September 20, 1999

For the first time, Amanda McMahon, née Rose, was going to appear on WWF programming. Acting was not going to be a problem to her, for that was her profession, but performing live in front of a sold out crowd of over eighteen thousand wrestling fans would be a first, and it was causing her to feel substantially nervous.

"Excited, Mandy?" Shane McMahon, her husband, asked her.

They were travelling across the city of Houston in a limousine, heading from the airport to the arena where Monday Night Raw would be taking place. Not far ahead of them, there was another limo carrying Vince and Stephanie McMahon. The four of them had flown down from New York together in the WWF private jet.

"Yes, and nervous," Mandy said. "I know we've talked about and planned my TV debut. It just all feels real now, you know? I'm actually going to be on Raw."

"Yes you are," Shane said proudly.

He was the one who had pushed for his wife to be added to the company's cast of characters. After some persuasion, Vince had agreed. Mandy would be playing herself, with the kayfabe role of one of the owners of the World Wrestling Federation. In truth, she owned no part of the company, but that didn't matter as far as the show was concerned.

"You'll be fine, honey," Shane said. "Nerves are inevitable today, ahead of your first time going out there on TV. But you'll smash it. Trust me, tonight you'll be telling me you can't wait for the Smackdown taping tomorrow night. It'll help that the McMahon family are babyfaces right now, for the first time ever."

"That's true, at least the fans won't be wanting to eat me alive," Mandy said with a smile. After being married to Shane for two years, and consequently spending a lot of time hearing and talking about the wrestling business, terms like babyface were familiar to her. It was definitely better to be cheered on her debut as it would grant her more leeway if she struggled a bit under the pressure, she realised. It didn't particularly help that she didn't know what exactly her part on the show was going to be. Apparently the exact format of each show wasn't approved by Vince until a matter of hours beforehand.

"It's still funny to me that dad's the WWF Champion," Shane chuckled. "As if his return last Monday night wasn't enough of a surprise, I'm sure no one saw that swerve coming."

"Right?" Mandy smiled. "Hearing the ring announcer announce him as the World Wrestling Federation Champion made me laugh. It'll be interesting to see what happens from here."

Looking out of the window, Shane spotted the arena. "We're here," he announced.

While appearing on WWF programming was going to be new to Mandy, attending events was not, meaning that the wrestlers knew who she was, at least to the extent where greetings and pleasantries could be exchanged. The fans also knew who Amanda McMahon was. At least, the more knowledgeable ones did, thanks to things like public appearances where she and Shane had been photographed. Any viewers who were not familiar with Vince's heir's wife would not remain so for long, as Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler would quickly clue them in when she made her entrance.

The limo soon pulled into the arena's parking garage and parked up. After a moment, the driver opened the door on Mandy's side, while Shane got out of his side.

"Thank you," Mandy said after getting out. She straightened her black suit jacket, wishing she had taken it off before getting in. The last thing she wanted was for it to look creased when she went out on Raw.

"Right, let's find where they've put us," Shane said.

Since they were not part of the active roster, and therefore didn't belong in the locker rooms, and since Vince's office was exceptionally busy at TV events, Shane, Stephanie, and now Mandy were given a room of their own. Based on past experience, Mandy expected it to consist of a couple of couches, a table, a TV for watching the show, and some fine food from the catering company. There would also be a changing area, bathroom, and shower attached.

Vince's limo was parked nearby. Unsurprisingly, he hadn't waited for the rest of his family to arrive. There was much work for him to get done.

Proceeding into the building, one of the first people Mandy and Shane encountered was the legendary Stone Cold Steve Austin. On-screen he was a foul-mouthed, beer swilling, violent redneck. But in reality, Mandy had found him to be very polite on the couple of occasions they had previously spoken.

"Hey! How are you?" Shane asked Austin, one of the WWF's biggest stars, so big that he was a household name around the world. That was the power of the family business that Mandy had married into. Soon she would be being beamed live into millions of households herself.

The two men shook hands, with a loud clap as their hands met.

"Doing pretty good," Steve said pleasantly before looking at Mandy. "Mrs McMahon, it's good to see you."

Being addressed formally as Mrs McMahon made Mandy a little uncomfortable, but it was a step forward from ma'am, which made her feel old.

"It's good to see you, Steve," she smiled. "But please call me Mandy."

"Alright, will do. You're appearing on the show tonight, right?"

"Yes I am. I'm looking forward to it."

"Well, we're working the same angle, so it's likely we'll be out there together. If I can help in any way, I'm happy to."

"Thanks, Steve, I appreciate that," Mandy smiled.

They parted ways, and Mandy looked at her husband, feeling glad that he was held in high regard by most of the talent. It meant that she was too, by association. She hoped to keep that going in her own right, now that she was going to be around regularly.

As if making her first appearance on WWF programming hadn't been enough to make Mandy feel nervous, Vince telling her that she was going to open the show certainly had been. After the previous week's ending on Smackdown, with Vince winning the WWF Championship, the fans would be red hot in anticipation of what was to come next. As it turned out, it would be Mandy's job to announce what was to come next.

As Steve Austin had predicted, he was indeed going to be a part of the segment with her. She was grateful for the fact that he had been willing to help her prepare – an offer that she had taken him up on. Not having a script was new to her; all she had been given was a few bullet points to hit. The rest was up to her to do a good job with. Thanks to Steve's help, she felt as ready as she could be to go out to the ring and do just that.

Mandy was also grateful to Shane for letting her stand on her own feet. She knew he would have been more than happy to help her if she needed it, but he in turn knew that she wouldn't want the talent to see him babysitting her.

Not babysitting her was one thing, but that hadn't stopped Shane walking with her to Gorilla in time for the start of the show. Steve Austin was also there, ready for when his cue came later.

"How do I look?" Mandy asked Shane, looking down at her black suit jacket and purple blouse.

"Gorgeous, babe, obviously," Shane said quietly. He gave her a kiss on the forehead for luck.

Out in the arena, a video package began to play as an introduction to Raw. It recapped the confrontation between Vince and Triple H on the previous week's Smackdown, which had led to an impromptu WWF Championship match, during which Shane had been kayfabe injured. Vince had ended up a bloody mess, but thanks to interference and a stunner from Austin, who had put McMahon on top of Triple H for the pin, Vince had won the match and the championship. The only problem was that Vince wasn't even supposed to be involved on TV, thanks to a match stipulation earlier in the year.

The video package ended, linking right into the title sequence. A cheer went up in the arena as Thorn in Your Eye, the iconic theme music, began to play.

After about twenty seconds, the intro video finished. Mandy knew the pyro display was coming, but the loudness of the first explosions just the other side of the curtain made her jump. Thankfully, no one seemed to have noticed her reaction.

The piercing shrieks and colossal explosions went on for about thirty seconds, until the display finished with a loud crackling pyro. With the Raw theme still playing, the capacity crowd roared in excitement. In Gorilla, it sounded like a wall of noise, and it was seriously intimidating.

On commentary, Jim Ross would now be welcoming the viewers at home to the show, and hyping them up for what was to come.

"Good luck. You got this," Shane said to Mandy, giving her hand a squeeze.

"Thank you," she replied.

In the arena, ring announcer Lilian Garcia began an announcement. "Please welcome one of the owners of the World Wrestling Federation, Amanda McMahon."

No Chance In Hell, the theme music for the McMahon family, began to play. As Mandy had never been on TV before, the Titantron video featuring Vince and Shane accompanied it. There was a small cheer from the crowd, which was a positive.

After taking a deep breath for courage, Mandy stepped through the curtain into the arena.

A/N: Thank you for checking out this opening chapter! It has been a very long time since I wrote an attitude era story, so I'm very excited for this one!

How do you think Mandy will get on with her first promo?