Chapter 15
The next morning, I got up early even though I was still exhausted. I had to be ready to start wrestling practice in a few hours and I wanted to psych myself up for it. I put on sweatpants, sneakers, a gray tank-top, did my hair in a ponytail and put my baseball cap on backwards. I even put on makeup and my glasses, even though I knew I couldn't wrestle with them on. I paced around my living room stretching out my limbs. I then couldn't take it anymore, I was so excited, I decided to drive over to the arena and see if Adam and Jason were there. I had wanted to talk to them anyway, I then wondered if anyone had told them that I would be their new wrestling valet. I parked in the back and bolted into the backstage area of the arena. I walked from dressing room to dressing room until I finally found them. They were sitting on benches lacing up their sneakers, getting ready for a vigorous practice.
"Hi, can I talk to you guys for a second?" I asked, peaking my head in the doorway.
"Sure, and you are?" Adam spoke up first.
"Maria Taylor, nice to meet you Adam." I said, heading into the room, already knowing his name.
He stood and shook my hand.
"Hi Maria, now what can we do for you?" He asked, towering over me at 6"6.
"Did Vince talk to you about me starting to wrestle?" I asked raising an eyebrow towards him.
"Yeah, actually he did, he mentioned that Jason ,Matt, Jeff, Amy and I would be training you to wrestle with us, and that you would be our new woman valet." Adam said recalling what Vince had said.
"Yeah, we just didn't recognize you when you came in, sorry." Jason then stood, shaking my hand.
"Good, that's great, I'm glad someone told you and didn't spring it on you at the last minute." I replied.
"So, where do we start?" I continued.
"Well, since you will be coming down with us first, you need a "wrestling name" and some sort of gimmick to impress the crowd. Adam said.
"I know, and I've been thinking of some names." I said, paging through my binder.
"Before we go through this, let's go get comfortable out in the arena." Jason spoke up.
We all nodded and headed out to the arena to take seats. We got settled and I pulled out my paper again.
"Okay, let's here 'em." Adam said, looking interested. "Alright, we've got, Miss Poison Ivy, Tyger Eyes Tygris, Maria, my normal name, Avena, Alodie,...tell me when you hear something good..." I looked up from the paper.
They nodded and I continued on, 'Roxanna and Vayda'.
"That's it boys, hear anything you like?" I asked.
"Well, I personally like Poison Ivy, it makes you sound like you have an edge to you, but I also like Roxanna." Jason spoke up first.
Just as we were talking, Matt, Jeff and Amy appeared and began walking down the ramp towards us.
"Hey guys, whatcha doing?" Matt asked, throwing his duffel bag down on a seat, and taking the one next to me to himself.
"We're trying to come up with a wrestling name for me." I turned to look into his sweet eyes.
"Oh, well, here, let me see that list." Matt asked. I handed it to him, and he scanned it for a moment.
Jeff and Amy took seats behind us and looked over Matt's shoulder at the paper.
"I love Tyger Eyes Tygris." Amy spoke up first.
"That would be awesome, you could come down in tiger printed clothes and maybe even walk to the ring with a real tiger, you think Vince would spring for that?" Amy asked, giving me a smile.
"Hehe, maybe. I personally like Poison Ivy. That's cool too, sort of like the batman movie." Jeff spoke up.
"Well, Matt, what do you like?" I asked him, as he had grown silent.
"Umm, I just like Maria." He said with a grin.
We all groaned at him, "Matt, use your imagination, be creative here." I said, playfully whacking him with the paper.
"Geez, sorry, but I think that one fits you the best." He replied defensively.
"Alright, let me look over the list again... I like Poison Ivy too, that was the one that you used that night that you were pretending, remember? He looked up at me with a softness to his eyes.
"Well, Poison Ivy it is then. Are we all agreed?" I asked looking over the group of wrestlers that sat around slumping in the audience seats.
"Yeah." They said unanimously.
"Quick question though, when I change from Adam and Jason, to The Hardyz and Amy, do I also change my wrestling name, or does it stay the same?" I asked, scanning over their eyes.
"Well, that's up to you, some people do, others don't, it might actually be a good idea, because your 'old' name that you will use with us might associate you as being 'bad' and if you change it, your whole persona will change." Adam said.
The others nodded in response to his statement.
"Well, I sort of did that, when I was with Kai-n-Tai, I used Lita and now that I'm with Matt and Jeff, I still use that name, I just dress like them instead of wearing the stuff I wore when I was with the others." Amy explained.
"Okay, well, we'll see how this goes. Now, why don't we get this show on the road, and start practicing, I have a lot of moves to learn today, right?" I asked, looking around the group.
"Yup, lets do it." Adam put his hand out and we all extended our hands, over-lapping.
We then broke them, just as a team did before a big game.
Chapter 16
Chapter 14