Welcome to Gaia! ::

The audience in attendance watched as the ring announcer stepped in to the ring, she had a large smile on her face, almost like she knew a secret…She raised the microphone to her lips, took a breath, and spoke…

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please help me welcome…a multi-time World Champion, Tag Team Champion, former X-Cup team captain and Champion, the 3rd generation superstar…who has known to get a little HAAAAAAARDCOOOOOORE FROM TIME TO TIME!” she paused as the audience got a little rowdy, some of them connecting the dots, hoping she’s talking about who they think they’re talking about. “He is the Hall of Famer, Innovator, and HEAAAAART BRRREAKER! INTRODUCING! MMMMMMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE! LANDRYYYYY!”

The all too familiar guitar rifts that would herald the coming of Wrestling’s Ironman were drowned out by the explosion of sudden excitement from the audience. Everyone was out of their seats, craning their necks to try and get a look at the stage as the spotlights waved in the air and the music played. Finally, the man strode on to the stage with a grin on his face, soaking in the sound he’d missed for far too long. The sound was deafening, and all Landry could do was smile, and chuckle a bit, letting them scream their heads off, before hitting his classic ‘Heartbreak’ pose, drawing his thumb across his heart, one more time. He was dressed very nicely, black suit and neon green tie, dark blue button up shirt beneath the coat. He walked down the ramp, taking time to slap hands with every single fan he could reach at ring side, each side of the ramp, before finally making it to the ringside area, and taking an entire lap around the ring to give them all high fives as well. It took quite a bit, but Landry wasn’t working by the hour anymore. He was going to enjoy every second of this, because you never knew when you were going to have another chance. He positioned himself at the apron, looking both ways towards the fans, grinning, looking like he was going to do his trademarked vertical leap up to the apron as he used to, leaning over…then shaking his head, laughing and limping on his notoriously bad left knee back to the steps, waving his finger, mouthing to the crowd ‘I’m too old for that!’ He put one foot on the steel step…before looking back at the apron, tilting his head, and mouthing ‘screw it,’ and going back to the apron, and jumping up on to it in a single bound, much to the adulation of the fans! He slid between the ropes and slipped the microphone out of his suit pocket, waiting in the middle of the ring for the fans to stop screaming, cheering, chanting ‘WELCOME BACK! WELCOME BACK! WELCOME BACK!’ before finally…finally…speaking.

“Well I never really competed here but thanks for the welcome." Landry began, pausing for the cheap pop it demanded, "So I guess you all are wondering the same thing...After everything i've been through in this business, after the way that I left it, after the pain, the suffering, the blood sweat and tears, the cheers and jeers, the laughs, the pops, both from you and all over my body...what on earth could get me back between the ropes of a squared circle...?" Landry had a smile on his face, rubbing his chin just a bit as he paced a bit in the ring.
"Well like everything I do that's important to me, there's never just one reason. First, i'm here because Bad Blood Wrestling is the best damn product on the air today!" he said to a resounding pop, showing appreciation for the product and the fans, "I'm here because my good friends Matt Shanahan and Kelly King told me that any time I want to pop by, that there's a mic, a time slot, and some poor jabroni waiting for me!" He continued, eliciting another pop at the slightest hint that he might lace up his boots one more time, "And most importantly, i'm here because I just miss you guys too damn much!" He finished, to one more chorus of cheers, spreading his arms so he might soak it all in again, mouthing 'thank you, I love you guys,' to the camera. He bowed his head and a more serious look overtook his face, and he paced a bit more, looking at his feet.
"But those are not the only reasons i'm here...I have an...issue with the product right now, and issue I need to resolve. You see, throughout all of my rivalries, my battles, my wars, the faces of the men i've fought, they come and go. Some are remembered, some are forgotten...and some are emblazened on my psyche like nothing I have ever known before...but enough about walking in on Freakshow naked in a Tijuana donkey show." he said with a grin prompting a bit of a laugh. "I'm kidding...mostly...seriously if you've ever been around Freakshow, there's a great flee medicine they sell at Walgreens. I'm just saying...But I do need to talk about Freakshow in...as serious a manner as I can muster when speaking about him. You see, we have a lot of history, he's one of the first big road blocks I hit in my career, and the fact that he's still going strong long after i'm gone, after being here before me, is a true testiment to his ability and business savy. I've stated publicly that he's one of, if not the, hardest worker and best performer in our business," he said in a completely serious tone, and the audience responded with a polite applaud for Freakshow, Landry clapping with them.
"But that's why i'm here...We've had our battles, our differences, vandalism back and forth, property damage, etc., etc., but when it comes right down to it, there's always been a mutual respect between the two of us, which brings me to my point tonight. Mark Laundre..." the fans automatically boo'd, knowing where this is going, "Mark Laundre...is obviously a parody, and when you look at his stats, his alledged 'moves', though the only move i've ever seen him do is suck his thumb, it's a pretty good parody. I even laughed a bit when I heard about the guy, it's creative, it's a nice jab. HOWEVER...That doesn't change the fact that somebodies going to catch an a** kicking over it."
Landry finished on a very serious note and the crowd just about lost it's mind, wanting to see Landry put a BBW beating down on Freak and Laundre, his first sign of action since retiring.
"So at this time, i'm going to politely ask for Frekashow and Mark to come on out, waddle down that isle, climb up those steps, maybe make a base camp at the second one, I know it's a big hike, squeeze between these ropes which shouldn't be a problem with the combined greece of a McDonalds deep frier coming out of Freak's hair and Mark's pits, and face me in this ring like a man...so we can settle this...situation."
Mike lowered his microphone and waited in the ring, staring at the stage, waiting for a reply. He wasn't going anywhere.

Landry actually snickered at the HBK entrance Laundre made. He had to hand it to Freakshow, when he does something, he goes all the way. He leaned in the corner, watching Laundre put on his act, talking tough and dancing around like a spazz, wondering if he ever looked like that. He remembered a point where he did, and shook his head in shame and amusement. After a while, Landry just looked at Laundre, as if he was expecting him to say something, or do something, anything. Then Landry turned to look at the stage, as if Mark wasn't in the ring behind him, expecting something else to happen. It was a long, awkward moment, a bit confusing.

"What...really?" Landry asked in his microphone, still looking at the stage and ignoring Mark, "You're actually going to just...toss him to me and not come out yourself? Really?" Mike sighed, shaking his head, still smiling, turning to Mark and laughing, before looking back at the stage, "Aaaaalriiiiiight...but Freakshow, our business isn't over after this."

Landry put his arms at his side and walked casually up to Mark, sizing him up, taking off his jacket, carefully folding it, placing it at his feet to the side, rolling up his sleeves, removing his shades as the crowd got more and more excited and anxious as the idea of Landry in action again became more and more possible.

"So Mark, can I call you Mark? Mark...i've seen the act, and like I said, it's hysterical...but you know me...i'm a bit of a purist. And my belief, is that if you step between these ropes, in front of these people, you had better be able...to fight."

At which point Landry punctuated his sentance by trying to dot the eye of Laundre with the microphone! It was on!

((OH GOD! IT'S TRUE! IT'S ALL TRUE!))

Mike had expected a bit of crying as a result, but calling for his Dad? Who was his dad? Dear God, was it Freakshow? What poor woman had to suffer through that to create this poor b*****d? Regardless, a message had to be sent. Mike grabbed Mark's legs and tried tying them up a bit, attempting his Figure of Perfection. He was fully intent on drawing out Freakshow, or whoever 'Dad' was, or at least get this whiner to give up the gimmick.

Landry casually leaned on the submission, looking around, almost disinterested in what was going on, though Laundre's screams were getting quite bothersome. He looked down at Laundre's face nonchalantly and gives the submission a tweak or two.

"What did we learn?" Landry asked his doppelgänger in a condescending tone, at about the same time that a strange, poorly dressed, masked man for all intents and purposes, fell down the entrance ramp. Mike decided to let Mark go and walked over to the ropes, examining the trespasser for a second, cocking his head to the side. He looks around, shrugging his shoulders, asking the ring attendants, "what's going on?" Without the assistance of a mic.

Freakshow reveals himself, but it did very little to explain this excessively bizarre situation. Landry held his hands on his hips, looking back at Laundre, then to Freak with a raised eyebrow. Everything Freak did was for a reason, Mike knew that much. So why was Freak seemingly fearing for HIS life when it was Laundre's career that was in jeapordy. Landry's heart rate was elevated, sure, but it looked like Freak was about to have a heart attack. Not constantly having your, or your family's life at risk does wonders for a man's health, despite the recent divorce with Phoenixfire, which some had found out about via the Internet. Freak, however, appeared as if he had lived with nothing but pure agonizing hair on the back of your neck stress since Landry had retired. But why...? He picked up his microphone next to the groaning Laundre and faced Freak, eyeing him down.

"Okay Freak, I'll bite...why?" He demanded.

Landry seemed impatient with Freakshow, not really caring what he had to say. He did, however, take a long, hard look at the envelope of diamonds Freakshow was offering to him as an olive branch, wondering two things. 1: How in the hell did Freakshow get these, and 2: Why was he carrying around an envelope of FREAKING DIAMONDS like it was bus fare? Nothing added up to Landry, and it only made him more suspicious. Landry smacked the envelope out of Freak's hand, letting them spill out all over the canvas, before approaching Freak, standing over him and staring him down.

"I don't need you money, your diamonds, or anything else you have to offer. I am my own man and I will not be bought, and if you bring up my ex-wife again you're going to experience the same pain Mark just did, but I won't let go next time. All you did was piss me off, so if you don't supply me with either an answer to why you're protecting him, or a binding agreement to lose the damn gimmick, i'm going to drop him on these diamonds and leave you to clean up the mess."

It didn't have to come to this, Landry was just going to dish out the a** kicking they both deserved and allow the gimmick to continue, but Freak made it personal, so the punishment had to be increased.

The shouting fans along with the massive titantron showing a perfect angle, gave Landry a nice tipoff to Freak and Mark's plan. Landry sighed and rolled his eyes, turning around to try and hoist Laundre up on his shoulders, and power him back down in a throwback move, the FireBomb, right in to the pile of diamonds!

Mike wasn't fast enough to get up and counter Freak's wild flailing of an improvized tube sock weapon, but Matthias was. After being tossed out of the event by his 'godfather', Matthias snuck back in through the crowd and stayed close to the ring, so when things went haywire, he was there to help. Matthias leapt to the top rope and sprung off, aiming to land a swift flying head scissors on Freakshow to both protect his dad, and no small measure of revenge for himself.