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📍 Quality Arena 💫 Parts Unknown, FL
A recap video package opened the show focused on Summer Rose and “Sinister” Sarah Fowler beating Science Fiction Double Feature in last week's main event, followed by Autumn Powers and Mean Season coming out and offering Summer her old spot back in Mean Season alongside her protegê Sarah - and since they offered Rose and Fowler a week to think it over, it means (season) that we’ll get answers…tonight.
It's Friday night, which means the good people of Parts Unknown have invited a little Ruckus into their lives. Steve Vandeblanche and Carl Christensen are on the call, and they hyped the Mean Season summit and Nazir el-Fadal's open challenge in the main event, but before they could kick off tonight's action Steve was told something was going on in the back. We went there instead to see that…
…posted outside of Commissioner Holmes’ office was the lovely Naomi Lee, who promised an important scoop for us; no sooner had she said that than Razorblade walked out of Holmes’ door to a monster pop from the Quality Controllers. Razorblade looked a little surprised to see her there, but Naomi gave a thin smile and asked him what had just happened between him and the Commissioner. Razorblade smiled far too wide to be friendly and said that as much fun as it was whooping Serge’s behind last week, he wasn't #1 on his hit list after the way the past couple of years and especially Cruel Summer went down. He’d just swung by the office to make sure that when the time came, no one was going to jump him in line when it came time for him to take out his…vengeance on the appropriate party. Mason Savage let out a short bark of a laugh and walked away before Nao could get a second question off, making her chase after him to no avail.
We went to the ring, where “the Voice of QCW” Duck Eko made the ring introductions for our opening tag team contest.
1. “Explosive” Emily Bennett & “Cambodian Cool” Keo Tevi d. INTLTS 2.0 at 6:34 While they wait for an opportunity to get revenge on Hysteria, Bennett and Tevi showed off their bonafides in this one by beating Fiona Fogg and Sohla Patel. Bennett ran wild early on - too fast for Fogg, too strong for Patel, and when she brought in Keo they teamed up for double dropkicks and double flapjacks to drop the black hats. But things went sideways moments later when Emily hit the ropes for more offense on Fiona but Sohla low bridged the top rope to send her bouncing off the apron and to the floor. It didn't take long for Emily to get vertical but a massive tope suicida from Fogg drove Emily into the front of the announce desk and crumpled her in a heap.
With the momentum shifted, Fogg tossed Bennett back in the ring before tagging in Sohla, and INTLTS teamed up for a delayed double gourdbuster on the Minnesota native. Patel continued wearing Bennett down, and even baited Ms. Explosive into a corner charge that she dodged. Emily went flying shoulder first into the ringpost and whiplashed back into the ring. Patel climbed the ropes and flew off with a Blockbuster before tagging in Fiona, but when they tried to hit another double delayed gourdbuster, Emily somehow countered into a double huracanrana on the ladies of International Lotus. With Fiona and Sohla left scrambling, Emily was able to make it to her corner and tag in Keo to a good pop.
Cambodian Cool didn't take much time to put her opponents on ice, alternating open handed chops before Lotus cheapshotted them down. But when they tried to get a double team move off, Keo dodged their attack and managed to lay them both out with a handspring cutter. Keo absolutely are Fiona’s lunch from there, and when she pinned Fogg after her Psychedelic Shock Rolling Thunder shotei, Bennett had recovered enough to lay out Patel and make sure the three count went down. Bennett and Tevi celebrated post match, the announcers noting their odd couple chemistry producing another winning result.
From there, we went TOTHEBACK~!, where Genesis King was doing a handstand on a production crate and doing push…downs?? to enhance his core. King was grunting and loudly counting himself into the high hundreds when he suddenly dismounted and went face-to-face with - of all people - Caleb Gray and the rest of the Chosen. Gray offered King a handshake, which Genesis completely ignored.
But Caleb ignored the slight and introduced himself and his flock to Genesis, saying that he knew GK was fielding a lot of offers from interested parties but it was preordained that a man of his physical rigor and his name alone was clearly the sort of man to.help guide his acolytes to the promised land. Genesis’ gaze suddenly got pointed a little sharper in Caleb's direction, as Gray held out his hands in acceptance and told him that if he was a man that preferred deed to words, then later on tonight he and his End Times would enact righteous vengeance on their heathen opponents and show Mr. King why the Chosen were the only logical endpoint for him to fellowship with. They believed in faith over fear - and he had faith in Genesis. Gray exited the scene and his flock followed suit, Goody Gardner and King exchanging glances before they walked down the hall and Ruckus went into its first commercial break tonight.
2. Tre Boyd d. Serge Batroc (w/”the Proper Villain” Richard Windsor) at 7:35 Boyd is hellbent on getting a one on one shot on Nancy Crowley and her National championship after what went down at Cruel Summer, and he further bolstered his case by beating the former multi time World Tag Team championship and Duquesne Classic winner here. It was one way traffic for Boyd early on as he used his quickness to stymie Serge’s technical playbook in the opening minutes; firing off a Spanish Fly that made the haughty Frenchman roll to the floor to buy himself some recovery time only to get greeted by a Boyd wrecking ball dropkick that sent him flying up the aisle. Serge getting knocked ass over teakettle drew a response from Windsor, who got in Tre’s face about it before slapping the Gospel hard. Boyd spat on the floor and took off after Windsor, leading to a chase around the ring that ended when Serge suddenly came flying off the steel steps with a European uppercut to save his partner and take down Boyd.
The distraction ploy had worked like a charm, and the savvy veteran Batroc added injury to injury with a release German supply that sent the Gospel flying into the steel steps he’d just flown off of. Serge rolled into the ring to break the count before rolling out to toss the Texan in and continue expanding his advantage. The French Assassin kept racking up the damage scoring near falls off of a second rope flying kneedrop and later on, a massive guillotine legdrop that Batroc was convinced had got him the duke. After arguing with the ref but being unable to change her mind, Serge went after Tre and tried to finish him off with his Arc de Triomphe - but Boyd used some evasion before spiking Batroc with a poison rana. A desperate Tre scrambled to the top rope and flew off with his finisher - but the Spiral Tap he calls Say Hallelujah went crunching square into Serge’s knees. Batroc reached up and hooked him with an inside cradle, but at two Tre rolled over and somehow managed to keep the Frenchman down just long enough to secure the victory.
Before Tre could pull himself off the mat, Windsor was in the ring and swarming Tre. Richard teed off on Boyd and went for a springboard European uppercut but Tre picked him off in midair and planted him with a Blue Thunder bomb. Serge went after Tre but got surprised by a big right hand that sent him down to the canvas. Boyd began raining down blows but Serge hung on to his ankle like a child, allowing Richard to sneak up on Tre and uppercut the Gospel right in the commandments. Tre went down in a heap and the Europeans stomped him out for a bit before laying him out with their Denouement finisher. Windsor demanded the mic from Duck Eko and got it, then mocked Tre for not being able to have any friends to bail him out. In fact, that gave him a fine idea; next week the men of Manifest Destiny would take on Tre and ... .whatever poor fool he could scrounge up to get a Proper thrashing. And if it ended up becoming a handicap match then that would give them all the more time to knock that smile off his face once and for all - he and Sérge would make sure the great Tre Boyd experiment would blow up before it could really take flight. And there would be only one thing left to say once they killed Tre’s career in the crib. Serge grabbed the mic and sneered “You're welcome” before tossing it on the laid out Boyd. “Manifest Destiny” played them out as Boyd was left in pieces following a Pyrrhic victory.
3. Lolo Vuitton (w/Beast Mode) d. Cindy Monet (w/Collipark) at 6:36 Lolo picked up the win in her return match after laying out newcomer Claudia Watson to kick off Ruckus last week. In her return from injury, Lolo didn't show any ring rust early on and only took a couple of minutes to get the upper hand as she rocked Cindy with a buckle bomb. But when she tried to end things early and follow up with the Bloody Shoe, Cindy backdropped her over the top rope and out to the floor. Vuitton recovered quickly but not quick enough to stop Cindy from laying her out with a tope con hilo that had Jupiter Jones hooting and hollering on the outside while the crowd cheered loud in unison with him.
From there, Cindy started piecing together a comeback and started stacking offense. She used her speed advantage for hit and run attacks, and that was even before she dropped Lolo with a reverse suplex that set up a textbook Rolling Thunder that was right on the button. After hitting a hiptoss neckbreaker, Cindy called for the end and busted out her trusty Tightrope - but right before it could connect Lolo knocked her out of the sky with a perfectly timed spinning heel kick. The always savvy Lolo made sure to keep her boot on Cindy's throat from there, eventually polishing off Monet with a final flurry of three buckle bombs and the Bloody Shoe.
Ahead of the commercial break, a split screen showed Summer Rose and “Sinister” Sarah Fowler talking quietly with each other as they headed towards the ring on one side; on the other, Gaia Green was in a conversation with Winter Wonderland and the World champion Autumn Powers that was clearly testy even though we at home couldn't hear it. They began to leave their locker room and head to the ring themselves; the Mean Season summit is going to happen next!
“Change (In the House of Flies)” by Deftones kicked off the back half of the show and brought out “Sinister” Sarah Fowler and Summer Rose to a flood of jeers from the Quality Controllers. As usual, Rose and Fowler ignored the frosty reception and rode it out until “Hit A Moonshot” shifted the tenor in the arena 180° and brought out Mean Season to a rapturous reception. Gaia Green, Winter Wonderland and the QCW World champion Autumn Powers came down to the ring looking match focused for what should be a non physical discussion as the tension in the ring could be felt in the cheap seats.
Winter Wonderland said that years ago when QCW reopened, the four of them came together not just to represent the seasons of the year but women's wrestling - that given the chance, they could show up the boys and be at the top of the card even if their heads weren't always on straight. But look at everything they’d built together even when they were apart! She and Winter had rediscovered their groove as a tag team - Summer had taken on a protegê and been on a roll for months - and not for nothing, but Autumn was a two time World champion. That got a pop from the crowd as The Champ held up the Fifteen Pounds of Gold while Summer and Sarah looked around Quality Arena, absorbing being in the ripples of the pop.
Other groups could claim that they ran QCW, but the biggest claim to running QCW was draped over Autumn's shoulder. A fully reunited Mean Season that added Sarah Fowler could run QCW into the 2030s…and Winter probably would've kept going if Autumn hadn't held her hand up to speak.
The Final Woman said that the women in the ring had worked tirelessly to live out their dreams and now they were at the pinnacle of independent wrestling. So she could dress up her hopes and feelings however she wanted, but it really all came down to one simple question: would Summer and Sarah join them and relaunch Mean Season?
The crowd’s buzzing eventually coalesced into “Come back!” chants as Fowler got another mic from Duck Eko and handed it over to Summer. Rose waved down the crowd chants, and the Quality Controllers quieted down to hear her response. Summer said both last week and just now, Autumn had asked her a question, so she would respond with one of her own: was she [oh that's a big swear] kidding her?!
The crowd gasped, and then there were a few beats of silence but not for long. Summer’s usual monotone chill was nowhere to be heard here as she accused Autumn of stealing her life, as she slid to the bottom of the company while Autumn got more and more of the spotlight. In the gutter for so long her World championship got sent to the cornfield while Autumn got to be the remaining World champion not once, but twice. And when Sarah finally helped her snap out of it this year and remember who tf Summer Rose really was…where was Winter then? Where was the great Autumn Powers then!?
And speaking of uncomfortable truths, the fact was that these sheeple could hero worship Autumn all they wanted but the fact was that the only loss Summer had all year was in the Duquesne Classic semifinals because she wouldn't stop kicking Autumn's narrow, sorry ass. It was the same narrow, sorry ass she could shove this Mean Season invitation up. But if Autumn really wanted to do something for her, she could go to Holmes and get her the title shot that she deserved. The title shot she’d spent all year earning. The title shot she was owed. And until that happened? She was done talking.
Summer shoved her mic into Autumn's chest and gave her a hard shoulder bump as she left the ring with Fowler following, cackling and applauding as they went up the aisle. Back in the ring, Winter looked disappointed while Gaia was repeatedly telling her that this was never going to work and that Gaia had said so since day one. But Autumn was still in the center of the ring unmoving, and it took Gaia and Winter ending their argument before walking over to the Champ and sort of snapping her out of it before Autumn got moving. She cinched the title up on her shoulder and nodded to what her running buddies were saying but we at home couldn't hear it. “Hit A Moonshot” hit the PA as Mean Season left the ring, the three of them clearly in discussion of what their next move would be in the wake of Summer's rejection and subsequent ultimatum.
4. The Chosen (w/Goody Gardner) d. Jonathan Livingston Clipper Esq., “Swamp Pride” Ted Holland and Robert E. Moonshine at 8:41 This trios showcase allowed the Chosen to show how well they work as a unit and perhaps impress Genesis King with their precision. As the End Times worked over Moonshine, a cut to backstage showed King continuing to work out and while he wasn't paying attention to the match it was playing on a monitor behind him. Moonshine managed to land a desperation flying lariat and tag out to Holland, who went on a brief run before a blind tag set up a Tree of Woe double basement dropkick from the Times.
Caleb's resultant celebration distracted the Times long enough for Holland to crawl away from the Chosen corner to tag in Clipper, and QCW’s Captain got off a few shots before running into a triple cyclone kick from the Chosen. The Times dropped JLCE with the Reckoning and wiped out Holland and Moonshine before offering Clipper up on a platter to Caleb, who quickly put the yacht rock lover away with Repent.
Before the last commercial break, we got a sizzle reel for the supershow Ruckus presents two weeks from tonight. As a sizzle reel with highlights from QCW’s finest rolled, “Centerfield” played in the background to announce the return of the Quality Summer Classic. Pittsburgh’s PNC Park will host a super sized episode of Ruckus with limited commercial interruptions and is sure to be a significant stop on the road to this year's Anniversary PPV next month, so make sure to set your DVRs accordingly (if DVRs are still a thing) for the 21st.
A shot from backstage showed Tim “the Only Hope” McMurray taping up “Unforgettable” Dave Mullin’s hands; the Undaunted will be in action up next after tonight’s final break!
5. The Undaunted d. Hellraisers at 8:09 McMurray and Mullin continued their months-long winning streak with another win here over their fellow former Catch Hell Wrestling League tag champions and former rivals. Despite Gerry Greene being able to get some traction with his weaselly ways and some cheating tactics, but in the end the Undaunted proved to be a class ahead of the Brits with McMurray pinning Greene after making him take an unwanted ride on Shamrock Air. After the match the Undaunted took to the turnbuckles to celebrate, both making A Very Familiar Gesture around their waists while they soaked in the cheers from the capacity crowd.
Ahead of the main event, Steve conducted the hype train for 💫 next week's Ruckus 💫: after the way tonight began, Ig de Catur has demanded equal time and a face-to-face with Commissioner Holmes • Emily Bennett and Keo Tevi will go up against Hysteria's Justine Danek and Bella Jolie • and Tre Boyd and a mystery partner will face Manifest Destiny
All that and more next week, but right now it's time for the main event! On that note, “So Be It” hit the PA and brought out the self proclaimed #1 contender in his JIHAD 1 Gold Lion soccer jersey to the pop of the night from the crowd. Nazir el-Fadal strutted his way down to the ring before hitting a set of turnbuckles to pose and further fire up the faithful. He tossed his jersey as far into the crowd as he could before hopping down and waving on whoever his opponent would be.
Quality Arena was quiet for a few beats until “The Old Guard Is Dead” hit the PA to bring out the returning Republic to a tidal wave of jeers. Steve and Carl’s open questioning of which member of Ig de Catur's goon squad would answer the open challenge given the fact that they all had long and bad histories with Naz were answered when Malicía Fernandez removed her traditional headdress and handed it off to a member of Republic Enforcement before leading the way to the ring. The World Tag Team champion had barely come into the ring over the top rope before a charging Naz hit her with a running European uppercut, causing the referee to call for the bell to kick things off.
6. Nazir el-Fadal won an open challenge, beating Malicía Fernandez (w/Ig de Catur, the Republic and Republic Enforcement) by disqualification at 10:23 Open challenges invite chaos, and Ruckus ended with plenty of it. But before that happened, el-Fadal and Fernandez beat the brakes off of each other for ten plus minutes.
Naz used his jump start to corral and control Malicía in the early going, using his speed advantage to chip away at the lanky luchadora. At one point in the opening couple of minutes it looked like he was going to mount Malicía for ten corner punches that would've had his rabble counting along, but instead Naz opted to light into her with ten European uppercuts before putting her on the top rope and bringing her down hard with an Iconoclasm for the first nearfall of the match. Fernandez rolled to the outside for recovery time while Naz paced a line in ring and waved for her to come back in and continue to face his wrath. Carl noted at this point in most matches Naz would be outside and scrapping, but he knew better than to walk into a potential 11 on 1 situation.
Fernandez returned to the ring, but Naz spent another minute jacking her jaw when he wasn't jacking his jaw at the litany of enemies he had out of the floor. It took Malicía slipping a Hamrin Valley Driver attempt and returning fire with a massive MF5 to stop his roll and really assert herself for the first time in the fight. Malicía literally fought her way back into things, tuning up el-Fadal with a series of clubbing blows to the back and the back of his head to slow his momentum. Malicía taking over on offense allowed Steve to bring up the fact that Naz had taken the Lucha Salvaje title off of Malicía a couple of years ago, something that had led her to eventually come to QCW and while their alignments were now different it was clear that their rivalry was still at a high temperature. Naz tried to rally at this point and landed a few blows but not enough to land the Hamrin Valley Driver; Malicía got free of the setup before planting him with a massive chokeslam that got her 2 1⁄2.
Fernandez’s run of success literally came to a crashing halt moments later however, when she went for a somersault axe kick and the Grand Slam winner scrambled out of the way to avoid it. Malicía stumbled into a successful Hamrin Valley Driver that had both of them laid out but had turned things back into Naz’s hands as he tried to secure the win from there. Malicía fought back but got surprised and stopped in her tracks when Naz was able to use his signature Heat Check to transition into Night Night. Eating a cobra clutch Lungblower and hiptoss Michinoku Driver put Malicía right where the One Man Jihad wanted her, and he was quick to add injury to injury by giving her a dose of Nazquil – but before the three count could come down the rest of the Republic hit the ring to save Malicía and cause the DQ.
Naz actually managed to get in two or three shots before getting absolutely swarmed by all four in-ring members of the Republic while Ig barked out orders from the floor. Omar snatched up Naz before planting him with a sit out choke bomb, and more Republic punishment was in the offering as Malicía held Naz in place and gestured to her tag team championship partner Pyotr Caviar to hit the ropes and take el-Fadal's head off with one of his textbook Russian sickles.
But before Pyotr could connect, suddenly the Undaunted were in the ring and throwing hands against the World Tag Team champions they’d been calling out for weeks. Despite no prior affiliation with Naz, the proud Irishmen were on site to throw hands against anybody with Ig de Catur's endorsement, and the action turned as the odds got a little more even and the babyfaces started to get some licks in. But Naz, Tim McMurray and Dave Mullin were still out numbered four to three, and a Death Warrant by Malicía to McMurray looked like it killed any hope of a rally in the crib.
Cue “Unscripted Violence”.
Quality Arena came unglued as Razorblade materialized on the steps at the top of the concourse - and he was not coming to the fray unarmed. Mason Savage quickly hustled to the ring with a fistful of barbed wire baseball bats, quickly causing a freakout from Ig as he screeched to his minions that they needed to clear out immediately. Despite that warning, his squad was still swinging right until Razorblade tossed the Undaunted a pair of bats and Tim and Dave started breaking out their Kyle Schwarber impersonations.
The Republic complained from the floor and barked at the babyfaces to lose the weapons, but instead Naz pulled himself off the deck and yanked one of the remaining bats for himself before sitting on the middle rope and waved on the corporate goon squad. But Ig moved quickly to put Republic Enforcement between his forces and the bat wielding babyfaces, saying there was no way he was going to waste his multimillion dollar talent on a brunch of crumb bums. The Republic slowly began backing their way up the ramp as Duck Eko announced Naz as the winner of the match (remember that?) by disqualification. “So Be It” hit the PA as Naz held the bat overhead before tossing it to the canvas. The Undaunted were still smack talking the tag champs and asking if they were scared of them as longtime rivals, current frenemies and Cruel Summer opponents Naz and Razorblade exchanged wary glances. Ruckus went off the air with the unlikely four man unit still holding down the ring - and Naz and Razorblade eyeing each other with grins far too wide to be friendly.
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