Rules of Attraction.

[Nova]

(FADE IN: The words April 2007 flash on the screen and then the black fades to a shot of a dingy locker room. Water drips from the center of a large brown spot on the ceiling, and the door to a bottom locker near the long wooden bench in the center of the room can’t decide if it wants to be open or shut, providing a soundtrack of clank, clank, clank to an otherwise soundless scene. A wisp of smoke catches the corner of the shot, and the camera immediately shifts to the left and focuses on NOVA, seated on the bench decked out in ring garb and pads with a cigarette poking from between two gloved fingers. Water glistens on his shaved head, and splayed across his lap, catching light from the overheads, is the PRIME Universal Championship. The Risen Star looks up, a weary grin creeping up the side of his face. These are rough days.)

NOVA: “I know, I know…it’s a total faux pas to show a foreign strap on company television, but something interesting happened to me the other day, something relevant to my mission here in the ‘Dub and the belt you see before you now.”

(NOVA snuffs the cigarette in a nearby ashtray and looks down at the belt.)

NOVA: “After the last televised PRIME show I sat down with some of the management and told them I’d be headed to Birmingham for PRIMETIME. They were appalled. They told me that right now, my stock is higher than its ever been…I’ve defended this strap up and down the block, I’m the ring general for a group of guys who generate hype like dirt under Pig Pen’s feet…they couldn’t believe that I would choose a moment like this to pursue a…a less attractive option like the CSWA. Those were their exact words, I think. And I started thinking about that, and I did come to the conclusion that PRIME is in many ways the exact opposite of the CSWA. It’s a juggernaut, rolling along – some would say coasting – on this massive hype that appears to regenerate automatically at the start of each new business day. By comparison, the CS-Dub is grasping brick-by-brick, pulling itself along a cobblestone path, arthritic knees dragging and bouncing painfully off each jagged rock poking up from the sh*t-stained street…if I may employ a little hyperbole for effect. ‘Career suicide,’ they said, ‘what if you get injured down there in Backwater? Do you really want to put that on the line?’”

(The Greensboro Greenhorn rubs a hand across his clean-shaven cheek, and takes a sip of water from a bottle on the bench. His eyes glitter as he looks back into the camera.)

NOVA: (Grinning) “I told them, ‘The kind of fans I’ll be seeing in Birmingham…they’d carry me to the hospital if anything happened.’”

(NOVA picks up the PRIME title and slides it back into his duffel bag.)

NOVA: “Look…maybe they were right. Maybe PRIMETIME was supposed to appear as the ‘less’ attractive option…but that can only mean that I must be wearing my ‘career goggles,’ because sitting down here in this disgusting piece of sh*t locker room, getting ready to fight for my right to challenge for the CSWA Unified Championship in the first non-televised appearance I’ve made in God knows how long…

“…there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

(FTB)

 

[DBrunkGXW]

Somewhere between Houston and Birmingham.....

The scenery along I-10 outside the limo rolls on by.....and Dan Ryan peers out as the vehicle approaches another state line, this one Mississippi....

Ryan: "A familiar face...."

"So Nova, it seems we're to be locked together in conflict until the end of time - or for as long as the two of us work the same territories - IE, the world. It's a pity we don't hate each other yet. Would probably be good TV."

"Instead it's just part....what?...five? six? of a series of matches between us? I've lost count."

"We have the big one at Wrestlestock coming, but as you said - discussing the other guy's company is usually a pretty big faux pas. I don't mind you showing up here with your PRIME strap on CS-TV. I guess it's relevant, since you and I currently hold pretty much every major title available to be held at the present time."

"Champion of Champions - you, and you beat me to hold onto it."

"PRIME Universal - and you'll see me in that place as soon as the sun turns to ice..."

"NFW - me, and you with a shot next month."

"A1E......NAPW.........here, all me - so I guess we just have to get that out of the way right off the bat. All your gold are belong to us, eh Nov'?"

"And you see somehow, that there's a mighty large chunk of importance around the one belt that matters here. You're trying to figure it out, but rather than jump through the hoops I'll just tell you straight out."

"See, they say the same thing to me - the ones who don't understand what the belt means. They say other places...they book more shows. There are bigger paydays. There are more chances to shine, bigger hype. Well....."

"I'm not exactly hurting for work for one..."

"But in addition, I realize something. I realize that for twenty years now in this business this company has been a constant. It was and will always be a standard bearer to compare all others to. It doesn't matter if we do a show once a week or once a year."

"Everyone will pay attention."

"Before the CSWA? Well, that's it isn't it? There is no 'before the CSWA'."

"Companies have come and gone. A thousand of them all over the country, all over the world. Some of them have shone brightly and burned hotter for periods of time, but this company has always outlasted them all. No name in our sport inspires awe like the name of this place."

"That's why you're in Birmingham. That's why I'm on my way."

"All the gold in the world....and we have....all the gold in the world.....can't keep you away from the call of this place. Not if you know the business you work in. Not if it lives in you like it lives in me, like it lives in the best of the best."

"That's why."

"I don't know where Eron or Troy are. It doesn't matter. Another collision course for the two of us."

"At least I know someone else around here cares."

Fade out.....

 

[Nova]

“A familiar face?”

(FADE IN: The sun shines bright in the blue Birmingham sky. Seated at a wooden picnic table several feet from a barbecue stand, gripping a gooey pork sandwich in white-knuckle delight, is the Greensboro Greenhorn and potential #1 Contender to the CSWA Unified Championship, NOVA. He takes a bite, wipes his beard with six or seven napkins, and grins into the camera.)

NOVA: “Mr. Ryan, I’m afraid I don’t know you. OH! Before I forget…I just want to thank ERON THE RELENTLESS and TROY WINDHAM for stepping aside and realizing that legend status in the company or a third-place finish in GOLD RUSH don’t automatically entitle anyone to a hand-out. Bravo on both of your displays of our Constitutionally-guaranteed right NOT to act. But enough on that, back to the guy who actually realizes what’s at stake here.

“Dan, I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I’ll leave it at that rather than refute each individual claim of our apparently storied history. You’re confused. Sh*t, dude, I feel you. There are days I wake up and can’t remember my f*ckin’ NAME. But some of the things you said did resonate with me, and I’d like to address them in turn…”

(NOVA takes another bite from his sandwich (it’ll be stone-cold by the time he’s done yammering) and shuffles a cigarette out of his pack.)

NOVA: “I know of you, Dan. I know that for all your accomplishments in the CSWA, you can rival them with accolades from other corners of the wrestling world. You hold the A1E World Championship, and I’m the PRIME Universal Champion, and yet we both realize that the draw of the Unified Title is different, isn’t it? It isn’t a quest to pad our resumes. It isn’t for the fans, as much as the lingering memory of their cheers softens the pains in my joints in the morning. Your championing of the Unified Title, and my goal of competing for it…in the end it’s for us, right? In a different way than with other belts…it’s about you, and it’s about me, and it’s about saying ‘F*ck what anyone says, this is what the Unified strap means to me,[FONT=&quot]’[/FONT] and that’s good enough to go out there and drop a couple of pints on the canvas.

“It’s also about the sense of impermanence that permeates the every pore of this industry…you touched on that as well, Dan. Paper towers spring up on every corner, proclaiming the Wrestling Revolution Be Nigh, a NEW experience that will change the way YOU see professional wrestling! They all crumble into paperweights before long, don’t they, Mr. Ryan? Even your A1E, NAPW…they won’t see the golden side of two decades, not like the CSWA has. My PRIME, PTC as an institution of this business…eventually they’ll be chapters of varying length in the book of our profession’s history. My career is pocked with companies that literally sprang up and shut down in the span of a couple of months. For all the blood I gave, all the overnight bus rides, what those belts meant to me personally…those promotions are a blur, like the memory of a great party where you got drunk too early. Federations come and go…but the CSWA remains, largely unaffected by the churning and roiling of the seas of Progress – or regression, in the case of pro wrestling in the 21st century. In short, I feel compelled to attach myself to this company’s stability, even in times as dark as these.”

“Now I can hear the grumbling coming from a mile away. ‘Oh, jeez…this kid smokes two joints, gets a CSWA house show booking, and all of a sudden he’s Greensboro to the bitter, bloody end.’ Well, maybe that’s the case, but it’s about time someone gave a sh*t about this place. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the CSWA is sick. As a f*cking dog. And if you need more proof, find your way backstage at the next show and look at Ivy McGinnis’ eyes.”

(FTB)

 

[DBrunkGXW]

FADE IN..............................................

We open to a scene of Dan Ryan on a beach along the Atlantic Seaboard - North Carolina-ish....

Ryan is thumbing through the pages of a worn leather-bound book and comes to a stop on an odd phrase.

If you slip in time, Nova will be your constant.

Ryan smiles and relaxes slightly...puts the book down on the sand beside him and lies back, pulling his sunglasses over his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

FADE OUT...........