PAXTON RAY vs. NATE COLTON
We’re back at ringside and as Vince Howard makes his way into the ring, the crowd at the Bridgestone Arena make their excitement heard.
Vince Howard: Ladies and gentlemen! The following contest is scheduled for one fall and has a fifteen minute time limit!
Richard Parker: Time limit? Did we just get transported back twenty or thirty years?
Nick Stuart: Just let Vince do his job and you do whatever your job is, okay Richard?
Vince Howard: Introducing first…
“They say it’s good to start a story with a tragedy.”
The riff of “Fistfight” by The Ballroom begins to play through the arena as the crowd rises to their feet, but they aren’t happy with the music, nor the person, who they see. Paxton Ray walks out under the PRIMEview and sneers at the fans, many of them giving him a thumbs down and hurling boo’s his way. Nonetheless, he holds his taped hands up in the air and glares in their direction.
Vince Howard: …from Lafayette, Louisiana. He stands 6’6” and weighs in at 255 lbs. The Bayou Butcher: PAAAAXTON RAAAAAAYYYYY!!!
The day I finally met you like I knew I would
You raised me from the wreck of my doubts
You were smiling to yourself as if we both understood
The silent language of the anguish of a heart that sings but doesn’t make a sound
Paxton slowly makes his way towards the ring, indifference to the crowd’s jeers. He steps up onto the apron and into the ring, before marching across the ring and leaning in the corner, where he can see his opponent. Vince Howard shifts a little farther from The Bayou Butcher.
Nick Stuart: You know, Paxton does seem to be trying to turn over a new leaf. They say that wrestling fans’ memories are short. But these people sure don’t seem to forget everything he’s done to the superstars who they love.
Richard Parker: I’m always a “give the guy a second chance” kind of a guy.
Nick Stuart: Since when?
Richard Parker: Right now. C’mon, give me a chance, Nick!
Vince Howard: And his opponent. From Evansville, Indiana. He stands 6’4” tall and weighs in at 255 lbs. The Next Diamond…
“Tryin’” by the Eagles blasts through the arena as the crowd rises to their feet. Nate Colton emerges from the backstage area to a great pop from the fans.
Vince Howard: …NAAATE COOOLTOOOOON!!!!!
Colton reaches the ring and enters with little flair. His eyes don’t leave Paxton Ray for a moment as referee Elvis Nixon has been busy talking with Paxton Ray. Ray sneers at him and nods, before Nixon looks over at Nate and nods in his direction, not talking to him nearly as much as he had Ray.
Nick Stuart: There’s a lot of animosity between these two. Mainly due to Paxton Ray. And let’s face it, they’re only a year apart in age, Richard, almost the same height, virtually the same weight.
Richard Parker: It’s a true testament to how great PRIME is. Any other fed and this would be a Main Event, pay per view match. Here in PRIME, it’s just business as usual with the best color man in the business and his sidekick.
Nick Stuart: What?
Richard Parker: They’re getting started, Nick, just do your job!
DING DING
Paxton and Nate move to the center of the ring, and leave just a few feet between them. Paxton stands with his hands up and balled into fists, but it’s Nate Colton who points a finger and starts jawing at Ray. Nixon admonishes Colton, who nods and puts both of his hands up, before finally the two get started.
Nick Stuart: Colton seems to be bringing a lot of emotion into this thing.
The two men lock up in the center of the ring, with Paxton using his slight height and leverage advantage to bear down on Colton, who pushes up on his toes and yells. The two jockey for position, before Paxton shoves Colton back and smirks.
Colton, undeterred, rushes in and the two men lock up again with a similar result, with Nate nearly being shoved back into the corner. Colton shakes his head while Paxton motions for Nate to give it another go, and he obliges. As the two make to lock up, Nate switches to the side and arm drags Paxton to the mat. Paxton rolls to his feet while Nate offers his own smirk in response.
Nick Stuart: Some mind games between both competitors.
Richard Parker: Yeah, good strategy Nate. Make Paxton Ray angry.
That’s all it takes for The Trigger to hit. Ray flies at Colton and before Nate can get out of the way, he takes an elbow to the side of the head for his troubles. Nixon warns Ray, but it’s fast and furious in the ring as the powder keg explodes.
Ray slaps Colton’s right ear, then headbutts him into the ropes. He sends Nate across the ring and misses with a lariat. Colton rebounds and while Paxton turns around, Ray takes a dropkick to the chest. He wheels backwards into the ropes and rebounds as Colton rises and bends for a back body drop. Ray catches Colton and wraps him up for a powerbomb. Colton blocks it once. He blocks it again. Then he pulls Paxton’s legs out from under him and turns him over for a Boston crab. Ray roars and presses his body up and shoves hard with his legs, sending Colton away from him. The two men bounce back to their positions and stare back at one another in the center of the ring.
The crowd is loving it.
RAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!
Nate Colton brazenly stomps up to Paxton and shoves his body up against him, nose to nose, and he starts to lay into Paxton verbally. He shoves Paxton hard and Paxton throws a haymaker, but Colton ducks. He reaches up and gives Ray a jawbreaker. A snap suplex later sends Paxton down to the mat. He slaps on a rear chinlock in the middle of the ring. Elvis checks the neck and arm and calls it legal.
Richard Parker: You’re not going to beat Paxton Ray with a chinlock.
Nick Stuart: It’s called strategy.
Nate wrenches on the chinlock for a few moments, trash talking in Paxton’s ear, but it’s enough to set Paxton ablaze. He powers up to his feet slowly, clenches his hands together, and elbows Nate in the stomach once, twice, and then a third time. Nate breaks the hold and grabs his stomach and Paxton plants him with a DDT. He measures Colton and drops one, then a second, and then a third elbow in rapid succession.
Ray goes for the cover. Nixon is already in position.
One…
Kickout by Nate Colton!
Ray drags Colton up by the hair and sends him into the corner. He follows after him and nails him with a heavy lariat. He then sends Colton across the ring into the opposite corner, follows, and goes for a huge big boot.
Nick Stuart: Colton ducks out of the way at the last minute!
Indeed, Colton rebounds out of the corner and rolls to the side while Ray hamstrings his leg over the top rope. He roars with frustration while Colton wraps him up and drags him out of the corner via a schoolboy. There’s extra force behind it, as Paxton is stretched so high and he hits with a loud thud.
Nixon slides into position.
One…
Kickout by Paxton Ray!
Both competitors shoot to their feet, but Colton takes a rake to the eyes.
Richard Parker: All that training, and you can’t train your eyes to be any stronger.
Nick Stuart: I… yes.
Colton seems incensed, eschewing his more measured approach in the past, and rushes at Ray and takes a boot to the gut.
Nick Stuart: Nate Colton has to slow it down some, I think.
Richard Parker: When you get in the ring, sometimes the emotions take over.
Nick Stuart: Yeah, it’s bad when Paxton Ray seems to be the calmer one of the two.
Ray twists quickly into a neckbreaker and drops Colton. Nate rolls around and grabs the back of his head, while Ray measures him and lowers the boom with a fist drop directly across Colton’s forehead.
The crowd begins to boo Ray, and a smattering of clapping in unison begins to ring out through the assembled masses as they rally around Nate Colton. Ray waves off the noise and drags Colton up, scoops him up high, and slams him to the mat.
Ray makes a lateral press and doesn’t hook the leg.
One…
….two…
Colton with the shoulder up. Ray curses to himself and drags Colton up as a bruise begins to form on Nate’s forehead from the fistdrop. Colton slaps away Paxton’s arms and hits him with a hard right. Paxton blinks and hits Colton with a right of his own. Back and forth they go as the crowd’s cheering reaches a fever pitch as both competitors slug it out.
Nick Stuart: Listen to this crowd!
Richard Parker: Yeah but you don’t slug it out with Paxton Ray!
Nick Stuart: Maybe you do. Look!
Somehow, Nate Colton’s fists have a bit more mustard behind them, and before long he’s throwing two to Ray’s one. Ray’s eyes begin to go glassy as his head snaps back, but just as Colton firmly gains the upper hand, Ray hits him with a knee in the breadbasket and all the momentum dies. Ray follows up with a kneelift and sends Colton back down to the mat. Paxton shakes his head free of cobwebs, rebounds off the ropes and drops a leg across Colton. Another pin by Ray!
One…
…two…
Kickout again by Colton!
Ray grows frustrated by Colton’s resilience. He rises and puts the boots to Colton several times, steps on his forehead and twists his boot, and then points at Nixon and slaps his hands three times and goes for the pin.
One…
Kickout by Colton!
Ray rises and complains to Elvis Nixon, who points at his uniform and points back up at Ray and slaps his hands three times. This gives Nate some time to gather his bearings and roll to his stomach, press up to his knee, and face Paxton. The Next Diamond blinks and shakes some sweat from his brow as he seems to measure and control his breathing.
Richard Parker: Paxton!
Nate whistles through his teeth loudly and as Paxton turns, he takes a boot to the midsection. Colton slaps on a side headlock and wrenches it on. He raises his arm in the air to pump up the crowd while Paxton slaps the back of Nate’s back. He shoves Nate forward, but Nate doesn’t let go and drags The Bayou Butcher with him. Paxton roars and tries to push again, to no avail.
Nixon checks the hold and signals it’s legal. Paxton reaches back to tug on Nate’s hair, only to stop when Nixon warns him. Colton decides to help break the hold by rushing forward and drops Ray into a thunderous bulldog. Paxton grabs his head and rolls to his back, kicking his feet.
Nick Stuart: Back and forth this entire time. Like I said, they’re so evenly matched!
Nate rises and rebounds off the robes and drops a quick, crisp elbow to Paxton’s chest. Paxton rolls over, and the pain helps him surge to his feet. Both men are moving more slowly now, but Paxton appears more aggressive now. He rushes forward with a lariat. Nate ducks, and Paxton rushes to the ropes and swings his legs between the two and second rope, bounces back, and leaps at Nate for a shoulder tackle. He connects and falls on top of Nate and starts swinging hell for leather on The Next Diamond.
Nate shoves Paxton over and emerges on top and mirrors the punches. The match begins to devolve into an all out brawl. Nixon starts to count at Nate to stop the punching, getting up to four. When Nate does stop, Paxton leans up and slams his forearm into Colton’s throat. Nate coughs and grabs his throat and staggers off of Paxton and heaves. Paxton sneers as he rises, only for Nixon to admonish him again about the blow and warn him.
Richard Parker: You know they call that dry gulching someone?
Nick Stuart: What?
Richard Parker: Hitting someone in the throat with your forearm.
Nick Stuart: No, Richard, I didn’t know that.
Paxton shrugs off Nixon, a wicked glint in his eyes as he sees Nate rolling on the mat coughing violently. He boots Nate in the side once, and then again. Seeing red, he bounces off the ropes and rushes towards Nate, poised to kick him with all his might in the side of the head with a crushing blow. But surprisingly, he stops as his face becomes awash with reality. He hesitates, for a moment, before he yanks Nate up and then drops him with a side Russian leg sweep.
Nick Stuart: Hesitation by Paxton Ray?
Richard Parker: Maybe? I never thought I’d see that. However, I -knew- there’d be a side Russian leg sweep in this match. I just knew it.
Nick Stuart: What do you mean? How would you know?
Richard Parker: Just a hunch, Nick. Just a hunch.
Still, Paxton Ray is playing to win. He pulls Nate up and sends him back into the corner. He rushes at him and takes a glancing back elbow from Colton. Nate is clearly still smarting from the shot to the throat. He hits Paxton with a European uppercut, which staggers Paxton into the middle of the ring. Nate then grabs Paxton’s wrist and pulls him in and lands a short arm clothesline. Paxton drops to a knee while Nate still holds his wrist. He lifts Paxton up again and pulls him in for another clothesline, but Paxton scouts it. He ducks under the arm and emerges behind Nate and sees his opening.
He loads his arm and spins for his discus elbow aiming straight for the turning Colton. At the last moment, Nate ducks, pops up, and as Ray’s back is to him after the miss, he locks on a Cobra Clutch. Paxton kicks his legs, but it’s too late. Nate pulls back…
Nick Stuart: Nate reversed the discus elbow into the…
Richard Parker: …Colton Clutch Suplex!!
Nate brings Paxton up and over and slams him down on the mat. He floats over immediately and hooks the leg.
One…
…two….
…..three!!!
DING DING DING
Paxton kicks out not half a second too late as Elvis Nixon calls for the bell. Paxton slams his hands on the mat and curses to himself while Nate slides out of the ring and raises his arms.
Nick Stuart: This could have been anyone’s match, but Nate Colton dug down deep and won!
Richard Parker: Ray should have kicked Colton’s head off! Still, the Bayou Butcher isn’t done hunting yet! You can bet on that!
We then cut to commercial.