Luz Cruz, Orion and “Night Sky” Diana Spare d. Hysteria (w/Bonnie Agrippa)
“The Paragon” Drake Tremble (w/the Chosen) d. Anton Stahl (w/the Wonderful Ward Brothers)
“Sinister” Sarah Fowler (w/Midsomar) d. Gaia Green (w/Winter Wonderland)
A Cut Above and the End Times (w/Caleb Gray, Prince Ootsuka, Drake Tremble and S. Mark Starr) d. Ashok Banjerjee, the Cooper Brothers and Jacques Krieger (w/Tre Boyd and Kam Ellis)
📺 live on FanDuel Sports Network Florida
📍 Quality Arena in Parts Unknown, FL
A video package opened up the show recapping Interim Commissioner Ig de Catur getting booed out of the Arena and threatening to get his own personal army together as well as Nazir el-Fadal taking down Drake Tremble in the main event and Ig clapping for him from a skybox to end last week's show.
A Town Car pulled up to the Arena and a driver moved to let out his passenger: Nazir el-Fadal, who got a big pop from the crowd as he slipped the driver a Jackson and got his rolling suitcase. As the driver left, Quality Force Security showed up on the scene and Naz immediately got defensive, pointing out that he hadn't been in the Arena long enough to do anything to get in trouble for. One of the guards then told the One Man Jihad that they were to escort him to his own private dressing room, which shifted el-Fadal’s attitude 180° and they moved through the back corridors to a door that had a large gold plate with Naz’s name written on it in bold black cursive. The former multi time World champion stepped in a room draped with gold that had a large plush chair with lions for armrests and a note in it, which Naz read: “Here to put the respect on your name the last administration didn't. Great showing last week and I made sure you'll have another one tonight. Enjoy your new locker room, Ig.” The crowd booed at the name as Naz Steph Curryed the card off screen, shrugged, and gave a loud groan of pleasure as he sank down into the chair. Naz looked around the room and had only one thing to say: “FINALLY!”
Standard open, loud crowd, Steve/Car–uh Craig/Duck in the front and JDIII and Naomi in the back. After some hype for tonight's main event where the reunited Savage Justice will face off against longtime rivals “the Purifier” Caleb Gray and “the Paragon” Drake Tremble of the Chosen, we kicked things off for the last Ruckus in May with action from the women's division….
1. Luz Cruz d. Justine Danek (w/Hysteria) at 10:52 The Cruz/Hysteria story is a year in and rolling on merrilly, all the way from Cruz turning heel at AnnIVersary and ruling the coven as Women's World champion for months to being kicked out after losing the belt at Golden Rule and trying to find her way back to the light. Last week she lost a tag match to Justine and when she tried to save her partner Emily Bennett from a post match beating Hysteria tuned up their old boss, too, as we saw on a picture in picture after Hysteria materialized in the ring. Luz sprinted to the ring and attacked Justine with a double leg takedown before following up with hands. The former Women's World champion had the upper hand early on but ran into a Stun Gun by Danek, who followed up with a diving leg lariat and got down to the business of working over her old associate. The rest of Hysteria continuously circled the ring on the outside as Justine proved her submissive days were over by laying in the shots to the former multi time champion Cruz. Justine's run of dominance saw her look to hit the Lash a few minutes later but before she could connect on the Buckshot lariat Cruz got a running start and hit an S-tier dropkick that sent the Floridian flying into the dividing barrier that whiplashed Justine to the floor in a heap. Hysteria went to Danek’s side but scattered as Luz and the referee came towards Justine - except for Bonnie Agrippa, the woman who took Luz’s spot as leader and held up her share of the World Tag Team championships with an evil smirk on her face. Cruz pointed at Agrippa, then wheeled around and threw Justine into the steps before picking her up and tossing her into the ringpost face first; Steve noted how personal this clearly was for Luz as she threw Justine's limp body back into the ring and went up to the top rope. With the referee having them in the line of eyesight, Hysteria tried to give Justine verbal warnings but nothing stopped Luz from uncorking ¡MUERTE! and pinning Danek after the double jump poison rana.
Cruz rolled out as the rest of Hysteria came into the ring but then chased Luz around ringside. Luz went for a chair in the timekeeper's area but that allowed Hysteria to swarm her and stomp her down – right until “Explosive” Emily Bennett grabbed the ring bell and started ringing Hysteria's bell. Bella Jolie took a shot right between the ribs but she came out better than Nancy Crowley, who blocked the bell with her jaw via a thunderous uppercut. Luz and Emily went to get a measure of revenge on Bonnie but a recovering Justine pulled her away from the scene. As QCW’s resident witches stumbled their way to the back, Steve chided them for wanting no part of a fair fight while Bennett shook then raised Cruz's hand and Bad Bunny blasted over the PA.
The Chosen were backstage against a white backdrop ready to preach their faith over fear evangel. Goody Gardner was in the middle of describing how sinners Justice Davis and Mason Savage would fall to their knees before them when behind Goody, the End Times went down at the hands of a sneak attack courtesy of JD swinging a chair and the Double Champ swinging a trash can. Gardner screamed as we got a taste of the main event early with a Pier 4 breaking out in the back and down the hallway. Caleb Gray and Drake Tremble were losing the fight even before one of the doors to Naz’s locker room opened up and dropped Gray. Naz came out and managed a few cheap shots on both standing members of the Chosen before retreating to his luxurious locker room as Quality Force Security arrived on the scene to break things up as Ruckus made room for a few commercials.
2. Omar Littlefield d. “The Fury” Jim Jaspers (w/”The Proper King” Richard Windsor) at 3:37 It was Littlefield’s first official match back since losing the ambulance match to Naz at Golden Rule and he took his bad attitude out on poor Old Jim, who got absolutely destroyed by the irate Littlefield in a rarity for the Brit. Jim landed some hard shots, but the writing was on the wall when Omar literally laughed off a Jaspers headbutt and dropped him with one in response. The former World champion ended things with four Vader bombs and his signature Face Eraser crucifix powerbomb DDT; for checking on his partner post match Windsor took some huge body blows from the massive Littlefield before getting gorilla pressed and Lawn Darted into the announce table’s facade from the ring. Omar stomped off through the concourse while Craig said he should be locked up somewhere (he’s new here).
From there we went TOTHEBACK~!, where new backstage interviewer Naomi Lee was standing by to bring on her guests - Savage Justice! Mason and Davis came on the set and gave Naomi nods but she couldn't even get a full question out before screaming - because the Chosen jumped them from behind as revenge for what happened right before the break. Quality Force (busy night for them) were back on the scene but not before the End Times double DDTed Razorblade on an equipment case. It's the Purifier and the Paragon who’ll face both halves of the Mayday Payday main event that they tried to interfere in for tonight's main event.
3. Tre Boyd (w/Sky's the Limit) d. Evan O'Neill (w/the All Starr Stable) at 10:07 A pretty decent sized upset here saw Boyd cleanly best the former tag champ in only his second QCW singles match. Tre started things off with a quick pace that maybe no one else in QCW can match, successfully executing some hit and run attacks that peppered O’Neill with forearms, dropkicks and short range knee strikes. But the ever opportunistic Evan hung up the head of Sky’s the Limit by trapping him in the corner buckles before landing a superkick right on the button and taking over from there. The Oracle of Off Book maintained an upper hand most of the rest of the bout and looked to wrap things up after laying the smaller Texan out with a slingshot spear - but when he flew off the top to end things with his patented One Last Chance Boyd pulled out one of his own by getting his knees up at the last possible moment. Both men were slow to get up but unfortunately for Evan he had his back to Tre, who snapped off a poison rana prettier than a sunset before going up top himself. Boyd’s ridiculously athletic Spiral Tap he calls Say Hallelujah succeeded where O’Neill failed and made a believer out of the crown jewel of the Stable the hard way once the three came down. Starr’s men fumed over another loss while Kam Ellis and the Cooper Brothers swarmed Tre, who treated the win as just another Friday night before and after the ref raised his hand. We headed to break with Boyd gleefully informing the crowd they were gonna be running things around here soon enough and to get used to it before telling his friends and teammates that that was why they needed to follow the Truth so he could take them to the Promised Land.
After ads, we heard from Ashok Banjerjee and Jacques Krieger, with Ashok having the reaction to one of his annoying rivals losing moments ago that you might expect. Jacques quieted Ashok by staring him down before saying that the only thing better than getting to spank the Prince's metrosexual behind would be to whoop the ass of everybody in the Fallen Star Stable, so he and Ashok were issuing a challenge for next week where they’d find a third, win like they won at Mayday Payday and further prove they made their own luck without any weaselly managers stealing money off their tables. Ashok seemed a little worried about getting a partner but Jacques noted everybody hated the Stable so the real problem would be just getting one. Ashok said next week would be another win for Team BanjerKriegs and Jacques shook his head and walked away, with Ashok following a couple beats afterwards saying that he's still working out the name.
4. Nazir el-Fadal d. Dom DeSade (w/Bob Osterberg…and Team Batroc) at 6:58 A couple interesting things happened before the bell even rang - perennial jobber Dom came out not only with his partner but Team Batroc, obviously keeping an eye on Naz given all the short and long term problems they’ve had with him. Naz came out to “Hero”, pyro for miles and the Quality Controllers chanting his name - but as he hit the ring, Quality Force Security came down the ramp and positioned themselves all around ringside (presumably to counter and neutralize any shenanigans from the three men in Dom’s corner). Once all that was out of the way, things proceeded as you’d expect with Naz barely sweating on his way to a W after his Night Night hiptoss Michinoku Driver. Post match QFS escorted Naz to the back while Team Batroc stared daggers at him; the self proclaimed Greatest Man Alive didn't care, as he was telling Quality Controllers lining the ramp to buy his shirt. A cut to backstage showed Ig watching the proceedings with a devious grin while nodding.
We got a highlight reel of “Night Sky” Diana Spare and the dominant roll she has been on this year, including her winning the Women's World championship at Golden Rule and keeping it at Mayday Payday. A voiceover from Spare herself said that just as she promised QCW would belong to the night, the women's division and the Fifteen Pounds of Gold would belong to her for as long as she had breath in her to fight. And nothing or nobody would take that away from her or end her dark reign anytime soon.
A split screen showed both Shelley LaVey and Lolo Vuitton - two women who Diana knows pretty well - headed down different corridors towards the ring. After the break, they face off in a weapons match live on FDSNF!
5. Lolo Vuitton d. Shelley LaVey in a weapons match at 11:48 Beast Mode came out with Lolo on the ramp but didn't hang around for the violence. Lolo dropped to the floor, Shelley came out and ran down; seconds later, they were brawling in the aisle. Shelley got in a few shots in a row but Lolo managed to backdrop her into the ring. It didn't stop Shelley from firing off a step up enzuigiri before seizing full control and eventually knocking Vuitton out of the ring to get a little revenge. But when Shelley went for a tope suicida Lolo blasted her out of the sky by waffling her with a trash can. Vuitton threw in a few more shots to keep Shelley down. Lolo upped the stakes with more weapons beginning by tuning up LaVey with a kendo stick and softened up the ribs before introducing a few chairs and a black duffel bag into the fray. Shelley took advantage of Lolo trying to figure out where to position the bag and tossed her shoulder first into the ringpost; when Lolo slumped off the apron and hit the floor, LaVey followed and bounced Lolo's head off the retaining barrier repeatedly while the referee looked on helplessly. Shelley eventually got Lolo back in the ring and gave back all the shots she’d suffered with the kendo stick but when she tried minutes later to go for her Fallen Angel splash, Vuitton had recovered enough to smash a glass light tube from the duffel over LaVey's head. The first shot dazed Shelley but a relentless Lolo brought down several more over her rival’s head and gouged her with a piece of the last one she broke, drawing blood from a helpless LaVey. Lolo cleared some room and came around the horn for the Bloody Shoe but LaVey dove off with a Meteora that left both women laid out. Vuitton got to her feet first and charged LaVey, who stopped her in her tracks by sandwiching her temples with glass light tube shots. Lolo went down like a redwood in the forest and Shelley headed back up too to fly off with the Fallen Angel splash - but Lolo put up a chair vertically to block, stabbing Shelley’s ribs so violently it looked like the former member of the Culture was going to vomit when she staggered up clutching her rib cage. Lolo got a sick grin on her face as she used that chair to pull herself off of the canvas, then absolutely walloped LaVey over the head with it so hard you could see people in the first six rows turn away from the moment of impact. An already bloody LaVey was busted further open and staggered back into the corner to keep from falling down, but she couldn't see due to the chair wrapped around her head and even worse Lolo was coming around the horn to Bloody Shoe the chair up into her face. Lolo flopped on top and got the three count while Steve was just thankful it was over.
After replays, Beast Mode were all united, the Quality Controllers booing as Lolo cackled at the still out of it LaVey from her perch on the shoulders of “These Hands” Roy Fade and “Dashing” Pierce Moore. They walked Lolo to the back while in the ring refs and the medical staff checked on Shelley. After a few scary moments, LaVey was able to communicate with the staff and sit up, and a couple of brief talks later she was helped to the back by a couple of the zebras as the medical staff were right on their heels. Shelley got plenty of applause on her own way to the back for putting up a valiant if losing effort.
As usual, the countdown to 💫 next week's Ruckus 💫 is already on and will feature the following; the All Starr Stable against Ashok Banjerjee, Jacques Krieger and a mystery partner of their choosing | Justine Danek and Bella Jolie of Hysteria will face off against Women's World champion “Night Sky Diana Spare and, interestingly, Luz Cruz | and Razorblade defends the Fifteen Pounds of Gold…but against who?
6. Savage Justice d. “The Purifier” Caleb Gray and “the Paragon” Drake Tremble of the Chosen (w/the End Times and Goody Gardner) at 12:35 After both sides getting in shots on the other earlier in the show, this rivalry came to a head in the main event with the Chosen's attempted recruiting and/or mind games with/against Justice Davis coming to a head in the Mayday Payday PPV main event where he stood by his mentor figure despite the fact they were facing off for the World and National titles. Despite the reconciliation, once the match got underway it was the Chosen's teamwork that got them the early advantage. The Double Champ always relished a good fight, but the quick tags and halving up of the ring must’ve made it feel like a handicap match for a couple of minutes no matter if it was Gray or Tremble dishing out the lumps. But with their problems behind them, it was JD who would prove to be the difference: first, diving in to make a save after the born again brigade dropped Razorblade with a tandem discus back elbow and cyclone kick, then being ready for the hot tag after Razorblade wiped out the Paragon with a Godzilla lariat and then gave the Purifier an Andersonesque spinebuster right onto his supplicant. Having finally dropped both members of the opposition, Mason tagged in Justice and the fresher Davis hit the ring putting meesters on keisters. JD took additional pleasure in duffing up Caleb as their individual rivalry has been going on all year. Davis avoided Repent and fought back by stuffing the Chosen's patriarch with the JDDDT. Justice moved to a neutral corner, poised to strike - and Caleb was only on his feet for a couple of seconds before Davis flattened him out with a Busiaku knee. Davis covered but Tremble came to Caleb's rescue then Razorblade hit the ring and the Pier 4 was on in earnest. The antiheros cleared Tremble from the ring and then hit Caleb with the Doomsday Device, which was the beginning of the end for Team Jesus. Razorblade tagged Justice in for the finish, which saw him hit a familiar looking running Air Raid Crash before Davis delivered another Busiaku knee and got the pinfall over Gray.
But things didn't end there, as losing the match meant the outside members of the Chosen came in for revenge, which quickly put Mason and Justice on the business end of a 4 on 2 beatdown while Goody Gardner directed traffic. The End Times started to get JD into position for the Reckoning when Goody’s screaming alerted the Chosen to the four men running down the ramp to make an unlikely save - the young men of Sky’s the Limit. Gray and Tremble threw Razorblade down but were no match for the Cooper Brothers; similarly it didn't take long for Tre Boyd and Kam Ellis to send the Times out of the ring. The Quality Controllers cheered as the Coopers pulled Davis up while Razorblade got a mic from Duck; however, Tre grabbed that mic from the Double Champ to oohs from the crowd. Boyd said that he wasn't just saying they’d be taking over soon enough just to hear himself talk, he was saying it because it was the truth in all caps just like him. Razorblade got another mic and said he didn't know much slang that the younger ones used but he liked the phrase say less, and Tre should say less and get in the hardest week of training he’d ever done because next week – well, next week he was getting his first shot at the QCW World championship. The crowd popped as Razorblade raised up the Fifteen Pounds of Gold while Tre nodded with a big grin on his face then said he didn't come to Queue Cee Dub for anything less. Both men threw down their mics as Sky’s the Limit freaked out around their leader and there was a quick but notable look of disappointment on Justice's face. Tre and Mason did some friendly barking back and forth and it looked like Ruckus was going to go off the air, but Boyd made A Very Familiar Gesture around his waist before touching the World title, which caused Razorblade to shove him. The credits box came up a couple of beats after Boyd shoved the Champ Champ back, and Ruckus faded to black with both Justice and the rest of Sky's the Limit separating and playing peacemakers to both the men who'll be main eventing next week's show with QCW’s crown jewel on the line.
non-titles Bonnie Agrippa and Nancy Crowley of Hysteria (w/Justine and Bella) d. The Game Changers
“The Fury” Jim Jaspers (w/”the Proper King” Richard Windsor) d. Hawk Carter
The Cooper Brothers (w/Tre Boyd and Kam Ellis) d. Hellraisers
“Explosive” Emily Bennett d. Sohla Patel
📺 live on FanDuel Sports Network Florida
📍 Quality Arena in Parts Unknown, FL
Ruckus kicked off with a Mayday Payday recap video package. Stills of Shelley LaVey and Lolo Vuitton brawling up the ramp and Ashok Banjerjee and Jacques Krieger celebrating their upset win over A Cut Above gave way to longer full video highlights from the main card: 💲🟪 Omar Littlefield making a destructive return by taking out both Beast Mode and the Cooper Brothers from Sky’s the Limit 💲🟪 Orion using an inside cradle to end Malicía Fernandez’s undefeated streak 💲🟪 Nazir el-Fadal cutting Pyotr Caviar down to size before putting him to bed with a dose of Nazquil 💲🟪 Bonnie Agrippa and Nancy Crowley of Hysteria absolutely folding up Collipark's International Players to take the World Tag Team championships much to the shock and dismay of the Minneapolis crowd 💲🟪 “Night Sky” Diana Spare and Fiona Fogg throwing down over the Women's World championship so much so that Fogg ended up with a busted lip and getting rammed repeatedly into the ringpost left Spare needing 9 stitches post match, but Diana managed to counter the Koji Clutch with a buckle Death Valley Driver and eventually an avalanche Nightfall to retain her belt 💲🟪 Justice Davis swinging wildly between his narrow focus in trying to get the QCW World and National championships and a nervous breakdown against Razorblade, even with the Chosen hitting the ring for more mind games before Nazir el-Fadal hit the ring to clear them out and The Double Champ to be able to retain his belts after a Soul Crusher. The package ended with Savage Justice shaking hands, Naz mouthing “you owe me” to Razorblade and Mason Savage mouthing back “time and place” to his eternal rival (gone good?)
After that, the usual open to “Invincible” rolled with the only notable difference being Bonnie and Nancy taking the International Players’ spot in the Cavalcade of Champions like they took the tag straps Sunday night.
But the show didn't start with pyro and cheers; it started with Interim Commissioner Ig de Catur in the ring flanked by Quality Force Security and getting nearly booed out of Quality Arena. In fact, the only thing that broke up the booing was a loud “WE WANT JUPITER!” chant. Ig tried to speak a couple of times to nuclear heat and eventually left the ring to cheers with QFS.
Steve Vandeblanche and Mr. Excitement himself Craig Jacobs checked in from the desk but Steve barely had time to hype the Nazir el-Fadal vs. Drake Tremble main event before Ig popped up on the Qualitron 10000, calling the fans ungrateful when all he was trying to do was make the life blood of QCW healthier and not waste as much money on big names from the past when they could bring in people that would help make QCW’s future and continue a long, proud family history. But if that was the reaction he was going to get for being mature enough to run the company then maybe he needed to look into more security for himself. Maybe if the ungrateful people in the seats wanted to play Us vs. Then, maybe the next acquisitions for QCW wouldn't be for the roster…but a personal army committed to carrying out his vision in the Quality Arena he built.
The Tron blipped out, then the rest of the lights did too.
Lights on - and there was Hysteria side by side by side by side in the ring, Bonnie Agrippa and Nancy Crowley smiling evilly as they held up the World Tag Team championships. They were on the outside for tonight's opener…
1. Justine Danek and Bella Jolie of Hysteria (w/Bonnie Agrippa and Nancy Crowley) d. “Explosive” Emily Bennett and Luz Cruz at 9:22 Long time partners Justine and Bella showed their cohesiveness against the makeshift Bennett/Cruz team of former rivals, getting control and taking sick glee in working over their former leader while Steve noted on commentary that we were coming up on the anniversary of Hysteria's first year in QCW and how they’d spent most of that year with some kind of championship. Justine and Bella showed off their in ring IQs by isolating Cruz, keeping her from tagging out whether it was goading the still green Bennett into the ring, knocking Emily off the apron, or yanking her off when it seemed Luz would have been closest to succeeding at tagging out. But when J&B looked to put a bow on the fight with a Twelve Feet Under, their old leader saw it coming - Luz shoved Bella right into Justine’s Buckshot lariat which gave Cruz the opening she needed to tag Emily in. Bennett then went to work on QCW’s resident coven and showed why she’d won a major tournament last summer, taking the fight to Justine and even using attempted Bella interference to hit Jolie with an enzuigiri while she came around the horn with a tornado DDT on Justine. Emily followed up with a cradle piledriver shortly thereafter and looked to complete the babyfaces’ comeback by spiking Justine with Time’s Up, but she missed Justine tagging in Bella before she could complete the slingshot elevated powerbomb. Jolie held onto Danek’s hand, which allowed Justine to sort of hurancanrana Emily into necking the top rope. Suddenly Bella was doing the Buckshot while Justine was making Emily Eat Defeat, and just like that the goth queens had snapped off a Twelve Feet Under with the roles reversed. Bella made the pin while behind the referee’s back Bonnie and Nancy yanked Luz off the apron and sandwiched her with title belt shots, allowing Hysteria to steal one and keep up their winning ways.
The match replays got cut off and we had to return to live action, where Hysteria was swarming the effervescent Bennett with a 4 on 1 when she was already down - and a Bonnie/Nancy spike brainbuster kept Emily down. Hysteria was stomping away on Emily before a woozy Luz crawled into the ring and covered up Emily's body with her own. Hysteria looked stunned for a few seconds…then they stomped Luz out too. Steve complained at the desk about the dark celebration Hysteria was having to mark winning the tag straps on Sunday night while Bonnie ordered her underlings to get some chairs. They set up both Emily and Luz for Conchairtos, but the entire referee roster thankfully hit the ring and got between Nancy, Bonnie and their intended victims before they could swing away. The ladies of Hysteria cackled amidst the boos raining down in Quality Arena before Bonnie snapped her fingers and Hysteria pulled off their trademark disappearance in the darkness trick. Ruckus took its first commercial break of the evening with the referees and a couple of people from the medical staff trying to help Bennett and Cruz regain their bearings.
2. Fiona Fogg and Orion fought to a double countout at 8:03 After their differing Sunday nights, Fiona and Orion went after each other here with Steve intimating on commentary that the winner here would either get another title shot so of course they fought to a non conclusive ending after a decent fight from both sides. Fiona was ahead slightly in the opening stretch, Orion rallied to get a slight upper hand in the middle portion and landed a hurancanrana that sent them both out to the floor. They spent the referee’s ten count brawling around ringside and ignoring the count, then continued brawling after the bell until the referee corps came out and separated them. Fiona's winless week left her stomping up the ramp while Orion was waving them on for more behind the couple of referees keeping them at bay; a cut to backstage showed Sohla Patel watching it all go down on a monitor.
“Unscripted Violence” played for about three seconds before the roof came off of Quality Arena and Mason “Razorblade” Savage made his way to the ring through a crowd chanting his name. The QCW World and National champion grabbed a mic from Duck Eko and held it out to goose even more cheers from the faithful before saying that Ig may have put his money into the place but he was the one who built this mothereffer (and he didn't say effer). The crowd roared as Razorblade said he’d had to face enemies like Caleb Gray and Omar Littlefield, friends like Justice Davis, whatever the hell Naz was being right now to sell his merch; opponents changed, locations changed, but the only thing that remained #ANDSTILL the same was the fact that he was standing in this ring a double champion! The Quality Controllers broke out into a “Champ Champ (woop woop)!” chant that got a short bark of a laugh out of Savage before he continued, saying that there was no rest for the weary and that he'd have it no other way.
In three weeks time, QCW would be having a supershow up in Philadelphia in the house that extreme built and you know damn well there was no way in hell he was going to miss it - in fact, he’d be defending the National championship at 2300, and there'd be an eight person gauntlet match to see who would get the shot at him and the World title at Cruel Summer. But he wasn't going to leave them hanging - hell, the week after next he’d be picking the Fifteen Pounds of Gold up against someone who won a match next week and he didn't care who. Because these belts he earned weren't participation trophies or certificates kids got for perfect attendance, but earned through battle, through struggle - by fighting. And it just so happened that Mason Savage loved him a scrap. So no matter where, no matter against who, they could send anyone against him because everyone bleeds. He tossed the mic to Duck and held up his belts to another roar from the crowd, a roar that continued right up until Billie Eilish told everyone in the Arena and watching along on FDSN that they should see her in a crown. Speaking of successful nights at Mayday Payday and World championships, “Night Sky” Diana Spare walked out for her open challenge to a massive pop of her own. The Women's World champion ignored the “Holy shit!” chants as she headed down the ramp and got in the ring while Steve went nuts on commentary wondering if a champion vs. double champion match was going to be happening sooner rather than later. Billie died off and Spare and Razorblade stared each other down while the crowd continued to be loud and partially bleeped out. After the staring contest went on for a few beats, Spare finally cracked a sinister (?) grin and pointed at Mason's World title before holding up her own - which caused Razorblade to nod once, smile right back and hold up both of his championships. Savage handed the mic over to Diana and left the ring and eventually the Arena through the concourse, leaving QCW’s resident dark princess holding down the ring.
Spare said that she wasn't waiting two weeks to defend her World championship despite the stitches Fiona Fogg put in her head Sunday night - she was issuing an open challenge and putting her Fifteen Pounds of Gold on the line right now! The crowd’s cheers over the impromptu title defense got flipped into boos real quick when “Shall We Gather At the River?” brought out the Chosen, with a sneering Goody Gardner leading the charge as the zealots came down the ramp chanting “Faith over fear!” A referee ran down after them to make it official and the fight began in earnest.
3. “Night Sky” Diana Spare [c] d. Goody Gardner (w/the Chosen) in an open challenge to retain the Women's World championship at 9:57 Goody took the fight to Diana right from the bell, but as Steve pointed out on commentary, maybe Goody was playing right into Spare’s hands by trying to outbrawl The Champ. Turned out he was right, as Diana eventually got the upper (right) hand on Goody and stayed a step ahead of her the whole way. Goody fought gamely throughout and even hissed at the rest of the Chosen when they tried to interfere on her behalf, but her one decently sized rally ran right into a Black Hole slam that made sure Diana wouldn't lose the upper hand the rest of the way. If there's one thing for sure in QCW, Nightfalls get pinfalls and that was once again the case here. Spare took her belt and headed back up the ramp with no joy to be seen on her face despite the crowd chanting her name as Ruckus headed to commercials.
The previously online exclusive footage of Julius Duquesne III interviewing the College Park Family after the International Players lost the World Tag Team championships at Mayday Payday aired, and once Lucius Patton and Benjamin Valentino managed to find the ability to speak they didn't have much to say. They gave Hysteria props but mentioned they’d been a shell of themselves lately everybody knew why - and rather than waste everybody's time with excuses they were going home for support and to honestly get their heads together. JD3 ended the interview and they hugged him, so things are BAD bad.
4. Beast Mode (w/Lolo Vuitton) d. the Cooper Brothers of Sky’s the Limit (w/Tre Boyd and Kam Ellis) at 11:51 This was a make good from Sunday night, where Omar Littlefield ruined this match before it could even start and laid out all four men. Here, the Mode/StL rivalry continued but to the shock of most of the audience it was the newer Coopers who controlled most of the match against former champions Roy Fade and Pierce Moore. The identical twins used their high flying to not only jump out to an early lead but maintain it thanks to high flying and speedy offense. Even an attempt at interference from Lolo Vuitton got quickly shut down by Boyd and Ellis, and DeCameron made sure to taunt her before flying off the top with a 450° splash – but the “Dashing” Californian got his knees up and surprised Marc with a sudden flash Fresh To Death. After Pierce covered him, Mare hit the ring to save his brother but got intercepted as “These Hands” leapt off his partner's back to blast the other Cooper with a Decision that made sure the three count came down. Just like that, Beast Mode had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and Steve pointed out on commentary that they got a measure of revenge for Boyd KOing Fade with brass knuckles on the last episode of Ruckus. Beast Mode smirked their way to the back while Boyd looked frustrated, repeatedly telling Marc he couldn't be hesitating like that now that they were in the big leagues and that he wasn't always going to be there to bail them out.
Ahead of the commercial break we got a teaser for someone new coming to join the roster - he’s magisterial, he takes the work seriously but never himself, darling, and he will he will rock you - Freddie Valsada is coming soon. Not soon enough if you ask him.
5. Jacques Krieger (w/Ashok Banjerjee) d. Prince Ootsuka (w/the All Starr Stable) at 11:38 This was a rematch from last month where Ootsuka put Krieger to sleep and then the whole Stable stomped out Ashok when he tried to make a post match save, beginning the odd couple of AsJacques or Banjerkriegs or whatever you like to call them. They picked up right where they left off on April 18th, both men throwing heavy shots early. The forearm exchange looked like it would go to the Prince but when he went for a rolling forearm shot Krieger blocked it and spun Ootsuka around before drilling him with a shotei that sounded like a firecracker went off to drop the Stable’s replacement and get gasps and cheers from the crowd. Krieger started pushing his advantage and felt good enough about his offense to go for the Jacqueshammer a couple of minutes later but Ootsuka slipped out and tattooed the New Jerseyite with a pair of superkicks to the back of the head that sent Krieger spilling to the floor. Ootsuka got out to the apron and let out a sharp yelp before running down it for momentum to deliver a double stomp to Jacques on the floor. As Starr and crew cheered him on, Ootsuka targeted Krieger's midsection while Ashok rallied the fans, and they got their hopes out when Krieger slipped a cobra clutch attempt to send Ootsuka flying and immediately capitalized with a massive pump knee that turned out the lights in Sapporo. Krieger muscled the limp Prince over and to a mildly shocked but pleased crowd, got the 3. The Stable fumed on the floor while Krieger loomed cooly over the knocked out Ootsuka and Ashok celebrated like he’d won the match, eventually getting a small grin out of Krieger as they headed to the back. Steve noted that Jacques and the Prince were tied at one after that massive Krieger knee strike, a shot so big it even woke Jacobs up for a few seconds.
Ahead of the main event, Steve hyped up some of the big matches on 💫 next week's Ruckus 💫: Omar Littlefield makes his in-ring return in what should be a bruising battle against “the Fury” Jim Jaspers | the next level of the long-standing rivalry between Shelley LaVey and Lolo Vuitton will see them throw down in a weapons match | and “The Purifier” Caleb Gray and “the Paragon” Drake Tremble of the Chosen will be in the main event against Mayday Payday opponents and once again friends Savage Justice – but before that main event, Tremble's got a big solo one on his plate right now…
6. Nazir el-Fadal d. “The Paragon” Drake Tremble at 12:15 …ah, well. Two things of note happened before the action got underway: Naz has changed his theme to Nas and Keri Hilson’s “Hero”, accompanied with enough gold and white pyro to get a down payment on a Senator; at Naz’s request, he had the rest of the Chosen sent to the back before the match got underway and when Caleb, Goody and the End Times wouldn't go willingly, Quality Force Security came out and made them. The One Man Jihad made sure to taunt them on their way out, leaving an opening for Tremble to jump him from behind as the match started. Tremble, furious about his fellow acolytes being shunted away from ringside went after Naz with the sort of aggression that made him a 3x former World champion, and the self proclaimed Greatest Man Alive spent most of the early going on the back foot and/or surviving near falls. An exchange of strikes in the middle of the ring down the stretch seemed to be won by a Tremble big boot that sent el-Fadal between the top and middle ropes to the apron. Drake laid in more shots and went for what presumably would have been Repentance into the hardest part of the ring, but Naz had enough wherewithal to slip out the back door and shove the Paragon into the ring post. Tremble staggered into the waiting arms of el-Fadal, who added injury to injury by landing his signature Night Night and turning a hiptoss into a Michinoku Driver to the floor that got the biggest pop of the entire show along with more than a few “HOLY SHIT!” chants. Naz seemed more than willing to win by countout but a clearly dazed Tremble staggered in the ring at 9 only to get pounced on by the ever opportunistic Grand Slam Club member ei-Fadal with a dose of Nazquil that led to Drake’s downfall and pinfall.
After replays, Naz celebrated on the turnbuckles for a bit before making A Very Familiar Gesture around his waist – but the last shot of the show was from a skybox in QArena of Ig de Catur flanked by some Quality Force Security members and cheering just as much as the fans surrounding him were. Ruh-roh(?)
Anton Stahl and the Wonderful Ward Brothers d. Hawk Carter and A World of Pain
Ashley “THEE Influencer” Szabo (w/”Tiki God” Al Buffett) ddq. Bella Jolie (w/Hysteria)
“Sinister” Sarah Fowler and Midsomar d. Mean Season
Serge Batroc (w/Pyotr Caviar) d. Ashok Banjerjee
Preshow
1. Shelley LaVey DCO Lolo Vuitton (w/Beast Mode)
2. Ashok Banjerjee & Jacques Krieger d. A Cut Above [w/S. Mark Starr & Prince Ootsuka] (Banjerjee Orange Crush/heart punch combination -> pinfall)
