‘Can you work 300 shows a year for six years non-stop?’
Of course, anything for this business.
‘Thanks, kid. I’ll owe you one.’
You’re welcome.
‘I know you’re working injured, and you need time off... but can you work this show anyway? I’ll owe you one. We can’t afford to have Drayden off the card.’
No problem, boss.
What a terrible decision. Drayden should have known that the end was near, and that working that beat up, that constantly, was a bad decision. That was why he’d pulled off of the live shows, aside from the rare show at MSG, or a special event overseas. For the most part, if it wasn’t on TV, he wasn’t there. And that was fine, they did good numbers anyway. Drayden was on his latest run as the champion when he’d worked the match a few nights before against Caiden Winters, a man Drayden had only wrestled once before then; but it’d been a barnburner, where Drayden had put him over clean, building a new star.
Almost two years later, they’d clashed again, at Judgment Day — four days ago, for the title. It’d been another 4.75 star match, where Drayden had to use a Burning Hammer after nearly four years since the last time he’d had to use it, to retire a legend. Drayden had gotten the pin, but unfortunately something had happened during the match:
Drayden’s knee had blown out, from the sheer weight of carrying the company over and over again, working endless shows, matches, special appearances… now he could barely walk, he needed his knee surgically repaired, and he had to go out to the fans and tell them that he was going away. To disappoint them. Torn ACL. Torn MCL. Torn medial meniscus.
Crutches. He was on crutches.
Drayden looked up from the title that he had laying on the floor by his feet, and over at his girlfriend, who was in their private dressing room with him. Yes, being him had perks. The private jet anywhere he wanted, a private bus, a private dressing room in every arena, on the better side of eight figures a year… he had earned this.
So had Barbie, but her job included a lot less hard… work. There was something hard involved.
Drayden let out a long sigh, before finally speaking and breaking the silence that had seemed eternal. “Maybe I should just work through the knee. I bet I can. I don’t want to surrender the title, what a fucking joke.” He said, growling out the last word as he grabbed the Gatorade he’d been drinking at, and threw it against the wall, watching it explode; explode like his head was right now.
Barbie took a step back and frowned at the colorful liquid that now stained and dripped down the wall. Fiery tempers were something the star couple had in common. The curvy blonde looked to her boyfriend now, her face softened and the frown drifted away. “No, baby. You can’t do that,” she took a few strides towards him to close the distance between them and smirked, “Wouldn’t be much fun fo’ me if you were on crutches forever. Let’s leave the sexy cane shtick to Doctuh House.” Barbie ran her fingers through his hair and scratched gently at his scalp with her perfectly manicured nails.
“Six months. Six entire months.” That seemed like an eternity, and to Drayden and his fans, it might as well be. Did absence truly make the heart grow fonder? Maybe. This would be, to the man, the ultimate test of that. What was he even going to do with himself for six months? “I don’t suppose you want to take six months off with me?” Hey, maybe baby doll would want a vacation. “At least I can power through physical therapy. Maybe I can make six months into four.”
Six months was a long time, they were in agreement there. “I know, it’s a long time…” Barbara said softly and straddled herself over his lap as he sat, careful to avoid his knee. She stroked his cheeks and then put her arms around his neck before speaking again. “Maybe I could take a few weeks off with you… but not the whole six months. I gotta make sure they remember us.” Crowds were fickle and quick to forget about things that weren’t constantly shoved in their face with bright, flashing lights. Being visible was being relevant, and if there was one thing “Barbie Summers” was good at in the ring, it was getting people talking - albeit not always in the best ways. Barbie kissed the tip of Drayden’s nose and smiled warmly “Because we ain’t going anywhere, right?”
Of course they weren’t going anywhere, Drayden wanted nothing more than to go out there each and every night and show the fans who the best in the world really was. But, he probably wouldn’t be able to do that; he’d already cut his workload down to about half, and would probably cut it back more after this, but who knew? At least this girl was his. She had a… way to go about cheering him up that was almost always successful. “No. I’m gonna come back better than ever.” Hopefully to a huge crowd reaction. “I’m sure that Roddy has a plan to keep me on people’s mind. He hasn’t replaced me quite yet, so I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. That’ll come, but not now. I got a lot left in the tank.”
They were an AWE power couple - some would even argue that they were the current monarchy of professional wrestling: a true king, and his queen. Barbie snuggled close against against the reigning champion. “Oh yeah?” she said before her lips curled into a minxy grin. “How much have got left in your,” a dainty hand trailed down his chest and settled to stroke and then grip her man with unmistakable intent, “...tank?” She bit her lower lip and compressed a giggle through her nose.
At least everything still worked properly. It could be worse; he could be out of action, and out of action. But, he was just down one leg; he still had two. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” He said lightly, winking at his queen. At least this would do a little to lighten his mood, maybe put a smile on his face before he walked out to face the music. Making a bit of a face, Drayden added, “you’re gonna have to do all the work. I can barely walk.”
“It’ll be my pleasure.” The blonde purred against his neck, peppering the skin with nibbly kisses. Things would go more smoothly with her taking the lead, Tay gets so spun in a tizzy when she messes up her hair or makeup before going out in front of the crowd. She would make sure that she didn’t do that again, at least not today. Her crystalline blue eyes glanced at the clock on the dressing room wall - they had about ten minutes before anyone came a-knocking on the door. Plenty of time.
“You can do this, and you will do it. And I’ll be right there at the end of that walkway when it’s all over.” Barbie said comfortingly, her voice was still a little raspy and her Louisiana accent was thick. Her words always took on a more loose, southern lilt when she was speaking casually. Of course, she would walk her boyfriend out to the ring and then wait backstage for him while he did what he had to do. “We should get you dressed--” she said without even looking at the clock for confirmation. As if on cue, there was a knock at the dressing room door. Barbie went rigid and scrambled up from her knees quickly, snickering like a caught schoolgirl. “Just a minute~” she called out toward the door before helping Drayden get decent again.
Sure, he was in a better mood now, but he wasn’t
ready to do this. Drayden stood in the gorilla position, staring at the curtain… the crowd was ravenous to see the star, who had promised he would be opening the show with a huge announcement relating to his match from the weekend. Were he and Caiden going to have a rematch tonight? Something bigger than that? Nobody but Drayden knew, and that was where the hype came from!
Drayden looked at one of the monitors nearby, displaying the camera as it panned over the crowd, as energetic as always. The show’s
themesong blared over the speakers, and the camera panned to the commentary desk, where Wade Palmer was bouncing his head to the heavy bass riff as it faded away, and the crowd in attendance were left to their devices, screaming and cheering as Wade spoke into the headset to crowd back home.
“Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages…. welcome to AWE Shock n’ Awe, the longest running weekly episodic television show in history. We are coming at you live from Chicago, Illinois, surrounded by thousands of the most passionate wrestling fans in the world, who are just as amped as you to hear what Drayden has to say after his legendary title defense against Caiden Winters at Judgement Day, a match which will be looked on in the years that follow as a classic one, ending when Drayden broke out a move that hasn’t seen the light of day since 2007, when Drayden used it to retire the legendary Blaze Pierson: a burning hammer.” Wade paused for a moment and smiled into the camera, winking his left eye at it.
“Of course, I can confidently say that not a single one of you are more excited to hear what he has to say than me.”Drayden’s music hit and the crowd naturally went nuts. Not only was this the MAN, this was their hometown hero. It was deafening and it didn’t die down, even as the music played and Drayden wasn’t there. He couldn’t bring himself to walk out quite yet, he was savoring the sweet, sweet crowd’s cheers one last time before it all went to shit.
Finally, he pushed his way past the curtain… and headed down to the ring, with a crutch underneath his left side, where his leg was injured. Drayden was limping, with the championship belt strapped around his waist. Man, this sucked. The crowd was just staring at him, the cheering ceased for a moment, before they all realized what was about to happen.
‘PLEASE DON’T GO’
‘PLEASE DON’T GO’
Believe me, I don’t want to go.
Drayden grumbled in his thoughts as he climbed up the stair and into the ring, hobbling over to the side of it and reaching out for a folding chair, which was handed to him. Drayden put the chair down in the center of the ring, then went back and reached out for a microphone. Then he sat down in the chair and let himself enjoy the atmosphere just a while longer.
‘PLEASE DON’T GO’
‘PLEASE DON’T GO’
Drayden finally pulled the microphone up to his lips. “Trust me, I don’t want to go anywhere, but all good things must come to an end. Unfortunately, it’s time for me to take a step back and get some rest. I was informed on Sunday, after my match with Caiden Winters, that I sustained a few… detrimental injuries, and that it was a miracle that my body lasted this long before giving out on me. I’m having surgery tomorrow, and then I’ll be out for… almost a year, they said.” Drayden paused for a second, looking down at the title belt that was now sitting in his lap: his legacy. As he said that he had to be gone, for that long, the crowd couldn’t help themselves: they booed.
“I know believe me, I know. Being gone that long is a joke. But I’ve been doing too much, too fast. I need to slow down and get some rest, unfortunately, or I can never wrestle again.” Drayden paused again, and the crowd cheered, before another… off the wall chant started.
’GET SOME REST’
‘GET SOME REST’
“Now you guys sound like my girlfriend.” Drayden said, and if the place had been deafening with cheers before, the same effect was happening now, though instead of cheers, it was loud and impassioned booing, drowning out almost anyone in the arena’s ability to think. If they loved Drayden, they hated Drayden’s slutty girlfriend who DIDN’T DESERVE IT even more. Barbie was a damn good heel. Drayden cracked a crooked smile, before speaking into the microphone. ”I should have expected that. Now, before I finish up here, I want to make sure that you guys know this isn’t good bye, this is just see you later.”
Drayden looked down at the title in his lap and rapped on it with his knuckles, “time to address this. I don’t know how many fans here in attendance, and how many at home know this but there’s a contractual obligation in all AWE contracts to defend a championship once every thirty days. Due to my injury, I won’t be able to do that. So… As of right now, I’m relinquishing the AWE World Championship.” He said, taking it off of his lap and slowly setting it down on the ground, “but I want whoever holds this next to know that you’re just keeping it warm for me. I’ll be back. And I’ll get my title back.”
’FUCK ‘EM UP, DRAYDEN, FUCK ‘EM UP’
‘FUCK ‘EM UP, DRAYDEN, FUCK ‘EM UP’
Meanwhile, backstage, the head writer of the AWE, one Kevin Harrison, was putting the final touches on the storyboard for the night, which showed the plan so far, barring any immediate changes from Roddy Quinn himself:
Segment 1: Drayden relinquishes title
Commercial break; commentators question what will happen with the title as we come back
Segment 2: Roddy Quinn makes his way to the ring and declares that there will be a championship tournament for the AWE title, starting tonight
Segment 3: Barbie cuts a promo.
Commercial Break, as we come back commentators announce that Barbie will be joining them at the desk for the upcoming tag match
Match 1: Tsunami and Rosado vs Sydney Ellis and Morgana (Tsunami and Rosado over after Morgana abandons Sydney to start something with Barbie, after Sydney loses the 2v1, she attacks Morgana from behind at the desk)
Segment 4: Backstage interview with Razorblade before his match with Joy Ryder
Commercial Break
Match 2: Chaos Clayton vs Razorblade (Clayton goes over)
Segment 5: Backstage interview with Chaos Clayton with Joy Ryder
Commercial Break
Main Event: Caiden Winters vs Zachary Wake (Zachary over via some form of cheating)
And beneath the storyboard, a piece of paper is pinned with a thumb tack, detailing the upcoming
tournament’s brackets, along with a note scrawled in Kevin’s unmistakeable handwriting:
‘If there is any confusion with the segment list, see me in my office. Thanks!’
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