DING DING DING

Ion jumps up and down and moves side to side across the ring, never breaking his gaze on the masked man, looking to finally end his losing streak. His opponent however is simply standing at the opposite side of the ring like a statue, moving only to cock his head to his side. Surprisingly, he isn’t displaying a crazed grin on his face, making the audience wonder what The Masked Man is thinking. He perhaps is trying to regain his momentum after a loss at the hands of TK, but nobody truly knows. Ion finishes warming up and cautiously approaches his opponent, who still stands motionless gazing at him. Tired of waiting, Ion charges at his opponent, diving at him with a crossbody. Unfortunately for him, he fails to get his opponent, or himself, down as Azrael catches him midair, wrapping his arms around Ion’s back and spins, using his opponent’s momentum to slam him onto the turnbuckle behind him with a spinning side slam. Ion is backed onto the corner, surprised at his larger opponent’s agility, His back aching as the turnbuckle’s covers don’t really suppress the cold hard steel as much. Without catching his breath, Azrael proceeds to start ramming fists onto the Creator of the Matrix’s temple, each shot wearing his opponent down. Azrael catches his breath a bit, then puts his hands over Ion’s head, locking in a Muay Thai clinch. He starts to repeatedly drive his knee into Ion’s midsection, his opponent bends forwards from the assault, no doubt damaging a few organs here and there. Not satisfied, Azrael delivers a double axehandle strike onto Ion’s back, dropping him onto the mat on his belly. Azrael then wildly starts stomping on Ion’s shins, aiming to take out the high-flyer’s agility. Ion holds on to his legs, attempting to ease the pain. Not wanting to lose control of the match, Azrael drags Ion by his hair and rests his neck on the ropes. Azrael then pushes down on Ion’s head with his foot, choking the Creator of the Matrix. Referee Sanu begins to count.

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Ted Cedar: We’re off to a rather violent start in this match

Joey Miles: Rightfully so, this Ion guy’s going to lose anyway. Did you fucking SEE what Azrael did to Jerusalem last week?

Ted Cedar: Lets not jump to conclusions, who knows? Maybe Ion’s bringing his A-game here tonight.

Joey Miles: Doubt it, the numbers don’t lie Cedar, and according to them, Ion hasn’t won a match in a month!

Azrael releases the hold at the last second, prompting Sanu to scold Azrael. His words fall on deaf ears however, as The Masked Man approaches Ion, looking to make him suffer more. Azrael gets his opponent to his feet and throws him towards the ropes with an irish whip. Ion ricochets back from the ropes and runs back towards his opponent, looking to capitalize. Ion jumps up onto his opponents shoulders, then quickly delivers a few shots of his own to Azrael’s head, dazing him. Wanting to gain control of the match, Ion flips back and hits a hurricanrana onto Azrael, dropping him onto the mat. Ion then runs towards the ropes as Azrael quickly gets to his feet. Ion gets on the apron and jumps onto the top rope. Ion then launches himself from the top rope, hitting The Masked Man with a springboard dropkick. Azrael finds himself on the mat once again, as Ion gets to his feet. Ion approaches Azrael and gets him to his feet, now in control. He then places his arm across Azrael’s chest, and trips him down with his leg, dropping him with an STO. Ion goes for the cover

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KICKOUT!

Ted Cedar: Ion in control of this match here, he might be able to finally end his losing streak!

Joey Miles: Don’t be so naive, Cedar. I’m willing to bet all the bitches I’ve fucked that this guy will still lose.

Ted Cedar: Sooo, you’re betting practically nothing?

Joey Miles: No, you idiot. Even if that was true it’s better than your negative one.

Ted Cedar: How does that even?

Joey Miles: DONT QUESTION MEEE!

Ion then gets to his feet and paces around the ring, possibly to form a gameplan against his opponent. After a while, he approaches his opponent and tries to get him back to his feet, though as he puts his hands on Azrael, The Masked Man suddenly bites the side of his hand, suddenly making Ion jump up from the sudden sharp pain on the side of his hand, his eyes closing tight. Ion attempts to pull his hand out from his opponent’s jaw, but Azrael simply chews down on it harder,  causing Referee Ryu Sanu to start counting.

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Azrael releases his bite and throws Ion’s arm to the side. Azrael gets to one knee as Ion grabs a hold of his bitten arm, then looks back at his opponent, who headbutts his midsection, causing him to bend fowards. Azrael then lunges at Ion, hooking both of his legs and dropping him down with a double leg takedown. Azrael then quickly mounts the Creator of The Matrix, who is now has his arms in front of his head. As The Hopeful Member sees this, he starts with throwing lefts and rights at his opponent’s midsection, suddenly causing Ion to bend forwards from the bombs dropped on his abdomen. Azrael then cradles Ion’s head in his arms. and starts delivering elbows on top of Ion’s skull, wearing him down as his body jerks up with each shot. Thinking he’s done enough, Azrael pushes his opponent back down to the mat forcefully and gets of off him as Ion grabs his head and rolls to his side from the pain. Azrael then walks to a nearby turnbuckle and rests his back on it, placing his arms over the ropes, taking a rest. He begins to shout at his opponent, who’s slowly trying to get up. “Just stay down! You haven’t won a match in a month, Tevis. What makes you think today will be any different? Lets not delay the inevitable. Just. Stay. Down.” Despite the mad man’s pleas, Ion finds himself on his feet again, and the simple sight of this angers him. “Inobedient little creton!” Azrael utters as he explodes from the corner like a rabid dog let lose, he goes for the Here’s Johny Clothesline from Hell, however Ion’s incredible agility allows him to duck precisely before he gets hit. Surprised, Azrael looks back and faces his opponent, who spins around and hits The Masked Man with a brutal Rolling Savate Kick to his abdomen, causing him to grab his midsection and drop down to his knees, then fall to the mat on his belly. Ion then rolls his opponent so that he’s flat on his back, then goes for the cover.

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KICKOUT!

Ion, looking to finish this early, points to the nearest turnbuckle; signaling his 450 Splash finisher. He walks towards the top rope and climbs on top of it, eyeing his opponent. Ion then jumps off of the top rope, flipping forwards 450 degrees. However, all he hits is the unforgiving wood beneath the ring mat, as Azrael rolled out of the way in time. Ion rolls to his side, grabbing his midsection and bending forwards.

Ted Cedar: Ion could’ve had it!

Azrael quickly gets up to his feet, grabbing his midsection. Azrael quickly recovers though and strikes Ion’s back with a vicious kick, causing Ion to stretch his back. The Masked Man then stomps wildly at his opponent’s side,  making Ion try to roll away from the assault. Determined to cause futher injury, Azrael grabs Ion by his legs and drags him near the ringpost. Azrael proceeds to slide out of the ring, then pulls at Ion’s legs. The Masked Man starts throwing Ion’s leg into the ringpost, making Ion sit up from the pain while in the ring. Ion attempts to pull his leg back, but Azrael has a secure grip on it, as he throws it towards the ringpost again; further damaging the Creator of The Matrix’s leg. With the referee’s countout at five, The Masked Man walks up to Ion from ringside and pulls him, then wraps his arm around Ion’s head. With Ion’s feet being the only part of his opponent in the ring, Azrael drops his opponent down with an apron-hung inverted DDT, restarting the referee’s count. The whole of Ion’s body drops outside the ring. With the threat of getting counted out postponed, Azrael gets his opponent to his feet, and starts mauling fists at his head, as C5 ties to block them with his hands and tries to deliver strikes of his own. Azrael starts to get the upper hand, but suddenly, C5 pulls out another Rolling Savate Kick out of nowhere, causing The Masked Man to grab his midsection and bend forwards. C5 follows it up by jumping and rolling across his opponent’s back, confusing him. As Azrael looks back and faces his opponent, Ion leaps off of the ground and uses all his weight in delivering a swift spinning wheel kick to his opponent’s temple. Azrael is knocked back onto the barricade, dazed. With The Hopeful Member stunned, Ion slides back into the ring and quickly runs towards the ropes, only to be launched back. He jumps onto the top rope and launches himself with a front flip, crashing down onto Azrael with a Springboard Swanton Bomb onto the outside, crushing his opponent between his weight and the barricade.

Ted Cedar: What a maneuver by Ion! Win the damn match, kid!

Joey Miles: Heh, like that’ll ever happen.

Azrael then drops to the floor along with Ion. With both men down and Ion’s re-entry of the ring moments ago, Referee Ryu Sanu is forced to restart the count for a second time in this match. Ion staggers to get to his feet from the beating he’s been put through to the match. He uses the barricade to support him getting to his feet as Azrael lays on the floor, dazed. Looking to make sure that his opponent would finally be down, Ion gets Azrael to his feet and grabs his arm. He attempts to irish whip him onto the steps, but this proves to be his undoing, as Azrael spins around at the last second and irish whips Ion onto the steps, shoulder first. Ion grabs his arm and drops to his side, obviously worn down. Azrael then approaches his opponent and kneels down next to him, he then screams at Ion. “Haven’t you had enough yet!? Just stay down!” Azrael gets back up to his feet and simply looks at Ion, who, despite his opponent’s words, still tries to get up; angering The Masked Man. With the Referee’s count at three, Azrael gets his opponent to his feet and drags him towards the steel steps. Looking to finish this, Azrael stands on top of the steps and lifts his opponent up to have him stand on top of it as well. Azrael then grabs Ion’s face and screams at him, “You should’ve listened to me, Tevis!”. With that, Azrael slaps his opponent right across the face, a universally understood gesture of disrespect. He then turns his opponent around and places Ion’s arm over his head. Azrael hooks Ion’s leg and lifts him up, only to spin him 180 degrees and drive him into the steps with an Omega Driver (Hush). Azrael releases his hold of Ion, causing him to drop down, his face and chest  on the steps while the rest of his body is on the mat, unconscious.

Ted Cedar: Oh my God! That killed him!

Joey Miles: I fucking told you, Ted.

With the referee’s count at five now, Ryu Sanu suddenly stops counting, perhaps in shock and concern for one of the participants in this match. Having put through Ion with enough suffering, Azrael slides back into the ring, noticing that Sanu has stopped counting. Azrael then screams at the official “Do your job and count!”. Startled by The Masked Man, Sanu continues his count, while Azrael sits on the top turnbuckle, gazing at Ion, who is motionless, waiting for the bell to ring. Five seconds pass, and the referee calls for the bell.

DING DING DING.

Azrael comes down from the turnbuckle and slides out the ring, not waiting for him to be announced as the winner. He walks up the ramp, his match finally being over.

Laura Watts: Here is your winner, Azrael!

Ted Cedar: My God, Ion’s losing streak is still not broken, but more importantly, someone better check on him!

Joey Miles: Like fucking usual, this birdboy has lost. Time for a commercial! PEE BREAK!

The scene shows Ion, still motionless on the steps while Ryu Sanu checks on him. XWA Vendetta then cuts to commercial break.