Supreme Championship Wrestling

Aaron Blackbourne vs. Konrad Raab
 

 
Deadline: Noon ET Tuesday, April 9, 2019
RP Limit: 2 RP Limit for singles; 4 RP Limit for tag

When one door closes, another opens.

That was the way the world operated, even if some didn’t necessarily believe in that philosophy. Where that new door would lead to was always up to you, no matter how difficult the challenge may be to move forward, especially if the door you just came through had left behind a lasting impact that would resonate with you for some time to come. Time would always move forward and nowhere else, so it was necessary to adapt and evolve no matter what the past and the future held to build your present.

Never was that sentiment any greater than the crossroads Aaron found himself at now.

In the wake of the funeral as well as the news of the March 20th Breakdown being cancelled for undisclosed reasons at the time, Aaron figured he could afford to stick around in Lowell for a while and take the chance to test how sturdy this slowly rebuilt bridge with his family really was. Thankfully, his parents were more than willing to let him and Liane stay together in his old room so they wouldn’t have to pay for a hotel, so long as there was no ‘funny business’ under their roof (which gave the comedian a reason to have a hearty laugh as her soon-to-be-husband couldn’t help but blush furiously at the implication). There was a part of him that still had doubts about how well this was going to turn out, but to his surprise those doubts were eliminated as the days passed and everything stayed civil. There were no attempts to try to convince him to stay here again or have him contribute any of his pay from SCW or the art commissions he still did towards the bills of the house, and things became more and more clear that the rest of his family had found a way to stabilize itself over the course of the past few months, which both made him happy and calmed his nerves.

Needless to say, things wouldn’t completely return to normal right away, as was often the case with a death in the family. Despite seeming like everyone was starting to move on from the funeral and slowly get back to their lives, that dark cloud continued to linger over their heads and it likely would for some time to come. After all, while Andrew was now resting in peace there was still the matter of the police investigation, and for the first time in many years regarding his once-estranged kin Aaron couldn’t help but feel his heart break anytime he passed by his mom’s room and heard her in a fierce argument with someone over the phone regarding the admittedly absurd amount of roadblocks that seemed to keep popping up, making it clear that if the more and more likely possibility of Dylan having some sort of involvement was true, he wasn’t going to make it easy on them. Still, the efforts were made easier by his family getting to know Liane and vice versa, with his mom giving her own sympathies towards her family frustrations after everything that made her feel guilty about what had transpired between her and her oldest son that drove him away. Being able to spend time with Austin and even going on a double date with their respective fiancées had been quite enjoyable, as had getting to see Alec play and show his big brother how good he’d gotten at soccer. Talking one-on-one with his parents also did an incredible job in easing some of the lingering tensions, although he did find himself growing slightly annoyed at how his dad spun certain things despite his mom providing proof to the contrary.

Moving on was also going to become a major part of his SCW career as well, despite his best efforts. He’d decided to stick around Lowell for a time even when he did need to resume the touring as all the house shows were within reasonable driving distance, as well as the next Breakdown actually taking place. Despite being one hundred percent focused on the task at hand and giving it everything he had, when Breakdown came to Newark he was unable to capitalize on the Adrenaline Title shot he’d earned some time ago and fell in defeat to Regan Street. In spite of this, however, Regan had flat out admitted to him on Twitter the respect she’d gained for him and the potential she saw in him being a future SCW World Champion, which went a long way in helping him mentally stick to his own tweet about accepting the loss and vowing to fight his way back up the ladder no matter what it took.

He certainly couldn’t complain… finally getting his long-earned title shot in addition to the news that Owen had earned a World Title opportunity and several others being shown that Sasha held no bias and was rewarding to those who truly deserved their shots made it clear the right member of the D. family had prevailed in the end, even in the face of beliefs from those adamant on trying to find a way to sabotage it all for their own self-interests.

The time to really move on had come, though, as the following Breakdown would end up in New Orleans and the touring would slowly make its way west from there, ultimately culminating in the next pay-per-view emanating from Aaron’s current home of Seattle. While old wounds didn’t seem completely healed just yet, they were well on their way to getting there, which was more than the creative soul could have asked for out of this entire ordeal. There were still a few other lingering issues in play, but some of them were out of his hands and would hopefully yield the right result in due time and he could only hope they left him out of the loop to avoid any further stress. Others, however, suddenly rose to the top of his personal to-do list and became matters he refused to allow to fester any longer. After all, even in the face of a title loss he still had a lot of positive momentum going for him from rebonding with his family over the past week or two as well as Regan’s post-match endorsement of his future with SCW, and he knew exactly what he would need to do with it.

“Welp, all my stuff’s packed up and ready, so whenever you’re good we can take off for the airport.”

Aaron let out an involuntary snicker at the stealth joke hidden in Liane’s words as she made her way into his old room for the last time. She had been truly fascinated with getting to see the place he called his own little world originally, outside of his own head of course, and couldn’t help but admire some of the drawings that still lingered on the walls from the early days of Aaron beginning to develop the talents that would help shape him into the proverbial champion of creativity he was today. Still, the time to leave it behind for now had come, and with all their stuff packed it was now up to them to make it to the airport to catch a flight down to the city many called the ‘Big Easy.’ Liane took a seat beside her betrothed as he lingered on his old bed, his attention still fixated on the notebook he held in his hands, the contents of which couldn’t help but make the comedian’s lips curl into a bit of a frown.

“Still trying to figure out how to deal with them, huh?”

“Hopefully not for much longer, but I can’t say that with confidence until this nonsensical war is finally over.”

The notebook in question was one of the many Aaron usually brought with him through the SCW touring to write or doodle in when inspiration struck him while on the road, usually leading to the building blocks of something he could flesh out when he got a break to do so. The pages he was opened up to right now, however, contained fairly detailed portraits of the three most prominent characters born of his imagination along with detailed notes about them and recaps of any previous encounters with them, regardless of whether they were periods he’d locked himself inside of his own mind or simply one of them trying to communicate through thoughts in hopes of influencing his decisions to their favor. The entire reason for doing this was simple: with his brother laid to rest and things finally seeming like they were moving in his favor again, he had to capitalize and subdue both Nemesis and the Twin Stars before their feuding ended up actually dealing some sort of psychological damage to him that went well beyond his imagination. The situation as a whole was already escalating into a territory that would lead to an outsider suggesting a therapist get involved, but the only person on earth who had a complete understand of the mind of Aaron Blackbourne was the man himself, and he wasn’t about to entrust any of it to someone whose degree didn’t mean they truly understood where the line was actually drawn for him.

“At least you’ve been sleeping better since we came here, and you haven’t really lost yourself in your thoughts since leading up to the Retribution show.”

“Yeah… they’ve been fairly quiet lately. I know Nemesis is scrambling to try and salvage this situation because I still hear him every now and then trying to create some doubt or irrational hatred, but Dreambender and Gleeful have been almost nonexistent in a direct manner for a good while now… too long for my liking, if you want the truth.”

“Times like this I wish I could just somehow teleport into your head. I don’t know about Nemesis from what you’ve told me of him, but I’d love to give those Star brats a long overdue spanking.”

It was an intriguing thought despite the physical impossibility of it all, and the thought of Liane dealing with the spectral reality benders so he wouldn’t have to divide his attention brought a smile to his face. Still, he knew this was a situation he would ultimately have to resolve on his own, though that didn’t mean he couldn’t figure out a way to make sure he wasn’t truly alone whenever he struck. His plan was still in a rough draft stage, but he couldn’t resist jotting down a few notes that Liane couldn’t help but grin about when she read them, knowing that no matter what happened she would always be by his side somehow, someway to see it all through to the end. Through good and bad times, she would be his forever and vice versa, and that kind of bond held greater strength that many often took for granted.

The couple shared a kiss before Aaron assured Liane he wanted a few more minutes to ponder the situation at hand before he’d be ready to go, and in return he got a ‘stern’ warning to not spend too long thinking about it right now before she left him be. He knew he had all the time in the world realistically to put something together… after all, between the flight and staying in New Orleans to the fact that he hasn’t booked to compete until the following Breakdown in Portland, he could carve out a plan to not only end the biggest issue he had left facing him but also working his way back through the competition to prove that Regan’s words to him after their match held significant weight to them after all.

As he took in the sight of his old room one last time before taking his leave, he couldn’t help but reflect on far he truly had come. At one point in time he just seemed like a creatively brilliant kid with a bright future but no way to actually bring it to life no matter how hard he worked, slowly suffocating in the face of a world that didn’t seem like it wanted him to be anything other than just another cog in the machine to keep the current plague affecting all of civilization running smoothly. Now he was not only a very proud artist and very outspoken activist of sorts against the idea of scorning one’s imagination because it threatened the idea of everyone having to believe the same beliefs force-fed by someone with ill intentions, but a successful wrestler who still had a long way to go and more than enough time left on his clock to ascend even higher.

“Going to miss any of it?”

Once Aaron had finally closed the door, he turned to find his mother standing in the hallway. Through the open door just behind her, he could see Alec sitting on his bed, apparently heavily engrossed in something on his phone that had him grinning from ear to ear. That was at least a pleasant image the artist could leave on, knowing his youngest brother had come a long way in his own right since the last time he’d seen him.

“A little bit, if you want me to be completely honest. Don’t think this gives you an open invitation to try and convince me to stick around though, mom.”

“I’ve moved on from all of that, Aaron. Sure, I wish your dad would be a little more helpful financially than he tends to be, but at least I’m set right now to do what needs to be done. You deserve to go out and live your own life and be happy without me meddling, especially after everything I put you through in hindsight.”

To her surprise, the eldest of her children gave her a big hug that she couldn’t help but return, the act filling her with the kind of motherly love she hadn’t truly felt in years.

“No more lingering on that, mom. As tragic as I know it sounds, Andrew’s death was the wake-up call we all needed more than we ever could’ve realized, and it’s time to just move on and rebuild.”

She could only nod, feeling like the sentimentality of the situation might cause her to start crying if she attempted to say anything. Still, Aaron knew where things stood and was more than happy to give her a well-deserved smile before she began following him towards the front door for one last conversation for the time being.

“Dare I ask what Alec’s up to before I hit the road? I’d ask him, but he seems way too interested in his phone to probably want to chat now.”

“I guess he’s supposedly been talking with this girl from another high school in one of the neighboring towns. They seem to have hit it off pretty well, which I’m glad for. I don’t want to go ‘full parental endorsement’ just yet obviously until I get to meet her like I did for both Liane and Holly for you and Austin respectively, but at least he’s a lot happier right now than I thought he might be in the wake of this happening while he’s still fairly young.”

Aaron nodded in agreement with that sentiment, knowing how fragile Alec’s emotional state could be at times just from his previous experiences back here alone. Still, the kid had a lot more strength than anyone would ever give him credit for, much like a certain member of the SCW roster Aaron would soon be crossing paths with again, and he truly deserved the chance to actually move forward in a positive direction in the aftermath of all of this nightmare that had tried to consume them all.

As Aaron said his goodbyes to his family and finally got back on the road with his wife-to-be, he couldn’t help but spend the drive to the airport contemplating that matter further. Much like the uneasiness he felt from his mental war with arguably his greatest creations and the fact that things felt more like the calm before the storm as opposed to any actual well-earned calm, something just felt off to him about that entire situation. Maybe it was the fact that he recalled seeing Alec start to get more and more into those text conversations with this new girlfriend of his closer to the end of his time back here and how wary he’d become after his own online relationship from a long time ago ultimately led to heartbreak and many years of trying to get over it and finally close the book on that chapter of his life, or maybe his imagination was once again providing a sense of unnatural intuition that there was a lot more to this than anyone could see and the problems it could cause…

Whatever the case, Aaron was hoping this time he was just worrying about nothing.
I gave it my best shot, and I have no excuses.

I’m sure there are a few people out there who are disappointed to hear those words, but I regret to inform you that not all scenarios involving failure to claim a championship have to end with the losing party blowing a gasket and doing something that’s supposed to make me seem like a hypocrite obsessed with nothing but putting gold around my waist. That’s really all there is to it: I gave Regan Street my absolute best just like I promised, and unfortunately on that night it wasn’t enough. Unlike others who would happily take to trying to shove that down my throat, however, Regan’s a true professional who understands that she may have retained two weeks ago, but if our paths cross again down the line this story could have an entirely new ending written to it. That’s the beauty of this business that tends to get lost in the shuffle of egos and self-promotion born from the factory that produces the same tired nonsense week in and week out:

You never know how a match is going to end until that final bell rings, and it may not always be the result you expect.

Too often these days you hear nothing but those who will try to convince you every single show that they can never lose because they are the best, bar none, which creates an issue when you realize too many people are making these claims and they can’t all be right, especially if you have to meet them in a battle that could easily fit the old paradox of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object. This is the plague that is suffocating the wrestling business right now and making it the mirror image of a world that, unfortunately, is taking more and more steps backwards each and every day no matter how much they try to convince you that progress is being made. Perhaps even sadder is the default response that I must be some kind of hero for daring to oppose such ideas instead of what I truly am: someone with the guts to speak his piece against the problems at hand.

A problem that is just as great but tends to slip under the radar are those willing to manipulate things into their favor just because they know they’ve failed and are trying desperately to save face in hopes that the puppet master’s game will still end with them on top. The aftermath of Retribution is a perfect example of this, because despite the lack of a Wonderland-ruled SCW we have seen time and time again that the likes of Giovanni Aries and a man who should be the antithesis he needs to oppose in his own tale in the form of Damian Angel have done nothing but try and play head games with members of the roster all in the hope of still getting that treasure they were denied in Tactical Warfare despite the true result. Nothing is off limits to the two of them so long as they can get that satisfaction they have proven they don’t deserve, from taking to Twitter to pretend to care about the championship scene as a means of trying to cry foul about Sasha being in charge now to trying to slowly convert members of the roster into being monsters that might be more fitting to the concept of this Lizard Kingdom as opposed to a Wonderland of any kind.

I’m not going to make any direct accusations, but I will be blunt: things such as keeping James Evans from taking his meds to turn him into who he used to be to trying to permanently unleash the monster within Konrad Raab are both right up their alley and shameless attempts to try to ‘save’ SCW by drowning it in the kind of chaos where only they can thrive.

This is especially relevant in terms of where my path leads in the wake of my failed title bid because Konrad is the man I am set to face come Breakdown, and I’m sure many are wondering who we will see stand across the ring from me in Portland: The Iceman or Black Ice. Apologies to those expecting me to start going on a serious verbal tirade against him thinking the latter is a surefire guarantee, but I’m not sold on the idea of facing a completely different entity just because a false hero and a man who claims to be the devil himself are whispering into his ear for their own self-gratification. Konrad is much stronger than anyone ever gives him credit for and he’s truly deserving of far more respect than he gets around here, especially when you realize he’s a former TV Champion and my own experience can tell you how much you have to bust your ass to both earn and defend that title with very little notice. To oppose the idea of so many people who can’t see beyond their rose-colored glasses believing he’s not worthy of being here and toughing it out week after week… if you reversed the roles and put any one of them in that same position, I can guarantee you that most of them wouldn’t be able to take what they dish out and would end up walking to preserve their fragile sense of overly enhanced self-worth.

Take it from someone who has an endless supply of demons and monsters running through his head Konrad: guys like Gio and Damian are not worth listening to. In their eyes, you’re nothing more than a pawn to prove that if they can turn you completely to the idea that the Black Ice is what you need to be able to make an impact then they have a success story to further tout the belief that whatever drug they’re trying to sell is truly worth investing in. No dealer ever cares for the best interests of those that get hooked on what they push… a sentiment I can speak from experience on looking back at the self-destruction of my fallen brother no thanks in part to those who pushed him in that direction without any regard to his well-being. Guys like them think they can guide you where they want you to go without realizing that just like anything spawned from my imagination it’s Konrad Raab who makes Black Ice, not the other way around.

It’s been a long time since we’ve crossed paths in singles action Konrad, and what I want to take away from this match is the same thing as our first encounter back near the point where I debuted in SCW: a highly competitive battle where we both give it our all and whoever is better on this night walks away the winner, regardless of whether it’s you or me. I hate the idea of having to face an honest competitor whose focus has been divided because someone else wants to play games. It wasn’t funny when Scarlet Grey pulled that stunt to taint my victory over Alistaire Allocco months ago because she wanted to use him to preach her value towards me as opposed to me having to overcome what brought him to the point of being World Champion once before, and it’s not funny now that the possibility even exists that I’d feel uncomfortable if I find myself in victory because this ‘Wonderland liberation campaign’ has you caught between two different mindsets when anything that happens to you means nothing to anything they’re aiming to achieve.

It should go without saying how much I’d love to be able to walk out of Portland with my arm raised in victory, both because it gives me the chance to take my defeat against Regan and start anew in fighting my way back into contention for either her title or any other opportunity waiting out there and because I now know I’ll get the chance to compete at Tabula Rasa… believe me, just being on the show in some capacity means more to me than any title shot because I get to walk back into the city I call home and give them all the kind of performance that helped them to accept me as one of their own in the first place. But as much as I’d love all of that, I can’t bring myself to devote any significant amount of time to why I might want this more than you, because at the end of the day all I really want is to leave Portland knowing that I competed against Konrad Raab and we both threw everything we had at one another on our terms, not finding myself against your anger-fueled alter ego just because trying to make you lose control is amusing to someone in that locker room.

If I find myself staring down Black Ice, I want it to be because I messed up in such a fashion that it actually pushed you to that point, something I would never intentionally try to do and something that gives you a reason to make that decision on your terms.

What we do out in that ring Konrad… it should be on our terms and no one else’s. Your career is in your own hands to shape and mold as you see fit, just as my destiny is mine alone to paint wherever the path should lead me. I respect the kind of athlete you are and what you bring to the table far too much to watch you go through something similar to what I spent months putting up with, and control over your future should never be a prize you have to win or fight for to begin with. Wednesday night, I’m going to face you with the intent of reminding you of this and helping you to prove to Gio and Damian that you are far stronger than they believe you are and won’t play along with them no matter what they think they can say. The end result of this match is irrelevant… what matters is the story we write between those ropes, and I’ll be damned if I have to do this knowing that someone else believes they can change it all around when they have no right to be involved to begin with, not again. This is our match Konrad… please don’t ever lose sight of that.

OOC: There's a reason for this to be a short promo that I feel makes sense to the character right now to prove with his actions rather than with words. Anyway, thought to put this as a disclaimer up. Also, this is a story I will be doing from this month up until after the THOTF PPV as I mentioned back in January which is perfect timing to write this story up to add on to the Gio, Damien and Black Ice trying to exploit Konrad. Good luck Aaron and may the best RPer win.











An agonist threatening Konrad Raab part 2. Cologne, Germany and Anaheim, California. Various days. (All scenes are off camera)


Luca Schmidt's home in Cologne, Germany. Friday, March 15th.

It's a usual day where Luca would usually hang around with his friends, taking the piss out of Konrad each day passes by. Luca knows Konrad's been ignoring and not read the letters he's been sending to Konrad. Luca is in his bedroom, having a sheet of paper and a pen in front of him, plotting his all-out attack on Konrad, provoking his weaknesses and seeing what he saw at Retribution, smiling at him as if it was a joke and got inside of his head.

Luca Schmidt: “HAHA, I wonder if I got inside of his head?.”

That's before he can even put pen to paper as he starts to write to inflict more pain to his misery, also putting in evil, disgusting words that are not only about him but his family, as well as Luca, knows he'll cut through Konrad deeper into his insecurities. One of Luca's agonist friends, Oskar Schneider sees the letter written to Konrad in bold red letters and laughs.

Oskar Schneider: “Although you could say how much we're inflicting his mind on thinking a lot about us.”

Luca Schmidt: “After all, he was always a weak and stupid man who's fixed in his delusions. He never was able to defend himself at school. It was fun to pick apart at the man. Still, even in the wrestling business, he's nothing, but a god damn fake.”

Oskar Schneider: “Especially when everything Casterillo's been saying is right, he's hiding his nasty self behind that mask. Without it, he wouldn't have destroyed or fucked him up in the cage.”

Luca Schmidt: “HAHA yes, he must be getting so angry and pissed off now if he's forced to change how he is. Konrad will never be the same again. How he always needs something to hide with someone or something protecting Konrad of some sort, always hiding away from us.”

They both laughed evilly, being as sick as they are, especially the kind of things Luca's been writing to him. When he uses different styles of writing to disguise as much as he could to make Konrad not spot Luca's handwriting which is something Luca's been trained to do in his line of work of writing letters at the office, being told daily to write in different styles.

Oskar Schneider: “Funny enough, I know where he lives as well. He lives in a quiet place in a large mansion you can call it, although he claims to live in an apartment. He has these gates locked and secured you'd have to enter in his home with a password.”

Luca Schmidt: “Wait, how do you know what his house looks like?”

Oskar Schneider: “Let's say I got friends living around the Anaheim area. Says he takes his kids out a lot when he's home, but they barely ever see him because well, he's always out wrestling.”

Luca Schmidt: “You see, he even neglects his family. What a stupid, weak son of a bitch. He uses secure gates to lock the public from entering? Damn, what a fickle creature he is.”

Oskar Schneider: “Little does he know that my friends who live in Anaheim have plans for me and you to live there so we can dig deeper into Konrad's life and exploit him for being a fake wrestler he is. That man can't fight for shit. May have won the title, but anybody can beat Manvel in the ring.”

Luca Schmidt: “He's the worst wrestler in SCW right now.”

As Luca folds the letter up, Oskar smiles and smirks at Luca while thinking of something else to write in his letters to Konrad for next time.

Oskar Schneider: “Next time you write letters to Konrad, you'll tell him about me having friends where he lives?”

Luca Schmidt: “Oh you smart motherfucker, I didn't think of that. After all, I didn't even know you had friends living in Anaheim, California. If I'd known earlier, we would've exploited him far quicker than we have already.”

Oskar Schneider: “In case he ignores and throws the letter away again, what about putting something in bold letters, urgent read so we can force the weak motherfucker to read it?”

Luca Schmidt: “Good idea.”

The grown men are having fun, trying to do everything to destroy Konrad and his family life as Luca writes Konrad's American address on the envelope. Luca then puts the urgent read on the evolve below before he turns the envelope around and places the letter in the envelope and licks the seal and sticks it down. 

After he does that, he uses sellotape to secure the letter down with them laughing through their heads to cause more hell for Konrad than they've done already. Once they've done that, Luca looks around, licking his lips to his friend who also was apart of bullying Konrad at school, even the one who gave Konrad wedges at school, making pranks about him.

Luca Schmidt: “Let's go to the post office and send this letter off to America.”

Oskar Schneider: “HAHA yes, exploit the weakness of Konrad's fragile mind of him crying out to his mummy and his wife if he isn't already.”

Luca Schmidt: “Then we'll find a way to track down his home and mobile numbers to talk to him directly to hurt and cut deep through Konrad even more. I think the more we send letters to Konrad; more we'll directly hurt him and turn him into a nasty, sickening human being, losing control of himself.”

Once they said all of those things, they do as they said as Luca places his shoes on along with grabbing his keys, letter and a few euros of money before going downstairs to put his coat on. Oskar places his shoes and jacket on downstairs, and they leave the house to send the letter off, knowing when Konrad gets the letter in three weeks, they'll exploit him more then they've done, and there are worse things to come for Konrad.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Konrad Raab's home in Anaheim, California. Friday 5th April.

Two days after Breakdown, Konrad's in a state of fear because of what Giovanni and Damien Angel were exploiting Konrad to do, much like Erik's been doing the last few weeks, forcing Konrad to embrace his dark side. He's badly torn down from what everyone was telling him to do; the only problem was Konrad wants to be a good man to his family and friends. He always thinks about what he has done in his early days of wrestling every day, even more now with people telling him to be The Black Ice, but Konrad shakes his head. Ever since he got home from Breakdown and seeing Sebastian, Konrad went straight down to the basement, in a dark room on his own, without saying a single word to Fizz, sitting in front of a mirror.

That is until there was a knock on the basement door as he gets up and walks towards the door. As Konrad opens the door, Fizz was there with an envelope in her hand, but as of right now, she wasn't concerned about that as it was Konrad's state, even if she saw Konrad's eyes water and Fizz asks a question.

Fizz Raab: “Are you OK?”

Konrad Raab: “No, I'm not. Because after Jerry told me I hit Glory with a door, I'm beginning to think I'm a nasty piece of shit who doesn't deserve you.”

Fizz Raab: “It's because Gio and Damien are trying to play games with you. They want you to use The Black Ice side for some reason. I don't want you to, but it's quite clear you're hiding from the world, and I want you to come out.”

Konrad Raab: “Don't you see Fizz. I'm scared of being someone I'm not. Gio, Damien and Erik are trying to hurt me. I never asked Erik to help me after Casterillo. I'm paranoid.”

Fizz Raab: “I think you should be strong enough not to bring the Black Ice mask on Wednesday. Leave it at home, don't listen to what Erik, Damien and Gio say.”

Of course, there was another reason for Konrad's behaviour and he knows inside what's affecting him to cause an even bigger conflict as he thinks about somebody else in his life, possibly more than one person he'll have to come face to face with sooner than later or even talk to them as he says this.

Konrad Raab: “It's not just Erik, Gio and Damien who are affecting me.”

Fizz Raab: “Oh I see, is it that Luca guy?”

Konrad Raab: “Yes. Luca has been sending me a lot of letters in the last two months, and right now, I'm frightened he's going to hurt you and our children. He's a sick freak who's stalking me, knowing every single move. I'm at a point of losing control of myself here to a point I could even hurt you.”

Fizz Raab: “Don't be silly Konrad. Look, I know you've hurt me before, but that's because of you wearing the mask.”

Konrad Raab: “I don't know. I suggest you leave before I do it again.”

Fizz drops the letter as it was clear, Konrad meant everything he said to Fizz and left him to do his business. As soon as she closes the door, the voice hunts him down once again as he turns the lights off and sits in the middle of the dark basement room, covering his whole body up, shaking his entire body. As he sits on the floor and places his knees up to his face, he felt a bit uncomfortable as he moves to a bit to notice a white envelope on the floor.

Konrad Raab: “What's this?”

Konrad picks up the envelope, and he notices the bold writing of urgent read on it. Once again, it was in a different style of writing as he couldn't tell who it was, especially it just had the address on it. He opens it due to his lack of knowing who it was and he reads it which was written in joint handwriting style in German.

Konrad.

I know you've been ignoring these letters, don't deny how weak you've been as a pathetic man you are. You're like a woman who seeks attention. Look at your match with Casterillo, hiding to the world with that god damn mask. Casterillo is right about you, hiding behind a mask to beat people down because you know deep down inside you can't do that.

You know everything you've done at Retribution that I'm getting in your head, cutting through you. That's why you're losing your god damn mind because of me, Luca Schmidt. I'm still plotting when I'm going to come down and see you for the fake piece of shit you are. You've always been scared, and it gives me great pleasure to do everything I can to stab you with a knife and cut your god damn head open.

Oh yeah, that goes to your wife and kids you have running around too because they know their father can't do anything to stop me. Well, you can say I have somebody else coming with me to hunt you down to help me attack you, seeing if you will defend yourself or you'll hide behind a mask to hurt and make me suffer. You will do no such thing.

HAHA, I've filled your mind up with thoughts of striking you because I know Fizz thinks your a worthless, pathetic man who's nothing more than a fucking child, fearing everything around you. I hope you'll read and understand I will come down and find you in Anaheim; I also will go and dig down for your numbers both for home and here so you know everything I'll say is serious.

I'll bring a machine gun to shoot you so many times that you'll die, along with your disgusting family who doesn't deserve you, especially when you neglect them every single time you leave to wrestle because your kids are going to hate you because you only care about yourself. You only care about your fame and glory instead of your kids.

Don't ignore me ever again you weak, stupid son of a bitch. Write to you very soon weakling.

Luca.

It also had a knife and gun symbol on it as Konrad as of right now, burst into tears, knowing how much it meant the world to know now, everything was coming together with why he was losing control. Even worse than the voice was talking to him as he shouts.

Konrad Raab: “Partly because of you Erik, things are going to shit.”

Erik: “Oh, are we still hurting because me, Gio and Damien know the truth of you exploiting and letting me out?”

Konrad Raab: “I don't want you anywhere near me on Wednesday. I'm going to be strong and leave my mask at home. Leave Glory and Aaron Blackbourne alone. I'm keeping my mask here this week.”

Erik: “It's not just because of me though, is it? Look at you, fearing that Luca bitch is exploiting your mind. He knows about you, hiding behind a mask to exploit the danger of you. No Konrad, you're hiding because you're afraid. I smell it each time you're alone, backstage. Now Gio and Damien sense it too, and I'll listen to them and myself instead of denying it.”

Konrad Raab: “I will continue to deny it because you, Gio and Damien know I don't need The Black Ice to be successful. I also don't think it's the right time and place for you even to start to think you'd agree with Luca, wanting to kill myself and my family.”

Erik: “I don't give a shit about Luca, I'm glad he's making you break because you've had it coming. You must use me to defeat Aaron Blackbourne and Glory Braddock on Wednesday night.”

Konrad Raab: “I already told you no, I'm not going to be The Black Ice for two people I respect in SCW and I certainly won't bring The Black Ice mask with me to Breakdown this week.”

Konrad's seething because he was so angry as he screams and he throws things that were around him all over the floor, even smashing a few cups that broke into a thousand pieces. Erik was laughing at him, clearly cutting deep in his emotions as he screams so loud that he falls to his knees, crying as Fizz comes in and says this.

Fizz Raab: “What have you done here?”

Konrad Raab: “I've lost it, alright? I was right, Luca is going to kill each one of us. He's going to come down here and find a way to bust through those security doors to kill us.”

Fizz Raab: “These letters are a joke, Konrad. Don't fall for Luca's tricks as well as Erik's, Damien and Gio's.”

Konrad Raab: “It was laughable at first with the Luca letters, but now, I'm convinced he's going to destroy my life and my family with you and our children. He wants to stab and shoot me with machine gun and knives on us.”

Fizz Raab: “What you need is Markus. If Markus comes here for a few weeks when you're away wrestling, you'll be completely safe as Markus can take on people like that.”

Konrad knows she's on about Lord Raab, his twin brother who's been through everything; the problem was he wrestles on occasions with Carnage Wrestling. Konrad had no clue what to do with himself as he mentions this.

Konrad Raab: “We can't always have Markus here to protect you and our kid's Fizz. He wrestles in Baltimore and what happens when he can't be here to protect you when he has to wrestle on top of him in adoption plans as well? Samuel's wrestling every single week so we can't have him here either.”

Fizz Raab: “We'll think of something. I'm sure Samuel might know someone who'll come and protect us. What we'll need to do is hire security guards.”

Konrad Raab: “No, we need security guards who are wrestlers. I can't just have normal security guards for this ploy. Not when knives and guns are going to be involved. I also can't concentrate on my match with Aaron Blackbourne either. I want to have a fair match with him, but Erik wants me to hurt him, and he doesn't deserve that.”

Fizz Raab: “Be The Iceman when you wrestle Aaron then. Leave your Black Ice mask at home if it's affecting you as a person. You can be a strong-willed man and I better hope you don't attempt to commit suicide or harm yourself when you're away from me as well because Jerry will tell me if you do.”

It's happened before when Konrad had been like this, he's attempted many ways to commit suicide, but he thinks of his family before he does anything stupid, but this wasn't like any other times, however. It was his life and his families being on the line, and it's a hard thing for any man to take, especially a nice guy like Konrad. Konrad gets up, and he hugs and cries on Fizz's shoulder, feeling afraid of losing everything in his life.

Fizz Raab: “I don't want to lie and say everything's going to be OK, but more of the thought of everything will be sorted. People will do anything to go to lengths to destroy you in and out of wrestling and leave you with nothing. No matter what happens, I will be with you, even if we're out in the streets.”

Konrad Raab: “I don't know Fizz. I already regret hitting Glory with the door, or so Jerry tells me I did and then Luca wanting to kill me, you and our kids make things worse. The things I did on Retribution, it was also because Luca was making me lose control of myself as well as Erik. I'm confused as everyone else is. Is it bad to say I want to admit myself in a mental hospital?”

Fizz Raab: “I understand, but you can only help yourself by ignoring everyone around you, including Gio and Damien, playing sick games on you. After all, you've dealt with Damien in the past. I don't know why he thinks he wants you to be Black Ice after everything you did in the match. Maybe it's my fault for bringing The Black Ice.”

Now Konrad feels bad for Fizz; it was tough for her to know she's caused things to get worse more than actually helping Konrad. Konrad shakes his head, knowing at the time she did, it was to help him be violent towards Jason as he says this.

Konrad Raab: “You're not to blame for it at all. Fact is you did help me with Jason; otherwise, I wouldn't have dared to face him in a cage match. What I'm concerned more now is Erik wants to be let out and wants me to exploit Glory and possibly even Aaron. I begin to wonder if Erik is Luca?”

Fizz Raab: “I don't think we need to talk any more about this. Let's forget all about your identity confusion and Luca's plot to exploit you of being a fake wrestler and get some sleep. I know it's been difficult for you to sleep, but you will sleep when I've left something on the side of your bed to take so you can sleep perfectly tonight.”

Konrad Raab: “You sure?”

Fizz Raab: “Yes because I tried it myself and it worked for me. Come on; you need to rest as I can tell the red eyes is more than just you crying and anger; it's down to you not sleeping very well.”

It's true, ever since Wednesday, Konrad wasn't able to sleep at all with the identity confusion of Iceman and Black Ice thanks to Erik, Damien and Gio and Luca's plot to make him lose more than his wrestling career of killing Konrad and his family himself. Konrad listens to Fizz instead of Erik who tried to convince Konrad to hurt and destroy Glory and Aaron to bring the Black Ice mask with him.

He leaves the basement and locks it up for the night before he goes upstairs to the living room and the bedroom. He takes off his clothes, except his boxer shorts and gets into bed with Fizz. Fizz points to his bedside table as Konrad sees a pack of sleeping tablets and a glass of water there as he says this.

Konrad Raab: “They'll help me to fall asleep?”

Fizz Raab: “Yes. They are powerful so take them now.”

Konrad does as he takes a couple and places them in his mouth before he lifts the glass of water and drinks the water along with swallowing the sleeping tablets down his throat as he puts the glass down. He kisses Fizz and thanks her before he immediately feels the effects of the sleeping pills and falls asleep. Fizz tucks Konrad in and goes off to sleep herself before he wakes up the next morning and packs his stuff to fly to Chicago as he's got a match in another company on Monday night before the match against Aaron Blackbourne on Wednesday night.

------------------------------------------------

Fighting as The Iceman side against a respected opponent youtube.com shoot (On camera)

“No Gio and Damien, I won't be manipulated by your stupid games to get me to join Wonderland garbage you both have going on, on top of a voice in my head I hear for me to turn to that side permanently. I'm stronger than that to fall prey to your psychotic games because I'm not the Konrad you saw mid two thousand and eighteen. Now I have to fight Glory at the PPV because of what The Black Ice did, and I take full responsibility for my mistakes, even if other people are trying to ruin my career as a wrestler.

I understand Aaron's concerns of if he's going to get The Iceman or The Black Ice for our match Don't worry because I know a teenage boy who admires and respects you as a wrestler, heck you're his second favourite wrestler to me because he loves being creative with his artwork. It's because of that; you'll get The Iceman in the ring as I promised him you'd get a fair fight on your hands. I have a ton of respect for you as a wrestler. You almost defeated Regan Street for the Adrenaline title two weeks ago.

That's the kind of wrestler I want to be Aaron, a guy who respects this business and will know what I'm going through as well. We all saw it with Scarlet Grey, trying to steal Aaron from his girlfriend and making him fall in love with her which didn't work well for her luckily. The thing is, I love how much you express creativity in the ring, and it's my honour to wrestle someone who gives me a ton of respect for this business like my PPV opponent too.

Of course, Black Ice and Glory would deny that, but the point is I want to wrestle the best I can be and show Aaron what I'm here to do. I know you seem uncertain of where you'll go now, but I say you continue your path to winning the Adrenaline title, especially how close you were on winning against Regan Street.

However, you're in my way this week, and I want to prove to Glory and the SCW world. The Iceman is here to stay. I'm not going to speak for much more because the point here is for me to prove I can be a wrestler who follows the rules and winning against you fair and square because me saying it is not good enough anymore. I have to find a way to defeat you in the ring, mainly I had to study my mistakes from the match we had last time, and I learnt a lot from it.

I will wrestle as myself in the ring tomorrow night at Portland Oregon and win this match because I'm confident I can do that. I'm satisfied to show Gio and Damien I don't need The Black Ice to be successful; otherwise, I wouldn't have been a two time TV champion, done all of those things without that mask. I will win the match once again as The Iceman by pinning you for the three count because I proved myself I didn't need Black Ice to win.

All I will say is good luck Aaron, but I have to win this match to prove to everyone that nothing will change and I'll be the same Konrad everyone knows and loves. Aaron, prepare to be Iceinated by The Iceman.”