Broken Wheels:

The trainer wrapped Chris Benoit's elbow carefully before his match with Dean Malenko. "You really shouldn't be wrestling tonight Chris." The trainer said as he finished wrapping.

"I know but Bischoff didn't give me any choice. But I'll try to handle it." Chris got off the table and took the elbow pad that Nancy had waiting for him. Chris couldn't believe how much pain something like that caused him. How was he going to get through this match? He hated Bischoff so much right now.

"Try to protect your elbow as much as possible. I know that will be hard but try."

As they walked into the locker room Nancy thought of something. "Chris is there any moves that you can do? The Crossface and flying head butt are certainly out of the question as are your suplexes. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I will think about it as I go I guess."

"You could always not wrestle." Mongo said as he laced Chris' boots for him.

"I am not going to drop out of the match. It would give Bischoff too much satisfaction. I know Dean's style. I think I can do this." Chris said. He got up. It was time for the match.

Nancy walked out with him. The others said they would come out if the NWO tried anything. So he knew they'd be watching out. He knew there was no telling what the NWO'd try. They all hated the Four Horsemen.

Dean came out with Curt Hennig. The two ex-friends stared each other down, each one waiting for the other to make the first move. They circled each other both knowing each other like the back of their hands. Chris was at a big disadvantage in the match because he was injured. Chris hadn't forgotten also that Dean had taught him the Crippler Crossface. So even if he had been at 100 that would have been a problem. Chris took the few seconds to try to come up with a way to handle this. He looked down at his girlfriend who was urging him on. He looked over once again at his ex-best friend, who stared right back at him, his gaze never wavering. He looked down at Curt who looked ready to attack at any moment. And to think all of them had been former Horsemen. The only one that hadn't was the referee.

He finally made the first move. He punched Dean with his good hand and then hit a dropkick. He flinched when he came down. He landed hard. Then he kicked him in the leg. There wasn't all that much he could do with one arm except keep on the offensive.

He didn't stay on the offense long as Curt Hennig grabbed his leg and pulled him down. He fell. Soon Dean Malenko was all over him and had him in an arm bar and was pulling back as hard as he could. He got into the ropes but Dean wouldn't let go. The ref signaled for the bell but Dean still wouldn't let go. Chris was close to blacking out when he felt his arm being released. He rolled over and saw that there was a huge brawl between the Horsemen and the NWO. Nancy was pulling him gently outside of the ring. They both stood there and watched the two groups go at each other.

Finally security was able to pry them off of each other and both groups were escorted separately to the back. "Thanks for coming out." Chris said as Nancy helped him put the arm brace back on.

"I hate to bring this up, Mongo said. "But Eric will retaliate. He won't give up because of this."

"I know Mongo." Arn said. "But there's no telling what he'll do. He's shifty. We'll have to be ready for anything and we have to think about how to get Ric back into the company."

"You guys hear about the Internet Effort earlier this year?" Daniels asked. They shook their heads. "A group of fans on the Internet got together because they also believed it was an unjust firing. There was a boycott and even an effort to have him win People Online's Most Beautiful People Poll. He almost did too."

"I got emails about that, but what are you getting at?" Arn asked.

"We can start our own effort in this company to get Ric rehired."

"You know what Chris? That idea is almost crazy enough to work." JJ said with a smile.