Post by Marcu$ $t. John on Apr 19, 2024 21:24:57 GMT -6
The breeze blows and whistles as a flag is shown to showcase just how much of a current it was in. The air felt good, the sun shining bright, a beautiful day to say the least. As the camera pans down it shows Marcu$ $t. John standing on a brick and cobblestone walkway. His surroundings were magnificent but you wouldn’t be able to tell from his face. He wore a weathered beard that was unkempt for his standards, his eyes told a story of a man who had been in the eye of the storm. A lot was on his mind as he looked up at his destination. He had arrived at The Shard, London’s tallest building. He looked up at what seemed like an almost never ending building. M$J began to speak.
“I used to be afraid of commitment. Overcoming that wasnt easy and one of the toughest things I have ever done in my life.”
Marcu$ takes a deep breath as he focuses on the amazingly built structure in front of him.
“I felt abandoned and alone from an early age due to the death of my parents. I didn’t love people, I didn’t respect people, hell I didn’t even have those things for myself. It took me a really long time to realize the error of my ways. But I made a promise to myself that I would try to do better. In that timeframe while training for the Insanity Cage in 2022 I came across Isamu and Naysa, two young girls that needed me. But more importantly, I didn’t realize that I needed them just as much, if not more. They helped my heart finally heal and made me into the man that stands here today. They are the reason I came back from injury, they told me not to give up on my dreams of being the greatest Paramount star of all time of being a future Hall of Famer.”
A smile finally appears on his face as he walks into the entrance of The Shard. He follows the path to the elevators and gets in to begin his ascent towards the top floor of the building.
“Then there’s my fear of entrapment. I had to overcome this early in my career.”
He says this as he notices the enclosed space of the elevator.
“I wasn’t always great with cages and even to a certain extent, heights. 2021 that all changed though. The Legends of the Cage tournament, I went out in the first round but damnit I held my own. I was there against the Titaness Sam Ham and Autumn Raven, I didn’t win but I didn’t get pinned. I promised myself that I would get better. I overcame that fear because I wanted to make an impression, make an impact that would be remembered and that night I failed to do it. That night though prepared me for the future. It prepared me for a shocking Parabellum victory inside the cage of Phuket Island, it has prepared me for the Tower of London match with you, Ibuki.”
Watching the elevator go up floor by floor he thinks about everything that got him to this point. He recants his history with the opponent that he will be facing at StrangleMania.
“Ibuki everyone knows that you’ve had my number more times than not. FSW 104 you put me on my ass, Paramount 8 you sent me packing yet again, then Paramount 10 you made sure to show the world that you were undisputedly better than me. I was distraught and disgusted. Was this man really that much better than me? I had to look at the man in the mirror and face the facts, YES!”
He rubs his hands together as he finally reaches the top of The Shard and steps out of the elevator while looking around at the other people that made their way to the top.
“That was the truth at the moment but a truth I couldn’t stomach to accept. I was 0-3 against The Ace of a show that I desperately wanted to run that I wanted to call my own. Then at Paramount 26 I had another chance. I gave it my all and when the dust settled I still didn’t come out with a win, but this time it was different because you didn’t either. A draw was the final result of that fateful battle. I wasn’t proud of that but I must admit, I was relieved. I was finally able to stand in front of you as your equal but that wasn’t good enough for me. I made a promise to you that you would never beat me again and then came Paramount 29. I finally vanquished a nasty cloud that was hanging over me and made it evaporate. I plan on keeping that promise. You will never beat me again.”
He walks through the wave of people making his way towards a window that had a view that stretched out for miles. He stared out of the window without even the inclination of a blink.
“I realize that I'm 1-3-1 against you but I don’t have to pin or submit you to take that North American Championship for a record setting third time. I need to outlast you and climb the proverbial ladder of success to take that championship and ring the bell to win the match. Just like I stand at the top right now of this building, I want to stand at the top of the Paramount mountaintop once again. People always bring up the length of days and amount of title defenses but whether a title is on the line or not I treat all of my matches like a title fight. So if I can call myself champion once again, I’m ready to prove all the naysayers wrong with as many defenses as I possibly can.”
M$J begins walking along a corridor as he continues looking outward, eyes focused like a laser now on the scenery he gazes out upon.
“After all, if I don’t win this match then where do I go? We both fucked up, let’s be honest. We’ve both experienced a loss this season in the two biggest upsets on Paramount this year. My loss to The Lad and yours to Apollo Palamalu. Only one of us can afford another loss this early really now can we? You, you’ll still be a top 10 contender to the EWC Undisputed Championship and me, well I’ll have to scratch and claw my way back to relevancy. That won’t happen though Ibuki. You will be the third top 7 contender for that Undisputed Championship that I’ve beaten in the last 5 months, not to include the champion herself, making 4. I promise you that.”
His pace along the corridor picks up speed as he fervently walks towards the ending point, an elevated area signifying the highest point anyone can stand at the tower.
“I’ll give you credit though, when I got hurt, you stepped up. You and your mouthpiece saw an opportunity and you struck. You snatched that title easily off of Salvation and you ran this brand day after day, week after week, and month after month while I was on the sidelines. Your reign is about to come to an end though. I can honestly say, that you are in my wheelhouse. Ladder matches are my favorite, while you despise them. I’m going to neutralize those strikes of yours by cutting down on your stamina. A match like this is a battle of attrition and while we both have speed and stamina in spades, it will be about who can slow their opponent down the quickest. I don’t want you to even be able to think about climbing a ladder at the end. Strikes to the body to drain your ability to move swiftly, The Bounced Check to your core to slow your breathing, and a new move you haven’t seen in our previous matches like a Regicide off of the ladder so that I can start my climb. I gain my second victory over you and the third match in a row between us that you won’t beat me in.”
Looking down as far as he can see, he takes a step back as the distance down could almost make anyone queasy. He gulps and steps back towards the glass and stares down.
“Only one of us can look down when the match is over, the one looking up will be the loser. I’m going to thrash you all over the castles and towers of the facility. But before I do that, I need to go clean up so we can both get dirty. After all I have a promise to keep and that’s something I plan on delivering. See you at the top Ibuki.”
The camera then jumps outside The Shard with a quick zoom down to the ground as the scene fades out.
“I used to be afraid of commitment. Overcoming that wasnt easy and one of the toughest things I have ever done in my life.”
Marcu$ takes a deep breath as he focuses on the amazingly built structure in front of him.
“I felt abandoned and alone from an early age due to the death of my parents. I didn’t love people, I didn’t respect people, hell I didn’t even have those things for myself. It took me a really long time to realize the error of my ways. But I made a promise to myself that I would try to do better. In that timeframe while training for the Insanity Cage in 2022 I came across Isamu and Naysa, two young girls that needed me. But more importantly, I didn’t realize that I needed them just as much, if not more. They helped my heart finally heal and made me into the man that stands here today. They are the reason I came back from injury, they told me not to give up on my dreams of being the greatest Paramount star of all time of being a future Hall of Famer.”
A smile finally appears on his face as he walks into the entrance of The Shard. He follows the path to the elevators and gets in to begin his ascent towards the top floor of the building.
“Then there’s my fear of entrapment. I had to overcome this early in my career.”
He says this as he notices the enclosed space of the elevator.
“I wasn’t always great with cages and even to a certain extent, heights. 2021 that all changed though. The Legends of the Cage tournament, I went out in the first round but damnit I held my own. I was there against the Titaness Sam Ham and Autumn Raven, I didn’t win but I didn’t get pinned. I promised myself that I would get better. I overcame that fear because I wanted to make an impression, make an impact that would be remembered and that night I failed to do it. That night though prepared me for the future. It prepared me for a shocking Parabellum victory inside the cage of Phuket Island, it has prepared me for the Tower of London match with you, Ibuki.”
Watching the elevator go up floor by floor he thinks about everything that got him to this point. He recants his history with the opponent that he will be facing at StrangleMania.
“Ibuki everyone knows that you’ve had my number more times than not. FSW 104 you put me on my ass, Paramount 8 you sent me packing yet again, then Paramount 10 you made sure to show the world that you were undisputedly better than me. I was distraught and disgusted. Was this man really that much better than me? I had to look at the man in the mirror and face the facts, YES!”
He rubs his hands together as he finally reaches the top of The Shard and steps out of the elevator while looking around at the other people that made their way to the top.
“That was the truth at the moment but a truth I couldn’t stomach to accept. I was 0-3 against The Ace of a show that I desperately wanted to run that I wanted to call my own. Then at Paramount 26 I had another chance. I gave it my all and when the dust settled I still didn’t come out with a win, but this time it was different because you didn’t either. A draw was the final result of that fateful battle. I wasn’t proud of that but I must admit, I was relieved. I was finally able to stand in front of you as your equal but that wasn’t good enough for me. I made a promise to you that you would never beat me again and then came Paramount 29. I finally vanquished a nasty cloud that was hanging over me and made it evaporate. I plan on keeping that promise. You will never beat me again.”
He walks through the wave of people making his way towards a window that had a view that stretched out for miles. He stared out of the window without even the inclination of a blink.
“I realize that I'm 1-3-1 against you but I don’t have to pin or submit you to take that North American Championship for a record setting third time. I need to outlast you and climb the proverbial ladder of success to take that championship and ring the bell to win the match. Just like I stand at the top right now of this building, I want to stand at the top of the Paramount mountaintop once again. People always bring up the length of days and amount of title defenses but whether a title is on the line or not I treat all of my matches like a title fight. So if I can call myself champion once again, I’m ready to prove all the naysayers wrong with as many defenses as I possibly can.”
M$J begins walking along a corridor as he continues looking outward, eyes focused like a laser now on the scenery he gazes out upon.
“After all, if I don’t win this match then where do I go? We both fucked up, let’s be honest. We’ve both experienced a loss this season in the two biggest upsets on Paramount this year. My loss to The Lad and yours to Apollo Palamalu. Only one of us can afford another loss this early really now can we? You, you’ll still be a top 10 contender to the EWC Undisputed Championship and me, well I’ll have to scratch and claw my way back to relevancy. That won’t happen though Ibuki. You will be the third top 7 contender for that Undisputed Championship that I’ve beaten in the last 5 months, not to include the champion herself, making 4. I promise you that.”
His pace along the corridor picks up speed as he fervently walks towards the ending point, an elevated area signifying the highest point anyone can stand at the tower.
“I’ll give you credit though, when I got hurt, you stepped up. You and your mouthpiece saw an opportunity and you struck. You snatched that title easily off of Salvation and you ran this brand day after day, week after week, and month after month while I was on the sidelines. Your reign is about to come to an end though. I can honestly say, that you are in my wheelhouse. Ladder matches are my favorite, while you despise them. I’m going to neutralize those strikes of yours by cutting down on your stamina. A match like this is a battle of attrition and while we both have speed and stamina in spades, it will be about who can slow their opponent down the quickest. I don’t want you to even be able to think about climbing a ladder at the end. Strikes to the body to drain your ability to move swiftly, The Bounced Check to your core to slow your breathing, and a new move you haven’t seen in our previous matches like a Regicide off of the ladder so that I can start my climb. I gain my second victory over you and the third match in a row between us that you won’t beat me in.”
Looking down as far as he can see, he takes a step back as the distance down could almost make anyone queasy. He gulps and steps back towards the glass and stares down.
“Only one of us can look down when the match is over, the one looking up will be the loser. I’m going to thrash you all over the castles and towers of the facility. But before I do that, I need to go clean up so we can both get dirty. After all I have a promise to keep and that’s something I plan on delivering. See you at the top Ibuki.”
The camera then jumps outside The Shard with a quick zoom down to the ground as the scene fades out.