Smackdown Live – February 25th 2020
Smackdown's second hour began with Sonya Deville's music playing. As ever, it was met with boos from the crowd. When Sonya walked out onto the stage, she wasn't alone.
"At Fastlane, Sonya Deville defeated Clementine, earning herself the right to face Trish Stratus at Wrestlemania," Renee said. "But that's only half the story."
"It's the important half of the story," Graves opined. "What you're alluding to, though, is the return of the woman we see accompanying Deville to the ring. Melina shocked the world by returning to WWE, attacking Trish Stratus, who was interfering in the match on Clementine's behalf."
"What?" Renee cried, outraged by that comment. "The only thing Trish did was stop Deville cheating to win. And none of that answers the question of why Melina was even in the building. Why has she come back to WWE?"
"Hopefully we're about to find out," Graves said.
Sonya and Melina were in the ring, and Deville had fetched herself a microphone. "So I can beat Clementine after all," she gloated when her music faded out, drawing more boos. "Don't boo me! I told you all along there was only so long Clem could keep getting lucky against me. I told you she was a fraud. And I was proven right. I beat Clementine, and I now have a guaranteed match with Trish Stratus at Wrestlemania."
Melina was shown nodding her agreement and approval. Sonya looked at her and smiled. There was a touch of evil in it.
"As tempting as it is to revel in the fact that Clementine is out of Wrestlemania, I had a better idea," Sonya continued. "You see, I wasn't the only one who wanted to face Trish Stratus. Melina here also wanted Trish, for reasons she will reveal in a moment. So, I was thinking about making the Wrestlemania match a handicap match, pitting Melina and I against Trish. But then I realised it could get even better still. Therefore, Melina and myself have requested, and been granted, a tag team match at Wrestlemania. Our opponents will be Trish Stratus and Clementine."
The fans cheered that news, glad of the fact that Clem would be going to Wrestlemania after all.
"I wouldn't be cheering if I were you," Sonya warned. "This isn't going to be some fairy tale story for you to get warm and gooey about. This is going be the beat down to end all beat downs. At Fastlane, I defeated Clementine. At Wrestlemania, I'm going to end her."
That promise concluded Sonya's part of the promo. She handed the microphone over to Melina, who received a fresh chorus of boos. If it bothered her, she certainly didn't show it. "For the past two days, everyone has been wanting to know why I showed up at Fastlane. Why is Melina back in WWE? That's the question everyone has been asking." Her expression hardened. "My question is why wouldn't I be back in WWE? Actually, why wasn't I back in WWE sooner?"
"What's Melina talking about?" Renee asked.
"There have been three women's Royal Rumble matches. Three!" Melina emphasised heatedly. "And how many was I invited to compete in? None, that's how many. Yet Trish Stratus has been in all three. All three! And have I been inducted into the WWE hall of fame? No. But Trish Stratus has. Those things were bad enough, but the final straw was when Trish showed up the week after the rumble and was literally handed a Wrestlemania match for absolutely no reason. I wasn't going to sit at home and let it slide anymore. It was time someone did something about the blatant favouritism in WWE. It was time someone did something about Trish Stratus. That someone is me!"
"Quite the statement by Melina," Graves said as the fans booed.
"At Wrestlemania," Melina continued, "not only will Sonya put an end to Clementine, I will rid WWE of Trish Stratus permanently."
"It's over with!"
The crowd came to their feet, cheering Clementine's music loudly. Clem walked out onto the stage with Trish Stratus beside her. Both of them looked unimpressed with what they had just heard. The two new arrivals both had microphones in hand. It was Clementine who spoke first when her music faded.
"Oh, Melina, let's be honest for a moment, shall we? You claim 'everyone' has been asking why you're back in WWE. The truth is no one gives a damn why you're back in WWE. No one missed you while you were gone, and no one wanted you back." The fans cheered at Melina's expense, while she was shown with an angry look on her face. "And Sonya, you think you proved something Sunday by kicking me in the head after your new friend there distracted me? You didn't. You proved nothing. You might have pinned me. Good for you. But you've still not beaten me fair and square, and we both know it. I've got news for you, Sonya. None of what I just said is going to change at Wrestlemania. I'm going to drop you with the Diamond in the Rough again, and we all know that when that happens…"
"It's over with," the fans said on her behalf.
"That's right," Trish said, taking over. "I want to be clear that while I would have been delighted to face Clem at Wrestlemania, I'm equally delighted to team up with her. That's bad news for you, Melina because you stand out here telling us 'everyone' wanted to know why you came back to WWE? By the time I've finished kicking your ass all over Miami Gardens, you'll be left as the one wondering why Melina came back to WWE."
As Trish glared down at her future opponent, her music began to play. In that moment, Clementine found it hard to stay in character. It had dawned on her that she was having the time of her life, standing next to Trish Stratus, having just delivered a promo for a match that was going to be on the main card at Wrestlemania. It was mind-blowing in the extreme when she actually thought it through like that.
"It just hit me when we were finishing her promo how lucky I am," Clementine said to Trish. They were in the women's locker room, sitting and chatting away about anything and everything. They had been at it ever since coming back from delivering their segment, nearly an hour earlier. Alexa wasn't part of the conversation as she was out in the arena, competing in the episode's six woman tag team main event.
"There's a lot more to it than luck, Clem," Trish insisted. "You're in great shape, you cut a good promo, your ring work is solid, and you have a character that people want to get behind."
Coming from Trish Stratus, that meant the world to Clem. She felt her cheeks warming up in embarrassment. "I simply play a more confident version of myself, Trish."
"Exactly," Stratus smiled.
The locker room door opened and Dasha Fuentes hurried into the room with a look of concern on her face. Everyone in the locker room looked at her, sensing that something was wrong. "Clem, it's Lexi. You'd better come."
Clementine felt her blood run cold. The bad news was hers. Something had happened to Alexa in the ring. She was hurrying towards the door on instinct before her brain even processed the fact. "What is it? What's happened?" she demanded as she rushed past Dasha, who followed her, running as fast as she could on her heels to try and keep up.
"She was doing a suicide dive spot on the outside with Naomi. I think Naomi caught a bit too much air coming through the ropes, and she almost cleared Lexi. Lexi managed to catch her, but she took a knee in the head in the process. The doctors had a look at her, threw up the X, and brought her straight to the back without her finishing the match."
"Oh no," Clem cried despairingly. "Not another concussion. This is so bad. This is so, so bad."
Alexa had already suffered two concussions in the past few months. Although they had been minor ones, WWE were rightfully very cautious when it came to that kind of injury. Alexa had been pleasantly surprised that she had only been kept of the ring for three weeks on the previous occasion. Now, if this was yet another concussion, Clem could see it being a big problem. And Wrestlemania was only just over a month away. Alexa would be heartbroken if she had to miss it.
It only took Clem a minute to reach the doctor's room. When she got there, the door was standing open. Alexa was sitting on the edge of the bed, with the doctor shining a light into her right eye. Right away, Clem could see that her girl wasn't with it.
"Lexi, I'm here," Clem said, resisting the temptation to rush over to her. She had to let the doctor do his work.
"Clem," Lexi said groggily. There was obvious relief in her voice, knowing that her girl was there. "I don't know what happened."
"You took a knee to the head, and you have a concussion," the doctor informed her.
"How bad is it?" Clem asked, fearing the answer.
"It's not good," the doctor said, now shining the light into Alexa's left eye. "The fact that she can't remember what happened isn't a good sign, either. Alexa, I'm ruling you out of action initially for a week, and you're going to report for tests this Friday. You know the procedure by now."
"Yeah," Alexa mumbled miserably. "How long am I going to be out for?"
"I can't answer that question right now," the doctor said reasonably.
"How long?" Alexa demanded, anger coming through.
Clementine recognised that as a part of the concussion. Mood swings could be one of the primary effects. She walked over and took Alexa's hand, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead. "It's okay, Lexi. Don't get angry with the doc, he's just doing his job."
Alexa looked up and Clem, which also meant looking up at the lights. She squinted her eyes against the painful brightness. "Clem, I don't want to be out of action."
Sighing, feeling her heart breaking at seeing the love of her life in obvious pain and confusion, Clementine sat down on the bed and wrapped Alexa in her arms. She caught the sympathetic look on the doctor's face. He was a good guy, who always treated his patients well in Clem's experience.
"Spend a few days at home resting, and we'll see how you are Friday," he said, trying to sound encouraging.
"It'll be okay, Lexi," Clem whispered, holding her tight. "It'll be okay, baby." She had almost made it a promise, but had realised just before saying it that it wasn't a promise she could make. Feeling herself tear up, she confronted the reality that it probably wasn't going to be okay.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to this story. I've had so many going on lately, this one kind of got left behind for a while. But I'm going to focus on it for a while now.
Bad news for Lexi, getting another concussion. What do you think her diagnosis will be? How long will she be out of action?