The big day had arrived, for and Tessa and the Golden Gloves simultaneously. All three of them were making their debuts on the same pay-per-view, May's Backlash event.
Sonya and Mandy's first main roster appearance had been in a backstage segment earlier in the night, in which they had put a classic heel ass kicking onto the ever-popular Clementine, who had been giving a post-match interview following an impressive win in the night's opening match.
Tessa had witnessed it all from her ringside seat, where she was supposedly nothing more than a fan enjoying the show, albeit a famous one. Recognising her, several fans had been over to ask for selfies. She had been happy to oblige them, always mindful to stay humble and down to earth.
About an hour into the show, a cameraman came over to film Tessa for one of the 'Hey look, there's someone famous at our show' pieces that WWE liked to do. Tessa smiled broadly and gave the audience a thumbs up, knowing that the commentary team would be telling the viewers at home who she was, for the benefit of those who didn't know.
The true meaning of the little piece was to plant a seed for later in the night. It had now been established that Tessa Blanchard was in the crowd, which would prove to be important.
After another couple of matches, it was time for the second women's contest of the night. It was a tag team match, seeing the heel team of Sasha Banks and Bayley taking on the babyface team of Lacey Evans and Dana Brooke.
Tessa sat and watched the match, particularly enjoying the new look and new attitude that Bayley was sporting of late. It was also fun to watch Lacey work as a babyface, and to see Dana finally being given something of a push. Indeed it was Dana who got the win, catching Bayley with a roll up that got her a three count.
The crowd popped loudly for Dana's win, enjoying the fact that Bayley had suffered a humiliating defeat as much as seeing Dana get a victory. Tessa was on her feet, cheering and applauding. Her part in the action was about to come.
Dana and Lacey celebrated their win in the ring, sharing a hug and raising each other's hands in triumph. With that, they both left the ring, stepping onto the floor almost right in front of Tessa.
Applauding the two victorious women, Tessa shared a brief hug with Lacey, followed by one with Dana. Dana said something into her ear, and Tessa laughed heartily at it. In the ring, Bayley was sitting in the middle of the ring looking furious at what had happened. Seeing Tessa laughing seemed to be the final straw for her.
As Lacey and Dana made their way around to the entrance aisle Bayley rolled out of the ring in front of the commentary tables. Sasha was still down on the floor on that side of the ring.
Bayley went over to the ring announcer's position and snatched a microphone. Dana's music stopped playing as she launched into a tirade. "Shut up! All of you shut up! Do not cheer that! Don't you dare laugh at me!"
Boos rained down on the former hugger, who was walking slowly in Tessa's direction. "You think this is funny?" she raged at the fans, before her gaze settled on Tessa. "And you! You think it's funny, watching me lose?"
Tessa made sure her expression looked like she very much did find it funny. The noise in the crowd rose as the fans who knew who she was considered how stupid it would be for Bayley to get in her face.
"Tessa Blanchard thinks it's funny that Bayley lost a match," Bayley scoffed, now standing in front of her. "Well, let me tell you something, Tessa. This is not UFC, this is WWE. If you think it's so funny, why don't you try me, huh?"
The fans cheered louder, doing their best to encourage Tessa to kick the shit out of Bayley. However, she made sure to look like she wasn't interested in doing so, even managing a smile.
"What, you think you're better than me?" Bayley raged. She then made the mistake of putting her hand on Tessa's face and shoving her.
A loud 'oohhh' came from the crowd, who expected that to be a step too far. They were correct.
Tessa threw a right hand that knocked Bayley down, and the fans erupted. She was barely able to take the reaction in as she jumped over the barricade because she knew she had hit Bayley pretty hard. When they had laid the segment out before the show, Bayley had impressed her by saying, "I want you to give me a good punch. That punch makes the segment, so the last thing we need is for it to look weak." Tessa hoped she still felt that way after the fact.
After jumping over the barricade, Tessa went after Bayley again, pummelling her several times.
For the first time since the tag team match had ended, Sasha came back into the picture. Rushing at Tessa from behind, she grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to her feet, rescuing Bayley. What she hadn't thought about was her own safety. Tessa swung an elbow that was sold as if it had nailed Sasha in the side of the head, staggering her.
Tessa threw another punch, knocking Sasha down. The numbers caught up to her though, as Bayley was back on her feet, and was able to smash Tessa in the back of the head with a forearm.
As Tessa went down, a bunch of referees and officials showed up to deal with the melee.
Allowing herself to be dragged away by a group of referees, Tessa hoped that she looked like the most pissed off bitch on the face of the planet. Inside, though, she was buzzing. Her first segment in WWE, albeit a short one, had gone great, and the fans were eating it up. There were even some people chanting her name. What more could she have hoped for than that?
The posse of referees escorted Tessa to the stage and through the curtain to the back, while Sasha and Bayley were detained down by the ring.
Tessa didn't know what to expect when she walked through to the backstage area known as the gorilla position. It was where the production team sat, including Lucy Thorne. The answer, it seemed, was not much. "Great job," Lucy said, as Hunter gave a thumbs up. And that was it. It was better than criticism, though.
Proceeding through to the hallway beyond gorilla, Tessa remembered a piece of advice that Sonya had given her. "Always wait for your opponent when you get to the back after a match. It's considered extremely rude not to thank people for a match. The only acceptable reason not to is if you're hurt and you're sent straight to see the doctor. If that happens to your opponent, you should go there too and check on them."
Tonight's affair hadn't been a match, but Tessa decided to wait anyway. Lacey and Dana were already lingering, waiting for Sasha and Bayley for the same reason.
"Nice job," Lacey said with a smile.
"They lapped that up," Dana said, meaning the fans.
"Thanks, guys," Tessa grinned. "That was quite a rush. I caught Bayley a bit stiff with the first punch."
"It happens," Lacey said, expressing no real surprise or concern at the news.
"Bay's as tough as they come. She won't mind," Dana said. "You looked badass out there by the way."
"Thanks," Tessa smiled. Dana's tone and mannerisms had her coming across a bit like a fan. Hell, maybe she was. Working with people who had previously been fans of her UFC career was going to be odd for Tessa, and for them.
Sasha and Bayley walked through into the hallway, followed by the rest of the referees and officials. Tessa stood back as Lacey and Dana went over to their opponents for a quick exchange of gratitude. Then it was her turn.
"I caught you pretty good, Bayley. Are you okay?" Tessa asked, approaching her.
"I think I'm going to get a fat lip, but it's fine," Bayley said reassuringly. "If it does swell up, I'll make sure to put a picture up online. I'll put some in-character caption with it, angry at you for what you did."
"That would be great. Thanks, Bayley. It was a lot of fun out there."
"It was a good segment," Sasha said, slapping Tessa on the shoulder as a gesture of approval.
"Thanks, Sasha. I hope we get to wrestle each other. I'd love to face you."
"Same," Sasha said as they started walking towards the locker room. "Apparently they're having you wrestle guys though, I heard." She didn't exactly sound positive about it.
"You don't approve?" Tessa asked. She had expected the concept to be divisive. Frankly, she considered that to be Lucy Thorne's problem. It was her company, and it had been her decision to go in this direction. All Tessa had to do was concentrate on making it look legit when she was fighting the guys. Hopefully it wouldn't be a huge problem, given that she could probably beat many of them in a real fight.
"I'm worried that it might overshadow the women's division," Sasha said.
At least she's honest and up front, Tessa thought. She could respect that, even though she totally disagreed with the opinion. "I guess I can see where you're coming from," she said, opting for diplomacy. "The way I look at it is WWE showcasing women as being powerful can never be a bad thing. I didn't ask to be given this role. To be honest I was pitched something totally different before I signed, and it was changed a few weeks ago. But did I argue against getting in the ring with the guys? Absolutely not. I'm looking forward to the challenge."
"Good for you," Bayley said with a supportive smile. "Personally, I can't wait to see where it all goes next. You're going to kill it against whoever they put you with. Having said that, if you ever need a friendly ear or some advice, don't be shy in hitting me up."
Tessa felt incredibly grateful. Bayley wasn't trying to patronise her, she was simply being a pro, offering to help someone who had literally no experience in wrestling. Bayley had only been on WWE's main roster for about a year herself, but she was nonetheless a seasoned veteran in wrestling. Having someone like that willing to help her grow as a wrestler could be invaluable, Tessa knew. "Thanks, Bayley, I appreciate it," she said in a heartfelt manner.
"Any time," Bayley said.
They were now approaching the locker room. Following Sasha and Bayley inside, Tessa was greeted by enthusiastic congratulations by Sonya and Mandy.
"Dude, you were amazing!" Sonya cried.
"Thank you! So were you guys!" Tessa replied, pulling them into a three-way hug.
"Girl, as soon as the main event is over, we're going out to celebrate," Mandy said.
"Yes, we are. And tonight is on me," Tessa decided. "We're going to have the best food and wine we get our hands on."
"Even better!" Sonya said. "Mandy, I knew we picked the right housemate."
All three of them laughed happily. For Tessa, debut nerves were now a thing of the past. She could now focus on the career that lay ahead of her.
A/N: Many thanks to those who left a review on the previous chapter.
Merry Christmas everyone! If you're celebrating, I hope you have an awesome time!