New Recruits

Chapter 19

Moments away from what would be their real televised debut, as they had come to refer to it, Sonya, Mandy and Zelina were standing backstage. They were not in the small Gorilla position, though. They were waiting for their cue to run through the door in front of them, and would then head through the crowd and jump over the ringside barriers.

In the ring, Bayley was about to win a match against a woman WWE had brought in for a one off match. It was something that was done from time to time if they wanted to have a look at a potential future signing. Indeed, Zelina had revealed to her new team members that had once had one such match herself, back in the very early days of NXT.

Bayley's current storyline was that she was being made to 'start from the bottom' if she wanted a shot at the NXT Women's Championship, after losing a number one contendership match to the now departed Lacey Evans prior to Takeover.

After Bayley got the victory, both her character and the audience were in for a surprise.

"Okay, go," Sonya and Mandy's road agent told them.

They ran into the arena, with Zelina not far behind. They had reached ringside before many of the fans seemed to notice that anything was going on. In the ring, Bayley was just getting her three count as Sonya and Mandy came piling over the barriers at ringside, wearing their new Golden Gloves attires, complete with actual golden gloves.

Mandy was first to hit the ring, amid cries of surprise and shouts of warning to Bayley from the fans. The warnings were not headed, and as Bayley stood up to start celebrating the victory, she was nailed in the back of the head with a vicious forearm, sending her collapsing to the mat.

As she joined in with Mandy, laying kicks and punches into Bayley, Sonya had to actively force herself to look mean and aggressive. Her instinct was to smile, such was the enjoyment she was getting from being there beside her girlfriend, working what would be a televised segment. But she had to focus and ensure that the beating looked savage. This was the first impression the audience would get of Zelina Vega and the Golden Gloves, and there was only ever one chance to make a first impression.

The decision to have Bayley be the first to suffer an attack from the Golden Gloves was a clever one on Hunter's part, Sonya thought. Although the attackers were a couple of unknowns, it didn't matter. Anyone attacking Bayley was going to be booed because of her popularity.

With Zelina screaming instructions, Sonya and Mandy continued to kick and stamp on Bayley, who was only able to crawl into a corner of the ring in a pathetic attempt to seek safety.

"Stay on her! That's it!" Zelina shouted as Mandy repeatedly stomped on Bayley's chest while she lay propped against the bottom turnbuckle.

Pointing was enough for Zelina to send Sonya across to the opposite corner of the ring, where she crouched down, lining up her signature move.

"Get her up," Zelina yelled at Mandy, gesticulating wildly to emphasise her instruction.

Grabbing hold of Bayley, Mandy hauled her to her feet.

When the moment was right, Sonya sprinted across the ring and launched herself into the air. Mandy moved aside, leaving only Bayley in the line of fire when Sonya hit a spear. She had done her best to make it look as much like Rhyno's Gore as possible. It was something she had worked on a lot with Coach Purrazzo.

After breaking Bayley in half, Sonya got up and yelled at the crowd. "Where's your hugger now, huh?"

Zelina wasted no time on celebration. There was still work to do. Directing traffic, she ordered Mandy to finish Bayley off, making a slamming motion with her hands.