Chapter 23

AEW Road To Show

An exhausted Riley limps backstage. His hair is a mess, he's covered in sweat, and still in his tights. It looks like he's just gotten out of the ring. He goes through a door and slams it shut. The camera stops but the name on the door says it all. Tony Khan. Even with the door shut the audio is clear. "Riley that was an…" "I don't need you to put me over. What I need is a rematch," Riley says. There is a pause. "Riley I can't automatically do that. It was an excellent match but you lost. There are other contenders I have to keep in mind," Tony says. "I WAS THIS DAMN CLOSE TO BEATING HIM!" Riley yells. "Please calm down. Riley listen you want a rematch you will have to earn it. Other top contenders will have a claim," Tony says.

The sound of something breaking is clearly heard. "That is enough Riley!" Tony Khan yells out of fear. "Tell you what boss… Who ever you think needs to be considered and put them in match with me. I'll knock them down one at a time. Or I'll take them out all at once. You pick!" Riley yells seething with anger. The door opens and he storms off. He looks right at the camera and shoves the camera man down. The camera's feed breaks up for a second when it's back it just shows Riley storming away.

Hotel Room

Riley looked as he discolored chest but that hurt more was his hand. Both were due to the numerous number of chops he had taken and given during the match. "That is what I get for wanting to copy Kobashi and Sasaki," Riley thinks as he snaps a picture using the mirror in the hotel room. He rarely posted on Instagram but he uploaded the photo to both that site and Twitter, even using the Kobashi and Saskai line as a caption. He had made the call not to put on a shirt until he absolutely needed to. He pulled a bottle of lineament out of his bag applied to his hands to rub into his chest. "This is going to take a while to heal," Riley knows. He checked his phone so far there a number of like and comments on the photo. Although there a number of other comments about that NXT segment. "Should I address this or should I?" Riley thought again.

He had talked to AEW management everyone from Tony Khan down told him it was up to him. He know Matt Jackson would like like write a joke about it for Being the Elite but if Riley wanted to respond he could. If he didn't want to that was fine. He hadn't even watched the stupid segment. After the match last night he had been on such a high that was what he wanted to focus. Mandy hadn't seen it either. They talked long into the night once she got off set. They had spent that time talking about his match her experience doing the Twilight Zone. He thought about calling her but he knew she was exhausted from a late night on set. Instead he finally decided to watch the segment to see what exactly happened. Better to know what he was reacting to before he reacted.

Once he was done watching he watched it two more times. By now he was feeling hungry so he pulled on a tank top and headed down for breakfast. In the restaurant he ran into Brandon Cutler and Matt eating. They sit down at a table. "So that was it?" Riley asks with no need to explain what it was. "Well we think. That segment at the end of the show. There could have been some other stuff but that was the focus," Matt says. "I talked to my wife she DVR'ed NXT they did do a lot of teasing of the segment. Some stuff on commentary. But no other segments," Brandon adds. "So he beat up a straw man. You would think they would do better than that. I mean you would think they would do more. I mean come on if I were going to make fun of Seth I would mock his awful hair, his crappy matches since his knee injury, everything about his feud with Corbin. I mean the make up job on that guy wasn't that good," Riley says.

"So have you decided what you are going to do?" Brandon asks. "I don't know yet. Seth seems so desperate to get me to react. Best move might be to just ignore him," Riley says. "Same advice I give my daughter when her baby brother is trying annoy her," Matt says with a smile. They order with Riley getting pancakes and bacon. "So any word on the ratings?" Riley finally asks. "Its to early in the day man. Look don't worry about ratings. We all loved the match. Tony feels the story is great so there will be a rematch," Matt promises him. "I have to worry about ratings. Look at how deep the roster is. If I don't do well ratings wise no reason you guys shouldn't pull my ass out of main events," Riley says. "The ratings will be fine," Matt assures him. "I don't want it to be fine. I want it be great," is Riley's response.

"This felt like something WCW under Russo would do. This was the worst segment on NXT ever. This makes me long for the days of when NXT was a stupid game show. That's right I would rather see guy carry kegs and cut promos on mustaches than see Seth Rollins beat up fake Riley Morgan. And if you think I'm being to hard if anything I'm to be nice," Bryan Alvarez ranted. "Yeah it wasn't good. I don't know what they were thinking. It looks much worse since by the time Seth came to the ring anyone who might have been fooled had seen Riley Morgan was in the ring for AEW," Dave Metzler says. "And there is no pay off this. Riley Morgan isn't leaving AEW. This doesn't set up for what ever Seth is doing at TakeOver," Bryan rants.

Seth shut off the podcast. He looked out the window of his house. Seemed like most people were in agreement with Metzler and Alvarez. "It wasn't about selling TakeOver those sell themselves. It was about giving those guys a taste of there own medicine. How many damn times have they make jokes about WWE," Seth rants in his own mind. He fired up Twitter and decided to check on Morgan's account. No mention of NXT yet. "Come on just respond already," Seth thinks.

Titan Tower Vince McMahon's Office

Hunter and Vince were in a meeting. "I really enjoyed the end of the show last night. Nice we finally got some jabs back in on those indy workers," Vince says. "It was this kind of stuff that turned things around vs. WCW. When Seth pitched it he thought it would be a great way to remind people the humor we have in WWE," Hunter says. "Right see that is the problem we have been to serious lately. Any idea what the ratings will be? Its beyond time we snap that damn losing streak," Vince says very annoyed saying losing streak. "I think it will be closer but odds are they win again. Remember we clearly had the better show during most of 97 but it wasn't until March of 98 we beat Nitro," Hunter reminds him. "Of course of course," Vince says.

"Besides it not like they don't take shots at us. I understand one of the people that used to work here did a promo all about mocking my hated of people sneezing," Vince says. That wasn't true. That had a small part of a segment a final line in a larger promo. "Again I bet it will close the gap. We put on a much better show. I mean there world title match wasn't that good," Hunter claims. "You watched it?" Vince asks. "I checked out it out like I do all there bigger matches. Have to know what they are up to. I mean they thought they were in Japan with the match they had," Hunter says acting disgusted. "That style that doesn't work. If it did Nakamura and Kushida would be our biggest stars," Vince says scoffing at the idea modern fans would different than his shows.

"I actually have sympathy for guys like Morgan. And poor Mandy Rose. The story they did with her," Hunter says before explaining the angel Mandy did with Britt Baker. Vince is disgusted. "The wives teeth and the husband getting slapped around and landing dangerously on a neck he broke before," Vince says. "Its why this style is going to burn out," Hunter says.

LAX

Mandy was making her way to her flight. Her little move into acting was over for now. It had been fun and she was more than open to do more in the future. A fan stopped her and asked for an selfie. "That match Riley had last night was great," the fan added. "I'll be sure to let him know," Mandy tells the fan. "And that thing WWE did was so stupid. But anyway thanks again," The fans says before leaving. That made Mandy smile. What ever Seth Rollins had tried to do to rain on Riley's parade had failed.

bryanalverez: AEW 910,00 NXT 700,00.

WWEisLIfe: Is that with the overrun

bryanalaverz: Overrun tanked. A lot of fans turned off USA when Seth Rollins came out.

In the airport he was in about to fly home Riley smiled. "So you are okay?" Kenny asks. "We drew over nine hundred thousand that is a really good night for us. Of course I'm okay. Hell this is a big win for me. Now I just need to worry about topping last night in the rematch," Riley declares. "Look take this advice from me. Enjoy the match you just had. Relax," Kenny says. "I'm to excited to relax," Riley claims. "Well force yourself to. I don't want you to burn out creatively. You and Moxley have a few weeks to come up with ideas. Hell man I've been there knowing there would be a rematch with Okada and wanting to top what we did before," Kenny says. Riley gets a smile on his face. "What is that about?" Kenny asks. Riley scratches his head. "Think I could get over five stars from Metzler?"

"Hell if I know," Kenny says causing both to laugh. If anyone knew how to get over five stars from the long time wrestling critic it was Kenny. No other wrestler had broken the five star scale than the man called the Best Bout Machine. "Look Riley it was a great match. Its right up there with your best if not your very best. Just enjoy it for what it was," Kenny urges him. "I know I know its just how I am. I get charged up and well wrestling takes up ninety percent of my thoughts," Riley says. "Only ninety? Riley you would pass time on the New Japan bus watching old New Japan matches. The only thing that would stop you would be you had to actually go wrestle," Kenny says.

"Well most of the other ten percent is mostly dedicated to Mandy and NASCAR," Riley says. "Eight percent of that being about NASCAR," Kenny quips. "Ha ha ha. Please don't ever say that in front of Mandy," Riley says. "Not a chance... She will be back next week right?" Kenny asks. "Yeah she wrapped the show. She's excited for the next step in the feud with Britt," Riley says. "Looking at timing I don't think we can get them on next week. But we could film some stuff online," Kenny says thinking.

Mandy and Riley's home in Orlando

It was a case of perfect timing. Mandy's flight took more time but it left earlier in the day. So she actually beat him home. She was unpacking when she heard the front door open. "Mandy," he yelled out comes into the house. Mandy leaves the bedroom and comes down the stairs. "Hi stranger," She says with a smile. The embrace with her being careful of his chest and kiss. They move into the living room. "Let me see your chest. And how is everything else?" She asks. The match had been great but it was the kind of match that took a real tole. And traveling so soon would make things worse. "Keep in mind its still just hours after the match," He says knowing she won't let it go. He carefully takes off his shirt. "Riley this New Japan level bad," Mandy says.

Back when he was in Japan he his chest took some real beatings. It had always worried her "I'm fine okay. This actually the worst of it," he claims. "What about your neck?" "Its fine I swear. The two things I hurt the most are my chest and hand. My hand is just sore. My chest is just bruised," Riley assures her. She takes another look at his chest and even lightly touches it. "Come on babe lets not let this ruin what should be a time for us to celebrate. Tell me how filming went?" Riley asks wanting to change to subject. "It was a lot fun. The director was really understanding I wasn't a regular actor. You think they do a lot of retakes on BTE, they have nothing on Hollywood," Mandy says. "Do you think you did well?" Riley asks. "Gee thanks for the vote of confidence." "Come on you know what I mean. Were you happy with how you did?" Riley asks.

"For the most part. I think I got better as I went on. It helps I wasn't doing a deep character. I know the Twilight Zone has a great legacy but it's not exactly Shakespeare," Mandy points out. "Well not everyone has my drama chops," Riley says. "Riley you did drama in high school. And you never did Shakespeare. Also you never had a lead," Mandy reminds him. "Yeah well I focused on wrestling," Riley says. "I am able to wrestle, model, keep my you tube show going, upload things to my app, and now act," Mandy says with a smile. "It means I just get to be the trophy husband," Riley says leaning in to kiss her. She breaks away. "Riley we have both been traveling all day I'm tired," Mandy says playing coy. "We have been apart a week," he says. "A few days," Mandy says getting up but than letting him pull her back on the sofa.

"You act like you are still in high school," She says between laughs. He takes her hands and kisses up her arms. "Well you see in high school a guy wants to land the most beautiful woman in the world and..." "Riley I think most high school boys are looking to get laid," She jokes. "Okay I'm looking get laid. Can you blame me. You are the embodiment of every guys fantasy," Riley says. Mandy kisses him. "You know you would fit a few women's fantasies." Riley picks her up and carries her to the bed. When they reach the bedroom he lays her down. "I love you," He says with a smile. "I love you to," Mandy says before pulling him into kiss on top of her.

WWE Raw Live Event

Seth Rollins had just beaten Kevin Owens to wrap up his match. Seth rolled out of the ring and grabbed the NXT title. He held the belt up taunting the fans to get heat. That way when Drew McIntyre got a big baby face win in the main event. Seth turned back to mock more fans it was a move he did all the time. "What the..." he yelled as he suddenly fell over even going ass over teakettle. To add insult to injury the title belt hit him in the eye. The referee jumped out of the ring to check on him. "Seth you okay?" "What happened?" Seth asked jumping up. "I think you tripped over the steps," The referee says. By now Seth knew he was fine but he was getting pissed. Fans were laughing. Hell he could even see Owens trying to stifle a laugh on the other side of the ring. Having had enough Seth stormed off only to realize he forgot the belt. He went back to grab up but dropped it. That caused more laughing from fans.

Seth got backstage. "Seth you okay?" Adam Pearce who was running the show asked. "Yeah just made a damn fool of myself," Seth says. "That cut looks kind of deep. You might want to get it checked out," Pearce suggested. Seth just nodded. More guys asked him how he was which was annoying him but he kept telling them he's fine. Becky who had wrestled before him had been in the shower when he fell came to check on him when he was with the trainer. He assured he was fine. The cuts was bad enough it took two stitches but that was it. Seth told Becky he still needed to shower and change than they could leave. Seth stormed to the locker room and could hear laughing. "You have got to be fucking kidding me," Seth thinks boiling over. He found several of the guys standing around a phone laughing.

"What are you guys watching?" Seth yells. "Just some stupid videos," AJ Styles says. "What videos?" Seth demanded to know. "Easy calm down," AJ says. "Yeah man," Luke Gallows adds. "What ever," Seth snaps grabbing his bag and storming back out. "What's wrong?" Becky who is still in the all asks. "Nothing… I just figure it might be easier to shower at the hotel room. You mind driving," "No problem," She says. Once they were on the road he pulls out his phone. He regretted it right away. His little trip was all over. Than he saw it on Twitter.

AEW_Mandy Rose: Karma is a bitch! Find out why on #AEWDynamite