If you want to read 20 Chapters ahead and more, be sure to check out my P-Tang12!!!
______________________________
(A/N: Don't forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
...
Lesnar smirked. He nodded at Lashley, a terrifying promise of future violence, before turning his back and calmly exiting the ring. Lashley was left standing in the center of the squared circle, visibly vibrating with fury, straining against the security guards as he watched the Beast walk away. The fuse was officially lit, and the explosion at Over The Limit was guaranteed to be devastating.
The following week, the WWE rolled into the final Monday Night RAW before the Pay Per View. The tension across the roster was palpable, but the spotlight was squarely focused on the United States Championship picture.
The main event segment of the broadcast was dedicated to the official contract signing between the new champion, the Big Show, and the surging number one contender, Drew McIntyre.
The ring was outfitted with a sleek black carpet, a glass table, and two microphones.
Drew McIntyre made his entrance first. The Scottish Psychopath was not wearing his wrestling gear. He was dressed in a sharp, tailored, dark charcoal suit that fit his massive frame perfectly.
He looked every bit the part of a main event superstar, exuding a quiet, dangerous confidence as he stepped into the ring and took his seat.
Next came the champion. The Big Show walked down the ramp, the United States Championship resting proudly on his shoulder. The giant was wearing a casual button down shirt, looking relaxed and comfortable in his role as the reigning king of the mountain. He stepped over the top rope, sitting carefully in the reinforced steel chair across from his challenger.
An official WWE representative opened the leather folder, presenting the contract.
Drew didn't immediately reach for the pen. He pulled the microphone close, leaning forward, resting his elbows on the glass table.
"You look very comfortable, Show," Drew began, his Scottish accent low and smooth. "You look like a man who thinks the hard part is over. You survived Extreme Rules. You slayed the dragon. You took the gold from the God King, and now you think you can just ride off into the sunset with your shiny new belt."
Drew shook his head, a cold smirk crossing his face.
"But we both know the truth," Drew continued, his voice rising slightly. "You didn't beat a healthy Sandro Zhang in a fair fight. You beat a man who had already been run through a meat grinder. You capitalized on a mutiny. You capitalized on my shots. You are a transitional champion, Show. A one hit wonder who was simply in the right place at the right time."
The crowd let out a mixed reaction, impressed by Drew's boldness but protective of their champion.
"I have spent the last year standing in the shadows, doing the dirty work for a billionaire," Drew stated, his eyes locking onto the giant. "But my chains are gone. I proved last week against Mark Henry that I am the future of this company. This Saturday at Over The Limit, I am going to dethrone you, Show. I am going to win my first singles title in this company, and I am going to prove to the entire world that I am the next undisputed main eventer of Monday Night RAW."
Drew aggressively signed his name on the dotted line, sliding the folder across the glass table.
The Big Show looked at the contract, then looked up at the young, hungry powerhouse sitting across from him. The giant let out a deep, rumbling chuckle, slowly shaking his massive head. He picked up his microphone, leaning back in his chair.
"I like you, Drew," the Big Show said honestly, his gravelly voice echoing through the arena. "I really do. I like your spirit. I like your confidence. Looking at you right now, in that sharp suit, talking a big game... you actually remind me a lot of myself when I was a young, angry kid trying to make a name in this business."
The giant's smile faded, replaced by the hardened stare of a twenty year veteran.
"But confidence can only get you so far against a four hundred pound fist," Big Show warned him. "You think my win at Extreme Rules was a fluke? You think I'm a transitional champion? Let's talk about that 'if'."
The Big Show leaned forward, his massive frame casting a shadow over the table.
"If, and that is a massive, incredibly unlikely 'if', you manage to defeat me this Saturday," the giant hypothesized, "then it proves that you were right all along. It proves that you were unfairly denied the spotlight. It proves that if you had been given a fair, one on one shot against Sandro Zhang, you would have beaten the God King yourself."
The crowd buzzed at the psychological weight of the statement.
"Unfortunately for you, Drew," Big Show said, his voice dropping into a deadly, serious tone, "that 'if' is only going to be a dream. Because this Saturday in Seattle, there won't be any interference. There won't be any mutinies. There won't be any steel chairs to save you. It will just be you, me, and the Weapon of Mass Destruction."
The Big Show grabbed the pen and aggressively signed his name, officially locking in the title match.
"And I promise you," Big Show concluded, tossing the pen aside. "This Saturday, you aren't walking out as the future of this company. You are getting knocked out cold and on a stretcher being carried out of this building."
The Big Show stood up from his chair, hoisting the United States Championship over his shoulder. Drew McIntyre immediately stood up to meet him, refusing to back down an inch. The two massive men stood nose to nose in the center of the ring, the tension crackling between them as the final broadcast of RAW before Over The Limit faded to black.
Two days rolled by, shifting the wrestling world's focus away from the glaring lights and high stakes drama of Monday Night RAW to the gritty, hungry developmental grounds of NXT on Wednesday night.
The fans packed inside the intimate Florida arena were caught completely off guard when the familiar, arrogant theme music of the Undisputed System echoed through the speakers. Wade Barrett, Ryback, and Dolph Ziggler walked down the entrance ramp, looking bruised and battered from the brutal locker room assault they had endured earlier in the week, but they still proudly wore the colors of the God King's faction.
Nobody in the audience quite knew how WWE Hall of Famer and NXT General Manager Dusty Rhodes had been convinced to book them on the card. Perhaps it was a corporate mandate from the higher ups to boost ratings, or maybe Dusty simply wanted to test his top young prospects against wounded main roster veterans. Either way, the faction was here, and they had something to prove.
Standing across the ring from the remnants of the golden empire was a trio that had been turning heads in developmental for months. Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns stood shoulder to shoulder, radiating a quiet, dangerous confidence.
They weren't wearing matching tactical gear just yet, but they carried themselves with the undeniable swagger of a cohesive unit. They acted like close friends, fighting with a fierce brotherhood and unshakeable loyalty that the currently fractured Undisputed System desperately lacked.
Ambrose paced the corner with a wild, unpredictable glint in his eye, muttering to himself and shadowboxing. Rollins stood on the apron, calculating and focused, stretching his legs as the agile architect of the group. Behind them, Reigns stood like a silent, brooding powerhouse, crossing his massive arms and waiting for the moment to be unleashed.
The bell rang, and the six man tag team match kicked into high gear.
It was a spectacular showcase of clashing styles. The NXT trio operated with rapid fire tags, keeping the ring cut in half and isolating Dolph Ziggler early on. Rollins used his blinding speed to dizzy the Showoff, hitting a series of deep arm drags before tagging in Ambrose. The lunatic fringe brawled with a chaotic, street fight style, throwing erratic jabs and scraping his forearm across Ziggler's face, throwing the veteran off his game.
But the Undisputed System members weren't going down without a fight. They needed a win to prove they were still a threat. Ziggler managed a desperation jawbreaker, creating just enough space to dive toward his corner and tag in Ryback.
The massive powerhouse charged in like a wounded rhino, leveling Ambrose with a heavy shoulder tackle. Ryback barked at the crowd, absorbing their jeers, and began slowing the pace of the match to a punishing crawl. He tagged in Wade Barrett, who used his bare knuckle boxing background to target Ambrose's ribs, wearing down the NXT standout with stiff, methodical strikes.
The momentum swung back and forth like a pendulum. Both sides were equals in endurance, trading near-falls and high-impact maneuvers that kept the developmental crowd on their feet. Rollins hit a beautiful springboard knee strike on Barrett. Reigns was tagged in, delivering a thunderous Samoan Drop to Ryback that shook the ring boards.
However, as the match neared its frantic conclusion, the lack of a true, unifying leader in the Undisputed System began to show. The communication broke down under the pressure.
Ryback, acting as the legal man, had Ambrose trapped in a tight front facelock near his own corner.
Ziggler, wanting to end things quickly and steal the spotlight, blindly slapped Ryback's back, tagging himself into the match. Ryback shot Ziggler an irritated glare but held Ambrose in place. Ziggler rushed to the opposite corner, tuning up the band, winding up for a brutal superkick aimed right at Ambrose's exposed chin.
He lunged forward, throwing his leg high into the air.
But Ambrose saw it coming. With a sudden, desperate burst of energy, the lunatic fringe dropped his weight, slipping right out of Ryback's grasp at the very last second.
Ziggler's boot flew through the empty air and connected with a sickening smack, landing right against the jaw of his own partner, Ryback.
The big man staggered backwards, his eyes instantly glazing over as the friendly fire short circuited his equilibrium. He collapsed heavily to his knees, clutching his jaw.
Ziggler immediately grabbed his own head, his eyes wide in horror as he realized the massive mistake he had just made. He turned around, raising his hands to apologize to the groggy powerhouse, but he had taken his eyes off his actual opponent.
Ambrose was already waiting. He delivered a swift kick to Ziggler's gut, hooked the Showoff's arms, and drove him face first into the canvas with a vicious Dirty Deeds.
On the outside, Wade Barrett saw the pinfall happening and rushed the ring to break it up. He never made it past the apron. Roman Reigns exploded from the ringside area, launching his massive frame through the air and cutting the Englishman down with a devastating Spear on the floor that sent both men crashing into the barricade.
Inside the ring, Ryback was trying to push himself up from the accidental superkick, still dazed. Seth Rollins saw the opening. He springboarded off the top rope, soaring gracefully through the air, and drove his boot into the back of Ryback's head with a flawless Curb Stomp.
Ambrose quickly slid over and covered the powerhouse, hooking the massive leg tightly as the referee slapped the mat.
One. Two. Three.
The NXT crowd roared in overwhelming approval as the bell rang. Ambrose, Rollins, and Reigns had secured a massive upset victory over main roster talents. The three brothers celebrated in the ring, raising each other's arms before exiting through the crowd, leaving the fractured remnants of the Undisputed System to deal with their own mess.
The aftermath in the ring told a much darker story.
Wade Barrett slowly pulled himself up using the steel steps, clutching his ribs from the brutal Spear he took on the outside. He slid back into the ring, grimacing in pain, and walked over to check on Ryback. The big man was still incredibly groggy, dizzy, and on the verge of fainting from the dual impact of the superkick and the stomp.
On the other side of the canvas, Ziggler was using the middle rope to pull himself to his feet. The NXT fans showered the losing trio with loud boos and mocking laughter, enjoying the collapse of the once mighty faction.
Ziggler brushed his blonde hair out of his sweaty face, looking over at Wade and Ryback. He offered a defensive shrug, holding his hands up as if to say it was just an accident, a simple miscommunication in the heat of battle.
Without warning, the dynamic in the ring shifted violently.
Wade Barrett stepped forward, his face a mask of cold fury. He pulled down his elbow pad, revealing the red striking surface, and swung his arm with lethal precision. The Bull Hammer connected flush against Ziggler's temple, a brutal, unscripted strike that knocked the Showoff out cold before his knees even hit the mat.
The fans gasped, the laughter dying in their throats.
Ryback shook the cobwebs from his head, his eyes widening in surprise as he looked down at Ziggler's motionless body, and then up at Barrett. Ryback's initial shock quickly morphed into anger. He stepped up to the Englishman, his fists balled, ready to fight his own teammate for the sudden assault.
But Barrett didn't raise his hands to defend himself. Instead, he stepped in close, grabbing the back of Ryback's neck, and whispered something directly into the powerhouse's ear.
The microphones couldn't pick up the audio, and the cameras couldn't read Barrett's lips. But whatever the Englishman said caused the big man to freeze in his tracks. The anger in Ryback's eyes melted away, replaced by a cold, calculating understanding. Ryback pulled back, looking at Barrett for a long second, before slowly nodding his head in agreement.
To the absolute shock of the crowd, Ryback bent down, hauled the unconscious Dolph Ziggler over his broad shoulders, and marched around the ring. He let out a deep grunt and slammed Ziggler down into the mat with a punishing Shell Shock.
Barrett and Ryback stood over their former stablemate for a fleeting moment. They didn't offer to help him up. They didn't call for medical attention. They simply turned their backs, walked up the ramp shoulder to shoulder, and left Ziggler out cold in the middle of the developmental ring.
This sudden, violent action immediately set wrestling Twitter on fire.
The digital landscape was flooded with fan theories, hot takes, and rampant speculation. Wrestling journalists and casual fans alike questioned what this shocking beatdown actually meant for the future of the WWE landscape.
Was this a direct order from the God King? Had Sandro Zhang called in from his secluded Tampa penthouse and ordered a hit on Ziggler for being the weak link of the group?
The forums debated this heavily, but many fans pointed out that it made absolutely no tactical sense for a general to execute his own soldiers when his army was already decimated. Why would Sandro want to lose another man when he was already outnumbered by the rest of the locker room?
The alternate theory quickly gained massive traction, Wade Barrett had gone rogue.
Fans speculated that the bare knuckle brawler realized the sinking ship couldn't be salvaged. He had taken matters into his own hands, managed to convince Ryback to join his mutiny, and officially severed ties with Sandro's leadership. If Barrett and Ryback were going their separate ways, creating their own splinter faction to survive the hostile locker room, it signaled the true, final death knell of the Undisputed System.
_______________________________
Name: Alessandro Zhang
Age: 21 (2011)
Birthplace: Orlando, Florida, USA
Brand: WWE - RAW
Wrestling Style: Mixed Of All Styles
Faction: The Undisputed System
Championships History: 1x FCW Tag Team Champions, 1x FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion, 1x TNA World Heavyweight Champion, 1x TNA X Division Champion, 1x WWE United States Champion, 1x WWE Champion, & 1x World Heavyweight Champion
Other Achievements: 1x Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale Winner, 1x Mr. Money In The Bank, Youngest WWE Champion, PWI Top 500 (No.1) - 2010, & 1x KOTR (2010)
Wrestlemania Record: 2 - 0 Main Event: 1 - 0