Team Work chapter 249
September 4th, 2020
Shane grins at the few familiar faces who come up to him in greeting, bumping fists with some, shaking hands with others. Listens intently to their suggestions, promising to keep them in mind before excusing himself to venture back into the office and begin work. He knows Stephanie hates every second that he spends in her space, but he finds himself enjoying it. The structure behind Team Work is well thought out, the opposite of his Raw Underground, both are fun to toy and tinker with as he plays around with match combinations and other possibilities down the line.
The night starts off with tag team action, Isiah Cassidy and Eric Young defeating Timothy Thatcher and Santana.
Mickie James takes on Liv Morgan and, after some intense back and forth, the Riot Squad member almost coming out ahead of Mickie a time or two, Mickie plants her with a solid kick that downs her just long enough for Mickie to taunt her, dragging her up by her hair and holding her in place. Laughing in her face. watching as she struggles just to remain on her feet. "Aw, poor little LIv," she teases, "don't worry, Auntie Mickie will put you out of your misery riiiiight... now." She hoists her up, DDTs her down brutally, and then covers her, watching the ref out of the corner of her eye as he counts it out, then moves to inform the time keeper an announcer that she's won. Mickie can't help but grin smugly as her arm is raised in victory, barely sparing a glance back for Liv as she celebrates her win.
Mansoor and a visibly reluctant Ortiz defeats Dezmond Xavier and Chris Jericho, the self-proclaimed Demo God glaring down Ortiz before his expression cracks and he smacks Ortiz lightly on the chest, nudging him towards the back, all tension dissipating in an instance between the two as they head back up the ramp. Jungle Boy beat QT Marshall and Candice LeRae wins against Ruby Riott.
Ariya Daivari keeps up his winning ways walking out the victor in a fatal four way match after taking his time, settling in outside after getting tossed out of the ring by Cash Wheeler, watching Luchasaurus, Isaiah Scott, and Wheeler all take turns beating each other up, tiring themselves out. He sneers and waits for his opportunity, which comes after Wheeler lands a forearm that really staggers Swerve, opening him up for Luchasaurus to chokeslam him. Only then does Ariya return, grabs Wheeler by the arm, twists him around and lariats him brutally, then dropkicks Luchasaurus away before lunging forward and shouldering him over the top rope, sending the confused competitor off of the apron entirely with a boot to the face.
He dramatically wipes his hands off with a sneer before climbing to the top. One splash later and he's hooking Swerve's leg, putting as much of his weight down upon his upper chest and shoulders as he can, listening and sneering as the three count is achieved. He immediately rolls off and laughs to himself as he takes in the crowd, his arm being lifted to declare his win.
Rhino defeats Marq Que, and Nick Jackson, Jey Uso and Ivar walk out successful in six man action against Sami Zayn, Zachary Wentz and Dax Harwood. Randy Orton faces off with Tucker and, despite the man's size, sometimes the bigger they are, the harder they fall, especially to an RKO they never saw coming, leading to Orton winning relatively quickly.
Lance Archer and Fandango defeat Joey Janela and Erik. Taya Valkyrie wins against Hikaru Shida. Thunder Rosa outlasts and, ultimately, overwhelms, Shayna Baszler, seeming as surprised at the eventual victory as everyone else. Otis beats Keith Lee.
Matt Cardona grins as he finds himself across the ring from Scorpio Sky. They meet up in the middle, exchange a few exploratory blows, then Matt lands a boot that rocks Sky, leaves him vulnerable as the broski crashes him into the turnbuckle, then washes his boot over his face, dragging him back out. Sky fights back, avoids the Rough Ryder, but Matt catches him with an elbow on the rebound, and sends him staggering once more. Matt lands a few more blows, rocking him further, before lunging off of the ropes and this time hitting the Rough Ryder for real, pinning him as quickly as possible. He grins wide when he gets to his feet and his arm is raised in victory, before going to hold a hand out to Sky to help him up. Despite being disgruntled at the loss, Sky nods at Matt before taking his leave, once more back at the drawing board when it comes to this cycle.
Nia Jax defeats Big Swole, and Orange Cassidy wins against Matt Hardy. Mox beats Dustin Rhodes, and Matt Jackson wins against Cedric Alexander.
Seth Rollins looks unimpressed as he comes to the ring. Stares across at Tyler Breeze in his loud gear, his tasseled boots. Everything about him serves to annoy Seth, so when the bell rings, he doesn't even give him a second, just immediately lunges forward and begins to attack. Tyler barely gets a few blows in before Seth has him hoisted up, slamming him into the turnbuckle. He crumples, struggles just to breathe, and Seth begins punching him, snarling, showing his teeth, absolutely vicious. The referee's reprimands barely break through and finally Seth gets up before disqualification, gives him only a few seconds to get upright before he's on him again, kicking him, kneeing him hard in the jaw, sending him crashing back down to the mat.
Tyler lays there, gasping and struggling for each breath, some coherency to return to him, when Seth rushes forward, the mat shifting under his boots, and then... there's a sharp impact to the back of Tyler's neck and he feels himself getting moved, a heavy weight settling over his upperbody, and he wants so badly just to move, but he can't. His body won't response to his thoughts, his commands going unheard, and then... the bell rings and he sinks into the mat further, exhaling shakily at the loss.
Seth stands over him, smug and pleased, his hand being raised by the referee as he smirks into the camera, eyes glinting with something close to madness. "I told you," he says. "When will anyone just listen to me? That's all you need to do! That's all anyone ever needs to do!" With an almost disappointed shake of his head, he turns and takes his leave, the maddened smirk never quite fully leaving his face.