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
25
Title: The Destiny Battle
Show: TNA Sunday
PPV Event - Against All Odds 2006 (2/12/2006)
Summary: Raw vs.
Smackdown vs. Impact vs. Evolution Women's Title match, Randy Orton
vs. Christian Cage for the NWA Title.
About fifteen minutes before the show officially began, Ric Flair and Triple H had just arrived at the Evolution locker room. They were going around the arena to see what the atmosphere was like in a Nashville TNA event, and at a TNA mainstream PPV event, before the show actually started. Meanwhile, Randy Orton, Maria, and Batista just decided to chill out and prepare for Randy and Maria's great title defenses coming up here tonight.
"Randy, I'm a little curious," Maria started. "Why exactly did you apologize to Stacy Keibler again?"
"Because, the way we broke up," Randy explained. "You saw it, Maria. You saw me and Stacy kiss in that ring, then me turn around and give her that RKO. It bothered me that I had Stacy as more than a stand, and I just threw her away just like that, just for a mission that was so unsuccessful and dangerous it was tantamount to attempted suicide. And the way I see it now, if I hadn't betrayed her, maybe she could have helped me beat the Undertaker. Instead, like I told Batista, we went from the hot couple to… that."
"Do you consider me as more than a stand?" Maria asked. Batista's eyebrows irked up in interest. He wanted to hear this.
"Maria, you know you're like a little sister to me, and I'm not gonna try to make any move on you, much less turn you into a stand. I may be an egomaniac Legend Killer, but I've got more sense when it comes to you," Randy answered solemnly, impressing the Animal and allowing Maria to feel at ease with their relationship. "You think I trained you and let you into Evolution so I can dump you in the water?"
"Here's a fun plan. Maria, why don't you go back to your interviewing roots tomorrow night on Raw?" Batista suggested. Randy and Maria looked at him like he was crazy or stupid.
"I mean, one last interview. And the one you should interview, is Triple H," he continued.
"Wait a minute. You mean Randy Orton, right?" Randy yelled in objection to the ignoring of his battled ego.
"No. I mean Batista," the Leviathan countered.
"Wait a minute. First, you said Triple H. Then, he said Randy Orton. Now, you said Batista. I'm the one doing the interview, and I think I should interview Ric Flair," Maria cut in, following which they heard the door open as Triple H and Ric Flair came in, looking and feeling pretty good about themselves.
"Big Dave, it actually sounds like you came up with a real good idea. Maria's last interview should be tomorrow night, and her guest should be representation of Evolution," Trips spoke, in accord with the words of his teammates in the room. "However, it can't be just one of us. Let it be all of us." The door suddenly opened, and the three most unwelcome visitors it could possibly be were exactly who it was.
"If it isn't the boys I duped to get in the arena at the Royal Rumble, the Latin American Exchange," Randy said, acknowledging them with a huge grin on his face.
"And if it ain't the gringo that duped LAX, that duped TNA, and that duped mi compadre Eddie Guerrero," Konnan recalled as well, without the same grin of Randy Orton. Apolo and Homicide looked like they just wanted to beat him up as well.
"What do you want?"
"Whattya think? We wanna tell you straight to your face that what you did wasn't cool, usin' us like that to get your own gain. We intend to pay you back, Orton, and just you wait, that's exactly what we're gonna do,"
"Not as long as I'm still the Legend Killer, and my team still consists of the Nature Boy, the Animal, the Game, and the Live Bombshell," Randy said, the grin subsiding to a more serious look.
"Listen. We're waitin' for the newest member of LAX, and he's gonna replace Apolo over here in our 3-on-2 against your Game's former boys, the James Gang," Konnan revealed, as well as went back to talk about the former DX members he was facing tonight. "Then, after that, we still got a real good surprise for ya."
"I wanna see it," Batista challenged from out of nowhere. Everyone in the area looked at him, but he didn't even bother lessening his stance for the simple and common "What?" reply.
"How about you won't see it until later this week?" Konnan answered, turning back and leaving with Apolo and Homicide.
"Hey, wait. Get back here," Randy suddenly called to Konnan. Once the K-Dogg did step within Randy's range, he went on to receive an RKO right in the Evolution locker room! Apolo and Homicide thought to get into a scuffle with Evolution over this, but thought better of it, when they saw Batista ready to kick their ass for a second straight pay-per-view.
The Naturals, Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens, (they can be discerned from one another only by Chase Stevens being the blonde guy) defeated Austin Aries and Roderick Strong in the first match on the card by the Naturals hitting the Natural Disaster on Aries and picking up the pinfall. Then, in an X-Division fatal four way between Matt Bentley, Jay Lethal, Petey Williams, and Alex Shelley, Matt hit a back body drop to counter Petey's Canadian Destroyer, then the young black kid Lethal came in and covered Petey for the win!
Then came that match between BG and Kip James (w/Mickie) against Homicide and the newest member of LAX, Machete. (actually turns out it was a tag team match, but Konnan wasn't planning to play fair) BG and Kip got the better of Machete and Homicide, and Mickie kept Konnan at bay by distracting him whenever he took advantage of the referee being distracted and tried to hit Kip. The James Gang beat LAX when Homicide was running away from Kip James and BG covered Machete after a Pump Handle Slam.
After the match, though, Konnan shoved Mickie aside and the three members of LAX gave the James Gang a beating until BG's father, "the Bullet" Bob Armstrong came down to the ring to try and do something about it. Konnan chickened out and left when the odds became 3 on 3.
So after those three matches went down, Randy Orton and Triple H were flanking Maria as she was ready to come out for the Raw vs. Smackdown vs. TNA vs. Evolution match for her Women's Championship.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Matt Hardy's voice blared. He was booed by the TNA crowd as he appeared alongside Edge and Lita.
"Come on, Matt. Now is not the time," Randy said.
"Last I recall, when a certain Cerebral Assassin over here tried to get me kicked out of WWE, it wasn't my time to leave the company, now was it?" Matt asked, continuing with the very twisted logic that Triple H was the reason his job status was jeopardized and temporarily hapless.
"Tomorrow night on Raw, you can tell me where you keep getting this crap that I screwed you, but I'm gonna tell you now, the man and woman who screwed you are standing right beside you as if they care a crap about you. Everybody knows that it was Edge and Lita, your so-called 'best friend', and your girlfriend of six years, that decided to go on this affair. Everybody knows that as your 'best friend', Edge could have chosen to get in a good word with WWE management so that they could bring you back sooner or not even fire you in the first place. They still could've had your back like good friends are supposed to, like we've got each other's back here at Evolution! But guess what: they didn't," Triple H swiftly pointed out. "They laughed. They mocked you. They sneered at every fan's reference to your name. They allowed themselves, JBL, and other parties to portray you as a whining dick who was trying to ruin their careers and lives because he just couldn't handle it!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, shut up, shut up, shut up," Edge immediately cut the Game off right there before he could influence Matt any further. "That was 2005. This is 2006. Things change in the course of years. The problem between him and me is long gone. He was over it for months! Now, let me get to why I came here. And… oh, wait. If it isn't Maria. The Live Bombshell. The Bubbly Blonde. The Sweet Little Girl. Evolution's Women's Champion. Ah, too bad you have to lose your title tonight to a real diva. (Maria tries a rebuttal, but here's the cutoff) The real diva that's standing right in front of you! Some people call her the Rated X Redhead, as appropriate with me the Rated R Superstar. Others buy Trish's crap about 'Walking Kiss of Death'. And still others still call her the Queen of Extreme. But no matter what you call her, she's much more experienced as a Champion, and as a wrestler, than you, Maria. You, Jackie, and Melina don't have a hoot's chance in winning this match! You're looking at the next Intercontinental Champion, the next WWE Champion, and most immediately the next Women's Champion!"
"Nobody wants to hear any more crap come out of your mouth. Just go," Randy immediately burst out, trying to shoo Edge away. Both he and Trips then got in the face of Edge. Matt joined the confrontation on Edge's side. Eventually, it ended up as Matt staring down Trips, Edge staring down Orton, and Lita staring down Maria. Matt, Edge, and Lita then decided to leave. The Evolution members looked at each other and shook their heads. LAX, the Edge Army, and later tonight Christian Cage? Not the best night ever.
After Maria, Miss Jackie, and Lita had made their entrances, (Lita used her own music instead of Edge's for the first time in just under a year, though he was with her until ejected for trying to intimidate the other Divas) Maria entered out herself, feeling jumpy as is usual during her own music. Randy Orton and Triple H came out after her, when the bell had already rung, to provide moral support. They merely looked at the match as it went on, though Randy got ringside, while Trips stayed at the top of the ramp.
The ring bell sounded off, and all four of these ladies were wrestling inside the six sided ring for the first time ever. (though Jackie is a TNA Knockout, they don't really wrestle). As the four girls closed in on each other in the center of the ring, Lita began the bad-mouthing fest that eventually all four girls got involved in. Melina pushed down Maria, and Miss Jackie elbowed Maria, finally jump-starting the action. She irishwhipped Maria and met her back with an arm drag. Melina, instead of getting up, rolled down to the outside. Lita picked up Maria and tried to get in some action when Maria suddenly hit a few right forearms on her! When Lita was at the ropes, Maria decided that rather than irishwhip her, she was going to try a dropkick. She hit Lita square in the midsection, and knocked her out of the ring through the middle and bottom ropes emphatically!
Meanwhile, Jackie was pulling a Big Show and chopping Melina several times with her bare palm. It was definitely not as impactful as if it were done by the World's Largest Athlete, but it was effective. Melina then pointed to the other stage from Triple H's and told Jackie to look, it's Jeff Jarrett. Jackie looked and didn't see anyone, but ended up being taken down via her hair, which Melina pulled to get that accomplished. Melina smiled to herself as she had just hit a really good move. She got into the ring, where Maria was just standing there and talking trash. Melina took Maria and rammed her headfirst into the ropes, then turned her around and got vicious with stomps to the midsection and eventually stood on Maria and exerted pressure using the ropes for leverage. (referred to in wrestling video games as the "evil stomp")
Lita got up and got back into the ring, hitting several clotheslines on Melina after the Queen Jackal turned around. She then executed a sitting jaw breaker on Melina, following which she climbed up the top and tried to get in her patented moonsault, the Litasault Splash. Melina rolled out of the way, then saw both Lita and Maria down in different positions. She decided to attack Maria, picking her up so that her back was facing her. Melina then tried a spin around face buster, only for Maria to push out of it before getting taken down, and then for Jackie to pull Melina out of the ring and start to the throwing bows! Maria picked up Lita, who came up with a hurracanrana out of nowhere. Lita picked up Maria and set her neck underneath her left arm, then stretched out her right arm. You could tell what she was going for.
"Now!" Randy screamed. As Lita was about to turn around and actually hit the Reverse of Fate, the Innocent Opportunist named Maria did nothing… unless you consider countering right at the point of Lita's turn to hit her with Randy's trademark inverted headlock stretch back breaker something! With Melina and Miss Jackie cat fighting on the outside instead of focusing on the task at hand, Maria was free to cover Lita and get the 1… 2… 3!
"Here is your winner, and still the WWE Women's Champion, Maria!"
After the announcement, Randy slid into the ring, then hugged the celebrative Maria. Triple H came down the ramp and got into the ring as well, not to be left out of the small party. Maria, Randy, and Trips held up all three of their Championships in the middle of the ring.
Backstage, they made their way back to the Evolution locker room still raving about that amazing counter being done just like Randy had taught her to do it, but they were suddenly met by none other than… the Canadian Hero himself, Bret "the Hitman" Hart. And he was dressed in his traditional wrestling gear to boot.
"Hey, Bret. What's the matter? Come to get your legend killed or something?" Maria asked, still feeling the rush of her victory.
"You know, Randy, I would make a comeback against your little girlfriend over here, but I know she's just feeling good because of the victory she just got," Bret began, making his first statement on a mainstream wrestling pay-per-view since his career "went down the toilet at WCW". "But I'm telling you right now, the role that the enforcers get to have. See, we're all going to sit down around the ring, and look around from the seats to see if there's any kind of interference coming this way, or if either of you guys is going to try to take any steps on the wrong side of the tracks to victory. If you do try something behind the referee's back such as a low blow or exposing the turnbuckle, I intend on hitting you for it with my chair, Orton. That also goes for Christian Cage. And that also goes for anyone who tries to interfere in the match. Edge Army, Evolution, LAX, anyone interferes, we take our chairs and beat the living hell out of them. Jeff Hardy, Gangrel, Raven, and myself. I was brought here to ensure that the NWA Heavyweight Championship is fought for honorably by two of the best wrestlers in this business, and to enforce that by any means necessary. So don't try to get something behind my back, or else you'd better prepare for some hits." After that statement, he walked off, leaving Randy Orton there to think.
More matches: America's Most Wanted ("the Wildcat" Chris Harris and "the Tennessee Cowboy" James Storm) successfully retained their NWA Tag Team Titles against Chris Sabin and Sonjay Dutt after clearing Sabin out of the way and hitting Dutt with the backbreaker hold/turnbuckle leg drop combination they call Death Sentence. Sabin got back up after the match and made them turn tail after they handcuffed Sonjay.
After taking a Gore off the top of the bleachers through four stacked tables, "the Monster" Abyss found himself pinned by "the Man Beast" Rhino in their intense falls count anywhere encounter. Then, a triple threat X Division Championship match ensued between the champion Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, and Christopher Daniels. Eventually, Joe beat AJ to retain after he hit his patented Muscle Buster on the Phenomenal One. Eric Young and Bobby Roode of Team Canada took on Team 3D and lost after Brother Ray and Brother Devon hit Young with the 3D. AMW tried to jump Team 3D, but Ron "the Truth" Killings put a stop to that.
Towards the end of the show, Jeremy Borash interviewed "Captain Charisma" Christian Cage prior to the NWA Championship match.
"I'm here with Christian Cage, and tonight is the most important match of his 12 year career in professional wrestling," JB stated. "Your thoughts, Christian?"
"How ya doing, JB?" Christian asked right back.
"I'm doing great," JB replied.
"How are all my Peeps?" Christian then asked, leading to loud cheers. "Me, I'm nervous as hell, because the culmination of everything I've worked for over my 12 year career is right here tonight. I've been dreaming about this moment my entire career, even when my spectacular tag team championship and ladder match amazed and practically headlined WrestleMania back in WWE. Speaking of which, all the questions will be answered tonight. I was criticized for leaving a big money contract in WWE to come to TNA. Tonight, February 12th, at Against All Odds, I walk in the challenger, and I plan to walk out the new NWA Heavyweight Champion. See, it's not about the money, Peeps, it's all about championship gold. That's why I plan to beat Orton tonight, because that's how I roll."
Christian Cage's entrance was done as usual, except accompanied by a "Do it Christian!" clapping chant. Randy Orton's entrance saw him come out to large boos when he held up the NWA Title. Then, all the enforcers came out to the trademark music of "the Hitman" Bret Hart, blasting the building off like nobody's business!
Before the match, Jeremy Borash did the ring introductions for referee Earl Hebner, and each of the four enforcers, as well as the opponents Christian Cage and Randy Orton. During the opening of the match, the crowd started a loud "RANDY SUCKS!" chant at Orton, who merely did his Legend Killer's pose and ticked the fans off further. The bell finally rang for this colossal battle. Orton and Cage taunted at each other. They locked up and moved around the ring. Cage got in a headlock and two consecutive shoulder blocks on Orton. Orton finally backed off and stared down Cage. Randy nailed Christian with a knee to the midsection. Orton caught Christian with a drop toe hold and slapped him on the head, then slapped him across the face when he got up. Cage tackled Orton and then chopped him on the chest in the corner. Cage faked a springboard attempt causing Orton to duck. Cage then jumped off and got a quick sunset flip on Orton, who kicked out after two. Orton fought back with a rope guillotine neck breaker from the ring apron. Orton dragged Cage out and snap suplexed him when he got back on his feet. After Christian raised up, they traded right hands. Christian eventually ducked Randy's punch, got behind him, and hit an inverted DDT on the outside. We got a shot of Christian's wife Denise in the crowd. Captain Charisma then went up top and jumped, but Orton moved and Cage hit the guardrail with force. Randy grabbed him by the legs and swung him face first into the railing. Enforcer Jeff Hardy jumped out of his seat and got in the face of Orton, telling him to get it in the ring. Orton sent Cage on top of the announcers' table, after which pulled the Peep Man off and catapulted him on the table. Gangrel got up and again told Orton to get it back in the ring.
He threw Christian back into the ring and hit a big dropkick. Orton covered, but only got a two count. Orton got in a quick takedown on Cage, covered again, and again it was two. Christian got back to his feet and applied a few chops. Orton fought back dropping Cage face first off the top rope. Orton choked Cage on the second rope and continued to do so when the referee tried to stop him with the 5-count. "The Hitman" Bret Hart got up on the apron and pushed Orton off of Cage. Orton got in Bret's face, and the Excellence of Execution pushed him back. Orton then ran off the ropes and jumped high, driving his knee over Christian's sternum, then nailed the Show Stealer face first off the corner. Cage finally fought back, applying a sleeper on Orton. Orton broke out, leap frogged up when Cage came off the ropes, but ended up caught in a powerbomb, after which Christian Cage applied the Figure Four on Randy Orton in shades of Orton's own Evolution colleague, the legendary "Nature Boy" Ric Flair! Orton reached for the ropes and after awhile eventually got to the bottom rope. Cage argued with the referee before getting taken out by Orton with a forearm to the back of the head. In a controversial and highly jeered move, Orton grabbed Cage by the legs and applied the Sharpshooter in front of Earl Hebner. Cage grabbed Hebner and yelled at him thinking we might see a repeat of 1997. Mike Tenay said Hebner better not do it, a sentiment that Bret Hart loudly echoed, being heard threaten to give Hebner the Sharpshooter himself if he even tried to screw Christian! Orton continued to apply the Sharpshooter when Cage countered it and got Orton in the Sharpshooter! Luckily for himself, Orton turned to his back and kicked Cage into the corner. When Christian hit the corner, he bounced off and low blowed Orton on the mat with his head, inadvertently and behind Earl's back.
With both men down, Hebner started the count. Both got up at the count of eight. Cage cut off Orton with a right hand. Cage blocked another attempt by the Legend Killer and dropped him in an atomic drop. Cage took him out with a clothesline followed by a flying forearm off the ropes. Cage nailed Orton with an elbow in the corner, charged, got caught by Orton, and reversed that into a big spike DDT! Cage covered Orton, 1… 2… Orton kicked out. Hebner got hit by the competitors, grabbing his ankle. Cage went up to the top when Matt Hardy suddenly appeared and went in past his brother Jeff into the ring. Christian came down from the turnbuckle, Orton got up on his feet, and Matt went for a right hand on Orton. Randy countered it, gave Matt a right hand, and irishwhipped him into the opposite side. Jeff finally got in the ring and sent the Angelic Diablo out of the ring straight to Bret Hart, who hit him in a Sharpshooter! Finally, with his attention back to the match, Randy went up top, Christian being completely oblivious. When Captain Charisma turned around, he was met by a frog splash style cross body from Orton! Randy stayed on for the cover, but it took awhile for Hebner to recollect himself, crawl over, and count the 1… 2… kickout by Captain Charisma! Orton almost couldn't believe it. He nailed Cage with some rights, Cage called for more. Orton sent Cage into the corner, but unwittingly knocked him into Hebner with force, knocking him out. Cage then got behind Orton and hit the Unprettier! Cage covered, and after a good five seconds, another referee arrived. He counted it. 1… 2… and Orton kicked out! Cage tried to hit Orton with his own RKO, but the Legend Killer pushed off, and when Christian charged back at him, he ducked, then hit his stretch back breaker on Christian! Orton came towards the cover on Cage, the ref rolled over, counted 1… 2… Cage got a shoulder up!
When Christian got up, Orton attempted to RKO him, a move that Christian countered into an Unprettier attempt. Orton managed to push off that, then irishwhipped Christian Cage into one of the turnbuckles. The Man of Destiny looked back and forth smiling before going down to where Raven was, after which he punked him out with a slap to the back of the head. The Human Cancer became irate, chasing the Legend Killer into the ring with the steel chair in hand. Christian got off the turnbuckle, and Orton stopped in front of him. But once Raven swung at Randy, he ducked and it hit the Peep Man! Orton then sent him out of the ring on top of Gangrel! After that, Gregory Helms and (surprise surprise) Shannon Moore rushed into the ring and double teamed on Orton in the corner. Jeff Hardy noticed Shannon and threw him out, but Gregory kicked Orton down in position for the Shining Wizard. When Gregory went for the kick, however, Orton ducked it, then got up and gave Helms the RKO! Out of nowhere, Edge came out, and he went for a Spear on Orton, but Jeff got himself in the way and took the Spear himself. A flustered and humiliated Gangrel, knowing what happened with Raven, came into the ring and tried to assault Orton with the chair, But, the Historic Golden Child ducked, saw the Vampire Warrior hit the Artist of Awesomeness, then RKOed Gangrel and sent him rolling out! During all this, the referee other than Earl Hebner quickly took off, and Hebner just started coming to. Jeff and Helms were out of the ring by now, but that was not the case for the Brood formers. Orton took the opportunity to slither around and wait for Cage, who was just getting up, to complete his rise. The Legend Killer went for the RKO, but was pushed away by Christian.
Orton lingered into the corner, but Christian went after him. However, no sooner did he reach his enemy than did Orton reverse the positions and seat Christian up on the top rope. Orton came up and stood over Cage, who gave him a couple of punches to the gut, after which Randy his an insulting and cocky slap on the Charismatic Addict from Canada, leading to nothing but uncharismatized jeers from Nashville! Christian then got really angry and gave Randy a really hard right hand to the gut, which knocked him down. Little did he know, since he was turned around until he gave the punch, Randy had his body turned around and his hands around Christian's neck just fine so that not only did they both fall off, but the Legend Killer issued Captain Charisma the RKO in the process! After finally catching his bearings within no less than ten seconds, Randy hooked Christian's leg, getting the 1… 2… 3!
"Here is your winner, and still the NWA Heavyweight Champion, 'the Legend Killer' Randy Orton!"
After the match, Orton was handed the NWA Heavyweight Title. Despite the heelish pop Orton's established lately, most of the crowd cheered loudly, while the rest… well… you know. Booed. Mike Tenay said Randy Orton had proven his destiny to be the one that held true, though being sure to point out that he was not exactly bashful about doing what he needed to do. Meanwhile, Christian Cage left the ring and went into the audience to talk to his wife, who consoled her weakened Captain Charisma as the second referee lifted the arm of Orton high in the air along with the NWA Title. All of Orton's Evolution partners came out and embraced the Legend Champion, after which he raised the title high in the air on the corner. Batista then came in the ring and held Orton up in the air as all of Evolution celebrated the victory, the impressed TNA fans cheering on the process with Randy Orton as the PPV went off the air.
a/n: Told ya you'd be in for a great match between Orton and Christian Cage, complete with Edge Army twists and all. But hey, enough about that. Anyway, on an outside note, I thought it was a little funny when Vince McMahon said "You're gonna go one-on-one with… with ME! I'm gonna kick, your, ass!" to John Cena, especially with that look he had on his face.
Done. Signing out. Remember to review before you jet. I love feedback.
-P. Dizzle
