Scapino1974

Thursday of Week 2, August 2022 Grace stumbled to a halt when we stepped into the back office. Mrs. Kil sat in one of the chairs, clutching her purse on her lap like she expected someone was going to mug her. “Wh-what is she doing here?” Grace whispered. I stepped closer to Grace. “She had questions about your time with QAW. I…I couldn’t…I had to tell her.” “Tell her what?” Grace whispered. I sighed. “Everything.” She stumbled back a step and then turned to her mom. “Mama? You saw? Everything?” Mrs. Kil nodded. “And…and John has told you about…this?” She nodded again. Grace and her mom stood in silence. I considered saying something, but I doubted I could help the situation any. “Aren’t…aren’t you going to say anything?” Grace asked. “What am I supposed to say?” Mrs. Kil whispered. “You and John… you started a professional wrestling company? You became a wrestler yourself? And not just here, but for another company? And you kept all of this to yourself. What else is there to say?” Tears trickled down Grace’s cheeks. “Mama…I didn’t want to hide anything from you. I didn’t. But what would you have said if John and I came to you when we wanted to do this? Would you have supported me? Or would you have tried to stop me?” “You were a child! Of course we would have tried to stop you. This…this isn’t what you were meant for!” “I might have been a child legally, but look at what happened. We’ve built something amazing here, Mama. Slowly but surely, we’ve made a name for ourselves. People are starting to notice. “And did you see me tonight, Mama? Did you see what I can do? I’m not trying to be immodest here, but I think I have a future as a wrestler. I can do this. I can make it this way.” “But what about school? What about your plans?” “I’m still going to college. I’ve been careful about my grades. And aside from my knee a few months ago, I’m being really careful. This is a good thing, Mama. It is.” Mrs. Kil looked between Grace and me. Then she cleared her throat. “John, can you excuse us for a little while?” I nodded and slipped out of the office, closing the door behind me. *** About a half hour into the talk, Sarah Taylor found me. She wanted to talk to me about her pay, asking for a $120 raise per show. Granted, the timing sucked but I knew she’d be worth it, especially given what I had brewing. So I agreed and she quietly left. An hour and a half after that, Grace finally emerged with her mom. They hugged, although it was an awkward embrace. Then Mrs. Kil gave me an unreadable look before heading to the exit. I wanted to hug Grace as well, but she didn’t look ready for that. Instead, I prompted, “Well?” She sighed heavily. “I wish you wouldn’t have ambushed me like that, Ace. I really do.” “I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure what else to do.” “I know.” “So what’s going to happen? Are we…is this over?” She shook her head. “I don’t think so. Mom and I have a lot more to talk about. I don’t think she really gets how I feel, but she was at least willing to listen. And keep listening. So that’s a start.” “And your dad?” Another heavy sigh. “She says she won’t say anything for now. She knows that he won’t handle this well at all, but she also recognizes that I’m 21. I’m an adult. So she knows she can’t exactly stop me. Or us. So we’re going to figure out how to let Dad know when the time is right.” Silence hung between us. “Are we okay?” I asked. Grace finally looked at me, her lips pressed together in a thin line. “We will be.”

RFW All In Thursday of Week 2, August 2022 Held at the Civic Center in Rochester, MN (Mid West Region) Broadcast on WrestleWorld (28,945 viewers) 498 in attendance Martin and Curt welcomed the audience and the viewers to this month’s All In. 1) The show kicked off with Fro Sure in the ring. Once again, Fro wasn’t behaving in his usual happy-go-lucky way. Instead, he looked angry. “So last month, my buddy, Papa Swoll, suggested that he shouldn’t be in the main event. He gave that spot to the ladies for their women’s championship match. And last month, Dustin Deuce objected to this move. At the time, I thought Dustin was overreacting…but not anymore. See, tonight, the powers that be decided to do it again. The RFW Championship will be defended in the second-to-last match, while the main event will be Grace Kil vs. Marie Punnen.” The crowd roared at the idea, and Fro stood there, an angry expression on his face. “I can see why you would think that. We all know that Grace and Marie have unfinished business apparently. But this just goes to show how much the RFW Championship has dropped in terms of prestige since Papa Swoll won it. I mean, when I was the champ, I always defended that title in the main event and I made it worth it. Right?” The crowd agreed, many of them chanting Fro’s name. “That’s right! And now, the best business decision the powers that be can make is to give the main event to someone else? That just doesn’t seem right. Nothing seems right, not since—” Fro’s rant was cut off by Quentin Queen’s entrance music. He came out to the entrance with a mic of his own. “Fro, shut up already. We get it. You miss holding the RFW Championship. Well, guess what, pal? I miss it too! Let’s not forget that before that was your title, it was mine. And I defended it in the main event as well. But you don’t hear me coming out here month after month, whining about how I lost the title.” A few people in the audience laughed and Martin pointed out that yes, that’s pretty much what Quentin did for the first couple of months. “Do us all a favor, Fro,” Quentin continued. “Shut up and get out of the ring. You’re just wasting our time.” “Why don’t you come down here and make me?” Fro shot back. Quentin stared at him, then spiked the mic and stormed down the ramp to the ring. The two of them collided in the center and referee Parker Terry raced out and called for the bell. “I guess we have our opening match right now!” Martin shouted. RATING: 47 2) FRO SURE vs. QUENTIN QUEEN The crowd really got into this. Martin pointed out that this wasn’t so much a match as it was a barely restrained brawl. Quentin and Fro were obviously trying to vent their considerable frustration on each other and there were plenty of times when it looked like the ref had lost control of the match. Both men got in an equal amount of offense and it looked like either one of them would be able to get a pin. Martin talked about how often these two had clashed in the past, which gave them a fair amount of familiarity with each other’s offense and defense. But in the end, Fro was able to block an attempted Q-Ball and put Quentin down with a Sure Thing. WINNER: Fro Sure in 11:27 RATING: 51 3) Texas Hangman appeared on the big screen. He put Wild Red Stallion on notice: “I see you have a title shot tonight, Red. Good for you. That’s all I ever wanted for you was for you to get the chance to pursue your dreams. And the thanks I got? A knife to the back. “So best watch your back, Red. Because justice is coming. And it ain’t gonna be pretty.” RATING: 32 4) JAY SILVER vs. CASSIDY BLAINE Martin tried to hype up this match as being between two up-and-coming talents in the RFW. He reminded the audience that Cassidy was something of a hometown hero and that Jay, while not really having any remarkable matches in the RFW yet, was a solid worker who had a bright future. Curt vehemently disagreed. He likened Cassidy to that guy from your hometown who peaked in high school and got stuck mentally reliving his glory days. And he once again referred to Jay as a bargain-basement Jason Momoa look-alike. Jay and Cassidy obviously had no idea that Curt spent most of the match running them down. They did a pretty good job of putting on a fairly standard match, one that ended with Jay picking up the win after an AG Driver. WINNER: Jay Silver in 13:24 RATING: 33 5) PARTY ON! Vs. THE GOOD OL’ BOYS “Apparently the powers that be didn’t think we suffered enough last month,” Curt said. “Why else would we get this rerun tonight?” Martin tried to talk up the action, but Curt wasn’t having it. He spent most of the time ripping on both teams. And, I hate to say it, both teams deserved it. This was not a good match at all. Chip eventually put us all out of our misery by taking Cockroach down with a Super Kick. WINNERS: Party On! In 9:32 RATING: 28 6) Even though the match was less than enjoyable, Party On! went backstage where they were met by Sherry Smart. Sherry, Chip, and Charlie celebrated their win, almost like they had won the titles (“Heaven help us all if they ever get close to gold,” Curt said). At one point in their victory party, Sherry decided to drink a cup of tea and then read the leaves. She confidently predicted that Party On! would be tag champs by the end of the year. Charlie and Chip were ecstatic to hear this and started whooping it up again. But then they heard someone laughing at them. They turned around and saw Jerry Pepper and Pepper Pelton standing in a nearby doorway. They mocked Charlie and Chip for ever believing anything that Sherry said to them. They even go so far as to say that any path to the titles would have to go through them first. Jerry then asked Sherry, “How do you see that turning out, sweetheart?” Before Sherry could answer, Selina Svelte and Talia Quinzel barged in and got in Sherry’s face. “Let’s not forget that you have a match against us later, Sherry,” Selina said. “Go find a partner, and we’ll see how it all turns out, okay?” RATING: 37 7) MARK LATRELL vs. JAMES DIAZ Mark really tried to get the crowd on his side, strutting around and acting like he was the biggest thing in the world. Funny thing is, he actually pulled it off. Some of the crowd really got into it. They clapped him on the back and a few even asked for selfies, which he granted but usually making faces or acting like he was better than everyone. I suppose it helped that his opponent didn’t act friendly at all. James marched out to the ring with an enigmatic smirk on his face. The match itself was pretty good, which took me by surprise. Mark acted like a cocky jerk the entire time, not taking James seriously as a threat. James didn’t seem to mind at all, taking whatever Mark had to dish out and striking back withe equal ferocity. In spite of it all, Mark kept playing to the crowd until finally, James apparently had enough. He lashed out and took Mark down, finally getting him pinned with an Asian Thumb Spike. WINNER: James Diaz in 12:12 RATING: 41 8) As soon as the match ended, three people jumped the security railing. It took Martin a second to identify them: “Original Sinner, Dreadnought, and Masked Mauler? Oh, I think James is in trouble now!” Sure enough, the three newcomers slid into the ring and cornered James. James looked a little worried about this, holding up his hands as if in surrender. But then his smirk came back and he pointed to Mark. Sinner, Dreadnought, and Mauler turned and, instead of attacking James, set into Mark, beating him almost bloody. James sat in the corner and laughed the whole time until all three of them hit Mark with their finishers, then James, Dreadnought, Mauler, and Sinner strutted out of the ring together. RATING: 18 9) JOY RIDER & SHERRY SMART vs. THE UPRISING Sherry apparently recruited Joy Rider to tag with her. Their entrance turned into something of a party as Joy tried to psych up the crowd. Chip and Charlie came out with them and joined the party. By the time they made it to the ring, the crowd was hopping. Sherry didn’t seem all that thrilled, though. Martin wondered if she had a premonition about what was going to happen. Curt countered that you didn’t have to be a psychic to know that Talia and Selina were going to destroy Joy and Sherry. And that’s pretty much what happened. Party On! tried to keep Sherry and Joy focused and cheered them on, but Selina and Talia were simply too much for them to handle. Selina and Talia knocked them around the ring, countered what little offense they were able to mount, and Talia finally put a stop to everything when she dropped Joy with a Rising Tide. WINNERS: The Uprising in 9:35 RATING: 43 10) Sarah Taylor came out to the ring. “Hello, all you beautiful people! I’m sorry that I didn’t get the chance to properly introduce myself. My name is Sarah Taylor, and I am so glad to be here with you. “Now I know that Selina Svelte filled your head with all sorts of lies about me. Am I wealthy? Well, what is wealthy? My parents left me a nice trust fund so I’m not exactly hurting for money. But does that make me some wannabe? I think I proved my worth last month, yeah? “Selina said that I’m all bling, no sting? Well, sweetie, you found out last month that this bling does sting. And I’m going to prove it to all of you. Starting right now.” RATING: 51 11) ALLIE PERKS vs. SARAH TAYLOR This proved to be a really good match. Allie had some supporters in the crowd who booed at Sarah. That seemed to rankle the newcomer a little. But a surprising number of fans were on Sarah’s side, leading Martin to wonder if Sarah had paid them off. The only real flaw in the match came when Allie slipped up and almost injured Sarah. Sarah managed to avoid getting hurt for real, but it was pretty easy to see that she was rattled by it. She quickly brought the match to an end with a Newton’s Cradle. WINNER: Sarah Taylor in 15:08 RATING: 40 12) As Martin and Curt chatted about what just happened, Jay Silver and Cassidy Blaine stormed out to the ringside. They got in Curt’s face, both of them clearly upset about what he had been saying about them in the match earlier that night. Curt blew them off and said that they had to grow thicker skins. “If you can’t handle the truth, maybe you should work on getting better.” RATING: 39 13) PAPA SWOLL © vs. WILD RED STALLION for the RFW Championship I’m glad we didn’t put this as the main event. I think Stallion wasn’t quite ready for a title match yet and it was pretty obvious. Swoll did his best to sell the fight, but it was pretty clear he was doing most of the work. Toward the end of the match, Stallion started to build some momentum and it looked like he might actually pick up the win. But then Texas Hangman’s music started to play. Stallion freaked out, looking for his former partner. Hangman didn’t show, but that distraction was all it took for Swoll to recover and then put Stallion down with a Pounce. WINNER: Papa Swoll in 15:55 RATING: 22 14) GRACE “DIAMOND” KIL vs. MARIE PUNNEN for the RFW Women’s Championship This was a great match, a great way to end the night. Grace came out to the ring with fire in her eyes. Martin said that he would hate to be on the receiving end of Grace’s wrath, especially given what Marie did last month. Curt said that no one should count Marie out early. This proved to be a major brawl. Marie was focused and intense, making it look like she was trying to turn this into an MMA fight. Grace was taken aback by the intensity at first, but within a few moments, she was going toe-to-toe with Marie. Once again, Marie focused her attention on Grace’s formerly injured knee. This blunted Grace’s offense for a little while, allowing Marie to get two near-falls. But then Grace came surging back, tossing Marie around the ring and nearly hitting the Diamond’s Edge twice herself. At the end of the match, it could have gone either way, but then, Grace hit a flurry of offense that nearly took Marie out of her boots. Grace started to set Marie up for a final Diamond’s Edge when someone vaulted the security rail and clambered up onto the top turnbuckle. “I think…I think that’s Alice Pellerton!” Martin shouted. “What is she doing here?” She answered the question quickly enough. Alice jumped off the top turnbuckle and drop-kicked Grace into the ropes. She ricocheted off, right into a sharp kick to the face from Marie. But referee Quincy Jargon called for the bell, disqualifying Marie. WINNER: Grace “Diamond” Kil by DQ in 14:39 RATING: 51 *** In my speech afterwards, I thanked Alice and Sarah for their incredible work, and I told Allie she had to be more careful after what happened in her match with Sarah. Allie took it in stride. Once we were done, I stepped up to Grace. She was joking with Sarah and some of the other workers from QAW. I tapped her on the shoulder and nodded for her to join me in a quieter corner. “Hey, I’ve got someone who needs to talk to you,” I whispered. “Oh yeah?” she asked. “Who’s that?” I considered telling her, but I didn’t want to cause any sort of scene in the locker room. “Let’s go see her.” FINAL RATING: 49 Quick Results:

QAW Titan Clash #85 Sunday of Week 1, August 2022 Held in Aurora, Colorado (Mid South Region) So this was what it means to be part of a locker room. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always loved the atmosphere at RFW. John did a lot of hard work, making sure that we had good leaders in place. And yeah, in Rochester, it always feels like a family reunion. But when I’m at RFW, I’m one of the owners. I could always feel this distance between myself and the other workers. Like, yeah, they got in the ring with me, but I knew it wasn’t the same for me as it was for the rest of them. And yeah, I’d been working for QAW for a while, but just dropping in once a month to do a quick match wasn’t really enough. But after traveling with the QAW workers in July, spending time with them on the road and crashing on a couch in an Airbnb with them? Something just clicked. When I arrived back in Aurora, everyone was a whole lot friendlier. Even Honey Badger seemed happy to see me. And I was glad to see them. These were my girls. These were people who got me, who understood what I was all about. And sure, Jackson had stuck me in the pre-show again. Sabrina and I would take on Sonnaz and Alice Pellerton. We even won the case. That was nice, but I didn’t care. My life was on an upward trajectory and nothing was going to derail that. Nothing.

From RFW.com... Predictions, comments, whatever you have is good...

Monday of Week 1, August 2022 I stared at Mrs. Kil, my mouth suddenly dry. Her question about Grace seemed to hang in the air between us and I knew I had to answer. But what could I say? We had been lying to her and Reverend Kil for two and a half years? That her daughter was probably going to wind up being a legendary professional wrestler if given the chance? That we were building our own little financial empire here in Rochester? Would any of those answers actually give her any comfort? Would she believe any of it? Worse, what would Grace think if I told her the truth? Was that even my place to do so? My parents had known for so long, I think I had unconsciously fooled myself into thinking that Grace’s did too, that they were fine with it, that everyone was happy with our business venture. But clearly, that wasn’t the case. “When Hannah called me to ask if I knew what was going on, I told her to talk to you,” Mom said. Oh, even better. I shifted in my seat, suddenly feeling the weight of this moment pressing me toward the floor. The unspoken threat was clear: if I didn’t come clean, Mom would. What choice did I have left? I sighed. “Mrs. Kil…first of all, I want to assure you that Grace is fine. I’ve been texting her for the past two weeks and she is perfectly safe.” “It’s not very reassuring that you feel you have to start out like that,” Mrs. Kil replied. I winced. Good point. Maybe if I went at this from a slightly different angle… “You know how proud you were when Grace made the varsity wrestling team?” “Yes?” “Well, we haven’t exactly…stopped…since we graduated.” Mrs. Kil frowned. “I don’t understand. Grace isn’t on the U’s wrestling team. And I know for a fact that RCTC doesn’t have one.” I sighed. Okay, subtle wasn’t working. Time to rip the Band-Aid off. “Two and a half years ago, Grace and I pooled our money together and we…started a professional wrestling company. We’ve been putting on shows in the Civic Center. Grace is our women’s champion and…well, I wrestle too.” Still kind of stung to have to phrase it like that, but better to be honest. Mrs. Kil blinked at me, and then she scowled. “This is ridiculous. If this was true, you would have started this company while you were both still in high school.” I nodded. “We did.” She stared at me, then looked to my mom, who nodded. She spluttered a little bit. “You mean…my Grace…she’s a professional wrestler?” “And a very good one at that,” I said. “But if that’s true, if you’re both doing this, then why aren’t you gone? Where is she right now?” I sighed. “Like I said, Grace is a great wrestler, Mrs. Kil. And so another company, Queens of American Wrestling, hired her as well. So she’s been traveling to their shows. She had a bunch of them in Texas, Colorado, and Kansas for the past two weeks.” Mrs. Kil looked like she wilted, almost collapsing in on herself. She looked around the room, mouthing several words but not actually saying anything. “Why…why wouldn’t she tell us about this?” Oh, I got to explain this too? “Because we were afraid of how you would react. Reverend Kil specifically.” That got her attention. Her gaze fixed on me. “Thomas? You think he would…” Her voice trailed off and I could see her thinking about what I said. Her shoulder slumped and she sniffled. I had no idea what I was supposed to do next. Grace really should have been the one to tell her about this. Then again, we both probably should have been honest a while ago. Now this was an even bigger mess, because Mrs. Kil knew but Grace didn’t know that she knew. This was going to give me a headache. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Kil,” I said. “We never meant to hurt anyone, but we knew that you wouldn’t approve. And after my folks found out—” Oh, that was the wrong thing to say. Mrs. Kil’s eyes widened and she whirled on my mom. “You knew? And you didn’t say anything?” Mom glared at me. “We did find out, but after Grace and John graduated from high school. We encouraged Grace to tell you, but we weren’t sure it was our place to do so.” “You should have told us!” Mrs. Kil snapped. “Our daughter was risking her life—” “She wasn’t risking her life!” I said. “She got injured, didn’t she? And now she’s in…in Kansas? Lying to us about where she is, what she’s doing? This isn’t how we raised her! We raised her to be…to be respectful. A good girl. Not someone who curses and swears and drinks and…” She started sobbing. “Mrs. Kil, Grace is the same girl she’s always been. She’s just found something that she really enjoys and she’s really good at. I’m sorry that we didn’t tell you. We should have right away. We can’t change that. But Grace hasn’t changed as much as you think. “Look…we’re going to have another show in two weeks. Why don’t you come to the Civic Center and see for yourself what Grace has been doing? Meet the other wrestlers. Mom and Dad were just as worried about what we were up to, but once they saw how we were handling this, well…I think they’re okay with it.” Mom’s jaw clenched and I realized I had just lied again. She obviously wasn’t, but she didn’t contradict me. Mrs. Kil studied my face. “And what, I don’t tell Thomas about this? You want me to lie to my husband?” “No,” I said. “But has he been worried about Grace at all?” She huffed, but she said, “No. He’s not worried at all.” “If he asks, tell him everything. But if you can wait two weeks and see what we’re doing, and if you don’t think this is working, I’ll go straight to your house and tell Reverend Kil myself.” Mrs. Kil stared at me, as if trying to read the right answer from my expression. Then she sighed. “I shouldn’t agree to this…but I can wait to tell Thomas for another two weeks. But if I am not satisfied with what I see—” I nodded. “I completely understand.” “But, I have to insist on one thing: you will not tell Grace that I know.” I stared at her. “What?” “You claim that she hasn’t changed. We shall see. But if she knows that I will be there, I do not believe she will be her genuine self. If you want to convince me, she can’t know about any of this. If you do not agree to this, I will tell Thomas the moment I get home.” I exchanged a look with Mom. She clearly wasn’t happy about this either. But what could we do? It was either keep this secret for two weeks or have it all blow up right now. I finally nodded. “Very well.” Mrs. Kil rose from her seat. “I appreciate your eventual honesty, John. We will see what happens in two weeks.” “Until then.” She left. And quite honestly, I had no idea if we had dodged a bullet or put ourselves in line for an even bigger failure.

Monday of Week 1, August 2022 I had stayed up the night before to watch Grace on QAW. She was amazing, no two ways about it. No wonder the TEW message boards were lighting up with chatter about her. I had been so excited for her that I didn’t really get to sleep until well into the night. Maybe that was why I couldn’t make sense of the financial report. I had entered and reentered all of the data three times and I kept getting the same results. So I had to figure that I was doing everything right. I just couldn’t figure out how the hell we had made a little over a thousand dollars in profit. I mean, we were in the middle of upgrading our merchandise and we had spent $2,000 more on workers the past month. I sifted through the data, trying to see where the extra money had come from. $1,200 more in broadcast revenue, an extra two hundred bucks from ticket sales. Sponsorships were up by $1,100. It just didn’t make sense. Not that I was complaining. I thought for sure, when we first signed with WrestleWorld, that we’d be bankrupt by now. Instead, we were chugging along with no problems. I finally shut off the accounting program and stretched. So what to do with the rest of my day? The temp agency hadn’t had anything for me, so that meant my day was free. I supposed I could go to the movies. Maybe hit the gym? I hadn’t had the chance to do that for a while… “John! Get down here!” Mom shouted up the stairs. Or I could go see what had her so riled up. I trotted out of the room, down the stairs… …only to find myself face-to-face with Mrs. Kil. I stopped short. She looked like she had been crying. Mom had an arm around her shoulders, whispering something to her, but when I reached the bottom of the stairs, Mom gave me a look I couldn’t decipher. What was going on? Why was Mrs. Kil here? “John, Mrs. Kil needs to talk to you about something,” Mom said quietly, motioning for all of us to go into the living room. I followed, my body numb. Mrs. Kil settled into the couch and Mom jabbed a finger at a chair opposite her. I sank into it and braced myself. Had Grace gotten hurt again? Or had something happened to Reverend Kil? “John, I know that my little girl has grown up a lot the last few years,” Mrs. Kil said. “And I know that she’s becoming a strong, independent woman. And I’m so proud of who she’s becoming.” I started to say something, but she held up a hand, cutting me off. “I need to get through this first. I’ve suspected that you two have been up to something for a while now. It seemed awfully convenient that she was always gone the same night every month, but the police never showed up and Thomas never seemed concerned. So I let it go. “But then, a few months ago, Grace injured her knee and I started to suspect something was going on. Her explanation for what happened never made sense. “And now, she’s gone for two weeks for a seminar with the U? I thought that sounded suspicious, but why would she lie to me? “Except I wanted to send her a care package as a surprise, so I contacted the U to find out what her mailing address would be. And they had no idea what I was talking about.” Ice sluiced through my veins as Mom fixed me with a pointed glare. “I tried calling Mark, and he insisted that she was in the Twin Cities. So now I’m here, John. I only have one question for you: where is my daughter?”

Sunday of Week 4, July 2022 By the time we made it to Wichita, I was almost dead on my feet. A good kind of dead, if there is such a thing. What an amazing time! Since I would be working so much during the last two weeks of July, I had decided that I wouldn’t try to go home in between shows. I mean, I could have, but then I would have been trying to explain where I was going every couple of days to Mom and Dad. Coming up with one big excuse rather than four smaller ones was a whole lot easier. Not as many lies to keep straight. So I had told them that I’d be in the Cities for a summer seminar. While I was on the road, I would crash on the couches of different QAW wrestlers and kind of see how they managed to balance their lives with their careers. And it was a lot of fun! Starting in Fort Worth, Coco Malloy and I had a preshow tag match against Izzy Quick and Sonnaz Shah. We won, which was kind of nice. Then a week later, in Houston, Teresa Perez and I tore the house down for Crowning the Queen XIII. Near as I could tell, only one other match even came close to ours. Then two nights later, we were up in Aurora, Colorado, and I was once again in the preshow, this time tagging with Honey Badger against Kira Lee and Sabrina Wells. That was…interesting. Turns out Honey Badger is a lot nicer than she lets on. But the last night on this mini-tour. Titan Clash #84. Mariana Torres and I actually went into a tag title match against Ava Anderson and Lily Snyder. Obviously we weren’t going to win the gold, but Jackson specifically told us to go all-out if we wanted. And Mariana and I wanted to. We blew the roof off the arena. As a matter of fact, TEW named me the MVP for the show. By the time I made it back to the Airbnb that I was sharing with some of the other girls, I was flying so high, I didn’t ever want to come down. This is what I was put on this earth to do. This is what I wanted to do. I didn’t care how long it took, I was going to get to the point where I’d be able to wrestle full-time and focus only on that. I went to sleep that night, knowing that I’d have to return to the “normal world” soon enough. Nothing good lasts forever, right? But this felt right. It felt good. And I wanted to hold on to that feeling as long as I could.

RFW All In Thursday of Week 2, July 2022 Held at the Civic Center in Rochester, MN (Mid West Region) Broadcast on WrestleWorld (29,852 viewers) 460 in attendance Curt and Martin welcomed the audience to the show. “We should have an action packed night in store for us!” Martin said. “Have you seen the card? Papa Swoll defending his title against Dustin Deuce? Grace Kil taking on Sabrina Wells? This is going to be great!” 1) Speaking of Swoll, his entrance music hit and he came out to the ring. He was all smiles, exuding a calm that the crowd really got into. Martin commented that he and his tag partner, Fro Sure, were an interesting study in opposites: “Fro Sure is all high energy and dancing whereas Papa Swoll just let’s it be. You need that kind of balance in your life.” “Except I’m not sure that there’s much balance between the Kings right now, especially since Papa is the champ and Fro is not,” Curt countered. Whatever the case, Papa Swoll got into the ring and welcomed the crowd. He said hi to a few of our regular fans that he recognized, then made an announcement: “I know you all came here to see me defend my title in the main event. Well…that’s not gonna happen.” The crowd was stunned. A few of them even booed. Swoll let them vent for a bit before he held up his hands. “That doesn’t mean I won’t fight Dustin. I’m gonna do that. It’s just not gonna be the main event. “See, my Gramma Swoll was a wise lady. And she used to say to me, ‘Papa, there ain’t no shame in admitting someone’s better’n you. Be humble, ’cuz that way, other people will see how great you are rather than having to shove it down their throats.’ “Now I am the RFW champ and I don’t intend to drop this title any time soon. But man, that Grace Kil is something else, isn’t she? Sometimes you just know that you’re in the presence of a legend, and I think that’s what we’ve got here in Rochester: a legend in the making. So tonight, I asked the powers that be to put her in the main event where she belongs. And—” Swoll was interrupted by Dustin Deuce’s entrance music. The challenger came out to the ring entrance with a mic of his own. “How dare you! How dare you rob me of my main event spot?” Dustin raged. “I have been criminally overlooked by these ‘powers that be’ and I finally managed to get a title shot and you take away the main event slot? How dare you!” “Now hold up, Dustin,” Swoll said. “You still have your title shot. I’m still gonna fight you and, you never know, you might just win. Nobody is saying you don’t deserve that shot. But be humble, man. Chill it out. We’re still gonna have a match you can be proud of.” Dustin sneered at him. “Oh, I’m gonna be proud all right. Proud to hold that title up over your broken body. Because I don’t think you know the pain you’ve unleashed into your life when the Deuce goes wild over you.” Swoll stared at him and said, “Might wanna rethink that catchphrase, Dustin.” RATING: 49 2) ALLIE PERKS vs. TALIA QUINZEL Much to Martin and Curt’s surprise, Talia Quinzel came out to the ring. No crutches, no cast, she was clearly ready to fight. Martin said that he was just as surprised as anyone to see her but was excited to see a match that was apparently going to be against Allie Perks. These two tore each other apart, hammering each other in the ring and out of it. The crowd really got into the intensity and egged them on. Neither one could put the other one down definitively and they eventually tumbled out of the ring and wound up brawling up the ring entrance ramp as Quincy Jargon counted to ten. The match ended in a draw as both competitors were counted out. Neither of them seemed all that happy about the result, but when Allie tried to shake Talia’s hand, Talia knocked it away and stormed out. WINNER: No one (Draw) in 15:27 RATING: 43 3) PARTY ON! Vs. THE GOOD OL’ BOYS An okay match. Charlie and Chip really hammed it up as two “rock gods” on their way out to the ring while Cockroach and Adrien looked really upset that they had to wrestle them. Adrien seemed particularly upset about fighting “them big city folk.” Unfortunately, Charlie and Cockroach stumbled through the match and Adrien looked completely clueless as to what he was supposed to be doing. Eventually, Charlie put Cockroach down with the Corner Cutter and picked up the win. WINNERS: Party On! In 9:42 RATING: 26 4) A backstage camera followed Party On! as they returned to the locker room. Charlie told Chip that he had mentally dedicated the win to Sherry after what happened to her last month. As they walked, though, the camera caught sight of John “Ace” Hart talking quietly with Roger Monteiro. Both men looked pretty intense, but they finally shook on whatever they were talking about. RATING: 27 5) FRO SURE vs. WILD RED STALLION Once again, as Fro came out to the ring, he looked particularly subdued. It almost looked like he was sleepwalking down the entrance ramp. No dancing, no real joy. He sort of mechanically got into the ring and waited for Wild Red Stallion to come out. When the bell rang, Fro sort of snapped out of it, but Martin said it was pretty obvious that something was off for Fro. “I’ve seen guys get that look before. Nothing good ever comes from it. Guy is heart-sick and it’s gonna mess him up if he’s not careful.” Martin’s words proved prophetic. While Fro put up a fight and didn’t exactly make it easy for Stallion, it was pretty clear he was too distracted to be much of a threat. Stallion was eventually able to put him down with a Lakota Cutter, much to everyone’s shock. Stallion quickly made the pin and then got out of there, carrying on like he had won the title. WINNER: Wild Red Stallion in 12:48 RATING: 48 6) THE SCOFIELD INDEX vs. THE FRANCHISE © for the RFW Tag Team Championship This match took me by surprise, because out of the four guys in the match, Mark put on the best performance. Really. I have no words. He was clearly on fire as the match started and he really did a great job of selling Jerry and Pepper’s offense. It was an interesting match since both teams were willing to resort to underhanded tactics to gain the advantage. Jerry would switch places with Pepper when the ref wasn’t looking. Jack would charge in to break up pin attempts. The crowd was getting a bit riled up since no one seemed to want to win this match legitimately. But then Mark speared Pepper almost out of his boots and then made the pin, but he had his feet on the ropes to add some leverage to keep Pepper down. WINNERS: The Franchise in 10:22 RATING: 33 7) ROGER MONTEIRO vs. JAMES DIAZ Once again, James Diaz strutted out to the ring, looking extremely confident. Even as Roger made his way down the ramp, James blew him off as a threat. He lounged in a corner and laughed at him as Roger entered the ring. As the match started, James exploded out of his corner and ran Roger over. He then set the boots to Roger’s chest and Curt predicted that the match was going to be over before it really got started. Roger eventually recovered and started the match in earnest. James was clearly in control of the match. While Roger got some offense in, James was able to counter it fairly easily and spent some time laughing and mocking Roger for his efforts. Toward the end of the match, referee Quincy Jargon got hit accidentally by Roger and knocked out. The fight continued, but within a few seconds, I ran out of the ring with a steel chair. I slid under the rope and took a swing at James. But he saw me coming and ducked out of the way. I accidentally smashed Roger in the face, taking him down. I stared in shock, but then James drop-kicked the chair into my own face and knocked me over the top rope. James quickly roused the ref and got Roger with the Asian Thumb Spike. Quincy groggily made the count. WINNER: James Diaz in 14:01 RATING: 40 8) Papa Swoll was getting ready for his match when suddenly, a masked man attacked him from behind, smashing him into the lockers. The mystery man spent a few moments stomping and kicking Swoll before he fled. “Who the hell was that?” Martin asked. RATING: 24 9) Selina Svelte came out to the ring for her match, but she looked absolutely furious. “So the powers that be decided that I should be the one to give Sarah Taylor her official welcome to the RFW. And boy, am I happy to do so. “See, Sarah and I have history together. I’ve run into her at a bunch of different shows put on by different promotions. And she’s the same everywhere: she thinks she can buy her way to the top. Sarah’s a trust fund kid who doesn’t take any of this seriously. She’s all bling, no sting. “Now Sarah usually throws a bunch of money at the owners of whatever promotion she’s at to get her some stroke. But I’m gonna make sure that doesn’t happen here. Her time at the RFW ends before it even begins.” Unfamiliar entrance music started playing, a pretentious high society sort of music. Sarah Taylor strutted out to the ring entrance. “Selina. So good to see you, love. But I have to disagree. Yes, I may have more money than most of the people here. And yes, I may use it strategically. But I’ve never used it to win a match. Not directly. And I’ll prove that right now.” RATING: 51 10) SELINA SVELTE vs. SARAH TAYLOR The crowd really got into this match. Selina somehow got cast as a hometown hero for the match, with a big segment of the crowd squarely behind her while a number of smarks got behind Sarah. And the two of them really managed to capitalize on the heat. They played to the crowd and whipped them into a bigger and bigger frenzy, then fed off that energy to make things look more and more intense. By the time the match wound up, most of the fans were on their feet. Selina tried to put Sarah down quickly but really struggled to do so. Martin commented that it seemed that Sarah had invested in some serious wrestling lessons. In the end, Sarah managed to put Selina down with a Newton’s Cradle. WINNER: Sarah Taylor in 15:42 RATING: 50 11) Backstage, James Diaz appeared on camera and spent a few moments mocking me for botching that ambush. “If you thought you were going to do a mercy killing today, Hart, well, just know that you failed. The Son of the Monster has been unleashed. And I’m not going anywhere until I burn the RFW to the ground!” RATING: 24 12) PAPA SWOLL © vs. DUSTIN DEUCE for the RFW Championship The crowd was pretty much on Swoll’s side from the start, especially since it looked like Swoll was nursing some injuries from the beating backstage. He kind of limped out to the ring and rolled his shoulders like he was trying to work out the kinks. Dustin took advantage of the situation by lighting into Swoll the moment the bell rang. He knocked the champ around and tried to take him out quickly, but that didn’t prove to be an easy task. Swoll fought back and, even though Dustin managed to get him pinned twice, kicked out at two each time. Try as he might, Dustin could not put Swoll down. On his third attempt to do so, Swoll managed to block him and hit a Pounce, seemingly out of nowhere, picking up the pin and the win. WINNER: Papa Swoll in 15:04 RATING: 42 13) Grace came out to the ring with her title belt. She got on the mic. “Selina seems all concerned about Sarah Taylor being here, but I don’t see why she’s so mystified about it. Isn’t it obvious? Sarah’s here because she wants the title. I’ve proven myself to be a force to be reckoned with. I’ve held this title for over a year now. If Sarah Taylor or Selina Svelte or anyone else wants to take a crack at it, they are welcome to do so. “And that includes you, Sabrina Wells. We’re about to hit the ring together today and I know that you’ve wanted this title for a while. Well, let’s get it started and see what happens. May the best wrestler win.” RATING: 37 14) GRACE “DIAMOND” KIL © vs. SABRINA WELLS for the RFW Women’s Championship Once the match started, Grace and Sabrina went after each other pretty fiercely. It was clear that Sabrina had her eyes on the title and was going to do her best to capture it. But Grace obviously wasn’t going to go down without a fight. But then, halfway through the match, Grace seemed to twist her knee wrong. She went down, yelling and clutching at her knee like it had been injured. Sabrina seemed horrified and moved in to try to help, but Grace pushed her away. The referee asked her if she wanted to stop the match, but Grace refused. Instead, she clambered up in a corner and kept fighting. In spite of her “injury,” Grace kept fighting the whole time. Sabrina seemed taken aback by this and Martin wondered if she was pulling some of her punches. Curt said that was a stupid idea; obviously Grace wasn’t backing down so Sabrina shouldn’t either. In the end, Grace managed to catch Sabrina in a Diamond’s Edge, picking up the win. WINNER: Grace “Diamond” Kil in 18:56 RATING: 54 15) Grace looked to be in a little bit of pain as the ref handed her her title belt and raised her hand in victory. But before Grace could get out of the ring, someone jumped the security railing and slid under the bottom rope… “It’s Marie Punnen!” Martin shouted. “She’s back! What is she doing here?” Marie made it pretty obvious what her intent was. She immediately kicked Grace in her injured knee. When Grace went down, Marie leapt on her and rained down punches. After a few moments, the locker room cleared out as other workers came out and pulled her off of Grace. RATING: 32 *** Once the show was done, I gathered the wrestlers together. I made sure to highlight Selina and Sarah’s match. And I even threw a compliment Dustin’s way, hoping to smooth things over after I didn’t give him the raise he wanted. Afterwards, Grace approached me. “So…hear anything from Abigail yet?” I shook my head. Still nothing. I was tempted to drive over to Albert Lea and see if I could catch her at home, but I had no idea how her family might react to my presence. If she didn’t want to talk, well…I suppose that made sense. “Hang in there, Ace,” Grace said. “If it’s meant to be, it’ll all work out.” I chuckled mirthlessly. “Glad you think so. I’m not so sure. I’m pretty sure I blew it.” She didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to. After a few moments of silence, she cleared her throat. “So what did you think of Allie’s match?” “Not too shabby,” I said. “I agree. I think Allie could really be something special.” “Duly noted.” We chatted a little bit longer, then grace patted my on my arm. “Well, wish me luck. I’m hitting the road with QAW for the rest of the month. Four shows over two weeks. Gonna be interesting.” “I’ll say.” I frowned. “What did you tell your folks?” She smiled nervously. “I said that the U of M was doing a special summer session for one of my upcoming classes. I said I’d be staying with some friends up in the Cities for two weeks while I took the seminar.” “And they bought that?” She shrugged. “Seemed to. Dad’s kind of stressed right now because of stuff that’s happening at church, so he’s distracted. And Mom…well, she seemed understanding enough.” Huh. “Well, good luck and keep me up to date one what you’re up to.” “Will do, boss.” I frowned. “Never call me that again.” FINAL RATING: 51 From RFW.com...

From RFW.com...

Sunday of Week 4, June 2022 I had been right. Dad totally got the idea of me taking some time off from school. And why wouldn’t he? He had never gone to college and, in his words, he turned out just fine. Mom, on the other hand, wasn’t as thrilled. She insisted that I had to find a job—a full time one!—and save my money. I wasn’t going to just sit around on the computer or play video games or just wrestle once a month. So I wound up taking a job at a temp agency, going out on odd jobs. The first two weeks were…well, they were two weeks. Two weeks of acting as a receptionist, filing paperwork for an insurance company, and generally just being ordered from Point A to Point B. Pay was nothing exciting, but given that I was still living rent free with my parents, it was all profit that went straight into my savings. Thankfully, that mirrored how RFW was doing. We had only made two hundred bucks and some change, but at least we were still in the black at the end of the month. We had just a little over $81,000 in our company savings, so that was good too. All in all, life had stabilized for me. I had a job, I was meeting new people, and I was excited about some of the new possibilities for RFW. On the balance sheet of life, I was in the black too. Except there was still red in that ledger. I didn’t make a nuisance of myself, but I kept trying. Reaching out. Sending the occasional text. Talking to Cassidy. But no matter what I tried, I hadn’t heard from Abigail. And I was starting to worry that I never would. And that void felt like it could consume me.

QAW The Showdown Friday of Week 3, June 2022 Held in Irvine Hall (Mid South Region) Another QAW show, another pre-show match for me. Tag team (again), this time with Ruby Reece. We were going to face Modesty and Marie Punnen, a sort of RFW reunion. And here’s the funny thing: I don’t know when it happened, but my attitude had shifted. Sure, I would have liked to be a little higher in the card. Like, out of the pre-show entirely. But it was almost as if Pam Rojo had knocked some sense into me a month earlier. I kind of had my foot in both worlds in a way. At RFW, I was the champ, top dog, numero uno. At QAW, I wasn’t. Nowhere near it. So I got to see both perspectives. Back in Rochester, I had fans who would wait as long as they had to to get a picture or an autograph. Wherever we went with QAW, sure, I had a handful of requests, but nowhere near as many. These shows were an anchor for my ego. And Lord knows I probably needed one. Besides, the way I saw it, I had an important job. I could go out and half-ass the pre-show matches, just go through the motions since only a couple hundred or maybe a few thousand people might see it. Or I could do my best to rile up the crowd, get them stoked and hot for the “real show.” And that’s what we did. Ruby and I made it our goal to get the crowd so solidly behind us, so ramped up and crazy, that they’d have to wait for people to simmer down to actually start things. And I don’t know if we succeeded, exactly, but by the time we made it back to the locker room, my ears were ringing pretty badly. But I wasn’t done yet. Ego in check. Team player. I did my best to psyche up everyone before they went out for their matches. An encouraging word. Some applause. Whatever I thought they needed. I’m not sure if everyone appreciated my efforts. But I think I caught a hint of a smile from Juana before she went out for the main event. When the show was over, Farrah gathered the girls together and gave us a pep talk. Truth be told, Ace could probably learn a thing or two from her. The way she reeled us in and gave props to just about everyone…well, even though she didn’t mention me by name, I felt included and appreciated. As the workers drifted away, Farrah said, “Hang on a sec, Kil.” I froze and glanced at the others. Was it good or bad that she was singling me out after the post-show speech? From people’s expressions, it could be either. She looked me over, as if evaluating me, then nodded. “I gotta say, I’ve appreciated the hard work you’ve put in lately. And I wanted to give you a head’s up: I’m intending on putting you in more shows starting next month.” My heart stuttered. “Yeah?” She nodded. “A lot of shows during the last two weeks of July. From what some of the girls have told me, your scheduling is a bit…complicated.” I winced. That was one way of putting it. I had moved back home for the summer again, so this would mean I’d have to come up with some excuse to tell Mom and especially Dad about where I would be. Do-able, but still a challenge. “You in?” “I’m all in!” Farrah quirked a brow at me. “Interesting choice of words. Will Hart cause you any grief?” I shook my head. “He’s on board with me doing these shows. And he’s been careful about conflicting with QAW shows. We’ll be good.” Farrah nodded. “Well, talk to Cherie before you leave. She’ll have the travel schedule for you. And Kil? Good work tonight.” I practically floated out of the locker room. This felt like a major step for me. This meant I was going places. But first, I had to go home and figure out how I was going to explain all of this to my folks…

Tuesday of Week 3, June 2022 “So, Mr. Hart, what is it going to be?” I shifted in my chair, uncomfortable at the scrutiny. I sat across from Mel Thomas, one of the professors at RCTC. He had set up this appointment for me a few weeks back, but due to life and craziness, I had almost forgotten about it. Technically, classes had wrapped up for the year, but he really wanted to talk to me. What about? My future, a lingering question that I knew I had to confront sooner or later. After all, I had been attending RCTC for two years now. Most of my classmates had either graduated with their AA or they were getting ready to transfer to a traditional school. So what was I going to do? I still had no idea. Thomas sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Look, Mr. Hart, I get it. You’re at a crossroads right now and you’re unsure of what your next step should be. That’s pretty normal. Now I took a peek at your transcript, and from what I saw, your grades are great. You’ve knocked out your generals. So the real question is: what do you want to do? Stick around here and get your associates or transfer to a four year college?” I gritted my teeth and my palms started sweating. I should have spent more time focusing on this, but given everything that had happened in the last few months with Grace and RFW and Abigail and all that, well, it just didn’t seem all that much of a priority. Until it was. Until now. “Or, you know, you could take a year off,” Thomas said. “It’s not like your credits will evaporate or something. I can tell that this is a big deal. Why not sleep on it, so to speak, and see what shakes out?” I let out a shaky breath. “I think that’s what I’ll do. Thanks, Professor.” He held up his hands, as if surrendering. “I’m just doing what they ask me to. Good luck, Mr. Hart.” We shook hands and I left the office, letting out a shaky breath. There would be paperwork, I was sure, and I’d have to sell the idea to Mom and Dad. Mom especially. But until I knew for sure what I was going to do… My cell chirped at me and I glanced at the caller ID. Dustin Deuce? What did he want? “Hey, Ace, glad I caught you,” Dustin said. “What’s going on?” “Look, I was hoping we could talk about my pay. The way things are going, I figure it’s time for RFW to start paying me what I’m worth. And hey, it’d be nice to be able to afford to take m’lady out to someplace nice once in a while.” His what? “…okay.” “Yeah, me and Sherry. I do enjoy the time we have together, and a little more money would make our time all the sweeter.” Sherry Smart? Apparently I was running a dating service for young wrestlers. “So what are you asking for?” “Oh, I was thinking sixty bucks a show would be good.” My eyebrows climbed my forehead. Sixty? Given that we rarely used Dustin, that wasn’t too much of an ask, I suppose. But at the same time, I wasn’t really liking his tone. It was pretty clear he expected me to just roll over and pay it. “Look, I’ll give you half that. Thirty bucks more a show.” Silence, and then Dustin sputtered a few counters. But I didn’t budge. After about five minutes of whining, he sighed and took it, but I could tell he wasn’t happy about it. He quickly hung up after that. I pocketed my phone and smirked. Maybe I should stick around and get my AA in business.

RFW All In Thursday of Week 2, June 2022 Held at the Civic Center in Rochester, MN (Mid West Region) Broadcast on WrestleWorld (22,631 viewers) 442 in attendance Martin and Curt welcomed the audience to the show. 1) ALLIE PERKS vs. MODESTY PARDOR We started things off right away with Allie Perks and Modesty Pardor in the ring. Martin hyped up this match as being between two young up-and-comers who could be serious contenders for the women’s championship…except that the women’s championship was still in the hands of Grace Kil. “Except Grace is vulnerable right now,” Curt said. “She’s still shaky on her feet after that injury two months ago. If anyone has a chance to dethrone her, it’s now.” Allie really impressed the audience with her intensity, getting Modesty trapped in the corner and hammering her with her trademark machine-gun punches. But then, as she tried to roll Modesty up into a pin, Modesty managed to keep rolling, then somehow got Allie into a Crossface, forcing her to tap out. WINNER: Modesty Pardor in 14:42 RATING: 31 2) Texas Hangman came out to the ring looking particularly grim. He slid into the ring and got on the mic. “Now I know you’re all waiting for my match against Cassidy Blaine—and we’re gonna get to it, never fear—but I want to take a few moments and address my former tag team partner, Wild Red Stallion. “Stallion, I don’t know what your problem is. Look, I get it. You tried to set out on your own and you stumbled a bit. No shame in that, partner. None at all. We’ve all been there. The question is, what do you do to pick yourself up? And do you have the ability to accept help when it’s offered? “I thought you did. I thought I had a better read on you. That’s why, even after you turned your back on me, I offered to try again as the Silver Bullet. And look at what happened: we became tag team champs. We were starting to make some serious progress on establishing ourselves as the team to beat. “And then, out of nowhere, you turned your back on me again. Well, you know the old saying, Stallion: fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice…you face the Hangman’s justice.” RATING: 31 3) TEXAS HANGMAN vs. CASSIDY BLAINE Cassidy seemed a bit wary as he made his way to the ring. Martin said that he should be. After all, Hangman looked ready to send a message to Wild Red Stallion in this match. And Hangman did, knocking Cassidy around the ring pretty thoroughly before he finally put Cassidy down with a Choke Slam. “Do you think Stallion got the message?” Martin asked. “He would if Hangman hadn’t chosen such a poor messenger,” Curt quipped. “It’d be one thing to use someone like, oh, Papa Swoll or Fro Sure as the messenger. But Cassidy Blaine? Impossible for us to know how much of that was Hangman venting and how much was Cassidy Blaine’s lack of in-ring experience.” WINNER: Texas Hangman in 9:59 RATING: 38 4) Backstage, James Diaz strutted past the locker room, smirking at the people he passed. A lot of those people backed off, clearly worried about what James might do. But then he came face to face with me. “Hart.” He tried to brush past me. “Hold on a second, Diaz. We need to talk.” “About what?” “About the path of destruction you’re cutting through the RFW. First Original Sinner, and then last month, Dreadmask. Both of them are out for who knows how long. This needs to stop.” “Oh, does it?” “Yes! I don’t know what kind of pathological need you have for hurting people, but if you don’t put an end to it tonight, I will. That’s a promise.” James smiled. “Too bad you already have a match tonight then, huh? Let’s just see what happens there and then, we’ll talk.” RATING: 37 5) In another part of the backstage area, Sherry Smart was holding court in her little fortune tellers’ set. She rifled through a tarot card deck and started setting out cards in a seemingly significant pattern. As she did, she said that the stars had aligned and, with her mystical guidance, a new force to be reckoned with had emerged in the RFW. The camera pulled back to reveal Chip Martin and Charlie Corner flanking her while wearing matching outfits. She introduced them as “Party On!” and said that, with her giving them supernatural insight into their matches, they were guaranteed the gold. That was why they were in a match against the Franchise tonight! Charlie and Chip whooped it up and the three of them headed to ringside. “Shouldn’t someone point out to Sherry that Chip and Charlie have been tagging together on-and-off for the past couple of months?” Martin said. “I don’t think she’s all that interested in reality,” Curt said. But their banter was interrupted as someone stepped into the booth and flipped over one last card, revealing Death. The only thing Curt and Martin could say about this person for sure was that it was a woman. RATING: 33 6) PARTY ON! vs. THE FRANCHISE © for the RFW Tag Team Championship In spite of Sherry’s bold prediction, Charlie Corner seemed a bit off tonight, but that turned out to be okay, since Jack Pryde was off as well. Chip and Charlie managed to rally toward the middle of the match and seemed poised to take the gold, but then Mark Latrell exploded out of their corner and cleaned house, finally taking down Charlie and getting him pinned. The fact that he used a handful of tights to keep Charlie down escaped the referee’s notice. WINNERS: The Franchise in 9:34 RATING: 33 7) Sherry seemed disappointed at how the match turned out, but she started to give a pep talk to her team. But halfway into it, the crowd popped as someone stormed out of the backstage area… “I think…I think that’s Sarah Taylor!” Martin said. “What is she doing here?” Sarah didn’t seem interested in talking. Instead, she snared Sherry by the hair and dragged her into the ring. She rolled Sherry into it, climbed inside, and snapped at the ref to ring the bell and get an impromptu match started. RATING: 52 8) SHERRY SMART vs. SARAH TAYLOR Sarah was able to carry Sherry through a pretty decent match. At one point, Party On! seemed ready to rescue their friend, but Sarah had the ref order them away from ringside. That meant it was up to Sherry to survive the match on her own. She had her work cut out for her. Sarah took control early on and punished her brutally. But then, about halfway through, it appeared as though Sherry had some sort of seizure. Her eyes rolled into the back of her skull and her whole body twitched. Sarah backed off until Sherry snapped out of it and, for a few moments, Sherry was untouchable. Sarah simply couldn’t catch her. “It’s almost like Sherry is seeing Sarah’s offense before it happens,” Martin said. Curt scoffed at the idea, but he seemed a bit disturbed by this. Eventually, though, Sherry seemed to snap out of it and Sarah took control once again before putting Sherry down with a Newton’s Cradle. WINNER: Sarah Taylor in 10:24 RATING: 40 9) JOHN “ACE” HART vs. KALDER TAGG The crowd was still buzzing after Sarah’s impromptu match, so Kalder and I took advantage of it. Martin played up the fact that it looked like I was bound and determined to send a message to someone in the back. And, for the early part of the match, I was able to keep Kalder at bay. But then, about halfway through, James Diaz rushed to ringside while Kalder distracted the ref. He grabbed me and pulled me down on the top rope, knocking me off balance and into Kalder. Kalder had my number after that, finally putting me down with a piledriver. WINNER: Kalder Tagg in 9:42 RATING: 45 10) Fro Sure’s music hit and the crowd got on their feet and started dancing. Fro came out and did a few moves, but it was pretty obvious that his heart wasn’t into it. Eventually, he just stopped trying and went to the ring. As soon as he rolled inside, he waved for the music to stop. “Look, everyone, I’m glad to see you too, but I gotta be honest, my heart just isn’t into it. Things just haven’t been the same for the past couple of weeks. So I’m here. I’m going to wrestle Benji or Wolfie or Rin Tin Tin or whoever it is they scheduled me for. But I gotta be honest…” He sighs. “We’ll see what happens.” RATING: 36 11) FRO SURE vs. WOLFIE TAGG In spite of what Fro said, he did seem to come to life a little when the bell rang. He definitely put up a fight with Wolfie. When Wolfie tried to trip him up and just pin him, Fro quickly kicked out. But it was pretty obvious that Fro was distracted a bit off. His performance was surprisingly average and, the few times the crowd tried to get him into it and re-engage, he just sort of sighed and went through the motions. As the match wore on, though, Fro started to show more and more signs of life. A little bit of the old Fro Sure emerged and he seemed to be toying with Wolfie a little. But then, much to everyone’s shock, Wolfie managed to duck an attempted Sure Thing and then knocked Fro down and actually managed to pin him! WINNER: Wolfie Tagg in 15:27 RATING: 43 12) Grace stormed out to the ring. She looked furious. As soon as her entrance music ended, she lit into Curt. “Don’t think I didn’t hear what you said earlier, Curt. You think I’m vulnerable? You think there’s blood in the water? Well, forget it. I’m still the champ and this title isn’t going anywhere! “And I know, everyone thinks that I should be taking it easy. After all, I got hurt two months ago. But has that slowed me down? Not even a little! This Diamond doesn’t break. So Joy, why don’t you get out here and I’ll prove it.” Joy’s entrance music started but, rather than come out with her usual pep and high energy personality, Joy looked somber. Even a bit worried. She got on the mic herself and said that she knew that Grace had been medically cleared to wrestle and she wasn’t questioning anyone’s medical opinion. But Joy pointed out that trauma like an injury can linger and maybe Grace should take the night off? She even offered to forfeit the match right there so Grace could still pick up the win. Grace was enraged at the suggestion and demanded that Joy get in the ring right then! RATING: 57 13) JOY RIDER vs. GRACE “DIAMOND” KIL © for the RFW Women’s Championship Holy cow, what a match! Maybe one of the best we’ve had in a while. Grace seemed bound and determined to absolutely destroy Joy right from the get-go, while Joy tried to talk Grace down and get her to chill. When it became obvious that Grace wasn’t going to do that, Joy sighed and started fighting in earnest. About halfway through the match, Grace stumbled and it looked like she may have twisted her knee again. The ref was there immediately, as was Joy, asking if she needed to stop the match. Joy practically pleaded with her to end the match, even offering at one point to help Grace out of the ring so she could be counted out and take the DQ. Once again, that suggestion enraged Grace and she surged back into the ring. The match continued, growing more and more intense until Grace finally put Joy down with a Diamond’s Edge. WINNER: Grace “Diamond” Kil in 19:38 RATING: 59 14) PAPA SWOLL © vs. QUENTIN QUEEN for the RFW Championship Oof. This match was kind of a letdown, truth be told. I mean, Quentin and Swoll put on a pretty decent match, but it was pretty clear we peaked early. Martin and Curt tried to play up the fact that Quentin was the former champ, looking to reclaim his lost glory. And Swoll acted every inch the champ. But the crowd simply wasn’t as invested and therefore, the match didn’t quite work. Still entertaining, just not quite what we needed at this point. In spite of Quentin’s offense, Swoll was able to keep him mostly at bay. Quentin tried to get Swoll in the Q-Ball a few times, and the last time, Swoll reversed it into a Pounce. WINNER: Papa Swoll in 19:35 RATING: 29 *** In the aftermath, I welcomed Sarah Taylor to RFW. She was gracious and thanked me for the opportunity. I also hyped up Grace and Joy for their excellent work. FINAL RATING: 39 From RFW.com...

Thank you so much! And I hope you enjoy the MWA diary!

From RFW.com…

Sunday of Week 4, May 2022 I frowned as I read the email. According to WrestleWorld, our contract with them was going to expire in a month. How could that be possible? We had signed for nine months back in… oh yeah, last year. Wow. Time had flown by a lot faster than I expected. I shot back an email, asking for an extension on the same terms. Within an hour, we had the contract done and ready to go. I checked the financials next. We had made almost $1,500 in May, bringing our warchest to just over eighty grand. We were solid financially. So why did I feel so unsettled? My gaze skipped over my desk, then up to the bulletin board, landing finally on a picture of Abigail and me from a few months earlier. She had snapped a selfie of the two of us during one of our study sessions, her head resting on my shoulder and a twinkle in her eye. I had tried to look tough but came off looking kind of stupid. But she was so stunning, I had printed a copy and tacked it to my board. My fingers brushed my cellphone. I hadn’t spoken to her since April. At first, I had convinced myself I was too angry at what happened. Then I figured that if she wanted to talk, she knew where to find me. And then it was just a matter of inertia. So much time had passed, how could I call her. But for the first time in weeks, I kind of wanted to hear her voice again. She’d probably hang up on me right away. Or just not answer at all. But a part of me was missing. And it hurt. It hurt a lot more than I thought it would. No. I couldn’t call. Not out of the blue like this. Too much. But I picked up the phone and shot off a text before I could get cold feet. Hey, you up? Can we talk? I sat and stared at the screen, holding my breath in hopes that would make her reply faster. And sure enough, the bubble with the three dots appeared. Then disappeared. Then reappeared. Then vanished and didn’t come back. I sighed. Worth a shot. But I wasn’t ready to give up on us. Not yet.

QAW BattleBowl 2022 Friday of Week 3, May 2022 Held in Wichita, KS (Mid South Region) I was going to die out in the ring. I just knew it. But that was only if I could make it out there first. And given the way my body was trembling, I wasn’t sure I could. What was I thinking, coming back so soon? I heard what Curt said on commentary after the last All In. And what he said made sense. I had been on the bench for a month. I had never been hurt like that before. I could still remember what it felt like when my knee twisted as Abigail came down on me. And yeah, the docs had cleared me to wrestle a week and a half earlier. So when Ace asked me to get back in the ring right away, I didn’t even think twice. And Ruby had been good for me. As much as she made it look like she was going after my knee, she had been really careful with me. But now I was back at QAW… I screwed my eyes shut and tried to block out the noise. Everyone had welcomed me back to the show. They said they missed me. And then Jackson told me that I had been booked for the main event: a ten-woman battle royal. Emma May would win; she was on a hot streak and seemed to be on track to become champ at some point soon. I knew everyone in the ring with me would be careful. No one wanted anyone to get hurt. But unlike a one-on-one match with Ruby Reece, this was ten people. Ten! More than were in the match the month before. So much easier to accidentally hit someone. So much easier for someone to get out of place and wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time. My knee had started to ache the moment I heard about it, and my stomach started twisting soon after. Once I got dressed and was supposedly ready, I wound up sitting a corner and just waiting. Giving my mind time to spin up all sorts of visions of what could happen to me if I got into that ring. By the time the second-to-last match started (Juana Hurricane taking on Little Miss Perfect for the World title), I felt like I had been frozen in place. My heart was slamming into my ribs so hard I thought they would bruise if not break. And I could barely keep my breathing under control. Worse, no one seemed to notice…or care. At least, they didn’t until Sabrina Wells noticed me. She whispered something to Honey Badger, who hurried off and came back with Sherie. Sherie knelt down next to me and said…something. I have no idea what. Then off in the distance, the crowd roared and I could hear Juana Hurricane’s music playing. The match was done. It was time for ours to start. Only I knew I couldn’t move. Wouldn’t. No way. Sherie frowned, then signaled to Sabrina. “Tell the boys in the booth to play a couple of promo packages for cover, then get Jackson back here.” Sabrina nodded and hustled out of the room. A minute later, she came back with Jackson in tow. Jackson took one look at me, and sighed. He knelt down next to me. “Kil, look at me.” He touched my shoulder. “Look at me.” Somehow I managed to turn my head a fraction of an inch. But that was too much. My knee started throbbing. “I get it. I do. You’re coming off an injury and now, this is your first big match back and you can’t do it. You’re gonna stay rooted there the rest of the night. I’ve been there.” Sherie shouted for the other competitors to get lined up for the final match. A few of them shot looks in my direction. Some actually looked sympathetic. “Look, back when I was still a young pup, I was working a match down in Mobile. Biggest match of my career up to that point. Was gonna put my name in lights, I knew it. Instead, I got sloppy and wound up tumbling out of the ring onto the cement. Damn near broke my neck in two places. I remember lying on the floor, staring at the lights, and thinking, that was it. I was done. I was sidelined for a year so I could heal.” “Pam, go!” Sherie yelled. “Coco, you’re up next!” My gaze flicked toward the locker room door. “So I spent that year working as an office drone while my neck healed up. And I gotta be honest, there were days I wasn’t sure I coudl go back into the ring. I wanted to, but every time I thought about doin’ it, I just locked up. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Could barely think. Y’know what I mean?” Somehow I managed a small nod, taking in a ragged breath. He patted my other knee. “But I couldn’t stay away. Soon as the docs cleared me, I went right back. But when I was supposed to go out into the ring, I froze. Wasn’t sure I’d make it. Sat in a corner kinda like this one and didn’t want to move. “But then this guy named Michael Steele, this big sumbitch who was our road agent, came over and smacked me in the chest and said, ‘This is what you’re gonna do, Brayfield. You’re gonna go out into the ring, slap that SOB ’cross the face, and then have him clothesline you out of your boots. Take that bump as hard as you can, so hard you smash the ring to pieces. And then you finish that match and show us why you came back.’ “I thought Steele was nuts, but you didn’t argue with him. So that’s what I did. Slapped my opponent for real. Whispered for him to clothesline me hard. I hit the mat so hard I thought for sure I had broken my neck again.” How was any of this supposed to help? But then Sherie called for Sabrina to head out to the ring. “But I hadn’t. And you know what? That time, starin’ up at the lights, I realized I was gonna be all right. I got up off the mat and kept fighting.” “Did you win?” I whispered. “My first night back? Hell no! He buried me but good. But I realized something: you can get hurt. You can get knocked down. What counts is how you get back up again. “So this is what you’re gonna do. You’re number seven out there. I want you to go out there, get in Pamela Rojo’s face, and slap her. Then tell her to suplex you and hit you with a running powerbomb. Then you get up and keep fighting, got it?” He was crazy. Absolutely nuts. My body trembled harder and I thought for sure I was going to fall apart. “Kil, listen to me. If you’ve come up on a wall you can’t get over or through, there’s no shame in turning back. None of us would blame you. But only you can decide if that’s the case for you. So what’s it going to be?” I took several deep breaths, then nodded. He helped me up and patted me on the shoulder. “Go get ’em.” *** I stumbled back into the locker room, my back sore and I was pretty sure that I’d have cartoon birds swarming around my head if that actually happened in real life. But I had done it. I had gone out, smacked Pamela Rojo in the face, and she had absolutely destroyed me. I hit the mat hard after the powerbomb and stared up at the lights. And as I did, I started laughing. I was going to be okay. I was going to be just fine. Granted, I was only in the ring for another three minutes before Ashley Grover tossed me out of the ring, where Sabrina and Coco caught me just in case. Emma May did indeed win the battle royal itself, but I felt like I had walked off with the championship. And the way Jackson winked at me at the end of the night, I thought he might have thought so too. The Diamond was back. And I wasn’t going to let anything stop me.

RFW All In Thursday of Week 2, May 2022 Held at the Civic Center in Rochester, MN (Mid West Territory) Broadcast on WrestleWorld (26,894) 408 in attendance Curt and Martin welcomed the audience to the show. “We had quite the eventful month last time. Two new champions were crowned and champion Grace Kil was injured in a freak accident. Will this month be as crazy?” Martin asked. “Around here? There’s a definite possibility,” Curt added. 1) Grace’s entrance music hit and the crowd got to their feet, giving her a standing ovation. Grace walked down to the ring and carefully got into it. She basked in the adulation for a few moments before waving for everyone to quiet down. “I appreciate that. I really do,” she said. “I’ll be honest, this last month was a tough one. I seriously worried that I wasn’t going to ever be able to compete in this or any other ring ever again. But the doctors gave me a clean bill of health and so, here I am. And I’m still the RFW Women’s Champion.” The crowd roared in approval. “Now a lot of you reached out to me on social media to make sure that I was okay. And for the most part, I appreciate the well wishes…although some of the suggestions some of you had for how to speed up my healing was a little creepy. Tone it down, my dudes. Tone it down. “So thank you everyone for your support, and enjoy the—” Grace’s words were cut off by Ruby Reece’s music. She came out to the ring entrance and sneered at her. “So you’ve got a clean bill of health, Kil? At least, that’s what I heard. That’s why I asked the powers that be to give me a title shot against you later on. But hey, if you want to just leave the title in the ring, no one will think any less of you.” Some of the audience members did not take that suggestion well. Grace let them shout some abuse and insults at Ruby before she answered. “Ruby, I’m not going to back down from you or anyone else. You can’t break this Diamond. Not now, not ever. See you later.” RATING: 48 2) ROGER MONTEIRO vs. DUSTIN DEUCE The heat from Grace and Ruby jawing at each other bled through into this match. The fans really got into it as these two tore into each other. Dustin seemed to spend too much time mugging at the crowd and seemed way too confident that he had the match sewn up from the beginning. And, for the opening moments, it seemed like that was the case. But after Dustin managed to get two near-falls on Roger, Roger came back to life and fought him off until he put Dustin down with the Eagle Chop. WINNER: Roger Monteiro in 10:02 RATING: 40 3) Martin introduced some footage that was filmed last month after James Diaz’s match against Original Sinner. James strutted into the backstage area, looking really pleased with himself (“And why wouldn’t he? We’ve spent a lot of time already talking about how Grace Kil was injured last month, but let’s not forget that James beat up Original Sinner so badly the match had to be stopped,” Martin said). Before James could get too far, he was confronted by Dreadmask. Dreadnought and Masked Mauler were extremely upset about what happened out in the ring. “You could have seriously injured Sinner,” Dreadnought snapped. “Who knows, I just might have,” James said lightly. “That doesn’t sit right with us, Diaz,” Masked Mauler growled. “Well, if you two think you can stop me, why don’t we find out next month?” James asked. “The two of you against me.” “You’re insane,” Dreadmask said. “We’ll destroy you!” “You’re welcome to try,” James said. “But while you two may be big and strong, you’re forgetting that you’ll be facing off against the Son of the Monster.” RATING: 35 4) CHARLIE CORNER vs. CASSIDY BLAINE Charlie seemed a little upset as he and Sherry Smart came out to ringside. Sherry was saying something to him the whole way down to the ring that the microphones didn’t exactly pick up. “She’s probably trying to explain her screw up,” Curt said. “Last month she said that Charlie was going to face off against a ‘hometown hero’ who was draped in glory. And Cassidy Blaine? Really?” “Well, let’s not write off Cassidy just yet,” Martin said. “In Rochester, he is something of a hometown hero. Captain of his high school wrestling team. From what I understand, he was conference champ two years in a row.” Curt made a scoffing sound just as the bell rang. Charlie quickly got over any disappointment he might have been feeling and took the fight to Cassidy. Cassidy held his own, though, but Martin commented that it seemed like someone had lit a fire under Charlie. Maybe it was the crowd. For some reason, they really got into this match, cheering Charlie on as he got Cassidy down into a Figure Four leglock, getting Cassidy to tap out. WINNER: Charlie Corner in 13:49 RATING: 32 5) Papa Swoll was in the locker room, checking himself out in the mirror with the title belt draped over his shoulder. He seemed to really like what he saw. But then someone grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. Swoll found himself face-to-face with Fro Sure. But Fro wasn’t looking Swoll in the eye. Instead, he stared intently at the title. They stood there for a few moments before Swoll carefully set down the title. Fro followed the belt with his gaze until Swoll snapped his fingers in his face. “You okay there, Fro Sure?” Swoll asked. “Just a little confused about what happened last month is all,” Fro said. “I thought you and me were friends. Partners. Kings.” “We are, Fro Sure,” Swoll said. “Then why is it that you tossed me over the top rope last month? Why is it that you took my title?” Fro asked. Swoll shrugged. “It’s just a match, Fro. Just a title. Someone had to win and hey, why couldn’t it be me?” “Why couldn’t it—” Fro clenches his fingers. “Swoll, I’m the one who’s held that title the longest. I won it in December of 2020 and I held on to it until last month. 13 defenses in that year and a half, Swoll. And I lost it because you threw me over the top rope.” “It’s a battle royal, Fro. What’d you want me to do, take a fall? Papa Swoll doesn’t play that way. That’s for sure, Fro Sure. And hey, you got your rematch for tonight. If you think there’s been some sort of mistake, you go ahead and fix it out there where it counts.” He picked up the belt and draped it over his shoulder again. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go get some pictures taken. ’Cuz I don’t plan on losing this any time soon.” RATING: 46 6) TEXAS HANGMAN vs. QUENTIN QUEEN Once again, the crowd really got into this match. Texas Hangman looked particularly focused and angry, which Martin said was understandable. “Last month, Hangman’s partner stabbed him in the back and left him to face three other tag teams on his own. It’s a miracle that we didn’t have three injuries last month,” Martin said. “Well, he’d better not dwell in the past. As much as Fro Sure thinks the championship belongs to him, let’s not forget that Quentin Queen was the first RFW champ. If Hangman doesn’t stay focused on what’s in front of him, he’s gonna have a hard night,” Curt said. Hangman took the fight to Quentin almost immediately, which caused Quentin to bail out of the ring. As a matter of fact, Quentin seemed to beg off of most of the match, ducking out of the way or hiding behind referee Quincy Jargon. Jargon kept ordering him back into the fight, but every time Hangman started to work up an offense, Quentin managed to stop it with another dodge. Eventually, though, Hangman managed to catch Quentin in the ring and started to pound the holy hell out of him. Just as Hangman was setting him up for a Choke Slam, though, Quentin slipped out of the hold and went over to Jargon to complain about some imagined breach of the rules. Jargon ordered Hangman to back off until he could sort out Quentin’s story. While Jargon’s back was turned, Wild Red Stallion hit the ring and attacked Hangman, laying him out with a Lakota Cutter. Stallion then bailed. Hangman staggered to his feet, only to have Quentin shove past the ref and hit Hangman with a Q-Ball, making a fast pin and then getting out of there as quickly as he could. WINNER: Quentin Queen in 9:37 RATING: 47 7) Quentin stopped at the ring entrance and got a mic. “Hey! Swoll and Sure! Don’t think I didn’t hear what you two were arguing about. Fro, you may have held the belt longer than me. And Swoll, you may have it right now. But I’m coming for that belt. You just wait and see. I’ll be the first two-time RFW Champion before you know it!” RATING: 32 8) DREADMASK vs. JAMES DIAZ Dreadmask made their way to the ring first, and it was pretty clear that they weren’t worried about James at all. As he made his entrance, Dreadnought and Masked Mauler nudged each other and chuckled. They even held open the ropes for him, acting with faux-deference to him. James didn’t seem to mind. Nor did he seem worried either. Once the bell rang, James exploded out of his corner and smashed into Dreadnought. He nearly finished the match in the first thirty seconds before Dreadnought managed to break away and tag in Masked Mauler. Mauler got into the ring with a bit more caution, only to receive a similar beating. “Normally, a handicap match like this would favor the two over the one,” Martin said. “But I’m not sure that’s the case here.” “Or it could just be James being smart,” Curt said. “In a situation like this, you want to make the other team hesitate. By being so aggressive, James has gotten into Dreadmask’s heads and I don’t think he’ll be evicted any time soon.” Curt’s observation proved correct. Even though Dreadnought and Mauler could tag in and out, it didn’t really matter. James didn’t back down from either of them and didn’t seem all that concerned. In the end, while Dreadnought was the legal man, James managed to grab Mauler by the head and smashed him face-first into the corner post, knocking him off his perch. Then he went after Dreadnought and started to beat him down. Even after Dreadnought fell to the mat, James straddled him and rained down punches until referee Parker Terry called for the bell, stopping the match. WINNER: James Diaz in 9:39 RATING: 42 9) James wasn’t done. He rolled out of the ring and retrieved Masked Mauler, shoving him under the bottom rope. He then positioned the two men in the middle of the ring. He retrieved a steel chair and used it to smash them both over the head, then dragged them closer to one of the corners. He then set the chair over both of their faces and, while Martin screamed in horror, jumped feet-first off the top turnbuckle onto the chair, driving it into his competitors’ faces. He then laughed and rolled out of the ring while medics swarmed out of the back. RATING: 28 10) MINNESOTA AWESOME vs. THE FRANCHISE © for the RFW Tag Team Championship As soon as the ring was cleared, the challengers came out. Normally, Minnesota Awesome liked to play to the crowd, but they looked grim and somber. Martin said he couldn’t blame them after what just happened. Then the champs made their entrance. Mark and Jack played it up, flirting with the girls and acting like they were hot stuff. Martin suggested they should really learn to read the room. Once the match got started, the teams went to work. Martin commented that they seemed to be evenly matched, although Curt pointed out that Minnesota Awesome had been teaming together on the indy scene for a while. It was clear that they were able to work together a little more smoothly than the champs. But that didn’t matter, as Jack put an end to the match with a PrydeFall on Clark. When Perry tried to break up the pin, Mark charged in and nearly speared him out of his boots, allowing the ref to make the three-count. WINNERS: The Franchise in 12:03 RATING: 37 11) GRACE “DIAMOND” KIL © vs. RUBY REECE for the RFW Women’s Championship The roof was nearly blown off as Grace made her way to the ring. But she seemed somewhat subdued. “Not that we can blame her,” Martin said. “The last time she was in the ring, she injured her knee. She’s probably having some mixed feelings about being back in the ring so soon after being cleared medically.” “If she’s nervous, it’s her own fault,” Curt said. “No one would have thought any less of her if she turned down Ruby’s challenge tonight. But she signed off on the match.” Ruby made her way to the ring and, as she rolled in, she smiled ferally at Grace and pointed at her knee. Grace glared back. Then the bell rang and Ruby ran straight for Grace, clearly aiming for her knee. Grace danced out of the way and quickly took the fight to Ruby. The two of them straight up brawled in the middle of the ring. Any time Ruby tried to target Grace’s injured knee, Grace managed to protect herself and unleashed a withering assault on Ruby that caused the challenger to back off. Martin said that was smart, but Curt countered that it actually signaled how frightened Grace was about being injured again, a sign of weakness Ruby clearly wanted to exploit. As much as Ruby tried to catch the champ and take advantage of her trepidation, Grace didn’t let up. Eventually, Grace managed to put Ruby down with a Diamond’s Edge. She then quickly got out of the ring and stood near the entrance ramp, staring at it with wide eyes and letting out a visible shaky breath. WINNER: Grace “Diamond” Kil in 20:02 RATING: 57 12) PAPA SWOLL © vs. FRO SURE for the RFW Championship A pretty good match to cap off the night. Both competitors were focused on the win for the entire match. Martin pointed out that these two were friends and partners, which meant that they had a good level of respect for each other. Or at least, they did. Swoll seemed to want to play things fair and even, but Fro clearly wasn’t feeling that. Fro seemed to be particularly focused on getting the win any way he could, keeping after Swoll with an intensity that Martin said he found somewhat disturbing. Toward the end of the match, Fro managed to hit Swoll with two successive For Sures, only to have Swoll kick out both times. He tried to go for a third, but Swoll shoved him into the ropes. As Fro ricocheted off, Swoll hit him with the Pounce and managed to get the pin. WINNER: Papa Swoll in 15:30 RATING: 47 *** The mood backstage was much lighter as the show wrapped up. People were chatting and laughing with each other and I felt a whole lot better than I did a month ago. Yeah, we had hit some rough waters but it seemed like the worst was behind us. I motioned for everyone to gather around. “We bounced back pretty well and I’m really proud of all of you. Last month was supposed to be our ‘go big or go home’ night, but it feels like we all stepped up the way we needed to. But there are three people I want to really congratulate on a job well done. Jack, you really shone in the tag match and I appreciate the work you’re doing there. Swoll, I think you’re going to make a great champ going forward. And Ruby, thank you for that match. We’re going to keep going, and I think we’re going to do amazing things.” There was a smattering of applause, and then people drifted back to their conversations. But before I could get to work cleaning up, Swoll caught my attention. I stepped over to him and he steered me to an empty corner. “Two things real quick, Ace. I noticed Abi isn’t here. You two okay?” he whispered. I clamped my mouth shut. I considered lying, but that didn’t seem wise. After all, Swoll could always ask Grace and I doubted she would lie for me about this. So I shook my head once. Swoll sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, man. I really am. You wanna talk about it?” Again, I shook my head. “If you ever do, call me. I got two ears, and they’re always open. And second…well, now that I have the strap, I’m thinking I need to talk to you about my pay. I signed on for thirty bucks a show. I’m thinking I’m worth about a hundred-twenty at this point. Sound okay?” I thought about it and nodded. Swoll deserved that. He clapped me on the shoulder. “Thanks, man. Knew I could count on you.” FINAL RATING: 48 Quick Results: From RFW.com...

From RFW.com…

Sunday of Week 4, April 2022 I don’t think my parents ever really figured out what happened. Oh, they knew something had happened to Grace. Mrs. Kil called them the next day and I could hear her crying on the other end of the phone. If Mom or Dad realized that Grace got injured at an RFW show, they didn’t say anything. They gave me my space. Everyone did. For two weeks, I barely received any texts or emails from anyone at RFW. I think they knew. The only exception was Sabrina Wells. She sent me a to-the-point email asking for a $60 raise, bringing her pay to $100 per show. I granted that right away. I didn’t see Abigail much. Not at all, really. The next week, rumors were going around campus that Abigail had dropped out of RCTC, which struck everyone as odd. We were so close to finishing our second year. Why would she do that now? A few people tried to ask me about it, but I played dumb. I didn’t know for sure what was happening. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Finally, at the end of the month, Grace came over to the house. She hobbled up the steps, her leg in a brace. Mom fussed all over her while I watched silently from one corner of the living room. Once Grace had settled into my dad’s favorite chair, Mom excused herself. Grace glared at me. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I blinked. “What?” “Why did I have to drive all the way down here to make sure you were okay?” she demanded. “I texted you the night I got hurt, and I got nothing in return? And from what Cassidy tells me, you aren’t talking to Abigail either?” “What does that matter to you?” “Well, obviously Abigail isn’t my favorite person right now, but she deserves better than that! It was an accident. I’m fine. I’ll be ready to wrestle in about two weeks, just in time for the next All In.” Oh, that would be great. Perfect thing to have on my conscience. “So what did you tell your parents?” She smiled thinly. “That I slipped getting out of the shower.” “And they bought that?” She shrugged. “I’m twenty-one. Doctor/patient confidentiality and all that. Even if they were to contact Dr. Edathil, he can’t tell them anything about my injury without my permission. And they definitely don’t have that.” Well, one crisis averted. Grace jabbed a finger at the couch. “Now sit down and fill your partner in on what’s going on.” I did as I was told. Somehow, in spite of the “go big or go home” All In, we still managed to turn a profit (which baffled me, given how many workers we had used that month), making $3,216. We had almost made it to $80,000 in our warchest. I had quietly made the decision to start upgrading our merchandise again. I figured it was about time to do so, and better sales would likely help cushion our bottom line a bit more. As we talked, some of the tension eased and Grace finally got me to open up about how I was feeling. I tried not to, but by the end of our talk, I was crying. “So what are you going to do about Abigail?” she asked. I shrugged. “As near as I can tell, she moved back to Albert Lea. I don’t think she’d want to talk to me after everything that happened.” “Only one way to find out.” “Yeah, I guess so. We’ll see.” She studied me, then shrugged too. “Well, don’t give up on me, Ace. I’m just hurt, not dead. Things can only get better from here.” I hoped that was true. Because there was no way I wanted to relive anything like those two weeks ever again.

Thursday of Week 2, April 2022 By the time I made it to Mayo, the doctors had already taken Grace back to an exam room. All I could do was find Mark in the lobby. He paced, his hands laced behind his head. “Any word yet?” I asked. He glared at me, but shook his head. “No, nothing yet. They think it might be ligament damage, but they weren’t sure yet.” I groaned. That could mean she’d be out of action for months if it was bad enough. One of our teammates in high school had torn the ligaments in his knee and he was out for the rest of the season. “What the hell happened back there, man?” Mark said. I shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ll have to look at the tape. It looked like Abigail tried a risky move and it didn’t work out and—” “And my girlfriend paid the price for it!” Mark snapped. I glared back at him. “Hey! It was an accident.” “One that we’re going to have to figure out how to explain to Grace’s folks now.” Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. But yeah, that was true. “I’m sure she’ll think of something,” I said. “She shouldn’t have to,” Mark said. “I don’t even know why you let Abigail wrestle. She clearly doesn’t know what she’s doing.” “Excuse me?” I said. “You heard me. She’s not an athlete. Not like Grace. Not like me. She barely knows what she’s doing in the ring.” “You’re not exactly a seasoned veteran either, Mark,” I said. “Then why’d you give me the title tonight, huh? Clearly you see something good here.” I glared at him. There was a small measure of truth to what he said. I did like his Mr. RFW gimmick and I thought it paired well with Jack’s character. But them getting the belts was more a nod to Jack’s loyalty than any skill on Mark’s part. “Let’s face it, Hart: the only reason why Abigail is in that ring is because you’re sleeping with her.” Heat flashed through me and my fingers curled into fists. Good thing Mark was already in a hospital, because— “There a problem here, gentlemen?” I turned to look at the security guard. Big guy, didn’t look too happy to be talking to us. “No problem, officer,” I said, forcing my fingers to relax. “Well, let’s keep it that way. Sick people here trying to heal. Let’s not disturb them, okay?” I nodded. I turned back to Mark, but he had already walked away. I growled. Perfect. Just perfect. My cell phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and frowned at it. A number I didn’t recognize. Couldn’t place the area code either. A spam caller? Oh, perfect timing. I was going to rip them a— “Hart? That you?” Wait, I knew that voice. “Farrah Hesketh?” “What the hell kind of promotion are you running up there?” I groaned and closed my eyes. “You saw the match.” “I saw the match, and I saw how that bimbo took out my newest hire with a horribly botched move.” I ground my teeth and fought the urge to verbally lash out at Hesketh. “Accidents happen.” “Not like that, they don’t. Or at least, they shouldn’t. Here’s the thing: I had plans for Grace this month. I wanted to throw her into a singles match against Emma May and see how she handled it. Even started advertising the match. Well, thanks to you, that’s not gonna happen now, is it?” “You think I did this on purpose? What, some weird form of sabotage?” She started to say something, but I kept going. “Grace is my best friend and there’s no way I would ever want her to get hurt, accidentally or deliberately. And let me remind you, she’s still our women’s champion. You’re not the only one who might have to rethink their plans because of this. “So this is what you’re going to do. You’re going to hang up right now and wait, like I am, until we hear what’s going on with Grace. And if, in the future, you want to talk to me again, you’ll remember that I’m the owner of RFW, not some guy you can scream at. You’ll talk to me as an equal next time. Because remember: as much as Grace loves wrestling for you, she’s still my best friend. And I can make your working relationship with her miserable.” With that, I hung up the phone. As I did, I saw the same security guard coming after me. I held up my hands in surrender and headed for the exit. I probably wasn’t in the right frame of mind to see Grace anyway. As I left the hospital, I went over what I had to do now. We didn’t offer our workers insurance—I mean, how could we?—so I’d probably have to dip into our warchests if her medical bills got too out of control. Or should I do that? I hadn’t with anyone else who got hurt. And I’d probably have to talk to Tamara and Freddie about all of this anyway, see if they had any suggestions about how to— I shuffled to a stop. Abigail sat on the roof of my car. “Is she okay?” she asked quietly. I shrugged. “I have no idea. She was still with the docs, but I apparently was causing too much of a scene to stay.” “Oh.” I stood there, staring at her. Then finally, the question bubbled out of me: “What were you thinking?” She looked down at the pavement. “I wanted to do something big for you. Wasn’t that the point of tonight? Go big or go home? I mean, I knew Grace was going to keep the title, but I figured if I did something big and flashy, that would help and—” “And now our champ is injured and we don’t know how badly,” I finished for her. “I didn’t do this on purpose, John.” I sighed. “I know you didn’t.” “Then why are you yelling at me like I did?” “Because Grace is my best friend and she got hurt tonight!” I snapped. “She got hurt by you! And now, I don’t know how we’re going to explain this to her parents or what this might mean for the company or—” Abigail slipped off the hood of the car, her eyes flashing. “Am I in there at all?” “What?” “You’re all worried about the company or Reverend Kil or Grace. Aren’t you at all upset about how I feel? I hurt someone tonight, John. This is exactly what I was worried about when you asked me to join RFW.” “But not worried enough to not take a stupid risk.” Her head snapped back as if I had slapped her. “I did that for you, remember.” “Well, next time, don’t.” She stared at me, then held up her hands. “I-I can’t. I just…” She turned and ran away from me. I think she might have been sobbing, but I couldn’t tell for sure. I stood there, frozen in place, unsure of what I could do. Should do. Go after Abigail? Go back into the hospital? Go home? Finally, I roared my frustration and kicked my car’s tires as hard as I could. That wasn’t a smart idea. Now my foot hurt and I was still as angry and frustrated as before. My phone chirped. I glanced at it, then froze. Grace. Knee pretty banged up. Doc says I can’t wrestle for a month. You okay? I stared at the message, tears stinging my eyes. Then I slid my phone into my pocket, got into my car, and drove out of the parking lot. I wasn’t going to go home. Didn’t want to. Didn’t know where I was heading. But all I knew was that I had to just drive.

RFW All In Thursday of Week 2, April 2022 Held at the Civic Center in Rochester, MN (Mid West Region) Broadcast on WrestleWorld (22,811 viewers) 405 in attendance I think I actually needed another day or two to actually feel human again. Maybe a full week. I actually envied everyone in the locker room as I walked in. While I felt like death had been sitting on my head for most of the day, no one else looked the worse for wear. Well, that wasn’t quite true. Everyone seemed subdued, quieter. People weren’t nearly as boisterous as they got ready for their matches. Freddie was holding court with his disciples in one corner, but he gave me a disapproving look as I walked in. I winced. In retrospect, having a major blow out party the night before a show was probably not the best idea. As I made the rounds, Abigail flagged me down. She chuckled when she saw me and gave my hand a light squeeze. “You look awful.” “I love you too,” I grumbled. “You okay?” I nodded. “Hydrated all day, lots of aspirin. Still feel like I’ve already wrestled.” She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “Well, just make it through the night and we’ll go out for a quieter, more intimate birthday celebration afterward.” I groaned. “I don’t think I can handle—” “John.” The tone in her voice made me pause. I looked at her and she smiled impishly. “Okay. Deal.” “Thought so.” *** Martin and Curt welcomed the audience to the show. “Welcome to a huge night for RFW!” Martin said. “Every show, our champs always defend their titles, but not like tonight. Tonight, we live up to our promotion’s name. Everyone is all in, with huge matches coming up. This is going to be an amazing night, I just know it.” “Or it’ll be a total train wreck,” Curt retorted. “I know everyone’s been saying ‘Go big or go home’ around here lately, but there is such a thing as overextending yourself.” “Well, time will tell if that’s the case here tonight!” 1) The Kings’ entrance music hit, and Fro Sure and Papa Swoll made their way out to the ring. The two of them hyped up the audience and did a bit of dancing with some of the fans in the front rows. At least, Fro did a lot of the dancing. Swoll seemed a lot more laid back, mostly just encouraging people to have a good time. “Well, well, well. Tonight’s gonna be interesting, isn’t it, Papa?” Fro Sure asked. “For sure, Fro Sure!” Swoll responded. “Everyone’s going to be in these major matches, and it all culminates in the ten man battle royal for…well, this title right here.” Fro held up the title belt and the crowd went wild. “You worried, Fro?” Swoll asked. Fro looked ready to laugh it off, but then he sobered up. “Well, honestly, Papa? A little. Just a little. Because up until now, I’ve only ever had to worry about one competitor at a time. One guy comes into the ring with me, we fight it out, and then I pin them. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.” He paused, then shuddered. “Sorry. Not sure what came over me there.” “I was wondering.” “But now, when we’ve got ten men in the ring with me? Each one trying to toss the others over the top rope to eliminate them? I gotta have eyes in the back of my head! I could be fighting someone and get tossed over without any warning. I could lose my title without much of a fight.” “So you worried, Fro?” Fro considered it, then laughed. “Nah, not really. I mean, don’t get me wrong. We got some big guys in this match. We got Roger Monteiro. We got Quentin Queen. We got my man, John ‘Ace’ Hart. And we even got Cassidy Blaine.” He paused, but then Fro and Papa looked at each other and burst out laughing. “Sorry. Couldn’t keep a straight face there. But yeah, there are some big threats in this match tonight.” “But you worried, Fro?” Swoll emphasized each word. Fro considered the question, but then smiled lazily. “Not even a little. Because this title isn’t going anywhere. It doesn’t matter when I enter the match, because this is what truly matters: I will be the last one in the ring. And this title isn’t going anywhere.” RATING: 30 2) CHARLIE CORNER vs. DREADNOUGHT As Charlie made his way out to the ring, Martin remarked that he seemed pretty confident going in. Martin reminded the audience that Sherry Smart had used her psychic gifts to predict that Charlie would win his match tonight. “But she also predicted he’d face Dreadnought’s tag team partner, Masked Marauder. So maybe her ‘gift’ needs a bit of fine tuning.” “Maybe the mask threw her off?” Dreadnought seemed a bit out of it when he came out to the ring, and Martin and Curt tried to cover for him by saying that he was being thrown off by Charlie’s confident attitude. And the crowd seemed to respond to Charlie’s attitude as well. Even though the wrestling was definitely nothing to write home about, they were firmly on Charlie’s side as he took the fight to Dreadnought, countering his offense and keeping him on the run for most of the match until he finally put him down with the Corner Cutter. WINNER: Charlie Corner in 9:44 RATING: 23 3) James Diaz came out to the ring and got on the mic. He spoke almost reverently about the threat that Original Sinner posed. “He is a big man, very aggressive, a force to be reckoned with. Most people, I think, would consider me insane for provoking him over the past few months. “But here’s the thing: Original Sinner may have the power, but he is not the Son of the Monster. When he comes out here for our match, I’m going to prove who the dominant force in the RFW is. Believe it.” RATING: 35 4) ORIGINAL SINNER vs. JAMES DIAZ As Sinner came out to the match, Martin commented that the big man looked ready to destroy whoever was in his path. James, on the other hand, didn’t seem at all concerned. Instead, he leaned against the ropes in one corner and watched as Sinner stomped around, glaring at him the whole time. But once the bell rang, James practically exploded out of the corner and tore into Sinner. Sinner seemed absolutely stunned by the extreme offense and spent the first minutes of the match just blocking punches and kicks. James punctuated his opening salvo by taking the big man off his feet with a clothesline that almost took Sinner out of his boots. That set the tone for the rest of the match. While Sinner managed to rally a few times to get a little offense in, James simply countered his offense and got back to beating him. At one point, Martin commented that it seemed like James was more interested in punishing Sinner than beating him. That proved to be an accurate assessment. Eventually, James managed to wear Sinner down and the big man collapsed in the ring. But rather than pin him, James simply kicked him repeatedly in the stomach before straddling him and raining down punches and blows. Referee Quincy Jargon ordered him to stop and make the pin, but James ignored him and kept up the abuse. Quincy finally called for the bell and ordered the match stopped. WINNER: James Diaz in 14:58 RATING: 27 5) The camera found Charlie Corner and Sherry Smart backstage. Charlie was excited about his win, although he did admit that he was confused by the fact that he fought Dreadnought instead of Masked Mauler. “The universe moves in mysterious ways, Charlie,” Sherry said. “We can’t always know for sure what would happen. I saw a masked wrestler in your future and that did come to pass, even if I didn’t quite get the details down 100%.” That seemed to satisfy Charlie, although Curt made some snide remarks about that being a convenient excuse, especially since she had also predicted that Charlie was going to lose. “So what about next month? What’s in store for me?” Sherry closed her eyes and groped through the air as if trying to latch on to the information. Then her eyes snapped open. “I see a great challenge in your future, Charlie. Next month, you will face a hometown hero, someone draped in newfound glory. I see an ace in your future, Charlie Corner. And I see you victorious over him.” Charlie’s eyes widened. “Ace Hart is in the battle royal tonight for Fro’s title. Do you think he’ll…and then next month I’ll…” Charlie let out a loud whoop and hugged her tightly. Then he rushed off to share the good news. “Well, I think tonight’s going to be a big night for John Hart,” Martin said. “Sure it will,” Curt retorted. RATING: 33 6) The camera entered the locker room where Abigail Thompson was adjusting her tights. She bent over to tighten the laces on her boots, but then she realized that someone was standing near her. She looked up to see Grace Kil looking down at her. “Hey, Grace!” Abigail said brightly. “You nervous for tonight?” “Not particularly,” Grace said. “I wish I could say the same thing,” Abigail said. “I mean, we’re gong to be in a match with four other women, some of the best in the business, and your title is on the line. I mean, you could lose your title if someone else gets pinned. That doesn’t worry you at all?” Grace laughed. “Maybe a little. But here’s the thing. You know what creates a diamond in the first place? Pressure. Lots of it. Unrelenting. So yeah, there’s some pressure on me tonight for this match, but here’s the thing: diamonds don’t break. And neither do I. Good luck out there tonight, Abigail. Have as much as you want. Because I don’t need any.” RATING: 36 7) THE SILVER BULLET © vs. MINNESOTA AWESOME vs. THE FRANCHISE vs. THE HOT TAGGS for the RFW Tag Team Championship As the teams made their entrance, Martin reminded the audience of the rules: “This is a tag team elimination match tonight. That means that if someone gets pinned, his team is out of the running for the titles. Teams are going to need to be on the same page from the moment the bell rings.” “That could be an issue for our champs,” Curt said. “Lately you can tell that something is off between Hangman and Stallion. We could very well see the titles change hands tonight if they’re not careful.” Once the bell rang, the match started with Hangman, Kalder, Jack, and Perry in the ring. They ripped into each other and managed to knock each other around the ring pretty badly. Kalder quickly tagged in Wolfie, leading to Perry and Jack tagging in their partners as well. Hangman saw them do it, then dove for his corner, his hand outstretched… Only to have his hand pass through empty air. Stallion had hopped off his perch and stood at ring side. The champs stared at each other, with Hangman looking positively stunned. Then Stallion turned and walked out of the arena, leaving Hangman in the ring by himself. But Hangman didn’t have time to figure out what happened. The fresh wrestlers were on him in an instant, battering him down. He wound up pinned by Wolfie, only to have Clark break up the pin. The match continued almost as if Hangman had been eliminated as he crawled to his corner and hung on the bottom rope, clearly stunned. Within a few minutes, Kalder Tagg was pinned, eliminating the Hot Taggs. Then, as Minnesota Awesome and the Franchise continued the match, Hangman suddenly recovered and exploded out of his corner. He took the fight to everyone in the match, knocking people from their perches. He wound up Choke Slamming Mark Latrell and Clark Smallbone and it looked like he was going to retain the title all on his own. But then Jack Pryde came out of nowhere and dropped him with a Prydefall. Then Jack quickly rolled Mark onto Clark (the two legal men), causing Minnesota Awesome to get eliminated. Now the match turned into a handicap match as the Franchise toyed with Hangman. He tried his best to hold his own against them, but it was clear that he was in no shape to do so. In the end, he wound up Choke Slamming Jack Pryde and tried to pin him, but Jack wasn’t the legal man. That allowed Mark to break the pin attempt and roll Hangman into a pin himself, getting the win. WINNERS: The Franchise in 25:19 RATING: 26 8) GRACE “DIAMOND” KIL © vs. ALLIE PERKS vs. ABIGAIL THOMPSON vs. SELINA SVELTE vs. RUBY REECE vs. MODESTY PARDOR for the RFW Women's Championship The crowd really got into this as the competitors came out to the ring. We started with Abigail first and worked our way up to Grace. By the time Grace made it to the ring, the fans were on their feet and roaring their approval. Martin speculated that this could be the match of the night given the way the fans were amped up. Once the bell rang, all six ladies collided in the center of the ring. It was clear that some of the women (Selina, Ruby, and Modesty) were particularly interested in taking out Grace, but that proved to be a mistake on their part. Any time they got too focused on the champ Allie or Abigail would strike, making sure they couldn’t get the pin. It wasn’t that anyone was allied with anyone else; it was more that half the competitors seemed eager to pin Grace rather than make an easier pin. “That’s understandable,” Martin said. “Grace has been nearly untouchable here at RFW. Who wouldn’t want to be the one to put her down?” “Yeah, but that isn’t the point of the match,” Curt countered. “The whole point of this is to claim the women’s championship belt. If you can get it by pinning Grace, more power to you, but you could also win by pinning Allie. Or Ruby. Anyone in that ring is a path to victory. You just have to be smart enough to see that.” The match kept the fans out of their chairs for most of it. Everyone got a chance to shine. Allie got hit her machine-gun punches on Modesty. Ruby nearly took Selina’s head off with a sharp kick. And Grace, at one point, managed to hit the Diamond’s Edge on everyone, only to have her pin attempt on Abigail broken up by Selina. This was well on track toward becoming a great match. But then disaster struck. Grace was setting Modesty up for another Diamond’s Edge when Abigail hopped up to the top turnbuckle. She wobbled at little bit, but then launched herself at Grace. Grace immediately dropped Modesty. Only Abigail was a bit off in her aim. Grace saw that and tried to reposition herself to catch Abigail properly. Except then Abigial flailed in midair and hit Grace wrong. The two of them went down in a tangle of limbs, but two things were unmistakable: the scream of pain the erupted from Grace as she hit the mat and the unnatural way that her knee twisted. Referee Parker Terry stared in horror as Abigail rolled off of Grace. The champ rolled on the mat, clutching at her knee. Parker dropped down next to her and shouted something in her ear, but Grace shook her head. She hauled herself up and hobbled at Abigail, who stared at her in horror until Grace snared her and put her down in a Diamond’s Edge, maybe a bit stiffer and harder than she had to. Grace rolled on top of her and made the pin, even while her face was twisted in agony. WINNER: Grace “Diamond” Kil in 29:48 RATING: 41 Backstage, the locker room erupted into chaos. Freddie and Tamara hurried to the door to help Parker get Grace onto a nearby bench. The other workers clustered around her, asking questions or offering advice. Tamara finally ordered all of them away. Mark didn’t listen. He dropped down next to Grace and held her hand as Freddie and Tamara looked over Grace’s knee. Then Tamara turned to the rest of us. “The show, geniuses! We’ve still got one match to go! Ace! Get them moving!” I stared at her, not comprehending her words. “Ace!” Freddie thundered. “Go!” I snapped out of it finally. I turned to the others. “Let’s go! They’ll take care of her. Let them work and we’ll do our jobs.” My gaze slid over the entrance to the locker room, where Abigial stood in the doorway, her eyes wide and filled with tears. But that would have to wait as well. 9) 10 MAN BATTLE ROYAL for the RFW Championship The crowd was a bit restless. Glenn had played some video packages while they waited, but they started roaring as Quentin Queen’s music hit. The former champ came out with a sneer and he jawed at the crowd. As he made his way to the ring, Martin explained that this was a pretty typical battle royal: entrances staggered every two minutes, eliminations by throwing your opponents over the top rope, last man in the ring would be the champion. Once Quentin reached the ring, my entrance music started. I grimly made my way to the ring. Martin suggested that I was obviously focused on the match. Sure. That was as good of an explanation as any. Quentin and I tore into each other, working on getting the other one over the rope before things got more interesting. But neither of us could until the timer counted down. Dustin Deuce hit the ring and pretty soon, I found myself fighting two opponents at once. Another two minutes passed, and the crowd popped to their feet as Fro Sure made his way to the ring. No dancing, no jokes, just determined focus. He hit the ring and went after Quentin, trying to force him out of the ring but failing. Jay Silver and Cockroach Carter came next. As Cockroach made his way to the ring, I managed to hit Dustin with a dropkick that took him over the top rope and officially became the first elimination. He was quickly followed by Cockroach, who got thrown out of the ring by Quentin. Roger Monteiro hit the ring next, followed by Cassidy Blaine and Masked Marauder. Roger took a few moments to clean house, tossing out Cassidy, then Jay, and finally me before Fro ran him over from behind. The final entrant, Papa Swoll, made his way down the entrance to the ring. As he did, Fro and Quentin got into a major back-and-forth, one that was broken up by Roger as he hit Quentin and managed to toss him over the top rope. That left Masked Mauler, Roger, Fro Sure, and Papa Swoll. Fro managed to toss Masked Mauler over the top rope, but then he got hit from behind by Roger. Roger tried to throw the champ over the top rope, but Fro fought back and managed to throw Roger out of the ring. But as he did, he hit his head on a turnbuckle pretty hard. That left the Kings in the ring by themselves. The two of them stalked around each other and then tore into each other. Martin howeld that there was no room for partnerships or friendships in a match like this. It was pretty obvious that they had each other scouted (“A testimony to their long partnership,” Martin said). Both men tried to eliminate the other. They were wearing each other out until finally, Fro managed to hit Swoll with a Sure Thing. But, bizarrely, Fro tried to pin Swoll after that. Curt screamed that that wouldn’t do it in this match. After Fro waited for a count to be made, he seemed to realize his mistake. He fought to get Swoll rolled over to the ropes and struggled to get him up and hung on the top rope. But as he worked to get Swoll up and over the ropes, Swoll came back to life. He shoved Fro away and then, as Fro ricocheted off the ropes, Swoll caught him with the Pounce. But unlike Fro, Swoll immediately pulled Fro to his feet eand, in a burst of strength, threw the champ over the top rope. WINNER: Papa Swoll in 29:36 RATING: 41 *** Tension flooded the locker room as the show wrapped up. No one said anything as the wrestlers gathered together. I sat on a bench, near where Tamara and Freddie had been tending to Grace. They had sent her and Mark to Mayo while the battle royal was happening. We hadn’t heard anything about how she was doing. I planned to head over there as soon as everything was wrapped up here. “This…” I swallowed hard. “This was not what I hoped for. This was supposed to be a night that would showcase what RFW could do. And now, the only thing people will talk about is what happened to Grace…who, by the way, was amazing. I mean, finishing the match like that? Just incredible. “And Fro… You’re a rock star, man. We’re obviously not done with you here, but I appreciate your willingness to pass the title on to Swoll.” Fro didn’t say anything. He didn’t even meet my gaze. None of them did. Not even Abigail. She stood off to one side, isolated from the others. Whether that was her choice or theirs, I didn’t really care. I pointed at her, wanting to say something. Anything. But I couldn’t find the words. So I pointed again and shook my head. “I’m going to go see how Grace is doing.” FINAL RATING: 38 Quick Results: From RFW.com...

Wednesday of Week 2, April 2022 Once again, it was all Grace’s idea. Truth be told, I think I had had my fill of 21st birthday binges after Grace’s. Sure, getting that trashed was fun at the time, but I still felt woozy from the hangover the next day, and all of that had happened two months earlier. But when Grace caught wind that I wasn’t planning to do much for my big two-one, she stepped in to make things better. Step one: schedule the party for a Wednesday night. Yes, I know, counterintuitive, but that led to the next part… Step two: invite everyone who was going to compete at All In to arrive a day earlier and come with us to go drinking and celebrate this inevitable milestone of my life. Step three: put Mark and Jack in charge of the rest of the planning. I don’t know where they found it (or how they paid for it), but the night before All In, we all gathered in the hotel parking lot where a fleet of Humvee limos were waiting for us. And while Rochester didn’t have quite the same selection of bars as Minneapolis did, Mark was able to use his local contacts to set up a route that took us to plenty of them. And with close to thirty people in our group, it turned out that I didn’t have to worry about paying for much of anything. It seemed like every time I turned around, someone was pressing a drink into my hands. I vaguely remembered doing shots with—or maybe off of, I don’t quite remember—all of the women who were going to be in the title match. Probably the worst part of the night was when Mark had me try something called a “cement mixer.” I nearly threw up right there afterwards, but the real kick was toward the end of the night, when it felt like the alcohol just rushed my system and knocked me for an absolute loop. The rest of the night turned into a chaotic blur, with laughing and crying and dancing and drinking and more laughing and more drinking and the limos and Abigail and Modesty and Jack and Fro and Swoll and… *** My head felt like my skin was about to split straight down the middle so my skull could drip out. I tried to groan, but even that caused my stomach to lurch and my head to explode with agony. It didn’t help that the sunlight had somehow become knives that slowly twisted into my sockets. “John? You okay?” I groaned. Why was Dad screaming at me like that? I forced an eye open and realized I was staring at the ceiling of my bathroom. My back groaned in protest as I sat up and looked around. Yeah, my bathroom. And from the smell, I think it was probably a good thing I had spent the night in there. Hopefully the mess wouldn’t be that bad. I suspected I was going to have to clean it all up. Dad sat on the edge of the bathtub with a concerned look on his face. “You feeling okay, son?” I shook my head and collapsed back onto the floor. Stars exploded in my vision when my head hit the linoleum. Bad choice, just the worst. Dad was saying something, but I really didn’t track what he was saying. Instead, I took several heaving breaths, trying to get my head to stop hurting and my stomach to settle down and… Wait, did he say something about RFW? I rolled my head to one side and forced myself to focus on him. Dad raised his eyebrows, as if he was waiting for me to respond. “What?” I croaked. He sighed. “If you’re feeling this poorly, do you really think it’ll be a good idea to go in tonight? There’s no way you’ll be in fighting form by the show.” I shook my head and slowly levered myself up. “No, Dad, I gotta be there.” “You’re in no shape to wrestle. No one’s gonna think any less of you if you stay home. That Freddie and Tamara can sub someone in for you.” Except they would think less of me. They would. And I’d think less of myself as well. I glanced at my watch. As near as I could tell, I had about eight hours to recover and hopefully pull myself together. I’d get it done. Somehow.

From RFW.com… If you want to make predictions or make comments or whatever, please feel free!

Friday of Week 4, March 2022 “It couldn’t have been that bad,” I said. “It was, Ace.” Grace picked at her food. “They didn’t care how I did at all. Okay, so they did, but only to use it as a way to challenge the other ladies to do better than me.” I frowned. That really didn’t sound all that great. I could hardly believe that someone would do that. I made a mental note to never do something like that to my workers. The waitress headed over to our table with a water pitcher and a big smile. I smiled back. “How’s the family, Lishan?” I asked. She refilled our glasses and filled me in on how her children were doing. The workers at the Ethiopian restaurant had come to recognize us over the past few months. Grace paused and offered Lishan a wan smile. The moment Lishan stepped away, Grace started talking again. “I just wish that things were going better. It feels like we should be doing bigger things by now.” My cellphone chirped at me and I glanced at it. A new email. “So how are the finances?” Grace asked. “Holding steady, much to my surprise. We made almost two grand this last month, bringing us up to a little over $76,000.” I frowned. Who had the message come from? As Grace kept talking, I quickly pulled up the email and my eyes widened. The email had come from USPW.com. Had I actually…had it worked? Grace frowned. “What?” “So…don’t get mad. I may have…I may have done something a bit…rash.” Her gaze narrowed. “What did you do?” I clenched my jaw, holding back my words. I didn’t want to admit to the whole story. A few weeks ago, when I was feeling sorry for myself, I had a crazy idea about how we could maybe take a bold step forward with the company. Grace headed off to QAW because we weren’t quite big enough. Plus I had been worried about how we’d make ends meet with our deal with WrestleWorld. If I could find a way to bring in some more money, raise our profile, get some more talented workers… “I may or may not have reached out to Allen Packer to see if he’d want to use RFW as a development fed for USPW.” Now Grace’s eyes widened. “Really?” “I figured that we could smooth down the rough edges on some of their future stars, maybe borrow a few of their workers every now and then.” I leaned over the table and smirked. “Strong vs. Kil, anyone?” Grace laughed. “So what do they say?” I opened the email and froze. First thing I noticed, the email didn’t come from Allen Packer but from some lady I had never heard of. That might not be the worst thing in the world. After all, Packer had a lot of big issues to worry about. If I had a company as large as his, I’d probably work through intermediaries as well. But then I kept reading. And I tried to keep my reaction from my face, but I clearly failed, because within seconds, Grace’s expression mirrored how I felt. “What?” I hadn’t read through all of it, but I had the gist of it at that point. “They’re not interested in partnering with us. We’re…too small. Not enough reach. Not enough fans. We’re just…not big enough.” Grace looked like she deflated. She rested her cheek against her hand, looking absolutely defeated. And I hated it. I hated seeing that. This wasn’t right. “What?” she asked. “They want big? Let’s give them big.”