Friday, August 28th, 2020
SmackDown
The new 3-time WWE Intercontinental Champion walked into the arena for SmackDown with a huge smile on his face. It was his first time on SmackDown since winning the title at SummerSlam when he defeated EC3. Some fans have been praising him for his title win while some not so much but he wasn't really worried about that. He was worried about creating a legacy for himself, a legacy that his son could be proud of.
The Monday night after SummerSlam, he jumped up on a flight and went home to be with his fiancée, his son, his parents and his best friend, Denzel. The time with his friends and family was great and it was exactly what he needed but now he needed to get back in the ring and continue on his path to greatness.
The 23-year-old superstar walked backstage sporting black skinny jeans with a pair of black of Timberland Boots with a white V-neck that seemed to hug his body making him seem a tad bit more jacked than he was already with a gold Rolex on his wrist with a matching Cuban link bracelet and chain. He had the greatest accessory in his arsenal on his shoulder, the classic white and gold WWE Intercontinental Championship. He had his duffle bag on his shoulder with his ring gear in his bag.
"Looking good Champ." Cedric heard from his friend Joe Anoa'i AKA Roman Reigns, the current WWE Champion who just turned heel at SummerSlam successfully. Not many guys can get away with turning heel in the middle of their title reign but Roman was one of them. And people bought it. Him turning heel even had Ced reeling at one point.
"Nah, that's all you man. I gotta say your heel turn had me reeling at SummerSlam." Cedric said dapping Joe up giving him a bro hug.
"Yeah, I'm excited. We've started working on some new merch and some new nicknames for this heel turn. How does "The Tribal Chief" sound?"
"It has a ring to it, I'm guessing you're gonna be using your Samoan heritage for this one."
"Yeah, and then there's this one but it's not as good as the other one, "The Head of the Table."
"Yeah, not as good as the other one but hey, they fit you. Who's your next challenger at Clash of Champions?"
"I can't disclose that one, you'll have to wait till next week."
"Damn, I can't get a hint."
"Nope. You'll have to wait just like everyone else."
"Alright, man. I'm check up with you later man." Cedric said patting Joe on the back before he walked down the hallway heading to the locker room.
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Cedric sat in catering with a plate of Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo. He was eating and on his phone multi-tasking like most people in his generation had been known to do.
"Hey Ced." Mercedes said holding her plate as she sat down at the table sitting next to Ced but she didn't get an answer making her frown.
"Hey Ced." She repeated. Still no answer. Her brow furrowed. Was he ignoring her? Couldn't have been because she had done nothing wrong to him.
"Ced!" She said punching him in the arm making him look up from his phone to look her in her face with a frown this time.
"Oh sorry, Mercedes, I was occupied looking at wedding plans. Kala wants to get married in the spring and I promised her I would look at some stuff to try to take the stress off of her a bit."
"Aw, such a good fiancée."
"I try to be, especially since she's at home with the baby."
"How is he doing by the way?"
"He's good. First birthday coming soon, I gotta start planning for that. But little man starting to walk."
"Oh wow, that's awesome." Mercedes smiled.
"Yeah, he'll be up doing dropkicks before you know it." Cedric joked making Mercedes chuckle as he placed his phone off to the side to give some attention to one of his best friends in the WWE.
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"Icon" Hits
The fans cheered as the WWE fans cheered loudly hearing the music of the new WWE Intercontinental Champion. Ced walked out onto the stage with a smirk on his face as he had the title up on his shoulders dressed in his outfit that he entered the arena in. Ced looked around the arena seeing the cheering fans and the signs that they held. He raised the title up in the air as pyro went off on the stage behind him. He lowered the title looking at the title with a smile before placing it back on his shoulder and started walking down the ramp.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the new WWE Intercontinental Champion: Ced." Greg Hamilton announced.
Ced walked down the ramp slapping the hands of the various members of the WWE Universe who had the opportunity to sit ringside for Friday Night SmackDown. He stopped momentarily once he got to ringside looking around at the crowd before walking up the steps to the ring apron. Entering through the ropes as he was handed a microphone from a member of the stage crew while his music faded off into the background.
"Alright, alright, alright. For those of you who didn't see SummerSlam, you missed one hell of a show. You missed "The Boss" Sasha Banks and "The Queen of the Glow" Naomi putting on a classic like only those two women could do." Ced smiled getting a pop from the crowd.
"You missed me, The King, Black Leone, Yung Simba, himself putting the boots to EC3 and reclaiming my baby." Ced said on the mic as the fans cheered as he turned his head looking at the title that rested firmly on his shoulder while he lowered the mic. He turned his head and looked at the camera putting the mic up to his mouth.
"And we witnessed something unforgettable. We witnessed something that I never thought we would ever see. We saw a different side to Roman Reigns." He said getting boos from the crowd as he mentioned the man that was once their hero.
"And now while I just like all of you want to know why he turned his back on all of us. I'm gonna save that for another time. I'm gonna cross that bridge later because I at least owe that to you, Roman. We've been friends for a while. Since I first got here in the WWE. So because you're my friend, I gonna talk to you in the back and figure out why you did what you did but as for right now, I need to set my focus on what lies ahead of me."
"I fought hard to regain this. I went through everyone that stood in my way to become the King of the Ring and claim myself a title opportunity against the former Champion, EC3." The fans booed hearing the mention of the former Intercontinental Champion.
"Now, EC3, I don't know where you are, I don't care where you are if you want your rematch and have the balls to try to regain your title then you have that opportunity. I'm laying down the gauntlet if you want your shot show up tonight. If not then one of the lucky men in tonight's Fatal 4-Way will have the opportunity to square up against the Intercontinental Champion, Ced at Clash of Champions on September 20th in Newark, New Jersey. Now for whomever is lucky enough to face me at Clash of Champions, just know this, I just got this back and I'm damn sure not about to let it go anytime soon." He said on the mic before throwing it down to the canvas as his music played on the PA system while he raised the title up in the air as the fans cheered.
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45 minutes after he cut his promo, Ced stood backstage with a cameraman right in front of him while he watched the Fatal 4-Way match between Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles, Sami Zayn and Jeff Hardy. Crazy thing is Jeff Hardy was the only face in the match-up tonight. If AJ won, it would present the fans with a rematch from King of the Ring, AJ Styles vs Ced and allow AJ to have the opportunity to hold the Money in the Bank contract and the Intercontinental Championship if he could defeat Ced. If Sami won, it would be a rematch from Money in the Bank this year. If Jeff won, it would give Ced an opportunity to go up against a legend like Jeff Hardy and give him an exciting fun match although their styles kinda clashed. If Shinsuke won, it could give him the chance to be able to make it on his own as a single star and possibly break-up the team with Cesaro. But what would that do to his alliance with Cesaro and Sami Zayn.
So many possibly chances and opportunities here tonight. The match was great so far but that's expected when you got arguably some of the best performers in the WWE in the same ring. The fan inside of him was enjoying the hell out of the match but the competitor in him was scouting. Seeing who would be his challenger for the title at the next Pay-Per-View. Part of him hoped Jeff Hardy so he could face the legend.
In the ring right now, Hardy was up on the top rope and had Zayn in his sights. Hardy jumped off the top rope with a Swanton Bomb hitting his classic finisher on Sami Zayn. Hardy looked for the cover but AJ slid into the ring grabbing Hardy and throwing him between the second and middle rope getting rid of him. AJ Styles looked down at Hardy with a smirk on his face and turned around getting caught with Kinshasa. Shinsuke quickly with cover. 1...2...3... The referee called for the bell and that was it. It was official Shinsuke Nakamura vs Ced at Clash of Champions for the Intercontinental Championship.
The camera focused in on Ced who was smirking as he turned around and started to walk out of the shot.
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Shinsuke Nakamura was celebrating with the fans giving him a mixed reaction. Shinsuke was the heel in this case but the fans still loved him. He walked over to the turnbuckle and raised his arms in victory.
"Icon" Hits
Shinsuke turned his head to the stage looking on. Ced walked out onto the stage with a smirk on his face as he looked at the man who would challenge him at Clash of Champions. He raised the title in the air as he stared Shinsuke down in the ring building some hype for their title match at Clash of Champions.
A/N: Well, first off, I want to say thanks to all for reading this story. And I recently went to Money in the Bank and I have to say a great show by WWE. I'd give a 4.5/5 but maybe that's biased cause I was there in person and I was there to see the crowd's reaction live and I have to say it was a great show once again. I think the event slightly relit my love and passion for wrestling and for WWE. It motivated me write this chapter and get it out.
