Halloween Battle 3
Eager to catch Match Seven from the start, Charlotte finished her meal with Charina in a hurry and headed with her to Charina’s locker room.
“Why the rush?”
“We have to watch the seventh match from the beginning.”
“The men’s four-on-four? Was that one really that big a deal?”
Wire 5 was famous enough, sure—but Charina could always rewatch the footage later when she went back over the matches. And if she was going to watch Wire 5 at all, it made more sense to catch Tashani and Anne’s bout instead. Charina, though, had shown almost no interest in that one.
“You’re going to be shocked when you see it. Ugh—this is the kind of match you really ought to watch from the stands. What a shame.”
Even when Charina had faced Charlotte herself, she hadn’t gotten this worked up. Charlotte found it a little strange, but she picked up her coffee and followed her to the locker room all the same. Her own room was far bigger and nicer, but guests would be pouring in there nonstop. Nobody was likely to come looking for Charina—so this was the better choice.
They arrived just in time. The Inquisitors and Heritage were already in the ring, and the members of Wire 5 were making their entrances one by one from the stage.
“Wire 5 is joined once again by Mickey Cross.”
“Mickey is almost guaranteed to throw some kind of wrench into the works.”
“Absolutely. She’s got guts, and she’s incredibly shrewd in the way she plays the game.”
It was billed as a four-on-four, but Mickey Cross—the woman acting as their manager—was a massive wild card. Wire 5 had become Tag Team Champions because of her, defended the titles because of her, and even won a Money in the Box contract for a championship shot because of her. The writers might hand her the scripts, but the cunning it took to execute them was something even Charlotte didn’t possess.
“You should meet Mickey Cross sometime. She’s worth knowing—plenty to learn from her. She even earned a doctorate from the University of Edinburgh.”
“I’d welcome anyone. Introduce me whenever you like.”
“I’ll set it up for tomorrow.”
“Thank you.”
Charina accepted so readily that Charlotte—who had been carefully floating the idea—was thrown off balance.
“Aren’t you taking that a little too easily?”
“I’m putting my faith in the name Charlotte Flair.” Charina gave a soft laugh.
“Ugh. Keep that up and someone’s going to scam you one of these days.”
“Oh, come on. And besides—aside from my house, I don’t really own anything.”
While the two of them talked, Wire 5 stepped into the ring.
“Strange. All the wrestlers are in, but there’s no referee.”
“You’re right. Is there a special guest referee?”
As the commentary landed, a familiar theme song blasted through the arena.
— Clang! Ba-bam bam ba-ba-bam— Clang! Ba-bam bam ba-ba-bam —
That alone was enough to send a roar through the crowd.
“Oh! Iron Cold! He’s here!”
“What a surprise package this turned out to be.”
Wearing the same knee-length jeans and knee pads he had in his prime, with a referee’s shirt pulled over them, Iron Cold Steven Borgus made his entrance.
“Rina! You knew about this!”
“I did. Team Leader Michaels told me last time. And the next match has a special guest referee too.”
“That old man—I’ve known him for years, and he didn’t say a word to me! So who’s the special ref for the next one?”
“Where’s the fun if I just tell you?”
“Hey! You could’ve just kept quiet, then!”
Charlotte almost swatted her, then looked at Charina’s face and held back.
“You’re too cute. I’ll let it go.”
“Hmm. Thank you.”
“As if a four-on-four wasn’t chaotic enough already—and now the referee is Borgus.”
“If he doesn’t like what he sees, he might drop a Stunner on anyone at any time. No exceptions. He won’t go easy just because Mickey Cross is a woman.”
“Exactly. His Stunner is equal opportunity.”
The match opened with Jake of Heritage against Gerrick Rowan of Wire 5.
“Ha. Both of them seem more worried about Borgus than about each other.”
“The pressure’s crushing them. You can’t explain that feeling in words—you have to stand in the ring with him to understand it.”
The camera cut to the judges’ table. Every single judge was watching the ring with a broad grin.
“Rina—so Borgus deliberately turned down a judge’s seat?”
“Apparently he said if all he was going to do was sit there and twirl a pen, he wasn’t coming at all.”
That made perfect sense. The man whose gimmick had been the blue-collar working man would never have suited a judge’s chair.
“That’s Borgus, all right.”
“You’ve met him a lot, haven’t you, Charlotte?”
“I saw him a few times when I tagged along with my dad, but it was just a couple of hellos. He wasn’t active anymore, and there wasn’t much reason for women’s wrestlers to cross paths with him. Same with the Deadman, same with Carter Angle. The fact that you ended up connected to Mick Foley is the real surprise.”
“I had no idea my teacher would keep doing outside work either.”
Charina called Mick Foley “Teacher”—an odd title. Charlotte suddenly wondered whether things might have been different if she had called other legends that herself. She shook her head and banished the thought.
At my age? Please. And there’s no one left I’d call that anyway.
Early on, the wrestlers hesitated, hyper-aware of Steven Borgus—but the match gradually found its rhythm. Charlotte hadn’t seen Matches Five and Six, but this was better than Match Three, at least. A brawl spilled outside the ring, and Borgus made it clear he couldn’t care less, keeping his eyes only on what was happening inside the ropes.
Billy of Heritage ate a surprise Spinebuster from Gerrick Rowan and became the first man counted out. That opened the floodgates. Next, Josh Casey of Wire 5 fell to a combined assault from James and Alf and was eliminated. Then Alf went down. And when Mickey tried to interfere with a pinfall on Dex Loomis, she walked straight into Borgus’s line of sight.
Mickey bolted in pure terror. Borgus—referee or not—climbed out of the ring and gave chase. The slapstick bit drew laughter from the crowd.
“I knew this was coming.”
“Hmm. It’s like Tom and Jerry out there. Mickey’s quick on her feet.”
“Let’s call it what it is—Borgus is just too slow. Ah! Mickey’s down! This is bad!”
Gerrick Rowan stepped in front of Mickey to protect her. Faced with a nearly two-meter, hundred-and-fifty-kilo giant, even the great Borgus seemed to raise both hands to his shoulders, smile, and back off.
“Age catches up to everyone. Even Borgus is putting his hands up and walking away.”
“Gerrick is big, I’ll give him that. It’s not just the height—the whole frame is— Wait. Of course. Borgus never just walks away!”
Feigning retreat, Borgus kicked him in the gut and planted a Stunner. When Gerrick didn’t go down clean and only staggered, Borgus hit him with another. Two shots, and Gerrick Rowan crumpled forward. Then Borgus grabbed Mickey Cross. He didn’t Stunner the hundred-and-fifty-five-centimeter Mickey—he simply hammered her once, and she went out cold.
Meanwhile, something had happened in the ring: Boing Dallas, Dex Loomis, and James were all down, and only Jake of Heritage was still on his feet. Jake, quick on the uptake, hauled Gerrick Rowan back into the ring and covered him. Borgus watched, smiling, and counted. Gerrick Rowan was out.
With the biggest, strongest man eliminated, Jake thrust both arms skyward in celebration.
“Boing Dallas and Dex Loomis versus Jake and James. Two-on-two—TPA still has a shot.”
Borgus hit Jake with another Stunner.
— Hey, kid! Nothing in this world comes free. —
“Is that just classic Iron Cold?”
“I got a bad feeling the moment he started counting with that smile. Now it comes down to which of the four left in the ring gets up first.”
“Haha! This is great!” Charina cheered, laughing like she meant every word.
“Ugh. You think this is fun? It’s a complete mess. The idea of actually working a match like that makes my skin crawl.”
“We’re the audience right now. And when are we ever going to see Borgus like this again?”
Well—she was a regular person until half a year ago. Of course this feels brand new to her.
Charlotte thought that to herself and kept watching. Boing Dallas and Dex Loomis were the first to rise. Working together, they eliminated James, then finished Jake to close out the match.
Four wins to three—Smash Down had pulled back ahead by one.
Two matches left. One was an Elimination Tag Match: Alicia Bliss, Nadia Jackson, and Vianna Belair versus Dorothy Oswalt, Olivia Peltz, and Selma G. The other was a Cage Match between Corey Rhodes and Michael Santana.
When Match Eight began, the referee entered first this time. The special guest Charina had mentioned was Metel McCool. The camera found the Deadman’s face.
“Looks like the Deadman had no idea his wife was coming. He’s completely thrown.”
“Haha! Even that cold-blooded man can make a face like that. Looks like he just got caught cheating.”
“Now that you mention it—yeah. And Harley Molina and Karish Stratus seem just as surprised. They’re lighting up.”
“She’s not as terrifying as Steven Borgus, but Metel McCool has a temper of her own. The women in this match need to be careful. You never know when that monstrous hammering punch or a DDT is coming.”
“Right. McCool’s got a punch that would shock most of the men on the roster.”
Charlotte knew more than most people, but these fine-grained booking details were beyond her. Charina, who was close with Jane, probably had a better line on them.
“They really put a lot into this PLE.”
“I heard those same legends are going to referee at The Live in Boston too.”
“For tag matches like this?”
Charina shook her head at once.
“No. For whatever matches they feel like refereeing.”
“Ugh. They’re lighting a fire under the whole roster.”
“Of course they are. Who wouldn’t want a legend in the ring with them?”
“Isn’t this supposed to be a secret?”
“They’re announcing it tomorrow after the Law and NEXT matches.”
Charlotte had the sudden, sinking feeling that the month until the next PLE was going to be the hardest month of her career.