Disclaimer: Don’t own them, Vince does. I own the intellectual rights to this story however.
Distribution: Flights of Fancy
Notes: I saw Test and, well I melted… and decided the boy needed a sequel to Partial Truth though he might not like how this turns out.
“All right Booker,” Kat said, laying a hand on top of the champ’s shoulder sweaty shoulder, “I love your finisher, you know that. But it looks sloppy. I want that right leg to be ramrod straight when it goes up. And I want it to come down like a guillotine, hard and fast. Cool?”
“Sure thing.”
“Palumbo? Get your curly ass here for a second.” From the apron where he’d been standing, Chuck got into the ring. “All right, Booker, show me your stuff.”
With a quick kick to the curly half of the tag champs’ stomach, Booker got into position and brought down his leg and got up using his custom-made call back to his break dancing days.
“That was better but not quite what I wanted.”
With a sharp nod from Kat, Booker stepped to the side. The woman tossed her cap to the side and got into position. Sharp kick to Palumbo’s midsection and then her leg came down at a lethal speed. Palumbo went down fast and Kat copied Booker’s spinaroonie to get up.
“You all right?” she asked the wrestler still lying on the mat.
“I don’t know… Mommy is that you?”
“You’ll be fine.” Kat hauled a laughing Chuck to his feet and gave Booker the OK. She watched as Booker finally improved the move to her satisfaction. “Good show. I want to see everyone bump to it,” she added to the WCW wrestlers gathered around the ring. She smiled at the protests. “The more you whine, the longer you bump to it.”
Smothering a smile, Kat slid out of the ring and made her way to the commentators’ table where her new boss, Shane McMahon sat, watching Booker fine tune his move from the monitors embedded into the table.
“How’s it looking?” she asked as she sat down by his side.
“Not bad.”
“Better than just not bad,” she chuckled as O’Haire dropped perfectly.
As Kat scribbled notes on a pad of paper while keeping an eye on the screen, Shane watched her out of the corner of his eye. The best way to describe her work ethic was to say it was that of a consummate professional. Hard to believe she’d walked out on his friend Andrew a few months ago because he’d kept his contract negotiations with WCW a secret from her. And now, she was working as a special fight coordinator for the WCW portion of the WWFE.
Every day he worked with her, Shane felt damn proud for being able to offer her the one assurance his father’s WWF couldn’t give her; being sure of not having to work with Andrew since he’d never made the crossover to WCW. Yet.
Since hiring her, Shane knew his wrestlers had improved by leaps and bounds. A Hollywood stunts coordinator/performer who’d worked very closely with Carrie Ann Moss on the set of The Matrix, Kat’s wrestling experience came from having worked the front desk in a wrestling school from age fifteen to twenty-three. The school’s owner, her godfather, had been blackmailed into training her when she’d walked in on him and his partner’s wife in a very compromising position. And her vast experience showed.
In her month-long tenure in the WCW, she’d earned the boys’ respect by taking bumps no other woman took and by taking those bumps with a smile. She was a tough chick and the boys loved a tough chick.
“Booker,” she was now saying as she got up and climbed into the ring, “great show! You nail any WWF superstar with that baby and we’ll be on top in days.” Booker smiled at that and Shane almost laughed when he saw the older man stiffen with pride. “Stasiak!”
“Me again?” he playfully pouted.
“Just because I love you so much. Now, I’m still not happy with the way the rest you boys are working this ring. I don’t want you guys making giant steps. You’re going to have to move faster. Stasiak, demonstrate.” Shawn started working the ring back and forth. Kat kept pace with him. “It’s all about rhythm. You got that and it’s all good. Instead of STEP, STEP, STEP, BOUNCE, I want, STEP, STEP, STEP, STEP, BOUNCE. We good?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Sarge, keep Stasiak running so they can copy him. O’Haire, you’re with me.”
Amid good-humored cat calls about what they were off, Kat led Sean away.
“So what gives?” he asked.
“Your Seanton.”
“Something wrong with it?”
“Nothing wrong with it per se, but every time you do it, it’s compared to the little Hardy’s and that sucks.”
“What do you have in mind?”
Kat’s steps had led them to the area of the arena where the WWF boys were practicing for tonight’s show. Kat went right up to Jeff and touched his shoulder.
“You guys go yet?”
“Nope.” He eyed Sean with a grin. “To what do we owe the dubious pleasure of your presence O’Haire?”
“Don’t you know? I’m the mole.”
“Down boys,” Kat chuckled. “I spoke to Vince. You, my darling Jeffie-Poo, have been drafted to work Swanton/Seanton duty.”
The two men turned to Kat, eyes wide, saying at the same time, “You want me to help HIM?”
“Help each other, yes. Now, both of your jumps have their positive sides but neither is perfect.”
“My Seanton is perfect. His… Whatever he calls it needs work.”
“Please. If you think yours is…”
“All right, thank you for the competing egos. I couldn’t be less impressed. Sean, yours needs more flash and Jeff, yours looks too hard on your body. Now here’s what I was thinking…”
By the time Kat was done explaining her ideas, the WWF ring was empty. “You boys just about ready to impress me?”
“Yeah.”
For the next forty minutes, Sean and Jeff worked on their jumps. But Kat was yet to be satisfied.
“You know,” Jeff said angrily, “you keep on bitching about how wrong it still is, why not show us how you want it to look?”
Sean made a face at Jeff’s petulant tone but nonetheless laid out on the mat at Kat’s nod. Confidently, she climbed on top of the third turnbuckle and turned to Jeff. “Watch and learn, puppy, watch and learn.”
Jeff watched, wide-eyed as Kat leapt from the top rope, her body looking like a spring whose tension had been released. She flew, legs, slightly parted, arms in full extension, body curled into a comma that stretched out into an underscore as her shoulders hit Sean’s rock hard abs. She rolled away from him and got to her feet, grinning at the wider-than-wide eyed Hardy.
“That’s how I want it to look. Puppy.”
“Very nicely done,” Jeff said with a wide grin.
“That my cue to say thank you?”
“Not necessarily.”
“Good. Now show it to me.”
“I think that’s possible.”
Once Jeff’s Swanton was finally completed to her satisfaction, they got to work on Sean’s, on making it look even more like the work of a demented man. Kat got Vince and Shane to come watch the final spots. Both were visibly impressed.
“You earned your pay check for another month with this,” Shane told her.
“Thanks!”
“Boss, you’ve got to see hers at the very least,” Jeff said.
“It’s a thing of beauty,” Sean agreed.
“Yours?” Shane asked.
“Let’s see it,” Vince said.
Grinning, both Jeff and Sean laid down on the mat. Kat got into position and flew. After she was done, both Vince and Shane frowned at her strangely.
“Wasn’t that a beauty?” Jeff asked, excitement making his voice high.
“Kat,” Vince said sharply, “walk with Shane and me for a second.”
“Sure. Jeff, I’m done with you for the day. Sean, back to Sarge for more drills.”
Grabbing a towel to wipe off some sweat, Kat joined Vince and Shane. Silently, the three of them walked through the arena. Curiosity ate away at the young woman but she knew better than beating Vince to his own punch.
“My son’s been singing your praises since he stole you out from under me.”
“Well, I’m not completely untalented.”
“Check out that humility Vince!”
“I already like her Shane. Don’t overdo it.”
“OK, but…”
“I could do this alone, you know.”
“Shutting up sir!”
“About time. I have a little job offer for you Kat. Actually, it’s more of a long term deal.”
“What is it about?”
“Make all of our wrestlers look that good. WWF too.”
Shane and Vince turned to look at Kat, dreading her reaction. The young woman was torn. Professionally, it was one hell of a job, promising to be extra challenging. Personally, it was bound to bring up issues best left forgotten, or ignored. Yet, a stunt woman’s career was rarely long and fruitful. Stunt coordinator jobs had a bad way of mostly going to men. Hell, her job was already a feminist victory since she was in a position of power in a business where a woman’s main task was to be eye candy.
“What exactly are you aiming for?” she asked.
“I want every fight to look real.”
“That’s going to take time, and money.”
“How long?”
“Since the WCW guys understand how I work, I’d give them another three months, maybe less.”
“WWF?” Vince asked.
“That’s going to be longer. First, they’re going to have to work on my schedule, with my methods.”
“How long?”
“Minimum five months and I’m expecting them to be talented.”
“Dad?”
“Budget?”
“If Sarge is on board, he can start work with the WWFers. And since there’s more of them, he’ll need two to three people. And I’ll need a team of four for myself.”
“I’m not asking you for an accounting,” Vince said. “Just a number.”
“I’m not a numbers person. But I’m going to need more man hours. An extra day a week for everybody. Women too.”
“We don’t have the time to work with the women,” Shane said.
“Make time! Most women’s matches are jokes they stink so much.”
“Yeah but we don’t have a lot of women on the roster who really know their way around the ring.”
“Wrong. Lita, Molly, Jackie, Ivory and Tori. Hell, even Trish is showing promise. It’s your WCW chicks who look like real shit in the ring.”
“There’s no budget.”
“Find it. If I reshape your roster, it’ll be from top to bottom, no exceptions,” Kat said flatly.
“You giving me orders?” Vince asked, his tone hard.
“Negotiating sounds so much better, doesn’t it?”
Kat stood in the ring, listening to Vince and Shane as they explained her new functions. Finally, they both turned to her.
“Kathleen,” Vince said, “tell them what they’re in for.”
“Well, first things first: no one calls me Kathleen. Ever!” Everyone laughed at that. She smiled. “All right, Vince told you what the general idea was. I’ve been studying wrestling tapes ever since he came to me with this project and I know there are ways for all of us to take bumps in a way that won’t make hardcore fans think that you’re jobbing. That means a lot of changes for you guys too. Means everyone is starting right from the bottom of the barrel. I couldn’t care less if you guys are U.S., tag, cruiserweight or hardcore champs, or whatever. In my book, you all need my help. WCW guys, you know me, you know how I work and what I want from you. I’ve hired a few more trainers who’ll keep the pressure on you. Right now, you guys are at a level I can be satisfied with.” A cheer rose from the WCW guys. Kat grinned at that but a raised hand quieted their ardour. “ECW. I’m going to test the waters with you. Finished product wise, you probably fit our objectives the most. But I’m going to be testing your fitness. What you do outside the ring ain’t my problem but you don’t want to mess with what goes on inside my ring.” All eyes converged on Mr. 4:20, who blew Kat a playful air kiss. “Sweet. Ladies, I’m going to meet with all of you separately. Because I’ll make it easy for you: if you wrestle, I’ll train you until I drop; but if you’re more interested in make-up than in wrestling, I’ll ground you. Meaning that only wrestlers get in the ring. Valets step on the apron and answer to me.”
“What?” Stacy Kiebler objected. “I wasn’t hired to wrestle."
“No,” Shane said, “you probably weren’t, but it’ll be in your best interest to learn.” The underlying threat came in loud and clear to all those assembled in the room, eyes moving mainly to Debra and Stephanie.
“As I said ladies, I’ll speak to all of you separately. Now, WWF boys… Most of you know me as Andrew’s ex. That’s all fine and good. But you’ve never worked with me. First objective for you is to be as fit as I want you to be. Sarge will be making sure of that. Once I’m satisfied that you’re in good shape, then we’ll make you look good. But I expect you guys to give me 200%. That means being at the WWF gym on Wednesdays and Thursdays. That means putting egos aside and acting like adults. That means those of you about to whine about how you can’t make the sacrifice should zip it.”
“Guys,” Shane said, “we know we’re asking for a lot but it’s going to be worth it. We are moving to the next level and we want all of you to be along for the ride.”
A few hours after the first meeting, the ladies of the WWF and WCW congregated in a smaller conference room. Finally, they were joined by Kat, Shane, Stephanie and Vince. With a nod from her bosses, the special fight coordinator remained standing while they sat.
“I could fuck with you guys and say you kick ass in the ring. Truth is, most of you suck in the ring. Well, let me rephrase that: you don’t necessarily suck but your in-ring work is painful to watch. And I should know. I’ve spent the last week pouring over your tapes. Right now, all of you have the possibility of benefiting from my training. Out of all of you, Steph, Debra, Lita, Tori, Jackie, Ivory, Molly, Terri, Stacey, Wilson, Midajah, Trish there are only three of you who I happen to be satisfied with, these three being Ivory, Jackie and Molly. Of those remaining, I know that with the proper regimen, I can get something out of Lita, Tori, Terri and Trish. The big question I direct to the rest of you: will you try to work yourselves into shape?”
“Well, what exactly do you have in mind?” Midajah asked.
“Same regimen as the guys with more in-ring time.”
“You’d teach us how to wrestle?” Torrie asked, “Really wrestle?”
“Exactly. No catfights… Bona fide wrestling.”
“I’m in,” Midajah grinned.
“Steph?”
“I think I can do that. It’ll be fun right?”
“We’ll see. Debra? Stacey?”
“Wrestling’s not in my contract,” the young blonde said. “I was hired as ring decoration, and that’s what I’ll do.”
“Well,” Kat said, “get ready to become ramp decoration. Cause if you don’t wrestle, you don’t get in my… uh the ring.”
“What!”
“Market studies show that credibility drops by 70% whenever a non-wrestler gets into the ring, regardless of what they’re going to do,” Shane stated almost coldly. “The point is for us to increase our credibility, not diminish it.”
“So I’ll be restricted to ringside?”
“The ramp actually. Our recent efforts to increase credibility would be ruined by you getting anywhere near the ring.”
“How believable can you make us?” Debra asked. “I mean, considering my in-ring history, I don’t know how credible I could be.”
“Your training will be incorporated as part of the story lines. Kat has encouraged us to try something new with it.”
Debra raised a carefully plucked eyebrow and looked at Andrew’s ex. She’d never socialized with the girl but she remembered how defeated the blond giant had been when she’d left him. She must have been something special to walk away from everything he’d had to offer.
“Well,” she drawled softly, “I’m willing to try anything once.”
“Well,” Stacey said petulantly, “I’ve become as much of a wrestler as I was meant to be. I am not doing this.”
“All right,” Shane said evenly as he got up, “let’s finish this conversation in my office.”
“Well ladies,” Vince as he got up after his son and Stacey had left the room. “I leave you to Kathleen’s capable hands.”
“Thanks. All right girls,” Kat said as she gleefully rubbed her hands together, “training rule no. 1: no make up…”
A month later, Andrew was on a treadmill, jogging, while he watched Kat in the ring with Rob Van Dam and Billy Kidman. Rob and her were comparing high flying maneuvers and Billy was calling the spots. At one point, she missed a landing and laid flat on her back, catching her breath. Both guys got down on their knees over her.
“You OK?” Rob asked her.
“It’s cool but my landing clearly sucks.”
“Oh yeah,” Billy agreed as he pulled her to her feet. “But there is an upside to this: we know she is capable of fucking up. And I can spread the word!”
With that, Billy hopped out of the ring, yelling details of Kat’s failed jump. Laughing, she took off after him, ordering him to stop. Naturally, he kept going, even as she tackled him to the ground.
Frowning, Andrew watched as the encounter went from being playful to being violent. He couldn’t believe it, that little fucker was actually hitting her and she was looking too dizzy to stop him. He stopped the treadmill and started walking over there. Apparently, the WCW guys had been lying when they’d said they respected Kat because not one of them were even trying to stop the fight.
The man known as Test did quick work of shoving his way to the front row, fully intending to stop it. But he hadn’t counted on getting opposition from three men rivaling him in height, strength and brawn. Jindrak, O’Haire, and Palumbo proved to be an unexpectedly solid wall.
“Fucking let me through,” Andrew hissed.
“Have a little faith,” Jindrak told him before turning back to the fight.
Andrew followed his gaze and was shocked to see Kat deliver a teeth-gnashing uppercut to Kidman. The young man staggered back and Kat pressed her advantage. She delivered a few more hard punches and then brought her kicks into the game. She worked her way up his body with frightening precision until Billy was lying on the floor, unable to get back up.
A satisfied grin finally decorated her mouth and Kat turned to see the crowd her fight with Billy had drawn. She recognized the concern in Andrew’s eyes and knew the time had come for the two of them to talk things through.
“All right Billy,” Kat said, “you sold it.”
“Sold it?” Bob Holly asked.
“Yeah. It was a shoot but it was fake. Billy didn’t hurt me, nor I him.”
“Fucking A,” Christian sighed. “We totally bought that.”
“And that was the whole point. We can sell the right moves in the right matches and have Taka beat the shit out Wight.”
Nodding, the WWFers made their way back to the machines they’d been working on. All except for Andrew. He stood there, waiting as the WCW guys trailed back to the ring where Kat’s assistants waited. Finally, it was just the two of them, with Palumbo, O’Haire and Jindrak between them.
“Back to the treadmill now,” Mark said.
“That’s right Test. You’re going to need all the help you can get to be as good as us.”
“Then again, we are naturally gifted and born to thrill.”
“God,” Kat finally sighed. “Go away, you big twits! I need to talk to Andrew.”
“We can wait for you…” Palumbo offered.
At that, Kat turned to the three men, annoyance written all over her features.
“We’ll go away now,” Sean said. “I mean, you definitely can handle this on your own. You totally don’t need us.”
Tapping her foot on the floor, Kat glared at the Thrillers until they went away.
“Awfully protective of you,” Andrew said, coming to stand in front of Kat.
“Yeah, they’re cute.”
“So…” Andrew said uncomfortably.
“Yeah… so…”
“You’re certainly doing well for yourself.”
“Thanks.”
“I mean, I knew you were good at your job but this was… WOW!”
“Yeah well…”
“Kind of surprised you went the WCW way first though.”
“Their offer was too good to resist.”
“What was so tempting about it?”
“No you.”
Gracefully, Andrew blushed as Kat led him out of the gym.
“So having to deal with me now must make you regret taking the offer in the first place.”
“Let’s say it’s a challenge.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For not telling you about everything right away.”
“Thank you. You owed me.”
“So… um… how have you been?”
“Pretty good actually. We were good together Drew but meant to be? I think not.”
“Hindsight is always 20/20, isn’t it’?”
“Oh come on Andrew, you’re telling me you think we were a hit as a couple?”
“We weren’t bad…”
Laughing, Kat opened the door leading outside. Andrew followed her out, squinting at the bright Arizona sun.
“Were we in the same relationship?” she asked him.
“Give me a break. We had fun.”
“Yeah but what did we know about each other?”
“Lots.”
“Really? What’s my sister’s name?”
“I know that one: Tamara!”
“I don’t have a sister,” Kat replied with a giggle.
“You don’t? Damn. That is bad but that doesn’t mean we weren’t good together.”
“We had good times but…”
“No ifs, ands or buts about it. We rocked!”
“You’re on crack.”
“Please…”
As they walked around the parking lot, they both some of the janitors playing a heated basketball game on a half court painted on the ground. Kat and Andrew exchanged a familiar smile and he walked over to the janitors.
“Since I’m a gentleman,” he was saying twenty minutes later as he gave the ball a few bounces, “I’ll let you start with the ball.”
“And even if I’m not a lady, I’ll let you behave like a gentleman. So what are our stakes?”
“If I win, you agree that we had a good relationship. If you win, I agree that it had its bad moments.”
“You do realize that this is incredibly silly?”
“If you have a better idea, I’m listening…”
“Let’s do it.”
“I’m telling you,” Jeff Hardy told his brother Matt as they walked around the parking lot, “I saw a half-court out here.”
“Well, I’m not seeing any kind of court… half or full. Jeff, you do remember that sniffing Manic Panic makes you see things that aren’t really there?”
“You think you’re funny?” Jeff asked in a tone that was incredibly reminiscent of Alliance Austin. “I asked you a question son, do you think--”
“That was a foul lady, no matter how you lie about it!”
“You agreed to street rules… now quit whining like a bitch in heat and play.”
“Whining like a bitch in heat?”
“Truth hurts?”
Matt and Jeff’s love for unique and fresh gossip showed as both of them ran toward the voices, finally getting to the half-court Matt had stopped believing existed only to see Andrew use a rather rough block to get past his ex-girlfriend and to the basket.
“Twelve to eleven,” the blonde crowed as his ex got up.
“You need nine more points and trust me, you’re going to have to fight for all of them.”
“That’s right baby… you know me, I love the rough stuff.”
“Is that so?” she asked.
Moving quickly, Kat feigned a right and stepped back and to the left, smoothly sending the orange ball sailing for a three-pointer.
“Fourteen to twelve.”
Grinning like a loon, Jeff nudged his brother back to life.
“Get the others,” he whispered, “no one is going to believe this!”
“Twenty to nineteen,” Andrew taunted Kat as he dribbled around her. “And since it’s my ball, you might as well concede to my victory.”
“If you were me, would you admit defeat?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re a liar darling and it shall be your downfall.”
Andrew was in the three point zone and Kat, instead of blocking his shot, ran to the basket and waited for his shot. Once the ball was aloft, she leaped, curling the fingers of her left hand around the rim, pushing the ball down with her right hand, not relinquishing her hold on it even as she landed. She ran up court, shoving Andrew out of her way with her shoulder to his stomach and zipping into the three point zone.
Kat didn’t take the time to calculate the angle or anything. She just made the shot and hoped it would make it. Andrew’s impressing vertical leap failed to stop the ball as it completed its arch bouncing off the backboard and into the basket.
“Twenty-one to twenty,” Kat said, turning around to face a completely demolished Andrew. “And our relationship was okay, not great, not fantastic, not phenomenal. You never tried to know the real me and I never made an effort to be known as anything but your girlfriend. And that’s your new truth about us Andrew Martin. Now get back into the gym, you’ve got some upper body work to do.”
“Kat…”
“GO!”
Andrew turned around and saw the entire ECW, WCW and WWF roster standing there, trying not to laugh. Kat turned around too and when she saw all of them standing there.
“Do I want to know what the hell all of you are doing out here? Or should I tell all of you that you now owe me an extra hour for disrupting your work schedule?”
“Aw come on,” Shane Helms whined, “no fair… we were…”
“Two hours.”
“Let’s go.”
While they left, Kat lagged behind, bouncing the ball off the arena wall. By the time she was gone, she turned around and found one member of the roster standing there, still waiting for her.
“Still here?”
“Yeah.”
“You know… that means you’re going to have to give me more of your time tonight.”
“I can deal with that.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Even if I work you for a good five, six hours?”
“Do you promise?”
Kat laughed and walked into Sean O'Haire’s strong arms, enjoying the way their bodies fit together.
“So… what was that little game about?”
“Our failed relationship. And I won.”
“Won what?” he asked.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
Arms around each other’s waists, Kat and Sean slowly made their way into the arena. She leaned into his strong body, her nostrils flaring at his cleanly masculine scent, a mix of sweat and natural musk that always got her knees to shake. The man was an animal and she loved that about him. She loved how he’d go primal on her behind closed doors, engaging her own animalistic tendencies in the process.
Heat churned in her stomach as she remembered one night in particular when he’d heatedly torn off her clothes before thoroughly claiming her soul with his absolutely masterful bedroom performance. And every time she’d resisted his touch, not because she hadn’t wanted it but because she’d needed to pit her strength against his to confirm his total dominance, he’d proven his power, thrilling her in the process. They were still equals but she loved nothing more than to let him dominate her. That night, Kat had learned about the tentative balance between pain and pleasure and she’d been incredibly eager to learn more. And Sean had been a very patient and attentive teacher.
“Can I kick his ass?”
“Andrew’s? Why? I won the game.”
“I saw him give you a rough check before.”
“I can handle it. Hell I handle you, don’t I?”
“You handle me? Is that what you think you do? Handle me?”
“I try. But to tell you the truth, I’m not to sure I want to.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask you Kat…”
“Ask me what exactly?”
“You OK with everything that goes on between us? I mean the rougher stuff…”
“Babe, I wouldn’t be with you if I wasn’t OK with it,” she whispered as she reached up to brush the back of her hand against the strong line of his jaw.
“But you’re so different when we’re alone…”
“I know. It’s just… When I work, I’m in control of all the WWF, WCW and ECW roster and I have to keep track of all of their injuries and special physical needs. It’s hard work. And when it’s over, when I don’t have to be in control so much, it’s nice to let go with someone I trust.”
“And that’s me?”
“That’s you.”
With a feral growl, Sean pulled Kat into his arms and pushed down her tee-shirt collar and bit into her neck. She purred.
Kat was checking out the bounce on the red RAW ropes when Chuck Palumbo came tearing down the ramp.
“You’re on TV!”
“WHAT???”
She followed him up the ramp and into Shane’s makeshift office where the McMahon clan sat, along with Ross and Heyman.
“I’m on TV?” she asked.
“Yeah, Access Hollywood. Have a seat,” Vince offered. “Thank you Chuck.”
“No problem.”
“It’s starting,” Stephanie said.
“In the past couple of months,” Pat O’Brien said, “if you’ve been watching wrestling, you’ll notice there’s been a change in the matches. Our correspondent expert, Ric Flair, is on hand to comment on said changes. Ric?”
“Thanks Pat. Well, after spending some time looking over the tapes from RAW, I noticed a lot of changes, mainly in the way the moves are executed. We are seeing a cleaner style of wrestling, with a return to basics as well as a more realistic look.”
Ric went on commenting on the moves while showing off several clips of old matches, splicing them with older matches.
“But Ric,” O'Brien asked, “in your expert opinion, what brought this on?”
“Well, I might not be on the active roster anymore, but I do have contacts and the person responsible for giving sports entertainment this movie-like edge is a former stunts coordinator, Kathleen Carson, known in the business for the work she did with Carrie-Ann Moss in The Matrix. And I managed to get my hands on some rather exclusive footage of Miss Carson as she tested her skills in an impromptu mock fight with a then-unknown in the United States.”
The footage shown made Kat’s cheeks burn with embarrassment. She remembered the setting. It had been a party to celebrate Jet Li’s first foray in American mainstream movies with Lethal Weapon 4. It had all started with Li making a show out of plucking a tray from a waiter’s hands. He’d started juggling it all over his body, making it land on Kat’s lap. She’d copied his intricate moves perfectly and he’d raised the bar with a delicate champagne glass. The test of skills had evolved into a play fight that had left a few marks all over the fancy dining room.
“As you can see Pat, with Ms. Carson in charge of fight coordination, even I would have to say that we’re about to usher in a new era of sports entertainment.”
“Thank you Ric. Nancy, I don’t know if we’re ready for a more hardcore version of the Rock.”
“Well, I bet his female fans love it. Me too.”
As they moved on to another report, Shane shut off his TV. He looked around the room and smiled.
“Well I think Ric really does want to finish his career on this roster.”
“Seems that way. Well, Kat,” Vince said, turning to his fights coordinator, “do you think the boys are ready to show off their new style tonight?”
“Tonight?”
“Yeah. Ric’s exclusive kind of forces our hand.”
“They’re ready.”
“That’s not what you said this morning.”
“I lied.”
“I’m going to have to fire you for that.”
“Cool. Uh, I’m going to tell them tonight’s the night and I’ll be around.”
“See you out there.”
A nervous Kat spent the entire run of RAW biting her nails internally while showing a brave face. Things went fairly well, except for a few missed spots but nothing the fans were able to notice. Hell, they were too excited by the new format, the fast-paced action, especially by the hardcore women’s match that had Ivory bleeding from a brutal shot, courtesy of Jackie. After the show, while the roster was celebrating their performance, Kat ended up in Shane’s office, surfing the net for RAW reviews.
“Got one!” Shane shouted. “Man, that kid must have typed that thing up while watching the show.”
“Who cares? What does it say?”
“All right… starts this way, Well, I sat down to watch another RAW, red pen in hand to document all the missed shots and now that the show’s over, I’m still waiting for them. I’d heard rumors from a few friends of mine about how the house shows were shaping up but I’d yet to see the changes on TV as of yet so I’d classified them as urban legends. Earlier tonight, on Access Hollywood, Ric Flair showed a few ways the WWF had been improving their shows but nothing could have prepared me for tonight. First off, the women’s match… what the hell was that? Women go hardcore? I mean, with veterans like Jackie and Ivory, I was expecting a lot more than a Torrie vs. Trish match but this completely blew my mind. This match was rough!!! And I held off on the bathroom breaks I usually take during the women’s match to watch this in its entirety. I was floored. Jackie took one hell of a brutal table shot when Ivory made her kiss that monitor. I’m still in shock. And excuse me, but did I see right or did Mr. I-don’t-bump-to-anyone-who’s-not-a-top-star Stone Cold Steve Austin actually bump to Edge? And in case you couldn’t guess, this show gets an A+! I think the kid like it.”
“Is there more to the column?” Kat asked with a crooked smile.
“Yeah. More praise! We did it!” Shane said, high-fiving Kat.
“We did it!”
After the party, Sean and Kat made it to their hotel room. Quietly, she made her way to the bedroom where she quickly stripped out of her clothes and into her usual sleeping attire, a WCW tee-shirt. Sean watched her lie down on the bed and close her eyes.
“Baby?” he asked, as he laid down by her side. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing… I don’t know…”
“Come on, you’re just lying there…”
“It’s just… I worked so hard to get everyone up to par and now that I’m done, it’s a bit of a letdown you know? You guys kicked so much ass out there and yeah, I did that but…”
“But what?”
“What’s going to be my next challenge?”
“Well,” Sean said with a wicked smile, “why don’t you try taming me?”
Kat looked at the man leaning over her, his hair up in wild, untamed spikes and his eyes shiny with an unholy light. She bit into her lower lip and slid out of bed, going to her suitcase, opening a hidden compartment. She pulled out velvet-lined cuffs and turned back to him.
“You ready to be tamed?” she asked.
“Cuffs? Kat baby…”
“Didn’t you offer?”
“I know… but…”
“Sean, come on… I was able to shape you up in the ring… you telling me I can’t shape you up in the bedroom?”
“Kat…”
“Strip O’Haire and you know me. Don’t make me say it twice.”
Draping the cuffs on the bed, Kat rolled up the hem of her tee-shirt and knotted it under her breasts, showing up her tight, boxer-like panties. Then she paused to look at Sean, raising an eyebrow at him. He growled and started to take off his clothes. She stopped him just as he was about to take off his boxers.
“Lie down.”
Slowly, rubbing her body against his, Kat cuffed him to the bed, ignoring his growls of protest.
“Now Sean my boy,” Kat whispered in his ears as she rubbed her covered crotch against his tented one, “we’re going to see if you’re really up to shaping up…”