Showtime - Retribution Part II
Genre : Drama / Comedy / Sports
Showrunner: Steven Soderbergh
Writer : Chad Taylor & Mo Buck
Cast: Barry Keoghan, Dacre Montgomery, Nick Offerman, Cooper Andrews, Zoey Deutch, Anna Gunn, Clayne Crawford, Tom Hopper, Paul Rust, Toby Huss, O'Shea Jackson Jr, Samara Weaving, Pedro Pascal, Chris Zylka, Paul Walter Hauser, Joe Manganiello and Sofia Black-D'Elia
Plot: Bill Gundy (Nick Offerman) is on the phone with Brad Wolfe (Clayne Crawford) and he reminds him that even if he didn’t like him very much when back when he was in TCW, he still thinks this is a bad idea and he would hate to learn that anyone was seriously injured, because it is highly dangerous. Wolfe thanks the “old man” for his concerns, it will go on as planned. Wolfe then turns around and tells his TCW colleagues: Ben Carr (Barry Keoghan), Loto (Cooper Andrews), Sweet Tea (Zoey Deutch), Tom Jackson (Tom Hopper) and Dicky (Paul Rust) that it will go on as planned. He then tells then enters Diane’s (Anna Gunn) office and he tells her that it will go down tonight. She smiles and heads for Paul Martin’s (Toby Huss) office and he welcomes her with a cold attitude, saying tonight is his show and he’s the one pulling the strings. He didn’t book the Georgia Dome only for her and her wrestlers to derail the evening. She says she has a few adjustments in mind for tonight’s card and she wanted to run them by him. Martin says he’ll listen to them, but he makes no promises.
Ben looks at tapes with Sweet Tea before the event and they practice basic moves together, headlock, takedown, these kinds of things. They laugh and smile together, but they are interrupted by Brad Wolfe. Ben leaves immediately and says he was heading to the restroom anyway. Brad asks his sister what’s going on between her and Ben and Sweet Tea blushes before saying he’s training her so she can wrestle too. Brad laughs it off and says it’s a good joke, before going after Ben. Ben is backstage when he hears something coming from a room and he peaks inside, only to see Thunderjack (Dacre Montgomery) making out with Honey Moon (Samara Weaving). He leaves before they see him and walks away awkwardly. He’s joined by Brad who wants to remind him of what happens to anyone who gets too close to his sister. Ben tells him he understands, but Ben shouldn’t be his biggest concern for his sister right now, he has something to show him. He brings him over to the room and Brad enters and catches Thunderjack and Honey Moon in the act. Thunderjack tries to make up an excuse, but Brad is furious that he would cheat on his sister like that. He punches him in the eye and leaves Thunderjack. Ben froze, not knowing how to react and leaves awkwardly when Honey Moon, who is covering herself up, tells him to leave.
The first match of the night is between Loto and Mexican superstar Oscar “The Blue Tiger” Sanchez (Pedro Pascal). The match is supposed to be a long opener between two established wrestlers, but when the match gets underway, Loto’s breath is short and when Dicky notices, he calls an audible to Sanchez to cut the match short, but Sanchez, ever the cocky wrestler who wants to be right, refuses and wants to stick to the plan. Loto really can’t take it anymore and he overpowers Sanchez, brutally pinning him down while putting all his weight on him. When they get back in the locker room, Diane is there to ask him if he’s alright and he says everything is fine. Pedro immediately goes to complain to Paul Martin, who then complains to Diane that her wrestlers are taking over and he’s pissed.
Paul hunts through the backstage area, looking for someone. Finally he finds him: Ben preparing for his match for the mid-tier TV Title. Sensing something fishy, Paul gives Ben assurance that he is still high on him and that he is going to win this title in the rematch but will still lose tonight. That will leave the people wanting more and make his ultimate victory very sweet. Ben says that he understands and that he is looking forward to the match. If there is some kind of mutiny, Paul hopes that this will keep Ben on his side. He puts his hand on Ben’s shoulder and wishes him luck. When Paul leaves, Dicky approaches Ben and asks what that was about. He tries to make sure if Ben is still down with the plan and Ben inaudibly motions yes.
In his match against Mark Cruz (Chris Zylka), Ben is feeling nervous. Paul has constructed the match to be a showcase of Ben’s skills but, again, ultimately lose. Getting over without going over. However, his fellow TCW wrestlers watch from backstage and expect him to do like Loto and force a victory. Given that Cruz is twice his size, Ben finds this difficult. On top of that, he also kind of trusts Paul and would be OK with losing. He tries to pull a sneak roll-up but Cruz kicks out at two and is furious at him for going off script. Ben apologizes but Cruz isn’t having it and starts getting rough with Ben, treating him like a ragdoll. Backstage, Wolfe rallies his troops and says that they’re going to need to call an audible as it doesn’t look like Ben is going to be able to pull it off (or that he doesn’t want to).
As Cruz beats on Ben, wrestlers start to emerge from the crowd one by one. Tom Jackson is equipped with a Singapore cane. Loto has a steel chair in hand. Brad Wolfe is holding a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. They approach the ring and all climb up on the apron. Cruz stops his beatdown and is unsure of what is going on and goes running from the ring. Tom hits himself in the head with cane a few times, cutting him open. He takes a hand swipe of the blood and smears it across his chest.
In Paul’s office, he is watching with a nervous eye and asks what’s going on. He is irate and tries to go to call security but Sweet Tea is blocking the door from the outside, with a smirk on her face. The men in the ring start tearing up the ring, while the tens of thousands in attendance don’t know what is going on. Ben rolls out of the ring to nurse his injuries so does not take place in these actions. Cain Kahn (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) runs down to the ring to defend his company’s honor but Brad fends him off with the bat. Cain isn’t joined by any of his fellow MWA as no one respects Paul that much.
Finally, the last piece of the puzzle emerges. Thunderjack, leather jacket and sunglasses on and toothpick in mouth, slowly makes his way to the ring with something in his hand. He grabs MWA’s TV Championship from the timekeeper and brings it into the ring. He lays it flat on the ring and pulls out his item: a can of red spray paint. He takes the toothpick out of his mouth and removes his sunglasses, revealing his black eye (which only adds to his badass look). He looks to the camera and says: “This is the start of a new era of Texas Championship Wrestling. And we want to start it by saying: FUCK PAUL MARTIN.” He flicks the toothpick at the camera and spray paints T C W over Martin’s championship belt.
The PPV carrier cuts the feed after what was said and being unable to get into contact with Martin. The live Georgia crowd is now in full riot mode and booing the TCW quartet, who are flipping them off. We see one fan in the crowd who is not booing and instead is cracking a smile on his face, nodding as if to say he likes what he saw. As the camera gets closer, we find out that it is former TCW jobber Clem Sanders (Paul Walter Hauser). Paul is fuming while Diane sits at his desk with a smug look on her face and wishes him luck with his “alliance”.
The TCW crew leave the building together while Paul scrambles to do something about his show while his ring is destroyed and PPV feed cut. Thunderjack tries to apologize to Tea but she tells him that she is breaking up with him for good. She asks Ben if she can ride back with him to hotel, which takes him by surprise but he says he will. Diane and Brad walk hand-in-hand and she tells him that felt good. He says “tell me about it” as the TCW crew walk proudly into a new era.
We see the latest copy of Shirley’s newsletter being printed, one of the most popular of the sorts in the United States. For the first time in a long time, TCW is the top story and not APW. It reads “TEXAS TAKEOVER: TCW marks shocking new direction as Paul Martin’s alliance abruptly dissolves.”
At his home, Ricky Santana (Joe Manganiello) reads this newest edition with a smile on his face. He congratulates Shirley (Sofia D’Elia Black) on the issue and says it might be her best one yet. She sits on his lap and asks if he’d be interested in returning to wrestling and TCW under this new deathmatch direction. He looks at her for an extended period of silence. He then cracks a big smile.
“Hell fucking no!”
Ben looks at tapes with Sweet Tea before the event and they practice basic moves together, headlock, takedown, these kinds of things. They laugh and smile together, but they are interrupted by Brad Wolfe. Ben leaves immediately and says he was heading to the restroom anyway. Brad asks his sister what’s going on between her and Ben and Sweet Tea blushes before saying he’s training her so she can wrestle too. Brad laughs it off and says it’s a good joke, before going after Ben. Ben is backstage when he hears something coming from a room and he peaks inside, only to see Thunderjack (Dacre Montgomery) making out with Honey Moon (Samara Weaving). He leaves before they see him and walks away awkwardly. He’s joined by Brad who wants to remind him of what happens to anyone who gets too close to his sister. Ben tells him he understands, but Ben shouldn’t be his biggest concern for his sister right now, he has something to show him. He brings him over to the room and Brad enters and catches Thunderjack and Honey Moon in the act. Thunderjack tries to make up an excuse, but Brad is furious that he would cheat on his sister like that. He punches him in the eye and leaves Thunderjack. Ben froze, not knowing how to react and leaves awkwardly when Honey Moon, who is covering herself up, tells him to leave.
The first match of the night is between Loto and Mexican superstar Oscar “The Blue Tiger” Sanchez (Pedro Pascal). The match is supposed to be a long opener between two established wrestlers, but when the match gets underway, Loto’s breath is short and when Dicky notices, he calls an audible to Sanchez to cut the match short, but Sanchez, ever the cocky wrestler who wants to be right, refuses and wants to stick to the plan. Loto really can’t take it anymore and he overpowers Sanchez, brutally pinning him down while putting all his weight on him. When they get back in the locker room, Diane is there to ask him if he’s alright and he says everything is fine. Pedro immediately goes to complain to Paul Martin, who then complains to Diane that her wrestlers are taking over and he’s pissed.
Paul hunts through the backstage area, looking for someone. Finally he finds him: Ben preparing for his match for the mid-tier TV Title. Sensing something fishy, Paul gives Ben assurance that he is still high on him and that he is going to win this title in the rematch but will still lose tonight. That will leave the people wanting more and make his ultimate victory very sweet. Ben says that he understands and that he is looking forward to the match. If there is some kind of mutiny, Paul hopes that this will keep Ben on his side. He puts his hand on Ben’s shoulder and wishes him luck. When Paul leaves, Dicky approaches Ben and asks what that was about. He tries to make sure if Ben is still down with the plan and Ben inaudibly motions yes.
In his match against Mark Cruz (Chris Zylka), Ben is feeling nervous. Paul has constructed the match to be a showcase of Ben’s skills but, again, ultimately lose. Getting over without going over. However, his fellow TCW wrestlers watch from backstage and expect him to do like Loto and force a victory. Given that Cruz is twice his size, Ben finds this difficult. On top of that, he also kind of trusts Paul and would be OK with losing. He tries to pull a sneak roll-up but Cruz kicks out at two and is furious at him for going off script. Ben apologizes but Cruz isn’t having it and starts getting rough with Ben, treating him like a ragdoll. Backstage, Wolfe rallies his troops and says that they’re going to need to call an audible as it doesn’t look like Ben is going to be able to pull it off (or that he doesn’t want to).
As Cruz beats on Ben, wrestlers start to emerge from the crowd one by one. Tom Jackson is equipped with a Singapore cane. Loto has a steel chair in hand. Brad Wolfe is holding a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. They approach the ring and all climb up on the apron. Cruz stops his beatdown and is unsure of what is going on and goes running from the ring. Tom hits himself in the head with cane a few times, cutting him open. He takes a hand swipe of the blood and smears it across his chest.
In Paul’s office, he is watching with a nervous eye and asks what’s going on. He is irate and tries to go to call security but Sweet Tea is blocking the door from the outside, with a smirk on her face. The men in the ring start tearing up the ring, while the tens of thousands in attendance don’t know what is going on. Ben rolls out of the ring to nurse his injuries so does not take place in these actions. Cain Kahn (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) runs down to the ring to defend his company’s honor but Brad fends him off with the bat. Cain isn’t joined by any of his fellow MWA as no one respects Paul that much.
Finally, the last piece of the puzzle emerges. Thunderjack, leather jacket and sunglasses on and toothpick in mouth, slowly makes his way to the ring with something in his hand. He grabs MWA’s TV Championship from the timekeeper and brings it into the ring. He lays it flat on the ring and pulls out his item: a can of red spray paint. He takes the toothpick out of his mouth and removes his sunglasses, revealing his black eye (which only adds to his badass look). He looks to the camera and says: “This is the start of a new era of Texas Championship Wrestling. And we want to start it by saying: FUCK PAUL MARTIN.” He flicks the toothpick at the camera and spray paints T C W over Martin’s championship belt.
The PPV carrier cuts the feed after what was said and being unable to get into contact with Martin. The live Georgia crowd is now in full riot mode and booing the TCW quartet, who are flipping them off. We see one fan in the crowd who is not booing and instead is cracking a smile on his face, nodding as if to say he likes what he saw. As the camera gets closer, we find out that it is former TCW jobber Clem Sanders (Paul Walter Hauser). Paul is fuming while Diane sits at his desk with a smug look on her face and wishes him luck with his “alliance”.
The TCW crew leave the building together while Paul scrambles to do something about his show while his ring is destroyed and PPV feed cut. Thunderjack tries to apologize to Tea but she tells him that she is breaking up with him for good. She asks Ben if she can ride back with him to hotel, which takes him by surprise but he says he will. Diane and Brad walk hand-in-hand and she tells him that felt good. He says “tell me about it” as the TCW crew walk proudly into a new era.
We see the latest copy of Shirley’s newsletter being printed, one of the most popular of the sorts in the United States. For the first time in a long time, TCW is the top story and not APW. It reads “TEXAS TAKEOVER: TCW marks shocking new direction as Paul Martin’s alliance abruptly dissolves.”
At his home, Ricky Santana (Joe Manganiello) reads this newest edition with a smile on his face. He congratulates Shirley (Sofia D’Elia Black) on the issue and says it might be her best one yet. She sits on his lap and asks if he’d be interested in returning to wrestling and TCW under this new deathmatch direction. He looks at her for an extended period of silence. He then cracks a big smile.
“Hell fucking no!”
