Victory conditions: smash at least three pumpkins on the opponent in any way, then place the opponent in a coffin and close the lid shut
Special conditions: there are two caskets on the opposite sides of the ring; initially, the caskets are on mobile platforms at the ring level; there is a large pumpkin in each corner of the ring, more pumpkins are located here and there outside the ring; outside the ring there are a large number of Halloween props such as witch brooms, skeletons, scary boxes, candles and so on; hardcore rules are applied; no disqualification
—Special conditions: there are two caskets on the opposite sides of the ring; initially, the caskets are on mobile platforms at the ring level; there is a large pumpkin in each corner of the ring, more pumpkins are located here and there outside the ring; outside the ring there are a large number of Halloween props such as witch brooms, skeletons, scary boxes, candles and so on; hardcore rules are applied; no disqualification
Credits
HUGE thank you to @FreestylePoet for writing up this awesome introduction to this match!
The video screens lit up once more. Our view panned to Mr. Halloween – the book in front of him dangerously close to its end. "Now, esteemed guests…" he said. "The pages of our story grow thin. For hours upon hours, we have watched these hallowed grounds be stained in blood and ichor. Warriors rose and fell and rose again, vying for survival on this battlefield of ours." He breathed in, then breathed out, and dust swirled about the room.
Mr. Halloween paused.
"And you cheered it."
"You fools."
He banged the table! "In this most haunted of cities, on this most auspicious of eves – a night to end all nights! You gave power to the bloodshed." A shaky finger, all sinew and bone, accosted the crowd. "Your cheers, your chants, your cries of shock and awe. They have fed the beast sealed within these walls. A beast which lurks in the spaces between life and death. A beast that has drank of the hope that this night has snuffed out. A beast that now breathes again."
"But this, too, was foretold." Bloodshot eyes rolled to read the tome once more. "'The chains shall break,' it said, 'and the City of Ravens and Revolutionaries shall bear witness.' For even my powerful magicks cannot restrain the unknowable. It has bristled against its chains since time immemorial. Waiting for that night where it may call unto this earth a Grand Rapture. A battle between forces so fierce, their blows shall threaten Existence herself."
"Tonight, dear guests…" A dozen bells chimed a dozen times. From Charles Street to Lombard, and one within the arena besides. "...is that night." Mr. Halloween turned to the penultimate page. "Now: Where, oh where, shall the Rapture arise… Ah." He cracked a knowing grin, lips splitting and teeth nudging to all sorts of crooked angles. "Of course it would be them. Perhaps I should read you this tale, that you may know the faces of your demise… Listen well:"
Mr. Halloween closed his eyes and raised his arms. Then, with a start, he opened them, and both glossy eyes lolled out of his skull. He caught them, one in each palm, and lifted them to the sky. The camera panned out. Our host crushed one fist and let out a blood-curdling scream! Smoke emanated from his balled hand and slowly but surely filled the screen. Mr. Halloween's desperate cries faded away into the night.
Then. Galloping. Whinnying. Closer and closer with each passing second. "From the isles of Kings and Queens rides a spirit all in pale. A usurper, come to stake her claim to the greatest prize of all." A figure burst through the fog, a mere silhouette on these video boards. "Clad in hood and mask, this Lord of Shadows is no mere pretender queen. Her roots in these lands reach deeper than any other – though gnarled and ornery they have grown at the denial of that which she seeks."
The pale rider continued her journey. "The world's biggest stages have played host to duels both brutal and lurid, where she has left many a body in her wake. She has felled Heroes, crushed Dreams, and pulled the very Sparkling stars from the sky. On her relentless climb to top the mount, she braved the thorns of the Echidna, burned fields of Wisteria, and finally, returned home to overthrow the bloody Baroness." The camera panned and rotated, finally zooming in on the figure – only to find a familiar mask grinning madly back at them.
"GASTER… The Shadow Lord. A fearsome spirit, to be sure." Another crack, another scream. The other eye, now, had gone. "Though far from unopposed."
Silver and white whipped across the video board. "For a wind from the North blows strong, frigid and searing in equal measure." Then gilded flames engulfed. "Honed by the killing frosts arear, it streaks aflame, painting the sky with the visage of a Golden Dragon. The blood of warriors and wayfarers has laid its path for centuries." Our view panned to a boat. One lone warrior stood at the bow. Foot upon the prow and eyes towards the horizon. "Now at the fore of this wind is one who carries it with pride – who lets it be the bellows that lights her soul ablaze. It is with that mighty soul that she has battled through the maelstrom…" Gold at her waist glinted for the camera. "And took her spot in immortality."
"Yet this ascension was no easy feat. Many stood in her way, only to be struck down. First, a Queen among Queens, soon to become a Champion in her own right. Then, a fighter whose scars told a tale she was all too happy to add to. Third was the Legend – one who had earned that name in the Old World and the New. Then, a rising star in her own right who was no longer content to dance the night away. And who could forget the way that story ended? This warrior from warriors earning her gold by way of two Champions: against the LAWLESS One to forge it, and against kin of a sort to defend it."
The mist overtook the screen one final time. And when we returned, it was the visage of Mr. Halloween looking back at us: Eyes naught but holes. "The Shadow Lord. The Golden Dragon. A tale written in the stars, it seems – at last come to life. All that remains is the fight. Who, I wonder, shall stand at the end of it? Strapped in gold, our world their kingdom…" He flashed a wry, knowing smile. "Alas. I shall not live to see. But you will. And so, with the final gasps of my waning spirit, I ask of you one final rite… Descend with me. Descend into havoc and hellfire. Descend into madness and war. Descend…"
M&T Bank Stadium was engulfed in darkness.
"…Into our main event."
