Nicky pulled up his car beside the gym his father owned. The gym that helped him get his start. He was fighting a losing battle against his subconscious, which was desperately telling him not to go in. He knew his brother was going to be in there, and he didn’t quite know how to face up to the man who attempted to have sex with his drunken wife. He still couldn’t believe how
Donnie would think he could do it. They were celebrating just buying a house, and it was a great party,
Nicky unfortunately had to be the most sober of the married couple. His wife had already gotten drunk, and he couldn’t do much about it. But his brother, constantly trying to get into her pants, metaphorically and physically.
Nicky just sat there, in his car that he had just turned off. He took a couple deep breaths and looked around. He was in a part of Dallas that wasn’t as well kept as downtown, or the richer part of the city. It almost reminded him of Rocky Balboa’s neighbourhood in the movies. His father’s gym however had been well taken care of, although he wasn’t truly surprised. His father took great pride in this establishment. Aside from a busted light on the sign, and a couple cracks in the building, it was a decent looking place. He noticed a couple kids play wrestling across the street, it reminded him of the good old days when he and his brother were just their age. They’d play wrestle like that, and pretend to be their favorite wrestlers. He was Ricky Steamboat of course, he always liked the more agile, and faster wrestlers. They always did the coolest stuff. He caught himself before he started to have a premature midlife crisis. He was still far too young for that! Besides, he was living a great life now.
He looked at the note his father gave to
Sierra, to give to
Nicky. It was a written invitation to train for his future matches, and to stick around for a show. His father always enjoyed putting on little shows for the local fans, who couldn’t afford basic cable, or any means of watching wrestling really.
Nicky truly respected his father for that, and it was always a good turnout. He remember being just a teenager and helping out, making the popcorn or other little snacks and preparing drinks for the fans, while some pretty amazing matches went on in the ring. But those days were passed him, and he needed to move on. He couldn’t afford to think of the past, but he also couldn’t afford to forget it, it was what makes him who he is today. He was so happy where he was at in his life right now; it would be wonderful to have his wife here with him, to help him get through some of the struggles he faces. But he knew he couldn’t dwell on that thought, it would be the end of him. It would probably cause him to go to a dark place, and he just couldn’t do that, especially not in front of his kids. He took the keys out of the ignition of his car and popped the trunk. Opening his door he stepped out of the car slowly, sunglasses on, as it was pretty sunny out. He looked around, still kind of squinting, more or less because of a gust of wind that blew for only a few seconds. He remembered this neighbourhood. He grew up here. Made many friends, lost a few. He took in a long deep breath; it felt nice to be back home. He went to the back of his trunk and grabbed his gym clothes. Every minute that passed by almost seemed like an hour, he hadn’t been in this gym in years. He had been so focused on his wrestling career that he forgot about his roots, well almost. As he made his way to the door, a man stepped out and nearly ran into him. The man went to apologize, but cut himself off. He was much taller than
Nicky, and darker skinned. The man looked in near disbelief.
Nicky only looked up at the man, not knowing what to really say. The man did though.
Man: “Nicky, it’s been a long time man.â€
Nicky smiled, and replied in kind.
Nicky Trix: “It’s been far too long Dwayne, how have you been?â€
Dwayne: “Been good man, I got a nice little job on an indy show, it’s not big, but it’s something. A man’s gotta start somewhere right?â€
Nicky could appreciate that, especially considering he had basically started as a manager for a big time wrestling show. Most of his wrestling career started in the indy circuit. But after his knee surgery, he couldn’t do much for a long time. It was rather bad timing. He had just been signed to XWE, and was ready to prove himself to a much larger crowd. But they knew how good he was on the mic, and they knew he knew the business enough, so when their GM at the time had quit, they hired
Nicky. He looked up at
Dwayne, who had to be like two feet taller than him.
Nicky Trix: “I hear ya man, I just started wrestling again.â€
Dwayne: “Oh, I know dude, and I’m proud of ya dog, we all are. Your dad hasn’t stopped smiling since you won that pay-per-view match. Hell, he put it on the big screen for all of us to watch. That Calvash dude doesn’t know who he’s messin’ with does he? And that Billy Young punk. What a tool.â€
Nicky couldn’t help but smile, rather largely actually, and let out a short laugh.
Nicky Trix: “Listen man, I’d love to talk to you forever, but my dad wanted me to come and see him. Grab a coffee or something sometime?â€
Dwayne: “That sounds good man, you staying for the show tonight?â€
Nicky Trix: “I might, why? Are you in it?â€
Dwayne: “The main event son.â€
Nicky Trix: “Wouldn’t miss it man.â€
Dwayne smiled, both men exchanged a friendly embrace, and
Dwayne left.
Nicky was still smiling as he ascended the stairs to the gym. He could barely himself think, as the hustle and bustle in the gym was just crazy, some guys were getting ready for the big show tonight, others were training. It was quite refreshing to see that people still took wrestling to heart. He found his father, watching over his brother who was in the ring with another trainer.
Nicky walked over to them and clasped his father on the shoulder as he watched his brother train in the ring. His father looked at him and smiled. Both men remained quiet through the duration of
Donnie’s training.
Nicky would shout out a couple of things for
Donnie to try, and they usually worked. The trainer was doing more hands on training, as in wrestling his brother. It was quite entertaining actually. His brother was doing quite well too; he had the same build as
Calvash. When he got thinking about it, a lot of the guys here sort of resembled some of the people in the battle royal. He couldn’t really hide his curiosity, and of course his father knew exactly what he was thinking.
Toby Trix: “All planned out boy. We need to get you ready. This match is huge, and it’s only your third match! That’s pretty impressive. It took me nearly twenty years to get where I was, before I retired that is. Now, with this training, you could easily win this match. I want you to get in the ring with your brother.â€
Suddenly
Donnie stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at his brother and father.
Donnie had a look of almost fearful curiosity. The last time
Nicky and
Donnie really talked to each other was at that party where
Nicky told his brother he would kill him. Told him he would never talk to him again, that he wasn’t needed. Now Nicky truly needed his older brother. He needed
Donnie to help him.
Nicky looked at his father curiously,
Toby shrugged it off and told him to get in the ring.
Nicky Trix: “I haven’t changed yet.â€
Toby gave him an uncaring look and urged him with some motions of his eyes and head to get in the ring.
Nicky did as his father asked and got in the ring, in his street clothes and looked at his brother. Both men just stood there in disbelief, the whole gym had stopped whatever they were all doing. They wanted to see what would happen in the ring. Suddenly
Donnie started towards
Nicky, and
Nicky got into a defensive position, only to be shocked when his brother hugged him.
Nicky didn’t know what to think at first, but after a moment or two finally embraced his brother. Both men stayed in the ring and hugged for about five minutes, it had been nearly six years since they had really spoken.
Toby was only smiling as he watched his two boys finally putting the past behind them.
Nicky knew then and there that this is what his father wanted when he told him to get in the ring.
Nicky and
Donnie finally let go of each other after an exchange of some heartfelt words and both looked over at their father, but also looked around to see everybody looking at them. This was a big moment.
Nicky looked intently at his father.
Nicky Trix: “So, what now?â€
Toby only smiled and told him to get changed.
Nicky was more than eager to get started on this training. It was by no means easy either. His father played some tapes he had acquired from some independent wrestling shows that showcased the wrestlers
Nicky had to face in that ten man battle royal.
Toby went over their every movement, showed
Nicky what to watch out for. Showed
Nicky where to strike.
Nicky was quite impressed with how much work his father had put into this. So for nearly three hours,
Nicky was constantly in the ring, hardly taking any breaks, knowing full well he’d get none in the ten man battle royal. Each person his father had handpicked did their job exactly how they should have. It was just a little under an hour before the show his father was going to put on.
Nicky decided to go shower and get dressed. He figured the training his father had just given him might get him a little bit more prepared for his match. He knew his father was going to be busy so he made sure to get him before the show started. He thanked his father and hugged him.
Toby smiled, and told his son how proud he was of him. And as
Nicky was going to throw his stuff in his car and come back, his father stopped him, knowing they wouldn’t see each other again tonight.
Nicky turned around and looked at his father.
Toby Trix: “Watch that Jaqui chick, she’s a real bitch.â€
Nicky let out a huge laugh, as if his father had just said that.
Nicky returned to the gym after putting all of his gym clothes in his car, and helped around a little. He always enjoyed this place, always enjoyed helping with the shows. Heck, some of the greats came through this gym from time to time. Ric Flair came into say hello to his father once. That was big for
Nicky, as Ric was one of his favorite wrestlers at the time, and he was just coming off a big match against Ricky Steamboat. Another one of his personal favorite wrestlers. The show was set to go; people had piled into watch it. He was manning the snacks while an old friend of his took care of the drinks. It was just like the good old days, but this time he had people telling him he was awesome, and it wasn’t for the free snacks. The whole show was amazing; some pretty amazing matches were taking place this night.
Nicky was so glad his sister-in-law agreed to watch his children for a little bit. He was in his own world, this was his domain. And as much as he loved his children, this wasn’t the place for them. There was a couple of drunks here, and they probably would have upset his children very much. Finally, the match he had been looking most forward to, his friend
Dwayne’s match.
Dwayne was so tall, and he was facing a guy of about
Nicky’s size.
Nicky actually found this rather peculiar. These types of matches were rarely the main event. The crowd loved it though.
Suddenly he caught a glimpse of what the smaller man was wearing; it was one of
Nicky’s T-shirts. He couldn’t believe it! He didn’t think he was that popular. He didn’t think he was making that big of an impact on the wrestling world that other wrestlers would be wearing his merchandise. It was the most amazing feeling. He suddenly caught a glimpse of his father looking directly at him. The man was smiling, and winked. It wasn’t just any kind of wink though; it was an almost knowing wink. Suddenly
Nicky understood what that wink meant. With enough courage, determination and heart, he could win this battle royal, and really get his foot in the door. The rest of the night was amazing. The match between
Dwayne and the smaller guy was purely brilliant wrestling on both parts.
Dwayne won, and rightfully so. But the smaller man just got a bonus point for being so charismatic about the loss.
Nicky wished he could have stayed longer, but he knew he needed to go get his kids, and go home and sleep. The next couple days, he really needed to think.
OOC: This RP may drag on a bit, but it's part of something I plan on working with. Plus I did it in my free time. So it was done in chunks. I'm happy with the outcome.