Smackdown's Agonist

Words of a Brawl

*Third Person POV*

It was one more week until Backlash. Things were already getting heated up as the whole Smackdown roster prepared themselves for a potentially heated night.

This was no exception for Maryse, who was currently pacing back and forth in the women's locker room. She was furious to say the least, concerning the brawl last week. She didn't know how Imigie was able to hear the heated conversation between her and Douglas Montague, resulting in the brawl.

The French-Canadian superstar wasn't just angry with the two best friends. She was also angry at the guy who told Douglas about her actions to the raven-haired superstar. It felt like her plans were getting interfered against. She knew that before having a face-to-face with Imigie in the ring, she was going to have a serious talk with the guy.

After a few moments, she stopped in place, deciding that it was best to find the guy who tried to foil her plans. Her lips curled into a smile, knowing that now, she was going to find him and give up a serious talk.

Maryse turned to leave the locker room, then began her search. Luckily for her, it didn't take long for her to find him.

There was Montague, back towards Maryse to the point she couldn't tell what he was doing. Maryse tapped his shoulder as an attempt to get his attention.

Montague looked up, looking surprised to see her.

"Monty, we need to talk," said Maryse in a firm tone.

Montague nodded, acknowledging that he was listening to the French-Canadian superstar.

"Why the hell do you think interfering with my plans with Imigie is cute?" snapped Maryse. "I was teaching her a lesson."

"What lesson were you teaching her?" wondered Montague. "That you're jealous of the road she was forced to take to get here?"

"That she once was an NXT Women's Champion might be one reason- "

"There was no NXT Women's Championship when you first arrived here!" interrupted Montague. "You're probably jealous because that one era is done and over."

He refused to say the word "Diva" because of its dark history in the women's division. He wanted the women to be better respected, but to him, it felt like Maryse was having none of it.

"I warned Douglas this and I'll warn you now that if you keep putting your nose where it doesn't belong, you'll be in for a mixed tag match sooner than later," said Maryse.

"I care about my friend as much as Douglas does," argued Montague. "Besides, it all started when you didn't even want to compete against her that Toby Age had to. That's some serious bold cowardice that- "

"Can you two stop?"

Maryse and Montague turned to see who it was. It was the current Smackdown Women's Champion, Becky Lynch. She was standing in the middle of the two, trying to simmer down the argument.

"Explain your situation," said Becky, turning to Maryse.

Maryse sighed.

"Monty decided it was cute to tell Douglas about my plan to Imigie last week. He tried to foil my plans."

Becky gave her a calculating look that seemed like she was inches close to judging her. After that, she shook her head.

"You know what?" she finally said. "I don't like what you did to Imigie. It was absolutely horrible to humiliate her like that. I can understand why she decided to attack you after she had Talking Smack."

She turned them walked away, leaving Maryse in absolute shock. Montague though was smiling a little too enthusiastically, given that he had just watched Maryse get told off by Smackdown Women's Champion Becky Lynch.

— — — — —

No one knew what would happen next. The audience though remained quiet so that they could pay attention. Seeing Maryse's angry state of mind and the way how she was during her confrontation with Montague was enough for them to start predicting about his involvement.

However, all thoughts were interrupted when they heard a familiar theme song. They booed immediately before the superstar was about to make her way to the ring.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, Maryse!"

The woman in question made her way down the ramp with a smirk shown on her face. She was ready to make her statement, or at least she hoped to make her statement in full before she got interrupted. Seeing the crowd booing her amused her.

After Maryse made her way to the ring, her music stopped, but the boos kept going on. At this point, she was starting to become impatient.

"Everyone shut up!" she shouted.

"Boo!" responded the crowd.

The blonde-haired Mizanin eventually decided that it was best to deliver her statement before she completely lost her patience.

"Alright, you want to know why I'm here?" she asked.

The crowd suddenly grew silent, almost as if they were afraid of crossing her again. They already crossed her with booing, which was likely the least of their worries. Now, this was different.

She turned to the titantron, eyes gleaming with amusement.

"Imigie," she said. "I'm asking you to come out here so that we can talk face-to-face like how real women should."

The crowd remained eerily silent, a few even holding their breaths until they saw their favorite raven-haired fighter. This went on for about ten seconds, still the silence gave Maryse a haunting presence that she couldn't shake off.

The crowd cheered loudly when they heard the familiar theme song play in the arena. They knew who it was.

Imigie's theme song only played for about thirty seconds before she spoke.

"Congratulations for getting me to come out here, but I think you hardly give a damn about what a real woman does. I'll tell you what a real woman does."

"And what's that?"

There was an uncomfortable silence from the two women and the audience. No one knew what would happen next nor what the blonde and the raven-haired woman would say next.

"Not run away from fresh competition for a start," answered Imigie bluntly.

"Oh, because you're so attached to your stand and fight schtick," concluded Maryse, taking a step closer to the shorter woman. "And whatever the hell the other thing is."

"You don't need to know it all, Maryse. Besides, I'll be more than pleased to show you this Sunday at Backlash."

"You're gonna regret ever saying that, Imigie. The last time they-" Maryse pointed to the audience. "Will see you for a while is when my husband and the paparazzi take glamorous pictures of me standing tall with my foot on you, all while you're too curled up in your defeat to get back up on your feet."

The younger woman chortled quietly, more than amused at the words coming from Maryse's mouth.

"Girl, I can sure as hell take the mightiest of blows. You can break my bones but, in the end, you won't be able to break my hope and my passion. So, who the hell is really the one in defeat?"

Maryse couldn't find the words in reply to Imigie. The blonde knew that her opponent meant business. She was not here for foolery or anything like that. It was so different.

"Let me demonstrate what I'm talking about," finished the raven-haired woman.

Without hesitation, she quickly punched Maryse, soon after resulting in an explosive brawl between her and Maryse. A group of four referees came to try to split up the two women from completely tearing each other apart.

The two women were shouting near obscenities to each other, but that didn't matter to either of them. Backlash was this Sunday, and they would finally get to get to the climax of their war in the ring.