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plentyoffandoms · 2 years

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Cash Wheeler x f/Reader (18+)

Warnings: Some swearing. Descriptive sexual acts. Minors do not read.

This has not been proofread.

Gifs & photos do not belong to me.

Requested by @1rsolideranna (sorry, it won't let me tag you)

I hope you like it

Main Masterlist ♡ AEW Masterlist ♡ Cash Wheeler Masterlist

Daniel - Cash Wheeler ☆ David - Dax Harwood ☆ Austin - Luchasaurus

Summary: f/Reader is a wrestler & is also an actress. Her & Cash both like eachother but something always seems to come up & they never seem to get together. After one night of the both of them winning, they decide to tell the other one how they feel.

Cash Wheeler's POV:

I watched as YN was talking with Jade. It was nice to see her back after her taking time off to pursue her other dream.

Watching as YN went and did movies and TV shows was great but I have missed her. We were always close and we didn't go long with out seeing one another.

But when she decided to pursue acting and she told me she already had a role in a new movie, I was excited for her but I was also sad because she told me she would be gone for almost six months.

I tried to not let her being gone affect me but even David knew I wasn't being myself and finally asked me what was wrong.

So I told him. I told him how much I was missing her and how much I hate her being gone.

He told me I should call her and tell her how I feel because someone may come along and she may end up dating them.

When I tried calling her, it would go straight to her voicemail and I chickened out. I just told her that I missed her and hope she remembers to watch David and I the next day.

Sadly the next day was the day I got injured, when the hook stabbed my arm.

I was rushed to the hospital and I stayed there over night. When it was time for me to leave, I decided to do my recovery back home in Asheville, North Carolina.

I was expecting to arrive at my home and to be greeted by my family. I was not expecting to find YN sitting on my front porch, talking with my Mom.

I was barely out of the car and YN had her arms around me, pulling me into a bone crushing hug.

"Are you okay Daniel? It was all over the Internet and David called me and told me what happened." YN said into my chest as she just held me.

I had to tell her over and over again that I was fine, but she didn't leave my side until she had to leave me once more to finish filming the movie.

That morning as the two of us were waiting for the Taxi to show up, I finally did something I never thought I would ever do.

I kissed her. I poured my heart and soul into that one kiss, never wanting it to end. But sadly her ride showed up and YN had to leave.

That was about four months ago and she has been back for about a week now. Training and catching up with all of her friends and family.

But she made sure to come and see me and to spend time with David and I, but even I knew something changed between the two of us.

"What the hell is going on now? It's like you declared your love for her and she can't stop looking at you like you hold up the moon and stars just for her."

"Nothin is going on. We just got closer is all."

"Mmhmm." Was all he said, while looking at me.

"We kissed but nothing came out of it." David hit me upside the head calling me an idiot for not telling him.

"When did I have to run my romantic life by you?" I asked him as I rubbed the back of my head.

"Since I am the one who is married and has a beautiful daughter." I ignored him because I didn't want to listen to anymore of advice.

I went back to my phone and noticed the time. YN was due to go on and cue her theme song.

I watched her match on the TVs that were set up in the back and cheered for her as she won.

The crowd was screaming her name as her hand was held up as the victor. A few moments later, she was in front of me and we once again hugging.

A few of our friends watched us as we hugged just a tad too long, but I just closed my eyes and pulled her into me.

YN's POV:

As I hugged Daniel, I didn't want to let him go. After he kissed me that only time, I didn't want to leave him.

If anything I wanted to stay with him and show him how much he means to me. How much I care for him.

How much I love him.

But I never did and since I have been back, we really haven't got a chance to even talk about that kiss or what it even ment.

So I will just take a hug from him for now. But that moment was cut as it is now his match. David and him had a match against Jack and Austin.

So as I let him go, I watched as he went the same way I just came. Then cheering the two of them on as I watched them on the TV.

I practically screamed as they won. I knew how hard they have been working and training for this.

I know Daniel doesn't have hundred percent of his strength back yet but he did amazing. I practically leaped into his arms as they ran backstage. I kept congratulating him over and over again.

I really was proud with how far he has come with his recovery.

David had to pry me off of Daniel so a bunch of us could get cleaned up and go out for a late night dinner.

Which had Daniel and I sitting next to one another and our hands were always touching. Jade kept looking at the two of us.

Earlier she asked me if the two of us would get together and I was honest with her and told her I have no idea.

But tonight I am hoping that will all change. I made sure I got my own room and I was going to invite Daniel up to see if he wants to talk.

Which is how I got him in my room, but the door was barley closed behind him and I was kissing him.

The moan that left his lips had me whimpering. Daniel had his hands on my hips as he walked the two of us towards the bed.

The back of my legs hit the bed and he pulled away for us to catch our breaths. I looked into to his eyes and I just knew with how he was looking at me I wasn't going to leave this room until I was completely satisfied.

He took a step back and undressed as quick as he could, almost tripping over himself as his foot got stuck in his pants.

I just had my clothes off as Daniel started to kiss up my body. Leaving his mark all over me, one bite at a time.

His mouth just reached mine as he slowly pushed two of his fingers into my pussy and started to thrust them in and out of me, stretching me at the same time.

I was moaning and gasping into his mouth as he did this, already so close. My breathing picked up as I got closer and closer to cumming just from his fingers alone.

But he pulled away just as I was almost there and I cried out.

"I was so close Daniel, please."

"Don't worry pretty girl. I got you." I looked down between our bodies as I felt his cock at the entrance to my pussy.

My eyes bugged out at the sheer size of him, wondering how the hell he was going to fit, but I didn't have to wait.

My mouth fell open as he slid into me, so slow. Inch by agonising inch until he was fully inside of me.

Daniel was kissing me, praising me for taking him so well.

I felt like I was getting drunk off of his kisses, his praises and his cock.

I whined as he pulled out until the tip was the only part still inside of me. I held my breath as he slowly slid back into me.

Daniel went slow until I was begging for him to go faster and he did just that.

He gripped both of my legs in his hands and practically folded me in half as he slammed into me over and over again.

The bed was hitting the wall and the only thing I could say was his name over and over again.

The only sounds in the room were us breathing, moaning, gasping and his hips slamming into me over and over again.

With a shout of his name, I came. I came so hard that I actually blacked out for a moment.

I came back to him jerking himself off onto my stomach. Atleast one of us could think straight.

I was still shivering from the aftermath of my intense orgasm as he got a towel and cleaned me off.

Daniel lifted my limp body and placed me under the blankets. Him getting in bed next to me, slipping his arm around my waist.

I fell asleep, hoping he will still be here when I wake up in the morning.

Tag List: if you would like to be added, please let me know. @lghockey @wwenhlimagines @hungmanhorsecarriage @ecarroll1978 @anaeve @crowleysqueenofhell @thenerdybaker523

#aew #all elite wrestling #reader imagine #female reader #reader insert #cash wheeler imagine #cash wheeler smut #cash wheeler x reader smut #cash wheeler #cash wheeler fanfic.#cash wheeler x you #cash wheeler x female reader #cash wheeler x reader #cash wheeler x f/Reader

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omegatheunknown · 3 years

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AEW ALL OUT 2021

In which, not to get ahead of myself here, AEW puts on one of the best major wrestling shows in several years*, following the simple yet effective principle of giving the people what they want and sending everyone home happy and hungry for more.

- The incredibly 'Nitro' ending of the go-home Dynamite, which ran a little long on the 'heels beat everyone up and strut around like assholes almost too in desperate need of comeuppance' bit, short of garbage raining into the ring, did actually increase the heat for both promoted matches. Again, not rocket science, but executed perfectly. Catharsis was on the card, and catharsis went over several times Sunday. - Again, it's time to move on from the Casino theme, shuffling the deck and drawing suits really only detracted from the Battle Royale and seemingly always throws the production crew a curve. If they haven't hammered it by now, it's not going to happen. - Bit unhappy about the PAC/Andrade situation, but still over the moon with Andrade's promo style and Chavito being unhelpful at best.

*Pre-Card

Best Friends and Jurassic Express v The Hardy Family Office and The Hybrid 2 (**) - Not usually much to say about a loaded-up multiteam boondoggle, particularly when the show has yet to begin, but there were some moments worth sitting up to take notice -- there's a lot of talent in the ring, even if Jack Evans/Angelico aren't going to be more than mid-level mooks, little matchups with guys like Luchasaurus and Chuck Taylor are opportunities for innovative/weird spots. - Really this match exists to show-off Jungle Boy, play his theme song twice, and work him in to the aforementioned spots. I don't rightly know what Jungle Jack's ceiling is, but it sort of feels like he's plateauing, at least this version of himself. - Dan Lambert thing is interesting in that it doesn't seem to easily lead to something obvious... I mean who are Scorp and Ethan Page feuding with by proxy here, the concept of contemporary professional wrestling? Orange Cassidy and Kenny Omega?

*Main Card

Miro (C) v Eddie Kingston for the TNT Championship (***1/2) - 'Redeem Deez Nuts' T-shirts now available -- and made immediately redundant now that Miro has graciously redeemed Eddie's nuts. - Imagine looking at Miro, listening to Miro talk, and not really being able to figure out this guy is money. Also imagine panicking when he took a little while to find his groove in AEW. 'The Redeemer' is both entertaining and terrifying, and this match delivered heavily on the promise of two big fellas smacking together repeatedly. - Not only does Eddie's arsenal of power moves target Miro's neck, he may also be quite difficult to put in the full reclined camel clutch. Or he'd quite literally snap in half. It didn't come to that. - Weird heel turn by Bryce's attention span and the overall weirdness of the finish is all that kept this from being an excellent match, otherwise this was a tremendous curtain jerker and started off a dangerously fun run of pure adrenaline.

Jon Moxley v Satoshi Kojima (****) - The stakes were nebulous, the build was abrupt, yet this was a fantastic match and tremendous showcase for an underappreciated great who has been more or less just toiling for a bunch of years as a NJPW Dad. Same deal for Nagata, and I assume Tenzan is the same, Taka Michinoku even -- let's see it. - I have to assume the Cozy Lariat might have put Mox down, but Kojima otherwise played the hits (Koji Cutter, Piledriver, Brainbustaaaa) in a big way and Moxley once again proved he's become a very well-rounded wrestler who can match the intensity of just about any former IWGP champion. - More to the point-- KAZE NI NARE -- out of nowhere, too. Or out of nowhere to those not paying attention to the whereabouts of Minoru Suzuki (Right, he's just over here to fight Daniel Garcia and not Mox?), which I guess is to my own peril. Wow, though. Surprise Number 1- a complete surprise, and a welcome one. Let's have it.

Dr Britt Baker, DMD (C) v Kris Statlander for the AEW Women's Championship (****) - I love Kris and her best friends but she didn't have a prayer of dethroning Britt. She got one promo, several weeks ago, and though she did make a meal of Hayter and Rebel, the chase has been abrupt and not given much discussion, other than Mark Henry and whomever else acknowledging what is extremely evident -- Statlander is stronger than she looks, and she looks really strong. They've got her doing Cesaro-level 'modify your grip while holding your opponent's entire weight' nonsense, and it's amazing and scary. - Even with the reign of the good doctor not being credibly threatened, this was an excellent match that demonstrated the continued growth of the competitors in the women's division, even as it underlined that their storylines remain undercooked and perfunctory: Orange Cassidy whipping off his shades to urge Stat to get up was a beautiful moment. Britt's Panama Sunrise, also, too sweet. Statlander eating shit on her 451 and her pendulum moonsault was properly brutal, as were Britt's curb stomps. Really great match between these two. - Again, if they had bothered to write anything into this story, such as Kris' alien physiology making her immune to the lockjaw or something... actually, maybe that's a terrible idea. it's an idea. Undefeated challenger is defeated, on to the next for Dr Britt. Statlander and OC should tag against some of the boys.

The Young Bucks (C) v The Lucha Bros for the AEW World Tag Team Championship(*****+) - Can't not mention the insane entrance lined up for Fenix and Penta. It was bewildering, it was enchanting, it was aggressive, it was hype. It also reminded everybody how very badly we all wanted the Lucha Bros to win. The crowd has been setting new peaks with their volume since Punk showed up, but things were absolutely thunderous and ecstatic at the end of this match. Absolutely valid response. I yelled on the couch. - Nick's facial hair was a bigger tell that it was time for the Bucks to lose than anything else about this build. There's literally nowhere to go from there -- they've done the hair, the bandanas, the kicks, the animal print, the dangly earrings -- peak visual heel for this time and place. - Sincerely thought this was going to be too much of a full sprint spot-fest (the PWG-esque circle of trading blows is not really 'my thing') but even so they kept finding gears, and ramping and ramping and adding blood and brutality along the way. Even a bit of levity, with the tacked up sneaker, followed by the sincerity of Penta throwing himself in harm's way to protect his brother. Immense match, I think you'd have to go back to the Bucks vs the Addiction and MCMGs Ladder War to find a more thrilling tag team gimmick match. - If there's a single flaw to be found it's in the production not really settling on wide angles for simultaneous action at the start of the match. They figured it out. - Rey Fenix is the best luchador in the world.

Women's Casino Battle Royale (**1/2) - If nothing else, this really shows off that they now have a surplus of women's wrestlers who deserve time to hang in the ring. Unsurprisingly, the match picked right up when Thunder Rosa and then Jamie Hayter got to the ring, with additional props to Tay Conti and Jade Cargill, who was dumped rather unceremoniously given her general booking... - Okay, there was something else. Welcome to the rechristened Ruby Soho, who I've not seen a lot of outside of her extremely limited showcase in WWE, but she has so many friends in the back and in the industry and that's never for nothing, not in wrestling, anyway. Intrigued to see where she fits, and if the women ever get more than a match per show. - Touched on this in the preamble but this was the roughest part of the night for the home viewer, just weird decisions on cutting away from various entrances to show... nothing in particular happening. Also while the commitment to not-kayfabing the countdown clock is... admirable? It makes the pacing hinky. - Almost everyone who got new gear for tonight was looking like the white ranger -- Nyla, Swole, Bunny, someone I'm missing. Except Anna Jay, whose stars and glitter gear looked great.

MJF v Chris Jericho for the fate of Jericho's in-ring career (***) - MJF's unauthorized homage to Y2J's entrance: good. Fozzy's guitarist going off tempo with the instrumental Judas: weak, and would've been sad if this were the end for Jericho. Especially as the build has felt... muted, somehow. - Props to the commentary for continuing to feed the red herring of 'in AEW,' as a caveat to stipulation, it did feel like... a remote possibility that MJF would win. - Credit to Aubrey for calling this one down the middle and not putting the fix in for her friend Jericho, and I guess the Dusty finish will give MJF plenty to gripe about. - MJF wrestles with a pure heel style, holds, chops, blocks, and Jericho is fifty years old, so the level of wrestling on exhibition in these matches is well beside the point. It was solid to good, and I was fighting burn out from the first half of the card's level of excitement.

CM Punk v Darby Allin (***1/2) - There are a couple benefits of Darby as a dance partner, and it's certainly better than having to watch Punk return against like, QT Marshall or Shawn Spears. Darby does make everyone look slow, but he can also be tossed around, and this raises his profile even in defeat, obviously. That said, the stakes here are... meta, at best, in that we want to see the man look good and justify the hype. It's a weird thing to root for. He certainly does look good. (Tights? Tights!) - It's fun to theorize about actually booking an angle where Punk is rusty and needs to regain his prowess, and maybe he'll stumble, but maybe the most we get out of that angle is hitting the GTS a little close to the ropes so Darby falls right out of the ring, in what was, for me, the spot that justified this whole match. - Sting's proud step-dad aura is still a hell of a thing, I really liked the end of the match kudos all around. - Match was good, hard to hang my emotions on. I wasn't watching WWE when Punk was in WWE. Definitely feeding off the excitement of others a bit here, and he sure can talk. I'd like to see him cultivate a stable, certainly.

Paul Wight v QT Marshall (n/r) - ...popcorn match? QT Marshall is like the anti-Daniel Garcia in that while his prominence and presence is just as inexplicable, I don't want it to continue, and he doesn't justify it in the process. - Match was two minutes longer than it needed to be.

Kenny Omega (c) v Christian Cage for the AEW World Championship (****1/2) - Crowd was both burnt out and more or less waiting for the post-match angle. Which I get. it's hard to cruise to the main event and having seen all the different things we've already seen on this card, even a singular performer like Kenny Omega and a legend with whom he (surprisingly? fittingly?) has superb chemistry with in Christian Cage were up against it to deliver something memorable. - Context dependent, I can definitely see rating this below their Rampage match, especially since... I mean Christian isn't winning the AEW title off Kenny at this or probably any other event. - But! It was really good! It was very good! They really do match-up well, and Kenny's v-trigger has rarely looked more devastating than when it knocks Christian flat. Christian got cut open in a novel and initially worrying way, and Kenny followed up a botched moonsault with a harder version of the same move off a rail, but it was a really great match and it deserved more energy than was available.

Post-Show - Calling back and inverting the end of Dynamite, The Elite strut about the ring, slightly less stoked than they were on Wednesday, but with the Bucks smiling through the pain, and Jungle Boy once again subjected to violence for his misguided heroism, Kenny 'not much a promo' Omega lays down a killer line about nobody being fit to challenge him who isn't unavailable, already tired or dead. - The Undertaker ADAM COLE, BAY BAY as Surprise #3 was a minor stroke of brilliance, and a fun swerve because while it's exciting to see him, his appearance at this point in the narrative does nothing to solve the problem of The Elite beating up Christian and Jungle Boy. Unless he's still sore about his unsolved murder, which he isn't. Storytime with Adam Cole is back and it's beautiful. Also Jungle Boy died for this. - Okay. But. Just. Okay. CM Punk and Bryan Danielson are All Elite. They will hopefully tag together. Bryan will head to NJPW, almost definitely. Minoru Suzuki just walked in and started slugging on Mox. The Forbidden Door is wide open. Will Kenny Omega one day return to Wrestle Kingdom? There are so many possibilities and they are all very exciting. This was a phenomenal show and it didn't have Hangman Page, Cody Rhodes, FTR, Santana and Ortiz, PAC, Andrade, Sammy Guevara, Team Taz, and the rest.

- Wrestling is good, actually. Imagine watching like five hours of wrestling and loving wrestling at the end of it.

*What competes- WK11, Dominion 2018, 2019, DoN 2019, 2021.. All-In, probably. Wrestlemania 30. A few Takeovers. Kris Wolf's retirement show...

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debbiechanclub · 3 years

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“Bar Bingo” - Trent x OFC

Here’s the promised BTOOT-iverse Christmas fic, a couple days late. But better late than never, right? Plus I actually love how it turned out, and I sincerely hope you all do too 😊. For those familiar with my and @hotyeehawman‘s fic, “Best Two Out of Three,” (a.k.a. BTOOT), this fic takes place before the start of BTOOT, in December 2019. And for those of you who have been aching for some Trent/Alex... this one’s for you.

If you’re NOT familiar with BTOOT, don’t worry; this fic stands alone. But if you like it and want to check out the main fic, you can find my masterlist here.

Alright, enough rambling. Enjoy!

“Bar Bingo,” a BTOOT Christmas fic

Theme: @12daysofchristmas Day 7 - Holiday Dinner/Party & Day 8 - Fireplace/Stockings

Fandom/Character(s): AEW/Best Friends and Orange Cassidy... with some Trent x OFC 👀

Warnings: Cursing, alcohol use, a teeny bit of angst

Word Count: 3.2k

Tag squad: @freshlysqueezedmox @champbucks @comeasyoudar @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @librathepheonix13 @gabbynorth98 @exe-sadboi-exe @bec0m

There had been a time when Alex didn’t really care for Christmas. She wasn’t a Scrooge, per se, but it was far from her favorite holiday. She’d never believed in Santa Claus; she didn’t have family Christmas traditions; cheesy Hallmark movies made her cringe. But, over the last few years, she’d found herself getting more and more into the Christmas spirit—and there was one newly created tradition she looked forward to in particular: the ugly sweater bar crawl with the boys.

“What d’you think?” Chuck proudly held out his arms as he stood next to Orange, showcasing their knit sweaters. Orange’s was green and red and said, “Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal,” while Chuck’s was black and read, “Buzz, Your Girlfriend, Woof!” A wide smile spread across Alex’s face. They hadn’t intentionally both picked Home Alone-themed sweaters—it had just happened.

“Perfect,” she nodded in approval. “Now if only someone hadn’t missed the Christmas movie memo.”

They all looked pointedly at Trent. Whereas Alex’s sweater also referenced a Christmas classic—red and white with an RV and “Shitter’s Full” knitted across the front—Trent’s black sweater featured a pair of red and green Christmas ornaments and simply said, “Balls.”

“There was no memo,” he defended. “It’s not my fault the three of you share a brain cell.”

“Oh no, that’s bullshit,” Chuck shot. “I told you the three of us got movie sweaters. You could have gotten that light-up sweater with the leg lamp from A Christmas Story!”

“Not for seventy bucks!”

Alex’s eyes widened. “Seventy bucks?”

“Yeah!”

“Oh.”

“You could have gotten one of the other Christmas Vacation ones and matched with Alex,” Orange pointed out.

“Yeah, we could have matched, Trent,” Alex piled on.

But Trent just stared blankly back at them. “I liked this one.”

She gave him an overly sweet smile in return. “Well, it’s very you. I’ll give you that.”

“Uh, yeah. That’s why I got it, Alex,” he obviously stated. She just shook her head at him. They’d be going back-and-forth all night. They always did whenever they drank together.

“Alright, well are we going?” she asked with a look at the time on her phone. “I wanted a buzz twenty minutes ago.”

“I’ll give you a Buzz,” Chuck exaggeratedly returned. He pointed at his sweater, an excited, goofy grin on his face. “Huh? Huh?”

But the awful dad joke didn’t get the pop he wanted. “No,” Jim said. Chuck’s face fell.

“Y’all suck.”

“Balls,” Trent added, right on cue. It made Alex and Orange both audibly smirk.

“That’s what you laugh at?” Chuck incredulously proclaimed. “Alright, let’s go, I need a drink.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Two bars in and on their way to the third, everyone was feeling toasty and bright as they made their way down Market Street in Philadelphia’s Center City District. Festive lights, wreaths, and decorations adorned the trees and storefronts, and there was a definite feeling of Christmas in the air. Alex loved Philadelphia at Christmas. It was one of the reasons her heart had warmed to the holiday.

She looped her arm through Trent’s and hugged herself close as they walked, hoping to steal some of his body heat to ward off the bite in the air. They’d all opted to leave their coats behind, not wanting to deal with constantly taking them on and off and likely having to hold them all night. Thankfully, it wasn’t freezing, and the alcohol in their systems helped. But Alex knew she’d feel it in her bones by the end of the night.

“Remind me what we still need in bar bingo?” she asked. Bar bingo was a game they’d made up a while ago: if they could spot people with or wearing five specific items, they’d all take a shot. And they’d given it a Christmas twist tonight.

“Well, we already got the lumberjack beard and Santa hat,” Chuck counted off on his fingers. “So, we still need someone ‘suited up,’ someone wearing a black and red checkered flannel, and someone other than us wearing an ugly sweater.”

“We’re not gonna get the ugly sweater,” Trent pessimistically commented. “We’re the only idiots out here drinking in ugly Christmas sweaters.”

Alex pouted. But then she had a thought. “What if I took mine off and put it on someone else? Would that count?”

“Yes,” Orange immediately answered. It earned him a sidelong glance from Chuck.

“As much I would like to see that,” Trent said, “I’m not trying to get kicked out of a bar tonight.”

“I’m sure you would like to see it,” Alex returned with a flirty grin. “But you wouldn’t, and we wouldn’t get kicked out. I’m wearing a tank top underneath. This sweater is scratchy.”

The corners of Trent’s mouth turned down. “Well, that’s disappointing.”

They arrived at their third stop, a two-level Irish pub that was Alex’s favorite spot of the night. It was homey and warm and inviting and always a good time. It was where she always wanted to go whenever she was in town.

Chuck leaned into her to be heard over the din of talking and live music that filled the pub. “I doubt they are, but you want me to see if one of the tables by the fireplace upstairs is available?”

“Please,” she returned. She really hoped one was available; sitting by a fire sounded perfect. “I’ll get the drinks this round.” She turned to Trent. “Come help me carry them.”

She grabbed his wrist and pulled him with her to the bar, wedging herself in between a middle-aged couple and a group of twenty-somethings. It was crowded, and Trent had to come up close behind her, his chest brushing her back. “What do you want?” she asked him.

“The usual.”

One of the bartenders came around and nodded and smiled in greeting, remarking that it had been a while since he’d seen them and complimenting both their sweaters with an amused smirk. Alex thanked him and ordered all their drinks. As he walked away, she maneuvered to retrieve her phone from her back pocket. She froze when she saw the screen. She had a text. From Kenny.

You look cute in your ugly sweater.

Alex felt a rush of heat under her collar. She’d figured Kenny would see the selfie she’d posted to Instagram—maybe even hoped he would—but she hadn’t thought he would say anything. She didn’t know what to make of it. It swelled old feelings inside her that she’d been trying to ignore the last few weeks. She blamed the holidays. No one wanted to be alone during the holidays, and she and Kenny had ended their fling right before the start of cuffing season. She tried to tell herself that that was why she’d found her thoughts turning to him in quiet moments recently: she didn’t actually miss him—she missed the idea of him. An idea that he wasn’t even willing to give her.

“You’re not talking to him again, are you?”

Trent’s question drew her out of her thoughts. He’d seen the text. He and Chuck knew about all she’d gone through with Kenny. She locked her phone and placed it face down on the bar top. “No. I’m not,” she answered. But she’d be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about it.

Trent moved closer behind her. Whether intentionally or not, he placed one hand on her hip while he held the other out in front of her. “Give me your phone.”

She twisted to give him a bewildered look. “What? Why?”

“Because. You’re a drunk texter. Even if you say you don’t, I know you want to text him back. And then you’ll probably end up saying something you regret in the morning.”

Alex chewed at her lip and glanced down at her phone. As much as she didn’t want to admit it… he was right. So she picked it up and reluctantly handed it over. Trent squeezed her hip as he took it from her.

“Trust me, you’ll thank me later.”

The bartender set their drinks in front of them, and after Alex paid, they grabbed them and weaved through the crowd to head upstairs. They saw a man in a suit as they went, and Alex turned to give Trent an excited smile—that was one more off the bar bingo list. She was even more excited to find Chuck and Orange sitting at one of the tables next to the double-sided fireplace.

“The people sitting here were leaving just as we got up here, so we snagged it,” Chuck explained. “And… one of them was wearing a black and red flannel.”

“Really?!” Alex proclaimed as she sat down across from him, handing him his drink. “We saw a guy suited up on the way up here.”

“That just leaves the ugly sweater then,” Orange noted. He nudged his chin at Alex. “Pop yours off and put it on someone, I wanna do a shot.”

She smirked at she brought her drink to her lips. “Maybe after this round.”

* * * * * * * * * *

They were supposed to go to one more bar after the pub, but Alex had lobbied for them to stay put. The fire was warm, the atmosphere was lively, the music was good, and the drinks were hitting. She didn’t want to go anywhere. Not until last call forced them back to Chuck’s place.

“What’s taking Jim so long?” she impatiently wondered aloud. Orange had offered to get the next round, and he’d been gone a good fifteen minutes at least. She craned around the fireplace to see if she could spot him at the bar, but she couldn’t get a good enough view. “He’s killing my vibe.”

Suddenly, Chuck’s eyes widened. “Oh fuck.”

“What?” Alex asked.

“That asshole’s disappeared on us again!”

Silent realization settled over the table. It wouldn’t be the first time Orange had disappeared during a night out, let alone on the ugly sweater bar crawl. Last year, he’d just vanished after the third bar; one minute he’d been with them, and the next he wasn’t. When they’d arrived back at Chuck’s apartment hours later, they’d found him fast asleep on the couch. Chuck still had no idea how he’d gotten in. Orange still hadn’t told them where he’d gone or what he’d done, just that he’d “met some people.”

“Why did you let him go to the bar alone?” Chuck asked Alex, as if it were somehow her fault that Orange had disappeared yet again.

“I’m not his keeper!” she fired back. “That’s your job!”

Chuck glowered at her. “I’m gonna see if he’s at the bar,” he said, and he stood from his seat and stalked off, ironically proving her point.

“Well, this sucks,” Trent stated.

“Balls?” Alex added, poking him in the chest. He arched a brow.

“Are you asking for my balls, or…?”

She smirked and shoved his shoulder. He responded by draping his arm over the back of her chair. She leaned her elbow on the table and looked sweetly up at him. “Can I see my phone?”

“No,” he immediately answered.

Her smile dropped into a pout. “Please?”

“No.”

She let out a huff and sat back again. “You get to have yours out on the table but mine is on lockdown? How is that fair?”

“Because I don’t want to drunk text my ex.”

Alex rolled her eyes. “I want to see if Kris has texted me, thank you very much,” she pointedly returned. And then, more softly, “And he’s not my ex. You know that.”

She picked up her empty drink and sipped what she could out of the straw, just to do something. Why had Kenny texted her? What was he playing at? She’d told him that if he couldn’t commit, she couldn’t see him anymore. And he couldn’t, so she’d walked. So why text her that?

“Hey,” Trent lifted his hand from the back of her chair and put it gently on her back. She set her glass back on the table and looked at him. The light of the fire reflected in his dark eyes. “Have you had fun tonight?”

The corners of her mouth turned up in a smile. She nodded. “Yeah, I have.”

He rubbed his thumb over her back. “Then don’t let one text ruin it.”

Alex expelled a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Trent had always been protective of her in a best friend sort of way, but this felt different. Maybe it was the buzz of the alcohol, or the warmth of the fire, or the ooey-gooeyness that seemed to permeate the very air during Christmastime… but it felt like he wasn’t comforting her as just a friend now. It felt like something more.

But then Chuck returned and interrupted the moment. “He’s gone.”

Alex’s brow furrowed. “Are you sure? Maybe he just went to the bathroom.”

“He would’ve had to walk past us to get to the bathroom,” Trent pointed out. He laughed. “Disappearing after offering to get us drinks. What a dick.”

Suddenly, Alex heard her phone get a text in Trent’s pocket; then Trent and Chuck got one, too. “I bet that’s him,” Chuck said as he pulled out his phone. He pursed his lips as he looked at the screen. “Yup.”

Alex leaned over to look at Trent’s phone as he pulled up the message. It was from Orange, alright, and it only said two words. Beer garden.

“Well, that’s helpful,” Trent dryly commented.

“Wait,” Chuck announced. Trent and Alex both looked up at him. He had a concentrated look on his face. “I think I know where he is. Come on.”

* * * * * * * * * *

The beer garden Chuck led them to was catty-cornered from Independence Hall. It was lit up with Christmas lights and packed full of people drinking beer in coats and hats and gloves, their cheeks and noses rosy from the cold as they huddled around portable heaters. And right in the thick of it all, a hot drink in his hand, was none other than Orange Cassidy.

“What the fuck!” Chuck proclaimed as they rejoined him, causing several people around to look their way. “Thanks for ditching us again.”

“And when you were supposed to be getting us drinks, no less,” Alex added.

Jim took a sip of his drink before answering. “Well, what happened was, I was waiting at the bar to get our drinks. But then this group of people came up to pay their tab, and they were all wearing ugly sweaters. And so we started talking, and they invited me to come with them here. So I did. And then I figured I should probably text you all.”

They all stared blankly back at him. And then Trent said, “Never change, Jim.”

He raised his cup in cheers.

“Wait, you said they were wearing ugly sweaters?” Chuck asked. His eyes grew round with excitement. “That means we got bar bingo!”

“Oh shit, we did,” Trent realized. “Do they have liquor here?”

Orange nodded. “Yeah. Mulled wine, too,” he said, gesturing with his cup.

“Alright, well, let’s hurry up and do our shot and leave,” Alex decided, hugging herself to maintain warmth. “It’s way too cold to be standing out here without coats.”

* * * * * * * * * *

They’d decided to head back to Chuck’s place after taking their celebratory bar bingo shot—a Snowball, to keep things festive. Chuck had passed out in his room nearly as soon as they’d gotten back, leaving the rest of them to figure out sleeping arrangements on their own. But, at the moment, Alex was in the kitchen trying to find something hot to drink. She’d thought right: the cold had seeped right into her bones, and she was still freezing despite the central heating in Chuck’s apartment.

Trent gave her a curious look as she clumsily shuffled through the cabinets. “What’re you doing?”

“Looking for hot tea… I’m still freezing.”

He laughed and leaned against the counter. “Come on, you know Chuck doesn’t have any hot tea. Coffee?”

“I don’t want to drink coffee right before going to bed,” she said, but she sighed and gave up her search. “Oh well. I guess I’ll just sleep in my sweater.”

“You can borrow my hoodie,” Trent offered. She looked at him in surprise. “Because you said the sweater is scratchy.”

“Oh. Yeah. Thanks.”

He nodded, and silence settled over them. Not uncomfortable; it was never uncomfortable with Trent. But there was just something more to it. Like how there’d been something more as they’d sat in front of the fireplace at the pub.

Alex leaned against the countertop. “Thank you for taking my phone tonight. You’re right… I probably would have said something I’d regret in the morning.”

“Of course I’m right,” he returned, a smirk on his lips. Alex rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t stifle her smile.

“Hey, what’s that?”

She looked back at him. He walked toward her, his eyes looking at something on the ceiling. Alex curiously followed his line of sight… and saw nothing.

“It’s the ceiling,” she bluntly answered.

He stopped in front of her, still looking up. He pointed. “Right there. Look.”

She looked again, but she still didn’t see whatever it was he was talking about. “Where? There’s nothing there.”

“I think there’s mistletoe.”

Alex looked flatly back at him. So that’s what he was doing. “Oh, okay. There’s no mistletoe, Trent.”

He cocked his head. “Are you sure? Because I swear I see some right there.”

“There’s not.”

“Really? I think you just don’t want to see it.”

His eyes met hers again. They were full of quiet, drunken confidence. Alex bit back another grin. “Are you saying you want to kiss me?”

He stepped closer. “That’s generally what happens under mistletoe, yeah.”

Alex felt a little flutter in her stomach. It was… odd. It wasn’t as if she’d never thought about kissing Trent. She had, as often as they drunkenly flirted with each other. But, standing there in Chuck’s kitchen, she realized that she was actually entertaining it this time. He was close enough. She could just tilt her chin up and press her lips against his, just for a second, to see how it felt. And then, she felt his hands on her hips, pulling her body against his. She angled her mouth toward his, her eyes falling closed, heart pounding in her ears—

And then someone cleared their throat.

Alex let out a startled yelp and slapped a hand to her mouth as she jumped back from Trent into the counter. It was Orange. Thank God it was Orange.

“Don’t stop on my account,” he said.

Alex ran a hand through her hair and looked sheepishly up at Trent. He let out a sigh. “I’ll go see if I can find some more blankets for the air mattress,” he said, and he walked out of the kitchen.

Alex glanced at Orange. He smirked. “So, are you and Trent sharing the air mattress, then?”

Her entire face went red. “Shut up,” she muttered, embarrassed. But as she pushed past him out of the kitchen, she realized she wasn’t cold anymore.

#aew fanfiction #best friends aew #best friends fanfiction #best friends imagine #best friends one shot #chuck taylor fanfiction #chuck taylor imagine #chuck taylor one shot #orange cassidy imagine #orange cassidy fanfiction #orange cassidy one shot #trent beretta fanfiction #trent beretta imagine #trent berettea one shot #btoot #12daysofChristmas

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wrestlingisfake · 3 years

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Resurgence preview

It's been a year now since New Japan launched their US-based show, NJPW Strong. I'm sure the original plans involved running US tours with a mix of American regulars and visiting stars from the main Japanese roster. The pandemic, however, limited the scope of Strong, mainly featuring minor leagues on a closed set. It almost felt like a parallel universe with little relationship to the "real" NJPW. Now, finally, the brand gets to do a show in front of an actual crowd, and we get to see this concept the way it was meant to be seen.

The show airs live on NJPWworld (999 yen for one month--about $9.12 US) at 11pm EDT. Or, if you just cannot handle setting up your payment on a Japanese website, you can get the show on FITE.tv for $19.99 US. Both services should make the show available on-demand later, in case you want to wait until you're done watching Triplemania.

Lance Archer vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - Archer is defending the IWGP United States champioship. The title was in limbo through most of 2020, as Jon Moxley was unable to schedule a defense in either New Japan or AEW. That changed in 2021, as thawing relations between the two promotions led to more Moxley title matches, until he lost the belt to Archer on July 21. Shortly before Archer's first defense on July 28, AEW aired a video of Tanahashi challenging the winner of that match.

This is Tana's first show outside of Japan since the pandemic began, and his first match in California in nearly three years. I'm not sure anyone expected him to be here, given that the New Japan of America operation has focused on building up North American talent rather than bringing in big stars from the home promotion. So this is a special treat for the live audience, above and beyond Archer coming in from AEW.

I expect a pretty straightforward match with Archer killing Tana with big power moves and Tana rallying for a big babyface comeback. In a vacuum I would think either man could end up with the belt. However, the real story to this match is that Tanahashi went out of his way to make a challenge for the US title, but not until after Jon Moxley lost it. So Moxley has accused Tana of ducking him, and it stands to reason that he'll confront the winner of this match to close the show. That feels like a formula for Tana vs. Mox for the title, maaaybe at the AEW pay-per-view on September 5. Everyone sure seems to hope that's where we're headed, so I don't think a lot of people will be pulling for Archer tonight.

Jay White vs. David Finlay - This is White's first defense of the NEVER openweight championship. It's also his first New Japan match since May, as the quarantine procedures for entering Japan have made travel pretty rough for the non-Japanese talent. As I recall, Finlay received this title shot because he pinned White back in March. Finlay hasn't been back in Japan since that tour. Both of these guys have been in Impact Wrestling as of late.

Originally, the idea behind White winning the NEVER title was to set up a match with Hiroshi Tanahashi at one of the Wrestle Grand Slam stadium shows that New Japan scheduled this summer. The aforementioned travel problems seem to have scuttled that, so now White is facing The Other Guy From FinJuice.

The biggest buzz I've heard surrounding this match is that Finlay appeared on Wrestling Observer Live to promote the show and ended up giving fans the impression that he wanted to go to NXT. I mean, Finlay could be fucking with us on that. But it's not a good sign when people are mainly interested in a match because they're looking for signs that one of the participants is fixing to leave the promotion. Not that it affects the finish, of course--Finlay could sign with NJPW for a million years, and he still wouldn't be booked to beat White for a title in 2021.

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Moose - This match kind of came out of nowhere. Ishii isn't exactly a top guy in New Japan but he's always right below that level, clobbering most of the roster and getting clobbered to set up new contenders. Most of the NJPW Strong roster would be underdogs against him. But then, Moose isn't on the Strong roster--he's coming over from Impact, where he's been pushed as a top heel for months. Moose is a 6-foot-5 big mean guy and Ishii is a 5-foot-7 big mean guy, so this should be an interesting contrast. It's easily the most interesting match on the show.

I'd like to see Moose win, since it'd be a slight upset and he could use the momentum for whatever he's doing next. But if he is gonna win, Ishii is going to convince you that he had to work his ass off to earn it. I'm looking forward to this.

Tom Lawlor & JR Kratos & Danny Limelight & Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs vs. Lio Rush & Chris Dickinson & Adrian Quest & Fred Yehi & Yuya Uemura - Lawlor is the NJPW Strong champion and his team is the New Japan version of "Team Filthy." The babyface team originally featured Brody King, but he was pulled from the card at the last minute due to "unforeseen circumstances", so Adrian Quest is substituting for him. That's a real tough break for the good guys.

There are several storylines at play here. Lio Rush stepped up as the next challenger for Lawlor's title, and they'll have that match at the August 16 tapings. Dickinson was kicked out of Team Filthy, and is currently aligned with Brody King's Violence Unlimited stable. Uemura had been working on the Japan roster as a Young Lion, but he's just begun his excursion so he has a chance to really express himself as a performer.

If Rush wasn't already positioned as Lawlor's next challenger, I might think this match could end with someone pinning Lawlor. As it is, though, it probably makes more sense for Team Filthy to win in a dominant fashion. Yehi and Quest are basically undercard scrubs, and Uemura just now graduated to that position. Rush and Dickinson aren't going to be able to carry so many weak links.

Juice Robinson vs. Hikuleo - Juice has spent most of 2021 teaming with David Finlay over on Impact, whereas Hikuleo has been wrestling on Strong and more recently on a few AEW shows. Given that Hikuleo is 6-foot-8 you'd expect him to squash everything in his path, but New Japan isn't afraid to have more established stars get the better of him. Whether Juice is one of those more established stars remains to be seen.

Juice biggest career highlight was winning the IWGP US title, and Hikuleo's was challenging for that title a few weeks ago. If one of them is going to be in the hunt for that belt, then winning this match should be step one. As much as I'd like to see Juice back in the chase, I get the feeling it'll be Hikuleo taking that role.

Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows vs. Jon Moxley & X - The Good Brothers (Gallows and Anderson) are the Impact Wrestling men's tag team champions, but their title is not at stake here. I think Moxley was originally booked to team with Syota Umino on this show, but travel restrictions prevented Umino from coming into LA. One way or another, Moxley will have a mystery partner that won't be revealed until the match begins.

The backstory is that Gallows and Anderson have been a thorn in Moxley's side every time he's tried to fight Kenny Omega, or really anybody in Omega's stable. With that in mind, the most logical partner would be Sami Callihan, who has a history with Moxley and unfinished business with Omega's group. People have been asking for a Moxley-Callihan reunion from the minute AEW and Impact started collaborating, and there's no reason it can't happen here. On the other hand, I wonder if that's something New Japan would do as a surprise, as opposed to advertising it ahead of time.

If Moxley's partner isn't Callihan, there's a serious risk that the live crowd will start chanting for Callihan and disrupt the match. So if they're going with someone else, it'd better be good. I suppose Eddie Kingston would be accepted, although again, why would that be something you do as a surprise? Personally, I'm all about Moxley and the cold, deadly eyes of Shooter Umino, so I know I'll be disappointed no matter what. :(

Anyway, it'd be stupid for Moxley's team to lose this match.

Rocky Romero & Fred Rosser & Wheeler Yuta vs. TJP & Clark Connors & Ren Narita - This is a pretty good sampling of the NJPW Strong midcard. Of this group, Romero has the most clout with the main New Japan roster. Rosser is still best known as WWE's Darren Young, the guy from the Nexus who looks exactly like John Cena. Yuta has been making waves on AEW, filling in for Trent Beretta with Orange Cassidy's group, so I guess he and Rocky are both Best Friends Twice Removed or something. TJP is a former WWE cruiserweight champion and Impact X division champion. Connors is one of the guys from the Gekiochi-kun ads--I think he's the one who snaps his fingers to teleport everybody. Ren Narita is the guy who used to wrestle Syota Umino all the time, but Syota is not on this show. :(

Alex Coughlin vs. Karl Fredericks - When Strong started, Coughlin, Fredericks, and Clark Connors were the three Young Lions from the LA Dojo who worked as prelim guys. Since then I believe Connors and Fredericks have "graduated," and Coughlin is still working on it. I'm pretty sure Fredericks is the one in the Gekiochi-kun ads that says "that's pretty cool." I don't remember what Coughlin does in those ads, so clearly he needs to get his ass in gear. Anyway, I guess Fredericks wins.

Bateman & Mysterioso & Barrett Brown vs. The DKC & Kevin Knight & Jordan Clearwater - This is scheduled as a dark match 30 minutes before the live stream begins. I've heard most of these names, but the only one I kinda know is Bateman from whatever goofy stable he's in at Ring of Honor. I dunno, I guess his side wins.

#njpw #njpw strong #njpw of america #resurgence #lance archer #hiroshi tanahashi #jay white #david finlay #jon moxley

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skamamoroma · 3 years

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“I Told Sunset About You” - Review/Recap/Whole Bunch of Nonsense Rambling about my Love!

Every now and then a show comes along that I get absolutely knocked off my feet by and I can’t stop thinking about it until I write a whole bunch of nonsense because it’s THAT GOOD and this damn show. I’ve thought about it all week. Outside of the SCU and other longer running stuff, the last time a show sidetracked me like this was San Junipero and I dreamed about that episode for weeks! This show got to me so much that I knew I had to write that whole bunch of nonsense for real and I decided to write a bit of a review and then some specific posts about some of the themes, metaphors, ideas and shots etc that I adore. So if this is not your thing, I tag religiously!

So if you haven’t seen it, the show is about two young boys, Teh and Oh-aew, living in Phuket in Thailand about to take their entry exams/go through the Uni acceptance process. They were childhood best friends until they had an argument which caused them to stop speaking to one another for many years until they meet again at a Chinese class. The story is about friendship, identity, love, rivalry, family, authenticity, ambition and growing up. It’s sweet, funny, painful, warm, difficult, romantic, hopeful, honest and insightful. I hope you don’t fall asleep reading... !

My friend in Japan recommended this show to me. I watch a lot of movies/tv from different parts of the world but rarely from this part of the world not because I don’t want to - I DO! - I just don’t know what’s good and I tend to rely on recommendations from friends or coming across things by chance. If you’ve followed me for even a while, you know my JAM is character driven, nuanced, beautiful shows that go heavy on authentic emotion but use cinematography/music/sound/colour and other creative tricks to further the story. Nothing makes me go starry eyed more than a show SHOWING without a single moment of TELLING where it isn’t necessary and this show hit every single one of those things and more to the point that I was completely swooning at how much of a masterpiece it is. I swear some tiny moments in this show have me floored with how effective and meaningful they are. ARGH.

As icing on the cake, it’s beautifully LGBT+ themed (written in part and, I believe, directed by LGBT+ folks - if I’ve got that wrong from translations, let me know). These themes are created with care and love, felt refreshing with characters I don’t feel I’ve really seen before. I know that there is info to suggest that they wanted to create this show much more FOR LGBT+ folks and to differentiate it from a style of show that is perhaps more popular for a mainstream audience or a certain audience that wants a certain thing from some Thai dramas (I’m personally not into BL - I think that’s what the genre is called as I kinda don’t know how to feel about that stuff being hella tropey and made for a specifically straight female audience)… and you can tell. They apparently didn’t promote this as that genre. Some of the other themes were so interesting and explored so beautifully. The idea of rivalry and competition was handled with so much insight and depth that it really did stun me at time’s how skilled the writing is.

The acting… oh the acting. I know Billkin and PP have apparently been close friends for many years but even that sometimes doesn’t guarantee to equal this level of chemistry. They are stunning actors, genuinely nuanced, so charismatic and loveable. I love that even the sad anguished moments are messy as hell (and a couple so delightfully dramatic), the gentle sweeping romantic moments are swoon worthy and allowed to linger or exist in silence, the tension they create is often feels a little too intrusive to watch and the nuance - so much is said without saying anything at all. Some specific moments are handled with so much care when dealing with really complex emotion and I’m floored to see such young actors achieve some of the moments they do because some of the emotion is genuinely complex. There’s a lot of Teh who is terribly complex and to achieve that balance between difficult to work out and yet still feeling like you understand him is a very tricky thing and yet, that’s what I felt when I watched his character. I am in awe of their abilities to be honest and just found them completely mesmerising from start to finish. I love that a lot of their character traits are established so strongly through acting choices that by the end, when both have come kinda full circle and have learned from the other, you can see the OTHER in the OTHER, if that makes sense! Teh in the final few scenes takes on some of Oh’s characteristics. It’s so noticeable but never oversold. Perfect.I can’t overstate this enough! Some moments left me breathless for so many reasons.

My mum lived in Thailand for a while and in Phuket where the show is set and I loved seeing stuff I recognised from a few of her photographs. I felt I learned a lot about Thai culture too, stuff my mum would have learned and I adored the world surrounding these characters! Btw, if I get anything incorrect re: the culture - come shout at me! :)

The music. Knowing that the soundtrack was written for the show and sung mostly by the two leads was such a surprise because they are beautiful songs. The score is, and I cannot emphasise this enough, bloody gorgeous. There are parts where they play the most gentle soft piano music that kinda breaks my heart and others when they perfectly place the most uplifting soaring sounds that enhance some simple scenes so much that they felt so impactful. There’s a song on the score called Skyline Minimal which is used in a specific scene and in the documentary the director talks about how just the sound of it, you don’t need the lyrics, it just makes you miss someone and makes you cry and he’s absolutely spot on so that when you hear it, what happens on screen just shatters your heart. The soundtrack is woven into the storyline so deeply that the lyrics are used, the melody is used to trigger Oh-aew’s memories at one point and the pretend source of the main song, Skyline, is directly linked to not only the idea of learning Chinese and what that means for them both as characters and as a pair but two of the main themes of the season, ambition and identity!

The cinematography. Christ on a bike. I could write essays. I am a sucker for meaningful camera work, stuff that does half of the storytelling for you and I cannot praise this more highly other than to say it’s close to perfect. Some moments are so absolutely mesmerising and meaningful that a simple movement or a simple peek at something means a LOT. I’m going to have to write a whole damn post on some of my favourite moments because I can count on one hand the shows/movies of late that I’ve seen that achieve what this show does with camera work, directorial choices and general approach to non-verbal story telling. The level of thought and detail and using a camera in a creative and loving way... I found it so moving and so beautiful the way you could feel the level of consideration that went into the smallest moments, how entire moments of character development were done silently…

The use of metaphor. Anyone who knows me knows I am absolutely WEAK for this stuff. If a good complex emotion or concept can be developed in a way other than with words then I am yours… I will read into everything, enjoy every clever reference and revel in the use of colour or light or sound or motif. This show was a gift in that sense. I’m going to end up writing posts about stuff like the use of colour and the hibiscus flower and coconuts and the use of Chinese words. Again, some moments were so genuinely beautifully done and unexpected that I was like a kid in a sweetshop and was a little swoony over them. There are some moments when the Chinese phrases/words are used through their tutoring in a way to sum up the character’s feelings, moments are built up to by establishing motifs that, when used to their conclusion make for the most BEAUTIFUL or gut wrenching moments. The hibiscus flower scene/colouring in may be one of my most favourite scenes in the whole show and I just smile thinking of how wonderfully it was developed.

Another thing I truly adored was how I genuinely loved every single character. There’s no demonisation, no discarding of characters at the expense of others (especially as I hate when women in movies are treated this way when there’s no reason to), no characters who are used as scapegoats. If anything, you come out adoring the characters who traditionally “get in the way” of a pairing because, well, they don’t. They don’t feel in the way or an annoyance. They feel genuine and lovely and you root for them. That’s a really really kind way to treat your characters but, above anything, it’s just lovely to see that much consideration given to characters to treat them all as humans. I get a little sick of seeing ‘bad guys’, you know? I like flawed, messy but human people. Hoon as a big brother is so understated but when he appears and when it matters, some of his moments are so genuinely emotional it’s amazing how they allow him to be a typical brother, kinda dismissive and teasing his younger sibling but then he’s THERE and really fully there for his brother in some truly significant moments. It felt so earned for me and goodness, one moment kills me when Teh is full on in the middle of a family fight, sobbing and confused and in a room of them all, Hoon goes directly to his brother and the simple way it happens had me in bits. Apparently, that was an improvised scene too so it makes it a little special.

The ending. Any LGBT+ soul out there knows the pain of watching another miserable ending and, don’t get me wrong, I’m ALL FOR endings where you don’t necessarily get what you WANT but only ones that make sense and are earned so they make you think or realise you don’t NEED what you want etc. BUT also want happiness and hope and love and watching LGBT+ characters thrive. Not to spoil, but they treat these two very well by the end… you just have to make your way through a box of tissues first!

So yeah, it was alright. Hahahaha. I genuinely think it’s a masterpiece. I feel the love and care that went into it, the time taken to consider and think and find ways to say a LOT by saying very LITTLE. I feel the commitment to LGBT+ media, little nods to other shows/moments… I feel their wish to be original and to try to make new characters feel fresh and unseen. I just adored it and I’m so grateful it exists because as a piece of art, when you finish it and can write legit essays (and I’ve seen posts other people have written and I’m in NO WAY the only one here) then you know you’ve done something kinda special! So that’s me, getting my whole bunch of nonsense down… and now I can make specific posts and ramble a whole bunch more! Mwahaha.

#itsay #i told sunset about you #thoughts etc

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heelwriting · 4 years

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Do You Have Any Denim?- Orange Cassidy

Fandom: Wrestling, AEW

Pairing: Orange Cassidy/unnamed OFC

Warnings: None

Genre: Fluff

Words: 3,137

Summary: OFC is forced to be in a team with Orange Cassidy.

A/N: Hi, this is the first fanfic i post here, hope you like it!

Masterlist | Buy Me coffee

When she arrived to the venue that day everything was normal, she went to the board to see if she had a match on the card, she wasn’t positioned as high on the card as Britt or Riho but had earned a place on AEW.

Kenny was writing on the wall the last few matches, the ones that were taped for DARK.

“Is this a joke?”

She asked him after seeing her name on the board, he looked at her and smiled.

“It’s true, people seem to connect with you, we thought it was the right spot for you, just take the opportunity”

“Thank you, it’s not that, just the name besides mine, how do you expect me to work with him?”

“You’ll find a way”

She was left without any options, she had to team with Orange Cassidy, they were facing Penelope Ford and Kip Sabian, they were a cohesive unit, and them, well, she never crossed paths with him, never even talked to him.

She wanted to have a plan before going out so she went to search for him, she didn’t found him, she asked around and apparently he wasn’t there, even Chuck and Trent didn’t know where he was.

She was getting frustrated, all she could do was get her ring gear on, makeup and hair ready, and mentally prepare for the match. Hours passed and she was freaking out, they didn’t have anything planned, she never found Orange, it was all out of her hands.

It was time to go out, Penelope and Kip were already in the ring.

“Is he even here?”

She asked Kenny.

“He is, he always takes his time”

“My music is about to play, I swear I’m going…”

“Hey! About time”

Kenny said looking behind her, she turned to see him, in full gimmick, glasses on, hair slicked back, not a care to give.

He gave her a nod.

“Let’s do this baybee”

She could have sworn he winked behind the sunglasses, either way, her knees almost gave out after hearing him talk, it took her music to play for her to finally respond.

“Whatever”

She played it cool, gave him a cold look and went out, she received a good response from the crowd, but she wasn’t prepared to hear the pop of her partner, people were crazy to see Orange Cassidy and even if she felt jealous of his popularity, she was crazy for him too.

He went inside the ring and gave her a lazy fist bump, surprisingly he started the match with Kip, but soon she was tagged in, the match went well, they teamed up at the end, him hitting a springboard splash onto Kip on the outside, while she hit a swinging DDT on Penelope for the win.

He went inside the ring, slowly making his way to the center, the referee took their hands up in victory, she was still catching her breath, he talked to the ref and was given back his sunglasses, he put them on and walked towards her.

“Good job”

He said, then he took her hand and raised it, when her hand went down he didn’t let go of it, their eyes crossed for a second, ultimately he released her hand, he started walking to the ropes but then went back and looked at her again, taking his glasses off, he put them on her.

She tried no to look surprised by everything he did, but she was taken back by the little details.

He left her inside the ring and she watched as he went to take pictures with the fans, his music was playing as the tapings went to a close, Kenny, Cody and the Bucks went outside to have a moment with the public, she stayed for the segment, Orange did as well, he and Kenny shared a look and she was confused, but didn’t put much thought in it.

The rest of the week went as planned, well, except she couldn’t stop thinking about Orange, normally she didn’t look up her own matches but DARK aired and she had to see it to be sure it was all true and not a product of her imagination.

The next set of tapings arrived and she once again found herself looking at the board, this time Matt was writing.

“Hey, I was just about to write your name”

“I’m just in time then”

She said smiling.

“Yes”

Matt said, as he kept writing.

She realized what he had spelled, her name was beside Orange Cassidy's, again, only this time she was his valet, his, that was a strange word to phrased it.

“What? Again? Last time he almost didn’t show up”

She complained.

“That’s how he is, just relax and do your thing”

Matt said, trying to comfort her.

“I don’t know how to valet, not for him at least”

Matt stopped writing and turned around to see her.

“Oh come on, you guys have great chemistry, people loved to see you two together, Kenny thinks this will evolve into a regular pairing”

He explained.

“Regular? Oh God”

Her hands went to her face, she almost felt like fainting, he put a hand on her shoulder.

“Look, we tried to think what suits your character best and this seems to be the way, just run with it”

He said and then went back to writing on the wall.

All her bosses sounded the same, she took it to heart, she had to make this work, even if Cassidy, like this character, didn’t put much effort into their business relationship, and even if she could barely concentrate with him around, she still couldn’t believe she survived a match having him that close, probably watching her wrestle.

It was her curtain call, she knew he would be late, he appeared walking slowly towards her, hands in his pockets, hair wet and slicked back, he took out a hand and ran it through the strands of his hair.

“We meet again”

He said, a small smile plastered on his face, she nodded and looked away, trying to not look uncomfortable in her skinny jeans, heels and leather jacket combo, she preferred wrestling, being a valet made her feel like eye candy, and she didn’t feel like she fit that mold.

They waited for commercials to be over, it was almost their cue.

“Do you have any denim?”

She turned around surprised by his question.

“No, I don’t”

He rolled his eyes and then he took off his jacket, took out the sunglasses out of the pocket and he put them on.

“Take off your jacket”

Her eyebrows frowned.

“What?”

“Just do it”

She did as he said, too shocked but doing it anyway because they were next, she handed her jacket to one of the production people, Orange’s music started playing as he put his denim jacket over her shoulders.

“Much better”

He gave her a thumb up, and walked outside, she went a step behind, receiving the pop from the crowd first hand since she walked with him, she cheered him to a victory over Shawn Spears.

After the match, she went inside the ring to raise his hand, feeling shivers as their hands touched, he looked at her for a second too long, she felt the blushing on her face and then almost ran to the back, wanting to be as far away from him as she could, her feelings were clouding her judgment.

“It was in character” she told herself not wanting to raise her own expectations too high.

“Where is my bag?”

She said out loud in the locker-room, someone took her bag, she was thinking who could have done it, she was new but not new enough to be a prank.

“Dustin came for it earlier”

Leva Bates answered.

“Dustin?”

She was confused, she didn't have anything to do with him.

“Yes, Chuck Taylor”

“Thanks”

She ran and asked around for Dustin, someone saw him leaving for the parking lot, she ran and actually found him, Greg and Orange.

“Good, you're here”

Dustin said smiling, she was still catching her breath, her hands were forming fists.

“Why did you take my bag?”

Dustin looked at her, then at Orange and back at her, her arms crossed, there was a bit of panic between the Best Friends.

“You said she knew”

Dustin yelled at Orange.

“In my defense, she ran away before I could say anything”

Orange said.

“About what?”

She asked confused, Orange took a few steps forward, trying to appear more calmed, seeing she was upset.

“Ride with us to the hotel?”

“Oh”

Her arms got loose instead of crossed, she was taken back by his proposal, never thought she would be in that situation, one thing was being teammates in the ring, this was more personal.

“If you want to”

He added, seeing the gears turning in her head.

“Yeah we weren’t trying to ambush you or anything”

Greg said, trying to help their cause.

“I should have asked before, I’m sorry, but since we are teaming I thought we could spend some time together”

Orange said, his eyes soft, she couldn’t say no, she came to the realization that he was her weakness.

“You should have asked first, I was scared because my bags were not in the looker-room”

She was still a little upset.

“I’m sorry”

He said sincerely.

“Well, I guess I could go with you guys then, but never do that again”

She pointed at them with one finger, they nodded, not wanting to make the situation worse.

It was a nice trip, turns out they were lovely guys, she finally exchanged phone numbers with Orange, she didn't text him during the week but she found yourself thinking of doing it.

Another Wednesday arrived, she was excited to see him, only problem was, her bags ended up in the wrong flight.

“What do you mean in UK? I need them here tonight”

“I’m sorry ma’am, they will be here until tomorrow morning or we can send it to your home address, sorry for the inconvenience”

She wanted to scream, all her gear and street clothes were lost, for at least a day, she went to sit in the airport launch, when someone sat next to her.

“Hey, you ok?”

She recognized his voice, she waited the whole week to hear him, it wasn’t the best moment to greet him but she had no choice.

She breathed out, and looked at him.

“I need clothes, my bag won’t be here until tomorrow”

“Let’s go then”

He got up in a heartbeat, determined to help her, she was still on her sit, not much effort into getting up, Orange saw she had no intentions of moving so her took her hand and pulled her up, surprisingly easy.

He searched for the nearest mall and they went shopping, she told him what to look for, since he volunteered to help, stretch pants, sports bras, jeans, comfy clothes but wearable for tv. He disappeared for a few minutes but she wasn’t putting much attention to him, she wanted to get done with shopping and go to the venue.

“You need to buy this”

When she turned around, he was closer than she though, he didn’t have his sunglasses on, it was the first time she could really see his bright blue eyes, his black clothes making him look paler, his hair was dry so she could see how blond he really was.

Not much people were around, just the two of them, he wasn’t much taller than her, but it was a nice height difference, his eyes fixed on hers for a moment, she forced herself to look away, opting to see what he had brought.

A denim jacket, almost the same color as his ring attire.

“Really? Classic Orange right here”

She said laughing, he smiled at her.

“You know you can’t call me Orange all the time, right?”

She acted confused, they didn’t actually introduce themselves, so no names were established.

“Then, how should I call you?”

“Well, everyone calls me Jim”

Her eyebrows frowned.

“I’m not calling you Jim, I could call you Cassidy”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“I guess that’s better”

She ended up getting the jacket to match with him and a few other items to serve as her ring gear for the night.

People noticed they arrived together, they didn’t really care what people thought but they certainly noticed the looks. Dustin and Greg where already reading the board, she had to team with them both, against Sadie Gibbs and TH2.

Chuck and Trent went outside first, Orange came out but noticed she didn’t, he came back for her, taking her hand and forcing her to go, not giving her the option of going back, she was nervous, the new look wasn’t even her choice and she was conscious about it.

“Come on, you look great”

He laced their fingers together and she took a breath, not only was she wearing new clothes but she had to ignore how natural it felt holding hands with him. She wore black leggings and a white merch t-shirt, it was a win in Orange’s eyes, well, he was biased, his face was on her chest.

The Best Friends separated the ring ropes for her to come in, it was a nice detail, they had become somewhat closer thanks to Cassidy. Orange was up to his usual stunts hitting Evans and Angelico with a crossbody, the finish saw her hit a hurracarrana to Sadie on the outside as Best Friends hit strong zero on Evans.

Suddenly she became very conscious of what would happen, Orange stayed in the middle of the ring while Chuck and Trent took a corner, she did the same, the thing is, they barely had touched, only the few times he took her hand, but not much was required when they were teaming.

Under his sunglasses, in the corner of his eye, she could see him watching her coming closer, she almost squinted her eyes, Chuck and Trent hugged his sides but she had to hug him from the front, the closeness to his body was the death for her, his scent was intoxicating, she didn’t want to let go, Orange’s hand held her waist for a few seconds before Best Friends broke the hug, she bit her lip nervously, that went well.

“Are you coming with us?”

Dustin asked her after the match.

“I don’t know”

They wanted to go have dinner and have a few drinks, she didn’t like having much people around.

“Jim is going to be there”

His voice high pitched as he said it, she hit his arm.

“Don’t manipulate me like that”

“You’re coming, right?”

She heard Cassidy’s voice coming behind them, she closed her eyes and breathed.

“Yes”

She said defeated, Dustin smiled mocking her.

“I knew you couldn’t say no”

Dustin said with a big grin, she huffed.

After they had dinner she went outside, she was feeling a bit left out, with so many people in there it got hectic.

Soon she was followed.

“Why are you outside? Its freezing and you don’t have a coat, you’re going to get sick”

Orange said, his eyebrows frowning watching as her arms were crossed hugging herself trying to shield from the cold night.

“I know, but I don’t have much option, I wasn’t feeling well, I needed fresh air and I don’t have clothes for this weather because my bag is not here, and I bought a jean jacket because someone said it was cool”

She said complaining, he scratched the back of his head, feeling a little guilty, he then rolled his eyes knowing what he had to do, he took her hand.

“Come on”

They walked to the rental van, and he opened the trunk taking a thick coat out of his suitcase, he handed it to her and then closed everything, he turned around looking at her, she had put it on, the sleeves were a little too long but it fit well and she was no longer freezing to death.

She was looking at the stars, he looked at her for a moment, his back against the van.

“Can I be honest with you?”

She looked around to see him, he seemed a bit off, almost nervous.

“Sure”

She said nonchalant.

“I asked Kenny to make us a team”

Her eyes went wide, not expecting to hear him say that, he had his eyes on her, he was observing her reaction cautiously.

“Really? But why?”

She asked, not understanding where this was going.

“I didn’t know how to talk to you”

“Well, we have talked”

She said, stating the obvious.

He watched the ground for a bit, moving his feet nervously.

“I know, but you kind of leave me without words”

He said, looking at her with a beautiful smile on his face, a hopeful smile.

“Oh”

She said with realization, she felt the same every time she saw him.

He took a step forward, his face a few inches from hers.

“There is just one thing that I need to do”

He put his hand over her cheek, they stared at each other eyes for a second before closing the distance, and as if asking for permission, his lips brushed against hers lightly, until she pushed the back of his neck taking him closer to her, their lips meeting in the middle, it was a slow and passionate kiss, his facial hair rubbing her skin, a feeling that she would come to love.

When they separated, he stared at her, still breathless.

“So… they said we'll be a regular pairing”

He said smiling, she did the same.

“Do you want us to be a regular pairing? But like… outside of AEW?”

He asked as he took her hand in his, waiting for an answer.

“Cassidy, are you asking me out?”

She was almost sure he meant it, but wanted to be sure, and partly said it just to tease him.

“Yes, so… would you?”

He asked.

“I would love that”

She answered, joy almost pouring out of her voice.

He smiled, then his lips meet hers, one of his hands going her waist, the other went to her face as he tilted to the side to deepen the kiss, his tongue moving inside of her mouth, his breath hot against her skin, there was no cold, her hands went to the back of his neck, trying to memorize every move he made.

Their breathless lunges hurried them to separate and get some air, they didn’t say anything for a while, just held each other close, their hearts beating fast, they had all the night, all the time to figure things out.

Originally posted on March 10, 2020

#Orange Cassidy #orange cassidy one shot #orange cassidy imagine #orange cassidy fanfic #orange cassidy fanfiction #AEW #freshly squeezed #wrestling #aew imagine #wrestling imagine #wrestling one shot #aew fanfiction #orange cassidy x reader

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unoficialy-married-to-ace-austin · 4 years

Text

Darby Allin x reader

Only Mine

sumary- Reader is best friends with Darby Allin and Sammy Guevar. in an effort to get Darby to confes his feelings for y/n, he asks her out to get him jelous.

------------------------------------------------

Y/n POV

"your going out with who?" Darby asked from one bed of our hotel room. I was currently curling my short h/c hair. I also had black lipstick and black eye shado, as well as a silver knee length slevless dress.

"Sammy invited me out with him, Santana, and Ortiz." I said setting the curling iron down and turning it off. "Will you zip up the back of my dress?" I asked walking into the room and turning around.

"S-sure." I hear as he stands up and walks up behind me. I feel his cold hands on my back for a second as he zips the dress up. When I turned around, he was about 3 inches away from my face.

"Hi." I said chuckling nervousl. to be honest I had alway had a crush on him, but i was positive he didn't feel the same. He took a step back blushing slightl.

"Have fun I guess." he said walking back to his bed. We had been travel buddys in the independent world, and when we joined AEW we kind joined togethe as a team. I went out when he fough, and he did the same.

"Ya, enjoy the room to yoursel." I said grabbing my phone, purse, and room key, and left.

"y/n!" I look up as I enter the lobby to see Sammy, Santan, and Ortiz already there waiting.

"Hey." I said walking up to them. "So, where are we heade?"

"We wanted to check out the place just across the street. that sound good?" Sammy asked.

"Ya, that works for me."

"You look amazing tonight Mi Amor." Santana sais winking at me. This was going to be long night, I could feel it.

------------------------------------------------

Darbys POV

Fuck Sammy Guevar. I should have known that asshole would ask her out. Why would he not, its not like she's not Single. Maybe she wouldn't be if I could grow up and tell her how I feel. My pone goes of witch grabs my attentio.

It was a picture Sammy had posted and tagged me in. It was y/n sitting on his lap kissing his cheek. It was captioned Could get used to this on my lap. Maybe get her a new tag partner. What do you think Allin?

I felt my blood boil at seeing someone with there hands on y/n other then me. I looked in the tags to see of he raged the club in it, and to my luck, it was just across the stree. "I'm going to fucking kill you Guevar." I whispered grabing my room key and making my way down to the lobby.

------------------------------------------------

readers POV

"Really Sammy?" I asked showing him the post he made.

"What's wrong with it?" He asked giving me a side smile, pulling back into his lap. I rolled my eyes at him as I took another sip of my drink.

I noticed a group of girls making there way twords Sammy. Not wanting to deal with them, I slid down a few seats. I look through some of the comments on the pic. Haters didn't really effect me anymore. the worst of them being that Sammy could do better then me. when I looked up O was surprised to see Darby marching over to me.

"Hey, what-" I don't get the words out before he graves my arm and yanks me twords the door.

"what the hell are you doing?" I ask once we're out side. He dosent answe, and keeps walking. "Darby, stop!" I say causing him to stop and face me. "You need to tell me what you are doing." He looks at me, and pulls me into a deep kiss.

Holding me by my hips, his tongue pushes my mouth open. Our tongues work together as he pulls me closer and I can feel the bulge in his pants.

"Pissed me off seeing his hands on you y/n." His voice gruff. "Your mine, and only mine." I push agenst his growing bulg.

"The show me."

#AEW #Darbyallin Fanfiction #Darbyallin #SammyGuevara #Weestling #Darbyallin fluff #Darbyallin smut #Fanfiction

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darlinrogue · 3 years

Note

Having played hockey for years, Kenny is certainly agile. Having wrestled for years, Kenny, again, is certainly agile—quick and light on his feet. Dancing, however, is something else entirely. Similar to ice skating, but much more precise. Similar to wrestling, but you’re probably not supposed to hurt your partner. But Page had asked him for a dance, and how could Kenny say ‘no?’ “Real romantic, cowboy.” One of his hands intertwining with Page’s, the other at his shoulder. “You lead, then.”

Slow Dancing

|| Adam and Kenny // @ofgrief

The phone screen blurred. A flick of his finger sent text bubbles flying. The group chat brimmed with messages and notifications he wasn’t ever going to read. Adam opened the settings. His thumb hovered over the ‘leave group’ button, scrawled in red text. Instead, he closed the app and opened Spotify. He chose a playlist labelled ‘relaxing.’ Softer country music, more folksy shit, some slower Led Zeppelin. A lot of Bruce Springsteen sounding sad. The work of slower tempos that wouldn’t grate on his nerves. Made an unfamiliar space more his own.

Adam hooked his leg up on the bar stool spindle. He rubbed his hand over his jaw and dragged his fingernails through the beard stubble. The nice lady who did hair and make-up trimmed it for him today. The ice shifted in his drink, two fingers of whiskey. Week-to-week the bars changed. The scenery shifted with the ever traveling road shows of AEW. Some constants remained like the cheap chairs, the bland decor, the warm lights. Every bar had a different style of glass, some taller, some thinner, some clear, and some clouded. After hours, the bar was always the quietest spot as wrestlers escaped the halls for hotels and the production crew packed-up shop. Most important, no one Adam was avoiding ever came to the bar. It was a guaranteed retreat. At least in Jacksonville he could drive home tomorrow morning. Cuddle his dogs and be a homebody for a week. Silence the group chat, put his head phones in, and run until he didn’t know where he was anymore.

The holidays were a brief respite and a greater blessing. Adam returned to his childhood home as a jaded man seeking shelter from the shit storm just off his family property. He drank eggnog with his mom and helped her set up the Christmas tree. Caught-up with his sister and went riding with in the nipping cold of late-December. Shared the traditional whiskey shot with his father by the kitchen sink. Distant relatives filtered by for dinner. Cousins that patted Adam on the back and told him they saw him on TV. Grandparents that just didn’t get why Adam stopped being a teacher, even years later. Grandma made pies for Christmas morning and Adam’s mom got him cool cowboy themed pajamas. For a second Adam forgot about what waited outside the front gate. Then he arrived in Jacksonville, New Year’s Day, and it all came around.

The door opened and Adam glanced over his shoulder. Kenny peaked around the corner, his hair fallen over his shoulders. When he spotted Adam, he smiled, teeth flashing. Kenny walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

“Hey, hey, there you are Pizz!” Kenny greeted, he snapped his fingers rhythmically as he jaunted over to Adam. Kenny slid onto the bar stool and his eyes darted over the room. Kenny wiggled his hips, the leather creaking, as he situated himself in his seat. There was an easy grace to his movements but a tight tension in his shoulders. “Been looking all over for you.”

Sweat stains darkened the fabric across Kenny’s chest and arms. His hair was damp but drying, curls fluffed and unruly. The match earlier left his cheeks flushed from exertion. Kenny sighed as he leaned back against the chair, face tilting to the ceiling and eyes fluttering closed. Adam bet that was the first time he’d sat down all day. Trapped in a ring with Rey Fenix, Pentagon, and PAC, Adam counted it lucky Kenny stumbled-out with all his attached pieces.

“You good?” Adam asked, he tapped the volume down on his phone so the melodramatic singing dropped to a low purr. ‘Drive me—crazy’ “You guys had a good match out there tonight.”

“Yeah, we did, a great start to the year if you ask me,” Kenny said. He looked at Adam and he grinned again. Something flipped in Adam’s stomach. “Can’t ever complain about a mark in the win column, especially against PAC. I feel good, like I’m getting my feet under me.”

To emphasize his improving condition, Kenny shook-out his arms and shoulders. A jitter that extended all the way to his fingers. He interlaced his hands and stretched-out his shoulders with an arch of his back. He settled his grip on the counter edge. Kenny chewed on his lip and there wasn't anything playful in his eyes.

“You know, it would’ve been nice, if you came and joined us, after?” Kenny admitted. “Matt, Nick, Cody, myself, we all would’ve loved to celebrate with you. You know, like a family. None of us thought AEW would last to the New Year, this was a big deal, a big night. Something we couldn’t have done without you.”

Adam breathed a laugh, shaking his head. He sought the last bit of comfort he could wring from his glass. “You know, I’m just, trying to get some space. Get my shit sorted-out before I hand it all to you guys. I just don’t think— I just didn’t think it’d be a good idea to go down to the ring.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get that,” Kenny said, and Adam doubted it. Because the next thing he said was, “Matt and Nick miss you. I miss you.”

“Yeah, I— I know,” Adam said. He investigated his glass, the intricate pattern of cut crystal and how the light played between the facets. The pale press of his white, scarred knuckles. He attempted to make new friends, to branch-out, hadn’t worked-out too hot. Adam’s glorious single’s run, hadn’t worked-out too hot either. Hell, next week he even had a match with Kenny. So, evidently his bold proclamation that he was leaving the Elite, was not heard. Maybe he hadn’t been loud enough. “Like, I said, I just, need some time.”

“That’s fine, but, Adam? We’re here for you. We’ll always be here for you,” Kenny said.

Adam’s eyes snapped-up to meet Kenny’s gaze. The sound of his name so foreign in Kenny’s mouth. The Bucks called him ‘Hangman’ and the comms ‘Adam Page.’ Kenny favored ‘Page’ or ‘Pizz,’for some reason. The only time Adam heard just his name was when he talked to his mom. Those two syllables, in Kenny’s mouth, set a fire in Adam’s chest. It was a spell. Kenny could ask for literally anything and Adam would say ‘yes.’ A totally unfair advantage. Kenny left Adam helpless and weak; But Adam let Kenny hold all the cards.

Kenny, unaware of his power, patted Adam’s thigh. His palm rested against Adam’s jean and his nails worked against the fabric. Adam heard his pulse in his throat. “So, whenever you’re ready to come back? We’ll be here, waiting. Don’t think we’re just going to forget about you, or that you’re not welcome. The Elite, us, we’re something special, and it’s always going to mean something. Yeah, we can fight and have our disagreements, but that’s okay. We will always come back together.”

Adam grinned, the corner of his mouth curling. “You have been feeling better, lately, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, I have,” Kenny breathed with a laugh. He patted Adam’s thigh and knee once more before retracting his hand. “I took those first few losses really hard, I’ll admit that, but I’m back! I got my feet underneath me and I’m ready for the new year. I felt it tonight, Kenny Omega, is back, and I think the crowd felt it too. They were a live wire tonight, oh, I could feel it in my toes. Did you see it?”

“You uh, definitely seemed, happier?” Adam managed.

Kenny nodded and smiled approvingly. This Kenny, with his easy grins and ‘Power of Friendship’ speeches was a helluva a lot better than whatever the hell was going on in October. A few months ago he was barely functional. His voice muted and dulled over the phone. Adam wasn’t going to pretend that their way-too-late at night phone calls had anything to do with Kenny’s improvement. Kenny just needed someone to vent to that wasn’t Michael Nakazawa or a Young Buck. So, that left Adam. Adam also wasn’t going to pretend that his willingness to stay-up way past his bedtime wasn’t an act of pure devotion. Any excuse to talk to Kenny. Any excuse to have something special with Kenny.

Even when Adam knew he shouldn’t be talking to the Elite —for their collective good— Adam made an exception for Kenny. What puzzled Adam the most though was Kenny’s willingness to listen back. To hear-out Adam’s side of the story and all his twisted anxieties and fears. About the more wretched parts of Adam he couldn’t even tell his mom about.

For Kenny to hear about the worst aspects of his past and personality, and decide to keep talking to him— that part confused Adam.

“So, uh, about next week, I saw on the graphic we have a match?” Adam interjected. “Against Private Party? When did that happen?”

“Oh, you didn’t know?” Kenny asked, his brow furrowed and creased but it melted off in a heartbeat. He shrugged, “Yeah, TK booked it for us. We got two wins, and in a young company like ours? That’s pretty notable.”

“They’re shitty wins, Kenny,” Adam pointed-out.

Mox and Pac did not qualify as a tag-team. They worked like two Rottweilers shoved in a sack together and then told to get along. All Kenny and Adam had to do was stand back and watch the duo implode. Kip Sabian and Shawn Spears were a mess, in the worst ways. Of course those two flimsy wins, was before Adam factored in their two losses. Both against legitimate tag-teams that knocked Kenny and Adam down a peg. Kenny and Adam may’ve been in the same stable for close to four years, but it’d been that long since Adam shared a corner with him. It absolutely showed too. Adam had watched the tapes back and he bet Kenny didn’t appreciate the bruises from his so called partner.

“But wins, nonetheless,” Kenny retorted. He bunted his knuckles against Adam’s shoulder. “Shitty wins count. We take those.”

“Private Party is a real tag-team,” Adam said, but he shrugged, nonchalant. Smacked the back of his hand against his palm on each word for emphasis. “But I guess I can whoop their asses.”

“That’s the spirit,” Kenny said.“Yeah, Private Party beat the Bucks. They’re good, but not that good, I think we can do it.”

“Mhmm, you have a lot of faith in me,” Adam grunted. He placed his glass down and leaned against the counter. Regarding Kenny with a quick sweep of his eyes.

“Of course, I do, I told you, we got something special, I can feel it.” Kenny smoothed the word feel as long as it would go.

The music changed on Adam’s phone and his mind drifted from Kenny. Kenny launched, undeterred, into theorizing strategy. An Orville Peck song, with gentle string, a soft melody, singing about nostalgia and dreams. Adam grinned to himself, medicated just enough to consider something dangerous. For a guy lovesick with Kenny Omega these thoughts were perilous. It’d been a year now and Adam had sat on his hands like an idiot, pinning away. Hell with it, it was a bad idea but following bad ideas through was his modus operandi these days. Adam hummed low in his throat, cutting Kenny off as he waxed about Mark Quinn’s right leg.

“Dance with me,” Adam murmured, voice soft, barely a whisper. Like his throat was trying to strangle the words before he uttered them. Not at all the gruff confidence he had hoped to seduce Kenny with.

Adam pushed-off the bar stool and offered his hand. He grinned, bashful, feeling as awkward as he had when he was at Junior prom. This wasn’t weird, right? They’d done weirder, this was fine. More than fine when Kenny took Adam’s hand and Adam felt the press of Kenny’s callouses against his.

“Real romantic, cowboy.” Kenny breathed and the last of Adam’s confidence melted. Cowboy, that was new, and Adam liked it. He really liked how Kenny said it. “You lead, then.”

Adam laughed and ducked his chin to his chest. With his free hand he turned the music up on his phone. There was lightning at his finger tips as he ran his palm over Kenny’s hip. Kenny put his hand on Adam’s shoulder and grinned obnoxiously as he obviously felt-up Adam’s bicep. A couple inches between their chests and warmth flushed Adam’s throat. Adam whispered ‘okay,’ and his heart thudded. Kenny had to hear it. Feel Adam’s pulse in their joined hands. Terrible, stupid, perfect idea— when Kenny rejected him for being a lovesick fool it wasn’t going to be so great.

“It’s just some team building.” Adam preempted and placated Kenny. With his hand on Kenny’s hip he nudged the other man to sway with him. Nothing but a little stutter step. “You know, so we’re ready for next week.”

“Ah, yeah, team building,” Kenny chuckled. Adam met his eyes, and swallowed hard. Their noses a hair’s breadth apart. Adam wished he had brushed his teeth so his breath didn’t smell like alcohol. “You slow dance with all your partners?”

“Yeah, actually, Jason and I learned to waltz when we first started tagging,” Adam admitted. Kenny gapped at him. Clearly his question had been rhetorical and now Adam regretted bringing it up. “I mean, for the foot work and all that, it was just a good way to get in sync, you know?”

“Right,” Kenny said, and Adam wondered if his lack of enthusiasm meant something.

Two high fliers like Jason Blade and Adam Page needed immaculate tandem offense. It was a process, to get used to each other’s rhythms. To know when the other had taken too much damage and needed that blind tag. When to slow down, or speed-up, as the match dragged on. It worked, they got used to each other’s rhythms. Eventually they didn’t need the waltz at all, it was just a crutch. Adam had only suggested it as a joke but it did wonders for their footwork. Less so for their teamwork as they quibbled over who would lead.

(Adam eventually got the role because he was better at it than Jason).

Adam lifted his arm and after a second to process, Kenny twirled underneath. Adam pulled Kenny back as Kenny stepped in. A little too much momentum and Kenny stumbled into Adam’s chest. The heel of Kenny’s loafer drove between the two delicate bones on Adam’s big and second toe. If this was skee-ball then Kenny just scored the 100 points. Adam cussed and hissed, jerking away from Kenny. He rubbed the top of his boot over his calf to diminish the pain.

Kenny hissed between his teeth, “Yep, that was my bad. Sorry. You good?”

Adam kicked and shook his leg to return feelings to his toes. “So, was that payback?”

“Maybe,” Kenny teased. “Can we try again though?”

Kenny’s grin was rueful as Adam returned to him. He placed his hand back in Adam’s offered palm. Despite his sore foot, Adam was eager to have Kenny back in his arms. To feel the firm strength of his hip and lat underneath his hand. Back to their awkward little shuffle step and this time, Kenny pulled Adam closer. Chest-to-chest, Kenny rested his chin in the crook of Adam’s shoulder. His nose brushed against the wisps of Adam hair. A soft whisper of Kenny’s breath against Adam’s throat. Adam tried not to stiffen, as if his tension would scare Kenny away. Tried to find Kenny’s heartbeat, his rhythm, but when he did he couldn’t bring himself to fall in lock step. Wondered why he had to follow at all.

Except, Kenny had asked Adam to lead.

Adam experimented and lifted his arm again. This time Kenny unfurled and laughed each step of the way as he twirled underneath. Adam guided Kenny back to him, chuckling as their grip changed and Kenny’s hand flattened against his chest. The song ended without flourish. Gunmetal blue, the details of Kenny’s iris, the crinkles at the corners of his eyes. Shirts rucked, hands joined, and the slight huff of their breath in tandem. The playlist rolled to the next song. Adam and Kenny broke, then stepped away together. Hands lifting to rub at the back of their necks in mirrored gestures. Adam had an apology at the tip of his tongue.

“That was nice, Page,” Kenny said, his voice soft “We should definitely do it again sometime but—”

“You have to go?” Adam guessed.

“Yeah, Cody, the Bucks, and I are going out for a late-dinner,” Kenny admitted. His fingers twisted with the front of his shirt. “I won’t— I won’t ask you to come. I know how you feel, but I wanted you to know we were going out, and that if you wanted to join us? We’ll always save you a seat.”

Adam nodded, his thumb hooking in his belt loop. He licked his lips and studied the floor. “Thanks, Kenny, I appreciate it. I really do.”

“Alright, I’ll see you later,” Kenny said. He walked backwards to the door, chewed on the inside of his mouth. “Do you think— Can we meet early, like a couple days before the match, it’s in Mississippi, right? Maybe we can fly down early, get in the gym, and just, you know, work on stuff? Private Party is a real tag-team, we gotta be ready.”

Adam hesitated, thinking of the phone calls he’d have to make to get his flight changed. Packing early, a couple days less home. Finding someone to take care of his dogs while he was gone. The logistics crowded the forefront of his brain and yet all the back latched-onto was Kenny. His hopeful, shy blue eyes, and his little half smile. It was such a terrible idea, this was going to be beyond inconvenient but, two days with just Kenny, working-out, figuring out this tag-team they were evidently doing, and—

Shit.

“Yeah,” Adam managed, “We can do that.”

“Alright! I’ll see you in Mississippi, then, cowboy,” Kenny cackled. He backed-up and rested his hand on the door handle. He pointed at Adam. “Text you details later. Just you wait until we break-out some tandem offense on Private Party, it’ll all be worth it. Catch ya’ later, Pizz.”

The door closed behind Kenny and in his absence, Adam sighed. He worked his hand over his jaw and wondered if he was going grey early. Somehow, someway, Kenny had slipped the rug out from underneath him and made them a tag-team. Adam had agreed to tag with Kenny versus Mox and PAC because they both needed it, but this had become something more. Something Adam was not prepared for. It was a commitment but also an opportunity.

If they were doing this, Adam realized, he had to commit. He couldn’t half-ass a tag-team with Kenny Fucking Omega. Even if he felt like this was a terrible idea that was going to screw them both sideways. Not now, not even soon, but in a few months, maybe a year, when all of this unraveled and Adam slipped in a pool of his own blood.

“The point BJ, is that when the moment presented itself to him, he did grab it with an iron grip.”

Years of practice, months in the gym, days spent at Jimmy Valiant’s training camp, drilling counters, perfecting the snap of his hips as Adam flipped into a high bridge. Pressing onto his tip-toes, all his weight leveraged down on a bigger opponent. Adam Pearce had two inches and forty pounds on Adam. One opening was all Adam needed, though. The shock in the room on the three count had been palpable. The audience’s collectively gasped and it was a pure adrenaline shot to Adam’s veins. Shock erupted into open cheers. Adam on his knees, grinning with pride and surprise, like he wasn’t even sure he had won. BJ ruffled his hair fondly. He was not supposed to win this match but he did. Jimmy Jacobs, the entire crowd, the commentators, they didn’t believe in Adam Page, but Adam did. Back then that was enough to pull out a miracle.

“He did put a vice around it, BJ! And he won the match!”

Adam Pearce popped Adam Page’s confidence like a balloon. Pearce’s right palm smashed across Adam’s cheek so hard he tasted it. Adam won the match, he won the battle; But Jimmy Jacobs point was clear: he did not win the war. And Adam was at war. This was a no-holds barred beatdown and he was on the curb. Blood in his hair, eyes shot, and fingers shaking. The Bucks at his throat. Kenny with his back to a ledge, grinning at him with unrestrained excitement about a match next week. Next week, against Private Party, a real tag-team. Not the shitty ‘teams’ they had been fighting. Not a fight he could check into for the sake of Kenny or the peace.

“It doesn’t matter, because that was the test you failed.”

Pearce’s finger jabbed into Adam’s face. He went cross eyed trying to look at it. Felt and suppressed the tremble in his bottom lip. When Adam was a little kid he watched wrestling on the TV and felt a bone deep need. A wrestling ring was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He had to get in that ring. Nothing else mattered, and for a time the trampoline in the backyard would do, but that ring called to him. He wanted to feel the give under his step, the flex of the ropes. Smell the sweat and blood that’d seeped into the mats over decades, decades of history, legacy, and war. A written history Adam longed to inscribe his name into. When Adam was a child he didn’t care about belts or titles, if he just got into a wrestling ring, got to stand in one, he’d be happy.

It was a simple, unambitious dream, but for a kid from rural Virginia is was his dream. Well, he got in one, and it was like a drug, he had to do it again, and again, and again, and he got good at it. So good that he won more matches than he lost. He had to feel the thrum of a crowd in his ears. Test himself on an opponent, stretch the limits of his ability. Once, Adam had thought to himself, while running the the apron to a moonsault, pushing off his leading leg, his back arched, and his heart grazing the ceiling, ‘I wish I was actually this strong.’

That the confidence of Adam Page, professional wrestler, The Hangman, carried over into his day-to-day. That the power of his chops translated to an unflinching voice when he spoke. That the technique of his flip was as impressive as his social prowess. Adam never second guessed himself before a suplex but he did in everything else. It shocked him he had the spine to ever even get in a ring in the first place, to go to Japan, to enter the G1, to join an upstart company like AEW, or to even go outside.

An opportunity was presenting itself to Adam Page. Kenny Omega, the best bout machine and a great visionary, already saw it. Adam saw it too and he suspected its appearance was not accidental, not a luck of the draw. He wanted to call Kenny and tell him to cancel the match. His stomach twisted with the thought. This was a bad, bad idea, to step down a twisting path that he couldn’t see the end of. Going back to tag-teams, tagging with the leader of the group he was trying to leave, and the man he’d been totally lovesick with for over a year. Adam hesitated, his hand hovering over his phone.

“At some point, the both of you will have seen everything there is to see. Have been able to do everything there is to do, and when the moment presents itself, you won’t hesitate to reach for it. Because you already know that you grabbed it before it presented itself. Time will do that for you.”

Adam’s hand flattened against the bar counter, pinned like a taxidermy bug to the board. He grabbed it when he rolled Adam Pearce through to the bridge. He grabbed it when Matt offered a spot in the Bullet Club. When he hung Chris Sabine and became the Hangman. He grabbed it when he snatched the title from Jay White and held it above his head like it could be his. He grabbed it when he won the battle royale. When he rode a horse to a ring that belonged to a legend to whom he would serve as a footnote. Most of the time, it slipped his fingers, because his grip was slick with sweat, and he was a young man, lacking time. But Adam had never missed, never hesitated, and if he was going to do this—

If he was going to walk into next week, take that match with Kenny and fight Private Party. He was going to commit.

No more half-assed bullshit. No more ducking away and avoiding a future he dreaded. They were going to do this and it was going to suck, and the effort was probably going to kill him. It’d probably would mean that by the end Kenny hated him. And that would also suck, but Adam wasn’t going to spend his whole life pinning for something he could never have. Not when there was something he could have and it was gold around his waist. An accomplished career that he could die happy with. The Bucks patting his shoulders and arms, telling him he did great, they’re proud.

It was going to suck, it was going to kill him but at least he got to pick his poison.

#ofgrief #‘The Hangman’ || Adam: IC #‘Deals with God’ || Adam: Verse

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xoxowrestlinggyrl · 4 years

Text

Same Man

Requested: No

Pairing: Dean Ambrose x Dionna, Jon Moxley x Ashlynn

Word Count : 1589

Warnings: Humor & Cursing

Summary: After Ashlynn and Dionna’s tag-team match, they talk about their love lives. The coincidences started piling up to the point they start believing they’re in the relationship with the same man. A plan was made to catch him in the act. The plan immediately backfires on them.

A/N: I wrote this a while ago, but I decided to post it now. (Why not? You know). I wanted to get back into the groove of things with a funny one. It’s loosely based off of the song Same Girl. It’s different from what I normally write, honestly. I hope you all enjoy the humor.

"It's really nice to be teaming with you, again, Ash. The last time we teamed together was like 15,000 years ago. In order for that to happen, we got to be vampires." Dionna stated which caused Ashlynn to laugh.

Ashlynn thought about it, "You never know, we could be vampires. Thankfully, we're not glowing like those damn Twilight vampires. They look dumb with the shine the vampires had." She grinned at Dionna, "I'm glad we got the chance to work together again. Especially since I was able to get my hands on Sasha."

"One of these days, The Smurf is going to learn not to mess with the Unpredictable Highflyer. Edna Mode seemed pretty upset too." Dionna referred to Bayley as Edna Mode from the Incredibles.

"That suicide dive we did was sick,"

"Well, I learned it from the best." Dionna packed her clothes into the suitcase. Ashlynn is a legend in her own right. The wrestling fans can agree Ashlynn made a huge mark in the wrestling world. Dionna was a protege of the blonde when she was younger. The dark-haired female would be thankful to make even half the impact Ashlynn made on the community.

"Damn right." The thirty-five year old smirked a bit. "What's been going on with you? Anything new?" Her eyebrows raised both her eyebrows at the Kansan.

Dionna chuckled, "What do you want to know?"

"Ember was talking about some new... Romance in your life. You've been secretive about it. There's no way you're going to be able to get away with it, Dee." She jokingly punches Dionna's shoulder.

"I am going to get Ember." Dionna jokes.

Ashlynn patted her shoulder, "You don't gotta hide anything from me. you know I don't judge." Dionna nodded, she knew Ashlynn never judged. Dionna knew others were going to judge her brewing romance.

"He is in AEW." Dionna told Ashlynn. The blonde's shoulder raised while she looked at Dionna.

"And?"

Dionna's eyebrows raised, "You don't think anything is wrong with it?" She started to become relieved. Her boyfriend is a private person, and she didn't mind being private about her relationship. She didn't feel like it's anyone else's business. Also, she knew management might not be happy that one of their top faces is "sleeping with the enemy".

"It's not, I am with someone in AEW too." Ashlynn said, "We're both keeping it private. As long as he makes you happy, that is all that matters Dee. Who gives a fuck about what management got to say."

"You're right, Ash." She said, "He makes me so happy, he is so goofy, loving and caring. He will take the shirt off of his back for anyone. He is just a bit rough around the edges. That's what I love about him. Whenever he smiles, he smiles so brightly, matching with his bright blue eyes. That's why I call him Bright Eyes." Dionna said. Ashlynn almost immediately did a double take.

"What did you say?"

"He makes me so happy-" Dionna started.

"No, the last part." Ashlynn said.

"I call him Bright Eyes." Ashlynn's eyes widened.

"You're serious?"

Dionna nodded, "What's wrong."

"It's funny because the person you're describing sounds like my Bright Eyes." Ash said.

Dionna laughed, "That can't be possible. I met him when he was in Vegas. There is no way we could be seeing the same guy. Ash looked serious. She really seemed to think this is actually happening.

"I met him in Vegas too."

"Coincidence." Dionna said.

It was obvious Dionna was in denial. Ashlynn wanted to believe what she said was false. It might be, but she had an inkling. She knew this love was too good to be true.

"Show me a picture of him then." Ashlynn insisted.

"Ash..."

"If you're so sure that it's a coincidence, show me a picture of him. I will show you a picture of my boyfriend too." Ashlynn hoped Dionna would agree to this. She knows how stubborn she can get sometimes.

Dionna sighed, "Fine." She said, and she pulled out her phone. As she went through the gallery she found a picture of Dean. She clicked on it before showing Ashlynn. "Here." The blonde's eyes widened in shock and she gasped.

"I can't believe him." She started to pace back and forth. Dionna knew this wasn't good when Ashlynn started to pace.

"What? Ash?" Dionna hoped what Ashlynn thought wasn't true. That means Dean is cheating on her. It breaks Dionna's heart since he is the apple of her eye.

"Look at this picture," Ashlynn showed Dionna a picture of Jon. Dionna gasped, "No, no, no."

"Yes, babygirl. He is fucking playing us." Ashlynn said what Dionna didn't want to hear. Jon is her other half, her soulmate, her match made in heaven. She was wrong. How could he? How could he break so many promises he wished her? Ashlynn felt bad for Dionna since she didn't deserve to be caught up in this mess. Dionna shook her head, she looked pissed.

Dionna was stewing with anger just like Ashlynn. She didn't think Ashlynn deserved the mess either. "We got to catch him in the act. We'll both be able to give him a piece of our mind." Dionna said. Ashlynn smirked.

"That's a good idea, Dee. I couldn't have thought of a better one myself." Ashlynn said. The two women bumped fists. "We're going to plan a date night, and we're going to set up at the same time and place?"

Dionna nodded, "Exactly. Then, he will see the two of us and he wishes he regret the day he tried to play two badass women."

"Operation: Expose Bright Eyes in effect." Ashlynn said.

~ ~ ~

FEW DAYS LATER

The two determined women were dressed up for the date they're going to have with their future ex-boyfriend. Ashlynn and Dionna both invited him to go out to dinner at a restaurant at the same time. Why would he promise to go to both? It didn't make sense... Right? Dionna sat at her respective table as well as Ashlynn.

'Do you think he is going to stand us up?' Dionna sent Ashlynn.

'Maybe, he can't be at two places at the same time.'

'You're right.'

Time started to creep closer and closer. It was about time for their date to start. Ashlynn tapped her foot in annoyance while Dionna's leg shook while waiting for him to come in. Their tables were next to each other's. It's going to make it awkward for him too. After what seemed about a century, Dean walked into the restaurant.

"Reservation for Dionna." Dean said.

"Right this way." The host told him, and he walked with Dean. "Your wife is already at the table, looking so stunning."

Dean looked at him, "She's my girlfriend, and she always does." He grinned. The host got to the table with Dionna. Dionna looked up to see Dean. "Hey, darlin', how are you doing?" Dean asked. He pulled her into a hug. Ashlynn was fuming because Jon acted like he didn't know her at all. His attention was all on Dionna.

"I am good, how are you?" She said.

Jon walked into the restaurant, and he nodded his head at the greeting host. "Reservation for Ashlynn." He said.

The host nodded, "Perfect, follow me. Your beautiful girlfriend is waiting."

"I know, and she's my beautiful girlfriend." Jon still can't believe Ashlynn fell in love with him. While he walked he saw Ashlynn standing up, she looked annoyed. Ashlynn looked shocked when she saw Jon walk to her. "Hello, my lady." He hugged Ashlynn. Then, he pecked her lips. She was frozen in place. "J-J-Jon, look." Ashlynn said.

"What, babe?" Jon searched her eyes before smiling when he saw his twin brother with his girlfriend. Dionna looked over and nearly stopped in her own tracks.

"Oh my God." Dionna said.

"What, Dee?" Dean looked up, and he saw Jon walking over to them with Ashlynn.

"Brooo," Jon said,

"Man.." Dean greeted back, and they hugged. Dionna and Ashlynn looked at each other, and they looked stunned.

"You both are twins?" Ashlynn asked.

"Where is Ashton Kutcher when you need him?!" Dionna asked,

"He's on The Ranch." Jon remarked.

"Is it hard to believe we're twins?"

Ashlynn and Dionna looked at each other.

"It's what you two get for jumping to conclusions." Jon outright said.

"How did you know?!" Ashlynn asked.

"There was no way you both could have known." Dionna said.

Jon and Dean laughed, "It was easy, we figured it out when we were both going to the same place." Dean said.

"Also, you haven't been yourself either Ash." Jon pointed that out. Dean nodded, "Same with you either, Dee." A relief washed over the two women. They felt bad for trying to embarrass their respective boyfriends over suspicions.

"I am sorry," Ashlynn started, "Me too! I am sorry too." Dionna said.

"Forgiven." They said at the same time.

"Come on Ashybear, it's time to enough our date, we will talk about this more later." Jon grabbed Ashlynn's hand. They headed back to their table. "You should know by Ash, I love you so much. I could never do such a thing." He told her.

"I love you too, Mox." She kissed his cheek before they sat down at their table once again,

"Same with you, Sunshine. We're enjoying this date, but we will talk about your shenanigans later." Dean looked at her. Dionna sat down, "I love you,"

"I love you too, Dee."

#wwe oneshots #wwe fanfics #aew fanfics #aew oneshots #wrestling fanfictions #dean ambrose x oc #jon moxley x oc #jon moxley #dean ambrose #jon moxley fics #dean ambrose fics #aew #wwe

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buttdawg · 4 years

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NJPW titles

I rewatched the Dangerous Tekkers/Golden Ace match from Dominion, this time with the English commentary, and it still rules, but what I really wanted to discuss was Kevin Kelly and Rocky Romero talking about how the Tekkers could hold the tag belts for quite a while, since there really isn’t a credible threat on the horizon. Consider:

They basically picked Golden Ace apart. In the post-match interview, Tanahashi demanded a rematch--while lying on the floor. He then had to be helped out of the room because his knees were all tekkered up. I didn’t even see any post-match comments from Ibushi, so maybe he was still out cold from the Iron Finger. I’m looking forward to seeing Golden Ace rebuild from this loss, but it really should be a long, long recovery.

The previous champions, Guerillas of Destiny, are stuck outside of Japan because the border is closed.

Same goes for the champions before that, FinJuice. Good riddance.

Going back further in the title lineage, you end up with EVIL and SANADA, except that team is now defunct, since EVIL joined Bullet Club, leaving SANADA in LIJ. I feel like there’s a decent chance that some other LIJ guy might follow EVIL to Bullet Club. But even if SANADA was that guy, I can’t see EVIL caring about the tag titles now that he’s a triple champion.

Let me see who else we’ve got here. Young Bucks are in AEW now. Killer Elite Squad split up and left NJPW. War Machine are now the Viking Raiders in WWE. GBH and TenCozy are still around, but they’re usually in the undercard these days. Ishii and Yano had a run with the belts in 2017. Hey, the Dudley Boys held the IWGP tag team titles? That’s cool, but they probably aren’t coming back anytime soon.

The point Kevin and Rocky were driving at was that there really isn’t an established team on hand, someone you could point to and say, yeah those guys could beat the Tekkers. At best, you’d have to build up a new team from scratch. SANADA and Shingo Takagi, maybe, or Okada and Naito become the Japanese Megapowers.

I heard Dave Meltzer saying that he thought the reason they made the Tekkers look so dominant in that title match was to help re-establish the tag team division, but right now, they are the tag team division. I guess you gotta start somewhere, but I suspect that they’ll just end up holding the belts for months and months until G.O.D. comes back.

And this just makes the six-man tag belts look even worse off, because it really annoys me how the previous champions were basically three random dudes, and it seemed like they were finally putting things right by having an LIJ unit win the belts, only they never defended the titles either, and now the team is broken up. I could try to come up with cool stuff they could do with the trios belts, but honestly what’s the point? Anything worth doing there would be better used for the tag team division.

It took me a while to notice, but yeah, they have way too many titles in NJPW. It’s improved a lot, but only because of circumstances. The U.S. title is in limbo because the champion, Jon Moxley, can’t go to Japan and he can’t work for NJPW on U.S. soil. The IC title is now merged with the World title, so that’s one less to deal with. This has made the NEVER Openweight Championship into the de facto midcard singles belt. I’m pleased with it being used that way, but it just demonstrates how the IC and U.S. titles were serving the same purpose. Same goes for the REVPRO British title, but I think that went away when Zack lost it.

So the singles titles seem to be pared down to a manageable number. You’ve got a World/IC champion, an Openweight Champion, and a Jr. Heavyweight Champion. I think that’s all. But there’s two sets of tag belts and the trios titles. The trios titles are in limbo, and I guess the junior tag belts are too, since YOH is out with an injury.

Normally, I might say New Japan should deactivate these extra belts, or unify them with belts they want to keep, but I can see where that might look bad if they did it all in a short span of time. One of these days, Jon Moxley might be able to appear in Japan again, and he can drop the title, so maybe it’s just better to wait until then. The thing is, even if he could go back to Japan, it’d be kind of awkward for the reigning AEW champion to lose his other title. I don’t know how they get around that, short of just waiting for him to lose the AEW title first. I thought the whole point of the IWGP U.S. title was that they could have a (North) American win it and defend it in American tours. But Moxley doesn’t fit that bill at all because of his AEW obligations, so I feel like they just wanted to give it to someone with a lot of star power. Either way, it’d suck to vacate the title a second time.

#njpw

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debbiechanclub · 3 years

Text

“Personal Snow Globe” - Brandon Cutler x OFC

Title: Personal Snow Globe

Theme: @12daysofchristmas Day 4 - Snow

Fandom/Character(s): AEW/Brandon Cutler x OFC

Warnings: None! This fic is a big ball of fluff.

Word Count: 1,537

Notes: @champbucks wanted a Brandon fic, so I had to deliver. I must say, this is probably the SOFTEST thing I have ever written, but I’m quite proud of it. I hope y’all enjoy!

Find more of my fics here.

Tag squad: @hotyeehawman @freshlysqueezedmox @gabbynorth98 @comeasyoudar @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @librathepheonix13 @exe-sadboi-exe

For the first time in a long time, Olivia wasn’t excited for Christmas. Ever since she and Brandon had started spending the holidays together, they’d traded off which side of the family got which holiday. This year, it was supposed to be Thanksgiving with Brandon’s family and Christmas with hers—but while they had spent Thanksgiving at Brandon’s parents’ house, given the state of things they’d chosen to be responsible and not travel for Christmas. Which meant they were staying in Southern California rather than going to Olivia’s parents’ place in Western New York. And, while she was upset that she wouldn’t get to see her family in person, she was probably even more upset that she was being robbed of a white Christmas.

“It’s supposed to snow in Buffalo again tonight,” Olivia groused as she looked at the weather app on her phone.

“And probably tomorrow night, and the night after that,” Brandon pragmatically pointed out. “Didn’t you say Buffalo gets three times the national average snowfall per year, or something ridiculous?”

“It’s not ridiculous, it’s what’s supposed to happen in winter,” she returned. “Meanwhile here in seasonless Southern California, it’s in the seventies three days before Christmas.”

Brandon smiled and shook his head. He was used to hearing her complain about the weather in Southern California. While she absolutely loved it during spring and summer, by the time September rolled around she would inevitably get homesick for a chilly bite in the air and the actual need for sweaters and coats and scarves. Being able to walk around without so much as a jacket during Christmas was just wrong.

“You’re the one who decided to move here,” Brandon teased.

“And for two-thirds of the year I love it! But that other third…” she trailed off. He let out a laugh.

“It’s just the worst.”

She pouted at him. “I’m really bummed, Brandon. Seriously.” She didn’t mean to sound childish or ungrateful; she knew how lucky they were that Brandon’s family lived close enough that they could spend the day with them, and she was doubly lucky that she loved his family. But there was just something special about a snowy Christmas—and if there was any year that Olivia could use a dose of that magic, it was this one.

Thankfully, Brandon understood. He was the most understanding person Olivia knew. “I know you are, Liv. But we’ll make the most of it. At least we won’t have to spend it by ourselves; most people don’t have that luxury this year.”

“I know,” Olivia sighed, suddenly feeling bad for complaining. He was right, she knew he was. He always was.

But the New Yorker in her couldn’t help it. She wanted her white Christmas.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Alright, this is the last one.”

Brandon grabbed a box from underneath the Christmas tree and crossed the room to hand it to Olivia. She accepted it with a warm smile. They liked to open their presents for each other on Christmas Eve, so it was something personal for just the two of them. Had they been in Buffalo, they would have snuck up to Olivia’s childhood bedroom after dinner with her family and opened them there. Admittedly, it was a lot nicer to get to do it by their tree instead of next to her marching band competition trophies.

“This is heavy,” Olivia remarked, weighing the box in her hands. And then, her eyes widened. Somehow, she just knew what it was. She tore open the wrapping paper in two swift motions and let out a gasp. She’d been right—it was the Canon camera she’d been saving up for for months.

“Merry Christmas, babe.” Brandon’s smile was dazzling and infectious as he watched her unwrap it the rest of the way. Olivia was beside herself.

“Brandon… this is… wow.” She ran her hand over the glossy cardboard box, still in awe. That camera cost thousands of dollars. Suddenly, the Dungeons & Dragons dice set and wooden dice tower she’d gotten him—which had not been cheap—seemed paltry in comparison.

“This is too much,” she said.

“What?” Brandon gave her a look like she’d said the most ridiculous thing in the world. “No. I know you’ve been saving up for it for a while, but I had the money, so I figured why not?”

Olivia’s brow knitted together. “Are you sure? This is a really expensive cam—”

“And your photography is worth the cost.”

Tears immediately sprung to the back of her eyes. Brandon was too good to her.

But she couldn’t help but look a gift horse in the mouth. “Wait, you didn’t buy this to make up for us not being able to go to Buffalo, did you? Is this why you were gone all day yesterday?”

It wouldn’t be unlike Brandon to make a sweeping gesture like that; it wouldn’t be the first time since they’d been together. Plus, she hadn’t noticed this particular present turn up under the tree until late yesterday evening.

But Brandon shook his head. “No. I bought that for you a while ago,” he explained. “And I was gone all day yesterday because of traffic. There was still a last-minute Christmas rush even though people should be staying home.”

Olivia didn’t say anything in return, taking his word for it. But, as grateful as she was for the gift, she still felt a little guilty that he’d spent so much on her, even if he did have the money.

“Liv,” he gently squeezed her knee, drawing her out of her thoughts. “It’s not too much. I wanted to get it for you, and now you can use the money you’ve been saving for a rainy day.”

A smile crept onto her lips. “Right, because it doesn’t snow here.”

Brandon good-naturedly rolled his eyes. “I can take it back.”

“No!” She playfully snatched the camera away from him. “I love it, and I love you,” she said, and she sealed it with a kiss.

* * * * * * * * * *

Christmas morning, Olivia woke up later than she’d intended. After exchanging gifts, she and Brandon had stayed up late watching Christmas movies, drinking eggnog, and eating cookies—and she’d probably indulged her sweet tooth a bit too much. Thankfully, they weren’t going over to Brandon’s parents’ house until a bit later in the afternoon.

As she stretched and climbed out of bed, she was unsurprised to find herself alone. Brandon was an early riser, no matter how late he went to sleep. He’d probably already made breakfast. She hoped he hadn’t pulled out all the stops; she still felt a bit full from the night before.

She trudged into their master bathroom, still half-asleep, and turned on the light. But what she saw outside the window immediately woke her up.

Snow.

For a second she stood there, dazed and confused, not trusting her own eyes. She rushed to the window and pressed her face against the pane, peering out into the backyard. The “snow” seemed to be coming from one corner of the house, falling into the backyard. She looked down at the ground and spotted Brandon, looking up into the faux flurries. He saw her and waved, that giant smile of his on his face.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Olivia rushed to slip on her house shoes and hurry downstairs, her heart thumping excitedly in her chest. She felt like a kid again as she burst out into the backyard. “Are you kidding me?” she repeated her question to Brandon.

He held out his arms. “Since we can’t go to the snow, I figured I’d bring the snow to us.”

She looked up and watched in awe as the snow burst out from the roof and floated down onto them. It felt light and cool on her skin. She was almost tempted to open her mouth and catch a few flakes on her tongue, but she thought better of it.

“How in the world did you pull this off?”

A conspiratorial smirk appeared on Brandon’s lips. “This is why I was gone all day yesterday. I got the idea not long after you started complaining about it snowing in Buffalo again,” she rolled her eyes, but he kept talking. “It was quite a task finding one of these things two days before Christmas, but I wasn’t gonna stop until I did.”

Much like the Grinch’s had, Olivia felt like her heart grew two sizes right then and there. She had no idea what she’d done to deserve someone as sweet as Brandon, but he’d just singlehandedly made this Christmas better than any other Christmas she’d ever had.

He walked over and pulled her close, snowflakes falling all around them. “Do you like it?”

“I love it,” Olivia beamed. “It’s like our own personal snow globe.” She gave him a kiss. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” he returned—and then Olivia had a thought.

“Stay here.”

She pulled away from him and hurried back toward the house. “What is it?” he called after her.

She paused with her hand on the door handle and sent him a smile over her shoulder. “I’m gonna get my new camera. I can’t think of a better first picture to take than in your Southern California snow.”

#12daysofChristmas #brandon cutler #brandon cutler fanfiction #brandon cutler fanfic #brandon cutler fic #brandon cutler one shot #brandon cutler imagine #brandon cutler x ofc #aew fanfiction

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wrestlingisfake · 3 years

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Slammiversary preview

This is Impact's 19th anniversary show, although they didn't start using this name until the 3rd anniversary, and now they always hold it a month after the actual anniversary date. For the first time since March 2020, Impact will have fans at the show, but on a limited basis. So I would expect maybe 50-100 people spaced pretty far apart.

The show airs live tonight on Fite.tv. The pre-show is free and begins at 7pm EDT; the main show is $39.99 and starts at 8pm EDT.

Kenny Omega vs. Sami Callihan - Callihan is challenging for the Impact men's world title, which is represented by two of the four belts that Omega currently holds. The other two, the AEW and AAA men's world titles, are not at stake. This is billed as "no DQ match" which ought to mean that the winner gets to go to Dairy Queen but probably means can't be disqualified.

Omega and his henchmen interfered in a Callihan vs. Moose match on June 3, causing Callihan to win by disqualification. Since Moose was the #1 contender at the time, officials considered adding Sami to the Omega vs. Moose match on June 12, but ultimately they decided to book the winner to face Callihan here. The storyline is that Omega's manager Don Callis keeps arguing that Callihan is too reckless and unprofessional to be in a world title match, but we all know he's really just worried that Sami could hurt Omega real bad and win the title.

If it was me, I'd have done Omega-Callihan last month to set up Omega-Moose here. (Moose's contract negotiations may have made that impractical.) I don't buy Sami as the big destination for one of the biggest Impact shows of the year. I want to be interested in Omega trying to figure out how to deal with a misfit deathmatch guy. But Sami comes across more like a guy playing a misfit deathmatch guy. I mean, I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley, but I'd rather do that than listen to his corny supervillain speeches or look at his Roman Reigns cosplay.

At this point I'm seriously wondering where they're going with Omega invading Impact, so I'm willing to believe they could wrap it up any day now and get the title off of him. Omega has to drop the belt to somebody, and I can see Impact picking Callihan, even if I'd pick somebody else. Even so, I still want to think there's a long-term plan in place, and that the blowoff won't come until at least the October pay-per-view. So I'm expecting this match will just come down to another wave of run-ins and shenanigans so Omega can retain.

Ultimate X match - This is a six-way match for Josh Alexander's Impact X division championship. The ring will be set up with four columns at each corner, which support either cables or scaffolding that cross overhead like a giant "X." The title belt will be hung from the center, and the first participant to pull it down will be the winner and champion. So it's like a ladder match, but there are no ladders.

Impact introduced this as one of their signature match types back in 2003, and they've always been rather proud of it. Personally I have trouble getting into it, since all the spots revolve around falling off of things, and all the "near-falls" involve slowly inching across a high-wire or a scaffold.

The six participants are: Josh Alexander, Petey Williams, Trey Miguel, Ace Austin, Rohit Raju, and Chris Bey. The storyline is that Austin and Raju have formed an alliance, and since no one can be disqualified they plan to gang up on the competition with their respective henchmen (Madman Fulton and Shera). Alexander, Williams, and Miguel are trying to stick together to oppose this, and Bey has reluctantly sided with them.

Alexander recently won a sixty-minute iron man match to add to his credentials as a dominant champion, so in theory this match is meant to secure his legacy as an all-time great in the division. Problem is, if he wins he's effectively cleaned out the division, and if he loses it's yet another situation where the champion didn't get pinned to lose the X title, setting up yet another multi-man X title match. Nevertheless, I'd much, much rather keep the belt on Alexander and have him move on to new business (maybe against a recent WWE castoff), so I guess I'm rooting for him to win.

Deonna Purrazzo vs. ? - Purrazzo is scheduled to defend the women's title against a mystery opponent who won't be revealed until right before the match starts. The storyline is that Purrazzo has cleaned out the division (a trope that's getting worn very thin in pro wrestling these days), so she's gotten overconfident, and Gail Kim set this up to truly put her to the test. They haven't said the opponent can't be Kim herself, although Kim strongly suggested that it won't be.

WWE has released a number of women over the past few months, and any of them could potentially be the challenger. Impact is probably counting on fans to jump to that conclusion. By not naming the challenger, Impact encourages fans to infer that she's currently under a WWE non-compete clause that won't expire until right before the show. Of course, none of us can be certain about those non-compete clauses, or which wrestlers have negotiated to waive them. We also can't be assured that the mystery opponent must be a WWE name; it could easily just be someone like ODB coming in for a cup of coffee.

Matches like this tend to be trouble for long-running champions. The most famous example would be when the Ultimate Warrior shocked the Honky Tonk Man in 1989. It won't help Purrazzo that she's cut ties with her cronies, Kimber Lee and Susan, so she won't have them ready to interfere if she gets in trouble. However, Purrazzo is already booked to defend the title in a champion vs. champion match on August 14, so it's hard to believe she'll drop the belt ahead of that.

Four-way tag team match - This is for the Impact men's tag team title, currently held by Violent By Design. Typically in a match like this, members of two teams start in the ring, while everyone else stands in their assigned corner. The legal wrestlers in the ring can tag in anyone in any corner, whether it's their own partner or an opponent. The first wrestler to score a fall on any opponent wins the match and the championship for his team.

The championship is currently held by Violent By Design: Rhino, Joe Doering, Deaner, and Eric Young. In the tradition of the "Freebird Rule," you get booked to wrestle the team, not any specific individuals, so then the team gets to choose which members will actually be in the match. Young has been sidelined with a knee injury so I'm pretty sure VBD's options are limited to Rhino, Doering, and Deaner. But they could always bring in a new member.

There will be three other teams in the match, but only two have been confirmed: Rich Swann & Willie Mack and Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson. When the match was first announced, the team of TJP & Fallah Baah was supposed to be in it. However, we found out yesterday that TJP is unable to do the match for some reason. Impact said the match will still involve four teams, but didn't say that Baah will get another partner. So it's possible Baah has also been pulled from the match, and both guys in the fourth team could be a surprise.

The build for this match felt like a clusterfuck. VBD and Gallows/Anderson are the top teams, but they're all heels, so some babyface teams had to get thrown together, and then all of it is dumped into one match until an actual story direction emerges. The only cool outcome I see is if Fallah Baah really does step aside and a whole new team debuts. But they could just as easily stick Johnny Swinger and Hernandez in there, so I shouldn't get my hopes up. The safe bet is the champs retain.

Moose vs. Chris Sabin - Moose has been a top heel for a while, but he kind of went babyface a little in his program with Kenny Omega. With that out of the way, he threw a tantrum about losing to Omega to remind us he's still a heel, until Sabin chased him off. Without Alex Shelley or James Storm to team with, Sabin hasn't had much to do, so now he's in a match that could re-establish him as a singles guy.

I assume the winner of this match get into the hunt for the world title, perhaps at whatever big show they do in August. That sort of favors Sabin, although I can't totally count out Moose. Moose feels like he's headed for bigger things in Impact, and a convincing win over a former Impact world champion here would get him off to a good start. I guess I've talked myself into picking Moose to win.

Eddie Edwards vs. W. Morrissey - Morrissey (formerly Big Cass in WWE) is on a roll as the latest Mean Guy to beat everybody up in Impact. Edwards, a former world champion in Impact and ROH, is his toughest competition since he got here. I don't see Edwards winning unless they have big plans for him. And I suppose they might have big plans for Eddie, but big plans are clearly in progress for Morrissey. I'm certain this is just a glorified squash match to put Morrissey over.

Matt Cardona & ? vs. Tenille Dashwood & Brian Myers - Cardona and Myers were the team of Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins in WWE, but they've been feuding since they got to Impact. I'd actually forgotten that Dashwood and Cardona were dating about five or six years ago, which would maybe explain why she helped Myers beat down Cardona recently. So now we've got this mixed tag team match. Cardona has to find a woman to be his partner, but we don't know who it will be.

The minute they announced this match, they started teasing the mystery woman would be Cardona's fiancée, Chelsea Green. I suspect that tease was taped before Green showed up at the ROH pay-per-view saying she wasn't medically cleared in Maryland and that she would wrestle for ROH this summer. Of course, none of that necessarily means she can't wrestle for Impact with a wrist injury in Tennessee. But I think the tease is a deliberate misdirection. Dashwood has been trying to drive a wedge between Rachael Ellering and Jordynne Grace, so either of them might make sense in this spot.

If the mystery partner is any good, I think she has to get the win here. But even if Impact has picked up some hot free agents, I don't expect many of them to actually wrestle on this show. So it could be a deal where they reveal Green is in the company, Green swerves us by introducing (for example) Alisha Edwards as the partner, and the babyfaces just lose.

Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz vs. Rosemary & Havok - This is booked for the pre-show. Fire 'N' Flava (Hogan & Steelz) are defending the Impact women's tag team championship. As I recall, Rosemary and Taya Valkyrie feuded with Havok and Neveah a few months back over some spooky shit involving Rosemary and Havok. Anyway, Valkyrie and Neveah left the company, so I guess the spooky sides of those teams have put aside their differences. You could do some fun things with Rosemary and Havok as champs, but I don't know why you'd book the title change on a pre-show. So I think Hogan and Steelz retain, and this storyline will continue for a while longer.

#impact wrestling #slammiversary #kenny omega #sami callihan

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danwhobrowses · 4 years

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AEW All Out 2020 Review

Okay...lot to unpack there All Out is in the books but not all of it was positive vibes, but there was still a lot of good stuff here that I’m gonna run down So Obviously, Spoilers for All Out

I’d like to preface that this has not been AEW’s best PPV, but parts of it was not AEW’s fault, I also have to add that the card took some heavy shuffles, starting with moving the Casino Battle Royale and Tooth and Nail match to the main card, quickly adding two new Buy In shows. The Buy In Joey Janela (w/Sonny Kiss) vs Serpentico (w/Luther) - Winner: Janela (Pinfall via Elbow Drop) A nice fun opener, Luther doesn’t do it for me but Serpentico definitely does, Janela looked very solid as Serpentico sold for him, some pretty decent athleticism and some solid heelish brutality from the Snakeman. Kiss got a hit in on Luther’s interfering and the result was fine, Janela then put over Kiss on the hard cam saying he’d win the Battle Royale. Private Party vs Dark Order Members John ‘3′ Silver and Alex ‘4′ Reynolds - Winner: Private Party (Pinfall via Gin n Juice) Another fun opening tag match, the kind of energetic tag you get from Pre-Shows really. Both teams were solid but it was the Dark Order who had the better share of the tag synergy. That being said, Marq Quen literally ignored gravity for a moment with a Moonsault and Silver rocked Quen with a Burning Hammer F-5 (I think it’s called the Spin Doctor) for a near fall. Many fans would be convinced that Dark Order should’ve won, and in hindsight they probably should have, but a small flurry got them the Gin n Juice for the win. Main Card Tooth and Nail Match, Britt Baker (w/Rebel ‘Reba’ Tanea) vs Big Swole - Winner: Big Swole (KO) After heavy fan demand, Tony Khan decided to move the match onto the main card as the opener. Swole rolled up with a BLM armband and a fancy car into Baker’s office, met by ‘Reba’ acting as the receptionist. After hitting her with a clipboard Swole was mentally tormented a little by blood in the sink and chattering teeth as Baker quietly stalked her and then hit Swole (kinda lightly really) with her diploma. Baker looked to torture Swole for most of the match with dentistry equipment, some solid landings on the unprotected floor did sell a bit of intensity, when Swole rallied they went to the back where Reba also returned, she was dunked into a nearby bin via Britt’s ‘Role’s Royce’. Britt returned to the advantage as she looked to inject Swole with something (I think it’d be a numbing agent), but ended up taking it into the leg herself as Reba funnily screamed ‘You Stabbed Her!’, a dazed Swole then used another Diploma to do ‘Dirty Dancing’ through the diploma on Reba, another Dirty Dancing on Britt knocked her into the Doctor’s chair as Swole finished Baker with some anesthetic. As cinematic matches go it was a mixed bag, some bits were funny but some of it was just ‘silly bobbins’, a theme with AEW’s women’s matches sadly is that JR really can’t commentate on Women without saying something wrong or outdated (more on that later), it probably should’ve stayed on the Buy In where it would’ve been afforded more time and less seriousness, also odd that Baker took the loss on her return. The Young Bucks vs Jurassic Express (w/ Marko Stunt) - Winner: The Young Bucks (Pinfall via BTE Trigger on Jungle Boy) A PPV-quality tag match, Jurassic Express and the Bucks started with a lot of energy as the Bucks started leaning into their asshole heel attitudes. Isolating Jungle Boy and infuriating Luchasaurus, there was a fair amount of Back and Forth which usually ended with the Bucks once more doubling on the Big Man to focus on JB. At one point, Marko Stunt (in a crutch after being demolished by Jake Hager on a prior AEW Dark match) pulled Matt off the ring apron as he mocked JB to tag him in. Eventually Luchasaurus did what he does best: the Hot Tag, taking both on with his unique offence, he also added what I could only call a ‘Chokesault’ since he chokeslammed Nick so hard onto Matt that he basically moonsaulted onto his prone brother. Jurassic Express wowed with their airborne abilities with JB using Luchasaurus to hop over the top rope onto Nick for a perfect crossbody but were again undone when the rana setup led to JB being powerbombed on the apron and Luchasaurus hit with a destroyer. The Boy and his Dinosaur almost got the win by reversing a Meltzer Driver setup into an Extinction Level Event but the pin was broken. Marko’s action before came to haunt him as Matt kicked away Marko’s crutch in torment, then murdered him with a superkick that wrote him out of interference. After the Bucks were set over the guard rail, Luchasaurus took himself out by launching from the ring over the barricade to the group of uncarded wrestlers (including Griff Garrison, Brandon Cutler - who was on the opposite end of the ring to Peter Avalon who split from him on Dark, and the Gunn Club) in a gravity-defying dive. But this left Jungle Boy at the mercy of the Bucks, eating a superkick for 2, then a Superkick Party also for 2 but then being destroyed by a BTE trigger for 3. A great birds eye shot of a limp Jungle Boy encapsulated the match as once again Jack Perry (and Luchasaurus) light up AEW’s card even in defeat, tremendous resilience as we see a much more heelish Bucks come about. Casino Battle Royale - Winner: Lance Archer (eliminated Eddie Kingston) The Casino Battle Royale started strong with Trent, Hager, Fénix, Blade and Christopher Daniels. No eliminations took place until the next bunch came out; Kazarian, Santana & Ortiz, Taylor and happy surprise Will Hobbs! And Hobbs was the first to get an elimination, taking out the Blade, CD was taken by Hager until the next group came about, Best Friends renewing hostilities with Santana and Ortiz. The third group was Billy Gunn, Penta El Zero M, Ricky Starks, Brian Cage and Darby Allin. The Latter quickly went for Team Tazz as Gunn went for the bigger fish, only to be eliminated by Cage, Allin then surprisingly eliminated Fenix as Santana and Ortiz doubled to take out Chuck. The final group of entrants came with Sonny Kiss, Eddie Kingston, the Butcher, Lance Archer and Shawn Spears - who lingered on the sides for a bit to cut a promo. Sonny Kiss made a quick impact by eliminating Hager, but was then eliminated by Cage and left prone to Hager’s wrath. Trent overcame the double team by eliminating Santana and almost got Ortiz until Archer through Trent over as Ortiz ducked...then Archer dumped Ortiz. Kazarian also got a surprise elimination of Penta as the Butcher then avenged him, Allin got some payback on Team Tazz by eliminating Starks to Tazz’s dismay, but this led to a brutal beatdown on Allin, with Starks pulling out a body bag for Cage and Cage ‘filled’ it with Thumbtacks, stuffed Allin in it completely then brutally dumped the bagged (and thus blind to impact) Allin out of the match. The Joker would soon arrive and it was someone nobody expected: Matt Sydal. The former Evan Bourne looked to make headlines and he did...for the wrong reasons. Unfortunately as he set up his beautiful shooting star press, he botched the jump and didn’t make the rotation, falling flat on his back (Props to Hobbs though who quickly rolled to check on him). A soured taste to a decent royale, Sydal did manage to rally by eliminating Spears before eating a Spinebuster from Hobbs, Kingston sticking in the corner with the Butcher as his shield while Cage began to clean up house. Cage and Archer had an exchange as the Machine went to deal with Hobbs, but Hobbs pulled Cage over with him leaving Archer to dropkick both of them off. Sydal then managed to take the Butcher out but was thrown out by Kingston in his decimation by Archer. This left some head scratching though, because Kingston went under the bottom rope in his exchange with Archer to the apron, but as he pulled the Murderhawk Monster over with him, it looked like there might be a double fall, Kingston was put onto the top turnbuckle but looked to knock away Archer, it’s only when Jake the Snake used his bag with a ‘snake’ (we never saw it) in it that Kingston was distracted for Archer to chokeslam him into his gang for the win. A good winner, still would’ve preferred Kingston, but the finish was weird, he went to the apron under the bottom rope so he should’ve still been legal, but I guess when he sat on the top turnbuckle that counted as in-ring? A fun royale though marred slightly by Sydal’s botch and that finish, Will Hobbs as well impressing many on a big stage. Broken Rules Match, Matt Hardy vs Sammy Guevara - Winner, Matt Hardy (via Sammy not answering the 10-Count) Ho boy. This one. So it started out very good, outside the stadium Matt called out Sammy, who had commondeered a golf cart of his own to chase Matt with, Matt weaved him to have Sammy crash into some boxes and bins as the fighting continued. The controversy began with a table spot involving a Scissor Lift, Matt looking to throw Sammy off it onto two merch tables below only to have Sammy Spear them both. Unfortunately, the trajectory was a bit over, Matt’s feet hit the first table which meant his landing onto the second was overshot and Matt landed head-first into the ground. Aubrey quickly checked on him and pulled up the X, but Matt seemed adamant to continue so they started the 10 count. Sammy noticed that Matt wasn’t going to stand for 10 so ‘attacked’ him to keep the match going but Matt continued to lose footing as fans felt unease on whether it was a work or shoot. The X was called again and the bell rang as Commentary noted the risks in wrestling, but by then Matt was walking on his feet and Sammy pulled nearer to the ring, the match controversially restarted with Matt blindsiding Sammy from the side, sprawling to the stage as they climbed scaffolding and dumped Sammy into the floor for the 10 Count. Concussed, AEW has gotten criticism for letting Matt continue, even to a rushed finish so that the storyline remained intact. I’m 50/50 myself, Khan later noted that the Doctor felt he could continue enough and they did limit his movement, they didn’t climb as high as they intended and Hardy was quickly rushed to hospital. Despite his wife’s fuming and angry fans looking to smear AEW like a shark in bloody water, they did as much as they could without ending the match super abruptly, and if anyone says ‘we’d be slaughtering them if WWE did this’, WWE did do this, memory serves me right Becky Lynch was concussed and kept going with the iconic ‘bloody Becky’ moment, Undertaker was concussed and kept going when the streak ended, Kairi Sane had 2 concussions in 2 different matches and finished both matches. It’s a shame, because the two did look like they had a lot of ideas, but this match did very much taint the first half of All Out and will overshadow a lot of positive vibes that came from the show as a whole. AEW Women’s Championship, Hikaru Shida (c) vs NWA Women’s Champion & TJPW International Princess Champion Thunder Rosa - Winner: Hikaru Shida (Pinfall via ‘Three Count’ Knee Strike) With a sour taste in the mouth, the anticipated Women’s match was just what fans needed to regain some excitement - though I personally questioned the card structure from here since Mimosa Mayhem and an 8 Man tag was still to come. Before the match I also popped for Shida getting streamers for her entrance, I fucking love streamers it’s a great way to involve the crowd. Shida and Rosa put on a strike and technical show which demonstrated why they were at the top of their divisions, Rosa proved to have scouted Shida’s movesets a lot by counter moves and cutting Shida off when she was getting momentum. But Shida would also pull out counters of her own, a great backbreaker and knee strike flowed with the back and forth nature of both champions, Rosa rocking Shida with a DVD on the apron but Shida wasting Rosa with a Meteora on the ramp. Both women also wore the other down with submissions, Rosa working the back with various stretches as Shida locked in the Stretch Muffler. Rosa looked to rally again as she kicked out of a Falcon Arrow at 1 and reversed a second attempt, but like lightning Shida struck with the Three Count, wiping her out for the win. This was the solid bout we needed to start the second half, both women looked strong and tough, Rosa lost nothing from the defeat and Shida was thoroughly challenged by her, it definitely met the expectations set out for it and hopefully we can see more of Rosa in AEW’s future. The only real criticism I can give for this match is commentary again, JR just can’t commentate a good women’s match anymore, and frankly I think for these matches we should really look towards having Veda Scott, Renee or Mauro be brought in, at least for these matches, let JR commentate matches that are more his speed or genre but that is the only criticism, and it’s not against the women. Segment: Interview with Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford A short, oddly-placed, segment came next as Penelope announced that she and Kip were getting married. Selling a wedding segment for Dynamite, Kip noted that first must come a Bachelor Party and he’s found a perfect best man for it. Kip notes that he’ll reveal who on Dynamite. Expect a debut or a faction formation, is my TH2 x Kip/Penelope faction hopes coming true? There was also a slight dig at WWE’s controversial edict to not approve third party monetization as Kip promoted his twitch channel with a disclaimer beneath saying that AEW approve it. The Dark Order (TNT Champion Mr Brodie Lee, Colt Cabana, Evil Uno and Stu Grayson) vs The Natural Nightmares (w/ Brandi Rhodes and Allie), Matt Cardona and Scorpio Sky - Winner: Nightmare Family (Pinfall via Rollup on Cabana by Dustin) A match that seemed a dead cert for the Dark Order to win especially since they failed on the Buy In, the 8-Man had a steady as each member showed off their athleticism, Sky and Cardona also getting some impressive moves on Uno and Grayson, but Lee was always prepared to clean up house as he also mocked Brandi at ringside. Dustin - appearing jarringly in blue this time - was the surprising speedster of the match, upping the pace was his hot tag as he set up the energy of the match. As Sky and Brodie confronted with the latter the illegal man, Anna Jay snuck up from behind but was blocked by Sky and booted out of her heels by Brandi before being pulled apart by Grayson (JR joking that she had a wardrobe malfunction did not sit well for many, including me). Grayson managed to rally for the Dark Order as QT Marshall was isolated by the Quartet, but Brodie stared a hole in Dustin in some solid storytelling, telling Cabana to tag him in despite a sure win, Brodie goaded Dustin into the match by throwing QT to tag Dustin in as they brawled. It was a bit of a hoss but it was great and well-timed, with Brodie wiping Dustin out with a delayed Discus Clothesline. Content, Brodie offered the pin to Cabana and tagged him in, but Cabana then made the misstep by missing the Moonsault, the Nightmare family pulled the Dark Order away as Dustin rolled up the hurt Cabana for 3. As the Nightmare Family praised Dustin, Brodie fumed at Cabana for going for the Moonsault when Dustin was already finished, shoving Cabana as he walked his frustrations off. Evil Uno proved to be the Good Cop as he helped Cabana up after Brodie left. Dustin was interviewed by Tony in a very 80s esque promo as Dustin kinda felt like he was jacked on ‘vitamins’, it was entertaining at the least and set up Brodie vs Dustin for the TNT Title. A surprise outcome for booking but not one I hated, this pushes a TNT title match and the Cabana story, I am upset we didn’t see Tay Conti show but maybe they’re saving it for later, Allie didn’t really involve herself at all with the match after all. AEW World Tag Team Championship, Kenny Omega & ‘Hangman’ Adam Page (c) vs FTR (w/ Tully Blanchard) - Winner: And NEW Tag Champions, FTR (via Pinfall by Dax on Page after a Spike Piledriver) The story of one of the more anticipated matches on the card was clear: the challengers, one of the best purist tag wrestlers in the world arrived together with little showmanship, and the champions, two of the most talented singles wrestlers in the world with their solo entrances, including the name plate guy having Hangman’s as ‘I don’t care what the graphic says anymore’. The match showed off the duality of both teams but it was the champions who started well, a hesitant high 10 from Kenny sowing the small seeds within the match as it became a war of Talent vs Cohesion. FTR worked their pace of isolating the legal man (mainly Hangman) as the solo wrestlers would look for their opening. For a while Kenny showed his Best Bout Machine talents to handle FTR but would be thwarted by their tandem offense of catch wrestling and lifts. Hangman would return to equalize at points including stopping a Goodnight Express on Kenny, but miscommunication was often in the air on Kenny’s part, one time even knocking Hangman off the apron in his attack. Hangman got a pop from a swanton onto FTR and Tully onto the outside while FTR wiped both men out individually with a Tower-of-Doom-esque Bulldog, Kenny’s outside the ring but Hangman’s inside. Hangman once again pushed back, getting his Fallaway Moonsault Slam from the top rope, but this led to the finish as Kenny motioned for the ‘Last Call’, Hangman had hesitations but went with it and got V-Triggered for his troubles, FTR threw Kenny out and landed the Spike Piledriver. But Hangman kicked out at 2! Bafflement on his face, Dax looked to an exhausted Kenny and then to Tully and went for the Spike Piledriver again, after nudging Kenny away it landed as Dax stared gladly at Kenny in great psychology; FTR let Kenny knew that they won, not just physically but mentally too. A bit of an abrupt end led into the aftermath of the match, Kenny rolled to grab what looked like a small coffee table from under the ring. After considering laying into Hangman, he threw the weapon away to the revenant Hangman’s relief, but as he went to embrace Kenny, Kenny side steps him as Hangman collapses. Some poetic storytelling there as Kenny just seems to give up on Hangman, a switch gone in his head as the camera follows him out, venting to the Bucks as he leaves and hints that they need a ‘clean break’. The saga continues, but the Cleaner is still kept in arm’s reach. So the match was a great wrestling match, and the end was good storytelling, but this would miss the mark with many since people were expecting the Cleaner, for the trigger to be pulled and for it to have the same emotional weight as the Bucks match. But at least for the latter, it is a tall ask, and it still was the correct booking decision. Mimosa Mayhem Match, Chris Jericho vs Orange Cassidy - Winner: Orange Cassidy (via Submerging Jericho into a pool of Mimosa with two Superman Punches) So the setup and positioning of this was weird, it was clear that AEW wanted a palatte cleanser between the heavy storylines but the match already looked super gimmicky. Two pools of Mimosa either side like a kids gameshow with tables of Bubbly, it wasn’t what I imagined at least. Jericho and Cassidy came out uncharacteristically alone and without their stablemates as they went for their rubber match, starting with an excellent opener as Cassidy’s charge was met with a codebreaker. Jericho controlled a lot of the match as he tried to dip Cassidy in Mimosa, getting a foot and his hair in there at different times and smashing a plate over Cassidy on the left side. Cassidy came to life a few times with some solid counters as he mostly looked for a pin, but he would often be caught by Jericho in tense situations, at one point being at the mercy of a powerbomb drop as he hammered at Jericho’s head, only to be sent through a table which still had the Bubbly, Glasses and Plates on it. Welted on his back, Cassidy wiped Jericho out but the Birds Eye shot conspicuously showed Aubrey adjust a glass. This unfortunately telegraphed its use later as Cassidy got caught in the Walls of Jericho, with no rope breaks Cassidy used the glass to throw Mimosa in Cassidy’s eyes, a Superman Punch led to a near fall as both looked to put the other away. Having to tightrope around the pool of Mimosa, Cassidy caught Jericho with a Superman Punch after escaping a suplex, Jericho lingered but the second did the trick, with Jericho soaking in this pool of Mimosa. Frankly I wasn’t all invested in this match, it was a bit too much especially since at this point it was 4am, but both men did good and OC gets very over as Jericho soaks in another ‘moment’. I was very surprised that the Inner Circle didn’t get involved at all, why were there two pools? Why was Hager wearing white? Something tells me that plans led to this match being condensed a little. AEW World Championship Match (If Moxley uses the Paradigm Shift he will be Disqualified and forfeit the title), Jon Moxley (c) vs MJF (w/ Wardlow) - Winner, Jon Moxley (Pinfall via Paradigm Shift) Unfortunately, the 5th hour of AEW was met with a lot of fatigue from the audience, to the point where the Main Event was hoped to be a short affair. MJF continued his Presidential Homages by wearing Red, White and Blue tights as Moxley appeared in his usual camo rogue uniform, Wardlow also had the a MJF scarf-styled tie. The Psychology of this match though was good, MJF frustrated Moxley with quick counters, pins and rest holds. After cooling off a bit, Moxley played smarter by baiting MJF into his offense, while reminding Wardlow that he was in the ref’s eyeshot. Moxley was twice enticed to use the Paradigm Shift but had to fight against his instincts, as MJF looked to quickly sneak advantages in, Wardlow would prove to gift him a big opening as his lingering gave MJF time to drop Moxley’s shoulder hard on the apron. Fighting with one arm now, MJF focused in as he groomed Moxley for the Salt of the Earth, but Moxley’s rabid offence would hit back, locking in the rear naked choke, but MJF would then counter himself and get the cross armbreaker on the hurt shoulder. MJF sold the idea that he could win by a pretty big blade job when Moxley took things to the outside, attacking with the guardrail as he has often done in his defenses, a third Paradigm Shift was shifted to a Money Clip but the arm gave out on the Gotch Piledriver, the two hammered at each other back and forth as Moxley scrapped him, even resorting to biting, MJF would return the favour after locking in a brutal-looking armbar after a vicious top rope double stomp on Moxley’s arm, biting the fingers in the process. Adrenaline proved Moxley’s fiend as his landed the Gotch Piledriver, swiftly knocking MJF down with suplexes and clotheslines, but only getting 2 because his injured arm prevented him from hooking the leg. MJF’s violent side looked to finish the champion as he used a rope-assisted facebuster but only got one, attempting the second granted Moxley the Air Raid Crash for 2, the two hit each other as they got to their feet, Moxley seeming immune of pain or caring as MJF seemed driven by blood and fury. The finish was how I predicted though, MJF’s usual last resort is the diamond ring, which would be handed to him by Wardlow as he makes a distraction. Only this time, when Wardlow threw the ring at MJF, he wasn’t ready. A brief stare ensued between Champion and Challenger as Moxley added up the numbers, MJF giving his ‘oh shit’ look as he realised in telling Moxley that the ref is distracted, he gave him an opening. A Paradigm Shift followed as Moxley then beckoned the distracted ref to count the fall, Moxley retains with a secret Silver Bullet. After the match Jake and Archer watch on with smiles as Moxley gives them the finger. A great title match that did what it intended to do, look MJF look a million bucks. The schism between MJF and Wardlow will be the story that drives him forward until he is ready to lead the division, this also continues to sell the protection of the Paradigm Shift, through this match we are highlighted that while Moxley can win by other means he struggles without it, which can be a telling weak point in the future. For now though Moxley continues to prove himself to be a survivor, but how do you survive when Everybody Dies? Conclusion AEW All Out 2020 was not AEW’s best PPV. But it was still a very good PPV, outside of the Sydal Botch, the Hardy injury and the mixed response of the Tooth and Nail match (which really is the fault of fan demand forcing Khan’s hand, you got what you wished for and now you see why Khan was right all along) we got some great progression of storylines, great matches, and several talent got over. Will Hobbs had an impressive PPV debut making it into the final stages of the battle royale, Rosa and Shida were excellent and successfully brought the fans back into the match, Bucks, JE, Kenny, Hangman, FTR, Moxley, Archer, Kingston and MJF were all excellent in their matches too, it’s a little unfair that Hardy’s injury overshadows all that. Of course I hope he’s okay, but Wrestling comes with risk and they finished the match without having Matt take any serious bumps after. Living in the UK the card was a bit long for me, the card shuffling did seem to upset the pace because of how abruptly the Buy In was changed again due to fan demand, I do feel like the card structure was a little off and that Tony and JR probably need to be talked about with their commentary of women. A lot of the energy got sapped out by their lack of enthusiasm. But despite what people may tell you, All Out was good. The matches were good, the wrestlers got over, the character directions all look promising and we have storyline progression which entices people to want to watch the next Dynamite Overall, 7/10 - which is also how many I got right in predictions (well 7/11)

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let-me-love-you-loki · 4 years

Text

An Ending Within--Ch. 1

A/N: A sequel to Hounds of Justice. You absolutely SHOULD read HOJ before this one, or a whole lot of shit isn’t going to make sense.

Chapter 1

I knew the moment it happened. The moment that it became no longer a secret. It wasn’t easy, making the decision that they’d just splashed all over the dirt sheets.

The moment that Seth found out.

From someone other than me.

“What the hell, Llane?” he asked, tossing his phone on the sofa beside me. Our two-year-old daughter, Iosefina, slept snuggled in my lap. I glared up at my husband, daring him to wake her up. It was the first time the three of us had been together in any kind of calm for weeks. I wanted to enjoy the moment with our family, not fight.

I looked down long enough to see the Bleacher Report headline that read WWE Superstar set to Leave after Summerslam. It wasn’t exactly the way that I wanted to start this conversation with Seth, but there was no ignoring it now.

“Can we not do this with Sefina right here?” I whispered, curling our daughter a little closer, as if I could protect her from the fact that Seth and I were about to disagree in the worst way. “Let me put her down and we’ll talk.”

Seth nodded grudgingly and gingerly took Sefina from my arms. He cradled her against his chest as he rocked her on the way down the hallway. When he was out of sight, I took a moment to sink into the cushions and wonder—not for the first time—if I was making the right choice.

As soon as I set foot in the Performance Center, I knew that wrestling was the thing that I loved. The thing that was going to keep me going when there was nothing else to give me purpose. I wouldn’t trade a second of my time from the day I tried out to the last instant of my most recent match. Being a wrestler, being a part of the WWE roster, had brought me to the Shield—to my dearest friends, my brothers, and my husband. I didn’t begrudge a second of it.

Not a millisecond.

But I’d be lying if I said I’d always been happy. The WWE had given me the chance to achieve my dreams. I’d won the Raw Women’s Championship twice. I’d come back from a near paralyzing injury to be a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble and win a title shot at Wrestlemania. I’d taken on Ronda Rousey and beat her twice. I fought on the grandest stage of them all. I won against Becky Lynch and went on to hold my second title for four hundred and twelve days. There was nothing left for me to do in the WWE.

I suppose the start of my disillusionment came when Dean told me he was leaving. He had been unhappy for a while, and not even the Shield could talk him into staying. And it wasn’t like we hadn’t tried. I think I even cried, begging him to stay. To not leave me. Because I couldn’t see how I could make it without him. But in the end, my love for Dean and my desire to see him happy overrode my desperation to keep him with me. When he left after Wrestlemania… something just broke inside me.

The last match we had together—a house show in Moline—had been the best and worst nights of my career. It had been Baron, McIntyre, and Lashley against the three of them. I was at ringside commentary… as much for Renee as for them. Watching the three of them together for the last time—knowing that I would never get to see Roman and Seth and Dean fighting like a fluid machine—had me in tears for the entire match.

When it was over, we stood together for the final time. They wrapped their arms around each other—around me—and embraced in the center of the ring amid tears. Time stopped and it was just the four of us together in our own little world.

“You’re not losing me, dollface,” Dean said vehemently. “Whenever you need me, you know I’ll always come runnin’.”

Roman murmured something in Samoan. I should have understood with all of his lessons, but it was hard enough for me to remember to breathe. Panic threatened to choke me. It took every ounce of strength to keep myself together in front of the crowd.

“One last time, dollface,” Dean said with a sad smile. He took my face in his hands and pressed his forehead to mine. Then he dropped a kiss on my hair and pushed me toward the turnbuckle. “For me.”

I hugged him fiercely and went to the corner on shaking legs. The crowd chanted and stomped their feet, strains of Thank you, Ambrose echoing from the rafters. We stood as a unit, one at each corner of the ring, fists in the air, drinking in the sensation of being with one another for the final match.

The three of them climbed down, stepped between the ropes and hopped to the floor. I closed my eyes, pushing back tears as I balanced on the top. The post was bare—not like the covered ones with LED lights we used on the live broadcasts—so I couldn’t stand on it. It took focus to balance upright on the top turnbuckle, waiting for them to gather around behind me.

I lifted my face to the sky and fell back, knowing that they were there to catch me.

One last time.

Seth’s footsteps pulled me back into the present and away from that night. He crossed the room with heavy steps, his arms crossed over his chest. The sofa dipped as he sat down, turning sideways to face me.

“Why did you have to do it like this, Llane?” he asked, the hurt flashing in his eyes.

My heart ached. “You haven’t wanted to hear it,” I said matter-of-factly. “Since Dean left, it’s seemed like the Hounds were off limits. It’s like you wanted me to forget about all of it as soon as his contract officially expired.”

“You’ve been pining for him for months. Don’t you think it’s strange that you feel that way for a man who isn’t your husband?” The words came out with venom, a sting that he seemed to recognize when it hit. “Listen… I know he means a lot to you. He means a lot to me, too. But he’s not coming back. And we have to get on without him.”

“See, that’s why I haven’t told you. Every time I even mention him, you act like he’s dead. Dean is my best friend, Seth. And I miss him so much it hurts. You get that, right? I love you, I will always love you, but there are things about me that no one really understands but him. I thought we’d gotten past that.” I sank back into the cushions, surprised at how utterly empty I felt. “I wouldn’t trade a second of the time I’ve had with you, or with the company. But I need you to understand. I’m not happy anymore.”

Seth moved forward, reaching out to me but not quite touching me. “They’ve treated you like gold since you got to NXT. You’re basically on par with Charlotte fucking Flair. How could you not be happy?”

I tried to breathe. To push away the terror that was quickly rising in my chest. I’d gotten much better at handing my panic, but the sensation of powerlessness came back with vengeance when I thought about going through this company without Dean. “I’m just not. Roman is on Smackdown now, so I only get to really see him at events before pay-per-views. Dean is gone. I feel like I’ve told the same story for months now.”

“Am I not enough?” my husband asked quietly.

Tears blurred my vision. I moved closer to him, reaching out to take his hands. “Colby, look at me.” The sound of his given name was enough for him to meet my gaze. “I love you more than anything in the world. You are the center of my universe, you know that don’t you? There’s nothing I want in my life that doesn’t include you and Sefina. When it comes to my love, you are more than enough.”

“But I can’t make you happy,” he murmured.

“It isn’t your job to make me happy. The only person who can do that is me.” I squeezed his fingers. “You make me feel loved. Safe. And you are a wonderful father to our daughter. Seeing you with her… I love you more every time I see you with her.”

Seth brushed his thumbs over my wrists as he pulled me close. “Are you leaving?”

I blinked, squeezed my eyes shut. The tears came in a burning rush that made my heart ache in my chest. “I’m not leaving you,” I said desperately. “But I can’t be happy in WWE anymore.”

He settled his cheek against my hair and sighed. “If Dean asked you to come to AEW, would you go?”

“Part of me says yes,” I confessed. “I miss working with him. And he seems happy there. But I know how everyone turned on him when he left. I have friends here that I don’t want to lose, but I don’t think I’m ready to give up on wrestling.”

“Would you join an indie company?”

I breathed deeply, feeling something about the sweetness of this moment slipping away into an interrogation with Dean at the center. My voice cracked as I spoke. “I don’t know, Seth. I haven’t made any choices other than I am leaving WWE at the end of August.”