Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
Rhodes to the Top
Chapter 3-Every Action Has Its Consequences
With just under two weeks from SummerSlam, Raw was in Charlotte, North Carolina this week. The show opened up with Randy Orton and Ted Dibiase standing in the middle of the ring. Orton had his WWE Championship belt draped over his right shoulder.
"At this time, I'd like to introduce you to the man I will be facing for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam, Cody Rhodes," Orton said, speaking into the microphone.
Legacy's entrance music started playing as their entrance video appeared on the Titantron. The live audience cheered for Cody Rhodes. After all, they were in Cody's hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina.
The second-generation superstar was given a microphone before he entered the ring to join his Legacy teammates. He appeared to be slightly cautious. Rumors had been swirling around in the locker room all day about Legacy kicking Cody out of their group tonight.
"Cody, Cody, Cody. What do you have to say for yourself about what happened last week?" Randy asked.
The youngest Legacy member walked right up to Orton's face and said, "I'd say the student surpassed the teacher." The live audience cheered in response.
"You don't get it, do you? I am the star of Legacy! Need I remind you what your role is? Your role is to watch my back, and see to it that I keep this title around my waist at all costs! Your role isn't to take my title from me, which you won't do at SummerSlam!" The audience booed in response.
Cody slapped Orton so hard across the face it sounded like a gun had been fired in the arena. The crowd ate this up.
"You are such a hypocrite, Randy! I did the exact same thing you did a little over five years ago when you won a battle royal; I became the number one contender. You then went on to become the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in WWE history when you defeated Chris Benoit at SummerSlam at the age of 24. Like you, I also am going on to SummerSlam to become the youngest champion in WWE history at the age of 24," Rhodes remarked.
Were Rhodes to win at SummerSlam, he would be the youngest champion in WWE history. Orton was 24 when he became World Heavyweight Champion. Cody is 24 now. Randy's birthday is April 1st. Cody's birthday is June 30th.
Orton got right in Cody's face. He was seething with anger after being slapped by Rhodes. Randy's shoulders rose and fell rapidly as he breathed heavily. He had a vein in his neck that was pulsating. He glared daggers at Cody. If looks could kill, Rhodes would be pushing up daisies.
"How quickly you seem to forget, Cody, what Evolution did to me the night after SummerSlam. In fact, it's the same thing I'm going to do to you right now," Orton said before attempting to give Cody an RKO; Cody threw Randy off him.
Unbeknownst to Rhodes, Ted had slipped out while Randy and Cody were talking, grabbed a steel chair, and slithered back into the ring. The youngest member of Legacy soon found out though when that chair collided with his back, courtesy of Dibiase.
Cody fell to his knees, grabbing his back out of pain. Ted slammed the chair into his back a second time. Now, Rhodes was sprawled out on the mat, grimacing in agony.
"Stand him up!" Orton ordered Dibiase.
Ted hauled Cody to his feet, holding both of the younger man's arms behind him. Randy returned the favor from earlier and slapped Rhodes hard across the face. It was hard to tell which was louder—when Cody slapped Randy or when Randy slapped Cody.
Orton then proceeded to mercilessly pound Rhodes with closed fists to both of his temples. Cody tried to squirm free from Dibiase, but his hold was too tight. Besides, Cody wasn't just the youngest member of Legacy, he was also the smallest.
Then, quickly and suddenly, Orton hit Rhodes with an RKO. It was no secret that on the road, during house shows, Cody had been wrestling with a lingering neck injury. It wasn't serious enough to put him on the shelf, but it was bothersome. Anyways, the RKO certainly didn't make Rhodes' neck feel any better. That's for sure.
"Pick him up, and hit him with your finisher!" Randy instructed.
Dibiase did as he was told; he helped Rhodes to his feet only to give him his finisher—Dream Street—a devastating cobra clutch slam. Cody had now fallen victim to two finishing moves, and Orton wasn't done yet.
This time, it was Randy that picked Rhodes up off the ground. Only, Orton gave the young man Cody's own finisher—Cross Rhodes. Hitting a wrestler with his own finishing move was the ultimate insult.
Randy screamed into a microphone, "No one's going to help you Cody! You have no friends left Cody!"
The thing about that statement was it was true. As a member of Legacy, Cody had done some pretty despicable things, and by doing so, he had made a lot of enemies. Practically everyone in the locker room hated his guts. It wasn't so much that Cody himself had done said despicable things. However, he was along for the ride and stood by as Orton did them, which was just as bad.
Dibiase had grabbed the steel chair once again. It already had a dent in it from the two times he had already used it on Cody. Ted flattened a prone Rhodes with a third chair shot to the back.
The audience was shocked. They weren't expecting this. There was a dead silence that fell upon them as they weren't even sure what to do or say in response. All they knew was that they were watching their hometown boy get the stuffing beat out of him. It appeared as if those locker room rumors were right after all.
"You're not going to make it to SummerSlam, Cody!" Orton yelled into the microphone.
Randy stomped Rhodes on his left wrist. Then, he stomped him on his left ankle. Next, he stomped him on his right ankle. He proceeded to stomp him on his right wrist. Finally, Orton stomped Cody on the back of his neck.
After taking three chair shots, three finishers, and then having every available appendage stomped on, Cody was completely defenseless.
The Legend Killer rolled Rhodes over on his back, and mounted him. He proceeded to hit him repeatedly with closed fists to the face. Cody was so out of it by this point, that he couldn't even bring his arms up to his face to protect himself from the punches. His head lolled from side to side as Randy dealt blow after blow.
Ted Dibiase, Cody's tag team partner and best friend, just stood there and did absolutely nothing as Orton mercilessly punished Rhodes. There were rumors that had been going around that if anyone were to leave Legacy, it would be Ted Dibiase. This was based on the animosity between Dibiase and Orton as of late. Let's not forget that time where Randy punted Dibiase in the skull awhile back, putting him on the shelf for months.
By now, Cody had a bloody nose, a bloody lip, and welts on the sides of his head that were nearly the size of ping pong balls. However, Randy continued to deck Rhodes over and over again.
Orton mercifully stopped punching Cody. He and Ted went to leave the ring. Randy was halfway through the ropes when he decided that he wasn't done with Rhodes quite yet. He stalked his way back in the ring and over to a fallen Cody.
"Get him on his feet!" Orton commanded Ted.
Dibiase once again did as he was told. Randy grabbed the steel chair, raised it, and then slammed it with authority in the face of Cody Rhodes. The young man fell to the mat like a ton of bricks. Now, in addition to his lip and nose bleeding even more, Rhodes now had a cut on his forehead that blood was seeping out of.
The sickening thud of steel on skull echoed throughout the arena. There was no telling whether Cody now had a concussion or not. His eyes started to roll to the back of his head.
"You embarrassed me last week, Cody! You humiliated me! You brought this on yourself, Cody!" Randy shouted at Rhodes.
"You're nothing without us!" Ted added as he spat in Cody's face.
The Legend Killer then proceeded to wrap the steel chair around the neck of Rhodes. He then went up to the second turnbuckle.
However, two superstars on the Raw roster had seen enough, and rushed down to the ringside at this time to make the save. Those two superstars were Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston.
Orton and Dibiase, ever the cowards, slipped out of the ring wanting to have nothing to do with Bourne or Kingston. They slowly backed away from the ring as Bourne removed the steel chair from the neck of Cody.
The WWE Champion still had a microphone in his hand. He raised it up to him and said, "Just in case it wasn't clear—Cody, you're out of Legacy!"
By now, the two remaining members of Legacy were standing on the entrance ramp looking on. They both had huge sinister smiles on their faces as they were quite pleased with what they had just done.
WWE trainers and EMTs rushed down to the ring to tend to Cody. Meanwhile, in the ring, Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne crouched down next to Rhodes and were checking on him themselves.
It actually wasn't that surprising that Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston came to help Cody Rhodes when you think about it. All three superstars at one time trained at OVW—a developmental territory for future WWE superstars. Therefore, all three were OVW alumni.
The EMTs had brought down a stretcher with them to ringside. As they loaded Cody onto the stretcher, one thought was probably on everyone's mind—Was Randy right? Will Cody even make it to SummerSlam after the beat down he just received?
To Be Continued…
A/N: Okay, so this is what I wish would actually happen in real life. Not because I want Cody to get beat up, but because I think Cody is better off without Legacy. I mean he's practically Legacy's very own jobber. I mean seriously, when is the last time he's actually won a match? The only titles he's ever held are Tag Titles, and I think, if given the right opportunity, Cody could actually be a very successful singles competitor. To tell you the truth, I'm getting a little disheartened about even writing this story. I've written two chapters prior to this, and only received three reviews. That's an average of 1.5 reviews per chapter. That's hardly impressive. Now, I hardly am the kind of author that writes ONLY to get reviews, but come on! Don't think that just because you don't leave me a review I'll automatically assume that you liked it because here's a news flash for you: I don't! On the contrary, when people don't review, I feel like it's because people DIDN'T like it. So, if you DID like it, please leave me a review and tell me so. It doesn't even have to be a LONG review. Three words is all it takes. "I liked it." That's all I'm asking, and I don't think it's too much to ask. To all of you who actually bothered to read the whole chapter, thank you for reading!