CM Punk. Hardly a name a wrestling fan would ever forget. Regardless what anybody thinks of him, they can't deny he's a skilled wrestler, a talented, charismatic individual, and can always put on a good show. With title reigns in his history, and various unforgettable moments, he was known as one of World Wrestling Entertainment's best professional wrestlers. He always put on a great match, he could make you laugh, make you passionate, he could make you want to spend the rest of your life watching wrestling, waiting for his face to return your screen. So, it was no wonder that when Monday Night RAW was in Chicago, the entire arena erupted with excitement, passion and enthusiasm when CM Punk's music hit.
A hometown show, that was exactly what he needed to get him out of the bad mood that Paul Heyman had put him in. The entire feud with this man had gotten way out of hand, it wasn't something he wanted in his career. He'd considered Paul a friend, and despite of course it all being for television, it was getting to his head a little. He'd known Paul since he started working for ECW, he'd always been a Paul Heyman guy and knew he always would be, even if the fans believed otherwise. It was hard to accept that he'd be feuding with this man when it first happened, but now it was normal, and they could joke about it later on, and of course, it worked so much better because they knew each other so well. They knew what to pick on, how to get to one another, and Paul knew better than anyone else how Phil worked in the ring, how he moved, how he worked. It only made for an even bigger storyline, really.
Having all of those fans only brought CM Punk out of his bad mood, and though his promo ended in an attack from Ryback and Curtis Axel, it was still a great night. Any night in his hometown was always great, regardless of the end result. He was taken backstage by WWE officials, however the second he was away from fans and cameras, he was walking on his own again, assuring that he was fine, and didn't need assistance. Honestly, Phil was never the kind of guy to complain about injuries or nagging pains.
Making his way to his locker-room, he bumped into Paul, who'd been far too busy staring at his phone to even notice the man getting closer to him, "Jeez, Paul. Can't wait til you're alone to look at Ryback's nudes?" He grinned, nudging his friend as he passed, only to hear the older man sigh, "Hilarious."
Shaking his head, Phil carried on to the locker-room, where he shoved through the door, and sat down on the wooden bench by the wall, in which he'd left his things. It hadn't been a massive promo, nothing too special, but he was pretty happy about it. He knew he'd be getting a pay-per-view match with Ryback, and eventually he'd end up getting his hands on Paul, himself. That was going to be interesting, it had happened briefly at Night of Champions, before Ryback got involved, and he'd gotten a little carried away with it all, but he'd missed being able to smack the crap out of someone with a big stick. He honestly missed his ECW days, sometimes it got to him that he didn't get to just pull a guitar from under the ring and smack someone with it. All of this PG crap, it was just that. Crap.
A few minutes passed, and Phil couldn't be bothered to change, so he just wandered around the backstage area, looking for somebody to bother. He knew better than to go find April right now, as she'd be calming down from her match, and probably still in that "crazy" place she liked to go to when she was getting in character. Honestly, sometimes that girl scared him.
He made his way to the catering area, and grinned when he spotted a few of the NXT rookies crowded around one table. There was an arm wrestling match going on between Bo Dallas and Seth Rollins. Nothing better than a little free entertainment, right? Phil made his way over, and spotted Saraya stood by the wall, watching with little enthusiasm. He caught her eye, and pulled a face in her direction, causing her to roll her eyes. The two were pretty good friends, had been since they'd originally met, mostly because they had so much in common. But, Phil had a thing about annoying her, and she had a thing about insulting him. They worked, in a weird way.
Watching as Seth managed to slam Bo's hand down into the table, and both Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns erupt into laughter, grinning at their team mate with a sense of pride, Phil made his way passed the two men, and clasped Bo on the shoulder, "Don't worry. His real name's Colby." He grinned, shooting a smirk over to Rollins, who gave him the finger. It was a nice little group, the NXT crowd, and obviously the guys from the Shield still felt like a part of it, because they'd been there for a while before finally being formed as a group. They'd made friends, bonds, and they stuck to them. Phil liked a little bit of loyalty in wrestling, it was important.
Saraya stood with her back to the wall, watching the arm wrestling that was going on at the table in front of her, and sighed a little. She was bored, to be frank. Sure, she could have been back at the training grounds, she could have been working out and honing her skills more, but she knew that by being here at RAW, despite not working on RAW, she'd be seen as interested in the business. Of course she was interested in the business, though. She'd visited RAW almost every week when it was shooting, and nothing had changed. She knew how it worked, she knew what went on, and she knew that other NXT Superstars and Divas thought the same - hence why they entertained themselves with arm wrestling matches and the like.
Normally, she'd be watching the matches in the green room, but Colby had insisted she watch his arm wrestling match. She honestly didn't want to, she knew who'd win, and she knew they'd pick on Taylor for it, regardless. But, what were friends for, right? It didn't take long before she spotted Phil crossing the room, most likely to see what all the fuss was about and she realized she'd missed his promo. "Damn it." She muttered to herself, having meant to watch.
The two were friends, but that wasn't why she wanted to watch his promo. She wanted to watch because she knew he was good, she knew he could pull off a good promo, and she knew that while her skills were mostly in-ring, she needed a little brushing up when it came to her mic skills. She figured she'd pick a few things up from him - given that he's quite possibly the best at pulling promo's in today's roster.
She watched as the guys shared a few jokes, one at the expense of Colby's name, and Saraya couldn't help but laugh a little, while Phil made his way over to her. "Always the jackass." She grinned, pushing herself off the wall, and looking at the man she'd grown to become rather fond of.
"Ah, you love it." He smirked, causing her to roll her eyes again, running a hand through her long, dark hair.
"One of these days I'm going to pull a muscle in my eye from rolling them so much." She said, as the two of them made their way out of the loud, bustling catering area, and towards the hallway. Saraya could practically feel Danielle's eyes boring into the back of her head, and she knew what she'd be hearing later on.
A lot of people always asked her if she was dating Phil, and her answer was always a spurt of laughter, and a shake of her head. The two weren't more than friends, they never had been, and honestly, Saraya wasn't interested in dating, not right now. She was far too caught up in her career. She was a champion now, she was a regular face on NXT television, and she had to take that seriously, she didn't have time for a boyfriend, or any kind of romantic endeavor. She was a busy woman, and she didn't need more crap about if she was dating her best friend.
"So, what's the plan tonight?" She asked, her thick British accent shining through as she spoke, causing Phil only to mock her for it. Unfortunately, this was a common occurance between them.
"I don't know, what is the plan tonight?" He asked in return, mocking her accent, and grinning as he did so. Saraya would quickly wedge her elbow into his side, jabbing him, despite laughing a little bit.
"You're a dick." She said, shaking her head, "I feel like pizza and a Freddy marathon." With a shrug of her shoulders she answered, and looked to Phil, who was nodding in approval.
"Alright. Meet me by the doors, gotta grab my stuff." He said, before disappearing into his locker-room again, leaving Saraya to just carry on in the direction towards the two big exit doors that lead to the parking lot. She assumed they'd just go to his place, since they were in his home town, so she hopped up onto one of the crates, and waited for him to come back.
Meanwhile, Phil was busy changing from his in-ring attire to a pair of long-ish shorts and a t-shirt, as well as a pair of trainers. He wasn't one for big name labels or designers, he was happy just being comfortable. None of that Gucci or Dolce & Gabana shit for him. Shoving his things into a duffle bag, he left the locker-room, and spotted Kofi as he left, giving his friend a pat on the back. "Hey, road wife." He grinned, stopping for a moment to catch up. Sooner or later the conversation turned to Phil's plans for the evening.
"Ah, just some good old fashioned Chicago pizza and a Freddy marathon." He said, glancing up the corridor towards Saraya who was busy on her phone, she'd obviously not noticed he was out of the locker-room yet.
Looking back to Kofi he saw the expression on his face, and furrowed his brow. "What's with your face?" He asked.
"Come on." Kofi said, folding his arms across his chest. "When are you gonna ask that girl out?"
"What the hell-" Phil started, before being interrupted by his best friend.
"You guys spend all of your spare time together. If I didn't travel with you I'd never see you. You're like the same person, why aren't you dating yet?" All of this was just irritating Phil, and he shook his head, running his hand over his hair.
"I don't have time for this, okay?" He said, waving the man off, and taking off in Saraya's direction, who looked up and smiled at him as he approached. "Get off your butt, let's go." He said, rather shortly, still annoyed at Kofi's accusations.
Saraya, noticing this, hopped off the crate, and looked down the corridor, seeing Kofi shaking his head and walking away. "Something wrong?" She asked, her eyebrows raised as they left the building, into the parking lot on the outside of the building.
"Nah, nothing important. Come on, get in the car. You wanna stop on the way or just order in?" He asked, tossing his things into the back seat of his car, before then getting into the drivers seat, as Saraya got into the passenger side.
"Eh, order in. I can't be bothered with too much fuss tonight." She said, shrugging her shoulders, as she shut the door, and pulled on her seat belt, before then adjusting in the seat a little, until she was comfy. "Just means we can eat and watch at the same time. Or, in your case, eat and cry because Freddy might get you." She smirked, trying to lighten the mood.
It worked, he managed a smirk and an eye roll in her direction before he started the car and the journey towards his Chicago home.
