Monday Night Raw – 5th March 2018
Kurt Angle opened the second hour of the show by coming to the ring to cut a promo. He began by addressing the blockbuster announcements Vince McMahon had made at the top of the show. Declaring that his past issues with Shane McMahon were exactly that, he promised a harmonious working relationship between Raw's new management team when the time came.
"But that's all going to start after Wrestlemania," Kurt said. "And frankly, there is some more pressing business to be dealt with tonight." He paused for a second then said, "Seth Rollins, and La Arquitecta, Zelina Vega."
Those individuals were not popular. The names were greeted with boos.
"Yes, exactly," Angle said in acknowledgement of the reaction. "Last week, something happened that I took particular offense to. I will be the first admit that it happened, and that it was my own fault. Zelina Vega made me look a fool."
"No comment," Graves said sarcastically on commentary.
"She marched right into my office, ranting and raving about Finn Balor injuring Seth Rollins. With her convincing performance, I believed her. I should have known better. You see, Ms Vega flat-out, brazenly lied to my face. Seth Rollins was not unable to compete. In fact, he wasn't even hurt. They tricked me into taking Seth out of a match with Samoa Joe and putting Finn Balor in the match in his place. I hold my hand up for that error in judgement," he said, doing exactly that.
"However," he went on in a firmer tone, "I have to wonder how well Zelina Vega thought through her little scheme. Is she the architectural genius she sees herself as, or was she just getting all hot-headed because Finn attacked Seth? Personally, I suspect the latter, because while lying to me might have worked last week, I don't know what La Arquitecta expected to happen when she showed up with her client this week."
"Good point," Cole opined.
"What I can tell you is what is going to happen," Kurt said emphatically. "Seth Rollins will compete tonight, one on one, against Finn Balor. And if he doesn't..."
He had to stop because the fans were loudly cheering the fact that Finn was going to get a chance at revenge for the robbery that he had been a victim of at Elimination Chamber.
"And if he doesn't compete," Kurt said again once he could be heard, "Seth Rollins will forfeit his number one contendership at Wrestlemania."
"Come on!" Graves protested. "What is this about? Kurt Angle has an agenda against Seth Rollins."
"What?" Booker objected, making the suggestion sound ridiculous. "All he said was Rollins has to compete. He's just trying to avoid any more ridiculous antics from Vega."
"Well I don't like it. At all. And Zelina Vega won't like it either, you can trust me on that."
"What a shame that'll be," Cole said dryly.
Kurt's promo continued, but as far as Seth and Zelina's angle was concerned, it was over.
After the next match, Seth and Zelina were shown arriving at the arena, seeming indifferent to the fact they were more than an hour late. They didn't get far before Renee Young approached them.
"Zelina, Seth, can I get a moment of your time, please?"
Zelina looked a long way from impressed by the prospect, but she did stop walking, Seth standing by his side.
"You're rather late arriving," Renee said as an opening.
It was clear by her expression that Zelina took offense to that. She actually recoiled a little. "Oh, I'm sorry, Renee McMahon," she spat. "I forgot that I have to show up here and answer to you." As was often the case, the New York in her accent got thicker when she was annoyed.
"Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it," Renee said quickly. "I was just trying to lead in to my question about whether you're aware of Kurt Angle's announcement?"
Zelina glanced up at Seth, then looked back at Renee. "What announcement?" she asked with a real edge to her tone.
"Seth has to face Finn Balor one on one tonight. If he doesn't compete, he forfeits the title match at Wrestlemania."
"God damn it!" Seth exclaimed in frustration, pacing around behind Zelina.
Meanwhile, she glared viciously at Renee for delivering the bad news, as if being the messenger made it her fault. "In ancient Greece, you would have been killed for this." Zelina paused. "Luckily, we've evolved," she added, calming down a little. She slapped Seth on the chest without looking at him. "Do you know who this is right here?"
"Seth Rollins," Renee replied cautiously.
"This is the rebuilt Seth Rollins," Zelina clarified. "And tonight, he will beat Finn Balor. Watch him."
With that, Zelina walked away, Seth following closely behind.
With Finn Balor in the ring, ready for Raw's main event, Seth Rollins' music hit.
"And here comes the man Zelina Vega now describes as the rebuilt Seth Rollins," Cole said. "As it stands, Rollins is the man who will face Braun Strowman at Wrestlemania for the WWE Universal Championship."
"What do you mean 'as it stands'?" Graves demanded as Rollins and Vega walked out onto the stage.
"Rollins isn't competing in the match yet," Cole pointed out. "If he doesn't, he forfeits his Wrestlemania opportunity."
"Wait a minute," Booker said. "It looks like Zelina Vega is coming over here."
Indeed she was, while Seth went down to the ring. There was no fourth chair or headset available for a guest commentator, so Zelina pointed at Booker and ordered, "Move."
"What?" Booker asked her, incredulous.
By now, Graves was already on his feet. "Are you deaf, Booker? The lady said move."
"Move!" Zelina repeated even louder, pointing towards the backstage area.
Reluctantly, Booker took off his headset and got up. The fans booed what was happening. Zelina was getting heat quite quickly.
"Zelina Vega is joining us for commentary, apparently," Cole said, using the last word as a bit of a dig at her.
"That's right, Cole," she said, sitting down after putting her headset on. "Since there's so much obvious bias against my client and I on this show, I decided someone should redress the balance. What we're about to watch is the rebuilt Seth Rollins defeat Finn Balor."
The match had just started in the ring. "And we're underway in this one," Cole announced. "With that, Kurt Angle's stipulation about Rollins forfeiting his Wrestlemania match no longer applies."
"It never should have applied to start with," Vega said heatedly.
"This is exactly what I was saying earlier," Graves cut in, sucking up to their guest. "I said Kurt Angle has an agenda against Seth Rollins."
The commentary table was shown on the screen as Zelina pointed her infamous finger at Graves. "Corey, don't interrupt me again. But you are right; Angle does have an agenda. But you see, so do I. My agenda is that by the time Wrestlemania is over, Seth Rollins will be the Universal Champion."
With that, they settled into actually calling the match, which turned out to an unsurprisingly high quality contest between two of the best in the business. Both men went through periods of having the upper hand.
The end appeared that it might be at hand when Finn seemed to get a second wind, suddenly hitting a string of moves on Rollins, who was figuratively on the ropes. The only problem Balor had was that the referee had accidently been knocked down a minute or so earlier by Seth.
"I wish I could say it was a pleasure," Zelina said to the other two commentators before tearing her headset off and leaving the table.
"Where's she going?" Cole demanded.
The noise from the crowd rose when they saw her marching down the ramp. They knew she was going to do something, and were trying to alert Finn to the danger.
"Slingblade," Graves called out as Balor hit the move.
Seth was trying to make it back to his feet in a corner on the back side of the ring. Sensing an opportunity to win, Finn started walking backwards towards the opposite corner, psyching himself up. His intention was to deliver a dropkick into the corner, which would then set up the Coup de Grace.
Unfortunately for the Irishman, Zelina had just entered the ring and was now standing behind him.
"Look out, Finn!" Cole called out.
As soon as Balor was in range, Zelina kicked him as hard as she could between the legs.
With the crowd booing and groaning in equal measure, Finn collapsed to the mat, screaming in pain and holding his wounded area.
"That was blatant!" Cole objected strongly. "Blatant low blow by Vega. That's a disqualification right there."
"No referee to call it," Graves pointed out.
The aforementioned referee was just starting to stir. Seeing that, Vega bailed from the ring. From the outside, she yelled, "Seth! Get on him! Quick!"
Rollins seemed to come to his senses and got to his feet. He found himself presented with a gift of the highest order. Balor was on all fours in the middle of the ring.
"Oh, come on!" Cole protested as Rollins hit the ropes.
"Curb Stomp," Graves called. "Cover!"
The referee had just crawled back into a position where he could make a count.
One.
Two.
Three.
There was barely a reaction from the crowd to the three count, such was the cheapness of the win.
"This is pathetic," Cole complained.
Vega and Rollins didn't seem to agree. She had joined him in the ring, and was raising his hand triumphantly.
Cole went on. "That's the second time Balor has had a victory all but in the bag over Rollins, only for Zelina Vega to get involved and cost him. Someone should do something about these two."
As if on cue, Seth's music quickly faded out.
"BRAUN!"
The fans went crazy as the champion's music hit. Zelina and Seth whipped around to face the stage as the monster came walking on to it. Her eyes were wide in fear.
"Braun Strowman!" Cole yelled. "You've got to believe he's coming for Rollins."
He might well have been, but he wasn't going to get his wish. Before he was halfway down the ramp, Zelina was practically pushing Seth out of the ring.
"Rollins and Vega are in full retreat, and who can blame them?" Graves asked as number one contender and manager climbed over the barrier into the crowd.
Strowman hit the ring, looking out at the two people he had chased off, who were now safely about ten rows back from ringside.
Raising both arms, the champion shouted, "Braun!" The fans all joined in.
"Seth Rollins and Zelina Vega are terrified of Braun Strowman," Cole said. "Look at them."
"Wouldn't you be?" Graves countered. "Somehow, between now and Wrestlemania, La Arquitecta has got to come up with a plan that will see Seth Rollins beat Braun Strowman."
While Rollins and Vega retreated, Finn Balor began to slowly crawl across the ring. He would have been better served not to, since all he succeeded in doing was making Braun notice him.
Unable to get his hands on Rollins, Strowman decided to use the means available to him to send a message to his soon-to-be challenger.
"Wait a minute," Cole said as Balor was picked up. "Wait a minute! Strowman has Balor up on his shoulders."
After pointing at Seth, Strowman delivered a thunderous running powerslam. Standing back up, he gave the Braun pose once more. Again, the entire crowd shouted his name along with him.
Seth and Zelina were shown on the screen, both looking extremely concerned with what they had just seen.
Cole said, "If Braun Strowman hits the running powerslam on Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania, he will walk out the Universal Champion."
To close the show, Graves added, "Big problems on the mind of Zelina Vega, on the road to Wrestlemania."
A/N: We picked up some new reviewers and followers last time. Welcome along, guys. And shout out to the regular reviewers as well. You guys are amazing.
I hope you enjoyed this kayfabe chapter? How do you think Zelina is handling her new role as promo for Seth?
What do you think will happen on the next episode? I think we can safely say Finn won't be happy, since they screwed him again. Angle probably won't be overjoyed about it, either.
I would love to get your thoughts and/or predictions, so please do leave a review and join in the fun. :)