Ruckus presents Black and Blue Friday • November 24, 2923

Panoramic shots of Puerto Rico’s natural beauty were interwoven with some highlights from last week's Flashpoint, including Davis and Razorblade as well as Beauty and the Beast Mode advancing in the Unified Contendership Challenge - La Flor winning the Crush championship in dominant fashion then unmasking to reveal Luz Cruz - and Karyn Tisch-Warren outlasting Cindy Monet in a best of 3 falls match to retain the Women's World championship before challenging Autumn Powers for the Unified World championship.

We got a ride on an overhead drone as it flew over Bayamon before zooming into el estadio de beisbol and tons of pyro going off.  Steve Vandeblanche and Nazir el-Fadal welcomed us to another super sized edition of Ruckus with limited commercial interruptions; this one was the biggest crowd in QCW history - the first Puerto Rico show in seven Presidents - so Steve quickly threw to Duck Eko in the ring to announce the opener…

1. 20 person Black and Blue Friday battle royal; winner gets a Unified World championship shot in the main event

Lots of small stories played out in the opening half of the battle royale - the big one was the dominance of newcomer Omar Littlefield in a battle royale full of other land monsters.  Evan O'Neill landed a couple of eliminations on the Game Changers, Jacques Krieger and Jupiter Jones brought back their rivalry with Jones going over and Krieger going over the top rope but it was Omar racking up five eliminations (including Serge Batroc - Omar didn't really differentiate between white and black hats) that had him as the through point of the 20 person melee from the beginning.

Final four came down to Omar, Pyotr Caviar, Jupiter Jones and in a mild surprise, Mr. Teknik. A bigger surprise was when Omar was the first elimination of the four, even when it took the other three men combining forces to dump him.  Down to three, the crowd was rooting for Jupiter and it looked like he was going to get the next elimination - but Caviar pulled Teknik in front of a Bolt From Olympus and laid Jupiter out before tossing Teknik to the floor.

It came down to Jupiter and Pyotr, who had about an eight minute match after the next to last elimination.  Caviar got the upper hand and tossed Jones over the top rope but the former QCW champion stayed on the apron and survived.  Once Pyotr noticed he went after Jones, and both men fought on the apron for a little bit before Jones clotheslined Caviar back into the ring.  It looked like Jupiter was going to be able to toss Caviar after a couple hard hitting moments but Caviar blocked a Bolt From Olympus and tossed Jones over the top rope –

–but Jones not only landed on the apron, he springboarded into the ring and slammed a Bolt across Pyotr 's jaw to pop the crowd huge.  It got Pyotr to just a knee, so Jupiter loaded it up and threw another Bolt that found the mark.  Caviar still didn't go all the way down, so Jones loaded up and threw another Bolt only to get snatched out of the air and dropped by Pyotr’s Hit My Music.  Not satisfied with that, Pyotr mocked the crowd before loading up a Bolt From Olympus of his own – and hitting it.  Shortly thereafter he snatched up Jones and gave him a mighty throw over the top to the floor.

Pyotr Caviar won the Black and Blue Friday battle royale in 46:55 to earn a Unified World title shot in tonight's main event

Serge came back to the ring and celebrated with his protege, sneering “You're welcome!” while Pyotr made A Very Familiar Gesture around his waist.

Adter that, Enya Face caught up to Autumn Powers backstage where she had been watching the battle royale.  Enya asked Autumn what she thought about facing Pyotr in the main event tonight for the title; Autumn said it was going to a long road to hoe but she got to be The Champ by beating a land monster so if she had to hang onto the Fifteen Pounds of Gold by beating another one then that's what she’d do.

2. #3 the End Times (w/Summer Rose) v. #2 Justice Davis & Mason “Razorblade” Savage in a UCC semifinal match

Again, while a little bit rough and ready, the white hats showed the cohesion of a tag team with 200 matches together rather than 2.  Summer Rose had to run interference to set up some Dr. Martin Williams interference from the apron to help provide an opening for her charges.  Davis ate a beating from both Dr. Williams and Danny Castle only to get saved from the Reckoning by Razorblade, who shoved Dr. Williams off the top rope and crotched him while Davis slipped off the back of Castle and made him eat the Davis Driver.  Justice crawled over and tagged out; from there the former double champion ran roughshod on the End Times before he and Justice sewed up the doomsday prophets with a combination Soul Crusher and flying double stomp.  Summer thought about coming in for a save but got stared down by Razorblade to put a stop to that.

Justice Davis and Mason “Razorblade” Savage defeated the End Times (w/Summer Rose) in 21:54 to advance to the finals of the Unified Contendership Challenge

JD3 had a backstage promo with Prince and Proper. ahead of their title defense though Katsuji Ootsuka was far more focused on the phone call he was on in the background.  The Proper Villains didn't seem to notice; both “the Fury” Jim Jaspers and “the Proper King” Richard Windsor put over the fact that they had the longest reign in Ambassadors history as well as 6fact they were currently QCW’s longest reigning champions, period.  Ootsuka walked off in the background and the Villains said they were going to follow their boy’s lead and get ready to shut up Beauty and the Beast Mode once and for all.  Cheers.

3. Luz Cruz [c] v. Veronica Vespa in a Crush championship match

Showcase match for Cruz, the newly minted champion who got a heroine's welcome befitting someone returning to her home country.  Cruz in the morning, Cruz in the evening, Cruz a little past supper time with a double jump moonsault.

Luz Cruz defeated Veronica Vespa at 5:48 to retain the Crush championship 1️⃣

Another highlight reel of great PPV moments aired, this time of Season’s Beatings to close 2022 - Nazir el-Fadal teaming with Super Avión to win the Unified World Tag Team championships and get (in his eyes) the first Grand Slam in company history - Razorblade beating Pyotr Caviar in a lumberjack match - then Commissioner Holmes changing Naz’s World title match to a falls count anywhere triple threat match on the fly with Jupiter Jones and Razorblade with Savage beating his longtime rival to regain the strap.

Prematch promo with Enya Face welcoming Beauty and the Beast Mode ahead of their matches tonight.  Both “These Hands” Roy Fade and “Dashing” Pierce Moore complained about their matches being back to back but that they’d pull off a clean sweep for the culture.  Enya asked who their third partner was going to be, but their music hit and they left the set before answering her talking about how soon they would hold every piece of tag division gold…

4. Prince and Proper [c] v. Beauty & the Beast Mode in an Ambassadors Trios championships match

Mode’s night got a hell of a lot easier when to the shock of everybody, Katsuji Ootsuka turned heel and jumped his partners during their entrance.  Ootsuka first went after “the Proper King” Richard Windsor with some knee strikes and kicks; when “the Fury” Jim Jaspers turned around to see what the crowd was reacting too he ran to save his longtime partner but Katsuji beat the brakes off of him too and headed to the back with a dead eyed glare on his face.

Mode swarmed Jaspers on the floor before tossing him into the ring and using him for a punching bag.  Windsor eventually staggered into the ring only to get immediately dropped by a Fresh To Death, then Moore tagged in Fade before they hit their finisher on Jaspers to win the trios titles…

Beauty and the Beast Mode defeated Prince and Proper in 2:36 of bell time to win the Ambassadors Trios championships 

Mode scooped their newly won titles off of the referee and celebrated their win, and Moore's celebration got even better as Shelley LaVey came down the ramp.  LaVey got into the ring and sidled up to Moore, who had a quick chat with Roy Fade before handing over a title to LaVey.  Fade seemed to have some words with LaVey before she talked him into a cheerier mood.  Crowd seemed a little unsure what to make of this but knew to pop when the Wonderful Ward Brothers came out.  

5. #4 Beauty and the Beast Mode (w/Shelley LaVey) v. #1 the Wonderful Ward Brothers in a UCC semifinal match

It was the top seeded Wards who got off to a hot start early, clearing Mode from the ring in the opening minutes and getting everyone in the baseball stadium fired up.  LaVey went over to provide some pointers but they didn't pay dividends until Moore countered an attempt at a familiar looking Wonder Cutter with an inverted running power slam and tagged Fade in.

These Hands took control of the match for a bit only for the brothers Ward to regain the upper hand and then even expand on their lead with a textbook Hart Attack that got them a 2 ½.  

The Wards moved things to their side of the ledger then started upping their advantage.  It looked like they were going to make it an all chalk final but when they went for the Cutting Express Moore leapt back into the fray and broke it up, laying out both Wards with the Fresh To Death.  Fade tagged out a couple of beats later and Moore added one more Fresh To Death on Rich and went for the cover; Jason the Great tried to save but Fade leapt off Moore's back to wipe him out with the Decision and secure back to back wins for the Californians.

Beauty and the Beast Mode defeated the Wonderful Ward Brothers in 24:00 to advance to the finals of the Unified Contendership Challenge 

Announce hyped the UCC finals coming up next week with the new Ambassadors Trios champions Beauty and the Beast Mode vs. Justice Davis and Mason “Razorblade” Savage.  Naz also got in some hype for his show with special guests International Lotus.  In addition, after what happened earlier we’ll see if Ashley “THEE Influencer” Szabo can get revenge on Omar Littlefield in one on one action.

And then it was time for the main event –

6. Autumn Powers [c] v. Pyotr Caviar (w/Serge Batroc) for the QCW Unified World championship

Cool prematch moment where they killed the klieg lights surrounding the field and the ring to focus a big spotlight during the introductions (crowd responses were what you’d expect).  

Autumn rushed Pyotr at the bell and fired off a flurry of forearm shots and thigh kicks, but after running into the ropes Caviar threw Powers into the air and let her splat into the canvas.  Having withstood Autumn's early offense, Pyotr slowed down the tempo and took over by suplexing Powers around the ring much to Naz’s cackling delight on commentary.  Caviar backdropped Autumn over the top rope and followed her out to the floor…but when he went to drive The Champ into the stairs, Powers managed to crawl away and send him flying into the steel.

Autumn crawled in the ring to break up the count before running the ropes and hitting a wrecking ball dropkick.  Another one sent Pyotr into the barricade and Powers followed up with a run down the barrier compounded by a PK.   Caviar staggered backwards and eventually pulled himself into the ring only to eat a springboard dropkick.  It was Powers’ turn for the upper hand and she kept it longer than she did at the beginning of the match.  The crowd cheered her on for the next few minutes - right until another springboard dropkick attempt got knocked out of the sky with a massive Russian sickle.

Replays of Pyotr folding Powers like a K/5 off suit played for a bit before Caviar let out a yell and got back to work.  Pyotr presses his advantage the rest of the way and racked up nearly a dozen near falls as he wore Autumn down, but after she got her foot on the ropes after eating a short range sickle, he tossed her out of the ring.  

Caviar hit Autumn with a Hit My Music on the floor, then rolled in and out of the ring to break up the count.  Him sweeping the announce table free of monitors sent Steve and Naz into the front row, and Caviar interrupted the count again before he snatched Autumn up and sent her through the announce table with a second Hit My Music that sent the table into sections.

Caviar smiled as he delicately plucked Autumn from the wreckage and threw her over his shoulder.  The Tracksuit Tsar walked up the stairs and unceremoniously dumped Powers into the ring, stepping into the ring at 9.  

It looked like Caviar was going to go for a third Hit My Music but Powers' body flumped to the canvas.  Caviar barked at the referee before gesturing towards Autumn's body - the referee checked on Autumn and didn't call things off, so Pyotr grabbed her to finish things off but Autumn went limp again.  Pyotr shook his head and nudged Autumn with his boot before putting the finishing touches on his first singles title.

Except for the part where Autumn yanked him down into an inside cradle and kept him down for 3.1 seconds.

…wait, what?!

Autumn Powers beat Pyotr Caviar in 29:46 to retain the Unified World championship

I could read Pyotr's lips after he sat up in shock, and he was not praying.  Autumn had used her veteran savvy to not only survive but outthink the big Ruskie, and the “Autumn!” chants rained down across the stadium.  The referee settled the Fifteen Pounds of Gold across her stomach and raised her limp hand before fleeing the ring.  Pyotr was hot on the zebra’s heels and it looked like a nature documentary was about to break out as the helpless referee ran towards the back with an incensed Caviar almost able to catch him.  

Autumn slowly got to her feet, almost dropping the title before slowly lifting it overhead to cheers and then boos.  The boos decended pretty heavily because into the nature documentary came the vultures of International Lotus to lay out Autumn from behind.  

The crowd jeered Karyn Tisch-Warren and Sohla Patel, but the one thing they couldn't do was stop them - Sohla dropped Autumn with the Ninth Incarnation before Karyn stopped screeching that Autumn wasn't going to ignore her.  Tisch-Warren locked Autumn up with a Circuit Breaker while Sohla kept kicking Powers in the ribs.  

Quality Force security came pouring out of the dugout and hit the ring, Karyn refusing to let go of the hold until a few QFSers pulled her off of Autumn.  The crowd booed and the volume only increased when the Women's World champion snatched up the Unified World championship and lifted it over her head while smack talking the barely conscious Autumn.  The credits box came up and literally Karyn took every second until things faded to black to tell Autumn that at QCW 25 she was going to take Autumn's title and be the first to add the Unified World title to the Women's World championship.  

QCW Unleashed [s1e19 • Quality Arena]

• Winter Wonderland (w/Gaia Green) d. Val Curry (w/Bettie Rokker)
• Jacques Krieger (w/S. Mark Starr) d. Atum Pharoah
• Shelley LaVey d. Hilary Highnote
• fatal four way the End Times (w/Summer Rose) d. Justice Davis & Mason "Razorblade" Savage, Beauty & the Beast Mode & the Wonderful Ward Brothers
  

Ruckus presents Flashpoint • November 17, 2023

A video package aired highlighting the biggest moments from last week’s Ruckus, including Jacques Krieger challenging “Superfine” Reggie Strong to a GRPL+ World TV title defense this week as well as Sohla Patel disguising herself as luchadora La Flor to steal the Crush championship and both the Wonderful Ward Brothers and the End Times winning first round Unified Contendership Challenge matches…

Standard open before we threw to Steve Vandeblanche and Nazir el-Fadal hyping up this special episode with limited commercial interruptions called Flashpoint.  They hyped up the best of 3 falls main event between Karyn Tisch-Warren and Cindy Monet for the Women’s World championship before throwing things to Duck in the ring to begin completing the first round of the Unified Contendership Challenge. 

1. #2 Justice Davis & Mason “Razorblade” Savage v. #7 Ian Cook & Gerry Greene in a UCC first round match

Valiant effort from the Catch Hell alums but the higher seeds opened the tank down the stretch - Davis handled Cook and Savage dusted Greene with the Soul Crusher to get the duke.

Justice Davis & Mason “Razorblade” Savage defeated Ian Cook & Gerry Greene at 10:46 to advance to the semifinals of the Unified Contendership Challenge

A backstage segment saw Beauty & the Beast Mode challenge Prince & Proper for the Ambassadors trios championships on next week’s supershow from Puerto Rico, which got accepted even though Mode refused to reveal their partner.  Their music fired up, as they had their UCC first round match next.

2. #4 Beauty & the Beast Mode v. #5 International Players in a UCC first round match

The Players got a big reaction from the crowd and took early control of the match only to have “Dashing” Pierce Moore save the day with a sudden Fresh To Death that changed the course of the match.  Mode was barely ahead the rest of the match, but it was enough to the point that Benjamin Valentino was unable to get an opening to tag out the rest of the way.  They hit their tandem finisher of the Fresh To Death flying into the Decision on the exhausted Valentino to win the match and advance.

Beauty and the Beast Mode defeated the International Players at 11:49 to advance to the semifinals of the United Contendership Challenge

Announce talked about Mode possibly biting off more than they can chew since they’re gunning for both a UCC win to get them into the finals as well as the Ambassadors trios titles on next week’s show.

A sizzle reel showed highlights from AnIIversary (the Game Changers unifying the tag belts, Ootsuka beating Fade for the TV title, Naz winning and tossing the World title) to hype up QCW XXV.

3. “Superfine” Reggie Strong [c] v. Jacques Krieger (w/S. Mark Starr) in a GRPL+ World TV title match

This wasn’t a match but rather a sneak attack followed by a vicious Krieger beatdown.

“Superfine” Reggie Strong beat Jacques Krieger by disqualification in :07 to retain the GRPL+ World TV title 3️⃣ 

Krieger ran Strong into the post repeatedly until he drew blood then put him through the announce table with the Jacqueshammer.  Krieger than cut a brief promo saying that he wanted to regain his belt off Reggie Weak when QCW XXV happened so he could further embarrass him on the biggest stage possible.  Strong did a stretcher job leading into a commercial break, further making look the former TV champ look fearsome here.

Creepy video package in the style of ones from the past couple weeks full of Christ loving sepia and warnings for QCW wrestlers and fans alike to seek deliverance and repent.  The WG was joined by an interlocking GG at the end.

After a recap of the TV title angle, there was another title match on deck.

4. Sohla Patel [c] v. La Flor in a Crush championship match

La Flor came out focused, fired up and absolutely beat the brakes off of Patel to prove revenge was a dish best served by lucha libre and right hands.  Even Patel’s attempts to cheat were snuffed out for the most part and when she tried to bail Flor caught her and got her back in the ring.  Flor threw Patel into the barricade about a dozen times before getting the Bollywood Diva back into the ring to splatter her with a pair of nice double jump moonsaults and win the belt.

La Flor defeated Sohla Patel at 8:28 to win the Crush championship

Post match Flor got the mic to thank the fans for their support as she regained the belt (which confused the announce), then she unmasked to reveal former multiple time Crush champion Luz Cruz, who Patel had bullied out of the promotion months earlier.   She cut a fired up promo on Patel and her HOA Barbie, saying she was going to make the focus of her career not just about being a champion but running International Lotus out of QCW.

5. “Tiki God” Al Buffett (w/Ashley “THEE Influencer” Szabo) v. Omar Littlefield

Monstrous newcomer Littlefield took a step up in opponent, going from cannon fodder to a former Unified World Tag champion and cult favorite.

Poor Al got boatraced just shy of five minutes to the shock of the Arena.  Buffet got consumed by the power game and almost bisected by a Littlefield running crossbody then tortured for a stretch; Littlefield seemingly trying to set distance records by throwing Al from one side of the ring multiple times before dropping a trifecta of Vader bombs that could have ended things.   Omar instead drilled Al with his Face Eraser crucifix bomb DDT and to further humiliate Al made the referee count to 5 on the fall.

Omar Littlefield defeated “Tiki God” Al Buffett at 4:59

Littlefield strutted around the ring while Ashley and the ref checked on a barely moving Buffett.  Omar added insult to injury by patting Ashley on the head.  When he turned to leave, a Szabo dropkick sent him to the floor even if he landed on his feet.  Szabo smack talked from the ring while a livid Littlefield said if she wanted to be a voluntary victim he’d make her one sooner rather than later.

After the last commercial break, we got live from backstage of International Lotus complaining to Commissioner Holmes about all things big and small.  Holmes had Quality Force security remove both Sohla and Scott from the building before giving Karyn Tisch-Warren a deeply insincere “good luck”.  Karyn brushed it off and hissed that she was going to win.

Before the main event the announce ran down the entirety of a loaded card in front of what will be the biggest crowd in QCW history from Puerto Rico (nearly 25,000 strong).  The card will have all of this come next Friday:

🇵🇷 Luz Cruz defending her newly won Crush championship in her home country  🇵🇷

🇵🇷 Beauty and the Beast Mode with a mystery partner going against Prince and Proper for the Ambassadors Trios championships 🇵🇷

🇵🇷 They'll also be in the semifinals of the Unified Contendership Challenge against the Wonderful Ward Brothers with the other semi having the End Times vs. Justice Davis and Razorblade 🇵🇷

🇵🇷 The show will begin with a 20 person battle royale and end with the winner of that Black and Blue battle royale facing Autumn Powers for the Unified World championship in the main event 🇵🇷

Vandeblanche pivoted from that main to this one, hyping the fact that there hadn't been a best of 3 falls title match in QCW for nearly 40 years before tonight.

Cindy came out first in her gold and maroon Collipark Letterman's jacket but ignored her big pop and hit the ring; Karyn came out to waves of boos but ignored them to preen.  They almost fought during the ring introductions when Karyn tried to literally rub the belt in Cindy's face.  

6. Karyn Tisch-Warren [c] v. Cindy Monet in a best of 3 falls match for the QCW Women’s World championship

1st fall: Once the bell rang they actually fought for about a minute straight to the roars of the Quality Controllers, roars that got dampened when Karyn won the fight by coming off the ropes and laying Cindy out with a running STO backbreaker.  Karyn got the upper hand for a minute or two but couldn't hold onto it.  Cindy got knees up on a KTW corner charge and then followed it up with 6 nice Meteora to get the faithful back into it and take over the offense.

The match ping-ponged like that back and forth for a while; there was even a split screen commercial where a usual break would have gone for those of us watching G+.  Towards the end of the fall it looked like Karyn was going to win out with the Circuit Breaker but Cindy used her leg and core strength to power out, sending KTW rolling to the outside.  Karyn responded to this by lifting up the stairs to grab some brass knuckles before coming back in the ring and drilling Cindy like a nail.

Cindy Monet won the first fall by disqualification at 13:38 to take a 1-0 lead.

2nd fall:  It turns out it's super easy to pin someone after you just checked your brass knuckles with their face.

Karyn Tisch-Warren won the second fall by pinfall at 13:53 to tie things up at a fall apiece.

SUDDEN DEATH: And then we got to the fireworks factory.

Karyn immediately went for a cover, because why wouldn’t you, but Cindy kicked out at 2.8.  Karyn tried a couple more times, which lead to a couple more nearfalls, then she got the Circuit Breaker on when the pins didn’t win.  

It took Monet the better part of 30 seconds to make the ropes but she eventually made it, spurring a new, louder round of “Let's go, Cindy!” chants.  Karyn argued with the referee (shocker) and walked into an inside cradle for 2, then when she went for her Spare Me powerbomb backbreaker Cindy reversed out into a Code Red that laid out Karyn.

When they both staggered up to their feet it was Cindy who got the upper hand first and then emptied the tank on Karyn.  Cindy got her people good and rowdy before going for her Tightrope but Karyn bailed out of the ring; no matter, Monet hit a tope that sent KTW up and over the announce table.  Once she recovered, Cindy tossed her in and Tightroped her down…

…but Tisch-Warren grabbed the bottom rope at 2 ¾.  Cindy thought she had won back the title only to get two reality checks - one from the referee and one from Karyn via chop block.  The relentless KTW tried for another Circuit Breaker but before she could lock it down a flurry of Monet up kicks sent Karyn flying into a nearby corner.  Cindy started a crawl towards Karyn, who kicked her and went to the top rope.  Cindy followed her up and they exchanged punches before Karyn bounced Cindy off the ring post and backdropped her onto the apron.  

The crowd groaned while Cindy groaned loudly in pain.  Karyn used the ropes to get herself back into the ring, then pulled an aching Monet to the middle and locked the Circuit Breaker in. 

To louder and louder “CINDY!” chants, Monet took most of a minute to crawl for the ropes.  She got down to 3 feet away, then 2.  Monet screamed in pain as she got within a foot of the ropes and extended herself as far as her body would allow — right before Karyn dragged her back to the middle of the ring and demanded Cindy finally give up.

It took about another 10 seconds, but to the chagrin of everyone in the Arena, Cindy shockingly did exactly that.

Karyn Tisch-Warren won the third fall via submission at 25:09 to win 2 falls to 1 and retain the Women's World championship 

Post match KTW took her belt and glared down at Cindy before getting her hand raised; you could even see a few people clapping for her.  Announce put over the fight and the champ, but as Steve started to take the show off the air he got interrupted – by The Champ, walking on the announce table.with the mic.

Her voice was a little raspier than usual but it didn't stop her from saying that she told us so - but more importantly, she loved the taste she had of being double champion but she was going to have the most celebrated double championship reign of all time.  She then challenged Autumn Powers to give her a shot at the Unified World championship but said if she did she and Cindy would both have gone down to the greatest wrestler the women's division QCW has ever seen.  Karyn ditched the mic and held up her hard earned title as Ruckus went off the air for real this time.

QCW Unleashed [s1e18 • Quality Arena]

•  Christine Kent d. Midsomar
•  Justice Davis (w/Mason "Razorblade" Savage) d. Gerry Greene (w/Ian Cook)
•  Benjamin Valentino (w/Lucius Patton) d. "Dashing" Pierce Moore (w/"These Hands" Roy Fade)
•  International Lotus (w/Scott Warren-Tisch) d. Fiona Fogg & La Flor
  

GRPL+ Presents QCW Ruckus [s3e5 • November 10, 2023]

LAST WEEK ON RUCKUS

• "Superfine" Reggie Strong made another successful defense of the GRPL+  World TV title but Jacques Krieger reminded him a title rematch is coming soon

• Karyn Tisch-Warren had a narrow win over La Flor to retain the Crush championship 

• Jason "the Great" Ward eliminated Mason “Razorblade” Savage to win a 20 man battle royale and give the Wonderful Ward Brothers the #1 seed in the Unified Contendership Challenge 

The usual open began playing but got suddenly cut off as we went to the Arena, where Drake Tremble unfortunately had a microphone and even more unfortunately had the use of his voice.  He moved into the ring to say that he would not be moved, that he was tired of being a punching bag in a place he helped put on the map long before this network or all the weed addicted abortion lovers out in the stands ever came along.  First that no-good newbie Justice Davis, then that turncoat Ted Holland, and now after two nights ago even his most dependable foot soldier Bobby Bash had gone AWOL.  But all that crap would end tonight - all that crap would end because…

At this point Duck Eko was trying to get his attention, and after a short back and forth Tremble was even madder, saying no one and nothing was going to get him off of this mic or out of this ring; he had justifiable grievances, and these quote unquote people were going to hear them.

But what they heard instead were the dulcet tones of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “This Town Ain’t Big Enough For the Both of Us”.  That brought out “Dark Mirror” Beckett Carpenter to a big pop from the crowd while Tremble fumed in the ring over having his promo cut off, amongst the other complaints he had.  Carpenter entered the ring and Drake jumped them, dropping them to the canvas and laying in some stomps before choking them with his American flag kneepad.  The referee finally got between them and forced Drake into a neutral corner before checking to see if Dark Mirror wanted to continue - you can probably guess the response that got.

| • "Dark Mirror" Beckett Carpenter ds. Drake Tremble • |

The response it got meant that the post match went longer than the match – Tremble charged after the bell only to get rocked with a spinebuster from Carpenter, who didn’t waste much time transitioning to hammer and anvil elbows.  Carpenter gave Drake a baptism of them, so much so that the crowd lost count somewhere in the mid-twenties (!) as Carpenter pounded Drake like a tent spike, a bloodied Drake feebly tapping out before 50 landed (the final count was somewhere in the 40s).  The referee literally had to pull Dark Mirror off of Drake before they got their hand raised.  DUD

Carpenter went to smacktalk Drake after getting their hand raised but Drake was out cold and bleeding out on the canvas.  Beckett grabbed Drake by the back of the head and lifted it up, staring down a clearly unconscious Tremble before throwing his head down to the canvas and rolling out of the ring.  As Carpenter went up the ramp the medical staff came down it; after a brief discussion with the referee, they called for the stretcher.  Tremble, barely moving, got loaded upon the stretcher and as it got wheeled up the ramp the Quality Controllers uncorked a “You de served it 👏 👏 👏👏👏” chant; in the background you could see Naz encouraging it and actually in agreeance with the “rabble” for once.  Steve tried to stay neutral, but Naz laughed it off and laughed at Tremble getting carted out – of course, imputing it to the undefeated streak longtime adversary Carpenter has been on ever since they appeared on the Nazir el-Fadal Show months ago.

From the announce desk, we went to the QCW Control Center, where Julius Duquesne III and Enya Face were for Bracketology.  With the Unified Contendership Challenge about to kick off in just a few minutes they were at the Center to run down the bracket for the UCC after last week's battle royale; JD3 went over the top half of the bracket.

• It's tonight's main event and it's the 6/3 matchup when the Game Changers face off against the End Times.  The beloved Game Changers are former tag champs trying to end 2023 with two title reigns under their belts while the doomsday prophets the End Times under Summer Rose's…tutelage continue to get harder, grimmer and closer to tag gold.  Keep in mind Danny Castle is a former tag champion and got the Times in the final four of the battle royale last week, so that's in play here, too.  

• The Catch Hell alums Ian Cook and Gerry Greene notched the seventh seed and will go up against #2 Justice Davis and Mason "Razorblade" Savage.  Razorblade was a surprise away from winning the battle royale last week and the former double champion teaming with his protege makes them a tourney favorite but both teams exchanged eliminations - this is one of next week's first round matches.

• Enya took over the bottom half of the bracket starting off with the #5 International Players up against the #4 Beauty and the Beast Mode.  The Players had a tag titles shot at AnIIIversary and barely came up short, but Beauty and the Beast Mode have beaten the Players before and racked up the most eliminations in the battle royale.  The winners will face off against…

• The winners of the match up next between the #8 A World of Pain and the top seeded Wonderful Ward Brothers, who come into the Challenge with extra steam.  They lost the belts to Team Batroc early in the summer and on the way to try to regain them the End Times threw them off the stage a couple of months ago.  But they came back at Devil's Night, then Jason the Great won the battle royale last week after Rich saved him from elimination – can the Wards ride the wave of momentum they have back to the Unified titles they dropped months ago?  Or will the land monster perennials DeSade and Osterberg pull an upset and use their power advantage to tilt the bracket in their favor?

We went back to the Center where Enya and Julius stood to the side of a big screen that showed off the bracket; after saying that the Wonderful Ward Brothers/A World of Pain match was up next, Enya asked JDIII if he had a pick for the Challenge.  Duquesne appeared to think about it before saying that he had to ride with his boys the International Players, then asked Enya who her pick was.   Enya said she was going with her buddies the Game Changers to win the Challenge and regain the Unified World Tag Team championships.  

JD3 counterargued for the Players, Enya countercounterargued for the Changers, and then they argued for a few beats until we went back to the Arena.

Backstage, A World of Pain was putting on their black gloves slowly before almost eclipsing the screen before they left their locker room; in another locker room, the Brothers Ward were putting on their jean vests in Canadian flag colors and hyping each other up.  A chyron came on the screen and Steve hyped that the 2023 Unified Contendership Challenge was going to kick off with the #1 seeds in action – up next!

✨

| • #1 the Wonderful Ward Brothers d. #8 A World of Pain in a first round Unified Contendership Challenge match • | The Challenge began with the former Unified Tag Team champions and #1 seeds from the Great White North going up against the land monsters of A World of Pain.  As the Wonderful Ward Brothers made their entrance GRPL+ Helpfully Reminded Us That last week Jason the Great secured the top seed due to some quick thinking–but we had to quickly drop Short Attention Span Theatre because the black hats were jumping the Wards much to the disapproval of the audience.  The behemoths got early control, causing the Wards to resort to several sleeper holds to wear them down over the course of a few minutes.  Once Jason & Rich got the upper hand, they got it and then put things to bed quickly, Jason putting “Napalm” Bob Osterberg on his back after a series of Wonder Cutters from both Wards finally felled him.  **  The win puts the Wards in the semis against the winner of the International Players vs. Beauty and the Beast Mode match next week, as the last men to hold the tag belts before Team Batroc try to make a successful return to the top of the tag team mountain.  

We got another highlight package of a great PPV, and we go back to last year's Golden Rule from the Golden State - Collipark retained the tag belts, Lolo Vuitton won a five way and the Women's title, Naz gatecrashed the main event and cashed in the TV title but got thwarted by the artist currently known as Dark Mirror, directly leading to Razorblade pinning his former tag partner and capture his first World title.  We again got stills with the letters X X and V superimposed over them, but we also got one more word that almost took up the whole screen: SOON 

| • "Superfine'' Reggie Strong d. Gerry Greene (w/Ian Cook) to retain the GRPL+ World Television championship • | “The Shame of Birmingham'' acquitted himself well enough in the battle royale last week to earn a TV title shot here and actually surprised Strong early by mixing his natural chickenshittiness with some power, even backdropping Reggie over the top rope to the floor before the match was five minutes in.  While Greene distracted the referee, his muscle Cook tossed Reggie into the steps – but the noise got the referee’s attention, and after the Quality Controllers got done snitching, Cook was ejected from ringside.  

Greene complained to the ref, which meant he took his eye off the prize - when he tried to follow up, Strong snapped off a hangman before pulling off a slingshot Blockbuster, and Reggie went from fighting from behind to taking the lead to putting away the former Catch Hell Wrestling League champion.  The Superfine Stomp was the overture, Fine and Dandy the crescendo, and just over half the time limit Reggie had notched another title defense.  **

Strong celebrated after replays and headed up the ramp, only to see Jacques Krieger on the Qualitron with one thing to say, actually: next week.

That’s it, he said “next week” and blipped off the Tron.  Before Steve could hype it up, Reggie turned to the camera closest to him and we caught him in a brief promo of his own, saying how he whooped that ass at Devil’s Night and next week wouldn’t be any different for the Face of QCW.  We went to break with Strong heading to the back and a chyron popping up hyping the title rematch against Krieger on next week’s episode of Ruckus.

✨

We got another sepia toned video package this week, though this one was a bit different in tone.  As different highlights from the stars of the women’s division played, this time an unfamiliar voice lectured us at home that all the so-called empowerment of women had done was turn them into men with ovaries, full of the same lusts, wickedness and thirst for violence.  If words were doomed to fail in the modern day QCW, then she would speak to these lessers as they demanded to be spoken to - in the language of barbarism, in the language of greed, in the language of violence…until they all found DELIVERANCE.

Despite those foreboding words, we went from that video package to another one.  But this second was a longer version of when GRPL+ Helpfully Reminds Us About Things.  In this case, the two or three minute sizzle reel began with some slo-mo footage from last week's Ruckus where La Flor challenged Karyn Tisch-Warren for the Crush championship.  Flor looked impressive early and even hitting a crisp double jump moonsault that had Karyn in trouble before she rallied to tap La Flor out with the Circuit Breaker.  

When Karyn bragged about it on Quality Social, La Flor said she was closer than maybe anybody to beating Karyn - and if she had the ovaries to give her a rematch Flor would prove it.  Sohla Patel interjected to sign off on it and within hours Commissioner Holmes approved the bout.  

| • "La Flor" d. Karyn Tisch-Warren [c, with Scott Warren-Tisch] to win the Crush championship • |  And after all that hype, probably the worst Ruckus match ever – though it would take it a few minutes for the rest of us to figure out why.  

It felt exactly like last week, except without the hatred and at a quarter of the speed.  The crowd and the announce were confused early, and then after a couple of minutes the crowd booed for the rest of the match.  They were within their rights to, as sometimes it seemed like both women sold moves that didn’t come close to hitting and again, they seemed to be fighting at .25 speed.  End came when KTW went for the Circuit Breaker and La Flor took her down in a small package that got her 3 and won her the belt, which got a small pop to break up the waves of booing. DUD

La Flor got the belt and her hand raised, only to be spun around by Karyn Tisch-Warren, who poked her in the chest – and La Flor went down like she’d been shot.  KTW stood over La Flor, and immediately went after the mask.  The referee tried to stop her, only to get shoved away, and then Tisch-Warren ripped the mask off of La Flor…

…to reveal Sohla Patel.

The referee looked agog as Karyn ripped the Crush championship out of his hands and handed it over to her partner, with the crowd alternating between shock and rancor while Naz laughed and clapped at the announce table, saying that International Lotus had put one over on the entire women’s division they swore to rule…and now that they had all the gold, they did.  The “BULLSHIT!” chants were long and loud.  They didn’t change a thing.  Scott the Simp slid into the ring and raised both women’s hands – Sohla Patel, the Crush champion and his wife Karyn Tisch-Warren, reigning supreme as the Women’s World Champion.  “Roar” played them out of the ring as they sucked up to each other, reveling in pulling off their master plan.

We got a montage of some of the seminal moments that have come to define QCW’s Modern Age over the past three+ years – we saw some of them in video packages over the past few weeks, some we haven’t seen in a while, but they were all interrupted by Commissioner Holmes.  

Holmes said that QCW had put on PPVs for the past few years and was always looking to evolve the game, always looking to put together the best possible show for their fans all around the world.  But QCW would be nothing without the people coming to the Quality Arena week after week, and for QCW’s last PPV of the year, well, this one was for them.  The crowd popped for that as you might expect and after a few beats Holmes continued, saying that a month from tonight would see QCW’s next PPV – call it XXV or 25, since it would be the 25th PPV of the Modern Era.  He couldn’t tell you what would happen on the show as of yet, but he promised every QCW fan and especially those Quality Controllers who’d stuck with them all these years.  Holmes said since he had something to talk to GRPL+ about, this would be a perfect time for a commercial break.  Before we went to ads, Holmes implied that International Lotus was essentially about to be called into the principal’s office for the stunt that they just pulled and that it might get folded into what was going to come on Ruckus next week, but we’ll see if that comes to fruition.

✨

| • Mean Season and Autumn Powers d. Shelley LaVey and The Sound of Thunder • | We came back from the break to trios action in the women's division, spurred by the last week of action.  Mean Season has had their ups and downs (winning on Ruckus last week but Gaia Green lost to Shelley LaVey on Unleashed a couple of nights ago) while their longtime partner Autumn Powers has ascended to Unified World champion.

Up against a cohesive Season as opposed to last week's mix and match trio, the Sound and LaVey quickly found themselves behind the eight ball and never really got out from behind it.  The imbalance only worsened for the black hats once The Champ made her presence felt and tagged into the match, Powers proving an easy overmatch for her opposition.  Autumn put a bow on the showcase by obliterating Bettie Rokker with a Hazy Shade to give the reunited Season the W.  **

The crowd ate it up as you might expect, and Gaia and Winter put Autumn up on their shoulders and paraded her around the ring while the Sound seethed on the floor; interestingly enough, Shelley LaVey seemed nonplussed and quietly made her way up the ramp with a shrug.

Does QCW have some dope matches coming our way next week? Does the Pope crap in the woods?

⌨️ Unleashed will feature Justice Davis against Gerry Greene and Pierce Moore vs. Benjamin Valentino ahead of their team's first round Unified Contendership Challenge matches ⌨️

At this point, Steve veered from the usual script, saying he'd gotten word from the Commissioner's office that next week's Ruckus had gotten special dispensation from GRPL+ to make next week's Ruckus a special one with limited commercial interruptions and extended run time.  Commissioner Holmes has dubbed next week's show Flashpoint and it's going to be more loaded than a rock star on New Year's Eve…

⚡ "Superfine'' Reggie Strong/Jacques Krieger II for the GRPL+ World Television championship?  Put it on the board ⚡

⚡ After the shenanigans that went down earlier, the real La Flor gets another shot at the Crush championship now held by Sohla Patel ⚡

⚡ The rest of the first round of the Unified Contendership Challenge will feature Beauty and the Beast Mode vs. the International Players and Ian Cook and Gerry Greene vs. Justice Davis and Mason "Razorblade" Savage ⚡

And we haven't even gotten to the main event yet.  Strap in for this one.

⚡For the first time in almost 40 years, QCW will have a best of 3 falls title match…but since it's 2023 it's going to be for the Women's World championship – and it's going to be the third time Karyn Tisch-Warren and Cindy Monet face off for the belt.  

It was Cindy cashing in at AnIIIversary - Karyn getting her revenge at Devil's Night - and now, at Flashpoint, we will get an undisputed Women's World champion.  It's Collipark vs. International Lotus; the Electric Android vs. the Backbreaker Bytch; it's Karyn/Cindy III for the belt ⚡

But before we get to the Flashpoint we have another first round match in the Unified Contendership Challenge, so let's get to

| • the main event • |

Muse’s “New Born” hit the PA and out came “Tiki God” Al Buffett and Ashley “THEE Influencer” Szabo came out to a good pop, firing up the faithful as they hit the ring.  Steve put over the former Unified World Tag Team champions as they posed on the turnbuckles while Naz grumblemuttered about them for obvious reasons.  

The mood in Quality Arena shifted as the music stopped and the End Times made their way to the ring through the lower concourse led by Summer Rose, looking increasingly more feral by the week and especially with her charges facing the Game Changers.  The doomsday prophets hit ringside and set aside their THE END IS NIGH and BUT MY REVENGE FIRST signs in the timekeeper’s area.  

The match started off pretty evenly in the opening minutes, leading to an in-ring Pier 4 that was won by the black hats; they eventually tossed both Buffett and Szabo shoulder first into ring posts and took over the match from there by focusing on Szabo and employing quick tags.

Danny Castle knocking the Tiki God off the apron gave the Times an opening to spike Ashley with a double flapjack for 2.  As Dr. Martin Williams continued to work over THEE Influencer, Naz mentioned on commentary that should TET win the UCC, it would put Danny Castle on the opposite side of the ring from his former partner Serge Batroc for the first time since they lost the belts three years or so ago and he’d probably been lying in wait for an opportunity for payback.  The End Times kept the upper hand and looked as if they were going to put a bow on the opening round fight when Williams tagged in Castle, only for Ashley to first Saito suplex Williams and then Saito suplex the now legal Castle onto Williams.  Ashley rolled over and tried to tag out, only for both members of the not a cult to pick her up and cut her off – still, Szabo used her core strength to counter out and hit a double DDT that laid out all opposition and gave her the space to tag in the Tiki God.

The pocket powerhouse of the Game Changers started throwing suplexes on his opponents while the Quality Controllers “TIKI GOD!” chants got louder and louder in the Arena.  Even when it looked like the End Times had bottled him up and were going to uncork a double superplex to prove it, Al used his strength to deposit them both on the canvas with a double gourdbuster before hitting the legal Castle with a nice 450 splash.  Buffett hooked the leg to end it, but Castle rolled over to pull Al off of the cover at 2 ¾.

Ashley came into the ring to go after Castle, who seemingly had her in his sights - but when she ducked, Castle accidentally floored Dr. Williams with a clothesline.  Castle went to check on his partner, but that gave Al the opening he needed to tag in Ashley.  Szabo went up to the top rope and Al put Castle in an electric chair position, but Castle slipped out the back and shoved Al into the corner, slipping Ashley from the top and sending Buffett down in a heap in his own corner before he rolled out to the floor limply.  Castle focused on Szabo, pulling her some distance from the ropes before delivering a rope hanging version of his Carnage rolling neckbreaker, Szabo folding like a K/3 offsuit into the mat.  

Dr. Williams was on the apron demanding the tag and got it, but when they went for their finisher Al tackled Castle and it left Dr. Williams to come down from the top rope and toss Buffett – but it left him open to walk into a small package from Szabo, who held hm down…for 2 ¾.  Both got to their feet at the same time, then Dr. Williams tried to charge Szabo with a lariat that she ducked.  Williams kept moving as fast as he could, bouncing off the ropes where Szabo matadored him on the rebound and sent him flying into the ropes – but it was too close to Castle, who tagged himself in and got a running start down the apron to PK Al Buffett and almost sent the Tiki God’s head into the second row.  Castle ascended to the top as Williams snuck up on THEE Influencer and chop blocked her, then put her on his shoulders for the Electric Chair.  Castle gathered himself on the top rope before flying off with a vicious tornado DDT to complete what his squad calls the Reckoning.  Al tried to get in the ring for a save but Summer Rose tripped him on the floor, the three count went down, and the End Times had advanced to the semifinals of the UCC.  ***

 

| • #3 the End Times (w/Summer Rose) d. #6 the Game Changers in a first round Unified Contendership Challenge match • | 

Al looked as despondent after the replays as Summer looked full of unhinged joy, the referee’s raising the hands of her nonplussed lackeys in victory.  With the victory, the End Times advance to the semifinals of the Challenge to face the winners of Gerry Greene & Ian Cook vs. Justice Davis & Razorblade.  The End Times took their signs and left through the lower concourse holding them high while Al and the referee checked on Ashley, who was just getting to a sitting position.  The credits box came up as the End Times disappeared into the night, with Steve encouraging us to set our DVRs for extra time next week for what was going to be an epic Ruckus presents, a Flashpoint that would determine the future of Quality Championship Wrestling.  See you next week when QCW continues to bring the mother loving Ruckus!