"It's a scary situation, Michael- next in line to the title and Money in the Bank briefcase holder?"
"That's just The Authority taking care of business, King," JBL answers Jerry Lawler.
"And as good ol' JR used to say, business is about to pick up!" Michael Cole begins. "The National Football League has always had a special relationship with the WWE. Many former players have crossed over and had success here, like Goldberg, and of course who could forget the WrestleMania II NFL Battle Royal?"
"And Bam Bam Bigelow versus Lawrence Taylor!" King adds.
"And, as you all know, recently the captain of America's Team recently became America's Champion, Michael! Tony Romo is the WWE champion!" Says JBL.
"Showed a tremendous amount of athleticism and grit in that No DQ match against Lesnar," Michael Cole affirms. "But, again, he owes that win thanks to a bit of interference from none other than Peyton Manning himself." The infamous scene plays on the screen again: Lesnar has Romo up on his shoulders, about to deliver the third F-5 of the match, when suddenly a football rockets in and hits Lesnar square in the face. Romo slides off his shoulders, and realizing his opportunity, quickly folds up Lesnar with a toe kick and emphatically takes Lesnar up and down with a vicious piledriver. The crowd explodes at an unbelievable volume when Romo wins, and the camera pans up to the crowd, revealing that Peyton Manning was in the stands, and holding another football at the ready. He lobs it down to the ring, and Tony Romo catches it. He notices something written on the ball, and can be clearly seen mouthing "You're next?"
"And that man is indeed next!" JBL exclaims. Mile High by The Fold blares out of the arena speakers, and with a burst of orange and blue fireworks Manning appears from backstage, holding his arms up. He shakes hands with a couple fans near the top of the ramp, but there is a very wrathful and focused look on his face as he makes his way to the ring. He's wearing orange trunks reminiscent of Kenta Kobashi, with flat black boots and knee pads. Once in the ring he leans against the ropes to test them, and loosens up his shoulders. He faces the entrance ramp, and shouts what sounds like "Bring him out!"
There is a sudden and deafening gunshot, immediately followed by Outlaw by Manowar testing the limits of the speaker system. Romo jogs out onto the stage and the crowd roars as he thrown up the horns hand sign. On the side plates of his belt are the blue stars of his football team; he takes off the belt and hold it overhead as he makes his way down the ramp and points to Manning. They have a staredown once Tony is in the ring, and it becomes obvious that Manning has a size advantage. The referee, Charles Robinson, pushes them apart and Romo hands him the championship belt still staring at Peyton.
After Charles Robinson displays the belt to the crowd, the bell rings and Romo and Manning start to circle. "And here we go!" Michael Cole says. After a couple more circles Manning darts forwards and Tony moves to the side, but it seems Peyton was planning on this and ducks under and around to cinch in the rear waistlock. He pushes it out to the middle of the ring, and after a second Tony sinks down and leans in as he tries to power out of the hold. Peyton keeps it on tight, and Romo stand back up and looks behind him, then beginning to throw back elbows at Peyton's head. It takes two to break the hold, the third spins Peyton around, and Tony hits him with a double axe handle to the spine that send him lurching to the ropes.
"And there's that brawling style of his!" JBL applauds. Tony drops back a few steps, then runs forwards. Peyton is facing him now, and dodges, sending Tony over the top rope. Peyton quickly slips between the ropes, and jumps off the apron for a clothesline! Both men are on the ground for a moment, but Manning recovers first and hauls Tony up, whipping him into the ring post. Still having hold of his wrist, Peyton turns him around and lands a few well-aimed fists to his brow before tossing Tony back in at the eight count. Tony has his wits back about him though, and as Manning is getting up he's already coming off the ropes like a freight train. The big boot almost connects, and Peyton slips it, letting Tony run into the ropes before landing a knee strike to his back that makes Jerry Lawler wince.
Manning wraps up Tony in another rear waistlock, pulling him back a couple steps before a hard body throw, planting Tony on his face and chest. Deadlifting Tony up, Peyton throws him down a second time, and then a third, before finally letting go and pulling Tony up for a seated abdominal stretch. "Peyton Manning showing a surprising amount of strength here in the early goings," Michael Cole points out.
"Don't be too surprised, these men are both professional athletes," JBL counters.
"And as we saw in his match with Lesnar it'll take a bit more than a couple throws to put Tony Romo down!" Says King. A "let's go Romo!" chant begins to pick up, and Manning glares at the fans near ringside who started it. Tony takes it in, slowly nodding and clenching his fists. He soon summons the energy he needs to stand, first getting his leg free before twisting and kneeling down with a fireman's carry. Tony immediately pounces onto Manning, ramming down hard right hands before Charles Robinson breaks them up. Peyton sends a boulder-splitting glare Tony's way as they start to circle again, and Manning wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Oh boy; we're still in the first couple minutes of this match and Manning is already bleeding!" Jerry Lawler says, as the camera focuses on Peyton's face for a moment. Tony and Peyton go for a collar and elbow tie up, but Romo ducks under; Manning takes a step away and gets his hands ready for a snap down but Tony wasn't going for a takedown, instead springing up for a heavy knee to Manning's gut that sends him back a couple feet. Romo peppers him with shots to his ribs and head before putting on a side headlock. Manning fights it from the beginning, but Tony gives a couple sharp side to side twists before sinking down a bit and really cranking back. Peyton gives a short cry and tries a couple more blows to Tony's midsection, but the hold stays on. Sticking his tongue out for a second, Romo punches until Charles Robinson's count gets to four, keeping the lock on as Manning stands up as high as he can. He tries to get his arms up around Tony's neck, and does, standing up just a bit higher for a second before a snapmare. Peyton rolls with him and comes free on the way down, and rolls through, getting up to run off the ropes. Tony has sat back up just in time to get absolutely plastered with a boot to the face, and Manning stares down at him, nodding. After a couple stomps to his chest Peyton pulls down his knee pads, and rebounds off the near rope. He jumps and drops a knee right across Tony's face, rolling through and going off the ropes for a second, again rolling through for a third.
This time, Romo moves out of the way, and Manning's bare knee comes down on empty mat. Scrambling to his feet, Tony steps forwards with a hard boot to Peyton's face, knocking him flat on his stomach. After a series of hard stomps to his shoulder and neck Tony quickly drags him up, getting him in a standing headscissors and then with no preamble hitting Peyton with a ring-shaking piledriver. "Oh man, Peyton Manning is in serious trouble right now," JBL says.
"Looks like Romo wants this one over early!" Michael Cole adds.
"But he's not going for the cover! Look!" Back in the ring Tony is leaning heavily on the top rope, and referee Charles Robinson comes over to check on him. Tony shakes his head and pushes him away with one arm, but Charles has seen something he doesn't like and waves the ringside medics over.
"I'm fine, I can keep going!" As the medic gets on the apron Peyton Manning surges forwards, hitting Romo with another knee in the back, sending him forwards and bumping the medic off the apron. Pulling him back, Peyton lifts Tony up for what at first appears to be a back suplex, but instead turns out to be a massive back breaker. Tony yells loudly in pain and Peyton shoves him off his knee, resting on his hands and knees for a second before going for the cover. The crowd counts along, but Tony amazingly kicks out at two. Peyton leans up with a frustrated frown on his face, and Charles Robinson again checks with Tony Romo.
"And let's see that again on replay," King says. The replay box comes up on the screen showing the sneak attack knee and the back breaker in slow motion.
"I think we're starting to see Peyton's plan of attack here," JBL says.
"And Tony Romo's as well," Michael says. "Both of these men have had highly publicized injuries, and they've certainly wasted no time going after them so far tonight."
"Oh- uh-oh, looks like Manning's not the only one a little bloody," Jerry Lawler points out. Romo is back on his feet, and one of the ringside medics is wiping off his forehead. The medic tries to apply the cut glue but Tony shakes his head and waves him off, charging right at Peyton! Landing a Thesz Press, he nails Peyton with several rights and lefts, only stopping when Charles Robinson pulls him away.
"Come on!" Tony turns to the crowd, getting his wind back from them. Peyton is back up, and Tony lands a wild haymaker to his jaw. Peyton retaliated with a punch of his own, and the two go back and forth for a minute, the crowd yelling "yay!" when Tony lands a punch, and "boo!" when Peyton does. But Tony speeds up his shots, and whips Peyton hard into the corner. Tony comes charging at him, and crashes into Manning upside down, flipping to the ring apron a la Ric Flair. Tony turns to the crowd and pumps his fist, but when he slingshots himself up with the ropes he is met with an iron-stiff clothesline from Peyton that sends him back down and to the ground outside. After hanging on the ropes to rest for a second Peyton looks back out of the ring for Romo, and sees him turned away, pulling himself up with the barricade. Stepping through the ropes, he takes a deep breath and then jumps off the apron for a missile dropkick, flattening Tony Romo against the barricade.
"That's twice tonight Manning has launched himself off the apron!" Michael Cole says.
"What'd I tell you Michael, these are both professional athletes here! You've got to be expecting world-class athleticism from them!" JBL retorts.
"Yeah, but Romo and Manning aren't exactly spring chickens anymore, and you have to imagine that pretty soon Tony Romo is going to start feeling the effects of all the shots to the back he's taken tonight."
"And there's another one!" King interjects, as Peyton Manning whips Tony Romo into the ring apron. Tony yells and yanks his arm away, and whips Peyton into the barricade, then the ring apron, then pulling Manning back before whipping him shoulder first into the ring steps! Tony rolls in to break the ten count, and then rolls back out to pick up Peyton. Dragging him over to the bottom half, Romo stands on top of it and pulls him into a standing headscissors.
Charles Robinson slides out and runs over. "What are you thinking?! If you piledrive him on the steps I'll disqualify you!" Still looking at Charles Robinson, Tony leans down to pull Peyton up- only for Manning to stand throw him off behind, right onto Charles Robinson! Massaging his shoulder, Peyton steps over and yanks Tony Romo up, his hand tight around his neck. Tony grimaces and tries to pry Peyton's hand away, and Peyton shakes his head.
"Uh-oh. Oh no…" Jerry Lawler says quietly.
Getting Tony's arm over his shoulder, Peyton hoists him up and throws Romo down onto the bottom half of the steps. "Romo with the chokeslam!" Michael Cole yells.
"Good Lord," JBL says as the replay comes up on the screen. The fury on Peyton's face during the chokeslam is even clearer in slowmo, as is Romo actually bouncing slightly after hitting the steps. Romo rolls off to the side, and starts crawling under the ring. Peyton grabs his ankle before he can get all the way, and pulls him back. After he lets go Tony stands and whirls around, nailing Manning with a chair shot! The crowd erupts with noise, and as Peyton stumbles back against the barricade Tony places the chair on the ground between them, and pulls Manning down into a headscissors again, biting his lip as he balances Peyton upside-down before piledriving him onto the chair.
"I can barely hear myself think in here!" King says, as Romo pushes Peyton off and slides the chair back under the ring. Charles Robinson comes to, shaking his head and blinking, then stands and orders Tony and Peyton back inside the ring. Tony does so, and as he rolls Peyton in and crawls in beside him the crowd applauds the action on the outside. Flipping Peyton over towards the middle of the ring, Tony goes for a cover, hooking Manning's far leg. One. Two… and Peyton kicks out a hair before three. Tony punches the mat in frustration, then stands, holding his lower back. Peyton is on his hands and knees, and when Tony steps over he pulls on his trunks and rolls backwards, coming up in a single leg Boston Crab. Tony is already yelling no before Charles Robinson asks if he submits, and he wipes his forehead on his wrist tape as he breathes heavily, clearly in pain.
Peyton looks up, his smile red. "Who wants to see Romo choke in another championship match?!" The crowd answers the taunt with a chorus of boos, and as Peyton looks back down to the ring Romo's free foot connects with his chin. The single leg crab loosens, and with a kick to the shoulder Manning falls off to the side. Peyton rubs his chin and the back of his neck before getting to his knees and standing, leaning down to pick up Tony. "It's over." Looking Tony in the eye, Manning prepares for another chokeslam, and lifts Romo up- but Romo brings his knee up with him, and catches Peryton in the chin! Tony lands on his feet and sticks Peyton with a toe kick to the gut, and comes down with a Stunner!
"Stunner! Stunner out of nowhere! Could this be it?" Screams Michael Cole. Romo goes for the cover, but Peyton kicks out at one, scrambling up and stomping on Romo's back before he can recover. He yanks up Tony's leg and applies the single leg Boston Crab again, wincing and shaking off sweat as puts a knee into the hold and leans back. The crowd amps up into a steady roar, and this time, Tony has to tap out. The bell rings, and Peyton lets go and crawls forwards, trying to absorb the moment. But when Charles Robinson gets back in the ring he doesn't have the championship belt, and the bell rings again. Without warning one of the timekeepers runs up to the ring and jumps up to the apron and top rope, arcing gracefully through the air until they come down with a disturbingly swift stomp. "Wait a minute, what the- that, that was Seth Rollins!" A short pinfall later, and Seth removes his ring crew hat, and holds his arms in the air.
"You've gotta be kidding me! You mean Seth Rollins dressed as a member of the timekeeping crew after his match earlier tonight?!"
"This is the Architect of The Shield you're talking about, a man in close association with Triple H," JBL says to King. "Seth Rollins knew he was going to have an opening tonight, and was probably foaming at the mouth as he was watching this match."
"Unbelievable," Michael Cole concludes. "Well, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of King and JBL I'd like to thank you for watching tonight. This has been Survivor Series on the WWE Network!"
"Nine ninety-nine!" King adds, before the shot fades to commercial.
Author's Note: Done purely for fun. If you want someone to blame, this wasn't my idea- twitter cjhannas/status/525488002299351040
