[Chapter 1] The Beginning
STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT
The sun was reflecting a blinding light in the glass panes covering the façades of the Titan Towers, a seven-story office tower serving as the headquarters for the World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling promotion. The stars and stripes of the United States of America were weaving wild in the hard wind together with a black flag signed with the logo of the company.
Fans from all over the world were standing just outside its perimeter to take pictures of the glorious building while waiting to see someone they know from television. It was a tough day for them because none of the superstars, divas or other television personnel were currently in Stamford. They weren't allowed to go inside, because the office wasn't opened for public.
The fans became even more annoyed when an 5'11" tall man walked into the building wearing a cheap suit who didn't give them any attention. Only two fans knew who he was.
'Is he really that important he can just walk in there?' one of the fans asked his friend, but got answered by another who knew who the man was.
'That's Ray Zevex. He's a talented wrestler from the Netherlands who's currently leaving his mark in some smaller companies.'
'Never heard of him. What's he going to do here?'
'Who knows?'
Ray Zevex was a high-flying wrestler from Rotterdam dark-blond hair in an undercut, wearing the longer part to the left. A well-trimmed beard covered his chin and cheeks. His blue eyes were slightly distracted as he looked through the office, walking up to the desk a few steps away from the entrance of the building.
'Good morning. I've got an appointment at eleven.' he said with a slightly trembling voice to the stern looking woman sitting behind a computer.
'Name?' she asked, not showing interest in the visitor. Her eyes were locked on the screen in front her as she scrolled through a list of all the appointments for today.
'Raleigh Jones.' he answered.
'Take a seat. Mr. Bloom will be here shortly.' she said, still not taking a gaze at him. He nodded, thanked her and almost stumbled as he turned around. His nerves were going to be his end if they kept raging through his body like this.
There wasn't a minute that passed without nerves taking a toll on him. Only one place could bring him complete peace and that was inside the squared circle where he could become someone completely different. A place where he could pause his life for a second and take on the role of someone else.
He sat down on a expensive, black leather chair. His eyes flashed around the small room separated from the lobby by a glass curtain wall. He noticed a good looking woman on the other side of the room reading a magazine to spend her time. Her hair was long and curly with a blonde color. Pretty green eyes noticed him staring at her and she nodded to him with a polite smile. Raleigh did not respond and turned his eyes on the ground, slightly embarrassed she caught him staring at her.
'Perv.' a bearded man about the same size as Raleigh spat from the corner of the room. Fact was he had been staring at her himself and was slightly annoyed he did not get any response by her.
Raleigh looked at him with apologizing eyes, but the man was not buying it.
'You're staring at her like you've never seen a good looking girl before.'
'I'm sorry.' Raleigh said, but the man got up from his chair and sat down next to him, poking at the cheap suit.
'Couldn't buy anything better? If you want to become a great wrestler like me, you've got to buy something better. And do something about that haircut of yours. It looks like you've killed a hamster and put it on your bald head.'
Raleigh did not respond to the insults. It reminded him of his past. He dealt with a lot of bullying during his childhood and never fully recovered from all the insults and bruises left on his mind and body. It was the reason he couldn't control his nerves outside the ropes of a wrestling ring.
'Leave him alone.' the woman said as she put down her magazine on the empty chair besides her.
'You care about him, darling?'
'Mr. Myers.' a raw male voice said. A tall brown man had been overseeing the whole situation and wasn't impressed by the actions of the man he had an appointment with.
'Yes, that's me! You're never going to make it, Zevex.' the man called Myers lashed out at Raleigh as he walked out of the waiting room and followed the WWE employee.
Raleigh was actually more surprised than annoyed by those last words. Someone actually knew who he was. His performance in the ring had impressed Myers enough to glue his name in his memory.
'You're okay?' the woman asked.
'Fine.' Raleigh nodded, not daring to look at her after Myers called him out on perving over her. He knew he wasn't doing that, but his insecurity told him something different.
'Mr. Jones.' the familiar voice of Matt Bloom, head trainer at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, called. Raleigh was shocked to see a famous wrestler like him and almost fainted.
'Good luck.' the woman on the other smiled as she started browsing through her magazine once again, looking for an article she was reading when Myers started his show.
Raleigh followed Matt Bloom to his temporary office. He was only here for a couple of days to recruit potential talents for the performance center. He had seen some interesting things when he saw footage of Ray Zevex during his run in the indies and was mostly impressed by his risky high-flying maneuvers.
'Take a seat.' Matt said, gesturing to the even more expensive chair in his office while he closed the dark wooden door behind him.
'Welcome to the WWE headquarters.'
'Thanks for having me.'
'You want something to drink?'
'A glass of water will do, thanks.'
'Obviously I've seen some of your stuff after you send your application for the next try-outs in the performance center. I took the footage to some of my colleagues and discussed a few things before we made a decision. You have a lot of potential as a wrestler, but definitely need to learn a few things about cutting promos. It's definitely not your strongest skill, but that can be worked on. That said, I want to invite you to the next try-outs in four weeks in Orlando.'
Raleigh didn't know how to respond and Matt noticed that, laughing at him and saying: 'I'll see you there. Come prepared.'
Before he knew it, Raleigh was standing outside the building again. The interview passed like a moving train. Myers was waiting on him on the other side of the road with a arrogant smile on his face. Raleigh decided to turn to the other side and walked away from him, but immediately got followed.
'You didn't make it, did you?' Myers asked, not actually interested in the answer.
'No, I didn't.' Raleigh lied. He thought it would be great to see the look on the guys face when he showed up at the performance center in a few weeks.
'Told you. You should have never even went to the headquarters. Just a simple call to me and I could've helped you from embarrassing yourself. And that girl knows it too. She's just too polite to let you know.'
Eventually, after not responding to the bragging and the insults, Myers disappeared in a taxi to go to his five-star hotel. Raleigh was sleeping in much cheaper hotel, but all he cared about was a clean bed to sleep in.
He went to bed early that night, thinking about the day and another successful step in his journey to main event the greatest wrestling show of them all: Wrestlemania. One day he would face the best wrestlers the world had to offer. Another day passed that brought him closer to that childhood dream. A childhood dream that made people bully him because they thought wrestling was something for losers. Something idiots watched and liked. But no matter how much he got bullied, how much he suffered from their insults, his parents, brother and sister always believed in him and made sure he could make it to that one place he wanted to be. The only place he wanted to be. To be surrounded by talented wrestlers who put their bodies on the line for the entertainment of the crowd. The people who cheered and booed for them. And if it meant having to deal with a guy like Myers on his journey, it had to be like that. He would go through all the bullying again if he got his shot in the biggest wrestling company the world had ever seen.
He undressed, took a hot shower, brushed his teeth and tuck himself in bed to fall asleep almost immediately. The following days were going to be filled with training to be in top condition for the try-outs. It was going to be hard, but he actually felt he could do this. After all the negative things he had to go through, he was finally going to get something positive in return.
…
You may have started reading this story with a different idea. Some of you might have read it in the author's update I will have deleted by the time this chapter is uploaded.
I've decided to drastically change the way this story is going to be told. This story will focus my OC on his way to the WWE while your OC's will become big parts of that journey.
I've decided to do this because I wasn't really pleased with the first chapter (while some of you were), and think this way I can put more of my ideas in it to improve the quality.
Thanks for understanding and if you have any questions, don't hesitate and send me a message!
Greetings!
Ramingo
