Title: The Deal with the Deadline
Featuring: Hessian
Date: Colossus
Location: @ Colossus vs. ???

The hulking steel beast lay dormant for now, surrounded by concrete and iron and gazing out at the lazy sun settling over gently lapping waves. The calm before the storm. This vessel of grandeur would serve as a stage to the world upon which an unholy war would be fought with the promise of blood to be spilled purely for sport. At the coordination of a team of experts a construction would be erected upon this arena that would simultaneously honour and vilify this long tradition of battle, and to the giant that commanded it it was a fitting shrine.

Ravenous eyes would slake their thirst at its glorious sight awash in crimson and gun-metal grey; those of the two-hundred-fifty strong crowd hand-picked from around the world to witness the carnage and those of the Saudi prince who had bequeathed the crown jewel of his fleet to this barbaric encounter purely because this particular form of western entertainment held many values akin to his eastern heritage and so he was most fond of it.

To have a champion spill blood at his feet and in such magnificent setting was worth more than the rarest autograph, and of course in return for his generous contribution the giant was obliged to appear at a private function of the prince's that would make Colossus look like amateur backyard hour, though none but a select privileged few would ever see it. Vast wealth let him light up the world for those of his choosing, but it had also cast its darkness in his eyes and filled them with contempt for anyone less fortunate than he, and indeed he had wield that power to buy the souls of those who nonetheless were doomed to the Hell he created. The giant saw it in the muddy brown eyes of the prince and wondered what it was to paint oneself a hero in the blood of their victims, much less be lauded a hero by them yourself. Certainly put his existence into perspective, but business is business.

The once towering inferno that was PRIME had faded to a flicker, and that flicker had in turn set off the fuse that would spark a Colossal explosion powerful enough to shift the earth. But what would be left once the blood dried and dust settled? A shambling group of zombies wandering aimlessly on towards their next meal ticket? The die-hards were doomed to downsizing their lifestyle to accommodate their survival in the industry in the next best company, wherever that was. The entrepreneurs who had evolved with the business would land on their feet wherever they chose to fall, be with bleeding into the media or helming some personal project. The suits would carry on like faceless vampires sinking their teeth into whatever ventures lay ahead. Only the truly battle-beaten would ride off into the sunset and live out the rest of their days at their leisure. Everyone had a plan, and indeed there was a plan for everyone. The giant was no different.

He'd stared countless times into his reflection and tried to piece together the puzzle staring back at him. Always the next piece, the final piece, and he could never place it even now at the end of another era in another promotion when the picture couldn't be clearer. In time gone by the industry flowed its course like a white water rapid carrying everyone along for the ride. No matter what state they were in or where they ended up they rose together, dusted themselves off and carried on. It went on like that for years because its pull was so strong no one could avoid it, but as with all things time caught up on them all one after the other and plucked them from their dream back into reality ready to pay their penance for having even dared to dream in the first place. The old guard. Prime Time Central. RIP.

The river was running dry and those it had not yet claimed just weren't interested in the ride any more. Forty-two was hard work these days and he had reached the culmination of his evolution even as newer generations continued on theirs. He couldn't envision another run like 2009 though he put all his heart into trying, and where it would tear through exactly was an entirely different matter. Looking back on it he had conquered enough companies, and try as they might no other would ever come close to PRIME. Colossus was the end of the road, the top of the ladder and he was content with the fourth rung from the top.

The pay-per-view would be a spectacular slaughter; classic Hessian going out in style. No matter who picked up the gauntlet of the open challenge they knew what they were signing up for and the giant would guarantee his pound of flesh. But what then? Who next? Fans could speculate, but the giant already had his next target in mind; from the day he stepped foot in the Primetime Wrestling Academy to these final days of PRIME the giant had drawn attention from all and sundry and there were plenty of loose ends left to tie up, and one in particular stuck out like a sore thumb.

The giant credited the environment around the build with inspiring him on to his next challenge. On the planning days, the construction days and training days looking out at the shimmering azure of the great lake while toiling with what felt like miles of barbed steel Hessian thought long and often about this new pet project. Even while going through the differential calculus of a particular drop he would pause to recall just why he was doing it. With no one signed to the match yet he was missing that core commitment towards it even as he obsessed over different stunts, though he handled all other business concerning the pay-per-view with the grace of a consummate professional. But lacking that fixture across the v. from him had caused his mind to wander and surrounded by the tools of his trade the future had suddenly felt a lot like the present.

With a snap of the synapse he was right back where it all began, the very moment he laid eyes upon the chosen one. Nights that should have been spent researching old foes were wasted trawling search engines and racking up views on too many YouTube clips on a foe that never was. The opponent aspect wasn't even a deciding factor when the uploaded videos were so far removed from his own memory. All the time he dedicated in the squared circle moulding the next generation of champions, monsters and superstars and here he had a playlist of the culmination of his efforts. Every execution of every teaching summed up in short-minute bursts that combined never amounted to half as many hits as the average funny cat clip.

Every search returned differing results but each one he cared to investigate proved much more successful than the student of his inspiration. Primetime Championship Wrestling had its MeanStreak but Hessian was the Frankenstein to his own discovery in the Academy and poured all he knew into the head of what could very well have been the next Ethan Giroux. Here he was suddenly, the architect, over ten years later looking back on a career he had engineered and it was far from a reflection of his design. His blueprint had produced the likes of Angelo Deville, Dorn Tracer, Nascosto Nerezza and Gaz “The Jester Green” a.k.a. Pranks With Attitude, and yet somehow he had mentored this lummox to mediocrity? The future for Hessian was firmly in his past; a shock blue three-hundred and thirty-five pounds of it to be precise.

He already had tabs on the chosen one by the time the majority of the prize winners of the ticket competition had been contacted, stalking him behind the monitor from one appearance to the next. The wonders of the digital age allowed the giant to follow that big old footprint from everything from bookings to biographies to reviews both professional and amateur; both of which mattered as much as the other to Hessian, to the hours of video footage collated from years back and scattered across the net. This plan was taking shape faster than the Saudi's metal behemoth had and, much like he hoped his potential Colossus opponent was doing, he was revelling in the anonymity of a fantasy that he had the power to make real.

Scouring for more information every day the giant dredged up reports of an engagement, watched the breaking of the backbone and much to his dismay turning from student to mentor himself. Yet Hessian could not recollect any listed accomplishment passing his notice, which with the network that PRIME had built up over the years meant it wasn't worth knowing. Worse still it wasn't worth knowing while he competed still to match the legacies of his other protégés as well his peers. To the giant that defeat was worse than some notable losses he had suffered throughout his career. This was an industry that defined competition in an increasingly nannied, politically correct and bland world where no one was allowed to win except the money men pulling the strings behind the scenes, and as well as being one of the top competitors in the sport it had been a major part of his career to also breed that competition in the Academy and feeder feds and locker rooms and beyond.

To have that kind of influence on the business was in some ways to some people of greater importance than any number of title reigns and with as many accolades as he held Hessian had to count himself among those some, more so now that despite still feeling the competitive drive ingrained in all great men he could tell there wasn't much left in the tank. It was pure luck to have gone hell for leather for so long but reality was a sobering vitriol trailing the line like an oil leak, and it showed in each and every medical check.

The giant was well versed in dealing with deadlines, all except the one hidden away somewhere in his biological calendar. Every creak and groan was a tick off the clock and like any man who must divide up his estate in a will Hessian felt the time had come to commit to his own schedule. Just in case.

Colossus VIII would be the battle that he trained for every day upon the spider net altar he had built with his own two hands, and a sacrifice would be made to two-hundred and fifty souls and a million other witnesses. Once that was in the books it would be time for the giant to go to war with a super beast, to test his legacy once again.
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