06-28-2022, 10:21 PM
June 27th, 2022
Portland, Oregon
The Return…
SCW Interviewer Jessica Winters has been granted access to the home of long-time professional wrestler, Daniel Ashmore, a/k/a "Devious" Danny Darko, for an interview. He currently resides in a studio apartment in the downtown of his hometown of Portland, OR. The place is a bit cluttered and has the appearance of what one would consider a bachelor pad. As Danny escorts Jessica to the couch where the interview will take place, she takes it all in and you can sense her disbelief.
"Alright, Ms. Winters, this is the best place I got for this. Sorry it's not ideal," Danny says while motioning to the couch. He has got a scruffy look about him, almost appearing to not be taking much care about his looks.
Jessica smiles and takes a seat. "It's really alright. No need to apologize. I have a lot of questions to ask you and if this is where you feel comfortable doing so, then so be it."
Danny takes a seat across from her on the ottoman. "You have a lot of questions, sure. I hope that my answers aren't disappointing. It's uh…been a while since I've done something so formal." He shifts in his seat and looks rather uncomfortable.
Sensing his discomfort, Jessica asks, "Would you like to sit next to me on the couch? I don't mind being that close to you if it would help make for a better interview."
"Are you sure? I unfortunately don't have very many seating options here. I'm usually just here alone. I honestly never thought I'd be sitting here doing this interview."
Jessica nods and he takes a seat next to her.
"Now that you're comfortable, let me start with the fact that you just said you live here alone."
Danny shrugs. "Yeah, what about it? (pause) Oh right…you don't know about any of my life from the past few years. Sometimes it's hard for me to remember that I haven't exactly been a public figure. Why would anybody know about anything that's happened to me? Um…"
Sensing that Danny is unsure of how to continue, she chimes in. "The reason I'm surprised that you're living not only alone, but here in Portland, is that the last time you were a public figure and an active wrestler, you were living in Brooklyn with your wife, Vanilla Skyy."
Danny's eyes grow wide for a brief moment before he runs his right hand slowly through his jet black hair. "Right. Of course. Wow, it's really been that long, eh? (pause) WELL, shortly after Vanilla and I left Emerge and began to settle into our retirement, she uh…she disappeared. I have…no idea what happened to her or where she went. Given some of the enemies she and I made, it's anybody's guess what happened to her."
Jessica can't believe what she's just been told and she sits there stunned until Danny continues.
Danny's tone grows darker and more tense as he explains. "I mean, I have some theories about what might have happened to her. My only hope, if you call it that, is that she's an extremely strong woman so I'm sure she's okay…"
"Are you okay? That sounds awful. From what I gathered from a distance, you two seemed like you would-"
Danny holds his hand up to pause her. "I know what you're about to say, but this happened over two years at this point and I've exhausted all avenues of finding her. For all I know she just decided to leave it all behind and doesn't want to be found."
"How is it possible that we heard nothing about it? She was quite a famous wrestler, after all."
Danny shakes his head. "When you no longer wrestle, the world doesn't give a fuck about you anymore. It's just the way the world works. Many in the mainstream see us as nothing but freaks. Even if some of us become huge stars in our field, Hall of Famers, amazing accomplishments…it doesn't get us anywhere but on the fringe of mainstream media consciousness."
"Be that as it may, you still would think that we…" she notices he has his head buried in his hands and stops talking.
Danny looks up with a rather blank expression. His demeanor is now flat and quiet. "I've been alone for a couple years now. I moved back here a couple of months ago and told myself that I need to get my shit together. (pause) I have wasted the past couple years of my life wondering if and/or when I would wake up and find Vanilla right there beside me…"
Jessica seems to acknowledge his need to move on from that topic. "Why have you made the decision to sign with Supreme Championship Wrestling, then?"
Danny sighs deeply and collects himself. "The only thing I've truly even been any good at is fighting. I don't have any grand proclamations to make about how I'm going to become the best damn SCW World Champion or anything like that. I have come to SCW just to do something with my life."
Winters seems rather puzzled by that statement.
Danny arches his eyebrows and smiles. "You were expecting something else, weren't you? (pause) I suppose after roughly 20 years of calling myself such names as The Ace Of Annihilation and The Guru Of Gore, that is what you figure I'd bring with me upon my re-entry into the madness that is professional wrestling. Nah, the fact of the matter is I've just missed being around all of this. So I'm just here to wrestle and have a good time. If success comes with that, then all the better!"
Although a bit surprised by this unexpected attitude, Winters nevertheless persists. "You could have chosen any number of companies if that was all you were looking for."
Danny laughing says, "That's a good point, but how cool is it that I'm finally here? I've competed for the bulk of the past 20 years and SCW has almost been around just as long. What finally got this idea in my head, though, was the connection that SCW had with Emerge. (pause) You likely are aware that I was the Assistant GM for a while in Emerge until The Unforgiven came around and…yeah, the less said about all of that the better. No Cindy Todds or Willow Wilkes or Typhoid Marys around here, yeah? Ahhh, the point I'm trying to make is that we would put on these shows and got a lot of direction from SCW about how things should be. And I always told myself that one day, just maybe, I'd finally sign with SCW and see first hand what I've been missing."
He takes a sip of water and continues with great enthusiasm.
"In my first SCW match, I have the honor of teaming up with the legendary Glory Braddock. Which is funny to me since my last match before I retired was against Julia Braddock. Life is quite peculiar sometimes. I promise you, Glory, that this soon to be 43 year old veteran is going to give it everything he's got. Fingers crossed it will be enough."
Winters gets up off the couch and Danny does the same.
"Alright, I think that'll do it, Danny. Welcome to SCW at long last."
Danny nods and once she's gone he mutters under his breath, "I sure hope I don't embarrass myself…."
Portland, Oregon
The Return…
SCW Interviewer Jessica Winters has been granted access to the home of long-time professional wrestler, Daniel Ashmore, a/k/a "Devious" Danny Darko, for an interview. He currently resides in a studio apartment in the downtown of his hometown of Portland, OR. The place is a bit cluttered and has the appearance of what one would consider a bachelor pad. As Danny escorts Jessica to the couch where the interview will take place, she takes it all in and you can sense her disbelief.
"Alright, Ms. Winters, this is the best place I got for this. Sorry it's not ideal," Danny says while motioning to the couch. He has got a scruffy look about him, almost appearing to not be taking much care about his looks.
Jessica smiles and takes a seat. "It's really alright. No need to apologize. I have a lot of questions to ask you and if this is where you feel comfortable doing so, then so be it."
Danny takes a seat across from her on the ottoman. "You have a lot of questions, sure. I hope that my answers aren't disappointing. It's uh…been a while since I've done something so formal." He shifts in his seat and looks rather uncomfortable.
Sensing his discomfort, Jessica asks, "Would you like to sit next to me on the couch? I don't mind being that close to you if it would help make for a better interview."
"Are you sure? I unfortunately don't have very many seating options here. I'm usually just here alone. I honestly never thought I'd be sitting here doing this interview."
Jessica nods and he takes a seat next to her.
"Now that you're comfortable, let me start with the fact that you just said you live here alone."
Danny shrugs. "Yeah, what about it? (pause) Oh right…you don't know about any of my life from the past few years. Sometimes it's hard for me to remember that I haven't exactly been a public figure. Why would anybody know about anything that's happened to me? Um…"
Sensing that Danny is unsure of how to continue, she chimes in. "The reason I'm surprised that you're living not only alone, but here in Portland, is that the last time you were a public figure and an active wrestler, you were living in Brooklyn with your wife, Vanilla Skyy."
Danny's eyes grow wide for a brief moment before he runs his right hand slowly through his jet black hair. "Right. Of course. Wow, it's really been that long, eh? (pause) WELL, shortly after Vanilla and I left Emerge and began to settle into our retirement, she uh…she disappeared. I have…no idea what happened to her or where she went. Given some of the enemies she and I made, it's anybody's guess what happened to her."
Jessica can't believe what she's just been told and she sits there stunned until Danny continues.
Danny's tone grows darker and more tense as he explains. "I mean, I have some theories about what might have happened to her. My only hope, if you call it that, is that she's an extremely strong woman so I'm sure she's okay…"
"Are you okay? That sounds awful. From what I gathered from a distance, you two seemed like you would-"
Danny holds his hand up to pause her. "I know what you're about to say, but this happened over two years at this point and I've exhausted all avenues of finding her. For all I know she just decided to leave it all behind and doesn't want to be found."
"How is it possible that we heard nothing about it? She was quite a famous wrestler, after all."
Danny shakes his head. "When you no longer wrestle, the world doesn't give a fuck about you anymore. It's just the way the world works. Many in the mainstream see us as nothing but freaks. Even if some of us become huge stars in our field, Hall of Famers, amazing accomplishments…it doesn't get us anywhere but on the fringe of mainstream media consciousness."
"Be that as it may, you still would think that we…" she notices he has his head buried in his hands and stops talking.
Danny looks up with a rather blank expression. His demeanor is now flat and quiet. "I've been alone for a couple years now. I moved back here a couple of months ago and told myself that I need to get my shit together. (pause) I have wasted the past couple years of my life wondering if and/or when I would wake up and find Vanilla right there beside me…"
Jessica seems to acknowledge his need to move on from that topic. "Why have you made the decision to sign with Supreme Championship Wrestling, then?"
Danny sighs deeply and collects himself. "The only thing I've truly even been any good at is fighting. I don't have any grand proclamations to make about how I'm going to become the best damn SCW World Champion or anything like that. I have come to SCW just to do something with my life."
Winters seems rather puzzled by that statement.
Danny arches his eyebrows and smiles. "You were expecting something else, weren't you? (pause) I suppose after roughly 20 years of calling myself such names as The Ace Of Annihilation and The Guru Of Gore, that is what you figure I'd bring with me upon my re-entry into the madness that is professional wrestling. Nah, the fact of the matter is I've just missed being around all of this. So I'm just here to wrestle and have a good time. If success comes with that, then all the better!"
Although a bit surprised by this unexpected attitude, Winters nevertheless persists. "You could have chosen any number of companies if that was all you were looking for."
Danny laughing says, "That's a good point, but how cool is it that I'm finally here? I've competed for the bulk of the past 20 years and SCW has almost been around just as long. What finally got this idea in my head, though, was the connection that SCW had with Emerge. (pause) You likely are aware that I was the Assistant GM for a while in Emerge until The Unforgiven came around and…yeah, the less said about all of that the better. No Cindy Todds or Willow Wilkes or Typhoid Marys around here, yeah? Ahhh, the point I'm trying to make is that we would put on these shows and got a lot of direction from SCW about how things should be. And I always told myself that one day, just maybe, I'd finally sign with SCW and see first hand what I've been missing."
He takes a sip of water and continues with great enthusiasm.
"In my first SCW match, I have the honor of teaming up with the legendary Glory Braddock. Which is funny to me since my last match before I retired was against Julia Braddock. Life is quite peculiar sometimes. I promise you, Glory, that this soon to be 43 year old veteran is going to give it everything he's got. Fingers crossed it will be enough."
Winters gets up off the couch and Danny does the same.
"Alright, I think that'll do it, Danny. Welcome to SCW at long last."
Danny nods and once she's gone he mutters under his breath, "I sure hope I don't embarrass myself…."