Forged Steel's Wrestling Journal

Entry 4

Well, my last entry failed at making my shrink back off. Now I'm afraid she enjoyed reading about my sex. Writing these isn't as bad as I first thought it was going to be. It is somewhat relaxing to be able to just blurt out, even if into a notebook, what I'm thinking at any given moment.

I didn't remember that the train ride would be this long, making me even more glad that I chose the first class sleep car. It's near dead silent in here. Imagine taking a bus ride that takes two days, cramped in their tiny seats and jammed elbow to elbow with the one next to you. No way, train always and forever.

The long train ride takes me back to my first match. I had graduated university and went to train for a year straight, no days off. Gryphus is very hard, but he wants to see you perform to your full abilities. He's been a trainer for as long as I've been alive, so he has a sense for when someone is taking it casual or otherwise slacking off.

The quality he liked most in me was my desire to be in wrestling. You cannot teach that to anyone. As he himself put it, "For those who get it, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not, no explanation will suffice."

I had trained with just him, sometimes Papa, and occasionally with others who came through on the way to the other territories. Fifteen months of hard labor, then I was hired on by the boss in the Canterlot territory, "The Professor" Gilded Horn.

Though that was his ring name, everyone calls him boss, chief, or sir. Anyone who uses his ring name is quickly corrected go show him the respect he's earned. He was the territory's top draw for decades, never really straying. When he retired he bought a stake in the promotion, and as his money grew he bought out everyone else. Maybe I'll do the same after I'm done.

My first match was a special event battle royale. I was thought to be just a special guest for it, because I had some celebrity status from college athletics, but the boss had a plan for making me his top heel. I remember being so nervous that I would mess something up.

In wrestling, it's eventual that you will make mistakes. What separates the good from the great is how you handle them. If a guy messes up, work it in as part of the match. He suicide dives for to you on the outside but falls short, kick the shit out of him.

Almost all wrestlers never stay in one territory too long, you become stale and everything you do is seen as repetitive and formulaic. The fans lose interest in you. Being cheered or booed is good, it means they care for you. No reaction is the death knell, it means you're just wasting their time.

A lot of territories have a different style of wrestling they do. The South, where I'm heading, is a more technical wrestling, reality-based show. My scholastic and collegiate wrestling will serve me well here, also managers being popular means I won't have to talk much. It's going to be very gritty and rough here. I expect scars when I leave.

The Cloudsdale territory is mostly tag teams and masked wrestlers. Their stories can hit close to home sometimes, but that's the way they like it, personal, fast, and high flying.

The Manhattan and Fillydelphia territory is very story based, the in-ring action serves the story, rather than the other way around. Also they love their big bodies. Papa says it was where he became the most bored because someone of his size or mine is expected to be a large, slow, lumbering wall of meat.

Up north in the Vanhoover territory is brawler land. Lots of street fight matches, death matches, and blood. Hardcore is very popular, being that it's run by the most infamous hardcore brawler of all time, the large unicorn who only goes by The Butcher.

Canterlot is a balance between those, which only makes sense since the fanbase is a mix from all the ends of the lands. It never goes too far into one or the other, but there's shades of everything. The biggest thing here is that you yourself have to be authentic, if you try to be someone you're not, the fans are going to see right through you, even more so than anywhere else.

The train pulls into the station and as I step off, I realize I've made a terrible mistake. I'm wearing a full dress suit with coat, shirt, pants, and all but it had to be at least 100 out. The heat hits as you step off like a chair shot that the opponent forgot to tell you about.

I find my hook up quickly, but I can already feel this suit matting up. I haven't even been off the train for 30 seconds. The first thing he asked was "Isn't it hot in that get up, partner?" No smart-ass, I'm freezing. I'm drowning in my sweat because it's so cold that I just felt my balls crawl up into my stomach. Now get me the hell out of here to where there's AC.

It's so hot that on the car ride I ditch the coat and shirt, wearing just my undershirt and pants. He's a buffalo who looks like he'd never even set foot in a gym. He goes by Earthquake, and he has the book here. Interesting that the promoter himself doesn't, but if it works then it works.

My first match is 25 minutes with a newer guy who works stiff. They want me to hopefully mentor him a bit and maybe even beat a little sense into him, because the idea is to not hurt opponents. No issue here, I can wring him out like a wet cloth. It's at the spot show tomorrow night.

I meet the kid after lunch as Quake gives me a tour of the arena. This kid, Thunderbolt, is one of the head cases who over thinks everything. He wants to talk the match now, but I send him away. If we talk the match, it's in the ring while working.

After dinner and the evening workout I scope the bar scene. Unfortunately, all but one plays that country music crap. I find the one that does and take a familiar spot in the back corner as I write. An older unicorn mare finds me and compliments my body.

As she leans over my table to show her breasts to me that she crammed in the dress, she sways her hips and drums her fingers. Red nail polish says she really wants someone tonight, as does the flower bouquet perfume she wears. She also clearly spent a lot of time straightening her purple hair with the electric teal streak. Her powder purple body does look like it's well cared for.

Bought me a beer at the bar, she's passed the first test. Tells me she's looking for a real stud to take home tonight. Swears she's not looking for anything past tonight and tries to play the domination game by not saying exactly what she wants from me.

By running her in circles though I do get her to break and tell me outright she wants me to pin her down and drill her. See, was that so hard to say from the beginning? I get her to tell me where she stays and I'll consider it. She wants to act tough and commanding, but I've played the game enough to know she wants to be taken advantage of.

My interest in her offer is enough to make her happy and she leaves. I spend another hour at the place and then leave, but not for her place. No one gets the gift of my company on the first night. She can just wait a few days, at the very least I want her to grovel for it.

The hotel room is very cold, as I intentionally left the AC running the whole time. This is going to be very trying as it was still over 90 out at midnight. As for the lady, her name was Starlight by the way, I'll just leave her to herself and see what happens. I want to see if I'm the right stud or the right now one.