Max Boot

Maximillian Leonard Boot was named after his grandfathers by family tradition, and his father somewhat regrets it. Max grew up bullied for various reasons - the name being one of them - and took to fighting his tormentors, often several at once. One of his neighbors was a former Marine drill instructor, who taught Max some MCMAP (the USMC's brutal unarmed combat style) to help even the odds. Max continued studying martial arts throughout high school and college, focusing on efficient and pragmatic styles like Muay Thai and Krav Maga. He also kept fighting bullies. After graduation, he worked as a personal trainer at a Canadian fitness center until it closed suddenly. Already deeply in debt for various reasons, Max tried out for GWN - he figured the violence in wrestling wasn't real, but it would still let him use his streetfighting skills to make a lot more money than he would as a personal trainer.

Max's personal fighting style is efficient, pragmatic, and geared on the assumption that he's going to be facing more than one guy at a time. Modern MMA fighters go to the ground with submission holds, which works great in a 1:1 fight, but is an invitation to a kicking for a single fighter against two bullies. Max stays on his feet - his kipup is lightning fast and instinctive - and uses holds only briefly to set up strikes, throws, or takedowns. While Max doesn't go to the ground himself, he prefers his opponents off their feet, and uses a lot of takedowns followed by kicks and stomps. He constantly clears his six, expecting another foe to try to blindside him.

In the ring as Max Boot, that personal style is too serious for pro-wrestling. Max Boot still does some kicks, stomps, and takedowns, but they're a lot slower and telegraphed. Partly to make for a better show, and partly because doing his moves at a quarter speed makes it easier to pull his punches. Max Boot uses the ropes poorly, but is getting more comfortable about tossing his foes into the turnbuckles. Max hates the Maximum Boot finisher, considering it ridiculous and painfully slow, but Management insists he use it so he has to do at least one flamboyant thing in every match he wins.

Max himself is shy and unassuming. He's not a fan of pro wrestling, and is only in the ring for the paycheck. He has something of a mental block on the topic of championships - he knows, intellectually, that you can get more money by being entertaining without ever winning, but he still believes that champions get better pay. He also hates losing, so he's driven to win a championship. Max doesn't socialize with the other wrestlers much - he's personally too poor to gamble or go out for drinks, and what money he has is spent keeping his streetfighting skills current. Max's clothes are ill-fighting, threadbare, and out of style, because he buys them second-hand at thrift stores.

Max doesn't get a lot of the conventions and traditions of pro wrestling, and he's iffy about remembering how to say kayfabe. He tries to keep it as best he can. He may not understand the reasons why, but he does understand that it is important to his co-workers and his paycheck. Max is a mediocre actor, and delivers Max Boot's lines flatly, with barely concealed winces and eye rolls.

Management is still working on Max Boot's persona. Sexist heel who cheats to win had a lot of pop in his debut and seems like a strong contender. Max finds the concept embarrassing. Assistant Creative Jimmy - something of a sexist himself who was chafing under Gary Booker's inclusive style - pushed the "Max Boot is a sexist heel" storyline until Max played politics before the Capital Carnage to force a scripted breaking kayfabe moment at Capital Carnage where Max would do a heel-face turn and renounce sexism. Jimmy escalated the issue with some unauthorized (well, by Gary, anyway, Jimmy had line authority for them) merchandise shirts for Max Boot reading "Max Boot hits little girls." Max broke kayfabe out of sequence, destroyed the shirts, and is now looking for a new persona for Max Boot. He's been chatting with Pluto and Chelsea Clementine, two other wrestlers who feel they have weak gimmicks.

## Interactions with Other Wrestlers

Somewhat surprisingly, Max respects Mason Dixon's fighting skills. Mason, on the other hand, is concerned that Max Boot's lack of showmanship is going to hurt the promotion and is considering getting Max cut from the roster. The two had some interaction during Max's debut performance, and actually had some surprising chemistry.

Angela Alcyone wasn't impressed with Max's lousy skills at work, and challenged him to a friendly shoot fight to seew what he actually brought to the table. The fight ended with Angela on her back and Max's boot on her neck about 3 seconds after it started, while Angela was still going for her initial grab. Max is actually impressed with Angela's skills at selling her injuries, and is trying to learn from her.

Max is terrified of the idea of going into the ring with Aegeon. The massive wrestler can physically overpower Max, and Max is worried that his reflexive attempts to break free might injure the giant. A likely outcome of the fight is an injured Aegeon, Max Boot as a bloody mess on the mat, and Max kicked out of GWN and further in debt to compensate Aegeon. And as a heel, Max Boot is likely to come to Judgment's attention, sooner or later.

Max's first match was with Chelsea Clementine. It was a clean match that Max was booked to win. Max still had apologize for picking on the much smaller lady and reassure himself that he hadn't injured her. He was horrified to discover injuries she took in the hardcore matches she used to do for fun, and what that says about the lack of violence in supposedly safe pro wrestling.

Max and Loverboy co-announced The Line's match against the Baron and the A-Game versus La Serpiente match. The two have a weird chemistry: Loverboy is engaging even when he doesn't know what he's talking about, and Max knows fighting even if he barely remembers wrestling terms and struggles with kayfabe. The result is terrible for anyone trying to follow the action, but still highly entertaining.

Max's third match was with Lady Smasha. Lady Smasha took him to the mat and sat on him, and Max panicked and worked stiff, kicking her in the head and dazing. He was booked to win, and did his best to finish the match with her minimal co-operation. He messed up the Maximum Boot finisher, and cracked her collarbone. She was sent to the hospital and Mason Dixon confronted Max after the match. Max was apologetic.

Before Capital Carnage, Max injured A-Game with the expectation he would get paid by John Dawes. He was stiffed, and now A-Game's medical bills have been added to Max's debt. Max is genuinely remorseful, and working to stay in GWN's good(-ish) graces.

Chelsea Clementine defeated Max for the Confederation Cup at Capital Carnage. Max wanted the victory and didn't really want to do the hardcore match against her, but it was a huge audience success and Max is reaching out to Chelsea about where to take his career, now that he has one and he's a face, not a heel.

## Session Logs

Max Boot has a highlight reel describing the most important parts of each session from his perspective.