LAST WEEK ON RUCKUS
Justice Davis and Drake Tremble fought to a double countout as their rivalry shows no signs of ending
Autumn Powers challenged the Revenant to a Unified World championship rematch
Cindy Monet retained the Women's World championship over Sohla Patel, drawing the ire of Crush champion Karyn Tisch-Warren
Once the standard open was done, we zoomed inside Quality Arena where the pyro was popping just like the Quality Controllers. Steve Vandeblanche and Nazir el-Fadal were ringside to navigate us through the last two hours of Ruckus before we head to Orlando for Devil’s Night. Steve hyped up Pick Your Poison matches tonight as well as Karyn Tisch-Warren defending the Crush championship later in the show, but we’d start off with a slightly different flavor of action via the women’s division in a big eight-woman tag…
| • the Sound of Thunder, Shelley LaVey and Midsomar d. Mean Season, Fiona Fogg and Hilary Highnote • | If you haven’t been keeping up with Unleashed, the Sound of Thunder recently turned heel on longtime friends Mean Season in the hopes of breaking a long losing streak. It worked, although obviously Season has been out for revenge in the weeks since. It failed to materialize here even though their support system of Fogg and Highnote buoyed them at times in the match. The problem for the babyfaces were that no one could match Val Curry’s power and she routinely splattered the white hats to the canvas. Poor Fiona ended up catching the worst of it at the end of the match, falling victim to an avalanche underhook powerbomb from Curry. Curry went for the pin but the ref had to tell her that LaVey had tagged herself in while Curry was setting up the move; LaVey hit her flying splash off the top and secured a victory before strutting her way up the ramp leaving behind a salty Sound and what I assume was a pleasantly surprised Midsomar. **
From there we went TOTHEBACK~!, where the Proper Villains were pacing around their locker room - “the Proper King” Richard Windsor having some electrolyte enhanced water while “the Fury” Jim Jaspers polished off a canned Guinness. Their heads whipped around when they heard the door open but relaxed upon seeing their partner Katsuji Ootsuka come in to complete the Prince and Proper troika.
Katsuji came in and apologized again for what happened two weeks ago. He thought he was riding in for the rescue because, well, they were getting decimated. And he wanted to have their backs. Fortunately for them, he just came back from Commissioner Holmes’ office and he thought he had some pretty good news for all of them.
He invoked the Ambassadors’ Special for a rematch - a rematch on Sunday for the Unified World Tag Team championships that would be a handicap match: all three of them against Team Batroc. Their dream of holding all of QCW’s tag gold was still alive, and they’d make it come true Sunday night. Windsor’s face beamed as a nodding Jaspers said he wasn’t one for apologies but he thanked Katsuji for trying to make it right, so here was a reward – Jaspers tossed him a Guinness can and even Windsor snatched one up. Katsuji wanted to toast to second chances, but Jaspers voted to toast to retribution, and that won out. They started to discuss putting together a game plan after the toast, but we went back to the ring.
| • Cliff Foster (w/Blockhead Ferguson) NC Ian Cook (w/Gerry Greene) • | The former football stars and the Catch Hell alums have been in a simmering feud on Unleashed for the past few weeks, and it continued here for a few minutes.
It stopped when D12's "Fight Music" hit the PA. They continued brawling but soon got surprised as Omar Littlefield came in from the crowd and laid out both men - and then when their partners tried to get involved they got dropped too. Both Cook and Foster got laid out by crucifix powerbomb DDTs before referees ran down the ramp to stop the rampage. Littlefield glared down at his victims before tracing the rope scar on his face and walking up the ramp; "Fight Music" barely kicked back in before Littlefield parted the Qualitron. Steve put over the surprise debut of Littlefield before teeing up the first big commercial break of the evening.
✨
We came back from the break to the smiling face of Julius Duquesne III, but who wasn’t smiling was his guest pacing behind him: Justice Davis. JD3 tried to ask him a question and Davis cut him off, saying he was pretty sure he knew what Julius was going to ask and he was pissed he didn’t win last week. He didn’t know what made Drake Tremble and his goon squad go after him, but he was – and then Bobby Bash and Ted Holland were in his face – before parting to reveal Drake Tremble, who said that he had a match to get to tonight but his dance card for Devil’s Night was wide open. If Davis wanted to keep getting his ass kicked like he did last week it was fine by the Voice of Freedom.
Justice laughed but then cut it off, saying that if they were going to scrap, how would Drake like to make things interesting for Devil's Night? Drake raised an eyebrow before huddling with the rest of the Red, White and True. When the huddle broke, it turned out that Drake had a proposition for him - if…no, when Drake beat him on Sunday, he'd join the Red, White and True and sit under Drake's learning tree to get them all to the next level.
Justice thought about it and agreed to the terms - if Drake agreed to his. If he lost to Drake he deserved the punishment of joining him…but when he won that was the end of the Red, White and True. The Controllers popped as Drake got a little bit whiter but Holland got in his ear and the color returned to his face. Justice asked Drake if he was scared and Drake retorted that he didn't know fear; he would start teaching it to Justice after Sunday night.
The trio walked off the set, and JD3 asked Justice if he knew what he was getting himself in for at Devil's Night and Davis offered up a small smile before saying he was going to live up to his name and once he did those morons would have to live with the fact that Drake failed them. And Drake would have to live with the fact that he'd failed himself again. Justice walked off with a combination smile and sneer, and JD3 threw things to Duck Eko in the ring.
Once we got to see him the Duckster announced this as the first of two Pick Your Poison matches tonight; one fall with a twenty minute time limit. On the heels of that Sade brought out "Superfine" Reggie Strong, but though the crowd was swaying to a quiet storm the normally ebullient Face of QCW marched down to ringside and paced in the ring before the Qualitron brought up S. Mark Starr and his client: the GRPL+ World Television champion, Jacques Krieger.
Krieger mean mugged in the background with the title over his shoulder as Starr bragged, saying that they didn't need to be out in front of the fans until it was time for the main event so they wouldn't bother. But it gave him immense pleasure to bring out their choice of Poison, a man who would squish the so-called Strong like a bug on a windshield and make it so that Reginald wouldn't even make it to Devil's Night – and Starr snapped his fingers and all the Quality Arena lights went dark with a quickness.
A beat passed, then another.
Then "Engel".
Strong noticeably gritted his teeth once he heard the creepy whistling, and it wasn't as if his mood was going to improve once Team Batroc came out. With Serge in a tracksuit, that meant that the Tsar Pyotr Caviar was Krieger's sent assassin, and with Strong giving up almost 100 pounds you knew he was going to be in an uphill battle.
| • “Superfine” Reggie Strong ddq. Pyotr Caviar (w/Serge Batroc) in a Pick Your Poison match • |
It would have been an uphill battle if it hadn't been absolute multi level chaos.
When the bell rang it only took a Caviar right to drop the ref. But we found out in short order that that was the plan all along, as Serge reached from the outside to low blow Strong. Reggie barely had time to fall to a knee before a Russian sickle sent him somersaulting through the air.
To add injury to injury, Team Batroc decided to stomp him out for a few moments before hitting Strong with a combination springboard European uppercut from Serge and a Mt. Everest German suplex from Caviar that splattered him across the canvas. Serge began barking at the audience for having the temerity to boo him before giving orders to Pyotr. Caviar took in his mentor’s words before rolling out of the ring. The Tracksuit Tsar filched around under the ring apron before procuring a chair, but before he could do anything with it he was suddenly hit from behind by “the Proper King” Richard Windsor. Windsor landed a few European uppercuts before Caviar essentially shrugged them off and piefaced Richard away from him - right before “the Fury” Jim Jaspers came to his partner’s rescue. The bigger Jaspers had more luck against Pyotr before Serge came on the outside to go after his longtime rival, and a Pier 4 erupted on the outside between the Proper Villains and Team Batroc. Team Batroc started to get the upper hand when two things happened almost simultaneously: a recovering Strong threw the chair from the ring where it caught Caviar in the upper back and possibly the back of his head to stagger him - and the third member of Prince & Proper, Katsuji Ootsuka ran out with a baton in hand.
With him swinging it like he did a couple of weeks ago and Jaspers doing the same with the chair, Prince and Proper literally beat Team Batroc up the ramp while Steve sold the fact that they’d have a similar 3 on 2 advantage come Sunday even without weaponry. The QCW medical staff came to check on Reggie, who was able to talk to them but still needed help getting to the back. Naz wondered if he’d be in any kind of shape to pick Krieger’s poison for the main event – and how good did Strong feel about giving out a title shot 48 hours before he theoretically got one of his own?
Once the brawls had been shuffled off to the back, QCW black shirts rushed the ring to festoon it with gold lights around the ropes and a neon sign came down from the rafters. A dozen people came from the back in black robes, and they lined up in two sets of three by two on either side of the stage before belting out an a capella version of Arcarsenal in something resembling choir harmony. The Qualitron showed off Nazir el-Fadal showing off his multiple Quality Awards as the sign from the ceiling flashed THE NAZIR EL-FADAL SHOW in blinking gold neon; the man himself made a small bow towards the singers before heading into the ring and bashing in a big but mixed reaction. He sat down behind a kidney shaped desk and hit the ON AIR button.
He gave thanks to the Grand Slam Choir before introducing himself as the award winning Nazir el-Fadal and said that as unbelievable as it was to him, the rabble weren't tuning in for him here - they were here for his guest…someone who needed help winning the Best of 5 and someone who got put in the ground at AnIIIversary. But since G+ was cutting the checks, here's Autumn Powers, everybody!
The choir launched into their version of "Mota" as Powers did her own circuit and high fived most of the front row before coming into the ring and pulling up on the couch next to Naz. "First of all," she said, "you forgot 'someone who holds a victory over me in my last QCW match to date'. Second, he tried to bury me. But I'm not dead."
Naz broke out into a rolling cackle. "A: It's cute you think I forgot. But the bill comes due on that when I decide to make you pay for it. B: Unlike me at AnIIversary last year, you had your chance at the big prize in the main event and you lost. You didn't even get cheated out of it, he just dropped you like Tesla stock." Naz's cackle returned even as the lights of his signs flickered briefly. "Why do you deserve another chance to become the Big Spook's victim again?"
Autumn took a moment to collect her thoughts, but once she did she looked Naz right in his beady little eyes and continued.
"You ever watch gangster movies, Naz? You ever notice how the decline and fall always happens when the mobsters practically have the world in the palm of their hand?" She straightened up, clearly building the case in her mind. "It's because they get careless. It's because they think what they have allows them to ride roughshod over everybody, and there comes a point at which people won't have it, or they underestimate the one person who ends up taking them down. That's about where the Revenant is now. And yeah, I've been there too. But a man of wisdom once said that life isn't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit, and get back up for more.
Now, trying to go toe to toe with him wasn't the healthiest activity. And we all saw that at AnIIIversary.
But you see, Rev made one critical mistake: he planned my funeral before checking to see if I was truly dead. And Final Women everywhere understand that even monsters can fall."
The lights flickered again briefly before Naz shrugged. "Except this monster hasn't. Not all year. Not against Mason, not against you, not against nobody. Now, were I to make my glorious return to the ring that ledger would look different – but the fact remains that what I see in this ring is a Grand Slam and multiple Quality Award winner sitting across from someone who's overdosing on hopium and is one more decent beat down away from becoming a grave that gets settled once and for all."
Autumn leaned over the desk and her voice tightened significantly.
"If that's all you're hearing, you haven't been listening hard enough. Not the first time you've been asked to pull over and change the air in your head, apparently. Because whatever you might think of the Game Changers, they did what they said they were going to do, and that's why there isn't a women's tag division here in QCW anymore. They went out there and fulfilled their dream! How can I do any less?"
Naz leaned over the desk, and started going forehead to forehead to Powers.
But it wasn't his voice we heard next.
"Because you already have."
Both Autumn and Naz's head slowly turned towards the Qualitron, and large as life on it was the Revenant slowly lowering the Unified World championship from his face and smiling evilly.
"You did less when I fought you on equal ground in Atlanta and I burned your title hopes to the ground. I care not about you lowering yourself for Nazir's sideshow act - your mortals love for the couch in any way, shape and form never ceases to amuse - but what I care about is making it strike midnight on your insipid Cinderella story. You wish to stand next to Mason, you can learn just like Mason did.
Because the only way you're worth any more of my time? Especially at Devil's Night?
It's your Last Stand."
The Rev's smile twisted into a curl.
"I mean…it's not as if you can do any less, neh?"
Autumn fumed before reaching for her microphone, and she glared down the Tron as if The Champ was within punching distance.
"For once I agree with you, Spooky. I can't do any less and I won't, because if I can't beat you then I obviously don't deserve another shot at you. But you're talking to someone who grew up on Ripley and Laurie, who got between these ropes to slay like Summers. I've already come back from six feet under because my desire to be Unified World champion can't be measured no matter how high into the stratosphere you get. And on Sunday?
I become an immortal in my own right - and put your title reign in the grave."
"Mota" started over the PA but it got cut off by the Revenant's deep, booming cackle.
He shook his head and said one more thing.
"After Sunday night, you're never going to get another shot at my belt…and you're going to learn that some monsters you just can't kill."
The Revenant made a slashing gesture with his red right hand and once he did all the lights went out in Quality Arena.
When they came back on he wasn't anywhere to be seen, and Naz was at the announce desk looking confused. Autumn glared at the Tron before hopping up on the desk and making A Very Familiar Gesture around her waist while Steve hyped up Rev/Autumn II for Devil's Night; a massive rematch for the Fifteen Pounds of Gold…and Autumn's Last Stand.
Steve hyped it up before teeing up some ads.
✨
The back end of Ruckus kicked off with a title defense. A game Christine Kent, fresh off of an Unleashed victory challenged Karyn Tisch-Warren for the Crush championship. Kent showed promise in the early going and it looked like QCW's resident Farmgirl was going to throw a wrench in Karyn's plans to dominate the women's division.
However, she pressed her luck too far and got whammies; Tisch-Warren caught her tope suicida attempt and turned it into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker that bounced Kent off the facade of the announce table to cause "Holy shit!" chants to echo throughout Quality Arena. There were only a few minutes left in the fight and the notorious KTW controlled them all, using a powerbomb backbreaker to set up the Circuit Breaker that made Kent submit.
| • Karyn Tisch-Warren [c, w/International Lotus] ds. Christine Kent to retain the Crush championship 3️⃣ • |
But it wasn't "Roar" that hit the system after her win - it was "Dance Or Die". Out strode Cindy Monet with the Women's World championship over her shoulder and gold and cream Collipark letterman jacket. Cindy stayed on the ramp as Scott the Simp handed his wife her Crush championship in the ring.
Monet said that AnnIIIversary was the greatest night of her life – and Karyn cut her off, saying that she was tired of everybody celebrating how she got cheated out of her title. But the Women's World championship was her belt just as much as the Crush championship, and she'd prove it Sunday night. She'd been talking about it for weeks but now not only was she going to get her rematch she would become the first ever double champion in –
And Cindy cut her off with a mocking blah blah blah before saying that it only took her nine seconds to expose Karyn at AnIIIversary. She was on the roll of her life, and if Karyn didn't believe her she could ask her little friend Sohla after last week if she was afraid of International Lotus or the backbreaker bitch. Because this time she'd see Cindy coming and she still wouldn't be able to stop it and she'd prove on Sunday that when she went high, Karyn would go down.
"Dance Or Die" started to play again over the PA and the Qualitron made official the same thing that we home viewers got a chyron for: at Devil's Night it would be Monet/KTW II for the Women's World championship – champion vs. champion.
| • Justice Davis & the International Players (w/Collipark) d. Drake Tremble & the End Times (w/the Red, While and True and Summer Rose) • |
From the Crush championship defense we pivoted to trios action that intertwine a couple matches happening at Devil's Night this weekend. Tremble seemed friendlier to the Times than his underlings, but by contrast the laser sighted Davis joined Collipark when "B.O.B." hit the PA and they all hit the ring as a unit. As they did, GRPL+ Helpfully Reminded Us That Last Week Benjamin Valentino notched a win over Dr. Martin Williams.
Also as they hit the ring, first the End Times and then Tremble rushed their opponents and a Pier 6 broke out in and around the ring. To the surprise of the announce, Tremble and the End Times jelled well together even with Tremble trying to boss them around (they no-sold it, essentially, though Summer Rose gave Tremble plenty of lip about him potentially horning in on her corner).
Lucius Patton took the brunt of the offense from the black hats, but managed to dodge a lariat from Danny Castle and caught him with a moonsault power slam that helped even up the sides. Patton managed to get moving quicker than Castle and dove to tag in Davis; a second or two later Castle tagged in Tremble…who immediately tagged in Dr. Martin Williams before spuh-rinting to the back, leaving even his ersatz teammates astounded.
While Davis would have preferred to whip some cosplaytriot ass, he bullrushed right through the bad doctor for the next couple of minutes before serving up the Davis Driver. The International Players held off Castle and Justice reigned in the Arena after he notched the dub. ** ½
After replays, Collipark was behind Davis bigging him up but he was all business as he spoke briefly to the hard camera and said there'd be no place for Drake to run come Sunday. We went to the last big commercial break of the night with Davis taking some handshakes from Collipark before he and the International Players got their hands raised by the ref again.
✨
Devil’s Night sold out the Amway Center so if you wanted to catch it live or own it later, you better Fite for your right to grapple. Steve plugged both Jane Doe v. Sohla Patel as well as a triple threat match between Cliff Foster, Gerry Greene and the just arrived Omar Littlefield on the preshow before getting to the main card of a loaded PPV:
😈😈😈 the End Times will be out for payback when they face off against the International Players 😈😈😈
😈😈😈 Justice Davis and Drake Tremble hook it up but the stakes are higher than ever; Tremble will make Davis join the Red, White and True if he wins and Davis will end the Red, White and True once and for all if he does 😈😈😈
😈😈😈 In a handicap match for the Unified World Tag Team championships, Prince and Proper will go up against the imposing Team Batroc 😈😈😈
😈😈😈 Jacques Krieger will finally go one on one with “Superfine” Reggie Strong and if Krieger retains in the match up next, it’ll be for the GRPL+ World Television championship 😈😈😈
😈😈😈 It’s personal, it’s champion vs. champion, and it’s for the Women’s World championship: can Cindy Monet hold onto the gold or will International Lotus’ Karyn Tisch-Warren follow through on her threats and become the first ever double champion in the history of QCW’s women’s division? 😈😈😈
😈😈😈 And the main event will see the Fifteen Pounds of Gold up in the air; it’s Autumn Powers’ Last Stand as she tries to win the rematch, end the Revenant’s reign of terror and liberate the Unified World title from his ominous red right hand 😈😈😈
We've got one more match before QCW invades Orlando, so you know that it has to be…
| • the main event • |
Beartooth's "Hated" hit the PA and down the ramp slimed S. Mark Starr with his client - the GRPL+ World Television champion Jacques Krieger. Remember, the other side of Pick Your Poison happened earlier where they set a Team Batroc sized trap for Reggie Strong; you might understand why they were brimming with confidence as they took the ring over.
Starr grabbed the mic from Duck and said that it didn't matter who came out: they weren't getting the title, they were getting the same beat down that Strong did. The only difference was that the future of QCW, Jacques Krieger would be dishing out bad luck at the end point of his knuckles. And if the idiots in the Arena didn't see it, S. did. He saw
"A bitch-ass trick who won't make it through the weekend with that belt."
Starr hissed a "Who said that?!", only to get his answer from the Qualitron that showed Reggie Strong in the med bay getting looked over by the medical team. Strong admitted they got the jump on him earlier, but said nothing Team Buttrock did would keep him from showing up and showing out on Sunday. What Krieger didn't understand was that their differences were why the Face of QCW would win out in the end; see, Reggie was man enough to handle his own business and Krieger needed Young Shelton to do his paperwork for him - Reggie's good looks and charm made match.com increasingly obsolete while Krieger had more functioning eyes than dates this year - and while Krieger got a young pup to bite Superfine's shins a little, well…
…well, he was sending a legend to destroy Jacquie Boy. Have fun!
Strong blipped off the Qualitron 9004 and then there was a buzz in the Arena.
A few seconds passed.
And then "B.O.B." hit the PA and the Quality Controllers let out a collective roar while Starr gnashed his teeth. Krieger's response was merely the word no, but he was wrong…
…yes, it was Jupiter Jones.
The man who'd gotten beaten by Krieger for the belt at AnIIIversary was going in for a rematch and he wasn't coming alone. The International Players came out with Jupiter, but after they exchanged words the Players moved quickly down the ramp while the QCW legend kept a slightly slower pace.
Lucius Patton and Benjamin Valentino quickly got in the ring but bypassed Krieger entirely to get to S. Mark Starr. Starr bailed out of the ring only to get caught by Valentino, and he was joined by Patton before they bundled him up and took him up the ramp.
Leaving Jupiter Jones across from Jacques Krieger, who scowled before holding up the GRPL+ World Television championship and rubbing it in the legendary Jones' face. Duck bailed from the ring, Jupiter decided to punch Jacques in the mouth, and once that happened the referee called for the bell and Krieger/Jones II was underway.
Steve lost his mind on commentary as they brawled while Naz wondered why Reggie would hand a title shot to someone who could turn his match on Sunday from a title match into a grudge match with a simple three count? Jones powered Krieger into the corner and started to punch the champion upon the face. Before he could get to 10, Krieger dumped Jones over - but Jupiter landed safely on the apron. Krieger adjusted and snatched Jones by the arm, then flung him into the steel post. Jones "bounced" off it before hitting the floor in a heap, causing the crowd to further jeer Krieger.
Jacques cared about that as much as you expect, casting a look back towards the Tron before refocusing on Jones. Krieger took a deep breath then he ran down the apron before launching a shoulderblock at Jones that connected. Krieger got up first and slid into the ring before demanding that the ref count Jones out.
Jupiter got in at 8 but got swarmed by Krieger when he dove into the ring, and that set the tone for the next few minutes. Naz actually complimented Krieger after he got a few two counts, saying that Krieger was proving he was beyond Starr's puppet and smart enough to adapt on the fly without him. Hell, maybe he didn't even need Starr, you know? Krieger continued his roll with a snap powerslam before mocking Jones' signature pose. One Eye shot out with his Ace in the Hole - but Jones ducked it and ran for the ropes before firing back with a surprise handspring back elbow that popped the crowd and provided some daylight for Jones.
Jupiter was literally slapping his face to fire himself up, and it must have worked; when both men got vertical again Krieger failed at all three punches he tried while Jupiter connected on all of his. Jones kicked things into another gear and even side stepped a big boot before alley ooping Krieger into a pop up powerslam that got him 2 ¾. A desperate Krieger used the ref as a shield long enough to thumb Jones in the eye and go for the Jacqueshammer but Jones powered and countered into a Falcon Arrow throw as the lights flickered around them.
Jones got the crowd fired up before he loaded up his right hand and slammed it into the mat. A groggy Krieger got himself up right before Jones got a running start to drop him with the Bolt From Olympus to turn his lights out right before all the lights went out.
When they came on – the Revenant was suddenly in the ring planting Jupiter with a Red Right Hand, and the ref called for the bell.
| • Jupiter Jones ddq. Jacques Krieger [c] in a Pick Your Poison match; Krieger retains the GRPL+ World Television championship • |
The Controllers hated it but the Revenant didn’t care, and in fact waved on more jeers from the Parts Unknown faithful. Krieger used the ropes to pull himself up, and suddenly the World TV champion and the Unified World champion were face to face just hours before the PPV. Krieger took a couple of steps towards the Rev, but both men were surprised when the lights went off again.
Naaz barely had time to quip “I’m not reducing my salary so we can keep the lights on around here!” before the lights actually came back on…and Reggie Strong was suddenly behind Krieger and launching him across the ring with a release German suplex. Strong yelled at the fallen Jacques before clutching at his neck. The Revenant’s evil smile grew as he snuck up on Superfine before spinning him around and goozling him.
One Red Right Hand later, Reggie Strong was laid out on the canvas. The Revenant cackled away and seemed surprised to see the referee in front of him yelling at him about his handing out one way tickets to chokeslam city before he goozled her as well – and that’s when “Mota” hit the system.
The crowd cheered as Autumn Powers ran down the ramp and slid in the ring to chop block the Revenant, making him let go of the official as his knee buckled. Powers rained down hammer shots from both arms to beat on the Rev’s back only to get shoved across the ring by The Champ. The Rev made his way over to Autumn only to get surprised by an uppercut before Autumn started kicking him in the ribs, and they brawled until and after the credit box came up with Steve hyping Autumn’s Last Stand as the main event come Sunday SUNDAY SUNDAY - we’ll see you in Orlando to see if Autumn can pull off the impossible this time!
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