The shot opens in front of Knox Middle School in San Diego, California. A 1992 Pontiac grand am, formerly gray in color, is parked in front of the gated lot. The rising sun shines down upon the school as the students trickle into the building. Other cars are pulling up behind and in front of the grand am every minute or so, dropping off their children before driving off to the drudgery of their 9-5 job. Charlie’s front passenger window is down, and he’s trying to strike up conversation with the kids walking past. He has a ten dollar bill in his hand that he is waving around. A small envelope lays on the empty passenger seat.

Hey kids! Hey! Come here! Want to make ten dollars?

Most of the children walk by Charlie’s car as quickly as possible, but one young girl in a pink dress approaches the car.

Hey there kid! Want to make ten dollars? All you gotta do is deliver this envelope for me.

Charlie picks up the envelope from the seat.

You know Miranda Estrada?

The girl shakes her head side from side horizontally.

Well then get the fuck out of here! Go on! Get!

Charlie yells at the girl and she runs off, terrified and sobbing. A few more minutes pass with Charlie calling out to more kids. After a bunch of strike outs, one very thin boy in a retro Phillip Rivers jersey approaches the vehicle

You said ten dollas?

Yeah, yeah! Smart kid. Do you know Miranda Estrada?

Who?

You know, Miranda! She’s a little Mexican girl. A bit of the heart of Africa in her. Terrible home life.

The boy looks around at the other kids, mostly brown and black, walking into the school.

You gotta be more specific than that, homie…

Look, all you got to do is deliver this letter to her! She needs to know she has a savior!

You some kind of pastor or Jesus freak?

Boy don’t you know what’s going on in this world? Haven’t you seen the news? The hashtag? Save our children. In that school of yours a young girl is being sex trafficked by a gang. Thugs. Absolute scum. This isn’t a joking matter. Miranda’s father gifted her to one of his gang buddies, who is a known criminal, drug dealer, and likely sexual predator. We need to save this little girl. Can you give this letter to Miranda Estrada?

Charlie offers the envelope and ten dollar bill through the window. The kid shrugs and takes it.

Yeah, sure. I gochu big homie.

You’re a hero, kid. It’s people like you and me that are going to save this world from the evil thugs that are preying on the children. You’re wise beyond your years, kid. This is the fifth school I’ve been to this week, but you’re the only one who’s had the GUTS to stand up to sex traffickers and help me fight back. Take that letter to Miranda. Let her know she has a father at the ready. Let me know when she gets it...I’ll be right here!

Charlie salutes the kid. The kid snickers then walks off. A satisfied smile spreads across Charlie’s lips. He leans back into his chair and nods at the big man above. He reaches into his pocket and takes out his iphone. He goes to youtube and starts watching some Reggie Estrada promotional videos. As the minutes go by he grows angrier and angrier with every clip. His face is a beating red and his brow his furrowed in frustration. He reaches into his dashboard and pulls out his dash cam. He sets the dash cam up on his dashboard. Once he turns it on the audience point of view switches to the dashcam.

I'm pissed off folks. Just watch this.

Charlie holds his phone up to the dash cam and plays a short clip from one of Reggie's first promotional videos since he returned to XWF.

Reggie Estrada Said:Dolaria: Chicho, you’ve been back home since last Tuesday, and now you’re leaving to got to DC? I haven’t been able to think about you wrestling again. When you told me that you’d quit this business you meant that once we had Miranda together.

Reggie: Look, i wanted to give up on this dream of being a wrestler, but if you know how we are living; we need the money to move out of the hood. Plus, i know you liked me better when i was locked up.

Dolaria: That’s not true Reggie! I missed you since you gotten arrested all those years ago. I was there when you ran out of the korean shop with Hernandez and Muteriaz, i was the get away driver for you guys. I knew those two set you up to take the fall for them, so don’t act like i don’t care about you.

As the clip ends Charlie brings puts his camera back into his pocket while looking intently into the dashcam. His face is red, his eyes narrow, and his brow furrowed.

This is such industry bullshit, folks. What a fucking punk. Who puts their family through this scripted reality TV show bullshit for a fucking promotional video? Nobody talks like that. That’s not real dialogue! Reggie’s woman deserves a real man, to pump her full of love. This motherfucker had her out here recycling lines from the production crew, all while walking out on her! Putting Miranda through a scripted bullshit video while you walk out of their lives, just to help you try and get over! Do that shit in the ring, punk! Like a man!

Come on folks, think about it! It’s so obvious this is staged, canned, scripted- this shit isn’t real! Why would she be telling him that she was the getaway driver when Reggie murdered that store clerk? He knows that! This is just forced exposition for the audience! This isn’t a real, heartfelt conversation. You used her, and she went along with it to try and keep you happy and to keep you in her life, and Miranda’s life too. She went along with all of this, you whole little production, just to try and keep you in her daughter’s life. And you left. You sold your daughter to one of your gangster friends and skipped town. Just to chase your dream of being a professional wrestler. Again. Only to fail. Again.

You’re a real piece of shit, Reggie. You’re not Miranda’s father. A father would never leave his daughter to a gangbanging, drug-dealing, sex trafficker! A real father would kill that man. A real father would take justice into his own hands. A real father would protect his daughter. But you’re not a real father, you’re a paper father just like you were a paper champion. All sorts of men come through her home, buying drugs, taking drugs. You know how it is to be high, Reggie. To be all horned up, ready for action! You think they’re sparing your daughter in that drug house? We both know they’re not.

You’re not cut out for being her father. She may be your seed, but you’ve not helped water her, shine light on her, and facilitate growth. You left her to rot. She needs a protector, someone to stand up for her and bring her to Jesus Christ.

I am that man, Reggie. But society hates good men. Society takes every opportutnity to keep a good man down, to turn a good man into a bad man. To turn a Charlie Nickles into a Reggie Estrada. Reggie murders a store clerk and gets out of jail early, only to sell his daughter to a criminal sex trafficking ring and the court sees no problem with that. Charlie gets just a liiiiittle bit tooooooooo upset and goes a liiiiiiittle tooooooo far with disciplining his children and his wife, and the court GOES TO WAR! Steals my children, nullifies my parental rights. Society will always keep a good man down!

But good men like me don’t stay down without a fight. Not when men like you are walking around on this earth, Reggie. I am a family man, Reggie. Everything Charlie does he does for his family! But you? You’re selfish. All you care about is yourself.

A bell rings in the background. Cars stop pulling up and the hustle and bustle quiets down.

Children deserve everything in this world. They deserve to be protected. Cherished. Loved. Miranda deserves those things. And if the court rules that Charlie can’t be a father to his own kids, then I have a duty to find another child. A good shepherd must always guide a herd. I’m not a selfish man. I am a great father, and if the court is hell bent on destroying my relationship with Tyler and Emily, it is only right that I find another lost and broken child to care for.

Miranda needs a man like me in her life. A man to look up to. A man to keep her safe, cherish her, protect her from the thugs of this world. Protect her from men like you, Reggie. And your gang-banging friends. A child shouldn’t live like that, not in that environment. Not around your Epstein buddies.

That's why I have to put you down. That's why I have to smash light tubes over your back, face, and limbs. That's why I am going to have to pick you up, only to turn you around and bring you back down with the screwdriver! A real father can't let a child suffer. And every moment that Miranda is not in my custody, she suffers. And I can't bear to watch a child suffer. A family man is honest. A family man is decent. A family man seeks peace. But sometimes, a family man has to step up to protect the weak and the innocent. And that's exactly what I am going to have to do this Saturday on Savage. I have to save a child's life, Reggie. And I can only do it by putting you out for good.

Charlie takes a break from cutting the promo to spit a loogey out of the car window. He reaches into his center console, pulling out a loose cigarette and lighting it with his car's built-in lighter.

You know, I’ve been watching those little videos your team has been putting out this week. Little promo material, trying to hype yourself up. I get it, I really do. But I’ve been watching you these last few weeks, Reggie, and I have to warn you...you’re in over your head. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. You’ve had weeks to prepare for this match, it’s been booked for ages.

But you’re still not ready for Charlie Nickles.

You don’t know anything about me, Reggie. Or what I can do to you between those ropes. It’s clear at a glance you didn’t take the time to scout me, research me, and make a game plan.

You said I had it all, the fame, the fortune, everything I can ever want.

Charlie takes a few puffs of cigarettes before laughing. As he guffaws smoke blows out from his mouth.

I wish I was half as lucky as you think I was. I never had the fame, never had the fortune. Do your research, boy.

Not every wrestler had your luck. See Reg, you’re only right about one thing…..I am targeting you. As soon as I signed a contract with this federation, you were in my sights. See you don’t know nothing about me, boy. I never got signed overseas. I never got the promotion. I never saw the big lights of arenas. Tjhat was you, Reggie.

You got every opportunity that I was denied. You got signed by one of Japan’s premiere wrestling federations. You immediately got your shot at the hardcore gold. You didn’t earn that. You didn’t deserve to be there. I DID! BUT THEY NEVER CALLED ME, REGGIE!
I wrestled on the independent circuit in the midwest, for 23 years! 23 years, Reggie! But you got that call, not me! And you pissed it away!

They gave you everything you could have wanted in Japan, Reggie. They gave you money, but you pissed it away on drugs, gambling, and lawyers. They gave you a belt, but you pissed it away because you couldn’t take a few light bulbs! Oh yeah buddy, light bulbs. You think this stipulation came out of nowhere, Reggie?

I know all about your history. I have been a pro wrestler for 23 years! Every day of my life was pro wrestling. I knew all the major federations in America, Mexico, Europe, Japan...I followed all of them! Reached out to all of them hoping for a contract. Year after year. I followed the headlines, I watched the shows. I scouted the competition. And that’s how I found you, Reggie.

They gave you everything you could have wanted in Japan, Reggie. And all it took was a few light bulbs to take it away. Giving up your belt because you couldn’t face the bright lights. I know all about your past, your injuries, your trauma. I know all about you. You walked into that arena with a smile on your face, yes you did, and that belt around your waist, yes you did. But you got carried out of that ring on a stretcher, yes you did, with glass shards smeared across your face and with blood pouring out of your broken skull, you looked down to your waist, yes you did, and that belt was gone. Forever. A few light tubes was all it took.

Belts. Gone Forever. A trend in your history. You won that X-treme championship just last month, but you couldn’t hold it. Couldn’t defend it once. Even as champion, you couldn’t keep that belt around your waist. Hanari was beating your ass up and down every show, new segments every week. You’re not fit to be a champion. You’re not fit to be a father. You’re not fit to share that ring with me this Saturday.

See Reggie, I know all about you.

Charlie takes a few more puffs of his cigarette as ash builds up around the tip of the cig.

That’s why I chose you! I need to get over Reggie, I really do. I know you don’t know what it’s like to put food on the table for your family and keep a roof over their heads, but it ain’t cheap! And I get no help! I need to get over, Reggie. I need the kids to buy the little Charlie action figure! I need the victory bonuses. I need the media deals, the sponsors! I need it all, Reggie! If I’m paying for Tyler, Emily, and Miranda to go to college I need to get over! And you’re just the man to elevate me. You have the name recognition, you have the prestigious background of a champion…..and the wrestling acumen of a paper mache doll.

See Reggie, I know all about you.

But you don’t know anything about me. You don’t know about my career. You don’t know what I’m like between those ropes. You don’t know what I’ll do to save a little girl from your gang.

But this Saturday, you’re going to find out. You’re going to learn a thing or two about Charlie Nickles and what he can do with a light tube!

An officer of the law abruptly approaches the passenger front window. His hand is already on his gun and he’s looking at charlie with deep suspicion.

What you doing here, bub? Mind putting that out?

Charlie turns around, the enthusiasm draining form his face. He spits his cigarette onto the ground outside of the car. His gaze immediately shifts down to the officer’s gun. His eyes come up to meet the officer’s stare after a few moments.

I was just leaving.

Sounds like a good idea. And don’t come back.

Charlie scowls as the officer steps back. Charlie reaches up towards the dascham. After a moment the screen goes to black.