OOC - Good luck everyone with matches, can't wait to read what everyone writes.
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Kevin Owens was sat in a chair, several ladies hurried around him, periodically they would preen his hair or apply dabs of makeup to his face. This is the picture everyone in the internet wrestling community would want, Owens sat in a chair having makeup put on his face. But this was just work for him. Since being announced as the cover superstar for the latest 2K17 EBWF game it brought a whole new world of promotion work for him. But Owens was not going to complain. John Cena was the poster boy of the EBWF for so long and everyone else was just feeding off his scraps, but now Owens had a chance to sit at the big boys table and he was not going to let that go. --------------------------
Truth be told he had never really been much of a video gamer as a kid. He had preferred a more tactile way of playing so lent towards wrestling figures as a youngster. He did not really have much of a clue how the 2K17 games worked, but this was business and he knew this was about going out there and making it sound as amazing as possible. It was some pre order downloadable content he was promoting today. As far as he understood it if you ordered the game today you got to download some blast from the past to play with. Although he was stuck out in the back of the shopping mall waiting for his time to go on he could hear the crowd murmuring that was starting to gather. He quite enjoyed waiting around for these things, it was always his chance to take care of business. Taking his mobile out he begun to read through the Tweets sent to him. It was always such a mixed bunch of responses, but Owens loved to annoy them. Taking the odd few and replying, knowing it would make their day. As he thumbed through dozens of pieces of fan art tweeted to him his screen changed and his mobile rang, it was Bayley. He knew what she was going to say so he rolled his eyes as he answered it.
Kevin Owens: Yo, Pamela how you doin’?
Bayley: Oi! You ditched me!
Owens pretended to not understand, when he knew full well she was pissed off as they ALWAYS travelled together, but he had left straight after Warfare to hop on a plane to this 2K17 gig.
Kevin Owens: Ditched you when?!
Bayley: Don’t play dumb with me Kevin, you left me at Warfare! You’re meant to be my driver!
Kevin Owens: Oh yeah. I had to catch a plane straight away. I’m doing this video game thing today. I had to leave straight away.
Bayley put on an annoyed voice.
Bayley: But you know it’s tradition, you drive, I sleep, we awkwardly arrive at the hotel and explain we’re not a couple. It’s our thing! And do you know who I had to share a car with?
There was a long silence.
Bayley: Well do ya?!
There was a more playful bounce in her voice now as she could not carry on pretending to be annoyed.
Bayley: Chuck Taylor and Dolph Ziggler! Let me repeat that, DOLPH ZIGGLER!
Kevin took a dramatic sharp intake of breath as if she had just mentioned he who must not be named.
Kevin Owens: Oooooo tough break, ok I REALLY apologise for that!
Bayley: You missed out on hearing about my super duper mega ultimate cool good news as well.
Kevins Owens: Go on.
Bayley: King of the Ring I’ve got a shot at the tag titles with Blue Pants!
Kevin Owens: No way!? That’s brilliant news kiddo! I hope you lose though!
Bayley: WHAT!?
Kevin Owens: Well the cars we rent are so small, can we fit TWO title belts in the trunk?!
Bayley: Ha you bet we can! You’ll just have to throw some of your stuff out!
Kevin Owens: No chance, I’ll have to just keep on ditching you, the World title is riding shotgun with me! Haha.
Bayley: Nooooooo don’t make me ride with Chucky and Ziggler again! I’ll do anything!!!
Kevin Owens: I’ll keep that in mind, look I’ve got to go I’m about to go do my best infomercial job of selling this game! I’ll catch up with you later this week, “champ”!
Bayley: Enjoy and don’t forget it’s your turn to buy candy for the ride!
Kevin Owens: Screw off, the champ doesn’t buy candy for anyone, it’s the unwritten rules!
Owens could hear her voice laughing while he hung up his phone. As he did so he also noticed a text from his manager Marcus which said “They’ve ok’ed the idea, you’ve got a flight tonight booked, I’ll send details. I dunno who went out to bat for you on this, but SOMEONE must like you. I dunno why lolz!”. Owens smiled to himself. He had pitched an idea for a King of the Ring promo to Paul Heyman, and was waiting for the all clear to go ahead with it. The only problem was a week of King of the Ring and 2K17 promotional work and his idea involved him flying to Canada just to film a 5 minute promo! It was not the sort of request people made, and not the sort of thing anyone other than the champion would be granted so he was surprised they had agreed to it. He was due out in front of the crowd but knew he should give Wes a call to thank him. Kissing up to the boss was not Kevin’s thing, but at the same time he knew he owed Wes and Paul a lot for agreeing to this, as letting talent fly all over the place on the week building up to a pay per view was unheard of. Plus Owens knew if he rang Ikeda he would not answer. He always wondered, was Wes just generally rubbish at picking the phone up, or did he just ignore him on purpose? Owens knew the whole being an arsehole thing came pretty naturally to him, but maybe he was just too good at it. He scrolled through his phone until he reached Wes's contact details and hit the green icon to call him and, as expected, it rang through to his voicemail.
Kevin Owens: Yo Wes. It’s Kevin here. I’m just at that 2K17 thing today. I wanted to leave you a quick message as just heard my promo in Canada has been given the go ahead. I’ll be there and back within the day so won’t miss any of the PPV promotional stuff. I know it’s a total pain in the ass me going there for it, but it’ll be worth it. I appreciate you and Paul both giving me this chance. I’m bringing the whole family to King of the Ring and my boy is desperate to meet you, he’s a huge fan! So catch up then if you’ve got time. Keep it real.
He hung up the phone and immediately cringed internally. Jeez, keep it real! Was he like some teenager from the mid 2000’s!? All he wanted to do was let Wes know he realised they were bending over backwards to help him out when he had not even really earned this title shot with everything they were doing for him. All Owens could do was hope that either Wes disliked him enough that he immediately deleted his messages as soon as they arrived without listening to them, or better yet that he would just drop his mobile into a lake or something! Just as Owens was shaking his head to himself an overly enthusiastic young lady poked her head around the door to the room he was in and politely spoke.
Lady: Mr Owens we’re ready whenever you are.
Owens adjusted the 2K17 tshirt he was wearing and eased himself to his feet and followed the lady out of the door.
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The EBWF camera sprung into life inside a small, dusty old hall. There were a few rows of seats set up around a rickety, almost vintage looking wrestling ring. The canvas was peeling off in more areas than not, the turnbuckle pads were ripped and the ropes fraying slightly in places. Leaning against the ancient ropes was Kevin Owens. In a pair of cut off denim shorts he was wearing a black sleeveless tshirt. It had bold white lettering across the chest saying “Nobody Does It Better - Master Of The Headlock”. Owens looked incredibly relaxed with his eyes shut he was gently rolling his head in circular motion with a satisfied look on his face as he was gently loosening his neck. His eyes opened as the camera moved towards him and he looked around the auditorium he was in with a mock impressed looked on his face. He looked at the camera with a smirk on his face and raised his eyebrows before speaking.Kevin Owens: Now I’m not expecting many of you to know where this is but there’s someone who is watching that will know this place extremely well. (He paused for a moment) Well he should know it well at least. You see right now I’m in Canada. Alberta to be precise. Ringing any bells yet? No? What if I was to tell you it’s the Moose Hall in Ponoka, any ideas? It’s fine, I’m not expecting many of you to know, but on October 2nd 1990 this was the place that current EBWF Chris Jericho made his wrestling debut. Yup that’s right, inside these four walls was the birth of one of the greatest of all time. He fought a 10 minute time limit draw with Lance Storm. You know in 1990 I was 6 years old Chris. Which means you were doing headlocks before I even knew what they were, let alone mastered them! And who’d have thought from those humble beginnings that just 11 years later you’d join the EBWF and, as they say, the rest is history.
Owens continued to look around the room, sometimes momentarily stopping as if studying certain parts, although there was nothing in particular to see.
Kevin Owens:
Triple H
Jeff Hardy
Christian
Sting
CM Punk
The Miz
Wes Ikeda.
Do you know what all of those people have in common? I mean it reads like a wrestling hall of fame. They are the the superstars that you’ve beaten Chris to win the EBWF World Championship, hell you’ve even beaten Christian twice for it. A 9 time champion, you’ve done it all Chris. Every title, Slammy awards, countless 5 star matches the list goes on and on and on. You say it yourself, the best in the world at what you do.
Once again he was leaning on the ropes with his arms outstretched as the camera stopped following him.
Kevin Owens:
Vampiro
Brian Kendrick
Christian
Sting
Shawn Michaels
Wes Ikeda.
Now Jericho I know you recognise those names. This is the list that really interests me. You see these are the superstars that have beaten you for the EBWF World Championship. At King of the Ring in the Staples Center I’ll be adding my name to that list. One of the reasons I joined the EBWF Chris was because of guys like you. I’d grown up watching you wrestle and I have no shame in admitting that I looked up to you. You were one of the reasons I got into this business and how could I turn down the chance of working alongside one of my heroes?
Owens walked to the side of the ring and with little effort hopped onto one of the turnbuckles and sat on it as he continued to talk.
Kevin Owens: They always say never meet your idols and I never understood why until I got here and looked you in the eyes. And Chris when I came face to face with you I could read you like a book, and not a very good one at that. I could see you had become everything I hate most in wrestling - a hypocritical piece of trash. You sit around talking about being the best in the world at what you do and that’s true Chris. Because what you do nowadays is come and go as you please and avoid defending that title that is more like an albatross around your neck.
Owens slipped from the turnbuckle and walked along the ring running his hand along of the dusty old rope.
Kevin Owens: Whether you’re hanging up your trunks for a pencil pushing job as Wes Ikeda’s secretary, or if you just fancy disappearing to play some music with that glorified garageband of yours. What you are the best in the world at doing is avoiding a fight. That’s not the Chris Jericho I grew up watching and respecting. You’ve changed Chris and it’s taken me calling you out in front of the entire world to show them the pathetic coward and fraud you have become. All those fans who come out and cheer you deserve better Chris, and deep down I think you know they do. Hell most of them boo me, but we both know they respect me more than they’ll ever respect you again since you’re a shell of a man that you once were. They respect me because they know I will be the fighting champion they not only want, but deserve. I will be everything you aren’t Chris. I won’t back down from a challenge, I won’t go missing just because I don’t fancy wrestling for a while. I’ll be busting my ass harder than you ever did Chris. Because wrestling is my life, and not just something I do when I fancy like you.
Owens continued to walk from from turnbuckle to turnbuckle, beating his hand on them causing plumes of dust to rise up before speaking again.
Kevin Owens: As much as you don’t like to hear it everyone knows you’re a soft touch now, a man who can’t hang with the new guys any more. It’s not just me saying it Chris. All the boys in the back are saying the same. It’s just so happens I was the only one with the balls to turn round and say it to your face. You’re buddy Stone Cold done his best to protect you for a bit longer by putting me in a match with that punk Enzo Amore and I proved to the entire world I’m worthy of a title shot and at King of the Ring that gold around your waist becomes mine. That moment before I tossed you into the air at Warfare to power bomb you through that table I looked in your eyes Chris and you know what I saw? I was expecting to see fear. But it was something much worse. I saw a man who had resigned himself to defeat already, someone had had given up even before stepping into the ring. I could see you were imagining yourself flat on your back with me stood over you with my hand raised and the world title around my waist. It was pathetic. Now I’m sure you’re already sat at home preparing your statement once I beat you about how you need to take some time off, tour with the band, let your body recover, whatever it is. But we both know I’m going to be the one walking out of the Staples Center with the belt and then it’s the end of the road. I add my name to the long list of those who have beaten you for that title and you can slip away again. But you’re alright Chris, you’ll be remembered as the man that lost the title to the greatest champion in EBWF history. Me. At King of the Ring you’ll get to witness first hand exactly why I am Mr Wrestling and that nobody does it better than Kevin Owens.
Owens rolled out of the ring and walked out of the hall as the camera followed him for a moment before fading to black.