Choices, Choices....RP2 For X-Crown Match at Supremacy

[Bobby Barratt]

We open scene outside the the the XHF HQ in Minnesota. The Winter Sun glistens across the building, reflections from the windows flicking light glare out into the early evening sky as the sky is beginning to turn from Blue or Orange as the Sun begins it's daily disappearance from our lives. The scene switches to an almost 70s like shot of Bobby. He's headed down the street towards the offices. The shot starts from his feet, showing an impeccably polished pair of shoes, panning upwards, showing the Armani suit Bobby is known for. The shot pans up, showing how well fitted Bobby's suit is, as it clings to his athletic body before finally showing his sunglasses clad face. Bobby heads into the building, the door swinging closed quietly behind him. The inside of the building looks nicely decorated, as you'd expect from a company which was at one stage, one of the biggest Wrestling companies in the World, prior to adopting the Network model and taking things in a different direction, with name licensing, as opposed to the solitary Wrestling company model. The receptionist gives Bobby a friendly smile and starts to greet him, but Bobby gives them a smile back and waves them off as he breezes by, right down the hall way. They know who he is, they've been expecting him. The shot cuts to a face on view of Bobby, as he walks down the hallway, before stopping right in front of the camera. He fumbles in his pocket, pulling out the bunch of keys given to him right after his triumphant win in Cedar Rapids.

Bobby: Strange. One lock....three keys? Something seems a little off there, maybe they're just spares. 

Bobby fishes out the key and opens the lock. The metallic THUNK signals that the door to the vault is unlocked and Bobby's new base of operations is ready for occupation. The door swings open Bobby sticks his hand in the door, looking for a light switch. He eventually finds it after a few seconds, the lighting all firing up as Bobby steps inside to see.....nothing. Well. Not a lot anyway, apart from the Championship belts of Eighteen defunct Wrestling promotions all hanging on a rail across the back wall. They've all obviously been cleaned prior to the visit, as Bobby walks past them all, slowly admiring the differing distorted reflection that each title offers back of him as he looks closely at each one.

Bobby: Look at it. It's magnificent. The stories that each title must be able to tell. So many years of history in each Leather strap. The battles, the wars that have been waged over each one...But which one screams "Bobby?" Which title belt is the one I should use to represent my reign as the X*Crown Champion come Supremacy? Which title belt is the one that I will take to....and from the ring?

Bobby strokes his chin. His fingers making a scratching sound against the designed stubble he wears. He walks back along the line, running his fingers along the centre plates of each title. The momentary smear he leaves across them as he does so is fleeting; fading in just a few seconds as he walks slowly along the rail. Then something catches Bobby's eye. A box he must have walked past on his way in. Nothing special and it's probably something that they forgot to take from Seth's reign. Bobby approaches the box and flips open one of the cardboard flaps that make up the top. As he does so, he's startled by a voice.

Curt: My brother!

Bobby jumps back. He wasn't expecting anyone here, so the sudden sound of a voice is a shock.

Curt: Hahaha! Got ya!

Bobby: Hey fuck you, and who let you in here?

Curt: I told them I was here to see you and they sent me right down!

Bobby: Well that sounds like a glaring lack of security! What you looking for anyway, Curt?

Curt: Well I made a deal with you. I told you that if you won the X*Crown, then your endorsement deal was done. I'm here to make goo-

The Eighteen Championships that make up the XCrown catch Curt's eye and he stops dead in his tracks. His jaw drops open at the sight of them as he takes in the magnitude of what Bobby has achieved.*

Bobby: Impressive, huh? 

Curt: Impressive doesn't even begin to cover it....They're...Beautiful.

Bobby: So. What brought you down here that a conference call couldn't tie up?

Curt: Well for one, I wanted to make sure you were in good shape still. I wanted to make sure that you were still fit because bro, that was a WAR!

Bobby: That it was! I tell ya man, I was feeling that for a week! But I'm good. You fears can disappear now. Sure, we beat the holy Hell out of each other, but I'm still standing. So is Jack. We all made it out of the other side....Question is, is it the same guys that left the ring that night...Or did the war change us?

Curt: Bro, you're not giving me some PTSD bullshit right now, are you?

Bobby: Hey fuck you. This is MY achievement and if I want to lord it over the world, then I will!

Curt: Anyways. Corporate wanted to make sure I get this deal tied up quick. They're ready to move forward with the deal and they want it signed ASAP so we can use the win to get the company off the ground. Being a start-up is a bitch.

Bobby: Yeah I can imagine. 

Curt: So have you thought about how you're going to cart these belts around?

Bobby: Nah. I initially wanted to take just one, but looking at these titles, I'm really not sure. I think I'm going to pull a few down, swing them around and see how they all feel.

Curt: Well I'm not going to lie. I want them for our shoot, you have planned. Get the marketing campaign off to a quick start. 

Bobby: Sure. Which are you thinking?

Curt: ....All of them! Then I want to see that tag title too! We'll have you draped in gold, really show what the company is looking to promote....Winners.

Bobby: Ah fuck, you mean I gotta have them all shipped over to your place to take a few shots? 

Curt: How about you just throw them in my car and I'll ta-

Bobby: Nope. The minute you walked in here, I saw your eyes shoot open like a kid in a sweet shop. I'll deal with it, you just need to give me the time and the date, so we can get it all sorted out. 

Curt: Next week sound good to you? 

Bobby: I can make that. Gives me time to get sorted and back home to start preparing for Supremacy.

Curt: Ah yeah, you've got a big night lined up there, right?

Bobby: Yeah don't even get me started. All these pretties need to worry about is the Blind Man's Bluff match. SSS finally announced their participant too. Sandbagging fucks. 

Curt: Anyone we need to worry about?

Bobby: We? Since when are you Team Icon?

Curt: I'm team whatever-makes-me-money, bro. All the time we got you on our payroll, I want those wins to keep coming in. Think you can do that?

Bobby: Wins are what got me here, right? What's another win? Then another? Hell, I had to beat up my best friend to pick up these bad boys.

Curt: That's the kind of confidence I like to hear! Anyways, I'll have the team call you and set up a date for the shoot. The 20th feels pretty good. Gives us both time to sort out a plan to make sure everyone is in shape, cool?

Bobby: For sure! 

Curt turns around to leave before almost tripping on the box on the ground. The box crumples under his foot, scattering the contents across the floor. There are two bare leather straps left from Rob Arnold's custom Championships from his reign earlier last year, a stack of business cards from the Diamond Lounge and beneath all that, a framed picture. Bobby stoops down and starts picking it all up, tossing it into what used to be a cardboard box before stopping and smiling.

Curt: What ya got there?

Bobby stares down at the framed photo.

Bobby: You know, Seth must have never even set foot in this place. Lazy fuck probably just took the X title option, had it Fed-Ex'ed over to him and left it at that. This stuff all predates his reign by a ton.

Looking down at the picture, Bobby sees Three fresh faced Icons. Bobby posing with his ICW Shooting Star Championship, Maverick and Jack posing with the ICW Tag Team Championships and Jack also holding up the ICW World Championship. The three of them being flanked by Chaos Kid and El Cazador.

Bobby: This picture feels like a life time ago. 

Curt: What are those titles?

Bobby: Straight to the Gold man, I like your style. These are the titles from Icon Championship Wrestling....Where we all met. We had this picture taken prior to signing with AWF. We knew the Icons were on their way, but no one else did, yet.

Curt: You know, I always wondered where the name Icons came from. 

Bobby: You're an idiot, do you know that?

Curt: Who are the other guys, anyway?

Bobby: Guys who couldn't stand the pace. They faded away one by one, beating by beating. Just like the Six other men in the Blind Man's Buff match are going to. One by one, they'll fall. One by one, they'll submit to the Icon standing before them. They'll all surrender their shot at me until I'm the last one standing...Still the X-Crown Champion and the supreme ruler of the XHF! Raiden, Kanyon, Minami, Parsons, Craig and...Big Drag. Do you know that guy is a life sized embodiment of a fucking statue?

Curt: I'm not even going to ask... But I can't get over how young you guys look there. 

Bobby: It's only around a year and a half old. A lot of battles and wars have been waged since. You can keep running as long as you can, but eventually, the signs of the road start to show. The war stories start to show across your face as wrinkles and the signs it starts to take on your body...We all have a bump card and I know ours have gotten punched a lot this last year.

Curt: That's deep bro. Anyway, I'm going to take off. I'll have the shoot set up. Peace!

Bobby and Curt share some weird bro-style handshake. It's super awkward and they definitely need practice if that's a thing now. Curt vanishes off up the hall way leaving Bobby to stare at the title belts.

Greatness or Death by Beartooth plays as we see a cut scene of Bobby trying on different Championships and combinations of title belts. Some don't fit, some have snaps missing from the strap that need refinishing. It seems cleaning the titles is all they do. Scenes show Bobby with up to Six title belts at a time as the scene cuts to the rail, showing a stop-motion video of different titles appearing and vanishing from the rail. One shot even shows Bobby attempting to wear all 18 titles before stumbling and falling over due to the near 350lb worth of weight on his shoulders. Eventually, it comes down to Bobby sitting on the floor with four titles laid out in front of him: The XWA Title, the BDDWF Title, the RWF title and the ZEWF Title. Reportedly the original Four federations that made up the X-Crown with their sacrifice in order to achieve immortality. Bobby scoops them all up and heads for the door, before noticing the bare leather strap hanging out of the box on the ground. Bobby stoops to pick it up, looking at it pensively before throwing it onto the stack of titles he holds and flipping the light off as the scene comes to a close.

---

We come back and Bobby is sitting at home. Hit sits on the sofa we have seen so many times. The four titles he has seemingly chosen to represent the X-Crown are laid out in front of him as he stares at them.

Bobby: So we're just two weeks out from what might well be the biggest match I've ever been a part of. Not only am I a part of it, but I go into this match as the defending Champion. The holder of the Championship that everyone in the XHF Network, no matter what promotion they belong to wants a piece of. The one Championship that transcends promotional limits and declares that you are the top Dog across the ENTIRE Network. That's me right now. I'm the top Dog, the big Cheese, the fucking MAN. 

Bobby takes a drag from the cigarette he holds.

Bobby: The question is, are any of you drones ready to step up? Are any of you feeling like you're truly the one to take this from me? Deep down, do you really feel that you're the one that can dethrone arguably the most decorated man of 2018? I held Five different Championships across 2018, in my first year as part of the XHF Network. What do you think I can do with 2019? With no fed-level bullshittery to take notice of, a schedule I dictate and with a fucking point to prove? What point is that, you ask? Simple. That the Icons don't only exist within AWF. We handed Maverick a clean slate to form the Icons he wants and we decided that the Icons will no be in any fed we decide to make them a part of. We took on AWF and we won. Fed owners of EVERY fed should be fearful, for once the Icons set their sights on pillaging you...There will be nothing you can do! The Blind Man's Bluff match is merely the start of me proving that. Proving that for the first time in a long time, NO fed reigns supreme. The only thing that matters, the only thing that will prosper at Supremacy...Is Team Icon! So step right up! Come take a swing! Impress me, come Supremacy! One thing that's for sure is we will be watching EVERY match that night. This year is going to be the year that we grow the ranks globally so if you want to prove yourself to me in the X-Crown Championship match, just make sure you're the guy who falls last! Icon out!