Post by kaster on Nov 25, 2023 8:27:17 GMT
Sweat drips down Charlie Van Ruth’s brow as he continuously punches a sandbag. His arm has recovered tremendously, despite hesitations from the doctor. Nothing can stop him from being back in the ring, especially now. So far, Thanksgiving has been another day on the calendar. No call from home, but he didn’t really want one. It’s better to keep training.
He stops to take a break. A towel is slung around his neck while he drinks vigorously from his water bottle. This was no ordinary tag match, after all. No rules, no limits, it is a street fight through and through. But that’s exactly what he wants.
“If you ask me, I think Terrella and the Widow are a horrible team. Where’s the chemistry? I’m not entirely convinced that the Widow isn’t just a hired gun for them. Do you think she takes bribes? Ah, it doesn’t matter. She wants to fight and she’s going to get one. I don’t think either of them understand what they’re getting into. For Tyson and I, this is about more than championships and respect. It’s about standing up for ourselves. Terrella thinks he can bully anyone in the locker room. Ooh, he’s got big muscles and swears in every other sentence! He’s just like half the guys in this place. For some reason, he believes that he’s owed another shot at the tag team titles. Even though he lost. And you know, he keeps losing. He lost to Tyson at Odyssey in what many probably called an ‘upset’. It was no upset, that’s what happens when a guy gets called out for his ego. Tyson’s got brains. Terrella’s got muscles. Guess which one wins? Of course, they tried to take him out after the match, because Stephen is too much of a coward to actually handle any one-on-ones. That’s why attacked me with a pipe. He doesn’t want to fight us directly, he’d rather keep doing these cheap shots. He tried to injure me. Tried. His eyes were bugging out of his skull as soon as he saw that I was fine. It goes to show how much of an idiot he is.”
He takes another sip from his water bottle before tossing it to the side.
“And that one spider lady, the Black Widow? I don’t even know why she insists on hanging around with them. She’s better off on her own, not fighting battles for Terrella. Yeah, that guy needs more help than he’s willing to admit. The Widow, though, clearly doesn’t like us. We said that we would take on Stephen and whoever he wanted to bring with, so I guess we should have seen it coming. She runs away like he does. Every time they want to fight, it has be on their terms. So we decided that it will be. No disqualifications? No problem! I finally get my hands on that big bastard and we’ll get to show the world that Terrella and the Widow aren’t as menacing as they think they are. You see this?”
Charlie taps his previously injured shoulder. He does a full rotation with his arm, showing off its condition.
“That’s what they tried to take from me. Do you know how much time and effort it once took for me to even think about doing that? I used to live in fear that this arm would never be the same. In a way, it isn’t. I can’t say that it is fully at a hundred percent, but I don’t need a hundred percent to crack their jaws with a fist or an elbow. I know that, logically, it’s not the best move for us to be in a tornado tag against two capable wrestlers. I can see the logic, but I really don’t give a damn. For me, logic flew out the window the moment that pipe connected with my arm. Logic wasn’t running through my head as I sat in the doctor’s office. I was thinking about every way that I could pay it back. I figured that this would be the best avenue. So now, Terrella and the Widow are going to know what it’s like to have your career put in jeopardy. I don’t think they can truly grasp how scary it is. It’s more terrifying than any empty threat from Terrella or whatever the hell the Black Widow tries to be. You have to watch all of your colleagues be in the ring while you have to worry about physical therapy. Every day is another challenge you don’t know that you’ll overcome. That’s what we want to happen to you.”
He points right at the camera, right before wiping off his face with the towel.
“Terrella, Widow, you two might think you know what pain and suffering is. You sure like to inflict it on others. What you don’t understand is that we aren’t just looking to make you feel pain in your body, we want it to be painful in your mind. When you get out of the TD Garden, you will remember every moment in our match. Every muscle you strained, every limb that was stretched, every bit of blood that you spilled, it will all pale in comparison to the uneasiness you’ll feel. You’ll keep asking yourself when the shame will be over, knowing that it might never be. As they take you into the hospital and they ask you exactly what happened, you can tell them that you got beat by the better team. You might think that our bodies are weak, but as long as our hearts are beating, our bodies have never been stronger. You know it’s the truth, that’s why you resort to your attacks from behind. We didn’t quit when we were injured, what makes you think we’ll quit when we fight you?”
After holding up the towel, he throws it behind him.
“Last year, I threw that towel in to save my friend. This time, I’m not going to give up. We are not throwing in the towel, but we are throwing every bit of anger that’s been building up right at both of you! That doesn’t just cover what you’ve done to us, it is every waking moment we spent having to recover. All of the times we had to watch you run around and act like a big shot! When we heard that hairless ape Terrella say that he deserved another chance at the titles, that was enough for us. It was time to shake things up, because we will not allow this tag division to be dominated by you! If we did, then it simply wouldn’t live up to being the best tag team division in the world. You are not the best and you never have been. We’re here to prove it to you. I try not to take things personally, but you’ve tried to deprive us of what we love. We may be in professional wrestling but trust me, this match will be far from professional. I plan on making you two stain the canvas. Even then, I won’t be satisfied. We won’t be content until we’ve shown you that there is no limit to what we can do inside or outside of the ring. You won’t be able to run away like all the other times. You’ll have to actually fight us, just like we wanted. Question is, are you as brutal as you say you are? Or is it another lie coming from the mouths of two wannabes? We’ll find out on Sunday, because only one team is going to survive this. If we survived this far, I think there’s a pretty good chance that we’ll survive you two. And if we don’t, then we’ll make sure that you don’t get the privilege of walking out of Boston.”
With his hands on his hips, Charlie takes a deep breath and hangs his head. He looks back up at the camera one more time.
“Three letters. You know what they are. They’re the only three that matter in this business. K…O…F. We the Kings. If you’ve got a problem with it, then you can be like Terrella and Widow and get a first class ticket for an ass beating.”
He walks off, shoving a hand into his pocket. Fishing out car keys, he exits the gym and drives down the road. Once he turns into a nearly empty parking lot, he flashes his lights on a sitting Tyson Everest.
“I just got back from the gym! You want to grab some dinner?”
He could see Tyson’s slight smirk.
“Yeah, man. Lemme get my stuff real quick…”
After a minute of Tyson gathering his belongings, he joins Charlie in the car. The two head through Boston, with nothing but silence inside the car.
“You ready for Sunday?”
“Of course! It’s going to be tough but… recently, when hasn’t it been?”
“Yeah, you got that right. I dunno, I’m kinda thankful that we got to come back.”
“Me too. I can’t believe it’s been a year since-”
“Let’s not talk about it. We’re in the present. Can’t be thinking about it all the time.”
“Right, yeah… sorry.”
A long pause.
“I’m thankful, too.”
“Oh yeah? For what?”
“Us.”
Tyson slightly nods before grinning.
“You can’t be gettin’ all emotional, Charles!”
“Let’s just worry about dinner…”
He stops to take a break. A towel is slung around his neck while he drinks vigorously from his water bottle. This was no ordinary tag match, after all. No rules, no limits, it is a street fight through and through. But that’s exactly what he wants.
“If you ask me, I think Terrella and the Widow are a horrible team. Where’s the chemistry? I’m not entirely convinced that the Widow isn’t just a hired gun for them. Do you think she takes bribes? Ah, it doesn’t matter. She wants to fight and she’s going to get one. I don’t think either of them understand what they’re getting into. For Tyson and I, this is about more than championships and respect. It’s about standing up for ourselves. Terrella thinks he can bully anyone in the locker room. Ooh, he’s got big muscles and swears in every other sentence! He’s just like half the guys in this place. For some reason, he believes that he’s owed another shot at the tag team titles. Even though he lost. And you know, he keeps losing. He lost to Tyson at Odyssey in what many probably called an ‘upset’. It was no upset, that’s what happens when a guy gets called out for his ego. Tyson’s got brains. Terrella’s got muscles. Guess which one wins? Of course, they tried to take him out after the match, because Stephen is too much of a coward to actually handle any one-on-ones. That’s why attacked me with a pipe. He doesn’t want to fight us directly, he’d rather keep doing these cheap shots. He tried to injure me. Tried. His eyes were bugging out of his skull as soon as he saw that I was fine. It goes to show how much of an idiot he is.”
He takes another sip from his water bottle before tossing it to the side.
“And that one spider lady, the Black Widow? I don’t even know why she insists on hanging around with them. She’s better off on her own, not fighting battles for Terrella. Yeah, that guy needs more help than he’s willing to admit. The Widow, though, clearly doesn’t like us. We said that we would take on Stephen and whoever he wanted to bring with, so I guess we should have seen it coming. She runs away like he does. Every time they want to fight, it has be on their terms. So we decided that it will be. No disqualifications? No problem! I finally get my hands on that big bastard and we’ll get to show the world that Terrella and the Widow aren’t as menacing as they think they are. You see this?”
Charlie taps his previously injured shoulder. He does a full rotation with his arm, showing off its condition.
“That’s what they tried to take from me. Do you know how much time and effort it once took for me to even think about doing that? I used to live in fear that this arm would never be the same. In a way, it isn’t. I can’t say that it is fully at a hundred percent, but I don’t need a hundred percent to crack their jaws with a fist or an elbow. I know that, logically, it’s not the best move for us to be in a tornado tag against two capable wrestlers. I can see the logic, but I really don’t give a damn. For me, logic flew out the window the moment that pipe connected with my arm. Logic wasn’t running through my head as I sat in the doctor’s office. I was thinking about every way that I could pay it back. I figured that this would be the best avenue. So now, Terrella and the Widow are going to know what it’s like to have your career put in jeopardy. I don’t think they can truly grasp how scary it is. It’s more terrifying than any empty threat from Terrella or whatever the hell the Black Widow tries to be. You have to watch all of your colleagues be in the ring while you have to worry about physical therapy. Every day is another challenge you don’t know that you’ll overcome. That’s what we want to happen to you.”
He points right at the camera, right before wiping off his face with the towel.
“Terrella, Widow, you two might think you know what pain and suffering is. You sure like to inflict it on others. What you don’t understand is that we aren’t just looking to make you feel pain in your body, we want it to be painful in your mind. When you get out of the TD Garden, you will remember every moment in our match. Every muscle you strained, every limb that was stretched, every bit of blood that you spilled, it will all pale in comparison to the uneasiness you’ll feel. You’ll keep asking yourself when the shame will be over, knowing that it might never be. As they take you into the hospital and they ask you exactly what happened, you can tell them that you got beat by the better team. You might think that our bodies are weak, but as long as our hearts are beating, our bodies have never been stronger. You know it’s the truth, that’s why you resort to your attacks from behind. We didn’t quit when we were injured, what makes you think we’ll quit when we fight you?”
After holding up the towel, he throws it behind him.
“Last year, I threw that towel in to save my friend. This time, I’m not going to give up. We are not throwing in the towel, but we are throwing every bit of anger that’s been building up right at both of you! That doesn’t just cover what you’ve done to us, it is every waking moment we spent having to recover. All of the times we had to watch you run around and act like a big shot! When we heard that hairless ape Terrella say that he deserved another chance at the titles, that was enough for us. It was time to shake things up, because we will not allow this tag division to be dominated by you! If we did, then it simply wouldn’t live up to being the best tag team division in the world. You are not the best and you never have been. We’re here to prove it to you. I try not to take things personally, but you’ve tried to deprive us of what we love. We may be in professional wrestling but trust me, this match will be far from professional. I plan on making you two stain the canvas. Even then, I won’t be satisfied. We won’t be content until we’ve shown you that there is no limit to what we can do inside or outside of the ring. You won’t be able to run away like all the other times. You’ll have to actually fight us, just like we wanted. Question is, are you as brutal as you say you are? Or is it another lie coming from the mouths of two wannabes? We’ll find out on Sunday, because only one team is going to survive this. If we survived this far, I think there’s a pretty good chance that we’ll survive you two. And if we don’t, then we’ll make sure that you don’t get the privilege of walking out of Boston.”
With his hands on his hips, Charlie takes a deep breath and hangs his head. He looks back up at the camera one more time.
“Three letters. You know what they are. They’re the only three that matter in this business. K…O…F. We the Kings. If you’ve got a problem with it, then you can be like Terrella and Widow and get a first class ticket for an ass beating.”
He walks off, shoving a hand into his pocket. Fishing out car keys, he exits the gym and drives down the road. Once he turns into a nearly empty parking lot, he flashes his lights on a sitting Tyson Everest.
“I just got back from the gym! You want to grab some dinner?”
He could see Tyson’s slight smirk.
“Yeah, man. Lemme get my stuff real quick…”
After a minute of Tyson gathering his belongings, he joins Charlie in the car. The two head through Boston, with nothing but silence inside the car.
“You ready for Sunday?”
“Of course! It’s going to be tough but… recently, when hasn’t it been?”
“Yeah, you got that right. I dunno, I’m kinda thankful that we got to come back.”
“Me too. I can’t believe it’s been a year since-”
“Let’s not talk about it. We’re in the present. Can’t be thinking about it all the time.”
“Right, yeah… sorry.”
A long pause.
“I’m thankful, too.”
“Oh yeah? For what?”
“Us.”
Tyson slightly nods before grinning.
“You can’t be gettin’ all emotional, Charles!”
“Let’s just worry about dinner…”
Well howdy there pardner.