A recap video package showed highlights from last week’s 4th Anniversary Ruckus, most notably Science Fiction Double Feature winning a ten team battle royale to become the #1 contenders to Hysteria’s titles and Nazir el-Fadal getting screwed out of the World title against Omar Littlefield by a low blow, a crooked ref & a fast count. A furious Scott Holmes fired the referee but they got a fine severance via Ig de Catur and a briefcase bricked up with hundred dollar bills - and Holmes’ fury was light beer compared to the One Man Jihad’s incandescent rage.
Instead of the usual opening stinger, things on Ruckus kicked off with Steve Vandeblanche in the ring. He thanked us for tuning in but noted that we weren't watching to see him but might be looking forward to hearing what his guest had to say - the #1 contender to the World title, Mason “Razorblade” Savage! “Unscripted Violence” brought out the wildly popular Savage, who came down the steps of Quality Arena amidst the cheering Quality Controllers. Savage took the back pats and cheers in stride before entering the ring and shaking hands with Steve.
Vandeblanche thanked Razorblade for his time, and said that after the chaos to end the 4th Anniversary Ruckus last week that he would be going after Omar Littlefield at Dia de los Muertos to try to regain the Fifteen Pounds of Gold, the QCW World championship. Razorblade gave a low chuckle and said that it was right that Steve brought up the word chaos because outside of violence and a decent - well, let's not kid ourselves, any whiskey - there was nothing he liked more than a bit of chaos. A year ago around this time, he and Nazzie had had more than chaos. They’d had ¡lucha muerte! at Dia and the Match of the Year - chaos personified and chaos he’d emerged from with the win. Chaos? He knew all about chaos - just a couple of weeks ago, almost exactly where Steve was standing if he could believe it or not, he was baptized in his own blood covering a bloody Pyotr Caviar after flying off one of the LockUp pods and driving a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire into Pyotr’s ugly mug. Chaos personified and chaos he’d emerged from with the win.
Now that there was a real Commissioner back in the big chair, Razorblade came to find that his calling winner came with a bonus just for him; for the second straight year, Dia de los Muertos would be headlined by a ¡lucha muerte! fight for the World title. And for the second straight year, he was going to win it. He was going to take the last piece of power the Republic had and bring it back to QCW so Ig and his goon squad would have something else to cry about. QCW wasn't here to be run by some tech douche or his land monster. QCW ran on chaos…and what Razorblade did in chaos was win. “Unscripted Violence” hit the PA and Razorblade gave Steve a clap on the back before heading back the way he came, slamming a beer a fan offered him as he went up the stairs.
Carl Christensen checked in from the announce table and hyped up the John Arneson vs. Drake Tremble match later on in the show as well as the Pick Your Poison matches between Malicía Fernandez and Orion to determine the stipulation for their National championship match at Dia before throwing things to Duck Eko in the ring. The Voice of QCW made the introductions for our opening contest…
1. “The Fury” Jim Jaspers d. “Upper Class” Broderick Palmer II (w/the All Starr Stable) at 8:54 This was Jaspers’ first match since now ex partner Richard Windsor stabbed him in the back at AnniVersary and left him to the Hysteria wolves. If you were wondering what his response was going to be, check out his nickname. The bell rang and Old Jim floored Palmer II with a headbutt before beating Broderick down, throwing him around the ring with suplex after suplex. S. Mark Starr tried to run interference after a couple minutes of Jaspers’ dominance but the referee caught Evan O'Neill and Prince Ootsuka sliding into the ring and ejected the whole Stable from ringside. The crowd cheered but Jaspers saw fellow ex partner Ootsuka try to get in the ring and jumped him on his way out of the ring. Jaspers bounced Ootsuka face first into the ringpost, then did it again. Palmer II tried to make a save but Jim ended up throwing him into the steps before picking up a slightly bloody Prince and sending him into the ringpost with a Lawn Dart. Both Evan O'Neill and Starr sprinted past the referees who came out to escort them to the back so they could do it themselves, leaving a seething Jim to finish off BP2 with no one to stop him. Jaspers had the match won after a pump knee strike had the former World Tag Team champion out on his feet, but Jim propped him up with his body before hitting a Fury Road and pinning him without even hooking a leg.
After that, Jim rolled out of the ring and got the mic from Duck to say that now that he’d beaten one (that's a swear) tonight, it was time for him to slap Richard around. If Windsor had a set, he’d come down and face him right now! Steve couldn't even get a sentence out before Windsor’s music hit and Benedict Richard came out. Jaspers began to leave the ring and Windsor rolled up the sleeves on his dress shirt, but the referee corps and some members of Quality Force Security came out to stand between them. Windsor gave his version of Jim’s smirk, rolled down his sleeves and headed to the back while Jaspers alternately tried to break their human wall or pleaded for them to let him go after Windsor – or else old Broddy Boi wasn't the only one who'd get their arse kicked tonight.
From there, we went TOTHEBACK~!, where Julius Duquesne III was standing by to interview Beast Mode. But he didn't even get to ask a question before a voice off camera hissed “You stole from me, bitch!” Lolo Vuitton looked offended and then her look changed as she got rocked by a slap from “Night Sky” Diana Spare. Spare started throwing hard punches at Lolo and had her doubled over before “These Hands” Roy Fade and “Dashing” Pierce Moore came to Lolo’s rescue and pulled Diana off their friend. That worked for a couple of seconds until Spare kicked Moore below the belt and punched Face in the neck but that allowed Vuitton to jump Spare from behind. Diana and Lolo engaged in a hockey fight for a few seconds before Quality Force Security came on the scene and tried to separate them. The current and former Women's World champions continued to try and throw hands at each other as Ruckus teed up the night’s first round of commercials.
We came back from break to Mastodon blaring over the PA & a warm ovation from the faithful as QCW’s Cosmic Superstar. Orion stood center ring and raised a fist, causing teal pyro to shoot out of the ring posts in arcs. The mood in Quality Arena quickly dampened as Ig de Catur showed up on the Qualitron with Malicía Fernandez and the rest of his Republic to snarkily remind us how Pick Your Poison would play out tonight, with the fastest win between Malicía and Orion getting to pick a stipulation for their National championship rematch at Dia de los Muertos. It was a stip that Malicía would end up choosing because Orion couldn't beat a champion like La Monstrua - so when it came time to pick Orion’s poison they picked another champion that Orion had no chance of beating.
Horns started and Ig’s evil grin faded from the Tron as “Paint the Town Red” brought out a scowling Lolo Vuitton flanked by the rest of Beast Mode. The newly minted Women's World champion had almost made it to the ring when out of nowhere, Diana Spare vaulted over the retaining barrier and immediately picked up where she left off minutes ago in throwing hands at the woman who had stolen the title off her at AnniVersary. Spare & Vuitton threw hands for a bit but just as Fade x Moore went to break it up a stream of Quality Force Security came down to break up the fight and drag Diana to the back. “Night Sky” swore this wasn't over as they dragged her to the back. Lolo threw some more curses in the departing Spare’s direction before turning towards the ring - just in time to eat a Sky Twister Press from Orion! The crowd popped huge, and as Orion got to their feet the referee called for the bell..
2. Orion d. Lolo Vuitton (w/Beast Mode) in a non-title Pick Your Poison match at 8:57 As Orion got Lolo back into the ring, Steve made sure to let us home viewers know that this would be a non-title affair. Orion rode the success of their early dive in the early going, using their speed to confound the champion. Lolo couldn't get out of first gear as Orion zipped around the ring; it only took a couple minutes before they landed a massive Shining Wizard that sent Lolo rolling out to the floor to try and get some separation. Orion hit the ropes and flew at Vuitton with a rope suicida, but Lolo pivoted and clocked the Cosmic Superstar between the eyes with a modified version of her Bloody Shoe. Vuitton leaned on the apron and gathered a few deep breaths before snatching up Orion and delivering what would be a buckle bomb if it had been in the ring…but instead delivered it into the retaining barrier. Orion went down in a heap as Lolo crawled into the ring and demanded that the ref count the Cosmic Superstar out.
Orion managed to get back in the ring at seven, but the damage had already been done and an already pissed off Vuitton was on the attack. Lolo swarmed Orion and as Roy and Pierce encouraged her to turn it up on her opponent, a cut to backstage showed Ig watching intently with a smirk while Malicía remained stoic as usual. Former (World*) champion Carl pointed out that every moment the match continued was a win for Ig, as clocks on the Tron showed the match rolling past the six minute mark while Lolo maintained the well manicured upper hand. Orion got out from under a little bit but before they could mount a full rally The Champ shut it down with a Stun Gun and followed it up with a spin heel kick for a nearfall. Lolo watched as Orion crawled towards a corner then followed in and went to work stomping away at her first post AnniVersary opponent. The referee’s count nearly got to five and gave Orion the win, so Lolo only stopped a fraction of a second before the five count would've been up. Lolo paused, smiled and then went right back on the attack with a vicious facewash that left Orion in a heap. Lolo stomped to the opposite side of the ring, then warmed up the band while the crowd booed. Vuitton started her theatrics then began to come around for the Bloody Shoe - but before she could come around the horn, “you should see me in a crown” started playing. Roy Fade & Pierce Moore began heading up the ramp upon hearing Diana Spare’s theme music while Vuitton went to the ropes closest to the ring and looked pissed off. Lolo was waving Diana on, but she didn't show. What did show up was a springboard rewind rana from a recovered Orion that brought Lolo's smacktalk to an end and popped the crowd. With no Diana in sight and the clock ramping up, Orion moved quickly and cinched Vuitton up before dropping Miss Thang with Orion’s Nebula. The men of Beast Mode ran down the ramp just in time to see the ref’s hand hit the mat for a third time to stop the clock and give Orion the win. A cut to backstage showed Ig throwing a fit and telling Republic Enforcement to flip a table on his behalf before we cut back to the ring to see Orion getting their hand raised to successfully get through their end of the Pick Your Poison challenge. A cut to the Qualitron showed 8:57 as Steve hyped up Malicía’s half of the challenge in the main event.
As the ring cleared, Carl added some speculation over who Orion would get to face Fernandez before Clipse's “So Be It” played over the PA and brought out a livid Nazir el-Fadal, who demanded his ridiculously awesome theme be cut as he came down the ramp and got into the ring. He said that last week everything had been lined up just perfectly for him to make yet another piece of QCW history and take away the Republic’s only source of power. But some nobody had shafted him out of his belt and ran off into the night before Naz could make him spend his money on a new wheelchair, which meant that – Naz suddenly was distracted by the Qualitron, which was playing a greatest hits of him cheating to win and cheating to retain a title a few times.
A voice said that meant the One Man Ego Trip got what he deserved, and the Tron parted as Ig de Catur strolled out to a choir of boos. Ig began gloating that ever since Naz rebuffed him, el-Fadal had gotten screwed out of the World title twice in three months and it was all thanks to him. Naz glared up the ramp at Ig before an unsettling smile broke out across his face and he said that he guessed those were Ig’s last words. de Catur stared at Naz before saying that if he had to have last words, they would be these: look out behind you. Naz turned around just in time to block a Pyotr Caviar Russian sickle with his Adam’s apple. Things quickly went from bad to worse for Naz as Pyotr pulled out a chain from his tracksuit and began to whip Naz with repeatedly with it while screaming “Crush you, insect!”. Pyotr wrapped the chain around Naz’s neck and tossed him over the top rope to hang him. As Naz began turning purple, Ig walked up to him and cocked his head before looking at el-Fadal like a priceless painting in a museum. Ig told Naz that maybe the one who should worry about last words was him. By Ig’s ridiculously expensive watch, Naz had two weeks and two days to try and recover before Pyotr destroyed what was left of the once great el-Fadal. And if Naz wanted to accept Pyotr's challenge for a fight at Dia de los Muertos, it would be on Pyotr’s terms…in a Russian chain match! Quality Force Security came down to pry Pyotr off but he didn't let go until Ig gave the okay, which took a few more seconds. “Baba Yaga” hit the PA & de Catur told Caviar to follow him to the back, leaving a choking, coughing and sputtering Naz in their wake getting looked at by some of QCW’s medical staff.
3. The International Players (w/Science Fiction Double Feature) d. Justine Danek and Bella Jolie of Hysteria (w/Bonnie Agrippa and Nancy Crowley) by disqualification at 6:32 Sadly for Collipark, this one will be remembered more for the post match than the match itself. Remember, SciFi won the big battle royale last week to get a titles shot against Bonnie & Nancy next Sunday; the subsequent celebration saw the Players challenge Justine & Bella with the legendary Jupiter Jones bowing out of it saying he didn't want to hit a woman. With five people on the outside this became almost a lumberjack match, but it didn't stop Danek x Jolie from establishing an early foothold as they fought clearly still steaming from being the last ones ousted in the battle royale. The ladies of Hysteria teamed up on a diving leg lariat version of Total Elimination to put Benjamin Valentino behind the 8 ball and take the upper hand a couple of minutes in - then they executed the Hysteria playbook to perfection with tags every half minute or less while keeping the Intergalactic Lover on their side of the ring. Bonnie & Nancy couldn't hide their sadistic grins as their underlings opened up the offense, leaving Ben in such dire straits that Lucius Patton had to dive in for a save after Hysteria hit more high impact tandem offense in the form of a Justine superplex & Bella frog splash from the perpendicular corner.
All hope looked lost a few beats later when they went to end things with their trademark Twelve Feet Under - but Valentino managed to pull Bella into Justine’s path and Jolie ate the slingshot somersault lariat like a buckshot to the face. Justine tried to help Bella up but while she was doing that, Valentino was barrel rolling towards his corner to tag in Lucius Patton to a good pop. The fresh Patton began cleaning house like a maid, dropping both members of Hysteria with strikes before sending them both flying across the ring with fallaway slams. Patton let out a man’s roar before shaking the top rope repeatedly. That was the last thing he got to do before Nancy Crowley walloped him in the face with her share of the World Tag Team titles to draw the DQ.
She & Bonnie hit the ring to go after Valentino, but a Hysteria four on one didn't last long before Science Fiction Double Feature hit the ring to make things a little more fair. Jupiter Jones looked uneasy on the outside watching his people getting laid out, and after Valentino got his lights turned out with a double belt shot sandwich from the champs he decided to go against his virtue and hit the ring. But that opened the door for Bonnie to wallop him in the back with a chair before tossing it and a couple more to her allies. After that, it was like killing a bunch of ants for Hysteria. Bonnie handcuffed Jupiter to the ropes while both Cindy Monet and Jane Doe ate chair shots that dropped them like stones in a lake. Seeing SFDR go down, Lucius rushed Hysteria with swing at any witch moving but it only took one Crowley chop block chair shot to the ankle to send Sweet Lu down too. The underlings of Hysteria took turns swinging steel to keep Patton down while Bonnie reveled in her gang’s attack. Jones couldn't break free of the ropes and Agrippa just barely avoided a couple of desperate swings as Jolie wrapped a chair around Patton’s leg.
“Consider it a welcome back present, Jupe” hissed Agrippa. “An unfriendly reminder that in 2025 the only legends walking around here are us. And as for walking, there's something your little protegé won't be doing anytime soon.* Referees began streaming down the ramp as Jupiter futilely yelled out “NO!” but none of that stopped Crowley from leaping off the top rope and double stomping the chair. You could hear the sickening crunch in the skyboxes as well as Patton’s screams. Carl’s reaction actually got bleeped, but so far as Nancy was concerned, she and Jones might as well have been in a private discussion. Crowley said to Jones as if they were discussing the weather: “That is going to be one long and noisy ride to the hospital.” Jupiter tried to grab at her with his free arm but the referees and producers were in the ring ushering Hysteria out. They left without a fuss, most of them cackling except for Agrippa, who had a parting message - “Courtesy of the best. Tag team. IN THE WORLD!” You could hear the anguish in Steve's voice as he hurriedly threw to a sudden commercial br–pause.
We came back to Lucius Patton being loaded in an ambulance, groaning and punching the gurney while saying he thought they broke it. Benjamin Valentino got in the ambulance before it left while the battered Jupiter Jones and Science Fiction Double Feature said they’d follow in a car. Collipark got in a car and followed the ambulance out of Quality Arena..and watching the vehicles speed off into the night and blowing right past them were Hysteria, having been escorted out of the building by Quality Force Security. QCW’s resident coven cackled except for Nancy, who talked to her championship like it was her baby and said she would never let anybody steal it/them away from her.
After that a highlight reel video package of “Sinister” Sarah Fowler set to her entrance music of "Change (In the House of Flies)” by Deftones played. Via a voiceover, Fowler said that parents and teachers could tell she was a bad seed but they couldn't stop her from loving it, and now she got paid to do what she loved most - inflict pain. She would never change her evil ways; no, she was just putting her roots further in QCW’s soil to spread her disease. And she couldn't be kept in exile on Wednesday nights anymore…which meant that Commissioner Holmes’ precious TV show and anyone he put in front of her was going to find out the hard way very soon that nice is overrated.
4. Tre Boyd (w/Sky's the Limit) d. Ian Cook (w/Gerry Greene) at 8:24 Despite Boyd’s recent lack of support for his friends in Sky's the Limit, they came out with him in a show of solidarity and also helped to neutralize any likely help Greene would've tried to provide. At first, it didn't look like Cook was going to need the assistance as he spent the opening moments of the match playing bully ball and giving Tre a taste of his power advantage. However, when he went for a pump release German suplex, Boyd landed on his feet then hit a basement dropkick right to the back of the neck. Tre swarmed Cook and swung away freely with both hands before stunning Cook and the crowd with a moonsault off the ropes turned into a standing tornado DDT; it was that momentum shifter that started the beginning of the end for the Brit, as he learned the American adage “speed kills” from Tre the rest of the way. Boyd used his high flying repertoire to amaze the crowd and the announcers for the next few minutes - even when Cook tried to bail out to the floor for support from Greene, both Hellraisers met the business end of a step up Shooting Star plancha that had everybody in the arena marking out. Four replays later, Boyd got Cook back in the ring so he could hit him with a stuff legged missile dropkick before going up to the top rope and connecting with his Say Hallelujah Spiral Tap for the showcase W. Post match, Boyd ignored his teammates so he could get the mic from Duck and said that he’d just cooked a dude named Cook, so Chef Boyd was putting Malicía, Orion and anybody else trying to get after the National championship on notice: that belt was going to be in his trophy case sooner rather than, and they all needed to quit playing with the Gospel. He tossed the mic back to Duck and headed for the back, with the rest of Limit in tow. Steve pointed out on commentary that Boyd didn't say anything about Beast Mode’s recruitment efforts and was being pretty standoffish to his friends.
Before the commercial break, we went TOTHEBACK~! once again where Naomi Lee was standing by with Luz Cruz, who gave a shoutout to Science Fiction Double Feature for winning the contendership battle royale last week before lamenting that she would've been in it if she’d been able to get a partner. She hadn't forgotten what Hysteria did to her & she wouldn't stop until they lost their titles the way she”d lost hers back in the spring. Shelley LaVey walked into the frame and stared down Cruz for a bit before saying “Revenge on Hysteria, huh? Say less.” Cruz gave a crooked grin and stuck out her arm for a handshake, one LaVey took before saying Hysteria picked the wrong women to screw over, and it would only be a matter of time before they had nothing and Luz and her had the last laugh. Cruz proposed they go see Commissioner Holmes about getting a match next week, Shelley was quick to agree, and after thanking Naomi they left. More Ruckus on the way after this.
5. John Arneson d. “The Paragon” Drake Tremble (w/the Chosen) at 8:16 We came back from break to a semi main that had big singles implications. The early moments showed how locked in Arneson was trying to protect his QCW undefeated streak while the former 3x champion wasn't taking him seriously at all. Drake was trying to big brother Arneson in the beginning with condescending head pats and stuff arms to keep John out of swinging range; eventually Arneson was sick of it and landed a series of two handed armdrags on the Paragon to a decent pop. A springboard axehandle soon followed and Drake ended up bailing out of the ring. It looked like he might've been trying to leave but the Glam Squad came out to block him from retreating up the ramp. Scott put over that they’d eliminated Drake & Caleb Gray from the tag team battle royale last week as well as most of the Chosen getting involved in the Arneson vs. Justice Davis match two weeks prior.
Drake got back in the ring but continued suffering at Arneson’s hands before a corner to corner step up knee strike had Drake crumbling and rolling out of the ring again. Drake waved off the rest of the Chosen (Justice seemed to be stifling laughter at his predicament) but Arneson was on the move and went for a low tope, but Drake would counter by catching him and giving him a fallaway slam into the barricade. Drake laid in some stomps to the fallen Arneson for a few seconds before getting him back in the ring and continuing to work him over. Tremble continued his beatdown to boos but paid the crowd no mind, focused on his attack and Caleb's occasional guidance. Tremble employed a full nelson version of a camel clutch to bear down further on the Cold-Forged Hammer but Arneson managed to get free and dump Drake with a German suplex that impressed the crowd. Arneson then made a comeback using running double axehandles to deplete Drake before upping the stakes with a massive Exploder suplex that sent Drake flying nearly halfway across the ring. Caleb looked pensive as John set up the biggest weapon in his arsenal then drove Tremble down from the heights with his Natural 20 avalanche powerslam. John went for the pin, but at 2 Tremble managed to get the edge of his boot on the ropes. The referee didn't see it, so JD fake coughed before shoving it away and this allowed Arneson the win.
Arneson rolled out of the ring and seemed surprised by the Glam Squad being on the ramp to raise his hands in victory. Meanwhile, on the outside of the ring, the Chosen were infighting again. Drake was furious over the actions of the new acolyte he’d been a longtime rival of, Justice claimed plausible deniability and Caleb, having missed the whole thing arguing with Goody Gardner about whether or not to save Drake had no idea who to believe and was trying to play peacemaker. Carl pointed out that when they’d put together a winning streak in the summer everything was fine & dandy like sour candy, but now that losses were coming back the infighting was as well.
Ahead of the main event, Steve conducted the hype train for 💫 next week’s Ruckus 💫: it's the go home show for Dia de los Muertos and there’ll be an in depth look at the PPV card 💫 World champion Omar Littlefield will be in action against Sky’s the Limit”s heavy hitter Kam Ellis in non-title action 💫 and in an eight woman PPV preview tag match, Bonnie Agrippa, Nancy Crowley, Malicía Fernandez & the Women's World champion Lolo Vuitton will go up against Orion, Science Fiction Double Feature & “Night Sky” Diana Spare.
“The Old Guard Is Dead” brought out the Republic to a shower of boos and Malicía Fernandez for her half of Pick Your Poison: a picture in picture showed Orion winning at 8:57 earlier in the show to set the pace that Malicía has to try and beat in order to name the stipulation for the National championship match come Dia de los Muertos. With her backup on the floor surrounding the ring, Malicía waved on her mystery opponent. A few beats happened while Steve primed the pump a couple more times - until Bad Bunny hit the PA and Luz Cruz came out with Shelley LaVey in tow. Clearly outnumbered but fearless, Cruz marched into the ring and went nose to nose (ehh, nose to chin) with Fernandez while Steve pointed out that Malicía had picked the current Women's World champion for Orion and Orion had returned fire by picking a former Women's World champion who’d had that belt for the first quarter of the year. The bell rang and our main event was underway…
6. Malicía Fernandez (w/the Republic) fought Luz Cruz (w/Shelley LaVey) to a time limit draw at 8:57 in a Pick Your Poison This sister kisser means Orion ended up winning PYP; they’d end up revealing the stipulation for Dia de los Muertos before Ruckus ended. It came as a minor upset, as it looked like Fernandez was going to beat the nine minute mark in the early going.
Cruz wasn't intimidated by the larger luchadora and went right after Malicía from the bell, but after a brief standoff between the two Malicía’s size and strength advantages began to play out in her favor. Fernandez threw Luz around with a couple of biels and sent Luz from the ring with a massive superkick. LaVey tried to check on Luz but a handful of Republic Enforcement formed a human wall to keep it from happening. Worse for Cruz, as she was trying to get up she got wiped up by 75 inches of rope con hilo from Fernandez. Ig applauded and urged Malicía to make it quick, as the clock on the Qualitron counted down from the 8:57 mark that Orion had set. Malicía dusted herself off to boos but ignored them and got Luz back in the ring. Cruz tried to fight out from under Fernandez’s night but soon found herself lifted up nearly eight feet and left to crash land on the canvas. Luz tried to get her bearings but only got a somersault axe kick from the former National champion that got Fernandez a two count.
Malicía continued pressing her advantages with Shelley looking increasingly concerned on the floor. Fernandez got a few more near falls and tried to end things about five minutes in with the MF5, but Cruz showed her first sign of big offense in the bout by countering it into a skyscraper of a standing tornado DDT. Both women took most of a ten count to recover but when they did it was Cruz who was first on the attack with a high level dropkick, then another before finally knocking Malicía down with a third. A running crossbody sent them both over the top rope but Luz hung on while Malicía hit the floor. Fernandez tried to recover while Cruz gathered herself on the apron. Malicía almost got to her feet but Luz didn't let it get that far by running down the apron and hitting a hurancanrana that sent Fernandez bouncing violently off the front of the announce table. Luz got back in the ring and left Malicía to crawl in under the bottom rope right before the 10 count; when Fernandez started pulling herself up the proud Puerto Rican launched herself off the top with an avalanche axe kick. Cruz quickly moved into a cover but Malicía pressed her off at 2½.
The closing moments were fast and furious as Carl wondered if Luz was trying to get into National championship contendership in her own right. A few beats after the massive axe kick, Cruz tried to hit Fernandez with her trusty ¡MUERTE! double jump poison rana but Malicía powered up to keep from going over then slammed Cruz down with an electric chair facebuster from in high. Fernandez scooped up Cruz with 90 seconds left and connected with the MF5 in the center of the ring - but Luz kicked out at 2.9 to stay in it. Ig looked like he was going to rip his hair out on the floor as Fernandez questioned the ref’s count. de Catur told her to forget about it and finish the job, so Malicía got Luz up to shoot her into the ropes for the Death Warrant with a little over a minute on the clock but Cruz countered the whirlwind chokeslam by leveraging Malicía down somehow and trapping her in a crossface. Carl pointed out the time was running out as Fernandez tried to break the hold that Cruz had a vice like grip on. Fernandez tried to use her long arms or legs to get to the ropes but Cruz had put the hold on too far away for that to work. Malicía then employed Plan C and used the canvas as a base to brace her hands while slowly pulling them both off the mat, still in the crossface. Malicía staggered towards a corner and swung Luz into the turnbuckles, but she still couldn't get Luz off of her until she swung Cruz into them again with under 30 seconds left. Fernandez collapsed to her knees while Luz used the ropes to get back to a vertical base. Seeing Malicía stagger to her feet, Cruz came out of the corner but ran into a modified version of the Death Warrant. Luz bounced off the mat but turned it into an advantage as she rolled out of the ring after impact, and despite her length Malicía couldn't keep Luz from rolling out of the ring. Fernandez followed suit and rolled out, but by the time she got Luz back into the ring, time had expired. Ig blew a gasket as Duck Eko announced the time limit draw and announced Orion as the winner of Pick Your Poison.
Ig began getting in Duck’s face and had Republic Enforcement back him up; meanwhile on commentary Steve put over Luz’s effort right until Mastodon began playing throughout Quality Arena. Orion may have been coming out to rub their win in Malicía’s face - but they definitely were dragging a ladder with them. The Cosmic Superstar set up the ladder on the ramp and climbed up it, then once they got to the top pointed at a clearly fuming Malicía in the ring. Steve sold Orion getting their point across without saying another word, and Ruckus went off the air with the Malicía/Orion staredown…as well as a chyron hyping the newly made ladder match for the vacant National championship at Dia de los Muertos.
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