MD Storm: The Charm City Champion, Chapter 1

It had been a long night for MD Storm. As a matter of fact, it had been such a long night the sun was starting to rise, beams of light starting to trickle in through the blinds. He let out a small sigh, and began to get ready to get some sleep, until his phone went off. He took it out of his pocket, and saw that it was his best friend, and former tag team partner, calling. The name “Tony” shined a white light on his screen, on top of the accept and decline button. He pressed accept, and pressed the phone up to his ear.

“Hello?” MD said, stifling a yawn back.

“Well good morning to you too! How are you doing, dude? I feel like we haven’t spoken in a while. I miss you man. Things aren’t the same without you here!” MD smiled a little bit hearing his voice.

“Yeah man I’m…doing good. Nervous wreck. I can hardly sleep, so when I can’t sleep, I go to the gym. I look great.” He and Tony chuckled with one another.

“You know, I was starting to worry about you. Thought now that you’re in the big time, or PRIME time, maybe you’d have forgotten about us little people.”

MD was quiet for a minute. Did he really change since coming up to PRIME? That’s the last thing he wanted people to think. Not his friends, colleagues, or the fans. That’s not who he wanted to be. Was this a big deal for MD? Fuck yes it was. It was arguably the biggest deal in his career. No longer was he running the indie circuit, having to fight for deals to wrestle in different companies, sleeping in his car because he was too late booking a hotel, and being sore the next day for his match. He wouldn’t need to worry about all that so long as he showed up and performed his damn best.

“You know I couldn’t forget you, or anyone else I came up with. You know me, come on.” He said after a while. There was a pause on Tony’s end now.

“I know, man, but still…the thought crosses my mind. I just don’t want you to become the thing you built your career on hating…a sellout. That’s all.”

MD let out a sigh, and rubbed his eyes.”Tony, I get it, but…This is a completely different field. Honestly, I might be over my head. I haven’t even had my first match. Give me some time Tony. It’s all just new.”

Tony kept going on, about how he has noticed MD change since signing on to PRIME. Fan engagement on the social media, the instgram lives, all of it seemed to come to a screeching halt.  To be honest, MD had stopped all that to focus on himself, but the least he could have done was send a message out to let his fans know he was going to be taking a break while this adjustment was made. It got to a point where the pair was arguing, and MD had to cut it short.

“Tony. I hear you. I understand you. But I can’t do it right now. I’m running off of 300mg of caffeine and a few hours of sleep. Let’s talk later, ok?” After they said their goodbyes, and hung up. Not long after, MD was fast asleep on his couch.

A few hours later

MD woke up, hardly feeling rested. The couch wasn’t as nearly comfortable as his bed would have been, but he was so tired that at the time, getting up and moving to the bed was seemed like a daunting chore. While he laid there on the couch he had half a mind of getting up and going to his bed and just sleeping the day away, but he knew he couldn’t do that. A yawn escaped from his mouth, he checked the time.

Afternoon. Shit. What am I doing with myself?

He made himself a decent breakfast of eggs, English muffins and bacon, took a shower, shaved, styled his hair, got dressed, and thought about what he was going to do with his day. While he was staring at himself in the mirror, he found himself floating back into a memory, from a few years back.

January 14th, 2023

After months of torment and torture against his biggest rival at the time, Derek Chesney, it was time to settle the score at the biggest event the company MD was signed to at the time had to offer. A few days beforehand, MD came out and cut a scathing promo against Derek, which helped the match gain a lot of traction. He remembered exactly what he said.

“Let me tell you something.” It became known that whenever MD Storm came out and said this, it was not going to be a good conversation, and he most definitely had something in the chamber for his opponent.

“Let’s get down to the facts. You can’t beat me fairly, you rely on others to do your dirty work, and that’s because you’re a shit wrestler who’s good on the microphone. And I’m gonna expose you for what you are. A fraud. And I’m gonna take that title away from you, and bring it back to its former glory. To give this title the honor and prestige it deserves, and the people-“ He said gesturing to the crowd, “-A champion they deserve to see week after week.”

A brawl ensued afterwards, involving most of the locker room coming out to separate the two. MD Storm and Derek Chesney were on track to have one of the biggest main events in the company's history.

The match started off with a bang, the two disregarding any semblance of traditional wrestling, and it was a full blown slug fest. It was a brawl. MD’s forehead got busted open early in the match, Derek ended up taking out the referee so for 10 minutes, the fight turned into a no holds barred brawl.

They used chairs, bats, tables, you name it, were used. Nothing was off the table, and these two professionals fed off the silent queues they were giving each other, and each time one of them did something crazy, the other would do their damndest to top the other. By the time they had ran through all the weapons available to them, they started using microphones, the bell, the title belt, the chairs the announcers were using. They were doing everything in their power to wear the other out. Once they ran out of objects to use, they were a clump of bloody pulps trying to regain energy and momentum to keep going at the other.

The reason why they were doing it, was backstage, MD knew that Derek’s time was limited in the company, as he was moving on to bigger ventures, so they came to an agreement. After a long conversation with each other about how they wanted to do their match, it came down to one sentence, and that sentence alone was worth more than anything they said the entire time in the conversation.

“We’re gonna tear the fucking place down.”

The match came down to MD, sitting in the corner, blood and sweat stinging his eyes, and Derek, hanging onto the ropes. MD stood slowly, and looked around the crowd. They were on their feet, and soon he locked eyes with Derek. They gave each other a small nod, and the two went sprinting at each other. The pair met in the middle of the ring and brought back the slug fest. Blows were landing, but eventually, the two locked arms, and put their heads together.

“Times running short here Champ, finish it.”

MD Storm flung Derek towards the ropes. He bounced off them. Derek took a swing at MD, who ducked under it, and delivered a swift kick to the gut, hooked Derek’s arms, and delivered The Charm City Cross. Keeping his arms hooked, MD backed into the ropes at a brisk pace and using the momentum from bouncing off the ropes to hit another one. He stood over Derek before collapsing on his knees then ontop of Derek. He sprawled his arms over Derek, and hooked his legs. A new referee ran down the ramp and slid into the ring.  “ONE. TWO…THREE!”  and just like that, MD had the belt. MD slowly stood and got out of the ring, lifting the belt in the air, got onto the barricades and fell into the crowd. There was a picture of MD that made its way through some social media outlets of him, covered in blood, with belt across his chest, being held up by people in the crowd.

He went on to hold the title for a year before losing it only a few days after his anniversary of winning it, and holding it for a full year. He knew it was long overdue, and had no issue handing it over. It was the natural precession of things, and it was time for someone else to have their moment in the spotlight.

MD snapped out of the memory, and stood there in silence. Maybe he had changed since getting on with PRIME. The MD Storm back then wasn’t sleeping all day, sitting on his ass trying to figure his shit out. He was hungry for something. He can’t let himself get comfortable. Not here. Not in the future. Not ever. He has to keep himself occupied with a goal, but what would his goal be?

He was one of the new kids on the block, so he was starting from the bottom of the totem pole. He needed to come out with a bang at the start. Get his name known. He started to feel it again. That hunger. That drive. He smiled to himself in the mirror. There it is. That feeling he had the whole time in the past.

He took out his phone, and sent a text to Tony.

It’s back. Thanks for calling me earlier. I love you brother.

He turned out of the bathroom, took out his phone, and hopped onto Twitter.

His post read: LIVE! In 10 minutes. MD Charm addresses the people.

10 Minutes Later

The live was started. MD hadn’t noticed how much weight he lost until people started joining the stream. He waited a moment before starting.

“I know this was last minute, and I want to thank each and everyone of you for tuning in.” He started. “First and foremost, I want to start off with apologizing. I know since the news broke that I was signed with PRIME that I have been, for the most part, radio silent.” He paused, and shook his head. “And you all do not deserve that. Some of you have been with me from the very start, and you deserve the utmost respect from me. I can’t be The CHARM. CITY. CHAMPION! Without talking to you, the people.” He nodded for a second, and caught his breath. “I would be nothing without you all. I would not be here just days away from my PRIME debut if it weren’t from the outpouring of love and support from everyone in here.”

He paused for another moment, staring into the camera. “Now I am here to tell you that amidst these changes, and the silence, and everything else, I felt change. I felt change within myself and it took a very good friend of mine to tell me that this change was very evident, and I took that to heart.” He tapped over his heart. He looked at the screen, and saw Tony was watching the live, and MD gave a small smile to the screen. “And now that I have realized it, I’m gonna say it. Fuck changing.” He nodded. “Fuck. Changing. I would not be here if I made earth shattering changes. I am M-D STORM, and I would not be who I am if I said ‘fuck it. This isn’t woking out. I’m gonna emulate every cookie cutter goodie two shoes who doesn’t know the difference between and right and left, and rely on the direction the company gives them.’ Fuck that noise.”

He paused again. He wanted his words to sink in. He wanted every person watching him to realize just how serious he was. “Starting today, MD Storm isn’t changing. No more doing his best choirboy impression to keep the corporate knuckleheads happy. If they don’t like MD Storm and the cut of his jib, they wouldn’t have signed him on.” He nodded to himself, and leaned in closer to the camera.”

“And to anyone from PRIME, who might be watching me right now. You should have been watching me. Me making my way to PRIME was inevitable. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want MD Storm on their roster? Anyone who passes on MD Storm is a certified cornball, and it’ll be their funeral.”

He laughed a little bit, and stared into the camera. “Let me tell you something…” He said, and then paused, to gather his thoughts. “I am going to climb my way to the VERY top of PRIME, like I have done time and time again. And the only thing that’s going to stop me is when there is no longer breath in my lungs and I am flatlined on a monitor. Believe me when I say that an unstoppable force is making his way into PRIME.” He stared deeply into the camera, and saw a text from Tony. It read, I’m proud of you champ. That’s the MD I know.

“Now, why don’t you all tell me something? I’m gonna open the live for questions.”

After answering questions for a little bit, he said his goodbyes, and told his followers that they should keep their eye on the horizon for his debut as well as some other announcements, and then ended the live. The amount of support he got from the live refilled MD with even more fire in his chest. He needed to stick by his words now. If not for himself, for Tony, for PRIME, for the fans. Everything he did, he did for them. He needed to keep on being the Charm City Champion, their hometown hero, and he needed to be unashamedly himself. He needed to stay true to himself.

To top it all off, he posted the picture of himself after he won the title all those years ago, with the crowd holding him up. He threw on a black and white filter and added a caption. One finger and fist, I’ll claw my way out of any situation, and hit send. He silenced his phone, and went on about his day. Some accounts were already posting the highlights of his live, commending him for taking his indie flare into PRIME, and how they too were worried about MD changing for the worse. He put all these rumors to rest now. MD Storm was not going to change, not now, and not ever.

Now the question remains: What was MD hungry for? He needed a goal to put his mind to. Aim for the stars, and if you miss, you’ll land on the moon, right? He had a deep moment of thinking for himself. Pick a fight with the Russians? Make an amazing single’s run? Form a tag team? They all could work, but it wasn’t hitting the spot. He needed something to truly strive for. Truthfully, he wanted to be in the conversation as one of the best performers in PRIME, which he had no doubt in his mind that he could do that. With hard work and dedication, MD could get there, but he just needed to jump in and start things off like a firecracker in toilet bowl. It should be noted that MD Storm has a history of being a Division 1, certifiable, undeniable, crash out. He excels in those kinds of spots, letting out all his frustrations and anger while serving as the buffer between the backstage and the fans. He could see if he could play into that. But that wasn’t a goal, no. What was his goal going to be? He couldn’t put his tongue on it. Maybe this is a conversation he needed to have with himself later. Perhaps he would be better off focusing on his debut match he had against Asher Creed.

Truth be told, MD did not know much about this Asher Creed. He should reach out to him, see how he likes to run things in the ring, and to get an idea of who he was as a person. At face value, Asher Creed should have no issue taking down MD Storm. He was taller, weighed more, and from a quick google search, MD saw he was from Texas. He probably has a bit of that Texas cowboy spunk that Texans are known for. The only perception he had about people from Texas were they were all cowboys, but he was also fully aware that people thought that people from Maryland only cared about their flag and Old Bay, which wasn’t necessarily wrong. As a matter of fact, MD Storm had an Old Bay ball cap on, and would lather anything and everything he ate with the stuff.

A memory flooded back again.

December 31st, 2022

Derek and MD were face to face in the ring. Derek was in the middle of cutting a promo on MD, and in a last minute decision, MD was going to come in and interrupt Derek, on MD’s cue. Derek, funnily enough, was from Pennsylvania. So naturally, these real world rivalries would seep their way into their promos. MD had, funnily enough, was wearing the same Old Bay cap that night, and when Derek started to get into the topic of how shitty Baltimore and the state of Maryland was, MD’s music hit.

When his music hit, the crowd got on their feet, and MD came out. Mic in hand, smiling down at the ring. He gestured by waving his fingers in front of his neck, and his music stopped.

“Derek…Derek. You were doing so, so, so good! I was actually backstage, laughing about the things you had to say about me. ‘Personality of sandpaper and the skills of a sloth’? Derek, I read all those things on a popsicle stick when I was 12 years old. But hey, I was gonna let it slide. I was gonna just sit back and watch you dig yourself in a deeper hole. But then…” He sighed. “Then you had to mention my home. The only place in the world where I feel like I belong. Tch tch tch.” He began walking towards the ring.

“You can always slander me, because between us, we know the truth. We know who the better man is. The fans know who the better wrestler is. So, you had to get personal. You silly, sly dog. You wanted to get a reaction.” By this time, he was climbing into the ring, and stared Derek down. “So here I am. You’ve got the reaction. Now what are you going to do.”

Hats off to Derek here. He remained silent, and all he did was simply drop his mic and head out of the ring. MD waved at him as he left.

“Just what I thought. Just what everyone thought!” He let out a laugh, and watched as Derek retreated. “I’ll see you next week, Derek, and when I see you I just want you to know that HELL is coming with me!”

MD snapped out of the memory, and took the hat off. He even wore the hat after the match, and there were still blood stains on it from that night. He reckoned that, maybe for his debut, he would wear it, and a few other pieces of gear that could serve as callbacks to his past, and to serve as further proof that MD Storm wasn’t changing himself to meet the needs of the big leagues. He nodded to himself, and decided that’s going to be exactly what he is going to do.

MD stood from his couch. He has made more progress for himself in the last few hours than he has since first signing on with PRIME, and he was proud of himself. He finally, FINALLY, felt like himself again, and now he felt like truly, nothing could stop him. He was riding on the high that he was feeling from the events of the day.

In the span of the day, he renewed his image, generated some buzz for himself, his debut, and hopefully, for PRIME, his new home. Hopefully, he made a bit of an impact, and reached new audiences. At the end of the day, he was elated with the progress he made that day.

MD’s stomach rumbled, and realized he hadn’t ate that day. In true Marylander he took out his phone, and searched for the best sea food in the area. He found a restaurant, and set out, hoping it lived up to it’s review.