Message #21637

[Adam Grant]

The video wall shows what match is next, creating a buzz throughout the arena before the camera finds Gaby standing in the center of the ring with a smile on her face.

Gaby: The following contest is scheduled for one fall, and it is for the FFW Future Shock Championship!

Zack: We’ve taken our final commercial break of the evening, and we’ll be here till it’s over! The question is can Harley Shannon make lightning strike twice in the same place? We’ll find out before we leave the air tonight, Lyn.

Lyn: My money is on ‘yes’. Maybe that’s just biased reporting and answers.

As Seven Notes in Black by the Vince Tempera Orchestra begins to play, Harley Shannon appears on the stage wearing a leather jacket over her ring attire, with her tied up in a bun, held in place with a pair of chopsticks. Harley stands quietly in the spotlight as the song stops playing.

Gaby: Introducing first, the challenge...weighing in at 122 lbs, standing 5’6” tall and coming from Hanover, New Hampshire...HARLEY SHANNON!!!

After a couple of moments of silence the song starts up once more - with a more eerie tone and at that moment Harley starts off down the ramp, shedding her leather jacket before reaching back and pulling the chopsticks out of her hair and shaking her head to let her bright, flame red hair fall down around her shoulders. As she got to the bottom of the ramp, the girl picked out a young fan at ringside, giving the chopsticks to the fan before she slides into the ring and pops to her feet. Heading for the corner, Harley climbs to the middle rope, throwing her hands up in the air to get cheers from the fans before she drops back down to the canvas and waits for the match to begin.

Zack: Harley Shannon has waited months to get her rematch for the Future Shock Championship. And given history, I’m not sure there’s a better place than right here almost a year to the date for her to claim it.

Lyn: No better place, and you know what Zack? No better opponent. Former champion Gillie Barnes herself has admitted time and time again that Harley Shannon is everything she is... Better. And we know how McKinley feels about Gillie and vice versa.

The lights in the arena sharply cut off, leaving everything in complete darkness. The chiming of a clock is heard echoing in the darkness, followed by a chipper, circus like chime tone. As the tone chimes on, a vibrant gold spotlight shines down on the top of the stage. The circus chimes are soon replaced by the opening chorus of “Villain” by Wildfire.

"Tic tic toc, the time bomb clock
Ticks grinning ear to ear here baby
Tic Tic Toc, the time bomb clock
ticks counting down...
tic, tic stop!"

At the exact moment “stop” is sung, the song kicks into full gear, setting off a series of shimmering gold strobe lights going off on either side of the ramp. A few seconds pass before the controversial redhead, Valerie McKinley makes her way out from behind the curtain and stands in the immediate center of the stage, standing in the gold spotlight. Coming out behind her and standing next to her was fellow Gold Standard member, Stacey Sky.

"You know I speak in riddles,
And I’m plotting to destroy
Villain as I always was
Crazy is as crazy does"

Clad in a mid-thigh length leather jacket worn open over her gear, Valerie looks around at the crowd showering her with a rousing chorus of boos. Her championship is slung over her right shoulder as she looks over at Stacey and the pair simply shake their heads. The strobe lights begin to lessen in intensity as the pair makes their way down the aisle, her arms at her side and a focused look on her face. As she makes her way to the ring, the fans on either side of the aisle make their displeasure at her appearance rather noticeable, which Valerie simply dismisses with an arrogant flip of her hand.

"My sanity's in short supply
Mad as a hatter, hey surprise!
T-T-T-Ticking bomb on the inside
Livin' with the villain pacing in my mind."

Gaby: Ladies and gentlemen, making her way down to the ring, being accompanied by ….Stacey Sky?…..from Providence, Rhode Island...she is the reigning FFW Future Shock  Champion…….Valerie McKinley!!

The boos grow louder as Stacey hops up onto the apron and climbs into the ring. Valerie hops up onto the apron and spins around so her back is resting on the ropes. With her head bowed, she lifts both arms up towards her head and has her pointer finger and thumb on both hands close to her head. She lifts her head up and extends her arms out, her fingers pointing out at the crowd like pistols. She then makes a motion like she was firing her finger guns at the crowd before turning around to see the referee already holding the ropes open for her. She steps through the open ropes and into the ring.

"I'm blowing up the mystery
And all the pretty things you see
Light flame to fuse
And Sparks will fly
You said goodnight
Now say goodbye."

Once in the ring, she walks around with her left arm extended outward,her right hand hoisting her title aloft, reveling in the heat from the crowd. She walks over to the corner and peels off her jacket, letting it drop to the apron as the lights return to normal and her music fades out. She rests her back against the turnbuckles and brushes a few stray strands of hair out of her face, awaiting the start of the action.

Zack: I guess Kilmeade’s somewhere hiding from Bianca Reed, and now we have an easily triggered Stacey Sky in Valerie’s corner.

Lyn: Patience Free, is the best description of Stacey Sky.

Referee Jennifer Stringer takes the title from Valerie, and holds it overhead until Gaby leaves the ring with it in her grasp. She checks both women, and calls for the bell to start the match. The Sydney crowd is immediately behind Harley, causing Valerie to roll her eyes and head towards the center. As the two meet there, Valerie begins telling her how much better she is than Anna, and the fairy tale ends tonight. Harley stands her ground though, not showing Valerie any emotion before the pair locks up in the center. The champion quickly transitions into a hammerlock, causing Harley to grimace slightly before she grabs her head and brings her down with a snapmare. The redhead is quick to get up, but gets caught in a Japanese armdrag takedown from the challenger. McKinley pops up again before Harley delivers a running kneelift into her head. It wobbles her backwards until Shannon yanks her forward, and plants her with a neckbreaker.

Zack: Harley looks like she’s already setting the table for her favorite submission later in this match, Lyn. That’s how she won the title after all last year here in Australia.

Lyn: That Harley Headlock has spelled disaster for every... EVERY single opponent she has come before and as good, and I will admit this Zack, you can take it to the bank, we can keep it on record. As DAMN good as Valerie McKinley is... That neck crack is def. Not even death. “Def”.

Valerie gets back to her feet, and shoves Harley away. But the challenger returns the favor, and shoves her back into the corner. As soon as the champion starts to step out, Harley rushes her with a running forearm to the side of her head. Three more follow that before she snaps her arms around her waist, and plants her with a belly to belly suplex. Harley wastes no time in getting back to her feet before she takes off for the far side. As Valerie is starting to get up again, Harley uses a baseball slide to land under her to fire a palm thrust into her neck. The champion starts coughing profusely before Harley scoops her up and spikes her down with a spinebuster. The challenger circles around behind her with the crowd getting louder in her favor, and catches the 1 Percenter in a cobra clutch when she gets to her feet.

Lyn: Shannon is working that neck over like it owes her money and damn if I don’t love me a good cobra clutch.

Zack: She’s going right back to the strategy she employed against Anna Giovanna when she won the title for the first time in this very city last year.

Valerie lunges towards the ropes, only to get dragged back to the center of the ring. Harley tries to tighten her grip on the hold as Stacey pounds the mat on the outside. Stringer moves around in front to check for a submission, but doesn’t get one. Shannon tries to step on the back of her leg to bring her down to the mat, but Valerie manages to avoid that before she dashes to the corner and falls to drive Harley face first into the middle turnbuckle. Both women collapse to the mat with the challenger kneeling in the corner, while Valerie rolls away to pull herself together.

Zack: Not a bad counter to the cobra clutch, and Harley definitely got her bell rung right there by the champion. Valerie better follow up though.

Lyn: I like that McKinley is rolling away here. Giving herself the space she needs to work the game plan she has. That’s some veteran work right there.

The 1 Percenter gets back to her feet, looking over to see Harley in the corner and delivering a face wash with her boot to her head. With gritted teeth, she grabs her head and spikes it repeatedly into the bottom turnbuckle before stepping onto her neck. The referee gets to a four count before Valerie steps off, waving Harley to get off the mat. The champion doesn’t wait very long before she starts to do just that, and then pulls Shannon backwards into a reverse DDT. A quick cover with a leg hook follows that.

Zack: Valerie looking to send us all home early right here!

ONE!!

TWOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

NOPE!!

Harley kicks out at two, causing Valerie to get back to her feet. She rakes her boot across her face in irritation before Harley makes it back to her feet. A wristlock is applied into a short arm lariat from the champion.

Zack: Valerie calls that the CROWN JEWEL, and it was certainly effective as she continues to do more damage to Harley.

Harley starts to rise again, only to be greeted with a pair of European uppercuts that rock the challenger back into the ropes. The champion sends her across with an Irish whip. She goes for a spinning backfist on the rebound, but Harley ducks underneath it and gives her one instead when she turns to face her. The crowd came back to life here as Harley fired right hands in bunches, and drove Valerie back into the corner. Shannon climbed to the top rope, raising her fist to a pop from the crowd and then began to unload ten punches to the champion’s head. McKinley staggered out of the corner, turned to Harley and waved her forward as she wobbled. Harley granted her request with a dropkick to her chest that dropped her.

Lyn: Let it never be said that the Future Shock champ doesn’t welcome the fight, even to her detriment.

Zack: I’m not sure Valerie realized what she was doing there. That looked like a case of being punch drunk to me.

The champion began to get up again before Harley hooked her head into position, and hoisted her up. She held her in place for about three seconds before driving her into the mat with a brainbuster. The champion was quickly rolled over as Harley made a lateral press with a leg hook for the cover.

Zack: Harley let all the blood go to the champion’s head with the arrogance that’s already there, and one brainbuster could net her the gold one more time!

ONE!!!

TWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

THR-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Valerie’s shoulder came up in time. Harley wasted little time in getting back to her feet, and heading for the corner now. She made her way to the top turnbuckle, looking between her legs to see the referee checking on Valerie. It was then that Stacey climbed onto the apron, and shoved the challenger off to the floor in a heap. Harley crashed into the barricade before she landed, and Stacey dropped back to the floor before the referee turned around.

Lyn: Well... It actually took longer for Stacey to insert herself than I expected. Kudos... I guess.

Stringer looked a little confused seeing Harley where she was on the outside, but began her ten count anyway as Valerie began to pull herself together. She finally made it back to her feet, and encouraged the referee to continue her count. Stringer did just that as Harley crawled back to the ring, and used the ropes to help her get back on the apron. The 1 Percenter brushed past the referee, and pulled Harley’s head under the top rope. With her feet hanging off the middle, Valerie drove Harley into the mat with a suspension DDT. She quickly hooked a leg as she rolled across for the cover before the referee began to count.

Lyn: Speaking of “softening up for a finishing blow” it looks like McKinley is reading Shannon for that Divine Providence.

ONE!!!!

TWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

THREEEEE-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Harley got her shoulder up in time once more, and Valerie made her suffer for it by spiking her head into the mat repeatedly. She rolled her onto her stomach, and dragged her away from the ropes to apply a camel clutch.

Zack: It’s back to work for Valerie. She’s finding out how difficult it is to keep Harley down, something many of her opponents can attest to.

The referee dropped down in front of the challenger, asking her if she wanted to stop the match. Harley made it clear she didn’t, causing Valerie to grit her teeth again and lean back a little further in the hold to increase the pressure. Shannon’s face was contorted in pain as the referee checked again. She got the same answer a second time as Valerie finally leaned back as far as she could. Harley’s face was wracked in agony before she pushed two of Valerie’s fingers into her mouth, and bit into them. The redhead shouted in pain, and immediately let go. She rose to her feet, and started shaking her hand.

Lyn: Kids if you wanna counter a submission, biting a hand has proved to be the best way to go about it.

Zack: You do what you have to do in a big match like this. It’s not always pretty in the ring, but that was certainly effective.

Harley climbed back to her feet as Valerie turned around, and clocked the champion with a right cross to the jaw. Three more landed in rapid succession before the challenger whipped her across for the ride. Valerie rebounded into a kick to the gut before Harley grabbed her leg and sent her flying with a Saito suplex. The crowd once again began getting behind the challenger as Harley took a moment to recover, still in pain from what she’d endured. When she saw Valerie starting to get up again, she grabbed her around the waist for a gutwrench suplex. Shannon dove across her for the cover, and hooked the leg in the process.

Lyn: beautiful gutwrench by Harley and that might be it for the champion!

ONE!!!

TWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-NOOOOOOOO!!

The champion’s shoulder shot up off the mat, and Harley once again headed for the corner. She checked to see where Stacey was, and then went to the other side of the ring to make her ascent. Quickly measuring her adversary, Harley came off the top rope with an elbow drop to Valerie’s heart and then went for the cover once again!

Zack: Harley from up top right into the elitist heart of Valerie McKinley! This could be the beginning of a second reign!!

ONE!!!

TWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-WHOA!!!

The count never finished as Harley was pulled off the cover by Stacey. The referee and the challenger both got to their feet. Stringer read Stacey the riot act before Harley took off for the far side, using a dive between the ropes to take Stacey down on the outside. A bevy of punches followed that, to the delight of the crowd.

Lyn: Shannon has had ENOUGH of Stacey Sky! Enough has become too much for her!

Valerie began to stir, and saw that Stacey had left the Future Shock Championship in the corner for her. She started to crawl towards it as the referee went to the outside to separate the two women, and try to get Stacey out of the arena. Harley rolled back into the ring, seeing Valerie slumped against the corner.

Lyn: Shannon is looking to bring this to the end but... No, I don’t think she sees the title near the champion!

Harley went to grab her before Valerie went to hit her with it. But Shannon knocked it away. Harley caught her with a flash kick to the jaw, followed by a roundhouse kick, and then a backward thrust kick to the jaw that flattened her. She pulled her out of the corner to make a cover just as the referee happened to look back, and rush into the ring.

Lyn: THE ERUPTION! AND WHAT AN ERUPTION IT IS!

ONE!!!!

TWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Stringer called for the bell to an eruption from the crowd. Harley rolled off the cover, her mouth agape as she realized what she had done again. And when the referee raised her hand and handed her the title, she let out a scream of enthusiasm!

Zack: What do you know about that? Harley Shannon has done it again! Tell’em about it, Gaby!!

Gaby: Here is your winner…and for the 2nd time….NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWW FFW Future Shock Champion………...HARLEY SHANNON!!!

Fireworks began to blast off throughout the arena as Harley looked at the title in her grasp with a wide smile on her face.

Lyn: TWO TIMES! TWO GODDAMN TIMES! HARLEY SHANNON IS ON THE MOUNTAINTOP AGAIN AND THE GOLD JUST GOT MELTED!

She climbed up onto the turnbuckle, raising it high for the crowd to see as they chanted her name loudly. Stacey pulled Valerie out of the ring with her, and the 1 Percenter looked as though she could spit nails as she held her jaw.

Zack: I can’t believe she did it again in the same spot! Harley Shannon captured lightning in a bottle, and is sending all of Sydney home happy tonight!

Lyn: I don’t expect we’re going to hear any Gold Standard post-show celebrations tonight, Zack. Thank you all for joining us!

Harley rolled out to the floor, and celebrated with the fans as she sat on the barricade and looked down at the title in her lap with a smile before Future Shock faded off the air.