EPILOGUE

With her Divas title belt over her left shoulder, Ronda walked through the curtain into the Gorilla position. The huge adrenaline rush that the combination of winning the title and hearing the reaction of the fans to her victory had given her was still in effect, so when Hunter and Stephanie approached her to offer their congratulations, Ronda surprised Hunter by not only accepting his handshake, but also grabbing him into a hug too.

"Congratulations, Ronda. You deserve it. I told you that you were going to be our star. Didn't I tell you that?" Hunter said excitedly, thrilled by the reaction that Ronda's match had just gotten from the fans, knowing without even checking that she would be the top trend in the world on Twitter right now.

"Yeah, you told me," Ronda said, releasing the hug. "You told me and then we made it happen. That crowd was wild."

"Right," Hunter agreed, smiling. "You keep your head down, and it will only get better from here. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah," Ronda responded simply.

Next, Stephanie walked over to Ronda and offered a congratulatory handshake, which Ronda accepted, this time without adding a hug. "Well done, Ronda. I told you there would be a payoff to this. Hopefully you know that you can trust us and the creative process now?"

"Thanks Steph," Ronda smiled. "I feel great. I'll try and keep a level head from now on." With that, she headed off towards Roman and Dean's locker room, knowing that they would be dressed for their upcoming match, and keen to celebrate with her.

"Well, that went well," Stephanie said to Hunter once Ronda was out of earshot, referring to the match.

"Of course it did," Hunter grinned back at his wife. "What did I tell you when I put her on the main roster? Ronda equals money. She's got that 'it factor' that can't be taught. Some people just have it, and she has it. All we've got to do is keep her feet on the ground and her head in the game, and she's a licence for us to print money."

"That 'all' we have to do?" Stephanie asked skeptically, picking the word out of her husband's sentence.

Hunter took his wife's hand and they headed off towards their office. "Trust me, I've got this," he said confidently. "Ronda Rousey is going to be one of the faces of WWE for a long time to come."

Half an hour later, Ronda sat alone in Roman and Dean's locker room. The two men had just made their way to Gorilla for their upcoming match. Now that her adrenaline rush had worn off, she found herself feeling something very surprising to her. She felt uncomfortable, unhappy almost. She looked at the Divas title belt which sat on the bench beside her, with a blank expression on her face. She was asking herself if this was what she really wanted. Was the popularity what she really wanted? Was being the Divas champion what she really wanted? Were those things worth the price that she had paid to get them? Sure, Seth was a bastard for cheating on her, but would the cheating have happened if she had managed to keep her ego and her attitude in check? No, she had to to admit to herself that she didn't believe it would. At least partially, she was responsible for the failure of the relationship.

For several minutes, Ronda sat there looking at the Divas title belt. She was unable to stop herself thinking that although she was the champion, and although she was more over with the fans than she could ever have possibly imagined, she was not definitely not happy. She was more than halfway through her one year contract with WWE, which had not been extended as of yet.

"Maybe this isn't really what I want to do?" she mumbled to herself. "Sure, the popularity thing is awesome, but maybe I don't have to sign a new contract with WWE?"

That was definitely something worth thinking about.

The next story in this series is titled My Fight. You can find a link to it in the bio section of my profile page, along with a list of the other stories in the series.