Tuesday, before the taping begins.
      The meeting of the minds has once again invaded my locker room… don’t any of these guy--or Amy--have their *own* locker room?
      I sigh. “After all this, we’d better get our tag title shot next Monday.”
      “We will,” Benoit says, “but, for now, we focus on tonight.”
      “Yeah, yeah,” I say, without enthusiasm. It may have been my idea, but things aren’t turning out quite the way I envisioned them. “Hey, why don’t we go out right at the beginning? Then, later on, we can make a challenge for the titles.”
      “That… is actually a decent idea,” Benoit says. I smirk.
      “Hey, maybe his brains aren’t scrambled anymore,” Adam jokes.
      “Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Benoit says. “He’s only said one good thing so far. When he says another, then you can say that.”
      “Why is everyone picking on me?!” I interrupt, standing. “I’m the one that’s been getting the shit beaten out of so many times I’ve lost count and you guys keep taking cheap jabs at me!”
      Benoit jerks his thumb at me and says, “See what I mean?”
      I let out an aggravated groan. “Can we *please* get off this ‘pick on Chris’ thing?!”
      Benoit stands and walks up to me. “If this was a ‘pick on Chris’ thing, they’d be taking digs at me, too. What we’re doing is trying to get you out of the whiny stage. Nice fit you just had, by the way, I’m sure Jay would’ve been proud.”
      If I hadn’t truly lost is before now, I just did… and promptly made the mistake of trying to sucker-punch Benoit. He blocks it and twists my arm around, knocking me down, and putting the Crossface on me for a few seconds, then releases it.
      “Are you finished now?” he asks.
      I turn my head to look at him. “I swear, I’ll go dig out that Dr. Seuss rhyme clip and torture you with it.”
      Benoit stands, then pulls me up. “I’d like to see you *try* to torture me.”
      “Sounds like one challenge you better not take,” Rob says. Everyone else nods their agreement.
      “Back to the subject at hand,” Benoit begins, “did you have a promo in mind?”
      “Yeah, we just challenge them, nothing much,” I tell him, a little uncertain.”
      “A serious challenge?” Benoit questions.
      “I don’t know, maybe something impromptu,” I say.
      Again, Benoit gives me that look that passes for a smile. “On second thought, maybe Adam is right about your brains not being scrambled anymore.”
      I roll my eyes. “Don’t start again.”

      SmackDown begins and, after the opening pyro goes off, my countdown starts. My music hits and the crowd goes wild. I spin around and wait for the crowd to finish.
      I hold the mic up and the crowd goes nuts again. “I’ll bet some of your are thinking that I’m going to whine, cry, and bitch that I lost the Undisputed Title. Well… I’m not. Tonight, though, I want some revenge and so do some of my friends.” I pause and wave the others out. Benoit, Edge, and RVD come out. “We’re challenging Trips and the ‘Ambiguously Gay Duo,’ Billy and Chucky, to a handicap match… right now!”
      The four of us go down to the ring and wait for the other three to show.
      Trips’s music hits and he comes out with the Duo behind him. “Revenge for what, Jericho? Your inability to watch your own back?” He pauses. “You know what, I’m not busy tonight so I think we’ll accept your challenge.” With that, he drops the mic, and comes down to the ring with the Duo right behind him.
      The seven of us just start out in one big brawl, which goes fine and good until a few minutes later when the Dudleyz decide to crash our party. Shortly after, the Hardyz join the fray.
      Eventually, we toss out the Duo and the Dudleyz, leaving Trips leaning against the ropes for support. I call for a mic and get right in his face. “You might have won the title, but you didn’t beat me. Now, I’m moving on to better things. Get him out of here.”
      RVD hits him with the VanDaminator and knocks him out of the ring.
      I watch as the Duo make it to the top of the ramp. “Oh, and I almost forgot, Billy and Chucky, Monday night, Benoit and I want a shot at your tag titles.” I toss the mic outside and we leave the ring. Revenge is finally mine.

      Back in *my* locker room, everyone is hanging around again, celebrating our brawl.
      “Damn, we should do that more often,” Benoit comments.
      “Yeah, we should,” I agree.
      “Hey, Rob, man, maybe you and I oughtta challenge the Dudleyz to a TLC match,” Adam suggests.
      “That would be very cool,” Rob replies, smirking.
      “Rob, seriously, do you ever get tired of saying everything is cool?” I ask.
      He shrugs. “No, not really.”
      “Well, I…” I begin.
      “Irvine,” Benoit says, glaring at me.
      “What?” I ask.
      “Don’t start,” he says.
      “Fine, I won’t, but only because I’m in a really good mood right now,” I say.
      “Just don’t say that too loud, Chris,” Amy warns.
      I wave her off. “I’m only telling the truth.” I pause. “It’s about time things started going well again.”

      The rest of the taping was pretty uneventful and as soon as it finished, we left for the hotel.
      During the taping, Adam and Rob had decided to challenge the Dudleyz to a TLC match… at Backlash, so I suggested we all get together in one of our rooms and put some ideas down.
      We reach the lot and I park the car. Everyone else should arrive momentarily, but for now I can listen to the silence that is Chris Benoit. We get out and go around to the trunk.
      “Wanna wait out here or go in the lobby?” I ask, pulling my gym bag out.
      Benoit does the same. “Doesn’t matter.”
      “Oh, my choice, then, huh. Well…” I say, “out here, inside, out here, inside…”
      “Inside,” Benoit says, shoving me towards the door. We go in and drop our bags in a couple of the chairs, then sit in a couple others chairs.
      After a few minutes, we spot Paul and Stephanie.
      “Try not to kill either of them,” Benoit says, rolling his eyes.
      “I won’t promise anything,” I return, just before they’re within hearing distance.
      “Well, Irvine, you put on a nice little show, tonight,” Paul comments, “but this is far from over.”
      “You think so?” I ask, calmly. “Gee, for some reason, I truly thought you’d be happy being the Undisputed Champ,” I pause, “or maybe a bad attitude just comes along with that title.”
      “Whatever,” Paul says and turns to go. As Stephanie joins in stride, she shoots a glare my way.
      “I get a feeling he’s right, somehow,” Benoit agrees.
      “And you’re probably right,” I say, then sigh.