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 22
Title: The Secret of Edge Army
Show: WWE Monday Night Raw (2/6/2006)
Summary: Edge paves the way for a shocking announcement; Maria faces Lita one-on-one; Intercontinental Championship Royal Rumble rematch.

"You think you know me."

With that, we know that this is Edge's music starting up. This time, though, it did not change into Christian Cage's, as the Rated R Superstar and the Queen of Extreme came out in their usual entrance. They did seem to have more of the people's respect, however, after aligning with Christian Cage against Randy Orton and Triple H.

"Let me tell everybody here something real good," he began, with a surprising mixed reaction. "I thoroughly enjoy being an asshole! (boo.) But that's not why I came out here. Irritating you people lost a little bit of its fun, especially now that I've got bigger things coughEvolutioncough to worry about. So here's the deal. I've got a new group of allies. No, it's not Christian, and nor is anybody else from TNA on my little crew. (boo.) They are all WWE Superstars. In fact, one of them is among the limited but growing number of WWE Superstars who you'd never predict could be on my side. But I'm not gonna tell you who it is. I'm going to allow them to tell us who they are. (what?) I'm gonna allow my new allies to tell us all who they are this coming Friday night on Smackdown! (mixed reactions) That being said, let me enlighten you that-"

The Evolution music interrupted Edge, bringing forth mixed reactions which mainly consisted of cheering. The five members then came out onto the stage, but stayed there, as Triple H had a microphone. The music died down, and the Game prepared to speak.

"Hey, Edge. I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you. I don't care who your secret ally is. I don't even care about the rest of your Edge Army. You can get everybody in the entire roster on me and you still can't beat me for this Championship," Trips spoke, earning cheers of respect at this rebuttal.

"Oh, yeah, just a small piece of fresh advice: turn around," Edge suddenly said. Trips did just that, and he ended up taking a big boot. The culprit: "the Problem Solver" Tyson Tomko! All of Evolution then tried to attack Tomko, who successfully ran away from them.

"Here comes the moneyyyyy! cha-ching Here we go. Here comes the money!"

As Raw General Manager Shane McMahon's music rang and the fans became riotous, they all awaited Shane McMahon's entry from behind the curtains. Little did they know that Shane was actually coming down from within their midst! Those that figured it out, as well as everyone else when cameras finally caught him coming down, broke even further into screaming cheers. When he finally got over the ring, he did his dollar dollar dance one time, then immediately got on his microphone.

"Edge, while I appreciate your sentiment in acquiring an 'Edge Army' to combat Evolution, I don't exactly feel like that establishment is completely necessary," Shane stated.

"What are you talking about?" the Rated R Superstar demanded.

"Over the past week, we've seen the impact that Evolution has had on this industry, specifically on World Wrestling Entertainment and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. My father, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, has conferred with TNA president Dixie Carter about Evolution, and they have decided that it is dangerous to allow Evolution to have the run of the field. Therefore, I, the Raw General Manager Shane McMahon, have been informed, along with Smackdown Commissioner Mick Foley and Impact Director of Authority Paul E. Dangerously, (yeah.) that we need to buckle down on Evolution's reign by forming a semi-partnership between the three shows. Therefore, your 'Edge Army' would not be the only Superstars allowed to be in league against Evolution, and any anti-Evolution purposes serve as grounds for a Superstar to enter a show other than his own if he so wishes. (yeah.) Also, there are two matches Evolution will be involved in. You, Lita, will go one on one against the Women's Champion Maria, (yeah!) and Ric Flair defends his Intercontinental Championship in a rematch of the Royal Rumble encounter against Shelton Benjamin!" (yeah!)

Shane's music came on again as he left the ring. Edge and Lita smirked as he wrapped his arm around her.

"Oh, and just one more thing: we also decided that at TNA's Against All Odds this Sunday, not only will Randy Orton defend his NWA Heavyweight Championship against 'Captain Charisma' Christian Cage, but there will be a special fatal four way for the Women's Championship. It will be Raw vs. Smackdown vs. TNA vs. Evolution, as Raw's Lita, Smackdown's Melina, TNA's Miss Jackie, and the Women's Champion from Evolution, Maria, all in the same ring for the same goal of winning the Women's Title!" he announced at the stage just before completing his journey to the backstage area.

Even a few minutes later, you can see Evolution frantically searching for Tomko, wanting to beat him down. Batista had a look on his face saying that he was ready to make Tomko pay, which was seconded by his knuckles looking ready.

"Edge is gonna pay! I don't care what kind of Edge Army he's got up his sleeve, that kid will never beat me for the WWE Championship! In fact, we're gonna take down their entire Edge Army!" Trips openly declared.

"And if he dares get in the way to help his friend Christian Cage at Against All Odds, I'm gonna make sure he experiences something that he never thought possible for him to be on the receiving end of!" Randy Orton promised, ignoring the Con-chair-to induced concussion he suffered two nights ago for the first time today.

"Wait a minute. You guys really need to calm down. You heard about the two matches I have set up for you tonight, right?" Shane McMahon suddenly said as they turned around to see him. "And from what I'm seeing, you want to beat the living hell out of Tyson Tomko. Well, I talked to Mick Foley, and Tomko's gonna be a guest on Smackdown so that he can go one on one against one of you guys. See you guys later."

Ten minutes later, Lita was out, waiting for her opponent. Maria came out in ring gear we didn't know she had, her more usual jumpy self, and her own music, fans cheering on that scene.

When the bell rang, the two ladies locked up in the center of the ring. Lita pulled Maria down by the hair, then mocked at her a little bit. Once Maria got up after about ten seconds, Lita threw her across the ring… again, by the hair. Lita picked up Maria and set her into the corner, where she issued her a series of backhand slaps. The entire time, fans were not exactly Lita fans. She walked around with the cocky smirk on her face which would usually fill up for her boyfriend, in both ego and boos. She then went on the turnbuckle, standing over Maria, and attacked with a number of punches from that position. The fans did special counting for that, and the last one was six, before Lita came off and allowed Maria to get out and fall down. Lita rolled Maria over and hooked her leg for the cover, only getting in a two count. This sparked the Queen of Extreme's ill-advised decision to complain to the referee, before she saw Maria about to get up and going onto the top turnbuckle. Lita tried to go for the Litacanrana, but Maria sidestepped it, causing Lita to land flat on her ass! Edge now went frantic and yelled for Lita to get up. Unfortunately for her, as soon as she did, Maria got her in the school kid cover, with her feet on the ropes, and the ref didn't see anything! He counted it, 1, 2, 3! But before she could celebrate in the ring, she was knocked down from behind by Edge, and then out ran Tomko with a pair of handcuffs. Edge picked up Maria with her back turned, then Tomko cuffed her hands behind her against her will. Edge and Tomko laughed at Maria, who looked desperate to get out of it.

Batista's music then blared on, and out came Batista, along with Randy Orton, both ready to kick some ass! Batista immediately went after Tomko, Orton after Edge. Batista rolled Tomko into the ring, picked him up, then hit the Leviathan Spinebuster all over him. In the meantime, Orton was flurrying away at Edge. Batista came down and told him to stop, then pointed to the steel chairs near the announcers' table. Orton got one of the chairs, then whacked Edge straight in the head with it! Evolution's music came on, and the two best friends got into the ring and raised their arms before doing their turnbuckle poses, earning cheers from the fans. Batista then called for security to free Maria from her restraints, and an officer did just that. Once free, Maria instantly ran to the boys, who were really concerned for her safety. While doing this, Randy grimaced a small bit about his head.

At the locker room in about three minutes, Triple H and Ric Flair had just finished observing the crap that went on in there, and Flair got his black and gold sequined robe on to get ready for his Intercontinental Championship defense. Trips made it clear that did not like this Edge Army business.

"Ric, can you believe this? Edge and Tomko had the nerve to handcuff Maria like she was a piece of crap," Trips complained in obvious disapproval.

"I got no gripes about defending my Intercontinental Title tonight, since I know I can beat that mama's boy Shelton Benjamin," Ric replied. "And I know Randy Orton can take Christian Cage one-on-one at Against All Odds. But the GMs are biased against us, and now this Edge Army problem has decided to run amok. What's more, we don't even know who else is in this, and they're gonna reveal themselves on Smackdown."

"This is pathetic. How many times am I gonna… oh, hey guys. Maria, you okay?" Trips said, shifting gears as he saw Maria, Randy, and Batista head back in.

"Yeah, I guess," she finally said after a while. She did not look okay, however. She looked pretty scared. The boys could clearly see it, and Batista was now determined.

"Friday, I want Tomko. I'm ready to beat his ass," the Animal then decided, and this was spoken with such a bass that nobody was going to disagree or argue with him. "And you guys need to look out for the rest of this Edge Army. But right now, Ric, go out there and show the world why you're the Intercontinental Champion."

"Wooo!"

In the arena, his music was already on. He said okay, that he was ready to go, after which he clapped fives with each of his comrades before heading out to the arena, styling and profiling as usual. Shelton's music was accompanied by the embarrassing predicament of having to roll his Big Mama around on a wheelchair before getting into the ring. Flair smiled and looked confident as he and his opponent circled the ring upon hearing the ring bell sound.

The two were almost about to get into a grapple when Big Mama called Shelton over to her. When Ric saw Shelton turn around to talk to his mother, he didn't even bother to find out what the heck it was about. He tipped Shelton Benjamin over the top rope from behind, embarrassing the Great Mama's Boy. (a/n: It's easy to figure where I came up with that. He needs a good nickname, and if we're gonna call him a mama's boy, at least let it be a great one.) Shelton slid into the ring, then immediately went for a clothesline on Flair, who ducked it and hit a thumb to the eye. Flair cornered Shelton, then went on with a major flurry of chops, which only finished when Flair finally decided to let up and allow Shelton to fall forward. Flair then picked up Shelton Benjamin and gave him a right hand, knocking him into the other corner. That's when Mama Benjamin stood up and grabbed Ric Flair's boot, distracting him. Shelton took advantage and gave him a group of right hands, then irishwhipped him and met him back with a spinning back elbow, after which Shelton proceeded to mount himself atop Flair and dish out a few punches. Once Shelton got up, he raised his arms as if knowing he was going to be victorious, leading to many jeers among the fans. He then got in a headlock on Ric Flair, trying to get him to pass out.

After a short while, Flair quickly relied on the will of the people to get back up, elbow his way out of the predicament, and get in some lefts and rights on Shelton. Once he was nearly in the corner, Shelton turned the tables on Flair, taking him and placing him at the corner. Shelton hit right hands again, then irishwhipped Flair to the other side. Shelton then quickly charged at Flair, who sidestepped the Stinger Splash. However, Shelton landed on his feet on the middle ropes. He then had the ability to actually turn around and nail Flair with a dropkick, after which he covered Flair, who kicked out after the count of two. Shelton complained to the referee for a while, after which he tried to pick Flair up by the head. The Nache then countered into an inside cradle. 1… 2… kickout. Both men got up, then Flair backed Shelton into the corner and chopped him a good three times before the referee admonished him with the disqualification count. Flair made a clean break, then as soon as Shelton got out, dealt him a second thumb to the eye, then took down his legs and set in the Figure Four leg lock! Just like at the Royal Rumble, all of Big Mama's talk could not prevent the inevitable: Shelton Benjamin tapped out, and Ric Flair retained the Intercontinental Title.

"Here is your winner, and still WWE Intercontinental Champion, 'the Nature Boy' Ric Flair!"

No sooner did Lilian Garcia say that than did Edge arrive to stalk away at Ric Flair and hit him with a Spear as soon as he turned around! Batista, though, didn't like that, so he decided to come down and give Edge a taste of his own medicine with a double leg spear of his own! Batista then took Edge up, irishwhipped him, and met him back with a major power slam! He picked up Edge, set him in the corner, and thrust his shoulder into him several times. Batista let up with the shoulder tackles, but continued to hold Edge in the corner. Out came Maria, who decided to get herself some of Edge for what he did earlier tonight. Batista held Edge in position, and made some room for Maria to come forward. She then slapped Edge again and again! After what seemed to be fifty straight slaps, Maria finally tired out, Batista turned around, and ended up nailed with a big boot from Tomko! Tomko stared at Maria, who was shaking her head in fear. Out of nowhere, Lita arrived, giving Maria the Reverse of Fate! The crowd erupted a final time when Randy Orton and Triple H came out and scared Edge and company away! Edge's music came on, as he, his girlfriend, and one of their newfound cohorts smiled on walking up the ramp, and Orton and Triple H checked on their partners, each of which was victimized by one of those three. After a minute, Orton looked at Edge and pointed to him, shouting a warning that Edge was going to get it soon. Meanwhile, he grimaced a small tad about his major headache, something that Edge was able to grin about.