In The Days Before WrestleMania

Part 1

7am Tuesday morning we were pulling into LA. The sun rising over the freeways felt like the dawn before a shootout. I'd left Roman's sleeping and snuck past the sleeping brothers to go sit down on the couch trying not to disturb a surprisingly still sleeping Paul. I opened the blinds to look out over the towering buildings of LA. This was the city that would make a defining moment in my career. The Next six days would change everything including who I was but I was ready for...I hoped.

After getting ready for the day, I came back out to the lounge to join everyone else who was now up. I was in awe when I went back over to the couch, we'd got stuck in morning traffic on the freeway so it was taking some time to get to downtown, which was expected. We'd made some way and I now could see our exited up ahead. Solo had joined me on the couch to watch. After a few more minutes we were taking our exit and downtown LA laid before us. My mouth dropped open when all over the place was banner after banner of WrestleMania signs. Most of them had Roman and Cody all over them. I was looking at the poles of the street lights that lined the way and they had smaller banners with some of the other matches up then I froze I looked to the next one and there was Rhea and I.

"Oh my God," I stated my hand covering my mouth in shock. I looked to Solo and he was smirking. "Oh my God, look at that, look at that!" I yelled. Jimmy and Jey came over and looked out the window.

"Yeah, that's you Little Uce!" Jimmy said.

"I've never been on any banner like this before," I told them staring in awe.

"Yeet!" Jey said.

"Hey look you guys are on the next one!" I yelled and we all looked out the window again. Jimmy and Jey were on one with KO and Sami. We all stared out the window at all the activity until we arrived at the hotel. We were going to be in LA until next Tuesday morning so Paul and Nicole worked on hotel rooms. I only heard a bit of a conversation but it sounded like we were booking out an entire floor of the hotel. A lot of Roman's family was going to be here and I of course had Linda coming and as if on que she was calling me.

"I'm so excited for this I've been counting down the days for the last two months. I'm at my gate, boarding should start real soon," she spoke quickly once I answered.

"Awesome, I'll keep taps on your flight and Rick will we there to pick you up when you land okay?" I told her.

"Fantastic, I can't wait I've never been to California, and I can't wait to see you, and the show is going to be so cool, I've only seen you at little house show's here in Florida," she went on and on.

"It's going to be great, I can't wait for you to get here," I told her.

"Oh, their announcing board for first class, that's me, I can't believe I'm flying first class," she squealed.

"You deserve it, I'll let you go so you can get on; I'll see you this afternoon," I told her as we pulled into the hotel parking lot and were directed to VIP parking. I hung up the phone and went back to the bedroom. Roman was also just hanging up the phone. He smiled at me when I walked in.

"We just pulled into the parking lot of the hotel," I spoke and he stood up. Our suitcases already to go by the door. Roman pulled me to him.

"You good?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm not nervous yet but I'm sure by Friday I will be," I said.

"Everything's going to be fine," he said.

"Easy for you to say you've done this how many times," I said and his chest rumbled against my cheek as he laughed.

"I have, which is why it'll be easy for you, I'll guide you the whole way Wildfire," he assured. Twenty minutes later we all were getting off the elevator on the top floor of the hotel. About four security guards were walking the length of the hallway. We had the giant suite at the end and a bunch of the family and other WWE staff members were going to be occupying the rooms around us. Nicole stopped at the room next door and she grabbed my arm.

"I'll be sharing this suite with Deb, Jules, and Linda," she told me.

"Really I'm glad you guys will be close by," I told her feeling relieved that if needed to I had somewhere to go if all of the Samoans were driving me crazy.

"Exactly what Roman said," she told me. I looked at the back of Roman's head as he waited for Paul to open our door.

"He did?" I asked.

"He said he knew you'd need a lot of comforting people around you this week so this will be the girl's layer," she stated.

"Briar?" Roman questioned. I turned to look and everyone else had already gone into the room and he was standing there holding the door open waiting for me.

"See you in a bit," Nicole said. I waved at her and quickly hurried over to the room.

"Sorry Chief," I said moving past him and inside. We'd been in a lot of nice suites before but this one, this one was above anything else. This couldn't have been a hotel room it was a house, no a mansion. I stood there staring with my jaw open.

"Why do I feel like I'm going to get lost in here?" I questioned. Roman smirked.

"Just stick with me Wildfire and you be fine," he said taking my hand pulling me behind him as I stared in more awe. Paul had taken a seat at the bar; The twins were horsing around and dancing by the hot tube and Solo and Rick were standing by the floor to ceiling windows on the far wall overlooking the huge skyline of LA. You could see in the distant a little bit of Sofi Stadium. Roman and I got our bags unpacked and made our way back to the living room. I approached Rick.

"Is Miss Linda's plane still on time?" he asked.

"Yes, 3:15 for arrival."

"Alright, don't worry I'll be there on time and get her here safely," he smiled then walked away. I went to join Paul and Roman by the bar.

"We have plans for the rest of the day?" I asked.

"Nothing specific, I thought we could go check out the Stadium grabbed some lunch then come back and wait for all the family to start arriving," Roman said.

"Sounds good to me."

"The first thing tomorrow we have to leave by 8am The Bloodline has an autograph session at 10:30am and Roman's got radio press to do all morning tomorrow," Paul said.

"Sorry Chief but I don't envy you on that one I'll take the autograph signing over radio press any day," I told them. Forty minutes later we were getting to the Stadium.

"Pull around to the front of the stadium," Paul told our driver as hotel provided us with drivers and black SUVs to get around the city for the week.

"Close your eyes," Roman said to me.

"What?" I asked confused.

"Trust me just close your eyes and don't open them until I say so," he requested so I did. I sat there with my eyes shut a minute later the vehicle came to a stop, I listened to doors opening and I knew Roman got out because I no longer felt his warmth next to me.

"Slide out but don't open your eyes," he said taking my hand. I did so, and got out. Roman put his hands on my shoulders and we started walking.

"What are we doing?" I asked.

"You'll see no peeking," he said. We walked a little bit more then he stopped me and turned me around. Standing behind me he placed his hands back onto my shoulders and I felt his breath on my ear.

"On the count of three open your eyes. One.... two.... three...," he said and I opened my eyes. I blinked a few times trying to adjust my eyes to the bright sunlight. We were standing in the middle of the parking lot and the stadium in front of us. My jaw dropped for like the fourth time today as I stared up at the WrestleMania poster all across the front of Sofi Stadium. Roman's picture was front and center with his belt and behind him was Jimmy, Jey, and me with our titles. I couldn't believe it the tears instantly stung at the corners of my eyes. I always dreamed of seeing me on any Live Event poster but on a Stadium at WrestleMania when my career only ten months ago was so uncertain. The Usos were smiling from ear to ear at it, Paul looked on in admiration, and Roman stared at me waiting for my response. I suddenly felt my legs get heavy and I went down to my knees, everyone swarmed me quickly. Roman got to my level and had a hand on my shoulder. I felt the tears coming down my cheeks.

"Briar are you okay?" he asked. I grabbed him and pulled him into a hug.

"A young girl once dreamed about being on a poster like this but even though she dreamed it she knew it'd never be a reality."

"You deserved this, no one deserves it more," he said wiping at the tears at the corners of my eyes. I finally could look back up at the stadium Roman helping me back to my feet.

"It'll never feel real," I said then was overwhelmed with excitement. I started running around the parking lot shouting about it the guys were laughing at me. I ran in a circle before beelining it to Jey and jumping on his back. He laughed and spun us around and I pointed up at the poster.

"Look we're on the side of the Stadium!" I shouted.

"Yeet!" he said laughing.

"Yeet! Yeet!" I yelled back. Once I came down from my high, we all took a bunch of pictures in front of it before Roman had enough and we went inside the stadium. We walked the halls, found our locker rooms.

"Briar here's your other locker room," Paul said to the room next to it with my name on it. I quickly checked the room out before joining the others. I wanted a separate room from the guys just because my look for my match was a secret from them. I didn't want them to see anything till I was all ready to go. We checked out hair and makeup even though Jules and Deb would be doing my look in my locker room. We found wardrobe where Cindy had just got there and was unpacking stuff. She said hi to the guys and gave me a hug.

"Almost time for the big day, you ready?" she asked.

"You tell me?" I questioned.

"I think it's going to work; you're doing your entrance run on Thursday right?"

"Yes, I believe so," I answered.

"We'll do a wardrobe run then okay?"

"Sounds good," I told her then we left moving on.

"What kind of wardrobe needs a test run?" Solo asked as we headed for gorilla.

"Mine, I guess just like me my wardrobe for Mania is wild and unpredictable," I told him and the rest of them laughed. We walked through gorilla then out onto the huge stage. It was very much a Hollywood design with steps coming up from both sides of the longest ramp I'll have ever walked down. Now I couldn't wait to walk down it. Even the whole stage area was big. We spent a half hour just walking around and getting into the ring. Jey got some messages from family members that they were close to the arena so we left the stadium picked up some food and headed back to the hotel.

Jules and Deb were standing outside the door of the room next to ours with Nicole. They turned when we got off the elevator and I ran over to them, giving them a hug. We talked for a few minutes then they went in with Nicole to get settled. The rest of us went to the other room and sat at the table to eat. By 1:45pm Rick came to tell me he was leaving for the airport to get Linda. By 3pm Rikisha, Afa, Sika, Zilla, and several other family members I was just meeting for the first time had arrived. There were a lot of cousins in this family. By three-thirty Linda messaged me that she was with Rick and they were on there way. I was relieved Linda had never been in such a big city and I didn't want her to be alone.

All the family members were given rooms but ours was the main hangout place and it was quickly filling with loud Samoan's all very kind and welcoming but all wanted to talk to me at the same time. Once I got another message from Linda that they were just approaching the hotel I stood up from the bar stool I was sitting on. I touched Roman's arm and he looked to me.

"Linda is just getting here, I'm going to meet her in the lobby," I told him.

"Briar's going down to the lobby who's going to escort her there and back?" Roman questioned loudly, I felt slightly embarrassed. I mean I know he just cares but really. Everyone stopped talking and Solo came over next to me.

"I'll go," Zilla said. Jey also came over and another cousin. I eyed Roman, it was unnecessary to have four people follow me down.

"This is ridiculous," I told him.

"Hey, clearly I'm not the only one who cares," he said raising his eyebrow and nodded at the four men standing and waiting behind me.

"Let's go," I said as I wasn't really in the mood to argue. The security guards watched us enter the elevator. If there was ever a moment, I felt like I was in a mob this was that moment. The guys chattered behind me as I anxiously watched the numbers on the elevator get lower. I hurried out once we got to the lobby, the guys moving to stay with me.

"Slow down Briar, she'll be here when she gets here," Jey said reaching for my shoulder to pull me back. Solo hovered over my other shoulder.

I searched the giant lobby looking for them, it was the sound of another familiar voice that caught my attention. Coming down a hallway toward us was Rick, Linda, and Jacob.

"Oh, my look at all these handsome men you got with you," Linda said as she got to me and we threw our arms around each other, excited to see each other and to be here.

"Yeah, they kind of start appearing out of nowhere and once they stick to you, they are kind of hard to get rid of. I see you picked one up yourself," I told her eyeing Jacob. I did introductions for those that didn't know each other, I greeted Jacob then we headed back upstairs before we drew a crowd to us. Samoans tended to stick out and I had five of them surrounding me. The guys headed back to the room as I took Linda to the other room taking her bag from Rick. I knocked on the door and Nicole answered. Solo insisted on waiting no matter how long so he waited outside in the hallway. I got Linda settled and introduced her to the girls. Everyone was so exited to meet each other finally.

I let Linda get herself settled and just like me it took her awhile to get use to how big the hotel room was.

"Wait until you see our room or house, whatever you want to call it," I told her as she followed me out into the hallway. Solo led us back to the other room and opened the door. It was still loud with all the chatter going on. Roman was the first to come to us when we entered. He greeted Linda with a hug and light chatter before the two of us walked her around and introduced everybody. After that we all just hung out. Jules, Deb, and Nicole came over and we got food and chatted into the night.

Wednesday morning, The Bloodline and I were getting ready to leave for the autograph session and Paul and Roman for their radio interviews. I went to the other room with the girls around seven and Jules and Deb did my hair and makeup. A lot of the family was going to take a tour of the town and hang out. I gave Linda the option of going with the family or I had a pass for her to come join the autograph session to help us out.

"Just a fair warning they are both going to be intense your also welcome to stay here and hangout at the hotel," I told her.

"No way, I came to have some fun, and as tempting as is sounds to hang out with Roman's family, I came to be with you, and see what you do." I gave her the pass and when she emerged from the hotel room with Nicole who was also joining us, she was in my new Briar Wild shirt. I laughed.

"Do you love the shirt I just bought?" she asked turning to show it off.

"You know you don't have to buy my shirts you just have to ask and I'll get them for you."

"This is my way to support you," she said. I shook my head and we were off. This was the first time I was doing an autograph signing with The Bloodline, actually to be honest I've only done one autograph signing since joining WWE, I had a feeling this was going to be different than the first one though.

We all left the hotel Solo, Linda and I got into one SUV with a security guard and driver. Jimmy, Jey, and Nicole got in another SUV with a driver and security guard. Roman and Paul in a separate one and we were all off in different directions. I was a bit nervous since I was doing this without Roman but since the other guys were here, I wasn't as bad as I could have been. One thing I was nervous about was anyone going to actually show up for me. We passed more of those small banners again and Linda freaked out when she saw me on one.

"Briar, oh my, that's so awesome!" she stated loudly gushing over it rolling the window down to take a picture of it. Solo leaned over to me.

"If she's like this over that one, what she going to be like when she sees the stadium?" he whispered as we watched her taking like twenty photos of it as we were stopped at a red light and she had a good view of it.

"Well can't be any worse than my reaction," I whispered back. The closer we got to the venue which was just a rental shop in a strip mall just a few blocks from a major shopping mall traffic kept getting worse. We didn't understand why until we got to the location. The line was already insane and we weren't starting for another forty-five minutes.

"Oh, my goodness," Linda said as we saw the line from the front door go down the block and wrap around the corner. Fans were in merch and had signs, they were chanting stuff. We pulled to a stop by the front door and I looked behind us the other SUV wasn't here yet. There were quite a few security guards.

"I guess I can see why there's so much security," Linda comment as she pressed her face against the window to stare in awe.

"Hey, we're not getting out until the other SUV is here," I told the guard.

"Yes, Ma'am," he responded. I pulled my phone out typed a message and handed my phone to Solo for him to read.

If something happens and this gets out of hand, I'm not the one I want you to worry about, Linda is.

When he handed the phone back to me, I looked up at him and he had a very serious look and nodded firmly once. A glanced back again and the other SUV finally pulled up behind us. My phone rang a second later, and it was Jimmy. He asked me to put the phone on speaker, and since there were so many people we didn't just want to get out and walk straight in. So, we came up with a plan to do an entrance which it kind of worked out perfectly.

Playing the part of Roman Reigns would be me, since who else could do it. Playing the part of Briar will be Linda since she's wearing my merch. Playing the part of Paul Heyman would be Nicole since she our female version of him. Linda and Nicole were both down for the whole thing. We plugged a phone into the car and cranked the sound. The security guard got out and Roman's theme song started to play causing the crowd to go crazy. Just before the spot in the song Roman comes out to our doors opened and everyone got out. We all had our sunglasses on and everyone took there spots in-between the two SUV's. In the car I had gave Solo my title to hand to Nicole who took it to stand on my right just like Paul would for Roman and Linda to my left just like I would. I stared at everyone around us recording us on their phones.

When the moment came, I extended my hand out and Nicole placed my title in my hand. I stared at it then slowly pushed it up into the air Jimmy and Jey putting their