Bluff City 11: The Grapplers Down at Promenade Arena Pt. 3

 Aqua Illusion vs. Black Jack at The Promenade Arena - ★★★★★ (5 Stars)

Reviewed by Cecil L. 

I’m gonna start by saying that before last night, I hadn’t been to a wrestling show in fifty five years. The last time I went to a wrestling show this website didn’t exist and neither did the web and neither did a whole area of town. I went to see two men fight and they were just something, let me tell you that. Round about that time I worked as a floor assistant in a general goods store but on the weekends I’d go out onto the boardwalk and draw caricatures of the folks who were out that day. When I ran out of paper, I’d call my friend Lou and we’d go down and watch a fight. There’d be flyers up on the sides of buildings, they still do that. 

There was this one wrestler, an out of towner, called Magnificent Rex. He’d come out and chant “Rex! Rex! Rex!” - hold his hands over his head like an emperor, but he was an out of towner and he was a real piece of **** so we’d shout and boo and hiss. Over this one long summer, he fought a Bluff City boy called Daredevil Duke Draymond, a high-flier who could hit as hard as anybody. And they’d fight and one of them would go down, and there’d be a rematch the next night, and the other would go down, and Lou and I would get ticket after ticket with the money from selling caricatures. It was a hot summer. They had to put up signs on the boardwalk saying “DRINK MORE WATER!” Saw folks falling over. Seagulls all sitting in the ocean since the sand was too hot.

Anyway, one night Rex beat Duke real bad. It was rough to see. Lou and I were furious, left the arena chanting “kill the king” and all that, went and got drunk at a bar on Sockeye that’s a sports goods store now. Next morning, woke up with a hangover and went down to the boardwalk with an umbrella for shade. I’d got two or three caricatures done and who should walk up with one hell of a black eye but Daredevil Duke Draymond himself. He sat down in the chair and I didn’t say anything for fifteen whole seconds, just out of shock. In the end I told him that I knew who he was, that I saw him get beat last night, that the whole thing stank. He listened, nodded his head, didn’t say a word. I got to drawing. My friend Lou, I said, my friend Lou heard that you’re gonna move to Trenton. Leave the Bluff City circuit. That true? Duke shook his head. Not true, he said. Your friend Lou’s been telling tales. There was a long moment of silence. The sound of the beach. But, the Daredevil said slowly, if I was to go to Trenton, it’d only be to put that no-good piece of crap to bed in his own town. He looked at the back of my easel. You’re takin’ your time, he said. 

I finished the drawing and handed it over. There was Duke, standing tall in the middle of the ring, arm outstretched like an old fashioned actor, with Rex flat on the ground in front of him. Wham. I drew the lights and the flashbulbs going off, I even got figures in the front row looking shocked and awed and scared. I’d even added a caption that I was pretty proud of, that I thought Duke would like. It was good as hell. 

Pretty neat, kid, he said. Pretty neat. He flashed a smile and one of his teeth was chipped. 

That night, Lou and I went down to the arena in the middle of a storm. His car broke down on Bowfin Avenue and we ditched it and ran with newspaper over our heads to get in before the show started. Rex came out and chanted and the arena erupted. I thought folks were gonna storm the ring. You could hear thunder through the walls. And then out comes Duke, climbs up onto the top rope, and lightning comes through the little windows. Lit the ring up white. I thought it was the best damn thing I’d seen in my life. And Rex goes over and pulls him off the rope and they get to it, Duke taking hits, throwing Rex off the ropes, somersaulting, hitting spot after spot. And then you could see that he started getting tired. Rex would just stand there throwing punches but Duke had been leaping all over the place, the lightning catching him frozen in the air, it was wearing him out. 

I think Lou and I saw it coming before Duke did. Right out of nowhere. Square in the jaw. And down he went. One, said the referee. “Rex! Rex! Rex!” Two. Lou and I standing up out of our seats. And then I swear to you, the thunder roared and the lightning flashed at exactly the same time. Storm right overhead. And up rose Daredevil Duke Draymond, like the devil himself had sent him back from hell. One foot. Pivots into a spinning kick like a tornado. Down goes Rex, bounces hard against the mat. The crowd deadly silent. 

And then Duke turns, draws himself up to his full height. The king is dead, he says, and he stretches his arm out like an old fashioned actor, and I turned to Lou with fire in my eyes. I knew what he was going to say next, and I knew how good it was going to sound, because I’d written it myself along the bottom of the caricature I’d drawn the day before. Long live the king, shouts Duke, and the crowd explodes, and as the Daredevil stands there, drinking in the sound, he turns his head just slightly and meets my eyes up in the top row. Long live the king, I shout. Long live the king!

That was the last wrestling match I went to for fifty five years. The next summer, the first big tourist boats started coming in, you know, the real big ones, so I was kept pretty busy on the boardwalk. That was also the year that Duke went to Trenton, I guess. 

But last night I went to see Aqua Illusion fight Black Jack at the Promenade Arena. Sat in the top row, listened to the crowd. Picked up the chants pretty quickly. It wasn’t Daredevil Duke Draymond knocking Magnificent Rex out cold in the middle of the thunderstorm that broke the hottest summer on record. But it was damn good. And I am glad that I went.

Featuring: Austin Walker, Ali Acampora, Art Martinez-Tebbel, Andrew Lee Swan, Sylvi Bullet

Music & Description by Jack de Quidt

A transcription is available for this episode here. 
A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project.