Getting ready for a big pay-per-view match was always an intense experience for Ronda. It was also an experience that she hadn't had for some time. During her last run, before taking time off to head back to Hollywood after finishing the Revolutionary documentary, she hadn't been booked in a meaningful rivalry at all. The upcoming match promised to be right at the opposite end of that particular scale.

Frankly, she thought as she watched Seth carefully taping up one of her wrists, WWE's women's roster was lacking some depth at the moment. Due a combination of factors ranging from retirement in the case of Devon Dawson, to pregnancy in the case of Sarita Lopez, to moving on after contract expiry in the case of several others, the division certainly wasn't what it had once been.

At least the future looked bright, though. Hunter hadn't reduced his commitment to women's wrestling - it was just going through a period of change. There were several hot prospects in the NXT women's division, including Ronda's friend Charlotte Flair, who had decided to try her hand at wrestling after her father had passed away, as a tribute to him. Sasha Banks and Asuka were two other names that people were speaking highly of. When Hunter chose to call up some of those women to join herself, Elena, Bayley, Nikki Bella and Paige, Ronda knew that they would be set for a long time to come.

"You okay, babe?" Seth asked. "You don't seem focused like you usually are, especially before a match this big."

Snapping out of her thoughts, Ronda smiled at her husband. "I was just thinking about the other women, hoping Hunter makes some call ups from NXT soon. I'd love to wrestle Charlotte. She's really got the potential to be something special. Seeing how good she is, I can't believe she didn't start out years ago to be honest."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Seth said, moving on to taping up her other wrist. "You guys could have one hell of a match. Imagine a triple threat with Daga?"

"Don't," Ronda said, eyes widening at the prospect. "I think that would be my dream match."

"Time to get your game face on though, babe. You've got a very big, very violent match ahead of you. Are you ready?"

"I'm ready," she nodded, with a steely look of determination.

"That's more like it."


Standing alone behind the curtain, Ronda could hear the crowd all over Elena after her music faded out. There was a short promo for her opponent to cut before her music would hit.

"Go ahead, boo me," she heard Elena begin. The crowd gladly obliged her. "You can boo all you want, and you can stand there in your stupid Team Rousey shirts. Look at this dumb bitch in the front row. Don't stick your finger up at me, girl. I'll come out there and break your face."

Ronda had to chuckle despite trying to remain focused. That was so typical of Daga.

"I know why you're booing. You're doing it because you came here expecting to see Ronda Rousey and Elena D'Agostino go at it like we did last time, only more violent, more brutal, more bloody. And you wanted to see Ronda beat me again."

The fans cheered their agreement.

"But that's not going to happen. Unless you've spent the last few weeks, what is the stupid American expression? Living under a rock? Unless you've been doing that for the last few weeks, you will know by now that I now own Ronda Rousey."

Boos rained down, but Elena carried on, shouting over the top of them. "I terrorised Ronda Rousey. I destroyed Ronda Rousey. There will be not unsanctioned fight here tonight, because Ronda Rousey will not dare to show up. The thought of even having to look into my eyes again is too terrifying for her. She's weak, pathetic, like all of you."

More boos, which were still ignored. "So what's going to happen now is, I'm going to stand here and take a win by forfeit, then get the hell out of this dump you call a city."

"Okay, Ronda, in three," one of the crew called out. She took in a breath and got ready for her music to hit.

The fans erupted when the theme for their favourite female star began to play, and the roof nearly came off the arena when they saw Ronda sprint out through the curtain, running to the ring as fast as she could to get her hands on her nemesis.

As she ran, Ronda tried to take in the reaction she was getting. It was always such a great feeling to have everyone in the building going insane just because they heard her music. Nearing the ring, she ran right past Maggie and her boyfriend, who Seth had managed to hook up with ringside tickets. They were in the corner next to the entrance way, and they were roaring her on along with everyone else.

Sliding under the bottom rope, Ronda saw that Elena had played her part perfectly, struggling to get her arms out of the leather jacket that she had worn to the ring. It was the same one she had been wearing during the abduction scenes, and the jeans she had on could possibly have been the same ones too, as if her character wanted those things to serve as a reminder to Ronda of what she had been through.

If that had been the plan, it didn't work. As planned ahead of time, Ronda took the advantage right away, connecting with several thunderous left hands, each one knocking Elena down, only to have her bounce right back up again. It took her until after the third punch to get the jacket off and free her arms.

Within moments the action had spilled to the outside. Still with the momentum, and with the fans still going crazy, Ronda launched her opponent clean across the Spanish announce table, taking out the men sitting behind it.

The war was underway.


Physically exhausted after half an hour of the most extreme violence that WWE allowed, Ronda lay on her back in the middle of the ring, looking up at the lights. Broken remains of tables and almost ever other weapon that could possibly be found under a wrestling ring littered the ringside area.

Blood had been flowing from a painful laceration on her back for the past several minutes. The injury had been sustained when she had been whipped into a table which had been propped upright against the turnbuckles in the corner of the ring. When she'd hit the table, the wood had broken as intended, but she had ended up sliding down a piece of the metal framework, slicing her back like a carving knife.

Looking over at Elena, who lay nearby, she saw her friend wiping blood from her face, telling the referee to leave her alone. A cut above her right eye was responsible, caused by a punch that Ronda had accidentally connected with. One hell of a black eye would develop over the coming days. Daga could take a beating, though, as evidenced by the fact that her back had been worn red raw in places by shots from not one, but three kendo sticks. The fans had loved that, seeing arguably the most hated heel in the company being battered with all three sticks consecutively, until all three were completely broken.

Ronda could feel bruising developing on her own back, thanks to several chair shots, the last of which had left them in the current situation, with both women down.

First to stir, Ronda heard the fans start to chant her name in encouragement, seeing that she could use any help she could get. The much hated Elena had taken an ass kicking, but she hadn't been finished off. For the next spot, Ronda needed to climb to the top rope. It was a highly unusual thing for her, and it caused the cheering to increase even more. Unfortunately for the crowd, Elena got up in time and rushed her before she could attempt a move.

A top rope superplex was a fairly standard move to take, and Ronda had done so many times before. This one was executed well by Elena, but as soon as Ronda hit the mat she knew she was in trouble. Big trouble.

Pain exploded in her neck, the very last thing she wanted to happen. Immediately, she thought back to the much less significant pain she had felt months earlier, in her last few matches before taking time off. She had dismissed it as a muscle or ligament strain and had decided not to mention it to anyone. That had been a very serious mistake, she now knew. In addition to the pain, she felt pins and needles in her right hand. Trying not to panic, she took a few seconds to check that all of her extremities worked. They did. That was enough for a sigh of relief.

Elena crawled over and covered her. The match had to go on, so Ronda kicked out at two. The end of the match was not far away. If there was one thing that might be called lucky, that was it. Ronda knew she had to get the match over with and get to the back with the doctors as soon as she could. It didn't take much brain power to figure out that there was a serious problem, and that it related to her past neck injury. The pins and needles were still there, and although the initial burst of pain had faded somewhat, trying to move was still painful. The real question was, how bad was the damage?

"You okay?" the referee asked, making a show of checking on her for the benefit of the audience.

"My neck. I can finish, but tell her to do it now."

Without questioning her further, the referee went over to Elena and passed on the message.

Luckily, the finish required Ronda to appear almost defeated, lying on the canvas. It was the only thing she felt capable of anyway. Elena would now be climbing out of the ring to fetch a baseball bat from under the apron.

The Italian reappeared, standing over Ronda, glaring down at her with nothing but hatred as she raised the bat high in the air, ready to strike the killer blow. However, Ronda wrapped her legs around one of Elena's and used the advantage to pull her down. After a few moments of frantic grappling, with both women desperate to get the upper hand, Ronda ended up with the bat in her hands, lying on her back, with Elena on top of her, with the bat seemingly crushing her throat.

Selling the fact that she couldn't breathe, Elena thrashed around, trying to claw away at Ronda's hands and the bat. The crowd roared in delight as Elena began to fade, but Ronda was finding every second to be torture. The way she had to position herself to sell the fact that she was putting all of her effort into crushing her opponent's throat with the bat was putting weight on her neck, and the pain was excruciating.

In kayfabe, Elena was almost unconscious now. One of her hands weakly tried to pry one of Ronda's away from the bat, before it fell to the canvas. Only then, with a motion that was barely perceptible, she tapped out.

The crowd erupted in delight, but celebration was the last thing on Ronda's mind. As soon as Elena rolled off her and the pressure on her neck was gone, the pain reduced significantly, but Ronda knew that did not mean much. Having already suffered one serious neck injury in her life, she knew the signs were bad. Not catastrophic, but bad. At least the pins and needles had stopped, that was something.

"Are you okay?" the referee asked again, crouching down next to her.

"My neck has gone," she told him through gritted teeth. He responded by gesturing for the ringside doctor to enter the ring.

Her music continued to play, but as she had made no attempt to celebrate the victory or even get to her feet, the crowd had sensed that something was wrong and had fallen almost silent. Ronda sat up, glad that it didn't actually hurt too much.

"What's happened, Ronda?" the doctor asked as he knelt down in front of her, a look of concern on his face.

"My neck. Something happened to it on that superplex. It hurt really bad for a while. Feels like it's wearing off a bit now, but something's definitely wrong."

"Any numbness in your arms now, or anywhere else?"

"I did have pins and needles in my right hand, but it's gone now."

The doctor seemed relieved by that. "Okay, we need to get you to the back. Do you want me to get a stretcher down here?"

"I don't think I need one. I want to try and walk out if I can. You'll have to send me for scans, right?"

"Yeah. We'll get that done for you as soon as we can. Right now though, let's worry about getting you out of the ring, okay? I'll help you try and stand. If you get any pain or numbness, tell me and I'll get a stretcher down here. We don't want to risk making it worse."

Ronda's music faded out just before the doctor helped her to her feet. Thankfully, there was no fresh wave of pain. The worst seemed to be over, not that it was much comfort. There was still obviously a serious problem. She saw that Elena had already disappeared from the ring. The fans started to applaud, showing both respect and concern, not that she could really take it in.

"You alright?" the doctor asked as he helped her over to the ropes.

"Yeah. I can walk. You don't need to help me, thank you."

"Okay." The doctor held the ropes open to make it easier for her to get out of the ring.

Walking down the steps, Ronda realised that she was going to walk right past Maggie and Adam, both of whom had worried looks on their faces. Maggie also had tears in her eyes.

"Ronnie, what's happened?" her best friend asked when she was close enough. "Is it your neck?"

"Yeah. I got a lot of pain on that superplex. It's wearing off, but something's wrong. I'm going to have to get it looked at."

"Oh God," Maggie gasped as a tear made its way down her cheek.

"Don't cry," Ronda said, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze. "Who knows, maybe it's not too bad?" Neither of them believed that, but it was just the kind of thing that people said to comfort each other. With that, the doctor lead her the rest of the way up the aisle, with the fans still applauding and some of them chanting her name.

Seth was right there as soon as she walked through the curtain, with a look of concern bordering on panic on his face. He was careful not to hug her in case he caused further pain. "Babe, what happened? Is it your neck?"

"Yeah. Something's wrong. It's not hurting too bad now, but there's definitely something wrong. I got a lot of pain on the superplex and I had pins and needles in my right hand for a minute or so."

"We're going to have to send her for scans," the doctor said, to Hunter more than anyone else. The boss had just walked over to join them.

"I'm okay, I think," Ronda tried to assure Hunter and Seth. "I can still feel pain, but it's not too bad. I think I got away with the worst of it."

"It's still a bad sign, with a history like yours," Hunter said with concern of his own. He was referring to her previous neck injury.

"I know," Ronda sighed, feeling a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"But we've got access to the best doctors in the world," Hunter reminded her. "We'll make sure you get the very best care, whatever the scans say, okay?"

"Thanks, Hunter. I just want to go to my locker room, if that's okay?"

"Doc?" Hunter asked.

The doctor nodded his agreement. "I don't see anything to be immediately concerned about. Obviously no physical activity at all until you've had your scans, though, Ronda. No training, nothing. Understood?"

"Yes," Ronda mumbled, deflated.

"Alright," Hunter said, resting a hand on Ronda's shoulder for a moment. She could see in his eyes that he felt her pain, at least the emotional side of it. He had suffered serious injuries of his own in the past and had been told that his career might be over, only to come back stronger than ever. "We'll contact you with info on your appointment for scans. And for what it's worth, you guys killed it out there."

"I'll come by in a few minutes at get that cut cleaned up for you," the doctor added, gesturing to her back.

Ronda nodded. She had forgotten all about the wound, even though it was still bleeding.

"Talk to Daga," Hunter said as a parting shot. "She's got the idea that she fucked up and hurt you. I told her it didn't look like she did to me, but, yeah, just talk to her will you?"

"Of course. This wasn't her fault at all." Ronda looked further along the hallway to where Elena was sitting on top of an equipment crate. Bayley was standing beside her, obviously trying to comfort her as a member of the medical team worked on the cut above her eye. The Italian looked more downcast than Ronda had ever seen her before.

When they were far enough away from Hunter and the doctor, but not yet close enough to be overheard by Elena and Bayley, Seth took Ronda's hand and stopped walking. He looked into her eyes and she saw nothing but love there. "I'm here with you, honey. Whatever might happen with this, I'm here for you. I love you."

Squeezing his hand, Ronda leaned in and kissed him on the lips. "I know you are, honey. Let's be honest, I was always on borrowed time with my neck," she admitted with an air of resignation.

"Don't talk like that. The scans might come back with good news."

"Yeah," Ronda agreed. There wasn't much else she could have said. She wanted to be as hopeful as he was, but it was not working. She had already made one decision on her walk from the ring. If this ended with her being told that she needed neck surgery to carry on wrestling, she was not going to do it. She had been through that experience before: the surgery, and even worse, the rehab. It was not something she could go through again, or, frankly, something she needed to go through again. Yes, wrestling was what she loved to do, but she simply did not think it was worth going through all of that pain and suffering again to keep doing it. Even if she did, how long could she possibly wrestle for before her neck went again? There was the possibility of a really serious injury as well, maybe even paralysis. That thought terrified her like nothing else on Earth. She had heard people say in the past that when your time came to retire, you just knew it was your time. In that moment, that was how she felt. If her neck was as bad as she suspected, this was her time.

"What are you thinking?" Seth asked softly.

"I'm thinking that if they tell me I need surgery, I'm not doing it. I can't go through that again. Maybe I've done enough in wrestling, honey. Maybe it's time to retire." She surprised herself with how easily she was able to say it.

Seth risked hugging her, being as gentle as he could. "Whatever you want to do, I'm with you. I always will be. If you do stop doing this, there's a whole world of other options out there for you. Let's not decide anything until the we get the results of the scans though, huh?"

"Of course," Ronda replied, hugging him tightly for a moment. His support in that moment, as she faced the real prospect that she might have just had her last match, was invaluable to her. "Let's go speak to Daga. I need to make sure she knows this wasn't her fault."

"Ronda, I'm so sorry," Elena said, getting up off the equipment case as she and Seth approached. "I can't believe I hurt you..."

"Daga, stop," Ronda said, giving her friend a reassuring smile. "You did nothing wrong at all. The only one who fucked up in that match was me, punching you in the face. I'm the one who's sorry, okay? You know I had major neck surgery years ago. This kind of thing was probably always going to happen at some point. You did nothing wrong on that superplex at all. I want you to get the idea that you fucked up out of your head, because you didn't. This could have happened when I was in the ring with Bayley, or Nikki, or anyone else. It happened to be you. That doesn't make it your fault. All I have to say to you is, if my scans come back with bad news and that proves to be my last match, I can live with it. It was amazing. Thank you."

"Oh, Ronda," Elena breathed, then hugged her friend. "I love you, you know that, yes?" Her genuine relief that Ronda did not blame her for what had happened was palpable, but so was her grief at the fact that her friend now feared for her career.

"Of course. I love you too. I'm going to go, Daga. I need some time with Seth, alright? But like I said, I don't want you blaming yourself for this. It wasn't your fault."

"Okay." The Italian released her embrace, then Bayley wished Ronda good luck with her scans.

Hand in hand, Ronda and Seth walked towards their locker room. "I still think the news might not be as bad as you're thinking," Seth said hopefully.

Ronda looked at him and forced a smile. "We'll see."