Becoming A Wrestler

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Within minutes, multiple entertainment magazine and sites alongside wrestling sites were ringing back. One of them even offered triple his asking price on the spot. The deal was done. And unknown to both Sandro and Alexa, the countdown to chaos had begun for not just the two of them but the wrestling world as well.

Two peaceful days passed. For Sandro, it was a rare stretch of calm. He'd stayed busy, training, reviewing War Games footage with his team, plotting strategy with Drew, Big E, Ryback, and Stu.

At night, he'd called both April and Nikki separately, filling them in on everything. Both were surprised but supportive. Nikki had teased him to death, and April simply nodded with that knowing smile, saying, "She better treat you right."

On Wednesday morning, just as the sunlight was creeping into his apartment through the large windows beside his bed, Sandro was jolted awake by the shrill buzz of his phone.

Groggy, he reached out and squinted at the screen.

April.

He answered instantly. "Hey—"

"Check the news babe!" April's voice came through, fast and anxious. "Turn on the TV! And look online too!"

"What—?"

"NOW, Sandro!"

Still blinking sleep out of his eyes, he fumbled for the remote and turned on the large flatscreen mounted on the wall.

The moment the screen lit up, he froze.

There it was.

Footage. Pictures. Headlines.

"Sandro Zhang Caught in Late Night Kiss With FCW Rising Female Wrestler Alexa Bliss, Wrestling's Newest Power Couple?"

"Heir of Nexum Core Goes Public With Relationship, Romance Sparks With FCW's Rising Female Talent!"

#SandroAndAlexa is trending on Twitter.

The photos were everywhere. Them sitting in the café, laughing. Walking hand in hand. That moment by the car. The kiss.

Sandro sat up straight, adrenaline kicking in hard now. He scrolled through his phone, opening Twitter, only to be hit with a wave of mentions, tags, and chaos.

Some fans were ecstatic and hawking their support.:

"OMG SANDRO AND ALEXA??? I SHIP IT. #FCWCouple"

"They look so cute together. Protect them at all costs. #Approved"

"This giving me forbidden romance type. Between the big bad villain and an innocent beautiful girl, Ughhhhh. #TooCutee"

Others weren't so kind, especially since Sandro kayfabely was a big bad heel now, alongside his status as heir of Nexum Core:

"WHAT?!?! Tell me this sign real?! How could such little girl worthy of Sandro?! #Injustice"

"Sandro manage to bewitch and now ruin a beautiful female rookie career."

"Why can't you two @SandroZhang @AlexaBlissFCW focus on wrestling? Why do a high school drama play?"

"UGHHH! SLUT! How could she put her finger and even her mouth on Sandro?!"

Sandro clenched his jaw, running a hand through his hair.

He immediately messaged Alexa.

"You awake? You okay?"

No response yet.

He called Nikki next.

"About time you called me babe," she answered. "April just messaged me. Your and Alexa's face are everywhere."

"I didn't even see anyone. I thought we were very secluded and careful enough," he muttered.

"Apparently not secluded and careful enough or maybe just pure dumb luck," Nikki said dryly. "Look, just breathe. You and Alexa didn't do anything wrong. We knew this might happen eventually. But the difference is just that it wouldn't be about your relationship with Alexa and not me and April."

Sandro exhaled hard, nodding to himself. "Yeah… I just didn't think it'd be this fast."

"You need to get to her," Nikki added. "She's is still processing your relationship with her. This is gonna be overwhelming. She's probably freaking out."

That was all the push Sandro needed.

He got up, threw on clothes, and grabbed his keys.

He was going to see Alexa.

And no matter what the headlines said, he was going to be there for her.

This wasn't a scandal. This was real. And he wasn't going to let anyone twist that.

After that, he left his apartment and got into his car. The second the door shut behind him, the city's buzz did little to drown out the sheer chaos vibrating from his phone. Notifications pinged non stop from his phone.

Twitter tags, private messages, texts from his friends, fellow wrestlers, even a couple of unknown numbers managed to got hold of his number asking if it was real or not. He muted most of them, jaw tightening, knuckles whitening on the steering wheel.

He barely made it past the first light when his phone buzzed again, this time, not a tweet or tag, but a call.

When he glanced down at the screen, his heart skipped.

Mom.

Taylor Zhang.

His mother.

Sandro groaned under his breath, accepted the call, and tapped the speaker icon. "Good morning, Mom.".

"Don't good morning me, young man," Taylor's voice cut through the car like she was the force lawyer in court. "Tell me what your father and I are seeing on TV and reading on Twitter, alongside the pictures floating around, is either a prank or a people making up nonsense."

Sandro winced, gripping the steering wheel with one hand and rubbing his face with the other. "It's true."

A beat of silence. Just the soft background static of the call.

"It's real," Sandro continued. "The relationship is real, mpm. It started officially two days ago. I... I just hadn't gotten the chance to tell you and Dad yet. With me focusing on the next show and all."

Taylor didn't speak immediately. Sandro could picture her on the other side of the line, probably standing in the sunlit kitchen of their mansion, one hand on her hip, the other holding her phone, eyes narrowed at the TV, with his dad sitting silently on the sofa in the background, reading through tweets like they were stock reports.

"And before you ask, the answer is yes," Sandro added before she could ask, "April and Nikki know. They were the first I told about Alexa. They gave me their approval. And Alexa also knows about my relationship with both of them. I made sure to tell her first. I didn't want her walking into this blind and made decision without knowing the truth."

More silence.

Then came the sigh.

Not angry. Not disappointed. Just long. Measured. Thoughtful.

"Well," Taylor said finally, "if that's the case… then all right. You know where your father and I stand on this, Sandro. We've always supported you, even when we didn't always understand some of your choices."

Sandro felt a knot in his chest loosen. He exhaled, nodding even though she couldn't see it. "Thanks, mom. I mean it."

"If you ever need help dealing with this mess," Taylor said, her voice softening, "whether it's with the media, some PR, or anything else… you call us, okay? We're here for you."

"I know, mom. I will. Thanks again."

He ended the call with a quiet smile.

But that moment of peace didn't last long.

As he neared Alexa's apartment complex, he felt his stomach twist. Parked just across the street, a crowd had already formed. A half dozen reporters stood near the entrance, camera flashes popping every few seconds as someone tried to sneak around the security gate.

Paparazzi. Full blown tabloid hounds. One of them even waved at his car, recognizing the license plate.

Sandro muttered a curse, ducked his head, and kept driving.

His phone buzzed again. This time, it was a text from Alexa.

"I'm okay. Bit shaken, but I'm okay. Luckily, I crashed at Charlotte's place last night. So I'm away from the madness that surely come into my apartment this morning."

Relief washed over him.

> "Thank god. Can you send me her address?"

She did. Without missing a beat.

He turned the car around, tires squealing softly as he made the sharp U turn, heading across town toward Charlotte's high rise building.

The drive didn't take long, maybe twenty minutes, though it felt longer with the occasional glances at his phone and the persistent buzz of social media notifications. His mind raced, trying to think of what he'd say, what Alexa might be feeling, what kind of storm they were both now standing in.

When he finally pulled into the parking lot of Charlotte's building, he didn't waste any time. He parked, jumped out, and headed straight for the elevator, punching in the fifth floor with a sense of urgency in his chest.

Apartment 504.

He walked down the carpeted hallway, stopped in front of the white door, and knocked three times.

It swung open almost immediately.

And there she was.

Alexa.

Wearing a loose hoodie and sweatpants, her blonde hair slightly messy, eyes wide but no tears, just the lingering traces of stress and exhaustion. But when she saw him, she blinked once and exhaled, like she'd been holding her breath all morning.

Sandro didn't wait.

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug that was more than comfort, it was a promise.

"I'm here now," he murmured against her hair. "I got you. No need to panic or worry."

For a second, she didn't move. Then her arms slowly came up, wrapping around his waist, gripping the back of his shirt like it was the only thing keeping her grounded.

"I didn't think it gonna be this crazy and this soon for us to be exposed," she said quietly.

"Neither did I," Sandro admitted. "But we're gonna be okay. I swear it."

Charlotte's voice called out from somewhere inside the apartment, "Told you he'd show up like a drama prince."

Alexa gave a faint laugh, pulling back just enough to look up at him. "I'm still trying to process it, to be honest. One second we're laughing in a café, next second we're front page news."

"I know." He reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "But it's not your fault. It's just… people being people. They always want to poke holes in something real."

*They're calling me names online," she said. "Saying I don't deserve you. That I'm some slut trying to get ahead."

Sandro's jaw clenched. "You don't listen to any of that. You hear me? None of that crap matters."

"I'm not used to this kind of attention, I mean I expect this kind of attention when I decide to become a wrestler," Alexa whispered. "But didn't expect this kind of attention now. This is your world, not mine."

"It's our world now," Sandro said firmly. "You're not alone in this, Lex. I'm not gonna let anyone mess with you. We handle this together."

She nodded slowly. "Together."

He reached down and took her hand, gently squeezing it.

Charlotte leaned against the doorway from the kitchen, sipping a mug of coffee. "You two better figure out your battle plan. This is gonna be the circus of the month, maybe longer."

"We'll handle it," Sandro said without looking away from Alexa.

Alexa pulled him inside. "You want some coffee?"

"Yeah," he said, finally allowing a tiny smile. "If it's got a gallon of sugar in it."

They sat in the kitchen for a while, the three of them. Charlotte mostly offered sarcasm and one liners to lighten the mood, while Sandro scrolled through his Twitter feed, showing Alexa both the sweet and the sour.

They laughed at the funny comments, cringed at the hate, and even found a weird fan edit video of them titled "Star Crossed Lovers: Bliss x Zhang" with dramatic violin music in the background.

Eventually, Alexa leaned her head on his shoulder, quieter now.

"What do we do next?" she asked.

Sandro didn't hesitate.

"We go to Dusty," he said. "We tell him the truth. We get ahead of it. Control the narrative."

Alexa hesitated. "You think he'll be mad?".

"He might," Sandro admitted. "But not for the reasons people think. Dusty's old school. But he's fair. As long as we're honest with him and keep our work clean, he'll support us. And if not…" he smirked faintly, "we'll deal with it."

She smiled against his shoulder. "You're crazy."

"Crazy about you."

Charlotte gagged dramatically from across the room. "Please, not in my kitchen."

They all laughed, even Alexa.

It was the first real laugh of the morning.

Later that afternoon, Sandro took her hand and they walked out together, past the press, past the noise, past the whirlwind they were now part of and get into Sandro's car. They gonna go and meet Dusty, where Sandro had texted him that he wanted to meet and discuss this matter. Dusty immediately replied saying sure and he will wait for him at his office.

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Name: Alessandro Zhang

Age: 20 (2010)

Birthplace: Orlando, Florida, USA

Brand: FCW

Wrestling Style: Mixed Of All Styles

Faction: The Undisputed System

Championship History: 1x FCW Tag Team Champions, 1x FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion, & 1x TNA World Heavyweight Champion