The Party Stops Here.

[Ben M]

It had been a quiet month for Chris Jericho since he had beaten Sami Zayn for the Intercontinental Title, but with the King of the Ring tournament underway, Y2J was at the centre of attention once again. Jericho's Intercontinental Title win - his first championship in four years - coupled with his 2015 Wrestler of the Year Slammy meant that in a lot of people's eyes, Jericho was one of the favourites to win the tournament. With the likes of Dean Ambrose, Solomon Crowe and Randy Orton also in contention, the competition was fierce; but Jericho still felt like he had something to prove after being named Wrestler of the Year, and he was determined to make his mark in this year's tournament.

In the first round of the tournament, Jericho had been drawn against Adam Rose. Rose, better known to some by his previous ring name Leo Kruger, had joined the EBWF last year, and despite some solid in-ring performances, the South African superstar had yet to achieve anything of note in his EBWF career. On paper, Jericho was a shoe in to advance to the second round - but he had been around in the EBWF to not take anything for granted. He didn't want his King of the Ring dream to falter at the first hurdle, and he didn't think that it would - but he knew that he didn't get the final say about what would happen when he wrestled Rose on the King of the Ring bonus show. As his father had always told him to do, Jericho was planning for the best but preparing for the worst.

Such was his focus on King of the Ring, Jericho became lost in his thoughts as he waited backstage at the Fargodome. He sat pensive in his locker room, looking up in surprise as he heard someone open the door, then having a moment of realisation as he saw Renee Young and an EBWF cameraman enter the room.

Chris Jericho: Is it that time already? Sorry, Renee, I lost track of time.

Renee Young: That's okay. I can come back later if you want?

Chris Jericho: No, it's fine. Let's get this party started!

Jericho got to his feet and grinned, which seemed to help Renee relax. With such a diverse range of superstars on the EBWF roster, she never knew what to expect when conducting interviews. After Jericho had placed the Intercontinental Championship over his shoulder and scowled his most heelish scowl, the camera started rolling and Renee began to speak.

Renee Young: Hello and welcome to the EBWF.net exclusive coverage of the 2015 King of the Ring! Later on tonight, we'll see the continuation of our King and Queen of the Ring tournaments, and one of the men who'll be competing in the King of the Ring first round is my guest at the time, the Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho. Chris, you won the Intercontinental Title in a thrilling cage match against Sami Zayn at Aftermath, but we haven't seen much of you since then. I'd like to--

Jericho cut her off.

Chris Jericho: You'd like to what, Renee? You'd like to ask where I've been, why I haven't been appearing on Warfare? In case you've forgotten, I'm no longer in charge of EBWF. That assclown Wes Ikeda relieved me of my duties after I aligned myself with Lance Storm and Trent, so why don't you ask him why I haven't been on Warfare? Oh wait that's right, he's no longer in charge either, because he's decided he wants to be a wrestler again. No one is in charge, the inmates are running the asylum so to speak, so you probably wanna know why Lance, Trent and I haven't been running wild and taking over the show. The truth is, Renee, we've been biding our time. We've been planning and preparing for the King of the Ring, and our time for "running wild" is now.

Renee Young: With all due respect, Chris, you're the Intercontinental Champion. Shouldn't you have been defending your title, like the fighting champion you claim to be?

Jericho glared at Renee and there was an angry tone in his voice as he responded to her question.

Chris Jericho: I don't claim to be a fighting champion, Renee... I am one. You saw my match with Sami Zayn, I was the better man and I beat him all by myself. I deserve to be the Intercontinental Champion, and Sami knows that. Why else would he have forfeited his right to a rematch? He claims it's because his focus is elsewhere, but the real reason is he knows when he's beaten. I beat him once, and Sami knows if he stepped into the ring with me again, the same thing would happen. He doesn't want to put himself through that. No one does. If any of my fellow EBWF superstars had challenged me for this title, I would have put it on the line without a second's hesitation, and I would have done to them what I did to Sami Zayn. But no one did, so why should I defend my title if no one is man enough to challenge me? Should I go around offering title shots to EBWF superstars like I'm some sort of charity? That's not how it works, Renee. If someone wants to step into the ring with Chris Jericho, they have to earn it. I'm the Intercontinental Champion for a reason, and if you don't start showing me the respect I deserve, I'll find someone that will.

Renee looked a little intimidated as she moved onto her next question.

Renee Young: Tonight you're in action against Adam Rose, who stands between you and a place in the second round of the King of the Ring tournament. You were crowned King of the Ring in 2011, how confident do you feel about becoming the King a second time?

Chris Jericho: I'm very confident, Renee. In case you've forgotten, I'm the 2015 Wrestler of the Year. Dolph Ziggler might be the World Champion, but I'm the best in the world at what I do. And I'm going to prove that in this tournament. Four years is a long time... it's about time I reclaimed by rightful throne.

Renee Young: What are your thoughts on your opponent?

Jericho shrugged nonchalantly.

Chris Jericho: Adam Rose? What do you want to know?

Renee Young: Well, do you respect him?

Chris Jericho: Should I respect him?

Renee Young:...

Chris Jericho: Oh wait that's right, you're the one doing the interview! Sorry, I'm just so used to being the interviewer rather than the interviewee thanks to my bi-weekly podcast, Talk Is Jericho. My thoughts on Adam Rose... do I respect him... I'm not sure how I can respect someone that I've seen so little from. He's been in the EBWF for eight months now, and I can't recall a single one of his matches. I might not wrestle every night, Renee, but at least when I do people remember me. Can anyone really say the same thing about Adam Rose? We could replace him with a local wrestler or a developmental superstar every week, I doubt anyone would even notice the difference. When it comes to the King of the Ring tournament, guys like Adam Rose only serve one purpose - they're here to make up the numbers.

Renee Young: I guess it's safe to say you're expecting to win tonight, given how confident you feel about becoming King of the Ring and how little respect you have for Adam Rose?

Chris Jericho: Of course I am! I didn't get to where I am today without going into each and every one of my matches telling myself I was going to win. If you don't believe in yourself, you might as well not bother turning up. I don't just expect to win tonight, Renee... I know I will.

Renee Young: Chris, I get that you're confident, but don't you feel you're underestimating your opponent?

Chris Jericho: Have you forgotten who you're talking to, Renee? That's strike two. One more and this interview is over. I've learned to never underestimate my opponents, because I've done that in the past and it's cost me. I don't respect Adam Rose, and I'm confident I can beat him... but that doesn't mean I'm underestimating him. I know what his strengths and weaknesses are.

Renee Young: Would you mind telling me what you think his strengths and weaknesses are?

Jericho grinned smugly.

Chris Jericho: Since you asked so nicely, I'd be happy to. Don't expect a long list though; like I said before, with Adam Rose there isn't a lot to think about. His strengths? He's a tough guy; he knows how to fight. That's all I could think of really. As for weaknesses... his main weakness is a weakness I've seen in more EBWF superstars than I care to remember. His head isn't in the game. It's all about the parties for Adam Rose, he wants to "have fun" with his Rosebuds. That's why he's accomplished so little here. The guys that accomplish things in EBWF are the ones that have the right drive, the right focus. Adam Rose isn't one of those guys, and it's sickening. He's not in EBWF to be King of the Ring of a champion... he shows up each week, dances to that stupid music, wrestles his match and win or lose, he parties with those imbecilic Rosebuds afterwards. I think the only reason he's here is to earn enough money to pay for his "party habits". Which probably explains why he gets on so well with Brian Kendrick. The difference is, Kendrick could leave his "party habits" as we'll call them to one side, and focus on wrestling. That's why he's a former World Champion. With an attitude like Adam Rose's, he'll never be World Champion. Hell, I'd be surprised if he became Breakout Champion given how little ambition he's shown. The strength that he could have - that toughness - is negated by the way he approaches his matches and his EBWF career. How he hasn't been fired yet, I don't know; maybe if we actually had someone running things, he would have been "future endeavoured" already. Maybe the Anonymous Warfare General Manager hasn't found the "terminate contract" button on his laptop yet...

Renee Young: So you think Adam Rose is too focused on partying, and that's his main weakness?

Chris Jericho: Didn't I just say that? If I wanted a parrot, Renee, I would have bought one. Yeah, in Adam Rose's eyes, his EBWF career is just one big party. Well the party stops here. Because I care too much about my career, this tournament, and the integrity of wrestling to let a pretender like Adam Rose get in the way of my ambition, my dream - to become King of the Ring once again.

Renee Young: Is that what you're championing yourself as now, Chris? Someone to protect the integrity of wrestling?

There seemed to be a hint of derision in Renee's voice, and Jericho picked up on it.

Chris Jericho: You're damn right I am - I have more integrity than anyone else in the EBWF, and I have a hell of a lot more integrity than Adam Rose. I'm going to show him that tonight. You know what, that's strike three. This interview is over.

Jericho walked away from Renee, and he was about to exit the locker room when he remembered it was his locker room.

Chris Jericho: Wait a minute, this is my locker room. I'll stay. You get out.

Jericho held open the door as Renee left, followed by the cameraman. As soon as they had both exited, Jericho slammed the door shut and went back to his thoughts. Talking to Renee had reminded Jericho how much winning the King of the Ring tournament had meant to him. He wanted to have that feeling again; he didn't even want to contemplate how hollow it would feel to lose to Adam Rose and have his dreams crushed before they'd even started.