Poke the Bull (Tilted Cartridges Tag RP}

[The Dunne Deal]

Wellington Dunne sits in a chair, a look of utter disgust on his face, as well as a very obvious black eye.

Dunne: "Damn it, we were so close. We almost had them."

Dunne repeatedly slams his fist into the arm of the chair, until a voice from the other side of the room is heard.

Voice: "Will you stop your incessant whining already, you bitch more than a woman."

The camera pans around to find Dunne's tag partner Cheez standing in the corner of the room. Dunne looks up from his chair.

Dunne: "Say that again!"

Cheez: "I didn't stutter. You bitch more than a woman."

Dunne stands up and gets in Cheez's face.

Dunne: "Kid, don't forget I helped make you, and I can end you faster than any tag team in the entire XHF Network."

Cheez cocks his head slightly.

Cheez: "I'm sorry you made me Dunne? I think that blow to your head has made you a little delusional. See according to the internet, and according to the thousands of viewers, I have nightly on Twitch. I was a made man long before I decided to become a professional wrestler. I didn't do this to validate my existence. Which is the one thing that you constantly have to do. You have to find some sort of validation as to why you do this. That is your biggest problem. You've always told me that my biggest weakness, was the simple fact that I didn't believe in myself. Despite everyone around me doing so. You told me countless times, that I was my own worst enemy. You told me, the only person that could ever beat me, could ever stop me from achieving my dreams and my goals was myself. And, yet when somebody tells you that. You snap at them. You get defensive You get angry. You're a strong man. You've got strength and power that most men would kill for, but you blame everybody else for your problems. You blame everyone in the world for all your shortcomings. And, you don't take any of the blame for yourself."

Dunne snaps back.

Dunne: "That's not true. That's not true at all, and you fucking know it.

Cheez: "Really? It's not true? When you struggled in AXW you blamed Anthony Caffrey. When you struggled in AWF, you blamed all the members of The Saga. You blamed Joe Nobody. You blamed Monroe. You even blamed your fucking brother-in-law, and that's how you are. That's how you've always been, and it's been the one thing holding you back from achieving greatness since you started your career. Trust me, I've done the research, Dunne. And, now here you are once again beating yourself up. Because you were so close to becoming XHF Tag Team Champion."

Dunne looks like he's ready to rip Cheez's head off.

Cheez: "And, let me guess. You're going to blame me for losing this match, when he was you who got your head kicked in. It was you who got knocked the fuck out, not me. And yet, somehow you're going to find some way to say that most of our losses were my fault."

Dunne: "Don't put words in my mouth."

Cheez: "Too late, and guess what? I'll admit that a lot of our losses in the past were my fault, but not this one. You're to blame, show after show, week after week, month after month, you have come to me and you have given me words of encouragement to keep me fighting. And keep me doing this, without ever paying attention your'goddamn'self. you never take heed of the advice you give me. You don't listen to the words of wisdom you give me, because they would help you. I think it was the game..."

Cheez pauses to think for a second.

Cheez: "I believe it was a Far Cry game... I want to say Far Cry 3, which gave the famous line. The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again hoping to get a different outcome. Somewhere along the lines of that? I may have paraphrased a bit. But that's what you do Dunne. You try the same thing over and over and over and over again. You beat the horse so dead it's glue, and yet you never learned the lesson you're so eager to teach me, but you don't learn it yourself.

Dunne: But, dude? Dude we almost had them. We almost..."

Cheez: "Almost only counts in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades. There is no almost in this business, you've been in it, and you've done this long enough to know there are no almosts. See that's your problem Dunne, it's something that's bugged you your entire career. When you're a solo artist, when you stand alone, you are unstoppable. I've seen the footage I saw the match where you shocked the world in GWA and won the International Championship. I saw the rematch. I saw you take a barbed wire bat and break it over your thigh like it was a toothpick. I saw you in Destiny in a strap match beat a man like he owes you money. By yourself Dunne you are an unstoppable monster. You have the strength that most people in this business would kill for. And if you don't believe me then watch footage of your old matches. Seriously, find one other person that I know of. That I can find footage of online, easily of another man besides you to actually lift the monster they called Dreadvan off his feet. I mean? I'm sure there are probably others that did it, but you did it with ease. See when you're by yourself. It's like you're a monster unchained. The Beast has been let loose. The Glasgow Bull runs wild all over everyone, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it. But, when you're in a stable, or you're in a tag team. You become the weak link. You either do all of the work, or you do none of the work. And, you don't have to. You have a hard time finding a balance between what to do and what not to do. You either do too much or not enough. And that's... And that's the truth. Yes, I know that what I'm saying might be painful, and might be hurtful, and it might get to you a little bit. But, damn it, Dunne. Sometimes it is like you said to me. Sometimes people need to hear the truth, and it's not the truth they want to hear. It's the truth that they need to hear. And, well damn it Dunne. You need to hear this. Why do you think I agreed to face The Twins in a Texas Death Match? Hell, why do you think I added the Last Team Standing stipulation to the match? Cuz, I want to see you get angry. I want you to see them beat the holy hell out of me, and have them have to drag me on a stretch to the back, and for you and that fucking primitive animal brain of yours to click in. And you lay waste to all in front of you. That's how much I want to win. That's how much I want to get back to winning. Is the fact that I'm willing to throw my body, my career, and my health into a fucking blender with two maniacs, just to get you that angry. So again that you absolutely lay waste to all that lay before you. And I don't mean just the twins. I don't mean just those moronic buffoons. I don't care who you hurt, I don't anymore. Take the twins out. Take out the referee, the ring announcer, the timekeeper, the announcers, and the people in the audience. I don't care.

Dunne: "But that would get us...

Cheez: "Stop worrying about fines and money. You sit here and you overanalyze every little detail of everything you've ever done. You question if your wins are valid. You think that your losses were the system using you. No one, and I repeat, no one's against you, except yourself. You spent all this time talking about building up my self-esteem and my self-confidence. When you had none of your own, Dunne look at me, I'm willing to be rolled out of that ring. If it means that they need to be carried out.

Dunne looks at the floor, stunned and shocked at the words his partner just told him.

Dunne: "Do I really act that way in a team? Do I really just stop trying when I'm part of a group?"

Cheez: "Unfortunately Dunne, you do, and the worst part about it. In the other teams you were part of AVA and The Saga, the other members could always pick up the slack. I can't do that. I don't have the skill level to do that. I don't have the ability to do that. You have to do most of the grunt work. Honestly, our career probably would have been better if during most of our time in NLW, if you did most of the work. And then had me sneaking a pinfall here or there, but instead what happened the majority of the time was you sat on the sidelines. And let me do all the work. You treated me like how chimpanzees teach their young how to swim. You grabbed me and you threw me in the water, and you hoped for the best. And, I gave it my best for as long as we've been together. I have given it everything I have while you haven't. And now it's time, it's time to let loose.

Cheez walks into the next room and returns back with a cardboard box in his hands.

Cheez: "In this box are some of the most price positions that I own. a leather wallet made by my grandfather, fishing lures from my godfather. This Saga t-shirt you gave me before I had my junior heavyweight title match. And hold on it's in here somewhere..."

Cheez rummages through the box.

Cheez: "The first piece of wrestling merch I ever bought myself, and one that might look familiar to you because Dunne it's your T-shirt. Why do you think I was so excited when you said that you were willing to take me under your wing? It was because I was a fan of yours before I was your partner.

Cheez reaches into the box and pulls out a black T-shirt that's been rolled up, as it unrolls Dunne's eyes widen.

Dunne: "That can't be. I haven't seen one of those in years. You've had this for how long?

Cheez: "Yeah Dunne, the first t-shirt you ever had in your entire career. Your 'Age of Rage' t-shirt. The one that you had that was supposedly about being you running rampant all over the entire roster in GWA. The same ideology that you were going to bring into AXW. You said no man, no woman, no monster, whatever stood in your way of glory would be safe. That all were just victims. I say we bring it back.

Dunne looks at the T-shirt and smiles.

Dunne: "You know it kid, you got a deal. You got a Dunne deal."

Cheez: "See no matter how you slice it, the results are the same."

Dunne: "And whether we're angry at each other or not.

Cheez: "We're angrier at you, Twins. Game Over!"