Chapter Text
Things have officially fallen apart with the 24/7 title. Carmella is champion now, which makes Drake's chances of getting his baby back even slimmer. So he turns his focus back to Team Work, trying to book it to the best of his ability and not just hide in the office all night with his head in his hands trying to block the world out.
For the first match of the night, Kushida, Humberto Carrillo and RVD end up on the losing side of things against Big E, Jonathan Grisham and Beer City Bruiser after BCB takes out RVD with a ring-rattling splash off of the ropes. Kairi Sane and Sasha Banks, despite some disagreements and awkward moments, work together well enough to defeat WOW's Chantilly Chella and Tenille Dashwood. Matt Riddle, still aching and not truly with it after his match against Killian Dain, finds that used against him as Danny Burch targets all of his vulnerable spots and eventually, somehow, someway, overwhelms him enough to get him down just long enough for the three count, Riddle sitting up and gaping at him in some disbelief.
Newly won champion Angelina Love meets Dakota Kai in the ring, and the recently returned woman makes generous use of her solid kicks to every inch of Angelina's body, wearing her down and eventually finishing her off from the top rope before pinning her. Brawler Milonas defeats Jay Briscoe, while Lacey Evans takes out Sassy Massy with the Woman's Right while Tessa Blanchard and Bayley fight on the outside after an attempt at interrupting an earlier pin during the tag match. Cameron Grimes wins against Fandango and Ibushi defeats PCO.
Shinsuke Nakamura makes his way to the ring, Sami Zayn dancing ecstaticly by his side, and they stand side by side as Erick Rowan comes down the ramp, in no hurry to begin. They partner against Oney Lorcan and Cedric Alexander and Nakamura watches with a lazy, bored look on his face as Rowan dominates both men, working steadily to decimate them and leave them writhing on the mat. They do try to fight back and at one point, Cedric even dropkicks Rowan into their corner, so Nakamura leans in and tags himself in, ignoring the heated glare Rowan shoots at him as he begins kicking and striking Cedric here and there, sussing out vulnerable spots before swiping his boot against his face in the corner, causing Cedric to collapse. Nakamura smirks as he positions himself for the kinsasha, waiting, watching, expecting Cedric to get to his feet and finish the match off. He sees Rowan move in the corner, hears Oney go down once more, but thinks nothing else of it, focused entirely on the artistry of his leg slamming into Cedric and downing him immediately, allowing for another easy victory for the Intercontinental champion.
Asuka defeats Carmella, and Tyler Breeze wins against El Phantasmo. Keith Lee faces off against Rey Mysterio and, despite Keith's size and speed, Rey keeps fighting back against his offense and eventually downs him in nearly perfect position for the 619, which he hits with relish for the win. Following this, Mark Briscoe picks up a win against Jeff Cobb.
In the tag match that follows, everyone looks on in some confusion as Rhea Rhipley and Nikki Krumpus make their way to the ring, just to be followed by Reyna Reyes and... Chad Gable. He looks frustrated, ignoring Rhea and Nikki's hissed whispers from their side of the ring as the referee prepares to start the match. For the most part, Reyna seems determined to ignore him and compete the match on her own, but Rhea makes that impossible, constantly beating the woman down and embarassing her, tagging out constantly with Krumpus, who continues on where Rhea left off, so eventually Chad has no choice but to tag in. Rhea doesn't seem concerned, however. "Hey, you're that short guy I've heard so much about, right?" She laughs at him and he grits his teeth, not really thrilled with this match, but not wanting to let that stand either, after weeks of insults and belittlements, so when she grows bored of taunting him and moves in for the attack, he meets her halfway, suplexes her, and then it's on. They're fairly evenly matched, Rhea's brutality shocking Chad at times, but finally, finally, he gains the upperhand with another series of suplexes, just to try to get her in the ankle lock, but she kicks free and scrambles for the ropes, allowing Nikki to tag in. Gable starts coolly at her as she approaches him gingerly, catching her in an armbar and slinging her to the other side of the ring. She scrambles into the turnbuckle and Chad simply shrugs, turning to tag in a recovered Reyna. The match only lasts a little while longer, Reyna taking advantage of the fact that Gable had taken Nikki down so easily and using it against her to relatively quickly pick up the win.
Gable laughs, joining her in the ring, and hoists her hand up in victory while the referee maneuvers around them, trying to do his job to the best of his ability even while they ignore him and carry on their own way.
RUSH defeats Shane Taylor and the randomly thrown together team of Mahabli Shera and Rusev get the win against Ishimori and Marty Scurll.
In the main event, Xavier Woods finds himself face to face with Rhino, swallowing hard as he examines him, trying to remember how he'd wrestled him in the past. It's not easy, the man is strong, and tough, and he makes up for his slower speed and age with pure strength and leftover brutality from his ECW days, so Xavier tries to proceed carefully, with great thought, desperate to not let each blow destroy him or ruin his hope in succeeding in this match. He fights back again and again and again, and finally finds his opening. Rhino is moving in for a Gore when Xavier dives, hitting the mat and listening, in a daze, as Rhino hits the turnbuckle posts and just lays there, gasping and in pain. Xavier scrambles to his feet, tugs Rhino out and lets him slump to the mat before climbing the very same turnbuckle posts that'd just saved him, gingerly walking across the ropes before diving to land an elbow deep in Rhino's solar plexus. He kicks out but Xavier doesn't give up, waiting until he gets back to his feet before grabbing him and spiking him down with a DDT that makes the people in the front row cringe a little, Xavier notices out of the corner of his eye. Hope blossoming, he moves to pin Rhino again and it's with some shock that he hears the three count called out, the bell ringing to mark the end of the match and Xavier's victory. He laughs and closes his eyes as his arm is lifted in victory, exhaling slowly as he absorbs the fact that he'd somehow survived this match.