📺 live on FanDuel Sports Network Florida
📍 Quality Arena in Parts Unknown, FLA time lapse video opened up Ruckus, showing us how the sky high chamber was made replete with four pods encased with plexiglass and platforms on top of them. Steel chain encases and connects the LockUp structure, which will make its debut in the main event at AnniVersary when the Republic battle (for lack of a better term) Team Holmes where the winning side will earn their figurehead the disputed Commissionership.
Standard open rolled from there - and the Parts Unknown streets are hot on a Friday night. Another rabid sold out crowd for Ruckus, and Steve Vandeblanche and Carl Christensen welcomed us to the show. Tonight's main event will be Pyotr Caviar against Razorblade in a LockUp team advantage match, and we’ll also get Luz Cruz v. Lolo Vuitton to see who’ll get a shot at the Women's World championship at AnniVersary but tonight's action began with the QCW debut of the Catch Hell Wrestling League tag team champions…two proud Irishmen who look to lay claim to the unofficial title of best tag team in the world at AnniVersary and become double champions in the process.
1. Catch Hell Wrestling League World Tag Team champions the Undaunted d. The End Times (w/the Chosen) at 8:50 in a non-titles match You know what's an easy way to get people cheered in their first Quality Arena appearance? Put them up against QCW’s resident zealots and let logic do the rest. Tim “the Only Hope” McMurray and “Unforgettable” Dave Mullin came out to a decent reaction, one that only got boosted when they came out of the gate strong, taking the Times down with double hip tosses and alley oop splashes. But things took a turn when on orders from Caleb Gray, Justice Davis hopped up on the apron and began halfheartedly arguing with the referee before Drake Tremble shoved JD into the ref. Understandably the zebra took offense and ejected Davis, who himself was pissed at Tremble. Goody Gardner tried to broker peace in her stable on the outside while in the ring Mullin fell victim to a backdrop into a powerbomb that allowed the men from Crockett Island to take over as Davis stomped off to the back…and after some hesitation, Goody ended up following him. Danny Castle and Dr. Martin Williams continued working over Mullin for the next couple of minutes while for the first time we saw some real dissension between Gray and his first acolyte Tremble on the floor. Despite the bickering, the Times had Mullin in position for their devastating finisher the Reckoning only for Mullin to avoid the tornado DDT Doomsday Device by planting Castle with a rewind rana. Dr. Williams tried to cut him off from making the hot tag but Dave backdropped him onto Castle and brought the fresh McMurray into the fray. Tim might’ve been the smallest man in the fray but what he lacked in bulk he made up in speed, becoming a white, orange and green blur the Times simply couldn't catch. An already exasperated Purifier almost punched through his trademark wide brimmed black hat as Mullin took his allies down, culminating in Mullin hitting a double Stundog Millionaire before tagging in a revitalized McMurray and the Catch Hell champs put Dr. Williams down for the count with their Air Ireland finisher (a Doomsday Meteora, if you can believe that). As they were getting their hands raised the lights cut off in the arena; when they came back on, Hysteria was in the ring as expected…but the Undaunted were on the ramp holding their championships while pointing and laughing at Team Spooky trying and failing to jump them. The Undaunted went to both sides of the ramp and posed with the Catch Hell Wrestling League tag team championships while Hysteria fumed in the ring that their plan had failed.
Before the commercial break we took a special look back at AnIIIversary from two years ago. This one originated from Center Stage Theater in ATL: Team Batroc beat the International Players to retain the QCW World Tag Team championships, Karyn Tisch-Warren cheated to beat "Night Sky" Diana Spare, win the Women's World championship and send Spare out of town - then fell victim to a Cindy Monet cash in and loses the belt 9 seconds later, sending Cindy's hometown fans in a frenzy. The show ended with Naz on commentary clowning Autumn Powers for failing to win the World title.
2. Serge Batroc d. Lucius Patton at 7:41 Serge came out in a silk shirt unbuttoned to the navel and gold chains to a new song (KMFDM’s “Juke Joint Jezebel”) while Steve brought up he must've come into some francs selling Pyotr Caviar’s contract to Ig de Catur a few weeks ago. Back from an evidently fabulous European vacation, Batroc took the still mostly listless Patton to school - at one point literally, as while he was dominating Sweet Lu on the mat he reversed a front facelock pretty easily into a front chancery and was loud enough to be heard describing to Patton how to properly apply the hold for maximum leverage. He was right, but still. Serge won the showcase definitively and secured the win with the Arc de Triumph; both the referee and Duck Eko got a little cash for their troubles by a beaming Serge after the match.
From there we went TOTHEBACK~!, where Julius Duquesne III brought out the Undaunted for an interview. JD3 congratulated them on their win to kick off the show and Tim McMurray said that winning in Quality Arena felt so good they had to do it again - so they were accepting Hysteria's challenge and would see them at AnniVersary with the QCW Tag Team championships on the line. Tim said that the lasses had lost their minds before and now they were going to lose their belts. Some remained delusional, some remained Undaunted…and some b-word witches would remain ex champions after AnniVersary. The lads flashed the Catch Hell Wrestling League tag team titles before walking off screen, JD3 delightedly hyping the new addition to the PPV this month before throwing things to “the Voice of QCW” Duck Eko to make the intros for the next match…
3. The Republic (QCW World champion Omar Littlefield & Pyotr Caviar w/Ig de Catur & Republic Security) d. “Swamp Pride” Ted Holland and Robert E. Moonshine at 4:57 Appropriate that we’re heading into fall because the bruisers of the Republic served up a fat helping of squash here, even pulling up the outmatched Southern steeped fan favorites from a few pinfall “attempts” while Ig cackled his black heart out on the floor watching the destruction. Pyotr catapulted poor Holland into a Face Eraser from The Champ, who made the ref count to 5 on the pin. Ig screeched at the camera that punishment like that was what Orion was in for in the main event against Malicía Fernandez, and if Naz or Razorblade thought about getting involved they’d get wiped out like these two chumps. The Republic headed to the back as Ruckus headed to commercials.
Back from the break, we saw Scott Holmes in his office before Nazir el-Fadal flung the door open to stand across the desk from the once and possibly future Commissioner he’d never gotten along with. Naz immediately reiterated that fact, saying that after being screwed out of the World title by Ig and his goon Omar he was hell bent on bringing them down…but since he was going out of his way to help out Superstar Scotty, he was damn sure going to get a favor out of him for helping him out and getting him back in the big chair around here. The favor was simple: once he led Team Jihad to victory at AnniVersary, give him Omar and his rematch for the World title at Dia de los Muertos next month so he could make even more history and become the first man ever to hold the QCW World title for a 4th time. Holmes seemed to think it over for a few beats before saying that worked for him, but once those things happened they were at square one and free to hate each other as much or slightly less as they wanted. Nazir stared down Holmes before offering a handshake, which surprised Scott; Holmes looked at the hand before giving Naz a once over and shaking it, which seemed to come as a bit of a surprise to Naz as the rivals for nearly five years straight popped the Quality Controllers seemed to reach an accord. But the moment was ruined slightly when Naz pulled Holmes forward, almost getting nose to nose with his longtime adversary before hissing that if Holmes screwed him over this time he’d one up Scott and put Holmes in a wheelchair…permanently. Naz spun on a heel and stomped off, leaving Holmes to stare daggers at his back before we returned to the ring for a trios match…
4. The All Starr Stable (w/S. Mark Starr) dtko John Arneson, Ashok Banjerjee and Jacques Krieger at 12:34 This trios match came forth from last week’s Ruckus, where Arneson beat Evan O'Neill in a singles bout only to get jumped by the rest of the Stable after with BanjerKriegs (they're still working on a name) making the save to keep John from seriously getting injured. After a feeling out process, Arneson began to nudge the scale towards the babyfaces by being not only quicker but stronger than Prince Ootsuka, the 5’2” newcomer to QCW making camera phones all across QA pop off by doing multiple presses of the Stable’s Prince before depositing him with a military powerslam. Arneson tagged in Ashok Banjerjee and they teamed up on a double flapjack that got 2 for the two time former Catch Hell champion. Ashok continued his side’s roll against the Prince, but a whip into the ropes set up a blind tag to Evan O'Neill, who then blind tagged in his running buddy “Upper Class” Broderick Palmer II. Ashok missed both tags and found himself on the wrong end of an O'Neill backdrop into a sitout Palmerbomb that tilted the match in the Stable’s favor and had Starr applauding his team from the bottom of the ramp.
Palmer II continued to wear down Ashok, and while he himself kept things above board he also magically provided the openings for cheap shots from O’Neill and Ootsuka behind the referee's back. After kicking away an attempted backdrop from a recovering Ashok, BPII speared Banjerjee down before looking to end things with his Class Dismissed - but Ashok shut down the Killswitch attempt and hit a spinning falling back suplex to leave them both on the mat. Both men tried to fight off the other after taking a seven count from the referee but ended up kicking each other with big boots almost simultaneously that sent them crumbling to the mat but also towards their corners. It was Krieger and O’Neill who got the hot tags and that was a fight the white hats wanted as the bigger Krieger would win it with his heavy right hands. A desperate Evan would rake the eyes and hit the ropes, only for Krieger to follow him and clothesline him out to the floor. The rest of the Stable checked on their unofficial leader only for all of them to be wiped out by a massive Krieger wrecking ball dropkick that cleared the decks of every wrestler in the Stable. Krieger scared the crap out of his old manager before throwing Evan back in the ring and tagging in Arneson so both of them could sandwich Evan with pump knee strikes. John went to cover but Broderick made the save and in short order a Pier 6 had broken out.
The babyfaces cleared the ring to a pop. Arneson tossed Evan back in the ring, and then had to dodge a charging Palmer II who went flying into the barricade. But in the ring, O’Neill crawled like a toddler to get over and tag Ootsuka; the Prince got the eye of the referee before hiding out by the apron. Arneson dragged Evan out of the corner to set him up for his finisher but as he went up for his Natural 20 Ootsuka suddenly began choking Arneson out with a cobra clutch having slithered into the ring behind the Cold-Forged Hammer’s back. Ootsuka locked in a body scissors to complete Bow Down, then O’Neill suddenly popped up from under the ring and yanked Ashok off the apron so he could give him a spear on the floor; Jacques hit the ring but Palmer II leapt forward and smothered Jacques’ legs from around the corner. Arneson didn't tap out but he went to sleep after a mild struggle. The ref checked his arm and called for the bell after it fell limp to the mat. Ootsuka didn't let go until Krieger finally shook loose of BP2, causing the Prince to roll out of the ring and join his associates celebrating on the floor. The Stable surrounded the Prince and cheered their win while Krieger checked on Arneson, who took a couple beats to come around. Ootsuka stared down Arneson and gestured that he was too short to bang with him before heading to the back with his teammates cackling behind him, O’Neill taking special glee in watching the man who’d beaten him last week, hitting Arneson with the Miller/Haliburton two handed choke sign before letting out a man’s laugh and heading to the back.
Backstage before the break, we saw Naomi Lee standing by to interview Luz Cruz. Cruz expressed some sadness over not being able to get the World Tag Team championships with Women's World champion “Night Sky” Diana Spare last week but confessed that despite earning Spare's respect at Cruel Summer she still wanted the Women's World title back. Naomi pointed out that not only had she lost to Diana at Cruel Summer, fellow former Women's World champion Lolo Vuitton made a lot of noise about going after Diana and the title herself last week. Luz calmly stated that if Lolo felt that way about it, she could fight Luz next week for the #1 contendership and the winner would earn their way to a title shot at AnniVersary. Luz was ready for the fight - but was Lolo? Cruz stared down the barrel of the camera while Nao started to throw to commercial - only for Beast Mode to pull up on their way to the ring for the semi man tag coming up next. Lolo, flanked by Roy Fade and Pierce Moore per usual got right in Luz’s face and said she couldn't wait to clown Lolo next week because she was going to succeed where Luz had failed; in fact, Cruz could get a taste of what was in store for her when she watched the beatdown her boys put on the nose diving fly boys right now. Luz looked like she was thinking about going after Lolo but the guys in Beast Mode took a couple steps towards Cruz before scoffing and turning, the flashy trio leaving Luz and Naomi behind to spread swagger all over backstage. Steve hyped up Fade and Moore vs. Tre Boyd and Kam Ellis from Sky’s the Limit – NEXT!
5. Tre Boyd and Kam Ellis (w/the Cooper Brothers) d. Beast Mode (w/Lolo Vuitton) by disqualification at 10:40 A rematch in the months long feud between Mode and Sky’s the Limit since the vets out of LA turned on the Air Force alumni ended up with StL winning the battle but Mode winning the war. The match ping ponged back and forth early. It didn't exactly come as a shock that Tre could handle Pierce Moore but after the Dashing One raked the eyes so he could tag in the bruising Roy Fade, the former Golden Gloves winner hit the ring and bottled up Boyd by pushing him into neutral corners before teeing off with body shots. Once Boyd had been weakened, Moore was tagged back in and tried the same offense but obviously not to the same effects. But Moore did have success in going after the neck of Boyd to set up his Fresh To Death cutter, most noticeably following up a Stun Gun with a neckbreaker for a nearfall. Mode kept rolling along…right until they went to end things with their Dashing Decision and Boyd shoved Moore off into the charging Fade. With the black hats temporarily laid out, Tre eventually nipped up, flipped forward and tagged out. Kam hit the ring and the biggest man in the match literally started throwing his weight around, lighting up both Mode members with suplexes before taking them both down with a missile dropkick. Fade & Moore tried to recover on the floor but all that got them was an Orihara moonsault from the California King. A fired up Ellis beat on the announce table before tossing Moore back in the ring and planting him with a Blue Thunder bomb to stifle an attempted Dashing rally. Ellis went to the top rope but Lolo hopped up on the apron to provide a distraction. Kam waved her off and flew into the ring with a beautiful Shooting Star press – only for Fade to knock him out as he was coming down with a set of brass knuckles to end the match by getting intentionally DQed.
With Kam down, Beast Mode made sure they would win the uneven fight; first, as the Cooper Brothers tried to make the save, a suddenly revitalized Moore leapt off the mat and planted them both at the same time with his venomous Fresh To Death, then Lolo flirted with Tre long enough to make him forget that Fade was in the ring as well. “These Hands” spun the Gospel and planted one on his chin with the knucks. A scowling Fade shoved Boyd into the corner as Lolo came around the horn and drilled the Limit’s leader with a Bloody Shoe that dropped him on his ass in the corner. Lolo made sure she could be heard loud enough without a mic as she bragged to the camera that she was just a pair of Bloody Shoes away from being decked out in gold once again; now after being fake and getting held back for too damn long, Beast Node was going to take all the turns. They left Sky's the Limit in their wake and used the ramp to get their running walk on to the back.
Let's climb aboard the hype train with Steve and Carl to find out what's on deck for 💫 next week's Ruckus 💫; a special look back at last year's AnnIVersary | the debut of Jonathan Livingston Clipper, Esq. | And in a one on one to determine which side gets the team advantage at AnniVersary for the LockUp match, Pyotr Caviar will go one on one with Mason “Razorblade” Savage
Next up was the main event, a Cruel Summer rematch with the National championship on the line…
6. Orion d. Malicía Fernandez [c, w/Ig de Catur, the Republic and Republic Enforcement] to win the National championship (?) at 13:07 And would you look at what we have here; Orion not only went up 2-1 in their months long rivalry but put a crack in the Republic’s firewall by snatching away Omar's insurance against future cash ins and apparently the National title in the process (only other champions were Caleb and Razorblade before Malicía). After the championship lighting went away and the bell rang, Orion came at Fernandez in a full sprint before laying her out with a satellite DDT and getting a 2½ in the opening 10 seconds. And things continued rolling on for the Cosmic Superstar early, as they pressed their advantage and used their speed to change levels on Malicía to keep wearing them down. On commentary, former champion Carl pointed out that Orion wasn't letting the pressure of a championship match get to them outwardly and was putting together a hella tight offensive.
It didn't take much longer for the Announcer’s Curse to strike, as around 90 seconds after his compliment Orion sent La Monstrua ass over teakettle and looked to follow up with a Shining Wizard only for Malicía to not only block it but catch Orion and splatter her all over the canvas like a Pollock with a massive powerbomb. When Orion finally staggered up Malicía hit them with a big boot that sent them over the top rope before landing awkwardly on the floor. Fernandez shook feeling in her knee before rolling out of the ring, but she still had enough of a base to send Orion flying over the steps after an Irish whip. It looked like Malicía's rampage was done there, except that after rolling in and back out of the ring to break the count, she drove Orion into the apron with a sidewalk slam. Fernandez shoved Orion back into the ring before stepping back in over the top rope herself and continued the beatdown while Ig continued to sing her praises as the best National champion of all time on the floor. The luchadora began to pick apart Orion, who showed some fight with a few flurries…but each time they did, all it took was one massive shot from Malicía to send them crashing back down to the canvas.
The worst blow seemed to come when Fernandez caught a dropkick attempt from Orion and tossed them in the air before letting them crash sternum first to the mat. You could hear Orion’s hacking coughs right until Fernandez came off the ropes and buried a somersault axe kick in the back of their head. Malicía made a cover, but Orion kicked out at 2¾. The kick out had Fernandez shaking her head, but she stayed on the attack and laid in some mocking kicks to the side of the head; when Orion tried in vain to fight from underneath Malicía snatched them up by the mask and said something definitely unfriendly in Spanish before delivering a crisp MF5 right into the QCW logo in the middle of the ring. Malicía hooked both legs on the cover, only for Orion to narrowly survive with a kick out at 2.8 or 2.9. Malicía looked over to a furious Ig, who barked at her to finish the job. Fernandez nodded before making the sign of the cross behind Orion's back. Fernandez pulled up Orion for the Death Warrant, causing Orion to land a sudden step up enzuigiri. That rattled Malicía so Orion landed another, but when they went to complete the trifecta Fernandez ducked it before delivering the Warrant so hard the recoil from the impact even knocked Malicía on her ass. Fernandez let out a small grin as she went for the cover…and just like what happened in their initial match at Mayday Payday, Orion hooked Malicía in an inside cradle that got the shocking three count. New champion! New champion! Let the Quality Controllers rise up and cheer!
Orion was on their back in the ring while Malicía looked absolutely stunned. Razorblade came down the ramp and applauded while Fernandez complained to the referee she’d kicked out (and she had, just a half second late). Duck Eko was putting extra sauce in his voice but as he was winding up to announce the new champion, de Catur shoved him down. Even worse, Omar Littlefield snatched the National championship from the falling Duck’s hand and just to put a broken glass cherry on this shit sundae, smashed the National championship repeatedly against the steps until it was broken, disfigured, and you might even say scarred. Razorblade made a charge towards Omar and Ig but found himself cut off by REnforcement as Ig gathered his troops and had the Republic march out through the crowd, the whole time yell-screeching about how that didn't happen, that never happened and there was no way that Orion was the National champion. REnforcement kept Razorblade at bay before leaving themselves, turning what should have been a moment of triumph into one of confusion and sadness as Ruckus faded to black.
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