LAST TIME ON RUCKUS:
The International Players made a successful return to the ring, as did Benjamin Valentino who got the pinfall
Lolo Vuitton ruined Karyn Tisch-Warren’s opportunity to win the Crush championship and laid out International Lotus
Autumn Powers retained the World TV title but the Revenant blacked out the Arena and voiced some threats to the Final Woman
Ruckus is back from the Arena and full of rowdy Controllers. Steve tried to welcome us to the show but Nazir el-Fadal was giddily waving around his Quality Awards, calling himself an award winning journalist before angling for GRPL+ to give him his own show.
Once Steve got done sighing he put over Autumn defending the World TV title in the main event as well as getting to know QCW's latest signee and the coronation ceremony for Team Batroc, but we were starting Ruckus with a championship fight –
| • Cindy Monet [c] d. Veronica Vespa to retain the Crush championship 3️⃣ • | Vespa got a win on Unleashed that we saw footage of as she made her way to the ring for the opener, but in deeper water against the red hot Monet, she eventually drowned under Cindy’s offense. Turning point came when Monet reversed a superplex attempt into an avalanche DDT on the way down; Veronica got a foot on the ropes on the cover but didn’t have any more offense, and Cindy folded up VV with the Tightrope lariat shortly after that. **
After catching some of Cindy's post match celebration we headed TOTHEBACK~!, where Julius Duquesne III welcomed his guests International Lotus to a nega-ovation. JD3 asked them about what went down two weeks ago, and Sohla Patel said that because of what happened two weeks ago they were going to take out that sewer rat Lolo Vuitton. It doesn't matter if it's the Crush championship or the Women's World Championship, she and Karyn should be running the division but Lolo and a chair are always popping up like zits on so many of these unwashed quote/unquote people. Well, no more, because as part of tonight's double main event her lotus blossoms will get to see something they should have before now - she's not only going to beat Lolo but humble her, and once that happens it's ciao to Lolo as a title threat and back to working so that International Lotus can run the women's division the way that they're supposed to. Patel took her leave with her employees (?) following, and Julius got in another plug for Sohla/Lolo later before throwing things to Duck in the ring.
The Hard Way came out to a good reception from the Controllers, Fifita & Goodish coming out looking focused before “Stranglehold” came on the PA and ruined everything. The Red, White & True followed with Bobby Bash and fearless leader Drake Tremble in gear ready for this tag, Steve explaining that Ted Holland was main eventing tonight as the cosplaytriots tried to lift the World TV title from Autumn Powers. The RWT exchanged forearm smashes as the bell rang, while the former champs in the Hard Way stared them down.
Once things got underway, the Hard Way were able to get the upper hand on Tremble. Holland tried to impart some advice to Drake, who looked at him as if he’d offered Lady Gaga tickets. It’s entirely possible he should’ve listen to Holland, as the Hard Way still had his number until Fifita ducked too soon and Tremble delivered a hammer blow to the back before desperately tagging out to Bash. Bash came in and powered Fifita down, but in short order he blind tagged in Goodish and they got the big man down to the canvas with a double suplex. Bash kicked out but it was all the Hard Way as Steve wrapped up the first block by throwing things to commercial; those watching the East Coast live feed got picture in picture.
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Back from the break the Hard Way were having trouble maintaining control, but they both managed to club Bash several times across the back before hitting a double superplex that rocked the ring. Goodish went in for the cover but Drake made a save and managed to roll Bobby towards his corner before jumping back out to the apron and tagging in legally.
Tremble leapt into the ring and charged, but missed a couple of lariat attempts and got backdropped, giving Goodish an opportunity to tag Fifita back in. Despite Ted’s best effort from the floor his boys (well, Drake) couldn’t stop the Hard Way from quick double teams and firing up the faithful. Tremble ended up eating the pinfall after they hit Down to Earth. **
| • the Hard Way d. The Red, White & True (w/”Swamp Trash” Ted Holland) • |
The former champions slapped some hands on the way to the back while back at ringside a frustrated Holland shook his head. The Red, White & True ended up exchanging some words, and Holland went up the ramp before the rest of his faction, saying that he had to get ready for his big match tonight. A disoriented Bash and a pleading Tremble followed him up the ramp while back at the desk, Steve put over the former champions still plugging away at trying to recapture gold, noting it took Serge Batroc years before he could regain the belts, so maybe Fifita and Goodish would find similar luck quicker.
Despite Naz's eye rolls, he teed up a video package on the newest member of the roster, the barely 21-year-old phenom Justice Davis.
This took a few minutes, long by QCW vidpac status. As some childhood pictures of him were shown and he spoke from an empty Arena, Davis talked about growing up in a small town in Indiana without a dad and his mom passing before he could get done with first grade. He got bounced around the foster system and bounced by some foster parents before he ran away for good at 11. From there, crime, two stints in juvie, and with jail on the horizon the crime slowed down and unfortunately the drinking began. He was becoming a teenage alcoholic and he didn't care, and things would have probably continued that way with him not living to see 20 had a friend of his not taken him – well, they snuck in – but it was an all ages hardcore show that also had a wrestling ring at the other end of the Kiwanis where matches would happen while the show was between bands.
Even now, he couldn't name a single band on that show, but he remembers very clearly what it was like to see wrestling for the first time. To see Razorblade for the first time. He probably has an addictive personality, but that got him addicted to wrestling. And after becoming a fan, he got the idea that maybe he could get in the ring and do the sort of things Razorblade did. But that's a story for another week.
We went back to the desk, where a clearly moved Steve and slightly less cynical Naz talked about the newcomer, saying that not only would we get the conclusion of Davis' story, but he would be making his QCW debut next week – against Razorblade. Steve was already psyched for the match next week, but he threw it to Duck for even more action from QCW's red hot tag team division.
| • the Proper Villains tld. Beauty & the Beast Mode • | Well, this was unexpected.
You already know the Villains, ⅔rds of the Ambassadors Trios champions; Beauty and the Beast Mode is "These Hands" Roy Fade and "Dashing" Pierce Moore, who's team came out of individual then tag battles with the Game Changers over the spring into the summer.
Truth be told I don't know if Mode has lost a match since they got together and they didn't here, though I think everyone watching got a little surprised at the newer tag team hanging with the Ambassadors and outpacing them for parts of the tag team fight.
Both teams survived some big double teams down the stretch (Moore ate a half and half suplex + Fury Road combo but got saved by Fade; Windsor looked to go for another half and half suplex only to be dropped with a Fresh To Death + Fury Road the Decision combo but he managed to kick out of it at 2.9) and that set up what turned out to be a really nice finishing run - Fade took out Windsor with the Decision, then when he went for the pin and win suffered a particularly tight Fury Road as a result. Jim Jaspers took particular glee in wiping out Fade with his finisher, then got spun around by Moore and drilled with the Fresh To Death. The referee was trying to get Moore out of the ring when Windsor snuck up behind the Baron of Beverly Hills and dropped him on his head with a snap dragon suplex. Windsor fell down after hitting it, and with everyone down the referee started a 10 count. All four men were stirring before what would have been 10 but the bell rang before that could happen, leading to more than a few boos after Duck announced that the 20 minute time limit had run out. ***
The Controllers didn't like that and you'll be shocked to find the teams felt similarly - we got cuts back and forth from the Villains in the ring and Mode from the floor, with the Brits more than willing to keep the fight going and the Californians barking at them from the floor; most notable to point out amongst it was Fade calling them paper champions. Steve put over the match as further proof of the strength of the tag division as well as suggesting the non finish would lead to them renewing hostilities sooner than later.
Right before we wrapped up hour 1 a quick cut TOTHEBACK~! showed Serge Batroc and Pyotr Caviar marching down the hall with the Unified World Tag Team titles on their shoulders, Serge all smiles and smarm while he talked to Caviar, who nodded along and only said one thing that Serge readily agreed to before continuing his monologues. Steve hyped up the Team Batroc coronation ceremony coming up next as we faded to black for a few seconds.
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Hour 2 kicked off with Rammstein’s “Engel”. As the Controllers let loose with boos, Serge Batroc and Pyotr Caviar walked to the ring, which was now covered in bunting with French flags in the ringposts. Team Batroc made their way to the middle of the ring and sneeringly held up the Unified World Tag Team championships, causing a barrage of red, white and blue pyro exploding on the stage and over the ring. As Steve put over Pyotr’s dominance in winning the belts, Serge did a rare thing - he grabbed the mic from Duck.
Batroc put his share of the Unified belts on Pyotr’s free shoulder, and stared down the crowd before informing them what should already be obvious: he told them so. He worked for this for years for yeeeeeeears and now it’s his. He surrounded himself with a bunch of crumbs when the feast is by his side with Pyotr, a future QCW champion with three generations worth of QCW history behind him. There is no longer a question of who the best tag team in QCW is. The odds were against them in a three way dance and they won both the falls, end of debate. The best tag team in the world is in the Quality Arena with the belts, and guess what Serge has to say about he and his protege dominating the wrestling world?
“You’re welcome, imbéciles.”
Serge tossed the mic aside and “Engel” came back on the PA…only to be replaced in short order by “We Made It”. The crowd’s tenor shifted as the Wonderful Ward brothers came out in street clothes but stayed on the ramp, Serge & Pyotr scowling up the ramp at them.
Jason offered them some congratulations, but said that they lost their belts in the three way dance. That meant they got a rematch, just straight up tag wrestling, and when they won back their belts next week the prides of Canada would be the best tag team all over again, because the dirty little secret Serge doesn’t want to tell all these crazy bastards in the Arena (Foley pop! Foley pop!) is – the *almighty" Team Batroc hasn’t beaten the Wards in a two on two tag. And they weren’t going to next week. And once that happened and Pyotr took Serge’s head off for losing, well…Jason let out a quick chuckle and rhetorically asked “Wouldn’t THAT be wonderful?” Drake & Soulja Boy came back up but there was no bottle popping or funny Kenny Powers quotes - just four former friends death glaring at the others as a chyron popped up & Steve got into hype mode for the tag titles rematch next week.
| • Jupiter Jones (w/the International Players) d. Jacques Krieger (w/S. Mark Starr) • |
Jones eventually found a way to win his return match, but the surprise was not only Krieger hanging with the man some call Mr. QCW but nearly beating him a few times.
Both men went for their finishers in the opening couple of minutes but it being too early for that, Jones slipped out out of Krieger's attempted Roll of the Dice and Krieger bailed out of the ring when Jones tried to drop him with the Bolt From Olympus. Had this been at a different point in the show, we would've gone to commercial with Starr coaching up Krieger on the floor.
But instead Krieger went into the ring and to the shock of anyone who wasn't Starr, started going after and getting the upper hand on Jones. On a couple of occasions Krieger powered Jones into corners and rattled him with back elbows if he wasn't cheating by applying boot chokes. The International Players complained from the floor but Starr told his charge to stick to the plan; for the most part it worked. Even when the former QCW Champion could get out from under the man from Atlantic City found a way to snuff his momentum out quickly, most strongly with a tilt a whirl slam that rocked the ring and got Krieger the first big nearfall of the fight.
Krieger continued to dominate the match and rack up nearfalls, and after Jones put together his best couple of minutes he went for the Bolt – but Krieger picked him off with his Ace in the Hole shotei. One Eye set up and followed through with the Roll of the Dice to win the match, but Jones baaaaarely got a shoulder up at 2.8.
Starr was livid and jumped up to the apron to bark at the ref while Krieger seethed from his knees. Jones crawled towards his stablemates, who pumped him up and then got the Arena even more in the pillar's corner. Heeding Starr's advice, Krieger landed some more forearms across the back of the neck before rehitting the Roll of the Dice, but Jones snuck behind Krieger and gave him a massive German suplex that deposited Krieger face first on the mat.
Both men were down for the better part of the 10 count, but it was One Eye who managed to get up first. Unfortunately for the former World TV champ, Jones managed to block his shots and throw heavy hands back in response while the crowd's chants of "Jupiter!" got increasingly louder. Jupiter hit his big moves and then set up for the Bolt From Olympus. A wobbly Krieger got to his feet only to block a Bolt with his face and get driven to his knees. Jones went down for the cover but Starr's borderline screeching got the ref's attention with Krieger's foot on the bottom rope before the 3 could be counted.
Jupiter looked frustrated but Lucius Patton and Benjamin Valentino looked pissed, and replays showed why: Krieger didn't get his foot on the rope, but his fixer Starr did. In real time, they had Starr surrounded with him begging off. In the ring, it looked like Jones was going to hit the Bolt again PSYCHE Krieger dodged it and went out the back door before kneeling Jupiter in the back. Starr didn't even need to say it - Krieger hooked up Jones into the Dice but Jupiter surprised him and everybody else by countering out into his old finisher, the Thunder Rolls pop up powerslam. The roof was coming off the Arena (and Steve was losing his mind selling this on commentary) as Jones slowly drew himself up. Krieger managed to barely find his footing only to get smoked like a brisket with a second and final Bolt. Starr dove into the ring to stop the three count only to get pulled to the floor by the International Players, and Jupiter got a hard fought W in his first match in about half a year. If Holmes is thinking about running this back, he should. ****
Both men were down as we went to replays of the match's big moments; as we came back to live action we saw Jupiter get his hand raised by the referee before having it raised by the International Players, who immediately joined Jones in the classic Collipark pose before exchanging some elaborate handshakes. Large swaths of the Controllers were on their feet, some whistling as Jones posed on the buckles. Based on the looks on their faces, neither Krieger or Starr looked like they were going to join in the borderline standing O lighting up the Arena. But when Starr said to Krieger "You owned him. And next time you'll beat him." you could almost see where he'd believe it. After that match, you have to see where he's coming from.
I originally accidentally fast forwarded through this part on the program, but there was a 20 second – I guess promo – where the screen was black but there was driving European club music playing the entire time, followed by the letters MR. in large neon colors that changed in time to the beat. Whoever this MR. is, the fact that he’s Coming Soon was actually the last thing to air before the last big commercial break.
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We came back from the break to the insipid “Roar”, which meant that we were getting singles action in the women’s division as was discussed earlier. Karyn Tisch-Warren and Scott Warren-Tisch were hyping up Sohla Patel as they came down to ringside, the crowd booing the trio pretty good. Patel continued to look disgusted by the response they were getting as Katy Perry gave way to Cardi B and the crowd gave a big pop as Lolo Vuitton not only came out but ran down the ramp to ringside, sending Lotus scurrying to the floor while she yelled at them to come and do this.
Sohla seemed a little reluctant to get in the ring before the bell rang, and then once it did she bailed to the floor. A furious Lolo got okeydoked a few times as Sohla teased coming into the ring, only to bail out to the floor. After the third or fourth time she actually was laughing about it to a camera with the rest of Lotus – and that’s the sort of thing it turned out the former two-time Women’s World champ was looking to take advantage of, as she got a running start and flew out of the ring with a tope con hilo. Patel scrambled out of the way at the last second, but Vuitton managed to wipe out both Karyn Tisch-Warren & Scott Warren-Tisch with it. No sooner had Lolo tried to disentangle herself from her ex partners than Sohla tried to snatch her up from behind and run her into the ringpost, but Vuitton reversed and sent Sohla into the post instead to the roars of the Quality Controllers.
Patel crumbled to her knees but Lolo didn’t waste any time throwing her in the ring, and despite the fact she didn’t have a Gucci on it was firmly Ass Whoop O’Clock. Vuitton literally stomped away on Sohla for a minute straight, using mulitiple four counts from the ref and skating up on the border of getting DQed before going back for more stomps to an increasingly raucous crowd, Vuitton letting out a yell or war cry and beating her chest in glee.
Vuitton pivoted to attack Patel with the Bloody Shoe but Sohla stopped her in her tracks with a hard back elbow. Lolo staggered away and Sohla pulled herself up to the second rope before flying off with a tornado DDT; that’s what she went for but Lolo shoved her off and sent her splattering face first on the canvas. Vuitton waited on Sohla briefly before tagging her with a roundhouse kick to the temple, then bullied the woozy Patel into the corner before choking her with her red bottomed boot. Scott Warren-Tisch had recovered at this point enough to get on the apron, and that made Lolo break the choke so she could get a running start and Bloody Shoe him to the floor.
It also gave Sohla an opening to grab Lolo from behind and toss her over the top rope like a battle royale, Vuitton hitting her ribs hard against the apron before falling to the floor with a split. Sohla gave the zebra some harsh words before rolling to the outside, and as Karyn encouraged her between checks on Scott, Patel turned a corner and got a running start. Vuitton dragged herself up only to see the Bollywood Diva use the middle of the steps to leap off of and hit a Blockbuster that drove her head into the floor. Steve seemed a little taken aback by just how hard they were going at each other while Naz might as well have had on a black shirt while hissing “Yes….yessss!” from behind a window.
It looked like Patel was going to toss Lolo into the ring but instead she spun her so that her head was hanging out over the apron. With Karyn yelling at her to get Lolo, she did – getting a running start so that she could hit a basement dropkick to Vuitton that sent her head into the ring post. As Sohla rolled in and demanded the ref count out Vuitton we got a couple of replays of the impact sandwich.
Vuitton rolled in at eight but the damage was done as Patel controlled the remaining parts of the match nearly uninterrupted. However, when she went to deliver the Ninth Incarnation, Lolo surprised her by countering out into one of her own to Karyn and Scott's shock/disgust. Vuitton tried to follow up with the Bloody Shoe to end it, but the run to set it up alone made her dizzy. She couldn't capitalize but Sohla did, throwing her into the ring post again and then one more time for good measure before planting her with the Incarnation and winning the fight. ***
| • “Bollywood Diva” Sohla Patel (w/International Lotus) d. Lolo Vuitton • |
No sooner had the bell rang than Karyn and Scott hit the ring and the triple team was on. They all stomped out Lolo like she was on fire and when the ref tried to interfere Scott shoved him down for his trouble. Patel piled on by snatching up Lolo and drilling Vuitton with the Incarnation again, then Karyn put her former tag partner in a particularly nasty looking Circuit Breaker while Scott and Sohla continued to stomp on a helpless Vuitton. As Quality Force Security came to break it up, a cut to the rafters showed "Night Sky" Diana Spare looking down on the scene. Spare shook her head before tapping her title twice and walking off, and it took multiple Force members to pry Karyn off of Lolo. Sohla yelled out "We ARE the women's division!" before "Roar" came on to a waterfall of boos, the black hats laughing and smiling over possibly taking out a threat to their dominance.
Steve and Naz had the reactions to the beating you might expect before getting the hype train down the track for next week; the first Ruckus in August isn’t going to be as hot as the weather but there’s gonna be some heat in the form of three title matches and more:
🌟 the winner of the main event will defend the GRPL+ World TV title 🌟
🌟 Cindy Monet will defend the Crush championship 🌟
🌟 We get part two of Who Is Justice Davis? before he makes his QCW debut against his idol, the former Unified World Champion Razorblade 🌟
🌟 And the rematch for the Unified World Tag Team titles has been made official, the ex champions the Wonderful Ward Brothers going up against their former stablemates and the new titleholders Team Batroc 🌟
| | • the main event • | |
“Stranglehold” brought the Red, White & True back out for the biggest match of the night - the creepy rookie “Swamp Trash” Ted Holland hoping to wrest the World TV title out of Autumn Powers’ hands. Bobby Bash & Drake Tremble were obviously not at 100% but were in the corner of their stablemate, talking him up in their hopes not to go 0-2 on the night and get championship gold in the process.
When “Mota” by the Offpring hit the PA it immediately got subsumed by the pop of the night as Autumn Powers came out with the title strapped around her waist, looking focused if not outright furious as she stomped down to ringside and launched herself in the ring before getting right in the faces of the cosplaytriots. Smack talk followed, then Autumn ended up talking to the ref right before getting clotheslined by Bobby Bash.
The crowd erupted in boos as Autumn went down, the referee checking on Autumn before reading the riot act to Holland’s backup and ejected from ringside to the joy of the fans and Steve. Tremble and Bobby protested this but Quality Force Security came back out to lead them to the back.
And all that left in the ring was the zebra, a smirking Holland – and a furious Powers.
| • Autumn Powers [c] d. "Swamp Trash” Ted Holland to retain the GRPL+ World TV title 3️⃣• | There was probably the way most of us thought this match was going to go, and then there’s what actually happened.
What happened was a clearly furious Powers absolutely folding Teddy Boy the entire eff up. I could count the Holland offensive moves on one hand in this Autumn showcase as she started out by charging him right after the bell and drilling him with a superkick before rolling downhill from there. The Controllers were eating well as Autumn lit up Ted from one end of the ring to the other. Powers retained after dusting Ted with not just a Hazy Shade of Winter but three straight, and she glared down the camera while the zebra made the three count. **
Powers got the mic from Duck before laying down the GRPL+ World TV title in front of her, then reached into her boot and pulled out a picture of the Revenant, showing it off to the Controllers then the camera before picking up the mic.
“You want to go to war with me, King Spooky?”
Powers’ eyes went narrow as she showed the picture of the cackling Revenant to the camera and neatly ripped it in half before letting the threads fall onto her title.
“Unlike you, I’m right here.”
Powers tossed aside the mic and continued to death glare the lens down as “Mota” came in over the PA, Steve hyping Autumn’s fighting spirit and unwillingness to back down from any man as Ruckus went off the air with Autumn holding down the center of the ring. As the credit box came and went, the last images we saw were of the TV title - the ripped picture of the Unified World Champion on it - and a steely-eyed champion more than ready to go to war with another one.
