By the time she arrived in the women's locker room before Raw, Ronda had pretty much overcome her hangover, thanks in part to the breakfast that Dean had bought her. They had gone their separate ways once they had gotten back to the hotel, having made a vague commitment to have the dinner date they had discussed one night during the week.

Looking around the locker room as she entered, Ronda saw other faces that looked a bit rough. She hadn't been the only one going at it hard at the Wrestlemania after party, and she clearly hadn't been the only one to wake up with a nasty hangover.

"Hey, Ronda," Natalya called out cheerfully, beckoning her over.

Ronda got along well with most of the girls in the locker room, having been no stranger to them even before she signed a contract with WWE. Natalya, though, was a personal friend of hers, having spent several months down in Florida helping to train her in the art of wrestling. Learning from someone so experienced had been invaluable, and the two women had hit it off personally too.

"Hi, Nattie, how are you?" Ronda said pleasantly, setting her travel case in front of the empty locker next to the Canadian's.

"Really good, thanks. Surprising, after last night. I was struggling a bit this morning."

"Me too," Ronda smiled. "A fried breakfast helped me out. I'm over the worst of it now."

The locker on the other side of Ronda was being used by Becky Lynch. Since it was the Raw after Wrestlemania, the rosters from both Raw and Smackdown were in attendance.

"We have news," Becky announced.

"Oh?" Ronda enquired.

"There's going to be what they're calling a superstar shakeup next week. They're having Kurt announce it tonight."

"Awesome," Ronda said excitedly. "I can't wait to see who they send where."

"We're both hoping we get to come over here to Raw," Natalya said. "We could both use a bit of a fresh start."

"Yeah, it's starting to get a bit old never having a storyline or anything," Becky added.

Ronda nodded her agreement. "I hear that. I don't understand why they've not been giving you anything. Personally, I'd love to work with you."

Becky smiled. "Thanks, I appreciate that. Let's hope we get the chance at some point. Maybe an armbar versus Dis-arm-her match?"

"I'd be up for that. But there would be only one winner," Ronda added with one of her biggest smiles.

"Yep. And beating Ronda Rousey would be a big deal for me," Becky said deadpan.

Standing beside them, Natalya giggled, enjoying the friendly banter.

"Honestly, what I'm eager to find out is what's next for me," Ronda said. "I mean, I got the win over Steph last night and the match seemed to go over quite well, but I've been told nothing about where we go from here."

"Seemed to go over quite well?" Becky asked, sounding like she was trying to figure out if Ronda was for real. "Girl, that match was the highlight of the night. The crowd was on fire the whole time. I've hardly ever seen anything like it. There were people totally losing their minds when you were going after Triple H."

Ronda felt humbled by the high praise. "I have to say, it was such a rush getting that kind of reaction. I think people actually thought I was going to tap out Hunter for a moment."

"Yeah, I was one of them," Sasha Banks said, walking over to join them. She had a copy of the formats for Raw in her hand. She held up the stapled sheets of paper and asked Ronda, "Have you seen the plan for tonight yet?"

"No, only just walked in," Ronda said. Of all the people on the Raw roster, Sasha was the one she felt most distant from. While they had never had an issue of any kind, Banks had made no particular effort to get to know Ronda, or to make sure she felt welcome, as most of the other girls had. That was up to her, though. Ronda wasn't going to make a big deal of it.

"Well, they've got Angle announcing that it's me and you at Backlash. We're both involved in the promo. I just wanted to come and see you before we got started on this thing and say that I have no objection to being your first singles opponent. However, I also want to say that, since you're almost certainly going to be the one going over, I'm not simply here to do a job for you. I'm not an enhancement talent. Both of us need to get something out of this program."

Natalya spoke up before Ronda could get a word in, not sounding all that pleased with Sasha's abrupt attitude. "Give her a break, Sasha. You just said yourself this is her first singles rivalry. You should be helping her and making sure everything goes smoothly, not throwing your weight around."

"How am I throwing my weight around?" Sasha objected, more than a hint of confrontation in her tone.

"Alright, let's all cool it, shall we?" Ronda suggested, wanting to diffuse things before anyone started getting hot under the collar. "Sasha, I've got no problem at all making sure we both get something out of this. I wouldn't want to turn up at Backlash and beat you in thirty seconds or something. People might have loved that kind of thing in UFC, but this isn't UFC. I'm here to try and put on good quality wrestling matches, the same as the rest of you guys."

Becky nodded. "Well said."

Banks still didn't seem overly impressed, however she didn't labour the point any further. "Okay then. I'll see you out there." With that, she walked back across the room to her locker, next to Bayley's.

"What's her problem?" Ronda quietly asked Becky and Natalya. "It's not like I'm going to go to Vince and tell him I want to bury her. Or that he would listen to me if I did, come to that."

"That's Sasha for you," Becky said with a shrug. "Some days she'll be one of the most fun people to be around. Other times, she'll have gotten out of the wrong side of the bed and you'll get BS like that from her. You'll get used to it soon enough. I've never had a problem with her in the ring, and that's what really matters."

"Right," Ronda said quietly. Never lacking in confidence, she certainly wasn't reluctant to work a program with Banks. But part of her still wished Vince had put her with someone a little easier to get along with for her first run. But, she reasoned, there was nothing she could do about that. Her job was simply to go out to the ring and do a promo segment with Kurt and Sasha. Sitting down on the bench in front of her locker, she started to read over the summary of what was required from her on that night's show.


Monday Night Raw – April 9th 2018

Kurt Angle opened the show in front of the traditionally raucous Raw after Wrestlemania crowd, to a rapturous reception. He began with the announcement of the superstar shakeup, which would be taking place over the course of the Raw and Smackdown episodes the following week.

With than announcement made, Kurt moved on to talking about his match at Wrestlemania, where he had teamed with Ronda Rousey to beat Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. Ronda had gotten the decision by submission, after locking Stephanie in an armbar.

"It was a huge honour to stand victorious in the ring at Wrestlemania once again," Kurt said proudly. "I couldn't have done it without my partner, though. Last night, she outperformed even my incredibly high expectations to steal the show, in her first ever professional wrestling match. I'd like to bring her out now, so please welcome, Rowdy Ronda Rousey!"

The crowd cheered loudly as Angle pointed to the stage and Bad Reputation began to play. Smiling broadly, Ronda walked out onto the stage, to the biggest reaction she had received so far in her brief WWE career. She made her usual entrance, slapping hands with as many of the fans standing alongside the ramp as she could.

Once Ronda entered the ring, her music faded out and was replaced by a chant of "Ronda Rousey!" She hugged Kurt, then looked around at the excitable crowd with a dazzling smile on her face, loving and appreciating the support.

"Now, Ronda," Kurt said, also smiling. "As we all saw last night, you made Stephanie McMahon tap out with an armbar. I can reveal now that Stephanie suffered a dislocated elbow and ligament damage as a result of that hold. Her injury will require surgery, so it'll be some time before we see her back here on Raw."

Kurt and Ronda exchanged some private words, and Ronda laughed at the fact that the fans were chanting "Yes!" at the news of Stephanie's injury.

"However," Kurt went on, "Ronda, I have to inform you that after Wrestlemania was over last night, Stephanie made a decision about your next match, and your next opponent." He turned away from Ronda to look directly into the camera. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted to announce that Ronda Rousey will be having her first singles match in WWE at the upcoming Backlash pay-per-view."

As the crowd cheered again, Ronda was shown nodding her approval of that piece of news.

"And, Ronda, as far as your opponent is concerned, as Stephanie put it, you'll be going from facing one boss to another when you take on none other than Sasha Banks!"

There was another cheer from the crowd as the commentary team hyped up the match that had just been announced. Ronda nodded again, looking like she appreciated the challenge that had been set for her. She raised her microphone and spoke for the first time.

"Kurt, it was my pleasure, and an amazing experience to share the ring with you last night at Wrestlemania, and it was definitely a pleasure to kick Stephanie McMahon's ass and damn near break her arm." She paused while the fans cheered. "And it will also be my pleasure to wrestle Sasha Banks at Backlash. I look forward to it."

"That's good," Kurt said with a smile. "Once I found out about the match, I decided that what I wanted to do was add a stipulation to it, to make it an even more momentous occasion than it would already have been. Therefore, I'm delighted to announce that…"

Kurt was interrupted by Sasha Bank's music hitting. There was another cheer from the crowd, while Ronda and Kurt turned to look at the stage.

"Quite a twenty four hours for Sasha Banks," Corey Graves said after Michael Cole had made his usual cringe-worthy comment about it being Boss time. "Last night, Sasha was eliminated from the women's battle royal by her supposed friend, Bayley. It was an act of betrayal, and I would imagine Banks is rightfully angry about it."

"Let's not pretend that was the first incident between Sasha and Bayley," Coach said. "There have been problems between those two ladies for months now. Last night was just the latest example."

"I'm no body language expert," Cole said, "But Sasha doesn't look happy at all to me."

Sasha entered the ring and took a microphone. She wasted no time getting straight to the point as soon as her music faded, addressing Angle and ignoring Ronda. "Kurt, no offense, but I have no interest in wrestling Ronda Rousey at Backlash. The event is called Backlash, and I have someone in mind who needs some backlash from me after last night. Bayley stabbed me in the back and eliminated me from the women's battle royal, which I would otherwise have won. I want Bayley at Backlash."

"Well, you're not going to get Bayley at Backlash, you're facing this woman right here," Kurt said, gesturing to Ronda, as if to remind Sasha that Rousey was there in the ring with them.

"I don't want to face Ronda Rousey," Sasha fired back, getting heated about it. "I don't care about Ronda Rousey, and I don't care about this match you're talking about."

Ronda was shown looking less than pleased by that final comment as the fans also reacted to it as if they found it insulting.

"If I was you, I'd start caring about the match," Kurt advised strongly. "Because what I was about to say before you interrupted was that the winner of your match at Backlash will be the first woman to qualify for the following month's women's Money in the Bank ladder match."

"Woah!" Cole exclaimed over another cheer. "That's a blockbuster announcement. Either Ronda Rousey or Sasha Banks will compete in the Money in the Bank ladder match."

Annoyed, Ronda stepped forward, squaring up to Sasha. "And you want to start caring about Ronda Rousey, because when you're standing across the ring from me at Backlash, you can bet your ass I'll be caring about you. I'll be caring about you, and I'll be caring about qualifying for the Money in the Bank match."

The two women stood nose to nose for a moment, glaring into each other's eyes, intensity written all over both of their faces.

"Ladies, how about we save it for Backlash?" Kurt suggested, tactfully interjecting himself between them, making them both take a step back. "As for tonight, Sasha? You came out here all fire and fury saying you wanted to get your hands on Bayley after what happened last night at Wrestlemania. My advice to you is don't be so hasty to throw away a long term friendship. I think the two of you would be better served by trying to work out your differences. Therefore, we will see the team of Sasha Banks and Bayley take on Absolution, tonight, on Monday Night Raw!"

As the commentators talked up that encounter and Angle's music began to play, Ronda took the moral high ground by turning and leaving the ring.


A/N: Thank you everyone for your votes on the improvised poll last time. Needless to say, Sasha Banks was the winner, and she will face Ronda at Backlash with a spot in the Money in the Bank ladder match on the line.

Next time, we have Dean taking Ronda out to an Indian restaurant, where he will be trying curry for the first time. So, the prediction question is this: Will the date be a success?