"Bloody hell, you look rough," was Lucy's greeting to Alexa when the shorter woman entered the women's locker room before Raw.
"Tell me about it. I'm hanging," Alexa mumbled, trudging her way over to the empty locker beside her partner.
"You were up late, then?" Lucy and Seth hadn't stayed for much of the Wrestlemania after party, since they had Clementine with them. Even though Clem had been taken up to the room for bed by their nanny, getting wrecked while having a child in their care was not the right thing to do. Besides, they had needed to be up early to get her ready to go to the airport with the nanny, so that she was back home and ready to return to school on Tuesday.
"Late, or early; depends on how you look at it. After the argument, we both felt like getting drunk, and boy did we. I seriously can't remember going back to the room."
While hanging up her ring attire below her locker, Lucy looked around the locker room. It was obvious to her that she, not Alexa was in the minority. The atmosphere was flat, the room quiet. There were clearly a lot of sore heads. "Dean's hanging out of his arse, too?" she guessed, knowing what the answer would be.
"Yeah."
"And you guys are okay now?" That was the important question.
Alexa had slumped down onto the bench. She looked up at Lucy and managed a smile, grateful to have the support of a real friend. "We're good. Actually, I think we might even come out of it stronger than before. Thank you for being there last night and talking sense into me. It means a lot that you've got my back."
"That's what friends are for. I know you'd do the same for me. Speaking of having your back, I went to see Steph earlier."
"Oh?" Alexa enquired with raised eyebrows. She knew that Lucy had a lot of clout with WWE's higher-ups, thanks to her status as Stephanie's chosen one. However, what that had to do with having her back was a mystery.
Finished arranging her things, Lucy sat down. "I'm sick of all this shit with you and Dean and Finn and Renee. The pettiness is fucking stupid, and last night it caused a serious row for you. The way it's going, it's only a matter of time before someone gets knocked out. I know first hand from that time I hit Sasha that they don't take kindly to that kind of thing. So, I decided to see if a message could be sent."
"A message?" Alexa couldn't decide if she would have liked to have been in the room for the conversation, or if she would have preferred it not to have happened.
"I explained to Steph what happened last night between Finn and Dean, and told her that it's certainly not the first time that kind of thing has happened. She said that Hunter hadn't been happy at you and Dean for arguing at the party, so I told her it was all started by Finn, who quickly did one when you guys started getting heated with each other."
"What did she say?"
"She wasn't happy, needless to say. I asked her if there was anything she could do to send a message that she was onto him, and that he had better cut the shit. She said to leave it with her, so hopefully she'll either do something herself or have Hunter step in. One way or another, the fucking guy needs to get the message about growing up."
Alexa frankly wasn't sure if Stephanie wading in would make the situation better or worse. It would depend on how Finn and Renee reacted to it. But she did appreciate Lucy using her clout to try and get the situation dealt with before someone ended up going too far, resulting in violence. "Thanks, Lucy. It would definitely be good if she managed to get those two off our backs."
"Let's hope so. When we were just wrapping up, Hunter came in. He told me about the plans for us tonight. They wanted to do something good with us, since the crowd will obviously be white hot with all the Brits in. We've got to work out the specifics with TJ, but I don't doubt it will go over well." TJ was retired wrestler, now producer, Tyson Kidd.
Despite her hangover, Alexa managed to perk up a bit. "Don't keep me in suspense. What's the deal?"
The second segment on Raw began with Bayley coming to the ring, to a rapturous reception from the rowdy, predominantly British crowd. After a minute or so of them singing, asking her if she would be their girl, she was allowed to speak.
"Yes, guys, I'll definitely be your girl," she said with a big grin. A loud cheer was the response. "Honestly, I have to thank you for cheering me up with that amazing welcome, because I've been feeling pretty low since last night. As I'm sure you all saw, I didn't manage to win the triple threat match against Emma and Charlotte for the WWE Women's Championship at Wrestlemania. But, at the same time, I didn't exactly lose it. Emma won by making Charlotte tap out to the Emma Lock. Since Emma didn't beat me, I feel like I deserve another shot. That's why I had to come out here: to request a one on one match with Emma for the Women's Championship, right here, tonight."
The response from the fans certainly indicated that they approved of the idea. Their cheers quickly turned to boos when Paige's music began to play.
"What do these two want?" Cole groaned as Paige and Becky Lynch walked out onto the stage.
Graves said, "The last time we saw Paige and Becky, they'd just finished destroying Twisted Thorne. Last night, they put both Lucy and Alexa through commentary tables after losing the tag team match for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship."
"I thought these two were better than that," Booker T said. "It was a disgusting display. They should be ashamed of themselves."
"Whether you like it or not, you can't deny that what Becky and Paige did was impressive," Graves countered. "They might have lost the match, but they certainly didn't look like the losers when they were walking out of the Superdome. Twisted Thorne left on stretchers, as I remember it. Leaving those two ladies in that state is certainly not an easy thing to pull off."
"None of that explains why they're out here now," Cole pointed out. Becky and Paige were now in the ring, and the Irish woman had a microphone.
"Shut up and you might find out," Graves said dryly.
"Bayley, do us all a favour and shut your mouth," Becky said nastily. "No one cares about you, and no one cares about what you want. We're the ones people came to see tonight, which is why we went to Kurt Angle earlier today and requested… No, we demanded, a rematch with Twisted Thorne for the Women's Tag Team Championships tonight."
Becky handed the microphone to Paige, who took over the narrative. "That's right, we demanded a rematch with Twisted Thorne, and do you know what Kurt told us?"
Bayley shrugged, indicating that she had no idea.
"He told us to prove that we deserved it. He told us to make a statement. So, that's what we're out here to do." Without pause, Paige smashed the microphone into Bayley's face, knocking her down. The fans howled their disapproval, not that it was likely to make any difference.
Both Paige and Becky set about beating Bayley down, each hitting their finishing moves while the commentators lamented their actions. Just after the Bexploder had been delivered, the crowd suddenly began to cheer.
"Here come Twisted Thorne!" Cole called out as the tag team champions ran down the entrance ramp.
Lucy and Alexa slid into the ring. Lucy got straight in Paige's face, delivering several stiff right hands, the last of which sent her flying over the top rope. Meanwhile, Alexa had tackled Becky to the ground before furiously pounding her with right hands of her own. With that done, she hauled the Irishwoman to her feet and launched her between the ropes to the floor.
Seeing Twisted Thorne acting as a genuine face team for the first time, and doing it to help Bayley, had the fans on their feet. After the brief period of action was over, they began chanting, "Twisted Thorne!"
While Alexa checked on Bayley, who was down in a corner of the ring, Kurt Angle's music began to play. Raw's General Manager came out onto the stage, looking less than pleased with what had just happened. "Becky, Paige, what do you think you're doing?" he demanded.
Over by the ring announcer's position, Becky snatched up a microphone and delivered a quick-witted response. "We're making a statement."
"Very clever," Kurt said, not impressed. "When I said make a statement, I meant by winning matches and proving you deserve another opportunity, not that you should come out here and attack Bayley. So, you get no title match."
As the crowd cheered, both Becky and Paige reacted angrily, complaining to each other about the unfairness of the decision.
"On the other hand," Kurt went on. "Bayley, before you were interrupted, I think you were actually making quite a good point. You were not involved in the decision last night at Wrestlemania, so I think maybe you do deserve a one on one match with Emma, and what better time to have it than here tonight, in the main event?"
The roar from the fans confirmed that they agreed. In the ring, Lucy was shown congratulating Bayley, who had been helped to her feet by Alexa. By contrast, Becky and Paige seemed to be angry with Bayley for getting what she wanted, while they had been denied the match they had wanted.
"What an announcement that is!" Cole called out. "We're going to see Emma and Bayley for the WWE Women's Championship, and it's going to happen tonight on Raw!"
Everyone in the arena had been right behind Bayley throughout her match against Emma, not least because the current champion had made the most of her title run to increase her standing in the company significantly with some impressive performances. In the process, she had gotten herself some heat as a heel, which of course played out well in a match against everyone's favourite hugger.
When Bayley managed to hit her finishing move, the Bayley-to-Belly suplex, the crowd were on their feet, roaring their delight that a new champion was about to be crowned. They counted along with the referee, but just after he counted two he mysteriously slid backwards out of the ring under the bottom rope.
"What happened?" Cole yelled. The camera panned out to show that Paige was the one responsible for pulling him out of the ring before he could get the three. "Paige and Becky Lynch are out here! Bayley had the match won, but Paige pulled the referee out of the ring!"
Paige wasn't done, either. She punched the referee square in the face, knocking him down, and apparently out. With that done, she and Becky were free to enter the ring and attack Bayley.
"This is not right!" Booker protested as Bayley did her best to fight off her two assailants. The odds being against her ensured that she didn't put up a fight for long.
"Paige Turner!" Graves called as the English woman hit her finisher on the challenger. "Even I have to admit this is not fair. Bayley might have had the match won, she might not, but Becky and Paige are way out of line attacking her like this."
As earlier in the night, the crowd's boos turned to cheers. Alexa and Lucy were shown running down to the ring again.
"Here come Twisted Thorne, just like earlier tonight!" Booker exclaimed.
Alexa was first into the ring. This time, she went after Paige, delivering a dropkick which took her off her feet. Following close behind, Lucy threw a powerful clothesline at Becky just as they Irish woman turned around, in time to catch it flush on the jaw. The impact made a loud crack. The fans particularly loved the audible impact, managing to cheer even louder than they had been before.
After taking the dropkick from Alexa, Paige had rolled under the bottom rope on the back side of the ring, attempting to escape. Wanting to do some more damage, Alexa quickly went after her and they started brawling on the outside.
Attention shifted back to the ring, where Emma was now back on her feet and not happy at all about seeing Twisted Thorne out in the arena. She walked up behind Lucy, who was stomping Becky in the corner of the ring and aggressively spun her around by the shoulder. The fans were not happy to see their undisputed favourite being treated that way, but they knew where it might end for Emma.
While the Australian angrily ran her mouth, trying to order Lucy out of the ring, Lucy looked out at the fans, seemingly trying to decide based on their reaction what she should do next. Emma forced the issue by ending her rant by shoving her in chest and remonstrating with her to get out of the ring. She got the opposite response: a stiff right hand to the face that knocked her clean out.
The champion was down, but Becky was back up. She threw herself at Lucy and they both crashed between the ropes to the floor. There were now two fights going on outside the ring, while the two women actually in the match were down inside the ring.
Too late to see any of the outside interference, the referee was starting to come around, slowing making it back to his feet and crawling under the bottom rope into the ring.
While Becky and Lucy and Paige and Alexa all battled their way up the entrance ramp towards the back, Emma and Bayley were both getting up. Everyone in the arena was standing, loving the action but having no idea what was going to happen next.
To the crowd's horror, Emma was the one who managed to get the first move in, taking Bayley down and putting her in the Emma Lock – a move that had beaten everyone who had been in it over the past couple of months, including Charlotte Flair at Wrestlemania.
With the fans urging her on, Bayley desperately tried to reach the nearby ropes. For a moment it looked like she would not be able to endure the pain and would have to tap out, but then she managed to find some superhuman endurance. Crying out in agony, she crawled a little closer to the ropes, then managed to stretch a hand out and grab the bottom one.
The groggy referee was there to make the call, starting his count to signal a rope break. Emma legally released the hold at the count of four, but had the damage been done?
In a great deal of pain, Bayley crawled into the corner of the ring, propping herself up against the bottom turnbuckle. Seeing an opportunity to close out the match, Emma sprinted at her, throwing herself through the air in an attempt to deliver a cross body. Unfortunately for her, Bayley moved out of the way at the last moment.
While Emma struggled in the corner, winded by her self-inflicted impact with the turnbuckle, Bayley took up a position behind her, poised and ready to strike. Emma slowly got back up and staggered out of the corner, only to be grabbed in a familiar positon by the challenger.
"Bayley-to-Belly!" Cole called as the finisher connected.
The crowd erupted, sensing the title changing hands. They joined in with the count after Bayley made the cover.
"One!"
"Two!"
"Three!"
"Yes! We've got a new champion!" Booker yelled.
"Bayley did it!" Graves added. "I can't say she did it alone, but she did it."
"Oh, please," Cole objected. "Bayley didn't ask for any help. Twisted Thorne only came out to stop Becky and Paige from interfering."
Graves said, "Something tells me Emma's not going to see it that way."
Uninterested in the argument, Booker was focusing on Bayley, who was celebrating with her newly-won title belt. "Right now, it doesn't matter. Bayley pinned Emma in the middle of the ring, and she is the new WWE Women's Champion. What a night this has been!"
A/N: I hope you enjoyed Twisted Thorne's first night as a face team? The fans certainly did! Come on, everyone's got to like Bayley as the champ, right? ;)
As always, my thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. Please let me know what you thought of this one.