Chapter Nineteen: The Face of A Foe
IF THE MATCH SEEMS FAMILIAR, IT'S BECAUSE I WATCHED THE 4-23-10 MATCH THAT HAD JACK SWAGGER VS JOHN MORRISON AND TRIED TO GET IT DOWN AS MUCH AS I COULD. THE ONLY THING THAT IS DIFFERENT IS...well...YOU'LL SEE! I'M REALLY BAD AT WRITTING MATCHES! PLEASE GUYS, READ AND REVIEW!
As much as it sucked to watch Raw on the couch without being able to be there to at least do some guest commentary, it sucked just as much to watch ECW. But even worse was to have to sit on the couch like I'm doing at the moment. Phil isn't with me because he had to cut a promo with Luke and Joey about the Straight Edged Society going after tag team gold. I sit there alone on my couch, bowl of popcorn on my lap. After their promo it's time to watch the John Morrison vs Jack Swagger match. I wish I was there to commentate on it. I mean, I hate being here alone. I have no one to talk to.
"CHECK ONE TWO OH/YEAH OH CHECK THIS/SHIT OUT I GOT/YOU WHERE I WANT/YOU YOUR CLOCKS RUN/OUT OF TIME CAUSE/YOU KNOW I KNOW/YOU AND I'LL SHOW/YOU THAT THE HEAT/YOU FEEL IS MINE/YEAH FEAR IT GRIPS/YOU AND IT RIPS YOU..." start's Jack's theme song. He's heading out to the ring with Edge at his side. He's wearing a traditional wrestling singlet and grossing out everyone, me included. Obviously mami doesn't mind what Edge did to me because he's still wearing his wedding ring. Then again, she probably thinks that I'm lying. Ever since Edge got into the picture, she's thought that I'm always lying when it comes to him. But that's neither here nor there. The fact of the matter is that Jack is ready to fight and has a friend.
"NOW LISTEN THIS AIN'T/NO MAKE BELIEVE C'MON/OPEN YOUR EYES AND/SEE NOW GET UP/GET UP AND FOLLOW/ME I'M GONNA SHOW/YOU WHAT THE FUTURE/WILL BE TO MUCH/WASTED TIME YOUR GONNA/WASTE NO MORE..." as John's theme song starts the fans go crazy. Girls are reaching over the barricade to try and touch him and I can only imagine how Alex feels backstage. I'm being serious. Girls never want to touch my Philly. Which I don't understand. He's one of the most gorgeous men on Smackdown. Better looking than John Morrison in my opinion. Then again, that may be biased based on the fact that I (unlike the rest of the world) know that John Morrison is gay. They look at each other and the match begins.
They circle the ring once, intently staring at each other before Jack goes for a leg take down. I watch both move sets intently, Jack's a bit more so that John's. I've fought highfliers before and while, yes, everyone has a different method each has the same basis. I've never fought a technical wrestler before. Jack manages to land his leg take down and has John in the corner, looking up at him with those big puppy dog eyes. John gets to his feet and goes for a grapple, hooking his arms around Jack Swagger's waist and trying to get him in some sort of bear hug before Jack counters it, only to be tossed over John's shoulder. It sort of backfires because Jack rolls John onto his stomach once to the left and once to the right in some sort of weird submission manuever. John pushes himself back up to his feet, not letting the move get him all that weekend, though Jack still has him locked in a tight grip. Jack tries to pick him up for some sort of slam but John manages to keep to his feet. John quickly manuevers so that he is now behind Jack, only to recieve a painful elbow in the head. Like I said before, I don't want to be Alex right about now.
Jack manages to slam John to the mat and stands over him like a dog after the attack, Edge barking praises from the side of the ring. Jack runs to the ring ropes and goes to land a leg drop to John's head but John smartly rolls out of the way, runs to the ropes himself, and manages to kick Jack in the face. He goes for the pin and Jack pushes him away at the count of 2. John is the first to his feet and doesn't waist any time in kicking Jack in the ribs, trying to weaken his much bigger opponent. He pulls Jack up and punches him in the head once before landing a punch to the ribs. He and Jack are leaning against the ropes and Jack counters a toss by John into the ring ropes, instead sending John into the ropes and missing a chance to clothesline him when John drops to the mat and darts between Jack's legs. As ingenious as that sounds, John is able to do nothing with it because as soon as Jack turns back around he hits John with a very rough slam. He stops to take a breath as John rolls around on the ground in obvious pain. Jack stands up, looking down at John, catching his breath from this high paced match. Both of these men seem to be doing amazing. The dumb television goes to a commercial break and I decide to go get a soda and go use the rest room. I definitly don't want to go during the match, I might miss something important.
I come back into the room a few minutes later, having utilized the commercial break, to see Jack with his legs wrapped around John in a painful scissor stomach hold. John manages to push himself up from the position he was laying in, into a sitting position and pushes at Jack's legs to make him break the hold. He manages to tear one of Jack's legs away from the other and then pushes himself to a vertical base, again elbowing Jack in the head to make him let go of his grip around his waist. Jack tires of the elbows to the head and sends a very solid punch to John's midsection, sending him into the corner by the turnbuckle. Jack pulls him up by the hair and then lifts him so that John is straddling the turnbuckle. He sends a powerful punch to John's head and steps up onto the second rope, attempting to suplex John off the turnbuckle. John, however, has other ideas and manages to keep his feet on the ropes. He sends chops into the side of Jack's head, sending Jack off of the ring ropes. I grip the blanket I'm holding tighter as John climbs to the very top rope and jumps off for a dropkick to Jack's upper midsection. Again John goes for the cover but Jack kicks out right as the ref's hand is coming down for the three count. John doesn't waist no time going in for another elaborate pin but again he is denied a win.
John's starting to get angry as he pulls Jack back up and punches him in the head. He backs him up into the turnbuckle, hitting him once in the head again before tossing him hard into the other turnbuckle and attempting the Starship Pain before recieveing a big boot to the head. Jack finally goes for his first pin which, surprisingly, John manages to kick out of. Jack sends a standing elbow drop into John's stomach, which has to be really hurting from all the attacks to it, before standing up and delievering another. Jack then stands up and delievers a standing leg drop to John's midsection. Jack then swings so where his legs are behind him and goes to pin John but fails in picking up the win when John lifts his shoulder as if driven by pure instinct. Jack looks bewildered but instead of yelling at the ref he goes for some intricate submission hold which twists John's arm behind his back and keeps him on his knees. Somehow John manages to push himself to his feet and twist in the hold to stomp on Jack's foot. It may be childish but it forces Jack to let him go somewhat and allows John to turn enough to land an elbow in Jack's midsection. John then goes to the ropes and bounces off, only to get caught by Jack who picks him up by the legs and sends some sort of back drop to John. The sound of his head hitting the matt makes me feel uncomfortable and I know that John's head has to be swimming right about now. The television camera goes to a close up of Jack and I can see that he's bleeding from the mouth. One of John's punches must have broken one of Jack's pearly whites. Good. Or so I think. There's a look in Jack's eyes as if tasting his own blood has set something off in him. He goes over to John and firmly plants one of his wrestling boots to his stomach, the pain from which causing John to roll over onto his side and Jack turning him onto his back with a boot before raising his arms so the crowd can "worship" him. I hate it.
Jack plants one knee on the side of John and grabs him by the hair before slamming his head against the mat. That's a diva's move right there. I can say that because technically, though I'm a girl, I'm considered a superstar because I fight with the men. Jack stands up and turns his back away from John before turning back and lifting John by one of his outstreatched, pleading hands and going for a half nelson. John grabs one of Jack's hands and attempts to force Jack to break the hold. Seeing where he's going with this, Jack punches John in the side of the head again and again and again. He then relocks the same submission move on John. Instead of keeping his kneeling position, John ends up on the mat. That move, I don't know what it's called but it looks painful. It has to be painful. And yet John refuses to give up. That tells me two things: one about each competitior. One, John is resiliant and two, I need to stay away from that move. Somehow, though there are tears of pain in his eyes, John forces himself to a sitting position and then to a standing position before backing Jack into the nearest turnbuckle and planting an elbow in his ribcage to force him to break the hold. He lands three before managing to toss Jack over his shoulder. It's remarkable. Jack gets to his feet before John, who as soon as he is on his feet rushes over to attack John. Jack catches him but is unable to attack because John quickly turns it into a faceplant for Jack. Both men are laying on the mat, looking horrid, as the ref starts the ten count. I find myself rooting for John, even if it does mean that I'll have to face him when he wins. Who else am I supposed to root for? Because I will never and I mean NEVER root for Jack Swagger.
The referee gets to the seven count and Jack gets to his feet miliseconds before John. He walks over to John with purpose and the intent to punch him, probably in the gut, before John lands a punch to Jack's head. He does it again and again and again until Jack falls to the matt. John then runs to the ropes and manages to land a flying elbow to Jack, who had gotten up, only to be sent back down to the matt. John's fired up now. Jack goes for a clothesline but John reverses it, sending him flying off the ropes behind them, over the ropes in front of them and kicking Swagger who attempts to hurl himself over the ringropes to hit John. Silly Swagger, top rope moves are for Morrison. What surprises me though is that Edge is simply sitting there watching this happen. Other than shouting encouragement and what Jack should be doing, he hasn't budged. The force of his own kick sends John to the ground and he goes to cover Jack but sadly can't pick up the win. Jack attempts to pull himself up with the ropes and John assists, pulling Jack up and attempting to toss him into the other ring ropes before Jack twists his arm and picks him up for a slam. He tosses John over his shoulder but John doesn't hit the matt, at least not in pain anyways. He is able to land like a cat, on his feet. He runs up on Jack, whose back is turned to him, and goes for a rollup which Jack manages to kick out of. John looks behind him, rockets himself up on to the middle rope, jumps off and lands a mighty hard kick to Jack's face. It makes Jack turn and fall face first to the matt before John goes for yet another pin and yet another disappointment.
John pushes himself to his knee's near Swagger, cupping his chin and looking at him oddly. He's planning something. He stands up, pulls Jack up by the neck, and punches him in the stomach. He then attempts to Irish whip Jack into the other ropes but Jack beats him to it, obviously with a shoulder lift in mind because he bends down. John kicks Jack in the face and Jack stumbles back, bending slightly over the top rope. John goes toward Jack and tries to lift him but is instead lifted and sent chest first into the ring ropes. Jack capitalizes on the moment to pull off his finishing maneuver: the gutwrench powerbomb. The crowd knows John is done, the announcers know John is done, Edge and Jack both know John is done, and I know John is done. In fact, the only person who doesn't seem to think that John is done...is John who reaches his hand out and grabs the bottom rope. The crowd errupts into a cheer and I can't help but scream, "C'mon Johnny boy!"
Jack and Edge are both furious, Edge even mouths some words that can't be show because the WWE is PG now. Jack turns to yell at the ref who tells him that it was two. Jack angrily goes over to John and kicks his hand off of the rope. John rolls into the center of the ring in pain where Jack stomps on his stomach. He then stands straddled over John and pulls him up by the arm. He picks John up over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and goes to slam John face first into the nearest turnbuckle. John has other ideas because he wriggles out of Jack's grasp and pushes Jack into the turnbuckles. John then does a sideways version of a dropkick as Jack backs out of the corner and manages to knock Jack off of his feet. John stands up, looking at the crowd as grabs the top ring rope in the corner, looking over his shoulder before he goes for the intricate finishing move known as Starship Pain. He comes rocketing towards Jack Swagger...who rolls out of the way. Both men lay there wasted on the mat as Jack lazily puts his arm over John's shoulders. This time the pin is effective. I close my eyes, John was so close!
Edge rushes in the ring to help Jack up, who is still bleeding from the mouth. He raises Jack's hand in victory. That bleeding blonde face is the face of the enemy. It is the face of the man who hurt not only myself but Phil as well. That is the face of Jack Swagger, my new number one contender.