Route 69: A Post Mortem

Wow, so Route 69 is published. I actually finished the series back in January of 2014 (yes, 2014!), but obviously it only counts when it's posted. When I started, I didn't really think I would make it to the end, but after the sixth or seventh story, I started to feel like I had to complete it. It became a bit of an obsession.

Yes, I became obsessed ...

With finishing their story, that is!

In fact, my desire to see it 'published' was actually the main driver for me to launch a blog. I really wanted to have it out there and let folks read it all. Then it drove me to launch this New Stories blog, instead of just The Cave and waiting to post new stories until I caught up.

I just couldn't wait to catch up

I realized that even at an incredibly aggressive pace, I wouldn't reach season 3 of Route 69 until late summer or the fall. Because of how interconnected the stories were, I needed 36 stories between The Cave (9), Route 69 (18), The Cave Undercard (6) and The Adventures of SuperStar (3) to be posted BEFORE Route 69: Springfield IL in order for the narrative to make complete sense.

Don't believe me? Well, Los Angeles is based on Beau beating SuperStar (AoS3), which has to happen after Xaq fights Jae and makes him decide to be SuperStar. Xaq needs to lose to Camo and Mako in the Undercard. And the series can't even start without The Cave, where Ben is introduced. Ben even references meeting Cody in the Arlington story.

So given that it had been over a year since I finished writing, waiting another 6 months to start the final nine stories really wasn't an ideal situation.

I think Sean from Inner Jobber gave me my favorite description of Route 69: "A super-sexy wrestling soap opera." That made me very proud, as have all the guys who have said they feel like the characters are real people. Now that it's all posted, I wanted to re-visit it a little of the process of getting there. Kind of like my own "The Making of ..." post.

How It Started

You can thank Alex R. and Bard for the series. After The Cave 7 –The Out-of-Towner, Alex R had posted:

“Great choice on the model for Ben. His body and face are just hot! […] And I hope you also bring back Ben. Maybe he gets curious about the cave. […] That bubble butt would be awesome to see back!”

At the time, I knew Ben would be back in two more stories, but I appreciated the comment. Then Bard posted the following after he shared The Cave 9 –Three’s Company:

“I'd just like to add to the response to Three's Company how infatuated I am with the character Ben. He's the smallest man in the ring, and he nearly takes both of the big studs with an incredibly hot strategy and focus. He has to calibrate quickly at the beginning of the story, assessing these two sexy studs, their unknown (to him) history, their potential for alliances vs. grudges. And he's instantly not only game, but all-in. I'm dreaming of what he gets up to when he gets back to NY.”

That’s all it took, a couple of people praising Ben to get my mind working. 

Ben's first appearance was from a hotel room on Cody's iPad

Is it any wonder people wanted to see more?

As I’ve already blogged about, this happened at the same time I experienced the Route 66 TV show for the first time. The two things came together in my brain and bam, here we are two+ years later at the end of a 27-part series.

Thinking back, I realize that if I’d used a numbering system, the stories would have been limitless, but ironically I probably would’ve written a lot fewer. But by using the alphabet, it meant I knew there should be 26. It made me think about the fact that I needed an official end point. Z would be it, so the story had to move towards something.

So, why the alphabetic rotation of cities? That’s a simple one to answer. I started with “Route 69 1”, but numbering a title with a number in it seemed really weird. So I switched to letters. Using city names was a simple solve for a story about a long road trip.

Why are there 27 (not 26) stories? I typically write in ones or threes, which is why there are 15 AWL stories, 9 original Cave stories, 27 R69 stories, etc. Why? Who knows, I’m just wired that way. You could definitely look at Zanesville as one story, in the same way that Arlington and Baltimore are one story with two matches, but my official position is that we have 27 stories across 3 seasons.

The Outline:

A story like this doesn’t work without some planning.

I did try to work things out

Below is my outline. It’s generally close to the end product, although the final stories are a fair bit off.

Opening Arc: Ben finds his passion, Jeff gets back in the game

Arlington VA - Ben is lost, Jeff is directionless, Jeff finds old love, brings Ben along

Baltimore MD - Ben's first show, friendship explored 

Charlotte NC - Ben: past meets present, meets old boyfriend who wronged him

Dallas TX - Jeff gets his first big break 

El Paso TX – Ben finds a new kink, loses to cowboy with bondage fetish 

Fort Worth TX – Jeff finds his old kink, private wrestling club, faces owner

Gettysburg PA - Ben meets Dylan, new romantic interest, Jeff gets a big chance, but has to fight huge pro wrestler guy to get in 

Harrisburg PA - Ben has fun, casual web personals type match like vs Cody, Dylan coaches Jeff on how to get ahead, casually probes on relationship with Ben 

Indianapolis IN – Jeff: past meets present, why Jeff stopped wrestling, grudge match with former promoter

At the End of Arc 1: Ben knows what he wants/Jeff takes a step forward

Second Arc: Ben rises, Jeff falls

Joplin, MO - Ben wrestles to win his first new client, wins second client overall 

Kansas City, MO - Jeff vs the main face of the ROW, Jeff gets fucked for first time 

Los Angeles CA - vacation crossover with The Cave ... Ben vs. Jae, Jeff vs. Cody, Ben/Jeff vs. Ryan/Cody - multi-parts?

Miami FL - Ben/Dylan sex tag team vs. older personals couple, Dylan shows vicious side but Ben doesn't see it 

Naples FL - Jeff vs Kyle in locker room, main face on Kyle's side, Jeff fucked again 

Orlando FL - Jeff, seeking redemption, goes against a big, tough guy from personals, loses for fourth time this season, Dylan comforts/subtly plants seeds wrestling not for Jeff

Philadelphia PA - Ben/Dylan vs. personals guys, Dylan vicious again; angry, depressed, drunk Jeff gets into street fight, wins 

Quincy MA - Jeff wins a sex revenge match vs main face, but loses to Kyle politically 

Rochester NY - Ben on road, wins third client, Jeff is fired, Ben has to keep traveling, Jeff wants to go home, guys go their separate ways

At the End of Arc 2: Ben rising fast, Jeff heading home

Final Arc: The End of the Road - Ben succeeds, Jeff realizes his dream

Springfield MA - Months later, Ben and Dylan on their own, get into trouble, have to wrestle out of it, Ben up to six clients, proving self 

Trenton NJ - Jeff back doing construction, tricked into working for old federation in NY, realizes he has to fight to get ahead and that he loves wrestling 

Utica NY - Ben learns Dylan is a snake, Ben vs. Dylan then vs. Kyle

Virginia Beach VA - guys re-unite, return to CLAW, Ben and Terrence re-match, Jeff fights and fucks new guy who makes fun of him getting fired from ROW 

Washington DC - Ben/Terrence re-connect vs. ?, Jeff gets new offer WWL developmental, goodbye to CLAW 

Xenia OH - Jeff fights guy in new fed, Ben gets job offer from WWL, turns it down, wants to stay independent

Youngstown OH - Jeff finds a friend in new fed, Ben beats and de-collars from Beau 

Zanesville OH - Jeff gets revenge on Dylan and Kyle in hard fought battle, gets big contract from WWL, happy ending 

Zanesville OH - Ben meets older bodybuilder owner of WWL who doesn't like the fact he turned them down, Ben too rich to buy off so wrestle for Ben's services vs. access to WWL talent for Ben's clients, Ben wins, Terrence surprises Ben, happy ending

At the End of Arc 3: Ben/Terrence partners in life and business, Jeff makes it to the WWL

So as you can see, it’s reasonably close at the start then it veers off into new territories. Why did things change? Usually that happens when I start writing. The path just leads me in unexpected directions. For example, I knew by the time I was writing the end that Beau was popular, so I decided to put him against Jeff instead of Ben. I also decided against introducing some drama with a Vince McMahon-type character.

Beau earned his shot at Jeff

Casting

Ben was set from The Cave and I felt confident creating a spinoff for him because Adam Ayash is such a popular model. But Steve Kuchinsky was NOT the original Jeff.

What might’ve been …

Yes, Alex Pirolozzi was the original Jeff. I think he’s hot and he looks like a tough, street-wise guy to me. I loved the fact that he had younger and older pics out there, which allowed for some different time periods, too. I even hunted for Adam Ayash pics where he looked younger so I could use them together.

It was only when I decided on the alphabet that I realized that there would be so many stories. I liked Alex, but he doesn’t have anywhere near enough images out there. So rather than re-use the same ones over and over, I knew I needed another option.

You could've been a star, baby

Alex R had sent me Steve Kuchinsky and he has a ton of pics out on the web. I worried he was too blond and too pretty to be Jeff, but it seems to have worked out.

Street tough pro wrestler? I had my doubts.

I felt bad for changing the model, so I re-used Alex for Route 69 S103: Charlotte NC so all this work wasn’t in vain.

Match History

One of the interesting things to me is that Ben and Jeff ended up with nearly identical records. I didn’t plan it that way. Ben finished 13-6, while Jeff finished 12-6. Both guys went on a winning streak at the end, which I did deliberately. It was to correspond with their rising fortunes, although that might be rationalizing. By this point, I probably just liked them too much to have them lose.

Here’s a match summary:

Ben Wins: A, C, D, E, H, L, M, S, T, T, W, X, Z1 

Ben Loses: B, E, J, O, R, U 

I'm not counting these as Ben matches, even though he saw action – C (past), G, I

Jeff Wins: B, D, F, I, M, O, P, Q, U, V, Y, Z2 

Jeff Loses: A, G, K, L, N, X

Ben’s losses are pretty evenly spaced, but half of Jeff’s take place in a four-story span at the start of season 2. That was intentional to show he was headed for trouble, which I know some eagle-eyed readers caught onto.

Timing

I didn’t start out thinking about timing, but I quickly realized that I better work it out or I’d be in trouble. So I mapped out a schedule that would hopefully make sense with the stories.

Timing was key

To keep the story in shape

It helped me with ages. The guys couldn’t stay 25 forever. It helped me with weather and thinking about things like Jeff being outside in Utica in March. Cold. Or checking to see if it’s realistic to have outdoor wrestling in October in Odessa. It is. So here’s how their year-long journey mapped out:

Hit the Road - Saturday June 1

Arlington - Monday June 3 

Baltimore - Friday June 21

Charlotte - Tuesday July 2

Dallas-El Paso-Fort Worth - Monday July 8-Sunday August 4 

Gettysburg-Harrisburg - Wednesday August 7-Sunday August 11

Indianapolis - Saturday September 7 

Joliet - Wednesday September 18 

Kansas City - Saturday September 21 

Los Angeles - Wednesday September 25 

Monterrey - Sunday September 29

Nashville - Saturday October 5 

Odessa - Friday October 11

Philadelphia - Saturday November 2 

-- Jeff birthday 26 

Quincy - Saturday November 9 

Rochester - Monday November 11

Springfield - Sunday February 9

Toledo - Friday March 7 

Utica - Saturday March 22

Virginia Beach - Friday April 4 

Washington DC - Saturday April 5

Xenia - May 17 

Youngstown - May 24 

-- Ben birthday, turns 26 

Zanesville - May 29-31

My Favorite Things

So everyone has their favorites. Just because I wrote all the stories doesn't mean I like them all equally, or in some cases at all. But let's focus on the positive. My three favorite Route 69 stories are:

#1 - Toledo OH. Absolute number one. I enjoyed writing the action. I enjoyed the "twist". I'm just really happy with how it turned out. And, it was probably the biggest factor in my decision to start this blog. I finished it in December 2013 and really wanted it to be shared. 

#2 - Indianapolis IN. The second story in Jeff's voice, I thought I did a good job with that. But mainly I liked the action, the villains and Ben helping his buddy out. It's a great example of what Route 69 was all about. 

#3 - Xenia OH. From the opening setup to the fun of the Dante character, I really enjoyed writing this one a lot. I'm really happy with how it unfolded kind of randomly, from the simple act of joining a gym to a coincidental reunion to the full-on sex stakes tag match with the underdogs winning.

My favorite lines ...

"Jeff and I are family. More than family. When it comes to him, you've got no idea what I'm capable of." - Ben, Toledo OH

"He threatens to sue me for decimation of character. No wait, that's not it. Whatever." - Jeff, Indianapolis IN

"Now there's a theory I'd like to test." - Ben (shamelessly stealing from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Springfield OH

My favorite secondary characters ...

I think the guys that stood out for me are the ones where I was able to develop a character for them, rather than having them just in for plot purposes.

Kyle (Indianapolis, Nashville, Toledo)

Dante (Xenia)

Lou (Indianapolis)

Jin (Zanesville (Ben))

Well, that’s it. More information than you ever wanted to know about Route 69.

This isn't the end of Jeff ...

or Ben in my stories

What's Next

I do have plans to revisit this world. I’ve developed a spinoff series, which I'm hoping to debut in September. I have nine stories mapped out, but I will warn you that neither Ben nor Jeff narrate or even wrestle in these stories. It's tonally different and should present a bit of a challenge for me.

So, what is it? As a reward for making it this far, I'll give you a hint.

Thanks for reading all these Route 69 stories. I hope you enjoyed the series!

Alex