Chapter Twenty Four: Rivalry, Interrupted
Unlike most house shows the Saturday before a pay-per-view, Jack and I actually have something to do. Usually they make the house show before a pay-per-view for the superstars who didn't manage to make it in the pay-per-view to show what they're purpose is. For some odd reason, however, Vince has placed us in a match. However, it's not a match against each other. We are co-captains of an eight man Smackdown team to face the eight person Raw team. That's right, for the night Jack and I have to work side by side as friends. We even have to lead a team half of men he's chosen and of men I've chosen. My men are Rey Mysterio (who managed to beat Jack last night), Alex Nooks, John Morrison, and Joey Mercury. I know John can work well with every man I've chosen. Especially Alex and Joey and the only reason I didn't choose Phil or Luke is because I know how much tomorrow's match against The Hart Dynasty means to them. Jack has chosen Edge, Batista (who is back for good everyone), and Cody Rhodes. He only gets to choose three because he's not champion and not in control here. Team Raw consists of Intercontinental Champion Daniel Bryan (a nice guy I sat next to him on a plane ride once), Santino Marella (great guy with a great sense of humor), Evan Bourne (even though I met him when I was dating Dave we're still friends), Sheamus (I've never met him but everyone says he's a real prick), The Miz (we all know what I think of that bendeao), Ted DiBiase jr (rich and spoiled, a shame to all second generation superstars), and Primo Colon (I met his brother once and I didn't like him, doesn't mean I won't like Primo). But no matter how good of friends I am with these people or how much I despise these people, one thing is clear. They are the enemy and Team Smackdown will win.
"So, what's our strategy Lillie?" Alex asks as he, John, Rey, and I head to find Jack and his side of the team.
"High fliers take on high fliers and brawlers take on brawlers. I'll try to fight Daniel Bryan but I've heard a lot of good things about his submission style." I nod.
"I guess I'll focus on Evan Bourne," Rey resonds.
"And I get to focus on Primo," John nods. "Which leaves Alex with The Miz."
Alex smiles, "Fine by me." We get to Jack's room and I knock on the door, the others standing behind me and ready to defend me at a moment's notice. Jack opens the door and I smile, "Came to talk about our match."
He lets us in and says, "Listen, just because we're a team tonight does not mean that I want to work with you. Hell, none of us want to work with you."
Cody looks at Jack and shrugs, "Actually, I don't have a problem with her. She's never done anything to hurt me before. It's Nooks I have a problem with."
Alex looks bewildered, "What?"
"I don't like you. I don't like the way you dress and I don't like the way you think everyone loves you because you say a few old words like radical and totally. It's disgusting. And you're not even a real wrestler, you're just a backstage tech guy!"
"Hey, be nice! I made my way up to where I am! How did you get up to where you are? By being a lap dog and following in your father's footsteps. No one helped me to get where I am now," Alex defends.
"Except your boyfried," corrects Cody.
"Don't argue!" I shout. "We have a match where we have to team up and I don't want anyone thinking they are any better than anyone else! Do you think that Team Raw is arguing right now?"
"No but in case you haven't notice, Lillie, we're not Team Raw." Dave speaks up, his voice gruff. "We're Team Smackdown, no matter how much you want to be on Raw."
"Hey, I never said I wanted to be on Raw! In fact, wasn't it you who worked for Smackdown and Raw at the same time. It's like cheating on one girlfriend with the other," I sneer.
"You would know all about cheating now, wouldn't you?" Dave asks, standing up and coming over to me. Even though he towers over me by quite a bit, I'm not afraid of him.
"Simmer down Dave," Adam calms. "As much as I want to see her get her assed kicked, right now isn't the time. Right now we all have to work together, no matter how we hate the people we're working with."
"For once, I agree with Copeland," John replies. "I think that we need to put aside any feud we may have with each other and focus on what's important here. And what's important is that we don't let each other get beat up by Raw."
It's silent for a moment before Cody asks, "So now what? Do we put our hands in and do a go team type deal thing?"
I shake my head as the others start leaving, "I'll take that as a no Cody. I'm glad you're not going to let your hatred for Alex get in the way."
"My problem isn't with him tonight. My fight is against other people. I hate it that everyone thinks that I'm such a bad person. I'm not. So I like to take care of my looks and try to help other people to be the same. So what? That's no reason to judge me."
I look at Cody, "You're an alright guy Rhodes."
"And you're not to bad yourself, Guerrero." He laughs. We walk where the others are waiting at the backstage ramp and I nod. "I guess we're using the Smackdown theme song?"
"The new one," Jack nods, still quiet. I nod as the fitting songs of the new Smackdown theme, since we moved channels to the Syfy network we changed theme songs, starts up.
"DO YOU KNOW THE/ENEMY DO YOU KNOW/YOU'RE ENEMY WELL GOTTA/KNOW THE ENEMY WHOA…" like I said, it's fitting. Either one of us teams, either Raw or Smackdown, could come tumbling down due to personal hatred. I'm not sure if my enemy is going to be the other team or if my enemy is going to be my own team. We get to the ring and huddle up.
"I say Lillie goes first," Jack smirks, "she's our leader. Lead by example."
"Fine by me. Anyone object?" I sneer. Yeah, maybe my attitude isn't the best way to secure my team into not fighting each other. Leading by example is always great. And if they follow my example right now, everyone would be fighting the person on the team they have the most problems with.
"I do actually. We should start out based on whoever they send out first. I mean, if we make Lillie start out first and then they put Sheamus in…" Rey trails off. I don't know if he's being afraid as a team member or as a father, either way he's right. I'm not as strong as Sheamus and if I was in the ring with him I'd have to find a way to fight him off other than force.
"WE'RE GOIN OFF TONIGHT/TO KICK OUT EVERY/LIGHT TAKE ANYTHING WE/WANT DRINK EVERYTHING IN/SIGHT WE'RE GOING TIL/THE WORLD STOPS TURNING/WHILE WE BURN IT/TO THE GROUND TONIGHT…" the Raw theme song starts up and the team struts out, the red shirts that mark them as members of the Raw roster contrasting against our blue shirts almost as much as it contrasts against Sheamus' pale skin. They get in the ring and a dinging sound echoes. The Raw team looks exasperated but us members of the Smackdown team turn to look at what it is. We, at least I, don't watch Raw as often as I should. One of the announcers, a man by the name of Micheal Cole, stands up and goes over to this podium that has a silver laptop sitting on it.
"The general manager says, and I quote, this tag team match will now be an elimination style match. The rules are clear, the first team to get every member of their opponents out will be the winners. Both feet must touch the floor after going over the top rope," Micheal Cole speaks. So their general manager hides behind a computer. Damn good thing I'm not on Raw, I would get pissed taking orders from someone I can't see. But that's not the problem. The problem is that this tag team match we were ready for, just turned into a battle royal. That means all of us will be in the ring at the same time. "But that's not all. The general manager thinks that it's a bad idea for a team made up of all boys to face a team with a girl in it. Therefore, taking Primo Colon's spot in the battle royal will be an up and coming star who is going to be on NXT next season, Zara Wayne!"
The Raw theme song starts again as I clench my fist. The only ones who know that Adam has been fooling around with this girl behind moms back on this team are me and Adam. And he doesn't know that I know. I can see why though, she's a pretty girl and young. She almost reminds me of a preppy Lita. Even her red Raw shirt is cut so low that it leaves nothing to the imagination and instead of a nice pair of wrestling tights, she's wearing a leather mini skirt that clings to her curves. Instead of wrestling boots, she's wearing stiletto heels. She smiles at my team and waves at Adam who tries to ignore her but I can see the almost predatory smirk on his face. He might want to realize that we're both enemies of hers right now, no matter how much the asshole is in love with her.
Before the bell can ring, Daniel Bryan walks over to me and outstretches his hand, "Good luck with this match."
I smile and shake his hand, "May the best team win?"
"Don't worry I plan on it," he laughs at me as we let go of each other's hands. The bell rings and he attempts to lock me in a head lock. I push him away and he hits the ropes. As he comes back towards me, I try to land a dropkick on him. It misses and he grabs my arm to wrench it behind me. I try to bring my foot up but he catches it and manages to make me fall face first to the mat. That's all he needs to lock in his cursed Labelle Lock. I've heard that even the best of superstars taps out to it. Good thing for me this is an over the top rope battle royal which means that the fact that my fist is slamming into the mat in pain means absolutely nothing. I can see Santino Marella getting thrown over the ropes by Jack Swagger who then comes over to me and stomps on Daniel Bryan which forces him to let go of me. So now the odds are seven, them, to eight, us.
I get back to my feet where Jack and I pick up Daniel and attempt to throw him over the top rope. He elbows Jack in the head who lets go of him and drops him , leaving me with his legs. I decide that I can do a submission move to combat his and turn him over for the Boston Crab. Bad idea. He rolls over onto his back and kicks out. I stumble close to the ropes, the same set of ropes that Cody goes over and crashes onto the floor. I manage to stop myself, however, and just back up. I can't risk being eliminated. Although, if I was going to get eliminated by anyone in this match, I'd want to get eliminated by Daniel. He's the best fighter on the Raw roster. I see Alex and Evan take each other out over the top ropes in a blaze of glory, Alex tossing Evan out but Evan grabbing Alex with his well muscled thighs around the head and then flinging him over the top rope, Alex pulling on Evan as he does. That means we're down to six to six. The battle rages onward. I keep my attention on Daniel who is smirking at me. There's something about fighting him that makes me feel like a better competitor. I haven't fought anyone on Smackdown that makes me need to raise my game to the next level, and that includes Rey and Phil. I get my attention focused on the man in front of me as I grab for his arms and irish whip him into the ropes. I run at him for a clothesline but miss and end the ropes. Daniel sees this as the perfect time to try and go for the elimination. I feel him grab my legs and no matter how much I kick, he doesn't let go. He tosses me over the ropes but somehow instead of hitting the floor, I grab the second rope and manage to dangle there before pulling myself onto the apron. Daniel has turned his back and is focusing on Rey now. I want to lay there for a few minutes before I get back in the ring but I get no such luck. Zara walks over to me, full of a cool and confident air. She tries to push me out of the ring with her foot before Edge grabs her arm. She turns and starts arguing with him before I crawl back into the ring.
The match rages on for what seems like an hour. I manage to eliminate Daniel Bryan, who managed to get not only Rey out of the ring but Morrison as well. Jack, Dave, and Joey were eliminated by Sheamus who Edge and I managed to get out of the ring together. Ted was eliminated by Jack before he was eliminated and Alex got rid of The Miz before he and Evan eliminated each other. It's down to me, Adam, and Zara now. I fight her tooth and nail, impressed with how strong she is before I get her out of the ring. I lean over the ropes and smile at her, fans cheering. Well…they were cheering. The crowd erupts into a chant of "You Suck". I turn to see why they would be cheering that. Edge has ripped off his blue shirt with a devilish smirk to reveal the bright red Raw shirt he's been wearing this whole time. A part of me feels betrayed, a part of me feels stupid…and yet another part of me knew this was coming. I don't have time to react before Edge tosses me out of the ring. The bell rings to signify the end of the match up, signaling Team Raw as the winners. Zara jumps into the ring and into Adam's arms who picks her up and spins her around. The son of a bitch had this planned. Whoever the general manager is, Adam knows them. I shake my head and go backstage, where the rest of my team is waiting. Well, the rest of the team that I picked at least.
"That was low, even for him!" shouts Rey.
"Jack should have never picked the bastard!" Alex agrees.
I simply shrug, "You win some and you lose some. We didn't manage to win tonight. Hopefully we can all win our respective matches tomorrow."
"Lillie, you're the only one with a match tomorrow." John smirks.
I simply laugh, "Oh yeah. Daniel Bryan must have hit me harder than I thought."
WELL, I THINK IT WAS A GOOD CHAPTER! IT'S THE LONGEST ONE I HAVE EVER WRITTEN! I WANT TO THANK KAIZ-ZARH FOR LETTING ME USE ZARA! SHE'S A BAD ASS CHARACTER IF I DO SAY SO MYSELF!