Taking Shots - A Mac'N' Murphy Collaboration

(Our scene begins in the heart of the Neutral Territories, zooming past the busy streets and bright lights of the shopping plaza to make its way to the Wrestleworld hotel - a tourist attraction and wrestler residency which is currently being used to its full potential. The location is packed with superstars as we are just twenty four hours away from the latest Chapter event. As we see several Book Two clients filtering into the lobby, checking in and hauling up to their rooms to get a night’s rest for the day ahead, across from them at the reception desk is the in-house bar and restaurant.)

As we are in the late hours of the evening most things have winded down and there’s barely a soul in the room besides two men having fun at the pool table. Those two men being, Teddy Mac and Travis Murphy, shooting pool back and forth with their Campeonatos de Parejas belts to the side right next to their respective beverages - a bottle of whiskey for Travis and a glass of chocolate milk for Teddy. Teddy focuses, looking for a precise shot as he ends up pocketing the cue ball, getting a laugh out of Travis.)

Travis Murphy: Not very good at this, are you?

Teddy Mac: Just very tired. And with a lot on my mind too! We have a match coming up, Travis! A BIG match! The posters are out, the commercials are dropping -- we’re main eventing Cero Miedo in a matter of weeks against Sweet Melody! Has that not sunk in for you yet? We’re the marquee! The closer! The selling point! People are meant to buy that pay-per-view for US and how we’ll perform! Every article, company tweet, and analyst discussion will be centered on these straps that we’re carrying around so casually; breaking down what we’ve done so far, the threat that’s ahead and the high level that we must deliver in that ring to be worth the price tag.

Travis Murphy: Your point?

Teddy Mac: I know it’s hard for you to grasp since you’re used to getting up and going through your life without much worry or thought, but there’s a huge amount of pressure on us. Main event, top tier, pressure. All of the eyes in the wrestling world are going to be watching us defend these tag team championships, and there’s millions of people hoping for us to get that W.

Travis Murphy: And we will get that W. We’ll show up to Mexico, beat those broads up, then have a celebratory brewski with as many fans want to come along!

Teddy Mac: It sounds simple in theory, but it’s going to be much more difficult than that once those cameras roll, the bright lights start shining and we’re in the middle of all of that shit with our contenders right in front of us. You’ve seen how April Song has managed to manipulate her friend Hana. They aren’t the same tag team they were before. There’s no good girl to keep the other in check. Now it’s nothing but escalation in the worst way. They’re both so much more calculated. So much more evil. There’s no morals in their character like you and I. No limits on what they’ll commit to get ahead, or any care for the wellbeing of their peers. There’s probably been a nonstop cycle of awful, dastardly plans just churning in their heads since they’ve earned their shot against us. What tactics can they hide from the referee? How can they counteract our maneuvers?

(Teddy Mac gets in close to emphasize this next one, leaning with his cue stick.)

Teddy Mac: How will they soften us up before the show? That sound any alarms to you? Considering they’re our tag team partners for this next chapter!?

Travis Murphy: Nahh, panic isn’t really my thing so I go without alarms.

Teddy Mac: You don’t have to panic but we damn sure should be cautious. Hana herself said she has no interest in this match. She does NOT want to cooperate with us whatsoever and you can guarantee the feeling is mutual with her bitch of a partner April. They have no investment in this match in terms of getting a win and picking up some momentum in the record books, so the only thing that this match really serves a purpose for is to see us get hurt in a major way. They could absolutely leave us hanging out to dry to take on four of the toughest competitors in Wrestleworld while at a two man advantage! We’d be overwhelmed, beaten down, and then roughed up some more given the notorious recklessness of who we’re facing. Setting us up to be handicapped with Animus, Layne Driver, Christopher Sabertooth AND Arata Asakura? This scenario is practically a layup to Sweet Melody. Who knows, after we’ve been put through the ringer by the opposing squad, Sweet Melody hops back in and attacks us themselves; ravage the scraps that they left like some crafty vultures!

Travis Murphy: You’re right. That could happen. What do we do about it besides keep an eye on them?

Teddy Mac: I….

Travis Murphy: If they want to leave, then they leave. We can’t force them to be on our side and to be honest, I don’t want them having our back. Just gives an optimal position to stab us in it. I’d rather start off the match with animosity and knowing where we’re standing rather than playing scared or falling for the okie doke of “we’ll be enemies next match, but we’ll be partners tonight!” This match isn’t about the four on four, it’s about us taking on four men. The two people booked on our sides are extras that hold no relevance to us or our success. We’re wrestling this match for ourselves, not them. Fuck ‘em.

Teddy Mac: You’re right, we can just block them out. Whatever is up their sleeves will be pulled regardless. We just need to be prepared. It’s still something to keep your head on a swivel for. Never forgot what started The Mac N Murphy Connection. Jungle Jaguar “mysteriously” being attacked the weekend of the go-home show for the pay-per-view, also during a multi-person tag match just like this. The timing was more than mere convenience despite all of the efforts to hide the facts about it. That tag title defense Jag and I had is what led to you being here with me in the first place! People get jealous of their contemporaries. Gold blinds so many athletes and drives them to sick, twisted, dark places. It leads to people getting hurt. Badly. And I just don’t want us going through what my pal went through when we’ve finally made it to this point. I mean, look at us. We’re stars! Rubbing shoulders with the elite! We’re in some SUPERB company with the caliber of talent against us. Menacing or not, the fact the Architects even have us pegged as proper opponents for the guys we’re facing is a compliment on us.

Travis Murphy: It’ll be even greater bragging rights when we beat those guys.  Relax Teddy.  April and Hana want our titles.  We know that.  But so does every other team out there.  We didn’t win these things in the first place by being fearful of anyone.  Personally, I don’t care if they’re on our team, our opponents, out for themselves, or whatever else they have planned.  WE are the ones holding the gold because WE are the best team in Wrestleworld.  We work better together than anyone else because we’ve known each other long and we know each other better.  Nobody else in this company has that.  Whether Hana and April want to play ball with us or not, I still believe that we can handle our opposition even if we have to do it alone.  Am I supposed to fear Animus?  I already knocked him off once and I did it the very first time stepping into the ring for a singles match.  Chris and Arata?  I may not have much experience in the ring, but I’ve watched those two beat the hell out of each other for the last year.  I’m suddenly supposed to believe they can play ball together?  And Layne Driver?  Isn’t that guy tailor-made to make champions look good?  That’s why he’s here, isn’t he?  And guess what Teddy...WE’RE CHAMPIONS!  Relax man, we got this shit.

Teddy Mac: Screw it, you’re right. I’ll go ahead and have some confidence. We’re the best tag team in the world, period. Forget the asterisk of “In Wrestleworld.” I’d stack us up against ANY team no matter the company, accolades or skill level. We’ve had almost two decades of building chemistry and when it comes to the lives we’ve lived, the adversities we’ve got past eclipse whatever any of these guys could give us. We are heading into a history making show with Cero Miedo as we become the faces of tag team wrestling by being the first tag champs in ANY promotion in our network to headline. What does that say about us? That we’re far past calling matches like this coming Chapter a privilege or milestone. It’s where we belong. It’s our life now given how much we’ve busted our asses. Matter of fact, who are our opponents to us? It’s like you said, we are at an advantage here! The artist formerly known as Raoul aka Animus has that brooding entrance and all of that intimidating face paint; he’s packaged like this almost otherworldly killer but he’s just another guy. He was a bird chested geek a few months ago, looking like the guy at the office even I’d bully! He was eating pins left and right for months before this drastic change and now that he’s reinvented….he’s eating pins all the same. He failed at By The Sword, got eliminated way earlier than predicted in World Domination….and lost to you when you’ve rarely seen a moment in front of the hard camera. He has the aesthetic of someone who should be our superior but the actual backing up of all that hype just isn’t there.

(Teddy Mac watches as Travis Murphy takes his shot, continuing to speak as he stares off.)

Teddy Mac: Same goes for Layne Driver. Or Kurobane - the name which he loves to run from so much. He’s a big deal now, but we all see how he responds the moment things don’t go his way. He went into hiding for a full year from a simple post-match attack, who knows how badly he’ll fall apart when two perceived underlings like us give him any trouble.

Travis Murphy:  How do you think?  Layne likes to act as if he’s somehow moved past all of that, but we all know he’s still that same guy that had to flee another company because he couldn’t handle being brutalized.  The bad news for him, however, is that he can only run from it for so long.  History is destined to repeat itself, and on the next Chapter, you and I are going to beat and batter Layne like nobody ever has before.  And after that?  Hell, who knows...Layne might have turned tail and fled Wrestleworld by the time we even get to Cero Miedo to take care of Sweet Melody.

Teddy Mac: Wouldn’t shock me. Much like it wouldn’t shock me if Sabertooth gets caught up with his beef with Layne….or his beef with Animus…..or even this attempt at working with Arata. So many conflicts of interests and outside influences are in this match, and those aren’t exactly things Sabertooth handles too well. He’s an impulsive man. A guy whose personality can literally change at the drop of a hat and turn everything upside down. He’s even keel at the moment, but if his own partners push the right buttons, it’s self destruct for their team right then and there. Actually, even without any team miscommunication, Sabertooth is not the same as he used to be. Or I should say the Sabertooth that boards the plane and flies to this Island is unrecognizable from the one I see over in America. It isn’t the absence of gold that tips me off, it’s how he carries himself. He’s been on a pretty apparent decline since losing the European Championship to Ozymandias, so much so that his Havoc persona was literally washed away from the humiliation. He’s no longer the grand, imposing figure that gets labeled The Nightmare King. He does not acknowledge himself as being all powerful! Now he has settled into the role of being just a man. Plain ol’ Christopher Sabetooth with no real direction or sense of ambition. As Ozy squeezed the air out of his lungs, every bit of his edge went with it. That loss has been following him since Dreamworld, making him more uncertain in himself. It’s that uncertainty which allowed Layne to take his lunch at By The Sword. It’s what has put him in the loser’s circle more than he’s ever been in his entire career these past couple months. Commentators used to boast about how Sabertooth would walk in and command the attention of everyone but now his buzz is near silent unless he’s elsewhere. It wasn’t only that demon that abandoned him. He himself has become mentally checked out in the Neutral Territories. No heart. No hunger. He just shows up to work and that’s it. He’s clocking and clocking out for this match, but who knows if he’ll go out there and make the work day eventful for himself. He’s already become accustomed to just taking the paycheck. It won’t mean anything to him to take another loss while he refuses to wake up.

(Travis nods his head in agreeance while finally missing a shot.)

Travis Murphy:  Exactly.  Ozymandias may have stripped him of his title and simultaneously his gimmick, but if he tries to square up with us this weekend, then I will personally strip of his dignity as well.  He can join his ol’ pal Animus on the growing list of people that have lost to a man that hasn’t even gotten accustomed to running ropes yet.  As a matter of fact, I’d bet money that Chris is already aware that he doesn’t stand a chance in hell against us.  He seems like just the kind of guy that believes the only people worth their merit in this industry are the people who have championship gold around their waist.  Hell, you said it yourself.  Once he lost his, he packed it in.  That’s not the same Chris we’ve seen before when he was European Champion and he’s shown no inclination whatsoever that that’s going to change anytime soon.  But us?  We DO have the gold.  These beautiful damn things sitting right over here are OURS.  And we earned them by being the absolute best.  Chris sees that.  He recognizes that.  And he fucking FEARS that.  He knows that right now me and you are at the absolute top of our game and that’s terrifying to him considering that we’ve just gotten started as an ‘official’ tag team in this company.  Chris has no game plan for that.  He has no strategy for defeating a team with as much chemistry as we do.  Hell, he can’t even make the imaginary demon in his brain stick with him, so how the hell is he supposed to convince his partners to work with him?  It’s simple, he can’t.  And that...that is what’s going to lead to yet another disappointing moment in Wrestleworld for Mr. Sabertooth.  

Teddy Mac: The hardest egg in this bout to crack is going to be Arata Asakura.

Travis Murphy:  The pornstar?

Teddy Mac: Cut it out! Though I guess there are similarities; they’re both no slouch when it comes to their work. Asakura is a straight up machine in that ring who takes each match of his incredibly seriously. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the man smile, let alone take the time to goof around and have fun when he has a match on his schedule. He’s arguably the strongest individual in the entire match lineup, which would spell disaster for us in any other context besides our domain of tag team wrestling. He puts himself first and that’s it. He knows nothing about teamwork and has shown no plans of attempting to learn about the concept. Arata’s lack of patience, empathy and resistance to calling anyone his friend leads him to taking well put together, healthy looking teams and transforming them into sinking ships with him stubbornly captaining the occurrence. All it will take is one misskew or hearing a comment he doesn’t like and he’ll shut down. Then his whole team will pay for it. Arata is just that spiteful. We have months of footage of him in tag scenarios to support that. It’s not in his DNA to collaborate, he’d sooner cost himself title opportunities than to function as a group with someone no matter how like minded they are. When we’re a team we’re greater than the sum of our parts. When Arata is in a team him and the other party are far worse off than even the weakest piece of their equation.

Travis Murphy:  And Asa-

Teddy Mac:  Arata.

Travis Murphy:  Whatever.  The man, like you said, isn’t capable of working with anyone.  We are.  Maybe not with those skanks on our team, but as long as they stay out of our way, they’ll pick up a W.  I think even they’re smart enough to realize that, and let’s face it...those two need all the wins that they can get right now because they DAMN sure won’t be picking one up at Cero Miedo.  I didn’t come to Wrestleworld just to help you retain these championships against Reno and Nobi.  I came here to be one half of the best god damn tag team that professional wrestling has ever seen.  And we’re well on our way.  Animus, Layne, Chris, Arata...they’re just speed bumps on our way towards drowning out the noise of Sweet Melody at Cero Miedo.  Because this match isn’t about our opponents.  It’s not about our partners.  It’s about us.  The Mac N Murphy Connection.  The Campeonatos de Parejas Champions.  The team that it took all of ONE match to reach the top of this industry and the very FIRST tag team to main event a PPV in this company.  This is just our scrimmage, Teddy.  Our warm-up before we officially prove to the world what we already know...that there is NOBODY on this island that can stop us.

(Teddy Mac takes his turn, finally making a proper shot as he celebrates his success for a moment.)

Teddy Mac: I like the sound of that. And let’s just call this a tie.

Travis Murphy: You missed every turn before this!

Teddy Mac: I think it’s time we call it a night!

(Teddy Mac and Travis Murphy both abandon their pool sticks, talking amongst themselves as they get ready to head upstairs while we fade from the scene.)