Promo: Survival Of The Fittest

[Guest Ash Ketchum]

...

 

 

 

“...640 days...”

 

A quick blakc and white clip of a man lifting weights buzzes on screen as he grunts, trying to lift the barbell before the clip abruptly ends, cutting to black and the voice again...

 

“...921,600 minutes...”

 

Another black and white clip, this of a man’s sillhouette running back and forth down a hallway, doing a shuttle run, his heavy breath and steps the only sounds we hear as the clip cuts out to black...

 

“...55,296,000 seconds...”

 

Back to another black and white shot of the man. The man is bent-over, hands on his knees, taking heavy breaths before he pulls his head up, revealing himself to be Michael Craven. The Nightmare stares into the screen, half in a daze as his voice adresses us over the image.

 

“...That’s how long I spent in that wretched shell... that shell that held back my true power... my true nature... ”

 

Quick shots and clips of Craven in the JL, back when he was someone else... someone whom he does not like to bring up anymore. Suddenly, on one shot, the picture freezes, turning to black and white before holding for several seconds. Then, we see flames rising up from the bottom, slowly engulfing the picture on the screen as The Nightmare’s voice comes over the speakers again.

 

“But that shell has been discarded and crushed. It is dead, and will never restrain me again...”

 

Another shot of Craven, this one in color. He is slowly sitting up, sweat dripping off his brow as he straightens his back out. His face shows confidence and intent.

 

“It will never keep me from evolving...”

 

At that moment, the instrumental version of DMX’s “Intro” kicks up over the speakers as we see shots of all kinds of places: forests with waterfalls, the downtown areas of major cities, deserts, beaches, and frozen Arctic tundra.

 

“Evolution is necessary for life. Survival of the fittest, as Darwin called it. It’s been going on for thousands of years. Organisms evolve; ecosystems evolve; societies evolve. It’s nature’s way of selection, and in it, there are two basic groups: Those that evolve, and those that don’t.”

 

A quick montage pops up beofre the next voice-over, showing many species that live today on the planet: humans, bears, tigers, sharks, and ants are some of the few appearing.

 

“The ones who evolve survive, living to multiply in future generations where they will thrive.”

 

Another montage, this one of dinosaurs of all kinds. T-rex, stegosaurus, brachiosaurus, triceratops, velocitraptor, pteradon: they all show up sometime during the montage.

 

“Those who don’t...”

 

The screen goes black again, the music stopping as the sound of wind overrides everything, the screen fading in to the picture of a desert, a dinosaur fossil of a T-rex skull in the center of the picture.

 

“...are wiped out of existence.”

 

The screen fades out staying back for a second. Then, the song kicks back in as Craven appears on the screen in a clip of him, standing in the ring, looking out at the stage.

 

“But I chose not to be in that second group, who is driving this federation to its doom, who is leeching off my misery and will soon pay for it, but that first group...”

 

Various shots and clips of Craven hitting some of his signature moves are shown at this time, showing The Nightmare in all his glory.

 

“...The innovators, the dreamers, and me...”

 

More shots of Craven hitting various moves on opponents, intermixed with a few pins and poses atop the turnbuckle.

 

“I will blaze a path or glory like my heroes before hand:”

 

As each name is spoken, a few seconds of footage of the men wrestling combined with close-ups, are shown.

 

“Jayson Grant, the man who gave me my job...”

 

 

 

“Pimp Daddy Sarp, the first true genius of the SWF...”

 

 

 

“The original Neilsen of The Jungle, King of the Motherf**king Jungle...”

 

 

 

“Sacred, a man who never got the praise he deserved...”

 

 

 

“The Hville Thugg you grew to hate, not the pathetic one who ‘came back’ from his neck injury...”

 

 

 

“Spider Nekura, a man whom few could defeat and few understood...”

 

 

 

“Chris Wilson, THE maniacal mastermind and manipulator...”

 

 

 

“And my ‘mentor’, the greatest wrestler of all time in the SWF: Suicide King...”

 

As that montage ends, we go back to shots of Craven, training hard. He is squatting weights, another man coaching him on as he continues to lift the heavy weights.

 

“The stage is set, the time is now, the place is here...”

 

More shots of a focused Craven, now doing sit-ups as the man in the background counts from some partially-audible number upwards.

 

“You can smell it in the air... but you can’t stop it.”

 

Craven is now outside, jogging, that same man on a bicycle with a megaphone, yelling at him as he pedals alongside the jogging Craven. The Nightmare’s breaths are hard again, sweat still dripping from his face as his warm-up gear starts to stick to his skin from the sweat.

 

“You can hear it coming... but you can’t stop it.”

 

Craven is back inside, practicing in the ring against two other wrestlers. One charges at him, but Craven lands a hard kick into his face, causing him to fall to the mat. The other comes flying at Craven for a cross-body, but The Nightmare catches him and powerslams him to the mat, getting up just in time to dodge a dropkick from the frist wrestler as he tries to fight off both men.

 

“You can feel it all around you... but you can’t stop it. It’s too late now.”

 

“Intro” ends, a loud explosion sound echoing as the screen cuts to black. Soon, we see a fading-in shot of Michael Craven’s face smiling, and for the first time, he speaks in real time.

 

“The evolution has started... and the only question is...”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Can you adapt to it...”

 

 

 

 

 

 

“...Or will you face extinction?”

 

 

Craven smirks, chuckling under his breath as the screen slowly fades away into the blackness and silence from whence it came...

[Guest 5_moves_of_doom]

I'm scared.

 

Good promo.

[Guest chirs3]

Why don't more people do video-package promos? That was really good, Craven!

[Guest Ash Ketchum]

Ka-bump, ka-bump.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

Well shit. That was awesome.

 

It's a simple concept, but it worked really well. The "narration" in italics are spliced well with the video bits, as nothing goes on for too long. Aside from technique, I think this promo did a lot more for something that's always seemed to be one of Ash/Craven's goals--to become a legend--than any other individual piece you've written. Now just take this character to the ring as best you can, and good on ya.