Post by Torture on Dec 27, 2015 15:45:40 GMT -5
THEN
- Torture takes a sigh of relief and opens the front door to his home. His wife greets him with a kiss and his son runs down the stairs and jumps into his arms. It's good to be home for Torture. But this isn't just him returning from a work trip, or a wrestling event. This is home. To completely understand this, we must take you back to May 31st of this year. You see, that was when Torture decided if he was going to come back to Wrestling Championship Federation full time, then he must succumb to the real monster within. He must be who his family, his friends, and who he deep down hated to be. The bad one. The monster. He hated it. But Tort became it. He packed his bags, he left his family, he left his work, he got the crew back together.. You know the boys, Tank, Daniels and even Tort's good friend and former Wrestling protege Chris Avery.. and for what it's worth, it sort of worked. Torture captured the very title that catapulted his career in Wrestling Championship Federation. The Hardcore Championship. Of course, he did what he did a decade ago, and that was very bastardly things. He did terrible things, to good people, but it kept the gold around his waist and he moved forward and onward with it, and that's exactly what Torture was doing this time. Back then he was beating your favorites in PC Cradle, Madd Dogg, Defman, Vidneo, and the list goes on and on, and this time? Well he beat your favorites again. Sure, these guys are not worthy of WCF Hall of Fame (yet), but Mayhem was everyone's favorite, and Torture did to him what he always did to the guys that everyone wanted to succeed.. and that was beat em'. It sucked. Deep down, and I mean deep, deep down, it sucked for Torture too. You think it's easy for a guy who LOVES Wrestling Championship Federation so much, a guy who LOVES to see the young ones succeed and climb through the rankings the old fashioned way, the respectable way, to see a good kid lose? A good kid lose and quit? No, it wasn't easy for Torture but he knew if he wanted to succeed himself he had to do one thing.. and that was to give in to the monster within. I mean, we're talking about Torture here.. the guy who everyone hates but it was Torture who demanded Slickie T come up, it was Torture who gave D-Day the rub, it was Torture who gave Jay Price his huge mid-card spotlight.. well... Maybe more on that later, but this was Torture coming home finally.. after months of his Hardcore Championship run, after months of pissing all the right people off, after months of just doing stupid, childish, terrible, bad things to good people.. this was the day after Torture lost the Hardcore Championship and it put him right back where he belonged. Right where he always wanted to be. Wrestling Championship Federation was never the end-game for Torture, even a decade and a half ago.. Nope, Wrestling Championship Federation was just the placeholder for now, and Torture was returning home for good.. Or he thought.
Torture: I missed you guys.
- The wife and son kiss him and hug him tight and respond. Torture smirking from ear to ear. He feels it. He doesn't know exactly what that feeling is, but he feels it. Something is slightly off. Just 16 hours ago he demanded Price to answer for what he did, he put his Hardcore Championship on the line and lost it in his first actual defense and it was all because of a friend.. erm.. a 'dude who he thought was his friend' attacked him from behind, and he had no reason why. Unanswered phone calls. Ignored texts. This wasn't about professional wrestling, this was personal, but Torture was weeks before realizing that, but he knew something was up, something just didn't feel right. He knew he wasn't completely home.
KINDA THEN
- Torture is sitting next to his brother in a hospital type room. His brother with two or three machines hooked up to him, his breathing is slow and steady, Torture is quiet and calm. But very serious. Torture at his bedside looks up and speaks.
Torture: I still can't believe they would do this.
- We pan out and realize Avery, Daniels, and Tank are on the other side of the bed near the window all with their very own Backstreet Boys serious album cover pose. Daniels is looking out the window, Tank is leaning up against the wall, and Avery begins to respond.
Avery: We have to take this to him.. them, whatever they are.
Torture: Me and what army? With who!?
Avery: Us! It's four against two, we have your back, brother.
- Torture drops his head into his palms. He takes a few breaths before looking back up to the gang and responding.
Torture: Can't..
Tank: WHY NOT BRO?
Torture: Shh, not too loud, and it can't be you, Tank! You know that!
Tank: WHY--Why not?
Torture: When was the last match you even won in Wrestling Championship Federation? When was the last time you even beat someone up?
Tank: Just last year! I won that one match!
Torture: That was 2010!
Tank:.. Yeah, last year!
Torture: It's December of 2015!
Tank: SHITWUT!?
Torture: Chris?
- With that Avery steps over to Tank and whispers some stuff into his ear. Tank looks confused but quietly obliges to leave the hospital room. Chris goes back to his conversation with Torture.
Avery: What are you saying, Tort?
Torture: This is personal, this isn't fun and games, Chris. My god damn brother was abused by these sick fucks.. this isn't a conversation to be had right now.
Daniels: Chris, Tort is right. Look at us bro?
- Daniels turns from the window to Chris and Torture.
Daniels: We're nobodies. We haven't won in ages, not to mention, this is completely personal and we're just.. not personal.
Avery: What do you mean?
Daniels: We're business, man. That's what he's saying.. we're his friends when he wants us to be. I'm okay with that, maybe not you, but me? I'm okay being his friend when he needs some dirty work done, or an extra pair of hands. That's fine. I'm for hire, bro, and this is a whole new level of personal shit I'm not ready for and Tort doesn't need us for this fight. He needs someone good, someone who can take the damage and keep fighting back. Someone, not like Tank and I.
- Daniels looks at Tort.
Daniels: With all do respect, Torture, I'm sorry they did this to your brother. You know I got mad love for you, but I'm a jobber, man, and I'ma lay low for a while. I'll call ya next year..
- Daniels walks out but not before stopping by Torture and putting his hand on his shoulder. A sign of respect in their brotherhood. Daniels walks out and takes Tank with him. Tank peaks in the door trying to motion goodbye to Tort. Avery goes back to their conversation.
Avery: Me and you.. we can do this, man. For your brother..
- A tear falls down Avery's cheek.
Torture: Chris..
Avery: Don't you dare say it, you son of a bitch..
Torture: Chris..
Avery: This isn't how it ends!
Torture: Chris..
- Avery turns to the window over looking downtown Los Angeles, California. The city that helped save Chris. He was young, and dumb, and breaking into professional Wrestling in the shitty Chicago city but couldn't catch a break, that was until Tort flew him to Los Angeles for some training and really started to groom him to be the next top star in WCF. Avery then moved with Tort and the two formed a bond that many have never had in a friend. A brother. No blood. Just a deep bond between two dudes hustlin' to make it in America. Avery stares at the city that saved him a decade ago. The tall building with CoolWear Inc plastered on the side.
Torture: It's over. Go back to your CoolWear job in the city. Put WCF behind you, and know that wrestling is done. Your job as my wrestling manager is done. It's over.
- Avery nods in agreement with his back turned to Torture and his brother who is in a coma. Avery wipes his nose, and cheeks of the tears and turns back to Torture. They lock eyes.
Avery: You kill those mother fuckers, you kill those mother fuckers for us.
- Tort nods and looks back to his brother and grabs his hand. Avery quickly exits the hospital room. Torture leans his head down against the bed rail.
NOW
- Torture is sitting in his office staring out the window. Staples Center is 7 blocks away. Heavy breathing. Intense look. His hands clasped together with his face held inside. 14 hours until One. The city's lights are bright and colorful, and one can only imagine the color Torture wants to put inside that ring that drains from Creeping Death's face, and Jay Prices forehead. A figure running up the stairs is heard. Torture blinks twice and comes out of his deep thought. He turns around as the figure turns in his office door. It's his wife. She has a phone in her hand. His wife says the words, this family has been waiting to hear for nearly 3 weeks.
"He's waking up!"
- Torture's eyes grow bigger and he stands up. His wife excitedly turns back around and runs down the stairs passed the Christmas tree and grabs her coat. Tank and Avery grab Torture's son Ben. They nod to Torture as Tort makes his way down the stairs almost as if this is slow motion. As if Torture is slowly realizing that maybe things will be okay. Torture and his wife head out through the front door and into their SUV. His brother has woken up from his coma, the night before One. The night before this heated, personal rivalry ends once and for all.
WAY BACK THEN.
Torture: ..then we'll be the Tag Team Champions, then we can win all their World titles, then we'll have all the belts, bro. GWC is the sucks, and we'll show em' why.
Creeping Death: Fuck yeah, man!
- Tort stops CD and himself from walking around on top of an amazing, luxiourus looking tower with bells that toll and stuff. Tort gets serious for a minute.
Torture: Let's make a pact that we never turn on each other. We stay a team.. and best friends forever!
Creeping Death: .....
Torture: Yeah?
- CD blinks a few times.
Torture: Yea-
Creeping Death: You have literally turned on me three times already.
Torture: Oh, about those..
- Torture rolls his eyes.
Torture: That was nothing! That was just, uhm, business and stuff man. That was because it was XCW and who gives a shit!
Creeping Death: You've done it twice in WCF in the last few months!
Torture: AYE, WHAT AM I ON TRIAL HERE?!
Creeping Death: Well when you spit out shit like that..
Torture: You can trust me, bro! Let's be friends and a team forever.. and I don't mean now, I mean when this is all said done, when Wrestling has passed us up and we're the old slow fucks in the room. I mean, when we're like dying off and everyone is way better than us, and faster than us, and they probably do a bunch of flippy finishers and shit..
Creeping Death: I do flippy finishers..
Torture: I mean Flippy-flipppy-flipppyyy Finishers.. deal?
Creeping Death: Meh, whatever. Deal.
Torture: Alright! My first and only friend who is almost as good as me at Professional Wrestling.
Creeping Death: What was that?
Torture: I said my first real wrestling friend!
- The two continue over-looking the forest that surrounds some crazy awesome looking Castle that Creeping Death is usually at in Iowa or whereever this scene is from that I just wrote but most likely happened off-camera that I'm reminding you about to continue my narrative.
NOW
- Torture is staring out the window of the passenger side of his SUV while his wife drives through town on their way to the hospital.
Wife: Can you trust him?
- Torture looks down before looking at her. She repeats the question.
Wife: Can you trust your partner?
Torture: Jonny? Oh Fly? No. I can't trust him.
Wife: Then why him?
Torture: I remember when your sister looked at me across the table from Reali's pizza place.
Wife: Oh?
Torture: She looked at me with her beautiful green eyes, she held me in her eyes for what felt like forever. I think it was our 5th or 6th date, I dunno. It was a few months in. I remember asking her what she saw in some piece of shit Professional Wrestler. What she saw in some terrible fucked up person like me.
Wife: Hunny..
Torture: I remember when I felt so low, so insecure that night because I was sure she was done with me after this date. I figured there wasn't any reason she would continue to date me, not because of me personally, just because of my schedule, my routine, my lifestyle, it had to be hard for her. I know the trouble she came from too, the divorce she was going through. I remember asking her if she wanted to continue dating me.
- Torture looks back out the window, turning his wedding ring on his finger, chuckling to himself.
Torture: Here I am, this huge superstar in Pro Wrestling, this rising business man making millions, and here I am asking this beautiful woman if she wanted to keep dating me. I was feeling low. Oh, but the way she said yes, the way she grabbed my hand and said yes, I'll never forget what she said to me next.
Wife: What was that?
Torture: I asked why? Why me?
Wife: And?
- Tort smirks and looks back down in his lap then back to his wife.
Wife: What did she say?
Torture: She smiled this huge smile, her green eyes took me in, and she said "Destiny". I'll never forget that night. I've replayed it a hundred times in my head, most times involuntarily, but I've replayed it. So you ask me if I can trust Jonny Fly for this match at One tomorrow night and I have to answer no. I don't trust him. I don't trust him, like everyone else doesn't trust me, and that's okay because you ask me why? Why am I okay with him being in my corner? I tell you what your sister told me that night when she told me she wanted to continue dating me, I'll tell you what I told her the night I asked her to marry me, the night we got married, and a random text message she sent me two days before she was taken from us..
- Torture looks at his wife.
Torture: Destiny. Price and Death need to pay for what they did, and destiny is comin' to hurt em', baby, and trusting Fly isn't my main concern because I know they'll get what they have comin' for em'. Win, lose or draw..
- He looks back out the window again.
Torture: They're going to get their destiny.
- The car speeds through town as their approach their destination; the hospital.
WAY BACK THEN KINDA
Torture: Let him be on my team, I'll show him the ropes, I'll give him every chance to shine here! I think this is the kid we've been lookin' for, for a while!
Seth Lerch: You say this about every new kid that joins! You and Logan say the same shit, you want to brainwash them, use them, abuse them and spit them out and no one ever stays!
Torture: Oh come on, don't compare me to that piece of shit, dude, listen. This Price kid looks like a video game CAW, but give me some time, I'll groom him, put him on Team of Torture and he'll be a good mid-card kid! Plus, if he wants to turn on me, let him turn, make him face, sell some pay per view tickets, and we'll have a story for the Summer like you wanted! Come on, it makes too much sense!
Seth Lerch: Logan is already talking to him.
Torture: Let him talk to him! He'll find out soon Logan isn't in this for the long haul! Dude, look down the line for WCF, who the fuck do you think is going to be main eventing your ONE pay per views post 2013? You think it's going to be Logan? Dude, you know it's going to be me! I'm never leaving, I'm never retiring, you know I would never quit on this place! I love WCF!
Seth Lerch: I know, I know, but they're already talking about being a tag team and stuff.
Torture: Look, Price is good, but he isn't that good. Just let me groom him. If I don't get some of these new dudes better, this place won't survive! There's other wrestling companies that are gaining popularity!
Seth Lerch: LIKE WHO!?
Torture: Dude, come on..
Seth Lerch: OH GWC?!!? YOU THINK GWC IS AS GOOD AS ME AND MY WCF?! YOU THINK GWC IS ANYTHING SPECIAL? THEIR NOTHING BUT JOBBERS THAT SUCK DICKS AND STUFF!
Torture: That's what I'm telling you, Seth, so tell Price he needs to join my Team of Torture, and let me shape him to be a better wrestler for your company. You know Logan will quit out on you so we're going to need some mid-card shine.
Seth Lerch: Okay, okay, I'll pull the trigger on it.
Torture: Yeah, I do this for you and you do something for me down the line.
Seth Lerch: Like what?
Torture: Ha! Just spit balling, but wouldn't it be fuckin' hilarious if I'm like 15 year veteran and you put the Hardcore title back on me and just piss everyone off!
Seth Lerch: Come on, don't be absurd!
Torture: Think about it, that shit would be hilarious. Just winnin' titles for shits and giggles! Let's just put that card in the back pocket and ONLY play it if we have to.
Seth Lerch: Yeah, yeah, whatever we have a deal. Take this new kid Jay Price and make him semi-good. I need WCF to survive!
Torture: You got it, bro.
- Tort leaves the head office of Seth Lerch the week after Jay Price signed up for WCF.
KINDA THEN
- His brother in a deep coma. Days after that brutal attack from Price and Creeping Death, he's been moved to a private care center somewhere in Los Angeles near Torture's home. Tort has been by his brothers side all day. Just early his Team of Torture mates visited to pay their respects, and perhaps come up with a plan but this is far more than just Torture and his rag-tag jobber buddies getting revenge, no, this is personal. Torture feels that, he felt that when he returned home and knew something was up, he felt it when he slept that night, that perhaps not everything was okay. All this time, Tort was vulnerable, and he didn't realize it. He should have. For those who don't know, Torture was married to a beautiful woman, and he took her son in like his own. They were together for nearly two years before a man Torture knew as his best friend destroyed all of it in one ugly day. Tort was left to die in the desert of Nevada while his step-son and wife were murdered in his home by Kurtis Victory. It took Torture out of action for a year, and some say to this day, that even when he returned he wasn't 100% Torture. It may be true, it may not, but the point was Tort had to have realized he had a vulnerable piece of the puzzle still missing and two ugly pieces of shit took advantage. The room is quiet but the breathing through the tube sounds, and the beeping on the machine. It's passed visiting hours, but Torture knows the right people, knows how to manipulate the system with his money and fortune. Sharing a room with just his brother.. yet feels alone. He begins to mumble to himself.
Torture: You were supposed to protect me. You were my older brother for Christs sake. You were supposed to take care of me!
- Torture begins to speak a little louder.
Torture: I see their faces on the street. I see Mom and Dad at the grocery store, I see Dad when I sit at traffic lights in the car next to me, I can't go anywhere without seeing them at least once a day. I wish I could go back to that night and change almost every thing. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about trading all of this for five more minutes with mom.. dad... you. To go back to when you were 14, and I was 9 would be everything to me. A monster took them from us, which took you from me.
- Torture pounds his fist against the bed rail, frustrated, teary-eyed, continuing his long winded rant.
Torture: Why did YOU shut me out!? What did I do to you for you to close up and keep me away from you? I don't even remember the last thing you said to me.. I try to remember, but I can't. Between us screaming and crying, between the gun shots that were fired, between the sirens and police cars, I don't remember ONE FUCKING WORD YOU SAID TO ME! It's been almost twenty years and you're just as gone as they are. I've seen you five times in the last ten years, and it's lasted under ten minutes, this has to change.
- Torture stands up and paces around the room.
Torture: I was standing in that ring and when I looked at the video tron and I saw you I froze. I fuckin' froze because all I could think about was 'it was happening again'. I didn't get to say good bye to my wife and step son, I didn't even get to see their faces for the days prior, but there you were on the video screen and I was frozen hoping this wasn't happening but slowly realizing that history was repeating it's self over and over and over and I couldn't stop it. My family has been taken from me in one way or another, whether it's our parents being murdered in cold blood, my wife and step-son being murdered in cold blood, or my current wife and son being taken from me because I chose to jump back into wrestling and put my foot on the pedal. This can't work anymore, man, something has to change. I want to know why you closed me off, I want to know why you went mute since that day. I DESERVE AN ANSWER!
- Torture leans his head against the wall.
Torture: Why is this happening to me? Why is Jay Price even doing this? I stuck my neck out for that piece of shit. When he came into this place, I took him under my wing, and while doing so he was manipulated by Logan, he randomly turned on me, disappeared for months, then fast forward 10 years and what has he become? Nothing of his full potential, I'll tell you that, and why? Because of Logan, that piece of shit. Price and Logan are made for each other for how fuckin' stupid they both are. Their quitters, complainers and babies and they'll never have what I have! They'll never have what Creeping Death has and he's complained twice as much as they have! What petty, jealous, two-timin' pieces of shit to have as friends, and why? Why did I keep them around?
Why does Price want this? To prove what? He still has it? He never had it. He never was going to be anything in WCF because he was born at the wrong time. He was in the wrong era. Maybe if WCF had a few years of decline he would be the face, but that dude played 4th fiddle at best and he knows it. Why have a hard on for me? The guy who tried to build him into something, the guy who tried to share his empire with him. The guy who could have saved him. And I was close friends with Corey, I don't even want to discuss how weird he is, man. The get-up, the paint, his dark passenger, I just don't get it. I'll never forget the mysterious life I lived with him and Nikki around me. What a weird set of people they are. I don't think there are any words that I can say to shoot on them that I haven't already said. I'm better than them in every way possible and they hate it. Why the fuck they teamed up to do this to me is beyond me, but I stopped trying to understand pieces of shit a long time ago. Creeping Death and I have literally been in each others accomplishments our entire careers. I can tell you right now winning the XCW Rumble was throwing him out of the ring, winning Tag Team Championships, winning Hardcore Championships while he was setting fire in other divisions winning their titles, going head to head for the World Championship here, all the way to my Hall of Fame match, and speech. He's literally been by my side and he does this? He tries to murder my brother in some sort of sadistic fashion? What the fuck is wrong with these two people? What was wrong with Kurtis Victory? What was wrong with the man who shot our parents? What is wrong with you...-
- Torture puts his head against the wall as a memory flashes back to just a few days after his parents were murdered. He quickly looks back at his brother behind him who has not moved in the slightest.
Torture: It was you.. That's what happened..
- He continues to remember as he slightly stumbles his way back to his chair to sit at his bed side.
Torture: You were crying to someone, I remember being in the other room at the Foster Care and you were crying to an elder woman, you were telling her you hurt him, you hurt him bad..
- Tort is remembering the last time he heard his brother speak.
Torture: You said you might have killed him..
- A single tear runs down his cheek.
Torture: You said you tortured him..
- Tort grabs his brothers hand and leans his head against it.
Torture: You killed our parents murderer and you couldn't live with it. You couldn't live being a monster. Not like Victory, not like Jay Price and Creeping Death. Their monsters who need to be put down. They need to pay for all of this. They need to pay for their careers. They need to be fucking put down.
- Tort takes a few minutes before continuing to speak out loud for no apparent reason.
Torture: You did protect me, you did take care of me. You let your monster out and you killed that piece of shit. I didn't even know why I called myself this dumb name. This, is, all.. so ironic.
- Poetic perhaps, but the scene fades as Torture lays his head against the bed rail.
NOW
- Torture's wife and a few doctors are discussing the current situation with his brother in the corner of the room while Torture is sitting back in the same chair he sat in just a few days ago while he was in a coma. His brother blinking, breathing, still not talking, but Torture has accepted that he just won't speak. He doesn't need to. The doctors leave the room while the wife turns her attention to Torture.
Wife: You need some rest, babe. One is tomorrow night.
Torture: I know.
Wife: They said they'll be checking on him every ten minutes and they'll even put the show on in here for him tomorrow. You don't have to stay the night here.
Torture: I know.
Wife: We should go babe, you need rest.
Torture: Okay..
Wife: I'll get some water, I'll be down stairs.
- She exits the room and leaves the brothers to themselves again. Torture gets back to his feet and closes the curtains to the window. He turns the TV on and turns the volume down. I think it's more for looks than sound for his brother. Maybe it's just an over sized night light for him. Tort grabs his coat off the corner hook and puts both arms in when he notices his brother slowly reaching upward. Tort adjusts his coat and goes to his side.
Torture: What is it, brother?
- Tort grabs his hand and it seems as if his brother is bringing Torture in close.
Torture: What was that? I didn't hear you..
- Tort gets real close and his brother whispers something in his ear loud and clear.
"Tomorrow night. Let the monster out."
- Tort narrows his eyes and slowly stands to a vertical base. His brothers attention focuses back to the television. Torture taps his brother on the hand a few times and walks straight out of the of room. The worrying. The remembering. The panic. The confusion. The depression. The sadness. The loneliness. The mystique. It's all gone. Torture is as clear headed as he can be, and that makes him far more dangerous than he's ever been. Torture is off to fight at One with Jonny Fly in his corner against Jay Price and Creeping Death and Torture's promise is to put Price and Death down. He's going to put them down for good. The monster is coming out of it's cage for one more night, and Price and Death will be getting what is owed..
BACK THEN SOME MORE.
- We open up to a scene from years ago with Torture wearing a nice suit, standing at a podium with a WCF microphone in front of him. He points to reporter Hank Brown out of the nearly hundred reporters standing in the room in front of him.
Hank Brown: Tort! You've had crazy classic matches at One including your bouts with Corey Black and Brad Kane, not to mention your huge wins over Slickie T and Jay Price! We know you won't be wrestling in tomorrow night's ONE event, but could you see yourself wrestling at One ever again?
- Tort smiles as the cameras bulbs flash during his entire response.
Torture: I think so. I mean, I can see myself wrestling at One again. It would be cool to get in the ring at One in the future but nothing too serious! I think what I'm saying is, it would be fun to wrestle at One again and maybe fight some of my friends!
- Tort lets out a chuckle. Fade to black.
- Torture takes a sigh of relief and opens the front door to his home. His wife greets him with a kiss and his son runs down the stairs and jumps into his arms. It's good to be home for Torture. But this isn't just him returning from a work trip, or a wrestling event. This is home. To completely understand this, we must take you back to May 31st of this year. You see, that was when Torture decided if he was going to come back to Wrestling Championship Federation full time, then he must succumb to the real monster within. He must be who his family, his friends, and who he deep down hated to be. The bad one. The monster. He hated it. But Tort became it. He packed his bags, he left his family, he left his work, he got the crew back together.. You know the boys, Tank, Daniels and even Tort's good friend and former Wrestling protege Chris Avery.. and for what it's worth, it sort of worked. Torture captured the very title that catapulted his career in Wrestling Championship Federation. The Hardcore Championship. Of course, he did what he did a decade ago, and that was very bastardly things. He did terrible things, to good people, but it kept the gold around his waist and he moved forward and onward with it, and that's exactly what Torture was doing this time. Back then he was beating your favorites in PC Cradle, Madd Dogg, Defman, Vidneo, and the list goes on and on, and this time? Well he beat your favorites again. Sure, these guys are not worthy of WCF Hall of Fame (yet), but Mayhem was everyone's favorite, and Torture did to him what he always did to the guys that everyone wanted to succeed.. and that was beat em'. It sucked. Deep down, and I mean deep, deep down, it sucked for Torture too. You think it's easy for a guy who LOVES Wrestling Championship Federation so much, a guy who LOVES to see the young ones succeed and climb through the rankings the old fashioned way, the respectable way, to see a good kid lose? A good kid lose and quit? No, it wasn't easy for Torture but he knew if he wanted to succeed himself he had to do one thing.. and that was to give in to the monster within. I mean, we're talking about Torture here.. the guy who everyone hates but it was Torture who demanded Slickie T come up, it was Torture who gave D-Day the rub, it was Torture who gave Jay Price his huge mid-card spotlight.. well... Maybe more on that later, but this was Torture coming home finally.. after months of his Hardcore Championship run, after months of pissing all the right people off, after months of just doing stupid, childish, terrible, bad things to good people.. this was the day after Torture lost the Hardcore Championship and it put him right back where he belonged. Right where he always wanted to be. Wrestling Championship Federation was never the end-game for Torture, even a decade and a half ago.. Nope, Wrestling Championship Federation was just the placeholder for now, and Torture was returning home for good.. Or he thought.
Torture: I missed you guys.
- The wife and son kiss him and hug him tight and respond. Torture smirking from ear to ear. He feels it. He doesn't know exactly what that feeling is, but he feels it. Something is slightly off. Just 16 hours ago he demanded Price to answer for what he did, he put his Hardcore Championship on the line and lost it in his first actual defense and it was all because of a friend.. erm.. a 'dude who he thought was his friend' attacked him from behind, and he had no reason why. Unanswered phone calls. Ignored texts. This wasn't about professional wrestling, this was personal, but Torture was weeks before realizing that, but he knew something was up, something just didn't feel right. He knew he wasn't completely home.
KINDA THEN
- Torture is sitting next to his brother in a hospital type room. His brother with two or three machines hooked up to him, his breathing is slow and steady, Torture is quiet and calm. But very serious. Torture at his bedside looks up and speaks.
Torture: I still can't believe they would do this.
- We pan out and realize Avery, Daniels, and Tank are on the other side of the bed near the window all with their very own Backstreet Boys serious album cover pose. Daniels is looking out the window, Tank is leaning up against the wall, and Avery begins to respond.
Avery: We have to take this to him.. them, whatever they are.
Torture: Me and what army? With who!?
Avery: Us! It's four against two, we have your back, brother.
- Torture drops his head into his palms. He takes a few breaths before looking back up to the gang and responding.
Torture: Can't..
Tank: WHY NOT BRO?
Torture: Shh, not too loud, and it can't be you, Tank! You know that!
Tank: WHY--Why not?
Torture: When was the last match you even won in Wrestling Championship Federation? When was the last time you even beat someone up?
Tank: Just last year! I won that one match!
Torture: That was 2010!
Tank:.. Yeah, last year!
Torture: It's December of 2015!
Tank: SHITWUT!?
Torture: Chris?
- With that Avery steps over to Tank and whispers some stuff into his ear. Tank looks confused but quietly obliges to leave the hospital room. Chris goes back to his conversation with Torture.
Avery: What are you saying, Tort?
Torture: This is personal, this isn't fun and games, Chris. My god damn brother was abused by these sick fucks.. this isn't a conversation to be had right now.
Daniels: Chris, Tort is right. Look at us bro?
- Daniels turns from the window to Chris and Torture.
Daniels: We're nobodies. We haven't won in ages, not to mention, this is completely personal and we're just.. not personal.
Avery: What do you mean?
Daniels: We're business, man. That's what he's saying.. we're his friends when he wants us to be. I'm okay with that, maybe not you, but me? I'm okay being his friend when he needs some dirty work done, or an extra pair of hands. That's fine. I'm for hire, bro, and this is a whole new level of personal shit I'm not ready for and Tort doesn't need us for this fight. He needs someone good, someone who can take the damage and keep fighting back. Someone, not like Tank and I.
- Daniels looks at Tort.
Daniels: With all do respect, Torture, I'm sorry they did this to your brother. You know I got mad love for you, but I'm a jobber, man, and I'ma lay low for a while. I'll call ya next year..
- Daniels walks out but not before stopping by Torture and putting his hand on his shoulder. A sign of respect in their brotherhood. Daniels walks out and takes Tank with him. Tank peaks in the door trying to motion goodbye to Tort. Avery goes back to their conversation.
Avery: Me and you.. we can do this, man. For your brother..
- A tear falls down Avery's cheek.
Torture: Chris..
Avery: Don't you dare say it, you son of a bitch..
Torture: Chris..
Avery: This isn't how it ends!
Torture: Chris..
- Avery turns to the window over looking downtown Los Angeles, California. The city that helped save Chris. He was young, and dumb, and breaking into professional Wrestling in the shitty Chicago city but couldn't catch a break, that was until Tort flew him to Los Angeles for some training and really started to groom him to be the next top star in WCF. Avery then moved with Tort and the two formed a bond that many have never had in a friend. A brother. No blood. Just a deep bond between two dudes hustlin' to make it in America. Avery stares at the city that saved him a decade ago. The tall building with CoolWear Inc plastered on the side.
Torture: It's over. Go back to your CoolWear job in the city. Put WCF behind you, and know that wrestling is done. Your job as my wrestling manager is done. It's over.
- Avery nods in agreement with his back turned to Torture and his brother who is in a coma. Avery wipes his nose, and cheeks of the tears and turns back to Torture. They lock eyes.
Avery: You kill those mother fuckers, you kill those mother fuckers for us.
- Tort nods and looks back to his brother and grabs his hand. Avery quickly exits the hospital room. Torture leans his head down against the bed rail.
NOW
- Torture is sitting in his office staring out the window. Staples Center is 7 blocks away. Heavy breathing. Intense look. His hands clasped together with his face held inside. 14 hours until One. The city's lights are bright and colorful, and one can only imagine the color Torture wants to put inside that ring that drains from Creeping Death's face, and Jay Prices forehead. A figure running up the stairs is heard. Torture blinks twice and comes out of his deep thought. He turns around as the figure turns in his office door. It's his wife. She has a phone in her hand. His wife says the words, this family has been waiting to hear for nearly 3 weeks.
"He's waking up!"
- Torture's eyes grow bigger and he stands up. His wife excitedly turns back around and runs down the stairs passed the Christmas tree and grabs her coat. Tank and Avery grab Torture's son Ben. They nod to Torture as Tort makes his way down the stairs almost as if this is slow motion. As if Torture is slowly realizing that maybe things will be okay. Torture and his wife head out through the front door and into their SUV. His brother has woken up from his coma, the night before One. The night before this heated, personal rivalry ends once and for all.
WAY BACK THEN.
Torture: ..then we'll be the Tag Team Champions, then we can win all their World titles, then we'll have all the belts, bro. GWC is the sucks, and we'll show em' why.
Creeping Death: Fuck yeah, man!
- Tort stops CD and himself from walking around on top of an amazing, luxiourus looking tower with bells that toll and stuff. Tort gets serious for a minute.
Torture: Let's make a pact that we never turn on each other. We stay a team.. and best friends forever!
Creeping Death: .....
Torture: Yeah?
- CD blinks a few times.
Torture: Yea-
Creeping Death: You have literally turned on me three times already.
Torture: Oh, about those..
- Torture rolls his eyes.
Torture: That was nothing! That was just, uhm, business and stuff man. That was because it was XCW and who gives a shit!
Creeping Death: You've done it twice in WCF in the last few months!
Torture: AYE, WHAT AM I ON TRIAL HERE?!
Creeping Death: Well when you spit out shit like that..
Torture: You can trust me, bro! Let's be friends and a team forever.. and I don't mean now, I mean when this is all said done, when Wrestling has passed us up and we're the old slow fucks in the room. I mean, when we're like dying off and everyone is way better than us, and faster than us, and they probably do a bunch of flippy finishers and shit..
Creeping Death: I do flippy finishers..
Torture: I mean Flippy-flipppy-flipppyyy Finishers.. deal?
Creeping Death: Meh, whatever. Deal.
Torture: Alright! My first and only friend who is almost as good as me at Professional Wrestling.
Creeping Death: What was that?
Torture: I said my first real wrestling friend!
- The two continue over-looking the forest that surrounds some crazy awesome looking Castle that Creeping Death is usually at in Iowa or whereever this scene is from that I just wrote but most likely happened off-camera that I'm reminding you about to continue my narrative.
NOW
- Torture is staring out the window of the passenger side of his SUV while his wife drives through town on their way to the hospital.
Wife: Can you trust him?
- Torture looks down before looking at her. She repeats the question.
Wife: Can you trust your partner?
Torture: Jonny? Oh Fly? No. I can't trust him.
Wife: Then why him?
Torture: I remember when your sister looked at me across the table from Reali's pizza place.
Wife: Oh?
Torture: She looked at me with her beautiful green eyes, she held me in her eyes for what felt like forever. I think it was our 5th or 6th date, I dunno. It was a few months in. I remember asking her what she saw in some piece of shit Professional Wrestler. What she saw in some terrible fucked up person like me.
Wife: Hunny..
Torture: I remember when I felt so low, so insecure that night because I was sure she was done with me after this date. I figured there wasn't any reason she would continue to date me, not because of me personally, just because of my schedule, my routine, my lifestyle, it had to be hard for her. I know the trouble she came from too, the divorce she was going through. I remember asking her if she wanted to continue dating me.
- Torture looks back out the window, turning his wedding ring on his finger, chuckling to himself.
Torture: Here I am, this huge superstar in Pro Wrestling, this rising business man making millions, and here I am asking this beautiful woman if she wanted to keep dating me. I was feeling low. Oh, but the way she said yes, the way she grabbed my hand and said yes, I'll never forget what she said to me next.
Wife: What was that?
Torture: I asked why? Why me?
Wife: And?
- Tort smirks and looks back down in his lap then back to his wife.
Wife: What did she say?
Torture: She smiled this huge smile, her green eyes took me in, and she said "Destiny". I'll never forget that night. I've replayed it a hundred times in my head, most times involuntarily, but I've replayed it. So you ask me if I can trust Jonny Fly for this match at One tomorrow night and I have to answer no. I don't trust him. I don't trust him, like everyone else doesn't trust me, and that's okay because you ask me why? Why am I okay with him being in my corner? I tell you what your sister told me that night when she told me she wanted to continue dating me, I'll tell you what I told her the night I asked her to marry me, the night we got married, and a random text message she sent me two days before she was taken from us..
- Torture looks at his wife.
Torture: Destiny. Price and Death need to pay for what they did, and destiny is comin' to hurt em', baby, and trusting Fly isn't my main concern because I know they'll get what they have comin' for em'. Win, lose or draw..
- He looks back out the window again.
Torture: They're going to get their destiny.
- The car speeds through town as their approach their destination; the hospital.
WAY BACK THEN KINDA
Torture: Let him be on my team, I'll show him the ropes, I'll give him every chance to shine here! I think this is the kid we've been lookin' for, for a while!
Seth Lerch: You say this about every new kid that joins! You and Logan say the same shit, you want to brainwash them, use them, abuse them and spit them out and no one ever stays!
Torture: Oh come on, don't compare me to that piece of shit, dude, listen. This Price kid looks like a video game CAW, but give me some time, I'll groom him, put him on Team of Torture and he'll be a good mid-card kid! Plus, if he wants to turn on me, let him turn, make him face, sell some pay per view tickets, and we'll have a story for the Summer like you wanted! Come on, it makes too much sense!
Seth Lerch: Logan is already talking to him.
Torture: Let him talk to him! He'll find out soon Logan isn't in this for the long haul! Dude, look down the line for WCF, who the fuck do you think is going to be main eventing your ONE pay per views post 2013? You think it's going to be Logan? Dude, you know it's going to be me! I'm never leaving, I'm never retiring, you know I would never quit on this place! I love WCF!
Seth Lerch: I know, I know, but they're already talking about being a tag team and stuff.
Torture: Look, Price is good, but he isn't that good. Just let me groom him. If I don't get some of these new dudes better, this place won't survive! There's other wrestling companies that are gaining popularity!
Seth Lerch: LIKE WHO!?
Torture: Dude, come on..
Seth Lerch: OH GWC?!!? YOU THINK GWC IS AS GOOD AS ME AND MY WCF?! YOU THINK GWC IS ANYTHING SPECIAL? THEIR NOTHING BUT JOBBERS THAT SUCK DICKS AND STUFF!
Torture: That's what I'm telling you, Seth, so tell Price he needs to join my Team of Torture, and let me shape him to be a better wrestler for your company. You know Logan will quit out on you so we're going to need some mid-card shine.
Seth Lerch: Okay, okay, I'll pull the trigger on it.
Torture: Yeah, I do this for you and you do something for me down the line.
Seth Lerch: Like what?
Torture: Ha! Just spit balling, but wouldn't it be fuckin' hilarious if I'm like 15 year veteran and you put the Hardcore title back on me and just piss everyone off!
Seth Lerch: Come on, don't be absurd!
Torture: Think about it, that shit would be hilarious. Just winnin' titles for shits and giggles! Let's just put that card in the back pocket and ONLY play it if we have to.
Seth Lerch: Yeah, yeah, whatever we have a deal. Take this new kid Jay Price and make him semi-good. I need WCF to survive!
Torture: You got it, bro.
- Tort leaves the head office of Seth Lerch the week after Jay Price signed up for WCF.
KINDA THEN
- His brother in a deep coma. Days after that brutal attack from Price and Creeping Death, he's been moved to a private care center somewhere in Los Angeles near Torture's home. Tort has been by his brothers side all day. Just early his Team of Torture mates visited to pay their respects, and perhaps come up with a plan but this is far more than just Torture and his rag-tag jobber buddies getting revenge, no, this is personal. Torture feels that, he felt that when he returned home and knew something was up, he felt it when he slept that night, that perhaps not everything was okay. All this time, Tort was vulnerable, and he didn't realize it. He should have. For those who don't know, Torture was married to a beautiful woman, and he took her son in like his own. They were together for nearly two years before a man Torture knew as his best friend destroyed all of it in one ugly day. Tort was left to die in the desert of Nevada while his step-son and wife were murdered in his home by Kurtis Victory. It took Torture out of action for a year, and some say to this day, that even when he returned he wasn't 100% Torture. It may be true, it may not, but the point was Tort had to have realized he had a vulnerable piece of the puzzle still missing and two ugly pieces of shit took advantage. The room is quiet but the breathing through the tube sounds, and the beeping on the machine. It's passed visiting hours, but Torture knows the right people, knows how to manipulate the system with his money and fortune. Sharing a room with just his brother.. yet feels alone. He begins to mumble to himself.
Torture: You were supposed to protect me. You were my older brother for Christs sake. You were supposed to take care of me!
- Torture begins to speak a little louder.
Torture: I see their faces on the street. I see Mom and Dad at the grocery store, I see Dad when I sit at traffic lights in the car next to me, I can't go anywhere without seeing them at least once a day. I wish I could go back to that night and change almost every thing. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about trading all of this for five more minutes with mom.. dad... you. To go back to when you were 14, and I was 9 would be everything to me. A monster took them from us, which took you from me.
- Torture pounds his fist against the bed rail, frustrated, teary-eyed, continuing his long winded rant.
Torture: Why did YOU shut me out!? What did I do to you for you to close up and keep me away from you? I don't even remember the last thing you said to me.. I try to remember, but I can't. Between us screaming and crying, between the gun shots that were fired, between the sirens and police cars, I don't remember ONE FUCKING WORD YOU SAID TO ME! It's been almost twenty years and you're just as gone as they are. I've seen you five times in the last ten years, and it's lasted under ten minutes, this has to change.
- Torture stands up and paces around the room.
Torture: I was standing in that ring and when I looked at the video tron and I saw you I froze. I fuckin' froze because all I could think about was 'it was happening again'. I didn't get to say good bye to my wife and step son, I didn't even get to see their faces for the days prior, but there you were on the video screen and I was frozen hoping this wasn't happening but slowly realizing that history was repeating it's self over and over and over and I couldn't stop it. My family has been taken from me in one way or another, whether it's our parents being murdered in cold blood, my wife and step-son being murdered in cold blood, or my current wife and son being taken from me because I chose to jump back into wrestling and put my foot on the pedal. This can't work anymore, man, something has to change. I want to know why you closed me off, I want to know why you went mute since that day. I DESERVE AN ANSWER!
- Torture leans his head against the wall.
Torture: Why is this happening to me? Why is Jay Price even doing this? I stuck my neck out for that piece of shit. When he came into this place, I took him under my wing, and while doing so he was manipulated by Logan, he randomly turned on me, disappeared for months, then fast forward 10 years and what has he become? Nothing of his full potential, I'll tell you that, and why? Because of Logan, that piece of shit. Price and Logan are made for each other for how fuckin' stupid they both are. Their quitters, complainers and babies and they'll never have what I have! They'll never have what Creeping Death has and he's complained twice as much as they have! What petty, jealous, two-timin' pieces of shit to have as friends, and why? Why did I keep them around?
Why does Price want this? To prove what? He still has it? He never had it. He never was going to be anything in WCF because he was born at the wrong time. He was in the wrong era. Maybe if WCF had a few years of decline he would be the face, but that dude played 4th fiddle at best and he knows it. Why have a hard on for me? The guy who tried to build him into something, the guy who tried to share his empire with him. The guy who could have saved him. And I was close friends with Corey, I don't even want to discuss how weird he is, man. The get-up, the paint, his dark passenger, I just don't get it. I'll never forget the mysterious life I lived with him and Nikki around me. What a weird set of people they are. I don't think there are any words that I can say to shoot on them that I haven't already said. I'm better than them in every way possible and they hate it. Why the fuck they teamed up to do this to me is beyond me, but I stopped trying to understand pieces of shit a long time ago. Creeping Death and I have literally been in each others accomplishments our entire careers. I can tell you right now winning the XCW Rumble was throwing him out of the ring, winning Tag Team Championships, winning Hardcore Championships while he was setting fire in other divisions winning their titles, going head to head for the World Championship here, all the way to my Hall of Fame match, and speech. He's literally been by my side and he does this? He tries to murder my brother in some sort of sadistic fashion? What the fuck is wrong with these two people? What was wrong with Kurtis Victory? What was wrong with the man who shot our parents? What is wrong with you...-
- Torture puts his head against the wall as a memory flashes back to just a few days after his parents were murdered. He quickly looks back at his brother behind him who has not moved in the slightest.
Torture: It was you.. That's what happened..
- He continues to remember as he slightly stumbles his way back to his chair to sit at his bed side.
Torture: You were crying to someone, I remember being in the other room at the Foster Care and you were crying to an elder woman, you were telling her you hurt him, you hurt him bad..
- Tort is remembering the last time he heard his brother speak.
Torture: You said you might have killed him..
- A single tear runs down his cheek.
Torture: You said you tortured him..
- Tort grabs his brothers hand and leans his head against it.
Torture: You killed our parents murderer and you couldn't live with it. You couldn't live being a monster. Not like Victory, not like Jay Price and Creeping Death. Their monsters who need to be put down. They need to pay for all of this. They need to pay for their careers. They need to be fucking put down.
- Tort takes a few minutes before continuing to speak out loud for no apparent reason.
Torture: You did protect me, you did take care of me. You let your monster out and you killed that piece of shit. I didn't even know why I called myself this dumb name. This, is, all.. so ironic.
- Poetic perhaps, but the scene fades as Torture lays his head against the bed rail.
NOW
- Torture's wife and a few doctors are discussing the current situation with his brother in the corner of the room while Torture is sitting back in the same chair he sat in just a few days ago while he was in a coma. His brother blinking, breathing, still not talking, but Torture has accepted that he just won't speak. He doesn't need to. The doctors leave the room while the wife turns her attention to Torture.
Wife: You need some rest, babe. One is tomorrow night.
Torture: I know.
Wife: They said they'll be checking on him every ten minutes and they'll even put the show on in here for him tomorrow. You don't have to stay the night here.
Torture: I know.
Wife: We should go babe, you need rest.
Torture: Okay..
Wife: I'll get some water, I'll be down stairs.
- She exits the room and leaves the brothers to themselves again. Torture gets back to his feet and closes the curtains to the window. He turns the TV on and turns the volume down. I think it's more for looks than sound for his brother. Maybe it's just an over sized night light for him. Tort grabs his coat off the corner hook and puts both arms in when he notices his brother slowly reaching upward. Tort adjusts his coat and goes to his side.
Torture: What is it, brother?
- Tort grabs his hand and it seems as if his brother is bringing Torture in close.
Torture: What was that? I didn't hear you..
- Tort gets real close and his brother whispers something in his ear loud and clear.
"Tomorrow night. Let the monster out."
- Tort narrows his eyes and slowly stands to a vertical base. His brothers attention focuses back to the television. Torture taps his brother on the hand a few times and walks straight out of the of room. The worrying. The remembering. The panic. The confusion. The depression. The sadness. The loneliness. The mystique. It's all gone. Torture is as clear headed as he can be, and that makes him far more dangerous than he's ever been. Torture is off to fight at One with Jonny Fly in his corner against Jay Price and Creeping Death and Torture's promise is to put Price and Death down. He's going to put them down for good. The monster is coming out of it's cage for one more night, and Price and Death will be getting what is owed..
BACK THEN SOME MORE.
- We open up to a scene from years ago with Torture wearing a nice suit, standing at a podium with a WCF microphone in front of him. He points to reporter Hank Brown out of the nearly hundred reporters standing in the room in front of him.
Hank Brown: Tort! You've had crazy classic matches at One including your bouts with Corey Black and Brad Kane, not to mention your huge wins over Slickie T and Jay Price! We know you won't be wrestling in tomorrow night's ONE event, but could you see yourself wrestling at One ever again?
- Tort smiles as the cameras bulbs flash during his entire response.
Torture: I think so. I mean, I can see myself wrestling at One again. It would be cool to get in the ring at One in the future but nothing too serious! I think what I'm saying is, it would be fun to wrestle at One again and maybe fight some of my friends!
- Tort lets out a chuckle. Fade to black.
