The usual Ruckus opening before throwing to the announce, who said that Ruckus was taking next week off for the holiday but would be back on the 3rd with a special two-hour long edition called the Festival of Fights with limited commercial interruptions. But that was in two weeks -- and the World title was on the line right now!
| • Mayhem [C] d. “The Fury” Jim Jaspers to retain the QCW World Heavyweight Championship • | Last week after getting the pinfall in his QCW debut, Jaspers poked some fun at Mayhem and challenged him to this title fight; you can understand how the champ bristled at that, and here we are.
Dueling chants before the match got underway (!), but as the match ended up shaking out it probably was like 60/40 behind Jaspers. The first part of the match was a back and forth that saw them fight on the apron, which Mayhem eventually won by leapfrogging a Fury Road attempt before scooping Jaspers up and drilling him with a familiar looking Air Raid Crash. For the last 10 minutes of the 20 minute (!!) or so long match, Mayhem kept working over the back and Jaspers kept barely surviving, until he didn’t -- after a flurry of European uppercuts knocked Mayhem into a corner, Jaspers went for what looked like Fury Road into the corner buckle, but Mayhem pulled himself up to the top rope to avoid it then flew off with a senton bomb across the back of Jaspers to win it. Great TV match worth going out of your way to see. *** ½
Not done yet, either.
Mayhem went to help Jaspers up after the match, and Jaspers looked like he was running through the gamut of emotions, when Don’t Even Trip hit. Nazir el-Fadal came out onto the stage, but before he could speak he got cut off by Mason “Razorblade” Savage to a huge crowd pop. Savage said he’s been thinking about what he’s wanted to say for a month, and it’s this -- he saw how Mayhem won the belt -- and that’s what he needed to do. He’s glad Mayhem won the belt, but he knows the way everyone here knows that it’s long past time the Razorblade got *himself* a World title match. Huge crowd pop for that, which Naz pretty quickly tried to step all over by saying that Razorblade’s talent aside, Naz was a little better *and* next man up to liberate the QCW World Championship from its reign of error. Razorblade accused Naz of ducking him to oohs, Naz said considering there’s no such thing as a clean loss on his record; that he’s ducked no man and wasn’t going to start now. They went nose to nose on the stage when Mayhem suggested they go one on one in the main event, and if Mason wins, the QCW World title match at Yule Be Sorry turns into a triple threat. Crowd popped huge, Razor said deal, and after a few beats, Naz did as well. Tonight’s main, well, really, a #1a contendership match, Razorblade v. the One Man Jihad, and if Savage gets the win he gets his first title shot.
The first Forbidden Book Club Thanksgiving vignette played here. The foursome welcomed Bella Bathory and Justine over to their...what’s the best word...lair? Fortress? Mansion? So, at the Haunted Mansion, all the ladies are exchanging early pleasantries, and they seem to be sizing each other up in all of the ways when the doorbell rings: Dom DeSade. Almost as if his directions were messed up. Almost as if they didn’t want him here. And he brought some backup: cornbread stuffing. We’ll return to this later in the show, presumably.
During the commercial break, Mayhem stared down both Naz and Razorblade, before hoisting the World Championship over his shoulder and walking to the back. After that, Razorblade said “See you soon” though whether it was to Mayhem or the belt is up to you. Razorblade followed Mayhem to the back, and Naz looked back at the ringside area where Jaspers was pulling himself up with the apron, scoffed, and left.
| • “Tiki God” Al Buffett d. “The Analyst” Martin Williams • | Williams worked over big Al and wore him down throughout most of the match, but semifoolishly tried to get him up for a slam late and went splut, then fell victim to the Lava Rock. ** The rest of the Consortium came out to help Williams stomp Al out, and there was no save from his tag partner from last week, Jaspers. The IWC looked quite cross with Williams as well, as you start to see people sweating their spots with all the high profile new signees coming aboard.
There was a bunch of White Claw with cute little bows on them, but they were a gift for Toddzilla and not Party Animal as you might expect. The big man, clearly angling for his own endorsement deal, started downing them at will.
| • Mirror Mirror d. Wendy Neverland • | The further implosion of the Storybookers continues, as Mirror pretty much left Wendy out to dry in the tag match last week and has seemed further disinterested in the Bookers ever since dropping the fall at WarGames following the Lookingglass/Wonderland turn. Ironically enough, she pretty much trucked Wendy before beating her with the same hold she used to beat Wonderland at the PPV, a hybrid dragon sleeper camel clutch. It’s probably called Look Within; hard to tell since the crowd was making a lot of noise with a lot of different reactions. **
Friendly reminder that the TV title tournament will begin next month on the December 17th episode of Ruckus, the first one after Yule Be Sorry.
| • Party Animal dco. Serge Batroc • | Of note, several times during the match there were cutaways to the back where the Consortium were watching this one. Party Animal’s drunken style proved to be able to match Batroc hold for hold (well, ish), and eventually after hearing the time limit announcement, Batroc threw his hands up in disgust, rolled out of the ring, and took the countout loss, much to the Consortium’s disappointment. In the ring, Animal celebrated with a drink on the ropes. **
At the Forbidden Book Club Thanksgiving, Dom kept getting dirty looks from the not witches, who finally had enough of his come-ons and told Bella & Justine to get rid of him. Bella and Justine weren’t about to make their backup leave, when two familiar voices said they’d make him:
Gothic Horror.
Apparently now fully under the sway of the FBC, Chrysalis has reverted back to who and what they were before they won the tag championships. Gothic Horror beat down Dom until blood got on their aprons while the Club surrounded the screaming Bella and Justine and cackled. They definitely enjoyed it beyond a PG-13 level, but to be fair, it’s not like it was a wholly inaccurate reenactment of Thanksgiving historically…
The announce reacted with the (ahem) horror you might expect at that turn of developments, and noted that a lot of people were following along with Ruckus in real time on social media, most notably former lucha libre champion Crusazdo del Oro. Oro stated that he heard about the things Mayhem said when the cameras weren’t rolling, and that if that was the case, he was getting a head start on his QCW contract (hey hey!) and coming up there to shut him up, title, no-title, either way he was getting his pinche gringo culo kicked.
| • Jupiter Jones & Lucius Patton d. “”American Muscle” Bobby Bash & Dom DeSade to win #1 contendership and a shot at the QCW Tag Titles at Yule Be Sorry • | The Club developments loomed over this match, as both sides of this have been burned by them already in their short time here. Obviously, the most rattled was the previously unflappable DeSade, who was clearly still feeling the effects of the beatdown and eventually got double teamed and pinned by the College Park Family squad, who get another shot at the belts (although this time with different champions than their previous shot). As the Polycule left the ring, the lights in the arena turned red, flickered four times, then went back to normal. The Battle of the Freaks rolls on... ** ½
Enya Face said she had a special interview lined up, but a loud noise from off camera came and she went to investigate it. We ended up in the medical station in the arena, where Toddzilla was holding his stomach and looking more purple than usual. The doctor was trying to get Todd to relax and that he was only making things worse when Party Animal sauntered in. Animal smiled at Todd, before holding up a can of Claw...before taking off the label to reveal that Todd’s been drinking (at least several) bottles of ipecac. Todd’s eyes bulged in fury, and he reached out for Party Animal, only to run past him and into the bathroom. Party Animal reached into their trunks, pulled out another one, and started drinking it to a crowd pop. The doctor politely refused one of their own.
Enya Face said she had a special interview lined up, and she did - with the QCW World Champion, Mayhem. Mayhem got more boos then he’d gotten all night, and wanted to point out he didn’t know if it was whether or not he was still champion, but he did want to say that he never put down Crusazdo or lucha libre. If that’s the reason people are booing, that’s wrong. Mayhem respects Crusazdo, which is more than he can say about Nazir, who probably started this rumor to begin with. He’s scared now that he doesn’t run QCW anymore and scared of getting exposed -- at which point Nazir bumped shoulders with him from behind on his way to the main event. Mayhem wanted to know what Naz’s problem was, Naz said he already knew what it was, that he got the World Title stolen from him, and eventually suits, Scott Holmes, and finally Mason “Razorblade” Savage separated them going into the final commercial break. Razorblade and Mayhem stared each other down, but as Mayhem looked to be going for a handshake or fist pound, Savage’s music hit and he came out.
| • Mason “Razorblade” Savage d. “The One Man Jihad” Nazir el-Fadal to get inserted into the QCW World Title match at Yule Be Sorry • | Commercials had to end up running in the corner three times during this instant classic that went nearly half an hour in the best match in Ruckus’ short history. Crazy that this even surpassed Mayhem/Jaspers that kicked things off tonight or the all babyface tag title defense a few months ago. In the opening segment of the match, it was more of a feeling out process than anything else in the ring; in the back, Mayhem was fuming and talking to the officials and suits. He eventually came out with a chair, but used it to sit on the stage and catch what ended up being the final 2/3rds of the match.
Naz won an apron war and hit Savage with the Hamrin Valley Driver into it, then tried to win by countout, but Savage rolled in at nine; later, Naz went for Thoughts and Prayers only for Savage to flip out and hit Naz with his own Hamrin Valley Driver for a nearfall; Naz sunset bombed his way out of a Soul Crusher attempt but Mason kicked out at 2.9; Naz hit the WMDDT but Mason became the first person to kick out of it, drawing a standing O and “This is awesome!” chants. End came when Naz went for another WMDDT, Mason countered with a small package and they did some rollups back and forth for the better part of a minute before Mason countered a sunset flip counter and pinned Naz. It looked like he was reaching for the ropes at first since they were close, but he didn’t use them in the pinfall. ****
Another standing O after the match, as Naz argued the count with the referee and then went down like he’d been shot. On the stage, Mayhem applauded as Mason walked up the rampway, pointing at Naz and telling him that ought to shut his ass up. He then turned and faced Mayhem, who had his hand out for a handshake. Mason looked at it, then him, then the belt before refocusing on Mayhem, saying “See you at the PPV”, blowing him off and leaving. Mayhem standing alone, belt over a shoulder and a bunch of emotions going through his face, was the last bit of Ruckus we’ll see for two weeks, until the two hour limited-commercial-interruption having Festival of Fights.
