3 Who is Danger?

He opened one eye and looked at me before closing it again.

"You swear this isn't being published anywhere?" He eventually asked.

"I swear." I said.

He let out a long sigh before he started. "Something a lot of people don't know about me is that I started fighting in these matches the year I turned 16. Most people only know about me from the year later, when I won my first Championship," he said.

And he was right. I had no idea that Danger fought when he was 16. And I'd been doing extensive research on him for the past week.

"When I first fought I went under a different name. My real name. In a way I'm kind of regretful that I did that. I wish I'd gone under the name Danger the first time around and my real name now. That way...I dont know maybe it would feel more like it was actually me, my real self winning all these trophies." He said.

"Why didn't you? Go by your real name now, and Danger before I mean?" I interjected.

"Because I thought I'd win...and because my first fight was....brutal. I came in too confident and that was my downfall. The guy I was fighting was twice my size with twice the amount of experience I had. But I figured, hey he's probably also twice my age, I could probably take him...my fight didnt even last a full minute. That was my saving grace."

"How come?" I said.

Because they don't air fights that last less than a minute. That's how I knew how quick it was." He said with a wry laugh.

It was at that point that I realized, maybe I needed to do more research on these matches because I had no idea they didn't air all the fights.

"That's why no one knows about it. I was so humiliated that I hardly told anyone, and when I came back the following year, I changed my entire persona. No one even recognized me. I kept my head down, trying not to make the same mistake twice, and somewhere along the way I realized, I had a real shot at winning....and then, somehow I did. It's all a blur these days if I'm being honest. Sometimes I'm still in shock about how much my life has changed since then," he said.

At this point his eyes were open and he was staring at the ceiling. His eyes were glassed over as he recalled his first fight.

I was silent for a second. Not even recognizing that he was done and I could move on to the next question until he looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

I didn't mean to zone out, I was just in a state of surprise. I came to the match today not expecting Danger to let me interview him. And now that I was here, I definitely didnt expect him to be such an open book.

"Right next question." I said quickly, "how do you feel about today's fight? How are you feeling at this very moment?"

He slowly turned his attention back to the ceiling and was quiet for a moment before he answered.

"Honestly....I feel like shit.