Chapter 4: Challenge for Corbin

Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 - Bakersfield, California - SummerSlam: 12 Days Away

James walked around backstage with his phone in his hand. He had been trying to get a hold of Cassie for the past few hours to no avail. He didn't know what was going on with her but for the past few days, she'd been kind of distant. Off in her own little world that didn't seem to include him or anything other than her phone.

He had been with Cassie for the past year and a half, they moved in with each other, lived with each other, trained together, planned a life together after their careers and a bunch more. In lamest terms, James trusted her. He had to because he loved her or loved being with her. There was a little bit of worry starting to creep into his mind about her loyalty to him. With James being bumped up to the Main Roster, there was more time he spent on the road then with her and for any relationship that was deadly.

James was almost nose deep in his phone and didn't even notice that there was another body in his path as he walked down the hallway of the Rabobank Arena. When he happened to look up it was a little bit too late as he collided with a 5'2, tanned brunette wearing a sleeveless blue dress. James quickly caught her before she hit the ground at the expense of his phone.

"Shit." James cursed as he looked down at his phone. A light blush came onto his cheeks as his electric blue orbs met her brown orbs.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking." He said as he let go of her making her give off a nervous chuckle.

"I noticed. It's my fault, I should've moved out of the way."

"No you were good, I was the one who was the wrong. I should've paid attention to my surroundings instead of worrying about some stupid text. I'm James. James McGrady."

"Charly Arnolt." She said extending a hand with a smile.

"Charly. That's a nice name. Very fitting."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked with puzzled frown.

"That's something I would have to explain which can only be explained over a cup of coffee. My treat after knocking you down with my awesomeness." He smirked making that frown that was on her face turn into a chuckle.

"If I say yes, please agree to never say that again."

"Alright, you have my word."

"Good and I can figure out how to fix your phone." She said as he bent down to pick up his phone seeing that there was a slight crack on the screen. It wasn't a major crack but nonetheless a crack.

"Don't even sweat it. I got it." He winked at her once more making her chuckle before they turned down the hallway and started to make their way down.

Meanwhile from afar sat Lexi Kaufman and her friends sitting at a table in catering backstage eating as they normally did before the show. The others were in a conversation while Lexi seemed to be distracted. Distracted by her friend talking to this new mystery girl. Lexi didn't recognize her which might've had something to do with the fact that she had just gotten up to the main roster but she figured she should ask the girls who have been there a lot longer than she has.

"Hey guys, who's the new girl?" She asked pointing to the short brunette walking and talking with her best friend.

"That's Charly. She just got here last week. She's a backstage interviewer." Nattie answered.

"And by the looks of it, James is getting to know her." Trinity said, making Lexi raise a brow.

"Uh-oh." Becky said, taking a sip of her water as Leah giggled, making Trinity and Nattie turn their heads to look at the two.

"Why the 'Uh-Oh'?" Trinity asked.

"Lexi has this thing about girls getting too close to her best friend. She doesn't like to admit it." Becky said making Lexi quickly turn her head giving her a light glare.

"I do not. If I did, he wouldn't have a girlfriend."

"If I remember correctly the day you found out James and Cassie were dating, you were in the locker room upset for hours." Leah said making Lexi glare at her.

"I'm gonna keep my eye on those two." Lexi stated.

"I don't think you really have to. James is a loyal boyfriend from what I've seen. Even if that isn't the case for his girlfriend." Leah said making Becky lightly jab at her side making her snap her head in Becky's direction.

"What do you mean by that?" Lexi asked.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Becky quickly replied. They were hiding something. Something big but Lexi was gonna let it slide for now. Her main focus was trying to figure out what was going on between James and Charly.

Hours Later - Backstage

It was just a few minutes before James had to go out in the ring for his promo. From what Bryan and Shane were telling him about, he was pretty damn excited. He had a 8 minute window to get a promo out in hopes that it would build enough for the opening match of SummerSlam. That's right. The opening match of SummerSlam 2016 was gonna feature none other than Zack Mercer in his Pay-Per-View debut live in Brooklyn, New York. Zack Mercer was excited for his match but James on the other hand was a bit nervous. When he was down in NXT and had an opportunity to have a match on TakeOver, he showed out. But this, this was different. WWE Pay-Per-Views were the real deal. If you could have a good Pay-Per-View match then you were a definity star in the making in WWE.

But on a completely unrelated note, James had a good time talking to Charly. The two went around the corner to a Starbucks, had some coffee and just talked about whatever. What brought them to WWE, their backgrounds, all sorts of things really. James could tell she was gonna be a real good friend to have in the WWE. And in the WWE, if there was any chance you could make friends with some of the guys and girls in the back then do so. Having friends in the company could actually help you out down the line. And speaking of friends, James looked and saw his best friend making her way over to him in her ring gear with a bottle of water in her hands. By his guess, she had just gotten backstage after finishing her match with Becky Lynch.

"Hey Drew." Lexi said hopping up on a crate sitting next to the man that only she got to call "Drew".

"Hey Lexi." James said looking her up and down.

"So I saw you talking to the new girl."

"And?"

"Nothing. She seems like a really nice girl."

"She is. She's nice. Any reason you brought her up?"

"I just wanted to see what you think of her."

"Like I said, she's nice. And don't worry, she's just a friend."

"I-" Lexi was saying before she was cut off by a member of the production team telling James that his cue was up.

"I'll check in with you later. You riding with me tonight?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Alright see you." He winked as he made his way down the hallway to go to the stage while Lexi watched as he walked off down the hallway.

Minutes Later - SmackDown Live

"Bully" by Three Days Grace Hits

The fans cheered as the music of Zack Mercer hit the PA System while blue and white lights started going around the arena while the titantron was the only thing that was on and showed a obsidian like screen with ZM in a diamond like texture on the screen. Zack walked out onto the stage and hunched over before he shot back up raising his index and middle fingers in air getting cheers from the crowd. He looked around at the fans in the Rabobank Arena with a smile before he made his way down the ramp slapping the hands of the fans on the way down.

"Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome, Zack Mercer!"

Once he reached the ringside area he looked around at the walked around the ringside area to the ring and got up onto the ring apron similar to the Miz's style. He held onto the middle rope while he raised up his index finger and middle finger with his other hand. He got up to his feet and entered the ring before went over to the turnbuckle and did his pose over again while the fans cheered loudly.

He jumped down from the ropes and walked towards the center of the ring requesting a microphone.

"Bully" Stops

"Bakersfield. How you doin?" Zack asked into the microphone while the fans cheered loudly.

"Now if you watched SmackDown Live last week then you would notice that I was scheduled to compete in a match for a WWE Intercontinental title shot at SummerSlam. The only problem with that is that I never made it to the ring because I was attacked. I was attacked backstage and left in pain by a man who didn't want me to walk down that ramp and step into the ring and kick his teeth down his throat right here in the center of the ring. And that man is Baron Corbin." Zack said as the fans booed at that last part after hearing Baron's name.

"I'm a simple, simple man. If I have a problem with you then I'm gonna come to you as a man and we can go two ways with it. A, We could talk about it like men but let's be honest this is wrestling, we ain't come here to talk. Or B, my personal favorite, We could come down here step into this ring, duke it out which 9 times out of 10 is gonna end with me kicking you in the mouth and that's that." Zack said as the fans cheered while Zack smiled.

"But you see Corbin, you took the punk way out. You attacked me while I wasn't looking backstage, left me in the back and ran away like a punk. Now it's very clear, you have a problem with me and trust me when I tell you this, the feeling is mutual Baron. Now thanks to Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan, we got an opportunity to step into this ring and solve our issues man to man at SummerSlam. So if you got any balls Baron, you'll accept my challenge and you'll see me in-the ring at SummerSlam." Zack said as he dropped his mic in the ring while his music started to play on the PA System as he exited the ring.

"Bully" Plays

A/N: So next chapter will be SummerSlam and it'll be Zack Mercer taking on Baron Corbin. I know the Promo wasn't all that and a bag of chips but hopefully it was still pretty good. And I'm working on budding a friendship between Charly Caruso and Zack Mercer because I need Zack to make friends backstage to really feel like a part of the locker room and the WWE Family.

This is the ZackAttack signing out!

Peace!