Last week on Ruckus: Women's World Champion Autumn Powers had a horrible evening: getting jumped by Summer Rose kept her from participating in a 20 person battle royale to determine a #1 contender for the TV title, then after Rose was eliminated and she tried to get revenge, she got waylaid by the returning Karyn Tisch-Warren • "These Hands" Roy Fade and Katsuji Ootsuka were the last two survivors of that battle royale; they'll face off tonight to determine the #1 contender to the TV title and who gets the shot at the title on next week's limited commercial interruptions edition of Ruckus • Razorblade challenged Nazir el-Fadal to a World title match at AnIIversary which Naz took him up on, then watched Razorblade defend the TV title by dusting off Rich Ward with a familiar looking discus forearm smash that left Naz chuckling before shaking his head and walking away…
Earlier Today, an Escalade SUV pulled up to the Arena; after the door was opened, out stepped Roy Fade, dressed in all black like the Omen. As he rolled his gear into the Arena, Enya Fade was on the scene to ask him about his #1 contenders match against Katsuji Ootsuka tonight. These Hands said that Katsuji took the food off of his table for months, and if one thing was for damn sure in this world, Roy Fade was gonna eat. So tonight the new flyboy was going to get These Hands, and after that whoever had the belt after tonight it wouldn't matter, because he would drop them next week to get back the TV title. Blondie, the cameraman, the chumps at home and everyone else could witness the rebirth as long as they put RESPECT on his name. Fade left Enya in the dust looking thoughtful, as he's clearly focused on the task ahead tonight.
That set the stage for Friday's new holy trinity: the open, pyro and the usual suspects welcoming us over the sounds of cheering Quaranteers. On the docket tonight? The #1 contendership match, two title matches and Nazir el-Fadal facing off against Pyotr Caviar in a loaded main event, but we'd start the evening off with six man tag action.
| • Fated To Become Champions d. The Hard Way and "Tiki God" Al Buffett • | With the Women's World Tag Team championships on the line later on in the show, the gents involved in this long-standing rivalry threw hands to kick off our Friday night. While the black hats have proven to be a pretty cohesive unit, the babyfaces did have a couple of awkward moments and slip ups that the FBC were quick to capitalize on; even worse, Nancy Crowley showed up late in the match when her boys were in trouble to cast a little voodoo on the Hard Way, who've gotten free from the FBC's control…mostly. Unfortunately, that waffling left poor Al to take a Toddzilla sized beating, and by the time the spell was broken VillaLobos was sealing the deal with his 450° kneedrop, El Armagedon. **
The heels posed in a post match V formation above and around Al's body, and a brief blackout interrupted by four red flashing lights later, they were nowhere to be seen. The Hard Way appeared to be helping Al out and sheepish over the match ending, but a pan up into the bleachers saw the entire Club looking down on the ring with evil grins, Diana Spare rubbing her hands in glee.
Announce put over the Women's World Tag Team championships rematch and if the Game Changers could withstand the Club's black magic to hold onto the titles. But trios tag action wasn't done on tonight's Ruckus….
| • the IWC (w/Pyotr Caviar) d. "the Wonderful" Rich Ward and the Proper Villains • | This was another rematch from the Ambassadors tournament, this time the instant classic semifinal that served mostly as a prequel for the War of the Wards. The rematch had two wrinkles not in play during the original: Serge helming the team instead of coaching them up from the floor, and after taking a somewhat embarrassing loss in War Wards I, Jason the Terrible wanted no parts of his brother in a fair fight (though he did tag himself in a couple of times and cherry picked some offense before relying on Serge or Anton again). At one point when things were at their most dire, Rich actually managed to drop all three members of the Consortium and tag out to "the Proper King" Richard Windsor, who went after his teammates with gusto and more importantly vicious European uppercuts and capture suplexes. Seeing the tide turning, Caviar pawed at Windsor from the floor. But it turned out that that was just a ruse for Serge to blind tag in behind Richard's back and pull him off of Anton right into a textbook Arc de Triomphe, and his teammates stopped Rich and "the Fury" Jim Jaspers from getting involved to get them another win. *** 1/2
A rattled Windsor needed help from his teammates and the ref to get to the back, which unfortunately gave the IWC time to gloat. Jason the Terrible took the stick and said it was pathetic that the teams they bested to proudly hold the Ambassadors Trios championships kept buzzing around them like the flies they were. But it was no matter to the Consortium - the luchadores had tried again and failed…those mismatched Brits and…him had tried again and failed. The difference between them and the Consortium was that literally everything they touched turned to gold, whether it was their leader's Duquesne Cup or the trios championships, or
"You know what titles you don't have?" said a raspy, rumbling voice. The Consortium began to scan the Arena but didn't see anything unusual (until they did, of course).
You could hear scraping sounds as the camera went from red to a massive red right hand to panning out to reveal the Revenant, and the crowd roared upon seeing half of the World Tag Team champions to a mostly positive reaction. The Consortium fumed in the ring and Jason was mid sentence when on the Quarantron the Rev suggested that the little boy should shut up so a grown man could talk. After the pop from that died down, the Revenant wondered why it was that the all powerful Ambassadors were hiding from the Immortals?
This time, Jason cut off the Rev, saying that the Rev needed to think about what he was going to say next since the Consortium still had a shot at the World Tag Team champions, and when they took it they'd bring all four of the IWC against both Immortals. When that happened, even the big bad undefeated Immortals would know that the true power in the tag team division resided with the Consortium. The Revenant said that they had one final thing to take care of, but if the IWC wanted these belts, they could take their shot next week.
Serge immediately made a beeline towards Jason, snatched the mic out of Jason's hands, and actually cut a promo for the first time in months; not a full one, but he did speak more than two words in English, saying that he was tired of the Immortals acting like they ran the division when they were just two moody malcontents who were living on borrowed time under his eye. So the Immortals could take care of whatever idiotic thing they needed to, because come next week, their title reign and undefeated streak would be dead. The Revenant had a different reaction to this than you might expect: loud, lengthy cackling. He apologized for the confusion - he'd foolishly underestimated his partner, so the deed was done. Serge's words just made official that the Consortium would die at their hands next week, and once they did
– into the frame came a slightly rumpled Einherjar, who let a sinister smirk cross his face before he almost mic dropped a dirty shovel in front of him and his partner –
Once they did…well, fortunately for them, once they did, they would already have a place to stay. Both the Revenant and Einherjar separated ways.
To reveal a massive tombstone.
It had to fit
THE INTERNATIONAL WORKRATE CONSORTIUM
2022 - 2022
on it, after all.
Anton started mumbling, Serge lost a couple shades of color and the mic dropped from Jason's hand and for this, the crowd did nothing but roar. Hopefully the Hard Way didn't break out into panic attacks in the back. Einherjar looked positively Durdenesque as he leaned over the camera and said "You'll learn to get used to it."
The Rev now loomed even larger over the camera and smiled a godless grin.
"Trust us."
His legendary red right hand engulfed the camera, while in the ring the Consortium looked at each other and were clearly rattled. It took Serge angrily gesticulating between themselves to hit a reset button, and then they started to fire each other up, Jason picking up the mic and almost hissing "Hope you had fun, because next week we'll have ours." He threw down the mic angrily and the Consortium started marching to the back, getting heckled by the crowd as Ruckus went to commercials.
Back from the break TOTHEBACK~!, where Julius Duquesne III brought on Katsuji Ootsuka ahead of his match up next. JD3 asked Katsuji what his thoughts were ahead of the fight, and Katsuji said that after he beat Fade a few months ago, he hadn't thought about him again until he ruined his PPV debut against Serge a few weeks ago. He understood Fade wasn't going to blame himself for getting injured during their match, but Fade needed to understand this: the last time they threw down, it wasn't Katsuji who was getting looked over by the medics after losing. If badass Roy Fade wanted to be a two time loser, Katsuji would oblige him - then next week he would win the TV title. He bowed to JDIII, shook his hand & headed off to the ring.
| • "These Hands" Roy Fade d. Katsuji Ootsuka to become the #1 contender for the TV title • | This rivalry has heated up fast, as evidenced by the fact that Ootsuka was actually throwing punches for most of this match in an effort to…well, fade Fade. But as Starr pointed out from the desk at one point, throwing hands against a Golden Gloves winner is a mistake only other Golden Gloves winners can get away with. Ootsuka fought back and looked like he was moving in for the kill with his basement rana driver, but Fade powered up and out of it before countering to an overhead powerbomb that sent Katsuji's face thudding against the mat. Fade then followed up with an especially vicious version of the Decision that sent Ootsuka flying face first this time into the turnbuckles. Roy covered him and he got a foot on the ropes at 2.8., but when Fade pulled him away from the ropes he pinned him again and got the duke this time. ***
The referee had to stand between Fade and the fallen Ootsuka, "These Hands" throwing on the badmouth post match before going to the floor and heading to the announce, yelling at both Steve and Starr that if 19 other people couldn't stop him, then the TV title was his for the taking and next week he'd secure the bag.
More of the QCW Is series aired (sure to create another round of web rumors about QCW taking Ruckus to a new platform or network), but this time not only were the typographic errors of prior iterations in play a couple of times, there were a couple of soundbites about it being a packed house at the ol' Quality Arena. So either the production team is about to drop a member or something's up.
As the Forbidden Book Club materialized from the darkness they created, We Took You Back To Cruel Summer and the post match, where the Game Changers celebrated winning the Women's World Tag Team championships - Tiki God whipping off his Hawaiian shirt and twisting it around his head before spinning it like a helicopter on the outside while the friends turned enemies and back into friends were both emotional in the ring, Bennett Carpenter and Ashley Szabo moved nearly to tears.
Of course, that was then and this is now, especially punctuated by the former champions jumping the defending champions in the middle of introductions. The Club had to be upbraided by the referee, but it only slowed them down; when the bell rang Agrippa went after Szabo and used her strength to keep the upper hand with the Club. Starr pointed out on commentary that it was so difficult to beat former champions in a rematch because they'd already proven to be able to thrive in this environment, and the Club had the numbers on the outside as well. Szabo would fight back and matched Agrippa at times in the power game, but an Agrippa superplex left both of them too obliterated for follow ups, and they both tagged out.
The LaVey/Carpenter portion was fought at a faster clip than the first part of the match, and as it turned out both their partners would make saves down the stretch to keep their side alive. Ironically enough, it would be a misstep in an attempt to help that would doom the Club: Carpenter reversed a whip into the ropes and Spare (more focused on taunting some front row fans than the match) swung her arm out for a trip that ended up splattering LaVey. This caused the predictable fissure in the Club, with Spare apologizing and LaVey trying to recover. That was the opening that Carpenter used to tag out, allowing them and Szabo to hit the Like And Subscribe that got them the titles. Carpenter went after Agrippa while Szabo got the fall, and Agrippa powered Carpenter up and threw them on the pinfall to try and break it up…it just took her a couple additional seconds that the Club couldn't afford. ***
| • the Game Changers (w/Buffett) [c] d. the Forbidden Book Club (Agrippa and LaVey w/Crowley and Spare) to retain the Women's World Tag Team championships • |
Obviously rattled, Carpenter and Szabo slipped to the floor where Al checked on them and handed them their belts; the Club was so irate that after threatening the referee, they turned to the announce, demanding replays. Eventually they got and hated them, causing Diana to apologize again to all of them repeatedly and Crowley to yell at her that it happened because she took her eyes off the prize. Eventually as we went to commercials, the Club seemed to have cackled and made up, but Starr pointed out that losing this one meant that the Club would have to climb back up the ladder to earn another shot at the belts that had been theirs for most of the year.
Unfortunately after commercials we got another Freedom Watch promo from Drake Tremble, who said that beating that dirty foreigner last week was only the beginning - he was a proud anti masker and he was going to do QCW and his fellow patriots a favor and rid it of all the masked illegals that probably snuck across the border anyway. Once they stopped taking jobs away from hard working patriots and went back home where they belonged, Tremble said that the next step wouldn't be a surprise to all his listeners, but did mention that the only thing better than being a three time champ would be hoisting the gold for a fourth time. Anybody else shudder or was that just me?
From the ridiculous to the sublime, as “Unscripted Violence” came on the PA and the crowd almost rose as one to greet QCW’s resident champ champ, the Razorblade himself. But Mason Savage wasn’t wasting time this Friday night, commandeering the mic from Duck and stepping into the ring before stunning everyone by laying down the World TV title in the middle of the ring like a line in the sand and saying the following:
“I’ve been hearing from my enemies, some fans, and even some friends that I’ve bitten off more than I can chew when it comes to defending the TV title as World Champ, so all of you I say this: if you want to stop me, come down to this ring and do it.” At that, Savage actually allowed himself a small smile. “Well, let me fix that: …you can try.” Announce lost their minds at Razorblade putting the TV title on the line in an open challenge a week before he’d have to possibly defend both belts, Starr a little sarcastically amazed that Naz hadn’t shown up with a jetpack when he got interrupted by a voice that used to be softer.
“So the champ champ doesn’t care who he faces, huh? What if he had to face the first two-time champion of the modern age?”
And on that note, sans music, out strolled Summer Rose to a cacophony of boos, which she reacted to sarcastically before refocusing on the ring. “I should have won that battle royale, the same way I shouldn’t have been in a triple threat at Cruel Summer. But that’s the only way they can get a title off me - to throw as many bodies at me as they can - because one on one I’ve proven time and time and time again the best champion of the Quarantine Era is me. So now I’m going to come down there, become the first women’s TV champ, and prove it.” A referee jogged past her as Razorblade waved her on.
| • Mason "Razorblade" Savage d. Summer Rose to retain the QCW World Television title • | Despite her boasts, Summer wouldn’t be the one to end this Razorblade reign. It wasn’t for lack of trying, though, and she used her smaller stature to blip around the ring with dropkicks, armdrags, and a nice huracanrana that sent Savage to the floor only to be the victim of a tope suicida that left them both wiped out. Summer got him back in the ring for a nearfall, but Razorblade came back after some rope running with a basement dropkick to the knee that sent Summer flying and slowed her down. Savage started laying in heavy forearms from both sides of the plate before flooring her with a spinning back elbow, but when he went for a cover Summer grabbed the bottom ropes then pulled herself out of the ring. Things went back and forth so long that Duck had to give the three minute warning for the time limit to a possible title change; shortly thereafter, it looked like Razorblade had things set up for the Soul Crusher, but Summer shoteied him away and tried to regain her balance on the top rope. But before she could fly off and Come Up, the Offspring’s “Mota” came on the PA, and Rose angrily scanned the Arena looking for her ex bestie. Where she found her was on the Quarantron, where Powers had only two words for her (not those, you wanna get sued?!):
“Behind you.”
Summer started to turn around but it was already too late - Savage shoved her into the post to knock her for a loop, then easily scooped her up before rattling the ring with a massive Soul Crusher to earn the three count. ***
As Savage celebrated his win, we went to Steve & Starr at the table. This is the last Ruckus of July, but the first one in August next week was going to be the biggest one yet: a two hour special with limited commercial interruptions once again, but for the first time it was going to be live. (QCW? Floating a new trial balloon in front of a prospective sponsor and/or network?! First of all, how dare you)
And there was going to be a title match. Nah, there were going to be two title matches. Well, why stop there when you could get three? Ah, you there…you know what, kid? You gotta a good face and I like the cut of your jib…so how about
FOUR
BLEEPING
TITLE
MATCHES
next week?! Oh, you're in. Imagine that. So here you go:
🌟: The World Tag Team championships are on the line, but for the first time in QCW history it'll be a handicap match when the entirety of the International Workrate Consortium take on the Immortals, who've promised to bury them in a mass grave 🌟
🌟 "The First Lady of Fitness" Karyn Tisch-Warren will get her shot at Autumn Powers and the Women's World Championship 🌟
🌟 And next week would be called Razorblade Reigns in honor of the champ champ…because he would be doing double duty: defending the Television title against Roy Fade in the opener, then defending his World Title in the main event…but against who? 🌟
Back to the ring, where Savage was proudly showing off the TV title posing on the turnbuckles.
And just to throw another ghost pepper into the chili, cue Arcarsenal.
Razorblade looked at the entryway with a wry grin as out came Nazir el-Fadal, looking nonplussed at the loud, mixed reaction he was getting and more focused on getting into the ring. Razorblade offered to help by sitting on the middle rope and waving Naz in, both men exchanging glances and head tilts before Naz opted to slide in under the bottom rope and ignore the champ champ. el-Fadal instead went over to the buckles Razorblade was just on and did the Are You Not Entertained? pose, clearly thinking he was the reason they were there.
Razorblade just shook his head and left the ring, but then went around it to the announce as the Consortium came out with big Pyotr at the forefront. Steve expressed pleasant surprise that Savage joined them at the table as Caviar stepped over the top rope while Naz peered at him from the corner. Starr asked if he was out here scouting, which drew laughs from Savage. Razorblade said that he was almost comforted in seeing Naz since he was the one guy he didn't have to scout since his ego was so big he'd take on Russian land monsters before big title matches. If Naz was up to something, Razorblade would put him in the dirt, and if he wasn't, hey, guess what?
Razorblade would put him in the dirt.
| • Nazir el-Fadal d. Pyotr Caviar • |
Who failed to put Naz in the dirt was Pyotr, ironically enough. Caviar took Naz's smack talk in stride after the bell rang then piefaced him and sent Naz flying much to the approval of the Consortium. Razorblade got a chuckle out of that, but the laughing stopped when Naz dusted himself off and got back in Caviar's face before slapping it to the shock of the Arena. Naz actually started poking Caviar in the chest before the big Russian whipped his head around. At this point, Naz tried some diplomacy and Pyotr tried a goozle, which worked better. He got Naz up but el-Fadal staggered him with a dropkick without taking him off of his feet.
That was a reflection of the early part of the match, with Naz trying to stick and move but it only taking a shot or two from the Tracksuit Tsar to put the #1 contender on his heels or ass. At one point Caviar did a press slam Snake Eyes and the recoil from it sent Naz to the floor. While Pyotr complained to the referee about something, the Consortium immediately went over and stomped out Naz, the crowd yelling at the ref to notice. It wasn't until Razorblade jumped up on the announce table and yelled at the ref that the zebra saw the outside interference and got involved by ejecting all the outsiders. The Consortium were livid over getting their hands caught in the cookie jar while Caviar complained to the referee in earnest this time, but that got cut off by Nazir getting a running start and busting out a running knee that sent Caviar flying into the ring post to roars from the crowd. Naz pulled himself into the ring via the bottom rope and waved the referee into the ring; when the zebra followed, Naz slid back out and just pretty much threw his body into Caviar's back. While it sent him flying a little bit on the impact it more importantly sent Caviar into the post again, driving him to his knees on the floor. Naz rolled into the ring at 5 and was more than happy to take a countout win, but Caviar killed that plan by rolling in at 8 ½.
When Caviar's head came up, he was bleeding from the forehead, and Naz swarmed him before a shark analogy could even get made at the desk. Given the avalanche of forearms and stomps to the wound, Naz was clearly shifting gears. Razorblade pointed out that no matter what he acted like, this was the Naz we all knew and barely tolerated, which is why he couldn't wait until he shut him up for good at AnIIversary.
But that’s not for a few weeks, and in the here and now, Naz went to work continuing the offense against Caviar. As you might expect, Naz had problems keeping Caviar out of sorts, and every time he went for a nearfall, Caviar would kick out pretty quickly (at least the first half dozen times). After one kickout almost got him bench pressed half a foot away, Razorblade laughed on commentary that while he wasn’t the best student in school, you didn’t have to be a math whiz to know that there would be no way Naz could get Caviar up for the WMDDT.
Naz did go for it a little bit later and got squashed, then Caviar caught Naz with a running Russian Mafia kick that had el-Fadal somersaulting through the air before splattering into the canvas like a snow angel; Caviar hooked the near leg on his back press, and at 2 ⅞ Naz sluiced his far leg underneath the bottom rope. Caviar raised his hands in victory thinking he’d gotten the duke and then had words with the referee when he was told to lower his arms since he hadn’t won. Caviar snarled, then waited on Naz to get up before Giant Swinging him around several rotations. Pyotr went to convert to the spinebuster to complete Hit My Music, but Naz countered out into a sweet looking tornado DDT that felled the big Russian. Gasping for air with his hands on his kneepads, Naz slowly pulled himself up and seemed to be talking to himself in the corner to fire himself up. He saw Caviar start to get up, then got a running start and drilled Caviar on the chin with the MDK elbow. Caviar wavered but didn’t go over, in fact pushing Naz towards the ropes to get some separation – but the ever-crafty el-Fadal had a trick up his sleeve, and suddenly lashed back with a Jawbreaker MDK Elbow that dropped Caviar to his knee. “STAY DOWN YOU FREAK!” yelled out the One Man Jihad, before cocking back and driving a third MDK Elbow into the chin of Caviar, who slumped onto his knees without going fully over. Naz looked around at the roaring crowd, then pointed at Razorblade and the announce for some reason. In the corner, Naz brought his hands up for another Are You Not Entertained?, then cut his own throat before bellowing as he delivered a jawbreaker of a basement superkick that felled Caviar.
The referee’s hand came down.
And came down again.
And before the disoriented Pyotr could power out of this pinfall, came down a third time.
Yup. Believe it. *** ½
The crowd roared over the main event upset and even Razorblade looked a little shocked and impressed at the desk as a joyous el-Fadal, on his side, pounded the mat with his right arm in glee over beating the rookie. Announce put over the win as did the champ champ, pointing to that as evidence of Naz’s craftiness. Of course, you don’t have to be too crafty to realize that with the match over, that left Naz as an island all on his own, and Caviar made sure to drill Naz with the spinebuster he hadn’t been able to hit in the match before calling the dark calvary in the form of the Consortium. The IWC sprinted down to ringside then all began to stomp out Naz, which eventually drew Razorblade chants from the Quaranteers. Starr pointed out that this is what you could expect when you had no friends, and that Razorblade had to be loving his competition getting wiped out. Savage shook his head at that and started to get up, much to the roars of the crowd and the shock of both announcers. Starr was practically yelling that it was a trap as Savage divested himself of his titles, before the champion said he didn’t want Naz using this beatdown as an excuse, and sometimes the enemy of your enemy…Savage ran and slid in under the bottom rope, going right after Serge to the biggest pop of the night. Anton went to help Serge, leaving Pyotr and Jason to double team Naz. Both the AnIIversary opponents held their own against the IWC, but eventually the numbers caught up with them and the IWC were stomping both men out.
Lights out? Uhhhh….k.
Then the lights came back on.
The six men that had been in the ring got joined by two more:
The Immortals.
FUCK IN’ WELP
Einherjar and the Revenant smiled their gleeless grins, and the momentary flopsweat of the Consortium allowed the World Tag Team champions to start throwing hands to even bigger roars, and their showing up to even the odds gave time for Naz to run up on Jason and absolutely bisect him with an MDK Elbow that sent the Terrible flying through the ropes to the outside. Now that the numbers had shifted yet again, suddenly it was Razorblade, Naz and the Immortals who were getting the better of the brawl and in about a minute’s time the Consortium were fuming on the floor pointing up at everyone in the ring swearing revenge before staggering to the back to lick their wounds.
Oh, right, everyone in the ring:
You know, the #1 contender, the World Tag Team champions, and the World TV and World Heavyweight champ champ. Let’s make sure I remember this correctly: none of them like each other except the Immortals. I remembered!
Seeing who he was in the ring with, Naz got briefly bleeped before throwing up his hands and rolling under the bottom rope, standing on the floor looking like a cartoon shifty-eyed dog. He stared down Razorblade and the Immortals, who were staring down him and Razorblade, who was staring down he & Naz. Razorblade and the Immortals exchanged a look, then Razorblade himself rolled out of the ring, causing Naz to quickly vault himself over the barricade and into the crowd, briskly moving backwards with eyes on the ring the Immortals held down and Razorblade was on the outside looking in. With the Arena rocking with Queue Cee Dub chants, Ruckus was off the air for the night – see you next week for the live limited commercial interruptions two-hour edition! Be there! Aloha.
