JULIAN BATHORY vs. MITCHELL QUINLAN
Nick Stuart: And we return to ring action here with Julian Bathory taking on the debuting Mitchell Quinlan, who is already in the ring.
Richard Parker: Interesting test here, maybe. Quinlan has some accolades to his credit, but he hasn’t been in the ring in a long time. And he’s facing off with a real buzz saw here…
We cut to the ring, where Mitchell Quinlan stands, loosening his wrists.
Vince Howard: This next contest is for one fall with a thirty minute time limit. Introducing first, in the ring, from Bell City, Ontario, Canada, standing six feet, three inches weighing in at two hundred fifty pounds, he is The Fool Saint…MIIIIIIIITCHELL! QUIIIIINLAN!
The Enigma TNG.
“Shadow.”
The Prince of Tears emerges, this time void of Bruce “Violence Jack” Shanahan. The MGM Garden Arena begin to give heavy boos as the stoic Prince of Tears storms his way down the ramp.
Vince Howard: And his opponent…hailing from Szeged, Hungary, standing six feet, one inch and weighing two-hundred and twenty-six pounds…The New World Savior…JULIAN! BAAAATHORYYY!!”
Bathory slides into the ring with little fanfare, getting to his feet and going to the closest corner. He stands ready, official Ashley Barlow looking toward him as he seems coiled, ready to pounce.
Nick Stuart: No Bruce Shanahan tonight. At Great American Nightmare, Julian Bathory went a full thirty minutes with Cancer Jiles. He battered him. Beat him down. He hurt the COOLYMPIAN–
Richard Parker: Good.
Nick Stuart: But it wasn’t enough to get his hand raised. All the same, as we learnt shortly after the event, Bathory, alongside Jiles, will face off against whoever the Universal Champion is come Ultra Violence. But tonight…tonight he stands opposite a debuting face in Mitchell Quinlan.
DING DING
The instant the bell rings, Bathory sprints towards Quinlan, driving his forearm and elbow into the debuting man’s face, a rough assault following as the Carpathian Devil gives no quarter, a constant barrage, and when The Fool Saint tries to get away, the Prince of Tears launches himself toward him with a vicious leg lariat that takes both men down.
Nick Stuart: Julian Bathory is giving no quarter here. After Great American Nightmare, and the sheer display of violence the man put on, you had to expect an explosive burst here.
Richard Parker: But this is different. This just…Bathory was a threatening competitor before. But there’s a change. He’s more vicious. More aggressive. And yet…at the same time…more controlled. I don’t know if it was some kind of pep talk had by Bruce Shanahan, or maybe he’s been psyching himself up by reading the Dunwich Horror.
Nick Stuart: That would be an odd choice…
Richard Parker: Look at that man and tell me he isn’t the type.
Nick Stuart: What type?
Richard Parker: A modern day renaissance man who is moved by the written word.
Nick Stuart: That…did not go where I thought it might.
And in the ring, the debuting Mitchell Quinlan is feeling his return to the ring go where he wouldn’t like, as Julian Bathory jerks him up from the canvas, muscling him over so his entire body crashes into the canvas with a scoop slam. Instinct takes over, Quinlan rolling over, pushing himself up, hands up as he sees the Carpathian Devil ready to launch into another barrage of tight forearms, wild chops coming his way. In the maelstrom, Quinlan grabs hold of Bathory’s arm, wrenching it, throwing a kick to the Prince of Tears’ thigh before hitting him with a shoulder block that does little to move Julian. He tries another, and another, Bathory eating the full brunt of the shoulder. While Mitchell has the size advantage on paper, what he feels is a man that feels like he’s a good seven inches taller and nearly a hundred pounds heavier. Odd as it is, Quinlan throws a knee up into the face of Bathory, which finally seems to rattle the Carpathian Devil.
Nick Stuart: Quinlan is going to have to keep the pressure on here…
And he does, forcing the stunned Bathory into the corner, hitting him with a European uppercut, and then backing up, only to explode toward him with a running double high knee.
Nick Stuart: Oh! EP Dentistry!
A front chancery and a leg hook.
Nick Stuart: Fisher ‘21! Fisher ‘21! And he’s covering!
Richard Parker: Woah!
Ashley Barlow drops for the count.
ONE
TWO
KICKOUT!
The to-be contender for the Universal Championship at Ultra Violence kicks out, but Quinlan knows he has to keep pressing his advantage, having the Carpathian Devil by the hair, going to lift him off the canvas. From his knees, Bathory socks him in the stomach with a punch, then a forearm, and as he rises, grabs hold of a front face lock and quickly lifts Quinlan in the air, snapping him violently to the canvas with a brainbuster.
He holds onto the headlock, rising up, hitting a snapmare before blistering Quinlan’s back with a kick to the spine. And another. And another. As though suffering the quick bevy of offense and the pin attempt is an insult to the Prince of Tears, he takes off, rebounding off the ropes, hitting a sliding dropkick that splatters Quinlan across the canvas. He is quick to mount, powdering him with forearms, all before annihilating him with a succession of 12 to 6 elbows, holding firm and rising up, and then snapping him to the canvas with Chaos Reigns.
Nick Stuart: Oh my word! What violence on display! Mitchell Quinlan didn’t see this coming!
Richard Parker: This is becoming an uncomfortable message for anyone approaching the leader of MESSIAH about what happens when you cross him in the ring.
There is no cover, the struggling Quinlan trying to pull himself from the canvas before falling again, and again. Bathory teases his pray with his boot, to his shoulder, to his face. The uncomfortableness of the proceedings does not get any better as Bathory doesn’t go for a pin of his own, instead letting Quinlan rise on his own merits.
And when he does?
Nick Stuart: R’lyeh Anthem ’19! Oh my God!
Richard Parker: I think God decided to sit this one out…
The cover is academic.
ONE
TWO
THREE
DING DING DING
Nick Stuart: Julian Bathory is a man on a mission after going thirty minutes with Cancer Jiles at Great American Nightmare! My word!
Richard Parker: Mitchell Quinlan…he might’ve been thrown to the wolves here. Actually, remove the might’ve. He definitely was. Wow.
Vince Howard: Your winner…by pinfall…the Carpathian Devil…JUUUUULIAN! BATHORY!
The Prince of Tears rises from the canvas, Ashley Barlow looking to raise his hands, but thinking twice as she watches his glower of his fallen opponent. And with the match done, without taking in the boos or the reaction from the crowd, he merely steps between the ropes, storming footfalls taking him up the ramp and behind the curtain. Message sent.
Forever the crown.