Hey, all. I finally got this chapter done. Gotta thank tomwilliams1990 for helping me with this chapter. Also, thanks to everyone who has reviewed the story to this point. You guys are awesome. Please give me time to find my DoD III feet again.

Thanks to: Wolfgirl2017 and Dean's Country Angel for their reviews.

See ya at the bottom

Chapter 40: The Next Step

It was the next week and Angel was pacing nervously in the Women's Locker Room. She wanted the other Women to see the belt before she revealed it to the world. Angel herself hadn't seen it yet. She just knew it was custom made for her. All the Women understood that and knew that this belt was only going to be in effect as long as Angel was the Champion and that WWE was having a belt made in the meantime.

"Angel, stop pacing. It will be fine. You know Xander. He's not going to give you something stupid" Kristy said.

"I know that. I'm just worried" Angel said.

"Worried about what?" Brie asked.

"I...don't want you guys to feel like I'm getting special treatment or anything" Angel said.

"Angel, you and Kristy have worked your butts off since you have walked into this company. If anyone deserves a customized title it would be you or her. Besides, if this is what we have to do to get rid of the term "Diva" then so be it" Naomi said.

Every other woman there nodded in agreement. All of them had talked over the last week and had come to the realization that while a lot of them were not buddy buddy or even friends with Angel, they respected her in ring work and her ability to want to be better. They also respected the fact that she was taking charge and changing things to make things better for all of them including herself. Just then, there was a knock on the door. When it opened, Xander was standing there. He set the belt case down on the table. Angel sighed. She walked over and opened the zipper covering on the belt. She gasped. All the other Women crowded around her to see what she was looking at. Their jaws dropped.

"It's just like the guys' belt. Only purple and black with your plates on it, Ang" Kristy said.

"That is so cool" Brie said.

Angel nodded, her eyes were tearing up. As far as she knew, no Woman had ever been given a custom belt before in the history of WWE. She closed the belt covering and then turned to the room at large. She took a deep breath and cleared her throat.

"Look, I know that I don't see eye to eye with everyone here, but it would mean a whole hell of a lot to me if all of you were in the ring or around it with me tonight. I didn't bring about this change alone. All of us and all of the women who came before us made this possible, and I want to give all of you a nod otherwise I don't deserve this belt" Angel said.

Everyone nodded quite eagerly. They were all eager and ready to join Angel in the ring to get this change started. All the Women were standing there with smiles. Even the ones that Angel didn't see eye to eye with. They were realizing that Angel wasn't a bad person and she wasn't an arrogant person. She knew that all of this wouldn't be happening without every one of them and every one of the Women that had come before. Suddenly, Xander spoke up.

"Ladies, if I could chime in here for a moment" he said, "Women have been wrestling since the beginning of time, but it's only in the last twenty years or so that you have been treated more like sex symbols than athletes. This is the large part of why I signed with WWE. I want to change the perceptions of Women. That being said, you remember in nineteen-ninety-eight when WWE made a huge change. Any ideas?"

"The rise of Stone Cold Steve Austin?" Brie suggested.

"Exactly. Steve Austin wasn't the entire company, he was simply the figure head. Everything he touched turned to gold. He had one of these" Xander said, indicating the custom title, "Now, in my estimation, there are a lot of talented wrestlers in this room, but only a few characters that the people can get behind. Angel and Kristy are two of them. Now, I don't have any power here on the main roster, so this next part is all on you ladies. Angel is the Champion. She's the Stone Cold here. People come here to see her. That being said, you all need to put on matches that will keep the fans invested. I know you can all do it"

"I'm the Stone Cold? Geez, Xander. No pressure" Angel said.

"Way to put more pressure on her, Xander. She already has the pressure of being Undertaker's daughter" Nikki said.

"I don't mean to add more pressure to you, Angel. But do you see my point?" Xander asked.

"I get the point, but still, added pressure is not what I need" Angel told him.

"Sorry about that. Anyway, provided that there is good booking, I can see Women main eventing Wrestlemania in a year" Xander said.

"That's a big goal, but it's one of the goals" Brie said.

"And it's acheiveable too. If you put aside all of your differences aside and work together you can do it. My final offer of help is that I want you to know that the doors of the performance center are always open if you need a place to put a match together or work on anything. Anyway, I've got to get to a meeting with Stephanie to get to, so I'm off. One more thing, you girls can and will do this. I have no doubts. I just hope I'm still around to see it. Ladies, the world is yours" Xander said.

He left the room. All of the girls stared at each other. Suddenly, they felt as though there was a ton of pressure around all of them. After a few minutes, Brie spoke up.

"I have never seen a guy so confident in us girls before. None of the bookers have ever shown us that much faith" Brie said.

"He was a great help when Ang and I were down in NXT. We just thought that he was pandering to us out of his sort of fanboy love for Taker, but he told us he's always loved true Women's Wrestling. He's from Wales and it's more of an actual division over there" Kristy said.

"I guess it's good to know NXT is open to us" Nikki said.

"It's an unbelievable set up down there. It's a dream come true for development in wrestling. He keeps saying he'll send his top girls to give us some competitors. Never met her, but he says his best girl is a Woman named Bayzler" Angel said.

"Can I just say something? Does anyone else feel like this is a ton of pressure suddenly put on us?" Carmella said.

"We can all do this, you guys. I've watched you all wrestle from the moment you guys all got here. You are all great in your own ways and I've seen you all under pressure. You all thrive. We really can pull this off" Angel said.

"Nice to know that someone has been paying attention to us" Carmella said.

"It's hard not to notice you all. All of you changed the game of NXT. Now, we all have to pull together and do it here on the main roster. I know we can. We've all got our good points and we all have places where we could use some improvement. We need to pull each other up instead of putting each other down" Angel said.

"It won't be easy, but we can do it" Kristy said.

"No one said this was going to be easy, Kris. But we all need to work hard and build each other up. Agreed?" Nattie said.

Everyone agreed. Angel grinned. She didn't see eye to eye with all the girls that she worked with and was not best friends with all of them, but she knew that they could do this if they worked together and worked as hard as they could, despite the pressure. Angel and Kristy thanked them again. Then they picked up the belt and left. Angel wanted to show the belt to her father and the rest of her little gang before she had to reveal it. They walked to her Dad's locker room. Kristy tried to make conversation with Angel, but she was distracted. When they walked in, Lea and Wyatt walked over and hugged her.

"Hey, you guys" Angel said.

"What's that?" Lea asked.

"It's a belt. Here" Angel said.

She set the belt on the table and opened it. Everyone crowded around and looked. Lea and Wyatt jumped up and down and cheered, thinking it was awesome that Angel was getting a custom belt. Even Taker couldn't help but smile. He was proud of his daughter and all the Women on the roster. They had all worked hard and it was finally starting to pay off for them.

"Are you OK, Ang?" Kristy asked.

"Just trying to think of what the hell I am going to say. I have never been so nervous about a promo before" Angel said.

"You'll do fine, Ang" Kristy said.

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one that has to go out and talk while representing all the Women" Angel said.

"Baby girl, take it easy. You'll figure it out. You always do" Taker said.

"I know I'll figure it out. Maybe the best thing to do is wing it. If I start overthinking this, I'll get nervous and blank" Angel said.

"How often do you wing it when you're talking out there?" Lea asked.

"A lot of the time. I went to Steph awhile back and told her that scripts were not going to work for me" Angel said.

"Why don't they work?" Wyatt asked.

"One because I can't see to read the thing anymore. And back when I could, I'd freak out and start worrying about if I was going to get it right or not. I'd end up blanking, which is not what you want on live TV. So I just kind of talk on the fly. Steph says it's fine as long as I get the RIP phrase in somehow" Angel said.

"That's pretty cool. You're one of the only ones who is allowed to not script things" Lea said.

Angel nodded. She still didn't know what she was going to say, but she knew that this was probably the most important promo of her life.

I stopped because I got stuck here and I am completely unsure of what Angel is going to say. Besides, this chapter is long as it is. I have no idea when this story is going to end or if there is going to be a fourth. I don't put chapter limits on myself anymore, which was something I used to do. Alright, see you all later! Lots of love and stay safe~Taker's Soul Girl