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Salem had a fiendish grin on his face as he heard Cyrus bellow out in protest, prompting the young rookie to turn his head towards the ramp. At last, there he was - the man of the evening, Cyrus Leone. Salem continued holding the lifeless Joe on his shoulders, staring almost amusedly over at "The Dream" as he issued his challenge from ringside, shaking his head at the veteran with a cheeky grin.

"Look at you, Cyrus..." Salem said, scoffing piously as his former mentor smirked at him. "I've got your friend out here, ready to kill...and you're simply standing there, more worried about the future rather than the present. But that's funny, because you didn't care about the future when I got here! You just live off of convenience, Cyrus...whatever's best for you at the given time. So if you want me at Wrestlemania...let's make it convenient on you, because I want to beat you at your own game. At Wrestlemania...you and me, in a Barbed Wire Match."

Tilting his head to the side, Salem waited for Cyrus to call or fold, having laid his cards on the table.

Salem raised an eyebrow, his face turning straight-lipped as Cyrus so eagerly laughed off his single condition. Despite all he'd done, Cyrus still didn't seem to be taking Salem seriously. Rather, he acted as though Salem weren't holding his dear friend's life on his shoulders, the fans cheering for Cyrus as their beloved pizza guy was helpless to defend himself. Shaking his head slowly, Salem growled, snarling angrily at "The Dream".

"Don't laugh at me!"

Salem lifted Joe over his head and immediately released the man, letting Cyrus' buddy fall face-down towards the jar of change Salem had placed near the corner, earlier, and moved with his foot. If that weren't enough, Salem wrapped an arm around the man's neck as he fell, trying to actively force the teenager's face into the glass jar of coins by executing his finisher, the Guillotine DDT.

The crowd gasped in unified fear and disgust as Joe's face cracked the glass jar, change spilling out onto the mat and floor as Joe lay face-down in a pool of blood, coins, and glass. The referee instantly called for the bell, Salem having disqualified himself with the use of his jar as a weapon. However, it didn't seem that the rookie cared much as he immediately rolled out of the ring and took off towards the barricade near the announcers' table following the finishing move, narrowly evading Cyrus' fury in the process. Snatching a microphone from the booth as he ran by it, Salem would ascend the arena steps backwards, huffing from his brisk run while smiling devilishly down at Cyrus.

"You think you know me..." Salem said, laughing softly. "...But the fact is, Cyrus, you don't know anything about me. You call me a fool because I ask for a Barbed Wire Match, but the fact is that I'm better than you on my worst day...so I'll fight you on your best, to prove it. You think that me attacking Joe makes me a coward, and a punk...but, isn't it you who brought this man to our doorstep, this den of wolves and thieves? You knew what would happen, you knew that a guy like him wouldn't survive in a place like this, or else every 'Pizza Boy with a Dream' would end up a professional wrestler! You think you know me, but it's I that knows you, Cyrus...you're just a broken record, a dream that never comes true. You cling to your cherished history, your fables from yesteryear...but those are just stories, Cyrus. When you step into the ring with me at Wrestlemania, you're getting into the ring with a real-life Boogieman. I'm the thing that will haunt your dreams, Cyrus. Mine is the face that will cause you to wake up in the night with a cold sweat, and check under your bed and in your closet. You think this is the match you want...in reality, this will be the match you need - the match you need to understand just how far apart you and I are, in this world. While you're digging for gold, I'm climbing the ladder...and when I get to the top, I'll be dropping my 'two cents' all over you people. Ever heard about pennies falling from the Empire State Building? Hah!"

Turning his back to Cyrus, Salem thrusted his hands out to each side of himself, tilting his head back with a loud, proud laugh while the fans hated on him, their jeers only fueling his laughter.

"I am going to become the Most Wanted Man in Wrestling!" Salem said, letting the microphone fall back down the aisle stairs before he ascended the aisle, vanishing through the fans and into the arena lobby.