LAST WEEK ON RUCKUS:
After last week's win, if she can retain the Crush championship again tonight "Night Sky" Diana Spare can cash it in for a shot at the Women's World Championship – and the new champ Karyn Tisch-Warren is scheduled to be in the building to celebrate her title backstabbing win
The Revenant cut a graveyard promo threatening to bury anyone alive who tried to come for him as the #AndNew Unified World Heavyweight Champion
"These Hands" Roy Fade took advantage of an injured Autumn Powers to beat her for the World TV title days after she won it at Mayday Payday and became the first ever three-time TV titleholder in the process
It has been [0] Fridays since we set off the pyro and got the Quality Controllers hyped up; speaking of hype, Steve introduced himself and the Only Color Commentator That Matters before mentioning that we’d hear from Autumn Powers after her shocking loss last week as well as have her old belt defended once again in the main event; the GRPL+ World TV title will be on the line when “These Hands” Roy Fade starts his third reign off against the man who ended his second, Katsuji Ootsuka.
But speaking of the TV title, tonight’s action would begin with someone who’d been making their imprint on that scene for the past few weeks…
| • 2023 Duquesne Classic winner “Dark Mirror” Beckett Carpenter ds. Winter Wonderland (w/Gaia Green) • | Carpenter’s redemptive quest against figures from their past continued here; after submitting former Storybooker Dorothy Rubyslipper last week they took on another fellow former Storybooker Wonderland here and submitted the Brit in pretty short order.
Carpenter was so dominant early it allowed more talk at the desk about Carpenter’s state of mind with their recent actions with el-Fadal continuing to bang the drum for them to give in to the Dark part of their nickname. Beckett looked to finish things and started to throw in signature hammer and anvil elbows but Winter managed to catch one and leverage Carpenter down to the mat in a surprise crossface. Carpenter tried to fight it off but eventually crawled to the bottom rope and latched on to break the hold. Winter let go of the hold late and had to be admonished by the ref, then turned right around into a Cracked Mirror headbutt. From there Carpenter hammer and anvilled their way to set up Look Inward for the tap out W. **
Gaia and the ref were checking on Winter after the match while Carpenter went up the ramp with their hands raised. Steve put Carpenter over as another possible future TV champion while Naz showed off his Ruby Rhod impersonation again.
From there we went TOTHEBACK~! where Julius Duquesne III brought on his guest - "Superfine" Reggie Strong. The crowd popped for the hot young newcomer as he and JD3 exchanged a three step handshake and a fist bump before settling into the interview. Julius asked Strong how he was feeling after his win last week; Reggie chuckled and said Superfine, obviously. Now he was showing everyone what the REAL Face of QCW looked like, and his DMs proved it - but since this was a PG-13 show instead of a NC-17 one, y'all could connect those freckles DOTS, dots is what he said. Strong flashed his toothy grin as JDIII asked him about all the bad things that Drake Tremble was saying about him online. Strong shook his head and said haters weren't nuthin' new to him, of course. That Wario-ass version of the Shamwow Guy was salty because his little protege got beat by him next week, so he was gonna be reaaaaallll salty when next week he beat his big protege – and if that clown couldn't keep Superfine's name out of his mouth, he'd put another L on him that'd turn him as red in the face as he liked his hats. Julius tried not to corpse as Reggie gave him a couple claps on the back and said he'd see him when he saw him. Strong left, JD3 got himself back together, and we went back to the ring to see if we could catch a little bit of history…
| • “Night Sky” Diana Spare d. Fiona Fogg to retain the Crush championship 🔟 🎉 • | Fogg is a former Catch Hell Wrestling League Women’s champ who made her QCW debut here in Spare’s all-important 10th defense of the Crush championship. Fogg made a solid introduction to the Stateside fans by holding her own if not getting the upper hand on Spare in the opening moments of this bout, including hitting a tope that sent Spare into the barrier and had her holding the upper hand.
Spare drew on her reserves and the Controllers chanting “Let’s go, Night Sky!” to get herself back in the match, then caught a break when Fogg knocked her back to the floor and tried a second tope only for Spare to dodge and for Fogg to almost knock herself out flying into the barrier. Spare recovered, got Fiona back in the ring, and then chipped away at her until she had her in position to hit her with the Nightfall. A three count later, and Diana Spare was at 10. **
We got replays before we went back to live action and seeing Spare hold the Crush title overhead while the crowd cheered, then orange and yellow pyro exploded on the stage to celebrate the achievement. Spare rolled out of the ring and asked Duck for the mic, which he handed over to the champion. Spare might’ve been breathing hard a little bit, but she made sure to thank the fans for supporting her as Crush champ. Of course, she’s not the only champion in the building tonight…and now that she’s gotten to 10, she can cash in this belt. So Sohla and her new little pet paper champion Karyn can run their mouths all they want, but Diana promised herself and these cheering lunatics that QCW would belong to the night. If Karyn and Sohla didn’t watch their mouths and keep their heads on a swivel, the Women’s World Championship would belong to her, too. She handed the mic back to Duck as “you should see me in a crown” came back on over the PA; the announce debated if we would see a cash-in tonight as Spare made her way up the ramp and we went to the first major commercial break of the night.
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Back from the break and TOTHEBACK~!, where Enya brought on Team Batroc to boos from the QCers. Enya asked Serge about what would be next for him and Pyotr, and in his clipped accent Batroc said revenge: since Anton couldn’t be trusted with his vision, he dismissed him and then Stahl turned around and made the count against him in that neon hellhole. But he’d get his revenge tonight by beating Anton in the middle of the ring later on tonight, and once they got another shot at the titles with a referee who didn’t have it in for them, then the Unified World Tag Team championships would come to him and Pyotr where they belonged. Caviar loomed over Enya before saying in a beefy voice “Interview over, sis”. Face looked a little worried and quickly threw things to Duck in the ring for the next match.
| • the Game Changers d. Shelley LaVey & “Dashing” Pierce Moore • | Ruckus rolled on with an intergender tag here, the former champion Changers going in against the horribly fashionable if floundering LaVey & Moore here (brief highlights of Moore eating a sizeable L at Mayday Payday to “Superfine” Reggie Strong played as he made his way down the ramp scowling at the Controllers). It looked like it was going to be a layup for Ashley & Al in the early going as Buffet’s power game placed him a couple steps ahead of Moore and the Tiki God refused to succumb to LaVey’s charms somehow. Since that failed, LaVey had no problems going against him, using a Moore distraction to hangman Al across the top rope. Moore immediately took advantage of the situation by flooring Al with his Fresh To Death cutter and sliming into a pinfall that Ashley had to make the save on.
Shelley failed to stop her but started throwing hands on her once they were in the ring together, and LaVey’s tackle sent them spilling to the outside. Szabo and LaVey continued fighting until Shelley raked the eyes and then threw her into the steps. Moore called for her, and then they began to employ quick tags and wore down Al even further, though he wouldn’t stay down for 3.
Speaking of not staying down, Ashley eventually recovered and proved to be the difference in the match. THEE Influencer took advantage of LaVey’s complaining after a nearfall to the referee by blindsiding Moore with his own cutter before dragging Al towards their corner. Szabo quickly hopped out to the apron and tagged herself in legally, then made sure that the former Face of QCW found himself catching more beats than DJ Mustard. Moore had no answer for Szabo and soon Ashley had the Arena rocking as she laid down a mudhole stomp in the corner while Moore repeatedly whined “Not the face!”. Ashley would end up winning the bout after hitting a springboard Codebreaker and her Smash That Subscribe Button while Al held off Shelley. ***
After replays, the announce put over Ashley’s winning the day for the Changers while a disconsolate Moore sat on the ring steps with a thousand yard stare. “New Born” played as Ashley and to a lesser extent Al slapped some hands with the fans and made their way to the back triumphantly.
After that, we went to a pretape from the former World TV champion Autumn Powers, who had this to say before the break (unfortunately for her fans, she cut this promo from her couch while wearing a leg sleeve over the knee that's injured):
I always was a fighting champion.
In some ways, Roy Fade, you and Jacques Krieger deserve each other: allegedly fighting champions who take shortcuts when your fights don't turn out like you planned.
Vultures of a feather, flocking together, knives out and beaks bloody. Speaking of which, Lolo, how is OnlyFitness working out for you these days? But I digress.
And so here you are. Three times. I heard it every time I closed my eyes this past weekend. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, after all. And now they know who you are once again. As for me, there's nothing for me to do besides anticipate the terminus of gravity's rainbow.
In other words, watch the arc of the projectile as it files and see where it lands. Because, Roy, people like you... tend not to have particularly long arcs. Yep... anticipate the terminus of gravity's rainbow... and get healthy.
And while I'm doing that, I've got two words for all the rest: stay ready. Because what's coming next... is gonna be Must See TV.
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| • the Proper Villains d. A World Of Pain • | One team has ⅔rds of the Ambassadors Trios championships in their pocket and the other two are AWOP. Match existed pretty much as a showcase for the Brits to set up the post match, Osterberg going under to a flurry of Fury Roads at the knee of Jim Jaspers. * ½
The crowd gave the Villains a good pop as they got a couple of mics from Duck and played to the crowd. Once that was done, Richard Windsor spoke first, giving the team credit for putting the first cracks in the now dissolved Consortium; he knew Serge's ego would kill it dead at some point and now Serge is desperate to be what they are and have been most of the year: a tag team champion. Jaspers took the foreground of the promo and said that they loved being the Ambassadors of QCW but part of what they loved about being Ambassadors was that it meant they and Katsuji were waiting to pick their spot for their opportunity at the Unified World Tag Team championships. Nothing personal against the Wards and kudos to them for what they did at the PPV, but the Villains weren't just satisfied being the Ambassadors - they wanted to make history and hold all the tag team gold. So when Rich and Jason were ready for a proper challenge, Old Jim and the Proper King would be waiting for them.
Robbie Williams came on the PA and the crowd popped as the Villains passed their mics back to Duck and took their leave. As they made their way up the ramp, Hans Zimmer took Robbie's place and out strode Anton Stahl. The Villains stopped as Stahl came down the ramp and appeared to speak to them both quietly before offering a handshake. The Villains seemed to think it over before reciprocating, Windsor with maybe a firmer handshake than was necessary before the Villains continued to the back and Stahl continued to the ring.
As he entered the ring to a mixed reaction, the announce put over Stahl calling the Unified World Tag Team championships match cleanly as a guest referee and then after the match getting stomped out by…
The dulcet tones of “Engel” by Rammstein brought out Stahl’s ex associates and the men who he (accurately) made the 3 count against at Mayday Payday, Team Batroc. Serge and Anton exchanged similar looks of disgust as the French Assassin stepped into the ring for the singles semi main with Pyotr Caviar slowly walking around the ring on the outside like a shark circling prey.
The match began by Serge taunting Anton, who promptly slapped him across the face to a pop from the Arena and shock at the announce desk. Batroc recoiled from the force of it and Stahl pressed his advantage by backing Serge all the way into a corner where he threw a series of hard European uppercuts that were on point to the decimal. The usually stoic Stahl sneered as Batroc crumbled in the corner before yelling out “NEIN!” in his face, causing the French Assassin to roll out of the ring. Pyotr jumped up on the apron and Anton quickly pivoted to dropkick his knee, taking his feet out from under him and sending him bouncing face first off the apron before he went down in a heap, too. A few minutes ago, the Controllers didn't know what to make of Stahl; the opening salvo got him in their good graces.
The familiar saying is that familiarity breeds contempt, but something almost worse happened to Serge when he got back in the ring; Anton knew him so well he was unable to execute back to back moves for what seemed like 5 minutes. Serge threw the house at the impeccable German but he had insurance and parried away Batroc's offense. A furious Serge blew a gasket and slapped Stahl across the face only to get backhanded in response so hard that the Frenchman landed on his ass looking up in shock to the cheers of the crowd. Stahl started barking at Batroc in German and grabbed Serge only to get laid out from behind by Caviar to draw the DQ. ** 1/2
| • Anton Stahl ddq. Serge Batroc (w/Pyotr Caviar) • |
Anton got swarmed and stomped out while the crowd booed, and despite what had happened earlier, no one came to his aid. Team Batroc took sadistic glee in extinguishing their former teammate, hitting him with not one or two but three Russian sickle/Arc de Triomphe combos before referees came down to protect a now barely conscious Stahl. Naz pointed out that Anton won the battle but Team Serge made damn sure they won the war. Engel came back on over the PA as Serge and Pyotr stomped to the back while referees checked Stahl's dilated pupils. Steve said it was a sorry display of sportsmanship from Team Batroc before throwing to the last big commercial break of the night.
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We came back from the break to “Roar” by Katy Perry not being in a car commercial or tampon ad, but blasting through the Arena. Pink lotus petals fell from the ceiling and dotted the rampway as the crowd’s confusion turned to boos. Out strode Scott Warren-Tisch, followed by “Bollywood Diva” Sohla Patel and the woman being introduced by Duck as the NEW Women’s World Champion, Karyn Tisch-Warren. As they made their way to the ring we saw stills from Mayday Payday of Patel apparently answering Lolo Vuitton’s open challenge for the Women’s World Championship but she didn’t, not really: she just took Lolo’s eye off the ball enough for her then partner Karyn to deliver a beatdown with a chair, have Patel reveal she’d bought out Karyn’s share in OnlyFitness and dissolved it, and since the title could use someone “less urban”, enter Karyn, who quickly pinned Lolo in Vegas to win the belt to the shock of everyone in attendance and watching along.
Sohla welcomed us to the soft opening of the International Lotus Gold Club to boos before rebuking the audience and hoping that they would show a little more respect to their NEW champion, Karyn Tisch-Warren! (Unsurprisingly, this failed to work.)
Karyn said she wished that she was surprised by the reaction, but considering she was surrounded by products of Florida public schools…and once that round of booing died down, she accused the crowd of being as dumb as Lolo was. Did Lolo really think that she was on Karyn's level? Karyn was the one keeping Lolo close after she saw the way she eyeballed her husband and quite frankly, her - she was the one who kept encouraging Lolo to make open challenges while cutting a deal with Sohla - and since she was the one keeping Lolo's title reign alive she was well within her rights to kill it when she saw fit. It's proprietary.
She would prove how dumb Lolo was when she made her first title defense next week in an open chall–well, semi open challenge next week. Lolo wouldn't be able to get her hands on her, and the wannabe Batgirl running around with her sloppy seconds wouldn't either - but if anyone else in the division wanted a crack at losing to the greatest Crush champion in history, she would be more than happy to make that dream come true next week. Because she wasn't just the face of International Lotus, and not just YOUR Women's World Champion, you sweaty ingrates: she was THE Karyn Tisch-Warren.
The Notorious KTW underhanded the mic in Duck's direction as the crowd resumed booing, probably because "Roar" was playing again. Sohla admonished the fans with Karyn trying to get her to ignore them right as "you should see me in a crown" came on over the PA and the crowd did a 180° as International Lotus scanned the Arena.
The Qualitron 9004 parted and out walked "Night Sky" Diana Spare to a big pop, Crush championship in tow. Sohla and Scott pointed towards her while yelling, and Karyn rolled back the sleeves on her blazer before waving Diana down to the ring…but Spare merely flashed an uncharacteristic grin before pulling a 180° of her own and walking to the back.
Steve noted as the disappointment from the crowd died down that for as much as Karyn had to say, Diana got in the last word without saying a thing. Then he started the hype train coming down the track for next week's show. Not one, not two, but three title matches are coming your way for the first Ruckus in June:
For the benefit of those who need a ticket to the Short Attention Span Theatre, Diana Spare is going to defend the Crush championship once again, and Karyn Tisch-Warren will be making her first defense of the Women’s World Championship in a semi-open challenge that’s closed to Spare and former champion Lolo Vuitton but open to the rest of the division. (Of course, just because she banned Spare from the title match doesn’t mean there isn’t the possibility of a cash-in…)
And the World TV championship - which has recently undergone a bit of pingponging in the past few weeks - is going to have another title defense, but we’ve got one coming up next and as last week saw, any time the GRPL+ World Television championship is up for grabs, there’s a real possibility that it’ll change hands…
| | • the main event • | |
The theme from King Kong vs. Godzilla brought out Katsuji Ootsuka, who walked to both sides of the entryway after emerging from the Tron and gave back the love the QCers were giving him. As he made his way down the ramp, we saw some photo stills from some Japanese independent newspapers touting his impressive win in the Double Tap League last weekend (presumably why he wasn’t on the Mayday Payday card). Ootsuka entered the ring and Steve brought up AnIIversary from last fall where Katsuji was a surprise opponent and won the TV title from the man coming out next.
“Pray For Me” brought out the new GRPL+ World TV Champion, “These Hands” Roy Fade to boos and a few squeals from the ladies per usual. Fade and Ootsuka locked eyes when he got halfway down the ramp as a picture in picture showed him beating Autumn Powers for the belt last week to become a three-time champion, the first ever to do so with the TV strap. The referee tried to step between the men so Duck could make the introductions, but Fade used his reach to literally go over the zebra’s head and tag Ootsuka. The Prince of Punishment fired back, and Duck bailed from the ring while the ref shrugged and called for the bell.
The opening sixty to ninety seconds saw a stalemate as neither man could keep sustained offense going, the announce putting over their rivalry from last year still obviously fresh in their minds with holds and counter holds. Things ended in a standoff with both men standing across from each other, fists clenched while the crowd popped. Fade gave a nod and smiled, then extended his hand while the crowd told Ootsuka not to go for it. He didn’t – he leapt up and took Fade down to the mat in a rolling cross-armbreaker to the shock of everyone, Fade having to scramble on the mat and kick with his feet to reach the ropes. Fade rolled out of the ring but Ootsuka followed him out and set up camp on the apron. Roy didn’t know where his opponent was but soon found out as Ootsuka ran down the apron and gave him a huracanrana that sent him flying into the steps. The recoil sent him back into the barricade but Ootsuka continued to up his percentages by stomping away on Fade for a bit before rolling him back in the ring at 7 to continue the fight.
Ootsuka kept his foot on the gas and got a couple of nearfall before Fade surprised him with a Stun Gun that set up a neckbreaker, allowing the champ to start imposing his will on the fight.
Fade started peppering Ootsuka with his vaunted fists, repeatedly throwing in flurries of rabbit punches to further weaken and disorient Katsuji. These Hands shoved things to his side of the ledger and kept up the offense, but ran into a problem when Ootsuka side stepped a corner charge and These Hands went shoulder first into the post. Ootsuka made things worse by snatching up Fade and throwing him into the post again; from there it looked like the rout was on as Katsuji started to fly around the ring and Fade increasingly didn't have an answer for the aerial offense the Prince of Punishment dished out. Katsuji drilled Fade with a basement rana driver and scaled the ropes before flying off with his signature Magical Sky shooting star elbow drop…
…and he flew off the top rope right into the knees of Roy Fade. You could feel the air get sucked out of the Arena as Fade waited for a groggy Ootsuka to get up and then blasted him with a Golden Glove of a right that dropped him in sections. The Decision might not have even been necessary but Fade made sure to hit it and retain his belt.
| • "These Hands" Roy Fade [c] d. Katsuji Ootsuka to retain the GRPL+ World Television championship 1️⃣ • |
Replays started playing but got cut off in the middle; back in real time in the ring Fade was continuing to pil6e on the punishment to the Prince, even shoving the referee down when they tried to intercede on Katsuji's behalf. Fade pulled a mostly limp Ootsuka off the canvas only to hit him with the Decision again while the crowd booed. Even without a mic you could hear Fade yelling at the fans about their disrespecting the champion before saying that if they wanted to boo him, he'd really give them something to boo about.
Fade shoved Duck out of his chair and grabbed it while Naz snickered, then slid it in the ring and followed it in. These Hands wrapped the chair around Katsuji's neck and started climbing up the buckles closet to Ootsuka when "This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both Of Us" hit the PA. Fade scowled as Beckett Carpenter's highlight reel played on the Qualitron.
As for Carpenter themselves? Well, they weren't coming out through the Tron - they were running to ringside through the crowd before popping up to shove Fade off the buckles, making These Hands bounce off the ring apron and to the floor while the crowd roared their approval. Carpenter stalked the ring while Fade tried to regain his bearings on the floor. Fade on the floor meant that his belt was in the ring, and Carpenter slowly walked over to it before Fade dove in the ring and snatched it up. Roy grabbed the belt and held it high, but after Beckett sat on the middle rope and waved him on in he stomped to the back swearing that they would pay for this. Carpenter's subsequent staredown and subtle grin were the last thing us couch potatoes saw before the credits box stamped the bottom of the screen and Ruckus faded to black.
