CHAPTER 44
Joey landed flat. The powder blue ring mat clapped against his bare back.
These rings weren’t the greatest. Constructed of plywood boards and tarp, they gave almost nothing to the poor wrestler who landed on them.
Such was life in an independent promotion.
A week after his infamous shoot fight with Goliath, Joey signed a contract with Gene Harold to become the newest member of The International Wrestling Consortium (the IWC), Gene’s upstart promotion. Jade signed on as well. They both agreed to work for minimum wage plus a percentage of the gate.
Since then, they had been touring the Great White North. Gene correctly predicted that a promotion featuring Joey Mayhem, Lucifer, and Jade Sleek, would be an immediate draw in Canada’s most active wrestling towns, with or without a television contract.
The IWC’s premier show was in Vancouver, three weeks to the day from Apocalypse. They performed in front of five thousand fans at the New Johnson Arena. Following Steve’s advice, Gene arranged for the show to be taped by a freelance recording crew, and then distributed for free on the Internet.
When the IWC put on its second show a week later in Winnipeg, they sold out the Queensbury Coliseum, selling eight thousand tickets. Again, the show was taped and the footage distributed for free over the Internet.
The next show was in Montreal; the week after in Toronto.
Tonight’s show, in Edmonton, had gathered fifteen thousand in Alberta Memorial, a crowd worthy of a major promotion with a national TV contract. The main event would feature Lucifer versus newly signed Flash Martin, in the first ever IWC World Title bout.
Before that match could go on, the crowd needed to be warmed up. That was Joey’s job tonight. He was wrestling against Matt Allen, a kid from Maryland whom Gene had been watching for over a year.
The kid had spunk, and the crowd was taking to him. Tonight, Joey wanted to give the kid a good rub before pinning him. Doing so required Joey to play that part of being in trouble. He had just fallen flat from his second straight back body drop. Matt followed up with an elbow to the sternum, then a knee drop to the face. Joey sold the moves like Matt was a seasoned veteran. The crowd’s reaction was mixed. They enjoyed seeing the new guy get some offense, but most of them were marks for Joey Mayhem.
“Hit me with something off the whip,” Matt whispered to Joey, before picking him up. Joey was impressed. His first match in a real promotion, and this kid was already calling spots. Joey followed the instructions, allowing himself to be whipped into the ropes. Joey bounced off the ropes and sprinted back towards Matt, whose left hook was too slow, allowing Joey to duck under. Joey ran to the opposite ropes, bounced off, and came flying back at Matt with a forearm. The crowd cheered at the change of pace.
Both men were now down on the mat. “Smack me off that exposed turnbuckle,” Joey whispered to Matt.
In one of many revolutionary changes, Gene had instituted what he called a “night-long story in the ring.” Gene promoted telling stories that continued from one match into the next, and the next after that. As such, the metal turnbuckle that was exposed from beneath its soft padding (a classic dastardly trick) by Reston Howard in the previous match, was still available for use in this bout.
Paying heed to his elder, Matt did what he was told, and, after stumbling to his feet, led Joey right to the corner, where he smashed Joey’s forehead into the metal turnbuckle.
The poor kid was overexcited and smashed Joey too hard. The skin on Joey’s forehead broke open and began bleeding profusely.
As Joey stumbled back to sell the injury, he saw a look of fear on Matt’s face. Having spent the better part of the last year petrified of making a mistake in the big leagues, Joey understood the look in Matt’s eyes, the look that said, “Oh no,” and “I’m so sorry.”
Knowing he shouldn’t, knowing the Internet would jump all over it, Joey decided to communicate to Matt that everything was okay. Right before falling to the hard plywood mat, with blood gushing over his face in a crimson mask, Joey looked right in Matt’s direction, and winked.
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Spencer Baum is the author of the novels One Fall and The Demon Queen and The Locksmith. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wife and children. His web site is https://www.spencerbaum.net/.
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