My name is David. I have always been interested in sports. Here's the problem: I'm too small. I am 5 foot 5 inches tall. I barely weigh 130 pounds. That's why I went a different route: sports medicine. It was a natural fit. I couldn't play sports competitively, but I could still hang out in the field. I could heal athletes ankles and knees. And not for nothing, but it was a fairly lucrative career path.
And so it came time for an internship. For some reason, there was almost nothing for me to do. I had finished most of my schooling, and I was just about ready to go. I just needed some firsthand experience. But, as Tom Petty would say, the waiting is the hardest part. Weeks went by and not a word. I kept asking my counselor, but he said everything was booked. Until one day. One fateful day, he said he had something silly, something that might be a hoax, but it was accredited. I begged him to tell me.
"The WWO, which is the Women's Wrestling Organization, is looking for a manager for one of their up and coming wrestlers. It says here you have to complete a two year stint with them and they will sign off on your internship. Seems pretty weird. I'll just toss it."
"Wait! I need this. Where is it?"
He sighed. "Alabama. This is some real hillbilly stuff right here, if you want my honest opinion. You'll have to pack up and move your life there. I highly recommend you just wait for something else. This has got to be a dive."
I thought hard. "No. I'm doing it. This could get me a different experience from anyone else. And it's either this or I keep waiting."
And so it happened. I had my bags packed and I drove all the way down to Alabama from Pennsylvania. During my drive, a lot of emotions raced through my mind. Was I doing the right thing? Is this the path I was meant to take? All of these questions raced through my brain. Alabama was a completely different world. I had heard mixed things about the South. I've always heard of southern hospitality, but also of slack jawed yokels. I didn't really know what to expect, so I decided to go in with a clean slate and hope for the best.
I pulled up to the venue, named Earl's Wrestle Shack. It looked like it was about to fall apart. The inside looked almost like a run down gym, with mostly wood paneling and some dust in the hot Alabama air. There was a lone man behind the counter with his feet kicked up on the table. He had a name tag on that read: Earl.
"Excuse me. I'm here for the internship."
Earl sat up. "Well boy howdy. I didn't actually think you'd come. We don't exactly get a lot of traffic from city folk, you know."
"Well," I said. "I want to make a difference here. It seems like an..." I saw a rat chase another rat down some holes. "Like an exciting opportunity." I gave him the most courteous smile I could muster. I had always considered myself a very polite person, above all else.
"Well ain't that something," he said. I could sense a cackle, though it was subtle. He pulled out a file from his desk. "This here's Abigail." He plopped down a picture and some paper on the desk. I looked over it while he talked. "She is a newer wrestler in the WWO and we want to start giving them help from the git-go." The file stated that she was 5'6" and weighed 145. She had brown hair and brown eyes, and actually looked pretty cute. He wondered if the two of them could get know each other in other ways. He laughed to himself, considering she would probably wear the pants in the relationship. She might body press him. "So," Earl said. "Are you ready to start?"
"Yes."
"Well ain't that wonderful. I need you to sign some waivers."
