L.A.W. - League of Anime Wrestling

The lights in the arena went dark, causing a hush to fall over the crowd. There was near total silence for a moment as anticipation built, before intense music unfamiliar to most of the viewers began blasting out from the stage.

Spoiler

With every beat of the four opening riffs, a white letter would appear on the titantron screen, forming an uneven set of rows, columns, and diagonals.

W
Y
V
E
R
N

As the drums kicked in, a swirling rorschach reminiscent of claws and blood spatters took over the titantron as the lights in the arena began strobing, before shifting again with the music to a crimson sky over the silhouettes of mountaintops. Glitching along with the song, the growing word WYVERN rapidly and randomly glitched across the screen before settling in the middle. As heavier drumbeats began, the screen flashed a series of images of high impact moments from Wyvern's recent matches, her opponents crashing into the canvas by her strength or feeling the effects of her punishing strikes. Finally, the lighting in the arena normalized as the lyrics kicked in and Wyvern herself strode out from the gorilla position, dressed in her ring gear but holding a mic in her gloved hand. Moving at a brisk walk, she made her way to the ring and rolled under the top rope, eventually coming to stand in the center of the ring.

"You make me wanna break you, no matter who you are..."

Wyvern's entrance theme faded away on those ominous lyrics, leaving the arena once again silent. Wyvern had, as per usual, stirred little response from the crowd. Her signature impassive glare stayed steady on her face as she paced back and forth, moving with the stride of a caged animal. Having swept her gaze over the entire crowd, she lifted the microphone to her lips and began to speak, her tone even and unemotive.

"Nobody wants me out here for this, so I'll make this quick." To her internal annoyance, that got a light cheer from the audience. She prevented it from showing on her face. "Wyvern. Wrestler. New. I'm not going to lecture you about some kind of higher purpose or how many wins I'm going to get. I waited to give my introduction because I wanted my matches to do the talking for me." A silent highlight reel of Wyvern giving and receiving violence from both of her matches with the company began playing on the titantron as she continued speaking. "I'm here to make violence happen. Beyond that, I don't care. I'll fight anyone. Any time. Any stipulation, as long as it's an actual fight. Keep your shirt on as far as anything else goes. I know I will be."

She swiveled on her heel, turning her gaze to the entrance ramp and titantron. Her voice hardened, almost imperceptibly. "And for anyone listening in the back...Step into the ring with me, win or lose, you're going to get hurt. Bad. Come at me at full force if you want to win, because if you don't, I will break you. And I expect nothing less from my opponents. The stronger the better. I will never back down from a fight. There is no monster terrible enough, and no legend great enough, to make that happen." Another pause, another breath. When she started talking again, the subtle edge to her voice was gone, back to the previous monotone. "I'm not interested in bullying people. If you can't handle what I've described, I won't go after you. If you can, I'll see you in the ring. And if that's what you're looking for...I'll see you soon."

She paused, taking a few seconds before her final declaration. "Success is measured in scars. I'm looking forward to a successful time here at LAW."

Casually dropping the mic behind her, Wyvern moved towards the ropes to leave and let the show continue on its track.

Spoiler

To a lot of the LAW faithful's surprise, the so-called "Holy One of LAW" answered Wyvern's call. He stood in full Prophet regalia at the top of the entrance ramp, while a hidden fan blew his coat for a dramatic effect. Scenes from the internet mini-film "Backwater Gospel" played on the jumbotron, It as clear to anyone that Isaiah saw himself as the Undertaker of that film, and he began to slowly make his way to the ring, with the whole arena dark, save for a spotlight on the Holy One of LAW:

Spoiler

As Isaiah walked toward the ring, he couldn't help but notice Wyvern in the corner, who seemed a little put off by Isaiah's appearance, of course, she ALWAYS seemed a bit put off. Isaiah entered the ring and raised his hands, like a backwoods preacher when the spirit was on him, and the lights came back on. On the jumbotron read four haunting words made famous by his rivalry with another one quite similar to Wyvern:

WELCOME TO MY CHURCH

His music faded and the excitement was building up from the LAW faithful. Isaiah looked over at Wyvern, waiting for a response...

As the titantron lit up and the lights went dark, Wyvern paused just before she bent over to climb through the ring ropes. Pausing as Isaiah made his dramatic entrance, she turned around and scooped the microphone off of the ground where she had left it before going to one of the far corners of the ring. Guess I still need this Seating herself on the bottom ropes, she leaned her elbows down against her knees and waited for him to make his way down the ring. As always, her face was an impassive mask, unreadable beyond an apparent degree of hostility. She watched Isaiah intently, making note of his size, posture, and body structure, formulating theories about how he might fight or what strategies he might use.

As the music faded, the lights rose, and Isaiah's signature expression lit up on the titantron, Wyvern waited a long time to give any response to Isaiah's obvious prompting for her to speak. She stared at him without moving for a few seconds. She pointedly turned her gaze upwards to the screen, taking an exaggeratedly long time to process what was written there. Then, she took her time looking around the arena, sweeping her gaze over the crowd and up to the rafters. Finally, she brought the microphone back up to her mouth.

"If this is what you think a church looks like...let me guess. American? I don't have any money, so you can give up on that."

Isaiah let the barest trace of a smirk crawl across his face as he was handed a microphone, "I don't want your money, woman, so don't you worry about that..." Isaiah looked slightly bothered, "Allow me to introduce myself, I am the Prophet, The Holy One of LAW, I am Isaiah Bowen. And this..." Isaiah said, pointing to the ring, "Is my church. However, I will confess to something..." Isaiah hung his head low, "Being the Holy One can be a trifle dull, you are held up to a standard that is often lofty, and dare I say, unachievable. Sometimes, even Prophets have...urges..." Isaiah Bowen heard the crowd go "ooohhh" Isaiah Bowen raised his hand to quiet them, "No, not like that...I'm talking about a good old fashioned fight!" Isaiah Bowen then glared at Wyvern, "And since you are here in my church, well, let's let service begin!"

Wyvern listened to Isaiah's explanation, absent-mindedly rolling her shoulders and neck as he spoke. Once he was finished, she again took an overly long time to speak, but eventually brought the microphone back up. "Can't be too much of a prophet. He would have warned you about how bad of an idea this was." She stood up, pacing slowly closer to the self-proclaimed "Holy One." Her pace was relaxed, seemingly not feeling threatened by the other wrestler, but there was still a slight edge to her movements betraying a greater degree of caution than first appeared. Moving ever closer, she didn't stop until she was mere inches away from his face, locking eyes with the slightly taller man. This close, Isaiah could see that Wyvern's lips have split into the faintest ghost of a smile, or at least an expression resembling one. "Bless me, father, for I have sinned." With those (surprisingly accurate) words, Wyvern shoots into motion. She throws her microphone over her shoulder, simultaneously bringing up her knee in an attempt to begin the fight with a cheap shot to Isaiah's groin!

Isaiah was impressed by Wyvern's lack of fear. This would take her far in LAW, She got inches away from his face, as he was slightly taller than she was, Isaiah looked down at her with a slight air of self-righteousness, like how a cardinal would look at a hooker, She said something about forgiving her, before suddenly raising her knee to get a cheap shot in. Isaiah caught her knee, and shoved it back down, "Let's be fair about this..." Isaiah said, backing into a corner. He turned his back and removed his coat, his hat, and finally, his mask, "This mask is made of steel, you'd have broken your hand on it, and I believe you deserve a fair shot..." Isaiah turned and revealed his secret: He was rather...ordinary looking:

Spoiler

Isaiah looked over at Wyvern, whom he could tell was losing her patience, "NOW come at me!" Isaiah challenged, getting in a fighting stance...

After Isaiah caught her knee, Wyvern put up no resistance when he pushed it back down, then tilted her head in acceptance when he requested a bit more fairness in the fight. He may look and act like an idiot, but he's no joke. That was a good read. She made no attempt to strike him while his back was turned, apparently willing to honor a momentary truce so that he could prepare himself. She instead went to the opposite side of the ring from him, leaning up against the top ropes and waiting patiently for him to finish. The rumbling discontent coming from the crowd at the continually lengthening segment barely registered to her, as her focus was entirely on Isaiah himself. When he finally turned around, she swept her eyes over him, making particular note of the words at his belt line. Isaiah 2:11? Really? Her incredulous thoughts never register on her face, though. In fact, she made no effort to say anything in response to Isaiah's invitation, merely launching herself off the ropes and charging forward in an attempt to catch him with a Lou Thesz Press, aiming to take the "Holy One" down and begin applying elbow strikes to his face.

Isaiah was somewhat surprised that Wyvern let him get ready, as he was certain she would try another cheap shot, but, he was allowed to undress, perhaps heading the warning he said of his mask. When he turned around, half-expecting a fist in his face, Wyvern inquired about the verse on his belt line, "The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and He alone shall be exalted in that day." he recited as he got into a fighting stance, Wyvern, probably not the "Bible" type, simply jumped on him and began raining elbows on his face. Maybe he should've left that mask on. Isaiah would cover his face and eventually shoved Wyvern off with a kick to the stomach. Isaiah realied he couldn't rely on any ref to "save" him, this girl could probably rape him in the middle of the ring and nothing could be done about it. However, he surmised that Wyvern probably wouldn't do that...

As she brought down her elbow strikes, Wyvern seemed largely unconcerned with the fact that Isaiah was protecting his face; and, indeed, he can expect more than a few bruises from the vicious attacks. When he retaliated, Wyvern rolled with the blow to her stomach, clearing off of Isaiah and pushing herself up onto her feet in a single, smooth motion. Almost unconsciously, she assumed her fighting stance, lifting her arms to defend her face and give her easy use of her elbows as striking weapons. "I'm well aware." Huh. Guess she knows more about the good book than she lets on. "And I'm getting bored. Are you ever going to try attacking me, or are you just a masochist?" Despite her apparent flippancy, Wyvern never relaxed, and her stance provided few holes to take advantage of. Indeed, if anything, she was poised to erupt into (tightly controlled) action with even the slightest provocation.

Isaiah smiled as he got up. It had been a while since he had been in an old fashioned fight, and although his holier-than-thou persona wouldn't allow him to admit it, he enjoyed a good brawl every now and again, "As you wish!" Isaiah said, charging full speed at Wyvern, hoping to knock her down with a spear. Even though this was unsanctioned and didn't count for anything, he was still going to give it his all...