Hoop it Up/The Last Ditch Effort

*Everybody enjoys basketball. In fact now more than ever, March Madness is in it's final days, and there is a future National Champion to be crowned. As for the NBA, their season is also entering the final month of their regular season. Basketball is a simple game, dribble, shoot, score. Some say the same can be said for professional wrestling; punch, kick, pinfall. But not all things are simple as they seem to be. Basketball involves much more skill than basic dribbling and shooting, there's the killer crossover, the backhanded dribble, run 'n gun offenses, pick and rolls, hard screens that send a defender crashing down onto the hardwood floor, much like a wrestler when he's slammed onto the cement. Wrestling is also more complicated than many may make it out to be. It involves complicated countersubmissionsists, lucha libre style wrestlers, guys that just like to outright brawl with you, no matter where you are. Then there's the guys who can do it all. The guys that can perform when the pressure is at its highest, this applies for both basketball and professional wrestling, when you're feeling under pressure, you need to take your shot, shoot for the stars, and make the biggest bucket of your entire life. Some NBA teams have never won the title, many more NCAA college hoops teams have not win a championship game in March. And many wrestlers never achieve the highest dream of all aspiring grapplers, the Worlds Title. No matter what promotion the wrestler is competing in, the goal remains the same, to be the best of the best, no matter what the costs. No matter if you are a player in the NBA or a Division 2 basketball team, being the best in your area is something that you can brag about for your entire life. Nothing more can be true of this championship stigma than Dusty J. Dusty, coincidentally is also a huge basketball fan. He loves the thrill of basketball and professional wrestling, while wrestling may be what his career is, the love of basketball also runs deep within him, and he, like many of those wrestlers and teams, has not been the man, he has never won a Worlds title, and that's what was expected of him the minute he entered Elite Fantasy Wrestling. Was it his fault that the expectations placed on him were high? No, it was to be expected, he was the biggest name the company had in its initial days. Now others, such as TJ RocKer, Peligro, Jake Snypes, and Dirk Bentley have joined him on the EFW radar, yet he is still to be the man. After all, he can't lose right? It's destiny that he take his place on top of the EFW mountain and be their innaugral king. Immense pressure will always be there, but to try and counteract it, Dusty and Greg Dixson are at a local gym in Los Angeles playing a game of one on one basketball. This eases the tension for Dusty, it's a release if you will. Some guys collapse under pressure. Some take to drinking, some vanish altogether, Dusty, on the other hand, deals with the expectations by letting them all slip away for a few hours a day on the hardwood.*

Greg, I've got to tell you man, this has all been getting to me. It seems that everytime I see somebody talk about this Rising Dreams tournament, it's about me. Always me. Why man?

*Dusty pump fakes a three on Greg and quickly drives into the lane, laying the basketball in with ease. Greg simply sighs, he always gets whooped by Dusty in basketball, after all, he's a 35 year old guy, not in very good shape as it is, and Dusty is a 25 year old professional wrestler. Dusty checks the ball to Greg, and the overzealous best friend of Dusty's air balls a 3. Dusty tosses the ball aside and sits on the bleachers. Greg walks over and joins him, opening up a bottle of water that he had sitting there. He takes a swig of it and looks to his friend.*

Well Dust, it's pretty simple to me. They want you. All of them want you. They want Dusty J in the finals, they want to make sure that they beat you, because they know you're one of the absolute best in the business. And you know that too man, you have to avoid collapsing under the pressure. I know you've been having some strange dreams lately, and I can tell you're stressed, but trust me, it's because they would like nothing more than to beat you in the finals, that's why you're constantly being brought up by these guys.

Yeah. I guess in a strange way I should be happy that they are so concerned about me, but I have to say that after a while it gets a little unnerving.

You've got to remember that you're not competing against everybody in this thing, you only have to wrestle three matches to win the tournament. Don't let all these other guys get to you, especially because most of them aren't even in your bracket.

That bracket is so wide open though, know? There's no telling which direction a potential finals opponent will come from. It could be anybody.

Well yeah, that's true, do you think it's going to be TJ RocKer?

I'll tell you something about TJ RocKer, the guy is a wrestling machine. Cruiserweights, heavyweights, hell, super heavyweights have problems with him. He's not the biggest guy, and certainly i'm not, but I compare him a whole lot to Steve Nash. He's fast, and he's a demon in the ring, he can make things happen no matter where he is, turnbuckle, inside, outside, ground, doesn't matter. Somebody that throws you off pace that much makes your timing go to hell, and if you can't concentrate on what the hell you're supposed to do next, a guy like that will eat you alive more times than not. He's a legend, pure and simple. I have experience against him, the three way Cruiserweight Title Match where Blaze was also apart of, and a tag match or two, even a six man match where we were on the same side. Of course, the Cruiserweight Title ladder match we had was a highlight, that just shows more matches that he's been apart of and took control for a long time, but I got past him, and I think I very well could again.

What about Dirk Bentley? Didn't you say he was in the dream you had? And Corey The Wolf Morrison too?

Yeah, most definitely. Those guys are good at providing some sort of uncomfort with me, hell, they got me dreaming about them didn't they? I think they're a lot like those two guys that play for the Seattle Sonics, Vladimir Radmanovic and Antonio Daniels. They are the kind of guys who you never expect to make as big an impact as they actually do. Radmanovic is like Bentley, he comes in out of nowhere and banks the big three ball to tie the game. Bentley said some harsh things, and he came in and didn't care who heard them, he pretty much told the entire roster that he could kick their asses any day of the week, and twice on Easter Sunday. The Wolf and Daniels are both guys who can move extremely well, and when you think that you have the inside edge to beating them, bam, you get hit with a charge, countered, you lose your grip and you get beaten by a quick layup, or in The Wolf's case, rollup. If I ever get his with his Howl superkick he'll probably knock my teeth out, so i've got to be aware of where I am in the ring.

*Dusty and Greg get up to resume their game. Dusty is currently leading this "first to 21" by 19 points, 19 to nothing. Dusty has possession behind the three point arc and just looks at his old friend. He smirks and launches a three point shot and it's all money. Greg looks and just sighs.*

Damn Greg, where was your defense? That's like a lot of these guys who don't even bother to work out and try to be the best that they can be. Guys like Werewolf, or Marcus Henderson. You know who those guys remind me of? One of the biggest chumps in the history of the NBA, they strike me as a Shawn Kemp type. They used to try the best they could, they used to give a damn, or atleast acted like they did. And now nothing, they show no passion for the sport of professional wrestling, they stay at home and watch reruns of South Park, or the Jeremy/Russ sex tape all day, it's guys like that that make me sick. Quite franky, they should be fired on the spot, because if they don't give a damn, the front office shouldn't give a damn either. Every single time that I would talk to Marcus Henderson he would tell me about how he wants to become the next big star in wrestling, psst, star my ass, it's obvious that he doesn't care, and that's the worst part of all, he had some game, he's one of those draft picks that just didn't work out, like Kwame Brown. It just amazes me how anyone can just not try.

Was my defense really that pathetic?

Well you were just standing there and watching me launch a three over you from straightaway.

Cut me some slack, I do weigh over 300 pounds here.

You really should try and slim down, you know, good ol' diet and excersise, Slimfast, Trimspa baby!

OH shut up and give me the damn ball

*Greg snatches the ball out of a laughing Dusty J's hands and hurls another blank three. Dusty begins cracking up even more. Greg looks at the clock on the wall and points to it. Dusty sees it and jumps up, they should have been out of the gym and at the airport over an hour ago. They both make a mad dash the front desk of the gym. Dusty grabs the phone from the receptionists hands and dials the airline to see if there are any later flights.*

We have the worst damn luck you know that?

What do you mean?

Well think about it Greg. First we have to hitchhike in Canada with some guy who did sexual stuff with poultry, and then there was the time we got locked inside of that janitors closet, and then there was the time..

Ok ok I get it. Do they have any flights open for tonight?

I don't know, the bastards have me on hold, and they're playing Rod Stewart, who besides Danny Robes is fruity enough to listen to this crap?

Yeah, Rod Stewart, he's for middle aged women and homos.....stupid Rod Stewart...

*Greg is secretely ashamed, he loves Rod and all those great American classics that he sings. He even has on Rod Stewart underwear, but of course nobody is going to know about that. Dusty finally gets through to an operator, and as it turns out, some tickets are available at 7:30, plenty of time to drive an hour to the airport, check in, get some chow, and then board their plane.*

Ok man we need to make a dash to the car and skeedadle on out of here, the plane departs in four hours, and I want to make sure that I get a window seat and pick up the latest issue of US Weekly, not lets go!

*Dusty jogs over to the door of the gym and pushes them out the way and runs to the car, Greg has slightly worse luck, he trips over his shoelace and does a forward roll through the doors, he gets up and crawls in the car to join Dusty. Dusty quickly starts the gas and pulls out of the parking lot, onto the airport!*

Hey Dust, what about Jake Snypes?

*Dusty looks at Greg with a confused face.*

I don't know, what about him?

Well I heard he was talking about you earlier.

Really now?

Yeah, let me see if I can pull up some quotes....

*Greg types some stuff into his laptop and pulls up some quotes from the Jake Snypes promo earlier in the day.*

Ok, Snypes says, and I quote, "If you lounge your weak 200 lbs body at me I will snap you in half like a twig. I don�t care how long you�ve trained for, nothing can possibly prepare you for what you are going to experience tomorrow night. If you happen to be lucky enough to make it past your other competition I�ll be waiting at the finish line waiting joyfully ready to trip you as you try and cross. I�ll glady collect the belt and wave it in front of your face well laughing uncontrollably."

Ha ha, lounge my weak 200 pounds huh? Well obviously Mr. Snypes isn't familiar with how I go about my business. And being that he's only got about 40 pounds on me I highly doubt that he could 'snap me like a twig' especially considering i've beaten a 350 guy like Arc Angel.

But man, it's a different year different time....

Yeah, you're right, it is, I weighed considerably less when I beat Arc. Sure it's going to be harder to bodyslame or Gangbang Jake Snypes, but i'm certainly capable of taking him to the top of the charts, or giving him a drive by.

*After about an hour of driving they finally arive at the airport. Since they have nothing on them but their wallets and the clothes on their backs, they walk right in and look around through the various newstands. They then see a restaurant, they had been playing a lot of hoops, and were pretty hungry, so they decided to stop and get a burger. Dusty ordered a cold shake and some fried, Greg ordered a double cheeseburger and a cold beer, they sat on the stools and continued to discuss the tournament.*

You think Snypes will even make it to the finals against you?

With a guy like that he very well could. Week after week Jake Snypes is a guy who is regarded as one of the top talents we have here, and he really should be paid more attention to, but for him to say he's going to laugh in my face, that just sort of ticks me off. I've always considered myself a guy that's pretty big on respect, and it's become rather apparent to me that Jake Snypes couldn't give a damn about R-E-S-P-E-C-T or anybody else but Jake Snypes. Hell, it works with some guys, some selfish players can do great things, Allen Iverson went to the finals with the Sixers by taking every shot, but you know what? Allen Iverson didn't win that finals, he lost. And I think Jake Snypes will lose too. The cocky, arrogant guy that he is sometimes overlooks things, not necessarily other wrestlers, but certain things. He doesn't want to hook the leg, nonchalant cover here, nonchalant taunting there, i'm saying there's never any telling what can happen inside of the squared circle, he's a great wrestler, Iverson is a great shooter, sometimes the shots just don't fall, and sometimes it just isn't meant to be.

Yeah, what do you make of all these guys DHW bashing?

Dangerously Hardcore Wrestling got me started in this business, and i'm very proud that I was able to be apart of it, wrestling with legends like DJ, TJ RocKer, and Nemesis. I even won some titles, got some good victories, and that all prepared me for something like this. I said a while ago, before my match with Jeremy Nolin, that DHW was dead and buried. DHW is indeed gone, but the spirit lives on. These guys trash talking DHW is like insulting the dead after they've been buried, it just doesn't set right with me. Maybe TJ is right about these guys, maybe they are scared that DHW guys are just going to kick their asses, maybe they really just don't genuinly like us talking about it. But what they don't, and will never understand, is that it lives on within the three of us. I don't see eye to see with TJ RocKer on most things, and I sure as hell don't see eye to eye with Peligro on most things, but we all know that DHW's legacy will not be spit on, it won't be mocked, by these lowlives who inhabit the EFW locker room. If I get the chance to take on any of the guys who make fun of where I came from, the company that made me, made TJ, and made so many others, then i'm going to beat the living hell out of them with no regard for their wellbeing, it won't be a wrestling match, it's going to be a fight. You worked there Greg, you can't tell me you weren't pissed off about what was being said, you weren't a wrestler but damnit you lived it! You know, you know that DHW still lives and will forever live in our souls.

*Greg nods a takes a swig of his Bud Light. He picks up his cheeseburger and takes a big bite and asks muffledly.*

How about Peligro?

Nobody surprised me more with his comments than Peligro did. Peligro and I knew each other in DHW, but since he was mostly doing color commentary, we had no beef, after all, why should we have? But then he came here, took the Extreme Title, and is now saying that i'm a knight, he respects me. Believe it or not, I also respect him. You can't have anything but respect for a guy who's seemingly done it all. He's won title after title all over the world. I want no more than to meet Peligro in the final round of the tournament, and if we do, we're going to have the wrestling match of a lifetime. And if I come out on top, i'm going to take the DHW Extreme title, because Peligro is right, it means as much to me than anything including the EFW Worlds Title, and then, i'm going to unify those titles, and whether guys like Corey Morrison like it or not, DHW's legacy will forever be linked to EFW's.

*Dusty and Dixson get done eating. They walk over to check in at their gate, their flight leaves in two hours or so. Dusty walks over to the receptionist and shows his Passport and ticket, but the woman at the counter looks at him strangely.*

Sir, you're not going to Seattle.

Huh? Yeah, I know that, i'm going to Canada.

Sir your flight doesn't leave until tomorrow morning at 7:05.

7:05 in the morning!? Oh crap! I thought it left tonight at 7:05!

I'm sorry sir.

*Dusty turns and faces Dixson with a frustrated look.*

Didn't I tell you we had the worst luck? It's just like all my Worlds title shots. Time after time man i'm expected to finally win it all, but then something stops me. I'm telling you Greg, at Rising Dreams i'm going to break down whatever barrier has been holding me back and claim that EFW title. But until then, we might as well drive back to the crib, because we're got a longer wait than we thought, we can even go back to the gym and play some 1 on 1.

*Dusty and Greg then leave the airport. They drive home in silence and dissapointment. When they get back to Dusty's, he flips on the tv to see what else? A basketball game on ESPN.

You know Greg, one day, like these Lakers, i'm going to build a dynasty, and hopefully that day will be at Rising Dreams, my time begins now.*

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