Last week on Ruckus: the Immortals and College Park Family had words ahead of their rematch for the World Tag Team championships tonight • Nazir el-Fadal got the crap beat out of him by "Tiki God" Al Buffett and then Mayhem tacked on a No More Words to boot • In the main event and newest best match in Ruckus history, Summer Rose went ballistic until Lolo Vuitton wasn't moving to win their street fight and retain the QCW Women's World Championship; Vuitton got put on a stretcher while Summer answered the horrified response of the crowd and the questions from Mean Season with a mocking curtsey before limping to the back with her title…
The recap ended with Summer; Ruckus would start off with Summer, as “Timber” brought out the reigning Women’s World Champion to a loud, mixed reaction. As she came down to ringside, Steve informed us watching at home that there would be an update on Lolo Vuitton’s condition before Ruckus went off the air. Summer gingerly walked towards Duck once she was in the ring and got the mic, looking around at the crowd a bit anxiously, honestly. Belt over her shoulder, Summer noted that last week – well, last week she lost it. It’s not an excuse, just a fact: Lolo took the belt from her without taking it from her, Forbidden Book Club got in her business when she tried to get it back, she wondered if she would get another shot at the belt and knew she had to get back this title, get back what was hers. But Lolo…well, she’s never liked Lolo, and watching her strut around holding her belt set off something inside of her, sure, yes. We were all there, we all saw it. But last week wasn’t her. She got caught up in the moment. She –
“--is a two-faced, dirty liar!”
Everyone’s head turned towards the entrance as the curtains parted for Scott Warren-Tisch, and more importantly Karyn Tisch-Warren. The Notorious KTW stayed at the ramp’s apex with her beau and ran down the champion, saying that no matter what the calendar might say, it’s the same old Summer once again. Her Act II is just her Act I with a belt she doesn’t deserve (camera caught Rose rolling her eyes at this while the crowd booed), while back in Crush Karyn was a multi-time champion who carried that title with dignity, honor and professionalism - none of which she saw out of Summer, especially not after her psycho freak out last week. Summer said, first and foremost, she wasn’t a psycho - secondly, Karyn could talk as a former champion, but as a current champion, Summer knew a little bit about how she wanted to carry the title and how billion dollar bitches (she said it tho) like Karyn wanted her to carry it, and if Karyn had a problem with the way she was as champion, she could come down here and fight her way to a title shot and stop her - otherwise she needed to keep her big mouth shut and worry about shaking down divorced dads $12.99 a month at a time, which drew some big oohs from the audience, shock from Scott, and fury from Karyn. The Tisch-Warren-Warren-Tisches were in a heated off mic debate for a few beats before deciding in the affirmative, Karyn going on mic to say that the First Lady was coming down to the ring to give it some class and save it from that bottle blonde psycho. It looked like Summer’s eye twitched a bit when KTW said it again, but it’s possible that could be chalked up to camera angle or some other thing.
| • Summer Rose d. "The First Lady of Fitness" Karyn Tisch-Warren (w/Scott Warren-Tisch) in a non-title match • |
Rose clearly wasn’t 100% and Karyn smelled the blood in the water, the champion bailing a few times early to force breaks and buy herself time. After the second time she did this she exchanged words with Scott, which of course gave Karyn an opening to sneak up behind Summer and throw her into the barricade. Karyn then alternated between throwing her back first into the apron and back first into the barricade, then started deploying her arsenal of backbreakers. Karyn complained to the referee about a nearfall after a capture backbreaker, but that was just a ruse for Scott to tune Summer up with the hydroflask. Karyn continued to work over Summer and eventually get her into position for the Circuit Breaker elevated cloverleaf, but Summer managed to land a series of upkicks when Tisch-Warren went to turn her over to secure the hold then fired off a Come Up even though she screamed out after she hit it. Both women were down after that, Rose unable to capitalize in time for a pin attempt; when Karyn got up she turned around into another Come Up that sealed the deal. **
Summer was getting her hand raised when it was yanked down and she was spun around by Scott Warren-Tisch, who got in her face (about the two Come Ups? Who knows why) but saved his biggest mistake for calling The Champ a psycho; she dropped Scott with a lariat to the roar of the crowd then started teeing off on him with his own hydroflask, busting him open. Karyn rabbit forearmed Summer to break that up, but after they scrapped for a while Tisch-Warren found herself not only in her own Circuit Breaker, but tapping out frantically while Summer laughed. Autumn Powers showed up as Summer broke the hold and took her title, rolling out of the ring just in time to see her stablemate in front of her. But Autumn had some words for Summer, and a cameraman rushed into position in time to pick up Summer saying she was just defending herself against two people, and it’s not like she saw Autumn rushing to help her out. Autumn pointed out this sort of thing wasn’t going to stop people like KTW from calling her a psycho, with two weeks of attacks – Summer pointed back to the ring, where both Tisch-Warren and Warren-Tisch were both bleeding, discombobulated on the mat. The Champ said that if people weren’t going to keep her name out of their mouths, then she was going to keep sending them to the hospital as a result. Autumn looked back to the ring and took in the scene - when she turned around, Summer was taking the title to the back while EMTs came out to check on Karyn and Scott. The camera focused on the conflicted face of Autumn while we went to the first commercial break tonight.
When we came back, it was to the dulcet tones of Arcarsenal that brought out a livid Nazir el-Fadal who not only demanded his music cut off once he ganked the mic from Duck, but wanted the Commissioner out here right now unless he wanted to watch Jacksonville Jihad Time. Holmes didn't immediately show up, but show up he did; at which Naz opened up a verbal can of whoop ass - Al jumping him unprovoked last week, Mirror doing the same and screwing him out of the World title at Golden Rule, him not being in TV title consideration despite being the best TV champion ever, and yet when he brings up the clear anti-Naz conspiracy, Holmes just waves him off or tries to pull some Lumbergh management voodoo. No one's got the list of accolades he has in QCW, but Holmes' chosen champion hides behind the Commissioner to keep NAZ'S title safe. Not one singles champion he's beaten, but two, and the Walking Undead who don't miss an opportunity to slander him for tag champs, no wonder he picks up when TK calls. Of course, if he was getting the respect he deserved around here, he wouldn't be looking at greener pastures. But forget that - even his haters can't argue against his resume and you can't wear people's respect around your waist or watch it shine on PPV. So, if Holmes was the benevolent overlord he claimed to be, he knew what he had to do.
At this point Holmes got in Naz's face, saying no matter how talented he was he wasn't going to just hold up the promotion to get what he wants. And there is that little matter of…"Unscripted Violence" hitting the PA?
To the crowd's roar, Holmes' confusion, and Naz's - well, joy looks weird on him but something in that neighborhood of ballparks - out strode The Champ in civvies, smiling and shaking his head as he got a mic from Duck and entered the ring himself. Razorblade noted that it'd been a while since he and Naz shared a ring, since he was busy putting on twelve pounds. The audience oohed and cheered but Savage was still rolling, pointing out that for a guy who got bounced in the opening round of the Duquesne Naz sure seemed to believe that the company and this belt revolve around him. Naz: …and?!
Razorblade said it was his job to defend the belt against worthy contenders, but last week Al was kicking his ass. But maybe Naz was onto something. He would go up against somebody with the title on the line next week, Naz or no Naz. Naz insisted that he deserved the next shot, which brought the Commissioner's ire; Holmes noted he lost that tag match a few weeks ago and shouldn't get a shot. Razorblade then noted he could just kick Naz's ass next week and then Holmes could reinstate the edict, Naz begging Holmes to let Razorblade try it unless he was afraid of what would happen when his golden goose got cooked by the Chef Curry of QCW.
Both the other men cracked up at this, drawing a scowl from el-Fadal. Holmes noted that since he was being accused of making Naz jump through hoops that he obviously had to live up to Naz's reputation of him. So, since it was fine with the REAL World's Champion, Naz could earn, emphasize on earn a shot at Razorblade. All he had to do was beat a man he's never beaten before. Naz looked quizzically at this before Katsuji Ootsuka came out, bowing at the crowd from the ramp's apex before he walked down the aisle. Naz went apoplectic, complaining he wasn't ready for a match - it was at this point that Razorblade leaned towards Naz and said he'd call that a forfeit and hand the title shot to the rookie. It was all the same to him. Razorblade dropped the mic and rolled out of the ring, shaking hands with Ootsuka before he headed to the back. As a ref lightly jogged to the ring, Holmes also quickly shook hands with Katsuji before running up the ramp to presumably catch up with The Champ and give him an earful about going over (around?) his head w/r/t the impromptu #1 contendership match.
Ootsuka shook hands with the referee, then attempted the same with Naz. Naz actually stuck out his right hand for the shake then clobbered Katsuji with a lefty European uppercut to the jeers of the crowd. The referee got in Naz’s face, who immediately returned fire looking for the bell to ring, which it did after a few beats. Naz was so wrapped up in the referee he forgot about his opponent - nothing like a crispy rewind rana to make you forget almost everything, as Katsuji caught Naz with one and the One Man Jihad popped up off the mat briefly after it hit only to fall between the middle and bottom ropes to the floor. Naz barely had time to get upright from that before Ootsuka hit an Asai moonsault that sent both he and Naz into the front row, Quaranteers exploding with a wave of “Holy shit!” chants. It took almost the whole ten count, but Katsuji managed to roll Naz into the ring at 9 – Naz kept rolling and rolling until he was outside of the ring on the northernmost side, but Ootsuka was set to fly again with a tope – which Naz viciously cut off with a MDK elbow. Naz rolled in the ring looking for the countout, then swarmed the rookie coming in at 8 and tried to end it.
That pretty well encapsulated what went down over nearly three segments and twenty minutes - Naz being successful with his bag of tricks and technical expertise, Ootsuka getting the upper hand when the pace quickened and he flew around the ring. Naz had the upper hand more often than not early but Ootsuka started wearing him down late, to the point where Naz had to bail out to the floor again to try and break up his momentum. When Katsuji tried to reach for him to end things, Naz thumbed his eye then whipped him into the steps…but Ootsuka ran up the side then came off with a huracanrana that spiked Naz into the floor. The crowd roared as Katsuji managed to get Naz in under the bottom rope and shoved him away from the ropes before going up top. Starr was in the middle of hoping history was about to repeat itself when the Prince of Punishment got himself set, only for Naz to roll away from that corner slightly. Ootsuka followed him with his eyes, then walked the ropes a couple of steps and executed Magical Sky – el-Fadal got his knees up at the death and one slammed into Katsuji’s jaw. With Ootsuka slumped over at almost a 70 degree angle, Naz took the former pureso star home and slammed the door shut, first drilling him with a snap Thoughts and Prayers - that gave way to the Hamrin Valley Driver - you can argue about whether or not Naz needed the following WMDDT, but you can’t argue with its results. *** 1/2
| • Nazir el-Fadal d. Katsuji Ootsuka in a #1 contenders' match to earn a shot at the QCW World championship on next week's Ruckus • |
After he was announced as the winner, Naz broke up the referee’s raising his hand to roll out of the ring and accost the Duckster once again, saying that it’s been nearly two years and he still had to tell him how to do his job. Because what he should have announced was the winner, and the man who will regain his property next week — the one chosen by Allah – the One Man Jihad – Nazir el-Fadal. The crowd booed this lustily while Naz simply cackled and made A Very Familiar Gesture around his waist, Arcarsenal blaring behind it all. Before he parted the curtain, Naz made a point to turn to the camera and say to it that once he got the title back next week he’d spend all next weekend putting it in sanitizer so he wouldn’t get any of Savage’s stank on his anointed hands. Announce had the reaction to that you might expect.
Back from the break the airwaves were suddenly filled with the sounds of “New Born” by Muse. Commentary and the crowd were similarly confused until @smashleysmithoffical parted the curtain, the crowd giving her some polite applause. But she didn’t come alone – the crowd popped bigger as “Tiki God” Al Buffet came out in a teal and pink Hawaiian shirt, then even bigger as a fully healthy Mirror Mirror made their return to the Arena for the first time in weeks. All three of them made their way to ringside together, Al getting microphones from Duck and giving him a manly dap. They soaked up the positive crowd reaction, Al noting that Naz must have figured out he was coming out here and ran in the other direction as fast as he could after last week. That got the laughs and applause you might expect, as Al apologized – this wasn’t about him, but about them. @ took the helm, stating that…well, actually, she wasn’t @ anymore. It took her way too long to listen to Mirror, to find her voice and accept who she truly was. She still lived for the Gram, but of course she did. Who she really was was “THE Influencer” Ashley Szabo, and she pulled a sheath of papers from her jean pocket to show that she had legally gotten her name changed again to reflect that. Mirror Mirror then spoke, and noted that while they still hated Naz (like all good people do), they would give him this compliment: he almost literally knocked some sense back into them. Sitting in a hospital bed, they realized their place in QCW - not to deflate the ego balloons of massive pricks, but to change the game. Al helped Mirror realize something about themselves last year, so Mirror repaid that forward with Ashley, and anyone courageous enough to Look Inward could join the three of them. This was the dawn of the Game Changers, and their mission statement was simple: make QCW a better, more equal place. But they revealed that while the invitation to Look Inward was offered, if anyone tried to mess with any of them, they’d have to face off against all three of them. Times were too dire to ego trip, and their choice was to take a page from Ashley’s book and return to who they were. Mirror Mirror had served their purpose; “Dark Mirror” Bennett Carpenter stood in this ring with their friends Al Buffett and Ashley Szabo ready for whatever came next, and if things turned out to be them vs. the world, well…well, they didn’t like the world’s odds. Carpenter disposed of the microphone and “New Born” came on again, all of them raising each other’s hands mid-ring. Steve wondered what that meant for QCW going forward while Starr ruefully chuckled and said that Al might be playing himself into a Jack Tripper like situation, no matter what they were calling themselves, they and Ashley had had plenty big egos before, so were they just saying they changed or had they actually changed? Steve said time would tell on that one, while Starr looked at the camera with a "C'mon buddy" face while shaking his head no.
Before our first title matchup of the evening, Let Us Take You Back To Last Week where Mayhem tried to get a rematch for the TV title and was rudely interrupted by Toddzilla throwing him into the third row. Fortunately for the former World champion, TZ has been banned from the Arena tonight, and Mayhem gets his rematch for the TV title right now. He shook his head at the crowd's reaction before making A Very Familiar Gesture around his waist. Of course, outside of the World champion you can't find anyone in QCW more popular than the TV champion, proudly coming out and laughing away Mayhem's attempt to smack talk or big time him.
Once the bell rang, Party offered up a handshake to Mayhem - then pulled it back - to offer his other hand - which he pulled back and replaced with the original hand - well, you see where this is going, so you can understand both Mayhem getting pissed off and laying out Party with a forearm as well as the crowd being pissed at Mayhem being pissed.
To be fair, Mayhem took out all of his recent frustrations on Party starting with that forearm and continuing to press throughout the match with PA forced to kick out of a series of near falls. Party never really get out of the gates but managed to find a way to kick out. Mayhem pressed harder as the match continued on, late in the 14th minute flying off and hitting No More Words. Unfortunately for him, at 2.8 Party managed to get the toe of his sneaker on the bottom rope. Mayhem pulled Party away from the ropes and began to whale on him, then threw up his hands and let out a yell of frustration when the fifteen minute mark hit, meaning that a) this was the longest TV title match to date and b) Mayhem could get a 20 minute rematch next week should he be able to beat PA in the next five minutes.
As it turned out…he couldn't. Party actually got the Claw Is Law on for a couple of seconds but Mayhem kneed PA and drilled a brainbuster (!) before hitting another No More Words; Mayhem hit this one even quicker and harder, but came up holding his neck. Those brief moments allowed Party to grab the bottom rope and sluice out to the floor. Poor Mayhem recovered, then had to find Party, but it was too late: Mayhem couldn't have even gotten Party back into the ring and gotten a three count before the final seconds of the twenty minutes expired. Party's limp body was in the ring as Mayhem slammed his head against the apron in frustration and let out a disgusted yell as the announcement was made: Party survived the 20 minute time limit. Emphasis on survived. ***
| • Party Animal [c] tld. Mayhem (Party retains the World TV title) • |
Mayhem stomped to the back, swearing that this wasn't over. From his back, Party put up a feeble hand claw that popped the crowd, the referee putting the TV title with the man who holds it and has held onto it tonight.
From that we went to the announce, where Starr pointed out that Party wasn't safe just yet - with the rules of the title, anyone who went 20 minutes in a title defense earned a rematch with no time limit, and it would probably even happen next week.
Steve provided an update on Lolo Vuitton's health while stills from the street fight last week showed. As you can expect, she took the asskicking of a lifetime - but it turns out it was so bad that even a week later she hasn't even been able to get released from the concussion protocol, and that's just one (massive) injury on the list of (massive) injuries. As things currently stand, there is no timetable for her return.
We went from that to the match for the Women's World Tag Team championships. As the Sound of Thunder came out, we got picture in picture from last week of them beating Science Fiction Double Feature with a new finisher to earn this shot tonight; they also got a handful of boos given their friendship (?) with the Immortals given the tag champs' disrespect to Collipark last week. Of course, it wasn't like you had to worry about anyone cheering for the Club.
Thunder actually jumped out to an early advantage over the champs and it took some outside interference from Crowley for the Club to get the upper hand, though they had troubles maintaining it. A second attempt at outside interference by Crowley and Spare got them busted and ejected from ringside, which opened the door for Sound to take the belts with the odds evened up. But the champs proved why they were the champs, isolating Bettie Rokker and eventually pinning her after Agrippa's Attack of Uncertainty. ** 1/2
| • the Forbidden Book Club (Agrippa/La Vey w/Crowley & Spare) d. the Sound of Thunder to retain the QCW WOMEN'S WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS • |
Right before they teleported away, Starr made sure to note that no one has had an answer for the Club yet: not Science Fiction Double Feature, or Mean Season at the PPV, or the Sound of Thunder tonight. Your opinions about them don't really matter if they keep racking up wins and retaining the titles. After they departed, the crowd gave Thunder a mostly positive reaction heading into commercials.
Another tag team to add to QCW’s ranks emerged this week; the Silent Partners are former tag champ Danny Castle and former IWC member Martin Williams doing a less chat more splat thing, with the subplot being Castle having the bonafides to get he & Williams to the promised land of the titles. Los Caballeros also want to be put into the discussion to get next after the main event tonight, and had the slight advantage during the match due to their spending more time as a team. The match went back and forth for about ten minutes before something surprising happened - the International Workrate Consortium suddenly showing up and going after both teams. **
| • the Silent Partners NC Los Caballeros • |
The IWC got the upper hand and left both the Caballeros and Partners laying to the jeers of the crowd while Jason Ward commandeered the mic away from Duck. He spoke on behalf of the Consortium when he said as much hatred as the crowd had for them, the IWC had even more so for them. They were sitting back and allowing…whatever that was to be presented as excellent tag team wrestling? No, despite what happened at Mayday Payday, the Consortium was still focused on their goal of complete QCW domination – at which point Jason was suddenly blindsided by Martin Williams. The crowd popped a bit as he dropped Jason then went back to booing when he got swarmed by the IWC…but he didn’t eat an asskicking for too long as Castle then the Caballeros proceeded to have his back, the opponents banding together to clear the ring of the Consortium except for Anton, who found himself begging off to the Caballeros. They didn’t touch him, but the Partners did, leaving Stahl in a heap after a combination powerbomb and neckbreaker. Caviar had to scoop Anton up from the apron, all seven men besides Stahl exchanging some cross words.
Steve didn't mince any words in putting over next week's Ruckus as potentially being the biggest one ever, and once he presented the docket it was hard to argue with him: the Game Changers make their debut in action, there's going to be a Party Animal/Mayhem rematch for the World TV title with no time limit…but Mayhem won't get another chance after this match, so he has to win the title. And there's an even bigger rematch with an even bigger title on the line, Nazir el-Fadal trying to regain the Twelve Pounds of Gold he believes is still his against the Champ, Mason "Razorblade" Savage. Sometimes in their long rivalry Naz has won. Sometimes Razorblade has won. But this is the first time in their rivalry that the Big Q is on the line in a one on one match - it's next week's main event - Razorblade. Naz. World title.
But it's not like this week's main event isn't for a pair of World titles in its own right.
The rivalry's gone on all year - having garnered championships wherever they've gone, the Immortals started showing up at the tail end of '21 and promised to make QCW the latest stop on their World Tag Team titles tour. They got along with the College Park Family at first despite the Family holding the titles, but over the past few weeks that mutual respect has downright evaporated, though your mileage may vary as the fault being the Immortals' attitudes or the Family being frustrated at running into a team they possibly might not be able to beat (probably both, TBF).
Duck couldn't even get through the introductions without all four men throwing hands to the roar of the crowd, and the referee had trouble in the opening couple of minutes to try and quell the Pier 4 main event. Things managed to settle down to an extent but were chippy throughout. It actually looked like the champions would be able to close out the defense in the opening ten minutes, but Lucius Patton broke up a Death's Door attempt by pulling Einherjar down then giving him a mighty throw into the steps. The Family then went to work on the massive Revenant, keeping him isolated on their side of the ring and utilizing quick tags. While this was happening, Steve noted that they gotten word from the Commissioner's office that due to what went down in the last match, there was going to be another high profile match on next week's Ruckus: a eight man tag where the International Workrate Consortium would go up against Los Caballeros and the Silent Partners.
The Rev being a land monster, it only took him a couple shots to start having the challengers on their heels before tagging in Einherjar, who wrestled like a man pissed off that he'd gotten thrown into the steps. Taking particular glee in laying into Patton, Einherjar rallied the champs to the point that they almost had him on Death's Door, only for Jupiter to run in with a spear that leveled the Rev to a huge pop. Yet as replays rolled, first Starr then Steve noticed that Jupiter possibly did as much damage to Lu, the Rev not quick enough to stop the spear from coming but smart enough to see it and try to defray it by using Patton as a human shield to an extent. Einherjar was the quickest in motion after this, lighting up the former QCW Champion with knees and strikes. Ein went for the Tiger Driver '98 but Jupiter proved too hard to handle and backdropped Ein out, but the champ landed on his feet and pulled Jupiter to the floor before throwing him down back of the head first onto the ramp, the steel giving a big CLANG! when Jones slammed into it. The crowd booed this as the Immortals went to finally close the Door, only for Lu to wriggle free and shove the Rev into Ein before rolling him up. It only got the Family 2, then it got Lu Yakuza kicked in the face - first by the Rev, then Einherjar, then both sandwiched him with one and he melted into the mat. Jupiter tried to get into the ring and got as far as the apron before the Rev speared him through the ropes to quell the threat. Einherjar sneered as he cocked his fist, Patton barely able to get to a knee before an Immortal Bolt From Olympus but him to a monster mixed reaction. He was probably done for there and definitely was once the champs sent him through Death's Door, Jupiter's hand briefly visible on the outside before falling out of frame during the three count. ****
| • the Immortals [c] d. the College Park Family to retain the QCW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS • |
It hadn't been easy, but they'd gotten it done for the third straight time, the champions receiving their titles and the loud mixed reaction that came with it. Having taken care of the evening's business, the Immortals offered up black smiles before holding up the belts. They peered down at Patton as if they'd just burned him under their microscope. Jupiter finally got in the ring and threw his body over Patton's, but the champs just scoffed and left the ring. As they made the grim march to the back, Starr noted on commentary that not only were they the tag champs, not only were they the tag champs that'd just won three straight cleanly over the Family, but that they were the undefeated tag champs who'd just beaten the Family cleanly over three straight - they didn't need to go anywhere else if they stayed and cleaned out the division, something that seemed more and more possible the more wins they racked up. Show ended with the ref and a resigned Jupiter trying to help Sweet Lu get his equilibrium while the Immortals grimly upheld the tag belts at the top of the ramp. See you next week for the Ruckus to end all Ruckuses!
