[X] You're huge. No way around it. You tower over nine out of every ten people you meet. The few times you've had to fight, you've been able to literally hold them at arm's reach, like an old Three Stooges show. (Power and Toughness start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. Athleticism is capped at Impressive)
Athleticism sounds like the flippy stat, which is more expendable than Resilience, because being injury prone will fuck your career.
Alright. Vote not closed yet, mainly because I can't start writing right now. I'm actually at a wrestling show now, ironically enough. But I want to know what the score is. Can I get a tally?
Vote Tally : Original - Ten Pounds of Gold: A Pro Wrestling Quest | Page 3 | Sufficient Velocity ##### NetTally 1.7.4
[X] You're a normal-sized guy. Nothing really special about your body either way. (Toughness and Resilience start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. No skills are capped.) No. of Votes: 9 Chengar Qordath Corvus Black Neo-Chan Novus Ordo Mundi Pawn Lelouch williams1996 Ysmir01 Zeitgeist Blue Zhaas123
[X] You're bigger than average. Most people are a head shorter than you, and you've gotten accustomed to being the guy people call when they need help moving. (Toughness and Cardio start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. Resilience is capped at Impressive.) No. of Votes: 7 RedV Cornix Argentus Corvo Montés Erehwon FourmyleOfCeres SirLagginton Yeangst
[X] You're huge. No way around it. You tower over nine out of every ten people you meet. The few times you've had to fight, you've been able to literally hold them at arm's reach, like an old Three Stooges show. (Power and Toughness start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. Athleticism is capped at Impressive) No. of Votes: 2 Cybandeath JamesShazbond
[X] You aren't quite a little person, but you're smaller than the average person. You look up to meet most people's eyes. (Athleticism and Resilience start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. Toughness is capped at Impressive.) No. of Votes: 1 DannyboyZero
Total No. of Voters: 19
[X] You're a normal-sized guy. Nothing really special about your body either way. (Toughness and Resilience start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. No skills are capped.)
Thinking of CM Punk, I once has to explain to a non-fan why/how CM Punk was a heel, aside from simply being a Dick about it. After all, the things about Truth, about saying no to drugs and alcohol, being Eloquent, these were hero traits. So how come CM Punk came off as the Bad Guy? I didn't have time to get into the history of these things, so I explained a bit, showed some clips(I made sure he saw the one where CM Punk sang Happy Birthday to Rey Mysterio's Daughter), and just tried to be the Cool Fandom Big Brother.
The end result of it was this guy designing the so called "Ultimate Heel". A Highly Technical wrestler, with an impressive library of attacks. Though he has a signature finisher of his own(I believe he settled on an Elevated Gutbuster), his primary gimmick was that he'd dress in the colors of and copy part of the movesets of whoever he defeated previously. While dressed in stolen colors he'd also use variations on their personality and catchphrases, mostly to generate heat by mocking them.
And that was how someone who had no idea about wrestling decided that Mega Man would be the Ultimate Heel. I couldn't argue, but that was rather silly of him. Honestly, though, if I was going to do something with a guy who could do almost anything, I'd go with a Librarian gimmick, not a Wrestling Super Computer. Unless that was the sort of promotion we signed onto.
[X] You're bigger than average. Most people are a head shorter than you, and you've gotten accustomed to being the guy people call when they need help moving. (Toughness and Cardio start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. Resilience is capped at Impressive.)
[X] You're bigger than average. Most people are a head shorter than you, and you've gotten accustomed to being the guy people call when they need help moving. (Toughness and Cardio start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. Resilience is capped at Impressive.)
But no, more like... I don't know, I can't think of any real move-thief aside from the few times C.M. Punk did it. This I blame more on a crippling headache.
But no, more like... I don't know, I can't think of any real move-thief aside from the few times C.M. Punk did it. This I blame more on a crippling headache.
Kenny literally steals moves. He also has a Megaman finisher. His arsenal of attacks is ridiculous. He's wrestled a nine year old girl. He's literally your friend's character.
[X] You're bigger than average. Most people are a head shorter than you, and you've gotten accustomed to being the guy people call when they need help moving. (Toughness and Cardio start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. Resilience is capped at Impressive.)
Kenny literally steals moves. He also has a Megaman finisher. His arsenal of attacks is ridiculous. He's wrestled a nine year old girl. He's literally your friend's character.
Vote Tally : Original - Ten Pounds of Gold: A Pro Wrestling Quest | Page 3 | Sufficient Velocity ##### NetTally 1.7.5
[X] You're a normal-sized guy. Nothing really special about your body either way. (Toughness and Resilience start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. No skills are capped.) No. of Votes: 10
[X] You're bigger than average. Most people are a head shorter than you, and you've gotten accustomed to being the guy people call when they need help moving. (Toughness and Cardio start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. Resilience is capped at Impressive.) No. of Votes: 9
[X] You're huge. No way around it. You tower over nine out of every ten people you meet. The few times you've had to fight, you've been able to literally hold them at arm's reach, like an old Three Stooges show. (Power and Toughness start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. Athleticism is capped at Impressive) No. of Votes: 2
[X] You aren't quite a little person, but you're smaller than the average person. You look up to meet most people's eyes. (Athleticism and Resilience start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. Toughness is capped at Impressive.) No. of Votes: 1
Try running for 20 minutes at a moderate pace, let's see you drop like a sack of potatoes by the third minute.
Thing is, running is pretty intensive on the body. Like, if you can run at a constant pace at 20 minutes, chances are you fulfilled the health standards for your age group. Running for hours is the sort of crazy shit you need for a marathon.
Try running for 20 minutes at a moderate pace, let's see you drop like a sack of potatoes by the third minute.
Thing is, running is pretty intensive on the body. Like, if you can run at a constant pace at 20 minutes, chances are you fulfilled the health standards for your age group. Running for hours is the sort of crazy shit you need for a marathon.
Why are you assuming I'm some out of shape schlub?
Yes, I missed the part where the character can run marathons, but that just means he's in decent shape. And that's not the same type of shape needed for pro wrestling. And it still doesn't put him nearly on the same level as pre pro wrestling Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, or Dwayne Johnson.
[X] You're a normal-sized guy. Nothing really special about your body either way. (Toughness and Resilience start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. No skills are capped.) No. of Votes: 10
[X] You're bigger than average. Most people are a head shorter than you, and you've gotten accustomed to being the guy people call when they need help moving. (Toughness and Cardio start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. Resilience is capped at Impressive.) No. of Votes: 9
[X] You're huge. No way around it. You tower over nine out of every ten people you meet. The few times you've had to fight, you've been able to literally hold them at arm's reach, like an old Three Stooges show. (Power and Toughness start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. Athleticism is capped at Impressive) No. of Votes: 2
[X] You aren't quite a little person, but you're smaller than the average person. You look up to meet most people's eyes. (Athleticism and Resilience start at Impressive. All other Physical Stats start at Disappointing. Toughness is capped at Impressive.) No. of Votes: 1
At least you didn't have to turn your head and cough. That's your only satisfaction out of the whole physical process. Come to think of it, that might be why you never played many sports in school. You went to a physical and decided never again.
Let no one say you aren't willing to make sacrifices for your dreams.
You leave Doctor Smalley's office already sore. The doctor poked and prodded you in every way possible. But you also leave it with a clean bill of health. There's nothing stopping you from taking part in training. You leave with a smile on your face; one that Jack wears as well, when he leaves the Doctor's office fifteen minutes later.
The two of you join the rest of your class without further delay. It doesn't like like you've missed anything; they're all still standing in a loose clump, milling around and waiting. Some small conversations have popped up here and there.
"-the kids thought this would just be the best present-"
"-waiting for me after training and-"
"-long is she going to keep us waiting here anyway-"
Nothing really important. But as you take a look at the crowd you're joining, you make a quick headcount. With you and Jack, there's seventeen people here. Not many failed the physical. But still, it's a smaller crowd than was waiting outside Doctor Smalley's office.
But while the crowd has definitely shrunk, it hasn't lost any of it's diversity. You guess it's true that wrestling attracts all kinds. You see an older man with a comb-over, a young girl in a schoolgirl's outfit, one woman in what looks like military-issued workout clothes, a huge man who's wider then he is tall and is wearing an eye patch of all things, an angry looking guy who looks barely old enough to shave punching the keys on his blackberry with entirely too much force… and that's just on first glance.
You don't have more time for observation though. The door upstairs slams open and footsteps begin to come down the steps. The conversations die down like they've been smothered in their sleep. All of you watch the stairs eagerly.
What comes down is… a perfectly normal woman.
At least, she looks normal. Not unlike any dozen soccer moms you rang up when you worked at Acme. No huge scars, no dramatic outfit, no ostentatious jewelry- well, except for an enormous wedding band.
She looks up from the stairs, meeting your gaze for the first time- and you realize you're very wrong. This woman is not normal. No one whose normal has a look in their eye quite like that.
Your spine stiffens instinctively as the entire way she moves changes. She doesn't so much walk towards you all as stalk, like a great hunting cat. As she gets closer you can pick out details you couldn't see- small gashes around her hairline, a heavily damaged ear almost perfectly hidden by her trendy haircut, a hitch in her step from-
You bite your tongue before you can blurt out the question. It'd be a damn stupid move to start asking about old injuries. Besides, you think you know where that came from. WPW Living Hell 2003- Daybreak vs. SisTaur. The lady under the bull gimmick had been green and had fallen the wrong way, right onto Daybreak's leg at just the wrong angle.
Later on it came out that Daybreak needed surgery to fix a broken ankle. Which was news to you- she finished the match.
Her slight injury doesn't hobbler her any as she walks up the steps at the side of the ring and vaults over the top rope. Daybreak turns around and puts her fingers to her lips, letting out a piercing whistle. The last echoes of the shrill noise haven't faded before she's ordering everyone to form a line.
Once you have, she hops up on the top rope, sitting on the middle of it as easily as you say on that bus seat. "Good afternoon, everyone." She greets you all. And then she waits. You're one of the only ones with manners, because you're one of the only ones to answer her in kind. Daybreak favors you with a nod.
"Welcome," she continues, "To my nineteenth training class. You've chosen to come to me to learn the art that is Professional Wrestling. For that, I'm humbled and honored." Despite her words, her tone sounds just a little bored. As if she's said this so many times that the words have lost their meaning.
"Training will be your full time job for the next twelve weeks. Every morning you will come here at eight o'clock sharp. We will do in-ring work and drills until noon. Lunch is next, and after that some of you will go back to it with my assistant. You'll meet him tomorrow. The rest of you will be with me, and we'll go over character work until five. This'll be your schedule six days a week, with Sunday off. Skip any other day, and you'd better have a damn good reason. If you've got the sniffles, I don't care. Suck it up and get in here. You're paying for my time- use it or lose it."
"From five on, your time is your own. You can spend it here, working, as long as you keep it quiet." She leans forward, staring at you all intently one by one. "If you disturb my daughter in any way, your extra training privileges will be revoked."
Whatever she sees in your eyes must satisfy her. She leans back and stretches. "Other then that, I don't care what you do. Hang out at the motel- I'll give you your keys at the end of training today. Go see the sights of our scenic town." The last is delivered with a wry twist to her lips. "There's a new Zoo downtown. Go see the Giraffes. They're great."
"But one more thing- I'm under no illusions how successful you all will be here, so I won't let you be under any either. Most of you? Not gonna make it."
You could hear a pin drop in the silence. "Some of you aren't going to have the will for the physical part of the business. You'll go first." Daybreak continues. "Some are here because they just want to be rich and famous- there's always a couple. You'll be the next to go when you figure out how hard this all is. I'd say maybe half of you will pass, at best. And of those half, one, maybe two'll be able to make a living at it."
"If you want out, fine. No refunds though." Daybreak hops down, landing in the ring. "Now. With the formalities out of the way, is everyone changed? Good."
"Time for lesson one: the ropes."
***
Running the ropes is the hardest thing you've ever had to do in your life.
You've seen in so many times you didn't even register it anymore. A guy runs across the ring, pivots, bounces off the ring ropes and runs back the other way. Usually there's a guy in the middle of his path on his way back, and so there's some kind of exchange there. That's the part that always got your attention, not the goddamn ropes.
As it turns out, you were ignoring a very key part to this whole thing. Running the ropes is hard as fuck. You've got to cross the ring in the smallest number of steps possible, which makes you raise your legs higher than you're used to and changes absolutely everything about how you move. The pivot point has to be picked just so- if you choose wrong, you can't lean and hit the ropes and make it look natural.
And the ropes themselves? You're not sure why you ever thought hitting a braided steel cord covered in rubber might be simple. You've only been at this for a couple hours and already your back is covered with crisscrossing bruises and welts. There's got to be a trick to it or every wrestler's back would look like it was pressed against a chain link fence after every match. Maybe something about how you're shifting your weight. Whatever it is, it's beyond you right now.
Your only consolation is that you're not the worst in the class. Not by a long shot. You're probably in the top five actually. You're at least making contact with the ropes most of the time. Half the people pivot far too soon and have to stretch their back to make the barest contact with the cables. Only you, Jack, two of the girls, and surprisingly a man who has to be in his mid forties are as far along as you.
But the others have plenty of time to pick it up. You run the ropes for hours, stopping only for water. You manage to keep the drink down- one of the girls isn't that lucky. By the time Daybreak calls for a stop you want to drop into a puddle of your own sweat and fall asleep right there in the ring. Your hurt in strange new ways, your lungs burn and your heart feels like it's going to beat out of your chest.
You've never been happier.
So after lunch- sandwiches Daybreak provided in a brown paper bag- when she calls for you all to gather behind the ring, you spring to your feet. You wobble a bit once you're there, but you spring, eager to get back to it.
Daybreak has a TV set up behind the ring with twenty folding chairs. You sit down right in front of the monitor as you fight to keep the enormous grin off of your face. Your teacher studies you with an appraising look, one eyebrow raised.
She snorts out a chuckle. "Heh. A fanatic. Been a while."
You look up at her, uncomprehending. Other people aren't as fucking psyched for this?! What's wrong with them?
"Alright then." She says, a note of actual humor in her voice. But she doesn't say anything else until the rest of the class drags themselves over and drops into the provided chairs.
"You've worked your body for the day." She begins. "Not enough, and you'll work twice as hard tomorrow, but enough for right now. So now we work the mind."
Daybreak pulls out a laptop and connects it to the monitor. "How many of you have studied tape before?"
Everyone mutters a positive but she shakes her head, scowling. "Not watched matches. Not seen cool moves. How many of you have studied something over and over again, dissecting it move by move, until you dream about it? How many of you watch one move one hundred times trying to figure out exactly how they did it?"
You've never gone that far in depth. There're some matches you've seen so many times you can describe them move by move, but you've never dissected one before like she's describing. To do that would ruin the magic somehow. It's a thing you've consciously avoided- something you'll have to get used to now.
Almost everyone is as silent as you are. Only one girl, who's sitting back and to the right of you, speaks up. "I have." You glance over at her. That's one you wouldn't have picked as the studying kind. She looks more like she'd be at home in a rave or in a tattoo parlor, not intently watching tape. Just goes to show that you can never judge by appearances.
Daybreak doesn't look surprised, but she doesn't really address it either. "Well, then for the rest of you, this is going to be a learning experience. We're going to watch a match. After that, you're going to tell me what you see. I'll tell you what I see. If you have any questions, you'll ask them. Then we'll watch the same match again. And again. And again. Rinse. Repeat."
The room is silent as the students digest what she says. The older man speaks up, raising his hand like he's back in grade school. "What matches will we watch?"
Your teacher shrugs. "A little of everything. I've got every WPW show here, every EPC show, every UWC show ever televised. I've got some of the old carney stuff, Lucha from down south, Japanese matches- both serious and really fucked up comedy. Pretty much whatever you can think of, I've got it."
"I'll pick most of what we watch- but not all of it. You guys can pick your favorites too." She rubs her hands together eagerly. "I can't wait to ruin your enjoyment of them."
Daybreak points at you. "Alright. Eager. You're up."
Huh?
"Early bird get the worm." She says, not unkindly. "And you're the first one over here today. You get first pick."
Hm. What match do you want to dissect with Daybreak first?
[] Manmonster vs. Slick Willy from UWC: Rumble in the Rio. It was nothing more than a brawl; you saw dozens of just like it. But no two men punching each other in the face have gotten quite as huge a reaction as these two did. (Gain trait Brawling Enthusiast', 1d50XP for Brute Gimmicks)
[] Tim 'Tack' Sharp vs. Jaeger Master from EPC: Unfortunate. It was one of the bloodiest hardcore matches you've ever seen, and you've always been curious how they managed to get away from it with no lasting injuries. (Gain trait 'Hardcore Enthusiast', 1d50XP for Crazy Gimmicks)
[] Rex Chamberlain vs. Donny Brooke from old Sporting World tapes. Some people might find it boring, but watching these two technical master's trade holds speaks to something deep down inside of you. (Gain trait Mat Wrestling Enthusiast', 1d50XP for Legitimate Gimmicks)
[] Kalyan 'Canyon' Evans vs. 'The Persian Punisher' Xerxes Attar from SKYLINE. It's rare, but it's great; these two swapped submissions and chained them together like nothing you've ever seen. (Gain trait 'Submission Enthusiast', 1d50XP for Cocky Gimmicks)
[] Arya London vs. Ruth 'Less' Ferrari from NLW: Only One. Not only one of the best women's matches you've ever seen, one of the best matches period you've ever seen. These two took to the air in ways you never thought possible and made it look amazing. (Gain trait 'Aerial Enthusiast', 1d50XP for Cool Gimmicks)
[] 'The Sundance Angel' Magnus Serafin vs. Daybreak from SUP: Speeding Bullet. Why not pick out one of your new teachers? Not just because she's here and can give you indepth analysis on this like nothing else, but because it stands out in your mind like few things have done. Not only was it one of the great intergender matches, it was also just… just unique. (Gain trait 'Showmanship Enthusiast', 1d50XP for Weird Gimmicks)
[X] Manmonster vs. Slick Willy from UWC: Rumble in the Rio. It was nothing more than a brawl; you saw dozens of just like it. But no two men punching each other in the face have gotten quite as huge a reaction as these two did. (Gain trait Brawling Enthusiast', 1d50XP for Brute Gimmicks)
[X] 'The Sundance Angel' Magnus Serafin vs. Daybreak from SUP: Speeding Bullet. Why not pick out one of your new teachers? Not just because she's here and can give you indepth analysis on this like nothing else, but because it stands out in your mind like few things have done. Not only was it one of the great intergender matches, it was also just… just unique. (Gain trait 'Showmanship Enthusiast', 1d50XP for Weird Gimmicks)
This is the class of people like Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and Chris Jericho. This is the type of style that leads to match's like the two Undertaker and Shawn Michaels had two WrestleMania's in a row, the type of style that lead to the two matches that quite a few people honestly consider to be the greatest match's in the history of WrestleMania.
[] Rex Chamberlain vs. Donny Brooke from old Sporting World tapes. Some people might find it boring, but watching these two technical master's trade holds speaks to something deep down inside of you. (Gain trait Mat Wrestling Enthusiast', 1d50XP for Legitimate Gimmicks)
I was always one for the technical stuff. If you have a good theoretical foundation, anything is possible. Though, I'll jump ship to Daybreak/Showmanship if it takes off.
We're probably be pinning the Showmanship meter anyway, given we're at Daybreak's school. Going with Daybreak's match would make that almost a joke.
Edit:
Honestly, this was my first choice, but I figured I was letting my father's brief career influence me...
[X] Arya London vs. Ruth 'Less' Ferrari from NLW: Only One. Not only one of the best women's matches you've ever seen, one of the best matches period you've ever seen. These two took to the air in ways you never thought possible and made it look amazing. (Gain trait 'Aerial Enthusiast', 1d50XP for Cool Gimmicks)
[X] 'The Sundance Angel' Magnus Serafin vs. Daybreak from SUP: Speeding Bullet. Why not pick out one of your new teachers? Not just because she's here and can give you indepth analysis on this like nothing else, but because it stands out in your mind like few things have done. Not only was it one of the great intergender matches, it was also just… just unique. (Gain trait 'Showmanship Enthusiast', 1d50XP for Weird Gimmicks)
[X] Arya London vs. Ruth 'Less' Ferrari from NLW: Only One. Not only one of the best women's matches you've ever seen, one of the best matches period you've ever seen. These two took to the air in ways you never thought possible and made it look amazing. (Gain trait 'Aerial Enthusiast', 1d50XP for Cool Gimmicks)
A lot of people wanted to go to the high flyer school. Plus, with our body type boosting toughness and resilience, we should be able to pull off high flying moves while being less likely to injure ourselves. Showmanship sounds good, but we're already at the school for charisma. We need to have something in the ring, whether that be high flying, technical wizardry, or raw power, to be a real A lister.
[X] Tim 'Tack' Sharp vs. Jaeger Master from EPC: Unfortunate. It was one of the bloodiest hardcore matches you've ever seen, and you've always been curious how they managed to get away from it with no lasting injuries. (Gain trait 'Hardcore Enthusiast', 1d50XP for Crazy Gimmicks)
[X] 'The Sundance Angel' Magnus Serafin vs. Daybreak from SUP: Speeding Bullet. Why not pick out one of your new teachers? Not just because she's here and can give you indepth analysis on this like nothing else, but because it stands out in your mind like few things have done. Not only was it one of the great intergender matches, it was also just… just unique. (Gain trait 'Showmanship Enthusiast', 1d50XP for Weird Gimmicks)
I might be swayed, but right now I'd like to see where this could lead. And besides, the teachers here. I wonder what she thinks of the match.
