The fans in the XWA arena have enjoyed an outstanding night so far. After having the show kicked off by David Michaels, they are now about to be joined by the man who tormented him for two months, and was eventually bested by him last night. The lighting in the arena flickers gently, and then they die to black, as the theme music of Robert Hope creeps out over the PA system, assailing the ears of everyone in the arena. The sea of boos is already whipped up into a tempest, as the self-proclaimed King of XWA is about to make his presence known.
|Cedar| “Well, isn't this something? Looks like we're being joined by Mr. Robert Hope. I wonder how he's feeling tonight after having his mouth firmly shut by David Michaels last night!”
|Miles| “How utterly insensitive can you be, Cedar?! How utterly disrespectful? This man fought for us last night, he fought to rid the XWA of David Michaels, and he fought his heart out. He was valiant. He was courageous. He-”
|Cedar| “-lost. He lost. He was defeated, finally, by David Michaels. Now where's his prophecy? Now where is his apocalypse? Where is it, Joey?”
The commentators are suddenly interrupted by the arrival of the sour-faced Hope, who has his body dressed in bandages from the match last night. Rib tape can be seen through his opened leather jacket, and he has a noticeable limp as he walks. He also sports a shiner that you could check your hair in around his eye and an incredibly...INCREDIBLY bitter expression on his face. He is on his own, surprisingly. Perhaps knowing that he doesn't need backup tonight, since his worst enemy has moved on to other things. He holds a microphone in his hand, signifying his intention to sound off about the result last night. He hobbles to the ring hurriedly, not wishing to stay in the limelight too long, but not exactly able to run to the ring. Nevertheless, he gets to the ring apron, and slowly rolls under the ropes, grimacing as he does. Hope slowly gets to one knee, the pain etched on his face as he slowly, and gently, rises to his feet. He looks out at the sea of people, who are all throwing insults and taunts at him. It looks like he barely even registers what they say, though. His ego is so damaged that he is in ultimate self-obsessed shutdown mode, and nothing that the fans say can get through.
|Miles| “Fuck. Hope looks worse than I feel when I see you every week, Cedar.”
|Cedar| “I can only hope that he feels as bad as Michaels has felt these past few months. No. I hope he feels worse. I hope he got no sleep last night, because he was in so much pain.”
|Miles| “Jesus, Teddy. Give it a rest. God knows how much you'd hate to accidentally burn some calories by getting upset.”
Hope pulls the microphone up to his mouth, and his music dies to a soft, low hum in the background. He is suddenly welcomed by a myriad of boos from the audience, to which he simply rolls his eyes. He fidgets a little bit, feeling the dull aches from last night's match creep in again.
|Hope| “Last night...you saw David Michaels defeat me in the Hell in a Cell match.”
The crowd cheers loudly, which sends a dagger of bitterness through the prideful heart of Hope. He swallows the bile welling in his throat and continues.
|Hope| “David Michaels did unspeakable things to me. I'm not going to lie and say I didn't deserve it. Not at all. But I'm not talking about the injustice of losing the match. In many ways, I won that match. I brought out something in David Michaels that many people didn't want to know existed. I brought out his ugly, vindictive side. I shone a light on his seedy, bloodthirsty, barbaric side in that Hell in a Cell match. I showed everyone that he is just as ugly as me. By doing my worst to Michaels, I brought out the worst in him in turn. And I know for DAMN sure that he's not going to be without that for quite some time. I took your hero, and I made him into a villain like me. I made him destroy his brother, and I don't mean old crazy eyes.”
Hope wipes his mouth with a taped up, perhaps broken, hand. He continues after clearing his throat a little bit.
|Hope| “The saga between Kanimaniac and David Michaels may be over for now. But someday, Davey. Someday, you're going to find yourself on your own, and you're going to see the face of your former good friend. And you're going to feel the tight grip of guilt squeezing at your heart, the bitter sting of betrayal, knowing that you turned your back on your brother like he was just some common street trash.”
|Cedar| “This guy is something else... Michaels is the one who turned on Hope, now? Come off it...”
|Hope| “So, Davey...until we meet again... For now, however, I believe that it's time to return to business as usual. As the former King of Xtreme, I announce that this is the start of a brave new world for XWA. Even though I am still consumed by burning hatred for that heretic, David Michaels, I believe that it's time to push him to the wayside. I'm done with him. Now, it's time for King Robert the Dragon Tamer to sit at the head of this company and execute my will.”
The fans begin to chant taunts at Hope, rubbing his loss in even more, which aggravates Hope further. He spins the microphone in his hand with a stern scowl on his face, looking at the audience as if they are garbage.
|Hope| “You people are so shallow, you know that? When I wore a mask, you all loved me. Now you see who I really am behind that barrier, now I tell you about who I was, all the shit I've been through, I'm scum to you. You people are the reason that I HATE humanity. You're the reason that I DESPISE anyone who goes around with an empty headed smile on their faces. I took off that mask because I was tired of lying to myself. I was tired of putting forward a facade, and now you can't handle who I really am. Well, you hideous cretins, here I am. I am the King of XWA, I am a former World Champion, I am a Hall of Famer, God dammit. I-”
Robert Hope's ramblings are suddenly interrupted by a familiar theme, that being the instrumental to Fort Minor's "Petrified". The audience bursts into cheers as Danny Diamond makes his way out onto the stage, hand in hand with his girlfriend Skye Sapphire, as he has a microphone in his free hand. Hope looks on in the ring, seemingly confused by the interruption.
|Miles| "Oh fuck, not this guy."
|Cedar| "Personally, I'm glad Danny interrupted Robert. I don't know what he wants, but it's gotta be better than what Hope's spewing."
|Diamond| "Hello there, chap. I don't believe we've been properly introduced. The name's Danny Diamond."
The fans, once again, pop big for Danny.
|Diamond| "Pardon the interruption. I don't mean to be disrespectful. It's just, well...You come out here, talking about all of Kanimaniac's accomplishments and claiming them as your own. We've not seen a single bit of proof that you are, indeed, Kanimaniac. Yet, you insist of bragging about his accomplishments. I know what it's like to live a second life under a mask, Robert. Ever heard of Mirage? Well if not, here;s a little history lesson. Mirage is a sick fuck who burned a puppy alive to intimidate its owner, crippled a man's girlfriend because he thought it'd be fun and killed my father because he wanted me all to himself. Mirage was me, Robert. I mean, technically, we were different people, different entities. But we were one. We shared a body, so everything he did...Every single horrible thing...I watched from the same eyes that he did. I felt the blood of others on my hands when he did those terrible things. My own father's blood, Robert. I felt it. So, excuse me for getting a little, let's say annoyed, when someone comes out here pretending to be someone else."
Hope cocks his head, stunned at the audacity of Danny Diamond to come out and accuse him of lying about being who he says he is. Rather than address Diamond's issues, Hope instead replies defensively.
|Hope| “...who in the hell do you think you are? What reason do you have for coming here today and interrupting my time? You know what...I don't even care. I don't care. All I care about is hurting someone. And hurt someone I will. Since you're here now, it might as well be you, pretty boy. See, people like me skin and fillet people like you alive. People like me are ripping our hair out in frustration at the injustice in the world, while people like you are getting their tips frosted. People like me eat people like you alive.”
Hope paces back and forth, agitated at Diamond's interruption. He glares up at Diamond, who is still standing there sporting his cocky smile, which drives Hope into an even bigger rage.
|Hope| “Smile... Smile while you can. Smile while you've still got teeth to show. You came here to laugh at me, right? Like I'm a funny joke? Do I amuse you, Diamond? Well, let's see how amused you are when you step into a ring with me. Bear this in mind, Diamond. Bear in mind what I did to Michaels. Bear in mind what sick, twisted things I have done. Bear in mind the pain and torment I have dealt out before you go further with this. See, you're not like me. You don't know what it's like to be me. You use your pretty face to get people to like me. I mess up pretty faces to get people to take notice of me. How about I mess your pretty face up at Revolutionary Wars?”
Danny lets out a slight chuckle at the challenge from Robert, showing he clearly isn't intimidated by the sick individual.
|Diamond| "Danny Diamond versus Robert Hope, one on one, at Revolutionary Wars? You know what, chap? I like the sound of that. You're on."
The audience, again, bursts into cheers as Danny accepts the challenge from Hope, making the match official.
|Cedar| "Danny accepts! What a match we have set for Revolutionary Wars!"
|Miles| "Good. Maybe Hope will kick the faggot out of Danny and bring him back to how he used to be."
|Diamond| "There's something you should know, though, Robert. I'm not scared of you. You think everyone here fears you, but that's not the case. You think I should be afraid because of what you did to David? David certainly wasn't afraid when he beat you at the Bash. You may have done some sick things in the past, but I've endured far worse than you could ever do to me. If you truly were Kanimaniac, the legend, the Hall of Famer, then you better bring some of that out at Revolutionary Wars, because you can damn sure expect me to bring my best."
Danny smirks, as Robert looks on, clearly not amused. With the two men staring each other down, from across the ramp, the show cuts to a commercial break.
Subject: [S 9|PROMO] "Though the fires of Hell have burned me..." - Robert Hope and ??? (this ??? guy gets around a lot doesn't he?) 
