PEOPLE U/M: Lyle // ROM, Andrews, Stranger
RECORD: 01/01/00
OOC: This could very well be my last rp for Hellfire. I recently found out that one of my friends has passed away, and Im not feeling to well. I'll try to get anothing one up if I can, but otherwise, this is my last.

So, we find ourselves about a day away from Hellfire, and everybody seems to be putting it their two cents on their match. Looks like a pretty good turn out. True, one team in the Triple Threat Tag Team match appears to not have been around this week, but there's still a whole day. Everything appears to come out in the open the last couple of days until the show.

One person that has come out in the open, is ROM. Finally, the presence of ROM speaking on the Zarek Lyle issue. That was a total surprise in everybodys eyes, for the fact that ROM hasn't really been around much. Well, that's not entirely true. ROM hasn't cut a promo in awhile. He's losed against Caleb Quick one week, attacked Zarek Lyle another week, and there was still nothing. ROM has shown that he does live outside Hellfire. Congratulations ROM.

The sound of shuffling cards, slot machines being pulled, and chips hitting the floor, indicates that the scene takes place in a casino of some sort. I'm actually sitting at one of the tables that has nothing but cards and chips on it. I set up a cardboard cutout of someone looking like Tannon Kade, and then set up a referee cutout. I sit across from the Tannon Kade cut out and turn to face the camera.

"This is where you were a couple weeks ago Ralph. Sitting in the exact same seat that I sit in now, metaphorically of course. You sat right here, Tannon Kade sat across from you, and the referee sat to your left. The referee with a deck of cards in his hand, and it was nothing more than just a game of poker. The cards were delt, Tannon seemed the victor with pocket jacks, but who could really tell the winner from the first two cards? Nobody. You can do some guessing, but nobody really knew who would win this hand, which just so happened to be for the DW Pit Championship."

It was the Ultraviolence match that was the subject at the moment. Tannon Kade versus Raplh O. Morris for the DW Pit Championship. A match long awaited, and would crown the first champion in DW history. As everybody knows, ROM obviously ended out on top of this match, but to get my point we have to go back to Ultraviolence, the week that I made my debut. As I watched the match from backstage, it never once crossed my mind that I would eventually be facing the victor of the match, of course, it never crossed my mind that the victor of this match would attack me from behind either. How ironic it is that I sat watching these two, admiring ROM, and now I have to wrestle the bastard.

"The onlookers at home viewed the showdown, and looked at your hand of a king and a two. Doesn't look to good for you at this point does it, Ralphy? No, it doesn't. The Flop is revealed, and look, there's a five, a ten, and a two for you. But unfortunately, Tannon still holds it to you with his two pair of aces. Bets are made and the Turn is revealed. Voila! Another two! Wow! What luck for you ROM. A three pair, which now puts you in the lead, of course, you didn't know this yet. The River is revealed and wow, another two! Tannon goes all in like a fool. True, poker is a game of bluffing but at this point, you go call his bluff. Tannon then learns the hard lesson that bluffing doesn't exactly work if your opponent has the other card. Congratulations ROM, you have won the glorious prize of the Pit Championship. Realizing his defeat, Tannon walks away from the table, never to be seen again. Unfortunately for you, there will be others coming to the table in the near future to test their hand."

That is exactly what would happen sooner or later, if it wasn't me, than who? Somebody would have stepped up eventually. I just chose to step up and take my shot, sooner rather than later. As I remembered ROM walking out of the Pit as the champion, I was actually a happy man. I was glad, because I believed he deserved the title back then. Now, I just seem him as a cheap computer freak, was nothing else to do than play some computer game. But of course, that wouldn't make me underestimate him. I mean, look at me, I am no less a freak than him.

"That's when we three came along. Orrin Stranger, Shaun Andrews, and I that is. We found ourselves at another table, facing off against each other for the first time. I'm not going to lie, because everybody, even you Ralph, knows what happened this hand. The cards just weren't on my side this time, and for Shaun Andrews, they were. I put up a fight, bluffed my heart out, but in the end he saw right through me, as well as Orrin. I admit it, I lost the hand, but I wasn't going to let Shaun Andrews stop me from attempting to actually win something. Fortunately for me, the only thing that was on the line in our showdown, was confidence, which I never really had going into it, so there was no reason to fret over losing something I never had, get it?"

Saying that, I wish I did have confidence going into that match. Maybe if I did, I might've come out like Shaun Andrews did. Then again, if I did win that match, things wouldn't be the same as they are now. Either Orrin Stranger or Shaun Andrews would be the one facing ROM for the title. So I suppose things worked out for me in the end. After all, I did accomplish more in losing the match. I received a title shot, and Shaun Andrews went on to the Deathcore Trophy tournament which he will probably lose in the long run.

"Anyway, it wasn't the unlucky ones who left the table this time, like Tannon Kade with you, but this time the victor left the table. Shaun Andrews walked off to join a tournament, and to find some more competition as he would say. Orrin and I, on the other hand, stayed at the table, both of us looking for redemption. It wasn't easy, I can tell you that much, but both of us coming off of a lose, we were on our game."

Honestly, I had hoped that Orrin would have put up more of a fight. True, it was a hard fought match, but I was kidding myself if I said that Orrin put his all into it. Where has Orrin been since that match anyway? I guess he ran away, just as Tannon did after he was defeated by ROM. I'm not going to lie, there is a big chance that I could lose this match. But anyone who believed I was going to be like Tannon or Orrin and run away if I did end up losing, had another thing coming. Deep down I know, that no matter who wins or loses this match, there will more than likely be a rematch at Bloodbath, this was turning into to good of a feud, not to have it on Bloodbath.

"I ended up with a nine and a five. Damn, why was I always the underdog in these sort of things? Orrin ended up with a queen and a ten. So far, Orrin had the upper hand with the high card. Then came the flop and there was nothing. Two fours, and a seven. It didn't help either one of us, which pretty much pissed us both off. Then came a five. Which was almost to good to ask for. Still, it was a pretty low pair, and I wasn't really sure whether to bet or not, after all, it was highly likely that Orrin had a higher pair than me. Then came a jack on the River. Crap. Now it was even more likely for him to put me away. When Orrin went all in, it didn't help. Oh well, life is about taking chances is what I always say. So I took a chance and called him. Wow! What do you know? I win! Wam! I slid out of that one by a hair. Confidence was my prize. The only question was, which table should I move to now?"

I had a hard time not saying it over and over again, but ROM was a coward, no question about it. Anybody who attacks somebody from behind during a private little self celebration, is a coward and that's all there is to it. I am far above attacking people from behind, and I am far above just insulting people. My thing is, I say what I am going to do, and I do it. In ROM's case, he attacked me, and so I take his Pit Championship. That's revenge enough for me.

But there was one thing that troubled me. That one thing is that Ralph isn't above cheating to get the win over someone. So what was to stop him from hitting me with the title again when the referee was distracted. Absolutely nothing. Well, maybe I could just abandon that little rule of cheating for this one time. If Ralph could get away with it, then who's to say that I can't defend myself? Nobody.

I suppose 'cheating back' wasn't my only defense against Ralph's unorthodox way of winning sometimes. I had one more trick card up my sleeve that Ralph, or anybody else for that matter, knew nothing about. My trick card has something on it that would surprise. But calling upon this person was only for specific purpose's. Only special purposes. So if Ralph felt lucky, he could hit me with something, he could bring one of his computer friends to the ring...if he felt lucky.

"That question wasn't in my mind to long, because you soon beat it out of my head. Harry Taylor made my decision for me after you had proceeded to attempt to injure me. It was only natural after your absurd behavior to move over to your table, which was unsurprisingly vacant except for you. So now I sit across from you, not Tannon. You sit across from me, not Orrin, not Shaun. Just you and me. Both of us coming off a win, who knows what could happen. Me with my...confidence, and you with that Pit Championship over your shoulder. What, did you think there would be no more contenders? You beat Tannon, and that's it? Ha! You truly do not deserve that title if you thought there wouldn't be anybody at the table after a few weeks. You've never even defended that title yet, but now here I am. I'm either walking out the new Pit Champion, or your first successful title defense. I think the first one is way more desirable."

Of course it is, who wants to go down in history as being somebodies first successful title defense, when you could have been the next champion? Which brings up the question of, if I do win this match, if I do capture the Pit Championship, then what next? There's no telling who my next challenger will be, and how long I will hold the championship. If I win this match, then ROM hasn't had any title defenses, and what if I follow in the Pit Championship curse? I don't want to hold the championship one week, then lose it the next, that's just pathetic.

"At the moment, it appears that I hold the ten of spades, and the king of spades. You hold pocket queens, hearts and clubs. The odds are against me, but everybody knows what I can pull off in this game. The flop comes up and it's the queen of spades, the jack of spades, and the two of diamonds. The first card helped both of us, the second card helped me, and the third card didn't help either of us. A ray of hope. I have a shot at a Royal Flush, but of course, you now have a three of a kind. The Turn comes up, and I hope it is anything but a queen, and low and behold, it's the queen of diamonds. Damn card. You laugh, because you know you almost have it in the bag. You are on card away from putting me away. But that one card, is all of the hope I have left. That one card, could be your downfall as well. We are both out of our chairs now, awaiting the next card. The referee burns a card, the traditional poker way, and then flips over the River. The card is..."

Pause for dramatic effect.

"The card is..."

Another pause for dramatic effect? Wow. I like making people wait. It's pretty fun watching how impatient they are.

"The card is..."

And yet another pause for dramatic effect. Okay, I admit I am pushing it a bit now. But you have to admit, I do have your attention now, don't I?

"Well, the card is blank, to be determined. You see ROM, you might have the upper hand on me, but I still have that wild card, I still have that small chance of taking that Pit Championship off of your shoulder. This game is all about luck, and how well you lie. But lying isn't an issue anymore, for the sole fact that we already know each others cards. The question I have to ask myself is, do I feel lucky? I guess we'll find out in a day or so, won't we ROM"

Damn, sorry about that. It was just to much of an opportunity to pass up. It was just so easy! Ha! No really, sorry though. Anyway, I guess you'll just have to tune into Hellfire this week to find out what the card is. I realize you must hate to wait, but patience is a virtue.

"Too bad the ace of spades is known as The Death Card"

It appears that I am the wild card in this match. The up and coming superstar that has a title shot. Hmmm...sounds familiar, doesn't it? Sort of the Rey Mysterio storyline. Well, sort of. Of course, Rey Mysterio had been wrestling for years and years already, and this is no World title shot. But I guess there is some comparison, and we all know who ended up winning that match at Wrestlemania.

Wouldn't it be something though if I was to be crowned the Pit Championship with only a small amount of experience under my wing. You have to admit, it would go great on my resume, for sure. This is sort of a dream for me. I never expected this to happen, well I did, because everybody has a big head and says they are going to be champion one day. But I didn't expect it to happen for a months, or years. I suppose this is a good thing though, my only worry is that it's happening to fast, and I could crack under pressure.

A thumbtack turnbuckle match though, wow. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but it sounds as if there are thumbtacks in the turnbuckles. It seems I am becoming quite the thumbtack magnet though, wouldn't you agree? I mean, in my first match with Orrin Stranger and Shaun Andrews, I was back body dropped onto a wooden horse, which just so happened to be filled with loads of thumbtacks. Whoa, go figure, right? But now, I find myself in a thumbtack turnbuckle match. Damn, if I'm not a thumbtack expert after this match, then I would be pretty surprised.

So yeah, there is a chance I could win this whole thing, but there is an even greater chance that I could lose this whole thing. I suppose we'll just have to wait, and hope for that ace of spades.

Gone.