Jennifer is introduced to professional wrestling

Jennifer was nervous when she arrived at the gym. It all looked so professional and high end. For some reason she had been expecting something run down and dilapidated, like she would see in the movies of underdog fighter’s struggle to claw their way up the ranks. She had to remind herself that she wasn’t the protagonist of a gritty sports drama and considered herself relieved that she didn’t have to get checked for tetanus.

The sliding doors opened for her as she approached. She clutched her gym bag and looked around in awe. This facility felt way above her income level. The lobby space alone could house a convention! The floors were pristine, spreading out to different hallways for the multiple rooms in the building. There were digital monitors displaying schedules and wayfinding. Jen found the boxing/wrestling wing. It had a whole wing!

As the aspiring athlete marched towards the ring, she started to get second thoughts. There were still people around and, coming in, she was under the presumption that she would be alone with Becky for their match. Sure people were trickling out of the building, but Jen still felt nervous about doing this in a public place. All the times she’d had matches, even in public spaces, they were completely empty except for her and her opponent. What if there was a straggler that caught them? What if a group of stragglers caught them and decided to join? She shivered, starting to regret not inviting Sam along after all. Of course, bringing someone with her also defeated the notion of a private match, which was what she wanted in the first place.

Unable to change anything, Jen pressed on. She entered the gym and was dismayed to find it still occupied by wrestlers. She heard it before she saw it. The distinct thud of bodies slamming onto the mat. When she opened the door to look inside, she was shocked to recognize some of the faces!

Leah Piper and Sera Tonin were in the middle of the ring with a group of other lady wrestlers. They seemed to be running drills, going over a set of movements like a dance routine. One wrestler would bounce off the ropes and charge at Leah, who would underhook her arm and flip the wrestler onto her back, then she would hop back up and line up for another turn. The next wrestler would repeat the steps so that they resembled a well oiled machine, bouncing, flipping, hopping and repeating.

Jen had never seen Piper or Sera perform these types of moves in their WSW matches. This was more pro wrestling which was much flashier, but didn’t really hold up in a match where you were supposed to submit your opponent. Jen also noticed that Piper and Sera were in amateur singlets, tank tops and gym shorts. Not the typical WSW look, which made the submission fan self conscious about recognizing them outside of their element. What if they see her recognizing them? Was she supposed to know them from something else?

As Jen fretted about protocol, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Tara Nova?” the girl asked.

“Huh? Yeah?” Jen responded, hearing her screen name. She turned to see a pretty brunette grinning behind her. She looked young but stood with a reserved politeness. She wore the same polo and dark pants that other gym workers had on.

“Hi! I’m Becky Flinch!” she announced. Glancing down, Jen noticed her name tag read, ‘Claire’. Becky saw Jen’s look and giggled. “It’s just a screen name I made up! My real name is Claire!’

“Oh! I’m not really named Tara Nova either, it’s really Jennifer, Jen for short,” Jen divulged.

Claire smirked. “I figured. Jen is a nice name too!”

“Well, I’m glad I’m at the right place,” Jen replied with relief. “But did I come too early?”

“Yeah, sorry, practice is going on a bit long. Everyone will clear out soon,” Claire replied.

“OK…” Jen responded, feeling even more relief. She then asked is a whisper, “Is that really…?” as she nodded towards Leah.

“Leah Piper? Yep, but keep it quiet,” Becky nodded. “Not everyone is in on it here. This is a training facility for pro wrestling. Leah does the rounds on the independent scene too, goes under the name, ‘Crossfire’. Her real name actually is Leah, coincidentally.” Claire shrugged and smirked.

“What about her?” Jen asked, looking at Sera Tonin. “Is she really named Sera?”

“Well, Sarah, but yeah. Those gals didn’t really reach far to get their stage names!” Claire chuckled. She then turned to Jen and asked. “Do you want to meet them?”

“Oh…” Jen gasped, suddenly shrinking up and backing away. She already felt like she was trespassing, watching two of her idols practice their craft. She didn’t have the gall to march over there and introduce herself. Claire was less concerned, already dragging the poor girl down to the ring, waving her hand out.

“Hey Leah! My friend here is a fan of yours!” Claire called out, catching everyone’s attention.

Jennifer wished she could turn invisible. All she wanted to do tonight was have a nice private submission match in oil with a girl she met on the Internet. How was she supposed to explain this to a group of pro wrestlers?

Leah was leaning over the ropes, watching the two approach. The other wrestlers were wrapping up and heading to the showers.

“Sorry we ran late again,” Leah told Claire once they were in speaking distance.

“It’s fine, I’ll just apply for overtime and see if my boss will go for it,” Claire quipped. She then presented Jen. “This is Jen, I met her on the discord.”

Leah’s eyes narrowed and she kept her eye on the last straggler leaving the gym. As they were out of earshot, she responded with a knowing nod, “Ah… a fan of that wrestling…”

“Nice to meet you,” Jen said politely. Suddenly her heart was palpitating heavily. She had watched this woman rolling around a mat, submitting others with technician-like precision in nothing but a swimsuit. She had also watched this woman engaging in erogenous Sapphic acts afterwards, showing off her fit and cleanly shaven body. While she would never openly admit to it, Jen had gotten off after watching many of these videos. She wasn’t sure how to approach this real life fantasy figure.

“Well, it’s always nice to meet with fans,” Leah replied, reaching out to shake her hand. Jen took the hand, which felt soft and delicate. She felt like she was going to melt. She’s seen where that hand has been!

“I take it that, since you’re here, you’re interested in taking part as well?” Leah noted. Jen’s face went beet red. Even though they all knew what WSW was about, it was deeply ingrained in Jen not to talk about such things in public.

“Oh, we’re going to do something like that a little later…” Claire revealed with a mischievous grin. Jen could only stand there and smile in internal horror as their lascivious plans for the evening were exposed to one of her idols. She held her breath, not knowing how the wrestling star would take it.

Leah chuckled. “So that’s why you wanted us out!” She turned to Claire and added, “Well, good luck and have fun! You too!” she winked at Jen, causing the petite blonde to blush harder. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll see more of each other!”

Jen wasn’t sure what Leah meant by that last comment, but she could feel her nether region tingle at the thought as she watched the toned athlete step out of the ring and strut out the gym. Suddenly she was starting to feel thirsty.

“So! Did you bring the stuff?” Claire asked.

“Oh!” Jen responded, remembering she had to bring the oil. She had gotten the good stuff directly from Monica. It was expensive, but Monica promised it was worth it. It was in her bag along with the strap-on she was borrowing from Sonya. She patted the bag to tell Claire it was there. She then realized she was holding that bag in front of Leah. She would have died of embarrassment if the pro wrestler knew what was in there!

Claire needed time to prep the ring for their match, so Jen left her stuff at the ring and wandered off to get a drink. She found one next to the ladies change room where Leah and Sera were probably showering. She imagined what it would be like to wrestle one of those two. She was sure she would lose, but the experience would probably show her so much. Just as she was about to look for her way back to the ring, out of the change room popped Sera Tonin. Jen dry swallowed and tried to get out of the way, but Sera spotted her and gave a friendly smile.

“Oh! Hey!” she greeted, before lowering her voice and saying, “Leah told me you’re having a match with Claire tonight.”

“Um… yes, ma’am…” Jen replied nervously. She couldn’t understand how these ladies could talk so casually about such a thing.

“Oh, you can call me Sarah,” she brushed off. “Hey, do you know about the WSW amateur tournament?”

“Actually, I do!” Jen replied, getting a burst of excitement from knowing that a pro knew about the tournament too. “I’m planning on entering!”

“That’s great! I look forward to seeing one of your matches!”

Jen’s heart nearly stopped. “Seeing my match?”

“Well, yeah… The tournament finals will be recorded for review. There is a pro WSW contract for the winner after all, so we have to know that the girl’s wrestling skills are legit!”

Jen’s face went pale. She could never wrestle in front of an audience, she would die of embarrassment!

Sarah noted her concern and added, “After a while, you forget the camera is even there!” This didn’t do anything for Jen’s mood, so she added, “And hey, it’s only done for the final four… matches before that are self reported. If you wash out, that’s that!” This seemed to finally put Jen in a better state, so Sera breathed a sigh of relief. She also added, “And even if you’re just participating, you should still have fun and learn a thing or two! Good luck on the tournament!”

Jen returned to the wrestling ring, still a little rocked and confused. She wanted to test her skills out, but had no desire to do it in front of an audience. She knew, logically, that some sort of official would have to witness the match to authenticate that it took place. All the WSW videos showed a referee in the ring with the wrestlers. It also took the job of scoring points off the wrestlers. She just never saw herself being the one in front of the camera. She didn’t even want to think about who would get to see such a video. What if they emailed all the wrestlers’ parents?!

When she got back to the ring, Claire had laid out a large blue tarp over the mat. She was already in her bikini, a bright red number that showed off her body a lot better than the employee uniform did.

“Hey! I was starting to think you bailed!” Claire called out. “Are you ready?”