Flames

Stomping Grounds 2019. part 2

Stomping Grounds sounded like a pay-per-view event practically designed for Seth, given his curb stomp, but with the ever-looming spectre of Brock Lesnar and a potential cash-in, Becky found it harder than usual to focus. Seth might not have been having the most memorable Universal Championship run, but he was doing the best he could with his bookings and he deserved more than to be a footnote to another long, stale Lesnar run.

After winning her match against Lacey, Becky stayed dressed in her ring gear. Creative said she might be needed for a segment later, but they didn't elaborate, which made her wary. There were more and more last-minute tweaks being made at the shows, and most of them weren't paying off. She figured it was something with Seth's match, so she busied herself in between, calling her mom and texting some friends and watching most of the other matches on the card. As soon as Corbin got a microphone in his hand, the answer was obvious.

Lacey was going to be the referee.

Becky started to storm to the gorilla position as soon as it was announced, but Hunter stopped her. "Wait, Lynch. Not yet. She's going to pull some shit—slow counts, a slap, you know the deal—but you'll know your cue," he assured her, leading her back to an area where she was less likely to be caught on camera.

Becky narrowed her eyes. Hunter was usually pretty forthright about his goals and expectations, so his vague explanation didn't sit well with her. "What's going to happen, Hunter?"

But Hunter just shook his head. "We want to keep your reaction authentic. Like I said, you'll know your cue. Go out there, beat her up a bit, and the rest will play out." Then he patted her shoulder and continued on to talk to Ricochet.

If that was meant to put her at ease, it failed miserably, but it did ignite her temper. Hunter had left her by a smaller crew monitor so she could watch the action unfold, and she was clenching her fists so often she thought her knuckles would pop through her skin. Lacey was counting slow whenever Seth tried to pin or conveniently looking away when he had Baron covered, but those were too banal to be the cue Hunter had mentioned. Annoying as hell, but par for WWE's course. Then came the slap and Becky rocked back on her feet, ready to head for the ramp. The tech standing beside her shook his head. "Hunter says that's not it," he told her, pointing to the earpiece he was wearing.

"Sorry," she muttered, forcing her hands flat against her thighs as she paced, keeping her eyes focused on the screen. It was smaller than she was used to; what if she missed something?

Then Lacey delivered the low blow and Becky was off like a shot, Hunter and the earpiece be damned. She nearly bowled over a tech on her way to the gorilla position and then she was heading down the ramp, sliding into the ring and punching any part of Lacey she could hit. Part of her said she should watch out for Baron, but she was laser focused on smacking the sickeningly sweet Southern accent out of Lacey's mouth. Then she tossed Lacey out of the ring and followed; hearing her body thud against the audience barrier almost made Becky smile, but she still had just enough control to remember to look mad, not joyous.

What was happening in the ring? It was a distant thought. Seth could have been beating Baron or vice versa, but she couldn't hear anything above the roar of the crowd and the shouts from the referees trying to peel her away from Lacey. Baron, of course, was trying to get one of the referees in the ring to count a pin, and Becky felt her stomach lurch when he tried End of Days again. When Seth spun out of it, that last little bit of control was almost lost again; her heart surged like it did in the old days, when she was a fan on the other side of the barrier—or more likely, the television screen—watching her favourites beat seemingly impossible odds. This is why we put up with the bullshit, she thought, soaking up the audience's cheers for Seth. A super kick, a curb stomp, a pin: finally her heart could slow down a bit.