SCP-6037
rating: +56+x

Item #: SCP-6037

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: Foundation webcrawlers are to monitor wrestling news and social media sites for mentions of professional wrestling1 feuds that have continued for over three months. Any long-running feuds that take place in wrestling promotions that regularly receive more than 100,000 viewers are to immediately be added to a watch list for possible SCP-6037 expression. In the event that the feud continues for more than four months, Foundation personnel are to be embedded in the audience of each show until either the feud ends or SCP-6037 is enacted.

In the event that SCP-6037 is enacted, Foundation personnel are to disrupt the show by any means necessary. In addition, the outgoing transmission signal from the venue is to be blocked, preventing the enactment of the ritual.

Should SCP-6037 be successfully enacted, all recordings of the match are to be removed from the internet and replaced with synthetic media showing a non-anomalous match. The area surrounding the site of the SCP-6037 is to be placed under increased monitoring for anomalous and Fifth Church activity for a period no less than fifteen years.

Description: SCP-6037 is a ritualized performance, known as "A Light Without Shadow," associated with the Fifth Church, which is enacted through a broadcasted2 professional wrestling match. In order to effect SCP-6037, the match must be watched by more than 150,000 individuals. The completion of SCP-6037 results in the progressive deterioration of baseline reality3 within a 50 km radius of the event and, to a lesser extent, all viewing households outside that radius. Debriefings and research indicate that SCP-6037 also serves a larger eschatological function within the Fifth Church beyond this primary role.

SCP-6037 rituals involve two wrestlers playing personas, one a "face"4 and another a "heel"5. The two characters played by the wrestlers must be long-standing kayfabe6 rivals involved in a current feud for more than five months, with the event proposed as a final match to settle the rivalry once and for all, often with specific stipulations (e.g. "lights-out iron man match," "electric barbed wire deathmatch," "flaming graveyard match," etc.).

Most attempted performances of SCP-6037 have failed for reasons ranging from technical issues to injuries sustained during the performance. To date, SCP-6037 has been completed successfully only six times. Regardless of success, completion of the ritual is still always fatal to both wrestlers. SCP-6037 may possess anti-memetic properties: viewers of the performance quickly forget and disregard both the supernatural aspects of the event and the deaths of its participants.

The first vector for SCP-6037 is believed to be Arno "Starman" Valentino (real name Guido Bonatti), a heel wrestler and manager7 active in wrestling territories8 across California, Arizona, and northern Mexico from 1943 until his death in 1975. The first confirmed successful instances of SCP-6037 occurred at a wrestling promotion at which Mr. Bonati was then employed, as well as a further three unsuccessful incidents (see Incident Log-6037-eW-1, -5, -8, and -17 for further details). Documents recovered over the course of Operation Stargazer confirmed Valentino's affiliation with the Fifth Church, although the exact nature and extent of the association remain unclear.

The first confirmed instance of SCP-6037 occurred on 09/26/1944 in Oakland, California, USA9 during a title match for the American Wrestling Alliance Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship between Hank Powell (face) and Edgar "Butcher" Reeves (heel). The match was billed as a "bare-knuckled grudge match," and was broadcast to an estimated 375,000 listeners and viewed by 6,000 live attendees.

Foundation agents Louis McKinley and Eric Moutree were dispatched to the scene of the match, but were unable to reach the building until near the conclusion of the match. Both agents unsuccessfully attempted to interfere with the conclusion of the ritual by entering the ring. With the conclusion of the ritual, an area of the ring approximately 1 m2 opened into [REDACTED]. Agent Moutree was listed as missing, presumed dead, while Agent McKinley was successfully extracted, only to expire two days afterwards.

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