CBWL 067

CBWL – The Morning After Cowboy Watts’ Office – Atlanta, Georgia Saturday, June 21, 2026 – 9:47 a.m.

The office was thick with cigarette smoke. Cowboy Watts sat behind the desk in the same clothes from the night before, tie gone, top buttons open, looking like he hadn’t slept. Jim Ross sat across from him, cowboy hat on the desk, a half-empty cup of coffee in his hand.

Cowboy stared at the muted TV that was playing clips from last night’s riot on a loop. He finally killed it with the remote and tossed it onto a pile of papers.

Cowboy Watts: “Two people dead, JR. Two. One got trampled in the concourse during the rush. The other had some kind of medical thing in the middle of it all. Building’s already talking lawsuits. Atlanta PD’s been calling since six this morning. And we’re supposed to run a PPV in Atlanta tomorrow night.”

He lit a cigarette and took a long drag.

Cowboy Watts: “Tell me what the fuck happened out there last night. And don’t sugarcoat it.”

Jim Ross leaned back in his chair and let out a slow breath.

Jim Ross: “It started with Emma. She went way further than what was called. The original plan was for her to choke Nicki, rip the tubes out of Sterling, dump him, and then wheel Nicki out on the gurney. The stairs spot wasn’t supposed to happen on camera like that. She decided to keep going. And when she started ranting about Palestine and privilege while she had Nicki choked out… that wasn’t in the script. That was all her.”

Cowboy exhaled smoke through his nose.

Cowboy Watts: “I told them to sell it like murder. I didn’t tell them to make it look like an actual goddamn murder.”

Jim Ross: “Well they sold it. The building bought it. The second she dumped Sterling on the floor, people started moving. By the time she threw that gurney down the stairs, half the lower bowl was already trying to get over the barricades. Security got overrun fast. I heard glass breaking somewhere in the concourse. It turned into a full-on riot before Taylor even went after Emma in the parking garage.”

Cowboy rubbed his face with one hand.

Cowboy Watts: “What about Sterling? How bad is he really?”

Jim Ross: “Bad. The kid’s been in rough shape since the original incident. Whatever they did to him during that hospital extraction last week didn’t help. And last night on camera… that wasn’t all smoke and mirrors. He’s not faking how fucked up he is right now. If we keep pushing him like Elena wants, there’s a real chance he doesn’t make it.”

Cowboy was quiet for a few seconds, just smoking.

Cowboy Watts: “Emma?”

Jim Ross: “Gone before anybody could grab her. Nicki’s in the hospital. Banged up pretty bad from the stairs. And that nurse Tony grabbed during the extraction last week? Still missing. Word’s already starting to spread backstage about what happened during that hospital run. People are talking.”

Cowboy crushed his cigarette out and immediately lit another one.

Cowboy Watts: “So let me get this straight. We ran a go-home show in Charlotte last night that turned into a goddamn riot with two dead fans, our top heel looked like she actually tried to murder two people on live TV, and now we’ve got a missing nurse, a doctor who might be cutting people up in hotel rooms, and a PPV in Atlanta tomorrow that half the building might not even let us run.”

He looked across the desk at Jim Ross.

Cowboy Watts: “JR… what the fuck do we do now?”

CBWL – The Morning After Cowboy Watts’ Office – Atlanta, Georgia Saturday, June 21, 2026 – 9:58 a.m.

The door opened again. Arnold Palmer walked in first, followed by Bill Parcells. Both looked like they’d been up all night.

Cowboy nodded toward the empty chairs.

Cowboy Watts: “Sit. I want to hear what the fuck else was going on in that building last night that I didn’t see.”

Arnold Palmer dropped into a chair and rubbed his face. Bill Parcells stayed standing for a second before sitting on the arm of the couch.

Arnold Palmer: (Talent Relations) “From my side… the Mila vs Pam match went exactly how it was supposed to. Mila went out there and beat the shit out of her, then hit that long-ass promo about Jim. That part worked. The boys were saying it felt real nasty. But after that, once the Emma stuff started happening later in the night, a lot of the talent got real quiet. A few of them were asking me if we were actually trying to get the building shut down.”

He glanced at Cowboy.

Arnold Palmer: “Also… the hospital extraction from last week is already blowing back. Some of the developmental guys saw what went down when they pulled Sterling out. They’re talking. Not loud yet, but it’s moving.”

Bill Parcells leaned forward, elbows on his knees.

Bill Parcells: (Agent) “From the agent side… Kristen vs Boxxy was a mess even before Anya walked out. Boxxy was nervous as hell and kept looking for Anya the whole match. When Anya finally left, Boxxy looked completely lost. We had to calm her down backstage after. She was crying in the hallway saying she didn’t know what she did wrong.”

He shook his head.

Bill Parcells: “Jennette vs Florence was ugly as fuck, just like it was supposed to be. But after Mariska came out and booked the Eat My Shit match… Florence looked like she wanted to throw up. She kept asking me if it was a real stipulation or if we were just fucking with her. I told her it was real. She didn’t say anything after that. Just sat there staring at the floor.”

Arnold Palmer spoke up again.

Arnold Palmer: “The Taylor segment was going fine until it wasn’t. She was dancing, the crowd was into it, everything was light for a minute. Then we cut to the Emma attack and the whole building changed. I had two agents near the barricades tell me they saw people starting to climb before Emma even threw the gurney. By the time Taylor went to the parking garage, half the lower bowl was already moving.”

Bill Parcells nodded.

Bill Parcells: “And backstage… once the riot started, we had to pull a lot of the boys away from the curtain area. Some of them wanted to go out there and see what was happening. We had to physically stop a couple of them. It got tense.”

Cowboy sat in silence for a moment, smoking.

Cowboy Watts: “So while Emma was out there turning the show into a goddamn crime scene, the rest of the card was just… happening in the background like normal.”

He looked at both men.

Cowboy Watts: “Anything else I need to know?”

Arnold Palmer and Bill Parcells exchanged a look.

Arnold Palmer: “Yeah… one more thing. After everything settled down, a few of the girls were asking about Wendy. Nobody’s seen her since she had that breakdown on camera during the Florence segment. And the nurse that got taken during the hospital extraction last week? Still no sign of her. People are starting to notice she’s missing.”

The room went quiet again.

Cowboy slowly crushed out his cigarette.

Cowboy Watts: “Jesus Christ…”

He looked over at Jim Ross, then back at the two men.

Jim Ross looked over at Bill Parcells.

Jim Ross: “Bill, get out there and squash that rumor right now. The one about the nurse’s organs and Wendy. I don’t care how you do it — lie, bullshit, whatever you gotta say. Just get it dead before it spreads any further.”

Bill Parcells nodded and stood up.

Bill Parcells: “On it.”

He gave a quick look to Cowboy and left the room without another word.

Jim Ross then turned to Arnold Palmer.

Jim Ross: “Arnold, round up all the agents. We’re having a full booking meeting after lunch. Tell them to be here by one.”

Arnold Palmer: “Got it.”

Arnold stood up, gave Cowboy a short nod, and followed Bill out, closing the door behind him.

The office went quiet for a moment. Cowboy leaned back in his chair and lit another cigarette. Jim Ross rubbed his eyes, then reached for his phone.

Jim Ross: “Jesus Christ… what a fucking mess.”

Cowboy exhaled smoke toward the ceiling.

Cowboy Watts: “Yeah.”

There was a short pause. Jim Ross scrolled on his phone for a second before speaking again, his tone shifting.

Jim Ross: “You see that Alabama game last night?”

Cowboy let out a tired chuckle and shook his head.

Cowboy Watts: “Yeah. They looked like shit in the first half. I don’t know what the fuck Saban’s doing with that offense right now.”

Jim Ross: “They still found a way to win though. Typical.”

Cowboy smirked a little.

Cowboy Watts: “Some things never change.”

Jim Ross kept scrolling on his phone.

Jim Ross: “You feel like eating? I’m about to put in an Uber Eats order. I’m starving.”

Cowboy Watts: “Yeah, go ahead. Get me whatever. I don’t care.”

Jim Ross nodded and started tapping on his phone while Cowboy took another slow drag off his cigarette, both of them letting the heavy shit sit in silence for a minute while they talked about something normal.

The scene fades out on the two of them sitting there, the weight of last night still hanging in the room, but the immediate storm paused for just a little while.