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Shane McMahon is happy to be home, whole and healthy after a painfully long recovery period. Smiles as he makes his way down the hall for that week's Team Work, nodding and greeting various wrestlers as he passes, sometimes stopping to talk here and there if a wrestler looks like they want or need to discuss something with him. He hums under his breath as he reaches the office and lets himself in, setting right to booking the evening with the list of wrestlers available for the evening.
The first match is a fifteen man battle royal, the ring quickly filling up with Danny Burch, Marty Scurll, Dolph Ziggler, Mark Briscoe, Oney Lorcan, Akam, Tony Nese, Jeff Cobb, Rezar, Sheamus, Killer Kross, Brian Cage, Jake Strong, Rey Mysterio and Seth Rollins. Everything's so busy that it's hard to keep track of everything, but slowly things begin to clear out- despite their size and strength, Cage, Seth, Strong, Nese and Scurll all work together to throw Rezar over and out, the large man yelling something before getting up and storming off. Karma strikes quickly however, when Akam grabs the nearest wrestler- who happens to be Seth Rollins- and sends him out as easy as anything. Oney Lorcan gets much the same treatment, bodily dragged away from wild strikes he's exchanging with Mark Briscoe, Danny Burch following not long after.
Sheamus breaks up Akam's streak by booting Tony Nese clear out, just to be eliminated next when Jake Stronger dropkicks him out. Cage loses in a test of strength against Akam, getting pushed right against the ropes and leaning there, struggling to catch his breath when Akam lunges forward in a clothesline, sending him flying into the barricade wall with enough force that the crowd gasps and murmurs in fear as Strong laughs at them all. He rids the ring of Rey Mysterio next, and it becomes a sort of competition between he and Akam as Akam tosses Mark Briscoe out. Stronger responders by blasting Killer Kross out.
Akam is working on trying to weaken Jeff Cobb enough to send him out when Stronger gets bored of waiting and lunges forward when both men have stumbled into position, lariating both of them clean out of the ring. As he mocks and laughs at the both of them from the ropes, Scurll and Ziggler both try to double team him with dropkicks, but he just stands there, smirk twisting into something ugly and bitter. He turns sharply and kicks Ziggler hard, slamming Scurll over. Hoisting them both up, he lifts Ziggler up and bodyslams him down before tossing Scurll out, listening with a smirk as he lands with a heavy thud and doesn't move again. Turning sharply, he stares Ziggler down. "And then there were two," he smirks.
Ziggler feels like he knows how this is going to end already, but he's never really been one to give up, especially against someone like Jake Stronger, so he lunges forward... just to eat Stronger's boot to his face, feeling himself getting lifted up and all but lawn darted out of the ring. As Jake celebrates overhead, Ziggler groans where he'd landed and gasps for air, for the pain to stop. Something, anything.
Wisely keeping Shayna Baszler out of the ring as much as possible, Taya Valkyri and Asuka make fast work of Nia Jax, targetting her legs and knees, working to keep her off of her feet and out of her corner as much as they can. Shayna looks excessively frustrated as she's kept from the ring entirely and it eventually leads to Taya and Asuka's victories as Nia struggles just to get her weight under her properly.
Lashley gets the winning pin in a six man match that pits himself, Roman Reigns and Jay Briscoe against Naito, Cesaro and The Miz, the Moneymaker not able to last against one of those suplexes that he's pretty sure has sent him from one side of the ring clear to the other, his back definitely feeling the affects of it.
After an already rough couple of weeks on Raw between arguing with Seth and Roman, and losing more matches than he cares to remember, Dean Ambrose finds himself on the losing end against Jey Uso after his attempt at Dirty Deeds leads to Jey squirming free and clocking him hard across the face before landing a superkick, and then splashing down upon him from the turnbuckle posts. Although he grits his teeth and shakes hands with his opponent, it's clear that failing again has only added to his inner turmoil as he watches Jey celebrate by himself in the ring as he trudges backwards up the ramp.
The Usos' good luck doesn't last when Taichi defeats Jimmy almost immediately after this, his twin brother frowning. "Shit," he mumbles as the medical staff come to look Jimmy over, make sure everything's going to be ok, slowly helping him to his feet and backstage once they're reassured.
The main event pits Mickie James against Ember Moon and Allie, in a triple threat match. She laughs at them, smug and reassured in her eyes shoes as she stares at them. "Happy with your places on Evolution this coming week, girls?" she taunts them, before an over-exaggerated look of shock crosses her face. "Oh, wait, never mind. You're stuck in some battle royal, and you're not even in my league, much less my company," Mickie says, laughing right in Allie's face. "My mistake!"
Ember ignores her as she continues to stretch, waiting for the clock, but Allie has gotten impatient and, as soon as the bell echoes through the arena, she's on top of Mickie, raining hits across her face and shoulders until Ember has to pull her up to her feet. Mickie's flailing and yelling so Nia has time to enjoy this, before moving to break it up. Once Allie is off of her, Mickie gasps and lays motionless in the corner, wisely watching as they target each other, seemingly forgotten she's in the match at all. Nia's leg and knee is still clearly giving her grief, and Balor... well, there's nothing to get him. So Johnny allows this from one of the kittens but will boot htir noises if something causing him to blare it wihen they finally arrive.
Mickie waits until both are down after they take each other out with similar attempts at kicking high, then gingerly gets back into the mix of things, diving to pin first Ember, then Allie. Both women kick out at 2, though Ember seems a little closer to losing than Allie, and Mickie targets that weakness, kicking her and hitting her with both closed fist and open hand slaps, before hoisting her up and moving in for the Implant DDT when Allie sneaks up from behind and hoists her up for the double chickenwing, bridging into it and leaving Mickie so dazed that she's not even aware she's being pinned until it's too late- until the bell rings. She gapes and struggles free, staring on in shock as the referee lifts Allie's hand in victory. "No!"
Allie laughs, quietly, then leans closer. "Good luck at Evolution, I think you'll need it." She beams at Mickie before leaving the ring, both WWE women unhappy with the results of the match, Ember glaring over at Mickie as she struggles up to her feet, wavering and weak.
"UGH!" Mickie exclaims, hitting her fist against the mat before getting up, eyes blazing as she leaves the ring entirely. "This will not happen at Evolution!" she yells out at Ember, who still looks amused as she presses a hand down where Mickie's fist had left an imprint. "You'll see!"
As she disappears to call Alexa, desperate to discuss their strategy so she can feel a little better after her loss, Ember laughs and shrugs at the crowd before taking her own leave, turning her focus to the first ever women's PPV to be held this Sunday.