RELOADED 16: New Jersey [FULL UPDATED LINEUP]

[EastPrez]

RP DEADLINE: 8/4 (11:59:59PM EST, threads close first thing Monday AM!)
IN-STORY DATE: Current 616 Timeline

RP NOTES: THREE RP MAX LIMIT! MAKE IT GOOD
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES, FOUR RP MAX LIMIT!

NFW IS GOING BRAWL-LESS! WE'RE LETTING THEM AIR OUT!

NEW FRONTIER WRESTLING PRESENTS:
RELOADED 16: "THE MARATHON MAN COMETH"
IZOD CENTER - EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY


*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

NFW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE MATCH

'Marathon Man' IMPULSE (c)
v.
JACK HARMEN
(2013 NFW Grand Prix Winner, 1/2 EMT Tag Champions)


*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

NFW TRIPLE-CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE MATCH

ROOK BLACK (c)
v.
LEYENDA de OCHO

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

BURN NOTICE DOUBLE-FEATURE!
What have the Hollywood Family gotten themselves into? LEGIONS dark prayers may get answered when he attempts his pound of flesh against the Oxonian!

BURN HOLLYWOOD BURN!

"Future Perfect"
BLAINE HOLLYWOOD
v.
LEGION
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
PLUS . . .
There's friction in the hive of SuperFly! What's up with EMT Champions Jack Harmen, Nova and their spiritual leader through James Brown splits and funk, Calvin Carlton? Cal calls for interview time, and you know ANYTHING can happen here . . .

HOLLYWOOD'S ON FIRE w/ SPECIAL GUEST CALVIN JAY CHALMERS CARLTON, III
​

Card Subject to Change...​

NEW 'PREZ NOTES':
This is the full card for RELOADED 16 due to the RP so far, so matchmaking has happened. Use the rest of the deadline to lay the rest of the promo smack in response to the update!

'PREZ NOTES':

If you are interested in a segment/promo spot on the show, email/PM myself or Katz.
We’re going to try and run with a few new ideas, since we’re pulling away from BRAWLS for awhile, but still will have some surprises and maybe some ‘off-camera’ results for the sake of story purposes. We’ll see how it shakes out.

RP cycle is fast, as I want to get the ship righted ASAP, plus there’s another card to RP for as well.

GET IT IN - ALL RP UNDER THIS THREAD.

GO!

EastPrez JN

 

[Legion]

Illusion Vs Reality

[Fade In: We see a darkened room - the silhouette of Legion can be seen hunched over a chair. Suddenly we hear attempts of trying to get a match to light - this sound can be heard faintly as Legion speaks throughout...]

After the events of the last two Brawls Bandit, Devastator and myself decided to take a strategic break - we had started the chaos we warned you all about, I admit there were a few of the front office that thought we had got a little out of hand, of course this leads those people on the internet to speculate whether we had been suspended over our actions, to those people I say that as per usual when it comes to your games of speculation you always know how to get 2 +2 and make it equal f[beep]king 5.

While we were away however we still watched through our sources the pure brutality that was Jack Bryant and Dorchester - a match that reminded me of one thing - despite all the veneer that he likes to portray himself as now with his 'woman of virtue' (Legion makes the inverted quotes sign) Veronica there's that little wild child side , the backyard wrestler fighting to get out and when it does as proven on that night he's the most dangerous of the Hellfire Club no matter what JJ truly thinks.

Lamont however couldn't help but bring me up either - funny that considering his son seems to have gone quiet from the warning he gave me long ago about how he was the true king of chaos, Blaine just know this - at some point in time we shall strike and that day is going to be a lot worse than burning down some cheap set of your father's - your father is going to be crying as he sees the mangled body of his son writhing in pain and agony as he asks me why?

I will reply "It was his time to learn not to go against a Lord Of Chaos'.

Even now we have Alex Austin claiming I got movie parts and 401K's off Castor Strife - funny you say that, anyone can fake movie roles on IMDB and as for this 401K I was promised a lot of things by Castor but then the whole deal with Eric happened which I may add was caused by you not reading the god damn contract properly then Castor decides to abandon it all since he couldn't let the spotlight falter off him at ANY COST.

This is where Alex I'm going to make it clear - don't falsify anything about me again or this 'Guild' of yours won't even survive for Castor to come back to and if you don't like it you know what to do - you have New Jersey free...

[As soon as the word free leaves Legion's mouth the light from the match finally sparks up showing Legion's face - the long hair that brought back memories of 1992 is gone, his head resembling a man he had mentioned previously - King Mob, on his forehead the symbol of chaos magic can be seen]

Beginning in New Jersey is the war - a war in which chaos will consume Liberty, Impulses, Hellfire, Guilds and anyone who wants to try and fight the men that know all the secrets, that know where the bodies are buried and are willing to take it to the lowest rung of hell to make sure NFW survives in our world.

Chaos will reign.

 

[Rook Black]

Re: Illusion Vs Reality

ROOK: "Can you feel it?"

FADE IN: ROOK BLACK wearing a bright shiny red nehru jacket, matching slacks, and shiny black cowboy boots that have to have been buffed mere moments before. Around his waist is the Triple Crown Championship.

ROOK: "We've finally arrived, Player One. The moment that you and I have been waiting for. You've had a delightfully entertaining hero's journey to get to this point."

(ROOK begins a casual walk towards the right as the camera pans to keep him in center frame.)

ROOK: "But I, likewise, have also had a journey. A villainous one perhaps? Or perhaps an anti-hero's journey? I know you're hoping for the first and not the second. Villains are doomed to failure in our modern mythology, existing only as foils for the heroic. But the anti-hero? That guy eclipses the hero every time."

(ROOK grins with delight as he approaches a table with several champagne flutes. He plucks one as he passes.)

ROOK: "But that's a small thing. The metaphor is dwarfed by the actual precedent. The precedent is dwarfed by the immanence of the present."

(ROOK holds the flute up the light, he inhales the bouquet, and then tosses the flute over his shoulder where it smashes against the floor.)

ROOK: "You're good. You're great even. But you are entering into this conflict with me because I have chosen you."

(ROOK regards the camera and continues the ambling stroll, his hands behind his back.)

ROOK: "As anyone can tell from the merest energy spent reviewing the timelime, I have continually been manipulating circumstances for your ascension, so that we could have this moment, this match."

ROOK: "It's been a gamble. Would everyone see in you what I saw in you? Would your charm and likability in the flesh translate to stardom on the stage?"

ROOK: "I am pleased to say that I believe it has."

(ROOK gives us his very best smugness.)

ROOK: "Now, we get to have it out."

(His eyes LIGHT UP, he's about to ...)

ROOK: "For the Triple Crown Championship."

(Wait, he's thought of something now.)

ROOK: "You know, I've been the sole Triple Crown Champion for a while, right?"

ROOK (pointing down at the belt): "This basically belongs to me really, unified all those titles, all that."

ROOK: "I think I'm entitled to some customization privileges by now, wouldn't you say?"

ROOK: "I'm thinking at least some HFC colors, perhaps that image of the crest here being shattered that I'd occasionally seen on signs calling for my exile to the dark world. I'm going to have to ask the rest of the HFC for some suggestions, really put something together that says, `WE OWN THIS'."

ROOK: "Feel free to comment on the points raised so far if you like, I'll be right back to start this again once this belt is ready to be seen again."

(ROOK makes the cut throat motion, FTB.)

 

[User Poets]

Guerilla Radio

"I suppose this is what you'd call ironic."

"An entire roster filled with wrestlers who are loud, obnoxious, disrespectful, and worthy of nothing but my contempt, and my homecoming is a World Championship defense against one of the scant handful of athletes that I actually respect."

"Go figure."

(FADEIN...

A montage of the very first New Frontier Wrestling Grand Prix, showing all the wrestlers who competed in the inaugural event.

Yes, even SARS, with the dullard's eyes and clown shoes.

Wrestlers are X-d out all around the border, with their photos growign larger and larger as you get farther in.

The last four pictures are of Clown Shoes himself, Felix Red, Doc Curiosity... and yours truly.

The Marathon Man.

Of the four of us, only Curiosity isn't X'd out.

There's a point inside all of this...)

"I don't know if I ever told you, Jack, but I really appreciated the fact that you and Nova came out when I tossed Castor off the Cutting Room Platform. That was my moment, that was when I took everyone who's hated on my name and doubted my abilites and showed them that hard work and perserverence is all that I needed."

"But the SupaFly Express... Hardworking legends. It meant a lot to me to have your support."

"And I'm a big enough man to say that I'm glad I was wrong about you."

"You can't blame me, though. We've had some run - ins in the past that weren't exactly positive. Two matches in the inaugural Grand Prix, filled with testosterone - laden bravado really got us off on the wrong foot."

I believe I called you Eddie Mayfield's chauffer. I'd like to apologize.

"So, we had our first two encounters during the first Grand Prix, with the second tarnished by the eventual winner, Dr. Curiosity's interference. I hate to take a win that way, and if I'd seen it I would've intervened."

That was back when I was naive and optimistic enough to believe that clean living was all I needed. But I still would've intervened if I also knew what I know now.

Because while I've become jaded, I also respect you. I can't say that about many people.

"Match number three? Sears Tower, while you were wearing a mask and letting Kerry and Lamont refer to you as FakePulse.' Match number for was a TV Title defense after I took off the mask and you discarded your facsimile, and I maintained my perfect record against you."

That's right, I am 3-0 against you in one on one matches, 4-0 when you factor in the Sears Tower match.

"What does my perfect record against you mean as it relates to the main event of Reloaded Sixteen?"

"Not a god damn thing."

"I can see what you're doing now with Nova, Jack - and I know what was going on."

"You were an older man in a young man's promotion, doing your best to find your spot; I don't blame you for the whole 'Fakepulse' thing."

Though I wonder why you thought that impersonating a wrestler who, to that point, had shown unlimited promise with zero results was your best bet.

"Our fourth match was in the modern age, me with my mask off and you fully cognizant as Jack Harmen."

And when you add in the Sears Tower, I'm 4-0 against you, lifetime.

"What does it mean that I've never lost to you?"

"Not a god damn thing."

"Look at you, between now and then. I can see with perfectly clear hindsight that you were trying to figure out your spot here in the New Frontier."

You found it with Nova. Good for you.

"And instead of getting stuck playing around with Dr. Curiosity, you survived the landmines and have been holding the belts for over a year."

I'm hoping to break that record, as well as Castor and Joe's.

"So what do we do, Jack?"

"We have a mutual respect and a common enemy, and yet fate has us wrestling each other for the biggest prize in this sport."

Well, that's an easy one.

"I'm going to retain my title."

"But, win or lose, I'm glad I can count on you against the real threats to the New Frontier."

FADE

 

[Ford]

Shop Smart! Shop S-Mart!

(FADEIN: The NFW flag waves as a graphic. CUTTO: Jack Harmen, holding the camera on a Dutch tilt, looking down at us.)

JACK HARMEN: Hellfire Club. If you interfere in my match in any way?

(The corner of Harmen's mouth curls, his noticeable wrinkles showing underneath his eyes.)

JACK HARMEN: I will George Zimmerman your fucking face.

(Harmen drops the camera to the floor. STATIC. CUTTO: Wide shot, as Harmen stomps on the broken remnants of the handheld camera. He stands in the middle of an empty soundstage. Sound proofing lines the walls, bars and lights fixtures line the rafters.)

JACK HARMEN: Now that that's out of the way.

(CUTTO: Medium Close Up: Harmen holds the Everette Strap up and stares at it.)

JACK HARMEN: We can get to what truly matters.

(Harmen tosses the championship over his shoulder.)

JACK HARMEN: We're like rappers in the 90s, all that matters is BLING. The Everette straps are the single most important thing to me, but they've never ended a professional wrestler's life. The New Frontier World Heavyweight Championship? That's the belt that makes and KILLS careers.

(CUTTO: Extreme Close Up: Harmen smiles.)

JACK HARMEN: It may be the last championship I ever win. No. It probably will be. Not saying my last crowning moment of achievement will be at Reloaded 16, but if not then, and if then but yet again in the future, one day I'll wrap my fingers around that delicate steel, caress the gold plating that reflects my own face, and I'll realize… wait, woah! I'm 37, maybe 38 or 40 by then? My days are numbered.

(CUTTO: Medium Shot: Harmen sighs.)

JACK HARMEN: I want to do this forever, but I also want to remain mentally aware enough to be able to enjoy the benefits of a human android hybrid. Should they be invented in the next forty years of course.

(Harmen narrows his eyes, thinking.)

JACK HARMEN: I think I'd come back as a super heavyweight. Just for a change of pace. Also, robot bodies are notoriously heavy.

(Harmen blinks.)

JACK HARMEN: I have a woeful propensity to steering my locomotive clear off the rails of conversation. Now, where were we? Oh. Yeah.

(CUTTO: Close Up: Harmen sighs and lowers his head.)

JACK HARMEN: You weren't wrong 'Pulse.

(Harmen shakes his head.)

JACK HARMEN: At the time, at least. I was everything you said and more. Half the stuff I don't even remember, but I'm sure it was scathing. And I deserved every verballic virtriol you spewed my way.

(CUTTO: Medium Shot: Harmen sneers.)

JACK HARMEN: Except for the chauffeur thing. I'm glad you finally apologized for that one. I tried to buy a monkey to visually show how much it had been frustrating me, but you can not make a monkey cling and scratch your back at the same time for all the money in the world. It's absolutely maddening.

(Harmen cracks a smile and chuckles. He shakes his head and turns solemn. He strokes an imaginary goatee. Well, he had one when he was Fakepulse, so he's just using the motion of stroking a goatee to remember what he did when he had the goatee. Plus, he believes goatees give you evil power.)

JACK HARMEN: I'd also like to verbally apologize to you Pulse, for everything I did when I first entered NFW as a competitor back during the inaugural Grand Prix.

(Harmen laughs.)

JACK HARMEN: I know, me? Apologize? What sort of value does THAT have?!

(Harmen looks to the rafters.)

JACK HARMEN: But I'm hoping my apology will carry some weight to the giant flying spaghetti monster in the sky called Eddie Mayfield. I'm hoping we can move past that indiscretion Pulse, cause I don't want to drag it up again. I've suffered enough, and I don't want to suffer the fans to listen to a long winded spiele. Just know I was misguided, I was alone, and I was pissed. I saw you with all the potential in the world. I saw you as another me. And I was bored.

(Harmen shakes his head.)

JACK HARMEN: I wanted to be someone else, to pretend I wasn't the man I was. It was a lot easier to ignore the problems that make you into a shitty person. So, who's easier to impersonate than someone you can RELATE to! I was also once an idealistic rookie with the ability to do superhuman feats, to make the crowds jaws drop while believing that EVERYONE out there was doing their very best, not only to succeed personally, but to make the COMPANY better.

(Harmen laughs.)

JACK HARMEN: Boy I found out I was wrong. And you're finding out the same right now. Windham Clan, Hellfire Club, they're not just what's wrong with NFW, they're what's wrong with America.

So we'll put on a show. May the better man that night win. And win lose or draw, you can count me to have your back against the bacteria that has molded the NFW into a shit sandwich. Lose or draw, I may hold a grudge… but I'll settle that after the HFC is dead and buried. When we can actually have a clean match.

(Harmen leans forward into the camera.)

JACK HARMEN: Until then, know that while you're four and o against High Flyer.

(Harmen grabs the camera.)

JACK HARMEN: You haven't faced Jack Harmen yet.

(Harmen shoves his hands, and vicariously the camera, away. He turns and walks off into the distance. as the image FADES TO BLACK.)

JACK HARMEN (V.O.): And remember! HFC? Interfere? SHOTGUN TO FACE! BOOMSTICK! HARMEN, 25 TO LIFE! WORTH IT!

 

[brusch]

What Nintendo Taught Me

“…anti-hero…or villain?”

(FADE IN: Leyenda de Ocho in a lavender mask emblazoned with a pixelated Golden Sword from Link To The Past straight down the forehead. He wears bright red full-length tights and brown boots, and he stands before an equally pixelated NFW backdrop.)

Ocho: “You know, I took a good hard listen to what you had to say…three or four listens, to be honest, because you’re a master of psychology and a master of getting under people’s skin. You’re certainly good at getting under mine, what with the Piece of Heart fiasco and all our other back-and-forth sniping we’ve had. This match has been inevitability. This match is the culmination of months and months of questing.

I can’t screw this up.

So I listened, and I’ve been thinking quite a bit. And I’ve learned something about you – you think you know me, but you’re blinded by the obvious. I’m Link, so I must vanquish Ganondorf, I’m Ness, so I must vanquish Giygas, I’m Mario, so I must vanquish Bowser and then race go-karts with him and beat him there too…right?

What you don’t understand – what you might never understand – is what I’m fighting for.”

(Ocho makes a Triforce symbol with his fingers.)

Ocho: “Power…Wisdom…Courage. The Triforce embodies the perfect harmony of these three elements…and it represents something sacred to me, both inside the ring and out of it. You see, it’s really easy for a kid growing up in Rogers Park to fall by the wayside or fall into a bodybag. It’s really, REALLY easy to fall into its trap and become a villain yourself. Life got very real, very quickly – and games like Link to the Past, like Earthbound, like any number of the hundreds of titles in my library taught me the values and the sense of conviction that I needed in those formative years to keep me going forward and to climb my way out of the wasteland and press on towards the Golden Land.

And that’s the real quest, Rook – that’s what’s really at stake here, for me. The Triforce you wear, the Triple Crown Championship – it embodies something of great weight and great importance. And really, at the end of the day, the most important thing in my world is to ensure the belt will ALWAYS represent the harmony of Power, Wisdom and Courage.

And here’s why your idea to customize the belt is just the worst possible way you could have ever tried to get under my skin…it all goes back to your original thought: is Rook Black an anti-hero, or a villain?

If Rook Black’s the anti-hero…well, it’s really simple. Even if he burns bridges and grates on people’s nerves and commits dark acts, the anti-hero always makes good.

Meaning you are ‘destined’ to make the belt whole again – to remove this supposed veneer of lies and deceit you so proudly talk about, and bring the Triforce to its ultimate glory once again.

Or, if Rook Black is the villain…your approach shows a wild disregard for what happens to those who split up the Triforce. You see, Ganondorf utilized only a portion of the Triforce (‘Power’) and tried to take over the kingdom – and was always doomed to fail as long as he lacked inner harmony.

Your strength, skill, and in-ring psychology shows that you have immense Power, and that can never be denied…but right now you’re straddling the line of ‘head games for the sake of head games’, waiting for me to burst into an emotional and mistake-filled fire-a-burnin’, ready to crush me under the weight of your egotistical expectations. And to top it off, when you were on the precipice of losing the belt to me – well, you took what can only be called the coward’s way out.

Your Wisdom and Courage are faltering…and it dooms the villain.

I’m happy restoring purity to the Triforce in any way possible – but it’s looking more and more like the only way for this to happen is for me to defeat you.

My heart is ready.”

(FTB)

 

[User Poets]

But it feels so empty without me.

(FADEIN...

The poster for Reloaded 16. Appropriately, the Main Event is prominently featured.

More appropriately, the Main Event is for the World Championship.

Impulse against Jack Harmen.

This match belongs at the top of the card.

And...)

"The bling is what matters, Jack?"

"Just like rappers in the 90s."

"It's an apt simile."

The shot goes double exposure, and you can sort of see my face in the poster, fading in and out at irregular intervals.

Artsy.

"In this case, the bling is what matters. My bling is at the very top of the world of professional wrestling. It means that, right now, I am the very best."

Yours means that you and Nova, combined, are also the very best. It's not a bad position to be in.

"But this isn't a war between the East Coast and the West Coast. The idealogical war has already been fought."

"Professional wrestling won out over decadent spectacle, in case you're keeping score."

"Castor Strife was felled like a modern - day Notorious BIG, cut down due to his own hubris and kept alive as a marketing tool by Alex "Puff Daddy" Austin in a sad and pathetic attempt to legitimize his own mediocre talent."

Truth hurts, Alex.

"But this isn't a rap war, Jack."

"If it was, it wouldn't be about bling. It wouldn't be about talent, and it wouldn't be about street cred."

Because we both have it.

"If this was a rap war, Jack - you'd be Run DMC."

"Venerable, respected, on everyone's Top Five of all time."

"Today, in 2013, however - old and behind the times."

"Don't get me wrong, everyone loves Run DMC and nobody I know would ever skip their tracks for anything but the most dire of emergencies, but the time when they were an influential group who held the world of music in the palm of their hand has passed."

Like Jack Harmen. Jack Harmen will always be held in high esteem, Jack Harmen will always be one of the greatest of all time, but Jack Harmen is not going to win a grammy in 2013, no matter how outdated the grammy academy, or whoever decides these things will be.

"Who does that make me?"

"That's pretty obvious."

"I have a genius for a mentor, a master in the field who was largely unrecognized by the masses for years. A wrestler who has only gotten his just due in the past year or so."

Nowadays everybody wanna talk like they have something to say, but nothing comes out when they move their lips, like a bunch'a gibberish, all you motha'flippas act like you forgot about Eli.

"Yes, in the narrative you've created I'm on par with Eminem."

Allow me to explain.

"I came out of nowhere with skills that had not been seen before in the New Frontier."

"I've been hated for who I am because I didn't fit the narrative of Nw Frontier Wrestling."

"Specifically, this company was pushing the Felix Red narrative: wrestling ability was second to how bungled up your brain was on drugs. At first I was dismissed as a highly skilled wrestler who would never make it because I was a faceless athlete who didn't subscribe to the status quo, then I was dismissed because I refused to take shortcuts to win my matches."

I was also called the worst wrestler on the roster by Troy Windham, but when you consider Troy Windham was one of the worst wrestlers - and the worst investment this company ever made, you have to take these things with a grain of salt.

Subtext: Troy Windham and JJ DeVille may be tied for the worst things to ever happen to the wrestling industry.

"But I rode a wave of popular support to a rematch for the New Frontier World Title and stayed afloat with those same fans to hold the World Championship to this day."

All the rumors of fans booing are inaccurate, propaganda-laden rumors put forth by JJ DeVille. One only has to watch a single New Frontier telecast to see that.

"You see, Jack, the fans want me to remain in control of this company, which means, despite the respect that I - and the New Frontier community - has for you, not only do the fans want to see me retain my title but I'm historically predisposed to doing so."

Won't the real Marathon Man please stand up?

"Assuming the Hellfire Club proves to be a bunch of pussies who don't live up to their promises, Jack, you and I will wrestle unimpeded to an appropriate finish, with the winner taking the New Frontier into the next decade of wrestling excellence."

"I'm sorry to say that as a representative of the best of the last decade, you're not qualified to lead the New Frontier into the next."

"Or am I just being ageist?"

"Let me put it another way, Jack."

"You may very well be the next World Champion in the New Frontier, and thus solidify yourself as the greatest of all time. It certainly wouldn't surprise me."

"But it ain't happening at Reloaded 16."

"The Eye of the Storm guarantees it."

FADE

 

[EastPrez]

Hellfire Hath no Oxonian Fury

(FADEIN: To one of the many, many opulent parlors inside the HELLFIRE CLUB manse. The room is decorated in dark oak hardwood floors, cherry edging, long black drapes, and a high-backed chair with ornate carvings of cherubs reading from scrolls etched into the arms and back of the chair. Sitting in said chair, next to an end table with a red and gold glittering faberge egg, being used as a paperweight, is BLAINE HOLLYWOOD, wearing his crushed velvet black and blood-red smoking jacket, lounge pants and leather slip-on shoes, ascot, close-shaved head down to a buzz and angry green eyes stare at the camera. He crosses one leg and digs his fingers into the armrests, gritting his teeth)

BLAINE: “I have, in my life, been . . . WRONG about things. Yes, it is something that I do not admit readily. And I will bow my head in deference this time. . . I, Blaine Hollywood, thought that that CHURL, Legion, would have been DEAD by now. I lost the Hellfire Club Deadpool on that. I was certain that Legion would have shrivelled up and expired, but he still lives, he still (breathes) DRAWS BREATH, and much like the common COCKROACH, Legion finds a way to keep living, and just like them, may crawl inside the walls lining in your section-8 apartment, and eat the adhesive off the back of your wallpaper. Roaches will do ANYTHING to live for another day. Legion, I equate your life to that of a common INSECT. (Glowers)

“For too long, I have stood SILENT. The Hellfire Club may be the greatest stable of assembled talent on this PLANET, and yet, The Hellfire Club does not need ME to stand out here and give you jewels of my OXONIAN WISDOM on free television for just that - FREE. I will let our esteemed captain, JJ DeVille, be the spokesman for the Hellfire Club, it is not a role I wish to fill until I feel there’s something worth saying to the sorry likes of the NFW lockerroom - Guttersnipes such as Alex Austin and his soot-faced, sloped-foreheaded stablemates. Impecunious HOMELESS PEOPLE such as YOUR NFW World Champion, Impulse. Beggards such as yourselves are not WORTH the air I expel! BUT. . . BUT, I will make an exception, as on RELOADED 16, The powerbrokers in this company decided that Legion and I-- Legion’s ONE SIDED, LOPSIDED ‘feud’ with me has been nothing but an annoyance of a pouissant, a mewling WHELP tugging on my very expensive slacks. Legion, I HAVE ignored you, for almost a YEAR. Possibly more. You and your “Black Market” are no Fear Factory to me. I do not draw fright from you our your men, and at RELOADED 16, I will exact my vengeance on you putting your filthy hands on my father, and for WASTING MY TIME, which is the most important thing in this world.

“Legion, you are NOT taken seriously here, and I will finally END you after I step between the ropes of that forgotten GOMORRAH of a town, East Rutherford, New Jersey, and expose you as a fraud who is cosplaying as a wrestler, and after I impact your spine, I will turn your vertebrae into a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle and make it so that you’ll be leading your pathetic excuse for a tagteam from a wheelchair, and accelerating by blowing, or sipping into a straw.

“You DO have a choice, Legion, you can walk away. WALK AWAY. You wanted attention - you wanted Blaine Hollywood - the FUTURE PERFECT’S attention, and now you have you wish. Pity for you that what you want will be replaced by my NEED to destroy you, once and for all. Those words escape my lips and enter your ears as GOSPEL. And THAT, is GOOD AS GOLD.”


(FADEOUT as BLAINE steeples his fingers, settling back into the chair)

 

[Rook Black]

Re: Hellfire Hath no Oxonian Fury

ROOK: "I like that you're smart."

(FADE IN: ROOK BLACK, cross legged, eyes closed, shirtless, black and red track pants, custom black and red 1080s.)

ROOK: "It makes things interesting. I'll admit that I decided to get the Triple Crown Championship refurbished to my specifications to bait you. And I admire that you saw it for what it was."

ROOK: "But I'm still doing it. Baiting you was a nice inspiration for the idea, but now I genuinely think I can improve upon the design."

ROOK: "I like that you cited the aspects that the ... golden triangles ... symbolize. Power, Wisdom, Courage."

ROOK: "But symbolism and mythology are always going to be secondary to reality."

ROOK: "The idea that with those three virtuous aspects, Power, Wisdom, Courage, you could achieve great things, that those assets in your arsenal you can achieve anything ..."

(ROOK's eyes open.)

ROOK: "... is a crock of shit."

ROOK: "No. Worse than a crock of shit. It's a lie. But first things first. "

ROOK: "We exist in an unjust, unfair world. Those who have power and influence work to keep their power and influence from being diluted. They use whatever means they have to, violence and atrocity included, to make certain of this."

ROOK: "What any individual person can achieve with power, wisdom, and courage is entirely contingent on where they start from, the color of their skin, their gender, their access to wealth and the associated privileges therein."

ROOK: "You know this to be true."

ROOK: "My derived virtues are far more suited to the genuine world. Cunning, Patience, Ruthlessness. These are the items that allow for a genuine rise to power, to achieve great things. But I've covered all that before."

ROOK: "But the idea that your puny virtues are sufficient, that Power, Wisdom, and Courage are enough? That's not merely wrong. That's not a mere mistake."

ROOK: "As I said before, it's a lie."

(From the cross legged position, ROOK pops up to his feet.)

ROOK: "And you might ask me, why, Professor, why is it a lie? What does that even mean?"

ROOK: "Well, I'll tell you. Idiots and morons or folks burdened with attention span disorders, you can feel free to tune out right about now, Rook's going to explain some brain hurty ideas."

ROOK: "A lie is a misrepresentation of the factual to achieve a specific objective."

(ROOK gesticulates passionately as he continues the lecture.)

ROOK: "This means that lies always have two critical and significant aspects."

ROOK: "Objective and Motive. And when you examine a lie in the context of intuiting its objective and motive then suddenly the world is revealed for what it is."

ROOK: "Why would someone lie to you about Power, Courage, and Wisdom being enough to achieve greatness?"

ROOK: "So that when you fail you blame yourself instead of those who deliberately moved to deny you success. The narrative of impartial equality with regard to success tells the losers that they lose through their own failure, and that the winners had won through their own merit. This narrative protects those in power from those who might take it from them. It obscures the reality that those with power wield it with intent to deny others from claiming it at any cost. That the powerful, the privileged, are aware that their struggle for success is significantly less arduous for them than it is for others, and they intend to keep it that way, iff not tilt it even further in their favor."

ROOK: "In the original hyrule fantasy, you were led to believe in a reality that you were the only boy who could pick up a sword, navigate progressively harder dungeons in convenient numerical order, and save a girl from a nearly invincible pig faced dude but for the fact that the keys to his destruction were all just lying around waiting for you to pick them up."

ROOK: "This immature fantasy of pretending that you were somehow crucial, let alone important, that runs rampant today?"

ROOK: "It's the opiate of the masses."

(ROOK shuts his eyes.)

ROOK: "It's great that you're a dreamer, that you've taken the lies that imprison you and have created your success from them."

ROOK: "I've needed someone like you for a while. Someone that everybody sees as the embodiment of that kind of miraculous success. Someone with pluck. The great sprite hope. Someone who genuinely represents the mythology that succeeding in the confined reality of a videogame can be a substitution for actual success in reality."

(ROOK opens his eyes.)

ROOK: "Facing you now, now that I've revealed myself, matters so much."

ROOK: "Your dream has to die. Pretend success, manufactured success, unlocking arbitrary and pointless achievements, these things are like hamster wheels without the exercise. Achieving nothing, going nowhere, becoming the essence of meaninglessness."

ROOK: "The masses who believe in you must be shown the truth. That they are wrong. That you are wrong. And that they do not have cause find hope in you by following your path, but only in following mine."

ROOK: "When I defeat you, in spite of your amazing and valliant effort, they will know:"

ROOK: "That I, the Triple Crown Champion, the last Unbeatable Champion in NFW, have joined the forces of-

ROOK: "Well, if not exactly evil, then most certainly the epitome of selfish amorality in the Hellfire Club,"

ROOK: "To consolidate our power and influence in order to make certain that no others can have it."

ROOK: "I will leverage this power to the very limit to hold onto what's mine."

ROOK: "And I will defend my prize."

(ROOK folds his arms.)

ROOK: "By any means necessary."

 

[LQJT86C]

Freedom Takes a Holiday

(YOUTUBE: “LADY FREEDOM SHIT TALKS LAURIE PALAZZO,,TALKS WEIGHTLIFTING-POWERMASTER JTP JUSTIN BIEBER LADY GAGA OBAMA EDDIE MAYFIELD TOPLESS ANAL TWERK”)

(15 second ad from Nissan Pathfinder)

(CUTTO: Shit quality video taken from inside a gymnasium where LADY FREEDOM is looking buff in a red/white/blue tanktop. Anybody who remembers her from Season 1 is saying, “Damn this bitch looks aged!”)

DUDE BEHIND CAMERA: “I’m here with uh – (heavy breathing; he is clearly out of breath and unprofessional) Lady Freedom. Former NFW superstar (she nods in the affirmative), and a legend of the ring who is now on the comeback trail. 12 match win streak, now ranked #8 among all women in the world according to our website and a few others. I heard rumors that you might be competing in UWA soon, as well as Japan and a few other places. Can you uh...comment on that?”

LADY FREEDOM: “Yes, that’s right – Lady Freedom here, NFW LEGEND, Wrestling LEGEND, and you can follow my comeback on my brand new website – LadyFreedomWrestling.com – that’s DOUBLE-YOU DOUBLE-YOU DOUBLE-YOU DOT LADY FREEDOM WRESTLING DOT COM. We have t-shirts for sale, and a never-before-seen behind the scenes look from the night I took on The Powermaster in the greatest match of my career.”

DUDE: “Alright cool. We’ll definitely have to tell our readers to check that out. So are you headed over to UWA or...what’s the deal with that?”

LADY FREEDOM: “WELL...we’ll have to see. I cannot comment on anything AT THIS TIME, but let’s say that there are many offers from around the world for the services of Lady Freedom. But can I just say – I would love to get a crack at that Women’s World Title, if the champion ever stops hiding, tagging along at other people’s coattails in NFW.”

DUDE: “You’re talking about Lucky Seven?”

LADY FREEDOM: “Yeah, whatever she calls herself. She’s an example of what this business does to young and immature minds. Talk about paying no dues – I remember her from a promotion in the Northeast where we shared a locker room for a brief time. Let me tell you – she paid NO DUES, demanded and received special treatment from day 1, talking about “my brothers” this and “my brothers” that. Excuse me sweetheart – I’ve been in there with the biggest and the BEST, from Ryan Oracle to my ex-husband THE POWERMASTER. And do you know who I debuted on the same night as?”

DUDE: “No.”

LADY FREEDOM: “Impulse and Blaine Hollywood.”

DUDE: “Wow.”

LADY FREEDOM: “Yes. So I am not someone to be talked down to from people who have paid ZERO DUES in this business, I don’t care who they’re related to. I have respect for what Castor Strife has accomplished in this business. I know RA Palazzo as well, and respect what he’s been able to do at the independent level. But her? Some entitled crazy person who thinks the world owes her something? No. And I would love to get her in the ring to show her how LADY FREEDOM gets down.”

(END VIDEO)

(FADEIN: The inside of a locker room within the NFW Boerum Hill training facility – Belly Of The Beast – where LUCKY SEVEN stands against the wall in wrestling tights and a black vintage New Jersey Devils tanktop. Her left arm is crossed over her right, which is full-sleeved with a mural of pagan imagery, including Athena being birthed from the skull of Zeus, and the head of Medusa with eyes rolled back and tongue licked over her teeth. Seven leans forward, black hair combed over the blonde half, and looks intensely into the camera with her green eyes. A necklace made of old and valuable coins hangs from her neck as she leans)

SEVEN: “Lady Freedom?! Aren’t you the one who contracted HIV from Ryan Oracle, then gave it to Powermaster? Didn’t that happen?”

“Well, if it didn’t, it goddamn should.”

“And nobody would miss you, because NOBODY KNOWS YOU. That has something to do with the fact that you made all of three appearances in NFW, and this whole thing where I (rabbit ears) DISRESPECTED YOU probably stems from me having more NFW TV time before my 25[SUP]th[/SUP] birthday than you’ve had in your whole pathetic career, which has now been reduced to t-shirt selling and softcore porn.”

“Let me educate you SLAG: I don’t watch Showtime after 12am, I don’t wear silly t-shirts, and it didn’t take a combo of blowjobs and methamphetamines to get WHERE I AM, which is the NUMERO UNO ranked female wrestler in the world.”

“While you were doing god knows what at the Red Roof Inn with Powermaster, Ryan Oracle, and Pastor Ted Haggard, I was travelling the WORLD as a trapeze artist – a DEATH DEFYING high-risk entertainer.”

“I get that sucking AIDS cock is death defying, high-risk, and entertaining to...probably the dude getting it...but this is different.”

“I spit in the face of death because I kiss the lips of luck. I am the golden child. So why should I respect you? WHY? Because you’re famous for being a NOBODY? Please! You are a product of the American nostalgia for all that is SHIT. You were so bad, you were good!”

“Normally I don’t take a match unless I have something to gain, but since you pressed the issue, I need a soup can to Warhol at Reloaded: New Jersey. More than a handful of people from my hometown would love to see me beat you back to the shelter where Powermaster sent you 3 times according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s office, so let’s do it. You, me, JERSEY. And like any good Jersey native, I’m bringing home out-of-state trash for disposal. ”

“Come see what it’s like beneath the Black Rainbow....”

(FADEOUT)

 

[Legion]

Re: Hellfire Hath no Oxonian Fury

Like I said before... Blaine - just like everyone else you're missing the bigger picture.

[We fade in on Legion - the previously darkened room has a few candles lit around it, some faint light can also be seen in the background but the camera is focused intently on the Lord of Chaos, he's wearing a shirt with the Illuminates of Thanateros on the front and Chaos Rules Everything Around Me inscribed on the back.]

It's a shame that you've never considered me worth your air - you know despite the fact I choked your father out, burned his set down and have made it clear for months to you and the power makers that you were to face me in some form, finally they heed my call - the sigil came true and in New Jersey we finally collide.

The man that has deemed himself 'Future Perfect' collides with me in a match they're terming Burn Hollywood Burn - as you make your so called threats to break my back and make me humble - now that made me chuckle for reasons I'm sure with your education can figure out why. Many men and women have tried to break me down in the past - go and ask Rook about what can happen when you try to do so.

You say you've ignored me on camera but in the back of your mind ever since you saw me burn that set you've wondered how far I'm willing to go - probably thinking i'm going to burn you, make you bleed while I grab your father and make him watch, same with the world.

For a man that's tried to be part of takeovers many times - you still haven't figured out the true art of war yet. Bring as many members of your 'club' as you want - we'll fight them all. There's more of us in the shadows than even you have begun to realise.

New Jersey as I said is the first true shot in a war in which Chaos will consume all - just remember this: I have a deathmask all ready for you and one for Lamont. A man that used to be a Deadly Sin in NFW will be nothing more than a husk of himself and all the Oxford education can't save you from physical torture as the bones start to break.

[We see the camera move to behind Legion - on a table we see death masks resembling Lamont and Blaine with placeholders for Dorchester, JJ and Rook.]

 

[brusch]

Two roads, one blinded

“I have a theory, Rook.”

(FADE IN: Leyenda de Ocho, sitting atop a turnbuckle facing the center of a practice ring in his Link to the Past gear. No sweat worked up yet; the workout comes later.)

Ocho: “I don’t think you’re a liar. A liar is someone who completely knows the truth and consciously decides to represent something false. A liar is aware of the truth and its implications, and for one self-serving reason or another decides that this truth they know must be hidden, nay, buried. But there’s one important quality that is required of a liar: he has to know the truth, and then choose to divert his path.

And you really do think you know the truth, because the ideas you hold near and dear to your heart are, in a way, very similar to my own; they’ve been hypotheses that have yet to be disproven to you. You have lived a life of self-preservation by denying others by any means necessary, and it's worked like a charm so far; lest we forget, you wouldn’t be holding onto the Triple Crown Championship right now if it weren’t for your last-minute cowardly act aligning yourself with the Hellfire Club.

No, no…you ‘know’ your gospel to be true, because that’s all you believe to be true…because that’s the way you’ve made your path. It’s worked so far for you, hasn’t it? A years-long title reign…no real, definitive challenger who would stand up to you and look you in the eye as an equal to say ‘I am not leaving until something is done about your treachery’. Any small threat, swat it down by any means necessary – a DQ here, a cheap win there. A Hellfire Club when it gets really dire. The eyes of NFW look elsewhere – to the World Title, to the Television Title, to the Everett Memorial Championships. Meanwhile, you get to play the role of shark-in-a-fish-bowl. No real threats, no real battles. No one who has any real interest in knocking you off your comfortable perch – and that is a real concern to me, Rook.

Think about it – you are without question a top-tier talent in the locker room. No one would question this – and if you really wanted to pursue the World Title, I would throw down a sack of GP that Impulse would accept your challenge in a heartbeat (if I were a betting man). And yet – you don’t.

Why is that?

My theory, Rook, is that you’re a scared man. You are scared that if you lose the Triple Crown Championship to a man like me, not only will you be unable to regain it – you don’t truly believe you could pursue the top title in NFW. Leaving you without a spot, leaving you without a purpose, while you tell yourself that your theory is holding fast - it's gotta be the powers that BE that are holding you down, right?

Why else the desperation? Why else the refusal to take a stand and say, ‘I am the supremely talented and ruthless Rook Black, I am the Final Boss, and I should be the champion’? To be fair, I took my shot in the Grand Prix and came just a hair short – but you better believe that I’m not finished with my pursuit to become the best wrestler on the roster.

But you?

What are you WAITING for??”

(Ocho hops off the turnbuckle and slowly walks toward the camera.)

Ocho: “I said before I don’t think you’re a liar – and that’s because you have found a way to block out the real truth from your realm of perception. You say that race, gender, access to wealth determines one’s fate – yet we live in a world where a biracial kid from Hawaii without a father can become the President. We live in a world where a skinny kid from the dregs of Chicago, in a neighborhood where his skin color could’ve easily gotten him shot or consumed by drugs instead found a way to climb his way out to become a wrestling star on the biggest stage in our industry.

Don’t you dare tell me a man can’t influence his own destiny, Rook. I’m living proof that your ‘crock of shit’ is my world of possibility.

But see, you’re not a liar because you don’t know this side of the equation, Rook. You genuinely believe that ruthless cunning and bastardized politicking is gospel. You’ve never taken my path, and so you’re not aware of how Power, Wisdom and Courage can shape a man’s future.

It’s simply ignorance. And I think you’re too scared to take my path, the more fulfilling path, on your way to the top of NFW because it’s completely foreign to you.

I’ve gotten this far, Rook, and I’ve overcome far worse demons in my life than you. I’m sure you’ve got tricks up your sleeve and conniving plans to keep that precious hold on your desperate little island for as long as you can – but you said it yourself. I’m a smart man. I’m going to be ready for whatever you throw my way.

You can break the gold around your waist all you want, but you’ll never break my spirit. But keep underestimating me, Rook – no matter what, I guarantee you that the virtues of the Triforce will be restored.

One way or another.”

(FTB)

 

[Ford]

Re: Two roads, one blinded

(FADEIN: Jack Harmen, EXTREME CLOSE UP, on his eyes. His right eyebrow curls upward.)

JACK HARMEN: Narrative? The fuck!?

(CUTTO: Medium Wide Shot. Jack Harmen continues to frown, starring at the camera. He wears his Superfly Express t-shirt and wrestling gear. He's surrounded in his sound stage by lifeless cameras and lighting rigs disconnected from outlets.)

JACK HARMEN: Again. I repeat. Because it bears repeating. The fuck?

(Harmen begins to pace, his head buried in his hands as he strokes his chin.)

JACK HARMEN: Just because my first line brought up rapping doesn’t mean I’m running around shoutin’--

(CUTTO: Video clip. Jack Harmen surrounded by bitches with his hands filled with 100s.)

JACK HARMEN: --dollah dollah billz yawl!

(Harmen stands in place, hands folded across his chest.)

JACK HARMEN: I’m disappointed in you ‘Pulse. Comparing yourself to Eminem. Cause FUCK YOU, I’m Eminem!

(Harmen laughs.)

JACK HARMEN: Eminem broke 14 years ago, when I started appearing on national tv as HIGH FLYER. See Pulse, you're the next hot thing, not LAST DECADES CHAMPION. I was winning my first BLING when MY NAME IS dropped. And don't get me wrong, you’ve elevated your stature to where it was ALWAYS meant to be, but it only JUST happened. Not a DECADE AGO! That's when I made MY rise. See, you’re Kendrick Lamar, or in PULS-AUGE, you’re Dead Sara. You still have QUITE a bit to learn. And here I am, Serj Tankian. Still relevant, reinventing myself, enjoying the benefits of years of experience and enthralled with every moment I have left in that squared circle.

(Harmen smiles.)

JACK HARMEN: We even both use our real names. How about that for a narrative?

(Harmen tosses his head back and lets out an evil laugh, one we haven’t heard since he doned the FAKEPulse mask. In fact, in closer inspection on an XCU, Harmen holds the FAKEPulse mask balled up in his right hand.)

JACK HARMEN: And LET’S talk about the narrative, SHALL WE?! How EVERYONE just ASSUMES I’m eating the three against the TRUE champion of New Frontier. And YET! If there’s ANYTHING I know about NFW, (chuckles) it’s to EXPECT the unexpected.

(Harmen pulls a poser for RELOADED 17 out of the back of his wrestling tights.)

JACK HARMEN: Hell, TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND of these FUCKERS have been printed. IMPULSE, JACK BRYANT, NFW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP.

(Harmen takes a lighter and LIGHTS THAT SHIT ON FIRE.)

JACK HARMEN: I’mma take a cue from LEGION and throw this shit into CHAOS. Make the NFW WASTE their (rap voice) DOLLAH DOLLAH BILLZ YAWL!

(Harmen chuckles to himself.)

JACK HARMEN: Cause all it takes is one mistake, one moment Pulse. Just one opening. One 3:15 to CRAZYTOWN via a LOCOMOTIVE to your jaw. Cause I already know you're prone to mistakes.I mean, Eminem has won all the Grammys he ever will. If you’ve won all the world championships you ever will Knox, then maybe Pulse/Shady is an apt comparison. I'm sure that's not what you meant. Just like...

(Harmen shakes his head, furrowing his brow.)

JACK HARMEN: ... how I compared gold to bling didn't mean I was making a narrative!

(Harmen slaps his forehead.)

JACK HARMEN: I mean, Christ. I forgot what I said at the start of that promo by the END of it! Seriously!

(XCU: Harmen snickers.)

JACK HARMEN: Do you even KNOW me?

(MEDIUM SHOT: Harmen smiles.)

JACK HARMEN: I'm unpredictable. I'm talented. I'm legendary. I have a propensity for championships. And I like yours. I love the NFW World Championship.

(XCU: Harmen's eyes BULGE from their sockets.)

JACK HARMEN: And I eat logic for BREAKFAST!

(Harmen leans in, MOUTH AGAPE as he HEADBUTTS the camera to the ground.

He likes destroying cameras. CUTTO: STATIC.)

 

[Rook Black]

cause they know and so do i, the high road is hard to find

ROOK: "First of all, Player One, you were not about to beat me."

(FADE IN: ROOK BLACK seated across from BLUE FAUXHAWK at a chessboard. It's apparently strip Chess, since BF's Tuxedo jacket and shirt are now draped across her chair. She has full sleeve tattoos running down each shoulder of mostly female devils with pitchforks on roller skates fighting each other. Her pink bra is hilariously cute. ROOK has his bright red nehru jacket on his chair, but it still wearing a black silk shirt, and the matching red pants.)

ROOK: "I didn't call in the HFC because I was afraid of you were about to win."

ROOK: "It was a move made for drama and suspense. I had an opportunity to cheat you out of chance to win, while at the same time declare my allegiance to the HFC."

ROOK: "If I had defeated you, like I've done to everybody else, it would have subtracted from the delight of the group hug. Had I defeated you, it would not have made that act of declaration, that act of betraying every expectation of me, just a little smaller. And I couldn't have that. They were there, they were there for me, I wasn't not going to let them smack you around some."

ROOK: "Cowardly? Well, no, but you can make that case by ignoring the other circumstances. But is it authentic? Am I really behaving like someone who's afraid of you? I kind of feel that I've worked pretty hard to get to this point, Player One. Doesn't my enthusiasm for our upcoming match, our real match, count for something?"

ROOK: "Or more to the point, since you're a smart guy, and you're an honest and perceptive guy:"

ROOK: "Does it feel like I'm scared of you?"

(ROOK smiles.)

ROOK: "Tell you what I'm scared of. I'm scared of dying. I'm scared of the absolute nothingness that follows death. I'm scared of permanent bodily injury that reduces my quality of life to nothing. I'm scared that Dorchester won't accept me as a friend and brother the way that Blaine and JJ have. I'm scared that a concussion from Max Danger years ago has permanently affected my ability to play chess competitively, but Blue Fauxhawk here is putting my mind at ease."

ROOK: "But I'm not scared of losing. My eventual loss is inevitable. Something I've explained to folks fighting me again and again. I treat every match as the one that's going to end my statistically insignificant streak, and fight against that outcome as if I was battling fate. I will lose the Triple Crown Championship. But I will delay that loss just once more with every fiber of my being. It's a technique that I think I can declare has been proven to be effective."

ROOK: "I'm certainly not scared of Impulse. But I'm disqualified from challenging him for as long as I hold the Triple Crown Championship, at least according this shortlist, so, meh. I had hoped that before his vanishing, that Eddie and the board would demand a title vs title match against Castor. Perhaps that will happen with Impulse, or maybe Blaine or JJ will take it from him, it's not really something I'm worried about. I have the Triple Crown Championship. That's my focus. That's my responsibility. Again, losing it is inevitable. But I'm feeling pretty exceptional with my reign, which will establish that this title is less about a videogame mythology and more about the unduplicatable reign of Rook Black, the magnificent bastard that you never liked, but had to respect."

ROOK: "So, yeah. There's some weaknesses of mine. Exploit as you so desire."

ROOK: "But you do get it, right? You do get that I've wanted this, that I've wanted this battle to take place against you? Do you know why, Player One?"

(BLUE FAUXHAWK finally moves a bishop across the board. ROOK glances down at the board and then up at BF.)

ROOK: "Are you sure about that?"

 

[User Poets]

Zero-Sum

"Jack."

"You can do better."

...

"Can't you?"

(FADEIN... The middle of a wrestling ring. It's dark everywhere except for one spotlight shining in the center.

Pretty much the limit of vision is the faintest glimpse of the ring ropes.

In the middle of the ring is Y'r Humble Champion, the Eye of the Storm. Sitting cross - legged with my hands steepled under my chin. Facing me, a few feet away, is the NFW World Championship belt.

The entire scene is moving in a 360, around and around and around. Don't ask me how they did it, they just did it.

My eyes never leave the belt.

And...)

"A picture's worth ten thousand words, Jack."

Look it up, because that's the right quote.

"And the picture for Reloaded 17 states Jack Bryant gets his shot against IMPULSE."

"Is that arrogant to say?"

"I don't say it to be arrogant. I don't even say it to 'guarantee' victory."

Expecting the unexpected is par for course in the New Frontier, after all.

"The difference maker isn't wrestling ability, Jack: we're both masters of our crafts. The difference isn't experience."

Fourteen years of a career for you against five for me. We've both been World Champions, so I don't think there's much to say about experience.

Maybe you're just wondering how you used a word like 'bling' and I turned it into a diatribe on how I've got the advantage.

"But the real reason I'm going to win this match, Jack?"

"This is my company, and you don't have what it takes to lead it."

Mind: blown.

"When I first started wrestling full time for the New Frontier, it was at the very beginning of Miles and Mayfield's Wrestling Revolucion,and they were doing their best to weed out all the freaks and psychos that the company had collected during the Ultratitle Season 2. To that end, they stacked the deck against Felix Red so that a wrestler, Dan Ryan in this case, could win the belt."

"And he carried it until Wrestlestock II, where your partner, Nova, dethroned him by virtue of being the Ultratitle Season 2 Champion."

Interesting parallel, wouldn't you say? Both members of SupaFly Express get shots at the World Championship by winning a competition.

"Nova thusly lost to Joe the Plumber, and the attempt at moving to a wrestling - based company was thwarted."

"Until Joe collapsed under the weight of his drugs, and we were treated to eighteen months of Castor V. Strife."

"And now, Impulse."

"What does any of this have to do with anything, Jack?"

"Simple: None of those men knew how to lead the New Frontier. None of them were the Champion that the New Frontier needed."

Or deserved.

"Dan Ryan is a consummate professional, but between the exploding cage in Season 1 and the way his run in Season 2 ended, you could tell he was here for the money, not the New Frontier. Nova?"

Thus begins my terrible Nova impersonation.

"This. Took. Forever."

"Clearly, that was the mark of a man showing up because he was contractually obligated."

"I once said that the New Frontier was a living, breathing entity. Geniuses and scholars like Rook Black decided this obviously meant I was a Romney - level republican who wanted to give corporations the same rights as people."

In other words, Rook Black covers his own ignorance with big words that ultimately mean nothing.

"What I meant was that the New Frontier gives back what it takes in. Under Dan Ryan we limped along to Wrestlestock, where a confrontation over a year in the making: Nova's shot at the World Championship, was overshadowed by a battle royal for the TV Title."

"And the making of both Joe the Plumber and the Marathon Man."

That's not metaphor, either: one hundred and eighteen minutes in that match is what prompted Kerry O'Connor to start calling me that.

"The New Frontier couldn't ignore the rise of the Plumber: he was a callback to the insanity of Season 2 with a pregnant Beau Michaels, a drug - addled Felix Red, a six foot eight aborted fetus named Kooter, and Michael Manson."

Just Michael Manson.

"The fans were fascinated with the Greasy Goblin, and that fascination, combined with his seeming inability to lose, propelled him to the World Title against Nova. Appropriately, he won the World Title which allowed me to claim the vacated Television Title."

The shift was finally in progress, though nobody saw it yet.

"The New Frontier gives back what it takes in. What did it give back during the reign of Joe the Plumber?"

"Varga. Koopas. Hunchblack. Sars the Clown. Dirk Dickwood."

"Clearly, the Revolution was a lie."

"So, Jack, we've got Dan Ryan who wanted the money. We've got Nova who wanted to get it over with, and we've got Joe the Plumber who was an agent of chaos."

"Things got better with Castor Strife, no?"

"No."

"The Windham Clan. The Hellfire Club."

"Castor Strife's turn with the World Title put him above the New Frontier. He wasn't part of this company, he was part of his own organization."

Clearly defined with Alex Austin's turn as the First Pope of the Guild, preaching the Word of Castor to anyone who will listen.

"An absent Champion allowed for the New Frontier to become weak and vulnerable to outside invasion."

The Windham Clan. The Hellfire Club.

"An absent Champion, one who declared himself bigger than the sport, and better than the athletes, was begging for hubris to cause his fall from grace. Literally. Castor Strife claimed he had transcended wrestling because of how long he'd held the belt."

Well, Alex Austin... it's easy to do so when you only defend the title eight times in a year and a half.

"Now, the belt is mine. Which means the New Frontier is mine. And what's my defining characteristic?"

No, not arrogant. Not fraudulent. Those are opinions, no matter who's trying to say it.

"I'm a wrestler."

"Before anything, I'm a wrestler."

"Four and a half years after Miles and Mayfield declared the start of the Wrestling Revolucion, four and a half years after my full time debut in Montana, the Revolucion came full circle when I took the World Title from Castor Strife."

No, it wasn't a wrestling match. But it was a match of the Champion's choosing.

"And after the journey we've taken in the past five years, Jack... right now a wrestler is the Champion that the New Frontier needs."

"What are you?"

"A wrestler?"

"A time - traveling snow - selling, lunatic?"

"Obviously you have the ability to be a World Champion; your prior reigns in other companies are a testament to that. And you have the ability to lead a wrestling promotion for the same reasons."

"You would've been a great New Frontier World Champion in the past."

"But for the present; for the future... you are not the right man to lead this company back to where it belongs."

"Am I?"

"The New Frontier gives back what it takes in. I'm a wrestler."

"I'm the Champion that the New Frontier needs right now."

"Am I the Champion it deserves?"

I laughed.

"That remains to be seen."

"Until the Meadowlands, Jack... where much will be settled."

"And at the end of the night, when the three count is made, I'll shake your hand with respect."

And the World Championship belt over my shoulder.

"I know you're expecting to win, Jack - to follow your partner's precedent of winning the World Title after earning it in a contest. I know you're expecting to throw the Reloaded 17 card into chaos with a hastily - rewritten Main Event."

"But this is the New Frontier, Jack."

"Expect the unexpected."

FADE

 

[brusch]

Wanted: 20 heart containers

“I know why, Rook. You want to destroy me and make your wish to conquer both Light and Dark Worlds come true without delay.”

(FADE IN: Leyenda de Ocho, over his shoulder as he sits on a pale blue couch. The SNES is plugged in; most fans probably would know which game by now. Link has just dropped through the Golden Pyramid, and Ganon’s monologue is displayed on-screen:

“You are doing well, lad. But
can you break through this
secret technique of darkness?”

Ocho presses A and the battle onscreen commences.)

Ocho: “I represent an ideology that is the compete polar opposite of your own. Whether or not you like it, hate it, or are indifferent to the idea on its own, you are keenly aware of its threat to you; it is an ideology that, if successful, disproves the core of your being.

If I win my way, your grand statements of man’s inability to rise above his station due to the nature of power dynamics become false. If I win my way, it nullifies your gospel truths, or at the very least (and possibly worse for you), provides a genuine, viable alternative to your career path which will leave your legacy as someone with immense power and talent who could have done things anyway he wanted, but chose the path of gutlessness.”

(Fire wand, fire wand. Silver arrow. Dodge dodge.)

Ocho: “So, are you scared? Scared of me? Well, not necessarily. I don’t exactly cut an imposing figure; I can’t make realistic threats about breaking people in half, I don’t have the evil hoodoo voodoo that strikes terror in the hearts of men.

Even so, I think there is a sliver of fear there, even if it’s nothing more than a quiet, suppressed voice deep in your bowels that you’ve successfully ignored for four-plus years telling you ‘something could invalidate everything you believe in’. Everyone has that fear, even me. Believe me, I’m keenly aware that if you defeat me by means of Hellfire Club interference, backhanded disqualification or some other form of underhanded tactics, you’ll be able to lord over the world that you’re right, you’ve always been right and I couldn’t prove you wrong (even if it is only a temporary reality).

But the thing is, I have friends here in NFW, Rook. I have a brain. And I can do things in that ring that not even the superstar alum of the Black and Black Technical School can do.”

(Fire wand, fire wand. Silver arrow number two. Dodge dodge dodge dodge.)

Ocho: “And maybe that ability won’t be enough. Maybe you pin me cleanly, cutting through the BS ‘suspense’ that comes with selling the last fragment of your soul to join the Hellfire Club and proving that you, on your own, can defeat even the most fired-up, supremely motivated and fastest-rising star in this industry is simply another name on the list of men Rook Black has defeated. But if it’s clean?

Believe it or not, I’d be completely satisfied. I know exactly how much I want to win this match, and I know how far I am willing to push you at Reloaded 16. Defeating me cleanly after all that means that I will have succeeded in the one thing I truly set out to accomplish from the very beginning of this quest:

Restore the virtues of Power, Wisdom and Courage to the Triforce.

It’s the only way you have a hope of defeating me cleanly and holding onto your Triple Crown Championship. I know the tricks you have up your sleeve, I know your capabilities; I have made preparations for those inevitabilities. You’re not pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes this time.”

(Fire wand, fire wand. Silver arrow number three. Ganon glows an array of unnatural colors, before combusting completely. Triumphant music. A staircase appears, which Link ascends. The Triforce speaks to him.)

Ocho: “Long ago, I told you that there’s only one way this can end. I only wonder if you’ll understand this truth before I defeat you.”

(FTB)

 

[EastPrez]

Re: Wanted: 20 heart containers

OCHO:

Believe it or not, I’d be completely satisfied. I know exactly how much I want to win this match, and I know how far I am willing to push you at Aggression 16

(CUTTO: MAYFIELD)
That's totally coming out of your check.

 

[Ford]

Re: Wanted: 20 heart containers

(FADEIN: Jack Harmen sits on a metal folding chair in the center of the ring. XCU: He yawns, dramatically.)

JACK HARMEN: Yeah, but Pulse. Need and want are two separate things.

(MEDIUM SHOT: Jack steps to his feet, grabbing the folding chair as he does.)

JACK HARMEN: You represent the idealistic David in his war against Goliath, the pure soul looking to cut a swath through the cavernous shadows of NFW's underbelly. The righteous light of good in an otherwise impure world.

(Harmen laughs, and SLAMS the steel chair against the corner turnbuckle.)

JACK HARMEN: But the NFW faithful? They want a man who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. A man who's more than willing to crack blue steel clear across Derek Zoolander's skull just for looking at him with Blue Steel.

(The corner of Harmen's mouth curls upward.)

JACK HARMEN: A man who would have domed J.J. Deville.

(Harmen laughs.)

JACK HARMEN: You're the champion NFW needs?!

(Harmen tosses his head back in an evil cackle.)

JACK HARMEN: You're the champion we've GOT! Hell! You could have stopped all this chaos over a YEAR ago! You could have PREVENTED the Hellfire Club Pulse.

(Harmen steps to the camera and grabs it by the lens.)

JACK HARMEN: You could have made NFW better, if only you had the BALLS to go DARK SIDE OF THE MOON and BASH JJ's skull, OVER, and OVER like I woulda done! But NOOOOO! You had to be all high and mighty, all pompous and GOOD, too SELFISHLY GOOD to step INTO that moral gray area and TAKE OUT A THREAT to the promotion we hold dear.

(Harmen shakes his head, and lets go of the camera.)

JACK HARMEN: You're the champion NFW needs, sure? Maybe? Who am I to judge? I'm not history. But you're not the champion NFW WANTS!

(Harmen grabs the steel chair and CRACKS it over the cameraman's head. He falls to the mat, the camera staring up at Harmen. Jack drops to his knee and sneers in the camera.)

JACK HARMEN: They want chaos. They want lunacy. They want a man who will defend this promotion, not with morals and principals, but with VIOLENCE and BLOODSHED.

(Harmen shakes his head.)

JACK HARMEN: You'll defend honor and virtue, you'll fight the armies of heaven and hell for your championship and that's an admirable trait. I hope my son turns on NFW programming and tells me he wants to be more like Impulse. Maybe he won't turn out to be such a scumbag like me...

(Harmen sneers.)

JACK HARMEN: But the NFW needs a scumbag. They don't need a man who sets limitations on himself 'Pulse. Boundaries, lines you will not cross. Pride you will not relinquish. To win this war against the Hellfire Club? HELL! To BEAT ME! In JerSEY! You're gonna have to succumb to the dark side.

(Harmen stands, unstrapping his EMT title belt.)

JACK HARMEN: Or else I might not just be the new World Champ...

(Harmen raises the EMT tag strap above his head. He pauses, taking time to gulp as he lowers his tag strap.)

JACK HARMEN: I may just hurt my friend.

(XCU: Harmen's eyes. Solemn, quivering, determined. A tear slips out the corner. FADE TO BLACK.)

 

[Rook Black]

Re: Wanted: 20 heart containers

ROOK: "What things mean beyond their existential value is very debatable and unprovable. It's mythological. It's symbolic."

(FADE IN: ROOK BLACK, apparently in his ultra clean garage, he's wearing HFC t-shirt prototype, white with five silhouettes looking a smug as possible. Debate is still ongoing on how limited the limited run will be, and how expensive the price has to be to make it unaffordable to most fans. Cargo pants, black and red 1080s. He's got a laptop open, and a conspicuous bundle with a drop cloth over it, wires, plastic casings, pieces of circuit board strewn about. He's snapping a plastic case together and attaching it to his pc by usb cord as he speaks.)

ROOK: "But you and I have very different opinions about what the mythology means, and what it's for, and what it can do for us."

(ROOK looks over at the laptop. It's diagnostic time.)

ROOK: "I appreciated the remarks about the clean victory scenario. But-"

(He finally makes eye contact with the camera. An expression of disinterest.)

ROOK: "No."

ROOK: "The rules and guidelines of contests are flexible and dependant on the interpretation of a paid impartial referee. I'm going to bend them where I can, and break them where I have to. The HFC has got a lot of irons in the fire at the moment, and I can't count on them being able to help me steal the victory from you, so I won't plan on it. You want a clean victory to feel good about what I might represent? Well, it's possible. Just not very likely."

(His eyes pour over the screen one last time before he closes the laptop. He focuses.)

ROOK: "And honestly, I think given a chance, if you had a slight rule infraction in front of you, particularly to even the score against me, nothing too blatant, nothing that'd permanently noticeably soil your credibility forever, you'd take it."

ROOK: "And maybe, in a moment of greater desperation, you'd have a choice to make regarding how much you're willing to bend the rules to get what you want. And maybe then you'd discover something about yourself that you didn't know."

ROOK: "Because we do not live in a world of easy choices, do we, Player One. You plug in that game from the 16 bit console era, and you know who the enemy is, and it isn't you. In the greater reality, the roles of hero and villain are not so easily cast, often times depending on which side you're on, they are completely interchangeable."

ROOK: "No, we live in a greater reality, where courage can be a thing someone uses to make a hard choice that people are not going to like. Where wisdom can be a thing where someone sees the writing on the wall, and acts before the folks around them know what's changed. Where power can be something you have because you took it from someone else."

ROOK: "But the mythology, the symbols, they do still matter, just a bit. And like I had mentioned, they matter a little bit differently to you and to me."

ROOK: "I asked you if you knew why I chose you."

ROOK: "And you were close. You basically said that I wanted to destroy you and claim everything."

ROOK: "Really, I just want to claim everything. I don't care if you're destroyed or not. Which is worth stressing the fact that it also means that I'm not going to avoid destroying you if destroying you is the best route to me claiming everything. Don't get me wrong there. "

ROOK: "But you didn't address why I chose you in particular."

ROOK: "So I'm going to tell you."

(He comes around to the other side other side of the work bench, to stand near the bundle covered by the drop cloth.)

ROOK: "It's because villains need heroes."

ROOK: "It's because symbols matter only when someone believes in them."

ROOK: "I'm a jaded misanthrope, I couldn't impress the Triple Crown Championship's symbolism on the masses. But you, you're a believer. You are into the mythology. This title, this championship, your rise to the heroic path against me, you are committed to it one hundred percent, and it's epic. You can't buy that kind of thing. You can't teach it. You can't bottle it, you can't contain it, you can't control it. It only works because you're sincere in it, and the people believe in you, because you believe in you."

ROOK: "And if I'm careful enough pulling your strings, then people are not turned off by me exploiting it, even if they are aware that I'm working a con. They are on board, because you're on board."

ROOK: "You think you're the one who is motivated. That you have the drive and the momentum to claim your prize from me."

ROOK: "You see, you're not the only one. I have the prize, I have the gold, but you have that key ingredient, that genuine passion that makes the gold shine. The prize is meaningless without someone to fight you for it."

ROOK: "It's symbols and mythology again. Not very useful for contending with ordinary reality. But on the other hand, if you're in the business of doing something like ..."

ROOK: "Oh, I don't know ...

(ROOK smiles. His eyes widen.)

ROOK: "Creating a legacy ...

ROOK: "Something someone as jaded as me can believe in ...

ROOK: "Suddenly, symbols and mythology have a lot more to offer."

ROOK: "Don't they?"

ROOK: "Which in a way, means in our match, when I defeat you, I'm not just keeping this Triple Crown Championship away from you. I'm not just defending this belt."

ROOK: "It's my opportunity to do something that I otherwise could not do myself on my own."

ROOK: "If you win, you get the Triple Crown Championship, Player One."

ROOK: "But if I defeat you ..."

ROOK: "I obtain something I didn't have before. Something that doesn't necessarily exist in ordinary reality, but it vividly more real than real in regard to the collective imagination."

ROOK: "By beating you, I get the Triforce."

(ROOK lifts the drop cloth. The Triple Crown Championship is revealed for a split second, and it's entire outer surface is a smooth slightly reflective black. It doesn't make sense, I know. But it will.)

(FTB)

 

[brusch]

Let's Play

“We’re at an impasse, Rook.”

(FADE IN: Leyenda de Ocho, standing before a wall of old game boxes; the visual is somewhat reminiscent of Belle standing in the Beast’s library, with fewer singing candlesticks. Title after classic title; some mainstream, some obscure. Some not in English. Ocho gazes over them all intently in his lavender purple Link to the Past mask, red full-length tights, and a black t-shirt whose front design isn’t visible to the camera.)

Ocho: “You make an excellent observation when you say villains need heroes…and honestly, it’s a saying that could be equally true when reversed. Heroes may need villains. After all, if not for the villain, what world is there to save? Without a dragon, what need is there for a dragon slayer? Without a Final Boss, what need is there for a Player One?

You know, the more I learn about these classic titles standing before me, the less I know. Each life lesson resonates a different chamber of my humanity and shows me places I’ve never considered before. You may think that 16-bit games are a simple matter of ‘here is your enemy, go forward and whack it’, but goodness me have I seen more…good vs. evil, sure, but also choice vs. fate, conscious vs. subconscious, man vs. himself, the old ways vs. the inevitability of time…multiple layers of outcomes where every path is justified but every result is different. And sometimes, you just race go karts.

There is certainly a romanticism there, to be sure – it’s highly unlikely that there are exactly three shops in New Jersey, and they sell items, weapons and spells. Walking into someone’s house uninvited and smashing their pottery hoping money falls out is likely going to get me arrested. If me and three of my friends get hit with a wall of fire, we’re probably not going to get instantly healed by drinking a potion. I get that.

But the HEART of these games, Rook…the HEART is what resonates with me. I am into the mythology because these virtues, though played out in linear patterns in a controlled environment, still are truly meaningful.

We are at an impasse because you and I have very, VERY different definitions of what Power, Wisdom and Courage truly mean. You call this match your one shot at building a legacy for yourself; I call that notion prideful and ignorant. Your legacy would already be there, Rook, if only you had chosen a path of honor. Instead, your path is one of self-interest and self-preservation. You seek to use me to further your greedy agenda, and you seek honor for yourself; I seek to restore honor to the Triple Crown Championship itself.”

(Ocho turns; his T-shirt’s design is revealed, featuring several iconic extra-life images including a bottled fairy, Phoenix Down, green mushroom, Cup of Lifenoodles, Mega Man head, and more. At the bottom, in white pixelated text, the words “CAN’T KEEP ME DOWN”.)

Ocho: “And I will not rest until this quest is complete.”

(FTB)