Wayne's GWF Fed

[wayne]

CARD 1150 – TERRONAUT TOWERS:

Ladies champ, Sniper, swats away the challenge of Taechon. Fans hating having to choose a favourite here as both have snowballed in their popularity. Taechon finds their support as surprising as the fact she got awarded the title shot but seeing as everyone has failed multiple times then why not. Sniper often plays a tweener role despite her unofficial status as being on the roster of the Terrorists. They never accompany her and Sniper likes it that way. Anyway she starts by offering Taechon a pre-match handshake. Taechon is distrusting and makes a feeble attempt to accept before hastily withdrawing. Sniper shrugs as if to say ‘fine, if that’s how you want to play it’. Taechon makes a positive start and shows off the silky martial arts moves in her/his repertoire. Sniper didn’t expect that. Upon picking herself up after a spectacular looking judo throw Sniper decides no more messing around. She can fight dirty if she needs to. As Taechon closes in for another takedown Sniper grabs the hair and just throws her powerfully down to the mat. Taechon’s gender neutrality affords her no power advantage and it was quite easy for Sniper to overpower her. From this point on the balance swings. Sniper doesn’t let up for a moment and inevitably uses TARGET PRACTICE to take the win. This title reign of hers just doesn’t want to end.

Anarchy wastes Vengeance in a Titan Death match. Another top contender match. It was very wise to make this Titan Death rules. Vengeance has been given a big chance to go for the Heavyweight belt due to Thunder’s repeated failure to realise his potential. Vengeance was fully intending to take it. There has also been a simmering rivalry between the Gladiators and Brymstonians as both consider themselves to be the most dangerous and unpredictable race to inhabit the GWF or what is now GWFC. So there was a natural edge to this match. Unsurprisingly it wasn’t pretty and Vengeance was not shy in going for Eye Cleaver. It can do untold damage. Anarchy did well to absorb the punishment and then taps into his hardcore mentality to fight back. Being Titan Death there was nothing to stop him creating carnage. After a counter puts him on top he sent Vengeance out of the ring. Then in a moment that drew gasps he picks up a ringside table and breaks it over the head of Vengeance. To be honest most watching enjoyed Vengeance getting his ass handed to him. Anarchy now brings it back in the ring and sets about finishing things off with CRUCIFIX DROP. Vengeance somehow dangled a leg on the nearby rope to stop the pin. It just meant he was going to have to feel the move again from Anarchy. This time it seems to knock Vengeance into unconsciousness and the pin attempt was more centred. Now all over and Anarchy moves onto a title shot at Pegasus. Vengeance must now go back to the Gladiators with his tail between his legs. His bid for absolute leadership was highly dependent on securing the Heavyweight belt but he hasn’t even been able to get a shot at it.

Painmaster defeated Max Shield. Both left out of TEAM SUPREME. Max took it better than Painmaster as he is a team player. Painmaster on the other hand almost assaulted Mandrill on learning of his exclusion. His future with the Colonizers is up in the air as at time of writing. Sentry is missing from ringside as a result. So at least we got a clean match. Max was the better at the start and threatened an easy win after MAXIMUM IMPACT. He lets Painmaster off the hook though with a lazy cover. Painmaster then grows into the match and he was able to get Max into THE TORTURE RACK enough times that it eventually yielded the submission. Things not ending on a high for ROC as we close out 2110.

Ninja Assassins in perfect harmony to beat Rebel Empire. Top contender match which Rebel Empire is heavily favoured to win fresh off their MVP award at TEAM SUPREME. Being the little magpie that he is Reynard B. Guile is accompanying the Ninja Assassins. Now they are on the cusp of a shot at the gold he is suddenly interested in them again. He oversees a surprising win as the Ninjas link up brilliantly to upset Rebel Empire. Hydrax was able to beat Vendetta with DEATH POINT STRIKE. Not for the first time Sentry is late to the party as his distracting attempts were too slow. He must be on thin ice for next year. Especially as he’s been apparently annoying Mandrill by his requests to shed the suit and return as Tocsin.

Theatre of Pain beat the Clones by DQ. One more meeting between these teams. It’s been a great, if somewhat weird, feud. Theatre of Pain won the last cage match handsomely at THE MEGA SHOW and they won again here albeit in far more understated fashion. Mad Jester was attempting to finish off Comedy with A DEAD MAN’S VERSE. He almost tagged the ref who was trying to free Comedy from the ropes. The poor chap’s life must of flashed before his eyes. He didn’t take the near miss too kindly and disqualified Mad Jester for the action.

Mutant crushed Sir Ender. If Sir Ender’s tale of bravery was true then Mutant might hesitate to attack him. The way it went for him upon being let off its leash blew that theory out the water. After a few minutes he was on the end of TEMPLE GRINDER. He couldn’t submit quick enough. The torture continued for a bit afterwards as officials struggled to prise Mutant off him. If Sir Ender thought was bad then wait for what’s coming next.

[wayne]

CARD 1151 – CENTRA PALLADIUM:

Penultimate show of the year. Outside of the matches there was quite a kerfuffle in the crowd. Some fella was winding fellow fans up by protesting against the invading outsiders and saying they should be banned from wrestling. When fans wouldn’t sign his petition he started insulting them. Eventually cops were called and he got arrested. Hopefully we don’t see him again.

Anarchy stuns Pegasus to win the Heavyweight belt. It’s not been a good few weeks for Commando Sam. First his team lost its vice like grip on the Centra belt and then TEAM SUPREME was a huge failure. He is tense and out of concern for losing the Heavyweight belt is being a real fun sponge. Refusing to allow Pegasus to sign autographs or pose for pictures with fans. Instead he is barking orders at Pegasus and generally rubbing him up the wrong way. DM remarks on commentary “Sam has always placed a lot of pressure onto himself. Poor guy looks like he’s aged several years in the last few weeks but he always means well. He is one of the true good guys”. One thing we were wondering was how involved Maleph might get. The demonic beast’s penchant for chaos and destruction likely to jeopardise capturing the belt as the DQ risk would be high. Brymstonians have never placed huge value on belts but this is the big one. Could Maleph show restraint? He certainly couldn’t keep still though. Often flying above the ring during the contest casting distracting shadows over the grapplers. If only someone had a slingshot. Down below the action was frantic. Anarchy began in a ferocious manner which Pegasus struggled with. It was clear that he wanted to win the belt over creating carnage as he had chances to throw Pegasus outside several times and thought better of it (I rolled up). Fans looked deeply concerned as the illegal CRUCIFIX DROP was soon used. The ref missed the metal plate numerous times which led to DM on commentary labelling him incompetent. Pegasus withstood the first one and made fans think he’d be okay in the end with a decent comeback that culminated in PROJECT PEGASUS. Of course Maleph was going to interfere after something like that and it triggered a brawl that went out the ring. Sam was even involved now. Whilst Pegasus won this brawl things now rapidly went downhill as he bodged a deathjump. Anarchy back on top delivered all sorts of brutal moves including his famed Atomic Drop and CRUCIFIX DROP (twice more). Sam was now fed up with all the dodgy tactics and trying to save Pegasus. He had taken a bad hit in the earlier brawl which hindered what he could do. So the second time Pegasus hit the plate (and the for the third time overall) it looked very, very bad. Anarchy managed to get the pin and win the Heavyweight belt. The crowd was silent. You could feel the fear. Anarchy winning the belt, ROC struggling, villain teams dominating TEAM SUPREME, talk of Murdok and Ravagers. This isn’t great.

Titan Attack coast against Dark Justice and Mike Fortune. Is this a telling sign that the Hitmen are preparing for life without Tough Guy on the team? Putting Justice and Mike Fortune together seemed an odd move. Krakan refuses to comment specifically other than to say “Justice has vast tag experience so it makes perfect sense”. The experiment, if it was one, fails miserably. The Titans have it far too easy. An explosive start by Scion Nexus sets Ursa Major up nicely to finish off Mike Fortune via TITAN VICTORY ROLL.

Prodigy stays hot by beating Lance At-Las. Can Prodigy continue his excellent finish to 2110? Some felt it was wrong of Thantos to go with Bloodline and Terminus as singles wrestlers for TEAM SUPREME. Although Thantos proved them wrong with his team ending as joint winners. The match takes place against a backdrop of crowd disturbance. Something going on in there. The guys in the ring pressed on though. Lance used MARS MANHANDLER twice in the first couple of minutes hinting that a minor upset was afoot. Prodigy recovered well though and evened up the fatigue count via THE PERFECT SINGLES FINISHER. After this we get a few minutes of back and forth. Then Lance, who was probably taking too many risks, tries a deathjump and misses with it allowing Prodigy to take an opportunistic win.

Ms. Liberty defeated Maxine Babe. Ms. Liberty gave a warts and all interview with Trisis last week where she talked about her life. Many of the fans didn’t know what she has been through until this point and now have great sympathy for her. Maxine Babe cannot resist getting herself in the headlines as she goes on Centra Spacebook the next day and hints she slept with US. Traitor a couple of years ago. He also showered her with gifts before giving up trying to start a relationship and taking his villain turn and pledging allegiance to Cygnus. Most see it as an attention grabbing fabrication. Ms. Liberty aimed to teach Maxine a lesson in the ring tonight. First thing she does is slap her round the face and calls her a slut. Her emotions were running high. Too high perhaps as she quickly misses a deathjump and is almost pinned after DUDE’S CHOICE (assisted by one of Maxine’s cheerleader pals). Ms. Liberty manages to get a calmer head on after that and works her way to a popular win via THE LIBERATOR. The cheerleader was supposed to storm the ring if Maxine got in trouble and use the loaded pom poms but she didn’t have the stomach for a fight and scarpered.

Splatter crushed Sir Ender in a quick match. Sir Ender looks like he’s sh*tting himself on sight of Splatter who is now all healed up and able to swing Arsenal without feeling any pain. He begs off immediately and utters “I’m sorry, it was just a little joke with Mutant”. After all these years Splatter is still one bad ass motherf****r. He tortured Sir Ender for a few minutes before battering up with MEET ARSENAL. Sir Ender got no protection from the referee and was out cold after that hit.

Animen Invasion posts another surprise win over Transformer. Animen Invasion has been a bogey opponent for a few teams this year. None more so than Transformer though. Unbelievably they managed to beat them again. Transformer is shockingly bad and Monad gets pinned after ANIMEN FINISH.

[wayne]

CARD 1152 – CENTRA PALLADIUM:

Shocking way to end 2110 as two violent attacks take place tonight. One doesn’t come as a total surprise as Tough Guys days on the Hitmen team looked numbered. However what Euritar did to Manslaughter left eveyone flabbergasted. He was rumoured to be wanting to shed the Code Enforcer image and strike out as his own identity but nobody saw such an extreme reaction like that coming.

Tag champs, Twin Blood, continues their run by easily beating Ninja Assassins. Twin Blood has survived more than a year as tag champions. Amazingly there are longer reigns but it is a phenomenal achievement. In fact this defence marks their 49th as the holders. Maybe tonight is the night it finally comes to an end after Rebel Empire exposed a vulnerability at TEAM SUPREME. We all know how one sudden loss can trigger a run of them. Johnny Rocket has been quick to try and pick them up. Calls the loss a blip and says there were things going on in that match that the cameras didn’t pick up on that explains the loss. One thing that might of unsettled their preparation is that their opponents are the Ninja Assassins. They would have been expecting to meet Rebel Empire. What it also means is Johnny Rocket and Reynard B. Guile renewing acquaintances. They have clashed plenty times before. Only B. Guile is missing come the time. Supposedly thrown out by security for trying to expose himself to Amazonia backstage. That wasn’t good for the Ninjas as their switch routine wouldn’t be possible now. It manifests itself in their performance as they are largely second best. Daeman, in particular, struggles as he cannot get out the line of fire for a long time. Eventually when he makes the hot tag it’s not hot at all. Barely lukewarm as Hydrax shows toothless offence. A few minutes later Daeman was back in the thick of it and struggling just as much as before. He gets polished off by TWICE BITTEN. The Ninjas will be frustrated with their manager for this failure. Surely they have to take serious consideration towards sacking him. Trouble is they will need a new one as their switch routine relies on a ringside presence.

Centra champ, Mayhem, smashes it again as he beats Archon. Although Archon has been labelled a bit intense and is regularly clashing with Lorelei the fans know he is a man with a good heart. They get over the shock of what happened in the last match to give him a good pop and Archon responds by wrestling his heart out. He was labelled as the huge underdog because of the way Mayhem has been destroying his opponents. However from the moment Archon ducked under Mayhem’s swinging of the belt towards his head we all knew we had a match on. After a couple of minutes Brute comes through the curtain to be at ringside. Clearly realising this might be tougher than expected and looking to protect the belt. Once upon a time the Gladiators would not of cared much about this secondary belt (Malice even abdicated it once) but they have been so starved of any belt gold that attitudes have changed. At least for now. In fact the last time the Gladiators held a major belt other than this one was way back on #1056 when Vengeance lost the Heavyweight belt after a very brief reign. That’s two years ago and if you want to find the last time they won either the tag or women’s belt you have to go back much further. It’s very evident that Archon’s gameplan is to get inside as much as possible. Looking to start smothering Mayhem with his submission style. Anytime he gets close Mayhem pushes him off violently. Despite the huge effort put in it starts to become a frustrating exercise for Archon. In trying to force the issue too much he fatally misses with a turnbuckle charge and hurts a shoulder. Mayhem feasts on the error as he throws Archon out of the ring to setup for LEAP OF DOOM. A few kicks in the side by Brute ensures that Archon stays in position and that Mayhem doesn’t miss. The impact makes almost everyone wince in unison. Mayhem then drags Archon back into the ring by his hair and disrespectfully pushes a foot down onto the throat. He orders the pin count. The disgusted ref slowly moves into position and pounds the canvas. Archon barely moved a muscle and lost the match. It’s probably for the best that he didn’t manage a kick out. In this mood Mayhem could have caused him considerable damage and you get the impression if the Gladiators felt the belt was being threatened Mayhem’s chain and Brute’s Aethran Casque would have come into play.

Vengeance crushed Code Endorcer Manslaughter. This could be the moment when Vengeance is most dangerous. He is hurting that his bid for absolute leadership of the Gladiators has been compromised by his loss to Anarchy. The door has been left ajar for Thunder to have another stab at becoming their singles star in 2111. Someone is bound to cop it. On paper Manslaughter, having suddenly lost form, looks vulnerable and it quickly becomes apparent he wasn’t going to recover his form here. He was out wrestled and out brawled by Vengeance. Due to Brute’s interference Commando Sam made some attempts to even things up only to fail miserably. He couldn’t stop Manslaughter falling to defeat via HELTER SKELTER. The match wasn’t a great one overall but it became memorable for what happened next. Euritar suddenly storms the ring apparently to help Manslaughter even though a puzzled Sam questions “what are you doing here?”. He smashed both Brute and Vengeance with a crowbar and then turned round and did the same to Manslaughter. He then tore off his mask and shouted “free at last!” Everyone was down apart from Sam who wisely kept a safe distance and only waited til Euritar had left before assisting Manslaughter. To say everyone was shocked by Euritar’s actions would be an understatement. What will his next move be?

Third Planet easily beat Mutant and Splatter in a Hitman match. Not had one of these matches in a while. Krakan says money was needed to coax those cowards into the ring. Turns out to be an elaborate setup. After a few minutes of action Tough Guy gets lots of chances to roll on L3O against Mutant. Inevitable that he would slap the FIGURE-FOUR LEGLOCK on and it proves enough to incapacitate Mutant. Tough Guy gets a huge shock as a he retrieved the bag at the top of the poll. He was allowed to get it suspiciously easily as Splatter didn’t try and stop him getting up there. All becomes clear when there is no cash inside. Just a note saying “bang you’re dead, from mother hen”. He has only just processed this when Splatter smashes him from behind with Arsenal and then everyone, including his own partner, sets upon in a vicious beating. He is rendered unconscious before a security team armed with tasers is able to safely enter and stop the attack. Read more about this in the latest news section.

Amazonia and Supernova over the Hellions by DQ. Must be said that Amazonia and Supernova have been a bit shocked this year. The emergence of Sniper has caused their own form to suffer. Maybe together they can muster some form against the vile Hellions. As the Hellions approach one fan tries to throw rotten tomatoes at them. Hunger just stops and absorbs the food into her abdomen and then spits it back into the crowd. Truly disgusting. After that the action starts and it’s a match devoid of much excitement. Takes a long time for any one team to get on top. Eventually the Hellions superior tag team know how comes to the fore and they use WOMEN’S SUFFERAGE on Supernova. Despite the ferocious impact for Supernova she produces a big kick out and tries to show all her fighting spirit during a subsequent out of ring brawl with Hunger. On firing a kick at Hunger’s stomach Supernova finds her foot caught in the menacing jaws. Blood is drawn as she struggles to get her foot freed. It takes Amazonia coming over and using her shield against Hunger to force a release. Serpentine got floored by her too. The ref must of been as disgusted as everyone else by the sight of all this as he solely disqualified Hunger.

Nth Degree mauled Dreadnaught. Doomsayer taunts Dreadnaught “why don’t you go through the Transevolver again? It’ll probably kill you but it might not, either way it will end your miserable current existence”. Dreadnaught tried to ignore him but what he couldn’t ignore was the battering being unleashed by Nth Degree. All looked very clumsy as Nth Degree fired head butts galore before a a painful Double Bite in the back of the neck saw Dreadnaught just crumple with barely a minute gone.

[wayne]

GWFC REPORT (THE END 2110 CARDS 1149 – 1152)

Champions

* GWFC Heavyweight Champ: Anarchy (Top Contender: Mandrill/Wolf)
* GWFC Tag Champs: Twin Blood (Top Contenders: Rebel Empire/Titan Attack)
* GWFC Centra Champ: Mayhem (Top Contender: Mutant/Bloodline)
* GWFC Ladies Champ: Sniper (Top Contender: Ms. Liberty)

Latest News:

Everyone was stunned to see Anarchy defeat Pegasus to become new Heavyweight champion. For sure Anarchy is a dangerous wrestler but it was assumed Pegasus would be too good to slip up. He just couldn’t get things going against him though and after feeling CRUCIFIX DROP repeated times ended up losing. It casts a certain amount of unease with the likes of the Brymstonians and Colonizers doing so well. Some claim Pegasus is getting over the hill and the constant push he’s enjoyed for almost a decade could now be over. Wonder if he’ll be back to try and even reclaim the title next year? Perhaps the belt he’ll be pursuing will not even be the Heavyweight one. Anarchy now being champion many rekindle Wolf’s interest in it. Wolf has a pretty decent historic belt record although he has never been that bothered about championships unless they are around the waists of his biggest enemies. Then it’s a different story. He certainly did not do his ranking position any harm by blowing Blazing Skull away at TEAM SUPREME in the added attraction match.

The GWFC roadshow wants to return to Antilia even though the radioactive signals emanating from its dark side continue to worry scientists. To make matters worse there are murmurings of a being called Murdok that is sending waves of fear throughout Centra. He is thought to of been a myth. A ruthless leader supposedly buried within a tomb there centuries ago to escape a mysterious extinction level event that swept through Centra. The radioactive signals preserving his body leaving him ready to reawaken and terrorise at any moment. Worryingly Phantast, who has remained dormant ever since guiding everyone to Centra, is rumoured to be behind Murdok’s imminent resurrection and touted as a possible manager/ally. Corporal Aegis wants to reassure people that stories of Ravagers invading or dangerous conquerors like Murdok rising again are just that. Purely stories.

Dreadnaught is clinging on and vows to continue in 2111. Trisis lobbies Commissioner Morpheus to ban him from wrestling before its too late. Morpheus refuses “I’m not his mummy, if he wants to carry on its his decision. Wrestlers don’t have to sign matches with him if they don’t like it”. On hearing of this Dreadnaught breaks silence on Centran Spacebook by posting “I don’t care if I die in the ring. For my own sanity I have to wrestle”.

Anaxis didn’t feature at all last month for the Hitmen. Krakan was so unimpressed with what she did inside (and outside the ring) that he left her to rot. She is presumed now back on the Team CPC payroll and lacking in confidence. Thantos had been treating her like a doormat before ‘loaning’ her out.

Shocking attacks have taken place within two teams. Firstly a Hitman match pitting Third Planet against Splatter and Mutant sees Tough Guy get set up. On retrieving the bounty at the top of the pole he saw the message “Bang. You’re dead. From Mother Hen”. Suddenly he felt the hard crack of Arsenal and was mercilessly beaten by not only Splatter and Mutant but also his own partner Mike Fortune. He realised he was set up as Krakan entered the ring and ordered more punishment. Shortly after this he fell unconscious. Then in the very next match we saw Euritar smash Manslaughter with a crowbar and rip off his Code Enforcer costume. He then announced that he was finally free. Nobody is sure what that means and whether he will remain with the FDF or turn heel and feud with Manslaughter. The press conferences for 2111 are sure to be interesting as we get some answers.

TEAM SUPREME was captivating. Turned out pretty disastrous for the hero teams. Especially the FDF who had a real month to forget. In a never before scenario both the Colonizers and Team CPC won it. Commissioner Morpheus vows that plans will be put in place to prevent this happening next year and beyond. The shared prize didn’t stop Thantos and Mandrill bragging about how their teams are now best in both dimensions. Big concern coming out of the event is that possible cracks might be appearing in the Fighting Titans? One of most stable and together teams in the fed’s history. Rising Sun says he was embarrassed by his team going out so easily. He feels too much is pinned on his shoulders and questions the depth. Maybe he should take a look at his own performance as he was largely responsible for the failure. Many of the competitors that featured prominently at the event didn’t do much after as they were winding down (apart from the champions who still had their mandatory defences to fulfil). Getting plenty of rest before the new wrestling year is upon us. Even Wolf called it day which is unusual as he normally likes to roll out his Santa Wolf gimmick to close out the year in suitably festive manner. Other things on his mind perhaps?

Commissioner Morpheus finally relents and will give Titan Attack a chance to go for the tag belts in the opening month of 2111. He’s not keen on hero versus hero matches. However feels he can hold them back no longer. The twist is that they must beat Rebel Empire first. Basically the winner of the match will get the next shot at Twin Blood.

Fair to say wrestling on Centra is a great success after the year finally ends. Fans enjoying their staple diet of wrestling. They have particularly enjoyed the ROC team’s successes even though jury is still out on the SWAT Team. Wondering what next year will bring. There is sure to be the usual game of musical chairs coming very soon.

END OF YEAR AWARDS summary … Corporal Aegis did pretty well. He scooped 2 awards and came runner up in another. Sadly the big prize for wrestler of the year didn’t go to Sniper. The small ladies division went against her. There wasn’t really a stand out performer among the men’s roster and it was actually unusually someone who didn’t even hold the Heavyweight belt who got voted as wrestler of the year, Code Enforcer Manslaughter. Up until when he was beaten by Mayhem for the Centra belt late in the year he was looking unbeatable. The guy really needs to now set his sights on the Heavyweight belt and go to the next level. Problem is that might not happen as long as Pegasus is around. Speaking of Pegasus, he was a little miffed Manslaughter got it over him. He was the only one in the FDF that didn’t publicly congratulate Manslaughter. In the tag division it was a no brainer that Twin Blood won the award and that Titan Attack were acknowledged as second best. Johnny Rocket rode the coattails of Twin Blood to earn the top manager award. Clearly the people of Centra still fear Mandrill a lot despite the valiant effort of the ROC. He was most hated by a long, long way. The Gladiators are also injecting fear with Vengeance being identified as the worst of their kind.


INJURED – none; SUSPENDED – none

WRESTLER OF THE MONTH:

ANARCHY - I nearly gave this to Mutant believe it or not. It enjoyed two wins this month including one over Rising Sun. After resisting that temptation it was between Mandrill and Anarchy. Mandrill was MVP at TEAM SUPREME but in the end I couldn’t overlook Anarchy managing to win the Heavyweight belt from Pegasus after seeing off Vengeance to earn that right.

TAG TEAM OF THE MONTH:

GRUNGE AND PRODIGY - An unusual choice. However they were just thrown together and excelled. Showing what great tag wrestlers they both are. Of course Prodigy didn’t like this. He proves to be a difficult customer and refuses to accept his half of the award shouting “I am not a tag wrestler!”


GWI - End of Year Awards

WRESTLER OF THE YEAR – Code Enforcer Manslaughter (runner up: Sniper)
TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR – Twin Blood (runners up: Titan Attack)
MANAGER OF THE YEAR – Johnny Rocket (runner up: Thantos)
MOST POPULAR – Corporal Aegis (runner up: Genocide)
MOST HATED – Mandrill (runner up: Vengeance)
MOST INSPIRATIONAL – Corporal Aegis (runner up: Skinhead)
BEST NEWCOMER(S) – Sniper (runner up: Corporal Aegis)
BEST FEUD – ROC-Colonizers (runner up: Theatre of Pain-Clones)
BEST MATCH – ROC-Colonizers #1128 (runner up: Blade-Bloodline #105)

[wayne]

GWFC QUICK RESULTS FOR LAST MONTH - 2110/12

Card 1149 – Team Supreme – Centra Palladium:

1. Wolf tears Blazing Skull apart (SAVAGE FACE CLAW)
2. Colonizers of Centra trounced FDF 8-5 (Mandrill crushed Code Enforcer Manslaughter and won via MUTANT MAULER … Rebel Empire too good for Desolation Factor again as they pin Rack after EMPIRE TRIUMPHANT … Pegasus won a close one over Wraith via Earth Shaker)
3. Rocket Men edge the Gladiators 3-2 (Paragon defeated Thunder by DQ. Brute attacked Paragon outside of the ring … Twin Blood over Malice and Overkill by DQ. Brute continues his theme of needlessly attacking … Vengeance beats Skinhead by DQ. Skinhead plays the Gladiators at their own game by purposefully losing to ensure the Rocket Men win overall)
4. Team CPC sneaks past ROC 6-5 (Bloodline defeated Corporal Aegis. Pulsating match that ends when Aegis fatally misses a deathjump … The SWAT Team beats Disorder X. Trench’s METAL RAMROD finishes Grunge who had been left high and dry by his partner … Terminus beats Genocide by DQ. Lucky for Team CPC that Genocide had a wild one)
5. The Terrorists destroyed Fighting Titans 9-1 (Mutant beats Rising Sun in a massive upset via TEMPLE GRINDER … Titan Attack over Lethal Lottery. Splatter’s relentless rulebreaking finally got punished … Draconian Sheik battered Meteor using DRACONIAN BACKBREAKER to finish him off)
6. Colonizers of Centra knock off the Rocket Men 9-6 (Rebel Empire finally beats Twin Blood. Vendetta got Dreggs after THE BIG FALL. Dreggs had just ran into a turnbuckle … Mandrill over Skinhead by DQ. Over zealous from Skinhead as he tried to swipe Mandrill with a chair … Wraith upsets Paragon. Long battle ends after PHANTOM JACKHAMMER)
7. Team CPC predictably disposes of the Terrorists 7-2 (Terminus wins a draining battle with Draconian Sheik via HAMMERLOCK SLAM … Bloodline does the necessary against Mutant. CETUS MASTERLOCK hammers the final nail in the coffin … Grunge and Prodigy over Lethal Lottery by DQ. Match is a dead rubber so Splatter uses it to hone his brawling)
8. Colonizers of Centra cannot be split and draw 7-7 (Terminus gets the better of Wraith. A match well worthy of the final sees Terminus eventually triumph after HAMMERLOCK SLAM ... Mandrill wins a classic against Bloodline. What a match. So many twists and turns with Mandrill eventually winning after MUTANT MAULER. Hats off to Bloodline though. Two out of his three matches at the event have been belters ... Rebel Empire against Grunge and Prodigy ends in double DQ madness)

Card 1150 – Terronaut Towers:

1. Mutant crushed Sir Ender (TEMPLE GRINDER)
2. Theatre of Pain beat the Clones by DQ (due to Mad Jester attempting A DEAD MAN’S VERSE on Comedy)
3. Ninja Assassins in perfect harmony to beat Rebel Empire (Hydra beats Vendetta with DEATH POINT STRIKE)
4. Painmaster defeated Max Shield (THE TORTURE RACK)
5. Anarchy wastes Vengeance in a Titan Death match (CRUCIFIX DROP)
6. LADIES TITLE MATCH - Sniper easily swats away the challenge of Taechon (early promise from Taechon quickly snuffed out as Sniper finishes with TARGET PRACTICE)

Card 1151 – Centra Palladium:

1. Animen Invasion upset Transformer again (ANIMEN FINISH on Monad)
2. Splatter crushed Sir Ender (MEET ARSENAL ends a quick match. SQUASH)
3. Ms. Liberty defeated Maxine Babe (THE LIBERATOR)
4. Prodigy over Lance At-Las (Lance missed with a deathjump)
5. Titan Attack have it far too easy against Dark Justice and Mike Fortune (TITAN VICTORY ROLL on Fortune)
6. HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH - Anarchy stuns Pegasus to win the belt (CRUCIFIX DROP)

Card 1152 – Centra Palladium:

1. Nth Degree mauled Dreadnaught (DOUBLE BITE to win in just over a minute. SQUASH)
2. Amazonia and Supernova over the Hellions by DQ (Hunger tried to chew Supernova’s foot off with the mouth in her stomach)
3. Third Planet easily beat Mutant and Splatter in a Hitman match (Tough Guy slapped his FIGURE-FOUR LEGLOCK onto Mutant to win but gets a rude shock as he is then viciously attacked by everybody including his own partner)
4. Vengeance crushed Code Enforcer Manslaughter (HELTER SKELTER. Hell breaks loose afterwards as Code Enforcer Euritar attacks both Manslaughter and Vengeance with a crowbar)
5. CENTRA TITLE MATCH - Mayhem battered Archon (LEAP OF DOOM. Mayhem finishes the year as the strongest performing Gladiator and the only won that has held a title all year long)
6. TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH - Twin Blood easily beat Ninja Assassins (TWICE BITTEN on Daeman. It was too easy and Twin Blood needs greater competition next year. All the other teams have been far too inconsistent)

[wayne]

SETUP FOR 2111:

Investigation into the poisoning of Massacre will continue. Detective Quidun is vowing to bring this to trial sometime this year in what will be most certainly be ‘trial of the century”. There are still an awful lot of suspects at the moment. Some are being looked at closer than others. They are Johnny Rocket, Vengeance, Son of Ram, Antak and Rouser (leader of BAO group). The remaining Gladiators are believed to all be under a close watch too. All Quidun has said of these guys is “don’t go trying to leave this dimension anytime soon”.

A Ravager ship has entered Centra air space causing near hysteria. Corporal Aegis led the response and sent a message to the invading ship. The Ravager leader, Ventross, said “we come in peace but bring an important warning”. They were allowed to land and no aggression was shown on either side. More is set to be revealed at the press conferences. The terrified Centra public remains unconvinced and fear that they are on the brink of war.

PRESS CONFERENCES SUMMARISED:

COLONIZERS OF CENTRA … Mandrill kicks things off by calling all the citizens of Centra dogs and suggesting everyone bows before their master. He then announced 4 new signings. Although they did not appear, due to riot fears, he said they were the Ravagers (Ventross and Rankor). Then Trench runs out as part of a shocking traitorous turn. Finally Rouser, the sign carrying nuisance seen last month and one of the Massacre murder suspects, came out. He has joined Mandrill because his own people treat him like dirt and intends wrestle women “as if they think they are so tough then they shouldn’t be afraid to wrestle a civilian like me” before moving up to the Heavyweight division. There was a big commotion after this as Mandrill went back on his promise to return Sentry to wrestling action due to the new acquisitions. Sentry was enraged and opened fire with his stun gun on the Colonizers. His moment of glory was brief as there was just too many to handle and Vendetta managed to recover to come up behind and smash Sentry. Slowly all the Colonizers regained full movement after the paralysing effects wore off and started beating Sentry to a pulp. As GWFC authority figures (including Commissioner Morpheus) started pushing through the crowd Mandrill called an end to the attack but not before blasting Sentry one last time with his own stun gun. Mandrill ominously declares “let the beaten carcass of Sentry be a lesson to anyone who dares to challenge me”.

RAMPARTS OF CENTRA … Big task for Corporal Aegis to try and bring about some calm. Was flanked by both Solaris and Commissioner Morpheus. He doesn’t drag out a fancy speech and quickly tells everyone that Mandrill’s statements about the Ravagers were untrue. He unveils them as the newest members of ROC. When the Ravagers enter the ring they immediately shake hands with all the authority figures. Ventross makes an address to state the Ravagers are allies and not invaders. Giving a history lesson that the people of Centra are relative newcomers to this dimension whereas the Ravagers have existed for millions of years. He explains the reason for practically no life existing outside of the main hub of Centra is due to a mysterious force they called The Plague which drains everything of its energy to leave a lifeless husk behind. The Ravagers have been travelling the cosmos trying to stay ahead of it and using their sophisticated tech to warn of its whereabouts. Centuries ago when they were fleeing they tried to warn the people of Antilia but many were as afraid of the Ravagers as they were the prospect of The Plague. The planet was reduced to what we now know. Some made a futile attempt to relocate to Primus and hid in underground caves where they were partially shielded. The result is the primitives seen on Primus today. Making Grovel a direct descendant of the Antilians. With the history lesson over Ventross explains there is no imminent threat from The Plague and the reason they have come back is to check on the newcomers that have joined this prosperous civilisation. They made Mandrill believe they’d join him so they could learn more of his plans for conquest. Ventross identifies him as a major threat. The whole time Rankor stayed quiet. When he does finally speak it’s clear he is not as trusting as Ventross and thinks war should be declared on all the trespassers. However it’s clear Ventross is the leader and the views of Rankor is a minority one among their race. After this the crowd erupted and cheers the Ravagers. Everyone raised their hands in the air in a sign of solidarity although when Max Shield tried to grab the hand of Rankor he would have none of it and stepped away from the celebrations. A gunshot then brings the euphoria to a halt. Tocsin approaches and wastes no time in making his purpose clear “I want to join your team”. Max Shield shows distrust although it’s clear Tocsin is genuine and wants revenge on the Colonizers after what that liar and his thugs did. Aegis likes the idea of Tocsin’s betrayal to make up for the defection of Trench. Tocsin is soon welcomed although the suit wasn’t doing a perfect job of holding back his natural aroma so nobody got too close!

THE CENTAURIANS … This was dramatic. The recruitment of Genocide just drove a further wedge between Archon and Lorelei. He cannot believe such hardcore guys are now on the team and arguing amongst themselves over who the most dangerous fighter is. He’s had enough and declares himself a free agent and leaves. The arguments don’t stop there as things get tense between Wolf and Amazonia. It ends with Wolf jumping over the top rope and declaring “I’m outta here”. After this shock Amazonia declares she still wants to compete against men and hopes more will be brave enough to sign matches with her this year. Who knows, she may need up going against Wolf at some point. The final major news was another new recruit, Grovel. Ventross managed to communicate with the primitive and arrange for it to leave the Hitmen.

BRYMSTONE BURNING … Absolutely nothing is said. Just a weird show of synthetic fire in the ring. All Brymstonians perched on the turnbuckles pointing towards the middle from which Wolf suddenly emerges. The crowd is flabbergasted to see that Wolf has apparently joined their team. I suppose that ends his predicted interest in the Heavyweight belt that Anarchy now holds and clears the path for Mandrill to get the next shot. Wolf and Mandrill had been scheduled to face off in a top contender match early in 2111.

REYNARD B. GUILE … Reveals a new team he is calling the Great Comeback. Still has the Ninja Assassins on board even though many felt they should sack him. However it is the two signings made that causes jaws to drop. Both ones that will put his team on the radar of Commando Sam. First is the legendary Pegasus as he drops his goody two shoes image. He also as Maxine Babe as his personal valet and she is all over him. Secondly the fate of Code Enforcer Euritar is revealed. He had fully dropped the image and is ready to go to war with the FDF. He is bitter that he wasted years on a silly contract he was forced into to play the Code Enforcer. Jumping on a technicality to break the contract as his role was to be played in the GWF but this is the GWFC now. His backstory is a bombshell as he reveals that he is actually the son of the original Code Enforcer!

HITMEN FOR HIRE … Probably one of the less newsworthy press conferences when compared to what has already gone on. Krakan says good riddance to Tough Guy and Maxine Babe whilst issuing warnings to the likes of Ventross and Pegasus. Not a huge surprise to see Splatter and Mutant back in the bosom of Krakan. Splatter takes exception to being called old and how he keeps linking back up with Krakan given how he has been treated in the past. Calls him a great manager compared to the Terrorists who are only interested in Draconian Sheik adding “they are two strange guys who never talked to us”. Amid sounds of gunfire the Hitmen departed before anyone got the chance to ask Krakan about Sniper.

TOUGH GUY AND SNIPER … This was a surprise one that got scheduled. Tough Guy opens the ropes for Sniper and it’s clear they are an item. Tough Guy is still wearing bandages that were a result of the injuries sustained at the hands of Krakan. He quickly gives the stage to Sniper who explains she and Tough Guy have something in common as they’ve both been abused by Krakan. The assumption is she was an old girlfriend of Krakan but the startling reveal is “I’m his daughter. My mother was an arena rat and became a wrestling groupie. Krakan took advantage of her need for attention by using her at his convenience for many years. When she died several years ago I was a teen and dabbling in bad things like drugs. Krakan showed no remorse and when I told him what happened he acted concerned for mere moments and said he had to go. He never spoke to me again until I made contact a few years later. I was feeling alone and wanted companionship so I sought out my ‘famous father’ despite what my mother said about him being very abusive. I had to find out for myself and I badly wanted a father in my life. The best thing I could do was train to be a wrestler and eventually I approached him in 2108 telling him I wanted to join his team and even adopted an image suitable for being part of them. I think he was afraid of the scandal so agreed to train me secretly. Then something happened to make me hate him more than anything. I overheard him making fun of my mother calling her a pest and all sorts of unrepeatable things before moving onto me and how he was only doing this to keep my mouth shut and that I was terrible. I was devastated and abandoned the plan and instead entered as an independent in 2109. Krakan took notice of how good I was and asked me to join but I told him where to go”. What a story and the vicious attack on Tough Guy was the last straw and why Sniper has gone public. Together she and Tough Guy will even wrestle occasional mixed gender tag matches as Living Dangerously. Plus they know they cannot take on the Hitmen alone so have signed on with the Terrorists. When asked where the Terrorists were the two of them appeared at the Palladium entrance arms crossed. Draconian Sheik and Vyper were behind them. Sniper and Tough Guy headed off to join them. This feud has gone up many notches with personal scandal fuelling it!

[wayne]

TEAM UPDATES:

GLADIATORS OF AETHRA … Brute has declared war on everyone in response to Massacre’s death. It may have happened many months ago but the rage has not dissipated. Expect Brute to be interfering more than ever this year and also ordering plenty of gang attacks. In the background Vengeance pledged loyalty to Brute and has no designs on becoming team leader. Maybe this is a move to try and divert the suspicions away from him. Thunder as a singles wrestler and Malice and Overkill as a tag team still have a lot to prove. They were underwhelming last year having been predicted to achieve great things. Mayhem and Spike will continue in similar roles to how they ended the year. Mayhem going hardcore against anybody and everybody whilst keeping hold of the Centra belt which is suddenly an important title to hold. At least until the other Gladiators have got their acts together and started threatening the main belts again. Spike mainly as a bodyguard when required. It had been speculated that he has already wrestled his last match although it seems he may be making 2111 his swan song year instead. Thrash is still low down in the Aethran pecking order. Not that it keeps her quiet and she has plenty to say about Amazonia thinking she’s too good for the women’s bracket and wanting to wrestle men. Maybe Thrash will follow suit. Or take advantage of the void to try and dominate women’s wrestling again. It’s been an awful long time since she did.

COLONIZERS OF CENTRA … Mandrill is fuming that the Ravagers have mugged him off and then Tocsin deserting to join ROC made matters worse. He is still determined to press on with his conquering plans and maintain his standing as the most hated man on Centra. His recruits aren’t exactly striking fear into any opponents though. He could have had the Ravagers and instead he’s got Trench and Rouser. Of course Rebel Empire is the main tag team and have a great chance to win the tag belts soon if they can get the better of Twin Blood. However there is now a second option team of the Betrayers who are naturally made up of Wraith and Trench. With all the movement Painmaster has seen that his standing on the team could be on the rise and is staying loyal to Mandrill despite rumours he might turn on him. Will he continue to be taken for granted? Finally there’s Rouser who is an obnoxious attention seeking individual. He will be an extremely distracting ringside presence. Plus he is taking advantage of equal opportunity rights to try and make it in the women’s division. Will the GWFC allow it? Rouser is extremely good at protesting his case and argues that he is under the weight and height limit to be allowed to contest the women’s title. For sure the women would love the chance to try and beat him up and probably a few of the male wrestlers too. Rouser is probably far too cowardly to give any the opportunity.

RAMPARTS OF CENTRA … The most popular team on Centra just got even more popular. Corporal Aegis is thankful for the public support and reiterates that there is nothing to fear from the Ravagers. The fears were based on their own prejudices. He will be ably backed up by his new best mate, Max Shield, who is adapting his style to become more aggressive (and not in that Mad Max way he has tried before). Max is aware he has underachieved for years and it’s time to do something about it. It’s also been done to compensate for a weakening of his shield defences. In fact his potent new finisher THE OMICRON FORCE is very dependent on his mutant powers but if it hits fully it’s as good as any of the most devastating finishers around. Plus it has the added advance of being one of those finishers that never misses. Of course that brings us onto the Ravagers. Their emergence is the big story of 2111 and thankfully they see the Colonizers as the invaders and aim to deal with them. Although it must be said Rankor doesn’t seem as friendly as Ventross. Word is Ventross can be just as good as singles wrestler as in a tag team but expect most of his ring time to be spent tag teaming. Unfortunately there is a weak link on the team and that is Warfare. It’s not that he lacks talent and we all know how powerful he is. He’s just hard to control and Trench was his only true friend. Thankfully Aegis is wisely giving him space and earning his trust and respect so hopefully it’ll be okay. Next is Tocsin and he’s very much an unknown quantity. At the moment he is obsessed with punishing Mandrill and the other Colonizers and says he will make them sick to their stomachs with his gross finisher HAZARDOUS WASTE plus he is not relinquishing his weapon and will probably cop a fair few DQ losses with its usage. Finally Trisis is still with the team and is more loyal than ever. She loves wrestling and her talk show has been a hit. Whenever possible she’ll help the team although Aegis remains very protective of her.

THE GREAT COMEBACK … Reynard B. Guile laid low last year but he’s now back in the headlines with this exciting new team. Getting Pegasus and Euritar on board is a massive coup. Pegasus is now proclaiming himself as ‘The Great One’ instead of ‘The Hero of Heroes’ and slipping nicely back into old heel ways. He was sick of Commando Sam’s cause and inhibiting style. To those that think he has lost a step he vows to prove them wrong and capture the Heavyweight belt again as well as dominate his new feud rival Archon ‘Defender of Honor’. Euritar won’t want to be playing second fiddle and sees getting rid of his Code Enforcer image as liberating. All those years of frustration and anger are about to be let out in the ring against his old FDF colleagues. Then how can you forget the Njnja Assassins. Still a great team and ready to be back in the spotlight with a big feud against the “overrated” Desolation Factor. Backing them all up when B. Guile is not around is Maxine Babe. She’ll be a big distraction although she’s chiefly Pegasus’s babe. She triggered a feud with Ms. Liberty only recently and that will continue plus likely matches with Supernova on the horizon. Of her time with Krakan she tells us something we already knew “the guy is a jerk, treats women like dirt” then adds “if I’m going to be treated like dirt it needs to be by someone good looking like Pegasus”.

FEDERATION DEFENCE FIGHTERS … Sounds like Mesmer has slipped something into Sam’s drink again. He calls Pegasus and Euritar ungrateful scum whilst also freshly targeting Wolf for joining the Brymstone team. His obsession with punishing all code breakers is bordering on the unhealthy. Some of the other hero leaders are a bit nervous about the way Sam is. Even Lance At-Las thinks he is better out of it and has requested to leave the FDF and become a loner again. The new look team is now fronted by Archon. Now calling himself ‘Defender of Honor’. Archon says Sam is a manager he can finally respect. They fit each other well as they are so square. Archon will never leave the ring or knowingly break rules but at least he’s learning how to brawl and adopt new setup moves under Sam’s tutelage. Of course the Code Enforcer remains loyal to Sam’s cause and the feud with Euritar will be intense. Then there’s Desolation Factor as the tag threat. They aren’t too bothered about the code though. Funnily some Centrans actually thought they were the Ravagers last year until Ventross and Rankor showed up. They bore a slight resemblance to faded cave drawings and scrolls found on Antilia decades ago. Supernova is still on the team even though she doesn’t 100% agree with Sam’s agenda. Great pals with Ms. Liberty who is loyal to Sam and sees him as a father figure. She’s still getting on with life and trying not to let US. Traitor get to her.

THE CENTAURIANS … Lorelei is more determined than ever to avenge the death of her son. Her signing of Genocide shows that. What she wouldn’t have expected is Wolf suddenly jumping ship to the Brymstonians after an argument with Genocide. It sets up an incredible feud between them. Archon’s departure on the other hand wasn’t entirely unexpected. However he has been replaced by Grovel thanks to assistance from Ventross. Grovel has shown a far greater degree of success than anyone thought and could be a useful addition. Amazonia is also stepping things up as she gets used to having Wolf as an enemy. She’s dropped any managerial responsibilities and updated her repertoire. The reasons are two fold. She was underperforming in the women’s bracket and now she is trying to enter the men’s bracket and wants to toughen up even more. Remains to be seen whether Commissioner Morpheus will allow her to be ranked. However matches against Wolf and Anarchy are now a distinct possibility. Will the fed and its various promoters take advantage? One match type I am sure will get booked is a mixed tag affair as Amazonia and Blade have agreed to come together as Cutting Edge and are eyeing up contests with Living Dangerously (Sniper and Tough Guy). Big question is, when is Lorelei going to enter the ring herself? Some thought this would be the year that it would happen.

BRYMSTONE BURNING … Not sure what makes Maleph tick other than violence. However he must derive satisfaction in some small way from managing the Heavyweight champ plus being able to sign Wolf. It’s a shocker to see Wolf on this team. He’s unpredictable but nobody saw his independent streak gojng this far. If he survives his feud with Genocide he could end up facing his former girlfriend, Amazonia, in a match. He’s not going to go out his way to do it. However if it happens will be interesting to see if he tones down his aggression or remains the same savage animal that never yields. It’ll be history in the making when and if it happens. Certainly Anarchy won’t hesitate to crush her if he can take time out of being Heavyweight champ. Would Wolf just stand back and watch if he tries to actually injure Amazonia? Outside of the headliners we have Blazing Skull. Never an individual to take lightly and we must remember the catalyst to this whole feud. Plus there’s Tortured Soul in a great hardcore feud with Grovel. There won’t be any long speeches or war of words. Just hopefully lots of special matches.

THE ROCKETMEN … Johnny Rocket starts by banging the drum for a Sudden Death tournament to take place in the GWFC. Then in a surprise has handed the star singles spot back to Skinhead. His plan is to try and keep eveyone happy by rotating it regularly. That doesn’t sit well with the others especially Paragon. All of them have some way to go to match Twin Blood in the tag division though. Their tag title reign is into the fifties and showing no sign of ending. Can they break the record for the longest reign ever? Nora Pelf has almost been forgotten due to her lack of success in the ring. She’s going to try and force her way into public consciousness by winning her feud against Anaxis and then turning her into a servant/maid for the Rocketmen team. As far as we know she and Johnny are still in a relationship but they rarely show much affection on screen these days.

TEAM CPC … Thantos is big on talk usually. Only he has been quiet to the point the silence is deafening. His wrestlers have been the ones making noise. None more so than Terminus who oozes confidence at the minute. He was actually pursued by Mangus for the Cygnus team although Terminus turned him down. Terminus feels more likely to get title shots if Thantos is his manager. Terminus intends to wear any belts that he owns like trophies. Bloodline is in the shadow of Terminus but if he keeps progressing it won’t be for long. Thantos calls him the star of tomorrow. He still moans that his sister, Supernova, won’t leave him alone. Prodigy’s position is less obvious. He finished 2110 in hot form and was arguably the best wrestler on the team. However it’s clear his third in the pecking order. Prodigy chooses to ignore this and calls the fact that his former partner, Skinhead, is the top guy on the Rocketmen is a joke. Smacks of jealousy a bit. Unbelievably Disorder X stays together. Mace says the team is not the weak link and any weakness should be attributed to his partner and not him. Great team player attitude once again from him. Mace also says that if Disorder X lose their feud with Twin Blood this year, which is more likely, then he’ll disband the team and it’ll be Grunge’s fault. Grunge is happy to play along. He gets paid well and truth be told he don’t care too much. Anaxis hasn’t been treated too great by Thantos of late. Despite this she carries on and intends to make Nora Pelf regret her comments by challenging her to a servant match. It should make a feud that might of gone under the radar a bit more interesting.

HITMEN FOR HIRE … Krakan feels betrayed and claims he was a good father to Sniper. Clearly delusional after the way he ignored her for years and then ridiculed her. It’s not been a good year for Krakan and women when you also remember that Maxine Babe has done a runner. Of his Hitmen Dark Justice might be on dicey ground. He says he is not interested in family problems and how underrated he is. Going as far as to suggest he’s receiving second rate support from the rest of the team. It could easily lead to an eruption between the new generation of the team (Justice and Mike Fortune) and the old generation (Splatter and Mutant). Mike Fortune makes no comments other than to call Tough Guy an unreliable jerk who deserved what he got. He is licking his lips at the prospect of this feud. Also an interesting feud with Vyper awaits. Both guys have been more on the tag team scene in recent years so it will be a chance for one of them to make a move on this singles charts this year. That leaves the Society of Death (Splatter and Mutant) as the famous name is resurrected. Splatter says he is the enforcer of the team and that Arsenal will watch the backs of the team. Then fires off a warning to Justice about shooting his mouth off. So having only just rejoined the team he’s already having a war of words. Krakan is not worried. He is just concerned with Splatter making Tough Guy pay and in a low move even for him has ordered Mutant to go after Sniper. With matches between women and men now being a considered possibility we could see this happening. If Amazonia can then why can’t others? We will have to see though as Commissioner Morpheus is still pretty against it.

THE TERRORISTS … Montrol is loving that Sniper is officially part of the Terrorists and opposing Krakan. Paralysing Krakan a few years ago was a nice revenge but this is a deeper sting that goes beyond physical pain. Having Tough Guy on board is an added bonus. Of course Draconian Sheik is still their main interest. Weirdly Drac has formed a bond with Tough Guy and it’s been suggested they may even tag together occasionally. However Drac is still chiefly a loner purely driven by what the Terrorists instruct. Vyper doesn’t want to be the forgotten man on the team so he is picking feuds like they are going out of fashion. He wants to remind people he was twice a Heavyweight champion and gets annoyed when anyone says “I don’t remember that”. It’s probably because the record books don’t actually list his first one because he failed to make a successful defence of it and the second one was almost as brief. Although it did actually happen folks!

FIGHTING TITANS … Lord Nexus says he is disgusted with Krakan and makes a memorable quote “Krakan has more skeletons in his closet than a haunted house”. Despite a poor TEAM SUPREME it was a good year and shows their youth movement is working as Titan Attack were awesome and although Rising Sun wobbled a bit at the end he showed he is a top contending singles wrestler who’ll no doubt improve even more this year. The only setback is Meteor developing slower than hoped and not really fitting into the team due to his baggage but Nexus is keen to support in his battle with addictions and casting him off could do irreversible damage. Looking at some of the individuals on the team and there is great hope for Rising Sun. His little outburst a few weeks ago is long forgotten. Instead he is honing skills further and could join the elite next year. His goal is to be a good role model. Whereas Archon is obnoxious about his ‘code of Honor’ Rising is a class act that people respect. A case example is Rising naming his potent new finisher SUPER DRAGON DROP in homage to his good friend and former partner, Dragonmaster. Titan Attack is already among elite in the tag division. If not for Twin Blood they would have dominated the tag belts. Maybe they’ll get the chance they deserve soon. However as mentioned before Meteor is a sad story. He seems depressed that he is not as talented and cannot get over with the fans. As a result he is hanging about more with his old friend Lance At-Las than his Titan colleagues. He and Lance are set to team together occasionally as the Rigel Warriors.

CYGNUS STRIKEFORCE … Mangus is going after Commando Sam as he says “old feuds die hard”. Trouble is he tried and failed to build up the team having failed in rumoured approaches for both Desolation Factor and Terminus. Instead he only signed Taechon. Not much to write home about. Although it formed the basis of a cruel statement from US. Traitor who said “it’s nice to have Taechon on the team. Even though we aren’t sure if Taechon is male or female she’s more woman than Ms. Liberty will ever be”. Taechon was very quiet last year but has found a voice “I was building up a friendship with Sniper so I am angry she’s suddenly abandoned me after promising we might tag together next year. It would have been better than what I had with Nora Pelf”. With one comment Taechon has made enemies of two women plus Ms. Liberty will be after her for associating with US. Traitor. One things for sure Taechon barely registered in the fed last year. Now things are different and she’ll be booked a lot more having got a few storylines going.

THE TEAM WITH NO NAME … These guys are off the wall. Defender of the Realm has now reverted to calling himself Mad Jester too. Who knows what he’ll call himself tomorrow or next year. For the purposes of the announcing they’ll be called Mad Jester Original and Mad Jester Clone this year. Their identical looks will afford them plenty of chances to perform illegal switches during matches. Most of the work will fall to the Clone as Mad Jester Original is actually considerably older and showing signs of age. As for their team name it came about during a weird interview when asked “what is your team going to be called? At the moment you are ‘The Team With No Name’ so the public wants to know”. Mad Jester said “that’s right”. The confused interviewer asks “what do you mean?”. Jester just laughed and said “we like that, we are going to be ‘The Team With No Name’ for now but you never know what we’ll be called show to show”.

TRANSEVOLVER … The whole Massacre murder mystery is very prominent for this team as Doomsayer takes exception to Son of Ram insulting him and says this is an admission of guilt. He’s studied chemicals enough to know the poison that killed Massacre came from Andromeda! As a result he is assisting the investigations due to his knowledge. Can he trusted though? Unfortunately his unique Transformer team aren’t happy Doomsayer is more wrapped up with this than managing them. They want a big push and are trying to create their own heat by challenging the Team With No Name to a feud.

UNAFFILIATED … Animen Invasion find themselves as being among the strongest suspects of Massacre’s murder. As a result they want a full on feud with Malice and Overkill this year. Can the Gladiators be bothered with them though? Aside from this they scored quite a few surprise wins last year and are not as bad a team as many thought they would be. For some reason they are at their best when facing Transformer and as a result Son of Ram wants to also face them in some more matches. Of course he isn’t happy with Doomsayer’s role in framing them so there is also plenty of heat … Dreadnaught is still ticking. Some people have remarked on a resemblance with the Ravagers although they have nothing in common and it’s purely coincidental. I think he’ll be scheduled in quite a few Centra Coffin matches this year just in case the worst happens. This is a new match type that’s now possible along with Nightmare Matrix and Hardcore Titan Death matches … Hellions. Will they be tempted to follow the lead of the likes of Sniper and Amazonia and take on male wrestlers. How cool would it be to see them face their fellow Brymstonians. As we all know the Brymstone Burning team does not associate or acknowledge them … Lance At-Las is a bit worried Commando Sam is going off the deep end but rather than make a fuss has quietly left the FDF team. He plans to remain in this dimension even if the option to return to the known dimension comes up … Massif still holds a referee status and hopes to be used in some big matches this year. He is another that is worried about Commando Sam’s behaviour … Phantast. He showed an interest in being a manager last year. So far nothing has materialised and he is only seen sporadically. He has been linked with some of strange occurrences on Antilia although he did break silence to categorically deny this. He wants the people to know he stands on right side of good versus evil. Although some still don’t fully trust him … Sir Ender provided comedy value last year. He is truly hopeless. Having been used as a punching bag by the Gladiators and not taken on by them he then offered his service to the ROC “to help fight off the heathens and scoundrels that threaten the kingdom”. Corporal Aegis politely refused and now Sir Ender has challenged the team members to a feud to prove his worth … The Soulwatcher is still around and has a bit of a cult following … Theatre of Pain. Had a great feud with the Clones last year which they shaded. Next up for them is a rivalry with the Rigel Warriors.

UPDATES FROM OTHER DIMENSIONS:

UFSP UPDATE … There are indications that Omega is having some success in the UFSP in his attempt to convince people that professional wrestling should not be outlawed. It even appears that Cordanus is seeing the tide of public opinion turn against him and is showing signs of backing down! Omega has successfully lobbied for a vote of the citizens of all the galaxies in Dimension K to decide the issue. The vote will take place late in 2111. If the public votes to overturn the ban the GWF could be reinstated as early as 2112. If the public votes to maintain the ban, it could be years before the issue comes before the public again. Omega and many others are working hard to sway the public to reinstate wrestling. Worryingly Star Warrior is nowhere to be found. Where is he and what is going on?

CPC UPDATE … The CPC continues to have a sporadic schedule of ‘underground’ cards in the hollowed out core of Planet Colby. Colby has successfully paid of some high officials and police officers in order to keep the CPC alive. Rumor has it he is also paying off high ranking members of the UFSP in his attempts to see the ban overturned. The CPC is the only federation in Dimension K that has remained active after the ban and even in their case only on a minimal basis with few cards and few fans.

WGX UPDATE … The WGX has been active the past few years and several newcomers have enjoyed success. Alpha Force and Chaos were able to win the Vector Two tag belts and have held them for over a year. The Matador of M83 had won the Heavyweight Belt twice in Vector Three and is currently wrestling in Vector Two with Chaos and Alpha Force. Vector One naturally returned to Vector One and is currently the Heavyweight Champion. Janus has been wrestling in Vector Two and has been a top ranked wrestler but he has been unable to win a belt so far.

[wayne]

DETECTIVE QUIDUN EMERGENCY PRESS CONFERENCE:

Detective Quidun has called an emergency press conference that takes place at the CLEA (Centra Law Enforcement Agency) headquarters. It was expected that he would make a regarding the death of Massacre. The building has a traditional look but despite its design simplicity, it is an electronic marvel, which befits its status as the primary law enforcement body on Centra. The press conference took place in Quidun's office. All the media gathered to hear his announcement and the people of Centra watched every word through electronic images telecast all over the planet.

Quidun: I am here to announce that a wrestler from the GWFC will be charged with the murder of Massacre and put on trial later this year. The man charged with the murder of Massacre is Vengeance.

Johnny Rocket: Wow! Do you really have enough proof against him?

Quidun: We believe we do.

Johnny Rocket: Will Vengeance be allowed to wrestle this year?

Quidun: According to Centran law, he is innocent until proven guilty. He can lead his normal life until our computers see the evidence against him and give us a verdict.

Johnny Rocket: You have computers decide the innocence or guilt of someone?

Quidun: Yes. Long ago our people decided that computers are more accurate in their decisions and less prone to emotional flaws that hamper decision making. If the computers find that they are at least 95% certain that the evidence points to Vengeance, then he wil be found guilty and punished according to Centran law.

Johnny Rocket: How long will the trial last?

Quidun: The trial will take a few seconds at most. What takes time is programming all the relevant information into the computer data banks. Our experts, including a representative for the accused must review the data. That is all I have to say right now. This press conference is over!

[wayne]

CARD 1153 – RUINS OF ANTILIA:

The new year begins and what a year it promises to be with the Ravagers fighting on the side of ROC. Wolf alongside the Brymstonians and possibly against Amazonia. Some surreal sights that could not of been imagined mere weeks ago. This is the return to Antilia and the stories about Murdok rising up suddenly seem plausible given all the recent revelations. The nervousness causes no fans to make the trip.

Wolf gets current bragging rights over Mandrill after winning their Ruins of Antilia match. What a main event to start the year off with. Wolf and Mandrill were originally facing off to earn the right to challenge Anarchy at CENTRA PERENNIAL. However Wolf has withdrawn his interest in the Heavyweight belt due to now being a member of Brymstone Burning. He still wanted to do this match though and Mandrill couldn’t wriggle out of it. Wolf is immensely popular and it would have been interesting to gauge fan reaction to his controversial move. Alas the match setting was unable to answer that. Mandrill went at it guns blazing and was soon amongst the ruins using everything he possibly he could. It was all going well until they went beyond the ruins towards the creek. Mandrill tries to drown Wolf but meets resistance. Wolf got an arm down on the floor. Mandrill keeps pushing only for Wolf to counter with an elbow into the stomach. He then dunks Mandrill instead. Keeping him underwater for an uncomfortably long time before lifting him up. Mandrill was gasping for breath at this point. It totally turns the match and Wolf drags him back towards the ruins. Mandrill finds himself thrown into a stone wall and then tossed down some stone stairs when he tried to reach the sanctuary of the ring. He was a bloody mess by this point. Wolf then went for the kill as he picked up a cinder block and smashes it over Mandrill’s head. Nobody’s getting up after an assault like that. Mandrill just laid pathetically wedged against a ruin and Wolf was able to pin him for a great victory. It’s also the perfect way to integrate with his new Brymstonian buddies as Anarchy will be defending the Heavyweight belt against Mandrill at CENTRA PERENNIAL. Mandrill will have trouble shaking off the effects of this match by then.

Rising Sun wins a thriller over Dark Justice in what was the first of two Ruins of Antilia matches. Big things expected of Rising Sun this year. It would be a good start if he can take care of Justice and immediately push his way among the top contenders for big one. Memories of last month where he wobbled a bit already long forgotten. A big boost is that officials had taken Justice’s rod off him. In these no DQ matches weapons are not always confiscated. So there was no worry about being struck with ROD OF JUSTICE. Rising reasoned he’d have a better chance of winning if he kept it in the ring rather than get caught out in the ruins. It nearly costs him as Justice used SHOCK PROBATION twice in the early stages after Rising spurns opportunities to roll outside the ring. As it happens after being hit with those he ended up out there anyway as Justice was more than happy to make things more hardcore. We now get an incredible battle amongst the ruins during which Rising accumulated 9 tokens. I actually thought about stopping the match. However I resisted and decided if Rising’s token count got into double figures I’d probably do it. At this crucial stage Rising suddenly fought back and gave as good as he was getting. The pivotal moment then came as an ancient stone wall collapsed on Justice. Although Rising didn’t get the pin from this it allowed him to get the match back into the makeshift ring. They grapple for several minutes more and you kind of got the feeling next one to try a cover would win as both had lots of fatigue (Rising 9, Justice 5). It’s Rising who gets it after a waistlock suplex and Justice isn’t able to respond with a kickout. Got to label that a 5* classic and a very early contender for match of the year. It’s been a great night for the Fighting Titans.

Titan Attack in dazzling form to beat Rebel Empire. Finally a possible path to a title match for Titan Attack. Long overdue. Commissioner Morpheus has been told til his blue in the face that they cannot be denied just because they fight on the side of good against evil. He still doesn’t like hero versus hero title matches though and has made it fiendishly tough for them. They must beat Rebel Empire cleanly. It’s the first ringside outing of that nuisance Rouser and he was sure to make that task even tougher. However he can do nothing to stop the Titans who end up wrestling one of their greatest matches. After some initial sparring between Ursa Major and Nefarus we get Scion Nexus and Vendetta in the ring. Scion just bombards Vendetta with move after move. Never letting the big man rest. All his finishers used several times over. Only pin saves and distractions keep Vendetta going as long as he did. He has 7 fatigue tokens by the time he is finally pinned after FLYING TITAN. Rouser complains vociferously to the ref about a fast count. Then ends up a laughing stock as the ref pushes him away. Rouser was off balance and falls through the ropes breaking his sign in the process.

Vyper crushed Archon. Commando Sam, now minus his meal, is counting on Archon to lift the team after an appalling end to 2110 for the FDF. Archon is very hyped up ahead of this and goes on a rant about code breakers for so long that the interviewer cut him off and told him to lighten up. Archon warns the chap “don’t push my buttons”. He then angrily heads off with Sam to face Vyper who was already waiting with the Terrorists. On sight of them Sam orders Archon “punish this code breaker, don’t worry about the Terrorists as I’ll take care of them”. He wasn’t kidding as Sam holds up a machete and warns them that it’ll be used in self defence. Surely even the Terrorists wouldn’t want to test whether Sam was bluffing or not. They wouldn’t have been needed anyway as Archon makes a disastrous start to life on the FDF. He made a mess of Peacemaker Slingshot which is one of his newly taught moves and almost got pinned within 2 moves. In the space of 15 moves he had 4 pin attempts against him including VYPER’S SIDESHOW twice and only just survived each time. Even though he is much better equipped to brawl Archon’s stubborn refusal to roll out the ring costs him. He had numerous opportunities. Anyway just a couple of moves later Vyper put him in a Cobra Clutch to end the embarrassment. Vyper thought about draping one of his snakes over Archon for added humiliation only to back off when he caught sight of Sam’s machete. Vyper later vows this heralds the start of a charge towards Heavyweight belt glory. He also objects to being called a one shot wonder by the commentary team in reference to his previous solitary reign.

Ms. Liberty wins a lively contest over Taechon. Taechon’s surprise joining up with Cygnus Strikeforce catapults her straight into a feud with Ms. Liberty. Shockingly US. Traitor shows up at ringside to taunt his ex-wife. Ms. Liberty initially had nobody with her. It hadn’t been expected she’d need it with Taechon opposing her. Commando Sam hurriedly rushes out to ringside a match earlier than expected. He clearly wasn’t ready as he’s still polishing off a sandwich which soon gets thrown at US. Traitor. After that Traitor didn’t hang around. He just wanted to show his face and unsettle Ms. Liberty. The plan seemed to work as Ms. Liberty was a slow starter and allowed Taechon early domination. Gradually Ms. Liberty works herself in and largely dominates the remainder. One spectacular moment saw Taechon try a judo move known as O Goshi (which is basically a hip throw) only for Ms. Liberty to reverse it by lifting Taechon up, swivelling and doing one of her own. However despite the impressive moves she cannot put Taechon away easily. The match drags on and the timekeeper looks poised to ring the bell for the time limit expiring when Taechon fatally tries a turnbuckle charge. Ms. Liberty dodges and Taechon flies outside the ring with all the momentum. Taechon only just beats the count-out. However Ms. Liberty is there straight away with THE LIBERATOR and scores the pin in the nick of time.

Society of Death defeated Rigel Warriors. First match of the new year is a pretty good one. Meteor has some early joy against Mutant and sets up Lance At-Las nicely. Lance tried to get new team off to a flyer by trying his finisher, MARS MANHANDLER, on both opponents at different times. For various reasons it doesn’t succeed. Meteor gets a second stint in the ring after his early promise. Unfortunately his conditioning isn’t the best due to his lifestyle. He is pummeled and falls to defeat after Mutant used TEMPLE GRINDER against him. Krakan can’t help getting a dig in as he calls Meteor pathetic in the aftermath and suggests his association with the Titans to be the main reason.

[wayne]

CARD 1154 – LAVA PITS OF PRIMUS:

Vengeance defeated Paragon in a Lava Pit match. Vengeance isn’t bothered about wrestling with a possible murder conviction hanging over him. In fact in some sick way he seems to enjoy it. Meanwhile Paragon wants this big scalp and to show Johnny Rocket that he is backing the wrong horse by making Skinhead the top guy on the team. He angrily peers straight into the camera and says “I’m still the big man” before straightening his bow tie and descending into the pit. One of the primitives actually got curious and wandered a little close to Paragon. It received a Big Man choke slam which wasn’t the best way to keep things calm. It actually attracted more of them and we ended with a large horde of them over one side. The match began against this rowdy background with Vengeance serving notice of his intent with Eye Cleaver almost straight away. It’s a move he always looks to do early in a bid to impede an opponents sight. Paragon does well to fight back and we get an even contest for a few minutes. Both guys took bumps with their faces being planted hot lava filled areas. When a run of momentum happens it’s Paragon who is the one building something. He tried to use FINAL OVERTURE which would surely of spelt doom for Vengeance. However Vengeance thrashes around violently preventing Paragon from getting balance to lock it in. Then Vengeance is able to scoop up some hot ash and throw it backwards in his face. Paragon is only briefly stunned and seeks to get back on with it. Maybe needing to rough Vengeance up some more before trying again. Then as luck would have it Vengeance gets a big chance to win himself from an apparently desperate situation. A primitive, perhaps even the one who Paragon assaulted earlier, throws a rock into the pit. It strikes Paragon and sends him to one knee looking very groggy. Vengeance is given time to recover and senses it is a good time for his finisher HELTER SKELTER. Waits for Paragon and launches forwards at the perfect moment. Paragon is pretty much out of it and Vengeance has time to safely navigate one of the pit walls and nimbly completes his escape for a major victory over one of the fed’s juggernauts.

Mutant stuns Bloodline in a Lava pit match. Mutant was dribbling worse than a leaky fawcet. Looking like stray dog looking for its next meal. Maybe the prospect of a shot at the Centra belt should it win is the reason for the salivating. Although probably not. I’m sure Mutant has no idea it has risen to such a surprisingly high rank. Its opponent, Bloodline, should be pretty confident of earning the shot himself but this isn’t a regular match. The Lava Pit setting adding an element of uncertainty. Also the primitives might identify with Mutant and try to help it. Immediately becomes apparent Bloodline has made a mistake by agreeing to this match. The primitives are a great leveller and although it may not be intentional Bloodline comes in for some rough treatment. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong and he was clocking up tokens like they were going out of fashion. When Mutant then strikes him with some kind of undetectable object Bloodline’s legs go to jelly and he slumps into the curved side of the pit before sliding down it. All Mutant had to do now was figure out how to win. It looks around confused for several seconds before seeing Krakan appear at the top of the pit on the opposite side to the primitives. He waves a juicy bone at Mutant which causes it to start scrambling hungrily towards him. The clumsy ascent out is completed with assistance from Krakan and we get our first massive upset of 2111. Could Mutant now do the unthinkable and go onto win the Centra belt by beating Mayhem?

Disorder X hands Twin Blood a rare loss but it’s only a non-title match. First meeting between these two rival teams on Centra. Twin Blood has been so busy defending their titles they never had time to meet Disorder X on any of the televised shows so far. Maybe they met on dark shows but the last known meeting was beating Disorder X for the belts back in Dimension K. So it’s been a long time coming. The often referred to rift between Mace and Grunge is brushed under the carpet by their manager, Thantos, who says they are getting along famously. Possibly there is some truth in that statement as Disorder X wrestles their best match in a long time. They were working together to disrupt Twin Blood’s rhythm and courtesy of a favourable roll on the double team chart find themselves in a position to use DECIMATION on Sleeze. The pin save attempt of Dreggs fails as Mace cuts him off. Sleeze cannot recover and Twin Blood suffers a defeat. Dreggs didn’t take kindly to the way Mace had made him look bad. He reentered the ring and triggered a brief brawl which Sleeze joined once recovered. Neither team got the upper hand and it petered out. Mace branded Twin Blood bad losers in the aftermath. Of course Disorder X now thinks they should be getting a title shot and replacing Titan Attack as top contenders at CENTRA PERENNIAL. Am sure Commissioner Morpheus was very tempted to book it. However there is no changing the billed show now with just a week to go. Maybe Disorder X just needs to wait and see how things play out and then challenge the winner.

Genocide unconvincing as he beats Tortured Soul by DQ. Genocide will work his way up from the bottom in targeting his new rivals on the Brymstone Burning team. He is not too interested in trying to regain the Heavyweight belt cruelly taken off him late last year. Is just wanting as much hardcore action as possible which the Brymstonians would be sure to provide him with. There is still a chance that he can start a match as Buck Steele but it’s looking less and less likely. From memory I don’t think it happened at all in 2110. That trend didn’t change here. Genocide charged out and looked like he would obliterate Tortured Soul. It all suddenly unravelled though as an outside brawl put Tortured Soul on top. For those baffled as to how Tortured Soul might of won such a brawl it became clear on the replays that he’d used the bottom of his sword and stabbed Genocide right in the throat. Under order from Maleph he then just about hauls Genocide’s large frame into the ring and gives him the vile ROTTING CLAW twice and comes within a whisker of winning (one number away). Genocide, having avoided the embarrassment, was getting a second wind when another outside brawl happened during which Maleph dropped a rock on Genocide from a great height having flown out to where the lava pit was. The rock meant that Genocide was almost knocked out but it meant Tortured Soul was disqualified. A detail that won’t of bothered Maleph. The main thing was that Genocide had not enjoyed a good debut for the Centaurians and was made to look vulnerable. Maleph brags “Genocide clearly isn’t the most dangerous wrestler in the GWFC. The Brymstonians are and that’s why Wolf couldn’t wait to join us”.

The Ravagers destroyed Animen Invasion. Huge interest in the Ravagers as they debut. There will of course be much sterner tests to come. However we have seen how the Animen can upset the apple cart from time to time. The Ravagers needed to guard against that. Much like the other Centran ROC members last year they can call on their natural combat abilities to help them get up to speed with wrestling. The likes of Corporal Aegis and Max Shield will also of given them a crash course. It enables them to hit the ground running and Animen Invasion poses little problem. In no time at all Son of Ram was put in a perilous situation after RAVAGER SACK. Antak’s pin save served to prolong the suffering rather than help him out. Ventross then had a stint in the ring and shows he could be comfortably a strong singles wrestler as well as tag. He uses SEVERED TIES to win. The Ravagers showing they learn quickly as Rankor cut off Antak this time around.

Amazonia defeated Maxine Babe. Amazionia’s desire to wrestle mainly men hasn’t been fulfilled yet. Instead she has to be content to beat up on Maxine Babe. The other big drawback is Reynard B. Guile being at ringside making her feel uncomfortable. If he tries any funny business she probably no longer has Wolf to fight her cause. Anyway Reynard doesn’t actually bother her too much other than odd annoying distraction here and there. Lorelei largely helped keep him in check. It’s not all plain sailing for Amazonia though and has to work quite hard to get it won. She relies on THE WARRIOR’S SHIELD to get it won. A move she could find herself getting disqualified for from time to time. Tonight she gets away with it.