Another Day

[Trouble*]

A few minutes later, Ryan himself hobbles into the lobby of the gym on crutches. Today, he was sporting a pair of black athletic shorts with a skin-tight under armor shirt. He looked around the area doing his usual observation. Like usual, his face cold and emotionless. You try keeping away from your passion for so long and be happy. It was obvious he wanted to be in the ring performing for the millions of fans, not doing rehab in a small gym where he was swarmed by fans every twenty minutes.

He made his way over to the desk, and reaches into his pocket, retrieving his membership card. He slides it to Paul and he swipes it, then hands it back. Ryan pockets it again, and heads to the lockers. He tosses his back and membership in, and then continues onto the workout area.

Once inside the workout area, Ryan observes again. He had a choice. Treadmills with the fat people, weight lifting with the scrawny people (who, ironically, where barley doing 50), or stretching with a lonely muscular guy. Knowing Ryan, he could easily put down both the fat, sweaty guys and the scrawny, nerdy guys.... So it was pointless. However, the guy by himself stretching...Hmmm...He looked like he was built to be a fighter, whether that be MMA or wrestling. That intrigued him, so he hopped his way over to him.

He drops flops his crutches to the side, and takes a seat in front of the guy. A small smirk starts to form on his lips as he addresses him.

How's it goin', bud? Ya here for a quick workout I see.

[Trouble*]

As the man finishes, Ryan pats his right knee very gingerly.

My ACL is pretty much torn ta pieces. Y'see, I'm a wrestler for this company called XWA. Maybe you've heard of it? It's pretty damn big, that's fer sure. Anyways, I had myself a match against, at the time, the X-Gen champ. The X-gen....That's for the sick bastards who like to use weapons to beat the holy high hell outta their opponents, and little guys....or big guys that can do little guy stuff. Well, this match was a ladder match, where ya gotta win by climbing a ladder and pulling a brief case danglin' about 20 feet above the ground down. When I pulled it down, I slipped and fell from the ladder. All I can say is it was one helluva awkward landing for my poor, poor knee, and the ACL snapped like a thin, brittle twig.

What happened to you? You look like you're an athlete of some sort. Football? Getchaself hurt throwin' around the old pig skin? Naaaah.... You're not a football player. I know! Hockey!? No.... Tennis? Baseball? Basketball? Oh! You're a soccer player aren't you? God help ya if you are, I freakin' hate that sport....

Little did Ryan know, if he'd shut his mouth and listen to him for 5 seconds, he'd more than likely find out...

.....Ping pong more than likely...People prefer the name table tennis cuz ping-pong is sorta racist, but fuck it, I like ping-pong. I could say that all day long. Ping-pong, ping-pong, ping-pong...hehehehe...

[Trouble*]

Ryan spreads his legs out and reaches for his right toe. He can feel a pull in his right knee, and after holding it for a few seconds, switches to the other leg.

Ryan...Ryan Blaze...

He stops stretching for a second and looks Joey in the eyes.

So, Joey, when are you set to return?

[Trouble*]

XWA. Ex dubs. Great place ta be, really. I mean, fer the guys we've got the hotties. Fer the girls we've got the bodies. And fer the fans of wrestling...The people who watch every move ya make, the way you execute every maneuver and throw every strike? We have the perfection. Everyone puts their asses out on the line night after night ta put on an amazing...nah, an XTRAORDINARY show. We, my friend, are what wrestlin' in the states SHOULD be, not this drama shit ya see on TV these days.

If ya want in, it's real easy. Gotta talk to the higher ups. Tell 'em why you're XWA material, prove ta them why you're up to XWA standards. Show 'em why you're gunna make an impact. It's easy if ya can do all that and if ya know you're gunna bring your A-game. However, it's a BITCH ta do if you're a phony who can't amount to jack.

You're not a phony, are ya?

Before Joey can even answer, Ryan throws his hand up, signaling him to stop.

Don't answer that. I know you're no phony. You look like you're ready to bring all you've got. That's a good look to have, my friend.

[Trouble*]

Ryan, shrugs his left shoulder and half jokingly replies.

Don't be a dick and we're even? hehe....

He gets up and extends his right foot out, and reaches for his toes again. However, the wobbles he gets from trying to stand sends him crashing back onto his rear.

Damn.

[Trouble*]

Ryan reaches out to the extended hand, and with Joey's help, rises to his feet. He quickly grabs his crutches before falling again, places them firmly under his arms, and looks back up at Joey.

Thanks bro. This injury extremely sucks.

[Trouble*]

Ryan shrugs his shoulders. Might as well tell Joey the story.

Y'see, there was this group...The Coalition....run by one helluva fighter named Primo. It was a group of the best heels in current day wrestlin'. Me? I was apart of it. Are enemies were the fan favorites. The people that got the cheers every night. I was up against Jimmy Ames, one of dem good guys. It was a ladder match. He beat the living shit outta me, yet I still managed ta climb up that ladder and pull the brief case free. After such a beatin', I guess I wasn't fully there in my head and I fell down to the canvas hard.

Yeah, and that's pretty much why I'm here now.

Ryan the raises his hand to his chin and rubs it, considering what Joey said.

If ya wanna help me recover, then sweet.

[Trouble*]

I've been doing a lot of stretches, here and at home. When I'm here at the gym I walk or jog the tread mill, and lift a few weights with my legs, however, I stay a bit light 'cause I don't want ta aggravate my injury.

[Trouble*]

Yeah, I got somewhat big sometimes. I pretty much do what the internet tells me to do. I go to a bunch of therapy sites, cuz therapists for some reason piss me off. Anyways, yeah, I do what websites tell me ta do. I go big with the weight some days, but will typically keep it to a down low. I'm pretty much set to return sooner than later, and when I do it'll be a Ryan Blaze XWA has never seen. They've seen the typical heel and face...but not the way I am in the indies. The way I tear apart the whole damn roster in promos and in the ring. If they think I'll be somewhat of a push over this time around they've all got another thing comin'.

[Trouble*]

What I mean is for most my time here in X, I've been more of a PG man. However, what I've done in the indies is anything put PG. I swear, curse, use sexual references. Anything to lower my opponents self-esteem. When you have a lowered self esteem going into a match, there's less chance you'll win. I, pretty much do verbal low-blows at any possible chance. In the ring I feel more at home, because it feels more like it's me and my opponent, where as in an XWA ring it feels like it's me and my opponent with millions of fans watching. It doesn't get to some guys, but it gets to me. Either way, I say no more. The fans are going to come to hate me, so why should I let them bother me.

At least that's how I feel.