[ The following occurs in the middle of the PPV card. ]
The crowd were abuzz with the feeling of joy, happiness, and a raucous and enticing need to see more action. The matches so far this evening had been fantastic, nothing less than the spectacle that they had to come expect of the WWFG brand. But something had been missing, something that was hyped up in the promotions for Vengeance - what was the plan for Nuke Fusion?
The man had been bloodied and beaten by The Syndicate and left injured, then returned at King of the Canvas, only to lose the match to interference by their manager, Adrian.
The thousands in attendance, as well as the millions watching at home, were suddenly greeted with the titantron lighting up. It showed the number '10' in a large, bold font.
10
The fans looked confused for a moment and murmured amongst themselves, as they contemplated what was going on. But then the number changed.. and began to count down.
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
There was a few moments where the screen seemed to stop at the number '1', the fans talking even louder now. Honestly, even the announcers had no idea what was going on.
JR: Well, what in the blue hell is going on with the screen?
King: Looks to me like the screen has frozen over, JR!
JR: Well, yeah, I can see that King. But what did the numbers mean?
King: Maybe the technical team were testing out the titantron for something!
The crowd just weren't sure what was going on, before the 1 faded away and was replaced with a message.
The message stayed on screen for a small while, leaving the audience to continue chattering amongst themselves, completely unaware of what was going on.
A spotlight hit the center of the ring and took the attention of the crowd, as some shouts went across the crowd. From the top of the arena a man dressed in white was being lowered down to the center of the ring.
As some of the fans spotted who it was, a massive cheer rang out across the arena. It reverberated around as the man held on with his left hand, waving his right to the adoring crowd.
Reaching the canvas, he quickly unstrapped himself and stepped to the side, as the harness went back up into the rafters. Standing in the ring, dressed in a clean white attire.. stood Nuke Fusion.
The man who had been at the beatings of The Syndicate recently had taken center stage, and reaches in to his back pocket, pulling out a WWFG microphone.
Raising the microphone to his lips, he's immediately cut off by the crowd chanting his name.
Nuke! Nuke! Nuke! Nuke!
Fusion smiled and paced the ring a little, walking in a small circle and waving to the crowd. He had an air of tranquility about him, something unusual for this man. Finally, he started to talk.
"For months, since my return, the group known as The Syndicate have been a thorn in my side."
Even before he was able to continue, there was suddenly a massive jeer in the room to the name drop of The Syndicate. Nuke nodded his head as he paced and kept the microphone up, waiting for his moment to continue speaking.
"Drako Damone, World Heavyweight Champion, flanked by his family members. Who, now happens to be the World Tag Team Champions."
Right on cue, another chorus of jeers hailed down. Clearly The Syndicate were doing something right to piss off all these fans.
"I have returned to you all today with a message, and it is a very.. very important message indeed. You see, I beat the World Heavyweight Champion in this very ring.. 1.. 2.. 3.
I laid him out on the canvas and stole a win from him, and that win.. made something inside him snap. Now, there are two theories for this. One is that his 'good guy' persona was all an act, that he was pretending to be something he's not, and that he finally got bored of the gimmick.
The second is that he had become so self-aware of his greatness and winning streak, that he was overcome with emotion when he lost, and that has led him down this darker path.
Either way..."
Nuke stopped pacing this time and walked over to the ropes, looking dead in to the eyes of a camera. This time he was talking on a personal level.
"Drako, I know you. I know your family, I know them better than I know most other people in this business.
When I went to war with the Damone dynasty all those years back, that's what it felt like. It felt like I was bringing down a dynasty, something that really meant something.
Now.. now, it feels like The Syndicate have been formed to take me down and cement your place on your golden throne."
Nuke looked down at his feet for a moment, contemplating the words in his head before he spoke them out loud. He nodded to himself again and looked back up at the camera. In these moments it felt like the audience around Nuke and the camera was on mute, it felt personal, it felt like Fusion was really trying to connect with The Soaring Dragon.
"Drako, I have one important thing to say to you, and it has taken me a lot of soul searching to be able to say this.
Drako.. I forgive you."
A big smile came over the man in white, as he leaned further in to those ropes and a little closer to the camera.
"I forgive you for what you have done, and I forgive you for what you must do in the future.
I understand what you are doing, because I once did the same thing. I would have rather seen everyone around me burn to the ground, leaving me the only man left standing, than to accept loss.
You can call me Nuke, The Redeemer."
The crowd noise suddenly shot up again, massive choruses of cheers and elation from the crowd. A chant shot out around the arena.
Redeemer! Redeemer! Redeemer!
"These people know it as well as I do, that deep down you are not a bad person. You are just hungry for power. You see me as one of your biggest threats to your title reign, and for good reason - I am one of the few in this business that could legitimately take that world title from you, my friend.
But I forgive you still.
Drako, you left me bleeding out on this canvas not that long ago, as I was stretchered out by paramedics. My life was on the line with the amount of blood I lost, and I was kept in hospital for longer than I care to remember, set back with a mass concussion.
But I forgive you for that.
Drako, I returned at King of the Canvas with an open challenge. I got to take on "Showtime" Salem Croft, in a match that I had wanted for years. It came down to the crucial last moments, and you had sent your manager, Adrian, out to ringside.
Your manager left me unconscious again, striking me again on the head multiple times with his cane. It left me unable to continue the match, costing me a loss in what should have set me on a two-and-nothing streak here in WWFG.
For that, Drako, I forgive you.”
Nuke stepped back away from the cameras and paced the ring again, eyes looking out towards the crowd. The atmosphere was incredible, they couldn’t believe that the same Nuke Fusion who returned a few months ago, had now re-envisioned himself as The Redeemer.
Fusion stepped towards a turnbuckle, climbing it and perching at the top. He set his left foot up high on the top rope, leaning against it slightly.
”For anyone in the past who despised me, for the things I did that were despicable or deplorable, you all forgave me. The entire WWFG Universe, you gave me all a second chance, and this is my moment to return the favour to a certain person.
Drako, I will be watching, I will be waiting. Though you are forgiven, The Redeemer will get his opportunity in the ring once more.
The Redeemer speaks, and thus it is so.”
As he was speaking, the harness that carried Nuke was being lowered back down to the ring. Nuke steps inside it and attaches himself again, as slowly he is lifted further up and up, microphone still in hand.
”Your Redeemer is here, and will return soon enough.”
Eventually Fusion is brought out of sight as the crowd all start to cheer wildly, still a little stunned by what had just occurred as well. The commentators talk amongst themselves.
King: Well, it looks like Nuke is back with a vengeance, JR.
JR: It looked the complete opposite to me, King. Looked like Nuke was here to save Drako or something.
King: But can Drako be saved!?
JR: I think Nuke might be one of the only men able to, but we’ll have to wait and see.
