EPISODE 20: Moral Crusade

JUNE 21, 2010
ARC CENTER
VALPARAISO, INDIANA
9:34 PM LOCAL TIME


Wendy Briese-Thompson poked her head through the curtain and looked out over the arena. To her dismay, if not her surprise, she noticed how many of the fans in attendance looked lethargic, almost bored, over the match getting underway in the ring. She supposed she couldn't really blame them- Brothers of the Will vs. Punch and Pie was hardly the reason any of them bought their ticket tonight. But considering that she and her husband were about to take on the winner for a shot at the tag titles at Do Or Die, she figured she at least better watch. After all, despite the obvious lack of acclaim concerning her potential opponents, it would be absolutely embarrassing if they blew this match- and their hopes of finally obtaining tag team gold.

"Did you know these were tornado rules?" Wendy asked, looking over her shoulder at the man standing behind her. Terrence Thompson was dressed in his usual modified-racing suit ring gear, but he too seemed to have taken a lethargic approach to the first stage of the gauntlet series. Wendy hoped that like the fans awaiting outside, her husband would get fired up when their turn came.

But now the Mechanical Mayhem only shook his head and shrugged. "Nah, but I'm not too surprised. PWX kinda likes to drop surprise tweaks to matches on it. Besides, if both of us are in the ring kicking ass, it'll make tonight's work that much easier."

"Don't get overconfident," Wendy admonished, although she too had this overwhelming sense that barring a massive screw-up on the WhirlyBirdz part, there was no way whatever team emerged victorious in the current match would be beating her and Terrence.

She turned back to the ring, and was shocked to see that Punch & Pie, normally the worst tag team in existence, had gone straight at the Brothers of the Will. Uriah was already outside the ring, down, and the two clowns were double teaming Xander. Wendy gasped in surprise as the two clowns hit the Pop Tart (wait... Punch and Pie even HAD a finisher?), and she found her jaw dropping as the referee counted to three. Wendy turned back to her husband, her mouth open in astonishment.

"We're facing Punch and Pie!"

"What?" This was obviously news to Terrence as well, and he came up beside her, looking through the curtain as well. Sure enough, El Torte and Los Ponch were standing in the middle of the ring, victorious, while Xander Thomas lay on his back, clutching his head in agony. "Holy crap... they won."

Wendy, wide-eyed with astonishment, looked over at her husband, who had uttered some very nasty curse words. "What's wrong, Terry?"

"We're facing the clowns... I HATE clowns!" Terrence growled in irritation, as if the answer to his sudden foul mood was obvious.

"Oh, not THIS again!" Wendy muttered, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "Terry, I don't know why you're so afraid of clowns, but could you get over it, please?"

"I'm not AFRAID of them," her husband retorted, shooting Wendy a nasty glare. "I just wish God would eradicate their existence. But don't worry, it'll be that much more fun to kick their ass."

"Don't get overconfident," Wendy repeated. "Punch and Pie just pulled off a massive upset- they could be getting better. We can't let them pull off another one."

"Punch and Pie getting better?" Terrence laughed incredulously. "The Brothers of the Will just suck, Wendy. We should have seen this coming. But there is no way those two circus idiots could have gotten to the point where they are even going to stand a chance against us."

Wendy opened her mouth to argue, but at that moment, a loud tornado siren went off across the arena, while the heavy drumbeats of "The Sound of Madness" began to play. Wendy looked over at her husband, and was happy to see that his demeanor had changed completely. His face was all business, and he knew it was time for the WhirlyBirdz to do their job, and get themselves that title shot at Do Or Die.

"Ready?" The Mechanical Mayhem asked his overly-anxious wife.

Wendy nodded, took a deep breath, and pushed through the curtain, her husband following.



JUNE 21, 2010
ARC CENTER
VALPARAISO, INDIANA
9:39 PM LOCAL TIME

"Told you!" Terrence Thompson crowed triumphantly as he pushed through the curtain, leading the way to the backstage area.

"I just wish I'd get a match that lasted longer than a minute," Wendy griped as she followed him. In truth, their match against Punch and Pie had lasted almost two minutes, mostly thanks to a bizarre ballerina dance by El Torte that had left both Birdz utterly bemused. But that bemusement hadn't stopped the onslaught once it had started, and one Kamikaze later, and the Birdz were the number one contenders to the tag team titles.

Still though, Terrence could understand Wendy's frustration. Between her quick dismantling of Uriah Thomas and the massacre against Punch and Pie, Wendy had experienced less than three minutes of match time over the past two weeks.

"Well, I'm sure whoever they give us next week will be tougher," Terrence said consolingly. "Unless they give us Sami Jacobs and Cash Money as a warmup."

Wendy smiled grimly, hoping to all heaven that wasn't the case. The heavy pounding of footsteps distracted her, and she turned to see a large, heavyset man running towards her.

"Sorry I'm late!" Daniel Pollaski huffed as he ran up to them. "There was a line in the freakin' bathroom. How long til we're on?"

"Match is over," Terrence said simply, offering his manager little more than a nonchalant shrug. "We won."

"Oh." Pollaski blinked. "Congrats"

"Yeah, it was tough going there for a while," Terrence confessed. "Then the match started, and we kicked ass," he finished with a grin.

Pollaski scoffed. "Well, considering who they put you up against, I think it's obvious that JPO had you in mind as the challengers to face the Kings Among Men. This match was merely a formality to solidify it."

The three of them had reached the locker room, and Terrence grabbed the door, swinging it open, and bursting into the room, Wendy and Dan following behind. Cassie and Theresa were in the room, and Terrence smiled as his daughter leapt to the ground, and ran at him.

"You won! You won!" Theresa hollered as Terrence scooped her up into his arms.

"Of course we won," Terrence grinned. "We ALWAYS win!"

Wendy scoffed quietly at the braggadocio, but she reached out to take her daughter from her husband, and Terrence gave Theresa up. "Good job, mommy!" Theresa said as Wendy nuzzled her daughter.

"Thanks, Terr-Bear," Wendy said with a grin, as she set the three-year-old down. "That was a big win for us, because now we get to face the champions."

"You beat 'em too!" the little girl predicted.

"I hope so," Wendy said with a smile.

"Speaking of which, the Kings are wrestling right now," Pollaski interjected, walking over to the corner of the room and turning on the television.

Being that the TV was merely a 19' fullscreen, it was hardly the most luxurious viewing experience for the Birdz, but still, the old TV afforded the Birdz a great opportunity to watch their opponents in two weeks.

Or at least they had thought to...

Instead, John Pariah was standing on the entrance way, talking about how he didn't feel like wrestling today, and introducing Ryan James Dio as his impromptu tag team partner.

"Are you kidding me?" Wendy scoffed in derision. "This is a match for the tag titles, and our own CHAMPIONS use a proxy?"

Pollaski shrugged. "King's rules match, I guess."

"I don't care what you call it. A challenge for the belts is a challenge, regardless of what you think of the challengers, and to show such obvious disrespect to not only your opponent, but the titles you hold, is certainly unbecoming of a champion!" Wendy said hotly, as Ryan James Dio went to town on the two opponents. Her obvious irritation only heightened when she saw an obviously tipsy Michael Norcia sauntering to ringside, leaping onto the apron, and cracking Mikal Grayson in the head with his empty bottle of Jack Daniels. "Disgusting," Wendy muttered, shaking her head.

"Well, the fans seem to be enjoying it," Terrence observed, considering how nuts the fans were going for the systematic destruction of Grayson and Cash Money in the ring.

"That doesn't make it right," Wendy said through clenched teeth, as RJD's beatdown of the two hapless jobbers continued. "Granted, those two men shouldn't have even been given a shot at the tag team titles in the first place, but to treat a TITLE MATCH with such blatant disregard... I'm glad we're going to get the chance to dethrone these so-called 'Kings' at Do or Die!"

The match ended almost as quickly as the Birdz match against Punch and Pie did, but it was clear that while Terrence and Wendy had gone out and quickly and surgically dispatched Punch and Pie, what was going on in front of them amounted to little more than torture and humiliation for the team of Mikal Grayson and Cash Money. RJD tagged in Pariah, who merely covered Cash Money for the win.

"I don't think its over," Cassie DeSlair, who had been sitting quietly since the Birdz had returned to their locker room, spoke up softy.

"Oh, for God's sake," Wendy said, rolling her eyes as Norcia climbed into the ring to join his tag partner in further destroying Grayson and C.M. "The match is over. Those two poor men don't need this."

But the beatdown continued, and the four adults in the room watched in marcabe fascination as the Kings Among Men, with their new partner, continued to destroy their already-defeated opponents, then turned on the unsuspecting Ryan James Dios, attacking him with equal fervor.

"They couldn't have done all this DURING the match?" the increasingly irate Wendy asked as a Hand of God left RJD lying limply next to the other two broken men in the ring.

"That, was brutal," Cassie said quietly, her eyes wide at the destruction in the ring.

"I think they're sending a message to us," Terrence said quietly, watching Pariah calling him and Wendy out as he left the ring.

"Good," Wendy said hotly. "I hope those disgusting pigs are prepared for us to give our ever-so-ELOQUENT reply at the Pay-Per-View!"

With that, Wendy spun on her heel, and stormed out of the locker room, slamming the door behind her, causing the remaining four occupants in the room to jump.

"Is mama okay?" Theresa asked, obviously upset by the outburst from her mother.

"Yeah," Pollaski answered, staring at the now closed door. "There's some elements of wrestling that your mommy doesn't like, and she just had to see them in that last match. She'll calm down."

"Still," Terrence quipped, turning back to the television, snorting in disdain at the image of John Ojeda now being projected. "It's nice to have her be angry at someone ELSE for a change"

On that, everyone was in agreement.



JUNE 24, 2010
THE NEST- LIVING ROOM
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
9:10 PM LOCAL TIME

[If you were to take the hometowns of every single member of the PWX locker room, it shouldn't surprise you that the WhirlyBirdz, living a mere 150 miles from Valparaiso, have some of the shortest trips of any member of the PWX roster (save for John Pariah, of course). But it's still a three hour drive the WhirlyBirdz need to make every week, loading up the RV and leaving their cozy abode in northwestern Indianapolis. So when you travel away from home every weekend, and get a grand total of two minutes, thirty-seven seconds of competitive ring-time over the past fortnight, it gets a little irritating.]

[Poor Wendy. At least they've decided not to leave for Valpo until Sunday this week. Gives a little more home time]

[And that's where we pick up with Wendy, who is sitting on the couch, the camera mounted on a tripod about ten feet away. Wendy, of course, is ALWAYS dressed nice, and the light green blouse with a knee-length black skirt are no exception. Of course, given that she's wearing a skirt, Wendy's elected to cross her legs, so dont' think you're getting any "Miley Cyrus Shots"]

[Perverts!]

Wendy- "Well, we did it. Terrence and I were given the opportunity to earn a shot at the Kings Among Men at the Do Or Die supercard, and we took advantage of it. So, in two weeks, Terrence and I will finally have our chance to return the WhirlyBirdz to the forefront of tag team wrestling. Considering that I didn't even get a MATCH on the last PWX Supercard, I'm obviously pretty excited that I will finally have the opportunity to show the world what the WhirlyBirdz can do when we engage Michael Norcia and John Pariah. But unfortunately, Terrence and I are going to have to wait a week for our shot at tag team gold. In the meantime, Terrence and I will get to face Brian Hollywood and Darin Zion."

"While I am excited about the quality of opponents in this match, I have to say I enter with a little bit of trepidation. I don't completely understand the hatred Hollywood and Zion have for each other, but I can tell you that is NOT a feud I want to be getting into the middle of! But you have to play the cards you're dealt, and if JPO thinks that the best match available is to put those two men on the same team, I suppose I'm not one to argue. I just hope they can keep the self-destruction to a minimum until AFTER we beat them."

[A small smile from Wendy]

Wendy- "Now, Darin Zion is a man I can respect. He's obviously a very talented wrestler, having just defeated Rick Rampage for the CWC North American championship. But even more than that, Darin is a man who genuinely believes that the right way is more important than the easy way. From what I've seen of Darin, I hold him in the highest esteem, and I wish him all the luck in his match at Do or Die."

"But I know that Darin's mind's in other places this week, as he has to leave for Italy to deal with the matter of his friend's murder. I wish Darin safe travels as he deals with this obviously difficult situation, and hope he's back, and well rested for his match against us. But on to his 'partner' for this week, Brian Hollywood."

[A small pause as Wendy's normally placid demeanor changes instantly. Her eyes narrow, and her eyes take on an almost sinister gleam. Her lips curl into a smile that obviously cannot be genuine.]

Wendy- "So, Brian, we meet again."

[A small chuckle from Wendy, and she shakes her head]

Wendy- "Brian, the last time you and I were together, you and your henchman Chris Stern were coercing me into giving you a win in your match against Jay Price. And, I'm ashamed to admit that I folded under the pressure. Then again, the chain you had Stern place around my neck obviously was quite an effective argument."

[Obviously, Wendy remembers the Last Man Standing match she guest refereed at Full Throttle well. She had agreed to referee in an attempt to keep Brian Hollywood from cheating, but obviously that had failed, as Chris Stern came in, leveled Jay Price with a chain, then wrapped the chain around Wendy's neck and forced her to make the count.]

Wendy- "I'll admit, that was humiliating. That's twice now that you've managed to embarrass me, Brian, and I think you're well aware that I'm hardly going to stand for that. But this time, there's nothing you can do. This week, I'm not a referee intent on being an impartial observer to a match. Nor am I as susceptible to a chair shot from you like I was in our first match against each other. I know your tricks. And on Monday night, there will be nowhere for you to run. I have my husband alongside me, and you don't have Chris Stern in your corner. You have your mortal enemy. You're outnumbered, and you better toe the line."

"I know I probably sound like a hypocrite, given what an advocate I am for fairness in the wrestling ring. But you haven't given two seconds worth of thought about fairness, or ethics, or even simple human decency. The way I see it, Brian, you're being hoisted on your own petard, and while I'm holding no illusions that this is going to make you see the error of your ways, I'll admit there will be a certain gratification in watching you squirm."

[A big humorless smile from Wendy now.]

Wendy- "I think you remember well what happened when we met in that hallway the week before Do or Die, Brian. I had you down on the ground, in the Banshee, screaming your throat raw. And I told you that was going to happen. Like I said, I don't resort to sneak attacks. I made sure you knew I was there, and you had ample opportunity to defend yourself. But you didn't, because you couldn't. It's going to be the same way Monday night. Every single time you and I have met on a level playing field, I have been dominant, and you have been forced to slink away to lick your wounds. That's not going to change, because you adamantly refuse to improve yourself as a wrestler and a human being, and instead resort to petty tricks to get your way."

"I've waited a month for this opportunity, Brian. At Adrenaline 37, you're going to realize that hitting me over the head with a chair was the worst mistake you ever made. You are going to be exposed as little more than a craven bully who can't win anything on his own merit. And then, Terrence and I are going to go to Do or Die, and we're going to take the belt away from your former Hierarchy buddy, John Pariah, and restore some honor to the tag team division."

[There's absolutely no smile from Wendy now, just a cold stare into the camera, anger in her emerald eyes.]

Wendy- "Brian Hollywood, the hour of your downfall is upon you. With your arrogance, you have lit too many fires, and now you stand to be immolated by the inferno you created. No secret deals, or hidden accomplices, or whatever other scheme you can concoct can save you anymore. By the time I'm done, there may not even be enough left of you for Darin Zion to crush at the supercard. Because, the more and more I think about it... the more and more I've determined...

[Wendy pauses, and sighs, but steels her resolve and continues. There's almost a sadness in her eyes, though, as if Wendy truly is disappointed that she's come to this conclusion.]

Wendy- "That the best thing I could ever do for the world of wrestling is to remove Brian Hollywood from it."

[Fade]