chirs3

Hell no - they should team up, and take the tag division by storm! They could even have some hilarious backstage segments where Version 2 attempts to upgrade Version 1, and the cameraman walks in just in time to make it look like they're doing something naughty~! It's gold, I tells ya!

"Remind me why I'm doing this again?" "I'm not really sure myself, sir." "Great." Joseph Peters picks up the phone. *Beep-boop-beep-boop-boop-boop-beep* As the other line rings, Joseph motions for his assistant to leave. He does, and shuts the door behind him. ... ... ... "Bruce? Hi. Joseph Peters here." ... "No, I'm not calling to fire you." ... "Actually, I was wondering if you could do me a favor. Aidan Redmond is down with the flu, and for reasons beyond my understanding, parents seem to like Matt Myers, so we need to get him another opponent. I thought maybe you'd want to-" ... "Well, I thought, since it's the New Year, second chances and all-" ... "... alright, yes, you are the last person on my list. No one else is willing to cut their vacation short, especially not for a match with Myers." ... "I don't expect you to do it as a favor to me. I expect you to do it because I know you miss the money." ... "And, well... right now, the ratings are in freefall, which means the show is in danger. I need to bring back the edge without actually bringing back the edge, if you know what I mean. Bringing you back could... I can't believe I'm saying this... bringing you back could bump the ratings a bit." ... "Yes, Family Friendly Rules would still apply - nothing as ridiculous as 'no headlocks' or anything, but the basic rules-" ... "Yes, that includes no drinking." ... ... ... "You'll do it?" ... "And I can trust you to not make me regret this?" ... "I'm serious, Bruce - Do I have your word?" ... "Well, that depends on how well you behave. If you show me you can play by the rules, I might be able to get you back into regular Lockdown rotation. I may even be able to get a few of the more idiotic rules lifted, over time, if we can avoid another Bar Room Brawl scandal." ... "I know this isn't ideal, Bruce, but you'll be helping the show out and making some more cash. Just try to stomach it." ... "Ok. I'll see you at Lockdown. Thanks." *click*

Judge? Pretty sure you mean Raynor. Unless I'm mixed up again, which is entirely possible. EDIT: And, checking the television dates, it turns out I am mixed up again. See what work does to your brain, people? Learn from my mistakes - stay unemployed.

Chat!

Disappointed. Not only in who it was, but how it was handled. The Quentin torture scene / Nazi dad torture scene parallel was handled exactly like such scenes have been handled all season long, with the whimsical music and a tone that's more goofy than dramatic. They didn't do much to build up to the big scene, and when the big scene came, it was treated like any other episode. Weak. Overall, a disappointing but still totally watchable season. I don't know if writers got changed or something, but they managed to cram a lot of story into Season 2, whereas every storyline this season felt rushed. Matt vs. Transexuals and Nazi's, everything with Quentin - I'm pretty sure each season had the same number of episodes, but it felt like Season 2 just did more, stretched their material out longer. Ah well. Hope they get their groove back for Season 4. Also, put me down in the "Please, God, Don't Let Them Do This" category for future Carver appearances. Just let it die.

Not Sean, not Christian, not Julia, not Matt. Outside of them, I couldn't even begin to guess.

SPOILERS! Damn fine way to end the year, says I. Be even better when the rest of the show comes up, but still.

They've sent two techs to my house (supposed to be 3, one never showed). Each time, they've said "Oh, OK, blah blah blah was the problem. It's fixed now." And each time, they've been full of shit. Still have the same problem. What's more, they can see the damn problem when I talk to them on the phone (their Denver office), so how their tech's can't find it when the thing is right in front of them is a mystery to me. Another tech is supposed to be coming tomorrow morning. Good thing these visits are free.

I missed most of Season 1 (getting it for Christmas) - who's this Grace Santiago person?

Tonight almost felt like a Season Finale all by itself. Quentin leaves, Julia's pregnant with Sean's baby, Matt and whatserface break up, then he and Christian start bonding... Seems like they used tonight to set up the next season, so the actual Season Finale can deal exclusively with the Carver. Overall I'd say this season isn't quite up to snuff with the first two (especially two), but damn they've got me excited for the finale. Sure hope they deliver.

2006 Show Schedule SWF Lockdown 1-4-2006 SWF Smarkdown 1-9-2006 SWF Storm 1-13-2006 SWF Lockdown 1-18-2006 SWF Smarkdown 1-23-2006 SWF Clusterf*ck PPV 1-29-2006 SWF Storm 2-3-2006 SWF Lockdown 2-8-2006 SWF Smarkdown 2-13-2006 SWF Storm 2-17-2006 SWF Lockdown 2-22-2006 SWF Smarkdown 2-27-2006 SWF Storm 3-3-2006 SWF Lockdown 3-8-2006 SWF From the Fire PPV 3-14-2006 SWF Aftershoxx 3-16-2006 SWF Smarkdown 3-20-2006 SWF Storm 3-24-2006 SWF Lockdown 3-29-2006 SWF Smarkdown 4-3-2006 SWF Storm 4-7-2006 SWF Lockdown 4-12-2006 SWF Smarkdown 4-17-2006 SWF Battleground PPV 4-23-2006 SWF Aftershoxx 4-28-2006 SWF Lockdown 5-3-2006 SWF Smarkdown 5-8-2006 SWF Storm 5-12-2006 SWF Lockdown 5-17-2006 SWF Smarkdown 5-22-2006 SWF Storm 5-26-2006 SWF Lockdown 5-31-2006 SWF Smarkdown 6-5-2006 SWF 13th Hour PPV 6-11-2006 SWF Aftershoxx 6-16-2006 SWF Lockdown 6-21-2006 SWF Smarkdown 6-26-2006 SWF Storm 6-30-2006 SWF Lockdown 7-5-2006 SWF Smarkdown 7-10-2006 SWF Storm 7-14-2006 SWF Lockdown 7-19-2006 SWF Smarkdown 7-24-2006 SWF Ground Zero PPV 7-30-2006 SWF Aftershoxx 8-4-2006 SWF Lockdown 8-9-2006 SWF Smarkdown 8-14-2006 SWF Storm 8-18-2006 SWF Lockdown 8-23-2006 SWF Smarkdown 8-28-2006 SWF Storm 9-1-2006 SWF Lockdown 9-6-2006 SWF Smarkdown 9-11-2006 SWF Genesis VII PPV 9-17-2006 SWF Aftershoxx 9-22-2006 SWF Lockdown 9-27-2006 SWF Smarkdown 10-2-2006 SWF Storm 10-6-2006 SWF Lockdown 10-11-2006 SWF Smarkdown 10-16-2006 SWF Storm 10-20-2006 SWF Lockdown 10-25-2006 SWF Smarkdown 10-30-2006 SWF Ashes 2 Ashes PPV 11-5-2006 SWF Aftershoxx 11-10-2006 SWF Lockdown 11-15-2006 SWF Smarkdown 11-20-2006 SWF Storm 11-24-2006 SWF Lockdown 11-29-2006 SWF Smarkdown 12-4-2006 SWF Storm 12-8-2006 SWF Lockdown 12-13-2006 SWF XMas PPV 12-19-2006 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Lockdown: Card - realitycheck (Z) Post - Justice (Judge) Smarkdown: Card - Justice (Judge) Post - chirs3 (Raynor) Storm: Card - chirs3 (Raynor) Post - realitycheck (Z) PPV: Card - Whoever Post - Dunno

Blargh. Hope they can come up with a decent excuse for him to show up, then. I mean, I like him and all, but what I liked more was the fact that he had a very specific reason for only being in SH2. I have trouble seeing how they can justify putting the Pyramid Head we know and love into a story in which he doesn't belong. Ah well. As far as disrespecting source material goes, this really is just a very tiny offense (compared to some other adaptations), so I'm not too worried... just annoyed.

1 was the scariest, and overall, I'd say the best. 2 had the best story and some very cool puzzles and riddles, but the combat and pacing left something to be desired. 3 had the weakest story (which was still good, just doesn't compare to the others) and was awfully short, but much more fun than SH2. Definitely check out 2 for the story. If you're willing to put up with PS1 graphics and awful voice-acting, pick up 1. And if you like 1, then go for 3 (it's a direct followup to 1).

Wait, what? Pyramid Head is in a movie based off the first game? ... I have trouble seeing how that will make sense, considering what his job was in SH2. Where is it said that he's in the movie?

I wish they'd have done the story from 2 as well. Best of the series. Even so, I've got high hopes for this.

Let's go with 10:00 EST.

Never mind. Mods, feel free to delete this. Searched the damn help database endlessly, not once did it mention that handy little Opacity meter, which was just what I needed.

Graphics board, figured it's close enough. Using the Photoshop free trial, and the tutorials mistake me for a person who has some knowledge about what I'm dealing with. Sadly, I have none. So, in dummy speak, can someone tell me how to make an image transparent, so I can put it over a second image and have them mesh (so to speak)?

Overall, I thought tonight's was just OK, but I LOVED what they did with Julia at the end. Spend the whole show building her up, then yank the carpet out from under her in the last 30 seconds. I missed the preview for next week - what did they tease?

We should be wrapping up the 2006 schedule tonight or tomorrow - I'll let you know when we do. And while I don't have an exact date yet, the first show of 2006 will be in the first week of January. I think the 4th.

The Smartmarks Wrestling Federation presents... SWF STORM! FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9th, FROM THE SAVVIS CENTER IN ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI! Send all materials (marked matches, promos, etc.) to realitycheck. Matches due by 10:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time. -=-=-=-=- Things are happening! Exciting things! The Cold Front Classic semi-final matches go down tonight, and since there was a delay in the tournament and these matches should have happened earlier, they will not be fought under Hardcore rules! Zyon wins his special match last week, and gets "something". But what? I'm not telling you yet! You might find out on Storm, or you might have to wait just a liiiiiittle bit. We'll see. Landon Maddix and Max King are a team for three seconds, and already they're the #1 Contenders! How about them apples! Will Maddiking have a statement for TKO tonight? If so, can they even get along long enough to make it? Plus, will we hear from El Luchadore Magnifico, regarding his not-quite-victory on Smarkdown? Will we hear from Wes Davenport, who's got an International Title shot coming up at the PPV? Will we hear from other people, who aren't Magnifico or Wes? Tensions rise as temperatures fall! We're just under two weeks away from the SWF's last show of 2005, and the way things are going, it looks like this year we're going out with a BANG~! *gives TNT a quarter* -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The Main Event - Cold Front Classic Semifinal Match JJ Johnson © vs. "Hollywood" Spike Jenkins ---> Out of four absolutely stellar candidates, the one making the most noise in the Cold Front Classic is JJ Johnson, who many have pegged as the odds-on favorite to win the whole darn thing! I'm willing to bet Spike Jenkins has something to say about that, however - he's gotta be itching for another shot at Magnifico. Tonight, these two go head-to-head in one of the biggest matches of the tournament! Rules: Standard singles match. NOT HARDCORE! Word Limit: 6000 Send to: chirs3 -=-=-=-=- Cold Front Classic Semifinal Match Johnny Dangerous vs. TORU Takahara © ---> Sorry Wildchild, Johnny's got bigger fish to fry. The Secret Agent turned down a chance to take out his former partner in order to progress in the Cold Front Classic tournament - tonight, though, he may hit a roadblock, as TORU Takahara stands in his way! Will Johnny squash this new threat and leave Wildchild behind as well, or will TORU go on to the finals at the Christmas PPV and fight for a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship? Rules: Standard singles match. NOT HARDCORE! Word Limit: 6000 Send to: Justice -=-=-=-=- Jay Hawke vs. "The Icon" Max King Special Commentator: Landon Maddix! ---> Landon's old partner vs. Landon's new partner! Not exactly the most ideal of situations, as MaddiKing are set to challenge TKO for the Tag Team Championships at our earliest convenience! And, just to torture the poor bastard, we've got La Cucaracha himself down at ringside, joining Longdogger Pete and the Suicide King for commentary! Will he sit quietly by and let his real stablemate pound the crap out of his unwelcome partner? Or does Maddix desire another run with the Tag Team Gold so much that he's willing to get in Jay Hawke's way? Or will he just sit there and annoy the hell out of King? Rules: HARDCORE~! Maddix may write, if he wishes. Word Limit: 5500 Send to: realitycheck -=-=-=-=- "Urban Legend" Todd Cortez vs. Stryke ---> Stryke made a damn fine showing of himself in that Fatal Fourway last week. So fine, in fact, that tonight he's being given the opportunity to take on the Number One Contender to the World Heavyweight Championship! For Todd, this is just a tune-up... for Stryke, it's a chance to prove the naysayers wrong! Rules: Standard singles match! We need our #1 Contender in tip-top shape! Word Limit: 5000 Send to: janusd -=-=-=-=- Candance "The Joshi Dragon" Okimura vs. "The Rage" Jason von Dierch ---> Wouldn't want these two to get rusty, considering what's coming up at the PPV... mwahahahahahahaaaa! Rules: HARDCORE~! Word Limit: 4500 Send to: chirs3 -=-=-=-=- Opening Bout - Tag Team Tables Match Zyon and "The Divine Wind" Akira Kaibatsu vs. Bruce Blank and Manson ---> Blank and Akira have some business to wrap up one on one, real personal like. But that's for later. Right now, we're giving our fans a little preview of the carnage we expect between these two at the PPV by sticking them in a tables match! On the other end, Zyon recently bested Manson (and Candace) in a triple-threat, and has won a funtabulous prize that I'm not telling you guys about yet! Rules: There are some tables set up outside the ring, and some more stashed underneath as well. The first team to drive BOTH of their opponents through a table wins! This is NOT Elimination Rules - if you put one man through a table, he is still in the match until his partner goes through a table as well. Word Limit: 5000 Send to: Justice -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Opening Promo: Unclaiiiiiimed!

A hushed silence fills the Toledo Sports Arena as we come back from break, the camera going around the ring to show off the ominous steel cage. The lights slowly come back on to the arena to show the ring surrounded by the steel. The cage being used for this match is one with iron bars instead of the steel mesh that is being used by most companies these days, ala the old "blue bars" cage that used to be used by the WWF. "Well, we've reached the point that people have waiting all night for. That ominous steel cage is waiting for two men who just a few shows ago were tag team partners!" Pete reminds the crowd. "But that's all in the past, and I personally can't wait for this match." Suicide King continues. "I can't wait for Blank to beat Max to a bloody pulp in the cage and get the title shot that he so rightly deserves." "Don't you think you're underestimating Max's skills?" "No, I think I'm giving him too much of a chance against a guy like Blank." Pete sighs a bit. "Let's go to the ring for introductions. The camera gets a close up of Funyon at ringside, ready to announce as always. Funyon: Ladies and gentlemen, this is our main event of the evening, and it is a Steel Cage Match to determine the Number One Contender for the SWF Tag Team Championship. The only way to win this match is to climb over the top of the cage and land on the arena floor. Immediately after Funyon finishes his statement, the lights in the arena go out. The crowd is getting anxious, knowing that soon someone that they like now will be coming out. After a few seconds... "THE KING...HAS...RETURNED!" BOOM! "Superstar" starts to play over the speakers after the explosion of fireworks goes off, and after a few seconds more Max King steps through the curtain, Kelly Connelly by his side. King, knowing how brutal a match like this would be, is wearing jeans and a black SWF T-Shirt tonight instead of his normal. Kelly is wearing the same, but with Daisy Dukes instead of full jeans. Funyon: Introducing first, accompanied to the ring by Kelly "The Queen" Connelly...from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...standing 6'3" tall and weighing in at 250 pounds..."THE ICON"...MAX...KING!" "Max King is the one that made this challenge for Blank, not happy about some of the actions of his now former tag team partner in recent weeks. He doesn't feel like working along with someone with Blank's reputation for trouble, so he..." Suicide King interrupts. "Wait a second, what is Max King doing?" he notes, as King slips to the side of the stage, keeping his back to the stage in wait. Kelly goes down to ringside, to give a bit of an illusion of King being in the ring. "I think that King has a plan for Blank, and some people may agree that Blank will deserve it!" Pete noted. "And King pulling out those brass knuckles from his pocket!" "Don't Ask Me No Questions" starts playing, and the crowd's jeers come out REALLY loudly as the SWF Ultraviolent Champion makes his way out. Funyon: Aaand his opponent...from... Before Funyon can finish up his announcement, King comes around the corner and BLASTS him across the face with his brass knuckle clad hand. The giant man from the trailer park gets knocked down hard, caught off guard by "The Icon"...who grabs Blank by his hair and goes to grab him and drag him to the ring. "This is grossly unfair to Blank!" King protests as Max tosses Blank into the cage. "He didn't even get a chance to come out to the ring before King blindsided him!" "Well, I guess Max feels turnabout is fair play in this case." Pete notes. "Like he feels that Blank would do the same to him if he had the chance. King into the ring, and this match is officially underway!" Max King grins as the door slams, Blank using the ropes to get up to his feet. The camera zooms onto Blank's face, which is bruised a bit from the shot he took, but not yet bleeding. As Blank is trying to get up to his feet, King comes off the ropes and gives him a HARD punt right into the ribs, sending Blank back down to the mat face first. Blank tries to climb up to his feet, but King goes off the ropes, and just STOMPS on Blank's head before he can get up again. "King in full advantage of this match in the early goings, and that's a smart move by the Icon, not letting Blank get any advantage." Pete says "But I thought King wanted to be a different man! This is just wrong, and this match should be re-started!" Suicide continues to protest as King grabs Blank by his hair and tries to get him to his feet. When Blank is fully up though, he manages to nail King with a right hand right to the face. King starts to retaliate with fists of his own, but Blank's power advantage helps his punches get more of a sting to them than King's punches. Blank manages to back King up into the ropes, but as Blank swings for another right hand, King ducks out of the way, and Blank smashes his own arm against the metal of the cage! King doesn't stop to rest up and recover, instead grabbing Blank by the back of the head, ready to slam Blank's head into the steel. Blank manages to block the attempt though, grabbing "The Icon's" head in an attempt of his own. King manages to block, but with his hands holding the cage, it leaves King wide open for Blank to swing a clubbing forearm right into the back of King. "And Blank going right to the back of King...knowing about King's injury from that major car accident!" Pete notes. "I hate to admit it, but that's a smart move." "Damn right that it's a start move!" Suicide King notes. "And if Max King gets injured in this match, then he will deserve it for how he started this match." Blank steps back behind King, and before Max can turn around clasps his hands and drops a sledgehammer blow right into the small of King's back. "The Icon" is writhing down on the mat after the blows done to his back, and Blank feels confident enough that he has King down enough and starts climbing the side of the cage. "Look at Blank, this is going to be a quick one for the Ultraviolent champ!" S. King proudly claims as Blank starts to scale the cage wall. As he does though, King starts to get up, holding his back a bit in pain at the moment. Seeing Blank trying to get out of the cage, he makes a dive for the legs, pulling them off and forcing Blank down onto the mat. "I don't care how tough you are, despite his injury in the past you're not going to keep someone like Max King down with a few shots to the back." Pete calls as King nails Blank in the back of the head with an elbow shot. Max attempts to whip Bruce into a nearby corner, but Bruce's power proves too much at the moment as he reverses the move, sending King HARD into the turnbuckles. The camera gets a good look of the pain in King's face after he hits the buckles, then pulls away to see Blank charging into the corner for something. King manages to duck out of the way, causing the larger man to crash chest first into the corner. As the Ultraviolent champ turns around, the former ICTV champ starts lighting his chest up with chop... "WHOOO!" ...after chop... "WHOOO!" ...after chop! "WHOOO!" "'The Icon' is fired up tonight!" Pete calls. "And if this pace keeps up for him, this is going to be a quick one in the favor of Max King!" "Don't count Blank out just yet! He isn't a champ for nothing!" S. King reminds. King again tries to whip Blank into a nearby corner, this time being successful in the attempt. King now charges in to attack Blank while the man from Mobile is stunned, but finds out that Blank hasn't been stunned just enough yet, as he gets a HARD boot right to the jaw as he comes in. "SEE! What did I tell you, Pete?" "Blank's got the advantage...and he's going into his pocket? This could only spell trouble for Max King..." The camera cuts to the ring, where we see that he's pulling out a lead pipe! King is completely unaware of it at the moment, and for his troubles Blank clocks him right into the ribcage area. A sick smile forms onto Blank's face, as he swings the pipe right into the small of the back of King. The screams of pain by King resonate through the arena, and it's seen that a few fans in the first few rows are wincing and some even look sick. "Bruce Blank is trying to annihilate Max King for what King has forced to happen!" Pete correctly calls. "He can't take much more of this without getting a serious injury." "Good! Blank should just be worrying about getting the tag team titles right now and facing Akira next PPV. Not having to face King just to get what's rightfully his." Blank, having done his damage with the pipe as a weapon for now, places it on the mat, keeping it close by for some reason. The reason soon becomes apparent as he grabs King by the back of his shirt, lifting him with ease off of the canvas and up to his feet. The UV Champ stands to King's left side, and attempts to go for a side-Russian leg sweep on King to have him land on the pipe. What he doesn't realize though is that Kelly is close enough to the ring to reach into the ring and pull the pipe away, thus preventing further SEVERE damage from the pipe. Blank seems to notice, turning angrily to the red-haired manager on the outside. "Oh, how I wish this wasn't a cage match right now!" S. King notes. "Then Blank could show that red-haired bimbo that you don't mess with his kind of match." "Kelly going to help her man out, but that may cost her! Blank is already starting to climb up the side of the cage, and he wants out to get an attack on Kelly on the outside of the ring!" "He's halfway up!" S. King notes as Blank continues to climb, having to adjust his footing a few times with the cowboy boots that he wears in the ring. He's so focused on getting to the outside of the ring and getting his hands on Kelly at the moment that he doesn't realize that King is already starting to stir behind him, getting up to his feet once again. Just before Blank tries to pull himself over the side of the cage, King moves up as fast as he can, and nails the big Alabamian with a low blow! Suffice it to say, the crowd explodes in cheers at seeing this happen. "Well, there's a good chance for Bruce Blank to practice birth control!" Pete says as Blank falls back down to the canvas, holding his...area...in pain. With Blank hurt, it's King's turn to start scaling the side of the cage, attempting to get the win himself. "I don't care what King just did, I do NOT think that you're going to keep Blank down that long. He's making a mistake by trying to escape instead of further weaken him." What Suicide King says proves to be right after a few seconds, as Blank manages to get up, climbing the side of the cage where King is climbing, getting under him and getting King onto his shoulders. With King still on his shoulders, he pulls back, falling back with an Electric Chair that sends King crashing once again onto his back! "It's obvious the target of Bruce Blank is the back, and that's a rare bit of psychology for the big guy!" Pete notes. "Hey, I knew that Blank was smarter than he looked! I mean, look what he did to TORU a few shows back!" S. King reminds. In the ring, King is wincing HARD in pain, feeling the effects of all the punishment that Blank has already done to his back. Bruce sits up, looking back with a smile on his face at what he's already done to his very short lived former partner, standing up to his feet again. He starts yelling out at the crowd on the outside of the ring, walking around the ring proudly and stepping on the back of King as he does so. This action causes the jeering from the crowd to get even louder. Not caring about the reaction that they're having for him, Blank reaches down to pick King back up to his feet again, looking at the turnbuckle with a sick smile. He lifts King up over his head into a position for a powerbomb, quickly approaching the corner to drop King right onto the top buckle. Kelly start screaming at the top of her lungs to warn her man, and that proves the difference maker at the moment as King sees what is about to happen to him. Before Blank can drop him onto the top buckle, "The Icon" starts slugging away at the head of Blank repeatedly, targeting that bruise caused by the pre-match attack. The blows cause Blank to lose enough balance, and King takes a BIG gamble now, falling back with a Hurricanrana! "Where the HELL did Max King learn a move like THAT?" Suicide King questions with a surprised tone in his voice. Max King collapses in the ring after the move, it having taken a lot of out him as well. "Wherever he learned it doesn't matter, the fact is that he pulled off the move, and it allowed him to get a temporary respite from the attacks of Blank to recover." Pete calls. "But I'm sure that King will have to do much more than this to get the win." "I don't think that he CAN do much more though!" S. King notes. "Look in the ring, Blank is already getting up, shaking the cobwebs up. King is still down on the ground though!" Blank glares at King, not liking the fact that he did something like that off guard, and has a REALLY angry expression on his face. He grabs King by the hair before King can get back up to his feet, and ignoring shots to the gut by King, lifts "The Icon" up to his feet once again, dropping an elbow right between the shoulder blades of the former ICTV champion before lifting him up to his feet. Jaw-jacking to the capacity Ohio crowd, he uses all the strength in his nearly 300 pound frame to send King flying face first into the steel of the cage. The camera is quick to come over to the side of the ring where Max lands, seeing that King's forehead is now busted open. "Oh boy, this is where things are going to get good now, Pete!" Suicide King proudly says. "Max King wanted to play dirty, and now he's going to pay for it with his career. That blood is going to have an effect on Blank like a shark with blood in the water!" "Unfortunately, I'm sure that you're right about that, and Blank sees the blood on King's face." Pete notes. "King will need to fight hard if he's going to get out of a situation like this!" "Not a chance!" Suicide King notes as Blank grabs King's head into a vice-like hold, and starts repeatedly clubbing away at the face of "The Icon"...specifically into the open wound on his forehead. About ten punches later, Blank simply holds King up by the hair, showing his bloody face to the crowd. "WHAT DO YOU THINK OF HIM NOW?" Blank shouts to the crowd in his southern accent, causing further jeers from the crowd. Blank just smirks, shoving Max down to the apron and spits onto him, before going over to the nearest cage wall. "That's it, Pete. This match is over, and Blank is going to get the win right now!" S. King calls as Bruce starts climbing up the side of the cage. Behind Blank's back, however, he fails to realize that Kelly has walked around to the timekeeper's area, grabbing a steel cage from ringside and tossing it over the cage into the ring. "Kelly tossing a weapon in for her man, and I don't think that Blank is aware of it!" Pete says. "This could be just the thing that King needed to get back into the game that is this match!" The chair lands right next to the head of Max King, and through glassy eyes he sees the object, then looks up to see Blank adjusting to climb up the side of the cage wall. Knowing what exactly is on the line, King grabs hold of the chair, using it as a crutch to get back up to his feet, then after re-gaining his balance gives a desperation swing to the back of the legs of Blank, causing him to slip off the side of the cage and guillotine himself onto the top rope! "How low can Max King and Kelly Connelly go?" S. King asks with disgust in his voice. "This thing is a glorified handicap match with Kelly Connelly helping King out whenever she can!" "Why are you complaining? You know if this was against someone like Maddix, you'd be rooting on King and Kelly and asking them for more!" Pete reminds. "But this ISN'T that loser Maddix. This is the greatest Ultraviolent Champion in the history of SWF!" King gets back up again, using the chair for balance as Bruce Blank recovers, and finally balances enough to swing the chair right into the back of Blank's head. The ropes are the only thing at the moment keeping Blank from going down to the mat, but another swing with the chair is enough to send the 6'7" tall tower of an individual to the mat. King looks out to the crowd, and they are loving the actions of King in this situation. Seeing Blank on his back now, King opens up the chair, placing one of the bars between the legs of the chair right onto the throat of Blank, and using it as a step to get a boost to climb up the cage! "And one last shot for Blank as King goes for the escape!" Pete calls as it happens. The crowd is on their feet as King scales the side of the cage, the pain etched on his face as he's putting his back to work. "Can King make it over the top though?" S. King questions. "Blank and the lead pipe did some major damage to the back of King earlier on, and those back muscles are going to be needed to get that final boost over the top!" The answer to Suicide's question is never comes, as Blank gets up, coughing a bit. The chair goes flying a bit, but Blank is not worried about that as he sees that King is going for the win, climbing up to get after him again. He gets in a similar position to one he had the last time that King tried to escape from the cage, but this time faces towards the center of the ring, and pulling with all his strength powerbombs him right off the cage. Unfortunately for Max King, Blank's aim was just lucky enough that King's back landed right onto the edge of the steel chair during that powerbomb. "Oh yes! Isn't Blank great, Pete? He dropped King as hard as he could, and had enough presence of mind to make sure that King's back landed right into that chair! That's why the man is a champion, kid!" "I think that Blank was just lucky that the chair landed where it did, that's all." Pete said. "But whether it's skill or luck on Blank's part, the fact remains that King once again has damage done to his back, and that's going to make this match even harder for him to win than it was before! The camera zooms in to the face of King, and it appears to be that Max King is out cold from the way that he landed. A cut over to Blank, and the look on his face is one of relief, glad that he was able to recover fast enough to catch King before he got a chance to get the win. Looking over to see his opponent down on the mat and possibly out, Blank doesn't seem that satisfied yet, and goes to undo his belt from his pants. "The Icon" is completely oblivious to the fact as Blank pulls off the belt, adjusting it into a loop, then begins to whip Max King like he was a slave in ancient times! "YES! Whip that little punk!" Suicide calls. "Show him that he's messing with the wrong person tonight, Blank!" "That sound is SICKENING!" Pete calls. "Listen as the leather hits the flesh of King!" Both announcers go quiet on the next whip of the belt... *SMACK!* And King convulses in pain on the mat, Blank continues to whip... *SMACK* ...and whip... *SMACK!* and WHIP! *SMAAAACK!* ...at the body of King, which is rapidly turning red at the repeated shots with the belt to the body. Satisfied with himself, Blank tosses the belt to the side, nodding proudly as King's crawling in a very weak way to the nearest ropes, trying to use them to climb up to his feet once more. "Look at Blank, he's like a wild animal hunting weakened prey!" S. King says. "It's only a matter of time, as Blank could just walk out of that cage at any moment that he wants. But he wants to inflict as much punishment as possible on the former ICTV Champ!" "I'm surprised that Max King is still moving at the moment, as his back has just been brutalized throughout this match!" Pete notes. "But that shows you that he's willing to do whatever it takes to win this match!" Blank gets into a stance, waiting for just the right moment to strike, and when King is fully up to a vertical position, charges in to give him a boot right into the back! Unfortunately for him, King manages to realize that it's coming, and he just steps to the left as Blank's foot just goes right between one of the squares of the cage! "WHAT THE...!?" "Brilliant, if desperate, move by Max King right there!" Pete calls. "He realized Bruce was coming in to attack, and he stepped aside to cause this situation, and now Blank is at his mercy!" Blank struggles to get out of the position that he's in, but King doesn't let him, as King dropkicks the big guy right into the back of his free leg, causing him to fall back and hang from the side of the cage. The crowd roars in approval at the sight they're seeing, and some even start chanting "CHAIR" over and over at the top of their lungs. "The fans want King to use that chair once again on the body of Blank, and I think King hears them!" "How can you NOT hear them, Pete? They're shouting louder than my mother in law whenever she comes over to visit!" King nods in agreement with the crowd, as he reaches over to the chair that Kelly tossed in earlier. Blank continues to struggle to get free from the position that he's in, but it's too late for him to get free as King charges in, and baseball slides the chair right into the King of the Trailer Park's face! *CRACK!* The crowd's roar of approval for King's actions gets even louder upon doing that, and Blank collapses off of the cage wall, obviously out of it from that shot by King. The camera rushes over to the side of the cage where Blank is, and zooms in to see that now BRUCE is busted open! "Turnabout is fair play for King!" Pete calls. "But King doesn't care about the blood, he cares about the win! He's going for the escape again!" "NO! Come on Blank, get up! Your shot at being a double champ is on the line here!" S. King calls. "You know he can't hear you! Max King to the cage wall, and he's climbing up! This match is over, Suicide! Max King is going to get the victory here, and a very hard fought one at that!" The crowd is repeatedly chanting "MAX KING!" over and over as he makes his ascent to the top, ready to get the victory. The chants get louder and louder as he climbs, and almost blow the roof of the arena off as he touches the rim to get that final pull over the top. Then, they turn into disappointed, "ohhhs" as Blank stumbles over, and clocks King right into the family jewels, sending "The Icon" down to the mat once more. "What were you saying about turnabout being fair play, Pete?" S. King says with a chuckle. "I knew that Blank wasn't going to go down that easily! He's too good of a competitor to do that!" Blank isn't fully conscious at the moment though, apparent that the shot with the chair earlier still had an effect on him. However, he nods proudly and confidently at the fact that he's still standing, and looks at King is still down on the mat. He nods, and makes a throat cutting gesture, telling the crowd in his own way that this is over now. "Bruce Blank is going for the kill, Pete!" S. King calls. "I don't know what move he's going to do, but this is going to be it for "The Icon!" "Well, whatever he goes for, I don't know if King can fight out of it! Blank grabbing King by the hair...and into a headlock! This is gonna be bad..." The crowd boos at the top of their lungs as Blank spits out to the crowd...literally spits out, as a matter of fact...before lifting King up for a suplex. "Here it comes, Pete! It's time for the Blank Bomb! It's gonna be over!" Pete holds King up for a great time, tauntingly so, before going to adjust to drop King with his sit-out powerbomb. However, before he can adjust completely, King manages to slip behind Blank, and grabs his head! "NO!" "King hooking in a Dragon Sleeper on the way down, and that could be the set up for..." King lifts Blank up, and drops him down HARD! "KING BUSTER!" Pete calls. "Max King hits the King Buster out of NOWHERE onto Blank as he slipped out of the Blank Bomb! And I think that Bruce Blank is out cold!" "But can Max King follow up by escaping the cage? I don't think that he's got the energy to get out of the ring!" Max King falls back to the side of the cage, and is lying on the ring ropes, breathing heavily at the heavy lifting that he just did. Kelly, on the outside of the ring, rushes over to his side, leaning to the cage with her chest. King looks over, smiles, and reaches down her top. "Wait a second, what is going on here?" S. King wonders. "Well, I'm glad that this isn't Lockdown..." Pete says...as King pulls out a pair of handcuffs. The crowd ERUPTS into cheers, as King dives over to Blank, who is clawing to the ropes, and slaps a cuff onto his wrist. "NO!" S. King calls. "Not this!" Max King grins, and quickly cuffs Blank's wrist to the ring rope, trapping him in the ring. "King has neutralized Blank, and uses him as a stepping stone to climb out of the ring! Brilliant move by Max King!" "Stop the match! This isn't right!" S. King protest as King continues to make his climb. "It may not be right, but it's going to happen anyway!" Pete says. "King over the top, Blank fighting to get free, but there's nothing he can do!" The crowd erupts into cheers at King about to win, and "The Icon" lets go, dropping down to the arena floor! "DAMNIT!" S. King calls as Max King's feet hit the floor! "Superstar" starts to play over the speaker, as Kelly rushes over to her man after tossing the key to the cuffs into the ring. The referee, inside the ring now, goes to un-cuff Blank from the ropes. Funyon: Here is your winner, and the Number One contender for the SWF Tag Team Championship, "THE ICON"...MAX...KING! "Max King using Blank's tactics against him in this match, and because of it he's gotten the...wait a second, Kelly getting a mic!" "Great, now he's probably going to gloat about his victory in Blank's face." King holds up the mic to his face as he uses the ring for balance, taking a few breaths to recover, and looks around as his music dies down. "You know, I bet everyone in the arena is wondering...now that I've won, who will my partner be? Well, first I'd like everyone to know that I'm going to take my shot at the belts until January 2006. But as for my partner, there's only one person that I can think of to team with me. Someone who I thinks deserves me...that's none other than..." he pauses, grinning wildly. "LANDON MADDIX!" "WHAT!?" both S. King and Pete shout at the same time, and there's a similar reaction coming out from the crowd at the same time. Max King just smiles as "Superstar" starts playing up again, Kelly going over to help him to the back as he celebrates. "Max King has won the match, but he's chosen Landon Maddix as his partner? Why would he do something like that? What's going on in his mind?" S. King wonders out loud. "What the hell is going on?" "Unfortunately, we'll have to wait to find out the answer! We're out of time, see you people soon!" FADE OUT! ===== SWF Lockdown © 2005 – Rule of Law Productions The SWF: “Raising Workrate by Typing Faster”

FADE IN… Mystikal’s “Bouncin’ Back” kicks up from the speakers! Instantly, this crowd is on their feet with a thunderous cheer for their unsung hero – the Wildchild. The fans cheer even louder as Wildchild steps out onto the stage with Melissa Fasaki following closely, and cautiously behind him. “Welcome back to Smarkdown,” the voice of Longdogger Pete shouts out as the cameras pan across the sea of excited fans. “Right now it looks like Wildchild is heading to the ring. He’s not scheduled for a match tonight so I’d assume he has something to say to his fans here in Toledo, Ohio!” “This is certainly peculiar for the Bahama Bomber,” adds King. “He usually doesn’t do a lot of talking at ringside. Maybe he’s making a farewell speech.” “Somehow, I doubt that,” replies Pete. Wildchild slides into the ring and reaches for a microphone. He heads back to the middle of the squared circle, hand-in-hand with Melissa, and surveys the fans in attendance. “DUB-CEE!” “DUB-CEE!” “DUB-CEE!” “DUB-CEE!” “As most of you all know, I’m not much for making speeches,” Wildchild begins, holding out his hand to quiet the fans. “I tend t’let my actions in the ring do most of my talking, but every now and den somet’ing comes up dat jus’ can’t be ignored. Sometimes t’ings mus’ be addressed…like Johnny Dangerous!” “RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” “Finally!” Pete excitedly shouts. “It’s about damn time Wildchild confronted his ex-tag team partner head on, and judging by this crowds reaction I’d say their excited to see good Ol’ Dub-Cee, at long last put, his foot down.” “I think you might be jumping to conclusions again, Toilet-Clogger! Maybe Wildchild is ready to admit defeat and wave his little white flag of surrender,” King offers, but Pete dismisses the thought with a shake of his head. “You see, I’ve remained quiet for some time now, as Johnny has continued t’attack me show after show,” Wildchild continues, “all de while proclaiming that *I* needed t’stay clear of *him* – dat *I* need to leave *him* be. Well, after Lockdown I’ve had just about enough!” “RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” “I’ve tried t’remain civil. I never wanted t’have to fight the man dat I called friend – dat I called a brother – for so long… but dere is only so far dat you can push me before I am gon’ t’push back! Johnny, if you want t’attack me…so why don’ you bring your sorry ass down here now and attack me!” “RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” “Wildchild has just issued a challenge to the Barracuda!” reports Pete. “I don’t think Johnny Dangerous is man enough to answer it, however. He won’t attack Wildchild unless he either has the help of Bruce Blank or Wildchild’s back is turned!” “Bruce Blank had nothing to do with Lockdown – that was his retarded brother Wayne Blank,” counters King. “Besides, you underestimate Johnny Dangerous. He’d have no problems fighting Wildchild and he’d win handedly.” Wildchild stares at the curtains, waiting to see if Johnny has the guts to bring himself out here. Soon, the crowd begins to settle and the only movement with the curtains is the gentle breeze blowing through them from backstage. “I knew dat you were too much of a scared little-” “JOHNNY DANGEROUS!” *BOOOOOOOOM!* A row of pyrotechnic fire off from the stage as ‘After the Flesh’ kicks up, pounding into ever corner of the arena! Finally, the curtains part, and the Barracuda steps out from behind them to a vast roar of boos! “I told you he would show up,” King says smugly as Johnny struts down the aisle – water bottles whizzing past his head – and heads towards the ring. He climbs in and glides past Wildchild and Melissa, paying no heed to his former friend. Wildchild keeps a steady eye of the Barracuda while putting an arm back to block Melissa out of harms way. Johnny requests a microphone and then heads back towards the center of the ring, standing several feet away from Wildchild. Smiling smugly he adjusts his high-tech shades and raises the microphone to his lips… “JOHN-E SUCKS!” “JOHN-E SUCKS!” “JOHN-E SUCKS!” “JOHN-E SUCKS!” …but the surge of chants against him is so tremendous he wouldn’t be heard if he were to speak. He smiles in response to these obviously ignorant fans as Wildchild’s eyes narrow as he regards his former ally. “Well,” Johnny arrogantly begins, “so it seems that my little friend here wants to play with the big boys.” “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” “Wildchild, you don’t know what you’re asking for by coming down to this ring and *trying* to call me out. Truly you haven’t become so foolish that you’d even begin to think that you, of all people, could possibly take me on. Truly, Wildchild, you haven’t forgotten that I already told you to stay out of my way,” says Johnny, jabbing his pointing finger into Wildchild’s chest. Wildchild furiously slaps the Barracuda’s hand down and steps up to his face. “I’ve heard jus’ about enough of your mouth running for weeks now, Johnny!” shouts Wildchild. “All I’ve heard is you spouting off about how freaking great you t’ink you are and how *I* destroyed Wild and Dangerous… when it was you, Johnny! You’re de one dat was responsible! All you had t’say was dat you wanted t’move on, an’ I would have stepped aside; I’m man enough dat I could have accepted dat. If you didn’t want t’tag anymore dat was fine… but you couldn’t jus’ let it go at dat, could you!?” Wildchild lowers his microphone as he takes a step back from Johnny. The Barracuda’s smile is no longer present, replaced with a cold expression as he stares a hole into Wildchild. “You know what happened, Johnny - you know de truth! I stood by your side for months as you tried t’figure yourself out, as you tried t’figure out what you wanted t’do. You know, you sure as hell had no problem leaving me high and dry on several occasions while you made up your mind, but I still stayed loyal t’you. Even when dese fans started t’turn against me because you were acting like such a spoiled little ass dat dey didn’t like you anymore, and dey didn’ like me hanging out with you, but even den, I *still* stuck wit’ you…but now I see dat I should have kicked you to de wayside a long time ago!” “RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” “I’m not gon’ t’stand here any longer and allow myself t’be attacked, or have my honor called into question by you! It’s time t’give all de fans what dey’ve wanted to see for a very, very long time now… and with Christmas coming up it’s de perfect time t’give into wishes and wants. Johnny, at this years Christmas pay-per-view, it’s time dat we finally give de people Wild versus Dangerous!” “RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” “Whoa!” exclaims Pete. “That is definitely a match of the ages and one that’s been a long time coming! I think I speak for everyone involved when I say that THAT match would be high on everyone’s Christmas lists!” The crowd settles after a few moments of cheering their hearts out at the issued challenge then finally settles when Johnny raises the microphone to his lips. “Well I never thought I’d see the day when you challenged me to a match, Dominic,” he says. “After all the years of me carrying you on my back I would have thought that you would have more sense than that…but I guess not. However, unlike you, I’m in the Cold Front Classic tournament that will be concluded with me winning at the Christmas pay-per-view, so I don’t think I’ll be available. Sorry.” “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” “If you’re so much better dan me, den it shouldn’t be a problem for you t’wressle two matches in one night, Johnny,” says Wildchild. “Unless, of course, you just don’ have de guts t’fight me when my back isn’ turned!” Cheers pour from the stands once more. Johnny crossly stares at his former friend before nodding his head. “You’re right,” he says. “I can wrestle five matches in one night and win them all. If it’s a beating you want then it’s a beating you’ll get – I accept!” With that the Barracuda quickly swings his fist at Wildchild’s face, but the Bahaman is more than prepared. He knew not to step in the ring against this man and not expect such a cheap attack and quickly ducks out of the way. Johnny pivots on his foot and spins around to face Wildchild only to get peppered in the face with a barrage of fists! BAP! BAP! BAP! BAP! BAP! BAP! BAP! BAP! BAP! With the crowd cheering Wildchild on he backs Johnny into the ropes and then whips him to the opposite end of the ring. Johnny hits the ropes and springs back towards the Bahama Bomber- *KA-RACK!* -and Johnny nails Dominic LeCroix in the face with a Yakuza Kick on the return, flooring the crowd favorite instantly. Boos ring out as the Barracuda smiles devilishly before turning his attention to Melissa. He quickly darts after her but she drops to the mat and slides out of the ring to avoid him. Tearfully, she runs from ringside back up the ramp, knowing there is nothing she can do for her boyfriend except save him the peace of mind in knowing that she is alright. “Well it looks like we have another match signed for the Christmas show,” says Pete. “Wild versus Dangerous will finally go down but if Johnny is able to continue his dominance of Wildchild like he’s been doing the past several weeks then it won’t be much of a match for the Bahama Bomber.” “You can’t say Johnny didn’t warn him though,” adds Pete. “The Barracuda will have to work two matches at the Christmas show so expect him to make quick work of the Wildchild and save his energy for later in the night.” “We shall see when we get there,” says Pete, “but for now it’s time to head to a commercial break. We’ll be right back, folks!” ‘After the Flesh’ is pounding from the speakers much to the dismay of everyone in attendance as the Barracuda stretches his arms out to the booing masses. On the canvas lies Wildchild, yet to move, with a trickle of blood running down his lip… As We: FADE OUT

We come back with the camera shot showing the tuxedo’d figure of the SWF’s veteran ring announcer standing in the middle of the squared circle and holding his microphone in preparation. Having received the signal over his headset Funyon snaps into action and prepares to inform the masses once more… “Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is scheduled for one fall and is a Fatal Fourway match,” he booms. “Only two competitors are allowed in the ring at any time, and they must tag in and out! Introducing first, from Cleveland, Ohio…” The strains of Pink Floyd’s ‘Learning To Fly’ starts up and the fans inside the Toledo Sports Arena begin booing in unison; none of that bothers the man who has just stepped out onto the soundstage though, as Jay Hawke sneers in derision at the crowd’s jeers and starts to make his way down the ramp. “…he is a member of Cucaracha Internacional and weighs in tonight at 215lbs; this is the SWF International Champion, ‘The Dean Of Professional Wrestling’, JAAAAAYYYYYY… HAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWKE!!” “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Hawke pauses on the ramp and turns around to point both thumbs at the back of his robe, where it reads ‘The Dean’ before continuing to the ring where he jogs up the steps to the apron before climbing through the ropes. He then removes his robe and title belt, handing one to the referee and the other to the timekeeper before ascending to the second rope of the turnbuckle and staring out over the crowd. “Like him or loathe him -and I know what I would recommend- you have to appreciate that Jay Hawke is perhaps the best midcard wrestler in the SWF for the last two years,” Longdogger Pete admits. “Where people like Johnny Dangerous, Landon Maddix and Spike Jenkins have had their flirtations with the main event and even the World Title, they’ve all eventually come back down. Meanwhile Jay Hawke has remained absolutely solid in his position, and while other wrestlers may have their off days, everyone knows that you never get an easy match out of him.” “It’s nice that you’re actually making sense for once,” King replies, “but I think you’re selling the man short; what Jay Hawke is demonstrating is a plan of masterful excellence. He will reach the World Title one day Dogger, but it will be when he is ready. He’s not a Landon Maddix who’ll win the title and then lose it again straight away, or even a hotshot like Toxxic who hung around for a while but then got burnt out, took his ball and went home sulking. Jay Hawke won’t make his move until he knows he’s ready.” Regardless of the commentator’s opinions, what Jay Hawke appears to be ready for now is this match; the Dean has dismounted the turnbuckle and is facing the entranceway. And so he is the first person in the arena who sees the Smarktron darken and three letters flash up as the harsh drums and brutal guitars of ‘Teethgrinder’ by Therapy? kick up… T K O “YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Clips of the Tiger Driver, the TORU Hammer, the Shooting Star Press and assorted methods of cheating intersperse between the pulsing letters, and moments later a figure in mirror shades and a flowing vinyl trenchcoat appears. “And from Saitama Prefecture, Japan; he weighs in tonight at 264lbs and is one-half of the SWF Tag Team Champions,” Funyon booms, “this is the ‘Japanese Hammer’, TOOOORR-RRUUUUU… TAKA-HAAAAAAARRRRRRRAAAAAAAAA!!” TORU starts to stride down towards the ring where Jay Hawke awaits but halfway down the ramp he stops and turns around, and just like Hawke did he points at the back of his coat with both thumbs. However, instead of the usual ‘TORU’, the silver script on the back instead spells out ‘JAY HAWKE = MY BITCH’ “YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!” “T!K!O!” “T!K!O!” The fans are happy to see the arrogant Hawke brought down a peg or two and respond enthusiastically. Hawke himself appears to be grinding his teeth as TORU shrugs off his coat and hops up to the ring apron, then takes the top rope in both hands and vaults athletically over before using those same two hands to give Hawke the double bird! “I think TORU might be getting a little big for his boots,” King comments, “I’ve said before that I like the guy, but he needs to start showing Jay Hawke some respect!” “It must be difficult to respect someone you’ve already beaten four times since September,” Pete comments lightly. “Yeah, like you’d know about multiple victories,” King snorts. Hawke and TORU are squaring up to each other in the ring and it is taking all of referee Brian Warner’s efforts to prevent them from starting the match right now. However, he is helped in this endeavour by the distracting sound of Cypress Hill’s ‘How I Could Just Kill A Man’ kicking up, and the- *BOOOM!!* -explosion of blue and white pyro that signals the arrival of the SWF’s one and only active Australian! “YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Stryke bursts through the wall of flame and smoke and jumps up and down a couple of times before jogging quickly down the entrance ramp, slapping hands with a few fans as he goes. “And from Sydney, Australia,” Funyon declares, “weighing in at 230lbs… STRRRRYYYYKE!!” The Sydney Superstar hops up to the apron and takes a moment to stare out at the fans, who rise in response, then steps through the ropes and starts performing some stretches (while keeping a close eye on TORU and Jay Hawke just in case they try something pre-emptive). “For the first time that I can remember, Stryke is a focused individual in the SWF,” Longdogger Pete exclaims as the camera zooms in on Stryke’s face, noting the scar that runs down one side of it. “He’s a veteran of several years, but apart from a US Title reign his time in the SWF hasn’t been that notable-” “-yeah, he kept losing to Spike Jenkins,” King cuts in uncharitably. “-regardless,” Pete continues with a sideways glare at his commentary partner, “Stryke is back with a better attitude, both towards and fans and regarding his in-ring work. I feel confident that top-flight success is only a short time away for him!” Abruptly the arena lights go out, leaving everyone sitting in darkness. A few fans start booing, but the majority of the Ohio audience aren’t that quick on the uptake and are therefore taken by complete surprise… ‘HEY HEY!’ *BOOOM!!* “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Atake FDD’s ‘Tu Final’ explodes over the speakers as a violent burst of red, green and white sparks shoots up from the stage, helping to illuminate the form of the World Heavyweight Champion as he strides through defiantly waving his Mexican flag and picked out by a single spotlight. “And from Mexico City,” Funyon bellows, struggling to be heard over the booing of the crowd, “weighing in tonight at 210lbs, he is the reigning SWF World Heavyweight Champion… EL LUCHADORRRRRRRRRE… MAG-NIFICOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!” “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Magnifico rolls under the bottom rope before standing upright and thrusting his flag up high, reigniting the arena lights… and revealing that he is surrounded on three sides by three SWF superstars who all have designs on the big gold belt that is strapped around his waist! Mags starts in surprise, then draws back the flag to whack Stryke with the pole… but TORU reaches out one massive hand and grabs it, then hauls it out of the outraged Mexican’s grasp! The Japanese Hammer hurls the flag unceremoniously over the top rope, then by unspoken agreement he, Stryke and Jay Hawke all start pounding on the World Champion! *DING-DING-DING!* “YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” “Barbarians! Philistines!” King screams, standing up in his seat. “Show some respect, damn your eyes! That man’s your World Champion!” “Correction,” Longdogger Pete laughs, “that man is rapidly approaching the consistency of meat paste! Sit down King, righteous indignation doesn’t suit you.” Indeed, Magnifico is getting beaten on from all sides and his attempts to cover up and weather the storm aren’t getting anywhere. In desperation the bruised World Champion scrambles for the only opening he can find, which happens to be directly through TORU’s legs! The big man bends down to try and grab his escaping opponent… and ‘accidentally’ catches a right hand to the temple from Jay Hawke as he does so. That of course prompts TORU to straighten up and fire back, and within seconds the Japanese Hammer and the Dean of Professional Wrestling have renewed their boiling rivalry, Magnifico completely forgotten. ELM himself has rolled under the bottom rope and grabbed his flag then started to head for the back, apparently done with wrestling for one evening… but someone else has another idea. “YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The cheers of the fans give Magnifico a moment’s warning before a hand grabs his shoulder and spins him around. Stryke ducks the swing the World Champion takes at him with his flag, then wraps his arm around Magnifico’s neck and applies a sleeperhold as the Mexican’s momentum spins him around! ELM struggles desperately, but just as he drops his flag and reaches up to try and prise Stryke’s arm away the Australian kicks his legs out and takes Magnifico down with a Sleeper Drop on the ramp! “For God’s sake, get some security out here!” King bawls as he sees the World Champion clutching the back of his head while Stryke takes a second to milk the applause. “Magnifico could have a concussion! He certainly shouldn’t be forced to continue!” “Stop whining,” Pete admonishes the Gambling Man, “and concentrate on the ring! Hawke and TORU are the legal men!” Indeed they are, although only by elimination really. As Stryke picks Magnifico up and hauls him back towards the ring (pausing briefly to divest the groggy World Champion of his title belt and hand it to the timekeeper who has rushed around to take it into safe keeping) Hawke and TORU are going at it in the ring. Even as the camera changes to show the in-ring action Hawke reverses an Irish whip attempt and sends TORU into the ropes instead, then catches the Japanese Hammer as he comes back. His tilt-a-whirl backbreaker doesn’t seem to be feasible due to the size difference, but Hawke still manages to scoop the onrushing Japanese Hammer up and drop him across one knee in a serviceable pendulum backbreaker that sends TORU rolling away and clutching at his spine. Jay Hawke isn’t one to pass up a possible advantage and he quickly follows up by straddling the bigger man’s back and applying a Camel Clutch. “That’s excellent strategy from Hawke,” King points out, “keeping the bigger man on the mat, working the back, and not letting him tag anyone else in.” “I agree,” Pete remarks, “it’s just a shame that this tactical genius was kicking the crap out of your beloved World Champion a minute ago, eh?” “…remarks like that are why you’ll never become Commissioner, MacDougal.” However, Hawke isn’t having it all his own way. TORU certainly has no plans on letting his back be bent like an accordion and he fights to muscle upwards, finally managing to unhook one arm from over Hawke’s knee and using it to push. The Dean of Professional Wrestling tries to wrench back harder on his opponent’s neck to cut him off but TORU has his legs under him now, and with one final heave the Japanese Hammer surges upright with Hawke still clinging to him in a piggyback position. Before Jay can react TORU simply charges straight backwards into a neutral corner, sandwiching his opponent between the buckles and 260lbs of Tag Champion! *WHAM!* Hawke releases his grip and staggers out of the corner, coughing as the air is blasted from his lungs. TORU turns around and scoops the International Champion up across his chest, then suddenly performs a backflip and crushes Hawke down against the canvas with a Blockbuster Slam! However, instead of going for a pin TORU steps through the ropes and begins to ascend to the top buckle… “TORU Takahara is about to go airborne!” Pete exclaims. The Japanese Hammer reaches the top rope, slaps his right knee and jumps off… …Jay Hawke rolls aside… …and TORU lands lightly on his feet at the base of the corner post, having simply dropped to the mat again. Hawke rolls up to his feet, clearly wondering why there isn’t a large Japanese man rolling around clutching his knee after a failed TORU Hammer… *CRACK!* …and he keeps wondering that right up until he turns around to find TORU sprinting towards him, and the big man nails him with a Shining Enzuigiri! “YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” ONE! TWO!! …but Hawke kicks out right after two, before either Stryke or Magnifico can step through the ropes to try and break the pin up. “That’s called adaptation,” Pete claims, “TORU remembered that Hawke has avoided the TORU Hammer before and faked his opponent out!” “Did it get the win?” King says in response, “no, it didn’t. You won’t find Hawke doing that sort of unnecessary showboating.” You won’t find Jay Hawke doing much showboating of any kind as it happens, because right now he’s being scooped up by TORU and then slammed back down to the mat. The big man then drops a knee into his opponent’s forehead before heading over to the corner where Magnifico is standing and reaching out one hand. The World Champion glowers at TORU but extends his own hand to tag… and TORU pulls his hand away, giving ELM the bird instead! “T!K!O!” “T!K!O!” Magnifico is pissed at the show of such blatant disrespect and takes a swing at TORU but the Japanese Hammer has turned away and is already out of reach of the World Champion, instead walking back to Jay Hawke and picking the Dean of Professional Wrestling up (by his hair, a fact that doesn’t go unnoticed by Brian Warner) and hauling him over to Stryke’s corner. This time TORU does make the tag before grabbing Hawke more firmly and elevating the International Champion, then dropping him ribs-first over one knee with a gutbuster. Then: ‘BAD BOY!’ *SMACK!* “Er… did we just see one-half of the Tag Champions spank our International Champion?” Pete asks in disbelief. Meanwhile Stryke has climbed to the top rope, and as TORU plays to the fans Stryke jumps off the top to land a double stomp square in the Ohio native’s back, further driving his ribs into TORU’s massive knee! “YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Stryke performs an Olympic-perfect dismount as he bounces off Hawke’s back, and TORU lets the International Champion slide to the floor before exiting through the ropes. However, as the Japanese Hammer’s back is turned Stryke swoops on the winded Hawke and twists his arm before taking the American over with a La Magistral! ONE! TWO!! …Hawke kicks out, much to the disappointment of the crowd who were clearly hoping that the Sydney Superstar would steal a quick one. Stryke is still first off the mark though as he grabs a headlock on Hawke to prevent the Dean of Professional Wrestling from getting to his feet; at least, that’s the theory, but Hawke seems reluctant to co-operate and with only a minimum of effort he manages to transition the headlock into a hammerlock applied to Stryke and forces the Australian down onto his face. From there Hawke turns it into first one, then two chickenwings on his unfortunate opponent, before hooking his hands together and rolling to one side and bridging as he does so. Struggle as he might, Stryke suddenly finds himself being rolled onto his shoulders in a position similar to the final stage of a Tiger Suplex, with both shoulders in contact with the mat! ONE! TWO!! …luckily for Stryke he’s able to kick his legs and overbalance himself, falling to one side and escaping the pin (although wrenching one arm nastily in the process). Hawke keeps the chickenwing applied on that arm and, with his opponent back on his front, attempts to reach around in order to secure the crossface part of the Wing Span; Stryke isn’t too happy about this though and begins firing back elbows with his free arm. He can’t get much power behind them, but even relatively weak elbows to the cheekbone are enough to convince most people to wait for a bit before trying that again, and Hawke is no exception. The International Champion grabs the back of Stryke’s head and rams it into the mat, then releases his chickenwing and heads over to Magnifico’s corner to tag the World Champion in. “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” “I despair of these fans sometimes,” King remarks, “not only do they not appreciate the wrestling brain of Jay Hawke in tagging out after he’s taken some punishment, but they also show no respect for the imminent arrival of our World Champion.” Indeed they don’t, and Magnifico doesn’t show much pleasure as a result. The Mexican heads straight over to Stryke and grabs him by the hair to pull him upright (earning a warning from Brian Warner, which he completely ignores) before taking his opponent’s left arm, the one weakened in the escape from the double chickenwing pin, and wrapping both of his arms around it before dropping backwards with a single-arm DDT. *BANG!* Stryke yells out in pain and clutches at his shoulder but Magnifico is unrepentant, transitioning into a Fujiwara armbar that he cranks back on with all his strength. The Sydney Superstar fixes his eyes on the ropes and start to try and crawl there using his legs and his free arm, but Magnifico doesn’t like that plan and releases his grip with one arm in order to reach forward with that hand and dig it into Stryke’s eyes! “YEEEAARRRGGGHHH!” ‘ONE!’ ‘TWO!’ ‘THREE!’ ‘FOUR!’ ‘FI-’ Magnifico breaks just before Warner would be forced to disqualify him and reapplies his full strength to Stryke’s arm, but his plan has worked at least temporarily as the Australian is more concerned with wiping at his eyes with his free hand rather than trying to reach the ropes. “El Luchadore Magnifico is one of the most talented athletes this bid’ness has ever seen,” Pete says with regret, “but he still insists on treating the rulebook as his own personal plaything. Why can’t he face his opponents fairly?” “I don’t know if you’ve noticed Dogger, but he has three opponents here tonight,” King retorts, “it’s three-on-one, and Stryke is loving his unfair advantage!” “Nonsense!” Pete fires back, “it’s every man for himself!” “Oh yeah? I didn’t see a three-man beatdown on Stryke at the beginning of this match!” Stryke has recovered from ELM’s dastardly attack and has started to crawl towards the ropes again. Brian Warner is getting in Magnifico’s face and informing him in no uncertain terms what the consequences will be if he dares to go for the eyes again, so the World Champion grits his teeth and simply tries to hyperextend his opponent’s elbow before Stryke reaches safety. Unfortunately for him Magnifico simply doesn’t have enough time and the Aussie’s other hand manages to clasp the bottom rope. Warner starts counting immediately and Magnifico gives the referee a disgusted look as he releases the armbar and rolls away. Stryke cradles his injured left arm to his side and starts to get to his feet, using his other hand to pull himself up on the ropes, but Magnifico hits a dropkick to the back of the head and sends his opponent sprawling chest-first over them, then climbs on Stryke’s back and pull on the top rope to try and choke the life from the Sydney Superstar! ‘ONE!’ ‘TWO!’ ‘THREE!’ ‘FOUR!’ ‘FI-’ Once more, Magnifico releases just before the disqualification point. Warner starts shouting at him, but the World Champion’s response is simply to roll under the ropes to the outside and retrieve his Mexican flag from the floor of the arena, then set it up in his corner! “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” With the pride of his country now displayed, Magnifico grabs the wheezing Stryke and hauls him towards that same corner, then grabs the back of his head and forces the Australian to look at the Mexican flag. The next second he rams Stryke’s head into the top buckle- *WHAM!* -and then does the whole thing again! *WHAM!* And again! “Fantastic,” King laughs as Magnifico bawls at Stryke in Spanish, pointing at the flag before bouncing the Sydney Superstar’s head off the pad one more time, “our World Champion is educating the Antipodean in the superiority of Latin America!” “You think Latin America is superior?” Pete asks in surprise. King just heaves a dreamy sigh. “Ah MacDougal, you just can’t beat a senorita.” “Not unless you pay extra, eh King?” “I- what? No, that’s not-” “YEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The crowd cut the commentators off in mid-bicker as Stryke suddenly plants his foot on the middle buckle, preventing Magnifico from continuing in his lesson on cranial percussion! Try as he might the World Champion can’t prevail, and Stryke capitalises by lashing out with his right elbow and catching Magnifico in the face. The Mexican turns away holding his head and Stryke whirls round after him, latching one arm around Magnifico’s head from behind before kicking his feet out and dropping with an inverted DDT! “LET’S GO STRYKE!” “LET’S GO STRYKE!” Stryke instinctively used his left arm to break his own fall and winces in pain as the shock of his landing jars up the hurt arm; regardless, the Sydney Superstar rolls away from his opponent and starts to struggle up to his feet, apparently heading for the corner where TORU Takahara is reaching out a hand. Magnifico sits up holding his head and takes in the situation, then reacts instantaneously. By spitting at Jay Hawke. “Huh?” Pete says as the Dean of Professional Wrestling takes a loogie hit high on one cheek, “what the hell was that for?” “Watch and learn, MacDougal!” King laughs, and sure enough the World Champion’s plan springs into action as the angry Hawke steps through the ropes, intent on getting some payback. Brian Warner dashes to cut him off… *CHING!* “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” …and Magnifico lunges after Stryke, slamming a forearm up between his legs from behind and halting his efforts to tag TORU in with a lowblow! “Goddammit!” Pete half shouts in frustration as Stryke collapses to his knees in a private world of agony, “would it kill you to play by the rules for once, Mags?” Apparently so, as Magnifico grins sadistically in response to the chorus of jeers that are flooding in from all sides. The World Champion grabs Stryke by his hair and hauls him up, then hooks the Australian into a front facelock before capturing one leg and hoisting him into the air, finally dropping backwards to spike him onto his skull with the Barrio Buster! *BANG!* Magnifico lazily rolls on top of his opponent, sprawling one arm across Stryke’s chest as he raises the other into the air to count along with Brian Warner… ONE! TWO!! …but Stryke kicks out even before TORU and Hawke can get there to break the pin up! TORU doesn’t let that stop him and the big man drives his foot into Magnifico’s jaw anyway, prompting a cheer from the TKO Section at ringside as Magnifico rolls away cursing in Spanish. However, this brief respite doesn’t seem to do much for Stryke as he is unable to do much more than sit up holding his head. A few seconds later Magnifico is back in the game, and with a venomous glare at TORU the World Champion grabs Stryke by the head and brings him up to a standing position. This time ELM forces the Syndey Superstar’s left arm up behind his back in a chickenwing before resting Stryke’s chin on his shoulder… “Don’t drink the water,” King comments lazily. *CRUNCH!* “Montezuma’s Revenge!” Pete calls in dismay as Stryke has his neck snapped back and his arm jarred by the chickenwing jawbreaker. Magnfico gets back to his feet and nods in satisfaction… then wheels around and darts for the corner where TORU is standing, pasting the big man in the face with a forearm smash before the Japanese Hammer realises what’s happening! Takahara falls off the apron and Magnifico dusts his hands off ostentatiously before heading back to the Stryke. The World Champion brings his Australian opponent up one more time before drawing one thumb across his throat to call for the end! The Mexican superstar hoists Stryke up with a scoop slam in preparation for Dia de los Muertos… but Stryke slips out the back and shoves Magnifico away with his one good arm! Magnifico whirls around, but Stryke leaps into the air and delivers a stunning enzuigiri! *CRACK!* “YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” With the World Champion down, Stryke has two choices; go for the pin, or take a breather. The old Stryke might have gone for glory, but he’s a wiser animal now and instead looks around for options. TORU is still rubbing his jaw on the outside, so the Sydney Superstar heads instead for Jay Hawke. For his part, Hawke is paying no attention to the man whom he was wrestling only a few minutes ago and instead is fully focussed on the one who spat in his face; he holds out his hand and takes the tag from Stryke, then steps through the ropes with an expression that suggests he means business! “FUCK HIM UP JAY HAWKE, FUCK HIM UP!” “FUCK HIM UP JAY HAWKE, FUCK HIM UP!” Despite their hatred of the man (damn those Clevelanders), the Toledo crowd are quite ready to cheer him on against the asshole of the World Champion they’ve had to endure since Genesis. Magnifico gets back to his feet holding his head… and immediately goes straight back down again as Hawke delivers a running leg lariat! Hawke doesn’t wait for Magnifico to rise again under his own steam, instead straddling the Mexican cruiserweight’s chest and bitch-slapping him until Brian Warner pulls him off! “FUCK HIM UP JAY HAWKE, FUCK HIM UP!” For once it looks like Hawke intends to do a bit of crowd pleasing, as he grabs Magnifico and hauls him up by his long black hair, then transitions into a reverse facelock before dropping the World Champion with an inverted DDT onto the knee. Hawke then makes the cover… ONE! TWO!! …but TORU is in to break it up with a boot to the back of the head! Now it’s Hawke’s turn to glare at the big man of TKO, but he knows better than to stop concentrating on an athlete with Magnifico’s abilities and instead gets back to his feet before dropping a leg across the World Champion’s throat. As Magnifico spasms on the mat Hawke gets back to his feet and heads for one of the neutral corners, stepping through the ropes before climbing to the top buckle. From there the Dean of Professional Wrestling taps his head a couple of times and leaps off, seeking to bury that same skull into El Luchadore Magnifico… but the World Champion rolls aside! *BANG!* Hawke grabs his head and instinctively scrambles away from the site of his crash landing, trying to distance himself from his opponent before Magnifico can capitalise. The International Champion ends up in a seated position at the base of the corner post where Stryke is standing, and sensing that Magnfico is still hurt the Australian leans down to tag himself in, then starts climbing to the top rope himself! “That’s right, let Hawke do your dirty work!” King spits. “Goddamn convicts, you all make me sick!” ELM has got up to his feet and is looking around wondering where Hawke went. He catches sight of the Dean sitting in the corner and his face brightens… but then he notices that the ringpost seems rather taller than usual, and a moment later Stryke leaps off to plant both feet into the World Champion’s chest with a missile dropkick! “YEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” “You won’t see a better one of those in the SWF!” LDP bellows as the Australian practically bounces back to his feet. “Just imagine what it could do for Stryke’s career if he pins El Luchadore Magnifico, the World Champion, here tonight in Toledo!” “In that unlikely event, it’ll put a completely unrealistic weight of expectation on his shoulders which will never be realised in actual results until everyone accepts that it was a fluke occurrence with no bearing on reality,” Suicide King responds promptly. “King? Shut up.” Stryke is getting ready, stalking ELM as the World Champion starts to struggle back to his feet. Once Magnifico is upright the Australian darts in, shoves his head under the Mexican’s right arm and wraps his arms around his opponent’s waist… “Backdrop Driver!” Pete yells. …but as Stryke bridges backwards Magnifico boosts himself off the ground and flips completely backwards, landing on his feet while Stryke tries to kill his momentum and instead merely lands on his ass! The World Champion immediately digs the heel of his boot into the grounded Australian’s face and rakes his eyes, then turns and lunges for TORU Takahara! *smak!* TORU looks surprised at the tag but shrugs and steps through the ropes, then as Stryke gets back up to his feet he charges, arm outstretched for a lariat! Stryke sees him coming in plenty of time and ducks, but TORU simply continues on to land the blow on Jay Hawke -now on the apron- and sending the Dean crashing to the arena floor before giving the International Champion a middle-finger salute! “YEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” “Cheap shot,” King and Pete call at the same time, then glare at each other. TORU turns around and finds Stryke facing him; this time the Japanese Hammer doesn’t charge blindly and instead the two men start circling. However, once they’ve completed a half-circle TORU abruptly turns away and lunges for Magnifico as the World Champion recuperates on the apron, pasting him with a backhanded slap to the face! *SMACK!* Brian Warner signals that a tag has been made -albeit an aggressive one- and TORU grabs the dazed Mexican and throws him back into the ring by his head, then points at Stryke and steps through the ropes to the apron again! Magnifico sees Stryke bearing down on him and tries begging off, but the Australian hauls him to his feet before peppering him with rights, then switching to European Uppercuts that have the World Champion staggering back against the ropes before rebounding into the next one! “It’s payback time, and Magnifico is getting cut down to size here!” Pete hollers. “Stryke is- what the hell!?” Jay Hawke has crawled right under the ring and emerged beneath TORU before reaching up to grab his ankles and tugging the big man’s legs out from under him to send him smashing headfirst into the apron! TORU staggers backwards clutching his face and Hawke gets to his feet before unleashing a knife-edge chop into his enemy’s chest! TORU staggers again, but retaliates with a knee to the gut that doubles Hawke over before simply ramming the Dean headfirst into the announce desk! *CRASH!*[/b][/b] Meanwhile in the ring Magnifico is looking distinctly punch-drunk and he lets fly with a wild right hand that Stryke easily ducks… before wrapping both arms around the World Champion’s waist and bridging backwards! *WHAM!!* “BACKDROP DRIVAAAAHHHH!!” Pete roars above the crowd, “he got him! Stryke’s got him!” The weary Australian hooks the leg with his good arm and waits for Warner to make the count… ONE! TWO!! THHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Broken up by TORU with a knee to the head! “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” The Japanese Hammer doesn’t give Stryke a moment to recover; instead he drags the Sydney Superstar towards the corner of the ring by his hair, then steps through the ropes and tags himself in off the Australian’s back, before re-entering the ring and pressing Stryke over the top rope onto the still-dazed Jay Hawke outside! “TORU SUCKS!” “TORU SUCKS!” The fans aren’t happy about seeing their favourite robbed of his victory, but TORU hasn’t finished yet; the Japanese Hammer ascends to the top buckle of his corner, then turns towards Magnifico’s Mexican flag in the adjoining corner… and salutes! “Oh no,” King says in mounting horror, “not this!” TORU leaps off the top buckle, flipping through the air and slamming down onto the semi-conscious World Champion with a SHOOTING STAR PRESS! *WHAM!* ONE! TWO!! THHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! *DING-DING-DING!* “Ladies and gentlemen, here is your winner,” Funyon booms, “TOOORRR-RRRRRUUUU… TAKA-HAAAAAAAARRRRRRRAAAAAAAAA!” “I don’t believe it,” Pete exclaims, “not only did TORU steal Stryke’s victory, he used Magnifico’s Mexican Pride Press to do it!” “It’s an outrage! It’s a travesty!” King bawls. “I don’t care if he uses the move anyway, I want him suspended! No, I want him FIRED!” Neither of those things seem to be forthcoming however; Stryke claws his way back up to ring level to see TORU departing up the ramp, having snatched another big victory from him as we FADE OUT

When we return from a commercial break we see that Ben Hardy finally managed to get into the ring instead of being stuck running around after wrestlers backstage all night. “Wednesday night Akira Kabi… Kaba… The Divine Wind threw the gauntlet down and challenged Bruce Blank for his Ultraviolent title” Ben Hardy says, embarrassed that he couldn’t pronounce Kaibatsu correctly. “Bruce has yet to respond to the challenge but has asked for this time to address the Divine Wind and the challenge and many other subjects I’m sure. So please welcome Bruce Blank to the ring” Hardy says in a very “non-welcoming” tone. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! As soon as Bruce walks out the fans turn hostile and boo one of the most hated men in the SWF. After stopping for a moment to steal a cup of beer from a fan at ringside Bruce makes it down to the ring and enters as the hostile reaction dies down. “Bruce, how do you respond to the challenge” Ben says, displaying his hard hitting, no-nonsense journalistic skills that’s landed him a job with the SWF. “Akira, you wanted my attention? Well you got it scooter!!” Bruce starts off “Just be careful what you wish for. I’m ain’t a man that has the time or the patients for fools and you are a fool Akira!! You want to step into the right with the man that PERSONIFIES Ultraviolent wrestling?” Bruce pauses as he stifles a laugh. “Be careful what you wish for! Let it not be said that I back down from a challenge so guess what? You’re in more trouble than an epileptic with a cup of acid in his hand cause I’ll take ya dang challenge!!” Bruce says and the crowd likes the sounds of Bruce Vs Akira for the upcoming PPV. “And the stipulation Bruce? He said you could pick the stipulations for the match” Ben asks Bruce doesn’t say anything at first he just grins a sadistic, evil grin as he taps the Ultraviolent title around his waist. “Akira I hate to interrupt your little Oprah moment with your long lost boyhood pal or whomever that fellar is but I think you should hear it in person, I want to see the look on your face when I tell you just which circle of hell I’ll drag you through!” After a couple of moments Akira appears from backstage, followed by Mr. Kobe who’s pushing Toshiaki Taue’s wheelchair towards the ring. Once they’re at ringside Akira approaches the ring but stays on the floor as Bruce just waits and watches. “Do I have your attention now? Then I suggest you get Mr. Myagi here to translate every single da-gum word for you – I don’t want you to miss a thing and claim ignorance because of the language barrier ya hear?” Mr. Kobe joins Akira and starts to translate what Bruce is saying in a low whisper to his charge. “Alright then, I’ve decided that… the stipulation for the Ultraviolent title match will be… “ Bruce slowly says, stalling for some reason. Then suddenly Toshiaki Taue leaps out of his wheelchair, runs at Akira from behind and then nails him square in the back of the head with a stiff running Yakuza kick that draws a shocked reaction from the crowd. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Bruce just laughs as Toshiaki Taue grabs Akira by the mask and the back of the tights and throws him head and shoulder first into the guardrails with a loud crash. Taue quickly reaches in under the apron of the ring and pulls out a long heavy chain as Bruce leaves the ring to join in on the attack “This is ridiculous!! Bruce set this whole thing up” Pete says as they have a first row seat to Bruce and Taue’s assault on the Divine Wind. Bruce holds the dazed Akira up by the arms as Toshiaki Taue straps a dog collar around Akira’s throat and then nails him across the face with the attached chain. “Hey Akira injured Taue quite badly!! He’s just getting even WRESTLING STYLE!!” King says, obviously enjoying the assault. Bruce throws Akira back first into the guard rail and then they both tie the Divine Wind’s arms to the rail with the chain. Taue grabs Mr. Kobe by the shirt and drags the scared man over to where Bruce is towering over the unconscious Akira. “Pay some damn attention!! I want you to give Akira this message when he comes to: Be careful what you wish for! Next time we step into the ring it’ll be a DOG COLLAR CHAIN MATCH!!” Bruce says as he slaps Akira’s unconscious face. Toshiaki Taue pushes Mr. Kobe out of the way before leaving side by side with Bruce Blank, high fiving each other to celebrate just how well their plan worked. “A dog collar chain match King??” Pete blurts out. “I’d pay to see that! Of course I don’t have to, I’ll have the best seat in the house” King replies while winking to the camera. Fade out.