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It was a frenzy in which Hiro and the fans were sent. After ten years, Salem Croft had once again driven several staples into the face of Hiro Shin-Mozas, clipping four dollar bills to his face in the process. The Ethnic Enigma would flounder on the mat, pushing to his feet but falling again immediately as he screamed out in pain, blood gushing from his face as his older wounds would reopen and new ones would form. The ref checked Hiro and was able to count four bills, signalling to Salem that he needed to staple three more in order to win this version of the particular death match he had chosen. Hiro wouldn't give him a chance though, rolling out of the ring and away from Salem! His eyes were wide-open and bloodshot, and looking like the victim out of a horror movie he began towards the microphone at ringside, trying to get to it and change this abomination of a match type as soon as he could!

Hiro was consumed by memories and pain, the past being clobbered to the forefront of his mind with each staple Salem just fed him. His disfigured and bloody face shocked a few in the front row but for the most part stood as a reminder to the fans that Hiro was willing to put himself through a lot for their entertainment, and that got him some back slaps and cheers as he got close. Finally, laying on the ground in front of Apex, there was the microphone. Hiro leaned down and grabbed it, raising right back to a vertical base nearly insantly and blowing some blood towards his fellow roster members and his opponent's daughter. He turned around and Salem was a mere yard away -- and within an instant Hiro tried to drill Salem with a superkick that seemed all too familiar.

As Hiro's attack met it's target quite accurately, he slipped and fell down to a knee -- barely able to keep himself up. Salem had dropped the stapler after taking the hit, and Hiro's eyes were immediately drawn to it. He felt the boos from fans and the cold stare and anger from Kyra, her father now down on a knee before her. Hiro would slowly stand and stagger to the ring and use it to hold himself up.


Hiro tossed the microphone to the ground as the fans cheered another change in stipulation, this one holding an air of finality around it. The Ethnic Enigma then reached down and grabbed the staple gun, holding it tightly in his hand and staring at the back of Salem Croft...bruised and scraped from the earlier table spot, but unmarked from any sort of metal. Hiro's eyes started to glaze over as deep within him a feeling stirred...a feeling that manifested in a voice only heard by him, telling him to do it. It told him to drive staple after staple into Salem's back until he went into shock. A voice that had left him prior to Wrestlemania in 2016, one that had been snuffed out. Hiro pulled the staple gun up higher and began to apply pressure to the trigger.

He took a few steps behind Salem, preparing to put him in a world of pain. A staple fell from it's spot on his face, it losing it's grip due to the blood pressuring its way out from beneath the skin of his cheek. Hiro would rip away the other dollars but leave the staples in, tossing them to the side as his face grew more and more red, his body seemingly shaking as --


The words of Blackjack echoed in Hiro's head, stopping him short. They were loud and clear as if he'd been standing next to Hiro the whole time. The man who pushed him to nearly killing Salem a decade ago...at his weakest, that was the voice he could hear. A dangerous, horrifying instant caused Hiro to lunge forward...and drill a staple into the barricade next to Salem as opposed to his opponent's flesh.

Hiro would stumble backward after connecting with the barricade, letting go of the stapler as it fell to the ground leaving a freshly punctured barricade to rock out with a new piercing. The Ethnic Enigma knew not what he'd almost done in the moment, but after processing the scene in front of him and seeing Salem turn to him in anger, it seemed as though all emotion had left Hiro save for regret and worry. He began to shake his head as his eyes locked with Salem's. "You...You know I would never, you know that was an accident, that I wouldn't--" Hiro cut himself, disgusted that he came so close as to accidentally stapling a little girl. He hadn't intended it, but that didn't matter, and the worry continued to overtake the regret as he knew despite nothing happening, Salem wasn't going to see it that way. "Salem, I'm so-"

Hiro was cracked by Salem not just once but another two, three, four times! The hits reigned down to cheers from the crowd, and Hiro was now at the mercy of the the Copperhead that had to defend it's young. As a fifth hit came in Hiro couldn't take it and shoved Salem, re-entering the ring and trying to escape him...but as he stood up he quickly fell back down as his equilibrium was completely shot. It seemed, at this point, Hiro had signed his death warrant.

Hiro was completely spent, and as the ref got to a count of just one Salem had re-entered the ring and stomped down on Hiro's legs over and over, pushing him across the ring with every stomp until the Ethnic Enigma rolled under the ropes and down to ringside once again, unmoving as he started to cough up some blood -- the inside of his mouth bleeding from the repeated slaps Salem delivered. A staple had even fell out from the his by going straight through his face and out the mouth with the blood...Salem had the match won already, but was proving a point that NOBODY messes with his family no matter what.

Hiro was Salem's chew toy at this point, he was grabbed by the incensed man and pulled to his feet, being forced on to the table where soon he had Salem standing above him, pulling him back up again while keeping his grip tight. "Ssssa-Salem...please..." Hiro tried to beg, unsure of what his opponent would do to him here, unsure of if his neck could take it, if this would be the end of his career or even worse, his life as it was presently constituted. The fans were now uneasy, some gasping prematurely and others serving as parrots to Hiro telling Salem not to do it, that he'd gone far enough -- though there would also be enough support in the crowd for the violence that it would never truly stop.

The explosion of the announce table was no-less impressive than the earlier top rope gut-wrench, but it was surely more somber as Hiro landed head first on the ground as the table gave way. The Ethnic Enigma laid unmoving, knocked out cold and completely defeated -- the fans starting yet another overplayed "HOLY s**t!" chant that could never properly describe the serverity of what Salem Croft had just done. There may never be a relationship between these two men ever again, not because of the anomosity or what Salem had perceived Hiro to have almost done to his daughter...but because Hiro may never wake up again. Darkness, imprissioning him -- and all he could see building up in his concussed brain was absolute horror...Hiro Shin-Mozas was a very easy ten count away from being defeated once again tonight.