One Man's Loss, Another's Gain
Outside room 217, the sounds of heated breaths can be heard. Tokyo is a town known for explicit clubs to entertain out of town business men. Especially American business men, who seem to be weaker than most. Tonight was no exception. In order to win over the many Japanese businesses chomping at the bit to acquire original WWE programming, Shane McMahon was willing to play the game. If it meant screwing a few locals then so be it. Besides, no one will know, not his wife, not his father, none of the other wrestlers, nobody. What happens in Japan, stays in Japan.
6 months later…
Shane was in his father Vince's office with Stephanie, Jim Ross and several other executives looking over headshots. They were in desperate need of a new diva to send to Smackdown. They had been hoping to introduce someone who could emerge as John Cena's valet, thus heightening his playa' persona to fans. All of them agreed that the woman would have to have an exotic look. Thanks in large part to Shane's efforts, the WWE brand was now a worldwide commodity. No longer could they afford to fill their rosters with typical white-bread American faces.
"They all look good enough to, well, you know. But I don't see any potential. We need someone smoking hot." Shane said as he looked over the pictures. Not really appreciating the comment, Stephanie rolled her eyes. Meanwhile, Vince rubbed his temples with his forefingers. It was obvious he was losing patience with the whole process.
"Damn it, none of them will work. Stephanie, Jim, Shane, I want you to keep looking. When you find the right one, have her introduced to John to get a feel for what they look like together. We need to make sure there's enough chemistry to make this believable to the audience." Vince stared at the pictures spread out on the table one last time and shook his head, muttering to himself as he put on his jacket to leave. Shane, Steph and Jim remained quiet. They all knew what they were ordered to do. Any further conversation would only aggravate Vince more. And nobody wanted to do that.
When Vince left, Shane continued looking at the pictures, more for pleasure than for any type of business interest.
"If we're going to find someone, we need to do it quickly, dad wants this new diva introduced before Wrestlemania." Stephanie explained. She turned to her brother who seemed not to hear a word she said, then nudged him with her elbow.
"Got that Shane?" Shane looked up holding his arm where Stephanie poked him.
"Damn Steph, I got it. I don't really see where this is my problem anyway. You're on the creative team, not me." Shane smirked then turned to leave.
Again, Stephanie rolled her eyes and said to her close friend and business partner Jim Ross, "God, no wonder dad wanted Shane to take over Global Media. To get his egotistical ass out of the States." Jim laughed in response, then the two called it a day.
Back at the WWE headquarters, John approached the receptionist desk.
"I have an appointment with Stephanie McMahon." The receptionist looked up at John knowing full well who he was. She blushed shyly and responded.
"Of course Mr. Cena, I'll let her know you're here."
"Just call me John." John said with a sly smile causing the secretary to blush even further.
As he waited on one of the plush leather couches, John noticed a woman with a pair of the most gorgeous legs he'd ever seen, saunter into the reception area. She approached the desk.
"I'm here to see Mr. Shane McMahon." The receptionist looked the woman over and responded in a less than friendly tone. "Do you have an appointment?"
"Well no." The receptionist rolled her eyes and impatiently tapped a pen on her desk.
"Well, you need an appointment if you want to see Mr. McMahon." The receptionist said rudely.
"It's very important I speak to him." The receptionist losing patience by the second finally gives in.
"Listen honey, why don't you wait over there and I'll call his secretary to see if he has any time. Name?"
The woman straightened up.
"Tomoko Iko"
"I'm sorry, you said Tamako?"
"No, Tomoko."
"Okay, just take a seat."
As Tomoko walked over toward the waiting are, the receptionist rolled her eyes and then called Shane's office.
While Tomoko waited for Shane, she took a seat perpendicular from John. She had no idea that the man waiting with her was one of the WWE's top wrestling entertainer's. John for his part, studied the girl without her noticing. Beyond the legs, he noticed she had some of the most exotic looking eyes he'd ever seen. She appeared to be mixed, half Japanese and half European. Her hair was long, silky and raven black. Beyond her obvious super model good looks, she had an innocence to her that grabbed John right away. She seemed not to know how incredibly beautiful she really was. Almost a relief in John's eyes as he had come across many, many woman who considered themselves divas, but couldn't hold a candle to this woman.
While John continued to stare, the elevator doors opened and out walked Stephanie McMahon. She approached John with a warm friendly smile and outstretched hand.
"John, thanks for coming by the office, I just need to run by a few things then you can be on your way."
As Stephanie and John shook hands, Stephanie also noticed the striking beauty of the woman sitting next to John. John looked at Stephanie, then at the woman, then back at Stephanie and smiled devilishly. Stephanie knew exactly what he was thinking and winked at John as if to say, you little devil you.
As Stephanie and John passed the receptionist desk, Stephanie leaned over to the receptionist and asked.
"Who's the young woman waiting over there?"
The receptionist responded nonchalantly. "Her name is Tamako, Tomiko, something like that. She's here to see Shane." Stephanie raised an eyebrow. She knew almost all of Shane's business associates, but this was a new one.
"Keep her here, I'm going to talk to my brother. I want to get the story on this woman before she leaves." Stephanie replied then led John up to her office.