Pour one out for Daniel Liebt, as we got his cover one more time to kick off the 🎶 Cruel Summer 🎶 🌵 recap package 🌵: it began with some post preshow match stills of Super Avión celebrating his victory over "the Wonderful" Rich Ward and "Dashing" Pierce Moore with his toothy grin celebrating his debut W over Crusazdo del Oro gave way to brief clips of action from matches on the main card:
Nazir el-Fadal, smiling evilly and riling up the Phoenix fans by coming out in a Steph Curry jersey in contrast to Mayhem's steely focus ahead of their street fight - Mayhem showing up with a Diamondbacks endorsed bat but Naz surprising and horrifying the crowd by pulling out a bundle of barbed wire wrapped Singapore canes - then Naz slamming the door shut with a buckle Razor's Edge setting up the WMDDT into the barbed wire wrapped Singapore canes before further riling up the fans throwing trash at him after his win by doing some poses and ear cupping, brother • | • the Forbidden Book Club coming out and posing with the Women's World Tag Team championships while the Game Changers looked hungry - Szabo saving the match for the team turning out to be the turning point as she & "Dark Mirror" Bennett Carpenter made the FBC Like & Subscribe to a titles change, Al Buffett whipping off his Hawaiian shirt with glee and spinning it around his head like a helicopter as the new champions had a nice moment together celebrating their first QCW titles • | • the Proper Villains coming out looking very posh and ready while the Immortals came out to a huge mixed reaction (video of two fans next to each other with one cheering their head off wearing an Immortals shirt next to their friend who shook their head and gave the thumbs down) - both teams exchanging headbutts - "the Fury" looking dazed - then the #AndStill tag team champions putting him through Death's Door to remain undefeated • | • Cindy Monet coming out to a good pop contrasting with Autumn Powers getting a roar and Summer Rose's face snapping from disengenuousness into steely focus, holding up her title; Cindy flying around the ring and Summer taking vicious glee in stomping out Autumn…but she couldn't stop Powers from eventually dropping her with the Hazy Shade of Autumn to capture the title, Autumn bathing in the "You deserve it! 👏 👏 👏👏👏" chants while Summer sat seething on the ramp holding the back of her head • | • Serge Batroc coming out with the rest of the Consortium and all their hardware in tow against the unflappable Katsuji Ootsuka on his own in the semi-main - Serge hitting a flurry of corner European uppercuts but Ootsuka getting some revenge with a step-through-the-ropes tornado DDT - Pyotr Caviar getting caught trying to interfere which got the outside men kicked out and made Serge livid - but the Duquesne Cup holder drawing the referee's attention at just the right moment to allow a returning "These Hands" Roy Fade to level Ootsuka with the Decision and Serge to get the win, the IWC celebrating Serge on the ramp while in the audience Fade smiled evilly, shook his head and left through the crowd while Ootsuka fumed and held his jaw • | • oh, right, there was also the biggest match in QCW history: World TV champion Party Animal coming out in a Belt Buds shirt while Mason "Razorblade" Savage marched to the ring with the Twelve Pounds over his shoulder - at one point in the match both men went down to the other's simultaneous clotheslines - a baby oiled up Party slowed down The Champ and both men tried to grapple as best they could through it - then they both took each other out with simultaneous superkicks leading Starr and Steve to toast Claws and drink in a funny moment - but in the end it was the Soul Crusher that helped Razorblade become the first QCW double champion, taking a hug from Party then screaming gleefully (and getting bleeped out for the TV broadcast) as he held up both titles…only for Naz to come out on the apex of the ramp to give him some golf claps and leave - the show ending with the sold out Phoenix crowd roaring for QCW's 1st ever double champion as Savage posed on the buckles holding both titles aloft.
We dissolved from the video package to Duck live in the middle of the ring, who smiled at all the Queue Cee Dub chants in the Arena before asking us to help him welcome the first ever double champion in QCW history - the QCW World champion and the NEWWWWWWWWWWWW World Television champion: Mason! Razorblaaaaaaaaaade! SAAAAAVAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
“Unscripted Violence” hit the PA and then you couldn’t hear anything but the crowd’s roar, which only intensified somehow when Savage came out with QCW’s biggest titles over each of his scarred up shoulders. The announce was just beginning to put him over as he came down the ramp when a shitload of golden pyro exploded behind Savage, getting his attention and popping the crowd even more. He headed back to the ring with a slightly confused look on his face while he came to ringside, while the announce put up a Tweet Party Animal sent Monday morning: “Shoutout to my buddy Razorblade for winning last night. The Champ knows how to party. #ClawIsLaw”
Savage stepped into the ring after a smiling Duck handed him the mic and left, and chants fired up for quite a while after that. The “Razorblade” chants went on for nearly a solid half a minute before the Quaranteers fired off some “CHAMP CHAMP! (whoop whoop!)” ones that brought a slow grin across the face of Mason. But it was the “You deserve it! 👏 👏 👏👏👏” ones that lasted the longest and loudest, Savage fighting off dust mites and taking a mighty swallow before nodding and saying “Thank you” quietly and repeatedly off mic. He let that chant go for a bit, and swallowed before waving down the crowd, who immediately went about muting themselves.
After clearing his throat, Savage said that Sunday night he had one of the craziest parties ever - how could it not be with the amount of baby oil, White Claw and violence involved? And when everything was said & done he stood tall as promised, #ANDSTILL World Champ AND #ANDNEWWWW World TV Champ. This got the god-tier pop you might expect.
But with the party over, it was back to business.
Being World TV champ meant he had to defend this title every week here on Ruckus, and he didn’t get to where he was by backing down from anyone. This got another pop, but this time Savage cut off the Razorblade chants by saying he wasn’t out here saying that because he liked the sound of his own voice; all anyone on the roster had to do if they wanted a shot was step up, because everybody bleeds. In tonight’s main event, it might be his old buddy Serge who bleeds. Razorblade gave a mirthless chuckle and said he must be living rent-free in Serge’s head ever since Mayday Payday, because every time he turned around he and the International Whiny Assholes were in his business, but he could bring them with him if he wanted and they could watch a world class champ bring a world class ass kicking for the third time, sixth time, twenty seventh time, whatever the hell it was. They couldn’t save their boy in the beret and nothing would tonight. TV time was going to change from getting around to it on your DVR to mandatory live watches every Friday night as long as he held this belt. People thought he never would never make it this far but now he’s got more titles than suits, so the Razorblade Reign was just revving up; if you thought you’d seen it all, well, then, stay tuned, because you hadn’t seen anything juuuuuuust yet.
Cue Arcarsenal because we can’t have nice things, and Savage’s reaction was a headshake accompanying a small evil grin while he mouthed “Of course.” Nazir el-Fadal limped out slightly to a boovation, wearing the same Curry jersey he sported Sunday night except now in a few places, Mayhem’s blood was splattered over it. As the One Man Jihad neared the ring, Steve plugged that they would have an injury update on Mayhem later on in the broadcast. Naz got a mic from Duck (and thanked him for it?) before slowly making his way into the ring and staring down his longtime rival.
Then Naz took a step back and extended his hand. And if you think the stench of carp is suddenly in the air, you’re not the only one – Naz continued to get booed and taunted while his hand stuck out in the breeze, Razorblade giving him a look that said “Nazir, please”. Naz held his free hand up and took the snub in stride, then turned to the booing crowd and noted that if they weren’t so busy hating him, they would be taking pictures and video of history being made. In a wrestling company in the year 2022, the two most decorated and celebrated men in it…were the last honest men standing. And not only that, two winners: because while Razorblade was making history in the main event, well, Naz was having fun in the opener living out all of his wildest dreams that didn’t involve attractive women and dessert toppings. He flashed a small smirk as he turned to the crowd and said “Let me also point out that the two men in this ring didn’t wait until a couple of weeks ago to start hating Mayhem either.” That actually got a laugh out of Razorblade and most of the crowd, some smarks getting a light “Thank you, Naz” chant up from the upper deck. But believe it or not, Naz was legitimately out here to congratulate Mason.
Savage spoke again and asked him what he was really out here for, and Naz told him he just told him. Because when it was the unpopular thing weeks ago, Razorblade gave him a shot at hi–that World title because he wanted the fight, to prove he was the better man. Now, Mayhem ruined that…so he ruined Mayhem. Before that back in the spring, Carpenter took that opportunity from him as well…so he took them to the Learning Tree so hard they had to change their name and attitude and presto chango!, suddenly they’re a champion for the first time courtesy of Jihad Finishing School. But Savage doesn’t carry Carpenter’s savior complex or Mayhem’s whiny-ass sad boi grievances, he is a man who lives for the fight, which means he lives for the competition. Naz knows about that mindset, because it’s his as well. The Quarantine Era started off with the joke at the desk being gifted the old belt; the next thing that happened was Naz racking up a W and wanting to earn the right to become champion in the ring, because, yeah, he’s an asshole, and yeah, he loves riling people up and pushing their buttons, and yeah, in any decent organization Starr would be the third shift janitor at BEST.
But if this isn’t going to be his QCW, well…well, he feels a little bit better about the state of things if someone else who doesn’t play the games and goes for the BS is on top.
You ever hear of a long period of murmuring during a wrestling show? Well, it happened. It sounded like static with occasional words in it. Savage shook his head and said the greediest, most power-hungry title-loving man he’d ever met in his life “and that includes Mayhem” is just out here for a handshake and a “Attaboy, Champ Champ!”? Naz doesn’t want anything for himself? Not even a title shot? Not even a WORLD title shot?
Yup, that sure as hell got everyone’s attention, and Naz’s head did tilt a little. But his response was you could believe him or not, but he did want to congratulate Savage on his historic victory. Naz offered a handshake, and this time it got a mildly better response from the crowd (they were still predominantly against it). Savage held out his hands in a “I’m good” fashion, then Naz did something shocking: he shrugged, dropped the mic, and left the ring. Everyone was a little taken aback by that, so much so that he was halfway up the aisle before “Arcarsenal” started playing. Right before he disappeared behind the curtain, Naz was heard to say everything that was his came due in time, but that got subsumed by Unscripted Violence firing back up over the PA and the crowd cheering Savage, who stood on the middle and top ropes with his belts held high basking in another standing O.
Starr jokingly said that he thought Naz had dropped Mayhem on his head and not the other way around, while Steve added that…well, Naz said all the right things…but he had to be up to something. He had to be! It’s Naz, right? If he’s breathing, he’s scheming. Starr said that was one of the rare things he & Steve could agree on, and then Steve threw it to Duck in the ring to start off the fights on our Friday night:
| • Katsuji Ootsuka d. Roberto VillaLobos • | VillaLobos was game but ultimately got swallowed up by Ootsuka’s high flying offense, the basement rana driver again setting Ootsuka up for his signature Magical Sky to put a button on things. **
Post match, Ootsuka took the microphone from Duck and said that when Roy Fade got injured in their match, it wasn’t his fault. But when Fade jumped him Sunday night and cost him his match against Serge? He didn’t know much about Fade, but he knew this much: Fade made himself an enemy for life, and Katsuji would get his revenge. Crowd popped while a steelier Ootsuka moved silently to the back uncharacteristically ignoring the fans’ high five attempts.
The first guitar solo from Muse’s “New Born” crawls through the PA system as the Game Changers enter Arena Quarantina to a healthy pop. Tiki holds Ashley Szabo on his shoulder a la Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth. Beckett Carpenter admires their reflection in the Women’s Tag Team Belts. Ashley holds the ropes open for Tiki & Carpenter. The Dark Mirror takes the mic.
“Promises made, and promises kept. It’s a shame The Forbidden Book Club had to be the first to fall. I adore The Grand Guignol of it all, with the Hot Topic singlets and the spooky red…”
Drama nerds understand cues, and
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When the regular lights hit, The Game Changers were left lying face down in the ring. Tiki had another apple stuffed in his mouth. Carpenter’s mouth was stuffed with their old Mirror Mirror mask. And Ashley ended up in a ball gag as a reminder of her time in the Polycule.
A cut to the back showed The Hard Way seemingly catatonic as Crowley, Spare, and La Vey stood around them seemingly binding them with a spell yet again.
“Lovely to see you again,” Crowley purred. “I’m so glad we were able to catch up. We'll have to finish this next week while we regain our titles! If you disagree, say something.”
And then cackling. All the cackling. Four red lights later, the FBC were off the Quarantron and officials were running down to ringside to help the laid out tag champions. Understandably rattled, Steve said that they would take some time to help the Changers out and clear the ring before returning with more Ruckus.
A scheduled non-title match between the Immortals and A World Of Pain actually didn't happen - with AWOP in the ring already we came back from commercials to the World Tag Team champions coming out, only to have the International Workrate Consortium jump them before they could even get halfway down the ramp.
| • QCW World Tag Team champions the Immortals NC A World of Pain in a non-title match • |
The champs couldn't fight off what essentially devolved into 2 handicap matches. The Immortals started firing up and firing back only for Pyotr Caviar to drop Einherjar with a lariat and then start laying into the Revenant with them. Not even the Rev could fight off four men, and Caviar added injury to injury by giant swinging Einherjar into his partner. The Rev caught him - but Caviar landed a vicious Mafia kick that sent both champions off the stage and crashing through a pair of tables on the floor.
Everyone in the building lost their "Holy shit!", chants lasted nearly a minute straight, announce conveniently muting themselves. The Consortium then stomped down to ringside and surrounded poor Duck until he gave up the mic, and then the IWC hit the ring…where A World Of Pain was.
They lived up to their name because the Consortium stomped them out too, adding to the body count on the evening. Once the beatdown ceased, Jason Ward asked if any of the ugly morons in the crowd knew what it was to be an Ambassador for QCW. It came with the finest women - "something you Florida swamp trash know nothing aboot" - it came with setting the pace for international wrestling in the tag team division - and it came with a handicap match for the QCW World Tag Team championships where all four of them were legal at the same time. The crowd booed this pretty loudly for a bit before Jason talked over it, saying that once that match occurred, the Consortium would cancel the Walking Undead once and for all and become the World Tag Team champions.
And why would they be able to do that? Because under Serge's watch, he has taken already talented men and honed them into a world class unit. He proved it when he took over - and when he won the Duquesne Classic - and when he put that fugly joke Katsuji Ootsuka in his place Sunday night. Serge attracts the titles, and the titles attract the ladies (this did get some whoops). So before they got the tag titles, they'd be taking the TV title when Serge shut down Razorblade in tonight's main event. He thought he could hide behind his little drinking buddy and keep the TV title from its rightful owners and he's getting celebrated?! That's absolutely nuts. What makes sense is to have a champion's champion, and the sooner Serge got Razorblade's ugly mug off TV every week, the better. Serge grabbed the microphone and spat out an "You're welcome." as cameras surveyed the damage done: A World Of Pain lying at their feet…and both of the Immortals getting stretchered out of the building.
If it's going down and Kesha's yelling "Timber", then that means Summer Rose is in the building, much to the chagrin of the Quaranteers. It was much to Summer's chagrin that Duck announced her as the former Women's World Champion, which quickened Summer's pace down to the ring where she got right in Duck's face about being (accurately) announced before sneering "You're not worth it" before piefacing him down in his seat to boos. Summer was clearly there to light up the Quaranteers, but they surprisingly beat her to the punch: before Rose got a word out a chant got loud, grew, and then once they all got in cadence Summer slowly looked around the Arena trying to immolate everyone with her eyes alone.
That chant?
"WHERE'S YOUR TITLE?! 👏 👏 👏👏👏
WHERE'S YOUR TITLE?! 👏 👏 👏👏👏
WHERE'S YOUR TITLE?! 👏 👏 👏👏👏"
Summer sputtered then found herself quickly, saying that for a bunch of star spangled ding dongs, they managed to get one thing right: it was her title. The same people who shoved her aside the minute their precious Autumn came back and couldn't beat the claw machine at Chuck E Cheese were out here mocking her? Cute. Real cute. What's ugly is the fact that this marks the second time this year she's lost her title, yet for as much as they kiss Autumn's pancake ass, everyone conveniently forgets NO ONE has beaten her clean one on one in a year that's more than half over, and if their precious Autumn was such a champion of the people, then she'd –
– have her new theme hit the PA right at this moment then walk out for the first time The New Champ causing the roof to come off the dump and probably land in Alabama? It wasn't what Summer ordered but it was what she was getting. Despite her imminent title defense, Autumn made a beeline for the ring. Coincidentally, it was right around then Summer rolled her eyes, threw the mic up in the air and got out of the ring before leaving through the crowd. Alone in the ring, Autumn took to the buckles closest to where Rose left and defiantly put her newly won gold in the air; Rose didn't spare a look back as she swept through some curtains and headed into the lobby.
| • Autumn Powers [c] d. Bonnie Agrippa to retain the QCW World Women’s Championship • | A rare bad night to be Bonnie Agrippa, who walked into a match without her sisters (banned from ringside for the title clash) and with a pissed off Autumn, who landed such a vicious lariat at one point that Agrippa bled from the mouth for what was left of the match. A couple minutes after that, Powers drilled her with the Hazy Shade to notch a very successful defense. **
Autumn barely had gotten her hand raised before Summer came back out through the crowd and laid her out from behind. Autumn put up a fight but had just been in one - Rose took advantage of this most explicitly by kicking her leg out from under her so that she'd smash into Summer's knee, then added insulting injury to injury by dropping Powers with her own Hazy Shade. The crowd jeered this at the top of their lungs even as Summer stared down the hard camera holding her twice and possibly future belt in one hand and three fingers up with the other before dropping the belt on Autumn and scowling her way to the back. Starr said Summer was one of the most decorated champions QCW had ever seen, and now that she didn’t have to smile for these idiots, the same woman who spent the spring sending opponents to the hospital was going to become the first three-time champ of the Quarantine Era.
Steve allowed that that very well could happen, and noted that as the medical staff were helping Autumn come around that like Summer, QCW was getting tougher than ever, and it didn’t get much tougher than the street fight that opened up Cruel Summer between Nazir el-Fadal and Mayhem. Some color video ended up giving away to bloody black and white shots of the two of them swinging for the fences.
Literally.
Unfortunately for Mayhem, Naz managed to connect where he couldn't with his weapon, driving a bundle of barbed wire wrapped Singapore canes into Mayhem's head at one point in the match, then effectively using them to low blow Mayhem when it looked like Mayhem was going to beat him once and for all. This gave el-Fadal the opening he needed and a WMDDT into the barbed canes got Naz the W and Mayhem a trip to the hospital. We went back to the announce, who provided an injury update on the former World Champ: they didn't have one?
All they knew was that Mayhem checked himself out of a Phoenix medical facility very early Monday morning and hasn't been seen or heard from since. Obviously, if they get updates they will pass them along to us.
| • "These Hands" Roy Fade d. Caballero Obscuro • | If the returning Fade was shook by the earlier comments of Katsuji Ootsuka he didn’t show it in a showcase where an even more aggressive These Hands almost got himself disqualified a few times for pushing the gas in his offense against the luchadore. The former Gold Gloves winner dropped Obscuro the same way he did Katsuji, the Decision getting his hand raised in the Arena for the first time in months. ** Announce put over Fade’s lack of ring rust in his comeback match as well as his newly tapped aggression maybe leading him back towards the TV title that he held briefly earlier in the year.
We got a video package of a bunch of QCW personalities talking about what QCW is interspersed with various highlights of the past few months, though bizarrely enough before it ended a glitch showed the QCW in a few old school fonts.
Back in the ring to El Duckerino, who announced the following match that was scheduled for one fall ("ONE FALL!") was scheduled for a twenty minute time limit…and it would be the War of the Wards!
Out came the IWC, Anton especially hyping up Jason while Serge and Pyotr were a pace behind them sneering at the crowd. Jason hopped up to the buckles and struck a pose, but Rush hitting the PA caused him to whip his head towards the entrance as his brother came out. Rich isn't much for glamour, or groups, or – ah, hell, he just ran to the ring and a hockey fight broke out.
| • "the Wonderful" Rich Ward d. Jason "the Terrible" Ward (w/the International Workrate Consortium) • |
Surprise!
Jason was able to dodge his brother a couple of times (even using the ref as a shield) but once Rich got a hold of his brother, it was Ass Whoop O'Clock. Jason squealed while Rich pummeled him in the corner: not just ten, and beyond 20 all the way to 30 as the crowd roared. (Starr: I can't believe it! They can count that high! Steve: MARK!) Being put on his ass didn't keep Jason's from being kicked by Rich, who almost got DQed multiple times for the new mudholes he was opening up. Jason found himself pulled to the floor and having the fear of Serge put into him. It was such a soliloquy that at one point before Jason could even get back into the ring Serge followed him to the apron and continued upbraiding him.
This laid the trap: Serge's coaching distracted the ref, and on the floor Pyotr got Rich's attention by existing, allowing Anton to sneak up on Rich with a vicious German suplex into the barricade. The Consortium dispersed, and Jason swarmed his brother, taking particular glee in targeting the neck. After laying Rich out, Jason slid into the ring and demanded a countout. He didn't get it but only by a razor thin margin, Rich stumbling in at 9 ½.
For the rest of the match, Jason would target the neck but he couldn't get his brother to relent or stay down for the 3 count. After another nearfall, it looked like there was going to possibly be the Consortium stomping out Rich inside the ring when suddenly there was a pop from the crowd as Katsuji Ootsuka came from the back pointing his finger at Serge. But before he could get down to ringside a pair of blurs went by him, and it turned out that the blurs were the Proper Villains, who pulled Consortium members down from the apron and showed no fear about getting in the faces of their former allies. Ootsuka lightly sprinted down to the ringside as the referee tried to stop an impromptu six man tag from happening on the floor. In the ring, Jason tried to take advantage of the situation by giving his brother a penalty kick to the Timbits, and that's when he lost the plot somehow.
Rich not only caught the attempt and spun Jason around, he then showed little brother how it's done to the delighted roar of the crowd and to near aneurysms on the floor from the IWC since Rich had completely gotten away with the mule kick. To make things worse for the Ambassadors, by the time the referee got back into the ring, Rich had rolled himself up in a small package only to reverse it at two and a half for the three count. I almost bumped this a full star for the finish and Serge's eyebrow almost coming off. ****
The babyfaces celebrated with Rich on the floor, Katsuji endorsing Rich's win a little less enthusiastically than the Brits. Rich delivered a double bird that got blurred out; Poor Jason only had one hand free to flip his. While the Consortium alternatively complained to the referee and consoled Jason, the announce plugged a ridiculously stacked card coming from the Arena next Friday night:
⏩ Appropriately enough, the Consortium will be in action fighting in a six man tag against Los Caballeros
⏩ And not only will the winner of tonight's main event defend the World TV title, there'll be a Clash of the Contenders 20 person battle royale where the last two standing will face off in a singles match on the Ruckus two weeks from now - whoever wins that match will have earned themselves a TV title shot in the limited commercial interruptions edition of Ruckus around the corner next month
⏩ Plus the rematch is official for the Women's World Tag Team championships - can the Forbidden Book Club win back the titles they lost at Cruel Summer or can the new title holders the Game Changers recover from the beatdown they suffered earlier and continue their winning ways?
All that and more on Ruckus next week, but right now we've got a main event and the the Champ Champ to get to, so let's commence:
| QCW World Television (and World) Champion Mason "Razorblade" Savage d. "the French Assassin" Serge Batroc to successfully defend the World TV title • |
The opening segment of the match began as an ad hoc lumberjack match, with the Consortium on the outside still complaining about the semi-main while the loose assortment of babyfaces stayed outside as well to negate their influence. In contrast to their main event fight at Mayday Payday, Serge actually got a slight upper hand in the early going by using his chain wrestling to put Savage on the back foot. However, all it took was a vicious back elbow smash from the double champion to drop Serge, as well as get Jason to get a cheapshot swing in on Savage. He missed at it, but that started to draw the referees and Team Teal as it looked like the fight on the floor was going to officially happen. Razorblade looked on from the ring as all the outside men got gradually escorted to the back, but this gave Serge the opening he needed to sneak up on his rival and fling him shoulder first into the post.
Trying to capture the belt before the time limit hit, Serge spent the next chunk of the match working over the same arm that’d cracked him in the mouth earlier. On commentary, Starr pointed out that even though this wasn’t Serge’s usual plan of attack, it not only set up the Arc de Triomph but if anyone knew something about how to decimate an arm, it would be someone who trained with Anton Stahl. Batroc even did go for a Matter of Time at one point; Savage was too close to the ropes and got a shitkicker on them before the hold could be locked down.
Savage stumbled away and Serge tried a corner charge which ate another back elbow; Savage continued to move across the ring and switch the corner he was in and a second dodge ironically saw Serge shoulder the post. That was the opportunity Razorblade needed and took, throwing Serge into the post again before delivering a ring-rocking spinebuster that popped his fans huge. Batroc stayed in the match after that but eventually couldn’t, a Yakuza kick in the corner setting the table for the finishing Soul Crusher and a successful maiden voyage as the the champ champ. *** ½
Savage was celebrating his victory when out streamed the Consortium, and in short order the beating was on. As you might expect, Rich Ward came out to fight the IWC, and right on his heels was Katsuji Ootsuka – but before Ootsuka could join the fight in the ring, “These Hands” Roy Fade came from out of the crowd and waylaid the former pureso star, scaring the crap out of some fans by throwing him into the barricade at ringside and almost planting him in the front row.
With Savage and to a lesser extent Rich just having wrestled and gotten beat up, it was clear something was going to have to turn the tides. And out came the Proper VIllains, who also joined the fray and started holding their own until Caviar almost decapitated Windsor with a Russian sickle, so of course it was at a moment like that when Nazir el-Fadal would casually stroll down to ringside, with the babyfaces starting to get dismantled. Serge & his squad laughed hearty laughs as they saw the One Man Jihad hit ringside, and he immediately went up to Serge. The underlings continued stomping out the babyfaces while Naz and Serge seemed to be…well, somehow on the precipice of an argument, but Naz put his hands up and rolled out of the ring.
The Consortium beating continued onward and only stopped when they heard the crowd gasp, which made their heads come up and focus less on stompy beatings.
Pyotr Caviar was falling.
Pyotr Caviar was falling to his knees.
A bleeding Pyotr Caviar was falling to his knees…
…because Nazir el-Fadal just buried a bundle of barbed wire wrapped Singapore canes in his eyebrow, and I do believe that just ended the nominations for 2022 Quality Award Shock of the Year.
After a few beats of silence, the Quaranteers were almost forced to break out into a “Holy shit!” chant. Serge shoved Naz a little bit after that once his shock wore off, but then Rich Ward was all over him, and so were the Proper Villains, and suddenly it was the babyfaces hitting blackjack and the Consortium busting as…
…that–uh, sure–as Nazir el-Fadal went over to Mason Savage and helped him up, giving him a slight head nod as he made sure he was okay and I don’t know which Earth this is but I’d like to go back to mine. In short order the Consortium went down and got driven from the ring, Rich Ward and “the Proper King” Richard Windsor on the buckles yelling down at the IWC that this wasn’t going to be over any time soon.
“The Fury” Jim Jaspers and especially Razorblade looked absolutely agog in the ring seeing Nazir el-Fadal take up arms for them, and Savage went over towards el-Fadal, only for Naz to put up his hands before rolling out of the ring and starting to leave the Arena through the crowd.
The Quaranteers didn’t really know to react, though honestly the entire Arena didn’t, and I don’t blame them because I still don’t myself. It sounded like Steve was trying to talk himself into Nazir turning over a new leaf as Jaspers could only point at Naz’s retreating figure while next to him Mason “Razorblade” Savage could only meet Naz’s small grin with a look on his face that would only take 3 letters to explain.
See you next week on Ruckus when Starr shows up wearing an Abort the Supreme Court shirt or something because in the immortal words of Jim Halpert WHAT IS GOING ON!?
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