Chapter 7: Intercontinental Champion?

Tuesday, August 30th, 2016 - Backlash: 12 Days Away - Dallas, Texas

James was asleep on the bed shirtless wearing black and white pajama bottoms. The TV was on and playing some random movie while on the nightstand sat an empty pizza box with two empty tubs of Ice Cream. On top of James was the woman he had been longing for since he had debuted on the main roster, Cassie McIntosh AKA Peyton Royce, his longtime girlfriend who slept peacefully on his chest. He had his arms around her as a blanket covered the both of them. James' eyes slowly opened as he blinked several times before he finally opened his eyes, yawning. He smiled as he looked down at the body on top of him. Cassie had been with James for the past few days, he wanted her to be there in person for his Intercontinental Championship match against The Miz.

It was amazing that he had been on the main roster for so little time and was getting a WWE Intercontinental Title Match. The Intercontinental Championship was one of the most prestigious titles in the history of the WWE. So many great wrestlers had held the title like Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Triple H, Owen Hart, The Rock, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Razor Ramon and so many more great legends. This was his chance to etch Zack Mercer into that great list of Champions.

The last time he held Championship gold was nearly 3 years ago when he held the NXT Championship before dropping the title to Adrian Neville. This was now his chance to capture only his second Championship in his WWE Career.

"Life's good." James said to himself. He smiled as he saw Cassie start to stir awake.

"Good morning beautiful." He said, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Morning. What time is it?"

"It's about 9:21, we should get up soon. I wanna hit the gym and grab a bite to eat before we go to the show."

"Okay, I'm gonna take a shower before we go." Cassie tried to get up but James pulled her back down.

"It's been a while, how about one more hour?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Cassie said before she smashed her lips on James.

Hours Later - Backstage

James was walking around the back dressed in special tights for the night since they were in Dallas, Texas. Home of the Dallas Cowboys, his favorite football team. And tonight it was gonna be the home to his first title win on the main roster.

He wore silver tights with tiger scratches on the sides in navy blue with a white outline. Around the waist of the tights, there was a navy blue band around the waist with a white line outlining the band. In the middle of the tights, there was ZM in the same color scheme as the tiger scratches. He wore navy blue knee pads on both knees with ZM on the right pad in white with navy blue kick pads with white outlining the padding of the kick pads with straps on the sides of the kick pads. This go around he had white wrist tape on both of his wrists to go with his gear. He had a Dallas Cowboys Dak Prescott jersey on.

"You know I had a feeling you would." said the blonde bombshell that was his best friend as she came running next to him standing there right beside him.

"That I would what?"

"Go all out with the ring gear. You always do it."

"You look good, then you feel good. You feel good, you perform good. You of all people should know. Besides, I got a reputation to uphold. A reputation of going above and beyond."

"I know because you took me to Disneyworld, you got some Disney inspired ring gear and a necklace for my birthday." He had forgot her birthday so he figured if he took her to Disneyworld and bought her a few things then it would make it for his terrible memory.

"Yeah well you deserved it."

"So I see Cassie's here."

"Yep, what about it?"

"Nothing, I'm just glad to see your relationship still going strong."

"I try but sometimes I struggle. Ever since I left NXT, she's been a bit different. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong. And you're still good with Matthew right?"

"Yeah but it''s like you said something's off. I just want the old days back."

"I wish. Things were so much easier in NXT."

"Way easier."

"Hey I'm gonna go grab lunch and sit with the girls. You wanna join us?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna grab something from the locker room first and then I'll come join you."

"Alright, see ya."

Minutes Later

Most of SmackDown Live's Women Roster sat at their usual table in catering where they sat and talked like normal people. It was the one chance they had to have some normalcy in their extraordinary lives and careers as WWE Superstars. Sitting at the table currently were Lexi, Leah, Trinity, Rebecca, Nattie and Nicole. Later tonight it was gonna be Becky Lynch & Naomi vs Natayla & Alexa Bliss with Nikki Bella at commentary.

"I'm excited about this tag match." Rebecca said taking a bite from her plate of Chicken Alfredo.

"And you know it's gonna be 10x better because we're in Dallas." Nicole said getting a few nods from the ladies.

"I don't know what it is about Texas but Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi are amongst some of the best cities we go to." Trinity added.

"Really?" Lexi asked. As a rookie on the main roster, she didn't really know what cities stood out amongst the performers of the WWE.

"Oh yeah, just wait till we get to LA, Toronto, Chicago, New York, Orlando, Miami, Atlanta and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about." Nattie said as she pointed at both Leah and Lexi. Lexi looked up at Leah seeing the look of disdain on her face as she looked forward seeing James sitting at a table with Cassie. It was no secret that Leah and Cassie did not like each other. The crazy thing is Lexi didn't like Cassie either. And the root of their beef started all the way in NXT.

"What's wrong Leah?" Rebecca asked.

"She's here." Leah said still holding the look of disdain as she stared a hole into Cassie's soul.

"Oh that's her." Nattie said looking at her.

"Yep that's definitely her." Rebecca said almost with the same tone as Leah.

"Should've been able to tell by the smell." Leah said receiving a light jab from Rebecca while Lexi chuckled.

"I'm not even gonna ask let's just discuss our plans for tonights show." Nicole said changing the subject quickly but it couldn't stop Leah from staring at the NXT Star that sat with WWE's rising star.

Minutes Later - SmackDown Live

"Bully" by Three Days Grace Hits

Zack Mercer walked out onto the stage as the titantron was the only video package showing while the lights were all turned off in the arena. Zack raised his index fingers and middle fingers up in the air as the lights of the arena came back on and began going back and forth between blue and white lights.

"Dallas, How you doin?" Zack asked as he walked to the right side of the stage and pointed into the crowd. He then turned around and walked to the left side of the stage and pointed into the crowd. He walked back to the center stage and looked around in the crowd.

"It's Mercer Time." Zack Mercer yelled as he walked down the ramp slapping the hands of the fans in the front row. Once he reached the ringside area he looked around at the crowd. He shook his head letting his hair fly around his head. He snapped his head back causing his hair to fly behind his head. He walked around the ringside area to the ring and got up onto the ring apron similar to the Miz. 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 while he walked over to the middle of the ring talking trash to the Miz while the referee pushed him back.

"Bully" Stops

Zack backed up in the corner while he stared across the ring sitting up on top turnbuckle.

"The Following Contest is scheduled for one fall and is for the WWE Intercontinental Championship." Greg Hamilton announced as the WWE Intercontinental Championship graphic appeared on the titantron.

"Introducing first, the challenger, from Las Vegas, Nevada. Weighing in at 220 Pounds. Zack Mercer!" Greg Hamilton announced while Zack stood up while he raised his index and middle finger up in the sky while the fans were cheering like crazy at the man wearing the Cowboys colors.

"And the champion, being accompanied to the ring by Maryse. Now residing in Hollywood, California. Weighing in at 221 Pounds. He is the WWE Intercontinental Champion. The Miz!" Hamilton announced while Miz stood up and raised his title up in the air while the fans booed loudly for him. Maryse moved out of the way while Miz jumped down and handed the referee the WWE Intercontinental Championship title. The referee raised the title in the air showing it to the fans who cheered loudly while Zack took off his shirt and handed it to the ringside crew while Maryse exited the ring getting out of the way.

The referee then called for the bell.

Ding-Ding-Ding!

Zack and Miz looked around the arena at the fans who were cheering loudly before Zack locked it up with Miz. Miz transitioned it off with a side headlock. Zack backed Mix up into the ropes before he pushed him off into the ropes. When Miz came back he dropped Zack with a shoulder block. Maryse clapped while some of the fans in the first row tried to yell words of encouragement to Zack. Miz went to the ropes while Zack flipped over as Miz came back off the ropes. When he did he was hit with a picture perfect dropkick by The Master of the Mercer Maniacs.

Miz dropped to the mat and rolled out of the ring as Zack stood back up. Maryse grabbed Miz and started to console him. Zack backed up to the ropes and ran forward before he did a fake handspring followed by a backflip taunting Miz who had moved out of the way while Mercer stood in the center while the fans cheered at his athleticism. Miz had ran into the ring while Zack backed up. Zack got in a position to lock it up while Miz did the same but instead ducked Zack's attempt to hold Zack into a waist lock and picked him up before slamming him down on the mat and then transitioning the hold into a ground facelock. Zack wiggled out of the hold and locked on a modified version of reverse grounded headlock while the fans started to clap on the barricade. Miz had rolled Zack onto his back with his shoulder down on the mat.

1….

2, Kick Out at 2 by Zack while he got up to his feet while Miz did the same. Zack ran towards Miz looking for a clothesline but Miz had ducked it and moved around before covering Zack with a school boy roll-up.

1….

2, Kick Out at 2 by Zack who once again got up to his feet only to be dropped down to the mat by a sweep of the leg dropping Zack while Miz covered him.

1….

2, Kick Out at 2 by Zack who had gotten up to his feet while Miz did the same. Zack hit Miz with a forearm shot. Zack with repeated forearms to the face of Miz who had backed up to the ropes. Zack backed up and attempted to run towards Miz and clothesline him over the ropes but Miz lifted him up over the ropes. When Mercer hit the ground he grunted loudly as the fans booed at Miz while Maryse walked over to Mercer talking trash to the young man who had landed back-first on the mat. The Miz rolled out of the ring and grabbed Zack by the hair pulling him up before he whipped Zack shoulder first into the steel steps. Miz smiled sadistically while Zack had laid on his back feeling the effects of colliding with Steel.

Miz then grabbed Zack by the hair and threw him over the barricade on his back before then rolling into the ring. He rolled back out of the ring starting the count back at 0 and then grabbed the Zack Mercer who had leaned up against the barricade. He grabbed him by the hair bringing him over the barricade. He grabbed him by the hair and brought his face crashing into the steel steps then throwing him into the ring. Mercer got up to his feet while he checked his nose that was currently bleeding before he backed up into the turnbuckle and dropped down to a knee. Miz walked towards Zack and kneed him in the face causing him to back up into the corner down on the ground. Miz with repeated stomps into the ribs of Zack Mercer before he stuck his foot in the airway of Zack Mercer choking while the referee counted. Miz let go of the hold when the referee count stopped at 4. Miz started to shout at the referee loudly as he pointed a finger to the chest of the referee who eventually had backed up into a corner. By the time Miz got done talking to the referee Zack had up in the corner and had enough energy to strike back against The Miz.

When Miz turned around he was dropped with a clothesline. Miz popped back up only to be hit with another clothesline as the fans started to cheer loudly. Zack taunted again while Miz got up to his feet again. Miz went for a clothesline but Mercer ducked it and hit Miz with a spin out powerbomb shades of John Cena. Zack popped back up to his feet and looked around like a crazed animal before he went up to the top rope and pointed at a fan in the front row wearing his shirt. He turned around pointed at some more fans before jumping off with the Imploding 450 Splash before he hooked the leg.

1...

2….

Thr-No, Kick Out before the 3 count while Zack looked around shocked. He got up to his feet while he checked his nose that was obviously bleeding more and simply smiled like a mad man. Zack started to clap along causing the fans to clap loudly while Miz had slowly started to rise up to his feet. When Miz turned around Mercer attempted to hit Miz with the Ace of Spades but Miz ducked it and once put Zack in the hold for the Skull Crushing Finale but Zack wiggled out of it and hit Miz with a hip toss.

Zack backed up looking to hit Miz with Ace of Spades but Miz had dropped down to the mat and rolled out of the ring into the arms of Maryse who had the title. Miz and Maryse started to walk around the ringside area with the title while the referee started to count. That is until Zack had jumped over the top rope onto the apron and then jumped up on the second rope before nailing a moonsault like attack on Miz. The fans cheered loudly as Zack grabbed Miz and threw him into the ring.

Zack quickly rolled into the ring and grabbed Miz by the wrist before he hit him with Hangover(Wrist Lock transitioned into a High Knee) that sent him back-first into the ropes before Zack grabbed Miz put him up on his shoulder and hit him with the Mercer Driver(Fireman's Carry Bulldog). Mercer quickly jumped into the cover.

1…

2….

3….

Ding-Ding-Ding!

"Bully" Plays

"Here is your winner and the new WWE Intercontinental Champion: Zack Mercer!" Greg Hamilton announced as Zack had backed up into the corner out of shock while all the fans cheered loudly for the man who was earning the nickname Mr. Tuesday Night. A stagehand had picked up the title belt and handed it to the referee. Zack picked himself up out of the corner and took the title from the referee. He smiled and nodded his head as he raised the title in the air.

When Zack lowered the belt down he walked towards the ropes and stuck his foot on the middle rope and bottom rope while he raised the title up in the air once more and then kissed the title. Zack turned around and did it on the opposite side of the ropes before he then wrapped the title around his waist and pointed up at the sky for his mother and did his pose one last time.

A/N: Alright so there's that. Zack Mercer is now the WWE Intercontinental Champion in Zack Mercer: The Rise. So far in my opinion, the story is panning out well. I can't wait for you guys to see what I got planned after Survivor Series.

This is the ZackAttack signing out!

Peace!