PART 4
Luckily for Nikki, Naomi came out alone. Her sister was too distracted to help her. She’d have to face this amazingly athletic opponent by herself, it seemed. Naomi climbed on to the apron and bounded over the ropes in a single leap and announced, “Hey champ! I’m here to dethrone you.” Nikki bit her lip, concerned, as she tried to maneuver herself to take Naomi down. If she just undressed her like Layla, maybe she’d leave the ring.
Naomi and Nikki circled one another, looking for an opening. Each understood the danger in underestimating her opponent. Now that she thought about it, Nikki was amazed she’d managed to keep her party dress on. It had a small tear here and there, but no one had removed it from her body. She’d have to move with caution if she intended to keep that up. Suddenly, Naomi closed the distance and executed a dropkick that brought her to the ropes.
While there could be an advantage to touching the ropes in a formal match with a ref, in this free-for-all-there’d be no telling what Naomi would use them for. Nikki was winded from a boot in the solar plexus, but she knew she had to recover and take control of this fight. When Naomi approached, she planted a kick in her gut, then climbed to her feet and prepared for a piledriver. But this one was going to be different. As she lifted the most athletic diva on the roster, Nikki put her fingers out, keeping them together for strength, aiming to catch the waistband of her opponent’s shorts.
This was the first time she had tried the maneuver, but it was a stunning success. Naomi crashed to the ground, and Nikki was left holding her shorts. She was as surprised as the audience members to find out that Naomi had gone commando under her ring gear, but then she thought that those shorts did fit very tight.
For her part, it took a moment to register, but then Naomi shrieked, climbing to her feet. She paused to shake her finger at a nervous champion. “You didn’t just do that! Now I’m gonna have to kick your ass!” This wasn’t the reaction Nikki expected or hoped for. The anger over her embarrassment seemed to make Naomi even more determined. Nikki tried to lunge at her, but Naomi wasn’t there. She had thrown herself against the ropes on the other side of the ring.
Nikki’s off-balance momentum played right into Naomi’s plans, as she was caught with a Naomi’s signature technique, the ‘rear view,’ albeit a very rare, bare-assed version. “You wanted my shorts off?” Naomi taunted, “You wanted to see my ass so badly? I’ll show you.” She positioned a dazed Nikki in the corner, and after a little twerk for the audience, she backed into a stinkface. A stinkface that lasted for about 45 seconds, but seemed a lifetime to the divas champion.
At this point, Brie realized her sister was in trouble. She tossed Aksana out of the ring, and came at Naomi. For her part, Aksana wanted to be out of the ring the minute her clothes came off, but Brie had pushed the issue. Still, her desire for clothes and an ice pack for her swollen, red, bottom outweighed her desire for revenge. This was lucky for Brie, because the stinkface maneuver made it impossible to sneak up on Naomi, who moved forward to challenge her.
Nikki was still dazed, sitting in the corner when Brie and Naomi clashed. A new sound roused her to regain her feet. A scream, followed by driving metal music. Nikki turned her eyes, worriedly, toward the ramp to confirm her worst fears. As she expected, Paige was strolling down the ramp removing and dropping a leather jacket, after taking a casual swat at the passing Aksana’s red behind. Nikki was dazed, out of breath, and in no shape to challenge the former champion. “I have to go on. This is what being a champion is all about—meeting all comers,” she thought, as she struggled to climb to her feet again. Her inner monologue was interrupted by a loud scream. “Raaaaaar! This is my house!”
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