Quitters
It takes a group of people with one common goal to do something about a problem...
TLC: Tables Ladders and Chairs
Quicken Loans Arena
Cleveland, Ohio
After John Cena was able to contact Daphne Consuelos after R Evolution had ended, she knew for sure that John would be interested with what she had in mind. Turns out—he was in the exact same page with her, before he even called her. Vince McMahon needed to step aside and let Hunter take creative control of the WWE. What they needed to do was rally every single WWE Superstar and Diva and get them inside the locker room. He was going to talk and consult them about giving the best show that they can tonight at Tables, Ladders, Chairs…and Stairs. He wanted to prove that the main roster was what the NXT male and female wrestlers should be motivated to being at. Then, John, Daphne and Colby Lopez were all going to confront Vince McMahon and tell them what is in the mind of the roster. Hopefully, they will not lose all their opportunities because of this confrontation, but Daphne was mentally prepared for anything that came her way.
So, everyone was in the Superstars' Locker Room was they awaited for John to begin talking. Daphne was at his side, going over the things that they needed to discuss, "Look, if you do not want to do this anymore, then I'll do it myself, but I feel like they might listen to you more than they will with me." she whispered to John as he looked at the WWE Superstars and Divas talking to each other as the locker room echoed their voices.
John considered himself one of the leaders in the locker room. He was the face of the company, a man that was almost a sixteen time World Champion. He was someone that represented hustle, loyalty and respect and he was going to be that for Daphne, "I don't back down easily, Daphne," he said with determination in his voice, "I've never backed down from something that I have promised to do. Look, it may be shocking that I might think that Vince McMahon is out of touch, but I agree with you in some way. You want some of the talent here to be not mistreated, but do you know what I want to get from this?"
Daphne fixed the Divas Championship on her shoulder, before looking up at John, "What do you want to get from this?"
John looked up to the sea of WWE Superstars and Divas, "I want the younger talents to shine. Look, I am not asking to get buried, but I want to see the younger talents be successful in the WWE. I don't want them to worry about what will happen if they ever cross paths with me. I don't want to be a momentum crusher, but I just want a break from the main event scene and see someone different on top."
Daphne was taken back with what John said. What came out of his mouth was something that she did not expect at all. John wanted to see younger talent shine. In the dirt sheets, people have painted the picture that John Cena was someone that buried young talent. It was seen with Damien Sandow and Bray Wyatt, but John did what he was told, even though, he knew what the backlash could be, "You want to see younger talent shine?" she smiled as she looked at what John was looking at, "That is such a nice and humble thing that you can possibly want. I never it saw it coming from you."
John smiled at Daphne, "Don't always believe what you read, Daphne."
Daphne nodded as she looked at the time and then back at John, "Look, some of the talent need to be at the preshow, so I would get this meeting started. Remember what I wanted to be said? Also, if you feel at the moment, feel free to add what you believe," she patted him on the back, "But seriously, thank you for doing this. I really do appreciate it."
The two of them exchanged a smile as she stood aside Colby. He saw that the talent was still talking, so he gave a loud whistle and pointed at John's direction. Colby and John exchanged a look to each other, followed by a small nod from John as a thank you for providing the attention that he needed from the talent, "Look, I know that all of you are wondering why I asked all of you guys to be in here. I do not speak for myself, when I say that I want change in the WWE. I want an environment, where we are seen as competition to NXT, who happen to be a developmental territory. So, my question to all of you: how many of you watched R Evolution?" John asked as he searched around the room. All of the talent rose their hands, indicating that they did watch the special event.
"I knew that all of you were tuned into watch the event. How many of you were amazed by NXT?" John said as all of the talents rose their hands again as he nodded, "How many of you are determined to up what the pay-per-view, but think that you will come short of doing that?" he asked as the talent rose their hand for the third time, "What makes you guys believe that you will not accomplish that task in hand?"
"Well for starters, Triple H is running NXT," Claudio Castagnoli had no hesitations and was the first one to respond, "I mean, did you see Adrian Neville versus Sami Zayn? The match was amazing! When was the last time that we have gotten a "This is wrestling" response? Let me guess? Never! I mean, even the Kevin Owens swerve in the end was mind-blowing and awesome, wasn't it not?" he added on as some of the Superstars nodded their heads in agreement.
"Honestly, the Divas are being underutilized. Why aren't Danielle, Tenille and the rest of the Divas like myself fighting ten to fifteen minute Divas matches? The only time that Divas get more time in the ring is whenever Daphne Anne is wrestling. This is why the Divas want to wrestle Daphne because they want more wrestling time. I'm hoping after Tenille is done with her feud with Daphne that I might get a chance to feud with her." Saraya Knight explained as all of the Divas nodded their heads in agreement.
"Also, why are the mid-card championships being treated like just a prop now?" Nick Nemeth questioned as he rose his Intercontinental Championship as he dropped it on the table, "I thought what made the mid-card championships like the United States Championship and Intercontinental Championship so significant is because this is the step that most talents take before they go for the big one. You get guys that are greener than grass getting into the main event scenes? I find that hard to believe."
"Also," Ryan Reeves, also known as Ryback decided to speak, "There are some of the bigger Superstars that think that they are the shit and that they can belittle the talent that has not been here the longest. I think what Vince said about not pissing off Superstars like you, Orton and now Reigns was not fair because we could be just breathing and you would still get pissed off. I'm not saying this to piss you off, but there are some of us that do not want to live with that concern every single day."
"John," Colby spoke up, "There are some of us that are wondering if you will ever step aside and I do not know, let someone like myself shine and have their moment in the spotlight?" the entire locker room went into silence after the question was asked. Each sets of eyes were staring directly to the face of the company. John looked at them as well and he had two different response, in which to approach this question: if it was just him without the WWE having their hands up his ass, he would say that he wouldn't mind stepping aside and letting the younger talent shine, but he was the face of the company and he could also say that what he has done was what management thought about it what was best for business.
Daphne decided to stand next to John, not wanting to place him under that pressure, "Look," Daphne said as all of the attention were on her now, "The reason why the WWE hasn't been good in a while has not been because of John. It's been because of backstage politics. Everyday, we are all worried about saying the wrong things to the wrong people because we do not want to be fired. I know that the WWE wants certain people to be faces of the company. Hell, it's even a fucking miracle that I am Divas Champion because I am what the IWC likes to call an "Indy darling", but this is not about status of where our backgrounds were. We could have played football, basketball, hockey, soccer, lifted weights or even were in the independent circuit, but we are all here for the same reason and that is to be part of the WWE and entertain millions and millions of people. Most of us are pissed at seeing people that have not paid their dues being granted opportunities or even a WWE World Heavyweight Champion that is exactly like Santa Claus and is only here once a year, but we all have something to give. We give fans a reaction and we try in the best of our abilities to give them a hell of a show, but I think that we can all agree as we say that someone needs to step aside and let someone else have power."
John nodded his head, "I could have not said it better than myself."
"I one-hundred percent agree with you." Colby stepped away from the crowd and wrapped his arm around Daphne's shoulder.
"Now, let's confront the boss." Daphne said with a grin.
Do you think that the meeting did anything or not? How do you think that this confrontation between Daphne, Colby, John and Vince is going to work out? Will they all suffer consequences or will Vince see where they are coming from? Thank you for reading and the reviews on the last chapter! Please favorite, follow and review!:)