Fresh from her debut at Backlash, Tessa had felt on top of the world when she arrived at the arena for Smackdown on Friday night. The internet had been on fire after the news of her appearance in WWE had broken, going to show what a good idea had been to keep the fact that she had signed a contract under wraps.

Tessa's on-screen character, meanwhile, did not have a contract, she had just learned from one of the show's writers, a surprisingly young blonde woman called Rachel. The thick rimmed glasses that Rachel wore made her look like a nerd, not that Tessa considered that a bad thing.

"So, let's go over it again," Tessa said, wanting to make sure she hadn't missed anything in what had just been relayed to her. She found it quite surprising that business was done by some random writer approaching talent directly in a hallway. That surprise in turn told her that she had a lot to learn in WWE. Learning how to wrestle was one thing. The workings backstage hadn't really been covered. Still, it wouldn't take long to pick up how it all worked, she felt sure.

"You're going to be shown walking into the building," Rachel began. "You'll be confronted by Stephanie McMahon, the Smackdown GM. She's a heel character, as you know, and you're a babyface. That's why we're going to have her none too pleased that you interfered in her pay-per-view, or now that you've shown up at her arena when you don't have a contract. She'll point out to you that you don't work for WWE, which means you're trespassing."

"If I don't work here and I'm trespassing, how am I supposed to have gotten into the building in the first place?"

The question clearly surprised Rachel. "Uh, don't worry about that. We sometimes have to gloss over that kind of thing in WWE."

"Alright," Tessa said, keeping her tone respectful even though she found the answer pretty dumb.

"You have the segment written out for you there. Try and memorise your lines before the show," Rachel said, motioning to the two sheets of stapled paper that she had handed to Tessa at the start of their conversation.

Tessa looked at the front sheet. "Why are some of Stephanie's lines not filled in?"

"She ad-libs her own promo work. Some people are allowed to."

And you're not one of them, Tessa added for herself at the end of the sentence. That was fair enough, though. She preferred to be given lines. The key was in making her delivery sound like she wasn't reciting lines. It had to feel genuine to the audience. Promo class at the Performance Centre had taught her that.

"Thanks, Rachel. I think I've got it from here."

"Great!" Rachel beamed. Even though she was used to working with WWE's biggest names, she seemed delighted and slightly awestruck to have pleased Tessa Blanchard. That kind of reaction made Tessa a bit uncomfortable at some base level. It would likely pass in time, when people got used to her being around.

With the conversation at an end, Tessa continued her walk to catering, where she was going to join Sonya and Mandy in having something to eat. Thanks to Rachel's appearance, her friends would probably have started without her.

Sure enough, when Tessa entered the catering area a minute later, she saw Sonya and Mandy sitting at a table, making a start on their meals. Mandy noticed her, and waved her over.

Tessa waved an acknowledgement and went to fix her own food tray, deciding to get a tea to go with it.

"We thought you'd got lost," Sonya said as Tessa sat down next to her at the table.

"No, one of the writers stopped me," Tessa explained. "I have a backstage segment with Stephanie McMahon. It's about my character not having a contract. She's going to put me in a match against Dana, that I have to win in order to win a contract. I don't really get why they chose Dana. I'm supposed to be coming in as a babyface, and they're trying to make Dana one too."

"To make Steph look evil," Mandy said, looking over the top of the coffee cup that she was sipping from. "She's forcing you two to fight because you hugged each other the other night."

"I imagine Lucy is keeping you away from wrecking one of the heel ladies, too."

Tessa considered that for a moment. "I guess I can understand the thinking. I still would have thought a match against Bayley would make more sense after Sunday. Anyway, what about you guys? What do you have?"

"We're beating down Clementine again, this time out in the ring right after she wins her match," Sonya said. "I'm so excited to work with her. I didn't expect it so soon."

Tessa smiled, happy that her friends had an angle that they liked. "What's the ending going to be, if that's the right way to put it?"

"Don't know. We haven't been told yet," Mandy said. "If I had to guess? A tag match against Clem and someone else, hopefully on a pay-per-view. We'll probably lose, because why would we beat the top star? But hopefully we'll look good in the process."

"Yes," Sonya said. "Even in victory, Clem could help to get the Golden Gloves off to a great start here on Smackdown."

Tessa grinned. "I have to ask, Mandy, did you choose the name Golden Gloves?"

"No I didn't!" Mandy insisted, her cheeks turning red. "It was given to us. In any case, you don't get gold rubber gloves," she added at a much quieter volume.

"I don't know, I bet you could find some somewhere. I'll have to speak to Daria."

After the first match of the night on Smackdown, Michael Cole informed the viewers that he wanted to take them to something that had just happened backstage. On his cue, a shot of a closed exterior door appeared on the screen. Why a cameraman was standing there filming a door before someone came through it joined the list of things that didn't need to be explained to the viewer.

The door opened and Tessa Blanchard walked into the building. She was dressed in blue jeans and a black t-shirt with a black leather jacket over it. She walked with a purpose, like someone not to be fucked with. Out in the arena, there was a loud pop from the crowd, who were watching on the big screen.

Tessa's demeanour notwithstanding, she was stopped by Stephanie McMahon barring her way before she made it down the first hallway. Actually, it was the three big police officers that were with Stephanie who were doing the barring. Boos went up at the sight if the unpopular General Manager.

"I thought you might show up," Stephanie said unpleasantly. "Tessa Blanchard, UFC Champion, and the woman who decided to assault two of my wrestlers this past Sunday night at Backlash. Well, Tessa, apparently I'm going to have to remind you that you're not under contract to WWE, which means that you're standing in my arena, and you're trespassing. That's against the law," she took pleasure in pointing out, looking pointedly at the officers.

"She's not trespassing, I invited her." The voice belonged to Dana Brooke, who appeared in the shot a couple of seconds later. She stood beside Tessa, who's expression helped to confirm what was pretty obvious: Dana was lying.

"You invited her?" Stephanie said doubtfully.

"That's right," Dana nodded.

"Well, I have news for the two of you," Stephanie said sharply. "Invites don't matter. Tessa doesn't have a contract with WWE, so she's trespassing, end of story. Officers..."

Before Stephanie could issue the arrest order, Tessa butted in. "If you want to know the truth, McMahon, I came here for one reason and one reason only. Whether it's tonight, tomorrow night, or next week, I'm going to find Bayley, and I'm going to knock her lights out, for good this time."

"What she means is, she wants a contract with WWE. Right?" Dana asked, looking at Tessa with a 'go along with me for fuck's sake' look on her face.

"Uh, yeah, that's right," Tessa said awkwardly. "Sign me to a contract, then I'll knock Bayley's lights out."

Stephanie looked distinctly annoyed by both of them. "Alright, I'll tell you what I'll do. As much as I don't like you or your attitude, Tessa, I have to admit that signing you would be good for business. For that reason and that reason only, I'm going to give you a chance to win a WWE contract. That's right, I said win. You'll be competing in tonight's main event. If you're victorious, I'll sign you to Smackdown. If not, these officers will drag you out of the building in handcuffs."

"Deal. Who do I have to beat? Bayley?" Tessa asked hopefully.

"No, not Bayley. In fact you won't go within fifty feet of Bayley, or you can forget the match and I will have you arrested," Stephanie said in defence of the so-called role model, who had actually been more like Stephanie's teacher's pet of late. "The person you're going to have to beat is... Dana Brooke!" Stephanie said, grinning evilly.

Stephanie and the police officers walked away, leaving Tessa and Dana looking at each other. Neither of them looked particularly pleased with what Stephanie had done, trying to kill two birds with one stone by having them tear each other apart. Nonetheless, the match was made.

If it hadn't been Tessa Blanchard's debut, the match wouldn't have been remarkable. Tessa could tell that herself as the finish approached. Possibly because it was her first ever professional match, Lucy Thorne, or whoever was responsible, hadn't given it much time. It probably did make sense to have her make relatively short work of Dana, though. It would be odd for her soon to be going at it with men if she had struggled to get by Dana Brooke.

The main things from Tessa's point of view were that she hadn't botched anything, the crowd had been behind her, and Dana had done a fantastic job of selling for her. She might be underrated by WWE, but Tessa thought she was a very good worker, not that she was any kind of expert to pass judgement.

"Handspring and finish," Dana said into Tessa's ear as she picked her up from the mat, enjoying a brief, rare period of offense. Tessa appreciated being led through the contest by her more experienced opponent calling the spots.

Dana whipped Tessa into a corner of the ring, then positioned herself in the opposite corner. After a moment of posturing, she came cartwheeling across the ring and launched herself backwards into Tessa.

Selling the impact, Tessa fell to the mat.

Dana had her opponent in genuine trouble for the first time, or so it seemed. Wanting to finish off the match, she started climbing up the ropes, her back to the turnbuckles. That was where it all went wrong.

Suddenly, Tessa got to her feet, kicked Dana in the side of her left knee, and jumped up to join her on the second rope as the painful kick staggered her.

Grabbing Dana's head, Tessa jumped backwards to the mat, landing with her knees up, smashing them into Dana's face. The impact got a nice 'oohhh' from the fans.

Tessa went with her well-practiced swift transition into a cover, rolling over and getting her body between Dana's legs. The crowd joined in with the referee's count.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

Due to the way Tessa had made the pin, her head was next to Dana's while the count was made. "Thank you," she said, wanting to show appreciation for her debut match.

With that, Tessa stood up to celebrate. Her journey with WWE was now officially underway.

A/N: Many thanks to everyone who left a review on the previous chapter.

Next time, we'll be skipping forward a little to see how Tessa finds herself facing a man for the first time. How do you think it will go down?