Sunday, October 30, 2022

Mischief Night PPV (UNO Lakefront Arena • New Orleans, LA)

  Preshow:

  1. "Dashing" Pierce Moore d. "the Iron Dwarf" John Arneson (Fresh to Death -> pinfall)
  2.  the Proper Villains d. A World Of Pain (Jaspers Fury Road Bash -> pinfall

Main Card:
  • Ragnarok Rules the Hard Way & the Immortals d. Fated To Become Champions (Death's Door Toddzilla -> pinfall)
  • Cauldron of Chaos the Sound of Thunder d. Forbidden Book Club (Spare shaves LaVey's hair)
  • QCW UNIFIED WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Game Changers [c] d. OnlyFitness (Carpenter hydroflask shot Tisch-Warren -> pinfall) 
  • QCW WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP: Jupiter Jones (w/Collipark & South Central Louisiana State University Mud Dog Marching Band) d. "the Voice of Freedom" Drake Tremble [c] (w/"Swamp Trash" Ted Holland) (Bolt From Olympus -> pinfall) #AndNew #TRIPLECROWN
  •  QCW WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Autumn Powers [c] d. Jane Doe (Hazy Shade of Autumn  -> pinfall) 
  • dog collar QCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: "the One Man Jihad" Nazir el-Fadal [c] d. Mason "Razorblade" Savage (chain shot -> WMDDT -> pinfall) 

  • FUN FACT: Jones' TV title win made him the first officially recognized Triple Crown winner in QCW history

Friday, October 28, 2022

QCW Ruckus [s2e4 • October 28, 2022]

Last week on Ruckus: OnlyFitness used shady tactics and their hydroflask to win the Unified Contenders Challenge and earn a shot at the tag titles come Mischief Night • Drake Tremble took advantage of a weakened Katsuji Ootsuka to win the World TV title • Razorblade won Pick Your Poison against Nazir el-Fadal but failed to divulge the stip he'd pick for Mischief Night and strolled off to drive the World Champion nuts for a week…


Ruckus actually started with the open for a change, ending with the cavalcade of champions and Nazir el-Fadal outside of the Arena with his titles - once that was done, we were inside the sold out Arena full of Quality Controllers for the last show before Mischief Night.  The pyro had barely died down before “Unscripted Violence” kept them on their feet, since it heralded the arrival of the #1 contender & former champ Mason “Razorblade” Savage.  


Savage was in better spirits than he’d been over the past month, though there wasn’t any selfie taking or high fiving any fans.  Mason got in the ring and got the microphone from Duck, shaking his hand before accepting the huge ovation from everybody in the Arena.  Savage said that – and before he could even say it, cue Arcarsenal.  Razorblade almost let out a small chuckle because At the Drive-In meant his rival & the World Champ: “the One Man Jihad” Nazir el-Fadal.  


el-Fadal demanded that his music be cut and stomped down to ringside, saying that as much as he hated, hated, haaaaaaaaaated it, Razorblade won Pick Your Poison.  Naz will live with that; what he can’t stand is the past week of BS, of lies, of double talk, Razorblade lording it over him.  So whatever the stip is, let’s just get to it so Naz can beat him at it.  Razorblade started chuckling, then laughing, then cackling.


Because he’s known the whole time what he would pick, especially once he found out they would be having their rematch in New Orleans.  So this time Naz can’t run away, hide, do his little BS games.  He’s going to have to stand and fight…and to make sure that Naz does it, measures have been taken.  Savage reached behind him in his jacket, then tossed Naz something.  el-Fadal took the chain, then saw what was hanging at the end of it and the microphone dropped from his hand.


Naz held it up as if he’d never seen one before, fear growing in his eyes as the crowd popped.  A few hundred people roaring over a dog collar.


Razorblade said he’s been saying for years that everybody bleeds, but somehow he’s never made Naz bleed.  That changes Sunday.  Naz is going to bleed his way into the ICU, and when the Blood Bank of Naz is full, Razorblade will pin his lifeless body and take back the QCW World Title no matter what it looks like now.  Unless, of course, Naz has something to do or say about it right now.


el-Fadal’s eyes flashed between two things, and he was looking far more at the dog collar than his past and future opponent.  He gulped a bit looking down at the studs of the dog collar, touching a couple of them and confirming the sharpness of the studs.  Naz started mumbling to the dog collar, and then to the shock of everybody started walking to the back with the collar in hand and mumbling.  Razorblade offered up a shrug at the retreating Naz before “Unscripted Violence” came on over the PA, both Steve & Starr praising Savage for finding a stip that immediately got into the head of Naz.  Starr also pointed out that the stip made the rematch a fight that played right into Razorblade’s hands, and that just because Naz was the first two time World Heavyweight Champion that sure didn’t mean that someone of Razorblade’s skills and fighting background couldn’t become the second one at Mischief Night.


| • Jupiter Jones d. Super Avión • | The man Razorblade took down in last week’s Pick Your Poison looked to right the ship here and came up narrowly short against one of QCW’s best having a career renaissance right now.


The feeling out process early on came to a quick halt when Avión did a nice ropewalk armdrag to set up a Woo dropkick that actually sent Jones rolling to the floor after he smashed into the corner.  They started to fight on the outside with Jupiter getting the upper hand but he charged the luchador, who back body dropped him into the announce table and caused him to land awkwardly.  While the table didn’t break, the facade of it slid to the floor, and Avión further exacerbated things by doing a modified pendulum backbreaker only using the apron in lieu of his knee.


For the rest of the match, Avión went after Jones’ back with clubbing blows and a few backbreakers, the former QCW champion having to spend energy kicking out repeatedly.  A textbook tornado DDT with Avión running up the ropes drilled Jones so hard that the impact turned him into an uppercase i before he again grabbed onto the bottom rope and rolled out to the floor.  Seeing an opportunity, Avión angrily gestured for the referee to move out of the way so he could build even more rope running momentum for his tope suicida, but as he came through the ropes Jones spun away and Avión went fuh-lying right into the barrier in a nasty looking spot that got “Ooh!”s and “Holy shit!” chants going from the Quality Controlllers.  Jones got back in the ring and Avión barely saved himself from being counted out at 9.  Jupiter’s subsequent run was a little wobbly, but he uncorked a Bolt From Olympus that blasted across Avión’s mask and left him in a heap.  The man from Tijuana got the tip of his boot on the bottom rope at 2.8, but when Jones pulled him away from the ropes and pinned him again, he got the W.  *** 


Jones held onto his back with one hand while the ref raised the other, and he left the ring to the welcoming embraces and cheers of the rest of Collipark who’d stayed in the back while he TCOB.  Meanwhile at ringside, once he recovered Avión threw a shitfit over eating another loss to a former champ, ripping up the mats, smashing the table facade against the stairs, and eventually ripping off the top half of the steps and throwing them into the barrier on the other side of the ring from where he’d been standing.  They whistled by and scared the crap out of Duck in the process.  Starr actually had some slight praise for Super, saying that it was fine losing to former champions if you learned from them and it spurred you on to become a champ yourself – but of course Avión couldn’t hear that, he was too busy getting bleeped.


We got a pretape and a woman’s voiceover, saying that while life seems intricate, there’s always a decision to make.  There’s this or that, X or Y, A or B, good witch or bad witch.  We heard boots, then saw they were actually black heels with purple and silver undercurrents.  The voice continued that when they saw what had happened to the Immortals…after what had happened to them…the time to make the decision had come.  


We then saw the footage of the person in the hoodie last week jumping the rail and following behind the stretchered out Immortals.  


We then saw a figure in a hoodie walk towards the screen, and slowly remove it to reveal Diana Spare, formerly of the Forbidden Book Club.


Diana said that her former comrades may have underestimated her, but these men haven’t – and from the darkness, behind her slowly walking towards us came The Hard Way.  With a rising smirk on her face, Diana pointed out that just because they beat her down didn’t mean that they had her power, which meant that these men weren’t underestimating her either after she did what the medical team couldn’t – and from the darkness slowly walked up an evilly grinning Einherjar and an even more evilly grinning entity known as the Revenant.  


Spare said you knew all of these men, so it was time for an introduction of her own: she was “Night Sky” Diana Spare, and she would be one of the ones that would burn the Forbidden Book Club once and for all.  Ragnarok is coming for them all, and once it does, the ones who will be left behind will be them and the ones getting written off will be the FBC and all their weak little boy cronies.


The Revenant stood next to and dwarfed her before letting out an evil cackle and saying “See you soon, Toddie.  See you real damn soon, boy.”


The Immortals cackled, Spare smirked, and the Hard Way looked unlimp as some purple and silver static briefly popped up on screen – then enveloped it – then left nothing but darkness.


| • "the Fury" Jim Jaspers d. Dom DeSade • | Jaspers had to be happy his online campaigning got him back on Ruckus and even happier to face DeSade whom despite his imposing stature is one of the lowest rings of the singles ladder in QCW.  Jaspers looked particularly aggressive with suplexes and crossfaces before DeSade found himself going down to Fury Road and Old Jim lodged a W.  ** 


Post match saw Bobby Bash come out to live up to his surname and go after Jim; that brought out the other half of the Proper Villains, "the Proper King" Richard Windsor to stick up for his partner.  A Pier 4 broke out until Team Teal came out full force to break the fight up to the displeasure of the Quality Controllers.


From there?  TOTHEBACK~! where Enya Face was rushing through the backstage area and eventually managed to catch up to the departing World Champ.  A seething el-Fadal said Enya got one question before he hopped a flight to a real town, drawing boos from the crowd.  Enya asked Naz if he was ready for the dog collar match at Mischief Night but Nas started to lash out before the question even got finished, saying that of course Razorblade had to drag him down to his level because we saw what happened at AnIIversary, while the rabble got fat in the Arena and at home he gained 13 poinds.  So if Razorblade wanted to go down in history as a two time loser with a…with a…dog collar on his neck, he – Naz closed his eyes and shook his head, his lip curling in disgust.


"What I don't understand is how you even champ right now!" Naz's head whipped around at the offense, and the camera followed him to see long time rival and current College Park Family manager Benjamin Valentino.  Naz looked like he was going to try something when both Jupiter Jones and Lucius Patton showed up to big pops to have their boy's back.  Jupiter allowed himself a small smile as he said that if Naz wanted to run it back with the title on the line – and Naz stopped him right there.  Jupiter fought him to a draw last week, that's all.  He wants a shot at the World title, he needs to start by getting the TV title and putting in the defenses.  Jupiter's eyes narrowed before he a) said "All right then, bet." to Naz followed by b) turning and asking Lucius if he said that right (getting a thumbs up from Sweet Lu).   Naz sneered and said if Jupiter wanted to be next up after he wiped Razorblade off the mat, then it would be him who Naz destroyed.  Collipark got red over that as you might expect, but before anything physical could take place, a Town Car rolled up and el-Fadal got in it with instructions to the driver to head to the airport.   The ride departed, leaving Enya and Collipark behind.  Enya was kind enough to inform Jupiter that it was cool that the World TV title match was next and Jupiter got a wide grin on his face, saying it was his night to call next before walking off camera, the rest of Collipark boisterously whooping behind him.


| • "the Voice of Freedom" Drake Tremble [c] (w/"Swamp Trash" Ted Holland d. Il Postino to retain the QCW World Television championship 1️⃣ • | To the absolute shock of nobody ever, this was squash served up a month early.  It didn't even take 4 minutes for Tremble to put away the postman with the Truth Bomb.  Thankfully, the post match brought what the match didn't…DUD


…since “Bombs Over Baghdad” hit right before Ted Holland could put the TV title around his waist.  The crowd popped and it only grew when Jupiter Jones strolled out from between the curtains, the grin he had backstage only growing as the rest of the College Park Family followed him out a few steps behind.  Tremble’s face did a complete 180 as he looked at Jupiter, who stopped halfway down the ramp and left the rest of the Family at the apex.


Jupiter waited out the chants then sarcastically asked the crowd to give it up for their TV champion, which got the boos we all expected.  Tremble looked disgusted at the crowd as Jones continued that he’d been around QCW a long time – and so had Tremble.  And truth be told, he’s never liked Tremble: all that red hat bootstrap crap ain’t never had a home with him, or his daddy, who also used to whoop up on Tremble’s ass if he remembers things correctly.  Tremble got livid in the ring and started yelling off mic at Jones, who didn’t care and kept rolling.  The fact that a piece of crap like him is the TV champion, that his face is going to be assaulting people’s eyes every Friday night?  Nah.  It don’t go like this.  Here’s how it’s going to go.  


Tremble is going to defend his TV title at Mischief Night.


Tremble is going to defend his TV title at Mischief Night – against him.


And once that happens, it’s only a matter of minutes before he’s not TV champion and Jupiter is, and once that happens, the Triple Crown is his as well.  Something Tremble couldn’t sniff in a thousand comebacks, nothing he could achieve in a hundred lifetimes.  He’s not just doing it because QCW deserves better, though there’s obviously that.  He’s doing it for the Family behind him.  For the family he’s got watching him at home right now, blood or not.  And for the family he’s got all around him in the Arena, who can’t wait until Sunday.  Because the person who’s going to Make QCW Great Again isn’t that jackass or his future Dateline episode sidekick – it’s the same man it’s been the past two decades in QCW: Jupiter [and he actually got bleeped!  Go ‘head, old man!] Jones.  Jones did a mic drop and walked back to his crew, crowd roaring while Tremble now was standing on the apron yelling at his retreating figure.  Jones only looked back once to make A Familiar Gesture around his waist – then held up three fingers before being welcomed by the rest of Collipark.  Announce understandably flipped out over this before a set of commercials – longtime QCW staples, eternal rivals Tremble and Jones fighting for the World TV title in New Orleans and Jones trying to win the Triple Crown with a victory Sunday.


When we came back from the break, We Took You Back To Last Week where OnlyFitness used some chicanery, timing and the threat of the gargantuan Erik Norville’s possible outside interference to win the Unified Contenders Challenge.


Their tag titles tilt set for Sunday in the Big Easy, we got an amuse bouche served trios style with the champions daring the imminent challengers to find a third and fight them tonight.  The champions came out first to Muse’s “New Born” and bathed in the crowd pop, Al Buffett even throwing out a couple of Hawaiian shirts to the fans as the Game Changers came to the ring.


OnlyFitness came out next to the crowd boos, none too pleased with their recent shady wins over the Immortals and the Hard Way in the UCC.  It turned out that the third that they’d found was “Dashing” PIerce Moore, who conveniently showed up after Jupiter Jones’ departure.  The Changers were nonplussed over his being the partner, possibly to their detriment; despite recent consecutive losses to Jones the rookie carried his share of the team, rooting them on when they had Ashley THEE Influencer in trouble for the bulk of the match and managing to pique Al off something fierce when he used the Hawaiian shirt Al had taken off as his own personal Kleenex.  Of course, if a heel blows his nose into a babyface’s shirt in Act I, Act III features Checkov’s Tiki, as both Lolo Vuitton and Ashley had to make hot tags that found homes with Buffet & Moore. Al got the upper hand on Mr. Dashing and threw him around the ring with several suplexes, but got aid down the stretch from an unlikely figure: Scott Warren-Tisch, who first distracted the ref when it looked like Al was going to put him away with his avalanche delayed urange then threw the hydroflask around and behind the ref’s back to Moore, who brained Buffet with it and then drilled Bennett Carpenter on the apron with it as well.  Moore then leapt off the second rope and absolutely wrecked Buffet with a flying variant of his Fresh to Death cutter; with OnlyFitness swarming Ashley THEE Influencer, victory was secured.  Gonna bump it a bit for the flying cutter.  ** ½ 


| • OnlyFitness & "Dashing" Pierce Moore d. QCW Unified World Tag Team champions the Game Changers • |


The unlikely trio (well, quartet) celebrated on the ramp with Karyn and especially Lolo yelling at the ring to bring their belts on Sunday because they’d be the ones changing the game in New Orleans.  The Changers ignored the smacktalk and made sure Al was okay.  He seemed to be bleeding slightly from the forehead, probably from where the hydroflask got him, but seemed to be otherwise fine and got up under his own power after a few beats.  


TOTHEBACK~! where Julius Duquesne III was standing by to welcome his guests, half of the main event trios fight tonight – the reunited Science Fiction Double Feature, Jane Doe & Cindy Monet and the QCW Women’s World Champion, Autumn Powers.  The crowd popped as they came on the scene and exchanged pleasantries with J3 before he asked them about how they came together as a team ahead of the match tonight.  Cindy said that she missed her down to Mars girl, and it was great to be back by her side.  Autumn smiled at that, and Jane wasn’t smiling at all – she was looking at the Women’s World Title on Autumn’s shoulder as if it was something from the farthest reaches of Earth.  Autumn chuckled a little bit and Jane pointed to it and said “Title!”  Yes, we’re all in agreement there, Powers included.  Jane then said “Sunday” and was informed it was Friday before pointing at herself – then Autumn – then the title.


“Sunday, please.”


Everyone who wasn’t Jane had the reactions of shock you might expect, with Autumn confirming that Jane - in her own way - wanted a shot at the belt.  There was silence for a few beats before Jane nodded and said “Sunday, please.”  Autumn crooked her head a little bit and told Jane if that’s what she wanted, she’d get it, but it wouldn’t be like tonight.  Autumn reminded her that she was the longest reigning champion IN QCW no matter what title you were talking about, and as much as she’d appreciated Jane having her back recently, if she tried her with her belt on the line, Jane would find out how unfriendly she could be.  Jane got closer to Autumn, then tapped the title with her pinky and looked Autumn directly in the eyes.  She said “Sunday.  PLEASE.” in a low tone.  Autumn extended a pinky, and Jane immediately shook it with her own.  Autumn pulled her in and said “See you out there” right before Cindy’s pinky joined their own.


“Y’all have fun Sunday.”  Cindy’s smile was almost a mile wide before she continued.  “‘Cause I got next.”  Cindy walked off between Autumn and Jane, then after a brief look once again at the title, Jane followed her tag team partner.  Autumn looked at them then turned to J3.  “We got this tonight, Jules.  


But I got my title months ago…and after Sunday night, it’s still going to be my title.” She thanked Julius for his time and went off towards her partners for the night.


| • the Revenant d. Toddzilla • | HOSS FIGHT!


In the opening couple minutes of this one, the referee had to stop focusing on the fight between them and had to get help in the rest of the zebra corps coming from the back to break up all the fights on the outside (between the FBC, the Hard Way, Diana Spare, the Sound of Thunder, the other FBC).  Once the match settled down from all the outside craziness the Revenant only took a couple of minutes to get the upper hand then a couple more to get the W, setting off camera flashes when he got Toddzilla up for then planted him with his signature chokeslam.   A second Red Right Hand cinched the victory.  **


With one match left before the PPV, announce began to hype up Mischief Night and the Hot 8 Brass Band’s awesome cover of “Ghost Town” kicked in; the preshow will feature "Dashing" Pierce Moore against "the Iron Dwarf" John Arneson and based off of earlier events A World Of Pain will face off against the Proper Villains.  And those are on the preshow because the main card is loaded like a college sophomore at Mardi Gras:


⚜️ We just got a taste of this one: the Forbidden Book Club will take on the Sound of Thunder with Diana Spare, but not in any ordinary trios match – for the first time ever, QCW will have a Cauldron of Chaos match.


It will start as a standard singles match, then every five minutes not only will there be another participant introduced but a different gimmick will pop up as well.  The match will end once all six women are in it, with whatever rotating gimmick of the block helping to decide a victor; are the FBC back on track or will the SoT bring the hammer down on some witches? ⚜️


⚜️ That's not all by way of debut matches; Fated To Become Champions (El Gato Negro, "Pyre and Ice" Erik Norville, Toddzilla and Roberto VillaLobos) will face the Hard Way and the Immortals in a Ragnarok Rules match – a tornado tag match that can only be won once a match participant is buried alive.  This one is going to be whatever the level above insane is. ⚜️


⚜️ In the first of four title matches, "the Voice of Freedom" Drake Tremble puts up his newly won World TV title against longtime rival and fellow QCW legend Jupiter Jones, who can win the Triple Crown should he be able to win the belt ⚜️


⚜️ OnlyFitness won the Unified Contenders Challenge, now the health obsessed #1 contenders look to supplant the Game Changers and take away the Unified World Tag Team championships while the champions look to continue to reign over QCW's expanded tag team division ⚜️


⚜️ They're about to be teammates and have been friendly, but all that between Jane Doe and Autumn Powers will go out the window Sunday night with the Women's World Championship on the line: will the returning Doe get her first QCW title or will QCW's longest reigning champion continue ruling? ⚜️


⚜️ And the 13 Pounds of Gold will be on the line in the main event; for the first time in nearly 40 years there will be a dog collar match in QCW and for the first time ever it's happening with the World title on the line: the former champion and #1 contender Mason "Razorblade" Savage won Pick Your Poison to get this fight but can he overcome the first ever two time QCW World Heavyweight Champion who beat him clean at AnIIversary, the unctuous Nazir el-Fadal? ⚜️


 | • | the main event  | • |


As Duck made the announcements for the main, the lights went out in the Arena.  Three red blips later, they were back on and the Forbidden Book Club was doing their usual thing of cackling while posing on the buckles.  Shelley LaVey was just being flirtatiously coy to the camera when suddenly the viewpoint didn’t make any sense, and it showed LaVey down in the ring with a figure in a hoodie (!) going after her, the rest of the FBC pulling off who turned out to be Diana Spare off of Shelley and tuned up their former stablemate; picture in picture showed that Spare had been posing as one of the camerapeople and then when LaVey leaned in to the fans at home, Spare brained her with it. 


Distracted by the incursion, they were too busy fighting to realize they still had a fight coming.  “Mota” by the Offspring brought out the white hats, with Cindy out first followed by Jane next to her, and The Champ a couple steps behind them with the belt hefted up over one of her shoulders.  Medical staff came out to check on LaVey, who angrily waved off their attempts to help them and ripped the band-aid off her forehead and threw it at one of the poor white shirts, saying she damn sure wasn’t going to miss out on the match.  Diana Spare got hauled off to the back by Team Teal and we got underway…


 | • QCW Women's World Champion Autumn Powers and Science Fiction Double Feature d. Forbidden Book Club • |


To be fair, the friction I assumed would be happening with the white hats never really materialized; maybe it’s me, maybe I watch too much wrestling.  Cindy and Jane took a couple of beats to find their footing again as a unit but had no problem getting the upper hand on the Club and especially the weakened LaVey.  Bonnie Agrippa tagged herself into the match seeing LaVey in trouble, and she used her power to dominate Science Fiction Double Feature until Jane was forced to tag out down the stretch to The Champ.  


Agrippa and Powers were tagging each other with some meaty forearms in the middle of the ring, and it went on nearly a minute and a half with them getting second and third winds before Agrippa went for the eyes.  Bonnie went over to talk smack, only to get interrupted by Cindy Monet vaulting over the top rope and going after her – pretty shortly thereafter, a Pier 6 broke out to the joy of the crowd.  The referee was trying to put out three fight fires at once, which is probably why he missed Diana Spare running in from the crowd and chop blocking Agrippa when she had Powers up – Powers landed in almost a spike leg lariat as a result before Spare bailed back out through the crowd, Team Teal giving hilariously inept chase while in the ring, Powers put a button on the match with the Hazy Shade while Science Fiction Double Feature squashed the rest of the Club during the three count.  ***


After the replays, the club harassed the poor referee up the ramp while back in the ring, Jane had jumped the queue and taken the Women’s World Title out of Duck’s hands.  Cindy snatched it from her, saying that it wasn’t hers, it belonged to Autumn and she should give it back to her…but then as she was handing over the belt, the handing off didn’t happen as Cindy looked down at the title nearly four months after competing for it last in the match that Autumn had won.  CIndy shook it off, and handed a slightly peeved Autumn the belt before they all got their hands raised.  But in Autumn’s non-raised hand was the title, which Jane had her eyes locked on; a couple of beats later, Cindy’s eyes appeared to be watching Jane watch the belt and watching Autumn watch Jane, saying that Sunday she was going to still be champion when it was all said and done.  Seeing both members of SFDF peer at the title, Autumn gave it a couple of slaps before turning on her heels and hitting the buckles to show it off to and pump up the crowd, Jane and Cindy eventually following suit.  That’s all the Ruckus October can handle – we’ll see you in the Big Easy Sunday for Mischief Night!



Friday, October 21, 2022

QCW Ruckus [s2e3 • October 21, 2022]

Last week on Ruckus: Razorblade disclosed during an interview that he & Nazir el-Fadal would be involved in Pick Your Poison tonight with the winner picking the stipulation for their Mischief Night title rematch • OnlyFitness & the Hard Way advanced in the United Contenders Challenge to face off in the finals tonight • In a barnburner main event, Katsuji Ootsuka narrowly beat Roy Fade in a last man standing match with the World TV title on the line, ending things with a Magical Sky off the balcony through Fade through two tables


Ruckus kicked off with a pretape from not only the Forbidden Book Club but Fated To Become Champions as well, flanking them for the first time publicly.  Fog rolled in the background somehow while El Gato Negro & Toddzilla looked imposing and Roberto VillaLobos sneered, Nancy Crowley kicked off the promo by saying that it must be a surprise to us all seeing them after what happened with their losses last week.  But they aren’t the sort of people to…heh…hide in the shadows, no – there are ways to win when you don’t get the pinfall.   So if people think the Forbidden Book Club or for that matter Fated To Become Champions aren’t ready to continue imposing their will on QCW and bringing it into the darkness, then they aren’t thinking.  And before the show is over – Shelley LaVey came forward and said that before the show is over people will remember to fear and respect the FBC.  Fog enveloped the screen, then when it faded none of the six of them were there.


A few more tweaks to the open (a little more Autumn and The Hard Way, they couldn't get that balcony Magical Sky in there fast enough if I had to guess) concluding with the carousel of champions, Katsuji's being updated with him recovering on the barrier and bleeding on the TV title giving way to Naz outside the Arena popping gum with shades on outside at night before cackling and holding up his two titles.  

 

Orange pyro gave way to white and gold detonations from and around the QualiTron 3000, so let a few hundred screaming Floridians welcome you to another Friday Night Ruckus, commentary provided by America's Dad Steve Vandeblanche and America's Shady Internet Troll Cousin S. Mark Starr.  They put over the big card for the evening then almost casually added that things would kick off with the Consolation Cup for the Unified Contenders Challenge.


| • Fated To Become Champions NC the Immortals in the Unified Contenders Challenge consolation cup • | Except that it really didn’t – before the match could begin, the Forbidden Book Club took spots in almost a triangle around the ring, then raised their arms and began, for lack of a better term, speaking in tongues.  They may not have been but they may as well have been if they weren't.  Then the lights went out – six red throbs in the darkness – and not only was there no Fated To Be Champions, there was no Forbidden Book Club.


But there were two laid out Immortals in the ring and on the apron.


Nobody knew what to do for a few beats, and then the referee called for the EMTs and medical staff.  Duck Eko and the referee talked between themselves as the staff came out with stretchers, and both Einherjar and the Revenant were put on gurneys while the crowd murmured and the announce laid out.  The Sound of Thunder and in a small surprise the Hard Way came out to escort the med crew and check on…well, not their friends, but clearly going to the mat together has brought out mutual respect.  Despite participating in the UCC finals later, the Hard Way followed Sound of Thunder and the stretchers to the back – uncommented on by the announce, a figure in a hoodie jumped the railing and followed all of them to the back a few steps behind.  Hopefully we can get an update before the show’s over.


TOTHEBACK~! where Julius Duquesne III brought on his guests who're fighting later tonight to try and win the Unified Contenders Challenge - OnlyFitness.  Karyn, Lolo and Scott arrived on the scene to boos from the Quality Controllers.  J3 asked them how they were feeling headed into the UCC final.  Lolo bragged that they were the first team in QCW to beat both of the Immortals and they looked oh so fine doing it.  So whoever the Hard Way thought they were, they weren't winning the Challenge or the belts; Karyn chimed in that those belts were going to belong to OnlyFitness before Halloween and that would taste sweeter than any candy they could get.  Lolo agreed, then said that the Hard Way were literal has beens as former champions, but the tag division has been changed almost overnight so they're ready for the new opportunities, ready to win the Challenge and become the Unified World Tag Team champions.  And once they had those belts around these gorgeous waists…well, once that happened, they'd run this.  Lolo and Karyn traded smirks and a fist bump before walking out of the frame, leaving Scott behind to peer awkwardly at J3, before starting to screech something at him only to immediately reach for his neck brace and whimper.  Julius the Younger gave Scott a couple of sympathetic back pats before throwing things back to ringside.


| • “the Voice of Freedom” Drake Tremble d. Katsuji Ootsuka [c] to win the QCW World Television title • | Between Naz and this title change, we’re officially in the darkest timeline, yeah?  


Ootsuka showed up to defend his title but when he removed the belt to hand it to the referee it revealed he was heavily bandaged around the ribs (almost as if he hit the highspot of the year off the balcony last week and went through tables in the process).  Ootsuka actually got off to a hot start early but then ran into a kitchen sink knee to the gut that slowed him down, and to be frank even that basic move was enough to throw a king-sized wrench into Katsuji’s plans.  Former three time champion Tremble was at his vulturish best/worst, picking apart Ootsuka with moves to impact the back and ribs before he won the belt clean with the Truth Bomb.  The fact I heard any cheers for that, even in Florida, is why I’m agnostic.  ** 


After the replays of Tremble’s win, something unexpected happened – “Swamp Trash” Ted Holland, who faced Tremble a few weeks ago but seemed to be under his sway by the end of it, ran down to the ring and began cheering and talking to Tremble.  They seemed to be having a discussion driven by Holland, then Tremble got a wide grin on his face as he stepped into the middle of the ring…and Holland made sure to put the TV title around Drake’s waist as Tremble made sure that the referee raised his hand to boos as Ootsuka clutched his ribs and staggered to the back.  Tremble shook Holland’s hand, and Ted sat on the ropes as Drake left the ring.  Tremble crowed to the camera as he headed to the back that he’d squashed the foreign menace and would finally bring some pride to the World TV title, and if the Voice of Freedom kept racking up wins, well, this would only be the first title in his glorious return.


 | • “Pyre & Ice” Erik Norville d. Atum Pharoah • | This was the debut of Norville, the land monster who's been stalking the Immortals the past few weeks with his face in two separate dualities.  In a sharp contrast to recent outings, Pharaoh went under pretty quickly without much in the way of offense.  Norville ended Atum's evening with a modified Olympic Slam to win his debut. **


But he wasn’t done there; as Atum was licking his wounds and trying to recover on the floor, Norville grabbed the microphone from Duck and made an introduction to the audience.  When the end begins again and the old bonds sever – when your former friends turn their back on you and start throwing in with the Revenant – well, Einherjar deserved what he got from Erik at AnIIversary.  (!!!)  He won’t be cast aside just for some jerkoff who reads a Wikipedia article and thinks he’s the goddamn God of Thunder, which is why he answered the call that the Forbidden Book Club made to him last month.  So that he, Erik Norville, can do what no other man has the balls or talent to do: kill the Immortals’ legacy once and for all.  They may not be killable, but by the time Erik is done with them and shown these so-called people the truth of their beloved Immortals, they’ll wish they were dead.  Norville threw down the mic and stepped over the top rope on the way to the back, crowd booing lightly but also clearly scared of the man and with good reason.


Announce put over Norville as a monster and were shocked by his being yet another emissary of the FBC, as well as his being behind the attack on Einherjar at AnIIversary.  They also added that they didn’t have any updates on the Immortals after what happened in the opener as of yet and would have updates on QCW socials if they weren’t able to get any updates on them before Ruckus ended, Starr speculating that it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility for Norville to be behind that attack as well.


After letting the ripples from that settle down they threw proceedings TOTHEBACK~! where Enya Face was standing by to welcome her guests tonight about to try and win the Unified Contenders Challenge - the Hard Way!  Fifita and Goodish came out in the warm embrace of a crowd pop.  Enya asked them what their game plan was against OnlyFitness and Fifita was brusque, saying that they'd been around the block too many times to give away a game plan on national TV.  The game plan is to win.  The game plan is to get the gold at the Devil's Night.  And in case you forgot…the game plan is to win.  Goodish exchanged a nod with him and said "We're working our way back to the promised land one win at a time.  The only way we know how."  The Yeah Yeah Yeahs & Dr. Octagon’s “Buried Alive” fired up over the PA, and out walked the Hard Way to a good reception from the crowd, looking over the Arena before exchanging a no-look fist bump and heading towards the ring.  


 | • OnlyFitness d. The Hard Way to win the Unified Contenders Challenge and earn a shot at the Unified World Tag Team championships at Mischief Night • | A big night for the heels rolls on into the second half of the show with OnlyFitness pulling off another upset and taking home the Challenge.


The Hard Way had a little bit of a points advantage going into the finish, which came after nearly three segments of great tag action.  We periodically saw the Game Changers watching the final on a monitor backstage and talking amongst themselves.  The former champions looked like they were setting up for their notorious missile dropkick/Electric Chair combination when Scott Tisch-Warren popped up on the apron and tried to distract either Goodish or Fifita.  Obviously the Hard Way weren’t going to sweat a pretzel stick in a neck brace, but as the referee was admonishing Scott a buzz rapidly spread in the crowd and then turned into murmurs and a few boos when Erik Norville came back out with his eyes focused on the ring.  As Norville made his way down the ramp, fortunately Team Teal came running from the back to surround him to try and stop him or at least slow him down.  Norville almost got into the ring before the dozen shirts got him corralled. 


It was a perfect opportunity for Scott Tisch-Warren to run into the ring behind the ref’s back and slam a hydroflask into Fifita’s head, then for his wife to follow that up with a low blow to compound things.  Lolo caught Goodish with a standard Bloody Shoe from the corner then OnlyFitness Only Finished This with the enzui Shoe and full nelson facebuster from Karyn on Fifita.  ***


OnlyFitness shock the world in winning the Unified Contenders Challenge and by hook and by crook, get a shot at the Game Changers come Mischief Night.  The crowd rained down jeers as Karyn, Lolo and Steve celebrated arms in arms in arms practically dancing in the ring over the biggest victory they’ve garnered to date.  Announce started plugging OnlyFitness vs. the Game Changers for the belts in New Orleans and with the Pick Your Poison matches the only thing left on this week's show, they shifted into hype mode for next week..


🌟🌟 Unlikely and distasteful as it is, Drake Tremble lived up to his promises over the summer; now with championship gold and a useful idiot, he'll defend the World TV title for the first time next week 🌟🌟


🌟🌟 QCW's Unified World Tag Team champions The Game Changers will be in trios action facing #1 contenders OnlyFitness and a mystery partner 🌟🌟


🌟🌟 And the main event will also be a trios match with Mischief Night title implications: the Forbidden Book Club look to return to the win column, but easier said than done as they face off against the reunited Science Fiction Double Feature and QCW Women's World Champion Autumn Powers 🌟🌟


The announce started to mention some other things coming up next week for the go-home show when “Unscripted Violence” came on over the PA and the crowd erupted for the former World champ, the Razorblade himself - Mason Savage.  But he was clearly in business mode, as he ignored all the cheers and marched down to the ring.  He’d barely been in it before he went over to Duck and asked for the mic, then the moment his mouth opened Arcarsenal came on.  I’m sure it’s a coincidence.  


Out strolled Nazir el-Fadal eventually, in gear for his match up next but still with a shit-eating grin on his face and more importantly, both the Evergreen Wrestling League title and the QCW World Heavyweight Championship each taking up shoulder space.  He asked for his music to be cut, then bathed in the 2:1 negative reaction he got before slowly holding up the QCW World title.  He laughed at Savage pacing already in the ring, saying that he was going to have a stroke before Mischief Night even got here.  Naz teased that maybe he was going to be the opponent…Mason’s the one who needs this, this is just Friday night for Naz and who knows what Florida city he’ll be spending them in next year…but while Razorblade was on the air bragging last week about all the people who hated Naz, it’s not like he’s some holier-than-thou saint himself.  In fact, Razorblade’s opponent came to Naz and asked for the shot, and if there’s one thing YOUR Real World’s Champ does, it’s look out for the everyone below him on the totem pole.   


Naz gestured behind him to the entryway as “Aces High” by Iron Maiden came out.  Super Avión came out and looked like he wanted to beeline to the ring, but Naz stood in front of him and talked to him; announce assumed it was his marching orders for the evening but seemed surprised a bit when Naz headed to the back and Avión took off running to the ring.  Savage met him with rights, Avión responded in kind, and it was Donkey Kong on in the Arena.  


 | • Mason “Razorblade” Savage d. Super Avión  in a Pick Your Poison match • | This was a rematch from three weeks prior where a pissed Savage piled on Avión and made him eat three Soul Crushers before pinning him when one would have done.  It was why Avión was rushing the ring and probably motivated him to get the upper hand through the first third of the match.  Announce speculated on whatever he & Naz said, with Starr pointing out that Naz might have told him to run if he got in trouble just to extend the amount of time he’d have to win PYP (depending on how the main event went).  Avión went full throttle after Savage, going for repeated nearfalls and using his lucha libre to better effect than he had in their September match.  


Ironically enough, it was that very same lucha libre that led to the beginning of the end for the luchadore – he went for a tope suicida on Razorblade to the outside only for Savage to catch him and deliver a massive overhead belly to belly suplex into the steel ramp.  Seeing the success rate of that, once he’d recovered, Savage then replicated the overhead belly to belly with the positions 180ed: this time the overhead belly to belly sent Avión flying backfirst into the apron, and the yelp he let out upon contact officially signified that control of the match had shifted hands.  Without the ability to fly at his best, Avión soon found himself in the same position he was in last month of playing catchup.  Savage continued punishing Avión, who initially put up resistance before the #1 contender dropped the house on him and eventually took him out with the Soul Crusher a little bit after the 14 minute mark.  Avión put up a better fight this time, but Razorblade’s a buzzsaw right now.  ***


After being announced as the winner, Razorblade got the mic from Duck as Naz came out and Avión staggered to the back by the side of the stage.  Savage was breathing a little heavily as you might expect, but said that he’d held up his end of the bargain no matter how hard he had to fight to do it.  Naz came down to ringside as Razorblade noted it was funny that Naz said Avión practically volunteered to fight him, since when it came time for him to pick Naz’s opponent, this man…hell, this legend, volunteered for the match.  And you don’t turn down first ballot Hall of Famers.  Naz had gotten ready to get in Razorblade’s face and say something when his eyes narrowed, then when he went to speak he got cut off —


– by “Bombs Over Baghdad”.


 | • | the main event  | • |


Razorblade gave a mirthless grin and Naz hung his head before almost shaking it and chuckling in a “should’ve seen this coming” fashion, and maybe he should’ve.


Super Avión is a talented QCW roster member.


There might not be a QCW without Jupiter Jones, who strode out with the rest of the College Park Family ready to renew hostilities with the man who took the QCW Championship off of him last spring (feels like that happened in 1993).  Razorblade left the ring as Naz turned towards the entryway, where Jupiter was telling Collipark that he had this on his own.  The crowd roared as he came down to ringside, Naz angrily divesting himself of his belts before glaring up at where Jupiter was posing on the turnbuckles.  el-Fadal went over to poke Jones in the chest, and promptly found himself slapped for his troubles.  Naz slowly drew his head up, gave a couple of slow nods, then backhanded Jupiter across the face to the shock of everybody, you included.  Jupiter took his own couple of beats to recover, then laughed and went forehead to forehead with Naz, both men talking smack, and the referee couldn’t call for the bell fast enough.  In fact, a couple of seconds after it did, Jones let a Bolt From Olympus fly that Naz narrowly dodged, then Naz kitchen sinked him and hooked a leg looking for the WMDDT, but Jones slipped away from that and both men were more than happy to remind the other via fingertips just how close they’d come to getting got, Queue Cee Dub! chants reverberating in the Arena.


 | • QCW World Champion “the One Man Jihad” Nazir el-Fadal tld. Jupiter Jones in a non-title Pick Your Poison match • |


Once the match had begun, a clock in the upper right corner of the QT3K counted down from 14:19 (Razorblade’s winning time).  But Jupiter being his opponent clearly came as a surprise to Naz, who wasted valuable time early bailing out on a couple of occasions where Jones was getting the upper hand on him.  Announce asked Savage for commentary, but he was intently peering into the ring for the whole match and ignored their questions.  At one point el-Fadal had Jones up for the Hamrin Valley Driver, but Jones elbowed out then dusted off Naz with his own old(?) MDK elbow, but the discus forearm smash sent el-Fadal spilling to the outside.  Naz recovered in the first half of the count and seemed to be heading towards grabbing his belt and calling it a night when he saw Razorblade sitting at the announce table and fumed, before rolling into the ring and right into a pop up Samoan drop that he was lucky to kick out of.


Jones went for another Bolt From Olympus to close a few beats later only for Naz to pull the referee in front of its path.  Jones pulled up but Naz used that opening to bounce off the ropes then catch him with Sudden Death, his new Sling Blade Flatliner.  Naz would try to follow up with the Outsider’s Edge only to have Jones wriggle free and counter out into a backslide for 2.  el-Fadal came out of that and hit a snap Hamrin Valley Driver before hooking up Jones for the WMDDT; Jones would counter out into a small package that nearly secured him the W.


In the final moments Naz would hit the Outsider’s Edge and hook Jones for the WMDDT, except that this time not only would Jones knee his way out of the cyclone fisherman’s buster, he’d hit the Bolt From Olympus clean as well.  el-Fadal blocked it with his jaw, then found himself falling between the middle and bottom ropes before sluicing all the way to the floor.  The referee started a count and Jones squared up as Naz tried to get his bearings on the floor.  By the time that happened, there were only five seconds left on the clock.  Great TV match for what it was but it’s still a sister kisser.  ***


The crowd deflated when Duck announced the time limit draw but got their spirits back up when he revealed that meant that Razorblade had won Pick Your Poison and would be picking the stipulation for the title fight at Mischief Night.  Naz gathered up his titles like the miser he is while Razorblade grabbed the mic from Duck and reveled in being in the driver’s seat.  What was he going to do to Naz in New Orleans?  Maybe he’d disfigure him inside a cage - crowd loved that idea.  Maybe this should be a Falls Count Anywhere match so he could throw Naz’s sorry ass in the Mississippi - crowd loved that even better.  Of course, if everyone bleeds, then maybe a First Blood match would be the order of the day.  Even off mic, Naz was close enough to him to be heard yelling at him to just tell him what it is.  Razorblade looked over in Naz’s direction for the first time and offered up a small smile.  “You want to know what it is, Naz?  You want to know what it is?


Well, I’ll tell you…next week.”


Savage let out a manly cackle and walked to the back as Naz flipped out, demanding answers from the ref, the announce and Duck, but they all told him the same thing or something close: just because Razorblade won Pick Your Poison tonight doesn’t mean he’s gotta reveal the stip tonight.  Naz stood fuming on the announce table with his belts in hand while Razorblade offered up a no-look middle finger before he parted the curtains to the approval of the Quality Controllers.  Tune in next week to see what stip Razorblade chooses for Mischief Night!




Friday, October 14, 2022

QCW Ruckus [s2e2 • October 14, 2022]

Last week on Ruckus: the United Contenders Challenge continued with wins from the Immortals and OnlyFitness; the tournament continues with the semifinals tonight • Katusji Ootsuka & Roy Fade got into another couple of brawls leading to the TV title being on the line not only in tonight's main event, but a Last Man Standing match • Nazir el-Fadal beat “the Iron Dwarf” John Arneson in a winner take all main event and added the Evergreen Wrestling League title to his trophy case, only to flee with his belts after Mason “Razorblade” Savage made the save and kept a bloodied Arneson from getting further beaten up

We cold opened with the QCW Women's World Champion Autumn Powers backstage.  She let the pop settle down before she introduced herself, and she was already in gear.  Jane Doe came from the right side of the screen, haltingly introduced herself as if English were her second language, then gave a sideways thumbs up.  Autumn said she figured you should know who they are, since they're about to go down to the ring and ruin some witches' October.  She left to head to the ring, leaving Jane behind who cocked her head to the side then tapped the screen once.  When nothing happened she did it quickly two more times, then she kept tapping the screen while saying "Open, please" in an increasingly louder tone.  Autumn had to come back and explain to her it didn't work like that before leading her away.


The show open reverted back to normal, with more Drake Tremble on the periphery and Jane sprinkled in before ending with all the champions, lastly Nazir el-Fadal preening outside of the Arena but now slowly lifting two titles overhead with an evil grin on his face.


Pyro detonated from and around the QualiTron 3000 as Steve Vandeblanche, S. Mark Starr and a packed Arena full of Quality Controllers welcomed us to Ruckus, starting with a championship level fight…


| • QCW Women’s World Champion Autumn Powers & Jane Doe d. Forbidden Book Club (w/Nancy Crowley) • | We got a sneaky good one here between the newly aligned white hats and the former tag champs in the Club.  Before the match began We Took You Back To Last Week where they turfed Diana Spare after being eliminated in their first round Unified Contenders Challenge match, something they blamed her for.  The announce said that Spare is recovering, but there’s no timetable for her return yet.  


In contrast to last week’s debacle, we got a borderline instant classic that nearly went three segs in women’s tag action.   Powers started the match and had few problems with Shelly LaVey, who quickly brought in powerhouse Bonnie Agrippa in for the Club.  Agrippa helped turned the tide of the match early on for the Club, matching power with Powers and unafraid to use some help and/or bend the rules along the way, making Jane’s nose twitch on the apron when she got away with a cheap shot.


Autumn actually ended up taking the bulk of the punishment throughout the match for her team, but after a running Shooting Star plancha from Jane on the apron to Nancy Crowley on the outside distracted the Club, Powers was able to neutralize them with a Flatliner/DDT combo and make her way to Jane for the tag.  


Doe got into the ring and immediately stymied the FBC with her unpredictable offense and elusiveness, at one point walking away from a LaVey flying crossbody so that she’d smash into Agrippa, then using that confusion to run the ropes and not only FameAsser Agrippa but do it so that she was forced to splash LaVey in the process.  That was the last bit of daylight the chances of the FBC winning the match saw, and a couple of minutes later Doe put a button on things by heart punching Agrippa before tagging out to Autumn, who took the honors with the Hazy Shade to give them the win.  ** ½  


The Club sulked their way to the back in recovery mode while the champ and Miss Intergalactic celebrated on the buckles, Jane continuing her sideways thumbs ups.  


After that, we got a pretape from the Commissioner's Office, and Holmes was more clipped than usual here.  He stated that bringing back quality to Quality Championship Wrestling was sacrosanct to him and everyone who worked at QCW…except for, apparently the International Workrate Consortium.  They may be the Ambassadors champions but he signs their checks, not the other way around.  And those checks would be not only lighter thanks to $2,500 fines for the Consortium, but that effective last Saturday they were suspended for 30 days for throwing the UCC first round match last week.  Holmes made a notable exception for "the Wonderful" Rich Ward, who stood and fought.  Ward wasn't subject to the fine or suspension.  But someone else would be getting fined for their own unprofessionalism last week, and as much as he hated to bring the hammer down, he was going to be forced to give Duck Eko a fine..of ten dollars. Given this being a first time offense, he wouldn't be subject to any suspensions so long as he straightened up & flew right. Holmes offered a small smile as the pretape ended.


| • OnlyFitness d. The Immortals in a Unified Contenders Challenge semifinal • | 


…I'm sorry, what?


| • OnlyFitness d. The Immortals in a Unified Contenders Challenge semifinal • | 


That happened?!  I thought I dreamt that.


So, 93% of this went about the way you expect: while OnlyFitness put up a better fight than Los Nuevos Caballeros, pretty soon it looked like an Immortals victory was going to be in the bag. 


It looked like Karyn was about to go through Death's Door when things changed; something bounced off of the Revenant, which turned out to be Scott Warren-Tisch's signature hydroflask.  Obviously this was like a gnat trying to fight an engine turbine, and the Immortals took great glee in stalking Scott before Einherjar left him for the Revenant, who goozled Scott and put him through the announce table with the Red Right Hand to much applause and merriment.  Announce was off air for a little bit afterwards though EMTs were on the way before they got back on air.  The Rev was admiring his handiwork when it looked like a fan leaned over the railing to take a swipe at him.  After a couple of beats, the camera panned over to show the same land monster that interrupted the Unified World Tag Team championships ceremony.  Half his face painted fiery, the other half in icy blue and white.  The Revenant stepped to him, wondering what he was doing here.   The monster redhead scoffed from behind the barrier – and while the EMTs put Scott on a gurney and the Revenant and….uh, whomever started to get chesty and started drawing Team Teal from different corners of the Arena –


– no one noticed Karyn Tisch-Warren sliding into the ring with a TV monitor then uppercutting Einherjar with it.  On the floor with the EMTs, the referee returned to the ring just in time to see Lolo's enzui Bloody Shoe spike Einherjar into Karyn's full nelson facebuster (now called the Only Finished This) and with the Revenant occupied on the floor, OnlyFitness secured maybe the biggest upset in the modern era of QCW.  ***


The ladies celebrated their way up the ramp as the Revenant broke his gaze and hit the ring to check on his partner.  Karyn peppered Lolo's face with kisses before they waited on the gurney to catch up to them on the ramp with Scott.  He gave a feeble thumbs up as they all headed to the ambulance.  The Immortals were seething in the ring and when cameras tried to catch up to the redheaded interloper in the stands, his massive hand covered the camera lens.  Steve and Starr tried to break down the end of the semifinal but didn't know what to make of the Immortals' ghost or the first ladies of fitness pulling off the shocking win.


From there the announce did a split screen interview from the Arena to Chicago and welcomed the #1 contender Razorblade to the roars of the crowd.  Steve noted that it was rare for Razorblade to request interviews, so he must have something important to say.  Razorblade agreed, and said that after last week's show he went to Commissioner Holmes and asked for, then got a favor.  So next week he and Naz were going to be in a QCW staple - Pick Your Poison.  Whoever won their match the fastest would get to name the stipulation for their title rematch at Dev–uh, Mischief Night.  Starr asked if Razorblade had a stip in mind should he be able to win out next week and Savage sort of sidestepped it, saying he was more focused on trying to handle whatever BS Naz would throw at him next week.  Steve asked him if he had anyone in mind to pick for next week and Razorblade allowed a small laugh before saying that was the one good thing about Naz: everyone in QCW wanted a shot at him, so he’d go through the offers he got and then pick the one that he thought would secure his win.  He added he thought he was sick of Naz before, but watching him preen around and bully everybody because he had a good night at AnIIversary was new levels of annoying.  He had to win Pick Your Poison next week so he could win back the World title at Mischief Night and try and stop Naz’s parade of ego once and for all.  Everyone bleeds, and everyone would love to see Naz bleed, so at Mischief Night he knew exactly what he had to do; he’d figure out the how tos on the way.   Announce thanked him for his time, even though Starr got in a couple of jibes at his expense afterwards saying that Naz’s ego trip was on him for not taking care of business at AnIIversary.


Let Us Take You Back To Last Week where Jupiter Jones won a match then shot down Pierce Moore's smack talking on the QualiTron by saying he couldn't stop Jones from kicking his ass again.


| • Jupiter Jones d. “Dashing” Pierce Moore • | Jones was more right than wrong in the AnIIversary rematch, though Moore put up a better fight than he did at the PPV.  Moore took advantage by bailing to the floor and suckering Jones into a charge that he dodged and sent the former champ into the steps.  Moore kept the pressure on but when he went for his Fresh To Death cutter Jones drilled him with an enzui Bolt From Olympus that sent Mr. Dashing into the mat at warp speed.  Jones loaded up another one and hit it for the clean win. ** ½ 


As Moore loopily stumbled to the back, the rest of Collipark came out to celebrate with Jupiter.  Announce put over Jones's revitalized singles career as his former partner Benjamin Valentino bragged to the camera that it smelled like Triple Crown SZN was here.


I missed this on the first watch through since it sort of looked like a commercial, but apparently it was a vignette: filmed wholly in black and white except for falling rose petals, a voice talked about fall and autumns leading to rebirths.  Whatever or whoever Midsomnar is, it/they are coming soon.


| • “Swamp Trash” Ted Holland d. Lucius Patton • | A bit of an upset here as the newcomer bested the former tag champ.  All I can safely say is this: if it wasn’t for pro wrestling, Ted Holland would probably be doing time right now.  He was affable to the referee beforehand and even shook Patton’s hand before the bell and then once the match start fought like he was going to get reinstitutionalized if he lost.  Lots of unnecessarily dirty fighting on an elemental level (eye rakes, biting, headbutts) and poor good guy Lucius found himself on the wrong side of a beating while both the announce and wide swaths of the crowd were sort of unnerved by the self proclaimed Swamp Trash laying in the lumber.  Of note, he finally put Sweet Lu away with the Truth Bomb of Drake Tremble.  ** Post-match, he shook hands with the referee again and left the ring, crossing paths with Collipark and a pissed Jupiter Jones, who rebuffed Holland’s handshake attempt and seemed to be considering whether or not to punch him out before blowing him off and checking on his long time partner.  Holland only looked back in their direction once before shaking his head and walking to the back; fortunately for Collipark while Patton was recovering on the mat he seemed to be more embarrassed by the loss than suffering any long term effects from Ted’s attack.


As the teams came out for the second semifinal on the evening, brief video clips played of their round 1 victories (Fated took a close one from the Proper Villains, and the Hard Way benefited from the continued dysfunction of the Wonderful Ward Brothers to beat Rich in an ad hoc handicap match).  There's also history here with the Hard Way being picked up and eventually discarded by the Forbidden Book Club, who slated this FBC to take the former champs' places.


| • the Hard Way d. Fated To Become Champions in a Unified Contenders Challenge semifinal • | But if they're to live up to their name, it won't be because they won the Unified Contenders Challenge.  Buoyed by recent talks with Al Buffett (who'll they'll have to face if they win the UCC) they seem to have finally shed the spell the Club had them under and look closer to what they did when they were tag champs.  FBC tested them for a couple of segments but they finally got Toddzilla gassed enough to take advantage of him and wear him down.  In a change of pace they got the duke with a missile dropkick sandwich to take down the big man, and when Fifita knocked VillaLobos to the floor to keep him from interfering, that put a bow on things. ***


The Hard Way got on the buckles to celebrate advancing to the finals, and since we can't have nice things the crowd's changing response got their attention.  Scott wasn't on the scene, but the OnlyFitness ladies were, and they headed to the ring while the Hard Way steeled themselves for a fight.  Instead, they hit the ring and got in their faces, Karyn using her well trained "I demand to speak to your manager!" voice and Lolo majored in smack talk while popping gum.  The crowd revved up for the brawl but some throat clearing put a pin in that – Beckett Carpenter was on the QualiTron 3000, flanked by the rest of the Unified World Tag Team champions in the Game Changers (Buffett x Szabo).  Al congratulated OnlyFitness on making it to the finals despite just getting together "...well, I'm sure that's what you're telling Scott about all your 'training sessions'...".  Ashley said speaking of simps, there's the Hard Way! 


(Oh, and for no extra charge, snap)


Szabo said it was the worst possible matchup for them in the finals: two women used to bossing and bench pressing men around.  But at least it wasn't going to cost them $18.99 a month.  Almost in unison, Al and Bennett noted that they were probably already paying it.  (+10 for Al sotto voicing that he it was a decent price considering the content.) Ashley said her OF did better numbers for a little bit less, but if they wanted to collab and unite some green instead of gold, her DMs were open. Bennett put a cap on the Championship Comedy Hour, saying that no matter which team won the Challenge, they wouldn't win their title challenge in New Orleans…and since the Unified World Tag Team champs travelled the world free of fake barriers, there was nothing stopping them from being back at the Arena next week to give the winners an up close and personal congratulations.  But as Al taught them and Ashley lived out daily, evolving isn't enough for these times in QCW: you have to Look Inward.  


The Changers blipped off the screen to a pop, leaving the teams in the ring to not only resume arguing but make some angry gestures in the direction of the QT3K.  Announce used the bickering as a ramp way to talk about the big matches happening on next week's show:


🌟🌟 The United Contenders Challenge finals are set!  Who'll earn the shot at the titles at Mischief Night next week, the former tag champs the Hard Way or the devious and beautiful OnlyFitness? 🌟🌟


🌟🌟 Two matches to Pick Your Poison next week between the QCW World Champion Nazir el-Fadal and the former champ & #1 contender Razorblade - whoever gets the fastest win time gets to pick the stipulation for their Mischief Night title rematch 🌟🌟


🌟🌟 And it's Ruckus, so the World TV title is going to be defended…but who's going to be TV champ next week and what'll they have left after being the Last Man Standing? 🌟🌟


 | • | the main event  | • |


The rivalry between Katsuji Ootsuka and Roy Fade has low-key been one of QCW’s biggest rivalries in 2022.  It goes back to their facing off in the Consolation Cup on the Mayday Payday preshow, where Fade got injured in a match with Ootsuka and the Prince of Punishment picked up the win.  Fade was on the shelf for a couple of months but came back to cost Katsuji a match on the Cruel Summer PPV as well as regain the TV title.  He had to survive a 20-person battle royale (Ootsuka was the other final survivor) then beat Ootsuka to become #1 contender for the TV title; the next week he became the first person to beat Razorblade all year, and handful of tights and feet on the ropes or no, Roy Fade had become the first ever two-time TV champ.  Fade then went on a roll for weeks, culminating in his making an open challenge at AnIIversary that was answered by…you guessed it, the returning Katsuji, who beat Roy to capture his first piece of QCW gold.  Fade’s been ruining title defenses Ootsuka’s tried to make since, causing Commissioner Holmes to try and stifle these incursions by letting them face off again, but this time in a match where the stakes have never been higher and the stipulation could not be more dangerous: for the first time in QCW’s modern era, there’s a Last Man Standing match.


| • Katusji Ootsuka [c] d. “These Hands” Roy Fade in a last man standing match to retain the QCW World Television title • | And it took three segments, an overrun and nearly half an hour for him to do so, but Katsuji Ootsuka was the Last Man Standing.


To give a sense of how personal this has gotten, Fade came out first and laid in wait by the entryway for Ootsuka to come out, then jumped him once he did.  Ootsuka took some blows, lashed out with a gut shot before coming back with some shots of his own, and we were underway.


There were moments where one guy would get the upper hand over the other, but given the history between them it wouldn’t shock to find that nobody was dominant despite the fact they nearly put 30 on the board.  Fade’s sneak attack touched off what ended up a backstage brawl between both men, replete with fire extinguisher attacks, Fade getting more oomph behind a punch by leaping off of a production wardrobe, and most hilariously enough the entirety of Team Teal standing in front of Commissioner Holmes’ window (yunno, just in case).  


The fight ended up heading towards ringside, where Ootsuka would gain the advantage by backdropping Fade’s attempt at the Decision away and sent him spilling to the floor in the process, before he sent him into the steps on both sides of the ring.  The Prince of Punishment went under the ring for weaponry and came up with a couple of kendo sticks, only for Fade to lash out suddenly and drill him with the ring bell, causing Katsuji to get busted open.  Fade laid in a couple more bell shots and then tuned up Ootsuka with the kendo stick for a bit, but Katsuji would come fighting back by briefly beating the count before falling back down.  Fade went over to continue the offense only to get snatched up in a kip up rana, and Fade bailed to the floor.  He wasn’t safe there, as Ootsuka flew off the apron and dotted his eyes with a kendo stick shot.  Ootsuka sent Fade into the post, then when Roy’s arms slumped around it hit an enzui Yakuza shot that caused a loud echoing thud to be heard all over the Arena.  Fade beat this count at 6, but came up bleeding.  When Ootsuka came after him, Fade immediately put a stop to thing by uppercutting him with a low blow, then draped Ootsuka over the barricade before hitting the Decision – but Ootsuka beat the count at 8.  


Fade went after Katsuji again and blocked a TV monitor with his face for the result, then staggered into the ring where Ootsuka finally got to his feet and followed him in.  Fade missed a Decision, Ootsuka missed a uraken, then Fade slapped Katsuji and Ootsuka slapped Roy and pretty soon they were in a good old fashioned hockey fight much to the delight of the Quality Controllers.  When Fade started losing the fight, he kicked Katsuji low; as the champ was going down, he lashed out and punched Fade in the Golden Gloves, both men going down clutching their groins to laughter and sympathetic winces.


Both men got up at either seven or eight then proceeded to empty the tanks from there: at one point Ootsuka had a trash can wrapped around Fade and teed off on it with roundhouse kicks from either side of the plate.  Fade cut off a Magical Sky attempt by throwing the battered can at Katsuji on the top rope, and after he fell into the ring Fade capitalized and drilled him with the Decision, only for Katsuji to draw himself up with the ropes at 9.  Fade went for something on Ootsuka, who wiped him out with a beautiful spinning back elbow that would’ve ended a normal match.  Ootsuka went up, maybe to end things with his signature Magical Sky, but Fade sort of tripped the referee into falling onto the top rope to crotch Katsuji (as Starr pointed out almost immediately, shady but perfectly legal in a LMS affair).  Fade came off the top with a turning avalanche gourdbuster that set up another Decision attempt, but this time Fade whiffed and even worse for him went flying knee first into the buckles.  


From there, Katsuji took advantage of the injury and weapons to target Fade’s knee with kendo stick shots, Fade a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest who had to beg off in hopes of buying himself time.  Katsuji didn’t care and went after his knee with kendo shots, then when Fade started smack talking he caught one across the jaw that shut him up.   Ootsuka unloaded on Fade, nearly beating him to a bloody pulp until the stick imploded and then just using his fists to whale on These Hands until they were bloody too.  Ootsuka let out a yell and went to the back before coming back out with gaffer tape in his teeth and tables in his hand.  Fade tried to crawl away to save himself but got stopped by Ootsuka not only stepping on his bad wheel but grinding his boot into it, then dropping the tables on it.  Ootsuka went back to pummeling Fade and eventually taped his mouth shut, then taped him down to the tables after he set them up.  Roy couldn't have gotten up to beat the count but that didn't happen anyways.  The crowd buzz grew to a roar as Ootsuka appeared on the second floor balcony and looked down at Fade before extending an uncharacteristic pair of middle fingers.  


Then he flew off the balcony and almost certainly into the show open with the most magic of Magical Sky attempts and connected, the shooting star elbow drop sending both men through both tables.  The "Holy shit!" chants went on well before the referee made a check on both men, and continued through the first half of the count.  When it got to 8, Katsuji used some nearby production tables to pull himself up; when the count hit 10 without a peep from Fade, the referee called it.  **** ½ 


Instant classic, MOTYC, call it what you want, but I suspect in the spring you'll call it eligible for some Quality Awards.  The referee ran back to ringside whole Ootsuka collapsed against the rail with a bloody smile on his face, one that only grew when he was handed the belt.  EMTs were back out to check on a barely conscious Fade as the referee raised Ootsuka's free hand to the pop of the night and Katsuji managed to hold the belt up briefly before falling to his knees.  He slowly drew himself up, staggered over to where Fade was, and managed to hold the TV title up again before falling on his ass again; as the credit box came up a couple of EMTs went over to the spent Ootsuka, who was dripping red all over the gold he more than earned after tonight - catch you next week for Pick Your Poison and more bringing the Ruckus!  


QCW Unleashed [s2e43 • Quality Arena]

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 ...