"Hunter, who is this?" Stephanie McMahon asked her husband, looking up from her script. They were in the back of a of luxurious SUV with blacked out windows, heading towards the arena where Raw was being held that night.

"Who is who?" Hunter mumbled, not diverting his attention away from the text message that he was writing on his phone.

"It says here I have a backstage segment to do with a Ronda... How do I even say that surname? Anyway I've never heard of her."

"Ronda Rousey," Hunter clarified. He looked up at his wife, taking an interest in the conversation. "She's my surprise for you tonight. She's our new referee. Yes, I actually have been listening to all of your badgering when you thought I was ignoring you, and we now have ourselves a female referee."

"Oh," Stephanie breathed with a surprised smile. "I had no idea that you were working on it." She returned her attention to the script, now reading it with more interest. "Why have I not heard about this? How have I not seen her on NXT or something? You're just having her show up on Raw, and according to this she's going to be shown with me welcoming her? Why would my character welcome a 'lowly' referee to the company? Why would she even care?"

"You haven't heard about it because if you had, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?" Hunter asked reasonably. "And you haven't seen her on NXT because she hasn't refereed a televised match with NXT. I had a group of five women try out with a few practice matches down in Florida. I assigned Ronda to a few smaller NXT shows and she impressed me so much that I have no doubts about putting her onto Raw and Smackdown already. She won a bronze medal in Judo at the Beijing Olympics, and she's built better than any of the guys who referee for us, as well as being a lot more athletic. She's got a real authoritative presence in the ring. I know this might sound a bit strange to you as you've only wrestled a handful of times, but she's also got one of the best counts I've ever seen."

"One of the best counts?" Stephanie asked in confusion, glancing up at him momentarily.

"That's right," Hunter nodded. "Some of the guys are great at calling a match, but their counts don't look good, especially their near fall count. People who really know what they're looking at can tell when it's going to be a near fall just by the way the ref counts. Mike Chioda has the best count of the guys we have right now, but I think Ronda might even be better. She gets her arm real high but yet she counts quite fast and how she stops her hand hitting the mat on a near fall even I don't know. It looks great. Anyway, when I checked out what she's been doing in the Indies, everyone I spoke to couldn't speak highly enough of her, and recommended that I should give her a shot."

Stephanie laughed. "And this is coming from the guy who laughed at my idea to get a female referee. Your tune sure has changed. You'll be putting Renee on commentary next."

"No, I won't," Hunter said firmly. "And I laughed at you because I thought the idea seemed stupid at the time. I'm willing to admit that I was wrong. You'll see why when you meet Ronda, trust me."

With that he went back to composing his text message and Stephanie carried on reading her script for a couple of minutes, before once again distracting her husband, who had now moved on to reading some emails. "Hunter?"

"What?"

"Why is Ronda going to be in a storyline? Putting a referee in a storyline, and making her look bad, too? That's not what I want; you need to change that. The first ever female referee and you want to make her look bad? What kind of message is that to send?"

Hunter sighed. He had known those questions were coming. "I'm not making her look bad at her job," he clarified. "I'm making her look like she might be in the pockets of The Authority. First, she's seen with you welcoming her with a hug, as you can see in your script. Then she 'somehow' keeps getting assigned to Rollins' matches and her slightly suspect calls just 'happen' to favour him. It's an interesting angle. You wanted the first female referee to be a big deal, this way she will be. What do you want me to do, put a headline on the website saying 'Breaking: Referee does her job?' In any event, she's got a tag match to ref second on the card tonight, before anything storyline related happens. I'm sure she'll do a good job in that."

For a minute or two Stephanie looked sour, but when she realised that Paul's attention was on his phone and not on her mood, she gave up. "Fine, but at the end of this thing we need to make it clear that she wasn't doing anything wrong. Okay?"

"Hmmmm," Hunter mumbled, figuring that was non-committal enough for his purposes. The truth was that he hadn't made a decision yet with regard to what the end of the Ronda - Seth angle was going to be.

Sighing inwardly, he looked forward to the inevitability of having a very similar discussion with his father in law when they arrived at the arena.

As Hunter had predicted the conversation with Vince had gone along very similar lines to the earlier one with Stephanie, although Vince had warmed to the storyline aspect of it more than Stephanie had. It made him smile to see how remarkably alike Stephanie and her father were at times. At least the conversation had been one on one, without Stephanie being in Hunter's office to chirp in on her father's side of the discussion and make things worse, from Hunter's point of view.

The conversation was almost over when someone knocked on the door, opening it as they did so. Vince turned around to see an attractive blonde woman entered the room. She was wearing a black dress and heels. The outfit revealed an incredible physique; her arms and legs especially stood out due to how muscular they were. He quickly realised that this woman was in better shape than most, probably all, of the divas currently on the roster. Vince had always been one to push big, powerful guys and for this reason he took an immediate interested in this powerful-looking woman who Paul greeted as Ronda, confirming what he had already figured out. This was the new referee.

"Hey, Hunter," she greeted almost as if to a friend rather than her boss, clearly not short of confidence.

"Hi, Ronda," Hunter smiled back. "Vince, this is Ronda Rousey, the new referee I mentioned to you."

"Hello, Ronda," Vince said in his booming voice, as he silently admired his son-in-law's diplomatic introduction. He had avoided letting on to Ronda that she had been the topic of conversation that she had just interrupted with her arrival.

"Good to meet you, Mr McMahon," Ronda smiled as they exchanged a firm handshake. Again, Vince was impressed, not just by the handshake, but by the lack of nervousness in her voice as well. Often, the first encounter he had with someone was awkward because they felt intimidated by him, or nervous at being around the WWE setup. But Ronda seemed like she was taking it all in her stride. Another check mark for her in Vince's book.

"I was told to report here, to you," Ronda said to Hunter.

"That's right," Hunter nodded. "I just have a few basics for you, as you already know the details of the storyline that we're going to start tonight. I'm sure you've read the script you were sent a bunch of times already today, right?"

"Right," Ronda confirmed simply.

"Good. So, there is a referee's locker room, but obviously you can't have you changing in there with the guys, so you're going to be in with the Divas. They know to expect you, and I told them that they need to make sure that someone shows you around and makes you feel at home. I don't know who's going to do that, but one of them will. When you're changed, my advice is get out into the arena and have a look around so that it's not so intimidating later when it's full of people, because trust me, your first time out there, itwill be intimidating."

Ronda nodded to signal that she was listening and would be taking the advise he was offering, not failing to notice that Vince was studying her as he listened to the exchange.

"There will be a few guys out there practicing, there always is," Hunter continued. "Get involved, and try to referee a couple of those practice matches if you can, so that the guys start to get used to seeing you out there. Sadly, it's pretty much inevitable that some of them will make snide or sexist remarks to you here in the back. My advice is, try to ignore it and it will go away, but if it does get to you, you let me know. Okay?"

"It won't get to me," Ronda assured him with a smile. "People can say what they want about me. I don't care."

Hunter smiled. "Good. Go do what I said, then. Later, I'll introduce you to Seth and you can work with him and Ambrose on the finish of the match for tonight. You'll also need to have a quick word with the Usos and Cesaro and Kidd in case there's anything specific they need from you for their tag match. Lastly, you know where I am if you need anything. Feel free to come and see me."

"Thanks, Hunter." Ronda then nodded politely to Vince, "Mr. McMahon." With that she left the room and closed the door behind her.

"Fuck," Vince smiled as he turned back to his son-in-law. "Where did you find her from? She'd kill most of the Divas." Then his expression changed as he realised the implication of that statement. "Don't give her any Divas matches, I don't like the way that would look, with the referee bigger than the ones wrestling the match."

That was another thing that Hunter had anticipated. In fact, he had been so sure about it that he had already told Ronda that she would not be getting any Divas matches. "Way ahead of you dad. I already told her that."

"Good job. Hey, why is she a referee anyway?" Vince asked. "With a body like that she could..."

"Old neck injury," Hunter cut in. "Can't take the bumps."

"Oh, right. This storyline..." Vince's voice trailed off as he seemed deep in thought. Hunter feared that he was about to be ordered to change it, but when Vince spoke again he did so with a smile and a slap on the back.

"Good job. I like it. Make sure Rollins doesn't fuck her around."

"He won't," Hunter assured him, "Seth's a good kid."

"I'm going to run the ropes for a bit," Seth Rollins informed his two closest friends as he stood up from their table in catering. The Shield may have broken up on-screen, but in reality the three men were very much still brothers. "You two carry on filling your faces," he added with a sarcastic smile.

"Fuck you, bro," Dean Ambrose managed through a mouthful of food as Roman Reigns grinned.

Seth headed out to the arena, intending to either run the ropes by himself or get involved with whoever was practicing if others were already out there. As he walked down the ramp, he saw that the female referee who he was going to be working the new storyline with was in the ring. Ronda. That was the name Hunter had mentioned. For a moment, Seth stared at her, transfixed, before slowly letting out a breath.

"Jesus," he muttered, before approaching the ring to get a better look. Although she was in the middle of a full scale practice match, admonishing Luke Harper for hair pulling with a very stern look on her face, Seth found himself thinking that she looked incredible, even with her blonde air pulled back into a tight bun, and wearing the distinctly unflattering back and white referee shirt and black pants. The shirt revealed very powerful arms. Seth would have been willing to make a bet that the rest of her body was in a similar condition. He was almost spellbound as he stood outside the ring, watching the referee rather than the action.

Harper hit his opponent, Dolph Ziggler, with a big boot to the face. As Seth watched the action unfold, he nodded in recognition at how well this Ronda woman counted the near fall. Aside from the fact that no one ever lost to Harper's big boot, there would have been no way for the crowd to know if Ziggler was going to kick out or not, if this had been a real match. Seth couldn't even figure out how Ronda had managed not to hit the mat with her hand, given how fast it had been coming down.

"Do that again," he called into the ring. "I want to see another of those near falls."

A few moments later Ziggler hit one of his signature moves. As Seth had requested, Harper got his shoulder up at the latest moment possible, yet Seth was still lost on exactly how Ronda's counting technique worked. One thing was for sure though: it had great crowd reaction written all over it. With that in mind, he had just decided how they were going to add the supposed controversy to the end of his match with Dean later in the night.

The angle was that there would be a different reason that he would beat various opponents in his matches over the next, so far unquantified, number of weeks, but they would all involve refereeing by Ronda that may or may not look like she was actively aiding him. For the first of these, he would use the great count that she had by kicking out of Ambrose's finish as late as he possibly could, and having the commentators argue over whether it had actually been a three count or not. Ambrose would argue with Ronda, which would allow Seth to attack from behind, setting him up for the Curb Stomp and the win. If done right and sold properly by the guys on commentary, it would look great.

While he had been running through his idea in his head, the practice match in the ring had ended. Harper had headed for the back, leaving Ziggler and Ronda talking in the ring. Dolph was saying that he was impressed with her work and would not have any problem working with her, although he imagined that some of the guys might.

Seth got into the ring and greeted Ronda with a smile.

"Seth, good to meet you," she said before he had the chance to speak. "I'm Ronda."

"Good to meet you, Ronda," Seth said politely. "I have to say, that count you have looks great."

"Thanks," Ronda said, allowing a hint of a smile. There was something about the genuine warmth that this guy conveyed that she liked. She was sure that there would be more than a fair share of assholes in the back, with bad attitudes towards working with a woman, just like Hunter had said. Fortunately, the guy who she was going to be in a storyline with appeared not to be one of them. It would have been a really awkward start to her career if Seth had decided to be a dick to her, but thankfully it was not the case.

Seth was a good looking guy, too, she decided, the strange blonde streak in his hair not withstanding. Chastising herself for thinking that way, she reminded herself that she couldn't allow herself to think like that about any of the wrestlers. That had to be golden rule number one. This was a place of work for her, not somewhere to get laid.

Ziggler made his excuses and headed for the back, leaving just the two of them in the ring. There was now no opportunity for a practice match, so Seth suggested, "Shall we go in the back? You can meet Dean. I already have an idea for the end of our match. The three of us can talk it over."

"Sure," Ronda agreed easily.

Seth walked over to the ropes and parted them for her to exit the ring.

"Thanks," she said after she climbed though, onto the apron, although the smile that she gave Seth made him think that she found his gesture a little over the top. His instincts told him that - at least while she was working - Ronda didn't want to be treated like a woman in that manner. It was something he would need to remember, he told himself, at the same time wondering why he was so bothered by the first impression he was making on this total stranger, who, when all was said and done, was just a referee. Because she was hot, that was why, he admitted. In its own way her stern faced expression that she used in the ring was crazy hot. It made her look badass, as did her physique. In fact, she looked like she could easily be a wrestler.

"So, how did you get this gig?" he asked as they made their way up the ramp, avoiding some crew members who were working with some cables.

"I've been a referee for a few years in the Indies," Ronda explained. "I heard that WWE were looking for a female ref, so I applied for the try outs. Hunter was there, and I think he was sold the first time he saw me in action, to be honest."

Her confidence impressed Seth. Ronda was good at what she did and knew it - an attitude very similar to his own. It was important to stop short of arrogance, and she seemed to have managed to do so. "Why a referee?" he asked. "I mean, you obviously have a great body. You could..." At the same moment as Ronda looked sternly at him, Seth realised what he'd said, immediately wishing that he had a gun on hand so he could shoot himself in the head.

Even with his slip up, Ronda proceeded to give him an answer as they walked into the busy backstage area. "I fell off a horse years ago and got bad a neck injury. I had to have surgery on it. Now, as far as everyday life is concerned, I'm fine, but I can't take regular bumps on it like you guys do. I wanted to be a wrestler or go into UFC, but now I can't, so here I am. I've learned to accept it, and I'm happy to be doing what I'm doing."

Seth smiled, but he had to voice a concern, "Referees have to take bumps sometimes."

"I can do that, I'm not that fragile. Trust me, they've put me through enough physical tests before signing me up. I just couldn't risk being repeatedly slammed."

The hot-blooded side of Seth was thinking that if he had his way there would come a time when she got repeatedly slammed by him. The more he looked at her and talked to her, the more he found her attractive, both in terms of appearance and personality.

"I need to go to the bathroom before we sit down to go over the match," Ronda said, cutting into his thoughts.

"Sure. Meet us in catering. It's down the next hallway on the right."

"Got it." With that Ronda turned and headed off in the direction of the bathrooms.

A minute later, Seth walked back into catering, finding Dean and Roman still eating.

"Christ, you must have really worked yourself into the ground," Ambrose chirped sarcastically.

"Yeah," Reigns joined in. "That's like, five minutes since you left."

Seth sat back down on the chair that he had vacated minutes before. "I just met Ronda, the new ref. She's fucking hot, dude."

"Fuck's sake," Dean pretended to sigh. "Here he goes. You've only been single for a few weeks and as soon as a woman shows up..."

"She really is hot though," Seth insisted. "She's coming in any minute to go over the match, so you can see for yourselves."

"We'll pass on your compliment to her," Roman grinned.

"Don't you fucking dare," Seth said, laughing nervously.

Dean had his copy of the night's script on the table next to his half empty plate of food. He picked it up and looked at it, shaking his head and muttering under his breath, more in surprise than disrespect. "A fucking female referee."

"There's a first time for everything," Seth pointed out.