More Than Gold - vs. A. Asakura

22.12.19 Tokyo, Japan

The scenario begins late into the night with the street lights of Tokyo, Japan illuminating the roads of the city with the fluorescent light. Towering before the scene is the large crimson temple of renown fame throughout the world known as Sensō-ji, the ancient Buddhist temple and oldest of its kind, devoted to worship the goddess of mercy. Standing in front of this elaborate marvel of architecture is a man who was dressed in a black leather jacket, blue denim jeans, and cradling a glittering golden championship upon his shoulder. For a man to be holding such a stunning visage of jeweled craftsmanship, the style he wore didn’t align with what he had possessed, but with a single turn to reveal the man and the belt he carried. The man in question was the challenger for the Shogun Championship at Violent Ends, Jacob Senn, and the belt he carried on his right shoulder was the SSW Puroresu Heavyweight Championship. This championship carried upon his shoulder was a symbol of the determination to correct a wrong made in his career, the drive and hunger to be crowned a champion in the eyes of his peers, and be recognized as one of the best wrestlers in the world as he knew he was. He stared at the golden and glittering championship as it caught the light that surrounded the temple behind him to where he looked up with a smile on his face.

Mercy. It is what this temple behind me was founded upon as its worship is devoted towards the goddess of mercy. Everyone seeks to be delivered mercy from the crimes they have committed by those who seek to punish them for their actions or to escape the punishment due to them to receive the mercy by cowardice. People believe mercy should be awarded to them through pleading and apologies, but to be frank with everyone who is listening, I’m not in the business of providing mercy in Wrestleworld. As a matter of fact, this is with any number of promotions I may be involved with because mercy is simply delaying the inevitable of what is to come. For when you provide mercy unto someone, this provides them with a mentality of they have escaped certain death and will most certainly attempt to repeat their actions like an insolent child. I gave mercy to past companies by walking away without a vendetta to send against them, I gave mercy to rebellious factions to where I walked away to leave a company to be closed down in the process, but I will not allow mercy to be had to an arrogant child of a champion who finds me to simply be an old bitter man sitting on his front porch waving his cane at him. Mercy will not be had with you, only the punishment awaiting you at Violent Ends, Arata. You find me to have become a man overwhelmed with the toxic disease of jealousy, my eyes green with envy of you being known as the first Shogun Champion, and being the first person to compete against Brian Daniels for the championship. To be honest with you, there may be truth in the words you have spoken, Arata, but not in the way you would hope for them to be. My envy doesn’t come from you simply being known as the first Shogun Champion because if Wrestleworld wants to have you have the poster child for their promotion, for all means let them. A new bright talent being able to etch his own name into the spotlight, against what my reputation and other famed names across this business would want to declare, should be there and I do not want to bury their name into oblivion. Where this path began for you on where you cross me was when you were deemed the first person to face Brian Daniels on a grand scale, the objective I had sought for the reason to even signing a contract with Wrestleworld in the first place and you just went from there.

As Jacob returned his gaze over towards the SSW Puroresu Heavyweight Championship resting upon his shoulder, a flicker led to the scene unfolding of the great “Golden Dragonborn” episode to showcase the match between Arata Asakura and Brian Daniels for the Shogun Championship. Once the highlights were completed, the video returned back to Jacob Senn standing on a bridge looking out towards the city of Tokyo with a solemn expression on his face.

This bitterness between us began on that very night when you stood across Brian Daniels as the first challenger for the Shogun Championship. This was not because of your opportunity to become the first champion, but because you were able to have a singles opportunity against Brian Daniels before I was. The championship was an accessory to me at this point, a bauble for those who were ravenous for the opportunity should be able to capture to elevate their careers to the next level, and the opponent was the prize I was chasing after. Irritation was more the correct term to explain the emotions running through my mind at this point, but I allowed mercy to take over and let this take place. I wasn’t going to let my anger boil and stew to erupt onto a young talent looking to make his mark and when the match was said and done, I could honestly say I was glad to see a new face rising above the ranks set before them. However, what really turned my feelings of pride and honor towards you was the moment you were named the person to stand at Brian’s side in his match against Tiberius Jones at Violent Delights… and you failed him when he became injured at the end of the night. You might want to believe this fantasy you have created to yourself about my behavior from that night being unwarranted or leads you to believe this is some envious wrath because you won a championship belt, but this is far more than a simple championship to me. You allowed Drake and Jones to get the advantage on him, allowed them to treat him in such a manner, and you were supposed to be this prodigy who could have handled it all who Brian trusted. What you did to “help” Brian Daniels inside of this match wasn’t about helping him, but it was a night of showboating for you to let the world know how great of a talent you are and you did just that, at the expense of Brian being injured in the process. Did you enjoy having a little show for yourself? A show to make everyone believe how heroic you are? You might have fooled everyone who watched you at Violent Delights, but you didn’t fool me. Yet, you want to ask me where I was and what I was doing? I was preparing for a fight with my focus intend on winning, watching the match unfold in the backstage area, only to find out what happened when it went down. In fact, I blame the events which unfolded as the reason why I lost at Violent Delights in the first place, but that’s not what I’m here to discuss. To be quite honest with you, Brian is one of the few people who I was able to mesh within this business. Not only is Brian Daniels a rival who I wanted to square our professional competitiveness with, but he’s a friend to me and to have seen him carted away on a stretcher because of your inability to protect him from the fate he was presented with, that’s where the line was crossed and you were someone I needed to get even with. Fear and panic took me over when I saw Brian in this debilitated state, my blame looking straight to you for not doing the job you were supposed to do, but you want to talk about this being a match about me desiring attention for the masses. This is not about attention and glory to me, this is not about securing some championship to add into the collection, this is about a friend who was wronged by you and providing your punishment for failing him.

Jacob Senn turned around to face the direction of the Sensō-ji temple before him, a scowl formed across this face during his rant upon the reason he had despised Arata Asakura, as his foot could be shown tapping rapidly to contain his wrath.

With all of this presented to me in a man who failed my friend to cause him to be injured to the point where the match we both wanted to have was taken away from us, what punishment would be fitting for the crime? Mercy was out of the question because mercy was provided at first when you won the championship in the first place, but this was where I drew the line in the sand. I made sure you would bear witness, as the Wrestleworld audience would, to why the moniker of The Punisher was provided to me. After Jaydayne Pendragon placed us inside of the tournament that you’re so bitter about, I knew this was an opportunity to make sure the message was sent very clear to you I had no intentions of mercy or forgiveness for what you did. What did the pair of championship belts as Campeonatos de Parejas mean to me anyway as the only thing running through my mind was making sure you felt the exact same amount of loss and hatred I had felt at Violent Delights towards you? Why would I desire those championships by teaming alongside a man I hated with every fiber of my being for what he had allowed to let happen to Brian Daniels? So, I made sure one way or another, we were not going to be walking out of the tournament with our hands held high and to do it by making my message of forcing you to endure punishment for your actions or lack thereof clear to you. That’s why I intended to humiliate you at Chapter 5 and why I attempted to bash one of those ladies in the face with a steel chair at Chapter 6 in order to let you know I don’t intend to wear any championship alongside you… I’m here to take the one that you have cradled upon your shoulder. For honestly, this is what everything means to you, correct? Holding onto the Shogun Championship at all costs?

Jacob Senn suddenly chuckled after he had said that, shaking his head almost if nostalgia had struck him like a lightning bolt, right when he looked up into the sky to where no stars were shown due to the amount of light down on the ground with him.

It’s funny because you think this provided me with some sort of guilt, right? I should feel back for costing you and myself an opportunity to be champions together and elevate you even further, right? I have no remorse for someone like you, Arata. For you wanted to bring someone into this equation, you wanted to bring Chad Kennedy who is almost like an innocent child at this point, in order to make me feel that guilt and remorse for you. It’s a nice dream to tell yourself, but a dream all the same. Use a Shadow Step, a Weapon X, a Grim Memento, whatever your heart’s desire takes you to make your point that you’re upset because you don’t have the opportunity to have your other shoulder dripped in gold right now. Do whatever you hope you can do because trust me in knowing at Violent Ends, this will reach a violent end for you to provide penance for the trouble you have created. You may want to paint this as being something I don’t deserve, pushing this point of me being a grand villain who just forced the hand of the promotion to give me what I desired, but that’s not the case. I earned this opportunity to face you for the Shogun Championship through redeeming what should have never happened at Violent Delights through the emotional state I was in, I was well within my moral obligation to make sure I didn’t walk out of this tournament with the belts you so desperately wanted, but we never always get what we deserve. What I deserve after all of this is an apology from you for what happened to Brian Daniels, but I’m not getting that, am I? I’m getting reasons for why I should have been out there instead of you and it proves my point. Everyone said you were ready, everyone believed you were prepared, but all you are is a child pretending to be a legend in the making with a toy to prove it. You want to uphold this promise you made about assist in growing this company and bringing value to Wrestleworld, but you’ve already broken one promise already with Brian Daniels. What’s another? For you may want to send me to Hell, but I’m dragging you down into the depths with me, to witness the punishment you deserve. The punishment of losing the championship you cherish so much as the price to be paid for injuring my friend and shattering the dream of wrestling one last time in this Wrestleworld ring.

Jacob Senn turns to face the camera as the shirt he has worn underneath his leather jacket shows to be of a spray-painted skull to where the gaze of sincere hatred was burning in his eyes with his fingers clutching the SSW Puroresu Heavyweight Championship tightly.

The Golden Dragon is about to watch his value crash before his eyes worse than The Great Depression, for he will prove the first to recognize in Wrestleworld why you never cross The Punisher.