Gathered around a table in an empty backstage catering area, the referees of WZCW sat around and conversed with one another. Various dishes adorned the table, most notably slices of turkey with some apple and cranberry sauces. The food wasn't the most well-prepared or well-cooked but for a night on the road, every referee was happy with the dinner they were able to conjure. None of them were able to make it back home for Thanksgiving but for tonight, they were the family to celebrate the occasion.
Elizabeth Prince and Katie Shepard sat on one side of the table. They chatted away and sipped on their glasses of wine. Keith Morse and Michael McRae were discussing heavily about the rules, arguing how lax or strict one should remain when calling the matches. Jun Akiyama sat at the head of the table with a smile on his face, proud of his team as he looked at them getting along very well. It was at this time that Akiyama stood up, grabbed his empty glass and tapped a fork against it to get the attention of his crew. He waited a few seconds for the rest of the referees to quiet down as he looked to speak.
"Thank you." Akiyama said. "Despite some of us not following these American traditions normally, I am thankful to be here sharing a meal with each of you tonight. I am thankful we were able to arrange this room for ourselves for a short time to celebrate our time together. And I am thankful for the skills each of you bring to this team. I couldn't be more thankful of the people I call my fellow referees here in WZCW."
Akiyama poured himself a glass of wine. The other referees had a smile on their face and nodded in approval of the statement. Akiyama raised his glass. The others raised their respective alcoholic beverage.
"To the best damn officials in the world." Akiyama said.
The others cheered and clanged their glasses together.
"I disagree." Said a voice.
Before the referees could take a celebratory drink together, they saw Eve Taylor who stood on the other side of the room. She leaned on the wall and looked down toward the ground. Her face was covered from her hair and the lighting in the room. The other referees looked at each other with bewildered looks. McRae looked pissed and stood up.
"Excuse me, lass?" McRae asked. "What the fuck is ya problem?"
Eve laughed.
"New blood has got some tongue." Eve replied. "Is that why you've been regulated to the Mayhem division? Failed your obedience training? Or has the master gotten soft? With a speech like that, I wouldn't be surprised if Prince and Shepard haven't turned you into a sap."
McRae was getting a little hot-blooded. Morse stood up and looked to hold McRae back if he did something.
"You don't have the fortitude to handle the Mayhem division." McRae said.
"I'm above the Mayhem division." Eve said. "The only reason I'd ever challenge for the title is to add it to my already excellent resume... but let's face it, I don't need it."
McRae death stared Eve. She gave him a smirk back.
"Why are you here?" Prince asked.
"Yeah, we hired the room." Shepard said. "This is our space. Referees only. You shouldn't be here."
Eve glared at Shepard with astonishment.
"Oh, well look at you, Katie." Eve replied. "Someone's finally grown some confidence to speak for herself. Good for you. It is such a shame you only grew your voice when the time for you to shine on the undercard has been replaced by some angry Irishman who doesn't care for the rules. And with Prince being the better referee, why are you here? We've already filled the female referee and newbie referee quota."
Prince stepped forward.
"Why are you here?" Prince asked.
Eve turned her attention to Prince.
"And you, always serious. Always looking to go by the book. Never stray away from the rules. Never innovative. Never interesting. Just plain old boring Lizzie. You aspire to be like Keith Morse, one of the most respected referees in the industry... but look where that's landed him. When was the last time Keith got a look at refereeing a match? If you need an expert, it is always Akiyama that gets the nod. Isn't that right, Master? If you truly cared for your team, you'd step up to management and step aside to let one of your underlings take care of the job. Considering how old you've gotten, maybe you should step aside for good."
Akiyama paused for moment and looked at his team. He motioned for them to calm down as he placed his glass down. He walked from the head of the table and approached Eve.
"What is your purpose here, Eve?" Akiyama asked. "You never approach the referees except for the matches. What do you want?"
Eve nodded for a moment and looked directly in the eyes of Akiyama.
"Doesn't feel good when you get treated like shit, doesn't it?" Eve asked.
Akiyama shook his head.
"I do not understand." Akiyama replied.
Eve frowned and looked angry.
"Don't play dumb with me." Eve said. "You know exactly what I am talking about. You and your crew know exactly why I am interrupting this little celebration to treat you this way."
Eve looked back at the other referees before she turned her attention back to Akiyama.
"I am paying you back in kind for how you have treated me for the past few months!" Eve said.
Akiyama was thoroughly confused at this notion.
"I still do not understand." Akiyama replied. "Explain what you mean or I will call security for this interruption."
Eve rolled her eyes and laughed out of frustration.
"You and your crew have cost me the World Heavyweight championship on multiple occasions and I demand answers!" Eve said.
The referees looked at each other with a perplexed look. Akiyama raised his head high.
"We did not cost you anything." Akiyama replied. "You lost those matches on your own."
Eve's blood boiled and looked at Akiyama with even more anger than before.
"Don't bullshit me, Jun!" Eve said. "You were the one who officiated the match at Kingdom Come when I defended my World Heavyweight championship against Tyrone Blades. You called the match that was supposed to be the main event but Tyrone took that away from me. It was already bad enough that he did that to me. Worse was that I had to defend the title against that old hack who has now disappeared forever... but the icing on the bullshit cake was you ending the match in favour of Tyrone because I passed out. You ended the match and awarded the championship to Tyrone. I did not lose that match and I was willing to continue fighting. Yet, you decided to end it prematurely and give that title to him."
"Passing out counts for a-"
Before Akiyama could finish his sentence, Eve poked Akiyama hard with her finger.
"You. Ended. The. Match." Eve said.
Akiyama slapped Eve's finger away from him and stared at her. Neither person backed down.
"I did not lose." Eve said. "You purposely made me lose."
Keith shuffled from the table.
"Would you have rather Akiyama let the match continue until you became brain dead?" Morse asked.
Eve shot a glare at Morse and failed to break eye contact.
"Yes." Eve replied. "I live for that title because that title means everything to me. I would do anything to keep it, even if it meant being sent to the hospital... or to the grave."
Eve looked back at Akiyama.
"But that would not be the only time you and your crew screwed me over. It happened as recent as last week against Xander in the quarter finals of the Gold Rush tournament. Once again, I was in a submission. I did not submit. I did not quit. I did not concede. One of your crew called the end of the match because they thought I passed out. Because of that decision, I lost my chance to recapture my World Heavyweight Championship that you awarded to someone else undeserving. Because of that decision, it is going to be a long while before I am able to fight for the title once more. All because of you and your incompetent crew."
Eve got a little closer to the face of Akiyama.
"So, I came here to interrupt your little party to ask you one simple question: why did you screw me, Akiyama?" Eve asked. "Were you instructed by management because I was unbecoming of a role model as champion? Did Tyrone threaten you to force the decision? Did someone pay you to rig the match? What was it? I need to know why the fuck you and your crew did what you did to me? I need to know."
As Eve repeated the final line, she grabbed the shirt of Akiyama and got in his face. The other referees immediately jumped into the action and attempted to separate the two of them. Akiyama managed to shrug off Eve and pushed her back, causing her to stumble backwards. She was forced to catch herself on the wall. Eve stared a hole through all of the referees as they looked to defend themselves. Akiyama waved the others away and motioned to step back. Akiyama looked back at Eve and returned the nasty look back at Eve.
"You are delusional, Eve." Akiyama said. "I would never allow such a ruling to occur. We are proud to be referees of WZCW and will do anything to uphold the integrity of the rules. This is our job. This is our life. We will not be corrupted. To think there is a conspiracy against you is ludicrous. You lost those matches because you could not continue to fight. That is not our fault. That is yours."
Akiyama stood his ground firmly as Eve looked away, not wanting to hear those words.
"We may not spend any time together but you know I do not take any lip from anyone. I am an accomplished fighter in my own right and I will not hesitate to deal with anyone who looks to harass me or anyone from my team. I have done so before and I will do it again should the time arise."
Akiyama put his hands behind his back.
"I will forget this altercation happened. My team and I will continue to fairly officiate your matches, as we are tasked to do. Nothing ill will come from this, as long as you agree to never do this again."
Akiyama stared at Eve until she answered. She was not happy with how the altercation turned out but she stood back up. Eve looked directly at Akiyama.
"Right." Eve said. "Pack mentality. You are not afraid because you have your team to protect you and act as witnesses so you can continue to screw me. All because this company sees me as the alternative option to represent the WZCW brand. If this company needs me to be their role model, they'll let me take the helm until someone else better comes along because I am merely an alternate. And they've put you under their thumb to make sure that I, the crippled and emotional baggage of this company, doesn't get put in their position... not whilst someone with name recognition like Tyrone Blades or someone with a better appeal like Flex Mussel is around."
Eve nodded to herself as if she had finally understood what happened.
"Well, I am going to push through the bullshit that this company represents, or whatever is left of this company. There is a reason why resignations are happening so quickly for the past couple of years. This place wants to choose they want at the top and will refuse anyone else the opportunity to get there. Hell, even their chosen boys like Tyrone Blades are no longer here... and what is the most horrible thing is that I predicted this would happen. I said that this company would crumble without me as their role model and without me as their champion. Look at what we've got. The company can hardly find support a roster to hold four championships any more. The Tag titles are gone. The Mayhem title is 24/7 again in an attempt to make this place exciting again. Might as well retire the Eurasian title because it got stale when Titus Avison held it. This place is going to destroy itself."
Eve wagged her finger in the air.
"I knew this would happen and the higher-ups did not listen. And you know what? They deserve everything that is happening to them. If management and you, Akiyama, are willing to push me to the side, you all deserve to lose your jobs as the company itself. And if the company destroys itself, then this little celebratory party will be the last one you'll ever have."
Eve shook her head.
"I am so glad that I decided to restart my modelling career because the way this place is going, WZCW will soon cease to exist. Four years I've given to this place and when they need me the most to save them, they shun me away, rig my matches and give me someone idiot like Stetson Hayes in a random exhibition match on Meltdown. I am a fucking former World champion with records upon records attached to my name and I get to face Stetson Hayes?"
Eve threw her hands in the air.
"Fuck it." Eve said. "I'll wrestle the match and I'll show the world I am still the best and still the deserving World champion... and Akiyama, you better call the match down the middle, or I'll be coming for you. I'll be coming for this company's management and staff and destroy this place myself."
"And the real fans of WZCW will be thankful for that."
