BOOM! Dante throws a stiff uppercut to Haywire’s jaw without even caring to finish his sentence. Haywire’s head snaps back and he stumbles away momentarily, holding his chin�?before suddenly turning and firing back at Dante. There’s not gradual build-up here as the two just start firing back and forth, trading right hand for right hand for right hand. Suddenly, Phantom sits up in the ring and his attention snaps over to the ramp�?where Sean Hunter’s mouth falls ajar and his eyes open wide in shock. Phantom’s up in a flash and trudging up the ramp, toward Hunter, who scurries the rest of the way up the ramp and through the curtain - maybe setting a trap? Phantom follows straight through the curtain and out of the arena after Hunter.

Trunks: Don’t you love it when you can just *sense* all hell ready to break loose?

Joey: Not really, but I’ve *never* seen Sean Hunter move that quickly!

Back in the ring, Dante and Haywire are still trading punches when Haywire blocks one of Dante’s shots and takes the moment to SPEAR Dante through the ropes and out to the floor.

Trunks: And there they go!

NED is knelt down in the ring over Sef trying to help him gather himself to his feet�?because in this situation, Dangerously sees opportunity.

Haywire gets Dante up and smashes his face into the ring apron. Taking him by the back of the neck, he hauls Dante toward the ring steps and smashes his face into that, as we-�?nope, Dante blocked by lifting his foot. He throws an elbow into Haywire’s gut, stands back upright and whips Haywire into the guard railing. Dante charges but Haywire ducks low and sends Dante over the rail, into the fans. Leaping over after him, Haywire picks Dante up and the two start fighting through the crowd.

Joey: There they *really* go!

Now, in the ring, Sef is recovering and he looks up at NED, who points across the ring. Sef looks in that direction�?to see Ryan Cain all alone, shaking the cobwebs after the vicious scissor kick from Phantom.

Trunks: How does he always get in these situations?

Sef makes it back to his feet and stands next to Dangerously while Ryan starts pulling himself up in the corner. The two TX members separate and start to kinda stalk around Ryan, ending up in opposite corners of the ring.

Joey: They’ve got a bone to pick with Ryan after what happened earlier tonight.

Trunks: All he had to do was take his ticket back to the mid-card.

Joey: Oh come on! Seriously?

And now, via the top rope, Ryan is back to his feet and he kinda stumbles out to the middle of the ring.

Trunks: How’d they know he was gonna end up right there?

Trunks asks this question�?because Sef and Nic are now on either side of Ryan. He’s surrounded and he doesn’t even know it�?until he regains his composure and looks to his right - Sef Kinsley - and then back to his left - Nic E. Dangerously. Almost immediately, Ryan gets one of those Ryan FOCKin Cain rushes of adrenaline and clinches both his fists, lifting his head and just screaming at the top of his lungs, ready to fight.

Ryan: LET’S GO!

Sef and NED start to converge on Ryan now, somewhat methodically, but in an unorthodox manner, Ryan decides he’s not going to wait for them to get to him. He takes a quick step to his right and throws a left hand to Sef’s face, sending him momentarily backwards. NED steps quickly forward now, just in time to be met by a knee to his gut from Ryan. Sef is back on him again, but Ryan elbows him in the side, and then goes low, spins around and sweeps NED’s legs out from under him. Back up now and Ryan buries his shoulder into Sef’s gut before driving him back into the corner. He’s sending right hands into Sef’s face now as NED is up again, coming up behind Ryan. Ryan turns into Sting all of a sudden and sends a shot to Sef’s face, and then a back-hand chop to Nic’s temple. Another punch for Sef and then a chop for NED. This continues for about three or four cycles before NED finally blocks Ryan’s next chop attempt and spins the number one contender around. Ryan starts fighting NED back, away from the corner�?until Sef comes out and grabs Ryan in a full nelson.

Trunks: It had to end at some point.

Ryan throws a VICIOUS head butt backwards, into Sef’s nose, breaks the nelson, and then backflips straight into a shin kick to Sef’s forehead a la AJ Styles’s Pele - THWAP! Sef’s down now. NED picks Ryan up and sends him into the ropes and Ryan comes back with a flying forearm smash! He nips up to his feet!

Joey: How Shawn Michaels of him.

But Sef is back up now and he charges Ryan from behind. He gets him by the waist and it definitely isn’t pretty, but he gets Ryan down, giving NED time to regain his composure as well, and that really is it. The two TX members start really taking it to Ryan Cain, putting the boots to him. They get him up now and that pause in the actions seems to be all it took to drain Ryan’s rush of adrenaline. NED sends Ryan into the ropes and Sef hits the perpendicular set. When their paths meet, Sef suddenly drops down with a sliding drop toe hold�?and NED lifts his knee right into Ryan’s face as he’s coming down! SMACK!

Trunks: Ouch.

Ryan’s rolling around in pain holding his face. NED gestures for Sef to pull Ryan’s ass up, and he does, before whipping Ryan toward Nic, who boots Ryan in the gut to bend him over. Pulling Ryan’s head between his legs, Nic signals that this is it for Ryan and butterflies both arms behind Ryan’s back while Sef just looks on with a little smirk on his face.

Trunks: Jagged Reality?

Instead, before he can get the move off, NED sees something that Sef can’t see�?because it’s behind him. The fans go NUTS as Cross sprints down the ramp, toward the ring. Sef looks at Nic kinda funny like “well?�?just before Cross slides into the ring under the bottom rope and BOOTS Sef in the back of the head. NED uses the little hold-up in Cross’s momentum to drop Ryan and scamper from the ring, heading straight for the ramp. Ryan’s obviously out of it, but he’s alive, which is about all Cross needs to be sure of before he can continue his onslaught. He lifts Sef up and flings him over the top rope, following quickly after him. He gets Sef up, and starts sending some knees into his gut, pulling him up the ramp toward Dangerously, who’s on the stage, with every shot. Cross points up at Nic who just looks on.

Cross: You wanna come get yours yet?

Aaaand cue the lights cutting.

Joey: Oh god. This never leads to anything good.

Trunks: Never say never.

There’s silence for several moments�?before thunder starts to rumble, seemingly throughout the arena. It sounds like rain is truly falling, but everything remains dry. The thunder rolls, once more, and is then accompanied by the sound of what could be nails on a chalkboard. A bow grinds roughly against the strings of a violin. What sounds like a shovel being dug into the wet ground time and time again. And finally�?the prolonged, loud scream of a horrified woman, just before everything goes silent again.

Trunks: What the HELL is going on?

There’s another long pause�?until a heart beats - thump-thump. With the rhythm of the heartbeat, red strobe lights flash - flash-flash. Ryan Cain is seen for just a split second, laid out in the middle of the ring.

Joey: What happened in there?!?

Thump-thump - flash-flash. The red strobes come once more with the beating of the heart, and Ryan isn’t moving from his sprawled position. Thump-thump - flash-flash�?

Joey: What is that?!?

�?and now there are two ominous figures in the ring, but they could only be seen in the brief moment that the red lights flashed. Thump-thump - flash-flash, they’re moving closer to Ryan now. Thump-thump - flash-flash, they move like zombies out of a movie. Thump-thump - flash-flash, one is dressed in all black, the other in what appears to be white scrubs. Thump-thump - flash-flash, they’re almost right on Ryan now. Thump-flash-thump-flash-thump-flash, the beating of the heart has picked up its pace a great deal, and the flashing of the lights have come right with it. Thump-flash-thump-flash-thump, and suddenly, a bell tolls *loudly* over everything�?and the heart stops beating�?but the red light remains. Everything is cast in a red hue. Now we can somewhat make out the two men in the ring. The one in white scrubs appears to be a doctor, his eyes rolled back in his head as he crouches over Ryan, checking his vitals. First, he places his hand on Ryan’s heart, then puts two fingers to Ryan’s throat�?and finally moves the same hand over Ryan’s eyes to push them shut, apparently declaring him dead. All the while, the man in black with the white collar stands up straight over the two, his eyes rolled back in his head as well, holding a bible open in his hands as he reads the last rites over Ryan Cain. The doctor stands up straight next to the priest and we cut to the ramp, where we see Cross, who’s been in a state of shock the whole time, finally decide he’s seen enough and rush toward the ring. Just before he slides under the bottom rope, the bell tolls loudly, once more, and the lights go out again, but just for a moment before they return to the arena�?and we see only Cross and Ryan Cain in the ring. Cross is kneeling over Ryan again�?and Ryan’s practically bathing in his own blood.

Joey: Seriously, what WAS that?!?

Trunks: It was *really* f***ing weird.

Joey: Usually, I’d say you can’t say that, but this whole thing�?well�?it merits the use of that language.

And finally, we fade to black on Cross still trying to wake Ryan up in the ring.