Showing posts with label Golden Gauntlet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Golden Gauntlet. Show all posts

Friday, June 7, 2024

GRPL+ & Ruckus presents Steel City Showdown • June 7, 2024


Peterson Events Center | Pittsburgh, PA

Aired live on GRPL+ | June 7th, 202


We saw a vignette to open the show that showed Commissioner Holmes in his makeshift office Earlier Today talking with Ambassadors Trios champions the Culture, and Shelley LaVey had her Crush championship with her as well.  Handshakes happened all around and then Holmes asked them if they’d found a partner for the contract match tonight.  They all seemed confident they could handle the situation when Luz Cruz walked in, saying that she hoped she was in time to join them for the eight person tag.  She and Shelley had their match ruined at Mayday Payday, so if they weren't going to hide in the shadows she’d show them the spotlight and get just what she deserved.  


She shut the door as “These Hands” Roy Fade jerked a thumb over his shoulder and said “Yeah, her.”


We got a modified version of the usual opening to Ruckus – panoramic shots of Pittsburgh landmarks were intertwined with the usual highlight reel while Dreamers’ metal cover of “Black and Yellow” played in the background.  Things ended the way they have for about a month, with the Cavalcade of Champions and Omar Littlefield tugging at the chipped Unified World championship around his neck while breaking out into a slow, sadistic grin.


Fans go RUAHH~! and the red, yellow and blue pyro went off on stage as this supersized edition of Ruckus with limited commercial interruptions kicked off.  The voice of QCW, Steve Vandeblanche was alongside analyst and former QCW champion Carl Christensen - they plugged the first ever contract match to come when “La Flor “ Luz Cruz teamed with the Culture against familiar faces Bonnie Agrippa, Nancy Crowley, Justine Danek and Bella Jolie as well as the main event where the Fifteen Pounds of Gold would be on the line between Littlefield and the person he took the Unified World championship off of, “Dark Mirror” Beckett Carpenter.  But Steel City Showdown would kick off with the 2024 Duquesne Classic winner defending his other piece of hardware for the first time…


1. Witchfinder General [c, w/Goody Gardner] v. “Tiki God” Al Buffett (w/Ashley “THEE Influencer” Szabo) for the QCW National Championship


Once Duck Eko made the introductions under a sole spotlight, we were soon underway and Buffett came out of the gates hot.  While WG was the bigger man, he definitely wasn’t the stronger one, and Al put him through his paces and out powered him early.  No sooner did Al press WG overhead before he started doing some reps with the National Champion, then slammed him down to the mat.   WG tried to roll away and get his bearings only to get clotheslined out of the ring once he did.  General was quick to grab his title and make a move towards the back but got cut off by Ashley THEE Influencer.  The Duquesne Classic finalists faced each other down, but that meant that the champion wasn't focused on the challenger; Al was able to sneak up on WG and throw him back into the ring to continue his offense.


Buffett continued chipping away at Witchfinder, who finally lashed out and raked Al’s eyes to get some breathing room.  But when he charged to follow up, Al gave him a backdrop into the corner that sent WG bouncing off the buckles and falling awkwardly to the mat.  Al followed up by dragging the General to his feet to blast him with a short arm lariat that got the Tiki God the first two count of the match.   Even that was too much for Goody Gardner to bear, and she jumped up on the apron to argue with the referee.  Ashley was coming to get Goody but Al nearly beat his tag partner to the punch and went after her.  Goody dropped off of the apron - and Al turned around right into a cyclone kick that knocked him heels over head.


We got replays of Al Inheriting the Whirlwind as the General began stomping Al out to the boos of the crowd.   The crowd wouldn't get any happier as Witchfinder got Al into position and laid him out with a piledriver.  Goody excitedly pounded the mat as Al almost ended up in the fetal position after getting dropped.   General sneered at the fans while gesturing at the fallen Buffett, asking them why wouldn't they repent?  Did they want to end up like this charlatan?  If you were in the crowd, it was hard to tell what was worse: the harangues or the beating.


Al could tell you which, especially as Witchfinder dished out everything he’d taken earlier and then some.  It only took a couple of minutes before Witchfinder put Al in a sleeper and tried to sap his strength.  Buffett looked to be going limp but it turned around as he countered with a jawjacker.  Al got a running start and charged Witchfinder but the General kicked his leg out from under him and hit him with a couple of quick elbow drops so that he could maintain the upper hand.


“Ti-ki God!” chants fired up in Peterson but it didn't stop Witchfinder from continuing to beat Al down and preach at him when his fists or feet weren't flying.  Witchfinder yelled at Ashley to watch what would happen and see if seemed familiar to her right before he got Al in position for his Repent finisher, but Al frantically kicked his legs to avoid the elevated crucifix neckbreaker, spun WG around and laid him out with a Codebreaker that left both men down.   Ashley and Goody stared daggers at each other while pounding the apron in their sides of the ring, hoping to get their man to their feet.


Al was first up by a second and managed to block a couple of shots before firing back with a couple of right hands of his own; however, WG cut him off at the pass with a hard knee to the gut that left Buffett splayed out on the mat.  General looked around the ring before grabbing Al and flinging him shoulder first into the ringpost, the dull echoing thud of the impact reverberating around the arena.  With Al incapacitated and in position, General hoisted him up and got a running start before planting the Tiki God with Repent - a three count later, his first successful title defense was in the books.


Witchfinder General d. Al Buffett at 13:20 to retain the QCW National Championship


We got replays of some of the match's big moments but before we could see the end we went back to live action in the ring, where Goody Gardner was laying another stomping down on poor Al.   Fortunately for him, Ashley quickly slid into the ring and launched herself at Goody to stop that noise.  Szabo laid in a beating on Gardner right up until Witchfinder snatched up Ashley from behind and threw her shoulder first into the ringpost.  WG followed up with a Repent on Szabo while Gardner had grabbed the Duquesne Cup and was driving the butt end of it repeatedly into Al's chest and stomach.  The crowd booed the black hats’ walloping the Game Changers until Quality Force security came out and separated the pairs. 


The end result was Al and Ashley laid out in the ring, Witchfinder and Goody sneering at them as they took both the Cup and the QCW National Championship to the back.  Boos rang out as “Shall We Gather At the River?” played.  Witchfinder and Goody sneered at the jeers while standing in front of a modified Qualitron 9004, and he held up the National Championship while she raised the Duquesne Cup.  


We saw what looked like a desert expanse for a few seconds before we saw a hand reach down into the grains and pull out a gray hockey mask, letting sand slide through the holes.   As that happened another hand reached into the sand and pulled out gray, bulky shoulder pads and you heard them being pulled over.  A few beats went by and we saw two men walking up what appeared to be a dune before a road suddenly split the sand in two.  They began to walk down it, though we could just see them walking down the road together into the sun that sort of Star Trekked the screen.for a few seconds before we saw the following:


t h r 3 3 

m I n u t e s 

t o 

m i d n I g h t


Commercials followed after this.


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We came back to Steve and Carl at the desk, who were hyping up the other two title matches on the card when the lights went out in Peterson.  


When they came back on, four familiar faces were standing in the ring and three were smiling while Bonnie Agrippa's face was a brick wall.  “Pray For Me” brought out the Culture along with Luz Cruz to a decent pop from the Steel City branch of the  Quality Controllers.  


2. Bonnie Agrippa, Nancy Crowley, Justine Danek and Bella Jolie vs. the Culture and Luz Cruz in a contract match


It came as a small surprise when Cruz volunteered to start things off for her side, daring any of the four women in the opposition to take her on.  Nancy Crowley broke away from the pack and had a crooked smile on her face while she tilted her head at La Flor.  Cruz landed a punch but when she went for another Crowley bit her hand before following up with a series of clubbing blows across Cruz's upper back.  Crowley brought in Justine Danek off a tag and the two of them teamed up for a double suplex.  Justine took over on offense while the announce talked about all four women suddenly reemerging at Mayday Payday and causing havoc in the women's division since.  


In fact, the bulk of the match was one of the black hats usually keeping an upper hand on an increasingly beleaguered Cruz - and even when Luz got a little piece of daylight something would happen like Bonnie Agrippa taking a swipe at Luz from the apron to help set up a Justine/Bella double gourdbuster.  Justine went for a cover after that but Shelley LaVey pulled her off the cover at 2.  Danek continued running point with occasional hard shots from Agrippa or Crowley but when she went to put Luz away the former Crush champion found the strength to counter with a sky high dropkick that flattened Danek where she stood.  We got a couple replays of Cruz going borderline Rainmaker as both Justine and Luz crawled towards their respective corners.  Danek got there first and tagged in Agrippa, who quickly got in the ring and picked Cruz's leg to try and fend her off.  Luz went for an enzuigiri that Bonnie ducked, but what she couldn't duck was a snap rewind rana that dropped her to the canvas.  Cruz made the crawl to her corner and tagged in the Crush champion.


Shelley LaVey came in the ring and immediately greeted her ex partner with a flurry of fists as the crowd popped.  LaVey sent Agrippa flying multiple times, causing Bella Jolie to get in the ring and try to save her partner.  Shelley managed to sidestep the attack and hit Bonnie with a bulldog while clotheslining Bella down.  LaVey continued her dominant roll, and pointed at Pierce before turning it into a finger gun that she shot at Agrippa.  When Bonnie turned around, Shelley leapt at her and went for her Fresh To Death cutter but Agrippa shoved it off.  Fortunately for Shelley the shove sent her flying towards her corner, where Luz reached past “Dashing” Pierce Moore and tagged herself back into the fray.  Cruz launched herself at Agrippa, who quickly adjusted and turned it into a small package.


And that somehow got Bonnie Agrippa and her group back into QCW.


No, seriously.


Bonnie Agrippa, Nancy Crowley, Justine Danek and Bella Jolie d. The Culture and Luz Cruz at 11:19 to be reinstated on the QCW roster


Agrippa quickly rolled out of the ring as the win played out like a needle scratch throughout Peterson.  Cruz sat up in the ring looking absolutely shocked, turning to the ref and holding up three fingers.  The announce expressed similar shock at the finish while the Culture checked on Luz.  While Danek, Jolie and Crowley exchanged joyous high fives and hugs, Agrippa looked in the ring and smirked before snapping her fingers.  The lights went out and when they came back on the Culture looked bummed out while a frustrated Cruz kicked the bottom turnbuckle repeatedly.  Bonnie and the rest of her cove–uh, group were nowhere to be seen.


We got replays of the finish before a highlight package aired of a remarkable stretch of last year's Cruel Summer PPV that saw three different world titles in three straight matches change hands when

1st) Team Batroc won the Unified Tag belts

2nd) “Night Sky” Diana Spare won the Women's World championship off of Karyn Tisch-Warren; this is the first time Spare has been on the show in any way since heading for the Mouse House last year 

And 3rd) Autumn Powers bested “Dark Mirror” Beckett Carpenter to end their best of 5 series with the upper hand and win the World TV title


As Thievery Corporation’s “33 Degree” played in the background, we found out that this year will see Cruel Summer return as a Quality PPV.  Next month on July 7th, the Capital One Arena in Washington DC will play host to a signature QCW PPV with tickets going on sale Monday at noon Eastern.  Nothing says Cruel Summer like DC in an election year, I suppose.  


Right before we hit commercials we saw minority owner Ig de Catur coming down the ramp with the GRPL+ World Television championship under his arm.  He came around and shook hands with Steve and Carl then headed into the ring to hand off the belt to the referee.  The crowd gave him a decent reaction as the Scoop Republic boss waved.  Ig is here to officially hand off the title to whoever wins the Golden Gauntlet in the next match; one of them will hold the World TV title for the first time.  The former multiple time Catch Hell champion faces the former multiple time Women's World champion when Banjerjee vs. Tisch-Warren goes down next!


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“Galang” brought out Ashok Banjerjee to a big pop from the crowd, but he was on a match to the ring without his usual smile or slapping the hands of the fans.  Once in the ring, Ashok hit the turnbuckles and nodded at the crowd who was changing his name.


As he made A Very Familiar Gesture around his waist, the insipid “Roar” brought out Karyn Tisch-Warren.  While the notorious KTW walked down the ramp, a picture in picture QCW Rewind showed her teaming up with Ashok at points in last week's triple threat semifinal to eliminate Pyotr Caviar from the Golden Gauntlet.  


Once they were in the ring, Duck made the title match intros under the lone spotlight in the Events Center and then we were underway.  


3. Ashok Banjerjee v. Karyn Tisch-Warren in the finals of the Golden Gauntlet for the vacant GRPL+ World Television championship 


As they fought to a standstill in the opening minutes of the fight, Steve noted that per Commissioner Holmes’ edict at the start of the Gauntlet, the rest of International Lotus was banned from ringside and Karyn was going to have to win the World TV title on her own.  Carl also noted he was hearing that there was some kind of disturbance going on in the back and he hoped that if it turned out to be something pivotal that they could get into it after the new champ was crowned.


After some counters and counters to counters, Karyn landed the match's first big blow by dodging a couple of Banjerjee attacks and landing a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to stop him in his tracks.  Tisch-Warren used her quickness to keep Ashok relatively grounded and when he rolled onto his side to avoid a pin the First Lady of Fitness fired off a basement dropkick that caught him between the L3 and L4.  Ashok continued to eat Karyn's offense and screamed out as she controlled him on the mat with a bow and arrow hold that caused him to reach out for (and eventually get to) the ropes. 


Banjerjee rolled out to the floor and was crawling around on his hands and knees, using the apron to pull himself up.  Once she saw that, Tisch-Warren was on the move.  Karyn bounced off the ropes and flew to the outside with a tope suicida that unfortunately for her lived up to its name as Ashok dove out of the way and she flew right into the retaining barrier to gasps and groans from the Quality Controllers.  We got a couple of replays as Ashok got himself back in the ring.  The referee started to count Karyn out but Ashok waved him off.  Banjerjee got a running start and springboarded off the middle rope and flew to the outside with a tope con hilo that wiped out Karyn on the floor.  


The crowd popped big for that, and after a few seconds Ashok got himself vertical before tossing Karyn into the ring and following her in.  Ashok showed off some speed of his own but mostly took the rare opportunity he had of a power advantage over an opponent to drive Karyn's health meter further into the red.  Ashok's roll came to a halt when he charged Karyn in a corner and she got her cross trainers up to stop him.  Tisch-Warren went to the top rope but Ashok undercut her to plant her on the top turnbuckle.  Banjerjee went up and not only hit a superplex but rolled through it; he looked to chain together another move - maybe a Decolonizer Driver to end things - but Karyn turned the tables and planted Ashok with a spinning version of the Falcon Arrow that left both of them down and the Pittsburgh crowd clapping.


A “this is awesome” chant got cut off by the Qualitron suddenly coming to life with live footage of the disturbance in the back – Lolo Vuitton whooping Sohla Patel’s ass after International Lotus tried to take her out after the main event between Lolo and Sohla last week ended by DQ at Karyn's head.  A furious Vuitton launched Patel into a production crate like a lawn dart before spotting something out of our eyeline at home.  Lolo grabbed Sohla by the head and spat at Sohla that she knew what payback was before grabbing her by the hair and launching her through some office’s plate glass window.


That got even bigger gasps and “Holy shit!” chants from the crowd.  Quality Force security arrived after the horse was already out of the barn, pulling a cackling Lolo away as she screamed that now that biotch knew how it felt.  QFS took Lolo away as the camera panned over to see Patel in a bloody heap amidst the broken glass.  A recovering Karyn saw her partner laid out and then she got laid out at the hands of Banjerjee when he launched her with a German suplex that had her kissing the mat with force.  


Ashok pulled himself up and controlled the rest of the match, snuffing out a small Tisch-Warren rally with a beautiful satellite DDT to set up the Decolonizer Driver (a brainbuster into the knee).  A three count later, Karyn was still unmoving on the mat and Ashok let out a wordless cry of joy.


Ashok Banjerjee d. Karyn Tisch-Warren at 12:52 to win the GRPL+ World Television championship 


Pyro!  Confetti!


Ig came into the ring with the belt while the referee tended to Karyn and helped her to the back.  De Catur shook hands with a psyched Banjerjee before putting the G+ World TV title around his waist.  Ig moved towards a corner and joined the crowd in applauding Ashok, who got bleeped on the broadcast for letting a joyful F bomb off before he hit the turnbuckles to continue celebrating.  The “You deserve it!” chants got drowned out by a barrage of golden and white pyro exploding from and on front of the Qualitron while confetti with the same colors started falling from the ceiling.   Ashok played to the other side of the crowd before laying down on the canvas and making confetti angels.  Steve put over that after months of trying, Ashok Banjerjee had finally earned the GRPL+ World Television championship.  Carl noted as hard as he fought to become champion, the next question was if he could navigate his way to 10 and get to cash it in for a shot at the Unified World championship.


Backstage, Enya Face sent congratulations to Ashok Banjerjee for winning the GRPL+ World TV championship before bringing out her guest who requested and paid for this television time so that he could address all involved and viewing along.  Here now, “Upper Class” Broderick Palmer II.


Face held out the mic for Palmer II to take, then walked off as he walked on while the Quality Controllers booed.   Broderick agreed with the crowd, saying that's what he felt in his heart in this narrowly disguised zoo masquerading as a workplace environment.  In the hallowed walls of Quality Championship Wrestling there was apparently no room for justice, let alone the Hashtag Justice For Evan All One Word (he said it, not me) that was deserved.  He should be here as not only half of a tag team but half of the Unified World Tag Team champions.  Yet here he was, no belt fashioned around his waist or in his grasp.  He assured us he was seeking legal restitution from Commissioner Holmes with regards to the titles no matter how rudely he had been rebuffed.   Whether between the ropes or in the courts, the result would be the first of what would be many championships under the name Broderick Palmer II.   


But until that time came he would make his name in the singles division just as he had when he ‘ll provide pro wrestling par excellence when he beat Autumn Powers tonight the same way he beat Razorblade a few weeks ago (the term you're looking for is chester) to further showcase his championship mettle.  Perhaps he might set his sights next on the championship in television but first he'd prove he deserved a shot at even more glory by proving where Autumn's place was: beneath him.


From there we went back to Duck in the ring, who announced that the next match had a 30 minute time limit and would be a mask vs. mask match!


4. Crusazdo del Oro v. Super Avión in a mask vs. mask match


Iron Maiden hit the PA and down the ramp swaggered Super Avión.  The crowd already didn't like the former Unified World Tag Team champion and he sure as hell didn't endear himself to the crowd when he yanked a Terrible Towel off a fan in the front row and used it to blow his nose.  The crowd wanted swift justice for this local misdemeanor and got it in the form of Crusazdo del Oro, who ran down the ramp and jumped his ex partner from behind (Avión turned heel on Oro and beat him in a street fight a few weeks ago).  Oro went on the attack with wild swings before the referee ran down the ramp and separated them.  The zebra focused on Oro and getting him into the ring before checking on Avión, who angrily demanded that they ring the bell.  Avión's attempt to get in the ring was cut off by a flying Oro, who dropped him with a springboard spinning plancha that had cell phones up in the air and the crowd cheering loudly.


Replays of the tornillo showed as Oro snatched up Avión and threw him into the ring.  Avión staggered into a corner and Oro quickly met him, jumping up to the second rope so he could lay in not just 10, not 20, not even 30 but 33 punches before the ref could get Crusazdo to come down.  Avión flopped into a seated position but it didn't stop Oro from running to the opposite corner and coming back to drill Avión with a Meteora.  Avión started to slide out of the ring but Oro helped him with an inside-out slingshot leg drop that drove his leg into Avión’s neck.  Oro rolled back into the ring and grabbed Avión's legs to pull him towards the center of the ring.  Oro got a decent two count out of it even though the time spent pulling Avión away from the ropes may have saved the match for Avión.


But nothing could save Avión from the wrath of his ex partner, who spent the majority of the match kicking his ass with some uncharacteristic anger behind every blow.  Avión got in a little offense and cheated a couple times but couldn't sustain any offense long term - and that was before Crusazdo hit him with a springboard rewind rana that put El Super in the drop zone.   Oro signaled he was going to finish it and went up top for his phoenix splash, but suddenly found himself crotched on the top turnbuckle as the referee suddenly went flying into the top rope.  Avión pleaded innocence as he scooted out of the ring while a couple of replays – well, Avión had plausible deniability but he might have been (probably was?) guilty.


He was definitely guilty of grabbing a steel chair and bringing it into the ring.  Avión picked it up and swung it on a rising Crusazdo only to get it yanked out of his hands by the referee.  The referee yelled at Avión before getting the chair out of the ring - all the opening Avión needed to kick a field goal with Oro’s testicles.  The crowd booed as Avión quickly wrapped Oro up with a La Magistral cradle…


Super Avión d. Crusazdo del Oro at 16:13 to unmask Oro


…this fucking guy!


Avión let out a cackle while holding the back of his neck, but barely got his hand raised before he got to his knees and started unmasking Crusazdo.  The announce weren't booing like the crowd was, but they didn't like the underhanded way he hung onto his identity.  A few beats later, Avión ripped off Oro's mask and held it up to the lights before spitting at his ex partner.  As Avión headed to the back, Oro rolled over onto his back and gingerly sat up.   He looked familiar, and Steve seemed to initially think that it was former QCW star Roberto Villalobos but then saw the long jagged scar that almost encircled the man’s left eye and took up the most real estate above his eyebrow.   


He waved off the referee’s offer of help and started limping gingerly to the back, Steve again decrying the miscarriage of justice that this man, Crusazdo del Oro had suffered.  Carl provided a pivot point right before the night’s last set of ads, hyping up the Powers/Palmer II match up next.


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5. “Upper Class” Broderick Palmer II v. Autumn Powers


Hot start to this one as Autumn couldn't even get in the ring before Palmer II blindsided her with a low tope.  The referee went to the outside to separate Broderick from Autumn, causing Palmer II to get in the ref’s face.   While that was going on, Autumn got time to recover and launched herself off of the steps with a flying lariat that took BP2 down.   The ref now was keeping Autumn from going after Palmer II and tried to get things started.   


Once the bell rang, Autumn saw that “Upper Class” was still down and hit the ropes to fire off a baseball slide dropkick but Palmer caught her by the legs and swung her like a baseball bat into the dividing wall.  Autumn went down in a heap before we saw replays of how she ended up crumpled.  Broderick followed up by draping Powers over the apron and drilling her with a million dollar kneelift before smiling at his successful offense.   His success continued for the next couple of minutes as he used his power advantage to keep Autumn down; as the announce noted that Palmer II’s offense was also taking the crowd out of the match just like he probably wanted.


Palmer II continued to work over Autumn but when he looked to powerbomb her, Powers reversed into a facebuster to drop Broderick near the center of the ring.   Both were down for the better part of the count before getting up within half a second of each other though once they were up it was Autumn who struck first when she jacked his jaw with a textbook rolling elbow.  


Palmer II started getting his comeuppance as the Pittsburghians (?) rallied behind Autumn and maybe played a 12th man in her comeback.  Autumn's speed killed any chance that Broderick had of coming back, and the former Unified World champion closed out the fight with a vicious 1-2 combo, flattening him with a borderline backdrop driver before putting a button on things with the Hazy Shade.  Good showing from BP2, but in the end the universe continued unfolding the way it should.


Autumn Powers d. Broderick Palmer II at 12:46


After replays, we saw the referee checking on Broderick while Autumn made her way up the aisle.  Julius Duquesne III was in front of the Qualitron and congratulated Autumn on her win and hoped to get a word with her.  Julius asked Autumn how she felt after putting another big win on the board.  Autumn looked at Julius and seemed to think about what she was going to say, but instead shook her head and headed to the back.  After realizing he’d gotten snubbed out of an interview, Julius shook his head and followed her back there.


Before the main event, Steve hyped up next week's Ruckus and while they weren't returning to Quality Arena with a supershow like tonight, there would be not one, not two, but three title matches come next Friday. 


Shelley LaVey will defend the Crush championship against one of the women in the group that just got reinstated earlier in the night in Justine Danek.   And we’ll get two title rematches: Ashok Banjerjee will make his first title defense against the woman he narrowly defeated to win the belt tonight, Karyn Tisch-Warren.  And the Women's World championship will be on the line again when Lolo Vuitton goes against Sohla Patel as that rivalry shows no signs of abating.  Note that in both the World TV title and Women's World championship matches that the rest of International Lotus is barred from ringside.  


Lolo Vuitton made history when she recaptured the Women's World championship at Mayday Payday and it might have been the biggest news from the last PPV…you know, if the main event hadn't seen a pillar of the modern era win the Fifteen Pounds of Gold and the Unified World championship…for all of a few minutes before a rookie monster cashed in his World TV title and leveled up by running through the spent champion to take the top title for himself.   


And now there's no cash in, just a former champion trying to take back what’s theirs and a newly minted champion looking to send another message….and maybe another opponent to the hospital.  


6. Omar Littlefield [c] v. “Dark Mirror” Beckett Carpenter for the Unified World championship 


After Duck made the introductions, the lights came back up and the ref called for the bell.  The crowd chanted for Mirror as Omar confidently strode to the middle of the ring and stuck his chin out in a dare to hit him right on the button.  Carpenter bolted out of the corner with a shotgun dropkick that staggered the Detroit native backwards a few steps.  Carpenter started teeing off with buzzsaw kicks and put some knots on his head.  Omar didn't fall to both knees and was clearly rattled but had enough strength to shove Mirror away.  Carpenter bounced off the ropes and hit Omar with a modified step up enzuigiri.  Omar still didn't go down so Mirror hit the ropes again.  


Littlefield saw it coming and blocked an attempt at another enzuigiri by tossing the Triple Crown winner up like pizza dough and letting them go splat into the mat.  Carpenter started staggering up and Littlefield ran for the ropes, running past Carpenter in two different directions before slamming into them with a Pounce that sent them flying into the corner.  Carpenter was barely moving and Omar wanted to make sure things stayed that way.  Littlefield backed into a corner before charging Carpenter and delivering a cannonball that sandwiched Mirror into the bottom buckles.  Carpenter went limp before Omar stepped on them and up to the middle rope, staring blankly at the booing crowd.  Littlefield pointed out at them and you could hear him say “This next part…this is on y’all.”


What was the next part?


Vader Bomb.


Vader Bomb.


Vader Bomb.


Vader Bomb.


Carpenter wasn't moving.  Omar cared.  


Littlefield grabbed Mirror by the mask before getting them into position and drilling them with his signature Face Eraser.  Omar dismissively put a foot on Beckett's chest for the 3 count.


Omar Littlefield d. Beckett Carpenter at 6:13 to retain the Unified World championship 


The referee started to call for the bell but the champion barked at him to make it five.  The ref hesitated, but did it.  Peterson was almost in a stunned silence as Beckett had just gotten obliterated.  Unfortunately for Carpenter, the beating was just beginning.  


Littlefield got his hand raised and then lariated the poor referee damn near into the fourth row.  Omar chuckled, then grabbed Mirror and planted them with another Face Eraser.  Littlefield rolled out of the ring and grabbed a limp Mirror by the ankles before tossing them to the floor hard.  Littlefield ripped the facade off the announce table, which sent poor Steve and Carl scurrying for the hills.  Omar threw Carpenter on the table and got up there himself before setting up and delivering another Face Eraser that imploded the table and sent Beckett nearly into the fetal position.  


Littlefield got up from the wreckage and let out a roar amidst the boos coming down on him in waves.  Omar shoved Duck Eko down and grabbed his belt as Quality Force security came onto the scene (busy night for them).  Omar threatened a few of them before yelling at them to get out of his way.  As he stomped off to the back he ignored the medical staff coming down the ramp with a stretcher.  Without commentators, we saw some reaction shots of concerned and/or pissed fans watching the scene of devastation The Champ left behind.   


QFS headed to the back as Mirror was loaded onto the stretcher and strapped in.  The med squad took the stretcher around the ring as the credits box came up.


But.


But as the Qualitron opened up to allow them to head to the back, Omar Littlefield was standing there with a smile on his face blocking the path.  The medical crew tried to get him out of the way so he scared them all by running at them, sending them fleeing all over Peterson.  That left him alone with the stretcher…


…which he promptly grabbed and dismissively pushed off the stage to the shock and horror of the crowd.  Security came back out and the medical team joined them as they all got close to Mirror’s body that had just been essentially thrown off the stage while they were held down.  Ig de Catur came out and Commissioner Holmes did too, Littlefield blowing off the Commissioner and moving like he had another appointment that he just wasn't going to miss.  De Catur was screaming for an ambulance, which took a minute to arrive.  Carpenter was loaded into the ambulance shortly thereafter, and Peterson was so quiet you could hear some of the Quality Controllers crying.  The ambulance went out of Peterson en route to the hospital and ten plus minutes into the overrun Ruckus faded to black.




Friday, May 31, 2024

GRPL+ Presents QCW Ruckus [s3e25 • May 31, 2024]


Quality Arena | Parts Unknown, FL 

Aired live on GRPL+ | May 31st, 2024


A video package opened the show recapping the history between Lolo Vuitton and Sohla Patel.  This goes back to last year's Mayday Payday where Sohla used herself as bait so Karyn Tisch-Warren could stab her then partner Lolo in the back to become Women's World champion, continues through last month’s Mayday Payday where Lolo beat Sohla to regain the Women's World championship and rolls through some highlights from last week's trios match where Sohla cheated to pin Lolo and announced post match she was exercising her rematch clause.  Vuitton/Patel for the WWC is the main event tonight.


Standard open rolled from there before we zoomed into Quality Arena.  Almost a thousand strong are loud and proud from Parts Unknown as Steve Vandeblanche and Carl Christensen welcomed us to tonight's Ruckus before hyping not only the main, but a weapons match between Witchfinder General and Goody Gardner against the Game Changers as well as Shelley LaVey defending the Crush championship; the show would start, however, with us being two matches away from crowning a new World Television champion next week…


1. Ashok Banjerjee v. Pyotr Caviar v. Karyn Tisch-Warren in a triple threat semifinal of the Golden Gauntlet


This is the remaining half of the field, with “Dashing” Pierce Moore, “Tiki God” Al Buffett and Justice Davis now on the outside looking in of the World TV title hunt.  QCW Rewind showed us the end of last week's quarterfinal fatal four way where Pyotr used his size and good timing to turf Justice.


Pyotr stood in the ring with a small grin on his face and waved on Ashok only for Karyn to jump on his back and put on a sleeper.  Ashok headed to the apron with his arms out in a “Welp, you guys can handle this” gesture as Karyn tried to tighten her grip around Pyotr's thick neck.  Pyotr couldn't get a grip on Karyn so he ran backwards into a corner, but the notorious KTW held on.  Pyotr tried backing into the corner again but Karyn moved out of the way to let Caviar send himself into the corner.  Karyn landed a few thigh kicks and managed to dodge the bear swipes of Pyotr for the next few seconds, but when she ran into the ropes to build momentum to fly at her, Caviar easily caught her and started bench pressing her overhead before doing a few reps and slamming her to the canvas.  Ashok offered up a few (possibly sarcastic) golf claps as Caviar waved him on clearly in anticipation of what next week’s finals were going to look like.  Doing that, however, meant that he took his eye off of Karyn, who log rolled into him and knocked him down to a knee.  Karyn followed up by landing some punches on Pyotr, but when she tried another move off the ropes Pyotr dodged out of the way and let her go splat on the canvas.  Caviar then added injury to injury by splattering her further with an eclipse of a running crossbody block, though afterwards he was selling the left ankle and thigh Karyn had been targeting since the beginning of the triple threat.  


Still, it didn't stop Pyotr from delivering a few mighty biels that sent Karyn from one side of the ring to the other and back again before one landed Karyn by Ashok.  No sooner had the two men started jawing at each other and the announce team started priming the pump for their showdown then Karyn did another log roll - but this was so she could get close enough to Ashok to tag him in and buy herself some much needed recovery time.


Ashok leapt into the ring and got ready to face off against Caviar, but Pyotr pie faced him and sent him skidding across the canvas.  Pyotr then spun around and tagged Karyn back into the match, clearly making a gesture towards Ashok as if he would leave the Boundless Banjerjee to clean up the scraps and bounce the former double champion out of the Gauntlet.  Ashok seemed to consider his options before pouncing on Karyn, Steve pointing out on commentary that picking the scraps had fueled the last couple of Gauntlet eliminations and that Ashok was making the smart play.  Carl pushed back against that, saying that Pyotr was the bigger threat and Ashok should find a way to get him out of the way.


Ashok worked Karyn over for a stretch while Pyotr watched on from the apron.  Tisch-Warren started to fight back but Banjerjee stuffed her with a nice tlit-a-whirl slam for 2 ½ and Pyotr gave that a slower, more contempt filled golf clap.  Ashok started barking at Pyotr, which allowed Karyn to go behind Ashok and hit him with a Backstabber.  Tisch-Warren crawled over to Pyotr before gesturing at Ashok, then Pyotr tagged in so that he could go in against Banjerjee.  Caviar went for a Russian sickle but Ashok grabbed his arm and used it almost like a balance beam, going under, around and landing on his feet before firing off a basement dropkick to the bad ankle.  Ashok got Pyotr down and began stomping away at it, even grinding both boots down into it at one point.


Karyn was clapping on the apron and when Ashok turned his head she had her hand out for a tag.  Ashok looked at her for a few beats before tagging her in, and Karyn went to work with a rapid fire attack kicking at the ankle and even hitting it with a couple of double stomps.  Pyotr shoved her away for a moment but on the apron Ashok's wheels were clearly turning.  He called out to Karyn and asked for the tag, causing Karyn to look at him.  Ashok raised his eyebrow before gesturing between himself and Tisch-Warren then pointing at Caviar and making a throat slash.


Karyn's eyes lit up like Times Square as she tagged in Ashok, who picked up where they both left off and continued breaking down the ankle and leg.  The crowd cheered lightly but mostly seemed confused as Ashok and Karyn started working as a team to keep Caviar down.  Pyotr occasionally managed to land a solid shot but within a couple of minutes Ashok and Karyn's staple gunned together team looked very solid and Pyotr was dragging a dead leg on the mat.  After a tag they sandwiched him with buzzsaw kicks, then Ashok grabbed Pyotr and with some help from Karyn got Pyotr up and stunned the Arena by delivering the Decolonizer Driver and put Pyotr down.  Ashok limped over and tagged in Karyn, who quickly got in the ring and made the cover.  Three slaps of the mat later and you could argue the first upset of the Gauntlet had gone down in its next to last stage.


Karyn Tisch-Warren d. Pyotr Caviar at 11:30 to eliminate him from the Golden Gauntlet 


After replays, we saw Ashok and Karyn in the ring looking at each other while behind them the World TV title glittered on a pedestal.  Ashok looked over Karyn's shoulders at the belt he’d been trying to capture for months.  Karyn looked down at the already bruising leg of Banjerjee’s he’d used for the Decolonizer Driver then up to Ashok's face and smiled.   As a chyron for it appeared on the screen and Ashok and Karyn exchanged “friendly” greetings, announce sold huge that the Golden Gauntlet would end next week when Ashok and Karyn went one on one and the winner would earn the World Television championship for the first time in either of their careers.


From there we went (not teleported) TOTHEBACK~!, where Enya Face was standing by to bring out her guest: Super Avión.  The crowd booed the luchadore as he came on set with a sneer evident despite the mask.  Avión waved off questions from Enya and said he wanted to address Crusazdo del Oro specifically.  He’d taken Oro’s pride when he beat him in a street fight a couple of weeks ago, but why stop there when he could take his soul?  Avión explained that he wanted a rematch against Crusazdo next week, but if that loser wanted a rematch then it would cost him everything so far as lucha libre was concerned.   Avión/Oro one more time - máscara contra máscara - MASK VS. MASK!  Because it was the only thing left for Avión to take, and once he did, Avión could refocus on regaining championship gold and dropping the dead weight of his QCW career once and for all.  Avión walked off set with an evil chuckle on his lips, leaving a shocked Enya in his wake.


Back to in ring action, as Justice Davis came out for a singles match after getting bounced from the Golden Gauntlet last week.  As the crowd clapped for the no nonsense brawler, the announce put over Davis’ continuing evolution in what is still technically his rookie year in QCW.  Davis threw a fist in the air while Steve said he’d be going for the biggest singles win of his career - next!


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We came back from the break to see Davis finished getting patted down by the referee before gesturing towards the Tron, wanting his opponent sooner rather than later.


🎶Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide

Gonna find you and take it slowly

Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide

Gonna find you and make you want me…🎶.


When the Fugees’ instant classic “Ready Or Not” hits the PA in QCW, it's Jihad O’Clock.  Nazir el-Fadal slowly made his way down the aisle in his usual black and gold attire to a monster mixed reaction as he tends to do.   Steve sold this as a big fight for Justice considering he had gotten bounced from the Golden Gauntlet last week while Naz had only one loss to Dark Mirror since returning months ago.  


2. Justice Davis v. Nazir el-Fadal 


Early on, the proceedings went in Naz's favor as he used a mat based game to outpace Davis and keep the relative newcomer's brawling at bay.  JD had to get the ropes a couple of times and while Naz broke clean you could see his shit eating grin from the tenth row.   Naz moved in but went down at the hands of a JD right; however when Justice tried to follow up Naz kicked Davis's leg out from under him and sent him face first into the One Man Jihad’s knee while he was on the mat playing “defense”.   el-Fadal quickly got up from the mat and sent the bigger Justice into the corner before he laid into him with a series of European uppercuts that eventually rocked JD into a seated position.  el-Fadal bounced off the ropes and hit a hesitation dropkick that rearranged his opponent’s face.  Davis staggered out of the corner and tried a couple of swings but el-Fadal dodged them and locked the former Unified World Tag Team champion in a cobra clutch.   Davis tried to power out but when it looked like he was going to get free Naz took him up and delivered a Lungblower on the way down to complete his Heat Check.


Justice survived that, so Naz opted for a different tactic and snapmared him over before lighting up the back of Davis with a few Penalty Kicks and trying to end things after them - but Davis kicked out a couple of times.  While Naz didn't lose his temper he did look a little peeved as he went back on the attack.  Who looked outright pissed was Justice, who responded to another flurry of European uppercuts by gritting his teeth and yelling at Naz to hit him harder.  el-Fadal smiled and cocked back another swing only for Justice to stomp on his foot before hooking and planting Naz with a double arm DDT.  


That explosive impact move was the first block JD built his rally from, the Quality Controllers popping huge as he hit a lariat on el-Fadal so hard that it made the former World champion somersault through the air before he became a canvas angel.  We got a couple of replays of Naz's Wile E. Coyote impersonation, then as we went back to live action he was rolling out of the ring.  Naz was on his knees gasping before he pulled himself up.  He didn't see Justice until Davis was flying off the apron with a cannonball that nearly sent him flying into the barrier to another big pop.  


Both men were wiped out for a little bit before Davis got Naz back into the ring and went back to work.  Davis stunned the audience when he went up top - and connected - with a flying shoulderblock that got him a long two count.  Justice continued onwards and upwards, rocking el-Fadal a couple minutes later with an Andersonesque spinebuster that put Naz down for 2.8 of the necessary 3.  


From there, the match seesawed with even more gusto: Davis’ offense knocked Naz on his ass a couple of more times before he went for the Davis Driver, but Naz slipped free of it and launched Justice shoulder first into the post.  Naz pulled JD free from the corner and set up an Outsider's Edge but Davis powered Naz into the corner a couple of times to put a stop to it.  Naz went limp and Justice saw his opportunity, scooping up Naz and going for the Davis Driver; unfortunately for him Naz managed to block it this time by executing a multiple second eye rake.  Even worse, that shortcut gave him all the opening he needed to slip behind Justice and give him a dose of Nazquil, planting Davis and securing the W.  


Nazir el-Fadal d. Justice Davis at 12:53


Naz smirked his way up the ramp after pulling out the win while the referee checked on the recovering Davis.  


After that, we went to Steve at the desk, who gave us some news and updates after last week's main event where Omar Littlefield's title defense against “the Fury” Jim Jaspers was a dominant, violent squash.  Jaspers eventually got stretchered out of the Arena.  The beating he took from Omar, the Fifteen Pounds of Gold and the steel steps meant that Jaspers was not only still recovering in a hospital bed but that he wasn't expected to return to the ring until July.  As a result of that beating and desecrating the Unified World championship again, Omar was suspended from this week's show.  Littlefield had a terse response on Quality Social that was mostly bleeped out on G+ but it essentially said that Jaspers, Commissioner Holmes and everybody who wasn't him could eff off since it was his belt and he could use it and treat it however he felt like.


3. the Game Changers v. Witchfinder General and Goody Gardner in a weapons match 


The Game Changers were out first to a big pop from the crowd, hoping to strike a decisive blow against the Bible thumpers in a hardcore environment.  Both in street clothes, the Tiki God made “hold up” gestures to the crowd before Ashley went back behind the Qualitron 9004…and came back out with a shopping cart full of plunder, some of which was buried if not sticking out of a garbage can.  They took over the ring and got the crowd hyped up before picking up a pair of Singapore canes and waiting.


“Shall We Gather At the River?” hit to boos, and gave way to the arrivals of QCW National Champion Witchfinder General and his acolyte Goody Gardner.  They got halfway down the ramp before Gardner reached into the Duquesne Cup and pulled out a microphone.  Goody said that maybe they couldn't understand it in the ring or amongst the heathens in the crowd but it was bad enough that Witchfinder had to use his hands to sully himself on the unholy.  But to participate in an unholy match was a step they refused to take.  So if they had to lose a match to keep the faith, they would.


Then Goody did something you never see in QCW: she forfeited the match.


Seriously.


the Game Changers d. Witchfinder General and Goody Gardner via forfeit


Duck’s announcement had the Quality Controllers up in arms, and the Game Changers looked stunned and confused in the ring.  Carl Christensen’s “What the hell was that?!” summed up the situation pretty well as Goody laid the microphone down on the ramp as she picked up the Cup and spun on her heel to follow Witchfinder up the ramp.


As they began to leave, the Qualitron came to life and showed a pissed off Commissioner Holmes in the back ordering Quality Force security out there.  In a few beats they came out from both sides and through the Tron, some standing between the ramp in the ring while others surrounded Witchfinder and Goody.  When the Tron went back to normal Holmes said that he couldn’t believe that he had Witchfinder brought back only to have him bail on a match that he, and more importantly the fans wanted to see.  So if they were so fine about getting their faith tested then they had a week to study - because in a week at Steel City Showdown, Witchfinder General would make his first defense of the QCW National Championship against “Tiki God” Al Buffett! The crowd cheered loudly at the news while the Game Changers bumped fists.  Quality Force escorted a furious Witchfinder and Goody to the back while Steve hyped up the fact that fan favorite Al could wrest the newly minted title out of Witchfinder's hands next week.  Ruckus went to break with Al standing on the buckles making A Very Familiar Gesture around his waist.


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4. Shelley LaVey [c, w/the Culture] v. Winter Wonderland (w/Gaia Green) for the Crush championship


The back half of Ruckus began with the first title match of two on the evening; QCW Rewind took us back a week and showed Shelley retaining her title against Gaia.  Winter wanted to stick up for her partner and Shelley wanted to get a step closer to being able to cash in the Crush for a shot at the Women's World title, so here we are.


Crowd was split but leaning towards Shelley, and the champ showed up and showed out early.  LaVey fought hard and (surprisingly?) clean while the rest of her squad rooted her on from the floor.  Winter mounted a rally and knocked Shelley to a knee only to get surprised and dropped with a Pele kick.  LaVey went up to the top rope and flew off with her trademark Fallen Angel splash but Winter got her knees up to save her chances at the title.  Winter mounted an even bigger rally and started working over Shelley's back and ribs while Gaia did a little coaching but mostly encouraged her partner to keep it up.  


A desperate LaVey tried to toss Wonderland from the ring; Winter reversed and tried to do it to Shelley but ate a hangwoman for her troubles.  LaVey went back up top but before she could fly off Winter superkicked her in the ankle to leave her crying out in pain while being draped over the top rope.  Winter dragged her out in a firewoman’s carry before shoving Shelley off and falling back into a double knee gutbuster.   Winter hooked the leg and excitedly watched the count being made but missed Shelley getting her other leg under the bottom rope.  Winter leapt up in celebration, thinking she'd won the belt.  The ref had to take Winter’s hand down and tell her that she hadn't won, which confused Wonderland and she had a back and forth with the referee…right before Cindy spun her around and put her in a firewoman's carry before delivering a TKO.  Shelley used the ropes to pull herself over to the apron, then when she saw Winter starting to get vertical slingshot into the ring and drilled her with another cutter.  A three count later, Shelley had completed her clean sweep over the ladies of Mean Season.


Shelley LaVey d. Winter Wonderland at 8:46 to retain the Crush championship 8️⃣


We got replays and when we came back to live action, Winter was offering Shelley a handshake.  LaVey looked at her teammates, who said she could do what she wanted.  LaVey then looked into the crowd, who encouraged it.  Shelley gave Winter a bit of side eye before shaking her hand, but it went away when Winter shook her hand and left ringside with Gaia.  Wonderland looked a little disappointed but that tracked.  Shelley, on the other hand, looked a little fired up and asked Duck for the mic.


Once she got it, Shelley asked the crowd to give it up for Winter and they did.  Shelley said that from the day was born, all she ever did was stand on business 26/8/372.  It's how she ended up standing here in front of them a double champion both on her own and with her boys.  She pointed out that she said her boys.   Why Bonnie Agrippa and her friends were buzzing around her, she didn't know and she didn't care.  She stood…on…business.  And if the homie Holmes would let them, she – 


– Pierce Moore and Roy Fade were quick to make that a we –


– Shelley said they’d get somebody else to throw in, and their four would whoop Bonnie's four and turn the lights out on their spooky crap for good.  Because Shelley wasn't the sort of woman who hid in the shadows anymore - she was out front and center two titles deep because she was doing it for the Culture.  Prince hit the PA and the Culture took their leave to a good reaction while the announce team talked at the desk about how the Commissioner would handle Shelley's request to get hands on with the Agrippa problem.


“Hated” by Beartooth hit the PA while Steve and Carl were talking, bringing out S. Mark Starr and his client, Jacques Krieger.  As they came down the ramp, a cut to backstage showed “Upper Class” Broderick Palmer II watching on from a monitor.  The black hats hit the ring, Starr crowing about Krieger to the hard camera while Steve plugged that he’d be going up against “Dark Mirror” Beckett Carpenter right after the break.


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We came back to a stoic Krieger occasionally nodding while Starr pumped up his client before “This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both of Us” took over the PA, bringing out “Dark Mirror” Beckett Carpenter to their usual monster mixed reaction.  Carpenter moved stiffly and slowly down the ramp still dressed in all black with a dead look in their eyes.   As they entered the ring, Krieger got a running start and delivered a knee strike to the head that sent Carpenter spilling to the outside while the crowd booed.  Krieger left the ring and threw Carpenter into the barricade and rolled into the ring before rolling back out, then did it again and a third time before walking to a neutral corner with a blank look on his face. Starr was barking at the referee to see if Mirror wanted to spare themselves the beating, but Carpenter merely used the barricade to pull themselves up before rolling into the ring themselves and waved Jacques on.  The referee checked again but when Mirror said they were fine the zebra called for the bell.


5. “Dark Mirror” Beckett Carpenter v. Jacques Krieger (w/S. Mark Starr)


Carpenter being unwilling to quit got the stoic look off of Krieger's face, and he ran across the ring to start stomping out the newest member of QCW’s Triple Crown club.  As he laid in stomps, Steve attributed his cutthroat style to Starr's teachings; Krieger would get right up to the edge of multiple five counts from the referee and then stop at four and change every time to avoid getting DQed so that he could continue punishing Mirror longer.  


As Krieger got more playfully sadistic with some paintbrush swipes to the back of Mirror’s head, Carl wondered if this all went back to the finals of last year's Duquesne Classic where Carpenter cheated to not only win the Cup and the World TV title but ended Krieger's long held undefeated streak.  Carpenter slowly drew themselves up off the mat and hit Krieger with the Cracked Mirror headbutt, but it seemed to hurt the smaller Carpenter more than it did the two time former World TV champion.  Krieger shook off the cobwebs first and snatched up Carpenter before whipping them into the ropes and planting them with a big boss of a slam that got him 2 ½.


Krieger continued to dominate the next few minutes and even bloodied Carpenter's mouth by landing some stiff short range kicks but Carpenter just smiled a bloody smile and waved Krieger on again.  Krieger stepped things up by lying in some short range knee strikes but Carpenter kept laughing at him and eventually spread their arms wide and told Krieger he didn't have the (it got bleeped so I assume they said balls) to knock them out and plant the killing blow on their chin.  Krieger grabbed Carpenter’s arms for the killing blow…and Beckett rolled him up and bridged over his legs with their body to keep Krieger's shoulders on the mat for all of 3.6 seconds.  Al Davis would've been proud.


Beckett Carpenter d. Jacques Krieger at 11:24


After replays, we could see Krieger going chest to nose with the referee while he argued the (accurate but close) count.  Jacques looked like he was going to walk away but then got the ref in a goozle, causing Starr to slide into the ring and wave his hands to keep Krieger from dropping the ref.  Krieger let go and the ref quickly fled the ring, causing first Krieger to chase the zebra to the back and Starr to chase Krieger as best he could to follow.  Carpenter went to the floor and quietly asked Duck Eko for the mic and got it.  


Sitting on the steps, Mirror cut a mostly monotone and brief promo, saying that Omar took minutes to ruin what it had taken them years to gain and they had a way for him to get unsuspended - fight them next week and bring the belt along.  He thought he knew about cracks?!  All Mirror was was cracks, and if he thought he could pull the same crap he did against Old Jim against a Triple Crown winner…well, he could forget about looking inward and remember that he couldn't break what was already broken.  Mirror let the mic fall to the floor and “This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both of Us” hit the PA.  


We went to the desk, where Carl put over next week's episode huge.  Coming live from Pittsburgh, it's a supersized episode of Ruckus called Steel City Showdown with limited commercial interruptions and the card is more loaded than me on my birthday to be honest.


Deeper dive: 


♦️✨🔷 Autumn Powers will face off against “Upper Class” Broderick Palmer II ♦️✨🔷


♦️✨🔷 An eight person tag will be a contract match - Bonnie Agrippa's crew against the Culture and a mystery partner. Should Agrippa's side lose they will be barred once again from QCW; should they win, they will all be re-signed ♦️✨🔷


♦️✨🔷 Crusazdo del Oro will face off against his ex partner Super Avión in a mask vs. mask match - the ultimate in lucha libre tradition.  Which luchadore will get his hand raised and more importantly, keep their mask? ♦️✨🔷


♦️✨🔷 We’ll see the first defense of the QCW National Championship when Witchfinder General will put up his belt against “Tiki God” Al Buffett from the Game Changers; does the Duquesne Cup winner walk out with the belt or will Al get his first taste of singles gold? ♦️✨🔷


Steve said he just got done talking to Commissioner Holmes and could talk about the double main event coming next week:


♦️✨🔷 The finals of the Golden Gauntlet will crown a new World Television champion when Ashok Banjerjee goes one on one with International Lotus’ Karyn Tisch-Warren, both vying for their first chance to reign as World TV champion (Ashok looking to add this to his reigns with the Catch Hell championship and Karyn looking to add to her three Women's World championship reigns) ♦️✨🔷


As if that wasn't enough, the main event might be of some interest…


♦️✨🔷 Omar Littlefield will defend the Unified World championship against “Dark Mirror” Beckett Carpenter -  Carpenter choked out Autumn Powers at Mayday Payday to win the Fifteen Pounds of Gold and earn QCW immortality by completing the Triple Crown and was on top of the wrestling world…until Omar cashed in the TV title and demolished the worn down Carpenter in a couple of minutes to take the top prize in QCW for himself.   Now, Mirror will see Littlefield coming - but does QCW’s resident master of mind games have a solution for the dominant land monster and reigning champion? ♦️✨🔷


Speaking of World titles and main events…


6. Lolo Vuitton [c] v. Sohla Patel for the Women's World championship


The show began looking back at the year+ history between the current and former champs and concluded here with the title rematch from Mayday Payday.  Sohla came out alone to boos and Lolo came out to the pop of the night.  Sohla got right in Lolo's face while Duck made the introductions, forcing the ref to wedge their way between them - Lolo’s response was to hold up the belt with one hand and three fingers - one for each title reign she's had so far - with the other.  


When the bell rang a hockey fight broke out to the joy of the Quality Controllers that quickly got muted when Sohla deeply raked Lolo's eyes and used that opening to start lighting into the champ with open handed chops.  Lolo cut her off with a sharp knee to the gut before trying to suplex her into the corner; Patel reversed and successfully hit Lolo with a suplex into the buckles.  


Patel followed up with stomps to the back and boot chokes as the announce sold that Lolo might not be at 100% after Sohla threw her through a car windshield a couple of weeks ago in the parking lot.  The Bollywood Diva continued to work over Vuitton for the next few minutes and when Lolo mustered a brief comeback Sohla shut it down with a double thrust to the throat and a sunset flip powerbomb into the corner.  After a cover, Lolo kicked out at two and change but there was no doubt that Patel was ahead on points.  


Sohla complained for a bit but then went back to work on Lolo.  Patel looked like she was setting up for the Ninth Incarnation Falcon Arrow but Lolo threw a series of back elbows to stagger Patel.  Lolo then looked like she was going for a suplex of her own but it turned out to be a brainbuster instead that left her temporarily spent and Sohla temporarily woozy.  Patel did wisely roll away from Lolo until she was on the apron using the ropes to pull herself up.  Vuitton seemed to be huffing and puffing a bit but it didn't stop Vuitton from coming around the horn and drilling Sohla with a sudden Bloody Shoe that sent Sohla flying from the apron and flying through the announce table that drew “Holy shit!” chants from the Quality Controllers.  Steve and Carl were scrambling to get back on the air, so we got 3-4 replays of Sohla's flight with only the ambiance in the Arena for noise.  


Lolo cackled from the ring and told the referee to count Sohla out, but Patel managed to crawl out of the wreckage and flomp herself back in the ring.  Lolo looked pissed before flipping Patel on her back and going for a cover…but Patel managed to reach out and grab the bottom rope at 2 ¾. 


Sohla survived that near fall but didn't put up much of a fight for what was left of the match, as Lolo threw her around the ring a few times culminating in an overhead belly to belly suplex into the corner that folded Patel up.  Sohla slowly got to her feet and got blasted by a second Bloody Shoe but as she fell forward Lolo stood in front of her and propped her limp body up with her standing one before shoving Sohla back into the corner, coming around the horn and drilled a third Bloody Shoe that had Sohla down and out.  Lolo let her fall to the mat this time around but as the three count was coming down…


Lolo Vuitton d. Sohla Patel by disqualification at 15:58 to retain the Women's World championship


… (deep sigh) hi, Karyn.  


Tisch-Warren had sprinted from the back and yanked Lolo out of the ring before a three count could happen and wasted no time in throwing the unsuspecting Vuitton into the ring post with a dull thump.  Vuitton went down in a heap but that didn't stop Karyn from throwing her into the post again, drawing color as Patel started to come around in the ring.  


Karyn barked out orders to Sohla, who took a few beats to come around and pin Lolo’s arms behind her back while Karyn lifted the top part of the steel steps and slid them into the ring.  Karyn nudged them closer to the center of the ring and once she did Sohla spun Lolo around and drilled her with the Ninth Incarnation on the steps.  Karyn looked confused at Sohla, who just shrugged her shoulders.   Karyn stared at Sohla for a few beats before shrugging and putting Lolo in the Circuit Breaker.   A bleeding Vuitton pumped out even more clarin as Sohla rolled out of the ring and grabbed a steel chair.  


Patel got back in the ring and got ready to make Lolo's head the meat in a steel sandwich but as she got the chair cocked back it was snatched away from her from a couple of members of Quality Force security, who arrived on the scene just in time to save Lolo from a concussion.  It took a couple more members to pry Karyn Tisch-Warren and her elevated Texas cloverleaf off of Lolo.  As Commissioner Holmes watched on from in front of the Qualitron QFS got International Lotus out of the ring while the medical staff began to get in it and tend to Lolo.  The credits box came up as a pissed off Commissioner had to listen to Karyn rant about how she was going to make history when she would not only have the World TV title but would become the first ever two time double champion when she took back the Women's World championship as well.  International Lotus was getting hustled to the back as things went to black.



QCW Unleashed [s4e5 • Quality Arena]

Justine Danek and Bella Jolie (w/ Bonnie Agrippa and Nancy Crowley) d. Christine Kent and Hilary Highnote  Sky’s the Limit d. The All Starr ...