LIVE from Paris, France. Saturday 16th February 2019.









"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the beginning of a new age in professional wrestling. Tonight, Cosmic Wrestling broadcasts it's inaugural pay-per-view live from Paris' Stade Pierre de Coubertin. I'm your host, Dorian Hindman, joined at ringside by legendary grappler, Manny Fantana." Hindman looks sheepishly to his left. In his finest suit, he is perfectly presentable but comprehensively dwarfed by his broadcast colleague, bursting out of his blue and red checkered abomination of a smoking jacket.





"Thank you for the introduction, Heine, not that I needed it. Anyone who knows wrestling knows my voice from the moment they hear it. And anyone who knows wrestling already knows that here tonight in Paris, wrestling will begin a new dawn." He snarls the final words in to the camera and Dorian attempts to match his levels of enthusiasm.





"Yes, and tonight, in our very first televised match, a brand new title belt will debut, and a brand new champion will be crowned. The Cosmic Dragon Championship will be introduced tonight, and four of the finest junior heavyweights in the world will vie for the right to be the first ever Cosmic Dragon Champion."





"This is a huge opportunity for someone to write their name in to wrestling folklore." Fantana growls at the camera, taking Dorian somewhat aback.





"Indeed it is, Manny." He recovers quickly. "And this is an especially fantastic opportunity for young Californian, Flash, who turned 21 last week and will compete in his first ever title match tonight."





"A huge opportunity, no question." Manny addresses Hindman. "But experience at this level is everything, and this kid has virtually none."





"If experience is what wins belts, perhaps you fancy the second generation wrestler, Psicosis Junior?"





"Baby psycho is a fantastic athlete, but experience isn't hereditary. This ain't his daddy wrestling, tonight he has to begin his own legacy. And the competition for this spot in wrestling history is stiff, Heine."





Dorian scowls momentarily at the arse based nickname, but shrugs it off. "I can see where this is going..."





"What do you mean?" Manny turns threateningly, almost shoving his co-commentator off screen with his huge shoulder.





"Nothing." Dorian refuses to meet his eye.





"My pick for tonight," Fantana turns back to the camera, "is the most must-see wrestler in the world, Mohammed Cashman. He is the premier athlete in world sport at this moment and nobody will stop him from claiming gold. It's his rightful place!"





"He has arguably the least experience of the four." Dorian protests. "He only converted from football last year."





"So?" Manny scowls. "He is an incredible competitor at all levels of all sport and he'll show it tonight."





"Well," Hindman begins, clearly eager to move on, "my pick is the most experienced man in the match, Puerto Rican legend, El Ultimo."





"Who cares about your opinion, Heine?" Manny shouts, face contorting like a Saturday morning cartoon villain.





"Well, I'm in for a wonderful night, aren't I." Dorian sulks, Manny stifles a laugh by turning away from the camera. "Let's go to the ring!"

















"What an incredible victory for the young man from Venice Beach!"





"I cannot believe he did it, Heine." Manny seems to be a mixture of begrudgingly impressed and moderately furious.





"It was an incredible ladder match and a fantastic start to our inaugural broadcast here at Cosmic Wrestling. And a first ever championship for young Flash. Having followed his career since day one, I feel a great sense of pride that this young man is starting what is sure to be an excellent wrestling career here in Cosmic Wrestling." Dorian beams at the camera as Fantana scowls.





"Shut up, Heine!"





"That was somewhat uncalled for!" Hindman scoffs. "Now, before his title defence later tonight, Walt Frederick is speaking to the Cosmic Heavyweight Champion, Tommy Gates."





"Thank you, Dorian." Walt smiles, stood somewhere backstage, a plain cement wall behind him and a microphone in his hand. To his right, screen left, stands a tall, athletic, confident man with a dyed grey mohawk-mullet. He has a rock band logo on his tee shirt, and a title belt over his shoulder. The aging interviewer turns from the camera to address the champion. "Tonight, Tommy, you will step in to a steel cage with the deranged animal known to us as The Reaper. He has promised to not only end your title reign, but also your career. What do you have to say ahead of this huge match tonight?"





"First of all, my friend, it is an honour to be here in Paris for the first ever Cosmic Wrestling pay-per-view as the heavyweight champion. I vow to carry this company in to the future, and beyond. So, to answer your question, no my career will not end tonight, nor will my title reign." He is bouncing with energy, clearly eager to get in to the ring, perhaps even eager to enter the cage.





"But it cannot be denied that The Reaper has been on a tear around here, taking out wrestler after wrestler with his Burning Hammer. Aren't you worried about being hit with such a ferocious move?" Walt looks worried for his friend. Tommy's confidence doesn't waver.





"He can, and will, hit me with everything he has. And I'll hit him right back with everything I've got, and come the end of the match, he'll be staring at the lights as I hold aloft my Cosmic Championship title."





"Tommy Gates, thank you. Back to you, Dorian."





"Excellent interview there from the Champion, Tommy Gates."





"He's bluffing, Heine." Manny interrupts. "He's kidding himself if he thinks that he can avoid the Burning Hammer. The Reaper will take his soul tonight, I'm telling you."





"You also told me that Cashman would win the Dragon belt."





"Excuse me?!" Fantana squares up towards Dorian, who quickly cuts away.





"Back to the ring for the Cosmic Duos title match, MAX AWESOME defending against The Reaper's henchmen, The Seventh Circle."













"They cheated, Dorian!" Fantana is standing and visibly livid. "You saw it, clear as day."





"I saw the champions retain via a count out, perfectly legal. I also heard you call me Dorian."





"Shut up, Heine!"





"And you're back. Anyway, champions are perfectly within their rights to retain their belts via whatever means they can, Manny."





"But they're supposed to be fighting champions, aren't they? Aren't they the Tokyo boys that fight with swagger and confidence and jump around for the fans like idiots? Real heroes of the people, winning by count out rather than pinning their opponents clean in the middle of the ring, like I did."





"You were one of the dirtiest wrestlers of all time!"





"Well, okay, maybe not like me. But that's the point, they're not like me. They're supposed to be goody two-shoes like you."





"I never claimed to be a saint." Dorian puts his hand to his chest.





"You're not exactly a sinner, either." Fantana retorts. "The simple matter is this; they hit their best move, the 450 in to the moonsault, and it wasn't enough, they had to cheat to hold on to the Cosmic Duos belts."





"I would've thought you'd be proud of them." Dorian challenges his far larger companion. Manny's face clouds with thought for a few seconds.





"Well, maybe a little." He concedes. Hindman smirks as he cuts away.





"Over to Walt Frederick with Diamond TA."





"I'm with you on that one, Dorian, retaining the belts is the most important thing, no matter the method." Walt began before turning to greet his guest.





Fantana's mic is on the desk but he can still be heard saying: "Who the hell asked him?"





"My guest at this time is Diamond TA, challenger for the Knock Out title tonight. Diamond, how are you-"





"Shut up, old man." Diamond TA interrupted, his voice dismissive rather than aggressive. "I am the best looking man in Cosmic Wrestling, and I am the best wrestler in Cosmic Wrestling. Mad Dog might have broken free from the chain, but tonight he's getting neutered."





"You say that," Walt began, TA looked threateningly at him, but he continued after brief hesitation "you say that you are the best wrestler, but Knockout matches don't allow for pins or submissions."





"That doesn't matter, Frederick. I am the toughest man in wrestling. I will knock the Mad Dog out and take his belt. And I know what you're going to say. I know what you're going to ask. Am I worried about Isiah Jones or that freak Armstrong? Of course not. They're all lined up, ready to get knocked out by the best wrestler in the world."





"Back to you, Dorian." Walt says, clearly eager to get away from Diamond TA.





"Ain't he great, Heine." Manny beams as Hindman shakes his head.





"The match Diamond was alluding to is up next. A knockout match to determine the number one contender for the KO title. It's old-school brawler Hubert Ronald Armstrong taking on Jamaican newcomer Isiah Jones."





"How does this guy get in to title contention straight away?" Manny complains.





"Well, he isn't yet. He'll have to earn it in the ring right now."





"What if he isn't worthy of this spot?" Fantana grows angry, again.





"Then we're about to watch him get knocked out!" Dorian begins to lose patience and quickly regrets it under the glare of Manny. "Lets go to the ring for this title contention match."

















"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what the Knock Out division here at Cosmic Wrestling is all about. Two fantastic fighters hitting one another with their harshest blows until one of them is completely out cold. Hubert Ronald Armstrong hit the Chelsea Grimace, his roundhouse slap, on several occasions, but Isiah Jones proved too tough."





"He's lucky that he's tough, Heine, because he sure is stupid." Fantana gloats.





"What makes you say that?" Dorian replies, incredulous.





"He kept hitting the Golden Bridge, that's a pinning maneuver, Heine. Idiot!"





"Yes, but it's his finishing maneuver." Dorian defends the young up-and-comer. "And, once he realised it wasn't working, he hit the back breaker instead and got the job done. This kid can go far, Fantana."





"I'm not arguing with you there." Manny backtracks. "But he's going to have to smarten up if he's going to dethrone the Mad Dog. And if it's Diamond TA that he has to face, I don't think he has any chance at all at beating the best wrestler in the world."





"Well, you can see that match this Thursday on the first ever weekly broadcast of Cosmic Wrestling TV, right here." Hindman shamelessly plugs. "Up next, a heated contest between two men who believe that they should be the Cosmic champion."





The feed cuts to a video package, the screen tinted gold as a man with a Northern African/Middle Eastern complexion smirking as if he owns the entire world. The camera pans back to reveal that he is wearing a ridiculously over-sized crown and cape. Walt Frederick provides voice-over.





"A man willing to dub himself 'King Wonderful' can hardly be argued to lack in confidence. But to suggest that he should be awarded the Cosmic Championship without ever competing in a Cosmic Wrestling ring was seen as a step too far."





The screen cuts to a gigantic Asian man with a facial tattoo that covers one eye. He is shown decimating smaller wrestlers and the frame shakes on the impact of his slams. "Suzuki was the man to take exception, calling the Wonderful One out on his arrogance."





"You want to be champion?" Suzuki is shown confronting King Wonderful in the ring at a small show somewhere. "You'll have to go through me first."





Footage is shown now, back in the gold tint, with King Wonderful wrestling. He is himself a gigantic man, more girthy than tall, but also rather tall. "I have asked many times for a word on camera with the King, but have been denied at every turn. One can only assume that he is waiting to do his talking in the ring, at Creation in Paris."

















"The moral of the story tonight, Fantana, would be that arrogance can lead to your downfall."





"I could not disagree more, Heine." Manny bellows. "You need arrogance in order to rise to the top. To be the best, you have to believe that you are the best."





"Yes, but you also need to prove it." Dorian comes back. "And tonight, live on pay-per-view, King Arrogant got put down. He bragged about his brilliance before ever wrestling a match, and tonight he found The Consequence."





"Very clever, Heine." Manny snarls. "There's no questioning that Suzuki is a fantastic competitor and future Cosmic champion. And his finishing hold is brutal. But tonight, I saw something in the debuting King Wonderful. He will reign supreme over Cosmic Wrestling, soon. It's only a matter of time."





"Well, before tonight he was unproven," Dorian begins, "and I would argue that he still is now." Manny has nothing to say to this, he merely looks disgusted. Perhaps because he knows that Dorian is right. Realising that Fantana has no comeback, Hindman carries on. "Let's stop talking about the loser, and discuss the winner for a moment. If King Wonderful was being considered for a Cosmic title shot, and Suzuki just beat him, surely that puts him in line?"





"That's how sports works, Heine." Fantana explains. "If you beat the best, you have a claim at being the best."





"He wasn't the best." Dorian's voice raises momentarily. "Never mind." He thinks better of it. "Walt Frederick is standing by for the current number one contender, The Reaper."





"Thank you, Dorian, and I am truly sorry that you have to spend your night sitting next to that raving madman." Walt begins. "As you say, joining me at this time, the man who will challenge Tommy Gates for the Cosmic Championship later tonight, The Reaper."





A scarred, bare chest appears in frame and the camera pans back to take in his face, painted with a black and white skull, the paint of which is running, as if his face is melting. Walt addresses him.





"Earlier tonight, I spoke to the champion, and he told me that he will absorb your best offence and walk away tonight as Cosmic Heavyweight Champion. Do you have a response for him?"





Walt holds the microphone in The Reaper's face, who only just now appears to acknowledge his presence. "Tonight," his deep voice drawls slowly, "the Cosmos dies." With that, he turns and walks away.





"Well," Walt turns awkwardly to the camera, "I guess that's all I'm getting. Back to you in the booth."





"Did he call me a madman!?" Fantana is more amused than angry. "He's lucky I don't beat up old men, Heine."





"Very noble of you." Dorian smiles. "Next up, in the ring, the KO title match. We heard from Diamond TA earlier, he's supremely confident of dethroning the Mad Dog. What do you make of this match, Fantana?"





"Mad Dog Silva is a man with an injured shoulder, but Mad Dog Silva is a man with some of the most deadly punches and kicks in wrestling. Were this a straight wrestling match, I'd have Diamond TA by submission with the best looking man in wrestling barely breaking sweat. But the Knock Out rules suit a man like Mad Dog more than they suit a man like TA. Honestly, Heine, I have no idea who's going to win this match, and I am dying to find out."





"Alright!" Hindman's excitement for the match ramps up with Fantana's preview. "Let's head to the ring and see who will leave Creation as the Knock Out champion."

















"I told you that knock out rules didn't favour him, Heine!" Manny protests. "Under fair rules, Diamond TA walks away with the belt."





"The rules were fair, Fantana, they were knock out rules."





"That was MMA, Heine, not wrestling. This company is called Cosmic Wrestling, is it not?"





"Why do you always have to make excuses for your boys?" Dorian asks.





"That sure is rich coming from you." Manny shakes his head. "Go ahead, talk about how great Mad Dog is."





"Well, he was dominant in defending his belt tonight. He flew out of the gate with that jumping heel kick, and barely gave Diamond TA a look in until hitting his huge Roundhouse Killer, forcing the referee to end the match after less than five minutes."





"That roundhouse kick was brutal, Heine, but someone needs to have words with that referee. He didn't end the match after it, he let that deranged lunatic keep attacking!"





"Yes, for once I agree with you, Fantana." Dorian nods. "He should have ended it earlier. And is this the fate for Isiah Jones? Will he feel the Roundhouse Killer on Thursday on the premier episode of Cosmic Wrestling TV?"





"Probably." Fantana shrugs. Dorian waits for him to continue, before realising that he will not.





"Wow, you're really talking them in to the building, there."





"Mad Dog has done it for us." Manny explains. "If you like seeing a despicable, degenerate, Dog beat helpless wrestlers to a pulp, tune in on Thursday."





"Okay," Dorian is unsure what to say, "well, this next match needs no selling. This next match is the rightful main event of Cosmic Wrestling's first ever pay-per-view. This next match is a steel cage match for the Cosmic Championship. The champion, Tommy Gates, defending against The Reaper."





The screen fades to black, irregularly interrupted by static. A deep voice, recognisable from earlier as being that of The Reaper, begins speaking calmly. "The gates to hell have been opened."





The picture changes to shots of an imposing cage, bathed in fire. Shots of Tommy Gates in pain fade in and out of the flames. Eventually, The Reaper emerges from the flames and is stood in the cage. "Tonight, the Cosmos dies." The screen fades to black once again.

















"Well, what a fantastic way to end any wrestling event!" Dorian exclaims.





"They hit each other with everything they had, Heine, and neither one could put away the other."





"The Reaper hit the Burning Hammer, but couldn't go for the pin. Gates hit the One Winged Angel, the challenger kicked out after the exhausted champion couldn't get to cover quickly enough."





"That he did, Heine, the first person ever to do so." Dorian seems confused that Fantana is agreeing with him. "And then Gates had to escape like the coward that he is." Dorian's confusion disappears. "We saw MAX AWESOME run away to win, and now Tommy Gates. These guys will get what's coming to them soon."





"I guess we'll find out when Comsic Wrestling returns this Thursday. Join us then to find out what will happen next with the Cosmic Championship. Will Suzuki claim the next title shot, or will The Reaper demand a rematch based on what happened here tonight?"





"I can't wait, Heine."





"Nor can I, Fantana. From all of us here at Cosmic Wrestling, goodnight!"



