Post by Dave D-Flipz on Mar 3, 2024 23:47:54 GMT -5
SUPREMACY
DT sits in the ring … his wife sitting on the mat in his arms, distraught. She looks up at the massive figure standing over them, holding THEIR X*Crown title… They watch as he laughs at them and takes their prize up the ramp. DT looks at his wife as she fumes and looks up at the ref to argue she not only got the three but her count came FIRST! … He looks off in the distance where the medical team is removing rubble and charred chairs from the broken bodies of Curtis Kanyon and James Raymond. … But … someone else is standing there. Is that? … No he’s dead … Bloodied Fox looks up from the medical team and makes eye contact with Death Trap … DT snaps his head back to his wife as she tries to stand, pulling him up with her. When he looks back … there is no ghost, no specter … just medical technicians and two stretchers.
FEBRUARY ATHLETIC CUP RACE
Death Trap and Mistress Discipline are seen walking through the grass on the grounds of the CAR Race track complex on Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina.
"I do not understand. He finally gets to run a show with an X*Crown title match … and he gives seven undeserving men a shot at the foul fiend that stole my title??"
"It’s up to Kingsley and Aleister who gets a shot. He’s still miffed that I managed to lose to Rob Arnold years back …"
"Well that is understandable. Rob Arnold is not even in your league. We are the Top of the Class, they are simply the filler in the Academy."
"Can we not badmouth Rob? He has connections."
"To who?"
"Goldbear II…"
Mistress stop walking and just cocks an eyebrow at him.
"I do NOT want to wrestle any goddamn bears! I have had enough brushes with death between SWAT and Bloodied-"
DT stops … he looks over at concessions a few feet behind his wife. There, among all the souvenir sippy cups filled with Cheerwine, amongst the punch buggy themed bowls of cheesy nachos, around the stuffed Beahr buddy bears and the souvenir athletic cups, and behind the hors d’oeuvres shaped like Mickey Mouse heads made of swiss cheese (Swiss-ney Cakes) … stands a ridiculously overweight man, pounding the cheesy delights like his life depended on it. (I’m sure his life actually depends on NOT doing this.) … But next to him stands Bloodied Fox … looking dejectedly at the stuffed Armbishi plushies.
"… Fox … FOX … NO NO NO!"
"What are you doing? HEY!"
He pushes her aside and grabs her cheerwine drink and hurls it at Fox. But Pork Dirkmeyer shifts his massive bulk to grab some Bowler Hat Brie Bits and the drink smashes into his face, knocking him down. Behind him, where Fox stood, nobody is there as Pork falls to the ground and begins to roll down the entire mountain. I’m sure HKW won’t give a damn about this but they may need to rebook their next show as he will likely roll the entire mountain …
"WHAT IS YOUR DEAL, BUDDY?"
Chaos sprints up from the medical tent, where she had been trying to cheese train a Newfoundland…
"That was my beverage. You BETTER get me another one. I swear it is the bathroom incident all over again."
"NO! NO IT ISN’T! DT go get our mistress a drink! I swear you big oaf-"
"Bloodied Fox was th-"
"NO! FOX IS DEAD! You are going to find yourself in therapy if you cannot get him out of your head! I am the only one who gets to live in that space rent free!"
"It IS a lot of space …"
DT just stares at the spot where Fox’s ghostly apparition stood and grumbles as he takes his licks from his “adoring” wife and manager, who I remind you are supposed to be his biggest fans.
A HOUSE SHOW – THE NEXT DAY!
Death Trap is in his Armani suit and wearing his signature black bowler hat. He is chatting it up with a few of the younger wrestlers, giving them pointers, winking at some of the VIP fans backstage. He looks over to concessions … and lowers his sunglasses … there … staring at him … eating a biggie bucket of popcorn – probably loaded with like … vegan organic health butter … like a douche – smirks Bloodied Fox. He waves his fingers in a patronizing wave at the XHF Legend. DT begins to turn red, smoke emitting from his ears … until he feels a tug at his wrist. He looks down and there is a six year old boy standing there.
"WOW! Death Trap! You are my daddy’s favorite wrestler! I have a picture from a match I was at! Would you sign it?"
"Ah, I uh, heh kid …"
DT looks up and Fox is gone … He sighs and shakes it off. He catches his breath and smiles. He reaches down and grabs the picture.
"Well kid your dad has exquisite taste, let me tell yo-"
The picture is from the match with Bloodied Fox. It is mid-match in the middle of a strike exchange. VERY good photo for whoever got it. DT chokes back his words and forces the smile.
"Hey uh, why this picture, if you don’t mind me asking?"
"I’ma get you BOTH to sign it!"
There is that pulsating vein in DT’s forehead again. THUMP THUMP …throbbing in rage. DT looks down for a sec and laughs. He looks up and there is Fox… behind the dad … eating popcorn … Mistress Discipline comes up behind DT and observes the situation. She taps him on the shoulder, and he looks back.
"HONEY! Yes, ok where are your brass-"
DT turns his head and is about to point out Fox to his wife … but there is nobody behind the dad.
"Wha? But! … Grrrr … kid … I HATE to be the bearer of bad news but Bloodied Fox is dead. He was a very bad person and he hurt a … uh … *he forces a sad face* dear friend and coworker, Armbishi! They are both gone now … "
DT’s head shoots up to look behind the dad and he shouts at the top of his lungs.
"YEAH FOX! YOU’RE DEAD! I SAID IT! WHY CAN’T YOU JUST UNDERSTAND THAT AND LEAVE ME ALONE!?"
Everyone stares at him. Mistress coughs and tugs on his sleeve.
"Child … autograph …"
DT shakes his head.
"Sorry… I uh … I’ve been a little out of sorts losing my good friends Armbishi, Steve Awesome, and a few others I knew … good … good friends … yeah."
"Um, are you going to sign my picture mister?"
DT looks at the image again …
"Who is YOUR favorite, kid? Him or me?"
BOWLER HAT BRIGADE HOME BASE – MARCH 1
"Bloodied … Fox. After everything that’s happened … you stroll back into my life … like you own it. After all we went through because of you … after putting ourselves out there. You show up and claim the spotlight again?"
DT sighs … he sits on the edge of his bed in the darkened room, the only light is the moonlight streaming in the window casting the room in eerie dancing shadows and halos of light. Above DT’s head the light dances like a halo.
"Fox … you and I will have this conversation … but unfortunately this isn’t the time for animosity. And I am not the type to disgrace the honor of another respected legend. So we can postpone OUR little face to face. Instead let’s make small talk and be civil right? Now that you’re back … how’s Brendan?"
BEAT
"No no wait, who am I to ask a question about a broken relationship when mine is so stable. Didn’t mean to make you jealous. You got to experience something so few do so let me ask you a more interesting question … when you … went to meet your fate … how was Misha doing?"
Clearly there is no love lost as DT can’t help but insult his erstwhile teammate. DT’s room dances with the wind blowing through the window and the light coursing in. The halo over DT’s head drifts to the plush of Armbishi, everyone’s favorite vulpine furry … The shadows dance over DT as if made of fire and smoke. You’d swear there were horns on his head in his shadow …
"Fine, I can bite my tongue. This match is for a purpose anyway. Steve Awesome … the man who owned the Call to Arms match. The man who got himself into every winning team … made history. A two time X*Crown champ. A man I truly never got to have that one on one banger match with. I won’t denigrate his memory by rehashing his movies or his foibles or his parenting issues. The man was a beacon of joy to lots of folks. And in one essence he was a brother to me. Both of us had our issues with Zoran Sainovic. I may have managed to own the upper hand on dear old daddy. But poor Steve … had his life ruined by that bastard. And for all intents and purposes, it seemed like he was REALLY turning his life around. And instead Zoran broke him. Sent him to hell and back for a chance at the Final Boss … forced him to look to the nursery for help achieving his only remaining dreams."
DT sighs.
"Steve … I may have issues with Kanyon … and Spike … but you? I never had a bad thing to say. And it’s clear you will leave a massive hole in the hearts and minds of everyone here in the XHF Network. So when they asked Mistress and I to partake in this call back to your first Call to Arms to celebrate your memory … we signed up. Fully expecting to just get a chance to once again prove that Jack Diamond and Rat Bastard are the inferior 2-time X*Crown champs … I figured it wouldn’t match the ending of that tournament but … it would be more fitting. You and I were always the more entertaining pair of champs. The fans hang on your every antic. They cheer my every match. Jack? Rat? Much more sus if you ask me."
DT leans forward and his eyes narrow as he sinks into shadow.
"And then Hype decided to step in … a goddamned cult leader … a stain on the XHF. A jailbird who was responsible for some of the most heinous crimes against the XHF Network … AWF."
BEAT
"And before we can sign up Funaki to help us out … they tell us we HAVE a third, someone who was IN that tournament! And with a history with Hype and Jack. And now here we are. To honor your memory … four X*Crown champs, the longest reigning global tag team champs, men with history with you. … And Hyperion. We all get to send this show off. I can’t promise to throw the match to keep up with the script of the first CTA. After all … I refuse to simply allow Hyperion to walk over me. And I have a track record of being better than Rat and Jack to uphold … but … I promise to do what you would do. I promise to steal the goddamn show. To send the crowd home happy. We may not have interacted as much as I might have liked … but … your life should be celebrated, honored. And ya know? I am just man enough to be able to set aside my own thoughts on my forced partner … and the men across the ring … and put on a highlight of the night. What better way to honor the face of the franchise than to bring the whole damn house down with a match for the ages?"
DT sits back into the light, he smiles, a warm and genuine smile
"Rest in power, friend. Don’t worry about us here. We will take it from here. And someday, we’ll tear down the pearly gates with a match like no other. Until then? This isn’t goodbye, it’s see you later…"
BACK AT THE HOUSE SHOW
The camera shows the floor. On the floor is a picture of DT vs. Bloodied Fox … it’s torn in half and a hole is punched in Fox’s face. The pic shows clear signs of being crumpled. If you listen close, you can almost hear the sound of a crying child … … A shadow moves into the frame and looms over the picture before picking it up.
"Well that went well … wonder what happens if I go say hi…"
DT sits in the ring … his wife sitting on the mat in his arms, distraught. She looks up at the massive figure standing over them, holding THEIR X*Crown title… They watch as he laughs at them and takes their prize up the ramp. DT looks at his wife as she fumes and looks up at the ref to argue she not only got the three but her count came FIRST! … He looks off in the distance where the medical team is removing rubble and charred chairs from the broken bodies of Curtis Kanyon and James Raymond. … But … someone else is standing there. Is that? … No he’s dead … Bloodied Fox looks up from the medical team and makes eye contact with Death Trap … DT snaps his head back to his wife as she tries to stand, pulling him up with her. When he looks back … there is no ghost, no specter … just medical technicians and two stretchers.
FEBRUARY ATHLETIC CUP RACE
Death Trap and Mistress Discipline are seen walking through the grass on the grounds of the CAR Race track complex on Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina.
"I do not understand. He finally gets to run a show with an X*Crown title match … and he gives seven undeserving men a shot at the foul fiend that stole my title??"
"It’s up to Kingsley and Aleister who gets a shot. He’s still miffed that I managed to lose to Rob Arnold years back …"
"Well that is understandable. Rob Arnold is not even in your league. We are the Top of the Class, they are simply the filler in the Academy."
"Can we not badmouth Rob? He has connections."
"To who?"
"Goldbear II…"
Mistress stop walking and just cocks an eyebrow at him.
"I do NOT want to wrestle any goddamn bears! I have had enough brushes with death between SWAT and Bloodied-"
DT stops … he looks over at concessions a few feet behind his wife. There, among all the souvenir sippy cups filled with Cheerwine, amongst the punch buggy themed bowls of cheesy nachos, around the stuffed Beahr buddy bears and the souvenir athletic cups, and behind the hors d’oeuvres shaped like Mickey Mouse heads made of swiss cheese (Swiss-ney Cakes) … stands a ridiculously overweight man, pounding the cheesy delights like his life depended on it. (I’m sure his life actually depends on NOT doing this.) … But next to him stands Bloodied Fox … looking dejectedly at the stuffed Armbishi plushies.
"… Fox … FOX … NO NO NO!"
"What are you doing? HEY!"
He pushes her aside and grabs her cheerwine drink and hurls it at Fox. But Pork Dirkmeyer shifts his massive bulk to grab some Bowler Hat Brie Bits and the drink smashes into his face, knocking him down. Behind him, where Fox stood, nobody is there as Pork falls to the ground and begins to roll down the entire mountain. I’m sure HKW won’t give a damn about this but they may need to rebook their next show as he will likely roll the entire mountain …
"WHAT IS YOUR DEAL, BUDDY?"
Chaos sprints up from the medical tent, where she had been trying to cheese train a Newfoundland…
"That was my beverage. You BETTER get me another one. I swear it is the bathroom incident all over again."
"NO! NO IT ISN’T! DT go get our mistress a drink! I swear you big oaf-"
"Bloodied Fox was th-"
"NO! FOX IS DEAD! You are going to find yourself in therapy if you cannot get him out of your head! I am the only one who gets to live in that space rent free!"
"It IS a lot of space …"
DT just stares at the spot where Fox’s ghostly apparition stood and grumbles as he takes his licks from his “adoring” wife and manager, who I remind you are supposed to be his biggest fans.
A HOUSE SHOW – THE NEXT DAY!
Death Trap is in his Armani suit and wearing his signature black bowler hat. He is chatting it up with a few of the younger wrestlers, giving them pointers, winking at some of the VIP fans backstage. He looks over to concessions … and lowers his sunglasses … there … staring at him … eating a biggie bucket of popcorn – probably loaded with like … vegan organic health butter … like a douche – smirks Bloodied Fox. He waves his fingers in a patronizing wave at the XHF Legend. DT begins to turn red, smoke emitting from his ears … until he feels a tug at his wrist. He looks down and there is a six year old boy standing there.
"WOW! Death Trap! You are my daddy’s favorite wrestler! I have a picture from a match I was at! Would you sign it?"
"Ah, I uh, heh kid …"
DT looks up and Fox is gone … He sighs and shakes it off. He catches his breath and smiles. He reaches down and grabs the picture.
"Well kid your dad has exquisite taste, let me tell yo-"
The picture is from the match with Bloodied Fox. It is mid-match in the middle of a strike exchange. VERY good photo for whoever got it. DT chokes back his words and forces the smile.
"Hey uh, why this picture, if you don’t mind me asking?"
"I’ma get you BOTH to sign it!"
There is that pulsating vein in DT’s forehead again. THUMP THUMP …throbbing in rage. DT looks down for a sec and laughs. He looks up and there is Fox… behind the dad … eating popcorn … Mistress Discipline comes up behind DT and observes the situation. She taps him on the shoulder, and he looks back.
"HONEY! Yes, ok where are your brass-"
DT turns his head and is about to point out Fox to his wife … but there is nobody behind the dad.
"Wha? But! … Grrrr … kid … I HATE to be the bearer of bad news but Bloodied Fox is dead. He was a very bad person and he hurt a … uh … *he forces a sad face* dear friend and coworker, Armbishi! They are both gone now … "
DT’s head shoots up to look behind the dad and he shouts at the top of his lungs.
"YEAH FOX! YOU’RE DEAD! I SAID IT! WHY CAN’T YOU JUST UNDERSTAND THAT AND LEAVE ME ALONE!?"
Everyone stares at him. Mistress coughs and tugs on his sleeve.
"Child … autograph …"
DT shakes his head.
"Sorry… I uh … I’ve been a little out of sorts losing my good friends Armbishi, Steve Awesome, and a few others I knew … good … good friends … yeah."
"Um, are you going to sign my picture mister?"
DT looks at the image again …
"Who is YOUR favorite, kid? Him or me?"
BOWLER HAT BRIGADE HOME BASE – MARCH 1
"Bloodied … Fox. After everything that’s happened … you stroll back into my life … like you own it. After all we went through because of you … after putting ourselves out there. You show up and claim the spotlight again?"
DT sighs … he sits on the edge of his bed in the darkened room, the only light is the moonlight streaming in the window casting the room in eerie dancing shadows and halos of light. Above DT’s head the light dances like a halo.
"Fox … you and I will have this conversation … but unfortunately this isn’t the time for animosity. And I am not the type to disgrace the honor of another respected legend. So we can postpone OUR little face to face. Instead let’s make small talk and be civil right? Now that you’re back … how’s Brendan?"
BEAT
"No no wait, who am I to ask a question about a broken relationship when mine is so stable. Didn’t mean to make you jealous. You got to experience something so few do so let me ask you a more interesting question … when you … went to meet your fate … how was Misha doing?"
Clearly there is no love lost as DT can’t help but insult his erstwhile teammate. DT’s room dances with the wind blowing through the window and the light coursing in. The halo over DT’s head drifts to the plush of Armbishi, everyone’s favorite vulpine furry … The shadows dance over DT as if made of fire and smoke. You’d swear there were horns on his head in his shadow …
"Fine, I can bite my tongue. This match is for a purpose anyway. Steve Awesome … the man who owned the Call to Arms match. The man who got himself into every winning team … made history. A two time X*Crown champ. A man I truly never got to have that one on one banger match with. I won’t denigrate his memory by rehashing his movies or his foibles or his parenting issues. The man was a beacon of joy to lots of folks. And in one essence he was a brother to me. Both of us had our issues with Zoran Sainovic. I may have managed to own the upper hand on dear old daddy. But poor Steve … had his life ruined by that bastard. And for all intents and purposes, it seemed like he was REALLY turning his life around. And instead Zoran broke him. Sent him to hell and back for a chance at the Final Boss … forced him to look to the nursery for help achieving his only remaining dreams."
DT sighs.
"Steve … I may have issues with Kanyon … and Spike … but you? I never had a bad thing to say. And it’s clear you will leave a massive hole in the hearts and minds of everyone here in the XHF Network. So when they asked Mistress and I to partake in this call back to your first Call to Arms to celebrate your memory … we signed up. Fully expecting to just get a chance to once again prove that Jack Diamond and Rat Bastard are the inferior 2-time X*Crown champs … I figured it wouldn’t match the ending of that tournament but … it would be more fitting. You and I were always the more entertaining pair of champs. The fans hang on your every antic. They cheer my every match. Jack? Rat? Much more sus if you ask me."
DT leans forward and his eyes narrow as he sinks into shadow.
"And then Hype decided to step in … a goddamned cult leader … a stain on the XHF. A jailbird who was responsible for some of the most heinous crimes against the XHF Network … AWF."
BEAT
"And before we can sign up Funaki to help us out … they tell us we HAVE a third, someone who was IN that tournament! And with a history with Hype and Jack. And now here we are. To honor your memory … four X*Crown champs, the longest reigning global tag team champs, men with history with you. … And Hyperion. We all get to send this show off. I can’t promise to throw the match to keep up with the script of the first CTA. After all … I refuse to simply allow Hyperion to walk over me. And I have a track record of being better than Rat and Jack to uphold … but … I promise to do what you would do. I promise to steal the goddamn show. To send the crowd home happy. We may not have interacted as much as I might have liked … but … your life should be celebrated, honored. And ya know? I am just man enough to be able to set aside my own thoughts on my forced partner … and the men across the ring … and put on a highlight of the night. What better way to honor the face of the franchise than to bring the whole damn house down with a match for the ages?"
DT sits back into the light, he smiles, a warm and genuine smile
"Rest in power, friend. Don’t worry about us here. We will take it from here. And someday, we’ll tear down the pearly gates with a match like no other. Until then? This isn’t goodbye, it’s see you later…"
BACK AT THE HOUSE SHOW
The camera shows the floor. On the floor is a picture of DT vs. Bloodied Fox … it’s torn in half and a hole is punched in Fox’s face. The pic shows clear signs of being crumpled. If you listen close, you can almost hear the sound of a crying child … … A shadow moves into the frame and looms over the picture before picking it up.
"Well that went well … wonder what happens if I go say hi…"
