After the opening titantron, the show officially starts with an unusual sight: Alex Williamson in handcuffs, sitting on a chair, with duct tape over his mouth. Three men in business suits and black sunglasses surround him. Joey Miles is flailing his arms in anger and those nearby can hear him saying things like "WHY IS MY MICROPHONE CUT?!" Suddenly, an all too familiar theme song hits the PA system. "Sound of Madness" by Shinedown builds up, leaving the audience feeling uneasy knowing who is about to emerge from those curtains. And unfortunately for them, it's no trick. Once the line "WATCH YOUR BACK!" hits, Michael Astin comes out in a business suit himself with a microphone in hand.

Michael Astin (While walking to the ring): "If you wish to boo me, go ahead. Let it out of your system. I'm here on official business though. And yes, for those who read XWA.com, I'm out of the hospital after being in a car crash that was almost fatal."

Michael enters the ring and smirks, letting out a small chuckle at Alex while he sits there, sweat slowly dripping down his face in anxiety.

Michael Astin: "Alex... Alex... Alex. Do you know why you're here? Or better yet, do you know why I'M here? No? What a shame. I'm the new General Manager and it's all thanks to you fucking up so much."

Michael looks to the crowd now, who all seem to be confused.

Michael Astin: "Before you all hate that idea, let me do some explaining. Alex here, despite being announced last week as the new General Manager, has actually been acting GM since the start of 2015. Smoke hired him behind the scenes because of resignation issues with Thomas Barnez and it wasn't revealed until last week that Alex was the new GM. Now Smoke regrets hiring you so damn much that he's too aggravated to make an appearance. He knew I was not only a previous General Manager before, but also have been on a Board of Directors. Needless to say, I have plenty of experience with this kind of thing. So he called me up and asked if I would take your position temporarily. Which I agreed to do for an additional 15% pay."

"The Terror of Death" presses the microphone to his lips for a moment and takes it away, then smirks some more while slowly pacing back and forth.

Michael Astin: "Fun fact for everyone: the very first Vendetta of 2015 was originally going to have Minkaro defend his newly won championship against a returning Riley Williamson. So Minkaro won the championship in what... record time? And Alex's idea here was to let his brother go for the championship, despite not actually earning it. Smoke said, and I quote, 'that's fucking stupid, you're not fucking doing it.' So it had to be changed. But Alex decided to make Azrael vs. Riley at Redemption be a secret #1 Contenders Match... only if Riley won. Meaning, if Azrael won, he would not have been the #1 Contender. Can you spell 'bias'? And it gets better everybody. Why? Riley's been fired!"

This causes more confusion and some people begin to boo.

Michael Astin: "Oh you can boo all you want. I didn't fire him. Riley failed a drug test. XWA has random drug tests. Meaning it can happen once a year, twice a year, twenty-times a year, who knows? And each time, it's a different amount of wrestlers. So not everyone gets tested. Riley was tested last week before the show began and failed. He's been using steroids. He was confronted about it and he did the honorable thing about coming clean about it. Turns out he's been using steroids for a whopping two fucking years. All because he got tired of 'not feeling as if he was a good enough wrestler.' Want to know how to fix that? You fucking train. He took the wimpy way out and essentially cheated. So that's why Smoke is so damn aggravated: because Alex here fucking knew about it. In fact, Riley said Alex has been supplying them! Wow. So you were supplying him steroids and trying to make him the number-one guy here. But that wasn't your only fuck-up."

Michael reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small note.

Michael Astin: "Last week you said Mark Storey was going to face Dominik Diveraz. Wrong. Mark Storey wasn't even in the building. He wasn't scheduled to return until this week. He's facing Razor Xtreme in the main event. So good job on screwing up Mark's surprise return, buddy. What else... oh, right. YOU ONLY HAVE TWO FUCKING MATCHES FOR REDEMPTION FUCKING PLANNED."

The former Hardcore Champion crumbles up the paper and throws it at Smoke.

Michael Astin: "Now I have to clean up your fucking mess! You were brought into this fucking company to fucking help it! And you expect to sell out a fucking pay-per-view with only two fucking matches planned? And it's fucking next week?! Isaac issued a fucking open challenge because he was fucking bored. Which... spoiler alert... I'm his mentor. I told him to issue the challenge because if he didn't, there would probably be nothing planned for him. So Isaac and Matthew, I'm letting you guys know, you're going to be fighting in a Hardcore Match. And on top of that, I'm announcing two more matches right now. Because you know what? FUCK MARK STOREY. Seriously. How the fuck does he get a fucking main event spot already? I didn't issue that match. That was already set in stone. So Mark... me and you. At Redemption. You fought my brother in a Falls Count Anywhere. How about me? Except this time around, it'll be a Best Two out of Three Falls Count Anywhere Match."

The crowd, despite still not sure how to act towards Michael, cheer immensely at that announcement.

Michael Astin: "As for the other match: it's going to be a Fatal Fourway... contested under Tables, Ladders, and Chairs rules. Dangling above the ring will be a clipboard with a sheet of paper that grants the wrestler who receives it a #1 Contendership spot for the World Heavyweight Championship. The first man announced for it? E.G. Deal. He's been impressive lately. He has a win over Dominik Diveraz and Razor Xtreme, both men who are in the championship match at Redemption. He also has a win over my pupil, Isaac. So as far as I'm concerned, he should be the #1 Contender already. But... Redemption needs excitement. Which is why I'm making this match. The second man is going to be Azrael, because he's also been impressive. He's like a puppy with rabies to be honest. And since Riley fucking cheated, he now has no match. So I feel bad for the little Chihuahua. The other two men are going to have to earn it. Van 'The Plan' Scar...bore...oh. Did I pronounce that right? Will face Rufus 'The Helmet' Doofus. Then to make it even more star-stunted, Ace Andrews will face JHulk. JHelk? JHall. Jay Leno. Whatever. Unfortunately I can't announce anymore matches yet because I still need time to make them. But I absolutely refuse for the pre-show to be cluttered with matches when our wrestlers deserve better than that. So believe me when I say that Redemption will be worth buying."

Michael faces Alex once more.

Michael Astin: "And that leaves one thing left. Gentlemen?"

The three men surrounding Alex all take out a small flask from their pockets and open them, pouring a liquid all over Alex. He starts to panic.

Michael Astin: "Alex..."

Michael reaches into his pocket once more and pulls out a lighter. He quickly ignites it.

Michael Astin: "You're fired."

The demented wrestler throws the lighter on Alex, setting him on fire! Michael and the three men exit the ring as paramedics come rushing down. Michael and company block them for a little bit, but eventually let them pass. The show cuts for a commercial break.

<3

Jesus, you set him on fire?!

Chilly wrote:

Jesus, you set him on fire?!

Well... Michael IS a pyromaniac.

Literally fired.

Best exit ever.

You sure this wasn't Alex Firecracker?

"But Alex decided to make Azrael vs. Riley at Redemption be a secret #1 Contenders Match... only if Riley won. Meaning, if Azrael won, he would not have been the #1 Contender." what the fuck?

Really, Williamson? wrote:

"But Alex decided to make Azrael vs. Riley at Redemption be a secret #1 Contenders Match... only if Riley won. Meaning, if Azrael won, he would not have been the #1 Contender." what the fuck?

That wasn't an actual thing. That part I made up.

It sounds like something he'd do though

I liked it.

The setup reminded me of Reservoir Dogs, what I enjoyed out of this was the buildup of Michael's personality, he seems all formal and proper to begin with, then becomes proggressively more prone to saying fuck, dumps it on you in a fierce rage towards the end then just turns full sociopath boss/formal and proper., making a statement that is just nuts.

I don't know if that was your direction but I thought it was great. Now I want to listen to Bloodhoung Gang.

Big Jimmy wrote:

I liked it.  

The setup reminded me of Reservoir Dogs, what I enjoyed out of this was the buildup of Michael's personality, he seems all formal and proper to begin with, then becomes proggressively more prone to saying fuck, dumps it on you in a fierce rage towards the end then just turns full sociopath boss/formal and proper., making a statement that is just nuts.

I don't know if that was your direction but I thought it was great.  Now I want to listen to Bloodhoung Gang.

That's Michael for ya