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.
No comments:
Post a Comment