Convergence

The Birth of A Stable [I]: The Big Show

She didn't have to wonder if they were thinking it because when she looked at her three compatriots, standing next to her at gorilla position, she could just feel they were sharing the same thoughts.

"Welcome to the WWE UK Performance Center. If you're watching this, then you are the future. The future of NXT UK, the future of the NXT brand as a whole. Your story is a part of the story we are telling, in the UK and in the US, as well as internationally. And it all starts today."

The message was prerecorded but still quite meaningful. Coming from Triple H himself, a legend to her and countless others of her generation and others, the message was always in the back of her mind.

"Here we go!"

Before she could respond to the voice behind her, the music hit and she burst through the curtain, meeting her partner who had come from the other side in the middle of the stage with raised arms, before strutting her way down the ramp and heading into the ring.

"This is a mixed tag team match scheduled for one fall, introducing first, the team of Xander Mack and Maria Belladonna!"

And then a different song hit and the intimidation factor set in as both Xander and Maria waited for their opponents to arrive.

"And introducing the team of Jordan Devlin and Rhea Ripley!"

The opposing team made their way to the ring as Xander and Maria's eyes met and they seemed to will each other to calm down as they locked eyes. Jordan took a swing at Xander and Maria yelled for him to look out as she retreated to their corner, and the men started the match off with quite a bang.

Maria was focused on the task at hand as she stared across the ring at her counterpart. She knew what her task was, it was to take the bumps. But damn, was Rhea ever intimidating, especially for someone like her, who had limited in ring experience. Still, it was her job to sell a good fight and she was about as ready as she was ever going to be for it.

For the first five minutes or so, her eyes remained fixed on Xander as she yelled out encouragement and watched him perform, eyes filled with admiration and respect.

When the tag was finally made by Xander about ten minutes into the match, she stared down Rhea before going to hit her with a double clothesline with her partner, which knocked her off balance and simply made her mad. She knocked Xander off the apron and picked Maria up to perform a powerbomb on her tiny form. Needless to say, a slaughter was impending, and it was right on time. All she had to do was keep up and hang on for a couple of minutes. And she did, barely.

She'd been laid out in the middle of the ring by Rhea, who was moments away from finishing her, when the lights went out, and music came on. When they came back on, Drew and Mia were already in the ring, crushing skulls, and taking on Devlin and Ripley themselves. Maria was slowly stirring to play up being knocked out and the next thing she knew, Xander was helping her up as Drew and Mia dealt with Devlin and Ripley.

"This isn't over, I am going to destroy every single last one of you. Rhea and I will come for you and finish you off. You're nothing. You're insignificant little vermin who don't deserve to be here." And Jordan dropped the mic on the ramp and walked away with Rhea.

At the center of the ring, Drew had a mic as well. "Come for us, we'll be ready, Devlin," Drew replied as Maria and Xander joined them in the middle of the ring, after the referee handed Maria a mic.

Mia took the mic from Drew. "Are you guys okay?"

Xander replied, "Yeah, we're good, Mia. A little roughed up but we're okay."

"We can't keep taking abuse like this," Maria said after taking the mic from Xander, "We need to be something more, something bigger. We need to show the NXT UK Universe something they've never seen before!"

When Drew took the mic from Mia, he said, "We gotta do this together. The Belladonnas, you and me, Xander."

"We're all family in the end. Let's show the world what we've got. We're young and we're pretty, we've got all the talent and energy here to take it to the next level. We're exactly what the world needs right now," Xander chimed in, taking the mic from Maria. "What do you say, ladies?"

The boys had handed their mics over simultaneously and both Maria and Mia paused for dramatic effect as the cheers of the NXT UK Universe echoed through the arena.

"Someone's gotta keep these boys outta trouble," Maria announced with a smirk.

"Fuck yeah, let's do it! Let's show 'em what Pretty Young Things can do!" Mia yelled out.

And then the chanting started. The big pop of the night for the squad, something they'd built up for weeks, trying to establish themselves as a different type of tag team specialists. And it was working.

PYT, PYT, PYT!

And the mics Mia and Maria were holding were dropped at the same time in the middle of the ring and the four exited the ring after their promo.

The rest of the night had the newly formed stable so hyped. They couldn't stay still long enough to watch the rest of the card and had changed out of ring gear as soon as they got back to the locker rooms.