The Case For the Platinum Standard

Posts : 14 Join date : 2023-07-13

Los Angeles, California
University of California-Los Angeles
Moore Hall

One of the largest lecture halls on the campus of Emmy’s alma mater sits empty, aside from the Platinum Standard herself. A massive Powerpoint presentation is on display as she steps up to the lectern, gesturing for a moment back at said presentation before beginning her speech. The title of her lecture:

The Case for the Platinum Standard

I’m not one to really use a lecture system, but there is no better way to sift through a lot of the posturing, grandstanding and nonsense that I’ve been hearing from my competition in one of the biggest matches, if not THE biggest matches in the history of Prestige Championship Wrestling. When I hear the words “steel cage” and “multiple opponents” at the same time, “good memories” are the first things that pop into my head.

Using a remote, Emmy clicks and the slide on the presentation changes to an image of her sitting atop a massive domed structure, smiling and celebrating a massive victory.

Back in the very first company that I wrestled in that was on a major international scale, they came up with this match called the Dreamscape. No rules, no pinfalls, submissions, anything of that nature. The goal? Survive long enough to be the first one to escape the structure. Over a dozen other competitors, men and women, superheavyweight brawlers and high-flying femme fatales stood in my way. I managed to outwit, outlast, and outsmart everyone else to get to the top and achieve my first major victory. It was a perfect capstone to the nearly half a year I spent undefeated in this organization and it was when I knew that the Silver Starlet was well on her way to becoming the Platinum Standard.

Emmy clicks her remote again and this time the picture changes to a much more ominous domed structure with various layers of steel with weapons and injured combatants littered around it. In the center of the photo is Emmanuelle, bruised and bloodied, standing as the winner.

Another match, the Seven Stages of Hell, was another match where I proved my mettle inside of a steel structure. Attack dogs, electrified fence, barbed wire, everything that you could possibly imagine. I had to go through that and seven other competitors each time. The pain and suffering was unimaginable to most people, but I’m not most people. I endured and claimed my place as one of Project Honor’s elite at that time. In fact, it was so nice I did it TWICE, managing to defend the Warrior Rising Championship inside that same hellish structure a year later.

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls. A lot of people out there are telling you that they’ve done this and they’ve done that, but none of them can say they have the experiences that I’ve got in multiperson matches in environments like this.The Chamber of Valor, Cage matches, ladder matches, deathmatches. I’ve done it all and more often than not I’ve come out on top. Other people say that they’re ready for something like this, but unless they have a resume that compares to mine that is just some lame-ass conjecture.

The slide changes to a picture of one of her opponents, Mercadier de Leon.

Speaking of conjecture, there’s someone who seems to be fond of who is participating in this match. Mercadier talks a big game, this and that for his God, his mother, for Salvation, blah blah blah. There’s two things he’s fixated on that are annoying as hell to me. One, he says that he beat me and Roxie in that tag team match. From what I recall, you were getting your ass kicked, Lion-O, and some timely distractions along with Chris getting the jump on me saved your titles. You didn’t do anything of note. You were the least contributing member of a high school group project beating your chest for the team making an A+...yet the only thing you did the whole damn time was MAYBE bring some chips and dip for the people doing actual fucking work to snack on while they did the work for you.

You already know that a receipt is coming for what happened after the match, but I want to elaborate on something that you’ve made clear: you consider me teaming with Roxie as some sort of charity mission, a case of me trying to help her. Not at all. I see someone who is on the verge of superstardom, someone who is a little wild, and doesn't go about her business by conventional means. I see a good person and an honorable person, someone that is not a burden but is my friend and partner. You and your pals have tried to hurt her and mock her, but I’m going to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. You two started this little skirmish between the Queens and Salvation, but you and Jupiter can rest well knowing that we’re going to finish it and finish it hard.

Another picture appears on the slideshow, one of Emmy and Roxie in the ring together.

Speaking of my tag team partner, there’s quite a lot of piling on going on with some of you. I’m not going to name names -cough BIANCA REED-cough- MAXIMUS STEELE-, but you all seem to be under this dumbass assumption like Lion-O is that Roxie is a burden. She’s no such thing. She’s a teammate, and one I trust. She’s not an albatross and she’s not some troublesome pest. I would appreciate it if you all would shut up with that noise. And to answer one of your questions, Maximus, she’s my partner through and through. But in this match, she and I have come to the only logical understanding that you can in this situation: we are competitors against one another.

Now, I mean, sure, if things get spicy and I see people trying to gang up on her, we’re fighting together. In fact, I wouldn’t be all that opposed if circumstances lined themselves out for us to beat the piss out of Salvation and then go our separate ways from there, just to make sure Chris’s little backup plan goes south before it even has a chance to get going. But at the end of the day, this isn’t a tag team affair. We both know what the prize is and we understand only one of us can get there. If that means I have to try to run her ass over to claim that prize, I have zero qualms about that. She shouldn’t either because I expect the same mentality.

And Bianca?

Emmy clicks the remote again, this time turning back towards the projector to take a good look, her lips pursed and eyes studying the woman in question.

I heard something about calling me a failure when she spoke? Me, the Platinum Standard, a Chamber of Valor failure. I mean, I understand the context of it all but I don’t think failure is the word I would use. Someone who claims to have a winning mentality, this chick. I have a question though:

Emmy pulls up the title history of all the PCW Championships, fragmented into four separate pieces of one slide. Bianca’s name is not present on either of them.

Refresh my memory, peeps. Do you see her name up on any of these? Has she been a Valor Champion? Prodigy Champion? Half of the Tag Team Champions? World Champion? No? Then, I do have to ask how in the name of Kobe Bryant is this chick talking to anyone about “winning mentality”? Now, I’m sure she’s done well in other places as I have, and she’s had her shortcomings here just as I have, but far be it from me to tell someone that I’ve never met in my life that they don’t know anything about winning mentality, especially when they have zero receipts on hand to back up those lofty claims as far as PCW is concerned.

Emmy puts up another tile, this one an old clip art graphic full of question marks.

There’s a lot of unknowns for this match, though. What’s the order of entry going to be? Will you be able to find people to pair up with if things go south and multiple people are gunning for your head? What’s the state of mind of certain people entering the match? Wild cards, that’s the biggest concern I have. Guys like Nayati, Maximus, Mercadier, girls like Jupiter and Roxie. Those are known to me. I have a good gauge of what they are and aren’t capable of and can plan accordingly. But people like Tomi Venus and Kasey Kash, they’re absolute wild cards. Now, I’ve wrestled Tomi before and lost to him, but his instability seems to only have gotten worse since we last met. Kasey has had a tough time trying to fight his way to the top of the mountain for sure, people like Matt Miles standing in the way of where he wanted to go probably has something to do with that.

One thing that is predictable enough about these two is entitlement. There’s nothing wrong with confidence. Everyone involved hopefully at least believes they can win this match and then go on to be champion in the future. But with these two especially, I sense a lot of self-appreciation that borders on narcissism. “I should be World Champion!” is not something most people really need to go around saying and they do it an awful lot. I’m not sure what Kasey’s deal is but I know that more…unsavory measures may have to be used on Tomi this time. Like other people that I’ve mentioned, I played nice and fair the first time around. With this match being a breeding ground for brutality, I think it’s safe to say that I can discard all of that and just pay them back in kind instead of taking the high road.

“I deserve respect for giving my life to this business!”

Nah. That's not how this works. You don’t get respect just because you were around a long time, or what you’ve sacrificed to this sport. You get respect for what you CONTRIBUTE to this business, HOW you conduct yourself in and out of the ring, and WHAT YOU DO when you get to the top.

I’m cocky, maybe a little arrogant, but some of these people really think their existence in the sport of wrestling gives them the right to dictate the future. No, the status they want has to be earned.

There’s one more wild card out there and this one is for a positive reason instead of the batshit insanity that these two have: Lennon Armada. I’ve seen her struggle and push to get into a position like this. Coming out of nowhere and beating TJ Alexander, giving James Christ all he could handle and then some in a match for the Prodigy Championship at Fool’s Gold. She reminds me a lot of…well, me. Smaller than a lot of people, not looked at as much of a threat, but when I started dropping grown ass men and women on their heads and nearly sending them to meet their Gods, that perception quickly changed.

Lennon, I get that you’re trying to make a name for yourself. IF this were any other situation, you would find yourself with a highly supportive Emmanuelle in your corner rooting for you. But unfortunately for you, this is a situation where you’re going to have to do more to prove your worth than show up and be a worthy participant.

You have to show up with the ability to outlast the Platinum Standard.

I do not believe you have that.

There's no shame in that because I don’t think any participant in this match really does. All you have to do is take an objective look at my history to know that is the absolute truth.

» Emmanuelle- "The Platinum Standard"
» Case Closed
» WELCOME TO THE PLATINUM TAKEOVER!