The Video Game Rumble
The Obligatory Pre-Match Hype Chapter
30 of some of gaming's finest, from the past and present, are given the opportunity to showcase their skills within the squared circle, in one of WWE's most iconic match types.
Rated T for: Violence (blood and assorted weaponry), suggestive themes, swearing
The scene opens in Midwest Manhattan, outside the titular Manhattan Center building – home to the Hammerstein Ballroom; itself a home to many moments of wrestling history. It's a late afternoon in mid-February, just a couple weeks after WWE's own Royal Rumble event.
In from the left enters Joey Styles, the recognizable 'Voice of ECW', appropriately coated in a casual suit for the lukewarm temperature out here.
"Thanks for tuning in, folks," the ECW announcer opens, "this is Joey Styles, here in Manhattan, New York, and tonight, a very special event, one that pays tribute not just to the iconic WWE event, the Royal Rumble, but to the past, present and maybe even the future of video games; tonight, 30 characters enter, and there will be one left standing in the very end. We are just moments away from getting started, but first, a closer look of some of the participants; we have some co-respondents with us within the Manhattan Center building with some entrants for some short interviews – a look at 'what's to come', as they say. Let's head in; Mean Gene, play us in..."
On cue, a cut from outside to inside the building, on a fairly simple-looking 'interview space' set, as the WWE Hall of Famer, "Mean" Gene Okerlund, still looking fairly healthy despite his old age, stands by with a mic in hand.
"Thank you, Joey," he says. "A couple thousand fans are waiting in the Hammerstein Ballroom for this Rumble spectacular; excitement is high for a legendary event – and speaking of 'legendary', I have with me a contestant who carries a lot of history in the video game industry. Please welcome, Pac-Man!"
Namco's iconic yellow ball of fun enters from the left, with his orange gloves and red boots on.
With Pac-Man in frame now, noticeably shorter than the interviewer, Mean Gene starts talking to the mascot. "Now, Mr. Pac-Man, you represent the old guard of arcade icons – what's your strategy in adapting to the tactics of the newer generations in the upcoming Rumble match?"
The microphone is with the Namco mascot, and he starts to speak. ...Unfortunately, all that could be heard from his dialogue was nothing but the 8-bit chomping noise, synced accordingly with his mouth opening and closing. This goes on for about 10 seconds, with the camera close on him, before it zooms back out to show the confusion on Mr. Okerlund's face.
The 75-year-old veteran interviewer responds professionally. "I'm... sorry, I don't think I quite got that."
A bit of a pause as Mean Gene looks up, over the guest's head, as if to recognize someone off-screen.
Indeed, someone different does show up on-screen to join Pac-Man on the left side; a young woman, in fact, with a very intriguing choice of hair design from the two varying shades of pink, and an equally unorthodox attire involving a blue and pink dress and height-unevened stockings accompanying it.
Not feeling the best intention to interrupt, she smiles towards Okerlund, with white-gloved hands clenched together. "Pardon me for cutting in, but... I think I can decipher your guest's odd language.
She squats down to meet Pac-Man at eye level, as she sets out to translate. "He says he's happy to be given an opportunity to entertain, and that he's welcome to the newer generations of characters that are ever-growing. With so many decades under his belt, he's expecting to go the distance in this 'Rumble', and even if he doesn't win, he can say he was involved in a new page of history."
Once she finishes up, Pac-Man approves the oddly-dressed woman's statement as a faithful translation with a simple nod and smile.
"Well... thank you, young lady," Mean Gene appreciates the help, but then he has to ask. "Now, could you ask us, and everyone else watching, who you are, by any chance?"
She responds. "You can call me Alisa; Alisa Bosconovitch.
"And I assume you are also a participant?"
"Of course! With the skills my father transmitted into my system, I have high hopes for my survival."
Alisa waves goodbye as she simply exits stage-left, with Pac-Man following soon after. Mean Gene, on the other hand, starts off fine, but suddenly seems to feel puzzled by a few choice words on what was said there.
"Wait, 'transmitted'? 'System'? What on Earth—" He stops himself halfway and sighs, before looking back into the camera. "We'll be back with another contestant in a moment."
We cut from what was filmed on a professional camera to one that seems to be filmed on a phone being pointed down from its back towards the ceiling in selfie-cam mode. From this, we see a less-familiar face, but one you may recognize not just from the YouTube channel called newLEGACYinc., but from the mid/late 2000s era of Pro Wrestling Guerilla, around a random hallway.
"Hey there fans, this is Dino Winwood," he introduces himself. "I was making my way to the commentary booth to call some 'wrasslin', but I bumped into a couple people – first things first..."
He pans the camera down to show a brown-furred gorilla pulling a flexing pose over his shoulder. Fans of Nintendo will recognize this character very well, especially from the DK-decaled red tie.
"...Look at this dude!" Dino proclaims, chuckling afterwards as Donkey Kong makes a couple more poses for the camera, just having a load of fun right now in the calm before the Rumble.
Dino continues, "Yeah, you talk about 'Pro Wrestling Gorillas'; bears are old news, now it's time for the big chimps to take a stand, motherfuckers!"
"And, uh, speaking of big..." Winwood swivels the phone around to somewhere else, where his face meets close with a woman's, ahem, well-endowed chest, with the angle obscuring her face for a moment. "I can assure you, we got some big dogs out here tonight, if you catch my drift!"
A hand-fan taps Dino on the chin and lifts him up to eye-level, revealing the face of the beauty to be the leading lady of the Shiranui clan.
"Don't get comfortable, big boy – there's only one man for me," Mai teases the to-be-commentator of the night. "And when the night is done, everyone will know not to mess with Japan's best."
Dino looks to his phone camera. "Yeah, if you're looking for animals and tits galore, we got a lot of that shit! We got a lot of other stuff, too – stick around for more!"
The clip ends with a farewell wink from Mai – we'll be seeing her out in the ring later on tonight, for sure...
Back to the interview space, the camera focusing on Mean Gene with any guests already there not in view.
He says, "Well, thanks to Dino for being able to collaborate with us for this special event – we'll see you at the commentary booth for the Rumble, but for now-"
Okerlund is suddenly interrupted by deep, hearty laughter, as the camera zooms out at the same time as a trio of characters show up around the elder interviewer, one large guy and two young ladies who look damn near tiny in comparison. The three can be recognized as Overwatch operatives Reinhardt, Tracer and D. Va; and all three can be assumed to be a part of the Rumble. It's easy to notice Reinhardt's armor is looking different than usual, going for a somewhat lighter set and the lack of a helmet.
"An honor to be here for a showcase of combat!" Reinhardt's German accent authenticated his excited tone. "As fighters of the future, us Overwatch operatives have the guts and power to tackle with the rest of them! In that ring holds destiny, that which can only be held by the last one standing!"
D. Va, the Korean gaming superstar, is the next to speak. "Well, may be the one to talk a big game, but the three of us can back it up, no matter who else shows up – Overwatch is going all out on this Rumble, from start to finish!"
And lastly, essentially the poster girl of Overwatch, Tracer finishes up for the team. "We've already picked out our numbers, and from what we've shared between us, I'm going to admit – I'll probably have the toughest road ahead. Even then, I'm not scared – none of us are scared of what comes next, 'cause time means nothing when it comes to the victory road ahead!"
Mean Gene brings up the mic. "Well, time may be just a number for you, but the true factor is stamina and effort in the Royal Rumble – thank you for sticking around for an interview, and good luck at the Rumble!"
The three Overwatch heroes head off stage-right, leaving Mean Gene to himself.
Okerlund looks to the camera with the microphone still handled. "We're just moments away from the Video Game Rumble – 30 superstars, 1 victor! Who will come out on top? We'll leave it up to your imagination; I'm 'Mean' Gene Okerlund, and get ready for some all-out war!"
Now, before we carry on to the next chapter, I have things to say and reasons to 'why' this is suddenly dropped upon you with little warning.
#1: My first stories to really blow up big since I first started on FFN were the FanFiction Royal Rumbles; hell, my three most viewed stories are the first three Rumbles (and they're still among the stories that get a bunch of views daily as of now). It's been a while since I've done a Rumble fic, and seeing that there's a bunch of people who have done their own, it's only fitting for me to come back to this as a sort of 'return to form' since I took a real long hiatus between mid-2017 and the beginning of 2018. That and this'll hopefully help me up in getting Act 2 of Tournament of Fate finished up (in case you're wondering when the next Act of ToF would start, it'll be some time after this story is completed).
#2: I really want to make up for the sudden end for the unfinished "FanFiction Royal Rumble IV" and "FanFiction Survivor Series" with something I promise to actually finish. If I don't somehow, blame it on my computer shitting the bed. Even then, this won't be as big a Rumble as the past – only 30 competitors, like a standard Royal Rumble nowadays, compared to the past (and the 30-competitors thing is me limiting myself even further past the 'video game characters only' thing of this Rumble).
#3: Yes, the Royal Rumble PPV this year, (probably one of the best overall, in the past decade) is a bit of an inspiration to me, as is some random stuff like Jerma's 'Jerma Rumbles' and newLEGACYinc's Rumble-based stuff (even though that's mostly simulated on their end), and a little bit from stuff like Lucha Underground's Aztec Warfare.
With the following characters set to Rumble...
Pac-Man, Alisa Bosconovitch, Donkey Kong, Mai Shiranui, Reinhardt, D. Va, Tracer
...we're already looking at an interesting cast of characters, and we only know 7 of 'em! In the next chapter, who will start us off? We'll find out... up next!