One last shot at Glory and Honor

[Hayden]

With the match card drawing nearer to a close and only the main event Tag Title match left in the evening, the crowd are pumped and ready for action. One week removed from Dawn of Destruction and the dust still settling from the controversy and belts changing hands sees GHW setting its sights onto the horizon.

"Ladies and gentlemen. The following is tonight's Main Event and is for the GHW Tag Team Titles..."

Charlie Coors's pregnant pause is met with a roar of approval from the capacity crowd. However, before he can introduce the contestants, he is interrupted by an unexpected, yet familiar sound.



CKY's 96 Quite Bitter Beings blasts its way out of the arena's speakers, taking all in the arena by surprise. Looking around with a puzzled look on his face, Coors doesn't quite know what to make of the interruption.

"Come on guys in the production truck. Somebody surfing through GHW Vintage videos on GHW.com again? This is highly unprofessional."[/i]

"Wait a second Fuzz... Is that...?[/i]

A silhouette of a figure is seen standing in front of the GHW backdrop, just inside the entrance curtain to the arena. The shadowy outline reaches up towards his head, tipping aviator sunglasses up from his eyes onto the top of his head. Hayden HardKore steps into the light of the arena, the stunned crowd reacting with a standing ovation and matching roaring chant. The most decorated man in GHW history takes the time to wave at each side of the entrance stage before heading to the ring, shaking hands with fans on either side of the entrance ramp.

"Hayden HardKore hasn't been seen in a very, very long time. He was champion one minute, gone without an explanation the next. Injury, retirement, rehab... All ideas and theories that were thrown around. So...why the hell come back now?[/i]

Hayden takes the steps to the ring, before requesting a microphone from ringside. He flashes a smile at the stage hand who retrieves it for him, a spark in his eye that only being in front of his fans can give him. Wasting no time, the GHW Legend addresses the masses.

"My people... God I have missed this feeling. I wish I could come out here and say that I will be around forever, but it is no secret that Hayden HardKore is in the twilight of his career and I have been for some time now.

First off, let me apologize for my lengthy absence. This business has been good to me, but as one gets older, the body just does not hold up as it should. Recovery time slows down, injuries and soreness take over. For somebody with my style of wrestling and my commitment to giving my damn all, every time I step foot between these ropes, I could not do it at 70 percent.

I have been battling a lower back injury for the past year or so, suffered at the hands of Jake Diamond. This explains my revolving door type of presence here sever since that night. I thought I had it under control, but then came Nexus... and the King of the Deathmatch tournament, and my subsequent title reign. Short turnarounds, brutal matches and an injury plaguing me in the background. My body is falling apart, knees, shoulders, this freaking back and a doctor that tells me 'strictly, no more'.[/i]

Hayden lets his speech sink in and the stunned silence fill the arena before continuing. The usually loud air is tense, awkward. Hayden smiles a cheeky smile and raises the mike once more.

"So, naturally, I am ignoring the doctors strict orders and stepping back in between the ropes... sort of.

You see, I am retiring for good, forever, no more comebacks. But I simply cannot end things like this. I have done too much in this business over the years and you have all given too much to me as well. We both deserve more than a speech and then me riding off into the sunset. Only one thing comes to mind.

One match, the final hurrah, the last throw of the dice. The one match that I have lusted after for all these years. The one man that I have never fought. The one match up that GHW has asked for time and time again, but the cards have never fallen into place... until the very end.

You see, I have always come out to this ring to be one thing... the very best Fighty fighty person in GHW history, the top of the heap. So far, I have done just that. I have won more titles than any man is ever going to around this place. I have simultaneously held all major title belts, and held them from all comers. I have done more in this place than any person in the history of GHW, but one man stands between me and eternal greatness. One name has always come to the forefront of peoples minds when you mention the word greatness, a man that I have always feared to fight just for that reason. One man that can be a fitting end to the hall of fame career of Hayden HardKore.

He needs no introduction, so...

Without so much as an introduction for the man that he has been going on about, Hayden beckons towards the entrance way and waits patiently for the man to arrive.

TBC by they know who

[Vladimir T. Strife]

Another familiar tune begins to play throughout the arena. A sound from the days of Gods and Heretics, where it had summoned the tyrant who had stood above the ranks, oppressing even the most talented of stars under the weight of his legacy.

((It doesn't show right with the time set. Actual song begins about 1min, 56 sec))


Everything begins to dim, save a few spotlights highlighting the entrance that reveals the infamous Judas of GHW as he steps out amid the sounds of 'The New Black'. The fans burst into pandemonium again, treated for the second time within a short span to the return of some of the business's biggest legends. The scowl across the face of the GodKing is as timeless as his wardrobe. The charcoal pants, boots, fingerless gloves and denim trenchcoat limiting the colors of the famed fighter down to the dark blue of his long-sleeved shirt and the sharp hazel gaze that rests on the Kiwi in the squared circle. He raises his fists high into the air, shifting his sights up to his left hand before raising up the middle finger and then turning to the right to repeat the gesture. Despite the usual connotation, that audience goes into a further uproar, eating up the antics of the man who'd once paraded about as the Superhero 'Fuck You Man'.

"I don't believe it!! Vladimir Strife!!! Vladimir Strife has returned!!"
"Oh... my... god... Hayden Hardkore and Vladimir Strife!? I'm honestly not even sure if these men have ever shared a ring before! This is history in the making!"

Making his way down toward the ring one step at a time, the holder of the longest title reign in GHW history begins reaching out to the stretched palms of the eager audience, tagging them one by one as he takes his time. When the soles of his boots finally come down across the black padding at the ringside, he makes his way over to the steel steps leading up to the turnpost and ascends them to the apron before stepping in through the top two ropes. Almost as soon as he's crossed the threshold into the ring, Charlie Coors greets Vladimir with a microphone, handing it off before making his way out of the ring. If these two men began to get physical, he had no plans for being stuck in there with them.

His music fading in the background, the Romanian Scourge raises the microphone to his mouth and takes a deep breath, looking around at all of the people gathered in attendance tonight.

"Hayden Hardkore... Just... wow.."

Vladimir is clearly deep at though, his brain mulling away at the implications of this moment. He takes a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing.

"You see, back in my heyday, this right here would be the moment that I would give a real sinister grin to tell my opponent that they were essentially fucked and that I was going to enjoy every minute I would spend in the ring with them tearing them down. And maybe, if I had heat with them, I'd just go right ahead and jump the gun then and there. Somewhere between the toll this business has taken on my body, the ways in which I matured, and a bit of being star-stricken, I stand here tonight with a bit more humility."

"I know most of these people don't understand what this means with relation to where it began, so, in place of the insults or fighting, let me tell a little story here."

"Many years ago, when I was still rather new to this business, I was a member of a company called SCW - a name all but lost to time at this point. We eeked out a humble existence, managing enough sales to keep the doors open, even if only just. Then the orders came down from management one day that it was being considered that we merge with another company. Together, the two would finally have the talent and resources to not only make ends meet, but to possibly flourish. It was difficult... we were losing a piece of who we were, but there was no other choice. Without better financial backing, SCW would have failed and without more stars willing to work hard for cheap, the other company would have. That company was GHW.."

"As is only natural when once segregated populations are brought together, a rivalry ensued. Each company wanted to prove that they were the better one, the more talented one. While many SCW stars rushed over to our new home, I took my time. I waited, refusing to give the fans anything less than my all, even if the title I held would be meaningless in just a few short weeks."

Vladimir begins to pace, his feet roaming instinctively as his mind strolls down memory lane.

"I held out for a while, but those who didn't brought back with them each week talks of this strange new land. They would tell me about the various stars throughout GHW, assuring me that a good majority of them would be little more than fodder to me. Of all the names and stories they brought back with them though, only one mattered to me. A yet undefeated foreigner with a bit of a knack for the hardcore. He was, in every right, GHW's version of myself."

"KingBear, who had hoped like many others to establish SCW's dominance, called me his secret weapon. He was a wise man who had the ability to really see the extent of a person. He could work with you for a week and knew if you were going to be a legend or a nobody. He saw something in me that made him giddy with excitement. A part of him knew what I was capable of, what I would become, long before I ever would have even believed it. He came to me and told me that he was in charge of setting up matches and thought it would be best for me to debut at the upcoming pay per view. He told me to tell him who I wanted to face and he would work to make it happen. I told him that I had this feeling about Hayden.. that it would be the best match and as Hayden was the only GHW star that was undefeated like me and clearly the cream of the crop, KingBear agreed with me."


"Yet, just a few short weeks before that pay per view, the unthinkable happened. Hayden had been defeated. A martial artist named Tai Nai O Neil had bested him. Considering the implication of this, KingBear quickly changed things, debuting me against a man who had just made his name ending an undefeated streak. And I demolished him.. I slaughtered Tai Nai in what was probably the most gruesome, bloody, and disturbing match to have happened within GHW at that point. The unspoken rivalry persisted until the next month when SCW nearly swept all championship matches at a pay per view in which I became the first King of the Deathmatch champion."

"Glory had taken hold of me like a plague. It was inescapable. Once I had beaten 5 other men in a single night in what is still one of the most over the top and insane matches I've been in, the company was abuzz about the 10-0 hardcore champion that people loved to hate. With every win, the fabled streak carried me further into the annals of this company, further cementing my status as a legend. My name quickly and near effortlessly surpassed that of the man I had considered as my GHW equal. Still, I watched his career, almost like a stalker, my mind insatiable to see the path of a man who was, for all intents and purposes, in the precise same place as me at one point. I watched as he and Amanda grew closer and closer, their love story known to all in those days, until one day they went their separate ways. I watched him cater to the fans, happy and smiling, every week and wholesome. Hayden became this warning to me of what my career could have become if I had allowed myself to slack or held any mercy toward my enemies."

Vladimir stops walking around and looks at the man he shares the ring with once more.

"But I always wondered what if.. And then, when I left this place for a new kingdom and word reached me that Hayden was flourishing.. I couldn't help but wonder again if I truly was the best... wonder how things would have gone if it had been you instead of O Neil that night. Would I have beaten you to a pulp as well? Would you have never mounted a full return like him? Or would GHW have been free from all the concerns about who won how many? And I'll never know the answer to those questions.. but we can find out once and for all who would win here in the final chapters of our legacies."

The most infamous man in GHW's history steps in toward it's most decorated until only a couple of feet separate them.

"Hayden... if you wanted to face me.. all you ever had to do was ask."

With that, Vladimir holds out his hand toward him in a sign of respect.

((TBC if Hayden wants to. If not, they shook hands and the end))

[Hayden]

Hayden looks at the hand extended before him, then into the eyes of his opponent. The pair look at each other for a moment, holding a look of stern unidentifiability. Before long, Hayden cracks into a trademark smile and takes the hand extended toward him. The pair shake firmly and respectfully,.

"That's just the thing Vlad. Up till now, I have never wanted to face you. I know facing you means the hardest, bloodiest, most brutal match of my career. Facing you means I have got to be able to throw caution to the wind and leave nothing within me. Up till now, there has always been something to lose.

Now, neither of us have anything to lose. That is dangerous, because we will both be ready to do whatever it takes. Don' t hold back Vlad, I sure as hell won't[/i]

The pair drop microphones and exchange some unheard words as Vlad's theme plays them out of the arena.

EOT

[Psychotic Circus]

Looks like the next PPV is going to be a goodin'.