Hi guys! I hope you like this first chapter of my OC story The Way We're Made. I'll be using the wrestler's real names backstage or just outside of the ring but their wrestling name inside of the ring i.e. James/RJ, Mercedes/Sasha, Ashley/Charlotte etc. I was in two minds about this but ultimately I thought it to be a good idea as then you get to see the separation of the wrestling persona and the actual person, if that makes sense?
Another few things I would like to clear up about this story:
1) The draft never happened, however SmackDown is now broadcast live on Tuesday nights
2) Sasha still won the WWE Women's Championship from Charlotte
3) The Authority will not play a massive part in the ring, i.e. they won't interfere with matches, Triple H and Stephanie take a purely executive role in this story
4) There will be new titles introduced in the future, I'm just working out the mechanics of how best to introduce them
And lastly, RJ was submitted by myself as an OC in another author's story a few weeks ago as JR Morgan, however the author decided not to continue the story. The author is aware that I'm using my OC in this story and is fine with it (just in case people want to accuse me of stealing a character). I'm also aware that my writing of the actual wrestling matches might be a little awkward but I hope to improve this as I write more chapters.
ENJOY!
James Moran stared out of his car, up at the building in front of him, pinching himself occasionally to remind himself that, yes, this was very much reality: he was finally debuting on the main WWE roster. He'd been wrestling in NXT and with his performance at the latest Takeover event being a standout, Triple H had pulled him aside the next day at the Performance Center, in the middle of his workout, to tell him the good news. Since he started training at 13, James had wished that one day he could make it to the main roster but never thought that at the age of 33, he'd finally make it there. Yet here he was, sitting in front of an arena in Atlanta, Georgia which was hosting that night's Raw.
A quiet cough from the backseat of the car made him snap his head around to see the person who had interrupted his thought process. A boy, securely strapped into his car seat, smiled at him for a moment then frowned, perplexed.
"Dad? Where are we? I thought you were going to work." He asked in a slight English accent.
"This is work now buddy, isn't it awesome?" James replied, grinning widely at the thought.
"But this isn't Full Sail… it's weird." This made James laugh.
"It's weird for me too, but look Ryan! There's Gotch, and see over there? There's Cass! I bet Enzo's close by too! It's just like normal, pal, just in a different place. I promise." James was pointing out a couple of people as they passed by.
"If you say so Dad…" Ryan said, still skeptical of this weird place that his father had brought him to. After a few more minutes of reassuring Ryan that they were indeed in the right place and that he hadn't gotten lost on the way, James got them out of the car and headed towards the backstage area. It all seemed a bit more hectic than what he was used to at NXT but he'd expected that. Just as the pair were approaching catering, a strong hand grasped James by the shoulder, making him jerk round quickly with a slight scowl on his face which disappeared when he saw that the hand belonged to Bill "Big Cass" Morrissey, one of his friends from NXT.
"CASS!" Before James could say anything, Ryan launched himself onto Bill who caught him with ease, swinging him around for a little while before setting him back on solid ground. Whenever Ryan met one of his dad's colleagues, he always used their wrestling name, simply because it was easier for him to picture someone as their character, rather than a normal person.
"Woah! Hey pal! Are you excited for your dad's big debut?" Bill asked, taking off Ryan's New England Patriots snapback and ruffling his hair, much to the nine year old's annoyance. Ryan just shrugged before smoothing out his hair. "Well, how about you come with me and I'll show you around? Your dad's gotta go to talk to some people just now but he'll be back soon."
"I do?" James asked, although it did make sense considering it was his first night on the main roster. His friend nodded and explained that Stephanie McMahon and Triple H were looking for him so that they could tell him his upcoming storyline and such. "Alright then, pal. You're going to be good for Cass, right? I'll be back in a little bit."
"Sure, dad." Ryan gave his dad a hug.
"Awesome! Where'd you want to go first then pal?" Bill asked, giving Ryan a high five.
"Hmmm… catering!" James couldn't help but laugh at Ryan's response as he and Bill walked away – Ryan was a bottomless pit; always hungry or thirsty.
After a few minutes of wandering around trying to find Stephanie's office, James finally stumbled across the right door. Closing his eyes and taking a couple of deep breaths to calm his sudden nerves, James lifted his hand to knock but was beaten to it by someone else. Jumping slightly, he looked to his left and saw a head of bright magenta hair.
"James?! What are you doing here? I didn't know you were coming up!" The owner of said magenta hair exclaimed, making James realize that this was Mercedes KV, or Sasha Banks, ¼ of the Four Horsewomen, newly crowned WWE Women's Champion and one of his friends from back when he was on the indie circuit back in Boston. She also happened to be one of Ryan's favorite wrestlers and secretly, one of James' too.
"Holy crap! Mercedes? Well, I guess it's Sasha these days, huh? How ha-" James started but was interrupted by the sound of Triple H's voice telling them to come in. He opened the door and gestured for Mercedes to go ahead first which she did. Inside the office, Stephanie leant against the edge of her desk while Triple H stood off to the side, laughing about something or other. They smiled at the pair of them when they shuffled in and both shook James' hand when he offered it to them.
"Ah! There they are, the very two people we were just talking about." Stephanie said, leaning up against her desk once again. "First off, James, welcome to the main roster. It's great to have you here and we all think you'll bring something special to the show. And Mercedes, we've all been really impressed with what you've been doing lately, both in and out of the ring. Your attitude and dedication have really shone through which is why…" she trailed off and gestured towards her husband who picked up where she left off.
"Which is why we want to put you two into a storyline together." Mercedes started to protest, but was stopped before she could get a word out. "Now, don't worry, it's not going to be a romance storyline, we're trying to move forward with our women's division not backwards remember? Anyway, we want to play off of the fact that you worked together on the indies back in Boston. We've watched some tapes of you two in mixed gender tag matches and the WWE Universe have been asking for us to bring some of that kind of content back into the show so tonight we'll be having a mixed gender tag match between you two and the team of Charlotte and Chris Jericho. It'll be an interesting way of introducing RJ Morgan to the WWE Universe and will also further your feud with Charlotte, Mercedes." Triple H explained, confident that their plan would go down well. "Sound good to you two?" Mercedes and James both looked at each other and smiled, knowing that this would work.
"Sounds great to me, sir. I can't think of anyone I'd rather share the ring with on my debut," said James.
"Sounds good to me too, but how are we gonna bring him out? Do we have a promo to cut or an interview or something?"
"Well, here's what we were thinking…"
WITH RYAN AND CASS
"Now buddy, I gotta go get ready for my match with Enzo against The New Day so I'm gonna need you to stay right here until your dad or I get back. Okay?" Bill said as Ryan sat himself down in front of one of the monitors which were dotted around the backstage area. Ryan just hummed in response, already absorbed in the match which was on screen – AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens. Bill just smiled and walked towards the locker room. There were plenty of people in the area who would hopefully keep an out for the kid if he did decide to go for a walk but Bill was hoping that for once he would do as he was told.
A couple of minutes later, Ryan lost interest in the on screen action and decided to go explore. He avoided the areas that Bill had taken him on their tour – catering, men's locker room, gorilla – and ventured off into the parts they hadn't covered. However, much like with the wrestling action before it, the adventure backstage didn't hold Ryan's interest for very long. He started heading back towards the area that Bill had left him, but soon found that he had no idea where he was. He tried looking around the area that he was in or remembering which way he'd come, but he couldn't remember or see any signs indicating where he was.
"My dad's going to be so mad… He'll be so mad…" the kid kept repeating, pacing around the empty hallway, too afraid of getting more lost to venture past the double doors at the end of the hallway. Eventually, he slumped down the wall and sat down on the linoleum floor, head bowed in defeat.
Just as he felt tears start to build up in his eyes, the harsh light of the corridor was blocked out, making him jerk his head up to see what had happened, only to let out a yelp at the sight of a mess of bright orange hair. "Ah!"
"Oh sorry to scare you there, lad! You okay?" The woman in front of Ryan said from her crouching position in front of him. Between her Irish accent, the hair and the fact she was wearing wrestling gear meant that this was Becky Lynch, Ryan's favorite wrestler.
"YEAH! I mean, yeah, I'm okay, I suppose." He hastily wiped away the moisture from his eyes in an attempt to hide his distress but Becky had already seen his mini meltdown as she approached him.
"Sure, whatever you say, pal. Here's an idea though, seeing as you're doing grand and all, why don't you get off of this floor and come with me to catering, I could do with some food and some company after my match?" Becky proposed, holding a hand out to help Ryan off of the floor which he duly accepted.
"Uh, I don't want to seem rude or anything, but don't you want to take a shower or get changed after your match?"
"Nah, see my match was against Eva Marie so I hardly broke a sweat," the Irish woman joked, getting Ryan to laugh along. "So I should probably ask your name and what you're doing here backstage?"
"Oh! I'm Ryan! My dad's just left NXT, I think he's wrestling up here with you guys now."
"Dang, really? What's his na-" Becky was cut off by the sound of James calling Ryan's name as he and Mercedes walked along the hallway. "Oh, hey Mercedes! Who's this?"
"'CEDES!" Ryan yelled, and much like he did with Bill before, threw himself at Mercedes only this time she wasn't ready to catch him and stumbled a bit.
"Ry-Ry! It's been a while! How you been dude?" Mercedes asked once she had regained her footing.
"I've been good! I've been travelling with Dad and the guys on NXT, it's been a lot of fun!"
"Hey, Ryan, where's Cass? I thought he was watching you," James interjected from behind Mercedes.
"Yeah, about that… He had a match with Enzo so he had to go and I was looking for the toilet and got lost… But, I found Becky! How cool is that Dad?!" Ryan mumbled to start with, not wanting to admit that the real reason he'd ended up on the floor outside of the women's locker room was that he'd disobeyed an adult's instructions… again. James just rolled his eyes, knowing what his son was like, then held his hand out to Becky for a handshake.
"Sorry about him, and thanks for finding him. He has a habit of doing this, I hope he wasn't any trouble."
"Nope, no trouble at all! In fact, me and my new pal Ryan were just about to go hang out at catering for a bit. That is, if it's alright with you?"
"Yeah, sure. Mercedes and I actually have a match tonight, so you'd be doing me a huge favor. Sorry, I just realized I haven't introduced myself – I'm James Moran, I just got brought up from NXT, tonight's my debut."
"Rebecca Quin, but no one calls me that except maybe my mum, just Becky around here'll do. Congratulations on making the main roster! What match do you have tonight?"
"Mixed gender tag match with Ashley and Jericho. Should be a good one!" Mercedes replied, still in a vice like hug from Ryan. Mercedes, or 'Cedes as Ryan called her, was one of Ryan's favorite people. Back when James and Ryan were living in Boston, Mercedes would occasionally babysit for James when he had to work a late night or, even rarer, when she'd managed to bend his arm into going on a date with a friend of a friend of hers. The dates never worked out but she was persistent and kept trying. "How was your match with Eva? I didn't get to see it; we were talking to Ashley about the promo at the start of our segment."
"Eh, it was your usual match against Eva. Nothing more to say about it really," Becky just shrugged, although inside she was slightly disappointed that she wasn't getting the opportunity to take part in mixed tag matches, instead she had to make do with wrestling against Eva Marie. "I think your slot's nearly up, by the way, might be an idea to head to gorilla and me and Ryan here will go hangout!"
"Oh, shoot! Thanks again for keeping an eye on him!" Mercedes gave Becky while James hugged Ryan once more before chasing after Mercedes who had started jogging down towards the gorilla position.
10 MINUTES LATER, CATERING
"-and then, my dad jumped off the top rope, spun around and kicked him in the back of the head! How cool is that?!" Ryan told Becky excitedly. Once she had gotten some food and found somewhere to sit, she had asked him about his James' matches in NXT and so far, he'd been able to paint quite the interesting picture.
"So cool! Oh, look Ryan, your dad will be coming out soon!" The woman gestured with her fork towards the TV monitor in the room which showed Mercedes make her entrance.
Sasha stood in the center of the ring, the Women's Championship over her shoulder. The crowd were chanting 'You deserve it' and she couldn't help but just look around the arena, taking everything in. She had just began her promo, talking about NXT Takeover: Brooklyn and SummerSlam when Charlotte's music hit and she walked down the ramp. The two traded jibes, Sasha finishing with a comment about Charlotte being the result of a "one night stand."
"Huh? What does that mean?" Ryan asked Becky who was quietly chuckling away to herself until Ryan spoke up, making her choke a little on the food she was eating. 'Damn it, Mercedes, now I have to explain one night stands to a nine year old!' Becky thought. Luckily for her though, Chris Jericho started making his way down to the ring, distracting Ryan for a minute.
Jericho came out, defending Charlotte, gaining a nice amount of heat from the crowd, especially when he called Sasha a brat. Suddenly the lights in the arena went off and the sound of drums could be heard. They flickered back on again and all three standing in the ring were looking very confused before the arena was plunged back into darkness again. This time 'The Way We're Made' by Missing Andy started playing, earning a massive pop from the crowd as they realized that RJ Morgan was making his debut on the main roster. The crowd were still going crazy when, 30 seconds into the song, the lights came back on, showing RJ standing at the top of the ramp, microphone in hand. He was in his usual ring gear of long black tights with a silver Liverbird outlined in red on the left thigh, black boots with red laces and a sleeveless red hoodie with a black flame on the back.
"That's him! That's my dad!" Ryan shouted, jumping out of his seat and pointing at the screen. Becky couldn't help but smile at how excited the young lad was, even if his sudden outburst was gaining a few strange looks from the crew members that were lingering about.
"Oh my gosh, that's RJ Morgan from NXT! We knew he'd be coming to Raw and SmackDown soon, but we didn't know it was tonight! This is huge!" Bryon said from the commentary table. In the ring, Charlotte and Sasha looked shocked while Jericho just looked unimpressed.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen, if you're not familiar with RJ Morgan, you're going to be in the coming weeks because this man has been dominating things down in NXT," added Michael Cole. By this point, RJ had gotten into the ring and was standing alongside Sasha. Once the crowd reaction had died down slightly, RJ cleared his throat and started talking into the mic.
"Now, now there's no need for all this hostility, is there? You see Charlotte, Jericho, you may not realize this, but Sasha and I go way back and being the gentleman that I am, I'm not going to insult you or downplay what you've achieved here in WWE. No, not at all, in fact I think you've earned respect for all that you've done. However, I'm going to ask that you pay my friend and YOUR WWE Women's Champion some respect." Charlotte tried to butt in but RJ kept going, "And if you don't, well, then I'm sure that Sasha and I would have no trouble in teaching you some manners, eh Sash?" That had Charlotte and Jericho talking over each other, trying to find a way out of this situation. Before they could, Mick Foley's music came on and he walked out to the top of the entrance ramp.
"Now, Jericho, Charlotte - you might not agree with what this young man has to say, but I, and the WWE Universe, do. Which is why, you will take on the team of the WWE Women's Champion Sasha Banks and RJ Morgan in a tag team match and, because I don't want to see any funny business from your protégé Charlotte, Dana Brooke will be banned from ringside." This got a great reaction from the crowd. "And not only will this match take place tonight, it will take place right now!" Mick went backstage to 'This is awesome' chants from the WWE Universe.
"YAY! Go Dad! This is awesome! This is awesome!" Ryan started joining in the chant as he moved closer to the TV monitor.
In the ring, RJ started things off with Jericho. They went for the lock up and RJ got the Canadian in a side headlock, making Jericho fight his way over to the ropes, RJ using the momentum off of the ropes to hit a running bulldog. He went for a quick pin which Jericho kicked out of at one. Taking advantage of his grounded opponent, RJ delivered some kicks to his back, making Jericho scurry over to Charlotte and tagging her in.
Sasha came in for RJ and rolled up Charlotte but the 'genetically superior' woman got out. She continued to go for a quick cover but Charlotte always managed to evade the three count. Charlotte then changed the momentum of the match with chops to the champion's chest, leaving Sasha reeling slightly and sending her into the corner. However, it didn't last long when Sasha managed to get out of the corner and deliver a chop of her own. An arm drag was followed up by double knees which Charlotte once again managed to kick out of. Arm crawling over to her corner, Charlotte tagged in Jericho.
Instead of coming through the ropes, RJ climbed to the top rope and delivered a missile drop kick to Jericho's chest. As Jericho scrambled onto his feet, he was met by a dragon whip. He stumbled over to the ropes, but he and his partner were sent over the top rope by two clotheslines from RJ and Sasha. Seizing the opportunity, RJ went for a suicide Arabian press but Jericho moved out of the way and hit him with a kick to the ribs. With the wind knocked out of him, RJ fell to his knees, mindful of the referee counting inside the ring. Jericho stood inside the ring, running his mouth at Sasha who was willing RJ to get back into the ring to make the tag. The ref got to seven before RJ managed to pull himself back into the ring but was caught by Jericho with a series of blows to the jaw. Trying to rebuild his momentum, the Englishman came off the ropes with a clothesline, sending Jericho to the mat once again. Acting quickly, he pulled Jericho onto his feet set him up for an exploder suplex.
"Nice!" Becky was impressed with what she'd seen in the ring from James so far and was pleasantly surprised to see him use an exploder suplex, a move that she herself liked to use. Although they were both signed to NXT at some point, Becky had never seen James in the ring – on occasion she'd seen him hanging around at the performance center but had never seen what he was capable of as a wrestler.
"My Dad's kicking butt, isn't he Becky?!"
"Sure is, Ryan, he sure is!"
With the match going in his team's favor, RJ set Jericho up for his submission maneuver – the Leppings Lock, a crossface/scissored armbar similar to Batista's Batista Bite. As he got it locked in, Charlotte ran into the ring to break up the hold. After a short flurry of kicks, slaps and punches between Sasha and Charlotte, Sasha hit a double knee backbreaker which she transitioned into the Bank Statement. RJ got Jericho back into the Leppings Lock in the middle of ring and after a few moments, heard the sound of Jericho and Charlotte tapping the mat at the same time, handing RJ and Sasha the victory.
"What an impressive showing by RJ Morgan in his debut match against Chris Jericho and Charlotte!" Michael Cole announced as RJ and Sasha celebrated inside of the ring, watching Charlotte and Jericho retreat back up the entrance ramp.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review/follow/favorite and I will update as soon as I can!
