XHF Dark Ages: Trapped [Part 3 of a Series]

[Dave D-Flipz]

*We open up on a familiar black room with a white screen located in the center. Once again into the frame steps XHF’s NUMBA ONE announcer and lovable scamp Funaki*

: It is dat time again XHF fans. To step into da time machine of archive footage …

*He stops and looks around as if he heard a noise.*

: Um Funaki will just play it safe this time, Nelly wasn’t here so … he might come back.

*Funaki walks to the camera and sets up a tape and a teleprompter. He inputs the video he was about to run and then leaves through the door. We hear him sprinting down the steps as the elevator dings. In walks XHF Interviewer extraordinaire Nelly Angel.*

: Oh hey a new episode is ready? *coughs* Ok then let me get set here.

*Nelly steps into the camera center and fixes his outfit. He holds up a microphone and slips back into his routine as he has done so often.*

: Hello ladies and gentlemen. For the past six years things have been quiet around the XHF. There's been no new footage coming out and no shows being done. Truly it has been a dark time. However, now with the XHF Network launching, you’re hopefully seeing that the XHF hasn’t died completely, it just took a sabbatical. In fact, while you haven’t seen anything, the wheels of time have continued to turn with all your favorite superstars here and at headquarters as well.

*The camera angle shifts and Nelly turns to face it*

: Today we take a look back at one of the most beloved superstars of the XHF and even pre-dating his time there. He was a multi-time champion and XHF has managed to cobble together this footage over the entirety of the last eight years of this amazing competitor. … So … here is the story of a superstar and good friend. .. wait this doesn’t sound like Mongo. Mongo hated this guy. Hey can we get a check in the truck on this script I think …

*Nelly’s audio fades as the camera zooms into the screen and we enter into the video. The image starts on a lonely bowler’s hat on a table and zooms out to show we are just recently passed the XHF’s end at some sort of event … a convention? Book signing? One of those. We zoom out to a line of giddy fans and a smiling man with a familiar smirk signing copies of his book. … And because someone’s photoshop skills are rusty you will have to imagine that book’s appearance, sorry.*

: Hey kid how’s it going? Glad to see some friendly faces. Enjoy the book. Next!

*A happy kid skips away and up walks a man. A … strangely familiar man.*

: How’s it going sir?

: How’s it going? Look at how smug you are. This … all of this. You can’t just be out of the limelight for two seconds can you?

: I’m sorry?

: You didn’t even work for the XHF at the last comeback and yet you are capitalizing on the hard work of those in the locker room to make a living for yourself because the spotlight has to be on you. Main Attraction showing now right? I mean you stole that whole gimmick from Venom after he kicked your ass hard and your popularity cratered.

: Now that’s hardly fair I’m loved in the locker room.

: No you had FRIENDS who liked you, people beneath your level who tolerated you because of wrestling etiquette and a WHOLE SLEW of people who hated your guts. You don’t even know who I am or was do you?

: Enhancement talent?

: I was a member of a prominent team that had a following and because of guys like you and Venom and Gravedigger and Mongo hogging the spotlight, guys like me got turned into “enhancement talent”

: … Ok look Billy …

: Alex.

: Right sure, I’m sure I’d remember you if you ever worked for XHF, I’m a good guy and a well-respected veteran. I’m known for my likability and locker room presence.

: And a history of head and neck injuries.

: I don’t see how that matters, my memory is fine.

*He makes a familiar expression

And DT’s eyes go wide*

: Oh… crap … um … yeah McCloud … I remember you.

*He looks down a bit pensive.*

: I’m sure it’s just a fluke. You weren’t THAT popular. I mean it’s a reasonable slip to make.

: I don’t know if I should stay angry or just feel sad for you.

*McCloud walks away with his signed book … made out to Tim. And DT just goes on autopilot signing books and looking worried as the scene fades.*

: Signs of decline? Let’s continue further into the past … or rather a bit closer to the present … for our next dive into the fall of a former great.

*We fade back in on DT sitting on a park bench alone. He has his head in his hands. The cameraman drops the camera to move where he won’t be seen and we are treated to ten seconds of purple pants before we see from behind a tree another man approach the bench and sit down.*

: I’m not that much of a glory hog am I? I mean I know I can be a little attention starved but I just wanted to entertain and give something back. Didn’t I? The fans always loved me.

: Yeah … and that was your design. You couldn’t even play the bad guy for too long. You always needed that love and adoration. Dude face it, I’m for friend so I’ll be honest. You weren’t hooked on the business, or the money, or the fun. You were in it for fame plain and simple. It’s like you needed it to survive.

: I kept coming back because the fans loved me.

: My point. Most people would have said, “I loved the fans” but you spun it around. How many times did you come back from injury too soon because you couldn’t deal with being out of the limelight? How many times did it put you back on the shelf?

: No … I just felt better, this was my profession, I loved the thrill of competition.

: Look, it’s not a bad thing it’s just who you are but now it’s becoming your crutch and it’s going to seriously affect the rest of your life. We’re in our forties man, you can’t keep going out there and doing this. Retirement has probably saved your brain.

: I … I don’t think I know how to function outside of wrestling, and the fame.

: Well you better learn. You cannot keep going at this anymore. ECF is long buried, XHF is dead now too. I can’t stop you from going somewhere else or the indies or whatever but you need to look at why you are alone. Really take some time and look at your life man. Is it worth it to keep destroying yourself just to hear a few fans cheer? They already love you for what you did in the past. Times change, people move on. You need to catch up with the rest of us.

*Gravedigger stands and walks away.*

: I mean I’m sure I can find a few old friends and rivals to have a few more matches, charity events or something. For the good of the kids.

*DT doesn’t seem to realize GD is gone and he has shifted his focus*

: This is why I am here right? To put on the show, to win titles and make fools tap out.

*We fade out again.*

: Truly a shocking story but it gets worse. We have to warn our younger viewers of the mature subject matter of the following segment.

*Fade in on what looks like a tape of a funeral. There are a ton of people here to pay respects as we zoom in past the gravestones. The tape seems to be professionally done and we pan across the crowd and see a man with long hair and his beautiful Hispanic wife dressed in black. Obviously close to the deceased. There are a few more larger men, a man in a suit and hat with a cane, two men wearing purple and brown pants and suit jackets respectively, and on the end of the row is a man in a bowler hat in a tuxedo. The service appears to have ended and we watch DT walk up to the grave.*

: You know … I … I never figured this day would come. I didn’t know how to react, whether to believe it. Despite all we went through in the ring you were always a good friend in the back to me. I wish I could have seen the signs found some way to help but … I … myself… have been facing some demons. I’m not sure if I would have been able to help had I seen it. I thought if anyone would be able to understand what I’m going through it’d be you but … I wasn’t fast enough.

*he sits down*

: I don’t know why I didn’t reach out sooner or stay in touch. Maybe it’s the issues I’ve been having or maybe I just got caught up in my own addiction. My need to stay relevant to stay in the eyes of the public. But … I will miss you buddy. Just make sure not to drop a BANG on St. Peter okay?

*he lays down some flowers and stands up. He walks past the men in the colorful outfits and the other wrestlers over to the man in black, Curtis Kanyon. He begins to talk to him and they hug as we fade out. We cut back in to DT sitting in a doctor’s office. The camera appears to be on a person sitting in the waiting room with him. DT doesn’t seem to be aware of the filming going on nor does anyone else but the cameraman appears to be with DT.*

: I don’t know why they sent me here. I’m perfectly fine. I don’t get what this has to do with me getting back in the ring.

*A doctor approaches*

Doctor: Mr. Carloni we have some bad news. Your brain is showing some very worrying signs of concussion syndrome and possibly worse degradation. As your doctor I cannot give you clearance to set foot in the ring. Never again.

: My doctor?

Doctor: *sigh* Yes you’ve been coming here for years sir. That is what I mean. Your memory is shaky. You lose random events and quite frankly the mood swings are a sign as well.

*DT stands up*

: You are trying to tell me I can never do what I love again? This isn’t just my livelihood it’s my life!

Doctor: Sir you have been smart with your money, you haven’t touched your account from the last run with XHF. You are not in desperate need of wrestling dates to pay the bills.

: I … what? I have money … But I didn’t …

*He sits down flummoxed*

Doctor: Never again. If you want to live to see 50 and more importantly be able to enjoy your life … you have to quit. Write more books, teach, find a hobby. Just nothing that will impact your head.

*The doctor leaves, the camera man walks to the seat next to DT, we catch a glimpse of a calendar – October 2015*

: I don’t get it. I’ve always tried to be a good person, to entertain. To do right by people. I haven’t seen my best friend in years … I lost my rival … and now I’m losing my career and my mind. I'm lost and alone, trapped inside my own brain, my own shell of a body. I feel worthless, hopeless, broken ... abandoned ... What did I do to deserve this?

*The cameraman wraps a brown clad arm around DT as DT grasps his golden chain that he has always worn. He hand moves to the other necklace, an Italian staple, a simple crucifix. He holds it cupped between both hands and begins to weep into his hands as we fade out. We cut back to Nelly.*

: Time marches on here for those of us who walked the halls of the XHF. Some have handled things better than others. We can only hope that the legends of this company continue to overcome the hardships that befall them. We’ll be back next time with more looks into the Dark Ages.

*He walks away as the screen has an In Memoriam: Chris Kanyon emblazoned on it, part of the tape that Funaki had left in the projector.*