Squash Match
It wasn't just Paul and the rest of management who had been waiting for Charlotte and Charina's match at this PLE.
The wrestlers themselves were just as invested.
Part of it was Charina's looks, sure, and that almost unbelievable power of hers. But the real reason ran deeper: Charlotte Flair — a woman who genuinely hated being booked against anyone who couldn't hang — had personally called Charina out and made the match happen.
The mere fact that Charlotte had acknowledged a rookie with only three matches under her belt was more than enough to set the locker room buzzing.
So it wasn't just the Smash Down roster watching. Law's wrestlers had their eyes locked on this one too, all of them packed into the special guest seating to take it in.
"She's the selling genius they keep talking about, right? Damn, she really can sell."
What is the one thing that makes wrestling fans lose their minds more than anything else?
A botch that blows a move? An actual shoot that lands for real?
No — fans actually love that stuff. It's the moment the show becomes real.
The most ridiculous thing to watch, from the cheap seats, is bad selling. Rolling around like you've been hit before the strike even lands. That kind of thing. The second the choreography starts looking pre-rehearsed, wrestling fans check out.
Charlotte was exceptional in her own right, but Charina took every move with perfect timing. Heavy shots got heavy reactions. Lighter ones got scaled to match.
"It's not just the selling, either. Her move set is deep, and it's clean. She looks like a ten-year veteran."
Heads nodded all around at that.
Charlotte fired back, driving Charina's face straight into the ring post.
"What the hell did she hit her with? Why does it sound like that?"
There wasn't a wrestler alive who hadn't taken a post shot. Normally you plant your palm on the steel and bounce your face off it. Everyone knew exactly what that sound was supposed to be. What they'd just heard was completely off.
When Charlotte hauled her up, Charina was pouring blood from both nostrils — not a trickle, but a faucet, streaming down her face.
"Botch, right?"
Stephen Baker asked it, and Vicky Lynch gave him a look that was half pity.
"Oh, come on. You really think Charlotte would be making that face if it was a mistake?"
Charlotte's expression was still blazing with heat from the earlier shot to her backside — pure, unfiltered rage.
She started slamming Charina's right shoulder into the ring post, over and over.
Every impact tore a scream out of Charina that sounded like she was coming apart.
"Her acting's gotten a lot better, too."
Stephen said it casually, and Lisa Rayple suddenly snapped.
"Goddamn it! This is so annoying!"
"What's your problem?"
"Ugh! I can't even wrestle her!"
Lisa Rayple was the current Law Women's World Champion. That meant she was almost certainly getting booked against Anne Clements, the TPA World Champion.
"Haah! Same boat. I'm stuck with Elizabeth."
When Vicky Lynch piled on, the others started getting loud.
"Hahaha! She's mine."
"You're joking! I'm taking that match. Japan versus Korea — that angle writes itself. So stay out of it, Chile."
Miyu Sky cut right across Stephen Baker's claim, declaring the match hers at full volume.
After working Charina's right shoulder for a while, Charlotte shoved her toward the steel steps.
The crowd kept booing, but Charlotte didn't seem to care. She drove Charina's shoulder into the post one more time, shoved her back into the ring, and climbed in after her.
"Yikes. She's terrifying."
"When Charlotte goes full rage mode as a heel, she really is scary."
"Haven't seen that version of her in a long time."
"First time since she stopped tagging with Alicia, probably."
Charlotte locked an armbar on Charina's right arm.
Through the referee's mic, their exchange blasted across the entire arena.
"Give up. Before I break the arm!"
"Fuck y…ou!"
"Oh yeah?"
Charlotte arched her back harder, cranking the hold, and Charina's screams only got louder.
But Charina refused to quit. She forced herself upright, bit by bit, until she was standing with Charlotte still hanging off her right arm.
The crowd erupted. Charina braced Charlotte with her left hand, hoisted her up, and drove her into the canvas.
The armbar didn't break on the first slam. It took a second one to free her.
"Lisa. Can you do that?"
"Lift Charlotte? No chance. Maybe Miyu could?"
"Ah — wait, Miyu couldn't either these days. She's put on weight, right?"
"Excuse me? I have not!"
Miyu snapped, but nobody looked at her. Every pair of eyes was still glued to the ring.
Charina wiped her nose with the back of her hand, clutched her right shoulder, and stepped back outside. She walked over to the announce table, grabbed a commentator's water bottle, and dumped it over her face. She scrubbed with her left hand until some of the blood finally washed away.
"Damn. That's cool."
"Whose idea was that showmanship? That's pure gold."
"The charisma is insane. I think I'm falling for her."
The blood was gone, but the right arm still looked wrecked — she kept holding the shoulder with her left hand.
The second Charlotte recovered enough to climb down, Charina used the steps to beat her back into the ring. She tried to kick Charlotte on the way in for a cheap shot, but Charlotte slipped it cleanly, caught the leg, and punched her right in the injured shoulder.
Charina staggered back, clutching the shoulder again — but the venom in her eyes hadn't dimmed at all. She set her left foot forward, angled her body to protect the right side, and stared Charlotte down.
Charlotte charged first. Of course she went after the right side.
Rebound off the ropes, shoulder-to-shoulder charge into the bad arm. Charina hit the mat, and Charlotte dropped knees into the shoulder — one, two, three.
Then, looking ready to finish it, she clamped Charina's head between her thighs and yanked her up.
Charina used the momentum and hit a Hurricane Rana.
One.
Two.
Charlotte kicked out, thrashing her legs free just in time.
"She's good. Their chemistry is locked in."
"Agreed. Charlotte knew what she was doing when she picked her."
"This match quality is almost too good to burn on a mid-card PLE. They could've saved this for WrestleMaster."
The women watching kept talking over each other.
"Ha! Think she'll come over to Law eventually? Vicky, work some magic."
Lisa Rayple said it, and Vicky Lynch shook her head.
"You know how it works. Even with scenario adjustment rights, that kind of call is way above my pay grade. Jack Cena couldn't have pulled it off even when he was active. And if I had that kind of power, Charlotte would have it too — you think she'd just sit there? She'd drag Charina to Smash Down no matter what it took."
As she said it, Vicky glanced toward the judges' table. Unlike matches one through three, every single judge was watching with bright, locked-in eyes. Even they could tell this one was something else.
But Charina's comeback ended with the Hurricane Rana.
Charlotte hit two power slams in a row, then stuck a spear. From the moment Charina's nose started bleeding, the match had become a one-way street — a squash match.
Charlotte climbed the top rope and stood with her back to the ring.
"Moonsault?"
"It's over."
Charlotte jumped. The moonsault crashed onto Charina's chest. Cover.
One.
Two.
Charina hooked her leg over the rope. The ref called the rope break immediately.
"What? It's not over yet? What's left after that?"
Charlotte tore at her own hair in frustration when the three-count didn't come, looking like a woman genuinely trying to figure out what else she had to do to win this thing.
Then she seemed to make a decision. She stomped Charina's right shoulder one more time, hauled her up, and clamped a hand around her throat.
"Chokeslam?"
The words were barely out before Charlotte hoisted Charina and drove her into the canvas.
Some of the same fans who had been booing Charlotte all night started cheering her.
Charlotte covered again.
One.
Two.
Three.
The bell rang.
The winner call brought a fresh wave of boos crashing down.
Charlotte scanned the crowd, then took the mic from the ring announcer.
The crowd answered with a roar of yeses and more boos.
"If this had been a regular match — hell, even a championship match — I wouldn't have done it this way."
"Right now, we are at war."
"In a war, you do everything you can. You win however you have to win."
"My honor doesn't matter. Am I wrong?"
"She talks a good game. Charlotte."
"She's right, though. We are at war."
Stephen and Lisa were saying as much when Charina got back to her feet and stood right behind Charlotte.
The chokeslam impact must have stopped the bleeding for a second, but it had started again — blood dripping from around her mouth all the way down onto her chest.
"What the hell? She looks terrifying. Like a killer."
"Ugh. I'd be scared to see that in a dream."
"I just won Match Four and made the score three-to-one."
"Our Smash Down has already taken one loss to TPA. We cannot afford another."
"We've lost enough. I sincerely hope we sweep the remaining five and close this out with an eight-match win streak."
The second Charlotte finished and turned, Charina kicked her in the gut, locked in a Stunner, and dropped her to the mat. Charlotte's body bounced hard off the canvas from the surprise attack.
Charina clutched her right shoulder and made her way to the top rope. She jumped backward, flipping her body through a full 270 degrees, and crashed chest-first onto Charlotte in a curve so clean it was almost beautiful.
The one who took the hit was Charlotte — but it was Charina who screamed and rolled across the canvas. The landing must have torn into that right shoulder all over again.
Only then did the referee and the medical team flood the ring and pull them apart.
The medics tried to check how bad Charina was hurt, but she waved them off and climbed out of the ring. She picked up her skateboard in her left hand, turned back, and fixed Charlotte with a look sharp enough to cut steel — like she was deciding whether to climb back in.
The crowd held its breath. This was a woman who had already shown, more than once, what she could do with a board to someone's head. They fully expected her to do it again.
Then she shook her head, stepped onto the board, and rolled slowly toward the backstage curtain.
The wrestlers who had been holding their breath finally found their voices.
"Match Five is Jay Wood, right? Poor guy. What the hell is he supposed to do after that?"
"I don't care how famous 'YEET' is — this one's going to bury him."
"Yeah. Completely lost under this match."
"I'm just amazed a squash match can even look like that."
"You call that a squash match? Absolutely not."
They said it while quietly thanking whatever booking gods had kept them out of the next match — and at the same time, a fierce hunger to wrestle Charina themselves started rising in every one of them.