PSW Madhouse Episode 4 - Sarah Esposito vs Shay Maharaj

A loud siren is heard, followed by an aggressive rock track. The titantron goes black, with a strange red and blue aura. A bright red rose fades into view. Sarah Esposito marches out, her eyes burning with a cold, focused fury.

A.B.: Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to the Madhouse. Earlier tonight, we saw the reigning Jewell's Champion Empress Ngozi lay down the law, which led to this match being made. Sarah Esposito is looking for payback.

Shamoon: Payback for being outsmarted and overwhelmed by the numbers game last week, which resulted in a loss that should NOT be on her record.

Briar Lane: On the way to the ring, from Nueva Italia de Ruiz, Michoacán, Mexico, standing 6 feet 1 and weighing 230 pounds, "The Rose of Ferocity", Sarah Esposito!

Shamoon: If I ever find myself on this woman’s bad side, just shoot me. It’ll probably be quicker and less painful.

Alvarez: I don’t know. Maybe Maharaj had a point last week. Maybe Esposito just isn’t as advertised.

PSW Madhouse Episode 4 - The Angel & the Owl

The Albino Angel in her red crop-top jacket and sunglasses of the same shade poses with the microphone held above her head and her hand pointing at the sky. She brings that pointed finger down, directing it at the Dark Talon, who just stares. Firyali then walks sideways while still pointing. The crowd watches in silence, partly confused, partly curious.

Dominga: What is she doing? Seriously, who is this clown?

A.B.: I really don't know.

Athiambo's eyes narrow as Firyali gets closer and closer.

Firyali (stops and puts some bass in her voice): Habari, dada.

Shamoon: What'd she say?

Dominga: Did she just call her Dadda? What are we watching?

Firyali: Now, Firyali has been watching you. She watched you back in November at the Saturday Night Super Fight, that 5-Woman Scramble to crown the first Jewell's Champion. You didn't win, but you never ate a pin. 

Shamoon: Hey, that rhymes!

Firyali: Not one time. Then I saw you catch Lei D lacking. I saw you try to murder Maya Lethbridge. I saw you almost kill Kalavina. And just now, I saw you chop down and drill down Chica Dorada.

Dominga: Does she think she's cool with all these alliterations?

Firyali: And Firyali's here to tell you that I like what I see.

Crowd: Booooo!

A.B.: What?

Firyali: And I want... you!

Shamoon: Huh?

Crowd: Huh?!

Dominga: I don't think this is that kind of "wrestling" show.

Athiambo's narrowed eyes slowly open back up, and then she does something surprising. She leans back, just a little.

Firyali (quickly takes off sunglasses, frantically looking in every direction): No, not like that! (Looks at Athiambo) In a match. I want to face you in a wrestling match.

A.B., Dominga & Shamoon: Oh...

Crowd: Oh...

Firyali (clicks her tongue): Kwa umakini! (puts glasses back on) So, what do you say, dada mkubwa? 

Shamoon: There's that word again.

Firyali: Let's tear. Down. This. House!... Madhouse.

Firyali then holds the microphone to Athiambo's face.

Dominga: She's out of her mind. Who the hell does she think she is?

Athiambo looks down at the 3-inch-shorter woman and raises her hand as if to reach for the mic. Then she shoves Firyali aside and continues on her way. Firyali is left stunned.

Crowd: Oh!

Dominga: Haha!

A.B.: That's as loud and clear a statement as I've ever heard.

Shamoon: It's probably for the best. She's not ready for-

Firyali: HEY! (quickly runs to block the Dark Talon's path) What the heck?! I just challenged you to a match, and you just shoved me aside. Not cool!

Athiambo looks down at her again, then takes a step, then turns and walks a perfect semi-circle around the Tanzanian.

Dominga: HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Athiambo is about to enter the tunnel when Firyali blocks her again.

Firyali (voice crack): STOP THAT! You know you could have just said no. Actually, you can't, because I already asked Shabani before I came out here, so you don't have a choice!

Dominga: Wow. Could she get any more lame?

Firyali: Next week, Honiara in the Solomon Islands, you and me, one-on-one. Be there...

Dominga: No. Please, no.

Firyali: Or be square! 

A.B.: Ugh.

She raises the microphone and drops it before flicking her jacket and backing up into the tunnel. Athiambo watches her leave with dropped eyelids before entering the tunnel herself.

Shamoon: I mean, at least she's trying.

A.B.: Her promo skills definitely need work, but as we saw last week, she can go in that ring. 

Shamoon: Yeah, but Athiambo? In her second match? I'm not looking forward to that.

Dominga: I am.

PSW Madhouse Episode 4 - Athiambo vs Chica Dorada

A series of numbers flashes on the titantron. 4. 13. 23. 30. 4. 13. 23. 30. 4. 13. 23. 30. Over and over this sequence repeats as a big, black owl creature flies closer and closer, reaching out with its talons and SCREECHING. 

Fireworks explode-

Shamoon: AAAAHHH!!!!

- and an intense guitar solo plays, equal parts fast tempo, night-riding and haunting. Athiambo, clad in all black but without her feathered coat and sunglasses, makes her way down to the ring, her uncannily owl-like face and large eyes visible for all to see.

Briar Lane: The following contest is scheduled for one fall with a 10-minute time limit. Introducing first, from Mombasa Island off the coast of Kenya, standing 5 feet 10 and weighing in at 165 pounds, The Dark Talon, ATHIAMBO!

A.B.: In the past 3 weeks, this woman, Athiambo, has been quietly proving to be one of the most dangerous inmates in the Madhouse.

PSW Madhouse Episode 4 - Courtesy Curtain Call

An O.R.D.R.L.I. camera captures a heated conversation in the gorilla position, which is literally a side entrance of the football complex with dark curtains and dimmed lights. The participants are the General Manager, Nalah Shabani, and the Mother Hen of Holds, and Road Agent/Apia native, Kalavina Leota, sporting a neck brace from her match with Athiambo last week and getting very loud "LEOTA!" chants from the crowd. Producer Mike Miller is also present. 

Shabani (taking off her glasses and pinching her nose): ...f all the reckless, egotistical-

Miller: She just threw our whole show outta whack.

Leota: It had to be done.

Shabani: No, it didn't.

Leota: Cobra's crew were out of control.

Miller: We had a plan for that. 

Leota: Then ya shoulda been fasta. Now we adapt.

Sarah Esposito briskly walks through the curtain. 

Leota (stands in front of her, looking up despite her brace): You goin' on next. Get changed and give her hell.

Esposito nods and keeps walking.

Leota: See? Just like that.

PSW Madhouse Episode 4 - Laying Down The Gauntlet

Empress Ngozi's bombastic regal music plays, and the Apia faithful rise to their feet and scream. She walks briskly out of a tunnel connecting the soccer field to the football complex, no longer wearing her robe, still with the Jewells Championship around her waist and now with a mic in her hand. Sarah Esposito and Zadie Chen walk behind her.

Briar Lane: Please welcome, Zadie Chen, Sarah Esposito and the Bearer of the Jewell, Ngozi - Empress of the Squared Circle!

The crowd cheers, some even bow, but she is too annoyed to do her usual wave. 

A.B.: Listen to this ovation for the incomparable Empress, though she is lacking her usual regal swagger.

The trio enters the ring with Ngozi in the centre, Chen to her right and Esposito on her left, arms folded.

Shamoon: Esposito still looks pissed.

Dominga: Please, she looks like a scolded child.

Ngozi: Apia!

The crowd pops at their city's name being mentioned.

Ngozi (pauses to look at them):... Your Empress... has arrived.

PSW Madhouse Episode 4 - Accountability

- 20 January 2031

An outdoor soccer stadium, draped with PSW and Madhouse branding. The atmosphere is hot, not just from the tropical humidity, but from the grandstands filled with fiery fans, mostly from the local Polynesian population. 

A.B.: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Psycho Style Wrestling's Monday Night Madhouse! I'm Alf Balducci, the livewire, Dominga Alvarez to my right, the ever-analytical Aazif Shamoon to my left. We are coming to you LIVE from the Outdoor Park Stadium in Apia, the capital city of Samoa-

Shamoon: The Independent State of Samoa, not American Samoa. There's a dif-

Dominga: Shut up, Shamoon!

PSW Cast: Doctor Anya Sharma

Hometown: New Delhi, Delhi, India

Birth Date: 12/8/1983

Role: Chief Medical Officer

PSW Powwow #3 - Pump the Brakes

The date is January 18, 2031, in Sambuca City. Sanka Williams, CEO of Psycho Style Wrestling, is in his office in the Marina Quarter building. 

Made with Perchance

He sits in front of his desktop, typing away, and checks his watch. 8:50 am. He types in some commands on his keyboard, which shut off the lights and closed the curtains.

He then taps a button on his desk, which then shoots up a bright blue projection light. The projection resembles a large flat-screen, dominated by the wide, toothy grin of Sara Williams, President of Talent Relations & Head of Creative.

"Hi, hubby!" she says, leaning back, "So, liking the new holoscreen?"

"It's a memory saver," He replies.

She points, "Exactly! Told you they'd be worth it."

He closes his eyes and nods, "Yes..." he opens them again, "They're certainly worth all that instant ramen you'll be living off the next 3 months."

PSW Fight Pit Episode 3 - Kala Kahuna & Johnny Cyclone vs The Honey Badger & Kruscher

David Bekker: Your main event of the evening is a Tag Team Match scheduled for one fall!

A virtuosic guitar accompanied by heavy rock riffs plays to a pop. The two big screens show a honey badger going about its day: burrowing, climbing, looking cute, biting the balls of lions. The man himself briskly walks out, looking small, rabid and wounded.

David Bekker: On the way to the ring, from Hoedspruit, Limpopo, South Africa, standing 168 centimetres and weighing in at 104 kilos, the Honey Badger!

SDS: "It's not the size of the dog in the fight. It's the size of the fight in the dog." Diogo, in our short history, this man has firmly proven this old adage. 

DS: Too right, companheiro. Where the hell did they make him, and where did Campbell find him?

SDS: I do not know, but I do know he's going to be a problem in this bout.

DS (chuckles): Yeah, but a problem for who?

PSW Fight Pit Episode 3 - On Main

BACKSTAGE

A cameraman lingers outside a locker room door. It opens and out come Kala Kahuna and the towering Johnny Cyclone, the former missing his shirt and the latter now in his aqua-green singlet and white gloves. 

SDS: And there they are. The veteran and the upstart on their way to- Huh?

DS: What the hell?

Brendan Steele sprints past, followed by an army of guards. 

SDS: What's going on? Did the Madness come back?

DS: Maybe they never left.

Cyclone moves to follow them, but Kahuna places a hand on his chest and shakes his head before pointing in the opposite direction. Cyclone nods, and they start walking.

SDS: Well, whatever it is, hopefully it doesn't affect the main event.

The feed switches to another cameraman's perspective.

SDS: And there's the other side of the equation. The Moscow Machine and the Honey Badger. It'll be interesting to see how they work together in this match.

Kruscher is walking along a hallway. Badger walks next to him, cackling like the madman he is. The Russian stops and glares. The small, stocky man just looks up and bares his teeth, doing a false lunge.

Kruscher then keeps walking with Badger a little further behind.

DS: This is gonna be a trainwreck, Darryl. HAHAHAHA!!!