03x07 - World Pacific Wrestling

[bunniefuu]

[SOFT MUSIC]

[GRUNTS SOFTLY]

♪ ♪

[SIGHS]

- Text Randall.
- [PHONE CHIMES]

Hey, buddy.

Jet lag set in.

I'm overtired like you were

before your family capped your screen time.

You want to walk the grounds with me?

Question mark. Send.

Randall's phone is set to do not disturb.

- Notify anyw...
- Notify anyway.

[SNORING]

[CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING]

♪ ♪

[GRUNTS]

Prime Minister.

What are you doing up so late?

Uh, It's : .

Oh, yeah.

Well, I usually go to bed by : ,

so my body clock is way off.

I'm sorry.

Well, are you hungry?

I could have the chef fire something up.

No, I'm good. I'm good. Thank you.

I will take a cup

of that amazing Gjelgjiughm coffee, though.

Uh, decaf, if you have it.

Absolutely. Decaf's on the right.

All right.

You know, it is the jet lag.

Usually, I never have a problem sleeping.

[SCOFFS] Not me.

Feels like I never sleep.

Have a seat.

Thank you.

- Stresses of the job.
- Mm.

You have a lot of people depending on you

to make the right choices for your country.

Yeah.

Well, here.

BOTH: Cheers.

- Mmm.
- Mm?

- Mmm.
- [LAUGHS]

- [BOTH LAUGHING]
- That is good.

You know, a lot of good people
back in the U.S.

would love a cup of coffee like this.

Aw, thank you. We're very proud of it.

- Yeah, you should be.
- Yes. Yeah.

Dwayne, you're used to being in charge.

Is that a role
that you eased into right away?

You know, I think it came naturally for me.

When I saw what my parents
went through when I was a kid.

Running the show, as you know,
takes everything you got,

and they found that out when they opened up

a rival wrestling promotion
opposite my grandmother.

I call to order the first official meeting

of World Pacific Wrestling.

Co-founder and superstar
Rocky Johnson, present.

Co-founder and booker Ata Johnson.

Are you making a sandwich

during the first official meeting of WPW?

I'm making Dewey's lunch.

Co-founder, booker, and mom
Ata Johnson, present.

Venue all set for our first match?

Yep. Kalani Community Center.

How's the logo coming?

[CHUCKLING] Oh...

I silhouette well, don't I?

Did you have the artist pump up your calves?

Course I did.

You know that's an area of insecurity.

- [LAUGHS]
- How's advertising going?

Great.

Got us on Terry and The Chief's radio show.

Mm, we'll sell the hell out of our show

and ruffle a few feathers
down there at PPPW.

My mom is gonna regret the day

she ever chose Lars over family.

Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad.

- Hey.
- Hey, son.

- Here you go.
- Thank you.

Oh, Mom, can I get a Snickers?

I need that after-school energy
boost before I start work.

That's my boy.

Get that education and some compensation.

I'd gotten a job at Polynesian Pro Wrestling

with my grandmother before
this family conflict began.

And as you may expect,
it got a little tricky.

So how's it going working
for that other promotion, Dew?

Any nuggets of information you want to give

to the people who brought you
into this world,

provide you with shelter?

Dad, you know I can't share that.

Can you share it with the people

who provide you with food?

Rocky, don't hold our son's lunch hostage.

I keep my work life
and my personal life separate,

like Superman.

What if I just ask about your grandma?

How is she?

[DRAMATIC WESTERN MUSIC]

She's well.

♪ ♪

I'm glad.

Gotta run. Gonna miss the bus.

[g*nsh*t ECHOES]

Guess I didn't raise no rat.

[LAUGHS]

Let's get back to business.

Look, if we're gonna b*at my mom,

we need a great roster of wrestlers.

So who we got locked in?

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

Hey, hey. You're my first call.

You are my first call.

First call, Bubba.

How would you like to be a part
of something special?

Something iconic.

[FRENCH ACCENT] Something extraordinaire.

[NORMAL VOICE] Come wrestle for WPW.

World Pacific Wrestling.

Soul man and wife.

Mother[BLEEP], you owe me one.

So what do you say?

Some guys were too afraid of crossing Lia,

too afraid of upsetting Vince McMahon,

too afraid to follow their own heart.

But not you guys.

Yeah, you should be proud of that.

- You four...
- Five.

You five are the cream of the crop.

And we are honored to have you
as the inaugural roster of WPW.

Hey, I'm honored to be here.

As long as Lars Anderson
won't be near this ring,

I'm a happy man.

The way he wears his trunks / ,

that ain't right.

Hey, what's that streak in your hair?

You trying out some kind
of man skunk persona or...

Nah, Rocky said he'd let me do

my "touched by a ghost" gimmick

where I was visited by
the ghost of an evil wizard.

And the scar from our battle
is this white streak,

the mark of the ghost.

OK.

So for our first show,

you'll all be wrestling in the tournament

for the WPW championship belt.

And as a twist,
the loser of the previous match

becomes the referee for the next one.

- All right.
- Yeah.

- Like that.
- People love a meddling ref.

[LAUGHS]

These receipts really tell a story.

Our biggest expenses:

baby oil, baby powder, and beer.

Yeah, get wet, get dry, get loaded.

[LAUGHS]

Bruno, you might just be a genius.

I'll tell you what.

I certainly ain't getting paid like one.

I work my tail off every single day, man.

I barely make a thing.

Hey, how much you getting paid, Dew?

Uh, I... I'd rather not.

I'll tell you how much I make.

I'm not asking you to tell me that.

Oh, come on.

- Dewey.
- [SIGHS]

Coming, Grandma!

So nice morning with your parents?

I guess.

They were busy having a meeting about WPW.

Mm.

About what, my grandson?

Sorry, Grandma.

Easier if I keep work at work

- and home at home.
- Oh, very...

[SPEAKING NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE] Of you.

- Smart boy. I understand.
- Thanks.

I wish my dad was as cool
about it as you are.

What do you mean?

He was asking me
a bunch of stuff about PPPW.

But I didn't tell him anything,
so it's all okey do key.

[TENSE MUSIC]

I was afraid this would happen.

I can't have you in a position
to reveal PPPW secrets.

[SIGHS]

I'm sorry, Dewey,

but you are fired.

My grandmother was in charge

and had to make tough decisions.

Screwed over by your own boss.

Mm.

Means you became a man today, son.

It's just like what happened with us,

choosing business over family.

It's OK, Mom.

I respect her decision.

She didn't want me to be in
the middle of our family w*r.

- [SCOFFS]
- It's not a w*r.

It's a healthy disagreement.

And I'm more worried about you.

With your dad and I trying
to get WPW off the ground,

there's no one here
to watch you after school.

I'll be fine by myself.

I use the oven.

Could come work for us.

Family business.

That's a great idea.

Yeah, totally.

What's your offer?

[DRAMATIC WESTERN MUSIC]

"Offer"?

Grandma taught me to know my worth.

[LAUGHS]

Well, we can't afford to pay you, Dewey.

I'm afraid that's a deal-breaker.

Well, I'm afraid you're gonna have to go

to the after-school program
for kids with working parents.

No! Those kids are weird.

- And they're always...
- It'll just be until we get

this promotion off the ground, honey.

And then things will go back to normal.

[GROANS]

[LAUGHS]

It looks like someone overplayed his hand.

Hey, we all ready to go on
Terry and The Chief tomorrow?

Oh, born ready.

People love a rivalry,
so let's poke the bear.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

When you're starting a new business,

you gotta make a splash.

Bundy won't do clotheslines anymore.

Said it strained his rotator cuff.

Tell him we'll give him a bottle

and we will call him King Kong Baby.

Welcome back to Terry and The Chief,

here with Rocky and Ata Johnson

in studio to talk
about World Pacific Wrestling.

And you've got a tournament

for the brand-new WPW title coming up.

It's the first ever referee's revenge format

where the losers of each round

become the referee for the next match.

You won't see that at PPPW,

where all the refs look like Rick Moranis.

- [LAUGHS]
- I love Rick Moranis.

WPW is the future of Hawaiian wrestling.

PPPW is stuck in the past,
like the Bee Gees.

I hate the Bee Gees.

But how do you b*at Lia Maivia

when she taught you everything you know?

She taught me everything she knows.

Now I got some things to teach her.

[BANGS TABLE]

[SCHOOL BELL RINGS]

Meanwhile, after school...

Welcome to the latchkey kids program.

Why don't you go find a seat?

And don't choke on anything
till after you leave.

♪ ♪

And just like I thought,

it wasn't my crowd.

♪ ♪

But my parents were riding high.

You sold your ass off in there!

- [LAUGHS]
- The Bee Gees?

Damn.

My mom hates the Bee Gees.

- I know that'll rile her up.
- [LAUGHS]

We're back with a surprise caller.

It's PPPW's Lia Maivia.

Ata thinks she and Rocky are

the future of Hawaii wrestling.

Well, if having only four wrestlers

is the future, it's not a bright one.

- [LAUGHS]
- Whoa, whoa...

Was that an earthquake?

Because someone sounds shaken up.

Is that a snake I hear?

Somebody's rattled.

Lia, you came on to make an announcement.

- Is that right?
- My partner, Lars,

has made a deal with
National Wrestling Alliance

promoter Jim Crockett.

All his big stars...
Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes,

Sting... not the musician...

Are coming to wrestle for me.

[SIGHS] Those are some heavy hitters.

Our hitters are heavy.

Or am I confused?

Is this not the man I married?

Sometimes a man needs to see
a well-lit photograph

of his topless body to get back on track.

Let's go put my fabulous torso
up around town.

[LAUGHS]

But in their excitement,
they forgot about one thing.

Hey.

Thought you left.

Just getting some fresh air
while I wait for my parents.

How late are they?

Who said they're late?

- Fine, they're really late.
- Been there.

Want to walk to -Eleven with us?

[ROCK MUSIC]

[BELL DINGS]

♪ ♪

Oh, man.

Out of Moon Pies.

New kid has to go ask

if they have any more in the back.

That's rules.

Excuse me.

Do you guys have
any more Moon Pies in the back?

We don't sell Moon Pies.

- Wait. Where'd they...
- [BELL DINGS]

There you guys are.

The lady said they don't have them.

Yeah, well, we changed our minds anyway.

Whoa.

So, like, you guys aren't worried

you're gonna get in trouble or anything?

Even if we did,
our parents are too busy to care.

So we do what we want.

- Want any?
- No, I'm... I'm OK.

I'm more of a Snickers guy.

[TIRES SCREECHING]

Bang. [LAUGHS]

Still never lost him.

-year streak continues.

Sorry we're late.

We were on our way to school and saw you.

An hour and a half late?

We lost track of time putting up posters.

But to make up for it...

Yes!

Your mom already ate
half your fries, though.

Um...

So I chose to forgive and forget.

And it helped that my parents'
hard work ended up paying off.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

Look at this crowd.

I knew people would show up,

but I didn't know how good it would feel.

- People of the islands...
- OK, go get ready.

Welcome to World Pacific Wrestling's

Thursday Night Fever!

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

Making his way to the ring,

Soul man Rocky Johnson!

♪ I'm a soul man ♪

[SAM & DAVE'S "SOUL MAN"]

♪ I'm a soul man ♪

♪ ♪

That night left no doubt.

My parents were at the helm
of a promotion on the rise.

[ALL CHANTING] Rocky! Rocky! Rocky!

Man, when the crowd is hot,
people sound like , .

I was impressed with Jake's refereeing.

So authoritative.

Bruno.

Let me guess.

My mom sent you to thr*aten us
with smashed watermelons?

No, no, no.

Ain't nothing like that, all right?

Lia doesn't even know that I'm here.

I got some, uh... information

that may be of interest to you.

[TENSE MUSIC]

There's problems down at PPPW.

Lia's promotion ain't
no rose garden right now.

Started last Saturday after the match.

I ain't doing it.

- You're gonna do it.
- I am not doing it.

Lars told Jim Crockett
that after next week's match,

the plan is to have
Ric Flair lose to a PPPW guy.

Only problem is, Crockett ain't letting

his champ lose to anybody
outside his territory,

- certainly not on TV.
- [SLOW MOTION] Not on TV.

So Crockett tells Lars, you know,

if folks down in Carolina
got a hold of that footage,

it could ruin the entire
story line for Flair

down in the Southeast.

And as we know, Lars is more stubborn

than a black bear at dawn.

So here's where things get weird.

♪ There is just one Schlitz ♪

No, I am not gonna do it.

♪ Nothing else comes near ♪

♪ When you're out of Schlitz ♪

♪ You're out of beer ♪

That actually happened?

That actually happened.

What kind of beer was it?

I think it was a pilsner.

Point is, Crockett pulled his guys

from PPPW shows effective immediately.

So now you got Flair, Sting, Dusty,

all down in Hawaii
with no one to wrestle for.

And they're all up for grabs.

And... so am I.

Bruno, you making a move?

Listen, all right,

I took a peek at Lia's payroll last week.

And I may not be a proud man,
but certainly got my limits.

PPPW is on the ropes.

If we can reel in those NWA wrestlers,

it could be our knockout blow.

[BOTH LAUGHING]

[SCHOOL BELL RINGS]

So... Burger King dinner, huh?

Yeah, it was pretty great.

OK, that was a bribe.

Fast food, negligent parent go-to.

No, it wasn't.

My parents are just busy

getting their business off of the ground.

- You guys wouldn't get it.
- Really?

'Cause my parents, they're ER doctors.

And they're never around
because they're busy

"saving lives" or whatever.

And Tanner's mom is a city comptroller.

No idea what she does.

I guess I just assumed you guys were poor.

Nope.

Well, Heather is.

How about you? You guys poor?

- Well, we didn't used to be.
- But I guess we are now,

even though my parents say
it's just temporary.

Hey, temporary is how it starts.

And that's usually how it stays.

OK, look.

It sounds tough, sure.

But after a while, you get used to it,

and it doesn't upset you anymore.

While I pondered my future,

my parents were thinking
bigger about theirs.

Thank you for the gift bags.

One weakness of my guys

is they're always forgetting
their sunscreen.

[LAUGHTER]

Whoo!

The Nature Boy loves a healing plant.

At WPW, we value the well-being

of everyone we work with.

You don't have to give us
the hard sell, Ata.

You match the contract we had with Lia,

Flair, Dusty, Sting,

we'd love the chance to work here.

Welcome to the WPW family.

- Cheers.
- WPW.

- Cheers.
- Cheers.

A little gut check.

Since when can we afford these guys?

Simple. We book a larger venue,

and with them on the bill, we can fill it.

That means more money for us,
plenty to pay them.

That arena by the university
seats a couple of thousand.

That's a healthy serving of fannies.

Hey, no risk it, no biscuit.

Crockett said that, and I liked it.

Oh.

♪ ♪

Every red-blooded wrestling fan

in the Hawaiian Kingdom
is asking the same question.

What does Lia Maivia think

about those Crockett
wrestlers working for WPW?

- Buckle up.
- Sounds like a big win

for my daughter and son-in-law.

OK... Lia Maivia here in studio

offering her grounded opinions.

What was that about?

- My mom didn't react at all.
- That was weird.

Actually, it doesn't matter what she thinks.

- Look how far we've come.
- [CHUCKLES]

- Leveled up.
- And then some.

The arena made us sign
a three-show agreement.

It's a big financial commitment,

but if we pull this off,

we're taking over wrestling in Hawaii.

I need some Clearasil.

You just gave me goose pimples.

With the Jim Crockett wrestlers on the bill,

my parents were able to fill that arena,

and I was so proud of how far they'd come.

- Look at this crowd.
- [WHISTLES]

Thing of beauty, eh?

Now entering the ring, Dusty Rhodes...

- Excuse me, Dewey.
- [WHISPERING INDISTINCTLY]

And Rocky Johnson!

That's right, baby!

Here we go, baby! [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

Yeah!

[YELLING INDISTINCTLY]

We are here!

You got this, Dad!

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

♪ ♪

Oh, yeah, baby!

♪ ♪

[SIGHS]

Baby, I'm so proud of you
for pulling this off.

And I'm so proud of you for helping me

officially sell out this place.

Whoo! Sellout!

[BOTH LAUGHING]

Rocky, we did it.

We did.

That was a very good show.

Mom, what are you doing here?

Paying you compliments.

Thank you?

But it's going to be extremely hard

to pull this off again.

We're not afraid of the challenge.

Well, it will be quite challenging

without those wrestlers.

What are you talking about?

I heard you signed the Carolinas

to the same contract they had with me,

the one that states they can only wrestle

two shows outside their territory.

That's not...

True? It is.

And they've completed their shows.

And now you have a big, expensive arena

for two more shows,

but no wrestlers to sell tickets.

How unfortunate.

That's why you didn't
fight back on the radio.

You said that you had
some things to teach me.

Looks like I still have
some things to teach you.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

My grandmother's revelation
had my parents on the ropes.

We've invested too much money
and resources into the WPW

to stop now.

We're really gonna do this?

Do we have a choice?

Hey, Dewey.

Come in here for a sec.

So your father and I
are financially committed

to that big arena for two more matches.

And since we lost those NWA wrestlers,

we have to save money and cover any costs

just in case we can't sell
the place out this time.

So that means making some sacrifices.

And in our case,

it means moving to a smaller place.

But you said once WPW was up and running,

things would go back to normal.

And they will.

It's just taking us a little longer

than what we thought.

We do have a place.

But it's basically a studio apartment.

Also called an efficiency for some reason.

It's where everything is, like, in one room.

All of us in one room?

[SOFT MUSIC]

Well, it's too small for the three of us,

so we talked with your grandma

and decided it was in your best interest

if you go stay with her for a bit.

♪ ♪

Regardless of any differences

that we have with my mom,

we all love you.

And that goes above anything
we have dividing us.

♪ ♪

OK.

I'll go pack.

Guess he's taking it in stride.

Well, he's growing into
a pretty resilient kid.

Looking back, I completely understand

how being in charge of WPW

had put my parents
in a very difficult position.

They had to make really tough decisions.

Got any Moon Pies in the back?

♪ ♪

I just wish I had realized it at the time.

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

I was about to start down a path

that I'm not exactly proud of.

♪ ♪

I guess you're in the middle of this now.

My family had no idea what was coming.

♪ ♪

Anyway, I've got a million stories,

and you've got a million things to do,

so I'm gonna wrap this up.

But I really appreciate
you sharing your story.

It felt kind of nice, you know,

living in someone else's reality,

even for just a little while.

Well, thank you for the amazing cup

- of Gjelgjiughm coffee...
- Absolutely.

And I will see you in the morning.

Excellent.

- And by the way, Dwayne...
- Mm-hmm?

I know that that's your real agenda here,

to talk about a coffee trade deal.

Taft's trade deal,

the one that I already said no to.

How'd you know?

You might want to tell Randall

not to record his audio notes so loudly.

Just know that I am willing to hear you out.

I respect you, Dwayne.

And I am sure that you are gonna be

more thoughtful of our
situation than Taft was.

Well, thank you, Prime Minister.

And I will certainly try.

- You have my word.
- Great.

- We'll talk in the morning.
- We will.

- Good night.
- Good night.

Hey, I just got your text.

I didn't miss a late-night
heart-to-heart, did I?

Yep. I'm going to bed.

But now I'm up.

You don't want to walk the grounds anymore?

Nope.

Try not to leave yourself

any loud voice memos.

What does that mean?

You know what it means.

But now I'm up.

Think that's a good idea!