Last Week On Ruckus: we met QCW legend Julius Duquesne via retrospective and found out that next week the Duquesne Classic one night tournament will be back for the first time this century; tonight we’ll unveil the bracket • after Mirror Mirror cost him the World Title at Golden Rule, Nazir el-Fadal enacted revenge by costing them & Tiki God a tag title match, only to be excised from the World Title scene while Razorblade’s World Champion thanks to Mayhem’s sneaky pinfall in a main event tag last week • the Forbidden Book Club went after new Women’s World Champion Lolo Vuitton & former champion Summer Rose with their newly won Women’s World Tag Team titles in tow, only to be repelled by Consolation Cup winners Hell On Wheels, who go for the tag titles tonight…
Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty - the Empire State Building from helicopter heights, going around it as Alicia Keys belts out Let’s hear it for New York, New York, New Yorrrrrkkkkkkkkkkk….! Yankee Stadium! 30 Rock! Radio City Music Hall! Sound familiar? It should – you saw this last week right before the New Champ declared that Mayday Payday was going to be coming live and direct from the Hammerstein Ballroom. What was different this time was that we got some words from Razorblade, sitting in the bleachers of the Arena hours ago before the show tonight.
The time has come.
The Escape to New York is upon us which can mean only one thing: we get ever closer to Mayday Payday. And I can’t think of a better city for us to come to and unleash all kinds of Unscripted Violence.
Life as the champ…life as the champ is a lot different than I’m used to.
Before becoming QCW champion, I just kinda blended into the background whenever I was out and about, but now and especially in NYC, I feel the love and support of the QCW faithful wherever I go.
The production truck threw up some selfies some people got with Razorblade while he was filming the MDPD announcement, as well as him getting a few “Hey, Champ!”s out on the street and signing a few autographs, taking a few pictures with said faithful.
Whether walking around the streets of Manhattan
Cut to The Champ on a very familiar looking bridge, sitting on the part where it curved so that QCW photographers could take pictures of him and the Twelve Pounds of Gold with NYC backdrops.
Or right here in Central Park - I see and hear all of you.
I’m gonna pay it back tenfold, too.
We went back to him sitting in an almost completely empty Arena Quarantina's calm before tonight's storm.
I don’t care if it’s Mayhem, or Naz, maybe whoever wins the Duquesne Classic, all of the above, it
does not
matter.
Come Mayday Payday we’re gonna have a bloody, knock out, drag out fight and there’s only gonna be one man walking away with the title…and you guys should already know you’re looking at him.
See you all May 1st.
Razorblade allowed himself a small smile and repositioned the World Title on his shoulder as we hit our usual open: pyro, ballhoo, and the usual suspects at the announce hyping up the debut of Katsuji Ootsuka, as well as the main event of the World Champion Razorblade teaming up with the Rookie of the Year Party Animal to face off against “These Hands” Roy Fade & Toddzilla — but when it comes to the Arena on Friday nights, what QCW does is fight, and we're going to start it off with a championship one.
Let Us Take You Back To Last Week, where Hell On Wheels beat the Angel Twins to win the Consolation Cup and tonight’s title shot, then Hell coming to the Forbidden Book Club when they tried to pile on Lolo & Summer, sending the champs and their cohorts scurrying back to the Haunted Library (presumably).
| • The Forbidden Book Club [c] d. Hell On Wheels to retain the QCW WOMEN’S WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS • | Crowley and Spare were banned from ringside here, the latter getting ready to face Autumn Powers in her return to one on one action later in the show. Hell On Wheels actually surprised the Club by bumrushing them right at the bell, a Pier 4 breaking out for a couple of minutes before the referee could restore order and settle things down into something more closely resembling a tag team match instead of a Roller Derby fight. As you might expect, this played right into the hands of the evil nerds, who cut off the ring on Block Solid and employed quick tags to keep themselves fresh. The classics are classics for a reason, after all, and while both members of Wheels managed to make saves for the other down the stretch, the Club proved too much to handle, Agrippa's Attack of Uncertainty slamming the door shut on a possible title change. ** ½
The usual red lights took the champs out of the ring after their corner celebration of cackling on the turnbuckles with the belts, Hell On Wheels getting a decent response from the Quaranteers in the losing effort after the ring had cleared of their adversaries.
Announce pivoted from those titles to the TV title, and noted that while Naz has ceded some ground in his lawsuit, given his standing as the former champion he wants to be involved in however a new champion is crowned. Steve expressed the office’s hope that this would get resolved over the course of the coming week, but as things stand the World TV title is still currently vacant.
| • Katsuji Ootsuka d. “American Muscle” Bobby Bash • | Making his QCW debut after being announced as the newest signee to the roster at Golden Rule, Ootsuka fought an uphill battle: first to get accepted by the crowd, which came in fits and starts before Bash started powering him around the ring and drawing sympathy for the newbie. Ootsuka’s first couple of sleeper attempts were easily shrugged off, then the later ones had the desired route of wearing Bash down. Once he had Bash reeling, Ootsuka impressed the crowd by catching Bash off the ropes with a vicious basement rana driver that set the scene for what has already got to be in consideration for one of the best finishing moves in QCW: a shooting star elbow drop called Magical Sky that got him the first victory in his QCW tenure. Giving this a little bump because I’m going to turn into a Magical Sky addict. ** ½
Announce had a bit more enthusiasm in their voices as they set the stage for Duquesne Classic Bracketology, throwing it to Enya Face and Julius Duquesne III (hey hey!) at the QCW Control Center. I can’t tell if Enya’s that tiny, J3’s that big, or both. They welcomed us to the QCC for Bracketology, and reviewed a little bit of the past history of the Classic as well as what was at stake this year: a shot at the title at Mayday Payday, #1 contendership, and a brand new Tesla.
Enya kicked things off by revealing Party Animal against the French Assassin Serge Batroc as the first match at the top of the bracket, Julius noticing the massive contrast in styles but also noting that Serge was a former tag champ and Party Animal’s been in contention for the TV title all year; maybe the Classic would put him against his partner tonight for the title at Hammerstein.
Enya continued on for the next match in the tournament, and newcomer Katsuji Ootsuka may have impressed against Bobby Bash just now, but next week he’s going in against one of QCW’s biggest names and decorated champions, Nazir el-Fadal. J3 had sympathy over the hard draw the Prince of Punishment got in the first round, but noted that Nazir had to be considered a favorite in any tournament he was in given that he’d won the Worldwide Leader tournament last year and springboarded that into a title victory. Enya noted that if Nazir advanced, he’d either have to go up against long-time rival Party or long-time…well, friend might have been a bit much, but he & Serge have had a good working relationship to this point.
Julius the Third took over to handle the matches in the bottom half of the bracket, including one here he said he thought might surprise a lot of the fans (here came the reveal): Mirror Mirror v. Summer Rose. For the first few months of the Quarantine Era, Rose & Mirror went against each other as part of the Storybookers/Mean Season rivalry, culminating in WarGames last Mayday Payday that main evented and saw Mirror drop the fall and get their head shaved as a result; those results helped spur the Mirror we know and love or hate today. Summer Rose was bolstered by the WarGames win, then went on to win a tournament in her own right to be crowned the inaugural Women’s World Champion at Devil’s Night, a reign that just ended at Golden Rule. Mirror’s repeatedly stated their intention to erase the gender divide in QCW, but runs into the former Women’s World champion that until a couple of weeks ago had the longest title reign of any QCW champion, hence the tournament entry.
J3 also noted that whomever survived between Rose & Mirror wasn’t going to have an easy road to the finals, since the top half of the bracket wasn’t the only part that had a former World Champion in it – the last match revealed that Mayhem would face the former Gran Atomico, now known as Roberto VillaLobos. It was going to be deeply personal for Mayhem, who wants a rematch for the World Title and was briefly made to leave QCW last year thanks to VillaLobos and the rest of Los Luchadores Locos. VillaLobos himself has got a bit of blood in his eye, having gotten unmasked and tricked himself by Crusazdo del Oro and Los Caballeros at Golden Rule. Now without tag titles, the lucha libre artists look to reassert their dominance via VillaLobos taking the #1 contendership spot and eventually the World title.
The brackets, once again:
Serge Batroc/Party Animal
Nazir el-Fadal/Katsuji Ootsuka
Mirror Mirror/Summer Rose
Mayhem/Roberto VillaLobos
Enya and Julius III then threw back to the announce, who raved over the field. They noted that Naz and Mayhem could meet in the finals - that the newcomer Ootsuka could shock the world and win the whole thing - that Rose could cross over and become the first QCW star to win two different World titles - that the half of the field that they hadn’t mentioned yet had been bubbling around the titles situation all year and this could be the moment that one of them finally broke through, especially for former tag champs like Batroc and VillaLobos. Steve said that with a field that stacked it was too close to call, though Starr said if Mayhem quit worrying about his approval rating and focused on what made him a champion, he should take the Classic. We then went to commercial.
| • Autumn Powers d. Diana Spare • | The rest of the FBC was banned from ringside for this one as they were during the tag title defense, and the crowd gave a rapturous response to seeing Autumn in the Arena for the first time in over a year. That applause didn’t shake her focus, however - she beat Spare down right from the bell and nearly uncorked her finisher in the first three minutes. Spare managed to dodge it but was on the backfoot the entire match except for brief moments where she used some chicanery to get the upper hand. Ultimately Powers would counter the Subconscious Bomb with a modified Air Raid Crash, then would successfully hit the Hazy Shade of (Shining) Wizard to get their first W since their return. ** Post match, Autumn made A Very Familiar Gesture around her waist.
After that? TOTHEBACK~!
Enya Face: I’m here with the no longer suspended Immortals: Einherjar and the Revenant. Einherjar will make his QCW solo debut tonight against “Napalm” Bob Osterberg.
Einherjar: Glad to be back, Ms. Face.
(Revenant tips his hat)
Enya: You two were supposed to compete against the College Park Family for the tag team titles before your suspension.
Einherjar: About that. It was an overly long suspension for such a paltry offense, don’t you think?
Revenant: Yup.
Einherjar: One would surmise that management is placing roadblocks in our path to glory. Likely at the behest of those who fear that our presence renders them… irrelevant. The IWC? Los Luchadores Locos? Nazir el-Fadal?
Revenant: Sinful.
Enya: Speaking of management, they may have heard the rumor that you were negotiating with Puro Pro in Japan and planned to take the QCW tag titles to Japan once you won them…
Einherjar (eyes wide, bellowing): WHAT?? WHO DARES…???
(Enya jumps back, startled)
Revenant (places hand on Einherjar’s shoulder): Temper.
(beat)
Einherjar (defused): Apologies, Enya. I appreciate that you would ask for clarification before spreading such rumors. It is the respect and professionalism I have come to admire from you...
(Enya blushes)
Revenant: Ma’am.
Einherjar (through gritted teeth): To accuse myself and Revenant, who gave our bodies, our souls, OUR VERY LIVES to this sport… of not honoring the sacred traditions of the business, is unacceptable.
Revenant: Fightin’ words.
Einherjar: Undeniably. We will allow neither gossip nor bureaucracy to prevent us from acquiring the championship. And, Enya, I do not know which gods you follow, but I would ask that you pray for those who would stand in our way, particularly “Napalm” Bob Osterberg, who, if courageous when meeting his fate, will sip mead in Valhalla once our battle ends..
Revenant: Amen.
(The Immortals Exit Stage Left. Enya shrugs.)
Let Us Take You Back To Last Week, where after losing a match to the Hard Way, Serge Batroc and Anton Stahl beat Richard Windsor out of the International Workrate Commission as they once had to Martin Williams. Windsor came out to the ring while this was playing at home, showing us that this was playing on the QuaranTron back in the Arena. Windsor grabbed the microphone from Duck and said that while he would get his revenge on his former compatriots, a small part of him wanted to thank them for freeing him from Serge’s rule. If that was the future of the IWC that he helped build, those blokes were welcome to it. But Richard Windsor stood before the Arena a King, a master of the grappling arts, and he wasn’t focused on last week’s loss – he wanted a victory tonight, and dared anyone on the roster to step to him in an open challenge if they thought they could go up against King Carny and not end up begging for mercy.
Cue “Arcarsenal”, and it was clear from his facial reaction that while Windsor may have expected several members of the roster, who he didn’t account for was the man wearing the nazir World order shirt with the sleeves cut off, smiling in a way that was far too wide for anyone smart to consider it friendly. Naz is on a minor losing streak of his own, having been foiled by Mirror Mirror in his cash-in World Title attempt at Golden Rule and then being excised from current World Title shots by losing the main event tag last week to Mayhem.
It became clear as he entered the ring that el-Fadal was in a salty mood, evidenced by the fact he whipped off the nWo shirt and threw it at Windsor, then drilled him with a MDK elbow a second and a half after he got it off. Naz tried to go for a cover, only to be told by the running in referee that the bell hadn’t even rang yet. Naz told him to ring it, then, then got a two count for his efforts.
Windsor put up a hell of fight in his singles coming out party, but obviously was fighting from behind for the majority of the match after the MDKE. Windsor won an European uppercut fight and went for a corner charge on Naz down the stretch, only to shoulder the post when Naz dodged; even worse for Windsor, Naz ran off the ropes and chop blocked him, sending him into a heap on the canvas with two injured body parts against a former World champion. Naz continued to work over the arm and leg of Windsor, at one point impressively tying him up with a vicious looking STF with a cobra clutch applied. Windsor eventually dragged both their body weights to the ropes and grabbed the bottom one, but it took out most of his energy and he spent the rest of the match trying to hit Naz and failing. el-Fadal toyed with him for a bit, then knocked the crown off the King’s head with Thoughts and Prayers before polishing him off with the WMDDT. ** 1/2
| • “the One Man Jihad” Nazir el-Fadal d. “King Carny” Richard Windsor • |
No sooner was Naz getting his hand raised then he was getting cut off by the Quarantron…
“Naz, savor this win.
It’ll be your last.
You won’t win the Duquesne Classic…hell, you won’t even get past the first round.
And Summer?
I’m proud of you for putting another crack in the glass ceiling.
Once I eliminate you, you can watch me shatter it.
See you next week, darlings."
Mirror Mirror blipped out, and Naz flipped out, snatching up Windsor and drilling him with another WMDDT. The referee got in Naz’s face, who faked peace then rolled outside of the ring and grabbed a chair, clearing the zebra from the ring. He wrapped the chair around Richard’s neck and looked to have him set up for a devil’s hangman version of the WMDDT (Steve reminding everyone on commentary that this kind of beating ended up sending Benjamin Valentino into retirement) before Windsor found himself an unlikely saviour:
“The Fury” Jim Jaspers, longtime enemy of Naz, ran in out of the crowd and clobbered Naz, knocking him ass over teakettle. When Naz recovered and saw who he was up against, he snarled…then he noticed what had been his chair in Jim’s hands and decided that he’d been disrespected enough in the past five minutes, making a gesture to wipe his hands of everything and head to the back while Jaspers helped out his fellow countryman and made sure he wasn’t too much the worse for wear. Crowd gave a positive reaction as Windsor extended a handshake, and after Jaspers polled the crowd, shook it to a bigger pop. One wonders if in his turfing efforts, Serge hasn’t just fomented a tag team to take down he & Anton…
| • Einherjar d. “Napalm” Bob Osterberg • | If you see ol’ NapaLm Bob in the ring, it means his opponent’s about to eat. It was even more brutally true than usual in this case, since a pissed off Immortal fought like one and put poor Osterberg in the wheat thresher, even busting him open and pulling him up from a couple of pinfall attempts down the stretch (I say that like the match went past six minutes). The Army of One finally put this to bed with a flurry of strikes and knee strikes before crushing Bob with a Go To Sleep. The Norwegian Buzzsaw even managed to look surly while he was getting his hand raised. SQUASH
Announce set up next week, which was really easy for a change: the return of the Duquesne Classic is going to take up most of the two hour show with limited commercial interruptions - the Classic winner gets #1 contendership & the title shot at Mayday Payday. Between the first round and the semifinals, there will be a non-title match between the Immortals and the College Park Family; the Immortals get a title shot at the PPV if they win that. And between the semis and the final, there’ll be Tag Team Turmoil to determine new #1 contenders for the Women’s World Tag Team Championships - six teams will participate and the last team standing will get a titles shot at the PPV. Three of QCW’s biggest titles & Mayday Payday are going to be affected by next week’s special Ruckus that’ll go two hours with limited commercial interruptions, so don't be one of these star spangled ding dongs who misses out.
A funny thing happened on the way to Duck announcing the main event: nine inch nails' "Wish". As Steve noted on the broadcast, no one gets the…unique reaction that Mayhem gets, the former World Champion coming out for what turned out to be commentary. Picture in picture Took Us Back To Last Week and showed him blind tagging in on Party Animal, then polishing off Nazir with No More Words to get arguably his biggest rival out of the way - and make the path to a World Title rematch easier, something he said almost immediately when he joined Steve and S. Mark at the desk. This kinda patter continued as the heels came out, Mayhem suggesting Razorblade had gotten lucky in San Francisco, but in New York without Naz in the way, he'd take back his proper place on the top of QCW's mountain. Mayhem got irked that Party Animal drank his way out to the ring with his Rookie of the Year award, then fumed as Razorblade came out to a hero's reception announced as the QCW World Champion.
As Party Animal and These Hands renewed hostilities, announce asked Mayhem about the Duquesne Classic, that since he was talking about a rematch that his winning the Classic would put him in the driver's seat. Mayhem mentioned that as the (he struggled a couple of beats to say it) former World Champion, his rematch should take precedent over anyone else trying to get a shot at his old friend. But whatever: if he had to win the tournament, probably beating Naz or Serge again in the finals, fine by him - it'd be another trophy to put in the case.
Animal and Fade went to a standstill for a few minutes, crowd buzzing right after the commercial break when tags happened on both sides, causing a hoss fight between the Champ and Toddzilla.
The crowd roared as Savage got the upper hand, only for Mayhem to dismiss his efforts (HE didn't have this much trouble against Toddzilla, etc). Unfortunately for Savage, his run ended when Toddzilla got the upper hand and cut off his rope running with an impressive pop up powerslam. The black hats took advantage after that, Fade taking particular glee in picking apart Razorblade. However, things fell apart when Toddzilla had Razorblade set up for Fade, only for Mason to duck and have Toddzilla eat a pump knee. That junction's malfunction gave Razorblade enough wiggle room to get to his corner and tag out. The ROTY had the crowd rocking and rolling as he whooped up on Fade and even gave Toddzilla a bit of the old Flip Flop & Fly as well. Mayhem grumbled that he had to look at a Most Hated trophy while everyone loved Party and gave him more votes for Most Popular, Steve noting that the online buzz was mocking Mayhem for statements like that and maybe found Animal cooler. Mayhem gave a disgusted snort as Party busted out a huraclawrana, Toddzilla having to come in for the save on the pin. This brought out Razorblade to fight him off, and a brief Pier 4 broke out before the referee tried to lead Razorblade back to his corner. The crowd booed while the Champ argued, then cheered as Party ducked a Toddzilla lariat that Fade didn't. Party moved quickly to tag in Razorblade, then threw himself in a sloppy crossbody that took him and Toddzilla over the top rope and off the board; a debilitated Fade was easy pickings for the Soul Crusher. ***
| • QCW World Heavyweight Champion Mason “Razorblade” Savage & Party Animal d. “These Hands” Roy Fade & Toddzilla • |
Mayhem gave another dismissive scoff as Party Animal and Razorblade got their hands raised. Then he said his last bit of commentary for the night: "Why should I wait until May 1st? I'm Mayhem." Party Animal reached for a post match celebratory drink (you know the one) and attempted to get the Champ in for a drink session. Razorblade thought about it, then took a Claw. Both men toasted, then chugged their Claws (well, Party did, Razor took a sip and made a face, then smiled and gave it to Party, who made it an ex-Claw).
No sooner had that happened then the crowd gasped, Mayhem spinning Razorblade around to get in his face. Razorblade took umbrage at this and they both got all the way in each other's faces…then Razorblade started smiling, pissing off Mayhem who only got more pissed off when Razorblade started - seriously - laughing. The Champ was distracted since behind Mayhem the Rookie of the Year was doing a pretty funny Mayhem impersonation gesture for gesture. Mayhem got spun around by Party, who then did the imitation to his face while everyone who wasn't Mayhem or Starr laughed away. Mayhem got increasingly red as this happened, then poked a finger in Party's chest and said that at least he wouldn't have to worry about him in the Classic next week, like a drunk like him could ever be worthy of a QCW title. He slammed his shoulder into Party Animal on his way out of the ring, Party's response being to shrug and pound another Claw while Mayhem made a promise to the camera that next week he'd be the #ANDNEW holder of the Duquesne Classic trophy. Fire up "Unscripted Violence" as Savage posed on the buckles closest to Mayhem heading up the aisle, holding out the World title and seemingly daring Mayhem to come and take it from him.
See you next week for the return of the Classic!
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