Two of a Kind - Royal Flush Wrestling (C-Verse)

[Scapino1974]

I nervously entered the receipts and bills one by one. Last month’s decision to upgrade our production values, our broadcast quality, and our music seemed good at the time, but I had been nervous ever since. Had I just doomed our company to bankruptcy? I didn’t think I had; we had some decent margins and that should provide a good cushion for the added expense.

But we suddenly had two video camera operators (Lee and “Woodsy”—I had no idea what his real name was) at every show, along with Glenn doing the still photography for us. It’d be nice to have an actual ring entrance instead of the makeshift one we had created, and having actual ring aprons with our name and logo would be a plus too. And the guys had had a blast sifting through the music catalog, finding their new entrance themes. I mean, it was all a positive step forward, all things considered. But had we bitten off too much?

I closed my eyes as I hit enter after filling in all the data. Please please please please…

The computer chirped at me and I risked a peek. I goggled at the screen, hardly believing it.

Our production expenses had gone up by $1,700, but we had taken in $4,201 in profits, bringing our bottom line to $46,349.

I sat back in my desk chair and let out a shaky breath. I looked through the spreadsheet. Nothing else really jumped out at me, other than we took in approximately $300 more from merchandising.

I grabbed my phone and scrolled through my contacts, but then I froze. Who should I call? Grace, obviously, but I knew she had a major paper due later that week and wouldn’t want to be interrupted. Abigail? That seemed right, but her family was visiting her grandma and she said she’d probably be too busy to chat. I could always tell my folks, but I wasn’t sure how excited they’d actually be. I mean, they had accepted RFW and let me “do my thing,” as Dad put it, but this felt like I’d be poking the bear.

Finally, I set down my phone and leaned back in my chair, spinning around slowly to soak in my room. It felt like I had never really ever looked at it, at least, not recently. Not critically. How had I never noticed that my decorations were a weird mishmash from growing up? I spotted some old action figures tucked on a bookshelf near posters of bands that I hadn’t listened to in years. Not that this was bad necessarily. It just felt…small. Too constricting. Like I needed something more. Something different.

My own place? The thought struck me pretty hard. That would be interesting. I’d be able to come and go as I pleased. I could have Abigail over whenever I wanted. A basic step toward freedom!

I quickly set to searching to find out how much an apartment would cost. It couldn’t be too much, right? I mean, Rochester wasn’t the Twin Cities. So apartments would cost…

I nearly choked on the numbers I saw. At least five to six hundred dollars a month, and those looked to be so extremely small.

And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I’d have to do stuff like cooking and cleaning and… Wow.

I looked back at my room again. Maybe I just needed to do some sprucing up rather than do anything too drastic.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

Friday of Week 2, February 2021

Was everyone staring at me? It felt like it. But then, why wouldn’t they? I had actually gotten dressed up for the occasion, a suit I had bought a few weeks earlier in case I ever had to go to a business meeting (Freddie’s idea; he said that, as one of the co-owners, there were times when I’d need to put up with the discomfort to grease the rails). And Dad had commented that I “cleaned up really good,” whatever that meant.

But no, they weren’t really looking at me. Or, if they were, it was only to figure out why I was walking down the sidewalk to Pescara with the most gorgeous girl in town. If I cleaned up well, then Abigail…

I had no idea how to complete that metaphor. None whatsoever. But she was simply stunning. Her blond hair was brushed out and hanging halfway down her back. She wore a fancy dress that clung to every curve and she had put on minimal makeup to just accentuate her beauty rather than overwhelm it.

Truth be told, I should have been nervous. This was our first Valentine’s Day together. Granted, we had been dating for seven months, so maybe that took the edge off of it. But still. This was a big deal, especially with the gift bumping against my chest in the coat pocket. But Abigail made this so easy. She had looped her arm through mine when we set out from the car and didn’t seem to mind the attention.

We entered the restaurant which, according to my research, was the most romantic one in Rochester. I had no way of evaluating that. It seemed nice enough, and the dining room was packed with couples of all ages. Thankfully, Dad had told me to get a reservation a few months back. So when we approached the hostess, she ushered us past some of the waiting people and to a table tucked away in one corner.

“Fancy,” Abigail commented. “I’m not used to eating in a restaurant with cloth napkins.”

I smiled at her. “Same here.”

The waitress stopped by to get our drink orders and then our dinner orders. She ordered the walleye malinese so effortlessly I wondered if she had been here before. I settled on an 8 ounce filet. I know, ordering a steak in a seafood restaurant was weird, but I wasn’t confident I could pronounce half the stuff on the menu.

We made small talk while we waited for the food. We didn’t have much to discuss, really, just stories about people we knew in class or how our families were doing. Abigail mentioned her parents might want me to come home with her for Easter. I mumbled something about checking with my parents.

“John?” she frowned. “You okay?”

“Better than okay,” I said, my mouth suddenly dry. “I know we said we weren’t going to do presents, but…”

She frowned at me. “What did you do?”

I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out a flat jewelry box. Her eyes widened.

“What did you do?” she whispered again.

I took a moment to relish the look of surprise on her face, then launched into my prepared speech. I had spent a week finessing these words. I’d rather go head-to-head against Garry in a battle of the wits than this. There, a stumble here or there would add to the fun. Here, though, I wanted to get every syllable right.

“Abigail, from the moment I saw you, I was simply blown away. I’ll admit, it was shallow at first because…well, you’re simply gorgeous. But ever since that first night, I’ve come to appreciate how thoughtful and kind and amazing you are. I am so glad that—”

“John?” a familiar voice interrupted me.

I froze, my mouth half-open and my words stuck in my throat. No way.

I turned and sure enough, Mrs. Kil hustled through the restaurant. What was she doing here?

“I haven’t seen you in so long!” she said, then froze when she saw Abigail sitting across from me. “And who is this?”

"Mrs. Kil, this is Abigail, my girlfriend,” I said. “Abigail, this is Mrs. Kil.”

Abigail’s face lit up. “Grace’s mom? It’s so good to meet you.”

“You as well.” Mrs. Kil gave me a sly look.

My cheeks burned under her scrutiny. “So out on the town, huh?”

Mrs. Kil laughed and flicked her hand at me. “Hardly. Thomas is much too dignified to be ‘on the town’ in any sense. The only reason we’re here at all is because a member gave us a gift certificate for Christmas. Otherwise, it’d be watching something on Netflix. That’s still a thing, right? ‘Netflix and chill?’”

My mouth popped open, but then Mrs. Kil giggled and swatted a hand at me. “Look at him blush, Abigail! Such a proper young man.”

“He is at that.” Abigail put her hand over mine and smiled in a sympathetic way.

Mrs. Kil’s gaze landed on the jewelry box in my hand and her eyes widened. “And jewelry as well? Perhaps you should give Thomas a pep talk on what someone should do on Valentine’s Day.”

Oh, that would go over great.

And speak of the devil! Reverend Kil walked up behind his wife and touched the small of her back. “Hannah? Our table is…”

Then he spotted who she was talking to. His features hardened. “Ah. John. Good to see you.”

From his tone, it was clear he felt it was anything but.

If Abigail picked up on the sudden drop in temperature, she didn’t let on. Instead, she offered Reverend Kil a dazzling smile. “Mr. Kil! So good to meet you too!”

“Reverend Kil,” he said quietly.

Abigail took the correction in stride. “It must be so nice to see your daughter so often.”

Reverend Kil frowned. “What?”

“Grace. Don’t you see her every month?”

I froze. Oh no. Oh no no no no no no no…

The Kils exchanged a confused look.

“We haven’t seen Grace since Christmas,” Mrs. Kil said.

Abigail turned to look at me, her confusion painted across her face. I scooted my foot across the floor and tapped the side of her foot, hoping she’d get the message.

She must have. She offered the Kils another smile. “I’m sorry. I must be thinking of someone else.”

Mrs. Kil seemed to accept that explanation, but Reverend Kil stared at me, his gaze narrowed, his eyes burning with suspicion. I fought to keep from looking away or clearing my throat or doing anything that would let on that Grace had been to Rochester since Christmas. But then he turned to Mrs. Kil and offered her his version of a warm smile.

“Let’s go to our table, dear, and leave them to their dinner,” he said.

Mrs. Kil said good night and followed her husband to the other side of the restaurant. I still couldn’t relax, even when I realized they wouldn’t be able to see us.

“She still hasn’t told them?” Abigail asked quietly.

I shook my head. She hadn’t. Even though she hadn’t lived with her folks for the past five months or so, she still couldn’t bring herself to tell her parents about RFW.

“That’s crazy!” Abigail said. “They’re gonna find out eventually.”

I shrugged. They probably would.

Abigail glanced in the direction of the Kils’ table. “And I almost gave it all away, didn’t I?”

Another shrug. She almost had, but I figured it would ruin the mood if I agreed.

She shuddered and then smiled at me. “I’ll do better next time. Sorry.” She looked down at the jewelry box. “So. You were saying?”

I laughed. I had a hard time picking up my speech where I had left off. Being confronted by Reverend Kil had a way of doing that. But I fumbled through my final thoughts and then presented her with the gift.

It wasn’t much, just an inexpensive sterling silver necklace with a smattering of diamonds. But Abigail reacted like I had just presented her with something far more precious. She put it on immediately and then leaned across the table to kiss me.

We spent the rest of the evening making more small talk. I did my best to ignore the looming presence across the restaurant. Finally, after a quick dessert, we left the restaurant and walked back to my car. I drove her back to Cassidy’s house and then I headed home. I resisted the urge to call Grace and warn her about her parents. For one thing, it definitely was not a good idea to call another woman after dropping off my girlfriend on Valentine’s Day. For another, I had a sneaking suspicion she was going to learn about it anyway.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

RFW All In

Sunday of Week 2, February 2021

Held at the Civic Center in Rochester, MN (Mid West Region)

156 in attendance

 

The locker room felt empty. Oh, sure, everyone was engaged in their usual preshow rituals. Things had gotten a bit crazier since the locker was used by men and women, but we had made it work pretty well so far.

No, the emptiness was because Grace wasn’t there. For the first time since we started RFW, she wasn’t at the show at all.

It hadn’t been an easy decision for her. When I told her what happened with her parents, she had tried to blow off my concerns, but I could hear the worry in her voice. Would her parents figure things out? It didn’t sound like they had called her yet, but I think we both knew they would at some point. So Grace finally decided not to tempt fate and just stay in the Twin Cities this month.

In terms of booking, it wasn’t a problem. We had two other first round matches for the new women’s title and Grace wasn’t in either of them. We wouldn’t need her at the announce table. So the safer thing for ust o do was have her just stay away.

And for the most part, it didn’t seem to bother anyone else. At least, no one commented on her absence. But I could feel it acutely. It was like some of the air had been sucked out of the room. She should be here.

But the show had to go on…

 

***

 

Martin Thecott and Curt Meritt welcomed the audience to the show.

 

1) Quentin Queen came out to the ring and glared at the crowd, who welcomed him by booing and jeering him.

“Shut up!” Quentin thundered. “Surprised to see me? Apparently once you lose a title, you’re persona non grata. Two months ago, Fro Sure stole my title from me in an unfair match. And then, last month? I get told that I not only don’t get a rematch, but I don’t even get a match. What the hell is up with that? So I’m thinking right now, what I’m going to do is just sit here until someone makes it right. I demand a rematch! I demand respect! I demand—”

He was interrupted by Texas Hangman, who came out to the ring entrance and glared at him. “We demand that you shut up. This is what happens, Quentin. You should know that. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you’re left in the dust. Just suck it up and take the L. But as for tonight, my understanding is that Fro Sure already has a fight. But I’m free. What do you say? You and me. We’ll see if you can back up your bad attitude with action.”

Quentin sneered at him. “Fine by me. And when I’m done with you, I’ll move on to bigger and better things.”

RATING: 33

 

2) JOHN “ACE” HART vs. CASSIDY BLAINE

As Cassidy and I went out to the ring, Martin reminisced about his days playing high school basketball. He explained that Cassidy and I had been teammates not too long ago. He speculated that maybe there was some residual bad blood from those days.

Cassidy did a pretty good job playing the heel, getting the crowd riled up against them. I played off of that as best as I could and, by the end of the match, I think most of them were rooting for me (although I did notice that the Four-Clap Posse seemed to be solidly in Cassidy’s corner).

We started things off on the mat, putting on a quick clinic of Greco-Roman wrestling. The crowd applauded a few of the moves, but before they got too bored with it, we kicked things up a notch and started whipping each other around the ring. Cassidy was able to get me pinned once or twice, but he couldn’t keep me down. I finally put him down with an Ace of Harts.

WINNER: John “Ace” Hart in 19:56

RATING: 46

 

3) Sherry Smart came out to the ring with her tarot cards. She thanked the crowd for their warm welcome and then said that she was going to commune with the spirit world to determine the outcome of her match.

She rifled through the cards and then sat cross-legged in the middle of the ring. She dealt out a ring of cards around herself and then picked one with her eyes closed. She revealed it to be The Empress.

Sherry then celebrated and jumped up and down. She said this indicated that she was going to win in her upcoming match against Talia Quinzel.

RATING: 21

 

4) SHERRY SMART vs. TALIA QUINZEL (First Round Match for the RFW Women’s Championship)

Unfortunately, Sherry couldn’t back up her boasting. She was off her game, but Curt and Martin played that off as her being over-confident from her “very scientific” predictions.

Sherry tried to take control of the match early on and, for a brief moment or two, it looked like she might actually take Talia out of commission. But then Talia smirked at the crowd and went on the offensive. She tossed Sherry around the ring for a while before finally putting her out of her misery with a Spinal Trauma.

WINNER: Talia Quinzel in 12:56

RATING: 37

 

5) FLYING PATRIOT vs. PRIME TIME JACK PRYDE

This was an okay match, but it kind of dragged through the middle. Jack finally took Patriot out with a PrydeFall.

WINNER: Prime Time Jack Pryde in 12:36

RATING: 17

 

6) JOY RIDER vs. MARIE PUNNEN (First Round Match for the RFW Women’s Championship)

Joy came rushing out to the ring, dancing and whooping it up like a cheerleader on steroids. She actually got the crowd hyped up for her, especially some of the younger fans. When Marie Punnen came out, she didn’t show any interest in joining the party.

Once the bell rang, Joy tried to get Marie to lighten up. It sounded like she may have even challenged her to a dance off. Marie answered the challenge with a quick kick to the head. That snapped Joy out of her party mood and she took the rest of the match a lot more seriously.

These two put on a pretty decent match. Marie seemed really confident in her chances to win. She spent a lot of the match pounding on Joy and, when it looked like Joy had been taken out, Marie smirked and actually did a little bit of dancing to mock Joy.

But that proved to be a mistake. Because when Marie finally got ready to put Joy down, Joy surprised her with the Ryder Rocker and got the pin.

WINNER: Joy Rider in 12:47

RATING: 24

 

7) The party wasn’t quite done yet. Before Joy could get out of the ring, Jokers Wild came out. The tag champs urged Joy to stay in the ring with them and the three of them had an impromptu dance contest. Zippy seemed a little hesitant to do so, but he did a passable soft-shoe routine. Garry was a little wilder in his moves, clearly not caring how ridiculous he looked. But Joy put them both to shame with some sweet moves. When the crowd was asked who won, they all sided with Joy.

RATING: 36

 

8. JOKERS WILD © vs. ORIGINAL SINNER & PETER CROCKETT for the RFW Tag Team Championship

This match should have been a lot of fun. It was clear that Zippy and Garry weren’t all that worried about the challengers and they spent some time mocking them and engaging in some pranks.

But things took a turn for the worst when Peter Crockett clearly botched a move while fighting with Garry. Garry’s shoulder was clearly injured. Referee Quincy Jones checked on him, but Garry waved him off. He gingerly continued the match until he could tag in Zippy.

Zippy didn’t waste any time in grabbing Peter and putting him down with a Spinning Bulldog. It looked like Peter was trying to kick out, but Zippy put his full weight on it to end the match.

WINNERS: Jokers Wild in 12:24

RATING: 21

 

9) TEXAS HANGMAN vs. QUENTIN QUEEN

Apparently news of what happened to Garry had made it to the backstage area. Quentin looked a bit nervous getting into the ring. He was hesitant to lock up with Hangman. Finally, Hangman had to smack Quentin upside the head and shout at him to focus.

Once he had done that, Quentin seemed to pull himself back together. He and Hangman put on a decent match. They adapted to Quentin’s discomfort with Hangman controlling most of the match until he tried to put Quentin down with a Choke Slam. But then Quentin blocked the attempt and ended the match with the Q-Ball.

WINNER: Quentin Queen in 12:40

RATING: 30

 

10) FRO SURE © vs. DUSTIN DEUCE for the RFW Championship

It looked like Fro was just as upset as Quentin, which made sense since Crockett had nearly injured him a few months back. Thankfully, he was able to pull himself together as Dustin Deuce got into the ring with him.

The match swung back and forth with both men getting in some offense. Finally, Fro took control of the match and decisively put Dustin down with the Sure Thing.

WINNER: Fro Sure in 16:36

RATING: 33

 

11) As Fro celebrated his win, Quentin Queen rushed the ring with a baseball bat and used it to take the champ down. He then spent some time beating Fro with the bat before he picked up the belt and stared at it. He then tossed the title on Fro’s chest and then left.

RATING: 31

 

***

 

The tension backstage was palpable. Zippy had already gotten Garry out of the Civic Center and taken him to St. Mary’s to get checked out. He promised that he would get in contact with me once he had word about what we were dealing with.

The rest of the locker room had separated itself from Peter Crockett. Crockett seemed completely unconcerned. He leaned against one of the lockers, his feet propped up, and a pair of headphones on.

As I walked in, I kicked his feet off their perch so he sat up. He snatched off his headphones and glared up at me.

“What’s your problem?” he demanded.

“Right now? You. How many people have you nearly injured since we hired you? Two? Three? And now you actually hurt Garry! What do you have to say for yourself?”

Crockett shrugged. “Accidents happen.”

Heat flashed through me. I was sorely tempted to snatch the headphones and snap them in half. But I curled my fingers into fists and forced them to my side.

“Accidents. Right. You seem to be at the center of a lot of them. And I seem to have made one when I hired you.” I pulled out my wallet and peeled off two twenties and tossed them at him. “Don’t bother coming back. You’re done here.”

That finally got his attention. He looked up at me, his jaw hanging open. “You can’t be serious.”

“Can’t I? Like I said, three ‘accidents,’ the last one actually resulting in a real injury. And not only that, you can only wrestle for like what? Three minutes? Four? And then you’re completely out of breath and can’t go on. Freddie’s been covering for you in every match!

“So this is what we’re going to do. You’re going to take your final pay and get out of my face. You’re done with Royal Flush Wrestling.”

Crockett stared at me, slack jawed. He looked like he was ready to protest, but then he glanced over my shoulder, looking at either side of me. I could feel someone looming behind me.

“You heard the man,” Fro Sure growled.

“Get out,” Hangman added.

Crockett froze, but then he gathered up his stuff and left the locker room without another word.

As soon as the door closed, I felt like my legs were going to go out from under me. I actually worried I might throw up. What if he had actually taken a swing at me? He looked like he was thinking about it. If Fro and Hangman hadn’t stepped up behind me, would there have been a real fight backstage? I didn’t want to think about that.

“You okay, boss?” Hangman asked quietly.

I nodded, not trusting my own voice.

“You did the right thing, man,” Fro said. “We were lucky that Peter didn’t seriously injure anyone. I mean, we don’t know how Garry is doing, but he’ll probably be all right. Maybe.”

The two men patted me on the back, the shoulder, and then they went back to their lockers to keep cleaning up. I blew out another shaky breath. Then I turned to the others.

They were trying not to stare at me. But they were all doing a lousy job of hiding it.

Hopefully tomorrow would be a better day.

FINAL RATING: 35

 

 

Quick results:

Quote

From RFW.com...

 

Here are the results from the last All In!

 

John "Ace" Hart defeated Cassidy Blaine

Talia Quinzel defeated Sherry Smart to advance in the tournament for the RFW Women's Championship

Prime Time Jack Pryde defeated Flying Patriot

Joy Rider defeated Marie Punnen to advance in the tournament for the RFW Women's Championship

Jokers Wild © defeated Peter Crockett & Original Sinner to retain the RFW Tag Team Championship

Quentin Queen defeated Texas Hangman

Fro Sure © defeated Dustin Deuce to retain the RFW Championship

Edited September 10, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

Monday of Week 3, February 2021

The sunlight filtered through my window just as my phone started ringing. I groaned. I hadn’t slept well at all. For whatever reason, Peter Crockett chased me through my dreams. I knew I had done the right thing. I knew that he didn’t bring anything helpful to the table. Yet I couldn’t sleep. In some dreams, he paraded his wife and fifteen children in front of me, all of them crying about how they were going to starve. In another, he was Darth Vader in Rogue One and I was standing at the end of the hallway. Yes, none of them made sense. But I still felt guilty.

Then the ringtone cut through my mental fog: Grace’s ringtone. I rolled over and answered. “What?”

“Well, good morning to you too, sunshine,” she said, her voice annoyingly chipper.

“Grace, it’s…” I looked at the clock. 8:23. I had to get up soon anyway, but I wasn’t about to admit that. “…too early for this.”

“Sounds like you had a fun night last night,” Grace said. “I checked TEW.com this morning and like half the stories are about RFW.”

That woke me up. What? I quickly slid out of bed and found my laptop and booted it up.

“Bad press or good press?” I asked.

“I’ll let you be the judge of that.” The smirk in Grace’s voice was all too loud and clear.

There! I opened Chrome and clicked on my bookmark for TEW.com. And sure enough, there it was: four or five stories about RFW. The first two I ignored. One was a summary of All In—who beat who, how many audience members were there, that sort of thing. Another was a “barometer post,” where some staffer gleaned audience reactions. Underneath those were three more: “Garry the Entertainer injured at last night’s RFW All In,” “Peter Crockett fired after last night’s RFW All In,” and…

My mouth went dry and it felt like the room had started spinning around me.

“RFW Rises in Stature.”

I clicked the last one first. What did that even mean? I started reading:

Quote

In spite of a rather turbulent All In last night, RFW has definitely risen through the ranks. Industry watchers were curious to see if a wrestling promotion started by two high school students would have much of a future but, against all odds, RFW has attracted solid talent and continues to grow its audience.

 

After the recent addition of women’s wrestling, RFW has continued to grow in terms of popularity and awareness with fans. We here at TEW.com think that last night’s All In, in spite of some backstage drama (or perhaps because of it), signals that RFW has crossed a threshold. It’s no longer the insignificant newcomer who might fade away at a moment’s notice. Instead, it’s a tiny powerhouse, one that’s worth watching. In our opinion, RFW is similar to MAW and RIPW on the East Coast.

I stared at the screen while Grace peppered me with questions. What did this mean? Were our finances going to take a hit? Did we need more workers? Fewer? Would the guys want downsides to their contracts?

But at the same time, excitement bubbled through me. We had a long way to go before we’d be a threat to the Big Three in the U.S. I’m sure this news wasn’t even a blip on the radar for USPW, TCW, or SWF. But we hadn’t gone bankrupt. We could still truck along and put on our shows. And based on the rest of this article, the staff at TEW were expecting to see big things from us.

“Ace, are you even listening to me anymore? Because I just spent the last three minutes describing the color of my underwear and all I got out of you was a ‘Uh huh.’”

That snapped me back to reality. “What?”

She laughed. “Congratulations, partner. I wish I could have been there to see it all happen.”

I started to laugh, because I knew that if Grace had been there, she probably would have hauled off and knocked out Peter Crockett for his attitude. But the chuckle died in my throat. She should have been there. And she should be able to trumpet this news all over the place. But she wouldn’t be able to. And I’d have to be careful about who I shared this news with as well. All because of her dad.

She must have realized the same thing, because an awkward silence rose up between us. I shifted in my seat, trying to decide what I should do or say or…

“So can you make it up for my birthday party?”

What? Oh, that’s right. Later that week, Grace was going out on the town with some of her college friends to celebrate her 20th birthday. She had mentioned it to me in passing a few weeks ago and, when I hadn’t picked up the hint, sent me another reminder.

“I think so. What are the details again?”

“This Saturday. We’ll meet at my room at 7:00 and we’ll go from there.”

I pulled up my calendar on the laptop. I had this nagging feeling that…

Oh no.

“I…I can’t.”

Silence. Then, “What?”

“You remember how Monica got engaged at Christmas? Patrick’s family is having an engagement party to celebrate this Sunday. We’re going to be in Des Moines.”

“You can’t skip?”

“I don’t think I can. Patrick wants me to be a groomsman in the wedding. Carson’s flying in and everything.”

“I really want you to be there, John.”

“I know.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Do you think maybe I could come to your family party?”

More silence. We both knew the answer to that.

“This sucks,” she said. “It’s not fair.”

“I’m sorry, Grace. I really am!”

She sighed, heavily, then said, “Well, you better get me something nice for my birthday then.”

“Oh yeah? What did you have in mind?”

“Well, we have a hole in our roster right now, don’t we? With Peter gone?”

“I suppose so.” I mean, I didn’t know for sure. There was a good chance that, since we had grown in prestige, we couldn’t afford to have as many workers as we did. I’d have to have a word with Freddie and Tamara about all of this.

“I have an idea of someone we could hire.”

“Oh yeah? Who?”

She told me.

I froze. “Are you serious?”

“Completely.”

I didn’t say anything, trying to process this request.

“Do I need to play the ‘I’m half owner’ card?” she asked.

“No. You have his number?”

She did. I scribbled it down on a piece of paper. We chatted a little bit more, and then I hung up. I checked my phone and discovered that dozens of text messages had stacked up, from the RFW workers congratulating us on making it to “tiny.” There was also a message from Garry, saying that he’d be able to work in a limited way through his injury, but that he was glad I had gotten rid of Peter Crockett.

I’d have to sift through them all later. I dialed the number Grace gave me.

“Hey, it’s John Hart. Grace asked me to call you. Need a job?”

Edited September 10, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

Thursday of Week 4, February 2021

After the dust had settled from the big news, I convened a Zoom call with Freddy and Tamara to discuss what we needed to do now that RFW had grown.

“First off, kid, congratulations!” Tamara said. “Sean used to share stories about the parties that he went to when the companies he worked for hit certain milestones. You got anything planned?”

“Uh… I might get some snacks for everyone next month,” I said.

Tamara blinked in confusion and Freddie laughed.

“Small steps, Tamara. Big parties can wait until we’re breathing down Allen Packer’s neck,” Freddy said. “For now, let’s talk about what this means for RFW in the here and now.”

I braced myself. Freddy looked stern, like he was trying to figure out how to tell me how badly I had messed things up.

Then he smiled. “Actually, we’re in pretty good shape already. You’ve hired a lot of wrestlers already, so our roster is just about the right size. And we can keep working on the handshake agreements you have with everyone. So far as the business side is concerned, it’s smooth sailing.”

“Unless the finances say something different,” Tamara added.

“We’re good there. We made $6,210 last month, bringing our bottom line to $52,559,” I said. “Grace found us another $500 in sponsorship revenue.”

“Good girl,” Tamara said. “Speaking of Gracie, where is she?”

“In class,” I said. “I’m taking notes for her.”

We talked about some other details: possible feuds, wrestlers to watch for (Tamara was really keen on someone named Joanna Silver. She had been pushing for us to bring her in for the past two months. But when I did my research, I discovered that she was a stripper from the defunct Babes of Sin City. If she was on the roster when Reverend Kil found out about Grace’s side hustle, I think he’d either have a stroke or call down the wrath of God on us all).

“There is one other thing,” I said. “I’m thinking it’s time we hire someone to coordinate our shows. Right now, we’ve been asking people’s friends and family to act like ushers and stuff like that. I think we need someone to coordinate all of that.”

“Have someone in mind?” Tamara asked.

I smiled. “Yeah. Her name’s Lisa Wellington.”

Freddie frowned. “That name sounds familiar.”

“She’s the head of the Four-Clap Posse,” I said. “As near as I can tell, she’s been to every one of our shows since day one. Seems like a nice enough lady.”

“You talk to her about doing this job yet?” Freddie asked.

“No. I was toying around with the idea. What do you think?”

Freddie chuckled. “I’ve heard the guys talk about this Lisa and her friends. If she’s as dedicated as you say, we might be on to something here. I say go for it.”

We wrapped up our meeting and I sat back in my chair. We’d just added another $2,500 to our expenditures, but I think we could take that hit. Only one way to find out!

Edited September 10, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

RFW All In

Sunday of Week 2, March 2021

Held at the Civic Center in Rochester, MN

192 in attendance

 

Shortly after I arrived at the Civic Center, I checked in with Lisa. She had taken the job almost immediately. Turns out, she was a teacher at a Lutheran school in town and really enjoyed what we were doing. She was more than happy to take the reigns and organize her friends into teams of ushers and other helpers. They even showed up for the show wearing shirts declaring themselves “The Four-Clap Posse.” I’m not sure who told them about our backstage nickname for them, but hey, they wore those shirts with pride.

I moved backstage. Tamara had gathered some of the workers together and was going over their matches. Freddie had pulled Pepper Pelton into a corner and was chatting with him about something. Pepper listened to whatever he was saying with rapt attention.

Freddie spotted me as I walked in. He excused himself and came over to me.

“Is he ready to go?” I asked.

“The new guy? As ready as he’s going to be. You sure about him?”

No. But Grace was. And that would have to be good enough.

***

 

Martin and Curt welcomed the audience to the show.

 

1) JOHN “ACE” HART vs. CHIP MARTIN vs. JAMES DIAZ vs. PEPPER PELTON

We tried to hit things off with a fatal four way match. We tore into each other almost immediately, although Pepper pulled up at the last minute so that only Chip, James, and I started the fight together.

Chip, unfortunately, had a hard time keeping his head in the match. Martin tried to play it off as trying to keep track of three opponents at once, but it was pretty clear he was struggling. James and I spent some time trying to one-up each other while trying to pin each other. Chip and Pepper hung back and mostly worked to keep us from winning the match.

In the end, though, James wound up tied up with Chip and the two of them tumbled out of the ring to brawl at ringside. While they were distracted, I grabbed Pepper and dropped him with an Ace of Harts for the pin and the win.

WINNER: John “Ace” Hart in 15:15

RATING: 37

 

2) Selina Svelte came out to the ring. She said she had bad news: Sabrina Wells didn’t show up for her match tonight against Joy Rider. “She thought that it was more important for her to work at some other promotion. But luckily for you, my schedule was open. So I’m tagging myself back into the tournament and taking her place. Because unlike her, I’m bound and determined to prove to everyone that I am the best female wrestler this pathetic little company will ever see. So Joy Rider, get suited up, sweetie. Because you’re going to have a really bad night.”

RATING: 27

 

3) JOY RYDER vs. SELINA SVELTE (Semi-Final for the RFW Women’s Championship)

Joy Rider came out to the ring, but it was clear she was really nervous. Even though her upbeat entrance music played, she didn’t dance or work up the crowd. She cautiously started to crawl into the ring…

But Selina was right there, pulling her in by her hair. Referee Parker Terry barely had time to get the bell rung before Selina just started clobbering Joy. Joy tried to rally several times, but it was clear that Selina was not going to give her the chance to fight back. She battered Joy around the ring before Joy just collapsed in the middle of the ring. Selina tried to keep pounding on her, but Parker ordered her away and checked on Joy. Upon seeing that she was knocked out, Parker called an end to the match and raised Selina’s hand as the victor.

WINNER: Selina Svelte in 18:03

RATING: 38

 

As soon as the ring cleared out, new entrance music started up and RFW’s newest hire came out to the ring. Some of the crowd recognized hometown hero Mark Latrell. For those who didn’t know who he was, Martin reminded them that he had played high school football in Rochester and had been playing for the U of M before he was injured. Mark swaggered out to the ring, although it was pretty clear he was a bit nervous about his right knee, which was wrapped in a brace.

 

4) CHARLIE CORNER vs. MARK LATRELL

It was pretty clear that Mark wasn’t really on top of his game. He did okay, but that was only because Charlie was carrying him through the match. Mark tried to put Charlie down a couple of times and it was pretty clear he thought he was going to get an easy win, but then Charlie caught him with a Corner Cutter and pinned him for the win.

WINNER: Charlie Corner in 13:17

RATING: 27

 

5) Sherry Smart came out to the ring, this time with a crystal pendulum. She said that she was going to use a different technique this month to see what the future held for her. “Last month, I was sure I was going to win my match against Talia Quinzel but I misread the cards. Now I call upon the spirits of this place to show me a deeper truth, a truth that will lead me to—”

Before she can finish, Sabrina Wells stumbled out to the ring, looking positively wrecked. She revealed that she hadn’t gone to work for a different promotion at all. Instead, Selina Svelte jumped her backstage and then locked her in a closet.

“So far as I’m concerned, Selina, you’ve just painted a target on your back. So watch out, because I’m coming for you!”

RATING: 20

 

6) JOKERS WILD © vs. DREADMASK for the RFW Tag Team Championship

The new champs came out and Garry’s shoulder was bandaged up pretty heavily. As a result, Garry was a lot more sedate in his entrance and the way he carried himself during the match.

This resulted in a really lackluster match. Zippy had to do most of the work to protect Garry from further injury, but it was becoming pretty clear that the crowd just didn’t care about Zippy one way or the other. The audience seemed more interested in heading for the restroom or getting a snack than paying attention to what was happening in the ring. That included when Masked Mauler caught Zippy and put him down with a Piledriver for the win.

WINNERS: Dreadmask in 15:04

RATING: 19

 

7) Garry and Zippy stumbled out of the ring and headed toward the back. Dreadmask stood at the two corners, holding up their newly won titles and shouting abuse at the retreating former champions.

RATING: 12

 

8. ROGER MONTEIRO vs. QUENTIN QUEEN

This got the crowd’s attention again, but Quentin was struggling to keep up with Roger in terms of the action. Curt tried to play this off as Quentin being too focused on what he doesn’t have, namely the championship belt. “He really has to keep his head in the match he’s fighting, not focused on a match he might never get again.”

Almost as if he heard what Curt had to say, Quentin suddenly caught Roger in a Q-Ball and pinned him.

WINNER: Quentin Queen in 12:48

RATING: 40

 

9) Cassidy Blaine came out to the ring and did his best to cut a heel promo, saying that he had risen above Rochester and he was going to prove it tonight by taking the championship title away from Fro Sure. He demanded that the champ come out and answer him right now.

Fro came out and agreed to the match, but it was pretty clear that we would need to script these guys’ lines in the future.

RATING: 33

 

10) FRO SURE © vs. CASSIDY BLAINE for the RFW Championship

Where they stunk up the ring with their promo, they made up for it in terms of the match. Cassidy turned out to be a credible threat against Fro. While Fro didn’t take him seriously in the early going, he quickly changed his tune when Cassidy actually got him down and pinned for a one count.

Fro really sold Cassidy’s offense throughout and finally dropped him with a Sure Thing.

WINNER: Fro Sure in 15:29

RATING: 54

 

11) Grace came out to the ring and got on the mic. She said that she had a semi-final match tonight against Talia Quinzel, and she was looking forward to it.

“Because here’s the thing, Talia: I remember how you made your debut in RFW. You and your buddy Selina came in and beat me down to announce your presence. I haven’t forgotten that, and I’m not about to go easy on you.

“And part of the reason? Thanks to Selina’s attack on Sabrina Wells earlier tonight, that means that Selina’s in the final match for the new Women’s Championship. And while it might be fun to see who comes out on top if it’s Quinzel vs. Svelte, I want in on that action. And after I put down Talia Quinzel with a Diamond’s Edge, I’m going on to get that title and finally show Selina who the better woman really is.”

RATING: 39

 

12) GRACE “DIAMOND” KIL vs. TALIA QUINZEL (Semi-Final for the RFW Women’s Championship)

Once again, the young women in the crowd were solidly behind Grace in this match. It’s clear that she really resonated with them and they cheered her on, even when Talia looked poised to put her down and make her eat her words.

But Grace kept fighting and soon turned the tide of Talia’s offense. Talia actually started to look worried until she managed to hit Grace with a Spinal Trauma. Grace lay on the mat and looked like she might be out. Talia lazily made the cover with a big smile on her face, only to have Grace kick out.

Talia tried to put her away, but Grace rallied and, as Talia tried to set her up for yet another Spinal Trauma, Grace hit her with the Diamond’s Edge and made the pin.

WINNER: Grace “Diamond” Kil in 24:47

RATING: 50

 

***

 

After the show, I gave props to Fro Sure and Cassidy for putting on such a surprisingly good match as well as to Joy Rider for really selling Selina’s offense so well. Then Tamara started handing out everyone’s pay and I tried to speak privately with everyone to make sure everyone was good. Especially Garry. I was worried that he had hurt himself again.

Garry, it turned out, was frustrated with himself more than anything. “I wish I could have been on the top of my game. I should be good next month, though.”

I nodded. That was good news, but from what I saw of the match, it might be time to make some changes. I’d have to think about that.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder. Tamara frowned.

“You know that Mark Latrell?” She held up an envelope. “I’ve got his pay, but I can’t find him anywhere.”

I rolled my eyes. Figured. He probably thought that since he was an “old friend” (as he phrased it when I called to offer him the job), the regular rules didn’t apply to him. I held out my hand. “Give it to me. I’ll go find him.”

FINAL RATING: 47

 

Quick Results:

Quote

From RFW.com...

 

We are one step closer to crowning our first Women's Champion!

 

John "Ace" Hart defeated Chip Martin, James Diaz, and Pepper Pelton

Selina Svelte defeated Joy Rider to advance in the tournament for the RFW Women's Championship

Charlie Corner defeated newcomer Mark Latrell

Dreadmask defeated Jokers Wild © to capture the RFW Tag Team Championship

Quentin Queen defeated Roger Monteiro

Fro Sure © defeated Cassidy Blaine to retain the RFW Championship

Grace "Diamond" Kil defeated Talia Quinzel to advance in the tournament for the RFW Championship

Edited September 10, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

So where did that idiot go?

I checked in with Lisa. None of her posse had seen Mark anywhere, but she promised me that if she did, she’d send him my way.

I wound up wondering through the halls of the Civic Center. This place was huge. We had a lock on part of it every month, the auditorium in the middle of the building. We fit pretty comfortably in there so far, but I couldn’t help but hope that someday soon, we’d need to move into the actual arena.

I saw people from other events coming and going. I tried not to call attention to myself, but I was definitely frustrated. Our instructions were pretty clear: we were supposed to stick to our part of the building and not wander around. The last thing anyone wanted was for us to scare the “normal people” coming to the Civic Center for other events.

My wandering took me to the furthest corners of the building but I simply couldn’t find Mark anywhere. Had he already left? Maybe. Maybe he thought that once his match was over, he could leave. That wasn’t the case. I mean, if it was an emergency, sure, but it was good for the locker room for everyone to stick around to the end for solidarity. Maybe I’d have to go over our unofficial rules and expectations when I finally found him.

A feminine giggle drifted out one branching hallway. I frowned. I hadn’t seen anyone else in this part of the building. Could that be Mark? Had he brought a date? That sounded about right. He probably figured that he was going to win and probably thought his match would help him seal the deal or something. I smirked. Glad I burst that particular bubble.

I followed the noise and peeked down the hall. Sure enough, Mark had someone pinned up against the wall and was saying something I couldn’t make out in a husky, deep voice. Whoever his partner was giggled again and swatted at his shoulder. I sighed. Might as well end the party now.

When I was halfway down the hall, I finally could make out what he was saying: “…looked so hot up there tonight, I kind of wished I could be in the ring with you.”

I almost tripped over my own feet. He was with one of the other wrestlers? Okay, I hadn’t expected that. So who was it? Probably not Selina or Talia; they were both probably too old to fall for his boyish charm. So Joy maybe? Or Sherry?

“Oh, I bet you did.”

I froze. I knew that voice. No way.

I dove against the wall so Mark wouldn’t spot me, but I crept down the hall and risked a quick peek. Please, no, please let me be hearing things.

I wasn’t. Grace had her arms around Mark’s neck and was staring at him with what could only be called open infatuation.

My stomach sank. When had this happened? How? After what a jerk he had been for so long? Why would she…how could she…

“But we really should have stayed in the locker room, Mark,” Grace said. “The show has to be over by now and Ace is probably wondering where we went.”

“Like I care what he thinks,” Mark said. “I’d rather have this time with you.”

I started to crumple the envelope in my hand. Why would she let him talk about me like that?

“Even still, we’d better get back before someone notices.”

They started coming down the hall. I hustled out of there and got out into the main lobby. I stumbled around, trying to figure out what I should do. Head back to the locker room? Just wait here for them to find me? What would be the best option? What would be most natural?

Too late! The decision was taken away from me as Mark and Grace emerged from the hallway. They were holding hands, but Grace let go of Mark the moment she saw me.

“Ace!” she said. “What are you doing out here?”

I stared at her for a moment, then managed to force myself to say, “Show’s over.”

She shot an uncertain look at Mark, then said. “Sorry. Mark wanted to…well, he…”

Mark snorted. “I got this. Look, Hart, it’s like this: Grace and I have been dating for the past two months. I’m sorry you had to find out this way. I know you two have been close. But we are really happy with how things have been going.”

I stared at him. He was making noise, and I was reasonably sure that those were words. But my mind just locked up at the thought. Who had made the first move? Him? Her?

“That for me?” He pointed to the envelope.

I mechanically held out his payment. He nodded and took it.

“Awesome.” He turned to Grace. “I’m gonna go get my stuff. You ready to head back yet?”

They had driven down together? Of course they had. That made sense.

Grace nodded, but she was studying my expression. Worry was painted across her face. Mark thankfully stepped around me rather than shouldering me out of the way (like I would’ve expected), leaving the two of us in the lobby.

“Is this why you wanted him to have a job?” I asked. “So you two could hang out?”

She shrugged. “Kind of. Look, the U won’t let him play anymore because of his injured knee. He was really upset and wanted to do something, so…”

“So you figured that the best solution was for him to go into professional wrestling?”

“He did okay tonight, right?”

That was beside the point. “Why didn’t you tell me about this? About…any of this?”

She looked away. “I don’t know. I guess…well, it’s pretty clear you don’t like him that much.”

“I thought you didn’t either!”

“Things change. People change. He and I had some classes together in the fall and we do live in the same building. We’ve had some good talks and, well, a couple weeks ago he asked me out and I thought why not and the next thing I know…” She shrugged.

“What about what he did to you with those posters?” I demanded.

“That was a year ago, John. And he’s apologized for it. And don’t forget, I got him back at prom. So far as we’re concerned, it’s done.”

I still didn’t like it. Not a bit. But it was her life, right? She could make any mistake she wanted to. And this was a mistake. Oh, it was definitely a mistake…

“Why are you so upset about this?” Grace whispered.

That question caught me off guard. My head snapped back and I looked at her.

“I…I don’t know. I guess… I mean…” I didn’t have a good answer. At least, not one that made sense to me. There was just something…wrong about this.

“Look, can you at least try to be happy for me? Please?” she asked.

My shoulders slumped. Yeah, I could. I nodded.

She stepped up to me and squeezed my arm. “And hey, maybe at some point, you, me, Mark, and Abigail can go on a double date or something.”

Oh, wouldn’t that just be fun! Grace slipped past me and followed after Mark.

Dark thoughts chased me back to the locker room. I didn’t speak to anyone as they all left. Mark and Grace went out, arms around each other. A few of the guys cast worried looks at me when they saw it, but they retreated just as quickly. Eventually, I was by myself.

I finally settled on a course of action. Maybe it wasn’t a good one. But if she could have a friend come into the RFW, so could I.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Herrbear]

Don't get distracted. It's not worth it. Concentrate on the business.

[Blake Trask]

ugh but he's gross. like, harrassment gross.

[Scapino1974]

Saturday of Week 4, March 2021

Abigail stared at me for so long without saying a word I worried I had somehow gotten frozen in time. Then, after what felt like an eternity, her head twitched to one side and her gaze narrowed. Was that a good thing? I couldn’t tell.

“Excuse me?” she finally said.

I took a deep breath. “I thought maybe you would want to join RFW as a wrestler.”

She leaned back in the couch and set aside her science textbook. “I thought that’s what you said. Why would you ever think I’d want to do that?”

My mouth went dry. When I came up with this idea, it had all made so much sense. Abigail used to watch professional wrestling with her siblings. Her mom had a dozens of AAA DVDs, which she had watched religiously for years. She was a huge mark for Wanda Fish. And she was so athletic, it wasn’t funny. She had done gymnastics for years and years and she was bound and determined to keep me in shape. We went running almost every day and she constantly outpaced me. She was seriously considering going up to Duluth to run the Grandma’s Marathon in June. While she’d need to learn some of the basics, I had a feeling she would do fantastic in the ring.

And it had made so much sense. At least, I had convinced myself that it did. But now that I had actually asked her, now that I was seeing how she reacted, I suddenly wasn’t so sure.

“Because…” I groped for the right words. “…because I think you’d be great at it. Look at how Cassidy is doing.”

“He’s had three matches!” Abigail said. “Just three! And sure, you threw him into a title defense match and he did okay, but there’s a lot that could go wrong. I mean, weren’t you just telling me how Garry got injured and that caused you all sorts of headaches?”

I winced. I had complained to her about how Peter injured Garry, how that led to a rushed decision to move the titles over to Dreadmask. I think it was going to prove the right decision overall. Masked Mauler especially was starting to get over with the audience. It seemed right to put a title on him.

“So you want me to risk getting injured?” she asked.

“You won’t!”

"You can promise that?”

I clenched my jaw. No, I suppose I couldn’t. We had been doing this for over a year so far and we’d been lucky. Two significant injuries to speak of. Impressive for a group of mostly rookies. But I couldn’t guarantee that situation would last. If we brought in another Peter Crockett, we could have serious trouble.

Abigail sighed, but she leaned forward and took her hands in mine. “What’s this really about, John?”

I couldn’t answer that question because I didn’t know how. Ever since I found out about Mark and Grace…part of my brain just couldn’t accept the idea of the two of them together. It just felt wrong for her to giggle with him or hug him or kiss him or…

I suppressed a shudder. Nope. Wasn’t going to think about that at all.

“I dunno,” I mumbled. “I just thought it might be fun for you and I to work together like that. That’s all.”

Once again, her gaze sharpened and she studied my face. I wasn’t lying to her, not really. I did think it would be a lot of fun to have her in the lockerroom and it would give us more time to hang out and be together.

She sighed. “I must be out of my mind. Okay. I’ll give it a try. I mean, Cassidy won’t shut up about how awesome this is. He’s been talking about going to one of those independent wrestling shows and working a few matches just to get some more experience.”

I sat up straighter. “That is so awesome! And I promise, I will do everything I can to make sure that you don’t get hurt.”

“I hope so, John. Because I’m trusting you with a lot right now.” She picked up her book again. “So let’s get back to studying for now.”

I tried. I really did. But after faking it for a little while, I pulled out my laptop and checked our finances. We had made $3,451 this month, bringing out account to $56,010. We had gotten another $1,000 in sponsorship, but I decided to turn around and send that as a bonus to Quentin. He was getting a bit mopey ever since he lost the title.

But by the end of the night, I felt good. Okay, really. Perfectly fine with the way things had turned out. Sure, Mark was wrestling for RFW and yeah, he was dating my friend. But now my girlfriend would be there too. So why shouldn’t I feel all right with how things turned out?

Perfectly acceptable.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Scapino1974

[jtnlange]

I so called it. Keep up the great story Scap.

 

Trevor L.

[Scapino1974]

Saturday of Week 2, April 2021

Even though my birthday was earlier in the week, Abigail threw me a party the night before All In. The guest list was…interesting. She had invited about a dozen people from RCTC, people we knew from our classes who were cool enough. But she also invited everyone from RFW who was going to be at the show the next night. Freddie and Tamara had bowed out (although from what it sounded like, Freddie had to twist Tamara’s arm to make her do so), but we still had over a dozen wrestlers show up. At first, the two groups didn’t mix, with our classmates giving the wrestlers odd looks. But as the snacks and drinks started flowing, the two groups started mixing. That was mostly thanks to Cassidy. It was his house, after all. He acted as the catalyst, introducing people and getting them to talk to each other. Within an hour, the groups had pretty much merged.

At one point, Fro and Swoll were trying to show Miles Simpson from my English Lit class how to do some dance moves. Given that Miles was the quintessential nerd, I figured that this was going to be a disaster. And it was…at first. Toward the end of the evening, Miles had gotten the hang of it and had actually attracted the attention of some of the girls. He looked ecstatic and Swoll and Fro looked absolutely delighted.

I plopped down on the couch next to Grace, who was nursing a drink and watching as Miles dance with Cynthia Johanson. The way those two were grinding on each other, I suspected they’d be leaving in the same car.

“I have to say, Ace, this is not what I expected at your birthday party this year,” Grace said.

“Oh? What were you expecting?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I thought that maybe we’d open a few bottles of a fine port, smoke large pipes, and discuss the circumstances that led to the Crimean War.”

I stared at her blankly and she laughed, kicking me in the knee.

“I’m kidding, you goof. This is great.”

“It does seem like everyone’s having a good time, doesn’t it?”

I glanced around the room. Jay Silver and Cockroach Carter had parked themselves on Cassidy’s Stallings Rig, where they were challenging all comers to take them on in an endless stream of tag team matches. As near as I could tell, they were winning maybe half the time, but they didn’t seem to care. Wolfie, Kalder, Garry, and Zippy had pulled Abigail and some of her friends into a lively conversation, one that seemed to consist of each one trying to one up the other on the craziest moves they had ever performed in the ring. From what little I could hear, they were either exaggerating to impress the girls or I’d have to have a talk with them about holding back at our shows. Through it all, Cassidy flitted from knot to knot, joining in, joking with people, encouraging everyone to have a good time.

The most surprising thing, though, was Mark. Grace had insisted on bringing him along. I couldn’t exactly say no. They were dating, after all. I just worried that Mark would show up with his entourage of jocks and assholes. But to my surprise, he hadn’t. And he hadn’t tried to hijack the party, my other fear. Instead, he had blended in with the crowd and gone along with whatever fun there was to have. He had taken on Jay and Cockroach with a number of different partners. He had tried his hand at dancing with Swoll and Fro (it delighted me to no end to see that Miles had better dance moves). And then he wound up in a deep conversation with Selina and Talia. He seemed very attentive as the ladies explained a series of wrestling moves, using hand gestures to illustrate body positions and maneuvers.

Grace must have noticed me watching Mark. She nudged me again. “Hey, thanks for letting him come. And for giving him a spot on the roster. It means a lot to him. And me.”

“How’s his knee?” It seemed like the polite thing to ask and besides, I wouldn’t want him to blow it out during a show.

“Okay, I guess. He’s been working on rehabbing it. His doctors apparently aren’t thrilled about his new endeavor, but so long as we take it easy on him for a few months, we should be fine.”

Mark laughed at something that Talia said, a genuine, infectious laugh.

“So how did this happen in the first place?” I asked. “You…him… I mean, how?”

She laughed. “I wouldn’t have guessed it either. But we’re in a couple of classes together and he lives two floors down from me. We just kept bumping into each other. Then we wound up at a party a mutual friend threw and we wound up chatting. He apologized for the posters, I did the same about prom, and suddenly, hatchet buried.”

I frowned. That seemed…convenient. Still kind of unlikely.

“So I started going to the home games and I sort of…well, I became his cheerleader in the stands when he actually made it off the bench,” she said. “And then he got injured.”

She grew quiet. Was she…was she crying? No, not really, but she looked close to doing so.

“It was horrible, John,” she whispered. “Watching the trainers get him off the field and… I just couldn’t stand it. And then, when he came back to Yudof, he looked so broken. Literally and figuratively. He kind of fell apart. Didn’t want to talk to his friends, didn’t want to go to class. It broke my heart.”

Not a surprise. Grace always had a big heart.

“So I started after him. Making sure he got to class. Making sure he did his assignments. Making sure he went to the appointments. And one night, while we were studying, one thing led to another and…” She shrugged.

Huh. When she put it like that, it made sense. Sounded really sweet, even. Old rivals, turned lovers? Who wouldn’t like that story?

But something about it still left me just the slightest bit queasy.

Grace patted me on the knee. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d better go chat with Selina a little. We’ve got that title match tomorrow night, after all, and we want to do maximum damage to the Civic Center’s roof, right?”

I groaned and motioned for her to go.

She went over to the corner and joined the conversation. When it became clear that she and Selina had taken over, both Talia and Mark drifted away. Talia went to challenge Jay to a match on the Rig. Mark…

He started to wander over to me.

I tensed as he sat down next to me. He looked me over, his expression grim.

“Okay, Hart. Let’s have it out. Are we cool?”

Nothing like the direct route. I considered the question. He did work for RFW now. And Grace vouched for him. That counted a lot for me.

Apparently Mark wasn’t going to give me the chance to think about it. “I know how I behaved when we were in high school. And yeah, I was a total jerk. Grace has helped me see that. She’s amazing, man. I should never have messed with you guys so much. I really regret that.

“But here’s the thing: I think Grace and I have something really cool here. I wanna see where this goes. But I know how much she respects your opinion. You could poison this whole thing with just a word or two.” Mark leaned forward. “So I need to know. Are we cool?”

I tipped my head and pursed my lips.

“We are,” I lied.

His face lit up. “Excellent! I knew this would work. Next time you and Abby get a chance, we should all hang out! I know a couple of places around the U that aren’t that picky about IDs.”

Oh, that sounded just heavenly. “We’ll have to see.”

He nodded, then leaned forward. “But hey, do you mind if we switch gears for a sec? I noticed that I don’t have a match tomorrow night.”

“Neither do I,” I pointed out.

“Oh. Yeah, well… Look, that Talia chick? She was telling me about how cool it is when you’re wrestling in the same show with your significant other. And I kinda wanna see what she’s talking about. Is there any way that I could sneak onto the card?”

I frowned. This wasn’t the right time to figure that out. The card was already pretty full as it was. Not only was Selina and Grace going to determine who won the Women’s Championship, Dreadmask was going to defend their titles against the Kings. And I had decided to really fill the card.

“Well…” I said.

Mark held up his hands. “Look, I get it. I’m still the new guy and it’s a big ask.”

I sighed. I had really wanted to have the night off. And the schedule wasn’t so full that I couldn’t find a few extra minutes. “All right, you and me. We’ll do the opening match together.”

He lit up again. I actually worried that he might kiss me. “Thank you so much, man! I really appreciate it!”

He bounded off the couch and rejoined the party. I watched him go, then shook my head to clear it. Not what I expected for tonight at all.

Then Abigail joined me. I started laughing. Apparently I wasn’t going to have to move from this spot at all.

“Hey, you,” she purred. “Enjoying the evening?”

“It’s been…unusual, to say the least.” I caught her up on what had happened so far.

“Hey, if Mark wants to wrestle, he can have my spot!” Abigail said. “I’ve been talking to Talia, like you suggested, but I’m still really nervous.”

I caressed the side of her face.

“Get a room, you two!” Fro shouted.

The other party goers laughed as I reddened.

Abigail snared my hand. “That’s not a bad idea.”

That got Cassidy’s attention. He turned to his cousin, worry plastered across his face. Abigial, though, didn’t seem to care. She took me by the hand and led me out of the living room. But instead of heading to a bedroom, she ducked into her uncle’s study. I frowned.

“What’s going on?” I asked, my mouth suddenly dry.

She smiled. “That was mostly just to stir the pot. Uncle Steve and Aunt Terry made it very clear what was and wasn’t allowed at the party.”

Oh. I have to admit, I felt a mixture of both relief and disappointment. Abigail had insisted on certain boundaries in our relationship and my parents had taught me that no always meant no, without question or exception. But still…

She grabbed the front of my shirt and kissed me hungrily. “That doesn’t mean we can’t take a break from everyone else for a little while. C’mere.”

And suddenly, any disappointment I might have felt vanished.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

RFW All In

Sunday of Week 2, April 2021

Held at the Civic Center in Rochester, MN (Mid West Region)

219 in attendance

 

Martin and Curt welcomed the audience to the show.

 

1) Grace came out to the ring to a great deal of fanfare. Martin commented that it seemed like a lot of the audience had made an assumption about how the title match tonight was going to go. Curt said no one should discount Selina yet.

“So here we are,” Grace said. “Over the past few weeks, we’ve been holding matches to determine who the best female wrestler is here at Royal Flush Wrestling. Most of us have taken that seriously, but I can think of one competitor who decided to get to tonight via—shall we say—unorthodox means.

“But tonight, none of that matters. Selina and I are going to meet in this ring and we’re going to finally put to rest the question of who the better wrestler is. And from what I’m hearing, everyone here knows how this is going to end. It doesn’t matter how aggressive Selina is. It doesn’t matter who violent she gets. In the end, I’m going to hit her with the Diamond’s Edge and then pin her for one…two…”

Selina’s music interrupted Grace’s promo. Selina came out to the ring entrance and glared at Grace before she got a mic herself.

“I’m gonna stop you right there, ‘Diamond,’” she said. “Yeah, everyone has drunk the Kool-Aid here. They’re all convinced that tonight’s going to be the hometown hero winning the brand new women’s championship. But that’s just not going to happen.

“You’ve been lucky so far, Kil. I’ll give you that. You’ve won some, but you’ve lost some as well. And I’ve beaten you in the—”

“Not when it counted, Selina,” Grace shot back.

Selina tensed, and she glared at Grace. “Watch yourself, Kil. I’ve got no problem going down there and putting an end to you right now!”

Grace didn’t say anything. Instead, she tossed the mic aside (much to my consternation; that was a rental!) and motioned for Selina to bring it. Selina spiked her mic as well and rushed the ring.

As the crowd cheered, the two tore into each other. At first, it looked like Selina might overwhelm Grace but soon, it became clear that Grace was simply shrugging off the blows and was slowly gaining ground. When Grace started to set Selina up for the Diamond’s Edge, Selina bailed out of the ring and escaped into the locker room. Grace looked frustrated, but she spent a few moments hyping up the crowd.

RATING: 43

 

2) JOHN “ACE” HART vs. MARK LATRELL

As Mark and I made our way to the ring, Martin said this was going to be an interesting match. “Ace has been a cornerstone of RFW since the company started,” he explained. “And Mark is one of our newest hires. He’s definitely athletic—he played football for the U, after all—but a wrestling match was a different kind of athletic contest entirely."

I was actually surprised at how vocal the crowd was in support of Mark. If I had to guess, some of his friends from the U had come down to cheer him on. And he did play football here in Rochester as well. If I had to guess, the crowd was kind of split between the two of us.

Since Mark was still something of a newcomer, I took it easy on him in the opening moments of the match. Martin called it a “teaching clinic” at the table, theorizing that I was testing Mark to see what kind of competitor I was facing. Mark countered my moves with textbook precision, finishing the series of moves by kicking out at two when I tried to pin him.

Then Mark shoved me, hard, daring me to take it up a notch.

I frowned. He looked pretty sincere and that hadn’t been part of the plan.

So I did as he asked and started going after him for real. Mark fought back, but it was clear that he was suddenly overwhelmed by my offense. Once again, he kicked out at two. He smirked at me and again, I couldn’t tell if he was acting or if his expression was genuine. A shiver rolled across me.

The match continued and we kicked up the intensity again. Mark surprised me at how well he did. Nothing spectacular, but I had worried that I would have to carry him through most of the match. He did all right, although there were a few times I had to be careful in how we did things.

The crowd got into it as well, cheering us both on. Curt speculated at one point that maybe there was some tension between us from our days in high school, as if that explained what was happening in the ring.

In the end, Mark dropped into a three-point stance and tried to go for a Spear, but I dodged out of the way, allowing him to ricochet off the turnbuckles. I then caught him in an Ace of Harts and pinned him.

WINNER: John “Ace” Hart in 17:19

RATING: 45

 

3) The Kings’ entrance music hit, and Papa Swoll and Fro Sure swaggered out to the ring. Once again, they engaged with the crowd, encouraging them to dance and sway along to the music. After encouraging a party atmosphere for a few minutes, they motioned for folks to simmer down.

“Look, I know that everyone is excited about the big match between Grace and Selina later tonight, right? It’s almost like everyone forgot that there already is a champ here at RFW!” Fro patted the title belt at his waist.

“What?” Swoll said. “Fro, don’t tease me like that!”

“Sorry to say it, Papa, but it’s true. And you know what, I’m good with that. I get it. I’m excited for the main event tonight as well. Enough so that I made it clear that I didn’t want to defend my title tonight.”

Some of the crowd started to boo him, but Fro motioned for them to quiet down.

“Not because I’m backing down from the fight. I just don’t want to steal Grace or Selina’s thunder, get it? Tonight should be about them and what they’re doing.

“But that doesn’t mean I’m not interested in a title defense. No sir. How about you, Papa?”

“For sure, Fro Sure,” Swoll said. “So this is what we came up with. Fro won’t defend the Championship tonight, but we think that Dreadmask should defend theirs. Whaddya say, boys? Think you can dethrone the Kings?”

RATING: 36

 

4) CHIP MARTIN vs. CASSIDY BLAINE

I intended for this to be sort of a break in the action, so I left it up to Freddie to book the match. I have to say, I’m surprised how this all turned out. For starters, Chip and Cassidy wound up really clicking in the ring. It was clear that they had a good read on each other and that helped them put together a really engaging match.

What surprised me more was that Freddie chose to put Cassidy over. He got Chip to tap out after putting him in a Figure Four leglock.

WINNER: Cassidy Blaine in 12:37

RATING: 30

 

5) JAY SILVER vs. COCKROACH CARTER

Now the crowd could take a break. Jay and Cockroach did the best they could, but the match kind of dragged. Jay finally put us all out of our misery by hitting Cockroach with an AG Driver.

WINNER: Jay Silver in 12:29

RATING: 18

 

6) ABIGAIL THOMPSON vs. TALIA QUINZEL

Talia made her entrance first and Martin worried that she looked really upset. “Can you blame her?” Curt said. “I think she was probably hoping to be in the title match tonight and instead, she has to break in the new girl.”

Speaking of whom, as Abigail made her way to the ring, she looked more than a little nervous. As Abigail walked down the aisle, Talia stood in the middle of the ring, beckoning her forward with a feral look in her eyes. That caused Abigail to hesitate outside the ring. When she finally started to climb into the ring, Talia stomped her foot in her direction. Abigail jumped off the ring apron and retreated a few steps. Referee Parker Terry ordered her to get into the ring and forced Talia to back up.

Abigial made it into the ring and still looked pretty shaken. Then the bell rang and Talia feinted toward her again. Abigail flinched, so Talia laughed at her.

Talia spent the first few minutes toying with Abigail, daring her to punch her or kick her. Abigial obliged and hit Talia with all she had. Talia would take the hit and then spend a few moments mocking Abigail for the attempt.

Finally, Talia apparently decided she had had enough and launched a withering offense that simply overwhelmed Abigail. She finally put Abigail down with a Spinal Trauma. As Parker raised her hand in victory, Talia sneered down at Abigail and then strutted out of the ring.

WINNER: Talia Quinzel in 12:07

RATING: 40

 

7) JOKERS WILD vs. THE HOT TAGGS

And the show came to a screeching halt again. The wrestling in this match was awful, and I’m not entirely sure why.

Garry seemed out to prove something. Martin speculated that he was probably still hurting from losing the title so quickly after winning it. “The Scofield Index held the tag championship for almost a year but the Jokers lost it on their second defense. If I were in their boots, I’d want to show that was a mistake as well.”

If Garry felt that way, it was pretty clear that Zippy didn’t share his feelings. Garry had to constantly hype Zippy up and there were a few moments where the Jokers got into an argument at ringside after Garry tagged Zippy in. The Taggs didn’t seem all that concerned by this chaos; they just focused on whoever was the legal competitor.

Garry finally managed to get an offensive streak going. She was working Wolfie over pretty well but, in the process, referee Quincy Jargon got ran over and momentarily knocked out. The Taggs took this opportunity to double-team Garry for a few moments. Garry finally managed to break away and tried to tag in Zippy, only to have Zippy drop off the corner before he could.

Garry followed him out to ringside and got in his face, only to have Zippy toss him into the security railing. Zippy then rolled his partner back into the ring, allowing the Taggs to hit him with the Montana Slammer just as Quincy roused himself. Quincy crawled over as Wolfie made the pin and counted to three, leaving Martin to wonder what that was all about.

WINNERS: The Hot Taggs in 13:22

RATING: 28

 

8. THE KINGS vs. DREADMASK © for the RFW Tag Team Championship

The Kings made their entrance and once again did their best to rile up the crowd by encouraging them to dance to their entrance music. The party stopped once the champs made their entrance.

The match itself really got the crowd worked up. Fro Sure proved why he’s the champ right now, shining brightly in this match. Dreadnought really paled in comparison. As a result, it looked like the Kings might walk away as the new tag champs.

But then Dreadmask managed to isolate Papa Swoll from Fro Sure and work him over. The tag champs coordinate their efforts to really beat down the big guy and keep him from tagging in Fro. Fro strained and shouted to try to get Swoll to tag him in, but every time Swoll tried to break away, Dreadmask kept him away from his corner.

Finally, Swoll managed to get in a counter, but the effort left him lying on the mat with Masked Mauler. As the crowd shouted encouragement and Fro stomped on the mat, Swoll rolled over and crawled inch by inch toward Fro. Fro extended his hand, straining to get him…

Only to have Quentin Queen vault the security rail and yank Fro off his perch. Fro dropped to the floor just as Swoll swung a hand through the space where Fro had been. Unfortunately, referee Parker Terry was too busy checking on Masked Mauler to see what happened.

Swoll bounced out of the corner just as Mauler made the tag to Dreadnought. Dreadnought came into the ring, kicked Swoll in the stomach, then dropped him with a DDT. He rolled him up into a small package and used a handful of tights to make sure he stayed down.

WINNERS: Dreadmask in 14:43

RATING: 45

 

9) Selina Svelte came out to the ring. She got a mic and said, “All right, Kil. No more games. No more near misses. time for you to come out here and get what’s coming to—”

Grace didn’t need anymore encouragement. Instead, she charged the ring, rolled in, and the two women started brawling before Parker Terry could call for the bell.

RATING: 26

 

10) GRACE “DIAMOND” KIL vs. SELINA SVELTE for the RFW Women’s Championship

The crowd didn’t sit down for the entire match. They roared their approval as Selina and Grace tore into each other.

It became very clear from the get go that Selina wasn’t interested in just pinning Grace. There were several times when she could have easily pinned her and probably gotten the win. Martin observed that Selina looked like she was trying to punish Grace and take her out of competition entirely.

“Not that much of a surprise, really,” Curt said. “Selina once called Grace a cancer on the wrestling industry. She probably sees this as a mercy killing.”

Whatever the case, Selina kept up the brutal punishment and it looked like the assault was working. Grace appeared dead on her feet and could do little more than just accept the punishment. Eventually, Selina just started toying with her, knocking her around and blocking her weak punches and kicks. Then Selina repeatedly put Grace in the Prawn Armlock, getting Grace to scream and and writhe. But Grace simply wouldn’t tap out.

After a brutal eternity, Selina seemed ready to finally pin Grace and end the match. But Grace kicked out at two. Selina punched her a few more times, only to have Grace kick out again at two-and-a-half.

And then Grace came back to life, catching Selina by surprise at how vicious her assault was. The crowd roared their approval as Grace tossed Selina round the ring. Only Grace didn’t seem interested in just pinning Selina either. Even after she hit Selina with a Diamond’s Edge, she didn’t make the pin. Instead, she kept up the assault (“Returning the favor,” as Martin put it).

Finally, Selina was left lying in the middle of the ring and Parker started a ten count. Selina twitched a little at eight, but she never made it up as Parker made it to ten and called for the bell.

WINNER: Grace “Diamond” Kil in 23:51

RATING: 48

 

11) Grace went from post to post, celebrating her win with the crowd cheering her on. Parker helped Selina to her feet and tried to help her out of the ring. At first, Selina looked really confused about what happened, but then, as reality dawned on her, she started to rage. She charged over to Grace and attacked her, dropping her to the mat and locking her in a Prawn Armlock. Grace screamed in agony and tried to tap out, but Selina wouldn’t release it. Parker tried to order her to do so, but she wouldn’t listen. Finally, half the locker room had to come out and pry her off of Grace and get her backstage while Fro, Swoll, and I helped Grace out of the ring.

RATING: 27

 

***

 

There was an electricity in the locker room. The workers applauded for Grace and Selina as they came in. Fro led a cheer for them as well.

I finally motioned for them to settle down. “Selina and Grace are definitely our MVPs tonight, no doubt. You guys capped what I think is one of our best shows ever and I’m guessing our fans are really going to talk about this one for a while.

“I also want to thank Talia for her hard work tonight as well. You came across as particularly dangerous and I really appreciate what you did.”

There was some good-natured grumbling from the boys. After all, everyone knew that Abigail and I were together. Some of them probably saw through what I was doing, but I didn’t care.

Speaking of Abigail, as everyone drifted away to get cleaned up, I hurried over to her. “You still doing okay?”

She winced as she packed up her things, but she smiled. “You were right. That was a lot of fun! And Talia really did take good care of me. I just know I’m going to feel this in the morning.”

“Well, if it would help, I could always give you a massage or something. Help loosen up your muscles a little bit…”

She laughed. “Yeah, I bet you could. I’m fine, John. Really. I’m not going to quit just yet.”

That was a relief. “Give me a few moments and I’ll take you out for some dessert.”

“Even better.”

It didn’t take long to get everything squared away. I checked in with Lisa and her Four-Count Posse to make sure that she was good too, and then Abigail and I headed out to the parking lot.

As we left, I spotted Grace and Mark. He had her pinned against his car and… Okay, as “good” as I was with them being together, there was no way I could stomach seeing them like that.

Abigail squeezed my hand. “C’mon, Ace. Cheesecake. Let’s go.”

I led her to my car, but suddenly, I wasn’t all that hungry.

FINAL RATING: 45

 

 

Quick Results

Quote

From RFW.com...

 

We crowned our first ever Women's Champion tonight!

 

John "Ace" Hart defeated Mark Latrell

Cassidy Blaine defeated Chip Martin

Jay Silver defeated Cockroach Carter

Talia Quinzel defeated Abigail Thompson

The Hot Taggs defeated Jokers Wild

Dreadmask © defeated the Kings to retain the RFW Tag Team Championship

Grace "Diamond" Kil defeated Selina Svelte to capture the RFW Women's Championship

Edited September 10, 2022 by Scapino1974

[falling_star]

Good stuff as always, man. Glad to have you back writing on the boards.

[Scapino1974]

Saturday of Week 4, April 2021

I think I was developing a nervous tic. Or I was experiencing the beginning of a ritual. But at the end of the month, as I entered the last of the receipts into my accounting software, I took deeper and deeper breaths until the final one was entered. The I positioned my mouse over the final calculation button. Then I closed my eyes, braced myself, and clicked.

As the computer did its work, I counted to fifteen. Why fifteen? I figured that way, if the computer had any last minute adjustments, I wouldn’t get tripped up by them.

At fifteen, I blew out my held breath and gingerly opened my eyes. Then I skimmed the screen from the top down to the bottom line.

We were at $57,264. We had made $1,254 through May.

With a nod, I tapped my hands on the edge of the desk and leaned back with a loud sigh.

Yeah, I might be developing a ritual.

So why the change? We normally made a whole lot more than that. I dug through the numbers and easily found the culprit: the amount we paid the workers had doubled. I had probably called in too many of them this month. I’d have to be more careful going forward. We still had a margin, sure, but if I got sloppy in my booking, we could eat through that cushion really quick.

Still and all, we hadn’t had a month in the red yet. A few minor injuries, a growing audience base, and some serious buzz about the women wrestlers… Not too shabby for a pair of beginners.

But as confident as I was that we were doing a good job, I think I needed some validation. I logged onto TEW.com and started poking around, looking for posts or comments about RFW. There wasn’t much, unfortunately. We were still mostly a Mid West thing. Apparently buzz was starting to build about what we were doing. Some of the TEW message boards had posts about previous All Ins, with people inviting folks from surrounding areas to come check us out. That was interesting.

As I worked, I decided to get a little more specific. I did searches for my name. Not surprising, there wasn’t much. Just the initial announcement from a year and a half earlier about the founding of the company. I checked Grace’s name. I found a little more there, including a few posts that would make Grace distinctly uncomfortable. There was one fan on the boards who really appreciated Grace’s abilities and attributes (and focused a lot of time on the latter). Nothing that raised huge red flags, but I took a screenshot for two reasons: first of all, if this did turn out to be a psycho, I’d want proof. And second, if this turned out to be a socially-awkward fan without a verbal filter, this would be fun to show Grace and watch her blush.

I tried searching for the names of some of our other workers. Some, like Fro and Swoll, turned up a lot of results. That didn’t surprise me; they did work for other promotions and so were doing their time at other promotions. But I noticed something weird under Fro’s entry. According to TEW, he had defeated Mark Latrell in a match.

I frowned. We hadn’t had those two wrestle a match yet. And even stranger, this match had happened…that week? On Thursday?

A little digging cleared it up. A group had held an independent show in Wyoming and Fro and Mark had wrestled there. So had the Taggs. Why hadn’t I known about these shows?

I did some more digging. As it turned out, just about everyone on my roster had worked these independent shows. That made sense, I supposed. I mean, we weren’t paying them enough for them to be exclusive. The Taggs especially seemed to be fixtures at the independent shows. Again, that made sense. We hadn’t given them a lot of work. The only people who hadn’t done these shows was Cassidy and Abigail and…

I frowned. Could I say the same thing about Grace?

I did a search on her name. And much to my surprise, a half a dozen independent shows popped up. She had wrestled at an independent show in Rochester (how did I not know about that?), Knoxville, Louisville, Seattle, and Philly.

I leaned back in my chair, my stomach sinking. Why hadn’t she told me about this?

Edited September 10, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

Monday of Week 1, May 2021

There was really only one way to handle this. So many questions had been gnawing at me and I couldn’t escape them any longer. Maybe I could have sent them all by text, but I knew that that would only open the door for misunderstandings and further problems. That left me with only one option: I borrowed Dad’s car again and drove up to Grace’s dorm.

I kept rehearsing what I wanted to say to her all the way up to Yudof. The fact that I still needed Siri’s directions to find my way there just stoked my mood even more. After almost a year apart, I should have known every twist and turn of the highways and roads up to Grace’s door. But even though I knew that I had made this drive several times, it felt so unfamiliar, so alien, I might as well have been driving it for the first time ever. Even as I parked near the dorm and made the supposed-to-be-familiar walk to Yudof, it still felt unreal.

The strange disconnected feeling popped the moment Grace opened her door. When she saw me, she looked confused. I risked a peek behind her. Didn’t look like Mark was over. I probably would’ve lost my nerve if he had been.

“Ace?” she asked. “What are you doing here? Is everything all right?”

“We need to talk,” I said.

She stepped aside to let me in. As I stepped through the door, it struck me again how distant I felt from her. Before graduation, I would have been able to walk through Grace’s room with my eyes closed and pointed to where everything was. But as I stood in her tiny living room/kitchen, I realized I didn’t recognize anything there. Was the furniture college issued? Was the poster hanging over the couch hers or her roommate’s?

“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice laced through with uncertainty.

I turned to look at her. My rehearsed speech and demands evaporated in a moment. So I kicked off with the only thing I could think of: “Big-Time Independent Wrestling?”

Her eyes widened for a split second, then she shrugged and tried to look casual while doing it. “So?”

“Seattle? Louisville? Where, if I read correctly, you wrestled against Joanna Silver? I thought we weren’t comfortable bringing her into the RFW.”

“She’s actually a sweetheart,” Grace said. “And not that bad in the ring, all things considered.”

I gaped at her. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

“What’s there to tell?” she asked. “I’ve done a handful of independent shows. I figured it was a good way for me to keep my skills sharp and do some networking with other wrestlers. Like Joanna. Or this one girl named Amy St. James. And hey, I got to wrestle a veteran from AAA named Christina Charlston. That was pretty cool.”

“But why didn’t you tell me about this? I only learned about it when I was doing some digging through TEW’s records.”

Now she looked particularly confused. “Why would you be doing that?”

“I saw that Mark had wrestled a match against Fro and I got a little confused. That led me to do some digging.”

“You were trying to do some digging about Mark on TEW? Why would you do that?” She sounded genuinely offended. “What gives you the right to dig into my boyfriend’s life like that?”

Her what? “Since when is he your boyfriend?”

“I told you all of this,” she said.

"After the fact, sure. But I only found out about it after I caught you two—”

 “You ‘caught’ us? What are you, my dad?” she shot back.

I bristled. “No, I’m not. But that raises a good question. Does he know about you and Mark?”

“It’s not really any of his business who I’m seeing,” Grace said.

“You really think he’s going to accept that? Or are you two planning on putting everything on hold when you both move home at the end of the month?”

Grace fell silent but she wouldn’t meet my gaze. I felt like I had been punched in the chest. That had been the plan: she’d spend the summer at home. Hopefully Reverend Kil would have forgotten about his stupid demand that we stay away from each other. And we could have things like old times again.

That was still the plan, wasn’t it?

“Grace?” I prompted.

She tapped a fist against her thigh. “I was…well, I was thinking about getting an apartment up here for the summer.”

“With Mark?” I couldn’t quite keep the venom out of his name.

She frowned at me. “Maybe. I thought you were cool with him.”

I had said that. And I shouldn’t have been surprised that he had told her. But that just caused a deeper ache to open in my chest.

“I…I am,” I said.

“I’ve known you too long to be fooled by that,” Grace said.

“Okay, so what if I’m not? That guy’s a jerk, Grace! Always has been.”

“Not anymore, he’s not,” Grace said. “And if he’s such a jerk, why’d you give him a job then?”

“Because you asked me to!” I shot back.

“Oh, sure. Blame me!”

“I’m not blaming you!” I had to take a step back. I was on the verge of yelling and I really didn’t want the neighbors eavesdropping. “I just wish you would have told me about him. About the two of you. Grace, you’re my best friend. I didn’t find out about you dating Mark until after I gave him a spot on the roster.”

That took her by surprise. “That can’t be right.”

“It is, though. You didn’t tell me about Mark. Just like you didn’t tell me about these indie wrestling shows. What else have you been hiding from me?”

Grace took a step toward me. “I’m not hiding anything.”

“But you are!” I said. “You’re supposed to be my best friend, and it feels like…like we haven’t seen each other for more than a couple of hours at a time for months. Longer than that. I feel like I’m…like I’m losing you.”

She stared at me, then scoffed. ”It’s not like that at all.”

“It feels like that to me. It’s like…like we maybe don’t fit anymore.”

“Ace, that’s ridiculous. I’m still the Diamond to your Ace. We’re still Grace and John. That’s not going to change.”

But even as she said it, I kind of felt like it already had. Worse, it felt like Grace’s dad had won, at least a little. Our friendship had faded. We hadn’t intended to let that happen, but it was the truth.

“And it’s not like you’ve shared everything with me either. I didn’t know how you felt about Abigail until she came to the show in December. I don’t have any idea who your relationship with her is even going.”

Really well. The answer almost slipped out of my mouth, but I swallowed it. That wasn’t the point and it wasn’t important. Fixing whatever this was…that was why I had come here.

“I don’t like that there were secrets between us,” I said.

“There weren’t! Not…not really. I just…” She sighed, her shoulder slumping. “I started doing the indie shows back when I was still at the announce table because you weren’t giving me a chance to wrestle. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. And Mark, well… I was worried that, if you found out about us, you’d react like…like…this.”

Ouch. I looked down at my feet, as if the right thing to say were written on my shoes. No such luck.

“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but it’s pretty obvious that I did.” She took a step toward me. “It’s not that I’ve been trying to hold stuff back from you. It’s just…different now. We don’t see each other every day at school. And it seems like we’re not texting as much anymore. I suppose I assumed we were kind of…growing apart.”

“Just like your dad wanted,” I whispered.

Silence fell between us. I finally looked up at her. Tears glistened in her eyes. My words must have hurt her more than I intended.

“Maybe,” she said. “But that’s only true if we let it be. John, you mean too much to me to let you just fade away. And maybe we’ve been too relaxed, too casual about our friendship. But if we’re intentional about staying together as friends…there’s nothing we can’t do together.”

There it was. Grace’s old bluster, the tone and attitude that I had heard and seen so many times when we were growing up. It was just enough to bolster my feelings, make me feel better about coming here in the first place.

“I promise. No more secrets between us,” she said. “About Mark or wrestling or anything. You?”

“Well, I haven’t been invited to any indie shows. And I’ve never thought about Mark in that way before…”

She slugged me on the arm, enough to hurt, but it felt good all the same. She hugged me tight.

“Now I’m starving. Ethiopian?” she prompted.

I motioned toward the door. As we left, she slipped her arm in mine and we walked together. For the rest of that afternoon, things felt right. Things felt normal.

But as I drove back to Rochester, that feeling of normalcy faded. And I started to realize something: good intentions aren’t always an antidote to the slow march of time. When Grace moved to Minneapolis, I had worried that things would change. We had promised that they wouldn’t. But they had and we were only just realizing how much.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

RFW All In

Sunday of Week 2, May 2021

Held at the Civic Center in Rochester, MN (Mid West Territory)

237 in attendance

 

Before the show started, I pulled Fro aside and asked him about the independent shows. He was really enthusiastic about it all until I casually mentioned that I might want to check that out. He said that, as an owner/booker, I probably wouldn’t be welcome at the shows. Which seemed really unfair to me, since Grace was able to compete, but hey, he wasn’t the one making the rules, so what could we do?

 

***

 

Martin and Curt welcomed the audience to the show.

 

1) Everything kicked off with Grace’s entrance music. The crowd went as wild as two hundred-some odd people could get as she made her way to the ring. Once in the ring, she lifted the belt over her head and went from post to post, trying to rile up the crowd even more.

“It is so good to be here in Rochester as your new RFW Women’s Champion!” she crowed, then waited for the crowd to simmer down again. “I want to thank all of you for your support. Some of you have been with us from day one and it means so much to me that—”

Her speech was cut off by Selina Svelte and Talia Quinzel. Selina waited for the crowd to settle down as well before she tore into Grace:

“Get over yourself, Kil. No one’s that impressed. So you’re champ. Big deal. Anyone can be lucky one night. But to hold on to the belt? That will take a whole lot more than what you have, little girl.

“See, here’s the thing: I don’t think you realize how isolated you are in the locker room. Oh, everyone’s nice and polite to your face, but you’ve wound up burning a lot of bridges without even knowing it. You’ve got no one to watch your back when you need it, and we’re going to prove it.”

Talia took the mic. “Because Selina and I are a team. We’re the Uprising! I’ve got her back, and she’s got mine. We’re in this together and we’ve got our sites set square on you.”

“So here’s what you’re gonna do,” Selina added. “Take your little bow, then go backstage and polish up that trophy and take a few pictures of it. Because when we’re done with you, you’re not going to be able to hold on to it for long.

“Oh, and if you can, try to find a partner for later on tonight. Because you have an Uprising to quell.”

RATING: 39

 

2) THE HOT TAGGS vs. DREADMASK © for the RFW Tag Team Championship

A surprisingly good match, but that was thanks to the hard work of Masked Mauler. He really stepped up his game and made it clear that he was the true threat of Dreadmask. I mean, Dreadnought did okay and he definitely looked better in the ring than Kalder. But Masked Mauler actually made me sit up and take notice in the backstage area. I realized that maybe I had done him a disservice by throwing him in a tag team just because both guys wore masks.

As I contemplated what to do about this, Dreadnought hit Kalder with an Onrushing Terror and then got the pin.

WINNERS: Dreadmask in 12:20

RATING: 35

 

3) The tag champs got on the mic and boasted about how the RFW should feel relieved that a true tag team had claimed the straps.

“Not a pair of clowns,” Dreadnought said.

“Not two guys who have the same name,” Masked Mauler added.

“Not two hicks from Idaho,” Dreadnought said.

Masked Mauler shook his head. “Montana.”

“Like it matters.” Dreadnought held up the gold. “We are the greatest in the RFW. And this gold isn’t going anywhere.”

RATING: 24

 

4) WILD RED STALLION vs. PEPPER PELTON

Curt and Martin really tried to play up the idea that Stallion was still trying to prove himself as a solo wrestler. “Sometimes a man has to walk a thousand miles before he really understands himself,” Martin opined.

“And sometimes, a man has to realize he’s just wasting his time. Ours too,” Curt countered.

I wish I didn’t agree, but I kind of did. This match really brought a hot start to crashing halt. The wrestling wasn’t all that great and the match kind of dragged in the middle. It was pretty clear that Stallion was trying to put Pepper down quickly, but Pepper seemed just as determined not to lose either. “Probably still smarting from losing the tag titles,” Martin suggested.

In the end, Pepper proved the better competitor by putting Stallion down with a Fisherman’s Suplex.

WINNER: Pepper Pelton in 13:29

RATING: 18

 

5) Stallion looked absolutely devastated, slumped in one corner of the ring. Even when referee Parker Terry tried to get him to leave, he wouldn’t budge or even acknowledge that Parker was there.

Texas Hangman finally came out to the ring without his entrance music or any fanfare. He clambered into the ring and knelt down next to Stallion, whispering something to him and trying to coax him out of the ring. Stallion finally shoved him away and then stalked out of the room.

RATING: 29

 

6) TEXAS HANGMAN vs. MARK LATRELL

Hangman waited for Mark to come out to the ring. Mark strutted out there, doing finger guns at the crowd. He was wearing one of our new RFW t-shirts and had apparently decided to scribble the word “MR.” above our logo. I hope he had paid for the shirt. We really couldn’t afford to give those away.

The match itself was okay. If you knew what you were watching for, you could tell that Hangman was taking it easy on Mark, who was still getting a feel for things in the ring. But Hangman did a decent job of selling Mark’s offense. Things see-sawed back and forth before Hangman ducked an attack by Mark and swiftly caught him by the neck.

But before Hangman could Choke Slam Mark, James Diaz hit the ring with a baseball bat. He clubbed Hangman in the knee, sending the big guy tumbling down. Mark seemed excited about this until James smashed him over the head with the bat.

Referee Quincy Jones called for the bell and ended the match, but when James threatened him, he bailed.

WINNER: No one (Draw) in 14:17

RATING: 29

 

7) James spent a few moments hitting both men with the bat before tossing it aside and getting a mic.

“I am sick and tired of sitting backstage with nobody giving me the respect I deserve,” he said. “Don’t you morons know who I am? I am the Son of the Monster. My father, Raymond Diaz, is a god in Japan. And I’m already seen as the Second Coming. These fools at the RFW don’t understand what they have in me, so I’m going to show them why they should never have underestimated me and why they definitely shouldn’t have left me on a shelf!”

I came out to the ring with a mic of my own. “James, you’re an excellent competitor, I’ll give you that. But you have to dial it back a little, man. If you’re that great, the way you prove it is by winning in the ring when it counts, not messing up someone else’s match.”

“I don’t need advice from you,” James shot back. “What I need is a victim. So if you’re so sure I’m not a big deal, get in here and prove it!”

RATING: 25

 

8. JOHN “ACE” HART vs. JAMES DIAZ

There was something about wrestling James that just clicked for me. I don’t know what it was. I could read his intentions about five moves ahead and I think the same was true for him too. We just got each other as competitors.

And the crowd seemed to pick up on that too. We put together a really sweet match. I focused on trying to put James down quickly and early while James was clearly determined to hurt me as much as possible. I tried several times to put James away with an Ace of Harts, only to have him duck and dodge the attempts. In the end, James blocked another Ace of Harts and then hit me with the Asian Thumb Spike, putting me down and pinning me.

WINNER: James Diaz in 12:32

RATING: 43

 

9) GRACE “DIAMOND” KIL & SABRINA WELLS vs. THE UPRISING

Apparently Grace had convinced Sabrina Wells to join her in the ring. I wouldn’t say they were besties or anything. Sabrina seemed mostly focused on getting her hands on Selina. “Which makes sense, if you think about it,” Martin said. “Two months ago, Selina attacked Sabrina and stole her spot in the tournament for Grace’s title. If that hadn’t happened, there’s every possibility that Sabrina would have the belt tonight.”

Curt tried to blame Sabrina’s anger at Selina for her performance int he ring. She was really struggling, but Grace looked every inch a champion. And the Uprising showed why they were such great tag partners as well. Curt explained to the audience that Selina and Talia often worked as a tag team overseas.

In the end, in spite of a spectacular performance that really got the crowd rocking, the Uprising dropped Sabrina with a move Martin identified as the Rising Tide and then Talia got the pin. When Grace tried to intervene, Selina intercepted her and the two wound up brawling outside the ring.

WINNERS: The Uprising in 14:40

RATING: 49

 

10) JAY SILVER vs. ZIPPY DEVERELL

It was inevitable that the crowd would crash after that match. They just couldn’t work themselves up enough to care, especially since Jay was off his game and these two really didn’t seem to get into what they should have been doing.

In the end, Zippy put Jay down with a Spinning Bulldog.

WINNER: Zippy Deverell in 13:18

RATING: 16

 

11) Zippy sneered at the crowd, especially as one of the fans yelled at him to tell a joke or something. But then he failed and fled the ring as Garry the Entertainer chased him backstage.

RATING: 20

 

12) FRO SURE © vs. PRIME TIME JACK PRYDE for the RFW Championship

I kind of feel bad for Fro and Jack. They went out there and really gave it their all in this match. And Martin and Curt really played it up at the announce table as well. But the crowd might have been too burned out from earlier in the evening. And it seemed like kind of a foregone conclusion that Fro would eventually hit the Sure Thing and pick up the pin, which is exactly what happened.

WINNER: Fro Sure in 11:51

RATING: 40

 

13) Once the match was done, Fro refused to leave the ring. Instead, he got the music playing and started a dance contest, even pulling some of the fans out of the crowd to compete against him. This got the audience worked up again as Fro declared one little girl the winner.

RATING: 44

 

***

 

Once the show was done, I gave my usual pep talk. I thanked James for being patient with me. I encourage Jay to do better next time, and I also hyped up Sabrina as best as I could. Mark seemed a little rankled by the end of the talk, but Grace whispered something to him that seemed to cheer him up.

After I was done, Grace took a step closer to me. “We still good?” she asked.

I nodded and smiled. “Great work out there, by the way.”

 "Thanks.”

 “So… ‘Mr. RFW?’ What’s that about?”

 “Oh, that.” She laughed. “That was Mark’s idea. We were spitballing some ideas—”

 “Is that what kids are calling it nowadays?” I asked. “Gross.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Knock it off. We were discussing some ideas for his character. He really liked the idea of being a ‘franchise player,’ the embodiment of the company. Best of the best, that sort of thing.”

I shivered. No way I liked the idea of Mark representing my company.

Our company. I meant “our.”

Grace chuckled. “See? You get it. Let’s just see what happens.”

I shrugged. “Okay. Text me when you guys get home, okay?”

“Will do, Dad.”

That wasn’t funny either.

FINAL RATING: 41

 

 

Quick Results:

Quote

From RFW.com...

 

Dreadmask © defeated the Hot Taggs to retain the RFW Tag Team Championship

Pepper Pelton defeated Wild Red Stallion

Texas Hangman drew with Mark Latrell when James Diaz attacked them both

James Diaz defeated John "Ace" Hart

The Uprising defeated Grace "Diamond" Kil and Sabrina Wells

Zippy Deverell defeated Jay Silver

Fro Sure © defeated Prime Time Jack Pryde to retain the RFW Championship

Edited September 10, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

Thursday of Week 4, May 2021

“Glenn, this design is amazing!”

Even though I couldn’t see Glenn, I was willing to bet he was blushing. “You really think so? My professor thought it was too over the top…”

“No, that’s why it works!” I said.

Glenn was taking a graphic design course in college and, for his final project, had decided to do a whole bunch of concept art for RFW. He had spruced up our logo (which, admittedly, needed it since I had cobbled it together on my own). He had designed covers for DVDs so we could start selling our old shows at events.

But by far, the best thing he had created was a t-shirt for the company. There was a wrestling ring with a giant hand in the middle of it. The hand held a royal flush, but instead of the usual face cards, there were silhouettes of male and female wrestlers. And surrounding the ring were piles of poker chips.

“I’m going to start putting these on shirts immediately, if you don’t mind.”

"Go for it.” Glenn hesitated. “Hey, Ace, I gotta go. But thanks, man. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”

 “Likewise. See you soon, okay?”

I hung up and then went back to the accounting software. I deliberately didn’t do my usual ritual, if only for my own peace of mind that I wasn’t turning superstitious. Thankfully, things still turned out okay. We had made $2,792 in May, bringing our warchest to $60,056. Our wages had dropped thankfully, and we had finished upgrading our merchandising. I was tempted to start the process again and keep pushing that, but I realized that might be pressing our luck.

Once I was satisfied with the numbers, I set to work crafting a memo for everyone in the company. Tamara had suggested that I start doing this just to keep everyone up-to-date on what was happening. I explained what our financial situation looked like. I also broke the news that I had released Marie Punnen from her contract. It wasn’t due to a bad attitude or anything like that. Marie also wrestled for QAW. For the past couple of months, QAW had held their events the same night as ours, and Marie had prioritized them over us. Understandable, but still.

I also tried to write some encouragement. I had heard some rumblings that both Talia Quinzel and Quentin Queen were irritated with me. I couldn’t figure Talia out, but Quentin made sense. He hadn’t been at the last show at all. As a former champ, he probably took that personally.

I also broke some unfortunate news. I had done some looking at joining the Confederation of the Territories. I figured it would be good for us to make nice with the other smaller promotions. But for whatever reason, they wouldn’t talk to us and, as near as I could tell, it was because of Phoenix I at OLLIE. He had blocked us for some reason. Weird.

I wrapped up the memo and attached Glenn’s new shirt design. Once it was sent, I leaned back in my chair and took a deep breath. Summer was almost upon us. And I couldn’t wait to see what came with that.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

Monday of Week 1, June 2021

I should have stayed away. Logically, I knew I should. Just because we ran into each other three months ago, just because we had acted all friendly, that didn’t mean things were fine between us. There was no truce. There was no new understanding. And yet, even though I knew all of this in my head, when the day finally came, I decided to risk it and head over to her house anyway.

I arrived at Grace’s house just as she and Mark pulled up. Mark gave me a huge pat on the back like we were old buddies, but Grace shot me a worried look. She likely had the same thoughts I did: I was supposed to stay away from her. Fade into the background. That had nearly happened over the past few months and we were determined to make sure it didn’t happen again. So on the one hand, it was good for me to be there. It was a first step for us back to normal. But at the same time… Poking a bear was never a good idea, especially in its own cave.

“You ready for this?” Grace whispered.

“The better question is, is Mark?” I whispered back. “Do your parents…know?”

Her mouth pursed into a thin line and she shook her head. “So far as they’re concerned, Mark is just a friend from here who happens to attend the U with me.”

I glanced at Mark. He had already started pulling some of Grace’s boxes out of the back of his car, stacking them on the sidewalk. He paused long enough to shoot Grace a particularly smitten look. It actually took me by surprise. I would never have expected such a human expression from Mark Latrell.

“Does he know that’s the story?” I asked.

“I made it as clear to him as I could.” She offered him a shaky smile and a tiny wave.

The door to her house opened with a bang and I jumped as if it had been a gunshot. Mrs. Kil hustled onto the front porch. Her face lit up and she waved.

“Grace! Welcome home!” She hurried down the front steps and enveloped Grace in a huge hug. She turned and snared me in the hug as well.

I thought about resisting, but when Mrs. Kil is hugging, she’s a force of nature you can’t ignore. And you know, it felt good. Like Grace and I had stepped back in time to when we were younger, when life wasn’t nearly so complicated. Back when Grace and I were friends and that was it.

“Hannah!” Reverend Kil barked from the front door.

Mrs. Kil gave me one more squeeze and then released me. She turned to Mark. “And who is this?”

“Mark Latrell, Mrs. Kil. Good to see you again.” Mark strode forward, his hand extended.

“Again? We’ve met?” Mrs. Kil shook his hand.

“I went to school with John and Grace,” Mark said. “Graduated the same year. Now Grace and I attend the U together and—”

Reverend Kil snapped something in Korean. Mrs. Kil retreated back up into the house. Grace had frozen and Mark looked petrified. I braced myself for what I knew was coming.

Sure enough, Reverend Kil stalked down the stairs. He glared first at Mark, then hit me with a withering stare that could have stripped paint off my car.

“Grace, when you said you were moving back home today, you didn’t say you would have help.” Reverend Kil’s voice carried an accusatory tone.

“I…that is…” Grace shot a desperate look at me.

My mind raced. Yes, she had invited me to come help in the hopes that we could bury the metaphorical hatchet, but from Reverend Kil’s attitude, he was looking to do so with a real one. What could I say? He’d see my presence here as an affront, a deliberate provocation, and—

Mark strode forward, his hand outstretched. “Reverend Kil, I’m Mark Latrell. I’m sorry that we’re meeting like this, but I’m a friend of your daughter’s from college.”

Reverend Kil regarded Mark’s hand like it was toxic. "Oh? Why has she never mentioned you before?”

Mark seemed to chew on Reverend Kil’s words for a moment before he stood up a little taller. “Because she was worried about how you would react when you heard the truth.”

Grace’s eyes widened and she started to say something, but Mark held up a hand to cut her off. I took a step forward, but Mark shook his head.

“Excuse me?” Reverend Kil asked, his tone icy.

“Reverend Kil…Grace and I have been dating for the past couple of months. She’s been nervous to tell you about this because…well, you’re just a little bit intimidating. Which I respect, by the way. A man has to stand up for himself and his family.”

Reverend Kil’s face twisted into a frown. I suspected he was about to unleash the wrath of God on all of us, maybe the whole block just to be sure.

“But here’s the thing: I really care about your daughter, sir. She means the world to me. And I personally believe that if you care deeply about someone or something, you shouldn’t hide it. You shouldn’t lie about it. That’s why I want to be honest with you.”

“I see.” Reverend Kil tipped his head back as if he wanted to study this odd specimen from a new angle. “So tell me, young man. What are your intentions toward my daughter?”

Mark chuckled. “If you’re asking if we’ll be heading down the aisle anytime soon…well, no sir, we’re not. We’re both too young to be thinking about that right now. Instead, we’re just enjoying each other’s company, getting to know each other better, and seeing where this might take us. That’s all.”

Much to my shock, Reverend Kil nodded thoughtfully. “I appreciate your forthright attitude, young man.”

“Mark, sir.” He held out his hand again.

Reverend Kil shook it, then motioned toward the house. “Hannah was just about to start lunch. Would you care to join us?”

I gaped at him and then looked to Grace. She seemed just as shocked, but she quickly covered it up with a smile. “What about John, Daddy?”

He turned to glare at me, almost as if he hadn’t noticed I was there at all. “He may help you carry in your things, but then I’m sure he has his own girlfriend to attend to, yes?”

That sounded like a perfectly reasonable suggestion, but I could easily smell the dismissal. I considered arguing, but Reverend Kil had already turned away and was ushering Mark into their house.

I sighed and went over to the pile of boxes and picked some of them up. Grace joined me.

“Don’t worry,” she whispered. “I’ll work on him.”

I almost laughed. Why bother? It was clear that, so far as Reverend Kil was concerned, I had been replaced. And I wasn’t sure which hurt more: that it was Mark Latrell that did it or that Grace seemed fine with the whole thing.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Blake Trask]

mark makes my skin crawl and I am convinced he is long conning.

[Scapino1974]

RFW All In

Sunday of Week 2, June 2022

Held at the Civic Center in Rochester, MN (Mid West Territory)

249 in attendance

 

Martin and Curt welcome the audience to the show.

 

1) Once again, Grace’s entrance music kicked off the show for us. She came out to the ring and played to the crowd. “It is so good to see all of you again tonight. I love being home in Rochester, and I love all of you.

 “But you know what I love just a little bit more?”

One of the fans shouted a marriage proposal to her.

Grace laughed it off. “Hey, buy me dinner first. And no, that wasn’t an offer. Because here’s what I love: being your women’s champion. I can’t tell you how long I dreamed of being able to do this. Because for years, I looked up to women wrestlers. Belle Bryden. Alicia Strong. Vixxen. All of them. I wanted to be like them. I wanted to show that I could go toe-to-toe with anyone in the squared circle. And now, I get that chance every month here at RFW.

“And all of you make it worth it. All of you—”

Unfamiliar entrance music interrupted her and a towering woman stepped out to ringside. Martin shouted that this was Ruby Reece, a six foot tall dynamo who came up in the old AAA promotion.

Ruby sneered at the crowd for a bit before she got on the mic herself. “Oh, please. I’ve heard all of this crap before. ‘It’s such an honor.’ ‘I do it for all of you.’ ‘You’re the real champions!’ What a load of garbage!

“Here’s the nasty truth: honor doesn’t matter. The opinion of the fans doesn’t matter. All that matters is if you can go in the ring. And I’ll be honest, Kil, I’ve seen some of your matches. And you know what? You’ve been lucky. You’ve been lucky that a serious competitor wasn’t here. But I’m here now. So what do you say? You and me. Tonight. Title on the line.”

Grace smiled, a feral snarl. “You’re on.”

RATING: 40

 

2) JOHN “ACE” HART vs. DUSTIN DEUCE

Dustin and I kicked off the show with a pretty decent match, all things considered. I think the crowd was already pretty psyched from Grace’s back-and-forth with Ruby.

I left this one up completely to Freddie. He had us in a pretty decent match where Dustin took early control. I tried to fight back and, for a while, it looked like I might pull through. But then Dustin regained his momentum and finally put me down with the Deuces are Wild.

WINNER: Dustin Deuce in 14:25

RATING: 45

 

3) ABIGAIL THOMPSON vs. SHERRY SMART vs. SELINA SVELTE vs. TALIA QUINZEL

Martin explained that this match was originally booked to determine who would face Grace for her title next month, but maybe it would be to see who would face Ruby next month instead.

Three of the competitors did okay, but it was pretty clear that Abigail was feeling the pressure. Curt tried to explain it away by saying that it was because Abigail was “flying too close to the sun” so soon in her career. But she proved to be kind of the weak link in the match until Talia put her down and pinned her with a Spinal Trauma.

WINNER: Talia Quinzel in 23:47

RATING: 36

 

4) GARRY THE ENTERTAINER vs. CASSIDY BLAINE

Cassidy came out to the ring, looking like he was ready to tear someone in half. He jawed at the crowd a little and tried to rile them up and get them booing him. He didn’t exactly succeed.

But then Garry came out, wearing a pair of oversized pants held up by a suspender with a colorful fake flower on one suspender. He clambered into the ring and did a few somersaults and cartwheels before capering over to Cassidy. He stuck out his hand to shake and, when Cassidy tried to do so, squirted him in the face with the flower.

Cassidy didn’t appreciate the humor and attacked Garry before the bell could actually ring. Cassidy rained down blows as Garry tried to not only defend himself, but get out of his clown pants as well.

But once Garry got free of the pants, he brought the fight to Cassidy. The two exchanged blows throughout the ring. While Cassidy tried to stay focused, Garry continued to tweak and poke at him, encouraging the crowd to laugh as Cassidy got more and more frustrated.

Just as Garry was setting Cassidy up for a fall, though, Zippy Deverell rushed in and tripped Garry up while referee Parker Terry’s back was turned. Cassidy quickly took advantage and rolled Garry up into a small package.

WINNER: Cassidy Blaine in 9:51

RATING: 36

 

5) THE SCOFIELD INDEX vs. DREADMASK © for the RFW Tag Team Championship

The champs really looked dangerous in this match, especially Masked Mauler. It’s pretty clear that he’s the powerhouse of Dreadmask and he really took the fight to Jerry and Pepper. In the end, he hit Jerry with a Piledriver and got the pin.

WINNERS: Dreadmask in 13:20

RATING: 35

 

6) Much to the audience’s surprise, veteran wrestler Big Smack Scott strutted out to the ring. He waved and blew some kisses to the fans, not all of whom seemed all that excited to see him.

“Hello, all you beautiful people!” Scott said. “I know what you’re thinking: what is Big Smack Scott doing at RFW? Well, I gotta tell you, I’ve been hearing some great things about Royal Flush Wrestling. This is supposed to be a hot, up-and-coming promotion, right? Well, how can you be hot and up-and-coming with Big Smack Scott?

“So that’s why I’m here. I’m here to take control of the ship. I’m here to take the RFW Championship from that clown, Fro Sure, and then I’ll lead RFW to glory. I’ll—”

That’s as far as he got. James Diaz rushed the ring and slammed into Scott, beating him down. James was followed by referee Quincy Jargon and the bell rang. Apparently we were going to have a match!

RATING: 37 for the challenge; 24 for the attack

 

7) BIG SMACK SCOTT vs. JAMES DIAZ

Scott took a lot of abuse in the opening moments of the match, and part of that was because he was still in his civvies. But James took care of some of that, tearing him out of his jacket and shirt.

Scott eventually rallied and tried to fight back, but it was really no use. James knocked him around the ring for several minutes before he put him down with the Asian Thumb Spike.

WINNER: James Diaz in 8:01

RATING: 37

 

😎 GRACE “DIAMOND” KIL © vs. RUBY REECE for the RFW Women’s Championship

Martin wondered how Grace was going to handle this challenge. “Ruby Reece towers over Grace, which means she has superior reach on her.”

“But her center of gravity is higher than Grace’s as well,” Curt pointed out. “I wouldn’t count our champ out just yet.”

In the early moments, Ruby mocked Grace for being that much shorter than her. She even did the whole hold her back by her forehead thing. Ruby laughed at her, until Grace threw herself into the ropes and used the momentum to take the taller woman down.

The crowd really got into it. It was pretty clear that Ruby was going to rely on power to try to put Grace down and, in some ways, was stronger than Grace. So Grace switched up her offense and relied on speed, hitting Ruby and then dancing out of her range. In the end, Grace was able to dodge Ruby’s Head Kick finisher and then caught her in a Diamond’s Edge.

WINNER: Grace “Diamond” Kil in 12:27

RATING: 50

 

9) Fro Sure made his way out to the ring and got on the mic.

“You know, I’m kind of upset at James Diaz right now. Big Smack Scott comes to town and wants to mix it up with little old me? That would have been a fun match, right?”

The crowd didn’t seem quite as sure about that pronouncement, but Fro Sure took it in stride.

“But I guess that means that my dance card’s empty tonight. No big deal, though! So long as we have some time, Mr. DJ, hit my music and let’s see which one of you has what it takes to unseat me as the RFW Dance Champion!”

While Curt and Martin debated whether or not Fro could just name himself the Dance Champion of RFW, Fro got a couple of people out of the audience and into the ring to start a dance contest with them. But as a few of our fans showed off their moves, suddenly the dance mix was interrupted by Quentin Queen’s entrance music.

Quentin stormed out to the ring. Fro quickly got the fans out of the way as Quentin got in his face.

“This? This is how you spend your time? Big Smack Scott was right! RFW needs a new champion, one who understands how important it is to be champ.”

“And I suppose that’s you? Q-Man, we’ve been there and done that. If we had them, I bet some fans would have the t-shirt. Why don’t you just head on back to the lockerroom and let us have our fun out here.”

Quentin hauled off and slapped Fro. Fro stood in the middle of the ring for a second before rubbing his jaw. He then threw down the belt and slapped Quentin right back. And with that, a title defense was on!

RATING: 40

 

10) FRO SURE © vs. QUENTIN QUEEN for the RFW Championship

The audience really got into this one as well. While a lot of the fans were obviously siding with Fro, we had some Quentin Queen fans shouting for the challenger to get the title back as well.

The momentum see-sawed back and forth. Quentin even managed to hit Fro with the Q-Ball and made a pin that lasted “two-and-three-quarters.” But then, a wobbling Fro managed to catch Quentin with a Sure Thing.

WINNER: Fro Sure in 14:59

RATING: 47

 

***

 

I gathered the workers together. I thanked Talia, Quentin, and Dustin for their hard work. And then we set to work cleaning stuff up.

FINAL RATING: 45

 

 

Quick Results:

Quote

From RFW.com...

 

A special guest learned that there are big fish swimming in our small pond!

 

Dustin Deuce defeated John "Ace" Hart

Talia Quinzel defeated Abigail Thompson, Sherry Smart, and Selina Svelte

Cassidy Blaine defeated Garry the Entertainer

Dreadmask © defeated the Scofield Index to retain the RFW Tag Team Championship

James Diaz defeated Big Smack Scott

Grace "Diamond" Kil defeated Ruby Reece to retain the RFW Women's Championship

Fro Sure © defeated Quentin Queen to retain the RFW Championship

Edited September 10, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

Hey, quick question for everyone:

 

When I started this diary, I basically resurrected my style from my previous diaries with a few minor tweaks (mostly due to forgetfulness on my part). I know that there's a wide variety of diary styles right now, and while I can't switch to some of the more labor intensive styles, are there any tweaks that would make this a better read? I'm thinking mostly in the way I present the shows.

 

I can't promise I'll make changes, but I'm curious if it's working still. Thanks!

[jtnlange]

Scap I personally like your style, easy to read. I really love the character development you do with your stories.

 

Trevor L.

[1PWfan]

Hey, quick question for everyone:

 

When I started this diary, I basically resurrected my style from my previous diaries with a few minor tweaks (mostly due to forgetfulness on my part). I know that there's a wide variety of diary styles right now, and while I can't switch to some of the more labor intensive styles, are there any tweaks that would make this a better read? I'm thinking mostly in the way I present the shows.

 

I can't promise I'll make changes, but I'm curious if it's working still. Thanks!

 

I've got no complaints about the shows, they're easy enough to follow. All I'd like to see is maybe a roster rundown with some pics? It'd be easier to figure out who everybody is that way.

[Blake Trask]

personally I find it easily digestible and a lot of the appeal of reading is how rapidly you're updating, which I suspect going hard bore on formatting would slow up a tad.