The WWF has recently been pretty busy. Ric Flair is CO-owner, Mr. McMahon is delusional, Triple H and Stephanie are having marital woes and so on. We have also just released the results of our match of the year, superstar of the year, and the two most coveted honors, Internet Babe of the Year and Diva of the Year. Our Diva of the year is the lovely, energetic, high flying femme fatale of Team X-Treme, Lita.
If you remember, Lita made her debut as a wrestler when she accompanied Essa Rios to the ring. Any of you die hard Lita fans might recognize her as one of the Godfather's former 'hos.' She also spent some time as Miss Congeniality and Angelica in ECW and other independent wrestling companies. It took a little while to find the right situation for Lita, but after months of one on one meetings and strategy sessions, she is now one of the most popular figures in Sports Entertainment today.
One of those most memorable meeting took place a few months before she was introduced to the world. I was busy working on angles for Hardcore and Crash Holly when there was a light knocking at the door of my office. It was our now former head writer Vince Russo with Essa Rios, Matt and Jeff Hardy and a dark-blonde hair colored Lita. Vince informed me that the four of them would be involved in a few TV shows and that we needed an angle for them that would be buyable. He said that he'd take care of the Holly's storyline (that's why everyone has forgotten about them now).
"Okay, let's see what we have here," I stated as I glanced over the new talent that stood before me. "Essa, I understand that you have training in the Luche Libre style of wrestling, right?"
"Yes, I do Mr...." I cut him off immediately.
"Please, all of you, just call me Shawn."
Everyone nodded and replied in agreement that from that point on, I was just plain old Shawn.
"Okay Essa, I think that you and Amy (Lita's real name) would make a pretty good pairing," I said as I rose from my seat and began to slowly walk around my office. "Since you trained with her in Mexico and have worked with her for so long, it would be a good idea if you two started out together. Having someone you're familiar with helps relax you in the ring and eventually you'll get more and more comfortable there."
Essa and Amy nodded in silence as I continued to brainstorm. "Matt and Jeff, the two of you are going to be the shot of adrenaline that the Federation is looking for right now."
Matt cleared his throat and spoke, "Uh Shawn, what do you mean?"
"Well," I inhaled deeply before continuing, "when I look at the two of you, I see a mix of high flying stunts, unbelievable improvisation, and high energy that will keep WWF fans on the edge of their seats."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Jeff chimed in as huge smiles grew on his and Matt's faces as they began to form mental pictures of the preliminary blueprint I had laid out for them.
"Alright now Amy," I paused as I looked over her well proportioned body, "has Russo given you a name yet?"
"No, he said that he was gonna leave that to you."
Just great, along with him sticking me with storylines for four wrestlers, I also had to name one of them.
I walked back to my desk and sat on the front left corner. "Okay, we'll figure out a name for you later. That's not important right now anyway. What IS important is that we have a few house shows coming up pretty soon in North Carolina, at that time you will officially go on the road with the company."
The young wrestlers began to smile and grin as I informed them they were going on the road.
"Now you have to understand, you will be doing your own driving, and once you start going on the road, you'll be away from home anywhere from 150 to 200 days a year. If you're serious about wrestling, you will have to make some sacrifices."
I handed each of them an itinerary of where they would be going and how long they'd be staying in each city. They all glowed as they began to slowly realize that they were on the road to possibly becoming WWF superstars.
"Along with you joining the federation at our stop in North Carolina, I'm going to travel with you for a few days. I need to get a sense of what kind of characters each of you can play and decide where you'll be most useful in the company. Now, if there aren't any questions, I'll be seeing all of you in about three weeks."
With that, all four energetically walked out of my office excitedly awaiting the upcoming weeks. As I returned to my desk, my door opened slightly as Amy's head timidly peeked into my office.
"Yes."
"Um, I was wondering if I could talk to you in private for a minute," her voice slightly quivering as her dainty hand clutched the doorknob.
"Yeah sure, what's the problem?" I asked as I reclined in my chair.
"Well, it's like this," she closed the door behind her and I heard the familiar click of the lock, "I want to be a WWF superstar more than you know."