Rico's Fantasy Booking: Year 3

Anticipation & Domination - 3 Weeks Away!

Monday Night Raw, 3 Weeks until the Rumble

"Live from Louisville, Kentucky, where this crowd is at a fever pitch! Hello everybody and Welcome to Monday Night Raw! I'm your lead commentator, David Drake, here alongside my good friend Corey Graves!" "Damn right, Double D! We have a BARN BURNER of a Show lined up, plus we have multiple NXT Superstars in the house for the night's show..." The camera cuts to a section behind the timekeeper's area, where a number of NXT superstars were seated. The names seated there included Nikkita Lyons, Sol Ruca, Dani Palmer, Trick Williams, Carmelo Hayes, Roxanne Perez, Nathan Frazer, Thea Hail, and Andre Chase. "But first, we have some more important matters to give our attention to..."

[I HEAR VOICES IN MY HEAD...]

"...First, we FINALLY will get to hear from The Viper himself, Randy Orton!"

The Viper slowly stalked his way down to the ring, dressed in a more casual attire; Blue jeans and a "#OuttaNowhere" T-shirt. The Louisville crowd was less than pleased with Randy, especially after his Heinous attacks on Johnny Gargano in the past 2 weeks. As Orton steps between the ropes, the recap popped up on the titantron to remind all of Louisville - and all the WWE fans at home - of What this man did in the past 8 days. Gargano measuring up Rhodes to potentially win his first world championship, only to have victory snatched away from him when the Apex Predator dropped him with the 3 most dangerous letters in all of Sports Entertainment... R. K. O. It was elementary for the champion from there. Rhodes hit the Dream No More, and the ref counted to three. The shot then cuts to 24 or so hours later on Monday Night Raw, live from Milwaukee. Gargano demanded answers, but all he got was another RKO, only this time Orton added the dreaded Punt Kick as insult to injury. We were then shown footage of Johnny being loaded into an ambulance, to be taken to a local hospital for evaluation. After all this, ALL THIS... we finally cut back to the ring, where the Viper stands, and of all things? He's smirking, seemingly Proud of what he's done! Gargano suffered enough with what Rico put him through, now Randy Orton's making his life a Living Hell! Randy finally raised the microphone, pausing, as he was greeted with the expected Jeers that his actions warranted. At last, the Viper spoke;

"For Eight days, I've been getting texts, Twitter mentions, Targeted by Dirt sheets, all regarding the events that unfolded in Adelaide on the First WWE Premium Live Event of 2024. And from what I've been reading, I can tell there's some smoke in the air, an overarching theme, a recurring question, in all of the media regarding Me... And that question is, "Why?". He paused. "You wanna know 'Why'? Let's clear the air, because I'm quite sick of the Speculation from those idiots who call themselves Journalists reporting on a mere rumor as a breaking news story! So let's GET to Why, Why I drove Johnny Gargano's skull into the mat at Day One, and why I took it upon myself to stop his crazed ramblings the following night with a second RKO, and why I had to kick him in the skull and send him packing to a Local medical facility... Johnny Wrestling said it's because I... didn't work for everything as he had? Tell me, Johnny... Outside of NXT, What have you exactly done for this Industry? You've had lackluster bout after lackluster bout... you're quite simply not the same man on Monday Night Raw that you were on NXT, and it doesn't take a genius to see that! That being said, I did what I HAD to do at Day One, And even though we don't see eye to eye, Rico Rhodes IS the champion Raw needs, because he was trained by the best, his own Iron Sharpened by only the finest and very best, clashing with the Pinnacle of TNA's talent for Years! He skipped NXT, Because he didn't need the extra time, he was READY to carry a company on Day One, just like I was ready to carry this company once I joined Evolution! Let me ask you, Johnny... what were you doing on Day One? If my memory serves me correct, you were Losing a tag team match to a pair who were fired not even three years later. You didn't become a big singles star until Tommaso Ciampa threw you into the Stage and knocked you senseless. That made you the PEOPLE'S Choice, that made you their favorite, they'd chant your name at those NXT shows at the top of their lungs, and you were happy with that, Johnny. Congrats, Kid, You carved a niche audience of whoever had the WWE Network subscription and gave a damn about NXT, and you were called the Heart and Soul of NXT, And well Mister Gargano all that is well and good, but you see that's where we are not the same. I am a FOURTEEN time World Champion here in WWE. I am a Grand Slam Champion. I've won not one, but Two Royal Rumble matches, I am going into the WWE Hall of Fame when I retire, and that's just an abridged list of everything I've done! You wonder why I, all be it inadvertantly, helped Rico Rhodes retain? I'll give you one thing... It IS because you aren't World Championship Material, but not because you're not a second generation superstar, not because you had to work your ass off to get to where you are, because you DID bust your ass every week in NXT... But Johnny, you've grown soft. Like I said, outside of your Tag team title reigns with Ciampa, you've given nothing of worth to the industry! I'm beginning to think Ciampa left DIY a second time because he was tired of pulling dead weight! YOUR. Dead. Weight!! Hell, You didnt earn that WWE title match. You got in the way of business that wasn't yours, you got your ass kicked, and you got mad. I don't know why that warrants a title match, but these days, I guess anything goes! Pearce will hand 'em out the moment... well, when you start bitch and moan enough. So, 'Johnny Wrestling'... the Way I see it, you have two options here..." The crowd was a mix of uncomfortable silence and Boos. The Viper continued after taking a few breaths.