The Evolution of This Business (a WWE/TNA story)
by P. Dizzle tha Prime Legend Champion

Associative Disclaimer: This story is completely original and fictional.
Proprietary Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing but the story itself.
Rating: T
Summary: The former members of Evolution are in their prime, but facing major problems. After a little thinking, Triple H decides that enough is enough, not only for their problem sources, but the entire wrestling business as well!

Chapter 10
Title: Royal Tribute to Honor
Show: Friday Night Smackdown (1/13/2006)
Summary: Batista faces off in a 23-person battle royal for his own World Heavyweight Title, and it includes Randy Orton.

Batista had been scheduled for a house show match against Mark Henry earlier this week, but had rejected the idea, since he knew that Henry was going to try to injure him, since there was no television audience to make him sick. However, he knew the Smackdown fans were going to want something out of him for it, so he proposed that instead of facing Henry at that house show, that he was going to the televised Smackdown event this week, which was by now tonight, and was going to defend his World Heavyweight Championship against 22 other men. General Manager Theodore Long determined that the best way to do it in was an over-the-top battle royal. Batista accepted the punishment he himself came up with, rather than complain about it. But little did he know, his "secret comrade" was about to be in on this as well.

There were 21 spots already filled, and there was a certain something called a rematch. That rematch was Chris Benoit vs. Randy Orton. And that rematch was for one of the two unfilled spots in the battle royal that would happen just as well tonight. Orton was notified of this as soon as he hit the arena. Unlike Triple H and Ric Flair, Batista and Randy Orton did not take their time outside the arena and hotel to go talk to each other about their plans. Each man simply found out about the card from the workers.

Anyway, Theodore Long was in the ring to begin the show.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your World Heavyweight Champion, the Animal, Batista!"

When Batista came out to his entrance music, it almost tore the house down. He was as energized as always, from going to each end of the stage, to setting off the stage guns from the middle of the ramp, to raising his hands across all four corners. Big Dave was ready to be in business. And this was wearing a suit.

"Now, let me inform each and every one of you that Batista is a man that could be considered in several ways. One, he could be considered as a man that is scared of Mark Henry. Two, he could be considered as a man that bails out on his fans. Three, he could be considered as a smart man that looks out for his safety and saves his energy for when it matters the most," Theodore began. "You see, your man Big Dave here was scheduled to appear at a house show in a match against 'the World's Strongest Man' Mark Henry. Batista declined, knowing that his World Heavyweight Championship was going to be in immediate jeopardy because of it. However, Batista came up with his own punishment for the crime. He practically demanded to me that I put him in a battle royal against 22 other men, that one of those 22 other men was Mark Henry, and that this battle royal was for the World Heavyweight Championship!"

Fans cheered at the great match, before Theodore handed Batista the microphone. Everyone was now on their feet chanting Batista's name. "BATISTA! BATISTA! BATISTA! BATISTA! BATISTA! BATISTA!"

"As for the people I bailed on, you have to understand. I was walking around when I heard Mark Henry, Melina, and MNM talking. Mark Henry basically said that he was planning to use that match between him and me strictly to injure me so that the World Title could be all to his for the taking. Knowing that someone like that was going to try to take the World Heavyweight Championship by trying to put my career and my livelihood at risk, I was not going to let him do me in. But Mark, now you have a real opportunity. Now you have your chance. Now is your World Heavyweight Championship shot. If you want some of me, then come get some of me. If you can take me and everyone else out, you can call yourself the Champ. Friend or foe, anyone and everyone else involved in this battle royal can say the same thing for themselves. But I promise you, I'm ready."

The Animal's music came on, and he went to the back and awaited this great opportunity.

Randy Orton, later, was met by Booker T in his locker room. And Booker did not look so happy, and neither did his wife.

"Booker, I know what this about," the Legend Killer said through sighs, looking as his somewhat of a friend.

"Naw. You don't know, dawg. See, I can understand you bailin' out on me when Orlando came in to jump on me. That I didn't like, but I could understand. The commitment was over when you pinned Chris Benoit just a couple minutes ago to that," Booker stated. "But if my wife wasn't talkin' a bunch of smack when she came to me about this, she said that you compared us to Raw's constant sex pool they call Edge and Lita, and that you said that I, Booker T, was none of your concern at all anymore. Now we got a problem."

"I thought I made it clear that I never meant those Edge-Lita comments. And since the commitment's over, you're not my business anymore," Randy said.

"Yeah, but on the other hand. Who got you dat glory moment last week? Who picked you up after the Undertaker kicked your can at Hell in a Cell last month? Who here brought the Legend Killer back to form after you was startin' to feel pretty damn low? And who still owes you a favor for what you did if you play your cards right?" Booker asked Randy, giving him plenty of questions to think about.

"Guess you just put me on the spot there, huh?"

"Guess so. But I ain't mad at ya."

"Hey, I got it. Convince Teddy Long to call off the match and put both me and Chris Benoit in the battle royal. I already faced and beat him last week. I deserve to be in this, and Teddy might argue that Benoit deserves the spot too. So just get the man to give it to both of us," Randy suggested. "That'll be the favor. You got it, Book?"

"Yeah. I got it," the 5-time WCW Champion agreed. And he did comply. The only problem was that the other "unreserved" spot was indeed reserved, for Smackdown's latest coup from Raw.

"A'ight. But there's a bunch of sorry tag teams that should not be in this battle royal. You got LOD, the Mexicools, those Italian guys, the Dicks. At least two of those teams are in the battle royal. You're tellin' me you couldn't take out somebody from those teams to put a superstar like Chris Benoit or Randy Orton in the battle royal?"

"Hmm. Good point. The Dicks are not exactly a feature attraction at all anyway. I'm takin' em both out and puttin' somebody else in. That leaves two spots, for Benoit, and Orton. How bout that?" he offered. "I'm makin' this official now."

"I can dig that," Booker agreed. So now both Randy Orton and Chris Benoit were in the battle royal. But more importantly to Randy Orton, both he and Batista were in the battle royal.

This battle royal would take place during the final thirty minutes of action.

With twenty Superstars in the ring, the lighting went creepy dark red, and a certain piano bell rang. The putrid smoke came up, and crawling from underneath it at the stage was that haunted creeper, the Boogeyman. At the middle of the ramp, he benged that plastic clock into his head, setting off the flames, then started shaking around before taking out some worms. But he didn't eat them: he threw them at Mark Henry, who was the closest guy to him. Henry was complaining throughout the entire rest of Boogeyman's entrance. Theodore Long, who was at ringside, took a microphone and began to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the next entrant into this battle royal, and the latest transfer from Raw to Smackdown, 'the Wrestling Machine' Kurt Angle!"

Amazement surrounded everyone in the area as Kurt Angle came out, the "You Suck!" chants quickly following. Unfortunately, though, that chump Daivari was right there behind him. Afterwards, Batista came out, again with his energetic entrance, again blasting the house down. But after finally taking off his World Heavyweight Championship and giving it to the referee, he went on one of the turnbuckles again, thumped his chest a couple of times, then pointed and looked up to the sky, saying, "Eddie Guerrero, this is for you!" That earned the respect of Rey Mysterio and Chris Benoit, as well as just about everybody else there.

Then, Batista's music stopped, and the bell finally rang. Mark Henry confronted the Boogeyman and called Boogeyman a sorry, disgusting piece of trash, and said that he's not scared of the Boogeyman. In reply, Boogeyman took out some worms and planted them on Henry's face! Henry immediately wiped them off, and punched Boogeyman square in the face. Boogeyman rolled out of the ring and just stood there. Nunzio came after Mark Henry and got backtossed way over the ropes.

Meanwhile, Batista was getting double teamed by MNM in the corner, Randy Orton was fighting with Chris Benoit, and Kurt Angle was getting physical with JBL. After a while, Psicosis and Paul Burchill had each other teetering on the ropes. Mark Henry ran on the ropes, and neither could hold on.

Supercrazy came to Henry and got military pressed and tossed over onto his partner.

Kurt Angle's battle with JBL came to a quick end as Angle got the Olympic Slam on JBL, then was hit in the back by Sylvan. The egotistical Tough Model thought he had the right to pose after getting a few right hands in, then got run over and out for his mistake.

Batista's troubles, though, were only beginning. MNM finally stopped hitting him in the corner, only for Mark Henry to come and ram all his body weight straight into the Animal. There was a lot of trouble awaiting from that moment. Randy Orton and Jamie Noble were sort of working together against Bobby Lashley, trying to get the Real Deal out. However, it was Noble that wound up suffering the mistake, as Lashley used a belly to belly T-bone throw to get the Redneck Messiah over and out.

Matt Hardy was challenged, meanwhile, by Simon Dean. Simon irishwhipped Matt, right into the area of the ropes where Orton was, seeing that the Legend Killer lowered the ropes to get Matt over and out. But Matt stopped himself by going down and dropkicking Orton, knocking him out by underneath the ropes. But that was underneath, so Randy was still alive. Hardy, however, was not going to be so merciful to Simon Dean. Simon came over to him and was tripped by a drop toe hold, where he ended up chin against the middle rope, perfectly set up for Rey Mysterio's 619! Johnny Nitro and Joey Mercury came to try to take out Matt and Rey, but Rey headbutted Nitro's midsection and Mercury was put over. But he hung on and avoided getting knocked out by Hardy. Batista finally broke out of Henry's assault and saw Simon leaning back against the ropes, then took advantage to clothesline him over and out.

Orlando Jordan had Vito against the ropes, and Batista was coming. Orlando got out of the way, and Batista clotheslined Vito over and out.

Randy Orton got back in the ring first thing and finally got into it with Chris Benoit. Eventually, Benoit had Orton cornered in an array of chops. Randy's chest is beet red from pain. Road Warrior Animal arrives on the scene and gets chopped by Benoit himself, Kurt Angle suddenly arrives from behind Animal and clotheslines him low, taking him down by the shin. William Regal came over to Benoit and tried to hit him with a few good right hands. But if you're the Rogue Scoundrel, you're wishing you did not get on the bad side of the Rabid Wolverine. Why? You're getting tossed out after he gets you back with a few knees to the head.

Rey Mysterio hit Orlando Jordan with a seated senton splash, and Nitro attacked Mysterio, trying to send him over the top and out. Mysterio, though, hung on, and Matt almost send Nitro out, until he skinned the cat. Nitro laid on the apron right when Melina was there so she could push him in. Elsewhere, Road Warrior Animal confronted Mark Henry, then had the typical big vs. huge series of trying to knock him down, but falling himself. Henry, though, soon got tired of it, and placed Animal on the turnbuckle, before just shoving him over and out.

JBL wound up fighting his former backup leader, "the Chief of Staff" Orlando Jordan. As JBL fisted away at Jordan against the ropes, Matt Hardy turned him around and hit a good few right hands on JBL. The Wrestling God was so focused on fighting Hardy now that he completely forgot about Jordan. When he ran to the ropes planning to come back with the Clothesline from Hell, Orlando Jordan lowered the ropes and almost sent JBL out, but he skinned the cat and barely hung on to the ropes. But when Boogeyman took more worms and shoved them into JBL's face, the Businessman was so flustered he ended up letting go and falling out.

Then, Boogeyman finally got on the apron. He instantly drew the ire of Mark Henry, who threw him by the head into the ring, then hit him with the World's Strongest Slam! Meanwhile, the Legend Killer and the Chief of Staff ended up going face to face, and Randy Orton did not allow Orlando to get the advantage in the fist fight, so he issued him a drop toe hold, then went towards Nitro and Mercury vs. Hardy and Mysterio, quickly raiding that with an attempt to throw Mysterio over the ring. Rey skinned the cat, but Melina tried to drag him down. He managed to kick her off, then got back over and into the ring. Before Randy Orton could hit Rey, however, he went down under the ropes to the outside, then picked up Melina and sent her into the ring, knowing that at least one of her boys was going to rush to her side. It worked even better. All three of them did. Boogeyman just got back up, and took Joey Mercury into a Pumphandle Slam. Henry noticed, and now he had enough of Mr. Nightcrawler. He sent him over the top and out emphatically. By now, Melina was already out.

Randy Orton saw that Orlando Jordan was merely standing around and watching everything, so he turned him around and hit him with the RKO! Then, Kurt Angle hit Randy Orton in the Olympic Slam! Chris Benoit followed that up with a Crippler Crossface to Angle! Lashley took the upper hand and took Jordan and tossed him out, only to find himself standing up to Mark Henry.

Lashley came to Henry as if to try to ram him, but Lashley actually stopped right beforehand, knowing that Henry was going to extend just a little bit to hit him with the more powerful shoulder block and send him crashing down. Lashley could then get Henry in a drop toe hold, putting him in 619 position. As Mysterio prepared to dish out the 619, Mercury arrested that with a double forearm hit and Nitro tried to jump Lashley, only to become endangered species. He was snapmared off Lashley's back, then hit with the Dominator. The One Man Army then took Nitro into a military press and slammed him over and out.

Joey Mercury then tried to do the same, only to get snapmared over and out.

Lashley was taken over and out by the legs from behind, however, by Kurt and Randy.

Matt Hardy attacked Mark Henry with a low kick, as did Randy Orton. Hardy took Henry into Twist of Fate position, only to get lifted up with his back on Henry's back. Mark backed up into the ropes, and Matt could not hold onto him, so Hardy ended up getting eliminated.

Rey Mysterio tried to get a seated senton on Henry, only to get caught and powerbombed out over the top!

Batista, who inally made his move, hit a huge clothesline on Mark Henry's back, causing him to tip over just a slight bit. Kurt Angle, Batista, Chris Benoit, and Randy Orton tried to get Henry over the top. Melina then got into the ring and tapped Randy on his shoulder. When Orton turned around, he found Melina dancing exotically in front of him to distract him. He then crept closer to her, and went around one of her legs to touch her rear, and they also even kissed. But that's when he stopped it all and shoved Melina down, earning a few cheers, and a few disapproving groans, from the audience. Henry was barely hanging on by the ropes. Orton saw that and blasted Henry's hands with a dropkick, and that knocked out the World's Strongest Man.

Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle then went in after Orton, but come chase time, he lowered the ropes, and the two competitors ended up having to skin the cat in order to survive. Angle and Benoit, former friends and former enemies, then got into a fight on the apron to see who could knock who out. Orton and Batista looked at each other, then looked over at the crowd. The two former Evolution best friends were being egged on to go at each other, but Orton pointed to Angle and Benoit's kicking debate. Batista didn't exactly back down from fighting Orton, however, as when Randy went to try to help against Angle and Benoit, Batista turned him around and got in a few right hands, but on one of them, he failed to connect, as Orton ducked and came behind him. He could have easily dropkicked Batista over the ropes, but instead saw it worth to wait for Big Dave to turn around and dish him into the RKO! Orton then went underneath the ropes out of the ring, and got a trash can lid from under the ring and hit Kurt Angle with it right in the head! The Olympic Champion was now going through a case of scrambled brains, which gave Chris Benoit just the edge he needed to kick Kurt one more and take him out.

Orton tried to hit Benoit, but Chris quickly took himself inside the ring to dodge. Orton went in, and now we've got three guys left. Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, and Batista. And we all know the documented history between these three. The fans cheered as Batista finally got up, and the three men stared at each other. Batista decided to sit back and allow the two remaining challengers to get it on inside the ring, and when they circled the ring, Benoit rallied on the crowd, constantly waving his right arm with a closed fist and leading an "EDDIE!" chant. Orton tried to quickly come from behind and hit Benoit with that stretch back breaker, but Benoit got out of it and then hit the Three Amigo suplexes, then went on to thump his chest hard and point up, just like Batista had done before the match, in tribute to the late "Latino Heat" Eddie Guerrero. Benoit went up to the top turnbuckle and get in that flying headbutt. It connected, and Batista applauded Benoit. Then, Benoit went for the Crippler Crossface, but after a while, Orton rolled through out of it, and went for the RKO, but Benoit pushed out of it. Batista lowered the ropes, but Orton skinned the cat and landed on the apron, then got into the ring. Benoit and Orton then ended up in a chase around the ring, when Benoit ducked Orton's clothesline, then took his legs up from behind and got him over and out.

Orton instantly got up, and as Benoit and Batista stared each other down, attacked the Rabid Wolverine from behind. Orton looked at Batista and realized he was in trouble. Orton led Batista through the ropes outside, and a chase ensued. Benoit eventually joined in and was further behind Orton than Batista. Orton eventually led it into the ring, then went outside at the other end. Batista failed to reach him, then he saw Benoit coming straight at him when he turned around. In a move of panic, it seems, Batista lowered the ropes and allowed Benoit to trip over, taking out the Rabid Wolverine. The bell suddenly rang, and Batista was in shock. Then came his music, and him being named still World Heavyweight Champion. It just hit Batista that by a stroke of luck, he had just retained the World Heavyweight Title! But before he could celebrate, he was met in the ring by Chris Benoit, who then shook his hand. The two friends then had a slight embrace, followed by Benoit raising Batista's hand. Both men then went up at corners, raised their hands high, and pointed to the sky. Here's notes from Michael Cole in response:

"And there you see Chris Benoit and Batista pointing to the sky, and here's what that is symbolic of. This match, to them, was all for one man. When that man was alive, he was called Latino Heat. That man is the late great Eddie Guerrero, a man who this generation will always remember as one of the greatest wrestlers, and greatest people, of all time. Rest in peace, Eddie. We all miss you, and we love you. We know where you are, and we hope to meet you there in the future. Your friend Batista is still the World Heavyweight Champion."

"EDDIE!" chants broke out throughout the arena.

"There you hear the Eddie chants, and you're probably joinin' in, too. And that's what this moment between Benoit and Batista in the ring is all about," Tazz said, inserting himself into the conversation. "If you know who Eddie Guerrero is, you have to miss him. And if you don't miss Eddie Guerrero, then you know nothing about this business. I don't mean to be harsh, but there's just no other way to say how much he means to us all. That's just the way it is."

As the celebration and the tribute to the greatest of all continued, Michael Cole wished us all good night. And there the show was over.

a/n: This was the longest chapter of them all, I know. But it pretty much had to be. I mean, there's a battle royal. And then, to finish it, there's two of Eddie Guerrero's closest friends from when he was alive. I had to make a tributary piece there for the late great Latino Heat. This is probably gonna be the only chapter in which the Evolution takeover is merely an afterthought. Rest in peace, Eddie. We love you and we miss you. It's been two months, but that's definitely not long enough to make me or mostly anyone forget about you. 1967-2005-4ever. Peace.