Considering it a good idea to stay out of the way for the moment, Thea stood a suitable distance away from the Gorilla Position while she waited for Ronda to walk through the curtain with her newly-won title belt. Having watched WWE's programming regularly for many years, she hadn't been surprised by the reaction that Ronda, Bayley and their match had gotten from the fans, but it was still a special thing to experience first hand, or as close to first hand as watching backstage on a monitor could be.

Hunter had appeared again and was currently offering a few words of praise to the former champions for the match that they had put on. Neither Sarita or Nikki appeared to be particularly disappointed about dropping their titles, which surprised Thea a little. Of course the whole show was scripted and a championship could be given to, or taken from anyone on the roster on any given night, but holding one was still a recognition of your hard work and talent. It then occurred to her that maybe they had just learned from experience that it was for the best not to get angry or upset when it came to putting Ronda over, especially on her first night back after two months on the injured list.

Thinking back to earlier in the night, Thea remembered Ronda dismissing out of hand the idea of a special working relationship between her and Hunter. Whether Ronda thought there was a special relationship or not, it sure seemed to Thea that there was, not that she could fault Hunter for it. The two biggest facts that most people who had an interest in the wrestling business knew about Ronda were that yes, she was a big draw, but she could also be hard to work with and manage. WWE's Chairman had found a way to manage her, and it was paying dividends for him. That was what business was about, when all was said and done, and WWE was a business before it was anything else.

Further evidence of the way that Hunter carefully managed Ronda soon presented itself when she walked through the curtain. Watching the two of them interact, Thea considered that she was watching a master at work in Hunter. What Ronda clearly needed was to be made to feel like she was an important, no, a vital member of the roster and that her performances were top notch. The impression was that as long as she felt that way, she would get along with others and put on good matches, but if not then things might start to go differently. Thea knew that Hunter had three daughters, and she smiled in amusement at the thought that in some respects the way he dealt with Ronda probably wasn't all that dissimilar to how he dealt with his children. Still, she reasoned, everyone was different. When it was all said and done her job was to make a documentary about Ronda, not to judge her.

Bayley came through the curtain a minute or so later and more congratulations were passed around, along with a brief, awkward looking hug between the new partners. Ronda was done with it all about as quickly as she could have been without seeming to be rude or disrespectful. When she walked over to to Thea, carrying her title belt over her shoulder, she offered a smile and asked, "What did you think?"

"I really enjoyed it," Thea replied honestly. "And so did the fans, by the sound of it."

As Thea finished her sentence, she saw that Ronda had noticed someone approaching from behind her. A broader smile appeared on Ronda's face and she said, "I wondered where you were." Turning around to see who she was talking to, Thea saw another member of the Divas roster approaching them. It was Elena D'Agostino, the first female Italian wrestler in WWE, and if popular opinion was to be believed, one of the brightest prospects in women's wrestling for some time.

"Ronda, welcome back! Nice job out there. You even found a way to hit that clothesline even harder," Elena smiled. If the attractive woman's dark hair, brown eyes and Mediterranean olive skin tone didn't say Italian clearly enough, then her heavily accented English certainly did. "The belt looks good on you, yes? Not as good as it does on Bayley of course," she laughed.

Ronda chuckled at that and then gestured to Thea. "Daga, this is Thea. She's here to make the documentary they're doing about me for the Network." Knowing that they were being filmed, Ronda put her arm around the new arrival and spoke directly to the camera before Thea could make any kind of introduction of her own. "You want to know who the future of women's wrestling is? This girl right here. She's a legit fucking badass, let me tell you. We saw that at Summerslam." Ronda was referring to a match that they'd had against each other - Elena's first pay-per-view match on the main roster. It was regarded as the most violent and bloody women's match in WWE history, a fact that both women were immensely proud of. Elena played an aggressive heel character who kicked ass and liked to talk shit while she was doing it. Her offense combined athleticism and power at the expense of speed and technique, which had lead to a very hard hitting encounter with Ronda and her own powerful style.

"Thank you, it means a lot that you said that," Elena said warmly. "But I'm not the future, I'm the present," she added with a chuckle.

"Not while I'm here you're not," Ronda quipped back.

Thea was happy to remain on the sidelines while Ronda talked to Daga, as she was apparently referred to by her colleagues, for a few more moments. It was important to Thea that she didn't try and insert herself into the documentary too much because the whole idea was to show Ronda's everyday life, not Ronda on tour with Thea Trinidad for a month.

When Elena made her excuses and walked away, Ronda began to lead the way back to her locker room. As she turned to follow, Thea saw Elena and Bayley share not only an embrace, but also a kiss. It wasn't a friendly peck on the cheek either, it was a real kiss, the kind that was only shared between couples.

"Yeah, they're together," Ronda said, letting Thea know that she had noticed her gaze linger for that split second. "Shame you can't go film some of that shit later tonight, huh?" she laughed. "That'd get the guys watching your show more than trailing around after my ass will."

"We're not here to film porn," Thea said, grinning back at her.

"Remember that tonight when we get home," Ronda said, smiling herself. "My bedroom is off limits to you when I'm with with my husband."

"Noted," Thea said dryly. "No Ronda and Seth sex scenes for this show. Viewers, you can all turn off now."

"And no Ronda in the shower scenes either," Ronda said as they approached her locker room. "Turn that camera off and get out of here for a bit. We can carry on later when I'm ready to leave."

The next real chance that Thea got to talk to Ronda was just after their private jet had taken off, heading for LA. "You sure don't hang around at the arena," she said as she relaxed into the seat beside Ronda. The cameraman filmed them from a seat on the opposite side of the cabin.

"Why would I?" Ronda asked disinterestedly. "I'd had my match and I've got a home to get to."

"I assumed you'd have to stay and watch the main event or something. Honestly, I imagined that would be a rule."

Ronda glanced at her with a quizzical expression on her face, as though she was trying to figure out if she was either joking or stupid. "Like I said, I've got a home to get to. I'm not going to hang around backstage for another hour when I don't need to. If I was staying locally, in a hotel or something then maybe, but not when I'm going home."

"Fair enough," Thea said, a little more defensively than she would have liked. There was an inherent slightly aggressive undertone to a lot of the things that Ronda said which would take a while to get used to. Wanting to bring a more positive tone to the conversation, she changed the subject. "So we're on the way to your house, where I'm going to get to meet your husband. Your relationship, or should I say your marriage, isn't something that either of you talk about much in the public domain."

"No, my marriage isn't something that needs to be public," Ronda replied easily. "Some people like to put their relationships all over Twitter and Instagram ten times a day, but Seth and I aren't like that. We like our private lives to be private, as much as possible at least. We're very happy together, and that's all that matters to us."

"There must be some of your fans, and some of Seth's fans, that would love to see more of you guys together though." It was a statement rather than a question.

"Well, they'll probably be watching this show when it goes out, won't they? So that's on you and your editors to deliver."

Thea wanted Ronda to be more open with her, but it was proving to be a difficult thing to encourage, maybe because she was tired. As if on cue, Ronda removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes with her hands. Thea wasn't going to give up that easily though, deciding that a touch of humour might help. "Come on then," she grinned, "I know you and Seth got together pretty quickly after you signed for WWE. Is love at first sight really a thing?"

"At first sight?" Ronda asked, considering it. "No, probably not. It wasn't for us. Don't get me wrong though, I thought he was fucking hot at first sight, then when I started to get to know him, I soon fell for him."

"Do you think his answer would be the same?" Thea asked with another grin.

This time she did manage to break down Ronda's defenses and she laughed. "You'd have to ask him that."

"Oh, I will," Thea said with a laugh of her own.

"He did say he's looking forward to making this show, and to meeting whoever they sent to film with us. Maggie is too."

"Maggie is your housemate, right?"

Ronda put her glasses back on and said, "Yeah, that's right. We've been friends for a few years now. It's fucked up how fast time goes by. I first met her not long after Seth and I got together, the first time that is. I was still a referee at the time. We'd gone out for a meal one night after a show. Roman was there and so was Dean Ambrose. I remember the restaurant's manager came up to us and asked if the guys wouldn't mind meeting a local girl who was a big Shield fan. He went on to tell us that Maggie had been in an accident and had sustained life changing injuries, having to have both of her legs amputated above the knee. Obviously there was no way the guys could say no to that, so her dad brought her in and she was just the sweetest, bravest girl I'd ever met. Still is actually," she finished, letting her voice trail off.

"I've seen some brief interviews that Maggie has given when people have recognised her and asked her questions about you and the friendship the two of you have," Thea said, softening her voice in response to the change of emotions she had seen in Ronda during her previous answer. Questions about how Maggie had gone from fan to friend could wait for another time. "Maggie has said that she considers you to be not just her best friend, but also an inspiration to her and to other women out there who want to believe they can do anything they want in life if they work hard enough. What does that mean to you?"

"It means a lot to me," Ronda managed to say, although the words struggled to come out as she choked up. Ronda quickly removed her glasses again and covered her face with her hands, as if embarrassed to cry on camera. "Sorry," she was able to mutter, but then her emotions really took over.

Watching the woman beside her lean forward with her head still buried in her hands as she cried heavily, verging on sobs, Thea didn't know what to say or do. That kind of reaction definitely wasn't what she had expected. Rather than saying anything awkward, she simply put an arm around Ronda, hoping that it would help somehow.

On the other side of the cabin, the cameraman lowered his camera a few moments later and turned it off. "I think we should take a break until we land," he suggested.

Thea nodded and continued to try and comfort Ronda, not that it seemed to helping all that much. The last few moments had given her a new level of respect for her subject. Contrary to what some people said, Ronda definitely wasn't just all about Ronda, that much was obvious.