[M-A-G]

SmackDown!: September 21, 2040

We open with the WWE Unified Tag Team Champions The Future Foundation along with Vivian Merrick. Vivian takes a mic and exposits on the current situation regarding the tag team titles. "In six short days, Lisa Benton will be putting into action a ploy designed to ruin eight months of hard work and dominance. The Future Foundation, my man Rick Hilton and my family Julian Merrick, have been on an absolute tear. They are currently the longest reigning champions on the roster. Who else can even come close? Not Seth Von Kamp, who pulled a miracle from somewhere even deeper than his ass to win the Intercontinental Title a few weeks ago at SummerSlam. Not those two riff-raffs who lucked their way into the new Women's Tag Team Titles. And certainly not even the Unified World Champion himself, Noah Carmichael, who just happens to be sitting right over here at ringside in the crowd." Vivian gestures to the front row of the audience and the camera does indeed confirm Carmichael's presence there. He's evidently just here as a fan. "Shame that you're pretty much benched until Unforgiven, Carmichael, but it seems like you're making the best out of a raw deal. Well we're going to do the same. The Future Foundation isn't going to run from this challenge. You can line up every team on the roster and my boys can outshine and outclass them any day of the week. Our only demand is that when it's all said and done and you hear the Future Foundation announced as STILL the Unified Tag Team Champions, we don't want to hear any complaining, any moaning, any bellyaching whatsoever because we will have EARNED the right to call ourselves the greatest team in the WWE!"

Cue The Wyldhearts, Blaine Bellamey and Robbie Greer, coming out to the stage to offer their take on this matter. Blaine takes the mic and addresses Vivian: "Well I'd say that's counting your chickens before they even hatch. I mean, all of the spots in the gauntlet still haven't been filled. So Robbie and I got to thinking that since you claim you can outshine and outclass and outlast and outback and outwhatever anybody, how about you prove it by facing us tonight and if we can win, we get to take part in the gauntlet?"

"Woah, woah, woah, let's not get too demanding here. I'll meet you halfway, Blaine. There's no need for both of my boys to exert themselves but we are keen on teaching you a lesson. So how about one of you face one of the champions and we'll see if you can stumble your way into that gauntlet?"

"That sounds just fine. We'll see you out here later." And thus we've got ourselves some more drama for the gauntlet!

First Match: The Wasteland vs. The Millennium Rebels
Winners qualify for the tag team gauntlet. Duke sticks out like a sore thumb here as he's the only non-cruiserweight of the bunch. That proves to be the X-Factor as not even Aaron Ramsey can work his magic to help his guys as Duke goes wild off the hot tag. One Toxic Kiss later from The Wasteland on Dangerson and the faces get the pin and thus qualify for next week's big chase for the tag team titles. *****, 94% overall.

Backstage, to continue tonight's theme apparently, we get to hear from the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, the Lonely Girls. They're asked about all of the criticism leveled towards them since becoming the champions, even from someone like Vivian Merrick earlier and of course from their opponents at Unforgiven, Eclypse and Naomi Bailey. Jenna talks first and addresses Vivian's comments. "Vivian has it easy because she doesn't really have to accomplish anything for herself. All she has to do is keep riding that gravy train that she calls the Future Foundation. 8 months of basically standing around and all of a sudden she feels like she can stand there in the middle of that ring tonight and throw shade around? The last eight months for Faith and myself have been some of the toughest that we've ever had to go through. We overcame such tremendous animosity between each other and climbed that mountain at SummerSlame and earned the spot we have right now." Faith continues adding her take: "The criticisms being tossed around are the same I've had to deal with since I hopped onto the scene. Look at what it's done for the people spewing it out. They've had to look at Jenna and me become the top names in this division. Anything that I've even been allowed to compete in, I've wanted to be the best. I did that with parkour. I did that with the women's division. Oh, there's a tag team title for the women? Damn right I'm going to want to win that. Eclypse and Naomi Bailey can cry and complain and stumble over each other and point fingers all they want. They need to get their crap together because a repeat of SummerSlam is what's at stake and I don't know what will be more embarrassing for them: them losing when they're not on the same page...or losing when they are on the same page."

Second Match: The Agents of Change vs. Caleb Greene and Stanley Coleman
Winners qualify for the tag team gaunlet. Aphrodite is with Greene and Coleman. I still haven't come up with a name for them. WTF is wrong with me? Anyway, this is some more good shit even though I haven't officially put Greene and Coleman together as a team. They might benefit from acquiring those sweet team experience points. Things go sideways when everyone ends up outside. Clayton North harasses Aphrodite and Caleb loses his shit as he jumps on North. We eventually end up with a double countout. I guess no one is going to the gauntlet from this contest? ****1/2, 92% overall.

It's time for another edition of the Hot Button with everyone's favorite host, The New Age Intellectual Savior to the Masses, The 2031 Fulton County First Place Conga Award Winner, The Luscious Lover and Undefeated Steel Cage Master and REAL 2040 King of the Ring, The Supreme Submission Machine, Former WWE Cruiserweight Champion-Elect, the Cruiserweight Champion Michael Hotbody! He's out here because wants to interview a very special guest in Ozzy Mandias. He has a lot of questions for Ozzy, namely why can't he just leave Hotbody the hell alone?!? Hotbody has done nothing wrong to Ozzy! The only crime you can claim Hotbody has ever committed is just being too damn good! Hotbody is just a simple conga dancer from Georgia who wants to be the best Cruiserweight champion the wrestling world has ever seen! But Hotbody can't do that unless he's facing the very best competition. Hotbody is begging for a worthy contender! It's just not Ozzy Mandias, at least not right now. Hell, Hotbody is even willing to give El Dandy a second chance to challenge for the title! Hotbody is available at Unforgiven and the door is wide open for that little scamp to come on down so he and Hotbody can finally settle things between them! Ozzy Mandias? Well he's more than welcome to sit back and watch or he can work a little bit harder at grabbing that brass ring. Michael Hotbody believes in Ozzy Mandias and he's welcome to strut on down here so he can hear it face-to-face!

Cue Ozzy Mandias making his way down to the ring. He stops mid-way and doesn't enter, however, and Hotbody is a bit confused. "Come on, Ozzy. It's all good here on the Hot Button. There are no rivalries or emnity here. You're welcome to come in here and speak your peace."

"Nah, I think I'm good here."

"OK, OK, fine; I get it. You're still a bit cranky over not being able to cut that mustard. You need some space. I understand perfectly. Sometimes Luscious and I need some space for a bit...then five minutes later the Hotbody is all warmed up again and ready to go!"

"Dear God, SHUT UP! You are an embarrassment to the Cruiserweight Title. You're an embarrassment to the WWE. You're an embarrassment to professional wrestling. I've seen you grovel in that ring more than I've seen you actually fight. You think being a champion is some sort of joke but yet you feel entitled to being one. You hide behind your goon and your lawyers and your woman because you know that you don't have the balls to take someone like me on."

"Oh, you want to bring that kind of stuff up, huh? You know, maybe this interview really was a bad idea after all. Maybe I shouldn't have bothered trying to relate to a Neandrathal like you. In fact, I should have been busy trying to get you knocked all the way to end of the line as far as getting a title shot goes. Maybe a certain group of people need to make some SERIOUS INQUIRIES into you!"

Hotbody lowers his mic and grins his stupid face off. It disappears after a while as Ozzy doesn't respond and merely smirks back at the champion. Hotbody raises the mic and speaks again: "Yes, a CERTAIN GROUP OF PEOPLE need to make some SERIOUS INQUIRIES INTO YOU!" Hotbody looks back up the ramp past Ozzy with a concerned look on his face. Ozzy breaks the awkwardness by speaking: "Oh, I'm sorry, Michael. Were you expecting someone?"

With that Ozzy looks back to the big screen and soon it displays a live shot backstage of a brawl between Galino & Farnes and Zed Jones and Jordan Demiras, Martyn LaSalle, and Eddy Clash!!! Officials eventually enter the scene and begin separating the six men. Cut back to the arena and Ozzy looks at Hotbody like he's a piece of meat. Hotbody is wide-eyed with terror and begins backing up BUT HERE COMES LISA BENTON!

"Wait a sec, wait a sec, Ozzy. I know you're dying to get a piece of Michael but I'm dealing with enough chaos backstage as it is. And to Michael's point, you kind of need to earn a shot at the Cruiserweight Title. So I'm going to make a bit of a compromise. At Unforgiven, Ozzy, you will lead a team composed of yourself, Eddy Clash, Jordan Demiras, and Martyn LaSalle against Michael Hotbody's team of Zed Jones and Galino & Farnes. And should you win, Ozzy, you will get your match against Michael Hotbody for the Cruiserweight Title!" Hotbody throws a fit as Ozzy continues his smirking ways and we end this segment.

Third Match: Hannah McCormick vs. Lzzy Ryd
Hannah hits the mic and wants to rap on the comments made by Nathan Quinn. She apologizes for using the word 'rap' because unlike these West Coast lowlifes in this crowd, she's aware that RAP SUCKS! Just like the rock princess over here and her music of choice but Hannah will deal with her in a bit. Hannah and Bobbi Jo have been doing just fine without Nathan Quinn. He can have his dumb Barbie dolls who are willing to be his little playthings because Hannah and Bobbi Jo are making their way to the top where they can challenge the Women's Tag Team Champions! Some awesome shit here as these two work awesome together. Bobbi Jo gets the attention of Tania as she tries her hand at helping out Hannah. A chase ensues but Bobbi is able to sneak Hannah's custom mic into the ring and Hannah uses it for nefarious purposes on Lzzy's head leading to her getting the cheap win. *****, 95% overall.

Backstage we're joined by the Royal Effect. The two of them are beyond sick and tired of the Play Pals. The fact that they are going to be able to challenge for the tag team titles next week is just the icing on the crap cake. Well, Moses McKay has a proposal that will throw a wrench into that little idea. See, McKay has Michael Haywood right now and McKay proposes that should he come out victorious, the Royal Effect ALSO get to participate in the gauntlet. He'll see Haywood out there for his answer...and it had better be the right one.

Fourth Match: Moses McKay vs. Michael Haywood
Neither man's respective partners is with them out here. Haywood makes it clear that he accepts the proposal put forward by McKay. McKay continues to demonstrate his hatred of the Play Pals as he's all kinds of aggressive here. These two teams are just magic together. It all comes to an end when McKay uses the ol' "counter the victory roll into a pinfall using the top rope" trick. McKay bails as he celebrates the fact that he's helped get his team into the gauntlet. *****, 99% overall. I honestly don't know what more I can do to get a perfect 100% in regards to this feud. Maybe the blowoff will be the thing that finally pushes it up to that level.

Fifth Match: Blaine Bellamey vs. Rick Hilton
Blaine has to pick up the win here if he and Robbie Greer want to be part of the gauntlet. The theme of managers not having things together continues here as after an awesome outing, Vivian tries to get involved but Blaine sends Rick into his girl knocking her off the apron. Hilton falls prey to a backslide and Blaine gets the pin sending the Wyldhearts into the gauntlet. ****1/2, 93% overall.

Sixth Match: Alexander Piero, Kerry Cemenko, Kyle Jacobs vs. Chris Collins, Quentin McDaniels, Xavier Cross
The heels each take turns griping about their respective rivals here in this match. Collins tells Alexander Piero to just get over what happened to Madison. Collins brutalized his own father for the sake of getting ahead in this business so some floozy shouldn't be bogging Piero down! Quentin is ready for Cemenko anytime he wants to repeat SummerSlam. Cross tells Jacobs that he's been staying up at night pondering the glorious ways he's going to make Jacobs' life suck after Unforgiven. I probably should have done this as this main event but I've got other plans for that bit. Cross gets the duke here after catching Cemenko in mid-Curb Stomp and tosses him into the turnbuckle which is suspiciously missing its pad and gets a schoolboy pin. *****, 94% overall.

MAIN EVENT: WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Von Kamp vs. Ronnie Costello
Brooke and The Academy accompany Ronnie and Brooke wants to riff on Noah Carmichael who has been sitting in the front row enjoying the show. She questions his intelligence in showing up instead of playing things safe and staying at home. His reputation, his cash, and his title are at stake so he needs to be thinking smart. Of course, the ultimate smart thing would be to just relinquish the Unified World Title to Salvatore Scabbia and save himself the pain. Brooke doesn't intend on stopping there, either. In fact, Ronnie Costello could one day be the one holding that Intercontinental Championship because Brooke is a manager of winners and champions. The Academy kind of give her the side eye with that last statement but the match progresses nonetheless. This could be a nice rivalry down the line as we've got some good chemistry here. Of course Brandon Reigns has to ruin things as Seth and Ronnie are fighting on the outside. Reigns clips Seth from behind for the DQ as Ronnie is all up in the face of Noah Carmichael. Ronnie dumps Carmichael's beer all over the champion and Carmichael shoves him away. Ronnie responds with a slap and Brooke tries calling him off, no doubt trying to protect the match at Unforgiven. The Academy don't seem to be on the same page and they pull Carmichael over the railing and deliver some boots before sending him into the steps. Brooke freaks the fuck out and tries calling them off as she yells at them in disbelief, asking them if they realize what they've done. Seth and Brandon take their little brawl into the crowd as it's just pandemonium as we go off the air. ****1/2, 91% overall.

Overall show rating: 91%