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THE TAG TEAM WRESTLER

 

If you want to know about tag team wresting, you want to know about heat.

 

They call it the heat segment. That period when our hero suffers unimaginable physical

punishment, his partner impossibly out of reach as the crowd sweet reprieve.
waits for

 

They call it the hot tag. That moment when the tag is made and the fresh man gets in, fists flying,

house of fire, capable of overcoming any two-on-one disadvantage.

 

But the Tag Team Wrestler knows the hottest part of all comes in between. He ducks a

clothesline, bounces off the ropes, and hits a spinning heel kick. Now two men are down and

inching for the tag they need to get out of harm’s way. In this moment, the villain's might prevails,
cutting off that final hope. In that moment, the hot tag feels imminent. In that moment, the fans
know rapture.

 

In that moment a single bead of sweat slides down the face of the man waiting in the corner, arm
outstretched to his partner. Arm outstretched to God almighty, he pleads.

Michael Chin was born and raised in Utica, New York and his hybrid chapbook, The Leo Burke Finish, is available now from Gimmick Press. He won Bayou Magazine's Jim Knudsen Editor’s Prize for fiction and has work published or forthcoming in journals including The Normal School, Passages North, and Hobart. He works as a contributing editor for Moss. Find him online at miketchin.com or follow him on Twitter @miketchin

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