The Deville Inside

Chapter 24

Twice a year, once in April and once in November, WWE brought the Raw and Smackdown rosters to the UK. Ahead of time, Sonya, Charlotte and Valentina had known it would be a special tour for Lucy, traveling back to her own country.

What had surprised the trio was an invite to stay at the Thorne family house one night, when the show they were working was at an arena only an hour away. Although Lucy had warned that because her father, mother and sister were all doctors they would likely be working, the visit was still something to look forward to. Lucy had said there were enough bedrooms for all of them, so the house had to be something special.

Before the visit, there was a live event to work. It was the third event in as many nights. One of them had been a Smackdown episode at the O2 arena in London, on which the narrative of an unlikely partnership between Lucy and Valentina had continued to be teased when Lucy had come out to save Valentina and Ember Moon from a beat down at the hands of Flairville following a tag team match.

For every live event on the tour, the same tag team match had been booked every night: Lucy and Valentina against Sonya and Charlotte.

"I feel bad for Ember," Valentina said to her three friends. They were sitting in the catering area backstage before the live event, with the intent of putting that night's tag match together. While the booking was the same, they couldn't put on the same match each night. The only constant would be the face team winning. Faces always won at live events, to ensure that the fans had a great time.

"I know what you mean," Charlotte said. "They put Ember in the fatal four way with you guys, then Vince got high on the Lucy and Val team and he's putting more effort into that. Nothing is being built up for my European title, either."

"It will be," Lucy said, short and to the point as was her style.

"Yeah, I'm sure it will too," Sonya said. "But back to tonight. Lucy, Monday night and again last night on Smackdown, the fans were going crazy for you."

"We're in England. These are my people," Lucy said, showing genuine passion for something for once. Her patriotism could not be doubted, and her English fans loved her for it.

"I know," Sonya said patiently. She was getting used to the fact that Lucy wasn't the easiest of people to put ideas across to. "I'm thinking that since we're not on TV, you might play up to the crowd a bit. You know, really get them fired up. It would be great for them."

"I don't do that," Lucy said simply.

"We know," Charlotte said patiently. She and Sonya were at the point now where they could sometimes tell what the other was thinking. This was one such occasion. "It's not like you suddenly have to come out like Val, running around the place. With your manner in the ring, you could get a reaction just by looking at the crowd in the right way at the right time. That's the unique charisma you have."

Lucy shrugged slightly, taking the compliment at face value. "Alright, what are you suggesting?"

Standing in the heel team's corner of the ring with Charlotte, Sonya kept character while internally delighting at the ovation Valentina received from the sold out crowd of three thousand fans when she came out to the ring. It was followed by the loudest pop of the night so far when Lucy's music played. The roof nearly came off the small arena, and the fans kept up the noise level while their fellow countrywoman walked slowly to the ring without acknowledging them in any way, as was usual.

The reason Sonya took such pleasure in the responses her two opponents and friends received was that she knew it was partially because of how well she and Charlotte were working lately that Val and Lucy were getting over. It took top quality performances from both the heels and the babyfaces to make the magic happen.