Post by Jman2k3 on Nov 21, 2017 5:29:43 GMT
UNDERCARD
ADRIAN TANNER JR. VS. SCOTT STEVENS
POWERS: ”The following contest is scheduled for one fall!”
The lights in the arena go pitch black, as red lasers and spotlights light up the area as the angelic voice of Lauryn Hill serenades the live crowd.
“Ready or not, here I come, you can’t hide
Gonna find you and take it slowly
Ready or not, here I come, you can’t hide
Gonna find you and make you want me”
The video screen lights up and flashes across the screen a Texas flag, with the words, “Texas Born. Texas Bred.” “Texas Forever.“ branded into the flag. The crowd reaction is mixed, but there are more cheers than boos, as “Ready or Not” by Fugees plays throughout the PA system. As the chorus begins to fade there is one final image that is displayed across the screen and that message reads in bold, capitalized letters…. SCOTT STEVENS as “Hellraiser” by Motorhead begins to play.
“Hellraiser, in the thunder and heat
Hellraiser, rock you back in your seat
Hellraiser, and I’ll make it come true
Hellraiser, I’ll put a spell on you”
The cheers intensify as the chorus hits the speakers, drawing out the man from Texas, who is immediately greeted by a too small pony wearing a rainbow poncho with a saddle and a sign that reads “The Only Horse You’ll Be Getting on” suddenly standing in the middle of the stage. The pony has the face of an animal that’s sniffed a little too much of the glue it’s about to one day become. Scott stops momentarily to stare at the pony in confusion, before his face turns to one of annoyance. He glares at the pony for another long moment before angrily waving it off and continuing along his normal entrance.
JOHNSON: ”What the hell is this?”
VASSA: ”Isn’t it obvious? It’s the horse Scott Stevens is gonna get back on!”
JOHNSON: ”I don’t think that’s what he meant, Vinny.”
POWERS: ”Introducing at this time, coming to us from the Great State of Texas, by way of Houston, Texas.”
Walking down the aisle, he fists bumps some of his fans while raising a fist at a few of the more vocal bashers.
POWERS: ”Standing at six feet, six inches, and weighing in at two hundred and fifty-six pounds…”
As he finally gets to the ring, he climbs the nearest turnbuckle and stares down at his opponent.
POWERS: ”This…is… SCOTT SSTTEEVVEENNSS!!!”
An icy glare and the throat slash gesture his only actions as he drops to the mat. The house lights dim to black and a video begins to play on the screen.
E A R T H A R M Y
RECRUITMENT CENTER
Philip J. Fry and Bender “Bending” Rodriquez stand at the front of an Earth Army recruitment line. They can’t stop giggling to themselves as the step up to talk the recruiter.
BENDER: ”Hello… We’re here because we, uh, love our planet.”
RECRUITER: ”Sign here on the dotted line, Patriots, and I’ll give you your discount cards.”
FRY: ”Just outta curiosity, we can use our discount cards to buy gum, then immediately quit the army, right?”
BENDER: ”You know? Playing you all for chumps?”
RECRUITER: ”Correct, there’s no obligation.”
Fry and Bender continue giggling to themselves as they sign the paper.
RECRUITER: ”Unless of course, war were declared.”
The recruiter nods ominously. Suddenly, the red lighted alarm goes off behind them. A close caption underneath the alarm light reads “Asshole Alarm. Fry and Bender look around in confusion.”
FRY: ”What’s that!?”
The Recruiter locks his hands in a sinister fashion.
RECRUITER: ”War were declared.”
As the alarm goes off, the screen shatters into a million pieces as “Tom Sawyer” by Deadsy booms through the speakers and Adrian Tanner Jr appears standing in the middle of the stage, head covered by the hood of his ring jacket, 4CW World Tag Team Title belt around his waist. Red and white spotlights illuminate the stage as the music plays through the PA.
POWERS: “Introducing to the ring from Tucson, Arizona, weighing in at two hundred twenty-seven pounds and standing six feet, one inch tall! He is ONE-HALF of the 4CW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS of the WOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRLD, ‘The Arizona Assassin’… ADRIAN TANNER JJUUNNIIOORR!!!”
As 4CW’s esteemed Ring Announcer does his job, Adrian raises both arms over his head letting them come to rest stretched out in front of him, pointing like guns at the ring. At the announcement of his name he ‘fires’ and loud fireworks explode from the stage as the crowd cheers in approval. The red spotlights make a circle through the crowd while the white spotlights pulse in tune with the music for a very dizzying effect, as the Arizona Assassin makes his way down the ramp. He walks down the ramp towards the ring, slapping hands with a few fans before he pulls the jacket off as he slides under the ropes. He mounts the nearest turnbuckle and makes a gun motion with his left hand. He cocks the “gun”, “fires” then jumps down and begins his pre-match warmup, taking the belt off from around his waist and placing it in his corner.
JOHNSON: ”An interesting matchup between these two men tonight, wouldn’t you say Vinny?”
VASSA: ”Well it’s a bit of an odd pairing if you ask me considering both tend to appeal to the fans a bit but given their recent losses in the South Beach Brawl Cup I guess you could understand the booking.”
JOHNSON: ”Despite Tanner’s lengthy list of championships it feels easy to regard him as sort of the young buck here, especially in this match against an old rugged veteran like Scott Stevens.”
VASSA: ”Adrian has been playing the mind games for nearly two weeks now and Scott Stevens is known for having a bit of a short fuse. We’ll see how it all plays out.”
The referee quickly checks both men for foreign objects and then ensures that both are ready for the match to begin before signalling to the timekeeper for the bell and the start of the match.
DING!!! DING!!!
Both men circle the ring slowly, both with left hands extended so that the tips of their fingers are just barely touching. Stevens swings with his right, trying to catch Tanner with a quick strike but he misses by a few inches, leaving Tanner to dance out of the way to safety with a smile on his face. In an effort to catch Stevens off guard, Tanner quickly shoots back in Stevens direction, trying to take him down with a single leg takedown but Stevens stuffs it and pushes the smaller man away, pulling his leg free while shooting a warning glare in his opponent’s direction.
Again the two return to circling the ring slowly before finally moving to tie up. Instead of locking into the tie up, however, Tanner hooks Stevens arm and whips him down to the mat with an arm drag, holding onto his arm and applying pressure to the right shoulder of Scott Stevens early on. Stevens wastes no time working his way back up to his feet, using his weight to push Tanner into the turnbuckle, eventually causing Tanner to lose his grip on the hold. Stevens, though, holds onto Tanners arm and irish whips him back across to the opposite ropes. As Tanner returns, Stevens telegraphs a back body drop to which Tanner counters with a quick boot to the sternum, standing Scott up straight before being taken back down to the mat with another arm drag from Tanner.
This time Stevens manages to scoot out of having another hold applied to his arm, charging back at Tanner who once more dodges the attack and slams Stevens back down with another arm drag takedown. Back to his feet yet again, although slowing down some, Stevens once more moves towards Tanner only to be taken down by a third consecutive arm drag. The effect is clear as, upon impact, the big Texan grabs at his shoulder for a brief moment before working his way back to a seated positions. As he does so, Adrian closes and snaps a quick kick to the right arm of his opponent, clearly focusing on the one limb.
JOHNSON: ”Solid strategy by Tanner early on.”
VASSA: ”Usually we think of Scott Stevens as being the one who has his opponents as well scouted as anyone in this business but tonight it certainly seems like Tanner has done his homework.”
JOHNSON: ”Still a while to go in the match before it’s all wrapped up but it’s becoming clear that Scott Stevens needs to begin implementing his own gameplan, and now.”
VASSA: ”We’ll see whether or not the Arizona Assassin is as lethal as he claims to be.”
Adrian hits the ropes as Stevens works back up to a vertical base and blasts Scott in the face with a rolling elbow, following that up with a sudden tilt-a-whirl into an arm-breaker. He runs over to the far ropes, climbing out onto the apron, waiting for Stevens to get back to his feet. Stevens does so, shaking out his arm. As he turns to find Tanner, Adrian hops off the ropes with a flying lariat, but Stevens counters with a lightning fast SUPERKICK that rocks Tanner’s jaw and he crumples to the mat as the crowd gasps in awe and cheers.
Not wasting any time, Stevens moves to pull Adrian back to his feet, backing him into the nearby corner where he proceeds to deliver consecutive chops as the fans count along with him up to five. He then transitions, lowering his shoulder and grasping the middle rope on either side of Tanners body where he then proceeds to use his shoulder as a battering ram over and over again into Tanners stomach. After five consecutive blows that way, Stevens then stands back up and steps up to the middle rope, delivering ten more consecutive strikes, this time to the forehead of Adrian Tanner Junior.
By the time he’s done with him, Steven steps down from the ropes and backs of allowing Tanner to stumble out of the corner slowly, in a daze. Stevens again sets himself upon his opponent, looking to take his head off with a clothesline from hell. Tanner somehow manages to avoid it, however, and instead ducks under and swoops around behind Stevens, shoving him chest first into the corner while shaking his head free of the stars and cobwebs that had found there way there from Stevens assault.
JOHNSON: ”Good instincts there by Tanner as Stevens has found a way back into this match by sticking to what he does best.”
VASSA: ”Power, power and more power. I wouldn’t have wanted to be on the receiving end of any of those blows.”
JOHNSON: ”Me either, Vinny. And you’ve got to think of Stevens connects on that clothesline that he might have found a way to put this match away right then and there.”
VASSA: ”But he didn’t, and Tanner has a twinkle in his eye. Look out!”
Adrian has Scott near one of the corners. Standing in front of him with Scott facing the corner, he hooks Scott’s arm behind his back and throws Scott backwards with an arm-trapped exploder suplex into the turnbuckles! He rolls Scott onto his side and places his arm up near his head so his head and arm are laying against the bottom turnbuckle then quickly backs up halfway across the ring. He makes the gun motion with his hand, then runs and nails a dropkick to Stevens head and arm/shoulder against the turnbuckle!
Yet even as he connects with the maneuver and scrambles back to his feet, his eyes widen in shock as Scott Stevens begins to push himself back up to his feet. Tanners attack has been focused and precise from the very get go and still Stevens continues to get back up to his feet, ready and waiting to both absorb and dish out more and more. Once he’s back up to a vertical base, Stevens snarls in the direction of his opponent and flexes his pectoral muscles, moving towards Tanner at a methodical pace.
Feeling desperation set in and a need to raise the stakes a bit higher, Adrian climbs to the top rope, and dives off onto Scott looking for a hurricanrana. But Stevens holds on to him, fighting through the pain in his arm to lift Adrian back up onto his shoulders and then tosses Adrian into the turnbuckles with a buckle bomb! Adrian pops out of the corner from the momentum and Stevens almost takes his head off with a mafia kick.
JOHNSON: ”Oh my god!”
VASSA: ”Tanner might be dead after that kick. It nearly took his head off, Steve. Did you see his head snap back?”
As Tanners body collapses to the mat, Stevens senses an opportunity for victory and drops down, hooking the leg and scowling at the referee as he slid in to count the pinfall attempt.
ONE
.
.
TWO
.
.
THR–KICKOUT!!!
Tanner somehow manages to muscle his shoulder up at the last second, much to the disbelief of the HOW Hall of Famer. Frustrated, Stevens sits up on his knees and places his hands on his thighs, giving Tanner the opportunity to roll away over to the ring apron where he rests momentarily out of danger. Shaking his head, Stevens begins to push himself back up to his feet, unsure how the kick that he had just landed after the turnbuckle bomb hadn’t put the match away for good. Outside on the apron, Tanner stirs and begins to slowly pull himself back up with the assistance of the ropes. As he gets back to his feet he lets the top rope support his body weight, not noticing that Stevens was fully back to his feet as well.
Stevens rushes him for a spear but Adrian counters with a quick enziguri that knocks Stevens back. As Stevens stumbles around Adrian launches himself off the ropes looking for a springboard armbar but Scott dodges at the last second. Adrian manages to hit the mat and rolls to his feet near the other ropes, turning right into a Scott Stevens spear that sends both men through the ropes to the floor!
Stevens makes it to his feet first. He pulls Adrian up and slams him chest-first down onto the barricade driving the breath from his body. He pulls Adrian up again and whips him at the nearest ring post. Adrian hits it back-first and slumps against it trying to catch his breath.
Stevens cocks his fist in the air to the fans delight and charges at Adrian for a Superman Punch, but Adrian dives out of the way at the last second and Stevens’ fist goes directly into the pole! Stevens howls in pain as the crowd chants ‘Holy shit!’
Not wasting time Adrian, on the other side of the post, grabs Scott by the injured wrist and yanks him forward, slamming Stevens shoulder-first into the ring post! Adrian lets go of the wrist, climbs up onto the stairs and grabs Stevens by the head, jumping off with a tornado DDT!
JOHNSON: ”Jesus did you hear that thud?!”
VASSA: ”I think I’m going to be sick.”
Pulling Stevens back up by his pants, Tanner quickly rolls Stevens back into the ring and then hops up onto the ring apron, looking to the corner turnbuckle as the crowd pops, anticipating a high risk maneuver from the Arizona Assassin. With a smirk, Tanner extends his arm and points his finger gun in Stevens direction, firing it off with a “bang, you go dead now,” Tanner ascends to the top rope just as Stevens begins to stumble back to a standing position. On wobbly legs, Stevens tumbles towards the corner that Tanner was in, happening to put himself in perfect position for what Tanner was hoping for.
JOHNSON: ”Looks like we’ve got BAD NEWS incoming.”
VASSA: ”Have we ever seen Tanner execute this here in 4CW?”
With a leap, Tanner looks to execute the rolling top rope cutter but Stevens manages to counter it, tossing Tanner across the ring instead of letting him connect on the move. Showing off his agility, Tanner lands on his feet like a cat and immediately sprints back in the direction of Scott Stevens. In the blink of an eye, Stevens turns and extends his arms going for the TOXIC STING!
JOHNSON: ”TOXIC STI-”
VASSA: ”NO!”
Stevens goes for the Toxic Sting but Adrian, having scouted it and spent so much time working against it, throws his arm up into Stevens’ injured arm and blocks the move, shoving Stevens away. As he shoves Scott forward, he grabs hold of the injured arm and twists, turning Stevens in a circle before pulling him in and hitting the REVOLVER!!!
JOHNSON: ”BANG!”
VASSA: ”REVOLVER! TANNER HIT THE REVOLVER ON SCOTT STEVENS!!”
Dropping to his knees, Tanner hooks Stevens leg and pushes down on his upper torso as the referee slid in to count the fall.
ONE
.
.
TWO
.
.
THREE!!!
Tanner heaves a sigh of relief and rolls off of Stevens as soon as the referee’s hand hit the mat for the third time. “Tom Sawyer” hits over the sound system as Tanner remains in a seated position, sweating dripping from his brow as he glances over at the fallen body of his opponent. Without question, Scott Stevens was once again a game competitor for his opposition it just happened that he came up a bit short once more.
DING!!! DING!!! DING!!!
With the referee’s help, Adrian Tanner Junior gets back to his feet and has his hand raised in the air in victory, his free hand raised to the side of his head holding the place where Stevens had connected with a mafia kick a few minutes earlier.
POWERS: ”Here is your winner, ADRIAN TANNER JJUUNNIIOORR!!!”
JOHNSON: ”A disappointing in to a hard fought match for Scott Stevens. You know he has to be frustrated.”
VASSA: ”Perhaps, but that’s the business. One minute you’re a whisper away from the 4CW Championship and the next you’re on a losing streak. He’ll bounce back.”
JOHNSON: ”You can be sure of that. Lonesome loser or not, Scott Stevens has been one of the most consistent forces on this roster for some time now.”
VASSA: ”He has and this victory tonight for Tanner is not one that he will soon forget. He was given all that he could handle tonight.”
As the scene fades backstage we’re left with a shot of Tanner taking to the ropes to celebrate his win.
ADRIAN TANNER JR. VS. SCOTT STEVENS
POWERS: ”The following contest is scheduled for one fall!”
The lights in the arena go pitch black, as red lasers and spotlights light up the area as the angelic voice of Lauryn Hill serenades the live crowd.
“Ready or not, here I come, you can’t hide
Gonna find you and take it slowly
Ready or not, here I come, you can’t hide
Gonna find you and make you want me”
The video screen lights up and flashes across the screen a Texas flag, with the words, “Texas Born. Texas Bred.” “Texas Forever.“ branded into the flag. The crowd reaction is mixed, but there are more cheers than boos, as “Ready or Not” by Fugees plays throughout the PA system. As the chorus begins to fade there is one final image that is displayed across the screen and that message reads in bold, capitalized letters…. SCOTT STEVENS as “Hellraiser” by Motorhead begins to play.
“Hellraiser, in the thunder and heat
Hellraiser, rock you back in your seat
Hellraiser, and I’ll make it come true
Hellraiser, I’ll put a spell on you”
The cheers intensify as the chorus hits the speakers, drawing out the man from Texas, who is immediately greeted by a too small pony wearing a rainbow poncho with a saddle and a sign that reads “The Only Horse You’ll Be Getting on” suddenly standing in the middle of the stage. The pony has the face of an animal that’s sniffed a little too much of the glue it’s about to one day become. Scott stops momentarily to stare at the pony in confusion, before his face turns to one of annoyance. He glares at the pony for another long moment before angrily waving it off and continuing along his normal entrance.
JOHNSON: ”What the hell is this?”
VASSA: ”Isn’t it obvious? It’s the horse Scott Stevens is gonna get back on!”
JOHNSON: ”I don’t think that’s what he meant, Vinny.”
POWERS: ”Introducing at this time, coming to us from the Great State of Texas, by way of Houston, Texas.”
Walking down the aisle, he fists bumps some of his fans while raising a fist at a few of the more vocal bashers.
POWERS: ”Standing at six feet, six inches, and weighing in at two hundred and fifty-six pounds…”
As he finally gets to the ring, he climbs the nearest turnbuckle and stares down at his opponent.
POWERS: ”This…is… SCOTT SSTTEEVVEENNSS!!!”
An icy glare and the throat slash gesture his only actions as he drops to the mat. The house lights dim to black and a video begins to play on the screen.
E A R T H A R M Y
RECRUITMENT CENTER
Philip J. Fry and Bender “Bending” Rodriquez stand at the front of an Earth Army recruitment line. They can’t stop giggling to themselves as the step up to talk the recruiter.
BENDER: ”Hello… We’re here because we, uh, love our planet.”
RECRUITER: ”Sign here on the dotted line, Patriots, and I’ll give you your discount cards.”
FRY: ”Just outta curiosity, we can use our discount cards to buy gum, then immediately quit the army, right?”
BENDER: ”You know? Playing you all for chumps?”
RECRUITER: ”Correct, there’s no obligation.”
Fry and Bender continue giggling to themselves as they sign the paper.
RECRUITER: ”Unless of course, war were declared.”
The recruiter nods ominously. Suddenly, the red lighted alarm goes off behind them. A close caption underneath the alarm light reads “Asshole Alarm. Fry and Bender look around in confusion.”
FRY: ”What’s that!?”
The Recruiter locks his hands in a sinister fashion.
RECRUITER: ”War were declared.”
As the alarm goes off, the screen shatters into a million pieces as “Tom Sawyer” by Deadsy booms through the speakers and Adrian Tanner Jr appears standing in the middle of the stage, head covered by the hood of his ring jacket, 4CW World Tag Team Title belt around his waist. Red and white spotlights illuminate the stage as the music plays through the PA.
POWERS: “Introducing to the ring from Tucson, Arizona, weighing in at two hundred twenty-seven pounds and standing six feet, one inch tall! He is ONE-HALF of the 4CW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS of the WOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRLD, ‘The Arizona Assassin’… ADRIAN TANNER JJUUNNIIOORR!!!”
As 4CW’s esteemed Ring Announcer does his job, Adrian raises both arms over his head letting them come to rest stretched out in front of him, pointing like guns at the ring. At the announcement of his name he ‘fires’ and loud fireworks explode from the stage as the crowd cheers in approval. The red spotlights make a circle through the crowd while the white spotlights pulse in tune with the music for a very dizzying effect, as the Arizona Assassin makes his way down the ramp. He walks down the ramp towards the ring, slapping hands with a few fans before he pulls the jacket off as he slides under the ropes. He mounts the nearest turnbuckle and makes a gun motion with his left hand. He cocks the “gun”, “fires” then jumps down and begins his pre-match warmup, taking the belt off from around his waist and placing it in his corner.
JOHNSON: ”An interesting matchup between these two men tonight, wouldn’t you say Vinny?”
VASSA: ”Well it’s a bit of an odd pairing if you ask me considering both tend to appeal to the fans a bit but given their recent losses in the South Beach Brawl Cup I guess you could understand the booking.”
JOHNSON: ”Despite Tanner’s lengthy list of championships it feels easy to regard him as sort of the young buck here, especially in this match against an old rugged veteran like Scott Stevens.”
VASSA: ”Adrian has been playing the mind games for nearly two weeks now and Scott Stevens is known for having a bit of a short fuse. We’ll see how it all plays out.”
The referee quickly checks both men for foreign objects and then ensures that both are ready for the match to begin before signalling to the timekeeper for the bell and the start of the match.
DING!!! DING!!!
Both men circle the ring slowly, both with left hands extended so that the tips of their fingers are just barely touching. Stevens swings with his right, trying to catch Tanner with a quick strike but he misses by a few inches, leaving Tanner to dance out of the way to safety with a smile on his face. In an effort to catch Stevens off guard, Tanner quickly shoots back in Stevens direction, trying to take him down with a single leg takedown but Stevens stuffs it and pushes the smaller man away, pulling his leg free while shooting a warning glare in his opponent’s direction.
Again the two return to circling the ring slowly before finally moving to tie up. Instead of locking into the tie up, however, Tanner hooks Stevens arm and whips him down to the mat with an arm drag, holding onto his arm and applying pressure to the right shoulder of Scott Stevens early on. Stevens wastes no time working his way back up to his feet, using his weight to push Tanner into the turnbuckle, eventually causing Tanner to lose his grip on the hold. Stevens, though, holds onto Tanners arm and irish whips him back across to the opposite ropes. As Tanner returns, Stevens telegraphs a back body drop to which Tanner counters with a quick boot to the sternum, standing Scott up straight before being taken back down to the mat with another arm drag from Tanner.
This time Stevens manages to scoot out of having another hold applied to his arm, charging back at Tanner who once more dodges the attack and slams Stevens back down with another arm drag takedown. Back to his feet yet again, although slowing down some, Stevens once more moves towards Tanner only to be taken down by a third consecutive arm drag. The effect is clear as, upon impact, the big Texan grabs at his shoulder for a brief moment before working his way back to a seated positions. As he does so, Adrian closes and snaps a quick kick to the right arm of his opponent, clearly focusing on the one limb.
JOHNSON: ”Solid strategy by Tanner early on.”
VASSA: ”Usually we think of Scott Stevens as being the one who has his opponents as well scouted as anyone in this business but tonight it certainly seems like Tanner has done his homework.”
JOHNSON: ”Still a while to go in the match before it’s all wrapped up but it’s becoming clear that Scott Stevens needs to begin implementing his own gameplan, and now.”
VASSA: ”We’ll see whether or not the Arizona Assassin is as lethal as he claims to be.”
Adrian hits the ropes as Stevens works back up to a vertical base and blasts Scott in the face with a rolling elbow, following that up with a sudden tilt-a-whirl into an arm-breaker. He runs over to the far ropes, climbing out onto the apron, waiting for Stevens to get back to his feet. Stevens does so, shaking out his arm. As he turns to find Tanner, Adrian hops off the ropes with a flying lariat, but Stevens counters with a lightning fast SUPERKICK that rocks Tanner’s jaw and he crumples to the mat as the crowd gasps in awe and cheers.
Not wasting any time, Stevens moves to pull Adrian back to his feet, backing him into the nearby corner where he proceeds to deliver consecutive chops as the fans count along with him up to five. He then transitions, lowering his shoulder and grasping the middle rope on either side of Tanners body where he then proceeds to use his shoulder as a battering ram over and over again into Tanners stomach. After five consecutive blows that way, Stevens then stands back up and steps up to the middle rope, delivering ten more consecutive strikes, this time to the forehead of Adrian Tanner Junior.
By the time he’s done with him, Steven steps down from the ropes and backs of allowing Tanner to stumble out of the corner slowly, in a daze. Stevens again sets himself upon his opponent, looking to take his head off with a clothesline from hell. Tanner somehow manages to avoid it, however, and instead ducks under and swoops around behind Stevens, shoving him chest first into the corner while shaking his head free of the stars and cobwebs that had found there way there from Stevens assault.
JOHNSON: ”Good instincts there by Tanner as Stevens has found a way back into this match by sticking to what he does best.”
VASSA: ”Power, power and more power. I wouldn’t have wanted to be on the receiving end of any of those blows.”
JOHNSON: ”Me either, Vinny. And you’ve got to think of Stevens connects on that clothesline that he might have found a way to put this match away right then and there.”
VASSA: ”But he didn’t, and Tanner has a twinkle in his eye. Look out!”
Adrian has Scott near one of the corners. Standing in front of him with Scott facing the corner, he hooks Scott’s arm behind his back and throws Scott backwards with an arm-trapped exploder suplex into the turnbuckles! He rolls Scott onto his side and places his arm up near his head so his head and arm are laying against the bottom turnbuckle then quickly backs up halfway across the ring. He makes the gun motion with his hand, then runs and nails a dropkick to Stevens head and arm/shoulder against the turnbuckle!
Yet even as he connects with the maneuver and scrambles back to his feet, his eyes widen in shock as Scott Stevens begins to push himself back up to his feet. Tanners attack has been focused and precise from the very get go and still Stevens continues to get back up to his feet, ready and waiting to both absorb and dish out more and more. Once he’s back up to a vertical base, Stevens snarls in the direction of his opponent and flexes his pectoral muscles, moving towards Tanner at a methodical pace.
Feeling desperation set in and a need to raise the stakes a bit higher, Adrian climbs to the top rope, and dives off onto Scott looking for a hurricanrana. But Stevens holds on to him, fighting through the pain in his arm to lift Adrian back up onto his shoulders and then tosses Adrian into the turnbuckles with a buckle bomb! Adrian pops out of the corner from the momentum and Stevens almost takes his head off with a mafia kick.
JOHNSON: ”Oh my god!”
VASSA: ”Tanner might be dead after that kick. It nearly took his head off, Steve. Did you see his head snap back?”
As Tanners body collapses to the mat, Stevens senses an opportunity for victory and drops down, hooking the leg and scowling at the referee as he slid in to count the pinfall attempt.
ONE
.
.
TWO
.
.
THR–KICKOUT!!!
Tanner somehow manages to muscle his shoulder up at the last second, much to the disbelief of the HOW Hall of Famer. Frustrated, Stevens sits up on his knees and places his hands on his thighs, giving Tanner the opportunity to roll away over to the ring apron where he rests momentarily out of danger. Shaking his head, Stevens begins to push himself back up to his feet, unsure how the kick that he had just landed after the turnbuckle bomb hadn’t put the match away for good. Outside on the apron, Tanner stirs and begins to slowly pull himself back up with the assistance of the ropes. As he gets back to his feet he lets the top rope support his body weight, not noticing that Stevens was fully back to his feet as well.
Stevens rushes him for a spear but Adrian counters with a quick enziguri that knocks Stevens back. As Stevens stumbles around Adrian launches himself off the ropes looking for a springboard armbar but Scott dodges at the last second. Adrian manages to hit the mat and rolls to his feet near the other ropes, turning right into a Scott Stevens spear that sends both men through the ropes to the floor!
Stevens makes it to his feet first. He pulls Adrian up and slams him chest-first down onto the barricade driving the breath from his body. He pulls Adrian up again and whips him at the nearest ring post. Adrian hits it back-first and slumps against it trying to catch his breath.
Stevens cocks his fist in the air to the fans delight and charges at Adrian for a Superman Punch, but Adrian dives out of the way at the last second and Stevens’ fist goes directly into the pole! Stevens howls in pain as the crowd chants ‘Holy shit!’
Not wasting time Adrian, on the other side of the post, grabs Scott by the injured wrist and yanks him forward, slamming Stevens shoulder-first into the ring post! Adrian lets go of the wrist, climbs up onto the stairs and grabs Stevens by the head, jumping off with a tornado DDT!
JOHNSON: ”Jesus did you hear that thud?!”
VASSA: ”I think I’m going to be sick.”
Pulling Stevens back up by his pants, Tanner quickly rolls Stevens back into the ring and then hops up onto the ring apron, looking to the corner turnbuckle as the crowd pops, anticipating a high risk maneuver from the Arizona Assassin. With a smirk, Tanner extends his arm and points his finger gun in Stevens direction, firing it off with a “bang, you go dead now,” Tanner ascends to the top rope just as Stevens begins to stumble back to a standing position. On wobbly legs, Stevens tumbles towards the corner that Tanner was in, happening to put himself in perfect position for what Tanner was hoping for.
JOHNSON: ”Looks like we’ve got BAD NEWS incoming.”
VASSA: ”Have we ever seen Tanner execute this here in 4CW?”
With a leap, Tanner looks to execute the rolling top rope cutter but Stevens manages to counter it, tossing Tanner across the ring instead of letting him connect on the move. Showing off his agility, Tanner lands on his feet like a cat and immediately sprints back in the direction of Scott Stevens. In the blink of an eye, Stevens turns and extends his arms going for the TOXIC STING!
JOHNSON: ”TOXIC STI-”
VASSA: ”NO!”
Stevens goes for the Toxic Sting but Adrian, having scouted it and spent so much time working against it, throws his arm up into Stevens’ injured arm and blocks the move, shoving Stevens away. As he shoves Scott forward, he grabs hold of the injured arm and twists, turning Stevens in a circle before pulling him in and hitting the REVOLVER!!!
JOHNSON: ”BANG!”
VASSA: ”REVOLVER! TANNER HIT THE REVOLVER ON SCOTT STEVENS!!”
Dropping to his knees, Tanner hooks Stevens leg and pushes down on his upper torso as the referee slid in to count the fall.
ONE
.
.
TWO
.
.
THREE!!!
Tanner heaves a sigh of relief and rolls off of Stevens as soon as the referee’s hand hit the mat for the third time. “Tom Sawyer” hits over the sound system as Tanner remains in a seated position, sweating dripping from his brow as he glances over at the fallen body of his opponent. Without question, Scott Stevens was once again a game competitor for his opposition it just happened that he came up a bit short once more.
DING!!! DING!!! DING!!!
With the referee’s help, Adrian Tanner Junior gets back to his feet and has his hand raised in the air in victory, his free hand raised to the side of his head holding the place where Stevens had connected with a mafia kick a few minutes earlier.
POWERS: ”Here is your winner, ADRIAN TANNER JJUUNNIIOORR!!!”
JOHNSON: ”A disappointing in to a hard fought match for Scott Stevens. You know he has to be frustrated.”
VASSA: ”Perhaps, but that’s the business. One minute you’re a whisper away from the 4CW Championship and the next you’re on a losing streak. He’ll bounce back.”
JOHNSON: ”You can be sure of that. Lonesome loser or not, Scott Stevens has been one of the most consistent forces on this roster for some time now.”
VASSA: ”He has and this victory tonight for Tanner is not one that he will soon forget. He was given all that he could handle tonight.”
As the scene fades backstage we’re left with a shot of Tanner taking to the ropes to celebrate his win.