The Rivals

||Anita||
As Quinn walked away I glared at Cody. “Why do you have to be such an ass?” I growled. He smirked at me and Paul.
“Well, he’s an ass and he caught your eye, so monkey see, monkey do.”
“You mother f-” Paul started, but Laurinaitis cut him off.
“Watch your tongue Mr. Lloyd Jr. This doesn’t involve you. Anita, Cody and I have to talk business, so scram.” Paul glared at john for a moment, then hugged me, told me he’d meet me outside, and was gone.
“What kind of ‘business’ do we have to discuss?” I demanded.
“Well miss Anita, as far as the fans, Cody and I are concerned you and Cody are still a tag team. So you will accompany him to his match on Monday and you will make sure he wins that match.”
“Like hell I will!” I spat. “What the hell is your problem with Quinn?” John just shook his head.
“The same problem I’m starting to have with you. Now shut your mouth and do what I tell you or you’ll be fired!”
“Before my Wrestle Mania match?” I asked, knowing my insurance. John looked like he was going to have a stroke, but then he got a sick little smile on his face.
“Then I’ll fire Paul.” I felt my stomach drop.
“Y-you can’t, he works for Teddy…”
“He can also appear on my show, and even if he didn’t, I have connections to make sure he will never wrestle again except in that shithole in Africa!” John hollered in my face. I stood, stunned, for a moment, before I sighed and nodded.
“Alright.” I finally muttered.
“And Quinn is not to know about this, it’ll add to your rivalry, do you understand?” He continued. I sighed again.
“Yes sir.”
“Excellent.”
The days ticked by like seconds until Monday. As I sat backstage with my title I felt sick to my stomach as I looked at the script, it didn’t say anything about me interfering in Quinn’s match, she’d be just as shocked as everyone else. As she came over to me I faked a smile.
“Anita, what are you all dressed up for?” She asked. “Does Paul have a match?” I shook my head.
“Just, felt like coming down.” I lied. “Wanted to watch you kick Cody’s ass.”
“Nice, you should come down with me!” She suggested. I bit my lip.
“It probably wouldn’t work, since we’re supposed to hate each other.” I said. Quinn pouted a bit, but then smiled.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, anyway, I got to go, my match is next!” As she skipped off, giddy at the prospect of putting Cody on medical leave for a few weeks, I realized I’d have to talk to her backstage. But before I could worry too much Cody walked over to me.
“Come on, we have to go.”
“Why are you doing this to me?!” I demanded. Cody shrugged and gave me his famous smirk.
“Because I can.” He said simply. “Now let’s go.”
As we got backstage I saw Quinn look at me strangely, but before she could ask me what was going on her music hit and she walked out to the cheers. Then Cody’s music came on and he literally dragged me out. I yanked my arm away and yelled at him, he yelled back, and we were at each other’s throats by the time I sat down next to Jerry. He handed me a headset and the floodgate of questions opened.
“Anita, why in the world are you still accompanying Cody?” Jerry asked.
“Because if you remember, I was forced into being his tag team partner until further notice. So I still get to accompany him thanks to Mr. Whoreinaitis.” I growled. Hopefully Quinn would get a chance to see this and realize it wasn’t my fault.
“Well, I think you’re a very lucky girl.” Michel interjected. “Cody is a champion, unlike Justin.” I glared at Cole and watched as he shrunk into his seat.
“You don’t ever say anything about Justin, do you understand?”
“I-” He started.
“Do you understand?” I growled.
“Yes ma’am.” He squeaked.
“That’s better. Now there is only one person I despise more than Cody, and that is Quinn.” I said as she hit Cody with a roundhouse to the face. “She’s an evil, conniving little snake.”
“Because…” Jerry asked, prompting me to continue.
“She helped Kelly steal Justin away from me.” I snarled. As Quinn hit a Kill Drop I threw off my headset and slid into the ring as she covered Cody and pulled her off. She jumped up and looked at me, confused, then just glared at me and lunged. But before she could touch me Cody hit her with the Cross Rhodes and she was out.
After Cody picked up the win he picked me up and threw me so I was sitting on his shoulder. I yelled at him to put me down, but he didn’t listen as he gloated and pranced around the ring like an idiot. I finally got him to let go and jumped to the ground, not an easy feat in heels I might add, and walked over to Quinn. I wanted to help her up, but I couldn’t. As she slowly opened her eyes I lifted my belt up high to the mixed crowd and pointed to the Wrestle Mania sign, then back at her. And then I offered my hand to help her up. But before she could take it Cody grabbed me and dragged me away like a doll. I ripped my arm back and yelled at him, and we kept arguing until Quinn came and hit him with a boot to the gut and another Kill Drop. She smiled at me and gestured that the belt would be hers and we just glared at each other until we cut to a commercial and I helped Cody up.
After that things were pretty uneventful until Wrestle Mania. As I sat backstage in my new shirt that had been designed for me, (One of the first divas with a shirt, no big deal), I felt uneasy. I knew Quinn and I would both be giving it our all as I clung to my belt for what very well may be the last time. I had explained to Quinn after the show about what John had said and she said it was fine. Before the match started Jerry, Cole, and Booker were going over all the matches that would be on that night, then the promo for Quinn and I came on.
The whole thing was shot to Apocalyptica’s “I Don’t Care”, very fitting, and it showed clips of some of our most violent moments, like me lunging at Quinn and screaming “you did this” and Quinn standing over me with the razor while Barbra held me back. It talked about how we’d both plotted against each other and now this was it. A last woman standing match for the championship. Very dramatic I must say. I just hoped we could deliver.
As I saw Quinn before we went out we had that respect smile again and shook hands.
“Let’s rock this mother.” I said. She chuckled.
“Never say that again.” She teased. I smiled and waited until I heard my new theme, “No Love” By Eminem and Lil’ Wayne. The fans went crazy as I walked out. Don’t get me wrong, there were still quite a few boos, but this was the first time the cheers had outweighed them. As I slid into the ring I pretended to look for Quinn, but I glanced into the audience and saw signs with pictures of me on them, and they didn’t call me a whore or a bitch. I was so happy, how had I gone being so hated all these years? As Quinn walked out however I snapped to attention. I handed the ref my belt and he held it high above his head, reminding Quinn and I what was at stake. As the bell rung we locked up. I eventually got her in an arm hold and Irish whipped her into the ropes, hitting her with a high kick to the face when she bounced back. But as I started for her she dove and took out my legs, punching me in the face until I couldn’t see straight. I threw her off me and hit her with a roundhouse, to which she returned the favor with a DDT. It went back and forth for what seemed like an eternity. I would hit a hurricanrana, she’d get me with a running bulldog. Finally I had her on the ground and climbed the ropes to hit a From New Orleans with Love, but she put her knees up and I felt like my back had snapped. As I rolled onto the mat. It took me until eight to get up on that one, but then I hit her with another hurricanrana and she took until nine to get up. We were both exhausted, but neither one of us wanted to give up.
See why I can respect her?
Finally she hit a Kill Drop and thought that be it. But I got up at nine and smiled at her, wiping a small trickle of blood off my face and ignoring my backs immense protest for me to go on. Finally after a lot of work I got her on the ground again and hit a 450 splash with no trouble. I had to use the ropes to stand back up as my ribs hurt like hell. I thought I had won, but Quinn got up before ten, barely. I was devastated, I didn’t know how much longer I could keep this up, it’d already been almost a half hour.
Quinn and I locked up again and I could see she was exhausted as I was. We both kind of flopped out of the tie up and she hit me with a spear into the corner post. I screamed in pain and fell to the ground. I stood on all fours as the ref counted. Jesus Christ I couldn’t breathe, let alone fight. But there was no way. I had waited two long years for that title and I would not lose it this easily. Using the ropes I shakily stood and watched Quinn’s shoulders drop. She thought she had won. The ref asked me if I was okay to fight and I lied that I was. I launched myself at Quinn and hit another hurricanrana followed by a boot to the face. She barely made it up before ten. We were both leaning on the ropes for support because we couldn’t stand on our own. Then I knew it was all or nothing. I ran at Quinn and she ran at me, but of us with our arms cocked back and as I gave her a left hook to the jaw she got me with a right hook and I was out.
When I opened my eyes slightly I felt someone help me up. I shakily stood and looked at who was holding me up. Santino Morella looked terrified.
“My goodness, did you get hit by a bus?” He teased. I smiled weakly.
“Am I dead?” I asked.
“No, but you may as well be!” I looked to the center of the ring to see Quinn being helped up by David Otunga as John and Teddy stood in the middle of the ring, glaring at both of us. John continued. “You two could have killed each other, and the match had to be ruled a draw. So technically, the title should go back to Bobbie-”
“However, Bobbie is in no shape to defend her title against anyone, so it will go back to Beth Phoenix!” Teddy finished.
“WHAT?!” I shrieked. “You can’t do this to me!” Teddy looked at John, then back at Quinn and me.
“This rivalry has gotten dangerous, you two are crazy about beating each other, and this is what happens. So from now on you two will be a tag team.” Teddy finished.
“Now of course, you won’t be able to fight for a while, but the day you come back, you two will be fighting to qualify for the tag team championship!” I glared at Quinn and she glared right back.
“So you two had better put your issues aside, or else you may both be fired in the near future!” I glared at Quinn as Santino helped me backstage. The moment I was off camera and Paul saw me Santino handed me over.
“Ani.” He whispered, concern written all over his face. “I told you not to try that stupid back flip.” He lifted my arm over my shoulder and helped me to the trainer’s room. He just stood there while the trainer looked me over, he’d been asked to leave, but he said he wasn’t going anywhere. The second the trainer even softly touched my back I winced in pain.
“You’ll be out for at least a month.” He said. “You’re lucky your vertebrae didn’t fracture, because they were damn close.” I winced as I walked back out with Paul. As I saw Quinn and Phil I gave her a painful smile.
“How bad is it?” She asked.
“I’m out for a month. But I can still go ringside, that should be fun.” Quinn smiled at my optimism, but it was a sad smile.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have put my knees up-”
“Quinn, it’s fine. I knew the risk when I did the move.” I smiled at her. “By the way, that was one Hell of a match. I can’t wait to see what we can do in a tag team.” Quinn smiled weakly.
“Well, hopefully. If you can’t compete for a month we may not be much of a team.”
“As long as I’m not with Cody, I’m happy.” I promised her. “Well I better let you get checked out. See you soon.”
“See you.” Quinn said simply.
Back at the hotel that night Paul could not stop looking at my back. I had a giant bruise from Quinn’s knees forming right above my kidneys. Paul ran his fingers just above my skin. “Jesus, if that had been any lower you’re kidneys might have burst.” He said, looking pale.
“But they didn’t, so I’m fine.”
“No, you are not fine. I don’t want you to do that move in doubles, it’s too easy to sabotage.”
“But-”
“No buts. You can do a front flip, you can do a 450 splash, but you cannot do that back flip. Had you seen Quinn put her knees up you could have prepared for it, but you couldn’t and you could be paralyzed or dead right now!” He declared. I looked at him for a long time. I had never seen him this worked up before.
“Paul…”
“And you didn’t even get to keep your belt Ani! They should have let you keep it, but you had to do that stupid back flip!” I had heard enough. I grabbed Paul’s shoulders and threw him down on his back, pressing my lips to his.
“Paul. Stop it. It’s over, I won’t do that back flip again okay? Now shut up and kiss me.”