Toxxic

To be honest Spike, it's a very good promo. Outlines our history and Spike's worry about Toxxic's improvement, but also clearly shows his own determination. The trouble is that breaking necks is virtually passe these days, as I did it a couple of times and have only recently dodged Landon trying to do the same thing to me.

Another open-air show? Oh Raynor, shame on you. Yeah, and Jake needs to get an International Title shot. Come on, he just killed the champion! One more thing - has anyone been a Triple Champion before, or can I have Mak applaud Toxx for that in commentary?

Pfah. You're predictable, Spike. If you'd said you were going to tickle him until he submitted I'd have been scared.

Well now I'm a flashy high-flying face who doesn't take short cuts you guys should be sorted Damn, I remember reading that X-Net 'being a heel guide' and thinking "Huh? A heel has to lose? How does losing make him hated?"

I realise they might not have the money or the recognition to make it viable, but damn, it'd be cool if they did. Although I might have to fight my girlfriend to get her to stop playing with Alex Shelly.

Night is starting to creep in over southern Canada, and the illuminations around the famous Horseshoe Falls on the Niagara River start to glow as dusk darkens the sky. Tourists who have travelled over from the US for the day are starting to head back, but one man stands at the rails of an observation point and watches, steel-grey eyes seemingly heedless of the countless millions of gallons of water relentlessly thundering over the falls. “Penny for your thoughts?” “At this exchange rate?” Stephens returns, turning his head to see the girl who approached unheard from behind; not difficult, this close to the cacophony from the gorge below. He recognised the voice, of course; Naomi Walters, more usually known to the general public by her old ring-name of Jet. His ex-girlfriend and former manager, now working as an SWF talent scout and part-time PA to Joseph Peters. She fixes him with a stare and flicks her red-and-black dreadlocks back over one shoulder. “I dunno,” Mike says, turning back to look out at the Falls, “I guess I’m sort of wondering where I go from here.” “How’d you mean?” Jet asks, coming up to lean on the rails next to him. “It’s like, Genesis was it, Stephens says, “from the moment I knew Tom wanted the title I was sure Peters was going to throw us together at Genesis. It was going to be the biggest match of my career, the hardest match of my career. Everything I did - well, nearly everything - was based on the run-up to it. I was going to be going into that match as prepared as I’d ever been in my life, I was going to make Flesher fight for a win. And bugger me, I did it. I beat him. So now…” he laughs, mirth with a faint bitter edge. “What do I do? How do I follow that?” “How do you prove them wrong now?” Jet murmurs. Stephens’ eyes flicker towards her for a second, and he chews the inside of his lip absent-mindedly. “…yeah.” “So tell me,” Jet says slowly, “are you proud of beating Tom because you know it was a really difficult thing to do, or are you proud of beating Tom because a lot of people thought you wouldn’t?” Michael Stephens stands for a moment, apparently lost in thought. If he has the answer, he doesn’t give it. “See, that’s one of the reasons I liked you, back then,” Jet says, “because you honestly didn’t care what anyone else thought. You didn’t like the guys who played to the fans, you didn’t like the guys like Flesher who did things deliberately to fuck the fans off. You just did what you did, and told anyone who liked it or didn’t like it to go hang. But now… are you interested in wrestling as well as you can? Or do you just want to try and prove somebody else wrong, and keep on until you find something you genuinely can’t do? I mean,” she continues, “you’ve beaten Tom Flesher in straight singles at Genesis, what’s next? Taking on the Weapons of Mass Destruction by yourself? Defending the Cruiserweight, Tag and World Titles one after another on the same night? Locking yourself in a cage with five guys who all want your title?” “Did you want to labour your point any more?” Stephens asks dryly. “Only until you start to fucking focus,” Jet snaps. “You know damn well what’s next, Mike - Spike’s next. You’ve got him on Lockdown, and he’s coming for the Cruiserweight Title. Plus, last time you faced him on PPV, he beat you.” “Thanks for the reminder,” Mike grunts. “I’m surprised Peters agreed to put it back from Aftershoxx, really.” “Oh come on,” Jet laughs, “you’re just beaten Tom Flesher at Genesis. You’re career’s bigger than it’s ever been before; Peters doesn’t like you, but every time he looks at you he sees dollar signs. He’ll give you little requests like that, but he wants to get as much money out of you as possible as fast as possible before you disappear on him again. Hell, he even wanted to set up an official Michael Stephens fan club through the SWF website, but someone beat him to it.” “..say what?” Stephens says, brow furrowing, “how can something like that be official unless I’m in on it?” “Well, apparently you are,” Jet says, “Joe’s still trying to find out the details but it seems two girls are claiming you gave them personal permission to set one up?” “Oh God,” Stephens says, closing his eyes, “Prague. I bet it was Prague. It was after I left last year, I was travelling around Europe, two girls recognised me in Prague.” “What did they look like?” “They had a lot of eyeliner,” Mike recalls. “Figures,” Jet sniffs. “And you said they could set a fan club up?” “They asked me if they could,” Mike says. “…to be honest, I think my exact words were ‘knock yourselves out’, but…” He stops. He places his head in his hands. His next words are muffled by speaking through his fingers. “This fan club… what’s it called?” Jet doesn’t answer for a second and Mike peeks out from between his fingers. Then he sees her smirking and shuts his eyes again. “Go on…” “Well, the Official Michael Stephens Fan Club goes by the name of ‘The Sensation Nation’,” Jet tells him. “Bloody hell…” the World Champion, Cruiserweight Champion and one half of the Tag Team Champions mutters. It figures that two girls and a throwaway comment can embarrass him more than Tom Flesher managed in Toronto. Then he removes his hands and regards his ex-girlfriend steadily. “What’s happening with Gabe?” “How d’you mean?” “I mean, is he being punished for his attack on Landon at Genesis?” the straight-edger says. “I mean, is he being suspended? I mean, is he being fined? I mean, is Peters going to be putting me in the ring with him any time soon?” “You’re probably going to have to ask Joe that yourself,” Jet replies, “because much as I still like you Mike, I’m still not risking my job for you. But he has got something in store for you, I know that much. He wants to get one massive payday out of you. Look out for yourself.” “Yeah, you too,” Mike says. They look at each other for a second more, then Jet places a chaste peck on his cheek, grins at him and turns to walk off. Stephens watches her go for a second, then looks back out at the vista of tumbling water and nods to himself. “Focus. Spike’s next.” These days, it’s not often that the mirthless half-grin that used to define the Straight-Edge Sensation crosses the face of Michael Stephens. But Michael Stephens has no history with Spike Jenkins. Toxxic, on the other hand, has a bundle. From enmity, to allies as part of Revolution Zero, to growing hostility and resentment until finally, once he was convinced Spike had put his own interests ahead of the group’s, Toxxic turned on Jenkins. Revolution Zero helped Scott Pretzler end Spike’s record-breaking Cruiserweight Title reign, beat him down and threw him out of the stable. It wasn’t until Spike had slipped a psychedelic drug into Toxxic’s drink to mess with his fellow straight-edger’s head, then won a Last Man Standing match at 13th Hour 2005 by hitting the Ratings Grabber on Toxxic through the announce table, that the self-proclaimed New Straight-Edge Sensation (and how Toxxic always hated that) felt he’d got some revenge. The grin creases Stephens’ face. “Spike’s next. Poor Spike.”

No-one can touch Heenan, but was JBL the best since Heenan? Even then I have my doubts, I remember him continually giving props to Spanky and London for crying out loud. However, no-one will ever better the commentary duo that was Josh Matthews and Tazz on Velocity.

Yeah, well I'm jobbing you to a slide. As in, I'm going to slide down the slide and land on you with a Slide Splash, then pin you.

If we can get a series of promos out of this where each and every single SWF wrestler, including the Scion of Light, plays mischievous pranks on Clark to try and make him snap, I'll be a very happy man.

Who are you to doubt Noone? He's a big star on the British independent circuit.

I'm going for the 'local derby' angle - the form book goes out of the window because of the emotion involved. It's been ages since Spike and Toxx got in the ring together, but because of what's gone down between them it's never going to be pretty. No matter what Toxx brings, Spike knows him well - but of course, the reverse is also true. I'm not ruling out opening a can on Spike either, mind you

That means nothing. Slappings wouldn't bother Annie, as long as it was the right girl administering them. And Spike, 110 is not cool. Kylee Kross on the other hand, potentially would be. However, I'm disappointed that you didn't do a 720 DDT into the ditch, because that would have made Jody Fleisch proud.

[Nominations will end on Genesis AftershoxXx. Nominations to NOT include Genesis VII) The Fallen Tag Team Trophy - For Tag Team of the Year The Midnight Carnival Cup - For Stable of the Year The Ace of Clubs Trophy - For Heel of the Year (who's the greatest bastard? Who's the biggest prick? Who's the most evil git in the SWF?) The Grand Slam Trophy - For Face of the Year (who's the archetypical hero? Who's the guy the fans love to get behind?) The Cyclone Comet Trophy - For Promo Writer of the Year (who has that gift with words that makes you understand exactly what their character is going through? This is for promos in general rather than one in particular) The Nathaniel Kibagami Trophy - For Promo of the Year (that one promo that stands out above the rest, for whatever reason) The William Hearford & Toxxic Trophy - For Rookie of the Year (who's debuted since Genesis VI and made a real impact on the fed, or you think has the potential to go on to great things?)

All we can ask for. I lost my first competitive match and remember similar feelings.

I've just reviewed it. I went for 'constructive criticism' rather than 'nice', so take it as you will. It's meant to help, not to imply that I'm having a go or trying to make you feel bad about yourself.

Raina’s match: First of all, take care with the sentence structure. Small things like “Raina starts gets to his feet” can really drag your match down, you need to make sure all the words you want (and none you don’t want) are there. Secondly, SOL showed a better understanding of the nature of the match - for her, all four competitors were mentioned as they worked out who would start the match. With you, the moment the Rageheart jumped Raina MANSON and SOL apparently disappeared with no explanation as to why they didn’t decide to get involved. The Rageheart chinlock - a chinlock is a weardown move, which would make no sense to release after a few seconds. The only real reason to release a submission hold is if you know it’s not doing what you want it to do - for something that takes quite a lot of effort to maintain, like say an STF, it could well be worth releasing it if your opponent isn’t hurt enough to tap out. However, a chinlock takes very little effort to apply and all it’s ever going to do is wear someone down, soften them up for later, so there’s no reason to release it unless it’s been in place a while and you want to move onto the next stage, or if you’re up against a time limit. “Raina’s feign” - Raina may have been ‘feigning’ injury, or he might have made a ‘feint’, but personally I consider this an odd use of language. It might be technically correct, I’m not sure, but it doesn’t seem right. The next sequence is good, simple wrestling; Raina’s faster and gets the advantage that way. The focus on Rageheart’s leg is fine, but that sort of vicious focus on a limb (particularly the ‘prop-it-on-the-ropes-and-try-to-break-it’ tactic) is more usually reserved for the heel in a match. See Nitro vs. Hardy at Unforgiven for a recent example. Again, it’s not that it doesn’t make sense for the face to do it, but it doesn’t quite fit with normal wrestling practice, for me. My next problem is purely language-based. If we look at the paragraph beginning ‘Rageheart stands’ we have thirteen sentences, nine of which start with someone’s name. This gives the narrative a choppy, stilted feel which could be avoided by running a few sentences together and using different descriptions for the guys in the ring. Also, crowd reactions are important. It’s an easy thing to say, so here’s how I’d write that paragraph to give an example of what I’d do: MANSON has a plethora of nicknames; use them to avoid repetition. Raina’s got one as well, plus if you refer to him as ‘Scotty’ or ‘Scott’ then it gives a more personal feel, which is suitable as he’s a face and people are meant to identify with him. The SOL/MANSON sequence annoys me, mainly because MANSON isn’t really in a position to be no-selling strikes from anyone except maybe Megan Skye. However, SOL does get him in the end so that’s OK. The SOL/Rageheart sequence is fine, another example of the smaller wrestler using her speed, not to mention risk-taking. “SOL gets to get feet” Sloppy. “Rageheart struggles to his feet buy uses to ropes to stand” Also sloppy. Although I have no real problem with MANSON being dickish with SOL (hell, he’s practically the leader of his own religion), I’m confused as to why SOL’s lowblow didn’t get her disqualified from an elimination match. However, the ensuing beatdown is overkill. MANSON’s fist tearing a hole in her mask is pretty much a no-no, after all masks are important in wrestling. Also, a beatdown of that ferocity is something that should take place in a feud where both parties have agreed to it, or at least in a match where they have history, not in a match where they’ve not wrestled before. Yes, MANSON’s a heel, but he’s also a cagey veteran and he’d be unlikely to get himself DQ’d that cheaply. The Raina/Rageheart final sequence is fine up to where Raina goes to the outside and ‘lands kind of rough’, which is a phrase that grates on me with its conversational nature. Also, for consistency there should have been a referee count while Raina was on the outside, just like for Rageheart and SOL. The Russian legsweep off the apron is a good move, but again, there should have been a count for both men while that was going on and before Rageheart re-entered. It’s not a major thing, but it is consistency. From there, I still have a problem with the language and the repeated (over)use of names, but you also fall down on the end - after Rageheart gets rolled into a small package and misses a clothesline, it’s all Raina; he hits a neckbreaker, a dropkick, a diving dropkick, a bulldog and the Heartbreaker. There’s no ‘race to the finish’ of desperate counters and kickouts - Raina made what would have been a fairly comfortable kickout of a stalling suplex (one-legged? maybe), and then proceeds to take the match home. There’s no drama, no ‘will-he-won’t-he’, no last-gasp desperation, and in the end that’s what leaves the lasting impression. If you think about the wrestling matches you watch, the start can be boring, they might even blow some spots, but if the ending has you going “He’s got him… wait, what? No, he’s going for… he missed it! And now… Jesus, how did he counter that? And… HE’S GOT HIM!”… that’s what generates the pop from the crowd at the end. So anyway, I hope this has been helpful. You lucked out by being put against another writer in your first match instead of getting the ‘warm body welcoming committee’ and they put in a better match than you, but best of luck next time around!

SOL’s match: First of all, a note about the commentators - Mak Francis made his name as a cocky amateur-wrestler turned pro; he varied between face and heel, but was cocky whichever he was. The Suicide King on the other hand is one of THE great heels in the federation’s history, a dirty, conniving, smarmy and cowardly bastard. He won’t generally express a great deal of enthusiasm for anything much, unless it’s seeing a face get his ass handed to him by a heel. He also has a particular affinity for Tom Flesher, who was something of a protégé of his. Nice notion with the scissors-paper-stone to decide who starts the match - a quick bit of ‘gelling’ for the faces. Plus Landon and I used it recently J Not sure about MANSON getting up quicker from the pin than Raina - sure, he’s tough, but Raina’s young and athletic and delivered the most recent move. The ‘Scott’ overload is a nice touch, but again not something I think King would necessarily participate in (or Mak for that matter - he’s possibly a little too cool). Also, I’m not sure about a spear being able to take Rageheart out like that - granted he’s basically a jobber these days, but that was the only move he’d taken in the match so far. However, the sequence leading up to it was good, emphasising Raina’s speed advantage. The elimination of Raina was fine, Rageheart could conceivably be angry enough to interfere and cause the distraction. The repetition of the phrase ‘a jerk and a turn’ about Irish whips was used a little too close together, if you were going to do that I’d have suggested using something like ‘with a jerk and turn of her own’ for slight difference. …and that’s about all I’ve got. I’d like the match longer with it taking more to put each person out (the distraction roll-up was fine, but Rageheart and MANSON are tough customers), but as you can see from the main event I tend to write bloated epics given the chance and conciseness is often a virtue. Overall, I’m sorry I couldn’t offer more constructive criticism, but there wasn’t really a lot there to critique. I’d have done some things differently, but a lot of it is about personal choice of language and familiarity with how things are generally done and the ‘feel’ of this fed rather than any issues per se. I reckon you’ve got a lot of promise! …and if you turn out to be Annie under a mask, I’m going to fly over there and slap you

You can blame ROH for that. I'm going to try and do a more thorough read-through of the show and comment tomorrow evening. However, until then may I say that I am surprised to have won. I won't say shocked, because I did feel I had a good chance - however, Flesher has been THE man for so long that I had my doubts whether the best I had was good enough to take him on PPV at Genesis. It appears that it was, this time at least. Oh, and congrats to SOL. I'll try and do some commentary on your match in particular.

Not one that counts, obviously.

Yeah, but now the Cruiserweight Champion cares about the belt. So it's a win-win situation.

What, and I'm not a cruiser?

And I'm with Muzz. That's a DAMN good picture.

Jake, if you need them I've still got your (well, one set of your) old stats saved on my computer back from when you were my very first opponent ever. In fact, here they are. -------------------------------------------------- Jacob Helmsley Height: 6’6” Weight: 227 lbs Hometown: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Age: 23 yrs old (Birthdate: 1/12/1979) Face/Heel: Heel Stable: None Ring Escort: None Weapon(s): Steel Pipe Looks: Jacob is very muscular. In the ring, he wears black baggy leather pants with green stripes down the sides, no shirt, and arm-bands around his biceps. Jacob has long, dark black hair that goes down to his shoulders. He has green colored eyes with a deep gash down the middle of his left eye. Coming to the ring, Jacob wears a long black trenchcoat with the initials JH in dark green on the back, left front, and on the right bottom of the coat. Ring Entrance: “Meaning of Life” by Disturbed. Jacob does not taunt the crowd at all coming to the ring. Very slow, demonic like walk style. Stats: ¯¯¯¯¯ Strength: 5 (can lift up to 350 lbs) Speed: 4 (Quick on his feet… very few aerial attacks) Vitality: 9 (There is no such thing as putting this man down easily.) Charisma: 2 (Rarely speaks. Gets crowd reactions from his actions, not promos) Style: Technical/Submissive expert. Good hardcore skills. Signature moves: 1. Evenflow DDT - (By this one, I mean the REAL Evenflow, from Raven's old WCW days, and the one in No Mercy. That starts out with a kick to the gut, and then finishes with a DDT in one swift movement… no stalling) 2. Sambo Suplex - Used as a set-up to the "Fear Factor" 3. "Corkscrew" - 360 degree twisting Missile Dropkick - Jacob leaps off of the top rope, twists his body into a spin while keeping his legs outward, and hits the opponent around the upper neck area. 4. "Blackout" - Standing hooking heel kick into reverse Fame Asser - Jacob does the spinning heel kick, and as he kicks him, he wraps him knee around the neck of the opponent, and slams him down for a reverse Fame Asser. Jacob keeps the knee wrapped around the throat of the opponent, for a modified chokehold that frequently KOs the opponent late in the match. 5. Stalling STO (Jacob Stalls for 5-6 seconds, before hitting the STO… the move looks like a cross between the Rock Bottom from No Mercy, and the STO 2 from No Mercy) 6. Top-Rope Inverted Brainbuster 7. "Buzzkill" - Chicken Wing headlock 8. Northern Lights suplex into bridge pin 9. "Soul breaker" - Stalling Dominator - Jacob pulls the opponent into a dominator position, and keeps him there for a Canadian Back breaker for 15-20 seconds. Weather or not the opponent gives up after 20 seconds, Jacob drops the opponent down for the Dominator. 10. Chicken Wing Jawbreaker Common moves: 1. Double Arm DDT 2. Gore into the turnbuckle 3. Rolling Leg-Lock 4. Fisherman’s DDT from the Top Turnbuckle 5. Kneeling Backbreaker (Jacob kneels down, and pulls the opponent down forcefully making his back connect with Jacob’s leg) 6. Russian Leg-Sweep 7. Standing Dragon Sleeper 8. Reverse DDT 9. Top-Rope Hurricanrada 10. Backslide Pin 11. Falling Nackbreaker 12. Guillotine Leg-Drop (when opponent is on a table or flat breakable surface) 13. Belly to Belly Suplex Rare moves: 1. Stalling Hangman's DDT - Jacob sets the opponent up in a powerbomb position, picks him up onto his shoulders, but lets the opponent drape down in front of his chest, in a hanging position. After five to ten seconds, Jacob drops the opponent down on the back of his neck with considerable power. 2. “The Drop from Above” – Stalling reverse Michinoku driver 3. “Downfall” – Powerbomb through a table or the such in Hardcore style matches 4. “Revenge” – Stalling Pedigree 5. “Air Canada” – Top-Rope Phoenix Splash Finishers: Main "Black Stallion" ~ Modified standing Vertebreaker ~ Jacob wraps the opponent’s arms around his back in a standing position so he and the opponent are back to back, like a set-up to a Backslide pin. Jacob then leans forward in a Bridge type position slamming the opponent’s neck onto the mat, and Jacob holds it for a pin. Submissive "The Fear Factor" - a modified Indian Death lock from No Mercy. Instead of dropping to the floor, and getting up again, Jacob drops to his back, and stays down on the ground, gradually increasing pressure on the legs until submission or TKO. Notes: Jacob is one sick puppy. He doesn’t care about anything else except his own personal achievements. He is a total loner. He does not trust anyone, not even his own former close friends. Jacob’s only devotions in life are to his accomplishments and his pipe which is never out of his possession. He will never think twice about injuring anyone, whether in the ring or outside of the ring and has no regrets when the deed has been done.

Clearly, as with your chest in comparison to those of the ladies applying for the same jobs as you... ...size DOES matter. *hugs Alex Shelley and clubs some Madagascan wrestlers*

Wait until tonight when it's due to be posted then. Honestly, old people today. No patience.