[Scene: a dingy gym with blue mats scattered across the floor, a little corner filled with free weights and in the center of it all, the Solomon’s Temple of wrestling, the squared circle.]

[Location: this small time gym happens to be the wrestling school that Mike Sloan has managed over the last few years, the same school that gave Tyson Burke a purpose and helped Curtis Penn release some of his aggression when no other organization would touch him after the WC:C incident. ]

[Participants: Mike Sloan rests on his crutches biting down on a shiny plated metal whistle. His grey sweats are soaked with …sweat. Oh no, he hasn’t been bouncing around the ring with any sort of pep in his step and he is certainly not thinking about climbing the near steps. Mike Sloan is sweating because keeping himself upright is a full time job. Standing up and sitting down would be  a great calisthenics work out because of this guy in the ring, this oversized behemoth that Mike Sloan is coaching continues to cause him enough enthusiasm to make him stand. It’s almost enough to make him forget his bum leg and join in all the fun. Almost.]

[The big guy has a name, it’s Luke Windham. And seeing a big man perform like this would be generic in the old days of the WfWA and NeWA, if he was a normal big man. You know the type, the towering 7 foot tall monsters with bulging muscles and diabolical looks. Luke is “well rounded” and stands just over 6’7 and he tips the scales at 350. Mike Sloan has noticed Luke’s ability to stop on a dime, has seen this man climb to the top rope and have no fear when performing a top rope elbow drop, and has even seen the power that he has when delivering any number of power moves. Mike is overwhelmed by the athleticism that this man has.  Back in his day a guy like this would sit in the stands while bodybuilders and models performed. He would have been laughed out of the building if he came near a wrestling ring.  They might… a huge might … have allowed him to put the ring together. Might.]

[The gym doors open and shut without even a sideways glace at the entrance, Mike Sloan cannot take his eyes off of the ring work by this green horn.  To Sloan’s left appears Curtis Penn and on his right Tyson Burke, all three of them look at the ring.]

[Tyson breaks the silence.]

Burke:
That him?

[Sloan nods.]

Sloan:
Yep.

[Burke looks over towards Curtis and by the looks of it Curtis is trying to calculate how many ways he could destroy this big man in the ring if it ever came down to it.]

Burke:
Kinda big ain’t he?

Sloan:
Yep.

[Sloan glances at Tyson and then back at Curt.]

Sloan:
Size matters.

[Curtis clears his throat.]

Penn:
Bigger they are….

[Luke stops feet from the near side ropes and grabs the top rope and propels himself over the top and lands on the side of the apron, feet firmly planted.]

Sloan:
The harder they hit.

[Luke leaps to the floor and makes his way over to his gym bag and breaks out a towel. He wipes the sweat from his face and tosses the towel back into his bag.]

Penn:
I was thinking the easier they break.

[Mike smiles.]

Sloan:
Tell him that.

[Curt starts over towards Mike’s newest recruit to the circus that is the Mike Sloan Extravaganza. That was before his partner’s hand snatched him back by the elbow.]

Burke:
Chill. Breathe. Relax.  Mike isn’t wrong… that kid is hungry and I don’t mean for a Big Mac.  Look into his eyes…remember when you were that hungry?

[Curtis breaks his arm loose from Tyson’s grasp and takes a split second to give the kid another look.]

Penn:
We’ll see how hungry he is when he walks into a ring with someone in it that wants to hurt him.]

[Mike’s smile never seems to fade.]

Sloan:
Well, he’ll have the two of you to partner with. Maybe, he’ll keep you out of trouble.

[They both look back at Mike.]

Penn:
Thought you were going to come back after this healed?

[Mike looks down at his bionic knee.]

Sloan:
I’ll be back, but…

[His voice trails off.]

Sloan:
Only to get ya’ll into trouble. That’s what a manager does nowadays right?

Burke:
Manager? I haven’t had one of those since I worked at Burger King? Why not as a wrestler?

[Mike’s eyes never leave the floor.]

Sloan:
Doc’s orders…maybe one day, but for now I’m ya’lls manager. Welcome to the Mike Sloan Extravaganza!

[Fade out.]

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