Steel Angel [vs.] Aries Armadaist

=Payback.=

That night I entered Alex's room was the night that no one involved was ever going to forget. I should know I sure as hell didn't. There I was speaking to my new boss, the man who is now calling the shots. I know him less than I know Corey but from what I've seen so far he seems much better on the eyes and ears. I was speaking to him regarding Ragnarok, the event where one match really matters the most: The Path to Valhalla. I once attended this very match last year, eliminated four people on my debut which included Ryan Apollos who set the new record for eliminations, defeated eight others before receiving a Final Judgment through a wooden table.

This year I intended to take it one step further, not only by just breaking my old record but actually winning the whole thing. A feat not easy considering the amount of competition involved. Alex seemed impressed with my determination, indeed he's already acquainted with my persistence in IWF. I'm a work horse of the company, always going out there each and every night taking on whoever that stands in front of me and just lining them up and knocking them out. However as we got to the middle of the proceedings in comes the Heavyweight champion to rain on my parade. Actually his attention seemed more focused on the chairman than on me despite the fact that I'll be facing him in the ring less than a half hour later. I stood by and listened to his ramble, then finally got tired of it and stepped in between the two men, it was only there and then that the champ finally had his attention on me and just as I thought he didn't think any more of me in this encounter as he did in the last encounter. He saw me the same way he saw me when he came strolling in with that briefcase of his, the very briefcase I once held in my hands when I kicked Cody Taylor from the ladder to claim the prize.

He saw me as just a mere bump in the road, a person whom he could beat without even trying, that smirk of his burned in the corner of my mind as I watched him turn away, belt and all from Alex's door, both of our eyes glaring at the opened space where Ethan was just a mere minute ago.

Apparently he didn't learn his lesson from last time, and the task fell upon me to reteach him that lesion and for his sake he would do well to actually learn it.

I'm one person you never want to cross, I've broken countless people during my time in IWF, I would be more than happy to add another person into the body count.

The only thing that held me back though was my promise to Griffin.

So there I was, in the match with Ethan and Werner, taking my moments, picking my shots. I knew I was in for quite the match, Werner actually doing pretty well for himself regardless of his rookie status. Had to admit I could see a lot of my younger self with him, I wouldn't mind facing him again in the near future with a belt in the mix.

Ethan attempted the Hit the Lights, a move that I'm all too familiar with: a pele kick, a move that I myself have used dozens of times before. Hence I know how to dodge it and when Ethan got up I nailed the Divine Cutter for the victory.

As I got out of the ring and stared back at the champ with his hate filled eyes staring back at me, I flashed a grin enjoying his expression, indeed a face that I would grow fond of seeing again and again.

For the second time ever since been given back the belt he lost to Molly, Ethan lost his match. I could hear the people backstage talking, not just the workers, even some of the fans and athletes. I've heard many things: Flash in a pan, paper champion, overrated those were some of the more pleasant remarks. Most of them were harsh, people swore under their breath, few even said vulgar words that even I wouldn't say to my most hated foes. Clearly not many people are very fond of their current Heavyweight champion and who can blame them? After all Ethan has for the most part been setting a very bad example, almost going into the same exact road that James Shark went when he was champion of the company. Only James was much worst, even as champion Shark got thrown in prison more times than I can count and yet he somehow manages to find a way out before his matches just so he could get into more trouble and get thrown behind bars once again.

Speaking of James Shark......


=Man needs a hobby.=

Just got back home from the long plane trip, it's always refreshing to come home after the show. I don't come here often enough, most of the time I head straight to Darren's penthouse located on the other end of the states. This week though Darren had a new patch of students rolled in and is busy training them leaving BM and Kayls to take over training me. BM did leave a text on my phone telling me to come to the penthouse two days from now because Darren had those teachers who have been helping me develop my skills return for some extra lessons on that day. Right now I'm not concerned about that, instead I've been on my laptop lately, reading some of the tweets on Twitter. That is until I encounter this from James Shark:

@SteelAngelIWF @Cash_CarterIWF Lmfao actually, you aint ever said "interview" you dumb motherfucker. I hope you ready for that lil stip.

I tweeted him earlier regarding a new interviewer that we have just gotten recently, part of Alex's new "IWF" concept. Already he's replaced the current commentary team of Matt Biggars and Johnny Electric with two guys whose accents sounds funny and........strange. Then again I've had to listen to Matt's stoned out theories before so this is indeed a change of pace. Anyways it isn't his response to my comment regarding the interviewer that got my attention but rather his end response. Lil stip?

So I tweeted him this:

@TrashTalkRoyalT @Cash_CarterIWF I also never said "date" either, I did mention the man being an interviewer though. Also......what stip?

Few minutes later and.....

@SteelAngelIWF @Cash_CarterIWF Hey whats a nigga to think after your back n forth gay relationship with Sir Mixer. Loser leaves remember?

Sir Mixer? Who the hell is that? I tried to think hard about where I heard that name from, spent many minutes thinking, snapping my fingers and then it hit me: Sir Mixer was one of those black guys that joined Shark's group back when he tried to reform Team Swag after his fallout with Brandon Macdonald back when he was still competing. Geez that was like.........two years ago? I'm amaze I still remember that group, I wished I could also forget that group as well, they were horrible.

But again it was that last wording that really got my attention. Loser leaves? Is he referring to that loser leaves match thing he tried to get me to accept a month and a half ago? I remember it very vaguely now, Shark not too long after returning for his "one night stand" challenged me to a Loser Leaves Brand match. I only accepted because he wouldn't shut up about it, calling me scared and stuff, easy to say that when you're roughly a hundred miles away working at some low class federation whose name few would actually know about.

Although I accepted the match and even had the GM Jessica Matthews book it for Homecoming, Shark didn't show up and the match got cancelled, instead replaced with a rematch between me and Parker.

Now he wants to remake the match? He insist that it's still on and is even saying that he's returning "birthday week" whatever the hell that is to make the match official. I don't know what exactly he's trying to pull, perhaps an attempt to throw me off my game or just fucking around like he always does. The man is a complete narcissist, he enjoys the attention that he gets from others and it makes him feel like he's someone important. I just shake my head at his childish humor and found myself closing the window on my twitter page. I needed a dose of reality and so I found myself standing from my chair and leaving the confines of my room.

Marley is seen sitting on the large couch that we have in the living room, there is a box of steaming pizza sitting on the counter. I almost forgot that we agreed to eat out today since we have no food in the fridge save for a half drunk bottle of coke. I opened the box and took a nice whiff, supreme pizza, with pepperoni and cheese. I take a plate and pull a few large slices and stacked them on top of each other. I took a bite out of one piece, savoring the sweet taste before I found myself taking another. Marley is too busy watching Shawshank Redemption on demand. Tomorrow I know we need to go shopping for food, not that we're going to be eating most of the stuff that we buy for the house anyways. Most of it gets stored up for safe keeping until whenever we decide to arrive back here which has always became a saving grace. Personally I'm kinda tired of going to that damn penthouse but it's necessary to keep my skills and abilities sharp. I can't afford to slack off now, not with Ragnarok less than two weeks away and then the grand daddy of them all: From the Ashes, the place when I've made my mark as an athlete.

So for now I sat on my stood eating piping hot pizza savoring the taste and the familiar atmosphere of my home. Had to enjoy while I could, knowing that I'll be on the road again soon enough.


=Let's have some fun while we're young.=

The moonlight mall, good lord this place brings back so many memories. First time I've came to this place in.......lord knows how many years.

I remembered like it was yesterday, me Duke and Brian came here just to chill out and hang around. Then we took a breather on the higher levels of the mall. We sat down at a couple of tables just a few yards away from a Panda Express stand where a Vietnamese guy in his late forties was busying cooking large eggrolls on a open flame. I recalled that day when Brian forgot his wallet like an idiot and then convinced Duke to help him scheme in stealing an eggroll. We were so young back then, children if anything. I was standing near the balcony at a safe distance watching as Duke threw questions at the chief while Brian slowly snuck his way near the stand where the eggrolls were wrapped up in paper foil. I was drinking some misty soda from a large collector cup enjoying the night air when Brian made the mistake of grabbing an eggroll while it was still steaming hot which of course got the attention of the chief. Brian took his loot and hot footed it with the guy in close pursuit while Duke just merely shrugged and turn to me with a half amused look on his face as if to say "Ehh well I tried to humor him." I just shook my head again and watched as the whole scene unfolded from a distance: Brian running past people, shoving an old lady who pulls a fire alarm and making his way to a nearby elevator. But he was too late in catching it and was pulled aside by the cook followed by two policemen who arrived shorty after.

Marley
Yuko? Hello? Hey snap out of it!

I felt a arm tugging on my sleeve as I return back to present day where Marley has a cart full of various items, mostly eatable stuff such as pickles, hamburger meat, crackers, soda and other stuff. I almost forgot we were in the supermarket that they have here in the mall.

Yuko Isamu
Sorry about that.

Marley
What's wrong you looked like you were in another time zone.

Yuko Isamu
Just thinking about the last time I was in this mall a couple years back.

Marley
Oh really? Do tell then.

Yuko Isamu
Later, let's just get all this in the bags.

So I helped her bag up the items on the conveyer belt, we had almost ten plastic bags, some even tripled bagged because the stuff was heavy. Thank god I work out, Marley only had to carry two bags while I was stuck with the heavy crap.

[color=green]Yuko Isamu
I thought we agreed to split the bags between us.[color]

Marley
Come on dear I've seen you lift guys bigger than you, don't tell me you can't handle a few bags of groceries.

She's teasing me and I found myself frowning and smirking at the same time. I'm getting used to us being a married couple. We lugged the stuff all the way towards the car which thankfully is parked right across the entrance where we are. I loaded the trunk with all the bags, taking care to make sure that none of them could roll around and break, some of the stuff is fragile after all.

We drove back to the house and had enough food to last us for almost a month. Seriously we had so much food we couldn't fit it all in the fridge. I took all the none perishable items and stuff them in the cabinets. By the time we're done sorting it all both me and Marley took a seat catching our breath. I smiled at her when she looked at me.

Marley
What?

Yuko Isamu
You know I got to thinking, we don't spend enough time with just the two of us. I have an idea, how about we go to the zoo?

Marley
The zoo?

Yuko Isamu
Yeah just you and me, what ya say?

She thought about it, then nodded her head.

Marley
I guess we could, after all I got nothing else better to do and I wont be doing any cooking till much later.

I got up and she would follow me.

*2 hours later*

Yeah I know it was quick and painless but there was a reason for me to this aside from just......you know, taking the edge of what is going on between me and the world of wrestling. I mean I should be feeling pretty good about myself, I'm currently on a six match winning streak and I've just upsetted the champion less than two weeks prior to Ragnarok. With so much momentum on my side the last thing I needed to do was lose my edge hence why I decided that a change of scenery was needed. Also it served another purpose, being that.....oddly enough it helps me to study my next opponent.

I know it's weird but for some strange reason I also consider this trip to the zoo a means of studying my foe Aries.

We walked around, watching the animals. I noticed a few beavers near a river and an Elk across the way. I kept telling myself that this is plain stupid, what would being in a zoo help to understand my foe?

Oddly enough.....it just does, I watch their movements, observing their habitats, soaking in the knowledge that for whatever reason is going to somehow lead to me defeating Aries this week.

Perhaps I'm trying to understand crazy people, wouldn't had been the first time. After all I've surrounded myself with crazy people before. People like Hostyle and Death Angel, those men were hardcore strange and Aries is.........well he's not nearly in the same level of crazy as those two but he's a weird one that guy. For now I'm just enjoying myself with me wife, studying the animals.

I just hope that my training at the penthouse would be more helpful.


=Bring em on!=

There I was in the gym, the teachers from all before stand here with me. We ran the past moves that I was taught just to refresh my memory, been practicing them for the past few weeks and so far I've shown great progress. Even the teachers themselves have noted this and nodded their heads. BM is too busy taking notes on his clipboard while Kayls just stands there watching me match move after move with this one girl who is a master of judo, she is nearly half my size and likely half my body weight but she throws like a pro baseball player, tossing me to the ground only to have me spring back up and throw her over. The others can't believe their eyes. I'm actually impressing myself with the amount of learning that I've gotten in the short time that I've been taught by these people. If only Darren could see me now, he would be crying in joy to see how me as I am right now.

BM
Well I think it's safe to say you're more than ready for this match mang. I will say this though you'll only have me and Kayls on your corner come crunch time. Darren ain't going to be around to hold your hand or give you tips so it's important that your learn this stuff on the fly. Seems you got it down rather nicely.

Yuko Isamu
Yeah well it's all in good fun and sport wouldn't you agree?

later that day I thanked the trainers for their help, received praised for each of them and I felt my face growing hot. I recollected myself and put my game face on as we get ready to head over to Arizona.

Yuko Isamu
It's go time.

Indeed it is.



We see Yuko sitting in a chair in the center of a large open room.

Steel Angel
Last week I took the champion down a few pegs, he can say that Griff's in his head but we all know that Ethan's just blowing smoke and trying to salvage whatever shattered pride that he lost after that crushing defeat I handed his ass last week. This week I take a look at the card and found myself frowning at the title. A "just because" match........huh.....so they felt they needed a reason to book this, aside from the normal excuse which is "we felt these two gifted athletes need to fight so that we can see which one is going into Ragnarok with the momentum." Instead they resort to "just because" yeah that much like Aries himself I'm kinda disturbed by that but I ain't going to rant about it, this isn't what this promo is for, I'm not here to make small talk, I'm here to address the man standing across for me. Aries Armadaist a man whom I've become all too familiar with in the past couple of months or so. The guy makes a few valid points, having been the one half of the tag team that knocked off Grand Slam for their short lived title reigns. Now he carries those things around even though they are no longer of any value. Why is that? Because they represent his only achievement in this company? I'm not going to take anything away from you Aries, you've got some talent that is for certain. I mean you would have to have some skill to be able to outlast two young guns who have won every belt this company has to offer. But you also need to take into account of other factors that you clearly didn't note or refuse to acknowledge. Yes you've gotten two wins over me but both were in tag matches. Also while it's true that I've yet to pin you or make you submit, you've yet to do the same to me. Both of your wins were attributed to your partner in crime who is now retired and whose other belt you've decided to hoard. A year ago an ego tripping asshole by the name of Jason Hawk once retired due to an injury and kept a belt that for the time being had no value because it's a retired belt much like he is. However he bragged again and again that he was considered the greatest champion of that belt even though the belt had no prestige to it. Yet he kept calling himself the greatest champion due to the fact he never lost the belt. Then there's you who after finding out that your partner is out due to an injury and the tag division is for the most part dead so rather than hand the belts over to management you keep them around your shoulders. Just extra luggage for you to carry back to your trailer pack whenever your done traveling for the day.

He takes a seat on a chair and leans back for a moment, thinking about what he wants to say next.

Yuko Isamu
So yeah you had some things to say about me but for the most part you were just ranting off about Ragnarok and your match last week that had the winner being the last person to enter the Path to Valhalla match. Well I was in that match last year so I have some experience in the concept, what awaits is a shot in the Main Event slot at IWF's greatest show ever: From the Ashes and brother, let me be the first to tell you that From the Ashes is where my career in IWF really started. So as you can imagine getting that Main Event slot means a lot to me, more so than you care to realize. See you allowed yourself to be eliminated and you would have been the first one had Parker not chicken out and pull off the last second. I mean I didn't see the point really, if the guy didn't want to be in the match to begin with then why didn't he just ask management to remove him? But I digress the point is Aries is that you clearly don't understand just how important this match at Ragnarok really is, now I could just say that it's the ignorance of a rookie however a guy like you is smart enough to do your studies, you could have just watched the last two Path to Valhalla matches in the archives but you didn't because either you want it to be a surprise or you think the competition isn't important enough for you to bother checking into it.

He leans in closer to the camera.

Yuko Isamu
That was your first mistake.

He leans back and crosses his legs as he continues to speak.

Yuko Isamu
Like I said you and I have some history in the past, you've beaten me and Parker for the tag belts but when it came to flying solo in the triple threat you feel short. Granted you weren't the one pinned but regardless you did lose that match even though you said and I quote. *ahem*

A screen flashes showing Aries doing his promo.

"Aries Armadaist
Ever since I won these Tag Team Championships... Ever since I even began teaming with Jaci Sovereign in the first place... Constantly, I have had to put up with the oh so mundane comments of riding her coat tails. Despite the fact that I was the one who won the shot at the Tag Titles in the first place. Not Jaci, who was picking up measly wins over the lower card nobodies. Despite the fact that I'm the one still here, still representing my Tag Titles, I still get slapped with the stigma of a leech, not Jaci, who's broken down ass went and got retired because of a shoulder injury of all things. On one hand, I can understand... It's an easy argument to make. Jaci was obviously the more decorated of us.... she event would be the ones to get the pins in our two matches together as a team. But, my points stand firm. Aries Armadaist piggy backed off of no one. I carried my fucking weight in that team, regardless of what anyone says, or who got those pins. My opponent also got stuck with that same stigma, even by his own partner no less. But, the major difference between Steel Angel and myself is that Angel has other career accomplishments to fall back on. The man has won every other Championship in the promotion. He's got one of the best win/loss records in the promotion's history. If Steel Angel says he's no slouch, people aren't so quick to call him out and disagree with him. At this point, I feel like I need Ragnarok. I need to conquer at Ragnarok. I need to be able to pin the accolade "Winner of the 2013 Ragnarok" to my name. I'm so sick of carrying around this stink of playing second fiddle to someone who's not even around anymore. I'm sick of people blatantly ignoring what I can do, and what I have done just to get this far for the sake of an easy joke to make. Because, it seems just being a Tag Team champion isn't enough to get people to shut their filthy mouths. That's part of what I'm fighting for going into Ragnarok. What are you fighting for Steel Angel? Is it for something similar? To prove to your former partner that you are not his shadow? Is it to prove to everyone that Steel Angel can still go? Not just the fans, but the boys in the back to. Is Steel Angel still one of the best IWF has to offer? Your reasons are your own, and I have no way of knowing them, Steel, but what i do know is we have a case of the Irresistible Force meeting the Immovable Object. Two guys with a helluva lot to prove to themselves and everyone around them, all the while on the road to something that could take him to bigger and better places."

Steel Angel
I can relate to this very much indeed, I know what it's like to have to prove myself time and time again. Seem that no matter who I defeat, how many times I go out there and crush someone that I hardly get any real satisfaction for it. But I don't complain, I just smile and look forward to the next encounter. I know what you're fighting for Aries but would you like to know what I'm fighting for? Redemption of course, after all I still have not forgotten my last title reign as Heavyweight Champion. I kept telling myself that wasn't a legit reign, I still blame myself for losing the belt so quickly and ever since then I've been striving for another shot. The Path to Valhalla is my shot and I'm going to make the most out of every moment because let me tell you something Aries: It's easy to say that you can carry your own weight but when push come to shove and you have to talk the talk you better be able to also walk the walk. So far you've haven't really impressed me that much. Sure you've got some great skill, better than most of the guys I've fought however most of your greatest accomplishments come from the fact that you have someone willing to watch your back and even then you tend to settle on a lose if it isn't worth it to you. See that isn't the attitude you should have with Ragnarok less than seven days away, if you go into that match with the same mental game plan as before then expect to have a repeat of last week only instead of being thrown off the top rope you'll be flatten on the mat with your shoulders to the ground.

He stands up fro his chair.

Steel Angel
However that ain't what this is about is it? It's about building momentum and you have a mountain to climb this week Aries, likely the largest mountain yet and this one doesn't move for anyone. Those same tricks you've used during our last few encounters won't save you this time around. I've taken the time to study your movements and tactics, it's after all my nature because you see I'm a puzzle solver. I analyze and exploit any weakness that my foe presents, you might think that because of my moral nature that I won't bring myself to use cheap methods to get the win. You could argue that but I don't use those methods because I can't bring myself to do so, it's because I don't ever need to. I've proven time and time again that I can beat anyone with my skills and pure talent alone. I don't need to poke my foe's eye or distract the ref just so I can hit you below the jewels. Naw I'll just simply kick your teeth in and fold your spine up and while I'm at it give you a massive migraine in the process. Time for you to bow down block head.

He laughs as the scene fades away and cuts to black.