Forged Steel's Wrestling Journal

Entry 18

It’s an old, unspoken rule: if you lose your gaffe in the crowd during your match, your next match you have to get a hardway. One, it protects the art; and two, it gives incentive to not lose your blade. New guy Iron Bridle lost his gaffe in the crowd during his TV match, so his next match was against me. I’ve always found the best way is a straight-down “gorilla punch” palm strike on the eyebrow.

I managed to not only balloon his eye, but I also knocked him out. It still worked, the blood ran like a faucet down his face, and I got him into a cloverleaf for the win. Maiden didn’t appreciate how short the match was, but knowing he was out on his feet, she brushed it off with “Shit happens.”

Glitter Jewel is out for a few weeks, attending a gem show in Manehattan. With her gone, it feels quiet. Although with her gone, I’ve felt more efficient in my workouts, though that could just me pushing myself harder. I really should remember to take it easy on workouts.

My extra efforts during workouts got me invited by Shining Armor to give an exercise seminar to his castle, as well as give his guards a good session. The castle court thought I should write a book and thanked me for teaching the regimen. The guards I made all but maybe three of them puke, so all told I’d say my trip to the castle was a resounding success.

Back in wrestling, I had my first match with Headcrusher. It ended in countout when he got to the ropes to break my cloverleaf and just walked out. He then put on a cast, claimed I twisted his ankle, and put out a bounty on me. The offer of 5,000 bits to anyone who breaks my leg or otherwise prevents me from walking for at least a month. The challenge was accepted by none other than Crystal Empire champion Fissure.

The first match I have with him, he doesn’t put his title on the line, but spends the entire match going for my leg. It ends in disqualification after 25 minutes when he brings in the chair. I keep my composure with him, and accept the rematch next week for the title. The crowd for this house was actually 90% capacity, so the territory is turning around already.

Next Friday night, the venue is sold out for the first time in over two years. The main event is myself and Fissure for the title. He opens by trying to be cordial, but I don’t buy it and refuse to shake his hand. Predictably it turns ugly with him targeting my leg again, but he doesn’t find me to be easy prey.

I finally get the upper hand about 40 minutes in, but he packed his fist with a roll of coins, which flew everywhere when he hit me in the jaw. This also draws a disqualification as I drop to my knees to regroup. With the crowd ready to jump the barricades, Fissure grabs a chair to claim his bounty but Switchblade comes to the ring to undercut him. While those two fight each other, I take the opportunity to get out to safety.

At TV taping that week, I have a match with Flash Sentry again, but Fissure interrupts and causes yet another DQ win for me. This time he brought cronies with him in Switchblade and Jackhammer and they triple-team me before Flash and Shining Armor clear the ring just sparing me of Fissure’s finishing blow to my leg. After this I’m wearing a knee brace.

The next house, we sell out again but I won’t face Fissure this time. In the main event I instead get Switchblade. He spends half an hour trying to do me dirty, only to be foiled time and again. With one minute left before time limit, he slides into the ring with a chair but I mule kick it into his head, getting DQ’ed. With Switch down, I put a boot on his chest and flex for the crowd, only to get jumped by Fissure.

Switch was his sacrificial goat, and while I was vulnerable after the match, Fissure takes the chair and cracks me across the face with it. With me down and out now and no one to come to the rescue, he strips my knee brace and uses the chair to spear me in the side of my knee. Before I can instinctively grab my leg, he pulls me to the corner and handcuffs me to a ringpost, savagely stomping on and chopping at my leg with the chair, pushing away every referee who tries to intervene.

As Headcrusher walks out to the ring, briefcase of money in hand, Fissure pulls the metal ring steps up. While Head stands on the apron, watching in delight, Fissure strikes his finishing blow by crushing my lower right leg between the ring steps. Seeing as I’m powerless, Head cracks me over the face with the briefcase, sending the money spilling across the ring, and walks away as Fissure picks up every last bit before leaving himself. The police have to line the barricades to prevent a riot as medical staff uncuffs me and takes me back on a gurney.

As I’m rolled back through the dressing room, they don’t even stop, taking me to the ambulance waiting in the back. Police again have to intervene with the fans as they formed a physical barrier. With their shields forming a wall, they push the crowd back and the ambulance takes me straight to the emergency room. Iron Maiden accompanies us the whole way, not a word is shared between us.

They run standard medical procedures, giving me pain medicine, doing simple treatment on my leg, and then x-rays. The x-rays come up negative, and as the doctor shares the results with myself and Iron, he says I’m probably the luckiest patient he’s had in a long time. With a knowing smirk, Iron only remarks “Fissure is going to be very, very upset tomorrow morning.”

As I have nothing broken, I’m sent home and told to keep off my leg for a few days as simply a precaution. It’s no problem as I finally have my personal workout equipment set up in my apartment. Iron helps me up to my place and after I get situated, we shake hands. Before she leaves me for the night, she gives me a nod and tells me “Okay, now you can go dirty. Fissure is going to be so hot that even Sombra would be face in the ring against him.”

Our rivalry is only just getting started.