Raw finally begins and I'm sitting in the locker room I'm sharing with Benoit and Adam--the Hardyz and Amy are across the hall--parked in front of the monitor.
      Hmm... well, there goes Vince out to the ring, but no Stephanie. Umm... okay, a little weird.
      Vince asks for a mic. "Chris Jericho!"
      "Now, what?" I ask the monitor, irritated.
      I think he heard me. "I hope you aren't planning on bailing on the WrestleMania main event, like I've been hearing from quite a few guys in back. It would be an awful shame to deprive the fans of the match and seeing you get your ass handed to you by Triple H." He pauses. "That's it, Jericho, I'm calling you out and I want an explanation, dammit!"
      I sigh audibly. "Well, so much for staying out of tonight's show." I begin to stand.
      "Hold on a minute, Irvine," Benoit says, sitting me back down. "You know it's just another trick."
      "Besides," Adam says, then produces a video tape, "I taped your tirade on Angle earlier. Why don't we just show it to Vince and see how he likes it?"
      I smile. "Go for it."
      Adam leaves quickly and within minutes, the video appears on the monitor, all the while Vince was having a coniption fit trying to get me to come out. The video picks up from Kurt's original comment about handing over the title.
      The crowd gives a nice pop when I start the 'what's. The video ends and the crowd goes nuts.
      Vince looks like he's about to blow a gasket. He throws down the mic and leaves the ring. Moments later, we hear him calling for me out in the hall.
      "Damn cameras must be following him," I say.
      "Keep quiet," Benoit says.
      I shut up and start hoping Adam has sense enough to not lead Vince here... or maybe he doesn't have sense enough...
      The door opens to reveal Adam, with Vince and his camera crew pushing their way in. Thanks alot, Adam.
      I stand as Benoit stands off to the side, annoyed. "Well, Vance, here I am. You found me." I pause. "Good job!" I smirk.
      Vince gives me one of his many sadistic facial expressions and just stares at me... creepy.
      After a lo-o-ong pause, he finally speaks. "Tonight, Jericho, will be a WrestleMania preview: non-title, you and Triple H." With that said, he turns and leaves. So much for a night off. Damn.

      Raw main event. Trips is already out in the ring and my music hits. The countdown ends and I appear at the top of the ramp. This time, though, I don't feel like getting jumped again, so I run down the ramp, dropping the belts along the way, and slide into the ring.
      I'm really not ready for this match, especially since it was impromptu and, therefore, neither of us was specified as the winner ahead of time. I just don't think I can win in the condition I'm in right now (which is about 65% or 70%). For all I know, this could be a massacre... and, unfortunately, it probably will be.
      Trips immediately flies at me and nails me with a forearm to the head. Have I mentioned my incredibly short attention span that came with the concussion? I fall to the canvas and he starts pounding on my head. I try to shove him away, but instead he picks me up and flings me into the corner, following right behind, slamming me hard into the turnbuckle.
      The crowd is getting behind me, I can hear the "Y2J" chant, along with this ringing in my ears.
      Trips climbs the turnbuckle and starts pounding on my head again. This time, I manage to shove him away, but he jumps back up. Out of desperation, I do a standing dropkick that actually stuns Trips momentarily.
      And that's when I spot Stephanie running to the ring. She starts looking underneath the ring and soon produces a steel chair. She hangs onto it, waiting for Trips to get up, which he does very quickly.
      Meanwhile, I'm still sitting in the corner after wearing myself out with that dropkick, but I suck it up and force myself to stand.
      Stephanie hands the chair to Trips, who's practically giving me an invitation to run at him. He starts towards me, but when he approaches and swings, I move and the chair bounces off the turnbuckle and nearly smacks him in that big nose of his.
      While he's dazed, I take the opportunity and decide to bounce off the ropes, but Stephanie latches onto my foot. I try to shake her off, but that doesn't work, so I reach over and grab her hair.
      All the while, I miss Trips leaving the ring and then returning with his trusty sledgehammer. He comes up behind me and *wham!* I'm seeing stars again.

      Before I even open my eyes, I let out a huge groan because of my throbbing headache.
      "Stay still, Chris." Amy. She replaces an ice pack on my head.
      I open my eyes and look up at her. "How long was I out this time?"
      "It's 1:30 now, so about two and a half hours. The others went back to the hotel. We're still at the arena," she says.
      I blink. "We're still here?"
      "Well, the others practically dragged Paul out of here. After he hit you with the handle to knock you out, he was going to hit you again with the head, but the guys ran out. Adam and Chris hauled Paul away while Matt and Jeff brought you back here." Amy explains.
      "So, lucky you gets to babysit me again," I say, hoping to revive the humor. No such luck. She glares at me. "Vince threw me into that match! He didn't even wait to see if I accepted." I attempt sitting up, but fall right back down.
      "That doesn't mean you had to go out there," Amy says, replacing the ice pack on my head. "I don't know *how* your wife puts up with you."
      I smirk. "She's very patient."
      She shakes her head. "The most patient woman on earth."
      "Question: why *are* we still here?" I ask, starting to feel very tired.
      "The guys decided they didn't wanna risk you and Paul being in the same building," she says.
      Suddenly, I hear the ringing again. I groan. "I think my ears are still ringing."
      "That's my cell phone," she says, smirking. She flips the phone open. "Hello?... Hi, Linda..." I perk up. "Actually, he's right here... definitely... uh huh, okay... Thank you so much, Linda. Bye." She flips the phone closed.
      "Well?" I ask.
      Amy smiles. "Linda's been keeping tabs on everything that's transpired the past few weeks and she had an idea for a nice little stipulation for your WrestleMania match and then Raw the next night."
      I smile. "So, what's the idea?"
      "Well..." she begins.