📺 live on FanDuel Sports Network Florida
📍 Quality Arena in Parts Unknown, FL
Instead of the usual open, we got a highlight package that went longer than usual and showed big moments from the first four years of Ruckus, the wild brawls, crazy high spots, some title changes. The package ended with the words Thank You in gold, cursive writing.
We got Steve Vandeblanche and Carl Christensen on the call for Ruckus’ 4th anniversary show - one headlined by a Cruel Summer rematch where Nazir el-Fadal will try to get back the World championship from the man from the Republic who stole it from him, Omar Littlefield. After some additional hype for the ten team battle royale where the winners get a shot at Hysteria’s World Tag Team championships come Dia de los Muertos, they threw things to Duck Eko. The Voice of QCW welcomed the rowdy Quality Controllers to the 4AS and thanked them for continuing to support QCW before making the introductions for the opening contest…
1. “The Proper Villain” Richard Windsor d. Kam Ellis (w/the Cooper Brothers) at 10:07 Ellis scored a win for Sky's the Limit in a trios match last week and looked good early on in this one. With the power advantage, the powderkeg of StL used his muscle to put Windsor to the canvas early and often. A banged up Windsor rolled out to the floor but when Kam looked to follow up, Richard reached out and yanked Ellis’ arm into the ringpost as hard as he could. Kam’s now injured arm was draped over the top step and Windsor applied a modified cross arm breaker across the steps before bending Kam’s elbow back and double stomping the now mangled arm into the top of the steps. Even hurt, Kam managed to get back in the ring to break the ref’s count at 9, but he was now a one armed man in an ass-kicking contest and Windsor with his new, more sadistic attitude made Ellis pay. The rest of the match was mostly one way traffic for Richard, and even when Ellis put up a brief rally he instinctively tried to throw a lariat with the injured arm. That allowed Windsor to block it with an European uppercut that sounded like it broke bones before the man now calling himself the Proper Villain leveraged Kam down into a crossface. A cut to backstage showed “the Fury” Jim Jaspers watching on a monitor and it was hard to tell if he was more upset about his treacherous ex partner succeeding or the fact that he was surrounded by Quality Force Security that were clearly there to keep him from getting his hands on Richard. Ellis couldn't get his hands on Richard either for what remained of the match; Windsor only needed another minute and change to end things with a half and half suplex. Windsor scowled at the fans as he left to boos while on commentary Carl wondered if the absent Tre Boyd had seen this and was concerned he was going to pull a Windsor on his friends.
A video package hyped up the Dia de los Muertos PPV coming later this month with a Norteño band - the EZ Band, based on what I’ve seen on Quality Social - covering the late, great Ozzy's “Crazy Train” while QCW highlights played. Soon, there were cuts to the Toyota Center and the Houston skyline interspliced in there as well. On the 26th, the last Sunday of the month will see the latest PPV from QCW blast off from the home of the Rockets. It’ll be a spooky good PPV ba dum KSSH
2. The International Players (w/Jupiter Jones) d. Hellraisers at 8:12 The schneid is over for the Players after months of losing, first their World Tag Team championships to Hysteria then the abrupt firing of their mentor Jones. But with him back on the roster after AnniVersary and in their corner tonight, you could feel and see that they had their old swagger back. The Brits came into the match with decent momentum and didn't let the crowd’s taunts get to them but a blind tag allowed Lucius Patton and Benjamin Valentino to connect on a spinebuster into falling reverse DDT that turned the tides in the match. They smartly isolated the smaller Gerry Greene and when his heavy Ian Cook tried to come in to make the save he got a double drop toe hold that sent him right into Greene’s bangers and mash. After clearing out Cook they were able to connect on the Playa Hata for the first time in months, and a depleted Greene had no answer for the avalanche rana into powerbomb combo. Players win, Players win, daaaa Players win! (Too soon?)
The fellas celebrated their first win in months and Science Fiction Double Feature came out to join them in the celebration, but SFDF’s night is just beginning - they'll be in the ten team battle royale to determine new #1 contenders to Hysteria's World Tag Team championships - and that battle royale is next on the decks after we run through a few pesky commercials.
Ruckus returned airing a pretape that happened Earlier Today as the Republic were called on the carpet figuratively and literally by Commissioner Holmes. He and Ig de Catur were across from each other at his desk, neither man hiding their disdain for the other. Holmes said that if he was more like Ig or if his hired goon Omar Littlefield didn't have the World championship for a few more hours he would’ve fired the whole damn lot of them already. But if Ig recognized who ran things around here after AnniVersary and was willing to get kicked down to just being a manager, that would work fine by him. Holmes began to dismiss them when Ig brought up the Malicía/Orion rematch for the National championship at Dia de los Muertos and said that since his client was one half of the probable Rivalry of the Year, the only thing that could make the rematch even better would be a little cherry on top. So what if next week, they engaged in the QCW staple Pick Your Poison - Malicía would pick an opponent for Orion, Orion would pick a victim for Malicía to destroy, and whoever got their win the fastest would be able to pick a stipulation for the title match on PPV. Holmes thought about it for a couple of beats before saying he would run it by Orion and see what they said. Holmes dismissed the Republic as Quality Force Security flanked him and surrounded de Catur, Littlefield, Fernandez, Pyotr Caviar and Ig’s personal security and former QFSers in Republic Enforcement. The Republic accurately read the room and left the Commissioner's office, leaving Holmes to grumble that he should have made Ig work the concession stands.
As the ring continued to fill up with tag teams, we got to see the entrances for the Glam Squad, Justine Danek & Bella Jolie of Hysteria, then “These Hands” Roy Fade and “Dashing” Pierce Moore representing Beast Mode. The twenty deep ring cast eyes at each other as Steve said that once a member of that team was eliminated, the whole team was out of the running.
Once the bell rang it didn't take long for the excrement to smack the cooling device, as Justine sprayed Ashok Banjerjee in the face with black mist before she and Bella set him flying over the top with Jacques Krieger unable to save his partner. (10 • BanjerKriegs by Hysteria) The medical staff and Jacques helped a screaming Ashok to the med bay in the back while Justine cackled in the ring right before getting blindsided by Jane Doe of SciFi Double Feature. With 18 people still in the fray, fights were happening all over the ring whether it was Beast Mode against the Cooper Brothers or International Lotus 2.0 against the Game Changers. It looked like we were about to get a second elimination when Drake Tremble tossed Mare Cooper over the top rope, but the twin representing Sky’s the Limit managed to skin the cat and get himself back into the ring. The Coopers went after Tremble and Fade while across the ring Caleb Gray was preaching to the Glam Squad. Lotus 2.0 and the Game Changers continued to spar while the Squad nodded at Caleb, both shook his hand – and then launched him over the top to the joy of the crowd. (9 - the Chosen by the Glam Squad) Gray and Tremble fumed from the floor while the Squad mocked the faces of the reformed. Steve wondered on commentary if Caleb was now second guessing benching Justice Davis after last week in favor of Tremble while a couple of referees made sure they went to the back. Brawls continued rolling inside the ring as the Glam Squad got jumped by Beast Mode and the All Starr Stable of Evan O'Neill and Prince Ootsuka went after the Coopers as everybody found new dance partners to throw hands at. In the chaos a sort of mini match broke out as the Game Changers faced off against Justine and Bella, and it looked like the former tag champions were winning it on points. Ashley “THEE Influencer” Szabo looked to dump Bella, but Nancy Crowley bit the face of “Tiki God” Al Buffett to get free of him so she could run over and help Bella get Ashley over the top rope. Al staggered over to help but the witches backdropped him to the apron before they hit Buffett and Szabo with stereo superkicks to end their night. (8 - the Game Changers by Hysteria, their 2nd elimination)
14 left as the announce put over the second elimination from Hysteria and the fact that for weeks they’d talked about having the two best tag teams in the world - and maybe there'd be an all Hysteria tag titles match at Dia de los Muertos if Justine and Bella could keep up the roll they were on. Danek and Jolie turned their attention to fighting Science Fiction Double Feature as the Glam Squad and All Starr Stable fought, as well as Lotus 2.0 and the Cooper Brothers, allowing Beast Mode to stick together in a corner and plot next moves. Fade & Moore broke the huddle and then attacked, first helping Lotus with some cheap shots on their former friends the Coopers before changing the scope. With Evan O'Neill on the ropes it looked like the All Starr Squad’s night was about to come to an end when Pierce spun “Fahrenheit” Freddie Valsada around and hit him with a Fresh To Death. Freddie bounced off the canvas and got greeted by Roy Fade’s knee strike. It looked like Poetry in Motion, but it hit hard enough to send the newcomer over the top rope with his partner Cole Grant unable to keep him from hitting the floor. (7 - Glam Squad by Beast Mode) Six teams remaining and things broke down into two separate fights. In one, the All Starr Stable and International Lotus 2.0 got into a loose alliance to double team Science Fiction Double Feature while in the other Beast Mode continued fighting the Coopers with the representatives of Hysteria mostly hanging back and occasionally getting in shots on both teams. Beast Mode took offense and told Hysteria they were just trying to help, which only got them more shots from Danek & Jolie. On the other side of the ring, Evan O'Neill took down both members of Science Fiction Double Feature by plowing through them with a double spear and laying out Cindy Monet and Jane Doe. The smarmy O’Neill then essentially offered them up on a platter to Lotus, who were more than happy to make a meal out of humiliating their summer long rivals. Evan and the Prince backed into a neutral corner while Fiona Fogg and Sohla Patel landed a few clubbing forearms to Feature’s backs before the Stable told Lotus to bounce them. Fiona & Sohla loved the idea and scooped up the Collipark representatives to eliminate them – but Patel’s toss of Monet turned into a head scissors, then Cindy hung on to the top rope to give her more leverage and send the Lotus figurehead crashing to the floor, turning Sohla from the eliminator to the eliminated. (6 - International Lotus 2.0 by Science Fiction Double Feature) Seeing this sent O’Neill running to the rescue - but Cindy & Jane saw them coming and yanked down the top rope to send them flying over the top. To add insult to injury, they wiped out both Lotus reps on their way to taking the Sad Hulk walk to the back. (5 - the All Starr Stable by Science Fiction Double Feature their 2nd elimination overall & in a row)
Lotus and the Stable could fume all they wanted but the FINAL 4 were set: Beast Mode, the Coopers, Hysteria and SciFi Double Feature. The teams sized each other up and exchanged glances until everyone rushed the middle of the ring and a Pier 8 broke out to the loud approval of the Quality Controllers. It looked like Hysteria and Mode had gotten the upper hands but four whips into the ropes turned into four huracanranas from the Coopers and SFDF. Things further dispersed as the ring turned into essentially four one on one battles instead of two tag fights or a four on four. At one point a few beats later it looked like Bella Jolie was going to eliminate Jane Doe, but Doe fought her way off the apron with some forearms and a high kick to get Bella off of her so she could re enter the fray. A minute or so later, a mirror of that played out when it looked like Cindy Monet would get rid of Justine Danek, but Justine fought back by gouging Cindy’s eyes before putting her to the mat with a diving leg lariat. While Hysteria and SFDF were fighting on one side of the ring, the Beast Mode/Cooper Brothers rivalry continued playing out on the other side of the ring. It looked like Pierce Moore might be ready to win the mini battle when he went for a Fresh To Death, but Marc shoved the cutter attempt towards his brother Mare who capitalized by landing a huracanrana that sent Pierce over the top rope. Moore barely hung onto the top rope, causing Marc to come help his brother with the elimination – but didn't see Roy Fade coming, as the former Golden Gloves winner blasted him with a running knee to the back to send him flying to the floor just as Mare’s kick sent Moore down and out next to his brother. (4/3 - the Cooper Brothers by Beast Mode, their second elimination overall • Beast Mode by the Cooper Brothers)
Mare and Fade briefly glared at each other before a Cooperrana (that one’s free, Steve) sent them both to the floor. Some referees tried to get involved but the Coopers and Beast Mode cared less about the battle royale they were now out of and more about punching each other as they have most of the summer; Mare & Fade fought their way through the concourse while Marc & Moore brawled up the ramp and to the back.
And then there were two teams left standing; one outcome led to an all Hysteria match that seemed to be subtly teased for weeks, the other would see the revitalized SFDF earn their way to a shot at the World Tag Team titles and maybe bring them back to Collipark. Cindy, Jane, Justine and Nancy slowly got to their feet and looked at their opponents before charging and kicking off a four woman hockey fight in the middle of the ring. The crowd began chanting “Collipark!” to give the ATLiens a second wind and it seemed to work as Cindy and Jane began using kicks instead of forearms, then took down both Hysteria members with double dropkicks. Feature picked up Justine and sent her flying out to the apron, but a desperation spear by Bella sent Cindy colliding with Jane before they could send Danek out to the floor. Even worse, with Jane out of the picture and Justine in position, QCW”s resident witches fought fire with machine gun fire and came back to take down Monet with their trademark Twelve Feet Under. Quality Arena deflated over seeing SFDF get laid out - well, except the tag champs on the ramp seeing their co-conspirators succeed. Bonnie Agrippa and Nancy Crowley applauded and cackled the imminent showdown against their co-conspirators as Justine and Bella pointed at them with small evil grins on their faces. They picked up Cindy and marched over to toss her from the ring - and as they got Cindy up and over a maroon and cream colored blur flew into the frame with a ballistic crossbody that sent three bodies over the top rope to the floor. When the wreckage cleared, Cindy Monet was on top of Bella Jolie, who was on top of Justine Danek, who unfortunately for her was on the floor. And somehow, some way, Jane Doe was on the apron doing a handstand. (2 - Hysteria by Science Fiction Double Feature, the final elimination and their third overall)
3. Science Fiction Double Feature eliminated Justine Danek and Bella Jolie of Hysteria to win a ten team battle royale and become #1 contenders to the World Tag Team championships at 16:22
Fire up “Elevators (Me & U)” and let the people cheer, because Science Fiction Double Feature have just broken their losing streak in a big, bad way. They're the #1 contenders and they're going to Dia de los Muertos to try and end the Era of Hysteria. Jane flattened herself and rolled in the ring just in time to get bear hugged by Cindy while Bonnie and Nancy hit ringside to check on Justine & Bella. Bonnie shook her head while behind her on the ropes SFDF stood together; Cindy smiled and said that maybe there was a new best tag team in the world. Bonnie’s face went from 0 to 100 real quick before she hissed out a “Get THEM.”; Feature got out of the ring just as all four women in Hysteria hit it. Hysteria began to chase them up the ramp but the referee squad began making a wall in between them just as the rest of Collipark came out from the back to have their teammates” backs and raise their arms in victory. A chyron came up for the World Tag Team championships match as both teams chirped at each other and Steve put over Collipark ending their losing streak just in time for the Fourth Anniversary Show.
TOTHEBACK~!, where Naomi Lee was standing by to interview Nazir el-Fadal ahead of his rematch for the World championship in tonight's main event. The One Man Jihad crowed that he was about an hour away from regaining his World championship, which was appropriate because Ruckus began four years ago as he sought to make the World championship in his image and turn Friday nights into appointment TV. And what better show to become a 4x World champion than Ruckus’ fourth anniversary show? He made the belt happen, he made the show happen, and he was going to make the end of Omar's joke of a title reign happen because he was Nazir el-Fadal, Allahdamn it - known by everyone in his rabble to the corporatized (he said it tho) in the Republic as the Greatest Man Alive. Naz took off ahead of his big match and Naomi teed up a commercial break.
4. Pyotr Caviar (w/the Republic) d. “The Wonderful” Rich Ward (w/Anton Stahl and Jason “the Great” Ward) at 6:38 We came back from the break where Rich used his knowledge of his former teammate to surprise him right after the bell with a beautiful springboard cutter. Rich went for the cover, Pyotr bench pressed him off before 2 and then proceeded to essentially press Rich into a cube. Ward got in a couple of hope spots and went for the springboard cutter again only to get cut off by a European uppercut. A spinning sitout powerbomb and Hit My Music gave Pyotr the win and Ig the opportunity to crow that his squad wasn't done winning tonight.
We returned backstage where Julius Duquesne III was caught in the midst of a College Park Family celebration. He congratulated Jupiter Jones on returning to the roster as well as Science Fiction Double Feature on winning the massive tag team battle royale earlier. Jones said all the clichés were true, there was no place like home…but this was about them way more than him. Cindy Monet said that they were back and better than ever as #1 contenders, and that the World Tag Team titles would be coming back home to the ATLiens in H-Town in a couple Sundays. Lucius Patton stepped in, saying they didn't need to wait to get their hands on Hysteria and challenged Justine Danek & Bella Jolie to face the International Players next week so that he and Benji Valentines could start breaking the spell they’d had over the tag division most of the year. They could ask the Hellraisers about them in case Team Spooky forgot what Collipark looked like when they were at full power. Jupiter said it was old school of him, but he wasn't comfortable swinging on women like that. They were? Patton said he wouldn't hit no lady…but he'd drop him a witch. A laughing JD3 threw things back to ringside and Duck Eko, who made the introductions for the next match.
5. “Night Sky” Diana Spare d. Bettie Rokker (w/Val Curry) at 5:09 Now the former Women's World champion thanks to Lolo’s brass knucks at AnniVersary, the already tightly coiled Spare took that out on Rokker in a squash. Bettie got in maybe five decent shots before Spare absolutely crowned Rokker with a pop up Michinoku driver to win the match.
Diana would end up having words and then a fight with the towering Curry and wound up kicking her ass too, hitting the 6’3” Curry with Nightfall to a pop almost as big as the Shieldmaiden is tall. Spare demanded and got the mic from Duck, saying that as fun as she had kicking some ass tonight she was saving the worst beating for the rematch she was owed against Lolo and would get at Dia de los Muertos. On the 26th, she wouldn't just get her belt back…she would be the Last Woman Standing. Spare tossed the mic back to Duck and stomped backstage, the announcers hyping the first ever Last Woman Standing match in QCW history for the Fifteen Pounds of Gold to come at DdlM before Ruckus took its final commercial break of the night.
Before the Cruel Summer World title match main evented, Steve gave us hype for 💫 next week’s Ruckus 💫:: John Arneson tries to keep his winning streak going against “the Paragon” of the Chosen, Drake Tremble 💫 per earlier remarks the International Players get the match they wanted against Justine Danek and Bella Jolie of Hysteria 💫 we’ll hear from Razorblade 💫 and Malicía Fernandez and Orion are going to dive into QCW staple Pick Your Poison - whomever wins the fastest in their matches will get to pick the stipulation for their National championship match at Dia de los Muertos in a week and a half
Time for the main event. We saw Naz marching through the hallways and past Commissioner Holmes at the Sweet Spot before “So Be It” by Clipse played over the PA to send a wave of cheers through the Arena. el-Fadal went up the stairs and parted the Tron before the camera panned around him to show white and gold pyro exploding on the stage. Naz ignored the cheering crowd, marching down the ramp with Carl saying he looked more than ready to make history & win the World title for a record setting fourth time.
We went from Clipse to Kendrick as “King Kunta” hit the PA and brought out the Republic in force. They began to head down the ramp until Omar held up Ig and had a short discussion. Ig seemed to be in shock but then called the troops over while Steve wondered if this was just mind games, but it turned out that Omar wanted to go this alone. Pyotr Caviar, Malicía Fernandez and Republic Enforcement headed to the back while Omar and Ig made their way to the ring; Naz sat on a top turnbuckle and looked on with a dead eyed stare. The music died down and the lights went out save for a lone spotlight over the ring so Duck could do the introductions. Challenger Naz was introduced first; he came to the center of the ring and continued looking nonplussed while he held up four fingers - then he suddenly spun around and used them all plus the thumb to tag Omar in the face with a slap! Naz got as far as “Do something, bit–” before Omar double legged him down to the canvas and started firing right after right on his head. Duck wisely got the hell out of Dodge while the referee called for the bell.
6. Omar Littlefield [c, w/Ig de Catur] d. Nazir el-Fadal to retain the QCW World championship at 19:38 When that referee called for the bell again it caused chaos to ring out all over Quality Arena. Before that happened, though, we got a Match of the Year candidate between two of QCW’s best even if it did end under a cloud of controversy. Omar looked to punish Naz for the slap after some ground and pound action before powering Naz into a corner so he could slap el-Fadal a few times. After the fourth, Naz went forehead to forehead with the bigger man and dared him to do it again; when Omar tried it, Naz bit his hand before sending Littlefield into the corner and laying into him with a flurry of open handed chops. Omar absorbed them all and shoved Naz across the ring after the seventh before hitting such a high octane shoulder tackle out of the corner that Naz went ass over teakettle and ended up on his stomach. It's not as if Omar goes into these matches with some kind of secret plan, he just overwhelms whoever he's against with power and Naz ate a restaurant quality beating early on. Steve noticed as Omar sat on Naz while he had the One Man Jihad neck first over the middle rope that FDSNF had granted them extra time tonight so with all the commercials out of the way they’d stay with this match until they got a winner.
The opening few minutes were less a match and more a squash for Omar. Even when Naz landed a surprise cross chop to the throat, he foolishly tried to get Omar over in a hiptoss and got a short lariat for his troubles. Omar dragged Naz to a corner and hit him with a Vader Bomb, then another, then piled on with a third & a fourth. But as the announce noted, Omar wasn't trying to win the match - he was clearly out to hurt Naz on Ig’s orders. A clearly depleted Naz rolled out of the ring while the referee started a ten count before he got the fear of Omar put in him and decided to stop halfway through. Omar stepped between the ropes to the floor before getting a running start, then did ¾ of a lap around the ring before sending Naz flying over the announce table with.a wicked Pounce. Steve & Carl were narrowly okay but Naz surely didn't have that in common with them as the multiple replays showed. Now Omar was fine with the ref making a count, sure that a banged up Naz would remain on the outside. But el-Fadal crawled and scraped his way to the ring apron before rolling in under the bottom rope before the zebra could get to 9. Omar’s response was to drag Naz into position and hit him with another Vader bomb. The crowd booed Omar's dominance and he mockingly booed them right back before barking “My world! My title!” Naz was using the ropes to pull himself up as Omar turned around and charged him, but el-Fadal saw it coming and snapped the top rope into Omar's neck. That stunned Omar long enough for Naz to land another couple cross chops to the throat, which had Omar reeling until Naz hit a basement dropkick to the knee that ended up sending Omar draped over the middle rope with his forehead almost touching the apron. Naz slowly climbed up the buckles of the closest corner before turning and flying off, driving both his knees into the back of Omar's head to send him to the floor. The crowd were in full throat as Naz looked like he had a second wind even while he was holding onto his ribs. Omar stumbled to his feet only to be unable to block a PK from Naz that sent him all the way to the floor. The Greatest Man Alive rolled in and out to break the count, and he found a present when Omar made his way up to a knee - the big man had a thin red line of clarin over his right eyebrow that extended to his forehead. Naz didn't have a fin on his back but he was a shark when it came to exploiting an opponent’s weakness, and he grabbed Omar's head before slamming it into the top of the steel steps again and again and again and again. “If you can bleed him, you can beat him!” yelled out Carl in support as Naz again rolled in and out to break up the count. Omar staggered against the dividing barrier and Naz leaped on him before raining down the rights, lefts and even biting away after landing 16 shots to the wound. The former World champion leaned against the barrier and gathered up a handful of deep breaths before trying to muscle Omar into the ring. Despite the nearly 80 pound disadvantage, Naz managed to pull it off…but as he tried to get in the ring himself Ig swiped at his ankles. Naz looked at the splayed out Omar before pivoting and giving chase after de Catur, who showed off a half decent Usain Bolt impersonation on the floor a step and a half ahead of the pursuit. Ig rolled into the ring and Naz almost caught him, but what he actually caught was a massive lariat that sent him somersaulting through the Parts Unknown sky before he turned into a snow angel on the canvas. Ig rolled out of the ring and got to his feet on the floor just in time to see Omar hoist Naz up and drill him with his notorious Face Eraser. Omar covered Naz after connecting with his crucifix powerbomb DDT – BUT Naz became the first person to kick out of it, narrowly kicking out at 2.9.
The crowd went wild as Omar glared at the ref before looking at Ig as if he wanted him to fix it. Ig was clearly heated, but told Omar to repeat it and end this. A huffy Littlefield snatched Naz up to put the final nail in the coffin with another Face Eraser, but Naz not only managed to land on his feet - he then cinched up Omar and delivered the Hamrin Valley Driver to a massive pop. The crowd went ballistic as the One Man Jihad staggered to his feet and made the wipeout gesture with his hands, waving on a clearly rocked Omar. Littlefield stumbled to his feet but he wouldn't be on them long, as Naz served up a dose of Nazquil that rocked the ring. el-Fadal went down for the cover but as the referee’s hand was coming down for a third time, the official stopped and shook his head. Naz went bug eyed as Ig laughed and produced a briefcase from under the ring, QA awash in confusion and anger as Naz had had Omar dead to rights. Naz grabbed the referee by the lapels, but Omar hit him with a low blow and rolled him up - and the referee’s subsequent three count barely took up a normal 2. For the second time since winning at Cruel Summer, Nazir el-Fadal had been screwed out of the Fifteen Pounds of Gold. Ig got in Duck’s face and demanded he name Omar the winner #ANDSTILL champion before Omar stumbled over and lifted Duck off the ground until he did.
The crowd booed the screwjob lustily, some even throwing wadded up programs and beers at Ig and Omar while Steve and Carl wondered what the hell had happened. Commissioner Holmes speed walked down to the ring, causing de Catur, his world champ and his crooked referee to vault the guardrail and leave. Holmes screamed in their direction that this wasn't over and that the referee was fired - but when Ig raised the ref’s hand while cackling, the briefcase came open and money spilled out like droplets down a waterfall. The crooked zebra quickly scooped up the cash while Omar held up the Fifteen Pounds of Gold with one hand and a middle finger with the other. Ruckus went off the air with Steve and Carl complaining in vain about the fast one Ig managed to pull even though he was no longer Commissioner and a fuming Naz getting repeatedly bleeped out while he swore at Holmes from down on the canvas.
