Breathe in, Breathe out.
Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 12:36 pm
A little bit of anger management.
Daniel Bryan agitatedly ran a hand through the shortly cropped hair on the top of his head. An iPhone was pressed up to his ear as he stared out the sliding glass doors that led out to the balcony of his home in Port Townsend, Washington. The ocean was less than a mile away and it was beautiful, a very relaxing sight to behold on any given day - except this one.
Daniel Bryan: What do you mean I had better re-sign my contract with Vince? I didn't realize that I was giving up such a great job, seeing as, oh I don't know, you left too?
Port Townsend was a two and a half hour drive from his home town of Aberdeen. It was also a much higher income community and the city was doing much better than Aberdeen, which had begun to deteriorate in recent years. He loved his home town, but he got out the first chance he could afford to with the money he had made in the WWE.
Daniel Bryan: Oh I see, so it's okay that you and your sister can go perform at high school gyms for pennies on the dollar as long as I can pick up the check at the Melting Pot with my fat WWE contract, right?
Bryan practically spit out the letters of the company he was still involved with. He could feel himself getting hot under the collar at the conversation he was having with his girlfriend. In the last several months, Vince had made a drastic change to the pecking order of his flagship show. In an effort to take back the lead in the Monday night ratings war between the WWE and the EBWF, Vince had decided to go back to formula. The guys that were 6'3" and higher were all gradually moving to the front of the line, while the little guys like Daniel, who had been in a main event spot for a good year, got pushed back down the card. It was an aggravating and enraging experience to see all the hard work that he had made getting over in that company go down the toilet. His contract expiration was two days ago, and he had no intention of re-signing.
Daniel Bryan: You have got to be kidding me. You're going to break up with me, OVER THE PHONE, because I'm rolling the dice on a new job. What the hell is wrong with you? You've seen the way they've been treating me.
Daniel paced back and forth in front of the sliding glass door. His digits were so tightly clenched around his phone he thought he might crush it if he got any more angry. He took some deep breaths through his nose and tried a different approach.
Daniel Bryan: Look. Babe. Why don't you come up to the house for a couple days and we'll talk about it, alright? I'll make you dinner and we can discuss--
He was cut off mid sentence. His eyes narrowed and and he bit his bottom lip hard.
Daniel Bryan: A lot of GODDAMN nerve you have insulting my vegan diet when you're named after a fucking block of cheese.
His eyes widened as he heard the telltale two beeps from his iPhone that indicated that the other person hung up. He gritted his teeth, clutching his phone tightly. Without a second thought he reared back and threw his $700 smartphone as hard as he could at the sliding glass door.
Daniel Bryan: BITCH!
His iPhone violently crashed through the glass and sailed clear over the balcony, leaving behind only a pile of broken shards on the ground. Daniel stared at the damage to his door and the obvious financial implications of his rage began to sink in. He angrily pounded his fist on the granite countertop of his kitchen island, ignoring the pain that it caused. His breaths were coming in heavy and erratic.
Daniel Bryan: Keep it together, Danny. Keep. It. Tog---ah, who am I kidding?!
Daniel turned around and leaned on the kitchen island for a moment, blankly looking out the large, gaping opening in the glass door where his phone exited. As if on cue, a small shard of glass fell to the ground with a small clink. He sighed heavily, instinctively reaching into his back pocket. Time to call someone to replace his glass door. Then he should--
Daniel Bryan: Ohhh, right. Phone's gone.
He walked over to the wall and took his cordless phone off the charger. He hadn't used this stupid thing in ages, the only reason he had it was for his security alarm. He went through a stack of business cards he kept in one of the drawers of the kitchen until he found the two he needed. He dialed the number on the first one.
Daniel Bryan: Hey Barry, it's Daniel. Not bad, sir. Yeah, I need a new sliding glass door. No, phone this time. Yeah. I'll pay it. Actually, let's do dual pane this time. Might be cheaper if this happens again. Yeah, sounds good. 12:30 on Saturday? Fine, great. Take care.
He hit the end call button on his phone then produced the second business card. Yeah, there's no way he was going to turn this down now. The phone rang and picked up.
Daniel Bryan: Stephanie? It's Daniel Bryan. Listen, how soon can we meet? I really need to work, and I want to work for you.
EBWF, here I come.
Daniel Bryan agitatedly ran a hand through the shortly cropped hair on the top of his head. An iPhone was pressed up to his ear as he stared out the sliding glass doors that led out to the balcony of his home in Port Townsend, Washington. The ocean was less than a mile away and it was beautiful, a very relaxing sight to behold on any given day - except this one.
Daniel Bryan: What do you mean I had better re-sign my contract with Vince? I didn't realize that I was giving up such a great job, seeing as, oh I don't know, you left too?
Port Townsend was a two and a half hour drive from his home town of Aberdeen. It was also a much higher income community and the city was doing much better than Aberdeen, which had begun to deteriorate in recent years. He loved his home town, but he got out the first chance he could afford to with the money he had made in the WWE.
Daniel Bryan: Oh I see, so it's okay that you and your sister can go perform at high school gyms for pennies on the dollar as long as I can pick up the check at the Melting Pot with my fat WWE contract, right?
Bryan practically spit out the letters of the company he was still involved with. He could feel himself getting hot under the collar at the conversation he was having with his girlfriend. In the last several months, Vince had made a drastic change to the pecking order of his flagship show. In an effort to take back the lead in the Monday night ratings war between the WWE and the EBWF, Vince had decided to go back to formula. The guys that were 6'3" and higher were all gradually moving to the front of the line, while the little guys like Daniel, who had been in a main event spot for a good year, got pushed back down the card. It was an aggravating and enraging experience to see all the hard work that he had made getting over in that company go down the toilet. His contract expiration was two days ago, and he had no intention of re-signing.
Daniel Bryan: You have got to be kidding me. You're going to break up with me, OVER THE PHONE, because I'm rolling the dice on a new job. What the hell is wrong with you? You've seen the way they've been treating me.
Daniel paced back and forth in front of the sliding glass door. His digits were so tightly clenched around his phone he thought he might crush it if he got any more angry. He took some deep breaths through his nose and tried a different approach.
Daniel Bryan: Look. Babe. Why don't you come up to the house for a couple days and we'll talk about it, alright? I'll make you dinner and we can discuss--
He was cut off mid sentence. His eyes narrowed and and he bit his bottom lip hard.
Daniel Bryan: A lot of GODDAMN nerve you have insulting my vegan diet when you're named after a fucking block of cheese.
His eyes widened as he heard the telltale two beeps from his iPhone that indicated that the other person hung up. He gritted his teeth, clutching his phone tightly. Without a second thought he reared back and threw his $700 smartphone as hard as he could at the sliding glass door.
Daniel Bryan: BITCH!
His iPhone violently crashed through the glass and sailed clear over the balcony, leaving behind only a pile of broken shards on the ground. Daniel stared at the damage to his door and the obvious financial implications of his rage began to sink in. He angrily pounded his fist on the granite countertop of his kitchen island, ignoring the pain that it caused. His breaths were coming in heavy and erratic.
Daniel Bryan: Keep it together, Danny. Keep. It. Tog---ah, who am I kidding?!
Daniel turned around and leaned on the kitchen island for a moment, blankly looking out the large, gaping opening in the glass door where his phone exited. As if on cue, a small shard of glass fell to the ground with a small clink. He sighed heavily, instinctively reaching into his back pocket. Time to call someone to replace his glass door. Then he should--
Daniel Bryan: Ohhh, right. Phone's gone.
He walked over to the wall and took his cordless phone off the charger. He hadn't used this stupid thing in ages, the only reason he had it was for his security alarm. He went through a stack of business cards he kept in one of the drawers of the kitchen until he found the two he needed. He dialed the number on the first one.
Daniel Bryan: Hey Barry, it's Daniel. Not bad, sir. Yeah, I need a new sliding glass door. No, phone this time. Yeah. I'll pay it. Actually, let's do dual pane this time. Might be cheaper if this happens again. Yeah, sounds good. 12:30 on Saturday? Fine, great. Take care.
He hit the end call button on his phone then produced the second business card. Yeah, there's no way he was going to turn this down now. The phone rang and picked up.
Daniel Bryan: Stephanie? It's Daniel Bryan. Listen, how soon can we meet? I really need to work, and I want to work for you.
EBWF, here I come.