(SFX: A knock on the door)

Ryan: Come in!

(We hear a pop from the crowd as Empire Pro World Champion Beast walks into the picture, a distrusting scowl on his face.)

Beast: Whattya want, Ryan?

(Ryan smiles and stands to his feet, circles and makes his way around to the same side of the desk as his champion, but still a safe distance as Beast remains but a few feet inside the room.)

Ryan: Well….I’ve come to some conclusions Marcus. Quite honestly, we’ve come down to what we in the business like to call….go time. You’ve made it clear that you want to play it your way despite my continued attempts to make you great. So there’s really only one thing left for me to do.

Beast: Yeah? And that would be?

Ryan: You wanna be Captain America and lead the brave Beast-a-maniacs into parts unknown with you on a sea of foam fingers and good feelings? Fine. I’ll make a promise to you. I won’t be involved tonight. In fact, I won’t be anywhere near the ring or do anything whatsoever to affect the outcome of this match once you leave this room.

(Beast allows a smirk to play across his lips when suddenly out of a room to the side of the room a blur flies into the shot and a large figure attacks Beast from the side. The crowd goes crazy with boos when they realize that BOOGIE SMALLZ is on top of the champion raining down lefts and rights….

Dan Ryan for his part sits back on his desk and just stares.

After a few moments of unrelenting pummeling, Smallz rises to his feet and stands next to Ryan – his chest heaving from the attack.)

Ryan: Well…. (Ryan walks over to Beast lying on the floor and stands over him)… I bet you didn’t see that one coming.

(Ryan smiles, turns, goes back to his chair and sits down – steepling his hands in amusement.)

Ryan: You see…CHAMP. This one is for all the marbles. I’ve given you every opportunity to be the sort of champion you have the ability to be. I’ve thrown you a bone in many a situation to try and allow the Beast inside to come out and play. You wanted to be a big tough guy and go it solo – so now – we’ll see how you respond when the pressure is really on – and once and for all we’ll know if you’ve got what it takes to survive in this business. Good luck out there, champ. I’ll be watching you….

(Ryan gestures to Smallz, who in turns pulls Beast to his feet, opens the door and slings him out into the hallway. Ryan smiles as we cut back to the broadcast position.)

DT: Now that was absolutely uncalled for!!

MN: Remember who writes your checks, Thomas!!

DT: I don’t care who writes our checks!! Dan Ryan knows good and well that Beast has a World Title defense against Dis tonight.

DM: It’s a calculated ploy by our owner and an interesting one. He’s been trying to get Beast to be more of the kind of champion he wants representing his company, and now he’s thrown down the gauntlet. Beast is gonna have to come through in a big way tonight.

(Cut to the ring and Joey Fatora in the middle)

TF: Ladies and gentlemen!!! This match is for one fall and is for the EMPIRE PRO WRESTLING WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!!

(The crowd gets to it’s feet in anticipation as the buzz fills the arena.)

(It gets loud in a hurry as “Hallowed Be Thy Name” by Iron Maiden blares across the speakers. Dis steps through the curtain, head down and dark gloves on, stalking to the ring without giving the crowd much notice.)

TF: INTRODUCTING FIRST……FROM WISDOM, MONTANA…..WEIGHING IN AT TWO HUNDRED FIFTEEN POOOOUNDSSSS!!!....DIIIIIISSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!

(A loud mixture of boos and cheers as Dis slides under the bottom rope and waits patiently in one corner.)

(Suddenly the arena erupts in cheers as the familiar sounds of monks chanting comes over the speaker. Moments later “Figure You Out” by Nickelback comes across the sound system as Beast steps through the curtain to a deafening roar, World title hanging from one arm and a cut on his forehead from his earlier encounter with Boogie Smallz. Beast scowls up at the ring, but otherwise looks none the worse for wear.)

DT: And there’s the champion, fresh off that beating at the hands of Boogie Smallz you have to think he’s got his back against the wall, Dean!

DM: Perhaps, but the man isn’t the World Champion for nothing. He looks determined as ever right now.

(Beast approaches the ring without the usual acknowledgement of the fans and simply hands the title to the referee as the bell rings.)

DT: The crowd is on it’s feet for this one and we’re underway!!

MN: Any guesses on who this Dis guy is?

DT: I’ve heard varying rumors. Some have speculated that perhaps someone like Shane Southern could be underneath the mask, although this young man looks a lot like Troy Windham to me – and with his entourage showing up tonight it seems like the perfect fit.

DM: It could be someone totally unknown that Dan Ryan discovered as well. I’ve got my own theory on the subject but I’ll keep it under wraps for now.

DT: Dis and Beast circling each other here at the outset and you know Dis has to be thinking stay away from the power of the World Champion.

DM: Well, I don’t think he can go toe to toe with Beast in the power department but at the same time Dis has shown tremendously innovative offense throughout the tournament as well as a propensity for taking to the air when necessary.

DT: As Beast sizes up Dis we have a lockup and the bigger Beast gains quick advantage but Dis rolls him over with an arm drag that sends the champion sharply to the mat!!

DM: Beast is on a knee looking up at the crouching challenger and he’ll definitely have to watch out for the quickness…

MN: Yes, beware the sneakiness.

DT: Beast back to his feet and circling once more. They lock up and once again Beast powers Dis back and this time into the ropes. Referee Jimmy Jack Grayson calling for the clean break and we’re gonna get it as Beast releases and steps backward to the center of the ring.

MN: Always the boy scout.

DM: With Dan Ryan promising to keep his nose out of his business tonight, I’m curious to see if Beast takes some of his advice and stays on the offensive here. I have to say so far it doesn’t look like it.

DT: Dis back up to Beast and they lock up one more time, this time with Dis spinning the champion around into a hammerlock! Beast swinging elbows around but Dis is ducking down skillfully behind. Dis drops to his knees and pulls Beast’s feet out from under him dropping him onto his face! Dis crosses the legs of the champ, spins around and bridges into a submission!!!

DM: Wow, nice move….

DT: Beast now pounding at the mat and trying to work his way free but adamantly refusing to give in.

DM: Way too early for that…

MN: Loafy’s most comfortable just laying out and chillin’ anyway.

DT: Dis holding the maneuver as Beast swings his left arm back and knocks the challenger off balance breaking the hold. Beast scrambling to get to his feet but Dis catches him with a dropkick to the face before he can get much higher than one knee and the champion goes tumbling to the outside!!

DM: The champion is getting more than he bargained for early in this match. The speed of Dis is causing a real problem.

DT: Beast unhappy on the outside breaks into a run and goes to swing into the ring under the bottom rope, but Dis executes a baseball slide, sending Beast to the ground one more time!!

MN: Beast is becoming intimately familiar with Dis’ boot!

DM: Aggressive! I like it!

DT: Dis hops out of the ring and follows Beast, punching him with a big right hand. Beast stumbles back against the ring barrier, Dis presses the advantage, lifting his hand and striking the other man's chest with several stinging knife-edged chops. The fans near the barricade extend their hands and pat Beast on the shoulders, cheering and offering encouragement.

MN: Encouragement and 99 cents will get you a big and tasty at the fast food joint – or else a night of lovin’ with Miss Troy….

DT: And those brutal chops to the torso of Beast!

MN: Good! Little punk deserves it.

DT: The referee leans across the ropes and yells at the two….

Ref V/O: Hey! Get back in the ring! One! . Two!

DM: There goes the count.

DT: The ref gets up to six and Dis grabs Beast by the head and rolls him back into the ring, sliding in after him. Beast gets to his knees, only to have Dis deliver a swift kick to his midsection. The champ falls on his stomach again!!

DM: Dis is fighting smart. He's picking Beast apart, trying to exhaust his energy in the early going.

MN: He's a genius, Dean-O!

DM: I wouldn't say that.

DT: Beast gets up again, but Dis kicks him one more time, sending Beast sprawling onto his stomach. Dis immediately runs to the ropes, coming back and ascending in a big leg drop, but hits nothing but canvas as Beast rolls out of the way!!

MN: The big leg drop! The big - nobody home!

DM: Damn!

DT: Both men get to their feet, with Dis immediately moving in to go for a big right hand, but Beast counters with a right of his own!!! Right hand again!! Again!! One more big right hand pushes Dis up against the turnbuckle, where he finds himself choked by Beast. The referee runs over and calls for the break; Beast releases the hold on four!!

DM: That was a bit uncharacteristic….

MN: I didn’t know loafy had it in him.

DM: Beast's trying to make a comeback here.

MN: Come on, Dis! Show him who's boss!

DT: Dis stumbles out of the corner, directly into a Beast right hand!! Marcus lands two more right hands, then whips Dis to the ropes. The whip is reversed, but Beast comes off the ropes with a jumping clothesline that sends Dis crashing to the mat!!!

DM: Oh, a huge clothesline from Beast to Dis!!!

MN: Loafy jumped!!

DM: So?

MN: I don't know, it was cool!! Like when a walrus does a somersault at Sea World….

DT: Beast grabs Dis by the head and pulls him up! Dis tries for a right hand, but Beast kicks him in the gut before hooking him up and cracking him with a big swinging neckbreaker!!! Beast swings over to cover Dis!! The referee slides across the mat and strikes the canvas twice, but Dis manages to lift his shoulders off the mat!!!

MN: He's still in this, Thomas! Woo!

DT: Beast stands back as Dis rises to his feet. Dis slaps the mat and gets right in the champion’s face!!!

MN: Come on, Dis!

DT: Dis is staring down the champion then surges forward, but Beast slips over into a side headlock on Dis…..

DM: Well, that's a basic move.

DT: Dis manages to shove Beast out of the hold, pushing him to the ropes. Beast rebounds and ducks Dis's clothesline, but as Beast bounds from the opposite ropes, Dis kicks him right in the gut. Beast goes flipping over Dis's leg and lands behind him, on his back!!!!

DM: Ouch, running kick in the gut by Dis to Beast! That's gotta smart!

MN: Yeah! Take it to him, Dis!

DT: Dis now up….he leaps up onto the ropes, springing off into a frog splash!!! He lands smack-dab on top of Beast and immediately hooks the far leg!!!

DM: What's the - The springboard frog splash!!! The frog splash right on Beast!!!

MN: Wow!!!

DT: ONE!!! TWO…..NO!!! Beast kicks out of the pin attempt and rolls over onto one side!!! Dis wasting no time as he wrenches Beast back down to the mat in another cover attempt!!! Beast again kicks out on 2!!!

DM: Another cover and he's out again!!!

MN: Two covers in a row!

DM: Beast's expending a lot of energy trying to get out of all these covers.

DT: Dis reaches down and picks Beast up by the head, punching him across the face; he suddenly grabs the champ by the waist, sets him up, and plants him with a standing spinebuster! Looks like he had a lot of trouble getting the bigger man up with that move but Dis immediately covers again!!!! – ONE!!! TWO!!! NOOO!!! At the last second Beast thrusts a fist into the air as he wrenches his shoulders off the mat and these fans are going crazy right now!!!

DM: I didn’t think he’d get the shoulder up!

MN: How can that cocky punk kick out of a quick move like that?!

DM: He's not a damn punk!

DT: Beast slowly rolls to his knees, with Dis storming over to argue with the referee. Dis thrusts his hand in the ref's face, holding his fingers to indicate he feels it was a three count; the ref holds up two fingers!!

DM: And Dis can't believe that it wasn't a three count.

DT: Suddenly, Beast sneaks up behind Dis and rolls him up into a school boy! The suddenness of the maneuver catches the ref by surprise for about a second. The official hits the mat and begins counting. One, two. Dis kicks out!!!!

MN: Thank god! I think I just had a mild heart attack.

DT: Both men get to their feet. Dis throws a big right hand at Beast, only to be countered with the champion's right fist!! Beast punches Dis a few more times, then whips him to the ropes, meeting him on the way back with a big clothesline!!

DM: There's the Irish whip and a huge clothesline to Dis!!!

DT: Dis immediately gets up, but Beast clotheslines him again! Dis gets up a third time, but Beast punches him in the face, then swings him up into a vertical suplex position, but instead drops him into a reverse neckbreaker!

DM: Ouch!

MN: Dis! Get up!

DT: Dis rolls over onto his back, inhaling deeply…… Beast runs to the ropes and rebounds back into a leaping elbow drop. The elbow drives directly into Dis’ torso, knocking the wind out of him!! Beast covers!!! Dis out JUST before the three count!!!!

MN: Oh dear God – can you imagine big loafy keeping this thing AGAIN??

DT: If you can't say anything nice, just shut up.

MN: Hey! I can be nice.

DT: Dis getting to his feet, Beast now signaling the crowd with one hand. The fans rise to their feet and pop as Beast hooks up Dis's leg in preparation for a fisherman's DDT!!!

DM: He's hooking up the fisherman's!

MN: No!

DM: This could be the beginning of the end for our trusty challenger!

DT: Dis suddenly twists and pulls Beast into a rather exotic roll-up that somehow winds up with Beast's shoulders pinned to the mat!!! Dear God!!! The ref slides over and strikes the mat twice, but Beast manages to jerk out of the cradle at the last second!!

MN: That was a weird cradle!

DT: Again, both men rise to their feet and lock up in a grapple!! Dis with a knee and hits Beast in the gut with it!! The champ keels over, Dis kicks him in the gut, then surges forward to swing him into a belly-to-belly overhead suplex but Beast reverses and sends Dis flying!! Dis catches a lot of air and winds up a good distance across the ring!!!

DM: I dunno what he was thinking there. No way he gets Beast up for a belly to belly, especially not an overhead.

DT: Beast manages to stand with the aid of the ropes, but Dis grabs him and whips him to the opposite turnbuckle. He charges full tilt at the champ, but gets a raised boot to the face for his trouble!

DM: Whip to the buckles and Beast saves himself with a boot to the face!!

MN: Got lucky, he did!

DT: Beast lunges out of the corner with a clothesline, but Dis ducks it. As Beast turns, Dis grabs him by the arm and whips him to the ropes. However, the referee is standing right there. As Beast rebounds to the ropes, his arm catches the ref in the face, knocking the official to the canvas!!!

DM: The ref is out!!!

MN: Teaches him to get in the way!

DT: Beast comes back with a clothesline, but instead walks straight into a huge superkick by Dis!

DM: OH!! That kick connected right at the point of Beast's jaw and he went down like a SHOT!!.

MN: YES!!!

DT: Dis hooks the leg and covers Beast. but there is no ref to count! Dis keeps Beast covered for about ten seconds, then releases him and now strides over to try and wake up the referee!!

MN: COME ON REF!!!

DT: Dis shaking the referee, but Beast gets to his feet and nails Dis from behind with a huge clothesline!! Dis is sent flipping over the ropes, landing near the announce table!!! Beast follows him, executing a vaulting body press over the top rope to land on the challenger!!!!

DM: Vaulting over the top rope - Beast's chasing Dis out of the ring!

MN: Pigs can fly!! And the ref's still out, too!

DT: Beast hoists Dis to a standing position, but Dis kicks him in the stomach, then drags him over and grabs him by the hair!! With a swift motion, he ploughs Beast's face into the Spanish announce table, dislodging a monitor!!

MN: Hey, wait a damn minute! Not the Spanish announce table!

DT: Beast staggers away and winds up in a corner formed by the barricade. Dis moves in, his fists balled, but Beast gets ahold of a chair and cracks Dis in the face with it, felling the challenger like a load of lumber!

DM: Did you hear the crack of that chair as it connected with Dis's skull?!?!

(SFX: the arena gives off a collective, "Ohhhhh!")

MN: Hey ref! Hey ref!

DT: Dis slowly rolling towards the ring apron, rolling one arm beneath it. Beast is leaning against the Spanish announce table to catch his breath, still holding the chair.

DM: I, uh, think the referee is coming to.

DT: The ref is indeed starting to come to, but Dis gets to his feet first. Beast notices it and swings the chair at Dis, but misses, and the two of them stumble - Beast landing against the ring steps, Dis landing against the barricade!!!

DM: These two tired, exhausted warriors trying to finish each other off!

MN: Wait, what's Dis doin'?

DM: My god, that's the ring bell hammer!

DT: Dis has gotten ahold of the hammer for the ring bell!! He steps forward, raising the hammer, but Beast nails him with a huge chair thrust to the ribs!! Dis is thrown backward, grazing his face across the Spanish announce table and we’re seeing some blood from the mask man!!

DM: Beast narrowly avoided a shot from the bell hammer and now just throws Dis back into the ring.

DT: Beast follows in after his and takes a moment to collect himself as he props himself against the turnbuckle. The crowd roaring now for Beast as he lets the challenger collect himself and get back to his feet.

DM: Nice show of sportsmanship there.

MN: I think I’m gonna be ill.

DT: Beast walking in now as Dis rises and OH!! A QUICK KICK TO THE GUT!!! DIS LEAPS TO A CORNER TURNBUCKLE…LEAPING OFF….DRAGON RANA!! DRAGON RANA!!! DIS HOOKS THE LEG!!!

DM: I DON’T BELIEVE IT!! WHAT A MOVE!!!

MN: YES!!!

DT: ONE!!!! TWO!!!........