PROMO: Reflections

[Toxxic 0]

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.”

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Wow. That was fucking good.

 

A good promo creates options. With this combo summary/illumination, you've opened up a multitude of different paths to take after the PPV, regardless of whether you win or lose. Awesome. I haven't been able to keep up with the fed much but I am keeping up with this angle, and I'm really looking forward to that main event.

[Toxxic 0]

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

[Dace59 0]

Ohhhhh...the plot does thicken. Even if you're not the first person to use the whole...using alter ego he doesn't really want to thing. Still it's a very good insight into Toxxic's mind and how he thinks and how he really wants to be.

[Guest Horse hockey!]

That was really..

 

Wow.

 

It was deep.