The Cast: Who's Who (April)

Here are this month's models ...

AWL: The Trials of Colt Hill

3: Colt Hill - Scott Hall (pro wrestler)
3: Kirk Manning - Curt Hennig (pro wrestler)
3: Shane - Shaun Michaels (pro wrestler)
3: Marky - Marty Jannetty (pro wrestler)

AWL: The Rise and Fall of Nikolai Khruschev

1: Nikolai - Nikita Koloff (pro wrestler)
1: Vladimir - Alex Koslov (pro wrestler)
1: Jack Justice - Magnum TA (pro wrestler)

Alex Miller's Vault: Flag vs. Flag

The Challenge

The first pair of non-solid trunks I bought was patterned off the Canadian flag. I’d like to say my motivation was national pride or maybe having a piece of home while I lived in the USA, but that wasn’t really it. No, my inspiration to cover my crotch in my home country's flag was the super-hot Canadian heels Petey Williams and Bobby Roode dominating TNA at the time. I wore my new trunks proudly with white boots, knee pads, and a white, lace-up mask with a red maple leaf that framed the eye and mouth holes.

The Cave 10: Riddle's Return

BZZT! BZZT! As I’m pulling on my white bathrobe after a nice long shower, my phone rings. I’ve been waiting for a call back from a prospective wrestler, so even though I don’t recognize the number, I grab my phone, throw in my earpiece and answer the call, saying “Yo, it's Ryan.”

The Cave Undercard 2: Skull vs. Thunder

“Can we talk about Shawn now? Like I said, he’s beefy, strong and pretty athletic. Plus, he was really cool. Great guy. He's not working right now, so he's flexible on schedule. I worked him out a little. He could use a little seasoning, but –”

The Cave Undercard 1: Mako vs. Spartan

“Ugh. I hated that guy. He's only 19, but thinks he knows everything. He was a total fucking punkass, wannabe heel. I can’t even stand how he spells his name. Zach should not be spelled X-A-Q! The less said about ‘Xaq’, the better. Fuck, he sucked. On a brighter note, I’ve got a guy I really liked –”

Ryan interrupts me. He says, “Wait, wait, wait. Cody, I want to go back to Xaq.”

AWL: The Rise and Fall of Nikolai Khruschev

"One, two, three. Odin. Dva. Tri. Yes, no. Da. Nyet. I vill preak you, capitaleest svine. Odin. Dva. Tri. Da. Nyet. Comrade. Tovarisch."

Route 69 S109: Indianapolis IN

Route 69: Indianapolis IN

"Jeff Case? JEFF!"

Who's callin’ me? Aw fuck, no. I see two guys. A young long-haired dude, but I don't know him. He's not the problem. No, the problem is the other guy. Lou. I wish I fuckin’ didn't know him, but I do. What the fuck is Lou even doin’ here? Is he actually comin’ over? For serious? I can't believe it. Last time I saw him, he was droolin’ on a concrete floor. I’d just knocked him out cold with one punch.

Inspiration: "Ryan" Wins a Belt

Pro wrestler Mike Bennett is my model for "Ryan". He had the biggest win of his career a couple of weeks ago. He and his tag partner Matt Taven won the IWGP heavyweight tag belts over in Japan. They're part of The Kingdom, a heel faction in ROH that also includes the awesome Adam Cole.

Mike Bennett aka The Cave's "Ryan"

Route 69 S108: Harrisburg PA

Route 69: Harrisburg PA

"What the -?" I blurt out softly.

My name's Ben and I'm surprised at sight of the pile of tangled bodies I see as I open the connecting door and look into my best friend's dark motel room. Last night, Jeff, an aspiring pro wrestler, got a huge break. He and I did a tag match for the Ring of Wrestling, a pretty big federation. Afterwards, we went out with some of the guys, but I left Jeff in their hands and turned in early, knowing I've got a commitment this morning.

I must have really crashed, because here in the next room, things clearly got wild. After all, there are three male wrestlers, including Jeff, and five women crowded into the two double beds, which are pushed together. All of them are passed out naked, clothes lying haphazardly around the room. There are liquor and beer bottles strewn around the room. The smell of sex, booze and cigarettes almost overwhelms me.

Route 69 S107: Gettysburg PA

"This is cool, Jeff. Right?" I have a hopeful tone in my voice as we finish packing up my car in front of the long-term hotel in Arlington VA that we’re calling home.

My best friend Jeff sighs, replying in a monotone, "Sure, Ben, it's cool."

AWL: The Trials of Colt Hill 3

My name is Colt Hill. With my partner, Kirk Manning, I currently hold the tag team title in the American Wrestling League, one of the biggest federations in the country. We have national television and prominent stars. In fact, last year we were named the top tag team of 1983 by Pro Wrestling Report.

March Blog Results

I’m a total geek for charts, rankings and the like. I regularly go to BoxOfficeMojo for box office results. Zap2It for TV ratings. Comichron for comic book sales. So now that I have my own blogs, I’m looking at the results. I'm sharing the total page views, but I thought that it might be cool to share more for any other geeks like myself. I liked when Joe would occasionally post his top posts, so I've done that and more.

Of course the numbers are low, but they’re much higher than I expected. I never knew how many guys were reading my stories before, but I figured it was 10-20 guys. Now, I see page views and comments. Anyone with a calculator can see I'm averaging about 400 page views per day between the two blogs. I don’t see unique visitors, but I’m making some guesses based on my lowest viewed stories that it's still a pretty decent number.

In these monthly results, there is an inherent bias against older stories that I've re-posted, as The Cave stories get about 60% of the views of the posts on New Stories. As well, recently posted stories have had less time to gain page views, but most of the page views and comments happen within the first week, so these are pretty good rankings.

So, here are the results for Feb/March, my first month of operation …

Top Series by Average Page Views per Post (across both blogs)

#1 Reviews (1 @ New Stories)

#2 Route 69 (3 @ New Stories + 3 @ The Cave)
#3 Superheroes (1 @ Cave)

#4 The Cave (3 @ New Stories + 9 @ The Cave)

#5 AWL (3 @ The Cave)

The Cave: Top Stars by Average Page Views

#1 Danny Chase (1 story)

#2 Cody (7)

#3 Ryan (4)

#4 Colt Hill (2)

#5 Ben (5)

Alex Miller New Stories: Top Stars by Average Page Views

#1 Ben (3 stories)

#2 Dylan (2)

#3 Jeff (2)

#4 Jae (3)

The Cave: Top 5 Stories/Posts

#1 Superheroes: Bane of My Existence

#2 The Cave 1: Meet the Bat
#3 The Cave 3: Grudge Match

#4 AWL: The Adventures of Danny Chase 1

#5 Route 69 S103: Charlotte NC

Alex Miller New Stories: Top 5 Stories/Posts

#1 Route 69 S301: Springfield IL
#2 Review: Superman vs. Guido Genatto (CameronWrestler)

#3 Route 69 S302: Toledo OH 
#4 The Cave: Adventures of SuperStar 5

#5 The Cave: Adventures of SuperStar 4

Top 5 Traffic Sources (both blogs combined) – THANKS!

#1 Inner Jobber

#2 Barbaric Brawn

#3 The Cave/Alex Miller New Stories (my blogs direct to each other)

#4 La Sustancia P

#5 Bearhugger.net

So that’s the tale of the tape for March. Once I get a larger sample, I think it’ll be more interesting (for me, at least) on the character/franchise side. I’m interested to see if I can determine elements that drive popularity and repeat readership.

If you have a comment, please feel free to post it. If this is just interesting for me and my OCD, that’s okay, too.

Alex

Route 69 S106: Fort Worth TX

Ben goes, "Awesome, thanks for the perspective, Jeff. I feel a lot better."

Then I'm like, "Cool."

Ben signs off, "Love you, buddy. See you in a few days."

"Cool, bro. Later." And we're done. Ben's my best friend. I helped him solve a problem, but now I gotta problem that I need to deal with, too.

I get naked then grab a towel and go to the sofa. I start jerkin’ my dick, thinkin' about what Ben was sayin'. It doesn't take long before I pound out a load. The towel can't take it, so my cum gushes through the small cloth, right onto my hand. I don't normally choke my meat after talkin' to Ben, but fuck, he got me horny talkin' about what's he's up to right now.

Route 69 S105: El Paso TX

Fuck, Texas is a big ass state. I'm not a moron. I knew this, but somehow it didn't really hit me until now. I've been on the road for seven hours in blistering heat and I'm still not across this fucking state.

When my buddy Jeff and I decided to head to Dallas for a month, because of his job as a pro wrestler, I figured I'd drop by on a few friends. "You're in Texas, I'll be in Texas! I want to see the place." Big mistake. They've set up an alternative energy farm out here, east of El Paso. They're idealistic science geeks, but they've got backing and their work looks promising. I know what you're thinking. Actually, that's a lie, I have no idea what you're thinking. I know what I'm thinking. Rural west Texas and alternative energy. What? They don't seem to go together, but whatever.

Either way, I didn't realize that I'd be in for this kind of drive or that it would be unseasonably warm, even for Texas. They have a pool, horses, bikes and all sorts of amenities, so at least I can look forward to a relaxing vacation. I brought my iPad loaded with books to spend the days just lounging while they work on their experiments.

I left the main highway long ago, moving onto smaller and smaller roads. For the last fifteen minutes, I've been running along a dirt road in my vintage 1958 Corvette convertible, which was not designed for off-road. My phone lost GPS signal five minutes ago and I think I'm hopelessly lost. Just as I decide to turn around and backtrack, I hit something in the road. I pull over and see that I have a flat. Motherfucker.

Route 69 S104: Dallas TX

"You trying out?"

I'm getting in my morning workout, doing my own thing, when I suddenly feel the presence of two muscular pro wrestlers flanking me.