Losing Match Thread

[Guest Goodear]

Christ am I burning out or what? Seriously, I am totally not shocked that this match didn't win since I decided to suck intentionally for the first 1/3 and I pulled the ending out of my ass. I don't know. I think we might have seen the end of Ejiro once my current storylines wrap up. We'll see how I'm doing after the holiday break.

 

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“Welcome back to Chi-Town and the unofficial home of the SWF,” greets The Cyclone Comet as the crowd once again rises up to its feet with the lights on the television cameras coming back on. “This next contest should prove to be an interesting one as two proponents of cobra clutch variations match here as Stryke battles Ejiro Fasaki.”

 

“You know it, Comet,” replies Bobby Riley with a smirk on his face. “Both men are prepped and ready to take out whatever residual anger they might left from fighting Black Friday crowds here tonight on each other. And while both have some common enemies, they sure as shooting are not friends.”

 

“Sure as shooting?”

 

“What I can’t break out a cowboy reference here and there?”

 

“Take in away Funyon.”

 

The sequined announcer steps front and center in the middle of the ring as the crowd continues to buzz with excitement in preparation for the next contest. “Ladies and gentlemen… this next contest is scheduled for one fall with a twenty minute time limit! Introducing first…”

 

Blue and white spotlights begin to dance about the arena and into the eyes of quite a few people with sensitive vision. Now normally, that wouldn’t really be a problem but with “Becoming” blasting through the sound system, the crowd immediately starts its customary treatment of the man called Stryke.

 

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

 

Drowning out the crowd noise, the explosion of blue and silver light blinds everyone in the arena for a moment as smoke fills up the entrance way until the Australian Assault comes bounding through the smoke and into your television sets. Stryke looks out to the crowd with a shake of his head before sprinting down the aisle and underneath the bottom rope. Popping up to his feet, the former Tag Team and ICTV Champion leaps up to the middle turnbuckle as the crowd continues to berate him for sins long since faded from memory. Dropping back into the center of the ring, Stryke paces back and forth from one side of the ring to the other as though he were a bundle of energy moments away from exploding all over the arena.

 

Funyon continues, “Weighing in tonight at 238 pounds and hailing from Sydney, Australia, this is SSSSSSSSSSSSSTRYKE! And his opponent…”

 

JUSTICE!

 

RULE!

 

POPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOP!

 

With red and white explosions sounding in the air, Ejiro Fasaki wastes no time in making his way past the crowd and down the aisle. Brushing past every hand that is extended his way, Fasaki walks purposely into the ring and tosses his World Tag Team Title belt across the ring at the face of the ring announcer who just barely manages to knock the title belt out of the way. But as Funyon deals with that annoyance, Ejiro comes up with a bigger one as he snatches the microphone right out of Funyon’s hand and sends the announcer scrambling out of the ring with a simple raising of his hand.

 

“There is no call for that!” admonishes The Comet as Funyon makes himself scarce. “Ever since the last match Ejiro was supposed to have with Judge William Hearford, Fasaki has been picking on Funyon virtually nonstop.”

 

“Well, I am not sure that there is a real reason for it,” adds a thoughtful Bobby, “but I am pretty sure that Funyon deserves it.”

 

“What makes you say that?”

 

“Funyon runs an illegal casino. Women, booze, and cards are given to just about anyone that has a dollar to his name. Where do you think all of Annie Onita’s money goes?”

 

“Will you stop!”

 

Ejiro brings the freshly stolen microphone up to his lips; “You all better shut up before I shut you up personally!”

 

“FU FASAKI! FU FASAKI! FU FASAKI! FU FASAKI! FU FASAKI! FU FASAKI!”

 

“That’s better,” answers the annoying Tag Team Champion as though he got just what he asked for. “Now that I have all of your undivided attention, I think it is worth noting right here and right now that once again you can see the completely biased and unfair monarchy of ‘Grand Slam’ Mark Stevens at work. While the real men of this federation bust their asses again and again, our ‘great champion’ has managed to snag himself yet another day off.”

 

“Tom just defended his title last week!” shouts an indignant Cyclone Comet.

 

“But what has he done lately?”

 

“While I have to keep on facing jokes like this guy… no offense Stryke. Tom just keeps on abusing the system and… OOOPH!”

 

Not liking his name being connected with being a joke, Stryke virtually explodes out of his corner and knocks the lighter Tag Team Champion down to the canvas with a clothesline against the chest. The microphone goes flying out of the ring as Stryke continues to batter the downed Fasaki with a series of sharp kicks across the chest. Not even trying to restore any sort of order, referee Eddy Long signals for the bell to ring and get this match started right now before either man can do something highly illegal outside of the bounds of the actual match.

 

DING! DING!

 

Continuing the assault, Stryke continues to kick down at Fasaki as the smaller man scrambles to get away from the man from Sydney. Grabbing onto the top rope for even for leverage, Stryke continues to pound away with boots until Ejiro finally slips all the way loose and gets outside of the ring. But Stryke is not about to wait on Fasaki to get himself together so he immediately steps through the ropes himself and collects his prey once again. Grabbing Ejiro around the head, Stryke slams his face against the ring apron and forces Rule back inside the confines of the ring where he can pick up a legal win. Pushing the scrambled Ejiro back into a corner, Stryke once again places his boot into Fasaki with a strait kick to the chest. Then taking Fasaki by the head, Stryke bends him over slightly before knocking his teeth loose with a hammering European uppercut to the jaw. Dropping down to his seat in the corner, Ejiro tries to cover up only to have Stryke pull him right back up to his feet and jar his jaw once again with a savage European Uppercut.

 

POP!

 

Riley counters, “Not historically. I think the best rate of successes in taking on Fasaki have come from taking him down to the canvas and working him over there with superior power. That is what Danny Williams has always been able to beat Fasaki by doing. Ejiro eats punches like you eat Cheerios.”

 

Picking Ejiro off the canvas, Stryke sends his foe across the ring with a hard Irish whip and looks to follow in with a corner lariat. But at the last moment, Ejiro manages to turn into the charge and jam Stryke short with an elbow to the head that causes him to stagger out of the corner for just a second. That second is just enough of an opening though for Fasaki to come out of the corner and take Stryke down to the canvas with a swinging neckbreaker! Immediately floating over, Ejiro hooks a leg and goes for the first cover of the night extremely early here in the contest.

 

ONE!

 

TWO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

Almost easily getting his shoulders loose from underneath the Tag Team Champion, Stryke forces his way up to a seating position in order to keep Fasaki from placing him back into a lateral press. Almost immediately though Fasaki is behind his opponent and slaps on a reverse chinlock across the mouth of his adversary. Pulling back on the chin, Fasaki holds Stryke in place as the crowd visibly deflates at the site of the most feared move in all of wrestling. But Ejiro keeps the hold on as Stryke struggles underneath his weight in order to get back up to a vertical base. Widening his base however, Fasaki is able to keep his Australian foe down on the canvas as the crowd looks about in the hopes that some redhead might be flashing the crowd (as reported in the last Holt report). Finding none, the crowd seemingly gets comfortable in their seats at the prospect of this hold continuing for the foreseeable future. But Stryke will seemingly have none of that as he works his body over to one side and is able to get his legs underneath him. Pressing up with his strength, Stryke finally manages to get back up to his feet and sends an elbow into the gut of his tenacious foe. Slamming back with another elbow, Stryke continues to battle for some space before exploding out of Ejiro’s grip and running into the ropes for momentum. But as he comes rocketing back towards his target, Stryke finds a knee placed right into his breadbasket. Flipped over by the force of the blow, Stryke once again finds his back on the canvas before Fasaki slides into position and reapplies the reverse chinlock!

 

“BOOOOOOOOOOOORING! BOOOOOOOOOOOORING! BOOOOOOOOOOOORING!”

 

“I DON’T CARE!” shouts the arrogant Tag Team Champion with a grin as he slaps the hold back on Stryke.

 

“Good Odin,” murmurs The Cyclone Comet. “Do you honestly think that Citizen Fasaki is putting on a slow match just so it aggravates Chicago?”

 

“No,” answers Bobby Riley. “I think he’s doing it to annoy the fans and Mark Stevens. Obviously, Fasaki was in the process of telling us all about it before Stryke jumped him at the start of the match. Now, it looks like he’s trying to sink ratings just to spite the man in charge.”

 

Pulling the chinlock tight once again, Ejiro uses his newly grown muscles to keep Stryke from being able to push his head free from Fasaki’s grip. Grinning brightly, Fasaki fights the impulse to salute the crowd in his trademark fashion while holding the high pitched warrior down on the canvas where he cannot use either his high impact offense or his high flying prowess. Pushing to the side with the hold, Fasaki presses the trapped Stryke down flat to the canvas as Ejiro continues to hold onto the chin with a perfectly legal and perfectly boring wear down hold. Trying to press Stryke’s shoulders to the canvas though proves to be more difficult than Rule originally though however and the Sydney native continually manages to fight his way to his side despite the best efforts of Ejiro Fasaki. Sliding his body away from Fasaki’s base, Stryke reaches out with his hands and legs to snag a hold of the bottom rope and cause the referee to call for a break as the crowd sighs with relief that the horror might now be over. Fasaki regrettably gives up his game for the moment as he kicks away at the fallen Stryke with all of the enthusiasm of Bobby Riley at Hooters.

 

“Hey!”

 

Sorry Bobby.

 

Pulling the winded but virtually undamaged Stryke up and into the center of the ring, Ejiro bends low before pulling Stryke up to his shoulders and sending the Australian down with a body slam. Ducking down immediately, Ejiro tries for another cover as the crowd groans at the blatant attempt at sucking.

 

ONE!

 

NOPE!

 

Not even staying down for the count of two, Stryke kicks Ejiro off with authority as the aggressor for the majority of this match looks out to the crowd and slaps both of his cheeks in a dead on impression of the kid from Home Alone. Laughing at his own poorly done joke, Fasaki tosses off a salute to the patrons of the Windy City as the crowd continues to crap all over this recreation of the caveman era of wrestling.

 

“FU FASAKI! FU FASAKI! FU FASAKI! FU FASAKI! FU FASAKI! FU FASAKI!”

 

“Fasaki better not get too tied up in this game he’s playing here with the crowd,” warns The Comet. “Stryke is not going to be happy sitting there and getting put in a chinlock all match long. Sooner or later and the Australian Assault is going to show Ejiro just how funny he thinks the Tag Team Champion is.”

 

Meandering over to the kneeling Stryke, Fasaki once again wraps his arms around the neck of the former ICTV Champion and looks to continue dragging this match along at a snail’s pace as the crowd once again moans at the thought of a protracted chinlock. But as soon as he feels the pressure around his head, Stryke pops up to his feet and snags Ejiro around the body before popping the hips and lifting Ejiro high into the air! Twisting his feet beneath him, Stryke turns Ejiro around in mid air before falling strait down to the canvas and crushing Fasaki against the canvas with a belly-to-back suplex that caused Ejiro to bounce right off the canvas!

 

“I knew it!” calls out Bobby Riley as he steals all of Comet’s thunder that he can. “Stryke was playing opossum this whole time in order to lull Rule into a sense of false security. And when he felt that headlock coming back on, Stryke let him have it with the suplex! Aren’t you fans happy that you get to hear my brilliance on a regular basis?”

 

Allowing the question to float over his head, The Cyclone Comet watches on as Stryke literally leaps up to his feet after delivering the suplex. Obviously uninjured by all of Fasaki’s retro jersey offense, Stryke shows the world that while he might have been held on the mat, he was in no danger of being actually defeated in this contest. Grabbing the wounded Fasaki off the canvas and just off his knees, Stryke once again lays a deep European uppercut across his face with frightening impact. Driven down to the canvas yet again by the strike, Ejiro doggedly makes his way back up to his feet as Stryke looks to continue his roll towards victory. Taking the stunned Fasaki by the wrist, Stryke heaves his foe across the ring with a whip and awaits his return to the center of the ring. There, Ejiro finds himself tossed high into the air with a military press before being dropped down across Stryke’s shoulders and driven into the canvas with a Samoan drop!

 

“Broken Arrow! A hell of a movie and a hell of a move there by the devastating Australian Assault!” calls out the Comet as the crowd cheers in appreciation for this higher impact offense.

 

But that cheer is lost on the deadly Stryke who rises up to his feet and places his hands on his hips as though he was insulted by the gesture. To tap off that disgust, Stryke tosses his middle fingers high into the air much to the dismay of the editing staff and the once again, angry Chicago crowd. But Stryke has other issues to contend with now as he looks to polish Ejiro off before the cagey wrestler comes up with something to turn the tide. Slowly but surely, Stryke makes his way to the apron and starts the long climb up to the top rope where he might be able to hit something with enough impact to win this contest. Standing up strait on the top, Stryke watches Fasaki carefully as the Tag Team champion pulls himself up and staggers into the range of the high impact flyer. Pushing himself into the air, Stryke lands with both feet planted firmly in Ejiro’s chest and knocks Rule strait down to the canvas once again!

 

“Go for the cover!” cheers Bobby Riley as Stryke once again takes the moment to wander about the ring for a moment before making any sort of move on Fasaki.

 

“I think Stryke might have something else on his mind,” replies The Cyclone Comet. “It looks to me like he was not trying to knock Fasaki out, but rather get him stunned enough to lock on his mounted cobra clutch!”

 

Indeed this seems to be the case as Stryke stalks his foe as Fasaki once again works his body off the canvas as quickly as he can in order to defend against a cover. Sliding in behind his enemy for this evening, Stryke latches onto Ejiro from behind and latches on with the neck hold just as Fasaki manages to rise up to his feet. Instantly knowing that he is in a whole lot of trouble, Ejiro begins to flail about rather than allow Stryke to force him down to his knees where there will be no escape. Finally deciding that there might not be a more graceful way out of this predicament, Fasaki pulls Stryke forward and ducks his head so that both men go tumbling through the middle rope and all the way out to the floor!

 

Comet says, “Calculated risk there by Fasaki. Diving out of the ring was liable to hurt both men but he knew that the longer the clutch would be on the harder it would be to escape. So it was a better idea to take the initial hit and force his way free than face submission.”

 

Getting to his feet first on the concrete though, Stryke looks to add to Fasaki’s pain rather than make it feel any better. Taking the still winded Ejiro by the hair, Stryke pounds his head down across the ring apron in order to set up for something with a little more impact. Collecting Ejiro’s wrist once again, Stryke winds his opponent up and looks to send him across the ringside area and into the ring side steps!

 

CLANG!

 

But the best laid plans of mice and men…

 

“Ejiro reversed the whip and Stryke hit the steel! Fans, you saw how his legs managed to collide with the steps and cause him to flip over them.”

 

Bobby Riley adds, “And we all saw how Fasaki knee capped Annie Onita last week. Stryke better be careful that he doesn’t get more of the same.”

 

But Fasaki does not seem to be all that interested in the attack at the moment as he ducks a head underneath the bottom rope to disrupt the count of referee Eddy Long. Moving back outside, Fasaki collects the shattered remains of Stryke and sends him rolling back inside the squared circle where he can win this thing as decisively as possible. Knowing that the pressure is on its way however, Stryke manages to stagger up on his shaky knee even as Ejiro slides in behind his prey. Immediately coming up from behind his foe, Fasaki hops up high into the air and cuts into the back of Stryke’s head with a staggering enziguri that causes the larger grappler to flip head over heels before landing on his back flat on the canvas. Arching his back to work out the kinks from the earlier Samoan drop, Ejiro rises up to his feet and once more ducks behind Stryke as the Australian rises up to his feet with a hand on the back of his neck. Unaware all the while as to what will be awaiting him as he climbs back up to a vertical base.

 

“COBRA CLUTCH!” shouts The Cyclone Comet as Fasaki clamps down on the surprised Stryke with a hold that both men know exceedingly well. “If Fasaki can use that hold to drive Stryke down and latch on the crossface, this one is going to be over!”

 

But just as Comet and the crowd might know that, Stryke is aware of that fact as well and he drags Ejiro froward just as the Tag Team champion did to him a few moments ago. But rather than take a dive to the outside, Stryke instead places his feet against the turnbuckles and begins to use them to lift his legs up into the air. Finally with his legs on the top rope, Stryke pushes strait back and crushes Ejiro with all of his weight coming out on top with a pinning combination!

 

ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNE!

 

 

 

TWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

 

 

THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

 

 

NO HE ROLLED THE SHOULDER!

 

Releasing the hold at the last possible second, Ejiro manages to push Stryke off just enough to squirt a shoulder out from underneath his foe. Popping up to his feet a moment before Stryke, Ejiro manages to send an elbow into the Australian’s face and knock him back down to the canvas.

 

Comet reports, “Neither man was able to transition the cobra clutch into their own pet maneuvers here Riley. When you are a master of a hold like these two men are; you also know all the counters. I think both guys are going to have to come up with something else here if they want to come out of Chicago with a victory.”

 

Coming to the exact same conclusion and no longer playing around with his foe or the crowd, Ejiro once more places his elbow into the face of Stryke and sends his larger opponent back down to the canvas with a thud. Immediately pulling Stryke back up, Ejiro forces his head down in between Rule’s legs and starts to grapple for a double arm in preparation for a move that Tom Flesher knows all too well.

 

“Ejirocation is on its way!”

 

Setting himself up as well as possible, Ejiro looks to pull Stryke vertical and drive him home with the double arm piledriver only to have Stryke use his superior power to bust free and quickly sweep out both of Ejiro’s legs. Dropping back first into the canvas, Ejiro is too stunned to defend as Stryke cinches up both of the legs underneath his arms and pull Fasaki into perfect position for what he has planned. Getting to where he wants to be, Stryke falls backward to the canvas and hits a sling shot that sends Ejiro’s head into a collision course with the top turnbuckle!

 

WHAM!

 

Stunned from the blow, Fasaki stammers backward a step or two only to find that Stryke is right there behind him to pull him down with a schoolboy roll up!

 

 

 

 

ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNE!

 

 

 

 

 

TWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

 

 

 

 

 

THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

 

 

NO! NOT THREE AT ALL!

 

Pressing up with his legs as hard as he can, Fasaki once again forces Stryke off him just before the referee’s hand hits three. But Stryke has plans to assure that Ejiro has just kicked out for the last time. Quickly heading to the apron once again, Stryke once scales to the top turnbuckle as Ejiro slowly makes his way up to his feet unaware of his opponent’s ring positioning. Finally turning to where Stryke is now standing, Ejiro barely sees the movement as Stryke leaps into the air and does a complete jackknife before crashing into Rule with a frog splash cross body block! Hitting the canvas with all of his weight behind it though, Stryke finds that he is not as in as much control of his decent as he thought as Ejiro pulls him down to one side as both men hit the canvas!

 

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

 

“Ejiro turned that into about half a powerslam!” calls out The Comet.

 

 

ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNE!

 

 

 

TWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

 

 

THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

 

 

DING! DING! DING!

 

“The winner of the match,” reports a downbeat Funyon, “Ejiro Fasaki.”

 

“He got him!” cheers Bobby Riley with about twice the enthusiasm. “I knew all that weight training would come in handy and it just did! Who knew that Fasaki had the amount of strength to pull off that counter?”

 

“Power and technique,” adds The Comet, “it’s a combination that has worked for many a man in SWF action, and its working now for Ejiro Fasaki.”

 

Popping up off the mat as a wounded Stryke does the same, Ejiro drops right back down to the canvas and rolls to the safety of ringside as the Australian complains to the official about the count. But Ejiro Fasaki is not to be denied this evening as he retreats to the dressing room from call after call of…

 

“FU FASAKI! FU FASAKI! FU FASAKI! FU FASAKI! FU FASAKI! FU FASAKI!”

 

And that is music to his ears.