JUNE 5, 2010
THE NEST- LIVING ROOM
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
8:43 AM LOCAL TIME
[Wait? We're gonna start with a promo? Mixing it up a little!]
[Either that, or there's gonna be some sort of a dramatic cliffhanger ending to this.]
[Either way, fade up]
[We're in the living room of the Nest, which as pretty much become THE non-RV place to cut promos for the WhirlyBirdz. On the couch, of course, sits one Terrence Thompson. As usual, he's in a t-shirt (NASCAR related) and wearing that ever-present sardonic smirk of his]
Twister- "So, just over a week left until Summer Games is finally upon us. In just a couple days, my wife and I load up the RV, and begin our long journey down south to Dallas for the biggest event in World Wrestling Alliance history."
[Terrence smirks and relaxes just a little.]
Twister- "Last time we were there, things got a little rowdy."
[Which is a really nice way of saying 'absolutely massive clusterfuck'.]
Twister- "Wendy and I went down there to make our debut. To tweak the nose of Eric Dane, and remind him that there were plenty of people left in the world who didn't care for him spitting on this Alliance's great legacy."
[A small sigh from Terrence]
Twister- "Instead, we ended up joining forces with a team that ultimately didn't give a flying fuck about those titles the prestige they carried over the years, or the alliance that sponsored them. Next thing I know, there's fourteen people in the ring, Valora and Umbrage are being punked, I'm being driven through a table, and my wife is being pinned down by the members of HYDRA, who then threaten to rape her until Victor Mandrake arrives and cleans house."
[Terrence pauses for just a second, obviously not happy with the memories he's reliving]
Twister- "The time before that I was in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, I got fired from my race team. I'm honestly starting to hate this fucking city."
[And not just because of the sports teams]
Twister- "The way I see it, I owe the Metroplex a little payback. And I'm going to extract it, peice by piece, in Cowboys Stadium, in front of a hundred thousand screaming fans.
[A small snort of amusement.]
Twister- "Has anybody actually taken in that magnitude yet? One hundred eight thousand people were in that very building four months ago for a basketball game. How many people will be on hand to watch the course of professional wrestling change forever?"
[A gruding note of admiration enters Terrence's voice.]
Twister- "I may not like the city, but if this is truly to be the biggest, the grandest, the most important Summer Games of all time, they sure picked one hell of a venue."
[A small shrug]
Twister- "I'm certain I'm not the smartest person in this Alliance, so how come I'm one of the few who's actually figured this out? Victor Mandrake's hidden himself in his castle playing dress-up and pretending to be all four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Zortalk's either flying in blimps, climbing trees, or paying bitter has-beens to appear and cut a promo for him while he sits like an old man in a rocking chair trying to figure out if he should give a damn or not."
[Terrence scoffs in disgust]
Twister- "Chris Cannon has fallen silent, likely due to the realization that when you step down as a fake president, you no longer have fake speechwriters to come up with shit for you. Ronnie Long, our fucking champion, is AWOL and Adrien Cochrane's probably somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico, trying to use the bullshit that comes out of his mouth to plug up that oil leak. And this is the PRO-Alliance side!"
[Terrence gives a helpless laugh at the sadness of it all]
Twister- "Meanwhile, the other side is no better. Team Defiance has taken to cutting promos on THEMSELVES as opposed to the competition. At least I think so, because no one can honestly fucking understand a word any of those three say."
"Well, at least the Defiance boys are saying something. What really gets me, however, is how the main antagonists, the HYDRA, have remained silent."
[Terrence snorts in disgust.]
Twister- "And I'm not just talking the buildup to Summer Games either. Ever since they tried to rape my wife in the ring, Four of the Hydra's five heads have buried themselves in the sand. And these people are supposed to be the face of Eric Dane's company?"
[Another chuckle, although Terrence is less than amused]
Twister- "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Its always been that way with Greer. SSW, CCW, BWA. Team Danger ambushes the WhirlyBirdz after they finish a match. WhirlyBirdz demand a showdown, Team Danger hides. They hid in the CCW, when they knew we were coming for their titles. They hid in the BWA, when Eric Dane faked his own suicide to get away from us, and Stephen Greer is hiding now."
"Are you finally going to show your face at Summer Games, Greer? Because last I checked, Eric Dane's a cripple, and they're still trying to extract Amethyst's brick from Ty Walker's head. That leaves you, Steve, and I'd say me kicking your ass has been about seven years in the making. I see Heidi has already learned well from you, the moment the time came to own up and face the WhirlyBirdz, she fled. Will you do the same? Even with the obvious numerical advantage you, and HYDRA, and Defiance will have? Or will you slink away, tail between your legs yet again?"
[Another derisive snort from Terrence]
Twister- "Or will you beg your Master Eric to hire the Truly Untouchables to protect you, like you did back in March? And I'd be VERY careful how you proceed, Greer, because if you so much as even LOOK at my wife funny, I guarantee you you'll be directing your next 'council meeting' in a decisively higher pitched voice."
[Terrence pauses for a long while, and takes a deep breath.]
Twister- "And of course, there's the Missouri Valley girls. It's a shame I couldn't grab a camera before today, because it looks like half the Alliance has beaten me to the Al Gore jokes."
[Bummer]
Twister- "But through it all, I have seen four others, who have managed to realize the enormity of this tournament. One, of course, is my wife, who’s been pretty much training nonstop for this ever since she saw her name in the lineup."
[Pause, and for the first time, a genuine smile breaks out on Terrence's face.]
Twister- "Living the dream, aren't you, Christian? A wife, a beautiful daughter. If there's anyone who deserves some happiness, its you. And I've known you had it tough, but you're the kind that perseveres. And its well that you've returned, because I have never had the opportunity to face you. But, Christian, I want you to be aware of one thing."
[The smile disappears]
Twister- "Victor Mandrake isn’t yours to beat. I know what he did to you, and I'm sorry. But if you're in this tournament to get revenge, you're leaving empty handed. But when I destroy Victor Mandrake next Sunday, the only help I will have is that of my wife. She and I have been waiting a long time for this moment, and no one, not even you, is going to take that away from us.”
[Another slight pause.]
Twister- “Joe Drago. You truly are a noble, if misguided, man. And I think any man in the world with a shred of dignity can appreciate your dilemma. You want to win Summer Games, but to do so, you have to beat three women. The first time you have to deal with it, it’s a tough situation. I’ve had to.”
“Let my start by saying that outside the wrestling ring, I have NEVER laid a hand on my wife, and any man who hits a woman is a despicable coward who should be drowned in his own blood. But if I’ve learned one thing from my wife, its that if you want to respect a woman in a wrestling match, the one thing you DO NOT do is go easy on her because of her gender. I’m not saying take liberties on them, of course. But Wendy has told me time and time again, that any woman who steps in the wrestling ring is accepting the same risks and potential consequences that a man does. They are there to compete, Joe, the same as you or I, or anyone else in this tournament. No one’s forcing them to do this, they are here on their own volition.”
[Terrence shrugs, as if the answer was already obvious.]
Twister- “This isn’t the nineties, Drago. Like it or not, the presence of women in this sport is a reality, and they no longer desire to be relegated to a sideshow gimmick where they fight each other in lingerie pudding matches. I know it’s a tough concept to get over, especially considering your manager, but if you can’t bring yourself to compete against a woman, Joe, than not only will you be risking your advancement, you will be risking your career. Every region in the World Wrestling Alliance now has female wrestlers on the roster, and there are no women’s divisions. You won’t be able to avoid a confrontation forever, so you best figure it out, and realize that just because you beat a woman in a match she willingly entered, it doesn’t make you a bad guy.”
[Terrence gives a nod at the camera, and Drago. He honestly knows where Drago’s coming from; he’s spent half his career worrying about his wife’s safety and capacity to compete on a level field. But he also has seen what his wife can do, and he knows she’s no pushover in a match.]
Twister- “And finally… Boston Bancroft.”
[BOSTON BANCROFT? OH-EM-GEE!]
Twister- “So you’re coming to Dallas, Boston? Good. First of all, if you do hop into our little tournament here, it’ll be nice to know another Indy boy is in this. It’s funny though. The World Wrestling Alliance hasn’t seen or heard from you in damn near a year. But now that the Summer Games tournament is upon us once more, it seems the defending champion is no longer content to sit on the sidelines and watch his son play with action figures.”
“Boston, you’ve talked a lot of shit over the past week, especially for a guy who’s sat in the comfort of his own home while the rest of us work, and sweat, and bleed for this place. But if you want to mosey on down to Dallas and try to defend your title, fine. Hell, I’d even offer you a spot in the RV, but it looks like you’ve already gotten your plane ticket. I respect you, Boston. You weren’t even originally in this tournament, but it seems unlike so many of the other morons in this field, you’ve actually come to realize the magnitude of this event. So I’ll see you in Dallas, Boston, and let’s show the Alliance how men from Indianapolis fight.”
[That’s a lot of city names to be throwing around in one sentence.]
Twister- “As for the rest of you people… wake the fuck up. You’ve got eight days to shut off the snooze on your alarms, get with the program. Or else you’re going to be spending the next year wondering what could have been.”
[Terrence shakes his head sadly, and sighs.]
Twister- “And I know all too well what a shitty feeling that is.”
[Fade]
JUNE 5, 2010
SPEED CITY GYM & TRAINING CENTER
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
12:54 PM LOCAL TIME
“I don’t care what’s wrong, the damn things over a week late!” Terrence Thompson barked into his cellphone. “It was supposed to be done in time for her birthday and… you can have it today? Really, this time? Because if I drive down there, and it’s not… yes… fine. I’ll see you later today. Goodbye.”
Terrence Thompson shut his cellphone off with a muttered curse, and threw it into his gym bag. He had ordered his wife’s freaking birthday present WEEKS ago, and only now it was getting done? He better be getting a damned good discount for this- he knew his contingency plan of art supplies and a couple of CDs had fallen flat with his wife, even though she had done her best to be appreciative.
But man, was she gonna FLIP when she saw what her real present was.
At least he hoped so.
Terrence finished putting on his workout clothes, tossing his streets in with his phone, just as the door to the locker rooms opened, and in walked Pollaski.
“We got the ring in five, you ready? What’s wrong?” The overweight manager said, adding the last sentence as he noticed the sour expression on Terrence’s face.
“Wendy’s present SHOULD be ready today,” Terrence replied sourly.
“Oh,” Pollaski said, coming to an understanding. “Well, look on the bright side, dude. We’ll have it before we leave for Summer Games. Speaking of which, this is it. Last training session before we depart for Dallas.”
Terrence nodded, although he knew that he and Wendy would obviously find time to continue their training while in the Metroplex. Still, there was no guarantee they could find quality sparring partners, so this was definitely an important session.
Terrence zipped up his bag, and threw it into one of the lockers, slamming it shut and taking the key, flipping it to Pollaski, as his own clothes carried no pockets. Pollaski routinely put the key in the breast pocket of his Hawaiian shirt, and followed Terrence out of the locker room.
The training facility the Birdz used was one of the nicer gyms in northwestern Indianapolis. Built out of a converted warehouse, the gym featured pretty much the entire line of Nautilus exercise equipment, a running track circling the perimiter, and a full size ring in the center of the gymnasium, that could be converted to wrestling or boxing, as the need arose.
His wife was already at ringside, doing some last second stretching, while Elizabeth and Cameron, their sparring opponents, were already in the ring. Wendy turned with a smile, and gave her husband a kiss as he approached.
“Okay,” Pollaski said, pulling a whistle out of his pocket. “This is it guys. Once we leave, we’ll have no guarantee how good our facilities will be, so act like this is the dress rehearsal. The biggest match of your lives is just eight days away, and you wanna damn well be ready. Now, any questions?”
Neither Bird responded, so Pollaski assumed no, and headed for the ring steps, while Wendy and Terrence elected to simply roll into the ring. Cameron and Elizabeth stopped their stretching, and Cam quickly stepped out of the ring, leaving Wendy and Elizabeth in there to face each other.
“Ready…” Pollaski said, then slipped the whistle into his mouth and blew. As soon as he did, Wendy was off, like she was shot out of a cannon, running full on into Elizabeth with a running shoulder block. Elizabeth, stunned by the sudden movement tried to get back to her feet, but Wendy grabbed the blonde and flipped her over, taking her down with a snapmare, then driving a dropkick into the girl’s back, forcing a grunt in pain.
On the apron, Terrence whistled, impressed. It was three basic maneuvers that Wendy performed in every match, but Terrence didn’t remember ever seeing them executed so perfectly. If she was this on the ball come the thirteenth, there was no way they were going to lose!
All in all, it was a phenomenal training session. The WhirlyBirdz exercized the game plan with flawless precision, and they spent the better part of thirty minutes throwing around the ever-gracious Cameron and Elizabeth on a fairly nonstop basis. Even Pollaski, who normally spent the entire training sessions barking at Wendy and Terrence over every little mistake in between his duties as ref, had fallen silent, as if he was afraid that saying anything would disrupt the zone his wrestlers had gotten in.
Terrence and Elizabeth were now in the ring, with Terrence putting her down with a side walk slam. Terrence left Elizabeth lying there, and tagged in Wendy, who immediately vaulted to the top turnbuckle. Terrence watched his wife fly off with a frog splash, connecting solidly, as Pollaski nodded in approval. Wendy paused for just a second, as if considering covering the blonde for the pin, but then kicked the girl over on her stomach, going for the legs.
Terrence arched an eyebrow. He couldn’t remember the last time Wendy had gone for the Banshee in a mere training session- she normally considered it to be too brutal a move to use on a mere training partner. But he supposed with the magnitude of their upcoming matches, she wanted to make sure every move in her arsenal was toned to perfection, and that included her favorite submission.
Wendy easily locked the Deathlock STF on, and it was only seconds before Elizabeth, giving a yelp of pain, was tapping the mat. Pollaski, grinning ear to ear, blew the whistle, signifying the end of the session.
But Wendy didn’t let go.
At first, Terrence thought she hadn’t heard the whistle blow, but even after Pollaski blew a few more bursts, Wendy still clamped the hold on tight. If anything, Terrence realized, Wendy was trying to apply even MORE pressure. Elizabeth, who had taken the move stoically, albeit painfully, began to desperately struggle to get out, screaming in agony.
“Wendy, match over, let go,” Pollaski said, tapping her on the shoulder. “Come on now…”
Wendy didn’t respond, or even acknowledge her manager. She continued to tighten the hold, drawing more screams from the agonized girl. Pollaski tried to pry Wendy off, but he couldn’t get her off without risking further injury to poor Elizabeth.
Finally, he looked at Terrence. “Help me,” he pleaded.
Terrence, realizing that something had gone horribly wrong, climbed into the ring, running to his wife, and trying to get her to release the hold. As he did, he heard the horrified Cameron muttering from his corner.
“Holy shit… she’s gonna kill her!”
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