Disclaimer: You've heard it before.
Heya, well here we are, Jason and AJ are the tag team champions, but who's gonna step up and challenge them? How many are gonna step up? Let's find out.
Here We Go!
Rebirth-Chapter Forty Three-First Defense
"Hey Chris!" Called Jason as he walked into the locker room proudly displaying his title belt. "How's it going?" Chris glanced up at him nervously. "What's up with you?"
"You... you ain't talked to Sonjay have you kid?"
"Sonjay? Not since Sunday, why?"
"What do you remember about Sunday night?"
Let's see, wrestled, won this" he smirked and held the NWA tag team title up. "Went out with you guys, had a drink, and another, and another... and anoth..."
"I get the point."
"Sorry, drank a lot, it goes blank, I remember me and you throwing up in a trashcan somewhere, and I remember Jay arguing with that cab driver, then it goes blank until I woke up the next morning with a huge headache and a tag title on my bedside table. What's the problem anyway?"
"Sonjay says he has video footage of us making jackasses of ourselves, pretty big jackasses."
"Oh" Jason sat down. "How bad?"
"Hasn't told me, but he says it's bad."
"Worse than me walking into a door?"
"A lot."
"Worse than the time we almost got beat up after Bound for Glory?"
"Kid, it's on a par with that time in Japan when Sonjay managed to get you to tell that sushi maker that his mother was a whore."
Jason winced at the memory. "That was pretty bad, but you didn't help much."
Chris laughed. "I thought it was funny, I've never seen you move so fast!"
"I had to, did you see what he was going to hit me with?"
"Half of Japan saw it" said Chris. "So if what we've done is as bad as that then we better hope no-one else has footage of it and that Sonjay can be bought off."
"Buy who off?" Asked Mara coming in.
"Sonjay, and you ever knock?" Asked Chris.
"Nope, so how come you need to buy Sonjay off?"
"Says he's got footage of us making asses of ourselves" replied Jason. "Then again he might just be making stuff up."
"Seemed pretty certain on the phone" said Chris as the door opened and Sonjay walked in, he looked at the two and burst out laughing.
"What?" Asked Jason.
"You don't remember?"
"No."
"Here, this'll refresh your memory" he pulled out his phone and tossed it to Chris, Jason leaned in as well and winced at what he saw. He and Chris were standing on a bar, absolutely hammered, singing a horribly butchered version of 'We are the champions!' They each had their belts and were holding on to each other to stay standing, Sonjay started laughing again.
"Wow, you guys really need to learn to control your drink" his laughed died as Chris yanked him down to his level.
"Anyone other than us finds out about this and you're a dead man, got that?"
"Yeah, no problem, secret's safe with me, and Jay... and Jerry."
"Jerry knows?"
"Jay told him."
Jason sighed. "Well, at least I don't remember it."
Mara laughed. "Makes you wish you didn't drink doesn't it?"
"Blame these guys, before I came here the strongest thing I drank was soda, then Chris says 'Just one drink kid' next thing I know I'm barfing in a trashcan behind a pizza parlour!"
"Not my fault you can't handle it kid" smirked Chris.
"You were throwing up too!" Yelled Jason.
"Yeah... someone must've spiked it."
"Bullsh..." Jason cut off as Jay walked in, he looked from Jason to Chris, laughed and sat down.
"Don't worry guys, at least you're still champions."
"Shut up!"
"Yeah, at least me and the kid don't rip off Randy Savage!"
"Yeah" agreed Jay. "You just kiss Jerry's ass and the kid rips off Shawn Michaels."
Jason shrugged. "He's got me there."
Jerry was the last to arrive, he looked at Jason and Chris and smirked. "How's it going Queens?"
"Don't push me old man."
Jerry just laughed. "By the way kid, Cornette's looking for you and AJ, something about the tag titles."
"OK, anything to get away from you guys" muttered Jason standing up and walking to the door.
"Uhh, Jason?"
"I know Mara, I know" he came back in and picked up his belt before leaving with Mara, Sonjay laughed and turned to Chris.
"So what's it gonna be next time? 'Another one bites the dust'?"
"You're gonna bite the dust if you don't shut up Dutt."
"C'mon in kid, have a seat" said Cornette as Jason and Mara came in, AJ was already there and shook hands with Jason as the teen sat down. "Right, first things first, I wanna congratulate the two of you on winning those belts, about damn time someone took 'em off LAX."
AJ smirked. "You're supposed to be impartial Jim."
"Exactly, which is why you tell anyone I said that you're fired" AJ fell silenr. "Anyway, the thing is that since you boys won those belts I've had every team from 3D down to Chasyn Rance and Jerrelle Clark have been asking for a shot."
"Jerrelle still works here?" Muttered Jason.
"They don't, we just bring them in every now and then for tryouts."
"How is Chasyn?" Smirked AJ. "I ain't seen him since me, you Williams and Senshi used him as a punch bag."
"Poor guy."
"Back to the matter at hand" interupted Cornette. "I've had every team asking for a shot, the slot at Final Resolution is still up in the air but I decided to give a shot, tonight, to the first team who asked me."
"3D?" Asked AJ.
"No."
"AMW?" Offered Jason.
"No."
"Sharky and Smiley?" Said Mara.
"No, it was the Papparazzi."
"Always said Shelley was a sneaky little bastard" laughed AJ.
"Shelley didn't ask me, Nash did."
"Nash? How the hell did he manage to jump the line without blowing his quad?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, but like I said you two got the Paparazzi tonight and I'll try and figure out who to give you at Final Resolution OK? Good luck boys" Jason, AJ and Mara went t leave. "Hold up Mara, I need a word with you."
Jason and AJ waited outside.
"The Paparazzi?" Smirked Jason. "What do ya think?"
AJ shrugged. "Not as bad as I thought it'd be, but Shelley's pretty good and Devine knows his stuff as well."
"Hey, you never know, Nash might put himself in the match."
AJ laughed. "That'd be great, all we'd have to do is run round til he gets tired then kick his leg out from under him."
"Provided he doesn't hurt himself chasing us."
"Yeah."
Mara came out of the office and joined them. "What's so funny?"
"Kevin Nash" answered Jason. "So what did Jim want?"
"Well, I asked him about getting a womens title made but apparently we don't have enough time on the show."
"Typical" muttered AJ. "We got time for Jarrett to run his mouth."
"But he's trying to get me a shot at a title for some promotion in the UK, RQW I think."
"I worked for them once" said AJ. "Pretty good bunch of guys."
"Yeah, they asked me but I already told 1PW I'd do a weekend for them" said Jason.
"Who you got?"
"Night one is me, Cabana and Burridge against Corino, Chris Hamrick and Tracey Smothers, night two is me and Corino."
"Yeah, I heard you and Corino had a little trouble in Japan."
"Just a little, speaking of 1PW, know who the champ is?"
"Know? I faced him, all six-eight, three hundred and fifty pounds and I'll use these tacks if I damn well please of him!"
Mara laughed. "I take it you won't ask them for a title shot soon?"
AJ shrugged. "Maybe, depends if I work there, anyway, Paparazzi, let's go get ready."
"Y'know, as much as I like Sonjay maybe him getting an X title match wasn't the best thing for him" muttered Jason as Senshi continued to beat on Sonjay. "At this rate he'll be lucky to even make it to Chris."
"Do him some good if you ask me" replied AJ. "I hear he's been pretty full of himself since he won on Sunday."
"We're all a little full of ourselves" said Jason.
"Not as much as him" said AJ as Senshi went up top for the warriors way, he went for it but Sonjay moved and hit the Sonjay cutter out of nowhere, he then hit a running shooting star press for the win! "And that's gonna make it worse."
"Well he's on a roll, that's for sure" said Jason, then he sighed. "Hey AJ, look who it is" he pointed at the monitor where Shelley and Devine were talking with Nash.
"So you think we've got this Kev?"
"Definately, but don't get cocky, Styles is pretty good and Cena? He's like a young Shawn Michaels."
"But I'm like a young you right?"
"Yeah, and a young Kevin Nash always beats a young Shawn Michaels, just make sure he doesn't catch you out."
"What about me?" Asked Devine. "Who am I like?"
"A young Bob Backlund" smirked Shelley as Nash laughed, Devine didn't seem to notice the put down, the three went back to talking strategy.
"Up for putting them in their place kid?"
"Yeah" answered Jason. "They seem to be forgetting how good a young Shawn Michaels really is."
Jason, AJ and Mara were waiting at the tunnels to go out to the ring, the Paparazzi were in the ring and Nash was sitting at the announce table with Tenay and West.
"Ready kid?"
"Born ready AJ" replied Jason, AJ's music hit and he stepped into the tunnel, Jason hesitated a second then shrugged and led Mara out with him, they stepped out into the arena and held their titles up as AJ's pyro wemt off.
"What're you doing?" Asked AJ.
"Figured that since we're a team we should come out together, and your music's way better than mine."
AJ shrugged and they walked down the ramp to the ring, they got in and stared down Shelley and Devine before holding up the belts then handing them to the referee, Jason went to the apron as Shelley and Devine decided who should start, Shelley got the nod and stepped up to AJ, making belt motions as he did, the referee called for the bell and they locked up.
AJ quickly took control and put a headlock on Shelley, he used to ropes to escape but AJ knocked him down with a shoulderblock, he hit the ropes and Shelley went under and tried a leapfrog but AJ put on the brakes and hit him with a dropkick, he bounced up as AJ called Jason in and hit a right hand, Shelley spun round into the teen who hit one of his own causing him to spin back into AJ, they knocked him back and forth before AJ finally knocked him down, they hit the ropes and charged him with AJ sliding through his legs and Jason leapfrogging him, he turned round and the two gave him a grin then hit a double dropkick. Devine jumped in and charged but they hit him with a double backdrop that sent him crashing down on Shelley! They dropkicked him out of the ring then Jason hit the ropes and let AJ hipstoss him onto Shelley, he rolled out as AJ hit a running kneedrop on Shelley and covered for a two-count.
AJ brought Shelley to the corner and tagged Jason they whipped him but Devine tagged himself in, they hiptossed Shelley and clotheslined him back across their knees then threw him down, Devine charged but AJ hit a punch to the gut, he dropped down then Jason hit a shining wizard! He covered but Devine kicked out. Shelley was on the outside and they threw Devine out next to him, Jason went to vault over the ropes but they sidestepped, Jason landed on the apron and went for the springboard moonsault but they moved again, the teen landed on his feet behind them and waited as they taunted AJ, they turned and he knocked them down with a double clothesline then gestured to AJ.
"Mr. Styles, the floor is yours."
AJ laughed then came over to the ropes, he waited for Shelley and Devine to stand then jumped to the top and hit a springboard shooting star press! He got up in front of Jason and shrugged before they picked up Devine and threw him back in, Jason went up top and came down on Devine with a huge cross-body for a two-count. The teen pulled Devine back to their corner and tagged in AJ, he set Devine up for a suplex and held him upside down while AJ went to the top-rope and hit a cross-body for another two-count, the 'Phenomenal One' hit a back-suplex for another two, then tagged Jason and slammed Devine before using the ropes to bring Jason in on top of him, the teen covered for another two-count then pulled Devine up and hit a neckbreaker for another near fall. Shelley left his corner and went to the announce table to talk to Nash and grab a bottle of water as Jason tagged AJ back in, he waited for Devine to stand then hit a springboard forearm for a two-count.
AJ whipped Devine but as his partner had done earlier Shelley tagged himself in, AJ backdrpped Devine and charged Shelley only to get a mouthfull of water spat in his face, as he reeled Shelley hit a running enziguri and covered for a two-count. Shelley quickly pressed his advantage and whipped AJ into a corner, he hit a running knee to AJ's back then hit a neckbreaker, AJ bounced up and Shelley hit a fishermans suplex for another two-count and tagged Devine, they hit AJ with a double suplex and Devine covered for a two-count, he waited for AJ to get up then used the ropes to hit a spingboard cross-body for another two-count, he brought AJ back to his corner and tagged Shelley, they put AJ up on the ropes then Shelley pulled him down with a backcraker for a two-count, he put AJ in a headscissor then did some press ups to drive the 'Phenomenal One's' face into the mat. He laughed at the 'THAT WAS GAY!' Chant from the Orlando crowd then pulled AJ up and hit a brainbuster for another two-count.
Shelley threw AJ back in the corner and charged but AJ got his boot up, he went to go up top but Shelley hit the ropes and he fell on the turnbuckle as Shelley tagged Devine, he ran over to AJ then brought him down with a frankensteiner! He covered but AJ kicked out, Devine quickly jumped up and took a shot at Jason, the teen tried to go after him but the referee stopped him Devine went to pull AJ up but he slipped out of his grip and went for the Styles Clash but Shelley came in and hit a superkick! Devine covered but AJ kicked out again. Devine pulled AJ to his feet and whipped him, he tried an elbow but AJ ducked and hit the springboard moonsault into the reverse DDT! He began crawling toward Jason as Devine rolled to his corner and got Shelley in, he charged but AJ dived and made the tag to Jason!
The teen vaulted into the ring and ran through Shelley with a clohtesline, he hit another then whipped him and hit a powerslam for a two-count, Devine came in but Jasn sidestepped and hit a reverse DDT, Shelley got up in a corner and Jason hit the stinger splash! Shelley staggered out and the teen hit a dragon suplex for another two-count, Nash had left the announce table and was yelling encouragement from ringside as Devine charged Jason again only to get backdropped out, Shelley tried another superkick but Jason ducked and hit the impaler for another two-count, he went to pull Shelley up but he grabbed the referee and pulled him between them, while they were arguing Nash, surprisingly quickly, got in the ring, Jason turned and Nash nailed him with a big boot before slipping out of the ring while Don West exclaimed he'd never seen Nash move so fast! Shelley kept the referee distracted while Devine came back, he went up top and came down on Jason with a huge moonsault! He bailed and Shelley covered, the referee counted but AJ broke up the pin.
Shelley took some shots at AJ and whipped him back into a corner he charged but AJ moved, he hit the corner hard then turned into a superkick and the Pele! Before Jason could make a pin Devine came back and pushed him into AJ sending the 'Phenomenal One' out of the ring, he turned to Devine who set him up for a double-arm piledriver but the teen backdropped him out only for Shelley to drop him with the Shellshock! He covered but at two Jason put his foot on the ropes. Shelley argued with the referee then pulled Jason up, he went for an air raid crash but Jason escaped and went for the C-Bomb! Shelley escaped that then went for sliced bread no. 2, he ran up the turnbuckle but Jason shifted his weight and got him in position for the C-Bomb again! Devine ran in but the teen used Shelley to knock him down then landed the C-Bomb! He covered and put Shelley down for the three!
Jason smirked as the referee raised his arm, AJ came in with the belts and handed Jason's to him, Mara came in and raised their arms again then hugged Jason, Nash was up on the apron staring the teen down then shrugged and grinned at him before leaving with Shelley and Devine. Jason climbed the ropes and held his belt up when suddenly the lights dimmed and the Voodoo Kin Mafia's music hit, he sighed and went over to AJ. "Here we go."
AJ just laughed and nodded as BG and Kip James came down, BG had a mic in hand.
"Cut the music, now before we get started with you two, just let me say this" AJ quickly gestured for Mara to get him a mic as BG conitued. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, Totan Non-stop Action proudly brings to you its soon to be NWA TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD! The K to the I to the Pizzle (God I miss the old intro!) I'm the B to G to the Gizzle, together we are..."
"The DX rejects!" Yelled AJ into his mic, he tossed it to Jason.
"And I got two words for that!" Laughed the teen, Kip squared up to him. "Whoa! Back up there 'Billy'" BG pulled Kip away.
"OK, you got us, but seriously..."
"You here that AJ? The guys who once invaded WCW, with a tank! Want to be taken seriously, I've seen it all now."
BG laughed. "OK, the tank was overkill, but we want to talk to you, seriously, about those belts you're holding."
"OK, it's true, they are made of real gold."
"OK kid, you've had your fun, see me and Kip have waited a long time for some gold, so we decided that instead of running to Cornette to get a shot, we'd come to you."
"You want us to give you a shot?"
"Yeah, so from one former degenerate to another, yeah we saw what you and HBK used to do up there, do you accept our challenge?"
Jason looked to AJ. "Well..." Kip snatched the mic off BG.
"Right, enough of this polite request BS, kid, either you accept our challenge or you to prove to the world that you are an even bigger pussy than your buddy Shawn Kiss-My-Bottom!"
Jason looked at BG. "You really shouldn't let him talk y'know that?" He turned back to Kip. "Let me tell you something Mr. Ass, I didn't have a problem with you until that shot at Shawn, but I'll say this, you guys are the only team who've had the balls to come challenge us, so if AJ's cool with it, then I have no problem giving you rejects a shot."
Kip smirked. "Well AJ, what's it gonna be?" AJ went to respond but LAX's music hit and Konnan led his team out with a mic.
"Hold on there gringo's, before you even think about giving these rejects a title shot you should remember just who it is you stole those belts from, my boys deserve a rematch and if you don't give it to us then I promise you things around here will be very unpleasant."
Jason went to say something but Jim Cornette came out with a mic.
"Now, before I have every team in TNA came out here I'm gonna make a decision..."
"There's no decision to make Cornette!" Yelled Konnan. "My boys deserve a rematch against these two, so you better give it to them!"
"Konnan, you think you're boys deserve a rematch, well let me tell you this, around here we earn our title shots..."
"Like these two earned a shot at us?"
Cornette glared at him. "Here's how it's gonna go down, next week we're gonna have a match, it's gonna be LAX versus VKM with the winners going on to face the 'Showstealer' Jason Cena and the 'Phenomenal' AJ Styles at Final Resolution, how d'you feel about that?"
Konnan grinned. "Cornette, you can try and stack the deck against LAX all you want, but we will defeat the DX rejects and we will get our straps back from these gringo's, that's a promise!"
"VKM?"
"We're cool with that" said BG.
"Kid, Styles?"
"Well, I think you've just pissed off half your roster" smirked AJ. "But me and the kid, we don't care who we face as long as we face somebody."
Konnan raised his mic. "I guess there's only one thing left to say then..." suddenly he spun round and sucker punched Jason! AJ jumped in but Homicide and Hernandez jumped him, Konnan stomped on Jason and his boys beat on AJ while VKM just watched, Konnan pulled Jason up but the teen escaped and knocked him down, he bailed while Jason jumped Homicide, he threw him out then helped AJ send Hernandez out, they turned to find themselves face-to-face with VKM, Mara handed them their belts and they held them up while VKM and LAX stared them down.
Well there you go, one defense down, another coming up, but who will it be? VKM or LAX?
See ya!
HBKJOH