Raw: Sept. 10, 2007

"Guess what." I say to Candice as I find her in Catering.

"What?" Candice asks. "You seem to be in a good mood."

"I am. I have a Singles match tonight."

"Against who?"

"Mickie James."

"Nice. Looks like Vince is pushing you again."

"Hopefully. Plus I get the bonus of kicking Mickie James's ass."

"That's always nice."

"Yeah. You better hope you win Sunday at Unforgiven because we can put on an amazing match at No Mercy."

"Absolutely."

"Plus Beth Phoenix needs to be knocked down a few notches."

"I agree with you one hundred percent."

"So what are you doing tonight?"

"I don't know yet, but I hope I have something."

"Me too. Can you give me some advice about something?"

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Well my brother Tyler's birthday is in a couple weeks, and he's having a party. Chris doesn't have anything going on that day. Chris and Tyler haven't met yet, so I want Chris to come. However, I'm a little afraid that it's a bad idea, and Tyler won't like it. Plus, I'm almost certain Randy is going to the party, and the two of them in the same place could be trouble."

Candice laughs. "You and Randy in the same place could be trouble. Have you brought this up to Chris at all yet?"

"I see your point. No, I haven't brought this up to Chris."

"Well maybe you call Tyler about this first and then talk to Chris. Ask Tyler if Randy is going."

I nod. "Yeah. I think you're right. Thanks."

"No problem. I'm gonna go. I've got a few things to do. Maybe you should call your brother."

"Yeah. See you later."

"See ya." Candice leaves.

I pull out my phone and call Tyler. He picks up.

Tyler: "Hey you actually want to talk to me."

Me: "Why wouldn't I?"

Tyler: "Do we have to go over the fact yet again that Randy told me that you had a boyfriend?"

Me: "I know. I know. Rissa doesn't tell me anything anymore. We don't have a sibling bond anymore. Blah. Blah. Blah. Anyway, my boyfriend is part of the reason I wanted to talk."

Tyler: "Oh geez. What now?"

Me: "I just wanted to know if I could bring him to your birthday party. You still haven't met him yet. I figured that I'd talk to you first because I didn't know how you'd feel about it. Plus, I'm assuming that Randy is coming to the party."

Tyler: "Chris can come. But we need to avoid drama between him and Randy. You warn Chris that Randy is there and not to start drama, and I'll warn Randy about Chris. Okay?"

Me: "Okay. Thank you. Love you."

Tyler: "Love you too, kid. Bye."

Me: "Bye."

I hang up and sigh in relief. This might be okay after all.

I stretched out backstage right before the entrances for my match begin.

("Obsession" plays)

"The following Divas match is scheduled for one fall! Introducing first, from Richmond, Virginia, Mickie James!"

("Move It Up" plays)

"And her opponent from Saint Louis, Missouri, Marissa!"

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Mickie and I lock up. I go to grab her neck, but Mickie escapes from me. I run at her and hit a Clothesline. I Irish Whip Mickie into the corner and hit her with a Handspring Elbow. I pin Mickie.

1…2…kickout!

I lift Mickie up off the ground and drop her with a DDT. I then get on the top turnbuckle and go for a Moonsault. However, Mickie damages me by getting her knees up. We both get up, and I hit Mickie with a Right Hand. Mickie returns one of her own. We exchange a couple of Right Hands between us. As I go for one more, she ducks past me and hits me with a Neckbreaker. Mickie pins me.

1…2…kickout!

Mickie goes up to the top turnbuckle as I slowly get up. I hit the rope to cause Mickie to lose balance and pick Mickie up. I drop her with an Electric Chair. I pin Mickie.

1…2…kickout!

I lift Mickie back up to a standing position. She kicks me in the gut and goes for the Mick Kick, but I duck. I lift Mickie onto my shoulders and hit the Picture Perfect. I pin Mickie.

1…2…3!

"Here is your winner, Marissa!"

I smile as Candice, who had been on commentary, runs in to celebrate with me. All of a sudden, I am attacked and fall to the ground. I roll over to see Candice trying to fight off Beth Phoenix.

I put on my reading glasses as I sit in Catering to read the new contract that I had just been offered by Vince McMahon. The three year contract I signed after being eliminated from the Diva Search in 2004 was going to expire in a few weeks, so Vince was desperate to get me signed to a new contract. While I was more than happy to sign a new contract, I had to read it over before signing to make sure I was happy with this new deal and to know what I was getting myself into.

Chelle comes and sits next to me. "Hey, great match you had out there. Congrats on beating Mickie."

I smile. "Thanks. If only Beth hadn't attacked me."

"Yeah…is that what I think it is?"

"Yeah…it's my new contract offer from Vince."

"For how long?"

"I haven't read that far yet. You and I both know that Divas only get offered one or three year deals. Hopefully, mine is three. Didn't you just sign a new deal?"

"Yeah. I got a three year."

"That's good."

"Yeah. Anyway, I'm gonna go to a different table because I don't want you to have to deal with Randy. John's gonna want to sit with me, and Randy's with him so they can talk about their match next Sunday."

"Oh. I don't mind John that much. And if Randy isn't rude, he's okay I guess. I'm just trying to read through this contract right now."

"Oh okay. They're headed this way now."

"Okay."

I look up from the contract as John and Randy sit down at the table. I give both men a nod of acknowledgement before continuing to read the contract.

Chelle, John, and Randy proceed to have a conversation as I continue to go through the contract. I look at Randy as I feel his eyes on me.

"New contract offer?" He asks.

I nod. "Yeah."

"For how long?"

"I haven't gotten to that part yet."

"Oh. Okay. I'm not trying to be nosy. I was just curious because I knew it was coming up. Are you going to take three weeks to agree to sign one again?"

I roll my eyes. "No. That was a different situation."

Chelle looks at me. "You took three weeks to sign your original contract?"

"Yeah. As Randy already knows, that was because I was unsure about jumping into a wrestling career for at least three years even though I had been training while in the Diva Search."

"Oh. Okay. I signed my immediately. They offered when the entire Diva Search ended."

I nod. "I haven't told anyone here from work but Randy about this, but mine was offered right after I was eliminated. I just took a few weeks to think about it."

"That's cool."

"Yeah. Anyway, let me read the rest of this, so I can tell you how long my deal would last for."

"Okay."

I continue to read but stop when I see the amount of time this contract is supposed to last for, along with the significant pay raise I would get for signing this deal. "Oh my god. There's gotta be a mistake."

"What's wrong? Is it only one year?"

"No…it's a five year contract. And there's quite a significant pay raise. It's gotta be a mistake. Five years is crazy."

"We only get one or three years."

"I know."

"How much of a pay raise are we talking here?" John asks as I have caught both his and Randy's attention as well.

"Currently I make $150,000 a year." I take in a breath. "According to this contract, I would be making $300,000 a year, not including match winning bonuses. I'd literally would be doubling my salary. It's a 1.5 million dollar contract."

"Woah." Chelle says. "I wish."

"You better sign that." Randy says.

"Do Divas ever get offers that high?" John asks.

"No. As much as I want to sign this, I think there's some sort of mistake here. I'm gonna talk to Vince or Stephanie or Shane. I'll be back in a few."

"Okay."

I walk around the backstage of the arena, hoping to find a McMahon to speak to. As I turn a corner, I see Stephanie and Shane at the end of the hallway.

I slowly approach them. "Shane, Steph, do you guys have a minute? I have questions."

Stephanie looks at me. "Yeah. We have a minute. What's up?"

"Well, I think there may be a mistake with the contract offer your dad gave me to sign."

"Why do you think there's a mistake?"

"It's a five year contract offering me 1.5 million dollars, $300,000 a year."

Shane looks at me and laughs. "Marissa, that's not a mistake."

"How is it not? Divas don't get offered these kinds of contracts."

Stephanie smiles. "Well…in your case, we did. We had a meeting over the weekend to discuss contract offers since you and some others, like Michelle and Candice, have deals expiring soon. During the discussion, it was agreed on that, out of the girls from any of Diva Searches so far, you were the most valuable commodity to this company. Your skills in the ring as a professional wrestler excelled quite quickly, and you do great in all the categories needed to be successful."

"May I add," Shane says. "That you were the first former Diva Search contestant to win the Women's Championship, and Candice just now has become the only other one to do so. Not only that, you defeated Lita twice in Women's Championship matches. That's not an easy feat, Marissa."

Stephanie nods. "We see a very bright future for you, Rissa. Take some time to think about it if you need to, even almost three weeks like last time, but we would like to have you through 2012 at least. Just think about it. Okay? Is that all?"

I nod. "Okay. Yeah, that's all. Um…thanks."

I walk back into Catering. Chelle and John have left. Randy is still sitting at the table. Despite the fact that we have had our issues lately, I still sat back down with Randy at the table.

Randy looks at me. "John and Chelle had to leave to go do something work related. I was told to tell you that they're sorry and to tell Chelle about the whole contract situation."

I nod. "Okay. That's fine."

"Okay. Anyway, what's the deal with the contract?"

"Surprisingly, it's not a mistake, Randy."

"Really? It's not?"

"No. It's not."

"So…are you going to sign it?"

"I think so. I'm just thinking it over a little. Five years is a long time."

Randy nods. "Yeah. So your brother called me today."

"Yeah. I think I know where this is going."

Randy smiles. "Don't worry your pretty little head, Marissa. I'll behave myself. Tyler's one of my boys. I'm not going to ruin his birthday party. You say anything to Chris yet?"

"No, but don't worry, Randy, I will." I look down at the contract. "Do you happen to have a pen by any chance?"

Randy passes me a pen. "Here."

"Thanks." I sign everywhere that I need to on the contract, cementing my future in WWE for the next five years.