The Road to Wrestlemania 30 – Diva Explosion
Disclaimer: I do not own, know, or represent anyone from any real world wrestling organization. This is just a fan fiction, and the portrayal, likeness, etc are just character depictions and in no way represent the actual personalities of the men and women in the stories. It's just a little story.
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Melina gets a Partner
Big Apple, 3 AM
"Can you dig it?! Sucka?!" The ringtone which was properly matched to the caller cut through the peace of the night like a sniper bullet through thick glass. Sleep was instantly shattered as Melina shot up out of her hotel room bed and flung over to the side. She fell right off the side with a hard thud that rattled the lamp, alarm clock, and empty champagne glass on her nightstand.
"…Ow." She groaned as her hand came up and slapped along the top of the nightstand to try and find her phone. On the other end of the bed the totally undisturbed John Morrison was resting peacefully…and…from Melina's perspective totally not assisting her at all. "No, I,…can't,… dig it…!" Melina huffed her words out as her hand missed her phone each time until her fingertips clutched the edges. "Ha! Got you!"
As she sat up on her knees, she peeked over the edge of the nightstand and quickly answered. "Hi?" She realized her voice was much deeper than usual…possibly from sleeping so hard. "Uh, hello?" She said after clearing her throat.
On the other end was Booker T, the current General Manager of the Smackdown! Brand in the WWE. "Hey babygirl, it's Booker. Sorry to disturb you at this hour, but we're overseas at the moment." Booker remained extremely professional on his end of the line, clearly sorry for breaking her sleep.
Melina shut her eyes and raised her eyebrows while rubbing the side of her head with her free hand. "No no! Totally fine! I was up anyway." She lied, but kept a smile on her face. "What's up?"
"Well, it's about that offer we discussed a few weeks ago." Booker explained. "I had a lot of meetings, and we're doin' somethin' big in the company starting real soon. We're hirin' a lot of talent and gettin' geared up for the Royal Rumble. We have a spot for you in our new Diva's Tag Team Division if you're interested in comin' to work with us again on Smackdown."
Melina was waiting for this call as if it was a call to tell her she'd won a billion dollars. It wasn't that she needed the money, but she had big ideas she hoped could improve the clearly floundering division she was once part of. The talks with Booker made her hopeful, but the tag team division was a new development. "…I'm-sorry-what?" She spoke quickly, blinking twice as if she misheard him. "Divas Tag Te-, I'm a solo performer, okay? I mean come on, what are you going to do? Tag me up with AJ Lee or something? Oh great, we'll just have absolutely no contenders then, right? I thought this was about my solo career, Booker…"
The General Manager heard her out, but he was very adamant about this new idea. "No no, don't worry. AJ's already gettin' her partner. We're gonna try this out for a little while and see if it works. We're also doin somethin' of a reality show for the internet…so all of you will be recorded once you all hook up."
"…I'm-sorry-what?" The deal was seeming more and more sour to her, and she had her forehead against the nightstand at this point. "…Booker…you're killing me here. Who's AJ's partner, anyway? Out of sheer…uninterested-curiosity?" She pouted as she spoke her last two words out rapidly.
Booker smiled on the other end as he spoke. "Ayako Hamada. We cut a deal with her just the other day, and she liked what we're settin' up."
Melina couldn't believe her ears. She'd known about Hamada from her work in Shimmer and beyond, but she never thought the WWE would ever call her up. That was a huge talent in her eyes, and she potentially could have a great match or seven with her.
"…And who's my partner?" Melina was crossing her fingers tightly and held the phone away from her mouth and whispered 'Please don't suck' several times.
"Can't tell ya that." Booker shook his head. "But if you accept this deal we'll have the contract sent to you and you can review it before signin' with some of our people. She's already signed…just waitin' on you to pick her up."
"…Alright." Mel gave in and lifted her head from the nightstand fully now. "And John? Remember, he was part of the deal too!"
"J-Mo is welcome back on our show. We got a contract waitin' on him too." Booker confirmed. "If he works hard and brings all that Guru of Greatness jazz to the ring again, he can get a spot in the Rumble for sure."
"Yes!" She pumped her fist as she stood up with the sheet wrapped around her body. "Fantastic! I'll tell him right away! Oh…what do you mean about…'picking her up', by the way?"
"…We'll send you the address you need once the contract is signed." Booker had some more business to tend to, so he began to hurry Melina off the phone. "We'll be in touch. We'll have some people contact you for the signing before noon. Take care, Mel."
"You too, Booker." Melina hung up and dropped her phone down on the nightstand again. With all the excitement built up, she let out a shrill scream of excitement into the night air that resounded and echoed about the hotel room. However…it barely disturbed Morrison.
"…Mel." Morrison groaned. "…Shut up."
******
Later that day…
After the contracts were signed, Melina and Morrison were on the first flight to Los Angeles. Once they returned to their normal L.A home, Melina got in her car, and was well on her way to the address Booker provided. The navigational system seemed to insist the location was a women's prison…
Melina thought it was a mistake, and perhaps it was a place…in the…area of the prison. Perhaps her tag partner just chose to meet with her at the location, and surely they were not about to pick up a convict or something of that nature.
The thoughts swam in Mel's head for the entire ride; maybe her partner was Victoria…that was if her contract was up. Maybe her partner was Trish Stratus, but she had a family to take care of now, right? What if her partner was Sara Del Rey?! Though…she probably would be vastly too good to be true. Lots of names came to Mel's mind…Kana, Kharma, Sarah Stock, Maxine, Layla, Madison Eagles, Cheerleader Melissa, Daffney, and more!
However, when the big, shiny red car of Melina's pulled up to her appointed location…there was someone there waiting for her that she did not expect.
"…Shelly?!" Melina looked on in total disbelief as her old friend stood out front of the prison with her black bandana on around her head, a cut-off 'nWo Wolfpack' shirt on that exposed much of her curvy torso. The khaki pants that clung to her hips was blocked partially by the large duffel bag she held in front of herself.
"Melina!" Shelly was absolutely ecstatic about this reunion! Many did not know this as a fact, but several years ago before they both were contacted to the WWE…Shelly and Melina worked as a tag-team and even trained together. They were old friends, but…the fact Shelly was clearly getting out of prison made Melina's eyebrows stay elevated.
Mel was speechless up until the moment Shelly climbed into her car. "What…why were…" She could hardly get her words out. She leaned back against her window as she looked at her green-eyed partner. "…You're my partner?"
Shelly paid it no mind at all. She was unzipping her bag to retrieve her oversized headphones. "Yep, signed, sealed, and delivered, Mel." She puckered her lips up with her mischievous smirk accompanying her rosy red lips. "You act like you don't want to be my partner, Hermana! What's wrong?" Shelly finally caught on to the ill-feelings and looked on with concern.
"…Nothing, I…" Melina palmed her forehead and exhaled. "I just didn't expect it. This is…great!" She bit her tongue from her true feelings. She loved Shelly sure enough, but as far as wrestling went…she had no idea if they both were on the same level or not. "So…are you getting a hotel or…?"
"Contact says we live together." Shelly said as she thumbed over her tablet to find a song on her playlist.
"What?!" Melina honked her horn in surprise with her palm. She actually slapped it in frustration as she wished she read that fine print! "No, no, no, no. Absolutely not." Melina shook her head. "You're getting a hotel, because I am not about to have you 'borrow' another car of mine after last time."
"I swear, that river came out of nowhere!" Shelly whined as the past was brought up. "Plus, I got out safely. You should be thanking baby J' that I was safe so I could be your tag partner all these years later, right?"
Melina started the car again and started to drive away while shaking her head. She reached beside herself to slip some sunglasses over her eyes in case the sun glared into her eyes while she was trying to deal with Shelly. "Right…" She exhaled. She decided that maybe it was best to focus on the positives and try to make the best of the situation. "So, you've been watching RAW, Smackdown, NXT and stuff so you can see what's going on? See how the girls are so you know how hard you have to train?"
"Yeah-yeah." Shelly said while scrolling through her songs still. "I watch it here n' there…"
"So, you've heard about The Shield?"
"Yeah-yeah. Captain America, Nick Fury, Black Widow n' stuff." Shelly was only half-listening to Melina. She did in fact have no clue what The Shield was, but she was just making small talk.
Melina just went silent for a second. "You realize that's not even close to what I'm talking about right?" She glanced over at Shelly as she drove on. "…Why were you in prison?"
Shelly rolled her eyes as if it wasn't a big deal at all. "Kinda stole a car, vandalized it, left the doors open, let hobos do their business in it, and left the keys in it. Nothin' major." She shrugged. "The guy was a puta anyways…"
Melina's look of concern and annoyance only grew with every syllable that Shelly spoke. "…What guy?"
"Oh nobody. Just Batista." She shrugged. "Shouldn't have been talkin' crazy at me in Publix."
Melina had her past with Batista…so that made her burst into chuckles a few seconds after Shelly finished speaking. "Alright, alright. This won't be so bad." She said out loud as she looked to Shell. "I'll back your choice of retaliation on that one. Anyway…, do you know who the other teams are going to be?"
Shelly put her headphones on, but kept her ear facing Melina uncapped by the large earphone. "Um…The Bellas, AJ and Ayako…, Sarita Stock and Kharma, Sereena Deeb and uh…somebody." She couldn't recall the names currently. "Some other girls, I donno. A lot of names I never heard of."
The names Shelly did know made Melina excited. It sounded promising for the most part, and she'd be able to truly compete against the best and put her staple on the WWE with Shelly. Possibly it would re-launch her singles career…which was the most precious thing to her. Call it selfish, but wrestling was not a team sport. She was sure Shelly wanted to put her singles career up there with the Taras, Trish Stratuses, and Beth Phoenixes and so on.
"Alright…" Melina took a deep breath. "We're going to Smackdown this coming Friday night, so we have a little time to train. I haven't gotten informed about the card yet, but supposedly they're going to open with a tournament for this new division, right?" Melina looked to Shelly for confirmation, and received a nod. "Perfect. We'll relax today and do the gym tomorrow, then be ready for Smackdown. Alright…all focus. Hollywood Hotties, let's go."
"…The hell?" Shelly looked to her partner with a disgusted look! "What? No-no, hell no." She spat toward the floor mat between her teeth.
"Hey! Don't spit in my car!"
"No!" Shelly pointed at Melina's cheek and poked it. "Dumb name. We're goin' by a cooler name. We're gonna stand out. I…am not going to get prissy prissy like you."
Melina shook her head as she stopped when she met up with a red light. "What do you suggest? Want me to pop vampire teeth in my mouth and a pirate eyepatch?" She glared from behind her sunglasses. "Oh, how about this? How about I spraypaint a beard on my face, pop a toothpick in my mouth, and strut around like 'Ray-sah Rah-moan'…" Melina rolled her R's with her exaggerated pronunciation of 'Razor Ramon'. She also topped it off with her impersonation of the man. "I can be all 'Hey yo. Here's anotha survey. You here to see…Shelly Martinez…or…Melina Perez'?"
"Don't ever do that again. You suck at impressions."
"It doesn't suck as bad as dressing up like a vampire, Ariel!"
Shelly had a bitter taste in her mouth about her prior 'character' in the WW-ECW. "Ever heard of Salinas? Halloween Barbie? Cle-Ho-Patra?"
"Real classy." Melina said sarcastically as she waited for the light to change. She propped her elbow on the window and leaned her forehead on her waiting palm.
"Remember Melanie Little Deer?" Shelly snorted a laugh.
"…At least I made a name for myself, my name." She retorted with a pinch of sourness in her tone. "I'm going to be well received when I get back. My past really doesn't matter before the almighty Melina."
"At least I'm not a troublemaker." Shelly spoke in a sing-song tone while finally finding her song. She unplugged her earphones from the device and blasted the song 'Das Me' by Brooke Candy at maximum volume. "I love this song! It's like…my personal theme song. Also, I think we should just be Shelly and Melina. S n' M. Simple, sexy, deadly."
"…Please don't play that trash in my car." Melina scrambled to turn on her radio once the light changed. However no matter what she did, Shelly blocked her hand as she was yelling the lyrics to the song out at the top of her lungs.
Finally, Melina just gave up…figuring it was better to endure the horrible song once to let Shelly get it out of her system.
It was going to be a very long trip..., but she did not comment on the name too soon. She liked it, but right now she had to get control of her dear friend and get her on the right level.
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A/N
Started this project for fun, and I'm trying to piece together a tournament bracket to lead up to the Royal Rumble. If anyone has suggestions on women's tag teams I'll gladly consider some of them. They do not have to be in the WWE, and they do not have to be popular at all. I'm going to try to at least mention them if they never have an actual match against Shelly and Melina.
It's going to be a mix of wrestling, backstage, and out of the arena interactions. All in which will be 'recorded' which is actually just what you guys will read if this goes on!