Quality Arena | Parts Unknown, FL
Aired live on GRPL+ | July 12th, 2024
Steve Vandeblanche and Carl Christensen on commentary, the Voice of QCW Duck Eko handled the ring announcing
1. Omar Littlefield d. “the Proper King Richard Windsor in a non-title match at 2:36 Omar put Richard’s usual partner on the shelf a couple of months ago and Windsor was out for revenge. He did not get it. He did not come close to getting it, though he had a brief flurry at the beginning before Omar almost launched him from the ring with a Pounce. The squash ended 2 Vader Bombs and a Face Eraser later. Post match Omar feinted sending Windsor to the hospital but settled for chasing the ref to the back instead.
Just kidding, he came back to the ring and hit another Face Eraser. The rookie monster seems ready to defend the Fifteen Pounds of Gold come Sunday night against Autumn Powers.
Once Omar stomped off to the back for good, Steve entered the ring and said that he had some news he just got from the Commissioner that he thought everyone in the building should hear - that AnnIVersary, their biggest PPV of the year is returning to the Arena on September 8th, with tickets going on sale once next week's Ruckus goes off the air. He put over the fact that they were going to not just have the biggest show of QCW’s moderna era but QCW history period, so why wouldn't you want to be in the building for that if you could? Steve thanked everyone for their time before heading back to the desk and resuming his duties for the next match:
2. Mean Season d. Justine Danek and Bella Jolie of Hysteria (w/Bonnie Agrippa and Nancy Crowley) at 7:34 In their first run with the company, both Justine and Bella had long standing issues with Mean Season so this tag match here showed all four women going at it with gusto. With the advantage of being a team longer, Mean Season was able to fight out of a rough patch and managed to land a tandem wheelbarrow implant DDT to pick up the victory.
Season won the battle but lost the war, as Bonnie and Nancy hit the ring and eventually with a four on two advantage Hysteria laid Gaia and Winter out. Bonnie started to cut a promo only to have the noise from the crowd alert her Something Was Up. Luz Cruz ran down the ramp and headed for the ring but barely got to her feet in it before Justine wiped her out with a Buckshot lariat; it sent Luz’s head back and to the left before she went down in a heap. Bonnie pointed to the carnage around her and said with Hysteria behind her it was only a matter of time before the group had control of the Women's World championship. As for her Crush championship – well, now that she had put a couple more Ls on Shelley LaVey's name she was in more of a giving mood. Agrippa then made the biggest possible open challenge she could, daring any woman from any locker room to come to Cruel Summer and take the Crush championship out of her hands. Agrippa warned any woman who would try her luck against her, she and Hysteria would take whatever was thrown at them and return it four fold before snapping her fingers and disappearing her crew in the darkness once again. Refs came down once the lights came back on to check on Mean Season and Luz Cruz going into commercials.
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3. Nazir el-Fadal and International Lotus d. Ashok Banjerjee, Luz Cruz and Lolo Vuitton at 13:29 As will happen sometimes on a go home show, two PPV matches get twinned together for a tag match; announce hyped both the Women's World and World TV title matches on Sunday in the crevices of the trios match. Cruz insisted that she was good to go after what happened right before the commercial break but her handful of moments in the ring she looked loopy and got handled pretty easily no matter who she was in there against. This left Ashok and Lolo to cover Cruz's share of the team, something that wasn't sustainable against three former (maybe not so former after this weekend) World champions. Naz and Lotus worked well together as they've been loose associates since he return; after wiping out Ashok with a hip toss Michinoku Driver on the floor the black hats played Whack-A-Lolo to finish the fight as Sohla's Ninth Incarnation set up Karyn's Spare Me to pave the way for a dose of Nazquil to close things out. Post match the heels made sure to smacktalk their opponents in 48 hours before exchanging hugs. You’d think there’d be no such thing as a scummy hug, and yet four happened in a row…
Backstage promo with Julius Duquesne III, Super Avión and Roberto Villalobos - they were all smarn and sneers after Roberto made his brother Ricardo (tracks Crusazdo del Oro) lie down for him in a contract match last week so that he could get reinstated. Roberto said that his brother was lucky he didn't get his weak ass stomped out again and Avión said that now QCW was going to see what he could do when he had a real partner backing him up. Later tonight they'd debut as Asesinos Aereos and show QCW - hell, the world - what lucha libre at the highest altitudes looked like. JD3 had follow up questions about Ricardo and the signing of El Vengador de Gente Jr to the roster but they laughed off the former and dismissed the latter with a scoff before leaving the set.
4. The End Times d. the Wonderful Ward Brothers, Beauty and the Beast Mode and Team Batroc in a fatal four way at 14:42 This came about after a triple threat between the other teams was ruined by the End Times returning and laying them all out, and it served as an amuse bouche for some of what's to come Sunday in the tag team turmoil match to fill the vacant Unified World Tag Team championships.
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Given the one fall to a finish nature of this match as opposed to the Turmoil that’ll happen at Cruel Summer, we got a blend of the expected (Team Batroc having heat with all three teams given their histories but nobody being able to stop Pyotr Caviar without some help, the Players and Wards being able to work together at least until the pin attempts started) and the unexpected (Serge hitting a crossbody to the floor to save Pyotr from the rest of the field and end a dive train, there was a moment down the stretch where Team Batroc had to save their former stablemates the Brothers Wars from losing to the Wards and a few beats later the Players broke up what would've been a Wards pinfall by Rich on Serge). The end came when the End Times hit the Reckoning (a tornado DDT version of the Doomsday Device) on Jason “the Great” Ward and Danny Castle (Serge's partner forever ago) pinned one of the men he’d thrown off the ramp months ago. Announce put over their win, noting they were the only team in the match that weren't former champions but they could become current champions with their devastating finisher and some help with the luck of the draw on Sunday.
We got a video package mostly centered around what happened in QCW Headquarters down the block from the Arena earlier this week - luchador El Vengador de Gente Jr. officially signing his QCW contract as both Commissioner Holmes and minority owner Ig de Catur watched on approvingly. A subtitled Vengador talked about wanting to hold QCW gold as he did in Lucha Salvaje and knew he would in time but there was a wrong he had to right first. Yo soy El Vengador de Gente Jr, y mi palabra… es la ley. (My word is the law.)
5. Asesinos Aereos d. “Swamp Pride Ted Holland and Robert E. Moonshine at 6:22 Following that clip, the team of Super Avión and Roberto Villalobos debuted for the first time and had little trouble in polishing off the Southern boys, ending things with a tandem 450° splash. Things didn't get any better for Robert and Ted post match, as the Qualitron flashed m I d n 1 g h t over and over again until Iron Maiden hit the PA. Hockey Mask and the hulking Mohawk from the past few weeks of vignettes walked down the ramp and laid out the already laid out Robert and Ted, dropping them both with something like a Total Elimination that was less “kicky” and more “lariat your face off”. Iron Maiden never stopped playing as they headed to the back; after they did the Qualitron said
f @ l l 0 u t
m 3 l t d 0 w n
w @ s t 3 l a n d e r s
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6. The Game Changers d. Witchfinder General and Goody Gardner in a weapons match at 10:33 This match was supposed to happen a few shows ago but the holy rollers forfeited it rather than participate; Commissioner Holmes announced this as a make good on Quality Social earlier in the week and after the holy rollers complained threatened another forfeit would make Witchfinder forfeit his National Championship to Ashley THEE Influencer instead of them having their scheduled Cruel Summer title match.
In a mirror of the earlier trios match, Witchfinder took too long to adapt to the kind of match (while frighteningly Goody was setting up a table less than 90 seconds in like she had bingo hall blood in her veins). Gardner busted Al open by throwing him headfirst into a chair propped up in a corner, which looked like it would turn the tide for Team Bible - but seeing Goody not only jump Al again but bust him open awakened something unholy in Ashley who ran wild down the stretch getting her revenge. Ashley pulled the Tiki God out of WG’s Repent before upper cutting him and leaving his mouth bloody - it turned out Szabo had hidden a pair of handcuffs in her hand with the punch and she used them to handcuff the National Champion to the ropes. Goody soon pulled herself off the canvas and went full throttle at Ashley only for Al to low bridge her out to the apron before hitting her with a uranagi through the table she set up earlier. The end came as Witchfinder had to watch Goody eat a chair assisted Face Reality; Ashley stared him down during the three count while mouthing “You're next.”
Before the big announcement of the evening, Steve and Carl ran down the card for Cruel Summer while the ring crew cleaned up the mess and cut a seething Witchfinder loose:
On the preshow, the Wastelanders will debut against “Swamp Pride Ted Holland and Robert E. Moonshine and 3/4ths of Hysteria (Nancy, Justine and Bella) will be in trios action against Luz Cruz and Mean Season. Every match at the PPV on the main card has a title on the line.
Deeper dive.
☀️🌴 Witchfinder General will face off against Ashley THEE Influencer Szabo with the National Championship on the line in a rematch of the Duquesne Classic finals 🌴☀️
☀️🌴 Bonnie Agrippa made an open challenge for her Crush championship 🌴☀️
☀️🌴 There will be a tag team turmoil match eight teams deep and the winners will be crowned the new Unified World Tag Team champions 🌴☀️
☀️🌴 GRPL+ World Television champion Ashok Banjerjee looks to defend the belt against his toughest opponent yet, Grand Slam winner Nazir el-Fadal 🌴☀️
☀️🌴 This one's been over a year in the making, ex partners collide when Lolo Vuitton defends her Women's World championship against her ex bestie, Karyn Tisch-Warren of International Lotus ☀️🌴
☀️🌴 And in the main event, Omar Littlefield defends the Unified World Championship against former champ, the Final Woman, Autumn Powers. 🌴☀️
Washington D.C. is sold out - QCW avoided one local curse there - so if you want to catch Cruel Summer you gotta order it on PPV!
We went back to the ring, where the slightly bloodied Game Changers were standing on the apron, both Al and Ashley's faces going through emotions like a revolving door. And on that cheery note, “This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both of Us” hit the PA.
Out strode “Dark Mirror” Beckett Carpenter in street gear. They exchanged brief nods with the Game Changers before hugging Duck, getting the mic and hitting the ring - but not really to cut a promo, just to talk. Beckett said they stood proud in this ring because they went above and beyond to get noticed so that they could be heard. WarGames, announcing their non binary status, finding real allies like Al and Ashley, going to war in the Best of 5 and holding the Fifteen Pounds of Gold even if it was only for a few minutes. They forced Commissioner Holmes to look inward when they changed the game with their announcement, and a lot of looking inward led them to this moment - when they had to announce that they were retiring.
It took two minutes for the ripples from that to settle - there was crying from Al, from Steve and plenty of Quality Controllers. Carl got bleeped out and quickly apologized. Ashley consoled Al and shook her head.
The only person who didn't seem sad was Carpenter, who said that they weren't dying, just retiring. Their aim had been to change QCW for the better and to make it a place where those like them could know that they could come here, be accepted, and if they wanted a Triple Crown they'd sure as hell have to fight for it…but it could still end up on their shelf. Mirror just really wanted to say a farewell to the fans, stans and haters - and let them know that changing the game was what they came to QCW to do and they did, so if the game played on without them, well ..it wasn't the worst thing in the world.
Mirror put their mic down and saluted the Quality Controllers, who were chanting “THANK YOU, MIRROR!” so loud the cameras were wobbling a little. Al and Ashley hugged the usually reticent Carpenter, who let out a big sigh and hugged their former stablemates.
It was a feel-good moment to end feel-good moments…until it got ruined by the sound of someone's deep and deeply obnoxious laughter. Omar Littlefield walked out on the stage and told Carpenter to cut the crap and got a tidal wave of boos as a result .
Omar said that Mirror needed to admit that the real reason they were retiring was him - that he'd spent all year kicking their ass, hell, practically inventing new ways to kick their ass, and now he’d taken them out of the place they helped build because it was his now. He explained as he came down the ramp that it was an old trick he’d learned in the yard: find the biggest guy in it and drop them. Carpenter wasn't the biggest size wise but had one of the biggest names, and they led him right to the belt. He was within shouting distance of the Triple Crown after four months when it took Mirror four years of scarring themselves. As Omar came up the steps, he told Mirror it was time to admit they were retiring because Omar had knocked them the eff out last month and they were still recovering from it. Admit they were retiring because of him breaking their clavicle. Omar got in the ring and in Carpenter’s face.
“Admit you're retiring because of me…and I won't put you in a wheelchair. How about that?”
And with those two sentences, Omar Littlefield caused so much heat in the building it almost caught on fire again. The boos rattled the cheap seats and cameras alike, Mirror fumed and Carl let out an all-time call of “.......man, eff that guy!” Mirror stewed, glaring up at Omar and slowly brought the mic up to their mouth.
“Listen here. You –” was as far as Carpenter got before the Game Changers came roaring out of the corner and started throwing hands on The Champ, the crowd erupted with cheers as Al and Ashley started to make Omar pay for his words, only for Littlefield to suddenly get some separation on the former Unified World Tag Team champions before hitting a Pounce on Al that sent him flying into Ashley and laid them both out.
Littlefield wheeled around and was headed for Carpenter when “Mota” hit the PA and out came Autumn Powers to another big pop from the crowd. Littlefield turned his attention towards the ramp, and that's exactly when both Game Changers popped back up and popped Omar in the head with glass tubes they weren't able to get to in the weapons match. Autumn started running down the ramp as Al and Ashley emptied the tank, cracking a few more glass tubes over Omar's head as Autumn came down and pulled him out of the ring. Mirror looked on from the ring with a small grin as longtime rivals Autumn and the Game Changers swarmed Omar, and once he was down to a knee Autumn put him on his back with a Hazy Shade of Autumn. Carpenter bowed in front of Steve and Carl before clearing the announce table, then moved off to the side as the Changers exchanged Mirroresque grins. On the same wavelength, Al and Ashley grabbed Omar and hit him with a double uranagi that had him laid out on the table like a Sunday dinner. Omar was splayed out on the table - and as Mirror looked on from the floor, Autumn climbed up to the top rope before pointing at Omar.
Then the former Unified World champ flew off with a diving double foot stomp that sent Omar through the table to the roars of the crowd and yelps of glee from Al and Ashley. Autumn briefly held up the Fifteen Pounds of Gold before dumping it on Omar's splayed out body, and the camera was close enough to hear her say when she had it in her hands Sunday night she’d be walking out of D.C. as The Champ once again. Ruckus faded to black with Autumn getting dap from Al and Ashley before shaking hands with her longtime rival Beckett, who said something to her before raising her hand to another big pop. Sunday night on PPV, it’s the former champ and the Final Woman against the rookie monster and The Champ with the Fifteen Pounds of Gold on the line! Be there!
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