WWE TLC – December 16th 2018
Locked in Becky Lynch's Disarm-Her, Sonya Deville screamed in pain, trying to squirm her way towards the ropes. Her efforts looked like they were going to be in vain. She was right in the middle of the ring, with the hold expertly applied.
In the nick of time, Charlotte re-entered the ring. Needing to stop Sonya from tapping in order to continue the match, Charlotte rushed at Becky and kicked her in the side of the head. It was a simple but effective way of breaking the submission hold.
Holding the side of her head in pain, Becky started to get up. Unfortunately for her, she played right into Charlotte's hands. Flair jumped forward, delivering Natural Selection, slamming Becky's face into the mat.
Everyone in the arena expected Charlotte to go for a cover. With Sonya still down and Becky seemingly out cold, it would have been an ideal opportunity to do so. But instead, Charlotte hurried over to Sonya, grabbed her right arm and started dragging her across the ring.
Sonya revelled in the confused reactions she heard from the fans as she was draped over Becky. No one had a clue what was going on now. There seemed to be no imaginable reason why Charlotte would assist Sonya rather than trying to win the match herself.
Sonya lying on Becky constituted a pinning situation, so the referee got down to make a count, as confused as everyone else by what was happening.
"One!"
"Two!"
Becky got a shoulder up, to the delight of the fans, who had been supporting her throughout the contest.
For a moment, Charlotte looked on in disbelief, unable to comprehend how Natural Selection hadn't been enough to put Becky away.
Showing incredible resilience, Becky began to get up once more.
Setting her frustration aside, Charlotte lined Becky up for another attack.
As Becky regained her feet, looking dazed, Charlotte ran at her and delivered a Big Boot that connected with her face with a loud crack that was audible throughout the arena.
Sonya was just regaining her feet as Becky went down. Her head bounced off the canvas like a rubber ball, a sure sign that she was knocked clean out.
"Finish it!" Charlotte yelled at Sonya.
This moment was the culmination of several years of blood, sweat and tears for Sonya. She made sure to savour every moment of it. She was about to win her first Women's Championship. Since the night of the battle royal, where she had debuted her revamped character, Sonya had been using her Kimura lock as her finishing move. She applied it to Becky now, screaming with rage as she wrenched in the pressure.
The majority of the crowd watched on in near silence, shocked by Charlotte's actions and the fact that Becky was about to be essentially screwed out of her championship in a two on one situation. A small number of fans cheered, though. The new Sonya, despite being a heel, had some followers.
Selling the beating Charlotte had inflicted on her, Becky didn't fight against the hold she was in. After a few moments, she tapped weakly on the mat.
Sonya screamed again, this time in delight as the bell sounded and her music began to play. She was the Smackdown Women's Champion! Releasing the hold, she felt almost overcome with emotions as she got to her feet. The honour of being champion meant so much to her she was on the point of tearing up, but she couldn't. It wouldn't have made sense for her character to react that way. More appropriate was the way she shoved the referee aside, refusing to allow him to raise her hand.
"Here is your winner, and the new Smackdown Women's Champion, Sonya Deville!"
Sonya roared like a wild animal, pounding her chest with her fist.
Across the ring, Charlotte had taken the championship belt from the timekeeper. She walked towards Sonya with it and held it out, almost as if it was a gift she was presenting. Understandably, the fans still had no clue what they were witnessing, or what Charlotte's motivation for her actions could possibly be. They were about to find out.
Sonya gratefully took the belt and raised it in the air in her right hand. Charlotte raised Sonya's left hand, joining in the celebration.
"That's right, I'm the champ!" Sonya yelled, looking into the hard camera.
Now it was time for the bombshell on which the segment was going to end. Lowering her arms, she turned to face Charlotte, who also turned to face Sonya at the same moment. They looked at each other lovingly, stepped into each other's arms and began kissing passionately.
Although Charlotte had been booed throughout the match and had finished it in a way that strongly suggested a heel turn, and although Sonya had been on a roll as a heel during the past few weeks, their show of passion for each other was met with a loud cheer of approval that had a distinctive male tone to it. Sonya wasn't exactly surprised. Men loved them a bit of girl on girl action, and it was a first for WWE as far as she knew.
The instruction from Vince McMahon had been for the ladies to continue kissing until the lights above the ring went out, signalling that their segment had gone off air. That was exactly what they did, raising their hands to each other's faces as an additional loving gesture.
As soon as the lights went off, Sonya knew they were clear to break off the kiss and head to the back. Charlotte's professionalism was beyond question, everyone in the locker room knew that. Even so, Sonya was impressed with the way she had fully committed to the kiss – her first with a woman, as Sonya had learned earlier in the day.
"Congrats, Son. You deserve this. You'll make a great champion," Charlotte said as they walked towards the ropes, heading for the back.
"Thanks, Char. That means a lot to me. And thanks for the kiss. Talk about taking a girl's breath away."
Charlotte laughed. "If I know Vince, we'll be doing a lot of on-screen kissing. Better get used to it."
Deciding not to say anything, Sonya thought that she would have no complaints at all if that was the case. Little did anyone know, she had a huge crush on Charlotte Flair.
Earlier that night
To Sonya's frustration, Vince McMahon still hadn't told her who she was going to be working her upcoming romance angle with. All he had said was that he had the perfect person in mind for the role. That had been weeks ago. At this point, Sonya wondered if the truth of it had been that he hadn't made a decision, but he hadn't wanted to say so.
Now, though, Sonya figured she was about to find out who her partner was going to be. She was backstage before TLC - the event only a couple of hours away from starting - and she had been summoned to see the Chairman.
When she knocked on the door and entered the office, Sonya's eyes widened at who she saw standing there talking with the boss. Charlotte Flair. The Queen. The most beautiful woman on Smackdown, in Sonya's opinion. Charlotte was also one of the other competitors in the triple threat match. Sonya's heart leapt in her chest momentarily. If Vince was about to say what she thought he was about to say, she was into this angle more than ever before. Of late, Charlotte had been dressing and getting made up to look eviler, a sign that heel Charlotte was close to returning. Personally, Sonya had found the new look hot as hell, not that she had remarked on it to anyone. The two women exchanged a smile as Deville walked into the office and stood next to Flair.
"Ah, perfect timing, Sonya," Vince said as a form of greeting. "I was just telling Charlotte how I want the finish to go down tonight, and she asked me why she would be helping you. Obviously you already know the answer to that question."
"Yeah, I guess I do," Sonya said, trying to play things a coolly as possible.
"Maybe someone can enlighten me then?" Charlotte said with some humour in her voice. "I'm basically going to beat Becky, then hand the title to Sonya on a plate. Why?" It was clear in her tone that she was intrigued by the idea more than resistant to it.
"Because she's your girlfriend," Vince said bluntly, looking satisfied with himself for the idea. "We have a bunch more backstory to it than that, but that's the basic reason."
This time it was Charlotte's eyes that widened in surprise. She looked from Vince to Sonya and back again before speaking. "We're going to do a lesbian romance angle?" she asked.
"Is that a problem?" Vince asked. "If it is, you should say so now."
"I didn't say it was a problem," Charlotte said carefully. "I'm just… surprised. I had no idea that we were going to do something like this, or that I would be chosen for it. It makes sense to choose Son because everyone knows she's gay, but why me?"
"You've been waiting to have your elbow surgery for a while now," Vince said. It was news to Sonya, who hadn't known Charlotte was working hurt. "We're going to get you booked in to get the surgery this week. It'll keep you out of the ring for around a month, so you should be okay to return in the Royal Rumble match. In the meantime, you'll be managing Sonya as a part of this new angle."
Charlotte nodded. "Alright. I'll be glad to get my elbow tidied up. Some nights, it's quite painful." She looked at Sonya and smiled awkwardly. "I've never kissed a girl before."
Sonya smiled broadly. "I've never kissed a guy, but I'd imagine it's much the same. It's when things get further than that the differences come in."
Both Vince and Sonya burst out laughing. "We won't be going that far, we are PG," the boss said. "I will need you to kiss, though. Is that going to be an issue?"
"No," Sonya replied. They both looked at Charlotte.
"No problem," she said comfortably.
Vince clapped his hands together in satisfaction. "Excellent. That's settled then. Now, Sonya, this is how the finish is going to happen."
A/N: Huge thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter one! The reaction blew me away, guys.
Shout out to a guest reviewer who mentioned Charlotte. Everyone else went for Mandy. I wouldn't be that predictable. ;)
Next time, we'll have Charlotte explaining her actions on Smackdown. McMahon mentioned there was backstory to her relationship with Sonya. What do you think it is?