Mack McKane gets ready to attack whoever it is. The audience counts down, “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” and the buzzer goes off again. All the competitors in the ring ready themselves.)
(“Ocean Man” by Ween starts playing, and a wave of relief comes over all the competitors in the ring, as The Squid-Man makes his way out. The lighting in the arena changes briefly to a watery blue as he dances and flops his way to the ring. He jumps in over the top rope, displaying some impressive athleticism.)
ENTRANT #5: THE SQUID-MAN
(Mack McKane laughs, looking at the crowd and pointing to the Squidly one, giving a look like “You seeing this?”, prompting Squid to point at Mack in return. Mack chuckles, grabbing Squid and throwing him easily over the top rope, but Squid hangs on! Mack kicks at the Squid-Man multiple times, but to surprisingly little avail, as Squid won’t go down! He rolls back into the ring, standing up as the crowd roars for the Man of Squid. Mack, starting to get annoyed, goes for Memento Mori, but Squid ducks it, jumping up and hitting a reverse DDT! He runs around the ring, celebrating the single move he’s just done.)
JR Freeman: Wow, Squid-Man’s putting up more of a fight than I think Mack expected!
Alfonso Banks: Squid-Man could win this whole thi- HA HA HA HA HA! Sorry, I couldn’t finish that with a straight face!
JR Freeman: Well, truly, anyone could win this match! He’s got as much a chance as anyone currently in the ring! Hell, he’s got more, since he came in later!
Alfonso Banks: …I’m not gonna lie, JR, that’s really funny.
JR Freeman: In a morbid sort of way, yes.
(Alexandra and Jennifer are fighting, with Alexandra whipping her into the ropes, but Jenn jumping off of them into a swinging neckbreaker! She capitalizes on this by picking The Dark Queen up, looking for the Aussie Blackout, but Sanders counters, pushing her away then grabbing her by the neck, hitting a chokeslam on the young Lopez! She kicks her repeatedly, setting up for a curb stomp, walking backwards to line it up, then she runs forward, getting all of it! Grabbing the barbed wire from earlier, she wraps it back around her hand, looking for At Death’s Door, but Jenn counters, rolling over and kicking her in the face a few times, before standing up, hitting a vertical suplex on ANTITHESIS’ queen! Sanders goes to the ropes, jumping off and hitting a split-legged moonsault, before lifting Jenn up, bringing her to the ropes, hoping to toss her out, but she holds on!)
(As Squid-Man runs around the ring, he bumps into Devon Ryder. The crowd cheers for the never-before-seen matchup. Ryder looks around the ring, sees everyone else is downed or distracted, and audibly sighs. Putting a hand out, the crowd chants along with what he’s saying.)
Devon Ryder: WRESTLE ME, SQUID-MAN!
(Squid-Man looks at him, then looks at the crowd, then back at Ryder, then back at the crowd, and shrugs, taking Ryder’s hand. Devon easily overpowers the Squid-Man, as expected, hitting a belly-to-belly suplex and then going from there into a kneebar! Squid winces, flailing ineffectually as his knee is barred. He kicks at Ryder with his non-barred-knee leg, managing to get Ryder to break the hold. Ryder lifts him up, hitting a Tiger Bomb! He picks El Hijo del Padre del Calmar up off the mat, helping him to his feet, before bringing him to the corner. He lifts Squid onto the turnbuckle, getting him in position for Niagara Falls! Holding the superplex position, but the stalling proves to be a bad idea, as Squid-Man escapes, leaping off the turnbuckle into the ring, then, in quick succession, leaps onto the top rope, using it to LEAP into the air and hit a pele kick to Ryder on the turnbuckle, making the Canadian Hero fall to the mat! Squid-Man collapses too, but the crowd roars for the surprisingly impressive display!)
(Jennifer and Mack have started fighting now, Jenn hitting a diving crossbody on Mack, following up with an elbow drop. She lifts Mack up, whipping him into the turnbuckle, but he grabs it, making her running at him in the corner all in vain as he kicks at her from behind, turning the tables and whipping her into the turnbuckle instead! He grabs her by the hair, pulling her to the ropes and putting her onto the bottom rope, looking for Ambien Alley! He steps back, running up and hitting the move, making Jenn immediately grab her mouth in pain! Mack grabs her and throws her over the ropes, onto the apron. He goes for a superkick to knock her out of the match, but Jenn pulls the ropes down, causing Mack to sack himself on the top rope! He falls back into the ring, clutching his crotch, as Jenn makes her way back inside to join him! Squid-Man notices her and runs up, hitting a dropkick to Jennifer, who responds with a dropkick of her own. She lifts Squid up, hitting a suplex on him, before going up to him, looking for a fujiwara armbar, but Squid rolls out of the way, grabbing her arm instead, locking in the Squid Lock! He wrenches on the hold, Jenn falling to the mat as he does, before stopping, going up to the turnbuckle, looking for the Cephalopod Splash, but Jenn brings her knees up, causing him to crash and burn!)
(Alexandra and Ryder face down again, with Alexandra on the offense, hitting a teardrop suplex, then locking in a sharpshooter, making Ryder yell in pain, but he refuses, as usual, to submit. He pushes up, lifting himself off the mat, but Mack McKane suddenly kicks him in the face, making him fall back down! Alexandra, apparently not wanting any help, breaks the hold and gets in Mack’s face. The two get nose to nose, Mack being the first to strike, hitting an arm drag followed by grabbing Alexandra’s fingers and bending them out of shape violently! He laughs at his twisted move, kicking Alexandra in the small of her back before picking her up, getting her in position for Blood Eagle, but the former Calaway pushes him off of her, getting him in position and hitting the Fallen Angel! The crowd counts down from 10 once more, as Alexandra brings Mack to the turnbuckle, putting him on top of it as she ascends it herself, looking for Apocalypse, aiming out of the ring! However, Mack punches her repeatedly before she can lift him all the way, making her drop him, and he follows up by hitting a dropkick onto Alexandra, dropping her to the apron, but she pulls herself back up before she falls, getting back into the ring. The audience counts along with the timer… “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” as the 6th match entrant comes in.)
(“Throne” by Bring Me The Horizon starts pumping through the speakers as Miles Kasey bops out onto the ramp in rhythm with the beat.)
ENTRANT #6: MILES KASEY
He bounces in place twice before bolting towards the ring, sliding under the bottom rope, running at the first person he sees, which is Jenn. He hits a dropkick on her, before jumping onto the ropes and springboarding off into a hurricanrana! He runs to Mack McKane, hitting him with a crossbody, before hitting a standing leg drop! Milo then moves on to the Squid-Man. Both of them jump onto opposite sets of ropes, landing in the ring after doing some athletic flippy shit. The crowd applauds the display, as they continue to flip around each other, ending with Milo jumping off the top for a Blast From the Past! Milo, having gone after almost everyone, now turns his attention to Ryder and Calaway. Running at them, both of them move, hitting a double dropkick on the smaller man! Alexandra goes to his legs, locking in a sharpshooter, while Ryder goes to the top of the body, locking in a fujiwara armbar! With Miles in two different holds at once, he can’t help but tap out, but tapping doesn’t count in the rumble match! He reaches for any ropes he can find with his free arm, but that doesn’t seem to help.)
(Mack and Jenn lock up, fighting for control for a while before Mack grabs her for a suplex, and hits one… two… THREE amigos! He stomps on Jenn while she’s down, picking her up and tossing her over the top rope, but not quite managing the elimination! He steps back, running at Jenn, but stopping short when she pulls the ropes down again, and hitting a Superkick when she comes back up! She falls, but not to the floor, instead one foot hits and she’s able to pull herself back up! Mack has been distracted, so he can’t capitalize. Miles is out of the double submission, as Alexandra breaks it up, smacking Ryder to the ground and trying to eliminate Milo, but he runs up the ropes and flips over Alexandra, slamming her into the ground with a DDT. He runs at Mack, who’s ready for him, and grabs his arm, managing to hit Memento Mori! Jennifer slips back into the ring, running at Ryder, who alley-oops her onto the turnbuckle, which lets her do a diving crossbody onto the Canadian Hero. She capitalizes by going for an elbow drop, but Devon moves out of the way, making her slam her arm into the mat! She grabs her elbow in pain, as Ryder lifts her up, looking for a ripcord scoop powerslam to get her out of the ring, but Jenn holds on at the last possible moment, one foot hitting, but she’s able to pull herself up off the floor, getting back into the ring quickly. Ryder applauds her, mouthing “Well done” before hitting a vertical suplex! On the other side of the ring, Squid and Mack have found each other. Squid-Man goes for a tilt-a-whirl DDT, and gets all of it, but Mack’s up sooner than expected, and hits the Witness Me! He picks up Squid, throwing him over the top rope, but Squid-Man catches himself, holding onto the top rope. Mack kicks him off, but Squid-Man lands with his feet on the audience barricade, and he’s able to do a handstand, making his way back onto the apron before his feet hit the floor! The crowd cheers on the Squid-Man, as he gets back into the ring.)
(Milo is going after Alexandra now, jumping off the ropes for a missile dropkick. He then hops on the turnbuckle, but Alexandra gets up soon after, running over and pushing him off. Miles is able to catch himself and stay on the apron, kicking her in the face when she comes over to push him off! He jumps up on the top rope, hopping onto Alexandra, looking for a hurricanrana, but she stops him, turning it instead into Apocalypse, driving him into the mat! She stomps on Miles several times, before getting on top of him, hitting him with stiff punches, even slamming his head into the mat at several points! She then goes to the turnbuckle, hoping to do what he tried to do except more successfully, and manages to jump off with a split-legged moonsault! She lifts Miles up, bringing him to the ropes again, but she can’t toss him over, as he grabs the top rope and starts kicking at her legs, making the Queen of ANTITHESIS collapse under her own weight. Miles then whirls around, knocking her down with a spinning heel kick!)
JR Freeman: Miles is a house of fire!
Alfonso Banks: Wouldn’t it be “are”?
JR Freeman: What?
Alfonso Banks: Miles… ARE a house of fire?
JR Freeman: No, that doesn’t work in this context.
Alfonso Banks: Oh. Well… maybe it could?
JR Freeman: No, it… it really doesn’t.
Alfonso Banks: Well, shit.
(Mack has found his way to Jenn, and has hit a running bicycle kick on her, and is now locking in a sleeper hold! He wrenches on the hold, and Jenn struggles, reaching up and hitting him a few times but to no avail. He uses his other arm to wrench harder, leaving Jenn very few options. She elbows him multiple times, making Mack eventually break the hold, but it’s clear it took a toll on Jenn, who falls forward onto the mat. Mack picks her up, bringing her to the ropes, but Jenn’s instincts kick in, grabbing the top rope to save herself. Mack tries to push her over the top rope, but she elbows him in the face a few more times, turning around and grabbing him for a swinging neckbreaker, which she hits in quick fashion, driving Mack McKane into the mat! The crowd counts down from 10 again as the 7th entrant into the match makes way for their arrival. As per usual, they chant “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” And once again, the buzzer sounds.)
(With no fanfare, and some generic-sounding music, Max Johnson makes his way to the ring, looking a little intimidated by the giants of the industry in the ring. He gets into the ring through the top and middle ropes, putting his fists up like he’s ready to fight.
ENTRANT #7: MAX JOHNSON
(Miles sees him and runs over, dropkicking the poor man onto the apron. Miles then seizes the opportunity, RUNNING up the turnbuckle and LEAPING off, kicking Max in the side of the head and eliminating him instantly!)
MAX JOHNSON HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(The crowd cheers madly for the first elimination of the match, as Miles plays to them, even audibly giving a “Yeah!”. He smirks, looking around at the audience, before Ryder notices that he’s distracted and runs over, throwing him over the top rope as well! But Milo’s a little too quick, grabbing the apron. Ryder gets out of the ring through the middle rope, getting onto the apron where he starts punching Miles, who in turn punches back. Soon they start kicking at each other, with Miles then hopping onto the turnbuckle, jumping off and hooking Ryder for a hurricanrana. Ryder fights against it, turning him out towards the floor, but Miles grabs the ropes, soon flipping himself off of Ryder and back into the ring, where the Canadian Hero joins him! Jenn fights against Squid, with the young Lopez grabbing him for a DDT. She then goes to the top, hitting a moonsault on the fallen calamari. She packs Squid up, Irish whipping him into the ropes, and he falls out onto the apron. She runs at him, looking to eliminate him with a kick, but before she can he hops onto the top rope, leaping off with a flying headscissors takedown, followed by a quick run to the ropes with a springboard 450 splash! He heads to the turnbuckle, looking for Splash and Burn, but Jenn gets her knees up, making Squid crash into them, falling to the mat clutching his ribs! Ryder finds his way over to Squid, grabbing him in an ankle lock. Or would it be a tentacle lock? Look, the point is, he grabs his lower appendage and wrenches on it!)
(Squid reaches for the ropes, but he can’t quite get to them. They’re close to the center of the ring and Ryder walks backwards, keeping Squid from the ropes even longer. Squid reaches out, soon tapping out, but that doesn’t stop Ryder from wrenching on the hold. Squid kicks at Ryder with his other leg, which, while effective, is not effective enough to make him stop. What does make him stop, however, is Miles leaping off the ropes, leaping onto Ryder’s back and punching his head multiple times. Ryder lets go of Squid’s leg, now focusing on the man on his back, falling backwards to slam Miles to the mat! Meanwhile, Alexandra and Mack are at it again. Mack quickly goes out of the ring under the bottom rope, and goes under the ring to see what he can find. Before he can, however, Alexandra dives after him through the top and middle ropes, meaning it doesn’t count as an elimination. She lands on Mack, sending them both to the floor below. Sanders is the first to stand, punching Mack multiple times before tossing him into the ring steps. She walks up to him, hitting his head on the steps once… twice… no, he holds on before it can be three times, now instead grabbing Alexandra by the head and slamming HER head into the steps instead! He then turns around, throwing her into the audience barricade, before going under the ring once again, pulling out a kendo stick! He goes up to Ally, looking to smack her with the stick, but she rolls out of the way, kicking him in the face! Though Alexandra is now bloody from the violent attack, she’s able to stand, and drops Mack with a dropkick! The crowd chants along with the countdown clock again, as it tick down! “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!”)
JR Freeman: Who’s entrant number 8?
(The lights softly die down as a countdown clock appears on the screen. Once the clock hits zero, “I Miss The Misery” strikes up as Violet Amelia Holt steps out onto the stage with a softball bat draped across her shoulders. The crowd doesn't quite know what to do as she stands on the stage and stoically stares at the ring with a look of malice on her face.)
ENTRANT #8: VIOLET AMELIA HOLT
(She runs down to the ring, but before getting into it she goes under the apron, grabbing a few weapons. She slides a chair into the ring, as well as a ladder, some baseball bats, and also grabs a table. She doesn’t slide it into the ring, but instead sets it up just outside of it, a big smirk on her face as she slides into the ring. Running at Jenn first, she kicks her in the face, before jumping onto the top rope, hitting a Frog Splash on Lopez! She picks her up, trying to throw her out of the ring, but Jennifer counters by throwing Violet over instead! Violet holds on, just barely avoiding going through her own table, as she jumps onto the ropes, hitting a dropkick on Jenn! She stands up, Five Feet of Crazy looking around the ring as she surveys the playing field. She notices Devon Ryder and starts by whipping him into the turnbuckle. She runs over to the same turnbuckle, hitting some kicks, hoping for ten kicks in a row, in her Ten Bell Salute! The crowd erupts in cheers, chanting along to each one! “One! Two! Three! Four!” Though Devon catches her foot and whirls her around into the turnbuckle herself, starting to deliver HIS version, the Ten Provinces! “One! Two! Three! Four! Five!” before he can finish, Violet turns the tables, switching places again, starting once again to deliver her own kicks. “One! Two! Three!” And once again Ryder turns the tables! “One! Two! Three! Four!” Violet manages again. “One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six!” Soon Ryder grabs Violet’s leg again, this time tripping her to the mat and locking in The Canadian Shield!)
(Miles and Squid are fighting in the meantime, with Miles leaping off the top for a diving crossbody! Squid gets up quickly, however, and does the same to Miles! The crowd cheers for the mimicry, though Miles takes it a little differently, kicking Squid multiple times. Squid-Man shrugs, kicking Miles back in the same style. The crowd laughs over what’s happened, but Miles has had enough, whipping Squid into the ropes and dropkicking him over! Squid-Man holds on for dear life, still being on the apron, and Miles runs at him, looking for a running knee, but Squid-Man pulls the ropes down, alley-ooping Miles over his head and to the floor below!)
JR Freeman: My god! Miles Kasey has been eliminated!
Alfonso Banks: By the Squid-Man, no less! How’s he going to explain this to his family??
JR Freeman: Very cautiously, I imagine.
(Miles stares, bug-eyed, at Squid. Who jumps back into the ring, before turning to look at Miles, giving him a little wave.)
MILES KASEY HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(Miles shakes his head dejectedly, walking to the back, while in the ring Violet is getting face to face with Mack McKane, much to the crowd’s enjoyment! She picks up the chair she brought into the ring, looking to smack Mack with it, but Mack ducks, hitting a superkick to send the chair into Violet’s own face! She falls to the mat and Mack stomps on her a few times, before grabbing the chair for himself. He smiles wickedly, trying to smack her across the body, but she moves out of the way, causing the chair to recoil back up into Mack’s own face. He stumbles, ditching the chair and instead going for a bat. He tries to hit Violet, but she rolls out of the way, standing up. She runs at Mack, hitting a facebuster, before grabbing the bat for herself! She smacks Mack with it several times, knocking him to the mat, before getting an idea. She walks up to the ladder, smiling wicked as she sets it up in the center of the ring! She climbs about halfway, before Alexandra, seeing an opportunity, begins knocking the ladder down! Violet immediately realizes what’s happening and jumps off before she’s eliminated, glaring at Alexandra! The crowd counts down from 10 again as the countdown timer starts on its last 10 seconds. “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The buzzer sounds, indicating entrant #9.)
(The quiet beginning of “Blood//Water” begins playing through the speakers as Malachi enters the arena to a rousing chorus of boos.)
ENTRANT #9: MALACHI
(He simply stares around at the crowd with a look of utter disdain before running down to the ring, getting into the ring through means of a diving crossbody to Jennifer! He smiles, picking her up and hitting a vertical suplex. Chaining that immediately, he hits a double stomp, before just stomping away at Jenn. He picks her up, looking for the Hair Trigger, but he stops as she squirms, wrapping her legs around his neck and pulling herself up, punching him in the head from this position! Malachi lifts her up, looking for a powerbomb of some sort, but she doesn’t let him, instead using the momentum against him, knocking him to the mat! She gets a few more hits in on Malachi before turning her attention to Violet, who’s just looking for someone to fight! She runs at Violet, hitting a flying headscissors takedown and rolling through, grabbing her head and hitting a DDT onto the mat! Lifting Violet up off the canvas, she throws her over the top rope, but Violet refuses to be thrown out this way, instead getting back into the ring, before sliding out under the bottom rope when confronted. She reaches under the ring, grabbing a bag of thumbtacks, sliding them into the ring, before Jenn follows her out between the ropes. She jumps at Violet, but Violet dodges, causing Jenn to hit her head against the barricade! Violet then gets an idea, seeing the discarded barbed wire that Alexandra got rid of a while ago. She picks it up, using it to pull Jenn in for a dragon sleeper, using it instead of her own arms to wrap around Jennifer’s neck! She pulls hard, eliciting a scream from the young Lopez, but she’s soon kicked at. She drops to one knee along with Jenn, and soon releases the hold. Jenn then quickly turns around, grabbing the barbed wire from Holt, using it to lock in her own move, the Fujiwara Armbar! Violet yelps, tapping out immediately, but nothing comes of it. She smirks, locking it in tighter, as Violet continues to submit. Jenn stops, getting back into the ring, with Violet soon following, her one arm now covered in her own blood.)
JR Freeman: My god… Violet’s certainly proving why she’s one of the baddest bitches on this roster!
Alfonso Banks: Worst. It’s okay, JR, I make that mistake too sometimes.
JR Freeman: No, Alf, that’s the opposite of what I meant!
Alfonso Banks: You’re right, because it’s GOOD grammar! OHH! Gottem!
JR Freeman: Was that really a “gottem” moment?
(Malachi is back on his feet, and is looking for someone to fight. Luckily fate finds him, as Alexandra nails him violently in the back of the head! Malachi turns around to face her, and soon lays her out with a lung blower! He then gets up, going to the ropes and hitting a moonsault, before picking her up, trying to throw her over the top rope. He manages to get her over, but isn’t able to get her past the apron. She’s holding on stubbornly, despite Malachi hitting her hands repeatedly. She kicks him in the stomach, getting back in the ring with a springboard missile dropkick to Malachi’s face! Mal retaliates with a superkick into back drop suplex combo move. He smirks as Alexandra goes down to the mat! Squid-Man is having a blast elsewhere in the ring, having set up the ladder. Everyone being occupied with each other, he climbs it, all the way to the top! Looking down, he notices that Violet is down, so he chooses her as his target, jumping off the ladder with a Splash and Burn to the downed Holt! Squid writhes for a bit as well as Violet, with the latter being lifted off the canvas by Mack, who throws her over the top rope without a second thought. Violet, however, being the stubborn woman she is, holds onto the bottom rope. Mack has, at this point, turned to face someone else, so doesn’t see her rolling back into the ring, or grabbing the thumbtack bag she had slid into the ring earlier! She starts pouring them out all over with her bloodied arm, a maniacal smile on her face the all the while.)
JR Freeman: Oh Dios Mio! This match just got 1000 times more dangerous!
Alfonso Banks: No it didn’t. It got like, 996 times more dangerous AT MOST!
JR Freeman: Must you always disagree with me?
Alfonso Banks: Yes. Literally, I’m contractually obligated.
JR Freeman: That would explain SO much.
(Mack and Devon have a staredown, before Ryder holds a hand out, as he’s quite fond of doing. Before he can even say what the fans are expecting, Mack has already grabbed his hand in a test of strength. Devon ends up winning, wrenching on an armbar, sending Mack to the mat as he pulls on the hold! He intentionally does it away from the thumbtacks, not even wanting to ACCIDENTALLY use a weapon, as the crowd once again begins counting down for entrant #10. “TEN!” they chant, “ NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The buzzer sounds, as Ryder keeps the hold locked in.)
(“Adrenaline” by Shinedown starts playing, as the crowd boos hard. Alexandra immediately perks up as she hears the music play. She looks at the stage and sure rough, soon out swaggers David Shane.)
ENTRANT #10: DAVID SHANE
(He takes his sweet time, walking to the ring as he mouths off to the crowd, not even having a chance to get in the ring before Alexandra gets out under the bottom rope, standing on the apron, and LEAPING at David Shane, showing him exactly what happens when you mess with ANTITHESIS by slamming him into the turnbuckle from the outside, grabbing the now-broken-off part of the steel ring steps and smashing David in the head with them, knocking him to the ground, as she does it multiple more times, before placing them on top of him and getting back on the apron, diving off, but David rolls out of the way, causing Alexandra to crash and burn! David, having just been bloodied by the violent assault, rolls back into the ring, panting. He grabs the ropes, standing up, coming face-to-face with Jenn. Jennifer smirks, taking some pride in how Gracie won their family Armageddon. David nods, smacking her across the face! Jenn responds in kind, slapping David Shane directly in the moneymaker, before going for the Aussie Blackout! Before she can hit the move, however, David counters, turning it into a jaw breaker, before standing up, jumping up, running across the ropes for a running, flying, tilt-a-whirl DDT!)
(The crowd responds positively to this move, despite who’s doing it, and David revels in it, standing up and spreading his arms wide. He then grabs Lopez, looking to throw her out, but she fights back, elbowing David in the chest, making him recoil and step back, before she hops to the top rope, looking for a crossbody, which connects! She then locks in the Money Maker, but David immediately weasels out of it, grabbing the bottom rope and sliding out of the ring, pulling Jenn’s arm out with him, slamming it against the hardest part of the ring multiple times, finally making her let go. He grabs his arm in pain, writhing for a moment, thanking his lucky stars that Alexandra’s already back in the ring. Speaking of whom, Alexandra has found her way to the first person she could find, who happened to be The Squid-Man. Mrs. Sanders immediately grabs him and hits a teardrop suplex, followed by a springboard Senton Bomb! She grabs his legs, stepping out of the ring through the middle of the ropes, and heads over to the turnbuckle. She grabs Squid’s right leg, rearing back and ramming it as hard as she can into the ring post! She does the same thing again, and then again, before getting him in position for a Boston crab with assistance from the turnbuckle, but she’s kicked off by Squid, not being eliminated due to her having gone through the second ropes, but certainly falling into the audience barricade! She slides back into the ring, grabbing Squid-Man by the arm with one hand while untying the turnbuckle pad with the other. Once it’s fully off, she whips Squid-Man into the exposed turnbuckle, before picking him up and slamming his head into it repeatedly!)
JR Freeman: Alexandra is PISSED.
Alfonso Banks: Well I can’t blame her! David Shane backed her team and then they lost the match! He indirectly got her husband hit with an unprotected chair shot to the skull! He could’ve suffered serious psychological damage because of his actions!
JR Freeman: That’s true, Alf, and I think Sanders knows that, and is taking her anger out on whoever she can find!
(She picks Squid up, tossing him over the top rope before squaring up to Malachi. Squid-Man holds on, one foot touching before he pulls himself back into the ring like a squid. Malachi hits an arm drag, bringing Alexandra to the mat, but Sanders is able to counter that, pulling him down with her, locking in one of her husband’s finishing moves, The Great Depression! She wrenches on the hold, Malachi grabbing the ropes, but nothing comes of it. He ends up elbowing her, trying to get her off of him, but it’s to no avail. Devon and Mack are still squaring off, with Mack now having the upper hand, hitting a ripcord bicycle knee that makes Devon fall into the thumbtacks! He then ascends the turnbuckle, looking for the Type-O negative, but Violet sees the opportunity, trying to push him off and down to the floor! Mack hops off the turnbuckle onto the apron that the table resides under, before pulling Violet out with him. He hits her and she stumbles. She hits him, same thing. A stumble, but no fall. Soon Mack decides enough is enough, grabbing Violet by the arm and hitting Memento Mori, before getting back into the ring! Violet goes limp, but is able, at the last POSSIBLE second, to grab the ring post to prop herself up, narrowly avoiding the table and only having ONE foot touch. She hops her way around the ring, jumping back up on the apron and collapsing again, this time only onto the apron itself, and rolls back into the ring, breathing heavily. The fans roar with excitement as to who the next entrant could be, as the 90-second timer reaches its 80th second. They chant along, as per usual! “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The buzzer sounds as entrant #11 comes out.)
(The British national anthem plays, much to the delight of the crowd, but that delight is soon turned to bitter disappointment when developmental talent Travis Ryan makes his way to the ring. The crowd’s happy for their home-nation hero, but at the same time, the disappointment in the air is palpable.)
ENTRANT 11: TRAVIS RYAN
(As soon as he gets in, however, he’s IMMEDIATELY clotheslined out by David Shane! Travis pops up on the camera, looking baffled, as he gets back in the ring, ready to fight. David notices him get back in and walks over to him, throwing him over the top rope again, where he stumbles to the floor. The crowd laughs at this antic, as Travis Ryan gets angry, looking to show David a piece of his mind, getting back in the ring, looking for a fight. David grabs him, and with an audible “I SAID…”, throws him out of the ring for a third time. Travis kicks the ground in frustration and walks to the back.)
TRAVIS RYAN HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
Meanwhile, David turns around into a dropkick from Alexandra, directly onto the spilled thumbtacks! Shane cries out in pain, standing himself up, as Sanders grabs him and whirls him around to face her, getting him in position for Bow to the Queen, but he reverses it, getting him in her position and vice versa, hitting a hard backbreaker as he slinks under the bottom rope, looking for a weapon under the ring, despite there being a few already IN the ring. However, Devon Ryder’s looking to fix that, kicking the chair and bats out of the ring as he stumbles across them, shaking his head like he’s reciting the “So Uncivilized” Star Wars meme in his head, before he’s caught off-guard by Jenn Lopez, hitting a kick to the side of Ryder’s jaw, causing him to stumble backwards into the ropes! She tries to capitalize by tossing him over, but he’s able to kick her away, hitting a high kick on her when she comes back. Jenn falls onto the thumbtacks, but immediately retaliates, kipping up and hitting a DDT onto the thumbtacks! Ryder holds his head in pain, before he’s picked up, not by Jenn, but by Mack. He gives a little nod of thanks to Jenn, dragging Ryder by the hair over to the exposed turnbuckle, hitting his head into it multiple times. Ryder falls, and Mack picks him up, looking to throw him over the top, but he can’t even GET him over the top rope, let ALONE off the apron, as he steels himself on the top rope, elbowing Mack in the face multiple times. Mack kicks at Ryder, but Ryder’s grabs his leg, pulling him down to the mat with an ankle lock!)
(Violet’s back on the attack, grabbing the ladder from the middle of the ring and putting it around her head so she can use it almost like a battering ram. She runs at Malachi, who ducks underneath, but is soon hit by one of the sides of the ladder as she swings it around at him. She takes the ladder off, setting it to the side and picking Malachi up, but he swings right back, hitting a diving crossbody onto her, knocking her onto the ladder! Violet writhes in pain, rolling herself off the ladder. Meanwhile, elsewhere, David finds Squid, laughing and pointing at him with one thumb like “Are you seeing this?”. Squid waves, with David sarcastically waving back, before grabbing Squid and trying to violently toss him over the top rope, but the Squidly one jumps onto the top rope instead, jumping off soon after with a diving crossbody onto David, who’s shocked, to say the least. Getting up, Shane grabs the Squid-Man and hits him with a German suplex, as the crowd counts down again for entrant #12. “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The buzzer sounds once again, signaling the approach of another competitor.)
(The arrival of Carmen’s brother Crash Rodriguez is signified by Carmen’s own theme, Object Tango Remix. He comes out to the stage, cracking his knuckles, and runs down to the ring, sliding in.)
ENTRANT #12: CRASH RODRIGUEZ
(Standing up, he comes face to face with Alexandra Sanders. He slaps her across the face, but she’s having none of it, laughing that evil laugh she and her husband are known for, before grabbing Crash and tossing him over the top rope! He’s able to hold on, as Alexandra deals with David Shane, but unluckily Crash, Malachi’s there to finish the job, rebounding off the ropes and hitting a running back elbow to knock Rodriguez off the apron and to the floor below!)
CRASH RODRIGUEZ HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(Malachi’s admiring his handy work, when suddenly Squid-Man pops up behind him and dropkicks him from the back, sending him over the top rope and to the floor, eliminating him! The crowd erupts in cheers for the cephalopodic man as he celebrates, while Malachi just sits, bewildered at what just happened.)
JR Freeman: My god! Malachi was just eliminated by The Squid-Man!
Alfonso Banks: Former Apex world champion, Malachi, was eliminated by a guy who thinks he’s an invertebrate.
JR Freeman: This is unbelievable! A sight to behold! You will only find something like this in the Rebel Rumble match!
(Squid-Man waves politely at Malachi, who’s understandably furious at what just happened! He points at Squid, shaking his head and mouthing “You’re dead, I’m making calamari!” as he’s escorted out by ring staff.)
MALACHI HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(In the ring, more things are happening! Violet has more barbed wire, and is wrapping the table in it outside the ring. Meanwhile, Ryder and Squid are fighting after what just went down. Ryder chops Squid several times, with Squid trying to return in kind, but his slaps don’t do as much damage, considering he’s built smaller. Ryder clotheslines the Squid-Man, then grabbing him and locking in the Maple Leaf! Squid flails, but it’s no use. He tries to hit Ryder, but he’s too far from him! He’s truly stuck in that hold until Devon decides to break it. Meanwhile, Mack has found himself eye-to-eye with David Shane. David lifts Mack up for a vertical suplex, but Mack reverses it, lifting David up and flapjacking him onto the top rope, but David falls back into the ring, so Mack tries to finish the job, picking him up and throwing him out of the ring, but Shane manages to catch himself, barely holding on as he pulls himself back into the ring.)
(Jenn and Alexandra are fighting again now, with Jennifer hitting a dropkick to Alexandra, who stumbles into the ropes, but when Jenn tries to hit a kick to knock her out of the ring, Sanders pulls the top rope down, trying to pull Jenn out of the ring instead, but it doesn’t work out as she planned, with Lopez stopping before she even hits the ropes. Instead, she turns around and hits a snapmare onto The Dark Queen, chaining it into a headlock! Violet’s turned her attention to Ryder, sliding out of the ring to grab a previously-discarded kendo stick and handing it to him, shouting, audibly, “Hit me! C’mon!”, with Devon shaking his head no before whipping her into the corner, walking over and lifting her on top of it, joining her as he hits Niagara Falls! The crowd starts counting down for the next entrant, lucky number 13! “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The buzzer sounds, and entrant #13’s arrival is guaranteed.)
(“Twilight Zone” by 2 Unlimited starts playing over the speakers, as Marcus Cage emerges from the curtain, wearing a NIC armband, not unlike anyone currently in the ring. He pats it twice, pointing and looking up, as he sprints to the ring, hopping over the top rope. It’s clear to everyone in the arena that he definitely still has glitter on his outfit from earlier in the night, a fact that is made very obvious by the fans, who start chanting “YOU GOT GLITTERED!” followed by 5 claps.)
ENTRANT #13: MARCUS CAGE
(He sighs, but shrugs, immediately superkicking Mack as his first action in the match. He picks McKane up, throwing him into the ropes and trying to push him over, but Mack grabs him, trying to throw him over in return. Cage stops trying, instead running to some closeby ropes, hopping onto them and jumping off with a diving crossbody, followed by heading up to the turnbuckle to do a frog splash! Amidst chants of “Shock and Awe!” and “You Still Got It!”, he smirks, lifting Mack up, but is bitten on the nose for his troubles. He falls to the mat, clutching his face, as Mack grabs the kendo stick that Violet dropped and starts whipping Marcus with it! He grins a sadistic grin, kicking him a few times. Soon Mack is hit in the back of the head by Jenn and he turns around, leaving Marcus to get up. As he does, however, he comes face to face with David Shane! The crowd cheers as Cage and Shane stare each other down.)
JR Freeman: Marcus Cage, staring down David Shane!
Alfonso Banks: David was part of Shock and Awe, brought in like a brother in arms, but Cage REALLY doesn’t like what David’s been doing recently!
JR Freeman: Well if he wants to make that known, there might be better places to do it, this has turned into a full-on warzone!
(A bit after, Violet starts trying to climb the ladder again. She sets it up, but that decision is quickly regretted as Sanders hits a dropkick to the ladder, hitting it directly into Violet, falling on top of her as it falls. She grabs the ropes, pulling herself out from under the ladder, but Alexandra’s already following up, running over and hitting a curb stomp, before lifting Violet up, hitting a chokeslam onto the fallen ladder. Violet stands, using the ropes to assist her. Alexandra has grabbed the ladder, but that proves to have been a mistake as Violet dropkicks it into her face, causing her to tumble backwards, now sandwiched in between the ladder and the ropes. Ryder is now on Jenn, hitting a few European uppercuts to send her to the mat, before trying to follow up with a cross-legged STF, but she kicks at him, sending him stumbling backwards, almost, but not quite, hitting the ropes. The 11-time champion hops on the ropes, looking for some kind of diving move, but Ryder gets a leg up, making Jenn hit her face on his boot. She falls to the mat and he takes advantage, grabbing her in German Suplex position and hitting ONE… TWO… THREE territories! But not only that. He looks at the crowd, before following up with FOUR and FIVE!)
Alfonso Banks: FIVE territories!? That’s absurd!
JR Freeman: Maybe it’s you who’s absurd. Did you ever think of that, Alf?
Alfonso Banks: Oh my god… that’s dumb, JR. What a dumb thing to say. You’re dumb.
(Lifting her back up, he puts Jenn on the turnbuckle, trying to get her out that way, but Jenn uses this to her advantage, getting into position and hitting a diving crossbody on the Canadian Hero! She gets up, BARELY able to pick up the larger man for a SPLIT second as the hits the Aussie Blackout! Impressing herself, she then jumps off the ropes, hitting a legdrop into a roll-through Money Maker! She wrenches on the Unbreakable Man’s arm, making him wince in pain and reach for something, anything to help, but there is nothing around. He bangs on the canvas again, not tapping out but instead psyching himself up, rhythmically pounding the mat with his free fist as he audibly says the first part of his mantra.)
Devon Ryder: Shoot me down…
Audience: I WON’T FALL! I AM TITAAAAANIIIIIUUUUUMMMM!
(He physically lifts himself off the ground, Jenn still on his arm, as he physically lifts her up, dumping her over the top rope, where she needs to let go of his arm in order to steady herself! Ryder kicks at her, but she doesn’t budge, instead just holding on tighter, with her arms and legs. Devon rears back, running forward and kicking her legs hard, but it only makes one leg fall. She eventually slips down onto the apron, where she’s able at long last to roll back into the ring again. The timer finally reaches that precious moment again, and the counting from the crowd begins anew! “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The buzzer sounds once more, to mark the official halfway point in the entrants, as number 14 steps out.)
(With another bout of generic entrance music, Patty makes her way to the ring to a chorus of disinterest from the English crowd. She raises her arms in the air, but still everyone seems to be paying more attention to the competitors who are actually in the ring.)
ENTRANT #14: PATTY
(She gets into the ring and comes face to face with The Squid-Man, who puts out a hand… tentacle? …Whatever, for her to shake. She does, then they prepare to square up… until Jenn comes casually walking by for unrelated reasons and just tosses Patty over the top rope as she does. The crowd laughs, as do the announcers!)
Alfonso Banks: Look at that, JR. A perfect - truly a MASTERPIECE of an elimination. 10/10. 100% certified fresh!
JR Freeman: Honestly, it WILL be hard to top that, Alf, but I think the rest of these guys are more than willing to try!
PATTY HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(The ladder is set up again, this time by David Shane, who starts climbing it, clearly looking to deliver a devastating move of some sort. But just as he’s about to demonstrate, Devon Ryder starts climbing the other side of the ladder, meeting David at the top. David Shane immediately starts punching, but Devon’s right on him just as quickly. The two exchange blows, going back and forth, until finally one of them has the advantage. Once Ryder sees even the smallest opportunity open up, he takes it, grabbing David and putting him in the proper position for his ultimate finisher!)
JR Freeman: What!? He can’t be serious…
Alfonso Banks: Do it, you Canadian powerhouse weirdo!
(Ryder JUMPS off the ladder, DRIVING David Shane into the mat with the Strong and Free OFF THE LADDER! Both men are down for a moment, but Ryder’s up first by a long shot, picking David up and throwing him over the ropes, officially eliminating him!)
DAVID SHANE HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(He takes the ladder, folding it up nicely and discarding it outside the ring, before turning his attention to the first person he can find who isn’t already punching someone, and in fact that person finds him. Alexandra jumps on Devon for taking her elimination! She kicks at him a few times, punching and elbowing him in the head before bringing him into the corner and lifting him onto the second rope, hitting the Fallen Angel! She stomps on him while he’s down, not even caring about eliminating him at this point, wanting to only cause him pain. She grabs his legs, dragging him to the center of the ring, but the delay is enough that he’s able to kick her off of him. Before she can retaliate any further, Mack starts on the offense, hitting her with a crucifix pin bomb. The pin portion obviously doesn’t count, but he’s able to get her to the mat, where he capitalizes by hopping onto the ropes and landing a corkscrew moonsault, followed closely by a double stomp.)
(Jenn and Squid have found each other, but have agreed to team up, at least for now! Finding Violet plotting something, Jennifer runs at her, hitting a dropkick and Squid catches her in the Octopus Stretch! While in the move, Jenn hits a few kicks on 5 Feet of Crazy, and when she’s done with that, Squid-Man breaks the hold, making Violet fall to the ground, which is when he takes his shot, nodding to Jenn and yelling “I Am a Squid!”, and each of them goes to a set of ropes and jumps off with a different move, with Lopez hitting a diving leg drop to Violet’s torso, with Squid hitting a senton to her legs! The two get up and high five, before trying to toss her over the top, but she holds on. They both try pushing her off the apron, but she punches them both in the face and gets back in as the audience counts down yet again! “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The buzzer sounds as the halfway point is officially crossed, with the 15th entrant making their way to the ring.)
(Marcus Redd makes his way out as “Party Like a Rockstar” by Shop Boyz plays. He walks out onto the stage, cracking his knuckles as he looks at everyone in the ring, before walking quickly down to said ring and getting in.)
ENTRANT #15: MARCUS REDD
(He immediately comes face to face with Marcus Cage, and soon both of them are the only ones left standing, as everyone’s hitting moves on each other in the background. Cage and Redd stare each other down, the bad blood between them palpable in the arena as fans watch on. The crowd goes insane as they circle each other, sizing each other up like bloodthirsty wolves.)
JR Freeman: Cage and Redd have some history! They both loved Candy, Redd tried to get with Candy, but Cage was already in love with her!
Alfonso Banks: Ooh, got some love drama going on here! Spicy!
(Finally Redd makes the first move, whipping Cage into the turnbuckle, running at him, but Cage gets a knee up, making him run into it, falling to the mat. Cage climbs up the same turnbuckle, diving off with a 450 splash! He then lifts Redd up, looking for Caged Lightning, but Redd slips out of it. He jumps on the ropes, hitting a diving crossbody, before stomping on him several times! He grabs Cage’s arm, locking in an armbar!)
(Violet slips out of the ring, grabbing something from under the ring… a box of matches and a gas canister! She looks at the table, smiling wickedly as she walks up to it. She pours the gas onto the barbed-wire wrapped table, before lighting it up! Sliding into the ring, she sets up another ladder, this time a slightly longer one, looking to climb it and throw someone off of it, but before anyone can join her, Mack runs up, pushing the ladder down, sending Violet through her own table! The crowd roars for the extreme move, as Violet’s officially eliminated.)
JR Freeman: My god, Violet’s insane!
Alfonso Banks: True enough, JR, she’s not called “5 Feet of Crazy” for nothing!
VIOLET AMELIA HOLT HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(Meanwhile, Squid and Alexandra are going at it! Squid-Man jumps off the ropes, hitting a hurricanrana on the Dark Queen, before going up to the top and looking for the Cephalopod Splash, but she moves out of the way, making him hit the mat! She gets up, lifting him up for a chokeslam! She hits the move, before picking him up again, whipping Squid-Man into the turnbuckle. She runs at him, hoping to hit a splash, but he leaps up onto the turnbuckle, almost making her run into it, but she stops herself. She grabs him, hitting a few knee strikes to his head, knocking him once again to the mat, before grabbing his leg for a Boston Crab, but Squid gets out of it by holding onto the ropes on either side of the turnbuckle, hopping up to make her break the submission. He hits a diving crossbody, and looks to want to follow it up with an octopus stretch, but Alexandra instead picks him up in powerbomb position, carrying him to the ropes. Squid fights, punching her in the head, but she doesn’t let that stop her, finally hitting Apocalypse to the outside! Squid-Man’s feet are still on the apron so he pulls himself up, but Alexandra, having had enough of his antics, rears back and runs at him, kicking him in the face and knocking him completely off the apron! With Squid gone, that leaves just 6 people in the ring. Devon Ryder, Alexandra Calaway, Mack McKane, Jennifer Makarios-Lopez, Marcus Cage, and Marcus Redd.)
JR Freeman: Squid-Man put on a hell of a performance!
Alfonso Banks: I think he did better than ANY of us expected him to!
THE SQUID-MAN HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(Redd and Cage continue to fight, with a powerbomb from Redd, as the timer counts down once again! The crowd counts along with it, as they are wont to do. “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The buzzer sounds once again, as the next entrant comes in.)
(The arena goes dark as the opening chords of Willa Ford's "I Wanna Be Bad" blasts out of the speakers. Bright neon lights flash out from the ramp, and the words "The Bad Girl" flash across the screen, as Heather Haze strides out to a mixed reaction from the gathered crowd. She smiles as her theme music continues to bump out of the P.A. She strikes a seductive pose for a moment, then dances a little to the music, shaking her hips to wolf-whistles from the crowd and smiling, before making her way slowly to the ring. She then sprints the last few feet and baseball slides into the ring, coming up into a quick predatory crouch, her eyes locked on the fans.)
ENTRANT #16: HEATHER HAZE
(She smirks, pushing her breasts out seductively as she looks at Devon Ryder, winking. He puts a hand out, looking for a test of strength. The Bad Girl smirks, slapping him across the face, then hitting a dropkick! She then goes to the ropes for a diving crossbody, but Devon catches her, hitting a Pendulum Backbreaker on the former porn star. He then grabs her leg, looking for an ankle lock, but she immediately grabs the ropes, kicking Devon away as she gets some momentum behind her, running the ropes and hitting a spear on the Canadian Hero! She then punches him a few times while he’s on the ground, before realizing the position she’s in, bucking her hips and biting her lip, then chuckling and getting off of him.)
(Meanwhile, Redd and Cage are still going at it! Marcus hits a crossbody, meanwhile Marcus falls to the mat. The crowd has dueling chants of “Let’s Go Marcus!” followed by 5 claps, and a louder part of the crowd chanting “Let’s go Marcus!” with 5 claps. Marcus Redd whips Cage into the corner and tries going for a dropkick, but Cage moves out of the way, leading Redd to crash and burn! He then hops up on the turnbuckle, hitting a 450 splash, before grabbing Redd and hitting Caged Lighting! He lifts him up, tossing him out of the ring, eliminating him, as the crowd cheers!)
MARCUS REDD HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(Soon he turns to face someone, and comes across Alexandra, who rakes his eyes, making him fall to the mat! She gets on top of him, hitting him with stiff lefts and rights, before picking him up and hitting a teardrop suplex, chaining it into a fujiwara armbar! She wrenches hard on the hold as Marcus reaches for the ropes.)
(Haze has found her way to Jenn, and they’re going at it! Lopez hits a hurricanrana, with Haze rolling through and jumping on the ropes for a crossbody! She then gets up quite quickly, going to the top, but Jenn gets up too, trying to push her out! Heather jumps off the turnbuckle, down onto the apron, where Jenn tries pushing her out by grabbing her shoulders, but The Bad Girl is having none of it, spitting in her face and poking her eyes, making her way into the ring as she poses seductively for the crowd.)
(At the same time, Mack is fighting Devon. They’re both at the ropes, trading places, with Mack sometimes on the ropes and Devon trying to push him off and over, and vice-versa. The Knife gets the upper hand, hitting Blood Eagle, before tossing Devon over the ropes! Though Devon holds on, pulling himself up with great effort, even slipping once and having one foot touch, but he manages to pull himself up, punching at Mack. Mack punches back and Devon wavers, but he hits back just as strong if not stronger, knocking Mack back. Mack retaliates by hitting very hard, but Devon ducks the hit, grabbing Mack’s arm and quickly laying on the apron, violently jerking the arm down against the top rope, making Mack retreat, holding his arm, as Devon slips back into the ring. The crowd starts counting down again, as entrant #17 is just around the corner! “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The buzzer sounds once again as the coming of entrant 17 is signaled.)
(The opening riff of “Judas” comes on the speakers, with the crowd singing along as usual, as “Chronic” Chris Page makes his way onto the stage. He walks out, strutting his stuff, a smirk on his face. He’s got a NIC armband on, which he points to, then pointing up and mouthing “Thinking of you, buddy!” before running to the ring and sliding in.)
ENTRANT #17: CHRIS PAGE
(He’s found by Marcus, who whips him into the ropes, but Page is one step ahead of him, grabbing the top rope and kicking behind himself, knocking Cage to the mat! He picks Cage up, hitting a belly-to-belly suplex, before grabbing him for a crossface! He wrenches on the hold, with Marcus being barely able to hold on! He reaches for the nearby ropes, and manages to grab them, but it only helps so much, as he’s able to drag himself forward but NOT break the hold! Chris elbows him in the head a few times before continuing the submission, altering it a bit to hook Cage’s free arm in beside his head! He grins wickedly, as Cage eventually taps out. He releases the hold, apparently having derived some kind of sick pleasure from making a legend tap out, before being immediately hit by a jumping DDT outta NOWHERE from Jenn! While he’s down, she grabs his arm in an armbar, but he’s able to weasel his way out of it, slipping out of the ring through the bottom rope, as he stares up at Lopez, who’s pounding her chest with one fist saying “Come at me!”)
(The Bad Girl is now on full offense, going around punching whoever she can find. That happens to be Alexandra. The former Calaway jumps off the top rope, hitting a springboard guillotine leg drop, going for a sharpshooter but getting shot down as Haze is up too quickly. Heather rebounds off the ropes, hitting another spear, this time on Sanders, as she picks her up and tosses her over the top, but Alexandra holds on, standing on the apron as she repeatedly elbows Haze in the head. She then grabs her in a front headlock, trying to pull her out of the ring to join her, and she soon does, with both of them now on the apron! They exchange blows for a bit, before Ryder runs at both of them, looking to push them both off, but they both hit him in the face together before he can, knocking him off-balance and to the mat below. They both get in the ring, getting him in suplex position together, before lifting him up and hitting a double suplex on Ryder! Alexandra pats Haze on the back, before grabbing her and whipping her into the ropes, making her go over onto the apron again. Haze hops onto the ropes, springboarding off for a tilt-a-whirl headscissors takedown!)
(Marcus Cage has found himself teaming with Mack now, with the two of them working very well together! Mack grabs Page, getting him on his shoulders, while Cage goes up to the top, jumping off and hitting a dropkick, as Mack falls backwards, sending Chris to the mat! They high five and pick him up off the mat, with Mack going for Memento Mori, but Chris ducks underneath, pulling Mack towards him as he hits a ripcord German suplex! Though his actions soon catch up to him, as he’s blindsided by the man he forgot about, Marcus Cage, who hits him with a springboard crossbody, sending Page to the mat, before getting onto the top turnbuckle, diving off with a frog splash! Cage then picks Page up, going to the ropes, but Page elbows him in the back of the head multiple times, turning around and whipping HIM over the ropes. Cage stays on the apron, leaping off the ropes and hitting a tilt-a-whirl DDT! The crowd starts counting again, as the next entrant is heralded! “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The buzzer goes off again, and everyone turns their attention, momentarily, to the entrance ramp.)
(Number 18! A vaguely Hollywood-sounding song comes on as Moondust makes his way to the ring.)
ENTRANT #18: MOONDUST
(He walks down to the ring, rolling in under the bottom rope, Haze running over and kicking him in the face! Moondust falls to the ground, clutching his face. The Bad Girl picks him up, running him into the exposed turnbuckle, immediately making him bloody! She smirks, kicking him in the face repeatedly, before picking him up as a snap suplex! Both stand and she throws him over the top rope, but he’s able to hold onto the bottom rope, only escaping elimination because she gets bored with him. Meanwhile, Haze finds her way over to Jenn, who she grabs by the hair, trying to throw her out, but she’s met with a swift kick to the knees for her troubles. Haze falls to the mat, clutching her leg, as Jenn jumps on the ropes, hitting a springboard 450 splash onto Heather! She picks Heather Haze up, dragging hr to the ropes, but before she can do anything Haze steps out through the middle ropes, sticking her tongue out at Jenn, before dropping to the floor, making a big deal about mocking her, saying things like “Oh, look at me, I’m eliminated, you got me!”, before flipping her off and hopping back onto the apron, grabbing Jenn’s face and then hopping back off, pulling her throat violently onto the top rope, causing a massive influx of boos!)
JR Freeman: What an unsportswomanlike move that was!
Alfonso Banks: Honestly, JR? Maybe this opinion’ll make me unpopular, but that word doesn’t have the same ring to it. Doesn’t really flow off the tongue.
JR Freeman: You’re right, but it IS politically correct, and I like to stick to what people are okay with other people saying!
Alfonso Banks: Ah, fooey to that! I say, as long as it’s not a slur, say what you like!
JR Freeman: That’s… problematic.
Alfonso Banks: Fuck you, JR!
(Devon’s squaring up to Marcus Cage, putting a hand out in the way that only he can. This time, the crowd gets to chant along as he says it!)
Devon Ryder: WRESTLE ME, MARCUS!
(Marcus Cage applauds him for his show of respect, and soon the two get into a test of strength, with Ryder coming out on top, dropping Cage to the mat with a t-bone suplex, then grabbing his legs and twisting them around his own, then spinning violently, hitting the ground to lock in an inverted figure 4 leglock! Marcus winces, grabbing his head and reaching out, but no ropes are present. He bangs on the mat a few times, trying to kick Ryder off of him, but he can’t seem to do so. Eventually it’s too much for him to handle and he taps out, and even though submissions don’t count, Ryder breaks the hold immediately after, showing his sense of morality in wrestling. He offers a hand to Cage, helping him up, before getting into another lock-up with him, with Cage winning this one, kicking Ryder in the gut, hitting a C4 while he’s bent over. He smiles, kicking at Ryder while he’s on the mat, before picking him up and throwing him over the top rope, but Ryder’s able to hold onto the bottom rope! Marcus does try and push him out of the ring via his legs, but he only manages to get one foot to touch the ground before Ryder finds his footing and fully pulls himself up again, punching Cage multiple times and getting back in the ring. “TEN!” The crowd counts down again, “NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The buzzer sounds again.)
(The arena is engulfed in the first few cords of a song and then the lights go out.)
You don't feel the pain
Too much is not enough
Nobody said this stuff makes any sense
We're hooked again
Point of no return
See how the buildings burn
Light up the night
Such pretty sight
(At the top of the stage there is now a spotlight. In the spotlight walks out Dylan Howell, bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet as the song continues while some of the fans start to cheer.)
Adrenaline
Keeps me in the game
Adrenaline
You don't even feel the pain
Wilder than your wildest dreams
When you're going to extremes
It takes adrenaline
(The fans start to cheer louder until the jumbotron in large electric blue writing DYLAN HOWELL IS HERE NOW. The crowd now starts to cheer wildly and chant at the top of their lungs the name "Dylan Howell" as the lights come on and Dylan sprints to the ring dressed like a biker in leather.)
ENTRANT #19: DYLAN HOWELL
(He slides under the bottom rope and gets up, looking crazy, and immediately comes face to face with Chris Page. The two look at each other, each tilting their head as a mirror image of one another. Chris lifts a hand and Dylan mirrors his action. Dylan puts his leg in and Chris does the same thing. Each of them puts their hands on their face, giving a shocked expression to the crowd, who’s eating it up. They laugh and hug, before Chris immediately turns, trying to eliminate Howell, but Dylan doesn’t let him, instead elbowing Chris in the face multiple times. Page grabs him, looking for a belly-to-back suplex, but Dylan slips out of it, getting behind Page, but he does the same thing, finally hitting the move! He picks Howell up, bringing him back to the ropes, pushing him into them until he’s kissing the top rope! …Literally, he’s kissing the top rope! Page steps back, letting him finish his, uh… hot, rope-burny make-out sesh, going to check on someone else instead. Namely, Jenn Lopez!)
JR Freeman: Well, these are the kind of antics I would expect from Dylan Howell!
Alfonso Banks: What a wacky, quirky guy!
JR Freeman: That’s… certainly a way to put it!
(Jennifer runs at Page, who steps aside, letting her almost go into the ropes, but she stops herself. He decides he has to do it himself, running at her and hitting the Judas Effect, before picking her up and tossing her over the top rope! She falls, but is able to save herself by standing on one foot, hopping to the apron and getting back on it, making the crowd cheer her on, with chants of “Jenn! Jenn! Jenn! Jenn! Jenn!” and “Let’s go Lopez!” With 5 claps afterwards. Chris lifts her up, hitting a piledriver, then heads to the top rope, jumping off with a diving headbutt! He then gets an idea, grabbing her by the legs and slipping out of the ring under the bottom rope, but before he can do anything she kicks him in the face, multiple times, making him stumble backwards into the barricade! He shakes his head, sliding back into the ring and looking to finish Jennifer off in this match, but she fights back, hard! He lifts her off the mat and she repays him with a swinging neckbreaker, sending him to the canvas! After a moment, Jenn jumps off the ropes, hitting a moonsault to the back of Page.)
(Devon is meanwhile dealing with Dylan, who’s finished kissing the rope and has moved onto kicking some ass! Howell hirs a knife edge chop on Ryder, then Ryder hits one on Howell! Howell hits one on Ryder, Ryder hits him back in kind, harder. Howell hits a short-arm lariat on Devon to bring him to the mat, punching him repeatedly, before going to the top turnbuckle and hitting a rolling senton splash, going for the cover! After taking WAY too long to realize pinfalls don’t count, Howell picks Ryder up, about to toss him over the ropes, but Ryder’s too much for him, hitting him in the gut multiple times and clotheslining him onto the apron! He starts kicking Dylan multiple times, but nothing really comes of it. Howell gets right back into the ring, letting out a battlecry before wailing on Devon again. The crowd counts “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” and even making the buzzer noise along with the loud noise that signifies a new entrant into the rumble match!)
(“I’m Sexy And I Know It” by LMFAO echoes through the arena. Richard Rider appears slowly from the back as 3 people swarm around him taking pictures with small disposable cameras. He poses at the top of the ramp as his hair blows in the wind by a nearby wind machine. He makes his way past them and into the ring where they continue to take pictures until their cameras are full and they head backstage.
ENTRANT #20: RICHARD RIDER
(He stands in the ring, looking around at his opponents, and giving an overblown Hollywood smile to Alexandra, who simply stares at him in kind, barely acknowledging his presence, before going back to punching. Then Richard sees him… Moondust! He walks up to him, tapping him on the shoulder! Moondust turns around to face him and Rider crosses his arms.)
Richard Rider: You Hollywood reject, get out of here!
(He grabs Moondust, hitting “I’d Like to Thank the Academy” on him before throwing the painted man over the top rope, sending the older wrestler to the floor below, eliminating him!)
MOONDUST HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(The crowd is fairly indifferent, but they mostly shower the Hollywood “””mega-star””” with boos. He blows them off, looking at Sanders again, who… wasn’t watching. He shakes his head, going after the first person he finds, who happens to be Mack McKane. He runs at the Knife, punching him in the back of the head really hard! Mack immediately turns to glare at Rider, who backs up slowly, trying to backpedal, before heading to the ropes and hitting a springboard dropkick! He pants, mouthing “I did it!”, but then makes the mistake of checking on Mack, who grabs him in a chokehold! Rider struggles, especially as Mack doubles up, clutching Ryder’s neck with both hands, but Richard hits Mack in the balls and runs off once he falls to the mat, clutching his package!)
(Alexandra is dealing with Marcus Cage, who’s currently got the upper hand on her! He hops onto the turnbuckle, hitting a flying headscissors takedown, and then follows that up with a springboard senton! Picking her up, he gets onto the turnbuckle, but she fights back, hopping up and hitting a hurricanrana on him, before jumping and hitting a standing stomp to his neck, kicking him in the stomach several times! She picks Cage up, throwing him over the top rope, but he’s able to counter her attempt to push him out from the apron by hitting her with his shoulder through the ropes, then getting on the turnbuckle and hitting a diving reverse guillotine leg drop, sending her to the mat! He picks her up, throwing her onto the apron. They fight for a bit, going back and forth with punches, before he revvs up, getting ready for a big move! Upon seeing this, Richard Rider RUNS, hopping onto the same apron over the top rope, pushing Alexandra out of the way just in time for a superkick meant for her to hit him instead, knocking him to the floor below, eliminating Rider, who looks at Alexandra. She seems fairly impressed with his “heroic” sacrifice.)
RICHARD RIDER HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(The crowd counts down as the timer starts again, “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The buzzer goes again, meaning entrant #21 is about to enter!)
(The lights go out. The crowd cheers, as wrestling crowds always do when the lights go out. Soon enough, a solemn singing is heard.)
What will we do with a drunken whaler?
What will we do with a drunken whaler?
What will we do with a drunken whaler?
Early in the morning.
(A single spotlight comes on, shining on the entrance stage, revealing The Mad God, Dionysus, standing there, looking as menacing as ever. As the music plays, he looks around at the crowd in the nearly-entirely darkened arena. The voice continues to sing as The Horseman of Death stands on the stage.)
Way, hey, and up she rises…
Way, hey, and up she rises…
Way, hey, and up she rises…
Early in the morning.
(Soon, the singing stops, and there’s a single guitar note that gives way to a drum beat with more guitar over it. As soon as the drums start, Dionysus SPRINTS to the ring, sliding in under the bottom rope and standing to full height.)
ENTRANT #21: DIONYSUS
(The entire field stops in their tracks, with Alexandra cackling as she does. The music stops and Dionysus is immediately on the offense, hitting Devon Ryder with a big boot! Marcus Cage runs up to him, trying to do any damage at all, but for his efforts he’s FLUNG 10 feet into the air, over the top rope, smacking into Richard Rider on his way out!)
MARCUS CAGE HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(Dylan Howell runs up to the giant, punching him repeatedly as high as he can, but he’s simply the next victim, being lifted into the air and slammed down by a chokeslam from the biggest man in the ring. Mack puts up significantly more of a fight, jumping on Dionysus from behind, locking in a dragon sleeper! He wrenches on the hold, wrapping his legs around the big man, but Alexandra hits Mack with a barbed-wire-wrapped 2x4, making him let go! Dionysus picks Mack up, putting him on his shoulders, and Alexandra gets on the turnbuckle, jumping off and hitting Mack with a Pele kick a la Jonathan, making Mack fall to the mat!)
(Dionysus stands back up, only to be swarmed by several more people; Devon Ryder, Chris Page, Jennifer Makarios-Lopez, but he manages to power through all of them, grabbing Chris Page and hitting him with the Rusty Cleaver, then lifting Jenn up and hitting the Loaded Pistol! He then tackles Ryder to the ground with a gore, slamming his head repeatedly into the mat, as Alexandra goes through to make sure the others are staying down! He hits Devon with some stiff lefts and rights, including elbow strikes and forearm shots. By the end, Devon is bloodied, and Dionysus just tosses him to the mat, with Haze being the next person. She runs up to him, going to the top rope and bouncing off, hitting a springboard dropkick that leaves The Mad God unsteady, but when she tries it again Alexandra smacks her with the 2x4 as well, before Dionysus picks her up, hitting a GIGANTIC military press slam, letting her drop from at least 10 feet in the air! The camera zooms out to show Alexandra and Dionysus standing among a pile of bodies, as the crowd boos the ANTITHESIS members. Dionysus, his work done, nods at Alexandra, who nods back at him, before stepping over the top rope, jumping down to the floor below.)
JR Freeman: My god… Dionysus lives up to his promise… he didn’t try to win, since their representative is already in the ring, but he did help make the playing field easier for the queen of ANTITHESIS!
Alfonso Banks: I absolutely wouldn’t want to be any of the people in the ring during that assault, JR! He didn’t even use any weapons, he caused destruction and chaos purely with his own hands, then eliminated himself!
JR Freeman: Because he figured he had served his purpose already!
DIONYSUS HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(Alexandra takes full advantage of the opportunity presented to her by Dionysus, and grabs Devon Ryder, throwing him over the top rope, doing the same to Mack, but both of them hang on! She kicks at Ryder’s legs, hoping to get him to back off, but he proves himself unbreakable yet again, holding on for dear life as Alexandra kicks at him, audibly shouting “WHY WON’T YOU DIE!?”. As she’s doing that, the audience gets to do their favourite thing again: counting down with the countdown timer! “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The buzzer sounds for entrant #22!)
("Blackout" by Breathe Carolina hits as numerous multicolored strobe lights begin to flash throughout the area. Chaz Holiday bursts out onto the stage, smiling and looking around at the crowd. He nods his head and claps his hands together, getting pumped up, as he makes his way down to the ring. He slides in, under the ropes and then pops up, looking around at everyone.)
ENTRANT #22: CHAZ HOLIDAY
(The crowd cheers loudly for Chaz, as they start chanting “WELCOME BACK!” and “YOU’RE A LEGEND!” followed by the prerequisite 5 claps. Alexandra turns to face him, getting a grin on her face. She runs at the Fantabulous one, looking for a bulldog, but he counters into a neckbreaker, causing the crowd to roar with excitement! He rebounds off the ropes, hitting a running high knee strike on the Dark Queen, as the others have gotten up by now. Chris Page finds his way towards Chaz, sizing him up, before hitting a spinebuster slam, before following it up with a Page Plant! He smirks, picking Chaz up and going towards the ropes, rearing up to throw him over, but Chaz catches himself, smacking Page in the head multiple times! He grabs him in a headlock, hitting a bulldog on the Chronic man before getting up, grabbing his legs and locking in the glamour lock, to chants of “YOU STILL GOT IT!” followed by… yeah, you know by now.)
(Mack and Haze are fighting now, with The Bad Girl getting Mack into the corner and keeping him there with one foot pressing against The Knife’s neck. She presses hard, but Mack grabs her foot, tripping her to the ground, before hitting Type O-Negative! He then picks her up, whipping HER into the turnbuckle, backing up and running at her with an elbow strike to the face! He grabs her arm, but she counters, throwing him into the corner, walking away for a moment, seductively, before running backwards, pressing her butt into the face of Mack McKane for Pucker Up! She bucks, hitting him in the head a few times before stepping back away from the corner, raising her arms in the air and cheering herself on, before picking Mack up, who greets her with a claw to her stomach, then one to the face, before kicking her in the gut and hitting the Blood Eagle! He picks her up off the mat, throwing her out of the ring, but Haze stops herself from falling, kicking him in the face with a very high kick, intentionally showing off to the crowd as she does. With a wink and a kiss blown to the crowd, she gets back into the ring.)
(Alexandra has picked up her 2x4 again, and is battering her opponents with it! She runs up to Chaz Holiday, smacking him in the back of the head with the object, before hitting him multiple times while he’s down! Jenn steps up, and is immediately smacked down, with Alexandra even rubbing the board on the girl’s face, dragging the barbed wire across it! Soon, however, she’s confronted by Dylan Howell. Dylan looks her up and down, sizing up his opponent, then notices the board.)
Dylan Howell: Charlene!?
(Ally looks at him, confused, as he grabs the board from her, talking directly to it, audibly enough for the crowd to hear.)
Dylan Howell: It’s been forever! How’ve you been!? …Ha ha, that’s great! How are the kids? …Oh, that’s a shame. …To shreds, you say? That’s a shame. How about the husband? …To shreds, you say? I’m sorry to hear it! …Oh, me? Well, y’know, I’m in the middle of a-
(Before he can continue, Sanders kicks him in the face, punching him a few times while he’s down for good measure! She grabs the 2x4, smacking him with it a few times, before moving on. Chris Page, meanwhile, is fighting with Devon Ryder, with Ryder on top, hitting a snapmare into a back-of-the-head dropkick! He then follows this up by picking Page up, looking for the Snap Freeze, but Page reverses it, soon hitting his own cradle piledriver, followed by a dragon sleeper, keeping him in the middle of the ring. The timer ticks down again, with the crowd getting ready for their favourite part! “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” they chant, followed by the buzzer sound.)
(Colorful lights decorate the stage as The Potato Song kicks in, and Spud Guzzman comes out dancing a jig to the music, holding a raw potato in his hand. Center stage he takes a huge bite of raw potato, swallows it and flashes a thumbs up to the crowd. He continues to dance and eat his way to the ring, finishing the potato by the time he gets into the ring, where he dances around some more before flashing another thumbs up.)
ENTRANT #23: SPUDS GUZZMAN JR.
(Heather Haze, who finds the fact that this guy’s in the same match as her to be incredibly funny, grabs him and tosses him over the top rope, but the potato farmer hangs on! She runs up to him, but he pulls the rope down! He elbows her in the face several times, before getting back into the ring, giving another big thumbs-up! The crowd laughs and cheers for the heir to Guzzman potato farms, who walks up to Devon Ryder! Devon puts a hand out for a test of strength, and Guzzman reaches out, putting a potato in his hand. Devon chuckles a bit, handing it back and audibly saying “No thank you” before grabbing him in a headlock, taking Spuds to the mat as he wraps his legs around his midsection!)
(Elsewhere, Jenn is fighting Chris Page, who’s hitting a reverse suplex on her! He gets up, kicking her in the head once before heading up to the turnbuckle, looking for a diving headbutt, but Alexandra’s right there, and she pushes him off! He stays in the match by means of aiming for the apron, but there is some damage done. She runs up to Page, hoping to eliminate him, but he grabs her and pulls her out with him! He ends up grabbing her in a reverse headlock, running across the apron and hitting a bulldog onto the ringpost, with him landing on one apron and her landing on the other! He rolls back into the ring, while Sanders slides down, but not completely off, sliding off face-first so she can catch herself, pulling herself back up onto the apron as she gets back in the ring.)
JR Freeman: That’s one thing about this rumble match, JR, everyone who came in first… Alexandra, Mack, Devon, and Jenn, they’re all tenacious! They won’t stay down! Any of them!
Alfonso Banks: Right you are, JR! And I did NOT intend that to rhyme, I just do it, um… often. I’m a poet, and wasn’t aware of that fact.
JR Freeman: And you ruined it.
(Chaz and Haze have squared up, with Heather running at Chaz, but he grabs her and Irish whips her, keeping her momentum going. She rebounds off the ropes and he takes the opportunity to hit a spinning heel kick, followed by an enzuigiri, and once she’s on the mat, he pulls her up, hitting the Sparkle Driver! Lifting her up, he tries to get her over the top rope, but she bends down, putting her head in between the top and middle ropes. A clever strategy, but one Chaz punishes, elbowing her in the head several times, bringing it back up, trying to get her over the ropes once again. She elbows him from behind, before hitting the top rope, jumping over him, then when he turns around, smacking him to the mat with a clothesline! The crowd briefly cheers Haze, despite her previous actions, for the athleticism on display! Soon the countdown timer starts a-tickin’ again, and the crowd, as they always do, counts down along with it. “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” they all chant along, before the buzzer sounds, yet again heralding the next entrant into the match.)
(“Crazy Bitch” by Buckcherry plays over the speaker system, and everyone expects Miss Puppies to show up, but nobody does. After a few tense moments, the music stops. A couple of moments pass and the song starts up again, but again we have no response, and nobody entering. Everyone in the ring stops and looks around, in case Miss Puppies is entering from the crowd or something, but she doesn’t. Finally, however, Miss Puppies runs out onto the stage, pursued by an attacker in a mask!)
ENTRANT #24: MISS PUPPIES
(She tries fighting back, but the attacker has a bat! The music stops as they attack Puppies, bringing her down to the floor, smacking her again and again with the bat, picking her up by her jacket as they start walking with her down the ramp, to the backstage area!)
JR Freeman: What is going on?
Alfonso Banks: Miss Puppies just… isn’t gonna be in the match, then, I suppose.
JR Freeman: That’s… that’s not a good sign.
Alfonso Banks: You know what’s not a good sign, JR? “Yield”. Just tell me the speed limit or tell me to stop, it’s a meaningless fucking sign!
JR Freeman: …I don’t know what to be more confused by. Miss Puppies being attacked at random, or your inane ramblings.
(The masked assailant brings Puppies backstage, with her flailing at them the entire time. The competitors in the ring don’t really pay much mind to this besides the initial looks of confusion.)
MISS PUPPIES HAS BEEN… ELIMINATED?
(Spuds is now in a scuffle with Alexandra, who clotheslines him just about out of his farm shoes, before picking him up and hitting him back down to the mat with a piledriver! She grabs Spuds by the legs, locking in a sharpshooter and he immediately starts tapping out, but she doesn’t release the hold, instead just wrenching on it harder, making him tap faster, reaching out for whatever he can find! Soon he finds a set of ropes, reaching out and grabbing one, but he must be expecting that to cause a rope break, which it doesn’t, since he just holds onto the rope and doesn’t do anything at first, instead waiting to realize that there are no rope breaks, so pulling himself up using the ropes, kicking the former Calaway off of him. Sanders smirks, grabbing him and throwing him into the exposed turnbuckle, but he catches himself, so when she runs at him he moves, sending her crashing into it instead!)
(A moment later, Mack McKane and Dylan Howell start fighting, with Mack immediately on the offensive, grabbing him in a headlock and dragging him to a turnbuckle, trying to hoist him over it, but Dylan fights back, pushing him away and hitting him with a reverse clothesline, sending Mack into the turnbuckle instead! He rears back, revving up like a train, even shouting “CHOO CHOO!” before running full-speed at Mack, hitting him with a splash into the corner, making The Knife slump down. After that, he lifts Mack up, about to throw him over the top rope, but Mack ensures that won’t happen when he grabs him by the head, hitting a crucifix pin bomb, before dragging him to the ropes, putting his upper jaw against the bottom rope, running and welcoming Dylan to Ambien Alley! Soon the crowd counts down again, hopefully this time for an entrant that’s actually going to be in the match! The timer ticks down, and they tick down with it! “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” the crowd says in unison with the timer, before the sounding of a buzzer once again signals the coming of another performer.)
(The opening riff of “Wolf Within” hits the speakers and once the lyrics kick in Cassie Wolfe emerges from the back excited to start the match, with her hands on her leather jacket’s sides the rookie wrestler turns her back to the crowd. Cassie spins around, flashing the metal horns sign with her left hand and clapping fans’ hands with the other as she runs to the ring! When she reaches the ring, Cassie jumps onto the apron before giving her hair a full flip and removing her jacket, giving it to an attendant outside the ring.)
ENTRANT #25: CASSIE WOLFE
(The crowd cheers for the Rebel Princess, who flashes the metal devil horns again, before being confronted by Heather Haze. The Bad Girl crosses her arms as she looks at the Rebel Princess, grabbing her by the shoulders to try and get her out, but Cassie responds by hitting an arm drag, followed by going up immediately to the turnbuckle and hitting Air Aussie! She bounces in place a few times, before running to the ropes, rebounding off of them and hitting a GOOOOOAAAAAALLLL! Directly into the FACE of Heather Haze! The crowd roars with approval for their resident Rebel!)
(Devon Ryder is now face-to-face, nay, nose-to-nose, with the Fantabulous One. The crowd cheers the matchup, as Ryder goes for a jumping enzuigiri, which connects, before picking his opponent up for a Canadian backbreaker, chaining that into an ankle lock! Chaz squirms, kicking at Ryder, trying to get to the ropes for leverage! Upon finding none, he instead starts kicking the life out of Ryder, both dead on and from the side, with his free leg! Ryder counters this by grabbing his other leg and turning the move into a full-on Boston Crab, but makes sure to do it at a high angle, so as to place the legend directly on his neck! Holiday flails for a moment, before powering his way out of the move, using his legs to toss Devon into the ropes! He stands, but one leg collapses. He powers through it, running at Ryder, hitting a dropkick, but it doesn’t quite send Ryder over, instead just making him slump over in the ring, against the ropes! Chaz picks him up, trying to get him out of the ring, but he will not go! Eventually getting exasperated, he hits a snap powerslam on Ryder, before locking in the Glamour Lock! Ryder slams the mat with both fists, intent on not tapping out, not giving up, even if it doesn’t count in the match! He starts his mantra again.)
Devon Ryder: Shoot me down… I won’t fall!
Crowd: I AM TITAAAAANIIIIIUUUUUUMMMM!
(The crowd chants along, singing the song’s chorus a few more times. He kicks Chaz off of him, kipping up and bringing Chaz to the corner, lifting him onto it and hitting the Social Safety Net, making both competitors lay on the mat for a while! As they do that, Spuds Guzzman is still in action, this time against Jenn! He hits the Farm Hand, and Jenn responds in kind by slapping him in the face, sending the potato man to the mat! She gets on the top rope, looking to hit a shooting star press, but Spuds moves out of the way, leaving her to crash and burn! He manages to get up, jumping off the ropes and hitting a leg drop on Lopez! He gets a bit of support behind him like Squid did earlier, as he picks her up and hits a powerbomb! He grabs her, hitting 2 of his “3 Amigos” style suplexes “Boil ‘em, Mash ‘em, Stick ‘em in a Stew”, but on the third one she’s able to counter into a suplex of her own! Jenn then gets down and locks in the Money Maker, making Spuds immediately grab the nearby set of ropes, but she drags him further away from them! He taps, but she doesn’t let go at first, waiting for him to tap out a second time before releasing the hold. She picks Spuds up, getting on the turnbuckle and hitting a diving crossbody, before rolling through into a Fujiwara armbar! The crowd once again gets to feast on the delicious pudding that the timer gives them when they count down with it! “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The buzzer sounds!)
(Generic entrance music plays as Stacy O’Brien makes her way to the ring! She cheers herself on, to counteract the crowd, who’s utterly neutral towards her.)
ENTRANT #26: STACY O'BRIEN
(As she slides into the ring, she runs at Mack, who immediately shuts her down by just holding his arm out. He throws her over the ropes but she doesn’t go out right away, instead getting back in after he turns to deal with REAL problems. Soon, however, Spuds is back up and he sees an opportunity, hitting his French Fried Finisher on Stacy, before bringing her to the ropes and tossing her over them, making the crowd pop as he does! He actually got an elimination, and he’s proud of himself.)
STACY O'BRIEN HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(Spuds audibly shouts “I did it, dad!” before he himself is tossed over the top rope too, at the hands of the Rebel Princess. She smirks, looking down at him and mouthing “No Hard Feelings”, before turning to face her real enemy.)
SPUDS GUZZMAN JR. HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(Cassie faces down Alexandra, charging at her and successfully hitting a jumping, flying clothesline. She follows this up by heading to the top rope looking for The Coronation, but Alexandra rolls out of the way before she even jumps, leaving her to just hop off the top rope, landing on her feet. She shrugs, hitting a springboard moonsault instead, before picking Sanders up, eliciting a furious punch right to the groin of the Rebel Princess, making her collapse to the mat, clutching down under. Alexandra smirks, stomping on her before picking her up, looking to hit Bow to the Queen, and manages to! She picks Cassie up, throwing her over the top rope, but she grabs the middle rope, holding onto it with her arms and her legs, with Alexandra kicking at her.)
(Devon Ryder is fighting Dylan Howell, with the Unbreakable Man lifting him, looking for the Strong and Free, but Dylan fights out of it, punching Ryder until he puts him down. Going to the ropes, Dylan jumps off, hitting a diving kneelift, kneeing Devon in the face and knocking him down. He picks him up, getting Devon into a gorilla press position, before dropping him down, hitting the D.O.A.! Howell then tries to throw Devon over the top rope, but Ryder holds on for dear life, PULLING himself up, managing to barely flip back over the top rope, collapsing as soon as he gets back in the ring. Meanwhile, Chaz and Mack are fighting again, Chaz hitting a snap suplex, but as soon as he does he’s kept on the mat by Mack, who gets up onto one knee, biting Holiday’s forehead. He then knees him several times in the head, before hitting O-Positive! He pulls the Fantabulous one up, but is blindsided by a kick to the head from Haze, who then captalizes by hitting the 2x4 from earlier onto Mack’s head, before breaking it so nobody else can use it!)
Dylan Howell: No! Charlene! How could you!? She has… er… HAD… a family!
(He runs at Haze, hitting a running high knee, hitting a standing moonsault and then grabbing a leg for a single-leg Boston crab! He wrenches on the hold, keeping Haze away from the ropes, even hitting her legs on either side with his fists for good measure! The crowd starts to chant again, which must mean the timer is counting down! “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” they chant, and then finally the buzzer goes off once more, just in time for lucky number 27!)
(The lighting throughout the arena slowly fades into darkness evoking a sense of fearsome and suspenseful apprehension over the viewing audience as the opening riff of “New Disease” by Spineshankbegins to play throughout the arena. Eerie grayish black strobe lighting starts cascading throughout the arena as a series of grainy black and white video images shows Corey Bull laying out Spencer Adams, Casey Holliday, Oblivion, Scott Slayer and two other no named jabronies on the screen of the Tron. “The Hatebringer” Corey Bull appears to rise up in slow motion from the depths of hell in front of the Tronscreen, live and in living color, on stage wearing a faded white acrylic painted smooth cast bloodstained Cheshire Cat grinning butcher’s mask, an oily bloodstained gray fleece hoodie with a bandolier bullet belt wrapped around his waist under a zipped up full grain heavy-duty black leather motorcycle jacket,oil-stained, grimy jean pants, and heavy-duty tan steel-toe work boots, as well as a “NIC” armband.)
(The eerie greyish black strobe lighting catches Corey Bull looking a little off-kilter and more and more unsettling like a monster-lurking-in-the-shadows while holding in his bloodstained taped-wrapped hands the most realistic-looking mannequin with dirty reddish hair, dressed in a black cutoff tank-top, black leather boy shorts, black fishnet stockings, black knee-high boots, and showing off the facial features of Alexis Makarios. He appears to be preying upon the exploitive weaknesses of this realistic-looking mannequin of Alexis by discovering the unspeakable truths about her not-so-sweet innocence with horrifyingly cheerful and jovially celebratory excitement. They start making their way down the aisle and towards the squared circle with Bull dragging the realistic-looking mannequin of Alexis by a fistful of her dirty red hair. He very crudely drapes the realistic-looking mannequin over the corner ring post like a rag doll in an obscene gesture of victimization and takes a moment of appreciative fascination for his prize possession, staring it down before climbing over the top rope like a small fence.)
ENTRANT #27: COREY BULL
(Immediately, Cassie runs at him and gets a big boot for her troubles. He pulls her up, only to drop her immediately down to the mat with a gutwrench powerbomb, turning to the hard cam and yelling “ALEXIS!”, pointing directly down the lens, picking up Wolfe and whipping her into the corner, walking over and kicking her repeatedly, delivering boot after boot to her, before stepping back, looking to hit her with a running big boot, but she moves out of the way, making him crash into the turnbuckle, his leg between the top 2 rungs of the thing. He manages to pull his boot free, but by this point Cassie’s already on the offensive, running and diving off the ropes to hit a flying clothesline, before chaining that into The Greenest Wizard to fully knock her opponent down! She jumps onto the turnbuckle, hitting the Coronation! She stands Bull up, hoping to get him over the top rope, but he pushes her away with ease. He finds another victim, this one being Chris Page.)
(He lifts Page up, hitting a spinning sidewalk slam, hitting a couple of gut kicks before picking him up again, looking for Killswitch Engaged. However, Page is able to slip out of this, heading quickly to the top rope and hitting a missile dropkick, bringing the big man to his knees. This give him the chance he needs, quickly locking in a dragon sleeper! He wrenches on the hold, giving Bull pause, before he grabs him, flipping Page over as he brings the smaller man in front of him, slamming him repeatedly in the head with his giant fists. Page doesn’t let go, the reverse dragon sleeper working surprisingly well, actually bringing the big man to the canvas, whereupon Chris locks in an STF! The crowd chants again, in time with the timer. “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” Then the buzzer noise again, with the crowd not knowing who to expect for number 28.)
(It’s Juan Manuel Cabrera Jr. coming down to the ring this time, with a look of utter panic on his face as he runs down to the ring to absolutely no music whatsoever.)
ENTRANT #28: JUAN MANUEL CABRERA JR.
(He slides into the ring, just barely avoiding being immediately clotheslined out by Heather Haze, managing to avoid tumbling all the way to the floor! He steps back into the ring, trying to sort of fade into the background. Luckily for him, it works, and he’s safe… for now.)
(Devon Ryder and Dylan Howell have found each other again, with Dylan complaining to Devon that Canada isn’t a real country, even using a map he… bought? Found? Drew? Devon’s not sure which, and neither is Dylan, frankly. He just wants to show the open ocean, which proves nothing except that the ocean exists. Devon, having heard enough of this nonsense, hits a few knife edge chops on Howell, as well as hitting a snapmare, followed by running the ropes, running back and smacking into Howell with a running knee strike! He lifts him up, hitting a belly-to-back suplex, before bringing him to the ropes, throwing him over, but Howell’s not ready to leave yet! He holds onto the ropes, hitting Devon with a shoulder when he comes to knock him off. But Devon’s not giving up so easily! He runs at Dylan, who pulled the ropes down, but Devon anticipated this, stopping and getting out of the ring through the middle of the ropes, before grabbing Dylan and hitting a vertical suplex out of the ring! Since Devon went THROUGH the ropes it doesn’t count as an elimination for him, only for Howell! He slides back into the ring, as Dylan tries to piece together in his mind what just happened.)
DYLAN HOWELL HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(Chaz goes up against Corey Bull, as Mr. Glamour hits a neckbreaker, but Bull immediately stands to full height again, picking Chaz up, lifting him into gorilla press position, hitting a gorilla press slam, before picking Holiday up, hitting the Downward Spiral! He calls out to “ALEXIS!” again, before lifting Chaz up, hitting the move a second time, tossing him haphazardly over the top rope, but Chaz holds on, getting back in as Corey seems to forget about him.)
JR Freeman: Corey Bull seems to NEED Alexis to come down to the ring!
Alfonso Banks: I wonder if he knows she’s #30.
JR Freeman: I think he KNOWS… I just think the destruction he’s causing is trying to drag her out a lot sooner!
Alfonso Banks: Well I wouldn’t say A LOT sooner, there ARE only 2 entrants left in this thing! And it’s been, what, twenty five minutes?
JR Freeman: Seventy six.
Alfonso Banks: SEVENTY SIX!?
(Cassie and Jenn have teamed up now, and are taking on Alexandra Sanders. Jenn hits a dropkick into a suplex, then Cassie takes over, hitting Air Aussie, with Jenn locking in a headlock while she takes the arm in an armbreaker! Alexandra yells, getting Jenn off of her by slamming her fist into Lopez’s forehead multiple times, but Cassie doesn’t let go! Alexandra goes to hit her, but Jenn’s one step ahead, dropkicking her in the back first. She jumps off the top, but Calaway catches her, standing up, breaking out of Cassie’s armbar, grabbing each of them by the throat with one hand and hitting a double chokeslam! At this point it’s time for another entrant, and the crowd counts along like their lives DEPEND on it! “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The crowd cheers, but then waits a few seconds longer than intended because the buzzer doesn’t go off right away. When it does, though, they cheer again.)
(Chris Blade, another enhancement talent, comes out, psyching himself up, beating his chest and then spreading his arms out wide, before running into the ring and sliding in under the bottom rope.)
ENTRANT #29: CHRIS BLADE
(Immediately he’s grabbed by the throat by Corey Bull, seemingly angry that he wasn’t Alexis Makarios. He chokes the life out of Chris, slamming his head into the ground multiple times. He picks him up, seeming not to be intent on eliminating the poor lad, but instead on hurting him, he hits him with one… two… three consecutive chokeslams, completing the Kingsbury Run! He lifts Blade onto his shoulders, delivering the Killswitch Engaged again, before just tossing him to the side, like an Attitude Adjustment but lazier. He picks the smaller man up again, hitting a scoop slam, then stomping on his chest many, MANY times. He waks over to the ropes, pointing outside the ring, saying “You can stop this, Alexis! You can stop this ALL from happening!” He grins widely at the camera.)
(Mack and Jenn are fighting now. Jenn dives off the ropes, hitting a springboard headscissors takedown on Mack, going to the ropes and diving off again, as Mack sits up. Mack stands, but Jenn’s able to get the dexterity advantage and hit a hurricanrana, sending him into the ropes, almost in 619 position. She runs the ropes, but before she can do anything he moves, leaving her to crash and burn on the outside, but having gone in between the ropes, she’s not eliminated. She runs to the apron, pulling herself up into the ring, using the ropes to help her stand. She goes to retaliate against Mack, only to be hit by a SPEAR from outta nowhere! Heather Haze mounts the girl, smacking her left and right, but Jenn properly smacks her back, using the ropes to get out from under her. As she stands, Jennifer ducks a running clothesline, running at her and hitting a swinging neckbreaker! She rebounds off the ropes, hitting a springboard moonsault! She picks up Haze, about to eliminate her, but Haze pokes her in the eyes and rolls out of the ring!)
(Chris Page has found himself in the hands of Alexandra. Chris hits a t-bone suplex, followed by a figure four leg lock! He props himself up, Alexandra running out of steam, having been in the match for so long finally starting to take its toll on her body. She doesn’t tap, but she bangs the mat with her fists, similarly to how Ryder’s been doing it. She pulls at her legs, trying to get them out of that position, and finally she manages to get one out, kicking Page repeatedly in the face, making him eventually stop. She stands, but immediately collapses. She stands again, managing to keep her balance this time, and hits an STO on Chris, before going down to the mat and locking in Hell’s Gate! Chris immediately finds the ropes, but she wrenches on the hold, making it harder for him. He punches at her face, even raking the eyes, and she finally stops, clutching her face in pain. Chris then gets the upper hand again, locking in a Texas Cloverleaf! Alexandra powers through it, managing to kick him off of her, onto the ropes, but an attempt to push him over them fails. She pushes, he pushes back, and he doesn’t budge past a few inches over the rope. For the final time, oh we’ll miss you countdown clock, but the final entrant is about to come in! “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The crowd chants for the final time of the evening, as of course, #30, as predicted…)
(The lights dim as the opening chords of “I Like It Heavy” by Halestorm hit. Strobe lights start to flash at the top of the ramp as Alexis Makarios comes out from behind the curtain and stops at the top of the ramp. She’s wearing a “NIC” armband, which she solemnly taps a few times, before pointing to the sky. The arena fills with a chorus of “FIRECRACKER”. She smiles big as she looks around, taking it all in.The lights brighten back up as Alexis starts making her way down the ramp, high fiving fans as she goes. Once she gets to the bottom of the ramp she stops and motions for the fans to keep going. As they do, she slides into the ring under the bottom rope and hops to her feet.)
ENTRANT #30: ALEXIS MAKARIOS
(Immediately she notices one of the developmental workers, Juan, hiding outside the ring. She slides out of the ring, which sees Haze sliding back in, as Alexis grabs Juan Manuel, sliding him back into the ring, following him in, before tossing him out over the top rope!)
JUAN MANUEL CABRERA JR. HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(Chris Blade, meanwhile, has been thus far avoiding attention at the corner of the ring. That all changes when Heather Haze walks up to him. She smiles, running her hands seductively down her body. He stares at her, and she pulls her top down a little bit, to expose some more cleavage. Just as he’s getting all hot and bothered, she kicks him in the dick and throws him out of the ring, to a chorus of boos!)
CHRIS BLADE HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(She stands in the ring, soaking up the attention she’s getting, not even caring what kind of attention it is! She basks in it, her arms stretched out wide, taking it all in. She winks at the fans, chuckling and bringing a hand to her mouth, with a finger going into it coyly.)
JR Freeman: We are down to our final ten!
Alfonso Banks: Also, god DAMN, Heather’s looking FINE!
JR Freeman: I thought your woman was Cleo Phillips.
Alfonso Banks: Of course it is, nobody can ever replace my black goddess, but at least something with Heather might work out!
JR Freeman: Are you sure about that, pal?
Alfonso Banks: I mean... she'd be an easier lay?
JR Freeman: I am AMAZED that you still have a job here.
(Mack and Alexis fight for a bit, with Lexi the freshest one in the ring. She heads to the top rope, diving off with a guillotine legdrop, then locking in an STF! Mack tries hitting her from the position he’s in, but he can’t seem to quite get to her. He wriggles around, before finally being in an advantageous enough position that he can elbow her repeatedly in the head, making Lexi break the hold. But she’s not done yet, waiting until Mack stands, then bouncing off the ropes for a springboard hurricanrana, but he catches her in mid-air and turns it into a tilt-a-whirl powerbomb! He then grabs her by the head, lifting her up and hitting a suplex, then rolling through into another, and finally into a third! He gets up, kicking at her while she’s down, then hitting his own standing double stomp. He grabs her, looking to do another move, but she hits him in the gut a few times, hitting a spinning heel kick! Mack falls, and Alexis goes to the top ropes, looking for a move, but Alexandra runs up to her, pushing her off the top, but she grabs the turnbuckle before she falls! She holds on, shimmying her way over to the apron, where she’s pulled inside by none other than Corey Bull!)
(Before that happens, though, elsewhere in the ring Cassie Wolfe is fighting Chaz Holiday. Chaz hits a short-arm clothesline, followed by a top rope diving leg drop! He picks her up, throwing her over the top, but Cassie fights back, holding onto the apron, headbutting him as she hops onto the top rope where she was thrown from and jumps off with a flying clothesline, sending him to the mat! She hops onto the turnbuckle, hopping off with another Coronation! She grabs Chaz by the tights, pulling him up off the mat, whipping him into the ropes and running at him, trying to kick him off the apron, and he pulls the ropes down, alley-ooping her over the top instead, eliminating Cassie Wolfe!)
CASSIE WOLFE HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(He looks down at her, proud of what he’s done, but is immediately blindsided by Jenn, who takes her opportunity, running up the turnbuckle and kicking Chaz in midair, knocking him to the floor too! Holiday can’t believe it, looking at the audience with a stunned expression, then at Cassie, then up at Jenn, before looking back at the crowd. He’s utterly stunned for a solid 10-15 seconds, before sighing and applauding Lopez for her quick thinking and strong athletic skills. He gets up, heading to the back with Cassie in tow.)
CHAZ HOLIDAY HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(Heather Haze vs. Mack McKane is next on the agenda, as the two square off near the center of the ring, as close as they can get without interrupting anyone else. Mack cracks his knuckles just by moving his fingers around, while Haze just stares him down. Heather’s the first on the offense, hitting a DDT, then grabbing his arm for an armbar! Mack’s really had enough at this point, and starts hitting her with his other arm, but she just grabs that too! She wrenches on the hold, adding some kicks in where she can! He tries to bridge up with his legs, but it’s not working at first. He can’t get his footing correct, and there are still a few thumbtacks left over from when Violet was in the match. He finally manages to do it, though, pulling himself up to a bridging position, giving him the leverage he needs to escape the double armbar, before standing up, running at Haze, but Heather’s one step ahead of him, tripping him into the exposed turnbuckle! She grabs Mack’s legs, tossing him over the top rope! She moves on, not even caring if she fully eliminated him or not. Unluckily for Haze, she didn’t.)
(Mack, having held on by a hair and only having had one foot touch, pulls himself up using each individual rope as a rung of a ladder, slipping one, but having the forethought to lift one foot up before hitting so only one foot touches again. He manages to BARELY pull himself up onto the apron, rolling back into the ring and standing up, with assistance from the ropes. Mack walks over to Haze, who’s now dealing with Jenn, and taps her on the shoulder. She turns around, about to audibly say “May I help you?”, but she doesn’t get past the “May” before Mack hits her with Memento Mori! He picks her up, THEN hitting the Blood Eagle, driving her into the mat! He picks her up, hitting Memento Mori one more time just to be sure, before tossing her out of the ring, but she holds on! Mack shrugs, mouthing the word “Alright”, before running at her, kicking her in the face, making her fall off the apron and down to the floor below!)
JR Freeman: Haze has been eliminated! We are down to seven!
Alfonso Banks: Hang on! One, two, three, four…
JR Freeman: Are you counting the people in the ring?
Alfonso Banks: Shut up, you made me lose count! Alright, one, two, three… four, five, six… my god, you’re right!
JR Freeman: There you go. You got there.
HEATHER HAZE HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(Corey grins, having finally gotten his hands on Alexis Makarios. Lexi immediately hits a spinning heel kick, then a chick kick, bringing Corey to his knees! She punches him, lefts and rights, before jumping off the ropes, bringing him down with a facebuster! She hops onto the ropes again, jumping off for Greetings From Australia! She gets all of it. She lifts Corey up, bringing him towards the ropes, but he’s VERY strong, hitting her with a German suplex. Going up to the top himself, he risks his own body as he jumps off, hitting a double knee drop from the top rope! He hurts himself a bit too, but mostly Alexis, with so much weight being brought down on top of her! He picks her up, but she fights back! He brings her to the exposed turnbuckle, lifting her for a powerbomb, but she counters into a hurricanrana, sending him directly into it!)
(Meanwhile, Alexandra is fighting Chris Page! He hits one of his many suplex varieties, in this case an overhead belly-to-belly suplex, before locking in a crippler crossface! He pulls hard, but Alexandra’s quick to escape it, elbowing him in the head several times! She stands up, still a little wobbly, having been in the match since entrant #2. She runs at him, hitting a running high knee, before dragging him to the ropes! But instead of trying to eliminate him, she throws him into the ropes, tangling him in them, before locking in On Death’s Door! He screams, tapping out, but of course it’s ineffective. He kicks at her, though it doesn’t do much. He finally manages to pull himself free of the ropes, breaking the hold just in the nick of time. Alexandra kicks him while he’s down, stomping on him as well.)
(Alexis is struggling against Bull, who absolutely has the strength and size advantage over her, but she’s trying to outlast him, both by being the fresher competitor in the match, and also by means of speed, but neither seem to really be working. She’s trying her hardest, but after a Samoan Slam, a pendulum backbreaker, and an Irish whip into the corner followed by running double knee, it’s getting tougher and tougher to survive his offense. However, she might soon find an opening! He lifts her up, and as usual she hits him several times, but she doesn’t just punch, this time she kicks, right at his legs, aiming for the knees! He goes down to one knee. She kicks more and more, he goes down to two knees! She runs the ropes, hitting a diving crossbody! He wavers. She hops on the top rope, hitting a diving clothesline! He waves some more! She goes onto the top rope again, the crowd behind her, everyone… seeing how Corey’s up, and running at her! He mounts the turnbuckle, lifting her up in the air for a gorilla press slam, but she counter, slipping out the back and hitting a hurricanrana, holding onto the ropes, but he grabs her at the last second, pulling her out with him! They both tumble out, onto the floor, eliminated. Alexis stands first, followed by Bull. Both of them start fighting again, Bull using his power to throw Lexi around, with Lexi using her superior movement to get on Bull’s back and start hitting him from on top! Eventually security has to come out to break these two apart, separating them from one another, and leaving only 5 remaining.)
COREY BULL HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
ALEXIS MAKARIOS HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(The final 5 stare each other down. Each one having their own story, their own personal reason, for being in the rumble. They all square up, with one person in each corner of the ring, and Mack McKane in the center. He looks around at all of them, each one individually, and chooses first to go after Chris Page, with Jenn joining in too! Meanwhile, Sanders and Ryder square off! Alexandra jumps off the top, hitting a crossbody, with Devon hitting the mat! She then gets out of the ring through the ropes, heading down to the floor as she explores under the ring, pulling out a couple of steel chairs! She slides them both into the ring, about to hit Devon with one, but he moves just in time, standing up. He grabs Alexandra, pulling her arm through the folded chair, doing an armbar through it! She reaches for the other chair, not quite able to reach it! She cries out in pain, managing to roll herself over JUST enough to BARELY grab it. She slams the chair into his face, making him let go. She pulls the chair off her arm, laying his head on it, hitting it with the other for a con-chair-to! She hits him multiple times, shouting at him in time with each chair shot! “JUST! DIE! WHY! WON’T! YOU! DIE!?” After she’s had her fill of senseless violence, at least for now, she tosses Ryder over the top rope, finally being done with him.)
(...Or so she thinks, but RYDER HOLDS ON! He grabs the bottom rope, ONE foot on the ground, as he slowly, SLOWLY pulls himself back up, putting both hands on the bottom rope as he does! He does slip a little, but he’s able to correct himself, eventually coming up to the height of the apron, eliciting a chant of “YOU CAN’T BREAK HIM!” followed by 5 claps.)
Alfonso Banks: Christ on a bike! Devon Ryder is truly a cut above! And I don’t know if it means he’s crazy or just STUPIDLY dedicated to the craft of professional wrestling, but I’m 100% here for it!
JR Freeman: Did you say “Christ on a bike”?
Alfonso Banks: Yes, JR, I did!
JR Freeman: That’s a great expression, you should use it more.
Alfonso Banks: I will! Thanks for the feedback!
(Alexandra, hearing this chant, is absolutely FURIOUS, looking over at Ryder, who’s laying in the ring, nearly motionless. The crowd’s chants change to, being sung to the theme of the Canadian national anthem, “UUUUUN-BREEAAAAK-AAAA-BLLLLLEEE… CAAA-NAAAA-DIII-AAAAN HEEEEE-ROOOO!!” And with that, Alexandra leaves him for now, taking her anger out on the person closest to her, Jennifer Makarios-Lopez!)
(Grabbing one of the chairs, Alexandra goes to town on Jenn, but the young Lopez fights back, ducking under one of her chair shots and kicking her legs out from under her! Alexandra collapses, before Jenn goes to the top rope, hitting a springboard hurricanrana, sending the Dark Queen to the mat! She kicks her in the head a few times, picking up the chairs and throwing them out of the ring, before picking Sanders up, hitting her with a vertical suplex! She then, still holding her, goes up to the turnbuckle, climbing it and going for a superplex out of the ring, but Ally won’t allow it, instead countering into a superplex of her own, back into the ring! Both competitors are down for quite a while, but eventually they’re both up and Jenn makes the next move, but Alexandra counters it, taking an Irish whip into the turnbuckle and turning it against her, jumping up and landing behind her, kicking Jenn into the turnbuckle herself, trying to push her out that way, even getting her on top of the turnbuckle as a whole, but the daughter of the Lopez clan elbows her in the head multiple times!)
(Alexandra climbs the turnbuckle too, but Jenn pushes her off, standing on it herself and jumping off with a 450 splash directly to the fallen Sanders! She picks her up, tossing her over the top rope, but Alexandra is stubborn, she won’t quit! She pulls Jenn out of the ring with her. Both of them now on the apron as they exchange punches! They both hit each other, back and forth, until finally they both get back into the ring, with Alexandra falling to the apron and rolling in, and Jenn joining her by going between the ropes. Jenn lifts her up, going for the Aussie Blackout, but she counters it, getting her in a powerbomb position! Jenn struggles, even hitting her multiple times, as Alexandra walks slowly towards the ropes, but it’s too little too late, as Alexandra hits Apocalypse out of the ring, eliminating Jennifer, and leaving us with the final 4! Devon Ryder, Alexandra Calaway, Mack McKane, and Chris Page.)
JENNIFER MAKARIOS-LOPEZ HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(The final 4 all stand in different corners of the ring, and eventually all run at each other, brawling amongst themselves. Eventually they split off from the wild mass of punching, with Chris Page hitting Alexandra in the direction of one corner of the ring while Mack leads Devon to another corner. Chris smacks Alexandra again and again, but soon she punches back, sending him to the mat. He stands back up, but she hits him back down to the mat with a springboard tilt-a-whirl sidewalk slam! She gets up on the turnbuckle, jumping off with a moonsault, before picking Page up and trying to throw him over the top rope! She gets as far as about halfway, but Chris is too sneaky for her, kicking at her gut while she’s pushing, making her drop him. He drops outside, but he’s more easily able to catch himself and slide back in. She picks him back up, whipping him into the corner, kicking him to the ground, before backing up, looking for a curb stomp, but he stands up when she gets to him, grabbing her leg and sending her to the mat, before picking up her other leg for a figure 4!)
(Chris really locks the hold in tight, Alexandra reaching out for the ropes that are right there, but Page is making it harder for her by dragging her closer to the center of the ring. She manages to grab them, pulling herself slowly but surely out of the grasp, before taking a moment to recover. In this moment is when Page capitalizes, lifting her up into a cradle piledriver, sending Alexandra to the mat head-first! He grins, picking her up, looking for a codebreaker, but she pushes him off of her, instead tripping him to the mat and locking in Hell’s Gate! Chris can barely take it, tapping out almost immediately, but there’s no way she’s letting this one go!)
(Mack, on the other side of the ring, is trying to finish what Sanders started, hitting some stiff punches to Ryder’s head, but Devon’s responding in kind! Devon eventually starts kicking, sending McKane to the mat! The crowd starts chanting “Devon! Bomaye! Devon! Bomaye!” smacking the barricade in time with the chant. Meanwhile, in the ring, Ryder picks the Knife up, hitting a European uppercut, followed by a ripcord scoop powerslam! The Canadian Hero locks in a fujiwara armbar for only a split second, Mack managing to get out of it. He trips Devon to the mat, before crawling over and using the ropes to stand himself up, running at him and jumping, hitting a double stomp to the midsection of Ryder! Devon winces, with Mack soon picking him up and hitting a Switchblade! He then helps him up, holding onto his arm, looking for Memento Mori, but Ryder counters with a ripcord German suplex!)
(Devon lifts Mack up, tossing him over the top, but Mack is almost as stubborn as Devon himself, holding onto the top rope and hitting Devon with one shoulder, before pulling the Canadian man out with him! The two exchange blows, with Mack hitting a punch and Devon stumbling, then Devon hitting a punch and Mack stumbling, with Devon hitting some Danielson-esque kicks to try and knock Mack off, but Mack ends up stunning him with a lariat, sending him down to laying on the apron, before The Knife gets back in the ring again. Devon stands in the meantime, and Mack goes to run the ropes, looking to run at him and knock him off that way, but he doesn’t have to, as Devon’s lost love, Desiree de la Roche, reveals herself in the crowd by standing up.)
Devon Ryder: Desiree? Mi Amor?
(She looks at Devon, and he fights through the pain, a visible spectrum of emotional pain playing through on his face. He watches as Mack runs towards him, pulling the ropes down as Mack tumbles out onto the apron with him. Devon punches at Mack, Mack punches back, but neither of them will go down! Ryder starts getting a head of steam going, but soon enough Desiree has jumped over the barricade and has run down to ringside! He looks down at her, as she audibly says “I’m sorry, Devon”, and pulls him off the apron, eliminating him!)
JR Freeman: Desiree, Devon Ryder’s former love, just pulled him out of the Rebel Rumble match!
Alfonso Banks: Does this count as Mack’s elimination?
JR Freeman: I mean, he DID put Devon onto the apron, pulling him over the top rope to do it, so… I’d say yes!
Alfonso Banks: Unless we wanna count Desiree de la Roche as having a Rebel Rumble elimination!
(Mack looks out at Devon as he gets into the ring, shrugging, mouthing “sorry, pal”, as he turns to face the others that are still currently in the ring.)
DEVON RYDER HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(Alexandra looks at the fallen Ryder, then at Mack, running at The Knife, knocking him to the mat with a clothesline, mouthing something along the lines of “You bastard, *I* wanted to break him!” as she hits Mack with some stiff punches, both left and right, before being rudely interrupted by Chris Page. The Chronic One hits several kicks to Sanders’ spine, causing her to stand up and spin around, facing him directly. She gets in his face, shoving him, and he shoves back. He kicks her leg out from under her and she falls to the mat, but Mack is up now and brings Chris to the turnbuckle, lifting him onto it and hitting a superplex! He then follows through on that, dragging him to another corner, lifting him up onto it and hitting a second superplex, then the third corner, hitting a third, then finally bringing him to the final corner, but before we can get off the fourth and final superplex, Chris reverses it, lifting Mack onto the top rope, sacking him on it! He jumps off the turnbuckle, shaking the rope violently, letting Mack drop to the mat, clutching his sack!)
(Alexandra’s up now and runs at Page, hitting him with a Pele kick! He falls, and she picks him up, looking to throw him over the top rope, but he whips her into the ropes first, making her tumble over and onto the apron. He backs up, running at her, looking for the Judas Effect, but she ducks it, poking him in the eyes and getting back in the ring. Soon Mack stands up, with him and Alexandra agreeing non-verbally on a temporary truce, both of them grabbing Chris Page in a double suplex position, hitting the move before Mack grabs Page in position for the Blood Eagle, with Alexandra going up top. Mack hits the move and Sanders dives off hitting a senton bomb at the same time! They both grab Page, throwing him over the top rope, before fighting with each other! However, Chris doesn’t quite go down to the floor. He gets back into the ring, waiting until there’s an opening, hitting the Judas Effect on Mack McKane, sending him to the mat! Alexandra grabs him, but he hits her with the Codebreaker! He grabs each of them, tossing them over separate sets of ropes, but neither goes down, instead Mack gets back over the ropes, into the ring, and hits Memento Mori on him, holding onto the arm and picking him up, doing it again! He drags Page to the ropes, throwing him over, and this time he actually DOES hit the floor, eliminating him once and for all!)
JR Freeman: We are down to two! Either Alexandra Sanders or Mack McKane is going to win this rumble match!
Alfonso Banks: *inexplicably playing bagpipes* I was listening!
CHRIS PAGE HAS BEEN ELIMINATED
(Mack and Alexandra stare each other down, like wolves going after the same prey. Numbers 2 and 3 in the match, they’ve been in for the longest amount of time out of anyone! They lock up, with Mack overtaking Sanders, sending her to the mat with an arm drag, followed by snapping her fingers, before turning it into a seated surfboard stretch! Alexandra struggles, soon tapping out, the weight of this hour-and-45-minute match having taken both competitors to their absolute limits! Mack wrenches on the hold, but Alexandra gets a leg under her, pushing herself up, getting onto one knee, then squatting, then standing, making Mack follow her. She runs backwards, ramming his back into the turnbuckle! She walks forward, then does it again! Soon Mack falls, and Alexandra joins him in falling.)
(Both competitors lay on the mat for a bit, and Sanders is the first one up, though she’s unsteady on her feet. She watches as Mack gets up, before sliding out of the ring and going under the apron for a weapon of some kind. She looks around, finding a kendo stick. She gets back into the ring with it, swinging immediately, as Mack takes the punishment and doles it out just as well, punching her again and again. Eventually the stick proves to be too much, knocking Mack to the ground, and Alexandra goes to town, eventually breaking the stick across his body! She throws the now-broken kendo stick out of the ring, before picking Mack up and bringing him to the ropes. He holds onto the top rope, not wanting to give up, elbowing Ally in the ribs again and again, until she eventually backs off, and he’s able to hit a muay thai high roundhouse kick, sending her to the mat again!)
(He picks Alexandra up, throwing her over the top rope, but she grabs the ropes, kicking him in the stomach multiple times, sending him falling to the mat! Sanders gets on the top rope, hitting a senton bomb, before she picks him up, throwing him into the exposed turnbuckle, before going around to each one and taking the top pads off of each. She grabs him by the head, dragging him to one of the turnbuckles, getting ready to throw him into it, but he overpowers her, throwing her into it instead. She falls, clutching her head, and Mack takes advantage, picking her up and walking back over to it, hitting her head on the exposed metal again and again, until she grabs the rope, immediately turning the tables, hitting HIS head on the exposed metal of the turnbuckle again, and again, and again, until he’s busted open, before THROWING him to the mat, jumping off the top for a moonsault, but running into Mack’s extended leg, falling to the mat herself, both competitors down for a while again.)
(Alexandra is the first to stand, but she falls again, being worn out from the match. Mack stands, but he can barely stand either. Both of them are exhausted from the sheer length of the match, the endurance they’ve had to have, surviving the onslaughts of 28 other people. Mack makes the next move, running at Ally and hitting a running knee into her face, knocking her down, before he picks her up and goes to throw her out, but she grabs the rope, kicking him in the nuts by swinging her leg behind, as he falls to the mat and she collapses too. Both are down for another couple moments, before they both get up again at around the same time. This time Alexandra’s the first one to make a move, with Mrs. Sanders grabbing Mack and hitting him with his own finisher, Memento Mori, which Mack takes great offense to, pounding the mat in frustration, standing up and finding a second wind, delivering punch after punch, hitting a superkick that knocks The Dark Queen to the mat, before falling too. He manages to stand, but so does she, and she hits an STO, before locking in Hell’s Gate! Mack immediately taps, but it doesn’t help! He reaches out for anything he can use, but all he finds is empty space. Soon he starts pounding the mat, powering himself up as he slowly stands up, pushing Alexandra off of him and going for another superkick, but this time she ducks it, hitting a roundhouse kick of her own!)
Alfonso Banks: This could go either way!
JR Freeman: I’m excited to see!
(Picking Mack up, Alexandra goes to throw him over again, but he elbows her repeatedly. She elbows him back, before sweeping the legs, sending him to the mat. She stomps on his head multiple times, shouting “Stay Down!” audibly, before picking him up again, trying to get him over the top, but Mack grabs the middle rope, refusing to let go, even when Ally kicks at his arms! She pushes hard, but Mack will not budge! She kicks him in the gut, looking for Apocalypse, but he’s too heavy for her, and stands up, turning it into a back body drop. He walks up to her, biting her already-bloodied head, causing his mouth to get covered in blood, as he soon shows the audience. Carrying her to the ropes, he’s going to throw her out, but she grabs them before he can!)
(Alexandra elbows Mack behind her, Irish whipping him into the turnbuckle. He hits it, colliding with the metal and falling backwards, before she grabs him and picks him up, getting The Knife onto the turnbuckle, and climbing up with him. He fights back, punching her repeatedly, kicking at her exposed head wound, but she doesn’t fall. He claws at her eyes, which stops her only momentarily, as she grabs him, as a last resort, and JUMPS off the turnbuckle, bringing them both to the outside with the Fallen Angel! Everything’s quiet for a moment, then the bell rings.)
JR Freeman: Uh… what just happened? Who won?
Alfonso Banks: Do we have co-winners? Is that even possible!?
JR Freeman: I think we might have to go to the referee’s decision!
(A few moments are taken, with both competitors downed on the outside, both bloody, and both having just wrestled for over an hour and a half. Over at the timekeeper’s table, a referee is looking over the results on a laptop, saying “Play it back, play it back”, and “Okay, slow it down”. After a solid minute, she comes to a decision, telling Meg Reynolds, who gets on the microphone.)
Meg Reynolds: Ladies and gentlemen, the referee has reviewed the footage, and we DO have a winner!
(The crowd cheers, as the two remaining wrestlers both come to.)
Meg Reynolds: Therefore, your winner of the 2023 Nic Powell Memorial REBEL RUMBLE MATCH…
(She pauses, for dramatic effect. It’s super effective.)
Meg Reynolds: …ALEXAAAAANDRAAAA SAAAANDEEERRRRS!
(Alexandra looks stunned. Mack does too. “Blow” by Eva Under Fire plays as Sanders’ hand is raised. The rest of ANTITHESIS comes out to join her! Jonathan Sanders, Dionysus and Alexander Lyons come out to ringside, with John giving her a big kiss, Dionysus helping her up, and Alex giving Mack one last kick for good measure. She looks up at the ceiling, but actually past that, before tapping the names on her shoulder, and blowing another kiss to the sky.)
JR Freeman: You heard it here first, folks! Alexandra Calaway is going to the main event of Destiny!
Alfonso Banks: If her goal is to carry ANTITHESIS to the top of the company, then she’s got a tough journey ahead of her, but she just survived an onslaught unlike any other, so I think she has a chance!
JR Freeman: Thank you, everyone, for tuning in to Demon’s Run! Rest in peace Nic Powell, we hope, wherever you are, you enjoyed this show as much as we did, and a thousand times more!
Alfonso Banks: Good night, everyone! We’ll see you on Riot!
Winner= ALEXANDRA CALAWAY!!!