Mascara Muerto(c) vs Vox Populi

[PWXonline]

Tag Team Championship
Mascara Muerto(c) vs Vox Populi

RP Limit: 2 per team

Deadline: 4-29-14 at Midnight CST


Story: Mascara Muerto shocked the world at High Stakes when they were able to pull of the upset of upsets and walk out with the PWX Tag Team Championships. Now they must go up against Vox Populi, who are not by any means stranger contenders for the tag titles. Elijah Black and Daniel Everett both made their intentions clear two weeks ago when they shocked everyone and joined with Mr. Hollywood and the Establishment. Mascara were also approached by Mr. Hollywood, but they decided it wasn't their fight to get involved. Now that Vox Populi are Establishment members, what does this mean for Mascara? With the Establishment's support, Vox Populi are clearly the favorites to walk out with the duo belts. However, if one thing has been made perfectly clear, it's that Mascara Muerto have been known for always upsetting the favorites. If your someone who places bets, I'd make sure to think long and hard before you choose who to place your bet on. All bets aside, this one will be a true classic either way.

[Elijah Black]

[We’re in Tampa with the Vox Populi, Elijah Black wearing a Jack Off Jill t-shirt, taking in some sunshine as they stroll through the taking in some sun as they stroll through the Ybor District]

Black: You know, I was…

[Black holds his fingers up to camera, less than an inch apart]

Black: …this close to choosing Busch Gardens as the location for the latest communiqué, because there’s few sponsors less appropriate for having their name emblazoned over a theme park than Anheuser-Busch. About the only way you could sink lower is if there was a theme park named after Altria, which for those of you not aware is the corporate rebrand of Philip Morris, because they needed an image makeover after it emerged they were fully aware they’d gotten America addicted to the poisons within their products. Or I could go one worse, and suggest a theme park owned and operated by Disney…

[Black mock shudders, before giving a knowing look to camera]

Black: But I decided to steer clear from the theme park aspect of Floridian life, after all it’s still less artificial than the population of SillyClone Valley over in LA. Instead I came here, an area that is to Tampa what the French Quarter is to New Orleans, and the difference couldn’t be more telling. Whilst in New Orleans you see row upon row of shops hawking their tourist knick-knacks at top dollar prices so John FoxNews can have some trinket to place on his desk, as long as he doesn’t forget where he put it when he succumbed to the cultural convention of getting blitzed out of his mind while he was there.

But rather than do my bit for local tourism, after all it’s kind of hard when the iconic buildings of this area used to be cigar factories…which makes my Philip Morris comments from earlier somewhat ironic. Instead, it was a good day, and this is a good area to walk around in because it isn’t any other cookie cutter neighbourhood you can find in countless cities across this nation, and that alone makes it something to appreciate more than people do.

And while I could talk about gentrification and Hispanic architecture all day, but you and I know there’s quite a lot of talking to come so maybe we should skip to the good parts. Agreed?

[Black nods to camera]

Black: As you already know, in order to achieve our aims and further our movement, the Vox have come to an arrangement with The Establishment, which allows us access to what we want and, most importantly, what we need: the time to say what we want, to do what needs to be done, to bring the change that have been necessary for a long time. And that change starts at The Initiative, at Mascara Muertos’ expense. And I know that my compatriot has been waiting a long time for this, and he sure has plenty to say on the subject…

[Black subtly steps aside, allowing Everett to become the focus]

Everett: I hope you two masked morons are sitting comfortably, making sure you get some quality time with those titles while you still can, because the Cinderella story you’ve been living is now having a last minute rewrite. No, she doesn’t meet her fair prince in the end, because she’s getting found guilty of fraud before she’s thrown in jail and left to rot, soon to be forgotten by all but the few people who knew her.

You may have ridden your luck to snatch those belts, but that one fluke is the moment your luck ran out and now you’re left with the realisation that, having peaked, now you have to fall. And I can tell you, from both of us, the fall you’re going to endure is going to hurt like hell for the pair of you. But I don’t care, not one bit, because when the broken bodies of the pair of you are piled high in that ring in the dying moments of your undeserved reign you will both know that you had it coming and there was only so long you could delay the inevitable.

Black: Well put, well put.

Everett: Let me tell the pair of you something: a true champion doesn’t run and hide, they stand and fight to prove they deserve that belt they hold against anyone and everyone who claims they are a better fit for the title. You want to see a better fit for those belts? You’re looking at them, ladies –we’re coming for those belts, we’re taking those belts, and we are holding on to those belts for as long as we damn well say so.

[Black slides back into focus]

Black: I’ve been saying it, we’ve been saying it, for a while now: those tag team titles, those are the first step for what we have planned, because the moment you gain a title is the moment you gain legitimacy, and legitimacy is a very powerful currency when you want to change things. Make no mistake, because with a little leverage from The Establishment, we are in a position to change things, and we’re looking to change more than the names on those tag team titles.

It won’t be too bad an experience for Mascara Muerto, though, as people will remember they were there on the day that the Vox drove their flag into the ground and made a stand, showing the world that there is another way.

Everett: Just like we’re going to show Mascara Muertos that it’s possible to eat all your meals through a straw for a couple of weeks.

[Black pauses, casting a sideways glance at Everett, before changing tack]

Black: You know, it’s almost cliché that the first thing somebody does when something changes is to criticise, because what they knew and loved is now somewhat different. Now, there is a time and a place to criticise something, for example if someone becomes a company’s champion then has their ass handed to them on every subsequent show, that is something to criticise. However, a quick check on Twitter shows how quick people are to get the wrong idea, and that’s entirely because they’re ignorant.

I already touched on this at the last show, but there’s a whole lot of people who say we “sold out” because…you know, I’ve come to the conclusion they hear the phrase “sold out” somewhere and they liked the sound of it, so use it whenever they think it’s justified. The problem is that, in this case, it certainly isn’t.

Is it “selling out” when we grab that bit more attention for our cause without watering down the words or meanings behind it in any way? No, it isn’t – it’s not selling out, it’s taking the Vox to the next stage, the stage where we don’t demand attention, we command it. And that’s exactly what we did, as our name was on the lips and the fingertips of everyone, and that’s more important than the fact they failed to understand what was happening.

We didn’t sign any contracts saying what we can and cannot do, we don’t have stylists frowning if they think…

[Black grasps the lapel of his t-shirt]

Black: …this doesn’t fit in with some demographic or other, and we’re not suddenly advertising Coca-Cola or whatever corporate product PWX wants to affiliate themselves with this week. You see, that’s selling out, because it’s putting what you believe in to one side in order to become rich and/or famous, preferably both.

So tell me, oh wise sages of Twitter, how would us claiming the PWX tag team championships be evidence of our “selling out”? We earned the right to be number one contenders, rather than having a title match offered to us if we got in bed with The Establishment, and the match doesn’t have any screwy stipulations attached to it that would favour us just so The Establishment could claim they held a little gold. The fact is we won one match, and we’re going to win a second one – and if winning matches is “selling out”, doesn’t that mean I “sold out” years ago?

[Black holds his hands out wide, inviting a rebuttal]

Black: Let’s be honest here, we didn’t take out Troy Stone because Hollywood or Zion asked us to, we had our own reasons for doing so, and I laid those out perfectly clear beforehand: the only reason he held the PWX Championship for so long is because he had Ophelia Morganti interfere in my match against him, and while some people conveniently forget that little fact I sure as hell did not. So getting a little retribution for that is “selling out”, is it?

But maybe I’m fixating on this a little too much, after all people can be as stupid as they like when hiding behind internet anonymity, and lucky for them we don’t have an agreement with Hollywood that says we can visit the house of everyone who called us “sell outs” and correct them on a few thing, but it’s only by pointing out the fundamental flaws in something that will make them learn how wrong their outlook is. And, believe me, a lot of people need to do a lot of learning.

Now that we are in a position to command attention, the first lesson is to re-educate everyone in PWX about what the tag team titles actually mean, and I can say without a hint of an exaggeration in my voice that Mascara Muerto have rendered them meaningless in a short matter of weeks, as they sit back and think that winning the titles is all that matters, and they slunk out of sight once they won the titles because their job was done. Well it wasn’t. The hard work starts now, and they will find that the task is too great for them and they will become overwhelmed and soon stare defeat in the face.

Everett: And that, you masked morons, is where you’ll come unstuck. You have a reputation for upsetting the odds, but there’s a point where the odds become too great and you find yourself cowering in the shadow of the 8-ball that is rolling right for you. You had a good run upsetting the odds, but now you’re facing the team that likes to upset the apple cart, which means there’s just one question I need to ask you: how do you like them apples?

Black: I’m sure that the pair of you are aware of the old adage that all good things must come to an end, but here’s something that never occurred to you: all bad things come to an end, and they do so that much sooner. For example, your reign hasn’t set the world alight by any definition, so come The Initiative it will be razed to the ground and replaced with something new, something better, and something that has meaning. I can say this with certainty, because I am the man behind the campaign to get those belts from you, and when I set my mind to something it is inevitable that the operation will be successful.

If I were you…which I’m not, but I’m just saying if I were, you should enjoy these last few hours with those titles before they move on to a new, better place: around the waist of myself and Everett, to come under the ownership of the Vox Populi. And believe me when I say that nobody will ever question our credibility as champions when we hold those titles.

[FTB]

[Mascara Muerto]

The Masks Return to the Ring

As the scene fades in to a different setting than what we have seen in the past from Mascara Muerto, a wrestling ring. Inside the ring we see Muerto leaning forward with his tag title around his waist who is seated atop a turnbuckle behind and to the right of Norte who stands in the center with his title draped over his shoulder as the pair eye the camera for a few moments before Norte breaks the silence.

Norte: It sure seems like it has been a while since we were last in one of these -motioning to the ring- but I'm sure we all remember what happened the last time we were. As much as I know it will annoy the Vox to be reminded of it, allow me to remind them.

He slides the belt off of his shoulder and raises it high above his head and holds it there for several moments before placing it back on his shoulder. His tone of voice seems different than what we normally hear, a more serious nature behind his words,

Norte: Vox has made it a habit of using broken record tactics to say that our win was a fluke and that our title reign was going to end soon, that our Cinderella story was going to end. Yet the fact still remains gentlemen that we won the tag titles. All you have done since then is complain and whine instead of stepping up and challenging us directly. Instead you have done the hiding and complained over and over about the injustice and the fluke win.

He pauses for a moment as he glances over his shoulder to Muerto who nods as he remains on the top turnbuckle.

Norte: You accused us of winning the titles hiding yet you fail to notice that we were never scheduled any matches until now, and we have been at the last two shows yet you made no effort to come and find us except for your moment in the spotlight when you beat down Troy Stone. I know people have strong opinions about Stone but he still went out there and made an effort to win that match and what did he get in return? He was attacked and beaten down by you and Brian Hollywood. You called it retribution, we call it cowardice.

He takes a moment to slide the title off from his shoulder and holds it before him so he can look at it for a few moments, nodding as he does before laying the title down at his feet before him.

Norte: We are laying the titles down at The Initiative when we step into the ring with the Vox once again, this time on what appears to be a more even playing field as it will just be two on two. As far as the card looks anyways. We have been pulling upsets since we first stepped foot in this ring and that title right there is the proof. When we meet in the ring we will pull another upset as we send the Vox home defeated and without the titles once again so that they can resume their complaining about the second fluke victory we achieved over them. We will do it without having to rely on anyone else but ourselves, we will do it alone as a team the same way we have been doing things since day one. We don't need anyone watching our backs from the office or working behind the scenes to get things done in our favor or anyone waiting in the wings to come and secure the match in our favor should the need arise. What we have is more than luck, more than fluke wins, we have what it takes to win and we have what it takes to be the champions, what we have is beyond the Vox's comprehension and because they cannot comprehend it they label us as flukes, morons and whatever else will make them feel better about themselves.

After another pause Norte looks up at the ceiling before bringing his attention back to the camera.

Norte: We have had to watch and listen as the Vox complained about their loss and about our reign as the champions, and after The Initiative we're going to have to get used to hearing them complain. But I would be a fool if I didn't address the 'elephant' in the room, the Establishment. Hollywood made it clear that he wants us to join him and he demonstrated where the offer will take us. To be honest we always knew where the offer would take us in the end, it would take us to the same place it took Troy Stone. Regardless of what Hollywood said we always knew no matter what that the odds were going to stack against us so that our belts would be taken from us. We have tried to remain out of what has been going on here in PWX but we always knew that sooner or later we would have to make a choice as to where we stand. So at The Initiative we will give our answer when we take the fight to the Vox and put them down to retain our titles and we will hold them high and hold them proud as free members of the PWX roster.

Muerto nods his head in agreement from his spot on the turnbuckle as Norte glances around at the empty arena around them. Knowing that the clock was counting down to their match with the Vox.

Norte: So to put it in words that the Establishment will understand, more personally mister Hollywood. We will never join the Establishment. We will never fall as low as you and the Vox and everyone else in your group has fallen to. We have always stood as men of honor and as such we could never conduct ourselves in such ways as you and could never align ourselves with the likes of you. We are going to take a stand against you and we are not alone in the way we feel about you. We know full well what the likely consequences are for choosing to stand against you and not with you, and we fully accept those consequences for regardless of what happens to us, we will remain men of honor. And we will fight to the end to see your Establishment crumble and razed to the ground in the same way the Vox wants our reign done away with.

Muerto hops down from his position on the turnbuckle and walks over to join Norte's side as they look to the camera.

Norte: Should we fall victim to the wrath of the Establishment at The Initiative and lose our titles, know that we will come back for them and we will win them back, but until that bridge comes we will die fighting to retain them so Vox. Establishment. You are going to have to pull out everything in your bag of tricks and your arsenal if you want these titles.

Norte reaches down and picks his title back up and holds it in his hand.

Norte: Because there is no way you are going to take these from us, now that is legitimacy and our actions at High Stakes and in our match with the Vox is our credibility. So I hope you're coming expecting a fight, a war, because that is exactly what you are going to get from us win or lose, do or die. The war has already begun and we are ready to fight.

Norte and Muerto raise the titles high above their heads as the camera fades out.