Monday Night Raw – July 2nd 2018
Kurt Angle had just finished a rather heated conversation with Jinder Mahal regarding a match that the former WWE Champion was demanding. As Mahal walked out of the shot to the right, Angle breathed a sigh of relief and shook his head. Beside him, Constable Corbin seemed to be amused by the unpleasant time the general manager was having in trying to keep order.
Suddenly, Kurt's expression changed to one of surprise as he looked to his left. Someone else was approaching.
"What is it, Kurt? I'm really not in the mood," a familiar female voice said.
Bayley walked into the shot. There was an audible reaction of surprise at her appearance from the fans watching on the big screen in the arena. There was no ponytail, and there were no bright colours to be seen anywhere. She was wearing her hair down and had a leather jacket on, open to reveal a grey t-shirt underneath. A pair of sunglasses were perched on her head. Corbin definitely seemed to like what he saw.
"Uh, Bayley," Kurt faltered, taken aback by her change in appearance.
"Yes, that's my name," she snapped impatiently. "I was told you wanted to see me, so what do you want?"
Kurt's eyes widened in surprise at her newly-abrupt manner, but he rolled with it. "What I wanted was to tell you I'm not happy with what you did to Sasha Banks last week after your match. It was an unprovoked attack, and no matter what frustrations you have, you went way too far. You're better than that, Bayley, which is why I've decided to give you a chance to work out your differences with Sasha. You're going to team up together tonight to take on Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan of The Riott Squad in tag team action."
"You really don't want to do that," Bayley said, making it perfectly clear with her tone that she was delivering a warning.
"Yeah, we really do," Corbin assured her before Angle could reconsider, seeming like he approved of her newfound aggression and wanted to see where it would lead.
"Go and get changed for your match," Angle instructed her, taking charge once more.
"Fine," Bayley huffed. She pointed a gloved finger at Kurt. "But what happens tonight? That's on you."
"What's gotten into her?" Kurt asked Baron after Bayley turned and walked out of the shot.
The Riott Squad were first to enter for their tag team match against Sasha Banks and Bayley. As they made their way to the ring, they were not the focus of discussion at the commentary table. All the talk was about the other team, and whether the former best friends would be able to get back on the same page.
Sasha's music began to play and Cole gave his usual cringe-worthy introduction as she walked out onto the stage.
"Guys, Sasha doesn't look happy at all," Coach pointed out. "And it's not hard to see why after what happened last week. She was the victim of a savage beat down, the likes of which we've never seen from Bayley before."
"Sasha should have thought about that before and reconsidered her own actions," Graves said. "Time after time, she stabbed Bayley in the back. There's only so far you can push a person before they snap. Last week, I think Bayley snapped."
"With that being said, it seems an odd decision by Kurt Angle and Constable Corbin to have Sasha and Bayley team up again," Cole said. "Surely they're not going to be able to function anything like as cohesively as The Riott Squad?"
"We're about to find out," Coach said. Sasha had just entered the ring, going through her usual entrance routine, but doing so without a great deal of enthusiasm. The Riott Squad eyed their prey from outside the ring.
Bayley's usual music began to play, drawing something of a cheer from the crowd, interest in her revived by what people had seen the previous week. They got their first surprise when she walked out onto the stage. There was still no ponytail, and there was no brightly-coloured ring attire. Instead, she was clad in black leather.
"Wow, this is a different-looking Bayley," Cole said.
"And look at her face," Graves added.
Bayley was glaring at Sasha as sauntered down the ramp, totally ignoring the inflatable tube men that went up behind her, and also the children on either side of the aisle who had been hoping for a hug.
When she reached the ring, Bayley unceremoniously rolled under the bottom rope. Sasha was standing ready and waiting, and started angrily saying something to confront her ex-friend about her actions.
To everyone's shock, Bayley wasted no time on words. She took Banks by surprise, going after her with right hands.
"Woah! They're fighting already!" Cole cried, over the top of another cheer from the fans.
"Bayley told Angle not to send her out here," Graves reminded everyone. "Maybe he should have listened to her."
The element of surprise had allowed Bayley to get the upper hand in the exchange of punches, forcing Sasha back into the corner.
Fighting for all she was worth, Sasha was able to turn the tables and spin Bayley around, trapping her in the corner, both women still doing everything they could to hammer away at each other.
"This is chaotic!" Cole cried. "These two women are supposed to be partners here, but they're trying to tear each other apart!"
Sasha dragged Bayley out of the corner and attempted to whip her across the ring to the opposite corner. Bayley reversed and sent Banks flying face first into the middle turnbuckle, the savage whiplash effect taking Sasha out.
"Look at Bayley now, going for Sasha like a woman possessed!"
Bayley was straddling her foe, pounding away with frantic rights and lefts. Outside the ring, Ruby Riott was shown leading her teammates away from ringside, smiling in approval at what Bayley was doing.
"The Riott Squad are taking off," Graves said. "They're not bothered about the match; they're perfectly happy with Banks being destroyed."
In the ring, Bayley had picked Sasha up in order to send her crashing back to the mat with a nasty lifting spinebuster. The fans groaned at the impact from the powerful move that they had never seen Bayley use before.
Even that wasn't enough for Bayley. She stepped through the ropes and climbed up to the top turnbuckle.
"What's Bayley doing now? Hasn't she done enough damage?" Coach demanded.
"No, she hasn't," Graves said.
Bayley launched herself into the air, crashing down onto Sasha's stomach with a picture perfect elbow drop.
Sasha writhed around, holding her stomach in pain, but still Bayley wasn't done. Wild-eyed, she dragged Banks up again and got her in position for a powerbomb.
"Bayley's going to... Yes, a powerbomb to Sasha Banks," Cole said. "A sitout powerbomb at that. That'll really do damage to your insides."
"Come on, Bayley, that's enough," Coach urged, with Sasha now lying motionless on the canvas.
It appeared that Bayley agreed. Standing up, she brushed her messed up hair back behind her head, glaring down at Banks. For the first time, there was some booing coming her way. Raising her head slowly, she shifted her glare to the fans.
"What is going on in that young woman's mind?" Cole wondered. "This is all so out of character for Bayley."
After spending a moment glaring at the fans, her eyes almost glazed over, Bayley snapped again. She rushed out of the ring, crouched down and lifted up the apron to fetch something. When she stood back up, she was holding a kendo stick.
"Oh my," Coach said quietly.
The fans cheered again as Bayley studied the kendo stick carefully. A lot of people realised the significance of her choice of weapon. It had been a kendo stick match against Alexa Bliss that had really been the death of the second incarnation of the hugger, as she had been made to look incredibly weak by her refusal to use the weapon. Now, there seemed to be no such reluctance.
"Bayley heading back into the ring now, kendo stick in hand," Cole said. "We need someone out here to stop this because it's getting way out of hand."
Showing no hesitancy or remorse, Bayley began wearing Sasha out with the kendo stick, smashing it over her stomach and back as she rolled around on the canvas, screaming in pain. Some more boos came from the fans as the message sunk in that they were watching a heel beat down a face. Only when the kendo stick broke across Sasha's back did Bayley stop her assault, slowly raising the half of the stick that she was still holding in the air.
"Bayley is proud of herself, but I don't know why," Coach said. "There's nothing to be proud of in what we've just seen. Sasha Banks has to be seriously hurt after the assault she's just been subjected to."
No music played as Bayley left the ring. It was plainly obvious that her theme was no longer appropriate. She walked up the entrance ramp and noticed the now-deflated tube men on the floor near the stage. Raising the broken kendo stick in the air once more, she plunged it like a sword into the body of a yellow tube man. It was a powerfully symbolic moment.
"I think the old Bayley is dead," Graves commented.
The shot lingered on the 'murdered' tube man with the stick poking out of it before Raw went to commercial.
After the break, Bayley was shown walking away from Gorilla backstage, looking pleased with herself.
"Bayley! Bayley!" Renee Young called out, hurrying up to the former Women's Champion.
"What?" Bayley asked impatiently, as if stopping for the interviewer was a massive inconvenience.
"I have to ask, why did you just attack Sasha Banks like that? Why are you dressed so differently? And why are you apparently turning your back on your fans?"
"Why have I turned my back on my fans?" Bayley hissed. "My fans? What fans? Let me tell you something, Renee. When I was the Raw commissioner, all I ever heard was fans telling me, 'We want Bayley back. We want the hugger back.'" She had mocked the fans by talking like an idiot. "So when I was stabbed in the back and forced out of office, I decided to give them what they wanted. I brought the hugger back."
Bayley paused for a second and her expression hardened even more. "And what happened, Renee? No one had my back, that's what happened. No one cared. I spent the worst year of my career trying to satisfy those idiots, and trying to be 'best friends' with Sasha Banks."
"And you think Sasha turned her back on you, too?" Renee guessed.
"I don't think she did, she did. It's a statement of fact. She did it several times, as you well know. And there was I, gullible little Bayley, willing to forgive her and try and see the best in people, like always. But now I've realised that the only person who has ever really looked out for my best interests is me, so that's how it's going to be from now on because when it comes to Sasha, when it comes to any of the other women in the locker room, or when it comes to my so-called fans? I don't care anymore."
The final three words were spat at Renee, who looked shocked and disappointed by Bayley's change in attitude as she walked out of the shot.
Later that night, after Raw was off air, rumours began appearing on most of the bigger dirt sheet websites about WWE launching a new brand which would be exclusive to the women's division. The rumours themselves were not new, but this time the articles claimed to have confirmation from sources within WWE.
"Have you seen these rumours about a new women's only brand?" Bayley asked Seth, looking up from her phone, where she had just finished reading one of the articles about it.
Seth was lying next to her on the bed in their hotel room. "They're talking about that again?" he asked without a huge amount of interest. Rumours were not something he paid much attention to.
"They're saying they have confirmation from sources within WWE, and the new brand could be launching after Summerslam."
Seth's eyebrows raised. "Then maybe there is something in it. If there is, we'll be finding out soon."
A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review last time. I think ThatWrestlingFanWrites got closest to a correct prediction of what happened on Raw. Great job!
So, we're getting a new brand exclusive to the women! It's an idea I thought about when I was writing La Arquitecta, but I dropped it. Now it's going to happen in this world.
Even better news is that one of you guys will get to name the new show! All you have to do is leave your suggestion for a name in a review, and I will choose the one I like best. Good luck! Let's see some really cool names, and keep in mind that it's a show for the women only.