Nichelle Ladonna; NXT Superstar
Nichelle Ladonna's Hollywood career hit a skid after her pitiful performance on the first season of Total Drama Island's reboot. Her performance on Season 2 of Total Drama Island was better, but she felt embarrassed at being tricked into leaving thanks to another contestant, Julia Eckert, convincing her that she was going to be the star of a three-movie superhero franchise. Since her premature return to Hollywood, Nichelle had been getting bit parts in commercials and TV shows, slowly rebuilding her career. However, one day, Nichelle got a phone call from a number she didn't recognize. Nichelle raised an eyebrow at the number, but never one to turn down an opportunity, answered the call.
"Hello, this is Nichelle Ladonna. Who am I speaking to?"
"Hello Ms. Ladonna, this is Shawn Michaels, and I want to talk to you about an offer," the man on the phone said. Nichelle was so surprised that she almost dropped the phone, but took a couple of deep breaths and regained her composure before responding.
"An offer? As in…an offer to join the WWE?"
"Yes. I saw your performance on the most recent season of Total Drama Island, and your performance on Canadian Ninja Warrior. You have the athleticism, look, and charisma that we're looking for," Shawn further explained. Nichelle could hardly believe it. After spending months having her agent practically begging for her to get spots on TV, here the Senior Vice President of Talent Development and Creative of NXT was, calling her to join the biggest wrestling organization on the planet. Nichelle's excitement briefly cooled when more hesitant thoughts filled her mind.
"But…I'm not really a wrestler, Mr. Michaels."
"That won't be a problem, Mrs. Ladonna. If you agree to this deal, you will be sent to our Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, where you will be taught everything you need to know to be a successful wrestler," Shawn explained with Nichelle feeling better. Nichelle had always been a fan of professional wrestling, especially the pageantry and athleticism of the wrestlers she saw in the ring. Some of her favorite wrestlers included Rey Mysterio, Lita, Sasha Banks, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns. Nichelle never really thought that she could last in the world of wrestling, so when she became an actor, she made sure to choose a lot of roles that included action. Those action roles were meant to calm the dream of Nichelle becoming a professional wrestler, but they only seemed to make the wrestling bug grow stronger. Nichelle was thinking about places where she could train, but wrestling around the Indies doesn't make her the money she's used to making, and that means she and her mother get less financial support. So for the time being, Nichelle decided to stay in acting, but now that the WWE was literally calling her, this was the best chance she had at following her dreams.
"Hello? Are you still there, Mrs. Ladonna?" Shawn asked, chuckling at the silence, which he assumed rightly was the result of Nichelle's shock and awe at being offered a WWE contract. Nichelle almost jumped out of her seat before nodding excitedly with stars in her eyes like a child on Christmas.
"Yes! Yes, I'd love to come into the WWE! When are you available so that we can talk about a contract!?" Nichelle exclaimed excitedly as Shawn and she spent the next few minutes scheduling a meeting to discuss the final details of her contract. When the phone call ended, Nichelle was still over the moon, her hands shakily holding the phone while the news that she could very well be on her way to the WWE still sinking in. After the news had fully sunken in, Nichelle put her phone down and put her hands over her mouth as tears of excitement began forming in her eyes. Dreams of wrestling Bianca Belair at WrestleMania and beating Becky Lynch for the Women's Championship now had a chance of happening thanks to this one seemingly innocuous phone call that she had almost ignored.
"I gotta tell Mama about this!" Nichelle exclaimed excitedly, typing in the phone number of her mother in her phone, her mouth hardly waiting to tell someone the news of a lifetime.
1 Year Later…
December 2024, the first episode of NXT of December. Nichelle Ladonna was in the finals of the NXT Women's Breakout Tournament, going up against Ashley Vox in the finals. Nichelle had only debuted on NXT TV several months ago in September and had been getting praise backstage for not only her performances in the ring but her promo work and her behavior behind the scenes. One of the main trainers at the Performance Center, Norman Smiley, called her a 'natural' in wrestling, which is why she only spent 9 months in the Performance Center. When she first debuted on NXT TV in a competitive loss to Meiko Satomura, Nichelle had to chuckle at all the messages she had gotten from her fellow Total Drama contestants, shocked that she was wrestling on national television. Her favorite message was Julia's Instagram rant about how Shawn Michaels used his 'lazy eye' when choosing Nichelle as a WWE Superstar.
Nichelle Ladonna was preparing herself in the Gorilla Position with her new manager, Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP). After Ashley Vox's entrance finished, MVP's 'Ballin' theme song played, the crowd booing as Nichelle walked out of the back with a black and gold robe and MVP applauding her by her side. Nichelle looked at the audience from her peripheral vision, smirking when she saw her Total Drama teammates in their seats. Nichelle had given them all free passes to this episode of NXT that took place in the usual building of Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. She took note of their various expressions; Millie's child-like excitement while wearing sensory headphones, Damien's total fanboying at what was going on around him, Julia's irritated glare at the fact that she wasn't the center of attention, and Lauren's boredom, Nichelle assumed because she knew nobody was actually going to get hurt.
When she got to the ring, MVP pointed at the Breakout Tournament contract, telling her that this is what this was all about. Nichelle then looked at the other side of the ring from Ashley Vox, who was an independent mainstay throughout the United States for years before signing a WWE contract. Ashley had a lot more experience as a wrestler than Nichelle did, but she wasn't intimidated at all and was in fact excited at facing Ashley in the finals. When the bell rang to start the match, the two immediately locked up, with Ashley immediately trying to take control of her arm.
The match went on for ten minutes, Nichelle showing off the hard strikes and fierce power moves that she had learned in the WWE Performance Center, while Ashley was able to show her babyface fire by flying around the ring, even throwing Nichelle into the corner with a Flying Headscissors. However, around the end of the match, Nichelle pushed the referee in front of her, preventing Ashley from hitting her, and while the referee and Ashley were arguing about Ashley almost hitting him, MVP handed Nichelle his cane, the crowd booing as while the referee wasn't looking, Nichelle hit Ashley in the gut with MVP's cane. Nichelle had to hold back laughter when she saw Julia trying to get the attention of the referee to tell him that she cheated while she hit Ashley in the face with the cane.
After Nichelle slid the cane outside of the ring and back to MVP, Nichelle picked Ashley up and hit her with the Lights Out (Gory Special transitioned into a Swinging Reverse STO) before going for the pinfall. As the referee's hand hit the mat for a third time, the crowd gave a mixed reaction as MVP grabbed the contract from the podium at ringside, and went into the ring to give it to a celebrating Ladonna.
"Here is your winner, and the 2024 Women's Breakout Tournament Winner, representing the Hurt Business, Nichelle Ladonna!" Alicia Taylor said, her voice reverberating in Nichelle's mind as her eyes focused on the 2024 Women's Breakout Tournament contract that guaranteed her a future NXT Women's Championship match against the champion anytime that she wanted. Nichelle stood back up on her feet, raising the contract over her head while MVP applauded her and told the fans that the Hurt Business was continuing their takeover of NXT. Nichelle's mind was still reeling from this major accomplishment in her first year in the WWE; she went from being rejected from Hollywood after a disastrous run in Total Drama Island 2023, to being labeled as a future star of the Women's Division of the biggest wrestling company in the world. Nichelle couldn't help but smile as she looked around at the audience, her eyes focusing on her fellow Total Drama contestants, who were looking at her in shock, happiness, or in the case of Julia, disgust. The next phase of Nichelle's life had started, and if the championship contract in her hand was anything to go by, it was only going to get better from here.