The past several weeks had been particularly frustrating for Sonya. Since the visit to Charlotte's house, where they had confessed to having feelings for each other and spent a significant amount of time making out, they had barely seen each other. Thanks to her elbow injury, Charlotte had not been working the full time schedule that everyone else had. She had only been appearing on Smackdown episodes, standing ringside during Sonya's first few non-title matches as champion, all of which had resulted in Deville victories.
The limited time spent together meant that progress with their relationship, if that was what it was at this point, had been limited. In fact, they hadn't progressed beyond kissing each other as yet. Much as Sonya had wanted things to take a step forward, she was mindful that she had always been gay, whereas this was Charlotte's first same sex relationship. It was only right, therefore, that Charlotte was the one who dictated the pace. Sonya certainly didn't want to rush things and send Charlotte running.
Therefore, for many reasons, the Royal Rumble was the night Sonya had been looking forward to. It was the night she would defend her newly-won Smackdown Women's Championship for the first time, it was the night Charlotte returned to the full time schedule, and it was the night Charlotte would compete for the first time since her surgery, making a surprise return in the Royal Rumble match itself.
In the locker room, they had of course done nothing around any of the other girls to give an inkling that there was something going on other than the romance angle they were working. The truth of it was that the angle would be a big help as far as concealing the real situation was concerned. Moving forward, anything people saw between them that looked romantic would naturally be assumed to be a part of the angle. They had already been encouraged by Vince McMahon to post pictures together on their social media.
Since winning the first championship of her career, Sonya had committed herself to working harder than ever in the gym each morning. As champion, it fell to her to set an example to the rest of the locker room. That was still a concept she was getting used to, but it felt good. As she finished changing into her ring attire – a brand new set in the same style as her others, but coloured black with blue trim – she learned that she wasn't the only one who had realised she was in the shape of her life.
"Girl, you look incredible," Naomi said with admiration, standing in front of a nearby locker.
"Thank you," Sonya said. "I've been hitting the gym extra hard recently."
The conversation didn't get a chance to go any further because Stephanie McMahon walked into the room. It was something of a rare occurrence, so it immediately attracted everyone's attention and quickly silenced the various conversations.
"Good afternoon, everyone," Stephanie said, receiving a few responses from around the room. "I wanted to be the first to come and let you know about an announcement that's going to be made on Raw tomorrow night, concerning the future of the women's divisions of both Raw and Smackdown."
These days, Sonya and Charlotte used adjacent lockers. They subtly made eye contact, both wondering what the announcement was going to be.
"For some time," Stephanie went on, "the women's wrestling we've been putting on has been one of the most popular parts of our product. With only one title on each brand, opportunities have been limited for some of you. Additionally, some weeks we have maybe one women's match on each show, possibly with a promo segment thrown in. It's not making the most of the talent we have available to us. Therefore, we've taken the decision to add new women's championships to both Raw and Smackdown, and to featuring more women's segments."
"Yes!" Sonya exclaimed to Charlotte as the room exploded into conversation. There had been rumours of a Women's Tag Team Championship being introduced for some time, but no one inside WWE had confirmed that they were moving forward with the idea.
Charlotte's eyes were wide in surprise. "Wow, Son. This is awesome!"
"Please," Stephanie said, raising a hand to appeal for silence. It took a moment for everyone to quiet down and give her the chance to speak again. "Contrary to the rumours I'm sure you've all seen, we will not be bringing in a Tag Team Championship. What we're introducing is a second singles title for each show. Raw is going to have the Women's North American Championship, and Smackdown will have the Women's European Championship."
"When are we getting them?" Carmella called out.
"We're not one hundred per-cent sure on that yet," Stephanie said. "They'll either be introduced at Wrestlemania or shortly afterwards. Personally, I would like it to be at Wrestlemania, but that would mean at least four women's matches on the card, and I'm not sure we can fit that in."
"There will be more than four men's matches on the card," Sasha Banks pointed out.
"Yes, there will," Stephanie said. "But as I say, a decision hasn't been taken on the exact timing. We're currently designing the belts and starting work on creative plans for them. Again, I wanted to be the one who came to tell you about what's going on ahead of the announcement tomorrow night. Any more questions before I leave you to it?"
"Is there any chance of me winning one of these new titles?" Dana Brooke asked, making a joke at her own expense. The room filled with laughter, with Stephanie joining in.
"I suppose anything's possible," McMahon said, drawing more laughter.
No one had anything serious to ask, so Stephanie excused herself and left the locker room. As soon as the door closed behind her, the room filled with chatter once more as everyone started talking about the news.
"What great news," Charlotte said to Sonya. "I think all of us deserve this for the hard work we've put in."
Sonya nodded. "Absolutely. Do you know what I'm picturing right now?"
"What?"
A smile appeared on Sonya's face. "Me and you, both walking out to the ring with gold around our waists. What a powerful image that would be."
"It really would," Charlotte said with a faraway look in her eyes as she pictured it. "Who knows, the week after Wrestlemania that might be exactly what happens."
WWE Royal Rumble – Sunday 27th January 2019
The honour of opening the pay-per-view had been given to Sonya and Becky Lynch. Currently, Becky was one of the most popular stars in the company, so when her music was the first of the night to hit, it drew an exceptionally loud cheer from the fans, who were already on their feet following the show's introduction.
"We're kicking things off with the Smackdown Women's Championship," Tom Phillips said on commentary as Becky walked out into the arena, with the fans singing along with her theme music. "What an ovation for Becky Lynch! The Man is here to try and reclaim the title that, in her mind, she was screwed out of by Charlotte Flair and Sonya Deville at TLC."
"I'm not sure I follow the logic of that argument," Corey Graves said. "It was a triple threat match. There's no rule to say two people can't attack one person. Actually, it happens all the time. Besides, Sonya put Becky in the Kimura and Lynch tapped out. Deville is the rightful champion, and I think she will answer her critics tonight and prove that."
"That's why we're having the match," Byron Saxton said. "We'll be finding out just how good Sonya is when she unleashes the Deville inside. But is she going to face The Man one on one, as she promised last week?"
Becky entered the ring and posed on the middle rope, received another cheer of approval from the fans. A 'Becky' chant broke out, coming through loud and clear over her music.
The music faded out a moment later, being almost immediately replaced with Sonya's theme. Since her change in character, she had done away with the robes that she had previously worn to the ring. Now, she walked out onto the stage with her title around her waist and a look of barely contained anger on her face.
Standing in front of the stage, Sonya threw some shadow punches before letting out a rage-filled scream. If intent was anything to judge by, Becky was in big trouble.
"Well, so far, Sonya is as good as her word," Phillips said. "She's coming out without Charlotte Flair, exactly as promised. Deville said she wanted to prove a point, and this is the way she can do it. If she beats Becky Lynch one on one, there can be no question about her legitimacy as champion."
"In its own way, that puts a lot of pressure on Deville's shoulders," Saxton opined.
Sonya entered the ring and went through another shadow punching routine before taking off her championship belt and holding it up. As she did so, she let out another aggressive roar, eyes literally burning with the fire she was ready to unleash on Becky.
In short order, the ring announcements were made and the match got underway.
To the dismay of many in the crowd, Sonya dominated much of the contest, methodically picking Becky apart, focusing particularly on her left arm, softening it up for what she hoped would be the eventual application of the Kimura.
Nearly fifteen minutes into the match, Becky was at last able to mount a sustained period of offense of her own, hitting several signature moves, culminating in the Bexploder suplex. For the first time, the fans had half an inkling that their favourite might get the win they craved on her behalf. They all joined in with the referee's count when a cover was made.
"One!"
"Two!"
"Deville kicks out!" Graves called over disappointed groans from the crowd.
Sonya got back to her feet, but she was rocking from Becky's barrage. Wanting to press home her advantage, Becky hit a Lass Ride, leaving Sonya flat on her back near to one of the corners of the ring.
With all of the momentum now behind her, Becky stepped through the ropes and carefully climbed up to the top rope, sensing that all she needed was to hit one high risk move and she would reclaim what she saw as her title.
As Lynch reached the top rope, Deville was starting to get back up. Becky was left to improvise, choosing to leap into the air when Sonya was back on her feet.
Becky connected with a flying double axe handle, knocking Sonya down. But as contact was made, Becky screamed out in pain and went down also, clutching her left arm – the one that Sonya had been working on throughout the match. The impact of delivering the move had clearly injured it.
Crying out again in pain, Becky went down to her knees, holding her injured arm. The referee realised something was wrong and hurried over to check on her.
Unfortunately for Becky, Sonya also realised she was hurt. Looking across the ring, she scented blood in the water. She rushed across the ring, grabbed hold of Becky injured arm and locked in the Kimura, overpowering Becky's attempt to resist.
The fans groaned as soon as the move was locked in, the moment being signified by one of the rage-filled screams from Sonya as she wrenched in the pressure.
"There it is! The Kimura! It's locked in!" Graves cried as Sonya continued to wrench as hard as she could, screaming with the effort and the anger she was putting into it.
Becky was also screaming as she flailed around in a desperate attempt to get free. The pain was more than evident in her voice.
Even Becky Lynch was only able to stand the vicious Kimura for a matter of moments before tapping frantically on the mat with her free hand. A final scream came from Sonya as she realised that she was victorious.
"It's over! Becky Lynch taps out to Sonya Deville!" Phillips cried.
"Sonya unleashed the Deville within, and it was too much for The Man!" Saxton added.
Inside, Sonya was filled with delight as she released the hold on Becky and got up, raising her arms in victory and yelling once again. She had just raised the bar again for the biggest win of her career. This time it had been a Women's Championship match, and she had won it cleanly. It meant an incredible amount to her.
As she snatched the belt from the referee and held it aloft in celebration, a stark realisation came to mind for Sonya. She was the champion coming out of the Royal Rumble. That made it highly likely that she would be the one to take the title into Wrestlemania. The thought raised goosebumps on her arms. Wrestlemania was going to happen in her home state of New Jersey, and it was likely that she would be in one of the biggest matches on the card.
Nearly three hours after her match had ended, Sonya was showered and changed out of her ring attire, sitting in the locker room watching the women's Royal Rumble come to an end on a monitor.
The final two women in the match were Charlotte and Ember Moon. Charlotte's shocking return had come at number twenty eight, being greeted by fairly heated booing. For whatever reason, she currently had more heat that Sonya with the fans, even though they were together in their angle and Sonya was the champion.
Personally, Sonya was just glad to see the Queen, her Queen, back in action and showing no signs of the elbow injury.
The crowd had been behind Ember since her entrance at number twenty. A majority held the opinion that she had been wasted since being called up from NXT. They were about to be made very happy indeed.
After hitting an Eclipse on Charlotte, Ember discarded her over the top rope, to the delight of the crowd.
"The winner of the 2019 women's Royal Rumble, Ember Moon!" Jojo announced.
Nothing had as yet been said to Sonya about future plans, but she began to image a Moon – Deville match at Wrestlemania for the Smackdown Women's Championship. She liked the idea. She liked it a lot.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review on the previous chapter! Unfortunately no one predicted Ember Moon to win the rumble, but ThatWrestlingFanWrites, Hunter Hades Helmsley and a guest reviewer did correctly call Sonya winning her match.
Who would you like to be the first holder of the Women's European Championship?
And would you like to see Sonya vs Ember at Wrestlemania?