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 31
Title: Challengers, Challengers…
Show: WWE Friday Night Smackdown (2/23/2006)
Summary: The Evolution members meet confrontations from Rey Mysterio, LAX, and John Cena for the second straight Smackdown.

Smackdown Commissioner Mick Foley was looking over paperwork in his office, and going over the Smackdown, Evolution, and scheduled guest rosters that were scheduled to be here tonight. There was a sudden knock on his door. Mick said come in, and was soon met by an angry Edge standing right in front of him with his hands on his desk.

"Edge. Rated R Superstar. What can I do for you?" Mick asked.

"You know damn well what you can do for me, Mick," Edge began, already beginning to seethe in anger in front of Foley. "You can start by giving me the WWE Heavyweight Title match against Evolution that I deserve!"

"Edge, I know all about what happened to you this past Monday night on Raw, but the fact still remains that Monty Brown is still the only #1 contender decided for any of the three titles," Mick reminded Edge.

"That's the NWA Championship! I'm talking about the WWE Title!" Edge furiously shot in reply to the mute point.

"Nevermind that thought, Edge. I've come up with an answer. I'll bring it out in a few minutes. Oh, and try to show some patience and wait for an old friend," Mick advised him, before getting up and walking out of the office. Edge looked at him with an intentful gaze, thinking this had better be good.

Meanwhile, the introduction music and fireworks started for the show, after which Michael Cole plugged a big tag team match pitting TNA's Jeff Jarrett and Bobby Lashley against Finlay and JBL, a rematch between Booker T and Chris Benoit for the United States Championship, and all four males of Evolution already being in the ring. Randy Orton was holding a microphone as the fans reacted as they wished.

"Well, this past Sunday night at No Way Out, the fact still remains that we were having a great night, going without a hitch, when (stiff, angry tone) a certain friend of mine called Undertaker (end tone) decided to make the immoral, rash choice to scare Maria straight to hell," Randy recalled, leading to fanatic cheers and chants of the Undertaker's name. "Taker, we tried calling you out on Raw, but it's apparent to me that you don't have the guts to stand face to face with the four extraordinary gentlemen of Evolution. Or maybe I was wrong, and you just wanted to come out on your show, which is Smackdown. (yeah.) So, Undertaker! If you're not a coward, you will come out here and confront us!"

The Undertaker's Dark Bell tolled in the arena, and the cheers in the audience became very raucous, as the four members of Evolution stood firm and ready to fight. However, the lights never went out as they typically do when the Dead Man is about to come out, and there was no sign that he was coming after a good fifteen seconds. The members of Evolution merely shook their heads as the fans booed. Randy gave Triple H the microphone.

"Big, gutless Dead Man, that's all it is," Triple H concluded, a shocked and upset crowd booing in reply. "He would not be able to survive our wrath anyway, so he cowered out of our sights. Anyway, if I recall correctly, there is a group that does have a certain something in the crotch of their pants enough to come out to the ring and face us. So, let's just get to it! LAX! John Cena! Get all your thug monkey asses out here right now!" (yeah!)

The LAX music came up, and out came Konnan, Apolo, Homicide, and Machete, walking with their usual slow, confident swagger, and not too many people behind them. In the ring, each member of Evolution put a serious look on his face, especially Triple H, who was beaten by a chain and a slapjack repeatedly the last time these guys met in the same ring. However, when the group got in, after Konnan finished posing on the turnbuckle nearest him, they did not get closer to Evolution than they had to. Homicide had the mic in his hand, and he passed it to Konnan.

"Okay, now lemme get to my point, Evo-gringos," Konnan began. "We came out here cause we want out payback chance for what you guys did to us at the Royal Rumble. We never got a good chance to get you back in the ring, but I think you guys got enough guts to let us get a crack at ya tonight."

"Enough guts to let you guys get a crack at us tonight?" Triple H said on the Evolution mic, arousing a small group of cheers. "So let me get this straight: you idiots want to take on the most important team ever created? Huh? Is that what you want? (yeah!) Well, guess what, LAX: it's not gonna happen!" (boo!)

"And why not, Triple H? You too scared for the Latin American Exchange, the #1 Chain Gang troop in the world?" Konnan asked.

"No. The only reason I said no is because I know for a fact that we could completely clean your clocks out there even if we half-assed it!" Trips openly declared.

"Put your money where your mouth is," Konnan said.

"Wait! Wait a minute," a voice said back at the ramp. The Evolution and LAX members turned around to see Rey Mysterio, with a microphone, coming down the ramp. The fans saw it as well, and cheered at the sight. He then got into the ring.

"Konnan, I know you wanna beat up on Evolution because of how they tricked you at the Royal Rumble. But I have a big reason for wanting a shot at payback against these guys right here," Rey announced. "This guy (points to Randy Orton) accused me of using our late great friend Eddie Guerrero for publicity, then he tricked me into thinking he got hurt to take away my title shot at WrestleMania! And Randy, I'm here to get that shot back!"

John Cena's music then came on, and a major mixed reaction came up as the Untouchable Chain Gang Leader came down the ramp. He didn't look like hyping up the crowd this time, though. He came out with a dead serious expression on his face, walking down the ramp like he was ready for way. Cena then slid into the ring, and immediately rushed after and took down Triple H, laying a few right hands in on him! Batista harshly ripped Cena off of Trips, after which Konnan rushed to give him a right hand, but Batista blocked it and hit Konnan with one of his own. Mysterio and Orton got into a slugfest of their own, before Mick Foley's music came up, and the Smackdown Commish interrupted the scene in the ring. All the Superstars looked at him as he stood at the ramp with a microphone, ready to make an important announcement.

"Now, in this ring, we have one of the most volatile situations I have seen since becoming the Commissioner of Smackdown, so therefore, I have to come in and break things up, since one of my responsibilities running this fine program is to maintain order," Foley began. "But the fact is, I already devised this plan of action that I've decided to implement. I see now that LAX and John Cena are becoming a little too attached here, especially with these LAX #1 Chain Gang Division shirts Apolo and Machete have on there. (yeah.) So, I've decided to test the true loyalty of LAX and Konnan to the Chain Gang, as well as finally determine in a fair and square manner the #1 contenders for both the WWE Heavyweight Championship owned by Triple H, (mixed reaction) and the NWA Heavyweight Championship currently held by 'the Legend Killer' Randy Orton. (mixed reaction) See, it's gonna go down like this. Because of the controversial manner in which Edge from Raw lost the WWE Title match on Raw, and because of the controversial manner in which Monty Brown became the #1 contender for the NWA Title this past week on Impact, we're gonna settle the score right here on Smackdown in a fatal four way tag team matchup! (yeah!) It's gonna be 'the Rated R Superstar' Edge teaming once again with his best friend from Toronto, 'Captain Charisma' Christian Cage, (yeah!) against 'the King of the Mountain' Jeff Jarrett from TNA Impact and 'the Wrestling God' John Bradshaw Layfield, (boo!) versus the team of 'the K-Dogg' Konnan and 'the Human Highlight Reel' Rey Mysterio (whoa!), versus the defending NWA Title #1 contender 'the Alpha Male' Monty Brown, who has been subpoenaed to appear here on Smackdown, (boo.) and… 'the Doctor of Thuganomics' John Cena! (yeah!) And the members of the winning team here in this match become the #1 contenders for the WWE and NWA Heavyweight Titles at TNA's Destination X on March 12th, earning the right to sort amongst themselves who goes for which title!"

With the fans cheering at this announcement, Foley's music came back on again, and the reactions were simple. The LAX and John Cena spoke amongst themselves, Rey Mysterio looked at Orton with a harsh gaze, which was returned. Batista looked back and forth and his warring friends. Ric Flair merely stared at the whole scene, and Triple H looked at the ramp towards Mick Foley's direction and seeing Mick's thumbs up and smile. This segment, at this point, was over.

After a few minutes, we go backstage to Christian Cage, who was looking for Edge. He kept walking around the hallway, calling in Edge's direction, and asking several TNA Superstars had they seen Edge. Soon, though, he saw that Edge had his own locker room in the arena, but before he could knock:

"Hey, Christian!" a voice suddenly shot out. Cage turned around, and was instantly met with a guitar shot from Jeff Jarrett, just like Road Warrior Animal at No Way Out!

"You think your Captain Charisma jock act is gonna get you a title shot? Think again, Christian! I'm the King of the Mountain, and I'm the one who's gonna take the NWA Title from Randy Orton, because that's how I roll!" the irritating Jeff Jarrett yelled before leaving the area. The door to Edge's room still never opened. Apparently, he was too busy kissing Lita, or he was out of his room somewhere. But that theory might be challenged, because after a couple of seconds, you could hear a woman screaming in the middle of the hallway, and Jarrett's voice saying the words, "Come on, whore! Shut up!" But then again, it could have been Miss Jackie.

Now, Evolution is all in their locker room, and they're busy discussing the #1 contender's tag match tonight.

"This is better than anything I could have asked for," Triple H said after drinking some water from his bottle. "Randy, we've got four teams of Superstars who are gonna go out there and kill each other just for a shot at us. Just for an opportunity to face Evolution for the NWA and WWE Championships. And we can all just relax."

"Yeah. If you think about it, it's almost like we're getting a break because of what the Undertaker did at No Way Out," Batista suggested, sitting down on the bench.

"Can you do a more successful job of not reminding us of that? It's really one of my more unfavorite moments to note," Trips said in response to the mention of said unfavorite moment.

"But guys, calm down. I got an idea. Why don't we go straight to the club, and forget about this match, find out who won later?" Ric asked.

"I'll tell you why not, Ric," Randy offered in reply.

"No, I'll tell myself what not, and I'll tell each and every one of you why not. I wanna see for sure who's going for it, how they operate, and what they had to do to get it," Flair explained. "Besides, our reservations were booked for 10:45. We can't show up early, they might just kick us out."

Anyway, when Christian came out for the match first, he heard Edge's music, but his tag team partner was nowhere to be found. Jeff Jarrett and John Bradshaw Layfield's entrances saw each of them laughing at him. Homicide and Apolo came out with Konnan when he came out to team with Mysterio, and Machete came out with Torrie Wilson and Cena as the Doctor of Thuganomics teamed with Monty Brown.

In this match, one member from each of these four teams could be in the ring at the same time. Christian found himself, though, for the most part being handicapped against Jarrett and JBL, as Konnan and Cena frustrated their partners with a silent stalking and waiting game. Eventually, though, Mysterio tagged himself in against Konnan's wishes and went after Cena, dealing with Cena and Monty Brown on the outside as a result.

After the commercial break that came in the midst of this match, Randy Orton was just finished getting a drink of water just outside the Evolution locker room. He then went back into the room and paid attention to his television screen, on which he saw Christian Cage getting worked on with a headlock from Jeff Jarrett. Christian, through the fans' chants, got up on his feet and eventually elbowed his way out of the predicament. He then turned around and dished Jarrett some rights, and eventually some lefts once the King of the Mountain was backed up into the Smackdown ropes. Christian irishwhipped Jarrett, who walked right into a big back body drop. Jarrett got up, Christian gave him a clothesline. Jarrett got up again and took a dropkick from Cage. Christian covered Jarrett, but only got a two count before Bradshaw came into the ring to break things up. JBL picked up Christian and gave him a calculated hard right, then irishwhipped him straight into Jarrett, who was going for a big back body drop on Cage, but Cage rolled through into a sunset flip! 1… 2… JBL booted Christian in the back. Konnan got into the ring and gave Bradshaw a few right hands. He then irishwhipped the Wrestling God, who tried to retaliate with a Clothesline From Hell, but Konnan ducked it. Unfortunately, he ended up walking right into JBL's arms, who gave him a fallaway slam, causing him to roll on to the outside. Machete and Homicide got on the apron and distracted JBL, who went after them, but they got off. Bradshaw turned around only to be lifted onto a man's shoulders, and slammed down in a 180° press slam knocking the wind out of him: John Cena just hit him with the FU! Cena covered JBL. 1… 2… Christian Cage broke matters up.

"Yeah, keep going, guys. Tear it up out there," you could hear Triple H saying from the Evolution locker room as the group watched Christian take Cena into the corner and begin to fire several rights on him. Christian soon hit a few stomping kicks, causing Cena to sit down against the bottom turnbuckle. Christian walked off, pounded his chest a little bit, then ran back to dropkick Cena straight in the face, smashing it between the boots and the post! Christian got up and turned around into a seated senton from Mysterio, who stayed on for the cover. 1… 2… Monty Brown harshly ripped Mysterio off from on top of Christian to save his #1 contendership. Edge was still nowhere to be found! Jeff Jarrett attacked Brown from behind with a right hand, causing the Alpha Male to turn around. Jarrett hit Brown with a right hand to the face. Monty simply looked at him, then placed Jarrett in the corner and hit him with a hard shoulder thrust. Brown irishwhipped Jarrett to the other side and went for a rough clothesline which shook Jarrett out of the corner. Thinking he had him on the ropes, Monty ran off the ropes to charge at Jeff for a Pounce, but the Double J saw it coming and sidestepped it, causing Brown to charge through the ropes to the outside!

Jarrett, though, soon found himself taking a dropkick from behind, causing him to land with his throat on the second rope. Rey Mysterio, the culprit of the dropkick, then signaled and went for th 619, which connected on Mysterio! John Cena got up as Rey went to drop the dime on Jarrett, and he intercepted it with a harsh powerbomb. Then, Konnan got in the ring with his slapjack in hand and hit John Cena square in the head with it! The referee rang the bell, and Tony Chimel made an announcement.

"The team of Konnan and Rey Mysterio has just been disqualified."

The fans booed at the fact that Rey was not going to get his crack at payback, and even moreso at the fact that Konnan was responsible! Meanwhile, Konnan, who just belted his own thug associate in the head, was now walking towards John Cena, with his palms open as if to be trying to apologize. Torrie came up on the apron, which distracted him, then screamed at him about why did he do this. A bent-out-of-shape Konnan swung the slapjack at her, but Machete pulled her back down, then went into the ring himself to confront Konnan, who took a while to even pay attention, and eventually Homicide, who joined the LAX leader's side after seeing his true face. Homicide pushed Machete. Machete pushed back. Konnan hit Machete with the slapjack! Homicide looked at Konnan with an understanding gaze as the big Cuban-Puerto Rican looked at the associates he felled. He shook his head and started to walk away when Rey Mysterio went past Apolo and shoved the two LAX members in the ring. He asked them was was going on, only to get turned around by Apolo and given a huge spinebuster, though Konnan did admonish Apolo. The three men went away from the ring, Konnan looking somber. It's as if for once in his life, he was not proud of hitting someone. It should also be noted that Cena was hit straight in the head, and he was the only one slightly bleeding as a result.

Once that was over, Jeff Jarrett and JBL were both up on their feet and ready to try picking apart Christian, as they picked up Captain Charisma and went for a double suplex. He landed on his feet, however, then turned around just as JBL did and gave him a neck breaker. Jarrett then tried to forearm Christian as soon as he got up, but was sidestepped by the Canadian Rage, who then dropkicked him from behind, which sent him outside the ring.

Meanwhile, JBL had just gotten back up, and Christian, trying to win the #1 contenderships for himself and Edge all by himself, was completely oblivious to the fact… until he turned around right into a Clothesline From Hell! It was just like that #1 contender's match via which he came to Smackdown in the 2005 draft lottery. The only difference is, Bradshaw couldn't pick up the pinfall, because Monty Brown came into the ring, irishwhipped him, ran sideways to the ropes, then Pounced him out of commission! The usually heelish Alpha Male was now cheered for as he covered JBL. 1… 2… 3!

"Ladies and gentlemen, here are your winners, and the new #1 contenders for the WWE Heavyweight Championship and the NWA Heavyweight Championship, Monty Brown and John Cena!"

Those words from Tony Chimel echoed loudly as the Alpha Male celebrated and posed in the ring, knowing he just won the match. It was clean, undisputed, supreme victory right here. Brown then looked down at the Italian-American thug man who just benefitted from this victory, at first with a scowl, but then he started nodding his head in respect as he saw a partly blood-faced Cena get back up on his feet hanging from the turnbuckle. Monty came to John Cena and raised his hand high in the air, giving the fans a small moment. Brown then slid out of the ring, tripped Cena, dragged him out so that he could land on his feet, and helped him to the back.

In the meanwhile, Christian Cage was just getting up after having gotten the cobwebs cleaned out of him by John Bradshaw Layfield and that Clothesline from Hell. At this point in time, he wasn't exactly too sure what was going on. Then, Edge's music came on following those five words they used to do their entrance in. The fans became rowdy, some with cheers, some with boos. But Edge came without Lita, and was not focused on posing himself off. He stormed towards the ring angrily, sliding in in a very confrontational mood. Edge then got in Christian's face, demanding something from the man he should have been teaming with. When Christian stood confused, Edge shoved him. Cage pushed back, but then Edge punched Christian Cage down to the ground to a chorus of boos! He came down on top of the man who at last was his best friend and began to punch away at him, when Batista suddenly came out to the ring to a riotous reception!

Edge got up to turn around and meet Batista, who picked him up by the waist and ran him straight into the turnbuckle, after which he thrust his shoulder into him several times. After that was done, Batista pounded his chest a couple of time, then came back to Edge, irishwhipped him, and dealt him a huge Leviathan Spinebuster!

Randy Orton then came out to the ring, and he and Batista checked on Christian as Captain Charisma began to get up. Orton cupped Cage's head in his hands to ask if he was okay, then after getting a yes, he suddenly turned on Cage, giving him an RKO! The move was highly controversial; some loved it, many hated it. But still, Evolution's music still rang to Orton and Batista's domination in the middle of the ring. Batista merely stood there and looked around as the proud Randy did all the posing.

a/n: Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's finally official. WWE WrestleMania 22 has already happened, and I still haven't gotten to the story's big plan for my version of the pay-per-view. But, that's not gonna kill me or the project. I am ready to keep on going strong. Speaking of something…

hey, hhhhunterhhh. Not to pick on you or cause any problems or nothin' like that, but I kinda noticed that review of yours wasn't exactly the… best.

Be prepared to see a lot of good storylines surrounding what has currently happened. Alright, so let's get on with it. Remember to give me feedback as I continue to feed you with excellence and make you happy. That's how to make me happy. Signing out:

-P. Dizzle