"How are you feeling?" Becky Lynch asked. She had just walked with Sonya to the small area that passed for a Gorilla Position at NXT live events. There was an air of excitement about the Irishwoman, brought on by seeing her opponent about to take the very first step of what could potentially be, and hopefully would be a long journey in WWE.
"Nervous, again," Sonya admitted with a smile that conveyed the emotion she had just confessed to.
"I remember the feeling well," Becky said. "Trust me, once we get going in the match, you'll be fine. Stick to the disciplines you've been taught, pay attention to my calls, and ten minutes from now we'll be standing back here celebrating a successful debut."
"Thanks, Becky," Sonya said, for what felt like the millionth time that night. It was all she could do to try and express her undying gratitude for the amount of support she had been given on such a stressful night.
The road agent who was in charge of running the show came over and offered a few words of encouragement, then before she knew it, Sonya heard some unfamiliar low budget rock music playing in the arena. It wasn't Becky's theme. Then she realised with a shock that it had to be her own. She hadn't considered before now that she was going to have entrance music.
"Enjoy," Becky said, giving Sonya a slap on the back to encourage her to walk through the curtain.
Taking a deep breath, Sonya got into character. Putting a menacing expression on her face, she stepped through the curtain into an arena for the first time. Unsurprisingly, she received little to no reaction from the crowd of maybe five hundred people. Almost certainly, not a single one of them knew who she was, and would be none the wiser once her name was announced in a moment.
An entrance routine was something that Sonya had practiced ahead of time. Standing in front of the small stage, she went through a shadow punching routine before starting down the aisle.
"Put your hair up and square up, baby!" she shouted aggressively, pointing to her hair.
"This contest is set for one fall," Mandy said, performing her ring announcing duties. "Introducing first, from Shamong, New Jersey, Sonya Deville!"
As expected, there was no reaction. Sonya didn't let it phase her. She got into the ring and did another shadow punching routine. With that, her music faded out. It was time for Becky's entrance.
When The Irish Lasskicker's music hit, Sonya saw pretty much all of the fans in the arena come to their feet, cheering excitedly. Among NXT's women, Becky was one of the fan favourites, along with Bayley.
Pacing around the ring, staying in character, Sonya hoped that one day, as a heel, she could receive a reaction as negative as Becky's was positive. If that happened, she would know she was doing well beyond any shadow of doubt.
As Becky made her way to the ring, Sonya's pacing took her close to Mandy just after she announced Becky.
"Good luck!" Mandy said on her way out of the ring. She hadn't been able to add an expression of love because the referee was standing nearby. Even so, Sonya drew confidence from her words.
Entering the ring, Becky went over and posed on the middle rope. It was the last part of her entrance routine.
Sonya took another deep breath. In a matter of moments, the bell would sound and her first ever official match would be underway. "You've got this," she told herself quietly.
On opposite sides of the ring, the competitors locked eyes for the first time. Becky's music faded out, and the referee called for the bell.
At Becky's suggestion, Sonya was going to be the first one to get in some offense, so as it to make it clear from the off that this wouldn't be a two minute squash match.
Going into a tie up, Sonya forced Becky back into a corner of the ring, pressing her into the turnbuckles.
Grabbing Becky by the wrist, Sonya whipped her hard across the ring into the opposite corner. Following her in, Sonya hit a clothesline, knocking Becky down to the mat.
She had hit the move a bit stiffer than she might have liked, but it struck Sonya that this didn't feel any different to the practice matches she'd had with Coach Purrazzo and with Dakota Kai back at the Performance Centre. It was a pleasant realisation, and it helped her to settle into the match. Becky's advice had been spot on: focus on the disciplines you've been taught.
Four minutes later, the referee gave Sonya and Becky the cue to go home.
The finishing sequence began with Sonya hitting a spear, her signature move. To her delight, she felt like she delivered it pretty much perfectly. The best part of all was the cheer that Becky received for kicking out of the resulting cover. It told Sonya that some of the fans had actually believed she might win, and that meant a hell of a lot. She had managed to look like a threat to Becky Lynch, not someone who was simply there to take a pin for her.
Selling frustration at Becky's kick out, Sonya got up and remonstrated with the referee, demanding to know why he hadn't gotten a three count.
Attempting to capitalise on the moment of distraction, Becky got up and was ready with a kick to Sonya's stomach when she turned around.
Becky went for a suplex, but Sonya was able to counter as Becky lifted her, dropping down behind her back. Before Lunch could react, Sonya's arm was locked around her throat, applying the chokehold that would one day be known as The Devil's Grip.
Selling the move expertly, Becky flailed around desperately as if choking, while Sonya dropped to the mat.
Doing her best to look like she was strangling the life out of Becky, Sonya inwardly felt admiration for her opponents ability to sell as she apparently began to fade towards unconsciousness, appearing to desperately try and pull Sonya's arm from around her throat.
In one last attempt at self preservation, Becky arched herself back, leveraging Sonya down back first onto the mat, with her both of shoulders on the canvas. The referee got down to count what constituted a pinning combination.
"One!"
"Two!"
Sonya quickly popped her mat off the canvas, but in the process Becky was able to wriggle free, gasping for air.
Wanting to press the advantage she had, Sonya rushed at Becky again, but she was falling into a trap.
Taking Deville by surprise, Lynch swept her legs out from under her, and in a fluid transition found herself locking in the Disarm Her.
Screaming in pain, Sonya tapped out almost immediately, drawing a cheer from the fans as the bell sounded.
Becky relinquished the hold and got up to celebrate her victory.
"Here is your winner, Becky Lynch!" Mandy announced.
For her part, Sonya rolled out of the ring, holding her arm to sell the submission hold that had beaten her. Inside, she was over the moon. Her debut match had contained no serious mistakes, the fans had enjoyed it, and so had Sonya. It was a truly memorable experience, and she expected it to stay in her mind for a long time to come.
As a heel, acknowledging the fans wasn't something that Sonya could do. However, she greatly appreciated the few people who applauded her for her part in the contest.
"Well done," a man said as Sonya walked past him up the entrance aisle, heading for the back. It was a simple expression of praise, but it meant a lot to her.
Walking through the curtain to the back, Sonya found Seth Rollins and one of the established male NXT roster members waiting to go out for the next match.
"Great job, Sonya," Seth said to his fellow trainee, offering a brief hug.
"Thank you, Seth," she said as they embraced. "Wow, that was so much fun. I was so nervous, but I didn't need to be."
"No, you didn't. You knocked it out of the park."
"Thanks," Sonya said, moving off to one side to wait for Becky, who would be taking a bit of time to celebrate and get pictures with lucky fans at ringside. Such were the perks of playing a babyface.
A couple of minutes later, Becky came through the curtain. She approached Sonya straight away, a smile on her face. "Good match, Sonya. I enjoyed it. I hope you did too?"
Sonya figured the smile on her face had probably already answered that question by the time they embraced each other. "I loved it. You were right, once we got going I was able to shut out my nerves. Do you think I did okay?"
"You were great, especially for a first match," Becky said as they parted. "A bit stiff on your clotheslines, but apart from that it was like working with someone with more experience than you have."
"Thank you, that means so much to me," Sonya said proudly. They started walking back to the locker room, with Sonya still buzzing with excitement. "Anything else you can suggest for me to improve on for our next match?" she asked.
"Hmm," Becky said thoughtfully. "The only thing I can think of is your finisher. It's a good chokehold to use, and you're strong enough to make it look convincing. I would suggest you could make it even better if you got your legs around your opponent's waist. Lock them in your legs so that they're properly trapped, like a fly in a spider's web, while you throttle the life out of them."
"You're very good at painting pictures with words," Sonya said, able to see herself applying the move exactly as Becky had just described it, with Becky as the opponent fading away into unconsciousness.
"It helps with promos," Becky said. "Luckily they don't script you as much on NXT as they apparently do on the main roster. But yeah, try that with your finish and see how it goes. We'll do it in our next match if you like?"
"That would be great, thank you."
Reaching the locker room, Becky entered and held the door open for Sonya to follow her inside. "You don't have to keep thanking me. Here on NXT, it's part of our jobs to help each other grow, to reach our full potential. Speaking of, there is something I'd like to try in our next match. There's a new suplex I've been working on in training."
"Tell me about it," Sonya said openly.
They talked about Becky's new move for a couple of minutes before hitting the shows. Once they were dressed back in their regular clothes, they sat next to each other at Becky's locker for the rest of the show, chatting away about all things wrestling as well as getting to know each other on a personal level. In what felt like the blink of an eye, the show was over and Mandy walked back into the locker room.
"Thanks for the chat, Becks. I'm going to go see how Mandy got on," Sonya said, getting up from the bench.
"Sure," Becky smiled. "I'll be off soon anyway, so I'll catch you tomorrow night."
"See you," Sonya replied with a smile of her own, before heading over to her own locker, arriving there at the same time Mandy did. "How was ring announcing?" she asked her girlfriend.
"A lot of fun," Mandy said, smiling broadly. "I only screwed up a couple of times. I'd definitely be up for doing it again. I think you'll enjoy it tomorrow night."
"Not as much as I enjoyed tonight, I bet," Sonya said. "You're going to love your first match so much. Once you get started, it feels just like you're in there with Coach Purrazzo in training. At least, it did for me. Becky is so kind, helpful and easy to work with. She really guided me through tonight. I feel like I'll always be indebted to her for it."
"Aw, I'm glad you enjoyed it so much," Mandy said, obviously wanting to hug her, but holding back because they were in the locker room. "Bayley has been the sweetest to me, too. Not that that's a surprise. So yeah, I am very much looking forward to facing her tomorrow night. Tonight is about you, though. I felt so proud sitting there watching you."
"You guys are serious friendship goals. I can't relate," Charlotte said, having overheard them from a couple of lockers away.
Also standing nearby, Lacey Evans laughed at Charlotte's joke. "Don't worry, Char, I'll be your friend. Can't promise to be as good at it as Sonya and Mandy, but…" Her voice trailed off, and all four of them laughed.
While Charlotte and Lacey continued joking with each other, Mandy typed out a quick text message to Sonya. What she wanted to say couldn't be spoken out loud.
I think we should celebrate when we get back to the hotel room. I'm sure Daria would like to end the night in the best way.
When Sonya's phone bleeped, she read the message and looked at Mandy with desire in her eyes. She decided it was best to reply to the message rather than saying anything out loud.
Yes, Daria looks forward to it.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review on the previous chapter.
What did you think of Sonya's first match?
Next time, we'll be seeing Sonya and Mandy travel to New York, where Sonya will meet Mandy's father for the first time. How do you think that will go? Leave your thoughts in a review!