SummerSlam: August 18, 2013

Randy held onto my hand as we walked into the arena together. "So you agree that we still shouldn't be in touch with Tyler and Lauren?"

I nodded as I held the baby as we walked. "I agree completely. I still don't trust that the stupid shit won't repeat itself. Inevitably, he will start talking shit about one or both of us and blame me for something that isn't my fault."

"You're probably right about that. Part of me thinks he only suddenly reached out because of our baby or because he just had his baby girl recently."

"It's probably a combination of both. Part of me hates keeping him away from his nephew and not meeting my own niece, but I just can't do it right now."

"I don't think I could either. I know he tends to go after you with his disrespect, but I get too irritated to keep my mouth shut."

I laugh. "No kidding."

"So you're still planning on telling Vince that you're ready to work again, right?"

"Yes."

"At least you'll have a legitimate excuse to not be around Tyler."

"That's true."

"How are you feeling after doing that run of media with me this afternoon?"

"A bit tired because I haven't done that much media in ages, but I'm okay."

"Good. Are we paying Chelle for watching our little man earlier?" Randy kissed the baby's cheek.

I smiled as the baby laughed. "I tried earlier, but you know how she is. She said it was just bonding with her godson to her."

"That does sound like her."

"Yeah, I find it funny that we're still here despite you not wrestling tonight."

Randy shrugs. "I don't mind. I'll still hang around in gear."

"Really?"

"I'm Mister Money in the Bank. I have to be prepared. What are you going to do tonight?"

"Watch the matches and show off my child."

Randy laughs. "You couldn't be more blunt about it."

"I can't believe he's four months old now."

"Me either. He's adorable too."

"Do you notice how much he resembles your baby photos?" I ask as we make it to Randy's locker-room.

"A bit."

"A bit? He looks just like you."

"That's not my fault. You can't deny he's mine though." Randy shuts the door as we enter the locker-room.

"Definitely not. If the next baby looks just like me, it'll even out."

"We'll see how that goes."


I walk into Vince's office, carrying my son. "I still want to come back now."

"Okay. Sit down, and we'll discuss things." Vince tells me. "While we're at it, can I hold my grandson?"

I pass the baby to Vince before sitting down. "Okay. What do you want to discuss?"

"First of all, I want to make sure that you're certain about this. If I sign off on letting you come back to work early, there's no going back."

"Well, I'm certain that I want this. I haven't changed my mind after a month. I don't think my mind will change."

"Okay, that's good. I don't think Brad Maddox can handle this being the general manager thing on his own."

"I'm not working for Brad Maddox."

"I'm not asking you to work for Brad Maddox. I want you to be the general manager of Raw. You wouldn't be working for him. I'm going to relieve him of his duties. I want you to take the job. You can have him be your assistant or something if you want, but I don't think he's handling things well on his own. What do you say?"

"If you're serious about me becoming general manager, I'm going to need time to think about it. Is that okay?"

"That's fine, but I want a decision soon. This is a big position that'll need to be filled."

"I understand how big it is. That's why I need to think it over."

"Okay. Nonetheless, I'll allow you to have clearance to be back on TV as of Raw tomorrow." Vince starts filling out some paperwork.

"And it'll just be as Randy's manager if I don't become general manager, right?"

"Yes, I won't have you in matches until you physically come to me and say that you want to be back wrestling."

"Okay. That's good."

"I do hope you do choose to become general manager though. I think you'd be a great fit."

"Well, I still have things to think over. I won't wait too long to give you an answer though."

"I know. You need to sign some of these pages." Vince passes me the paperwork.

I sign every spot that needs to be signed. "Are we good?"

Vince passes my son back to me. "We are. Enjoy the show."


Chelle, Eve, Ryse, Layla, and I were standing in front of a screen in a hallway, watching the WWE Championship match between John Cena and Daniel Bryan. My son had fallen asleep a little bit ago, so I just held him as I watched.

"He's seriously the cutest thing." Layla comments.

I smile. "Thanks."

"Is anyone actually rooting for Daniel in this match?" Chelle asks.

"You know I'm not."

Everyone else shakes their heads no.

"I haven't seen Randy in a while." Eve comments.

I shrug. "He's been doing his own thing most of the night. It's been a bit since I've seen him. I'm his wife."

"That's a fair point."

I watch as Daniel beats John to win the match.

"The winner of this match and NEW WWE Champion, Daniel Bryan!" Justin Roberts announced.

Michelle sighs. "I'm so thrilled."

"Me too." I comment sarcastically.

I hear voices in my head

They council me

They understand

They talk to me…

Randy walks out, holding the Money in the Bank contract.

"I think I'm going to head to guerilla." Chelle comments.

"Me too actually." I replied. "Does someone want to watch my son for a few? I think guerilla is a little loud for him, and he's sleeping anyway."

"I got him." Ryse takes the baby from me. "I'll keep an eye on him."

"Thank you."

Chelle looks at me as she and I walk to guerilla. "Is Randy cashing in?"

I shake my head. "I'm pretty sure he's just messing with Daniel."

Randy stares at Daniel before turning around to walk away. Daniel starts a yes chant, and Randy stops.

"Looks like you were right." Chelle comments.

"Wait a sec." I comment as Triple H, who had been the referee for Daniel and John's match, creeps closer to Daniel. "Something's not right."

Triple H grabs Daniel and hits him with a Pedigree. Randy turns back around and gets in the ring. Randy hands the Money in the Bank briefcase to Triple H. Triple H hands the briefcase to an official and orders that the bell be rung to start a match between Randy and Daniel for the WWE Championship, despite Daniel already being laid out.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Randy immediately pins Daniel.

1…2…3!

"The winner of this match and NEW WWE Champion, Randy Orton!" Justin Roberts announced.

Triple H raises Randy's arm in the air in celebration.

"You didn't know, did you?" Chelle asks.

"Not at all." I comment.

"Brie Bella is giving you a dirty look from across the room."

"I'm sure she's blaming me already."

John arrives backstage. "Did you know anything about that?"

I shake my head. "No, not at all, but it must've been planned out. Just when I'm supposed to come back to TV too."

"This was a bit of a screwjob."

"No kidding. I don't think I really agree with it."

"Me either. See you later."

Chelle hugs me before she and John leave guerilla. I wait around for Randy.

I didn't like this. While I couldn't stand Daniel, the manor that Randy took in winning the WWE Championship just now didn't rub me the right way. Plus, it seemed Randy had just formed an alliance with Triple H and likely Stephanie. I was a bit upset that he did that without consulting me about it when he knew I was coming back.

Daniel arrives backstage before Randy and gives me a cold look. I don't even try to respond to him. I wait for Randy and Triple H to arrive backstage.

They arrive backstage and give each other happy looks and a hug. Triple H passes me and gives me a nod. Randy pulls me into a hug.

"Hey, beautiful." Randy says to me as he's clearly in a great mood.

"Hey." I reply quietly.

"Did you see my cash in?"

"I did. Congrats I guess."

Randy raised an eyebrow as we walked out of guerilla. "You guess?"

"Yeah, at least you're happy."

"What's your issue?"

"We'll talk later. Ryse has our son. I'm going to go get him."

"I can come with you."

"You should probably change. I'll go alone."

"Okay then." Randy turns down the hall to get back to our locker-room.

I wait for my dad to exit guerilla. As soon as he does, I look at him.

Vince walks over. "You look like you need something."

"Did you know?" I ask.

"I knew that Triple H had a plan for if Daniel won, but I didn't know that Randy was involved."

"Do you agree with it?"

"I've done worse. You don't agree with it?"

"Not completely. I want to be happy for Randy, but it's not the way that I agree with doing things. It makes things a bit hard for me to support Randy here. Plus, since he knew I was coming back, I feel that I should've been involved in the decision to make an alliance with Triple H and Stephanie."

"If you're going to oppose the rest of the family, be careful."

"I don't want to, but I just can't agree with it. I'll take the job."

"You'll take the job?"

"Yeah, I'll take it, but let's keep it pretty quiet for now."

"Okay. What about Maddox?"

"I'll talk to him. I'm going to take him as an assistant for now."

"Okay then. So you'll be the general manager of Raw as of tomorrow?"

"Yes."

Vince writes on a piece of paper before passing it to me. "Give this to Maddox."


I picked up my son from Ryse before finding Brad Maddox's office. I knock on the door before walking in.

Brad looks up from his desk. "Ah, Mrs. Orton, it's a pleasant surprise to see you. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

I passed him the piece of paper. "Please don't ever do that again. Just act normal around me, Brad."

Brad reads the piece of paper. "You're taking over as Raw general manager? What am I supposed to do now? Just be Vickie's assistant?"

"Well, I was actually going to offer you the opportunity to be my assistant too. I'm just coming back from maternity leave, and my son is going to be on the road with me. I could use a little help for now."

"What do I get out of it?"

"Well, you'd get paid extra. Let me think here. I'll let you keep Raw tomorrow the way you planned it. I'll make sure that if any roster members harass you, they get punished."

"What's the catch?"

"You're going to have to catch me up on how the backstage environment is here now. I know it's changed. I may make you deal with some issues for me. You might kinda be on the bad side of Stephanie and Triple H, possibly also Randy."

"Why would they be upset with me because of working for you?"

"You saw the cash in, right? I don't agree with that kind of stuff, and I'm going to make it clear that I don't agree with all of their decisions."

"Fair enough."

"Anyway, continuing on, you'll probably be around my son a lot, so if you don't like babies, say no. And I need your help in throwing off the roster until tomorrow during Raw."

"Okay, I'll do it, but what exactly do you mean by throwing off the roster?"

"Well, Brad, you know that once word goes around that there's a permanent Raw general manager now, Stephanie and Triple H are going to do their best to know in advance who it is. I don't want them to know until I walk out tomorrow night and say it. Rumors spread like wildfire around here, so I want to throw them off with a rumor that it's just you getting promoted."

"Why me?"

"Because they already think they intimidate you, so they'll take it lightly. It'll be worth the shocked looks on their faces when I reveal the truth."

"But won't Randy tell them that it's you?"

"Not if he doesn't know, which he doesn't."

"Okay, I'm in."

"Thank you, Brad. I think this is the beginning of a great business partnership. I'll see you tomorrow."


Randy and I sat in the bed of our hotel room. The baby was sleeping in the crib we brought along. Randy and I had barely spoken to each other.

"Why are you so upset all of a sudden?" Randy asks.

"I don't necessarily agree with how you went about winning the WWE Championship tonight." I answer without even looking at him.

"The whole purpose of the Money in the Bank is to be able to cash in whenever you want. That's what I did. I won."

"That wasn't even a match. You didn't even hit a wrestling move. It was a screwjob."

"Daniel didn't deserve to be champion. It was fine. You don't even like him. I don't understand your issue."

"I can barely tolerate Daniel, but I still have morals, Randy."

"You didn't do anything though. I did. You can still be happy that I'm WWE Champion again."

"Believe me, I really want to be, but my morals are making it hard to be happy for you at the moment."

"What if it was you and Brie doing this over the Divas Championship instead of me and Daniel? You wouldn't have even considered it?"

"Not a screwjob. Maybe catching her off guard after a match a little or even attacking her a little in advance to make sure she's got some weak points, but I wouldn't consider doing a screwjob."

"Whatever. We'll talk about this sometime tomorrow. You get the okay to be back on TV?"

"Yes."

"Okay then."

"The girls are wanting to have breakfast together in the morning. Do I need to take the baby or can you watch him?"

"Do you have a time for when it is?"

"Around eight."

"I can do it as long as you're back by about noon. I have media in the afternoon."

"Okay. Thanks."

I rolled over to face away from Randy. While we didn't fight, I could tell that we were about to be on different sides of an issue that was about to cause a lot of issues in WWE. There was tension between me and Randy, and I knew the next few weeks weren't going to be sunshine and rainbows.