Reality (Linstead AU)

Chapter 87

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."