Promo: Mentors...

[Guest kelloggs]

Edwin MacPhisto briskly walks about the backstage area giving a cheery hello to Junior League wrestlers and staff as he drinks from a half full cup of strawberry daiquiri. Senior SWF cameraman Gus rails off a quick hello allowing Edwin to turn around and jovially joke with him. As they finish catching up Edwin takes a last sip of his fruity concoction and goes on about his way. The Junior League commission turns a corner and comes upon his office. Edwin unlocks the door to the sanctuary that is his room and steps inside, looking in the direction of his daiquiri mix and equipment. The room is a standard office, nothing too out of the ordinary except for a couple of framed pictures on his desk. Two easy chairs, some Midnight Carnival shot glasses on a small bar table and two swivel chairs behind and in front of an old oak desk. The pictures consist of a shot of Edwin and then “King of Hearts” The Suicide King, with his arm around King’s shoulder. A group picture of the current Midnight Carnival stable. And finally, a poignant picture of mentor Mark Stevens standing behind a kneeling Edwin MacPhisto.

 

“It’s funny…”

 

Edwin’s head swivels to the right and an audible sigh can be heard escaping his lips as the chair behind his desk rotates to face him. He goes back to his daiquiri mixing not even acknowledging the young mans presence for the time being.

 

“You say your office is always open but…”

 

Although briefly annoyed at the thought of a Junior Leaguer propping his feet on his desk Edwin continues to mix his drink.

 

Edwin: “Don’t you have a match to get ready for today son?”

 

“Matches aren’t as important as spending quality time with your commissioner. Nothings as important as that…”

 

Edwin finishes mixing his drink and slowly paces towards the desk still not acknowledging the intruder. He waits for the person expectantly but the figure just stares at a picture on the desk. Edwin points to his feet and starts to speak…

 

Edwin: “Do you mind? You’re sitting at the adults table and the kiddies table’s over there.”

 

The figure takes his wheat timberland boots off the desk and stifles a chuckle before turning dead serious.

 

“Have a seat.”

 

Edwin: “You don’t want me to mix you up a daiquiri? I know you might not be over the legal age to drink but most people have drunk something before they’re twenty-one.”

 

“Sit the FUCK down!”

 

Edwin shakes his head a little while snickering and sits taking a sip from his new snifter. He grabs a coaster and places the cup on top of it. Mak Francis looks on at the scene with a superior smirk.

 

Edwin: “Well this is a surprise. I expected Poisyn to come by but not you.”

 

Francis: “Poisyn’s having a discussion with a few people about some things but I thought that you and I could have a heart to heart.”

 

Edwin: “Because…”

 

Francis: “Because you’ve been holding the sWo down and you’ve been holding me down for to long.”

 

Edwin: [almost whispered] “Because I’ve been holding you down…”

 

Edwin then goes silent as if hit by déjà vu but quickly regains his composure shaking of his bemused look. Realizing he has yet to look Francis in the face he spins a full 360 degrees on his swivel chair and smiles at him with an amused look staring straight into his brown eyes.

 

Edwin: “I’ve heard this before. It’s like a broken record of “Summer in the City”. And soon it’ll fade into the background.”

 

Francis: “Broken records are funny though. They continue to play over and over until you just accept the truth of their lyrics.”

 

Edwin: “Or just turn the record player off.”

 

Francis’s eyes shift from Edwin’s in what may be perceived as nervousness as he chuckles under his breath looking about the room. He spots a picture and starts to speak still not looking at Edwin.

 

Francis: “So how’s Mags? I heard he ran into a little trouble with our manager.”

 

Edwin: “No matter how much you want to be, you are not Wilson. So you got something to say…say it. And if not get out.”

 

Francis still wary to look at Edwin continues to speak.

 

Francis: “Let’s get back to the matter at hand.”

 

Edwin: ”There is no matter at hand Mak.”

 

Francis: “Why will I have to defend my title three straight shows? I succeeded for two shows in a row and now you have me facing that seven-foot lanky bastard again. Why’s that?”

 

Edwin: “It is the TV title. It really should be defended ever TV show. And I don’t really agree with the manner that you won that bloody match in particular.”

 

Edwin takes another sip and smiles from the amount of time it takes Francis to come up with a rebuttal.

 

Francis: ”So was it just my imagination or did a Canadian idiot get a shot at the European Title? My bad…two synonyms like Canadian and idiot right after each other make for bad grammar.”

 

Edwin: “You mean C.I.A?”

 

Francis: “Him or deKindess. They’re both crowd popping machines with no real ability. What has Tod deKindess ever done, huh Edwin? All he’s done is pop the crowd and get a win over Thompson…I’ve done that ten fold because I took his title. The title of the longest reigning SJL Television-”

 

Edwin: “So we’ve moved up from MacPhisto to Edwin now. I’m glad to know that we’ve become more personal Mak. And Tod deKindess has held the European title and holds a victory over our current world champion. Is that enough?”

 

Francis: “And Canadian Intelligence…bah that’s an oxymoron…what has he done.”

 

Edwin: “Well he won a #1 contenders match-“

 

Francis: “That’s bullshit and you know it. How does a rookie get a Euro Title shot after two matches, one of which he didn’t even win. I’ll tell you how. If he can pop the crowd like a cherry it’s guaranteed in his contract. And the coup d’etat is that, that green rookie received a shot over me! If anyone should have made that match a triple threat it should have been the man that beat TNT. You only gave it to him because the crowd falls prey to his silly antics. He’s just like Z and X Force 9. But you can’t stop the sWo much longer Edwin. You can indefinitely suspend Flexxx and we’ll bounce back. You can ban the sWo from ringside in matches but we’ll still win. Poisyn will still win and I’ll still win and our new member Y2K will still win until we all get the respect we deserve. From you and those fans out there!

 

Edwin: When will you understand? I’ll give you some pre match wisdom for the road. You ready for this Mak. Go out there and prove you’re worthy of a Euro Title shot by defeating your opponents in the ring. You are the SJL Television Champion. My Champions don’t walk around the back talking about I hate this and I hate that. None of them bitch and moan! That’s the way a green rookie that doesn’t know his place acts and you’re supposedly not green, right? Anything can be anybody’s fault if you put the right spin on it!

 

Edwin looks surprised at himself for a minute as he realizes he’s said that phrase before. He looks down at the drink in his hand in contemplation while Francis ponders on his words.

 

Francis: “You know…you and Mr. Wilson are pretty much the same. If I didn’t hate you more than life itself, I’d have asked you to be my mentor.”

 

Edwin MacPhisto looks troubled as he yells for the first time in this confrontation.

 

Edwin: “WILSON AND I ARE NOTHIING ALIKE…”

 

Francis jumps at the outburst and has a look of fear in his eyes, which he quickly tries to cover up, but doesn’t do a good job of. Edwin’s face turns from being pissed to something like insecurity. He looks at the cup of strawberry daiquiri he slammed to the table and it now has a slight crack in it causing the slush to seep out.

 

Edwin: “I’m nothing bloody like him…you got that…now get out…”

 

Francis slowly gets up to leave still a little shell-shocked but first grabs a photo from off his desk and studies it. Edwin looks up in a questioning manner. Francis looks down at Edwin and speaks in a sincere tone.

 

Francis: “That’s a nice picture. You should really get it a better frame though…”

 

Francis places the photo back on the table in front of Edwin as he walks out nervously glancing back at his JL commissioner as he goes. Edwin just stares at the photo of himself and Grand Slam Mark Stevens as Francis closes the door behind him.

[Guest Insane Clown Dan]

Edwin: “I’ve heard this before. It’s like a broken record of “Summer in the City”. And soon it’ll fade into the background.”

 

Francis: “Broken records are funny though. They continue to play over and over until you just accept the truth of their lyrics.”

 

Edwin: “Or just turn the record player off.”

 

Ah, that is a very good analogy you used. This promo r0xx0rz mein s0xx0rz!

 

Don't worry Mak. Nobody can hold down the Franchise bucks

[Guest DiabloIIFreak1010]

Nicley done, Mak...

 

Nicley done, 'boy. I like the promo alot. I think we've got a contender for JL Promo of the year...

[Guest Rabbi_wilson13]

Haha...I love it!

 

That's great, Mak. Really good stuff. This just happened to be the latest post on the main board, so I stumbled onto it. Glad I did, because that was some excellent stuff.

[Guest SupaTaft]

and now you have me facing that seven-foot lanky bastard again.

Just so you know, Thor isn't lanky, he's very well built. Think Brock Lesner... except bigger.

Anyways... umm good promo. Written like a movie script. Nice job.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

Kick-ass, Mak! I knew you would do a good job, but seriously, that's one of the best promos I've read in a while. Awesome, awesome stuff.

[Guest kelloggs]

I know Taft it was just there for dramatic effect, no disrespect meant. And I have to thank Edwin for pointing me in the direction of Wilson's promo, which I stole a line or two from and for responding to my PM when he could have just let it slide.

 

And myself for just shifting a couple of words from my promo two shows ago.

 

I'm sorry I couldn't help it.

[Guest chirs3]

That was really good - you nailed Edwin dead on, and I too liked the analogy that ICD pointed out. That ending was pretty nifty too.

 

If this is any indication, you may be fueding with Wilson over the "Most Resembles a Bond Villain" title in the WF!

[Guest Rabbi_wilson13]

Raynor, he's blown NOTHING up yet. Hasn't used Rock Em, Sock Em robots or evil stuffed monkeys. I'll work with him. B)

 

These JLers are good. The next few PPVs should be pretty bump-heavy if your TV Champ can promo like this.

 

And Thor, you're taking this thing way too seriously. Waaaay to seriously.

[Guest midnight_burn]

A damn good promo there, one of the better ones i've read in quite a while.

[Guest Tod deKindes]

Great promo.

 

Not to be a bitch though, but what's so hard about spelling my name correctly?

[Guest Listen2Reason]

Okay, I gotta get one thing out of the way first...I don't like script format. eheh. And the reason I don't is because sometimes it's hard to tell what sort of emotion someone is speaking in. Like in Francis' big "This is bullshit/if they can pop the crowd/you can't keep the sWo down" speech...it goes on for so long that it almost runs down into monotone. So basically my feeling was that you should have broken that one up a bit.

 

That aside, though, I think the promo was really good. I think you tapped into some nice conflicting emotions there...Francis is insecure, wanting to prove himself, but also wanting to verbally punk Edwin out. However, Edwin's emotions get played on because he wonders if he's really doing the right thing. And the idea of "mentors" was just great. All of that was handled in a skillful and believable fashion...You could really imagine the wheels turning in both their heads. So, good work.

 

...oh, and one other thing; I think you meant 'coup de grace'. ;

[Guest kelloggs]

So true Fugue. I did mean coup de grace. And you make a good point about script format. It's just that the last good writing I did was in Drama class[my throw away course, which was mad fun] in this style. But I can't let messing up tod's name slide. So sorry Tod .

 

M. "it's deKindes you idiot" Francis

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

JLers giving each constructive criticism. WFers commenting on the promos. Many replies. Good promoage.

 

I like this whole dealie.

[Guest SupaTaft]

And Thor, you're taking this thing way too seriously. Waaaay to seriously.

I just wasn't sure if he knew that I wasn't skinny. And how am I taking it too seriously?