Meanwhile, in a hospital bed on the other side of the hospital, Billy Rose threw the food tray in front of him at the wall. Like Skinner, his head was bandaged, and he could only move his right arm, as his left was in a sling. His left foot was elevated, a splint holding it still. Rose scowled.
How in the hell had Skinner survived that fall? It should've killed him -- landing head-first like that, and with Brain Damage being delivered no less! His ribs should've been broken. His whole fucking body should've been broken. What the hell was he going to have to do to stop this maniac?
Thinking back, Rose decided he shouldn't have been surprised Skinner survived. If there was one thing about the man, it's that he survived. When he first came to CIW years earlier, fresh and green from his Texas-based wrestling school, Skinner was expected to be just another jobber -- more fodder for the stars in CIW. Fodder for men like Brick Dickerson, or Smoker Johnshon, or Gap-Tooth Tony, or Victory Simpson. But instead, Skinner had survived. He'd taken Breaker Chokeslams, House Burners, Brainbuster DDTs, and Victory Slams and came back the next day to break a 2x4 over someone's head, thus earning him the moniker "the Survivor."
Impressed by the man's resilience, Rose decided to do some more "special" training to groom the man to join the heel stables, but Skinner had refused, so Rose had "intensified" the training. That only served to make Skinner even more furious at him, and thus began the epic feud between the two in CIW -- a striking parallel to the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon's Corporation feud in the WWF at the time. Only it was "The Survivor" Matthew Skinner against Billy Rose's Triumvirate.
Ah, yes, the Triumvirate. The unholy trio who managed to force most of CIW to do their bidding for fear of being punished severely -- Billy Rose, Brick Dickerson, and Victor E. Simpson. Rose, the man who ran CIW -- Victor, their undisputed champion for two straight years -- and Brick, their enforcer. Oh, sure, they had a few tertiary allies in men like Tony and Smoker, but the Triumvirate was nigh unstoppable.
And then Skinner came off the injured list after his "training" and started fighting back. And it worked. "The Survivor" had lived up to his name once more, and now he had friends. Men like Zed & Zeta, like Nate Starr, like Hal Maxim. The Triumvirate began to crumble -- especially when their main allies in the Gemini (CIW's reigning Tag Team Champions) lost their titles to the Z-Men due to the interference of Skinner and Maxim. And then they lost the American title -- their second highest singles' belt -- to Maxim when Smoker lost, again due to Skinner's interference. But the worst blow was when Victor lost the CIW Championship to Matthew Skinner -- despite all the efforts of the Triumvirate to stop him.
That had been too much for Rose to bear. He'd been just playing with Skinner before, but now it was far, far beyond mere play. Skinner and his allies found themselves targeted more and more by the Triumvirate. Zeta was brutally attacked by Victor and due to injury, the Z-Men were forced to forfeit their titles -- which Castor and Pollux Geminus were quick to snap back up. Maxim's skull was fractured by a skillet-swinging Tony and he dropped the American Championship back to Smoker, and soon enough Skinner was a man alone again.
It wasn't enough when Skinner lost the championship to Victor again. No, immediately after the event where Skinner lost the title, Rose had him booked in a four-on-one handicap match. "The Survivor" against Brick, Victor, Smoker, and Gap-Tooth Tony. But, goddammit, Skinner lived up to his name again. He took the most colossal beating. Victory Slams took a lot out of him, but Skinner managed to rally back and hit the "Unsurvivable Driver" (which would later be dubbed the "Southern Lightning Driver") and pretty much remove the champion from the match. So then Smoker stepped up to the plate. He pounded on the Texan with anything in reach, and topped it off with a House Burner powerbomb, but Skinner still had something in him. It would be Gap-Tooth Tony's miss with a skillet swing at a ducking Skinner that would put Smoker down. So then Tony swung again and this time hit Skinner right on the top of the head. By all rights, the blow should've killed him. But, bleeding and sporting a concussion that would keep him bed-ridden for two days afterward, Skinner pressed on and put on a sleeper that took Tony out of the match.
Which left Skinner alone with Brick. The disadvantage for Skinner now was that he was scraping the bottom of his reserves, having withstood the beating he'd taken already, and Brick was just as good at surviving things as Skinner was. Worse yet, the rest of his opponents were recovering, and they also had Rose at ringside to encourage them, and even get a few swings in on Skinner when the opportunity arose. So Skinner did the only thing he could -- he kept fighting.
It wound up being Rose breaking a glass jar over his head -- just as he had the previous night when he lost to Victor -- that sealed his fate for that match. A Breaker Chokeslam later, Skinner was gone for two weeks, but somehow managed to come back. By now, his allies had likewise recovered, and the fued continued for another year. Titles changed hands again, and Skinner held the championship for six months. But finally, they got the title off of him again, and Rose had had enough. He booked Skinner in a "loser-leaves-CIW" match against Brick. And Rose savored every moment of that match -- seeing Brick break the 2x4 across Skinner's back, then not just giving him any ordinary Breaker Chokeslam, but a Breaker Chokeslam onto the concrete floor outside the ring. And Rose had done it -- he'd made it so "The Survivor" couldn't survive any longer.
So then Skinner had to go and get famous by becoming "the Storm" and hitting it big in Japan, then going to the WWF and becoming even more famous.
Well, now it had come full circle. The Storm had himself a crew of allies like he had in CIW -- hell, two of them were Zed & Zeta again, and he had that bitch Rain, and Stone Cold to back him up too. Well that was just fine. Billy Rose had himself a new Triumvirate -- himself, Brick, and Shane McMahon. He even had himself a dominant tag-team in Edge & Christian, and two more enforcers in Kurt Angle and Rhino. It was only a matter of time before they took out the Alliance and the Storm's little cadre of wrestlers, and then Billy Rose would be the elite again.
* * *
Matthew Skinner sighed as he checked his watch. "Listen, Claire, I want you to go to RAW."
"No, Matthew, I couldn't do that--"
"No, listen. We both know that we've got to step up our own little plans, and the first step in that is for you to be present for Mike and Rog's title defense tonight. We have to keep the system moving, or things won't work." Skinner shook his head. "I'll be fine, Claire. I'll be sitting right here, watching, and everything's going to be going just perfect."
* * *
At the arena, the Faction was busy hyping up Edge & Christian for their match. Edge still sported a nasty bruise on his jaw from where Zed had given him the hard straight punch he'd apparently turned into a second finisher, and Christian's back was still sore from the Z-Slam he'd taken.
"Relax, guys," Shane told them. "You'll have Rhino there to back you up, and those two jobbers have nobody. And if someone does manage to even the odds, Brick will be right there to help out."
The big man sat in the corner, brooding, but looked up and grunted an agreement at Shane's words. The young McMahon grinned and pointed to him. "See? He's rarin' to go. But with any luck, we won't need him -- no, if all goes right, we'll have blood and gore in the ring."
"Yeah, man, we can do this," Edge said to his brother. "We're, like, seven-time champions!"
"More than that!" Christian said. "They got lucky! We are gonna inflict so much pain-osity!"
Edge grinned, stepped toward the door and opened it, then paused and turned back. "Christian?"
"Yeah?"
"Get the Rhino!"
* * *
"The following tag-team contest is scheduled for one fall, and is for the World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Championship!" Lillian Garcia announced.
A tone played as images of posing Canadians aired on the TitanTron, while a voice chanted, "You think you know me... you think you know me..." Grinning confidently, the two blond-haired former champions strutted out, wearing their red "silhouette" shirts. Rhino walked between them, hair in his face, clenching his fists and breathing heavily. "Introducing first, from Toronto, Ontario, Canadia, being accompanied by Rhino, at a combined weight of 455 pounds... EDGE & CHRISTIAN!"
Edge slid into the ring and bounced on his toes and hands for a moment as Christian stepped through the ropes, then stood up and posed on the second rope, grinning at the fans while Christian posed on the other corner, rotating his shoulders. Rhino stood in the center of the ring, raising his fists in the air and shouting, "Who's da man?!" Edge pulled off his shirt and tossed it out of the ring with his crazy-ass sunglasses, while Christian did the same with his own eye-wear. They brushed their hair out of their eyes, then faced the TitanTron.
The familiar guitar intro of Blur's "Song 2" played, and then the screen lit up with the legend ZED & ZETA as the singer shouted, "Whoo-hoo!" The fans started cheering as the two Baltimore natives strode out, wearing their title belts around their waists. "And their opponents, from Baltimore, Maryland, weighing in at a combined weight of 460 pounds... they are the new World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Champions... ZED & ZETA!" Zed grinned at his compatriot, who was swinging his arms and shouting at the crowd, psyching them up. Zed shadow-boxed a bit, then posed like a prizefighter. Zeta smacked his arm with a laugh and pointed up at a row in the upper tier of seats. There, a row of fans had created a banner that read, simply, SNOOOOOGANS. Zed laughed and thumped his chest with a fist while Zeta favored the row of fans with a tongue-wag and a Snuka hand-sign.
The ex-boxer and the slacker-lookalike stopped half-way down the ramp and faced their eager opponents in the ring. Zeta held up a hand, smirked and turned to Zed, holding out a hand. Zed reached behind him and pulled a microphone out of his back pocket and handed it to Zeta. Zeta grinned, then spoke to the fans. "Yo, Cleveland, what's the word?"
"Snoogans!" came the reply.
"Damn straight!" Zeta quipped. He turned to the trio in the ring. "Oh, this is fair. Three against two. I don't think it's fair. Don't you agree, Zed?"
"Oh, yes, indeed, Zeta," Zed replied, taking the mic. "In fact, I think we have to even the odds a bit." He turned and pointed up the ramp, just as the screen lit up with crackling thunder and the techno-rock music of a certain Texan woman's entrance. Rain walked out, wearing an I am a Force of Nature t-shirt, and joined the Z-Men on the ramp. She smirked at the surprised Faction trio in the ring, then tapped fists with Zed and Zeta. Zed raised the mic again.
Zed and Zeta removed their title belts and handed them to the referee, Teddy Long, as they slid into the ring. Long held the belts in the air, then passed them out to the timekeeper as the bell was rung. Rhino and Rain stayed outside the ring, watching as Edge and Christian took a moment to talk strategy as Zed checked the tape on his wrists and knuckles. Christian started it off. He held his hands off to the side, looking to lock up with Zed, who held his fists up in a boxing stance. Christian lunged to try and lock up, but Zed blocked with his right hand and thrust his left in a jab, which Christian barely ducked.
Christian lunged again, and this time Zed caught him with the jab. He followed up by slugging him twice more, then whipping him into the ropes. Christian came off and ducked under the clothesline, and charged back into a monkey toss from Zed which jarred the Canadian's spine. Christian convulsed on the mat from the landing, then oofed as Zed dropped an elbow on his stomach. A cover only got one before Christian got a shoulder up and Zed thrust him into the Z-Men's corner and worked him over with a series of bodyblows before tagging Zeta. They shot him into the ropes in preparation for a tandem manuever, but Christian showed good ring presence and caught his arms in the ropes, stopping himself, then sliding out under them. Zeta shouted at him to get back in the ring, but Christian begged off for a moment while the ref began a ten-count.
Zed got back in his corner, and then Christian slid into the ring to confront the smaller Z-Man. Zeta and Christian circled for a moment, then locked up, and Zeta got the short end of the stick when Christian grabbed him in a headlock. Zeta tried to shove him off, but Christian ground the headlock in and skidded to a halt, maintaining the hold. Zeta writhed, then managed to squirm around so he faced Christian while still in the hold. He tried to push the arms off his head without much success, then extended his arms to the sides. Christian blinked in confusion, then yelped as Zeta drove his index and middle fingers square into his kidneys. He jumped, released Zeta, then oofed as Zeta pushed himself off Christian's shoulders and drove his feet into the Canadian's chest, knocking him down.
Zeta landed and bounced back to his feet, grinned at the crowd, then turned back to Christian, who was getting up in the corner. The Z-Man with the blue-streaked hair yelled, "Snootch to the noooooootch!" and charged, but Christian sidestepped and Zeta hit the corner hard. Christian took him down with a lariat, then grabbed his arm and dragged him over to Edge, whom he tagged in. They took turns stomping on Zeta, then Edge got down to put on a blatant choke. Zeta writhed, then swung his hand up to Edge's face and raked his eyes. Edge dropped back, allowing Zeta to roll away from a retaliatory stomp from Christian. Zeta got up, still wincing at his chest, and then got taken down by a series of right hands from Edge. The Canadian hit a suplex, then scoop-slammed him near the neutral corner. Edge went up top, and imitated Zeta's "Snoogans!" pose. The fans booed heavily, and the action prompted Zed to step into the ring. While the ref was distracted restraining the ex-boxer, Rain jumped up on the apron next to Edge and jostled the ropes. Her move made Edge slip and crotch himself on the turnbuckle, earning a loud groan from him. Edge toppled into the ring, and Zeta crawled toward his corner to tag Zed.
Outside the ring, meanwhile, Rain quickly retreated back to the Z-Men's corner as Rhino came around to stalk her. Zed pointed at Rhino and shouted at him to stay back, which he did, but when Zed turned back to the ring, he saw that Zeta had been dragged away from the corner by a recovered Edge, who kicked at his knees. Edge deposited him in the hostile corner, where he throttled him a bit, then backed off as the ref reminded him of the rules. Christian took over in the throttling while the ref's back was turned, but Rain ran around the ring again. Christian saw her coming and hopped off the apron to meet her, but he got flattened by a running spinning heel kick from the Texan woman. Rhino quickly ran after her as she retreated, but she reached the safety of Zed's area. The man-beast backed off.
Zeta had taken advantage of Christian's distraction by pulling himself up to the second rope and hitting a front dropkick to Edge's face as he moved back in. Edge went back down and Zeta beckoned for him to get back up. Edge did so, and Zeta suddenly moved. He snapped his legs together and hit what looked like a double leg lariat, driving the points of his boots into Edge's head. Edge went down, and Zeta sprang toward the corner to tag Zed, but the ref's back was turned again as he restrained Christian, who abruptly entered the ring when Zeta hit the leg lariat. As a result, when Zed approached Edge, the referee pushed him back to his corner. The fans booed heavily as Edge quickly speared Zeta, who had stood back up. Edge went for a cover, but Zed was still trying to get past Teddy Long. Rhino took advantage of the total distraction of the Z-Men to stalk Rain again, gearing up for a Gore, but Rain had him scouted. She rolled back over the ring steps as he charged, and Rhino Gored the steel steps as a result. She stomped on the Detroit native a few times, then looked into the ring to see Christian coming into the ring to join Edge in a double-team on the helpless Zeta. Long was still trying to restrain Zed.
Christian turned to go back to his corner, but he passed the neutral corner as he did so. He looked up to see Rain suddenly airborne off the top rope, and as a result got flattened by a Windfall. Rain beckoned for him to get back up, then quickly turned to the TitanTron as it lit up. "Break it! (Break it!) Break it! (Break it!)" screamed a harsh male vocalist, and the titanic form of Brick came charging down the ramp. Now Long had to tear himself away from Zed to cut off the big man, allowing the ex-boxer to charge Edge, who turned around in time to receive his second hard straight punch in the last twenty-four hours. Edge went down, and Christian, who had gotten up from the Windfall (albeit shakily) was fast flattened again when Zed hooked him for a Z-Slam.
"It's a war zone out here!" Jim Ross was shouting at ringside. "Edge is down from that-that Jawbuster of Zed's, and Christian just took a Z-Slam! And the referee didn't see it!"
"Look at Zeta!" Jerry Lawler crowed, for the smaller Z-Man was upstairs. He flashed his Snuka handsign, yelled, "Snoogans!" (in time with the fans), then sprang out in a senton, coming down hard on Edge's prone body. Rain came out of the ring to spring off the steel stairs with a dropkick to Brick, who staggered. Rhino was showing signs of recovery as Teddy Long tore himself from the outside to go in and count Zeta's pin. 1... 2... 3! "Song 2" played as Zeta stood up, whooping.
"Here are your winners, and still the World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Champions... ZED and ZETA!" Zed slapped a high-five with Zeta. Outside, Rhino had gotten back up and charged to Gore Rain, but she glanced back and saw him coming. She sidestepped, and Rhino plowed into Brick. Brick oofed as the wind was driven out of his lungs, but didn't go down. Rain quickly whistled to the Z-Men, who collected their belts and high-tailed it up the ramp with her, leaving the Faction members at the ring.
Brick scowled at Rhino, who looked up at him, about to apologize for Goring him by mistake, but the big man didn't give him the chance. Brick grabbed Rhino by the throat, lifted him overhead in a military press, then swung him down in a Breaker Chokeslam on the ramp. Edge and Christian had recovered enough by this point to get out of the ring and yell at Brick, who scowled at them and cocked back a fist as if to hit them. The Canadians quickly stepped back while Brick roared his fury to the rafters, then turned on his heel and stomped up the ramp. "Breaker" played behind him as he did so.
* * *
Back in the Faction VIP room, Shane McMahon was waiting as Brick returned. "What the hell was that?!" the McMahon heir yelled. "You gave Rhino a Breaker Chokeslam!"
Brick just grunted at him, tilting his head down to turn his beady gaze on Shane. He went on: "Rhino wasn't trying to Gore you! He was trying to Gore Rain!" Brick just growled, then brought his hands up, and silently popped his knuckles audibly.
Shane quickly sensed that this wasn't the way to win Brick over and just as quickly changed tacks. "But that's okay, Brick," Shane said, patting him on the chest to show him they were still 'buddies.' "I know you were just reacting." Brick glanced down at Shane's hand, which was still on his chest. Shane gulped as Brick's fingers closed on his hand, then yelped in pain as the behemoth pinched, grinding some bones.
Shane sighed with relief as Brick released his grip, then watched as the big man picked up his bag, then started for the door. Before he left, however, Brick stopped and grabbed an autograph pen from Kurt Angle, who was using it to sign a picture for one of his (few) fans. Angle was about to protest, but immediately shut up when he saw it was Brick. The 7'1", 350-pounder scribbled something on a piece of paper, thrust it to Shane, then stalked out the door. Shane watched him go, then looked at the message.
You were in my bubble, it said simply in blocky script.
Shane looked at Kurt. "Remind me never to violate his personal space again," he said.
-more to come-
Next: The Faction continues to have problems as Billy Rose and the Storm both prepare to make their returns as they take care of "Personal Affairs."
Afterword:
