CSWA PRIMETIME: Winter Wonderland

[User Poets]

Airdate: Saturday, December 21 2013 8 PM Eastern Time
Venue: The Merritt Auditorium, Greensboro, NC. Capacity 24,662

MAIN EVENT
For the Unified World Championship
'The Ego Buster' Dan Ryan defends against Former CSWA World Heavyweight Champion DEACON

Battle of the Giants
'The German Gargant' Viktor Reise vs. Bonecrusher

New Blood Triple Threat match
'Prince of Darkness' Lenny Brigsby vs. 'Next Generation' Wes Paige Jr vs. 'Ripped' Roland Bramble

Legends II
Pat Gordon Jr vs. ‘Total Elimination’ Eli Flair

Legends I
'Crippler' Cameron Cruise vs. 'The Living Legend' Mark Windham
​

There will be no match threads for this particular show; post as you will. Segments and angles can be sent to me via Email or PMs and will be used as much as possible. The show will post by 11:59 PM on 12/21/2013.

 

[Steve]

(FADEIN: CS Towers. Mark Windham walks down a darkened hallway.)

WINDHAM: Why come back?

Why have any of us come back?

The hook of living is having a natural fascination with the dead, or Cam, in my case, the dying. We walk like Zombies through these halls unsure of what feeds the virus to keep on. And one look at me, one deep breath of my life and you know I am and perhaps always have been afflicted.

As much as I look around and see the dust and starlight memories winning, as much as I hear the echoes of ghosts cry with the faint hint of boredom, we are against all odds counted amongst the living. You see Cam pain replaced a heatbeat for me a long while ago and I’ve never wanted pity or to be the weird guy who sits alone in a dark corner, but the pain, the darkness has always suited me. I tried to run from it for a while, tried to play the role of high school football star. In Texas they tend to eat that shit up. Being a hero. Strapping on the shoulder pads under the lights on a Friday night and playing to win, playing for your family, and reaching out your hands to grasp at silver and gold.

I did all that, Cam. I took the prom queen in the back seat of a Chevy, I tried to lift the Windham name from the environment in which it was born, but no matter how hard I tried, how fast I ran, the shadows always found me.

Albert Einstein was born to shape our thoughts on the Universe.

I was created to be a Lost Soul.

I guess that’s a discussion for thinkers everywhere. Am I a product of the environment in which I was raised, or did the demons created along the way shape me into being the complete asshole I am today?

We’re all dying until that day we’re dead.

Maybe in my own perverse way Cam, I enjoy a really slow death. Even when the cards were incredibly stacked against me, I fought to be the hero. Be the company man, the best friend, the lover who steps away because, well I think she always feared the last name.

I don’t blame her.

If these walls could talk, they’d say go the fuck anywhere but home.

This isn’t a relaunch.

This isn’t a job.

It’s a séance. We’re going to hold hands in a squared circle but instead of trying to reach Harry Houdini we’re going to call upon the spirits of what this place once was, what it used to be. Doesn’t that sound like fun Cam?

I made this place as much as anyone else.

I made my little brother and cousin Timmy.

And ten years ago I made Dan Ryan. Ask him Cameron. He’ll tell you the same.

And this is what I get?

You.

The pain never stops, I suppose.

Why come back? I don’t think for a second my name sells anymore. There’s always the newer model. Another whore to crawl into bed. But I’ve come back because these voices I hear walking down this hallway, I’d hear in my head just the same. My life was lost here.

I’m an old man now.

I have no doubt I’m not the man I once was, but I find comfort there. I have nothing to hide anymore Cam. I’m no longer trying to be a man I wasn’t meant to become.

I’m not the hero, I never was.

I’m the anti-hero.

Heathcliff stalking Catherine’s ghosts over the Moors.

The pain makes sense now. I’m just a mean asshole Cameron. And at PRIMETIME I will feel zero remorse for destroying you in that ring. I’ve put more men in hospital beds in this sport than most anyone else. Do you have any idea how many fake apologizes I’ve had to give over the years?

You’re not getting one.

You’ve been waiting for someone to end your pitiful career.

You’ve been mocked when it’s not what you’ve deserved. You’ve slept walked through your entire career, coasting on talent and taking what comes. Don’t you worry Cruise, the Awakening is finally here.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…

(Windham smiles.)

I’m in a bad place…

I have these visions of you lying in crumbled mess, broken, confused, and through.

Maybe that shouldn’t make me smile, but I’ve spent far too long pretending these thoughts SHOULDN’T make me warm inside.

I’m a Lost Soul, Cruise.

With the dead is where I belong.

At PRIMETIME we’ll dance in the graveyard together. I know this old tune, if I remember, it’s a quite beautiful little hymn.

(FADEOUT)

 

[User Poets]

People of the Moon.

This shouldn't be happening.

The CSWA was laid to rest.

The CSWA belongs to history.

The CSWA was a relic from the past, to be respected and learned from, but not to be treated as a peer.

Fortunately, nobody told McGinnis.

Nobody told Hornet.

Ivy McGinnis is a true rebel in this business, you can't ever tell her what to do.

That's not a big deal, because she'll always do the right thing for the business.

Always.

Hornet, believe it or not, is also a true rebel in this business. He and I have barely tolerated each other, but he's never given up in this business, and he's abandoned the path of the well - loved hero when it suited his personal beliefs.

I respect that.

McGinnis and Hornet together? Anyone that'd bet against this company is an idiot.

Which leads me to Pat Gordon Jr.

Do the math, everyone should be bettin' on you, kid. You're younger, faster, less inhibited by injuries, and possibly more classically talented.

I'd be bettin' on you too, except for one thing.

You're up against the King of Extreme.

You're up against an opponent that has made a career of defying expectations.

You're up against an opponent that was never supposed to be anything special, so it's much more significant that he's one of the most celebrated wrestlers in the history of the sport.

Heh.

Good luck.

You'll need it.

Sincerely, 'Total Elimination' Eli Flair.

 

[TSiegel]

"What a difference a year makes."

(FADEIN: A fireplace with wood crackling, the lights dimmed. The camera pans backward, past an oak rocking chair, with Cameron Cruise facing away from the camera, dressed in blue jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt.)

CRUISE: 2013 was a strange year for this business. I've competed in dozens of matches, some I've been enamored as a favorite, some as I've usually been accustomed to; the underdog, as I've always been in my career and that's fine. I've had near-misses and some I've come out on top.

And coming back to the CSWA, it started off with a match I thought I'd never see:

Windham versus Cruise.

The thing is, it wasn't Timmy, I'd beaten him years ago.

And it wasn't Troy, though I'd be lying if I told you that I wouldn't relish in an opportunity to knock him down a peg or two more than what Dan Ryan had brought him to, just based on his and my history the past few years, but that's beside the point.

It was you, Mark, against me.

The 'Crippler' versus 'The Lost Soul'.

However, for you it was another match, another match on top of the hundreds that you've competed in, maybe to just keep in shape, to get the 'rust off', as they say.

Me? I've faced off against the likes of Troy, Hornet, Mike Randalls even, and proved my mettle. But I hadn't stood against you. Against you, I was facing off against a Legend in this business, one of the few that can actually walk room of any building and make people look twice.

And I beat you.

In fact, not only did I beat you and become victorious, but I made you HURT, which for me, albeit it might seem miniscule for some, was a small win in and of itself.

Old man or not, the Legend of Mark Windham speaks volumes in this business, and to be able to do that what I did, means that I'm ready for the next level in this business.

The fact is that anyone who knows me, knows that I'm my own harshest critic, no matter how much success I attain in this business or even in this life, I'm always looking to improve upon it.

I'm always looking to do BETTER.

The CSWA gave me my start in this business, and it holds tradition like no other.

Names like Tom Adler, Shane Southern, Steve Radder and GUNS, those men were pinnicles in making this company the standard of what excellence is in this business.

Why come back, you ask? Good question, Mark.

I'm closing in on almost twenty years in this business, and you longer and you're right, with every year, there's always someone new, someone younger who wants to prove something. Whether it's his mettle or his ego or the simple fact that he wants to show off for his friends for the betterment of a evening story by the pool...it never ends.

(Cruise slowly gets up out of the chair and faces the camera.)

You don’t think for a second, that your name sells anymore, and that's fine. Most men in this business barely last ten years before calling it quits, and here we are years longer than that...your name signed onto my contract for Primetime.

You're not the man you once was and you have nothing to else to hide.

Bravo Mark, bravo, but you see the difference between us is that I NEVER hid anything and I'm still looking to step into the role in which I wanted to be when I first started all those years ago.

The same role that every man who competes in that very ring every night wants, and I know you know what I mean.

You no longer pine to be the hero and instead stay satisfied to be a 'mean asshole', and that's okay with me Mark, because I'm used to it by now, the attitude projection, I mean.

I know how to deal with those type of people, in fact, you're not the only one I'm going to have to stand tall against is due to arrive here in less in a week.

In case you haven't figured it out, I call him 'Dad'.

I don't want any apologies from you, Mark, no remorse.

People have threatened to end my career for years, now, so pardon me if I'm alittle tardy in shaking my knees.

They say 'It's better to give than to receive', and believe me Mark, if I've learned anything from my time teaming with Joey Melton...the holidays are a special time, if you know what I mean.

You wish to join the dead?

Fair enough, Mark, I'll bury you right there in that ring.

Merry Christmas, Mark.

Last time, I raised your hand in a show of good sportsmanship and faith.

Come Primetime...

(Cruise sits back down, facing away from the camera but still audible.)

...there will be no goodwill toward you.

And THAT...is a REALITY CHECK that you just...won't like.

FADEOUT