Mayhem (RLS CAS)

Mayhem entering on UNION Charged.

**Chris Rakowitz** *(born 25th June 1990 in Victoria, British Columbia)* is a Canadian professional wrestler currently signed to UNION Wrestling under the name **Mayhem**.

A well-travelled worked with tenure in his native Canada, the US, the UK, mainland Europe and Asia (particularly Japan), Rakowitz is famous for his signature, occult gimmick and his part in the stable The Deck, along with Mikey Ace and The Maverick.

## Career

### Early career (2006-2008)

Rakowitz was initially trained by Jimmy Arson at the Arson School of Wrestling in Minnesota, one of several in a class that also contained future EW Canadian Champions CJ Starr and Abdul Hadid. Arson held him back from actual matches, preferring to let the talented actor instead hone a character while learning his craft, sparring with him, often for hours, after group sessions.

He'd debut as Chris Rak, an occult-obsessed pre-cursor to his later characters, at an Arson Pro card in Ely, Minnesota, defeating Starr. Soon after, he'd agree a deal to move back to his home country.

### Exhibition Wrestling, various tours abroad (2008-2014)

In 2008, under the name Mayhem, he'd debut in Exhibition Wrestling as the mystery partner of Justice (later Mikey Ace) and The Maverick in their war with Jeff and Samson Connors' Con Artist stable. Calling themselves "The Deck", the three- sometimes joined unenthusiastically by Sehova- would win championships in EW and various promotions in other countries and territories between 2008 and 2014, on and off, becoming one of the most famous teams in the alternative wrestling world.

### UNION Wrestling (2015-2018)

After appearing on-and-off for UNION Wrestling- then known as PWU- during their touring years, particularly his home country of Canada, Mayhem would debut on their first season of programming in early-November, losing out to The Cowpoke.

Reportedly unhappy with the nature of his debut, Mayhem wouldn't appear again until January 2017, where he'd lose to Rufus Caine. After a house show loss to Zodiak later that year, UNION Wrestling confirmed that he'd requested his release, and that they would be leaving the next step to his good friends Mikey Ace and The Maverick to help him decide.

After a short leave of absence, he'd gain his first ever win on programming in May 2017, with a dubious DQ win over Sinyster, in what was later confirmed to be a favour for the slightly injured Ace, and not a full return. Nonetheless, he would be inserted into the Money in the Bank 2017 main event, failing to retrieve the briefcase. He would, however, sign a one year extension soon after.

He'd turn heel soon after, hitting his friend, and Inter Champion Ace, to ignite a feud that had been building since their days together in other promotions. Framed as "The Light in the Darkness" of Ace vs. "The Dark" of Mayhem, the two would trade barbs over the next month, with Mayhem becoming more and more determined to "steal Ace's light", eventually defeating him for the championship at European Invasion 2017.

He retain the title at The Wrestling Classic 2017, before promising to take the Light from his old friend forever in a final bout between the two at Open Challenge 2017, an Ironman Match, ended 3-3, seeing both men unable to stand and writing them off for much of the rest of the month. He'd return to feud with new #1 Contender Bull Fraser, with Ace now seemingly working alongside him. Having Ace in his corner at Heavy Metal 2017, however, wouldn't stop him from losing the championship.

On the first show of the second season, which was the first episode of UNION Wrestling LIVE!, Mayhem and Ace (as The Deck) defeated The Coalition (Zander Adder & Bane) in the Main Event Tag Ladder Match to become the new UNION Tag Team Champions. This, as well as cementing Ace's heel turn, saw both men become the first to win two different titles in the promotion.

Mayhem pinned DJ Laine of Ambition after he and Ace had hit him with the Deck Dropkick to score a win in the first episode of UNION Charged on October 30th. They'd defeat The Coalition on the next episode, starting a multi-team feud that would culminate in Team Deck (Mayhem, Ace, Tavish Noone and Felix Broad) losing to Team Coalition (Zander Adder, Bane and Sean & Shane Cairn) at Uneasy Alliance 2017. The team would then tease feuds with several others in the Tag Team division, before Ace's exit in early-2018 began the animosity that would indirectly lead to Mayhem's own exit months later.

### Return to Exhibition Wrestling (2018-2020)

He'd return, soon after, to Exhibition Wrestling: Canada, re-debuting in a mask under the name Nightmare, an uncontrollable character aligned with the Exhibition authority stable. He defeated Julio Del Mar for the Canadian Championship in November 2018, breaking from his partnership with Exhibition, and turning partially face. He'd lose the title, and his mask, in a Mask vs. Hair match against Robin Redd, after which he'd repaint his face and refer to himself as Chaos.

His contract expired during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

### Sporadic wrestling appearances (2020-2022)

During the streamed shows put on in late 2020 and early 2021 by EW: Canada, Chaos would appear several times either in the background of cinematic matches and brawls. or in guest matches against the likes of Redd and Tim Rourke. In early 2022, he expressed a desire to return to UNION Wrestling.

### UNION Wrestling return (2022-*present*)

Having already been confirmed to appear with The Maverick as The Deck on the first episode of Charged, UNION Wrestling confirmed through Squared Circle Insider that he would be signing full-time as part of their "Facepaint Friday" event in April 2022, alongside Miss Deeds, Nightmare D0ll and Blush. The Deck's reunion was almost spoiled in an unsanctioned match against INVICTA on the first episode of UNION Charged, but the match was turned around by the arrival of the returning Mikey Ace, who forced Brody Shires to tap out, winning the match for The Deck. He and Maverick were due to face Adder and Bane on the first UNION Unleashed, but were unable to compete after a pre-match attack by their rivals.

## In-Wresting

### Signatures

Release Tiger Bomb

Jumping Cravate Driver

### Finishers

Chaos Drop *(Swanton Bomb 3)*

Pure Chaos *(Vertical Leaping Senton Bomb) (Ringside)*

## Accomplishments

*Various indy championships and accolades*

UNION Inter Championship *(2017)*

UNION Tag Team Championship *(2017-18)*

EW Canadian Championship *(2018-19)*

## Trivia

* When first forming The Deck, as Mayhem, he was billed as the brother of both Justice and The Maverick. This was soon dropped, though the trio would refer to each other as "brother" in a less literal sense for the remainder of their time together.**1**
* Rakowitz is known for being a morose and uncompromising man, and admits to having only a few friends in the business. This has led to him having poor relationships with promotions and wrestlers.**2**

## Behind-the-Scenes

1. This is actually because the characters originated as the CASs of me (Justice/Mikey Ace) and my elder brothers. After they stopped playing the games, I continued to use their characters.
2. This is just narrative fleshing out that came after the origins of the character were changed.