Summary: After his split from his loveless 5 year relationship, Jeff is down, and with Vince wanting a new couple tag team as a start of a new WWE, he is forced into a storyline with Maria, but as time grows, what is there's relationship develop into?
AN: This is kinda based when Jeff was intercontinental champion around 2007 as well as before WWE's PG rating but with wrestlers from then and now, basically everyone is two years younger and that there a new people. Also the first part was written third person to get the idea of how the storyline came up, but all the rest is in Jeff's POV (point of view).
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN the names of any of the former or current WWE superstars and divas or those affiliated with the WWE. I only came up and written the plot involved within this story.
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Chapter One:
The Bosses Plan
"Ah, the good ol' days," said Vince McMahon, sitting in his office with a glass of whiskey in his right hand, and a remote in the other, "this was one of the best years of my life." Vince took a sip of of whiskey, continuing watching the large flat screen TV on the other side of the room. "Wrestlemania 17, the good ol' days of the attitude era," he mumbled to himself, taking another sip of whiskey, he paused the DVD that was playing and turned to the window behind him. "Why did everything have to change?" he asked himself peeking through the blinds to the beaming light from the outer city, as darkness invaded the sky.
Vince turned himself round to his desk. He then laid his head down on the desk, "how can I get those ratings back? We have no Stone Cold; we have no Rock; no new creative thrill like we had" he mumbled rising head back up, sighing he grabbed the jar of whiskey that was at the end of the desk and topped up the empty glass again. "GOD DAMMIT!" Vince roared, throwing the now empty jar labelled 'whiskey" at the wall, smashing right next to the flat screen TV. He then hid is face into the desk, mumbling "just one idea! Just one" he demanded himself, rising his head up again. And then noticing in the corner of his eye, the paused frame on the TV. The TV showed Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy coming down the ramp, the half drunken McMahon shot up from his chair, "Team Extreme!" he screamed, whiskey flying over the documents on the desk, "there's my answer, reassemble the tag team division and re-introduce hardcore back to wrestling, that's how I am going to rebuild WWE again." He grabbed the phone and typed in a load of numbers, laughing to himself, "Vincent Kennedy McMahon, your a genius," he thought to himself, taking another gulp of whiskey.
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Ring! Ring! Ring!
That's the sound roaring into my ears at 2:00 am. The phone kept ringing and ringing; my ears kept bleeding and bleeding. I opened my eyes, and moved my arm to the light switch next to the bed, and switched them on, and turned towards the horrid phone on the other side of the bed.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
I crawled across the bed to the other side to get the phone that kept ringing, like something out of a Stephen King novel. I picked up the phone and answered it.
"Hello, this is a tired and jaded Jeff Hardy, how may I help you," I spoke annoyed, my heavy eyelids slowly falling down.
"Excuse me, Mr Hardy, this is your boss, Vince McMahon. I know it is late, but I rang you to say get down here as soon as possible and bring Matt with you, I have a brilliant idea," he shouted down the phone, waking me up. "Sorry if I was waking you up" he added, acting like he cared.
"It's okay sir, I was just about to go for a pee," I regretfully lied, hitting the receiver against my head I could hear him mumble: "I didn't really need to know that." I put the receiver back against my ear and continued listening to the chairman and the owner of WWE.
"Well, ring Matt up in the morning and tell him the same thing, you better be ready for the best storyline you'll have in quite a long time," he said cheerfully before hanging up the phone. I put the receiver down and wondered, how did he get my hotel room phone number?
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6:00 am, that's the time that was read on the clock the next time I woke up. I rose up my dead body and attempted to walk over to the bathroom; in the end I won the battle and had a shower and then got changed. I walked over to my laptop that was dumped on the couch; I turned it on and decided to look at the airport bookings for a flight to Greenwich, but before that, I decide to check for any new e-mails. And there displayed an email from Matt, I clicked on it and read the message out as if someone else was there:
"Dear Jeff,
hi dude, how have you been since your split with Beth? Don't worry, you'll meet a new girl; like they say there is always plenty more fish in the sea, especially for the younger Hardy. Anyway, Vince told me to tell you we have a urgent meeting with him, and gave us permission to use his private jet to get there. Anyway, he said his driver Antonio would pick us up in a limo in front of the hotels and take us to the plane, handy isn't it?
Anyway, see yeah then, Vince said Tony should be there around 7:00 am after picking me up from Las Vegas, so get your stuff ready,
Love,
Matt"
Oh shit! If it was 6:00 am when I woke up then I took a 15 minute bath, that's means I have 45 minutes to pack my bag, get something to eat and book out of the hotel by the time 'Antonio' got here. I rushed into the bedroom and started packing.
"For god sake, why is it always Matt who always gets all the details first and me right until the giving moment," I mumbled as I pack my bags. "Right, one fucking thing down, two to go."
7:05 am, there I stood waiting for a limo outside the hotel, in the cold breezy weather. The entrance seemed quite busy and the atmosphere quite buzzy. I turned on my iPod and started to listen to Pink Floyd. Then as I air-guitared and sang to 'Another Brick in The Wall' , I felt someone touch my shoulder, I opened my eyes and saw everyone was looking at me, I turned round to see a man wearing a suit and behind him a man laughing really hard, Matt.
"Okay, okay," I said turning off my iPod and grabbing one of my bags. "You try and resist it," I said placing the bag next to a white limo. I then turned round to see the suited man, "I guess you are Antonio then?" I asked. He shook his head.
"No sir, I am Andrew, Mr McMahon said I looked like an Antonio and started calling me that, I guess that turned into a habit," he said, grabbing my bag and putting it in the trunk of the limo with Matt's.
Me and Matt sat at the back of the limo, talking randomly as we waited for us to arrive at Vince's private jet.
"I guess this storyline is really important," Matt said, "he never allows anyone else except Shane, Steph and Paul to use his private plane, and that's only for emergencies, like when Steph was in labour."
"Yeah, I wonder, what kind of storyline is it. I mean is it something involving a family feud or what?" I said glancing at the champagne glass in my brothers hand, "isn't that kind of taking the piss?" I asked concerned and annoyed.
"He invited us," he answered, drinking it down in one gulp. "Anyway, let's talk more about you and your now freedom of not having a girlfriend. Are you looking for a new girl?" My brother asked me, topping up the champagne glass. That one word, freedom, I guess it was true, I was in a relationship with a person who I didn't love any more, 5 long years with her, and now I am free, but why do I feel so down? Why do I feel like it was my fault it ended so badly? When did I stop loving Beth? Those were the questions I really wanted to answer, but couldn't.
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10:00 am, We arrived in Greenwich after a flight of about 2 and a half hours, Matt ate nearly everything on board of the plane, I guess that's what you expect when you have a male free food and who hasn't ate anything for breakfast.
"I'll have to say, that was a very good flight," my older brother announced as he walked out from the plane, "if I could only eat like that every plane ride, I would be like a king."
"Yeah, but I am not sure a king would have a bottle of champagne and six plates of fries, something that wasn't actually his," I said walking down the steps and towards the limo in front.
"I guess so," Matt answered following me to the limo, "it would ruin your appetite" he joked as he got into the limo. I just thought, back when I was with Beth, that night and how we finally broke up, how it ended, and how I felt. "Are you coming? I think Vince may be pissed if you didn't come," Matt said, interrupting my moment of deep thought.
"Yes, I'm coming" I replied getting in the limo, but the question still never left my mind, am I looking for a new girl? I don't really know how I feel.
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11:00 am, after an hour drive from landing the airport, we finally arrived at the WWE's headquarters parking lot, cars parked in all the boxed spaces flying by.
"Where actually are you going to park?" I asked the limo driver curiously wondering, as I noticed most of the parking slots were taken.
"The McMahon's have their own parking lot, to keep their limos in when the workers use the other ones," he responded through the tinted window.
"Wait, does that mean that even wrestlers have to park in one those cubed up places?" Matt said, chewing on some gum.
"No Mr Hardy, they are normally parked in the wrestler's parking lot on the right side of the building, the side of high security so they avoid being attacked by raging fans." He responded, braking the car and lowering down the driver's window.
"My I help you out sir?" said a deep voice coming from the window. "Oh, hi Andy, Vince got you get to the Hardys?" he asked, noticing the driver's face. Andrew nodded with a smirk on his face, the guard replied by making the bar in front go up so we can pass, "you can go now Andy", said the deep voice.
"Thanks," replied the driver before slowly putting his window back up and driving on.
It took 10 minutes for us to leave the limo and enter the building, once inside we noticed a familiar face.
"Paul?" Matt shouted walking up to the figure talking to an employee with coffee's in her hands.
"What's up, Matt and Jeff? You've been called down here too?" Paul asked, turning round looking towards us and letting the woman walk off.
"Yeah, do you know what all of this is about?" Matt replied, standing next to the bosses' son-in-law.
"No, accordingly he stayed in his office all night, working on something, then he rang up your hotels saying he needed to speak urgently to you guys, then he contacted an old friend of yours who was just so happen to be passing by," Paul said, not giving any hints to who he meant. I stayed back and watch the conversation change from Vince to Football, and then Paul looked at me.
"Are you alright mate?" Paul asked looking concerned.
"Pardon," the only thing I could say.
"You know, about Beth and all," he said with a serious look. I looked towards Matt, who was staring a caring glare at me.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied, truth is I still couldn't think how I felt. Then suddenly, I heard a breath draw on the back of my neck, then followed by a voice.
"Hello, Jeff, Matt, Paul. Are you all waiting to see Vince?" Said Dave, Vince's assistant, walking past all of us and stopping by a door, "are you coming in or what?" He said, with his hand on the handle, we all nodded and he knocked on the door then entered. "Hope I wasn't interrupting anything sir, but we have Matt and Jeff Hardy and Paul waiting outside," he said seriously to the contents of the room inside.
"Sure, bring them in, this concerns them anyway," we heard coming from the room. Dave did a hand gesture to shows us we were allowed in, as if we were trespassing on private land. We followed Paul in, one-by-one we walked by the door with 'Vincent Kennedy McMahon, Owner and Chairman' etched into it.
As we entered, Dave came in and closed the door, then Matt looked shocked, his body standing still like a statue. I rose my head up to see Amy Dumas standing there. Paul, less shocked and more relieved and happy walked up to her and shook her hand.
"Nice to see you again, Amy" he said, kissing her on the cheek and sitting down. Amy nodding her head as if saying 'likewise'. Then she turned around and looked at us, both still standing still like cement, nothing moving but our hair in the breeze and our eyes blinking.
"And..." She said cheerfully at us with a smile, "no hello from you guys then" she said with a smirk.
"Hi, Amy" I said, clearing my throat walking over to her and shaking her hand and kissing her cheek, just like Paul. Then I stood next to the sofa Paul was sitting and looked towards Matt. Knowing Matt still loved her, and had already made amends with her, I could see the resistance in his eyes, trying to pull himself back as he slowly crept closer to her.
"H-hi, A-Amy," he stuttered nervously, his sweaty hand shaking his ex-girlfriends hand; but didn't kiss her, then sat next to Paul and breathing slowly to get his breathing pattern back on course.
"As may of you two wonder, Amy is here as a part of this change of WWE," said Vince, sitting behind his desk, we all turned to look at him.
"What's this change about Vince?" Paul asked, with a smirk like he knew something.
"Well, Amy is here signing a contract with us, as we've been negotiating over the last couple of hours, and now she has agreed to a 3 year deal. She will now be apart of the new storyline you guys are going to have," he said confidently, pointing to me and the now-resurrected Matt. "You see, last night I stayed after hours to crawl back the ratings, and I remembered the good ol' days: the Stone Cold, The Rock, Triple H, Kurt Angle. But Stone Cold and The Rock have retired due to nagging injuries and Kurt's gone to TNA." Vince got up walking over to the front of his desk, with a mug of steaming hot coffee in his hands. "Then I remembered the other things that made the WWE what it is today: hardcore no-holds-barn matches, the good ol' days of the Hardcore title and the 24/7 rule and the time the tag team division had more depth then it has today," Vince stopped, leaning against the front of his desk, taking a sip of coffee leaving a moment full of enthusiasm. "That's why a lot of changes are coming, that are needed to shake things up, something that will help all three brands. The tag team titles will be vacated and be turned into one, where all teams from each brand has to battle out for the chance of number one contendership against the champions, the champions will be the winner a tournament. The same thing will happen to the Women's and Divas title and the WWE, World Heavyweight and ECW title, which will be determined as winner's by a series of matches for each, with the last champions battling out at Wrestlemania, and then we shall re-introduce the Cruiserweight title, Hardcore title and European title." Vince added.
I can't believe it, it means youngsters can have more of a chance to win titles. More prestige for tag teams and the top title, more prestige for the women's title.
"But what does that have to mean for us?" Paul asked, intrigued by the idea.
"Well, the Hardy boys will reform Team Extreme with Amy, I mean, Lita and you Paul, are going to win the WWE title and ECW title, and Jericho will win the World Heavyweight title and then Randy Orton will use his Royal Rumble win to face you at No Way Out for the WWE Title, and wins. So at Wrestlemania, it will be headlined by 'Champion versus Champion versus Champion' for the best champion of them all, which will be decided at the next creative team meeting", Vince said, sipping his coffee once more, with a satisfied look on his face.
"But I don't really understand this whole, Team Extreme thing. Remember Amy is meant to have left as Edge's lover; how do we make the crowd believe that she is actually going to be with us as a face team again if the last major thing she did was cheat on me," Matt blurted out, ignoring Amy's feelings.
"Well, we introduce the guilty card and the whole forgive scenario played out for a couple of weeks, you know she helping you out in disastrous things like being ganged up on by the new heel faction, I am thinking of calling Legendary or Future or..."
"Legacy," I blurted out, interrupting Vince, "Sorry, I know nothing of this faction, but those sequence of words came to my head as in a group of up-coming youngsters" I begged for mercy.
"forgiveness accepted," Vince said, as I sighed with relief, "I actually like that name, anyway the new fraction, Legacy, is taking care of business of you and Jeff-"
"How come we are the ones being beaten to death," Matt demanded a answer,standing up, he then looked at Amy who was obviously hurt by his words earlier, "hmm... Amy I am sorry if I hurt your feelings, you know with all that Edge stuff, I meant the character Lita, not you personally, I have already forgiven you," said the older Hardy, with a caring glare at Amy, who rose her head up.
"I know, it's just that, I still feel bad about that. That came as a surprise; but you can't always ignore your true feelings, or something like that," Amy mumbled, putting on a fake smile. I watch her eyes close slowly, so uneasily, as if she was in pain. But my brother just couldn't seem to notice.
"If's that's okay then," Matt replied reseating himself next to Paul.
"Well, anyway, before I was so rudely interrupted. Legacy will consist of sons and daughters of WWE legends, basically second and third generations. It would be run by Shane and Stephanie, as a way to try and take control of the WWE from me, to 'save' the WWE from a humiliation. Of course, they will be a lot of smaller tag teams and single competitors inside the faction. This means a tag team called the Heart Foundation 2 or something named like that; would be competing for the tag team titles tournament, where Team Extreme is in the finals of, and so is the new youngsters," Vince stopped, sipping the coffee again, allowing another moment of anticipation, before continuing. "Anyway, as the final of the tournament is at No Way Out, they attack from behind to try an get an advantage, Lita always comes along with a chair, oh and another-"
bleep-bleep! Bleep-bleep!
All of a sudden, a loud ring from pager echoed throughout the room; it came from the quiet assistant standing in front of the door; everyone in the room looked around to Dave as he produced a pager from his pocket. "Hmm...," Dave muttered, lowering his head to the pager. He rose his head up and looked at Vince, "Sir, she has just arrived, I'll go and collect her now" he said to Vince, Vince nodding like he was allowing him permission to leave the office.
Thud! That was the sound as Dave left the room; it was a silent atmosphere for a moment, all you could here was the slurping sound that came from Vince as he slurped the rest of his now-cold coffee. As we waited for the heavy silent atmosphere to disburse, I noticed the HD TV but more importantly the marks on the wall next to it, it was if something smashed there, I went closer to investigate as Vince started a random little conversation with Paul and Matt. I went to the DVD player that laid there on top of the glass furniture it was on, and then I saw a DVD case, I picked it up, it read 'Wrestlemania 17'.
"That was the start, wasn't it?" Said a recognisable voice behind me, it was Amy, then I noticed a hand on my shoulder, "that was the start of the fame you got for taking risks Jeff, but from what I heard, you backed away from an important one, and now it ended harshly something you loved." She walked right beside me showing her face.
"But that is what a risk is: an opportunity that could earn you greatness, glory, love or..." I hesitated dropping the case onto the table.
"..loneliness, hatred and pain, I know Jeff," Amy said comfortingly, "I took a risk, and now look at me; alone and in pain, I risked my relationship with Matt for a stupid fling, and know all I want is his love, his comfort, it's something you, me, Matt, everyone needs, even though you are the risk taker out there, doesn't mean you have to be in there." Amy kissed my cheek and walked over to Paul, Matt and Vince and joined them in their discussion. How did she know?
Just then...
Knock! Knock! Knock!
It was soon followed by a familiar voice. "Sir, have you told them yet?" said Dave muffled from outside.
"Not yet," Vince replied, I walked over to stand next to Amy as Vince started another discussion. "Right, like I was telling you before, I want Team Extreme to reform, but to also make another starlet." We all just couldn't understand what Vince was talking about, "instead of just having Lita, your going to introduce a new diva into the team, and train her, an apprenticeship if you must call it." Me and Matt both looked at Vince strangely, who wasn't pleased we didn't get it. He leaned over to a draw in his desk; he then opened it and produce a familiar looking DVD case, I remember, that's the OMEGA DVD that was released a couple of years ago. "You two may remember these old days, back before you signed a full time contract. The way you wrestled back then, so technical and high flying was the reason why you were given the chance to train with Dory Funk Jr. You trained people back then too, so I need you to do that during this storyline. And that's how your going to introduce her to the crowd." Vince continued "of course Amy would be helping" he suddenly announced, both of us looking a Amy lowering her head down, "you all get it now then, alright?" we nodded, "Dave, bring her in."
"Okay!" roared a reply from the other side of the door. Slowly the door opened, hands holding onto the door, my heart beating rapidly, next was her perfect legs and then to finish it off, the most loveliest face ever I had seen.
11:45 am, the first time I saw my fellow worker for the next couple of months and student.
"Jeff, Matt, Amy, this is Maria Kanellis who has been the backstage interviewer for RAW for quite a while. We've wanted the right opportunity and right people to train her and introduce her as a wrestler, and I think we have the right collaboration. Please introduce guys, especially know you'll have to working closely together, especially you Jeff." Vince said, I ignored him and walked towards Maria who was walking into the middle of the room as Dave walked through the door.
Dave closed the door, thud! He walked over to Vince McMahon and they started talking about something, whispering.
"Hi, I'm-" I started to say.
"Your Jeff Hardy, yes everyone knows you. Hi, I'm Maria Kanellis, I've been in a few matches but haven't been properly trained yet, I am excited to be trained by the one and only Team Extreme," she said, shaking my hand.
"Well, I guess you guys better get some lunch and catch up on some things, like a training schedule," Dave said pointing to the door, whilst Vince whispered something. "Oh, Jeff, Vince wants you to say and talk in private about something, so if you could leave Jeff here, so he could have a one-on-one chat with Vince that would be perfect".
As Matt, Paul, Amy and Maria left, closing the door after them, I got nervous, did I do something wrong?
"Jeff, I know we've restricted your in-ring talent to a standard, but we wont you to show this girl everything, teach her everything you know about wrestling, okay?" Dave said behind me.
"May I ask, how long will this storyline last?" I asked contemplating how may months in may be.
"It depends," Vince answered looking outside his window, "it depends how the audience reacts, how well they get close with Maria and how close you get with her." Vince said, wait, how close I get with Maria.
"I don't get what you mean sir," I answered, sitting on the sofa, confusion filled my head.
"Storyline, we going to have you and Maria a couple and Matt and Lita a couple, but the length and the certainty depends how you guys act out the matches and the scenarios you going to be in, Jeff, you see, Lita has gotten more technical over the years and is now the same style as Matt, so I want you to train Maria as a high flyer, or a technician like you can be and mix it up," Vince said looking towards me, sitting in his armchair.
"I'll try my hardest sir, when is my first script issued? I'll take that as our deadline," I said confidently.
"You'll get the outline next week, your first official script won't be printed for about two months. We have to introduce the changes first Jeff, and develop the storyline. That's why we will make you have an interview with her next week, not live, taped, just to see how you guys do, we'll judge how long then," Vince said, turning the chair round towards the windows so he couldn't face me.
"Yes sir, I'll do my best," I promised to myself and Vince, getting up I headed for the door and opened it.
"Oh, and Jeff, sorry for restricting over the years, it's that your a high flyer first and technician second, and also, good luck," he said. I nodded towards Dave and left the room. My duty is now certain, my target is certain, and my new student is waiting for me?
"What are you doing here Maria?" I said, walking over to the young lady standing in the middle of the busy hallway.
"I thought that maybe you might want some company, or might need someone to keep you calm," she joked "but it doesn't look like you were in trouble, so, I guess we should get going."
I nodded, and walked with Maria, keeping quiet as she talked about how she can't wait how to learn to wrestle, but all that came through my mind, is that I have to do an interview with this girl next week as well I have to train her, I can predict a hard and tiring week, but an enjoyable if that. I sighed, walking towards the cafeteria down the hall.
a risk is: an opportunity that earn you greatness, glory, love or... .loneliness, hatred, pain, I wonder what's this one going to be like?
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A.N: Well there's my long début and my first long chapter of this story. I hope you enjoyed it, please review either way. And, by the way, the whole restriction of Jeff's in-ring talent is something I believe is kind of truth, due to the difference of a young Jeff's skills in OMEGA and now, he's better in OMEGA as I see him with more freedom, but either time-zone he kicks but. Thank you for reading, please R+R, Read and Review.