Adrienne's eyes beamed with excitement at meeting with World Wrestling Federation CEO Linda McMahon. She had to breathe hard to contain the butterflies dancing in her stomach. This was way too much, way too soon. Was this really happening? Only a few months ago she had finally graduated with her degree in graphic design with a minor in communication studies. She had been working with a small PR firm to pay the bills and to get some experience. Sure, it was a fine job and the pay was okay. She didn't have any obvious reasons to go into public relations, though. Obvious on the surface, that is. See, Adrienne was a wrestling fan and growing up she had always marvelled at the business—the entire experience that was sports entertainment. Like any kid at some point in time she imagined herself one day entering the squared circle and competing. Yeah. Right. Not her though, that idea was so farfetched it was laughable. It's not that she didn't believe her dream couldn't be pursued but that's not exactly the path she knew she wanted to follow to join the World Wrestling Federation.
She knew in-ring competition may not have worked, but she definitely wanted to write—to follow the stories told by the wrestlers, get in-depth access and share a side of them that the fans haven't seen before that they can appreciate. Her passion had been writing, drawing and of course, the WWF. She never was much interested in WCW but tried every now and then to keep up. But she knew where she came from, wrestling for the most part was considered a joke. There was no respect there for it as a sport much less for the entertainment value. It had been five years since she left the island, Trinidad and Tobago—her home. She came to the US to pursue her degree and to get better opportunities for herself. Her family was supportive enough. Adrienne was an intelligent girl and had always done well in school. In fact, she was the first in her family to get a degree. Her mother was quite proud of her accomplishments and hoped more success would follow. But what Adrienne didn't tell her family was the real reason for coming to the US.
At least if I'm here on US soil, trying to break into the business might be easier she hoped to herself.
She did things to improve her chances of getting hired. Her background in PR might help, but fresh out of college with little working experience and all alone in this big, strange land made everything seem overwhelming. She'd have to work harder than everyone to succeed, that much she knew. She lived in a tiny apartment in Boston in a neighbourhood filled with Caribbean islanders. Although she'd left home a while, she still managed to keep her sweet, sing-song Trini accent which many mistook as being Jamaican. This mix-up always annoyed her a little, as she found it was still important to cling to her Trinidad identity even though trying to assimilate into the American one. As often as she could she would go to small wrestling promotion shows and take in the action. Adrienne liked to study the wrestlers during the matches. But she really enjoyed the psychological aspect of it—the taunting, storyline build-ups, the tension… just the things that kept people coming back for more. She wanted to create that spark that always kept the mob at the edge of their seats. After the shows, she would usually go home and pull photos she took from off her camera and use them to jog her memories of the evening as a catalyst to write storylines and angles for the characters.
You could do some serious stuff for these characters, even go batshit crazy like Russo, she laughed to herself.
Adrienne had compiled a number of in-depth storylines and angles but always enjoyed formatting them and the accompanying photos into a magazine layout—a mock-up of her own brand of a WWF print magazine on the computer. She kept a file of the printed mock-ups and usually thumbed through them when she starting losing heart over her dream. As an immigrant, it wasn't easy making friends and she only had two, Chris and Andy, whom she met while at college. Aside from her family, her support system was basically those two guys. It had been quite easy to make friends with them. They were drawn to her because she was different and she was drawn to them because of her intelligence, talent and quick wit. She smiled to herself as she remembered what her friends told her.
"It's going to be okay, you'll see. Everyone can see you're talented enough," Chris said over the phone as he handed it over to Andy.
"Just try not to piss yourself," Andy said stifling a laugh. She felt so anxious and the nerves started to get the better of her.
"Ha-ha. Thanks for the moral support, jeez. Talk to you guys later." Adrienne hung up the phone and composed herself while checking out her reflection in the elevator's mirrored surface. She wore a dark green pencil skirt, black pumps and taupe blouse under a blazer. Her back-length dreadlocks that she's recently dyed a golden blonde was piled high in a chignon. She wore simple diamond studs and a matching silver bracelet. Her make-up was minimal and neutral. She thought she looked good. She smiled back at her reflection a little and sighed lightly. She'd made it. She was officially a new employee of the World Wrestling Federation. The elevator suddenly stopped at a floor and snapped Adrienne out of her daydream. Her breath caught in her throat as she recognised Linda McMahon getting into the elevator. Linda smiley politely at Adrienne recognising her surprised expression. The two women rode the elevator as a number of people came and went in-between floors. As the elevator neared the 18th floor Adrienne bit her lip and decided to make introductions.
"Hello, Mrs. McMahon. My name is Adrienne Kelly. I won a WWF internship in that contest some time ago. Today is my first day. I'm your next appointment," she said with a nervous smile.
"Oh," Linda chuckled softly as she held out her hand. "Nice to meet you. You can walk with me to my office then."