The Beresford Apartments
Homer Street, Vancouver
Wednesday January 21st 2009
We join August Joyce in his Vancouver apartment, where he’s been since Christmas. He’s been away from the MWA for a few weeks now, bar his recent trip to their annual Awards ceremony, and he is beginning to get a little restless. He stands in his living room, staring out of the window. He runs a hand through his hair as he thinks to himself.
”I need to get back in the ring.” August finally says as he starts to pace up and down. His face easily gives away his concern as well as his disappointment. “This break has been too long, I need to get back out there and do something.” He stops, turning to Benjamin who has been sat watching him. “Not that being here with you has been so bad…”
Benjamin laughs and nods. “It ok, bro. I know the feelin’. I been wantin’ to get my ass back out there too, my break from in-ring action has been a lil longer than yours.” Ben looks over to the crutches that are perched up against his chair.
Back in Germany Ben underwent radical knee surgery to correct a long time weakness. The operation was a great success and now Ben was on the long road to recovery. He is mobile again, albeit with the assistance of crutches. Plus he is having physical therapy sessions twice a week to re-build strength in his knee. His target is still to get back in the ring and be Augusts tag partner, but it’s going to be a long time until that can happen.
“Shame you didn’t find this specialist a while back, that way it could have been me and you in Tag Team Turmoil. Maybe we’d have had a better chance then.” August is thinking back to his last match, before the holidays.
“You didn’t like having Yana as a partner?”
August shakes his head. “No, I don’t mean that. Yana’s great, and she’s learnt a lot in a short space of time.” He says, defending his previous statement. “It’s just that she’s new, both as a wrestler in general and as a partner to me. After so many years wrestling with you in my corner I’ve been finding it difficult to get used to someone else being there.”
“K, I get dat.” Ben says. “You two just need a lil time, a lil patience with each other. You’re great. She’s good an’ still learnin’. That’s a damn good combo, I see you two going places.”
“Like Samoa?”
The boys both turn to see that Xanthe, August’s wife has walked into the room un-noticed.
“Samoa?” August asks back, with Ben saying exactly the same thing at exactly the same time.
“Just had a call from Zhen, you’re booked for BattleZone in Samoa next week.” Xanthe has a wide smile.
“Another tag team match?” August asks his wife. “With Yana?”
Xanthe nods. “Yup, but she didn’t tell me anything else about it. No idea who it’s against. She wants to see you later, tell you herself.”
An Indy Wrestling Show
Vancouver, BC
June 2003
Benjamin Doi and August Joyce are sat on the ring apron, looking out to the empty High School Gym which had just hosted a local wrestling show. The boys, collectively known as the Omega Choice, had headlined the show and narrowly missed out on the Tag-Team Titles. They sit, still in their wrestling gear, thinking about how close they came.
”You’s were unlucky.” Dave Spikey says as he walks into shot. “After tonights match they’s gotta give you’s a re-match sometime soon, like.”
Dave has been acting as their manager for a while now, and has helped them form a pretty good team. As a unit the two men have become almost unstoppable. Tonight has been their first tag team defeat in about six months.
“Unlucky?” August says with a raised eyebrow. “We were second best, end of.”
Ben nods. “They were too good fo us, Spike.”
“Too good my arse!” Dave’s comment confuses Ben and August for a brief moment. “You’s have been on a great little run. Tonight should have been the payoff.”
August is shaking his head. “They were the first decent team we’ve faced, and it showed. We’ve been fighting has-beens and kids…”
“Hey, none of that, alright?” Dave interrupts. “You’s two are a good unit. You’s have been improving steadily and putting away opponents in style. Tonight’s been a minor setback, a slight chink in your learning curve. If you’s two stick together you’ll become a formidable team!”
August laughs as he looks at Ben. “Just don’t you go getting injured!”
“Look…” Dave says, face stern and serious. “One day you’s two are gonna be champs, an’ it’s my sole goal in life to get you there. That’s a Dave Spikey guarantee!”
The Offices of Zhen Xu
Begbie Street, Vancouver
Wednesday January 21st 2009
August Joyce and Benjamin Doi have just arrived at Zhen Xu’s building and are sat in her office, waiting for her to finish a phone call. As they are waiting Yana Gradlienko also walks into the room and perches herself on the end of Zhen’s desk, seeing as there are no other chairs in the room.
“Guys, good to see you.” Zhen says having just finished her call. “Hope you all had a pleasant new year?” She doesn’t wait for any response, instead looking to push on with the reason she called them all here. “Anyway, enough of the pleasantries, let’s get down to business…”
“What’s on your mind, Zhen?” August asks.
Benjamin chips in. “An’ what’s the deal with the match this week?”
“I just wanted to discuss how things have been going in the MWA so far.” Zhen leans back in her seat and places her hands together, the tips of her fingers propping up her chin. “What’s your assessment of it so far?”
“The company itself is great.” August begins. “The guys are generally very friendly, the fans are fantastic. The competition is hard as hell, I get the impression I’m out of my depth there.”
“What?” Ben interrupts. “What you blabberin’ about?”
“I’ve had one win so far, and a lucky one at that. I’m being out-classed. You just have to re-watch the Malice match to see that.”
Zhen is shaking her head. “You went out there and fought well, and only just came up short. That’s something to be proud of, not something to be downbeat about. Between your opportunistic win over Patrick and the close run thing with Malice, people began to take notice of you. You saw that in the way they responded to you during Tag-Team Turmoil. Poe sees something in you, other members of the locker room see something in you. The crowd are getting behind you. They think you’re some kind of cult icon.”
August almost laughs. “Cult Icon? Isn’t that a nice way of saying only a few people like you?”
“You’re the underdog, and they love that about you. You have the determination, you have the desire. You have heart. You have a solid platform to build on, so man up and get your ass to Pago Pago!”
“Speaking of which…” August fires back at Zhen. “…you still haven’t told us who are opponents are! What’s the big secret?”
Zhen shrugs. “I wanted to tell you personally, that’s all.”
“So, you gonna tell us already?” Ben says, irritated.
“Carolyn Baker & CJ Osborne.” She replies, matter-of-factly.
August seems surprised. “The Champs? Wow, if we do well in this one we could end up with a title shot…”
“August….” Zhen interrupts.
“Yea?”
“This is a title shot!”
August lets that sink in for a moment, and Benjamin almost leaps out of his seat before realising how much it would hurt and settling back down again. Yana taps her fingers on the desk and looks down at the floor, seemingly the only person in the room not excited as hell about this. It takes a few moments before August notices this fact.
”Yana, what’s up? Are you not excited about this opportunity?”
Yana shakes her head. She remains silent.
“Hey girl…” Ben chimes in. “This is a massive stage for you to show off those mad skills. Show the world what me and AJ have taught you.”
Again Yana shakes her head. “I not ready for this.”
Zhen lets out a sigh. “Obviously the MWA feel differently. As do I.”
Wrestle-Plex Pro Wrestling School
East 2nd Street, Vancouver
September 2007
August Joyce is sat on the ring apron and wiping the sweat from his face as Dave Spikey walks up to him with a big smile on his face.
“You’s done?” Dave asks, August nods back silently. “Good, there’s someone here to meet you.”
“Who?”
“A friend of Zhen’s apparently…” Dave never was good at taking full details of things.
“Zhen has friends?” August jokes.
Dave laughs. “She’s here to start training, like. And Zhen has asked that… I mean, demanded that you help with her training.”
August raises an eyebrow. “Why does she want me to help?”
“Because she wants this girl to be your new partner.” Dave says, looking at the floor as he does so.
”I already have a partner!” August is not best pleased. Benjamin has been the only tag partner he had ever had, and August had never wanted to have anyone else in his corner.
Dave nods sheepishly. “I know, I know. But you know Zhen, she’s hard arsed, like. She sees Ben injured and you fightin’ alone. She see’s a business opportunity in marketing you and this girl as a team.”
“Alright…” August calms himself. “I best not take this out on the poor girl, bring her in and let’s go through some basics.”
Dave nods and disappears through a nearby door. He soon comes back with a young girl in tow. This is Yana Gradlienko, a new employee of Zhen’s. The girl appears timid, nervous. She is in a brand new tracksuit, bright yellow. You can’t help but feel the choice of clothing wasn’t hers as she tugs on the sleeves of her jacket. The two make the short walk to the ring where August is still sat on the apron.
”August, this is Yana.” Dave introduces the two. “Yana, this is August Joyce.”
Yana smiles and holds out a hand. August shakes it, gently.
“So, Yana.” August begins, almost sounding enthusiastic about this. “Have you ever wrestled before?”
Yana remains silent, looking slightly confused as well as nervous.
“Or done any kind of martial art?” Dave chips in.
Yana still stays quiet, looking scared.
“Do you even understand me?” August says, realising what may be happening here. “Do you speak English?”
Yana nods slightly. “I understand little. My English not so good.”
August sighs. “This is gonna take a while.”
The Offices of Zhen Xu
Begbie Street, Vancouver
Wednesday January 21st 2009
August Joyce and Yana Gradlienko are sat on the sidewalk outside Zhen’s building. They are both sat with their backs against the wall, cup of coffee in their hands. August pulls his coat closed more as a cold wind picks up.
”Why are we out here again?” He says, a slight shiver in his voice.
”It remind me of home.” Yana starts before explaining what she means. “The cold… remind me of home.”
“Ever think about going back?”
Yana shakes her head. “Nothing for me there, not any more.”
“So you’re gonna stay here and be my tag-team partner then, huh?” August says with a smile.
Yana smiles back and nods. “For now. I like it.” She stops smiling as she suddenly thinks of something. “I know I not first choice. You and Benjamin were partner for long time, I know you would rather be with him in ring.”
To be brutally honest, August would rather have Ben in his corner. But over the past 18 months or so he has seen Yana grow as both a person and a wrestler. To the stage where she is deserving of the chances that have come her way recently.
”Hey, if Ben hadn’t hurt his knee we would still be a team.” August starts, treading carefully. “But I’m a firm believer that things happen for a reason. Ben got hurt, then you appear on the scene. You learn quickly, we work well together and we’ve been rewarded with this title shot next week.”
“I guess you right.” Yana says. “I can’t believe we get to fight for belt.” She turns to August. “You think we can beat Baker and Osborne?”
August waits for a while before answering.
“Once, a long time ago now, a friend of mine once promised me that I would become tag-team champion one day.” He shakes his head. “I’m not going to make any such promises to you, Yana. But I will say this… you’re good, I’m good, Baker’s good and Osborne is good. That’s the MWA for you, there’s no weak links. But anything can happen when you step into that ring. You just have to believe in yourself. You have to work hard. You have to get a little bit of luck every now and then. And then…” He pauses and smiles. “Anything can happen!”