"Are you sure you're ready for this, Kid?" Balls asked me, grabbing my hand and helping me off the bench.
"Hell yeah! This is a dream come true. I grew up watching the original ECW. Getting to tag with Balls Mahoney in a hardcore, anything goes intergender tag match is so on the list of things I wanted to do in my wrestling career," I replied.
"You know there will be blood, don't you? RVD's no joke and he's tagging with that CZW girl Havok. This is gonna be a rough match. You've been wrestling how long?"
"Three years. I'm not afraid of blood or taking the rough bumps. I grew up with only brothers. If I couldn't handle rough bumps, I wouldn't have survived. I guess it made wrestling an easy choice for me."
"If things get out of control, tag me in. I'll take the worst of it. I don't mind getting a beating. Gets the adrenaline going."
"I'll be good. Promise."
Tommy Dreamer came in the back to check on us.
"You two ready? Moira? Are you sure you're still okay with doing this?"
"Tommy, I'm good. I just went through this with Balls. I'm fine. I'm excited."
"Well then you're up next. Good luck, have fun, and please don't die. Your father will kill me, Moira."
Balls and I laughed as we grabbed our weapons of choice, me a baseball bat covered in barbed wire, Balls his signature chair covered in barbed wire. We made our way to the ready position and when Balls' music started, we made our way out to the ring. Everything was perfect. The crowd gave us a huge pop.
The match was perfect. Havok and I tore each other apart, I had a few spots with RVD, Balls had a few spots with Havok, and in the end, even though Balls and I lost to Havok and RVD, the crowd was over on all four of us. We put on the match of our lives and the crowd knew it. At points they didn't know who to cheer for, me and Balls or RVD and Havok. It was great, the best reaction a professional wrestler could ever ask for.
When we got to the back of the venue, Havok went right to her boyfriend, Sami Callihan. Balls went right to his son, Chris. RVD got right on his phone, calling his wife. Tommy came right for me, bringing me to the trainers.
"Tommy, I'm a grown-up. I'm okay. Really."
"I know Moira, but I'm more afraid of your father than you, so humor me, will you, Kid? You're pretty bloody."
"Fine, Scaredy Cat," I said teasing him.
When the trainers finished checking me, I just needed a few stitches. Other than that, I was fine. As was the usual when I worked an event with Tommy, Balls, and some of the others, we all went out for dinner after. Tommy took a pic of Balls and I cleaned up after the show so I would have a memory of one of the best nights of my life, especially since in just a few short months I was supposed to be heading to NXT. I didn't have much more time on the independent circuit to mess around like this.
We shared stories about the craziness of being on the road. Me, being the youngest of the group, had the fewest stories to share, but I loved listening to stories about how each of them had done their time in one or more of the bigger companies and why they wouldn't trade the experiences, even if they weren't what they expected. These guys were as much my family as was my blood, and I loved them so much.
While we were waiting for dessert, I got a text from my dad, who was at his own show in another state asking about my match. I sent him a pic Tommy took during the match and the pic of me and Balls after we cleaned up. Dad wasn't thrilled, but I pointed out that I was happy and reminded him I didn't have many more of these nights left. He told me to enjoy myself. I knew it couldn't have been easy for him to give in that easily.
"Was that your dad?" Balls asked.
"Yup. Trying to be overprotective. I pointed out that I have a limited number of nights of freedom before I surrender myself to the man so he let it go."
Everyone laughed.
"Never let them change you, Moira. You're a great wrestler. Don't let them put you in some skanky outfit and tone down your talent You're too good for that," Balls said to me.
"And if they try, point out that you're and Orton and there's an RKO outta nowhere in their future if they don't change their mind," Tommy said laughing, making everyone else laugh.
"I still can't believe you're Randy's…" Sami started.
"Bastard kid?" I finished. "I have trouble believing it too, sometimes. I mean, he was only sixteen when I was born and he was out of the picture as soon as he graduated high school for the Marines, so I guess my mom didn't have to hide it for long. When he got discharged he went right into wrestling."
"So how'd you find out?" Havok asked me.
"I've met his mom. We look a little alike. I found my birth certificate and his name was on it. So when I started wrestling when I was seventeen, I sent a letter to her, including the birth certificate. Next thing I know, he's in town, wants to meet me, prove whether or not it's true, because if it was, he wanted to be part of my life."
"That's a good father," Balls said.
"Just like you, Balls," I told him. "You'd do anything for Chris. I'm guessing lots of girls claim to have had his kids. He wanted proof. Once he had it, him and my mom argued a bit, but since she gave me permission to train anyway, she let him move me to train with a better trainer. That's how I wound up in New York. He pays my rent and everything. This way I can just focus on following my dreams. Whenever he can, he comes and sees me."
"Good man. That's what a father should be," Balls said, his mind seeming to wander.
"Balls, are you okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, Sweetheart. Probably one too many chairshots to the head. I'm okay," he said, but I still felt like something was off.
We split up and Tommy followed me back to my place, making sure I was home safe, so he could tell my dad I was home safe and sound. That night, I didn't sleep. My mind kept wandering to Balls. He kept praising Dad for what a father was, but he was no different.
Weeks went by. Balls and I did a few more events together, though not as tag partners. We still had a good time. Things seemed normal. I loved hanging around him. He was always smiling and telling stories. Whenever he brought Chris with him, it was great to see him dote on him.
It was mid-April, and my phone started ringing. It was Tommy. I didn't think much of it. Tommy had a few shows coming up that I was booked on.
"Hey Tommy," I said picking up the phone. "What's up?"
"Moira, have you been online? On social media?" he asked me.
"No," I said, getting worried. "What's going on?"
"Moira, it's Johnny, Balls…"
"No. He's fine, isn't he?" I asked desperately.
"Sweetheart, I know he meant a lot to you, but I'm sorry, he's gone. I talked to his wife, and the rumors are true, he's gone," Tommy tried to gently tell me.
"But Chris. He's still so young, Tommy. He needs his father. He loves his father so much," I said grasping at straws, as if pleading for Chris' sake would make this nightmare go away.
"I know, but it's too late, Moira," Tommy said gently.
I started crying. I was home alone and one of the guys I had come to look at as a teddy bear since moving to New York was just gone from the world. The world didn't make sense to me.
"Moira, should I call your father for you?" Tommy asked.
I dropped my cell phone, unable to respond. My heart was breaking for Balls' family, especially Chris, I knew what it was like to grow up without a father. The difference was the type of relationship he had with his father I got to start having with my father when I was seventeen. My heart was breaking for Balls' friends who had known and loved him so much longer than I had. But my heart was also breaking because I missed him and didn't know how to process this. For all the things he messed up in his life, Balls seemed larger than life, invincible in a way, and I never thought about him dying. His birthday was yesterday. He was only eight years older than my dad.
Time went by and I was vaguely aware of my cell phone ringing, but I couldn't bring myself to answer it. I couldn't take the possibility of any more bad news. Eventually, I'm not sure how long had passed, my father entered my apartment. I was still on the floor, where I had curled up after Tommy told me about Balls. I wasn't crying anymore, I had no more tears to cry, but I was still broken. Dad just picked me up in his arms like I was a little girl, not a twenty year old, carrying me to the couch. I leaned my head on his shoulder and he just stroked my hair as I held him tight.
"It's alright, Moira. I'm sorry about Balls. I know he meant a lot to you, but it will get better," he said soothingly as he held me and stroked my hair.
Dad wound up staying with me for more than a week. And he wound up staying in my bed with me because it was the only way to get me to sleep. When he tried leaving me to sleep in the other room, I'd wake up screaming. He was there for me when I went to Tommy's events that weekend, got special permission from WWE to do a signing at the events so he could be a ringside when Tommy did the tribute to Balls at the shows, holding my hand, holding me together.
At the end of the weekend, there was a wake for one night before the funeral. Dad was by my side. He had never really spent much time on the independent circuit, WWE swooped him up as soon as he had basic wrestling training because of his father's legacy. So, for the first time, Dad was seeing the other side of the spectrum, how the independent wrestlers lived, how we grieved the loss of one of our own.
In general, I didn't drink much, especially since I was underage, but when Tommy, Raven, and some of the other ECW originals decided to have a drink in Balls' honor, Dad was cool with it. We each had a few shots and then we all started telling stories about our favorite memories with him. Chris stayed quiet, but I could see his mom liked seeing there were so many people who loved him, who were there, despite all of his flaws, and had so many good memories of the man she loved.
"This whole week is something I've never seen, Moira. WWE keeps funerals traditional. Wake, funeral, family gathering. None of this partying to celebrate the life of the person we lost," Dad said to me. "It's new to me. Do you do this every time one of you dies?"
"Those closest to them do. None of us are stupid, Dad. Wrestling comes at a toll. Our bodies are at risk, our minds are at risk, and we're just at risk of being stupid. On the independent circuit most of us are family as close as any blood-tie. So if one of us goes, we all feel it. Everything can be put aside for a few days to remember the better times, be there for the family they left behind. And if that family is in a financial bind, it's not unheard of for a promotion to do a memorial show with the proceeds going to the family."
"How do they pay the wrestlers then?"
"They don't. We volunteer our time. If we care enough about the person that we lost and their family, we'll do the show for free. Maybe we'll ask to sell merchandise as a way to make a small amount of money, but other than that, we volunteer for the show to do something good for the family of our fallen friend."
"You guys are all really close, aren't you?"
"Yeah, Dad. We are. Just as close as you and me."
"Are you ready for tomorrow?"
I picked up the pictures of Balls and me tagging against RVD and Havok. That was the way I wanted to remember Balls, always.
"No. But I need to keep it together for Chris. He's just a kid and he loved his dad so much. Tomorrow, as hard as it will be for me, will be so much worse for him."
Dad hugged me to him and I let a few tears slip for my lost friend.
The following day, Dad drove to the funeral home to say our last good-bye. As I went up to the casket, I put the pictures of our intergender tag match and right after in with him.
"You always had a great story for me, great advice to give, Balls. You knew who you were and you saw so much potential in me. But this night will be how I will always remember you. It will be when you took me to my best and beyond, showing me that I could do anything I set my mind to. I don't care what anyone says about you, you were a great man, faults and all. I love you and you'll always be in my heart," I said as I started crying.
Dad led me away from the casket, holding me as I cried. Tommy put his hand on my shoulder as we walked by him. We went to our car and waited for the funeral procession. When the funeral was over and the service in the cemetery was over, I placed a white rose on his coffin before standing to the side, with the rest of the wrestlers I'd known over the last couple of years.
When it was down to just his family and the wrestlers who had stayed, Tommy pulled out his mp3 player, which had speakers on it. Suddenly, AC/DC's song, Big Balls started playing. I cracked a smile through my tears and before we knew it, we were all singing his entrance music, just like he would.
I miss you Balls, I thought to myself.
Author's Note: This was written as a one-shot to deal with the death of Jonathan "Balls Mahoney" Rechner, who died one day after his 44th birthday. He really did leave behind a young son and a wife. Moira is the only character I owned.