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Tag teams rarely held belts for long. Rhea knew that. The Kabuki Warriors hadn’t held theirs for more than two months before she and Iyo had taken it from them. But the partnership, the feelings, the teamwork between her and Iyo, that had made her think that maybe theirs would be one of the longer lasting ones.
There was another reason that Rhea didn’t want to lose the belts. What Charlotte had said before War Games had a level of truth to it - Rhea didn’t have the best track record with her former tag partners. Neither did Iyo, always. Rhea didn’t want to lose Iyo. Iyo was special. Losing was hard enough, being the one pinned was harder.
Losing Iyo would hit harder than anything since the betrayal of Judgement Day.
Rhea had a temper, she knew that. Her pride had always been her biggest flaw. She had, for so long, been in it for herself, for the gold, for the belt she coveted. It would be so easy to fall back into bad habits, to try and place the blame elsewhere. But the truth was, this had been on her. She’d eaten the pin. Her head hadn’t been in the game, thinking about the chamber the next day. She’d thought it would be an easy victory. And now… and now…
She couldn’t lose Iyo. She had to make sure that Iyo knew she still cared. That she was sorry. That the thought of losing Iyo was too much.
Rhea opened up her phone, and typed a sentence she rarely said. “I’m sorry, Iyo” she put on twitter. And then she waited. Maybe she should have said it to Iyo directly. But the loss had been public, and the apology would need to be as well.
She waited, and then the reply came in. “Don’t apologize Mami.” Rhea breathed a sigh of relief.
Her phone pinged again. A sad face and a broken heart with their name, Rhiyo. Followed by “but we still have hope. Rhea gonna win at the elimination chamber tomorrow. She will make it happen. I always believe in you, bestie. Mami is always on top.”
Rhea smiled. They were going to be ok. She typed out a quick reply. “I love you chipmunk. I’ll win for you!”
And she knew then that she would. With Iyo believing in her, she could do anything. She hadn’t lost Iyo. Neither of them had fallen back into old patterns. They still had each other.
And with Iyo, Rhea knew she could do anything.
Including getting another championship. And then maybe, bring Iyo to Smackdown with her. They were stronger together after all.