Who. What. Where. Chronicle of Woes.

The camera goes into a “JDB”, J-Dynasty Brand, building situated in the Wrestleworld capital. The view stops at the front door with a plaque “Research Analyst” on it as a voice is heard as the door opens.

Nobi: And sure, Tiberius, you and Drake Jaeger are great friends. It seems apparent to me that he’s the only one that can tolerate your behaviour. What happened to Joseph Anubis by the way?

Seated at a desk in a small office, Joseph Anubis half broken at the mention of a severed relationship and half relieved that anyone remembers him, tries to keep his emotions in check as he closes his laptop, which had Nobi speaking. Anubis takes a deep breath and stands up trying to be cheery.

Joseph Anubis: “Those who come, those who go, and those who part again” life is filled with sad goodbyes and bonds that decay. A little “I’m busy” avoidance there, eventual slow text messages here, and then barely talking at all. Gaining and losing friends, it is how people grow. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hurt to see Tiberius change and get a new best friend all those years ago, but my tale is far from the saddest to tell.

What have I been up to all this time? I supposed it’s been about four years now, but I can tell you I’ve been in good health and my passion for analyzing and reporting on talent hasn’t changed from the Most Valuable Extremist/Elitist days. Our branding, just like everyone else, loves success stories. Trust me, as someone who spent years giving wrestlers awards each week for their contribution to the business, I know. However, what shouldn’t be discounted by the wise are tales of woe that lead to disillusioned souls, people who give up on the beauty of the craft, and give into their animus.

What is brushed under the rug never stays there forever. Follow me, into the past, towards those who had been left behind.

The view changes into a flashback in September 2017, Joseph Anubis is being transported by boat, with a hooded figure providing the service, into the Wrestling Grotto. The central teachers of the school, Jack Miles and his assistant Constance Michaels, greet Anubis for his long trip. Anubis is led towards seven new recruits, and he takes out his notepad, not seeing a redback spider at his feet. Of the new students, the men’s faces are shrouded in darkness, while the two women among them are shown. The first black woman in a handmade pink and black suspender dress, as if familiar with him, waves her wedding engagement ringed hand at Jaydayne Pendragon seen off in the distance training. Pendragon is in an advanced privilege course, to return to professional wrestling after his work in War Made Wrestling, but he does extra work of his own volition to avoid being spoiled in contrast of the Grotto's usual harsh hard knocks. He politely bows his head at her in acknowledgement, as she smiles. Jack seems annoyed, while Constance smiles and holds back a laugh.


Jack Miles: Hey! No fraternizing.

The tall buff blonde in a designer vintage skirt dress, starts tugging on the other woman’s arm, pointing at the spider, as if giving an order to kill it. The first woman rolls her eyes. The blonde forcefully rips a hairpin out of the first woman’s hair, and throws it at the spider with frighteningly pinpoint accuracy. The spider survives and rushes towards a group of senior students. The biggest among them in an “Unbreakable” Luke Cage shirt is shocked and falls over, but does a big jolly laugh afterwards as the other students help him get back up. The first woman yells at the blonde, and the blonde makes a half-hearted apology gesture and proclaims she’ll make it up to the first.


Anubis: So this is the next generation that’s supposed to take the world by storm….

Anubis scratches his head, and shrugs. - To be continued.

In greyscale, Joseph Anubis walks by each of the new students as he writes notes down to himself. It begins with the two girls.

Current day Anubis voiceover: It might sound bewildering to say in the current context, with women leading the charge for the J-Dynasty today, but I’d be remiss if I’d undersell the fact that women were once left on the sidelines in our brand. Both in the Grotto, and the J-Dynasty itself. People can debate for aeons what caused the change in the J-Dynasty, but I have my own humble input in the discussion, one that doesn’t include right or wrong.

Time changes the arts. Art changes the times. Amongst that, money changes hands. I believe Jaywalker simply wanted to be a figure on the cutting edge of a changing industry that was, and continues to be, going to a more inclusive direction.

Allow me to brief you on our students, the three J-Dynasty members who’d come out of the Wrestling Grotto, after Jaydayne Pendragon

Renee Jonae, in a suspender dress, is seen walking to her own location in the Grotto, during her downtime, being laughed at behind her back by other students. A few times she’s shown being tripped into the Grotto waters. However, she’d stand resolute, adopting fairy/fay symbols on her wrestling attire, and at the dismay of many would often place flowers all around the Grotto.

Current day Anubis voice over: A complete outlier, Renee was a dainty exterior whose inner fortitude wasn’t well understood nor received by her peers. Many thinking her a contradiction to the more macho aesthetic of the brutal grotto, some coining her the Fay Noire to mock the dark-skinned lady who believed in fairy tale endings. It is said she was training to be a wrestler, studying marketing, and taking care of her sick little brother for years before entering the Grotto, making her an ideal big sister who never wavered. Her fellow students did everything they could to make her quit her training, but as the months and year went by, it would often be Renee giving her former peers a flower goodbye as they gave up in the Grotto’s known low retention rate of students. While some might be confused by the flower goodbyes, considering her engaged status, every dropout that had tried to break her spirit knew the meaning of the last dig done in their departures.

Jonetta Stone is seen in multiple vintage getups, often getting tips from Constance Michaels. She too would be seen harassed by other students, often chasing after her assailants until being outnumbered. One time, a group throw her into the waters, but she landed in a showy fashion as if she had dived off a diving board.

Current day Anubis voiceover: A star athlete, Jonetta Stone had been proficient in sports from a young age, learning to hunt and skate before her preteens, and wrestling soon after. After a stint in college from a hockey scholarship, she decided on sticking to wresting due to the rules on hockey bruisers becoming more stringent. She was an instant success, all-knowing she’d be the top graduate of the class from the very beginning. She was also criticized as being a teacher’s pet, often practicing Jaywalker’s Jaywalking manoeuvre and getting vintage fashion tips from the second in command at the Grotto, Constance Michaels. She also introduced Renee to Constance and would often try to create a girl group, including with the increased influx of women in the following year that included Valkyria Devione. In this tale of woe, in the early months, she had a pact with a male student.

Anubis is about to get into the third, among the other students who are male, but is interrupted by the sight of the big upperclassmen from the last woe entry.

Current day Anubis voiceover: Good ol Big Ben! Over six foot five, over three hundred pounds, he was the loudest and yet nicest teddy bear you’d ever know! He was like the uncle to every other student at the Grotto. If you needed anything, you could ask Big Ben. Naturally, people did plenty of asking towards this mournful end.

Jonetta Stone is seen screaming, being caught by surprise by a redback spider, she is grabbed and calmed down by the sizable man, Big Ben. The scene turns to colour as Big Ben smiles at her in her time of distress.


Big Ben: Ey! Now this is a sight! The super scary upperclassmen I’m told that rips apart animals for fun, is scared of little critters?

Jonetta: SCARED???! Hush! I am no such thing. But insects shouldn’t be classified with other critters! Be they small reptiles or mammals, with many you can make fine clothing out of them after hunting them down! But a bug squashed or alive is just icky and completely gross!
Big Ben: Hahaha, don’t get so tense little lady, the bug got the best of me too. I don’t know what’s going on this year, maybe I’ve left a little too much food to rot around the Grotto, cause something attracted these things.

Jonetta: Little?! And you knuckledragging moron! Attract a redback spider? We aren’t in Australia, clearly some shmuck came o-

When Jonetta was regaining her footing and yelling at him, she notices his size as she turns around to rip him a new one. Jonetta smiles, seeing an opportunity.

Jonetta: Ooh, my. You are quite large.

Big Ben: Well they do call me Big Ben, Ben the Magnum!

Jonetta: Dear, please don’t talk.

Big Ben: Oh no, that is not what I meant! I just like words with the sound “Mag” in them, it would totally be in my ring name if the brand wouldn’t give me a J name after graduation. Or maybe I could be Jag Magmatic, that’s like an alliteration, right? Hey, don’t look at me like that, not all of us trained here are born with a name with the letter J, we have to get creative!

Jonetta puts her finger over Ben’s mouth, and gives him a seductive smile..

Jonetta: Or maybe Jag Magnanimous? I can feel you have a charitable heart, would you help a little girl with an incy wincy problem?

Something in Big Ben is struck by the request, he smiles and nods as he speaks words unheard. As the voice-overs of Anubis and the ignored male students are heard.

Anubis: And many have an inkling for how this story goes...

Male first-year 1: The Schism!

Male first-year 3: Oh god, we aren’t the VFD damnit! Most people wouldn’t even get the reference, and they don’t need to!

Male first-year 2: That’s why you ought to hit people over the head with references everybody would know, but don’t be a Scrooge, number 3. See I called you that, instead of Olaf.

Male first-year 3: Shut it. We all know I can’t help that, this is our woeful tale after all. And his, I guess.

Male first-year 4:You might think those who fight with all of their heart and are strapping young lads would find success in their destiny here in the Wrestling Grotto.

Male first-year 5: But that’s not how the story the goes.

To be continued.

Over the year, Big Ben and Jonetta Stone are seen strong-arming various other students, beginning with those that would harass the later and Renee, but afterwards, just anyone that Jonetta would choose. The camera goes black and comes back onto a body found laying amongst the stones, the person busted open with their head on a rock. A spider scurries away from within the blood, as a group of students arrive. It is February 2018, the first years have become popular second-year classmates and a new crop has joined into the school in the year.

Male second-year 3: You sure did it now, you two. This is what happens when someone forgets how to be a man, and does the bidding of Buffy the animal slayer. This is a disgrace to our history.

Big Ben: Who are you talking about, babyface? Get some stubble before you talk to me, damn edgelord.

Jonetta Stone: Exactly. You’d best mind your manners, we’ve already had four forgettable dropouts from our class, one more wouldn’t make a difference. In case you missed it, you’re the last boy left from our year, and the next has even more girls!

Renee Jonae: Nothing will come from accusations and threats. We’re better than this, stay on brand.

Valkyria De' Villione: We need to get him some help….AFTER today’s training! Pause, that won’t affect our next day’s training, right Jo?

Jonae: Have a heart, Val. Jonetta: Don’t worry about it, Val.

Jonae & Jonetta: THE FIRST YEAR WAS TALKING TO ME!

???: BREAK IT UP! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!

Jack Miles comes in furious as the students scatter and he looks frustrated at what might as well be a crime scene at his school. It jumps a day forward, where Jack Miles and Constance Michaels are being grilled by The J-Dynasty Brand Executive Assistant, Jaspora. Behind Jaspora, Gunkai Riggs and Joseph Anubis stand observing, bored and rattled respectively.

Jack: ENOUGH ALREADY! THIS IS OUR WRESTLING SCHOOL, PISS OF YOU DAMN SHREW! WE CAN HANDLE THIS INTERNALLY!

Constance: And did you really have to bring that thing here with you? Your monster’s an eyesore, it’ll ruin our students’ appetites.

Jaspora: He goes wherever I go. Besides, he’s a great backup plan for when people forget who signs their cheques and fund their fine institutions. I represent Jaywalker, does that jog your memory?

Jack: ….

Constance: Don’t let her push your buttons,she’s a grown-up street urchin playing executive,  she has nothing.

Jaspora: Sure I do. Joseph here has told me all about the incidents going on at your school, two students, in particular, have been running amuck. Have they not?

Jack Miles growls at Joseph Anubis, as Anubis hides behind Gunkai.

Anubis: I was just trying to do the right thing! I was just reporting on the situation!

Jack: BOOTLICKER! Tch. forget it. Shrew, do as you must, then GET OUT OF OUR GROTTO!

Jaspora’s crimson lips form a devilish smile. She makes her leave and has the students reconvene with her at night, right outside of the Grotto. In the darkness, she sits by a large crooked tree near the entrance, “The Jaqqum Tree” is written on a sign nearby. The night sky, the towering tree, and Jaspora in her red & black sari dress are an intimidating sight, the monster at her side was overkill. Still, the students all reported to her and told their stories, even though she showed no signs of listening and had already made up her mind. Jonetta comes before her.

Jaspora: Jone-

Jonetta: It was Ben. I was being harassed ever since I got here, and then he intimidated me to help him in his psychotic ploys! He’s a bit of a thug, or whatever you want put down. Do you understand what I’m saying?

Jaspora: Mhm, sure. We expect great things out of you, Ms Stone.

The two ladies nod in mutual understanding. Jonetta begins to ready herself to be teary-eyed, she runs back to meet the other students, running past a confused Big Ben. Renee Jonae blocks her way, knowing she’d never cry for anything.

Jonae: Seriously?

Jonetta: Oh hush, you know the importance of making a show miss magic. The curtain has to fall on someone, I’m just making sure it isn’t me. I never liked the big dolt in the first place.

Big Ben makes his way to Jaspora’s area, still bewildered by what he just saw. As he takes in the dark night sky, the slowly moving branches of the grotesque tree in the wind, and Jaspora blowing purple smoke from her signature skull pipe, he wisened up to it all with a chill in his spine. He knew only one thing could rectify the situation, one person could overrule it all.

Big Ben: I…..I want to talk to Jaywalker.

Jaspora: Now, now, there’s no need for that. Surely, you realize he’s a busy man? Why make this more difficult than necessary? You know what’s coming.

Gunkai: Shame it wasn’t you, you could have at least had some fun before you went out.

Big Ben: This ain’t right! Jaywalker put the word in to get me into this school himself, he promised if I proved myself I could be the damn Gunkai of the next J-Dynasty generation!

Jaspora[grinning]: There’s so much wrong in that, I don’t know where to begin. Don’t you think the whole big man era is so passe? The HRDOs, Kevin Devastations, and Koumidiators, are no more. You just don’t see that many big men on top of wrestling companies, these days. Gunkai and I know it all too well, but if you want to speak with Jaywalker so badly, so be it.

Jaspora makes a call on her cell and puts it on speaker, after multiple rings Jaywalker picks up.

Jaywalker: Jaspora? You know my time is extremely precious during this shifting of operations, what do you want?

Jaspora: Sir, there’s a fool who insists on speaking to you. A rather rambunctious student, one you met to get into the program.

Jaywalker: What.. Why, do you remain at the Grotto? How much time does it take to deal with a simple task.

Big Ben: JAY! This bitch is trying to set me up! You have to believe me!

Jaywalker: (Sigh) If they’re framing you, it’s because you allowed it to be easy to frame you. Goons are always scapegoats, and it would seem being such is the end of your potential. If you don’t want to be the disposable pawn thrown under the bus, it would be in your interest to change your ways. I’m told someone had to pay for the incident I heard went down, it looks like they’ve chosen you.

Big Ben: But you promised--

Jaywalker: To give you a chance, and you got one. The world is not kind, right about now I and many others are getting our names likely erased from a Hall of Fame, all because business ventures don’t align. Ventures that include providing you students a bright future, so you’ll have to excuse me if I believe I’ve already done enough for your sakes, I shouldn’t have to babysit and save you. Many are losing more than you are, toughen up, and reevaluate what you fight for.

Big Ben: Th- (The phone hangs up.)

Big Ben can’t believe it. Jaspora stands up gesturing for him to take his leave. Ben after recovering from the shock, looks angry, but other students come onto the scene and with Gunkai there too he knows there isn’t much he can do. He goes to pack his bags. He is met by his ex-peers as he packs, he furiously tells them the story of his the conversation with Jaspora and Jaywalker. Many are shocked and bewildered, especially when he tells them of Jaywalker’s finalizing rumours of cutting ties with a former partner company and his removal from it’s Hall of Fame, for business ventures that involved a current graduate and students.

Jonae: Sorry everyone, my fiance’s in one of the companies that’s causing so much trouble. We always knew this might happen. We’ll work extra hard to make up for that Hall of Fame career!

Val: My father’s dealing with a similar situation.

Male second-year 3: Why are you acting like this is ok, being calm as if it’s NORMAL! THEY’RE TAKING AWAY FROM WHAT WE’RE BUILDING ON! HOW MANY EMBARRASSMENTS...HOW MUCH MORE CAN BE TAKEN--

Big Ben: A lot more. A LOT MORE CAN BE TAKEN FROM YOU! And I’ll be doing it, once I burn everything Jaywalker has ever built to the ground!

Ben shoves past the student, and is once again met by a spider, but ignores it and moves on. The video then transitions back to Joseph Anubis, in his small office in real-time.

Joseph Anubis: And so ends a tale of woe, the beginnings of disillusions and animus. I wish I could leave you off with a poignant message of hope and happy endings, but unfortunately, if I know anything about hatred, the ends are never pretty.

You ask what happened to me? Where I have been? I am where I prefer things, where Tiberius and I never agreed on the positivities of, behind the scenes. Where you are, there is danger, there are monsters amongst you. Here, I’m not the subject of any tales, I’m just the guy who writes them down and closes the book.

*also profile updated in clicked link.