[Chapter 2] NXT Contract

ORLANDO, FLORIDA

Nerves raged through his muscles. Adrenaline shot through his veins. Raleigh Jones walked into the WWE performance center in Orlando, Florida, to participate in one of the few try-outs held every year to test new talent and give some of them the once in a lifetime opportunity to sign a contract with the biggest wrestling company in the world.

This time he wasn't wearing his "cheap suit" as Toby Myers liked to call it. He was wearing sporting shorts and a black sleeveless top. He felt more comfortable in this kind of clothing. After filling in his attendance form in the computer, he was shown the way to the locker room by a kind woman. She was much friendlier than the employee in Stamford. His whole feeling of this place was much more relaxed than the headquarters. He was nervous, but a healthy kind of nervous.

When Raleigh had returned to his hometown in the Netherlands for a couple of weeks before flying back to the United States, he had received an email with some standard information about the tryouts.

The tryout wouldn't be finished in a couple of hours. A full week was planned for those dreaming of becoming a legendary name in the wrestling industry. Six days of hard work and only one day in between to restore energy. The first two days were going to focus on the attendants' condition and physical strength, two essential attributes to become a WWE superstar. The third and fourth day were more relaxed. Day three was about the attendants to show their skills on the mic and cutting promos with and against the others. This would be one of the toughest days for Raleigh, since he didn't like talking on the mic. He talked by showing his in ring skills and beating his opponents, not by sharing words with the crowd and his colleagues. Day four would be about character development. Everyone had to explain the character they were visioning to use if they made it to the WWE and how they were planning on developing that character in the future. The fifth day they finally had a day off, but most of the wrestlers planned ahead on getting some more training in on that day. The sixth and seventh day were the days Raleigh was looking forward to the most. Two days of in ring action, by himself and with the others, to show how good they were. Those days were probably the most important of all week, and after spending the whole week on tearing their bodies down in high pressure training, they were expected to perform at top level. It was a good way to show the staff at the performance center who was made to work under that high pressure day in day out.

After seven days of performing as good as they could, they were invited to a private meeting with random staff members to hear the result of their performance and if they were getting the opportunity to continue training in the performance center before heading to the development brand NXT.

Raleigh opened the steel door to the locker room and noticed he was the first one to arrive at the performance center from the male superstars. He had seen a few women being shown the way to their locker room already and expected to be late. He actually arrived twenty minutes early, but due to the nerves he completely forgot about the time.

'Son of a bitch, you lied to me!' a voice said as Raleigh was stretching the muscles in his legs. Myers appeared in the locker room a few minutes after him, disappointed he wasn't first.

Raleigh looked at him, but kept concentrating on his warming up before the condition training.

'I asked you if you made it and you said now. What are you doing here?' Myers kept trying, not receiving an answer to his questions at all.

'Whatever…' he eventually gave up and started his own warming up, trying to outperform Raleigh already by doing more reps and pushing harder. Raleigh knew if they both made it to NXT, they would become rivals. They already were, actually. But that could be a good thing. They could push each other over their current limits to improve as wrestlers.

Around nine o'clock in the morning, every tryout attendant was standing in a group around one of the rings in the performance center. Matt Bloom was standing there with a few of the trainers the facility had to offer.

'Welcome everyone to the moment you've all been waiting for. The moment you can show what you're made off and if you got what it takes to become a WWE superstar!' Matt Bloom opened the tryout week in Orlando. He looked even more excited than the future stars outside the ring.

'You've all seen the schedule for this week and the groups you're in. Every group has a number attached to it, related to the ring and trainers guiding you this week.' Matt Bloom smiled. He clapped twice in his hands and everyone immediately took a walk to their rings and trainers.

Raleigh was happy he and Myers were not in the same group, allowing him to focus on his own performance rather than having to deal with the annoying man.

The first two days passed by quicker than he expected. He had an above average performance in the condition exercises, but disappointed himself in the physical exercises. He never enjoyed the strength part of wrestling, that's why he chose to develop a high-flying, lightweight character. They needed to be quick and venomous, not strong and brutal.

Raleigh was very nervous when he walked into the performance center on day three and his nerves almost killed him when he saw none other than Alexa Bliss and The Miz were there to judge their mic skills. His head turned into a tomato when he noticed them. Two of the best mic workers the WWE currently had on their roster were going to judge every word they spoke for the rest of the day.

And his nerves cost him today. He failed miserable at cutting a promo against his groupmate. The Miz gave him so harsh critics and that he had to improve a lot if he wanted to become someone great, but respected his determination to keep going, keep trying and keep failing. He didn't walk away from the challenge.

'If you decide to put him on the NXT roster, you have to consider keeping him away from the microphone or getting him a manager. He's too nervous to speak for himself, but he does have potential from what I've heard.' The Miz said to Matt Bloom after the third day when they were discussing everyone's performance in private.

The character development day was a stronger day for Raleigh. Two other current superstars were invited to help them. Seth Rollins, who had always loved helping new talents getting to their destination, was there for the male superstars. Ember Moon, who had only recently debuted on the main roster, was invited for the women.

Raleigh had a character that focused on the extreme side of wrestling and to the bullies apart with everything he can. He took the inspiration from his own childhood. He would go to all lengths to beat the bad guys and stand up for the underdogs.

Rollins was impressed by the energy Raleigh had put into the character he used in his time with PWH and small wrestling companies in the United States. He believed the WWE Universe would like someone like that to show up in the ring and beat the heels. A hero for the weak that didn't want to be called a hero.

Rollins also heard what The Miz gave as feedback to Bloom and the other trainers after yesterday and explained to the former wrestler that this character fitted the idea of not talking with words, but talking with actions. Raleigh wouldn't have to pick up a microphone once to make this character work if he put the energy in it that he had been giving to his character for years.

'Good point, but you know we want to have promos between top stars and he can't become a top star if he doesn't have the skills to cut those promos.' Bloom argued. Rollins couldn't deny that statement, but stuck with his opinion.

After a day resting, hitting the gym to get a few more hours of exercise in before the ultimate two days, Raleigh walked in ten minutes earlier than he had done the entire week. This time, Myers actually beat him to it, getting here sixty minutes prior to the kick-off of the in-ring action weekend.

'You're not going to make it. I've heard you on that microphone. Terrible. No, they should really give me that contract and push you back to the indies.' Myers grinned, running in confidence. He always thought he was better than anyone he met in this industry. Hell, he even believed the Undertaker shouldn't retire until he got his hands on him and put him into retirement with his bare hands.

'With someone with that attitude in the company, I don't even want to get there.' Raleigh lashed at Myers, who was slightly shocked by that response before he started bragging about his achievements again.

Saturday they showed their skills in the ring on their own. How they hit the ropes, their movement, falling. All the basics they needed to actually be a wrestler. Sunday was the day Raleigh had been waiting for the whole week. His body was hurt somewhat, but he was going to show the trainers that they had to give him the opportunity to sign a WWE contract and go to NXT to develop his abilities before going up to the main roster.

He was partnered up with a tall African-American wrestler with short black hair and a goatee. Raleigh knew him from the boxing style he used inside the ropes. A friend of him once sent him a video of his highlights. Teddy Jordan Gauntt was his real name, but he worked under the ring-name T.J. Combo. He was well-known for his striking power and often used the ropes to put more power behind the punches he threw. He sometimes used moves like suplexes to get his opponent to distance when he got too close to use his fists, but mostly relied on his boxing style.

Raleigh was excited to see how he could use his high-flying, rapid fire technique against a wrestler who focused on striking and nothing else. It reminded him of a quote by Bruce Lee: "I fear not the man who has practiced ten thousand kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick ten thousand times."

It was the same with Combo, who had practiced his strikes over and over again.

'Show us what you got.' Bloom said, before ringing a bell. Triple H, the current owner of the WWE since Vince McMahon retired from the business, was standing ringside with his wife Stephanie to see how the talents were doing. After all they were having the final word in handing out the contracts to these newcomers.

T.J. Combo stuck out his fists and Zevex hit them, knowing boxers did that before they started hitting each other. He moved and dodged some of the punches Combo threw at him, but was caught with a rough uppercut to the chin. Tears popped up in his eyes from the pain and he saw a lot of stars, but was immediately pulled up and thrown towards the corner. Combo came running at him and tried to fire a running European uppercut at him. He called that signature move the Uppercut City.

Zevex dropped on his back and Combo ran into the corner, hitting nothing but the padded turnbuckle. When he turned around again, he was thrown back into the corner by Zevex' shotgun dropkick. He pushed Combo away from the corner, climbed up to the top rope and went for his Flat Nose signature move: a top rope Famouser.

Combo hit him with a brutal uppercut and finished Zevex off with a wind-up uppercut before attempting his first pin of the exhibition. Zevex kicked out at two, but was immediately caught in a rapid fire of punches. To his own surprise he managed to duck underneath a KO Punch and connected his own finisher move called the Massacre, which looked a lot like a jumping Black Mass he adopted from his fellow Dutchman Aleister Black. He and Black never faced each other in a match during their times in other companies, but had trained together a few times.

Zevex attempted a pin, but Combo kicked out after the two count as well. This time Combo connected his KO Punch on the right side of Zevex' head when his opponent went for a moonsault from the top rope. Bloom rang the bell before another pin attempt was made, because they crossed the fifteen minute mark. He was impressed by both men.

'You're good.' Gauntt complimented Raleigh when both of the man got out of the ring to make place for the next couple. Toby Myers was taking on Jason Sabre.

'Tell that to yourself.' Raleigh responded to the compliment. He liked this man. No bullshit, respect for his opponents and the will to overcome every challenge thrown at him. The latter was similar to Toby Myers, but he would literally do anything to accomplish his goals, even if it meant acting dirty and stabbing his friends in the back.

The next day Raleigh walked into the performance center around three o'clock in the afternoon. His meeting with Bloom and Triple H was planned for that hour and he actually slept a few hours longer. He knew he delivered a decent job this week and deserved to rest his body a little longer that day, since he had to be at the performance center late on the day.

'Welcome, Raleigh.' Bloom said. Raleigh thanked them for giving him the opportunity and sat down in front of the two veterans.

'We've seen you perform this week. We've discussed with the trainers and wrestlers who were here the last couple of days and want to give you some feedback before we continue.' Triple H explained.

'You've passed the condition and strength tests we threw at you and the others, but your mic work needs a lot of improvement. We can help you with that if you want to put in the energy. We talked with Seth Rollins about using the lack of that skill in your character, but believe you need to be able to promote yourself against other superstars. Your character on the other hand looks really promising. Basics in the ring are what we want to see and you showed us that you mastered those basics. Mr. Gauntt and you put up a good performance for us and think both of you can make it.'

'That's why we have decided to present you with an NXT contract.' Triple H smiled as he took a black folder with some paperwork inside from the desk they were sitting behind and opened it in front of him.

'This is the pre-contract to confirm you're going to sign with us. Once you've signed this one, we can set up the official contract and agree on a signing date in Stamford.' Matt Bloom pointed at the folder.

'Thank you. Thanks a lot.' Raleigh laughed at them as he signed the pre-contract and agreed to meet in Stamford in four days to sign a full contract with the WWE.

Four days later he signed a contract, stating his salary and the duration of his contract. Two years he was going to be attached to the American wrestling company. But he knew if he managed to live up to their expectations, or even exceed them, he was going to be in for a long career with the WWE.

He was beyond excited that he managed to achieve his goal to reach the WWE and immediately called his parents to tell them the exciting news. They were really happy for him and knew he was going to make it there. He cherished their words to become better every day. Raleigh did it. He managed to get his NXT contract at the young age of twenty-one.