A Big Surprise

Robbie Lincoln, a 9 year old boy with dwarfism who was only 25 inches tall, liked many things. His one favorite thing that he loved more than anything else in the world was watching pro wrestling. Every Saturday afternoon he would tune in to watch his favorite wrestling stars in action.

On this particular day,Robbie was watching his favorite league known as the United States Wrestling Federation. During the show the announcer said they would be in Robbie's hometown at the local arena. Robbie was really excited because his favorite wrestler known as Tank Thomas was going to be there.

Robbie asked his folks if they would go and get tickets. Robbie and his father got in the car and drove to the arena box office to get the tickets; the tickets were pretty expensive but Robbie's parents wanted to make their son happy. This would be Robbie's first time seeing wrestling without having to watch it on television.

When Robbie and his father got home they had just gotten out of the car when Robbie's "friend" Daniel approached. Daniel was 10 and he was one of those people who said he was Robbie's friend though he occasionally picked on Robbie.

When he saw Robbie's tickets Daniel said, "Where'd ya get those?"
Robbie answered, "I got 'em today at the arena, I'm gonna go see wrestling and I'm gonna meet Tank Thomas."
Daniel said, "I wouldn't go to meet him if I were you;I hear he's mean to his fans." Daniel didn't really know if he was mean; he was only saying that to tease Robbie.

Finally the day of the event had arrived. Robbie was really excited; all day the only thing he could think about was who he would see. He was also thinking about whether or not Daniel was right about Tank Thomas not being very nice to his fans.

When Robbie and his father got to the arena it was packed! Fans were screaming and cheering and holding up signs they had made to show support for their favorite wrestler. Robbie enjoyed watching all the matches throughout the event; but Tank Thomas had yet to make his appearance.

Finally the main event of the night was about to take place. Robbie's favorite wrestler Tank Thomas would be wrestling against The Beast; a wrestler known for breaking every rule in the book. The Beast came out first. As he walked down the aisle he growled and snarled at the fans (it was part of his character) on his way to the ring.

Then finally Tank Thomas made his way out to the ring. Robbie couldn't believe his eyes when he saw him; the guy was huge!!! Tank Thomas was 6'8" and weighed in at 350 pounds; one of the biggest wrestlers in the league.

Robbie cheered as Tank Thomas tossed The Beast all over the place. The Beast's manager tried to help The Beast cheat but the referee saw it and sent his manager away from the ring. In the end, Tank Thomas won the match by pinning The Beast.

After the event was over Robbie's dad took him backstage to try to get Tank Thomas's autograph. The line was huge and Robbie's father wasn't sure if they would make it up to him in time to get his autograph. Robbie and his father went outside to see if they could catch him coming out.

When Tank Thomas came out to sign autographs, the crowd to meet him on his way out was as thick if not thicker than it was inside. Robbie did manage to make it up front where Tank could see him...but would he? Tank finally came out and the cheers were deafening. He walked right by Robbie and Robbie shouted, "Tank!!!", but the crowd was so loud and Robbie was so small that Tank didn't see or hear him........or did he?

As Robbie walked away Tank turned around and saw him walking away in disappointment. Luckily though the tickets were good for 2 shows and they were doing wrestling again the next night so Robbie's father said they would come back.

The next night Robbie and his father went back to the arena and as they were entering, a security guard came up to them and said, "Tank Thomas asked me to give you these." Robbie looked and to his surprise they were tickets for ringside seats!! Robbie and his father went inside (their tickets had been pre-paid for by Tank Thomas) and went to find their seats.

The wrestling action was just as good if not better than the night before. The final match again featured Tank Thomas only this time he would be wrestling someone bigger than him; a man called Colossus who stood well over 7 feet tall and weighed over 500 pounds (much like the late Andre The Giant.....R.I.P. Andre).

Colossus came out to a chorus of boos from the crowd which was expected since he was a bad guy. He got in the ring and waited for Tank Thomas to come out. Seconds later Tank's music played and the big guy came down the aisle. He made his way around the ring high fiving all his fans and as he approached Robbie he rubbed him on the head and said, "I'll talk to you after the matches, buddy."

Tank got in the ring and was immediately attacked. Colossus tried to overpower him with a lot of power moves and once he had Tank down; Colossus tried sitting on him but he missed and crashed to the mat. After 10 minutes of the match going back and forth Tank finally won when Colossus was disqualified for his manager getting involved in the match.

After the event was over, another security guard approached and asked Robbie and his father to follow him. The security gaurd took them backstage to a hall the wrestlers gathered in after the matches were over. Robbie saw Tank Thomas there but just like the night before he saw a whole crowd around him.

He was about to leave when he heard a voice say, "Hey kid, where ya going?" He turned around and saw Tank Thomas motioning for him to go over to him! Robbie suddenly felt nervous. What if what his "friend" Daniel said was true? There was only one way to find out and that was to approach Tank Thomas.

Robbie slowly went up to him and as he approached he couldn't help but notice just how big Tank was. Robbie looked up at him and said nervously, "uhmm.............Hi." Tank kneeled down beside Robbie and said, "How ya doing buddy? Did you enjoy the show?" Robbie was still nervous and couldn't answer.

Tank said, "You ok kid? You look like you've seen a ghost." Robbie's father told Tank that a friend of his had told him some things about Tank that made him nervous. Tank laughed, looked at Robbie and said, "Don't believe what you read in magazines or what people tell you,bud; I'm not mean to anyone and I don't let my success go to my head."

After Robbie heard that he began talking to Tank at 90 miles an hour. He told Tank on how he knew everything about him and how he had seen all his matches; Robbie said, "Go ahead, ask me anything!" Tank couldn't resist this and said, "ok kiddo, let me test you. Who did I defeat in my first match in the U.S.W.F.?"

Robbie said, "That's easy! You beat The Russian Destroyer after you used his move against him!" Tank was very impressed; every question he asked Robbie he got correct! Robbie and his father had to leave but before they did Tank said, "Before ya go kid I want to give you some stuff." Tank continued, "Here is my autograph, a USWF T-shirt and.....tickets to the next event when we come back next month."

Robbie looked at the tickets and saw a red box at the top that said "backstage" and asked Tank, "What's this mean?" Tank answered, "That means you get to come backstage again to hang out with me and any other wrestlers you want to meet after the show."

Robbie and his father thanked Tank for everything and Tank said, "I'll see ya next month kiddo, be good." Robbie said, "I will." and he and his father left to go home. Robbie was very happy he got to meet his favorite wrestler. He wondered who Tank would be wrestling next month; he was just itching to find out.

Part 2:

A month had finally passed and the day to go see Tank Thomas wrestle again had finally come. Robbie was outside when Daniel approached him. Daniel asked, "So Robbie, was I right when I told you Tank Thomas wasn't all you thought he was?"

Robbie replied, "No actually he was really cool; he gave me his autograph and everything, I have an extra ticket if you'd like to go with my dad and me tonight." Daniel agreed and that night Robbie, his father, and daniel went to the arena.

When they got to the arena and had paid for their tickets and got backstage passes they went to ringside to find their seats. As expected another huge crowd had filled the arena and the noise was ear-splitting.

Robbie had purchased a program that listed all the matches they would be seeing. He looked at who Tank was going to wrestle and said, "Uh oh!" Daniel said, "What are you saying uh oh for?" Robbie replied, "Tank is wrestling Dr. X for the title belt tonight, both guys are undefeated!"

Daniel said, "So what's so bad about both guys being undefeated?";to which Robbie said, "Dr. X is one of the toughest wrestlers in wrestling!...he knows more moves than anyone else!" Finally the bell for the opening match sounded and the event was underway.

The boys enjoyed 3 hours of great wrestling matches and it finally came down to the match Robbie had been waiting for, Tank Thomas versus Dr. X! Dr. X was a masked competitor who the fans knew little about except for the fact that he was a tough wrestler to beat.

Dr. X got in the ring and as any rule breaker would do he gloated about how he was better than any wrestler in the ring and he said he would leave the arena with the belt. Finally Tank Thomas's music played and he came down the aisle.

Tank got in the ring and when he saw Robbie he gave him a thumbs up and a friendly wink. The match began when Dr. X nailed Tank from behind his back. Dr. X tried flinging Tank into the corner of the ring but Tank reversed it and it was Dr. X who hit the turnbuckles with incredible force.

As Dr. X came out of the corner Tank lifted him up and threw him down to the mat. The crowd cheered loudly in approval for the move Tank executed. The match went back and forth several times and toward the end it looked like Tank was going to be on the losing end.

Tank had his back to Dr. X who was about to attack him from behind his back again when Robbie shouted, "Tank, look out behind you!!!" Tank turned around and out of nowhere knocked Dr. X senseless with his finishing move he called "the Tankblaster". Dr. X landed on the mat and Tank Thomas pinned him and not only won the match; but he won the heavyweight championship belt as well!!

Robbie jumped up out of his chair and jumped up and down with excitement. Tank Thomas exited the ring and went up to Robbie with his new title belt over his shoulder. Dr. X who was still in the ring got on the microphone and said in his meanest wrestler voice, "Tank, you cheated and you know it!"

Dr. X tossed the microphone out of the ring to Tank and tank said, "Nope I simply beat you at your own game." Robbie got on the microphone and said, "Yeah, what Tank said; he won fair and square." which was true because the replay of the match ending clearly showed that Tank had won the match in a fair manner.

After the event was over Robbie, Daniel, and Robbie's father went backstage to meet Tank and thankfully this time the crowd wasn't as bad. They saw Tank and went up to him; Tank kneeled down beside Robbie whom he really towered over and said, "Who's your buddy Robbie?"

Robbie said, "This is Daniel, he's the one who told me you were mean to all your fans; that's why I was afraid to talk to you when I first met you." Tank looked at Daniel in disappointment and said, "That wasn't very nice Daniel; you shouldn't be so quick to believe everything you hear."

Daniel said, "I'm sorry Tank; please don't hurt me, it will never happen again I promise." Tank laughed and said, "Don't worry Daniel, I won't hurt you, but please remember not to jump to conclusions when you hear things about me or any other famous people."

Tank continued, "To show you there are no hard feelings; I want you to have something." and he gave Daniel his autograph. Daniel thanked him and then Robbie came up to tank and said, "Congratulations on winning the belt tonight."

Tank said, "Thanks little buddy, you know if you hadn't shouted to me to turn around when you did I might not have won, Dr. X is a very tough wrestler." Robbie said, "I know, luckily I knew he was going for his sleeper hold, that's how I knew to tell you to turn around so he couldn't apply the move on you."

Robbie, Daniel, and his father had to leave the arena but before they left Tank said, "It was great meeting you Robbie; whenever you hear about us coming back come down and watch us again ok?" Robbie said, "And miss watching you defend the belt?.....That would be like eating cookies without the milk!"

All four got a good laugh out of what Robbie said. Robbie continued, "In fact, I'm gonna go reserve my tickets right now!" and that's exactly what he did. He reserved 3 tickets so that he could bring Daniel with him again.

Before they left, Robbie's father walked up to Tank and said, "I want to thank you for taking the time to meet my son; he almost he watches you wrestle non-stop on TV." Tank replied, "It was my pleasure sir, he's a great kid and I was glad to take time to make his dream of meeting me come true."

Tank walked up to the door to say goodbye to Robbie and Daniel. He kneeled down to Robbie and said, "It was good to meet ya little pal, take care of yourself ok?...and I'll see you when you come back next month." Robbie said, "Ok, and if you wrestle the Black Scorpion on TV, don't let him get you in a headlock, that's his set-up for his move, the Scorpion Head Slammer."

Tank said, "Thanks buddy, I'll remember that when I get in the ring against him when we come back here next month." When Robbie heard that he said, "Dad, you have GOT to bring me here when they come back; I just have to see that match!!!"

Robbie's father laughed and said, "You've got the tickets so we will be here, don't worry." Robbie, high fived Tank and again thanked him for everything. Then he, his dad, and Daniel left to go home.

The End