Rolling With the Punches

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I own the intellectual property behind it, I own the OCs, but other than that, the characters who exist in real life (or in WWE life) are their own property.

A/N: I know the last thing I should be doing is posting a new story when I'm working on like five others, but I have no self control. Hope you all enjoy! Let me know what you think! XoXoXo

"Oh my God! Is this real life? Is the true Wicked Bitch of the East here?!" Saraya Bevis, better known to the world as the WWE Diva Paige, practically yelled backstage at the evening's Monday Night Raw taping.

"Yes, she is!" the five-foot-three, one hundred and twenty pound woman replied, before running over to her friend and jumping into her waiting arms.

"Oh my God! I've missed you so much, Dal, you psycho bitch!" the raven-haired woman cried out excitedly.

"I've missed you!"

The shorter woman, Dallas D'Ambrosio, climbed off of her friend. "What the hell are you doing here?" Saraya questioned, a huge smile lighting up her pale face.

"I got a call from Stephanie telling me to get my ass here because I'll be making my debut tonight," the twenty-five year old replied.

"You're skipping NXT?" she asked, slightly confused.

Dallas shrugged. "I guess. I don't really know if this is a one-off, or what. No one tells me anything around here. Just where to show up and what time to be there. I'm not really in a position to argue or anything."

"Everyone down there was probably sick of you already and sent you here to just get rid of you. The only person who could handle you was Dusty, anyway. Without him, they're probably all done with you and refused to work with you."

A frown formed on Dallas's lips. "Yeah…" She paused, remembering the man who she had driven crazy, though she absolutely loved him. He knew it was just her way of showing him love. "Way to kill the fun, bitch."

"I mean, it is true, though. It's impossible to shut you up and put you in your place. You're too much of a badass to listen to anyone."

"You're right. I'm not arguing that. Without Dusty, you had to hear me get yelled at…every single day. I mean…there were a couple of times I deserved it," she replied with a nod. "I just don't like listening, especially when I don't feel like I'm being heard. He was the only one who understood me…or pretended to for his own sanity."

"So, you have a match tonight?"

"I certainly do!"

"Against who?"

The wicked smirk on Dallas's lips answered that question. "I'll give you one guess, pal."

"No fucking way! We have a match tonight?!" Saraya almost screamed, jumping up and down with excitement.

"I'll be the one coming out when you cut your promo and kicking your little tart arse."

"I was actually really annoyed because they hadn't told me who I was facing, only that I had a match. But this is amazing! This is the best day ever!" the two-time Diva's champion yelled with a laugh.

"Agreed."

"We have to make this match incredible."

"Oh we will. Trust me…we're fucking good at what we do, and we're gonna kill it."

"Hell yeah."

Dallas smirked. "Actually, I was thinking about something…"

The English Diva raised a curious eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"

"I know we were given ten minutes, but what if we maybe went a couple of minutes over?" the slightly older woman suggested.

"I mean, you know that I love causing trouble, but pissing Stephanie and Paul off might not be the best plan for your first night on the main roster."

"I'll take all of the blame for any trouble we get into."

"You should know me better than that. That's not my concern. Besides, I'm always in trouble for something anyway. I don't really care about that."

"And I don't care about pissing anyone off."

A devilish smirk formed on Saraya's face. "Let's do it, sister."

"That's the bitch I know and love!"

"So, your hair. What made you do this?" the slightly taller, though slightly younger woman questioned, grabbing a handful of her friend's hair and examining it. While Dallas's hair had previously been dark brown, the ends were now dyed into darker shades of the colors of a rainbow, in an ombre-like fashion.

"You don't like it?" Dallas asked with a pout.

"Actually, I love it. It's very…you...out there but still pretty dark on the inside."

"Why thank you."

"You seriously look great, Dal. And after all of the bullshit that you went through…it's really nice to see you like this," Saraya commented, her tone sincere.

A smile pulled at Dallas's lips. "Thanks, Raya. I appreciate that."

"Have you seen him yet?"

The brunette shook her head. "Nope. But I'm sure I'll be oh-so lucky to run into him at some point."

"Of course. He better not be an ass to you," Saraya firmly spoke, a serious glint in her eye. "I will kick his fucking ass."

The glimmer of a smile hinted on Dallas's barely made-up face. "It's fine. I'm sure he won't be a dick or anything. He has no reason to anyway."

"He really doesn't. You didn't cheat on him and get knocked up by someone else," Saraya bitterly shot back.

"Whatever. It's been two years. I'm okay. You know I slept my way around for a bit. Got the misery fucked out of me," Dallas breathed.

Saraya chuckled. "If I had tits like these suckers, I'd probably have gotten laid a lot more, too," the younger woman commented, cupping her friend's breasts over her plain white t-shirt.

Laughing, Dallas brought her hands onto her hips. "Oh Raya, you always know just what to say to put a smile on my face."

"I try. Do any of the others know that you're here?"

"Nope."

"Becky is going to flip a shit. We were just talking about you the other day. And Mercedes stuck her nose in our conversation and gave us this whole speech about how she was going to march right into Stephanie's office and demand that you get to travel with us. But obviously she didn't do it. We've really all missed your punk ass."

"I've missed my bitches," Dallas agreed.

"Well, let's go find them," Saraya said, wrapping an arm around Dallas's shoulders and leading her towards the locker rooms.

"Sounds good to me. Are there any guys here that I should work on screwing?"

"Dal! Jeeze. Keep it in your pants. Besides, there really aren't too many. Most of them are married. You should find one of Kevin's friends…or all of 'em. Teach the son of a bitch a lesson for hurting you."

Dallas made a face. "He's not gonna give a fuck about what…or who…I do. Now, he's got a kid and a wife, and he's happy as he can be. And here I am…bitter and…bitchy."

"And hot as fuck."

Dallas let out a laugh. "Why thank you, sexy lady."

"Hey, if I can't cheer one of my best girls up, then, I'm doing something wrong."

Dallas wrapped her arm around Saraya's back, as the pair walked towards the locker rooms. The brunette was getting all sorts of confused looks, as there were a number of people who did not recognize her. While she had practiced at the WWE Performance Center, she had never made her debut. That...and she tried to keep a lower profile when it came down to who she interacted with. She had dealings with a number of the woman who trained there, but she made it a point to interact with only a handful of the men, not wanting anyone she had known previous to her signing with the WWE to know that she was there. And with a lot of begging and pleading, Dallas had convinced the powers that be to keep her training at the Performance Center on the down low, as well as the fact that she had signed a contract with them.

However, those who had some involvement in the indy scene knew who she was. Dallas had been in the wrestling industry since the age of fifteen, though that was more of a 'don't tell anyone that we're training you' type of arrangement. By eighteen, Dallas had found her way into Combat Zone Wrestling. That was where she had met Kevin Steen. He had made a one-night return for a match against Vordell Walker. The pair had gotten to talking and hit it off quite well. While he was doing his thing in other promotions and soon after their meeting, Dallas ended up signing with Ring of Honor. The two had talked daily and even made a point of visiting each other. Not too soon after meeting, they had begun dating each other. They dated for five years, until she had found out that Kevin had been cheating on her and got the other woman pregnant. Dallas was devastated, and their relationship was over.

Dallas had been in a bad place at that time. In an effort to find approval and to find some self-worth, she had made her rounds through some of the guys that she had known, both wrestling-related and not. After realizing how poorly that reflected on her, Dallas calmed down a bit with the sleeping around bit.

Having serious in-ring skill got Dallas noticed. While she had been offered a contract with TNA when her ROH contract was coming to an end, as well as an extension with ROH, Dallas had been in the middle of deciding what to do, when WWE swooped in and offered her a contract. She couldn't turn the opportunity to come to the WWE. She had only spent a couple of months training with them, while she finished up all of her previous commitments on the independent circuit. And while she had been expecting to make her NXT debut soon, she had received the unexpected phone call from Stephanie McMahon telling her to meet up with them in California. She had explained that the newbie would be making her WWE debut on Monday Night Raw. Dallas was incredibly excited to see her friends.

While Dallas hadn't trained there for very long, she had luckily met some of the women previously. She'd met Saraya a couple of years ago when she had done some work wrestling in England. She had met Becky Quinn, better known as Becky Lynch, around that same time. She met Mercedes Kaestner-Varnado, known to the WWE Universe as Sasha Banks, while they'd made their rounds through the independent circuit. While in NXT, she became fast friends with both Ashley Fliehr and Danielle Moinet and a handful of others.

"And here we are, pumpkin," Saraya declared, standing in front of the locker room door that she shared with the other women. Opening the door, she had a goofy grin on her face. "Guess who's joining the big leagues, ladies!"

All eyes turned to Dallas. Becky, Mercedes, Ashley, and Danielle all ran over to the doorway, squealing with excitement, happy to see their friend. While Dallas had always been a pistol, she seemed to be very well-liked…something she never quite understood.

"Coming by for a visit, are yah?" Becky questioned, as she pulled Dallas in for a hug. The brunette went down the line, giving all of her girlfriends a hug.

"Actually, I'm here for my debut," she nonchalantly commented.

"No fucking way! Seriously?!" Mercedes questioned.

"Yup," Dallas replied, the smile crawling onto her lips.

"Who're you up against?" Ashley questioned.

"ME!" Saraya victoriously declared, throwing her arms up in the air.

"Lucky bitch," Mercedes groaned. "We're gonna have to have a match at some point because…I want to."

"I'm sure we will, as long as I don't get my ass fired first."

"Oh you won't get fired," Danielle waved her off.

"You never really know with a troublemaker like me."

"That's true," Saraya agreed with a nod.

"But they hired yah for a reason," Becky said. "They can't let yah go quite yet. You're too good at what yah do."

"Yeah, besides, didn't they just shit can the other one?" Saraya asked.

"Zahra?" Dallas questioned

"Yeah. Colby's girlfriend," Danielle replied.

The brunette rolled her eyes. "I can't with that one."

"You fucking hated her," Mercedes breathed with a smirk.

"I fucking hated her," Dallas repeated, fire flashing in her eyes for a split second. "She was a cocky bitch…without the skills to back it up. And listen, I don't give a fuck about anyone's personal life, Lord knows mine is a shit show, but don't you walk around like you're so high and mighty because you're fucking a main eventer. So, her personal life didn't help matters either. As far as I'm concerned, that twat ruined a perfectly good relationship, and she's a whore. I don't like homewreckers, and I sure as fuck don't like arrogant bitches who think they're better than me."

"Yeah, but it isn't even all of that…she was just nasty to you," Ashley pointed out, shaking her head.

"I know. All because she was fucking up during our drills, and I was trying to be nice, in a rare moment because I actually paid my dues and didn't fuck my way up the ladder and know what I'm doing, and tried to help her. And she came at me like I was doing something wrong. So, I put the bitch in her place. I didn't know she was an anti-Semite and a racist twat. I would've facebusted her outside of the ring…maybe on the sidewalk…crack her head open for good measure," Dallas shot with an evil smirk.

The women chuckled, knowing their friend was a bit of a big mouth who would have actually kick the offending woman's ass had she been okay with being let go from the company so quickly. That was just how Dallas operated. It had gotten her into trouble a number of times, but she didn't really mind. She was volatile when certain buttons were pushed.

"Anyway, are you nervous?" Danielle asked, changing the subject.

Dallas shrugged. "Not really. More excited than anything. I'm only nervous about running into that fuckhead Kevin," she admitted.

"Haven't seen him yet?" Becky asked.

"Nope. Luckily. I'd just rather not see him altogether."

"I don't blame you," Ashley backed her up.

"Don't blame who for what?" a voice came from behind the group of women.

"Don't blame me for coming all the way here to kick your bitch ass," Dallas replied, turning around, a huge smile on her face.

"Dallas!" Claudio Castagnoli yelped, surprised to see her.

He picked her up and gave her a huge hug, which was returned. The pair had known each other from their Ring of Honor days and had been close friends for a number of years.

"Have you grown? You seem taller than the last time I saw you," he teased her, as he put her down.

"Nah. You're just getting older and are shrinking," she shot back with a smirk.

"Venomous woman," he breathed, shaking his head. "You look really good. How're you doing?"

"Good. Good. Here for my big debut."

He furrowed his brow. "Skipping over NXT?"

She shrugged. "Guess so."

"Wow. Even I had to pay my dues on NXT."

"Well, I guess I'm just better than you," she casually shot back. "But I think we all already knew that."

He laughed. "Oh Dal. I guess I've actually missed your smart mouth."

"Oh you know you love me. Besides, I've spent plenty of time hanging out with your girlfriend. I know that you've missed me. She ratted your ass out."

"I'll have to have a word with her."

"Oh I bet it's words you'll be having," she teased with a wink.

"Ah you're too much sometimes," he spoke, shaking his head.

"Thank you," Dallas said, smiling sweetly.

The brunette knew that she would probably end up running into her ex-boyfriend at some point, but for the moment, she was genuinely happy to reconnect with her friends. At least the first night on the main roster wasn't so bad.