Disclaimers: I own no one. All WWE superstars and their gimmicks are property of WWE.
December 2005…
Trish Stratus had decided long ago that she wasn't going to have anything at all to do with the McMahon family ever again… at least not in the sense of them doing anything for her besides signing her paychecks. Involving herself with any member of that family had never done anything but bring her trouble. If she wanted a life filled with dilemma, she could easily take care of that herself. After all, she'd gotten herself into the mess with Jericho. She was completely capable of getting herself into bad situations.
So, how did she end up in the middle of the biggest clusterfuck to come her way since Christian bought the useless piece of trash known as Tyson Tomko? Lita, of course.
The only person who got her into more trouble than herself, yet less than the McMahon family, was Lita. Nothing that had to do with the redheaded mistress of trash could turn out good. Already, she had brought her accident prone ass back and taken her title. Trish went from six time Women's Champion to somewhere down the line on the number one contender's list. Bischoff had decided to become a goody-two-shoes and put Trish as far away from the title as humanly possible. For once, she had to actually be glad that Shane McMahon approached her.
Of course, the fact that Stephanie was part of the deal was almost enough for her to tell him to kiss her ass. She and Stephanie may not have been bitter enemies anymore, but they were far from being best friends. If anything, they had an agreement. Trish was the Queen of the ring. Stephanie was the Queen of the business side of things. They co-existed because they had more tolerance with one another than before, and because they both realized what they could dominate and didn't encroach on the other's territory. And because Shane threatened to get rid of both of them and find himself new partners if they didn't stop acting like catty teenagers.
That didn't mean, though, that Trish was gung-ho to work with her. She would have been perfectly happy to let Stephanie go on about her business and have absolutely nothing to do with her. Truthfully, she didn't trust her. Stephanie could be flaky as hell when she wanted to be, and Trish certainly didn't want to sit around and wait for Stephanie to decide that she was better off siding with her daddy again. But, Shane assured her that his sister's eyes were opened to the world around her and that she wasn't going to turn on them. No, she always thought, they just both might turn on her eventually.
Trish was shallow, though, and easily bought with gold… championship gold. The return of the McMahon children brought about a new era in World Wrestling Entertainment. One that was steadily expanding. They snubbed Triple H. They started somewhat lower, with the women's division. They garnered themselves a champion, then made it known that they were building a new regime, one that would destroy the current state of being in the company and bring on something that would rival one of the biggest feuds the world had seen in the past few years. With Vince McMahon as close to retirement as possible and their mother's trust, they were on the move to push Eric Bischoff out of power. They were ready to knock Triple H from his pedestal and Ric Flair, well… he would just have to decide where he wanted to go.
And it all started at WrestleMania 22…
"Let me get this straight." Trish stretched out along the seat of the limousine and stared at Stephanie. "You want me to bring you Batista."
"It's not like I'm asking you to do something that you're not good at." Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Not like you have to crawl on tables again or anything."
"Ya know, Steph, for the sake of our little partnership, I'm going to completely ignore that insult and go to the logical part. Batista doesn't like me. No one likes me. I'm too firmly associated with Shane for people to like me."
"That's why you're going to turn on Shane a week before the Rumble."
"And why, exactly, am I going to do that?"
"Because he's going to get too bossy. He's going to get… Brutal. Not too brutal," she was quick to say, "but enough that you're obviously a poor victim in the affair. And like the good guy that he is, Batista is going to rescue you."
"And this helps us how?"
"Because, you're going to use the time between now and WrestleMania to convince the big man that being good doesn't get him very far, and that he needs strong people at his back. He needs us at his back."
The whole thing sounded like bullshit to Trish. It sounded exactly like something that the McMahon family would come up with. Let's manipulate the hell out of some people instead of just going to them and enticing them with exactly what they all wanted. No, they couldn't do that because it would be too much like right. Instead, they had to go all the way around and hope that everything came out right.
"Why can't we just go to Dave and talk him into it? You didn't do this with me. The guy's not an idiot, Steph. He would have taken the deal."
"That would involve him teaming up with Orton and he's not ready for that." Stephanie shrugged. She leaned back against the seat and spread her arms along the seat's back. "We're making manuevers, Trish. It's like a game of chess. We're positioning everybody to the best place to take the Queen. Well… in this case, the King. So… let's make it more like checkers, because the King is virtually useless in chess, which is probably why I like the game so much."
"Steph!" Trish sighed and sat up. She crossed her right leg over her left and groaned. "The point, please?"
"Huh? Yeah… the point." She shook her head. Stephanie leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. She set her chin against the backs of her hands and smirked. "The point is, we're going to topple Triple H. We're going to topple Bischoff. When we're done, our little regime is going to be running this whole damn place, and you want to be on our side."
"But, during this whole thing, I get the shit end of the deal because I'm not on your side. I'm on Dave's side."
"Trish, when it's over, everybody will be on our side. Everyone that counts, anyway, and you, our seven-time Women's Champion, definitely count."
Trish stared into Stephanie's twinkling blue eyes and had the urge to slap her. She had obviously been studying closely at the feet of Shane McMahon. Vince ordered people around, but Shane manipulated with finesse. Shane said exactly what people wanted to hear to get them on his side, and that's what Stephanie had just done. It was a horrible idea, one that she didn't have much faith in, but to be thought of as one that counts… to be actually in on the whole thing from the start instead of being moved around… to be a knight or bishop as opposed to an insignificant pawn…
"Alright," Trish said with a sigh. "I'm in."
