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[C-Verse 97] [HGC/DaVE] Everybody Knows

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HGC Hardcore Championship - HARDCORE BATTLE ROYAL

Frankie Future ©, Aaron Mustafa, Babylon, Ernie Turner, Genghis Rahn, Grinder, Jason Jackson, Mario Heroic, Roger Cage, The Hype (w/ Lady Melissa)

 

Rip Chord vs. Thomas Morgan

 

HGC Cruiserweight Championship

Rocky Constantino © vs. Electrico

 

Azrael vs. Cowboy Ricky Dale w/ Louise Robinson

 

HGC International Championship

Monty Walker © vs. Paul Steadyfast vs. Troy Tornado

 

LOSER LEAVES TOWN

Black Cobra vs. Peter Valentine w/ Charlie Thatcher

 

Dusty Streets vs. Sam Strong

 

BEACH BLAST

Ashley Amazon w/ Dream Girl vs. Victoria

 

HGC Tag Team Championships

The Vessey Brothers (Bryan & Larry Vessey) © vs. The Tag Team Specialists (Joel Bryant & Robert Oxford) ©

 

HGC World Heavyweight Championship

Charlie Homicide © w/ Karen Killer vs. Dread vs. Mr Lucha

 

 

 

I've spend three days reading this from one end to another, and I'm liking it!

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http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/trenchcoatbrigand/Everybody%20Knows/HGC%20Guys/HGC_zps9a894c88.jpg

 

HGC Presents Hotter Than Hell

 

Sunday Week 4 August 1997

 

Live on USA Free Choice, Canada 1-Choice (Rating: 1.85)

 

Held at the Gardens of North Dakota

 

Attendance: 26,397

 

Announcers:

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/trenchcoatbrigand/Everybody%20Knows/HGC%20Guys/KyleRhodes_alt1_zpsf7ecf133.jpghttp://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/trenchcoatbrigand/Everybody%20Knows/HGC%20Guys/JasonAzaria_zps417569ed.jpg http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/trenchcoatbrigand/Everybody%20Knows/HGC%20Guys/FloydGoldworthy_zpsf0dd5b5a.jpg

 

Kyle Rhodes – Jason Azaria – Floyd Goldworthy

 

HGC Hardcore Championship

HARDCORE BATTLE ROYAL

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Frankie Future ©, Aaron Mustafa, Babylon, Ernie Turner, Genghis Rahn

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Grinder, Jason Jackson, Mario Heroic, Roger Cage & the Hype

No HGC girls this time, a fact Goldworthy laments while Rhodes and Azaria play up the extra time for matches.

 

Everyone comes to the ring with a weapon – everyone except Aaron Mustafa, the self-proclaimed 'Baddest'. This is a bold claim and a bold move, but it doesn't get much early attention, with Azaria and Rhodes focusing on the Family having come to the ring as a trio and the fact they're acting unified – especially when Cage and Turner team up, a ball bat shot to the back of the neck putting Grinder in perfect position for a DDT onto a chair.

 

Moments later, Frankie Future and Roger Cage grab Mario Heroic, bodily throwing him from the ring.

 

Elimination #1: Mario Heroic

 

Elsewhere, Mustafa ducks a brass knucks swing from Babylon, lariats him down, and then hurls him one-handed from the ring.

 

Elimination #2: Babylon

 

Jason Jackson nails Future from behind with a chair shot. The Hustlers unite, rushing him against the ropes, until the Hype – aided by Jackson against the Untouchables earlier in the year – makes the rescue. Genghis Rahn's sledgehammer doubles Mustafa over, but when he goes to capitalise, the Baddest backdrops him, sending him out of the ring.

 

Elimination #3: Genghis Rahn

 

The Hype gets the Greatest Hits off on Turner – almost completely; Frankie Future interrupts, catching him with the Future Shock. The Hustlers go to eliminate, but Jason Jackson stops them – only for Future to eject him instead.

 

Elimination #4: Jason Jackson

 

Grinder makes his recovery now, blindsiding Cage, but Turner backs Cage up with the ball bat shot. The Hype grabs a dazed Cage and eliminates him-

 

Elimination #5: Roger Cage

 

- only to eat another Future Shock from Frankie, who this time follows up by tossing him out.

 

Elimination #6: The Hype

 

Grinder renews his enthusiasm, only to be sent out of the ring when Turner catches him with a slow but brutal sledgehammer uppercut that sends him tumbling to the outside. Turner turns around, however, just in time to see the Baddest lariat Future out of the ring. “We're going to have a new champion!”

 

Eliminations # 7 & #8: Grinder and Frankie Future

 

What remains doesn't last long. Mustafa spears Turner, drags him up, and Olympic slams him over the rope, claiming the title in an astonishing debut sprint.

Aaron Mustafa won a Battle Royal

Rating: D+

 

Out to the ring next is Rip Chord, sporting the most pissed-off looking smile TV's seen in some time.

 

He snatches the microphone from the ring announcer and rolls into the ring.

 

“For those of you who didn't think much of it, Jason Jackson just fought a battle royal where he thought it was worth saving someone else,” wrestling's chessmaster begins. “That's a very Jason move. It's worked for him, sometimes. But it didn't work today, and it's always a gamble... and that's what's bugging me.

 

“See, Thursday, Jason Jackson...” Rip stops abruptly. His face shifts. It looks like whatever he's out here to announce is hard for him to say.

 

“Thursday night,” he begins again, “Thursday night, Jason Jackson... Jason did something I've not been able to do.

 

“Jason Jackson beat Thomas Morgan fair and square in the middle of the ring.”

 

He begins to pace, but he does look like he feels better for actually saying what's bugging him. “Now I don't know what it is, but I cannot beat this guy. Charlie Thatcher fought him, bam, Crusher Legdrop, shoulders to the mat, one-two-three. Jason Jackson fought him, German suplex, holds on, shoulders to the mat, one-two-three.

 

“But when him and me get in the ring, some other sucker gets pinned or we don't get a result.

 

“I'm done with that. Morgan, you wanna talk about being a trademark of excellence, whatever, I know you can back it up in the ring. I also know right now you're renting space up here.” He taps one finger against his temple. “Tonight that ends. Get out here – your days as a puzzle are done, and I'm gonna prove you've been solved.”

 

“Looks like we have a surprise extra match!” Rhodes announces jubilantly.

 

Once again these two come through, which is hardly any kind of surprise. Chord and Morgan go at it hammer and tongs, pushing each other, coming up with some startling stuff – Morgan's clearly been learning the virtues of some airborne offence lately, and his flip legdrop gets the crowd interested in his neck work.

 

That becomes a central thread to the contest; the one-upsmanship starts to focus exclusively on weakening one another's neck. “Morgan's going to try to beat Rip at his own game! He's forging his own trademark!” Azaria exclaims.

 

It's painful hold and escape after painful hold and escape and somewhere around the ninth minute, as Rip escapes from a Kudo Clutch, the two take a breather, squared off against one another. Chord gives Morgan a grudging nod of respect, then they close again.

 

Fourteen minutes in, Rip springs up when Morgan is on the top, having played possum. The two of them struggle on the top for a few moments, then Chord gets the better of it – but not enough; both of them fall to the outside, right onto the cameraman.

 

With their necks weakened, the impact takes too much out of them, and both men are counted out.

The match ended when both men were counted out

Rating: C+

 

Unusually, Rocky Constantino, the champion, is the first out to the ring for the next match. Goldworthy praises him as a man who understands how to prepare for a dangerous opponent, giving Rhodes and Azaria the chance to pick apart and recap his running from Electrico, his baiting the luchador, smearing his clean-living image, endangering his marriage, even attracting the attention of the Priest of Pain, Pablo Rodriguez.

 

And then the lights in the arena all die out... and someone hits the ramp who can still be seen.

 

Wearing new gear, some of which appears to be interlaced with LED lighting, Electrico arrives, shining brightly as he strides to the ring.

 

He removes the LED-lit body-armour layer as the lights come up, clearly ready to compete.

 

There's nothing particularly showy about the match. Electrico has dazzled with aerial skills of late, but that's not what happens here; he has a chance to get his hands on the man who tried to destroy his reputation in his homeland, and they brawl like superheavyweights, with fury and determination.

 

It's still surprisingly effective, and Electrico does start to mix things up once Rocky is on the ropes; toward the end, he ducks a lariat, dropkicks Constantino to the ropes, then meets him on the way back with the Electric Shock, securing the win – and, after chasing for months, the championship.

Electrico defeated Rocky Constantino

Rating: D

 

Much more even than their first contest; this one is a brawl from Azrael's side, but is seems that Ricky Dale still can't bring himself to strike his friend, focusing on mat wrestling as a way to retain control.

 

The emotion is clear; the two men are fighting, not wrestling, and their attitudes to it show in the contest. Azrael has the advantage, being willing to do anything, but a charge goes astray when he sees the Dark Angel watching – and Dale, evidently reluctantly, takes advantage, connecting with the Southern Justice to pick up the victory.

Cowboy Ricky Dale defeated Azrael

Rating: C+

 

Azrael lies there for another couple of moments as Cowboy Ricky Dale gets back to his feet. As Ryan Holland - “the only ref willing to get in there with those two,” as Azaria reminds us – raises Dale's hand, though, the monster hits him from behind with a clubbing forearm. Whip to the ropes! Football tackle! Azrael sets up for the Epitaph!

 

Dark Angel scrambles into the ring and squares off against Azrael, who releases Dale from the hold. He sneers at the newcomer, taking a step toward him, but then follows the direction of the Angel's gaze.

 

The Cowboy is slowly recovering his focus and his footing. Azrael thinks better of pressing an attack against the two of them.

 

“Wait a minute,” Rhodes says. “When did Dale's girl vanish?”

 

The two Untouchables arrive at the same time, talking together, smiling and joking. “I think the fix is in,” Rhodes declares. “Hey, it's not an elimination match!” Goldworthy objects. “Paul and Troy have just as much to lose from ignoring each other.”

 

Walker is the star of the match, but that's no surprise. His DaVE colleague, however, gives a good accounting of himself too, playing fast, eager, and dynamic to change things up from Steadyfast's methodical offence.

 

The two Untouchables complement one another pretty well, and it's very clearly a triangle match, Walker playing the determined underdog as he does so well – most notably countering a double-team suplex into a double DDT, as well as nailing Steadyfast at one point with a flip legdrop.

 

The Untouchables dominate, nonetheless, until Troy Tornado tries for the Star Maker. Steadyfast is left to take it when Monty elbows clear, and a superkick stuns Tornado, allowing Walker to pick up the pin and retain.

Monty Walker defeated Paul Steadyfast and Troy Tornado

Rating: C-

 

Cobra is walking wounded from the moment he emerges, and that becomes the emergent storyline throughout the match – Cobra has skill, determination, and heart to spare, but Valentine won this one before the bell, try as Cobra might to pull out a shock win; Thatcher, or Valentine, is able to shut it down.

 

A Heart Breaker finishes off one of the best babyface chase contests in some time, and the crowd are apoplectic.

Peter Valentine defeated Black Cobra

Rating: B-

 

Charlie Thatcher has a microphone, which in seconds means that Peter Valentine does.

 

“Well, this is pretty good,” he begins. “One for the record books – even Liberty and Whistler are just suspended. Congratulations – you're the first man to leave HollyWeird.

 

“Na-na-na, na-na-na, hey-hey-hey, goodbye!” he continues, trying to get the crowd to sing along as Black Cobra hobbles to the back. The crowd does not respond.

 

“Na-na-na, na-na-na, hey-hey-hey, goodbye!”

 

Steve Flash can be seen stepping out from the entrance curtain to talk to Black Cobra as he reaches it. The remarkable one shoots a glance that could kill at the ring.

 

The camera cuts to Jason Azaria.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, Shane Sneer has asked me at this time to deliver an apology on his behalf,” he begins. “Here, before Dusty Streets and Sam Strong do battle, we would like to air a video package made by our production staff which would allow anyone who doesn't know how this match arose to find out.

 

“Unfortunately, Dusty's brother Sid, his ally Bruce, and the man only identified as the Masked Patriot only recently left their previous employer – very recently – and a case could be made that repeating the footage would leave us open to a lawsuit from our competition for infringement of trademark.

 

“I can only apologise.”

 

A brawl between two men who haven't gotten along in years... and the heat and the fury are stunningly real as a result.

 

The entire crowd rise to this, very fast, and they witness what is equal parts a classic Sam Strong match and some old-school heelwork that many fans would never have believed Dusty truly had in him.

 

The ultimate hero is well into proving that his heart still beats when Masked Patriot hits the ring. He gets a Strong Arm Tactic for his trouble, but Dusty hits a low blow – then Sid's in the ring. Road to Freedom! Strong staggers backward into Bruce's waiting hand! Chokeslam!

 

Needless to say, Eugene Williams was already calling for the bell.

Sam Strong won by disqualification

Rating: B

 

A tide of rentacops charge the ring, Shane Sneer not far behind.

 

“This is it,” Sneer begins. “I've given you far, far too much. Matches. Appearances. I haven't opposed bail. I've barely begun talking about lawsuits.

 

“And apparently that's just what you were counting on. Apparently if I give an inch you take a mile. So-”

 

Sam Strong's music hits. This surprises a lot of people, given Strong is still out of it in the ring.

 

So everyone's looking to the entranceway when a teenager the whole world recognises appears.

 

Sneer falters, and his employer takes the microphone from him.

 

The words that follow have a rote, rehearsed tone to them.

 

“You don't have to destroy rival businesses. You can buy them out. And those men have been fired from the S- their old employer.”

 

Sneer can be heard, just about, leaning in toward his employer and the microphone. “Sir, they're trying to destroy us. I don't know what-”

 

“If this place can be destroyed, you haven't done your job.” Stallings' voice gets a little more confident with that. He turns to face the invaders.

 

“You four are out of work. If you want it, speak to my office. We'll find you a place to be.”

 

He looks back to Sneer. “Somehow I don't think four men can be as big a threat as you claim, Mr Sneer. We have Sam Strong.”

 

He drops the microphone and leaves.

 

The cameras introduce us to a special set, something of a scaffold arrangement with small plunge pools arrayed around it, as the ring announcer introduces the two competitors, the winner of whom is the one who doesn't end up in the water.

 

The match itself is nothing special – a lot of powerhouse blows that nearly send Victoria over from Ashley, some inventive holds and balance threatening from Victoria, but nothing that hasn't been seen from them before. They do manage to get some mileage out of the threat of the water, but by and large the crowd don't engage as well as they might until Ashley dumps Victoria into the water with a running powerbomb off the structure.

Ashley Amazon defeated Victoria

Rating: C-

 

 

“Excuse me, sir,” a terrified voice says, off-camera. “Commissioner Sneer wants to know if you're-”

 

We find out, as he turns, that the blackness of the picture had been the back of Bruce's leather jacket filling the screen.

 

The voice off camera falters, and Bruce smiles, not unkindly.

 

“Now, c'mon, little buddy,” he begins. “Bruce's always said, you've gotta do something before Bruce is gonna smash ya. Ask yer question.”

 

Sid Streets appears beside him, glowering suspiciously at whoever this is.

 

“Well, uh -” The camera pulls out to reveal a nervous but evidently physically-fit young stagehand. “Commissioner Sneer sent me to ask if you guys are taking the jobs?”

 

Bruce and Sid exchange glances.

 

“It's clearly some kind of trap,” Sid says. “The kid's a kid, but he can't be that naïve he doesn't know what we're capable of. So it's some kind of trap.

 

“But it's a way in, too. The kid's gonna regret that offer.”

 

Bruce nods – and his arm shoots out, hand locking around the stagehand's throat.

 

“By the way, little buddy, you missed somethin'. See, ya work for this company... and that's enough to make Bruce wanna smash ya.”

 

The camera cuts away just before the chokeslam.

 

Floyd Goldworthy has not stopped talking about other things during the ring announcements before matches. He has changed his tune on one thing, however – now that J K Stallings has offered them contracts, he's the biggest fan possible of the interlopers.

 

Considered purely in terms of the quality of the in-ring grappling, this one could easily be the match of the night. The Specialists aren't even being particularly illegal, though they're still devious – this is just one of those matches where two tag teams open up to full speed in a quest to put their opponents down.

 

The contest picks up the pace steadily. It isn't one-upsmanship – the two teams have completely different strategies when it comes to technical wrestling – but there's clearly a bid to outcompete one another here. Eugene Williams goes down to a stray Vessey Line, and Ryan Holland shows up.

 

The match breaks down somewhat – nobody's leaving the ring of their own accord (Oxford sends Larry out by rolling through an attempted ankle lock, and Bryan flapjacks Joel over the top rope, etc), and the result is that it's hard to tell who the legal man is for either team.

 

Right near the end, Bryan Vessey and Joel Bryant are locked in a grapple, no focus left for their teammates, when Oxford mows down Larry with a lariat. He glances over his shoulder, a little edgy, and seems to perform a calculation – he might be able to score the pin before Bryan notices – and hits the top rope.

 

He's coming off for his kneedrop when Bryan delivers the Vessey Driver to Joel. Both Robert and Bryan go for pinfalls – and Holland counts for Bryan while Williams counts for Oxford. Holland's hand comes down a third time a fraction of a second before that of Williams! The closest of title retentions!

The Vessey Brothers defeated the Tag Team Specialists

Rating: B

 

Dread and Lucha, once they've made their entrances, have eyes only for one another while the champion approaches. Homicide, with the slinking Killer at his side, stares from one to the other, letting rip with that unearthly, eerie giggle.

 

And then the bell rings, and it's all business. Dread backs the champion into the corner with chops; Lucha dropkicks Dread's leg out from under him, then tries for chops of his own – only to be met by a headbutt from the champion and a volley of punches.

 

From there, the pattern is established. Lucha and Dread's real problem is with one another, but both men would also acknowledge a desire for the championship. Their focus is split; Homicide's is not.

 

Toward the end, Homicide has control. He raises Dread up to the second rope, apparently looking for a superplex. He goes up himself – the shadow of fear knocks him off with a headbutt, and the devil's only saint drops to the mat, staying on his feet, obviously staggered. He turns -

 

The pride of Mexico is already in mid-air. His missile dropkick drops Homicide, but Lucha uses him as a springboard, vaulting onward, catching Dread in a headscissors-

 

HURACANRANA OFF THE TOP ROPE! HOMICIDE ROLLS OUT OF THE IMPACT AREA! Lucha goes for the pin, but Homicide, back on one knee, grabs him, hits a kidney punch out of the ref's sight, and then pulls him into a piledriver, pinning the luchador to retain his title.

 

As Karen hands it to him, that high-pitched giggle can be heard once again.

Charlie Homicide defeated Dread and Mr Lucha

Rating: B

 

Show Rating: B+

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“The boss – you – damn, this is annoying. Mr Stallings, for you guys watching this if anyone's bothering,” the Hype begins, “showed up the morning of the PPV after folks had called him. He, Sam, Rip, Nemesis, Peter, everyone who'd halfway-officially done some booking, they all shut themselves in a room. Didn't come out for about seven hours.

 

“So those of us who could, we put matches together except for the finishes, just in case those changed. The rest of us waited. Played video games. I remember Dread ordered takeout for everyone because he didn't like what was in catering. Class act, Dread.”

 

“Terrible PPV,” Walker says. “Consensus booking with a sixteen year old mark trying to ride herd on the wrestlers, who only listened at all because he signed their checks. I was supposed to drop the belt to Paul, but Stallings liked me so he kept it on me, which raised some weird questions about who exactly I was gonna feud with next...” He shrugs. “Although that ended up fitting pretty neatly.

 

“But the whole thing was sort of reshuffled, and Sam came up with this idea to keep hold of the book that involved putting Stallings on the show... and the kid could not cut a promo. It's like, occasionally I see YouTube stuff of him doing charity today, and I grin, because he's learned how to work the mic, but back then he was worse than John Maverick.”

 

J.K. Stallings chuckles. “I was flattered, I admit. But I was also the only authority figure we could get to overrule Shane on short notice, and I just wanted to get that stage of the story done so Richard Eisen would drop his lawsuit.

 

“I didn't realise, then, that we were going to end up with an even worse lawsuit in less than two months...” He shrugs, pushing his glasses back up on the bridge of his nose. “From a businessman's perspective, the trouble was that the way of evolving stories which had come up due to Sam's hands-off approach was working. Azrael and Ricky Dale polled high; evidence indicated that our luchadores weren't just getting the Latino audience but also wowing young boys and teenage girls. Peter Valentine was the most hated man on our fan for a after he ended Black Cobra's career.

 

“These things were working. So what had to be done was find a way to do that without too much chaos.

 

“Honestly, I think there's a reason people don't remember tag team storylines from that era, just the matches. Nemesis was still doing very traditional things, and didn't have the time in-episode to do them with flair. So he kicked back – he let the matches speak for themselves. Which was working.

 

“One thing I should say, though – it's a myth that Monty Walker keeping the belt was my idea.” His eyes twinkle. “I know, I know. My word against his.”

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Phantom Stranger

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...*koff*.

 

As noted in conversational posts a while back, I'm going to hit the editor a bit to give DaVE some international class.

 

However.

 

I'm simming through at the moment and someone just picked a fight with Richard Eisen, and I feel like I should say this. Because if I get them on board, it's the funniest thing in the world.

 

But I didn't editor that one into happening.

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Picking fights with Dick E?

That's either a brilliant career move or a way to get blackballed from the industry forever!

 

I am pleased that Homicide retained his title. I'd love to have Charlie do some sit-down, shoot interviews.

 

There's a very specific shoot with Karen I want to have before Charlie weighs in, and I'm waiting for the right time. It'll probably be during the timeskip.

 

I'm gonna try and make if the best thing this person ever did. IF I can get them.

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DAVEFAN95

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Just 3 things Id like to say after reading this diary start to finish in the last week

 

1. This is a fantastic diary. The shoot interviews really capture each wrestlers personality and are really fun to read. This has even inspired me to do a dynasty with the C-Verse 97 data, so thank you.

 

2. It is a real shame that DaVE stars were plucked from your grasp so early. But I really am looking forward to the next act.

 

3. In terms of going into the editor for DaVE, I don't mind a little editing but please don't make any massive changes.

 

This is now in my top 3 diaries of all time with EV's SWF diary and Zergons ESE diary.

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Slayen

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Glad to hear it.

 

Simming continues, and we'll be getting to storylines soon. I'm already excited for some, but in other cases... well, I had to be talked out of naming a match a Flag on a Pole match.

 

Come now, give in to the Russo Side of the Force! You know it is your DESTINY!

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Hardcore Heaven, the show that closed November for DaVE, was history-making.

 

The company's first PPV was stacked, culminating in an epic tag team tables match where the Darkness Warriors lost their titles to new arrivals, and then the main event itself, where Monty Walker took on Derek Barnes, last man standing.

 

They were brawling by the guardrail in the closing moments of the match; Barnes whipped the champion into the steel, but Monty leapt, landing on the top for just a moment and coming off in a springboard DDT.

 

With Barnes downed, Walker called in the fans, burying the challenger under an avalanche of chairs at ringside.

 

Vibert was furious. Michael Bull began the count, and Barnes did not emerge.

 

Monty Walker celebrated another victory in the ring, Vibert freaking out nearby, and the fan response was loud and raucous – and then, suddenly deafening.

 

Walking down the ramp and into the ring was one of the brightest young stars in the professional wrestling firmament.

Dan Stone Jr demanded a microphone, one hurriedly yet fanboyishly passed in by Mitch Naess, and faced Monty Walker.

 

“This is the company my dad's been raiding,” he said. “This is where legends are being born.

 

“I had to see this for myself. And somebody has to take a stand against my father destroying companies like this. So I came down. And I like what I see.

 

“Champ, will you do me a great honour? Will you allow me to step between these ropes again? To challenge you for that belt you hold?”

 

Walker, a broad grin on his face, turned to the crowd for their reaction, and they gave it in eager, full throated measure.

 

“NO!” screamed a voice from ringside. Phil Vibert stomps up the pile of chairs and into the ring, grabbing the microphone from the newcomer. “NO, NO, NO! This is the DaVE Extreme Championship, and this man, this intruder, is not DaVE. He has no contract. He cannot challenge for the title.”

 

The fans are not best pleased, to say the least. Walker looked at Stone, and received a fractional nod.

 

A superkick rocked Vibert. For a second, he stayed upright, then toppled like a tree. As he hit the mat, both the faces were moving; Stone hooked his leg straight up into the Stone Ankle Stretch, while Walker snagged the dropped microphone, getting down and personal in Vibert's screaming face.

 

“We want the match, Phil,” he said. “And you want your ankle unbroken... don't you?”

 

“YES!”

 

“Then let me do you a favour, Phil,” Walker smiled.

 

“Sign the match, hell, sign Dan a contract if he wants one, and you get to walk out of here.”

 

“F**K YOU!”

 

Stone applied more pressure. Vibert screamed. “Alright! Alright! I'll sign, you f***s!”

 

And with that, Hardcore Heaven went off the air.

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I'm not sure what made me smile more:

 

1)The tool, Barnes, getting buried under chairs thrown by the audiance

 

2)DAN STONE JR IN DaVE!

 

or

 

3)Vilbert's cartoon like reaction to the superkick. The image made me giggle for a good 30 seconds.

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"So, that one was... strange. At least at the time." Whenever you see footage of a Stone that isn't in a wrestling show, they're at the House of Stone itself, and - by 2014 - that's true of Dan Junior again. He smiles lopsidedly. "I got used to DaVE's promos, eventually. Got comfortable with them.

 

"But when I was told, basically, come out at the end, say to the crowd what I'd said to Phil about why I wanted to work for DaVE..." He chuckles, shakes his head. "I wasn't used to the idea that a promo should be what you actually think. I didn't deliver it as well as I wanted... Mind you, back in those days, promos were my Kryptonite anyway. I went out and wrestled, which is why DaVE were willing to have me.

 

"The thing is, something like, I think it was, a quarter of our roster had worked DaVE as well, up in NOTB. Now they weren't. And I said something to Dad about how we'd always allowed people to work other places, and he said the business was changing... something about my brother Edd..." He sighs.

 

"Dad was getting really curmudgeonly. Duane wasn't coming back. Vicky wasn't coming back, and there were all those rumours about her and some married guy. And that put Dad on the warpath.

 

"Dad was convinced NOTB would win if it went head-to-head with George and Eisen and Stallings. It just needed the talent. He found it in DaVE, he found some in Rapid, and he got others in from Japan, from Canada..."

 

Junior shifts awkwardly. "So here's where I look like a d*******g, but I didn't want to be one of the ten or eleven top guys for Dad. I wanted to be special, I'd been raised to believe I always would be. And I realised when Dad stepped up that unless I got out now, I'd eventually be just one of the ten or eleven top guys.

 

"We'd hurt DaVE the most, so I went there."

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The first TV main event of September in HollyWeird was a six-man tag, a pattern which would be repeated more and more steadily as the months rolled on due to the increasing factionalisation of the roster. Freshly protected by contract, the invaders looked set to continue their reign of terror, and in that first show, Bruce (no longer, due to a legal dispute, known as 'the giant'), the Masked Patriot, and Sid Streets were pitted against three loyal soldiers of HollyWeird.

 

With Sam Strong busy elsewhere – he'd begun a petition to reinstate Whistler and Liberty from their suspensions – Cowboy Ricky Dale stepped up to take the lead. Looking around during the show for allies, he found people dealing with their own concerns. His blood brother and mentor, the Dark Angel, was ready and willing. And joining them was a newcomer – Duane Stone.

 

The match itself was fantastic. Dark Angel and Sid Streets flew across the ring, Bruce brutalised Dale who powered back with that slight edge of supernatural strength, and Duane Stone was a technical match for Masked Patriot.

 

After Stone was in the ring for less than two minutes a familiar face appeared atop the entrance ramp. Peter Valentine made his way down to the ring, eyes locked on Stone. Valentine did not interfere, but simply watched.

The battle raged for some time, but Dusty Streets also made his presence felt, and Dale ultimately ate the pin after Patriot threw him into Bruce, who caught and slammed him in a foretelling of Bruce and the Patriot's coming ability as a tag team.

 

The following Thursday, Duane Stone wrestled a second match, defeating Babylon with a submission hold “very similar in execution to the Alabaster Agony of Black Cobra,” as Jason Azaria put it. Rhodes' response on commentary was to suggest simply calling it the same thing, and was accompanied by both men laughing. Valentine was again at ringside.

 

Later in the evening, “Remarkable” Steve Flash laid down a formal challenge to Peter Valentine for a match at Destructive Energy, over the cavalier way in which Valentine had ended a promising career. The remarkable one's challenge was awkwardly stated and not well executed, but clearly heartfelt. He signed off by remarking “We won't see anyone like Black Cobra here again.”

 

The following week on HollyWeird TV, Peter Valentine interrupted a meeting between Shane Sneer and Electrico where they were discussing potential Cruiserweight challengers.

 

“I'll come right to the point, Shane,” he began. “Sam Strong has issues with you, but you've always done right by me. I know I can trust you.

 

“I want Duane Stone gone.”

 

Shane looked at him for a long moment. “Peter, you've already cost me one great talent this quarter,” he begins. “Sure, we've got some new big names on the roster but they're clearly going to be more trouble than they're worth.

 

“I went looking for someone who can fill Black Cobra's shoes. When I didn't find anyone, I hired Duane Stone. I think he can get there.”

 

Valentine chuckled. “Yeah, good one. Seriously, though, he's broken the terms of his match contract, so-”

 

“Peter, he hasn't even drawn a DQ. He's only had four matches for us so far, and only two of 'em were televised. Hell, if he hadn't been in the right place Monday, after we lost Black Cobra, he wouldn't have gotten his tryout by now.”

 

Valentine stared

 

“What?” Sneer asked.

 

“...You're serious?”

 

“Why wouldn't I be? Duane hasn't done jack. Besides, his sister's one of our top HollyWeird Girls. I'm not going to fire him without him really causing some issues.”

 

Valentine stared. “I don't believe this,” he said finally, before stalking out. “I just don't believe this.”

 

--

 

And so the storyline that would become the sleeper hit of the winter began...

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The first TV main event of September in HollyWeird was a six-man tag, a pattern which would be repeated more and more steadily as the months rolled on due to the increasing factionalisation of the roster. Freshly protected by contract, the invaders looked set to continue their reign of terror, and in that first show, Bruce (no longer, due to a legal dispute, known as 'the giant'), the Masked Patriot, and Sid Streets were pitted against three loyal soldiers of HollyWeird.

 

With Sam Strong busy elsewhere – he'd begun a petition to reinstate Whistler and Liberty from their suspensions – Cowboy Ricky Dale stepped up to take the lead. Looking around during the show for allies, he found people dealing with their own concerns. His blood brother and mentor, the Dark Angel, was ready and willing. And joining them was a newcomer – Duane Stone.

 

The match itself was fantastic. Dark Angel and Sid Streets flew across the ring, Bruce brutalised Dale who powered back with that slight edge of supernatural strength, and Duane Stone was a technical match for Masked Patriot.

 

After Stone was in the ring for less than two minutes a familiar face appeared atop the entrance ramp. Peter Valentine made his way down to the ring, eyes locked on Stone. Valentine did not interfere, but simply watched.

The battle raged for some time, but Dusty Streets also made his presence felt, and Dale ultimately ate the pin after Patriot threw him into Bruce, who caught and slammed him in a foretelling of Bruce and the Patriot's coming ability as a tag team.

 

The following Thursday, Duane Stone wrestled a second match, defeating Babylon with a submission hold “very similar in execution to the Alabaster Agony of Black Cobra,” as Jason Azaria put it. Rhodes' response on commentary was to suggest simply calling it the same thing, and was accompanied by both men laughing. Valentine was again at ringside.

 

Later in the evening, “Remarkable” Steve Flash laid down a formal challenge to Peter Valentine for a match at Destructive Energy, over the cavalier way in which Valentine had ended a promising career. The remarkable one's challenge was awkwardly stated and not well executed, but clearly heartfelt. He signed off by remarking “We won't see anyone like Black Cobra here again.”

 

The following week on HollyWeird TV, Peter Valentine interrupted a meeting between Shane Sneer and Electrico where they were discussing potential Cruiserweight challengers.

 

“I'll come right to the point, Shane,” he began. “Sam Strong has issues with you, but you've always done right by me. I know I can trust you.

 

“I want Duane Stone gone.”

 

Shane looked at him for a long moment. “Peter, you've already cost me one great talent this quarter,” he begins. “Sure, we've got some new big names on the roster but they're clearly going to be more talent than they're worth.

 

“I went looking for someone who can fill Black Cobra's shoes. When I didn't find anyone, I hired Duane Stone. I think he can get there.”

 

Valentine chuckled. “Yeah, good one. Seriously, though, he's broken the terms of his match contract, so-”

 

“Peter, he hasn't even drawn a DQ. He's only had four matches for us so far, and only two of 'em were televised. Hell, if he hadn't been in the right place Monday, after we lost Black Cobra, he wouldn't have gotten his tryout by now.”

 

Valentine stared

 

“What?” Sneer asked.

 

“...You're serious?”

 

“Why wouldn't I be? Duane hasn't done jack. Besides, his sister's one of our top HollyWeird Girls. I'm not going to fire him without him really causing some issues.”

 

Valentine stared. “I don't believe this,” he said finally, before stalking out. “I just don't believe this.”

 

--

 

And so the storyline that would become the sleeper hit of the winter began...

 

If this goes the direction I think it's going, a-mazing. I see why it became a sleeper hit.

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“Well, from the moment I arrived, the Black Serpent Cult had been complaining about my ring name,” Duane Stone offers cheerfully. He's elected to tell his side of this part of the story while actually training a student in the House of Stone, and has them locked into the Stone Hold as he talks.

 

“I offered a bunch of other options, but it didn't end up happening, and then I had my first TV match and I was still Black Cobra. So there was trouble, and it was on everyone's list of stuff to deal with at some point or other.

 

“That just took a long time happening.”

 

 

“Well, it was getting to be a problem,” Peter Valentine says. “But I was working with Duane already, and the idea just... popped up. How it worked out was simple; Duane got eyes on him, I got to keep going on about beating him, and the two of us got so many eyes on us it was unbelievable.” He grins. “I was basically being paid to say stupid s**t by the end of it, I got a short free trip to Japan, and I didn't have to wrestle more than a match every couple weeks for months.

 

“It was great.”

 

 

“The real selling point was that there was an obvious tag match down the line with my sister,” Duane says. “I knew the angle could get over if Peter could sustain it. I knew that'd get me over, but it'd get me over on comedy as much as anything. Somewhere in there I was going to have to make myself look a serious threat again... but that was fine. I could do that. Hell, down the line, I had all kinds of ideas.”

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“Awright, squire?” Cornell's crooked grin shines through from his office chair. A crisp, pressed shirt and tie complete the executive look, familiar to anyone who's seen him working on behalf of his company rather than within it.

 

“Maybe I should've checked in more often, but, if I'm completely honest, but I've got enough to do with my current job. Thinkin' about the past ain't exactly profitable, much o' the time. An' anyway, my influence early on wasn't all that.

 

“Late ninety-seven, though, I started actually helpin' out enough so you'd notice with the book. Me, Phil, and Dan were workin' together on the book. We'd got PPV when Dan joined. We got TV after another month of it, and that's a whole new ball game.

 

“Didn't help that Chris had started PWC, either. He missed a show or two a month, and that's one of our tag teams is more of a hassle. So we had to bring in something new.

 

“Since Nemesis went to HollyWeird, tag wrestlin' was back on the rise anyhow. What we worked out we had to do was take that and make it DaVE. So everyone – Dan, Phil, Brick, even me – we hit the phones. Phil wanted to do something with two young hot guys, considering Sweet Sensations were getting over. He even had a name. Adrenaline Rush.

 

“If we'd found the guys for that, it woulda been great, I reckon. Brick found someone and I found someone, and that turned into Jacks Wild, one young Brit, one veteran Yank, the whole thing worked there. But it's Dan who had the doozy. Doozies.

 

“Guide and Scout came outta Texas; Guide's dad had been a ref in the TWL back when Dan Senior passed through the company. We got 'em I reckon a couple days before HollyWeird would've.

 

“Long term, they've been better for us. I mean, you don't give someone a two-year run with the belts unless they're worth it. But at the time, Dan's brother came through, and we got a hell of a rabbit out the hat...”

 

–

 

It's the first DaVE PPV of November 1997, and the Darkness Warriors have their titles back – and they're keen to keep it that way, but they've potentially got problems.

 

Nobody knows who's coming out to face them. The card is almost entirely unspecified in the solicits; the thing that they're relying on to sell first views has been widely advertised, a half-hour iron man contest between Monty Walker and Dan Stone Junior.

 

The match that triggers the rerun buys comes earlier in the show. In the ring are the tag champions, the tag belts, and two tables.

 

Down With The Sickness hits, chorus first, and as the crowd realise what they're hearing and begin to sing along, two new arrivals emerge – at speed.

 

 

The Rebellion is in full swing in DaVE just like that; the Warriors give them hell, but – buoyed up by a crowd still chanting their theme's refrain – Miyamae and Shimedzu are just too much. The battle goes nearly twenty minutes before Jay joins his brother in having a table wrapped around him.

 

“I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen,” Mitch Naess caps the match. “I didn't know how to call some of that. I have my work cut out for me before the new DaVE Tag Team Champions step in the ring again.”

 

 

Cornell shrugs. “Dan did what Eric had done. He got his friends in round him. It wasn't hard to see where things were going. I got to be Dan's friend really, really fast.”

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“Peter,” Sneer says into his office phone, “Peter, I spoke to Black Cobra on the phone today... Well, as a matter of fact, he's in town. Said he might come to the show...

 

“You haven't, Peter.” He smiles. “No. There'd better be a damn good reason before I next sign off on a Loser Leaves Town match. Duane's only just got here... what?

 

“Peter, you haven't even wrestled him... You can't have beaten him. Besides, Steve Flash wants to wrestle you at month's end. He's not been beaten yet. There's money in this.”

 

 

Shane Sneer had other things on his mind. Sam Strong had just turned in a petition to restore Whistler and Liberty, and he was still raising the issue on every episode. He claimed to have raised in excess of one million signatures. As the month ticked to an end, Shane found himself agreeing that they could return... when October began. After all, there'd be nothing for them at the Pay-Per-View, which was already very busy.

 

After the various fox facts airing the previous couple of months, three masked men had arrived in HollyWeird. Led by the enigmatic and voluptuous Vixen, American Fox, Fire Fox, and Night Fox – the Fox Den – had crashed onto the scene, immediately gunning for the Untouchables. Vixen denounced the Untouchables' behaviour to date loudly and repeatedly, and the three talented high-fliers were set to take on Troy Tornado, Untouchables leader Paul Steadyfast, and an unspecified new arrival at Destructive Energy.

 

“These idiots think they're superheroes,” Goldworthy said of them, dismissively, as the three masked men cornered Tornado and hit him with a triple superkick.

 

“You ask me, HollyWeird could use a few more men that brave,” Rhodes shot back. “Give me a superhero over a Peter Valentine any day of the week.”

 

“We're never going to settle this,” Thomas Morgan told Rip in a quiet moment backstage. “You're the great one, no doubt. But I own the trademark on technical wrestling. We could battle forever, but we both have careers to get on with.”

 

Chord's head snapped up when he heard that line. Mouth set in a cruel smirk, he said “Alright, kid. One last time, for all the marbles.”

 

“Bryan, Larry, come in,” Sneer welcomed the Tag Team Champions, the Tuesday before Destructive Energy. “It's about Sunday.”

 

The two looked at one another. “What about it?” Larry asked.

 

“I've got you pencilled in for the main event,” he told them. “Homicide won't wrestle.”

 

“What?” Bryan blurted. “Why not?”

 

“Says he expects a great revelation. Refuses to be tied up. He wrestled the Cowboy earlier this month, he's got the right. And besides, I'm not gonna argue with him. Man creeps me out.”

 

“Any way you slice it, main event money is main event money,” Larry summarised. “Thanks, Shane.”

 

“Don't thank me yet.”

 

The brothers exchanged glances. “Here it comes,” Bryan said. Larry nodded.

 

“You can hold your own, but the Specialists aren't huge names. So I'm adding another team.”

 

“Only one team has the kind of impact right now to jump in like that.”

 

Sneer nodded. “The Streets brothers are in.”

 

The Vesseys looked at one another, then nodded in turn. “We can take them.”

 

“Good. I don't want those b*****ds near our titles, whatever our owner thinks. Get me?”

 

“We'll teach 'em a lesson. Count on it.”

 

“You and I, brother, when it comes to it, we have defined what it is to be the best. The strongest. The winners. America, Japan, your own home ground, brother – it's been you and it's been me who've conquered.

 

“And I guess, when it comes down to it, you're going to have to learn something again, and you're going to have to learn that you cannot break the heart of the ultimate hero.”

 

“Ya know, Sam, Bruce likes ya. Bruce's always liked ya. An' Bruce only used ta smash ya outta respect.

 

“Ya know that. Bruce knows ya know that.

 

“But Sam, ya gotta learn ta know when ya done.

 

“An' this time, Bruce is gonna have ta smash ya til it sinks in.

 

“Or ya could just not show up.”

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