[Kristopher Ryans]

 We open on Kristopher Halich pacing back and forth in front of the camera. He is wearing a plain white shirt, and bright orange basketball shorts, a clear indication that he is somewhere inside his home. He is looking down at the floor as he moves back and forth in front of the camera. He mutters a few words, but they are mostly to himself. Suddenly, he stops, coming to some kind of conclusion in his head.

”I guess that I have been a lot more quiet on social media since my last match. I kind of avoided saying a lot last show even though I ended up in front of a few cameras. The thing is, as much as it was time for Jet City to take a backseat for a little while, Jet City gave me direction. When Jason and I first started putting Jet City together last year, I had been out of wrestling for a while. It had been a while since I had really been seen anywhere and at one point I was pretty sure that I was done with this business. I had come in, had some success, and that was going to be enough.”

He takes a deep breath, taking another step like he is going to resume his pacing before stopping himself and unpacking more of his thoughts.

”Jason had it in his mind that he had done everything that he ever wanted to do, except hold tag team titles with me. It was important to him, because as he has told all of you on more than one occasion, he borrowed this dream from me. He felt like because of that, his career should make it come full circle. Jet City had a pretty solid championship run from the first moment we showed up in SCW, until the second split. We even had a match against each other which was more than we could have ever asked for, honestly. I challenge any of you to name a pair of siblings that wouldn’t jump at the chance to fight each other in front of a few thousand people, while a whole lot more watched the events from home.”

This time a chuckle cuts him off. He does not look at the camera but fans can see his hand clench into a tight fist as he realizes where his thoughts had led him to.

”Now that Jason has left on his world tour, Jet City isn’t around to give me direction anymore. I think that is the reason that I have been quiet. For a while I was thinking that maybe I could just fall back in with the same people that I used to hang around. I thought that the Kris Halich that you all would want to see, would be the one that found the most success here. I thought about throwing on the red hoodie, coming down to the ring to some Manson, and talking about how entitled the roster seems to act these days.”

As he speaks he takes a few steps before turning on his heel, and going back the other direction. As he finishes, he pauses while he runs over the faces of the people on the roster. Before he gets lost in it, he shakes the thought away. He stops, and actually looks up at the camera this time.

”What I’ve come to realize, is that isn’t me anymore. I’m not a nobody, despite what some people might try to sell you. I got off to a rough start here, but I kicked a whole lot of ass on my way to the Internet Championship and I held onto that thing for four months. I got to main event shows against people in the SCW Hall of Fame. I made such an impact that when I came back more than a year later, Jet City was a no brainer for a tag team title match. A tag team title match that we won that led to neither of us being pinned, or submitted since we the moment we signed a contract. For Jason, that means never actually being bested, at least in a technical sense, for his entire time here. I can’t call myself a nobody having done those things. It takes way too much effort to sell a lie, and everybody can always tell when you’re faking it. Look no further than Xander Bishop for an example of that.”

Not a chuckle, but a full bodied laugh cuts him off this time. It takes him a moment to get it under control, but once he does, his face melts back into that same irritated confusion from before.

”So what else could I do for direction? Shedding the nobody gimmick should have been a no brainer, because I actually turned my back on that once already. That’s the reason that Lexi pretty much can’t stand me. I picked up and ran with this “Accident” thing for a long time because it mirrored what people said about me. I had a recognizable last name when I popped up, so I accidentally lucked into the right places at the right times. The Nobodies were an accidental hit. Who thought that people would respond to people they could relate to? I accidentally got Despayre to start competing in singles when he had been part of a tag team for so long. Look at him now. Let’s also not forget the punchline of accidentally impregnating Liz Smalls.”

It brings a smirk to his lips. That was a subject that he no longer touched on a lot because it seemed like such a long time ago. However, it is wiped away just like his thoughts of reclaiming the mantle of ‘nobody’.

”Here’s the problem with all that, I’m not that person either. I didn’t accidentally show up in SCW. If you all remember, the first thing that I told all of you when I came back was that I was here for redemption. I was here to do things the right, and sober way. I wanted to step into the ring and know that I pushed things as far as they could go for as long as they could go every single time. Win or lose. To tell you the truth, more often than not I did this job just to collect a paycheck. Nothing more. Nothing less. When I made the decision to come back, it was to show everyone what I could do with actual motivation. Jet City winning and reigning over the tag division for four months wasn’t an accident.”

He reaches off camera and when he comes back to the center of the frame, he has a steel chair in hand that he unfolds and places a few feet in front of the camera, sitting down. He looks only at the floor for a second, bringing his hands up to his face to try to wipe the lack of sleep out of his eyes.

”Therein lies the problem though, right? My very actions seem to ruin every direction that I could go. Nothing that I have ever done quite fits the person that is sitting in front of you today. I’m a somebody, that’s here on purpose, that’s no longer being held back by an overprotective partner.”

As he goes he seems to get more and more excited about being “let out of the box” as Mikah had put it on Twitter. For the first time, the idea of shedding all of those identities did not seem to be weighing him down.

”A Blast From The Past partner is a little different from a regular partner though. I mean for one, she is much better looking. For two, she is a she. Although, I’m not 100% sure that is an actual difference from what I am used to. The jury is still out. We’re also not fighting to protect anything. From the first match Jet City had here, we had the titles and from that point it was just about keeping them. There was no chase. It was a balancing act. Blast From The Past is a chase, and the biggest chase that this company has to offer. Outlast teams comprised of literally anyone interested in joining from inside the company, or outside the company? All for the chance at winning a title shot? Not as a team really, but two individuals each trying to claim their prize.”

He lets his mind wander to what he would after winning the tournament. It all seemed so close. The reality of the situation brings him down out of his thoughts though.

”The match itself is even different. We can’t single a person out, because as soon as one person makes a tag, both teams switch things up. It goes against the very nature ot tag team wrestling to offer your opponent a free time out every time you tag. However, the fact that we are each pursuing our own prize by winning this, it means just about everyone can learn to coexist with someone for a few matches.”

He shrugs. Even someone like him, who was typically incapable of playing nice with anyone, could learn to play nice for a short period of time if the price was right. In the case of Blast From The Past, the price was perfect.

”I happened to get lucky. The random partners thing popped up my name right next to Polly Playtime. She may not be the most decorated person on the female side of this tournament, but she is probably the most like me. I can look at her and see the same, ‘fuck the world let’s go have fun at it’s expense’ look in her eye that I see in the mirror. When everyone participating in the tournament was announced, I made lists of who would be acceptable to team with and trust when I say that Polly’s name was on the top of the shortest of the shortlists. The fact is, she’s not even reached her full potential here yet. You can look at half of the names in this tournament and notice that they are past their best years. As Chelsea Payne has put it a few times, you can’t look around the locker room without seeing at least one reanimated corpse that SCW brought back for this tournament.”

At the mention of Chelsea’s name, he winks at the camera, no doubt part of the ongoing battle with her boyfriend. He was not about to lay off the rest of the people in the tournament though.

”In addition to the old, there are a lot of choices that were bad for more than one reason. For instance, I didn’t want to team with Amanda Cortez because it turns out I am allergic people with herpes. I could have never focused. I would have had to wear gloves just to tag in and out and that doesn’t sound fun at all. But it’s not just that. Some I just couldn’t stomach being around. One afternoon with Sam Marlowe and my brains would be art on the fucking wall. Our personalities clash. Mainly the fact that I have one, and she is way too far up on her moral high horse to allow herself to find her own. She literally worked concessions after Chelsea beat her. She’s a fucking doormat.”

He shakes his head, a light shiver running down his spine at the mere thought of having to deal with her week, after week, after week. That would not be a price worth paying. There was a light at the end of the tunnel though.

”But no…. I got Polly. It seems like we are going to be on the same page about most things without having to really even talk about them. Anybody that pays enough attention to either of us knows that putting us together just seems to make sense, and sound damn entertaining. We made it a point to pop up last week, even without a match, just to test the waters. That’s more than you can say about some of the teams in this tournament. Someone of them have been quiet. Some of them just blatantly hate each other, not unlike the team of Misty and Brother Grimm apparently.”

Some of the confidence that he has been lacking up to this point starts to come back as he turns towards the subject of the people that he was going to actually be in the ring with. He seems to stop himself from going any further though. It was not the right time or place, nor was it what he had sat down to talk about.

”There are just a few things that all of you need to understand going into Climax Control. As far as partners go, I hit the jackpot. As far as direction, I’m done searching for answers in the past. The only thing that matters is getting to the end of this tournament so that this next chapter, regardless of what it is going to be called, can go ahead and get kicked off sooner rather than later.”

He offers a smile before standing from the chair, and disappearing past the side of the camera. For a moment, it stays focused just on the chair, before the feeds cuts off to static.

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4 April 2017
11:22 AM PDT
Jet City Sports Lab


Kris bursts through the glass double doors of the front entrance of the gym that he and Coby Quik had been slaving to get open over the last few weeks. Kris had even allowed Coby to unveil the gym as part of a dig at an opponent of his own. However, now that it had been announced to the public, their timetable to get it done was shrinking. The doors do not even fully close behind Kris before the noise he makes grabs Coby’s attention, who is working on organizing the layout of the gym.

”What are you so pissed off about so earlier in the morning?”

Kris makes short work of the distance in between himself and Coby, and tries, but fails, to calm himself down.

”Early? Coby it’s almost noon. This isn’t early. Early was when I was up at five o’clock with two very awake children after only getting about an hour of sleep because I have been having to secondhand argue with people all day, everyday, for like three weeks!”

Coby looks up confused.

”Secondhand argue?”

Kris’ phone beeps in his hand and he does not even look at the screen before spinning on his heel and throwing it as hard  as he can across the room. It first makes contact with one of the weight racks which splinters the phone into pieces that go multiple directions.

”Every time my phone goes off it is someone texting me, or calling me to tell me that Jason has changed something, or wants to do something different than the way we planned it.”

Coby nods in agreement with him, not seeing how it makes Kris any different from any of the rest of the people involved with the gym so far.

”Yeah, he is on his world vacation with that chick so he calls in to tell us all how horrible we are at doing all of his part of the work for him. Join the club dude.”

Kris steps forward and places both of his hands on Coby’s shoulders, which gets the smaller man to look up at him.

”No…. He calls all of you… and then all of you come to to me. He won’t talk to me. I won’t answer calls, and he ignores texts. The night we lost the titles, he said we needed a break, and that is the last time I have heard from him.”

Coby slaps both of Kris’ hands away and laughs.

”So you’re mad that your brother broke up with you? Dude haven’t you been going on and on for years about how you have done everything in your power to get him to go away and he refuses to leave you alone? Now you are actually complaining about the fact that he isn’t talking to you. If I didn’t know any better I’d say that you actually---”

Kris turns away from Coby and kicks a stack of workout mats that go flying.

”There’s just so much going on and I’m tired of being the person at the end of the chain. The sign outside says Jet City. Last I checked I am half of Jet City, and if I remember correctly, the better half after our match against each other. Now I’m suddenly not good enough to talk to.”

Coby laughs.

”How does Heather deal with you? You are like a big, whiny, man-baby, and she already had a toddler and a newborn at home. You just threw your phone across the room and broke it while you were throwing a tantrum. Just chill.”

Kris turns back to Coby confused, and then looks back and forth between him and where the phone shattered. After looking back and forth a few times, Kris points in the direction of the phone questioningly.

”You mean that phone?”

Coby nods, the confusion now spreading to his own face.

”What other phone would I be talking about?”

Kris shakes his head and smiles. His hand drops to his pocket and he pulls his phone from it, clicking the screen on, and showing Coby the background picture of Heather.

”My phone is fine.”

Coby points over at the decoy phone now totally lost.

”What was---”

Kris cuts him off, but is already backpedaling back towards the front of the gym.

”Oh, that one was yours. You left it outside and I walked past it on the way in. Chelsea has been looking for you...”

Coby takes one more look back at the shattered remains of the phone before taking off at a sprint towards Kris who pushes open the front door and takes off down the street.


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”The problem with this tournament is the people that it brings out.”

This time when we open on the former SCW Tag Team Champion he is dressed as we would see him on his way down to the ring. He is sitting on a table, his back to the obstacle course that takes up half the floor space at the Jet City Sports Lab.

For the most part we get people from past and present SCW, with a couple outside faces popping in. I have been here while a few of these tournaments have been going on, but never lept into them before for that reason, and that reason alone. It attracts the stars of yesterday and unfamiliar faces. In a lot of cases, a good chunk of the people that show up in thr tournament have nothing better to do with their time than participate. They have sometimes spent months, or an entire year since the tournament last happened not involved in this business and staying safely at home.

He takes a drink from the bottle of water in his hand, and uses his other hand to brush away sweat from his brow.

”Meanwhile you have everyone on the roster here busting ass week in and week out. We have promos that you can watch for every match that we have ever been in. We pop up on the show even when we are not in the ring. Most of us even have some kind of Twitter presence where you can get a real feel for us without having to pay attention to the show even. We are easily accessible at the click of a button.”

He shakes his head, looking disappointed.


”To be completely honest with all of you, I when I wasn’t part of this company, I wasn’t paying any attention to it. Misty and I have both come and gone from SCW a few times, but we have never really been around at the same time. Before this match was announced the only thing that I knew about her was that she used to have some really bad memory problems. When she came back for this tournament the last time, she was very touchy about the subject and went as far as to block me on social media. Our paths never actually crossed to my knowledge. After this match was announced, I learned something else about Misty. I learned that there was some dude named Brother Grimm that has been trying to make her life hell for the last year. I shit you not, it was all news to me.”

He laughs, but there is something under the humor that was not yet coming through.


”I’m not trying to say that the people standing across from me at Climax Control are not to be taken seriously. These two are the second most successful combination in this tournament. They have six championship reigns in this company between the two of them, and have actually competed in this tournament before. Furthermore, they can both look back at the last few months and see exactly what Polly and I have been up to. They can plan for our exact timing in a match. They can see the mistakes that we were making right up to Blaze of Glory. The fact that we have been around week after week means that we are undoubtedly two of the most thoroughly scouted individuals in this tournament.”

He shrugs.

”Not even I have a response to that claim that is going to be able to sway any of you away from the belief that this is going to be probably the toughest challenge that I have ever come up against. What I can tell you, is that all the research in the world cannot make up for the fact that Polly and I doing this every single week is the best thing that we have going for us. Sure, it definitely means that we are going to be the less prepared team heading into this match, but it also means that we are the most ring ready. We know exactly how hard we can push ourselves today, not how hard we could do it months ago. Maybe that is what gives us the edge in this match. If it’s not that, maybe it will be the fact that we can actually get along.”

He pauses to let the dig settle in.

”The announcement for this match came with the disclaimer that Brother Grimm has made Misty’s life hell. If that is true, how can she stomach the idea of tagging him into the match. For that matter, why would she tag herself into the match in order to save him from catching a beating? I mean that’s the only reason to tag in this match, right? As long as you have the momentum you want to stay in the ring, because the moment you tag out, your opponent gets a breather. The only reason that Brother Grimm would be reaching to tag Misty’s hand would be because he needed her help. I don’t know about any of you, but no title shot is worth saving a person that was trying to ruin my life. No accolade in this business would be greater than knowing that I was the person that could offer help, but they were reaping exactly what they have sowed. Why would I throw that away in pursuit of a possible shot at a championship at the end of this tournament?”

He seems to consider the other side of the coin as well.


”Conversely, if I were trying to ruin a person’s life, why would I even attempt to function as a partner to that person? If my whole goal was to see them crushed, would I not just bring some popcorn down to ringside and witness the carnage first hand? It wouldn’t make sense to offer my hand and allow them reprieve from bodily harm if I wanted to see them in agony. Let’s face it, these two functioning as a team is not only unlikely and illogical, but goes against who they both are as people. Yet, standing across from that are two people with no ring rust at all that can actually manage to get along with one another.”

He tosses the half empty water bottle into a trash bin and uses a towel to dry his face before pushing off of the table.

”All things considered, I’m not sure either of our teams has an edge going in. We each have positives, and negatives, and highlighting every one of them would take lots of time and would be super boring for everyone involved. The fact is that you two have the experience in every possible way that you could define the term. On the other hand, my team is more than match ready, capable of working together, and made up of two people whose brightest days in this company are ahead of them and no longer in the rear view.”

He takes a step towards the camera, contemplating how he wants to close out. He hunches down so that his face is directly in front of the lens.

”Misty, you don’t even have to be on my radar for this match, because my sole purpose has to be to keep you on the apron. To me, this is just a match between me and Grimm with the added difficulty of making sure Polly’s shoulders stay off of the mat. The easiest way to do that is to keep you out of this match. It seems to be as good of a shot as I am going to get. ”

He laughs.

”So that just leaves us, Grimm. Which one of us is it going to be? I’m sure our opinions on the matter are not going to agree with one another, but I also think that you are banking on something that is just not going to happen. You whole shtick revolves around me being afraid of you. If you know anything about me, you know that I am already really well acquainted with real fear. That kind of terrified your life is ending and seeing it flash before your eyes kind of fear. There is nothing that a man inside a wrestling ring can say that is going to come close to that. There is no threat you can make. There is no harm you can inflict. The one weapon that you know to use, just isn’t going to cut it in the ring against me, and no amount of reading up on me is going to be able to prepare for that fact that I’m not a guy that follows a plan during a match. Not even I know how this is going to play out, and I’m not going to try and run it all through my head. When that bell rings, whatever happens, happens. I don’t see you besting me even if it was on your best day.”

He flicks the button on the side of the camera, cutting the feed off to static.