Barbed Wire Ladder Match - GHW World Title

[Martin Prince//Winthorp D.]

As the ring is cleared of any obstacles from the previous match, Charlie Coors stands in the center of the ring with a microphone in his hand and a smile on his face, Code Blue's main event is merely a few moments away from commencing. On either side of the ring on the outside are two fifteen feet ladders, the bare steel is wrapped in barbed wire and left standing high in front of the audience. Coors taps his microphone twice to gain the attention of the crowd and then raises it up to his lips, the fans cheering momentarily.

Charlie Coors
"Ladies and Gentlemen in Springfield, Missouri. We are now at that time again where we've reached the Main Event for tonight's show. This match is scheduled for one fall and it is for the Gods and Heretics Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship. This match is a Barbed Wire Ladder match, where two steel ladders are placed outside of the ring and wrapped in barbed wire. The only way to win this match is to grab that title hanging high above the ring and unhooking it from above. Now introducing the first competitor for tonight's match up.."

The Cooper Sports Complex is filled with the orchestral chanting of a choir, the sound reverberating throughout the entire arena. The chanting continues for twenty seconds more before cutting the the heavy guitar riff, melodic keyboard line and slow drumming intro of "Nymphetamine" by Cradle of Filth. The fans are driven into a frenzy of cheers as the stage begins to fill up with smoke through the ventilation shafts near the entrance. The camera is focused upon the crowd, several holding signs in support for the challenger and previous title holder, while others wear their Skull t-shirts in support for the champion.

"Laid to the river
Midsummer, I waved
A "V" of black swans
On with hope to the grave
And though Red September
With skies fire-paved
I begged you appear
Like a thorn for the holy ones

Cold was my soul
Untold was the pain
I faced when you left me
A rose in the rain....
So I swore to the razor
That never, enchained
Would your dark nails of faith
Be pushed through my veins again"

The black curtains are pushed to the side as a somewhat tall figure steps out from behind them, the lights on stage coming to life with a flashing violet and the light reflects upon the figure to reveal Winthorp Darkrites. The Italian Goth stands dominantly in his entirely black attire, consisting of the tights, boots, kneepads and trench coat. The face paint remains consistent with the same emotionless look as The Goth stares deeply into the arena, noting all of his surroundings as well as the two ladders stationed outside of the ring. The Goth begins his walk down the steel aisle that leads to the ring, the fans holding their arms out for high-fives as Winthorp delivers them.

"Bared on your tomb
I'm a prayer for your loneliness
And would you ever soon
Come above onto me?
For once upon a time
On the binds of your loneliness
I could always find the slot for your sacred key

Six feet deep is the incision
In my heart, that barless prison
Discoulours all with tunnel vision"

Colin Jennings
"Winthorp looks to be in peak physical condition here Al. Do you suspect that the loss of his GHW World Heavyweight Championship is the reason for this?"

Big Al
"I couldn't give a rats ass honestly Colin, if it IS the reason, well then you know damn well that Winthorp is simply a lazy champion. It proves to us all that it takes a loss for him to realise it's time to shape up, otherwise he'll end up at the bottom of the card just the way he started out. He's pretty damn lucky that Trickshot isn't around anyway to beat him into a submissional hold."

Winthorp stops at the end of the ramp, his eyes blank as he looks at Charlie Coors, who raises the microphone up to introduce him.

Charlie Coors
"Introducing the challenger, from Milan, Italy. He weighs in tonight's bout at 236 pounds. He is the former GHW World Heavyweight Champion, The Italian Gothic Superstar.. Winthorp Darkrites!"

Winthorp nods his head at Coors as he slides into the ring, the fans cheering his name as he walks over to the corner post and takes his trench coat off slowly. The Goth places the coat upon the top turnbuckle and turns back to the center in the direction of Charlie Coors, swinging his arms to stretch them out as he awaits the person who is holding his title.

TBC: Skull

[Skull]

gahwo.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=rpcontracts&thread=8810&page=1

As the Italian Goth finishes up his stretches, the noise from the crowd begins to die down until it is nothing more than the quiet buzz of chatter and the occasional air horn. As they wait for the champion to make his appearance, the production team give the cameraman his cue to pan around the arena to catch a glimpse of the capacity crowd in the The Cooper Sports Complex. As the camera orbits the arena, it highlights a mixed bag of the sellout crowd including a few of the former champ's noticably peaky-looking fans as well as some of Skull's grungy, dirty-looking fans along with many local fans sporting Springfield Cardinals hats in support of their local team. As soon as they notice themselves on the titantron, they each start to wave frantically, enjoying their five minutes of fame until their faces are replaced by the phrase 'It Came From Hell' on bold, blood-red, dripping blood red letters. The letters slowly drip off the screen as the shrill, high pitched laugh of “Sweet Dreams” by Probot echoes around the arena accompanied by highlights of Skull's matches on the screen.

Charlie Coors: And introducing the Champion...

"The Pureblood" steps out onto the stage, with his newly won GHW Championship over shoulder, to mixture of cheers and boos with the majority being the latter. He is wearing his usual gothic inspired ring gear underneath a long, black cloak. His face is hidden behind his long, matted, locks but beneath this he is wearing his signature smirk and dark rings of eyeliner around his cold eyes.

Charlie Coors: From the Depths of Hell, weighing in at 218lbs. He is “The Pureblood” Skull.

Colin: The new GHW Champion; Skull who won that title just five days ago but he has to defend it already due to Winthorp Darkrites exacting his rematch clause.

Big Al: This is a complete injustice. Skull should be able to rest after winning that title and be able to enjoy the fruits of his hard work but instead he has to put the belt on the line against someone who doesn't deserve it.

Colin: Well for those of you who missed it, lets take you back to this Tuesday and the moment when Skull defeated Winthorp Darkrites to become the new champion.

The live feed is interrupted as a replay of the closing moments of the main event of Tuesday Night Triumph takes centre stage.

While Skull lays dazed against the turnbuckle, we see a bloodied Winthorp Darkrites tearing toward him with his arm raised, ready to deliver a clothesline. At the last moment, however, “The Pureblood” gets out of the way, diving through the ropes to dodge the impact. Now on the apron, he watches as his opponent collides with the turnbuckle pad. Climbing the turnbuckle himself, he grabs the champion by the hair and spins him around so that he is facing into the centre of the ring. From here, “The Pureblood” places his knee into the back of the Italian Goth’s neck then forces all of his weight forward and jumps off of the turnbuckle. Guided by Skull’s knee, Winthorp’s head is driven hard into the canvas, knocking the champion almost senseless.
We hear the cries of announcer Colin Jennings as the exhausted challenger covers the champion to initiate the pinall. “The Bloodline! Skull just hit The Bloodline on the champ. And he’s going for the pin!”

1...

2...

“It’s game over, Fuzz”

3!

The clip fast-forward’s a few minutes as we see Skull standing on the turnbuckle with the GHW title held above his head. Just visible behind him, the bloody former champion is being checked on by the referee. While Skull continues to celebrate, the voice of Charlie Coors can be heard in the background, making the formal announcement. “...And the NEW GHW Heavyweight champion, “The Pureblood” Skull.”

The live feed returns as the champion is now inside the ring, staring daggers at his opponent and mouthing inaudible obscenities in his direction.

Big Al: Skull is clearly not impressed at the prospect of this title defence and I can’t blame him. If he wasn’t such a class act I’m sure he’d refuse to perform here tonight.

Colin: Skull, a class act?! Give me a break. And if he did refuse to compete he’d have the title stripped from him in a heartbeat.

Big Al: This wouldn’t happen if Hawkeye has still around. Now there’s a GM who knew how to look after his superstars.

Colin: Just as long as they didn’t disagree with him and were prepared to do his bidding that is.

TBC by Winthorp Darkrites

[Martin Prince//Winthorp D.]

The bell rings three times and the despised sound reverberates through the Coopers Sports Complex, Winthorp and his opponent moving into the center of the ring towards each other to initiate the tie-up. Winthorp appearing to get the upper-hand due to his size advantage over Skull, but The Pureblood is able to maneuver through the struggle easily due to his experience over Winthorp, kicking him behind the knee and forcing him down onto the knee. Skull manages to get his hand on Winthorp's neck and begins squeezing for the nerve to force a release. The Italian Goth releases and Skull backs away, walking back into a corner and awaiting the former champion to get back up to his feet.

Winthorp slowly gets back up but is knocked back down almost immediately with a clothesline from The Pureblood, Skull runs over to the side and rebounds off of the ropes, heading back to Winthorp and jumping up with a raised leg to hit a legdrop on The Goth's chest.

Big Al
"Skull is just manhandling Winthorp now, it's a wonder how Winthorp managed to hold that title for four months. If I was the General Manager around here, I would've shown these guys who the real champion is."

Colin Jennings
"God, where is there a pin when I need one to deflate that damn ego of yours Al. These two are both technical geniuses and I wouldn't expect nothing but a pure wrestling clinic from both of them."

The Goth is brought back up to his feet forcefully by the Champion, who quickly irish whips him into the ropes. Winthorp rebounds and makes his return trip to Skull but is able to slide under the legs of The Pureblood. Skull turns to face Darkrites but instead finds himself on the receiving end of an elbow to the face, Skull retreats back a few paces but Winthorp continues to stalk him. The Goth eyes the champion greedily as he pursues Skull from the side, taking a hold of The Pureblood's hair and tights and forcing him forward, through the middle rope. Skull is hurled outside of the ring and lands on the padded surface with a soft thud.

The Goth drops to the mat and rolls under the bottom rope, standing near Skull as he makes his way up to his feet slowly. Winthorp takes a quick exchanging glance from Skull to the ladder next to him, but careful intuition leads to Winthorp throwing a right hard right to Skull's cheek. As the right hand makes it impact with the cheek of The Pureblood, Skull is forced to make use of the guard barricade in order to keep himself steady and standing properly. The Goth charges forward in an advancing state but is instead tossed over the top of the barricade and into the crowd, Skull falls to the ground in a recuperative state. Meanwhile on the ground, Winthorp lays on the concrete surface with the pain coursing through his spinal region, around him, the fans looking down upon him with wondrous looks on their faces.

Colin Jennings
"Winthorp goes right into the crowd and out of view from us Al, Skull looks to be in a right state though, able to do that and all."

Big Al
"Skull will retain with no problem, he's the new champion after all."

Both men remain grounded, but after mere moments of silence, they both begin to rise back up to their feet. Winthorp getting up and accidently pushing aside the fans surrounding him and Skull using the ladder steps as leverage, the barbs digging into his hand as he pulls himself up. Winthorp places a leg on top of the barricade and lifts himself back over, Skull waiting on the other side with a hand rested upon the ladder. The two begin brawling almost instantly, each throwing out an even amount of left's and right's at each other and each hit landing upon different spots of the body. Skull however , gets the advantage with a punch to the jaw that stuns The Italian Goth. The Pureblood uses this to his advantage by pushing Winthorp backwards and into the ladder, the barbs that are wrapped around it digging into his back, forcing a scream. Skull takes a running start before jumping up into the air, his feet tucked in slightly before shooting them out into the chest of The Goth. As both feet push into the chest of The Italian Goth, he can feel the barbs dig deeper into his back as he is pushed into it with further force.

Skull takes his time getting back up to his feet as Winthorp screams in agony, his back beginning to bleed in multiple spots after the dropkick. The Pureblood approaches The Goth and stands face-to-face with him, Winthorp able to feel Skull's very breath. Skull stares into the eyes of The Goth maliciously as he speaks to him;

"The Pureblood" Skull
"I've been here longer than you Darkrites. I am the very center of this companies attention. The title that I took from you is what proves it, I am the new age of this company, not you. So I'm gonna savor every moment of this match.. bit.. by bit."

Skull slaps Winthorp across the face and laughs, grabbing him by the hair and dragging him over to the ring. Winthorp is pushed into the ring with Skull following, The Goth trying his best to keep the pain at bay. Skull approaches closer and closer, but is stopped in his tracks with a low-blow by The Goth, who sighs in relief as his opponent drops to the mat with both of his hands cupping his sore testicles. Winthorp shakes his head to remove the stray hair from his field of vision, his face sweaty and his back bleeding.

Colin Jennings
"Winthorp is the first to bleed as Skull forced Winthorp back into that ladder, which is covered up to the very top step in barbed wire."

Big Al
"Which gives us it's name sake, the Barbed Wire Ladder Match. Thank you, Captain Obvious."

Winthorp gets up, despite all the pain he's feeling right now in this moment in the match. He looks at Skull and then looks at his right ankle, his eyes widening in surprise as he remembers the move that he is well known for - The Achilles Tendon Hold.

Winthorp reaches for the ankle and hoists Skull's right leg up against his abdominal area. The Goth bends forward and keeps The Pureblood's leg secured underneath his armpit, placing his left leg down and crossed over Skull's trapped leg. Winthorp then drops back onto the mat with Skull's leg secured and his own leg on top of Skull's chest to keep him pinned down. Skull screams as he feels his ankle being stretched back with Winthorp's most dangerous submission hold ever, attempting to claw at his tights to get him to stop.

Winthorp continues stretching the ankle, laughing maniacally as he can feel the very tendon stretch out in his grip. Skull uses his best effort to claw towards the rope in hope to break the hold, and with the most amazing display of technical ability and power is able to latch onto the bottom rope, the referee running to Winthorp and forcing him to break the hold. Winthorp releases the hold and slides back in a seated position, looking across at Skull, who grasps his ankle in relief. Winthorp bows his head in deep thought as he awaits Skull to stop his whining about his ankle.

Colin Jennings
"Skull is pretty damn lucky, no one is able to escape from the Achilles Tendon Hold without assistance from another superstar involved in the match or by the use of some dirty tactic. But it goes to show that under certain conditions of danger, anyone can free themselves from The Goth's vicious hold."

Big Al
"That, or Winthorp is just a weak submission artist. I mean, considering that fact that he's not even a person to use submission moves at all, he's usually too busy brawling or getting his teeth kicked in to bother training himself to use these moves properly."

Colin Jennings
"Don't be too hard on the guy Al, he's taking in a lot right now. All the pain from the match and the pain from losing the GHW World Title. But anyway, this match still remains as well as the surprises in it."

TBC: Skull.

[Skull]

Winthorp quickly gets back to his feet, not wanting to give the champion a second to recover from the painful submission hold and pulls him up by his hair. Skull struggles to keep a vertical base, favouring his good ankle and trying not to put any weight on the other. This soon becomes one of his smaller concerns, however, as he receives a sharp pain in the midsection due to a kick from the challenger. The kick doubles the champion over and before long he finds his head between the challenger’s legs. Even the most dim-witted fans in the arena know what is about to come next as the Italian Goth lifts Skull up onto his shoulders before slamming him down to the mat hard with a huge Powerbomb. A gasp escapes from the crowd, followed by a cheer for the challenger as Skull’s body hits the canvas with a dull thud.

Colin: The former champ seems to be in complete control of this match, first hitting Skull with that low blow, then by working on Skull’s ankle with the Achilles tendon hold and now with that big powerbomb.

Big Al: And remember, victory can only be obtained by retrieving the title belt, not by disqualification, so that low blow with entirely legal within the context of this match.

With the champion momentarily down, Winthorp rolls out of the ring to retrieve the ladder that he is all too familiar with. Seeing his own blood on the barbs as he slides the ladder into the ring spurs the Goth on even further in his goal to win back the World Title. He climbs into the ring and picks up the ladder, being careful to avoid the barbs as best he can, but rather than setting the ladder up in the centre of the ring, he walks over to the turnbuckle with it. Once there he turns the ladder on its side and wedges it between the top and middle ropes each side of the turnbuckle. As he painstakingly positions the ladder in place, one again avoiding the barbed wire, the champion slowly gets back up to his feet, still limping slightly on his weakened ankle. Seeing his opponent with his back turned Skull charges across the ring to the Goth with evil intentions in mind. The challenger anticipates this and just a Skull is within range he turns around, ready. Unable to stop, Skull no choice but to run straight into a back body drop from the former champ that deposits him in the centre of the barbed wire ladder, to great applause from the crowd.

Big Al: Skull with his first taste of the barbed wire and now both competitors are one a piece.

Colin: I just hope it doesn’t cause any lasting damage.

Skull cries out in pain as the unforgiving barbs dig into his back, just as they had to Winthorp Darkrites earlier on in the match. Watching Skull writhe in pain bring back bad memories for the challenger who’s back in still bleeding from its date with the barbed wire ladder. Because of this he decides to inflict more damage just like Skull did with his dropkick, rather than go for the title with the other ladder.
As Skull continues to lay there incapacitated, Winthorp climbs on top of the ladder too, stomping on the barbed wire to flatten it down and allow himself a safe place to stand. Once steady, he roughly pulls Skull up to his feet, causing the barbed wire to rip at the champion’s skin as he is pulled out of it. As soon as Skull is up to his feet the two Fighty fighty persons begin trading punches; something which is made more difficult by the unsteady footing on the ladder and the barbed wire catching their feet whenever they move them. Eventually, Winthorp gets the advantage, due to his superior strength, when a hard fist to the jaw sends Skull sprawling. The champion reaches out his hand and finds the ring post to keep his balance and stop himself from falling.
Winthorp continues to lay in the punches, eventually knocking Skull off the ladder and into a sitting position on top of the turnbuckle. Stepping off the treacherous ladder himself, Winthorp joins Skull on the turnbuckle, placing his feet on the top rope each side of the turnbuckle, all the while continuing to pummel Skull with punches.
After a few more punches to the champion, Winthorp looks behind him at the ladder and a sick smile spreads across his face.

Big Al: I think I know what he thinking, Fuzz.

Colin: He wouldn’t. Surely, he wouldn’t.

Just as Al suspected, the Italian Goth puts the dazed champion in a front facelock and grabs hold of his pants in preparation for a superplex onto the ladder. Skull isn’t ready to be put away just yet, though, and escapes from the move with a punch to the solar plexus. As Darkrites breaks his grip, Skull acts on instinct and pushes the Italian Goth as hard as he can off of the turnbuckle in a move of desperation. The shove catches the challenger by surprise, causing him to fall off the turnbuckle. He never reaches the ground, however, as his fall is broken by the waiting arms of the barbed wire hugged ladder. As the barbed wire rips at the Goth’s back for a second time, another gasp escapes from the crowd, followed by boos directed at the hated champ.
This time it is Skull’s turn for evil intentions and the camera focuses in on his face as The Pureblood’s trademark smirk spreads across it. With his opponent ensnared in the painful embrace of the barbed wire, the champion decides to go back to his high flying roots. He pivots 180 degrees on the turnbuckle so that he is facing away from the challenger, the jumps off, executing a backflip through the air before landing across the chest of Winthorp Darkrites with a Moonsault. The force of the impact from the 218lbs of the champion landing on top of him drive the razor sharp barbs even deeper into the open wounds of the back of the Goth, making cry out in pain.

Colin: Skull doing what he does best with that high impact, high-risk manoeuvre.

Big Al: High risk but high reward and right now Darkrites is doing an excellent impression of a pin cushion. Y’know some people pay for that kinda thing, Fuzz. You interested?

Colin: No thanks, Al.

Big Al: Hey, no one had better give him drink.

Colin: Fine, I’ll bite. Why not?

Big Al: Or it’ll come out through the holes like in cartoons. HAHA!

Colin: I’m glad to see you respect these Fighty fighty persons for the risks they’ve taken tonight. Skull may be ontop of Winthorp at the moment but he’ll have to get him off of that suspended ladder and into the ring before he can pin him.

As Winthorp lays in agony on the ladder, Skull rolls off of him and off of the ladder, landing with a thud in the ring. Both Fighty fighty persons remain still for a moment, each nearing exhaustion but each with a lot of fight still in them.

TBC by WD