Where's the GCWA Arena? (And Realities With Coke)
Oct 10, 2019 18:59:50 GMT -6
Deana Barrows and Dylan Thomas like this
Post by Ian (TIO) on Oct 10, 2019 18:59:50 GMT -6
“This is the shittiest fucking arena I’ve ever seen.”
The sky in Dallas was a bright orange and pink, the sun setting on the massive Texas city, as Jenna, my daughter, and I were trying to find the arena home to the new wrestling company I was working for – GCWA. Here we were, in the residential Old East Dallas, staring at what appeared to be a large, rundown building but there was the side of the building reading ‘GCWA’. I shook my head, taking out a cigarette, and puffing it as I looked at the directions on my phone while Jenna sat on a bench, going through her own phone.
“We went past the 99 Cents Only Store,” I huffed, flipping through the directions, “and then we take a right and were here!”
“It looks like homeless people live in there,” Jenna scoffed, raising her head for the fifth time today away from her phone screen, only to return to it.
“I am not performing in this building,” I laughed in rage, kicking a nearby can on the street, “this neighbourhood sucks ass... this city sucks ass, where’s the fucking ocean?”
“Uh, about four hours away,” Jenna chimed in.
“WHAT?!”
I looked at Jenna who shrugged her shoulders.
“Why the fuck did OCW have to close down,” I groaned, “I blame Zybala. The beach was five minutes from wherever you were there.”
A group of teenagers walked by as they witnessed me having a temper tantrum over the building, the muggy hot weather and the lack of beach in this city.
“Wait,” Jenna said in realization, “the beach is FOUR HOURS AWAY!”
“Yup,” I nodded, “and this is where we are going to live.”
“Ew,” Jenna stuck her tongue out, “in this neighbourhood?”
“What?” I said, my head bolting in her direction, “no, GOD NO! I meant in Dallas, no, we’ll find a better neighbourhood FOR SURE.”
After going through more directions and useless websites in my phone, I decided to call out that group of teenagers that had walked past us moments ago!
“YO!” I yelled out, “who wants to make a quick buck?”
Almost immediately the group of about four teenagers made their way back to us. The group consisted of three boys and one girl, and they all looked like your usual “metal heads”.
“Quick buck?” One of the boys asked, “how much are we talking?”
“A hundred?” I said, flashing a Benjamin from my wallet.
“How can we help you?” the girl said politely, winking her eyes at me.
“Uh,” I stalled, “yeah, so, I’m looking for the GCWA Arena.”
“GCWA?” The second boy asked, “what is that?”
“Global Championship Wrestling Association,” I answered.
“That’s a mouthful,” the third boy complained, “but wait, my dad used to talk about a GCWA. He used to talk about its glory days, isn’t it no longer around?”
“It came back like a month or so again,” I said, frustrated, “look, I’m trying to find the fucking arena, and this doesn’t look like it.”
“If it’s the same GCWA,” the third turned to the second, ignoring me, “it has these wrestling legends like the Big Bifford, Dangerous Dan, Crazy Chris and Derek Mobley. Their posters are in his den.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I said, my patience growing thin, “do you know about a GCWA arena being here, or not?”
“No, I do not,” the third replied, “sorry.”
“Fuck.”
“I don’t know about the GCWA wrestling company,” the girl squeaked, “but this is an abandoned office building.”
“You could’ve said something sooner, “I whined but shook my head, pointing to the building, “but listen, little lady, it has GCWA on the side.”
“It used to be an office for the Gulf Coast Water Authority,” the girl answered.
Jenna and I looked at each other, confused, and we both answered at the same time.
“But the BEACH IS FOUR HOURS AWAY!” We both screamed, as I continued to vent, “why the fuck would they have an office here?!”
“I don’t know,” the girl shook her head; “I don’t work for them.”
With a heavy sigh, Jenna and I began to walk back to my parked SUV when one of the teens called out.
“Hey! What about our hundred?”
“You didn’t tell me where the fucking arena was,” I yelled back, “get the fuck lost, you idiots!”
Angry and disappointed, the teenagers leave the area as we head to my black 2019 Mercedes-Benz G-class SUV. We get in the vehicle as I go into my wallet and grab a pouch of powder. Jenna looks on and scoffs.
“What?” I huffed, sprinkling some on my finger.
“At least I had some respect for you when you did it in private,” Jenna lectured, “but now you’re a thirty-four year old coke addict doing lines in front of your eighteen year old daughter.”
“I just need a small hit,” I shook, “to call my nerves. Did you see how I fucking talked to those kids? Like a fucking animal.”
“No,” Jenna said smacking the snow out of my hand, “you need to get help—“
Before Jenna can continue further, the action of her smacking the cocaine out of my hand made me take my fist and drive it into her face. She jolted back, the back of her head hitting the window of the passenger seat. She shrieked, and then opened the passenger window flap on the ceiling as she looked at her bloody nose, broken.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Jenna sobbed, holding her nose, “you broke my fucking nose!”
“THEN DON’T FUCKING WASTE MY GODDAMN SHIT!” I screeched, “GOD! What do you do, Jenna? Do you work? No. Do you pay for anything? No. Do you have any real money of your own? NO! You get it all from ME! You’d be NOTHING if it wasn’t for me! You’d be homeless, probably living in that abandoned water authority building if it wasn’t for me! I’m your father, I tell you what to do – not the other way around.”
“I’ll never understand what mom saw in you,” Jenna lashed out.
I had put the key in the ignition but as quickly as I started the car, I stopped it, and glared at Jenna. Jenna was trying to control the bleeding as I got out of the car, walked around to her door, opened it and threw her out onto the sidewalk.
“Dad what the fuck?” Jenna screamed.
“Let me make something PERFECTLY CLEAR!” I started off whisper and then got into full scream mode, “I loved your fucking mother, okay? I still do, from the bottom of my goddamn heart. She was the best thing that ever happened to me. She was the one who made me quit this goddamn shit in the first place, made me see things from a different point of view. She made me turn over the new leaf that everyone saw for two years...”
Tears began to form and tumble down my cheeks as I breathed before continuing, screeching at the sky.
“...And now she’s gone! Cancer took her! I only had her for TWO YEARS! We got married and the very next day she died. That makes me a widow! And I’ve tried Jenna, I’ve tried for so long to keep this anger, this sadness, inside and try to use the same love I had for her, on you. The truth is I can be a boyfriend, and I probably could’ve been a good husband – but I can’t be father. No. You’re a sweet, innocent girl and not even you can stop me from doing this. This is me!”
I went into my wallet, grabbed another small pouch of powder, and threw it at Jenna.
“I am this! Now, I won’t leave you because you are my daughter, and I will live with paying for your shit if you want me to – but I’m not hiding shit from you, okay? THIS IS ME! You either get all of me, or none of me. What’s it going to be, eh?!”
Jenna was on the ground, almost cowering as I stood over her as the silence that followed my scream was broken by my cell phone ringing. I didn’t answer it at first, wanting Jenna to respond but the ringer went off a second time almost right away. I wrestled the phone out of my pocket and the ID read “unknown caller.” I looked at the phone, and then a hurt, exhausted, confused Jenna, before pressing the green answer button on my phone and raising it to my ear.
“Who is this?”
“Is this Mister Incredible?” a female voice on the line asked.
“Who wants to know?”
“I’m calling you,” the woman started, “because I know someone who respects you and would like to meet with you.”
“Who?” I asked, “why all the secrecy?”
“Just trust us,” she promised, “we’ll make it worth your time. Meet us at the GCWA Arena.”
“WAIT!” I screamed, “where the fuck is it?”
“The arena?” she asked, confused, “it’s an Uptown. I’ll text you the address.”
“Thank you,” I said, relieved, “I’ll meet you because you know where the arena. I’ll be there soon.”
I ended the call, as I looked down and Jenna had made it to a sitting position. She had a cloth to her nose that was soaked in blood. I opened my palm and pointed to the SUV. With a small bit of hesitation, Jenna got up and sat back down in the passenger seat. I closed the door and got in the driver seat as we headed out towards the GCWA arena.
Were you all surprised? I hope you were – I had to keep my goddamn mouth shut for almost an entire month and that was hard. I know you all must be wondering, “Why TIO? Why did you debut that way? Why did you cost Houston the match? What happened to you being a good guy?” Well, fucking being a good guy, what did that ever get me, eh? It brought me one of the worst drought’s in my entire wrestling career, that’s what and as for why I attacked Ed Houston, well, you’ll have to tune into Inferno and find that out. My attack on Houston wasn’t random at all – and that’s all I’ll say on the matter, for now.
For now, we have Inferno coming up, and I’ve been booked in what we’ll call a warm up match, against a man by the name of Peter Vaughn, aka The Janitor. He’s cleaned up quite a bit, and he does have some victories under his belt so he’s no total loser, but close to a total loser as you can get. Anyone can be a fucking janitor, so what’s so special about you, eh? You got a victory over the Lost Soul? Yeah, I know who TLS is, and trust me, my pinky finger has more talent than TLS – so that victory isn’t something to celebrate over.
No, what is going to be a celebration is after I destroy you, Peter. Unfortunately, I’m going to make an example out of you. I mean, I don’t think I really need to, most people here know exactly who I am but for those that don’t or just need a little reminder, I’ll make sure that when I’m done with you – GCWA will have to put up a job posting looking for another janitor. Then that janitor will have to clean up the ring of your fucking body after I throw it around MY ring.
That’s right, my ring. I’ve come to GCWA for one reason – to become its champion. It starts with the Janitor, and then Houston – and I don’t care who’s champion by the time I get there – Bifford, Lure, anyone. Whoever it is – I’m going to rip that from your hands and when I do, not only will this company get the champ it deserves, this company will be... incredible.
The sky in Dallas was a bright orange and pink, the sun setting on the massive Texas city, as Jenna, my daughter, and I were trying to find the arena home to the new wrestling company I was working for – GCWA. Here we were, in the residential Old East Dallas, staring at what appeared to be a large, rundown building but there was the side of the building reading ‘GCWA’. I shook my head, taking out a cigarette, and puffing it as I looked at the directions on my phone while Jenna sat on a bench, going through her own phone.
“We went past the 99 Cents Only Store,” I huffed, flipping through the directions, “and then we take a right and were here!”
“It looks like homeless people live in there,” Jenna scoffed, raising her head for the fifth time today away from her phone screen, only to return to it.
“I am not performing in this building,” I laughed in rage, kicking a nearby can on the street, “this neighbourhood sucks ass... this city sucks ass, where’s the fucking ocean?”
“Uh, about four hours away,” Jenna chimed in.
“WHAT?!”
I looked at Jenna who shrugged her shoulders.
“Why the fuck did OCW have to close down,” I groaned, “I blame Zybala. The beach was five minutes from wherever you were there.”
A group of teenagers walked by as they witnessed me having a temper tantrum over the building, the muggy hot weather and the lack of beach in this city.
“Wait,” Jenna said in realization, “the beach is FOUR HOURS AWAY!”
“Yup,” I nodded, “and this is where we are going to live.”
“Ew,” Jenna stuck her tongue out, “in this neighbourhood?”
“What?” I said, my head bolting in her direction, “no, GOD NO! I meant in Dallas, no, we’ll find a better neighbourhood FOR SURE.”
After going through more directions and useless websites in my phone, I decided to call out that group of teenagers that had walked past us moments ago!
“YO!” I yelled out, “who wants to make a quick buck?”
Almost immediately the group of about four teenagers made their way back to us. The group consisted of three boys and one girl, and they all looked like your usual “metal heads”.
“Quick buck?” One of the boys asked, “how much are we talking?”
“A hundred?” I said, flashing a Benjamin from my wallet.
“How can we help you?” the girl said politely, winking her eyes at me.
“Uh,” I stalled, “yeah, so, I’m looking for the GCWA Arena.”
“GCWA?” The second boy asked, “what is that?”
“Global Championship Wrestling Association,” I answered.
“That’s a mouthful,” the third boy complained, “but wait, my dad used to talk about a GCWA. He used to talk about its glory days, isn’t it no longer around?”
“It came back like a month or so again,” I said, frustrated, “look, I’m trying to find the fucking arena, and this doesn’t look like it.”
“If it’s the same GCWA,” the third turned to the second, ignoring me, “it has these wrestling legends like the Big Bifford, Dangerous Dan, Crazy Chris and Derek Mobley. Their posters are in his den.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I said, my patience growing thin, “do you know about a GCWA arena being here, or not?”
“No, I do not,” the third replied, “sorry.”
“Fuck.”
“I don’t know about the GCWA wrestling company,” the girl squeaked, “but this is an abandoned office building.”
“You could’ve said something sooner, “I whined but shook my head, pointing to the building, “but listen, little lady, it has GCWA on the side.”
“It used to be an office for the Gulf Coast Water Authority,” the girl answered.
Jenna and I looked at each other, confused, and we both answered at the same time.
“But the BEACH IS FOUR HOURS AWAY!” We both screamed, as I continued to vent, “why the fuck would they have an office here?!”
“I don’t know,” the girl shook her head; “I don’t work for them.”
With a heavy sigh, Jenna and I began to walk back to my parked SUV when one of the teens called out.
“Hey! What about our hundred?”
“You didn’t tell me where the fucking arena was,” I yelled back, “get the fuck lost, you idiots!”
Angry and disappointed, the teenagers leave the area as we head to my black 2019 Mercedes-Benz G-class SUV. We get in the vehicle as I go into my wallet and grab a pouch of powder. Jenna looks on and scoffs.
“What?” I huffed, sprinkling some on my finger.
“At least I had some respect for you when you did it in private,” Jenna lectured, “but now you’re a thirty-four year old coke addict doing lines in front of your eighteen year old daughter.”
“I just need a small hit,” I shook, “to call my nerves. Did you see how I fucking talked to those kids? Like a fucking animal.”
“No,” Jenna said smacking the snow out of my hand, “you need to get help—“
Before Jenna can continue further, the action of her smacking the cocaine out of my hand made me take my fist and drive it into her face. She jolted back, the back of her head hitting the window of the passenger seat. She shrieked, and then opened the passenger window flap on the ceiling as she looked at her bloody nose, broken.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Jenna sobbed, holding her nose, “you broke my fucking nose!”
“THEN DON’T FUCKING WASTE MY GODDAMN SHIT!” I screeched, “GOD! What do you do, Jenna? Do you work? No. Do you pay for anything? No. Do you have any real money of your own? NO! You get it all from ME! You’d be NOTHING if it wasn’t for me! You’d be homeless, probably living in that abandoned water authority building if it wasn’t for me! I’m your father, I tell you what to do – not the other way around.”
“I’ll never understand what mom saw in you,” Jenna lashed out.
I had put the key in the ignition but as quickly as I started the car, I stopped it, and glared at Jenna. Jenna was trying to control the bleeding as I got out of the car, walked around to her door, opened it and threw her out onto the sidewalk.
“Dad what the fuck?” Jenna screamed.
“Let me make something PERFECTLY CLEAR!” I started off whisper and then got into full scream mode, “I loved your fucking mother, okay? I still do, from the bottom of my goddamn heart. She was the best thing that ever happened to me. She was the one who made me quit this goddamn shit in the first place, made me see things from a different point of view. She made me turn over the new leaf that everyone saw for two years...”
Tears began to form and tumble down my cheeks as I breathed before continuing, screeching at the sky.
“...And now she’s gone! Cancer took her! I only had her for TWO YEARS! We got married and the very next day she died. That makes me a widow! And I’ve tried Jenna, I’ve tried for so long to keep this anger, this sadness, inside and try to use the same love I had for her, on you. The truth is I can be a boyfriend, and I probably could’ve been a good husband – but I can’t be father. No. You’re a sweet, innocent girl and not even you can stop me from doing this. This is me!”
I went into my wallet, grabbed another small pouch of powder, and threw it at Jenna.
“I am this! Now, I won’t leave you because you are my daughter, and I will live with paying for your shit if you want me to – but I’m not hiding shit from you, okay? THIS IS ME! You either get all of me, or none of me. What’s it going to be, eh?!”
Jenna was on the ground, almost cowering as I stood over her as the silence that followed my scream was broken by my cell phone ringing. I didn’t answer it at first, wanting Jenna to respond but the ringer went off a second time almost right away. I wrestled the phone out of my pocket and the ID read “unknown caller.” I looked at the phone, and then a hurt, exhausted, confused Jenna, before pressing the green answer button on my phone and raising it to my ear.
“Who is this?”
“Is this Mister Incredible?” a female voice on the line asked.
“Who wants to know?”
“I’m calling you,” the woman started, “because I know someone who respects you and would like to meet with you.”
“Who?” I asked, “why all the secrecy?”
“Just trust us,” she promised, “we’ll make it worth your time. Meet us at the GCWA Arena.”
“WAIT!” I screamed, “where the fuck is it?”
“The arena?” she asked, confused, “it’s an Uptown. I’ll text you the address.”
“Thank you,” I said, relieved, “I’ll meet you because you know where the arena. I’ll be there soon.”
I ended the call, as I looked down and Jenna had made it to a sitting position. She had a cloth to her nose that was soaked in blood. I opened my palm and pointed to the SUV. With a small bit of hesitation, Jenna got up and sat back down in the passenger seat. I closed the door and got in the driver seat as we headed out towards the GCWA arena.
***
Were you all surprised? I hope you were – I had to keep my goddamn mouth shut for almost an entire month and that was hard. I know you all must be wondering, “Why TIO? Why did you debut that way? Why did you cost Houston the match? What happened to you being a good guy?” Well, fucking being a good guy, what did that ever get me, eh? It brought me one of the worst drought’s in my entire wrestling career, that’s what and as for why I attacked Ed Houston, well, you’ll have to tune into Inferno and find that out. My attack on Houston wasn’t random at all – and that’s all I’ll say on the matter, for now.
For now, we have Inferno coming up, and I’ve been booked in what we’ll call a warm up match, against a man by the name of Peter Vaughn, aka The Janitor. He’s cleaned up quite a bit, and he does have some victories under his belt so he’s no total loser, but close to a total loser as you can get. Anyone can be a fucking janitor, so what’s so special about you, eh? You got a victory over the Lost Soul? Yeah, I know who TLS is, and trust me, my pinky finger has more talent than TLS – so that victory isn’t something to celebrate over.
No, what is going to be a celebration is after I destroy you, Peter. Unfortunately, I’m going to make an example out of you. I mean, I don’t think I really need to, most people here know exactly who I am but for those that don’t or just need a little reminder, I’ll make sure that when I’m done with you – GCWA will have to put up a job posting looking for another janitor. Then that janitor will have to clean up the ring of your fucking body after I throw it around MY ring.
That’s right, my ring. I’ve come to GCWA for one reason – to become its champion. It starts with the Janitor, and then Houston – and I don’t care who’s champion by the time I get there – Bifford, Lure, anyone. Whoever it is – I’m going to rip that from your hands and when I do, not only will this company get the champ it deserves, this company will be... incredible.