Post by kaster on May 27, 2024 4:46:17 GMT
Orlando, Florida. 2021.
It feels like my flow’s been hot for so long, if you think I’ma fuckin’ fall off, you’re so wrong”
50 Cent continues to rap inside the headphones of Tyson Everest, sat down in a folding chair. The corridor is buzzing with wrestlers and crew, all getting ready for the upcoming show. He’s busy wrapping his hands. Last match was a pretty solid win, but he’d rather not sprain a finger this time. Better to be safe than sorry. With his gaze lowered at his hands, he doesn’t see a portlier man approach with a small stack of papers in his grasp.
The man says something to Tyson, though the music renders his words into a slight muffle. After a pause, Tyson is able to hear something break through the beat in his headphones. He removes them from his ears and looks up at the man.
“Ay, Trevor. What’s good, man?”
Trevor continues shuffling and examining his papers before piping up again.
“You’re getting bumped. Anderson flaked on us and he’s not going to make it to the show. I need you to sub in for the tag match tonight.”
Everest frowns in a combination of confusion and frustration.
“I gotta sub in? I’m supposed to be in a match against Vertigo! Y’know, like we been doin’ for the past few weeks? I was finally startin’ to hit my-”
“Plans change. Besides, it’s only for the one night. Once we find a better replacement, you’ll be back to normal. I just need you to team up with the new guy for the evening. I already let him know, so he should be coming over any minute.”
“How am I gonna team up with a guy I ain’t even met before?”
“All the greats are able to do one thing better than everybody else: adapt. Good luck out there tonight, Everest. Keep up the hard work.”
As Trevor walks off, Everest lightly shakes his head. He bites off the strip of tape still attached to his hand. The disappointment is plastered all over his face. Nothing has prepared him for wrestling in a tag match, much less with somebody whose name he does not even know.
Meanwhile, a young man dressed in a t-shirt and shorts wheels his luggage down the corridor. He keeps a smile on his face, despite every bit of anxiety telling him to duck away into a corner and hide. The murmur of other talent ripples up and down the area, but there is one spot of silence amongst the sea of chats. He opts to pull up a chair and sit down next to the quiet Tyson Everest.
“Hey.”
“...what’s up?”
It feels like he’s unwelcome, but there is a point to this awkward greeting.
“So, uh, I heard you’re going to be my tag partner for tonight! I’m usually with-”
“Anderson. Yup, I know.”
Tyson watches as the rookie sheepishly rubs the back of his neck.
“Yeah… sorry about all that. I don’t mean to put you on the spot.”
“Nah, it’s all good. It ain’t your fault, you just doin’ what you gotta do.”
The rookie smirks and nods, appreciative of the affirmation given by his temporary partner.
“Tyson Everest, right?”
“The one and only. What’s your name?”
“Charlie Van Ruth.”
Everest nods and sticks out his hand. Charlie shakes it eagerly, hoping he’s made a good first impression.
“Just so we’re all clear, this is only gonna be a temporary thing. I’m helpin’ you out on this and then we’ll be set.”
Charlie shrugs before he begins to unzip his suitcase.
“Sounds good to me. I plan on breaking out solo anyways. This whole tag team thing… I don’t feel like it fits me.”
“I guess that’s somethin’ we got in common then. Ay, maybe we’ll get to face each other one day.”
Charlie rubs his chin at the thought. Then, he looks over at Tyson and smirks.
“I don’t think you’d want that.”
Tyson chuckles at the bravado of the newcomer.
“Oh, we got ourselves a badass, huh? You tryna test that theory or what?”
“It’ll be your funeral, Tyson…”
The two share a slightly tense stare. Before anything happens, Charlie gives Tyson a friendly pat on the back.
“I’m just fucking with you! I love competition, but I’m not going around and looking for fights out of nowhere.”
Everest snickers and shakes his head.
“You had me for a second, man. I was thinkin’ that I’d have to make sure you pay your dues.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve been putting in the work. I train nearly every day when I’m not here. It’s just a matter of time and experience for me.”
Tyson slowly nods while Van Ruth begins to remove some of his gear from the suitcase.
“You also gotta have your heart in the right place. Some people are just doin’ it for the clout and the money-”
“Trust me, man. If I was worried about money, I wouldn’t even be here right now.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m dedicated to this. Let’s say that I had… other paths to go down. But I chose this. It wasn’t the easiest path, but it was the one I loved. The path I was the most passionate about. I was ready to give up everything for this.”
As Charlie speaks, something shifts in the air around the two. Tyson feels a greater respect as Van Ruth talks about his dream.
“I’m going to be a champion one day. To prove that this wasn’t the wrong choice. Uh… sorry for dumping all that on you. I’m sure you don’t really want to hear about all that.”
“Nah… nah… I actually admire that. It don’t matter what happens, you should always chase whatever you believe in. I’m sure it was the right choice for you, man.”
Charlie sighs and grins at Everest. He’s actually starting to feel less nervous because of Tyson’s words.
“Thanks. I think we’re going to kill it out there tonight.”
“We better, otherwise they ain’t gonna get us back for the next week!”
“R-really?”
“Nah, I’m just fuckin’ with you.”
Tyson laughs and returns the pat on the back whilst Charlie goes into a small laughing fit of his own.
“Alright, alright. I have to go get into my gear. We’ll talk more when I get back. You take care, Ty!”
“Ay, you too, Charlie!”
Van Ruth stands up and gives Everest a pat on the shoulder. The two men share one more grin together before Van Ruth walks away.
Rome, Italy. 2024.
He gets interrupted by a shoulder pat. The mirror shows Charlie Van Ruth poking out behind him.
“You ready? We’ve got the people waiting for us.”
“Yeah… yeah, let’s get it!”
“Let’s fucking go, baby. WOO!”
Everest claps to hype himself up before turning around. Van Ruth already has one foot out the door before Tyson follows him. The shot tracks the Kings of Flight from behind as they walk out of the bathroom and down the hall. They pass through a pair of metal doors and enter a large room with a crowd of countless reporters and journalists to their left. On the right lies an elevated platform with tables, microphones and a large Night of the Immortals banner in the background.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Tyson Everest and Charlie Van Ruth, the Kings of Flight!”
The press conference crowd politely applauds as the Kings stroll into position. Charlie waves out to the audience while Tyson claps along with them. Both men grab microphones and take a seat.
“Alright, before we get going with questions, Tyson and I have some stuff to get off our chests. I promise it’ll be worth it. We’ll get you some good quotes.”
Everest taps his mic before leaning and speaking into it.
“Aight… what’s good, y’all? We’re out here for some business. While everybody is out enjoying Rome, we decided to come out here and tell y’all how it is.”
“That’s right. Because we know that you, the people, believe in us. You believe in Nick Danger. You all have kept us going for a lot longer than you’d think. At one point, this whole thing was about you. It was about the fans of the IWF. We wanted to bring you on this journey with us because we felt that it was what you were owed. And to some extent, it still is about you.”
“Over these past couple months, we’ve had to fight some of our hardest battles. We’ve been through street fights, cage matches and dog collar matches. We have put our bodies through absolute hell. Nobody can question where our hearts are. We have brought the fight every single time. Even when we lost, we took things away with us. We learned. We kept learnin’ and we’re still learnin’.”
“This is going to be our first Night of the Immortals. That’s no secret to anyone. We do not plan on leaving Night of the Immortals without the tag team championships. But we are not simply looking for titles. Nick Danger is not looking for titles. We are all looking to put Savage Kingdom in their place. We’ve had enough of this little charade they’ve been playing.”
“Madjinn, you wanna talk about stats. You wanna talk about being the longest reigning tag champion. It’s real damn easy to talk about stats when that championship sits on your shelf and collects dust, just like your daddy!”
“You had to turn to Savage by Nature because you are afraid. You keep hiding, Sabin. You will hide behind these personas and these alter egos time and time again. I don’t want to speak to Madjinn, I don’t want to speak to Wraith, I want to talk to the guy-”
“The kid.”
“You’re right, the kid that plays pretend and continues to hide. I want to know if he truly believes that all of his success and accomplishments have been earned. You want to go and hand out championships to your friends? Fine. Put that asterisk onto their names and let them feel like sloppy seconds.”
“Because that’s all they are gonna be. Sloppy seconds. They ain’t earned those titles. You know why? ‘Cause deep down, they knew they couldn’t beat you and your father. We only got one chance at y’all. That was at Survival of the Fittest, the time y’all tore my leg up. Don’t worry, Sabin, I still remember. It’s too bad your daddy couldn’t make it, but hey, after I’m finished with you, you can call me daddy.”
“This match is the biggest one of our careers. We finally get our shot at the championships. We have fought tooth and nail just to be in the conversation. Danger is helping us out, not just because we respect each other, but he wants to see you egomaniacs fall as much as we do.”
“That man is fuckin’ outta his mind. That’s why we needed him as our partner. He’s willing to go to places nobody would ever think of. I have never seen Nick Danger give up on anything. He will fight with everything he’s got and not give a damn about his own livelihood. That’s a guy you don’t want coming for you. A man who will risk it all just to put you down.”
“We’ve come together out of respect and necessity. We’re tired of having to play the numbers game. Savage by Nature couldn’t beat us directly, so they need the interference. They need to take shortcuts in order to win. But we’ve been learning every time we step into the ring with them, just like Tyson said. We remember our mistakes and we improve.”
“A guy once told me that you gotta adapt in order to be one of the greats. And I don’t mean changing your name like Sabin does. I mean takin’ every loss and letting your game evolve from it. We’ve been doubtin’ ourselves a bit, I can’t lie. Don’t think that we’ve been goin’ around and being all smiles with this shit. It can get to your head a bit, but that’s what they want. That’s what bullies want. They want you to think that you ain’t shit so you never stand up for yourself. But we are here at the biggest show of the year. We’ve got the dream right in our hands. That don’t happen outta thin air. Winning those titles won’t be ‘cause we were handed them. We are gonna earn them.”
“We have fought for every opportunity in this company. We will never take handouts, we have never tried to hold people down and we will never, ever be content with doing things the easy way. It’s not in our DNA. Tyson and I do not believe in false kings.”
“The only legit kingdom is sitting right here. WE are the Kings. We’ve been the Kings. We will continue to be the Kings. They’re out here carrying some fool’s gold. It’s time to put some respect on those tag titles. Sabin can talk about him and his daddy working to make those championships be something, but they don’t mean a damn thing when you pass ‘em around more than Portia at a nightclub.”
“We are looking to put an end to these games. Terrella and Widow can parade around and delude themselves into thinking they deserve those championships. Sabin can delude himself into thinking he’s doing something revolutionary. When myself, Tyson and Nick bring them back to reality, maybe they’ll finally learn some fucking humility. But, knowing them, they’ll probably find some excuse, even though they’ll throw every bit of bullshit they can at us.”
“I’m expectin’ it, honestly. It’s how they operate. But we ain’t gonna take no excuses. Come bring Portia, come bring your daddy, hell, come bring your fuckin’ daughter if it helps. It ain’t. We are sick of your shit. This is where we take everything you love and make you realize why this shit ain’t about the blood, the violence and your dumbass spooky shit. This is about the GRIND. This is about showin’ people that you don’t have to take shit from people like y’all. With enough hard work and heart, anything can be accomplished. Look at us, man. A year ago, we weren’t even in anyone’s thoughts for Night of the Immortals. But now that we’re here? They’ll be chanting our names in that building. They’ll be waiting for us to take those titles. They want to see y’all get your ass beat. Nick’s gonna bring the heat and we gotta match that level of crazy. If he don’t give a fuck about his health, neither do we. I mean, damn, y’all already gave us enough scars to last a lifetime! What’s a couple more? But this ain’t about the weapons and scars and blood. It’s about some motherfuckers who need to be taught one important lesson.”
“There’s only enough room in Rome for one kingdom. And it’s not going to be your shitty little Savage Kingdom.”
“Ay, I almost forgot-”
Everest reaches under the table and pulls out a Savage Kingdom t-shirt.
“Get yourselves that brand new Savage Kingdom shirt, only available at IWFShop.com! They’ll really need that money after they lose that championship dough. And then, you don’t even need to wear it! You can just do this-”
Tyson signals to Charlie, who pulls out a lighter and flicks it underneath the shirt. Once the flame catches, the fabric begins to burn away. After the fire reaches half-way up the shirt, a nearby attendant uses a fire extinguisher to put out the flames.
“We’ll just put that away for now. Thirty dollars, huh?”
“That’s money well spent, bro! I promise you.”
“Whatever you say. I hope they thank us for the free advertising. But I have a feeling they’re going to have to worry about more than t-shirt sales at Night of the Immortals.”
“Your kingdom’s getting taken over. From Kings to champs, y’all better recognize.”
“I know it’ll be personal for Danger. It’s personal for us, too. We have come too fucking far to fail right at the finish line. This is years worth of pain, work and passion. With the support of the fans, we are going to restore those IWF Tag Team championships back to their former glory. We will defend those titles as often as we can against whoever wants to step up. We can guarantee you that. All we’ve ever wanted is for this tag division to thrive. Do you think it’ll grow under the dark cloud of Savage Kingdom? Fuck no. We’ve always wanted to make this division flourish and we will continue to do our damndest to make that a reality. It’s not about stats to us. It’s about leaving this game better than we found it.”
“Sorry for runnin’ this a bit long, y’all, but we needed to make our shit clear. Not just for y’all, but for our opponents on Sunday. They need to know that we aren’t fuckin’ around. Danger isn’t fuckin’ around. We will leave Rome as YOUR tag team champions. The champions of the people.”
“We’ll answer some questions after a quick break. You guys will get your time, rest assured. For right now?”
“Kings, bowin’ out.”
“Don’t touch the motherfucking throne.”
The Kings of Flight walk off the stage as the crowd begin to applaud with more enthusiasm after the impassioned words.
Well howdy there pardner.