Overcome

Chapter 1

The rumors flew around for months as soon as the year 2001 rolled in about Ted Turner selling World Championship Wrestling, the global phenomenon that had went toe-to-toe with the World Wrestling Federation for several years. They even beat WWF in the ratings throughout the year of 1998. However, with backstage politics and everyone basically running the show, deciding what they would be paid, WCW was a mess. Eric Bischoff had bitten off a lot more than he could chew in the war by stealing stars from WWF, flashing dollar signs at them. It worked…for a while, until the powers that be, the higher ups, informed Bischoff WCW was hemorrhaging money. They were losing money, not making it, even with the sold-out arenas and merchandise flying off the shelves.

The company was hemorrhaging money because of the stars massive paydays. Eric Bischoff had even brought in Vince Russo, who was the main writer in WWF during their Attitude Era, that competed with WCW, and he claimed his storylines are what made the WWF so successful in ratings. It was all about the ratings and Bischoff had become so obsessed, he didn't start building new stars the way WWF had. He relied on the old stars like Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Hollywood Hulk Hogan…those types to carry the company into the future. The only major star WCW made was Goldberg, who had an undefeated streak that was later broken.

In late March, one week before the WWF's Super Bowl pay-per-view event of the year, WrestleMania, the final shot in the war had been fired and WCW fell. Vince McMahon, the owner of the WWF, had bought WCW and won the war. For weeks, the stars of WCW had been nervously anticipating the inevitable to happen because Eric Bischoff's offer had been tossed out the window. He'd put an offer down and Vince trumped it, buying out his own competition. Alice stood backstage amongst the other WCW stars, grey eyes wide, while watching Vince McMahon address all of WCW once their program had ended. Sting and Ric Flair had closed the show out with a final match that everyone applauded backstage in Panama City Beach, Florida. WCW's final resting place.

"What's going to happen now?"

"Where will we go?"

"What will we do if we're out of jobs?"

"We have families to feed, damn it!"

Alice heard it all, but couldn't speak because she too had the same worries and concerns floating around her brain. That was until another shocking moment happened. Shane McMahon walked out from the backstage area and stepped foot inside a WCW ring, which was a surreal sight. Her eyes widened again as he announced the contract for buying WCW read the name McMahon, but it wasn't Vince. It was SHANE MCMAHON!

"I now own WCW!" Shane announced proudly into a WCW microphone, grinning back at his father through the camera and enjoyed the look of sheer disbelief, shock and sickness coming over his father's face. "And Dad, just like WCW did in the past, we're gonna kick your ass AGAIN!"

There was a BUZZ unlike any other backstage as everyone began speculating what this meant, all eyes turning to Shane McMahon as he sauntered through the curtain. They had a new owner now, but what did Shane plan on doing with the company? Would the war continue? Would they still be on television to battle against WWF? Alice had no idea what to think or believe regarding this sudden turn of events, looking over at Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler, two of her friends and rivals. They were the only women, virtually, in the WCW that stood out and represented the women's division of the company.

"Boys and girls, you WILL have jobs and we WILL take the fight to my father." Shane stated confidently, a certain edge in his voice and rubbed his hands together. "And we won't be the only ones. Trust me on this. For now, go home and relax for a couple weeks, which you will be paid for." Out of his own pocket, no less. "As a matter of fact, if any of you would like to witness me destroying my old man at WrestleMania Sunday, I have tickets."

Shane was facing Vince in a street fight at WrestleMania that year with Mick Foley as the special guest referee. Vince had treated his wife, Shane's mother, Linda McMahon wrong and put the poor woman in a sanitarium…after demanding a divorce nearly a year prior. In Madison Square Garden, of all places! Linda had a complete mental breakdown and needed to be medicated, but not to the point of being a vegetable. Vince flaunted his affair with Trish Stratus, who was one of the main women on the WWF's roster, and treated HER like trash too. Vince thought he was untouchable, but little did he know Shane had Trish AND Linda in his back pocket, ready to strike and get their revenge against the old man.

Oh, it would be a glorious night indeed!

Alice had opted to go, wanting to see her new boss and owner of WCW wipe the mat with his own father. WrestleMania was an experience unlike any other, bigger than any Starrcade event WCW put on, which was considered the company's Super Bowl. It was always in December while WrestleMania was at the end of March/early April. She wore a simple black skirt and red sleeveless top, showing just enough cleavage to be a tease, but nothing more. She was conservative in her own way, but still enjoyed teasing men just for the sake of doing it.

Her feet were encased in two-inch knee-high boots and she had fishnets on that clashed with her tanned skin. She didn't look like an orange the way Torrie sometimes did, refusing to self-tan and didn't go to tanning salons either. It was a natural tan, just enough to accent her beauty. Her long fiery red hair was pulled up on top of her head, a few curls framing her face and her nails were freshly done for the event as well, sticking with red tips.

When Shane came out, she clapped alongside her fellow WCW compadres, cheering their new boss on. Halfway through the match, Alice cringed when Vince gained the upper hand. It was a brutal contest between father and son, but in the end Shane had prevailed. She nearly hopped off the couch at the sight of Linda McMahon, who was supposed to be in a vegetative state, stand up from the chair Vince had set her in the corner to make her watch the demise of her son. The woman was shaking with rage and nailed him right in the balls, sending Vince crashing to the mat on his knees holding his junk with a look of pure shock and pain on his face. Shane had climbed the top rope and delivered a coast-to-coast jump – turnbuckle to turnbuckle – smashing a trashcan right in his father's face to end the match and gain the victory. The WCW guys that had been there and took Shane up on his offer cheered from the skybox they were in. He acknowledged them from the ring and Alice along with everyone stood up to applaud him, smiling softly. Instead of vacating, she sat back down to watch the rest of the show and felt her grey eyes lock on the man coming out on a motorcycle.

"That's the Undertaker." Stacy Keibler murmured in Alice's ear, seeing the woman was intrigued with the specimen. Not that she blamed her. "He's been here for 10 years, apparently."

"He doesn't look like an undertaker." That was a morbid wrestling name, though Alice hadn't done her WWF history research or else she would've understood why he was called that. "He looks like a normal guy riding a bike to the ring."

Stacy chuckled, nodding. "Yeah, apparently he's changed his persona more than his underwear throughout the years." She had no respect for any of the WWF employees.

"Hmm…" Alice tilted her head, watching him enter the ring after parking his motorcycle at ringside and had to admit, she was intrigued by him.

"Now this is Triple H. He's hot." Stacy stated, appreciating the man candy walking down the aisle and crossed one long leg over the other. "Still, our guys could take both of them out instantly."

Alice didn't bother commenting and watched the match, enjoying the story that was told between both wrestlers. They had played a recap video prior to the match starting on the huge screen and Alice silently rooted on Undertaker. Once the match ended, with Undertaker busted open and winning, Alice fought the urge to clap since none of her WCW compadres did. One by one, they began clearing it and she decided to stay even after Stacy left, wanting to witness the entire show. Shane had mentioned something about involving them in the shows in the coming weeks, deciding to use his Daddy's business in order to kickstart WCW's heart again.

It would be war all over again between the two brands.

After watching Stone Cold Steve Austin turn heel against The Rock, with the people booing incessantly at Austin teaming up with Vince McMahon by shaking his hand, the show ended with everyone going home having a bitter taste in their mouth. Alice was one of them. She walked down the hallway of the astrodome and spotted Shane McMahon talking to The Big Show, also known as Paul Wight, who had left the WCW 2 years ago.

"Alice, you stayed for the entire show?" Shane asked, sounding in disbelief and watched her nod, admiring her courage since this was hostile waters right now. "I'll take you back to the hotel. Don't want anything happening to my stars."

Alice accepted his offer, not saying a word to Paul Wight and followed him down the hallway, looking around at how everything ran in WWF. It was organized and the way a company should be ran, so many technicians and backstage people working their backsides off to ensure the program was ran smoothly. Once Shane dropped her off, they said good night and Alice went up to her room, trying to wrap her mind around the fact she would be working on WWF programming soon. How would that work out for the women, though? She assumed the women in WCW would be going against the women of WWF such as Lita and Trish Stratus. They seemed to be the top women in the rival company at the moment.

A few months after WrestleMania, WCW began to invade little by little with Lance Storm and Hugh Morris firing the first shots. Then came the bigger guns in Booker T. Alice sat at home for nearly 3 months, paid, before she was finally called back on the road for the full-blown invasion. Linda McMahon had confronted her husband on an episode of Smackdown!, coercing him to allow WCW matches to be held on WWF programming. Vince had said no at first, but with a little pushing and prodding on Linda's part, along with baiting, the old man finally caved, and WCW was off to the races in WWF. Linda had also told him the next pay-per-view event the WWF had would be changed to the title Invasion, where WWF stars would battle against WCW stars to see who reigned supreme. Who ruled the roost! It would give WCW a real chance to shine brightly and Vince once again caved to his wife, anything to make her happy.

Tonight, on Raw Is War, was the very first WCW match on WWF programming pitting Buff Bagwell against the current WCW champion, Booker T, with the championship on the line.

July 2, 2001 would be the night everything changed in the war to come.

The problem WCW had was the fact the people in charge had been the actual wrestlers, the higher ups, well known guys. Couldn't have wrestlers playing writer, bookie, and boss; it didn't work well. At all. Too many agendas and egos, too many demands for television time, pay raises and benefits. The fact WCW had been financially floundering was proof of that. Shane had swept in, negotiated his way to the contract, and said, 'Fuck You' to his old man. Vince ran his company with an iron fist, but he also had his own agendas and his own ego, which meant he also tended to be an asshole and abuse people: like his wife. Shane was ready to bring all that crashing down around his old man and grinned, eyes on the monitor as he took a sip of his water. He wasn't the only one… surprises were still in store for Old Vinnie Mac.

"I'm sorry, repeat that again?" Alice frowned, wanting to make sure she'd heard Torrie correctly.

"Linda has talked to Shane about catching Vince in the act…and asked for my help, but I don't think I can do it alone." Torrie reiterated, folding her arms in front of her chest, wearing what could be considered an outfit…at a beach anyway. It was light blue, the top a bikini and the bottom a long skirt that had obscene slits up both sides. "I need your help to trap Mr. McMahon."

Sometimes, being a woman in the wrestling world had its perks and other times, Alice felt like shooting herself in the head. "What exactly do you want me to do?"

"Help me lure him. We'll approach him and ask to talk to him privately and when we're alone with him, we can coerce him to drop his pants. Linda will be there when the time is right." This was all orders from Shane McMahon and they'd be stupid not to follow through with them.

"He seriously has nothing better for us to do than fuck with his old man?" At Torrie's nod, Alice threw her hands up and conceded. "Fine, lead the way." She had on a simple black mini dress that was strapless and clung to every curve of her body, her fiery red hair down, straightened and hugged her waist.

If Shane had bothered to take the time to explain, this was a favor to his mother. But, he never thought about explaining himself to his new hires because… he was a bit preoccupied with everything else going on. Linda wanted something concrete to blackmail Vince with, infidelity in their marriage, proof of it, not something easily attributed to 'storylines'. She was not amused anymore with his bullshit and Shane honestly loved to fuck with his dad, side bonus.

What the actual fuck were legs like that doing on women from Hell's Toilet Bowl?

"You ready for this?"

"Sure." No, Alice wasn't, but she wasn't about to let Torrie do this alone, not with how nervous the woman was. Billy Kidman, Torrie's husband, would not be happy about this, if she hadn't warned him ahead of time.

She hadn't. "Mr. McMahon, excuse me?"