Damnit!

He rests his head against the hard wall and just stands for a moment before moving his hand and checking it. He then opens and closes it to see if there is any pain. Feeling none he walks to his locker room. Inside he starts to dress. He places an old Joe Cool t-shirt from a different organization on his battered body and puts everything else he had out in his bag. Suddenly we hear a ringing. It's his cell phone. He picks it up and answers.

What?

Joe?

Who is it?

This is Ty Mac!

Ty? I didn't think I gave you this number.

I kind of lifted it from Judgement. I just saw your match on TV man.

Yeah, well, if you're going to rub it in...

Come on Joe, you know me. People win and people lose. Hell you think I liked giving up my undefeated streak in PW when Sinister & SiC beat me and Judgement for the tag titles?

No.

I was just going to ask, what happened? You looked out of it, like you weren't on the top of your game.

Honestly Ty, I don't know what happened. I was confident I could at least hold my own but I looked bad out there. I'd like to chalk it up to ring rust, but I thought I wouldn't have had that problem.

Everyone has that problem. I barely won my first PW match because I'd spent so much time away from the ring. You remember the basics but you have to work to get yourself to the level you were at before you go on hiatus.

Someone must have tipped Wrecker off about my neck. He went straight for it.

Yeah I saw that. That could be part of it too, I mean that neck of yours almost took you out of the business.

Yeah, and I know sooner or later it's going to need surgery. But I don't really want to go under the knife and come back over a year later. Who knows how my career would end up?

I'm just saying, it might be good for you to not think about a comeback right now.

I want the comeback. I want to be on top just like I was in BTW, ICW, MWF...all of these places where I dominated. I don't want to let a loss in one exhibition match get to me, but this was supposed to be my big night.

From one vet to another, the only thing I can say is keep working on it. Train harder, study your opponents, don't let yourself think you're at the level you once were just yet. Joe you're one of the best out there, I've seen what you can do and have experienced it. You're going to bounce back in no time. I'm not saying this just to make you feel better, I'm saying it as a friend.

Yeah I know. But that's not the point. Even if I did lose, which I had a feeling that I might having not wrestled since October, and not having a worthwhile opponent since April...even if I did lose, I figured I would have put up a better fight. I looked like a rookie out there.

Here's an idea, why not focus on tag team matches?

Well I do have a tag team match for this Monday's Battlezone, although I don't think my partner there is going to help me much.

Find yourself a good one. You'd be surprised how quickly you can get back to that level when you are in a tag team. Hell maybe you could even go for the tag team titles.

That's not a bad idea Ty. Although if you had heard, you'd know I'm already looking for one here in MWA. Speaking of which, have you decided whether or not you're coming here to be my tag partner?

You never asked.

I'm asking now.

I don't know, you'll have to give me time to consider it. We could be great and really get the gold, but at the same time...I've been considering retirement lately.

We all do at some point. Take care of yourself Ty.

Later.

Joe hangs up the phone and puts it inside of his bag. He looks forward and realizes the entire thing has been taped for the MWA audience.

Fuck where you in here the entire time?

No verbal response, but the camera shakes a little because of a nod.

Might as well keep that damn thing running, I have some things I want to get off my chest anyway.

Joe moves his hair out of his eyes as we see the camera zoom in on him.

Okay, so I lost my debut match. Some of you are probably thinking I can only talk shit and can't back it up. Well you go ahead and think that. There's only one way I can prove each and every one of you wrong, and that's in the ring. I know Wrecker is thinking that. God I was actually trying to be respectful to that dick and he shoved it in my face with his little spiel, then beat me. That was more of my fault. But, as the cameraman invaded my fucking privacy, you already heard that conversation.

Joe is showing visible anger and runs his hand down his face and breathes deep to calm himself.

I'm more angry with myself. But maybe I should take it out on my opponents. First I have some things to say to Mike Proctor. Congratulations on your win. I hope we can fight again REAL soon so I can show you that is NOT the best I have to offer. I can do better than that. Hell if I even had the chance to land the Solitaire Unraveling we'd be having this little talk from opposite sides of the spectrum. But as it stands now, I didn't, so we aren't. You're just a jerk in general about the entire situation though. I guess I shouldn't be such a nice guy. Next time Wrecker you will be the one looking up at the lights for the longest three seconds that everyone in our profession has to experience in their life. You did that before, so no doubt you'll do it again. The next time we meet, I will win. I'm going to make sure of that.

Joe notices a trickle of blood has been from his lips the entire time. He reaches a hand up and feels a split in the center of his upper lip. He spits and sees the blood and spit mix splat on the floor. He wipes his mouth with a towel from his bag and stuffs it back in, before continueing.

And it seems the fucker split my lip open too. Just great.

He throws the bag across the room in anger, and it slams against the wall with an audible thud. The camera starts to back away but he looks at it, letting the man behind it know he'd better not leave. He again moves his hair away from his eyes and continues.

I shouldn't get so angry all the time. So..this Monday I am in a tag team match. I team with some cowboy, from the looks of his roster picture, Dylan Dales against Terri Moore and Heather Shannon. So it's a battle of the sexes. Okay, no big deal. Although what is a big deal, is being stuck in a tag match with a random partner against random opponents. It's like they couldn't think of what to do with me. "What do we do with Joe? Oh let's just put him in this match and see what happens." Well what's going to happen is I'm going to make up from my loss tonight and win the match. Even if I have a partner who looks to be a little green. I hope Dylan that you can pull off your share of the work, because if I go into a handicap match and lose, it will be YOUR ass that is kicked when it's over.

Joe's expression changes to a slight smirk.

I will say this for my opponents at Battlezone, at least they are better on the eyes than "Wrecker" Mike Proctor. First we have Terri Moore, who dubs herself the "White Trash Queen". Terri I am not entirely sure that is a good thing. I mean come on, white trash isn't a compliment. I had to look at your bio to make sure you weren't raised in a trailer park somewhere in a backwoods county. Luckily, you were born in Canada and are from Arizona, so it's not as I feared. I thought I'd be fighting a female Godwinn out there. Thank GOD that's not the case.

How does Joe Cool match up to Terri Moore? Well, I know that I overshadow you. I'm 2x your size and that's because you're so damned tiny. Although that will help you in terms of your high-flying and speed, assuming I am not able to stop you. See I am pretty agile for my size so I won't have too much trouble. I will give you credit that it's going to be tough to get ahold of you when you're flopping around crusierweight style but when I do you might not stand much of a chance. I can overpower you fast enough to put a stop to your momentum. I'm not being cocky, it's just that I'm really strong and you're really small.

Joe laughs a little to himself before starting again.

Next...Heather "The Feather" Shannon. I appreciate the humor in your name, considering you're..well you're the opposite of Moore. Damn there was no way to say that without looking like an ass was there? Trust me I wasn't trying to insult you. Anyway, I noticed that you have heard about my request for a tag partner and have shown interest. That sucks as far as Monday goes, because now we have to fight but I assume that's a good a way as any to make sure if you would be a right partner for me. As far as fighting you in the ring, that's going to be tricky. It's going to come down to whether or not I can lift you up for the Solitaire Unraveling that settles on my gameplan. If I can't, then I might have to make you tap out. Or just wait til you tag in Terri and then drop her with it...but I'm getting ahead of myself. I could never be tagged in by my partner and lose the match.

Whatever my gameplan will be I can assure you I'm going to be the victor in this tag match on Monday, because quite frankly, a losing streak is something I DO NOT need right now. I will be able to gauge your talents in the ring Heather, and then hopefully everything works out and we can be on the same side of the ring, as opposed to opposite sides of the ring. Although you're going to have to get those visions of Snoopy out of your head. But hey I'm not...

Joe stops for a second and shakes his head.

No, I'm not going to say it, because certain fuckers tend to think I steal it from another wrestler when I originally heard it in a movie. Even though it's probably fair game considering the guy that used to use it doesn't use it anymore....ah screw it, I like the phrase. Heather Shannon, Terri Moore, I'm going to win that tag team match, regardless of what happens. And I'm not telling you anything, that you don't already know.

Joe motions for the cameraman to leave, and so he starts backing up and walking down the hall before turning the camera off. So..that's all we get to see. The scene fades out, of course.