A/N: I'm excited to return to this world. The extent to which I've missed it since I ended book two has surprised me. This may only be a short story of a few chapters, but it's hopefully not the final one. We're back to Jay's point of view this time.
Jay Halstead sat in the production area just behind the curtain at Summerslam, WWE's second biggest event of the year. He had goosebumps covering his arms and tears in his eyes, which he hoped no one would notice.
Nearby, Erin, the incredible woman who he was eternally lucky to be engaged to, was directing the TV broadcast. In the ring were Raquel Victoria Gonzalez and Clementine, competing in the main event of the night.
Those two women had fought many times before, yet Clementine had never managed to win the WWE Women's Championship from Raquel. No one had. Raquel's reign had already set a record for the longest in the history of the Women's Championship.
The build for this match had revolved around Clementine's character telling Raquel's that she wanted one more match, in the main event of Summerslam. Her pitch had been that if she won, she would finally win the championship for the first time since before the horrific knee injury that had cost her more than a year of her career. But if Raquel won again, Clem had pledged to stand in the ring with Raquel on live television and public admit that Raquel was the better wrestler. That ego-stroking possibility had been enough of an enticement for Raquel to accept the challenge.
The following week, Erin had written her own character to make a rare appearance on TV, making the fair point that the fans had seen Clem and Raquel go at it before in all manner of different match types. If there was going to be one final fight to end the feud once and for all, it was going to have to be something special. And something special was what she had gone on to announce. The match was to be a sixty minute ironwoman match – meaning that the two women would fight for an hour without a break. Every time one of them scored a pinfall or a submission, it would be added to their total. Whoever had the highest total when the clock reached zero at the end of the hour would win the match, and the championship.
Now, as Jay sat with the goosebumps on his arms and the tears in his eyes, there were less than thirty seconds left on the clock. He had a particular investment in the match because he had been the producer on it. Being a producer was his second job with WWE now, in addition to wrestling. At one time he had been lining up talent scouting as something to get into, but when one of the company's producers had broken a leg in a car accident and needed time off, Jay had offered to help Erin out and produce a few matches. To his surprise and hers, he had taken to it like a duck to water. He'd always had a great mind for the business, and he had found that he didn't struggle so much with his people skills if he worked with the women's roster, so he now produced a lot of their matches.
His job as producer was to lay out all of the important moves and moments that would tell a match's story. The finish was of course critically important. A match could be great throughout but would still be considered the shits by most fans if the finish sucked.
Twenty five seconds to go. The finish of the ironwoman match – the first pay-per-view main event match Jay had produced – was not going to suck. One thing none of the fans had expected was for the hour-long fight to get to this point with the score tied at zero. Raquel and Clementine had beaten the shit out of each other, legitimately. Jay was surprised by how hard they had gone at each other. Knowing both women as well as he did, he knew that they were loving the physicality, and the way it had heightened what was possibly going to be the best match of both of their careers.
Twenty seconds to go. The fans were on their feet, losing their minds. Clementine had Raquel caught in an ankle lock, a devastatingly painful submission hold. If Raquel submitted before the time ran out, Clementine would win one to zero and become the champion. The crowd believed it was going to happen. Referee Deonna Purrazzo was kneeling on the mat, right in front of Raquel, ready to make the call if she did submit.
Fifteen seconds. Raquel was screaming in agony because of the submission hold. Clementine was screaming in pain from the exertion of applying it, and from the brutality and exhaustion of the fight. Blood poured down Clem's face from a cut above her hairline that had resulted from Raquel throwing her into the ring steps a few minutes earlier. Raquel had one eye swelling up, a busted lip and a massive bruise appearing on her upper right arm. They both looked like they had been through a war.
Ten seconds. The fans were roaring Clementine on and yelling at Raquel to give up in equal measure. Arching her back, Raquel roared like a wounded lioness, but she was still not giving up.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Raquel looked close to passing out from the pain, but she did not give in.
Two.
One.
The buzzer sounded. Referee Purrazzo jumped up and ran across the ring, waving off the match. The bell sounded. Both competitors had already collapsed to the mat, exhausted and broken. The ring announcer relayed Purrazzo's decision.
"Ladies and gentlemen, with the scores tied at zero, the referee has ruled that this match... is a draw!" Boos reigned down from the crowd. "Therefore, still the WWE Women's Champion... Raquel Victoria Gonzalez!"
Backstage, Erin had got up from her director's chair. She passed behind Jay, stopping for a second to lean over and whisper in his ear.
"You're amazing, honey." She then gently used a finger to remove a tear from the corner of his eye. It was such a loving gesture that it nearly broke him completely. It was only the fact that the show wasn't over that held him together.
The reason Erin was heading for the curtain was that her character was about to appear. Her music played, which turned the boos to cheers immediately. The fans had a good inclination as to why the boss was coming out.
"No, no, no," Erin said as she walked out into the arena, wagging her finger. "That's not how this is going to end. Not like that. Referee, ring the bell. We're going into sudden death overtime!"
The fans roared their approval.
Although both Raquel and Clementine were both worn out and hurt, Purrazzo had to do as she was told. She ordered the bell to be sounded, and the fight was back underway. Whoever scored the first pin and submission would win immediately.
A minute or so had gone by since the initial ending of the match. During that time, Clementine had struggled back to her feet. Raquel had too, but it was evident that she could barely put any weight on her left foot due to the ankle lock that she had previously suffered in for so long. The champion was mortally wounded, and everyone in the arena knew it. The atmosphere was electric. Jay could feel it even backstage.
Both women came out of opposite corners of the ring, and Clementine flew through the air, hitting Raquel with a perfect Diamond Cutter. The fans erupted.
With Erin now back directing, Jay felt tears on his cheeks as Clementine made a cover and fifty thousand people counted along with Purrazzo.
"One!"
"Two!"
"Three!"
The place went into meltdown. Jay saw fans literally jumping up and down or punching the air. Clementine was the champion. Raquel's reign of terror was over. The ring announcer confirmed it.
"Here is your winner... and the NEW... WWE Women's Champion... Clementine!"
There were many reasons combined to explain why Jay was crying at what had just happened. His life-long love of wrestling for moments like this was one. Professional pride and achievement was another. Producing a match that had gone nearly sixty five minutes in total had taken a couple of weeks, spending countless hours with Raquel and Clem. He could scarcely believe he had done it himself.
"Incredible stuff, Jay. Thank you," Erin said. Some of the other team members added their praise, but only Erin's really mattered to him. That was another reason he was emotional. He had proven to her that he could do good work outside of the ring. Until now, the insecure part of him that was always there in his head had assumed that she doubted him.
Yet another reason was Clementine. A generational athlete, a warrior who never gave up, a selfless worker, and an inspiration and a role model to so many young girls, was finally back on top of the mountain. She truly, truly deserved it.
And lastly there was Raquel. Jay's best friend. The person he cared about most in the world, after Erin. She had just had the best match of her career, in his opinion, and had at last been able to give Clementine a win over her. That was something she had wanted to do for months, but Erin had held back, refusing to grant it until now.
The next couples of minutes were a bit of a blur as Jay tried to pull himself together. He got up and went over to wait near the curtain. As the loser, Raquel would soon arrive backstage, while the battered, bloody but euphoric Clementine celebrated in front of her ecstatic fans. They would be heading home happy to say the least.
Raquel came through the curtain. The ankle injury wasn't real, unlike the rest of them, so her limp disappeared immediately and she rushed over to Jay. They grabbed each other in a hug and both burst into tears. This time Jay couldn't stop himself. He was so pleased, proud and happy for her that it was just too much. No words were exchanged. They didn't have to be. They just held each other and wept.
Erin had left her director's chair again because the TV show was now over. She waited nearby for her turn to hug Raquel.
Eventually, Raquel let Jay go and hugged Erin, who promptly got some blood on the light grey suit she was wearing. No one seemed to care.
"Keep this night in your memory. This will be talked about for years," Erin said, talking like the leader she was.
"Thank you, boss," Raquel said.
Someone passed Raquel a towel and a bottle of water. She had a couple of minutes to sort herself out before Clementine got backstage.
By the time Clem appeared, carrying the championship that was now hers again, Jay had calmed down. Nonetheless, he felt emotional as he watched her go to Raquel. They hugged each other in a way that somehow conveyed immense love and respect.
"Thank you. Thank you so much," Clementine said. "Anything you ever need from me, you got it. I mean that."
"Girl, you've already made my career with what you've done for me the past year or so," Raquel said.
"And thank you, too," Clementine said.
It took Jay a couple of seconds to realise that she was talking to him, and had extended her arm for him to join in a three-way hug.
"We couldn't have done this without you. Your ideas and your finish helped to make this special," Raquel said as he joined the hug. All three of them held each other and rested their heads together.
"I'm blessed to have been a part of it," he said.
A/N: What did you make of the match and its aftermath?
And what do you think of Jay's new role in the company?
