Ten Pounds of Gold: A Pro Wrestling Quest
- Thread starter Vesvius
- Start date
- Original
SlyGuy2895
Victims, aren’t we all?
- Location
- Parts Unknown
[X] [HORIZON] Yes. You probably would've helped out anyway. Money just sweetens the deal.
[X] [KINGDOM] You won't say a word to Allie and let her decide what she's comfortable doing. If she'd rather not punch you in the face then you're not eager to get punched in the face.
[X] [KINGDOM] You won't say a word to Allie and let her decide what she's comfortable doing. If she'd rather not punch you in the face then you're not eager to get punched in the face.
DracoDracul
Bigender Communist
- Location
- Austin
- Pronouns
- She/They
Yeah, that's a really risk as a second generation wrestlers. I mean it's likely why of Ted Dibiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes, Ted got the bigger push despite his limited charisma. Ted Sr. was one of the most dependable heels of the golden era, while Dusty was more often than not working for the competition and was very much the kind of guy Vince would never push as a top babyface due to his weight.
Fun fact Dusty and Cody Rhodes are the only father and son pair of World Champions in American Wrestling history to date.
160. Months Eleven & Twelve: Bang Bang
Vesvius
The Wicked God
"Wait," Allie says. "Hold on. Let me process this." Obediently, you mime zipping your lips and let Allie stew in silence. She stares blankly into space for a moment before reaching down and pinching her own leg. Once she seems convinced that this is reality, she turns her focus back to you.
She lets out a long breath. "Let me get this straight. You're working Horizon more, sure. Daybreak's giving you a solid push, I can see that. But… she's paying you?!"
"Not that much!" you hiss back defensively. "It's chump change compared to my new N.E.W deal, but-"
"But it's still money! Actual money!" Allie barks back. "Not ten bucks for gas and a cheeseburger that the brat made last night for 'practice'! There's going to be bills involved here! Like.. multiple pieces of paper are going to go from her to you!"
She stops and stares. One hand creeps out from her lap and latches onto your shirt collar. "How?!" is all she can gasp out.
You can't keep the smile off your face any longer. "I've got no idea," you answer. "But it's pretty fucking sweet, right? If we keep this up then in like…" you pause to do math. "Two years, she'll have given me my tuition money back! I'll have pretty much wrestled to learn to wrestle! It's glorious!"
On your other side, Jack lets out a growl. "Shut up already!" he mutters, his voice low and dangerous. "You're being too loud! You're going to mess up Barry!"
You turn your attention away from Allie and back towards the rest of the room. All around you, the K.W.K locker room is spread out in the seats set up around the ring. Barry's in the middle of the squared circle with his customary massive pile of notes in hand. His focus is almost squarely on those notes as he reads them out loud to the guys working the third match on the show. The boys in question, 'Lovelorn' Hal Anderson and 'El Jefe' Luis Versace, are doing their best to listen attentively but they're the only ones. Around the ring is the furthest thing from quiet. You hear Tao arguing with Randy 'Gridiron' Beltway about a spot in their last match together, Simon Trask exchanging cooking tips with Ida Humphries, Supply and Demand bickering with Hana the Huntress about their last bar tab, and half a dozen other conversations just like it. Barry barely seems to notice any of it.
Allie gives Jack a dry look. "Really?" she replies dryly. "We're the ones that are going to mess Barry up? Not them?" She gestures towards the ring apron, where 'Gentleman' Noble Bronson and 'The Ideal Perfection' Eric Canyon have abandoned all subtlety and have started arm wrestling on the side of the ring; something Barry doesn't notice in the least as he finishes up the fine details of the match. "We should clearly work harder to be more like these paragons of patience."
Jack flushes, but he doesn't back down. "Just… I'm trying to listen to this. Can you please keep it down a little." In his hand, a little pen twitches against a notepad with nervous energy.
You and Allie trade a glance and then sigh in unison. "Fine," you groan out. We'll keep it to a dull roar, I swear." Jack gives you a short nod and goes back to his notes and you turn back to Allie. "Money, 'Le! Real, actual money! For Horizon!"
The rest of your pre show meeting is full of more of the same. In the ring, Barry goes through each and every match in painstaking detail that no one but Jack cares about. Outside of it everyone else finds something else to during this mandatory experience. It's only when Barry turns his attention to the three of you that you clam up and let him speak.
"Mr. Salvation, Ms. Sky, Mr. Corsair," the booker utters. You wonder idly, not for the first time, if Barry's actually alive. From the way he talks he seems more like a reanimated corpse brought back from the grave to open doors for the Addams Family. "Tonight is the penultimate chapter in your first story. As a reminder, it has been centered-"
Allie's hand flies into the air. "Excuse me, Barry?" she asks, forced politeness thick in her voice. "I appreciate the recap, but is it really necessary? We're familiar with the angle."
"Because we were there. In the plot. Doing all the shit you're about to tell us about," she definitely wants to add. But to her credit she keeps that part out of her mouth.
Barry pauses, as if the idea that people besides him remember the storylines is a new and slightly troubling concept. But he shakes his head. "No, it would be for the best if I recount this storyline. And I would like to stress that this is a storyline, Ms. Sky. Angles are what take place within the story. They are not the story themselves."
Allie's shoulders slump and she nods in resignation. You chuckle and pat her shoulder. Barry's going to talk until he's blue in the face no matter how long it takes. There's nothing anyone can do to stop it.
"As I was saying, this storyline has been centered upon Mr. Salvation's attempts to recruit Mr. Corsair into his cult, which also features Ms. Sky as a member," Barry continues. "It began with Mr. Salvation attempting to sway Mr. Corsair via words, and then by helping him win matches with Ms. Sky's interference. When that proved ineffective, Mr. Salvation chose to cost Mr. Corsair a match to show him that Mr. Salvation's aid could be given to those against him as easily as it could be given to him."
"At the same time, Ms. Sky has been wrestling in tag matches with Mr. Salvation or in singles matches at his behest. On the last card Mr. Salvation refused to wrestle, claiming that the omens of the night were not correct for such exertion, and sent Ms. Sky to face his Mr. Rage in his stead. This is despite the fact that Ms. Sky had an encounter with Ms. Hana earlier on the card and had also already helped Mr. Salvation with his machinations against Mr. Corsair."
"Now things are reaching their climax. Tonight, Mr. Corsair will challenge Mr. Salvation to a match as a response to his interference last card. But again, Mr. Salvation will refuse the match and state that Mr. Corsair does not deserve to stand against him. Mr. Corsair will then challenge Ms. Sky, and state that if he wins, he gains an opportunity to face Mr. Salvation next month. Mr. Salvation will then accept, stating that if Mr. Corsair loses tonight or next month, he will join Mr. Salvation's cult."
You nod, trying your best to fight back your impatience. For crying out loud, could he be any slower?! Allie's a mass of twitchy energy, but as always, Jack seems fascinated by what Barry's saying. You glance at his book to see a complicated looking chart, with bubbles for every worker on the roster and arrows pointing from one to the other.
"Mr. Corsair, you will win tonight, in twelve minutes. Build slowly throughout the encounter. Mat work or some basic spots, but nothing too flashy. By the end though you should both fly to the fullest of your abilities. Mr. Salvation, you will be watching from the entrance ramp. For the finish, Mr. Salvation will attempt to hit Mr. Corsair with his book again, but it should be kicked from his hands. When you go to retrieve it, Mr. Salvation, please let out some kind of anguished noise, as if your very child has been pulled from your fingers."
Jack nods solemnly. "Of course."
"While he is distracted, Mr. Corsair shall hit his finish and win. If you have a faster, more sudden finishing maneuver than your drillkick, please use that. The drillkick will do in lieu of anything else but I would prefer an abrupt ending to capitalize on Mr. Salvation's distraction."
Allie nudges you with an elbow. "Finally, a fucking point," she says, voice too low for anyone but you to hear her. Louder, she continues, "You don't have a second finish over yet, right?"
You pause and think. The Full House would probably be closest, but you've been using that as a high spot and a comeback starter ever since you came up with it. The Moonsault Knee Drop is better, but again, you've been using it in transition. The GDO isn't a finish, no matter what you try and do with it. Besides, it's the exact opposite of what Barry wants. The Rolling Mule Kick is a comeback move not a finish. And none of your other moves even come close. You shake your head. "No, I don't have anything else over yet. I can work on something special for tonight…"
"... but it would not be at the level we would want it. Unfortunate, but not unexpected. The drillkick will do. Employ that, win, and flee to the entrance. Taunt Mr. Salvation and make sure to act. If you need motivation, remember, these two have been attacking and haranguing you for months. Consider saying the following: 'Now you've got nowhere to run, Salvation! And…'" As Barry goes on, you tune him out. You don't need him to tell you what to say. If there's one thing you can do competently it's talk trash.
Five minutes later, Barry finishes up and moves down the card, and you're free to talk with Jack and Allie again. The three of you lean forwards and put your heads together. "Got anything special in mind?" you ask.
Jack shakes his head. "I might ask if I can get the house mic and make a sermon from the mount as your match is going on. But besides that, I'm not in till the end. I got nothing."
On your other side, Allie taps her finger to her lips in thought. "Well, we've got to keep it slow at first, right? We'll do a few basics, a leapfrog or two, trade a few armdrags… how about you counter one and get some shine with some mat work? You've been working on that, right?"
Fuck yeah you've been working on that, and the idea of finally busting it out in a match makes you almost giddy. "I can do that. Then you'll need to get a lot of heat. How do you want to do that? Move so I hit a post? Knock me off when I go for a springboard?"
Your friend considers that for a few moments. "Nah," she finally says. "The post won't work and stopping your springboard… wait. Actually, yeah. That could work. How's your balance these days?"
"Pretty solid," you answer. "What've you got in mind?"
"How about this," she says, suddenly animated. "You dump me down and start picking up speed. After I feed you, I'll wind up near a turnbuckle. You go for a springboard whatever- what it is doesn't matter- and when you're crouched on the ropes, I hit you with the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang."
"Huh," you reply. "I'm… do the physics of that even work?"
This time it's Jack who speaks up. "Yeah, it could," he says. "But Allie would have to get you real quick. And how would you finish the move?"
The three of you think in silence with Barry's droning as your background noise "I got it!" Allie finally says. "I'll lay one on you, and then when you're distracted, I'll walk backwards. You hook your feet on the rope, so you wind up with your ankles on the rope. I'll stretch you out and then-" She claps her hands. "-Bang! I'll hit you with a draping facebuster."
You look from Allie to the ring to Allie again and then shrug. "We're going to have to practice it," is all you can say.
Your friends agree, and so when Barry finally leaves the ring you make a beeline towards it. Once you're able to get a corner of it all to yourself, you take your position with Allie laying flat on the mat near the ropes and you on the apron, ready to jump. A hop and spring later and you're balancing precariously on the ropes, waiting for Allie, who gets there just in time. And it works out even better than you'd hoped: to pull your head down for the KKBB, she's got to pull you towards her anyway. "This should work!" you say as you get back down.
And then you forget about it. You forget about it as you're getting the show ready by putting more chairs out and getting the popcorn started. Your forget about it when you're getting the merch table set up, finding a new spot for the new run of your Corsair Skull T-shirts and cursing the empty place that should have a new design that you haven't been able to think of- fucking concussion. You forget about it when you're gearing up for the match and when you're going through your normal ritual of screaming at your friends, and you keep forgetting about it through your entrance and your prematch promo with Jack.
You forget about it as you bump for the first time in a week and feel the familiar pain shoot through you again. Your forget about it as your heart rate spikes while you and Allie go through the feeling up portion of the match. You forget about it right up until you're balanced on the top rope and Allie's grabbed a hold of your head.
Oh. Right.
One other thing you forgot? The Kiss Kiss Bang Bang involves Allie actually kissing you.
You're not sure why the realization makes your almost lose your balance. After all, you kiss Leah for wrestling all the time. It's part of the show and part of the act. The Kiss Kiss Bang Bang shouldn't be any different than any of the three hundred kisses you've shared with your other friend. Right. It is no different. It's acting. It's part of the show. It's-
Allie grabs your head and pulls you down, brushing your lips with her.
...it's nothing like getting kissed by Leah.
And then you forget pretty much everything in the world until Allie tugs your hair once, twice, to let you know that you're about to go down. The only thing you're kissing after that is the mat.
As you lay in a heap, Allie popping up to taunt you almost instantly, your mind is racing. You- what- huh- the fuck just happened?!
Allie drops a knee on your back and grabs your arm, wrenching it back to a chorus of boos. You let out a gasp of feigned pain. Allie responds by slapping your shoulder and locking in the hold even tighter. She leans down to whisper in your ear. "Try and toss me. I'll roll and boot you in the shoulder."
Right! The match! You're in a match right now! You need to be working! In fact, you can forget the whole thing. You're not sure what the fuck that was, but it was just part of the match. Just an amazing performance by Allie. That's it.
That's definitely it.
***
The rest of the match goes just as well as that spot. Allie works you over, you get a comeback, you both trade highspots like warring pinballs and then after thwarting Jack's interference you put down Allie with the Sidewinder. She even takes the fucking great cartwheel bump for it again which leaves her partially tangled in the ropes before you pull her down and get the pin.
The post-match goes swimmingly as well. You evade an enraged Jack and throw a party in the aisle, celebrating your own skill and cunning until the music loops around and it starts getting old. You make it backstage with a smile on your face. All in all, it was a good match and a quality angle. It may not have been the barnburner you were hoping from your first match with Allie but it was a solid little thing. Definitely nothing to be ashamed of.
Allie and Jack take their time in making it back to their lockers. You're already showered and dressed before they come back in from the ring. That doesn't stop you from pulling them both in for a bro hug and slapping them on the back. "Quality stuff!" you bark as you let Jack go. "I can't wait for the blow off!"
Jack grins broadly at that. "I know! I've got some ideas that I think can add some extra punch. Maybe we can bring Charley out for it. I want her to see me have a good match and the three of us will definitely deliver."
He's not wrong. When you've wrestled one or both of your friends, the results have been okay at worst and amazing at best. There's way worse first matches for him to drag his girlfriend to. Which reminds you; Selina's never seen you work either. You took her to Superior, and she's seen clips of you in THUNDERPUNCH, but wrestling really has to be experienced live. Maybe you could really fill up the Monster for the next match and drag her out to your blowoff with Jack.
"Bee Tee Dubs," Allie breaks in. "We're going to be here for a while. Barry wants us to shoot a skit."
"Oh?" you ask. "Am I in this one?"
She shakes her head. "Nah, just me and Jack. Apparently he's going to tell me that my loss tonight was the last straw and that I'm clearly worthless as a follower."
"Makes sense. That's boilerplate stuff," you reply. As you talk, your mind follows the logic of Barry's storyline. "So for the blow off, I'm going to guess you'll try to interfere and have it backfire? Give me the win accidentally?"
Jack shrugs. "Maybe. It seems more likely that it'll be on purpose. Allie'll come out, make like she's going to fuck you over to get back in my good graces, and then blast me with the Book instead. You'll get the win, I'll go off to whatever's next, and the two of you will team up for a while."
"Seems legit," Allie chimes in. "So yeah, we've got to stick around till after the show, get the script, go through his whole routine, and then shoot the thing. Who knows how long it's going to take. And since you're our ride… sure hope you didn't have plans!"
"Nah, I'm good," you answer. "I never schedule anything on show days. You go do your thing. I'll just chill here."
The two both hug you again and then trot off, looking for Barry and the camera guy. You glance around the locker room, looking for someone else to shoot the shit with. But everyone else you know seems like they're tied up with their own shit, and the few who you don't know don't look like they're in the mood to make a new friend. So you drag a chair over to the curtain, put one eye on the show, and the other on your phone.
The match in the ring is dull so it isn't long before your attention is firmly on your phone. It's just as well; you haven't posted anything wrestling related in a few days. So you take a pic of the match and tag yourself, sending it out with a message talking about taking in the competition. And then you wait. And wait.
By the time the match ends you've gotten one comment- someone talking about how great you are- and nothing else. You reply to the comment of course, but you can't help but feel a little disheartened. You've been doing the whole social media game almost since the moment you first pulled on your spandex, and you don't really feel like it's getting you anywhere.
You've put a lot of time and effort into your twitter game and what've you got out of it? Well, your feud with Hugo and, by proxy, your spot with 100SW. So it hasn't been entirely fruitless. But that's all. And since then, it feels like you're just treading water with no growth or decline.
Maybe you should change things up. Variety is the spice of life after all, and doing new things is the best way to keep from getting stagnant.
The only question is how.
Currently, Tommy does a little bit of everything online, sharing mostly wrestling things with a smattering of personal information. But that's not really working any more. How does Tommy tweak his Online Presence?
[] Go full Kayfabe. Treat everything in wrestling like it's happening in the real world and be confused when things don't end like they do in grappling. This will involve talking about how confusing it is that political debates don't end in lockups and the occasional threatening of people with chairs. Nothing gets people more interested in a character than being an insane character.
[] Be obsessively open. People like a wrestler when they feel like they know them, so you'll give them almost full access to your life. More gym selfies, shots of what you do in your free time, pics of you and your parents at Christmas Dinner, that kind of thing. You might get a lot more people coming up to you in public since your life is always open, but isn't that what a celebrity wants?
[] You've noticed that the internet isn't short of people who want to complain about stuff, and you can definitely be one of them! You'll watch and talk about more mainstream wrestling instead of just focusing on the shows and promotions you're in, usually with a critical edge. Starting shit might get you a bit of a reputation with certain people, but it's a surefire way to get noticed.
[] Actually, on second thought, you really don't need to change. You can just keep on keeping on with what you've been doing. It got you the Hugo feud after all! It can get you more. All you have to do is keep at it.
[] Write-In
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Mechanics Changes
Stat Changes
Basics: Impressive 924/1500 -> Impressive 948/1500
Mat Wrestling: Impressive 547/1500 -> Impressive 564/1500
Selling: Elite 1622/2500 -> Elite 1662/2500
Aerial: Elite 1899/2500 -> Elite 1992/2500
Microphone: Impressive 1121/1500 -> Impressive 1137/1500
Acting: Disappointing 50/100 -> Disappointing 78/100
Merch Sales
Wild Smile T-Shirt: 45 -> 45 (0 Sold! 7 until next expense)
Wildcard Playing Cards: 13 -> (0 Sold! 5 until next expense)
Corsair Skull Shirt: 100 -> 97 (3 Sold! 2 until next expense)
Autographed 8x10s: 7 Sold! (13 until next expense)
License to Thrill T-Shirt: 80 -> (0 Sold! 20 until next expense)
Full House T-Shirt: 71 -> 69 (2 Sold! 11 until next expense)
She lets out a long breath. "Let me get this straight. You're working Horizon more, sure. Daybreak's giving you a solid push, I can see that. But… she's paying you?!"
"Not that much!" you hiss back defensively. "It's chump change compared to my new N.E.W deal, but-"
"But it's still money! Actual money!" Allie barks back. "Not ten bucks for gas and a cheeseburger that the brat made last night for 'practice'! There's going to be bills involved here! Like.. multiple pieces of paper are going to go from her to you!"
She stops and stares. One hand creeps out from her lap and latches onto your shirt collar. "How?!" is all she can gasp out.
You can't keep the smile off your face any longer. "I've got no idea," you answer. "But it's pretty fucking sweet, right? If we keep this up then in like…" you pause to do math. "Two years, she'll have given me my tuition money back! I'll have pretty much wrestled to learn to wrestle! It's glorious!"
On your other side, Jack lets out a growl. "Shut up already!" he mutters, his voice low and dangerous. "You're being too loud! You're going to mess up Barry!"
You turn your attention away from Allie and back towards the rest of the room. All around you, the K.W.K locker room is spread out in the seats set up around the ring. Barry's in the middle of the squared circle with his customary massive pile of notes in hand. His focus is almost squarely on those notes as he reads them out loud to the guys working the third match on the show. The boys in question, 'Lovelorn' Hal Anderson and 'El Jefe' Luis Versace, are doing their best to listen attentively but they're the only ones. Around the ring is the furthest thing from quiet. You hear Tao arguing with Randy 'Gridiron' Beltway about a spot in their last match together, Simon Trask exchanging cooking tips with Ida Humphries, Supply and Demand bickering with Hana the Huntress about their last bar tab, and half a dozen other conversations just like it. Barry barely seems to notice any of it.
Allie gives Jack a dry look. "Really?" she replies dryly. "We're the ones that are going to mess Barry up? Not them?" She gestures towards the ring apron, where 'Gentleman' Noble Bronson and 'The Ideal Perfection' Eric Canyon have abandoned all subtlety and have started arm wrestling on the side of the ring; something Barry doesn't notice in the least as he finishes up the fine details of the match. "We should clearly work harder to be more like these paragons of patience."
Jack flushes, but he doesn't back down. "Just… I'm trying to listen to this. Can you please keep it down a little." In his hand, a little pen twitches against a notepad with nervous energy.
You and Allie trade a glance and then sigh in unison. "Fine," you groan out. We'll keep it to a dull roar, I swear." Jack gives you a short nod and goes back to his notes and you turn back to Allie. "Money, 'Le! Real, actual money! For Horizon!"
The rest of your pre show meeting is full of more of the same. In the ring, Barry goes through each and every match in painstaking detail that no one but Jack cares about. Outside of it everyone else finds something else to during this mandatory experience. It's only when Barry turns his attention to the three of you that you clam up and let him speak.
"Mr. Salvation, Ms. Sky, Mr. Corsair," the booker utters. You wonder idly, not for the first time, if Barry's actually alive. From the way he talks he seems more like a reanimated corpse brought back from the grave to open doors for the Addams Family. "Tonight is the penultimate chapter in your first story. As a reminder, it has been centered-"
Allie's hand flies into the air. "Excuse me, Barry?" she asks, forced politeness thick in her voice. "I appreciate the recap, but is it really necessary? We're familiar with the angle."
"Because we were there. In the plot. Doing all the shit you're about to tell us about," she definitely wants to add. But to her credit she keeps that part out of her mouth.
Barry pauses, as if the idea that people besides him remember the storylines is a new and slightly troubling concept. But he shakes his head. "No, it would be for the best if I recount this storyline. And I would like to stress that this is a storyline, Ms. Sky. Angles are what take place within the story. They are not the story themselves."
Allie's shoulders slump and she nods in resignation. You chuckle and pat her shoulder. Barry's going to talk until he's blue in the face no matter how long it takes. There's nothing anyone can do to stop it.
"As I was saying, this storyline has been centered upon Mr. Salvation's attempts to recruit Mr. Corsair into his cult, which also features Ms. Sky as a member," Barry continues. "It began with Mr. Salvation attempting to sway Mr. Corsair via words, and then by helping him win matches with Ms. Sky's interference. When that proved ineffective, Mr. Salvation chose to cost Mr. Corsair a match to show him that Mr. Salvation's aid could be given to those against him as easily as it could be given to him."
"At the same time, Ms. Sky has been wrestling in tag matches with Mr. Salvation or in singles matches at his behest. On the last card Mr. Salvation refused to wrestle, claiming that the omens of the night were not correct for such exertion, and sent Ms. Sky to face his Mr. Rage in his stead. This is despite the fact that Ms. Sky had an encounter with Ms. Hana earlier on the card and had also already helped Mr. Salvation with his machinations against Mr. Corsair."
"Now things are reaching their climax. Tonight, Mr. Corsair will challenge Mr. Salvation to a match as a response to his interference last card. But again, Mr. Salvation will refuse the match and state that Mr. Corsair does not deserve to stand against him. Mr. Corsair will then challenge Ms. Sky, and state that if he wins, he gains an opportunity to face Mr. Salvation next month. Mr. Salvation will then accept, stating that if Mr. Corsair loses tonight or next month, he will join Mr. Salvation's cult."
You nod, trying your best to fight back your impatience. For crying out loud, could he be any slower?! Allie's a mass of twitchy energy, but as always, Jack seems fascinated by what Barry's saying. You glance at his book to see a complicated looking chart, with bubbles for every worker on the roster and arrows pointing from one to the other.
"Mr. Corsair, you will win tonight, in twelve minutes. Build slowly throughout the encounter. Mat work or some basic spots, but nothing too flashy. By the end though you should both fly to the fullest of your abilities. Mr. Salvation, you will be watching from the entrance ramp. For the finish, Mr. Salvation will attempt to hit Mr. Corsair with his book again, but it should be kicked from his hands. When you go to retrieve it, Mr. Salvation, please let out some kind of anguished noise, as if your very child has been pulled from your fingers."
Jack nods solemnly. "Of course."
"While he is distracted, Mr. Corsair shall hit his finish and win. If you have a faster, more sudden finishing maneuver than your drillkick, please use that. The drillkick will do in lieu of anything else but I would prefer an abrupt ending to capitalize on Mr. Salvation's distraction."
Allie nudges you with an elbow. "Finally, a fucking point," she says, voice too low for anyone but you to hear her. Louder, she continues, "You don't have a second finish over yet, right?"
You pause and think. The Full House would probably be closest, but you've been using that as a high spot and a comeback starter ever since you came up with it. The Moonsault Knee Drop is better, but again, you've been using it in transition. The GDO isn't a finish, no matter what you try and do with it. Besides, it's the exact opposite of what Barry wants. The Rolling Mule Kick is a comeback move not a finish. And none of your other moves even come close. You shake your head. "No, I don't have anything else over yet. I can work on something special for tonight…"
"... but it would not be at the level we would want it. Unfortunate, but not unexpected. The drillkick will do. Employ that, win, and flee to the entrance. Taunt Mr. Salvation and make sure to act. If you need motivation, remember, these two have been attacking and haranguing you for months. Consider saying the following: 'Now you've got nowhere to run, Salvation! And…'" As Barry goes on, you tune him out. You don't need him to tell you what to say. If there's one thing you can do competently it's talk trash.
Five minutes later, Barry finishes up and moves down the card, and you're free to talk with Jack and Allie again. The three of you lean forwards and put your heads together. "Got anything special in mind?" you ask.
Jack shakes his head. "I might ask if I can get the house mic and make a sermon from the mount as your match is going on. But besides that, I'm not in till the end. I got nothing."
On your other side, Allie taps her finger to her lips in thought. "Well, we've got to keep it slow at first, right? We'll do a few basics, a leapfrog or two, trade a few armdrags… how about you counter one and get some shine with some mat work? You've been working on that, right?"
Fuck yeah you've been working on that, and the idea of finally busting it out in a match makes you almost giddy. "I can do that. Then you'll need to get a lot of heat. How do you want to do that? Move so I hit a post? Knock me off when I go for a springboard?"
Your friend considers that for a few moments. "Nah," she finally says. "The post won't work and stopping your springboard… wait. Actually, yeah. That could work. How's your balance these days?"
"Pretty solid," you answer. "What've you got in mind?"
"How about this," she says, suddenly animated. "You dump me down and start picking up speed. After I feed you, I'll wind up near a turnbuckle. You go for a springboard whatever- what it is doesn't matter- and when you're crouched on the ropes, I hit you with the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang."
"Huh," you reply. "I'm… do the physics of that even work?"
This time it's Jack who speaks up. "Yeah, it could," he says. "But Allie would have to get you real quick. And how would you finish the move?"
The three of you think in silence with Barry's droning as your background noise "I got it!" Allie finally says. "I'll lay one on you, and then when you're distracted, I'll walk backwards. You hook your feet on the rope, so you wind up with your ankles on the rope. I'll stretch you out and then-" She claps her hands. "-Bang! I'll hit you with a draping facebuster."
You look from Allie to the ring to Allie again and then shrug. "We're going to have to practice it," is all you can say.
Your friends agree, and so when Barry finally leaves the ring you make a beeline towards it. Once you're able to get a corner of it all to yourself, you take your position with Allie laying flat on the mat near the ropes and you on the apron, ready to jump. A hop and spring later and you're balancing precariously on the ropes, waiting for Allie, who gets there just in time. And it works out even better than you'd hoped: to pull your head down for the KKBB, she's got to pull you towards her anyway. "This should work!" you say as you get back down.
And then you forget about it. You forget about it as you're getting the show ready by putting more chairs out and getting the popcorn started. Your forget about it when you're getting the merch table set up, finding a new spot for the new run of your Corsair Skull T-shirts and cursing the empty place that should have a new design that you haven't been able to think of- fucking concussion. You forget about it when you're gearing up for the match and when you're going through your normal ritual of screaming at your friends, and you keep forgetting about it through your entrance and your prematch promo with Jack.
You forget about it as you bump for the first time in a week and feel the familiar pain shoot through you again. Your forget about it as your heart rate spikes while you and Allie go through the feeling up portion of the match. You forget about it right up until you're balanced on the top rope and Allie's grabbed a hold of your head.
Oh. Right.
One other thing you forgot? The Kiss Kiss Bang Bang involves Allie actually kissing you.
You're not sure why the realization makes your almost lose your balance. After all, you kiss Leah for wrestling all the time. It's part of the show and part of the act. The Kiss Kiss Bang Bang shouldn't be any different than any of the three hundred kisses you've shared with your other friend. Right. It is no different. It's acting. It's part of the show. It's-
Allie grabs your head and pulls you down, brushing your lips with her.
...it's nothing like getting kissed by Leah.
And then you forget pretty much everything in the world until Allie tugs your hair once, twice, to let you know that you're about to go down. The only thing you're kissing after that is the mat.
As you lay in a heap, Allie popping up to taunt you almost instantly, your mind is racing. You- what- huh- the fuck just happened?!
Allie drops a knee on your back and grabs your arm, wrenching it back to a chorus of boos. You let out a gasp of feigned pain. Allie responds by slapping your shoulder and locking in the hold even tighter. She leans down to whisper in your ear. "Try and toss me. I'll roll and boot you in the shoulder."
Right! The match! You're in a match right now! You need to be working! In fact, you can forget the whole thing. You're not sure what the fuck that was, but it was just part of the match. Just an amazing performance by Allie. That's it.
That's definitely it.
***
The rest of the match goes just as well as that spot. Allie works you over, you get a comeback, you both trade highspots like warring pinballs and then after thwarting Jack's interference you put down Allie with the Sidewinder. She even takes the fucking great cartwheel bump for it again which leaves her partially tangled in the ropes before you pull her down and get the pin.
The post-match goes swimmingly as well. You evade an enraged Jack and throw a party in the aisle, celebrating your own skill and cunning until the music loops around and it starts getting old. You make it backstage with a smile on your face. All in all, it was a good match and a quality angle. It may not have been the barnburner you were hoping from your first match with Allie but it was a solid little thing. Definitely nothing to be ashamed of.
Allie and Jack take their time in making it back to their lockers. You're already showered and dressed before they come back in from the ring. That doesn't stop you from pulling them both in for a bro hug and slapping them on the back. "Quality stuff!" you bark as you let Jack go. "I can't wait for the blow off!"
Jack grins broadly at that. "I know! I've got some ideas that I think can add some extra punch. Maybe we can bring Charley out for it. I want her to see me have a good match and the three of us will definitely deliver."
He's not wrong. When you've wrestled one or both of your friends, the results have been okay at worst and amazing at best. There's way worse first matches for him to drag his girlfriend to. Which reminds you; Selina's never seen you work either. You took her to Superior, and she's seen clips of you in THUNDERPUNCH, but wrestling really has to be experienced live. Maybe you could really fill up the Monster for the next match and drag her out to your blowoff with Jack.
"Bee Tee Dubs," Allie breaks in. "We're going to be here for a while. Barry wants us to shoot a skit."
"Oh?" you ask. "Am I in this one?"
She shakes her head. "Nah, just me and Jack. Apparently he's going to tell me that my loss tonight was the last straw and that I'm clearly worthless as a follower."
"Makes sense. That's boilerplate stuff," you reply. As you talk, your mind follows the logic of Barry's storyline. "So for the blow off, I'm going to guess you'll try to interfere and have it backfire? Give me the win accidentally?"
Jack shrugs. "Maybe. It seems more likely that it'll be on purpose. Allie'll come out, make like she's going to fuck you over to get back in my good graces, and then blast me with the Book instead. You'll get the win, I'll go off to whatever's next, and the two of you will team up for a while."
"Seems legit," Allie chimes in. "So yeah, we've got to stick around till after the show, get the script, go through his whole routine, and then shoot the thing. Who knows how long it's going to take. And since you're our ride… sure hope you didn't have plans!"
"Nah, I'm good," you answer. "I never schedule anything on show days. You go do your thing. I'll just chill here."
The two both hug you again and then trot off, looking for Barry and the camera guy. You glance around the locker room, looking for someone else to shoot the shit with. But everyone else you know seems like they're tied up with their own shit, and the few who you don't know don't look like they're in the mood to make a new friend. So you drag a chair over to the curtain, put one eye on the show, and the other on your phone.
The match in the ring is dull so it isn't long before your attention is firmly on your phone. It's just as well; you haven't posted anything wrestling related in a few days. So you take a pic of the match and tag yourself, sending it out with a message talking about taking in the competition. And then you wait. And wait.
By the time the match ends you've gotten one comment- someone talking about how great you are- and nothing else. You reply to the comment of course, but you can't help but feel a little disheartened. You've been doing the whole social media game almost since the moment you first pulled on your spandex, and you don't really feel like it's getting you anywhere.
You've put a lot of time and effort into your twitter game and what've you got out of it? Well, your feud with Hugo and, by proxy, your spot with 100SW. So it hasn't been entirely fruitless. But that's all. And since then, it feels like you're just treading water with no growth or decline.
Maybe you should change things up. Variety is the spice of life after all, and doing new things is the best way to keep from getting stagnant.
The only question is how.
Currently, Tommy does a little bit of everything online, sharing mostly wrestling things with a smattering of personal information. But that's not really working any more. How does Tommy tweak his Online Presence?
[] Go full Kayfabe. Treat everything in wrestling like it's happening in the real world and be confused when things don't end like they do in grappling. This will involve talking about how confusing it is that political debates don't end in lockups and the occasional threatening of people with chairs. Nothing gets people more interested in a character than being an insane character.
[] Be obsessively open. People like a wrestler when they feel like they know them, so you'll give them almost full access to your life. More gym selfies, shots of what you do in your free time, pics of you and your parents at Christmas Dinner, that kind of thing. You might get a lot more people coming up to you in public since your life is always open, but isn't that what a celebrity wants?
[] You've noticed that the internet isn't short of people who want to complain about stuff, and you can definitely be one of them! You'll watch and talk about more mainstream wrestling instead of just focusing on the shows and promotions you're in, usually with a critical edge. Starting shit might get you a bit of a reputation with certain people, but it's a surefire way to get noticed.
[] Actually, on second thought, you really don't need to change. You can just keep on keeping on with what you've been doing. It got you the Hugo feud after all! It can get you more. All you have to do is keep at it.
[] Write-In
---------------------------------------
Mechanics Changes
Stat Changes
Basics: Impressive 924/1500 -> Impressive 948/1500
Mat Wrestling: Impressive 547/1500 -> Impressive 564/1500
Selling: Elite 1622/2500 -> Elite 1662/2500
Aerial: Elite 1899/2500 -> Elite 1992/2500
Microphone: Impressive 1121/1500 -> Impressive 1137/1500
Acting: Disappointing 50/100 -> Disappointing 78/100
Merch Sales
Wild Smile T-Shirt: 45 -> 45 (0 Sold! 7 until next expense)
Wildcard Playing Cards: 13 -> (0 Sold! 5 until next expense)
Corsair Skull Shirt: 100 -> 97 (3 Sold! 2 until next expense)
Autographed 8x10s: 7 Sold! (13 until next expense)
License to Thrill T-Shirt: 80 -> (0 Sold! 20 until next expense)
Full House T-Shirt: 71 -> 69 (2 Sold! 11 until next expense)
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Dyeus
The Crazed Spear of Writes o.O
- Location
- England
- Pronouns
- He/His
[X] Go full Kayfabe. Treat everything in wrestling like it's happening in the real world and be confused when things don't end like they do in grappling. This will involve talking about how confusing it is that political debates don't end in lockups and the occasional threatening of people with chairs. Nothing gets people more interested in a character than being an insane character.
Would putting more effort into youtube instead of twitter be within the confines of this vote? I feel like the payoff is a lot better if Tommy can spike a viral video as opposed to becoming a twitter legend.
Like, the variation on this option that I would go for would be a "daily lives of wrestlers" sketch, where Tommy and Jack are hanging out and the battle for control of the remote escalates into a full blown wrestling promo and grudge match.
EvaUnit01
Kept you waiting, huh?
[x] Actually, on second thought, you really don't need to change. You can just keep on keeping on with what you've been doing. It got you the Hugo feud after all! It can get you more. All you have to do is keep at it.
But I like "put more focus on Youtube than Twitter" as an option too.
But I like "put more focus on Youtube than Twitter" as an option too.
DracoDracul
Bigender Communist
- Location
- Austin
- Pronouns
- She/They
I think the only downside of going full Kayfabe on social media is the difficulty of explaining why we're a face everywhere, but Delaware.
[X] Go full Kayfabe. Treat everything in wrestling like it's happening in the real world and be confused when things don't end like they do in grappling. This will involve talking about how confusing it is that political debates don't end in lockups and the occasional threatening of people with chairs. Nothing gets people more interested in a character than being an insane character.
[X] Go full Kayfabe. Treat everything in wrestling like it's happening in the real world and be confused when things don't end like they do in grappling. This will involve talking about how confusing it is that political debates don't end in lockups and the occasional threatening of people with chairs. Nothing gets people more interested in a character than being an insane character.
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Vesvius
The Wicked God
That's definitely an option. Feel free to write it in.
DracoDracul
Bigender Communist
- Location
- Austin
- Pronouns
- She/They
I think I'm going to back you up on that because it plays even more to Tommy's strengths and seems like it would open up more opportunities.
[x]Tweak online persona in a way that puts a little more focus on Youtube than on Twitter.
- Location
- Illinois, USA
[x]Tweak online persona in a way that puts a little more focus on Youtube than on Twitter.
Sure, let's be Zack Ryder. Make ourselves internet champion and everything.
Sure, let's be Zack Ryder. Make ourselves internet champion and everything.
redzonejoe
Vaguely Pastafarian
- Location
- Canada
That Allie scene. 
I'm sure it looked reeeeeal authentic, somehow.
Jack supports the move, ofc.
I'm sure it looked reeeeeal authentic, somehow.Jack supports the move, ofc.
Bakkasama
There is always a greater fool
- Location
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Pronouns
- He/his
Note to self: Run for president on a wrestler only cabiner next elections.
DracoDracul
Bigender Communist
- Location
- Austin
- Pronouns
- She/They
If Tommy was any denser light would bend around him.That Allie scene.
Jack supports the move, ofc.
EvaUnit01
Kept you waiting, huh?
It's an intrinsic property of Protagonium, that high-density material of which most main characters are made. It's what causes the story and parts of the world to gravitate towards them.
- Location
- Bulgaria
[x]Tweak online persona in a way that puts a little more focus on Youtube than on Twitter.
SlyGuy2895
Victims, aren’t we all?
- Location
- Parts Unknown
[X]Tweak online persona in a way that puts a little more focus on Youtube than on Twitter.
We're too impressive for fractions!
Bakkasama
There is always a greater fool
- Location
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Pronouns
- He/his
The talk about us having only one finisher reminds me, weren't we trying to get The three amigos as a power based signature a while back?
On another, unrelated note: Huh, Allie got to Elite showmanship and Jack to Elite psychology. Good for them.
On another, unrelated note: Huh, Allie got to Elite showmanship and Jack to Elite psychology. Good for them.