The ban on arena shows due to the corona virus had finally been lifted in November. WWE had made a big deal, understandably, about Survivor Series being their first main roster show with a proper live crowd since March.
The first actual WWE show with a crowd had actually happened the night before, with NXT Takeover getting the honour. During that event, Dakota Kai had been kayfabe injured in order to write her off TV for her knee surgery. It would also prove to be the end of Raquel Gonzalez's NXT career, not that the fans knew that at the time.
By the time January came around, life was returning to normal, with the notable exception of people being required to wear face coverings in public. It was something that Mandy was used to by then, since she had been doing it for half a year. Wearing nitrile gloves was an added bonus for her, giving her endless opportunities to enjoy her fetish with the people around her none the wiser.
Ahead of her return to WWE, which would coincide with Roman's, she had been taking promo classes at the Performance Center. The team trained her hard, expecting high standards and quick progress. Luckily for her, she was a quick and willing learner, and had been complimented on her progress. By January, they agreed with her that she ready to go for her manager role, and had reported to Hunter Helmsley and Vince McMahon accordingly.
Roman had been training intensively for his comeback, going so far as to hardly indulge himself over the Christmas period. The festive season had been something of a mixed bag for Mandy emotionally. Spending her first Christmas with Roman had obviously been lovely, but she had only been able to see her dad via a FaceTime call, and she had missed being in New York. Christmas just wasn't the same in Orlando. She had consoled herself with the knowledge that they would soon begin searching for a house in New York, hopefully not too far from where she had grown up.
On this particular day, moving house was the furthest thing from her mind. It was the day of the Royal Rumble, which was emanating from Seattle. Therefore it was also the day of her debut as a manager for Raquel Gonzalez, and it was the day of Roman's return to action, which would see him win the men's rumble match.
"How are you feeling?" Roman asked her when they got out of the SUV that had brought them to the stadium. It had tinted windows so that no one could have seen who was inside, preventing spoilers for the pay-per-view.
"Nervous, but excited," Mandy said. Mainly nervous at the moment, she had to admit to herself. It had been one thing to come to WWE to do a few guest appearances. Now she was a signed up talent with a contract. It was yet to be seen if the rest of the roster would be okay with a total outsider coming into their world. Of particular concern was how Raquel would react to it. It didn't help that they hadn't met, or even spoken to each other.
"Don't worry about it, it'll be fine when we show up for the Rumble," Roman had insisted. She hoped he was right.
"How are you feeling?" she asked him, knowing full well how much he had been looking forward to his big comeback.
"I'm absolutely buzzing," he said with a big smile as they walked into the building.
"Bless you," Mandy said, feeling her heart warmed at seeing him so happy. She wanted to get the stress of her debut over with, then she was sure she would feel the same about her own career.
Before long, they were approaching the men's locker room, having said hello to several people along the way.
"I'm going to go in and see the guys," Roman said. "You'll be okay finding the women's locker room and making yourself at home, right?"
"Yeah," Mandy said, sounding more confident than she felt.
"Okay. Enjoy, Peach. I'll catch up with you later."
"Enjoy your hero's welcome," Mandy smiled.
"I will," Roman laughed. Giving her a kiss on the lips, he turned and walked into the locker room, pulling his travel case along behind him. The door closed, and seconds later she heard the raucous reception her man received from his colleagues. It made her smile, thinking that he totally deserved the enjoyable moment.
"Just let things be okay for me," Mandy said under her breath. Her anxiety was increasing by the minute.
Things went from bad to worse quickly when she followed the direction of a laminated paper sign that pointed female to take a left turn at he next intersection in the hallway. Rounding the corner, she saw Chelsea Green, Rhea Ripley and Raquel Gonzalez standing in a group. It looked like the other two were congratulating Raquel on her main roster call up, which told Mandy that Raquel might only have heard about it recently, maybe even after arriving for the show. In addition, Mandy was now faced with meeting not only the person she was going to work with, but two of her friends at the same time too.
Get a grip, Mandy scolded herself. Approach them with confidence. Act like you belong here. If you act like you think you don't, why should they think you do? They'll never respect you if you act like that.
"You even beat Rhea to a proper call up. She's never going to make it at this point," Chelsea said, and all three wrestlers laughed.
"Oh, here's Mandy now," Rhea said. Of the three, she was the only one facing in her direction.
"Hi! How are you all doing?" Mandy said, putting a brave face on her anxiety.
"Pretty good. We were just wondering who thought it was a good idea to have a poker player managing a wrestler," Chelsea said deadpan.
Mandy felt like her stomach had hit the floor. She wanted to right around and leave.
After a moment, all three wrestlers laughed again, and Rhea slapped Mandy on the shoulder. "It's a rib, girl. You'd better get used to that kind of thing in a wrestler's locker room."
"You'll do best by giving as good as you get," Raquel said, offering a smile that seemed friendly enough. "Come on, I've got you a locker next to mine. Drop your stuff in, then I think we should grab a coffee and have a chat."
"I'd like that," Mandy said, relieved, hoping that it was going to be a get to know you chat, not an I'm not interesting in working with you chat.
Mandy walked with the group into the locker room, where sure enough Raquel had kept an empty space next to her locker. She appreciated the kind gesture. It was a small thing, but the thought behind it said a lot, giving her hope for the working relationship that she wanted to form with her on-screen client.
Once Mandy had unloaded some of her things, she made eye contact with Raquel and indicated that she was ready to go for the drink and the chat that had been mentioned.
"Let's go then," Raquel said.
Walking with the much taller woman, Mandy's couldn't help feeling a bit intimidated. On the other hand, the size of her automatically made her interesting to watch in the ring. The way she could brutalise other smaller women was perfect for a heel. It hardly took a wrestling veteran to figure that out.
"So, Mandy, in the interest of putting my cards on the table from the get go, I have mixed feelings about this whole deal they've given the two of us," Raquel said once they were out of the locker room.
"Okay," Mandy said, indicating with her tone that was willing to listen.
"Obviously I'm happy to get my call up. Not only that, Vince told me himself that he's going to push me, which feels like a pretty huge deal. The thing is, I know how fast plans can change around here. Having a manager takes my fate out of my hands to an extent. It's on you to get me over with your promos as much as it is on me to perform in the ring. You've never done this before. You've never even worked a show properly before. That concerns me a lot."
"I understand that," Mandy said calmly. It was true, she did understand it. They were reasonable concerns to have, so she needed to address them. "You're right, I have no experience working in this business. The best I can tell you in that regard is that I've watched WWE for twenty years, hardly ever missing a show, and I've done a couple of months of promo classes in Orlando, where I got good feedback. I'm not here to have a bit of fun, Raquel, and I'm damn sure not here for the money. I'm here because this is a dream job for me. I'm going to treat it accordingly. I can tell you that I'll give this everything I've got, every week. No one can realistically promise more than that."
The words had come easier and better than Mandy had thought they would. She could tell that they made an impression on Raquel, who seemed to like what she had heard.
"True. No one can promise more than that. And I'll make the same commitment to you, because if I flop that's obviously bad for you too. You know, the first night I worked with Dakota on NXT she said to me, 'We don't know each other yet, but we're a team now. We've got to help each other and have each other's backs, or we'll both in the shit.' She was right. When you're a team, you simply have to be there for each other. So, Mandy, have we got each other's backs?"
Mandy nodded seriously as they neared the catering area. "I've got yours if you've got mine."
Raquel smiled. "Alright then. We're on the same page." She offered a fist bump, which Mandy accepted. It wasn't her usual kind of gesture, but she knew it was going to be a memorable moment for her.
"I suggest we get a coffee, then we can talk over ideas for how I'm going to hype you up."
"Yes. And we need to find out what my part in the rumble match is going to be," Raquel said as they walked into catering.
Good point, Mandy thought. She had been so anxious about meeting Raquel that she hadn't really started thinking about the match yet. Now it was time to start turning her attention in that direction. Whatever was planned for Raquel, her debut was going to be that one opportunity to make a first impression with the portion of the audience who didn't watch NXT.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review on the previous chapter.
Next time, obviously, it will be Raquel and Mandy's debut together. How do you think Mandy will do? And what part will Raquel play in the rumble match?