Eric Steel [vs.] Matt Stone

Prologue: Back on Top

For the last couple of weeks, Eric Steel hadn’t been very successful and he had his worse performance yet when he suffered a devastating loss against Ryan Apollos. There were talks that Eric Steel may just be too injured to compete or too thickheaded to be able to think straight. However, in some cases that just may not seem that way Eric Steel knew that he needed to get back in the good graces of the Empire. He knew that he needed to give them a show that they would never forget. This week, it was known that Eric Steel would face up and comer, Matt Stone, the same guy who also suffered a loss with in the last week or so. These two appear to have very similar brutal styles. This type of match may just be the show stealing moment that Steel may come to need at this point. Corey Casey isn’t happy with Eric, neither is new commissioner, Jessica Matthews. Tonight, Eric Steel had a lot of pressure riding down his shoulders. He knew that deep down, whether he was injured or not that he needed his mind clear and that he needed to succeed. The real question now would be, will Eric Steel be able to take back his dominant stature or will Matt Stone create a major upset and defeat the self proclaimed Crown Jewel of The Empire? Tune in to Battle Grounds 66 to see what will take place.

Scene 001: From The Trainer’s Room

The scene opened up to the trainer’s room as Eric Steel was seen on the inside. There were cameras surrounding him for the time being. Eric Steel was shown with an ice pack on his jaw as he was still suffering from the attack that he had endured at the hands of Ryan Apollos right before their match ended. Eric Steel looked into the camera as he had a stern and very intense look on his face for the time being. He took a deep breath as the microphones rose above him and everything that came with it. Steel took yet another breather as he proceeded to speak, not caring about the intensity that could come from his voice.

[]’The Golden Prophecy’ Eric Steel[/b]
“I bet you people thought what happened to me was pretty funny. You probably laughed your asses on your way home. Here’s the thing… It wasn’t fucking funny! You people thought what Ryan did to me was funny!? Look, you people are easily amused by what your fan favorite assholes do. It’s a shame that you people would like such brutality in this damn company. Let’s face it… Ryan caught me off guard. I wasn’t prepared and I just wasn’t ready. Ryan probably needed the win a lot more than I did so I thought I would be nice. You people probably adored the little things that Ryan did. He bruised my fucking jaw. I’ve never been hit like that in my life. Ryan is a little bitch for doing that, and clearly he had no remorse for what the hell he did. Ryan threw in a fucking cheap shot. It wasn’t fair god damn it. Ryan probably thinks he’ll get away from this but I guarantee that he and I will meet in the ring once more. I’m more focused than I’ve ever been since last week… My head and my jaw may be in pain but trust me… After tonight you’ll see a more aggressive side of Eric Steel. The Golden Prophecy will showcase his talent to the entire locker room, and to all of you morons out in the stands. You people don’t deserve it but I don’t have a say in the matter. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t be wrestling tonight to be honest with you. But this is what I signed up for so, there’s no backing out now.”

Steel looked into the camera, smirking with confidence and intensity. He crossed his arms as he tilted his head slightly. He proceeded to continue on as he basically just began to speak from that moment on.

’The Golden Prophecy’ Eric Steel
“Chuck Matthews fucked Corey Casey over by going to the board of the directors and ridding Corey of that commissioner’s spot…It’s not fair… Corey Casey didn’t hurt anyone or harm anyone. I don’t get it. Why fire someone who was actually doing a great job and making IWF a better place and give it to someone who has no fucking experience. Let me rephrase that… Why give it to a fucking woman because she doesn’t know her damn place. She has no place in this business and the fact that she’s Chuck’s sister disgusts me. The only fucking thing she’s done right is that she gave me the shot that I should’ve already had! The bitch was too stupid to just hand the title over which just disgusts me because I deserve to be champion whether people don’t agree with me or whether they do. Corey Casey, despite his disappointing decisions at times has made this business what it was. He could’ve easily given me the shot I so rightfully deserved and wanted. But that didn’t happen. SO I had to go to his wife to see what his wife had to say. I must say, I struck fear in her. She was scared shitless of me and to be honest there was no better feeling. I would do it all over again if I fucking had to. But thanks to her, at Nowhere to run, I am in a Steel Cage Scramble for the Uprising championship. She made me a very happy man I must say. But that won’t change how I feel about the way she just barged in, automatically thinking that she could calm down fans who don’t know how to calm down their excitement. And she’s even more of an idiot for thinking that she can control all of the boys and the girls in the back. I wish her good luck on that, I really do… To be honest she’s going to fucking need every single bit of luck there is.”

Eric Steel felt his intensity grow with every word that he had stated. The confidence grew along with it as Eric had placed his hand on his head for a moment and kept his other hand on his jaw. He took a deep breath as he just continued on speaking.

’The Golden Prophecy’ Eric Steel
“Tonight, I face someone who’s supposed to be some blue clipper, highlight reel tough shit. I’m facing someone who has absolutely no chance in hell of winning. As it appears, I am facing a loser by the name of Matt Stone. I don’t know much about this kid except that he’s going to get the beating of a life time from someone in Empire. The guy thinks that he could impress Blyss Lockhart tonight if he happens to beat me. But that’s the thing that’s going to be missing from him. I honestly do not see him beating me tonight because he’s going to fall flat on his face if he even at the slightest attempts so. Matt Stone is from Canada if I’m not mistaken. I’m sorry but there’s only room for ONE FUCKING DOMINANT CANADIAN IN IWF! And his name is Eric Steel, so Matt Stone had better get used to it and quick. This Matt kid can’t get the job done when it comes time to show what he’s fucking made of and let’s face it… Tonight it won’t be any different. Matt Stone doesn’t know what he’s up against. He has never faced a talent quite like me before and to be honest he never will again. He probably thinks that he’s tough shit. But the fact is he’s never going to get Blyss Lockhart so I don’t know why the fuck he’s even trying. Blyss is going to be pretty disappointed in Mister Matt Stone. I’m going to tell you why… He’s not going to beat The Empire’s Crown Jewel. He may as well give it up. He’s never going to have a chance with her, and after I’m through with Matt… He’s never going to want to show his ugly mug ever again. I’ll personally make sure that the idiot doesn’t walk out of the arena under his own power. I’m going to show who’s the true Canadian and it’s certainly isn’t him. I’m going to teach this rookie a thing or two… And you can bank on that…”

The intensity in Eric Steel grew more and more apparent as he clenched his fists. He stood up as he placed his ice packs down, trying to withstand the pain as much as he possibly could. He then parted his lips just so he could speak and give out his opinion on the last set of words he wanted to say.

’The Golden Prophecy’ Eric Steel
"Matt Stone, tonight you will definitely find out why I am so much better than you. I refuse to allow you to beat me just so you can impress Blyss. In case you didn’t get the memo you moron, The Empire’s not that easy to impress. You have to do a lot more than wrestle and to win ONE match. Matt get over yourself, and get a grip. You need to focus on what’s going to happen tonight. I’m going to beat the holy hell out of you but I don’t think you really care if I beat you to the point of no return. You will see a talent unlike never before. You’ve never seen The Golden Prophecy angry before, have you? Well tonight you’re going to feel the wrath unleashed upon you. I don’t care if it is your second match because tonight I’m going to make you wish you never existed in this damn company. You’re a joke and the fact that I’m forced to face someone like you is even more of a joke. If only someone can just give the damn punch line already so we can get this travesty over and done with. Matt Stone, you’re going to be taught a hard lesson in ruthless aggression and domination. Prepare to be dominated in the most brutal way possible. After the night is over, I’m going to make you my personal bitch. You’re going to be in pain for weeks on in after I get through with you. I don’t care what happens to you or anyone else. If anyone else gets in my way, they get the same thing that will happen to you. Matt Stone, this is the end for you. The Golden Prophecy predicts a tearful and painful ending for you. You’ll be lucky if your career survives the beat down I’ll put on you.”

A Game of Stones
Chapter 2: Pandering to the Masses

We open on the interior of a hotel room, set somewhere in the downtown Detroit. Every so often in the background you can hear either gun shots or the sirens of the police chasing down another piece of Detroit trash that has become so common in this neighborhood. This is where we find our hero, however after last week he’s really been exposed more as a zero. Fits in with the current decor, anyway. He’s laying down, face up on the bed, watching as the ceiling fan rotates, much like the wheels of his life, just spinning around and getting nowhere. Ever since the Crucible, he hasn’t had anything go his way save for his team, the Baltimore Ravens, winning the Super Bowl. Spoiler alert, by the way. It certainly wasn’t the wisest move to place two hundred thousand on himself to win the 16 man tournament, but he was that confident he was going to win it, and with Vegas paying 20:1 how could he turn down those odds? Well here he was, two weeks out without a house, spending his nights laying alone in a bed with only his cell phone for entertainment, twittering away like it’ll somehow make him feel better about where he is. At least Code Red is in New York most of the time, so it’s within driving distance and he’s getting the room for free based on a wrestling contact he had made years earlier, but Insurgency didn’t view him as anywhere near a top draw, so he had to pay for his own travel. Subtracting expenses, he was clearing even if he was lucky, but he had to stay to try and earn some money, and the best way to do that was to win. Winning solved most of, if not all of life’s problems. It meant more money, more exposure and more opportunities. Any and all of which would help Stone get back to where he was just over a year ago when he won his first World Championship. A time he always remembers fondly, using it to motivate him to get back to the grind. The lights come on, Stone’s forced to blink several time for his eyes to adjust. Peering over, he sees Katrina is standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. Why did he give her a key?

Katrina Evans
How are you not ready yet? I told you I would be here by six and it’s now like six thirty! You’ve had an extra half hour for god’s sake, get up, we’ve got work to do.

Matt groans, sitting up. He hand brushes through his short brown hair, however there’s no resistance, meaning he hasn’t done his hair yet. Much like Sampson, Matt needs the power of his hair, so to speak. The arrogant faux hawk holds the secret to his whimsical way with words, or something like that. He gets off the bed and grabs one his ‘shut me up’ shirts off the back of the hotel chair and throws it on, over his head and pulls it down over his muscular body.

Matt Stone
Okay, let’s go

Katrina looks at him for a moment, eyebrow raised. She looks him over again and shakes her head.

Katrina Evans
You’re not going to record looking like that, are you?

Matt Stone
Yeah, I don’t see why not. It’s just a promo Katrina…

Her eyes narrow, locking with Stone’s for a moment before her right hand escalates and propels itself up and strikes Stone across the face! Matt’s eyes widen upon contact, Katrina’s eyes still narrowed.

Katrina Evans
For fuck sake Matt, snap out of it! You’re the god damn Straight Shooter, now get in there, make yourself fucking presentable and don’t you dare come out until you’re ready for the interview!

Matt’s mouth is slightly open as he hears what, up until now, he thought of as a booty call had to say and much to his amazement, she was right. He rubs his quickly reddening cheek and sighs.

Matt Stone
You’re right, sorry

Matt heads into the bathroom, following Katrina’s pointing hand and closes the door to get ready. Katrina sighs and starts tidying up the room, seeing clothes thrown around everywhere. When she first started out with Stone, he was always talking about himself, he thought he could do no wrong and quite frankly, he was more obnoxious than a lesbian gynecologist. But recently he hasn’t been nearly as full of himself and Katrina actually missed that about him. When he was in his prime, he treated her better, he was meticulous with how everything was planned out and quite frankly, he was just better to be around. As she picks up some empty bottles on the floor, she notices Matt’s recent bank statement on the floor. Picking it up, she looks it over and is shocked. She shakes her head and sets it back down, not being fully able to understand just how bad a shape Matt finds himself in, financially. She sits down at the foot of the bed, looking around at the relatively depressing room she found herself in. She had been to Matt’s house several times, they’ve even shared hotel rooms before in the past, but for some reason this just seemed…dingy. It was dirty, mind you, and it wasn’t that small, by all accounts it would be classified as a nice one bed room. But it just seemed so…dark. Like life wasn’t taking place inside these walls and that it was the perfect place to come and just die. She didn’t like it. The door to the bathroom opened up and Katrina stood up, seeing the Straight Shooter walk out. Not Matt Stone, the shell of a man who had been in the room only minutes ago but the man she knew and loved, the Straight Shooter.

Katrina Evans
That’s better, you look great!

Matt Stone
Yeah, I know, my looks have never been the problem Kat

She smiles, hearing that hint of arrogance that had been missing for weeks. She runs over and gives him a hug.

Katrina Evans
Welcome back, now let’s go out there and get you a Blyss!

Matt scoffs at that, but decides to humor her.

Matt Stone
After that loss last week, I think we can forget about her.

Katrina Evans
Don’t say that, all you have to do in beat Eric Steel this week and I’m sure she’ll come running. Any girl would be lucky to have you Matt.

Matt Stone
I’ll see how she feels, but right now, we have an interview to record

She nods and lets go of Matt, heading to the door. Matt thinks for a moment on what Katrina meant when she said that, their relationship, if you could call it that, had never worked out. Did she want to revisit it? He thinks about it was follows her out. Nah, must be something else…



We come in on the new set of the IWF interview area, complete with a BRAND NEW FERN! How creative is that? Yeah, that’s what I thought. We also see the lovely Katrina Evans standing in front of the camera, holding an IWF microphone, because we’re cool like that. She smiles, speaking when she sees the light on the camera.

Katrina Evans
Hello Insurgency Wrestling Federation, my name is Katrina Evans and don’t worry, I’ve never heard of any of you either. One person I have heard of however is my guest at this time. He is the Straight Shooter…Matt Stone!

Matt walks on camera with a confident grin on his face; after all it was show time. He’s wearing his shut me up shirt and a pair of sleek black pants. He stops beside Katrina as she speaks again

Katrina Evans
Well Matt, thank you for giving me the opportunity to interview you, I know your time is precious, so let’s get straight to it. This week you will be facing off against Empire member Eric Steel in a match that could very well set your direction in this company. After your loss last week, there’s already talk if you can cut it here in IWF. If you lose again, you might be relegated to the jobber role around here and I know that’s not what you want. So let me ask you, what do you think your odds are of winning your match here this week against Steel?

Matt Stone
Well, if you listen to Eric this week, I don’t have a hope in hell of winning. He called me everything from a joke to a loser to a flash in the pan, I’m amazed he knew so many ways to act like I didn’t matter. The only thing though is that’s all it is. An act, bravado that people in the Empire use each and every week to try and convince themselves as much as the world around them that they are the end all be all. It’s funny though when you think about it, because in other circumstances I would fit right in there with them. They share the same basic outlook on this business that I do, they utilize the same tactics that I’ve been known to dabble in and while I’m not one of those people that’s willing to Goose step behind a leader, I know from experience how to work in a group to accomplish a goal. Eric on the other hand…not so much. Accomplishing goals does not seem to be his forte, he has yet to win a championship here, really he hasn’t proven he’s much of a force at all being just as unsuccessful as I was last week and yet he finds himself in the comforting grasp of the Empire. How he got in I’m not really interested In, but I am personally ashamed for them to employ someone who couldn’t string two fucking sentences together without repeating himself. I get it bro, you think you’re better than me, you think you’re going to beat me blah blah blah. Why don’t you come up with something original to say, just once? One dominate Canadian here? You dumb beaver, you’re as dominate as Christian James was. Unbelievable. You got moxy though kid, I’ll give you that.

Matt shakes his head as Katrina gets ready to ask her second question.

Katrina Evans
Eric did make reference to you trying to impress Blyss Lockhart. Let me ask you, is there anything between the two of you?

Matt Stone
Blyss and I have as much of a relationship as do Eric and I. I’m here to win not just to impress Blyss or anyone else in that locker room, I’m here to win because I need to win. I need this win for myself just as much as everyone in that arena needs to see me win so they can realize just who in the hell I am. I am the Straight Shooter, I am the Abominable Showman and most importantly, I am Matt fucking Stone IWF. I’m not here to make friends, I’m not here to kiss ass and I’m certainly not here to lay down for anyone. I’m here to make a statement and that statement is very clear.

Katrina Evans
And what would that be?

Matt Stone
That statement is SHUT ME UP!

Katrina Evans
Do you think Eric Steel can do that?

Matt Stone
I think if Eric Steel got off his lazy ass and applied himself he could do a lot of things here, but he seems quite content with just sitting around and brushing off his competition like they don’t even know what they’re doing. Well Eric, I know exactly what I’m doing in that ring and when you find the business end of my boot up your ass, you’ll know that I mean business too, eh? See you Monday, make sure to let all your little Empire buddies that you got this one in the bag, it’s just going to make you look even worse when you don’t.

With that, Matt walks off camera leaving Katrina to close out

Katrina Evans
There you have it, a very confident Straight Shooter is heading into Battle Grounds this week, I know I wouldn't want to be Eric tomorrow night.

Katrina beams after hearing Stone, walking off the set as we fade out.