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Post by Vinny Falcone on Dec 14, 2010 12:02:15 GMT -5
You two RP here.
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Post by Chris Hopper on Dec 15, 2010 23:53:13 GMT -5
[The screen fades in and we see a white wall. The camera pans around towards the left and we see a set of speakers and a large sign that has a "98.7 WRKS" logo on it. The sign is shaped like a star and we can hear the DJ's over those speakers.] Man: Welcome to Michael and Tiffany in the mornings, and this is hour two of the big morning show here on B 101. Tiffany: Is anything you do big? Michael: Well if you weren't a married woman, you could find out. Tiffany: I'll pass. I can't stand living with disappointments. Michael: That hurt! Tiffany: Sorry. (chuckles) Michael: Now in this hour we have a special guest. I think Tiffany will love this guy because he's a pretty big guy. I think he is easily six foot eight or so, and he is very muscular. Tiffany: You finally decided to get a Chippendales dancer for me? Michael: Not exactly. [As the last words are being said, a man walks right by the camera and we see it is "Too Cool" Chris Hopper. The camera follows him as he rounds the corner towards the studio. We can still hear the show on the speakers spaced throughout the hallway.] Michael: See this weekend here in Philadelphia there is an interesting event happening in the world of wrestling. Tiffany: Wrestling? You are having a wrestler on the show? Michael: HEY! We had Susan Lucci and I sat through that crap, now you have to set through *MY* soap star. Tiffany: You really are sick. Michael: As I was saying. This league is brand new and has a lot of potentially great matches because they will be crowning their first-ever TV Champion and one of the matches caught my eye. Tiffany: Good Lord. [Hopper rounds a corner and opens a door into the inner area of studio rooms. He seems to slow his pace, but keeps moving as we listen to the show still playing over the background.] Michael: Yeah, it is a total of twenty-six men battling to determine who will qualify for the league's television title and our guest is a long-time veteran to the wrestling scene, but somebody the local fans will definitely remember a little about. He was last seen performing leaps off an arena balcony during an UEW show here in Philadelphia like eight years ago. Tiffany: Are these guys just brain dead? Couldn't they get hurt? Michael: I think that they have some training on how to pull it off without getting killed. I saw his name on the Internet card lineup and said to myself..."I GOT to get him here to talk about this new endeavor." Tiffany: And??? Michael: AND he is here this morning. His name is Chris Hopper and he is one of the greatest wrestlers in the business today and has began participating for the Global Wrestling Association in Philadelphia after being retired for a little while. I think Chris is coming in here now... [The camera follows Hopper into the studio and he finally rounds the corner and sees the deejays. Michael is a man with a gray beard about a forty-something guy with a beer belly and a funny looking smile. Tiffany is a brunette with a decent body and great looks. She could pass for a cover model, and also looks to be late twenties or early thirties.] Michael: Hey Chris. Hopper: Hey there. Tiffany: Uh....Umm....Hi. [Hopper smiles at her and makes her blush.] Hopper: Hi. Michael: Well I guess you have to be pumped about the big match tomorrow night at the GWA Arena here in town, right? Hopper: Yeah. I really am looking forward to getting in the ring for sure. I don't know a lot about him, but he is shorter than me and quite a bit faster than me. I can keep up for awhile, but I'm a few years older than Xavior. It will no doubt be a fun contrast of styles and abilities. GWA is going to be something special and Damion Xavior will be a great opponent to take the ring rust off. Tiffany: Now your opponents name is Damion Xavior, right?. What I mean is...well...is that his real name? [Hopper smiles.] Hopper: Honestly, I'm not for certain. I have spent a lot of time on the promoter side of wrestling in the past few years and haven't kept up with everybody as I did when I saw them as potential targets or adversaries. Most guys are using their own names these days, but we do have guys like Stardust, Graveyard, Solid and Skullcrusher. I don't think those guys are using their given names! Tiffany: Is Chris Hopper *your* real name? Hopper: Yes it is. I just added a nickname I picked up in high school and went with it. I go by "Too Cool" Chris Hopper when I wrestle. I have wrestled under masks before, especially when I was just getting started, but once I hit big in the late 90s, I just stayed with my real name. Tiffany: I see. Now is it true that all of you guys are really good friends off stage? I mean this is a big show, right? Hopper: Yes and no. I mean it is entertainment for sure, but everyone seems to think that we all ride to the airports together and hang out and have a drink at the bar. That may be true in some of those garage leagues I started wrestling at in back in the day, but in the bigger levels there are cliques. Even in GWA we see some separation between some of the wrestlers. I'm new to many of these guys and they know me by reputation or because they watched shows I was on a decade ago. I haven't fully gotten the lay of the land, but I know that many of these guys know each other, for better or worse, from past working together. I just don't happen to have the same experience with them yet. Michael: So you do hate a few of the guys that are on the roster? Hopper: Hate is such a strong word... Michael: Oh come on! I've seen some of the shows where wrestlers talk about each other. Nobody ever says much of anything nice! Hopper: That might be true, but the league is relatively new and so it is tough to say that there is massive hatred yet. Tiffany: So what are the differences between you and other guys when it comes to backstage treatment? Hopper: Well, I have tried to make sure that I'm not put above anybody else. Plus, the GWA seems to have hired a lot of veteran guys thus far and most of us are equal in that department. The management has gone out of his way to make sure that we are all taken care of contractually and the rest is up to us. The younger guys don't even have to worry about getting around from show to show the way we used to when we first started.. [Michael begins messing with papers some before moving the discussion along.] Michael: Now you are not from Philadelphia? Hopper: Not by a long shot! I grew up in a small Indiana town called Paoli. It is about as far away from a big city as you can get, in my mind anyway. Tiffany: Why did you choose wrestling then? I mean it couldn't have been what your parents raised you to be could it? Hopper: Well...actually...(chuckles)....My Dad was a grocery store clerk. Dad always used to get tickets to the annual wrestling matches held in my hometown by the Optimist Club. My senior year, one of the wrestlers yelled at me to come and chat with him and he talked me out of going to college and wrestling with his organization while learning the art form. Michael: That is fascinating! So you essentially had "on the job training"? Hopper: Yes. The six months you wrestled for that league were done for free. You made no part of the gate profits because your lessons in wrestling were the payment you received for wrestling. It didn't take me much longer than that to escape that situation and begin making a name for myself. Tiffany: You didn't stay in the minor leagues long? Hopper: Nope. I was noticed by a road agent in the southeast during a show and was quickly signed. There are a ton of guys in GWA these days with the size and stature I have, but when you are as tall as I am in a small league where the average height is 6-2 or so.....well, you kind of stand out physically. Anyway, they approached me with guaranteed money and better training facilities and I jumped at the chance. [Hopper takes a sip of water and the interview continues.] Tiffany: So what do you think you can do in GWA now? Where will this lead? Hopper: I'm not sure to be honest. Michael: They haven't told you? Hopper: Not exactly. All I know is that they brought in other former World Champions besides me and they are kind of a combination with other leagues that had money issues or folded. They decided right off that every wrestler in the company started as equals. So even if you have a ton of titles in your history like I do, you start even with a green rookie. I like that because now every match is do or die for a title shot. [Tiffany looks confused.] Tiffany: So you still may not get the chance to go for a title with all your talent and history? Hopper: The chance is there. I guess I need to work my tail off in the ring and show the skills I have learned over the years. I doubt any of the other guys on the roster think they can look past this veteran; I'll drop the Icebreaker on them! I plan on being the first Television Champion in GWA and I'm damn serious about doing it no matter what gets put in my way. [Hopper and Michael share a laugh as Tiffany acts like she really doesn't understand.] Michael: Sounds like it. Tiffany: Sounds like you may be in for a rough start, Chris. Hopper: (chuckles) I can promise for sure that Xavior will know he's been in a fight and that is what is most important for me taking my first step toward the Television Title in GWA. In fact, I'd like to be the first man to win every singles title in the league and prove this old dog still has some tricks left to show off. No matter what, I plan on walking into the next level of title contention because he won't beat me....I promise that. Tiffany: Bold statement there! Hopper: I am six foot-eight and weigh over two hundred-ninety-one pounds, I think I can back that up. Tiffany: You sure can honey! Michael: Well thanks for stopping by this morning Chris and best of luck this weekend at GWA's inaugural edition of "Worldwide". I know I'll be watching. Hopper: Thanks for having me. Michael: Well now we go to our friend Stella the flying chicken for our traffic report. SSSSTTTTEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAA! [The screen fades to black as Hopper cracks up laughing at the impersonation Michael just did.]
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Post by Chris Hopper on Dec 25, 2010 22:17:55 GMT -5
[The screen opens to a shot of a picturesque tree line in winter. The snow clinging to the tree branches as they contrast heavily against the pitch black sky that only has dots in it thanks to the stars. It really is a calming view. Over the view, a voice is heard.] Voice Over: Hear that? [Silence. No sound except a little breeze that allows a scant amount of snow to fall off a single limb.] Voice Over: It is unmistakable. Take a listen and really listen hard. [Still nothing. Even the breeze has died down and we see nothing but the snowy visuals.] Voice Over: That explains everything to me clearly. [The camera swivels and shows "Too Cool" Chris Hopper sitting on a wooden stool. The area is a porch attached to a lovely-looking log cabin in the woods. Hopper is wearing a leather jacket over his blue turtle neck sweater and has his normal blue jeans on.] Hopper: You see, sometimes people get star-struck or just plain freeze up. I have seen it happen countless of times in the past. Somebody realizes that they can't possibly get a victory and decide to stay in hiding rather than come out and talk trash. [Chris pauses and takes a drink from his glass.] Hopper: You have to respect that. [He sets the glass down on the floor and stands up to continue his point.] Hopper: Really, you do. You have to respect the fact that rather than try and run his mouth and look like a total moron, he has decided to stay silent and save his tongue for a time when it might make a difference. I'd say I am surprised, but I think that this will not be anything uncommon as GWA gets rolling. [Chris steps over to one of the wooden columns that line the porch area and leans against it.] Hopper: You see, right now I am an unknown. This is not my normal stomping grounds where I have all the clout and recognition. Normally I would be the headliner of a show. The name written so big at the top so that the kids and fans in an area would want to fork over their cash to come and witness my in-ring skills and greatness on the mic. I've won awards. I've won more titles than I can shake a stick at. I've been doing this almost sixteen years and it never gets old....
Hopper: ....well it *hadn't* gotten old until recently.
[He pauses and even emits a small chuckle to himself before continuing.]
Hopper: It dawned on me that I have been wrestling the same guys for years. I have been running the same scams and doing the same things over and over. Nobody wanted to do anything different because that is what sold tickets for their niche of fans. But it got old. You can only wrestle guys like Alex Extreme and William Craven so many times before it is like groundhog day.
[He nods as he thoughtfully speaks.]
Hopper: Deja Vu. Over and over just in different arenas....it is not fun like that!
[Chris shakes his head out of the dwelling he was doing on the repetition and continues forward.]
Hopper: That is one of the reasons I am in GWA. I looked at the roster and it is full of guys that *I* had never heard of. I had never crossed paths with them in any promotion I had been involved with over the past sixteen years. What a breath of fresh air it was to see names like AJ Johnson, Stardust and JD Screw. A complete and total new group of talented performers to work with. What an opportunity this is!
[Chris smiles as he pauses a second.]
Hopper: That is why I think as some of these new guys become acquainted with the "King of Cool" that they will realize the legendary heights I have climbed and exactly what it will take to best me in the squared circle. I think Damion found out more about me thanks to a google search and decided staying quiet was best. I'm sure that AJ, JD Stardust and the rest of my potential tournament opponents will or have done the same. There is no way I'm walking out of Philadelphia without a title around my waist. It is an opportunity nobody can let pass by.
[He stands straight and stops leaning on the column.]
Hopper: There is one other opportunity here. I'm not proud of who and what I have been in the past. I'm the guy that would say or do anything in order to be the top dog in the promotion I was in. I belittled fans and treated them like garbage. In the back, I was a pain to those in charge and those in the locker room and the crowd's found out and made me hear it every night.
[He raises one eyebrow and grins.]
Hopper: Those days are over and I now have an entire new group to get to know and perform for every night. The GWA is all about bringing the best wrestling action and the best in everything to our fans and it starts with this man right here.
[Chris points to himself.]
Hopper: I plan on giving it my all. Nobody is going to stand in my way and in order to do that I want all the fans to come and stand in my corner. I need my "gang" to get back together and root for me, cheer for me, believe in me getting the job done so that anyone who stands across from me will know they are in for a tough match and an uphill battle. I look forward to hoisting a title this weekend.
[He smiles wide.]
Hopper: I'll see you all there.
[Chris turns and opens the screen door on the cabin as the screen fades to black.]
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