King Cucaracha

Already WAY ahead of ya.

It's a cold winter night in Minneapolis, Minnesota...and also, a very windy night judging from the continuous swooshing noise that can be heard in the background. Somewhere in what seems to be some sort of park, the SWF Intercontinental Television Champion Landon Maddix is stood in the warmest warm-up gear he could presumably find. Steam comes from his breath as he begins to rub his hands in a futile attempt to stay warm, noticeably shivering. "And so, the day is almost here. December 19th, Sla..." "Uhm...it's December 21st actually." mumbles a voice from behind the camera, presumably from the cameraman himself. "Yeah, right. December 21st, Slay Ride. The single biggest night of my career to date, without question. It's bigger than the Two Out Of Three Falls Match with Alan Clark, the last ever SJL match, when I won the SJL World Heavyweight Title. It's bigger than my SWF debut against Sacred. Bigger than even my first SWF World Title shot against Charlie Matthews. Because this time, people actually think I have a chance of winning. It's the biggest night of my career, biggest night...of my life. One night, one match, one chance to become the number one man in this company. But, of course, you know that." Landon turns his head to the side, spitting to the side, presumably risking catching a hefty cold by being out in a park in the early hours of a December morning. "We all know how important this match is. It's for the SWF World Heavyweight Championship, main event of a live Pay Per View...of COURSE it's important. I know I'm looking forward to this match. You Toxxic, you know what this is like. You know what it's like to walk out in the main event spot of a Pay Per View event, with all the pressure of defending the World Heavyweight Championship. And evidentally, you know how to win. I know you're confident Toxxic. Heck, you know you're confident. You'e Toxxic. Two-time World Heavyweight Champion. One half of the Tag Team Champions. Former two-time ICTV Champion. Of course you're confident. However, and here's comes another clichéd 'life lesson...as much as you know, you don't know. 'As much as you know, you'll never know it all'. And if there's one thing you don't know... ...it's me." Now a smile adorns Maddix's face as he adjusts the ICTV Championship belt that sits on his shoulder, as it ALWAYS does...not something you'd expect to see someone carrying in a park. Unless of course, that person was Landon Maddix. "You see Toxxic, the thing about you and me is that our careers haven't yet crossed paths for any lengthy amount of time until now. Should you have debuted a few months earlier, you'd have ended up in the SJL where no doubt you'd have been chasing after MY World Title. An odd parallel, huh? After that, we never seemed to cross paths in the SWF. While I was chasing titles, you were busy establishing yourself...and somewhere along the way, you passed me on the way towards the top, while I was being held up with Chris Card and all that crap. We met once, granted. One tag team match which lo-and-behold, myself and Tom Flesher won. But besides that, we never had the reason to face each other. As time went on and you went through the top half of the roster, I was beginning to build up another ICTV Title reign, which began the talk of Toxxic versus Maddix. The two youngsters. The two men who'd benefitted most from the 'new generation'. You could even say, the two leaders of the 'new generation'. The more the talk intensified, it seems the more we were held apart. For that special occassion. And what mor..." Suddenly, Maddix is cut off from his lengthy talk by the sound of panting approaching ever closer to him, until he finally has to stop. The panting isn't coming from a dog though. Though it does sound similar. No, it's the panting of the SWF Women's Champion Megan Skye, breathing heavily as she jogs over to Maddix and stops by his side, crouched over in exhaustion. "Ah, Megan...uhm...fancy seeing you here!" "Ve..very funny...Landon. I thought..this was supposed..to be a..joint training session." "Well, it is. But I'm the number one contender now Megs, which means I have to give these guys a promo or two before Slay Ride. You know, to increase the buyrate." "Increase your payrate you mean." Megan snaps, getting her breath back. "Can I..sit down now?" "You know, these pole type of matches...there's a lot of climbing involved. And there'll be a lot of need for some cardio vascular back-up if you're having to go from one side of the ring and back repeatedly, as well as wrestling a match. Better...better give it one more lap." Megan glares at Maddix as she realises he's serious, before taking a deep breath and jogging off again. Shaking off the interruption, Maddix smiles as he turns back to the camera. "Women. Sheesh! Anyway, as I was saying...what more special of occassions could there be than Christmas? And what better present to the fans could there be to SWF fans than giving them, finally, Toxxic versus Landon Maddix one on one?" "Well, I guess if Eji..." "It was a rhetorical question dummy." Maddix grunts to the cameraman under his breath. "Anyway, Toxxic, you don't know me, because you've never been in the ring with me, save for a few short exchanges in that tag match months ago. That could have all changed on Lockdown. It was your chance to get a pre-Slay Ride assessment of my style, my speed, my strength. Hell, it would been to your benefit Toxxic. You wasted it though, didn't you? When it came down to you and me, you baulked at the thought of giving away any Toxxic 'secrets', so you sent in your cronies to try and give you a bit of protection. Once again, Toxxic and Revolution Zero use their numbers advantage to get what they want, right?" Maddix chuckles under his breath. Holding up five fingers on his left hand, Maddix smiles as he holds up just two on the right...pausing for a moment, before holding up the other three. "Wrong!" Down goes one finger on the right. "Oh yes, Spike did a number on Kaine...real bad. But with him out of the way..." Down goes a left finger, presumably representing Spike Jenkins. And as the smile on his face grows, one by one Maddix drops down the rest of his left fingers until all that remain are the four on his right hand. "It suddenly...fell...apart. You thought you had it all figured out again, didn't you Toxxic. Wait until it came down to you and me. The very moment that I'd been waiting for. You waited until you and me got into the ring, until we locked eyes...the moment that I could smell the chance of kicking your ass. And then, in come the cronies. I suppose you thought that you'd just be able to walk off while I was stuck against Sacred and Davis and then, I'd be so determined to get to you at Slay Ride that I'd possibly end up losing my cool, losing my focus and maybe even getting myself DQed. A very nice plan. And that's coming from someone who knows quite a bit about plans. But, it didn't work. You didn't reckon on Ghost and Cortez did you." Clenching up his other fist, Maddix looks off into the distance for a moment, while the cameraman is forced to wipe some of the steam off of the camera lens. "You see, that's your problem Toxxic. You're caught up in this whole 'ruler' persona...and you see everyone as mere pawns in 'your' world now. Trouble is, that makes you think you can treat these pawns however you like. But you can't. Us 'pawns' have had enough of Revolution Zero and we're not gonna stand for your games anymore. With me, heading the resistance. All I need...is your World Heavyweight Championship belt." Slowly, Maddix removes the ICTV Championship from his shoulder, cupping it in his hands with a wistful gaze as he looks into the main gold plate. "Your plan backfired. Mine? At Slay Ride, my plan isn't going to backfire. We've gone through all the ins and outs, all the what-ifs and all of the possible things that could go wrong. Not gonna happen. See Toxxic, I know you don't know me. So, let me fill you in on something. I ALWAYS have a plan..." Maddix's smile grows another few inches, as he puts the ICTV Championship back over his shoulder. "And believe me, THIS one...is a doozy! See you Tuesday night Toxx." Looking set to revel in his apparent happiness, Maddix is cut off in mid-chuckle as Megan comes panting back over, even more exhausted than the last time. She doesn't seem too happy with all the laps she's having to do at 2 o'clock in the morning. I wonder why. "That's..four laps. Now...ar..are you gonna..do some work now?" With a wry smile, Maddix looks at his watch. "Maybe later. I fancy a latté." Pulling off her gloves, Megan hurls them at Maddix before storming off screen as the ICTV Champ shrugs his shoulders. "...something I said?"

He was, but now, is not. He must have used some form of Amok Time to get back in.

Just for the record, any of the Rev-0 guys, or the guys feuding with them...you might want to check out the main event if you haven't already, as pretty much everyone's involved somehow.

Watch Survivor Series 2001, at the end where they show the two locker rooms. The Alliance had much the stronger roster in name and talent. Trouble was, nearly everyone was at the same sort of level in The Alliance. The WWF was mostly made up of the TOP guys (minus 2 and maybe RVD) and the lower level guys like Crash and Funaki. It was all down to booking.

Prefer to be given only finish and call everything else in the ring ? Lay the entire match out beforehand ? Somewhere in the middle, leaning towards the first. I have an abysmal memory so I'm not sure I could lay an entire match out and remember enough of it so as not to turn it into some sort of abomination. The finish, key idea of the match and maybe a couple of important spots, but little more. Like to have your promo's scripted ? Or just be given a couple of bullet points, and wing the rest ? Bullets. Again though, to a point. I wouldn't script a promo so to speak, but I'd run through it in my head beforehand to try and avoid rambling. Blade often ? Only on occasion ? Would you rather never blade at all ? Very rarely. What style would you like to wrestle ? Why would you prefer to employ that particular style over others ? I guess the 'European' style as a base...submission wrestling. Build up some sort of submission hold as real deadly and then focus on building a moveset around that. Oh, and Strong Style striking would be a must too. I'm not going to be flip-flopping about the ring, so having a good array of strikes would be the next best way of getting crowd reactions. Of course, that'd probably mean facing other Strong Stylers and getting destroyed, but whatever. So, I guess something kinda like Joe. Only...I'd be much more comedical in character. Refuse to take certain moves ? Only take them when working with certain wrestlers ? Naturally, I wouldn't take anything that'd kill me. Are there any match types you'd like to wrestle in a lot ? Some match types you'd rather never have to work in ? Multi-man matches as you've got more scope, with more wrestlers and styles to go up against at one time. Tag matches counting as multi-man, that'd be the preferred route, for the same reasons as Rudo. Never work in...deathmatches. Not a fan. Certainly not stupid enough to go near them. What style of normal match would you like to do the most ? Would you prefer to sell or to dominate ? Would you like to do long matches ? Prefer to sell, certainly. Length of match wouldn't really matter to me all that much, depending on the match, as I'd have Strong Style (shorter matches) and Submission (longer matches) styles. Would you like to have a manager or valet to work spots with, or would you rather just do it all yourself ? I'd prefer a manager and at the risk of sounding corny, a female valet would be great. And not just for the 'it looks good to have a chick next to you' reasons...with a female manager you can go any number of ways in terms of character. Are there some types of angles that you would refuse to do ? Some types of angles that you'd love to do ? I wouldn't do anything I found 'wrong' or that I thought was ridiculous. I'd be more than willing to play the fool and make myself look an idiot, but if the angle was unrealistic to the point of being just plain stupid, I wouldn't do it. With the female valet, there of COURSE has to be a romance angle, followed up by the female turning on me so I could go from comedy to serious should I want to. What promotion would you like to work for the most ? What promotion would you hate to work for ? Start out in the FWA, obviously. IWA:MS would be the preferred place to work. There seems to be the 'little bit of everything' there, rather than one particular style. Plus, it's obvious that you can have fun there while wrestling very talented workers. I'd certainly be cautious about working for the WWE and I'm not sure if I'd work for CZW either. Dunno why. Any wrestlers today that you'd like to work against ? Any you would avoid working against at all costs ? That wouldn't really bother me much. Part of the challenge would be to adapt to any wrestler and any style. As for not working with, anybody that hates me basically. Oh, and New Jack. He be trippin'. What wrestlers from the past would you like to work against ? What wrestlers from the past would you not want to work against ? Obviously, guys like Dynamite and Bret. Tully and Arn would be fun opponents. Hogan just for the fact you're facing Hogan. Again, pretty much anyone. Not working with...definately Warrior. I value my safety.

Yeah, but if you combine the time it takes to scroll past the folder ever time you visit the board, add that up...and over the course of a year, that's got to be at least a minute.

Remember Bradshaw's customised Hardcore Title? Now that was ugly.

*Looks at all the times I wrote December 19th on Lockdown* *Looks stupid* And pole matches are good.

Thanks guys. Some quick counter-comments. Near but not into. It is that area of positioning though. Well, Landon did land safely, hence me using it. I always read/see that spot as an attempt to throw someone into the corner or maybe crotch them on the top, but I've never really thought it through. Musta wrote that a little awkwardly. Maddix doesn't flip back over. The move is actually AJ Styles's suplex into neckbreaker, so the flip over is Sacred's doing...and then Maddix elbows out of it once he's on his feet. Unless you're talking about another spot I've forgotten. What can I say, I'm a HBK mark. I probably undersold the MFA looking back, yeah. True. I was trying to mix it up slightly I think, as trio moves nearly always go to two. The thing with the LON is that I'm trying to make it a real 'out of nowhere' move. If Maddix had gone for the LON before the backbreaker, then you'd half expect Sacred to half expect another attempt. Which isn't good for Maddix as he doesn't have the strength to apply the hold on a struggling opponent. Yeah, that was the lift rather than the back-drop I think. See above. Yes, that was supposed to be more 'Sacred wouldn't have tapped so quickly' rather than wouldn't have tapped at all. Having Riley say it probably clouded that point slightly. I can't remember seeing the Upright Figure Four actually being used so that was a little sketchy for me to right. To be fair, that actually was my plan and then for Maddix to try again and finally escape. But by then, Muzz wasn't showing and I was running out of time so...you know. See above to an extent, although I really do need to work a lot more on selling. Trouble is, the times that selling really came back into my mind was when Sacred was on the defensive, which contributes to that. Welcome to my JL career. Yep. Well, thanks for taking the time to read it anyway, really. You too Toxx. Hopefully I can use this somehow.

Man. Foley should have stuck solely with ROH. At least what he was doing there was good for the industry. Instead we get the cheap pop, some political crap with Hassan, a fight with Flair, no doubt a match with Flair somewhere down the road...none of which will do anyone any good in the long-run. All for another book?

Tom Flesher- Putting me over since September 19th. Well, technically since April. Pure awesome. Here's hoping for some more of these. Especially ones where I get put over.

Unfortunately, it seems death is the easy option for the courts. I agree with Kahran on the situation. It should really be used in situatons where it's neccessetated...where there's no chance of rehabilitation and no way he can go near other humans without being a danger. Surely there's some way criminals of this nature can be put into slave labour, where it does someone good...rather than digging holes or breaking up rocks...that'd be more suited for him. In the 'rotting away slowly' type mould.

OK. Dace if you're reading, or anyone else for that matter. Hell, from a purely storyline driven stand-point, Muzz and Toxxic. Could I possibly get some feedback on the 2/3 Falls Match. Specifically the first two falls, as the third was insanely rushed. It's pretty important to know what to adjust ahead of Slay Ride and...to be honest, we could do with some more comments. Hell, Grand Slam said we need more comments. So do it for him.

It's as bad here in England too, so it's not just a U.S thing...the whole world's becoming fearful of not being politically correct. And of course, despite the fact that the majority of people think the ideas are stupid, the minority win out. Because the minority can get supported by lawyers should they get a little tetchy. AoO- If I had a pound for every time someone said 'Happy Holidays' while doing Christmas shopping, I'd be...well, moderately wealthy.

SOMEBODY MENTIONED ME! I must be getting old. And I agree with all the constructive criticism because it seems the only time people comment in droves anymore is when Rando wins a match. And that's NEVER a cue for positivity. A lot of the time, I tend to wish I'd joined this place a year earlier which is quite a rough thing to say I guess. Besides that, I'd probably have been in the JL until it went under anyway. Not that that's a bad thing. Spike. Anyway...so long Slammer.

Uhm, just for the record, I was being tongue in cheek. Reading it back, it looks a little like I'm disrespecting the almighty Eddie Mac. Who owns me. Thank you.

May 2nd, yeah. Orton/Benoit's probably one of my matches of the year and I agree on JBL/Eddie too. I'm not sure if it's a question of them being underrated, or just painted over by the anti Orton and JBL comments that fill the board.

Yay!

I prefer the Summerslam match personally. Mania's lacklustre build-up killed what should have been a RED-HOT match. In my opinion, if built right, it could have rivalled Hart/Austin. Instead, it was a good match that had so much more potential. The ending was bad too. Not to sound too anal over attention to detail, but Angle pulling off the boot was unnatural as he really had to pull the boot off in a way not be-fitting the Ankle Lock. If we're talking underrated, then we have to add in the matches like Orton/Val from Heat and Akio/London from Velocity, as so few people saw them. Maybe Noble/London too, even though that gets a lot of love on here. Also, I really liked Kidman/London at No Mercy. VERY good match that proved to me London could work 'WWE style'.

I'm a Batista supportet, but outside of the tag scene he has big limitations. His matches with Jericho prove it. Every one of them just seemed very awkward and very sketchy. Obviously, he has the support, look, character etc. So, he'd likely be a success as World Champion somewhere down the line. But, I still don't see him becoming a BIG star and having the one, stellar match that puts him over the top. And for the record, Orton's problems may stem from the pointless World Title run he was given maybe? After the Benoit match, a strong reign would have cemented him as a star. Instead, he got cut off at the knees.

Edwin who? This ROCKS! And, yeah, there's probably a load of crap from me and Clark missing here and there too. 8 months. Crazy.

I'm more interested in Hallowicked/Hero than Morgan/Hero personally...mainly because of Morgan's inconsistancy in America. Does this mean Hero going over? I'd assume so.

Opening promo shall be stolen by myself... ...zors~!

This Dagda running gag is gonna fall on it's ass if Dagda starts showing.