INTENSE TITLE: THE ANGLO LUCHADOR (C) vs. LARRY TACT
Nick Stuart: There’s not much else to say tonight, Richard, let’s get up to Vince Howard!
Richard Parker: I could say plenty, but in deference to the poor interns that’ll have to clean the blood from the ring, I’ll just say that I’m glad it’s not me.
Vince Howard: This next contest IS YOUR MAAAAAIN EVENT! It is scheduled for one fall with no disqualifications and no time limit, and it is for… the PRIME… INTENSE… CHAMPEEEENSHIP! Introducing first…
“Pieces of Man” by Drown plays over the arena speakers as the lights cut out. Royal blue lights flicker on the stage while golden spotlights scan the crowd. They settle on the center stage where Larry Tact stands.
Vince Howard: From New York, New York, and weighing in at two hundred sixty pounds…
Nick Stuart: The Anglo Luchador referenced himself and Tact as ‘Empire Boyz’ – will their prior knowledge of each other’s abilities be an advantage for one or the other?
Vince Howard: The Challenger… LARRY… TAAAAAAAAAACT!!
Tact opens his arms and puffs out his chest, soaking in the crowd’s reaction before bellowing and making his way down the ramp, the spotlight following him. As he walks, Larry critiques some fans at ringside with petty insults before arriving at the ring. He pulls himself up using the ropes and walks slowly along the apron before wiping his boots and entering the ring. He stretches using the ropes before bouncing from side-to-side, his eyes never leaving the entrance.
Richard Parker: He looks like he’s ready for this one. I wonder if Timo’s best buddy is the same?
Vince Howard: AND HIS OPPONENT…
The arena darkens. The first dabs of the organ intro to “Oye Como Va” by Santana fill the arena as purple and green lights strobe while the telltale mask of the Anglo Luchador rotate on the PRIMEview behind.
Vince Howard: From Philadelphia, PA… weighing in at two hundred eleven pounds…
Smoke begins to waft across the entryway as the instrumental beginning of the song swells into its big climax.
Vince Howard: THE PRIME WRESTLING INTENSE CHAMPION…
Right before the lyrics sound, The Anglo Luchador appears from the back, looking out at the crowd.
Vince Howard: THEEEEEEE… ANGLO… LUCHADOOOOORRRRRR!!
Nick Stuart: TAL bows his head like we’ve seen him do a dozen times already, and he’s on his way to the ring! Are you ready, partner?
Richard Parker: These guys have fought some battles here in PRIME so far, and their records don’t really reflect their efforts. Despite holding the title I think TAL feels like he has something to prove as well, and I think he’s going to do it!
The bell sounds, and referee Elvis Nixon gestures for them to begin, subsequently stepping back. Tact goes for a single leg while TAL spins away.
Nick Stuart: Comparable age, comparable professional experience – Tact has the size and the Anglo Luchador has the speed. This one might come down to luck, Richard!
Richard Parker: Not sure which would be worse, good luck for the winner or bad luck for the loser.
The two men circle again, and they lock up – and Tact shoves TAL backwards into the ropes! The Champion stops for a moment as if doing a mental double take, but he gamely moves back in to take the fight to his challenger. This time, Tact does not shove him away but instead bulldozes him into the ropes, where he open hand slaps the Champion! Again!
Nick Stuart: Challenger with the early advantage, he whips TAL into the ropes! The champ ducks a clothesline and comes back off with a forearm – TACT CATCHES HIM WITH THE HUMBLING! QUICK COVER!
ONE…
TWO…
Kickout!
Richard Parker: I thought he had that one!
Indeed, TAL still looks dazed, like the pinfall attempt was nearly too quick to realize what was happening. Tact pulls him up and sends him back into the ropes, and he hits a knee to TAL’s chin, sending him back down to the mat!
Cover!
ONE…
TWO…
Kickout!
Nick Stuart: He looked a little more prepared there, Richard – the shock of that uranage doesn’t look like it lasted.
Richard Parker: Like I was saying about good and bad luck. The good luck is that his head’s more or less back in the game, the bad luck is that he looks like he’s come out of that daze and is now feeling every shot.
Tact hooks TAL and scoops him up, and he sends him into the corner, flying right behind him with a crushing clothesline! Another cross – corner whip – TAL GETS A BOOT UP!
Nick Stuart: The Intense Champion finally with a moment’s breathing room! I think Larry Tact was going full tilt into that foot, partner!
Richard Parker: He’s got about three seconds, he’d better know what to do with them!
On impact, Tact’s head was jolted to the side and he naturally spun his body around, TAL pushes out of the corner and grabs Tact’s right arm! DRIZZLE MAKER! Spins around, knocked back a step with a hard right cross, and a boot to the shin!
Nick Stuart: Good move to try and chop Larry Tact down a size! TAL WITH TWO HANDS FULL OF HAIR! He’s got a thumb in each of the challenger’s eyes, and there’s no disqualifications here! TAL pulls down and drives Tact’s face into his knee!
Sensing the tide changing, TAL sprints into the ropes behind Tact, comes back behind him as he’s rubbing the pain out of his eyes, and drops him down to the mat with another handful of hair and a bulldog drives him face first into the mat! Elvis Nixon gives a look, and he hesitates over a small patch of blood on the canvas.
Richard Parker: Now he’s done it, I think he’s broken Tact’s nose. Once he sees it, that’s a target.
Elvis asks Larry Tact if he wants to give up, but that conversation is a full on non-starter. TAL stays on him, dragging him a few feet towards the middle of the ring and dropping a pair of boots to the midsection. Off the ropes, and a quick legdrop across the neck! TAL hooks both legs and pulls tightly!
ONE…
TWO…
Kickout!
Nick Stuart: Two can play the quick pinfalls game, but it goes as well for the Champ as it did for his challenger!
TAL stays on him, pulling Tact up to a kneeling position and hooking him underneath for a powerbomb. He pulls, but Tact goes dead weight and manages to stay down! They struggle for a good ten seconds while the volume increases in the crowd, until Larry Tact is able to slowly and painfully stand up, dumping the Anglo Luchador over his head and to the mat with a backdrop! He sinks to his knees following the effort, and his eyes drift to the mat where crimson drops form an abstract pattern.
Richard Parker: Now he’s mad… nobody makes him bleed his own blood.
Tact turns and grabs the rising Anglo Luchador by the back of the mask and goes for a simple and very non-technical chokehold! He has his forearm wrapped around TAL’s throat and is squeezing as hard as he can, and Elvis Nixon can do little but check for a submission or knockout.
Both hands around Tact’s forearm, TAL gasps for breath. He adjusts his footing and bends at the waist, using his hands to relieve as much pressure on his neck as he possibly can, and pulls Tact off his feet. Quick as a cat, he grabs Tact’s legs and drops backwards, landing Tact back first on the mat and TAL himself on top of his challenger!
Nick Stuart: Smart thinking by the Intense Champion as the hold breaks! TAL rolls through the ropes to the outside for a breather while Tact recuperates!
Richard Parker: Not much recuperating needed here, Nick. Take a look at this replay, the hold broke because Tact instinctively dropped his hands to his sides to cushion his own impact. The Luchador got out of the hold but he’s still at a marked disadvantage.
The Anglo Luchador can be heard audibly coughing on the floor, clearing his airways while walking around the ring. Tact does in fact roll to his knees and backwards to his feet far sooner than the Champion probably anticipated, and he stalks TAL from outside his line of sight. KICK TO THE HEAD BY TACT! The high ground gives him a unique angle, which sends TAL staggering into the guardrail. Tact leaves the ring, seemingly in no hurry to press his advantage.
Nick Stuart: Knee to the midsection! Forearm to the back! All of this with TAL pressed against the guardrail and that metal digging into his body with every impact! That’s going to take a toll!
Scoop, and a press above his head! The front row fans start yelling in the challenger’s face about how he’s not going to win, blah blah blah, and Tact drops TAL in a freefall on the rail itself, never breaking eye contact with the fans!
And it’s the fans who blink first.
Tact with another scoop, and a whip into the ring apron! TAL hits the edge of the ring with his ribs, and the challenger lunges, shoulder blocking his ribs into the edge even harder!
Nick Stuart: Elvis Nixon clearly isn’t counting either of these men out, but neither can we see a pinfall or submission on the floor! This one needs to move back between the ropes!
Richard Parker: Tact will put him back when he has him where he wants him.
With another hand on the back of the mask, Larry Tact sends TAL face first into the ring steps. TAL is able to turn his head and get a hand up to cushion his impact, but he still takes a solid hit to the shoulder and the side of his head! Tact backs up, keeping his eyes on him. He retrieves a steel chair from ringside, and with the precision of a surgeon and the compassion of a private prison guard, brings it down between the Intense Champion’s shoulder blades! And again!
Richard Parker: Tell me, Nick. How much of this do you think will stand before Elvis calls the match off?
Nick Stuart: Oh, I think there’s going to be a pinfall or an active submission long before we get to that point, partner. Elvis knows – and more to the point, both of these athletes know – what the stakes are with the Intense Title.
The boos intensify as Tact drops the chair on the floor and picks TAL up, setting him up for a powerbomb of his own! Unlike the reversal in the ring, TAL is unable to use Tact’s positioning against him, and Tact lifts the Intense Champion up, powerbombing him on the chair on the floor with a sickening crack! TAL rolls off the metal seat, holding his back in agony, but Tact isn’t finished with him yet! He grabs TAL’s mask with one hand and the chair with the other and pulls both up, driving the edge of the chair into TAL’s stomach, doubling him over!
Nick Stuart: These fans are really letting Larry Tact have it!
Richard Parker: It’s all legal in the Intense Title division, they should know this by now!
For just a moment, Tact turns his head to yell back at the fans.
In that moment, TAL drives his hands up into the underside of the steel chair, bashing it against Tact’s face! The challenger staggers backwards a step, and TAL wavers on his feet but drops down to the floor, hooking Tact’s leg in a modified drop toe hold! TACT’S FACE HITS THE CHAIR HITS THE STAIRS! Both men are down on the outside of the ring, but the Anglo Luchador is on the floor while Larry Tact is face to face with a mass of metal!
Nick Stuart: The Anglo Luchador pulling himself up, I think he’s gotta be nothing but a large bruise at this point, running off determination and adrenalin! He slides under the ropes and climbs to the top turnbuckle, this could end it here, Richard!
Richard Parker: Whether he hits it or misses it, you’re probably right!
Tact gingerly puts a hand on the ring steps to help himself rise to his feet. His back is still to TAL, and he shoves the chair away. He rises to his feet just as TAL launches himself!
Nick Stuart: DO A BARREL ROLL! NO! INTO THE STEPS!
The Anglo Luchador realized too late that he was going to miss his target. No sooner did Tact rise to his feet than TAL launched himself from the top with the tornillo, than Tact stumbled to the side and landed on his back again in the entranceway, revealing for all to see that he is now wearing the proverbial crimson mask! Still he avoids being sandwiched between a Luchador and a set of ring steps, and TAL lands hard on them, falling to the floor in a heap!
Elvis Nixon looks out at the pair, and all he can do is begin a count! ONE.
Richard Parker: All this and we end with a double ten count? Lame.
“TWO!”
Nick Stuart: Both men are down and out, Richard! What else can Nixon do here?
“THREE!”
Slowly, deliberately, Larry Tact rolls to one side, then to the other. He looks to have lost his balance and equilibrium, and every step appears to be a struggle. Still, he seems in better shape than his opponent, still unmoving in a crumpled heap on the floor next to the ring steps.
“FOUR!”
Tact drops to his knees, crawling to the ringside area and leaving a trail of blood like a NSFW Hansel and Gretel, with one hand on TAL’s mask and the other on the ring apron, pulling all of them up with all his strength.
“FIVE!”
Nick Stuart: The Anglo Luchador shoved back into the ring, but he’s barely stirring and definitely not rising to defend himself! It’s a good thing this is the main event of the evening for Larry Tact as well, because he’s making a mess of the ringside area!
Richard Parker: Like I said, I’m glad I’m not an intern.
“SIX!”
Tact squeezes his eyes shut, almost like he’s willing his vision to stay focused, as he rises to his feet and grabs the bottom rope.
Nick Stuart: Tact slides under the ropes, and Nixon backs off, and we could be moments away from a new PRIME Intense Champion!
Exhausted and bloodied, Tact staggers to the middle of the ring where his opponent is downed, prone, and breathing hard. He reaches for the Intense Champion’s mask and pulls him up, blood draining onto TAL’s head all the while. Elvis checks on them both, but with no recourse but to allow them to continue, he is just as quickly away.
Nick Stuart: I think Tact has this one in the bag, Richard! He and TAL have battered each other from pillar to post, and now you see the result!
Richard Parker: It doesn’t come down to who wanted it more, Nick, since the Anglo Luchador has put up a hell of a fight – it just comes down to who can take more.
The arena boos in unison as Tact sets himself up in the middle of the ring with his opponent barely able to hold himself up on his hands and knees. He runs his thumb across his neck in the universal sign of ‘Finish Him’ and sets TAL up for the Starbreaker!
Nick Stuart: Larry Tact about to silence all the critics with a pair of knees!
Deep breath, inhale, and pull! Tact lifts TAL up high in the air –
Nick Stuart: DOUBLE FIST TO THE FACE!
Richard Parker: Tact is on rubber legs, but if he drops Anglo to the floor, it’s just as well!
Nick Stuart: Another pair of fists hit Larry Tact in the face!
There looks to be almost nothing behind TAL’s fists – the first pair appeared little more than fueled by his momentum from Tact lifting him up for the powerbomb front half of the Starbreaker, but the second seems like it contained every bit of the rest of his energy as his blood stained hands drop from Tact’s face and hang limply at his side. Is it enough?
…
Richard Parker: TIMBER!
Like a tree falling in the forest, Larry Tact slowly crumbles backwards, crashing onto his back and keeping the Anglo Luchador’s legs hooked JUST long enough for him to land on his chest! TAL reaches back for a leg to pull forward, practically collapsing on it himself, as Elvis slides into position!
ONE…
TWO…
THREE…
TAL collapses off Tact and onto the mat next to him!
DING DING DING
Nick Stuart: HE GOT HIM!
Vince Howard: Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of this contest… AND STILL… PRIME Intense Champion… THEEEE ANGLO LUCHADOOOOOR!!!
Richard Parker: Neither of these guys look much like winners right now, but that belt means the Anglo Luchador can still call himself Champion.
Nick Stuart: Indeed it does, Richard, and TAL looks like he’s coming to his senses slowly but surely, rolling to the edge of the ring with a little help from one of our attendants, and Larry Tact is still down!
Richard Parker: He’s stirring, but I don’t know if he knows what happened just yet.
Nick Stuart: Regardless, Tact gave it his all tonight, and he’s definitely going to be coming around for more before long!
With TAL sitting on the ring apron, talking to one of the attendants and looking like a battered mess, Tact sits up on his own and doesn’t look much better. He looks over at Elvis, anger raging from his eyes. He then glances over at TAL and lets his anger get the better of him as he gets up to his feet and slams his boot against the back of TAL’s skull.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Nick Stuart: OH COME ON!
Richard Parker: Tact may not be too happy at his loss here tonight.
Nick Stuart: You think?!
Tact exits the ring, grabbing TAL by the back of the neck off of the floor and flings him into the ringside barricade. A surge of adrenaline rushes through his body as he proceeds to slam his boot repeatedly into the back of TAL’s skull.
THUNK!
THUNK!
THUNK!
Richard Parker: TAL might need to get… everything… checked out.
Nick Stuart: I think that was the case even before this uncalled for assault from Larry Tact! Tact has SNAPPED and he has no one to blame but himself!
Tact yanks TAL off of the mat and rolls him back into the ring. He drags him up to his feet and connects with a sickening headbutt. TAL drops to one knee from the shot and Larry puts him in position for the Starbreaker.
Nick Stuart: No, no, we need security out here NOW! Tact is going to cause some serious damage here to TAL if he goes through with this. After the match these two had, TAL earned that victory and he does not deserve for this to happen in anyway.
Richard Parker: I mean, if you want to go down there and stop him, be my guest.
Tact wraps his arms around TAL’s waist and as he goes to lift him up into the air–
“I’M AWOKEN!
I’M ON FIRE!”
“Death Grip” by Watt White rips through the MGM-Grand Arena and the fans immediately turn their head in anticipation.
RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Nick Stuart: DUSK! DUSK IS HERE! After the hellacious attack from Tact two weeks ago, Dusk is HERE!
Richard Parker: Welp, time for my smoke break.
Tact releases TAL, throwing him to the mat and slams his forearm across his chest, ready for a battle with “The Lost Soul”. He looks up the ramp, waiting for Dusk, but no one comes out even though the music continues to play.
Nick Stuart: Well, his music has arrived.
Richard Parker: Oh shit, look out–
Before Richard can get the words out of his mouth though, before Larry Tact realizes what is happening, a steel chair slams across his back.
THWACK!
Tact drops to one knee from the shot, shocked from the out of nowhere shot. It is then seen that the man holding said steel chair is none other than the man himself, Dusk. Cue that seventh most popular wrestler in PRIME reaction–
RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Richard Parker: Well, I tried to warn him.
Nick Stuart: Dusk came through the crowd, steel chair in hand, and he looks like a man ready for war.
Dusk slams the steel chair against the back of Larry Tact once again, dropping his adversary to the mat in a heap. Dusk stands above him, blue jeans and no shirt, his eyes piercing through the back of Tact and lifts the steel chair over his head and snaps it across the body of Tact once again. The steel chair, now twisted and bent, is discarded as Dusk yanks Tact off the mat and pushes him into the nearby corner where he starts raining down fist after fist to the battered face of his foe.
Nick Stuart: I think Dusk is letting weeks of frustration that have built up inside of him out on Tact right now.
Richard Parker: You think?!
Each fist is heavier than the last until Tact is simply sitting in the corner, head rolling around, and body seemingly lifeless. Dusk looks at his right hand, his punching hand, and sees flecks of blood on there and an evil smile appears on his face. He grabs Larry by the wrist and pulls him up to his feet before whipping him into the ropes and connecting with a running knee strike to the face of Tact.
Richard Parker: Well, Tact may not be eating for the next two weeks.
Nick Stuart: Dusk got ALL of that one.
Dusk then stands over him as Tact tries to figure out which way is up, trying to make it up to his feet. Dusk moves back and watches as Larry struggles to his feet until he turns towards Dusk–
Richard Parker: SUPERKICK!
Nick Stuart: LIGHTS OUT FOR TACT!
The kick lands flush against Tact’s jaw and he collapses to the mat as Dusk stands over him, chest heaving.
DUSK! DUSK! DUSK! DUSK! DUSK!
Nick Stuart: And the fans are loving every second of this as they see Tact get a bit of comeuppance for his actions towards Dusk these past handful of weeks.
Richard Parker: Well, I can’t say I blame Dusk.
Dusk then walks over to TAL, who is dazed and confused, helping him up to his feet. He then grabs the Intense Championship, a title he’s held twice in his career, and hands it to The Anglo Luchador before raising his hand in victory.
RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Nick Stuart: Dusk helping out his friend up to his feet, giving him a chance to celebrate the hard-fought victory he earned tonight! Well folks, we are all out of time! For Richard Parker, I’m Nick Stuart! We will see you in TWO weeks for the go-home show before Ultraviolence! Good night!
We see Dusk and TAL standing there in the center of the ring, TAL glad for his victory, with Larry Tact knocked out behind them.