Seeing two people in Gorilla who looked more nervous than her helped to put Mandy at ease ahead of her first Smackdown appearance as Raquel's manager. The two women in question were what were described in the business as enhancement talent. They both looked like they were about to shit themselves. It was a feeling that Mandy remembered well from five days earlier.
"Okay, out you go," Fit Finlay said to the two enhancement talents when Smackdown went to commercial. By the time the break ended, they would be in the ring. "Try to relax a bit and enjoy it," was his parting advice.
"Bless their hearts," Lacey Evans said once they were gone.
Mandy smiled to herself in amusement at how much like her character Lacey sounded sometimes. But then she knew that the best characters were extensions of the personality of the individual portraying them, or so she had heard somewhere.
"I think we all remember feeling like that," Alexa Bliss said. She was ready to make an entrance with Nikki Cross, her tag team partner.
"I still do feel like it," Mandy said as a joke, although there was some truth to it. It drew a ripple laughter from the other women, and from Finlay, making her feel accepted as a part of the group. Confidence in that regard was something she still needed to build up.
When Smackdown came back from the break, Alexa's music played. She and Nikki began their entrance routine for their tag team match against the two enhancement talents.
"Right then, let's see who I can be accused of injuring this time," Raquel said quietly to Mandy.
"Sshhh, don't say that," Mandy muttered back. Although it had been a joke, she didn't think it was a good idea for Raquel to have the Natalya nonsense on her mind when they went out to perform.
"Here you go, get ready," Fit said, handing a microphone to Mandy.
Moments later, as Alexa and Nikki readied themselves to start the match, Mandy's voice interrupted.
"Mandy!" came through the speakers, and the saxophone music began. Behind the curtain, she heard some groans and boos from the crowd. It was hardly anything to write home about, but it was certainly better than being met with silence.
Walking out into the arena, hopefully looking glamorous and arrogant, since that what how her character was supposed to be, she went over to the top of the entrance ramp. When she got there her music faded out and Raquel's heavy rock theme replaced it, drawing more boos.
In the ring, all four women were standing there looking up at the stage, looking like they knew that nothing good was coming their way as Raquel walked out onto the stage with a menacing expression on her face.
Mandy nodded slowly as Raquel walked over to her, as if to say, 'That's right, this bad bitch it here, and she's going to cause some serious destruction when we come down there.'
Together, Mandy and Raquel walked down to the ring. When they got there, Mandy walked quickly up the steps so that she entered the ring at the same time as Raquel, who entered by climbing onto the apron and stepping through the ropes.
"Bitches, leave," Mandy said to the four other women in the ring. She spoke as if she expected the demand to be carried out without objection. Predictably, it didn't go like that.
One of the enhancement talents, who happened to be standing closest to Raquel, looked at Alexa and held out her hands in a gesture that said, 'Are we supposed to be wrestling you or not?'
Raquel settled the issue for her by grabbing hold of her, hoisting her up into the air and slamming her to the mat with a one arm powerbomb, delivering it with real force. The crowd gave a pleasing reaction to the impact, Mandy noticed.
The destroyed woman's partner ran at Raquel, only to almost have her head kicked off her shoulders with a big boot.
Never the sanest of individuals, Nikki Cross also decided that rushing Raquel was a good idea. She soon found herself being hoisted into the air. Raquel held her there for a moment before sending her thundering to the mat.
I really wouldn't want to take one of those powerbombs, Mandy thought as she watched Nikki hit the canvas. There was no way it couldn't hurt. In character, she looked like she was enjoying the destruction.
Finished with Cross, Raquel looked at Alexa Bliss, now the only one left standing. Alexa had gotten a long way in her career by being cunning. Picking a fight with a woman a foot taller than her was clearly not a cunning plan. She held up her hands and put an 'Okay, I'll just leave then' expression on her face. Seeing it on the big screen, some of the fans laughed. Mandy didn't see that as a bad thing. A little bit of amusement in a segment was something she liked as a fan.
"That's a smart move," Mandy said, scowling at Alexa as she left the ring. "Speaking of smart moves, this past Sunday at the Royal Rumble, there was someone who did something that definitely wasn't a smart move. You see, this right here is The Game Changer, Raquel Gonzalez. She is a force the like of which has never been seen before, as she showed just now, and as she showed at the Royal Rumble. Raquel decimated everyone in that match, until a certain piece of trailer park trash by the name of Lacey Evans got a couple of lucky shots in. I don't think Lacey felt lucky for long. Why don't we check out what happened next? Roll the footage," she ordered the production crew.
While the recap package played, showing Lacey being put through the announce table during the rumble match, Mandy had a moment to reflect on the first part of the promo. She had delivered her lines well, she thought, and had heard some boos. The cameraman in front of her had alternated between showing her talking, and showing Raquel looking menacing.
When the video package ended, boos filled the arena. It seemed to Mandy that the attack had gotten Lacey further over as a babyface. That reflected well on Raquel, since a heel's job was to get the face they worked with over.
"Lacey, that was only the start. Eliminating Raquel Gonzalez from the Royal Rumble was the biggest mistake of your life. We're not done with you yet, not by a long shot," Mandy said threateningly. "So, what you're going to do right now is get your ass out here, before I send Raquel back there to find you. Believe me, that's not how you want..."
She was interrupted by the intro to Lacey's music, and a loud ovation from the fans. They were not going to be made to wait for Evans to answer the challenge.
When Lacey walked out onto the stage, she was all business. The usual theatrics were nowhere to be seen. "You want to call me out, you two nasties?" she said aggressively. "Well, here I am. Raquel, sweetheart, I would have thought the first two times I hit you with a woman's right might have knocked some since into, but I guess that nasty thing next to you does the thinking for you. That's fine, because after causing me to be eliminated from the Royal Rumble, I don't need to think at all, I just need you to fight."
With that, Lacey started marching down the ramp, being cheered on by the fans. It was clear that she intended the fight to go down right then and there.
When Lacey reached the ring, Mandy took charge of the situation, motioning Raquel to leave the ring on the opposite side. "No, no, no, Lacey," she said as they made their swift exit. As expected, the perceived act of cowardice was booed by the crowd.
"You'll get your fight, on our terms," Mandy said from outside the ring. "You'll get it at the next pay-per-view, Elimination Chamber, if you've got the guts?"
As Raquel and Mandy retreated into the crowd near the timekeeper's area, Lacey walked over to the closest corner of the ring and demanded a microphone from the ring announcer.
"If I've got the guts?" Lacey said mockingly once she had the microphone. "I'm not the one running away, sweetheart. Any time you or that thing next to you want a fight, I'm not hard to find."
"We'll remember that!" Mandy shouted, having dropped her microphone at ringside. "Famous last words, Lacey! We'll remember that!"
Lacey's music began playing, bringing an end to the segment. Mandy walked with Raquel out of a nearby exit. Aware of what the segment was going to entail, there were security guys waiting to escort them back to the backstage areas through a nearby doorway.
Out in the concourse, fans had been forced to disperse from the area for the time being. Having figured out that it meant at least one performer would be coming, a fair number had hung around to see who it was. Mandy heard a few people calling her name, but she was mindful of staying in character while she was in the arena, so she ignored them.
Within moments they had been ushered through a doorway that was being manned by a security guard. He closed to door behind them, shutting the fans out of the backstage area.
"Great job, Mandy," Raquel said. "I can see why they wanted you to be a manager. You're excellent on the microphone. I was never good at it."
"Thank you," Mandy said happily. "I was still nervous, so the feedback means a lot. I have a feeling that next week you'll be the focus of attention, not me."
Raquel rubbed her hands together, pretending to still be in character. "Bring it on!"
A/N: Thanks to everyone who left a review on the previous chapter.
Next time, we'll be with Mandy and Roman on their property search. Do you think they'll find something they like?