Post by The Lad on Apr 18, 2024 22:36:47 GMT -6
STARS ABOVE
EWC has provided Lad a lot more to life. Through it, he ascertained financial freedom. He carried the legacy of the Television Championship well with six defenses. There were mumblings of him being the Rookie of the Year already. A match against the United States Champion, either Cosmo Goldsworthy or Lavender, lingered on the horizon. Everything has been going his way. Now, he’s making his PPV debut at the grandest event in EWC, Stranglemania. Even crazier was him making another trip overseas to London, a place he only vaguely knew about from school.
[🔴]
Manny chronicled Lad’s venture throughout London thus far. Some of the highlights were Lad politely trying not to gag when he tried blood sausage. A few fans tried to convince Lad to root for Man Utd. Sadly, He’s a Wolves boy at his core. His journey came to an end as he made his way about an hour away from Wembley, the equally legendary venue for Stranglemania. He had rented out the Peter Harrison Planetarium for filming. He was lucky to know that someone there was a fan. Or perhaps the large promotional signs around Wembley were what clued them in.
Lad took a seat in the middle of the inside theatre, resting his Television Championship on his lap. “I gotta say that I got used to defending my Television Championship,” he started. “I’ve faced some stiff competition so far. Every match I’ve been in has been the new 'hardest one of my life'. Now I stand here in front of the double doors of the Hellevator with no idea who’s going to be waiting on the other side. There’s no kind of prep work for this. I just gotta go in blind and ready for anything.”
“The Hellevator doesn’t involve the one-on-one matches that I’m, uh, accustomed to. It’s me against eleven other people while heading up an elevator. It’s got some EWC Rumble flavor mixed in with some deathmatch elements. Riding in an elevator is the only experience I got for this,” Lad chuckled. “But if I backed down from this challenge, no matter how wild it is, then how can I say that I’m the fighting champ that I’ve said I was going to try to be?”
“And that’s just it. I’m not the only undefeated person coming in this. Paramount’s holding that stat down with Apollo and myself. But nobody else’s a champion.” Lad stared down at the championship on his lap. He rubbed his hand against it with a small smile. “I’m the only champ here, and I’m not dumb. I know I’m the biggest target now. It doesn’t help that three people I defended against are also here.”
“Aside from Dalilah Ashe, Rick Rampage, and Caleb Scott, I promised Bruce Booth a title shot if he eliminated me,” Lad paused. “That said, I should let it be known.”
“To all the ex-champs: Rhodes, Tsutsumi, Winterborn the Cheek Kisser.”
“To all the hungry ass people that I haven’t met before: ZERO, Divewire, and Paige.”
Lad held up the Television Championship, cradling it as some classic wrestlers would. “If any of y’all can throw me out, I’ll give you the title shot I promised Booth. I might be shooting myself in the foot, but I like to think I’m a fair man.”
“Just don’t come at your boy, thinking I’m here to lose.”
Lad lowered the title, adjusting in his seat. He seemed…fidgety. “It might be cool to be everybody’s target. Fighting so many kinds of people can only make me stronger, especially with a walking legend like Narumi in this mess. And doing it in this weird ass stip can only make me wiser.”
The young man let out a nervous sigh. “But winning? I’ll be real with y’all right now. I got no idea how. Like I said, there’s no way to gameplan. I’ve been able to do that with everybody else. It might not have always gone my way. I’ve gotten my ass beat. But being tough and sticking to it is how I stayed undefeated and became the champ I hope M$J and Paramount are proud of.”
“I came to this place because I heard it’s a good place to see the stars. So, while they’re setting it up, I’m going to talk about the woman this is all for.”
Lad’s nervousness melted into a glum smile. “I don’t think I need to introduce y’all to Iggy Swango.”
“I only know here through old footage, but Iggy was something else. She might not have been everyone’s favorite. Some people downright hated her. America’s Most Hated and DSR II definitely had a part in that,” Lad shook his head, bringing forth memories of AMH’s antics throughout their legendary tenure.
“But I got love for her because of who she was at her core. She’s the best sign to be the person you always want to be. Don’t let labels define you. Don’t let anybody take away your shine. Be the star you know you can be,” a small sniffle from the TV champ, “As a stupid kid outta New York, I can get behind that idea. My kind of people don’t know how to do anything else but be themselves.”
“Even at the top of the Hellevator or Wembley, she’s way beyond this place now.”
The Planetarium went dark, but that didn’t last long. Soon enough, the entire room was flush with prismatic colors. The Milky Way Galaxy blanketed everything, including Lad, who looked on with wonder. The staff were searching for one particular part of the infinite cosmos.
“She’s up with all the other stars, definitely brighter than the one behind me. Now I’m not Melody, Dominic, Tao, Jeff, Rory, Dio, or anybody that was close to her. So I ain’t saying she’s my chief motivation for why I’m fighting. Nah, I think that’s, uh,” Lad searched for the word, “facetious.”
The view landed on Polaris, the North Star. “And I can’t lie to the biggest star in the whole damn sky.”
“Ms, Swango, sorry to disturb you,” the champ put aside his championship, “I know you’re probably busy, but can you help a young rookie out?”
Lad reached into his shirt, pulling out his cross. He held it in his hand tight.
“What I’m gonna do is ask you, what would you do in this kinda match?”
“I know you would fight until there’s nothing left like you did against Xavier Reid at Stranglemania XVII. I know I would get rid of the old and come in with the new like you did against Griffin Hawkins so long ago. Or really, I know that no matter what tune you were singing, with or against the fans, you would try to shine brighter than any other star. So there’s my real gameplan right there. Be like you.”
The backdrop moved to show more of the galaxy in all of its terrifying splendor. “People might wanna look down on you because you never reached the top, but I wish I would have gotten to know you. You could have taught me about the cosmos and your kind of music.”
“People say that nothing matters because we’re just specks in the middle of space. We’re going to be forgotten as soon as we die. You didn’t see it that way, did you? If you could, you play your latest album out to the entire universe,” Lad paused. “And people only really die when they’re forgotten. This cup will make sure of that, and I’ll be honored to be the first to win it.”
“I’ll make sure I fight with everything I got, just like you. When I get to the top of the Hellevator and win, I'll be sure you can see the cup. Then I’ll keep being half the star you were.”
The champ took up his title again as the room returned to normal.
“After I win, I plan on inviting Ms. Melody out to give it to her. I think it would mean more to her than it would to me. Who knows, Iggy? Maybe I’ll get her to sing one of your songs, too.”
A reflective pause.
“I usually say this to whoever I’m fighting, but this is for you.”
Lad offered a confident smile.
“I’ll be seeing you one day, Lady Stardust. I just hope you see me win from up there Monday.”
Giving the devil horns to the camera, Lad walked on out, letting Iggy’s final home, the stars, be the last image before everything cuts to black.
[⏹]