Davide Simeone - Will History Repeat Itself?

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Ok, first off, a little backstory on this character. Davide Simeone is an Italian character i made up as a "mentor" for myself when i wanted a storyline in TEW 05 for my character, he has since transitioned into Football Manager, WreSpi 1 and TEW 07. I have opted to do a "birth" so to speak of his career, by adding him to the DOTT scenario. The character is a promising worker with bags of potential, and has just moved to America, where his big break was with DCW, Detroit Championship Wrestling. In the fictional career, he moves onto ECW whilst it is Eastern Championship Wrestling, moving back to Italy and becoming the first person to hold all major European championships, he then moves on to do a try out match with both WCW and WWF, before returning to ECW, now Extreme, and partakes in a Scaffold match, severely injuring his back and putting him out of action, at the time, permentantly. He makes a triumphant return in June 2007 (June due to my TEW 07 game now being in 2008). Right, now thats over, lets get started!

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[B][U][SIZE="5"]Getting Foot In The Door[/SIZE][/U][/B] I woke up November 7th 1983, thinking it was just going to be another boring day, off to school for 8:30am, then back home for 1:30pm, then i'd go about my playing football with my friends, maybe try and hone my wrestling skills down at the boxing gym, you know, the usual. I came home from school, wondering whether i could be bothered to go and actually do something, i had the choice, either to sort out our family field, or to go to the gym, i opted to go to the gym, and it seemed to be the best thig i ever did! Whilst i was there, i met a man called Tito Ramon, a very popular figure across Europe despite being Mexican, he had came over to Europe to kick start a bunch of Promotions called the European Wrestling League Association, a European version of the NWA. He took me under his wing that day in the gym, he really helped me out with my wrestling holds, you know, the basics, anyways, he had told me he was here to scout for some new youngsters to push into the ranks of his development systems, and asked my age. Now, bare in mind, i'm quite a big guy, weigh around 240lbs due to all my time spent in the gym, and 5'9", so i dont really look my age. "14! You can't be 14, you must be at least 16, maybe even 17! When's your birthday kid?" "April" "Jeez, year and a half before you could even be considered being called up to one of the promotions, tell you what kid, come back here whenever you want, and i'll make sure there's someone here for you to train with, i'll keep in touch" And with that, i was started, i was in training, and even if it did take me a year and a half, i was going to make it, i would be a wrestler, now, how to tell my parents.....

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[SIZE="4"][B][U]You...Me...and Joe?[/U][/B][/SIZE] Well, put bluntly, my parents were not happy i had decided to go into wrestling, they tried to forbid me to go, but i told them i wanted to do this, most kids wanted to be chefs, some wanted to be waiters, some were going to just live in the same place, tending to their patch of "land" they had in the area, but i wanted to travel, go around Europe, and see the sights, but do it all whilst on my way to wrestling stardom! I went back to the gym every week to do my weekly training, and learnt from a guy called Giuseppe Mantovani, he was a pleasant man, but he was brutal with me during training, he worked a real stiff style of wrestling until a wrist injury stopped him from working full time. The constant knife edge chops left me bleeding on several occasions, he taught me simple things such as dropkicks and bodyslams, and complex moves such as Piledrivers and "death grip" submissions, how to do them correctly so opponents weren't actually knocked out or even killed. Once i got to know Giuseppe better, he let me call him Joe, not sure why, but he always preferred to be called by his former ring name (in England, apparently he had worked as Just Joe) we went all over, had meals together, worked over strategies and various new moves i could possibly bring to wrestling. My birthday came around, i turned 15, and Tito had sent me a present, he had had some wrestling guy made up for me, i treasured those trunks and boots, its a pity i added bulk and my feet grew before my actual debut! Fast forward to June, and i went into school, only to find that Tito was there, with a few of the "lower card" workers that he had scouted from the area, he wanted to advertise a local show they were doing, and was asking for people to come and be part of the ring crew during the summer holidays, obviously i jumped at the chance, and, after much begging and pleading with my parents, i was soon traveling around Northern Italy as part of the EWLA:ICW Ring Crew. Once i returned, i had missed some of my school time, but i wasn't too fussed any more, i knew what i was going to be doing in my life, wrestling. I spent every night after school in the gym with Joe, going over holds, moves, wrestling styles, my "persona" we even started on trying to work on the mic, and i was a natural! Everything i said seemed to be perfect, so good infact, that i started doing the ring announcing on local wrestling shows, once Tito found out about this, he really wanted to try and push me through into the EWLA as soon as possible, and so, at the age of 15 and 3/4 i was brought into the company and wrestled under a mask as Maschera Facciale, or Face Mask in English, yeah, very original, still, i was wrestling, and if it meant i had to go under a mask, i would! I faced some of the top guys in the promotion, albeit that they absolutely squashed me, but still, not many 15 years olds could say they had faced off against the likes of Tito Ramon and Steve Regal could they! I was still learning at Joes Gym, but i was constantly learning backstage with the guys in the locker rooms, and after i had set up the ring, i would be given a few lessons whilst in there, it was great, i was really hooked on wrestling, but Steve [Regal] told me that the best place for me to wrestle would be the US, he was planning on going over there within the next few years, and that if i ever went over there, i could come and work with him in a few places. I loved that, a Main Eventer was willing to offer me help should i ever go to the States, i couldn't believe how nice people in the business where, how that was going to change later on in my early career!

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[B][U][SIZE="4"]My First Victory![/SIZE][/U][/B] Well, April rolled around again, and so did my 16th birthday, once again i got wrestling gear off Tito, but i got a few presents from the guys in the locker room aswell, but the best present i got was from Joe, he was now booking for ICW, and he and Tito had decided that it was time for my big debut. There was a show on my birthday that i was working on, i was facing off against Diego Digou, another graduate who, like me, had been used as an "extra" up until his 16th birthday, he was going to be getting a big push until he injured his neck in a match with Joe, now that he was all better, and Joe was in charge, no one knew what to do with him, he was wrestling under the name of the Italian Stalion (a monicker he would use for a long time whilst in the states) he was supposed to be the bad guy, but this night would see him turn, and this would be the beginning of a monster push for him to become the top face in the company, and at the same time, see me move to be the biggest heel in the company, which would be hard, given that no one knew who i was, and also, Tito was the biggest heel we had at the time. I was going over what i was going to do that night, and Diego walked in, we talked for about half an hour, then it was time, his music hit, and out he went, i walked out, with my mask on, just as i was about to be introduced as Maschera Facciale, i interrupted the announcer, and ripped off my mask. "Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls, tonight, tonight you witness the beginning of the end for ICW, Maschera Facciale is now more, the happy, jobber to the stars is no more, Davide Simeone has been unleashed on you, and tonight, my reign of destruction begins, and it begins.....with you!" With that, i speared Diego down, and just hammered him with punches, picked him up, hit a piledriver, not once, not twice, not even three times, but 5 times! i felt sorry for him, this was his idea, but he had just came back from a neck injury, i felt i shouldn't have been doing it, i picked him up in a Full Nelson, and was really to just make him submit to that, then i heard him say "Turn me", what? turn him, how? "Spin me round, and slam me to the floor!" so i did, i spun him round, and his face smashed against the mat, i rolled him over, covered him, 1...2...3! I won! i know i was supposed to, but damn! that felt good my first professional victory! We got back to the locker room, and i asked Diego what he thought of the match, he said it was great, he said that i had done the finishing move all wrong though, i was supposed to spin him round, hook his body, and do like a cross body onto him, slamming him to the floor, i told him that thanks to him, i had came up with my new finisher, the Spinning Face Buster, no fancy names, no gimmicky names, just a plain description, and i left it at that, i wanted it to sound simple, but look deadly, and believe me, the 12 people that took it from me upto October, they definately felt the pain!

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[B][U][SIZE="4"]To Go, or Not To Go, that is the question![/SIZE][/U][/B] Well, i was on such a high after my victory, i went to see Tito and Joe, and they said they loved it, and that my finisher looked awesome, maybe i should use it every match as a may to show my dominance, but maybe look to create a new secondary move aswell. I worked on a few, i saw a move by a Wild Samoan guy, he lifted his opponent up, span underneath and grabbed his neck, bringing him crashing to the mat, i loved it, it was called a Samoan Neckbreaker, but i opted to name it the Pizza Slice, yep, i went for a gimmicky name, but i didn't want to call it a Neckbreaker, neckbreakers were a simple move, anyone could do really, it didn't strike any time of fear into anyone. I also came up with a few submission moves, and they hurt like hell on my opponents! I was on a winning streak that lasted until July, when i was finally given my first title, the EWLA Italian Championship, this was to say i was the best in Italy right now, i toured Italy and defended the title everywhere we went, i even unified the San Marino title with it at one point, i was delighted, i was, at the age of 16, one of the most over, yet most hated workers in the country. Tito told me he had had a meeting with the other EWLA representatives, and they were planning on having me go against him in a title match for the EWLA European championship, i was going to lose, but i was going to come so close, that the fans actually believed i could win, Joe was going to be part of the storyline, and in the end, i was going to be turned face, something i wasn't too keen on, but, i couldn't say no to the guy that had got me into the business, put my first belt on me, then wanted to make me a European phenomenon aswell! The match was a total success, everything went brilliantly, the fans ate up the fact i was so close, we had the referee kncoked out whislt i was doing the Pizza Slice, it some awkward timing to get the referee in the correct place so Tito's foot would hit him, but we nailed it! Joe ran down, and managed to revive the ref, but the count was too slow, and Tito kicked out just as the referee brought his han down for 3, i acted like i'd won, the fans went nuts, they were all over me, cheering and screaming their heads off, then Tito crawled over, grabbed my tights, and rolled me up and the ref counted 3, i couldnt believe it, the fans started booing, and the referee declared Tito the winner, and still the EWLA European champion, this made the fued national news, Joe turned on me later on in the program, and i had the priveledge to be Joes final opponent in his long career. I beat Joe in about 5 minutes, we had to shorten the match drastically due to him being unwell, he couldn't breathe well, and said he had pains in his chest and down his arms, Joe died shortly after arriving at hospital in September 1985. He was only 59. Me and Tito went out and had one hell of a match in dedication to Joe, where i actually won the title! But the decision was reversed by the referee when he saw Tito's foot on the bottom rope, Tito picked me up and hit an LA Bomba on me, and needless to say, i was knocked out cold and woke up the next morning, obviously having lost, but also, not realising i had been knocked out in the ring. Shortly after this match, i was approached by Edward Farhat, The Sheik of Araby as he was known at the time in his DCW company. He was out in Europe on a business trip, and wished for me to go to America and join his company, obviously starting as Enhancement Talent, just to make the older guys look good, i had other ideas though...

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[B][U][SIZE="4"]Introduction to DCW[/SIZE][/U][/B] I finally made my way to America, i had contemplated not going, but, Mr Farhat had assured me i could be a success if everything went as he hoped. I was introduced to the locker room, there was alot of his family there, which suprisingly comforted me. I had left my family behind in Italy, as my younger brother, Gianfranco, was almost finished in his second year of school, and we didn't think it was fair that he be pulled from school. I immediately made the Farhat's my new family, and me and Sabu really hit it off from the get go, we were going out every night, partying, and staying out late, yes it got us into trouble, but everything was fine. I wasn't scheduled to be booked in any matches until November at the earliest, so i asked if i could return home and finish off my prior commitments, it was agreed and i returned, only with Sabu aswell! Sabu went along and acted as my partner/manager there, we tagged a couple times, and i even wrestled against him, something must have clicked, becasue The Shiek wanted us to go into a fued once we returned, i dropped the EWLA title to Diego Digou, who had dropped the Italian Stallion gimmick after Joe's death, and was now a monster heel, it felt good to finally drop the title to someone that deserved it as much as Diego, i honestly feel that without him, alot of my moves and my ring prescence would not exist. Anyways, upon our return to the US, The Shiek wanted me and Sabu to go into a fued, Sabu was injured at home the final week of October, so that blew my debut for the first week of November, and he still hadn't returned to full fitness by the second week, so The Shiek opted to push me into a match with Captain Ed George. We had a decent back and forth match, it was nothing special, but i definately felt i learnt from him. Now, bare in mind i was supposed to lose this match, i get word from our referee that The Shiek wants me to win this match, well, the look on Ed's face was a picture, here's this 16 year old punk kid, making his debut against one of the higher ups, and he's to get the win! well, Ed didn't take to kindly to that, and made me really work for my win, i finally wore him down, and hit the Pizza Slice on him at just under 8 minutes and picked up my first win in DCW. The fans didn't know how to react, i was billed as a monster heel, i wasn't advertised on the card, i wasn't even given a proper introduction! Yet here i was, standing in the ring, with the fans practically silent, celbrating like i'd just won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship! Needless to say, i was soon the talk of the audience, "Who is this kid?" "As if he beat Captain Ed!" "He just got lucky, you'll see!" It was exactly the kind of reaction Shiek wanted.

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[B][U][SIZE="4"]Coming Home[/SIZE][/U][/B] December soon rolled around, i had agreed to return to the EWLA (now being referred to as the EWA) for a few shows in November to coincide with EWA's newly created Saturday Events. Due to the success of the weekly shows, EWA were given a weekly TV Show aswell, i opted to stay on with the EWA, and just travel back and forth between the US and Europe whenever i had bookings. I knew i was going to be spending alot on travel, so i opted to look for some more work, after contacting a few promotions, i agreed to sign deals with Houston Championship Wrestling and South West Championship Wrestling. At the time it seemed a good idea, but, as i later found out, the schedule was a nightmare! ========================== December, Tuesday, w1 I made my EWA Weekly debut teaming with my mentor Tito Ramon, it was something that meant alot to me, i had never teamed with him, and to be there, on TV, still only 16 years old, i just couldn't believe it, i just stood there, looking like a little kid meeting my idol for the first time, despite having spoke to him every week since he'd started training me. Our opponents were my good friend, and fellow Ramon/Mantovani trainee Diego Digou, he was still the EWA European champion, and brand new signing, Louis Figo Maniaco. Louis was a well respected, and highly over worker, brought in, like myself, to help push the popularity of the EWA to new, higher levels. The match itself was, well, it was a dissapointment. Here you have 4 of the finest EWA has to offer, yet, we didn't spark anything up. Tito played the face in peril for alot of the match, giving me the hot tags every opportunity he had, he really tried to make me look good. Diego and I were in the ring together for very little time periods, so we couldn't show the fans what we could really do, but my chemistry with Maniaco was very obvious. After Maniaco missed his finisher on Ramon, and the hot tag came to me, i hit a Spinning Face Buster on Louis and took the victory for me and Tito. We partied well that night, the whole lot of us, but, as usual, our night had to be cut short due to drunken fans trying to fight with us. ========================== December, Wednesday, w1 7:31am "And in other news, the European Wrestling Alliance made their TV debut last night, the Main Event saw EWA owner Tito Ramon team up with his protege and former EWA European champion Davide Simeone, take on current EWA European Diego Digou and newcomer Louis Figo Maniaco. The match itself was avergae to be honest, not what you'd have expected from these 4, but, i'll be nice, i'll give the match a C rating" Damn Alarm! I had set it to make sure i got to Tito's in time for our meeting, see he wanted us to go over what plans he had for me, i was already one of the bigger stars in the company, and he really wanted to utilise me right, but with my other commitments, he knew he wouldn't get the chance to use me as much as he hoped. I walked into Tito's office, Louis was there already, Tito was running a little late, me and Louis made small talk, but nothing more, i felt a little jealous of him, he was by far more popular than me due to his little film appearances, and the fact that he was a very gifted athlete. Tito walked in, "Welcome ladies, i've got you both here for one reason and one reason only, you two, along with Diego, are the future of this company, you three together are the heart of EWA, and with British talent being brought into the company, we need to make sure that we can keep there influence to a minimum." I thought that was a little harsh, the Tag champs were British, Steven Regal was a fantastic talent, he had helped me greatly, and he was a good friend of Tito's, but i opted not to quiz the man, after all, i didn't want to look like an egomaniac or anything. Titoe continued "You two guys really impressed me last night, you had some great chemistry as opponents, i'd like to see what you could do together, in a singles match. I'm not thinking just a little one v one match though, no no no, i'm thinking, best of 3 series to begin with, see who the better man really is, i'm not going to script your match for you, just go out and wing in, you wrestle each other to the best of your abilities, and then when you feel you've beat your opponent as much as you can, pin him, once he's pinned, he won't kick out, so, if you like, i'm sanctioning the first part of EWA's change, no longer will we follow suit in being scripte, we are going the old shoot fight route" "SHOOT FIGHT!" Louis was definately not pleased at this, i however liked the idea, alot of our fans were starting to click onto the fact that we were like a glorified soap opera, so doing this could really boost our profile, i immediately agreed to this fued, and after several minutes of talking, and persuading, Louis reluctantly agreed. ========================== December, Thursday, w1 Nothing much to report today, i caught a flight across to America so i could prepare for my match tomorrow night for DCW and to finalise my contracts with HCW and SWCW. ========================== December, Friday, w1 "Morning DS" Sabu welcomed me into Detroit, i was still half asleep, the time difference is going to play havoc on me, as once i've finished here tonight, i'm straight back to Europe for another EWA show! Sabu and i got a taxi to the arena, i wasn't in the mood to drive, and Sabu had a bad ankle, so he wasn't prepared to drive. As soon as i got into the arena, The Sheik made sure there was no public around, and we entered his office. As many of you know already, Sheik never speaks, whether in public, or on TV, so the only place we could talk was at his home, or in his office. We went over what was to happen tonight, Sabu walked in and let me know that he couldn't wrestle me tonight, yes i was dissapointed, but i knew why he did it. Sheik had to rewrite my bit, and, just like my debut, he decided to go for some shock tactics. I was to face Spike Huber, one of the most over stars on the DCW roster, he was pushing for the DCW Championship, but his push was being halted, in order for me to get it! And that was that, i was booked to face Spike Huber, in a mini fued that would hopefully get me over enough with the fans to be viewed as a major threat to the champion. The time came for my match, i was struggling to stay awake, but somehow i managed to get through it, we were given 10 minutes for our match, not long, but, we had to make something work. Unfortunately, we didn't, the fans were not only booing me, but were booing both of us at how terrible our match was. I ended the match with a Pizza Slice through the table at 9 minutes 20. The Sheik called us both into his office, it's safe to say that he was not too pleased with us, but he allowed us to continue the fued, telling us he wanted more from both of us the next time we faced each other. As soon as Sheik finished shouting, i hopped straight onto the next flight back to Europe ========================== December, Saturday, w1 Getting back from my one day USA trip was a nightmare, i was suffereing severely from jet lag, and i was scheduled for a match tonight as well, i was really going to have to cram in some sleep. I spoke with Tito on the phone, he told me i could have the night off if i desired, but i told him i didn't want to cancel a prior commitment, and that i had agreed to my match with Doctor Insane. I slept in, i ended up getting to the show 15 before it started, it's probably best for me not to mention i had overslept, but Tito was surprisingly sympathetic towards me. I went out to the ring, and i put on one of the best matches of my career. Me and Insane had fantastic chemistry, every move we hit looked like it could end the match, he had me caught in a deadly submission manouver, i really thought i was going to have to give up, but, i managed to somehow hold on and escape the hold. From then on i hit a few new moves i'd made up, and i really felt like i was going to win, but, my jet lag really caught me, and after i missed grabbing Insane's head on the Pizza Slice, Insane caught me with an El Nudo, and i just couldn't stay awake, the referee saw it as me being "knocked out" and called for the bell. Yes i lost, but the crowd's chants of "That was Awesome!" made me forget the fact i'd lost. ========================== December, Sunday, w1 I landed in Houston around about 12ish, cramming in as much sleep as i could, meeting a few fans that had seen tapes of me from DCW. I got to the arena, and just laid low for a while, talking only when spoken to, i went over my match with Hector Guerrero, my opponent for the night, he told me he'd help me through, and that he admired what i was doing just to wrestle, but he did warn me, wrestle in America, or Europe, but not both, you'll soon find you can't stay awake for matches. I listened, and on the flight back to Europe i decided that i had to pick where i wanted to wrestle, but i had the tough decision of where, and why. Anywasy, onot my match with Hector, it was an ok match, Hector did his best to help keep me in it and looking dangerous, after all, this was my HCW debut, i didn't want to just look like a lucky jobber! Hector hit a few suplexes on me, locked in a few armbars, nothing too much, i hit a few kicks to the nose, they looked brutal on the tapes, i've decided i'm naming them the Simeone Kick, i haven't seen anyone do anything similar, so it's mine, i digress. I got the victory with another new move i made up, i had no idea what to call it, so i just went by what one of the fan's screamed, it's called the ItalianBomb, I lifted Hector up, and just held my arms out, he had no idea what to do, so just struggled to keep his balance, when he finally lost it, i hooked his legs and just drove him straight into the canvas, that looked like it hurt! He landed right on his neck, i felt sorry for him, because i never told him i'd be doing it. Well, that was it for Houston, i got a victory, the family friendly atmosphere was great, but they still booed me, i had a victory under my belt from the EWA (yeah, and a loss), i was begining a fued with one of Europe's best, i had a victory from DCW, and was in a fued with one of their most popular stars, and all this still at 16, and only just really starting to get into the thick of my wrestling career. What would next week hold in store for me? I don't know, hopefully i can get some companionship on my trips back and forth to America, hopefully i could get some championship gold around my waist as well.