(Fifteen minutes before kickoff and Eric Dillinger’s nerves were getting the best of him. There was so much riding on this and he did not want to let down his partner, or anyone else for that matter. Yet here he was at the crux of a major historical event. Unexploded ordinance landing just outside of a populated area of San Diego. The bombs had already gone off over LA and the fallout would eventually impact the rest of Southern California. Right now, though, there was something that could be done to help millions living at the US/Mexico border.)
-=Voice=- Are you ready?
(Eric turned to find the man that would be boarding the Blackhawk with him, Luke Spears. He was a First Class. Admittedly, the two of them were not the first choice by anyone with the authority to make a decision in this situation, but they were literally the only ones available on short notice. Eric tied a bandana around his forehead and strapped his high-cut helmet on. He smiled and grabbed his gear before stepping up beside the man that would not be returning from this mission with him.)
-=Eric Dillinger=- Of course. Let’s go earn that twenty k sign on bonus.
-=Luke Spears=- You got a bonus?
*****After the match******
[Sitting in the locker-room Eric Dillinger gazed down at the Gang Wars ring gifted to him by Rupert Mudcock for surviving the literal Gang Wars. Placed on his pinky, it fit snugly despite its’ oversized, almost comedic design. It was gaudy and lavish all at once. ]
-=Johnny Rage=- You keep staring at it like you anticipate it running off.
-=Eric Dillinger=- I can’t help it. This is my first big accomplishment in wrestling. After this, who knows, I could be the Franchise Champion in a few months.
-=Johnny Rage=- Or a few days… or a year… Just make sure you cash in on it when the time is right.
-=Eric Dillinger=- And you? What are you thinking?
-=Johnny Rage=- I don’t know yet. It’s been a… long time since I’ve had a shot at the big one. I never thought I’d get this again.
-=Eric Dillinger=- And here we both are.
[There’s an uncomfortable silence as Johnny turns away from Eric and began to zip up his gear and belongings into his luggage. Pulling the ring from his pocket he zipped it away so as to not have to look at it.]
-=Eric Dillinger=- I think I’m going to cash it in after you win it. You can be the Janetti to my Mikhuls.
[Johnny laughed and turned to Eric.]
-=Johnny Rage=- If anything, I’m Bogan, you’re Ravage, and we’re just the next iteration of the Super Powers.
-=Eric Dillinger=- But before that we have got to win the tag titles.
-=Johnny Rage=- Consider them already won. The way we cut through the competition in this place there is not a team on the roster that can stand up to us, not even the champs. Now let’s get the fuck out of here. I hear Valora is still pissed about what you said.
-=Eric Dillinger=- She can eat a dick. I’m going to spend the money she paid us on building another border wall behind the other border wall.
-=Johnny Rage=- Don’t forget, you got that interview later.
-=Eric Dillinger=- I’m looking forward to it.
The interview
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- First of all, let me congratulate you on winning Gang Wars.
-=Eric Dillinger=- Thank you, thank you. That win is still very surreal. It’s definitely the biggest win of my career so far.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- And you and your partner are still undefeated in singles and tag team competition. If one were to put stock into momentum it would have to be on your side going into the Tag Team Title match.
-=Eric Dillinger=- I’m going to agree, obviously. Johnny has been my mentor since I first started training to enter into the ring. He’s seen a growth in me and, likewise, he’s not the retired guy I first met. He got back into ring shape, he’s determined, and this team is the best team in the game today.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- Certainly. We’ll talk more on Johnny Rage later, but for now I wanted to talk to you and get to know you. What did you do before coming into professional wrestling? I don’t think a lot of people know.
-=Eric Dillinger=- It seems like forever ago, but before I devoted every waking hour to combat sports I was an explosive ordnance technician in the US Navy. Deployed a few times, once for a year, the others were a few months at a time.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- That sounds… dangerous.
-=Eric Dillinger=- It was. Had a few close calls out there. Enough times to make me switch careers. I’m lucky to be here.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- And I’m sure it was a difficult time to serve what with your current president.
-=Eric Dillinger=- I don’t go for politics much. Yea, that guy says some dumb things but he also did a lot for guys like me. New VA hospitals and such.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- But the nuclear strikes that happened on US soil?
(Eric swallowed as his mind drifted back to a memory he so often drinks to forget.)
-=Eric Dillinger=- People weren’t lying when they said you asked the hard questions.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- I strive to be the best in my field, just like you.
-=Eric Dillinger=- I guess when you can’t make it as a wrestler getting behind the mic is the next best thing.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- I’m 46, twelve, and five.
-=Eric Dillinger=- Those are weird measurements.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- It’s my record and it’s more impressive than yours.
-=Eric Dillinger=- So far, but, yea, to answer your question… the nukes were terrible. Home has been San Diego for a number of years now. Fall out is destroying the area and who knows if Southern California will bounce back. Maybe the attacks could have been avoided, maybe not. To place the blame on one man is not the most conducive thing to me when I feel we should focus more on healing and making things better for American citizens.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- It was shortly after the bombs fell that you left active duty and became a wrestler full-time?
-=Eric Dillinger=- Yes. I was on the fence about it staying in for a year, but as I was getting short the contract offer came in and I had to go where my passion was. Ever since I was a kid I this is what I’ve wanted to do, a wrestler is what I’ve wanted to be. Combat sports has been my thing my whole life, too. Started with karate when I was five, progressed into Greco-Roman at ten before dabbling in MMA when I was in my teens. Pro-wrestling came after.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- What’s your MMA record?
-=Eric Dillinger=- Four-oh.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- No thoughts of ever going back?
-=Eric Dillinger=- Never. Pro-wrestling is where it’s at for me and this is where I’m going to stay.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- Is singles competition something you want to go for or will you stay with tag team wrestling?
-=Eric Dillinger=- With a Franchise Title shot looming in the far off, or not so far-off future, there will definitely be more of a singles career for Eric Dillinger. In the meantime, my focus is on the tag team division. As someone who was a fan before I was a competitor tag team wrestling has always been more exciting to watch. And as someone who competes in that genre I see that sometimes it takes more strategy than singles competition. Not only am I trying to beat my opponents, but at the same time I have to keep track of my partner and the other team member at all times. When I go for this pin will they be able to break it up? Can my partner get to me in time when I’m in a bind? What combos can we bust out? Those are the kinds of things that go through my head during every match.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- And obviously takes some deal of preparation before every match.
-=Eric Dillinger=- Which is another dynamic you don’t get with singles competition.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- The Bloodclot is a fantastic maneuver for finishing matches. How did you come to settle on it?
-=Eric Dillinger=- Johnny’s used the power bomb to put people away for years and I just thought about that prior to our debut. What could make that power bomb more devastating? A spike power bomb didn’t get the driving force down I was really looking for. A leg drop from a two hundred plus pound man on the other hand…
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- Anyone you care to face off against?
-=Eric Dillinger=- Every team in the division, of course, but at some point I want to compete internationally. There’s a really good team in Japan called the Rising Fist. Kohei Hashimoto and “Thunder” Michinoku are the reason I decided to form a tag team.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- Now that you’ve mentioned them by name maybe they’ll make the trip over to the States once it’s easier to travel.
-=Eric Dillinger=- One can only hope.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- I’m sure Johnny Rage would be up to the task. You mentioned earlier that he was your mentor and helped break you into the business. That would make you pretty close.
-=Eric Dillinger=- I would say so, yea.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- Then it stands to reason that you would know him better than most people.
-=Eric Dillinger=- I’ve known him for almost four years. I’m sure there’s others that—
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- What about the controversies surrounding his departure from wrestling?
-=Eric Dillinger=- Heh, I, uh, I had a feeling that you were going to ambush me with this.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- Ambush? It’s a simple question, there’s no need to get defensive.
-=Eric Dillinger=- I just got done telling you how important he is to me after we fought side-by-side to make wrestling history and you’re going to ask me about things that he’s not guilty of?
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- Eric, you know as well as I do that there is a great deal about that night that is unknown to the world at large.
-=Eric Dillinger=- He’s given his side of the story, there was an investigation by police, I don’t know what else there is to discuss about it beyond that hit piece your channel put out on ViewTube.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- We only know his story because *** is dead.
-=Eric Dillinger=- And what does that have to do with me?
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- Ok, let’s say he didn’t have anything to do with her death. There’s still police accounts of him assaulting her on three previous occasions and his drug use is well-documented. There are other women who have restraining orders against him to this day. How can you team with him still?
-=Eric Dillinger=- I didn’t know him then. To me, he was still “Prime Time” Johnny Rage. He was the guy on tv winning all the titles. Since I’ve met him, he’s been nothing but good to me. Great even. He called in I don’t know how many favors to get me where I am today.
-=Audrie McLaughlin=- And there’s no suspicion of using you to get what he wants? A young upstart, you can certainly take credit for None More Black being undefeated and why he’s now got a Franchise Title shot whenever he wants. Have you not heard about what his former tag team partner has to say about him?
-=Eric Dillinger=- Jerry VonMurdoch? I could care less. This isn’t then—
-=Jerry VonMurdoch=- No, you still have a chance…
(From behind a curtain comes an aged man in brown slacks and black polo with balding gray hair and large frame. One could tell by his muscle structure that he once had the body of an Adonis before letting himself go and allowing his gut to grow. Eric Dillinger stands up and throws back his chair.)
-=Eric Dillinger=- What kind of fucking hack journalism did you get me into?
(Audrie looks surprised. She looks over at Dillinger and back at Jerry before standing up and backing away. She signals to the camera to keep rolling.)
-=Eric Dillinger=- Oh, you’re going to act like you didn’t know he was going to be here?
(Jerry clearly isn’t mic’ed up for the interview, but he speaks anyway.)
-=Jerry VonMurdoch=- Kid, if you knew what I did then you wouldn’t bother with that sick, son of a bitch.
-=Eric Dillinger=- I know you had a coke and hooker problem, too, Jerry. That was then and this is now. Johnny’s clean.
-=Jerry VonMurdoch=- I’m not talking about the drug-use. I’m talking about what he did in the ring. It ended my career!
-=Eric Dillinger=- You got a book deal and convention appearances out of it, sued the national committee. You had a good ten decade in the business which is average for most. I’d say you had a good run.
-=Jerry VonMurdoch=- You just don’t get it, do you?
-=Eric Dillinger=- What’s to get? The both of you are grasping at straws to find something that’s just not there. You want to believe he killed ***, you want us to believe that there’s similarities to twenty years ago when you’re just an old man trying to stay relevant. I’m sick of this shit, I’m out of her.
(Dillinger removes his mic from his shirt and pulls the power box from his back pocket, throwing them to the ground. He pushes past Jerry who grabs him by the arm. Instinctively, Dillinger spins and throws a right that connects with Jerry’s jaw, dropping him. Dillinger looks surprised at his own punching power when he realizes that he was wearing the prized ring he won at Gang Wars. A sick smile comes across his face as he looks up over at Audrie who has quickly taken to tending to the unconscious Jerry VonMurdoch.)
On a beach somewhere in Mexico