It had now gone past the point where Jay would find himself doing work backstage for WWE that Erin had engineered him into doing without putting any pressure on him, or at times even telling him much about it. How skilfully she had got him to start fulfilling his potential did not escape him, and he loved her for it.
Now, he was the producer and agent for Clementine. Not only that, he had been permitted to get involved with the writing of some segments, working directly with the writing team on TV segments for Clem's character and storyline. Of course this involved him working with other women too, including Raquel, Kylie Estevez, Sylvie Brett, and today Maya Mizrachi.
It was the day of the Royal Rumble, and therefore the day of the return of The Wildcat, not that the fans knew that. The news of Maya signing a one year contract with WWE had been kept secret so that her return would be a complete surprise when it happened. Jay was glad that Erin understood how good surprises were at generating memorable reactions from live crowds. Working a crowd was one thing Jay knew he understood well. Clem did too, which helped them to work together more easily.
"Jay! Jay!"
It was Erin's voice, coming from behind him. He turned to see her hurrying up to him. She was incredibly busy, as always backstage, let alone at one WWE's biggest events of the year. She looked stressed, but still oh so beautiful.
"What's up?" he asked.
"The tour bus is here," she said once she reached where he was standing.
Jay knew what that meant. In her commitment to secrecy, Erin hadn't wanted Maya to fly in for the event as almost all the other wrestlers did. No matter the city events were held in, the relevant airport was always full of wrestling fans, either coming in for the event themselves or lingering to try and meet some of the wrestlers. If she had flown in, Maya would have been quickly spotted and the news that she was in town would have leaked online within minutes.
But Erin had found a way to avoid that: by having WWE rent a tour bus and a driver and have Maya and her family driven to the event. Maya had readily agreed to the idea, as keen as Erin was to make her return a huge surprise.
"That's great. Hopefully no one knows who's on it," he said.
"They shouldn't. My instruction was for a bus with blacked out windows to be rented. Listen, I don't want Maya coming into the building until it's time for her to go out there in the women's rumble match. Like we agreed, we're going to have her enter number thirty."
The Royal Rumble match involved thirty competitors battling to win a guaranteed championship opportunity at Wrestlemania. Two competitors would start the match, with another entering every two minutes. Eliminations occurred by a wrestler being thrown over the top rope and both of their feet touching the floor outside the ring. The last competitor standing would be the winner. Naturally, the number thirty entrant had a significant advantage by being the last to come to the ring.
Tonight, as Erin had just said, Maya the wildcat was going to be the final entrant in the women's match. Jay knew that well. He ought to, since he had written the end of the match, which also happened to be the end of the show since the women were going to be the main event. That in itself would give the audience a clue that something big was going to happen during or after the match.
"I remember the plan," he assured her.
"And you've got everything set with Clem for her match?"
He nodded. "It's all worked out. Clem's doing well. As you know, she's not wrestled for a few weeks and she says she can already tell the difference in reduced pain from her knee and she can feel the benefit of being able to train more in the rest of her body. Reducing her schedule was a good decision, honey."
Erin smiled, both at the news and the vote of confidence. "You've done great work for tonight's show. There's one more thing I'm going to ask of you."
"Name it," he said openly.
"I'd like you to watch the women's rumble match on the tour bus and stay there until it's almost time for Maya to enter the match. I don't want her seen backstage until the last moment in case it leaks somehow. Also, although you and I, and Clem, have talked to her on the phone and in video calls since she signed her contract, none of us have seen her. Make sure she's good, and, well..."
"Calm?" he suggested. Maya insisted that the days of her being a wildcat in her personal life as well as in the ring were behind her. Everyone hoped that was true, but no one knew it for sure. For that reason, Jay understood the request from Erin. He wasn't thrilled, but there wasn't really anyone else she could ask. And besides, he wasn't wrestling on the show. He was moving further and further away from being a wrestler, towards being a key member of the team that made the shows happen. And he was fine with that. In fact, he liked it. He never would have thought he would be in a position where he felt that way about having responsibility over other people, yet that was now where his head was at.
"Okay, I'll do that for you," he promised. "We'll leave the bus when entrant number 28 hits the ring."
"Perfect," Erin said gratefully. "Four minutes to get from the bus to the curtain is plenty enough, but not enough for people to have a chance to leak. You're the best, Jay."
"I try," he said in a self-deprecating tone.
"Hey, before you go, I've got a surprise for you. I'm taking a day off next week and we're going somewhere."
"Where?" he demanded immediately. Surprises made him uneasy, even though it was clear from how she had spoken about it that she expected him to like it, whatever it was.
"Can't say. It's a surprise. Got to go, honey. Loads to do. See you after the show."
"Okay. Love you," Jay said and gave her a kiss on the lips.
"Love you too."
With that, she hurried away. A surprise of some kind, he thought. And it involved Erin taking a day off work so that they could go somewhere together. "No idea," he muttered to himself before mentally filing it away for now. There was work to do.
Before the women's rumble match, there was Clementine's match, which had been produced by him. It was to be the second match of the night, and it would be Clem's first match as her new character – the Final Boss.
Jay set off to go and find Clem, wanting to check in with her and Kim Burgess before they went to the ring. Their match wasn't going to be a long one, and that was quite deliberate. The first appearance of the Final Boss needed to be a big deal, and make a big impact. For that reason, Clem was going to dominate and beat the crap out of Kim, who had recently turned babyface and had volunteered herself for this role to help Clem get her new character established. She had said it would be an honour to do it for Clem, showing the same level of respect that all the women seemed to have for their locker room leader.
As it turned out, Jay came across Clem and Kim in the next hallway. They were both going through some last minute warmup exercises and talking about the match. Alexa was also there, on hand to provide moral support to Clem on the night of her new character's debut.
Clem certainly looked different, strikingly so. The customary baseball cap was gone, as was the simple style of ring attire she had previously used. Now she wore a black leather jacket, open, over a leather sports bra and leather pants. The bra and pants had diamond studded detailing, including spelling out Final Boss down one leg, all in capital letters. The jacket was only an accessory to be worn during Clem's entrance. She would discard it before the match started.
Physically, she looked to be doing better too. The lighter travel schedule and lack of matches had given her knee the rest it badly needed, allowing her to train more often and therefore improve her physique. It had only been a few weeks, but she looked fitter and more toned already – more like a final boss.
"Here's Jay," Kim said pleasantly as he approached them.
"Ladies. Thought I'd come find you before the match and wish you good luck. Unless you need anything from me?"
"We're all set," Clem reported and gave him a hug. They were getting better at that.
"You look great, Clem. The change of image really works. It's going to shock people."
"In the best way," Kim added, showing her agreement.
"Thank Lexi. She worked for hours to make this ring attire."
Jay raised his eyebrows and looked at Alexa. "You made that?"
"I did," she said proudly. "Now you know about every single one of my talents."
"Well, not every single one," Clem said and everyone laughed.
Jay said, "Okay, have a great match. I'll catch up with you later."
Later in the night, mindful of what Erin had asked him to do earlier, he set off for the stadium's parking garage to find the tour bus. Bringing Maya the wildcat back to WWE was a huge thing for Erin, he knew. It needed to work out. Whether it did or not was largely down to Maya, so Jay hoped to find her fired up, fit, ready to work and to co-exist professionally with the other women.
And sober, he added to the mental list. When they had met at WWE HQ a while back, Maya had said she was three years clean, and he had believed it based on her appearance and demeanour. Was that still the case though? Jay found it hard to have confidence, remembering something one of his trainers had told him at wrestling school: "Never trust an addict."
But what about a former addict? Was there even such a thing? Or was an addict an addict for life? He realised he wasn't knowledgeable enough have answers to questions like that. All he could do was give Maya a chance and keep a close eye on her.
When he found the tour bus out in the parking garage, Jay felt his anxiety starting to building. It wasn't going to be just Maya inside. Her husband and her son would be in there too. New people to meet. Jay never liked meeting new people, and he never felt comfortable around kids either. He had no idea how to interact with them without making either them or himself feel like idiots.
Letting out a deep sigh, he knocked the door. Footsteps could be heard inside, then the door was opened by Maya. Her face lit up with a big smile when she saw it was him. At first glance, she looked good.
"Jay! Do you want to come in?"
"Hi, Maya. Yes, please. I'm here to watch the rumble match with you, and to accompany you when it's time to go to the ring."
"Oh, a babysitter. Good times," Maya said with light sarcasm. "Okay, come in. There's coffee if you want it, or water and beer in the fridge."
Jay followed her into the bus, finding it more spacious and luxurious than he had expected. "Beer?" he asked, worried right away.
Maya looked at him as if she might roll her eyes. "I haven't been drinking. I don't drink. There's beer in there because Bobby likes one in the evening before bed, and because we figured there was a chance of some people ending up on the bus after the show. Being around people drinking isn't a problem for me, not after three years sober. Alcohol holds no attraction for me now. My energy goes into my family. Well, my family and my job as of late. So, can we put that to bed?"
Jay nodded, feeling a bit guilty fir judging. There was no sign of anyone else on the bus, he noticed. "We can. It's, uh, just you right now?"
"Bobby and Ben got tickets in one of the executive suites thanks to Erin. I told them to go find their seats a few minutes ago. You only just missed them. Since you're here, help me tape my wrists?" She sat down on a leather couch opposite a large TV.
"Sure," he said, taking a seat beside her. Maya handed him a roll of white sports tape and he got to work wrapping her left wrist first. "So, how are you feeling about tonight?"
"There are some nerves, but mostly I'm excited. Coming face to face with Upton is going to be... I don't know how it's going to be actually. We've not seen each other since that night I kicked her ass and got fired. It surprised me that Erin wanted it that way."
"She wanted that first time to happen on the show so that your reactions are genuine. You both separately assured her that you'll work professionally with each other. So long as you do that, it should be one hell of a moment."
"Especially considering how you wrote it. I've got to say, I love the idea you came up with."
"Thank you," Jay said, feeling a sense of pride at his work being praised. He could only hope the fans felt the same way in about an hour's time.
A/N: What surprise has Erin got in store for Jay?
And how will Jay's first big moment as a writer play out with Maya's return after so long away from WWE?