📺 live on FanDuel Sports Network Florida
📍 Quality Arena 💫 Parts Unknown, fL
Ruckus opened up with a video package recapping last week's Duquesne Classic action to close out the first round with wins by surprise entrant Orion, Summer Rose, Nancy Crowley and Tre Boyd’s upset of Omar Littlefield. We’re down to eight and tonight will kick off the quarterfinals with two matches - who will add their name to the storied Duquesne Cup and face Jupiter Jones for the QCW World championship at Mayday Payday?
The standard Invincible open rolled from there before we went inside Quality Arena, already hot on a Friday night in Florida. Steve Vandeblanche and Carl Christensen are our captains on the good ship Ruckus, They hoped to get some answers of who attacked Justice Davis on Friday the 13th last month before pivoting to hype tonight's double main event of Duquesne Classic quarterfinals - we’ll get Tre Boyd vs. Malicía Fernandez of the Republic in one and the High Priestess of Hysteria Bonnie Agrippa will face off against Orion. But Ruckus would kick things off tonight with some women's division action…
1. “Sinister” Sarah Fowler (w/Summer Rose) d. Christine Kent at 2:28 Ruckus started off with an ass kicking that barely gave Steve any time to talk about how Fowler’s twisted worldview has grown under the evil tutelage of former champion Rose. Poor Kent’s odds were in league with the Washington Generals, and it only got worse when Fowler landed her Dark Days implant reverse DDT. Things ended shortly after that when Sarah laid out Christine with a basement rana driver and pinned her. Fowler & Rose posed over Kent’s body post match.
We got a sizzle reel from “Her Excellency” Fiona Fogg and Sohla Patel saying that believe it or not, they were tired of their private island and were directing their manservants to set sail for the hovel of Parts Unknown. QCW would be reminded that a Lotus blooms in springtime, and that they weren't just unstoppable today, they were unstoppable every day. Ciao for now! They laughed coquettishly while a graphic that said INTLTS repeatedly flashed on screen. From there, we went back to the ring where the Voice of QCW Duck Eko made the ring introductions for our next match.
2. The Chosen (w/Goody Gardner) d. Sky’s the Limit at 9:09 The zealots of the Chosen had a wildly unsuccessful Golden Rule that took some of the shine off their names and knocked their leader, “the Purifier” Caleb Gray from the World title picture. But they’ve started a minor winning streak since Rule that continued here in trios action despite some high flying offense early from StL. The Cooper Brothers had the fans behind them as they were neon blurs and Kam Ellis outpowered all three Chosen men and made Caleb look small. But Kam missed on a Shooting Star press attempt and the End Times and Gray were all over him like ants on a picnic once he did. Danny Castle and Dr. Martin Williams took turns doing the dirty work of wearing down Special K and eventually got him into position to turn the big man’s lights out with the Reckoning. Castle then essentially offered Ellis up as a sacrifice for Caleb, who tagged in and landed Repent close to the Chosen corner. Caleb hooked both legs on the pinfall attempt while the Times kept the Coopers from being able to break up the count. It was the white clad Chosen who got their hands raised in another victory with Steve giving much of the credit for the win to the acolytes instead of Caleb. Still, the Chosen took up their cross formation victory pose post match with Caleb at the center of it demanding faith over fear from the booing crowd as Ruckus went to tonight's first commercial break.
We came back from the break to Naomi Lee, who began to bring out her interview guest only to get interrupted by the eternally vain Genesis King, who bragged about his winning streak and his eight pack abs. Genesis continued to brag about his general awesomeness right up until a familiar voice said “So you think you're the King of QCW, huh, kid?” The camera panned over and the crowd roared to see QCW World champion the Legendary Jupiter Jones walk into the set with the Fifteen Pounds of Gold draped over his shoulder. Genesis said it made him sick to see an old man walking around with QCW’s greatest championship when it should be on his shoulder instead. With a slight edge in his voice, Jupiter asked him if he was going to do anything about it. King stewed, backed down and stomped off the set. Jupiter then turned to Naomi but before he could say anything Genesis ran back into frame and slapped Jupiter across the face so hard it knocked him on his ass. King laughed a manly laugh before quickly running off as Jupiter got his bearings about him and pulled himself up with fury in his eyes. He then turned to Nao and said he was going to go to Commissioner Holmes and get a non-title match set up for next week for that chicken…soup attack. He didn't know much about Genesis King, but he knew plenty about being World champion - and that punk ass kid had seven days before The Champ destroyed him. The crowd cheered as a still stinging Jupiter made his way out of the interview area and we went back to the ring for a Golden Rule rematch
3. The Undaunted d. Serge Batroc and “the Proper Villain” Richard Windsor at 8:33 We got a rematch from Golden State here with the upstart newcomer Undaunted up against the unwelcome wagon of QCW Mainstays Serge and Richard. In the rematch the Assassin and the Villain were able to put the clamps down on the high flying Irishmen. A Windsor tilt-a-whirl backbreaker set up a guillotine legdrop from Serge that left “Unforgettable” Dave Mullin behind the eight ball early on. Mullin was stuck getting beat on by the black hats until he managed to duck a European uppercut by Serge that dropped Windsor instead. Mullin managed to tag in Tim “the Only Hope” McMurray and Timmy Boy went to work on the haughty technicians only to get upended by a two man backdrop bomb that stopped the Undaunted rally in its tracks. Serge and Richard kept rolling and began to taunt their opponents as not being ready for the bright lights of QCW as they began to dominate.
But as they looked to finish off McMurray, Mullin fell into the ring from the apron in a desperate attempt to make a tag…seemingly. This allowed McMurray to send Windsor headfirst into Batroc’s crotch, and for Tim to give Richard a schoolboy. As the ref made the count, Dave put Tim’s feet on the ropes and held onto his partner’s ankles to weigh them down further; with the ref missing the sneak pinfall similar to how Windsor had cheated at Golden Rule that allowed the Undaunted to steal this one here. As the Undaunted celebrated their way to the back, Serge gingerly hit the ring and complained to the referee about the underhanded pinfall. From the desk, Carl likened it to “one of those goose/gander situations”.
Before we went to commercial break, we got a This Week In QCW History segment: last April 11th, acting Commissioner Ig de Catur shockingly fired Jupiter Jones and Justice Davis beat Pyotr Caviar to win the Duquesne Classic.
4. “Explosive” Emily Bennett d. “Shieldmaiden” Val Curry w Bettie Rokker at 5:14 The back half of Ruckus began with the return to action of Bennett from her leave of absence due to the unrest in Minneapolis where she grew up. But this was a different Emily than the one QCW fans were used to, hair now shaved into a modified Mohawk with a blue streak in it. Worse for Curry, Bennett brought a more strike based and harder hitting offense than she had in the past and despite the size difference Emily spent most of the match in the driver's seat. Bennett took Val’s legs out from under her then put her to the mat with a pair of cradle piledrivers to decide the bout. The announcers talked about the new look and possibly improved Emily Bennett at the desk post match.
A video package rolled from there and we saw Julius Duquesne III in the beginning stages of his investigation into who took out Justice Davis last Friday the 13th. We saw him in the bowels of Quality Arena hoping to find some security footage of the attack happening but due to various circumstances and where cameras happened to be in the building all we saw was Davis being tossed off the loading dock onto and through the car windshield without being able to see Justice’s attacker or attackers.
It looked like that was going to lead us into commercials but instead we went to the commentary desk, where Jacques Krieger was standing on it with a mic in his hand. He said he wasn't usually much for talking, but if Omar Littlefield had a problem with him after last week Jacques damn sure had a problem with Omar taking out his partner at Golden Rule. Krieger then dared Omar to try that crap on him and for Ig to let his pet project get embarrassed again as Quality Force Security came out. Krieger tossed the mic and jumped over the barricade to leave through the crowd before QFS could get to him. Steve hyped up that there would be no more commercials once we came back after this so as to allow the double main event of Duquesne quarterfinal matches to go off uninterrupted.
5. Tre Boyd d. Malicía Fernandez (w/Ig de Catur, the Republic and Republic Enforcement) in a Duquesne Classic quarterfinal match at 12:35 For the second time in a week, Tre upends a member of the Republic and becomes this year's first semifinalist. Remember that in last week's main event he used every trick in the book to get past Omar Littlefield, who spent most of this match glaring at Tre from the floor when he wasn't making non-empty threats to send him to the hospital. As if that wasn't enough, he had Malicía to deal with and the former World Tag and National champion put him through his paces early. Fernandez got in a massive shot on Boyd when he tried a springboard attempt and her massive forearm knocked him out of the sky as it it was almost an afterthought to her. La Monstrua took over as Ig directed her to make Tre pay for the previous week. That may have been why her chokeslam had more stank on it than usual, and the only way Tre was able to save things for himself was to get a foot on the bottom rope.
The Gospel wasn't blessed with a lot of long term offense but he made up for it by finding escape routes from Malicía's most devastating offensive moves; he avoided the luchadora’s attempts at more chokeslams, he slithered out of the way of a somersault axe kick, and instead of eating an MF5 he not only managed to land on his feet but follow up with a step up enzuigiri that wobbled Malicía. Tre upper his offense and landed a stiff legged missile dropkick that rocked Fernandez and her using the ropes to pull herself up. A backflip kick sent her out to the floor and set the Gospel up to connect on a “look Ma, no hands” tope con hilo that had the Quality Controllers chanting his name. Tre was woofing like it was going out of style right up until Link Wray's "Rumble” hit the PA. The crowd popped over hearing Jacques Krieger's music, which caused Ig to deploy Republic Enforcement and sent them to different parts of the arena to head him off at the pass no matter where he came from. What de Catur failed to account for was under the ring, as Krieger slid out from under the apron and rang Omar's bell with his tire iron. The crowd went nuclear for that, and Krieger managed to flatten a couple of Enforcement flunkies as well. But that left an opening for Pyotr Caviar to go after Tre and he launched a Russian sickle…that Boyd leapt over, leading Pyotr to lariat his usual partner’s head almost off of her shoulders. Boyd furthered his cutthroat reputation by punting Pyotr right in the Kremlins before grabbing Malicía and throwing her back into the ring. Feeling himself now, Tre cinched up Malicía and spiked her into the mat with a Blue Thunder bomb. Boyd scrambled to the top rope and came down from the heavens with Say Hallelujah. The Gospel got himself vertical and, looking for a little insurance, went up top so he could go for a second Say Hallelujah. Boyd hooked both legs on the cover and a three count later was the Classic’s first semifinalist. Ig couldn't find enough people to yell at, Krieger tossed his tire iron to the floor on the way to the back and Pyotr had his head in his hands. All that paled in comparison to Quality Arena’s joyful noise and Tre was yelling right along with them as Carl called him the Republic Killer on commentary. Steve updated us on what was next up for Tre from the southwest side of the bracket; the win will put him up against the winner of next week's Nancy Crowley v. Nazir el-Fadal quarterfinal. Tre celebrated all the way up the ramp barking out “2 more!” repeatedly while Malicía hit the referee with the Death Warrant to take out some of her frustration over losing.
Before the main event, Steve had a couple of things to hype for 💫 next week's Ruckus 💫: we’ll find out the host location for Mayday Payday and the host city 💫 and the Duquesne Classic quarterfinal matches continue with Hysteria's Nancy Crowley going up against World Tag Team champion Nazir el-Fadal as well as Luz Cruz of the Forbidden Book Club faces off against Summer Rose
Speaking of quarterfinal action from the Duquesne, it was time for our main event!
Lights off.
Lights on and Hysteria was in the ring, cackling. Bella Jolie may not have been in the Duquesne but she was coming off a win on the last Unleashed, Nancy Crowley had her own quarterfinal next week and their leader Bonnie Agrippa looked to be locked in on her quarterfinal now.
As Steve was hyping up how Hysteria could be going head to head in the final since they still had almost 30% of the field, Mastodon replaced the Cure on the PA and brought out Orion to a massive pop. The National champion came down the ramp radiating focus in their own right, Carl pointing out that if they won the Cup they could maybe get two shots at the World title at Mayday Payday between the Natty and the Cup. Both competitors stared across the ring from each other as the referee rang the bell…
6. Orion d. Bonnie Agrippa (w/Nancy Crowley and Bella Jolie) in a non-title Duquesne Classic quarterfinal match at 11:59 This had the most kinetic opening of any Duquesne match so far, as they both exchanged counters and blocks of each other's offense for most of the opening minute; it was a stalemate that was only broken up by Orion changing tactics and levels. The National champion came off the ropes and sent Bonnie to the canvas with a basement dropkick to the knob, then followed up with a massive Shining Wizard that sent Agrippa sprawling and eventually rolling to the floor. Nancy and Bella checked on Bonnie and tried to buoy her spirits while Orion hit a set of turnbuckles and looked down at the Cup they hoped to end up with.
Bonnie got her game face back on and hit the ring only to be rocked by Orion and quickly monkey flipped, sent over the ropes and back outside. Hysteria huddled and came up with a plan before all three of them hopped up on the apron. Orion waved them all on as Steve noted that the Cosmic Champion would advance in the Classic should Bonnie get herself disqualified. Crowley and Jolie scowled as they got back on the floor and Bonnie hit the ring only to eat some more Orion offense. But she managed to stay in the fray by having Orion’s biggest weapon scouted, as she avoided Orion’s Nebula and landed a falling reverse DDT. Agrippa immediately pounced and followed with multiple flash elbows to keep Orion down and move things closer to her side of the ledger. Bonnie combined short range strikes with occasional cheating to keep her advantage for the next couple of minutes, putting evil grins on her subordinates. After landing a twisting suplex, Bonnie pointed to Bella and went up to the top rope in the hopes of extending her lead with Bella's Death From Above frog splash, Orion rolled out of the way and Agrippa crashed hard into the canvas.
To add injury to injury, Orion followed up with a pinpoint Shining Wizard to the back of the head that wiped out Nancy again. While it didn't end the match, it turned out to end any real chances that Bonnie was going to advance in the tournament. Orion stayed on top the rest of the way and amazed the attendees with a satellite DDT that you could hang in the Louvre, as the kids say. From there Orion called for and delivered the end, hitting their signature Nebula to keep Bonnie down for the three count and punch their ticket to the semifinals - they’re now waiting for the winner of the Luz/Summer match next week. Nancy and Bella hit the ring to check on Bonnie's condition and sent some glares in Orion's direction. But Orion didn't see them, they were too busy looking at and standing next to the Cup while Steve wondered aloud that given the roll they were on, were we seeing the next winner of the Duquesne Cup? Ruckus went off the air as Orion headed to the back dishing out high fives to ringside fans and autographing a sign on their way to the back. See you next week, same time same channel as the quarterfinals of the Duquesne continue and QCW continues to bring the mother lovin’ Ruckus!
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