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James Hetfield's words reverberated from the PA as the lights would go out in the arena and the titantron lit up. It would display a night in early 2016, one that lived in infamy amongst WWF:G fans -- the night Hiro Shin-Mozas lost the Legacy Championship to Freakshow. There was a segment were, backstage, Nuke Fusion had been approached by representatives of Fiscal Responsibility, and to the naked eye he was attacked and left unable to do his job. Later that same night, Hiro would brawl with Freakshow for fifteen full minutes before Nuke would finally come out as the special guest ref...only to clock Hiro with a lead pipe and count Freak the winner in seconds. That night, Nuke Fusion felt Fiscally Responsible, but since then he had clearly changed. He also clearly lost Hiro's phone number, as the redeemer couldn't be bothered to redeem himself.



The words would flash across the tron and it would quickly flash to a screen of purple, the color breathtaking and bright. HIRO SHIN-MOZAS in bright orange text would pop up over the background of purple and give the crowd a chance to pop loud for the veteran. Hiro emerges from the back as Metallica's "The Unforgiven" would play in place of his usual "Turn the Page" entrance theme.


Hiro Shin-Mozas would emerge from backstage, his beard more grey than normal -- I suppose he had been coloring it black since returning, but not anymore. His gear was new -- the black in it had been replaced with a noticeable purple, but the orange was still has prominent as ever. His coat remained black, and his demeanor -- unshaken. He had a lot to worry about. The fear of coming into work, however -- it seemed to have passed for the time being. His mind was not focused on Blackjack, or Jamie Bader, or even Nuke Fusion -- no, his thought process had been all Avari Fusion from the moment Mick Foley told him this match would be happening here tonight at Summerslam. It was unexpected that they would open the show, but not surprising -- the world knew Hiro and Avari would set a standard that the rest of the roster would have to follow and that would only drive match quality higher.

The Ethnic Enigma began down the ramp tugging at his coat as he would remove it while making it down to ringside. He tossed it to the side, yanking on the elbow pads to get them snugly into place as he hopped up on the apron. Hiro looked around at the crowd, breaking his stare from Avari -- taking a moment to soak in being on the big stage once again here in Detroit. It'd been a while since Wrestlemania, but a mass of people in a huge football stadium never ceased to amaze the former World Champion.





Hiro steps in between the ropes and into the ring, walking closely up to Avari and continuing to stare him down. This was a battle of the past and the future, taking place in the present. Hiro would get Nuke's attention through beating his son, that much as certain -- but things had grown to be a bit different between the two men. Hiro had been bested by everyone he had stepped in the ring with thus far, a loser since he came out of retirement. Perhaps, Avari represented a lot of feelings that Hiro had going through his heart and mind. He had to overcome them, he just had to watch his step...or he might just make it worse. The Ethnic Enigma would back away from his opponent after giving him a good look at what a ready man looked like and stood across the ring from him, waiting for the ref to begin the legendary Watch Your Step match.

The two men stood with the longest yard separating them. These two couldn't be more different, and yet a level of similarity that Hiro could see perhaps better than Avari. This was important for both of them, in a way, career defining: win this match, leave Summerslam with all the momentum in the world. It would put Avari one step closer to the same prize his father was chasing, and for Hiro...it would mean an end to one of the worst skids he's dealt with in his career. He had gone a year without winning prior, but this time, when he tried his best, when he came back with so much promise and desire to succeed...he just couldn't get things going. The match was complicated -- there were rules in place that means a match could end in ways you wouldn't expect, but most importantly there was the fear of being disqualified. Hiro was trying to access the situation in his mind: if Avari ever touched the ropes, he needed to let the guy go immediately, that was the simplest way of playing by the rules.

The stare off between the two would break with a bang as Hiro quickly tried to chop the younger star across his chest and follow it up with a huge forearm to the side of his head! Perhaps the residual effects of his match with Jamie, it looked like Hiro wouldn't cap his power from the start and would instead stomp on the pedal immediately!

As Hiro's chop connected and was quickly followed up by that thunderous forearm, the crowd's reaction reminded him that he still had it. They'd been way into his violent match with Jamie Bader and it looked like tonight was gonna go the same. Hiro would look to aim a hard left handed slap across his opponents face as the final bit of his trifecta of opening offense, hoping to stun him long enough to send him stumbling to the ropes -- which would lead to Hiro trying to push him up and over to the ringside area, ending the match as soon as it started! Perhaps Hiro was wanting to prove a point not just to himself but to Avari as well -- that the younger man should be watching his step so he doesn't call tumbling over the top rope!

Momentum couldn't completely stay on Hiro's side forever, he knew that -- but he wouldn't allow Avari to gain any either if he could help it. The Man of the Hour crouched in a smart move to avoid Hiro being able to even try lifting him up over the ropes, and he was successful in doing so, Hiro being the one sent up and over the top rope but he had an uneventful landing on his feet on the apron, dangerously close regardless to losing the match via it's most interesting stipulation. As his feet were planted nicely, Hiro would immediately aim to club Avari in the back and make him back away from the ropes freeing him up to climb through the ropes and back into the ring.

Hiro re-entered the ring and wanted to keep the action hot, not giving the crowd a moment to breathe here by virtue of wanting to keep Avari on his toes. The Ethnic Enigma would charge at the younger man from behind and try to wrap his arms around his waist and grab hold, looking to run him into the ropes with an eye at rebounding backward -- to which Hiro would attempt to roll backward to end up in a position where he is pinning Avari thanks to an O'Connor roll up!

Hiro was launched by the legs of Avari kicking out, sending him stumbling forward and to the ropes. He hung on to them for a moment and turned quickly to his opponent. The Ethnic Enigma was going to try and follow up with yet another attack, but he couldn't in the moment -- he could feel his body quickly settling back in to pain. He had healed up relatively well from his previous match but upon starting to work tonight it was all flowing back to him. Hiro breathed heavily and decided to give the fans a chance to start cheering him on and applauding the quick start to this match -- it was indeed a 'take you to school' moment as the younger man found himself overtaken by the veteran. The facade would work for a moment of giving the crowd time to breathe, but hat would Avari do now that he wasn't being dog-piled?

Hiro breathing steadied as Avari got his body up on the hands and knees. The Ethnic Enigma was given his time, as was Avari, and it was once again the right moment to begin their destructive dance. Hiro would approach his opponent and look to help him stand back up, wanting to transition him into a headlock if possible and begin chipping away at him with the move slapped in tight -- may as well continue to build upon how much Avari had already been tired out, make it a little worse in the moment by being methodical about it. Hiro wondered if Nuke was watching backstage, if finally he'd gotten the attention of the man he wanted to forgive for his sins.