Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN the WWE or anything related to it.

Author's Notes: I have no real business dipping back into the wrestling section, but whatever. I watch Smackdown every single week and this idea always pops into my head at some point. So, here it is. One difference from before, I'm alternating between the different sides of wrestling. You have the on screen side and then the backstage scenes that aren't part of the show. I haven't done that before, and I think that's probably why I failed. (That, and I usually bail) . This first chapter is a little rough. You won't be getting this much behind the scenes stuff usually, but it just helped in setting everything up. Also, the backstage stuff is mostly comedic. Not to be taken seriously. At any rate, hopefully enjoy.

WWE: FIGHTING IRISH

Chapter 1- "An Impactful Debut"

As long as he could remember, Darin Flaherty wanted to be a professional wrestler. He remembered as a kid, watching The Hart Foundation battle against The Rockers and thinking that that was exactly what he wanted to do with his life. So, he trained hard. By the age of sixteen, he had dedicated his life to becoming a wrestler for World Wrestling Entertainment. At the age of twenty-one, he had signed a developmental contract. He spent three years working hard in Florida Championship Wrestling. One of his notable feuds was with Tyson Kidd. Otherwise known as TJ Wilson. Do to his overall success in the developmental territory, he had been signed to a one year contract to perform on the Smackdown brand.

His name would be altered to Nevan Flaherty. To - as the WWE brass put it - "Sound more Irish". He would receive an initial push to get his feet wet in the company and be properly introduced to the WWE Universe. He was told that judging on how his first rivalry would work out and be received by the fans, the remainder of his first year on Smackdown would be re-evaluated and plotted out with a rough outline. In essence, his career was in his hands. He had to rise above any and all expectations to succeed.

Darin's character was determined to be a Heel. Darin was given free reign to add any quirks and mannerisms to make the personality come to life, but there was a basic script that he was ordered to follow. He had never been given the opportunity to play a bad guy before, so he was both excited and nervous. With any luck, he would excel and become a rookie Superstar to watch.

Nevan Flaherty was a thinking man's bad ass. He was dangerous and cold, his attitude sarcastic and damn near evil at times. A feud with Fit Finlay had been plotted out. Darin would debut as Nevan on an edition of Smackdown in which Finlay had just defeated an opponent not yet named. Finlay would be celebrating the victory, and out would come Nevan Flaherty, cementing his status very early as a dangerous Heel Superstar.

Darin Flaherty and Nevan Flaherty couldn't have been further apart unless they were from two different planets spanning two different galaxies. Darin was always joking, easy-going, hard-working and deciated but shy to an extreme fault. Not to mention downright goofy at times. Nevan was driven by the goal to reach success by any means possible, despite what it costed in terms of personal relationships. In the backstage area - Darin unaware - Nevan had been described as a Baby Orton.

His move-set wasn't anything groundbreaking, but it was considered to be good enough. His finishing moves were a devastating Northern Lights Superplex that he simply loved to use, and a Rear-Naked Choke submission hold. As well as a move that saw Darin stand behind his opponent, holding the base of his opponent's skull against his right shoulder, then Darin dropped abruptly to his knees. With playing a heel, he was told to use a little extra oomph when executing them on Smackdown. He was allowed to come up with names for the moves. So, he picked Crash-Landing, Irish Mercy, The Hammer respectively. He liked using dropkicks as well. He had the body type and ragdoll style of a Jeff Hardy, so that aided him in his use of a very extensive variety of the move.

Darin entered the arena with a bag over his shoulder. On the way to the building, he was trying to muster up a decent enough Irish accent to use on-screen, but that really wasn't working out. While he very much had a thick Irish heritage, he had lived in the United States for his entire life and just never developed the language properly. There was a hint of it in his natural voice at times, but not nearly enough. Besides, when he tried to heighten it, he would always fail.

"Welcome to Smackdown, Playa!" Teddy Long greeted Darin with a smile and a handshake.

Wow, he actually talked like that? Nonetheless, Darin shook his hand and smiled. "I'm just happy to be here, Mr. Long."

"No need to be formal."

"Okay... Teddy."

"There you go." Teddy Long smiled with a laugh. "Okay, so right down to business." he clapped his hands together, "We have wardrobe waiting for you. Hopefully you like what they came up with for you. After that, I'm gonna need you to meet with Finlay and go over what you guys are going to do tonight. By the way, that'll be right after the opening, so be prepared. And... I guess that's it for now."

"Alright." Darin nodded. He took a couple steps, but then it dawned on him... "Which way is wardrobe?"

"I'll show him the way, T-Lo." the voice of Michael Hayes came up from behind Darin as well as an arm around his shoulder. "Glad to have you here, Kid. We've heard a lot about you." Michael started up like they had been old friends.

"I have to find wardrobe." Darin said, somewhat awkwardly.

"Wait until you see the pants that Maria designed for you." Hayes dropped that bombshell casually. "It is just so cool. I know it's getting rave reviews so far."

"Maria... Kanellis?" Darin wondered aloud, confused.

"Yes. She's been given a chance to design some attire for the new wrestlers that come in. You're the first." Michael explained as they took a corner and the wardrobe area was in sight. "So, how are you feeling about your debut tonight?"

"Nervous." Darin answered honestly. "My Irish accent sucks."

"Aren't you Irish?"

"Yeah, but I just speak typical American."

"Hmmm... odd." Michael responded somewhat humrously. "Well, don't worry about it. At any rate, here we are." he gestured to the wardrobe room where - as foretold - Maria was standing with a couple other ladies. In her arms was a clear bag with dark clothing inside.

"Hi, you must be Darin." Maria smiled brightly, looking as beautiful as ever before. "I have your outfit."

"You designed it?" Darin asked, though he obviously already knew the answer, while stepping into the room.

"I hope you like it. I didn't want it to be something too over the top, but I still was hoping to come up with something that would get you noticed." she set the bag down on a desk and started taking everything out. "I was told that you're not a fan of tights, so I figured loose fit pants would be a good route. Jeff isn't here anymore, so I asked and it's okay to go with the baggy black look. But, I wanted to add more. So, tell me what you think..."

Maria held up a baggy pair of black pants that had a camouflage pattern to them. While everything was mostly a very dark black, there was some white and a little red thrown in as well. It was definitely something that Darin was pleased with. "Wow, I like it... a lot, actually." he was pleasently surprised.

"I had an idea for a t-shirt, but I wasn't given the green light. They want to wait and see if you gain any decent popularity first." she cringed, realizing she didn't quite word that sentence right. "Sorry, that kinda came out wrong."

"No worries." Darin chuckled. "I know what you meant."

"So... are you going to try them on so I see how they fit?" Maria encouraged.

"Right now?" Darin asked.

"Mm-hm." Maria nodded.

Darin appeared a confused and somewhat apprehensive. "Right here?" he whispered, hoping that wasn't the case.

"Oh gosh, no." Maria laughed. "Sorry, I didn't realize that's what you meant."

Darin breathed a little sigh of relief. "I'm just glad that's not what you meant. Talk about awkward."

"Flaherty!?" Finlay's voice from the doorway. "Enough small talk with the girls, we have business to attend to."

Darin was comically torn. Half of him was glad for the save, but the other half really really wanted to stay with the lovely redheaded Diva. "Duty calls." Darin remarked with a goofy smirk, instantly scolding himself silently for acting so stupid.

"It's cool." Maria replied. "See you later."

Finlay all but dragged Darin out of there. Mostly to save him from further humiliation in front of the always pretty Maria Kanellis. Once they were a safe distance away, Finlay smacked the back of Darin's head. "You must not be full-blooded Irish."

"I know, I know." Darin sighed. "The accent."

Finlay smacked him again. "No, not your damn accent! Irishmen never humiliate themselves that badly in front of gorgeous women."

"Oh." Darin rubbed the back of his skull.

"Anyway... let's make sure we're clear on what we're doing tonight."

WWE Smackdown! Fit Finlay (vs) Charlie Haas:

The match had been going for roughly five or six minutes. Charlie Haas was running on low and Fit Finlay was ready to deal the finishing blow. When the timing was right, Finlay executed a very effective Celtic Cross! Hook of the leg, 1... 2... 3!

"Your winner... Fit Finlay!" Justin Roberts announced.

Just as Finlay was about to have his hand raised by the referee officiating the match - before the commentators could even say anything - out came a young man from the crowd whom attacked Finlay from behind. It was Nevan Flaherty, sporting a lightweight black hoodie and the black pants Maria had designed behind the scenes. He had axehandled Finlay down, then proceeded to stomp on him repeatedly. Over and over. The Irishman was in a bad way as the beating just didn't stop.

"Isn't security going to step in? Who is this guy?" Todd Grisham asked.

"I have no clue. But, what I do know is he is destroying Fit Finlay here." JR followed.

With what seemed like the entire audience in attendance booing him, Flaherty stood behind Fit Finlay, then positioned the back of Finlay's neck over his own shoulder. Flaherty dropped to his knees and the impact rocked Finlay's body, laying him out unconscious on the Smackdown canvas! Nevan stayed on his knees, a grim stare casted down towards his fallen victim. Fit Finlay was hurt bad, a multitude of referees piling into the ring along with security guards escorting the attacker away.

"I'll say it again... who is this?" Grisham asked. "Out of nowhere, this fan comes out of the crowd and brutally attacks Fit Finlay? It doesn't make sense."

"That move he did. One way or another, this attacker has wrestling experience. He invaded this ring knowing exactly what he wanted to do." JR elaborated.

"You can see on your screens... this young man being escorted out of the arena by about four security guards. I find it really disturbing... the sort of grim gaze he has painted on his face. Meanwhile, Fit Finlay has not moved an inch on his own since being attacked with that devastating neckbreaker varitation. JR, I think you're right. This person knew what they were doing."

"A quiet scene here now, folks. We're going to take a commercial break right now while Fit Finlay is helped onto a stretcher. Again, like Todd said, Finlay has not moved on his own since being attacked. Stay tuned, we'll hopefully have some answers when we return."

Following the commercial break...

The Smackdown cameras were backstage where Josh Matthews was standing in front of the interview set. "Jr, Todd, I have just received word that Fit Finlay is moving. The doctors believe that it was just a stinger. For those that don't know... a stinger is when you experience temporary paralysis. And now, standing with me is the man who attacked Fit Finlay."

The camera moved back to show Flaherty calm but being restrained by four hefty security guards. "What are you goin' to ask me?" he questioned Josh. "Who am I? Why did I do it?"

"Well... can you tell us?"

"Yes." Nevan nodded. "But, I don't want to. Fit Finlay got what he deserved. That's all anybody needs to know." and with that rather cryptic response, Flaherty was escorted off camera and out of the building.