Raw: September 2, 2013

I hold my son as I fill out paperwork as Raw is about to start. I realized things with Triple H and Stephanie were much worse than I had originally thought. They were basically holding Big Show hostage to do stuff for them because he needed money. They got Randy doing things for them because of the screwjob, and they had the Shield somehow doing things for them too. I didn't understand what happened there quite yet. I hear a quiet knock on my door.

"It's open." I answer.

Cody slowly walks in. "Hey, Rissa. I hope I'm not bothering you."

"It's okay. Do you need something from me?"

"Not really, I know I'm not wrestling tonight, and I'm fine with that. I'm honestly here to check up on you."

I raise an eyebrow. "Check up on me?"

Cody sits down in the chair across from me at my desk. "Yes, I know things haven't been the greatest for you and Randy since the screwjob and you becoming Raw general manager. Since Cena is injured right now, I'm the only other person in the friend group that's here. I figured checking up on you would be a good idea. How have you been?"

"Well, this job stresses me out."

Cody laughs. "I'm not surprised. Anything else? Things getting better between you and Randy at all?"

"Well, they were for a little bit last week, but then, they weren't again. He told me last week that he doesn't want work to get between us, but that's what's happening. It's like he says one thing and does another."

"Do you know what's gotten into him lately?"

"Stephanie and Triple H allowed him to become WWE Champion. Ever since, he's been a bit of an ass, even to me, and he goes along with everything they want, even when his own wife has issues with it." I roll my eyes.

"It's getting ridiculous."

"I know. I swear that he hasn't done shit to help me with the kids at home since it's happened either. I wouldn't expect him to do everything by any means, but I'm still working when I'm at home. He's not doing any work. I guess he works out and trains, but I'm literally doing my job. I feel that I need him to help. I swear this wasn't an issue before the screwjob."

"I'd tell him that if I were you."

"I'm sure I'll end up doing that."

"Good. To be honest, I'm not having it with his shit. I'm getting real close to uninviting him to my wedding. You are still more than welcome, but I'm a bit unsure that I could tolerate Randy there."

"I won't hold it against you if you do uninvite Randy."

"Thanks. I'm considering confronting him over his behavior tonight."

"On TV?"

"Yes, even if it's around Triple H."

I sigh. "Be careful. Triple H has been on this rampage to try to fire people. It could end badly."

"I just want my best friend and mentor back, Rissa. I just thought I'd have the decency to let you know what I planned on doing."

"I won't stop you. Just be careful."


I was annoyed and frustrated. Cody stood up and tried to talk some sense into Randy, but because of Triple H, Randy and Cody had a match against each other, which would cost Cody his career. Randy was Cody's mentor and taught Cody much of what Cody knows about wrestling, which meant that Randy was much more likely to win. I knew that despite Cody being one of Randy's best friends, there was no way Randy was going to throw the match to save Cody's job.

Paul Heyman storms into my office. "Marissa, we need to talk."

I roll my eyes. "It's Mrs. Orton to you. What do you want, Heyman?"

"You're going to take me out of this Handicap match at Night of Champions. I don't wrestle. I refuse to be in the ring with CM Punk."

"Heyman, I'm your boss now, which means if I put you in a match, you're going to compete. I'm not changing or cancelling the match at Night of Champions. You're just going to have to figure things out."

"Mrs. Orton, this is…"

Triple H walks in. "Heyman, stop whining. You've been a weasel, and that's how you got in this situation. Deal with the consequences. Get out."

Heyman slowly exits. Triple H closes the door.

"You're being ridiculous." I tell Triple H.

Triple H sits down across from me and laughs. "I respect your dedication to being Raw general manager, Marissa, but you still have much to learn about running a show."

"If this is your way of trying to intimidate me, Paul, it's not working."

"Oh, calling me by my real name. How threatening?"

"You're acting like a tyrant instead of a COO. You orchestrated a screwjob, ordered multiple beatings on Daniel, and now, you're putting Cody's job on the line because he doesn't agree with you."

"That's what you don't get. In WWE, authority figures have to do stuff like this sometimes to handle disrespect."

"How did Cody disrespect you? He was talking to Randy."

"I was right there, and his behavior is disrespectful. You don't need to have any involvement in this."

"You scheduled the match on the show I'm the general manager of. I'm involved. You need to drop that stipulation."

"No, it stays. You need to realize that this is a lot to handle. You need to join up with the rest of the family, so we can all run WWE together."

"I'm not stupid, Paul, if I join up with you guys, you and Stephanie are going to walk all over me. I don't care that my brother and my husband are involved in your schemes and are essentially your lackeys. That's not me. I'm more than willing to try to work on a good relationship to do work with you guys if you can start acting more fair, but I'm never going to be your lackey. Make sure you pass the message along to Stephanie."

"Randy told me that you didn't agree with our way of handling things. I don't understand why since you despise Daniel. You should be happy with it." Triple H stands up to leave. "Nonetheless, you're supporting the troll instead of your family. You don't want to be at odds with us, Marissa. I promise you that."

"I'm not supporting Daniel. I support the idea of authority figures who don't orchestrate screwjobs or put an employee in a situation that practically guarantees that employee will lose his job or who try to threaten other authority figures who want things to be done differently. Two weeks ago, I told you and Stephanie that if you even try to walk all over me and my newfound authority, I'll make Monday nights feel like hell for both of you. I stand by my word, Paul. By the way, if Cody does lose tonight, I'm going to fight like hell to get that decision reversed."

"Marissa, I mentored you. Don't take on more than you can handle."

"I know my limits, Paul. Get the hell out of my office."

Triple H walks out of my office. I knew this wasn't ending well. I look towards the TV in my room as Randy and Cody's match is starting.

I picked up my son and put him in my lap to watch the match. "Uncle Paul and your dad are being jackasses, Junior. I hope you don't act like that ever."

I quietly watched the match. None of this was okay. Things desperately needed to change around here.

Randy hit Cody with the RKO and pinned him.

1…2…3!

"The winner of this match, Randy Orton!" Justin Roberts announced.

I turned the TV off. I couldn't tolerate this shit. I just watched a guy I've been close friends with for four years lose his career because of my husband, and I felt powerless to do anything about it. I get up from my chair and walk out of my office.

I spot Renee part of the way down the hall. "Hey, Renee, do you want to watch my son for me for a little bit?"

Renee looks at me. "Sure, I can do that. Is everything alright?"

I shake my head. "I've gotta talk to Cody before he gets escorted out of the building, and then, I'm going to give my husband hell about all this. Junior here doesn't need to hear all that. I really appreciate you watching him for me."

"Of course. I'm done for the night, and I don't mind at all. Actually, if I don't have any interviews I need to film, I won't mind watching him whenever you need it."

"That really means a lot. Thank you."

"No problem. Do you think you can do anything about Cody getting fired?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I'm going to try." I passed Junior to Renee. "Thanks again."

Renee takes Junior from me. "Good luck."

I walk down the hall and find Cody's locker-room. I stand outside of the locker-room until Cody arrives.

"Can we talk for a few before you have to leave?" I ask Cody.

Cody nods. "Of course. Come in."

We both enter the locker-room. Cody closes the door behind us.

"I'm really sorry about what happened." I tell Cody.

Cody shakes his head. "Rissa, you have nothing to apologize for. You warned me to be careful. I wasn't careful enough."

"You shouldn't be fired though."

"But I am."

"I'm going to try to fight that decision. It's not right. I don't know if I can fix things, but I'll try."

Cody laughs. "Cena was right. You do always fight for what you believe in. I hope you find a way to prevent Triple H and Stephanie's reign of terror from continuing."

"I'm going to try. I'm assuming Randy is uninvited from the wedding."

"Absolutely. That man I wrestled in the ring tonight is not my mentor and best friend. That man is gone. He's replaced by a guy who only cares about the WWE Championship."

I nod. "I know. That's not my Randy. I am going to try to talk some sense into him when I'm done talking to you, but I don't know if I'll get through to him."

"If you can't, nobody can."

"I'll see what I can do. This is getting out of hand. Triple H came by my office earlier and threatened me."

"I hope you don't plan on putting up with that."

"I won't. I'll fight this whole issue, even if I'm alone to do it."

"Take it from me, Rissa. There's a majority of the roster that I can guarantee would side with you over them, and, hopefully, it'd knock the sense back into Randy too. You won't be alone. Hell, if I get my job back, I'll be the first to back you up in that fight."

I laugh. "Thanks, Cody."

Cody gives me a serious look. "Keep doing what you're doing."

"File a wrongful termination lawsuit if I can't get your job back."

"I will."

I nod as I walk towards the door. "See you at the wedding."

"Good luck with Randy."


I walk into Randy's locker-room without knocking.

Randy looks at me with confusion. "Where's Junior?"

"Renee is watching him for me right now." I answer. "We need to talk."

"Let me guess, this is about Cody."

"Did I miss you costing any other friends of yours their careers?"

"I did what I had to do, Rissa. I wrestled that match fair and square."

"I'm impressed by that at least, but a good friend would've thrown the match to save their best friend's job."

"Throw the match? Rissa, I couldn't do that. You're being ridiculous. Triple H and Stephanie are doing so much for me. I couldn't do that to them."

"I hope you do realize that your alliance with them isn't going to last very long. Before you say something about being family, they barely consider me to be family, and you're in the family due to being married to me. Am I being ridiculous though? Last I checked, I'm not the one who only cares about the WWE Championship. I'm not the one who legitimately cost one of their best friends his job. I'm not the one disrespecting my spouse's authority as Raw general manager by trying to weasel my way out of the match that was made for Night of Champions."

"I'm not disrespecting your authority as Raw general manager. I just don't think that Daniel is the right person to challenge me."

"You screwed him over. He's absolutely the right person. The only way I'm letting you out of that match is if you're not medically cleared, Randy. And if you were respecting my authority, you would've come to me directly. It's not that hard. We live together. I'm not surprised though since Triple H and Stephanie clearly don't respect my authority as Raw general manager either. I know that since Triple H came into my office and threatened me earlier. Hell, I bet they talk crap about me being Raw general manager in front of you, and you don't even defend me because of how much you're kissing their asses."

"Rissa, why don't you sit and calm down and…"

"No, Randy. I don't need to calm down. You need to get your head out of your ass. Cody is unemployed because of you, and if you didn't realize yet, you are uninvited from the wedding. You are running around as a lackey for Triple H and Stephanie. You act like you only care about the WWE Championship. In the process of that, you're disrespecting me as an authority figure and as your wife. You're not even helping me with the kids at home. I've been doing everything for the past two weeks at home while you've just been doing whatever you please, which makes no sense when between the two of us, I'm the one who actually works when we're home. This whole situation has changed your behavior at work and at home, and you're not behaving like the man that I made my vows to. At the rate things are going, I don't know how much longer I can tolerate this from you."

"You are talking like you're gonna file for divorce."

"You have disrespected me as your wife and aren't helping with the kids. With the way things are going, I might just file for divorce." I walk out of the locker-room before I can even listen to Randy's response to that.