This is a different tone from my other stories. It's basically the result of boredom and impulse writing so honestly, I don't know what direction it'll go or if it'll be continued at all...
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"Vivian, you've improved at a rate I've never seen before. After barely 2 years of training, you're already wrestling at an elite level. You also have your character work down to a science. I don't think there's anything else we can teach you in developmental and with the NXT division being so stacked, I think it's time to move on," Hunter said as we sat in his office down at the Performance Center. "So Miss NXT will now be Miss WWE."
"Really?! Oh my God!" I faked surprise because I already knew what the deal was. I was called out of the locker room with Bianca. The Forgotten Sons were already waiting outside of the office. The Forgotten Sons had nothing else going on down here and everyone knew Bianca would eventually move up once the Street Profits did. With NXT being on TV now, management didn't want to gut the roster so not as many as usual were being promoted.
"You will report to RAW the Monday after Mania..."
The excitement I felt evaporated immediately, leaving me deflated. "Raw?"
"Is there a problem?"
Heck yeah there was a problem. In order for my plan to go into effect, I needed to be on the blue brand. "Well, I just feel like I'd be a better fit for Smackdown. While I have athleticism, I'm more of a character and I feel like the Smackdown women's division has more personality. There's also the Charlotte factor on Raw. While I'm not referred to as a queen, I wear a crown and fans have a tendency to compare us. Being on the same brand with an already established gimmick as a newbie may actually hurt me more than help. I'm not trying to be disrespectful but I hope you understand what I'm trying to say here..."
Hunter nodded. "I think I got it and no, you're not being disrespectful."
"You will now report to Smackdown the Friday after Mania," he said.
With a squeal, I smiled. "Thank you!"
It's been 3 weeks since my Smackdown debut and I've been laying low backstage and trying to quickly blend in with everyone else. There was no way I could come across as an attention seeker if I wanted this to work.
Approaching the ring from Manhattan, New York, she is Miss WWE, Vivian!
I always came to the ring in a full gown with a Miss WWE sash and crown. My ring gear was underneath. I'd take forever to undress which leads to booing because I'm holding up the match. I'm a heel but I wasn't hated by any means. Me being able to go in the ring probably helps. Usually male fans, particularly the ones on the internet, always hate pretty girls who didn't spend at least 5 to 10 years on the indies to pay their dues but fortunately, I was able to gaslight them into thinking I have passion because of all the opportunities I turned down to be here. The truth is...I don't give a shit about wrestling. It's just a means to an end for me which I'll get into later.
Naomi was my opponent tonight. I already ran through Dana the week before and Carmella the week before that.
Once I finally got undressed and in the ring, I began even more stalling, rolling out to check my reflection in my crown. After I received enough heat from the crowd, I got back inside and we locked up.
A lot of Naomi's offense was high flying so I attacked her legs to keep her grounded. I slung Naomi into the corner but she countered with a springboard kick. She then went for the wobbly split-legged moonsault (trying to sell the leg) but I moved at the last second sending her to the canvas.
I hit some right hands, but Naomi hit a palm strike, then another. We did an insane sequence of reversals, ending with me hitting another right hand. Naomi kicked me in the left side, then the right side. I was going for another right hand but she stopped me by going into her flurry kicks.
We had an exchange of moves, counters, pins and otherwise until I took over. I went for a vicious dragon suplex followed by a stiff kick to the chest. Now that she was down, it was time to set up my finisher which was a cartwheel knee drop to the back of the head that I call...Miss CongeKNEEality.
After each victory, I'd bend my knees in the middle of the ring and force the ref to crown me. In the crowd right where I walked down the steps to exit the ring, there was a fan reaching over the barricade to hand me a bouquet of roses. Back when I first debuted on NXT TV, management would have a backstage extra sit front row posing as a fan to give me flowers but after awhile the actual fans started bringing them on their own. After I received my flowers, I'd smile and wave my way back down the ramp. It was gold.
"Great match," Bayley said once we made it back to the lockerroom.
"Thank you. That means a lot coming from you," I replied.
The pageant world is extremely shallow and cutthroat. The women are catty, narcissistic, passive aggressive, sometimes agressive-agressive and downright mean. The lifestyle is not for the weak and faint of heart. Maybe that's where I learned some of my ruthless nature.
I didn't see that pettiness so far in the WWE locker room. There was competitiveness at times because this was only a 2 hour show and we all wanted to be featured but nothing drastic. For the most part, we're all good friends and it's a great group of women to work with.
Unfortunately the sisterhood narrative had no place in my scheme. I showered and got out just in time to see Roman Reigns in the ring. Quickly, I changed and disappeared into the backstage area right as the match was coming to an end. There was a small table in the corner where I sat, laid my head down and sniffled. Loud footsteps were sounding off on the floor, getting louder the closer they got, then they slowed, stopped and changed direction over to me. Damn, what if it's not him? What if it's a producer, someone on the ring crew or some other random wrestler. Then, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Are you alright?" he asked, sounding concerned.
Yes! It was him, I knew he'd come over just like the locker room leader he is. The only interactions I've had with him so far have been in passing but tonight that was about to change. Sitting up, I rubbed my eyes with my forearm and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Can't be," he replied. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No!" I burst into tears. My superpower? Crying on cue. I learned it during pageant training. No one wants to see a winner smugly smiling once their name is called. We fake emotions to come across as humble and it's coming in handy now.
He nudged me to stand and when I did, he looked around the area. "Let's find somewhere quiet to talk."
He led me into what appeared to be a lounge with a TV on the wall and two sofas across from each other. I sat on one, he sat on the other pulling his sweaty hair off of his face and into a ponytail. He was not nearly as attractive as people make him out to be or maybe he is and I just can't see it. Still, I don't get the hype. I don't know what she ever saw in him. Suddenly struck with a great pain in my heart, my head hung low and I balled my hands into fists.
"So what's wrong?" Roman asked.
"They hate me!" I blurted.
"Who?" he raised a brow. "The fans?"
"No, I only have to deal with them once during the 10 minute period of a match so I wouldn't care if they hated me. I'm talking about the women in the lockerroom..."
"What?" he titled his head, surprised. "Why would they hate you?"
"Because of how fast I got called up when there's so many other girls down in NXT who've been there longer and are more deserving of this spot. Also, because of how much TV time I've been receiving. They exclude me from conversations and since I'm new, I ask alot of questions and it seems like they're bothered when they have to answer. I have to pay for and drive a rental by myself because no one wants to carpool with me. It's just not welcoming in there all," I lied flawlessly.
"That's strange. Do you want me to have a conversation with them or sit in and mediate while you express how you feel?"
"No!" I said, bringing on another round of tears. "That'll only make things worse. Forget it, this was a mistake. I knew I shouldn't have said anything."
Roman got up and came over to my sofa to sit next to me. "No, you can always come to me. That's why I'm here," he put his hand on top of mine. I wanted to snatch it away. "Everyone doesn't watch NXT so when a new character moves up, you have to give them TV time in order for the core audience to get to know them. And while you're not a veteren in this business, from what I've seen of you so far, you absolutely belong here."
"T-thank you," I replied, drying my tears.
"Back to the locker room situation. Even Trin?" he questioned.
Damn, I forgot she was his cousin in law and a potential source. "Well, not really. She seemed cool. I don't think she's really paying attention to what's going on. And please don't speak to her on the matter. I think we should establish some kind of verbal confidentiality agreement."
"Don't worry. Whatever we discuss in here won't leave this room," he assured me. I adjusted my shirt and his eyes glanced at my cleavage without making it obvious with him being married and all. Good, he was showing signs of attraction...this was phase 1. He came back to my face, staring deeply into my eyes.
"What?" I asked.
He shook his head to shake himself out of the trance. "It's just...nothing."
"What?" I pressed him further with a brow raised.
"You kind of remind me of someone I used to know through the eyes..."
"Who?" I asked, curiously.
He waved it off. "Nobody important."
I don't know if he legitimately meant 'nobody important' or if he said it like that so I wouldn't ask any further questions. Either way I was pissed. The moment he spoke those words, something in me roared from the depths of my soul, a spout of anger that had been buried for so long.
I'm 24 now but in 2007 I was 11 living in Los Angeles, California. My older sister, Samantha or Sam was a senior at Georgia Tech. She was dating a guy that we'd never met because he was too busy with football to make a home visit. All she ever talked about was Joe this, Joe that. She even had his picture on her dresser among a collage of photos of them together.
One weekend, Samantha came home crying and upset. "Galina is pregnant! She probably did it on purpose to one up me! He's also going to the NFL soon so she wanted to lock him down knowing he'd do the right thing. And the right thing was breaking up with me for good. I wish I'd thought of it first!"
"Joe has been stringing you 2 along going back and forth in between. You two would break up and he'd be back with her the next day and vice versa. Neither one of you should want him at this point! Imagine competing with another woman over a man that's not worth it for 4 long years! This may be a blessing in disguise because if he does go to the NFL, imagine how many more women will be added to the rotation!" my father replied.
"But you don't understand, Robert. I love him! I can't live without him!" Sam whined.
Mom sighed. "Don't be dramatic, Samantha, okay? You're beautiful, you're getting ready to graduate at the top of your class so you're smart. The world is yours and any man would be lucky to have you. You'll be fine."
"No I won't," she ran off to her room and closed the door.
My mom moved to go after her but my dad stopped her. "Let's just give her some time to cool down and we'll check on her later."
Sam did cool down later and pretty much returned to her normal self by Monday morning. My parents were both on their way to work after saying their goodbyes. I zipped up my backpack to start my journey to the corner to wait on the bus.
"What time does your flight leave?" I asked Sam as she rolled 2 suitcases into the living room and parked them by the front door.
"At 9:30 so I need to go shower and try to get ready before I head to the airport," she replied, closing in to hug me. "You know what, I'll walk you to the bus stop, Tea."
Tea as in Teanna which was my middle name. "Okay!"
"So, do you have a boyfriend or a crush?" she asked, breaking the silence as we went down the sidewalk.
"No, at least not right now..."
"Good. You'll be better off if you avoid them at least until you're older. Take it from me, men ain't shit. It's just a bunch of dogs slinging hurt from one woman to the other," Sam hissed. We said our final goodbyes as the bus pulled up and she stood there and waved at my window as it pulled off.
It was after 3 when I got home. Mom was due at 4 so I let myself in. When I opened the door, I noticed Sam's suitcases still where she left them. I guess she decided not to go back today. I could hear her TV on as I approached her door. When I knocked, she didn't say anything. I turned the doorknob but it was locked. Maybe she was sleeping or just wanted privacy. To the kitchen I went to put a few pizza rolls in the oven. Sam liked them too so I put extra in there for her.
Mom arrived about 20 minutes later. She walked into the kitchen and sat her purse down on the table. I guess she also noticed the bags. "Sam is still here? Her flight was this morning."
"I guess she changed her mind," I shrugged, my voice muffled by food.
"Why didn't she call and tell anyone? Here I'm thinking she's back in Atlanta by now. What did she say?"
"I haven't talked to her. Her door was locked and she hasn't been out yet," I nonchalantly replied. Mom's eyes widened and she disappeared down the hallway.
"Sam? Sam? Samantha!" Mom shouted, banging on the door. She walked back into the kitchen and an ominous feeling came over me, my stomach beginning to knot. I watched as she dug around a drawer for a key to the room before rushing back. Mom let out a blood curdling scream more terrifying than anything I've ever heard in a scary movie. "No, Sam! No! Why?!"
"Mom?" I chirped.
"Call your dad, Viv," was the only thing she said.
"What's going on?" I think I knew but was in a state of shock and denial and needed to hear it confirmed before reacting.
"Please, Vivian, just stay in there and call your father," she said firmly.
The line rang 3 times before he answered. "Hey, can you come home?"
"You know I don't get off until 5:30, Viv. What's going on?"
"Something's happened with Sam. Mom's crying," I told him.
"Oh no..." he mumbled so quietly I barely heard it before clearing his throat. "Tell her I'm on my way."
I know she told me to stay in the kitchen but I couldn't help it as I crept down the hall. Mom was down on her knees in the doorway weeping. All the breath evacuated from my lungs and I had to grip the doorframe to keep from falling down when I saw her up there. To this day I still remember the look on Sam's face.
After the coroner came to take her away, we checked her phone and she called Joe that morning and they talked for about 5 minutes. Judging by the condition of her body, she committed suicide right after. Whatever he said on the other end of the phone caused this so Sam's blood was on his hands. We didn't hear from him at all. No call. No card. All of her friends from Georgia Tech showed up for the funeral except him.
"He needs to go to jail!" I ranted a few weeks later.
"What would be the charge, Viv?" my father asked. "I hate his guts too for what he put her through over the last 4 years but he didn't commit a crime so legally there's nothing we can do."
"Okay, well how about we sue him for emotional distress that led to suicide?" I suggested.
"Sue him? What does he have?"
"Nothing now but the NFL draft is coming up in a few weeks. We'll see what team he gets signed to and how big the contract is and then we can attack!"
"I don't think that's how any of this works, Viv but okay..." I knew he wasn't serious and only said it to pacify me.
Joe went undrafted. He went to a Vikings training camp but apparently nothing happened there either because he disappeared off the face of the Earth. I liked to think of that as his karma. No, it wouldn't bring Samantha back but him not living his dream was satisfying enough for me.
None of us could stand being in our house or walking past her room. My dad's job wanted to expand to New York so he volunteered to relocate to get it started. One day Mom and I were walking through the mall and got stopped by a pageant coach who wanted to recruit me. That wasn't my thing but Mom thought it would be something to take my mind off of what happened.
Turns out, I was pretty good at it and swept the local beauty pageants throughout junior high and high school. I decided to go to Georgia Tech to follow in Samantha's footsteps. It was bittersweet because if she were here, I know she'd take me on a campus tour telling me where all the spots were in town and things to avoid. Soon after, my coach convinced me to enter the Miss New York pageant. I won...
...which made me eligible for the Miss USA contest and if I won, I'd go on to compete at Miss Universe. This era of my life was the happiest I'd ever been since the loss of Samantha. I still thought about it but not as often as I did a few years ago.
April 8, 2018. I'll never forget this date. This is where everything changed. One of the frat houses invited me along with a few friends to a party that night. What I didn't know is it was a watch party for Wrestlemania 34. I've never watched wrestling a day in my life and had no interest in doing so now but my friend wanted to stay. There was free food and alcohol so why not. I didn't know women wrestled at all but some of the same women I'm sharing a locker room today were on screen.
Then it was time for the main event: Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar. A video package played before the entrances. As I watched, I noticed a face that looked strangely familiar. He looked like someone who put a sour taste in my mouth, someone I hadn't thought about in years...Joe who was much thicker and had shorter hair than this man. Also, the guy on screen's name was Roman Reigns so it couldn't have been him. He appeared to be Samoan, too, so maybe that's where the resemblance came from.
The first theme played. There was a lot of booing.
Roman was billed from Pensacola Florida. It'd been a long time but I can clearly remember Samantha spending Thanksgiving away from home one year because she was invited to Pensacola to spend it with Joe. Maybe Pensacola had a large Samoan population.
This guy's face bothered me so much during his entrance. It was almost uncanny. If Joe lost 50 pounds and grew hair, this would be his twin.
"That's our alumni. He used to play football here years ago," one of the frat boys yelled over the TV.
The shot glass that I was holding slipped from my hand and shattered on the floor. Thankfully, the room was too loud for anyone to hear. As I disappeared into the kitchen for the broom and dustpan, I pulled out my phone. There was no way! Maybe Roman was also a Samoan from Pensacola that played football at Georgia Tech and this was all just one big coincidence. A Google search quickly proved me wrong. 'Leati Joseph "Joe" Anoaʻi is a professional wrestler who performs under the ring name: Roman Reigns.'
My breathing became so heavy that I was practically hyperventilating. My mind raced a mile a minute. No, Joe wasn't playing football but karma couldn't have done it's job if he was main eventing a show in front of over 78,000 people. He faced absolutely no consequences for what he inadvertently caused. 'The Big Dog,' what a fitting nickname. He lost the match but that didn't bring much comfort. When Roman exited the ring, he walked behind the commentary table and approached a woman. Is that?
It was! They were still together after she robbed my sister out of a future with this asshole. Everything about this entire situation left me angry all over again as if it happened yesterday. Samantha was gone while they lived happily ever after. I felt vengeful and knew I had to do something.
After the show was over, I approached the guy who seemed to be the most into it. "If someone wanted to get into wrestling, how would they go about it?"
"Well, there are 3 brands: Raw, Smackdown and NXT. Raw comes on tomorrow. They also have the WWE network that you can buy for $9.99, free for new subscribers, to watch pay per views or something from the archive," he explained.
"No, I don't mean watch, I mean actually wrestle..."
"Oh, they'd start training at a wrestling school first. Then, if they want to, they can go to the indies to gain experience and make a name for themselves. If they want to go straight to WWE, they'd get a tryout," he replied. "Why, who's interested?"
"Me," I answered.
He laughed. "No, really, who?"
"Me!"
"Vivian, it takes time and dedication to learn this craft. One slip up in the ring and you can hurt yourself or your opponent. I think you have your hands full with pageantry. Speaking of which, the strict diet you're on to compete wouldn't work training for a profession where you have to eat proteins and healthy fats in order to put on weight and gain muscle to lift and throw opponents around. Are you going to train all week in the ring and walk across stage on a Saturday night with a black eye you obtained from a stiff elbow to the face? I doubt it, not in a superficial industry like yours. It's just not realistic," he shook his head.
"Okay, well I'll give this up," I removed an invisible crown from my head.
He looked amused until he saw that I was serious. His expression quickly reverted to disbelief. "All the experts have predicted you to win Miss USA or 1st Runner up this fall and placing at least Top 5 at Miss Universe. You'd really give that up because you watched something on TV once and happened to like it?"
"Making it to WWE will help complete a goal I've had since I was 11 years old," technically this was true.
"Oh, so you're a lifelong fan?"
"Sure am," smiling, I nod.
That's how this journey began. Sam's father died when she was 3. A few years later my mom met and married my dad which meant Sam and I had different last names, hers was Parker, mine is Griffin. Sam was from LA. As far as anyone knew, I've always lived in Manhattan. Joe never came home with Sam so he had no way of recognizing our parents. When she addressed me, it was always "Tea" so he wouldn't know Vivian. It was perfect, he'd never see me coming.
If I was going to pull off the lifelong fan thing, I had to seem somewhat knowledgeable of the product including classic segments and wrestlers which is why I downloaded the WWE Network and spent 2 weeks studying. I decided that my favorite female wrestler of all time was going to be Mickie James and my favorite male wrestler was going to be The Rock(mainly because I was a fan of his movies); they were also two choices that no one would sideeye me for claiming. If I named some random or unpopular wrestler, I might be asked to justify it which I wasn't prepared to do. I've had a Twitter account since 2010 but I knew it would look suspicious if a random wrestling fan decided to go through my old tweets and found nothing WWE related so I deleted the whole thing and started fresh. All the bases were covered.
My parents were confused by my decision to drop out of Miss USA and let the 1st runner up take my spot but I convinced them that this was something I'd gotten into while away at GT and that I really wanted it. They weren't wrestling fans either and had no clue that Joe was there and what I had up my sleeve. I gave no reason for dropping out when I announced which led to confusion and speculation within the pageant fandom(pregnancy, legal trouble, secret sex tape, etc.).
Someone *cough cough* cleared it up by giving an anonymous tip to TMZ. That's when the headlines began: Favorite in upcoming Miss USA contest drops out...to wrestle. It spread around Twitter and the blogs like wildfire. Can you say viral? WWE is thirsty for any shred of mainstream attention so they called and announced to the media that they invited me to relocate to Orlando and train down at NXT.
When I want something, my motivation is on another level. In my NXT class of recruits, I was 1 of 4 with no prior wrestling experience. I eclipsed them within 3 months. My pageant character was ready made. By October of that year, Joe announced that his leukemia returned. Maybe that was his karma. No, I didn't wish him death because he'd just had twin boys the year before but I at least expected him to be out for a year or two, maybe not be able to make an in-ring return at all and I could quit this sham. During this period, I had to suffer through stories about how great he was. It made me sick to my stomach. He was back in 4 months looking good as new with not a strand of hair missing from his big ass head.
Joe was teflon, nothing stuck to him so I indeed had to take matters into my own hands. I kept grinding and putting in the work to make it to where I was today.
"Sometimes there's a sense of intimidation from established superstars when a new person is picking up steam, worry that their spot will be taken or how it'll affect their TV time but it gets better as time goes on and they start seeing you as one of their own," Joe said here in the present. "Just hang in there. Things will get better soon."
Staring at the guy in front of me, I realized this was going to be easier than I originally predicted. The thought of his destruction brought a smile to my face as I stood. He followed suit.
"Thank you for everything. I feel so much better now," I reached out and hugged Joe, innocently pressing my breasts against him. He didn't pull away immediately and I knew he felt it.
"Anytime," he said, finally taking a clumsy step back.
"Alright, I have to go gather my bags so I can get out of here," I eased around him, making sure to put a swing in my hips while my ass bounced as I walked toward the door. Without even turning around, I knew his eyes were on me. I could feel it.
This crazy plan I've concocted was just getting started. He'll never know what hit him. I skipped out on Miss USA and Miss Universe because the title that I was going after meant far more to me than those. This one was personal: Miss Revenge.