-2 hours to go-
"You wanted to see me?" The man said, as he walked into the large office, closing the door behind him. He glanced from the older angry looking man, sitting behind his desk, to the tall calm muscular blond standing at his side.
"Yeah I wanted to see you!" The older man snapped, going a little red in the face. He was never good at hiding his anger.
"What about?" The man frowned innocently, although he knew exactly what it was about.
"Oh cut the crap dammit!" The grey-haired man stood and leaned over the desk, trying to intimidate him, "That contract I signed! Will you tell me what it is?"
"Okay, okay calm down Vince." The younger man smirked, intending to piss the other man off further.
"Vince?" The infuriated man questioned.
"That is your name, is it not?" He said, standing nose to nose with Vince.
"Don't get smart with me. Have some respect dammit!" Mr McMahon spat, disgusted by the young man's cockiness. How dare he.
"Respect? I'll never respect you." He said, with certain venom to his voice that made Vince shudder ever so slightly.
"Hey!" The blond put his hand on the man's shoulder, making him take a step back.
"Get your hands off me." He growled, not in the least intimidated by the fact that the blond was about twice his size.
"You are nothing compared to this man," The blond said in a dangerously low voice, "He is billionaire, he could fire your ass and feed it to the birds. He owns you and everyone in this damn arena, so you better start puckering up pal."
He stared coldly at the blond, then stepped back a little and turned back to Vince. "I see you've got Brock Lesner under your spell Vince. Just like you've got Stephanie running around trying to make you proud. But not me, I don't take orders from you anymore."
"What do you mean?" Mr McMahon wanted to know the worry shining in his eyes. The other man smirked and moved closer so that he was again nose to nose with Vince.
"What I mean is, I'm taking over," He smiled at the outraged look on Vince's face and continued, "You see the contract that you signed was no ordinary contract. It stated that today, on Judgement Day, that you Vincent Kennedy McMahon, will pass full ownership and control of the WWE over to me."
Mr McMahon was in shock. He stood perfectly still and didn't say a word. That was the last thing he'd expected to hear from the man. He'd thought that maybe the contract had been to book a match that he hadn't approved of- but he hadn't expected this. Not from him.
Brock Lesner was lost for words too. He felt embarrassed that he'd stuck up for Vince and he wasn't even the boss anymore.
"How could you." Vince almost whispered, and the man laughed.
"Well it was easy really, but that's not the point." He looked from Vince to Lesner, and back to Vince again, with a gleam in his eye, "I have a Pay- Per-View to hold in approximately 1 hour and forty five minutes, and I believe there are some things we need to discuss about a few of the matches, don't you think?"
~
-1 hour to go-
"I can't do this!" Lita paced frantically outside in the arena hallway, whilst Batista tried to clam her down.
"You can do this, it's only Stephanie McMahon, you can beat her easily, even if her brother is the referee." He said, and took her arm to stop her pacing, "Just take a few deep breaths and you'll be fine. Honestly, I've never seen you so worked up before."
"It's not because of the match, there's more to it than that." She ran her fingers through her hair and frowned.
"No there isn't Lita. As far as I see it, you just win the match and retain the title. Everything will be fine."
"But-" Lita protested but Batista raised his hand, cutting her off.
"No buts Lita. You're going to win this. Now you're still part of Evolution, so I could accompany you out to your match if you want?" The wrestler suggested, but the diva shook her head. She didn't need any help.
"No, I already have Eric out there, so I'll be okay."
Batista tilted his head and frowned, "And you trust him, after the stunt he pulled?"
"Not at all. But you have to trust me. I know I'll be okay, and I know I'll win the match." Lita shot him a small smile, and Batista nodded. It wasn't the match that she was worried about.
"You see now that's the spirit!" He grinned and ruffled her hair, "Are you coming to join everyone in the Raw room? Your friends Jeff and Trish are in there," he added.
"Um.actually I'll join you guys in a bit. I'm going to get a soda, and before you say anything, I'll be fine on my own."
"Okay, but be careful, there are SmackDown guys roaming around." He said before turning and walking down the corridor. Lita rolled her eyes at his retreating form and then walked in the other direction. She stopped outside a door, and after checking that he hall was clear, she knocked seven times. After a couple of moments, the door opened and she stepped inside, closing and locking it behind her.
"How are you guys holding up?" She asked them as she looked at the wrestlers sitting around in the room. Kurt Angle and Steve Austin both nodded in her direction, from the sofa. Dawn Marie was sitting at a table, talking with Jericho and Christian, and Edge was standing at Lita's side.
"We're okay, are you?" Edge asked, those green eyes of his staring down at her. She held his gaze for a moment, then scowled.
"I'm fine, why shouldn't I be? Beating Stephanie McMahon, shouldn't exactly be hard." She folded her arms and focused her gaze onto the TV monitor in the room, where Coach and Al snow were presenting a live edition of Sunday Night Heat.
"Are you not even worried about Shane McMahon calling the match?" Edge asked, raising his eyebrows and Lita smirked.
"No." She said and shrugged. Edge frowned at her sudden attitude and shifted his gaze towards the door. After a moment of silence he looked up at the diva again.
"I see you're ready for you're match," He said, referring to her black trousers and 'Evolution' T-shirt, which she had tied at the bottom to keep in place. She looked at him, and then at the others in the room. They were all clad in their wrestling gear too.
"I see you guys are ready too." She pointed out, finding it hard to tear her gaze away from the blonde's muscular bare chest.
"Yeah, we know what we're supposed to do tonight. I just can't wait to find out who this new owner is." Edge said, studying the former redhead's face. He'd have been lying if he'd said that he wasn't worried about her. She seemed pretty unstable at that moment.
"Edge, you know I can't tell you anything." Lita apologised, but Edge nodded.
"I just can't wait until Stephanie and Bischoff both get what the deserve tonight," The Canadian grinned and Lita smiled, although deep down she couldn't help but feel more than a little uneasy.
"Yeah me too. Well I'd better be going. Must go join the Raw roster - and you two," She called over to Jericho and Christian, "You guys better be coming too, Eric will expect you to be there."
Christian jumped up from his seat and Jericho followed him, groaning because he actually had to move.
"Coming Madame!" Chris saluted, and waved bye to the others as he left the room with Christian and Lita.
~
- 35 minutes to go-
"Okay everyone, so we all know exactly what we're doing tonight right?" Stephanie asked her roster, who were all gathered in the SmackDown meeting room. Some nods, and a few 'yeah's were the replies Stephanie received, but that was satisfying enough for her. She was lucky really, that some of her team had even made it considering the attacks that had occurred on SmackDown a few days ago. Rikishi had been the lucky one, taking a day off, but the others in the main event hadn't been so lucky. The Big Show had a concussion, but was competing regardless. There was actually only one of her team that couldn't wrestle and that was Rhyno. He'd ended up with a few broken ribs and a broken ankle, and Stephanie couldn't help but think of Edge and Kurt and the reality that they may have been the culprits who'd done this. But Stephanie couldn't worry about that just then. She needed another man on her team, and she needed to find her champion, Brock Lesner, he'd been missing all evening.
"Sorry I'm late, did I miss anything?" Came a voice from the door and the brunette was relived to see Lesner enter the room. He took a seat next to Eddy Guerrero, putting his title on his lap.
"That's okay Brock, I was worried that you'd run out on me for a moment." Stephanie sighed, now all she needed was another good wrestler to walk in and announce that he was going to be on her team. She glanced at the door. Nothing happened. Oh well.
"Everybody listen." The General Manager called for silence and then spoke, "Now you've all got someone to accompany you at ringside right?" She watched as a few of them nodded and some looked around worriedly.
"We're supposed to have Heyman, but he hasn't shown up yet," Benjamin Shelton shrugged. Stephanie frowned. Where was Heyman? Things were going from bad to worse.
"Damn him," the brunette muttered, "okay, well what about Eddy? You have Chavo with you right?"
"Yep," Eddy smirked and muttered something in Spanish to his nephew. He was looking forward to his no disqualification match. I would make cheating a lot more-.well legal.
"That's good, and Matt, you've got Shannon. Billy you're with Torrie," The billion-dollar princess was claming down slightly. Maybe it wasn't as bad as she thought. "Rey what about you?"
"Um," the small wrestler shifted uncomfortably under the brunette's gaze, until-
"I'll go out there with him,"
Rey threw surprised, yet grateful look over at Nidia, which was more than what could be said for Jamie Noble who didn't look happy at all.
"Well that's settled then. Brock and myself have people with us tonight, so everything should be ready." Stephanie smiled, clasping her hands together.
"Uh- I think you're forgetting something." The Undertaker looked at her pointedly and motioned towards the five guys in her supposedly 6-man team. Shit. She'd almost forgotten about that.
"Uh- well-"
"No fear, Heyman is here." The fat man grinned as he entered the room, "and I come bearing gifts."
"It's about time you showed up, I need-" the General Manager's frown was replaced by a broad smile as another man followed Heyman into the room. It was perfect, "Well, well, Rob Van Dam, how do you feel about being in the main event?"
~
-15 minutes to go-
The atmosphere was different in the Raw room, and the only one who could have known that for sure without getting beaten up was Vince McMahon. However he was avoiding both rosters. He had his own problems to worry about.
As soon as she'd entered the room, Lita had joined Evolution, who were occupying a round wooden table in the centre of the room. Almost everyone on the Raw roster was there. Jeff sat with the Dudleys, Tommy, Trish and Stacy Keibler? That was new. Chris and Christian had grabbed a couple of chairs in the corner of the room away from everyone. Shawn Micheals, Kane and the rest of the main event team were sat together with a few others, like Goldust and Maven. The Hurricane and Lance Storm seemed to be in a very lively conversation with Molly Holly and Ivory, and Lita chuckled when she saw Molly slap Storm.
"Have you seen Mr Bischoff?" Everyone looked up at Chief Morely as he burst through the door.
"Yeah, older man, dark hair, bad attitude." Triple H replied with a smirk.
"No I mean do you know where he is?" Morely frowned, clearly not liking the joke.
"Yeah, look," Kevin Nash pointed at the large Television set in the room, "he's being interviewed by Terri on Heat." Morely looked at the TV then left the room almost as quickly as he'd burst in.
"Do you think something's happened?" Batista said and the Game snorted.
"Nah, he's just being an idiot, probably had too much caffeine." The champion took a mouthful of his water and Lita sent a worried look Batista's way.
"I hope you're right." She muttered. Triple H looked her over and smirked.
"You're going to kick the shit out of the bitch tonight." He said changing the subject, clearly pleased at the thought of Lita going up against his ex- wife. He was going to enjoy that match so much.
"Well you've got your own match to think about tonight remember?" Batista said and Triple H shrugged, taking another mouthful of his water.
The door to the room opened a second later and Bischoff walked in, with Chief Morely at his side. He looked around the room and then over at Jeff Hardy.
"The first match is up in five." He told them. Everyone wished the high- flyer good luck, as he made his way over to the door, stopping in front of the Raw General Manager.
"Good luck out there." Eric smiled and offered his hand, but the youngest Hardy looked at him in disgust. There was no way he was going to shake hands with the bastard, no way in hell. Eric looked slightly uncomfortable for a minute, then pulled back his hand, embarrassed.
Lita walked over to them and reached for Jeff's arm, "Hey Jeffrey, good luck," she smiled at her best friend and he pulled her in for a hug.
"Thanks," he nodded. The former-redhead frowned for a moment, then asked.-
"You're not going out there alone are you? I mean you never know what kind of stunt Stephanie might pull," her worried eyes, met his strangely calm ones and he grinned down at her.
"I'll be at ringside," Lita turned to stare at Stacy Keibler and then looked back at Jeff, not bothering to hide the surprise on her face, "I know I'm not very great a wrestler, but I can do distractions very well," Stacy offered. The tall blond diva knew that the Woman's Champion didn't like her, and it was pretty much vice versa, but if she could help out in any way that night, then she would.
"Oh, okay," Lita said simply, then smiled, "Well in that case be careful out there, both of you." She added and then they left the room, headed for the ring. The diva looked at Bischoff and Morely, then at everyone else.
"Well what are we all waiting for?" she grinned, "We have a match to watch!"
"You wanted to see me?" The man said, as he walked into the large office, closing the door behind him. He glanced from the older angry looking man, sitting behind his desk, to the tall calm muscular blond standing at his side.
"Yeah I wanted to see you!" The older man snapped, going a little red in the face. He was never good at hiding his anger.
"What about?" The man frowned innocently, although he knew exactly what it was about.
"Oh cut the crap dammit!" The grey-haired man stood and leaned over the desk, trying to intimidate him, "That contract I signed! Will you tell me what it is?"
"Okay, okay calm down Vince." The younger man smirked, intending to piss the other man off further.
"Vince?" The infuriated man questioned.
"That is your name, is it not?" He said, standing nose to nose with Vince.
"Don't get smart with me. Have some respect dammit!" Mr McMahon spat, disgusted by the young man's cockiness. How dare he.
"Respect? I'll never respect you." He said, with certain venom to his voice that made Vince shudder ever so slightly.
"Hey!" The blond put his hand on the man's shoulder, making him take a step back.
"Get your hands off me." He growled, not in the least intimidated by the fact that the blond was about twice his size.
"You are nothing compared to this man," The blond said in a dangerously low voice, "He is billionaire, he could fire your ass and feed it to the birds. He owns you and everyone in this damn arena, so you better start puckering up pal."
He stared coldly at the blond, then stepped back a little and turned back to Vince. "I see you've got Brock Lesner under your spell Vince. Just like you've got Stephanie running around trying to make you proud. But not me, I don't take orders from you anymore."
"What do you mean?" Mr McMahon wanted to know the worry shining in his eyes. The other man smirked and moved closer so that he was again nose to nose with Vince.
"What I mean is, I'm taking over," He smiled at the outraged look on Vince's face and continued, "You see the contract that you signed was no ordinary contract. It stated that today, on Judgement Day, that you Vincent Kennedy McMahon, will pass full ownership and control of the WWE over to me."
Mr McMahon was in shock. He stood perfectly still and didn't say a word. That was the last thing he'd expected to hear from the man. He'd thought that maybe the contract had been to book a match that he hadn't approved of- but he hadn't expected this. Not from him.
Brock Lesner was lost for words too. He felt embarrassed that he'd stuck up for Vince and he wasn't even the boss anymore.
"How could you." Vince almost whispered, and the man laughed.
"Well it was easy really, but that's not the point." He looked from Vince to Lesner, and back to Vince again, with a gleam in his eye, "I have a Pay- Per-View to hold in approximately 1 hour and forty five minutes, and I believe there are some things we need to discuss about a few of the matches, don't you think?"
~
-1 hour to go-
"I can't do this!" Lita paced frantically outside in the arena hallway, whilst Batista tried to clam her down.
"You can do this, it's only Stephanie McMahon, you can beat her easily, even if her brother is the referee." He said, and took her arm to stop her pacing, "Just take a few deep breaths and you'll be fine. Honestly, I've never seen you so worked up before."
"It's not because of the match, there's more to it than that." She ran her fingers through her hair and frowned.
"No there isn't Lita. As far as I see it, you just win the match and retain the title. Everything will be fine."
"But-" Lita protested but Batista raised his hand, cutting her off.
"No buts Lita. You're going to win this. Now you're still part of Evolution, so I could accompany you out to your match if you want?" The wrestler suggested, but the diva shook her head. She didn't need any help.
"No, I already have Eric out there, so I'll be okay."
Batista tilted his head and frowned, "And you trust him, after the stunt he pulled?"
"Not at all. But you have to trust me. I know I'll be okay, and I know I'll win the match." Lita shot him a small smile, and Batista nodded. It wasn't the match that she was worried about.
"You see now that's the spirit!" He grinned and ruffled her hair, "Are you coming to join everyone in the Raw room? Your friends Jeff and Trish are in there," he added.
"Um.actually I'll join you guys in a bit. I'm going to get a soda, and before you say anything, I'll be fine on my own."
"Okay, but be careful, there are SmackDown guys roaming around." He said before turning and walking down the corridor. Lita rolled her eyes at his retreating form and then walked in the other direction. She stopped outside a door, and after checking that he hall was clear, she knocked seven times. After a couple of moments, the door opened and she stepped inside, closing and locking it behind her.
"How are you guys holding up?" She asked them as she looked at the wrestlers sitting around in the room. Kurt Angle and Steve Austin both nodded in her direction, from the sofa. Dawn Marie was sitting at a table, talking with Jericho and Christian, and Edge was standing at Lita's side.
"We're okay, are you?" Edge asked, those green eyes of his staring down at her. She held his gaze for a moment, then scowled.
"I'm fine, why shouldn't I be? Beating Stephanie McMahon, shouldn't exactly be hard." She folded her arms and focused her gaze onto the TV monitor in the room, where Coach and Al snow were presenting a live edition of Sunday Night Heat.
"Are you not even worried about Shane McMahon calling the match?" Edge asked, raising his eyebrows and Lita smirked.
"No." She said and shrugged. Edge frowned at her sudden attitude and shifted his gaze towards the door. After a moment of silence he looked up at the diva again.
"I see you're ready for you're match," He said, referring to her black trousers and 'Evolution' T-shirt, which she had tied at the bottom to keep in place. She looked at him, and then at the others in the room. They were all clad in their wrestling gear too.
"I see you guys are ready too." She pointed out, finding it hard to tear her gaze away from the blonde's muscular bare chest.
"Yeah, we know what we're supposed to do tonight. I just can't wait to find out who this new owner is." Edge said, studying the former redhead's face. He'd have been lying if he'd said that he wasn't worried about her. She seemed pretty unstable at that moment.
"Edge, you know I can't tell you anything." Lita apologised, but Edge nodded.
"I just can't wait until Stephanie and Bischoff both get what the deserve tonight," The Canadian grinned and Lita smiled, although deep down she couldn't help but feel more than a little uneasy.
"Yeah me too. Well I'd better be going. Must go join the Raw roster - and you two," She called over to Jericho and Christian, "You guys better be coming too, Eric will expect you to be there."
Christian jumped up from his seat and Jericho followed him, groaning because he actually had to move.
"Coming Madame!" Chris saluted, and waved bye to the others as he left the room with Christian and Lita.
~
- 35 minutes to go-
"Okay everyone, so we all know exactly what we're doing tonight right?" Stephanie asked her roster, who were all gathered in the SmackDown meeting room. Some nods, and a few 'yeah's were the replies Stephanie received, but that was satisfying enough for her. She was lucky really, that some of her team had even made it considering the attacks that had occurred on SmackDown a few days ago. Rikishi had been the lucky one, taking a day off, but the others in the main event hadn't been so lucky. The Big Show had a concussion, but was competing regardless. There was actually only one of her team that couldn't wrestle and that was Rhyno. He'd ended up with a few broken ribs and a broken ankle, and Stephanie couldn't help but think of Edge and Kurt and the reality that they may have been the culprits who'd done this. But Stephanie couldn't worry about that just then. She needed another man on her team, and she needed to find her champion, Brock Lesner, he'd been missing all evening.
"Sorry I'm late, did I miss anything?" Came a voice from the door and the brunette was relived to see Lesner enter the room. He took a seat next to Eddy Guerrero, putting his title on his lap.
"That's okay Brock, I was worried that you'd run out on me for a moment." Stephanie sighed, now all she needed was another good wrestler to walk in and announce that he was going to be on her team. She glanced at the door. Nothing happened. Oh well.
"Everybody listen." The General Manager called for silence and then spoke, "Now you've all got someone to accompany you at ringside right?" She watched as a few of them nodded and some looked around worriedly.
"We're supposed to have Heyman, but he hasn't shown up yet," Benjamin Shelton shrugged. Stephanie frowned. Where was Heyman? Things were going from bad to worse.
"Damn him," the brunette muttered, "okay, well what about Eddy? You have Chavo with you right?"
"Yep," Eddy smirked and muttered something in Spanish to his nephew. He was looking forward to his no disqualification match. I would make cheating a lot more-.well legal.
"That's good, and Matt, you've got Shannon. Billy you're with Torrie," The billion-dollar princess was claming down slightly. Maybe it wasn't as bad as she thought. "Rey what about you?"
"Um," the small wrestler shifted uncomfortably under the brunette's gaze, until-
"I'll go out there with him,"
Rey threw surprised, yet grateful look over at Nidia, which was more than what could be said for Jamie Noble who didn't look happy at all.
"Well that's settled then. Brock and myself have people with us tonight, so everything should be ready." Stephanie smiled, clasping her hands together.
"Uh- I think you're forgetting something." The Undertaker looked at her pointedly and motioned towards the five guys in her supposedly 6-man team. Shit. She'd almost forgotten about that.
"Uh- well-"
"No fear, Heyman is here." The fat man grinned as he entered the room, "and I come bearing gifts."
"It's about time you showed up, I need-" the General Manager's frown was replaced by a broad smile as another man followed Heyman into the room. It was perfect, "Well, well, Rob Van Dam, how do you feel about being in the main event?"
~
-15 minutes to go-
The atmosphere was different in the Raw room, and the only one who could have known that for sure without getting beaten up was Vince McMahon. However he was avoiding both rosters. He had his own problems to worry about.
As soon as she'd entered the room, Lita had joined Evolution, who were occupying a round wooden table in the centre of the room. Almost everyone on the Raw roster was there. Jeff sat with the Dudleys, Tommy, Trish and Stacy Keibler? That was new. Chris and Christian had grabbed a couple of chairs in the corner of the room away from everyone. Shawn Micheals, Kane and the rest of the main event team were sat together with a few others, like Goldust and Maven. The Hurricane and Lance Storm seemed to be in a very lively conversation with Molly Holly and Ivory, and Lita chuckled when she saw Molly slap Storm.
"Have you seen Mr Bischoff?" Everyone looked up at Chief Morely as he burst through the door.
"Yeah, older man, dark hair, bad attitude." Triple H replied with a smirk.
"No I mean do you know where he is?" Morely frowned, clearly not liking the joke.
"Yeah, look," Kevin Nash pointed at the large Television set in the room, "he's being interviewed by Terri on Heat." Morely looked at the TV then left the room almost as quickly as he'd burst in.
"Do you think something's happened?" Batista said and the Game snorted.
"Nah, he's just being an idiot, probably had too much caffeine." The champion took a mouthful of his water and Lita sent a worried look Batista's way.
"I hope you're right." She muttered. Triple H looked her over and smirked.
"You're going to kick the shit out of the bitch tonight." He said changing the subject, clearly pleased at the thought of Lita going up against his ex- wife. He was going to enjoy that match so much.
"Well you've got your own match to think about tonight remember?" Batista said and Triple H shrugged, taking another mouthful of his water.
The door to the room opened a second later and Bischoff walked in, with Chief Morely at his side. He looked around the room and then over at Jeff Hardy.
"The first match is up in five." He told them. Everyone wished the high- flyer good luck, as he made his way over to the door, stopping in front of the Raw General Manager.
"Good luck out there." Eric smiled and offered his hand, but the youngest Hardy looked at him in disgust. There was no way he was going to shake hands with the bastard, no way in hell. Eric looked slightly uncomfortable for a minute, then pulled back his hand, embarrassed.
Lita walked over to them and reached for Jeff's arm, "Hey Jeffrey, good luck," she smiled at her best friend and he pulled her in for a hug.
"Thanks," he nodded. The former-redhead frowned for a moment, then asked.-
"You're not going out there alone are you? I mean you never know what kind of stunt Stephanie might pull," her worried eyes, met his strangely calm ones and he grinned down at her.
"I'll be at ringside," Lita turned to stare at Stacy Keibler and then looked back at Jeff, not bothering to hide the surprise on her face, "I know I'm not very great a wrestler, but I can do distractions very well," Stacy offered. The tall blond diva knew that the Woman's Champion didn't like her, and it was pretty much vice versa, but if she could help out in any way that night, then she would.
"Oh, okay," Lita said simply, then smiled, "Well in that case be careful out there, both of you." She added and then they left the room, headed for the ring. The diva looked at Bischoff and Morely, then at everyone else.
"Well what are we all waiting for?" she grinned, "We have a match to watch!"