-THE STORY THUS FAR-

NOTE: This is intended as a way of providing insight into the various storylines leading STEVE JASON into Rival Factions. It's also intended to provide information on the character. Basically, I hope it can serve as a way to bring people not too familiar with the character and the RPs up to speed so as to make the Rival Factions RPs a little clearer. That said, it might help XWF people not too familiar with SJ get some understanding too.

-STEVE JASON and his role in the XWF-

For about four years now, Steve Jason has been considered a major player in the XWF. He was showing 'signs' of being a major figure when he captured his first XWF World Championship in June 2003 while taking on 'Bigg Rigg' John Gambino, an established major star, and those signs were all but confirmed in September 2003 when he won the XWF Universal Championship against what many deemed to be almost impossible odds. What solidified his image- and what remains one of his biggest and most recognizable victories to date- was winning the forty-man Lord of the Ring battle royal in November 2003.

Since then, Steve has gradually built himself up to be considered one of the major figures in the XWF, with an impressive win-loss ratio and title count, and a reputation for facing down overwhelming odds. He has been regarded by many as one of the 'major figures' in the XWF, something that has led his more sullen opponents to label him as a 'Golden Boy' or a 'hand-picked' figure, or to mistakenly label him a cookie-cutter pretty-faced 'goody two-shoes hero'. This status was solidified in 2005 when he was awarded the title of XWF Legend. This reputation still lingers around him, and many of the newer faces of the XWF take his reputation very seriously. While this actually annoys Steve somewhat, he also accepts the responsibility that comes with it.

Effectively, with three Universal Championships and major accolades, Steve could be considered a major XWF figure, and a major representative of that company. Think of the XWF and Steve's name will often crop up in the debate somewhere. This is likely to make him a 'prize trophy' for people who dislike the XWF or who want to take it over.

-The UNKILLABLE/AVENGER paradigm-

One of the major problems with Steve's revolutionary rise to power- and subsequently his position as a major XWF figure- is that certain figures would prefer he not be in the XWF. Whether it was corrupt established XWF superstars seeking to preserve their positions in Steve's early career, or upstarts wanting him out of the way to make their own glory hunt, Steve has faced a somewhat larger number of attempts to end his career- and has even faced numerous attempts to cripple or even murder him.

So far every last one of these attempts has failed, and usually only encouraged Steve to unleash massive amounts of retribution on his opponents. Because of the sheer volume of what he has survived, he has been given the label 'Unkillable' - something that, ironically, encourages upstarts to try even harder to claim his head. This label has had a dramatic effect on his opponents- while some people staunchly deny the claim and only wish to try harder to take him down to glorify themselves, a number of people recognise his almost-epic survival ability and some even believe it to be part of his success.

In the last three years, Steve has adopted the moniker of the Avenger- a sometimes-vigilante, sometimes-defender who has taken down a number of threats to the XWF. This was a title bestowed upon him by a secret society known as the Setsujoku-Kai. Up until recent times, Steve operated under the belief he was the only 'Avenger' and that, despite what various organisations made of it, it was just a moniker. However, in his recent travels, Steve has discovered a second Avenger with loyalty to another society, and logic indicates there may be more out there.

-The current storyline: Rival Factions (1 of 2)-

2007 has not so much been a bad year for Steve Jason as it has been a slow one. While Steve was in regular competition at the beginning of the year, for the bulk of this year he has taken time away from the XWF to attend to his own ends and to 'pursue his destiny', making the controversial statement that the XWF would have to take care of its own problems without relying on him to solve them for them, and nominating then-Universal Champion Daniel Malcolm to guide it to that end. Steve then went his own way, travelling the world and eventually even going to the South Pacific, where he was learning from and training with the secret society known as the Celestials.

However, with the rise of Hawaiian Hardhead to the XWF Ownership, the XWF began branching out into interfederation organisations- and this meant the potential possibility of a type of competition Steve had not yet competed in, despite having covered all of his bases in the XWF. Sure enough, the XWF began to negotiate its position in Rival Factions, a six-federation superevent that would see the XWF contend for dominance against various other federations.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of all was the return of Steve Jason to the XWF in November 2007 out of apparently nowhere to announce throwing his name in the hat- a move that now sees him in the main event facing Extreme Championship Fatal Wrestling's Jason Blade, in a clash that is bound to be epic.

-The current storyline: The Halliwell Situation (2 of 2)-

Since 2004, Steve Jason has been somewhat heavily linked with Heather Halliwell. The two met shortly after Steve's second Universal Championship win in 2004, at which point Steve decided to offer an olive branch to newer XWF superstars- one of whom was Heather- to help him revolutionise the federation. As weeks passed, the two found common ground and grew quite close- much to the anger of then-XWF-owner Kitten, who also had much tension between herself and the champ. This eventually bellowed into all-out war, which saw Steve, Heather and some of the followers of Steve's 'Diamond Era' philosophy pitted against Kitten and many of her own loyalists. This turmoil eventually tore the XWF itself apart, resulting in Jonathyn Brown declaring an official XWF restart. While Steve returned for the restart months later, Heather did not, and that was apparently the last they would see of each other.

Until a year later in 2005, when Heather returned to the XWF on the arm of 'the Dark Prince' Sean Graves. Steve, who was waging a war to reclaim the XWF from the Black Order and fighting blackmail attempts from Andrew Gibson at the same time, eventually found himself falling in with Heather again, and in time emotions and feelings flared up again, resulting in the two officially becoming an item in 2005. This was eventually brought to a halt by Heather's insane sister, Hallie, who masqueraded herself as Heather and assaulted several fans and the XWF- fooling and inciting the wrath of Steve, who dumped 'Heather' on the spot and told her to stay far away from him. Hallie went on to abduct Heather and among other things, murdered her entire family, unbeknownst to Steve.

This was not resolved until 2006, when Heather's long-time friend- and Steve Jason's own attorney- Chloe O'Brien finally discovered the truth and tried to reveal it to Steve, who was preparing for his final battle with the demonic Judas Iscariot at the time. Steve, who was facing his closest brush with death yet, originally refused to hear the truth, until Heather herself finally came forward and told Steve the entire story. Eventually, Steve listened to reason and realised the truth- only just in time, as Hallie and Judas had aligned at the same time. Steve and Heather were forced to align to save their own lives, something they very barely managed to do- but it seemed like a happy ending. Although they again had to go their separate ways, Steve had saved his very soul and had finally ended a five-year persecution at Judas' hands, and Heather had apparently solved the problem of her sister permanently.

Until now.

During Steve's time in exile in the South Pacific, he had given his contact details to one person- Chloe O'Brien. In November, he finally received a call from Chloe, pleading that he return to the United States. Her reason- that Hallie Halliwell was back. And she apparently had Heather again, in a situation even worse than the previous one...