Stutter

[Dan Herrera]

Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine.

~Elvis Presley~

[ Begin Scene I | Not What Was Expected ]

[ Setting: Dan Herrera’s Home ]

[ Location: Raleigh, North Carolina ]

[ Cast: Dan Herrera, Peaches ]

BFFT!

BFFT!

BFFT!

(The sound of the heavy bag laying in my garage could be heard ringing throughout it as I stood in front of it slamming my fist repeatedly into it. Over my headphones, “Hell’s Bells” was ringing in my ears. I stood waiting for the bag to steady again before letting go more rapid fire shots. Behind me I saw the light from inside the kitchen, just inside the garage, come pouring into the garage as I kept hitting at the bag. Peaches snuck up behind me standing with her arms crossed. I stopped hitting the bag and turned around seeing her there. She had a bottle of water in her hand. I pulled a headphone out and she handed me the water bottle.)

Peaches: What are you doing out here Dan? It’s late.

(I sighed, knowing she was right. Time had just gotten away from me. I opened the bottle and took a sip. The water was cold and crisp, the perfect break from all the work I’d been putting in.)

Dan Herrera: I know it is Peaches. I’m sorry. I just have been trying to play catch up, I guess.

(She looked a little puzzled.)

Peaches: Catchup? Why?

Dan Herrera: You saw the match out there two weeks ago. I was getting worked over for most of the match. Obviously I had some ring rust to shake off.

Peaches: Yes, and I also saw how you closed out that match. You may have started slow, but you finished strong. And that’s why you’ll be fighting again come the next Vertigo.

(I shook my head. I knew there was truth to her words, as always. But again, as always, there was doubt in my own mind that I had performed well enough to just sit back with my normal training regimen and prepare for the Blood Brothers.)

Dan Herrera: I know Peaches. But I’m not where I want to be yet. I have to work harder and I have to do it faster because the next match could be my last and if I’m not ready and where I think I should be, then it’ll all be over before it’s had a chance to start.

(She walked over putting her arm around my waist and another on my shoulder. That was before she realized just how sweaty I was. She pulled back laughing before holding my cheeks in her hands and looking into my eyes.)

Peaches: Dan. You are a great wrestler. The more you work yourself to the death, the worse you’ll feel if you lose. Trust in your talent, train as normal. If it comes down to it and you do lose, you’ll know you’ve done what you always do and maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. But don’t kill yourself before the match, go in tired, and then have to worry if you did too much.

(She smiles at me.)

Peaches: I know you. You overthink everything. And that’s fine, I love that. You always are ready for anything and know exactly what to say. But I know things too, and this is too much.

(My face shows that I hear her, but I just don’t know if I want to believe it, even if she is right.)

Dan Herrera: You’re probably right Peaches, as usual. I’ll pick up and come in in a moment. I just want to at least finish what I started tonight.

Peaches: Are you worried about the Blood Brothers?

(I nod.)

Dan Herrera: Worried, yeah. But not the same way that I was worried about Team Nox. No, I was worried about Team Nox because it was my first match back and I didn’t know how I would do. That mixed with the fact that they are a great tag team led to some serious questioning of how I was going to do in this tournament.

Peaches: And now?

Dan Herrera: And now I’m worried because I’ve seen how that match started and how I was taken advantage of. Going in and facing the Blood Brothers now… if I start like I did, there’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to recover the way I did in that match. They’re better and a tougher challenge in my mind that Team Nox was. And if I stutter, just for a moment as I did two weeks ago, then it may be game over.

(Peaches grabs my hand and leads me towards the door of the garage to go into the house. I fight it a bit at first before following her into the house.)

Peaches: You’re going to do great Dan. Don’t overthink things. If you do… THAT’S when you’ll stutter. Go out there with the fire you show when you talk to me like you are right now. Go out there confident in yourself and there’s no chance you’ll fail like you think you will. Okay?

(We stop in the kitchen where I take another water bottle from the fridge and begin to down it.)

Dan Herrera: You’re too good to me Peaches. Perhaps instead of training, you can help me go over some old match tapes then? Lend me your insight. After all, you’ve fought one of my opponents brothers a few times. Perhaps that’ll help me.

Peaches: I doubt it, but hey… why not? Let’s do it. I think that’s much more productive a use of time.

(She smiles at me as I put the water bottle down.)

Dan Herrera: I’ll take a shower and meet you on the couch in twenty minutes. How’s that?

Peaches: It’s a date.

[ End Scene I ]

---

[ Begin Promo I | Stutter ] 

Have you ever rebuilt an engine?

You know, you buy an old junker and it doesn’t run. But that’s the fun of it, right? You buy it with the sole intention of putting the pieces back together to restore the vehicle to it’s former glory. No matter the make or model, the story is always the same. You look under the hood, you find the parts that are broken and need replacing. You find the junk littered through the engine that needs to be cleaned. You go over every last detail with a fine combed brush. You think you have every base covered.

Finally, you get to the day when that old junker is to turn to a returned classic.

Now, ideally, that car would turn on, purr like a kitten, and run like a cheetah. But everything isn’t always ideal is it. Most often, you start the engine, you pull out of the driveway and as you head down the street you can feel every bit of that engine that still needs work. Sure, the car is moving. You’ve done that much at least. But without more work to the engine, it’s only a short matter of time before it will break down again. 

No, you drive that car back into your garage and park it. Then the second round of tweaks and changes are done to try and eliminate those problems and errors that you found on your test drive. Why? So that the next time you pull out of the garage, you hope, that car will drive better than most cars coming off sales lots.

In this story, I’m that old junker. I’ve been brought back to life. And at the last Vertigo was my first test run. The car did run. And in the end, that’s all that mattered. We got ourselves into the next round of the Dynamic Duos. The car was able to return to the garage.

But it’s time for a tune up. Time to decide and figure out what caused all the stuttering I had throughout that match. Decide why, only in the end was I able to finally get the car to grab onto the fifth gear and really run. 

And believe me. I’ve been going over it in my mind for past week and a half. I’ve made tweaks. I’ve adjusted things. I’ve read the manuals. Things will be different against the Blood Brothers. Things will be better, but staying with the analogy… in no way will they be perfect.

The important thing here is that they will be different. If I stutter. If I come out flat. If I can’t find fifth gear at the top of this match, I may not get the chance to climb back into things the same way I did against Team Nox. The engine has to run more smoothly this week or the car may be sent back to the scrap heap.

Why would I say I may not have the chance to shift to fifth this week? That’s a pretty simple one to answer. Grendel and Aries Reed are no jokes. I’m not trying to say that Zorro and Asa weren’t, but as you progress through a tournament like Dynamic Duos… things get increasingly harder as you go. And facing off against two more of FGA’s young upstarts will be no different. The question really rests on whether or not I will be different.

Just as Team Nox did last week, no doubt the Blood Brothers will want to knock us off this week. They look at us as old hat. And that’s probably fine. Me and Cordy have been in and around FGA for a long time. But the thing about old hats is, you always go back and wear them. If they’re there long enough to stick around it’s because they’re a favorite. Because it’s what you like and you know is comfortable. New hats, they have to be worked in. The bill has to be taught to the right curve. 

Okay, enough analogies. Basically, we’ve been around awhile, yes. But that doesn’t mean anything accept we have a wealth of wrestling knowledge that you do not. You’ve learned a lot in the time you’ve been wrestling, no doubt. And you’ve not endured the injuries or multiple of injuries that someone like Cordy or myself have yet. So perhaps you’ll be a bit more spritely in the ring than us. But the part where being a veteran helps out with that is knowing exactly how to counter when you may not be as fast or young anymore. 

You two will no doubt push me and Cordy to the limit. And as I’ve already said, my best from two weeks ago will not be enough. I have to do better. But just because I say that you’ll be a tougher test this week than I had two weeks ago, that doesn’t mean I’m throwing in the towel now.

I know who I am. I know what I can do. I know that when the bell rings and we’re all four in the ring that me and my partner have the experience edge and the skill to use that to our advantage. 

So when we see you at Vertigo, be ready for the best versions of Cordy Stevenson and Dan Herrera that has been seen yet. 

The name may be catchy, but there’s a reason behind STATUS QUO. 

We’ve made our name on this industry and we intend to keep that legacy moving forward.

You can either become the new status quo come Vertigo, or learn why we are the current.

I look forward to this test and once again stepping into that ring with a very good friend. I’ll see you two there. 

One last piece of advice that I think has to be said, don’t sleep on us before this match because we’re tattered veterans. It’ll be your biggest mistake to date.

Thank you, That is All.

[ End Promo ]