David Shreve

Zam Zero 3
By
David Shreve

Zam couldn’t wait for the day of his rematch with Clawman. It was one week from their previous encounter. Zam was in Lee’s training dojo working out the kinks in his wrestling method with the instructors. Lee advised Zam that he should take things slow and that Clawman still had a chance to defeat Zam if he wasn’t careful and on point. But Zam had trouble believing this.

“Surely you aren’t suggesting that Claw douche has a chance against a real American hero like me.” Zam exclaimed.

“Zam, you need to work on your attitude.” Lee advised.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Zam asked.

“It means you’ve got talent but you don’t have grit yet.” Lee explained.

“But Clawman’s just an X Men knock off.” Zam shouted. “He’s nothing compared to me!”

“Yep, you have an attitude problem.” Lee concluded. “I can’t help you for this fight.”

“But I’ve learned so much from you.” Zam stammered. “You can’t just abandon me now.”

“Tell you what I’ll let you earn my respect back.” Lee said.

“Okay what do you want me to do?” Zam asked.

“Wrestle a good match with Clawman and let him win.” Lee explained.

“Are you crazy?” Zam said. “I’m the real talent here.”

“So prove it by losing.” Lee concluded.

“I won’t do it.”

“Okay then get out of my gym. I won’t train you anymore. Leave!” Lee said as he pointed to the exit.

Zam shook his head and left in disgust.

The next day the match with Clawman took place. But instead of a small audience like for their first match, the little federation’s gymnasium was packed with people all wanting to see the spectacle of Clawman versus Zam Zero. Everyone in the arena was talking about the match as they had been around Oklahoma for the whole week. It had been the talk of the small Oklahoma community. And most of them wanted to see Zam get his ass handed to him. Lee had been right, Zam concluded, most people hated him on first sight.

Everybody was excited when it came time for the grudge match to begin. When Zam was announced this time, he came out to music. Not just any music but “How far we’ve come.” by Matchbox 20. This also rubbed people the wrong way. They didn’t like Zam rocking his way to the ring to pop rock music. So the crowd booed. And some started throwing toilet paper rolls at Zam. This made zero sense to Zam but he laughed. You never know how an audience will react to a wrestler. So when Zam was in the ring he just stood there and took the abuse. They have the right to express their opinion, Zam thought, It’s a free country.

Then when Clawman’s name was announced he came out to music too. He came out to the X Men theme song. And it was a hit with the audience. The crowd cheered and some sang along to the generic rhythmic music. Ridiculous right? That’s what Zam thought.

Meanwhile people continued to throw debris at Zam. Zam just laughed and shook his head. Then when he saw Clawman step through the ropes, Zam grabbed something in his trunks. They were brass knuckles. And as Clawman entered the ring Zam knocked him out cold with a cheap shot right to the skull. This happened right as the bell was being rung to signify the beginning of the match. So it wasn’t an automatic disqualification because the match hadn’t officially started. So the match was allowed to proceed, even though Zam’s opponent was out like a light.

Taking advantage of the situation, Zam dragged Clawman’s body to the center of the ring and applied a submission maneuver. It was his patented single leg Boston crab which he called the zero effect. Then Zam started yelling at the referee to do his job.

“Ask him!” he shouted. “Ask him!”

The ref looked at Zam, then the audience, then back at Zam, then he shrugged and started checking Clawman for signs of life. He raised the lifeless Clawman’s arm once and let it drop to the mat. He did that two more times to total three then called for the bell. Zam was declared the winner by technical submission. The bell rang. And people went ballistic. They booed and went back to throwing debris at Zam.

The ref patted Zam on the back and told him to break off the submission. So he did and then Zam’s hand was officially raised as the winner. Zam stood with pride in the middle of the ring, while listening to Matchbox 20 music. For Zam life couldn’t get any better. The only negative was that Lee wasn’t there. Zam had a career but he had lost a good friend in the process. But Zam shrugged it off and went back to celebrating his win. You have to take the good with the bad, he thought to himself.

A few days after his fight and win over Clawman. Zam got a text message from a local Oklahoman reporter named Haley.

“Looks like your mentor has betrayed you, Zero.” It read.

What? Zam thought. Then he checked the internet and sure enough Lee had left a huge rant about how Zam was a tool and wouldn’t be anything without Lee. He also said that Zam was just a republican toolbox and that he didn’t deserve respect. He talked about how he always knew that Zam would turn into a narcissistic selfish prick who wouldn’t do the right thing in a big match situation.

Zam didn’t understand where Lee was coming from. After all it was Lee who had given him the advice to not even bother trying to be a good guy and just embrace being a heel. Now his true colors were known to Zam. No one hated Zam on first impression. Lee just wanted to mess with Zam by giving him bad advice from the start. No one hated Zam. Lee was just jealous of Zam and wanted him to never accept the audience turning him into a face. But now that he knew that Zam couldn’t help but be happy. Without Lee trying to deceive him he might never have learned that he could be anything he wanted to be. Heel, face, or anything else in-between.

But still Zam was bothered by this deception. So Zam got on X and challenged Lee to a grudge match. Lee accepted but only if it was a no holds barred no disqualification match. But Zam refused. Zam said he would only wrestle with Lee in a by the book standard rules match. Lee laughed and called Zam a coward on X. But then Zam pointed out the obvious.

“I’m not a coward. I just want to show everyone that I can kick your butt fair and square in the middle of the ring in a by the book by the rules fight.” Zam explained on X. “Then everyone will know I’m not a bad guy. But that you taught me wrong, pal.” After that post Lee accepted the challenge. And the date was set. In one week time it would be master versus apprentice. Who would win? All of Oklahoma would have to tune in and see.