Post by hardcorehammer24 on Jul 29, 2022 15:38:32 GMT -5
Cameras pan in to show replay footage of Cruiserfest match of XHF Overheated. Darlene Price is knocking Ken Howard on his ass, knocking his tooth out. Howard struggles to regain momentum and reaches his hand out to his partner, Natasha. But instead of tagging, she stares coldly at Howard as he is dragged back into the ring…back into his own personal hell as Price pulls him back…
The camera pauses on the agonized face of Ken Howard, then rewinds back to play over again. Cameras pull back to show the action on a small television set. “Sweet Baby” Ken Howard is sitting on a powder blue pleather loveseat, swigging a pint can of lager with shaking hands. Lifting the cold brew to his mouth, you can see a small gap where a once perfect smile was.
Bruised, swollen, broken…Ken Howard sits and he watches his failure. Joachin Tellum slips into the room and stares at the depressing scene before him.
Tellum: You look rough S.B. Can’t say I didn’t warn you though…XHF bitches be crazy.
Howard: You see this television? This was the screen that started it all…where I studied my first wrestling match. From this screen, I developed my craft…a whole new reality opened to me, and in that moment, my life showed promise of a new start.
Howard rewinds the scene once again and takes another swig.
Howard: Never again, Joachin…never again will I be made a fool of! I am swearing off women for good. I am now a proud He-Man Woman Hater! I tell you this, when the XHF is made great again, and I hold the X-Crown one day, we are going to be a full-on patriarchy. The Amazons, or whatever ultra-feminist name those bitches are calling themselves, better be ready to hightail it back to the kitchen to make me a fucking sandwich. Natasha may have lit the fuse, but all these bitches Zolothach, Olympia, Sinclair…they are all going to pay!
Tellum: Did you see what Julianna DiMaria had to say about you? She basically said you were older than anyone in W:UK!
Howard: DiMaria? It was a mistake to put her on the same card, let alone the same match as the “Sweet Baby.” She talks a good deal about the roster here, but has no idea what us “fogies” are capable of.
She has a point, though, I am of an old-school approach. I miss the days of absurd gimmicks…of wrestlers that were willing not only put their bodies and their souls into the sport, but were willing to nearly embarrass themselves for a paycheck with completely hideous attire. Nothing FABU like this. Hey young lady..look up Randy Savage…the Ultimate Warrior, Jake the Fucking snake for Christ’s sake. The gimmicks are the soul of the Pro-Wrestling legacy, and a plastic dude is far more tame than some of the legends of our profession.
I came back from retirement because I was ready to forgive myself. Before I left RSW, I had lost my best friend and the love of my life. I had not felt heartbreak like that since the wife and kids left. Holding that repeated trauma for many years…it messes with ya.’ But I wouldn’t expect an entitled young punk like DiMaria to understand. Keep making age jokes, and you will find this “old fossil” will end your career in one insignificant moment.
Tellum: She mentioned Erebus as well. She is fairly certain that she is going to knock both of you on your asses. To be honest, I have my money on that as well, S.B, unless you pull it together.
Tellum attempts to remove the pint from Howard’s reach, but Ken quickly grabs his arm and pushes it away.
Howard: The fuck? You stay away from that…Erebus?! You mean pathetic Chris Gibson! That shithead goes around throwing out names with nothing to show for it, dude. Pete Medland and I never saw eye to eye on anything, but at least he had raw talent. PT Merciless was a caliber of wrestler that no one on this roster could ever match to. You really thought he could match that? Instead he made the young foolish move of arrogance in turning his back on Medland, the one person that could have helped his status, and then bragging about it like some sort of icon.
By this point Howard has lost all sense of perspective, ranting in a drunken stupor.
Howard: The mop dude, Gibson? Really? Shane Mitchell is dead and gone, a remnant of a bygone era. I can assure you, despite your comical retellings, the kindly reverend did not contract you to come back to wrestling as you have implied. Factions of Mitchell’s holy war still remain…just look at that braindead farmer on the card still trying to fight his long winded battles for “the soul of the federation”…these zealots will eventually die out with the mopite legends. Erebus was a joke, a one-time Legacy champion, reduced within weeks to a bottom of the barrel jobber that was too lazy to even show up. No, Gibson, if you want to earn that respected name, you are gonna have to get through me and prove that you even have an iota of PT Merciless in you.
But, there is something that we can both relate to, Gibby...we both know what it’s like to get beat down. People always criticize those that they don’t understand, there are people like PT Merciless, or Rob Riot, or hell if we are going to throw out old names…your old rival RB Cardone…men who get rewarded generously for relatively little effort. They get by on pure talent, but not us…we fight and fight to the death, and for one reason or another get buried. That is why when we ultimately hold up that belt, even if we are unfairly considered a low or middle card, we hold it close to our chests, close to our hearts. Because despite the odds, we overcame the obscurity.
A sly smile comes over Howard’s face, showing a toothless grin.
Howard: …Except this time it will be me Chris. You had your time as Erebus. You were the butt of everyone’s jokes and still became Legacy champion out of shear luck. The Sweet Baby has been laughed at from the moment he walked into an arena…but no one will be laughing soon enough. I will show everyone that I will be a champion even if I have to tear apart each and every man and woman on this roster. In Nottingham, Ken Howard will be robbing from your pocket to line my own, Chris. Are you man enough to take me on?
Howard stands, mimicking fighting poses, but falls almost instantly to the loveseat. He creeps his hand out to reach for one last swig of lager, but falls back.
Howard: ...And one...more...thing...DiMaria, I may not be...the smartest man...alive, but at least...I know it’s called...a “Pterodactyl...” you...bitch! Tah tah losers…
Cameras fade out.