Did You DIY?
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2017 6:22 pm
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SUNDAY JUNE 11 2017 – EBWF BRING IT TO THE TABLE – EBWF HEADQUARTERS
Round one of the King of the Ring tournament was in the books, and Sami Zayn managed to avoid a first-round upset by eliminating Seth Rollins which proved to be a tricky start. Still, it meant a huge name and talented star was out of the way, but there were still many left Sami had to overcome and one of them was this week’s opponent, Tommaso Ciampa. Ciampa was one of the many new arrivals in the EBWF and was thrown in at the deep end right away in the King of the Ring tournament where he defeated Finn Balor in another major upset in the first round. However, as good as Ciampa was he was going up against the reigning, two-time King of the Ring and after the year Sami Zayn had, fans knew he wasn’t going to roll over easily.
After the short break, the cameras were rolling again as Bring it to the Table continued with Peter Rosenberg smiling right into the camera, and sitting opposite Warfare commentator, Corey Graves. The duo had already discussed a variety of topics and fans at home watching the show could see exactly what they were about to get into next.
Peter Rosenberg: Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to Bring it to the Table, I’m Peter Rosenberg alongside EBWF’s own Corey Graves and up next we are discussing…ha…internet darlings. Tomorrow night we have the second-round King of the Ring matches where reigning king Sami Zayn takes on the newcomer, the man who overcame Finn Balor. Quite an interesting match-up, wouldn’t you say?
Corey Graves: I think any match which was the king in is an interesting match, and this year it’s Sami, just like last year. We now know he means business again because he defeated perhaps one of the favourites in Seth Rollins, so he probably has gotten rid of the first round jitter and now he’ll be looking forward to reaching the final again. Tommaso, on the other hand, had an upset of his own and even though there are some physically impressive athletes in this tournament, I feel this is the one opponent he’d have wanted to avoid this early in the tournament.
Peter Rosenberg: Really? I mean if you’re asking me I’m choosing Sami everyday of the week compared to somebody like Randy Orton or heck, Braun freaking Strowman! I think Tommaso would have been ecstatic when he found on Sami is next in line for him, I don’t think he could have asked for an easier tie!
Corey Graves: Well, that’s your opinion but that’s why you’re sat here and aren’t currently preparing for a King of the Ring match. Look, I’m not going to sit here and sing the praises of Sami Zayn all night, but he’s a friend and I won’t be unbiased but even he can’t shy away from the fact that he’s had possibly the worst year of his professional wrestling career, even he will tell you that. Sure, Tommaso probably feels this is the best time to catch him when he;=’s on the back foot, he may be happy about one win and catch him off guard and so on. But, not every knows what Sami is like on a personal level, not everyone knows what drives him, what makes him get up in the morning, what makes him want to go that extra mile to win. I know, Kevin Owens knows, Finn Balor knows, Seth Rollins, AJ Styles and so on – they all know, they all know what he is capable of and we all know what he will do to go that extra mile. I feel that Sami knows that Tommaso is looking to take advantage, and I know right now he’s working to make sure that doesn’t happen so we don’t have to sit here next week and carry on talking about this.
Peter Rosenberg: Yeah okay, I appreciate everything you’re saying and I probably don’t know him that well to judge that BUT as I was saying, based on a physical aspect you can’t tell me Tommaso is kicking himself because of what he’s up against.
Corey Graves: I don’t know why this is even being brought up, yeah Sami isn’t the biggest guy but nobody raised an eyebrow when he overcame Brock Lesnar two years ago. Look at their size different, Brock is a once in a lifetime athlete and Sami beat him to get to the final, size doesn’t mean everything, especially in a tournament like this when your career can change in an instant. Look at Tommaso, he’s not much bigger than Sami but I know that is pointless, there’s no point bringing that up because these two guys are quite similar, they’re around the same build, brought to the business the same way and they took the long road to get here. Size doesn’t matter, now it’s all about the heart, the determination to succeed and who has it in them to go that extra mile to get that victory; something I believe both men do have which is why it’s so interesting.
Peter Rosenberg: Okay, okay, I give up, I won’t argue with you on thatm so it’s official – size does not matter. Well, what is it about them that’s so similar, who does that work in favour of, if it does?
Corey exhaled, caught a little off guard and trying to come up with an explanation.
Corey Graves: I think it’s the fact that they’re both relatable. They’re not larger than life, they don’t have outlandish gimmicks, they’re like two guys who had a passion for wrestling and pursued it and made careers out of that passion, not everyone gets that chance. What they have done gives others hope that they can in that situation too. And I think this whole do it yourself thing, I think you can stick both men under that umbrella because they’ve done this themselves, I don’t remember the last time Sami actually had any help in this company. I don’t think it works in anyone’s favour, though, I think it’s just about who is better on the night along with everything else I mentioned earlier; being similar I think cancels it out.
Peter Rosenberg: Well let’s get on the subject, internet darlings, I mean, really? Are internet darlings really who people want to see as potential kings?
Corey Graves: The internet is a powerful tool, Rosenberg! Check your Twitter feed after this and see how many people are hitting out you for that comments. Look, I know everything about being an internet darling, I know what that is like. I mean, we know about Sami’s masked past and what he’s done to get here and Tommaso’s journey has been well-documented too. There’s a lot of hype, I think there’s probably pressure on Sami than anybody else in this tournament. He didn’t fail in football and come here, he came here with an actual reputation of being someone that could compete with the big dogs. He didn’t jump ship when things didn’t go his way, he didn’t sink, he kept going and lived up and potentially exceeded expectations, Now look, two King of the Ring wins, he’s going for a third. Now, it’s early days for sure but I feel Sami has an advantage there, he’s already shown he can hang in the big time…but can Tommaso? This is the chance now, sink or swim, I genuinely think because he’s against someone with his back to the wall, Tommaso sinks in the second round.
Peter Rosenberg: So that’s your prediction then, Sami to win?
Corey Graves: I can’t give predictions, that part of my contract I think you didn’t read the fine print when bringing me on here. I’m saying when this is over, this match, even if Tommaso wins, it’ll be Sami Zayn the world is talking about, I can do nothing but wish them the best of luck and either Sami moves one step closer to the third crown which we’ve never seen before, or Tommaso shocks the world and we are guaranteed a new king.
Peter Rosenberg: Well, I can make predictions and I’m predicting that this time next week you’ll be pulling out with every excuse in the book WHEN Tommaso Ciampa shocks the world – who doesn’t love an undergod?
Corey Graves: An underdog?! You’re picking Tommaso as an underdog compared to someone called THE underdog from the underground? Man, all of a sudden I’m feeling pretty good about your prediction. Look, the doubters will always be there for both of these guys and I’m sure they’ll move on to bigger and better things and they’ll forget all about it but I’m just saying, you’d go with the tried and tested guy over the new guy, the one that’s been the world champion, the one that’s had to listen to all of the people doubting him claiming it was an upset after an upset. Tommaso is good, is he great? I guess we’ll find out at Warfare because if he beats Sami, the world will be on notice and we all have to take him seriously.
The two laughed as they moved on to the next topic following the break down from Corey Graves, as he outlined exactly what both men need to do to stand any chance of winning and advancing into the next round.
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MONDAY JUNE 12 2017 – EBWF MONDAY NIGHT WARFARE – BARCLAYE CENTER – NEW YORK CITY; NEW YORK
It didn’t take long for the fans to erupt into cheers when Sami Zayn’s theme music hit the PA syetem, and a cheery-looking Zayn appeared on stage in his wrestling attire, flat cap and Harrington jacket as he danced his way down the ramp and into the ring. Eventually he took a microphone and addressed the New York crowd.
Sami Zayn: I mean, you probably know why I’m smiling because with my back against the wall I managed to overcome Seth Rollins when even I doubted myself. But it’s not just that, standing behind the curtains, thinking about what I was going to say, I realised that for the first time in a very long time I genuinely don’t dislike my opponent. Okay, I’ve wrestled friends and Seth – even he proved to be a pain in the ass in The Broken, but Tommaso Ciampa…finally he’s in the company and everyone is happy to see him here and he’ll do big things here, I hope.
Sami stopped in the middle of the ring with his hand up, looking down and thinking of how to address it.
Sami Zayn: I like Tommaso, but not enough to go easy on him so he can take this way from me. I’m not going to ramble on for long tonight, I want to get this started right now. I learnt quickly in this company that the success we have elsewhere doesn’t replicate here. You have to work harder than ever but more importantly, to reach the top you have to fall, there’s no other way around it. I had to do it, I had to lose to guys who were in the company for a week before I tasted success right at the top, and if this tournament has taught me anything…I know what it takes not to fail. I know what I have to do to win, and I know how to beat you tonight. Tommaso, you’re new here, you have the world at your feet with your win against Finn and you’re hungry and you got that big win and you plan to make an impact and it all makes sense to you and you’re visualising becoming the king and so on and so on…but this is where you have to fall, and I’ll advance because I know what it takes to do that.
Fans laughed as Sami rambled on but composed himself in the middle of the ring; smiling as he lifted a finger and carried on.
Sami Zayn: I’m not going to look down on you, though. I’m not going to play down your achievements and I’m not going to bash you on the fact that it took this long to get here because I’ve been in the exact same position you’re in right now. I know how difficult it is to make people believe that you are genuine threat, that you have a genuine passion and you are good enough to not only win a match in this tournament, but win the whole damn thing. You wanna know something, Tommaso? For two years I’ve had people tell me I fluked it, yeah, fluked it all the way to the final and the win for two years straight. Hey, I took a leaf out of your book, your mantra of do it yourself, I’ve done everything in this company myself and I’m sorry but tonight I’ll beat you myself and eliminate you from this tournament because that’s just how it has to go.
Sami held the microphone in his hand, looking up at the ramp with a little smirk on his face, knowing he’d have to irritate Tommaso a little to get the best out of him.
Sami Zayn: Do you want to know a secret? Not just you, Tommaso, but all of you. I guess there’s no harm in telling you…but there’s a method to my success in this tournament, the recipe for success, the reason I somehow managed to win this back to back and a skinny ginger kid from Montreal somehow found himself in the same bracket as Randy Orton. I know what it takes to get the best out of myself, what drives me, what motivates me and I think it’s something you can use too. What motivates me is to not be the new PJ Black and choke at the last minute after talking myself up for months and then finding myself blaming management that held me down. That’s what drives me to be as far away from that as possible because every lose drives me to that. Then I got thinking, what it is that’s driving you, and then I figured it out and you’ll probably try kicking my ass for bringing this up but let’s be honest, when you walked through the doors there were smiles and everything, but EVERYBODY looked to your right to see where the OTHER guy was, and you know exactly who I’m talking about.
Sami leaned on the ropes, facing the ramp with a little smirk on his face, trying to fire Tommaso up a little heading into the match.
Sami Zayn: Hey, it’s not just me thinking it, I think everybody here feels the same way. Everything you have done hasn’t always been ‘do it yourself’ has it? I think this is your chance to prove that you don’t need him, that you can do it all on your own and you were your own man in that fan favourite team that the internet loves, just like Kevin Owens and his masked friend some years ago. The fact is, should you win tonight then nobody will ever bring that up and nobody will ever think of bringing the other name up to you. It’ll be your achievement, and you’d have beaten the king all because of yourself. Because YOU were good enough, because YOU wanted it and because YOU worked hard to get this opportunity and deserve to give this company a brand new king. Buuuuut if you lose, which I plan on making sure that happens…then everybody will ask what is it you’ve actually done? Opinions change rather quickly here, and I think once I’ve beaten you tonight, people are going to doubt your worth here and ask, did he really get here by himself? And then it’s an uphill battle, believe me, I’ve had to endure that and I somehow came out the other end perfectly fine. I guess tonight we’ll find out whether you really can do it yourself, or whether a mutual friend had to carry you to get you where you are today. It’s a whole different ball game now.
Sami threw the microphone over the top rope and took off his jacket with the fans cheering. His smile disappeared as he sat in the corner, staring at the stage and breathing, waiting to come out another round unscathed.