The brilliant lights… the flash of fireworks… the thunder of the crowd… the pounding of your heart… the quickening of your pulse… the sweat on your forehead… the tensing of your muscles… the thought of winning…

These are things that every superstar experiences on their first big match in the WWE franchise. Only when you start to realize that the crowd is cheering for you in your upcoming match do you start to get a little nervous; a little anxious. Some of the veterans of the business have a set routine that they go through to calm their nerves before going through the curtain and into the arena while others suffer through the anxiety. In this case, it was most definitely a man suffering through the anxiety of being in his first real match; his first chance to actually have an impact on everyone watching; his first chance to stand up and fight for his life.

The rookie sat on the chair near the curtain with his bare back against the cold wall and his head laid back, eyes closed. The pounding of his heart was almost louder than the hordes of people in the arena that let out their screams of enjoyment at the sight of the rookie's opponent. Even though the introduction music blared in the rookie's ears, it did not phase him one bit from his mental concentration on what he was about to do. Hearing one of the crew signal to him that he was up next, the rookie stood from his chair and approached the curtain, recounting the events that brought him to this fateful moment.

Chapter 1

"Are you serious?! Batista is fighting Rey Mysterio Sunday night?!" Alex's voice boomed out of shock and awe at the information that was just relayed to him via his lifelong best friend James. The one thing that James never understood about his best friend was his interest in the WWE shows. James unfortunately fell into the category of people who didn't bother giving it a chance because they think it is fake.

Alex Rivera grew up watching the WWE and many of its pay-per-views, finding that he loved nothing more than the sensational matches between legendary wrestling superstars. He was so inspired by it that in high school he had joined the wrestling team and won the national competition for his school. It had been a few years since then, and Alex had been focusing lately on more martial arts rather than just grappling. His biggest inspiration was the "619", or Rey Mysterio. Everything that the Mexican from South California stood for was exactly what Alex believed in with every fiber of his being. The thought of overcoming physical odds and fighting with one's heart instead of one's fist was what Alex was raised to believe. Lately, Alex's interest in the WWE shows hooked him onto the events that had taken place between Mysterio and Batista, who used to be his best friend. There was a fatal 4-way between Mysterio, Batista, CM Punk, and the Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship in which the Phenom was defending his title. When everyone thought the fight was about to end with Batista finally pinning the Undertaker, Mysterio came seemingly from nowhere and stopped the pin, ultimately costing Batista the championship. Batista retaliated against his best friend and promised to make Mysterio pay for what he had done.

While Alex understood Batista's anger, he understood that Mysterio entered the match for the chance at the championship just as much as his best friend did. It wouldn't be fair for Rey to focus all his attention on his other opponents when it was a free for all battle. Not long after that night, Alex had bought tickets for himself and James to be in the front row at ringside for Survivor Series. Unfortunately, he had missed the latest episode of Smackdown that involved the Hold Harmless agreement between the two superstars.

Alex's mind was filled with thoughts about what would happen at Survivor Series as James, once again, complained about his friend's obsession. One thing was certain in Alex's mind, despite the fearful scenarios that played in his mind: that Sunday night would be a night to remember.

***THE SMACKDOWN LOCKER ROOM***

Rey's heart felt heavy and his stomache felt uneasy as he thought about what happened between himself and his best friend. The other Smackdown Superstars could see that the usual positive attitude and enthusiasm was missing from the masked wrestler and found that asking questions about how he was feeling about everything would only make it worse. They instead chose to act like nothing was wrong while trying to be more upbeat around the Lucha Libre. Mysterio didn't even pay attention to who was in the same room with him, let alone their behavior around him. Every time he saw his best friend's cold expression, he felt another piece of his heart crack. The one thought that continually played through the 619's mind was that he wished he had never even entered the match if he knew it would have caused this much heartache for Batista and himself.

He sat on one of the benches in the Locker Room after getting a quick shower and dressing back into his normal clothes, fastening a black and white mask around his head and pulling the Velcro closed. Rey had waited until everyone had left before even entering the Locker Room to avoid another encounter with his jaded best friend. He sat and thought; his fingers intertwined together and his eyes closed. What was going to happen to their friendship after Sunday night?

I don't know what to do… I wish that I did. I wish that this was all a horrible nightmare and I'd wake up knowing that our relationship would be alright… Eddie… I don't know if you can hear me, mi amigo… but I need some sort of confidence or something… Just show me what I am supposed to do…

Finishing his prayer to his fallen friend, Rey stood from the bench and left the room, deciding that he'd better get some more workout time before the match in two days.

((Hey guys! I know, its a really short beginning. But the second chapter is a lot longer. R&R!!))