Post by Grunion on Aug 23, 2024 20:18:13 GMT -5
PROLOGUE
The Beginning
In 2074 two men surveyed the wrestling landscape and decided that they could do things better. Both were tired of dealing with the lowlifes, racketeers and grifters that littered seemingly every wrestling federation in the galaxy. Both wanted to elevate their vocation. Omega was the dreamer. He dreamt of a future where wrestling would serve as the primary outlet of man’s aggression. Where interplanetary disputes could be settled in the ring instead of the battlefield. Morpheus was the organizer. He wanted to build a platform that would support a stable and lucrative lifestyle for him and his peers. One where wrestlers would be celebrated and revered as the greatest athletes in the galaxy.
In the beginning both men’s attention was completely consumed by the GWF. Omega worked tirelessly to secure a contract with the Deimos Intergalactic Arena to host events, and with numerous holovision companies to broadcast matches across the galaxy. Morpheus focused his efforts on recruiting talent and building a credible roster. The GWF had a flawless launch and was quickly recognized as the premier wrestling federation in the galaxy.
As time went on the relationship of the two men became complicated. Both were consummate professionals. They would literally wrestle each other in a Main Event match, then come into the office to conduct the business of the GWF while nursing the bruises they gave each other the night before. One week they might be throwing each other into a Cosmic Cage, and the next week wrestling as The Guardians against a team like Dorado Sundown. This pretty much summed up their relationship in the early days. They were both the closest of partners and the bitterest of rivals.
Once the GWF was up and running, Morpheus became consumed with establishing his legacy in the ring. He kept his eye on the business and continued to scout and recruit talent, but he let Omega do the heavy lifting. He worked tirelessly to perfect his craft. He sought out anything that could give him a competitive advantage in the ring. He was, after all, the first and (at least in his mind) greatest of the GWF Champions.
Meanwhile, Omega became consumed with the business of the GWF. He brought events to arenas across the galaxy. He strengthened the broadcasting contracts. He established new revenue streams through merchandising and advertising. He responded to reporters and handled the press conferences. And perhaps most importantly, he was the head booker (and at times the only booker) of the GWF. All of his hard work paid enormous dividends. He was, after all, the face of the GWF and (at least in his mind) its greatest champion.
Despite spending so much of his energy outside of the ring, Omega was every bit Morpheus’ equal inside the ring. Omega attributed his success to hard work, tremendous support and the passion that he brought to both the business and the ring every day. Morpheus attributed it to Omega’s incessant politicking behind closed doors and his control of the match-ups. Morpheus was always too proud to openly complain. However, he always went out of his way to publicly congratulate Omega on his hard fought victories after matches against the likes of Torpor or Seamus Pollack.
Just a few years later Morpheus found himself effectively boxed out of any significant decision making discussions. He’s not even the primary recruiter. Worse, he was clearly second fiddle to Omega inside the ring, and had a pack of hungry wrestlers nipping at his heels. So he did whatever he had to do to keep them at bay. He cheated in the ring at every opportunity, and while never substantiated, it is widely believed that he ingested performance enhancing nanobots as well as spiked opponent’s water bottles with performance dampeners before important matches.
Meanwhile, Omega had effectively consolidated control of the GWF. He was officially both President and CEO of the company. He was its face, its voice and was universally revered. He was at every single event, and frequently stepped in to replace ill or otherwise unavailable wrestlers on his scheduled off-nights. While most are amazed at his ability to wrestle such a grueling schedule, some cynics noted that many of these short notice matches were against clearly inferior opponents and that Omega was manipulating the bookings to give him easy matchups. These same cynics would repeat the rumors that Morpheus and some of the other wrestlers are grumbling about “Omega’s Boys” all being protected and given preferential treatment and matchups by Omega.
Whether or not “Omega’s Boys” were given preferential treatment and potentially unfair advantages will probably never be known. However, it is indisputable that Omega built a tight-knit group of friends and allies that he trusted and relied upon to be ambassadors of the GWF. In the early years this group included Commander Sam, Cosmos and Omega’s son Star Warrior; and some time later Mighty Grogan.
The Lean Years
As much as Omega nurtured virtually every aspect of the GWF, he neglected the locker room. He never had time to be there, not even when he was wrestling. He always prepared and warmed up in his office, so he could handle any business that came up throughout the day. And as time went on, the discipline that was once the hallmark of the GWF started to fade.
Morpheus was too canny to openly forment anger and resentment, but it was amazing what an offhand comment here, a sympathetic eye roll there and a lot of listening with a sympathetic ear could do to allow his peers to start to blame Omega and each other for all of their set-backs and problems. By 2084, the GWF was evolving from a place where men left their grudges and resentments in the ring when the match was over to a place where seemingly everyone had a chip on their shoulder and was more interested in maiming whomever they were upset with at the time than they were in actually winning their match. It also didn’t help that the locker room had recently added guys like Marcel de Sade, Montrol, Invincible Krakan and Vice to it. All of whom could seemingly create problems out of thin air. And not coincidentally, all of whom were heavily recruited by Morpheus to join the GWF.
Of course there were plenty of guys on the roster who still believed in the original principles on which the GWF was founded. Guys that were consummate professionals and just wanted to compete in the ring, win or lose. Guys that could be trusted to put a lid on any drama before it boils over. Unfortunately most of them weren’t in the locker room either. They were hanging out with Omega.
The product was suffering terribly, and the GWF started losing sponsorships and revenue. In September of 2084 an apathetic crowd in Deimos Intergalactic Arena were subjected to a card where all six matches ended in a disqualification and four wrestlers had to be carted out of the arena in stretchers. Two months later, the roster was so decimated with injuries that Omega was forced to book a card with only three GWF matches on it. (He filled out the card with a celebrity exhibition match, an amateur match featuring the best wrestlers from two local clubs, and an old school bare knuckles boxing match.)
The Solution
By year’s end, the Code Enforcer arrived at the GWF. It is widely believed that the Code Enforcer was recruited by Omega, but Omega has steadfastly denied that he had anything to do with Code Enforcer's arrival to this day. Upon his arrival, the Code Enforcer would only take matches with wrestlers that were getting out of line, causing problems in the locker room, or otherwise creating unnecessary drama. The Code Enforcer really didn’t care about the specifics of the conflict. If some was causing drama, the Code Enforcer would request (or sometimes demand) a match against that individual. If a wrestler injured another wrestler with an illegal move in a match, they could be pretty sure that their next match would be with the Code Enforcer. This had a chilling effect on the roster. Wrestlers started to think twice before they tried to maim their opponent. Unnecessary violence was not completely eliminated from the GWF, but the frequency of these incidents dropped sharply.
On match nights, Code Enforcer would place a chair in the middle of the locker room and read a book. He wouldn’t look up, he would not talk to anyone, he would just read in silence; until someone started running their mouth, or picked a fight, or otherwise created a problem. Then he would put down his book, turn his chair around so it faced the offending wrestler, and give the wrestler his undivided attention until they thought better of what they were doing. It pretty much always worked.
In late 2085, inspired by the Code Enforcer, Omega introduced the Galactic Code to the GWF.
“In order to maintain the integrity and honor of the sport of wrestling, and in order to insure that wrestling remains a healthy outlet for man's aggressive tendencies, wrestlers in the GWF will not align themselves Into any rule-breaking subgroups. All wrestlers will essentially retain their neutrality. In order to enforce this Code, wrestlers should not sign matches with other wrestlers who explicitly identify themselves as Heroes or Villains. In this way, the spirit under which the GWF was created in 2074 may become a symbol for the aspirations of all peoples in the galaxy.”
But Omega understood that he had to do more than that. He wasn’t about to start hanging out in the locker room, he was far too busy for that. But he did kick everyone out of his office, so they had to start spending time with the rest of the roster. He even patched things up with Morpheus. By this time, Morpheus’ best days in the ring were long behind him, so Omega set up a retirement tour that allowed Morpheus to retire with the fanfare and celebration that one of the GWF greatest wrestlers deserved. This move paid dividends for Omega almost immediately. With his new found spare time Morpheus started pitching in around the office and scoured the galaxy for talent. Plus, he was pleased to see that Morpheus began training and mentoring Cosmos, the very talented young man who Omega saw as the perfect tag team partner and wingman to his son, Star Warrior.
The Incident
But while Morpheus was indeed mentoring Cosmos, he was also preying on his insecurities and planting seeds of doubt in his mind. He told Cosmos his story. How Omega and him built the GWF from nothing. How they both shouldered the load equally. How Morpheus was the first and greatest GWF Champion! How he sacrificed his body in the ring to draw the crowds in, while Omega maneuvered to consolidate his power and grip on the business. How he woke up one day and realized that he was always an afterthought to Omega. He was a means for Omega to build himself an empire.
He cautioned Cosmos that if he is not careful, Star Warrior will be the next Omega and Cosmos will be the next Morpheus, and fifteen years from now, he will be depending upon Star Warrior for a job in the business after his retirement. He told Cosmos to remain vigilant because if he became complacent he would realize he was outmaneuvered after it was too late.
Cosmos soaked up everything that Morpheus taught him, both in the ring and outside of it. And this made Cosmos very paranoid. Within a few months, Cosmos started telling everyone to call him Thantos. Shortly after, he legally changed his name to Thantos. He never offered an explanation for this change back then, and still hasn’t to this day. Nobody at the time thought much of it, but those close to him could tell that something had changed inside Thantos and he was distancing himself from them. The Game Masters were still the GWF’s premier tag-team, but they no longer had any relationship outside of the ring. Thantos chose to spend his free time with Morpheus, or by building new relationships inside the locker room, or by doing his own scouting and recruiting.
That summer, The Game Masters were wrestling Polarity. Sin threw Thantos out of the ring and obliterated him with a steel chair to the head. The referee disqualified Polarity, so Sin then punched the referee in the head. Star Warrior and Salvation rushed over to see if the referee was alright. While they were checking on the ref, Sin carved up Thantos’ face with an old-fashioned ice pick. Everyone who watched that match will never forget the unholy screams made by Thantos during the attack.
Thantos was hospitalized with a severe concussion, fractured skull, facial nerve damage and partial blindness in his left eye. He blames Star Warrior for not having his back, and questions whether Star Warrior ever had his back. He quit the Game Masters and spent the next several months recuperating from his injuries.
When he was ready to return, he did so with a press conference. He carried with him the plaque with the Galaxian Code written on it. He was also armed with two weapons. The first was a simple hand axe. The second was the knowledge that last winter, Morpheus spent his time in GWF Headquarters to Thantos’ benefit. He quietly revised that standard contract renewal language to remove the prohibition of forming teams and alliances. In dramatic fashion, Thantos denounces Omega, denounces the Galaxian Code, breaks the plaque with his axe and announces that he is forming a supergroup and all of those who are done with Omega’s oppression are invited to join him.
The Aftermath
The next few weeks were a frenzy of activity, as Omega tried to shore up support and Thantos tried to peel wrestlers away to his cause. Meanwhile, a bunch of wrestlers left the GWF around this time, some by choice (such as Mighty Grogan) and some not (such as Polarity). A bunch of new faces (such as Massif and Splatter) entered the GWF and new alliances and partnerships were made. It seemed like every day there was breaking news about a wrestler joining one faction or another, or a new alliance being formed. The power dynamics of the GWF changed overnight and wrestling cards were suspended for several weeks while Omega figured out how to move the GWF forward.
When the dust settled on the roster moves and the new partnerships and alliances that were created, the GWF landscape looked much differently than it did before Sin disfigured Thantos’ face. There were now 26 wrestlers under contract, with the locker room split right down the middle. Thirteen wrestlers committed to Omega and thirteen of them in a loose confederation under Thantos.
One thing was painfully obvious to Omega. The days of centralized booking of matches were over. There were now two factions of equal strength, and both factions would have a say in who wrestles who. It was also very clear that there was strong appetite from both factions to settle long simmering feuds in the ring, and Omega realized that going forward matches would be booked based on the personalities involved more so than based on performance in the ring.
That brings us to the present. Omega is still nominally the chief of the GWF and is responsible for the business side of the house. However, there are now two equally sized factions (and two equally sized locker rooms). Matches are now booked by consensus and almost always feature two wrestlers or tag teams from opposite factions. All three titles have been vacated, and both factions have agreed that it is important to re-establish the Galaxian Champion and Galaxian Tag Team Champions as soon as possible, while the Galaxian Hardcore Championship can wait if necessary. The GWF will kick off the new year by resuming operations with an event at Deimos Intergalactic Arena on January 1, 2087.
The Beginning
In 2074 two men surveyed the wrestling landscape and decided that they could do things better. Both were tired of dealing with the lowlifes, racketeers and grifters that littered seemingly every wrestling federation in the galaxy. Both wanted to elevate their vocation. Omega was the dreamer. He dreamt of a future where wrestling would serve as the primary outlet of man’s aggression. Where interplanetary disputes could be settled in the ring instead of the battlefield. Morpheus was the organizer. He wanted to build a platform that would support a stable and lucrative lifestyle for him and his peers. One where wrestlers would be celebrated and revered as the greatest athletes in the galaxy.
In the beginning both men’s attention was completely consumed by the GWF. Omega worked tirelessly to secure a contract with the Deimos Intergalactic Arena to host events, and with numerous holovision companies to broadcast matches across the galaxy. Morpheus focused his efforts on recruiting talent and building a credible roster. The GWF had a flawless launch and was quickly recognized as the premier wrestling federation in the galaxy.
As time went on the relationship of the two men became complicated. Both were consummate professionals. They would literally wrestle each other in a Main Event match, then come into the office to conduct the business of the GWF while nursing the bruises they gave each other the night before. One week they might be throwing each other into a Cosmic Cage, and the next week wrestling as The Guardians against a team like Dorado Sundown. This pretty much summed up their relationship in the early days. They were both the closest of partners and the bitterest of rivals.
Once the GWF was up and running, Morpheus became consumed with establishing his legacy in the ring. He kept his eye on the business and continued to scout and recruit talent, but he let Omega do the heavy lifting. He worked tirelessly to perfect his craft. He sought out anything that could give him a competitive advantage in the ring. He was, after all, the first and (at least in his mind) greatest of the GWF Champions.
Meanwhile, Omega became consumed with the business of the GWF. He brought events to arenas across the galaxy. He strengthened the broadcasting contracts. He established new revenue streams through merchandising and advertising. He responded to reporters and handled the press conferences. And perhaps most importantly, he was the head booker (and at times the only booker) of the GWF. All of his hard work paid enormous dividends. He was, after all, the face of the GWF and (at least in his mind) its greatest champion.
Despite spending so much of his energy outside of the ring, Omega was every bit Morpheus’ equal inside the ring. Omega attributed his success to hard work, tremendous support and the passion that he brought to both the business and the ring every day. Morpheus attributed it to Omega’s incessant politicking behind closed doors and his control of the match-ups. Morpheus was always too proud to openly complain. However, he always went out of his way to publicly congratulate Omega on his hard fought victories after matches against the likes of Torpor or Seamus Pollack.
Just a few years later Morpheus found himself effectively boxed out of any significant decision making discussions. He’s not even the primary recruiter. Worse, he was clearly second fiddle to Omega inside the ring, and had a pack of hungry wrestlers nipping at his heels. So he did whatever he had to do to keep them at bay. He cheated in the ring at every opportunity, and while never substantiated, it is widely believed that he ingested performance enhancing nanobots as well as spiked opponent’s water bottles with performance dampeners before important matches.
Meanwhile, Omega had effectively consolidated control of the GWF. He was officially both President and CEO of the company. He was its face, its voice and was universally revered. He was at every single event, and frequently stepped in to replace ill or otherwise unavailable wrestlers on his scheduled off-nights. While most are amazed at his ability to wrestle such a grueling schedule, some cynics noted that many of these short notice matches were against clearly inferior opponents and that Omega was manipulating the bookings to give him easy matchups. These same cynics would repeat the rumors that Morpheus and some of the other wrestlers are grumbling about “Omega’s Boys” all being protected and given preferential treatment and matchups by Omega.
Whether or not “Omega’s Boys” were given preferential treatment and potentially unfair advantages will probably never be known. However, it is indisputable that Omega built a tight-knit group of friends and allies that he trusted and relied upon to be ambassadors of the GWF. In the early years this group included Commander Sam, Cosmos and Omega’s son Star Warrior; and some time later Mighty Grogan.
The Lean Years
As much as Omega nurtured virtually every aspect of the GWF, he neglected the locker room. He never had time to be there, not even when he was wrestling. He always prepared and warmed up in his office, so he could handle any business that came up throughout the day. And as time went on, the discipline that was once the hallmark of the GWF started to fade.
Morpheus was too canny to openly forment anger and resentment, but it was amazing what an offhand comment here, a sympathetic eye roll there and a lot of listening with a sympathetic ear could do to allow his peers to start to blame Omega and each other for all of their set-backs and problems. By 2084, the GWF was evolving from a place where men left their grudges and resentments in the ring when the match was over to a place where seemingly everyone had a chip on their shoulder and was more interested in maiming whomever they were upset with at the time than they were in actually winning their match. It also didn’t help that the locker room had recently added guys like Marcel de Sade, Montrol, Invincible Krakan and Vice to it. All of whom could seemingly create problems out of thin air. And not coincidentally, all of whom were heavily recruited by Morpheus to join the GWF.
Of course there were plenty of guys on the roster who still believed in the original principles on which the GWF was founded. Guys that were consummate professionals and just wanted to compete in the ring, win or lose. Guys that could be trusted to put a lid on any drama before it boils over. Unfortunately most of them weren’t in the locker room either. They were hanging out with Omega.
The product was suffering terribly, and the GWF started losing sponsorships and revenue. In September of 2084 an apathetic crowd in Deimos Intergalactic Arena were subjected to a card where all six matches ended in a disqualification and four wrestlers had to be carted out of the arena in stretchers. Two months later, the roster was so decimated with injuries that Omega was forced to book a card with only three GWF matches on it. (He filled out the card with a celebrity exhibition match, an amateur match featuring the best wrestlers from two local clubs, and an old school bare knuckles boxing match.)
The Solution
By year’s end, the Code Enforcer arrived at the GWF. It is widely believed that the Code Enforcer was recruited by Omega, but Omega has steadfastly denied that he had anything to do with Code Enforcer's arrival to this day. Upon his arrival, the Code Enforcer would only take matches with wrestlers that were getting out of line, causing problems in the locker room, or otherwise creating unnecessary drama. The Code Enforcer really didn’t care about the specifics of the conflict. If some was causing drama, the Code Enforcer would request (or sometimes demand) a match against that individual. If a wrestler injured another wrestler with an illegal move in a match, they could be pretty sure that their next match would be with the Code Enforcer. This had a chilling effect on the roster. Wrestlers started to think twice before they tried to maim their opponent. Unnecessary violence was not completely eliminated from the GWF, but the frequency of these incidents dropped sharply.
On match nights, Code Enforcer would place a chair in the middle of the locker room and read a book. He wouldn’t look up, he would not talk to anyone, he would just read in silence; until someone started running their mouth, or picked a fight, or otherwise created a problem. Then he would put down his book, turn his chair around so it faced the offending wrestler, and give the wrestler his undivided attention until they thought better of what they were doing. It pretty much always worked.
In late 2085, inspired by the Code Enforcer, Omega introduced the Galactic Code to the GWF.
“In order to maintain the integrity and honor of the sport of wrestling, and in order to insure that wrestling remains a healthy outlet for man's aggressive tendencies, wrestlers in the GWF will not align themselves Into any rule-breaking subgroups. All wrestlers will essentially retain their neutrality. In order to enforce this Code, wrestlers should not sign matches with other wrestlers who explicitly identify themselves as Heroes or Villains. In this way, the spirit under which the GWF was created in 2074 may become a symbol for the aspirations of all peoples in the galaxy.”
But Omega understood that he had to do more than that. He wasn’t about to start hanging out in the locker room, he was far too busy for that. But he did kick everyone out of his office, so they had to start spending time with the rest of the roster. He even patched things up with Morpheus. By this time, Morpheus’ best days in the ring were long behind him, so Omega set up a retirement tour that allowed Morpheus to retire with the fanfare and celebration that one of the GWF greatest wrestlers deserved. This move paid dividends for Omega almost immediately. With his new found spare time Morpheus started pitching in around the office and scoured the galaxy for talent. Plus, he was pleased to see that Morpheus began training and mentoring Cosmos, the very talented young man who Omega saw as the perfect tag team partner and wingman to his son, Star Warrior.
The Incident
But while Morpheus was indeed mentoring Cosmos, he was also preying on his insecurities and planting seeds of doubt in his mind. He told Cosmos his story. How Omega and him built the GWF from nothing. How they both shouldered the load equally. How Morpheus was the first and greatest GWF Champion! How he sacrificed his body in the ring to draw the crowds in, while Omega maneuvered to consolidate his power and grip on the business. How he woke up one day and realized that he was always an afterthought to Omega. He was a means for Omega to build himself an empire.
He cautioned Cosmos that if he is not careful, Star Warrior will be the next Omega and Cosmos will be the next Morpheus, and fifteen years from now, he will be depending upon Star Warrior for a job in the business after his retirement. He told Cosmos to remain vigilant because if he became complacent he would realize he was outmaneuvered after it was too late.
Cosmos soaked up everything that Morpheus taught him, both in the ring and outside of it. And this made Cosmos very paranoid. Within a few months, Cosmos started telling everyone to call him Thantos. Shortly after, he legally changed his name to Thantos. He never offered an explanation for this change back then, and still hasn’t to this day. Nobody at the time thought much of it, but those close to him could tell that something had changed inside Thantos and he was distancing himself from them. The Game Masters were still the GWF’s premier tag-team, but they no longer had any relationship outside of the ring. Thantos chose to spend his free time with Morpheus, or by building new relationships inside the locker room, or by doing his own scouting and recruiting.
That summer, The Game Masters were wrestling Polarity. Sin threw Thantos out of the ring and obliterated him with a steel chair to the head. The referee disqualified Polarity, so Sin then punched the referee in the head. Star Warrior and Salvation rushed over to see if the referee was alright. While they were checking on the ref, Sin carved up Thantos’ face with an old-fashioned ice pick. Everyone who watched that match will never forget the unholy screams made by Thantos during the attack.
Thantos was hospitalized with a severe concussion, fractured skull, facial nerve damage and partial blindness in his left eye. He blames Star Warrior for not having his back, and questions whether Star Warrior ever had his back. He quit the Game Masters and spent the next several months recuperating from his injuries.
When he was ready to return, he did so with a press conference. He carried with him the plaque with the Galaxian Code written on it. He was also armed with two weapons. The first was a simple hand axe. The second was the knowledge that last winter, Morpheus spent his time in GWF Headquarters to Thantos’ benefit. He quietly revised that standard contract renewal language to remove the prohibition of forming teams and alliances. In dramatic fashion, Thantos denounces Omega, denounces the Galaxian Code, breaks the plaque with his axe and announces that he is forming a supergroup and all of those who are done with Omega’s oppression are invited to join him.
The Aftermath
The next few weeks were a frenzy of activity, as Omega tried to shore up support and Thantos tried to peel wrestlers away to his cause. Meanwhile, a bunch of wrestlers left the GWF around this time, some by choice (such as Mighty Grogan) and some not (such as Polarity). A bunch of new faces (such as Massif and Splatter) entered the GWF and new alliances and partnerships were made. It seemed like every day there was breaking news about a wrestler joining one faction or another, or a new alliance being formed. The power dynamics of the GWF changed overnight and wrestling cards were suspended for several weeks while Omega figured out how to move the GWF forward.
When the dust settled on the roster moves and the new partnerships and alliances that were created, the GWF landscape looked much differently than it did before Sin disfigured Thantos’ face. There were now 26 wrestlers under contract, with the locker room split right down the middle. Thirteen wrestlers committed to Omega and thirteen of them in a loose confederation under Thantos.
One thing was painfully obvious to Omega. The days of centralized booking of matches were over. There were now two factions of equal strength, and both factions would have a say in who wrestles who. It was also very clear that there was strong appetite from both factions to settle long simmering feuds in the ring, and Omega realized that going forward matches would be booked based on the personalities involved more so than based on performance in the ring.
That brings us to the present. Omega is still nominally the chief of the GWF and is responsible for the business side of the house. However, there are now two equally sized factions (and two equally sized locker rooms). Matches are now booked by consensus and almost always feature two wrestlers or tag teams from opposite factions. All three titles have been vacated, and both factions have agreed that it is important to re-establish the Galaxian Champion and Galaxian Tag Team Champions as soon as possible, while the Galaxian Hardcore Championship can wait if necessary. The GWF will kick off the new year by resuming operations with an event at Deimos Intergalactic Arena on January 1, 2087.
