“Fiona, Kendra,” Gordon smiled through the thick sheen of perspiration on his face, a very slight waver in his speech, “a nice job tonight, both of you! Though… next time, Fiona, maybe try massaging just yourself and not the whole women’s division.” Gordon ended with a chuckle, though the look on his round face showed that he knew Fiona and Kendra wanted to talk to him about the ambush in the arena.

“Mister McKinney,” Kendra kept her pitch respectful, “what… what was [i]that[/i]? I feel so… ‘set up’ right now. [i]She was waiting under the ring.[/i] How long was she even under there?”

“Kendra, listen,” Gordon said softly as he reached out and took Kendra by her shoulders, “I know that was a real curveball that you - [i]and Fiona[/i] - got thrown tonight. But did you hear that crowd? You got the win despite being at an initial disadvantage and you finished off your opponent with a [i]force[/i] you have not shown before! And the crowd loved it!”

Kendra cast her eyes down in thought as Gordon stepped back now baring a confident smile. Truthfully he was right. The crowd had enjoyed the performance, especially for a matchup between a lower ranked talent and a jobber. But Kendra still felt that she had been crossed and looked up at Gordon with a stern expression. 

“Mister McKinney I just feel I should have…” Kendra faltered.

“What?” Gordon immediately asked, clasping his hands together against his stomach, “Been warned about it? That would have just watered things down. The point was to set up a scene where you were ambushed by someone with a petty score to settle and you came out on top. You took an unfair situation and turned it into an opportunity!”

“But…”

“I had no doubt that you could handle it, Kendra.” Gordon held out both hands in a gesture of sincerity causing Kendra to hesitate again. She looked sideways at Fiona and then back at Gordon, Kendra clearly being assailed by several different emotions at once.