Team Work chapter 228
April 10th, 2020
The people standing before Stephanie are limited, but those she needs are there, and that's the important thing. She smiles faintly, tapping her forearm a few times before examining the group. "So, guys, the latest cycle ended last week. Can anyone tell me what the most common part of a cycle concluding is?"
There are some murmurs, a few exchanged glances, and then- "A tie?" a handful of voices echo back at her.
"Right in one!" she says cheerfully, unfolding her arms and stepping forward. "So, Kenny Omega, Riddick Moss, you two tied and we will be starting the night off with a match between the two of you to break the tie. Is that alright?"
Both men exchange glances full of challenge and daring. "Yes," they agree simply.
So that's how the night begins while Stephanie sits in her office and completes the rest of the card, watching the two men fight back and forth. Despite his relatively newer status to the business, Riddick holds his own quite well against Kenny, and even gets a couple of pin attempts off on him early on. But Kenny fights back, Kenny overwhelms him and once he's down, Riddick doesn't regain control for any significant amount of time. A One Winged Angel later and it's over, Omega claiming his place as official winner of the Wrestlemania cycle.
With one cycle down, Stephanie finds herself exceedingly eager to begin anew, humming under her breath as she hangs a new card up on the wall and returns to her office, interested to see how the new scoring cycle will go.
In tag action, Cedric Alexander and Sheamus reluctantly work together to defeat Humberto and Saurav Gurjar. Io Shirai beats Havok, and Tony Nese walks out victorious over Johnny Gargano. Six woman action follows, with Nia Jax, Hikaru Shida and Bianca Bel Air facing off against Kiera Hogan, Asuka and Nikki Cross. Both teams fight long and hard, but there's little chance of holding off the others for long, and Hikaru pins Kiera while her partners keep the other two occupied on the outside to keep them from interfering.
Willie Mack wins against Montez Ford, and Wesley Blake defeats Ricochet. Ethan Page shocks himself and a lot of people in the back by getting a win over Brodie Lee.
Rhino finds himself partnering with Trent against Angelo Dawkins and Lance Archer. He oversees their opponents and nudges Trent. "Hey, I'm not thrilled with having to partner like this with someone I barely know, but we gotta work together on this," he says, face expressionless but a tension in his gaze that Trent understands.
"Yeah, I'm with you," he says, turning his attention back to the others. He starts off against Dawkins and Rhino watches closely, waiting for an opportunity, or a specific need Trent might have. Midway through a chain of moves between the two men, Rhino sighs, realizing just how badly he misses partnering with Heath. Giving his head a good shake, he focuses just in time as Trent stumbles back in position for a tag, which Rhino gives quickly, getting into the ring.
Trent looks slightly confused as he slips behind the ropes, but Rhino has this- fights even harder when Archer tags himself in and they begin brawling in earnest, Rhino trying to keep him busy so he can't do anything more impactful than strikes and boots, eventually locking his arms around him and hoisting him backwards in a slam that rattles the ring when he lands. It doesn't stagger Archer for long, however, and he gets upright and punches Trent off of the corner. Rhino grimaces and tries again, another volley that this time ends with Archer ultimately getting gored into the opposite corner, Dawkins staring from him to Rhino and back, calculating the risks of tagging in or letting Archer see this through.
He eventually seems to come to a decision and leans in, slapping Archer's shoulder and rushing into the ring... Archer looks disgusted as he's forced out by the referee, but Rhino's main focus is on Dawkins, as he straightens up, and- Now! A second gore, sending Dawkins roughly to the mat, and Rhino grips his legs, folds him up in a pin, and he exhales in relief when the referee hits three and declares them the winner. Trent still looks a little groggy but present as he returns to the ring and stands on the other side of the ref, their arms getting lifted in victory. Rhino smirks as he pictures winning the cycle and getting to choose a title holder to compete against.
Chuck Taylor defeats Chris Bey, and due to an uneven amount of competitors tonight, Alexa Bliss agrees to partner with Dolph Ziggler against Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins- and she wins after a combination ZigZag followed by Twisted Bliss. Ziggler doesn't even seem to mind that he didn't get the winning pin, all smug grins and flirty chatter as they make their way backstage afterwards, which she pointedly ignores. Steve Cutler just barely wins against Braun Strowman.
In the main event, Aleister Black partners with Tommy Dreamer against Rinku Singh and Josh Alexander. Aleister starts the match off against Alexander, the two men brutalizing each other with an almost impossibly fast series of strikes and kicks, Alexander growling when Aleister staggers him after a particularly rough kick clips his jaw. He gets back to his feet, however, and tackles Aleister down, pounding him into the mat. Aleister fights free, however, and spins into another kick but Alexander drops back and avoids this, finding himself in his corner. He casts a glance behind and tags Singh in, relieved for a short breather as he leans in the corner and watches his partner try to keep his head above water during another volley of Aleister's offense.
Aleister eventually lets Dreamer in, when he needs a quick break, and Dreamer fights- he really does, but Singh is angry and takes advantage of the few moments reprieve he'd gotten during the tag, and quickly takes the veteran down, kicking him a few times for good measure. He's close to defeating him, setting up for his finisher, when Dreamer fights back and sweeps his legs out from under him. Despite his age, Dreamer is still a frustratingly tough man, eager to fight back time and again to see something through, and he does here as well- fights back with everything he has within him, only growing frustrated when his pin goes nowhere and Rinku kicks out barely before two. Getting to his feet, Dreamer gnaws his lower lip in frustration before turning to Aleister and tagging him back in.
Aleister enters the ring smoothly and rests his boot against Rinku's jaw, guiding him upwards slowly, almost taunting him with how lazily he seems to do it. Rinku's eyes are already glazed as he looks back at Aleister, and Alexander moves to try to stop this, but Dreamer had noticed, and Dreamer is on him before he can even fully get out of the ropes, tackling him down. They fight in the corner as the sick sound of the Black Mass echoes throughout the arena and all Alexander can do is listen to the ref's hand hitting the mat three times as he struggles to fight off Dreamer. "Dammit!" he snarls when the bell rings and Aleister and Dreamer are declared victorious. "Get off of me!"
Dreamer obliges, rolling off of him and struggling to stand. Aleister gets an arm under his elbow and drags him upright, the two of them standing on either side of the referee as their arms are raised in victory, Aleister's dark gaze watching Alexander as he glowers back at them, thoroughly hating this.
