Post by Ibuki Ito on Oct 23, 2024 14:42:23 GMT -6
“Look at all these people…”
The camera opens with Buddy Love pointing down from the balcony at all the people running through Grand Central Station… all in a hurry to catch the train without as much as looking up at the faces of the people they are rushing past…
“It’s all about them right now right… they don’t care what happened to that lady…”
Buddy points to a lady on crutches, her foot in a cast…”
“Or why that guy is carrying flowers…”
Buddy points at a man in a suit carrying a dozen roses…”
“Is he being nice to his girlfriend or did he cheat on his wife?”
Buddy shrugs as he looks at Ibuki Ito who just looks at the man…
“Or them…”
Buddy points to two teens all alone looking up at the big board to see which train goes where…
“Those kids are completely lost and have no supervision, where are their parents…”
Buddy shakes his head in disgust as he turns away from chaos and looks at his client and friend as Ibuki asks…
“Is there a point to all this Buddy…”
Buddy smiles and nods his head…
“Of course there is Ibuki… in the middle of chaos nobody cares or takes time to understand why others are doing what they are doing… they become obsessed with their own needs and desires and don’t take the time to give anyone a second look… it’s all about THEM and much like the chaos down there the upcoming Rumble is no different…”
Buddy shakes his right index finger at Ibuki…
“20 EWC Superstars with a DREAM… to win the Rumble and challenge for the EWC Undisputed Championship at WrestleFest… they are so blinded by the carrot that they don’t concern themselves with the stick… all they can think about is being the last one standing in the ring with the confetti dropping on them that they ignore the other 19 people they have to beat… those other 19 people are simply an afterthought, given no thought or even a second look… we are not going to turn a blind eye to the chaos Ibuki…”
Buddy continues to shake his finger and adds in a head shake…
"What do we know about the field… 20 people are entering the Rumble, 18 names that we know with 2 mystery entries… we can only speculate on them but what do we know about the 18… well out of the 18, 5 will be making their Rumble Debuts right, Ace Sky, Nika Kosov, Rick Rampage, Sunny Skye and ZERO… now they might think they have an understanding about how the Rumble works but until you have been in one… well you can only imagine the chaos… no other ‘battle royal’ or ‘rumble’ they may have been in can prepare them for the savagery of this match… what other EWC Superstars will be willing to do to get a chance to challenge for the Undisputed Championship and YES, I understand that none of these 5 have a snowball’s chance in Hades for getting a chance at the Undisputed Championship without winning the Rumble but when was the last time someone came out of NOWHERE to win the Rumble… sure, Otaki’s win in 2016 shocked people but she was killing it in FSW at the time… maybe…”
“Moxie…”
Buddy nods his head…
“Yeah, but he was a Co-Winner… my point is you have to get your hands dirty in this match before you can win it… and sure, guys like Phoenix Winterborn and Mercenary both have 5 Rumble’s under their belts neither have a Top Ten Finish, Phoenix’s best is what, a 15th place while Mercenary best finish is 11th… the truth is some people are just part of the chaos, biding their time in hopes of cracking the top half… take Jack Severn’s for example, 3 Rumble’s and someone might think could be a dark horse… motivated by his need to show the world that he’s not the loser JoJo kicked to the side… yeah, hatred can be a motivator but he’s never been more than a middle of the Rumble guy and Marcu$... how long has the EWC been waiting on him to back up that Parabellum win but yet he’s had a 13th and 12th finish…”
Buddy shrugs in disappointment…
“Honestly when I look at the list of names only 7 stand out Ibuki…”
Buddy starts counting them off and as he does he raises a finger…
“Ace King, Candy, El Pablo, Cosmo, Narumi, Xavier and YOU…”
Buddy wiggles the 7 fingers…
“And out of those 7 only 5 of you know what it’s like to actually be a EWC Undisputed Champion and understand how hard it is to win it… and out those 7 only 3 of you have actually won a Rumble…”
“Well 2 know that it’s like to win a Rumble… I Co-Won a Rumble…”
Buddy waves this off…
“Semantics!!! A win is a win Ibuki and you have one under your belt… you know what else you have… experience… this will be your 7th Rumble, that’s second only to Xavier and in those 6 other Rumbles you have never finished outside the Top 10… heck, your worst finish was your first ever Rumble and that was a 9th… look at the facts, you’ve gone 9th, tied for 3rd, 2nd, Co-Winner, 8th and a 6th… you know what it takes to survive the chaos that is the Rumble… and yes, ok you could say that 5 out of the other 6 ‘contenders’ have also only had Top 10 finished… El Pablo being the outlier right and I get it, his size is his weakness… his 3rd place finished last year was by far his best showing in the Rumble, 17th, 23rd and 19th in the other three Rumble’s and maybe it was because he’s motivated to win the Undisputed Championship and become a Grand Slam Champion like his best friend Ace and his half-brother Xavier and sure… I guess that same motivation is there this year but is it as Ace’s need to get back to the top of the EWC…”
Buddy shrugs…
“You know it’s been difficult for Ace to have to sit back and watch as other’s take the spotlight here in the EWC, I give the guy props for not coming back sooner but the only way he gets a shot at that championship anytime soon is the ‘Go Straight to WrestleFest’ card as a Rumble winner… without it who knows when he challenges for the top prize again… and YES, Xavier has a rematch clause in his back pocket but that’s not happening this season, we know his ‘spot’ was given to JoJo at the Rumble so if he wants that championship back his only path this season is this Rumble win but when’s the last time someone’s gone back to back…”
“Melody Malone, 2021 and 2022…”
But Buddy smiles and shakes his head…
“Well she also Co-Won in 2021 so… my point is it doesn’t happen so the ‘odds are not in his favor’ and speaking of someone whose only shot is the Rumble Candy just lost to JoJo at Parabellum… she had her chance and blew it and while yes, she’s had impressive finishes in the Rumble the best she ever did was 5th, her size, like El Pablo is her weakness… not to mention she’s pulling double duty at the Rumble, she has to defend her Indy Championship earlier in the night in a Monster’s Ball Match… come on, how much is going to be left in the tank and speaking of double duty…”
Buddy smirks at the word ‘duty’...
“Narumi is also defending her Hardcore Championship before the Rumble match against a very dangerous and game Vin Havoc and while see was impressive in 2022 with a 2nd place finish I have to wonder what she will have left after going to war in a Hardcore match…”
Buddy shrugs…
“That leaves only Cosmo…”
Buddy nods at Ibuki…
“Yes, the Golden Child if you will… I know he has his heart set on being the one that faces either Lad or JoJo at WrestleFest, heck he was involved in their match at YoungBlood and the EWC would love nothing more that to have that marquee match up…”
“He feels as if this is HIS TIME…”
Buddy chuckles…
“Yeah, we heard that same song and dance before Night of Champions and before Paramount #046… it would be crass of me to call him the New Ace King…”
Ibuki looks at Buddy…
“You know, the guy that keeps getting shot after shot…”
Buddy shrugs…
“How many times can Cosmo be a Bride’s Maid and never the Bride before people just get tired of seeing him jump over new challengers…”
Ibuki holds up his hand, cutting off his manager…
“There is a sense of entitlement with Cosmo, many feel like this is his Rumble to win and he’s brought into the hype of that… he sees himself as ‘next in line’ for the Undisputed Championship and could jump the line with the Rumble win but…”
Ibuki exhales…
“I felt that same way coming into this season Buddy… I felt like this was MY YEAR to get a shot at the Undisputed Championship and honestly I didn’t think I’d need to win the Rumble to get it…”
Ibuki turns away and looks at all the people running around below them…
“I came into this season the ‘champion of champions’ if you will, having beaten what…”
Buddy does a quick count on his fingers and holds up 6 fingers…
“SIX Champions the year before including Xavier when he was the Undisputed Champion and Sally just days before she won the Undisputed Championship… I beat Ace King at StrangleMania and was in the middle of a record breaking run as North American Champion but it all went to hell this season… and maybe that’s because I felt as if I should have been GIVEN the match… sure I was the first one to hang a loss on Cosmo last year and yes defended the North American Championship TWICE but all my hard work and wins didn’t get me recognized the way it did for Cosmo… I thought this would be my year back to the top and yet I stand here Lost in the Chaos, nobody is looking at me and that makes me dangerous Buddy…”
He turns back towards Buddy and a smile starts to form on Ibuki’s face…
“I’ve been that underdog before, in the 2021 Rumble, I wasn’t supposed to win it, it was Melody Malone’s time… she was the ‘shoe in’ winner much like they are viewing Cosmo and yet I was right there at the end to shock the world… fast forward to that year’s WrestleFest, Ace King was on a historic run as Undisputed Champion… myself and Moxie were just background actors if you will to the showdown between Ace and Melody and yet it was me that climbed that ladder and ruined their ‘happy ending’... I’m fine with the wrestling world looking at Cosmo or Ace… focused on El Pablo and Xavier or even rooting on Candy or Narumi to pull the double double… hell pull for the upset even… I’ll just be the one lurking in the shadows, biding my time and watching for the perfect opportunity to strike and ruin the WrestleFest Main Event…”
Buddy now sports a smile that matches Ibuki’s…
“For me there is no being happy with a Top 10 finish or even a Top 5, it’s win or nothing…”
In his best Ricky Bobby voice…
“If you ain’t first, you’re last…”
“I’m going to march to that ring with the same mindset, whether I’m the 2nd guy out, 20th guy out or somewhere in between… that each and every other EWC Superstar is in my way for something that is LONG OVERDUE… I don’t care if you’re the defending Rumble winner, a former Undisputed Champion, making your Rumble Debut or a staple Rumble entree… they are all the same to me and that’s rock blocks on my way back to the Undisputed Championship…”
Ibuki’s smile fades…
“I am going to TAKE what should have been mine at the start of this season and if that means ending the dreams of 19 other EWC Superstars then so be it… NOTHING is more important to me than getting this shot, not my friendship with my fellow Paramount stars nor my tag team partnership with Xavier… every person for themselves out there…”
Ibuki looks at Buddy…
“I’ve waited all season for a chance that never came… if the EWC won’t reward me with something I earned then I will TAKE it by force… it is time for me to become the ACE your father promised the EWC I’d be… it’s time for me to become the ACE I know I can be and it’s time to remind these 19 other superstars just who the hell Ibuki Ito is…”
Buddy smiles…
“THE MOTHER FREAKING ACE OF THE EWC!!!”
Ibuki nods…
“I’ve been Lost in the Chaos this season but it’s time to find my way out and back to the top of the EWC… the Rumble will be my roadmap towards WrestleFest and once again becoming the EWC Undisputed Champion…”
Ibuki starts to walk away from Buddy and descends down the stairs towards the mass of people running around on the low level… he walks to the center and stands, his arms outstretched and his head tilted back…
“What once was lost… now is found… the ACE is back and the Rumble will be his unveiling…”
Buddy smiles as the camera pulls away from him and hovers on Ibuki for a moment before fading out…
