"This guy, I've seen him somewhere before," Dean Ambrose said with a confused look on his face, as if he was trying to recall some kind of distant memory of the person who had just entered the locker room. "Don't tell me... Don't tell me..."
"Uh, Seth? Seth Rollins?" Roman Reigns guessed, joining in with the sarcasm. "It is you, right?"
"Very funny, guys," Seth sighed, dropping his bag to the floor, relieved to have arrived in the arena for the Smackdown taping before the call time, just. "Yes it's really me, and yes I'm sorry I missed you at breakfast. And then I skipped the workout, too."
Dean walked over to Seth and put an arm around his shoulders. "It's okay, man. We forgive you. Now where is it?"
"Where's what?" Seth asked, knowing that this was going to be another wind up.
"The leash Ronda's got you on." Dean burst out laughing and so did Roman.
"Get off me you asshole," Seth told Dean, laughing as he tried to shrug his friend away. This only made things worse as Dean quickly got him into a headlock. "Fuck off!" Seth managed to yell, still laughing.
"Should I get off him?" Dean asked Roman with a huge grin on his face.
"Hmmmm," the older man pretended to consider the question as Seth continued to struggle, achieving nothing. "Yeah, I suppose so. That is, if he promises not to forget about us now he's got himself a girlfriend."
"Awww, is that we he's got?" Dean pretended to be surprised. "Little Seth got a girlfriend. Ain't that cute?" Finally he released the headlock and was immediately shoved across the locker room by Seth, who was still laughing.
"Screw you, you pair of idiots. Neither of you can say anything. Rome, you're married, and Dean, well, I've seen you with Renee, you certainly can't say anything."
"Renee lets me out to play with my friends though," Dean quipped, still with the huge grin on his face, loving the childish banter.
"Seriously though, where were you?" Roman asked, bringing an end to the foolishness, smoothly transitioning into his role as the big brother to the other two men. He could tell by the smile that Seth had been wearing when he walked into the room that he was okay, but eating breakfast and working out together had been the regular thing for the three former Shield members on a Tuesday morning for a long time. For Seth to miss out on both, something must have came of his date with Ronda the previous night.
"I'll tell you, but again, not a word to anyone else," Seth insisted as he attempted to sort out the mess that was now his hair thanks to Dean.
"You got it," Dean confirmed on behalf of both himself and Roman, now getting serious himself, or as close to it as he ever managed.
Seth began to unpack his ring gear from his bag as he began his story. "Ronda's neck injury? There is no neck injury. I mean, there was, but she got surgery and did the rehab and all that and she's recovered fully, physically that is. She told me all about it last night. She's got some kind of... I don't know what you'd call it. She's afraid of getting a neck injury again, is basically what I'm saying."
"Understandable," Roman said with a slight nod. "Breaking your neck is something that's going to stick in your mind, obviously. She opened up to you about all of this? That's surprising. Good, but surprising."
"I know," Seth agreed. "As I told you guys before, I picked up that her neck was bothering her and I told her that she needed to talk to someone. She said she wanted it to be me, and she told me the whole story. She fell of a horse and broke her neck. For a couple of minutes, she couldn't feel or move her legs, but gradually the feeling came back and she was able to walk to the nearest road with her mom's help. They were able to get someone to stop and take them to the nearest hospital. Dean, you gave me the idea about how to help her last time we talked about this."
Dean remembered the strange end to their previous conversation about Ronda, and how Seth had hurried from the room. "What idea?" he asked, confused.
"You said that when you were a kid, if you fell of your bike, you'd be told to get right back on again. It gave me the idea that the first step Ronda could take to getting past this thing would be to get back on a horse. I took her out to some stables this morning. We walked around a field with her on a horse. She was very nervous at first, but by the end of it she was enjoying it. It was really great to see. Does that sound lame? It does, right?"
"No," Dean said quickly, surprising the other two men with her rare show of sensitivity. "Fucking around aside, that's not lame. It's a really great thing you did. I'd have never thought of it. I bet it helped her a hell of a lot."
"He's right," Roman said, giving Seth a smile that, if anything, conveyed pride. "You probably helped the girl more than any of us can imagine. It's kind of strange that her family didn't help her with this themselves, but maybe she's kept it hidden from them?"
"Thanks guys," Seth smiled, a little embarrassed by the pride his brothers had in him, but pleased with it nonetheless. "I don't know what her family situation is, but I guess you might be right, Roman. She might have not been letting on what was going on in her head. I think it might have only gotten so bad for her when she started here and she had to think and talk about it more. Guess what I do know, though?"
"What?" Dean asked.
"She said she's going to take some time this week when she goes back home to talk to her family and do some thinking herself, but she's seriously considering talking to Hunter about quitting as a ref and training to wrestle."
"Oh shit," Roman grinned. "That would be pretty awesome. I mean, she damn sure looks the part, and she obviously knows how to fight, with the judo and stuff. If anything, they'd have to teach her not to make her stuff look too convincing. She could do some real damage out there."
"Why don't you train her?" Dean asked, blindsiding Seth, who had not even considered that idea.
"Me? They'd send her down to Florida and have them do it, wouldn't they?"
"I might be the idiot among us, but even I can figure this out," Dean said, sounding slightly impatient. "She's got issues with her neck. She's going to have to get confidence in herself to take bumps. To start with, she needs to work with someone she trusts not to hurt her. She trusts you. She's obviously an idiot to do it, but she does trust you," he added as a joke.
That gave Seth something else to think about. What Dean said made a lot of sense, but would it be what Ronda wanted? And even if it was, would Hunter go for it? Quickly, he decided not to push things any further than he already had. It would be a better idea to leave Ronda to do her own thinking over the coming days. The subject of the conversation soon changed, as Dean and Roman began to discuss their respective matches and Seth bemoaned the fact that his only duty for the night was to sit on commentary for the main event.
Later in the night, Seth and Roman sat watching the show on the monitor in their locker room. Dean had just hit the shower after wrestling in the second match of the night. As he glanced at the man beside him, Roman allowed himself a smile, safe in the knowledge that it would go unseen. Usually, a match between Stardust and Fandango would not attract much attention from anyone, let alone Seth. That was actually still the case, as Seth was paying n attention to either of the competitors doing battle on the screen. What, or rather who, Seth was watching was the referee. It was amusing to Roman, but he would not say anything. After all, he had been lost on his own wife to a similar extent soon after meeting her. People in glass houses should not throw rocks.
"What the hell's he doing?" Seth demanded angrily, gesturing at the monitor.
"I wasn't paying attention," Roman said, looking back at the monitor to see Ronda reprimanding Stardust. To Roman's surprise, he shoved Ronda aside and resumed stomping on Fandango in the corner. Both Seth and Roman watched as Ronda counted to four, but could not count to five as that would mean having to call a disqualification, which was not the right ending to the match.
"Oh, for God's sake," Seth growled. "I knew some prick would do this sooner rather than later. He's deliberately making her look stupid."
Roman watched in silence as Ronda struggled to make it appear that she had some authority over the match, annoyed by the lack of professionalism that Cody Rhodes was displaying. Sexism, that was what this was about. Everyone knew that there had been several people complaining in the locker room about having a woman as a referee. Apparently this asshole was one of them.
A few moments later, Stardust had Fandango down in the middle of the ring and began to blatantly choke him in front of Ronda. It was clear that Ronda also knew what was going on now, but she was doing her best to remain calm and do her job. Again, she made a four count, only to be ignored. However, this time she took charge of the situation, pulling Stardust off his fallen opponent and to his feet before yelling at him to start listening to her counts and orders. She was doing a good job of remaining in character.
What happened next caused Seth to jump off his chair. Sometimes heel characters would mouth off at or even shove a referee to get cheap heat, but when Stardust shoved Ronda across the ring and threatened her to keep her hands off him Seth could tell there was real intent behind it. "I'm going to knock that prick out," he exploded as he headed for the locker room door.
With a sigh, Roman rushed after his friend. Only a few moments later, the match ended with Fandango getting the win with a roll up pin. Unaware of this, Roman ran and caught up to Seth in the hallway. Grabbing Seth by the shoulder, he spun him around so that they were face to face. "Stop, dude. Just stop. We all knew this was coming. Ronda knew this was coming, I'm sure. You can't go in there like you're her big brother, or especially her boyfriend. For a start, you're nowhere near that point with each other. And anyway, you need to let her deal with this herself."
"Fuck that," Seth raged. "I'm not going to let him..."
"Listen!" Roman yelled, getting Seth's full attention. "If you do what you're about to do you, won't be helping, you'll be making it worse. Calm the hell down for a second and think. You know I'm right. That dick is trying to bully Ronda, that's basically what this is. We all got bullied in school, I know I did. Do you stop a bully by running to a teacher? No. You stop a bully by standing up for yourself and smacking the son of a bitch in the mouth."
"What are you saying?" Seth asked, calming down a little, almost despite himself.
"I'm saying we go and wait near the side of the stage for them to come back here, and we see what happens. Unless we have to step in, we don't. We let Ronda take care of herself," Roman reasoned before smiling and adding some humor. "Honestly now, do you really think she couldn't take Cody in a fight? I know who my money's on."
"If he raises a hand to her..." Seth began to threaten.
"Like I said," Roman cut in. "We step in if we have to. Let's go." With that, the two men rushed off to wait for Ronda and Cody to return to the back. They only just made it in time. Cody walked through the curtain at the side of the stage a moment before their arrival, with Ronda not far behind him. Several other wrestlers were hanging around, making idle conversation as was always the case backstage. Everyone's attention was attracted by Ronda angrily yelling, "Hey! Cody! What the hell was that? Huh?"
Cody turned to face Ronda, who was storming towards him. "You got a problem?" he asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, I have got a problem," Ronda confirmed aggressively as she reached Cody and got in his face. "I've got a problem with you, and I asked what the hell that was out there?"
"I don't know what you mean," Cody grinned, clearly thinking he was clever. "You can't referee a match properly, what do you want me to do about it? You shouldn't be out there anyway, let's be honest."
"Wait a minute, you're out of line, man," Ryback chipped in, walking over towards the altercation. Roman gently took hold of Seth's arm, a reminder not to do anything, as they had agreed before.
"I've got this," Ronda told Ryback without breaking eye contact with Cody. "You sexist piece of crap," she hissed at him. "You stand there thinking you're something special? Who the hell are you? I mean, have you even seen yourself? You go out there dressed like that every week? I'd have more self respect," she laughed at Cody as if she pitied him. They were standing only inches apart. A small crowd had now formed around them, but no one else made an attempt to step in on Ronda's behalf. It was obvious to everyone that she wanted to stand up for herself. So far, she was not doing a bad job.
There were a few quiet moans of surprise and distaste and Roman tightened his grip on Seth's arm as Cody pushed Ronda away from him. "Get out of my face you stupid bitch," he snarled at her.
Anger was radiating from Ronda as she glared at Cody. "Try and touch me again, please," she growled at him. "Take a step forward, asshole. Take a step forward."
"What do you actually think you're going to do?" Cody sneered, sounding a little less sure of himself. Not only was he being called out by a woman in front of a bunch of his peers, hitting her was obviously out of the question.
"Take a step forward," Ronda said again. "I'll finish your pointless career right now."
"Stick to refereeing, sugar tits. You might even get good at it." Thinking that to be a good enough parting shot, Cody turned his back on Ronda to leave, only to see that he had an even bigger problem waiting for him in that direction.
"My office. Now," Hunter ordered Cody angrily from the position he had just taken up at the front of the crowd.
Cody stormed off without arguing, knowing that he had dropped himself in the deep end.
With the confrontation over, Seth had already rushed over to Ronda, making it to her before anyone else and shoving Xavier Woods away, not being aggressive, just letting the other man know he should back off. "You okay?" Seth asked Ronda, putting an arm around her, feeling her shaking with anger as she stared after Cody.
"That son of a bitch is lucky," Ronda growled.
"Calm down," Seth urged gently. "The guy's a prick and he's not worth it. Calm down."
"Show's over. Get out of here," Hunter ordered everyone in the hallway. Not needing to be told twice, the crowd, including Roman, quickly dispersed, leaving only Hunter, Seth and Ronda behind. Seth's continued presence did not go unnoticed by Hunter, and neither did the protective arm that he had around Ronda's shoulders. It caused the boss to raise his eyebrows a little in surprise. "Give me a minute here," he ordered Seth, a lot less aggressively than he had spoken to everyone else.
"Come find me outside our locker room?" Seth asked Ronda who nodded her confirmation that she would do so when Hunter was done with her.
"I'm not going to apologise for that," Ronda told Hunter angrily after Seth had walked away.
"Calm down," Hunter said. "I'm not asking you to apologise. Cody was way out of line. I saw what he was doing out there, and I saw the back end of what just went on here. I just want to tell you that I'm going to deal with it. You're not going to have to take that crap from any of the guys. You're doing an excellent job so far."
Feeling adrenaline rushing through her veins as it had been moments before was something that Ronda had not experienced for a long time. It had always been a sensation that she had loved. Now, staring into the eyes of her boss, she made a decision. "Not for much longer I'm not."
"Look, Ronda, you can't just quit over something like this..." Hunter began, heading down the wrong path.
"I'm not talking about quitting," Ronda clarified, cutting him off. "I've not been honest with you, Hunter," she admitted.
"Huh?" the boss asked, confused.
"My neck injury. The injury I told you about when you had me try out. I'm not hurt, Hunter. I didn't lie, I just let you assume the wrong thing. I know that's still wrong, and I'm sorry. My neck is one hundred per cent healed. It has been for a long time. It was up here where the problem was," she tapped her temple with a finger.
"What are you saying to me, Ronda?"
"I'm saying..." Still Ronda found it tough to get the words out. Taking a deep breath helped. "I'm saying that I want to quit being a referee for you, and I want to train to wrestle instead. I want you to get me help with gaining confidence in taking bumps. I need to work past this problem I've got. I know it's going to be hard, but I want to do it." After a second, she added, "Please."
"Let me get this right," Hunter said, shaking his head a little as if to clear it of the insanity that seemed to have set in. "You're telling me that you're not injured, your neck is fine, and you want me to get you help with training to wrestle? That is what you're saying?"
"Yes," Ronda confirmed. "I know wrestling is a lot different to what I've done in the past, but I really want to do it. This is all if you're interested in me wrestling, of course. If not I can continue..."
"How do I know you're not injured?" Hunter cut in, not really thinking the question through before he asked it.
"You already put me through MRI's and how many physical tests," Ronda reminded him. "What did those results tell you?"
"That you were totally fine to be in the ring," Hunter recalled. This was an incredible turn of events. Just looking at Ronda had his imagination running wild. Having her join the roster as a wrestler would be huge for the Divas division, and potentially for WWE as whole. There had been a recent social media movement which had proven to be very popular, calling for the Divas to be given a chance at a bigger role on Raw and Smackdown. The answer, he saw, was standing before him. He could have made the decision even with his brain removed.
"We'll train you," he decided. "We'll have to end this referee angle soon, then we can get you down to Florida. I'll have someone work with you on your, uh, confidence issue. You'll be well looked after, trust me. When you're ready, we'll train you on how to wrestle safely, and if you do well, which I know you will, we'll talk about what we can do with you here on Raw. That's a long way off, but how does that all sound?"
"It sounds great, thank you," Ronda said with a smile. "Hunter?"
"What?"
"I don't want just anyone to train me to bump. That won't work. I want... No, I need, Seth to do it. Is that possible?"
Hunter took a moment to think. Agreeing would mean Seth and Ronda spending time in Florida, which would then mean that Seth was not available for house shows during the week. Have Seth work house shows, or sign Ronda Rousey as a wrestler? It was hardly a difficult choice to make. "Yeah, I can make that happen," he said. "You'll need to work this out with Seth, though. I'm guessing that won't be an issue?"
"I'll have to ask him, but I really doubt it. Seth's an amazing guy. He's done so much for me already. I'm sure he'll help me with this."
"Then we have a plan," Hunter smiled. "I've got to go deal with Cody."
"Thank you, Hunter," Ronda smiled in return, referring to the opportunity in Florida rather than Cody being dealt with. Cody's stupidity and sexism were a long way from her mind as she watched the boss walk away.