|
Post by apexstaff on May 14, 2023 16:04:18 GMT -5
PWS: APEX PRESENTS: DESTINY May 27th and 28th, 2023 Fenway Park - Boston, MA
World Championship Match Hell in a Cell
Mike Hawk (C) vs. Alexandra Sanders
DEADLINE: 5/21/23 11:59:59 PM EST One RP Per character 500 min, 5000 max
|
|
|
Post by Mike Hawk on May 21, 2023 17:13:05 GMT -5
Act 1: (Doctor) Who Are You?
*A panning shot of a snowy field at night, but it’s soon interrupted by a man limping through the snow. It’s Mike Hawk, dressed like the Tenth Doctor from Doctor Who. He’s got the brownish suit underneath the tan trench coat, with running shoes to match. As a difference to David Tennant’s famous character, though, Hawk does also have his world championship around his waist. As he stumbles through the snow, he comes upon a blue police box. Stepping inside, he finds it’s much bigger on the inside. Hawk stumbles his way to the control panel, as his body starts glowing with yellow energy. He looks at the camera sadly.*
Mike: I don’t wanna go.
*He soon explodes with the same yellow energy, regenerating in the TARDIS, which ends up destroying it through the sheer force of the blast, as his face changes into that of… Matt Smith? He feels his face, looking in a mirror and sighing.*
Matt Smith: Well, shit, there goes THAT metaphor.
Act 2: The (Slightly More) Serious Bit
*It’s a lovely day on the streets of Boston. The wind is blowing subtly, but it’s actually very pleasant. We see outside, at a local area park, people walking across the shot on a footpath. It’s daytime, the sun is shining down from just off-camera. The camera does a sweeping shot and soon Mike Hawk can be seen, his arms resting on a fence, his chin resting on his arms. He’s dressed a bit more sensibly now, wearing sunglasses, a yellow shirt that says “All of my Good Shirts Were Dirty”, as well as blue jeans and white running shoes. Oh, and the PWS: Apex World Championship around his waist, I forgot to mention that part. Without even looking at the camera, he sighs, his eyes gently closing.*
Mike: You hate me, don’t you?
*His eyes open again, and he turns his head towards the camera.*
Mike: You don’t have to sugarcoat it, you don’t have to hide behind any excuses, you can just tell me. Plus, it’s… pretty goddamn obvious. You’ve hated me for SO long. And it’s not just because I made fun of the easiest person in the WORLD to make fun of, your husband Casper the Murder-Ghost, but it’s also because of our very different reasons for wanting to hold this title.
*He motions to the big gold around his waist. He lifts his head up, standing to full height and walking across the grass back to the footpath. He walks along, passing people as he goes.*
Mike: See, your motivations, Ally, are selfish. Entirely, unapologetically selfish. You want this title because it’ll make people talk about you. Because you still naively think you’re the leader of ANTITHESIS, and that this belt will somehow elevate “your” group to the top of the card.
*He scoffs.*
Mike: I have three newsflashes for you. One, you’re not. Grow up. Jonathan Sanders is, and always will be, the leader of the group. Sure, he might placate you once in a while, tell you that “Oh yeah, no, you’re definitely the leader!”, but as soon as he’s done with you, as soon as you’ve served your purpose, you’re gone. You’ll be thrown to the curb quicker than Tyson Sykes. Because that’s what Sadnuts does. He calls HIMSELF a PLAGUE on professional wrestling, and you haven’t clued into the fact that MAYBE, just MAYBE, he’s spread that plague to the rest of you? The cultiest cult to ever cult? Why do you think he agreed to marry you a MONTH after you met? That’s INSANE! Nobody in their right mind would do that unless they were USING you! And you’re being played like the world’s gothest fiddle. You drank the Kool-Aid hook, line and sinker.
*Hawk pauses here, stopping in place to stretch for a moment before continuing his train of thought.*
Mike: Secondly, you spell Antithesis wrong. A hyphen? Seriously? What is this, the 1950’s? And I’d forgive that if it wasn’t every single time, but it’s EVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME! Like, that’s just how you think it’s spelled! And you expect to RUN the group when you can’t even get its name right!? Pfft…
*He chuckles a little bit, before moving on.*
Mike: And that brings me to newsflash number 3. The whole central conceit of this whole thing, and the reason why you don’t deserve to hold this belt. Because you’re only in this for YOU.
*He pauses, finding an empty bench and sitting on it.*
Mike: Let me give you an example. When the Rebel Rumble came up, people were eager to join. They wanted to fight their hardest in honour of a great man. It was his night. His match. His Pay-Per-View. And they knew that. They wanted to make Nic proud by winning the match he innovated, at the show named for him. Meanwhile, what were YOU doing? You barely knew Nic at this point! You had just come into the company not that long before. But that’s not what I have a problem with; plenty of people there barely knew the guy! My problem, Ally, is that you DIDN’T win the Rebel Rumble for Nic. You won it for YOU. You wore a second armband for someone we hadn’t even met, and expected fans to cheer for him as much as they were for the guy who BUILT THE COMPANY! And I’m not discounting your friend’s death, it was a horrible tragedy. An untimely demise, someone taken from this world far too soon. But I’m just saying, it wasn’t THEIR memorial show. It was Nic’s. It was Nic’s show, it was Nic’s match, and you made it all about YOU. Because, as per usual, you couldn’t stand the thought of the spotlight being off of Alexandra Calaway for the length of ONE show.
*He looks down at the ground, putting his hands in his pockets.*
Mike: But maybe that’s a low blow. Maybe that’s not fair of me to say. Maybe I’m just as selfish. I’ve had those thoughts before. Hell, back when I was a tryhard, putting jokes into every promo because I thought I needed to be funny for people to like me, I WAS doing this for selfish reasons. I wanted the title for the same reasons as you. To boost myself, make people see me as greater than I really am. But then, one day… something clicked. And it wasn’t until it did that I finally won. Because I realized what this title IS. What it REPRESENTS. It’s not just a way to get recognition as the greatest wrestler in the world, it’s a responsibility!
*He unhooks the title from his waist, lifting it onto one shoulder as he stands up, walking on the path again.*
Mike: When I’m holding this belt, I’m not just a champion. I’m a representative. I represent everyone who’s EVER been told “You Can’t”. Everyone who’s ever heard the words “You’re a Joke”. Everyone who’s been told in NO uncertain terms that they’ll NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING! The kids who were never picked for any sports teams, not because they were unathletic, but because nobody wanted to be associated with them. The children who needed a leg up, but NEVER got one, because of a BROKEN and UNCARING school system!
*He pauses, though still walking. He sighs, getting very solemn with his next words, as he looks down at the ground.*
Mike: The boy who was called a pussy so much by his own FATHER, that eventually he started to believe it.
*He fights back a tear, before taking another deep breath as his head pops back up to meet the camera.*
Mike: When I’m holding this belt, I represent all of them. I teach the class clown, the kid that everyone makes fun of, the kid that people laugh AT and not WITH, that they can be just like me. They can SUCCEED in life. They can be a WORLD! FUCKING! CHAMPION! That the hatred they get on a daily basis is NOT warranted, and that people like them can be just as successful as a Cleo Phillips, as a Mack McKane, as an Alexis Makarios!
*He pauses, this time also stopping on the path, fewer people now walking by as he cracks his knuckles and adjusts his sunglasses.*
Mike: Because… well, that was me. I was always the kid that nobody liked. People would say my name and everyone would go “Eww, him!?”. And I think that had a significant impact on me, because I developed a desperate need for approval. I NEEDED people to like me, because at school nobody ever did! And that’s where I was, almost every single FUCKING day of my childhood! And sure, I made a FEW more friends come high school, but they were always few and far between! And they always seemed more like people who TOLERATED me than people who actually LIKED me. And that’s WHY I made all those sketches, why I made fun of my opponent’s stupid faces and weird hair while I blew up a mall and threw coffee on a homeless guy. Because… I didn’t think people would like me for ME. So I masked who I really was.
*He takes the sunglasses off at this point, putting them in his jeans pocket.*
Mike: And that’s why I need to fight so hard. To teach kids who grew up like me that they don’t need to DO that. They can be themselves, they can be who they are, who they always were, who they were always MEANT to be! Media’s always portrayed kids who are different as being wrong, and if they can have even just ONE message to the contrary, ONE person who says “No, that’s WRONG”, then I’m happy to be that person. And if I have to move HEAVEN AND EARTH to keep that message strong, to let these people know that THEY MATTER, then I WILL FIND A WAY!
*He stops talking for a solid 30 seconds, wiping his eyes before swapping the shoulder the belt is on.*
Mike: …What are YOU fighting for? Fame? Glory? A group that doesn’t care about you? Why do you WANT this belt, Ally? Is it because you need to be in the spotlight? Because you need something to boost your ego even FURTHER? Or is it because it’s around MY waist? Because you can’t stand to see me, a former clown, someone who you can’t take seriously, holding the biggest prize in the company?
*He smirks, finally continuing his walk.*
Mike: That’s it, isn’t it? THAT’S why you hate me, Ally, that’s why you’ve ALWAYS hated me! You’re jealous. You want the world title and it infuriates you that the JOKE character has it! It pains you to no end that I’ve done the ONE thing you haven’t managed to do in this company; beat Cleo Phillips.
*His smirk turns into a full-on grin as he keeps walking.*
Mike: Don’t think I’ve forgotten that triple threat! You vs. Me vs. Cleo, match of the century! Then we went on to fight Cleo individually, and only one of us came out on top. And I think you’ve resented that ever since. But… see, I just don’t think you should be the one holding the belt, miss Calaway!
*His expression turns deadly serious.*
Mike: And yes, I DO keep calling you that on purpose. Because you don’t DESERVE the name Sanders. Because Jonathan Sanders SCARES me. I didn’t want to admit it at the time, but during our feud, I was TERRIFIED. Because he can do SO much damage. He’s brought knives to the ring, thrown his opponent off a roof, used broken glass and thumbtacks in the SAME MOVE… the man is a SERIOUS threat. Whereas YOU, the self-proclaimed “leader” of the group he started, you… cut my hair? Like… that’s IT? I expected the “Queen of ANTITHESIS” to… I don’t know, throw me in front of a bus! Hit me with a blunt object until I stopped moving! Something, ANYTHING more than a minor inconvenience! What, did you expect me to go run away and hide, crying in the corner over having shorter hair? Are you high!? I lived through the pandemic, I’ve had MUCH worse haircuts than THIS! It’s not the 1980’s anymore, nobody gives a shit how long a wrestler’s hair is! Though maybe it was to draw attention away from your OWN hair. I mean, seriously, what are you, an anime character?
*He smirks.*
Mike: Or are you just trying to hide the fact that you’re greying?
*He moves the belt to the other side again, before continuing.*
Mike: See, that’s another thing, Ally. Another reason why you don’t deserve the belt. I talked at length in my promos against Cleo how I wanted to defend this belt against new, young up-and-comers, give them the same opportunity I was given, get them out of the midcard, while at the same time letting new stars rise up and represent the future of the company! But, uh… you’re 40! You’ve HAD your time in the spotlight, grandma, it’s time for a new generation of wrestlers! But, you know what? Maybe I was wrong. Because, well… a veteran taking the belt off a young star who’s just reached his full potential? Halting his momentum completely, stopping his meteoric rise in its tracks, just so you can feel validated? …That IS pretty scary.
*He chuckles, but soon his mirth turns once again to seriousness as he sighs.*
Mike: And I AM scared of that. I won’t hide it, I won’t lie to you, or make up some excuse… I’m scared. Scared of losing the title, of letting down ALL the people who look UP to me! Scared of the new generation of incredibly talented performers being TOSSED ASIDE in favour of a 40-year-old champion. Scared of… fucking it all up for them. Hitting the wrong move, or… not kicking out of a pin in time. Scared of tapping out, of giving up… of FAILURE. I’m scared that I’m NOT actually good enough. I’m SCARED that this was a FLUKE, and I’ll NEVER see this kind of success again!
*He stops again, the camera stopping with him.*
Mike: But… one thing you’ll come to learn, Ally, and one thing that Cleo Phillips had to learn the hard way, is that when I’m scared, I’m DANGEROUS! I CHANNEL my emotions to make myself an unstoppable wrestling MACHINE! I use the fear, the anxiety, the negativity that builds in my mind, those voices that CONSTANTLY tell me the worst-case scenario… as the world’s greatest motivator. Because nothing in the WORLD drives me to work my absolute HARDEST than the thought of being able to look those feelings in the eyes and tell them “No”. Being able to say “You don’t GET to control my life!”
*He pauses, switching shoulders with the belt once again.*
Mike: And like I told Cleo… when it comes to fight or flight, this is one Hawk that DOESN’T! FLY! And just like every single other opponent I’ve ever beaten, Alexandra, you’ll learn why you should never, EVER underestimate me! And… us being trapped in a giant cage together? Well, that just scares me even more! Because it’s just another weapon for you to use! But, the added fear factor, the added danger of the Hell in a Cell, the fact that all of that RAW EMOTION has NOWHERE TO GO… only solidifies what I already knew.
*He pulls his sunglasses out of his pocket.*
Mike: You should take your husband’s advice… and RUN.
*He puts the sunglasses on, adjusting the title on his shoulder as he turns and walks away, the camera not following him, instead slowly fading to black.*
|
|
|
Post by Alexandra Sanders on May 23, 2023 0:34:22 GMT -5
Storytime With The QueenAlexandra is seen sitting on her throne, the one given to her by her beloved King Jonathan Sanders. The man who gave her control of his team. Despite what others may think, they revered her as one of them, but still a leader, especially during her husbands dark times. On her lap rested a large leather bound tome, she opened it and flipped to the page she specifically marked with the blackest of ribbons she could find. She smiled as she began to speak. "From the tribe of Dan, Samson was born to his parents, Moanoah and Zealphonis, in their old age, after they had been childless for many years. One day, in the small town of Zorah, an angel appeared to them and declared that Zealphonis would give birth to a son who would grow up to save the Jews from the marauding Philistines. The angel told the couple that the boy was special, and that from his birth he was to be dedicated to God as a nazirite for his entire life. He was not to consume any wine or other grape byproduct, and no razor was to ever touch his hair. In due course, Zealphonis conceived and gave birth. She named him Shimshon (Samson), from the term shemesh u’magen, "wall and protector," or from the word shemesh, “sun.” His name foreshadowed the man he would become: a mighty sun who would shield and protect his people."She referred to the hair, remembering how she took that from her opponent Mike Hawk. "Even in his early youth, Samson displayed remarkable physical strength. One day, as he wandered through the woods, a lion pounced on him. Feeling the spirit of God resting upon him and strengthening him, Samson slew the lion with his bare hands. Realizing that he had been endowed with this strength in order to help his people, Samson sought an occasion to engage the Jews’ enemy, the Philistines. The Philistines were a nation of marauders living in the west of the Holy Land. They were constantly harassing and pillaging the Jews. For forty years, the Jews suffered terribly under the heavy Philistine hand until, finally, Samson took a stand. Samson was too modest to undertake leadership of a Jewish army. He also did not want to provoke the Philistines into further terrorization of his Jewish brethren. He decided that he would avenge them himself by engaging in personal conflicts, intimidating them and preventing them from harassing the Jews. He began seeking ways to get into close contact with the Philistines."Now for the good stuff. "The first occasion for him to confront the Philistines arrived when, one day, on one of his frequent roaming expeditions, he arrived in Timnah, a Philistine village. There he saw a Philistine maiden whom he decided to take as a wife. Although his parents attempted to dissuade him, Samson resolved to marry her (after she converted). At the wedding feast, Samson saw an opportunity to put his plan into action. He challenged thirty Philistine guests to answer a riddle he would pose to them. If they could guess the answer, he would give them a each a suit of clothes, and if they could not, they would give him thirty suits. The Philistines agreed. Samson presented his riddle, and the Philistines were unable to answer it. On his way to Timnah, Samson had passed the spot where he slew the lion, and he noticed that a swarm of bees had turned the carcass into their hive. Samson scooped out some honey, ate, and went on his way. As a result, he posed the following riddle: "From the eater came out food, and out of the strong came out sweetness. What is it? The eater refers to a lion, the predator of all predators, and the sweetness refers to honey. Thus on the seventh day, when the Philistines came to Samson they answered him. "What is sweeter than honey and what is stronger than a lion?" Requesting a few days to come up with the answer, the Philistines approached Samson's bride. They demanded that she coax the answer from her husband and deliver it to them, or they would burn down her father’s house. Samson’s wife pressured her husband to tell her the answer to the riddle, and so he did. When the Philistines came to Samson and presented the answer, he understood at once what had transpired. Leaving the city in anger, Samson went to Ashkelon, another Philistine town, and killed 30 Philistines. Then he stripped them and sent their robes to the men who had won the wager."She looked back down at the book in her lap continuing her story. "Samson returned to Timnah for his wife, but in his absence, she had been given to another man. When he confronted his father-in-law, he offered Samson her younger sister instead. Samson grew incensed to discover that not even one person had protested the scandalous act. It was the time of the wheat harvest, so Samson rushed into the fields and caught 300 foxes. He tied them in pairs, and placed burning torches in their tails. Then he let them loose, and they ran in all directions, setting the crops ablaze. In addition to avenging his own grievance, he did this to teach the Philistines a lesson for their frequent pillaging of the Land of Israel. The sages of the Talmud teach that Samson was not simply a man of brute strength. He was a nazirite, a man whose entire life was dedicated to God. His strength was supernatural, and hinged on his ultimate commitment to God. Everything he did he was commanded by God, including his marriage to Philistine converts. The Talmud describes how the Divine Presence would ring before him like a bell, escorting him wherever he went. He was incredibly modest, and in the twenty years of his rule, he never once took advantage of his position by asking anyone to do anything for him. Some say the Samson was in fact lame in both legs, and struggled to walk. Yet, when necessary, the spirit of God would rest on him, and for that moment he would be healed, supernaturally strengthened to fight the Philistines."Which each paragraph she read her heart grew stronger, knowing the ending of the story already. "Samson’s downfall ultimately came at the hands of another Philistine convert he married, Delilah. One day, the Philistine lords came to Delilah and offered her great wealth if she were to discover the secret to her husband's strength. If she would aid them in capturing him, they would reward her handsomely. Delilah agreed. Every day, Delilah would torment her husband, trying to lure his secret from him. A few times, Samson gave her made up explanations, but Delilah was relentless. "If you bind me with seven moist ropes, then my strength will dissipate,” Samson told her. “If you bind me with new ropes that were never used, I will become like an ordinary man.” “If you place my hair on a weaving rod, I will become weak.” Each time, Delilah would try the methods on Samson while he slept. Each time, she would cry, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" and Samson would rise to his full might, completely unaffected by whatever she tried.
Tearfully, Delilah told him, "How can you say 'I love you,' while your heart is not with me? These three times you have mocked me, and you have not told me wherein is your strength so great." Finally, Samson told her the secret of his strength. "A razor has never come upon my head, for I am a nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I will be shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any man." This time, the treacherous Delilah knew that Samson was telling her the truth. She hastened to summon the Philistine lords to her house. When Samson was asleep, one of the men cut his locks off, and then Delilah cried: "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!"
Samson jumped up, prepared to defend himself. But the Divine strength he had possessed had departed from him, and the men who lay in wait easily overcame him. The heartless Philistines gouged out his eyes and led him to Gaza in chains. The Talmud teaches that Samson was punished in his eyes because he looked at the Philistine women and desired them. Although God desired that he marry them, nevertheless, his personal motives were not entirely pure, as he also desired them for himself."She smiled as she considered the great ending that Samson had. "Gathered in the great hall in Gaza, the Philistines made a great feast to celebrate their victory over Samson. They sang and danced and gave thanks to their gods for delivering him into their hands. Then they sent for the blind Samson to entertain them. Tormented and cruelly humiliated, he could not bear their rude jests and idol worship. Turning to his guide, he said, "Lead me to the pillars, so that I may lean upon them and rest for a minute." The boy obeyed. Samson, afire with anger and pain, prayed to God: "O, God, give me strength this once. Let me avenge myself on these cruel Philistines that they may know that you are the only God. It matters not if I die with them!" Suddenly, he once again felt the spirit of God in him. Samson stretched out his hands, tearing down the pillars supporting the building. The next instant, the walls and the roof came crashing down, destroying the entire building. Every single Philistine, together with Samson himself, was killed in the great crash. That day, Samson killed more Philistines than he had throughout his entire life."She smirked and closed the book, looking at Alexander and handing it to him. Stepping from the darkness her family Antithesis moved to stand beside her. The Jest of my Hate for YouNot moving from the spot they had been in, she smiled and continued to speak. "I never got to explain my reasoning for cutting your hair, not because there wasn't time for it, but because I was saving all of it for this moment right here, so that I could tell you the story of a man who had great strength and a woman who took it all from him. You see, what the stories forget to tell you is that Delilah.. lived. She continued on long after the betrayal. So you see, I cut your hair as a symbol, a symbol that I would be taking your strength from you. I've set back, silently watching while you've paraded around here with a title you've barely defended, talking about how you are the best. The best is defined by facing the best out there and defeating them. You've barely done that. Cleo, the poor girl had too much going on at the time you two faced off, or I'm sure she would have kicked your ass all over the arena. She earned my respect, you lost it. With your constant need to put my husbands name in your mouth over and over, as if he was going to be your opponent tonight."She paused for a moment rising from the throne and looking into the camera, bringing her head up, she stood with a regal grace that she had not used before. "You walk around the company as if you are some GOD of the industry while you really have little to show for it. I've been in this industry for twenty-three long years. I'll be forty years old in a month and yet, I've accomplished more than you ever will. You seem to think that you are this hunk of a man who can be a movie star, yet, I've never seen much from you except a few corny one liners from movies that already exist and knack for being a rip off of those who came before you. Those who are better than you. Is it selfish to want the one title I've never been able to get my hands on? Maybe. But that's the thing about me, you don't know shit about my life. You know nothing of my life, before I entered the hallowed halls of PWS:APEX. But I have a newsflash for you, no matter what it is you have to say about me, it wont change that out there in that ring, I am hell on earth. Do you forget that I smashed the man I later married over the head with a steel chair, until he was bleeding to prove I deserve to be a member of Antithesis?"Alexandra felt a hand on her shoulder and one of her lower back as Jonathan Sanders stepped out of the darkness to stand next to his wife. He placed a kiss on her cheek before bowing to take a knee, looking up at her from where he was. "You see, Jonathan knew that what this band of misfits and unwelcomed beings truly needed, was a woman to complete the circle. Most people see it as a leadership.. but that is not what this is. I call myself a Queen, because they chose for me to be the Queen, but we aren't a Kingdom, we are more like a Cult. We are a circle, never ending, never breaking. We stand together no matter the creature, those of the light or of the darkness, we fight hand in hand like a family would. Meanwhile, you my friend, have no one, you've destroyed anyone that MIGHT even consider helping you. You see at one time, I found you hilarious, I found you to be a light in the darkness that was this industry Mike. Truly, at one time, you had a spark that I found interesting. Then, you showed the world who you TRULY are. You are no different than I am, you just simply hide it better. I see no sense in hiding anymore. I have Jonathan to thank for that. Just as you have him to thank, for showing me that no matter who stands in my path, I can destroy them, just as I was willing to destroy him."She caressed Jonathan's cheek and he stood, placing a kiss on her forehead. The two entwined their hands, gripping tightly to one another as they had on their wedding day. "Antithesis, will grow in power until there isn't a title in this company that we do not hold. And it starts tonight, with my taking of the World Championship. Once our match is through and my hand is raised, I will look down on you and remind you why I have the title the Queen of Antithesis, because I am everything you are not. I think it's time you wake up from the dream you've been living in. A dream where you think it's possible to survive this match and still be the champion. You have two choices, survive and live to fight another day, or suffer because I will stop at NOTHING to make that title mine."She feels the other's closing in around her, this time, her brother steps forward, Dionysus stepping up behind Jonathan, lifting a crown above their heads and the couple smiles as it is lowered onto their heads. A crown of thorns, piercing into their skin. Blood trickles from the thorns, down their faces. The King and Queen of Antithesis, the rulers of their world of unending darkness. The Lost Cause and his Dark Reflection, a relationship that had been building since the first meeting the two had, less than a month after Alexandra had arrived, spanning several months, before the two married over Christmas. The two bathed in blood, prepared to go into battle with those who would dare oppose their family. "Prepare to fall to your knees and worship your Queen. I only can pray the Gods have mercy on your soul, because you shall soon meet them."She snaps her fingers in unison and the whole of Antithesis speaks. "Run"She snaps her fingers again and the scene goes to an instant black.
|
|