The Great Dragon

[Tony S]

Hey everyone, I want to thank you all of all the votes with these past Slammys. I'm very honored. I promise that I will keep up the hard work and as soon as PJ Black comes back, things will begin to pick up, but Jayme and I have a few things lined up in the mean time and hopefully you'll all get to enjoy what we've got planned. Here's a little something, not too much. Work's been making us work more than we actually need to, so I didn't have as much time to throw this together. Good luck Ben, Sam, and Derek. I think the tag-team division has just picked up.

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Torches lit the stone work as they hung from the walls. A cool breeze blew from the bowels of the long corridor. The flame danced as it flickered it’s light. The crashing of tree limbs could be heard as the silence was broken.

CRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAKKKKKK…

A door opened, but nothing could be seen. Silence once again until the loud bang of the door as it closed was heard. Still, there was nothing to be seen. Just the flicker of the torches as the flames crackled. Slowly a man approached.

Michael Dante: ”And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.”

Michael Dante walked out from out of nowhere and stood in the center of the corridor. In his hand he held the book from which Dante read. His book. The book that opened his mind to the truth.

Dante paused as he closed the book and bowed his head. A shadow appeared on the wall behind Dante, and from this shadow emerged Tommy End. Dressed in a suit with his collar undone, Tommy walked around his large companion and stood next to him. Tommy while his head already bowed, lifted his head and opened his eyes.

Tommy End: ”It is time for the great dragon to be woken from his slumber, but for whom will the dragon fest? This is the question that has plagued so many scholars over the years. Men and women, who have gone to university for years, ask themselves this question. But Dante and I, we’ve found the answer.”

Dante rose his head and looked over at Tommy and gave a nod.

Tommy End: ”You see, the great dragon, he’s hungry. He’s been bound for thousands of years. Not a drop to drink. Not a morsel to eat. Not until now. Not until WrestleMania.

WrestleMania! The grandest stage of them all most would say. The night that everyone will be watching. Legacies will be made. History will be forged. And men and women will both weep out of sadness and happiness at the same time. Names will be etched in stone and live on, long past our mortal lives.”

End outstretched his arms to emphasize his point as he spoke.

Tommy End: ”A lot can be said about the night of the immortals, but for Dante and I, we have nothing to say.

We have nothing to say because Dante and I, we’ve never been to a WrestleMania. We’ve never walked down that long ramp in front of thousands of people. Millions if you count the ones watching from their homes.”

Tommy stroked his beard as he pondered his next thoughts.

Tommy End: ”Dante and I, we’ve never fought in front of that many people. We’ve been all over the world, wrestling in numerous promotions, but none of which are the likes of the EBWF. Here, Dante and I see a chance to grow.

See, we’ve conquered all those other promotions. Everywhere we’ve gone, we’ve come in and we took over. We went straight to the top, and well, that seems to be the case once again.

Barely here all but two months, Dante and I found ourselves in what EBWF calls the “best” tag-team division in the world. Seeing that Dante and I have wrestled in all the best tag-team divisions all over the world, we’ll be the judge of that, won’t we Dante?”

He looked back at Dante who just smirked at Tommy’s question.

Tommy End: ”So far, we’re not impressed.”

Dante let out a deep chuckle as he shook his head in silence.

Tommy End: ”Dalton Castle and Grado. The champs. The supposed best tag-team in the company. What happened when they went up against the Sumerian Death Squad?”

Dante lifted his free hand and held up his thumb. He quickly turned the thumb upside down.

Tommy End: ”A few weeks ago, we laid them both out in the center of the ring. The champions, flat out on their backs.

But what happened next?

The Gorgeous Guys walk down to that ring the next week and they want to tout how they’re the best. How they deserve a shot at the EBWF Tag-Team Championships. Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t you need to win to be considered for a shot? Didn’t the two of you lose the championships to Grado and Castle? In their first pairing. Two guys that had never teamed before. Beat you, for the championships. Explain to me how this entitles you to a rematch. Explain to me this even makes the two of you an actual tag-team.”

Tommy looked quizzical and complexed as he paused for a moment.

Tommy End: ”Gorgeous Guys. You walk around the locker room and hit on everything that’s got two legs and is wearing skirt, yet you want to believe that you’re the measuring stick in the tag-team division. And if that’s the case, this division is more pathetic as we expected.

See, the two of you. You became champions when this division was dying. Who did you beat to win those belts in the first place? Who of any worth did you defend those championships against? Then the two of you lost the championships to a couple of thrown together rejects.

Do you know what that makes you?

It makes you worthless. Pathetic. A sorry excuse for a team and in my opinion, the two of you should just go your separate ways.”

He pointed away from his body.

Tommy End: ”The two of you don’t make a team. You barely make a whole person, and deep down, you both know that.

You both know that once all this ends. The two of you will break up and fade completely out of everyone’s minds. No one will remember you. No one will remember anything the two of you ever did in this business. The two of you will be the Mean Street Posse of EBWF. Forgettable.”

He took a deep breath and release the air through his nose as he let out a sigh.

Tommy End: ”That is why you’ll be feasted upon by the great dragon. Except, you’d probably only be the appetizer. You won’t fill his gut. Which is why there’s a second course planned.

The champs, Dalton Castle and Grado.

The jokes are more like it, wouldn’t you say Dante?”

Another deep chuckle came from Dante as he stood there. He shook his head and lowered his head in disappointment.

Tommy End: ”Grado alone would be a full course meal, but we can’t leave out Castle. After all, he’s the only one on the team who sorta has his head on straight. Or at least that was until I kicked your head off your shoulders, again.

How’s the head by the way?”

He gave a smirk as he chuckled a little himself.

Tommy End: ”Look, I don’t know what to say. I don’t know if I can say anything that I didn’t already say a few weeks ago. You two proved every single one of our theories out there. Sure, you put up more of a fight than Dante was expecting, but look at you. Then look at Dante. See where he could have made that assumption.

Anyways, the two of you proved to us that you don’t belong as a tag-team.

You’re not in sync. There’s not poetry between you. You don’t think as one.”

Tommy placed his finger to his head.

Tommy End: ”Do you know what makes Dante and I one of the best tag-teams in the world? It because Dante and I, we’re connected. We’re on the same page even if we’re reading different books. I know where he is, what he’s doing, and what he’s thinking every second of the match and vice versa. We two bodys with one brain. We know everything that one another will do. We go into the match with a plan and we institute that plan to the fullest, and we do it without having to say a word.

That is why we dominated the two of you a few weeks ago at Warfare. Dalton, you and Grado weren’t a cohesive unit. Simply put. You did nothing to feed off you teammate. He gave you plenty, but you didn’t use him. You didn’t base your moves off of his.

Now he didn’t help the situation either. Grado was fumbling around the ring all over the place. He didn’t know what he was doing. Heck, the man flat out lost you the match. Granted you Dalton, were have a little nap on the outside of the ring and left Grado all alone with the Death Squad.”

He shook his head.

Tommy End: ”Castle, a lot of people would say you’re the talented one on the team. Yet you laid out at ringside and let your partner, a man who you were suppose to have his back. You let him alone inside the ring with his ending.

You let Grado in the ring before the firing squad and look what happened.

Look what happened to Grado. He lost. He had his moment to shine. His moment to prove his worth to the team. Prove he belonged to be a partner you could believe in. A partner you could trust to have your back. But instead, he proved that he’s worthless.”

Tommy crossed his arms as he turned to his side.

Tommy End: ”Which brings me to what I said a few weeks ago. You remember, when I talked to you about that little bit of doubt.

I told you that you were going to lose. I told you that Grado would do something to cast that little bit of doubt. Which will fester inside you Castle. I bet it’s already started to bloom deep down.

I bet deep down, you know what I mean. Deep down you know that Grado is the weak link and that doubt will continue on into WrestleMania. The lack of chemistry you two had a few weeks ago, it’ll be tenfold because that doubt will be there. You’re going to keep looking over your shoulder to make sure Grado isn’t doing something that will cost you one of your precious championships. You’ll doubt him. You don’t trust him. You won’t let him do things his way. Grado will try to climb the ladder, you’ll climb up and try to beat him to the championships because you won’t have any confidence Grado can get the championship.

This is where the downward spiral will continue. It started a few weeks ago. WrestleMania, it’ll continue. The seed of doubt will bud and you’ll see Grado as less than you. You’ll think you’re better. You’ll think, “Well I’m the EBWF Gateway Champion, I don’t need Grado.” Then you’ll cost yourself the championships and just like at Warfare, Dante and I will be there to take control.”

With a smirk, Tommy nodded his head.

Tommy End: ”So Castle, where everyone might consider Grado the main course, the great dragon will feast on you. He’ll make a rare steak out a peacock, with a side of Grado potatoes. Sounds like a filling meal.”

He dropped his arms to his sides.

Tommy End: ”So while the great dragon is devour on the two of you and The Gorgeous Guys, Dante and I will do what we do and we’ll take our place at the top of this division. We’ll climb the ladder and we’ll pull down those EBWF Tag-Team Championships and we’ll reign supreme in the EBWF Universe, just like we’ve done all over the world.

We’ll take those championship, not because we desire the championship. No, we’re going to take them because neither team we’re face deserve the championship. In fact, there’s no team on this roster that deserves the tag-team championships, which is why Dante and I, we’ll take them.

We’re the best.

We proved that a few weeks ago when we defeated Castle and Grado. We’re going to prove it when we climb that ladder at WrestleMania and become the new EBWF Tag-Team Championship. I would say that there’s nothing the four of you could do to stop us, but that would just be stating the obvious. You’ll all see it at WrestleMania.”

Tommy took another deep breath as he took a step back and walked back around Dante, the same way he entered. Dante looked back down at his book as he placed his hand on the book.

Michael Dante: ”It has been said, ‘the truth will make men free.’ The truth alone has never made anyone free. It is only doubt which will bring mental emancipation.”

Dante closed the book and looked up. He turned and walked away. He walked out of view, leaving only the flickering flames. The same loud creak was heard a few seconds later, followed by the same slam. The flame of the torches danced in the gust of air.