Last time on Ruckus: Rich Ward bested his brother Jason the Terrible to continue his winning ways against the International Workrate Consortium • the Immortals accepted the Game Changers’ challenge to unify the tag belts at AnIIversary, and things got only more hostile when Al Buffett ended his singles bout with Einherjar by putting him through the announce table • the main event saw Razorblade take on the Revenant in a non title match but when the tag champ wouldn't stop chokeslamming The Champ, Nazir el-Fadal brought out Greetings From Hayt Corner to even the odds ahead of his tagging with Savage to go against the Immortals in this week's main event…
To the parking lot, where…uh, sorry, TOTHEPARKINGLOT~! where Julius Duquesne III was standing by in the hopes of interviewing someone involved with the big tornado tag main event with the World Tag Team champions against the World Champion & #1 contender in a bizarre, borderline hell froze over turn of events. Julius was by himself for a few beats, but then an SUV pulled in…and Nazir el-Fadal got out to a huge, and (speaking of hell freezing over) mostly positive reaction. el-Fadal thanked the driver for bringing his rollaway around with a green handshake and gave a nod to JD3 running his way. He asked Julius what his question was, and it was this: last week he came to the rescue of Razorblade even though they're facing off at AnIIversary - why? Naz chuckled, shook his head, and then started breaking out into laughter.
"What is this, a crossover episode?" he asked, gesturing to a third man entering the frame who would about pop the roof off the dump: The Champ himself, the Razorblade. Unlike Naz, Mason's face was serious as JD3 took up space in the background with the mic out. Savage said that Naz had his back last week and he appreciated it no matter why Naz did it. Naz replied that he had his reasoning but the main one is he wanted a favor from The Champ. Razorblade gave a great mock surprised face before gesturing for the One Man Jihad to get on with it.
He didn't want to run this by Holmes because Scotty would say no, and truth be told the real power lies with The Champ anyway so why not go straight to the source? He wanted a stipulation for AnIIversary - that the title could change hands via DQ. Carpenter at Golden Rule, Mayhem in May - Razorblade isn't the only one walking these halls with a target on his back, and he doesn't want any excuses. If Naz has read this right, neither of them do. But if people keep getting involved in his business when he's merely trying to regain the World title…he would just like the insurance, is all.
Razorblade nodded, then agreed to everyone's shock.
BUUUUUUUUUUUT
If Naz was getting a favor, then The Champ was getting…well, forget favor, he didn't get to be The Champ by rifling through the bottom of a cereal box, so this was more of an order.
A few short weeks ago he ended any possible chance that Serge could ever hold the World title.
And after he retained at AnIIversary, Naz would be in the exact same situation.
Because he was The Champ, and he was tired of the Naz Show. So he was going to cancel it once and for all - it wouldn't be Holmes getting humiliated and stewing in his juices after the biggest night on QCW's calendar, it would be Naz, and once he went away there would be no doubt as to who the best man in QCW was and the spotlight would go on the World Champion - "where the [BLEEP!] it belongs."
And you thought the pop he got for showing up rattled your teeth! Naz actually ended up standing around and looking overhead as the Quaranteers chanted "Razorblade!" for nearly half a minute straight after. Savage's face was a brick wall for the duration. Once the pop finally died down, Naz reasked his question about winning the belt via DQ. Razorblade said if it was his Last Stand.
Naz thought about it for a bit…then extended his hand.
Razorblade shook it.. and then pulled him in, giving him a much more aggressive thanks for last week this time around, saying that he really, really appreciated Naz having his back last week and fighting by his side. So tonight he better not lose his spine out there given who they're facing and what kind of match it is.
Or else.
Savage snapped off the handshake and headed inside the Arena, leaving Naz to stand in his wake with a smile so wide it was turning his teeth into fangs.
"Wouldn't dream of it…CHAMP." You could almost hear him rubbing his hands as he said it; I mean, maybe it's just me, but I seriously doubt it.
From there we hit the opening stinger for the last episode of Ruckus before we hit AnIIversary - blow up the pyro and let the Quaranteers cheer. The usual suspects welcomed us to the show sponsored tonight by the fine women of OnlyFitness and managed to hype up Roy Fade defending the TV title as well as intergender trios action on the program, but we’d kick things off with one on one action…
| • Crusazdo del Oro d. "American Muscle" Bobby Bash • | Showcase match for Crusazdo, who got to show off his lucha libre attack against a larger opponent who was cannon fodder. Oro fought a little more snug than usual, Bash had no answer for him once he did, and the Pajaro del Sol put a button on things before it even came to 10 minutes. **
Oro had barely gotten his arm raised by the referee before Drake Tremble laid him out from behind. Tremble took advantage of the situation & laid out Crusazdo with the Truth Bomb, cockily dusting his hands off over the fallen luchador to boos. Starr and Steve used this to hype up Cruzado/Tremble at AnIIversary.
Speaking of AnIIversary, Commissioner Holmes came out without music with an attaché under his arm with Team Teal out in force behind him; after a quick commercial break Ruckus would return with the contract signing between Autumn Powers and Summer Rose.
After a few commercials (including one for OnlyFitness), we returned to Commissioner Holmes in the ring. Between him and the security forces, the contract signing actually went off without a hitch. Well, civilly: both Autumn and Summer exchanged multiple glares and a few snipes, but this didn’t degenerate into the all out brawl that usually comes with these things. Of note, Commissioner Holmes did mention before the contract was signed by both women that the Loser Leaves Town stipulation for this one was all encompassing; i.e., if anyone tries interfering in this match, they, too, will end up getting fired. Autumn/Summer determines who the best Women’s Champ ever is and for obvious reasons QCW doesn’t want anything getting in the way of a fight with this much on the line.
A few weeks ago, Rich Ward said he would take on and beat every single member of the International Workrate Consortium. So far he’s beaten Anton Stahl and last week his brother, Jason. This week, the assignment was the biggest one of the weekly gauntlet – Pyotr Caviar. Fortunately for Rich, this wasn’t really a match; unfortunately for Rich, it wasn’t really a match because the Consortium didn’t want it to be. DUD
| • "The Wonderful” Rich Ward ddq. Pyotr Caviar (w/the International Workrate Consortium) • |
Doubtful the “match” even went 90 seconds; Serge gave a nod to his guys and they rushed the ring. Serge looked amused as Rich got dissected, eventually going and staying down after one of Caviar’s Russian sickles. With a droll look on his face, Anton handed the mic over to Serge. Though Jason usually cuts IWC promos these days Serge wanted the honors here, mockingly congratulating Rich on his dominant win. So with that, the only member left for Rich to face was Serge, and that would happen at AnIIversary. Now, Rich could make his PPV debut and get humiliated by the French Assassin. Now, Rich fell under his eye, which meant that he would fall under his heel. Viva La Serge, and long live the Consortium. “Engel” came back up to boos, and the IWC took their leave, only to get interrupted –
– by Rich Ward.
He was lying on the mat and grabbing the back of his neck with his free hand, but with his other cut a promo and actually laughed, saying that he’d spent the last three weeks beating the IWC and he wasn’t going to stop until he beat Serge. Serge had the Duquesne Cup because he was in the hospital and the Ambassadors titles because of his stupid little brother, but against Rich one on one? Serge was letting his power go to his head, which is why he shouldn’t have it. He wasn’t always the man leading the IWC (this got an eyebrow raise from Anton), and if he was serious about being the best international wrestler in the world he’d fight Rich at AnIIversary – and be willing to put his leadership of the IWC on the line with that fight. This got a huge roar from the Quaranteers.
You won’t be surprised to find that Jason the Terrible didn’t like this idea at all, saying that it was typical of Rich to want something more than he could have, and adding maybe these idiot fans lapped it up but the Consortium would not be moved by such...and Serge took the mic back from Jason, giving him a bit of a side eye as he noted that he was the leader, and had earned that leadership. Anton gave him a small nod as Jason clearly stifled his own words. The Consortium Espécial, the premiere exhibition of international wrestling, a match Serge has never lost at, and Rich wanted to lose to him at that? The only thing Rich had that Serge wanted to take away was his ability to keep being an annoying thorn in his side…something that wouldn’t happen if Rich Ward was in the Consortium. Jason’s mouth started in the basement and kept dropping as Serge said he’d do the Espécial if his winning meant Rich joined the IWC. Jason finally got it together enough to protest loudly off mic that this wasn’t the answer, but Rich of course accepted – even jokingly mentioning that once he was in charge, he would forgive Serge this little bit of insolence.
It was probably the joke that got to Jason, as he went from seething to irate, eventually letting out a high, keening yelp before rushing the ring and picking up where he left off last week in stomping out his older brother. It took the rest of the Consortium a couple of beats given his sudden attack to jump in, but then they did, and Rich was once again eating a four on one beatdown. It looked like Serge was going to add to his woes with an Arc de Triomphe but a crowd pop killed that idea, as did the reason for the pop: longtime anti Consortium tag team the Proper Villains running to the ring, both men with chairs in hand to clear the decks and stick up for their partner in the Ambassadors tournament. Without weapons of their own, the Consortium were cleared from the ring while the Proper King and the Fury helped Rich to his feet to make sure he wasn’t too much the worse for wear.
Before throwing to some commercials, the announce hyped up the fact that both members of the Villains would be in singles bouts in the next matches to come, and a shot at taking home the TV title was up next. By contrast, Roy Fade cockily sauntered down the hall with the belt over his shoulder, giving Enya an appreciative once over on his way to the ring. Fade/Windsor for the TV title would be coming on the other side of the break.
But before we got to the title match, we got the title holder in QCW - taped from an empty Arena at some point in the recent past, Mason Savage sat on a stool in the middle of the ring with the Twelve Pounds of Gold over his shoulder and steel in his eyes.
For those of you just joining the show, The Champ is not a man who believes in mincing words, and that was true once again here:
What does AnIIversary mean to me?
I guess the easiest way to put it is that it means everything to me.
You see, before QCW I was just some punk kid from Chicago who grew up on the wrong side of town. Getting into fights almost every day…getting on the wrong side of Johnny Law…my life was going nowhere fast.
Then I heard about QCW and thought I could prove myself and give myself a better hand than life had dealt me thus far. Turns out I was right.
Since I arrived in QCW, everyone, but most importantly the fans, have welcomed me with open arms and for the first time in my life, I've felt like I'm home.
It was at this point The Champ stood up, getting closer to the camera.
But now that all the sappy crap is out of the way, there is one more thing that AnIIversary means to me: it means it's time to kick some ass.
Naz, you've made it perfectly clear that you want the QCW World Title and you're willing to do anything to get it.
I…have the same mindset.
I'm willing to do ANYTHING to defend this title and keep it around my waist.
I've fought for too long and too hard to lose now so if you really want this (and here The Champ brought up the title to his side so that the camera couldn't just see it, but see where it has said MASON SAVAGE on it since before March was even over) then you're gonna find out what it really means to fight…and what it really means to bleed.
See you at AnIIversary, Naz.
And good luck.
You're going to need it.
Once again, Mason Savage left a scene a couple of beats ahead of the World title almost following him out of the shot like a loyal dog after its owner, but he'd seen Naz already tonight – and would again (well, we think) see Naz as his partner for tonight's main event.
Let Us Take You Back To Last Week, where Roy Fade bested Jim Jaspers to retain the QCW World Television title and then ran afoul of Jaspers' partner Richard Windsor as a result.
The TV title match this week came from that, further bolstered by Fade's letting his Twitter fingers fly all week long at the expense of the Brits. Jaspers was sent away from ringside before things got underway at the champion's behest. Windsor brought a fight to Fade but not enough of one; These Hands never found himself in the deep end of the pool against the tag team specialist and put another W under his belt with his signature, the Decision. **
| • "These Hands” Roy Fade d. “The Proper King” Richard Windsor to retain the QCW World TV title 5️⃣ • |
Fade was in high spirits after the decisive win, promising something special from the TV champ when AnIIversary rolled around before Ruckus went to another commercial break.
The last of those commercials was another plug for the soon arriving OnlyFitness followed by another installment of the Claws Across America series, as Party Animal and the Clawmobile continue their summer road tripping across the country. This one came from Denver, complete with the mandatory "Rocky Mountain oysters are what?!" joke; fortunately for the former TV champ he had a sponsored seltzer on hand to get that taste out of his mouth. Follow along online to see where the Clawmobile pulls into next!
| • “Dashing” Pierce Moore d. “The Fury” Jim Jaspers • | Bad night for the Proper Villains going singles. Old Jim was ahead on points and looked like he was going to be a trap game for Pierce heading into AnIIversary, but Jaspers' got perhaps a little overconfident in his standing and that provided the tiny opening Moore needed to jump up with his Fresh To Death cutter to get a narrow win. ** ½
After the match, Moore grabbed the mic from Duck and confidently accepted Jupiter Jones' challenge for AnIIversary, saying that he'd had the old man's number ever since arriving on QCW's scene and he couldn't think of a better way to make AnIIversary even more Dashing than by destroying a former God. Good heat for hitting that button, but if Moore isn't sweating the former QCW and tag champ he sure isn't going to sweat some boos from the Quaranteers.
TOTHEBACK~!, more specifically what would be waaayyy in the back of the Arena, the loading dock. But there were no anonymous workers off loading freight, just two large imposing men who happened to be pacing. The Immortals were practically salivating ahead of their tornado tag main event, and even worse for The Champ and #1 contender, they weren't happy.
"Mortals, listen up!"
The Revenant is sort of like E.F. Hutton except horrifying. You TikTokkers can Google it.
"All y'all been throwing everything short of the kitchen sink at us, weapons included. That means you, Naz. Unfortunately for you, we're the sorts what can take it.
"We honorably accepted a challenge with conviction and honor, something the Game Changers apparently don't know nuthin' about since my brother in beatings got put through the [BLEEEEEEEP!]ING announce table last week!
Y'all do what you have to do. Throw whatever you want, whatever you can muster - we're the sorts what can take it.
What y'all can't seem to get through y'all's little heads is this: we're IMMORTAL.
We've seen it all and lived through most. We are playing at a whole nother level. Y'all just can't compete!"
At this point, Einherjar came into the frame and grabbed the camera by both hands before going into a rant, presumably in Norwegian and full of curses. It ended when he pointed between himself and the Rev before he had two words (not those) that any English speaker could understand: payback time.
The Rev gave a raspy laugh, then pulled Einherjar off the camera so he could reappear and scare the crap out of some kids watching at home.
"My battle brother speaks truth yet again. Your plans will crumble to dust in our hands. Nothing is going to stop us from unleashing our wrath. If you wish to play as warriors, then your fall will be all the greater in falling to the genuine article. My brother is the one with restraint, the honorable one, but after last week?
First, I'm going to reintroduce Naz to my red right hand. Then we show the one you call The Champ where the real gold standard lies in QCW. All of that an appetizer for AnIIversary, and if you think we're going to stack bodies tonight it barely scratches the surface of what we're going to do to those scumbags the Game Changers.
And after that?"
The Revenant let out a deep, booming laugh.
"Well, after that the Unified World Tag Team champions will take their new belts and go hunting for fresh flesh to feed off of." Einherjar looked down into the camera as if he hadn't seen it before, but both champs' slow evil grins didn't need closed captioning.
"Because we're the sorts that take it all."
A red right hand over the camera later, we were on our way to the ring.
The semi main was actually scheduled a few weeks ago but never actually came to pass, as the Consortium seemed to want no part in trios intergender action at the time. For obvious reasons the Game Changers weren't fans of their attitudes and were more than fine taking it to the IWC when a fight still broke out as a result of the no contest.
This time around the Consortium was in a fighting mood and the Changers were more than happy to oblige them for nearly three segments straight. On multiple occasions it looked as if one side would win only for a save to be made by someone on their opponents' team. After a Beckett Carpenter save down the stretch, a fully fledged Pier 6 broke out. It got broken up by Pyotr Caviar, who was on the floor for the match. Young Pyotr also remembered last week, where Carpenter had him almost choked out and rope tied in their Look Inward. So it shouldn't shock that when he rushed the ring to cause the DQ, Carpenter was the focus of his attack. ***
| • The Game Changers ddq. the International Workrate Consortium (w/Pyotr Caviar) • |
Caviar sent Beckett spinning through the air with a Russian sickle then went after the Tiki God; the Consortium had the numbers advantage and used it until Al, Ashley and Beckett were all laid out at the hands of the IWC. Viva and long live, especially if you're the Immortals getting ready for the main event watching your AnIIversary opponents catch the wrong end of a 4 on 3 beatdown.
The announce again put over OnlyFitness for sponsoring tonight’s show, then begrudgingly noted that this was part of their soft launch: they were going to make their debut as a unit on the preshow of AnIIversary by going up against Hell On Wheels - a preshow that will also see Crusazdo del Oro look for revenge against human diarrhea Drake Tremble.
Before what promises to be a car crash disguised as a main event tonight, Steve & Starr ran down all the goodies for AnIIversary from the once and future Quality Arena under the resuscitated Quality Championship Wrestling banner while increasingly lengthy highlight packages rolled::
⏸️ “Dashing” Pierce Moore has been making his name at the expense of the College Park Family, and QCW’s OG Jupiter Jones has had enough of the rookie’s BS - they’ll rematch at AnIIversary ⏸️
⏸️ All year long, “the Wonderful” Rich Ward's been a thorn in the side of the International Workrate Consortium - now he faces their leader, Serge Batroc, and tries to gain control of the group in a Consortium Espécial - the same kind Serge won to get control of the IWC. Serge has his squad, Rich has backup from the Proper Villains; will the IWC stay under Serge’s eye or will a Wonderful regime be next for the Consortium? ⏸️
⏸️ He’s feeling himself ever since coming back, and with good reason - “These Hands” Roy Fade wants to show off and show out at AnIIversary, so he’s made an open challenge to anyone, anywhere, from any wrestling organization to try and take the TV title away from him…who’s gonna answer the call? ⏸️
⏸️ the Immortals have beaten every single tag team they’ve faced since coming to QCW and have titles to prove it; the Game Changers ended the Forbidden Book Club’s reign of terror but are focused on making QCW a better, more inclusive place, and more inclusive includes intergender fighting. Since the Immortals never dodge fights, we’re getting a massive one at AnIIversary: titles vs. titles…winners take all…and those winners become QCW’s inaugural Unified World Tag Team champions ⏸️
⏸️ Friends turned enemies so toxic it feels like Phantogram’s Cruel World almost had to be playing in the background for this one: Summer Rose made the challenge, Autumn Powers accepted it, and the rematch for the QCW Women’s World Championship that was already fraught going in is going to see one woman holding the belt and as a result, the Loser Leaves Town ⏸️
⏸️ It’s been building for months, though it’s taken more weird twists and turns than we might have expected going into it. Still, QCW’s best are going for the Twelve Pounds of Gold and while the longtime rivals may have started gaining respect, that’s all going out the window once the bell rings.
Former champion Nazir el-Fadal, hungry, driven, obsessed with regaining what he will always see as his QCW World Title –
Mason “Razorblade” Savage, King Shitkicker of QCW’s mountain, hasn’t backed down from a fight and besides some chicanery from Fade in losing the TV title, has won them all; he hopes to end all debates and cement himself as the best World Heavyweight Champion that QCW’s ever seen –
For the first time ever, the title can change hands via DQ. But it’s Nazir’s Last Stand, too.
The One Man Jihad.
The Champ.
The Twelve Pounds of Gold.
AnIIversary. ⏸️
Hey, speaking of Mason and Naz, guess what time it is?
Time for lights out in the Arena. Let Lemmy O'clock herald the arrival of the World Tag Team Champions, the Immortals! Once the pulsating blue and white strobes gave way to full lighting being restored Einherjar and the Revenant stalked their way down to ringside, a little bit even more chesty than usual as you saw earlier with their words against their opponents tonight, and at AnIIversary, and for anyone foolhardy enough to think they want to be future opponents. As they divested themselves of their dusters, Steve noted that despite the fact that this was going to be a tornado match, the champs didn't appear to have any weapons on them. Starr gave a hearty laugh at that, noting that they were the Immortals - the last damn thing these two forces of nature needed were weapons.
As Einherjar cracked his neck a few times and the Rev used a corner to warm up his strikes in, Arcarsenal hit the PA and – I can't believe I'm about to say this – a huge pop greeted the arrival of Nazir el-Fadal, who came dressed for a fight: nazir World order shirt fashionably cut up, scuffed up black jeans, metallic gold Jordans and that wasn't all. His pop got bigger when he took the innocent look off his face and moved his arms from behind his back and raised the right one up to reveal his old friend Greetings From Hayt Corner. This obviously drew the ire of the Immortals, who began barking at Naz to come down to the ring; Naz was close enough to a camera on the ramp to see him laugh and give the Mutumbo finger wave at them before using that index to point behind him.
Because when it comes to "Unscripted Violence" in QCW, impressive as the Immortals' resume is, the list begins with The Champ. And out came QCW's violent idol to the pop of the night and maybe the month, looking focused and calm. (Side note: pretty funny seeing Naz get "dressed up" to look like Razorblade usually looks, less the self promotion). Naz was actually waving on the crowd cheers as Savage got to him, possibly admiring the weaponry. Savage and Naz then started having…well, not a discussion, mostly Savage making things plain while Naz mostly nodded. When he was done, Savage poked Naz in the chest a couple of times, and Naz swatted away the last one and started responding. It looked like they were going to come to blows a couple of times to the amusement of the Immortals before Savage held his hands up and then gestured towards them being cackled at. Naz gave him a look, then turned towards the ring and gave their opponents a harder one. The Champ & the #1 contender then sped down the ramp and hit the ring as a unit (!?) and the fight was on.
| • The Immortals d. QCW World Heavyweight Champion Mason "Razorblade" Savage & Nazir el-Fadal in a non-titles tornado tag match • |
In the newest best match in Ruckus history, these four men sent us into the PPV with a PPV headliner level fight. Not only did it last almost four segments but the overrun went into double digits to boot.
Naz was the first person to bleed in this one, the Revenant enjoying some brutal revenge by carving up the #1 contender with his own barbed wire wrapped Singapore canes. Einherjar kept Savage at bay for a time while the referee asked & the Rev demanded Naz give up. Whatever el-Fadal's response was, it got bleeped out, and a little bit after that Mason tackled Einherjar to send him into the Rev and save Naz as a result. Save, of course, being a loose term given this kind of match - perhaps the phrase “delayed the inevitable” was more along the lines of what I was looking for.
Given the match’s lawless nature, it easily went all around the Arena twice, culminating in Naz saving Razorblade from the Immortals by diving off from the upper deck guardrail with a spinning flying bodypress that had the phones out and the Quaranteers chanting “Queue Cee Dub!” for a solid half minute afterwards. The dive popped everyone huge but it didn’t lead to anything solid for the Razorblade Jihad, as the Revenant kicked out easily at 2.
The Pier 4 went back to ringside, where the match changed once and for all when the Revenant made good on his pre match threat and goozled Naz yet again, only this time el-Fadal got planted into the middle of the steps headed into the ring, causing a dull, echoing thud for a couple of reverbs before Naz screaming in pain drowned out that sound. el-Fadal was a non factor after that, but Razorblade didn’t go quietly into that good night, arming himself with a chair and waving down the thunder. The tag champs tried to oblige, then found themselves taking shots here and there, but eventually they got their timing together and the Rev kicked away the chair before Einherjar about took Savage’s head off with a textbook tornado knee strike that had Savage reeling. The Immortals then spent the next couple minutes double teaming Razorblade while Naz tried and failed a couple of times on the outside to get in. The Immortals seemed to have things won when they teamed up for an impressively horrifying Revenant powerbomb enhanced by an Einherjar flying top rope double stomp into a trash can…but Naz pulled the referee out at 2 ⅞ , gave the Immortals the least threatening middle finger in the history of wrestling, then fell back down to the floor.
That stunned Einherjar & the Rev, but their shock didn’t last long; they quickly moved on to anger, sliding out to the floor and quickly flanking Naz on either side. A desperate el-Fadal tried to throw the bashed garbage can in Einherjar’s direction to no avail, then found himself catching the same 2 on 1 beatdown that Razorblade had moments prior. Einherjar used Naz as his own personal practice pad, teeing off with a bevy of strikes and knees until el-Fadal wasn’t fighting back anymore. But Einherjar kept Naz from falling to the mat, then passed him off to the Rev for a taste of the chokeslam that el=Fadal knew all too well. The Immortals played to the crowd for a bit after that, giving Razorblade enough time to get off the deck and briefly throw hands before getting stopped in his tracks by an Einherjar uraken and the Rev tossing him under the bottom rope to send him splattering on the floor. That out of the way, the last thing they needed to accomplish was to send Naz through Death’s Door. Once they did that, Einherjar got the pin while the Rev stood behind him and cackled. **** ½
Nearly two minutes of replays followed, and when they were done the Immortals were standing tall, bathing in almost a standing O from the Quaranteers (hilariously enough, some guys in Razorblade shirts were giving it out while looking displeased). Steve & Starr put over their win and the fact that the Game Changers had gotten dropped by the Consortium, making them the clear favorites in the tag title unification bout at AnIIversary. The still undefeated tag champs took their leave of the scene, the Revenant stepping over Razorblade as they departed in the darkness.
A beaten up Razorblade pulled himself into the ring with the bottom rope, then used the corner to get himself upright. Nazir el-Fadal was a snow angel in the ring, fingers barely moving. The lighting restored in the Arena and some loud cheering was heard for the losing effort as Razorblade shuffle limped over to Naz and extended a hand to try to pull him up. Naz took it, tried to get up and almost immediately was back on his back. Razorblade took a deep breath to gather himself, tried again, and fell on his own ass. After getting bleeped, he dusted himself off and got to his feet, then reached over to pull Naz up.
Naz pulled him into the Hamrin Valley Driver.
Of course Naz pulled him into the Hamrin Valley Driver.
Everybody lost their minds, of course. It did occur to Starr that he had said that this was what was going to happen sooner or later with Naz involved, fortunately he only said this once and did so very quietly*. Naz began stomping on Razorblade much to the disgust of most Quaranteers, then quit stomping so he could just flat out ground and pound The Champ. A camera got closer to the sneak attack as we caught Naz saying…well, we didn’t catch the whole thing, but picked up the tail end of “play along – they all fell for it! All you had to do –” Naz seemed distracted by something in his peripheral vision, then looked at the corner. Then down at Razorblade. Then back to the corner, then down again, and a massive sneer crossed his face.
Naz dragged Razorblade towards the corner, then hoisted him across his back. The announce didn’t even have time to speculate over what could be coming next when Naz delivered it in full to the shock of everybody watching by hitting the Champ with his own Soul Crusher.
Both men laid in the wreckage of the move after it hit, and a roof wasn’t to be found on the Arena. “Holy shit!” chants, “Queue Cee Dub!” chants, and most depressingly, a bunch of “Naz!” chants. el-Fadal slowly used the corner to pull himself up after landing it, before staggering over to where Razorblade was and extending his arms in the Are You Not Entertained? fashion to bathe in the cascading boos and subset of cheers from the fanbase. Steve and Starr nervously speculated that if Naz found a way to lay out Razorblade like this at the PPV – hell, as Starr threw in, even if he found a way to win by DQ! – then he was going to go back to being the best in QCW, and their nightmares were just going to begin. See you Sunday at Quality Arena!
* - this is a lie. Just a massive, massive lie.
