1. The Tour

"You'll be making your debut in 3 weeks. That should give us plenty of time to develop a story for your character, and highlight anything you need to work on. Moves, promos, that kind of thing."

Paul looked at me, seemingly expecting some form of reply, but in all honesty I was still struggling to believe that I was even here at all.

"Did you have any ideas about your gimmick?" he looked back down through my file as I snapped out of my haze.

"Yes actually," I responded "I made a few notes and I was hoping to spitball some of them with you."

He looked up from his paper and stared at me. He appeared half way between surprised and impressed. Most new superstars don't have the confidence to pitch their own ideas and just let WWE's creative team do whatever they think is best.

"Well okay!" he smiled "Let's hear them!"

We spent about 20 minutes looking over my notes. Paul made a few scribbles, circled ideas he was particularly fond of, and eventually we had something we were very happy with.

One thing I was adamant about was staying true to myself. I had no intentions of pretending to be someone I'm not, so we went with an alternative aesthetic I'd based on my DD character. It was... Different. Hopefully different enough to stand out.

Paul led me out of the small meeting room we were in, taking me on a tour of my home for the foreseeable future, the WWE Performance Center.

* * * *

He led me through the lobby pointing out various board rooms along the way, as well as some language classrooms they used for international talent. The corridors were lined with display cases with in-ring gear from previous NXT superstars.

"This is the green screen studio," Paul informed me, directing me into a small room with several cameras, monitors and a green screen, "you can practice character work here, work on your promo skills and the great thing is, you can watch it back immediately," he pointed to the monitors.

Above one of the monitors was a puppet of the late Dusty Rhodes. He had a lot of influence on most of the NXT talent so it makes perfect sense he'd be here watching over them. I smiled solemnly and stared at my feet.

"There's usually a trainer in here who can give you feedback but we sometimes get groups of superstars in here. It's a good learning experience"

He led me down a few more corridors, pointing out more WWE relics along the way.

"This is the medical room. It's used by NXT, Raw and Smackdown superstars. Hopefully you won't need to spend any time here, but if you do, we have some of the best medical experts and equipment in the business."

It was all very impressive. Every inch of the Performance Center had been designed with convenience in mind. Say what you like about WWE but this place was undoubtedly the best place to train.

"This is the training room. You'll be spending a lot of time here."

I stared in awe at the large room housing 7 rings for practicing, as well as one TV ring, complete with stage lighting, entrance, ramp and broadcast ready cameras. At the back of the room, two rings were used to practice upcoming matches.

Some of the people training here must have been new starters as I only recognised a few people. Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai were practicing a few spots, Scott Garland (or Scott 2 Hotty to his fans) was having some newbies run the ropes, and Damien Priest was having a match with Johnny Gargano as several superstars and trainers watched.

As Paul led me out of the room, I struggled to pull my gaze away. It was all so fascinating to me.

"And for the final stop, the pride and joy of the Performance Center, our state of the art Strength and Conditioning Gym."

He opened the doors leading to the gym. I examined every inch of the room, not wanting to miss any details. They had equipment here I never even knew existed, as well as the usual offenders; treadmill, cross trainer, bikes etc...

And then I stopped scanning, my gaze now fixed upon one very specific piece of equipment.

"Most superstars exercise here once a day before heading to the training room, but you'll find a routine that works for you," Paul tried to inform me, but my attentions were focused elsewhere.

There, suspended from the gymnastic hoops, was the glistening, sculpted body of the man of my dreams.

* * * *

Authors Note: So you may have guessed but my writing style is kind of slow burning. I like a lot of description to really emerse myself in the environment. This chapter especially as it's the first one. Future chapters will focus more on Finn I promise! I'm still learning, so if I'm going over the top and you want me to tone it down, please let me know and I'll work on it. Thanks for reading!