Chapter Twenty-Five: Stevie's Got Spirit
Raw was live from Topeka Kansas, and the Intercontinental title match was going on. Zack and Maria were sitting together backstage, and while the match was really good, but Maria wasn't really giving the superstars in the ring her full attention.
"Zack," said Maria as she looked at Zack with a smile on her face, "did you see me on the new WWE magazine cover?"
"Of course," said Zack, "I got mine in the mail, and I'd just like to say, this one is the best cover yet."
"Thanks," said Maria, "that makes me feel really good. But did you really mean it when you said it would be the best cover yet?"
"Of course I did," said Zack, "you're on it front and center, and you're beautiful, what else could possibly make the cover any better?"
"Oh stop, you're making me blush ," said Maria as her cheeks slowly turned red, "umm do we have our segment with Hardy soon?"
"Yep," answered Zack, "the match just ended."
---x---
"Jeff Hardy," said Maria happily, "you just won the intercontinental title, you must feel great, let's take a look at how you won it…"
They rolled a clip of Hardy hitting Nitro with a Swanton Bomb and getting the pin, then came back to Maria and Hardy.
"So how do you feel?" asked Maria.
"You see winning this title is the reason I came back to Raw," answered Hardy, "this title is going to be like a giant bull's eye. Everyone is going to be after me and my title now. And you know what, I welcome it."
"Really?" asked Machetti as he appeared on screen, "well maybe I'll be seeing you in the ring then. I know that will be a good match."
"Well you're welcome to try," said Hardy with a smirk, "but I'm going to hang onto this title as long as I can."
"Are you kidding me?" said Melina as she walked on the set, "Hardy your title win was a fluke, Johnny Nitro is going to get that title back."
Melina then let out a loud, high-pitch scream, which cause the other three superstars to cover their ears. Hardy attempted to walk away but came back and covered Melina's mouth to stop her from screaming. Hardy then removed his hand, but Melina kept on screaming and was really getting on everyone's nerves. Hardy then covered Melina's mouth again, and then removed his hand to find that she was still screaming. Machetti then motioned to the other two, and Jeff, Machetti, and Maria left Melina screaming on her own.
---x---
D-X had dispersed of Coach and the two were now on their way to the Spirit Squad's locker room, when they met Machetti and Maria and an empty hallway.
"Hunter, Shawn, just the guys I wanted to see," said Machetti as he put his arm around Maria.
"What can we do for you?" asked Shawn.
"Well, I don't know if you know this," said Maria, "but Machetti was just telling me that he was booked to face off against the Spirit Squad tonight."
"Do you want us to cancel the match for you?" asked Hunter, "I know you have a match on ECW tomorrow night as well."
"Actually no," said Machetti, "I was wondering if you two could allow me to pick a partner for the match. You know just so those freakin' cheerleaders don't gang up on me."
"No problem," said Shawn, "get whoever you want."
"But you know," said Hunter, "that gives me an idea, I have something to say to those, 'freakin' cheerleaders. Let's go Shawn."
"Thanks guys!" said Maria as D-X left, before she turned to Machetti, "so do you know, who you are going to pick?"
"I have an idea," said Machetti, "but it's a surprise, and you'll have to wait and find out with everyone else. Anyway, I've got to go and find my tag-team partner, I'll see you later."
---x---
The Spirit Squad's them hit, and the five male cheerleaders came down to the ring dressed as female cheerleaders. The five of them were obviously humiliated, but were forced into these conditions by D-X.
Machetti's music then hit as he and Maria made their way down to the ring, for some weird reason Machetti's shorts were camouflage instead of the orange or the occasional green he normally wore. Maria smirked at the five weirdly dressed cheerleaders as she and Machetti got in the ring. Machetti then whispered something in Maria's ear that caused her to laugh, then got a mic and walked back into the center of the ring.
"Wow guys," said Machetti, "I must say your outfits are…interesting. But I think Maria here could pull off that look better than you can. Anyway, let me introduce to you, my partner for tonight's match…Sergeant Slaughter!"
The fans cheered loudly for the return of the legend as Sergeant Slaughter appeared on the entrance ramp, walked down the ramp, and joined Machetti and Maria in the ring. Machetti and Slaughter saluted each other as Nicky and Kenny got into the ring and faced off with their two opponents as Maria exited the ring and stood by the apron.
After a quick discussion it was decided that Nicky and Sergeant Slaughter would start out the match. Thanks to Maria who mocked Nicky by doing a fake cheer Nicky was distracted and Slaughter was almost immediately able to lock in the Cobra Clutch. Slaughter was choking Nicky and pulling back hard on the male cheerleader's neck, but thanks to a distraction from Mitch and his megaphone Kenny was able to get in the ring and break the hold for his partner by attacking Slaughter from behind.
Mitch was still distracting the referee so Kenny and Nicky took the opportunity to double team Slaughter and started stomping the hell out of him. Then they double irish whipped Slaughter into their corner. Kenny quickly got out of the ring as the referee turned around but it wasn't long lasted because Nicky quickly tagged him in. Nicky then held Slaughter from behind and allowed Kenny to nail Slaughter in the face with a spinning heel kick right to the jaw.
Nicky then got out of the ring while Kenny locked Slaughter in a sleeper hold. Kenny wrenched back on Slaughter's neck and the Sergeant's arm went limp as he started fading. Machetti saw that his partner was in trouble and jumped off the apron and whispered something in Maria's ear. Machetti and Maria then started chanting 'Lets go Slaughter! Lets go Slaughter!' The fans quickly joined in with the chant, which motivated Slaughter enough to keep fighting.
Slaughter maneuvered up to his knees then elbowed Kenny in the stomach and got on one leg. Slaughter then elbowed Kenny again and got to both feet. The chant was still going as Slaughter his Kenny with another elbow, which broke the hold. Slaughter then slipped behind Kenny and locked in the Cobra Clutch. But Kenny reacted quickly and managed to make it to the ropes before any real damage could be done. Slaughter broke the hold then went to his corner and tagged in Machetti as the crowd cheered loudly.
Machetti ran at Kenny and took him down with a corkscrew dropkick, then caught Nicky as he charged at him with a hip toss. As Kenny got to his feet Machetti ran at him and jumped onto Kenny's shoulders, and then sent him flying with a hurricurana. Slaughter then joined Machetti in the ring and the two of them lifted Nicky high into the air. Slaughter and Machetti then carried Nicky to the ropes and threw him out on top of the rest of the Spirit Squad.
Machetti then turned around in time to kick Kenny in the stomach and nailed him with an Impaler and drove his head down to the mat. Machetti then looked at Slaughter and then smirked at Kenny before lifted the cheerleader to his feet, slipping behind him and locking in Slaughter's Cobra Clutch. Kenny started struggling but stayed on his feet and tried to reach the ropes.
Slaughter quickly took action and distracted the referee while Maria jumped up onto the ring apron and pulled the rope away from Kenny's hand. While the referee was distracted Maria slapped Kenny across the face, and then allowed Machetti to drag Kenny backwards into the middle of the ring. Slaughter then told the referee to turn around, which the referee did, just in time to see Kenny tapping out to the Cobra Clutch.
Machetti's music hit as Maria joined Machetti and Slaughter in the ring as the three of them celebrated the win. Maria and Machetti then saluted Slaughter, and got a salute in return.
But the celebration was cut short as Mitch, Johnny, Nicky, and Mikey rushed the ring and took Slaughter and Machetti down from behind. Johnny and Mikey then threw Slaughter out of the ring, then joined Mitch and Nicky and held Machetti down on mat. Kenny saw his cue and got to his feet and climbed onto the top rope, but before he could jump Hunter's voice echoed through the arena as he and Shawn appeared on the TitanTron.
"Hey guys," said Shawn as Triple H smirked and then held up a thong, "you forgot part of your uniform!"
This distraction proved to be very helpful, because while Kenny was distracted Slaughter got on the ring apron and pushed Kenny off of the top rope and down to the arena floor. Slaughter then got in the ring as Johnny and Mikey ran to meet him. But the veteran took down both cheerleaders with clotheslines as Maria low blowed Nicky from behind and allowed Machetti to get free.
Machetti then pulled free from Mitch and nailed him with an Impaler. Then Machetti and Slaughter tossed Johnny and Mikey out of the ring. Mitch rolled out of the ring and Nicky soon found himself alone with Machetti, Slaughter, and Maria. Machetti whispered something to Maria and walked over to Nicky and held him from behind. Maria then walked up to Nicky and slapped him across the face. Maria then kicked Nicky in the stomach as Machetti let go of him and Maria then nailed Nicky with a slightly sloppy Impaler.
Machetti and Slaughter then saluted Maria and raised her arms in the air. Then the three of them left the ring and walked to the back to the sound of Maria's theme song.
"I think we sent them a message there," said Maria.
"Yup," said Zack, "you're getting better."
"Do you think I'll look good when I have my match in the tournament?" Maria asked Zack.
"You always look good," said Zack with a smirk, "but if we keep up at the rate we're going, I think you'll do alright."
"Thanks," said Maria with a smile.
"Speaking of thanks," said Zack as he offered his hand to Robert 'Sgt. Slaughter' Remus, "thanks for coming out there with me."
"No problem kid," said Robert, "I had fun."
"Well thanks again," said Zack, "and now if you will excuse us I have to continue teaching Maria how to play strip poker."
"Well don't let me stop you," said Robert.
"See you," said Maria as she grabbed Zack's hand and the two of them walked off down the hallway.
---x---
ECW was playing from Topeka Kansas and Maria and Machetti were shown on the Titan-Tron. Maria was smiling and Machetti had a smug look on his face.
"Hey guys," said Maria to the fans watching, "we're here again on ECW, but you know, what I'm really excited for is Extreme Strip Poker next week. Candice Michelle and I are coming from Raw to take part in the contest."
"And if you believe it or not Maria is actually kind of good," said Machetti, "I should know. But tonight I'm here to take on another ECW extremist of Paul Heyman's choice."
"And that match, is next," said Maria happily as she and Machetti walked off screen as ECW went to a commercial.
When ECW came back Machetti's music hit, and he and Maria made their way down to the ring. Machetti quickly climbed up onto the apron and held the ropes open for Maria and allowed her to enter the ring, then stepped inside behind her. Machetti then received a mic and walked back to the middle of the ring and put his arm around Maria.
"Well you all know why we're here," said Machetti, "so let's just skip this bull shit and reveal who's ass I'm going to be kicking tonight."
With that Machetti dropped the mic and Stevie Richards' music hit and Stevie made his way down to the ring wearing yellow trunks. Stevie got in the ring before the bell even rang and attacked Machetti with vicious right hands. But Stevie's momentum was suddenly cut off when Maria low-blowed him from behind. Stevie fell to the mat and clutched his 'region' as the bell rang and Maria got out of the ring.
Machetti smirked as he walked over to Stevie and lifted him to his feet. Machetti then hit Stevie with a forearm strike, then spun around and took him down with a clothesline. Machetti then stood by Stevie's side, did a back flip and landed on Stevie for a standing moonsault. Machetti hooked Stevie's leg and tried for a pin, but Stevie managed to kick out before the three.
Machetti got up and ran to the ropes while Stevie rolled onto his stomach and then pushed himself onto his hands and knees. But Machetti bounced off of the ropes and dropkicked Stevie in the face, which cause Stevie to flip over onto his back. Machetti then went to the ropes and climbed out onto the ring apron, then hoisted himself onto the top rope and launched himself across the ring. Machetti then extended his leg and landed leg first on Stevie's throat for a spring board guillotine leg drop.
Machetti then lifted Stevie to his feet and whipped him across the ring into a turnbuckle. Machetti then ran at Stevie looking to crossbody Stevie into the turnbuckle, but was met with an elbow to the face. Stevie then kept his momentum going and raked Machetti's eyes, then whipped Machetti across the ring and caught him as he came back and flung Machetti high into the air for a back body drop.
Stevie then walked over to Machetti and got on top of him and started to blatantly choke him. Seeing how the match wasn't extreme rules the referee started counting to five, and Stevie only broke the choke at four and a half. Stevie stayed on top of Machetti and started punching his face with several closed fist punches. Stevie then slapped Machetti across the face and got to his feet.
Stevie then backed up against the ropes and measured Machetti up as Machetti got to his feet. Machetti stumbled and turned around and Stevie went to his Machetti in the face with the Stevie Kick, but found he couldn't move his leg. Stevie turned around and saw that Maria had grabbed his leg from behind in order to prevent him from kicking Machetti.
While Stevie was distracted with Maria, Machetti recovered and waited for Stevie to turn around, when he did Machetti kicked Stevie in the stomach and then nailed him with an Impaler. Machetti rolled Stevie onto his back, then got up and walked to the corner and hoisted himself onto the top rope. Machetti then turned around on the turnbuckle and looked down at Stevie who was out cold in the middle of the ring.
Machetti then launched himself off of the turnbuckle and did a flip in mid air while extending his legs. Machetti then landed and planted his legs across Stevie's throat for a Flipping Guillotine leg drop. Machetti then hooked Stevie's leg and got the three count for the win as his music hit.
Machetti then stood up in the middle of the ring and was soon joined by Maria who gave Machetti a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek. Machetti then smirked and whispered something in Maria's ear and Maria nodded her head eagerly. Machetti then walked over to Stevie and lifted him to his feet and then held him from behind.
Then he waited for Maria's nod and pushed Stevie towards Maria. When Stevie got close enough Maria gave him a hard kick to the gut, then grabbed his head in a front face lock and hit him with an Impaler. Machetti then pointed towards a ring post and instructed Maria to climb up it. While Maria situated herself on the top rope Machetti stood on Stevie's shoulders and pinned him to the mat. Maria then launched across the ring and landed on Stevie for a top rope body splash.
Maria's music hit as Machetti walked over to Maria raised one of her arms in the air. Machetti and Maria celebrated in the ring for the cheering fans before getting out of the ring and talking with a fan at ring side. The two of them then held hands and walked up the ramp and went to the back as ECW went to a commercial break.
---x---
That's chapter twenty five, I'm really sorry it took so long but I had to balance, school, work, sports, and actually watching the shows.
'Till next time!
Peace