Okay. That was scary. I was afraid Kane might take out his frustration on Randy and Trent. I don't know what I would have done then. Poor Trent would have really gotten hurt. But Kane left the ring and walked away. I decided I would go check on him after my match.

"Are you crazy, AJ?" Randy asked.

"Asks a man who's guided by voices in his head," I quipped, then immediately regretted it. "Sorry."

Randy shrugged it off. Trent asked, "Seriously, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I know it does sound crazy, but I know Kane won't hurt me," I answered.

"Coming from a guy who listens to voices in his head, you're right. It does sound crazy," Randy said with a smirk.

"We should head back," Trent said.

"You go," I said, "My match is going to begin and there isn't enough time to get my handheld anyway."

Sure enough, after they had climbed out of the ring, the ring announcer announced my presence in the ring. The crowd started cheering and chanting either "Yes! Yes! Yes!" or "AJ! AJ! AJ!" I made my way around the corners, climbing the second rope, raising my fist. Big smile to hide the nervousness I actually felt. Tamina Snucka's theme started and the announcer introduced her.

You would think that after a confrontation with the Big Red Monster, facing Tamina would be a cinch. You would be wrong. Wrestling is about either wearing out an opponent until you either pin them or make them submit from pain or unconsciousness. Kane won't hurt me, but at that moment, hurting me was Tamina's job.

And she is quite capable of doing it. Watching her recent tapes, I was disappointed to see Tamina had lost her early cockiness. It was her cockiness that, more than anything else, that allowed me to beat her every time I faced her in a singles match. Luckily, she was still all power and no finesse. That's my advantage, so long as I avoided getting hit too hard. The bell rang. Down to business.

We circled each other, then went in for the initial grapple. I slipped out of the grapple, grabbed Tamina's arm and twisted. Applying a wrist lock, I stomped the mat. Tamina grunted, grabbed my hair and slammed me to the mat. She hit me with two rapid knee drops and then elbow drop. Tamina is fast for someone so big. She went for a cover, but I kicked out in one. She may not be so cocky anymore, but she was still underestimating me.

Tamina was on her feet first. She finished picking me up and whipped me to the ropes. I tried to counter by launching myself into a crossbody block, but she just caught me. She rolled me over her head, preparing for a Samoan drop. I wasn't about to let that happen. I wrapped my legs around one arm, and linked my arms around the other. When we did drop, I rolled her into a crucifix pin. She powered her way out of it in two, but I had made my point. I had just taken away one of her most powerful moves. We rolled away from each other. Tamina looked slightly stunned. I smiled brightly, did a couple perky bounces, and gave her a nice try gesture. Her look changed into one of fury. That's right Tamina, I thought, get mad. Make a mistake.

Unfortunately, she did not make one then and there. We grappled again. This time she slipped out and delivered a series of forearm smashes. Tamina whipped me to the ropes. I bounced back and her savate kick under the chin. That slammed me to the mat. Tamina picked me up again. Before I could do anything she smashed me with a headbutt. I saw stars and staggered away. The next thing I knew, she had grabbed me from behind. I reacted purely on instinct. Wrapping my legs around Tamina's waist, I swung and brought us both down in a wheelbarrow bulldog.

Amazingly, she rolled away before I could cover her. I was near the ropes, so bounced off them and ran at Tamina. With a yell, I jumped and twisted as she got to her knees. My right knee smashed into her temple and she went down. The force of my maneuver brought me around facing Tamina, so I went for the pin. The ref was slow, so I only got a two count. I'm not very surprised; Tamina is one of the few people who can consistently kick out after my shining wizard. I just hoped her head was hurting as much as mine.

I picked Tamina up and placed her in a side headlock. She countered with an elbow to my gut, then grabbed my head and hit me with a neckbreaker. That move was either desperation or it took something out of her too. Neither one of us was getting up; I could hear the ref counting us out. I rolled over and tried to will myself up. Tamina got there first. She grabbed me by the back of the head and slammed me back to the mat with a chop to my back.

Tamina picked me up and whipped me to the corner. I got turned around and took the impact on my back. The turnbuckles are padded, but they can still hurt. I saw her running at me and managed to get my feet up in time. She slammed back to the mat, but I was hurting too much to take advantage. I slid down to the apron, trying to catch a second wind.

Again, Tamina was recovering first. I started using the ropes to drag myself back up. Tamina got there first. She grabbed me from behind the head and turned me around to slam me into the turnbuckle. In sheer desperation I ran up the turnbuckles, launching up and over when I hit the second. We both came down in what had to be the sloppiest shiranui ever.

I quickly grabbed Tamina's leg and rolled on to her for the cover. Please be enough, please be enough, I thought. The ref slapped the mat three times and the bell rang. Thank goodness. I quickly rolled off Tamina and stood up. The ref raised my arm.

My head was pounding. I wanted nothing more than to go backstage and pop a couple of aspirins. I still also needed to go see Kane. But the fans were chanting my name; they would expect a victory celebration. I went to a far corner, climbed the second rope and raised my hands. Bright smile, don't let them know how badly you're aching. I was on the second corner when the speaker began blaring Daniel Bryan's Wagnarian-metal theme. I squeezed my eyes shut momentarily and groaned, "Oh, no."

The ring announcer was already shoving a mike up at me. It's part of their job to make sure everyone has a mike when verbal sparring is about to ensue. Don't look at me. In pro wrestling, showmanship is half of the game. I got down, took the mike, and turned around to face my ex-boyfriend. He was "helping" Tamina out of the ring by shoving her with his foot. She gave him a cross look, but headed for the backstage. At least she would be able get some aspirin.

Daniel was once a nice guy, a real sweetheart. I would not have gone out with him otherwise. Even though he is a brilliant technical wrestler, he, like me, was always viewed as a perennial underdog. So we had that in common. Then he won the World Heavyweight Championship, and he changed. It went to his head (and I know all too well how that can happen). He became increasingly abusive toward me and increasingly arrogant toward everyone else. Then he lost the championship, blamed me for it, and broke up with me. Publicly. In front of a television audience. For awhile there, my world fell apart.

"Go ahead and celebrate, AJ," Daniel said. The crowd shouted "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

"Yes, AJ, enjoy victories over inferior wrestlers," Daniel continued, "Knowing you can't beat a real wrestler without catching them by surprise." The crowd booed him.

"It doesn't really mean much, you know. But I suppose every little bit counts, right?" The crowd booed again.

I considered the bitter and ugly man in front of me. Was the sweetheart I once knew in there somewhere? If he was, he was trapped beneath too much anger and bitterness. If I had seen even a spark, I might have done things differently. As it was, I needed some aspirin. And then there was Kane. He, at least, could be helped. I just wanted to get Daniel out of my hair and get out of there.

I smiled sweetly at him, then said, "Oh, Daniel. Still making excuses? Did you get out wrestled by a girl? Did I catch you by surprise? Hurt your little feelings?"

I sashayed over to him. I don't think I do the "seductive walk" very well. It must have worked, though. Someone in the audience wolf whistled, anyway. And Daniel's eyes were no longer focused on my face. I cocked my head as if considering something. Then I put on my sexy smile.

"I tell you what, honey," I said in my best sexy voice (which I don't think I do well, either), "If you finally ever win the WWE Championship from CM Punk, I'll make it all up to you . . ."

I walked my fingers up his chest. Then I pushed up his chin to lock his eyes back on to mine.

". . . by being your first title defense!" The crowd roared at that. "Meanwhile, dude, stay the hell out of my way!"

The crowd started chanting my name again. I used the cover to get out of there. Backstage, I ran right into Matt Striker. He shoved a mike in my face while asking, "What is going on between you and Kane now?"

How is it that man always winds up asking the wrong question?

"Um . . . ah . . . nothing really. Er . . . I'm not . . . uh . . . I'm not comfortable enough to answer that question," I stammered.

"So what next?" Matt asked.

"Flexibility exercises," I answered while walking away. Forgetting that my head was already hurting, I slapped my forehead, then groaned in pain. Sure, it left Matt confused enough for me to get away, but I hope I didn't telegraph too much. I needed some aspirin. And then I had to see a monster about a man.

Note: I'm posting this chapter before it is truly complete. I was mostly concerned here with getting the wrestling match where I wanted it. I still need to insert some commentary from Jerry Lawler and some snarkiness by Michael Cole (suggestions welcome, of course). The next chapter is projected to be extremely short (500-750) words. After that, I plan to do some revisions to the previous chapters to account for some changes in my plot before moving forward again.