CHAPTER 2

SMASH! The sound of the chair bouncing of Benoit's skull echoed through the arena, as he collapsed in a heap at the side of the ring. The match hadn't exactly gone as planned for the wolverine, he had taken more punishment than he had planned on. It seemed as though Edge and Christian were seemingly working together, for the time being anyway.

As he lay on the apron of the ring, Benoit tried to collect his thoughts, that was one of the few advantages of having six men competing, it gave you a chance to gather yourself while the others beat each other within an inch of their lives. He tried to get himself into a sitting position, maybe get the arena to stop spinning while he was at it. He rubbed his throbbing head and tried to focus on what he needed to do next. He looked across the mat, seeing Edge and Christian beating the tar out of Shelton Benjamin. As much as it was every man for himself, having an ally could help. Benoit managed to get himself to his feet, with a little assistance from the ropes and after steadying himself he caught sight of the offending chair on the mat, it left him a little concerned, because he swore that he could see the indentation of his head on the chair. Eventually he made his way over to the three men battling on the other side of the ring. He grabbed Christian from behind and threw him into the corner, chopping away as the crowd reacted the only way they knew how, woooooooo!

Benoit looked across at Shelton to find him pulling off a stinger splash in the opposite corner to Edge, Benoit then backed away and let Shelton do the same to Christian. 'Irish whip!' called Benoit. He went to Christian, while Shelton grabbed Edge. They both whipped them to the centre of the ring, where the blonde pair cannoned into each other head on, to the groan of the crowd, that had to hurt.

Benoit looked around and found the ladder lying outside the ring, so he jumped out, grabbed the ladder and threw it into the ring. The crowd cheered, this was the action they had been waiting to see. Benoit set the ladder up in the corner, looked at the crowd roared in response. Benoit ran his thumb across the front of his throat and began to climb the ladder. As he looked out over the top rung of the ladder, he saw the sheer mass of people jammed into the arena all cheering for him at that moment. He leapt off the top of the ladder and came flying down, landing full impact on Edge, who screamed out in pain. Benoit, once to his feet knocked Edge off the apron down to the ground and staggered back to the centre of the ring to survey the situation. Shelton and Christian were going at it hell for leather in the corner, while Jericho was quickly going downhill in a battle on the outside against Kane. Kane slammed Jericho into the stairs which went flying.

Benoit decided to take a risk, Kane running amok meant nothing but trouble for the rest of the competitors. While Kane was focused on Y2J lying on the floor below, Benoit raced at Kane, diving clear over the ropes, hoping to catch him off guard. However, Kane saw the flying wolverine at the last moment and caught him, reversed it into the power bomb and slammed Benoit to the mat on the outside.

Benoit could have sworn that the entire ground shook with the impact. The pain shooting up his back was incredible, it felt as though his spine had been absolutely shattered. He could think about nothing other than the pain, the entire match, what was at stake, it all but disappeared. He didn't know how long it had been, could have been an hour for all he knew, but he just couldn't force his body to get enough strength up to lift himself to even a sitting position. All he was waiting for was the ring of the bell, to signify that someone had managed to get to the top of the ladder and grab the suitcase.

After no bell for who knew how long, Benoit eventually gritted his teeth and forced himself up, looking at some of the nearby fans who cheered as he did so. Once managing to force himself to his knees, he looked into the ring, to see Edge, sprawled over the middle of the ring, in the middle of a table that had been smashed to a million pieces. Benoit saw some activity over the other side of the ring, in front of the announce desk. While holding onto the apron with one hand, he made his way around to where the action was, to find Christian climbing a ladder, with Kane lying, seemingly out cold on the Spanish announce desk, Hugo and Carlos no where to be found.

Benoit raced up the ladder below Christian, slamming fists into the CLB's back. The crowd where silent, waiting to see the wolverine's thought process unveil itself. When they saw what he was going to do, they all stood and roared with amazement. He wrapped both hands around Christian's waist and fell backwards, throwing him over his shoulder where the two of them crashed into Kane and fell through the announce desk. The crowd roared, but Benoit could barely hear them, everything seemed so distant, ever the fans in the front row, only a few feet away seemed to be off in the distance.

However, one thing that was in working order, was Benoit's instinct. After wrestling for eighteen years, Benoit knew an opportunity when one presented itself and with no other wrestler vertical, this was definitely an opportunity. After about a minute of gathering his thoughts, he forced himself to his feet and carefully slid into the ring. The referees had cleared the pieces of the table from the ring and Edge was out cold, lying in the corner, blood running from a nasty gash above his left eye. Benoit picked up the ladder which was lying in the opposite corner and set it up in the middle of the ring. He slowly climbed the ladder, step by step. The briefcase was getting closer and closer, finally it was almost within reach, Benoit's fingers brushed the bottom of the case. Suddenly though, the ladder started to shake and before he had a chance to look down to see who it was, the ladder tipped and Benoit went crashing to the floor. He bounced off the hard mat below and smashed into the barricade the people were sitting behind.

He couldn't pinpoint a place on his body that specifically hurt, it was his whole body. He tried to gather himself and get up, but his body was in too much pain to listen to him. Then he heard the crowd cheering and the ringing of the bell, it was all over. In the background he heard the faint announcement by Howard Finkel, 'Here is your winner… Chris Jericho!'

After the match, Benoit had been helped to the back by a couple of the backstage crew, one of them Dean Malenko. He had refused to go to the first aid room; he just needed to sit down for a while. After about an hour, he was sitting up against his locker, with about five ice packs on the go, his whole body still hurt. He was the only one in there at the moment; the rest of the guys had emptied out no doubt to catch the main event. Just then the door opened and in walked Chris Jericho, when Jericho realised that Benoit was in the room, he stopped dead in the doorway.

Benoit looked up and smirked, 'I guess that means it was you that shoved me off the ladder?' he asked.

'Yeah, sorry man,' was all Jericho got out.

'It's alright, every man for himself remember? I would have done the same thing, although maybe I would have been a bit more careful,' that drew a smile from Jericho who sat down beside his friend. 'Is it all over yet?' added Benoit.

Yeah, two new World Champions, Batista nearly killed Trips.'

'That mean your going to face Dave any time soon?'

'The guys on a massive roll, I might hang on for a while.' Jericho took a quick look at Benoit's ice pack covered body, he hated having to do what he did, but he didn't have any other choice. 'Were you heading down to the after show party?' asked Jericho, trying to lighten the mood.

'I'm starting to get some feeling back into parts of my body, so might wander down in a while, you?'

'Yeah I was heading down, I guess I'll see you down there?'

'Sure,' replied Benoit, before resting his still throbbing head against the locker.

Jericho sighed and then headed for the doorway, aware that Benoit's eyes were trailing him as he left the room, Benoit's eyes stayed locked on the door long after Jericho had closed it behind him. He understood what Jericho did, but he was still pissed off that he had blown his chance at getting back in the hunt for the title. Like so often in the past, he was going to have to do it the hard way, but one thing was for sure, he was going to get there again, even if it killed him.