30 men. One ring. Over the top rope. When both feet touch the floor, you’re out. Only two can survive. Those are the basic rules of a battle royal. These matches do not fit smaller competitors, considering the big competitors will be more brutal to get over. James knew all this well, realizing they rarely win despite those advantages over the more prominent competitors.
James may have been above average height, but he was still considered small in the world of wrestling. The average number of men he was in the ring with was 6-foot-5. Luckily for James, nobody seemed to be a giant.
Everyone in the ring looked around, trying to figure out who would be a good target. James also noticed that some people were making early alliances. Despite battle royals being every man for themselves, people often team up until the numbers got lower to get out the most significant threats.
One person stood out above them all, and they weren’t getting any offers for alliances. If anything, they were already a target. Looking to be around 6-foot-8 and very muscular, Rotundo was the odd man out along with James. Rotundo was an African-American male with short black hair. His most noticeable feature is his big beard, which seemed perfectly trimmed. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and blue jeans.
Rotundo happened to catch James’s gaze. Rotundo immediately noticed that James had no allies around him. Instead of approaching, however, Rotundo nodded at James almost as if Rotundo acknowledged James.
It was at that moment that the bell rang, and chaos ensued. Everyone began to assault each other, trying to toss people over the top rope—3 men charged toward Rotundo. But, before James could see what happened, he got a forearm to the back of the head. James quickly recovered, turning around to see a man of a similar build to himself.
The man threw another forearm at James, but James ducked under it and wrapped his arms around the man’s waist. Within a second, James had the man in the perfect position for a belly-to-belly suplex. With the man still in his grasp, James backed up to the ropes and threw him over James’s head and the top rope. First elimination for James. This was the first small victory James would get. But, he wouldn’t have time to celebrate as two more guys began to attack him.
James succumbed to the dual attack as the two men stomped on the fallen James. James was beginning to lose consciousness until the attack suddenly stopped. James looked up to see Rotundo standing over him. Rotundo nodded at the failed James before charging at a new opponent. James, to the time to crawl to a corner of the ring for some rest. James watched as the group of thirty had been reduced to a group of seven. However, all five remaining men who stood opposite Rotundo and James were in an alliance.
James watched as Rotundo stood in front of him, opposite the five-man alliance. James had mainly recovered from the attack earlier. James went and stood next to Rotundo. Five against two. James looked at Rotundo, looking to strategize. However, James only saw a broad smile on Rotundo’s face.
Rotundo charged at eating five men, immediately clotheslining two to the floor. James shrugged his shoulders and set in, jumping and dropkicking one to the floor as well. Rotundo grabbed one of the two standing men, lifting the man over his head and throwing him out of the ring. Four more to go.
James grabbed a man from behind, dragging him towards the ropes and suplexing him over the top rope. Three more to go. The man that James had dropkicked had recovered, attempting to hit James with a superkick. James sidestepped the attack, throwing a right hook at the man and immediately knocking him out. James picked up the unconscious man and threw him out of the ring. James turned to see that Rotundo had already handled the remaining two men. James and Rotundo had survived their battle royal.
“Please exit the ring and enter locker room four.” A referee instructed the pair.
James tapped Rotundo’s shoulder as the pair exited the ring, heading towards the locker rooms.
“I’m James. James Cypher. What’s your name?” Despite being gifted in combat, James still had a very childish demeanour outside of the ring. James offered a handshake.
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Rotundo shook James’s hand but didn’t say a word. He pointed at his own throat, signalling that he could not speak.
“Ah, ok. Well, thanks for the help in the match.” James responded.
The pair entered the change room, where only two others had made it to. One was a mountain of a man, almost looking like an unkept caveman. The other was a man of similar stature to Rotundo but covered in tattoos.
“Oh, look, two generics made it through.” The tatted man claimed.
“I want the smaller one.” The bigger man claimed.
Before James could respond, Rotundo grabbed his arm and sat him down. Rotundo put his finger to his mouth, signalling for James to stay silent. This angered the tatted man, making him stand up in anger. Just then, two more prospects came in.
“Did you see him?” The minor prospect asked the bigger one.
“See him? I felt him.” The bigger one responded.
“Alright, I know what you meant, but that sounded wrong.” The smaller one quipped.
“Saw who?” James asked.
“Todd Prescott. He’s watching from one of the sky boxes.” The minor prospect answered.
“You couldn’t feel his presence? It made me nervous as soon as I walked into the building.” The bigger one answered.
“You sound stupid,” The tatted man interrupted. “How are these tryouts full of nerds and idiots.”
“Spend 5 minutes in the ring with me, and you’ll be kicked out of these tryouts very quickly.” The bigger of the two prospects had a smirk with his words. His tone completely changed to complete confidence. The tatted man stood up and walked over to him, standing a few inches taller than the prospect.
“Who says we need a ring? I’ll end your dreams right now.” The tatted man’s voice immediately gained volume.
That was the moment that a group of people asked into the room. There were twenty participants left in the tryouts. With the rest of the wrestlers coming in, the fighting between the two men stopped. Everyone went silent to check the competition in the room. Even the obnoxious tatted man was too busy scouting the match to talk. Eventually, one of the officials walked into the room.
“Everybody signed the waivers, right? Good, just triple checking. Come on out; the second part of the tryout is starting.” The official announced.
The participants all shuffled out of the room, coming to a surprise that sucked the air out of everybody. Todd Prescott was no longer watching from above but standing in front of everybody. The look in his eyes showed a man that wasn’t impressed by who he saw. As the participants lined up, three more men walked into the arena.
The first was Alpha. Alpha was rarely seen without his brother, but Omega wouldn’t be good for the type of situation that Alpha was summoned for.
The second to enter was a young wrestler named Chase Collins. A second-generation star from the developmental company. Chase was seen as the future of the business despite his shorter stature. Chase was 6 feet tall, weighing 195lbs. Chase was a high flyer whose speed dazzled the audience. However, Chase had a bad attitude. Being one of the very few second-generation stars, Chase felt entitled.
The third was Michael Buchanan, the current continental champion of WWPW. Michael Buchanan is the face of the Buchanan family, the second son of the legendary Russ Buchanan. Michael had a defined build, standing at 6-foot-3. Michael is a traditional grappler, known for wearing his opponent down slowly in the ring until they were too tired or injured to continue.
Last was Wallace. Wallace was one-half of the Boot-Camp Generals tag team with his younger brother. Wallace was a powerhouse that often slammed his opponents no matter their size. Wallace was muscular, standing at 6-foot-6.
With the five wrestlers standing in front of them, an official came to announce the second part of the tryouts.
“We’ve all watched you during the battle royal. We have a basic understanding of your styles. We’ve asked four people who excel in their wrestling styles to come in here and test your abilities. We will match you with your style, allowing the wrestlers to assess whether you have what it takes. Of course, we’ll assess how you do ourselves if there’s any bias.” The official announced.
“There are five people in front of us, and I want the big fish.” One of the participants yelled out. James didn’t look back. James was staring a hole into Todd the entire time. Todd, however, didn’t seem to notice.
“Yes, this part was unexpected. However, Todd wanted to—“The official was interrupted.
“I need a decent workout and to try some new stuff. I’ve picked 4 of you to bypass this section and to take me on.” Todd seemed dismissive while he talked. However, his message was received loudly. Four people stood out as the top champion at WWPW, almost already guaranteeing them a contract.
Tod pointed at his four people. First, he told at Rotundo. James quickly looked to Rotundo, seeing that wide smile of excitement again. The second person Todd pointed at was that more significant prospect that James had seen in the locker room. The third person told at was a built gentleman that James did not recognize well. Finally, the last person Todd pointed at was The tatted man from the locker room. 4 Big men to challenge the champ.
The rest of the competitors were lined up in front of a wrestler that the officials believed matched their style. James was lined up in front of Alpha. It wasn’t surprising, as his suplexes showed some technical knowledge. However, James didn’t feel it was fair to say he was just a technical wrestler.
As people lined up around the rings they’ll be competing in, a loud crack was heard from the crew that Todd was in. The tatted man was knocked out on the floor, not even lasting 5 seconds after their match started. This put everybody on notice, as everyone was staring at that ring.
However, the first competition to go against Alpha was in the ring taping out as Alpha had him in an arm bar. Less than 10 seconds after the match started.
Alpha stood up and looked at the competitors around his ring.
“You don’t have the luxury of watching other matches. You’re all going up against me, and I’ll snap every one of you in half for the disrespect you showed me!” Alpha screamed out.
The second part of the tryouts had begun. However, something was stirring outside of the arena. A man and his clients had just pulled into the parking lot. Every competitor was about to meet the infamous Dr. Mag himself.