It was Tuesday afternoon of the week leading up to Survivor Series. More importantly for the members of the NXT roster, it was the week of Takeover. While that fact made it an exciting time for their colleagues, there was no such emotion for Sonya, Mandy or Zelina. They were not booked to appear on the show, and indeed the Golden Gloves had still not been involved in a televised match on NXT.
After the final TV tapings before Takeover had been completed, Sonya's anger at the situation had come close to boiling over. She was so annoyed about the way they were only being used to inflict what by now had become tedious and repetitive beat downs on members of the women's division that she had wanted to go and speak to Hunter Helmsley about it.
As the more experienced member of the group, and therefore in some senses the leader of it, Zelina had stepped in, taking Sonya aside and talking her down, explaining that it was not wise to get hot-headed. She had reiterated that they had been told there were plans for them, and they had to show some patience and faith while waiting for things to develop.
Although she hadn't been happy about it, Sonya had relented, thanks in no small part to Mandy weighing in and calmly saying that she thought Zelina was right. Sonya had said that she would hold her tongue until the next set of tapings, after Takeover. If they were still not booked in matches then, she insisted on talking to Hunter and asking why their act was being allowed to go stale.
Partly due to her frustrations, Sonya had been working extra hard in training at the Performance Centre since the mini altercation with Zelina. In training the day after that, Sonya had laid into a punching bag without bothering to put gloves on, and had gone so hard at it that she had finished up with both hands bruised and bloodied. It had been painful, but it had felt good.
On this particular day, the Golden Gloves had been granted permission to have one of the rings in the main hall to themselves. They had spent several hours training their disciplines and taking it in turns to have practice matches, with whoever the third member happened to be acting as the referee.
During a quick break after one of the matches, Sonya went over to the water cooler in the corner of the hall. She filled one of the plastic cups with water and downed it all in one hit, savouring the refreshing coolness of it as it went down.
"Ah, Sonya, exactly who I was coming to find," a familiar voice said behind her. It was Hunter Helmsley.
Turning around to face the boss, Sonya told herself to suck it up and stick to what she had promised Zelina, avoiding complaining about Golden Gloves' creative. She put a smile on her face and said, "Hey, Hunter."
Hunter smiled back, but his tone was serious. "I gather you've been feeling a bit frustrated lately?"
Sonya's instinct upon being unexpectedly confronted on the issue was to deny it. "No, I'm good," she said in a positive manner, trying to brush it off.
"Show me your hands," Hunter instructed.
Until then, Sonya hadn't even realised that she had subconsciously hidden her hands behind her back. Even with the wraps on them that she wore for wrestling, the damage from the punching bag session would be easily visible to him. Left with no choice, she brought her hands around in front of her.
Hunter took each of her hands in his and studied the damage on each of them. "Looks like you've been working out frustration to me," he observed.
Sighing, Sonya took her hands back and grimaced. "You could say that."
"Let me tell you something, Sonya," he said calmly. "Nothing happens here or in NXT that I don't know about. Another thing to keep in mind is that I like honest answers when I ask questions. I'm going to take a guess, you're angry because the Golden Gloves have been on TV for a while but you haven't had any matches yet?"
There was no point in trying to conceal it any further, Sonya knew. One of the coaches had probably seen her hammering away at the punching bag and said something to Hunter about it. "Yeah, that's exactly it," she admitted. "It's been getting to me that we always do the beat downs. It feels like the fans are getting bored of us at this point."
Hunter looked pleased with the honest answer, and appeared unconcerned by it. Sonya got the feeling she was about to go to the learning tree.
"I love the passion, Sonya," he said. "You're invested in yourself and your team. That's exactly as it should be. There are a couple of things I want you to keep in mind, however. Firstly, if you have any concerns or problems, my door is open. I'm not saying anything will necessarily change if you come to me with a problem, but I'm always happy to talk to you. Sometimes it can be good to have a chat about how things are going, so don't be afraid to stop by."
Sonya nodded, appreciating the way Hunter handled his people. He made you feel valued and respected, not like someone who was there to eat shit and like the taste of it.
"Secondly, I want you to keep in mind that this is a process, Sonya. Everything in NXT, in WWE, is constantly evolving. It's not all about the Golden Gloves. You're new graduates to the roster. It's a long road to get to the top, but you're on that road. Focus on giving everything you've got to make good progress along the road."
"I understand. I will," Sonya said, feeling bad now for how angry she had been getting. Zelina had been right, there were plans for them. It was important to wait for those plans to come into action. Hunter was giving her exactly the same message that her friend had tried to get through to her.
"Come with me," Hunter said, motioning for her to accompany him in the direction of the main hall.
Walking along beside the boss, Sonya found no further conversation forthcoming. She decided that keeping her mouth shut was her best course of action. Although Hunter wasn't mad at her, she still kind of felt like she had put her foot in it.
Approaching the ring that her group were using, Sonya saw Mandy and Zelina chatting, oblivious to the fact that Hunter was coming over to them.
"Ladies, join me for a minute," Hunter called to them.
Surprise registered on both faces for a second as they turned to look at the boss. Hunter sat on the ring apron, and Sonya sat down next to him, realising that was what she was expected to do. Mandy and Zelina stepped through the ropes and sat down next to her, all of their attention on Hunter.
"So far, you guys have been used for backstage promos and attacks, and for beating people down in the ring. I understand you would have liked to have been having matches by now, but creatively it hasn't gone that way."
"Honestly, we're…" Zelina began, only for Hunter to gently raise a hand, encouraging her to hear him out before saying anything.
"That's about to change. The Golden Gloves have beaten up pretty much everyone on the roster, but they have mostly done it by attacking from behind. Now it's time for that to end. Mandy, Sonya, you're going to start wrestling people in singles match. Whenever one of you is in the ring, the other two members of the group will be at ringside, with Zelina of course taking on the primary role as manager."
"That sounds awesome," Mandy said with a delighted look on her face. "When is that going to start? After Takeover?"
"Close," Hunter said. "It's going to start at Takeover, or, I should say, on the Takeover pre-show. As you know, we always have a couple of matches before the main show starts, and they are taped for the following NXT show. One of those matches is going to be you, Mandy, taking on Sasha Banks. As Sasha has recently turned face, she'll be going over, but this is obviously a big opportunity for all three of you to perform in front of a bigger crowd that you ever have before. Grasp that opportunity, enjoy it, and make the most of it."
"Thank you, Hunter, this means so much to all of us," Mandy said. "We won't let you down."
Hunter nodded, smiling pleasantly. "I know that. What you've been doing recently might not have felt like it was important or significant to you guys, but it was. The reaction you're getting when you come out isn't tedium because people are bored of you, it's annoyance because they know that whoever it is you're coming for is guaranteed an ass kicking. Now it's time to turn that annoyance into outright heat. You're not just going to be attacking people anymore, you're going to be wrestling, and you'll be using all of the heel tactics in the book to get the wins that you pick up."
Sonya joined the others in nodding her acknowledgement of what they were being told. Inside, she was delighted. Finally, the Golden Gloves were going to wrestle. Now, she hoped, there was no stopping them. She fully believed in their potential to become one of the biggest acts on NXT, and hopefully one day on the main roster as well. All she had wanted was a chance for them to prove it, and now they knew they were going to get exactly that.
"That sounds great," Zelina said, smiling. "I can't wait for Takeover now, and I'm sure Mandy and Sonya feel the same way."
"Absolutely," Sonya said.
"That's good," Hunter said as he got up off the ring apron. "I'll leave you to your training. Oh, and next time Sonya decides she's going to take out her anger on a punching bag, make sure she puts some gloves on."
Sonya laughed along with the others as Hunter walked away. To her surprise, it wasn't long before Zelina locked eyes with her, looking seriously annoyed. "I thought we agreed you weren't going to go and speak to him?"
"I didn't go and speak to him!" Sonya objected. "I was at the water cooler getting a drink and he approached me. He was on the way here to speak to us all, and he happened to see me there first. And yeah, he saw the bruising on my hands and put me in my place about not trusting the creative process. So don't get annoyed with me, Zel, the message is heard and understood."
"Guys, let's not argue. This is a great day for us. We're going to start wrestling. And oh my god, I'm going to be in the ring on the Takeover kick off show. My heart is pounding right now."
"Sorry for snapping at you, Son," Zelina said. "I honestly thought you had gone to Hunter's office. But Mandy is right, this is a great day for us. We should celebrate. So, tonight we're going out, and drinks are on me."
Sonya was only too happy to jump on that offer, and to put the moment of conflict aside. "That sounds like a plan. Golden Gloves for the win."
"Golden Gloves for the win," Mandy replied, looking forward to a night out. "Hey, maybe we should come up with a pose or something?"
"Good idea," Zelina said. "We've got until Saturday night to come up with something."
A/N: Many thanks to those who left a review on the previous chapter.
I'm open to suggestions for what the Golden Gloves might use for a signature pose for the group. Leave your suggestions in a review!