North board, roleplay 14

Tucson, Arizona
The First Day of Competition in Wrestling GOD 3
10:35 AM

Late again. This is beginning to be a pattern for Magnum. He stands in the middle of his room, staring at the walls. A born procrastinator, Magnum ends up spending the majority of his time finding things to do OTHER THAN the objective at hand. In this case, spending all week chasing skirts downtown was far more important than being ready to leave for the biggest tournament of his entire life. Big surprise there. It’s been about 3 years since Jayde left him, and he still does his best to mask the pain through the use of random females from random clubs. Jayde is the prime example of Magnum’s true problem with procrastination… you see, Wolf knew that she was getting tired of the long time away, and the quiet stays at home when he did happen to come home. He knew she was going to leave him… but instead of fixing it when he had the chance, he waited. Hoped it would fix itself. Obviously, it didn’t. As nothing in this world tends to do.

He glances at his watch again. 10:45. This is really going to piss off someone at the tournament. Everyone is probably checked into their hotels already, and when they see that Magnum isn’t there, someone’s going to flip his lid. He glances down at the bag on his bed. It’s filled to the point of having to sit on it to close it. God, he sucked at packing. That was what Jayde was good for. No, not packing, specifically. All of the small stuff that Magnum Wolf, huge wrestling superstar, had never really learned to do for himself. She watched out for him… watched over him… loved him. And he took it for granted for 7 years. Magnum’s head shakes. He still can’t shake her memory. Even after all this time. It was the loyalty. His mother, God rest her soul, had told him long ago that he was too loyal for his own good. That it would get him hurt somewhere down the road. His mother was always telling him things like that. Things about not getting hurt. As though he had not been through the worst of the worst already. As though she had not sat there, and watched him go through the worst of the worst. As though she had pushed those memories out of her mind just like all of the other ones.

“God damn it. Whatever… I probably forgot half the stuff I’m going to need. I’ll just buy it when I get there,” says Magnum, to no one in particular.

He zips the bag, with some degree of difficulty, and hoists it into his arm. He turns and walks out of his room. Into the hallway. He glances down one way, then back up the other. Empty house this week. Jayde had taken the kids so that he could go to this tournament. Once again, she would bear his cross while he went off to fulfill his career. One of Jayde’s qualms with him. With frustration now evident on his face from all the thoughts of Jayde, Magnum walks down the hallway towards the stairwell. As he descends the stair case, his eyes lock on the kitchen clock. 10:50.

“Time flies when you’re always late,” Wolf mumbles with aggravation.

He grabs the keys off of the rack that Jayde bought some years back. God, everything in this house is a reminder of her. He pulls open the door, walks out halfway, reaches around and locks the doorknob. As he pulls the door shut, he slides the key into the deadbolt, and turns it hard to the left. With a satisfying click, the door is locked. He turns the key back to the right, and pulls the key out. With a quick 180 degree turn, Magnum is nearly face to face with the V8 Magnum Special Cherokee that he bought last year. Yes sir, LCW-Mercury had been good to him. The signing bonus he picked up there really helped out with Magnum’s ego. Because we all know that nothing boosts an ego like a truck that’s larger than life! The sun gleams off of the sparkly blue tint that he had put on the truck. The girls he brought home always told him that it matched his eyes. He didn’t really care if it matched his eyes… as long as everyone who saw the damned thing was impressed. Seventy thousand is a lot to spend on a car that no one thinks is incredible. He pushes the little “unlock” button on the locking mechanism on his key ring, which gets the response of a little “BEEP BEEP!” from inside the truck somewhere. The lights flicker on one twice, in time with the beeps… which has to be the coolest thing ever. It’s like the car, in all of it’s incredible sexiness, is actually winking at you. Magnum smiles in spite of himself every time he hits that button. He pulls open the door on the passenger side, and tosses his bag in. Another glance at the watch. 10:53. How does anyone ever get places on time? Without hesitation, he walks to the other side of the truck, and opens the driver’s side door. He climbs in, and plops himself down in the captain’s chair. God, he loves this truck. As the key slides into the ignition, and he turns it away from him, you can hear eight cylinders of American power begin to growl. Another grin in spite of himself. On the radio, paradoxically, is Dashboard Confessional. A band that Magnum has grown a taste for over the years. Most would assume by his demeanor, and attitude in the ring, that he would listen exclusively to hardcore music. But, for the most part, he would rather sit back and listen to Dave Mathews, or Dashboard. He puts the truck into reverse, and rolls out of the driveway. The little green neon clock on the dashboard reads 10:55.

“I hate mornings,” sighs Wolf.

The Great Western Forum
Inglewood, California
8:37 PM

Magnum’s Jeep pulls up in the parking lot of The Great Western Forum. His eyes gaze over the parking lot, searching for a car he knows. He doesn’t see very many cars at all, actually. He’s probably one of the few men who lives close enough to drive to this tournament. Then he sees it. The car of one Dean Wallace. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up slightly as he recalls who his opponent for the first round will be. The same man who has been talking behind Magnum’s back, and in front of his damned face. The man who claims that Magnum is nothing but an over-pushed, and over-hyped chump. The same man who is about to be forced to eat his words. As Wolf walks over to the car, he stands over it… kind of hovering. Staring at it. His anger is obvious now, as his jaw flexes a few times. He turns toward the cameraman, and leans on the car that belongs to The Prime Example. His head shakes lightly from left to right.

“Who would have thought it? Who would have predicted that there would be such a simple solution to one of the biggest problems in my life right now? I sure wouldn’t have. Dean Wallace. There has been no end to the annoyance that I have felt for you since the month before I left LCW-Mercury. You have single-handedly caused me to get more angry than I have ever been. With anyone. But don’t let that make your big head any bigger. Don’t take it as a compliment. Cause it sure the hell isn’t meant as one. My anger stems from the fact that you’re a leech. Plain and simple. When there was drama backstage at Merc, you were one of the first to get involved in it. Even though you had no clue what was going on back there. You stuck your nose in because your buddies were involved, and thought that that meant you were welcome. That day you made an enemy, Dean. That was your first mistake. Then, Magnum Wolf starts to get big over at Primetime Central. He starts to make a name for himself in the rankings… starts to get people to take notice of NOT ONLY himself… but to take notice in LCW Mercury. Much more press than the ailing Evo. The federation that YOU work for. So, you took it upon yourself to try and build off of the success of the opposite branch of LCW. You would take every opportunity to toss an insult my way. Every chance to say something smart ass. You wanted my attention SO BADLY, Dean. So I gave it to you. I gave all my attention to you. You started making empty threats, at one point even asking me to drive out to Tempe to kick your ass. How very… quaint. But, unlike you, I am not willing to go to jail just to hurt you. So, I challenged you to a wrestling match. Like a man. But now, that wrestling match will only be an encore performance of the unflagging destruction that takes place here at the Wrestling GOD 3 tournament. Someone, whether that be one of the bookers or God himself, doesn’t like you, Dean. They have all but eliminated you before the tournament even began. I don’t know who you pissed off, but it was someone important. You’re going into a match with a man much larger than yourself. Much stronger than yourself. A man who has been through the ropes of wrestling… knows his way around a ring with his eyes closed. Could beat you in five minutes using only submission holds. A monster in the ring. Through and through. But not only are you going into the ring with that monster…”

Magnum pauses for a beat…

“But, you’re going into the ring with that monster after you’ve pissed him off royally. All your talk, all your threats, all your semantic nonsense comes to a head this week, Dean. There’s no more talk about how good you are. There’s no more pretending to be the best. It’s go time. Now or never… and I believe in my heart that you aren’t even close to ready for a match like this with a man like me. Sure, we all know how great of a baseball player you were. But this is totally different. You don’t have a team to fall back on in wrestling. You don’t have a break between innings in wrestling. When you’re out there pitching, the only REAL opponent that you have is fatigue. In the ring, you’ve got me breathing down your neck. You try to take a breather, and I’m dropping you with an exploder. You try to slow down, I’m gonna break you in half with a fisherman’s buster. You’re not ready for the pressure that you’re going to be under to perform in this environment. Frankly, I almost feel bad for you. We’ve all seen how well you pitch the ball… this week, we’re going to find out if you’re as good at dropping it.”

Magnum raises his left eyebrow quickly, then drops it. He pushes off of the car behind him, and begins to walk away. As he does, he aims the locking mechanism on his key ring at the Cherokee. Soon after, you can hear the “BEEP BEEP!” and lights winking on and off. The scene fades to black as Magnum walks toward the forums whistling the chorus to “We Are The Champions” with his bag rolling along behind him.