Chapter 2:

Rejection


"Bad Mood Rising! One, two three...and Jordana Moody picks up the victory!"

If Jory had heard the excitement in Corey Graves' voice, she would have dismissed it as a mixture of a cruel joke and a paid endorsement. Given the way her career had been tinkered with since summer 2014, it was hard to think anyone could be genuine. Referee John Cone called for the bell to officially end the match while Jory pulled herself off the prone body of Natalya Neidhart. She rested back on her calves, her hands on her thighs, trying to catch her breath. It had been a very physical, hard-hitting match, the kind of match that she had been itching to have since coming back from her injury. When she arrived at the arena and saw her name on the match card beside Natalya's, she had been so excited. Even though she was one of the girls keeping Jory frozen out, in protest on behalf of the Bella Twins, Natalya was considered to be one of the best on the roster. Jory knew she was Canadian wrestling royalty; despite their differences, Jory respected her.

John helped Jory to her feet, raising her hand high. Generic techno music blared through the speakers, music that she hated with every fiber of her being. She could still vividly recall the first time Hunter had brought it to her, and how much she had hated it. Hunter worked hard to sell her on the music, promising her that it was young, hip, and fit his vision for her. She trusted his vision, right? At the time she had been so spellbound by everything around her that she believed every word he spoke. Of course, she believed him; he was The Game, the Cerebral Assassin, the guy who usurped Shane McMahon to take over the company one day. He had a vision for her, for the future, and, for better or worse, she had to trust it if she wanted that Hall of Fame career she had dreamed about for so long. Since leaving The Authority, Jory found herself hating the music more and more every time she heard it, but they wouldn't let her change it. Every week it sounded worse in her ears, a constant painful reminder of a past she wished she could forget.

When John dropped Jory's hand, her eyes flickered down to Natalya, who was stirring on the canvas. She was the polar opposite of her father, WWE legend Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, with golden blonde hair, hazel eyes, and cheekbones to die for. Rolling onto her side, Natalya looked up at Jory, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. The expression Natalya's face made Jory suspect that Natalya expected her to attack. Instead, Jory extended her hand, wordlessly offering to help Natalya to her feet. The crowd let out a loud "Oh!" as Natalya instead opted to roll out of the ring and walk slowly up the ramp.

She watched Natalya walk away, her shoulders curving. Even though she had accepted the idea that some of the girls would never fully accept her, it was still hard to watch them be happy with each other, but not her. They talked and offered encouragement on Instagram, but never hers. Some of them sent open abuse her way. With the exception of Bayley, Becky, Dana, and Renee, nobody followed her. Even with Brie Bella - the woman at the heart of her terrible deeds - gone, the divide between Jory and her colleagues still felt too wide to bridge.

It wasn't a surprise at all to Jory to find it was business as usual as she walked through the curtain. There was no acknowledgment of her existence as she walked towards the backstage area.

With the special perks and the private locker rooms gone, Jory wasn't at all surprised to learn the girls didn't accept her apologies or her overtures for peace. They had no reason to. It was a long time before Jory could change with the girls again. She was amazed at how long some of the girls could carry a grudge for, over a woman who had spent the better part of her career bullying, torturing and tormenting the girls around them. It had never been her intention to be the enemy; she didn't arrive in the company looking to screw over anybody. But she had been looking to make an impact.

Every night she drove back to her hotel room and wondered how she could fix things. Far removed from her Authority days, Jory had enough hindsight to regret every move she ever made. I never ever should have believed a word that came out of their mouths, she thought. The fault is mine and mine alone there.

Walking into the women's locker room, she wasn't at all surprised to find it empty. She was, however, surprised to see her bag was gone. Jory could hear the water running in the shower area. She presumed somebody was there, so she went to ask about her bag. Running a hand through her sweat-slicked hair, she came to a stop and sighed in defeat. Her bag and her hoodie were on the ground, with the water running directly onto it. Everything was soaked.

She approached and shut everything down. The realization that she was going to have to spend the rest of her night in her ring gear was unwelcome. She looked at her bag, where she knew she had placed her cell phone, and realized she was going to have to have it replaced, that it was probably ruined. The irritation she felt was quickly replaced by a feeling of helplessness. There was nobody she could tell about this; management wasn't going to help, and speaking a word of it to the wrong person would only give them the perception that she was complaining. If that happened, then whoever was behind it was only going to ramp up the punishment.

Looking at her luggage blankly, she couldn't help but think about Seth Rollins, about his promo earlier in the night where he doubled down on his allegiance to The Authority. They gave him a title match against Roman at Money in the Bank for it. She thought about the knee injury that sidelined him at the worst possible time. As if there's a good time to go down, she thought to herself. Even if Seth was acting willingly blind to it, she could see the seeds of tension already planted between Hunter, Seth, Randy, and Stephanie. The fact that he thought things could go back to the way they were before left Jory dumbfounded. His days are numbered. He just doesn't seem to know it yet. She thought about the eventual fallout. Sure, there'd be some tension over what he had done. But eventually, everyone would come to love and trust him again.

It's because he has always been one of them, Jory, honey. He knew most of these people before he got here. You've never been one of them. Ever. From day one. Hunter saw to that. He saw to that the second he saw you at tryouts and decided to fast-track you through everything. Your entire career has been one big, fat reminder that you are not one of them.

Jory crumpled to her knees in front of her wet clothing and huffed. You didn't see it then, but you made the biggest mistake of your life.

In time, she knew that Seth was going to be in the same boat. She had been foolish to ignore their treacherous histories. He would be, too, just as so many had before them. While she had some kind of inkling that it was coming, Seth himself didn't seem to realize that the Sword of Damocles was hanging over his head.


Seth stomped back into his hotel room, throwing his bag ahead of him with a raspy, exasperated sigh. He let the door shut behind him while he kicked off his running shoes, leaving them in a heap on the floor beside the desk. Unzipping his grey hoodie, Seth dropped it over the back of the desk chair as he strolled towards the bed, giving his bag another hard kick for good measure. At that point, he didn't care if there was anything breakable in there; he needed something to kick.

He should have been in a good mood. He knew that. Seth should have been ecstatic that he got his rematch for the WWE Championship, the title that he never really lost. But he wasn't. After all their words of reassurance and encouragement, after all the promises they had made while he was laid up in the hospital, Seth had a nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach and in the back of his mind that Hunter and Stephanie had just spent the better part of a year blowing smoke into his ear. Of course, he wasn't stupid; he realized that being out with an injury meant that someone else was going to have to pick up the ball and run with it in his absence. He wasn't even surprised to see it was Randy Orton, Hunter's trusty standby Superstar.

But he's back now. It was time for Seth to reclaim his torch and carry the company into the next era. He believed Hunter and Stephanie when they visited him after his surgery, armed with a bouquet so big that he couldn't see either of them at first. He had been so depressed following surgery, but Hunter and Stephanie's words had helped him through. "You're still our guy," Hunter had assured him gruffly. "Nothing changes."

Yet tonight, he had been so happy to see her. She looked great, as always. With arms wide open and a huge smile, he'd gone in for a big hug, just like old times, only to be cut off at the pass. On camera. In front of the world. He'd seen the change in her blue eyes; it was almost as if she were irritated to see him. He could still feel her soft but firm hand on his sternum. He'd felt so stupid, his arms wide open and his grin enormous.

Nothing's changed my ass, he thought bitterly, sitting down heavily on the bed to take off his socks. With your luck, Rollins, this is just the calm before the storm. You're going to end up just like that girl they threw out. What was her name again? Something with a J...Joanna? Jesus, I'm so self-absorbed. She's been in the company two and a half years now, and you don't even remember it.

"She's probably not that memorable. Excuse me," Seth said out loud, snorting. He threw his socks down on the floor, staring at them, deep in thought still. J&J Security was gone now, which meant he was alone in his quest to regain the Championship. All the confidence he'd had in The Authority being at his disposal dissolved when he saw Stephanie. He hoped they were still behind him; he had given up everything for them, had given them everything he had until his body gave out and he couldn't give anything anymore. The sacrifices he had made both personally and professionally had been astronomical. Every relationship he had outside of those two and his mother was reduced to scorched Earth. The men he considered his brothers were now his mortal enemies because of the things he had done for them. Since June 2, 2014, Seth has only relied on Hunter and Stephanie. Without the people who lured him away from The Shield behind him, he was alone without an ally. The thought of that was genuinely destabilizing.

I know you don't want to admit it, Rollins, but you rolled craps here. How great has The Authority really been?

"Hey. That's enough out of you," he grumbled, falling back on the bed horizontally, staring up at the ceiling. Stephanie and Hunter are tired of your shit on your first night back, man. That's not a good sign. You let all of it go to your head. Everything you've done...they overlooked all of it while you were giving them what they wanted. But the second you got hurt...They are going to put you out to pasture, dude. It might not be now, but it's coming. Seth sighed loudly. "Fuck."

He had come back to WWE with a list of problems left over from his time as champion. Brock Lesnar wanted to get his hands on Seth for humiliating him at WrestleMania 31 when he'd cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and stole the main event. Roman Reigns wanted a piece of him for a variety of reasons, and Dean - the lunatic - always seemed to be lurking in the shadows, waiting to get the drop on him. Out of the two other men in The Shield, Dean seemed to take Seth's betrayal to heart to the extreme. To add to the situation, the WWE Championship was now a stacked and loaded field, thanks to the addition of AJ Styles.

"It's always fucking Orton, too," he said out of the blue. "I wonder what he has on the two of them. That guy's such a dick."

With an aggravated sigh, Seth got off the bed. Walking towards the bathroom, he took his shirt off and threw it over his shoulder, not giving a damn where it landed. The first order of business for the night was a hot shower, followed by the latest Game of Thrones episode. Any perceived issue with The Authority could wait until the sun came up.