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Monday August 22 2016 – EBWF Monday Night Warfare – Nationwide Arena – Columbus; Ohio
With the SummerSlam pay-per-view fast approaching, there had been mutual respect shown between the two headline acts of the show. Sami Zayn was crowned the number one contender to Chris Jericho’s EBWF World Championship by winning the King of the Ring tournament. He could have had a clearer route to the championship, had he dethroned PJ Black for the Path to Glory Championship, but he failed in that attempt. His one final chance at reaching the top again would come at SummerSlam, but he still had roadblocks to overcome before that in the form of Jimmy Havoc and Seth Rollins.
Last week, the duo interrupted Sami after he wanted to offer his fans reassurance that a loss to PJ Black wasn’t going to set him back in any way. This resulted in Stone Cold Steve Austin making a tag team for tonight, and Sami was adamant to erase that tag team loss to Havoc and Rollins by picking up a win alongside the experienced World Champion.
As the fans settled back into the seats, “World’s Apart” blasted the PA system and the always-positive Sami Zayn danced his way on to the stage. He was all smiles in his wrestling gear, along with his Harrington Lonsdale jacket, and his flat cap, before screaming “Let’s Go!” into the camera in his usual, motivating fashion. He was introduced to the Columbus crowd as they sang along to theme song, while the other thousands started the ‘Ole!’ chants earlier than usual. Once more, he pumped up the crowd on the steel steps, before smiling and climbing through the ropes and into the ring. He looked around the arena as his music slowly faded out, but the ‘Ole!’ chants continued. Eventually, he had to cut them short, as he addressed the EBWF Universe.
SAMI ZAYN: Look, I’m sure we can do this all night but if last week is anything to go by, I’m pretty sure Jimmy and Seth will cut me off at any second to try and tell us how the Breakout Champion and his lackey are carrying the company.
The fans let out another loud cheer as Sami smiled, knowing they’d love the fact that he’d continue to provoke them.
SAMI ZAYN: Last week, I wanted to come out here to tell you all that even though PJ Black beat me, it’ll be Sami Zayn who captures the World Championship before he even comes close. Because let’s face it, when you put him opposite Randy Orton and you throw in an incentive like the Path to Glory Championship…well…I wouldn’t want to be PJ right now, I’ll tell you that. Yeah he beat me, fair and square, no excuses. But I’ve beaten him countless times, and he’ll beat me again, and I know we’ll battle again but he’s going to pay for wasting time and clinging on to championship gold because over the past month or so, I’ve seen the hunger in Randy’s eyes, and one way or another that crazy son of a bitch is going to take that title away from you, even if your hands and arms are attached to it. But enough about that, enough about PJ, enough about the Path to Glory Championship because now all of my focus is on the big title, the main event of SummerSlam when I go one on one with Chris Jericho.
Chris Jericho’s name resulted in more cheers, as Sami knew how much the fans also loved him as their champion.
SAMI ZAYN: Chris and I, we have no problems. In fact, this is different for me because the champion I’m after understands that as the number one contender, I have a right to face him for the championship and believe it or not…I respect that. I respect what he’s done, and although he isn’t as active as a champion as everyone wants him to be…it’s been a year with that title changing hands as often as it does. Perhaps stability isn’t a bad thing after all? I mean, do we really want to go through that whole Dolph Ziggler saga again? What was it, 100 plus days without defending the championship? Before bitching and moaning and taking the toys home…and now he’s got a long road to get the top as well. I know I’d be active, I bust my ass off every week here and that’s why it makes me laugh that Jimmy and Seth think THEY’RE the ones carrying this company when in reality, the real test hasn’t even begun.
Sami circled the ring and scratched his beard, looking as confident as ever heading into the tag team match.
SAMI ZAYN: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Jimmy and Seth are incredible competitors. But just because you kick asses in a storage room in the UK doesn’t mean the same success follows you here and that it falls in your lap because of the following you’ve built. It’s the complete opposite. Look at me, I’m grateful for what I achieved in the OTHER company and when I came here, I was the gum on everyone’s shoe, but I stuck around and reached the pinnacle in this organisation. I just hope for your sake, you manage to stick around when the tough times come because if you call it quits like others have in the past, it’ll be YOUR names that are used to make jokes and tell everyone how you guys came short. You just have this issue with me, I’ve no idea what it is and I still don’t know what I did to irritate you guys, but the problem is that I lost to PJ and I’m still number one contender?
Sami thought about it for a second, looking around at the fans and looking down, before slowly speaking up again.
SAMI ZAYN: I…uh…I don’t know how that has anything to do with you. I mean, did I have to pin you to get here? Nope. Did…did I take your opportunity? No, I don’t think so? The fact is, jealousy is a horrible thing and you guys can’t stomach the fact that I have succeeded a lot this year, and I’m getting the rewards for it, and you guys are falling behind. I see everything, who you call out, playing best friends with the boss hoping to become someone he respects so you can have opportunities handed to you, it’s fine, we’ve seen this before Jimmy. But as long as I’m around in the title picture, you’re going to have to learn to be happy as the Breakout Champion because even though you spew nonsense about being able to kick Chris Jericho’s ass, I guarantee that when that title is on the line he’d make sure you wished you never took up wrestling in the first place.
The passionate side of Sami eventually broke out, as he composed himself yet again.
SAMI ZAYN: Yeah, I know. You guys managed to pick up a win over me and Baron but the fact is, neither of you could pin my shoulders to this mat before and I can guarantee you that tonight neither of you will be able to do it again, that’s a promise. You can go and recruit however you want, whether it’s Seth or Baron or someone from catering, it doesn’t affect me, and it won’t affect my career, the only thing that’ll happen is they’ll drag you down. I said it the last time we were here, and I’ll say it again, there’s no originality with Jimmy. I said we saw it before, and no matter how you try to prove otherwise, you’re still a second grade version of the twisted bastards we’ve had in this company and deep down you need to do WAY more before you can frighten me or Chris. So what, you and Seth are just going to be grumpy backstage about how one singles loss means I don’t deserve my spot? How about you get your head out of each other’s asses and look what I’ve had to go through to get to here. Not all of us are lucky enough to be given a championship match right off the bat. So you can go ahead and do what you want, Jimmy. You can try and drain every drop of blood from my body and Seth can…do whatever it is he does nowadays but I know how this goes. I do what I do, you do what you do, you can’t stomach the fact that somebody like me is at the top. So you’ll go and add to your boyband full of blind sheep who think the two of you are the ones to guide them to the top. You’ll attack me, you’ll beat me down, but the fact is I overcome this, your band dissolves and I reach the top, again. Whether we like it or no, that’s just how it’s been and that’s how it will go, every single time.
Sami circled the ring again, taking off his jacket before picking up his microphone again.
SAMI ZAYN: I’m not disputing your talent either, Seth is a guaranteed future World Champion and I know he’ll do it sooner rather than later, and Jimmy will be up there too. I’ll just believe it when I see it, that’s all. Talking is one thing, coming into this ring and showing it week after week, night after night, match after match is another. I’m not ruling out Seth either, I know how dangerous he is. I also know how much Jimmy wants to be the one that tries to pin me, I’m ready for both of you. Tonight, it means nothing on paper. It’s a tag team match with you guys wanting to show how good you are. Chris needs to show why he’s the champion and I need to prove to you all why I am the right choice as the number one contender. Tonight, Chris has my back and I’ll have is despite being at a disadvantage. Yeah, we’re not a team, we never will be, we won’t have the chemistry what you guys clearly have. But I’m sure as the World Champion and the number one contender, we’ll be just fine in trying to pick up the win. And once the two of you finally shut up and realise talking won’t get you what you want…then I can focus on Chris so I can look him in the eye when the music hits at the end of the match and tell him that I’m taking his championship and whether he believes it or not right now, when he looks into my eyes and understands what I’ve had to go through to get a main event match with him, he’ll understand why I HAVE to win.
Sami dropped the microphone to ridiculous cheers as he went and sat in the corner, focusing again after delivering a defiant message, not only to his opponents tonight but to Chris Jericho as well.