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It served Hiro well not to accidentally give the ref the microphone back right away, keeping it held closely to himself as he should with Salem's shifting to try and get the mic. Salem's actions though let Hiro free himself and float his body around -- he would try to take Salem's arm into his own hands and get on top of him, seeking out a fujiwara armbar! Hiro would have to toss the microphone away and back towards where the ref was posted up in order to get the most out of BOTH hands, but it was a small price to pay as the fans roared at the action changing on the fly -- some back in Hiro's camp. The Ethnic Enigma wasn't sure if he was going to be able to get Salem to forgive him coming out of this match, but one thing was for sure -- he was gonna try to win with some honor to erase the past disgust.

Hiro would apply as much of that spooky torque as he could, trying his best to utilize a submission he normally hadn't -- and quite frankly, wasn't a big fan of for obvious reasons rooted deep in his past. However, this was going to be a match up where all the stops were reasonably pulled out and things were going to be messy, emotional, and violent. Literally ANYTHING was possible in a Salem Says match, and that was already being proven. Hiro tried to slap Salem across the back of the head quickly before putting his hand back into the grip of the armbar, almost daring the younger man to get out of this hold before his arm was popped out of place!

Salem's backstepping was actually working very effectively as Hiro felt his body dragged across the mat while continuing to pull back on the arm. He was impressed that Salem was finding that sort of strength right now in such pain -- it reminded him a bit of himself, but that wasn't the first time he felt that way in regard to the Copperhead. There wasn't much Hiro could do as Salem got his toe to the ropes and eventually his foot -- and while Hiro wasn't exactly forced to let go of his hold he did anyway as he knew Salem for sure wouldn't be tapping now. Hiro worked his way back to a vertical base and tried to take hold of Salem's arm and pull him up to his feet -- looking to do a different kind of damage now to build up to an more leg-based submission.

As Hiro yanked Salem back to his feet, he was really crushed under the fact that Salem ws THE guy right now in WWF:G. Even when against the Fusion family Hiro found it easy to have at least half the crowd behind him, but against Salem he really was accepted by this crowd as the new hero of the company -- a role Hiro vacated when he retired. That said, despite the fact that there were now a few people booing Hiro, he wasn't going to let that stop this match from serving as a catartic outlet for the two wrestlers when confronting their past. The Ethnic Enigma quickly took hold of Salem's leg as he stood back up, trying to give him a HUGE Dragon Screw Leg Whip as a way of targetting the right leg for more submissions down the line. That was certainly more Hiro's specialty than working the arm, that was for sure -- though the thought remained at the forefront of his mind: that microphone across the ring could come to be a detriment to him down the line, so he had to keep its location constantly in his thoughts.

The yelling from Kyra caused Hiro to glance over to ringside from the mat after he successfully brought Croft down to the mat. He huffed and puffed, using this as a moment to get his own wits about him only now starting to shake off the hit to the head earlier from Salem's sicssor kick. He looked over at Salem and saw how quickly he was able to get to his hands a knees...this dude hadn't missed a beat. It was becoming quickly reminiscent of his match up against Jamie Bader where that snake was never going to stay down no matter what he went through. Hiro would attempt to lunge over and drill an elbow into the back of Salem's knee, hoping to lay him back down prone and shoot a few more shots to that knee...all in the name of setting up for a future Japanese Cloverleaf.

While some jeers shot out, Hiro was expecting them -- Salem was even more over than he was, and that was fine by him. He was going to keep be honest by his own values and who he was, and if that got him some boos...that's alright. The Ethnic Enigma was getting his hits off now, the leg being measured by him for a future submission...but this wasn't enough. Hiro's elbows felt like stomps upon Salem's knee, and thats what he wanted, but for now Hiro was going to look to force more applied pressure and tried to pull Salem back up to his feet in an attempt to put weight back on his legs -- wanting to chop him across the chest hard if successful!

"WH-WHAT?!" Hiro's chop was caught brilliantly by Salem, and instead of showboating the "Copperhead" lived up to his name big time and struck quickly by yanking in Hiro and capturing him with the Anaconda Coil! The Ethnic Enigma thrashed around and tried to use all of his strength to hold both himself and the entirety of Salem's weight up, but his legs would soon give out, dropping them both to the mat! Hiro continued to scream and squiggle his body all about needing to get out of this move as Salem locked it in HARD. The fans cheer wildly for such an impressive submission manuever, but Hiro still had his supporters as they made their presenced known, a "LET'S GO HIRO!" chant breaking out which was quickly followed by "SAL-EM CROFT" chants, a dueling riff cracking the fans down the middle for the moment.

Hiro was in a state of panic as he could feel his breath growing more and more labored as Salem squeezed on him, any moment Hiro thought he'd be swallowed hole by this snake of a man. The ref was checking in on Hiro making sure he wasn't out cold or to keep a look on a potential submission, but for Hiro he refused as he continued to scream out...wasting pressure air and energy. Salem then looked to take things to the next level, and his Anaconda Coil began to move both of them around the mat in a gator roll. The fans were LOSING IT as the match seemed to be reaching an early conclusion right here with Hiro's submission idea backfiring dramatically. The Ethnic Enigma would choke out breaths and yelps and barely suck any air back in as the move remained tightened and his vision darkened.


It was then when Hiro began to tap the mat profusely, begging to be let go from the hold. There was a contingent of fans that exploded in cheers as they expected Salem's music to kick back in, others disappointed the match ended so quickly, a few majorly disappointed that Hiro had lost again...but then, a handful had the mind to realize they just audibly heard Hiro screaming through the PA system. The ref had realized the deal too -- Hiro had once again changed the stipulation of the match and his tapping meant nothing as now you had to put your opponent through a table to win the match. It was a brilliant move bred by desperation, but even so Hiro was in absolutely no condition to do anything as the Anaconda Coil remained tightly locked in.