(A/N) Thanks for all the support. I love you all. Round one of the competition has started, and read on to see who goes on, and who goes home.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! It's time for the first fight, in Club Evolution's street fight competition. The rules are pretty simple. No low blows of any kind. No use of any foreign objects. No eye gouging, hair pulling or ear biting. Other than that, do what you will to your opponent. Kick them in the face, smash their head against your knee, punch their teeth out. All of that kinda shit is encouraged. To win, your opponent must be down on the mat and stay down for 10 seconds. Now… with all the formalities out of the way, let's get this shit started!" Randy roared through the mic which boomed out of the loudspeakers positioned all around the club, his booming voice echoing throughout the club. "First up, we got a half man, half beast, all ruthless… Gene Snitsky!"
Snitsky received a raucous applaud from Hunter's team, but the majority of the crowd hissed him. Snitsky was unfazed by this show of animosity and was ready to fight.
"His opponent for tonight, weighing in at 200 something pounds, Chris Jericho." He received a much less animated introduction from Randy.
The applause from the crowd was sort of split in half for Chris. Jericho made his way to the wrestling ring. There wasn't going to be any wrestling done in it tonight though. It was going to be an all out brawl.
The referee came between the two men.
"Now let's keep this fight fair. You two both know what is on, and what is not. If I catch you doing something illegal, it will be a warning the first time, and a straight up disqualification the second. Got it?" The ref explained.
He got a nod in reply from both men. The ref nodded to Randy to give him the heads up to start the fight.
"LET THE GAMES BEGIN!" Randy boomed.
As soon as Randy finished his sentence, Snitsky charged at Chris. Chris, who wasn't ready for such a head on attack, stumbled and was swept of his feet by Snitsky's force. Gene climbed on top of Chris and started making lemon squash out of his face. Chris tried to cover up with his hands, but Snitsky's powerful fists continued to pummel him relentlessly. Chris heaved his hips upward and struck Snitsky in the back with his knee. He went crashing to the mat. Chris got up gingerly and wiped the blood trickling from his lip. Snitsky also got up to his feet. He took a swing at Chris' face but he ducked just in time. Chris backed up to the ropes to rethink his strategy. Snitsky came charging at him again, but this time Chris was ready. He sidestepped the bull and came in with a fist of his own to the side of Snitsky's head. Snitsky was stunned for a moment but shook it off. Chris backed away again, trying to plan his next point of attack. But he couldn't think straight. The adrenalin was fucking with his brain.
"This was a fight dammit. You don't follow a plan when you fight, you just fight." Chris thought to himself.
His train of thought was interrupted when he got the wind knocked out of him thanks to Snitsky's fist. He sagged to the floor as his opponents knee connected with his jaw. Blood was now streaming from Chris' mouth as he was lifted into the air by Snitsky. Snitsky was going to throw him out of the ring, onto the floor. Chris came down with a fist to Snitsky's face, but the man was unfazed and continued his slow march to the side of the ring. Snitsky now held Chris above his head. Chris chopped at Snitsky's elbow joint, causing his arm to bend. He fell on top of Snitsky and they both crashed to the mat. Chris climbed to his feet first and came in with a foot to the face. His opponent continued to climb slowly to his feet. This time with a run up, he kicked him back down. Chris started stomping on Gene, who was struggling to catch his breath. Then out of nowhere, Snitsky came up with a fist to Jericho's groin. He screamed in pain as he fell to the floor. The ref quickly stopped the match to attend to Chris. Snitsky, who was now on his feet, started to walk towards his prey. The ref stood in his way and gave him his last warning. He pushed the ref aside and began his beat down of Chris. The ref continued the match.
Chris was in a world of pain. Everything was a blur to him. He couldn't move his legs. It was like he was paralyzed from waist down. He felt himself being punched again and again, but he barely felt it. That was the upside to the situation. He felt himself get lifted off the canvas and thrown across the ring. Snitsky was having his way with him. Out of the corner of his mind, he could vaguely here the ref counting him out. He couldn't exit the comp this early. He wasn't going to let it happen. He regained movements in his legs. He slowly climbed to his feet, breaking the ref's count in the nick of time. His opponent was obviously aggravated, believing he had the match won. Snitsky let out a scream of frustration and charged at him once more. Chris, tried to sidestep, but his legs were still wobbly. Instead he just fell to the ground. He felt Snitsky's feet crash into his torso as he sent the giant sprawling to the floor. Chris clambered up as fast as his legs would let him. The fire was burning inside of him again. Back to the days before his family was torn apart. Chris lived to fight. He felt that again. A smashed his knee into the face of his opponent. Stomping on him again and again, sending blood spewing from Snitsky's mouth. He let up, backing away to let the ref begin the count. At 8, Gene climbed to his knees, clutching his ribs. Chris advanced, grabbing him by the head. He was about to deliver a final blow to the face, when once again, Snitsky's rage got the better of him. Another blow to Chris' groin forced the ref to disqualify Snitsky.
Down on the mat again, Chris finally gathered his senses together. He put one and one together and realized that he had won the match by disqualification. Not the way he wanted to win but a win was a win. He would take it and move on to the next round. Chris gingerly got to his feet. He saw his opponent Snitsky, being grilled by Hunter.
"Not a good start for team Hunter" he thought has he climbed out of the ring.
Chris wiped his mouth, which was still trickling blood. He searched the place for Benoit, who couldn't be found, probably getting ready for his match which was next. He decided to head home. His next fight wasn't for a few days and he needed to wash himself up. Chris left the club, receiving a few 'well done' slaps on the back. Each one sending a searing pain through his aching body. He faked a smile, which was more of a grimace to all the congratulatory crowd and exited the club.
Cena was all strapped up for his fight against Benoit. Jericho had just finished his fight and had left the club. Adam tapped Cena on the shoulder.
"Hey."
"Yo. Watsup bro?" Cena asked. "You look a little nervous."
"Me… Nah. No way. I'm not nervous." Adam replied.
"Ok. Whatever. I'm just saying, if I had to fight big Dave, I would be shittin myself." Cena mocked.
"Hey. You're not helping ok?"
"Hahaha. Sorry. Anyway's good luck. I've got a fight to win. I'll see you on the flip side." Cena said as he got into the ring.
Randy had finished repeating the rules quickly and had introduced both men to the crowd. Both got an equal reception. They shook hands respectively and the ref started the match.
Benoit got the advantage early on, grounding Cena with his speed and aggressiveness. Benoit was all over Cena on the ground. Cena knew Benoit had the advantage on the ground, with his wrestling background and all. But Cena was more versed in brawling and he had to get to his feet to turn it into a street fight.
Benoit kept his opponent grounded by locking his arm behind his back. Chris landed the occasional punch to the kidneys and kept the upper hand for quite a while. Suddenly Cena's body lurched upward. Benoit was thrown off and Cena was quick to his feet. As soon as Benoit was on his feet, Cena came down on him with a knee to the jaw. Benoit was dazed bad by the forceful blow ands truggled to get back onto his feet. The ref actually got to a count of 8 before he got back up. Cena didn't let up though and started teeing off on Benoit, who failed to block a lot of the punches that were coming his way. Benoit was knocked time and time again off his feet, but still battled back up. The crowd was really getting behind the fight know, applauding both Cena's dominant resurgence and Benoit's unrivaled toughness. Cena was really punching the shit out of Benoit now, who had blood streaming from his nose and cheek. Cena took a huge wind up, in an attempt to put Benoit down for good, but Benoit ducked underneath the swing. He wrapped his arm around Cena's neck and swung him down, the back of John's head, slamming into his knee. Both men lay on the mat for a second. Benoit slowly got to his feet, but the ref was checking up on Cena. Suddenly, from behind, Ric Flair climbed into the ring, unbeknown to the referee and clubbed Benoit in the back of the head with brass knuckles. He slipped out of the ring, amidst the boos from the crowd, without the referee ever knowing what had just unfolded behind his back. Cena clambered to his feet, still clutching the back of his head, allowing the ref to start the count. Benoit lay motionless on his stomach, blood pouring from the open wound at the back of his head. Cena had no idea of the events that unfolded while he was on the mat, and went on to win the match after the ref counted Benoit out. Cena looked around in the crowd, who were making hissing noises. He couldn't figure out why they were so angry. He shrugged his shoulders and climbed out of the ring as the ref attended to Benoit.
Ric ran back to Hunter's office. Triple H had just thrown Gene out of the club and was pacing the room dangerously.
"The job is done. I couldn't get Cena, but I got the next best thing. Benoit lost the match. Cena is through to the next round." Ric said, with a sly grin on his face.
Hunter had stopped pacing around and slowly, a smile formed on his rugged face.
"Hahaha. Good work. Now Dave should get through later tonight with no problem. Then I'll rig the draw and make sure Dave is with Cena. I won't have anymore mess ups. Snitsky has been kicked off the team. I'm setting an example here, and I can't have unreliable people in my group." He growled.
"Yes sir." Ric said, as he quietly left the room, not wanting to anger the already distressed Hunter.
(A/N) Hmmm. Interesting events have unfolded. Some surprises in the winners? Edge and Batista will fight next chapter, which should be up in a few days. Oh and To Fidelitas, don't fret buddy. Christy will make her first appearance very soon. I promise. Till then, stay strong mate…