* * * * *
Joey woke up the next morning at eleven. He panicked when he saw the time. Less than twelve hours until his World Title Match. He still hadn’t heard from Duke. No call from Fran either. As far as he knew, he had no way of getting to Houston. What a shitty job she had done as his travel coordinator.
After checking out of the hotel, Joey took the hotel’s shuttle service to the airport, where he caught the next flight to Houston. From the airport he took a cab to the Astrodome.
On the way, he thought back to when he was a teenager, and had watched Red Jackson defeat Shane Walker for the GWA Title at Myers Arena in Memphis. Joey remembered the wrestlers seeming distant, mysterious. They weren’t human. They were characters from television, larger in stature than any regular man could be.
Joey had never considered that Red Jackson or Shane Walker might have been nervous that night. From his vantage as a fan, the performers were incapable of human weaknesses like fear. But now he wondered. Did they go out there and improvise their match, as Joey and Goliath were now likely to do? Was Shane Walker worried that he might find himself half-way through the match, out of ideas, throwing his opponent into a chinlock and killing the crowd? Did Red Jackson wonder if he had what it took to be the number one guy? Did either of them have to deal with backstage politics?
A security guard let Joey inside the stadium. The crew was running sound checks and testing the ring ropes. No one had seen Duke yet.
The other wrestlers began arriving at four o’clock. One of the first to come backstage was Jade. Joey was relieved to see her.
“Hey stranger,” she said. “How did the Corpus Christi show turn out?”
“It was fine. Crowd dug it. I had fun.”
“And the night before that was...”
“Austin. It also went well. Did you enjoy your time off?”
“Oh yeah. It’s so rare to get a Saturday and a Sunday off. My sister and I went shopping and to the movies and out to dinner. It was sweet.”
“Well cool. Listen, you haven’t seen Duke or Goliath around have you?”
“No, but I just got here. I suppose you want to talk to them about your big match tonight. Still nervous?”
“Yes. And I have no idea what we’re doing.”
“I suppose that would make me nervous too.” Jade smiled. Her face said, Don’t sweat it, we’ve all been there.
“Well, I’ll be rooting for you, kid,” she said. “I’m going to go get dressed and do some stretching. I’m on early tonight.”
“Good luck. I’ll see you later?”
“Sure. Find me after the show.”
For the next hour, Joey paced the hallways of the backstage area. At six, one hour before showtime, Duke and Goliath appeared. Duke was speaking on his cell phone, and he looked frazzled.
Joey pushed through a group of crew members to get to Duke and Goliath right as they stepped into the backstage area. Goliath smiled at Joey and shook his hand. Duke ignored Joey and continued down the hall, speaking furiously into his cell phone. Goliath and Joey followed.
“We’ve had an issue brewing all weekend that doesn’t look good for us,” said Goliath, almost in a whisper.
“What is it?” said Joey.
They now were walking through the hall toward the performers’ entrance. Right behind the entrance sat the control table, where Duke was stationed during the live shows, able to speak to the commentators and the referees through their headsets.
“Crusader’s jumped ship,” said Goliath.
Instant joy popped into Joey’s gut. He hadn’t felt comfortable around Crusader since their match last week.
“Really, he’s already gone?” asked Joey.
“Yes. Apparently he’s going to show up on Riot tonight. Duke’s been on the horn with the lawyers all weekend. From the sounds of it, I don’t think he can stop it.”
Joey felt like the bully was absent from school. But then he wondered if the locker room would blame him for sending Crusader away. He could hear Crusader, with his ridiculous Canadian accent, telling the guys that having to do the job to Joey was the last straw.
“Nothing. We’ve got nothing. Those god-damned bastards,” said Duke, snapping his cell phone shut. “I can’t fucking believe this.”
They arrived at the control table, which was still being set up by two crew members. Shane Walker was sitting against the wall behind the table, speaking to Monty Monroe, another GWA agent. Shane nodded his head to acknowledge Joey.
“Eight years I’ve worked with Scott,” Duke said to no one in particular. “All he had to do was ask and I would have let him go. That asshole’s gonna pay for this.”
“They’re not going to know what to do with him,” said Goliath.
“Damn right they’re not,” said Duke. “Asshole would be cleaning toilets if it weren’t for me. He got pushed because I thought he was loyal. Serves me right I guess.”
“Gentlemen, we have a problem,” Duke said to Shane and Monty.
“Come on, we’ll catch up with Duke later,” Goliath said to Joey. Without waiting for Joey to respond, Goliath started walking toward the locker rooms. Joey hesitated. He looked at Duke. All weekend he had wanted to speak with him. Now he was here. But it wasn’t the time. Duke wasn’t in a mood to talk. Joey caught up to Goliath.
“Do you know what we’re going to do in our match tonight?” Joey asked.
“I’ve got it worked out. Duke might go over some specifics with us later. You’re going to get the upper hand, you’re going to beat the squat out of me, the ref’s going to take a bump, you’re going to pin me with no one there to count. With the ref still out, I’ll come to and cheat, I might start with a low blow. By the time the ref’s up, I’m going to hit you with the title belt and you’ll be easy to pin.”
“Okay,” Joey said. Duke might go over specifics later. So this was it. There would be no script. Goliath had just laid out the standard match for a main event with a heel going over. Getting from spot to spot within that layout would be up to Joey and Goliath in the ring. They would call the spots to each other as they went. Joey hated wrestling that way.
“I’m going to go stake out a quiet place in the back somewhere,” said Goliath. “I’ll see you in a bit whenever Duke’s ready to talk to us.”
“Alright. See you later,” said Joey. He didn’t want to separate. He wanted to cling to Goliath or Duke until the match, to force them to tell him everything they knew. But it was common practice, practically tradition, that Goliath would disappear in the backstage area for an hour or so before his showtime. The official story, the one told to journalists and rookies and snoops backstage, was that Goliath needed private time to focus. After all, Goliath’s intensity and focus in the ring, especially on TV and pay per views, was unmatched. That intensity carried out of the ring too. After his matches, Goliath might throw violent temper tantrums and pick fights with the boys backstage. These sorts of incidents had to be covered up to protect the official story, lest the truth escape. Everyone in the company, including Joey, knew that Goliath disappeared before his matches to jack up. Steroids, amphetamines, uppers. The laid-back demeanor that greeted Joey tonight would be gone when Goliath returned. In its place would be a chemically-enhanced wrestling beast.
Joey took a seat in front of one of the many televisions backstage and the show started. Duke sat at the control table and actively spoke into his headset during every match and TV segment. It was apparent that he wouldn’t be speaking to Joey at all tonight.
For the next hour and forty-five minutes, the TV announcers hyped Joey’s match like the Super Bowl. They talked about it during every segment, ignoring whatever was going on the ring at the time to promote the night’s main event. Clips of Joey winning the tournament were shown before every commercial break. A promotional video package of Goliath training in a gym to heavy metal music aired twice. At the start of the
show’s second hour, the announcers began a countdown until the World Title Match, periodically announcing the number of minutes left until the match began.
At 9:30, fifteen minutes before their curtain time, Goliath re-appeared from exile. His pupils were dilated, and his face was intense. He slapped Joey on the back as he walked past him.
“Joey, let’s get you in place for your entrance,” said Martha. Joey followed her out of the locker room area toward the black curtain.