ATM: The Bonehead and the Brain – The Boy is Mine
Now that Seth knows the whole Truth about Sasha and Roman, the Shield have a very difficult decision to make. With the New Year just around the corner, DX do everything they can to stop things from getting out of control.
Chapter Twenty Three – The Last Shot
New York Memorial Hospital, New York City, New York
While the roster was still partially split from coast-to-coast, photos of Bayley at New York Memorial hospital had surfaced on the Internet. Fans were besides themselves thinking Bayley had been attacked and DX had to address it publicly before the New Year. The hospital where Bayley was recovering was now warded off due to all the fans trying to get inside the make sure Bayley was still alive.
Bianca Belair and Alexa Bliss sat opposite Bayley who was on life support looking at each other while intermittently checking their cell-phones for updates from DX who were in Los Angeles with Seth, Sasha, the Shield and the Rock. In two days it would be a New Year but before that day came, Stephanie McMahon was going to make sure Seth Rollins did not leave 2023 the same way he started it, I.e., employed by DX. Though she knew nothing about the Code Black, she suspected that Seth, Sasha and the Shield knew what happened to Bayley and she was going to use it as further ammunition against the Prayer Warrior.
As usual, DX were always one step ahead of the Billion Dollar Princess and moments after the photo of a barely conscious Bayley went viral, the hashtag #TheManDidIt started trending on twitter. Becky Lynch posted an Instagram story saying that she was the one who beat up Bayley as part of a war between DX Inc and NXT. The fans bought it and Stephanie McMahon was livid. Seth was off the hook and a feud between Becky and Bayley was about to steal the show at next year's Wrestlemania. All DX had to do was get Bayley to re-sign with them when she recovered from the Code Black.
That was good for business but Bianca and Alexa couldn't care less about a fake storyline; the real story was Bayley's refusal to get over Seth Rollins. If the Code Black proved anything, it was that Bayley was nowhere near ending her pursuit of the only man she wanted to call her own and that presented Seth with a much bigger problem than keeping his job at DX Inc.
"She won't quit him Alexa, it's going to take a miracle for Bayley to get over Seth," Bianca said and Alexa contemplated the events of the year where they were all concerned. "What if she never gets over him? Is he just going to keep asking Becky to beat the living crap out of her until she loses her life?"
"I Truly believe that Bayley would rather die trying to get Seth to fall in love with her than live with him as her friend. This might be our new norm; chasing after Bayley to keep her from doing something to hurt Seth," Alexa replied and Bianca Belair frowned.
"You're saying my assignment could be keeping Bayley away from Seth for the rest of her life?! Dude I want to have kids, I want a family, I want a life of my own, I can't be doing this forever?!" Bianca Belair said. "Bayley has got to move on!"
"To who? She's never going to love another man the way she thinks she loves Seth. She doesn't even know what love is really, she just thinks he's the one she's supposed to be with. She won't stop going after him until she's convinced otherwise," Alexa Bliss said.
"So how do we convince her? What about that list of eligibles Hunter and Seth drew up for you, could we use that and get her to go on a date from someone on it?" Bianca asked.
"She's already dating the Rock, it doesn't get any better than that Bianca. She's still going after Seth isn't she?" Alexa replied.
"Yeah but Rocky wasn't on the list of eligibles was he? What about Adam Cole, he's cute, do you think he'd go out with Bayley?" Bianca said and Alexa sighed in frustration.
"Bianca you're not listening to me, she will not quit until Seth's marriage is destroyed and they are together. There is no man walking this planet that can make her feel the way she feels about Seth. If the Rock can't do it, what makes you feel that Adam Cole can?" Alexa Bliss said.
"There must be a reason Seth and Hunter put Adam on the list of eligibles. I talked to Adam a couple of times when we were at NXT together, let me talk to him, I'll feel him out and find out if he's willing to give Bayley a shot after the Rock finally dumps her," Bianca said and Alexa shook her head perplexed at Bianca's way of thinking.
"You're forgetting that AJ Styles was also on that list of eligibles and he turned out to be a misogynistic jerk. You don't go from the Rock to Adam Cole, you go from Adam Cole to the Rock. Dating the Leader of the UE is a step down, not a step up," Alexa said and Bianca shook her head.
"You don't know Adam Cole baby, because if you did, you would understand why they call him the Panama City Playboy. He's very charming, I'm a call Cole in the New Year and see if he's up for a challenge. What's the worst that could happen?" Bianca said.
"She could murder him in his sleep," Alexa replied.
"Well yeah but at least he'll have something to do on a Friday night apart from hanging out with the UE and playing online FPS with New Day and the Street Profits all damn night!" Bianca said and Alexa laughed at her.
"So you just want an excuse to cut Montez out of that tournament, you don't care about Bayley at all do you?!" Alexa Bliss said. "You just want your husband to yourself on Friday night,"
"You got me, I don't care if Bayley dates the King of Norway, I just want my husband out of that damn tournament. They play all night and they eat non-stop and guess who has to clean up after them? You guessed it, me, the E S T of the WWE and current Women's Champion. I know it's a long shot but as far as I'm concerned, the sooner I get the Undisputed Era out of my house and Montez back in our bed on Fridays, the better my life is going to be," Bianca said and Alexa shook her head at Bianca with a laugh.
"Speaking of Montez Ford, where the Hell is that beautiful husband of yours? I haven't seen him around lately," Alexa Bliss said.
"He's hanging out with Angelo somewhere. The minute Bayley wakes up I'm going to go find him and make sure he's not hanging out with Charlotte Flair. Thank God Becky got her banned from New York, at least I know she's not within 6 feet of my husband," Bianca said.
Alexa sighed, "Charlotte Flair is a sad situation," she said and she glanced over at Bayley's battered body, "but nothing's sadder than Bayley right now. The worst part about all of this is that Seth loves her so much but that's just not enough for her. His friendship is so powerful, look how he treats us and the Shield? You couldn't want a better friend than Seth,"
Bianca nodded in agreement, "I know he's the best, he's such a good dude," she said and she stroked Bayley's limp arm. "I think we're going to be enemies for a long time,"
Alexa sighed again knowing what Bianca said was True, then Bayley's eyes shot open suddenly.
Bianca jumped back, "She's awake! Thank God now I can go find my husband, Alexa you got things from here right?" she said heading for the door and Alexa hovered over Bayley as her scars, bruises and jaw were all reset.
"Bianca, you know that miracle you said we needed? I think we just got it," Alexa said.
Bianca furrowed her brow, "What are you talking about? Look, Alexa I gotta go get Montez, if you got something to say, say it fast,"
Bayley sat up looking perfectly normal and Bianca realised what Alexa was getting at.
"I think Bayley's been healed, like permanently," Alexa said and Bianca and Alexa approached Bayley with warm smiles.
"Hey Bayley, do you still love Seth Rollins?" Bianca asked Bayley.
"Of course I do, he's the love of my life and I'll always love him. Why do you ask?" Bayley replied and Bianca kicked the wall while Alexa raked at her head. "Was it something I said?"
Alexa and Bianca left a visibly healed Bayley and called Seth telling him that Bayley was back to normal but that she didn't have any bruises on her, which worked well with the wrestling storyline that she was now in. When the fans saw her they'd know it was a worked angle and all concern about her being legitimately attacked would be squashed.
Bayley had not forgotten what happened to her at the hands of the Man however and as soon as she got out of the hospital bed, there would be Hell to pay for Stephanie's sidekick and the Man's latest debt.