Not the usual Ruckus opening - why would it be? This isn’t an episode of Ruckus. A montage played going over all the name changes, Quality Arenas and logos in QCW history before focusing on the Quarantine Era and some brief action of the company’s biggest lights - this gave way to a chyron proclaiming that this was
THE 2022 QUALITY AWARDS SHOWCASE
From the QCW Control Center (think if Blade Runner had been set in Miami, looking snazzy with a lot of teal and white undercurrents) Steve Vandeblanche & Enya Face welcomed us to this very special episode of Ruckus Presents.
They then updated us since we should have gotten the Golden Rule PPV by now, but didn’t due to several wrestlers suffering from smoke inhalation from a faulty fog machine at the last Ruckus a couple weeks ago. But fear not, QCW fans - the Cow Palace was kind enough to reschedule and honor all the sold out original tickets, so now White Claw presents Golden Rule will be live on FITE and other pay per view providers (Enya: Try saying that three times fast! Steve: ThatThatThat!) next Sunday on the 27th. The original card is in place, and next week we’ll have the Quality Awards themselves where QCW’s finest will be rewarded for their (mis?)deeds over the course of the past year.
This week’s show is to showcase the 10 categories and 5 nominees each, and the fans can go to QCW’s site when the show ends and start getting their votes in before next Wednesday night at 10 pm EST.
The first category rolled out was Most Improved Wrestler of the Year, and clips of them played while Steve voiced over the batch of nominees: “the French Assassin” Serge Batroc, Mayhem, Mirror Mirror, Party Animal and Summer Rose. After the nominees were named, Steve noted that either of the major singles champions could walk away with the award, and Enya noted that Serge had become leader of the IWC and was a former champ himself, so don’t bet against him, either.
Enya then presented the nominees for the next award - Feud of the Year. Clips then played of the Forbidden Book Club and the Storybookers going at it, followed by Mayhem’s travails not only in fighting Gran Atomico but then going after Nazir el-Fadal, the lengthy feud between Mean Season and the Storybookers, and finally Serge & Destroy vs. Mason “Razorblade” Savage. Steve noted that these rivalries made up the backbone of QCW’s history over the past year, and that conceivably any of these could win the award.
Steve said that QCW’s history was getting made and remade all the time, but just because history was on the line that didn’t mean that newcomers themselves weren’t making QCW history all the time. He then ran through the list of nominees for the Rookie of the Year award as their highlights played - “Tiki God” Al Buffet, “These Hands” Roy Fade, Party Animal, “the First Lady of Fitness” Karyn Tisch-Warren and Lolo Vuitton. Enya noted all the nominees had already earned title shots over the course of the year, so it was probably a matter of time before at least one of them was a champion in QCW. We then went to our first commercial break of the evening.
Back from the ads (including one for K2 Circuit Training, how apropo) and back in the Control Center, where Enya talked about how crazy things were in QCW all of the time and she always had to be on the lookout when doing interviews because they had a way of going off the rails sometimes. Steve noted how unsafe he felt sometimes at the announce table, especially because we all know Starr would sell him out quicker than he could finish this sentence. But some moments are even more jawdropping than others, and those would be the nominees for the Shock of the Year Award:
Más Histeria throwing Young Screw off the stage
Mayhem cheating to win the QCW World Title
and also but before that being forced to leave town after losing a match to Gran Atomico thanks to some Luchadores Locos trickery
Mirror Mirror coming out as non binary
The Storybookers collapsing the steel cage on both Autumn and Wendy
Both Steve & Enya looked a little shocked all over again, both trying and failing to come away with just one to pick given the depth of the list and agreeing that it might be the hardest award to win - which is why every fan vote is so crucial. Again, the voting starts at the end of the show, but there’s still more categories to put in the showcase.
Enya said that before 2021, QCW had never been on PPV. Fortunately, they took that big step last year and delighted fans all over the world with their hard-hitting action, so it was only appropriate that said fans told us - which one was the PPV of the Year?
Cold As Hell, where Mayhem & Naz had the instant classic in the Worldwide Leader tournament finals and Jupiter Jones won the QCW Championship? Mayday Payday, where the tag belts changed hands, Mayhem briefly ended up leaving town, Nazir beat Jupiter for the title and Mirror Mirror lost WarGames and got their head shaved? The anniversary show that saw Nazir with the quickest W in QCW history only to get overshadowed by the lengthy fight that Mayhem & Razorblade had in the battle royale, Mayhem besting who was then his best friend? Maybe you want to vote for Devil’s Night, where Más Histeria won the tag belts, Summer Rose won the tournament to gain the QCW Women’s Championship and Mayhem cheated to beat Nazir to win the QCW World Title - or maybe you want to cast your vote for Yule Be Sorry, which not only didn’t have a bad match on the card but had the College Park Family liberating the tag belts from Histeria, a pretty underrated Rose/Vuitton title match and the chaotic triple threat for the World Title that saw Mayhem defend against Naz and Razorblade. As they noted, there wasn’t a wrong pick in the bunch.
Enya said not everything in life was a popularity contest. However, this next category was literally one, so go nuts - she then unveiled the nominees for (as you might’ve guessed) Most Popular Wrestler of the Year: Jupiter Jones, Mayhem, Party Animal, Summer Rose & Mason “Razorblade” Savage. Enya said she would vote for Summer.
Steve abstained from divulging his vote (can they vote or is that insider trading or the like?) and noted since Enya got the fun people, he was stuck with the scumbags and curse words nominated for Most Hated Wrestler of the Year: Nazir el-Fadal, the Forbidden Book Club (if they win it’d be the Most Hated WrestlerS of the year), Mayhem, MIrror Mirror and S. Mark Starr. Steve took a couple of times to get out Mark’s full name since he was laughing so hard. Enya was confused since Mayhem was also up for Most Popular, and Steve revealed that there was a possibility the World Champion could end up with both awards…and also, that he wouldn’t be the World Champion come the 28th. With that, we went to our final commercials of the evening, including one for Golden Rule right before we came back to close out the Showcase.
QCW was blessed with a lot of talent and had put on plenty of great matches in their Quarantine Era, but here was the tastiest cream to be had; at this point, the nominees for the Match of the Year were unveiled:
The Worldwide Leader tournament finals between Nazir el-Fadal & Mayhem last January 8
Mayhem and Mason "Razorblade" Savage's first one on one match on March 13
WarGames on May 15th blowing off the lengthy Mean Season/Storybookers feud
Nazir el-Fadal & Mayhem once again, this time for the QCW World Championship on October 24th (or as Naz calls it, 10/24)
And finally, the triple threat street fight for the QCW World Championship on December 11 between Mayhem, Naz & Razorblade
Both Steve and Enya noted that the odds especially looked good for all three men in that triple threat to end up with this award somehow, and wondered what would happen once the winner was announced if any combination of these longtime rivals were forced to share the stage together. “A combustible element to say the least,” noted Steve.
Enya chuckled, and then said maybe the most underrated part of QCW was it's tag team division, full of multiple metamorphoses, shifting alliances, and, oh, yeah, title changes and great matches. But only one team would be lucky enough to win the inaugural Quality Tag Team of the Year Award: the current champions the College Park Family, the former champions, TAFKA Gothic Horror & Chrysalis now known as the Hard Way, the International Workrate Commission’s Anton Stahl & Richard Windsor, another set of former champions in Mas Histeria and yet another pair of former champions in Serge & Destroy. Steve noted how packed the category was afterwards, and also noted that not only Serge & Destroy had split up but that the Hard Way hadn’t been seen since getting spooked by their former puppet masters the Forbidden Book Club a few weeks ago.
But obviously, whoever won that award would more than deserve it. In fact, the only category that could possibly be as packed as that was the last award up for grabs. The Big One.
“So, QCW fans, since you’re going to tell us…who’s your Wrestler of the Year?”
Nazir el-Fadal: the One Man Jihad, the current TV Champion, the man of a thousand nicknames, as adept as dropping people on their head as he is annoying them on the mic, who went around the world gathering the seeds that blossomed into the QCW World Championship that he then held for several hours
Jupiter Jones: When the QCW Hall of Fame gets operational, the Jones family is probably going to have their own wing, and this second generation superstar is a big reason why: currently half of the tag champs, former QCW Champion, still wowing the fans by being an elite wrestler this late in his career
Mayhem: Do you love him? Do you hate him? Or do you understand how hard he had to fight up from nothing to center his world around two things: the QCW World Championship and the phrase #ANDSTILL? Regardless, The Champ is…nah, we ain’t getting sued tonight
Summer Rose: Her former troubles seem to be definitively just that: former - buoyed by her Mean Season stablemates she won the tournament to crown QCW’s first Women’s Champion last fall and there hasn’t been a second one yet, Rose quietly putting together a lengthy resume as QCW’s current longest-reigning champion (she beat Mayhem to it by about half an hour, give or take)
Mason “Razorblade” Savage: the #1 contender, the fighter who won over the QCW fans by being willing to throw hands against anybody, anywhere, anytime and dishing out way more ass whoopings than he takes - and with a (tainted) win over Mayhem, may be just one more match away from becoming what he’s always wanted to be- a World Champion.
Those are the nominees for the Wrestler of the Year, and a better batch you could not produce. Steve & Enya wrapped up the Showcase by both tapping a touchscreen behind them, which then informed us that the VOTING IS NOW OPEN for the Quality Awards, so hit up QCW’s site and vote for your faves and least faves. Make sure you do it before 10pm EST Wednesday night, otherwise your vote will be as worthless as a Schrute Buck. Steve & Enya thanked us for watching, then said they’d see us next week for the 2022 Quality Awards!
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