Following the conclusion of the Xtreme Rules match and the commercial that closed the segment to help clear the ring area, we return to Vendetta for the final stretch of television: The second to last segment. The announcers sitting behind the big black desks, slightly blocked by their monitors, welcome the fans back to the broadcast. After a few pleasantries about the program so far, and a plug for our main event, they send us to a camera positioned in the center of the ring. The camera is affixed on the entrance ramp, but on either side of the view you can see some of the audience. They're all seated, getting a bit restless. Two minutes following an Xtreme Rules match seems like an eternity.


The opening riffs of "The Night" by Disturbed begin and they instantly rise back up, exploding with cheers. As the lyrics begin, Evan Flare walks through the curtains and looks out to his left with a big grin on his face. The crowd responds to his appearance with a temporary increase in noise. Flare looks out to his right before continuing on his way. He stops at the top of the ramp and leaps into the air, pulling his knees in tight to his chest before landing effortlessly on his feet and leaping right back up. He does this three times in all before stopping. He picks his head up, looking straight up into the arena, and throws his hands into the air from their rested position by his side. He points with his index finger on either hand and his pyro shoots into the air, again, causing a temporary increase in the noise. Flare drops his head and the grin immediately returns to his face as he continues walking. Flare is wearing a brand new Evan Flare T-Shirt and his wrestling gear: Dark black pants with gold stripes streaking down the outsides of his legs, and generic black wrestling boots. His signature afro is in top form. He walks effortlessly down to the ring.

Ted Cedar: "This place is electric!"

Joey Miles: "Holy shit! I can barely hear myself thinking about how much of a [expletive] you are, Ted!"

By the time Flare reaches the ring, the camera in the middle of the ring has been long gone. A stage hand has left a microphone in the corner of ring on the mat for Flare. Evan, disregarding his normal routine, does a Brock-Lesnar-style leap into the air, pulling his knees tight into his chest, and lands on the ring apron. It's apparent he has a lot of energy to spare. He reaches out and grabs the top rope and uses it to catapult himself over the top, landing in the ring. The crowd pops a bit once more, but starts to die down. Flare isn't ready for the cheers to end. He goes to a turnbuckle and does a quick climb up. With his elbows in tight to his body, his forearms go up and down while he makes a motion with his hands as if to request more noise from the crowd. The crowd obliges, and once again gives Flare the adulation you'd expect from a top face.

Flare drops down, and the serious look that is synonymous with Evan Flare returns to his face for the first time in quite some time. He peers out at the crowd for a second, standing still in the ring. The noise starts to die down. He walks casually over to the microphone laying on the floor on the other side of the ring, bends down, and picks it up. He returns to the middle of the ring, where he faces the side of the arena with the camera well. He brings the microphone up to his face, but the crowd isn't quite ready yet, as an "Evan Flare" chant breaks out in the arena, and it's loud. He temporarily breaks character and gives them a chuckle, before letting the smile stay altogether. The crowd dies down for a final time as he pulls the microphone up to his mouth, and begins to speak.

Evan Flare: "Thank you. I really did need that cheer. I needed the reassurance that I was making the right decision in coming back."

Flare pauses for a moment.

Joey Miles: "Reassurance?! I'll reassure you that you need to get on with it already!"

Evan Flare: "But the truth is, Pittsburgh, I didn't come back for cheers. Last year I seen my best friend in the industry come this close (Flare holds up his left hand, bringing his index finger and his thumb close together) to the holy grail, only to fall short."

The crowd is confused. Some boo, as the hometown favorite Tyler Lawson is brought up in that context. Some ignore the context and cheer, but Flare doesn't give them the time to figure it out.

Evan Flare: "I sat at home for a while, nursing some injuries, getting healthy again... but truth be told, Pittsburgh, I could have been here. I could have fought through the pain. I didn't need the time away..."

Flare once again takes a short pause, this time for dramatic purposes.

Evan Flare: After what happened with the World Title Tournament, after coming so close to the title, only to have it taken away from me, just wasn't something I dealt with in a positive way. So, disgruntled, I took my ball and went home."

During a short pause, the fans at home catch a bit of audio they probably weren't intended to hear through a mic that was left on. Quieter than normal, as if almost background noise.

Ted Cedar: "Wow."

Evan Flare: "You know, I'd flip on the TV, and I'd watch Vendetta, and after a few months I just got tired of not being here... for you guys. (Flare points to the crowd.)

Flare pauses once more.

Evan Flare: "But I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea about why I'm here. If I wanted to be a man of the fans I could have just did meet and greets. If I needed the money, I could have charged fans for pictures... I don't need the money, and while I do love you guys, I don't need to wrestle a to get an adoring crowd...."

Joey Miles: "Than why the [expletive] are you here?!"

Evan Flare: "I'm here to take what's mine. I'm here to do what I was destined to do..."

Flare takes another dramatic pause.

Evan Flare: "They say a king without a crown is just a man... So I'm here to take my throne. (Flare's voice gets increasingly louder from this point) I'm here to take the crown. I'm here for the holy grail!"

The Pittsburgh crowd gives a pretty loud cheer. They don't seem conflicted about Flare seemingly making a statement about the current face of the company David Michaels... Likely because they were just reminded about his win over Tyler Lawson.

Evan Flare: "I'm here to be XWA World Heavyweight Champion. And I promise... Whatever stands in my way.... Won't be standing (Said with an infliction to denote importance) much longer.

Evan Flare drops the microphone and begins to make his way toward the apron to make his leave. As Evan Flare steps through the ropes, a familiar tune plays...


Evan Flare immediately pulls his leg back and quickly moves back into the ring. The crowd erupts with a cheer at the surprised run down, but it quickly turns to a boo. Out from behind the curtain steps the maniacal "prophet" Robert Hope, and behind him, the seven foot monster Cerberus, both still in their ring gear from earlier. The camera pans back to Flare quickly, who looks prepared to fight. The camera goes back Hope, who has a microphone in hand.

Robert Hope: "Evan... We've seen all of these videos preparing us for your return the last month... Evan... Let me ask you something? Did you think that through?"

Evan stands in the ring with an awkward, serious look on his face. He looks confused and worried.

Robert Hope: "While you've been sitting at home, dreaming about the "holy grail" (Hope squints his eyes and makes sarcastic quotes with his fingers in the hand he's not holding the microphone in.) ... I've been sitting in the back each week... Looking for a target. And damnit if you didn't walk right up and slap me in the face."

The fans start to boo as Hope lets out a laugh.

Robert Hope: "Evan, I used to watch you and think... There's a guy someone real like me could root for!"

Hope looks around the arena with a look of disdain as he says the following.

Robert Hope: "I look at these people... These hopeless people... and see them cheering for you and it makes me sick. What's worse is that someone I thought had potential... Someone I thought was in touch with reality ... would want these animals to bark and snort and screech for you!"

The crowd is obviously not happy. Their boos get much louder.

Robert Hope: "Evan... You truly are hopeless."

Robert Hope, much like Evan did just moments earlier, drops the microphone. He and Cerberus start to march toward the ring. The crowd starts to cheer, excited for the confrontation; they had come to terms with not getting to see Flare in action, and it looks like they'll get to after all. Flare takes off his shirt, twirls it up, and flings it into the audience. Hope and Ceberus both get to the side of the ring and pull themselves up onto the apron. Flare does not back down, instead kicking the microphone into the corner to open up more room to fight. Both men enter the ring and Flare doesn't wait to attack. He starts with a right hand on Hope and a second and a third. The crowd is going nuts.

Flare throws a right at Cerberus and then a right at Hope. However, Evan simply can't play the numbers game with Hope and Cerberus for long. Cerberus nails Flare with a right hand that knocks him off his balance. Hope grabs Flare around the waste to limit his mobility, and Ceberus unloads on Flare with right hand after right hand. After a few, Flare stops struggling and Hope is able to relinquish his death grip. Cerberus grabs Flare under the arms and throws him into the corner. Hope lunges into Flare instantly with a vicious shoulder. Flare crunches over in agony. Cerberus lifts his boot up and starts choking Flare in the corner while Hope continues with shoulder thrusts.

Hope and Cerberus both back away, leaving Flare to fall to the ground. The crowd boos, and Hope laughs at them. Hope picks up Flare and drags his seemingly unconscious body into the middle of the ring. Flare, however, isn't nearly finished as he uses two hands to push Hope away, before immediately following it up with a Spinning Back Fist that connects with Hope's jaw, knocking him backward into the ropes. Cerberus is quick to react with a right hand, but Flare blocks it and connects with a right hand of his own. Robert falls out of the ring in the background while Flare continues his fight with Cerberus.

The crowd is absolutely deafening with cheers for Flare. Flare has somehow won the battle of punches and knocked Ceberus toward where Hope fell out of the ring. Flare grabs Ceberus and attempts an Irish Whip, but Ceberus reverses it. Flare sprints into the ropes and bounces off with great speed. Ceberus tries to hit a Clothesline in the middle of the ring, but Flare ducks it and coasts to the other side, but doesn't notice Robert Hope standing on the outside in time, as Hope throws a steel chair through the second and top ropes the smashes into Flare's face, throwing him to the ground and he grabs his face and screams in agony. Hope reenters the ring and tells Cerberus to pick him up and Chokeslam him.

Cerberus grabs Flare by the hair and peels him away from the mat. His face is covered in blood from the brutal chair shot. Cerberus picks him up with ease and slaps him in the throat with his big paw, before lifting him and throwing him down just as effortlessly, connecting with HellFire. Robert Hope grabs the microphone from the corner. and starts to talk again, through gasps of air.

Robert Hope: "Just as I thought... You had nothing... No pride... No integrity... No hope... You disgust me."

Robert throws the microphone on the lifeless body of Evan Flare and starts to leave with Cerberus. The camera follows them closely as fans in the front row boo and reach out from the barricade.

Evan Flare: (Off camera) "BOBBY!"

About half way up the ramp, the crowd explodes with cheers. A voice crackles through the arena that stops Hope and Cerberus in their tracks, who instantly turn around. Evan Flare has turned over on to his stomach. With his face covered in blood and his hair matted down into the blood on his forehead, Flare is barely recognizable. He holds the microphone to his mouth.

Evan Flare: "If you're half the man you think you are... I'll see you in the cage on Sunday."

Hope is enveloped in a smile from ear to ear. He laughs, and turns back toward the backstage area, and continues walking away. The camera pans back to Flare. The camera man does a zoom on Flare's bloody face is the final part of the segment, as we head to a commercial before the main event.

Very nice read. You've managed to create a nice story in just one segment leading into the PPV.

I actually hope...no pun intended...that you two can make this last a while, as I think you'd both create some memorable stuff.

It's super meh. I blame Kani for not helping.