📺 live on FanDuel Sports Network Florida
📍 Quality Arena 💫 Parts Unknown, FL
The show kicked off with a Golden Rule highlights recap video package. Stills of Cindy Monet celebrating her win over Goody Gardner and Summer Rose signing her new QCW contract after beating “Cambodian Cool” Keo Tevi gave way to longer video clips from the main card…
👑 The right back and forth between challenger Tre Boyd and QCW National champion Orion with the belt on the line • Boyd with a slight advantage that only grew after he hit a Blue Thunder bomb and an avalanche Spanish Fly • but eating Orion's knees on his Spiral Tap that led to Orion rolling him up with a La Magistral cradle to get the three and complete the 10 Count so they could cash in the Natty for a World title shot whenever and whenever they wanted • we saw Orion celebration on the buckles while Tre stomped off to the back 👑
👑👑 The extreme rules elimination match followed, the latest and biggest chapter in the Forbidden Book Club vs. Hysteria rivalry • most of these clips were in black and white while being quicker due to the graphic nature of the match's majority • “Night Sky” Diana Spare giving Bella Jolie a pop up Michinoku Driver into a trash can to give the Club a 3-2 lead early • Hysteria rebounding, laying out both Diana and Luz Cruz before taking out Shelley LaVey with a spike brainbuster into the bottom set of steel steps to even things up at 2 a side • they threw Luz over the announce table and buried her underneath it before turning their attention to Diana, who put up a fight and spit in their faces right before another spike brainbuster into a pile of chairs to take out Spare and give Hysteria a 2-2 lead • Cruz managing a brief rally, landing a springboard dropkick that drove a steel chair into Bonnie and landing a massive tope con holo over the ring post that put Nancy Crowley through a part of the retaining barrier • Hysteria throwing a trash can at her to avoid her finisher, both landing their finishers before deciding that wasn't enough and continuing the punishment • Bonnie holding Luz up for a shot from a whole pane of glass - only for Luz to skip it and have Crowley accidentally turn out Agrippa's lights with it • Luz picking off Crowley with ¡MUERTE! and the double jump poison huracanrana leaving the match down to two women • Cruz landing a massive dropkick on Agrippa that sent a spray of blood into the Seattle night • Agrippa countering ¡MUERTE! with a Backstabber into a crossface • Luz seemingly going limp but stabbing Bonnie in the wrist with a shard of glass to break the hold • a bloody Agrippa screaming in pain until a ¡MUERTE! into the chair pile that ended the battle with a come from behind victory for the Club • a bloody Cruz being held up by LaVey and Spare, cursing out Bonnie in Spanish before Hocking a bloody loogie onto the woman who’d taken her place atop Hysteria, the crowd clapping and cheering the ovaries to the wall nature of the back and forth the Club triumphed in 👑👑
👑👑👑 The tag match that followed between the Undaunted and Serge Batroc and the Proper Villain Richard Windsor couldn't match that in violence and levels of hatred though the four men have been on opposite sides for weeks • Windsor & Batroc teaming up with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker+ guillotine legdrop combination that took down “Unforgettable” Dave Mullin and gave the haughty newly formed team a man and a body part to focus on • Mullin managing a handspring tornado DDT on them both to give him space to tag in Tim “the Only Hope” McMurray who immediately tilted things in the favor of the Irish aerialists • The Undaunted looking like they were going to end things with Shamrock Air before Windsor countered and used the ropes for leverage to steal a victory that made the only happy people in the building Serge and Richard 👑👑👑
👑👑👑👑 Ashok Banerjee looking focused and supported by Jacques Krieger going into his match with Omar Littlefield, flanked by the Republic as he entered and bragged after he sent Ashok to the hospital he’d get his long owed shot at the World title • Omar beat the brakes off of Ashok and that was just to start • massive Pounce • sit out choke bomb • five Vader Bombs • Littlefield hit his Face Eraser but Ashok got his foot on the ropes • Omar went for another one only for Ashok to hit a flash Code Orange and get the upset • Omar crashing out post match, hitting Ashok with another Face Eraser and tossing the referee from the ring • more Face Erasers until Jacques Krieger broke free from Republic Enforcement and hit the ring for the save • Omar laid him out too and got off another couple of choke bombs before getting swarmed by Quality Force Security with Commissioner Holmes on their heels 👑👑👑👑
👑👑👑👑👑 Ig de Catur repeatedly poking Holmes in the chest, leading to Holmes shoving him down and announcing Ig and his Enforcement were being banned from ringside for the World Tag Team championships match up next • Omar, Ig and REnforcement being cuffed and escorted out of Climate Pledge • a barely moving Banjerjee being loaded into a stretcher and into an ambulance with Krieger getting in as well, vowing to destroy Omar as it headed into the night • a clearly heated Pyotr Caviar and Malicía Fernandez remaining at ringside before defending their World Tag Team championships against Razorblade in what turned out to mostly be a handicap match given that Justice Davis was taken out two weeks ago tonight • Razorblade had the toughness but he was also facing a 2 on 1 so eventually the math caught up to him • the heels hit a double pop up European uppercut and signaled for the double chokeslam when the lights went out - when they came on someone in Republic Enforcement gear was distracting the ref with batons before turning and jabbing a taser into both Caviar and Fernandez out of nowhere - Razorblade pinned a twitching Pyotr to win the belts, but the shocks didn't stop coming as the interloper revealed himself to be Nazir el-Fadal • Naz reached over to grab a tag title and thrust it skyward to set off gold and white pyro while Razorblade's jaw hadn't even come off the mat yet • Naz gave Razorblade a couple of pats on the cheek and swaggered to the back with his belt, Seattle rippling with cheers and Surrender Cobras while the One Man Jihad headed out leaving his long time rival still sat down and shellshocked in the ring with his newly won belt 👑👑👑👑👑
👑👑👑👑👑👑 Speaking of belts, “the Purifier” Caleb Gray came out for the main event with the physical World title he’d stolen off of Jupiter Jones weeks ago and the rest of the Chosen following their leader • Jones coming out with the rest of Collipark, now fully healed after weeks of Chosen sneak attacks • Jupiter dominated early and worked over Gray’s leg until a desperation backdrop sent the champ out to the floor • while Caleb drew the ref, his acolytes in the End Times attacked Jupiter until the ref caught them and ejected the Chosen, Collipark running then off to the back • Gray tried to secure the Fifteen Pounds of Gold but too much damage had been done to the leg and he couldn't get the legendary Jones up for Repent • Jones fired off a Bolt From Olympus but kept Caleb from landing, scooping him up and breaking out his old school finisher the Thunder Rolls to retain the title 👑👑👑👑👑👑
👑💫 Jupiter getting the belt back and celebrated with the rest of Collipark - right until Orion's music hit • everybody gearing themselves up for a cash in from the National champion as Orion arrived on the scene • but they merely bowed in Jupiter's direction and held the Natty overhead before Jupiter gave a nod and held up the World title right back 💫👑
The standard “Invincible” open rolled as usual from there except for the notable change in the Cavalcade of Champions before we zoomed inside Quality Arena. Pyro went off the stage before we saw another sellout crowd of rabid Quality Controllers. Steve Vandeblanche welcomed us to Ruckus and said that as much as he liked Seattle there was nothing like Parts Unknown on a Friday night. He introduced Carl Christensen and they said this would be one of the biggest episodes of Ruckus all year, because the first round action in the 2026 Duquesne Classic would kick off tonight with four big matches – Nazir el-Fadal would go up against “the Purifier” Caleb Gray 💫 Malicía Fernandez of the Republic would meet Mason Razorblade Savage 💫 Bonnie Agrippa and Shelley LaVey weren't quite done with each other after Sunday's war in the Forbidden Book Club/Hysteria extreme rules elimination match and would go one on one tonight 💫 and the Forbidden Book Club’s Luz Cruz would try to take down the Republic's Pyotr Caviar
No sooner had Steve and Carl hyped up the Classic matches to come than the Florida A&M marching band split the Qualitron, coming out in formation to line both sides of the aisle and encircle the ring. After some peppy fanfare, they launched into a cover of “Bombs Over Baghdad” that brought out the College Park Family to a huge pop. The International Players danced down the aisle, Science Fiction Double Feature followed them, and behind them by a couple of steps was the man who'd been World champion all year, the legendary Jupiter Jones. The Fifteen Pounds of Gold gleamed off his shoulder as they hit the ring and the QCW stalwart was the only one in the maroon and gold letterman jacket with the big bold C on it.
Jones cut a promo once the band died down, saying that it was great to be home again inside Quality Arena on a Friday night…but Sunday night at Golden Rule was a little bit better because not only did he get to knock Caleb Gray off his throne of delusions, he’d gotten his belt back for the first time in weeks. So with all that behind him, he was going to start looking forward. This year's Duquesne Classic was going to have the deepest field in Classic history, and the winner wouldn't just add their name to the Duquesne Cup - they’d get a shot at him and the World heavyweight championship come Mayday Payday. So while he wished everyone in the tournament good luck, he was going to do what the kids call stand on business and he called living up to your word: they would only get as far as the Cup, because after the wars with the Republic and Caleb's thievery, he was here not only to prove why Old Man Jones was still The Champ, but someone would have to let the dogs of hell loose before he let the World title out of his grasp again.
The crowd popped for that and barely began to fire up “You deserve it!” chants before the lights in Quality Arena went out. When they came back on, Hysteria was in the ring across from the College Park Family and Steve lit into them for ruining a special moment Jupiter was having with the fans. Despite being outnumbered five to three QCW’s resident coven wasted no time in getting in the faces of Collipark; with the mic by Jupiter’s side you could hear every word Bonnie Agrippa hissed as she railed against how the company had set Hysteria up with an extreme elimination match they clearly hoped would be an extermination, but they were still here - still breathing - and still in the Classic. Which meant that this wasn't a time for a pep rally or rah-rah speeches - this would be the Year of the Dark Coronation. The year of Hysteria walking away with the Cup. And the Era of Hysteria would go into legendary status just like Jupiter when they took from him what they’d come back for to begin with: the QCW World title and all the power that came with it. Nancy Crowley had a wild look in her eyes as she clapped at Bonnie's words like a sugared up preschooler. Nancy said that this dark future was destined to become truth, because this was the year of –
“The year of Hot Topic wondering why all y'all been missing your shifts the past couple of years?” Both Collipark and Hysteria whipped their heads up the ramp, where Shelley LaVey and the rest of the Forbidden Book Club were standing to bask in the cheers of the crowd (those not laughing at Shelley's joke). LaVey said after the FBC had whooped some witch ass Sunday night, she thought things couldn't get any better than that…but then not only had she and her girls (Luz Cruz and “Night Sky” Diana Spare) all gotten put in the Classic, she was going up against Bonnie tonight to kick off the tournament. Sunday night had only been an appetizer and tonight she was going to tear into her like a medium rare porterhouse for all the times Bonnie had made fun of her when they were supposed to be a team or had her running her errands like an au pair. There would be a woman winning the Duquesne this year, but it would be one of the women of the Forbidden Book Club who’d not only hold up the Cup but the World championship when Mayday Payday came to an end.
Jupiter let out a humorless laugh and cut off the back and forth sniping between the years-long rivals with three simple words: “Y’all can try.”. He then noted since they were going to throw down for a shot at him, they might as well get a ref out here so they could pick up where they left off last weekend. He and Collipark were going to the skybox to watch all of tonight's tournament action - because if one of them did end up winning the Classic, they'd end up in their first PPV main event at Mayday Payday - and he’d be more than happy to show them that legends never die. Collipark left the ring and headed towards the skybox as Shelley's music hit the PA; while “Shockadelica” played a ref came down and hit the ring. Agrippa and LaVey locked eyes when Shelley hit the bottom of the ramp and neither broke the hateful glares they sent the other as the referee felt that tension. Despite the ref clearly feeling uneasy and awkward given the stakes of the match and the history involved, the bell rang - three seconds later a hockey fight was on in the middle of the ring as the former friends tried to take the other's consciousness away.
1. Bonnie Agrippa (w/Hysteria) d. Shelley LaVey (w/Forbidden Book Club) at 8:30 in a first round Duquesne Classic match It took almost a minute for the hockey fight to end, as Bonnie stomped on Shelley's foot and drove a knee into her breadbasket before throwing her down hard to the canvas. In a mirror of their relationship, Shelley fought to get out from under Bonnie's thumb, but a falling reverse DDT snuffed that rally out in the crib and got the first nearfall of the tournament. Agrippa continued her bruising offense and almost got disqualified a couple of times in her zest to take it to LaVey. Hysteria’s High Priestess didn't relent and almost buried Shelley with nearly a dozen flash elbows, but Shelley still kicked out. A clearly irate Agrippa went to end things with Eclipsing the Light and pulled off the rolling suplexes, but when she went to end things with her trademark brainbuster Shelley kneed her in the face repeatedly to fend it off, then connected on a Pele kick that left both women down.
But it was a renewed Shelley who was up first and laying in the shoe leather to Bonnie with some noisy forearm shots before laying her out with a basement DDT to fight her way back into the bout. Shelley beat on Bonnie until Agrippa staggered into a neutral corner, and once that happened Shelley rained down 13 punches before biting Agrippa’s forehead for the full five count. While the rest of the Forbidden Book Club cheered on from the floor, LaVey set up Agrippa on the top rope before sticking her into the canvas with her Fall From Grace draping cutter. With Bonnie laid out on the mat, Shelley spit in her face before going to the top rope. On the floor, Nancy Crowley and Bella Jolie were desperately yelling at Bonnie to move out of the way of Shelley’s Fallen Angel splash. Agrippa couldn't get out of its path – but what she could do was get her knees up at the last second and drive all the air out of a now collapsed Shelley. Agrippa recovered enough to grab LaVey by the hair before hitting a running brainbuster that turned out to be the winning blow that got Bonnie the three count much to the disappointment of most of the Quality Controllers.
Agrippa stood over Shelley and put the badmouth on her but the rest of the FBC hit the ring. Before even more Club/Hysteria violence could break out, Bonnie flashed a sadistic smile at Cruz and Spare before snapping her fingers - and you know what that meant. A few seconds after the lights went out, they came back on with Hysteria nowhere in sight. Who Bonnie will face next in the quarterfinals is a mystery, as she's paired against the one blank bracket in the ‘26 Classic, so keep an eye out there. As we saw Diana and Luz help Shelley up, Steve noted from the desk this had to be especially difficult for Luz; while Shelley had just barely lost and Diana's first round match wasn't until next week, Luz’s opening round match wasn't only up next - it was against the Republic's Pyotr Caviar, who’d made the finals last year and would be even madder than usual after losing the World Tag Team championships five nights ago.
After that, we went TOTHEBACK~!, where Julius Duquesne III said he was going to have a major interview with Commission Holmes. He strided up to the door and knocked before being let in. Holmes welcomed JD3 and said it was going to be a little weird because Holmes wanted to put another job on JD3’d shoulders. He noted it was two weeks since somebody had taken out Justice Davis on the loading dock. Quality Force Security was made mostly to handle crowd control, not something like this. But he knew three things about JD3: he went to Morehouse, he got a degree in journalism and part of his DNA was literally the reason QCW was around today. Julius could use his knowhow to help him figure out who was behind this, he’d owe him a big favor. Nobody knew the roster like he did and he had faith Duquesne III could get to the bottom of this. Holmes thanked him and said that he’d await his word, leaving the usually mild mannered JD3 to get out a “What the–” right before Ruckus very quickly went to commercial break.
2. Luz Cruz (w/Forbidden Book Club) d. Pyotr Caviar (w/Ig de Catur, the Republic and Republic Enforcement) at 10:08 in a first round Duquesne Classic match It didn't take long for our first upset in this year's Duquesne, as despite taking a tremendous beating Sunday night in the extreme rules elimination match she pulled out the win there and (without as much blood this time) managed to sneak out a win here. Cruz did so despite Caviar dominating most of the match, in an even saltier mood than usual after getting tased out of the World Tag Team championships in Seattle. Having Cruz survive a series of near falls obviously did nothing to improve his mood so Pyotr upped the offense, using a spinning sit out powerbomb to set up a follow up Russian sickle before pulling La Reina of the Ropes into a pop up European uppercut that seemingly made her two inches shorter and had her splayed out on the canvas. But as he began to set up Hit My Music, Jacques Krieger came marching down the ramp with a tire iron in his hand and swearing he was going to make Omar pay for what he did to Ashok at Golden Rule. Quality Force Security came streaming out as Republic Enforcement formed a human wall at the bottom of the ramp to stop Krieger from hitting the ring - but that drew Caviar's attention away from the match and bought Luz some much needed recovery time. As Pyotr was daring Jacques to come and get him, Cruz flew off the top with ¡MUERTE! abd git hin instead. The third double jump poison huracanrana she was able to pull of in five days got her the shocking three count, causing Quality Arena to explode in cheers and sending de Catur nearly into a stroke at ringside. Krieger dropped the tire iron with a wry smile and headed back up the ramp while the Republic couldn't break the human wall of QFS to get to him. In a direct contrast to the last match, the Club hit the ring to celebrate a win; that win puts Luz into the quarterfinals to face the winner of next week's match between Summer Rose…and Jacques Krieger. Small world.
As the Republic and then the Club took their leaves, Steve and Carl narrated the replays and put over Luz’s massive week until “Unscripted Violence” hit the PA and brought out Razorblade to a king sized pop from the Quality Controllers. Mason Savage came out through the crowd and down the steps per usual before hitting the ring. After getting the mic from Duck Eko, Razorblade said the past few weeks had been the craziest in his QCW career and that was saying a lot. First, he & Justice win Tag Team Turmoil, then the next week Justice is taken out, then at Golden Rule he gets the hell beaten out of him and when he comes to not only is he a tag champ but the guy who helped him out and is taking one of the belts off his shoulder is – is – of all the people in the back – Nazir el-Fadal?! The crowd popped and chanted for Naz, causing Razorblade to shake his head and say if they wanted to cheer for that jackal, that was on them - but either way, he wanted Naz to get his ass to the ring right now so he could get to the bottom of some things.
“So Be It” by Clipse brought out Nazir el-Fadal to a monster reaction of his own, strutting down the ramp with his JIHAD 1 rugby jersey and his share of the tag titles gleaming over his left shoulder. Naz went to hit the turnbuckles and pose but Razorblade yanked him down before hissing questioningly if Naz was behind the attack on Justice two weeks ago so he could take his spot and win the belts. Naz held up a finger so he could get a mic of his own from Duck. Naz joked that Razorblade threw a wildly crappy championship celebration but Razorblade barked at him to cut the crap - what happened to Justice has Naz’s stink all over it. Razorblade continued but Naz shut him down, saying that it didn't because when you're Nazir el-Fadal you don't need to jump the Justices of the world - if he was going to jump Justice he’d let everyone know about it and do it out here in public, not out back in the loading dock, and hell, Apple TV would be begging to make a eight part limited series documentary about it. And to be real real about things, he had more important things to worry about than JD’s boo boos. He had his Duquesne match up next, Razorblade had his put in the main event somehow and if he would focus on his current partner who had won them the belts instead of the one on the shelf then they could rule the tag division for years. Naz didn't want to come out here to get accused of crimes he didn't commit, he wanted to win the Duquesne for the first time - but if Razorblade wanted to apologize, he could stand on the outside and watch his back while he rinsed Caleb Gray faster than Old Man Jones did on Sunday night. It would be a nice way of saying thank you.
Razorblade let out a short bark of a laugh, saying it would be April 34th before he thanked Naz for anything. At this point “Shall We Gather At the River?’ hit the PA and brought out the Chosen with a clearly fuming Caleb Gray leading the procession of him and his acolytes towards the ring. Razorblade said to Naz he wasn't going to stand in his corner because he didn't trust him, and if he found out he was behind the attack on Justice then he would take apart Naz in sections whether or not they were tag team champions. Razorblade scowled at Naz before he left the ring and headed back the way he came. As Steve was hyping the Malicía/Razorblade main event and Naz was demanding Razorblade come back here and thank him for saving his sorry ass, Caleb slid into the ring and waffled Naz from behind. Gray got in a few stomps before a referee got in the ring and pulled Caleb off Naz. Gray and the zebra argued, allowing Naz a window to get up and lash out with a cross chop to the throat that staggered Gray.back. Now the ref had to pull Naz off of Caleb, and managed to get both complaining men in neutral corners before calling for the bell.
3. Nazir el-Fadal d. “The Purifier” Caleb Gray (w/the Chosen) at 10:45 in a first round Duquesne Classic match The pregame shenanigans effectively got rid of the feeling out period, and el-Fadal jumped out to an early lead. Naz forced Caleb into a corner but instead of breaking clean, he rocked Gray with a European uppercut, then tacked on four more for good measure. As Naz continued attacking, Steve pointed out that this was a rematch from last year's quarterfinals where Naz had ended Caleb's chances of becoming the first back-to-back Cup winner. But Gray couldn't get the measure of revenge he sought, and after Naz countered a desperate attempt at Repent with his Heat Check cobra clutch Lungblower, Gray rolled out to the floor to buy some recovery time. Naz fired up the faithful and went for a tope suicida, but the End Times stood in the scope to protect Caleb and take the tope instead. That was all the opening Caleb needed to sneak up on Naz and toss him into the ring post, sending Allah's Anointed splattering on the outside to boos.
Caleb shut out that noise and picked up Naz before sticking him with a DDT on the floor. The Purifier rolled back in the ring and was content to win by countout, but a reeling el-Fadal managed to break the count at nine and flop back into the ring. Gray looked peeved for a few moments but merely waited on his opponent to get up before laying him out with Reap the Whirlwind; the cyclone kick took Naz down but not out as he managed to shoulder out at 2½.: As Caleb continued wearing down Naz, Carl pointed out on commentary that if Gray could win the Cup again, he’d get a World title rematch against Jupiter at Mayday Payday. Caleb continued rolling - literally and figuratively, as a chained trio of German suplexes sent Naz rolling out to the apron to try and break up Caleb's momentum but it was too late for that now. Gray staggered Naz with some rights and went to put his lights out with a superkick, but Naz dodged it and he ended up kicking the ring post. To.add injury to injury, that slight misstep was all the opening that Naz needed to pick him up and plant him into the apron with the Hamrin Valley Driver. The crowd cheered, gasped and groaned as the impact saw Naz almost bounce off of Caleb to the floor…but Caleb wasn't moving at all.
We got a couple of replays as Naz gathered himself on the floor, audible “Holy shit!” chants popped up throughout Quality Arena. el-Fadal slid back in the ring with an evil smirk on his face before grabbing a limp Gray up by his arms then running into a corner with another Hamrin Valley Driver that sent the patriarch of the Chosen heels over head. The follow up dose of Nazquil put to bed any shot Caleb had of winning the Cup twice in three years and gave Naz the dub.
After replays, we saw Caleb limp up the aisle, occasionally screaming and ignoring the pleas from Goody Gardner as the End Times trailed behind her. Bad week for the 2024 Duquesne Classic winner and a great week for the man celebrating on the turnbuckles while pointing at the Cup; Naz will take on the winner of next week's Nancy Crowley v. “Night Sky” Diana Spare match in the quarterfinals. More Ruckus on the way after a few commercials.
We saw the previously online only footage of the Undaunted after their match at Golden Rule and they were understandably angry after Serge Batroc and “the Proper Villain” Richard Windsor cheated to beat them in Seattle, The proud Irishmen demanded a fair rematch against the snobby Euros, and “Unforgettable” Dave Mullin promised that if they got that rematch they’d be the ones getting their hands raised and they wouldn't need any [censored] tricks to do it; now they weren't just Undaunted, they were out for blood. He & Tim “the Only Hope” McMurray walked off backstage on Sunday night; we went back to the ring on this Friday night for some trios action.
4. Sky’s the Limit d. The All Starr Stable (w/S. Mark Starr) at 8:26 A match between two factions looking to bounce back from recent losses and get things going in a positive direction with a win here. It was the Stable who jumped out ahead early, with Evan O'Neill and Prince Ootsuka combining on a slingshot spear into a snap cobra clutch suplex on Kam Ellis to take down the power man of the Air Force alumni. Starr was borderline manic on the floor as the black hats took over, sensing that an elusive victory was finally coming his unit’s way. But the match changed minutes later when Ellis pulled Ootsuka in front of another slingshot spear, then laid out Evan with a massive Blue Thunder bomb. That gave him the window to get to DeMarius Cooper and make a tag, allowing Mare and then his twin brother DeMarcus to light up the Stable like Times Square. While the All Starrs have bonded over the years, it couldn't come close to matching the Coopers’ bond or varied high flying offense. The Stable managed a brief rally that got wiped out in short order when Kam hit a massive tope suicide that took out both Ootsuka and “Upper Class” Broderick Palmer II; there was no way O’Neill was going to win a three on one handicap match and Sky’s the Limit ping ponged him around the ring for the match’s final moments. The Coopers ended it with Aim High, and after getting hit with the tandem 450° splash x guillotine legdrop Mare pinned O’Neill. Sky’s the Limit celebrated their way to the back while Starr put the bad mouth on O’Neill for costing them another match.
We cut to Commissioner Holmes in his office talking to someone on the phone when some loud rapid fire knocks caused him to depart the call and invite the loud knocker in. You could hear the crowd groan in the background as Drake Tremble walked in and demanded an opportunity to be in the Duquesne Classic. How could a three time QCW champion – let alone a hometown hero from North Parts Unknown – be Forsaken yet again like this? Was Holmes just another Caleb Gray with more power? Drake continued on like that for a few more beats before Holmes cut him off and said there was one bracket of the Classic left open, so if Drake could break his losing streak and win a play-in match, he was in.
The catch was, they were about to hit the last commercial break tonight, so that gave Drake 150 seconds to get ready and head to the ring startiiiiing…now! Drake stared at Holmes for a few seconds before running for the door, tripping over himself on the way out. Holmes shook his head as we went to break.
5. “The Forsaken” Drake Tremble d. Jonathan Livingston Clipper Esq. at 7:51 in a Duquesne Classic play in match Both men wrestled with a sense of desperation given their respective losing streaks (Drake's being much longer, obviously). After a short feeling out period, JLCE came off the ropes with a spinning heel kick and began to take over. In fact, the match was 90% Clipper's as he used his youth and power advantages to the point where Tremble bailed to the floor and brought in a steel chair. The referee stopped him before he could connect with a shot, but as the zebra got rid of the chair Tremble kicked a field goal with Jonathan's buoys. The ref turned back to the action just in time to see Tremble drop the Captain with the Broken Halo discus back elbow and pick up a win much to the disgust of the Quality Controllers. Drake paid them no mind and celebrated like he’d just won the World Series with a grand slam, leaving the ref to check on a groggy and unlucky Clipper in the ring.
Before the main event, Steve and Carl hyped up 💫 next week's Ruckus 💫, which will continue and conclude the first round of the Duquesne Classic: now that he's forced his way into the tournament, Drake Tremble is one half of the mystery bracket and we’ll find out who he's facing next week 💫 the relentless rivalry between the Forbidden Book Club and Hysteria continues when Nancy Crowley faces off against “Night Sky” Diana Spare 💫 Tre Boyd may’ve drawn the shortest straw as he goes up against the Republic’s seething 2x former World champion Omar Littlefield 💫 and Summer Rose looks to down the heavy hitter Jacques Krieger
Say, speaking of first round Duquesne Classic matches, it's time for the main event between two people who’ve gotten to know and hate each other pretty well since last summer…
6. Malicía Fernandez (w/Ig de Catur, the Republic and Republic Enforcement) d. Mason “Razorblade” Savage at 10:54 in a first round Duquesne Classic match Another great match between the off and on again rivals culminated in a minor upset that sent me crowd home unhappy, as Malicía not only got the W but did so cleanly. Razorblade may have been distracted by the Justice attack and Naz being his new partner as well as banged up from Sunday night, but have you met Mason Savage? You know he isn't going to let that sort of thing stop him from slugging away and raising hell, especially against any of the Republic’s foot soldiers. Savage fired off plenty of massive rights right from jump, and after kicking Fernandez’s leg out from under her to set up a ring shaking double underhook suplex, Razorblade looked to follow up with one of his King Kong lariats. He shot out of the corner and it connected but to the shock of the arena it barely wobbled Fernandez. Malicía glared at the Grand Slam winner before spitting in his face, and that gave her just enough of an opening to snatch him up and lay him out with a big MF5 to turn the tide of the match her way.
Malicía couldn't match weight with Razorblade but he couldn't match her height, and she brought down her barrage of elbows from on high to repeatedly send Razorblade down. As she took over on offense the announcers pointed out that former National and World Tag Team champion Malicía was only a World title away from the Triple Crown, and she could get a shot at it at Mayday Payday if she could win the Duquesne. Razorblade began fighting out from under and managed a brief rally only to have it shut down by a roundhouse kick from the lanky luchadora that got her a nearfall. Fernandez didn't need Ig’s urging to stay on the attack, hitting a massive lariat that sent Razorblade spinning before he smacked into the canvas. Malicía got on the move when he started to stir, then connected with a somersault axe kick that left Razorblade having to kick out at 2¾. Malicía glared at the referee over the count but quickly got back in motion and went for the Death Warrant. Razorblade managed to dodge it, then took Fernandez down with a spinebuster. Malicía didn't stay down for long, but another massive lariat rocked her long enough for Savage to hit La Monstrua with another spinebuster that kept Malicía down and helped fuel Razorblade's second wind.
Savage brought the house and tried to bring it crashing down on Malicía's head. A couple more lariats, a couple of spinebusters and most impressively a delayed vertical suplex that lasted nearly half a minute. As he was rolling, Jacques Krieger suddenly jumped the dividing barrier and leaped onto Omar Littlefield and began firing rights and lefts before Republic Enforcement swallowed him up and laid a beating on him. Razorblade looked over at the beating on the floor and shook his head before he turned back to Malicía and threw her shoulder first into the ringpost before setting up for the Soul Crusher that had won him championship after championship in QCW. Savage took Malicía up to the top rope but as he tried to hoist her up on her shoulders Malicía slipped free and bounced his head off of the ringpost with a dull thud. The Quality Controllers groaned as Razorblade went limp and Malicía snatched Savage up in a goozle. Fernandez took a step up to the top rope then flew off and took them both to the mat with an avalanche chokeslam that folded Razorblade up like a K-3 off suit. Fernandez got to her feet first before letting out a roar and grabbing Razorblade off the deck. He couldn't stop the Death Warrant from getting signed this time or the three count that followed. “The Old Guard Is Dead” rang out over the PA and the crowd booed as Malicía posed over Razorblade's body. Carl said he hated to say it, but Razorblade had just gotten flat out beat and it wasn't all because of what went down on Sunday night.
Replays fired off highlights from Malicía’s win and when we came back to live action Ig was hugging a stone faced Fernandez while telling her the Duquesne was here for the taking. The win by Malicía sends her to the quarterfinals, where she'll face the winner of next week's match between Tre Boyd and her Republic co-conspirator Omar Littlefield. Ruckus ended with Fernandez standing next to the Cup with Ig enthusiastically clapping next to her and Steve wondering if we were seeing a preview of things to come.
