The following chapters play in Germany and give you maybe a little insight in my home country. Hope you like them.
Chapter 42
After the Smackdown Taping the WWE left the USA for their Survivor Series Revenge Tour in Europe.
They would travel Italy, Switzerland, Great Britain, Spain, Germany and Great Britain again (both times for TV tapings) before they would travel back to the US.
I was really excited about this, because I would travel the first lag of the tour together with Jon before I would go alone to Germany during their stay in Great Britain.
They would get to Munich on Wednesday, Berlin on Thursday, Cologne on Friday and had a day off on Saturday before returning to GB for a houseshow on Sunday and the TV tapings Monday and Tuesday.
That meant I had two days alone in Germany, then I would fly down to Munich for the three German tour dates. I would do most of the media stuff for Colby and Jon, as well as Tyler and would help the other guys out if needed.
After Cologne we would drive straight to my house to spend the day off there. We, that were Colby, Joe and Jon. Yay, Shield party in my hometown.
I arrived late Sunday night at my old house which was a lot less furnished than before. Only some basics were left and my friend Elle, yes, that Elle was so kind to look after the house, cleaned and aired it, and stocked the fridge for me for my stay.
I would meet her tomorrow morning for breakfast and all my other friends on Monday night for dinner.
It was the first time Elle and I really had a chance to talk about everything.
"You changed Sam, you know? I mean, for the better obviously, look at you. You are stunning. Where did you hide all that beauty the whole time? You were always kinda like...don't take this wrong, an ugly duckling, but now? Wow."
"I found myself. I found a lot of stuff this past year which I didn't know I was missing, but now that I have it. It's mine. I found a wonderful husband, really amazing friends, I found confidence in myself, a job that I really like and yeah, I found a way to like myself, and it shows I guess. I am happy, I guess that is the main reason for everything. Truly happy."
"I can see that now. And I want to apologize to you for doubting you. It was just...so surreal. You dating a wrestler. Stuff like that doesn't happen to people like us. Normal people." she tried to explain herself.
"I know. But I don't date a wrestler, I date Jon. He will be first and foremost Jon to me, always. He is a wrestler, yes, and I love his job and I love working with him, but at the end of the day, the man I have amazing sex with is Jon." Elle laughed hard about that comment. "You lucky bitch. Are there any single men in the WWE you could point me to?" "Plenty, I will introduce you to my friend Tyler. He is young and handsome and really nice. You would like him." I grinned.
I was glad that Elle and I had the chance to talk. It seemed like we fixed what was broken between us.
Monday Night was a blast as well. I met my old colleagues who were all mothers now. 4 babies were with them when I arrived around 6 pm for dinner.
It was a little overwhelming and I almost missed a call from Jon because one little boy couldn't stop crying.
I put Jon on facetime.
"Hey Jon. How are things in GB?" "Good, but where the hell are you?"
"Yes, wait, I'll show you."
I pointed the camera to all the babies. "Don't tell me you want a brat now." he laughed.
"Pssst, shut up. No, I want to run so badly, but it is fun as well. I am not sure if I get anything to eat here tonight because the babies keep everyone busy."
"You could breast feed as well." For a moment I couldn't reply. "Ewww. Nope I rather go hungry then. Maybe I should take care of dinner." "Yeah, since you are such a chef." he teased.
"And you are such a sass. Greet everyone, I'll talk to you later. Take care of my man." "He always takes care of me!" came Colby's voice from the background.
"Ass!" Jon and I said together and we hung up.
"Who wants dinner?" I asked my friends and we finally went to prepare the food.
Tuesday I had a little spa day. I got my nails done and my hair cut. Just a little with a couple of highlights. It looked new but not too much and I hoped Jon would like it.
I prepared my suitcase for the three day trip ahead of me but left a lot of stuff home as well.
I would fly down to Munich from a near airport, it would just take an hour what normally would take 6 or more hours to drive.
My flight would land about an hour before the WWE flight and I would wait for my guys (Colby and Jon) and Tyler and we would drive to a local TV and Radio station for interviews.
Everything was airtight and prepared and I could settle in for a good night's sleep.
I arrived in Munich at 7.15 am and waited in a little coffee shop for the flight from London to arrive.
When I saw that the flight had landed I got three coffees and went to the arrival gate.
A couple of fans were waiting there as well and it was a mystery how they figured this stuff out.
I had already checked that a car waited for us to get us to the TV station.
After about 5 minutes the first guys came out and were attacked by the waiting fans.
I saw Nattie briefly and smiled and waved at her. Tyler was the first one out and he noticed me immediately and didn't stop for the fans but walked straight to me and the coffee.
"Hey Ty, yours is on the left." "You are a lifesaver." "Any time. Where are the fringe and the ninja?"
"Fringe is waiting for his suitcase, Ninja said he wouldn't come out here because of the fans."
Jon and his stupid luggage. We always had that bad luck. His suitcase seemed to be always the last one, even when we checked it in together.
"Tyler, Tyler, Tyler, can we take a picture? Selfie! Selfie!"
A couple of fans swarmed him and he couldn't really run anymore and posed for pictures.
"Sam?" I heard a voice and it was Mark from talent relations.
"Hi, what's up?" "We have a last minute change. Can you take Roman with you to the interviews? We want to put a spotlight on the split and hear both sides. I will take Tyler with me." "Yeah, okay. You think that is wise? They would break keyfabe. You can't put them in one car when they hate each other so much."
"They have to stay in character for the media. Roman as well as your husband made it clear, that they would break keyfabe in private and we either had to deal or think of another storyline. Just don't advertise it too much. Roman is waiting inside as well and I already instructed him."
"Okay, I'll keep in touch and let Tyler know. Thanks."
I told Tyler about the change of plans and he was a little bumped but when I told him that he could keep the coffee he was halfway reconciled.
Another 5 minutes later shrieking started I got myself into position.
Joe was first and he spotted me, Jon and Colby followed him with about 10 feet between them.
"Hey big guy." I greeted the Samoan and he gave me a short hug. Colby reached us and bumped fists with me and Jon embraced me, fans be damned and kissed me. There were a couple of cat calls and some girls booed. Before Jon could flip them off I put a coffee in his hand, gave Colby his, and apologized to Joe.
"We don't really have time for pictures, so please keep it really short." I told them and Colby wandered off to take a couple of pictures, Joe did the same and I shoved Jon to some waiting fans as well.
After 5 minutes I had to break it up because we really had to go.
I started with Jon who was the easiest to collect.
Joe followed us and dragged Colby with him to the car.
It was a mini bus and we put the luggage away and got in. Jon and I at the front, Colby and Joe in the back.
"I am really sorry I have no coffee for you Joe. It was a last minute change."
"It's fine baby girl. I am glad I can tag along with you guys. Just like old times."
"Ohhh, Roman gets sentimental. Poor babe." Colby teased him and earned a slap at the back of his head.
"Okay, listen up. We will have an interview with 3 TV stations. Separately. You will stay in character when they ask you about the Shield split. Then we will have an interview with the voice of wrestling on German TV, Carsten Schäfer for Tele 5 which broadcasts WWE at the moment.
The first 3 interview are short, 5 minutes tops, Carsten wants every one of you separately for 15 minutes. We have a break then and will follow with a radio interview for Seth and Dean."
"I like it when she calls us by our ring names." Colby announced.
"Yeah whatever." I tried to ignore him. "As I was saying. Radio interview for the Shield, about 20 mins. Roman has a photoshoot for a German magazine during that. And we will finish the media tour with an interview for a German wrestling magazine and website. We will have lunch there, and be done by 2.30-3.00 pm and go straight for the arena after that. So far so good, any questions you come to me."
"Aye aye Sir." all three said at the same time. They were professionals, even more than I was and they would handle it fine. I send all of them the time table to their phones, so they always knew what was up.
It got quiet in the car for a couple of minutes, and Jon caught a strand of my hair. "You changed it. I like it." he breathed in my ear and bit me gently. I shivered and pushed him away. NO I mouthed to him. Not in the car, not with a driver we didn't know and not in front of the two little shits in the back, whose eyes were on us the whole time.
We arrived and the first 3 interviews were short and light and for the general public who didn't know anything about wrestling.
The interview with Carsten Schäfer would be more detailed for the wrestling fans in Germany. Jon was the first in line. I walked in first, greeting Carsten in German and had, I have to admit a little fan girl moment.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Herr Schäfer. I am Samantha Good, media relations for the Shield and Roman Reigns today. I grew up watching wrestling and you were always the voice of WWE for me. It's great to finally meet you." I told him in German. Jon stayed back, hands deep in his pockets, swaying softly like he uses to do in interviews and he looked completely uninterested.
"I did my homework of course Mrs Good. You are the wife of Dean Ambrose?" Carsten had switched to English for Jon's sake.
"Yes, that is correct. Dean, this is Carsten Schäfer, the guy I told you about." "Hey, nice to meet you." Jon said, even extending his hand.
"Did you change any of the questions or is everything as in the sheet you gave me?"
"Everything is as in the sheet. I would maybe like to ask you about Germany in regards of your wife Dean, if that is ok?" "Sure. Go ahead."
The interview started with the usual. How is it to be back after the long injury? Why did the Shield split? What are the plans? And Jon answered everything in his usual fashion always seeming a bit bored, a bit shy. Until Carsten talked about Germany.
"You wrestled in Germany a couple of times over the years with the WWE but as well with independent companies. Your wife is German. How close are you to Germany?"
"Pretty close I would say. From what I saw so far it is a beautiful country, nice people. Good food. I really enjoy German bakeries. My wife found one in Las Vegas where we live and it's great. I love it. The only thing that bothers me is the cold here. I like it warm and cold, rainy weather is not really my thing."
"Do you speak any German?" Jon laughed. He laughed. Oh my, that was rare in an interview.
"I speak the usual couple of words. I won't repeat them now. Understanding is easier, speaking it is not really my thing. Seth is better at that."
"Can't we have just one sentence?" Carsten persisted. Jon looked at him with a death glare, totally in character now and turned to the camera.
"WWE Universum, der Shield wird Gerechtigkeit nach Deutschland bringen. Glaubt daran, und glaubt an den Shield." Jon said in pretty good German.
(WWE universe, the Shield will bring justice to Germany. Believe that, and believe in the Shield.)
"Impressive. Thanks to your wife for teaching you that." Carsten said smiling and Jon couldn't hide a grin. "She is one of a kind." he said not getting too personal.
The interview ended and I walked Jon back to the waiting room and to collect Colby. Before I could really say anything Jon walked up to his friends, laughing loudly. "You should have seen her!" he giggled. "She was totally fan girling on the interviewer. Oh Hello Herr Schäfer..." He copied my voice and batted his eyes.
"He is like the German JR." I pointed out but the guys were laughing.
"Colby, you're next." I said in a strict tone after about a minute when they wouldn't shut up laughing.
That shut them up and Colby ducked his head in. "Now I have to face her wrath you idiot." He slapped Jon's arm and followed me.
"I am happy for you that you have the chance to meet some people you admired through this job Sam, you know? We are just playing with you." He hugged me as we walked. "I know, I can deal with you guys, don't worry."
We arrived and I introduced Colby and Carsten and instead of giving Carsten a chance to ask the first question, Colby cut in. "So I heard you are like the German JR. Is that true?"
Carsten looked startled for a second. "I have been a commentator for WWE ever since it started to broadcast here. I wouldn't go as far as to compare myself to Jim Ross though."
"You ever stepped into a ring yourself to wrestle?"
What the hell was he doing?
"No, no. I am a talker not a wrestler. I leave that to guys like you. By the way Seth..." and the interview could finally start.
The day got really long and the last interview was for a German wrestling magazine and a website.
These guys asked the questions no one else asked and Jon liked those interviews.
He was sitting there with Seth answering questions and I sat a little aside with Joe waiting for them to finish.
"I will miss those days with you guys. I will miss the long night drives from town to town, I will miss your voice of reason when the little ones get out of line. How could you do that to me, leaving me alone with those two?"
"I am asking myself the same question Sam. But you can do that. They are little shits most of the time, but they love you and would do anything for you. I will miss you, too, but as I told you, I am there if you need me. That will never change. You can call me anytime. I know you are still scared when something new comes up that changes your life, but it is an opportunity for all of us. And we will make the best out of it."
Bless Joe and his voice of reason.
We were out of the building by 3 pm, kinda last minute but still on time. The guys used the 30 minute drive to the arena for some shut eye and I checked my phone.
I had a text from Mark telling me, that The Shield as a whole got requested to grant a wish tonight by the Make a Wish Foundation, way before the split. That would take another 30 minutes out of their personal time. And I know they hadn't had the chance to train today which would make them itchy.
I let them rest until we arrived at the arena.
"Listen. Change of plans. At 5 pm you will have to do a Make a wish thing. All three of you. The girl's name is Sarah, she suffers from mucoviscidosis, a congenital disease which effects the lungs mostly. She is 15 and wished to meet the Shield. We can pull this off, right?"
"Of course." they said and I was grateful that they were so easy to deal with.
The guys took the time before the meeting for a really short training in the little gym inside the arena and would put their gear on already.
I went to check on Sarah and her family who waited in a separate room for the meeting. They had catering there and were having a good time. Sarah was connected to an oxygen tank to help her breath and she was tall but fragile.
It was a good thing I could talk to them in German, which helped.
"Hello Sarah. Nice to meet you. I am Samantha Good with the WWE and the Shield is getting ready to see you as we speak. They guys are looking forward to meet you."
"Hi Samantha. You are Dean's wife, right?"
I exchanged a look with her mother.
"Yes I am. And I am fortunate enough to work with the WWE so I can travel with him."
"Cool. I saw pictures of you on the website. You are cute together." "Aww, thank you."
"I have to ask: I wished for the Shield, but they broke up like a week ago. Will they get along?"
"They are fine. You know that wrestling is not real?"
"I know, just making sure that they won't be put in an awkward position because of me."
"Not at all. They are friends. Always will be." "That's good ever since Survivor Series I was thinking about this."
"They are fine, so don't worry. Who is your favorite?"
Sarah looked sheepishly at her mother who just smiled.
"It's your husband. I like it when he goes all lunatic fringe on people. He is a great talker and so cute." I laughed out loud. "Sorry, don't let him hear he is cute, it would hurt his ego."
"I won't. How much of Dean Ambrose is in your husband?"
"Just a piece here and there. Jon is a different kind of weird in real life."
"Should I call them by their stage names or by their real names?"
"Call them whatever you like. I know a lot of wrestlers who don't want to be called by their real names. Seth and Roman don't care, Dean...that's Jon he likes to stick to Dean, but call them as you like and whatever you are most comfortable with. Okay, are you all settled here? I will go and get them."
"I am good. But I fear Mom will need my oxygen when she meets Roman." Sarah laughed and her mother just shrugged. "Don't tell anyone, but I know how you feel." I told her and winked.
Fetching the guys I gave them a short notice. "Sarah is a nice girl, knows wrestling is fake but was worried that you really hate each other now. The mom likes you Roman so be nice to her. Sarah likes Dean best. She is confused with the real names and stage names so don't be surprised when she calls you by your real names. My dear husband?" I stopped Jon. "Yeah?" "Be nice to her pretty please?"
Joe was the most professional with these kind of things, Colby was usually the nicest and with Jon it depended on chemistry and his overall mood. He could be nice, shy or totally not interested in meet and greets. But with the wish kids he was usually nice but often uncomfortable about the situation.
"I'll be nice. If I divorce you for her, it is entirely your fault."
He opened the door and walked in, Joe and Colby laughing.
"Sarah, meet Dean, Seth and Roman. Guys, this is Sarah and her mother Petra. They are both huge fans."
Jon hugged Sarah and sat opposite from her, the other two following his example. Joe had a really long hug for Sarah's mom which made all of us laugh.
A photographer was with us who would make some shots as well.
"So Sarah, I have a car waiting outside so we can run away. I will leave Sam and we go get married in Vegas. Just say the word and we are out of here." Jon said in a really good mood.
"You will have to carry me or my oxygen runs out."
"That is no problem. Look at me, I can carry you all the way." He flexed his arm muscles and Colby cough-said: "Arm porn."
"You are just jealous." Joe pointed out and flexed his tattooed arm as well. "Can I touch them?" Sarah asked excited and the boys said "Go ahead." So she touched both Jon's and Joe's impressive upper arms and the photographer took a couple of pictures.
"I feel really left out." Colby sighed and looked sad.
"You could do some of your ninja stuff." Sarah suggested.
Colby looked at Jon and he just shrugged.
So they cleared some space and Jon folded his hands for Colby to put his foot in. Jon would catapult him a little and Colby would do a 360 roll in the air, landing on his feet.
"He is like a cat." Jon laughed and Sarah clapped her hands. "See? That's what you are good at."
"I know." Colby grinned.
They signed some of Sarah's stuff and her mom could make some photos as well and then after almost 30 minutes the time was over.
Sarah had to brush away some tears. "Thank you so much for this meet and greet. I have to go to the hospital tomorrow because my condition got worse about three weeks ago and I am waiting on a lung transplant. But I told them that I couldn't go before meeting you. Now I can take my shirt and the cap with me and wear it all the time. It will give me strength. Thank you."
Even I had to turn around brushing my eyes I was build close to the water anyway.
They hugged Sarah on their way out, Jon staying behind.
"Let my wife give you her e-mail and drop us a line when you have the chance, I would like to keep updated on you, okay? You are a strong girl and I would like to follow up on you."
"I would like that. Thank you...Jon." "Anytime. I have to get ready now to kick some Samoan butt. Enjoy the show Sarah. You are amazing. Thanks for meeting us." He hugged Sarah, careful not to get stuck in her oxygen tube and he even kissed her on the cheek. She bushed and he laughed and ruffled her hair.
Jon kissed me shortly and left.
I already had scribbled my e-mail on a piece of paper and gave it to Sarah's mom. "Keep us updated." I told her and she nodded.
It was not my personal address and not the address I correspondent with with, but an address I gave to special people like Sarah. If I got spammed there suddenly then I knew that out of the selected few who had the address, someone had leaked it. And then I would change it. I had like over 20 addresses thanks to gmail.
"He was really nice. Thank you Sam." Sarah said and she looked older than her 15 years.
"Not my doing. I might have told him to be nice, but he liked you. He is the one ordering me to give out the e-mail address, it is never my doing. Jon only does that when he feels like it. So keep in touch with me. Write in English or German, because honestly, he just checks his account, I manage everything else. But I will keep him updated and reply to you as I get the chance."
Sarah nodded. "Thanks, that means a lot to me. Thank you."
"You're welcome." I said in my best Damien Sandow impression and Sarah laughed.
"I will pick you up shortly before the show and get you to your seats. I guess waiting in here is a little less stressful."
"Thanks."
I escorted them to their seats a little later. Front row of course with a great view.
"Enjoy the show, when I get the chance I will come out after the break to catch the second leg of the show." I winked and Sarah knew that I wanted to see my husband in action.
And I had the chance and joined the mother daughter team for the last three matches.
I rarely sat at ringside, not even at house shows but I would try to catch Jon's matches in Germany at least. The last match of the evening started. A handicap match between Dean and Seth on one side, and Roman on the other.
Seth and Dean were the first to enter. They got a lot of heat, except for the three women in the front who would cheer for them.
They still entered through the crowd and waited in the ring for Roman.
He got cheered and the fans really liked him.
The match started with Dean facing off Roman and Dean trash talked him, shoved him until Roman had enough and shoved Dean so hard he rolled out of the ring on our side and ended up with his back against the barricade right in front of Sarah and her mom.
Sarah clapped him on the shoulder and Dean used that.
"They don't even like you Roman. They like ME!" he taunted from outside and grinned sinister.
Roman stood in the ring, pushing up his black shirt just a little bit and the crowd went wild.
Dean stumped around outside furious Seth making a gesture like WTF and Dean rolled back into the ring again, seeming relaxed at one second and at the next he stormed at Roman like a Tasmanian Devil, taggling him and beating at him wildly.
The referee couldn't stop him, Seth couldn't stop him and he got punched by Roman in the process and soon all three were in the fight.
Roman was losing ground when suddenly a music hit the arena of none other than the Usos.
And Brad Maddox came out, making the 2 on 1 handicap into a 3 on 2 handicap match with the Usos and Roman on one side and Dean and Seth on the other.
Things calmed down and the match could start again.
It was a long fight which was eventually lost by Dean who had to take a three count from Roman after a spear.
"Oh, that was great. But Dean lost." Sarah said. "Yeah, you win some you lose some. But the match was great." "Yes, the beginning was so funny. Dean really is a lunatic fringe." "That he is. Sarah write me that e-mail and all the best for you. I hope that lung comes around quickly."
I left her just as the Usos and Roman walked around the ring, shaking hands.
Backstage I waited for the guys to shower and Jon found me reading some mails on my phone.
"Thanks for coming out to us. You used that slap on the shoulder really well."
"It would have been that much better if a crazy wife of mine would have put me into a lip lock out there."
"Next time maybe. The match was great. Do your ribs hurt?"
"No, I am fine. On second thought...they hurt really badly, you have to kiss them and make them all better."
I kissed him on the lips instead and once Colby joined us we walked out to the waiting tour bus which would take us to our hotel for the night. Some wrestlers would go to Berlin by bus tonight. Others like Jon and Colby would take a flight early in the morning.
When we arrived at the hotel I checked us in and we went straight up to our room. Jon was standing asleep by now. I hadn't seen him in 3 days my plans for tonight had been different, but he looked really tired and I couldn't forget that he was just back for about 6 weeks and maybe still not back to a hundred percent.
"Go to sleep Jon. I have to get the timetable ready for tomorrow and will join you in a bit."
"This is sad you know? Here a part of my wants you naked in that bed, the other part can't even think straight. It is embarrassing. Promise me we get up half an hour early?" "Sure. Get some rest husband." I kissed him and he got into bed when I had to put an hour in to prepare everything for tomorrow and the day after that.
So it was 1 am before I crawled in next to Jon, and I would have like four hours of sleep because the alarm would go off at 5.30 am, our flight would leave at 9.10 am.
It was actually Jon who woke me up before the alarm, kissing my neck, his hand stroking my leg softly. It was a nice way to wake up to but since I was still tired we made love very slowly but thoroughly. "You can wake me up like this more often." I yawned and made little circles on his chest with my hand. "Where is your mind at?" He was quiet and thoughtful.
"With this sick girl, Sarah. I am glad we decided against kids because I don't know how to live like that, seeing my girl suffer each day, maybe dying when there is no lung for her. I couldn't do that. Another reason for not wanting kids."
"Her mom is strong, they make the most of what they have. She emailed me late last night with a picture of you and her which is really cute. But you are right, all the more reason for no kids, but kudos to Joe who made that step."
"It's this Samoan custom. You have to have like 10 kids or you don't make it in the tribe. Each kid proves just how much you getting' at home and how fertile you are." Jon mocked.
"I bet you a month salary that you are getting more than he does." Jon looked at me. "What do we know? Maybe they spent the two days they have in the sack, doing it like 6 times a day. Maybe we are boring for doing it once a night." "I doubt they spent their days in bed with his little girl wanting attention as well. And we are not boring. When you are not standing asleep we sometimes do it twice."
"Ahhh, I knew you would call me on that. But I was dog tired last night Sammy. I am deeply sorry I couldn't fulfill my duties as a husband last night."
"And your shoulder is bothering you." He dropped his eyes touching it gingerly. "It's fine, it was cold and rainy in GB, it got better here. The weather is really nice."
"Yeah, it will be for the next couple of days. Remind me to give you a nice massage tonight."
"Oh I will."
And he did remind me.