Okay, so I've went and deleted the previous Bladewolf of Destruction story, because I feel it was very unfair to deny readers a wrestling series that begins in the Attitude Era and goes all the way up to around the current era of WWE. I don't know what I was thinking deleting the three that I had when I was where I was at, but to be fair the second story had been a redoing of my original version of that, when I was switching between commentary and non-commentary in matches.
This time I plan to add commentary all the time. Especially when it was great around this time period in WWE, or WWF I should say.
Again, so sorry, but I hope you come to enjoy this once more since it's set in everyone's favourite era of wrestling, especially for the WWE.
Also, there will be no OC/Sable in this like I did the last time. The pairing is still gonna be OC/Trish Stratus, but that won't happen until the third story. It seems wrong to have the OC, a new guy, come in, and start getting involved with a married woman. Yeah, Sable and Marc Mero were really married around that time, not just presented as an on-screen couple.
And yeah, it's still going to be the same with his character being the on-screen younger brother of Kane and the Undertaker.
Disclaimer: I do not own WWE/F. I only own the OC George Edwards/The Bladewolf.
It was July 30th 1997, just four days away from one of the World Wrestling Federation's 'big four' PPVs, SummerSlam. The WWF wrestlers and crew were already in the town of East Rutherford, New Jersey as they had to get checked into the hotel, go over any last minute changes done with Vince McMahon, practice their segments or performances with whoever they were facing on the card.
However, Vince had also wanted to see what the town of East Rutherford had to offer, as he had heard of several wrestling schools and independent shows being hosted in this town over the next few days, and he was curious to see if there was any future WWF Superstar material to be found.
Which is why he sent color commentator and talent scout, 'JR' Jim Ross to check one of these shows and see if he can find anyone of great interest who may make it in the World Wrestling Federation. God knows the company needs new talent to bring new stuff with them to it given the competition in the form of WCW who were in the lead in the Monday Night Wars.
This is why JR was pulling up outside of a warehouse, a common place to have a independent wrestling show hosted by indie companies, such as Jersey All Pro Wrestling, or JAPW for short, who was hosting this show tonight.
Entering the building was relatively easy, while he couldn't do much about his face - his clothing and eye-catching hat were swapped for a more…casual look. If he was lucky, no one would realise that a WWF employee had entered the building, and if he weren't, then…Ross would just have to think of something.
Having bought a ticket in advance, Jim Ross simply showed it to the bouncer and entered the warehouse. Seeing the spacious arena nearly ready to start the show, Jim walked towards the bar and acquired a beer - hoping that his changed accent wasn't too eye-catching. Now, with a beer in hand, Ross found a quiet spot with just enough space to be alone - though not from a lack of trying - and with a clear view of the ring.
The show started and the announcer was quick to get people excited, a bit amateurish but Ross had heard worse. He did sit next to Jerry Lawler, after all.
An hour had passed and JR couldn't help but be a little disappointed. While he did indeed spot a few wrestlers that might be WWF-worthy, if given a few more years of experience before trying out, Ross had not found the talent he was searching for.
Seeing his goal dashed from life, Ross just enjoyed the show, it would be quite disrespectful to the boys and gals if he left before the show finished.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! It's time for the main event of the evening!" The crowd cheered at the news, quite drunk from the alcohol - Jim wasn't surprised to see a few seats were cast after a viewer or two got quite a bit rowdy.
Green lights shone, some generic rock track hit Ross' ears and from the curtain was an above-average tall man with short blond hair, who wore a garish green and white outfit. Two tribal tattoos on his arms and upper back - near his neck, JR spotted as the man turned around. A smug look on his mouth, the upturned lips and eyes holding superiority in them.
"This match is a championship vs career match! And it is for the JAPW Heavyweight Championship! First, the champion, weighing in at two hundred and thirty pounds, from Birmingham, England! Barron Blade!" The crowd booed the man, letting Jim know who the crowd was against.
After Barron entered the ring, raised the title in his arms and made a gesture at the crowd as they continued to boo the man - Blade handed the belt to the referee and faced the curtain. His eyes turned from unmatched arrogance to annoyance and hatred. Ross had recognised that look from many a wrestler in the WWF and WCW. A man that was going to fight his friend, or rather, his former friend.
Then the lights shifted from green to dark colours - dark red and dark blue, as Metallica's For Whom The Bell Tolls played.
The light were so dark that JR could barely see the curtain where the wrestler was meant to come out. After the guitar riff, a lone spotlight shined on the curtain, revealing a figure that left JR in shock as the crowd of men and women cheered loudly.
'For Whom the Bell Tolls! Time marches on! For Whom the Bell Tolls!'
Standing there was a towering giant of a man, at least nearly 7ft JR had to reckon. He was possibly the same size as WWF's own Undertaker. He had long dark hair that fell past his shoulders and a few inches down his back. He had a great build on him, wore a sleeveless top with a wolf skull on the center that had blood red eyes, black wrestling tights that had a black wolf with red eyes on the right leg, and a burning version of the wolf skull on the left leg. Black wrestling boots, which was common to see, black elbow pads, but what caught JR's attention was the demonic-looking wolf mask the man wore, and with the lighting, the eyes were completely shrouded in darkness.
JR had to give this kid his props, he was putting on a heck of a performance in exuding a terrifying aura around his character. No doubt, Mark Calloway (Undertaker) would be impressed if he saw this for himself.
The man looked around briefly before settling his gaze on the man in the ring and began making his way towards it with purpose, never once turning his head as fans clapped and touched his arms.
"And his opponent, weighing 310 lbs, he is the Lone Wolf... THE BLADEWOLF!" The announcer announced with the crowd cheering for the obvious favourite in the match as the Bladewolf grabbed the top rope, pulling himself onto the apron and staring down Barren Blade for a few moments before he stepped over the top rope, entering the ring.
Bladewolf's theme died down and the lights returned to normal as the referee held up the world title, then handed it to someone at ringside before he called for the bell.
'Ding! Ding! Ding!'
In the blink of an eye, the Bladewolf struck first with a fury of rights that caught JR by surprise and gained his further interest as he watched the masked wrestler punch Blade into the corner, then repeatedly drive his elbow into the side of his head until the referee got involved, making him take a step back. However, he didn't waste another second before grabbing Blade, pulled him close, then launched him across the ring with an impressive belly-to-belly suplex.
Barron stumbled to his feet, leaning against the corner, Bladewolf then charged, only for the champion to dodge out of the way, causing the young giant to impact chest-first into the turnbuckles. The Bladewolf slowly turned around, the collision seemingly had no effect on the behemoth only to receive a poke to the eye from Blade, stunning the young giant back. The Bladewolf quickly recovered and, with a look of emotionless rage, took Barron down with a vicious knife-edge chop. A loud noise from the crowd rose - even JR couldn't help but flinch at the echo of the thunderous clap - as Blade flew downwards, grasping his chest in pain.
The Bladewolf continued the assault, gripping one of his opponent's feet and dragging them into the centre of the ring before tightly grasping Barron's throat with one hand - and tights with the other. Then, with a quick burst of seemingly unnatural strength, the young man lifted Barron up before throwing him down with a quick chokeslam. The crowd once again cheered the strength on display.
During this onslaught, JR thought he was seeing some sort of Undertaker look-alike: the hair, the strength, the glare,
The kid had the look, viciousness, size and speed.
'Vince is gonna like this one.' JR thought with a nod, intending to meet with the kid after his match and offer him a chance with the WWF, win or lose.
As the match continued, JR felt it could've ended in just three minutes. It was a spectacular one-sided beatdown.
Blade rolled to the ropes and when Bladewolf went to grab him. Barron pulled the giant out of the ring, between the top and middle ropes. Yet the big man landed on his feet to the crowd's delight. Yet Barron looked to his left, he found the eyes of the Bladewolf bearing into his soul. Blade jumped, making a face of fear, and tried to shuffle away, only for the giant's massive paw-like palms to wrap around Barron's ankles with a terrifying grip - and with an easy pull, Barron dropped to his backside and got yanked out of the ring, into both of Bladewolf's hands clenching his throat.
Gripped tightly, the young man lifted Blade into the air, the noise of the crowd increased at the sight of such strength, only to be quickly turned to boos as Barron, in desperation, went for Bladewolf's eyes again, raking his fingers across them. The young man stumbled backwards as he held his eyes in shock rather than pain. The champion gained some semblance of confidence, throwing some punches and strikes, except in hoping to cause pain, Barron only succeeded in pissing the big man off. An echoing uppercut was Bladewolf's answer to the strikes, throwing Barron onto his back.
As this was going on, the referee was counting the two men. Reaching a five when Bladewolf picked the champion up and chucked the champion into the ring in a style that JR had never seen before - a biel throw through the middle rope - catching the audience by surprise. The young man entered and immediately covered Barron for a pin, only to get a two count.
With an expression of calm frustration in the eyes, Bladewolf let out a stomp on the champion's stomach. Forcing the breath to escape the blond man and as Blade stumbled to his feet, he did not see his opponent climbing to the second rope, and once Barron turned around, his face briefly met Bladewolf's knee and the champion was hurtled onto his back again. The giant landed feet first, slowly turning to his opponent in a manner of a predator playing with their food.
But before Bladewolf could do any more damage, another man rushed out of the curtain and charged towards the ring - around Barron's height, short dark brown hair and a full beard had entered the ring, a steel chair in hand.
The cries of the audience seemed to warn the Bladewolf as he paused when he went to pick the champion up. As if sensing danger, Bladewolf rushed around, glaring as the new man in the ring almost seemed to pause in fear, before his bravery - or stupidity - gained a foothold, and the intruder swung despite the referee's screams and warnings. Bladewolf was too quick for the intruder and gripped the man's throat, the force was enough to make the intruder stumble backwards - dropping the chair as he tried to pry the big man's paw from his neck.
The audience was overcome in the drama of it all, though JR did not know what was going on - as he had not followed any JAPW show - but the crowd looked ready to chuck their half-drunken plastic cups and bottles at the intruder in the ring.
"Fuck off, Pierce!" Cried a young fan - though he was quickly chastised by his mother.
Now that he had a name to the face, JR watched calmly. Seeing people being ganged up on was nothing new to the commentator but his attention was entirely on the young man. Bladewolf picked Pierce up and went to perform a chokeslam, only to be attacked from behind by Blade, throwing all of his weight into a chop block that forced the giant to a knee - and letting Pierce the chance to escape from the giant's grip.
As the crowd hissed and jeered, the referee tried to reinstall order in the ring but to no avail and Bladewolf stood to his feet, getting ready to charge and attack the two men. On the other side of the ring, Pierce and Barron were side by side - almost ready to void their bowels when, all of sudden, Barron gave an out-of-character smirk and nodded at Pierce.
JR narrowed his eyes before quickly caught on as Pierce turned and slapped his ally straight in the jaw - stunning the audience and Bladewolf - and only a moment passed before the masked man's eyes widened in understanding at what just happened.
The referee was taken aback before screaming at Pierce and then turned - ordering for the ring to be rung.
'Ding! Ding! Ding!'
Three rings echoed as the announcer started to speak, Bladewolf charged with a sloppy, but not at all weak, anger-fueled swing only to hit the air as Pierce and Barron fled from the ring.
"The winner of this match as a result of a disqualification…and still the JAPW World Champion! Barron Blade!"
The champion raised his belt into the air, even as plastic cups were thrown at him.
Bladewolf stood in the ring, hands on his hips, glaring in the direction of Blade and slowly shook his head before he whirled around and laid out the referee with a right hand. He flipped his hair back out of his mask and left the ring, adjusting an elbow pad as he made his way to the back.
Yes, JR had made his choice.
George sighed as he took off his mask and placed it into his duffel bag, one of the two that he had, with one containing his ring gear, the other holding spare clothes. He had gotten to the locker room and taken a quick shower, having collected his pay for the match and was now going to head on to the next town and see if they had a show going on. He was fortunate for JAPW to have allowed him to stay on for a couple of months, do a friendship turned hostile rivalry with Barren, though there was genuine hate between the two for a comment Barren made that pissed George off.
Thankfully, his time with the small indie company was over, meaning he won't have to worry about Blade again. He was pissed about the ending of the match, as he hadn't expected that in the finish. But he just accepted it and moved on, though that didn't mean he wasn't pissed off.
Grabbing hid duffel bags, as well as a wheeled suitcase, he left and made his way out to the parking lot where his car was parked.
"Excuse me."
Surprised, George turned around and found himself even more surprised when he saw color commentator for the WWF 'JR' Jim Ross approaching him. He would know who he is, considering he always watched the WWF since 1990. He actually hoped to one day join them, but he knew he'd need a lot of experience for them to take an interest in them.
God knows he felt that way after trying out for WCW only for them to tell him to take a hike after a 'failed' tryout match during a dark match on Monday Nitro.
"Can I help you?" George asked, wondering why JR was here, though a part of him hoped for something he only dreamed of.
"Saw your match in there against Blade." JR said, gesturing to the building. "You put on a good show, kid."
George shrugged. "I don't like to brag about it much. I just do my job and entertain the fans."
"Well, how would you like to continue that job in the WWF?" JR asked, causing George to stiffen in shock as he stared at the man, who took out a card and held it out to him. George soon took it and read it. "You got potential, kid. A lot to have it wasted by not being noticed. You take that card, you think about it, and give me a call when you make your decision. I can look at you right now and say you are what the WWF may be looking for to help keep the ship going in this new era it's entered."
With that, JR turned and left, leaving the young man to watch him go silently before he looked at the card. A smile soon grew onto his face as he pockeeted the card.
Looks like his dream will be real soon.
Okay, and that's it for this chapter. Let me know what you think in the reviews.