SOLARIS CITY, SOLARIS VII – Welcome back, fight fans, to INN’s Season Recap of the 3132 Solaris VII Grand Championship, special edition. Tonight’s Recap brought to you by the Meier-Star Travel Agency; “Meier-Star Travel: From A Place to Zwipadze, we’ll get you there!”

Day four of the annual Grand Tournament has come to a close, with tonight’s star bouts showing Zellbrigen’s Ronald Ghost Bear, Cenotaph’s Danai Centrella-Liao, Blackstar’s Shayne Kirkpatrick, Galahad’s Omar Durand, Toranaga’s Mario LeMar, and the Wraiths’ Ian Smythe all in contention for tomorrow’s semi-finals. But the warriors you won’t see in tomorrow night’s line-up are none other than Zelanzi Stables’ Olivia “Queen Liv” Tyler and DiNappoli Stables’ “Daring” David Strauss! That’s right, after the two rival MechWarriors—slated to face each other in the arenas just a scant eighteen hours from now—incited a riot outside Silesia district’s legendary Thor’s Shieldhall, the Solaran Gaming Association has announced that both would-be champions have been officially disqualified from the rest of the Tournament. A shocking blow to fans of both warriors, eager to see these two gladiators settle their score once and for all!

“They should never have let [Tyler] into the [Valhalla] Club, knowing that Strauss was already in there,” said David McIntyre, one of the few patrons of the Shieldhall to escape injury in the melee. “Everyone knew that sparks would fly tonight. Hell, there were crews from five networks on the scene in less than thirty seconds!”

“‘Queen Liv’ didn’t waste any time picking the fight,” said Jeremiah Daelun, Blackstar stablemaster, who just happened to be at the club tonight without his usual retinue of MechWarriors. “She strode right up to Strauss, grinning from ear to ear about her grudge match victory against [DiNappoli MechWarrior Gerald] Taylor last night. She got about as far as saying Strauss would be next before the punches started to fly.”

The Valhalla Club, the exclusive hot spot for Solaris VII’s elite inside Thor’s Shieldhall, has seen its share of brawls throughout the centuries, but the pandemonium that broke out when Tyler and Strauss crossed paths tonight was the worst seen in decades. Despite the best efforts of club security, the fighting spread into the Shieldhall itself as fans polarized around the two struggling MechWarriors, and from there, spilled into the street. Tyler and Strauss both suffered multiple injuries and were taken in separate ambulances to local hospitals, which later confirmed that over fifty patrons, club staff, and bystanders in all reported injuries related to the riot, which also caused almost eighty thousand C-bills in damages. At this time, in addition to banning the two warriors for the rest of the season, the SGA is also considering appropriate fines for Zelazni and DiNappoli stables.

And that’ll do it for the Grand Championship Recap tonight, fight fans. I’m your host, Dennis Stanzio for SBC, an affiliate of INN, and I am out of here!

+Woops! Proof that you can only push the ratings up so far before you break the curve, ey?
:-GRibaldi

+You can say that again! I mean, everyone knows the fights aren’t exactly fixed—not with as many fatalities as they have—but they certainly do pour a lot of effort into making everyone’s personal vendettas a bit too dramatic.
:-Draco041

+I like the bit about Tyler and Strauss being suspended, though. I mean, come on! The SGA bans them *after* they get themselves hospitalized! Like they were gonna make their match anyway!
:-TVBluFist

+Hehehe. Good point, that, TV.
:-LevEOsa