Aaron Blackbourne vs. Konrad Raab

[Ruppy]

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.