"We both want to thank you, Hunter," Seth said.
He and Zelina had just walked into the boss's office backstage before Smackdown's Fully Loaded pay-per-view. The previous day, they had gotten the news that, thanks to a lot of help from the team at WWE headquarters, David Hernandez had been issued with a second restraining order. This one had been brought by Zelina personally rather than WWE, and prevented David from coming within fifty feet of her. If he repeated his stunt from the week before outside of the hotel, he would be going back to jail.
Seth had explained the incident to the rest of the guys on the bus by saying that David was a stalker fan who Zelina had had problems with for some time. They had seemed to accept the story on face value, since they had no reason not to. Joe had promised that if he saw David near her again, he would flatten him. It had made Zelina feel safer, knowing that not only Seth, but the others as well would have her back if the unthinkable happened and the son of a bitch dared to show his face again.
"Don't mention it," Hunter said. "Sadly, it's not the first time we've had to do something like this. Don't worry, Zelina, he's not going to come near you again now."
"Thanks," Zelina smiled. She had been shaken up for a few hours after David had confronted her, until Seth had contacted Hunter and he had suggested applying for the second, stricter restraining order. It had been harder to get approved than the first, but David's past criminal record had presumably made the decision come down in their favour.
"He's lucky. I really was going to end him," Seth said.
Hunter grimaced. "Well, now you don't have to. And we don't have to worry about having one of our top guys in jail."
"No, but we could do with that scumbag in there. Or swinging from the end of a few feet of rope."
"I hear you," Hunter said in an understanding tone. "But realistically, we've done what we can."
"Yeah, I know," Seth sighed, trying to stop himself getting worked up again.
"Have you guys read over the format for tonight?" Hunter asked, trying to brighten the mood as well as change the subject.
Zelina nodded. "Yeah."
"Thoughts?"
"Surprised," she went with after some consideration.
Hunter laughed. "That sounds about right. It's kind of what we're going for."
They talked over each of The Vega Cartel's three matches on the show for a few minutes, then Hunter said, "Zelina, your idea for a match with Renee came up for discussion a couple of days ago."
"It was Vince's idea, not mine," Zelina corrected.
"Okay," Hunter said indifferently. "Whoever's idea it was, the point is that it's going ahead. At next month's Smackdown pay-per-view, Payback, you and Renee will be in action. She's working four days a week down in Orlando between now and then so that we can get her ready."
"Wow, thanks, Hunter," Zelina said. There was a likelihood that the match would stink, since she hadn't wrestled a match in over a year herself, and Renee hadn't ever had one. But even so, it was a main roster match, on a pay-per-view. That wasn't something to turn your nose up at. "Who's going over?" she asked, half as a joke.
"Undecided as yet. But the build will start in earnest Tuesday night, following some comments Renee has been instructed to make tonight."
"Congrats, babe," Seth said warmly. Since Hunter knew they were a couple, there was no need to wait.
"Thank you," Zelina smiled happily.
"Oh, there is one more thing," Hunter said, looking like his memory had just jogged. "Seth, I need the room for a minute, please."
"Uh, okay," Seth said uneasily.
Zelina felt the same way he did. Once he had closed the door, she said, "Hunter, anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of Seth."
"I appreciate that, but that's not how we do contract discussions."
"Contract discussions?" she asked in surprise.
"Not official discussions. You'll come to the office for that in due course. But I wanted to let you know that since you're coming up on a year with us, you're up for review. You're on our rolling starter contract right now, as you know. You've proven yourself worthy of something better, so this is a heads up that you're going to be offered a multi-year deal, for more money, of course. Keep doing what you're doing, Zelina. You have a great future here if you do."
"Thanks, Hunter. That really means a lot."
"You're welcome," Hunter said in a manner that was clearly intended to bring the informal chat to a close.
WWE Fully Loaded – April 29th 2018
The women's championship match between Bayley and Carmella had been going on for just under ten minutes. It was the second of three title matches for the members of The Vega Cartel. So far, their leader, who was at ringside to watch Bayley in action, had every reason to be happy.
"A reminder that Bobby Roode and Samoa Joe won the Smackdown Tag Team Championships in our opening contest earlier tonight," Coach said.
"Zelina Vega promised a clean sweep tonight," Graves said. "So far, she's on course to deliver on that promise. And you know what else she said: Whoever has the gold, has the power."
"Don't remind me," Renee said, sounding like she was cringing at the thought. Just as she was speaking, Carmella got her finishing move out of nowhere on Bayley. "Oh! The Mella Buster! That's got to be all!"
It might have been, but before Carmella could roll her opponent over and make a pin, Zelina was up on the apron, shouting at the referee. He went over there to try and make her get down.
"Come on!" Renee protested. "Vega's up on the apron, while Carmella's got the match won!"
It was true. Carmella was covering Bayley, and the crowd counted all the way to five, let alone three. Zelina was shown still berating the referee, for who knew what manufactured reason.
"Get her down from there. This is ridiculous," Coach said.
"Zelina's not doing anything," Graves said, defending her.
"Not doing anything?" Renee objected. "She's up on the apron, where she's not supposed to be, and she's distracting the referee!"
Carmella had figured out why her pin wasn't being counted. She got up, rushed over to Zelina and took a swing at her. Vega was able to jump off the apron quickly enough to avoid catching a fist to the face. "Stay the hell off there!" Carmella screamed at her.
Behind the champion, Bayley wasn't as out of it as she had seemed. "Wait a minute," Coach said as she crawled over to Carmella, pulled her down from behind and rolled her over into a pinning combination.
One.
Two.
"Tights! Tights!" Renee shouted, as if trying to alert the referee to the fact that Bayley was cheating.
Three.
The crowd groaned in disappointment at the ridiculous so-called victory.
"No! Bayley had the tights!" Renee protested in genuine anger.
By the time the ring announcer started announcing the winner, Bayley and Zelina were already celebrating at the bottom of the entrance ramp, while Carmella argued her case with the referee, telling him what had happened. The ref wasn't interested, and left the ring to hand the title belt to the new champion.
Bayley snatched the belt when she was offered it and raised it in the air in celebration, with the music for The Vega Cartel playing. Dressed in all black ring attire, with her hair down, cheating to win, this was definitely a new Bayley. It was a new Bayley that no one liked. No one apart from Zelina Vega, of course, who looked delighted. She held up two fingers, with the message being clear.
"Cry about it all you want, Renee," Graves said. "The cartel are two for two, and with that, Bayley completes the Triple Crown. She's won the NXT Women's Championship, the Raw Women's Championship and now the Smackdown Women's Championship."
"How proud she must be of the way she did it," Renee griped. "She had two fists full of Carmella's tights, for God's sake. She stole the title from the woman who used to be her best friend."
"Should Seth Rollins beats AJ Styles for the WWE Championship later tonight, you might as well say goodbye to your friend Stephanie McMahon," Graves went on, ignoring her comments.
"Surely that can't happen?" Renee said. "Surely they can't win all three? Not all three, they can't."
"They can. And they will."
The look on Zelina's face conveyed the same message as Graves' words. For Seth, failure in the main event would not be an option.
"This has been an amazing match," Graves said, fifteen minutes into the main event. Seth Rollins and AJ Styles had been giving it everything they had right from the start. On the outside, Zelina was cheering the challenger on. "And you can't accuse Zelina of getting involved, Renee."
"Not yet I can't. Let's see if that's the case by the time the bell rings. We've already seen one travesty tonight – Carmella robbed of her championship the first time she defended it.
A short time later, AJ Styles gained the upper hand. Standing on the ring apron, he was able to kick Rollins square in the face, knocking him down. Cheering loudly, the fans sensed that the finish might be at hand.
"Here it comes!" Renee exclaimed as AJ got in position to deliver his finishing move. As Seth got up, AJ leapt onto the tope rope, then hurled himself through the air.
"He hit it!" Coach yelled.
"Phenomenal Forearm!" Renee cried at the same time. "AJ into the cover!"
The entire crowd joined in with the count, desperate for the cartel to taste defeat as much as wanting AJ to keep his title.
"One!"
"Two!"
The referee disappeared backwards out of the ring before he could hit the mat for the third time.
"What the hell?" Renee screamed, livid. The fans expressed the same emotion.
Before the referee could start remonstrating with Zelina, who had dragged him out of the ring by his ankle, she punched him square in the face, knocking him down, and apparently out.
"Vega pulled the referee out of the ring and assaulted him!" Renee said, sounding close to boiling over. "Styles had the match won right there!"
In the ring, AJ was back up, while Seth was still out of it after the forearm. Styles began setting up his other finisher.
"Styles going for... Yes! Styles clash!" Coach shouted as the move hit. The fans went wild again. To their delight, there was also a referee. Charles Robinson had just run down to the ring and slid under the bottom rope, at the perfect moment when AJ made the cover.
"This has got to be it!" Renee said loudly. She called the count along with the fans.
"One!"
"Two!"
"Three!"
But there hadn't actually been a three. Robinson had stopped just before his hand hit the mat. AJ looked at him wide-eyed, still making a perfectly valid cover. Robinson shook his head, saying that he couldn't count it.
"What! Where's the three?" Renee screamed, totally losing it. "Styles has the match won, for the second time!"
Zelina was shown for a second, looking very smug.
"Is Charles Robinson in the pocket of Zelina Vega?" Coach asked. The answer seemed to be obvious at this point.
Furious at the blatant way he was being screwed over, AJ got up to confront Robinson, but before he could do so, Samoa Joe and Bobby Roode hit the ring. Joe ran over the champion like a train.
"What is happening?" Renee shouted. "We've got the entire cartel out here! Roode and Joe in the ring, beating Styles down, and Bayley's out here with Vega!"
"And Charles Robinson is watching it happen," Graves said, bewildered. "What are we seeing here?"
AJ had fought back to his feet, and was valiantly trying to fight off Bobby Roode. Unfortunately, the numbers were against him. Joe had fetched a chair, and he smashed it into AJ's back with a loud crack, knocking the champion down and essentially finishing him off.
"Chair shot by Joe," Coach said with no enthusiasm whatsoever.
Booby hauled AJ up and hit him with a Glorious DDT.
"What a DDT by Roode," Graves said. "Cover him, Seth!"
Rollins was starting to come to his senses, and crawled towards the piece of human wreckage lying in the middle of the ring.
"Come on, Seth!" Graves urged.
"Not this way," Coach said. The crowd were silent now, disgusted by what they were witnessing.
Rollins flopped himself over AJ, and this time Robinson was all too happy to count. Literally no one joined in. It was possibly the least celebrated end to a main event match in WWE history.
One.
Two.
Three.
"New champion!" Graves yelled in delight as Rollins music hit.
Bayley had already grabbed the WWE Championship belt from the timekeeper before the ring announcer even started announcing the winner, and joined the rest of her cartel teammates in running away from the ring, around the side of the entrance ramp. Bayley was also carrying her women's title, whereas Bobby and Joe had picked their tag team belts up from the floor outside the ring as they made their hurried exit.
"That was pathetic," Coach said. "Absolutely pathetic."
"Look at them running away, the whole group of them," Renee said venomously.
The shot changed to a camera backstage. The cartel came running through the curtain, led by Zelina, who was laughing, delighted with what had just transpired.
"That woman right there is nothing more than a parasite," Renee spat. "The lowest form of scum. How could anyone possibly see any kind of glory in what just happened here?"
"AJ Styles just got robbed," Coach agreed.
It had only been a short run to the parking garage for The Vega Cartel. Their bus was standing ready for them, with the door open.
Still laughing, Zelina lead the way onto the bus, with her underlings quickly following. Seth was last to enter the bus, now carrying his newly-won belt, as the logo signalling the end of the show appeared on the screen. The bus started moving as soon as he was through the door.
"There they go," Coach said.
"Seth Rollins didn't win the WWE title here tonight, The Vega Cartel stole it," Renee hissed. "They literally stole it from AJ Styles, and now they're fleeing like the robbers they are."
"Three out of three," Graves countered happily. "Whoever has the gold, has the power."
A/N: Thanks to everyone who left a review on the previous chapter.
There we have the Fully Loaded pay-per-view. Did it go down as you expected? And what will the fallout be on Smackdown?