Post by Ibuki Ito on Apr 19, 2024 14:54:54 GMT -6
“So…you want to explain to me what happened at the end of Paramount #043…or are we just going to ignore it…”
Buddy looks over at his ‘buddie’ Ibuki Ito as the pair walk through the gates of the Tower of London. The pair are taking a tour of the venue which will host Ibuki’s StrangleMania match and defense of the North American Championship this Monday night against Marcu$ $t. John…Ibuki exhales loudly…after a second or two he looks over at his manager…
“What can I say Buddy…I wanted him to understand that the time for talking is over…he has been going on and on about what this match, what the North American Championship means to him…as if he’s the only one in this match…as if he and he alone values this championship…to listen to Marcu$ one might think that StrangleMania is going to be his coronation back to the top of Paramount…”
But before Ibuki can finish that thought the tour guide speaks out…
“Did I hear a question about a coronation…fun fact, the Crown Jewels you see worn during royal coronations are kept here at the Tower of London and are displayed in the Jewel House…”
Buddy perks up in excitement as he looks from the tour guide to Ibuki, who is rather annoyed at being cut off…
“As I was saying…Marcu$ believes it’s a matter of fact that come Monday night he will ascend back to the top of Paramount but I could argue Marcu$ was NEVER on top in Paramount…they he was NEVER the man of this brand…”
Buddy looks over at Ibuki…
“But he was the North American Champion TWICE Ibuki…”
But Ibuki holds up his hand, cutting Buddy off as the group moves through the gate and into the Tower, its first stop being St. John’s Chapel…
“And each time he was living in my shadow…go back to Paramount #010, I beat him right after he won the North American Champions, that alone should have made me #1 Contenders but Chris Brock had BIGGER plans for me…hell I beat him at Paramount #008 so maybe it should have been me that challenged Robbie Rayder for the championship…but the fact was I was sent off to win the X-Division Championship…to challenge for the Undisputed Championship…Chris Brock wanted me out there dominating the best of the EWC and was content on having Marcu$ as his North American Champion…”
Ibuki rolls his neck out of frustration…
“The fool thinks he was the face of Paramount because what…he held the North American Championship for a THEN record 306 days …where he defended it ONCE…and during those 306 days he thinks what…I wasn’t worthy of a shot at the championship…no, I was busy winning the Rumble…”
“Co-Winning the Rumble…”
“And challenging for the Undisputed Championship at WrestleFest while he was the only champion not defending their championship at the final ppv of the year…the truth is Marcu$ should stop by this chapel Monday night and drop to his knees and pray to the heaven that his reigns as North American Champion coincided with my X-Division and Undisputed Championship runs or he might never have been a ONE TIME Champion…”
The group moves on in its tour, stopping next at The Line of Kings display, the armor the knights used to defend the Tower…
“See I thought Marcu$ had grown up…evolved from the silver spoon/spoiled brat that showed up in the FSW flashing his money around and thinking he was entitled but he seems to have regressed back into that same man…one second he is out there saying he wants to ‘earn his championship match’ and the second he drops the TV Championship he’s screaming ‘I’m tired of waiting around…’ claiming he’s ‘been humble…been patient…’ if you have to tell people you’re humble and have been patient than you are neither…but the truth is all he had to do was ask for the match and I would have given it to him…I live by a code Buddy…he did hold this championship for 306 days and did defend it ONCE…he didn’t get his rematch because he was injured so I would have said yes but Marcu$ didn’t want my ‘pity’...yet was also demanding a championship match…there is no pleasing the spoiled in this word…”
Ibuki shakes his head as Buddy looks at the Knight’s Armored knee covering…
“He keeps talking about going down as ‘The Greatest FSW/Paramount Star of All Time’ and it confuses me…this championship alone will not eclipse what the likes of Melody Malone, Stitches, Xavier Reid or even myself have done for the FSW/Paramount brand…see he had the chance last season to put his name in the conversation…to win the Undisputed Championship but he couldn’t get the job done…and more over he was too busy with his eyes on that prize that he allowed the North American Championship to fall into the hands of Salvation…marking the darkest times for this championship…and now what…because he lost the TV Championship and can’t win the Undisputed Championship the North American Championship is what…a nice back up plan…”
Ibuki shakes his head…
“NO!!!”
The group makes its way down a flight of steps and into a dark damp room…
“Welcome to the Bloody Tower, a sight of imprisonment and torture for those who fell in displeasure of the crown…”
Ibuki looks around and smiles…
“Last season I set out to restore the glory to this championship…beat Salvation and fixed Marcu$’s wrong…I didn’t win this to springboard myself back into the Undisputed Championship picture, no I won this and beat champion after champion that stood across the ring from me…including a Undisputed Champion…unlike Marcu$ I made the North American Championship THEE championship in the EWC and for the last 332 days I have held it to standards that not even Marcu$ $t. John could reach…and now…we are set to clash in a Tower of London match at StrangleMania…the BIGGEST ppv the EWC does each year and a show where I have shined beating the likes of Ace King TWICE in the past three years with a draw and a show where Marcu$ has lost TWICE in the last two years with the North American Championship on the line…Salvation last year and Jordan Sharpe in 2022…his only win at StrangleMania came with Candy and El Pablo carrying him…”
Ibuki walks over to the chains on the wall and lets them glide through his hands…
“And he expects to reclaim ‘his championship…his place’ in Paramount against me in a match where there are no rules….forgetting just who the hell I am…I am the man that beat Ace King in a Falls Count Anywhere match….that survived a Rage in the Cage/Monsters Ball Match against Ace and beat him and Wes in a X-Division match in 2021…hell I set Trixie on fire at my first StrangleMania and I bring up my StrangleMania resume to remind them…on the biggest stage I deliver…I bring the violence like no other…KILLJOY was just a name, I am still the man behind that name…”
Buddy smiles as he looks around at the weapons used to torture prisoners and looks for items that might be useful come Monday night…
“I want him to feel confident Buddy…to think that those wins over Tanja and Emmanuelle have gotten him ready for me…to harp on my loss to Apollo while ignoring his own slip up against The Lad…I want him thinking this win is a done deal based off Paramount #029 and the last time we shared a ring…because there is nothing better than beating a confident man who thinks there is no way he’ll lose…because it’s not a simple as just ‘ringing the bell’ to win the match…he’s going to have to fight me every inch of the way up the tower…and there isn’t going to be a referee to call for breaks or pull me off him…to take a chain out of my hand…”
Ibuki grabs a hold of a long chain in one hand...then grabs a hammer in the other…
“Or warn me of a DQ because of this hammer…”
The group makes it’s way to the top of the tower…to the bell that must be rung…
“When I say that I’m ‘The Ace’ I know it puts a target on my back…on slip up and it calls into question the validity of that claim…losing to Marcu$...losing this North American Championship…it would strip away my claim as the Ace of Paramount…this is more than just a match to me Buddy…this is about MY LEGACY here…and I’m not going to just hand it over to a spoiled punk because he’s ‘tired of waiting’...I will defend my place on this brand in any violent manner I see fit to make sure I’m the one ringing that bell…signaling the continuance of the Ito dynasty…and if I have to use Marcu$ skull to ring that bell then so be it…”
The camera fades out as Ibuki pulls the rope ringing the bell for all London to hear…
