Two months later
"This looks fantastic, Ronda. You've got to be pleased with it, right?"
Adam panned his camera around the huge conference room as Thea asked the question. Roughly twenty tables were arranged in the room, each capable of seating six people, complete with fine silverware and expensive table cloths. At the far end of the room was a small stage with a lectern, from which speeches would be given, before a lavish meal would be enjoyed by all attendees later in the night. Attendance to the event was by invitation only, and a sizable charity donation was expected of all guests. The occasion was the launch of The Rousey Foundation. Now officially backed by WWE, the charity which would help injured firefighters or families of firefighters killed on duty was ready to go operational, and would do so the following day.
Thanks to Ronda and WWE putting a lot of work into promoting the new organisation, the name was already becoming well recognised, and a number of other celebrities had already publicly voiced their support of the endeavor. Firefighters really were an underpaid, underappreciated, courageous group of people who most definitely did not get the support that they deserved if something went wrong while they were on duty.
"I'll be pleased with it when it's full of people," Ronda replied. There was an edge to her voice, which surprised neither Thea or Adam.
It hadn't taken Adam long to learn that the subject of their documentary was often prickly to deal with, and she had a tentative grip on her temper during stressful times. Overseeing the last minute preparations for the event was definitely a stressful time. He panned the camera back around to get Ronda and Thea back in the shot. Both women were wearing expensive dresses suitable for the occasion.
Seth and Maggie could be seen in the background, talking to the waitstaff who would be working the event. Resisting the temptation focus the shot on his girlfriend instead was difficult for Adam, particularly as this was the first time he had seen her wearing a dress. It was a long dress of course, as she was sensitive about people looking at her prosthetic legs. How judgmental people could be over things like that was sickening. Now wasn't the right time to be thinking about things like that, though, not on the last night of filming for the documentary. There was work to do.
Thea had been given an opportunity to scan over the guest list a few minutes earlier. One name from Ronda's past had been conspicuous by its absence. Always keen to get a sound bite for the documentary, she had waited for a moment like this to bring it up. The truth was that Ronda was a lot easier to play for a reaction than she would have liked to admit.
"I didn't see Devon Dawson on the guest list, Ronda. I thought you were good friends with her while she was at WWE. You even made the effort to show up on Raw when she retired with that heart condition they discovered she had. What's the deal there?" Ronda looked at her with a stern expression, which told her that she had hooked something with her bait.
"Sometimes you come to realisations in life, Thea," Ronda began. "What I soon realised after she left WWE, when she never bothered to call or reply to texts, was that Devon Dawson was full of shit the whole time I knew her. All she was trying to do when she acted like she was my friend was ride on my coat tails. You see, the thing about Devon is that she has a much higher opinion of herself and her own abilities than anyone else does. Deep down, there are some sort of issues going on there. Anyway, that's not my problem. The point is, the only reason anyone ever gave a fuck about Devon Dawson in WWE was that she ended up on the same team as me. Then when she had to retire, and riding on my wave of popularity was of no use to her anymore, she moved on, presumably to leach off of the next poor idiot who fell for her line of bullshit."
"Interesting," Thea replied, keeping a straight face despite the home run she had just scored. "So, is there anything you want to say to Devon Dawson now, if she's watching the show?"
Ronda considered that for a moment, then nodded and turned to look directly into the camera. "Devon, you can go f..."
"Ronda!" Seth called out sternly, walking over towards them. "The first guests are here. Stop ranting about people who don't matter and focus on those who do, alright?"
"You're right," Ronda agreed, almost sheepishly, realising that she had been baited by Thea. She couldn't blame the presenter for that; it was her job to ask those kinds of questions for the show. If anything, it was her own fault for not taking a moment to come up with a more diplomatic response.
Thea sighed inwardly as she and Adam followed Ronda and Seth across the room to the large double doors where the guests would begin entering any moment now. Seth had interrupted at the worst possible time, or the best, she supposed, depending on your point of view. Now it was time to film Ronda greeting some of those who had traveled to London for the event. England's capital had been where Ronda had insisted that the launch had to happen, as it was where the terrorist atrocity that had given birth to the idea had taken place just a couple of months earlier. Work was underway to repair the nearby Houses of Parliament, but the extensive damage to the building still served as a clear reminder of what had happened on that infamous day.
Several members of the senior management team for the London Fire Brigade were the first to enter the room, to be greeted and thanked for attending by Ronda and Seth in turn. In response, they passed on their congratulations on the launch of the charity and their gratitude for the foundation potentially doing so much for the cause.
"Hello, Ronda," the next guest said warmly as he approached the host and greeted her with a peck on the cheek. His wife was by his side, linked arm in arm.
"Hi, Hunter. Thank you for coming," Ronda said warmly. "It means a lot that you guys took a couple of days out of your busy schedules to be here."
"You're welcome. There's no way we could have missed it."
Stephanie unlinked herself from her husband, who moved on to speak to Seth. "Hi, Ronda. Nice setup you've got here," WWE's CEO said, looking around the room.
"Thanks, Steph. And thank you for agreeing to speak tonight. Like I've said before, it means a lot to me for The Rousey Foundation to have the support of WWE."
"It's my pleasure," Stephanie smiled warmly. Thea wondered how much of the warmth was genuine, given the somewhat troubled history that the two women had. Some of it was certainly genuine, but probably not all of it. "Giving back has always been a critical part of my vision for WWE, so it was natural that we would back one of our own when they launched a project like this."
Stephanie moved on to speak to Seth, allowing Ronda to greet the next guest, a famous Hollywood actor who she worked with on one of her movies.
Over the next half an hour, Thea stood by and watched as all of the guests were welcomed individually. It struck her that one of Ronda's greatest strengths was her ability to make people like her, there was no doubt about that. It was noticeable that everyone who walked away from her did so with a smile on their faces, clearly feeling like they had received special attention from Ronda that others hadn't been given, when exactly the opposite was true. Those people management skills had to be one of the main reasons that she had gotten popular with WWE's fan base so quickly when she had joined the active roster several years ago.
When everyone had entered the room and taken their seats, it was time for the speeches to begin. Ronda went first, thanking everyone again for coming, then going on to talk about that terrible day at the Houses of Parliament, and why she had decided that founding The Rousey Foundation was something she needed to do. She then handed over to Seth, who outlined the intended initial strategies for how any donations received would be put to productive use.
Next came one of the representatives from the London Fire Brigade, who thanked Ronda and everyone else involved with the new organisation for their efforts to support both firefighters in England and their colleagues in the United States.
Last to speak was Stephanie McMahon, who talked about how WWE's partnership with The Rousey Foundation would help to spread the word about the important cause to their audiences around the world.
"Lastly, before I finish, I would like to announce that my husband and I intend to make the first donation of the night." She turned to Ronda and smiled, knowing that plenty of cameras would be catching the moment. "Ronda, we're delighted to make our donation of twenty thousand dollars to support this fantastic and deserving cause."
The room erupted into applause at the mention of the huge amount of money. Although it was a drop in the ocean to people like Hunter and Stephanie, Ronda appreciated that it was a great contribution to get the night started in terms of raising the amount of money she was hoping for. The purpose of holding such an extravagant launch wasn't just to be self-congratulatory, it was also a great opportunity to part people who had a lot of money from some of it. If all went well, they would raise over a hundred thousand dollars by the end of the night. Thanks to Hunter and Stephanie, that definitely seemed to be more than achievable now.
Although it hadn't been planned in advance, Ronda decided to walk back up to the podium and shake Stephanie's hand, then say a final piece herself. "Thank you Stephanie, Hunter, for your incredibly generous donation. It means a lot to know that people are willing to back our cause to that extent. I can only hope that the rest of you who are here tonight will give as generously as you can. As with any charity, The Rousey Foundation can only exist thanks to donations. With this kind of support, I firmly believe we will really make a difference to people who desperately need our help. Again, thank you, everyone. Now, how about we all enjoy some of the finest food this side of the Atlantic?"
Cheers broke out at that, along with another round of applause that lasted until Ronda had walked off the stage and joined Thea and Adam, who were dutifully recording the whole thing for possible inclusion in the documentary. Exactly how much of it made the finished product was down to the editors.
"Nice job, Ronda," Thea said with genuine admiration. When all was said and done, The Rousey Foundation was going to do great things for people in need.
"Thank you." They stood in a silence that was almost companionable for a moment, while everyone else in the room began conversations of their own whilst awaiting the first course of five that would make up the night's meal.
"You know, part of me might even miss having the two of you shadowing me around all the time," Ronda admitted eventually. "I've kind of gotten used to it, you know?"
"Yeah, me too," Thea admitted honestly. "I don't know what I'll do without you losing your cool with me at least once a day."
Ronda gave her a withering look. "I'm not that bad, Thea."
"Alright, once every two days, maybe," she conceded with a giggle. "So, you've got work to do with the Foundation, and you're soon to leave WWE again to start filming your latest movie. How do you feel about that?"
"It's always a mixture of emotions," Ronda decided after a few seconds of consideration. "I like working on movies, of course I do, but it's always a shame to go away from WWE. Wrestling is what I enjoy the most. It's where I made my name, and it's important to never forget that, you know?"
"Wise words," Thea agreed, nodding. "This show will almost certainly go out before you finish your filming, so is there anything you'd like to say to your fans in WWE?"
"Yeah." Ronda turned to the camera and winked. "You ain't seen the last of Ronda Rousey."
"Alright, cut it," Thea instructed Adam. "That's going to do it. Thank you, Ronda, for letting us into your life for so long. It's been an experience, in many ways."
"You got that right, girl. Now, how much are you donating?"
END