Wrestlemania week was like nothing else on the WWE calendar. Starting Thursday morning, there were events every day up to and including Tuesday. By the end of it all, the landscape throughout the company would look a lot different. There would be title changes, NXT debutants on the main roster, and even a retirement, after Kurt Angle brought his legendary career to an end at Wrestlemania.
At the opposite end of the scale were Sonya and Mandy, who were just getting started in their careers, and were set to experience being a part of a Wrestlemania weekend for the first time.
"This is going to be a lot of fun," Sonya said to Mandy and Zelina. They were moments away from walking into the main hall of the convention centre where Wrestlemania Axxess was taking place. It would be Sonya and Mandy's first big meet and greet session. As was often the case, Zelina had more experience of the situation than them, but she was still looking forward to it.
A lot of fans flew in for Wrestlemania week on Thursday, arriving in the evening. For that reason, the Thursday Axxess session was the least popular, a relative term, and was therefore the one where some lesser known names were on the line up. The Golden Gloves were one such name, filling a two hour slot on the NXT stage.
"Only if somebody shows up in our line," Mandy said with a laugh.
Sonya knew that people would come to meet them, but the joke was worth a laugh nonetheless.
"Looks like it's time to go," Zelina said as the nearby double doors were opened, and wrestlers started filing through, mingling with the volunteers who were helping with staffing the event. "One day, people might be paying hundreds of bucks for VIP tickets to meet us."
That was worth another laugh from Sonya. "You never know, I guess," she replied, finding it doubtful.
The NXT stage was near the back of the hall, in the same corner as the door that the wrestlers entered from. That gave the Golden Gloves the shortest walk of anyone to reach their station for the next two hours.
Walking around the stage behind Mandy and Zelina, Sonya saw a short line waiting for them. The waiting area was maybe one fifth full, she estimated. One person she did spot was Sarita Lopez, her number one fan. She was fourth in line, presumably having run to the NXT stage as soon as she had been admitted. Sonya saw that she had another custom made t-shirt on. This time it said: Golden Gloves Takeover: New York, and had Sonya, Mandy and Zelina's faces on it. It would make a great collectible once it was signed by the three of them.
"Sonya!" Sarita shouted, waving at her favourite wrestler.
"I see you!" Sonya called, pointing and smiling.
Sarita had a girlfriend with her, and they both went crazy, hugging each other.
"That girl really loves you," Mandy said with a big grin as they climbed up the steps to the stage.
"Yeah, she does. But I'd make a bet you have more fans than me," Sonya replied.
Zelina laughed, casually chewing some gum. "Of course she has. She's much prettier than we are."
All three of them laughed. It was something of a running joke, which Mandy was used to taking in the way it was intended.
"We agreed we would stand, right?" Mandy said.
There was a long table for them to use, with three chairs behind it. But if they sat down, fans had to lean over the table for pictures, making the results not very good. Fans therefore appreciated it greatly when wrestlers opted to stand instead. The Golden Gloves wanted to do everything to gain more fan recognition and support, even though they were heels, so they had gone for the fan-friendly option.
"That's right," Sonya said. She put the three bottles of water she had brought out for them on the table, and with that they were ready to begin.
Only a few minutes later, it was Sarita's turn to come forward. She chose to do so separately from her friend, who waited for the next turn.
Sonya stepped forward to greet her fan, smiling broadly. "Hey! Thanks for coming! And look at that shirt! I love it."
"Oh my god, it's so good to meet you again!" Sarita cried, walking into Sonya's arms.
"That really is a cool shirt," Mandy said, happy to play second fiddle on this meet.
"Thank you," Sarita said over Sonya's shoulder. As they parted, her attention went back to her favourite. "I still can't believe how well you did at the rumble. I was sitting ringside, and I was screaming so much I lost my voice."
"I know you were there, I saw you," Sonya smiled.
"You did?" Sarita cried. "I didn't think you did."
"Not much gets by me," Sonya chuckled. "What do you say the three of us sign that shirt for you?"
"That would be awesome!"
Zelina already had a sharpie pen in hand, and as Sarita stretched out the shirt for her, she signed across her own image. "There you go."
"Thanks, Zelina," Sarita said happily.
Mandy went next, signing over her image, and then Sonya did the same, adding a couple of kisses and the date underneath her signature.
"Thank you, guys," Sarita beamed. "Do you mind if I get the picture just with Sonya?"
"Go ahead," Mandy said.
"Can we do the Golden Gloves pose?" Sarita asked Sonya.
"Sure." Sonya posed, facing her fan with her fists raised. Sarita copied her, and the volunteer in charge of taking pictures on fan's phones snapped the shot.
"Thanks again," Sarita said, delighted with her experience. "I'll see you at your next meet and greet, wherever that is."
"Enjoy the show tomorrow," Sonya said, referring to Takeover.
Sarita took her phone back from the guy who had taken her picture. "Of course! There's no way you guys aren't beating Sasha and Bayley."
"We're going to do our best," Zelina said. Naturally, they couldn't say anything that might allude to the result.
"Can't wait to see it," Sarita said, giving them a parting wave.
As she walked away, Sonya looked at Mandy. "It's so cool knowing you mean that much to a fan."
Mandy smiled, taking pleasure in seeing her girlfriend happy. "Let's hope she enjoys the show as much as the meet and greet.
This year, NXT Takeover had been moved to Friday night, with the Hall of Fame ceremony switching places to Saturday night. It was a change that Sonya had approved of, for the simple reason that it had left the Golden Gloves with less time to wait before their first match at a special event.
Second match on the card was hardly pride of place, but none of the Golden Gloves trio could have cared less. Being on the card for Takeover at all was a huge step up for them.
Out in the arena, Sasha Banks and Bayley were making their entrance together. Unsurprisingly, the raucous crowd was right behind them, giving them a loud ovation.
As she said her customary prayer before entering an arena, Sonya felt her stomach fluttering. God only knew how many people around the world were about to watch her perform, some of them no doubt seeing the Golden Gloves for the first time. It was such a massive opportunity for them to make a big name for themselves, particularly against such relatively experienced and established stars as Sasha and Bayley.
"Alright, let's do this," Mandy said when she heard their opponents music fading out. She was well and truly fired up for the match.
Zelina had her game face on. As soon as the Golden Gloves theme dropped, she led them through the curtain, shouting at them and gesticulating wildly to fire them up, in character as the motivator extraordinaire.
Sonya drank in the boos that had greeted their music, and were still coming their way. The Golden Gloves were strongly disliked for their cowardly ways and the brash attitude of their manager.
Walking to the ring, Sonya took advantage of a cameraman getting a close up shot of her. "Hairs up, time to square up!" she growled menacingly.
"And their opponents," Kayla Braxton announced, "Being accompanied by Zelina Vega, the Golden Gloves, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville!"
All three Golden Gloves members entered the ring. With their opponents waiting in their corner, the trio struck their familiar pose.
At Zelina's instruction, Sonya stepped out onto the apron, leaving Mandy to start the match.
Bayley stepped forward for the opposition team, and the match got underway.
True to form, the Golden Gloves used nefarious means to keep the upper hand for most of the match. The numerical advantage that Zelina afforded them was particularly useful. Indeed, it was Zelina who caused Sasha to end up isolated in the ring, taking her out with an apron hurricanrana into the ring steps.
After being beaten down and almost defeated several times, Sasha was finally able to buy herself some time by hitting a meteora on Sonya, leaving them both down.
Suffering from the beating she had taken, Sasha desperately crawled across the ring towards her corner, where Bayley waiting for a tag with her arm outstretched.
In the opposite corner, Mandy was in a similar position, wanting to tag back in with enough time to prevent Sasha from getting her tag. It wasn't to be.
Sasha was actually the first to tag out, launching herself the final few feet to her partner. By the time Sonya tagged Mandy, Bayley was already entering the ring off the hot tag, with the fans roaring her on.
Rushing into the ring, Mandy received a clothesline, followed by a dropkick. Getting up in the corner of the ring, she was unable to avoid Bayley coming at her with a flying back elbow.
Sonya had been able to sit up. With the crowd cheering her on, Bayley ran at her and clotheslined her in the sitting position.
Rolling out of the ring, Sonya was met by Zelina. The Golden Gloves' manager was extremely concerned about the way things were going for her team.
Bayley sent Mandy over the top rope, landing near to Sonya and Zelina, who hurried to help her up. So busy were they trying to sort each other out, they didn't see that Sasha was back up.
Banks hit the ropes, sprinted across the ring and hurled herself through the gap between the middle one and the top one. She landed on all three Golden Gloves members, taking them all out.
On a roll, Sasha got straight up, hauled Zelina to her feet and hurled her into the ring steps with a loud crash.
Sonya knew that it was time for her part in the match to come to an end. Getting back to her feet, she got into a fist fight wish Sasha, which saw them gradually go up the entrance ramp and through the curtain to the back.
Once they were out of sight of the crowd, the fighting obviously stopped.
"Good match," Sonya breathlessly said to Sasha.
"Yeah," Sasha said indifferently, heading for the locker rooms.
Charming as ever, Sonya thought, shaking her head. Usually, hanging around in Gorilla was frowned upon, but Sonya knew no one would object on this occasion.
Watching on a monitor, she saw the finish already going down. Mandy rolled Bayley into a pinning predicament, getting a two count. Bayley countered for a pin of her own, also getting two. Mandy reversed, ending up sitting on Bayley and pinning her shoulders to the mat. Two fistfuls of tights ensured Mandy had more than enough leverage, unseen by the referee, who counted three.
Shocked, the fans booed loudly. They knew Bayley had been screwed over, having seen what the referee had missed.
Mandy wasn't hanging around in the ring to celebrate. She was happy to do it as she backed away up the aisle, laughing at the heist she had managed to pull. Zelina joined her, looking worse for wear, but delighted with the victory.
While the Golden Gloves made their exit, Bayley sat in the ring, looking mortified about losing. The fact that she had ended up in the ring alone after the match told a lot of the crowd that the rumours they had heard were true.
The Golden Gloves music stopped after Mandy and Zelina disappeared through the curtain, and the fans got to their feet as Bayley herself stood up, tears now streaming down her face.
"Oh, bless her," Sonya said in the back.
"So sad," Mandy said, tears in her eyes too. "I don't want her to leave NXT."
A 'Thank you, Bayley!' chant was thundering throughout the arena as Bayley applauded them in return, saying her final goodbye.
"It's sad, but don't worry," Zelina said. "We'll be seeing plenty of her down the road."
A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review last time.
The next chapter will be Sonya and Mandy's first appearance at the Hall of Fame ceremony. As they will go together, it may make their relationship public knowledge. How do you think they will feel about that?