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The boos hit like a tidal wave. Bourne rolled over in pain, clutching his midsection, but Sandro wasn't about to let up. He dropped to his knees, raining down right hands to the side of Bourne's head, then dragged him up by the hair just to club him back down with a forearm smash.
The referee immediately stepped in, shouting at Sandro to knock it off. But Sandro shoved him aside like an annoying fly and went right back to stomping away at Bourne's back.
Lawler was shocked by that action. "Hey! That's the referee! You can't just—"
Cole meanwhile defends Sandrom "He's proving a point, King. This is about dominance. He's sending a message to the entire locker room that he's not just here to win matches, he's here to take people out."
Lawler slammed his hand on the commentary table hearing that. "That's not sending a message, Cole, that's being a thug!"
The referee tried again, grabbing Sandro's arm to pull him away. This time, Sandro spun around, his eyes cold, and without hesitation snapped a superkick right to the ref's jaw. The official went down like he'd been shot, the crowd gasping before erupting into deafening boos.
Lawler exploded. "Oh my God! He just kicked the referee's head off! Throw him out of here! Get him out of this company!"
Even Cole hesitated for a beat after seeing that. "…Okay… I'll admit, that might've been… a little much."
Sandro didn't care. He looked around at the hostile crowd, breathing hard, feeding off their hate. Then he rolled out under the bottom rope and stalked around the ring toward the timekeeper's area.
The fans were shouting at him, some reaching over the barricade to yell in his face, but Sandro ignored them. He crouched down, flipping the apron skirt up, and began rummaging underneath the ring.
Lawler was anxious seeing this. "What is he doing now? What could he possibly need?"
When Sandro backed out, the crowd gasped again. In his hands was a sledgehammer. Not a prop. Not a toy. The real thing.
Cole let out his breath. "Ohhhh boy…"
Lawler was going nuts when he saw the sledgehammer. "Ohhh boy?! That's your reaction, Cole?! He's got a sledgehammer! This man is dangerous!"
Sandro slid back into the ring with the weapon in hand. He didn't rush. He didn't attack right away. Instead, he stepped right into the hard camera shot, pointing directly into the lens.
Sandro began to shout into the camera. "Hey, Shawn! You watching? You see this? This is what happens when I'm in this ring! And when I get my hands on you… It's gonna be worse than what you saw."
The crowd was in a frenzy now, half booing and half screaming for someone to stop him.
"This guy's sick, Cole. I'm telling you right now, having him in WWE is the biggest mistake we've made in years." Lawler was very disgusted by Sandro's action.
Cole hearing that tries to defend Sandro. "He's… uh… making an impact."
Lawler slapped Cole on his back. "Oh, stop defending him, Cole! He's about to end Evan Bourne's career right here in front of us!"
Sandro turned back toward Bourne, who was still barely conscious, and raised the sledgehammer above his head.
And then—
The arena erupted as Shawn Michaels' entrance music blasted over the sound system.
Cole was disheartened when he heard the music. "Oh, no… here we go…"
Lawler on the other hand was very ecstatic. "Yes! Thank God! Here comes Shawn!"
The Heartbreak Kid himself came sprinting down the ramp, the crowd losing their minds. He didn't waste a single second, sliding under the bottom rope and popping to his feet with the speed of a man ten years younger.
Sandro's eyes lit up, not with fear, but with that same twisted smirk. He gripped the sledgehammer tighter, stepped forward, and swung it in a wide arc straight for Shawn's head.
Shawn ducked at the very last split second. And then, CRACK! Sweet Chin Music, out of nowhere!
The crowd exploded again, but Sandro's body didn't go limp like most victims of the move. He dropped to his knees, clearly rocked, but his hands instinctively grabbed the ropes and he rolled under them before Shawn could hit him again.
Cole was happy. "It didn't get all of it, King! He's still moving!"
Lawler was on fire. "Yeah, but he's running now!"
Sandro stumbled on the outside, clutching his jaw, his face twisted in pure hatred. He backed up the ramp on all fours at first, then used the barricade to pull himself halfway up, never taking his eyes off the ring.
Inside, Shawn knelt beside Evan Bourne, checking on him, waving for more officials and medics to come down. But every few seconds, his gaze flicked back toward Sandro, those old HBK eyes narrowing in warning.
The camera caught the shot perfectly, Shawn crouched low, one hand on Bourne's shoulder… Sandro on the ramp, lips curling into that sinister smile again, silently mouthing something the microphones didn't pick up, but the intent was clear.
Cole gave his final words for that segment. "Well, King… love him or hate him… Sandro Zhang just made himself the most talked about man on RAW tonight."
Lawler disagrees with some of his words. "No. No, Cole. What he did tonight wasn't making himself talked about, it was trying to put a man in the hospital, and then going after Shawn Michaels with a weapon. You don't make a name like that, you put a target on your back the size of Texas."
Sandro finally backed all the way up to the stage, still breathing hard, still glaring at Shawn. He tapped the side of his head, then pointed the sledgehammer toward the ring before slowly disappearing through the curtain.
In the ring, Shawn gave the medics space as they attended to Bourne, then took a mic from ringside. "Sandro… you wanted more than just my hatred? Congratulations. You got it."
The crowd roared in approval. Shawn paced for a second, still a little out of breath from the run in, then leaned on the top rope, staring toward the stage even though Sandro was gone. "You think what you did tonight proves you're a tough guy? All you proved is you've got no respect for this business and no respect for the people in it. You'd better be ready for a fight you're not walking away from when I get my hand on you."
He tossed the mic down and went back to Bourne's side as RAW's cameras faded to a replay package for the fans watching get home, showing the Downfall DDT, the superkick to the ref, the sledgehammer reveal, and Shawn's last second save, the crowd's noise playing over it like thunder.
After that explosive confrontation between Sandro Zhang and Shawn Michaels earlier in the night, RAW continued its march toward the main event.
The tension in the arena still lingered, you could feel it in the air, the crowd buzzing and replaying the sledgehammer incident in their heads, talking about what it meant for Shawn, for Sandro, and for the whole WWE. But business in the ring carried on, and after a few segments, we reached the night's final showdown.
The Rated R Superstar, fresh off his Royal Rumble victory, made his entrance to a loud ovation. He was looking sharp, confident, and laser focused, clearly already thinking about WrestleMania but still ready to take care of business tonight.
Across the ring stood Virgil, whose reception was… let's say, mixed at best. Virgil, though, didn't seem too concerned about the crowd reaction, he was here to prove he could hang with a top level star.
From the opening bell, Edge controlled the pace, working Virgil over with his usual mix of strikes and technical offense. Virgil got a few moments of offense in, a quick dropkick here, a counter there, but the writing was on the wall. The Rated R Superstar was simply operating on another level.
The turning point came when Virgil tried to mount some momentum off the ropes, but Edge cut him in half with a brutal spear that sent a shudder through the entire ring.
The impact was so vicious that Virgil crumpled immediately, the crowd letting out a collective "OHHH!" before the referee counted the one, two, three.
The audience cheered as Edge's music hit, the Rated R Superstar getting to his feet and having his hand raised in victory. He soaked it in, pacing the ring with that trademark smirk. But just as he started to celebrate, the mood shifted.
The opening chords of Mark Henry's music hit, and the WWE Champion emerged from the back, the massive gold belt slung over his shoulder.
His face was stone cold serious as he made his way down the ramp, eyes locked on Edge the entire time. The cheers turned to a mix of boos and curiosity, everyone knew something was about to go down.
Henry stepped into the ring, no microphone at first, just standing there, towering over Edge. Then, after a long, tense stare, he took a mic from ringside.
"Edge…" Henry's voice was low, deliberate, like every word was chosen carefully. "You've got a choice to make. You win the Royal Rumble, you get to pick who you face at WrestleMania. But I'm here to tell you… you'd better pick real careful."
The crowd murmured as Henry continued. "You can pick the Undertaker. And yeah, you won't win. Nobody beats the Deadman at WrestleMania. But you'll walk out of there… you'll be able to wrestle again… you'll keep your career. But if you pick me… you still won't win. And the difference is, you won't walk out. You'll be done. Finished. Retired for good."
The arena went quiet for a moment, hanging on those words. Edge didn't flinch, didn't back down, but his eyes narrowed as he stepped closer to Henry. The tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife.
The fans were eating it up. Between this brewing showdown, the earlier chaos with Sandro and Shawn, and Henry's dominating presence as champion, RAW was firing on all cylinders in terms of big time feel.
Even though some of the undercard matches hadn't exactly stolen the spotlight tonight, nobody could deny that the top storylines were red hot. Fans were loving it, Twitter, the dirt sheets, the live crowd, everybody was buzzing.
And so were the ratings.
Backstage, the mood was cautiously optimistic. Vince McMahon himself was pleased when the early viewership estimates came in.
The numbers were high, very high, for a Monday night, and he knew exactly where the credit lay. The rivalry between Sandro Zhang and Shawn Michaels had people talking, not just hardcore fans but casual viewers too.
Combine that with the intrigue of the WWE Title picture and Edge's looming WrestleMania decision, and RAW had itself a winning formula.
Vince wasn't the type to waste momentum. As soon as he had a free moment, he called both Sandro and Shawn into his office. The door closed, and the three of them sat down at the big desk while Vince slid a couple of stapled papers across to them.
"This," Vince said with that trademark half smirk, "is next week's segment. Read it. I think it's gonna take this rivalry to the next level."
Sandro and Shawn both took their copies, flipping through page by page. There was silence at first, just the sound of papers turning. Occasionally, one of them would glance up at the other, sizing up their reaction. When they finished, they both lowered the pages and met eyes.
Sandro spoke first. "Yeah… this could work."
Shawn gave a slight nod, his expression saying he was on the same page. "It's solid. We can make this hit hard."
Vince leaned back in his chair, clearly satisfied. "Good. I want eyes on you two next week. Let's keep the numbers climbing."
With that, the meeting wrapped up. Sandro and Shawn left together, walking side by side down the hallway before eventually parting ways in opposite directions.
As soon as Shawn was out of sight, Sandro's phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw the name on the screen: Hugo.
Hugo wasn't just anyone, he was Sandro's investment advisor, the man who handled all of Sandro's financial plays and represented him in the business and tech world.
A big part of why Sandro's bank account looked the way it did was because of Hugo's skill at sniffing out the right opportunities. Sandro answered right away. "Hugo. What's up? We've been texting and emailing, but I figured you'd call if you had something big."
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Name: Alessandro Zhang
Age: 20 (2010)
Birthplace: Orlando, Florida, USA
Brand: WWE - RAW
Wrestling Style: Mixed Of All Styles
Faction: The Undisputed System
Championship History: 1x FCW Tag Team Champions, 1x FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion, 1x TNA World Heavyweight Champion, & 1x TNA X Division Champion