MD78: Triple X vs. Alex Bowen

[Viola Moonlight]

A dream match has appeared on the Meltdown 78 card as the most recent Elite X champion with a very good win/loss record in Triple X will be taking on the long reigning Mayhem champion of all-time, Alex Bowen. The polar opposites will indeed come out in full force for the match as the King of Hardcore will be looking to teach the straight-edge star a thing or two... but will Alex Bowen be able to compete this week or will a mysterious force target him again?

Deadline: Wednesday, 5th of September (11:59pm Central Time)​

 

[Uncle Phatso]

The scene opens up, and Alex Bowen is standing in front of a large Wzcw banner. Right after aftershock Alex held an open seminar and talk session with the Wzcw fans. Questions, beer cans, and weapons are sure to be thrown at the Wzcw superstar. He's dressed in his Sunday finest, a leather coat and ripped shorts. Bowen could care less about his appearance, but he nervously pulls at his ever growing beard. Trying to straighten some curl, or pull a crumb out from the bagel he just ate. Alex took this gig at the last second, literally just a few hours before it was set to start. But the loyal fans, and just passerby’s have stopped to see Bowen. As of late Bowen has been more focused, wanting to move out of the shadow of his Mayhem past. But most of the fans are here to meet Wzcw's most wretched superstar. The Hills Have Eyes hit, and the former mayhem champ walks out through a cloud of fog. Bowen points out to the fans. He shakes his head as if he is confused.

Alex- What are you all doing here? Get the hell out of here! They're always pushing me to do this crap...

Bowen goes to put down his mic on the ground, the crowd is on fire. Booing, and throwing bottles at the former mayhem champ. But right before he drops the mic he comes back up with a sly smile, and taps his head.

Alex- Gotta be quicker than me guys.

Bowen smiles a huge smile.

Alex- It feels great to be back at this point. How do you guys feel?!

The crowd roars at Bowen's question. Bowen cracks another smile.

Alex- Well I feel fantastic, my name is Alex Bowen and I'm sure you all know by now. This is the beginning of something quite new for me. For the past few months I was a peon, never moving up. Always staying the same, to help someone else gain what I really wanted. I am no longer a mercenary though, no longer up for doing anyone’s work. I am the toughest man in Wzcw, I'm going old school. I'm going to work my way right up to the Wzcw heavyweight title. I've seen a lot of people say that, that they will hold all titles in this company. But that is the goal beyond another goal.

The crowd claps for Bowen.

Alex- My goal is to work past mayhem. To show people that pain can be caused without using weapons. That is my new mission, my goal today though. is to win the Elite x title. To shut everyone up. Last week when I walked through the back everyone kind of treated me different. It wasn't be afraid of Bowen anymore, he's a monster. It was just people looking at me, judging me up like a slice of meat. Let me clear this up kids, you can have all your flippy jump crap. A spike pile driver hurts just as bad as anything you can do.... the End of Days waits for no one.

Bowen puts his hand up to his ear, the almost deafening roar causes Bowen to shake a little bit. For months he was bitter, angry that the fans seemingly left him. But the true feelings in his heart are showing today.

Alex- People look at me and say, you're to old. You can't do half of the things that are being done today. What ever happened to a stiff right hand, and a clothesline? What ever happened to smacking a guys face off the canvas with a DDT. Have any of the think tank geeks ever had that happen to him. I can entertain all of you with what I know best. I don't need to do a shooting star press, or a triple jump moonsault to win you over. I'm sick of hearing no, since my match with Ricky that's all I've heard. Monkey bring out the board!

A crew member dressed in a Wzcw t-shirt wheels out a large wooden board. A faded mask, and face paint reminiscent of a certain person's past are on the board. Bowen points to his old face paint pattern to get a reaction. He winks and cracks a Fonzie finger gesture. Laughing the whole time.

Alex- Yupp, made that all by myself.

Bowen sniffs and wipes away an imaginary tear.

Alex- My art teacher would be proud. But back to reality, last week, outside of being eyeballed like a porterhouse. An old friend decided to stick his nose in my damn business. This isn't the indies anymore captain. You aren't going to scare me, you can't hide behind that mask anymore, you can't do what I did for so many years. You can't hide it all behind the mask or the paint. A coward is what I was, nothing more than afraid. I'm not really sure what I was afraid of anymore. But I know I broke it. I looked myself at myself, repeating yesterday. I knew I had to move off to higher places, so I took all of my courage and pushed off the ground. You will not stop me from reaching that place of immortals. To carve my name in with icons.

Bowen reaches over and rips the mask off the board. He holds it up to his face and looks at it. Shaking his head, he throws it to the ground.

Alex- I know exactly who you are. Always booked higher than me because of your jumps and your mask. Oh we can sell his masks and make some money, herr derr. You're a joke if you think you still matter in this company. Please... come and try and mess up my match. I'll send you packing and earn a degree in dentistry all at the same time.

Bowen walks right up to the camera man, and gets close to the lens. Pointing a finger out at TV land.

Alex- I fear no man... but if you mess up this shot for me. I will end you.

Bowen stops and stands up straight, the crowd watching his every move. He takes a deep breath, and relaxes. Only to almost instantly get amped up again.

Alex- DAMN! Don't you love it when people rant and rave on for fifteen minutes!?

The crowd laughs, and Bowen motions to the back. The same crew member walks out with a mic in hand.

Alex- Questions, who has questions? Lets get you guys involved, it's that time.

Bowen scans over the crowd, hands and signs are all over the crowd. He picks a rather fat fan in the second row.

Fat man- How do you feel about having this tough of an opponent this early into the game? What went through your mind when you saw his name?

Bowen slides a hand down his face, letting out a small moan. Gritting his teeth he answers the question.

Alex- Thank you generic question guy. Been studying Leon Kentsworth lately I see. I guess it was kind of cool seeing his name. I remember his first match in this company, and I remember seeing him in the back after winning his title. I think he really enjoys what he's doing right now. Well maybe not right now, but like I said. Him and Overlast have someone new to look forward to in this division. No one so far has taken that step to go after the gold. I was excited to face Baller, but I'm really feeling good about facing Triple x. Better talent to face can only help me get better. After being at the top of the food chain for so long, I kind of know how he feels. I felt it after I lost my mayhem title. Next question.

A few more fans fill the sea of hands. Bowen picks out a small nerdy girl in the crowd. The crew member walks over to her.

Girl- How do you plan on combating the high flying nature of this division? Admittedly you aren’t the highest flyer in the company. Well when was the last time you did a high risk move off the top rope?

Alex looks at the girl as if he she completely dumb. Blank face and wide eyes.

Alex- Are you kidding me... really... really. Please tell me you are, I impaled a man off a twenty foot plus cage. High risk? That is what I was made for, I think you just made me lose brain cells. I was doing leg drops off the top rope through tables before Triple X was in high school. Please find me someone Mr. Mic. Someone, anyone, I don't care.

The crew man is almost laughing at this point. He finds a younger male, maybe about fifteen in the crowd. Dressed in a white t-shirt with homemade barbed wire inked on it. Fresh from a sharpie, he looks to be having fun.

Young man- Cause pain without weapons? What do you mean by that?

Alex- Have you ever played sports?

Young man- Yeah, I wrestle at my school.

Alex- Good kid, makes this a lot easier. Have you ever got choked out when you were being pinned, or slammed, what about have someone cross face your nose off? That is how I plan on causing more pain without weapons. You can talk about having simple moves. But they are effective. Why set up a top rope move when I can just knee you in the gut, or hop up and punch you in the jaw. I sit back and watch the guys here every week. I see all flash, and show. But no one doing what I do. When they are all winded, and out of moves to use. I'll put them down with an arm bar, or a DDT. Why waist time on all that crap? Lets get one last question in here guys. Mr. Mic, do your magic. That was a good question.

The young man grabs the mic out of the crewman’s hands. The crewman fights for the mic, and waves security over to him. Bowen looks surprised. He calms the situation.

Alex- Let the kid talk, goons get back to the back and let him say what he wants!

Young man- I've watched you growing up my whole life. What did you do after you lost the mayhem title. You aren't Alex Bowen without being hardcore. I don't want you to move on... What did you do when you left Wzcw?

Alex- Kid, I trained. I worked my ass off to get in the shape I am in now. I've said that a hundred times. But I don't know what happened. I just woke up one day and wanted to move on. I've done this for so long. I want to do something new. I trained to still be the King of Mayhem. But I trained to do it with my bare hands. After this show, you'll see that Triple X feels The weight of his sin. He will either say I quit. Or he will never wrestle in this company again.

Bowen drops the mic, and his music hits. The scene fades as Bowen walks to the back.

 

[BK Styles]

High risk.

I am a slave to high-risk.

The call of the top rope; the lure of free-fall. The temptation of high-risk, high reward. It was once my choice, but no more. Now, it is my desire. My addiction. My curse.

Most of my life has centred around doing things people would look upon as stupid. The drugs. The alcohol. Jumping off really high stuff. It's all I've ever known. And I hold my hands up to the fact that it's seen me have mixed results, but just recently my life has finally come good. I'm more at peace than I've been in a long time, I'm having great matches with some of the best superstars in the world, and I've been one of the most dominant champions in recent history.

Until now.

Now, I'm just another superstar. Another body to throw into a random match to fill up a card. Another gimmick to sell a t-shirt. And as much as I'd love to sit here and blame it all on Mick Overlast, that sniveling bastard did what anyone else would. He took advantage.

No, the only person to blame on this is me. I never feel more at home than jumping off the top rope, and yet two matches in a row I've hit the Skyfall on nothing but a hard slab of canvas. Two times in a row my high-risk nature has gotten the better of me. I mean, sure, the fans love it when I go to the top and do something crazy, but if I'm gonna lose titles by pandering...


...are the risks really worth-

-are you even listening to me??

Triple X looked up, barely able to hear the voice, not over his own thoughts, but over the engine of the plane he was in. He looked out of the window; the city below was nothing more than an enlarged 3D atlas. The pilot was staring at him; a curious and almost annoyed look on his face.

We're nearly at the drop-point. Get your stuff ready.

On second thoughts, this is the last place I should be thinking about this. And with my Meltdown debut coming, my opponent deserves the focal point of my mind. Alex Bowen. He's a risk-taker of a different sort. Name a weapon; he's used it. Name something that isn't a weapon; he's used it a lot.As far as challenges go, this is bigger than any I've faced before. And with Bowen's recently announced plans to go hunting for the Elite X title, he's now standing in my way, ready to take my title. I won't allow that to happen.

You ready to do this?

X stood up and slid the goggles over his eyes.

Was born ready.

X walked to the door of the plane and slid it open. Immediately, the plane juddered, and the force of displaced air passing by nearly knocked him over. He steadied himself, looked over for the thumbs-up from the pilot and, once gained, leapt out of the plane at 12,000 feet.

As X entered the fall, he closed his eyes. All his problems; Mick Overlast, the Elite X title, his relationship with his father, all faded away whilst in free-fall. None of those worries could bother him up here. Instead, in his focused state of mind, his attention turned back to Bowen.

Bowen has a reputation of just being a brutal hardcore wrestler. And he is. But he's more than that. He's dangerous, but he doesn't need weapons. There's a reason Piledrivers are banned in most companies, and for the sake of my currently very unbroken neck, I kinda wish this was one of them. He punishes people in all sorts of cruel ways. But he's gotta catch me first, and I'm a damn-sight quicker than him. He can do his best to hurt me, but he won't be the one with his hand raised in victory.

That honor is mine.

X opened his eyes. Judging by the skyline, he was at about 2,500 feet. Safe deployment distance. He reached over for the cord on the parachute, and pulled it.

NOTHING.

FUCK!

X remained still, as if he were a statue falling through the air, ready to shatter upon impact with the ground. He shook his head, and reached around the other side for the cut-away line for the main canopy. He then reached for the reserve chute, and pulled. Thankfully, the reserve released with time to spare, and X grabbed the two cords connecting to the canopy, drawing deep breaths to calm himself down, as he pulled up to the ground below.

Many people had come out to watch his jump (for a local charity) and they'd packed the edges of the landing zone below. X guided himself in the correct direction, still shaken, and landed comfortably in the LZ. A few charity officials approached him, shook his hand, said generic charity-related things to him. He took in none of what they said, who they were, or what they looked like, as he removed his parachute and simply discarded it.

Nice jump.

X looked around, and he finally managed to focus on someone's face. Faith.

Thanks. if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were following me.

Well, if you do know better, then what am I doing?

...okay, you have me beaten. you're following me.

A little. She looked over to the discarded parachute. Bad chute. That sucks. You okay?

Fine.

You sure?

Yep.

Don't look fine.

I have a very not-fine-looking face.

Xander- She grabbed his arm as he tried to turn away. He stood there, frozen, staring into her brown eyes. She gave off the impression that she could read him like a book, with utter ease.

There's nothing wrong with feeling weird after a bad jump. It's normal.

It's not the jump. I've had my own fair share of bad jumps before. I deal with them, and everything's fine. This time though...

...this time what?

I've lived my life doing stupid stuff. Jumping through the air from very high places is only one of those things, but it's a big one. And I've always been good at it. But just recently...

...what? Just recently it's been going wrong? Is that it?

Well, basically...yes.

You dumbass.

I know, I...wait, what??

How much has everything gone right for you recently? And you're worried you're losing your edge because of a little karma catching up with you?You gonna let Alex Bowen use that as a weapon against you? The second you show weakness against him, he'll cripple you.

How did you know I was-

WZCW.com.

-never mind. And I know. I know all of that. And trust me when I tell you that I'm gonna kick his ass. I guess all of this just reminds me that I'm...

...human?

X looked at Faith, almost puzzled.

You bleed when cut, just like everyone else. Your bones break. Your hair eventually goes gray. So there's gonna be times that stuff doesn't go right, and times you get hurt. But ask yourself; isn't that part of the buzz? The fact that if you even get something slightly wrong, you could hurt yourself?

I'm not looking to waste my life here, Faith.

...but?

X sighed. But you're right. Doing something that could go horribly wrong has no purpose other than its chance to go wrong.

"All art is quite useless."

Oscar Wilde?

Seemed like a good metaphor. X, you know why you do the crazy things you do. And remember that you make the conscious choice to go to the top rope. For the feeling when it goes right. Don't think about it going wrong. It's only gonna harm you in the long run.

Oh yeah, because jumping off tall things is gonna hurt so much more when you don't 'believe'...

A smile crept on Faiths face. You know what I mean. You're no slave to high-risk, X. High risk is your bitch. Remember that.

Consider it remembered.

Good. Now, if you're done moping, your not-very-fine looking face looks like you need a coffee.

X smiled, as they both made their way towards a small coffee stall on-site.