Tension Building in the Tournament

“BAM! CRACK! SMASH!” 

“Calm down babe!” Evelina shouted.

Gunnar took his sore arm, lifted it up, and punched through a locker door. “They want to try to hurt me again! They want to try to take me out AGAIN! It’s NOT going to happen! They can’t hurt me anymore! This arm! This arm is fine!” Gunnar shouted infuriated. He kicked down what was left of the locker door, then sat in the leather chair, still sweating in his private suit at the Mobile Civic Center in Mobile, Alabama. He grimaced holding that banged up arm slightly. Fury had just come to a close, and Gunnar Granderson had advanced in the James Ranger Invitational Tournament, but lost his Unified International Championship. 

“I KNEW he would do everything in his power to take my championship from me! He never wanted me to have it anyway. That snake has his favorites, and wants to cater to them.” Gunnar spit out with disgust.

“We all know he does, Gunny, but you still took out Brian Lochnar! You still advanced in the Tournament.” Evelina tried to reason with him.

“I know I did! He was left laying there, a beaten man, couldn’t even stand on his feet. And he is the International Champion. I can’t believe he caught me with that kick. All my hard work this week, and I lost my title because I flinched for one second! Oh believe me, I learned MY lesson!” The former champion shouted, stopping to catch his breath.

The suit was trashed. Broken bottles, locker doors, and chairs covered the floor. Evelina began picking some broken glass up, and tossing it into the garbage can. Gunnar slouched in the chair, exhaling, trying to let the anger leave his body. He rubbed his face with his hands, and then slid them back, slicking his hair back, out of his face. Once Evelina disposed of what she had picked up, she quietly walked back over towards her fiancé and sat down in the other chair next to him. His eyes were closed, and he was desperately trying to calm himself.

“You need to relax, babe.” She began. “Mistakes are made, but at the end of the day, you accomplished your main goal. Now you have to prepare for next week’s Fatal Four Way. And, you need to clear your head, because you know Ranger is going to try to pull something else to eliminate you from the tournament. He didn’t name it after himself to simply fuel his already over-sized ego. He calls it the James Ranger Invitational because HE wants to decide the end result. No matter how much crap he flings out of his mouth about wrestlers earning it.”

“You’re right Ev. I have to prepare myself for ANOTHER gimmick match, which I am going to be the smallest man in AGAIN. But I’m a fighter, and I’m going to pull through it, and come out on top. No matter how many times they try to take me out.” Gunnar continued, sitting up, and opening his eyes. “Since November someone in this company has been trying to shelf me. But that’s what I signed up for, if I wanted an easy job, where I could hide from real men I would have been a columnist for some second-rate, small town newspaper.”

Gunnar began untying his boots. Evelina looked on, her hands folded in her lap. She looked at Gunnar’s arm that was a little red, after her glimpse she didn’t seem too concerned about it. “Ya know, I know we are upset right now, but what we talked about last week is still true.” She said, her voice a little more relaxed. “Even though Ranger is being ridiculous with his last minute changes to almost every match, you still out wrestled Lethal Injection, AND moved on to the Finals this week coming up. Lochnar is a highly trained competitor, and you took it to him. Like you said, at the end, he couldn’t even stand on his own two feet.” 

Gunnar removed the boots from his feet, then, took his socks off. He began to remove his kneepads, sliding them down his legs, to provide some relief after a tough match. “Thanks Ev, you always are there to support me. But next Friday, Lafayette, Louisiana, things are going to be a little different. I know I have been fighting and fighting to make wrestling matter here. And, many things have changed since last April. But, at the Cajun Dome I’m turning things up a notch. I’ve been fighting and fighting to change things here in WWX, and in this Fatal Four Way, that’s EXACTLY what I’m going to do! FIGHT!” Gunnar had stern tone in his voice at this moment. 

With tension growing, and the end road getting closer, things were about to heat up in this tournament. “I may have lost my International Title, but my eyes are still on the prize.” Gunnar said standing up. The frustration and anger from tonight’s bittersweet victory had boiled over to rage, and determination. “I’m going to kick some ass this week. There is no disqualification, and I intend to use that to it’s FULL potential. I’m sorry I lashed out a moment ago, and thank you for helping clean it up, but they have people that work here to do that. I’m going to shower now. Then, we are going to the airport and heading home.”

Gunnar walked off, heading into the bathroom. Evelina looked down at his boots and pads, smelling the odor of sweat. She shook off the stench, and turned away. “I hope with all this heat picking up, it will burn away that nasty smell.”

Camera fades to black.