The first couple of months in Orlando had been a great time for Tessa. Her wrestling training was going very well, thanks to the facilities and staff at the Performance Centre, which truly were second to none. Sonya and Mandy had also been a great help, putting all the time they could into working with her, helping her transform her talent for fighting into a talent for wrestling.
Sonya and Mandy were not just Tessa's colleagues, though. Thanks to living together for a couple of months, they were now firm friends. Friends with benefits, in fact. Threesomes had become a fairly regular occurrence, with frequent appearances from Daria. Tessa knew she would go through the rest of her life being unable to avoid thinking dirty thoughts if she saw a roll of duct tape. Or a pair of rubber gloves, come to that. Mandy's fetish was an odd one, but Tessa wasn't one to judge.
"Hey! You got somewhere better to be?"
Tessa was startled out of her thoughts about kinky threesomes by Coach Purrazzo barking at her. Christ, that woman was strict, as Sonya and Mandy had warned her on her first day. But she was an excellent trainer, and that was why she was held in high regard by all of the women who were learning their craft at the Performance Centre. To her credit, Purrazzo treated Tessa no differently to anyone else, despite the fact that she was a huge name around the world. Tessa would have had it not other way.
"No, Coach, sorry," she replied, refocussing on what Purrazzo and Mandy were doing in the ring. Sonya and Tessa were currently standing on the apron.
"Since you can't pay attention, get in here. Let's see you practice your finish. We'll look at ways you can set your opponent up for it."
For a finishing move, Tessa had been given something similar to Chris Jericho's Codebreaker, the difference being that her move was delivered to an opponent who was seated on the second turnbuckle. The move involved Tessa jumping backwards onto the canvas, pulling her opponent with her by holding their head. When Tessa landed on her back, she would have her knees up, slamming them both into the opponent's face.
"That's fucking sick," had been Sonya's comment the first time she had seen Tessa perform the move, after being taught it by Purrazzo.
Magnum was the name Tessa had chosen to give the move. Something short and sharp which would stand out was what she had been after. Magnum certainly fit the bill, in her opinion.
To co-operate with the instruction that Tessa had been given, Mandy started climbing up to the top rope, her back to the turnbuckles.
"Alright, go!" Purrazzo instructed.
Making like she was catching an opponent who wanted to come off the top rope at her, Tessa rushed over to the corner and kicked Mandy in the leg, causing her to slump into a sitting position on the middle turnbuckle.
With her opponent dazed, Tessa grabbed her head and fell back to the mat, delivering what looked like a very nasty impact to Mandy's face.
Wasting no time, Tessa rolled over to cover Mandy, getting her body between her opponent's legs in a pinning combination that had a lot of leverage.
"Good," Purrazzo said, not bothering to make a count, since it wasn't a practice match.
"Why don't you try hitting it from the top rope?"
The suggestion came from Sonya, as Tessa was getting to her feet. It was an idea that she hadn't considered, and she liked it. Having two ways to hit Magnum would give her a lot more options in terms of finishing matches that she was booked to win. "Can I try it?" she asked, looking to the coach for approval.
Purrazzo beckoned Sonya into the ring, letting that serve as her acceptance of the idea.
Without needing to be told, Tessa climbed up to the top rope. Mandy stepped out onto the apron, and Purrazzo moved into one of the other corners, keeping out of the way.
Playing the part of a groggy opponent, Sonya staggered into the middle of the ring.
It was the first time Tessa had tried a move off of the top rope, as her character was certainly not going to be much of a high flyer. Hoping to judge the distance correctly, she leapt into the air.
Maybe it was beginner's luck, but Tessa's jump was perfect. She was able to grab Sonya's head as she reached her, and hit her with Magnum. It was quite a rush to nail the new innovation at the first attempt.
"Excellent. Well done," Purrazzo said. From her, it was high praise. "We'll try a few more of..." She stopped mid-sentence, looking over Tessa's shoulder.
Tessa turned around to see what had caught the coach's attention, as Purrazzo announced it herself. "Lucy Thorne is here."
"Oh!" Sonya exclaimed, getting up quickly and looking over towards the door that led to and from the office area. Ms Thorne had just walked in with Hunter Helmsley.
WWE's Chairwoman looked both sexy and rich, Tessa thought. You could just tell some people were loaded, even if they didn't try and flaunt it. Maybe it was the perfectly-tailored business suit?
"Have you met Ms Thorne before?" Sonya asked Tessa, standing beside her.
"Yeah. I signed my contract in her office. I think she wanted to meet me before pen was put to paper, although I did all of the negotiating with Hunter. I'm guessing you don't see her down here often?"
"This is maybe the third time since I've been here. I've only spoken to her once, and that was because we passed each other in a hallway."
"Okay, back to work," Purrazzo said. "You'll make her feel like she's a goldfish in a bowl, staring at her like that."
The practicing continued, with Tessa trying out her top rope Magnum on Sonya several times. They were not all perfect, but that was to be expected. Constructive criticism came from Coach Purrazzo.
While working, Tessa kept sneaking glances at Lucy Thorne, who was being taken around the multiple rings, being introduced to the wrestlers, most of whom had likely never met her before. It soon became apparent that the ring Tessa and friends were using was going to be the last stop on the tour. Was that significant?
"Take a minute," Purrazzo told her students when Lucy and Hunter approached.
"Deonna, how are you?" Thorne asked politely.
"I'm good, thank you," the coach said. "How are you?"
"I'm well. Hello, Tessa, Sonya, Mandy."
"Hi," Mandy said nervously. Unlike Sonya, she had never spoken to the boss before. Greetings also came from Sonya and Tessa.
"Can the three of you join us in the conference call room?" Lucy asked. "We'll give you a minute to cool down first."
Wouldn't want us sweating on the furniture, Tessa thought wryly.
Hunter and Lucy headed off towards the offices, leaving Tessa, Sonya and Mandy to get out of the ring. There were towels and bottles of water on a nearby table. They went over there to towel themselves down and freshen themselves up with a drink. Purrazzo left them to it, going over to a ring where some of the other NXT women were training.
"This is going to be about our call up, isn't it?" Mandy said.
"I assume so," Sonya replied. "I'm hoping she hasn't decided to cancel it."
"I doubt she would have come here herself to bring that news," Tessa said.
"True," Mandy acknowledged. A phone call to Hunter could have gotten that job done. "So what does she want, then?"
"Only one way to find out," Tessa said, tossing her towel into the nearby bin where used towels were deposited for laundry.
"Yep. Let's go," Sonya said, dropping her towel into the bin.
The trio proceeded through to the office area. Hunter's office wasn't all that big, explaining why Lucy had chosen to meet them in the conference call room. It was the biggest office space at the Performance Centre.
When they walked in, they found Lucy sitting at the head of the table, with Hunter at her right hand. Glasses of water had been put in front of them, as well as in front of three of the empty chairs.
"Sit down, ladies. I won't keep you long," Lucy said in her prim and proper English accent. "How are you finding it here?" she asked Tessa as she sat down.
"I'm enjoying it," Tessa said positively. "The staff are great, the facilities are second to none, and Sonya and Mandy have been brilliant friends and partners."
"Mandy, I don't think we've met before," Lucy said next, smiling pleasantly. "I'm excited by the Golden Gloves. You both show a lot of talent and chemistry."
"Thank you," Mandy said humbly.
"Now, the reason I'm here," Lucy said, getting down to business. "The three of you were told you would be called up together, and would be working with each other on the main roster. That is no longer the case, as there has been a change of plan."
Tessa looked at her friends, seeing downcast looks on their faces. They were fearing being told they were being kept back in NXT.
"There's no need to look glum," Lucy said. "All three of you are still going to the main roster. The change of plan relates to you, Tessa. We're not going to go so full-on with your Terminator character. You can still use the face paint and stuff for big matches, but we're dropping the narrative that you're actually a robotic killing machine."
"Can I ask why?" Tessa wasn't exactly pleased with the news. Playing the character was something she had been looking forward to.
"Because I have something else in mind for you. But before I get to that, let me address Sonya and Mandy. Although you won't be working with Tessa as you were originally told, you will be heading to the main roster in the near future, and you will remain together as the Golden Gloves."
"Thank you, that's good news," Sonya said.
"If we're not going to be with Tessa, can we have Zelina stay with us?" Mandy asked.
"I afraid not," Hunter said. "As you know, Zelina wants to start wrestling in her own right. She'll be staying in NXT to do that. We're confident that you guys will be fine without a manager."
Sonya and Mandy looked at each other, encouraged by the feedback. Tessa knew that attention was about to shift back to her. "So, what's the new plan for me?" she asked. "I have to say, I am disappointed that the Terminator character is being dropped."
"Hopefully you'll like the reason I dropped it," Lucy said, obviously building up to something. "The truth is, I was thinking through how we might book you, and it dawned on me how tricky it would be to have one of our women beat you clean without it seeming ridiculous. I mean, everyone knows who you are and how tough you are."
"Thanks," Tessa said, internally wishing they could hurry up and reach the point.
Lucy continued as if Tessa hadn't said anything. "With that problem on my mind, I happened to sit down and watch a show from another promotion, something I rarely do. For their main event they had an intergender match. I have to confess to going into it thinking it would be awful, but I actually enjoyed it."
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Tessa asked, feeling her excitement building.
"I'm saying you're not going to be competing in the women's division. We'll give you a few matches against women after you debut on Smackdown, but before long you will be wrestling the guys."
"Holy shit!" Mandy blurted out.
Tessa couldn't have put it any better herself.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review last time.
Seeing Tessa go from strength in her intergender matches on Impact made me realise it would be a great new thing to try writing. No one can tell me it isn't realistic!
So, who would you like to see her wrestle? Leave your suggestions in a review!