The theme plays, pyro shoots into the sky in screaming bursts, the crowd roars. It's that time again – time for SCW!
“Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of SCW!”
The familiar voice of Joey Styles sounds over shots of the cheering and jumping crowd. The camera cuts to a close-up of Styles, seated in his usual position at the commentary booth.
“I am, as always, your play-by-play man, Joey Styles, and what an episode do we have for you tonight! The chairman of SCW, Dude Love himself, is going to deliver what he promises to be a blockbuster announcement! And speaking of announcements, we have a guest at this table tonight!”
The camera pans over to the left, completely passing over Wade Barrett, who is sitting with his arms crossed and looking extremely miffed, and settles on the third man at the table, Justin Gabriel.
“Justin Gabriel, it's a pleasure to have you.”
“The pleasure is all mine, but don't thank me – thank the Lord for giving us this day, this fine day that allowed us all to come together and commentate this show. He is Great.”
“Er, right,” says Styles, as Barrett just sighs and rolls his eyes. He looks down, trying to remember where he was. “Anyway, the chairman is- Oh!”
“Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the chairman of SCW – Dude Love!!”
The crowd cheers as the owner of the company comes shimmying and shaking down the aisle, doling out high fives to the dancing audience members. He is carrying a large black satchel.
“And here he cometh, the one who writes the cheques, the creative genius behind this company, Mr. Dude Love. Coming from the time of love and peace, this man hath but good in his heart, and surely when the Rapture arrives, he will be given a place among the most high!”
“Translation: He's a dirty hippie.”
Gabriel turns towards Barrett, a cold and icy glare etching his face into a mask of rage. Before either man can say anything, Styles butts in.
“A- anyway!” exclaims Styles, laughing nervously. “The chairman's here with his announcement! Let's hear what he has to say, shall we?”
Dude Love stands in the center of the ring, satchel by his side, as his music fades and the crowd cheers. He clears his throat, and grabs a mic.
“WOOOOOOOOOOO!” he calls.
“WOOOOOOOOOO!” the crowd cheers back.
“Now I'm sure you all are wondering what my huge announcement is, dudes and dudettes,”, the Dude continues. The crowd voices its assent. “Well then, I'll make it quick.
Now, I'm sure we can all agree that SCW has the best tag teams in the biz, am I right?"
The crowd whoops approvingly, to acknowledge that he is, indeed, right.
"So such teams should be recognized, right?"
The crowd whoops again. Dude Love flashes a smile and a thumbs up before reaching into the satchel and withdrawing two sparkling gold titles and hoisting them into the air.
"Feast your globes on THESE babies! Woooo!"
The crowd cheers at the sight of the SCW Tag Team Championships.
“Of course, we need ourselves some champions, don't we? That's why I've decided to hold a tag team tournament to crown the first ever SCW Tag Team Champions, culminating at SCW Walk of Fame and starting...right now!”
The crowd cheers as Kung Fu Naki and Jimmy Yang exit from the curtain. Dude Love climbs out of the ring, carrying the satchel and belts with him. He passes Tokyo Beatdown as they sprint down the aisle, giving them a thumbs up as their paths cross.
“Wow! What a development!”
“You've got that right, Styles,” says Barrett, seemingly cured of his previous disgruntled state. “A tag team championship for SCW has been long overdue. It will be interesting to see which competitors will come out on top come Walk of Fame.”
“One must remember not to get caught up too much in the realm of material wealth. One cannot take those championships with them once one passes on. For there is no treasure greater than His love, and all who know the light know this to be true.”
Barrett glares at Gabriel, who takes no notice.
The bell rings.
“The following contest is scheduled for one fall, and is the first round of the Tag Team Tournament! Currently in the ring, weighing in tonight at a combined weight of 396 pounds, they are Kung Fu Naki and Jimmy Yang – Tokyo Beatdown!!”
The crowd cheers as Fu Naki plays to the crowd. Yang just stands in the corner, waiting.
“And here we have two men all the way from the mean streets of Tokyo, Japan. Highly skilled in the martial arts and made tough from their childhoods of scrapping in underground arenas in order to pay their ways to America.”
“Fighting is a sin...They will get theirs come judgment day.”
“But, Gabriel...” Barrett starts to say, but is interrupted by the music of Tokyo Beatdown's opponents.
“And their opponents, weighing in tonight at 450 pounds...Trent Barretta & Caylen Croft - The Dudebusters!!”
The crowd boos loudly as The Dudebusters make their way out of the curtain, high-fiving each other and walking to the ring with purpose.
“The Dudebusters look extremely fired up tonight.”
“As they should be; this is a major opportunity for them. Neither Dudebuster has tasted gold as of yet in SCW.”
“Could it be because they are the personifications of sloth, that sin most deadly?”
“No, I rather think it's because we haven't had a tag team championship for them to win in SCW until now.”
“All right, you two, stop arguing; we have a match going on.”
The bell rings, with Croft and Kung Fu Naki starting us off. Naki strikes a karate pose, hands lifted. The two men circle each other around the ring, neither daring to make the first move until Naki steps forward and brings his leg up in a sharp kick. Croft catches the leg and pushes forward, sending Naki sprawling to the mat. Naki jumps back up immediately and rushes Croft, taking him by surprise and causing him to back into the ropes. Naki smacks Croft's chest with a chop that echoes around the arena.
“Ouch!”
Croft tries to make his way to his corner, but Naki starts throwing kicks at Croft's legs, causing him to stumble. Naki runs to his own corner and tags in Yang, who leaps over the ropes, dives towards Croft's legs, and locks in a brutal-looking submission, hooking the legs and twisting them in a way they were never meant to be twisted.
“Crofty's not going to be playing much Dance Dance Revolution after that.”
Croft is screaming in pain, fighting to get out and tag his partner. The crowd is going wild, screaming for him to tap out, but suddenly Croft manages to roll and kick a foot up, causing Yang to loosen his grip enough to allow him to escape. Croft lunges towards his partner, tagging him in. Barretta steps through the ropes, obviously angry at what Yang did to his partner. Full of rage, Barretta rushes towards Yang and flattens him with a huge clothesline. He picks up his opponent and swings him around, throwing him across the ring!
“How is that even possible?”
“Adrenaline is a wonderful thing.”
“Wrath. That's another sin they're guilty of...”
As the crowd boos loudly, Barretta lifts the prone form of Yang from the mat, and throws him towards Croft, who catches him and holds Yang's arms, preventing escape. Barretta lifts a fist.
“Falcon...
PUNCH!!"
As Barretta screams these words, he draws his arm back and blasts Yang in the face with a vicious punch, knocking Yang out of Croft's arms, sending him crashing to the mat, out cold!
“Oh my God!” squeals Styles.
“Their finishers get more and more ridiculous each week, but if they work...”
Barretta goes for the cover.
“One...Two...Three!!”
The bell rings.
“Here are your winners – The Dudebusters!!”
Croft steps gingerly into the ring, before throwing an arm in the air. Barretta and Croft hug each other as their music plays and the crowd boos. Croft motions for a mic, and Howard Finkel hands him one.
“3 Count!” he says. “You'd better win your match tonight! And when we finally take each other on again, it'll be Game Over for you.”
And they leave the ring. The camera cuts to the commentary booth.
“Some powerful words from the Dudebusters,” says Styles.
“But of course, Styles. The Dudebusters seem to have really gotten their acts together these past few weeks, and they want their rematch.”
“They just may get it. We'll find out later tonight as the Tag Team Tournament continues! And speaking of tag teams, we have a huge main event tonight!”
“Tonight we have a freak and a wannabe-superhero taking on a man stuck in high school and a pirate. I'm not sure 'huge' is really the right word.”
“Of course it is, Barrett. We have some of SCW's top stars in a tag match the week before Walk of Fame! Goldust and The Hurricane vs. Alex Riley and Paul Burchill! It's going to be one for the ages, so be sure to tune into SCW as the night of tag teams continues, next!”
