Message #29490

[Adam Grant]

The long history between Savannah and Vivi is shown in a video package before we return to the arena. Kat stands under a single spotlight in the darkened arena before she starts to speak and the lights come back to full illumination.

Kat: The following contest is your Sabotage main event, and it is for the FFW Championship!!

Zack: Every single time these two women have faced in the last year, it was Savannah coming away with the win..even in the tag match a couple weeks ago with Raven for a partner. I think the champion is the one with something to prove here as opposed to the challenger.

Gaby: We’re in a weird time in which the FFW Champion has her back against the wall, completely surrounded by enemies wherever she looks. But seems to be where Vivi excels, almost like she’s an escape artist. Either she proves herself ready for the big belt… Or Savannah makes a decade-long dream come true.

There was silence; the lights began to fade away slowly. A soft instrumental echoes out across the audience. It starts slowly, a beautiful sound that contrasts the heaviness of the world. Like feathers, it glides among the waiting audience. The lighting fixtures produce a gentle spotlight upon the stage, offset by the occasional flash here and there. As 'Just Close Your Eyes' by Waterproof Blonde continues to play, a woman’s words begin to come through. Her voice is tender, not raising upon a whisper.

"Deceived by my eyes and all I was told I should see
Opinions not mine, the person they taught me to be
One night in the dark, a vision of someone I knew
And in the darkness I saw, a voice say, I'm you."

On the stage, a feminine figure appears. Her head lowered to everything. People cannot make out who it is. As she stands there, the flashes briefly illuminate her figure. It only gives small clues on who stands at the gate. She stands in the spotlight, her shadow cast large and proudly among the stage.

"Inside me a light was turned on…"

The instrumental picks up again. An electric guitar now joins the progressively exciting instrumentals of before. The singer’s voice suddenly intensifies.

"Then I was alive!"

In the light, it is revealed that it was Savannah Taylor. She stands at the gate, a robe of obsidian and ivory hues. The hood of it shadows her eyes, but the intensity of the final EXODUS World Champion remains clear as day. She starts off down the ramp, with a serious aura radiating from her body.

Kat: Ladies and gentlemen, making her way down to the ring....weighing in at one hundred twenty pounds.....from Las Vegas, Nevada.....Savannah Star !!!

"If you close your eyes your life,
A naked truth revealed
Dreams you never lived,
And scars never healed"

Savannah makes her way up the ring steps. She looks out towards the audience for a moment before entering the ring. From there, she heads for a turnbuckle. She stands there, taking in everything. She then lifts her up on top of it. She peers out in nothing, then takes off the hood with a flashy flourish. Her blonde locks fly up in the air. They descend, shaping her face as they famously do.

"In the darkness, light will take you to the other side
You'll find me waiting there you'll see, if you just close your eyes."

While she stands in her corner, she closes her eyes and takes a heavy breath. When her bright eyes open, Taylor is completely composed. There is nothing more than the heat of battle awaiting her. She takes off her robe, giving it to a stagehand. She stretches her wrists before devoting her mind to the war upon the horizon.

Zack: Savannah Star has been chasing the FFW Championship for several years now, no question about it. Given the history like I mentioned, tonight may be the night that her chances of claiming it are the highest. She knows how to beat Vivi, she’s done it more than once. But tonight is when it will count the most.

Gaby: But here’s the thing: whenever Savannah seemed to have someone’s number, it came to either bite her in the behind, or it wasn’t when the prize was to this woman’s liking. And then there’s the ego and the capability of flying off the handle with the blink of an eye – Savannah has become increasingly violent, even unhinged as the years advanced, because of the frustration of coming so close to the FFW Championship and always failing. She has the chance to prove us all SO wrong, or SO right tonight.

I’m not the one who’s so far away when I feel the snakebite enter my veins
Never did I wanna be here again and I don’t remember why I came…

The drumbeat to Godsmack’s “Voodoo” hits and the entrance ramp is bathed in purple light and fog. The top of the ramp fills with smoke, and tall candelabras rise up through the floor, flickering in the light. The lights of thousands of cell phone dot the arena like fireflies, adding to the ambience.

Candles raise my desire, why I’m so far away
No more meaning to my life, no more reason to stay

Vivi Traeger stands perfectly still as she rises up through the floor, a crown of bones and purple roses resting on her head. Around her neck is her black ball python LaCroix, his scales glimmering.

Freezing feeling, breathe in, breathe in…
I’m coming back again…

Reaching the ring, Vivi hands LaCroix off to the ring crew and ascends the stairs, climbing up on one of the turnbuckles. She bends down and then rises up again, throwing her arms out to the sides.

Kat: From New Orleans, Louisiana, she is the Voodoo Queen, the All-Mother and the reigning and defending FFW Champion, Vivi Traeger!

Basking in the adoration of the crowd, Vivi jumps down from the turnbuckle and sets her crown aside, ready to face her opponent.

Zack: I tried to chat with Vivi earlier tonight before the show just to get an idea of where her head was. She wasn’t interested in talking to me or anyone else. Her sole goal tonight is that woman across the ring, and proving that her reign as FFW Champion won’t end in her first time defending it.

Gaby: Laser-focused on the task at hand, because she knows that, like I said, it’s her back against the wall! Look at the retrospect: after tonight, the scenery keeps full with people like Raven Knight and, who knows, Tara Cortez may want another dance. All women that have given Vivi some level of tough love. Our defending champion has a LOT to prove tonight, and–

Referee Jennifer Stringer took the title from Vivi before she showed it to the challenger. Savannah eyed it before it was raised overhead, and handed off to Kat as she left the ring. The referee was about to call for the bell when Raven Knight emerged from the back and headed down the ramp, still in her ring gear.

Zack: Speaking of Raven…

Gaby: Looks like the Immolator isn’t waiting for her shot next year, she wants to disrupt things right now. Because of course she does.

Knight gets to the ring, telling the referee to make it a triple threat. Stringer tells her she can’t do that, and reminds her of the rule Adam set at the beginning of the year that no champion will ever be in a multi-person title defense.

Gaby: I don’t think she’s gonna get too far with this approach to things. Almost like her match just now against Tara Cortez was nothing much at all. When have I last seen this happen before…

Zack: Raven is not a woman who takes no for an answer too well, but the referee is spot on here. She can’t add people to matches even if she wanted to.

Raven ignored her and climbed up onto the apron before Savannah charged her with a running boot to the face that sent her off the apron. Knight’s body hit the barricade on the way down before the referee called for the bell to start the match. And that’s when Savannah and Vivi took off towards one another and began throwing hands in the center of the ring, bringing the fans to their feet in the process.

Zack: I believe Savannah vetoed that request, and we’re off to the races now!

Gaby: Something tells me we’re gonna need some trainers to remove Raven from ringside before some other stuff happens…

It was Vivi who was getting the better of the exchange as arena security came down to the ring to escort Raven to the back. The champion hammered Savannah with right hands, backing her into the corner before delivering a series of elbows to the jaw. A stiff European uppercut snapped Savannah’s head back before Vivi whipped her into the far corner with an Irish whip, while security was forcibly trying to get Raven back up the aisle till she started attacking them.

Gaby: Savannah and Vivi jacking one another’s jaws inside the ring, while right over there atop the ramp, Raven is shanking security just like she did referees second-to-last time she fought for the FFW Championship against Kelly Kincaid! And we need to keep our eyes on both situations!

Zack: As long as they get her out of here, that’s all that matters. This isn’t about her, it’s about the two women fighting for the richest prize in women’s wrestling in the ring.

Traeger took off, delivering an avalanche splash to Savannah in the corner before hoisting her onto her shoulders into a Death Valley driver to the canvas. She shouted to the crowd, which returned the favor. She spotted Savannah starting to get up, and charged towards her with a running neckbreaker to take her down to the mat. Meanwhile as more security arrived, Raven held up her hands and started to back off, telling them she was leaving.

Gaby: Vivi is definitely fired up, she knows this is the night she needs to prove herself worthy more than any other night prior, and New York has her back! And looks like Raven is yielding, so we may have a normal match after all!

Zack: Fingers crossed. She’ll have her shot in the new year, and Raven can work on her impatient nature in the meantime.

When Vivi went to pull Savannah back to her feet, the challenger surprised her with a jawbreaker that sent her stumbling for a moment. Star used a savate kick to the body to double her over before a swinging neckbreaker took her to the canvas. The blonde measured a knee drop to the head before she scooped Vivi up and hung her upside down into a tree of woe in the corner after security and Raven were now gone from the arena.

Zack:  That’s the last place you want to be in the ring, hung upside down by your feet in the corner. Especially against a woman like Savannah.

Gaby: Star would rather take the chance to pull off something criminal in the ring than leave it to chance, so having Vivi in an incapacitating position like that can be her bread and butter. Vivi needs to count on her flexibility to get out of that, stat.

She rolled out to the floor, grabbing Vivi’s head and pulling it back under the bottom turnbuckle and using her body for a bow and arrow style submission as she hung upside down. But Stringer was quickly counting her down before she finally let go, and fired an elbow into Vivi’s ear before the champion collapsed to the canvas inside the ring.

Gaby: I guess Savannah was watching our Evolution Championship match and enjoyed the idea of smacking Vivi up the head hard enough to make her too dizzy to function. I mean, it worked for Robbyn Helmsley!

Zack: I think the logic there is if it worked once, it’ll work again. So far, it’s being proven right and the last thing Savannah wants to do is give the referee a reason to disqualify her.

Star rolled back into the ring as Stringer got to an eight count, and pulled the FFW Champion back to her feet. But Vivi surprised her with a palm thrust to the throat that choked the blonde up, and sent her backwards a couple steps before a leg sweep took Savannah off her feet and Traeger lunged on top of her to unload a volley of vicious right hands to the head. A buzzing began in the crowd at this point.

Zack: It doesn’t take much to raise the ire of the FFW Champion, and look at Vivi go with those unforgiving rights straight to the dome of the challenger!

Gaby: Something to prove, check; back against the wall, check; an opponent that she loathes and will do anything to make her shut up? Double, triple check! And the crowd is alight for the defending champion… Though I don’t think everyone’s looking at the ring– Oh COME ON.

The camera spotted Raven Knight heading down the stairwell through the crowd. Fans got well clear of her as she hot-footed it down the steps, and hopped the barricade at ringside. Vivi got to her feet, spotting her before she charged towards the ropes with a baseball slide into Knight’s body. The fans began getting louder as Vivi whipped Knight into the ring steps, causing her to double over them.

Zack: You know what? Just arrest her and evict her from the building! Knight has no business out here, and so far, she’s managed to get both the champion and challenger to show her the error of her ways.

Gaby: She literally JUST came back to FFW, her first order of business was to try to set someone on fire in the center of the ring, and she just wants FFW bent over her knee! Who the hell does she think she is?

Vivi slid back into the ring, only to find Savannah waiting for her as the challenger caught her with a forearm to the head as she was getting back to her feet. Vivi returned fire with an uppercut to stumble the blonde backwards before a bicycle knee put her on the canvas. Traeger dove on top of her for the cover. When she hooked the leg, the sound of a smack was heard and the fans began booing. When the champion looked up, she saw Raven with a chair in her hand and the referee fallen before her.

Gaby: … oh. We’re doing THIS again now. You know what, Zack, I agree with you, someone should just come out here with a small army and forcibly remove this woman from the premises.

Zack: Stringer got put out with that chair, Vivi’s got battered with it, and now she’s gonna try to break Savannah’s neck! Raven belongs in a padded cell!

Vivi tried to get up quickly, and she caught the chair across her back as she did so. Several more shots landed, battering the champion down to the mat. Then she slid the chair around Savannah’s neck, prompting the arena to fill with even more boos.

The brunette took off for the far side, coming back for a curb stomp on the chair. But Savannah shoved it off in time, causing Knight to miss. Star got back to her feet, and then had her eyes gouged as she turned around by Raven before a spinning backfist sent her through the ropes to the floor. The firestarter locked her focus on the camera, telling it until she had her title shot, no one else was getting one. Then she began to dig into her boot.

Gaby: This main event has been successfully hijacked by Raven Knight and, there’s the promise! She will hold FFW hostage until she gets what she wants! How on Earth is this professional behavior?!

Zack: There’s gonna be some heavy fines coming out of this, and I hope Raven’s saved her money! What is she..?

She produced a small bottle of lighter fluid, which she began to squirt all over the mat and on Vivi and the referee as well. Raven rolled out of the ring, pulling a matchstick from her top and struck it before throwing it into the ring. Tara Cortez arrived next, darting past her and pulling both the referee and Vivi to the floor as an inferno began to take shape in the ring.

Gaby: AND HERE’S THE MASTERMIND!!! I mean, not of this situation, I mean TARA!!! An inferno is building up around our ring, and the Fiend of Fort Worth has seen far more than enough! For a second time, she saves people’s skin from the fire!

Zack: This is over… this is over right now! Our ring is literally burning in front of us. The referee is down, Tara’s pulled Vivi now out of the way, and Knight’s strolling out of the Barclays Center! Can we get some people to put this out?! I MEAN NOW!

Raven headed towards the back as arena security bolted towards the ring with fire extinguishers as the ring burned in front of everyone. Knight kept walking out of the arena as extinguishers were shooting off from all four sides as trainers came to check on the referee. As the fire was doused, the canvas and the wood underneath showed a great deal of damage. Vivi seemed surprised by Tara but looked pretty pissed as she stared at the back of Raven’s head before Knight disappeared, as did Savannah Star on the other side of the ring.

Zack: I have never seen anything like this in my career. Thank God everyone was out of the ring before anything worse happened.

Gaby: Professionally speaking… I mean, as far as the event goes, we cannot have a main event right now. But more importantly, the ring was set on fire and we almost had many casualties. Not that Raven cares, as we’re talking about a woman who once lit a fire inside a LIBRARY. A sour taste in the back of the mouth to be sure, but we should be thankful that nobody is injured.

Zack: If this is how 2024 ends for FFW, I’m not sure what we can expect in 2025! That’s gonna do it for us here in Brooklyn, thank you for joining us for Sabotage and—GOOD! I was just told Knight has been taken into custody by New York’s finest.

Gaby: Our #1 contender for the FFW Championship, everyone. Not the kind of taste we wanted to have to end tonight’s event, the end of an era for FFW! We have one more stop on the road, as Future Shock has its Throwback show in three days, and after that… We’ll meet again in a completely new place! January 11 – Atomic!... With hopefully better stories to tell than tonight’s wreckage.

The burnt out ring is the last thing seen before Sabotage fades to black on FFW All Access.