From apostle to apostate: The story of Emeritus
credit: Hans Kristian Hannibal-Bach
The Truth Movement
August 22nd, 2015. The first show from BODYSLAM! Pro Wrestling is held. BODYSLAM! 1: Fynne vs. Tank. On this show Emeritus Midnight makes his pro wrestling debut defeating Killer Karlson. Besides his valet, Hailey, Emeritus seems to be a quite lonely soul. Satisfied with residing in dark and gloomy places lit up by candles, the darker it is the more at home Emeritus seems to feel.
Almost a year later, on December 17th, 2016, Peter Olisander makes his debut on the fourth BODYSLAM! show. And with Peter Olisander being introduced into the world of pro wrestling, everything is about to change for Emeritus.
The life of Emeritus changes around the beginning of 2017 at the sixth BODYSLAM! show when he becomes a follower of "the Truth" Peter Olisander and they begin accompanying each other to their matches and team up for tag bouts. Towards the end of the year around BODYSLAM! 9: Showdown in Slicetown, the first challenge that lies ahead for Olisander and Emeritus, the devout apostle, is when they begin harassing the youngster, Matthew Burnett and the veteran of Danish professional wrestling, Tank.
The two teams collide in a series of matches throughout the start of 2018 until Olisander and Emeritus must finally see themselves defeated by the face duo. But a sign of a good apostle is how, even while enduring hardship, he is willing to stick with his master. And Emeritus continues standing by the side of Olisander.
The devout follower
Even though Peter Olisander and his follower found themselves defeated by Tank & Burnett, Olisander has his sight set on another and larger prize. The reigning BODYSLAM! champion, Michael Fynne. Emeritus, ever the devout follower, is more than willing to help Olisander reach this goal. Together they go after the champion ending with the two of them stealing the title which then has to be defended in a ladder match at BODYSLAM!'s show in Aalborg in 2019.
The match between Peter Olisander and Michael Fynne is intense, these guys will do anything to win and be in possesion of that championship. Emeritus and the newest member of the Truth Movement, Vasyl, the monster from Chernobyl, gets involved in the match and make it possible for their leader to capture the BODYSLAM! championship.
From then on Emeritus takes the role of the protector of the champion. Whomever wishes to challenge Olisander for the BODYSLAM! championship must go through Emeritus first. Emeritus and Olisander also continue working as a team whenever there is an oppotunity for it. Like when Michael Fynne wants payback from the ladder match and aligns himself with Chris Brookes to try and even the odds against Olisander and Emeritus.
It is as the protector that Emeritus finds most success. He is excellent at stopping peoples momentum as they look like they could become a threat to Olisander's title reign. A surprise victory over Michael Fynne to halts Fynnes momentum, and during a 6-man tag Emeritus makes sure that Olisander is not the one to get pinned. The partnership between Emeritus and Peter Olisander seems to be one that cannot go wrong. But what happens when the one stopping other peoples momentum starts to gain his own momentum?
Losing faith
The date is January 11. 2020. It has been a year since the ladder match between Peter Olisander and Michael Fynne where Emeritus assisted Olisander in claiming his first BODYSLAM! championship. In that time Olisander has lost and regained the title, making him the first ever two time BODYSLAM! champion. On this show there is a three way match between Emeritus, Rick Dominick and Xander, two ment that Emeritus has stopped from blocked from challenging for the BODYSLAM! championship. The winner of this match is the #1 contender. Emeritus makes good on his job of protector of Peter Olisander and wins the match, making Olisanders' best friend the #1 contender to his championship. After the main event where Olisander successfully defends his title something curious happens. When Emeritus is about to present Olisander with the championship, he hesitates and doesn't immediately let go of the belt. Olisander freaks out and this is how the crack in the Truth Movement develops.
The following show, BODYSLAM! This Ain't A Scene It's An Armbar, finds Emeritus and Olisander taking on the tag team of ETM, Chuck Mambo and TK Cooper. Though a fantastic match, it ends with Olisander and Emeritus suffering another loss as a tag team. Olisander then grabs the microphone and proclaims that this is all the proof that that Emeritus is not ready to be BODYSLAM! champion. After a few tense moments where it looks like it may turn physical, Emeritus takes a knee and presents Olisander with the championship.
BODYSLAM!, like most wrestling promotions, is then impacted by COVID-19 and takes a hiatus from February to September. The September show sees the first ever Scandi Graps Invitational Tournament held. Both Emeritus and Olisander is involved in this. Peter Olisander informs the crowd that Emeritus has requested that both he and Olisander do the tournament individually, a request which Olisander grants him. Olisander is eliminated in the semi final while Emeritus goes on to win the tournament, although with some unwanted help from Olisander. Afterwards, Olisander presents Emeritus with the trophy, much like how Emeritus presents Olisander with the BODYSLAM! championship, but instead destroys the trophy. Olisander then goes on a tangent about how he would not have won the tournament if not for Olisander and that he should be ashamed of even calling himself #1 contender. Finally, it looks like Emeritus has had enough, but multiple wrestlers hit the ring, chaos ensues and Olisander takes the chance to escape together with Emeritus. Olisander has a plan though, a plan that will grant Emeritus some gold while keeping the BODYSLAM! championship for himself.
From apostle to apostate
At BODYSLAM's Big Score, another tournament is held, this time the winners of the tournament will receive a shot at the BODYSLAM! tag team championships. Peter Olisander has entered himself and Emeritus in the tournament in the hopes that a chance a tag gold might make Emeritus forget all about the BODYSLAM! championship. It looks like it might work as Emeritus and Olisander makes it to the final of the tournament, but in the end the two of them must see themselves defeated and walk away with nothing. Frustrated Olisander blames Emeritus for the loss and argues that this was him giving Emeritus the chance to be a champion in his own right.
The last BODYSLAM! activity of 2020 is two shows in one day, On the first show Emeritus and Olisander both have singles matches. Emeritus faces Adonis, a member of the RandersPagne team, the ones that beat Emeritus and Olisander at BODYSLAM's Big Score tournament. While Olisander has to defend his BODYSLAM! championship against Xander, the other member of RandersPagne. Emeritus looks smooth going up against Adonis, he is in control for most of the match, and it isn't until Olisander decides to try and assist that it all goes awry and cost Emeritus the match. Emeritus could have used this as a legitimate reason to stop following Olisander, but he is still enough of an apostle and helps to get the match between Olisander and Xander restarted so that Olisander can regain his title.
At the last show, BODYSLAM! Revenge, the Truth Movement are tagging once again, this time against the Easy Loverz team, it is a match that should be straightforward for the BODYSLAM! champion and one of the best wrestlers in the promotion. Alas, that is not how it goes and Easy Loverz manage to pin Emeritus much to Olisanders' disappointment. Following their defeat Olisander is quick to grab the microphone and blame their recent misfortune on Emeritus, demanding that Emeritus retires from in ring competition to put all of his time where he is most useful, to manage Peter Olisander and protect his BODYSLAM! title reign. This becomes too much for Emeritus, he has been with Olisander from day one, he helped him get the BODYSLAM! championship, he held every challenger at bay and in 2020 he proved that he was one of the best wrestlers in BODYSLAM! he cannot retire from in ring competition. Things finally come to blows when Emeritus grabs Olisander in a knuckle lock and force Olisander to take a knee in front of him. When he is allowed back up Olisander is enraged and goes after Emeritus who, after a few moments of combat, forces Olisander to bail out of the ring.
What now?
As Olisander is leaving, Emeritus paces around the ring almost refueled with energy after having finally cast off years of servitude. He looks like he would like nothing more than to have the match with Olisander right then and there. But he will have to wait as their match is to come in 2021. A match that will undoubtedly be the most important and emotionally fueled match of either man's career.
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