La Arquitecta

Chapter 11

Monday Night Raw – 5th March 2018

Kurt Angle opened the second hour of the show by coming to the ring to cut a promo. He began by addressing the blockbuster announcements Vince McMahon had made at the top of the show. Declaring that his past issues with Shane McMahon were exactly that, he promised a harmonious working relationship between Raw's new management team when the time came.

"But that's all going to start after Wrestlemania," Kurt said. "And frankly, there is some more pressing business to be dealt with tonight." He paused for a second then said, "Seth Rollins, and La Arquitecta, Zelina Vega."

Those individuals were not popular. The names were greeted with boos.

"Yes, exactly," Angle said in acknowledgement of the reaction. "Last week, something happened that I took particular offense to. I will be the first admit that it happened, and that it was my own fault. Zelina Vega made me look a fool."

"No comment," Graves said sarcastically on commentary.

"She marched right into my office, ranting and raving about Finn Balor injuring Seth Rollins. With her convincing performance, I believed her. I should have known better. You see, Ms Vega flat-out, brazenly lied to my face. Seth Rollins was not unable to compete. In fact, he wasn't even hurt. They tricked me into taking Seth out of a match with Samoa Joe and putting Finn Balor in the match in his place. I hold my hand up for that error in judgement," he said, doing exactly that.

"However," he went on in a firmer tone, "I have to wonder how well Zelina Vega thought through her little scheme. Is she the architectural genius she sees herself as, or was she just getting all hot-headed because Finn attacked Seth? Personally, I suspect the latter, because while lying to me might have worked last week, I don't know what La Arquitecta expected to happen when she showed up with her client this week."

"Good point," Cole opined.

"What I can tell you is what is going to happen," Kurt said emphatically. "Seth Rollins will compete tonight, one on one, against Finn Balor. And if he doesn't..."

He had to stop because the fans were loudly cheering the fact that Finn was going to get a chance at revenge for the robbery that he had been a victim of at Elimination Chamber.

"And if he doesn't compete," Kurt said again once he could be heard, "Seth Rollins will forfeit his number one contendership at Wrestlemania."

"Come on!" Graves protested. "What is this about? Kurt Angle has an agenda against Seth Rollins."

"What?" Booker objected, making the suggestion sound ridiculous. "All he said was Rollins has to compete. He's just trying to avoid any more ridiculous antics from Vega."

"Well I don't like it. At all. And Zelina Vega won't like it either, you can trust me on that."

"What a shame that'll be," Cole said dryly.

Kurt's promo continued, but as far as Seth and Zelina's angle was concerned, it was over.

After the next match, Seth and Zelina were shown arriving at the arena, seeming indifferent to the fact they were more than an hour late. They didn't get far before Renee Young approached them.

"Zelina, Seth, can I get a moment of your time, please?"

Zelina looked a long way from impressed by the prospect, but she did stop walking, Seth standing by his side.

"You're rather late arriving," Renee said as an opening.

It was clear by her expression that Zelina took offense to that. She actually recoiled a little. "Oh, I'm sorry, Renee McMahon," she spat. "I forgot that I have to show up here and answer to you." As was often the case, the New York in her accent got thicker when she was annoyed.