Last week on Ruckus: Katsuji Ootsuka tried to defend his newly won World TV title only to end up in another brawl with the now former champ, “These Hands” Roy Fade • Autumn Powers won the main event against OnlyFitness’ Lolo Vuitton and when the muscle mamas stomped her out post match, Jane Doe returned to QCW to make an out of this world save and help Autumn clear the ring • Nazir el-Fadal revealed a new QCW World Heavyweight Championship title but fled the scene when Razorblade came looking for revenge, an option he won’t have going title for title in tonight’s main event against "the Iron Dwarf" John Arneson of the Evergreen Wrestling League
In a nice surprise, the show began with the entire QCW roster flanking Commissioner Holmes on the ramp. Duck asked for and got a moment of silence in the Quality Arena as the lights lowered for a 10-bell tribute to the late, great Antonio Inoki. A sole light shone on the ring while a picture of him was shown on the QT3K. Several fans and wrestlers held back tears and more than that didn't bother.
The Ruckus open played without the usual background music accompanying it, and of course it ended with moments of championship celebration from the Game Changers, Katsuji Ootsuka, Autumn Powers (now QCW's longest reigning champion) and Nazir el-Fadal cackling outside of the Quality Arena, slowly teasing the camera with the new 13 Pounds of Gold like the grade A cut of prime asshole he is…
No pyro tonight either, but we got a psyched announce team set for not only intergender action and the rest of the first round Unified Contenders Challenge matches, but two title fights, including one to kick off First Anniversary Fight Fest:
| • Katusji Ootsuka NC Super Avion; Ootsuka retains the QCW World TV title 2️⃣ • | Hilariously enough, Fight Fest started off sans a fight: Fade blindsided Ootsuka as he came out to the ring. They fought towards and then into the ring, where Avión was pissed at Fade for ruining his shot, Fade was pissed at Ootsuka for walking around with what he considers his property, and Ootsuka was pissed over Fade ruining another would be title defense. It eventually took Team Teal to break it up while each man cursed out the other two in his respective language. DUD
As the security calmed things down Avión threw up his hands and stomped off to the back. He may have Tweeted something mean spirited and self aggrandizing by the end of this sentence.
Announce was a little stunned being back on camera so quickly after the show began, and wondered what was going to happen around and maybe to the World TV title if Fade was going to continue being a roadblock to Ootsuka. They put a pin in that for now, saying that while it didn't end the way they would have liked, AnIIversary was another great PPV from Quality Championship Wrestling and the Quality Arena, but for QCW's next PPV they'd be back out on the road and making their first modern era appearance in this town:
We got wide spanning shots of the Mississippi, Zion Williamson taking off somebody's face with a dunk, beignets so fresh a Victorian woman would slap them, the Superdome draped with black and gold bunting, which should give you an idea of Who Dat is going to be hosting this year's Devil's Night. Sounding like a Ninth Ward variant of the Specials, the Hot 8 Brass Band's cover of Ghost Town started to get louder in the background, the neon red bulbs in the world Devil's began to sputter and burn out, being replaced by neon purple bulbs saying MISCHIEF. Highlights of QCW's biggest stars played while revelers costumed like QCW stars (including a man lifting his Hawaiian shirt for beads) danced down presumably a New Orleans street - they passed what would normally be a street sign except for its wording:
O C T O B E R 3 0 t h
laissez le bons combats rouler
MISCHIEF NIGHT
Announce got in a plug for the now Mischief Night coming from New Orleans on the 30th and tickets going on sale Monday at noon (EST) before throwing it to the ring and the continuation of the Unified Contenders Challenge.
| • The Hard Way d. The Wonderful Ward Brothers in a first round Unified Contenders Challenge match • | It continued, but this was a literal DUD. Everyone thought we might get a show stealer between two sets of former champions; everyone except Serge Batroc. He made Rich start the match, then Jason joined the rest of the Consortium on the floor and stayed there. Rich was obviously livid over this, and the Hard Way seemed to be trying to figure out what to do when Rich being Rich decided to try and win the match on his own anyway. That killed any reluctance that THW might have had and they won the ad hoc handicap match in a few minutes with their signature Electric Chair/missile dropkick two piece.
They looked pissed as they got their hands raised, but will take their shady win into next week's semifinal with longtime rivals Fated To Become Champions providing actual opposition. It looked like Rich was going to get stomped out by the rest of the Consortium, who had him surrounded while he was down on the mat, but Serge waved it off sneeringly and the IWC left their scapegoat lying in the ring waving off help from officials while the Consortium laughed their way to the back no matter how many boos were coming down.
Somewhere in the Arena (assuming, though given the participants it might have been under), the fearsome foursome of the Forbidden Book Club plotted ahead of their match coming next. The promo was in black and white less their red nails with fog somehow rolling underneath and behind them. They began by dedicating their coming campaign of Club dominance to Hela, since by the time the Challenge was over there would be naught but bodies in their wake. Perhaps their old familiars wanted to take a quick route to the ICU? Well, they'd been replaced and surpassed, so whether they thought they were free of the spell or not wouldn't matter when Fated To Become Champions fulfilled their destinies and eradicated them later.
Destiny comes for all, like Hela, like it did for the Immortals at AnIIversary. Did they think they were the only ones of their stature? Were they brazen enough to think that the ghost they tried to bury would stay dead when he himself was an ambassador of Hela as they all were? Revenge on the Immortals would come as Hela dictates, revenge on the Game Changers for the thievery of their championships would be done before the next full moon, and as for those bimbos in spandex – well, they would never be worthy sacrifices for Hela, but they would serve their purpose next. The fog got heavier and enveloped the screen, and when it died down the screen was midnight black.
| • OnlyFitness d. The Forbidden Book Club in a first round Unified Contenders Challenge match • | Yes, and then after all of those threats and portents, out in the first round they went. With the crowd being pretty solidly anti Club, Fitness worked as white hats here by default. Lolo actually is pretty good at selling from underneath; I don't remember a lot (or maybe any) instances of her being a weirdly sexy Rule 63 Ricky Morton. But she fought through and managed to send LaVey into Agrippa before making the tag.
Karyn came in and started throwing LaVey around like she was getting paid per suplex. Karyn cleaned up and planted La Vey with a full nelson front Russian legsweep but Agrippa came in for the save. That brought on Lolo, and a Pier 4 broke out to the delight of the crowd. Agrippa and Vuitton took turns thwarting the other while the referee tried in vain to get them out of the ring. In the chaos Karyn sent La Vey into Agrippa then rolled her up with her feet on the ropes. Diana Spare sprung into action from the outside and jumped up on the apron to complain, drawing the ref. But this turned out to backfire as La Vey not only reversed out but had Tisch-Warren pinned for a 5 with her own handful of trunks – all unseen by the ref and seen too late by Spare.
The last thing La Vey saw was Lolo's Bloody Shoe, and Vuitton made sure to take Spare out with one as well. This rereversed things so Karyn had Shelly pinned again, and while Scott Warren-Tisch does have a match later (seriously) he still provided enough of a distraction to Agrippa by throwing his hydro flask at her to keep her from breaking up the three count. ***
Steve and Starr both were mentioning that OnlyFitness had found a way to win (Starr insinuating they stole it was pretty funny coming from him) but it wasn't exactly a reward to have to face the Immortals in the semifinals next week. Still, Team Muscle Babes took their W and celebrated up the ramp, Karyn hugging Lolo tight and giving her a forehead smooch for saving her admittedly nice ass.
That's when the lights went out – but when they came up, nothing happened. The crowd threw some verbal jabs at the Club as they left the ring and went up the ramp, which is when it happened: Diana Spare got turfed from the Forbidden Book Club.
It started with Agrippa Pouncing Spare into the barricade, and then the rest of the Club was on her like sizzling peppers and beef on rice. Spare was punched on then stomped out by all three women culminating in Nancy Crowley running the barricade before delivering a flying headbutt to further put her into the floor. After spitting on her a few times and blaming her for the loss, Agrippa, Crowley and La Vey left their former ally in the dust for the referees to check on. Starr lauded Club 2.0 for taking necessary action while the camera caught a dazed Spare wiping blood from (maybe out of) her mouth.
TOTHEBACK~!, where Julius Duquesne III was catching up to "These Hands" Roy Fade as he was heading out through the Arena's parking garage. J3 asked him why he ruined Ootsuka's title defense tonight as well as the one last week, and Fade said a coward like Katsuji deserved it for the way he stole the belt - hell, if Princess Punishment had any and that was the moment he got jumped from behind by Ootsuka, and JD3 fled as the fight was back on. Both men getting bleeped again as Katsuji throwing hands against These Hands, and even Commissioner Holmes showed up this time to direct Team Teal in handling the situation. He complained to Fade, who complained back that nobody else should be getting a shot before him. Katsuji said if that was the case, come see him next week and he'd beat his ass again so bad he'd think it was Anniversary 3. (Probably going to be called AnIIIversary, but it got the desired response from the Quality Controllers.) Fade and Ootsuka were gearing up for Round 3 when Holmes said ENOUGH and had Fade thrown out of the building and Ootsuka confined to the locker room until Fade was gone.
J3 ran up to the Commissioner, who was more pissed than anything over Fade ruining Ruckus' anniversary but did say he heard what he and Katsuji said when they weren't trying to beat the other into the hospital and he was going to take both of their words under advisement; hopefully he would have word on what was next before the show was over. He thanked Julius for his time and left.
| • Jupiter Jones d. Atum Pharoah • | Pharaoh continues his long walk under the learning tree, and while he hasn't won a match yet he continues to build his name and respect within QCW walls. To his credit, it took two Bolts From Olympus to put him down for 3. **
Post match, Jones gave Atum a handshake and a couple of pats on the back as he left. This fine moment was ruined by "Dashing" Pierce Moore on the QualiTron 3000. Moore started to sarcastically congratulate Jones when the former QCW Champion cut him off mid sentence and said rather than listen to another word this Bootleg Bond is talking about, he'll just kick his ass again unless he's figured out a way to stop it -- and he hasn't -- then Jones did a mic drop and left Moore aghast and silently fuming on the Tron (Brits really make the greatest "how dare" faces and Old Man Jones' been killing it lately, so looking forward to that)
Before we get into the semi main, Let Us Take You Back To Last Week where Jane Doe returned after missing most of the year due to injury and made a save for QCW's Women's World Champion Autumn Powers and heart punched Scott Warren-Tisch real good. Simpy, uh, Scotty railed about it online most of the week until Holmes announced this match earlier in the day. Scott came looking hilariously small compared to the company he kept while Jane got a good reaction from the Quality Controllers in her Arena return.
This one was mostly played for laughs, although Jane got to show off her unique offense as well as some mat skills (it felt at one point like she was chaining together headlock takeovers like other wrestlers chain suplexes). Even trying to cheat didn't help Scott that much - when he used an eye rake and took some more cheap shots before sending Jane to the floor to get tuned up by OnlyFitness, but Jane dodged it by crawling between both their legs and then under the ring. When she popped back into the ring, the crowd giggled and popped as she snuck up on Scott while doing a spider walk then tugged on his sweats to get his attention. Scott turned around, freaked the eff out, and bailed up the ramp despite Karyn and Lolo trying to get him back into the fight. Gonna split the difference between spectacle and workrate here. **
| • Jane Doe dco. Scott Warren-Tisch (w/Karyn Tisch-Warren & Lolo Vuitton) • |
No sooner had Doe gotten her very human hand raised when the lights shut off; four red throbs in the darkness and the lights restored, yup, the now three woman Forbidden Book Club were talking turns whaling on Doe. The former champs seemed to be setting her up for a vicious triple team when the crowd's pop made them throw Jane to the side. It's not like they had much of a choice: running down to the ring in street clothes, Autumn Powers slid in and started fighting to pay Jane back for her help last week. It looked like they were going to get the upper hand when Nancy Agrippa gave Autumn a Pounce so big she nearly went flying out of the ring. Rivals nerfed, the FBC laid out both Powers and Doe before the trio took to the buckles. Even creepier, they didn't bother cackling, just staring towards us with flat black eyes while Doe and Powers tried to recover on the mat. The rolling blackout left the white hats as the only ones in the ring, Scott mentioning that the new and improved Forbidden Book Club was open for business and they didn't need titles to scare or beat people.
Next week's Ruckus continues the second season strong, which the announce was more than happy to start planting the seeds for:
🌟🌟 It's the rubber match between Jupiter Jones and "Dashing" Pierce Moore 🌟🌟
🌟🌟 The semifinals of the Unified Contenders Challenge both go down next week with the Immortals facing Only Fitness and the long-standing rivalry between Fated To Become Champions and the Hard Way continues - who'll face off in the finals? 🌟🌟
🌟🌟 And after the past two weeks, we've seen Roy Fade ruin Katsuji Ootsuka's TV title reign before it can get out of the gates, but Commissioner Holmes has a solution to hopefully stop Fade's interfering and maybe find a resolution to another big rivalry in QCW.
So next week isn't just going to be These Hands getting a rematch for the TV title against the Prince of Punishment, it's going to be a last man standing match! It's going to be the first LMS match in QCW in nearly 20 years, and it's going to be Ootsuka/Fade for the World TV title to boot - good times 🌟🌟
But before the main, we made one last trip TOTHEBACK~!, where Enya Face was standing by with half of the main event, the Evergreen Wrestling League champion "the Iron Dwarf" John Arneson. Enya leaned down a bit to ask him about how he felt coming into QCW and going title for title to try and take the QCW World Heavyweight Championship away from Nazir el-Fadal. Arneson proudly hefted up the EWL title up on his shoulder as he said he'd dominated Evergreen through three different Presidents and done it all: tag champ a couple times, Big Sky champ for nearly a year straight, and, of course, EWL's premier champion multiple times. But he was putting it on the line tonight to –
– get interrupted by a v e r y s l o w series of claps as Naz strolled into frame with his own championship, literally and figuratively looking down on the Iron Dwarf. el-Fadal scoffed and said Holmes kept lining them up and he just kept getting richer. He shredded the Myth of Mayhem, he thwarted the Razorblade Reign, and now Holmes had to outsource challengers because he'd laid waste to the entire roster. And now he was face to…well, not face with the crown jewel of Evergreen Wrestling League. Putting an entire federation on his back. Which would make things even worse for them when they had to tune into Ruckus after tonight to see their belt and know that their Iron Little Man couldn't get past the inevitable: Nazir el-Fadal.
Arneson's response was his own slow clap and a bit of a laugh, saying that apparently Naz had forgot…maybe just wanted to…but a few years back, he was on the EWL roster and he couldn't even hack it half a year. Arneson remembered it well, since he was busy being Big Sky champ and Naz was eating loss after loss AFTER LOSS AFTER
Naz kicked Arneson in the face so suddenly the crowd's reaction was a couple of seconds behind before they started jeering Naz, who turned to Enya and said if he could drop the Evergreen Wrestling League champion with one shot he might as well own the whole Allah damned Pacific Northwestfghhfdccv, and while that word doesn't exist, Arneson popping up and diving with his arms outstretched to go after Naz does. Enya screamed for security as Arneson and el-Fadal started the main event early much to the roars of the crowd. Arneson was holding his own when the crowd shifted down into loathing since Team Teal and a furious Commissioner Holmes came on the scene and started separating them to the annoyance of the fans and fighters alike. Holmes yelled out "Save it for the ring!" then got bleeped in what people watching the live feed told me was a more heavenly complaint and not an f bomb. Both men got their titles back (one for the last time) and Arneson swore he was going to give Naz flashbacks and PTSD when he lost another title he couldn't defend (oh dang) and a sneering Naz said he ended AnIIversary a champion, would end First Anniversary Fight Fest a double champion, and would keep earning titles and dominating QCW – hell, the pro wrestling world – until everyone bowed down to the great Nazir el-Fadal.
| • | the main event | • |
Duck went over the particulars of possibly the biggest main event in Ruckus history once again before “March of the Dead” fired up in the Arena and brought out the Evergreen Wrestling League champion. John Arneson did manage to slap a couple of hands on his way down to ringside, but the cheers of the Quality Controllers didn’t take his focus off of the fact that the way he could make two thirds of them happiest was to win. The Iron Dwarf took to the buckles and raised his right arm in the air just in time for Arcarsenal to be cued and completely change the tenor of the building.
Naz came out to the ring in his customary gold and black, but didn’t react to the jeering fans at all as he made his way to the ring that Arneson ceded. el-Fadal took to a turnbuckle almost so he could look down on the EWL standard bearer from an even greater height before shaking his head at the boos and slowly raising up two fingers in response to set off some gold pyro from the other buckles.
They killed the lights except for the spotlight on the four men in the ring. Duck first made the intros for the man on the road in this one, listing him as the former two-time EWL Tag Team Champion, the longest reigning EWL Big Sky champion in company history, the former two time Frozen Tundra Wrestling Heavyweight champion, and most notably the three-time reigning and defending Evergreen Wrestling League champion, the One Man Army of Darkness, the Iron Dwarf, John Arneson! Arneson slowly raised his right hand in the air, then extended two digits of his own and made A Familiar Gesture around his waist.
Naz cleared his throat and leaned forward. Duck looked at him. Naz smiled and gestured for him to get on with it, at which point Duck gave Naz a small smile.
“...and there’s THIS asshole.”
Duck flipped the mic at Naz, who’s eyes were suddenly dancing with murder. But that meant that they were off the prize, and that allowed Arneson to run up to el-Fadal and Exploder suplex the QCW title right off his just landed body. The crowd roared, the referee called for the bell, and it was Ass Whoop O’Clock in whatever Florida place this is. Arneson didn’t stop at that Exploder, either, and started laying out Naz repeatedly to the increasing roars of the crowd. Right as the Arneson! chants were starting to grow, Naz raked him in the eyes and then literally tried to scramble from the ring. But instead of rolling under and out, he tried to go up and over, and Arneson got a running start before dropkicking the top rope to crotch el-Fadal on the top rope (“like that even hurt him,” sneered Starr) and pop the crowd once again. Arneson let out a yell and went up top, then shocked the crowd by getting Naz over his shoulder. Announce freaked out about this, and the Iron Dwarf gave them more to freak out about by wrecking Naz’s excreta with an avalanche powerslam that rattled the ring and popped the vast majority of the crowd. Steve excitedly stated that it was his biggest signature, A Natural 20, and he crawled towards the unmoving Naz on the mat and hooked the near leg.
Naz was unmoving until 2.8, where he got his far leg on the bottom rope. The referee caught it just in time even though most of the crowd and John didn’t; in fact, John had had his hands in the air upon his belief in winning the match before the zebra had to inform him of the bad news. The Iron Dwarf questioned the ref a couple of times before letting it go; unfortunately this gave Naz time to leap forward with a headbutt to the breadbasket and slow him down. el-Fadal ran the ropes and then absolutely blindsided Arneson with an enzui leg lariat that sent him flying into the middle rope neck first and a cackling Naz stood over the fallen Arneson and paintbrushed him a couple of times. Naz wiped his hands clean like the Bad Guy he is, then got a devious grin on his face before holding the groggy Iron Dwarf up and slashing across his throat.
The announce was right alongside most of the crowd hoping it wouldn’t happen, but Naz hoisted up Arneson and just planted him with a WMDDT, hooking the leg to add to his trophy case.
| • “The One Man Jihad” Nazir el-Fadal d. “The Iron Dwarf” John Arneson to retain the QCW World Heavyweight Championship and win the Evergreen Wrestling League championship • |
To be fair, that’s what I assumed happened, and I reached for my phone when I heard an almost Biblical pop.
Because John Arneson had kicked out of the WMDDT.
| • “The One Man Jihad” Nazir el-Fadal d. “The Iron Dwarf” John Arneson to retain the QCW World Heavyweight Championship and win the Evergreen Wrestling League championship • |
To say nobody could believe it would be a big understatement. A “holy shit!” chant wasn’t the loudest, but you could damn sure hear it as Naz stared at the referee as if he’d just grown tentacles. Now the Iron Dwarf chants were loud, and the replays went off to confirm the joy in Starr’s heart – it’d been at 2.9, sure, but Arneson had barely survived the 1a or 1b finisher in Quality, and the crowd reacted accordingly as Naz slowly cornered the ref, since the previously thought of impossibility had just happened to him.
The fact all of this went down in the first five minutes was crazy enough; the fact that they still had another two and a half segments counting a bit of an overrun in them after that meant that Fight Fest ended with a trip to the fireworks factory.
Arneson got back in the match a few minutes later by countering an Outsider’s Edge attempt by backdropping Naz over the top and to the floor, then hitting him with three increasingly sharp low topes before getting him back into the ring and flying off with his North (Shooting) Star Press to set off the camera flashes, but Naz would skip out the back at 2 ¾. Arneson continued wearing down el-Fadal after that and set him up again for the Natural 20, but this time Naz fought him off and kicked him away – but the size difference meant Arneson flew from the corner to the barricade. That got real “Holy shit!” chants and the medical staff out as a satisfied One Man Jihad scolded the ref to do their job and count him out – but you literally couldn’t, he rolled back in at 9.5 and waved Naz on.
Naz immediately drilled him with a short range kick to the face, and another, but Arneson withstood them and waved Naz on. Naz faked one and went for the MDK Elbow, but Arneson caught his, spun him around, and hit one of his own. Then a couple more. Arneson hit a capture suplex, then a T-Bone; when Naz fended off the next suplex attempt, it was only for a short time before the Cold-Forged Hammer launched him with an overhead belly to belly. John moved in for the kill…and Naz being Naz, he pulled the ref in front of his path. Arneson managed to avoid doing anything untoward that might cost him the match, but the tactic did what it was supposed to do – buy Naz time so he could lash out and surprise Arneson with the Sling Blade Flatliner he debuted at AnIIversary called Sudden Death. It turned the momentum of that title match and unfortunately for Arneson it did the same here. Naz recovered first, made the “that’s IT!” hand gesture then unfortunately lived up to it by dusting off a buckle Outsider’s Edge that almost turned the EWL standout into dust. Fully in control, a cacking Naz peeled John up and hoisted up him up for the WMDDT, but added insult to incoming injury by not only making this a delayed version of his winning fisherman’s buster but threw in some squats as well before he hit it. Sadly, as usual, you could hang it in the Louvre, and while Arneson didn’t go quietly into that good night, go his title reign did. ****
| • “The One Man Jihad” Nazir el-Fadal d. “The Iron Dwarf” John Arneson to retain the QCW World Heavyweight Championship and win the Evergreen Wrestling League championship • |
Starr was a drug problem away from yelling out “He can’t keep getting away with this!” as Naz was announced as a double champion, much to the sadistic glee of the One Man Jihad. He cradled the EWL title and seemed to be talking to it before he set it down gently.
Then he picked up the QCW World Title and slammed Arneson in the face with it.
The crowd jeered this loudly and Naz walked over to the middle rope and stood on it, slowly holding up the 13 Pounds of Gold to even more hatred less the crowd sickos. It was dripping a little bit with Arneson’s blood, and as he rolled on the mat groaning el-Fadal came down from the ropes, gestured towards the Iron Dwarf and gave everyone a Are You Not Entertained? before grounding and pounding an already bleeding Cold-Forged Hammer. The referee tried to get Naz off of him, only to get shoved away for his troubles, and when he tried to get Naz off of him a second time Naz hit a European uppercut that floored them. The announce were talking about more fines and suspensions coming Naz’s way right as “Unscripted Violence” fired up – surprising everyone, since no one knew Razorblade was going to be in the building tonight.
Naz looked between the crowd and the entryway, then focused on the crowd. He bet wrong, however, because Mason Savage was somewhere he didn’t account for: under the ring.
The former World Champion slid in under the bottom rope and showed Naz what some ground and pound was like before even getting off a few stomps and letting out a war cry to the adulation of the crowd. He went to check on Arneson, who it looked like told him to go back to beating on Naz, but when he turned around to do so el-Fadal used his right leg to kick the leg he injured at AnIIversary out from under him then stuck out his left leg for a facebuster to the knee that left Savage reeling doubly. el-Fadal rolled out of the ring and angrily seized both of his titles from Duck, backing his way up the ramp with his filthy lucre while the medical staff tried to stem Arneson’s bleeding and Razorblade was left holding his jaw as he got up and again reminded Naz he couldn’t run from him forever, that he was going to get his rematch and he was going to kick the crap out of Naz. el-Fadal tried to laugh it off, then mockingly said he couldn’t hear Mason over the sound of both his titles. With Razorblade and the two-time World and double champion threatening further hostilities, the credits box came up and Fight Fest faded to black.
