Body Slammed! by Ray Villareal Read Free Book Online Page A

brushed gel into his hair with his fingers. “You gonna have anything to eat other than carrots and celery sticks?”
    â€œI was just getting ready to say that, Goose,” Bucky said. “Are you going to have anything to eat other than carrots and celery sticks?”
    â€œI’m not inviting you guys over for supper,” Wendell said. “Just to watch wrestling.”
    â€œWell, how do you expect me to sit through two hours of Monday Night Mayhem without eating anything?” Goose asked. He checked his reflection in the mirror and smiled at what he saw.
    â€œThen stay home,” Wendell said. “I don’t care.”
    â€œWho’s wrestling tonight, anyway?” Bucky asked.
    Wendell sat on a bench and tied his tennis shoes. “They announced last week that Ice Man Jacob Sloane will be defending the ACW heavyweight belt against Lance Redwine.”
    â€œRedwine?” Goose said. “Why are they giving him a title shot? He’s not championship material.”
    â€œYeah, he’s not championship material,” Bucky echoed.
    Goose threw a wet towel at Bucky’s face. “Quit repeating everything I say, man. It’s irritating.”
    Bucky removed the towel and gave him a goofy grin.
    â€œIs your dad fighting tonight, Jesse?” Wendell asked. “I don’t remember them mentioning anything about him on last week’s show.”
    â€œYeah, he’s wrestling John Henry Sykes,” Jesse said without giving any details.
    â€œYour dad should be fighting the Ice Man for the title,” Goose said. “The Angel of Death is the best champion the ACW’s ever had.”
    â€œYeah, the Angel of Death is . . . ” Bucky started, then stopped.
    Jesse usually kept the guys informed about what took place behind the scenes at American Championship Wrestling. They knew how matches were set up and how it was determined ahead of time who would win each match. They even knew about “blading,” in which wrestlers bleed by cutting their foreheads with tiny, hidden razor blades to make their matches look more realistic. But Jesse couldn’t bring himself to tell them that in a few weeks, the Angel of Death would no longer exist.
    When his father began his wrestling career, he was known as Mark “the Mangler” Baron. Later, he wore a black and silver mask and called himself the Annihilator. But his career didn’t take off until he joined the ACW and became the Angel of Death. Now, it appeared that he was about to lose that character forever.
    The plan was for Jesse’s father to become Elijah Nightshade, a false prophet. He would quote lines that sounded like Bible Scriptures, except that he would twist the words to justify his heel or “bad guy” actions.
    Carlos Montoya, who had wrestled as a masked man called El Azteca Dorado, was also going to be stripped of his gimmick. He would appear without his mask and be known as Brother Jeremiah. He would form part of Elijah Nightshade’s Assembly. So would Marv “Demented Devlin Dredd” Snider, whose new ring name would be Brother Ezekiel. Cassandra Richardson, who had once worked as the Angel of Death’s valet, Spirit, would be paired with him again. This time, she would be called Sister Ruth.
    Jesse’s father said that other wrestling promotions had done the evil preacher gimmick without success, so he didn’t have any hope that it would work now. And without the Angel of Death character to fall back on, what would happen to his career? He had been home for the weekend because the ACW was slowly removing the Angel of Death from house-show appearances.
    Jesse used to look forward to seeing him, but the way his father was acting stirred bad memories of the night of his parents’ big fight. Jesse wished his father would make a decision about his career—either retire or accept his new gimmick, because he was getting tired of his nonstop