NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Well, this story is gonna wrap up quickly. Probably two or three more chapters. I want to thank everyone who's critique my work, or has added this story, or my name into their favorites, alerts, etc. I'm glad I was able to entertain you for nearly a year and a half.
BTW, I won't be posting a sequel. That is in stone, because I've put so much into this work that I can't really think of other ideas. I'd have to rewrite 10 years plus of WWF/WWE history, which would be a monumental feat, and with my busy schedule, I'd be burnt out before I got started. So if anyone would like to pick the ball up on this one, feel free. BUT, a word of warning. Please make sure I get some kind of acknowledgement. Thanks!:)
Okay, it's confrontation time! Paul Bearer's taking care of some business, and Stephanie's in her dressing room with a few minutes to kill before she heads out with Mark and the rest of the Ministry. Some of the passages in this chapter are borrowed from previous chapters. Match descriptions from Heat are from pwnet dot com. The Brood-Outlaw match is courtesy of slashwrestling dot net, with my own tweaks, of course.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
San Diego, CA
5/3/99
In his office, Paul Bearer nodded at the slip of paper Nicole had handed him moments earlier. It was a schedule for the Howard Stern show, with Nicole's appearances highlighted in neon green. "Thanks, Nicole. That's all I needed. We'll make sure to schedule your title defences around this. By the way, good interview last night with Lawler."
Nicole grinned. Mark and Bearer had treated her very well so far, and they proved to be much more objective and fair than Vince had ever been. Of course, Stephanie was nowhere to be found, but Nicole knew she was in good hands, and she would make her appearance soon enough. "Thanks. It's kinda nice to be treated like a competitor, and not like some circus sideshow act. I get enough of that on Howard's show." Nicole said, as she and Paul shared a laugh. "So now that I've got this hardware, who should I face as my next opponent.?"
Bearer smirked at his new Women's Champion. "Sable, of course. Although I think she doesn't deserve it, she has a rematch clause. Might as well burn it off at Over The Edge, and then we go from there."
"What about Chyna?"
Mark's right hand man cocked an eyebrow. "What about her?"
"I think she'd make a worthy adversary."
"Nicole, I think she would make a good opponent. But I don't want to rush the two of you into anything. I'd like to see you as champ at least until Summerslam, so lets build the two of you up."
"Looking forward to it."
~~~MOD~~~
Stephanie turned around in the full-length mirror so that she could admire her new outfit from every angle. It was a short and sexy mini dress, made of ice blue satin and black floral lace overlay, with a pointy hemmed double-layered skirt, black brocade trim, and buckles in the front. The back was elasticized and the spaghetti straps were adjustable, which made the dress comfortable to wear. The above-the-knee skirt had a witchy feel to it; the satin petticoat and blue mesh trim underneath fluffed it out just so.
The young owner of the WWF had picked this particular dress to wear for a reason. It was much more provocative than the sweater sets she had previously worn, but there was still an air of innocence about it that would give her the appearance of being held against her will.
Nodding in approval, Stephanie drew closer to the mirror to check her makeup. Since she was still being "held hostage" by the Ministry, Stephanie had chosen to do her own hair and makeup at the hotel. Once she and Mark wrapped everything up with Vince, Shane, and their chicanery (that wrap up had started earlier, when Mark had faux-threatened his new wife in the dressing room doorway), she would happily sit in Hair and Makeup and let the girls do their work—using her new makeup, of course.
Not bad, she thought in approval. Maybe I can get one of the girls in Hair and Makeup to show me how to do a cat eye later.
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. "Who is it?"
"It's your mom. Are you decent?"
Stephanie cocked an eyebrow in surprise. "I wasn't expecting you, but yes I'm decent. Door's unlocked."
Linda stepped into the dressing and saw her daughter for the first time in nearly two weeks. She cast an appraising glance at Stephanie's choice of wardrobe and smirked slightly. "I have to admit, Stephanie, that your dress is something I'd never expect you to pick out."
"I guess you don't like it?" Stephanie asked, shutting the door gently behind her mom.
"Now, I never said that. It's just going to take a little getting used to. But then again, penny loafers and a cardigan would look out of place in a sea of black." Linda glanced down at her daughter's feet, surprised by the choice of footwear. "Are you going to be able to walk around in those shoes?"
Stephanie took a few easy steps around the dressing room. Her feet were encased in the granny boots she'd worn during her wedding. "They're extremely comfortable. I've spent most of the week walking around in them so that I don't embarrass myself with an unexpected faceplant." She paused, and then gestured to the plump couch adjacent to the doorway. "Let's sit and talk, Mom. I know you didn't come over here for social reasons."
"That I didn't," Linda admitted, as she followed her daughter to the couch to sit down.
Stephanie gestured towards the coffee table in front of the couch. A bucket of ice with cans of soda nestled inside sat on the table. "Something to drink? Soft drinks are all I have at the moment, I'm afraid."
"No, thank you." Linda shook her head and turned to face her daughter. "I thought I'd bring you up to speed on what's been going on in Stamford."
"Mark's been keeping me posted," Stephanie assured her. From what she'd been told, Vince and Shane had gone into seclusion after the Smackdown taping, presumably to plan their next course of action. "Dad and Shane decided to make themselves scarce, I guess."
"Until this evening. So, are you planning to say anything tonight?"
"I'm gonna give Dad and Shane a piece of my mind, if that's what you're thinking. Now, what exactly do you want to talk about?"
"Well, on Wednesday of last week, the Board of Directors and Mark and I discussed some of the decisions that were made on Smackdown. And I have to admit that a few of them were...shall we say, controversial? I understand why Mark and Paul made the match between Rock and Austin. Mark's made it clear that he wants Austin's championship."
"Mark's the big dog in the yard. Of course he wants it. And he wants to win it by taking on Austin. He doesn't want to win it because someone else was screwed out of it."
Linda nodded in agreement. "The triple threat match was interesting. It raised a few eyebrows, yes. But I admire Paul Bearer laying the law down with Chyna being at ringside."
"She's active talent. She shouldn't be doing someone else's dirty work. She should be competing, not interfering in someone else's business."
"And that brings me to the most controversial decision. Nicole Bass. Your dad was going to put her in an angle with Jeff Jarrett and Val Venis. Now she's Women's Champion."
"You have to have controversy to make things interesting," A smirk graced Stephanie's lips. "We knew that Nicole would be a champion everyone would talk about. Sable was getting complacent. The fans were tired of her gyrating and blowing her horn about all the stuff she's done in Hollywood instead of going out there and doing her work. She needed a reality check. And speaking of controversy, Nicole's part of the Howard Stern Show. If she's champ, Stern's listeners will check out the WWF because of her. And the WWF fans will check out Howard's show for the same reason. It's a win-win situation."
Linda had to agree with that statement. "That makes perfect sense, Stephanie. Nicole has plenty of potential. I think her new moniker fits her."
"Big Hurt? She came up with that one at the spur of the moment."
"Big Hurt Nicole Bass." Linda smiled. "I like it. I can actually picture some merchandise based on it. Maybe a T-shirt with BIG HURT in block letters on the front. Perhaps a hair scrunchie or two. And Nicole actually cut a pretty nice promo last night on Heat." Linda smiled slightly, and then paused. "But who would make a worthy opponent for her?"
Stephanie had the perfect answer. "Chyna hasn't got anything to do right now. We can push her as a worthy challenger. She's the Ninth Wonder of the World, right?" Linda nodded. "So what's she doing acting as a valet for Triple H? Give her something to do, keep her relevant. And I'm sure Luna would love to take her on as well."
Linda leaned forward and took a can of soda from the bucket of ice. She opened it and took a ladylike sip. "Stephanie, I'm going to be as honest and objective as I can. You know how I feel about you and Mark getting married. You being married to a wrestler is not easy for me to accept, because your dad and I know how dangerous this business is. We've always tried to protect you from the worst parts of it. So I hope you understand my reasons for not completely give the two of you my blessing."
Stephanie nodded. "That's fine. I totally respect that."
"Now, with that said, the Board and I think you and Mark did a helluva job putting together Smackdown and Heat. I can see that Mark has the best interests of this company in mind, which is why I will not object to the two of you as husband and wife. And I can also see how much you love each other. And if he breaks your heart for whatever reason, he's not going to answer to your dad or Shane first. He's going to answer to me."
"I appreciate that, Mom. Thanks." Stephanie's smile was genuine.
The conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door and a familiar voice. "Hey, Babe. You ready to head out?"
"I'll be out in a minute, Mark. Thanks." Stephanie helped Linda to her feet. "I guess we'll have to put this conversation on Pause for the moment. Something tells me that we're not quite finished with this discussion."
"Well, we can continue it when you've got a spare moment." A smirk crossed Linda's lips. "Or...I think I can head out there myself—separately, of course—and finish it in public. Because it involves your father and brother, and their influence on this company. Or, a lack thereof. Good luck out there, Sweetheart."
"Thanks Mom," Stephanie smiled as she opened the door and joined Mark and the rest of his entourage out in the hall.
~~~MOD~~~
Controversy and creativity were the first words that sprung to mind when the topic of the McMahon-Ministry era was brought up, with the first two examples of it being the Smackdown and Heat episodes following the Black Wedding.
Sunday Night Heat opened up with a tag match between Droz and Prince Albert and D-Lo Brown and a returning Mark Henry. The match went back and forth the whole way through for about three minutes as Droz and Prince Albert attacked D-Lo Brown and Mark Henry. The referee called a No Contest when the combatants spilled their fight into the crowd.
Next, Michael Cole presented a special report about the history of the McMahon family and the WWF. He then got into the recent occurrences between Shane and Vince, that Vince never treated his father in this form. They included many recent clips from Backlash and RAW.
He then went on to address Taker and Stephanie's wedding, and the hostile takeover of the WWF by the Ministry of Darkness. As a result, Cole explained, Shane and Vince were forced back together in spite of their differences. Their goal; return Stephanie to her family and take back their company. The segment ran for several minutes.
The next match was another tag match, this one between the Acolytes and Test and Ken Shamrock. The Acolytes dominated the match with power moves and double teams. Test was completely dominated until he got the hot tag to Ken Shamrock, who placed Farooq in a quick ankle lock, and he tapped out, sealing a victory for the two former Corporation members. After the match, the entire Ministry came down and attacked the victors.
Later, Mankind called out Bossman, calling him a coward and a bully for running away from him on Smackdown during their hardcore match. The Boiler Room Dweller then challenged Bossman in a Boiler Broom brawl, a challenge that Bossman accepted. The brawl was a vicious one, as they used all kinds of weapons on each other in the bout. They fought for several minutes until the ref called for the bell when Mankind suffered a gash across his forehead after being tossed through a table and knocked out.
Next up, Jerry "The King" Lawler interviewed newly-crowned Women's Champion Nicole Bass. Nicole came out to the ring to a nice pop and some great new entrance music. The new champ explained to the fans that Sable had gotten lazy, and that she had been sick of doing Sable's dirty work without any kind of reward. So stepping into the ring against her former employer was a no-brainer. She then said that if anyone didn't know who she was, then they should listen to Howard Stern once in a while, and ended with an open challenge to any of the little girls in the dressing room. If anyone wanted to take her on, then they knew where to find her.
~~~MOD~~~
Monday Night RAW started off with a bang.
The first match of the night was the Tag Team Championship match between the New Age Outlaws and The Brood. Road Dogg and Billy Gunn came out first, with Dogg working the crowd into a happy lather and spouting off that he and Gunn were the "soon to be WWF Tag Team !" The Brood (Edge and Gangrel) entered next, up from their ring of fire on the stage. Gunn and Gangrel started, with a lockup and an arm wringer by Gunn. Into the ropes, duck, leapfrog, then dropkick from Gunn, and then back to the arm wringer on Gangrel. Then, it was a tag to Dogg, who showed a few break dancing moves before Gangrel went for his eyes. A tag was then made to Edge, and the two of them engaged in some unique doubleteaming. While Gangrel distracted ref Earl Hebner, Edge pounded away on Dogg in the corner. Dogg came back with more punches and a knee drop. An Irish whip was reversed, and a leapfrog - Gangrel then waffled Dogg off a blind tag. There were more neat doubleteam moves as Gangrel and Edge performed the classic Hart Attack maneuver on Dogg. Then it was Gangrel with general pounding. Another tag to Edge. Double whip, double hiptoss, and then Edge mocked the Outlaws. A big teeth shot and a rear chinlock was followed by a scoop and a slam by Edge, who followed with an elbowdrop. Suddenly the lights went out for a few seconds, and a tag was made...to Christian, who took Gangrel's place on the ring apron! The two of them performed a double superplex which brought the crowd to its feet.
Christian threw a hard right and tagged Edge back in. Edge climbed to the top rope, and Christian attempted to launch his partner/half-brother with a Rocket Launcher but Dogg rolled away, and both men were down. Christian shouted at Edge, and Gunn shouted at Dogg, as the two fallen combatants struggled to their respective corners. A double tag was made, and Gunn was a house afire as he tore into Edge's half-brother like a buzzsaw. Christian was Irish whipped into a corner, and Gunn rushed in to attempt a superplex of his own. At that moment, Gangrel handed Edge his goblet, and while the referee was distracted by Gangrel, Edge clunked Gunn in the head. A dazed Gunn was easy pickings for Christian, who nailed him with a tornado DDT and got the three-count! The Brood celebrated their victory, and understandably, high-tailed it to the dressing room, as Gunn and Dogg came to blows. Then, the lights went out again, and the Outlaws were the newest victims of a Brood bloodbath!
After the match, Mark congratulated the new champs and gave them the rest of the night off, warning them gently that winning the belts was easy, but defending them would be the hard part.
~~~MOD~~~
Once Edge, Gangrel and Christian were out of sight and earshot, Mark pulled his cell phone out of his coat pocket and dialed a familiar number. Two rings. "Vince. You know who this is. I hope you and Shane are in the vicinity, because my new wife and I are heading out to the ring. And you don't want to miss the opportunity to see your little girl, right? I mean, you've been waiting all week for this. Be there. And no funny business."
~~~MOD~~~
At ringside, JR and his regular colleague Jerry Lawler were discussing the shocking turn of events.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, if you are not yet aware, the WWF is now under new ownership. Last week, The Undertaker married Stephanie McMahon in a Black Wedding, and in doing so, became the principal owner of this company. Stephanie has not been seen since last week, when she was thrown into the back of a limo and driven away, with her father screaming in anguish.
"Later, on Smackdown, Vince and Shane pleaded with Undertaker to return Stephanie to her family. Undertaker came out to gloat over his victory and refused to give her back. He did, however, offer to bring Stephanie out on RAW tonight, to show Vince that he was, in his own words, treating her the way a woman should be treated."
"Well JR," chimed in Lawler. "I never thought I'd see the day when Vince McMahon would be put on the defensive, but last week was quite the game changer."
"Well, last week has been unbearable for Vince, but I can't begin to imagine the horrors that poor Stephanie's endured. Stalked, kidnapped, married against her will...what more will that poor defenseless girl have to suffer through?"
~~~MOD~~~
"I'm not gripping your wrist too tight, am I?"
"I'm fine," Stephanie reassured her husband under her breath as he "dragged" her down the hallway. Farooq and Bradshaw were out in front, with Viscera and Mideon following. Mark (who was being called a monster by JR at the moment) was next, along with his wife, who pretended to stagger behind him, with Paul Bearer bringing up the rear.
Stephanie and Mark were about to put a lock on their destinies. It was only a matter of time.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Soooo...not sure how I liked the ending of this chapter. I guess it's more table setting than anything else. But congrats to the Brood and Nicole (in the story, anyway!) for becoming champions! The entrance music I had in mind for Nicole was a hot little instrumental piece from the Dan Reid network. Let me know if you want to hear it, because I have the mp3 available and I'll be happy to send a copy to you!
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