Post by Lord Hastings on Sept 25, 2021 18:47:11 GMT -5
Donovan storms down the hallways of the Synergy Arena, mere minutes after being pinned to take the loss for his “team” in the eight person cooperative match.
Needless to say, he is already irritated, but then he rounds the corner to find the Indestructible Ichabod leaning against a wall, waiting for him.
Ichabod: Now I've seen choads shoot themselves in the foot before, but that?
He gestures vaguely in the direction of the gorilla position.
Ichabod: That was fucking pretty.
Ichy takes a drag from his cigarette as Donovan glares at him.
Hastings: I’m not in the mood.
Ichabod shrugs
Ichabod: Well get in the mood. I’m here to give you a fair warning, free of charge, just out of my kind nature. Your match tonight isn’t the only thing that isn’t going to go as you expect. You saw fit to challenge the Engine of Cthulu. Bold choice, I'll admit, but you just inadvertently stepped in shit, Lord. You pulled off some pretty twisted acts to get that thing back around your waist, are you sure you want to get mixed up in this shit and risk losing it so quickly?
Hastings: A question you could never ask yourself, given that of all the waists it has been around, it’s never been around yours.
Ichabod clamps his teeth around the Newport, doing his best Cheshire Cat as blue cloud of smoke issues out slowly.
Ichabod: How petty. I suppose I’ll permit it, given how dire your situation is about to become.
Hastings: I’d never describe being the World Heavyweight Champion as a dire situation. Again, I suppose you lack the proper perspective.
Ichabod raises an eyebrow and smirks with amusement.
Ichabod: Oh, I doubt we've ever shared the same perspective, Donovan, but there's a perspective you haven't considered with your careless challenge. Rogan MacLean alone is easily the greatest threat you’ve ever faced, and that's without the other variables you don't have the perspective to comprehend. You don’t know him like I do. Now, far be it from me to try and convince you not to throw petrified shit bullion into the soup, but you might want to taste it before you fuck with it, you know?
Donovan steps to approach Ichabod, looking him right in the eyes. Ichabod does not flinch.
Hastings: I suppose belated congratulations are in order, what with the Engine of Chaos being inducted into the Hall of Fame. An iconic honor, to be sure. I pledged to defeat icons for this title. I took it from Gabriel Baal. I’m about to defend it against Rogan MacLean. I’ll have done it all under the watchful eye of Holden Orson. I’d suggest I could defend it against you next, but the truth is you were never more than an underachieving footnote when the lights shone brightest, weren’t you?
Donovan takes a step back, looking Ichabod up and down.
Hastings: And now a broken one, at that.
Ichabod yawns. He actually fucking yawns.
Ichabod: Have it your way.
Donovan glares at him for a moment longer before continuing on his way.
It is February 6, 2017. UGWC presents Infinity from the KeyArena in Seattle, Washington.
In an unprecedented set of circumstances, three championships are on the line in one match, as the unified Engine of Chaos face the team of Alan Wallace, Donovan Hastings, Phrixus Deimos, and Travis Roberts in an eight person cooperative match. Months of building tension and momentum finally culminate when Rogan MacLean forces Travis Roberts to tap out and the Engine captures the World Heavyweight Title, adding it to the Cooperative and Chaos Titles they already possess, as the group takes a stranglehold on the Unified Global Wrestling Coalition.
Except that didn’t happen.
Instead, Holden Orson let the group down and everything the group had worked towards since Rogan first set them on the path months earlier slowly began to break apart. The legendary year long championship reign of Travis Roberts ended not with a bang to the mighty Engine of Chaos, but with a whimper to the plucky Mil Vidas Junior. The Engine of Chaos itself broke part and faded into history over the next several months, having never achieved its once promising potential.
Donovan opens the door to the Sports Entertainment Executive’s office, his head down as he mumbles to himself.
Hastings: Stupid Ichabod, hope you choke on your stupid cig-
Donovan stops as he looks up and sees all three members of the Consortium.
Hastings: Now what?
Ooley: Nothing to do with you, Hamstrings. That’s the way Ol’ Bob prefers it. We’re done here anyway.
Ooley walks past Donovan and out of the office, pausing to tap the title with the hilt of his baseball bat. Holden Orson follows, but stops in front of Donovan.
Hastings: I suppose you’d also like to tell me that I made a mistake calling out the Engine of Chtulu?
Holden tilts his head slightly to the side and smiles.
Holden: Scoff.
Holden leaves the office, as Donovan turns to face his longtime friend, who puts his hands up.
Peterson: It really didn’t have anything to do with you. Just going over some logistics for the Melee.
Hastings: I’m not concerned. Whether you were or you weren’t, the World Champion is going to have a target on his back. It’s how it should be.
Peterson: Is that what happened out there?
Hastings: I’m not sure how else you could explain it. Rogan took advantage of an opportunity. It’s what he does. Angie pinned a World Champion. That’s what she does. I’ll deal with Angelica Vaughn in due time. Perhaps she’ll be next.
Peterson: I don’t think you should be looking past Rogan.
Hastings: I’m not. This is absolutely a critical match for me. I’ve made it quite clear that my goal is to prove that I’m the greatest Entertainment Professional of every era of UGWC. There are twenty-six World Champions in UGWC history. I’ve beaten over half of them. That’s a claim that nobody else can make, and I’m not finished yet. Now, some of those unchecked names are no longer with us. There’s nothing I can do about that. Those that are left, however, I won’t rest until they’ve been added to the list.
Peterson: You can’t treat Rogan like a notch on a post.
Hastings: I don’t intend to. Rogan MacLean is a special talent, but I think it’s fair to say I’m a machine of a different sort, one that has trudged onward and upward towards destiny and legacy my entire career, and I’m not finished yet.
Peterson: I’m glad to hear it, but I hope you have more of a plan than just go out there and win.
Hastings: Well that’s always the plan, but yes, I’ve given it more thought than that. By the time I’m done with it, Rogan will wish his fancy way-station had whisked him away to anywhere but here.
It is October 30, 2017. UGWC presents Battleground from Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Rogan MacLean is the World Heavyweight Champion, having threaded the needle of mayhem at Outlast to capture the title in unlikely fashion. Tonight, Rogan will defend the title against the iconic Jet Somers, cementing his place as the hottest rising star in UGWC today. The victory will put him on a path to the main event of Horizons against Donovan Hastings, after which the back-to-back championship victories against the two biggest names in UGWC history allows Rogan to lay claim to the status of legend himself, forever securing his place in history.
Except those victories never come.
Somers defeats Rogan to win the championship for the fourth time himself, and goes on to face Hastings in the match that many consider the greatest main event in Horizons history. Rogan’s championship reign ends without a single successful defense or memorable moment beyond the dubious chain of events that led to him winning it in the first place. As for Rogan, he will suffer a disappointing defeat to his former allies at Horizons, before fading away from relevance himself, leading to an eventual hiatus from UGWC while the Coalition moves past him into a new era.
Inside the arcade section of a Dave & Busters, the Hastings twins are embattled in a fierce game of air hockey. While the sisters are typically competitive with each other, today they stand on the same side of the table, united in combat against a single opponent.
Eden Morgan.
The clicking and clacking of the epic contest can be heard throughout the establishment, and is observed carefully by Donovan, watching from a stool several yards away. Gabriel Baal approaches and takes a seat next to Donovan, handing him a drink and sipping his own.
Baal: This is the same game?
Hastings: Apparently they’re quite evenly matched. I’m told I have to face the winner.
Baal: I see.
Gabriel sips his drink.
Baal: I worry you may be in over your head.
Hastings: It’s air hockey, I think I can manage.
Baal: That’s not what I was referring to.
Hastings: I told you before, I think the skee ball lane is greased improperly, it’s hardly my fault.
Baal: It’s entirely your fault that we lost to the girls, but I’m talking about Rogan.
Donovan’s eye twitches, and he sips his drink.
Hastings: I’m listening.
Baal: Rogan has proven to be one of my closest friends. The respect between us is beyond reproach, considering our shared history.
Hastings: I’m aware.
Baal: Of course, we’ve had moments during which we loathed each other, but that’s hardly unique when it comes to my personal relationships. Surely you can relate.
Hastings: I’m defending my championship against him, not your friendship bracelet.
Baal: My point is, Rogan is one of the most talented individuals I’ve ever shared a ring with. He’s also nearly entirely untapped potential. It’s a bit sad, honestly. Still…
He clinked his drink against Donovan’s.
Baal: Would be a shame of a different sort if he finally reached that potential and it was against you.
Donovan does not have a chance to respond as Scarlett runs over to them.
Scarlett: Daddy! It was a TIE!!!
Hastings: A tie?
Scarlett: Yeah, so now you have to play me and Katie AND Auntie Eden all together at the same time!
Eden flashes a sinister smile and shrugs.
Baal: Well, now you’re definitely in over your head.
Hello, target Rogan.
I suppose you’re wondering why I chose you, why I felt that Donovan Hastings needed to defend against Rogan MacLean here and now. After all, there are several other perhaps more interesting names out there. Angelica Vaughn was the face of the main event scene in UGWC for most of a year. Duncan Ryder just won the WrestleStock Cup, and he and I certainly have a score to settle. The trickster Montague Cervantes would certainly be an intriguing match-up. Yet you are the true charlatan around here, one that I feel it is time to expose.
While your resume and list of achievements are impressive, many of them are fraudulent or misleading. The Engine of Chaos held the Chaos and Cooperative Titles, and as a result you receive credit for things you did not achieve. You did not win the Chaos Title, that was Gabriel Baal, yet every day of the reign is given to you. You may have won the Cooperative Titles, but others defended them on your behalf at Horizons, and yet every day of the reign is given to you. What the Engine did was unique and impressive, without question, but every week your opponents had to prepare for four possibilities while each of you knew your specific targets. I don’t begrudge you taking advantage of the opportunity, but the reality of your present circumstances is that you’re now facing an opponent who is only concerned with you. There are no smoke and mirrors for you to hide behind. I don’t have to worry if my challenger is coming out of door number two or door number three. You’ve had a number of big matches in your career, and you’ve won a number of them based upon the uncertainty you’ve draped around yourself. Now in the biggest match of your career, you enter it stripped bare.
History designates you as a former World Heavyweight Champion, but I will remind you here today that a champion is validated by his defense of that championship. When I was the first UGWC World Champion, a nemesis came for it and I turned back the challenge of Dirge. Years later I faced Eden Morgan inside Hell in a Cell and left with my championship reign intact. I defended the World Title against Jet Somers at WrestleStock. Just last month I put it all on the line in the Dragon’s Cave, and I beat Hide Yamazaki. Yet what did you do when you had the World Title? You lost it in anticlimactic fashion in your first defense, a month ahead of Horizons. In need of something compelling to main event our flagship event, the Consortium had to turn to me, the man who would succeed where you failed.
Let’s examine the circumstances of your victory for a moment, shall we? You advanced to the final match of the Outlast Tournament, earning the opportunity to challenge for the World Title. Yet this was the same match in which the Court chose to reveal itself. An already uncertain match had the added instability of three masked individuals that shifted the spotlight upon themselves. While all that mayhem unfolded, you were able to escape attention, swooping in at the last minute to vulture a victory. I don’t begrudge that, I want to make that clear. You saw an opportunity and you took it. I’d just you more harshly if you failed to leverage the situation as you did, or perhaps we’d truly have forgotten you entirely. You were victorious that evening, but it also left you in the position of needing that defense to validate all of it, to prove you deserved it and the accolades that come with it. In this you failed, and it is a failure from which you have never truly recovered.
Gabriel says you are a person of untapped potential. I concur with his assessment. The tools are there, Rogan, I don’t doubt that. I don’t think anyone has. You are a clever person, one who sees opportunity and is able to thread the needle of chaos and mayhem to suit his needs and reach his goals. What remains to be seen is what you do when the deck is not stacked in your favor, how you play your cards when you haven’t been dealt the winning hand.
Now you are the one who has to prepare for various eventualities, contending not only with myself but with the two hungry teams that you know you’ll have to face the same night. You’re the person whom the spotlight is firmly focused on, and there is nothing left to hide behind, no corner you can slink away to while others do your work for you. You will live and die by your own actions, or lack thereof. You will face me one on one, and you will stand finally fully revealed as the man who quite simply couldn’t stand on his own, as the "Dark Man" fades away into the darkness.
It is inevitable.
Needless to say, he is already irritated, but then he rounds the corner to find the Indestructible Ichabod leaning against a wall, waiting for him.
Ichabod: Now I've seen choads shoot themselves in the foot before, but that?
He gestures vaguely in the direction of the gorilla position.
Ichabod: That was fucking pretty.
Ichy takes a drag from his cigarette as Donovan glares at him.
Hastings: I’m not in the mood.
Ichabod shrugs
Ichabod: Well get in the mood. I’m here to give you a fair warning, free of charge, just out of my kind nature. Your match tonight isn’t the only thing that isn’t going to go as you expect. You saw fit to challenge the Engine of Cthulu. Bold choice, I'll admit, but you just inadvertently stepped in shit, Lord. You pulled off some pretty twisted acts to get that thing back around your waist, are you sure you want to get mixed up in this shit and risk losing it so quickly?
Hastings: A question you could never ask yourself, given that of all the waists it has been around, it’s never been around yours.
Ichabod clamps his teeth around the Newport, doing his best Cheshire Cat as blue cloud of smoke issues out slowly.
Ichabod: How petty. I suppose I’ll permit it, given how dire your situation is about to become.
Hastings: I’d never describe being the World Heavyweight Champion as a dire situation. Again, I suppose you lack the proper perspective.
Ichabod raises an eyebrow and smirks with amusement.
Ichabod: Oh, I doubt we've ever shared the same perspective, Donovan, but there's a perspective you haven't considered with your careless challenge. Rogan MacLean alone is easily the greatest threat you’ve ever faced, and that's without the other variables you don't have the perspective to comprehend. You don’t know him like I do. Now, far be it from me to try and convince you not to throw petrified shit bullion into the soup, but you might want to taste it before you fuck with it, you know?
Donovan steps to approach Ichabod, looking him right in the eyes. Ichabod does not flinch.
Hastings: I suppose belated congratulations are in order, what with the Engine of Chaos being inducted into the Hall of Fame. An iconic honor, to be sure. I pledged to defeat icons for this title. I took it from Gabriel Baal. I’m about to defend it against Rogan MacLean. I’ll have done it all under the watchful eye of Holden Orson. I’d suggest I could defend it against you next, but the truth is you were never more than an underachieving footnote when the lights shone brightest, weren’t you?
Donovan takes a step back, looking Ichabod up and down.
Hastings: And now a broken one, at that.
Ichabod yawns. He actually fucking yawns.
Ichabod: Have it your way.
Donovan glares at him for a moment longer before continuing on his way.
It is February 6, 2017. UGWC presents Infinity from the KeyArena in Seattle, Washington.
In an unprecedented set of circumstances, three championships are on the line in one match, as the unified Engine of Chaos face the team of Alan Wallace, Donovan Hastings, Phrixus Deimos, and Travis Roberts in an eight person cooperative match. Months of building tension and momentum finally culminate when Rogan MacLean forces Travis Roberts to tap out and the Engine captures the World Heavyweight Title, adding it to the Cooperative and Chaos Titles they already possess, as the group takes a stranglehold on the Unified Global Wrestling Coalition.
Except that didn’t happen.
Instead, Holden Orson let the group down and everything the group had worked towards since Rogan first set them on the path months earlier slowly began to break apart. The legendary year long championship reign of Travis Roberts ended not with a bang to the mighty Engine of Chaos, but with a whimper to the plucky Mil Vidas Junior. The Engine of Chaos itself broke part and faded into history over the next several months, having never achieved its once promising potential.
Donovan opens the door to the Sports Entertainment Executive’s office, his head down as he mumbles to himself.
Hastings: Stupid Ichabod, hope you choke on your stupid cig-
Donovan stops as he looks up and sees all three members of the Consortium.
Hastings: Now what?
Ooley: Nothing to do with you, Hamstrings. That’s the way Ol’ Bob prefers it. We’re done here anyway.
Ooley walks past Donovan and out of the office, pausing to tap the title with the hilt of his baseball bat. Holden Orson follows, but stops in front of Donovan.
Hastings: I suppose you’d also like to tell me that I made a mistake calling out the Engine of Chtulu?
Holden tilts his head slightly to the side and smiles.
Holden: Scoff.
Holden leaves the office, as Donovan turns to face his longtime friend, who puts his hands up.
Peterson: It really didn’t have anything to do with you. Just going over some logistics for the Melee.
Hastings: I’m not concerned. Whether you were or you weren’t, the World Champion is going to have a target on his back. It’s how it should be.
Peterson: Is that what happened out there?
Hastings: I’m not sure how else you could explain it. Rogan took advantage of an opportunity. It’s what he does. Angie pinned a World Champion. That’s what she does. I’ll deal with Angelica Vaughn in due time. Perhaps she’ll be next.
Peterson: I don’t think you should be looking past Rogan.
Hastings: I’m not. This is absolutely a critical match for me. I’ve made it quite clear that my goal is to prove that I’m the greatest Entertainment Professional of every era of UGWC. There are twenty-six World Champions in UGWC history. I’ve beaten over half of them. That’s a claim that nobody else can make, and I’m not finished yet. Now, some of those unchecked names are no longer with us. There’s nothing I can do about that. Those that are left, however, I won’t rest until they’ve been added to the list.
Peterson: You can’t treat Rogan like a notch on a post.
Hastings: I don’t intend to. Rogan MacLean is a special talent, but I think it’s fair to say I’m a machine of a different sort, one that has trudged onward and upward towards destiny and legacy my entire career, and I’m not finished yet.
Peterson: I’m glad to hear it, but I hope you have more of a plan than just go out there and win.
Hastings: Well that’s always the plan, but yes, I’ve given it more thought than that. By the time I’m done with it, Rogan will wish his fancy way-station had whisked him away to anywhere but here.
It is October 30, 2017. UGWC presents Battleground from Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Rogan MacLean is the World Heavyweight Champion, having threaded the needle of mayhem at Outlast to capture the title in unlikely fashion. Tonight, Rogan will defend the title against the iconic Jet Somers, cementing his place as the hottest rising star in UGWC today. The victory will put him on a path to the main event of Horizons against Donovan Hastings, after which the back-to-back championship victories against the two biggest names in UGWC history allows Rogan to lay claim to the status of legend himself, forever securing his place in history.
Except those victories never come.
Somers defeats Rogan to win the championship for the fourth time himself, and goes on to face Hastings in the match that many consider the greatest main event in Horizons history. Rogan’s championship reign ends without a single successful defense or memorable moment beyond the dubious chain of events that led to him winning it in the first place. As for Rogan, he will suffer a disappointing defeat to his former allies at Horizons, before fading away from relevance himself, leading to an eventual hiatus from UGWC while the Coalition moves past him into a new era.
Inside the arcade section of a Dave & Busters, the Hastings twins are embattled in a fierce game of air hockey. While the sisters are typically competitive with each other, today they stand on the same side of the table, united in combat against a single opponent.
Eden Morgan.
The clicking and clacking of the epic contest can be heard throughout the establishment, and is observed carefully by Donovan, watching from a stool several yards away. Gabriel Baal approaches and takes a seat next to Donovan, handing him a drink and sipping his own.
Baal: This is the same game?
Hastings: Apparently they’re quite evenly matched. I’m told I have to face the winner.
Baal: I see.
Gabriel sips his drink.
Baal: I worry you may be in over your head.
Hastings: It’s air hockey, I think I can manage.
Baal: That’s not what I was referring to.
Hastings: I told you before, I think the skee ball lane is greased improperly, it’s hardly my fault.
Baal: It’s entirely your fault that we lost to the girls, but I’m talking about Rogan.
Donovan’s eye twitches, and he sips his drink.
Hastings: I’m listening.
Baal: Rogan has proven to be one of my closest friends. The respect between us is beyond reproach, considering our shared history.
Hastings: I’m aware.
Baal: Of course, we’ve had moments during which we loathed each other, but that’s hardly unique when it comes to my personal relationships. Surely you can relate.
Hastings: I’m defending my championship against him, not your friendship bracelet.
Baal: My point is, Rogan is one of the most talented individuals I’ve ever shared a ring with. He’s also nearly entirely untapped potential. It’s a bit sad, honestly. Still…
He clinked his drink against Donovan’s.
Baal: Would be a shame of a different sort if he finally reached that potential and it was against you.
Donovan does not have a chance to respond as Scarlett runs over to them.
Scarlett: Daddy! It was a TIE!!!
Hastings: A tie?
Scarlett: Yeah, so now you have to play me and Katie AND Auntie Eden all together at the same time!
Eden flashes a sinister smile and shrugs.
Baal: Well, now you’re definitely in over your head.
Hello, target Rogan.
I suppose you’re wondering why I chose you, why I felt that Donovan Hastings needed to defend against Rogan MacLean here and now. After all, there are several other perhaps more interesting names out there. Angelica Vaughn was the face of the main event scene in UGWC for most of a year. Duncan Ryder just won the WrestleStock Cup, and he and I certainly have a score to settle. The trickster Montague Cervantes would certainly be an intriguing match-up. Yet you are the true charlatan around here, one that I feel it is time to expose.
While your resume and list of achievements are impressive, many of them are fraudulent or misleading. The Engine of Chaos held the Chaos and Cooperative Titles, and as a result you receive credit for things you did not achieve. You did not win the Chaos Title, that was Gabriel Baal, yet every day of the reign is given to you. You may have won the Cooperative Titles, but others defended them on your behalf at Horizons, and yet every day of the reign is given to you. What the Engine did was unique and impressive, without question, but every week your opponents had to prepare for four possibilities while each of you knew your specific targets. I don’t begrudge you taking advantage of the opportunity, but the reality of your present circumstances is that you’re now facing an opponent who is only concerned with you. There are no smoke and mirrors for you to hide behind. I don’t have to worry if my challenger is coming out of door number two or door number three. You’ve had a number of big matches in your career, and you’ve won a number of them based upon the uncertainty you’ve draped around yourself. Now in the biggest match of your career, you enter it stripped bare.
History designates you as a former World Heavyweight Champion, but I will remind you here today that a champion is validated by his defense of that championship. When I was the first UGWC World Champion, a nemesis came for it and I turned back the challenge of Dirge. Years later I faced Eden Morgan inside Hell in a Cell and left with my championship reign intact. I defended the World Title against Jet Somers at WrestleStock. Just last month I put it all on the line in the Dragon’s Cave, and I beat Hide Yamazaki. Yet what did you do when you had the World Title? You lost it in anticlimactic fashion in your first defense, a month ahead of Horizons. In need of something compelling to main event our flagship event, the Consortium had to turn to me, the man who would succeed where you failed.
Let’s examine the circumstances of your victory for a moment, shall we? You advanced to the final match of the Outlast Tournament, earning the opportunity to challenge for the World Title. Yet this was the same match in which the Court chose to reveal itself. An already uncertain match had the added instability of three masked individuals that shifted the spotlight upon themselves. While all that mayhem unfolded, you were able to escape attention, swooping in at the last minute to vulture a victory. I don’t begrudge that, I want to make that clear. You saw an opportunity and you took it. I’d just you more harshly if you failed to leverage the situation as you did, or perhaps we’d truly have forgotten you entirely. You were victorious that evening, but it also left you in the position of needing that defense to validate all of it, to prove you deserved it and the accolades that come with it. In this you failed, and it is a failure from which you have never truly recovered.
Gabriel says you are a person of untapped potential. I concur with his assessment. The tools are there, Rogan, I don’t doubt that. I don’t think anyone has. You are a clever person, one who sees opportunity and is able to thread the needle of chaos and mayhem to suit his needs and reach his goals. What remains to be seen is what you do when the deck is not stacked in your favor, how you play your cards when you haven’t been dealt the winning hand.
Now you are the one who has to prepare for various eventualities, contending not only with myself but with the two hungry teams that you know you’ll have to face the same night. You’re the person whom the spotlight is firmly focused on, and there is nothing left to hide behind, no corner you can slink away to while others do your work for you. You will live and die by your own actions, or lack thereof. You will face me one on one, and you will stand finally fully revealed as the man who quite simply couldn’t stand on his own, as the "Dark Man" fades away into the darkness.
It is inevitable.
x 2
x 2
