#1.31.13

6 oz boiling water 2 oz dry vermouth 1/2 tsp demerara sugar Dash lemon juice Orange wedge - squeezed (?) Honey (?)

What a night it has been. The music for Wade Barrett hits as he makes his way to the ring, with Maxine. Barrett holds a very determined face as he makes his way to the ring. Paying no attention to what Maxine is blurting out at him. He seems a bit annoyed in a way, and he slams his fists on the steel steps and makes his way up to the ring. The crowd a bit anticipated.

After he was introduced, there was a long pause before his opponent’s presence was made. The first gong made its sound. The crowd cheering enthusiastically. The second gong goes off, the crowd cheers even louder. There’s a long pause yet again, crowd chanting “TAKER. TAKER. TAKER.” The third and final gong rang. And in hits his intimidating music. The Undertaker enters to the ramp. Crowd is pleased to see his presence as he hasn’t had a match for an exceptional short time. Camera’s zoom in on his being and they pick up what seems to be a slight grin on Taker’s face. An evil grin. Bursts of fire rise from the stage as he makes his way down the ramp. Quickly turning to his left making his way to the steel steps, making his way up lifting the darkness from the arena.

Barrett is holding his ground, with Maxine on the outside in complete awe. Taker stares at him before he enters the ring. Finally he grabs the ropes and enters and Barrett quickly slides out of the ring. The crowd is cheering Taker still as he looks around the arena, and takes off his attire. Ready to fight. Barrett not amazed at all at Taker’s entrance and presence, enters the ring and yells some words at him. Taker just stares at him. As Barrett is yelling, Maxine is hammering the ring from the outside, yelling at Barrett and Barrett’s expression seems to be more annoyed.

Finally, the referee called to ring the bell. And the match had begun. *ring* Undertaker puts his hands up and makes his move closing in on Barrett. Barrett not expecting this sudden charge is caught off guard as Taker gives a huge right hand backing Barrett into the corner immediately, dazing him for a few seconds. Undertaker goes for another attack as Wade is vulnerable in the corner, but Barrett comes back with a huge right of his own, making take stumble back a step, then another punch, followed by another, and then another, as he backs Taker up into his corner. Striking with lefts and rights against the top Pure Striker in this business, Barrett is looking rather impressive in the early going. The referee pulls Barrett off of Taker, and Barrett goes right back, shoving his shoulders into Taker’s ribs repeatedly. Followed by a huge right hand, dropping Taker to one knee.

Barrett then goes to look at the crowd, who boo him immensely as he taunts them. Taker, now really pissed, gets up and grabs Barrett from behind and spins him around and fires with lefts and rights. After about a sequence of 10 repeating strikes, Barrett is knocked down after the last one. Taker picks up Barrett and Irish whips him against the ropes and ducks his head down, perhaps to execute a big back body drop. But Wade saw what he was going to do, and kicks Taker as his head is down. Taker rises up, showing no affect from the kick, just a deathly stare. Barrett goes from a right hand yet again. Taker blocks and head-butts Barrett. He is then set up for old school. And Undertaker hits, landing a strike on the back of Barrett’s head. Maxine actually looks a bit worried right now. Yelling, “come on Wade” from across the ring. Undertaker then signals for the chokeslam. Wade gets up and turns around and quickly throws himself down and rolls out the ring to take a breather.

Taker having none of that, exits the ring and makes his way to Barrett. Barrett then lands a huge kick, with deafening *clap*, into the stomach area of Taker, taking him down to his knees. And then Barrett capitalizes with a running knee to Taker’s skull, knocking Big Evil down. Barrett then goes and hammers the head of his opponent with his fists repeatedly. He then takes another moment to take a breather and rolls into the ring to break the referee’s count of 8, and rolls back out. Undertaker gets up and hits Barrett with a boot to the face. Taker then picks up Barrett, still on the outside, he drops Barrett on the announce table face first. Barrett then falling back pulls the hood of the table off. Undertaker then picks up Barrett and throws him into the ring. As he was about to enter the ring as well. Maxine, out of her own mind, yells some words at Taker, about 3 feet away from him. He then turns his head slowly and looks at her, which made her back off and back away. Taker then enters the ring.

Barrett gets up quickly, having enough time to rest and attacks Taker as he intended to drag his other foot in the ring and then Wade knees Taker in the ribs repeatedly, dropping him to the ground as he slipped his way through the ropes. Wade then picks Taker up and sets him up for Wasteland. With Taker on his shoulders, he elbows Barrett on his head and Barrett drops him. With both men on the floor. The referee begins his count.

1….2!….3!….4!….5!….6!….7!…

The crowd did not want the match to end in a draw, and Barrett was making his way to his feet first, breaking the referees count at 9. The crowd sighs in relief.

Undertaker then sits up. Barrett is surprised and he falls back to the ground out of the random moment. He goes to strike Taker again, landing a good shot in, but to no avail as Taker extends his hand and grips Wade’s throat, setting up for the chokeslam.

Maxine then pulls out what seems to be…brass knuckles. She throws them into the ring, intending for Barrett to receive them somehow, but he aim was off as it hit the Undertaker right in his skull, knocking him to the ground. The referee then calls for the bell, and Wade Barrett has lost this match due to disqualification. Barrett gives a pissed off look at Maxine, accusing her of causing him to lose this match, Maxine then snaps back at him saying that he shouldn’t have needed her help in the first place. The crowd’s boos soon turned to electrifying cheers as Undertaker sat up, with Barrett still in the ring; he quickly wears the brass knuckles and goes for a punch. Taker blocks it and finally, connects with the Chokeslam. Barrett then rolls out the ring, grimacing, looking back at Taker, who stood dominant in the ring. 

“The following contest is Divas match, scheduled for onefall.” Pourquoi?, the familier entrance music of Maryse made its out of the P.A. system. “Introducing first, from Montreal, Quebec, Canada…Maryse!” The French-Canadian bombshell made her way down the ramp, doing her signiture hand gestures. The blonde then made her way into the ring and performed her usual hair flip and sent the crowd a wink.

Tornado then echoed its way throughout the arena, signaling a wave of boos from the crowd. “And her opponent, from Palatka, Florida… Michelle McCool!” The camera then panned over to the entrance ramp, waiting for the diva. The lights then went dark and a spotlight appeared on the stage, where a sinister looking Michelle McCool was awaiting. Unlike before, she didnt perform her signature twirl on the ramp, but instead just made her way to the ring, with a smug look upon her face. Her attire was also different, Michelle had on a pair of camo skinny jeans and a military inspired black vest but paired it with her signature cross adorned wrestling boots.

Meanwhile while Michelle was stepping into the ring, Maryse was showing of her sex appeal to the crowd and performed another hair flip. Then seemingly out of nowhere, Michelle grabbed Maryse’s shoulder, turned her around and landed a european uppercut, sending Maryse crashing to canvas. The ref signaled for the bell and the match officially began. Michelle then got atop Maryse, ground and pound style and began wailing left hand after right hand before the ref pulled Michelle off, giving her a warning and giving Maryse a chance to stand. Just as Maryse rose to her feet, Michelle came up from behind and took out Maryse’s right knee. But then Maryse came back and swept Michelle’s legs out from under her. Maryse yanked on Michelle’s hair, pulling her closer and slammed her face into the mat. The French beauty then proceeded to step over Michelle and onto her back and locked in the Camel Clutch. Michelle, the taller of the two, used her long arms to her advantage and crawled her way to the front ropes and grabbed them. The ref then began counting, 1..2..3..4..

Maryse released Michelle before the ref was able to make the five count then grabbed a handful of Michelle’s hair and performed a Spinning Backbreaker and went for the pin..

1..

Michelle powered out. The leggy diva made her way to her feet and performed a series of clotheslines. Maryse tried to counter with a clothesline of her own but Michelle quickly did a baseball slide under the legs of Maryse. Maryse turned around to catch a belly to belly suplex from Michelle. Michelle then began focusing her attack on Maryse’s right leg, first with two elbow drops and then a quick single leg boston crab.

Michelle then rolled Maryse up and locked in her MADT Heel Hook. Maryse clawed and yelled in pain and Michelle tightened her submission even more. The French-Canadian could wraith in pain no longer and tapped out. The ref called for the bell to ring.

A mocking clap was heard as the cameras focused in on the backstage area, a warm smile captured on the face of Caylee Turner. A grunt filled the air as Caylee’s smile turned to an evidently melodramatic pout before she cocked her head to the side at the sight of the oncoming WWE champion.

“Bravo. You just confirmed what a sad, sad little fuck you are.” Caylee’s clap slowed down slightly as she curved her brow. “So very angry that Cody sent your little, filthy mutt back home. Did someone need a quiet hole because someone got a very sad call? I almost ache for you, baby…”

Slowly, Caylee reached out to touch Dean’s bare chest, but he almost immediately snatched her wrist, shoving her back slightly. His actions caused the Floridian to pout, “I’m gonna - “

“Cry?” Dean cocked his eyebrow upwards, reaching out to roughly wipe beneath the young woman’s eye. “What, Christina? Gonna go to that dark little corner to hide from all your failures? Hide from what’s happening Sunday, huh? Another loss. Not like anyone’ll be shocked, but - “

“How about you shut your fucking mouth before I shut it for you?” Caylee’s voice cut through the air with a harsh edge, her jaw visibly ticking at his statement.

“Hm? Don’t like hearing about your failures, Christina? History has this way of repeating itself, and it’s not like you’re much more than a second-rate version of your sister, so that says enough about you, doesn’t it?” His hand moved down to her jaw as he gripped it tightly, shaking her head up and down in a nod.

“…So true.” The evidently forced weakness in Caylee’s tone was strong as she frowned. “..You just know me so well… So how many more women’s love are you going to nearly die for trying to obtain, hm?”

“Had your’s, didn’t I? And then I took it, and broke it in two like it deserved to be.” Dean spat back, causing Caylee to roughly swat Dean’s hand away from her jaw. “Kills you, doesn’t it? Knowing everyone… every single person knows there’s light years better than you. Gonna be shown on Sunday, won’t it? Two losses to ol’ Britani Knight, bet that’s gonna break every little bit of confidence you have left, won’t it?”

“…I hope Seth breaks your neck and sends you back to Ohio with your tail between your legs.” The small quake in Caylee’s voice was hardly noticeable, but it managed to bring a smile to the face of the WWE champion.

“It’ll be the other way around, sweetcheeks.” Dean smiled, reaching back up to pat Caylee on the cheek before he brushed past her; shoulder checking her in the process. “I’ll send you all the pictures. Don’t you worry.. Gotta show I care.”

Caylee chuckled wryly, her hand clenching into a fist by her side before she took several strides forward; in the opposite direction that Dean was going before she paused. Craning her neck, she looked over her shoulder with a frown, “…Bet you feel really good about yourself knowing you’re just like her… But when I break Britani’s bones and get that goddamn title? I swear to you, Dean… I fucking swear. You’re next.”

Coming back from commercial, ringside seemed to be in a state of confusion. Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne stood in the middle of the ring, eyes trained on the titanatron which the camera view quickly switched to showing as well, showing none other than Cody Rhodes and Dean Ambrose in the process of beating down on Briley Pierce and Brad Maddox backstage. The commentators hurried to explain that during the break the number one contenders had missed their entrance to ringside, and that they were now seeing the reason why.

Backstage, Dean and Cody continued to beat down on the two contenders who were trying their best to fight back, but it was obvious that the ambush had placed and kept them at a distinct disadvantage. The cameras flashed back to ringside, where Kofi and Evan seemed on the brink of running backstage to aid the others, but it proved to be of no need as the officials finally managed to separate them.

“Ai! Making a mess of my show!” Alberto’s voice rang throughout the backstage area, highly displeased as the cameras panned to show him standing with Ricardo nearby. “What are you two pendejos doing?”

“Just having a quick word with these two before Sunday.” Dean responded, shrugging of Alberto’s glare with a smirk.

“You are holding up my show, perro.” The General Manager snapped in irritation, glaring between the two wrestlers before pointing down the hall. “Get to the ring!”

“No need to get snappy.” Cody cut across before Dean could respond, holding up his hands and stepping between the two.

“I work on my own schedule there, Berty.” Dean stated before reaching out to shove Cody down the hall before walking past him. “Let’s go, bitch-boy.”

Shooting a clearly displeased but resigned look at his tag partner, Cody followed along behind the WWE champion with a shrug at Alberto. The camera followed the two of them for a moment before focusing back on the General Manager and officials checking up on Briley and Brad.

Mere moments later, Dean’s music blared throughout the arena. Team Ambrodes was greeted with an explosion of boos and jeers from the crowd as they came out onto the stage. Surprisingly, the two men didn’t say a word to each other as they walked to the ring, not bothering with any special entrance other than Dean holding up his title for the world to see before climbing into the ring without a word, signaling he’d start the match off.

Evan met him in the middle of the ring, Kofi making sure there wouldn’t be any kind of ambushing from Cody before climbing out onto the apron. As the bell rang and the match started, Dean immediately began throwing punches at Evan. After taking a couple of hits, Evan managed to duck under Dean’s arm and ran to bounce off the ropes before going for a cross-body. Instead, however, Dean caught him in the air and countered into a body slam.

Not bothering with a pin, Dean stood up and circled Evan, making it obvious that he was simply toying around at the moment. The match continued on in this fashion for a couple of minutes before Dean seemed to have gotten his fill of action, turning away from Evan has he went for a tag with Kofi. Walking up to the corner, Dean and Cody had a brief stare down before the WWE champion smirked and tagged his partner in via a hard slap to the face, almost knocking Cody off the apron in the process.

The crowd received another surprise when Cody didn’t make any move to retaliate against the other man, not even sparing a passing glare at Dean as he left the ring. Instead, Rhodes simply recovered and spring-boarded himself inside the ropes. Kofi waited in the center of the ring, the two men sizing one another up before going for a tentative lock-up. Predictably, Cody bailed on the lock-up and instead opted to land a hard kick to his opponent’s midsection, quickly following up with a DDT and going for a pin, Kofi kicking out immediately to the surprise of no one.

Standing quickly, Cody landed a few kicks and stomps to Kofi before bouncing off the ropes and hitting a knee drop, once more going for a pin. Kofi again kicked out, the two opponents rolling away from each other and climbing to a stand on opposite sides of the ring, Cody smartly placing himself between Kofi and his corner. The two men locked up for real now, fighting for control with Kofi managing to force Cody into one of the empty corners.

Climbing up onto the turnbuckle, Kofi landed several hard hits to Cody’s head, the crowd enthusiastically counting every hit up to ten. From there, he preformed a monkey flip, sending Cody flying flat on his back in the middle of the ring and going for a pin. Cody kicked out at two and Kofi was quick to climb to his feet, tagging in Evan, who wasted no time going to the top turnbuckle.

Before anything else could be done, however, Rhodes smartly rolled away towards his own corner. However, he was met with the sight of Dean by the barricades, facing the crowd. The camera showed a quick zoom-in of Cody’s put out expression as he yelled at his teammate and was ignored. Exasperated but seeming resigned, Cody turned back to the match at hand.

He was met by an Enzuigiri from Evan. As he hit the mat, Bourne once again went to scale the turnbuckle, posing for the crowd before hitting Air Bourne. Going for the pin, Cody barely managed to kick out in time, rolling away and gripping the back of his head as he tried to regain his sense. Evan watched for a moment before looking over to Kofi, who was signaling for a tag.

Tagging the other in, Bourne went to grab Cody before he could finish recovering. Whipping him towards the opposite corner, Evan cheered right along with the crowd as Kofi connected with Trouble in Paradise before turning to lock eyes on none other than Dean Ambrose, who had finally seen fit to pay attention to the match up. As Kofi went for the pin Dean climbed up onto the apron with a mic in one hand, but didn’t move any further as Evan immediately placed himself between the WWE champion and the two men in the ring.

Smirking, Dean leaned against the top rope and seemed content to watch his tag partner be pinned for the three-count. As Air Boom’s music blared out over the speakers, Dean was slow to make his move climbing into the ring, keeping his eyes deliberately on the smaller of the tag team. There proved to be no need for a fight, however, as both Kofi and Evan retreated from the ring at the champion’s approach, leaving him to “check” on his teammate.

“What happened?” Dean spoke into the mic as he looked down at Cody, nudging the other lightly with his foot and acting as though he was genuinely confused. “I thought you had it under control, Lispy.”

Cody didn’t respond, merely grimacing and pressing a hand to his head, still recovering. Dean paused in whatever he was going to say long enough to reach down and half help, half drag the other man to his feet. As though brushing off dirt from the other, Dean roughly pounded Cody’s taped shoulder, smirking.

“Guess I should have checked with you first, but I didn’t think I needed to.” Dean finally spoke again, speaking deliberately as he kept his hand gripping the others right shoulder. Cody clenched his jaw, glaring silently at the other male but obviously refusing to retaliate at the moment and the WWE champion was all too happy to continue making his point. “Really fucking sucks when that happens, don’t you think? Doesn’t it just… Really… Piss you off?”