Young Lions' Cup Promo Thread

[veggieleezy]

*Camera comes up on a figure's boots. From the color scheme and look of the boots we can tell it's Jerry Bishop. He begins to lace them as the camera ever-so-slowly pans upwards.*

JB: Henry, I wish you would listen more to the bear that Berry, Fozzie, and I gave you for Christmas. That bear was the voice of reason you need.

*The shot now shows Bishop's legs and torso, Bishop's signature domino mask resting on his knees.*

JB: That bear was meant to help you, Henry. We want to help you clear your mind and find your own path. This duality of Black Bear vs. White Bear is a hindrance to you. We wanted to show you that you can be your own man.

*Camera follows the mask as Bishop places it on his face.*

JB: You can think for yourself, Henry. You can become someone who can think for themselves instead of depending on soft toys to make decisions. I don't mean that as an insult, I know that you work in your own way. But after we square off in the ring, and I hit the Last Laugh, your eyes are going to be opened to the potential you truly have.

*Bishop stands and tightens his gloves.*

JB: I don't want to face you, Henry. I want you to see that you can become something more, you can forge your own path and become a staple of FPW's roster. But I also don't back down from a challenge. Henry, I accept your challenge. I will show you what it means to embrace the Freedom Fighters, to feel their energy, to fight for something other than what you're told. And I will have the Last Laugh.

*Bishop exits the shot as the camera fades to black*

[The_Aviator_GB]

We enter on Elizabeth Karlson, who sits crosslegged in her workshop, masks hung all around her. She cracks her neck as she looks directly at the camera.

First, Kris Knight. Now, James Saturn.

Karlson reaches into a bag, and pulls a blank mask out.

Let's not mince words here, James-something's gone wrong with you. Something's gotten in that once-pure little skull of yours and corrupted it. What was it, James-was it losing to Evans the first time? Was it watching the rest of us tear through our respective spheres with the greatest of ease while you fell short every single fucking time? What spoiled you, James Saturn? 

I know you weren't always like this. I teamed with you-the two of us and Berry Bishop against Queendom, when we both had something to prove. We proved it when we beat them, and you proved it once again when you put Evans down, but...I wonder why that wasn't enough for you. Was losing the Free-1 too much? Was losing to Baker when he proved that he was the deserving champion too much? I'm not gonna lie-I backed both of you going into the match, two men who I considered to be good hands here, but...once you turned on Baker, I was disappointed.

When Black Death finds disappointment, it spreads. It searches out corruption, and I've found corruption in you, James. I'm just going to have to choke it out of you, and continue on my path to becoming the second ever Young Lions' Cup winner. 

Karlson regards the mask for a moment longer, before the screen fades to black...

[The_Aviator_GB]

"Ezekiel 25:17 - "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men."

We enter on a shot of Graham Baker sitting in a steel folding chair, the FPW title splayed out across his lap.

My name is Graham Baker. I came up to the world of professional wrestling after training in the PROJO for two years, but after finding that was not the place for me, I gambled on myself and headed stateside. I trained with some of the best, most underrated technical wrestlers in the world in the bowels of what most consider to be 'garbage wrestling' in Combat Zone Wrestling. Through perseverance and strength of will, I came up hard and won the CZW Wired Title in an underdog affair. I beat the CZW World Heavyweight Champion. I nearly won a Tournament of Death, and I participated in many others before my spark set aflame in CZW burned a desire in my heart to tear a path through the independent scene. 

Baker pauses, adjusting the belt in his lap and placing it on his shoulder.

I've won championships across the entirety of the United States. Rockstar Pro Wrestling, Combat Zone Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Guerilla, DEFY Wrestling, and so on and so forth. Everywhere I went, I held a title high and claimed myself to be the best talent there, the ace. I upheld every promotion that I held a title for on my back wherever I went, defending belts in open challenges, against those who'd insulted honor, competing in multi-title matches to secure a reputation set out before me. In a word, I became the ace wherever I went...and when I had to lay those belts down, I did that respectfully.

Baker breathes for a moment, and the light catches sweat gleaming upon him.

When I was offered a contract with Freedom Pro Wrestling, I took it. I had a losing streak to maneuver through, two of which losses came from MDE, one of which came from James Saturn. It took some time for me to come back to prominence, to hit my winning stride again...and after I tapped out MDE in the middle of the ring at All Star Tag Team Classic, I got my stride back. 

But this, of course, is just a footnote.

MDE likes to pretend that he made me, that everywhere I go I must mention him, but what MDE doesn't realize is that he was a stepping stone. He likes to use historical allegories to describe how he's going to destroy me, how he's beset me on all sides by enemies-TakeOver, Saturn, himself, whoever else is around the corner in ALPHA, anyone and everyone who comes at me will attack me in the same time and pick at me like carrion, but here's the thing-

-Every man who's come against me has fallen short.

I beat Marcus Allen Jones and his TakeOver goons in a match in Chicago, tapping him out to a massive fanfare and holding the belt he'd claimed as his as my own. I beat James Saturn in my first title defense, a title defense that I'd offered him, and proven that I was the better fucking man. MDE beat me twice, sure, but that was before I gained my stride, that was before I hit the ground running, and once I had I put him down for good. 

I put him in the ground, and I will do so again.

MDE, let me tell you something-Leningrad may've fallen, this much is true, but I am not Leningrad. If you would allow me to respond with a more apt historical allegory-you ride atop an ocean of circumstance. You are the Admiral of a massive fleet, and you've made the call to destroy my ports, to cripple my troops, to attack my pride where it is most vulnerable, and you think you've won. But I, MDE, have not lost yet. Much like the Japanese Admirals who fought a long war against the Americans in World War II, committing heinous crimes all along the way, you carry an honorable mission and you will think, to the final day, that this war is going your way, but I, MDE, have something in pocket. Something in mind.

In reality, MDE, your war has been over since it has begun. There are days of fighting left, but, to fit with my name...The Aviator has taken flight. The Enola Gay comes forth, and it's carrying two secret weapons that will, in short, end your shit. You've beaten me before, MDE, but I am nothing like what I was before. I am not the man you conquered on his Freedom Pro Debut. I am not the man who you outsmarted at Temple of Doom. Hell, I'm not even the man who tapped you out at All Star Tag Team Classic.

I'm something new. Something more traveled, a man with a fire burning in his heart, and you, my friend...are far too close to the fire.

You'll find yourself burnt. 

I'll see you soon, mate. Very soon. 

Baker adjusts the title on his shoulder as he looks toward the camera, breathing out one final time. 

[Saturn]

The camera opens on James Saturn sitting lazily on a large wooden crate backstage. he's got a pizza in his hands and bites down on it as he begins to speak.

"Hey Liz, don't want to offend you, but you're making our upcoming match much more important than it has to be. Truly, it isn't. There's a reason I barely touched on you when I talked about my future Young Lions Cup opponents, you're just not very impressive to me. You seem to like to have this aura about you, a spooky, mysterious one, talking about the Black Death and hanging around in that weird mask workshop. But it doesn't fool me, and it doesn't fool anyone else. Elizabeth, just like the rest of us, you're only a wrestler, and not a very impressive one at that."

James finishes his pizza.

"You talk about me not being able to- what did you say? You said everyone else tore through their perspective spheres, whatever that means, while I always came up short. Listen, if there was a list of wrestlers who have come up short during their time in FPW, you would be way ahead of me. You can't speak about me always coming up short, I've main evented FPW shows, I've beaten big shots like Azazel and several former FPW Hardcore champions, and you've done Jack shit. Please, let me make this crystal clear, you aren't anything but a stepping stone for me to winning the Young Lions Cup and going on to cement myself as the best in FPW at Resurrection. And if you don't believe that, you're even dumber than I thought."

James Chuckles to himself as the camera cuts out.