When Sonya and Mandy had gotten around to looking at the formats for the night, they had received a surprise. The women's battle royal to determine the number one contender for Elena D'Agostino's NXT Women's Championship was the main event of the first of three episodes being taped. They were not featured on either of the other two episodes, but they didn't care about that. What mattered was that they were making their televised debut in a main event. It was incredible, so much so that it had been hard for them to take it in.
Now they were standing backstage, waiting to enter the arena. For the sake of time, only a select few of the competitors would be given televised entrances with their own music for the battle royal. The rest would enter in a large group, played to the ring by the NXT theme song for the benefit of those in attendance at Full Sail.
"How do you feel?" Zelina asked both Sonya and Mandy. She was standing next to Sonya, about to walk to the ring beside them so that those viewers who watched matches over again on the WWE Network would see her entering with her Golden Gloves, even before it was known that they were a team, or that she had brought them together to work for her.
"Excited," Sonya said.
"And nervous," Mandy added.
"You'll be fine," Zelina said, trying her best to reassure them.
"She's right, you'll be fine," Lacey Evans said. She was standing just behind them, wearing her latest vintage look. It never failed to amaze Sonya how Lacey pulled them off so naturally. She imagined that if she tried one on, she would look like a complete idiot.
"Thanks, guys," Sonya said, limbering up while they waited for the cue to go out to the ring.
"You look great together, both dressed in gold," Zelina said. "I wasn't sure it would suit you, Sonya, but it really does."
"Golden Gloves for the win," Sonya said with a smile. The kind words were helping to hold her nerves at bay.
"Not to try and be negative," Shayna Baszler said from nearby, "But why are you called the Golden Gloves when Mandy isn't wearing any gloves and Sonya has black ones?"
That was a good point, Sonya had to admit. She remembered Hunter's explanation of how the name had been arrived at, which Zelina was now explaining to Shayna. But she could see what Shayna was saying. It would probably look a bit silly from the audience's point of view if the Golden Gloves didn't wear golden gloves.
"I get it," Shayna said after hearing Zelina's explanation. "I still think you should have gold gloves though."
"She's right, Son," Mandy said, looking at her. "We should add some golden gloves to our look for our first proper appearance as the team."
Sonya nodded her agreement. "I've been told I look good in gloves, so I say let's do it."
Luckily for Mandy, the call came for the group to head out to the ring, and the NXT theme started playing in the arena. If the attention had remained on her, she wouldn't have known where to put herself after Sonya's comment.
It was time to focus on getting down to business. "Let's do this, Mand," Sonya said, fired up for her first televised match.
"Let's go!" Mandy replied, equally hyped up.
Walking through the curtain near to the back of the group, Sonya saw that the small but intimate arena was full to capacity. Even so, there was not much reaction to the group's entrance.
On her way down the ramp, Sonya wondered how long it would be before the Golden Gloves were making a proper entrance of their own. That would be another memorable moment to add to the collection.
The group entered the ring, and the NXT theme faded out. There was a pause for a few moments before Shayna's music hit. She was the first of the NXT women's division's big names to enter, granted the privilege of her entrance being televised.
Next came Sasha, followed by Bayley, who was the crowd's favourite for the win if the reaction she got was anything to judge by. Last came Lacey, who Sonya already knew was going to be the winner. The resulting Lacey Evans versus Elena D'Agostino match at the next Takeover event really would be something to see.
But for Sonya and Mandy, it wasn't about winning the match. It was about using the time they had in the ring to give a good account of themselves. When the match had been laid out earlier in the night, they had been told that Bayley would eliminate both of them, and Shayna would then throw Zelina out soon afterwards, and they would need to be in position to catch her when that happened.
When Lacey had completed her entrance routine, her music faded out and the referee called for the bell. Sonya and Mandy's first ever televised match was underway. They had no time to dwell on it. As soon as the bell sounded, Kairi Sane came charging across the ring and started laying into Mandy, knocking her down. Sonya grabbed the Japanese and spun her around, only to catch a right hand to the face, sending her staggering into a corner of the ring.
Five minutes later, the ring had emptied out a bit. Neither Sonya nor Mandy had eliminated anyone, but their little moment to shine was approaching. Lacey had been stomping on Bayley in a corner of the ring. When she turned around, Sonya was already running at her. Launching herself into the air, Sonya hit a spear, her signature move. To her delight, she absolutely nailed it, right in the middle of the ring, where all of the attention would have been on the move.
Standing up, Sonya faced the hard camera and posed with her arms outstretched. "That's what I'm talking about, baby!" she shouted loudly.
Behind her, Mandy was pulling Lacey up off the mat. She lifted her up into the air, in the first part of what would come to be called the Golden Slam.
Throughout the match, Zelina had been seen giving instructions to Sonya and Mandy, for a reason that wasn't yet apparent to the viewers. She now made of point of getting Sonya's attention and pointing to Mandy and the precarious position Lacey was in.
"Get her!" Zelina could be heard screaming.
Taking a run up, Sonya jumped into the air and blasted Lacey in the side of the head with a savage martial arts kick. As soon as the kick connected, Mandy slammed Lacey down face first onto the mat. The devastating double team move was greeted with a groan from the crowd, which in a way conveyed their recognition of how powerful it looked. It was a reaction that Sonya felt very pleased with.
Preparing to celebrate the destruction she had just taken part in, Sonya was grabbed from behind by Bayley and bundled over the top rope before she could react. Sonya painfully banged her butt on the side of the ring apron on her way to the floor, but even that wasn't going to take the shine off the night. She would need to await feedback from either Hunter or the coaches, but she felt like she and Mandy had done very well.
Moments after Sonya hit the floor, Mandy crashed down a couple of feet away.
Mindful of the instructions they had been given before the match, they both got up relatively quickly, selling being hurt in the process of their eliminations. They walked around to the side of the ring in front of the entrance ramp, arriving in time for Shayna send to sending Zelina literally flying over the top rope.
Zelina landed mainly on Sonya, who was able to catch her in the manner she had practiced so many times with Coach Purrazzo. Both Sonya and Mandy went down while catching Zelina, selling being wiped out by the impact.
Just like that, it was over. A cameraman had been standing nearby to capture Zelina's elimination, but he soon went back to ringside to continue filming the action. For the Golden Gloves and their manager, their part in the show was done. They got up, continuing to sell being hurt, and made their way slowly to the back, Sonya and Mandy helping Zelina to walk.
Once they were safely back through the curtain, there was no need to continue acting.
"That was so much fun!" Mandy said as they made their way through the small Gorilla position.
"Hell yeah it was," Sonya agreed.
"Sonya, you absolutely hit that spear out of the park," Zelina said. "I was watching from the corner."
"Thanks, Z. It felt good when I landed it. I'm glad it looked it."
"Yes, it did," Zelina said enthusiastically, leading them along the hallway towards the women's locker room. "And Mandy, you did an equally good job with the Golden Slam." She paused for a moment before laughing at her own expense. "Listen to me, talking like I'm Hunter or something. You don't need me telling you you're good at your jobs."
Mandy laughed. "No, please do. Any praise or encouragement means a lot. We've been called up, but we're still very green. We're realistic enough to know that. Anything we can learn from people more experienced than us, we're here for."
"That's right," Sonya said.
Zelina nodded her appreciation as they approached the locker room. "We should all keep that attitude in mind, as a group I mean. I honestly think we could go a long way together. I know it's a hell of a long way off right now, but imagine Zelina and the Golden Gloves on the main roster, making a debut on Raw or something."
Following their manager into the locker room, both Sonya and Mandy had dreamy expressions on their faces. "Maybe one day," Sonya said hopefully. "If it happens, we can look back on tonight and say we knew it from day one."
"Or if not, we can blame it all on Zel for jinxing us," Mandy said, making the other two laugh.
As a show of respect to everyone else who was working, Zelina, Sonya and Mandy were expected to stay until the last match of the night was over. The unwritten rule wasn't a problem to them, as they would have chosen to stay anyway. There was nothing quite like the experience of being backstage for a show, and all three of them loved it.
Halfway through the taping of the second show of the night, Deonna Purrazzo made a surprise appearance in the locker room. Over the years, most of the women on the roster had been trained by her and Paige, so happy greetings were in no short supply.
Out of politeness, Sonya, Mandy and Zelina waited by their lockers for the coach to come to them, rather than trying to crowd around her.
A couple of minutes went by before Purrazzo made her way over to the Golden Gloves group. Now that she wasn't in training mode, the coach seemed to be a bit more open and friendly. "Hi, guys," she greeted the three of them with a smile.
"Hey, Coach," Sonya replied, at the same time as similar greetings came from the others.
"You did a great job out there tonight, seriously," Purrazzo said. There was a notable element of pride in her voice.
"Thanks, Coach," Mandy said. It was obvious in the way she spoke that the words meant a lot. Praise didn't come often from Purrazzo, so it was meaningful when it did.
"Yeah, thank you," Sonya said with a smile.
"You're welcome. But this is one good night. Don't let it go to your heads."
Mandy nodded seriously while Sonya said, "We won't."
"Good. It was actually the three of you I came in here to see. Hunter wants you in his office when the show is over."
Sonya and Mandy looked at each other, then they shared glances with Zelina. If they had been able to see themselves, they may have found their reactions comical.
"Us? What for?" Sonya asked.
"Don't ask me..."
"I just work here," Zelina finished for the coach. It was a phrase everyone at the Performance Centre was used to hearing from her.
As frustrating as it was, Sonya realised they would have to wait until they were in Hunter's office to find out why they were being summoned.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review on the previous chapter.
How did you like the debut of Golden Gloves?
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