Walking out into MetLife Stadium was an incredible moment for Sonya. Although it would be hours before fans were admitted, the empty stadium was still a truly jaw-dropping sight.

It wasn't Sonya's first time in a Wrestlemania arena, having competed on the pre-show for Wrestlemania 34. This year, it was going to be a lot different. She was on the main card, in one of the marquee matches. She was bringing a championship into the event as well. Her picture was one of those featured on enormous banners for blocks around the stadium. It dawned on her in that moment that Sonya Deville was a big deal now, and it raised goosebumps on her arms.

"Remember the days you prayed for what you have now," Sonya mutter under her breath.

Standing beside her on the gigantic stage was Charlotte, looking around the stadium in awe. "Sorry?" she asked, turning to look at her girlfriend.

"I'm thinking about how grateful I am for how well things are going in my life right now. I've got the girl of my dreams, and I'm taking the Smackdown Women's Championship into Wrestlemania. I used to come here to watch football years ago, before I even thought about applying for Tough Enough. Now here I am, hours away from performing here in front of eighty thousand people. What a job this is to have."

"This will be my fourth 'Mania. Trust me, they all leave you just as awestruck. Last year, I had the honour of being the first to beat Asuka, now this year I get to be the first winner of the Women's European title. I'm sure that will be good for getting more heat on me. Everyone can run 'Charlotte gets given everything' up the flagpole again."

"You get what you get because you deserve it," Sonya said, although her opinion was hardly unbiased. "You're the best we have in our division, and you're better than anyone on Raw."

"Flattery will get you everyone, honey. But out right now, out here, is probably not the time or place."

"No," Sonya chuckled. They were still lucky enough to be in the position where everyone they worked with believed their relationship was a thing of kayfabe only. How long that was going to last wasn't certain, but they were happy to take it while it lasted.

"Shall we go down to the ring?" Charlotte suggested. With most of the preparation work for the upcoming show already complete, there wouldn't be much of a problem with them getting in the way.

"Alright," Sonya said, starting down the enormous entrance ramp. "Crazy that in a few hours there will be so many people in here. It's pretty cool than Ember is getting her music performed live as well."

"She has a good theme for it," Charlotte said. "Unfortunately, you don't."

Sonya laughed. "I don't even have lyrics, so yeah, it wouldn't really work for me."

They made their way down the ramp, looking around and trying to take it all in. When they approached the ring, Charlotte had an idea. "We should get one of the guys to take a picture of us, with the stage in the background."

"Great idea. I already have a caption for it: By the end of tonight, you'll be looking at two champions. Hashtag Flairville."

"Perfect," Charlotte said.

Recruiting one of the crew members to take the picture was a simple task. Within moments, he was standing ready with Charlotte's phone, with a request to have them lined up perfectly with the centre of the stage. "Your way a bit, Sonya," he said.

Standing face to face, Sonya and Charlotte took half a step in the requested direction.

"Perfect," the crew member said.

To pose for the picture, Sonya kissed Charlotte lightly on the lips, feeling the fluttering sensation she always got when she did so.

"Got it," the guy announced, offering the phone back to Charlotte.

"I'm sure that'll get us into Vince's good books," Charlotte said, making out like she had only kissed Sonya for the angle they had been given.

"You're convincing about it, that's for sure," the crew member said.

At that moment, Ember Moon reached the bottom of the ramp, attracting Sonya's attention just in time before she started blushing. It was a distraction she was very grateful for.

"Taking cringe-worthy pictures for Instagram again?" Ember guessed with good humour.

Sonya laughed. "That's exactly what we were doing. How are you?"

"Really good," Ember smiled. "I wanted to come out and take a look around, then I saw you guys down here."

"Incredible, isn't it?" Charlotte said.

"I swear I had goosebumps just now," Ember said, shaking her head slightly in awe.

"You're not the only one," Sonya reported.

"I was hoping to have a word with you before we sit down to lay out the match," Ember requested of Sonya.

"I'll leave you to it," Charlotte said pleasantly.

Sonya smiled as Charlotte began walking off up the ramp. More than willing to talk with Ember, she cast a wary eye towards the busy crew members. "Shall we sit out of their way?" she suggested.

"Good idea." Ember climbed over the ringside barrier and took a seat on one of the limited edition decorative chairs that fans with the most expensive tickets would get to take home with them. Sonya's face was one of the few selected to feature there, too.

Sonya climbed over the barrier and sat beside her soon-to-be opponent. "What's on your mind?" she asked openly.

"I was thinking that since they haven't given us all that much time for the match, we're going to have to make it a bit more fast-paced than either of us might have liked."

"I hear you," Sonya said. She didn't particularly agree with the way WWE liked to stack Wrestlemania cards with matches and then have to rush through some of them to get them all into the available time. It didn't seem to make much sense to her, but she was a wrestler, not a member of the booking committee.

"So, I was hoping we could make sure the match is one that we both get something out of. I'd like us both to make the end of show highlight package if at all possible."

"With you all the way on that one," Sonya assured her. "I'm happy to hear any ideas you have. Let's put something cool together."

Appreciative of the willingness and professionalism, Ember began to put forward her ideas. Sonya added some input as she went along, and ten minutes later they had a match figured out with some spots that they hoped would be well-received.

Wrestlemania 35 – April 7th 2019

Limbering up behind the curtain, Sonya barely registered the entrance music that was being performed for Ember Moon in the sold out MetLife Stadium. All she would allow herself to focus on was the match. This was the biggest occasion of her career, and she damn sure intended to give it her all.

By now, Ember would be close to the ring, if not already in it. Any moment now, Sonya's music would hit and eighty thousand people would probably boo her. It was highly unlikely that she would get a New Jersey home town advantage at a multi-national event like Wrestlemania.

Sonya downed a small bottle of water, then took one last look at herself in the full length mirror that was always present in Gorilla. Thanks to the incredible work done by the WWE makeup team, and the brand new black and gold ring attire that she had bought especially for the occasion, Sonya was pleased to see that she looked like the uncompromising badass she was going out there to perform as.

The band finished playing Ember's music, receiving a loud cheer of approval from the crowd for their work. Sonya took a deep breath and said a short prayer. As she did before every match, she asked for the safety of herself and her opponent.

Sonya's music began to play. Boos briefly filled the open air stadium. Putting on the focused but vicious facial expression that typified her character, Sonya pushed her way through the curtain and walked onto the stage. No one watching would have been able to tell how much she was enjoying the moment.

Before the event got started, Sonya had received some brief instruction from Hunter Helmsley. She was to walk to the top of the entrance ramp and do one of her best shadow punching routines. As she completed it, some pyro would be set off. Just hearing that had given her goosebumps again. She hadn't gotten a live entrance music performance, but they had found a way to make a big deal of her nonetheless.

Going through the shadow punching routine, Sonya made sure to end with a flourish and one of her trademark aggressive screams. Even though she was expecting it, the loud explosion that went off on the stage behind her almost made her jump. She heard the distinctive crackling sound of more pyro going off high in the air above the stadium, not that she could see it from her point of view.

Imagining the commentary team hyping up her title reign, Sonya strode to the ring at a brisk pace, making sure to look like she was ready to murder Ember when she got down there.

Entering the ring, Sonya posed and screamed once more before her music faded out. Unfastening her belt from around her waist, she handed it over to the referee, then locked eyes with Moon. While keeping up the tough exterior, Sonya determined herself to make the most of being announced as a champion at Wrestlemania, reasoning that there was no guarantee of it ever happening again.

"The following contest is set for one fall, and it is for the Smackdown Women's Championship!" Greg Hamilton announced. "Introducing first, from Dallas, Texas, Ember Moon!"

Ember walked into the centre of the ring and gave her familiar pose, raising her hand to the side of her face.

"And her opponent, from Shamong, New Jersey, she is the Smackdown Women's Champion, Sonya Deville!"

As expected, there had not been much of a reaction to the mention of New Jersey. Even so, Sonya had goosebumps on her arms again as she stepped forward and did another shadow punching routine. She was all set for the biggest match of her life.

Ten minutes later, Sonya was struggling to her feet. Ember was up on the top rope, ready to deliver her Eclipse finishing move. They had just been given the call to go home.

With perfect timing, Ember leapt into the air so that she would meet Sonya as she staggered into position. Unfortunately for her, Sonya was able to react, avoiding the Eclipse, grabbing Moon's arm and allowing them both to fall to the mat. Somehow, in an astonishing counter, she had gone from almost taking an Eclipse to locking in her Kimura.

Sonya's counter had brought a shocked reaction from the fans. The last thing they had expected was Ember to find herself in a position to lose the match.

Screaming as she unleashed the Deville inside, Sonya wrenched in the pressure on the hold.

Luckily for Ember, she had crashed to the mat close to the ropes. Usually, the Kimura was inescapable, and victims of it were forced to tap out in a matter of moments unless they wanted a broken arm. On this occasion, Moon was able to wriggle backwards slightly and get a foot on the bottom rope, forcing a break. The fans cheered, having feared the end.

Frustrated, Sonya got to her feet, screaming at Ember to get up. She was ready to put a definitive end to the contest.

Ember rose to her feet, looking worse for wear. Jumping into the air, Sonya went for a savage kick that would have taken Moon's head off if it connected.

It became apparent that Moon had been playing possum. She was able to duck Deville's kick and deliver a superkick of her own, which connected with an audible smack.

With Sonya down again, Ember stepped through the ropes and climbed up to the top turnbuckle, preparing for the Eclipse again.

Holding her face, Sonya struggled to her feet. Ember jumped into the air, and this time connected with the Eclipse.

The crowd cheered loudly, and joined in with the count when Ember made a cover.

"One!"

"Two!"

Sonya kicked out at the last moment. She enjoyed the shocked reaction she heard. So far as she knew, she was the first person in WWE to kick out of the Eclipse.

Now it was Ember who was frustrated. She held three fingers up to the referee, disputing the count, but he was insistent that it had been only two.

Ember dragged Sonya to her feet and whipped her hard into a corner of the ring.

Keen to press home her advantage, Ember attempted a handspring elbow smash, but Sonya dodged out of the way and Moon crashed into the turnbuckles.

Sonya kicked Ember in the stomach, lifted her up into a vertical suplex position, then fell forwards, slamming Ember to the mat back first. The move was called a shouten, but now that Sonya had just debuted it, it would be called The Deville's Lair when she used it.

Sonya made a cover and hooked Ember's leg.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

Sonya had won her debut Wrestlemania match, and had retained the Smackdown Women's Championship. She was overjoyed, but as ever, couldn't show it.

Jumping up to her feet, she roared in a combination of anger and celebration before snatching her title belt from the referee.

Running over to the corner of the ring, she climbed to the middle turnbuckle and roared again, holding the belt aloft. In the crowd, all she saw was disappointed faces. That was part and parcel of being a good heel, though, so it didn't diminish her moment at all.

Moments later, the lights above the ring went dark. The segment was over, and it was time to hit the showers.

What a night, Sonya thought as she climbed down from the turnbuckle and left the ring. It hadn't been the best match of her career, but it had been the best night of her career. She knew she would never forget it.

But what did the future hold? There were rumours of big changes being made by WWE in the coming days and weeks. Whether that was true, or what it would mean for her, Sonya didn't know. No matter what happened, she was looking forward to it.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review on the previous chapter. 76ers, Forza Azzurra, hotkillerz, ThatWrestlingFanWrites and sb1266 correctly predicted Sonya's victory.

Rather than go into huge detail with the match for this chapter, I wanted to try and get into what it might be like for Sonya to be involved in something so huge for the first time. I hope you enjoyed it.

Changes will indeed be coming to WWE, so look forward to seeing some of them in the next chapter. What, or who, do you think we might see on Smackdown?

I can reveal that I'm going to move Renee Young to Smackdown commentary. We're also going to revert to two person commentary teams, so let me know who you would like to see share the table with her!