Toxxic

For the record - all of Rev-o's actions on this HOLT have been approved by me. So there will be no complaints from here.

Scene: The American Airlines Arena, Dallas, Texas Time: A few hours before Ground Zero *knock-knock* “C’mon Gus, keep up!” Ben Hardy orders his cameraman as Gus rounds the corner to see the SWF’s Numbah One Backstage Interviewer knocking on a locker room door, “we’ve got a lot of work to do this evening!” Hardy turns his attention back to the door, thereby missing the single finger that Gus raises in front of his camera’s lens. *knock-knock* “I hope he’s in,” Hardy mutters as Gus draws level, “it’s not like we’ve got time to hang around here if he’s arriving late-” But before Ben can complete his sentence the door jerks open and the Dynamic Duo come face-to-face with the room’s occupant - the Straight-Edge Sensation, Toxxic. “This had better be good, Ben,” the Brit growls, glowering at the microphone that’s just been shoved under his nose. Hardy takes a deep breath and smiles. “Toxxic - you have been here for six-and-a-half months, and now you are main-eventing a Pay-Per-View for the first time and challenging for the World Heavyweight Title. Do you think you can do it?” “Of course I think I can do it,” Toxxic responds, “otherwise I wouldn’t have bloody shown up, would I?” He goes to shut the door, but stops as he sees Ben still standing there. “I’m guessing you wanted to ask another question, right?” “Well,” Hardy says, “given that fact that this is the first Triple Threat match for the World Title in a long time we’re trying to get the participants’ thoughts on it. Obviously Tom Flesher and Janus are both veterans whereas you are in many respects still a rookie-” “Wait a second,” Toxxic interrupts, holding his hand up. “What do you mean, in many respects? I am a rookie, Ben; that’s the entire bloody point.” The straight-edger opens the door wider and moves forward, pressing up against Hardy’s microphone. “I’m a rookie who’s been ICTV Champion twice. I’m a rookie who’s beaten three former World Champions, and retired one of them. I don’t care if anyone’s got more experience than me, because I’m better than all of them!” The right hand side of Toxxic’s face creases upwards into his trademark lopsided grin. “Think about it, Ben. I’ve done all that in six months - and I’m still only 21, and I’m still getting better. Just imagine how good I’m going to be this time next year.” The grin widens. “And if I somehow fail tonight, and I don’t manage to capture the World Heavyweight Championship on my first try… well, when I get my next shot, how many of you will dare bet against me then?” The door shuts in Ben Hardy’s face. ************************************************************************** Toxxic breathes out as he shuts the door behind him and moves over to the washbasin in the corner of the room. Away from the SWF cameras a change comes over the young straight-edger - a certain tension seems to drain away, and the grey eyes that bored into Ben Hardy’s face now stare up into the mirror almost hesitantly. He places one hand on each side of the basin and lowers his head for a moment, taking deep breaths before pushing himself back upright and turning the taps on. It’s getting harder, in his head. He’s not sure how much longer he can keep the personality known worldwide as Toxxic under control. The Hot Commodity, the Straight-Edge Sensation, the arrogant British punk who racks up win after win over veterans of the sport, fuelled all the time by the anger that bubbles just beneath the surface. He invented Toxxic as a way of coping with the pressure of performing in front of so many people so that essentially he was watching himself as well, a detached spectator and not the man who was causing the crowd to gasp and cheer and, later, boo. But the very anger that gives Toxxic the drive to keep going and keep winning is starting to cause problems of its own. Toxxic knows he’s not insane. He’s never been insane, and that to some extent is the root of his problem. When all the other people around him had their own greater or lesser neuroses, little things that isolated them from the worst of the world, he always met it head on with a chilly sanity that saw everything, ignored nothing and started to get very, very angry as a result. What was it one of his girlfriends had said, “anyone as sane as you must be mad”? The wrestling, among other things, was a way to give the anger some release. And it was working well until he joined the SWF, when in the contendership match to the Hardcore Gamer’s Title he finally snapped completely. Jacob Helmsley was refusing to lose, and in one momentary loss of control Toxxic set up a chair and gave his opponent the Caffeine Bomb straight through it without a thought for safety. Afterwards, he swore he’d never do anything like that again, and in his match with Aecas on the Pay-Per-View he got through the entire thing without losing control - all the violence and all the bloodshed was carefully measured to do enough damage to let him win, and no more. It was after that the problems started. Mark Stevens had made the match against Aecas a 200 Light Tube match, on the suggestion of the Black Angel. Toxxic was never one to back down from anything and went into it knowing the risks, but when the Commissioner publicly criticised him on the following Storm for the brutality of the match it flipped a switch inside the straight-edger. Angry at being reprimanded for the manner of his victory - in a match with no rules, and against an opponent no-one expected him to beat - Toxxic had retaliated at Grand Slam and the crowd had turned on him as a result. And since that night, in a series of events that each seemed perfectly logical at the time, Toxxic went from being a fresh-faced up-and-comer with a message for the kids to a loathed, despised and possibly even feared main-eventer with no respect for anyone. It made sense to use his title shot to beat the Insane Luchador and win the ICTV Title. It made sense to get in Danny Williams’ head upon his return, because it put the Louisville Elbower off his game for that tag match. It made sense to protest about Nathaniel Kibagami jumping ahead of the field, and when their rivalry came to a head in the Last Man Standing match it made sense to hit the River Dragon with the only move that could keep him down. And behind the eyes, all the time, the man known to his friends back in England as Michael Stephens looked out at what he was doing under the guise of the Straight-Edge Sensation and wondered when he could stop. I didn’t want to be this. He’d wanted to be Edwin Macphisto. Not because of who he was - Toxxic had met the Mac Daddy once when MacPhisto had been the guest of honour at a night on the British circuit just over a year ago, and hadn’t taken to him - but because of what he represented; a British wrestler able to rise above the xenophobic attitudes of the American crowd and become not only World Champion, but universally loved and adored. When he watched the SWF on his TV and saw Edwin hold the title belt aloft to the massed cheers of the fans he knew that was what he wanted. Instead, he’s about to go into a main event against the most arrogant, underhanded wrestler in the entire federation and a monstrous, psychopathic animal… and all three of them are going to get booed. People don’t cheer me, they cheer my opponents. I’m not adored, I’m despised. I haven’t become a legend… I just retire them. I wanted to be Edwin MacPhisto. Instead, I’ve ended up as Silent. Toxxic turns the taps off and looks up at the mirror. It’s steamed over now and the straight-edger wipes a hand over it to clear it, revealing a watery, distorted reflection of himself. For a brief moment the condensation on the glass surface makes it look like there are tears on the mirror Toxxic’s cheeks - then it steams up again, and the illusion passes. The rookie dips both hands into the water and splashes it over his face, the heat of it causing his cheeks to sting, then towels himself dry. He reaches into the black holdall on the bench beside him and pulls out his eyeliner. He can feel the anger inside him. It’s still there, just as it always has been. Carefully, he starts to let it build. The trick is not to let it out, not all at once. It needs to be kept just under control, powerful enough to give him strength and keep him moving but not so that it dictates his actions. Despite whatever people may think of him, causing pain does not come naturally - he does what he does to win, not to hurt. But in order to win he has to hurt, and in order to hurt he has to use the anger. And now, at this level, he knows that if he doesn’t get his mindset right he has no hope of winning, and every chance of getting hurt himself. He doesn’t like what Toxxic does, but he can’t do this job without being Toxxic. He doesn’t need a buffer to prevent him seeing reality as so many others do, but Toxxic is his buffer to prevent reality seeing him. Without Toxxic, without the Straight-Edge Sensation’s abrasive personality and emotional armour-plating, without the fact that it is a different person out there and therefore not him at all… he’d freeze. Being Toxxic gets him into these situations, because it is Toxxic’s drive, fear of being seen as weak and will to win that wins him matches and furthers his career. And tonight, as he has done every other night, he is going to rely on Toxxic to get him out again. The anger is stronger tonight, again, so strong that he feels that he should be bursting and swelling along the seams, so strong that the water droplets still clinging to the back of his neck should be flash-boiling off into the air. He braces his hands against the side of the basin again and sinks his head like he did before, taking deep breaths. Then, just like in the match against Kibagami at 13th Hour, a shiver seems to pass through his whole body. When he raises his head once more the grey eyes are hard as nails, and the right side of his face has creased up in a mirthless, lopsided grin. It’s all under control again, and it’s time to let the act take over. “Time to prove them all wrong. Again.”

Hah, just cos you got namechecked... Nah, this is the first sign that there may be anything to Toxxic besides the Straight-Edge Sensation that the fans have come to know and hate. It's important to have a BIT of depth, after all. I'm not trying to muscle in on Janus' territorty with a separate personality - Toxxic is an act to help himself cope with pressure, but when he's that character he has to act a certain way. Think of him as a totally-immersed method actor

OK, so... if Janus got DQ'd for the first fall against him but then I pinned him for the second one, would I win the title or would the DQ mean that he'd retain the belt? Obviously the belt can't change hands on the second one because it wouldn't be obvious who should get it out of me or Tom. And what the fuck do you mean, countout is in effect? You mean that on top of having to watch two heels in the ring the ref ALSO has to count if the third guy is outside?

Big Cunt's not actually that big (about 230 I believe), and Davis is a HOSS.ish. So you've actually picked Davis, whether you know it or not. Actually, I want to change my Bonus Prediction - Zenon's hired EBONY to do his dirty work...

MAIN EVENT TRIPLE THREAT, WORLD TITLE BOUT, TWO OUT OF THREE FALLS Janus© vs "The Superior One" Tom Flesher© vs Toxxic ~Flesher. I'm not feeling this at all, but the stip may give me some inspiration, you never know. TAG TEAM MATCH TAG TEAM TITLE BOUT 42nd Street© vs Andrea Montgomery & The Birdman ~I say Team Flip-Flop win and in their ecstatic celebrations Andrea pulls Birdy's mask off revealing him to be... GORO! TRIPLE THREAT NUMBER ONE CONTENDER BOUT; SUBMISSIONS MATCH Jamie Drazon vs Ace Lezaire vs Dace Night ~Dace. Just. SINGLES MATCH ICTV TITLE BOUT Johnny Dangerous© vs Landon "La Cucaracha" Maddix ~LANDON IS GOLD~! SINGLES MATCH USJL TITLE BOUT Manson© vs "The Icon" Max King ~I say Manson gets it. But Mason bites the dust. HARDCORE MATCH HARDCORE TITLE BOUT Martin "Big Country" Hunt© vs Sean Davis ~Stable pride says Davis - plus I think she can pull it off anyway. SINGLES MATCH Ced Ordonez vs Munich ~Ced SINGLES MATCH ??? vs Candace ~??? it is MALL BRAWL V Austin Sly vs "The Corona" Vladimir Everheart vs Edward James vs Petey the Irish Penguin vs Ryan Dustin vs ??? ~Gotta go with Sly or Dustin. BONUS PREDICTION: The person Zenon received an email from was Grand Slam coming back to take over his company again. I have no idea who the person Zenon was talking to was, the 'devil' he made a deal with... but I'll go out on a limb and say the return of the Suicide King!

I love Manson. When he's got MANSONICITY, how could you not?

So are we seeing the back of you due to time contstraints (unless someone decides to use you as a manager), or have you just decided to jack the skinny little loser in and go for someone a little more competitive?

Satanic Japanese chick. O-K then.

Well, we'll probably be getting another part soon enough. As for the enemy, in the lack of many other stables (especially since Rando's Boy Scouts seem to lack a certain amount of showingness at the moment) I think we'll have to stick with the time-honoured method of heeldom. OK everyone, look in the mirror. See that? That's our enemy, right there.

The Cumberland County Civic Centre, a few hours before Smarkdown "Revolution Zero." Toxxic says the name in a voice heavily laden with irony. "But shouldn't it be our opponents who have Zero chance, not us?" the straight-edger continues, asking the question of the two men in wrestling gear that share the dressing room with him. Jet and Marcus Washington look on from the sidelines, the PA looking like he wants to interject on his client's behalf but not quite wanting to interrupt the Brit when he's on course to launch into a tirade. "We announced our presence, we set out our goals," Toxxic says, striding up and down and glaring into his followers' faces - the fact that he has to stare upwards to eyeball Sean Davis doesn't seem to throw him a bit. "And yet that night, the only one of us who actually did what we'd set out to do was me. I beat Tom Fucking Flesher, 1-2-3 in the middle of the ring in his bloody hometown! A straight singles win over possibly the greatest pure wrestler to ever set foot in an SWF ring! But you guys went for the Tag Titles against a makeshift team that had never wrestled together before... and you blew it." "Hey, at least I actually attempted to pin them-" Davis begins, but Toxxic whirls on him and cuts the big man off with the sheer force of his anger. "This is not about who did what," he seethes, "this is about the fact that you and Spike did not work together as a team, but the Masked Moron and the Urban Knob-End did!" He turns to Spike, who looks like he really, really wants to be somewhere else and preferably smoking something. "Spike, you were the SWF veteran in that ring by quite some way," Toxxic says, gesturing at Hollywood's Cruiserweight Title, "but you were making rookie mistakes I wouldn't have expected out of Edward James!" "Dude, Todd Cortez has been straight-edge longer than me-" Spike starts, but Toxxic cuts him off as well. "This is not about being straight-edge, either!" he snaps. "That is about increasing your drug-addled concentration and meaning that I can actually stand to be around you - it is not an instant key to winning titles! And incidentally, you need to have a word with Bobby Riley before next show and tell him that if he refers to you as the `New Straight-Edge Sensation' one more time then I am going to kick both your arses - there was nothing `sensational' about you in that tag match, you were more like the Straight-Edge Mediocre!" Sean Davis smirks at that, but Toxxic rounds on him again quickly. "And you," he says, pointing at the big man's chest. "Did you call that `using your strength'? `cos what I saw was a lumbering lump that bore an uncanny resemblance to something about to go extinct from asteroid impact!" "Mr. Toxxic, that is defamation of character and-" Marcus says, but Toxxic isn't in the mood to let anyone complete a sentence today. "Zip it, lawyer boy," he snarls, "or you and your precious client can see how well you cope in the SWF without our help, and how quickly you get another title shot." He turns back to Spike and Sean. "Sean, you annihilated Rob Gilbert. You destroyed Munich first time around. You gave Dace Fucking Night a good run for his money, and that if nothing else shows that you're a bloody good talent. Now I know you can take Munich and Ced Ordonez tonight as long as you focus on your strengths and their weaknesses - and after they beating they took from Janus, they’ll be weak. Try and isolate Ced as you'll be able to wear him down quicker, and when it's two against one time isn't on your side." The Straight-Edge Sensation turns to Spike. "Spike, you showed me your quality when we went one-on-one, and you put in a bloody awesome performance to beat Austin Sly. That sort of ability is why you're Cruiserweight Champion," he tells Hollywood. "Flesher is bloody tough, as you well know, but however good he may be you still have a chance to get what you want out of the match. Just don't get sidetracked, and give that bastard hell for what he pulled on Lockdown." "Dude, what about you against Janus?" Spike asks. "I mean, No-DQ? That's fucking bad man!" "Kibagami, Danny, Flesher," Toxxic counts on his fingers. "Hey, how tough can one more World Champion be? And this time, I’m not either tied to him with a strap or still bleeding from going through plate glass.” The leader of Revolution Zero sees Davis and Washington looking at him curiously and waves his hand dismissively. “Long story. Let’s just say the guy who did it isn’t around anymore.” He stops and steps back, switching his gaze from Jenkins to Davis and back again. “‘Hollywood’ Spike Jenkins. ‘The Perfect Storm’ Sean Davis. Together we are greater than the sum of our parts - and the sum of our parts itself is no mean thing. I’m not saying we can always win,” he continues, looking at Spike, “but we can get what we want. And remember - the Revolution doesn’t stop here. It will continue.” Slowly, the lopsided grin creeps up the right hand side of the Straight-Edge Sensation’s face. “We are only the beginning.”

Taker, when he retires. Assuming we ditch the DeadMan bollocks, he had the whole 'mutual respect' thing going before anyway. I think he could pull off a fair GM, someone who would make the matches because they needed to be made but was unlikely to be intimidated because a) he's a legend and b) he's just so damn big that not many people would try intimidating him anyway. But then again, we had the problems with Austing putting himself over active talent, and Taker might be even worse...

Batista. Come on. Think about it. What happens to every enemy of Evolution? Batista beats them up. They can beat Flair, they can beat Orton, they may even beat HHH... but Batista flattens them. He does ALL the dirty work, so theoretically in kayfabe he should be able to beat anyone Triple H can beat. Yeah yeah I know. But it continually annoys me that he hasn't held a singles title but is seen as this unstoppable monster. Either give the guy a title or don't push him as indestructible.

I think the GM/Commissioner/whatever post should stay. BUT I also think it should be taken up by a FAIR character. Not an evil Steph/Heyman/Angle/Bischoff role, not a play-to-the-faces Foley role. Someone straight-down-the-middle, someone who actually DID call things "In the interests of fairness". That would give explanations for matches and the brand a figurehead without detracting from the entertainment.

Um... ouch. I mean, where do you fit into this Sly? I can understand you being concerned about your friends cos it sounds like there's a nutter after them, but is he after you too? Either way, I hope nothing bad happens to anyone.

Not exactly. He doesn't really care either way. He won't cheat for his own reasons, but he's not bothered whether or not the rest of the stable do or not. But if they interfere in his matches he'll go ballistic, and he won't generally interfere in theirs. It doesn't - that was just for information purposes. The fact that he's regularly jobbing in dark matches should do it, plus the fact that he's old enough to be Toxxic's dad. And no, at the moment Toxxic doesn't look up to ANYONE. Although there may be a very very small sneaking bit of respect for Aecas. But that's about it.

Hey, if Annie can be stronger than men bigger than her, why not Candace? She's stronger than WC, too, but seeing as how he outweighs her by almost a hundred pounds, and he relies more on momentum than strength, anyway, I know I'm not worried about it... pending my eventual comeback, of course... Cos Annie's bigger, by a fair amount, plus is recognised as being a martial artist. I have no problem with Annie being stronger than Toxxic - that fact that, statswise, this girl could match me in a test of strength I find a little dubious. Plus, I HATE it when people have their wrestlers related to a real one.

WC, I don't know if you've been paying any attention to the character of Toxxic since my heel turn, but let me outline the basics for you. -He doesn't cheat -He's straight-edge -He's British, and calls people 'sunshine' -He has absolutely no respect for anyone. Ever. At all. Certainly not someone he would view as washed-up and past it. The only people Toxxic will even vaguely respect are those who have beaten him, but then it's normally outweighed by an almost psychotic determination to destroy them for having the audacity to do this. in case you decide to play EWR again

IL, I respect you as a long-time veteran of this fed, a decent bloke and someone whom I had a great laugh with when we had that Ironman Hardcore match, which is still one of my favourites. But you're also an over-belligerent adolescent who needs to think before mouthing off. You're ripping on me for complaining about an unscheduled character development - OK, fine, but then again this is a match-writing e-fed and you haven't bothered to write anything for months. Maybe I should have PM'd WC and told him about my concerns rather than discuss it in a public forum - regardless, I'd appreciate if you left your attitude problem at home.

Well... the bit about Chance Silver dying his hair black and working at Walmart was funny. As for the rest - it's taking place at the arena, so I'm assuming it's a show promo? In which case you probably should have sent it to the poster of the next card. Board promos ususally take place 'out of work' as it were. I'm also curious as to how a 5'4'' petite girl is supposed to be stronger than wrestlers like Landon Maddix, for example (he only has strength 2, you see). Finally, it really seems like Frisco is the important one here rather than the focus being on the wrestler. Rather like Test having heat because of Stacy Keibler, only less successful.

Er... WHAT? WC, you said you "took a liberty". You didn't say that I was teaming with a guy who has lost to all and sundry lately, then got him to mentor my stable. YOU HAVE JOBBED JUDGE OUT IN EVERY MATCH, AND NOW WE'RE SUPPOSED TO LEARN FROM HIM? You may consider this completely no-sold. God knows I try not to take this e-fed too seriously, but that takes the piss. I know Judge was a damn good writer, but you've been treating him like shit and that makes us look like shit by association.

... I can't work out if that's admirable or stupid. Possibly both. Either way, I remain amazed that you find time to do this at all.

MAIN EVENT NO DISQUALIFICATION NON TITLE MATCH Janus vs. Toxxic ~Shite. Me vs Janus NO DQ. Well, this is my chance for revenge, so i'm going to give it EVERYTHING. SINGLES MATCH Landon "La Cucaracha" Maddix vs. Ace Lezaire ~Ouch. Ouch ouch ouch. This is PAINFUL to predict. I think Landon will JUST squeeze it, but only by about 51% to 49% THE AT THIS POINT REQUISITE HANDICAP MATCH! Sean Davis vs. Ced Ordonez and Munich ~Stable pride says Davis, plus she can write damn well. TAG MATCH Andrea Montgomery & The Birdman vs. THE WAYWARD SONS!!! (Edward James and Alan Clark) ~TEAM FLIP-FLOP! USJL CONTENDERSHIP TABLES MATCH "The Icon" Max King vs. "The Corona" Vladimir Everheart ~I'm picking the Norweigan if Aecas has time to write. SINGLES MATCH "The Paladin" Chance Silver vs. Candace ~Chance no-showed and Candace didn't even read the joining guide correctly (she hasn't got any fucking finishers!) so I go with DNS. CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE MATCH "Hollywood" Spike Jenkins vs. "The Superior One" Tom Flesher ~Stable pride says Spike. Anyone with a brain says Taamo (sorry Spike!). But I can't think Tom will take this belt when he's gunning for the World, so although if he writes he will win I'm thinking SPike will retain.

Uh... yeah... I beat Tom Flesher. In singles competition. I can only assume that he had to no-show, but still YYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH BABY! As for the rest of the show... I LIKED Birdman's match, that had a really slick, pro vibe to it. I don't think it's going to be long before he does start moving up the card and compete against whoever he wants to be competing against. Big up to Drazon for beating Clark, no easy feat these days. Also big up to Muzz for beating Dace, that's a fucking challenge and a half. Respect to Johnny for beating Landon (unless Landon wrote to job, I don't know why he would but the promo at least gave him an excuse to), new ICTV Champ bitches. Manson won the clusterfuck, good on yer son. And my boys had to no-show - correction, SPIKE CHOSE to no-show as the Ozzfest was more important. Expect a sXe bitch-slapping soon. COngrats to Hunt too, being on the winning side certainly paid off with that stip.

Did I miss something? When was Munich a Wayward Son?