"I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying this storyline already," Clementine said to Elena D'Agostino. She had just joined the La Famiglia team in Gorilla, ready for their segment. Nikki Bella was on her way to ring to get the ball rolling.
"It's good. It will be a lot of fun," Elena agreed cheerfully.
Amused, as always, by her accent, Clem was glad that she wasn't rude enough to actually laugh about it. But she did like the idea of ridiculing it some more on TV if the opportunity presented itself, so long as she could do it without causing genuine offense. "Are you sure you don't mind if I ridicule your accent out there?"
"It's, how do you say, water off a duck's back? Is that right?"
"Yeah, that's it," Clem said, grinning at the choice of phrase, and the fact that she had gotten it right.
"Hopefully we get to wrestle soon," Elena said next. "I would like to be in the match at the Royal Rumble."
"It's a shame they're keeping you on the outside as a manager," Clem agreed. "I can understand why they do it, though. Your gimmick as the boss is really good, and it makes sense that you would delegate the dirty work to these guys." She gestured to Mackenzie Sawyer, Jackie Cassidy and Amy Morgan.
"We're also quite good at it," Amy said with a grin.
"I'm not doubting that," Clem clarified quickly, wondering if she had offended them by talking about her desire to wrestle Elena and not mentioning any of them.
"We know," Jackie said easily.
"The match at the Rumble should be good, but they really need to put us over," Mackenzie put in. "That way, I can see this rivalry lasting through Wrestlemania, or maybe even further. But if we lose, it pretty much kills it there and then."
"Agreed," Clem said. She was of the mind-set that she had no real input in the creative process, so she went along with what she was told to do. Unless there was a glaringly obvious error in the writing that really did need to be reconsidered, she wasn't one to try and get involved. She was level-headed enough to realise that was partly due to the fact that Hunter had always been pretty good about making sure she was looked after.
Out in the ring, Nikki had started her promo by saying that she needed to be clear about the fact that as Raw General Manager, hiring and firing was not her area of responsibility. That clarification was designed to tie in with the doubts about whether Elena had the Raw GM on her payroll – an issue which was very much up for debate among WWE's fans.
"Hunter Helmsley, as Chairman of WWE, handles those kinds of things, and can also go over my head on other matters. For example, if he so chooses, he can get involved in making matches. Now, as you are all aware, I made a three on three match at the Royal Rumble between La Famiglia and the team of Paige, Rieke and Lucy Rollins. I can inform you tonight that thanks to an injury sustained at a live event two weeks ago, Paige will not be able to compete at the Royal Rumble."
Backstage, Clementine smiled to herself. She was about to be announced as Paige's replacement in the match, and she felt sure she knew how that revelation would be received by the crowd.
"It has been decided that the match will go ahead as planned, with three women on each team," Nikki was saying, carefully avoiding specifying who had made the decision. "With Paige being ruled out, it is my duty to announce that a replacement has been found. So, at the Royal Rumble we see La Famiglia take on the team of Lucy Rollins, Rieke, and…" she let her voice trail off to build the anticipation. Sure enough, the noise from the crowd rose noticeably.
Clementine could imagine the commentary team asking who it might be, even though the answer was obvious to anyone with even half a brain, given what had happened the previous week.
"Clementine Rollins!" Nikki announced emphatically.
The roar of excitement from the crowd made the hairs on the back of Clem's neck stand up. To begin with at least, she was as over with the main roster audiences as she had been on NXT. She knew that on this occasion, the cheers would quickly turn to boos. Sure enough, La Famiglia's music was cued, immediately drawing the ire of the crowd.
As was always the case, Elena's underlings made their way out onto the stage first. As they were doing so, the Italian turned Clem, now with her game face on. "I look pissed off enough, yes?"
"You sure do," Clem confirmed with a grin and raised eyebrows. The accent was one thing, but no one could deny that Elena had some of the best facial expressions in the business at present. She followed the other three through the curtain, intensifying the booing from the fans.
Clem could imagine the team storming down to the ring to confront Nikki. Whether or not Nikki was in Elena's pocket was up for debate, but the fact that her announcement was not welcomed by La Famiglia was most certainly not.
After her music faded out, Elena started right in on Nikki, sounding absolutely livid with her. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Nikki Bella?" she demanded, speaking the name as if it was a long way beneath her. "The match was made: La Famiglia against Paige, Rieke and Lucy Rollins. That was the match you made. If Paige can't make it because she got herself injured, that's her problem. There should be no replacement."
The fans were booing again, not least because, in kayfabe at least, Paige's injury had been inflicted by Elena's team in the first place. "Shut the hell up while I'm talking!" Elena roared at the crowd, predictably achieving the exact opposite of what she had told them to do.
Clem had to admit she was loving the promo before the time even came for her to get involved in it.
In the ring, Elena's attention returned to Nikki. "I'm going to be kind to you, Nikki," she said in a threatening manner. "I'm going to give you a chance to change your decision."
"The match has been made official. There's nothing I can do about it," Nikki said with obvious reluctance about what might happen next.
Mackenzie Sawyer, known on TV as Andromeda, grabbed Elena's microphone and snapped, "Well there's something I can do about it." With that, she knocked Nikki down with a right hand and attempted to start laying kicks into her. She was thwarted by Elena, who got physically involved herself, dragging Andromeda away, angrily yelling at her for acting without being ordered to do so.
Clementine knew that her moment was soon to be at hand. One of the crew members handed her a microphone.
Out in the ring, the entire La Famiglia team were now squabbling - for the first time not completely conforming to their boss's orders. Elena slapped Andromeda hard across the face, simultaneously screaming at her to remember her place. Seeing things quickly going south, Jackie Cassidy and Amy Morgan took on the role of peacemakers, trying to calm the other two women down before things really got out of control.
The fans were already cheering the dissention in the ranks, hoping that Andromeda was going to knock Elena's lights out and break up the team. But then Clementine's music hit, sending them into a frenzy. Clem walked out onto the stage, looking down to the ring with an expression that conveyed she had never seen anything quite so ridiculous in her life. Much like the previous week, the ovation she was receiving had her arms covered in goosebumps. It was a feeling that would never get old.
Elena sold the interruption by angrily taking off her suit jacket and hurling it at the ropes as she raged at Clementine to come down to the ring. Her underlings had also quickly forgotten their quarrel with Nikki, who had gotten back up, looking a little dishevelled.
Clementine watched on, shaking her head in disbelief. After a moment, her music faded out. "Elena, before you and your little bunch of flunkies start beating up managers, referees, commentators or ring announcers, I've got something to say. You ought to be focusing on listening, so stop with those ridiculous Italian hand gestures, shut your mouth, and pay attention. Now, Rieke and Lucy are not here yet, but you can take it from me that when they left Raw last week they were perfectly happy with that fact that at the Royal Rumble, it was going to be the two of them taking on La Famiglia. However…"
She abruptly stopped speaking because she heard a small number of fans trying to start a 'Clementine' chant. The fact that she stopped drew attention to the chant, and within moments it was echoing around the arena, to the immense displeasure of Elena in particular.
"However," Clem went on once she was able, "I can say with confidence that now, once they hear about Nikki Bella's announcement, they'll think things just got even better."
The crowd cheered loudly again. Clem knew the commentary team would be doing their best to hype up her addition to the team for those viewers who hadn't ever seen her wrestle on NXT. "Elena," she called out next. "There are two things I can promise you at the Royal Rumble. Number one, those three idiot flunkies you've got there are going to get their asses kicked like never before. And number two, and I want you to listen to this one very carefully. If you stick that pointy thing on the front of your face in the match or in my business, Elena, I am promising you, and you can look in my eyes when I tell you this, I will bust your legs. I'll make sure that all you'll be the boss of is riding around in a wheelchair. And that's all I've got to say about that," she said emphatically, ending the promo with her catchphrase.
The crowd sounded their approval again as Clem's music hit, but it was obvious from the tone of the cheer that they relished the confrontation that might be incoming. Elena against Clementine going at it was something they wanted to see. Clem hoped Hunter was taking note back there in the production office.
"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" It was Nikki, talking over Clem's music until it stopped playing. Fearing for her safety, she had vacated the ring and was walking around to the entrance ramp. "It's more than obvious that some people around here need to let off some steam, so I'm going to make that happen tonight. Andromeda, you want to punch me in the face? Well let's see you do the same thing later in the show, when you go one on one… with Lucy Rollins!"
Bombshell dropped, Nikki's music began to play. Clem made sure that her facial expression sold the fact that she approved of the match that had just been made, while the ladies in the ring seemed a little less enthusiastic about it. It was a good piece of writing to have Nikki make the match as an apparent act of revenge for being assaulted, since it introduced an element of doubt as to whether she was in fact in Elena's pocket.
With that, Clementine's involvement in that week's Raw was at an end. The match later in the night would end in victory for Lucy, with her then quickly retreating through the crowd when the rest of La Famiglia rushed the ring to try and beat her down.
Clem turned and made her way off the stage. When she walked through the curtain to the back, Samoa Joe was there waiting for her. She imagined that because it was only her second appearance on Raw, and her first with him as her agent, he had wanted to make she knew he had her back.
"Nice job, Clem," was his verdict as he nodded his approval.
"Thanks, Joe. The crowd was great again. I just can't wait to have my first match now."
Joe gave her an understanding smile. "Only a couple of weeks to go. Once you've got that first match under your belt, you'll go from strength to strength."
Those words meant a lot to Clem, and she took them to heart. "I really do hope so," she said quietly.
A/N: Thank you to those who reviewed the previous chapter. I realise that the updates are coming thick and fast, but while I have the time and motivation to write, I'm going to keep going with it!
There we have it; Clem's second Raw appearance. How do you think she did?
I'd also like to ask how much in-ring action you'd like to see moving forward? I plan to include something for the match at the Rumble when we get that far, but after that I'm open to whatever you guys would like to see. So drop me a review and let me know what you think!
