What's Beef?

saturday, june 10

the beefcake house

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Las Vegas was filled with scum bags. The worst of them were signed to Razor Wrestling. Jack McGrath was learning this very quickly. But, this Sunday he would only be focused on one of them, Daisy Duke, the scum that had pepper sprayed McGrath after his most recent match. His anger had passed, leaving total determination.

He was currently proving his grit at The Beefcake House, the GRBG sponsored ‘fitness center’. The facility was pure filth, but the whole zero-dollar registration fee for Razor personnel made the decision an easy one. While Jack was ripping dumbbell shoulder presses, he was interrupted by a guttural yell, “You’ve been here for nearly three hours! How the hell are you still pushing this weight?!”




Jack dropped the load and turned his attention to the legendary Stu Royd. The 5’3’’ red-faced gym owner stood way too close to Jack, tilting his head, waiting for an answer. McGrath slowly took out his headphones, and simply mouthed, ‘what?’

The hyperactive Stu responded quickly, talking a mile a minute, “Hey, buddy! You can call me Stu! I’m the top dog around here. Welcome to Las Vegas! Hanky-baby tells me you’re a new recruit out of Boston?!”

McGrath let out a smirk, and calmly replied, “Thanks for taking care of us wrestlers. You mind giving me a few more minutes, and then maybe we can catch up?”

“Definitely, definitely, definitely!” Stu belted back. “And, good luck with that trailer trash on Sunday!”

Jack nodded and popped his headphones back in. He wasn’t going to need luck to dispose of Daisy Duke. She had made a grave mistake with the cheap shot, and now he was going to make an example out of her.

Stu interrupted once again, jolting back in front of McGrath. “Oh! One more thing… if you ever need any of the good stuff, just let me know! I’ve got it all.”.

The hulking pro-wrestler stepped closer towards the smaller gym owner. “Listen up, buddy. I’m here to put in real work. None of this fabricated bullshit. I’ve worked too hard, and too long to pump my body full of nonsense. So, I’d appreciate if you get out of my face, and let me finish my workout.”

A cold glare flashed across Stu’s face, as he stepped even closer to Jack. “You listen up. Nobody talks to me that way. This is my kingdom. If you’re going to play here, you better play nice. This is your only warning.”

McGrath ground his teeth, took a deep breath, and replied, “You got it.” He realized he was nearly 3,000 miles from home, and alone. He didn’t need to create unnecessary enemies. Even though he could dispose of this leprechaun within seconds.

Stu patted him on the shoulder and said, “Good. I’ve got many connections here in this city, so you’ll want to stay on my good side. I hope you understand.” McGrath nodded, as Royd trudged away.

When McGrath came out to Vegas the plan was always to keep his head down, and hammer away. No distractions. No interruptions. He was going to stay the course, and continue to get bigger and better every day. Hopefully, this conversation with this maniac wouldn’t act as a detour…