PROMO: Battle Cry

[Guest Ash Ketchum]

"Every fucking day someone somewhere makes a CONSCIOUS decision to DESTROY someone else."

-Adaptation

 

~~~~~~

 

 

Thunder rumbles in the background over the pitter-patter of rain upon a single glass window, signals of another summer storm on the Gulf Coast. The gray, overcast clouds blanketing the sky and the palm trees swaying in the wind pull off the perfect backdrop for the mood of the day. A room sits in front of us, a desk with a lone light, coming from a bronze lamp upon a large writing desk. Books, open and closed alike, and various papers of all sizes are scattered on the floor as the TV screen is stuck on blue, casting an eerie glow on the comfortable leather recliner placed in front of it.

 

“CLICK!”

 

The handle on the door turns, then it slowly opens. A man steps through, clad in a black athletic shorts and a gray “Property of Iowa State Wrestling” t-shirt. He silently makes his way over to the desk and its swivel chair, pulling it back before he sits down in it. He reaches over the desk, clasping an open notebook with a pen attached. A closer view of the papers on the desk reveal notes, some of the titles reading things such as “Blackjack Neckbreaker” and “Riot Act”. With the notebook in one hand, he reaches over, grabbing the controller for the TV, and hits a button on it as he gets out of the swivel chair and into the recliner, the rain still coming down as a rumble of thunder passes in the background. The word “Play” pops up in the top left hand corner of the TV as a picture comes on the TV from an older SWF show, the man watching with close intent each millisecond of the segment...

 

 

Van Siclen kicks Craven in the back, causing him to roll over onto his stomach, still clutching his neck in pain. Van Siclen, grinning at the opportunity, steps over Craven with his right leg so that he's straddling the Nightmare. Van Siclen steps in front of Craven's legs, sitting down and pulling back so that Craven's arms are trapped behind Van Siclen's legs! Having Craven's arms taken out of the picture, Van Siclen is free to reach forward with both arms, clasping them together and then putting them across the bridge of Craven's nose, pulling back to put Craven into a crossface from the Camel Clutch position, which Van Siclen calls the Cardinal Sin Clutch! The crowd erupts at Van Siclen's signature submission, as Craven's face twists into a mask of pain, the damage Van Siclen has delivered to his neck being amplified THREEFOLD, the submission quickly taking effect.

 

The fans begin to chant "YOU'VE GOTTA TAP! YOU'VE GOTTA TAP!", but Craven remembers the belt and tells himself he has to hold out, even as Chioda asks him if he wants to tap out, he responds with a loud, emphatic "NO!" Van Siclen, hearing this, just pulls back even harder on Craven's neck, SCREAMING at him to tap, tap away his title, and although Craven's desire is strong his brain's alarm system is going off, his neck having endured so much punishment and unable to take much more! Craven doesn't want to tap, doesn't want to give up... but as Van Siclen pulls back even harder, unrelenting, he has no choice!

 

TAP! TAP! TAP!

 

Craven's hand hits the mat three times, and Chioda sees this and leaps up, signaling for the bell as Van Siclen breaks the submission, getitng off of Craven and raising one hand as the bell rings and the crowd erupts!

 

.:Ding Ding Ding:.

 

 

...

 

 

“Rrrrrrrrrrrrrr...”

 

The sound of a tape rewinding plays as the man, “The Nightmare” Michael Craven rewinds the Lockdown tape back to where it was playing from, intentively watching it. The pencil in his hand scribbles down notes as he watches again...

 

Van Siclen kicks Craven in the back, causing him to roll over onto his stomach, still clutching his neck in pain. Van Siclen, grinning at the opportunity, steps over Craven with his right leg so that he's straddling the Nightmare. Van Siclen steps in front of Craven's legs, sitting down and pulling back so that Craven's arms are trapped behind Van Siclen's legs! Having Craven's arms taken out of the picture, Van Siclen is free to reach forward with both arms, clasping them together and then putting them across the bridge of Craven's nose, pulling back to put Craven into a crossface from the Camel Clutch position, which Van Siclen calls the Cardinal Sin Clutch! The crowd erupts at Van Siclen's signature submission, as Craven's face twists into a mask of pain, the damage Van Siclen has delivered to his neck being amplified THREEFOLD, the submission quickly taking effect.

 

The fans begin to chant "YOU'VE GOTTA TAP! YOU'VE GOTTA TAP!", but Craven remembers the belt and tells himself he has to hold out, even as Chioda asks him if he wants to tap out, he responds with a loud, emphatic "NO!" Van Siclen, hearing this, just pulls back even harder on Craven's neck, SCREAMING at him to tap, tap away his title, and although Craven's desire is strong his brain's alarm system is going off, his neck having endured so much punishment and unable to take much more! Craven doesn't want to tap, doesn't want to give up... but as Van Siclen pulls back even harder, unrelenting, he has no choice!

 

TAP! TAP! TAP!

 

Craven's hand hits the mat three times, and Chioda sees this and leaps up, signaling for the bell as Van Siclen breaks the submission, getitng off of Craven and raising one hand as the bell rings and the crowd erupts!

 

.:Ding Ding Ding:.

 

Pause.

 

The tape stops on a shot of Van Siclen with the US Title, and Craven frowns for a second at it. He’d rather not remember that night at all. But it won’t go away... it’s still stuck in his mind...

 

”It still stings...” Craven thinks to himself as the rain continues to pour down, “and those rumors I’ve heard going around... they all say that I’m no better than anyone else in this fed... that I don’t have anything ‘special’ in me...”

 

The wind picks up, whipping up waves on the shoreline of the Gulf, part of which is in Craven’s backyard. The rain continues pouring as a small rumble of thunder echoes outside.

 

“But they’re wrong. I’m not a fool like those other wrestlers... I don’t need to be super-strong or super-fast... I don’t need a stable to back me up anymore... I have a weapon more dangerous than anything they can throw at me...”

 

Glancing up at the wall in this study, Craven notes a framed diploma hanging from the wall from Iowa State University. On it, the words “Psychology” appear, pertaining to Craven’s college major.

 

“...my mind.”

 

A flash of lightning illuminates the room, followed by a loud peal of thunder as Craven stares at the screen, focused on the image of Van Siclen with the US Title... HIS US Title...

 

“I’ll push you to the edge, Van Siclen... and just when victory is in your grasp... I’ll break you in two.”

 

He places the notebook aside, folding his hands in his lap as he meditates on the thought of destroying Van Siclen and getting back his title...

 

“Everyone has their own worst nightmare.”

 

Craven’s expressionless lips curl upwards as thoughts, dark thoughts, roll through his mind.

 

“And after Battleground, Mike Van Siclen...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...you will know yours.”

[Guest Ace309]

(Keith) Perfectly Acceptable Promoing™

 

Although, as always, you've sort of tacked on a bit of history to make things convenient (and here I'm talking about the Psych major). I'm telling you, you need to set Craven's past in stone, once and for all, because what Craven does makes a lot more sense when you know it.

 

And thank you for not having a Cael Sanderson cameo.

[Guest Insanityman]

Well... this has held my interest, but it truly irks me how Ash just suddenly has done something just for the sake of a certain plotline (this time would be refering to the major), like Tom said you need to set his past in stone so we can avoid anything esle like this.

 

 

Having said that, it was a good, entertaining promo and I 'd like to see how Ash breaks MVS down.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

Consider Craven's roots as Ash, I personally would have been more amused by a degree in, say, East Asian Women's Studies, but I suppose this works too.

 

I'm interested to see how a mindgames approach works for two wrestlers who are generally more flash and destruction. Zing.