The Wings of a Dreamer Clipped

Arata Asakura walks into Dreamworld with the dream in his mind of justice, the wings of that dream to carry him from the place he is now to be the first-ever two-time champion in Wrestleworld, but Dreamworld will not host the glorious moment he hopes to have in his career. It will only be the stage where the dream of justice he hopes to carry on his shoulder, the dream of being the genuine article of a legendary Shogun Champion to hold it with prestige and honor, the wings that carry you will be clipped as you make the tragic fall in the same vein as Icarus. Simply put, you’ll see why you’ve flown too close to the Sun this time, Arata.

Everyone has talked about this match as simply being nothing more than a mere rematch between bitter rivals over a platinum championship with pride on the line, but it’s about more than that. If this was the Jacob Senn of yesteryear, this probably would have been exactly that and he would have been driven to the point of making sure that this match would have been the bonafide classic Arata might feel he deserves after everything he believes he has done for the greater good of Wrestleworld as he reigned supreme as Shogun Champion. However, this is about more than a simple championship belt to hold as a trophy with a proud smile on your face or the pleasure of being the person to beat the other to the point of being unable to proceed with this match, but this is a match to determine the entire fate and future of not only the Shogun division of Wrestleworld but the entire company as a whole. Everyone has been paying close attention to the golden child of Wrestleworld and his remarkable Shogun Championship reign that has unfolded for a little over two-hundred days to the point where he has become this godsend to wrestling, this blessing from the wrestling gods above to descend upon the common mortals to look with awe upon, and they have watched in horror these past few months at what I have done with the Shogun Championship ever since then. Everyone believes that this is simply focused on Arata and to their point, Arata is the focal point of the transformation I had to undergo to claim what has rightfully belonged to me since Wrestleworld’s origin, but this match is about far more than humiliating Arata in front of a worldwide audience. Dreamworld is about more than simple retribution against Arata for being a thief to claim a title that never belonged to him by breaking his body until he is a motionless husk lying on that canvas, looking up into the lights that descend upon him with the haunting question of what he could have done to prevent the fate that has befallen him, only to reach the realization with enough time raking through his mind that there was not a damn thing he could except for enduring the punishment to be inflicted upon him. It is about the end of an era with the hope of the champion of this division, it is about the cataclysmic future in store for Wrestleworld when I continue to reign as the crowned champion of chaos to let the madness overtake this world, and it is about redeeming myself from the mistakes I have made in the past in letting a thief be the one to take the opportunity that should have been presented to me. This match is not going to be just another grudge match with the championship at stake, it’s not going to be a simple war of brutality between two men, it’s not even going to be another fight for respect between two men who will never be able to earn the respect of the other no matter what is done between those ropes. This is about Arata Asakura reclaiming what he believes is his so he can restore the former glory he believes this championship had with him holding it in his possession, this is about Jacob Senn wreaking havoc upon the entire company until the place has been reduced to nothing but ash and cinder, and it is about the survival of Wrestleworld as an entire company with the person claiming the Shogun Champion having the power to create its future.

Arata, let me be as honest as I can with you. Let me speak with a candor that might be what you can’t believe, a truth you might find impossible, but it will be the most honest me that you will have. Before the Shogun Championship debacle where you came to swoop in and use your eloquent words to weasel your way into coming from behind my back to take what belonged to me, I might have been one of the men who would have supported you while I was in the mindset to support and promote the growth of Wrestleworld. There’s no doubt in the talent that you possess because how else would you have been able to survive and overcome the tour de force of becoming the Shogun Champion against Brian Daniels? How else would you have been able to defeat one of the best wrestlers in the world in Jaydayne Pendragon? How else would you have been a champion who had reigned for as long as he did? The skill you possess in the ring has never been a question of who you are, but the only questionable thing about you is the words that you preach when your actions show otherwise. If you’re going to call me a hypocrite for calling you out on exactly what you are for this business, you need to accept your hypocrisy in the same vein as you want to talk about prestige, honor, and respect. Where was all of this when you went behind my back to take what should have been mine? Where’s the honor in having every single opportunity you have ever been gifted in your career be handed by management unto you because they believe you’re the best fit for a champion to represent their values? How does that increase prestige into the Shogun Championship to watch the man who is supposed to not only have earned the title of being the top name in the entire company but the right to be able to call themselves champion, be given everything he could ever want in this business? You can constantly deny and object to these claims, but the proof is in the history. You didn’t earn the championship opportunity you were given, you didn’t win a number one contender’s match or prove yourself to get that title match against Brian Daniels, he handed it to you just like everything else. Your position in the King of the World championship? Handed to you simply because you were a champion. The match against Jaydayne Pendragon? Handed to you because you couldn’t shut up about facing him. Everything that defines your career in Wrestleworld has been given unto you and you want to talk about how many chances I’ve had? You want to talk to me about the chances I’ve had, all chances that I didn’t have someone come up to me and gift them to me because I’m liked, but chances I EARNED? Hear that? EARNED! People definitely would have been hungry for the opportunities I had gotten and there were probably many, but I earned those opportunities I got. I became the number one contender to challenge you for this title the first time only for Chad Kennedy to serve as a distraction. I earned my spot in the Feast of the Fallen match through my performance in the King of the World tournament like everyone else. I fought and earned the briefcase I used to become the champion just like everyone else in the match, I did it. I went through the trials, I used the opportunities presented, and I EARNED this championship which is more than what you can say for yourself. All of this is evidence enough that the words you claim to hold so dear to you about prestige, honor, respect, integrity… it’s all bullshit that you talk about to make sure everyone adores you. Simply put, this is the biggest and glaring difference between us with your opportunities that were given, not earned. That right there is why I despise you with every fiber of my being is because you don’t know what a real champion is, you don’t know what earning your place is, and you don’t know anything about sacrificing to get what you want. After encountering you and having to struggle with everything Wrestleworld threw at me to prevent me from being known as Shogun Champion, I became the antithesis of what my original desire for Wrestleworld and as the champion of this division. It was revealed to me through the action of those in management who they desired to have represented it by the opportunities presented to both of us and how unbalanced those opportunities were. Simply put, for you to tell me I’m a hypocrite for telling you exactly what I see before my eyes including your little chats with Jaydayne, it’s bold and ignorant. You can be upset about the treatment Jaydayne Pendragon gets from me, you can want to put a hand on his shoulder to tell him everything will be okay once you win back the precious trophy he helped you keep, but I know it’s a lie.

Jaydayne Pendragon is no different than any other Architect other than Brian Daniels who looks after his own selfish desires at the end of the day and do you know what is selfish desire is? You. He may want to tell the world there’s no bias underneath everything he has said, but the truth is there is. There’s always been a bias because he wants someone to represent the next generation like you, he wants the future to proceed the way it’s going down the path and unlike me, neither of you can see the future isn’t so bright and cheery when greed and manipulation are at the center of the next generation’s morals. Truth be told, I was blind to it before I had an awakening through your actions, Arata. Before all of this happened within Wrestleworld, I would have agreed with you in everything you’ve said about me. Your hypocrisy, your disdain, the hatred I see burning inside of your eyes would have all been merited and I would have been behind you the entire way. Truths are revealed through the actions of others, ideals change throughout history when events unfold in certain ways, and you woke this monster that stands before you as Shogun Champion. Everything that has happened from the moment this championship has been clung onto my shoulder, wrapped around my waist, and has been with me when I took the opportunity I earned to cash in a champion here, it’s on your shoulders. For I would have agreed with you before your actions to be the man you want me to be, Arata. I would have been that man to allow the foundation for Wrestleworld to be set for the future of this business to take the torch I carry within my grasp, but Wrestleworld decided to do whatever it took to break my spirit. The man you may have respected and wanted to be the one standing across the ring from you at Dreamworld, he was here before Wrestleworld sent an arrogant bitch was brought in to humiliate me on the first big event of the company. He was here fighting before a pompous egotist birthed from the loins of a wrestling legend decided to make a mockery out of him for the entire world to laugh at. He was standing within your ranks before you decided to take everything he wanted right out from underneath his boots. The man Wrestleworld dreamed of when they allowed him to sign the dotted line on the contract died when all of this happened and he transformed to the bane of Wrestleworld’s existence that stands before you now. This man is not a man who claims himself to be this divine entity, a god among men, a savior and liberator you’ve decided to paint him as. I’m nothing more than a skilled veteran of the game who has been tested through all the rigors and trials of this industry who deserves what he has earned and soon, I will cast my scorn upon Wrestleworld for the treatment they’ve given me for nearly seven months of my life. I could have been the bastion of prestige and honor for this company that you and everyone else wanted me to be, I could have been the symbol of hope to carry the banner of Wrestleworld on his shoulders and wave it high in the air for everyone to see, but you changed that. Jaywalker, Chloe Leuthard, Chad Kennedy, Jaydayne Pendragon, and you were all the architects and had your part in creating the person who wants nothing more than to leave Wrestleworld on its knees and pleading for life. I wanted to deliver a classic match between Jacob Senn and Brian Daniels for the Shogun Championship as the first challenger and match for the title we will do war for at Dreamworld. I wanted to set the golden standard or this promotion with the greatest match you could have ever seen, establish the Shogun Championship with a value, prestige, and honor that no one else in this industry could ever hope to duplicate, and once that was done be able to allow what you called the “future legends” of this business to be established for the world to see. Wrestleworld shattered those dreams of mine by doing everything in their power to not make it possible and because of that, they’ll meet the punishment they deserve just like you.

You said I wanted to be some sort of savior for this place, a liberator to bring Wrestleworld out of the mire that you have placed it in through your reign, but that’s the farthest from the truth if you haven’t gotten it through your head yet. I don’t find myself to be able to be considered a hero or villain of this tale within Wrestleworld, there’s only one thing I care about that is on my horizon for me: destruction and chaos for the promotion that has done everything to wrong me since I started here. Wrestleworld being left in a state of ruin once the luster of this platinum championship has lost the shine upon, leaving the entire roster into the broken bodies and lifeless husks I intend to leave them as when they decide to stand against the chaos which shall ensue because of me, that’s the true dream and end worthy of this promotion. I don’t want to be heralded by the audience as a savior, I don’t want to be vilified by the people who adore this business and those around it, I simply want scorched earth beneath my feet when I stand upon the broken ruins of Wrestleworld. However, you’re already viewed as the greatest hero that this business has at their disposal, someone who stands out to them as a symbol of hope for them to obsess over, a golden icon for them to drop to their knees and worship without hesitation yet you tell me that there is no confirmation on this. No confirmation of the cult that has surrounded you to worship the ground you walk on? Have you not been paying attention? Raoul proceeds to speak about you as a head priest or maddened child with twinkling eyes of awe, Hana Nakajima treats you just as any other weeb would treat her where you’re like a senpai to her, both Jaydayne and Jaywalker pat you on the back to have time for a nice chat to bolster your spirits on the road to recapturing this Shogun championship to become the face of the company, and most everyone else in the company with management included just bows at your feet with the adulation of the wrestler you are. The only other people who even dare not take part in this are either people who have smartened up to find out exactly the type of person Arata Asakura is or people who simply have a vendetta against you, luckily I’m both. This is why I know you haven’t listened to the words I told you and simply poked around to get what you wanted to make a statement out of. If you believe I want to be a hero for this business, if you believe I want to be the person to save this business from you or any other person behind it, you’re fucking hilarious. I don’t want to save Wrestleworld in the current state it is, I don’t want to liberate Wrestleworld from you, but I want the current golden calf known as Wrestleworld to be left in ruin and shambles once I’m finished taking the delights and pleasures of being known as Shogun Champion.

Dreamworld is the perfect stage for this dream to begin the path of realization and my triumph through everything the world has put me through. The humiliation, the mockery, the failures, everything will be washed away once I put the question to rest. Who is the authentic and rightful Shogun Champion? There will be no debate with that because you described me as a man who believes himself untouchable when I won this championship. Untouchable is not the word I would describe myself as when I hold the Shogun Championship on my shoulder, but more… undeniable. That’s what I will be when I retain this championship in our match when we finally put this entire thing between us to an end, once and for all. There will be no more Arata Asakura standing as the face of the company, the golden idol of his works will be reduced to nothing but ruin in the same vein as Ozymandias from the legendary tale, and the only thing left standing at the end of the night will be Jacob Senn triumphant in his vendetta to be what he said he would be at the end of it all: undeniable. You have stated that I owe you for this championship because of your ignorance and that’s not the truth. There’s only one thing in this world that is owed to you from me and that’s nothing more than the same humiliation I had to endure for nearly seven months of my career here until I proved to the entire world I wasn’t a forgotten relic of the past, but I’m the man who will end the fabled story of The Golden Dragon right before their eyes. The same bitter pill of defeat I was forced to swallow time and time again as I watched others, primarily you, walk away with something I knew belonged to me. Why should I give you such a fate? Why should I make you endure the same humiliation, the mockery of being nothing but a mere fluke who had his moment in the sun for far too long, and now must watch as everything he holds dear to him starts to crumble around you? I will never cease in blaming you for the events that unfolded against Brian Daniels because you have survived worse situations than what you dealt with there. You went through many scenarios and you could have easily avoided being handcuffed, easily avoided the situation you were presented with, but just as you were not the right person for the job to be Shogun Champion… you weren’t the right person for the job to protect Brian Daniels from fiends such as Tiberius Jones or Drake Jaeger. As for my responsibility, I respected Brian’s wishes for me to allow you to handle the situation, and for you to be the support he needed out there. My absence was never out of inconvenience, it was out of respect for the man who was once my friend. He wanted me to leave you as the man to take the responsibility of protecting him should anything have gone wrong in the match and, like an impudent child, you failed him on that night. With everything I have said against you for what you have done not only to me but as the person who held this championship before me, the only person who should be calling themselves a hypocrite is you because you have shown time and time again all you say is fancy words and the actions you’ve shown throughout your career here in Wrestleworld, they have shown me to be from the exact person you have been known from me to be. Not the future Shogun Champion, not the face of Wrestleworld, not even a wrestler that should be as respected and revered as he is, but the manipulative thief I said he was from the beginning.

This is the last chapter of the story between us, Arata. After Dreamworld, there will be no rematches or other championship opportunities between us. There will no longer be a battle between us for pride, honor, or respect we have been chasing since the beginning of this company’s history. This is the final chapter and what will be left in the memory of those who look back upon this day for who was truly the better man and Arata, this is not the man you met at Violent Ends. This is not the man weakened from the constant berating for an ungrateful punk unwilling to learn at the hands of a veteran like me, this is not a man who has been discouraged from the humiliation of being beaten on his first big event match here in Wrestleworld, this is not the man who has given up on his hopes and dreams because he let the distractions of his mind cloud him in his opportunity he desired more than anything in this world, this is the man the wrestling world has come to know and fear when standing across the ring with them. I’ve turned into the force that has ended careers and broken bodies beyond repair, this is the man who has endured the most excruciating punishment the industry could inflict upon his body and mind to still become the legendary name he has become, and the one who will make sure the future will be made in his image. The future doesn’t belong to you, the future doesn’t belong to any of this generation who has decided to attempt to beat me into submission to relinquish my torch from my grasp, but the future belongs to Jacob Senn and he’s about to light the entire future of Wrestleworld on fire with his torch in punishment.