Joey McClintock isn’t a name you’re supposed to know, unless you read the indie circuit NEWZ sites that is. He was noteworthy at one time after being released from his second promotion in as many years for his many, many vices, but other than that he’d never done anything to warrant much coverage.

That’s the thing with the dirt sheets. Like Joey, you could be one of the best fighters in the business. Like Joey, you could stand barely over five foot tall, and take out men two foot taller than you with relative ease. But they wouldn’t care. They couldn’t give a squirt of piss about you when you’re on top, but they sure as shit pay attention when you’re on your way down.

While one of the darkest times of his life being publicised certainly wasn’t appreciated by McClintock, he made the best out of the situation by using it as motivation. Motivation to conquer his demons and start climbing that ladder once again.

And Sergei Bogorovich was more than willing to help him.

In fact, everyone around the Faces of Death Training Temple was willing to help Joey, and in return Joey was always willing to lend anything, be it a pair of hands or just an ear, when needed.

“-is a big opportunity for you, Gene.” Joey said as he guided the bar back onto its rests where it fell with a clatter, “You’re in there with the biggest names in DEFIANCE. I mean, there’s nobody on your team that hasn’t accomplished something in DEFIANCE. Tom’s been a tag champ three times, Ryan’s got the FIST, Light’s the Master of Wrestling, Jiles is the World champion...”

“That’s the problem.” Eugene sighed as he sat up and toweled off his brow, “Yeah, they’re all champions or former champions... but I’m not. The closest I’ve been to a title was being cherry picked by Jeff Andrews as his weekly heavy bag.”

“And you took it to him.” Joey insisted.

Deep down Eugene probably knew that was true, but at that point in time he wasn’t able to focus on it. “But I didn’t win.” He replied bluntly, “You look at the World Title’s history and it doesn’t say ‘Jeff Andrews defeated Eugene Dewey (Oh by the way, Eugene put up one hell of a fight.)’, does it?”

“Look man, there’s no need for sarcasm,” Joey said as he leaned against the bar, “I’m just trying to help here.”

“You’re right...” Eugene admitted, “Sorry.”

“Heh, don’t worry about it.” Joey shrugged, “I get it, you’re frustrated, it’s understandable. I’ve been there, and believe me, you’re handling it better than I ever did.”

Eugene never knew what to say when the subject of Joey’s past was brought up. He was a good boy after all. His youth was spent shooting ducks rather than shooting up. The fact that Eugene had clammed up certainly wasn’t missed by Joey either.

“What I’m saying is stick with it.” Joey said as he reached over and slapped Eugene on the shoulder, “So what if you haven’t held a title? There’s only one guy on your team younger than you, and that’s Tom, and we all know he’s a freak of nature when it comes to wrestling. I mean, he lives and breathes the sport.”

“You’ve got time.”

“I know.” Eugene said as though that had been drilled into his head time and time before, “I know I’ve only been here 8 months, I get it, but that just adds to the fact that if I was on the other side of that ring, looking back at us, I’d see myself as the weak link.”

Joey sighed, “You can’t think like that, man.” he said shaking his head, “As soon as you start to think like that you’ve lost. So you haven’t got the best credentials, the fact that you’re eager for them should be all that counts.”

But that wasn’t enough to convince Eugene, and so Joey had to take another approach.

“Listen, You think Chance Von Crank is as hungry as you?”

“You think Seth Stratton has as much heart?”

“Bronson Box is as level headed?”

“Or Kai Scott has as much energy?”

“Do you really think Edward White has as many friends as you?”

“They can all look across that ring and think of you as the weak link, but they’ll be wrong. Because, whether they want to admit it or not, you are better than each and every one of them in ways that matter.”

Eugene wrapped the towel around his neck and smiled up at Joey, but behind those thick rimmed glasses his eyes still looked unsure.

“But if you’re still convinced that you’re the weak link then I think something Serbo told me might help...” Joey said, “If you’re going to break then they’re going to have to break you... And I don’t think any of them are able to.”

Eugene sat and contemplated Joeys words for a moment before piping up with, “Segei said that to you?”

“Pretty much.” Joey replied with a bashful smile, “When I first turned up here. I guess you can imagine what ‘they’ were that time.”

Eugene nodded, despite the fact that he didn’t know what to say to Joey he always enjoyed talking to him. So much so that he’d completely lost track of the time. “Oh crap, I gotta go.” He said after looking at his watch, “I’m supposed to be meeting with the guys like... now!”

“It’s good, man.” Joey called after Eugene as he ran for the door, “And hey, if you’ve still got any concerns after the meeting do something Sergei told me to do.”

“Write them all down and read them back aloud?” Eugene called back with raised eyebrows and a smile as he pushed his back against the door and went through.

“Then you’ll realise how stupid they are.” Joey said to himself as the scene faded to black.
 

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