Post by skylerstriker on Dec 15, 2006 3:19:55 GMT -5
The sounds of popcorn rustling and seats being moved into position are heard as we look into a room. The lights are all switched off and a few laughs can be heard in the room, which sound as though they come from a group of men who are middle aged or older. Either that or younger men who smoke. In either case, the chairs are all gathered around a single widescreen television monitor, plasma screen and with all the necessary gizmos and gadgets that usually accompany. The remote sitting in one of the men’s hand is oversized and looks like it was designed to do everything but switch on the TV. Underneath the giant screen is a top-of-the-line DVD player and one of the men inserts a disc into it. As the screen flickers to life and we can see more of the room, we are revealed to a giant room which contains a whole bookcase full of discs and even VCR tapes. Three men are sitting down with popcorn as if at a movie theatre, and as the ‘movie’ starts playing, they become silent. Two of them are overweight and obviously over fifty whereas the third is younger and has a cigarette in his mouth, smoking enough to make the smoke alarm explode. If the room actually had a smoke alarm, that is. The screen comes to life with colours and we can see a group of about three young men in a backyard wrestling video. They are performing the riskiest and highest moves they can think of or more likely have seen on television in an attempt to impress the three talent scouts for the WFWF. The men speak to each other, analysing the content of the video, and by analysing, I mean laughing at.
Older Man #1: Day after day, we get another bunch of whiny little teenagers trying to impress us with these stupid backyard videos. The quality on half of them is worse than the sex I get, and that’s saying something, because my wife is just… there are no words for it.
Older Man #2: Thanks for that, Greg.
Older Man #1: No problems.
Younger Man: You guys are just pessimists. A few of the guys who send in these tapes are actually half decent wrestlers.
The first older man takes a big handful of his popcorn and throws it at the younger man, who shakes it off and pulls one piece out of his hair. He sighs and stands up, taking the disc out and inserting another one from the pile of four. The screen once again comes to life and this time shows Hulk Hogan on his knees, begging at the camera, and asking for a job – any job.
Older Man #1: No.
Older Man #2: No.
Younger Man: No. Man, it was a good day in wrestling history when that guy busted his hip trying to do another leg drop.
The younger man stands again and ejects the disc, opening the window and throwing the disc out into the air from the twenty-seventh story of the skyscraper. Right before the window closes, we hear an ‘ouch’ from below. The younger man inserts a third disc and sits back down, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and putting it out in the older man’s pack of popcorn. The older man is about to say something but the three men are interrupted by the beginning of the third out of four tapes. As their focus is entirely on the pixels on the television screen, they do not see the door to the room opening and closing behind them, or the man who has snuck in to observe them. The tape that is playing shows another backyard federation, and it barely gets started before it is stopped and ejected, put back into its case by the younger man and shoved somewhere into the bookcase. They finally reach the last disc in the pile and insert it into the DVD player.
Older Man #2: This one had better be good. I’m sick of this crap, to be honest. Backyard federations aren’t going to impress me anymore.
Younger Man: Well, maybe you should spend more time going to watch independent shows.
Older Man #2: They’re the same type of thing. Plus, I have no money. We get payed sh*t.
Older Man #1: Shhhh, here it comes!
The video plays and we are shown an abandoned warehouse which contains a single wrestling ring. There are no lights, no crowd, no pyro or special effects, just one wrestling ring with two people in it. One is unidentifiable and the other bears a slight resemblance to Skyler Striker. The scouts watch the tape without a word, observing the very solid technical match that follows. There are no pins or submissions, just two men proving their skill. The match never technically ends, the two men simple slide out of the ring after twenty minutes of silence and the camera turns off a few moments later, obviously turned off by one of the wrestlers. The scouts sit in silence and finally one of the older men speaks up.
Older Man #1: Crap.
Younger Man: What?
Older Man #1: Crap. Like I said. We don’t need that here, we need people with a superstar look.
Younger Man: This is why wrestling is losing its touch, you idiot! People don’t want only wrestlers who look fancy and can talk a bunch, they want to watch the art of our sport, and it’s idiots like you who are stopping them from watching it.
Older Man #2: Calm down, Adrian! It’s just an audition tape, no-one else will ever see it.
??: Not quite.
The three men scan the room, unable to see anyone as the lights are all still turned off. The voice comes from nearby the door, and eventually the younger man sighs, stands up and flicks on the light, only for all three scouts to let out a gasp of shock as Skyler Striker is revealed standing near the door, having snuck in while the men have been watching videos earlier. He is dressed in his usual maroon attire and has his hair spiked up like normal. His sunglasses are tinted a light red, shading his eyes so they look red, which in reality they are anyway. Skyler pushes his shoulder muscles forward and shifts his weight, coming to a standing position and giving a nod towards the screen, his question directed at the younger man who seemed impressed with the tape.
SS: You liked that video, didn’t you?
Younger Man: Very much so. It’s people like that that we need in wrestling. Not people like Thunder, McGurk or Burton. Not the superstars. People want wrestlers, and I want to give them to them, but these two don’t agree.
Older Man #1: You don’t know what the people want! We’ve been working in the talent scouting business for twenty years, and let me tell you…
Younger Man: And that’s why you don’t know! Times have changed, Greg! The people want more! Wrestling, two men being able to put on an art form that not many in the world can perform! That is what they want!
SS: Listen, there are things like forums for these kind of arguments, why don’t you go over there and debate it? I used WrestleFigs when I was younger. The question remains: You liked the video, am I correct?
Younger Man: Yes.
SS: Good. And you two gentlemen did not, am I correct?
The two older men try to reply but only manage between the two of them to mumble an incoherent sentence that makes no sense to Skyler, so he raises his voice.
SS: AM I CORRECT?
Older Man #1/#2: Yes.
SS: Thankyou. Now, let me ask you a different question: you watch all of our matches after Felo-De-Se, correct?
Older Man #2: Yes.
SS: What did you think of my in-ring work for the last few weeks?
Older Man #1: It was solid. You’ve got skill, which is why we brought you in.
SS: That is a load of BS. You two did not bring me in. Yukio Blaze was kind enough to offer me an invitation to come here and Higher Authority gave me the contract. You two did nothing. Had you seen me, you would have rejected me and I would be in another federation taking your ratings away.
Older Man #2: You have no way of proving that we wouldn’t have accepted you!
SS: Wrong again. That last video that you thought was crap? That was me. Skyler Striker. The other was my trainer and best friend. That match right there was the audition tape I have showed every federation I have ever joined. They all accepted me. And you would have sent me away. You two are lucky that you have pensions, because I have your notices of release. You two have been fired by Higher Authority and these contracts are signed and cancelled by them. Oh, and I have a message for Adrian?
The younger man pipes up while the two older men sit there looking at Striker in shock, not moving. One of the men drops his popcorn box because his grip is not tight enough and the other laughs at him before being slapped by the first for laughing at him. Skyler sighs and shakes his head as Adrian replies.
Younger Man: That’s me.
SS: You’ve been promoted to head talent scout. Your first job is to find two younger men like yourself who understand what the WFWF is looking for and who know a good wrestler like myself when they see them. You are then to hire them and they will become the junior talent scouts like you were not a few seconds ago.
Younger Man: How did you memorize all of that as a message from Higher Authority?
SS: Some program my daughter is putting me through. Don’t ask. Oh, and as for you two slobs, get out of the building. Reverend Shadow wants you gone in the next five minutes or he will be calling security.
The two men nod and ‘run’ out of the room, leaving their popcorn everywhere. The younger man sits down and rubs his hands over his face, still in shock at this new promotion and the fact that he no longer has to work with two men who smell like last week. He rewinds the disc and removes it, putting it in a shelf on the case and taking out another disc labelled ‘Felo-De-Se 14/12/06’. He inserts it and beckons Skyler to come over. Skyler does so and sits down in one of the chairs that the older talent scouts were sitting in after brushing the popcorn off it. Adrian inserts the DVD and presses play, and the recording of the earlier matches plays, but Adrian fast-forwards it to Skyler’s match and watches it through, talking while it happens.
Younger Man: Well, I suppose I should thank you for delivering the message to me. I just you to see your match.
SS: Why is that?
Younger Man: So you can up your game for Crimson Existence. I supported you the second you came in and I’ll keep doing that, because I was the one who snuck your file in the Higher Authority. They don’t really listen to Yukio. They just let him think they do. In any case, you’ve got a tougher match this week. Pohatu, who’s a veteran, Christian Shields, who’s also been around here longer than you, and Thunder, who you’ve had some experience both against and on your side, if I’m right.
SS: I’m sick and tired of the Revolution. That’s why I’m bringing Danny Vice here – so we can get rid of them permanently. Thunder doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He can sit up in his sushi bars and hang around with Burton if he thinks it makes him cooler, but I know him, and I know how to beat him. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still concerned that he is an opponent. Every opponent is dangerous regardless of their weaknesses. Thunder’s is his overconfidence. Everyone has one. Mine is my failure to be able to control emotions in the ring. Pohatu is absorbed in his own little world and thinks he’s the best high flyer around.
Younger Man: In which you can actually give him a run for his money.
SS: Exactly. Which leaves Shields. Who is just plain under experienced. I can defeat him, I can defeat Pohatu, I can defeat Thunder, I can defeat McGurk, I can become champion yet again, and I can give the wrestling world the one thing they all wanted to begin with: wrestling. It won’t be a walk in the park, but if it was, I wouldn’t be giving them wrestling, now would I?
Adrian nods and Skyler nods back, taking a deep breath and relaxing in his chair before springing up out of it. He nods to Adrian once as he turns out and leaves the way he came in. Adrian nods to himself and begins packing up the room as we follow Striker.
[[From The Mind Of Skyler Striker]]
I did it. Jade was right and I have cemented in my mind who I am. I need no crusade or fate on my side. I am Skyler goddamn Striker, and come Crimson Existence, I will be one step closer to being champion.
[[End]]
Older Man #1: Day after day, we get another bunch of whiny little teenagers trying to impress us with these stupid backyard videos. The quality on half of them is worse than the sex I get, and that’s saying something, because my wife is just… there are no words for it.
Older Man #2: Thanks for that, Greg.
Older Man #1: No problems.
Younger Man: You guys are just pessimists. A few of the guys who send in these tapes are actually half decent wrestlers.
The first older man takes a big handful of his popcorn and throws it at the younger man, who shakes it off and pulls one piece out of his hair. He sighs and stands up, taking the disc out and inserting another one from the pile of four. The screen once again comes to life and this time shows Hulk Hogan on his knees, begging at the camera, and asking for a job – any job.
Older Man #1: No.
Older Man #2: No.
Younger Man: No. Man, it was a good day in wrestling history when that guy busted his hip trying to do another leg drop.
The younger man stands again and ejects the disc, opening the window and throwing the disc out into the air from the twenty-seventh story of the skyscraper. Right before the window closes, we hear an ‘ouch’ from below. The younger man inserts a third disc and sits back down, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and putting it out in the older man’s pack of popcorn. The older man is about to say something but the three men are interrupted by the beginning of the third out of four tapes. As their focus is entirely on the pixels on the television screen, they do not see the door to the room opening and closing behind them, or the man who has snuck in to observe them. The tape that is playing shows another backyard federation, and it barely gets started before it is stopped and ejected, put back into its case by the younger man and shoved somewhere into the bookcase. They finally reach the last disc in the pile and insert it into the DVD player.
Older Man #2: This one had better be good. I’m sick of this crap, to be honest. Backyard federations aren’t going to impress me anymore.
Younger Man: Well, maybe you should spend more time going to watch independent shows.
Older Man #2: They’re the same type of thing. Plus, I have no money. We get payed sh*t.
Older Man #1: Shhhh, here it comes!
The video plays and we are shown an abandoned warehouse which contains a single wrestling ring. There are no lights, no crowd, no pyro or special effects, just one wrestling ring with two people in it. One is unidentifiable and the other bears a slight resemblance to Skyler Striker. The scouts watch the tape without a word, observing the very solid technical match that follows. There are no pins or submissions, just two men proving their skill. The match never technically ends, the two men simple slide out of the ring after twenty minutes of silence and the camera turns off a few moments later, obviously turned off by one of the wrestlers. The scouts sit in silence and finally one of the older men speaks up.
Older Man #1: Crap.
Younger Man: What?
Older Man #1: Crap. Like I said. We don’t need that here, we need people with a superstar look.
Younger Man: This is why wrestling is losing its touch, you idiot! People don’t want only wrestlers who look fancy and can talk a bunch, they want to watch the art of our sport, and it’s idiots like you who are stopping them from watching it.
Older Man #2: Calm down, Adrian! It’s just an audition tape, no-one else will ever see it.
??: Not quite.
The three men scan the room, unable to see anyone as the lights are all still turned off. The voice comes from nearby the door, and eventually the younger man sighs, stands up and flicks on the light, only for all three scouts to let out a gasp of shock as Skyler Striker is revealed standing near the door, having snuck in while the men have been watching videos earlier. He is dressed in his usual maroon attire and has his hair spiked up like normal. His sunglasses are tinted a light red, shading his eyes so they look red, which in reality they are anyway. Skyler pushes his shoulder muscles forward and shifts his weight, coming to a standing position and giving a nod towards the screen, his question directed at the younger man who seemed impressed with the tape.
SS: You liked that video, didn’t you?
Younger Man: Very much so. It’s people like that that we need in wrestling. Not people like Thunder, McGurk or Burton. Not the superstars. People want wrestlers, and I want to give them to them, but these two don’t agree.
Older Man #1: You don’t know what the people want! We’ve been working in the talent scouting business for twenty years, and let me tell you…
Younger Man: And that’s why you don’t know! Times have changed, Greg! The people want more! Wrestling, two men being able to put on an art form that not many in the world can perform! That is what they want!
SS: Listen, there are things like forums for these kind of arguments, why don’t you go over there and debate it? I used WrestleFigs when I was younger. The question remains: You liked the video, am I correct?
Younger Man: Yes.
SS: Good. And you two gentlemen did not, am I correct?
The two older men try to reply but only manage between the two of them to mumble an incoherent sentence that makes no sense to Skyler, so he raises his voice.
SS: AM I CORRECT?
Older Man #1/#2: Yes.
SS: Thankyou. Now, let me ask you a different question: you watch all of our matches after Felo-De-Se, correct?
Older Man #2: Yes.
SS: What did you think of my in-ring work for the last few weeks?
Older Man #1: It was solid. You’ve got skill, which is why we brought you in.
SS: That is a load of BS. You two did not bring me in. Yukio Blaze was kind enough to offer me an invitation to come here and Higher Authority gave me the contract. You two did nothing. Had you seen me, you would have rejected me and I would be in another federation taking your ratings away.
Older Man #2: You have no way of proving that we wouldn’t have accepted you!
SS: Wrong again. That last video that you thought was crap? That was me. Skyler Striker. The other was my trainer and best friend. That match right there was the audition tape I have showed every federation I have ever joined. They all accepted me. And you would have sent me away. You two are lucky that you have pensions, because I have your notices of release. You two have been fired by Higher Authority and these contracts are signed and cancelled by them. Oh, and I have a message for Adrian?
The younger man pipes up while the two older men sit there looking at Striker in shock, not moving. One of the men drops his popcorn box because his grip is not tight enough and the other laughs at him before being slapped by the first for laughing at him. Skyler sighs and shakes his head as Adrian replies.
Younger Man: That’s me.
SS: You’ve been promoted to head talent scout. Your first job is to find two younger men like yourself who understand what the WFWF is looking for and who know a good wrestler like myself when they see them. You are then to hire them and they will become the junior talent scouts like you were not a few seconds ago.
Younger Man: How did you memorize all of that as a message from Higher Authority?
SS: Some program my daughter is putting me through. Don’t ask. Oh, and as for you two slobs, get out of the building. Reverend Shadow wants you gone in the next five minutes or he will be calling security.
The two men nod and ‘run’ out of the room, leaving their popcorn everywhere. The younger man sits down and rubs his hands over his face, still in shock at this new promotion and the fact that he no longer has to work with two men who smell like last week. He rewinds the disc and removes it, putting it in a shelf on the case and taking out another disc labelled ‘Felo-De-Se 14/12/06’. He inserts it and beckons Skyler to come over. Skyler does so and sits down in one of the chairs that the older talent scouts were sitting in after brushing the popcorn off it. Adrian inserts the DVD and presses play, and the recording of the earlier matches plays, but Adrian fast-forwards it to Skyler’s match and watches it through, talking while it happens.
Younger Man: Well, I suppose I should thank you for delivering the message to me. I just you to see your match.
SS: Why is that?
Younger Man: So you can up your game for Crimson Existence. I supported you the second you came in and I’ll keep doing that, because I was the one who snuck your file in the Higher Authority. They don’t really listen to Yukio. They just let him think they do. In any case, you’ve got a tougher match this week. Pohatu, who’s a veteran, Christian Shields, who’s also been around here longer than you, and Thunder, who you’ve had some experience both against and on your side, if I’m right.
SS: I’m sick and tired of the Revolution. That’s why I’m bringing Danny Vice here – so we can get rid of them permanently. Thunder doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He can sit up in his sushi bars and hang around with Burton if he thinks it makes him cooler, but I know him, and I know how to beat him. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still concerned that he is an opponent. Every opponent is dangerous regardless of their weaknesses. Thunder’s is his overconfidence. Everyone has one. Mine is my failure to be able to control emotions in the ring. Pohatu is absorbed in his own little world and thinks he’s the best high flyer around.
Younger Man: In which you can actually give him a run for his money.
SS: Exactly. Which leaves Shields. Who is just plain under experienced. I can defeat him, I can defeat Pohatu, I can defeat Thunder, I can defeat McGurk, I can become champion yet again, and I can give the wrestling world the one thing they all wanted to begin with: wrestling. It won’t be a walk in the park, but if it was, I wouldn’t be giving them wrestling, now would I?
Adrian nods and Skyler nods back, taking a deep breath and relaxing in his chair before springing up out of it. He nods to Adrian once as he turns out and leaves the way he came in. Adrian nods to himself and begins packing up the room as we follow Striker.
[[From The Mind Of Skyler Striker]]
I did it. Jade was right and I have cemented in my mind who I am. I need no crusade or fate on my side. I am Skyler goddamn Striker, and come Crimson Existence, I will be one step closer to being champion.
[[End]]
