Return
" I will win back my championship that I never lost" Roman Reigns snarled, "thats not a prediction , that's a spoiler" he smirked as the camera pulled back to reveal Paul Heyman sat to his left. WWE official Adam Pearce reacted as he should and after a moment "Clear", the cameraman called. Once they had finished filming Paul turned to his colleague " Great job Joe , this being a jerk thing comes easy to you my man". Joe was nervous , " Yeah this is completely different to anything I have done before , I am eager to see what the fans think...and Vince". Paul rolled his eyes " Trust me , this is what's best for WWE , in the long run. You can be one of the best heels in this business , everything about you screams that. No offence but uh that whole superman John Cena era is over. Something different is needed - you are it". Joe had wanted for so long to change up his character, so this was really exciting. He had been hard at work since the pandemic began , working out and defining his body more. For health and family reasons he had decided to take an extended leave of absence, however almost 5 months had passed and he decided Summerslam was a good fit to return. Lots of changes had happened in his life over the last few months and taking the next step in his career seemed like a logical thing to do. He began to head back to the locker room with Paul, " I will never understand how you got Vince to go for it" he said in a low voice to Paul. "It's a trial he said, remember?". Joe caught his eye and they both smiled. " Lets see how the fans react, we got a meeting tomorrow to discuss next steps, but I got a gut feeling my man". Joe trusted Paul, he knew this business inside out and had worked closely with his own father. It was almost a full circle moment when he had pitched the idea to him. "OK I gotta go man , ill talk to you tomorrow before the Pay per View".
Cassie sighed as she dried off the last of the plates. It was her fifth time doing the washing up today and she cursed the dishwasher again for breaking this past weekend. Travis was in the living room sprawled on the couch , while Aubrey played in front of the TV with her toys. Cassie smiled at the sight of her little girl , she was the reason that Cassie got up everyday and kept going. She tutted as she heard Travis get up from where he had been laying and come into the kitchen. He pulled open the fridge and popped a beer. He took a sip before fixing his eyes on her " I got work this weekend , out of town. Myself and George gonna head south , make some money to get this dishwasher fixed". Cassie just nodded " Sure , we could do with the money" she said pointedly before going into the living room. Aubrey jumped up "Mommy come on its nearly time for Sasha" she took her mother by the hand and sat next to her on the couch. At 4 years of age she was the mirror image of her mother. The same tanned complexion, wavy brown hair and Hazel eyes. They sat down to watch Smackdown, her daughters favourite show, for many reasons. But the main one was Sasha Banks , Aubrey idolised her. She squealed when she saw Sasha make her entrance and Cassie looked over at Travis who was looking at his phone. He made eye contact with her, " I don't know why y'all watch this". He said with a smirk that irritated Cassie. " Yes, you do Daddy , in case we see Uncle Paul". Aubrey said matter of factly. " Didn't he get fired?". Travis asked Cassie who shook her head. "I haven't heard much from him since last week, so I don't know what's going on. He isn't involved in RAW anymore. But hopefully they will find something else for him to do". They watched on until Sashas match was finished " OK young lady , now bed time that was our deal" Cassie said standing up. Aubrey yawned sleepily and hugged her father , Cassie couldn't help but smile as they embraced. Their relationship was heartwarming , and she couldn't deny that Travis was a great dad. After she had got Aubrey into bed and read her a story , she came back out to see Travis had switched channels and was now watching s baseball game. On the table was a fresh beer bottle. Rather than sit with him and watch as he sank more beer instead she said "I'm going to head to bed too , am pretty tired . I will sleep in the spare room , I know you will have to go to work early tomorrow for your weekend away ". Travis turned to look at her for a moment " OK, i will call you to let you know I got there ok". Cassie smiled at him "Great, drive safe". She turned before he could say anything else.
"Morning Paul , Morning Joe" Vince said in his trademark gravelly voice. They were on zoom doing a virtual call , most business happened this way now and Joe was filled with tension as he awaited his fate. "OK so we monitored the reaction online, read what some of the blogs were saying and looked at the comments by fans. Simply put ,the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, fans are excited. Our social media experts have said the amount of fan comments on articles regarding the Roman Reigns turn has tripled, they can't wait to see what happens next. So Paul , what's next , this was all your idea after all. How do we play this?". Paul smiled into the camera with more confidence than he felt. "Thats great news Vince , and yes I do think this is the start of Roman Reigns best run in the company. Now as for whats next , I have a confession to make, its not as straight forward as it seems, can I ask that we discuss this face to face tomorrow, I need to put some things in place and flesh some ideas out". Vince looked perturbed "Isn't that what this time is for , right now?, tomorrow is too close to the show and Joe here probably wants to know what it is we are expecting of him". The chairman was very unhappy, it was very clear to see. Joe felt bad for Paul "It's fine Vince , I trust Paul completely with all of this. And so far this turn has gotten an amazing reaction from the fans. If he needs some Time to work it out, let's give it to him". Paul smiled gratefully "All will be revealed tomorrow". Vince didn't look too convinced but given all that had transpired over the last few weeks he decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. When they hung up Paul realised he had been sweating buckets. He needed to pull this off no matter what , with that in mind he picked up his phone and dialled.
Joe strolled around backstage, the day of the Pay per View. With protocol in the show , everyone tried to maintain their distance to ensure a safe environment but he did manage to speak to some of the boys. He was early that day , he had the meeting with Vince and Paul to go over the details that night. Everything indicated he would regain the title but he didn't want to be presumptuous, his own opinion would be that he go out there and dominate and win the title strong. That would set him off on a good path. But Vince may have other ideas. He found the room where they would be meeting and walked in to see he was the first to arrive. He took a seat on the right-hand side of the table, and took out his phone. "Joe, good to see you" , the chairman's voice said as he entered the room. He smiled at the older man , standing to shake his hand. "Vince, good to see you". They sat and looked at each other expectantly "So then , looks like we are waiting on Paul". Joe looked at his phone checking for a message or call from Paul. Nothing. He was starting to get slightly nervous when he heard footsteps outside the room and Paul walked in . But he wasn't alone , next to him was a girl, about the same age as him , early thirties, she was dressed in casual jeans and a long sleeved white t-shirt. She was very pretty , Joe noticed , her brown hair was tied back in a pony tail and she looked like a rabbit caught in headlights as she trailed behind Paul. Both Joe and Vince stood as they entered " What's going on Paul?", Vince barked as he did when he was unsure or surprised. The girl jumped at the anger in Vince's voice. Paul fixed them all with a smile "Meet Cassie, my niece and the mastermind of this Roman Reigns heel turn". Joe looked at the girl again, she looked petrified . "Wait , I'm confused , no disrespect but I have never met this person before , what's going on here Paul?". Joe made sure his tone was light, he didn't want to add to the obvious stress this situation seemed to be causing Cassie. "last week I had a family party and Cassie and myself here got to talking She is a writer, got a degree in creative writing, so she knows her stuff. We got speaking about what was next and I suggested to her that I would like to work with you one day. It was her idea this heel turn , she actually wrote the line you screamed at Braun " You ain't a monster unless I'm here". Joe looked at Cassie again , she gave him a half smile. "Paul , are you telling me that you have put us in a copyright position here , dammit. This is completely against how we work , we have a writing staff here, they do the scripts. Not to mention you acted like all of this came from you alone". Vince banged his fist on the table. Cassie finally spoke , her voice was soothing Joe thought as he listened "Please don't blame Uncle Paul , he begged me to come in and pitch the idea with him. But I um wanted him to do it ,You don't have to worry about copyright or any of that Mr McMahon. The only reason I am actually here is because he begged me to be". There was a silence then , they waited. "I'm sorry for wasting your time young lady, I have a system here and Paul knows that. We will use my writers going forward for this". Cassie nodded and patted her uncle on the shoulder " I understand , of course. I didn't mean to interrupt your process , he was just so excited about my ideas. My apologies". Something deep down in Joe was rebelling , the words were out of his mouth before he could help it " Wait , what was your idea?" he called after her. Cassie turned and looked at Vince " one minute here , I make the decisions around here. Like I said , we do this with our writers". The old man was starting to piss Joe off " all due respect sir , the reason I agreed to come back to work during this pandemic was down to Paul and this new character turn. I have stayed silent and played my part in this company without giving you any trouble. I would like to hear more". Joe watched as Paul's head snapped up. They both knew Vince was in a tough spot. WWE needed Roman Reigns , the fans had marked out at his return , he would have lots of eyes on tonight's pay per View, he couldn't risk it. "OK I will hear it, but I won't promise anything". Joe pulled out the chair next to him and gestured to Cassie " Take a seat" he motioned.
Cassie felt her mouth dry as she sat in the chair she turned to her right to Joe who she realised in person was even more handsome than what she had seen on TV. His eyes were deep and in a strange way she felt safe in his company. "So, what did you have in mind?" he asked. Cassie flickered her gaze to Paul who nodded. " Well winning the title tonight is a must". The chairman interrupted " Yes, Roman Reigns will be winning tonight, we had agreed that with the writers . He will have a very dominant performance over Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman , showing his strength and winning with style". Vince sat back looking proud of himself . Cassie cleared her throat " actually I had a different idea he is a heel right ? What do they do ? Win in a cowardly fashion , over the babyfaces. My idea is that we allow Bray and Braun to fight for almost 15 minutes . Towards the end of the match, Romans music hits , he walks out with Paul and only then signs the contract at that exact moment , making him a part of the match. Then he basically picks the bones and leaves. With the title of course.Which feeds nicely into his new catchphrase "Show up and win" . There was silence for a moment. Joe sat back in his chair , he looked at Vince and his entire expression changed, into a wide smile showing white perfect teeth and making him even more handsome. "I love it" he said simply. The chairman was thinking , " Its different. Definitely paints you as an SOB , and is miles away from what your character normally would have done". "Which is what we want" Joe said quickly. Vince looked at Cassie "OK we run it , you stick around lady, we will review after the show". He stood and took his leave. Once the door closed Paul broke into a smile " Well Done kid , I knew you could do it". He came over and wrapped his arms around Cassie giving her a quick hug. Joe stood next , he put his hand out " I forgot my manners, its nice to meet you". She took his hand , startled at how smooth his skin was for someone who worked out so much. "You too" she said warmly meeting his gaze. " I better go and get ready for the show , but I will see you after?" she nodded in response suddenly feeling a little shy under his gaze. Paul clapped her on the back then , " OK gotta run these notes by the producers kid , get yourself to one of our TV's and settle in for the show".