QCW Unleashed [s1e11 • Quality Arena]

• Shelley LaVey, Midsomar & Veronica Vespa d. Hilary Highnote, Christine Kent & La Flor
• "Swamp Trash" Ted Holland (w/the Red, White & True) NC Lucius Patton (w/Collipark) 
• Katsuji Ootsuka d. Hawk Carter
• Sohla Patel (w/International Lotus) d. Fiona Fogg   

GRPL+ Presents QCW Ruckus [s2e45 • September 15, 2023]

 

Ruckus kicked off with Luda in the background of the AnIIIversary recap package; stills of Shelley LaVey and Mr. Teknik winning their preshow matches gave way to video of highlights from the main card:

• Cindy Monet retaining the Crush championship against her partner, Jane Doe

• Serge pulling off a fake tag before beating the International Players and retaining the Unified World Tag Team championships 

• "Dark Mirror" Beckett Carpenter Look Inwarding Summer Rose to sleep to win the unsanctioned match

• Jacques Krieger debuting a new wrinkle to his offense that planted Jupiter Jones for 3 to regain the G+ World TV title

• Karyn Tisch-Warren cheating to finally beat "Night Sky" Diana Spare and not only gain the Women's World championship but to send Spare out of QCW…

• …only to have Cindy Monet cash in the Crush championship and beat her a minute later to win the Women's World championship to be the third different one in three minutes

• The Revenant sending the good people of Atlanta home downtrodden after slamming Autumn Powers into the mat with a pump Red Right Hand and retaining the Unified World Heavyweight championship 

Speaking of Atlanta, Center Stage gets one last Ruckus before we head back to homebase, and just as they were on Sunday night the A-Towners were rabid and in full throat for Friday night.  Steve & Naz are on commentary, and Steve immediately asked Naz what he meant at the end of the show when he said he could solve the Revenant problem if Commissioner Holmes paid up.   Naz pointed out that tonight would see the first steps taken towards crowning a new Crush champion after Cindy Monet cashed it in to become the new Women’s World champion.   Steve pressed Naz again and Naz hyped up the also new World TV champion, Jacques Krieger, who would be defending the belt in tonight’s main event.  Steve started to ask again, but then he was paralyzed by red and yellow lasers with some Euro techno getting the crowd lively and on their feet for the opening contest…

| • Mr. Teknik d. Ian Cook (w/Gerry Greene) • | Mr. Teknik made his (re?)debut on the AnIIIversary preshow, going over Greene who was on the floor for this one.  Against the bigger Cook, Mr. Teknik literally danced his way out of holds before teeing off with some rapid fire thigh kicks, and once they worked to wear Cook down he put on a few impressive holds of his own while dancing and strutting between them.  Between the Muta Locks and the dance moves, the Big Tosser got eaten up like a salad and went down in short order to a hammerlock DDT. **

Post match, Mr. Teknik tried to get the ref to dance with him after getting his hand raised to no avail but still danced his way up the aisle with his victory in pocket.  

After that, we went to the announce desk where Steve noted while An–Mr.Teknik had a good AnIIIversary, several QCW stars ended up injured during the course of the show and they were finally able to provide conclusive updates as to the active status of said stars.

Both “Dark Mirror” Beckett Carpenter and Summer Rose suffered injuries during their wild unsanctioned match, which will see Carpenter out for another few days with an elbow contusion and Rose out for two weeks with a concussion after being pummeled with a bat and choked out in a Look Inward.

Before he could be involved in the World TV title match, “Superfine” Reggie Strong got jumped in the parking lot by Jacques Krieger and put through a windshield; it’ll  be October before we get Sade over the PA again.  And Mason “Razorblade” Savage was jumped by the Revenant backstage at AnIIIversary and got a vending machine dropped on him for his troubles – and while he did check himself out of Emory University Hospital on Tuesday, there’s been radio silence from him for a week and no timetable for his return is known as of yet. 

Steve threw from that info dump to another “match” that might’ve seen two more beds at Emory get filled up…

| • the End Times NC the Hard Way • | This was more an angle than a match, with the End Times coming out from the crowd to absolutely bludgeon the former tag team champions with their THE END IS NIGH signs for the better part of a minute before the Quality Force security finally formed enough of a protective wall between the teams to make Danny Castle and Dr. Martin Williams to take their leave silently while the crowd booed.  At the announce table, Naz directly attributed this to the absence of Summer Rose, and as a great meme once said, he’s out of line, but he’s right.

Staying at the desk, Steve pointed out that we were without a Crush champion as Cindy Monet successfully cashed it in on Sunday to take the Women's World Championship off of Karyn Tisch-Warren.  Over the week the office of the Commissioner put together a plan to fill the championship, and it'll play out over Ruckus all September.  

 

Starting tonight, there will be four fatal four way matches (2 to come and 2 next week as well).  The winners of those qualifying matches will then advance to a fatal four way elimination match on the September 29th Ruckus with that winner having earned being Crush champion.

We saw Justice Davis walking through backstage after Steve made that announcement, and the Battle Ground Battler continues his war against the Red, White and True after the break.

✨

As “Stranglehold” brought out the Red, White & True we took a trip on G+’s Wayback Machine, although we only needed to go a week back: Justice Davis beat Bobby Bash in the show’s opener, and then when Bash & Holland jumped Autumn ahead of her main event G+ World TV title defense it was Davis who made the save, thanks to a steel chair, clearing the deck for Autumn to take down Drake Tremble.  So they cosplaytriots were salty at newbie JD, who wanted to wash those redhatted scrubs.

Bobby Bash stared at the Qualitron 9004 while Tremble continued to feed Holland fruit from his poisoned learning tree.  We got to see this for a few seconds before “New Day” by the Bouncing Souls brought out Davis to a good pop from the Quality Controllers.  Davis put his index up as he made his way to the ring but otherwise kept a focus on the opposition in the ring, circling it before getting in.  

The battle of QCW first year stars started with a back and forth for the opening few minutes, and to a mild shock for most Holland kept a step or two ahead of Davis (maybe call it 55/45, maybe less) and even stunned him with a springboard dropkick that sent Justice to the outside.  Tremble tried to run interference while Bash piled on with a completely unnecessary clothesline.  Unfortunately for the MAGAtts, the zebra caught Bobby's interference and tossed him to the delight of all decent people everywhere.

Holland complained briefly to the ref but told his partners in crime that he had this.  

It turned out that he, in fact, did not.  Davis used the opening to get a head start and speared Holland through the ropes to send both men to the floor.  The Quality Controllers loved that and you could hear an audible but faint wave of "Holy shit!" chants.  Most of the referee's count went by before Davis could recover first and tossed Holland into the ring.

The rest of the match was Davis' to lose and he didn't despite Holland making life tough for him.  Justice eventually put him down with a combo that'd make a veteran proud: a nasty release German suplex to get to a John Woo dropkick before closing him out with the Davis Driver.  ** ½

| • Justice Davis d. "Swamp Trash" Ted Holland (w/the Red, White and True) • | 

We got replays for a bit but then we cut to Davis at the announce table, who without benefit of a mic said that now that he'd dropped the flunkies, he had that annoying living As Seen On TV ad next on his hit list…and he wouldn't waste a lot of time waiting to drop him, too.  Davis headed to the back to a good pop while the referee's tried to help Holland regain his bearings.

After that we got a vignette, full of darkness, and an unfamiliar voice was all we heard as things got occasionally interrupted by a splash of red, or screaming fans, or even people throwing up in revulsion.

The voice said that everyone talked about wrestling as if it was some kind of higher calling, its own church…but what happened when you gave everything to that church and it still cast you out?  What happened when you gave a pound of flesh for the combat art you idolized and people turned on you from that moment and designated you a sideshow freak because of a freak accident that could have happened to anybody?  Everyone talks about the glories of wrestling, but he (whoever he is) is the ugly reality, and they will have to deal with him soon.  A life in wrestling has scarred him…and he will scar QCW in kind.

SOON.

We went back to the ring, where Duck Eko announced the first of two Crush Rush qualifying matches before “Roar” brought out a lemon-faced International Lotus and an especially salty Karyn Tisch-Warren.  The notorious KTW used timing and cheating to send Diana Spare out of QCW and regain the Women’s World championship, only for Cindy Monet to get the jump on her with her cash in and take that World title off of her hands.  Even Scott the Simp looked as tough as he could behind the ladies while Karyn said to the camera that despite Cindy’s efforts to cancel her, she was going to be a champion again – hell, maybe the first women’s division double champion, and if she got screwed again, it would be Sohla’s turn to hold a title.  Don’t let a cheater holding her property get you confused; this was still the Year of the Lotus, and they’d bounce back stronger than ever.

They paced the ring as Steve hyped up seeing their opponents and running tonight’s Crush Rush qualifying matches on the other side of some ads.

✨

We returned to see Lotus looking on as Fiona Fogg came down the aisle with her usual wan smile on her face, and while she kept an eye on the ring she was followed out by Ashley “THEE Influencer” Szabo of the Game Changers, who got an even bigger pop than Fiona did.  

Once the match began it looked like Lotus was going to be in a unified front against their babyface opponents, and they had more than enough firepower to keep Ashley and Fiona on the backfoot early.  For Lotus, however, history repeated itself; just as it had on Sunday the rules of the match led to some low-level infighting that manifested itself first when Sohla broke up a pin attempt that Karyn was doing.  A couple of minutes after that, Szabo did a matrix bridge to avoid a Lotus double team and Patel’s clothesline took out her partner accidentally (?) before Szabo took down Patel with a rewind rana for 2.

Fogg got a couple of spots to show off her skills but down the stretch she was taken out by a Doomsday Missile Dropkick Device (!) from Lotus, who then turned their attention towards wiping out Szabo from the frame.  But Ashley sent Patel into Karyn before looking to neckbreaker Tisch-Warren who’d DDT Patel in the process, and Szabo fired up to roars from the crowd.  Ashley bench pressed Sohla into an alley oop codebreaker, but then Tisch-Warren snuck up behind Szabo and threw her shoulderfirst into the ringpost before looking around the ring…and pinning her partner.  ** 1/2

| • Karyn Tisch-Warren d. Sohla Patel, Fiona Fogg and Ashley "THEE Influencer" Szabo in a Crush Rush qualifying match • |

Post match replays played before we went back to the ring; you could understand the disappointment in the faces of both the white hats but the interest quickly pivoted to the ring, where Patel was understandably salty about getting pinned by her own partner (/employee?).  Even without mics you could hear Karyn saying she had to end the match before one of them won it and kept the belt away from International Lotus.  Sohla had to get beat now so Karyn could win the belt later, and Karyn gave her her word this would end with her getting back her old Crush championship.  It didn’t fix everything but eventually Lotus was a semi happy family as they headed to the back, Karyn bragging to the camera that it was only a matter of time before her baby came back to her while Patel barely nodded in the background.  Curiouser and curiouser…

We saw a vignette that began with an overhead shot of a graveyard dotted with tombstones but only one had a figure sitting on it; when a zoom in happened we could only see the back of a massive man flashing something shiny in his red right hand.

It was…almost adorable the way you all believed.  The way you all knew that a miracle was going to happen.

While we didn't see it, you could hear the spit before the Unified World Heavyweight Champion continued speaking.

There are no miracles in my presence, only truth.  And the truth above all is this: your…heh…Commissioner INSULTED me when he sent an off duty Hot Topic cashier to come for my prize - for these 15 pounds I exalt with every victim that I add.

The people at the network won't like what I say next but since this is what they paid for, they can swallow their sad pride and face the facts.  

They dress it up like QCW is a destination.  But the reality is that QCW is a morgue.

MY MORGUE.

And if you keep sending frail humans after an immortal then the result will be the same.  It's what I'm counting on, actually: because I'm not done until I dig the grave of anyone foolish to stand in the way of my dominance and bury their hopes and dreams just like all the crying babies and their spawn do after my victories.

If that turns QCW into my morgue along the way…then I have every reason to send Quality Championship Wrestling to its final resting place.

The Revenant stood on the grave and while he faced the camera due to his duster and big black cowboy hat, the championship could be seen more clearly than he was.

Send anyone you want, whoever's left.  But I assure you of this - if someone is foolish enough to come at me after all I've done just in the past six months alone, I will remain immortal.

And they will find a place to rest.

Having concluded his soliloquy, the Revenant walked towards and then past the camera with the Unified title scraping a line through fresh dirt.  Behind that dirt, even in that darkness what was on the tombstone was as clear as crystal:

AUTUMN POWERS

who cares - 2023

| • Jane Doe d. Val Curry, Gaia Green and Lolo Vuitton in a Crush Rush qualifying match • | You could argue that the first qualifying match ran more or less to expectations given the individuals involved; you couldn’t say that here even though Jane’s partner was the last Crush champion.

Vuitton was the biggest name in the match and the fight certainly got fought that way, with Green trying to take on Lolo one on one and largely failing before tagging in the tallest woman in the division, Curry.  The Shieldmaiden used her strength to wear down Lolo for hammer blows but when she went to big boot Lolo down, Vuitton caught her and turned it into a knee breaker instead.  The two-time former Women's World champ continued to focus on wearing down Curry's knee until a corner charge saw Lolo get spiked into the mat via a limping Curry's STO.  

But Curry's position allowed Jane to tag herself in, and the otherworldly talent proceeded to show a deep playbook against her opposition.  Vuitton tried to intimidate Doe with her aura and resume, but Jane sort of breezed past Vuitton and lit her up with armdrags and a handspring double heel kick.  

Gaia tagged in and took Jane down with armdrags, but then Jane lashed out with a chop block that grounded Green and she began working the leg over to an increasingly positive reaction.  Gaia managed to upkick Jane away and roll over a few times, but that made Curry tag in and she was hellbent on revenge.  

Curry powered Jane around the ring a few times before she hoisted Jane up and said she was going to hurt her even worse now.  Jane tilted her head slightly, and then broke Curry's goozle before slamming into the Shieldmaiden with a heart punch.  Curry started wobbling even before Jane laid her all the way out with another heart punch.  Doe started to go for a cover but saw Fiona coming in to break it up and sent Fogg flying with a backdrop that almost made Fogg senton bomb Curry.  Jane went for another cover but got off of it at 1 so that she could sidestep the incoming Vuitton and actually matadored Lolo into taking out Fogg with the Bloody Shoe…but Vuitton's momentum took her into tripping over Fogg and going out and over the top rope.  Jane went back for a cover and Curry kicked out at 2 ½.  Doe wasted little time in powering up Curry to some gasps from the crowd before hitting a running fall away slam and going for the cover.  Lolo went in and dove onto the cover…but she broke it up at what would have been 4, and to the shock of the Controllers Jane Doe advanced to the elimination title match in two weeks.  ** ½

Doe got her hand raised while Lolo scowled from the corner, and a chyron put Jane next to Karyn Tisch-Warren with two silhouettes next to them for the winners of next week's qualifiers.  A cut TOTHEBACK~! showed Cindy Monet watching on a monitor with a smile, clapping while the Women's World championship bounced off her left shoulder a few times.  Steve hyped up the GRPL+ World TV title being on the line in the main event, but first Ruckus had to put a final round of commercials to bed and tuck it in.

✨

We came back from the break to creepy whistling over the PA, which could only mean two things: the dulcet tones of Rammstein’s “Engel” and the fact that the Unified World Tag Team champions were coming out to brag.  As Serge Batroc and Pyotr Caviar walked to the ring in tracksuits we got some stills of their successful title defense at AnIIIversary, however narrow their win was.

As they hit their mid ring pose and lifted up the Unified belts, four streams of golden pyro shot up from the ringposts while the A-Town Controllers booed through it all.  Serge demanded the mic from Duck and got it in short order while the jeers continued; after this went on for a few seconds Pyotr asked for and got the mic from Serge before bellowing into it “SILENCE YOURSELVES!” and the temperature in Atlanta went down three degrees.  Caviar handed the mic back to Serge, who smiled at his protege and embarrassed us Americans with the brightest beam in the game.

Batroc lifted the microphone and said as much as the ugly Americans on the other side of the barricade hated him and Pyotr, it just reminded him of Sunday night when he introduced their precious hometown heroes to the same reality they were whining about now – no one would stop Team Batroc from dominating the division for the rest of the year or being the Unified champions.  These people could cry about it and get nowhere, the same way the International Players tried their feeble best and ended up staring up at the lights.  If people didn’t get the point, Serge would be more than happy to remind them that the power lied in his brains, in Pyotr’s arms, and if you wanted to see someone else hold the tag belts then go to the website and buy them.  Because otherwise the Unified World Tag Team champions would continue on their path - above everyone else.  Viva la Serge…and long live the reign of the champions.  “Engel” came back on over the PA and we went from seeing Team Batroc preen in the ring to Prince and Proper in the back watching them celebrate.

“The Fury” Jim Jaspers asked his partners why they weren’t just laying out these jerk[bleeped]s and Katsuji Ootsuka said that there would be a time and place for that, but they should focus on making Richard Windsor TV champ in a few…minutes….and the Prince of Punishment took a phone call, explaining to his partners he just needed a minute.  Ootsuka then told whomever called him that he was down to listen to them if they could hang on for a moment.  When Ootsuka turned around again, he suddenly found himself in an empty locker room.

Before we hit the main event, Steve hit up some programming highlights coming over the next week of QCW shows…

🖥️ On Unleashed, Ted Holland will go one on one against Lucius Patton and Fiona Fogg will face off against International Lotus’ Sohla Patel 🖥️

✨ ✨ ✨Next week’s Ruckus will have the other two Crush Rush qualifiers as well as the winner of the main event will be defending the GRPL+ World TV title ✨ ✨ ✨

But who’s walking in as World TV champ?  Time to bring up the curtain on 

| • the main event • |

The Proper Villains parted the Tron to a good response from Atlanta.  Jim Jaspers was talking up Richard Windsor as he made his way down the aisle.  The Ambassadors champions (well, at least ⅔rds of them) hit the ring and Windsor stretched out in the corner, nodding through a couple of questions from the referee before the tenor in Center Stage shifted.

For the first time, "Hated" by Beartooth played over the sound system.  The crowd's buzzing quickly shifted to rancor as the Tron parted to see S. Mark Starr with the shit eating grin to end all shit eating grins; on his heels was his client.  And while not much about Jacques Krieger's walk down to the ring changed, the fact that the GRPL+ World Television championship was back around his waist had.  Stills from his slightly shady but mostly clean win over Jupiter Jones on Sunday night were shown before the lights were dimmed and a lone spotlight fell on Duck and the participants.  Windsor got a positive reception but the hatred for Krieger was palpable - his only response was to throw up two fingers in the air with one hand and the TV title with the other.

| • Jacques Krieger [c] (w/S. Mark Starr) d. "The Proper King" Richard Windsor (w/"the Fury" Jim Jaspers) to retain the GRPL+ World TV title 1️⃣ • | To the surprise of the crowd, Windsor rushed Krieger at the bell and popped him with a European uppercut.  It didn't knock the new champ down but it put him on his heels enough to allow Windsor to power him into the corner and continued to lay in some uppercuts until the ref got in at 5.  Windsor broke free and charged in with another European uppercut before snapmaring Krieger and following up with a perfect necksnap.  

Krieger was barely down for 2 but when he kicked out Windsor latched a cravate on.  The next few minutes saw this sort of pattern repeating: Krieger got in more offense, but before he could fully swing the momentum of the match Windsor used his experience to ground One Eye by slapping on a hold or reaching down in his bag of technical tricks to stay on top.  Windsor cleared Krieger from the ring and looked to press his advantage by following him out and landing a Penalty Kick but unfortunately for the Proper King Krieger caught his kick before sweeping his other leg as well.  

What happened was the beginning of the end for poor Richard, as Krieger swung Windsor like a baseball bat into two neighboring sides of the barricade while the Controllers gasped and winced.  Starr exhorted Krieger to keep up the pressure, but that was like telling a military man to be on time.  

One Eye took sadistic pleasure in hitting a series of power moves on an increasingly helpless King, even pulling him up at 2 after leveling him with his Ace in the Hole shotei.  Krieger ended things with his next move - the same move he debuted against Jupiter to win the belt Sunday, a delayed suplex into a spinning uranage.  ** ½

After replays we saw both Starr and the zebra raising Krieger's hands while Jaspers checked on his partner.  One Eye added insult to injury by back kicking the dirt from the mat back at the Europeans, but as he left the ring he suddenly went out at full velocity thanks to a very familiar knee strike from the Fury. Starr yelled at the ref and Old Jim, who had a simple response for him.

"Let your boy try that crap next against me next week, then!"

Jaspers repeated it a couple times while a dazed Krieger got his bearings and his belt back, and both men were smacktalking all the way up to the credits box popping up and Ruckus fading to black. The last shot was of Jaspers sitting on the middle rope to invite Krieger in even though One Eye was slowly moving backwards up the ramp.

QCW Unleashed [s1e10 • Center Stage Theater, Atlanta, GA]

• the Red, White and True (w/Bobby Bash) d. Blockhead Ferguson and Cliff Foster
• La Flor d. Bettie Rokker
• the Hard Way & the Proper Villains d. A World of Pain and the End Times 
• Lolo Vuitton d. Val Curry

AnIIIversary PPV (Center Stage Theatre • Atlanta, GA)

 

  Preshow:

1.  Shelley LaVey d. Hilary Highnote (cutter x Fallen Angel splash -> pinfall)
2.  Mr. Teknik d. Gerry Greene [w/Ian Cook] (hammerlock DDT -> pinfall)

Main Card

• CRUSH CHAMPIONSHIP: Cindy Monet [c] d. Jane Doe (Tightrope -> pinfall)
• QCW UNIFIED WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS: Team Batroc [c] d. the International Players (Batroc Arc de Triomphe -> pinfall Patton)
  
• unsanctioned "Dark Mirror" Beckett Carpenter dtko. Summer Rose (baseball bat and anvil -> Look Inward -> Rose rendered unconscious) 
• the GRPL+ WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP: Jacques Krieger (w/S. Mark Starr) d. Jupiter Jones (delayed suplex turned spinning uranage -> pinfall) #AndNew
• fatal four way loser leaves town WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Karyn Tisch-Warren d. "Night Sky" Diana Spare [c], Sohla Patel and Lolo Vuitton (ropes and tights assisted rollup pinfall -> Spare is forced out of QCW) #AndNew
• WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Cindy Monet d. Karyn Tisch-Warren [c] (Tightrope -> pinfall) #AndNew
• QWIC UNIFIED WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP:  The Revenant [c] d. Autumn Powers (pump Red Right Hand -> pinfall)

GRPL+ Presents QCW Ruckus [s2e44 • September 8, 2023]

LAST TIME ON RUCKUS:

• Autumn Powers beat Roy Fade to earn her 10th win with the GRPL+ World TV title and can now cash it in for a shot at the Unified World title

• Commissioner Holmes announced a fatal four way loser leaves town match for AnIIIversary featuring both members of International Lotus, Lolo Vuitton and the Women’s World champion, “Night Sky” Diana Spare

• The Revenant jumped Mean Season backstage and beat Razorblade in the non-title main event only for Autumn to lay him out with a steel chair  

This time of year, Friday nights in Parts Unknown are known for two things: high school football and Ruckus from a sold out Quality Arena.  Steve Vandeblanche and the award winning Nazir el-Fadal, who's Show debuts tonight with long time rival "Dark Mirror" Beckett Carpenter as his special guest, and Cindy Monet tries to match Autumn Powers' feat last week with 10 consecutive decisions to put both the Crush championship and the GRPL+ World TV title in play just days before a sold out AnIIIversary.

In ring action began with a newcomer to Ruckus bouncing back from a debut loss to Razorblade with his first win in QCW…

| • Justice Davis d. Bobby Bash (w/the Red, White & True) • | The young superstar gave up some size to Bash, but he showed some Razorblade-esque toughness in a comeback showcase that culminated in Justice hitting the nearly 290 pound Bash with the running Air Raid Crash he calls the Davis Driver.  **

We got a couple replays of the finish before we saw Davis getting his hand raised by the ref, and the Battle Ground Battler thanked the Quality Controllers on his way up the ramp.  

From there we went TOTHEBACK~!, where Enya Face brought on Mason “Razorblade” Savage, who looked even more pissed off than usual.  Enya gave him a few compliments about hanging with the Revenant in last week’s main event and Savage almost snapped at her before apologizing, saying that he was furious; he thought last week would be his week, especially since no one had ever beaten him three times before.  But he’d give the Big Spook his due.

Savage wanted to save his respect for Autumn Powers, however, especially since she went out of her way to help him after he got dropped last week.  It’s not like they’re tight friends or anything - hell, they might not have exchanged five words back here - but if she’s going to be in the business of ending the Rev’s reign of terror the least he can do after last week is lend a fist, uh, hand in helping her become the Unified World champion.  He proved again last week that everybody bleeds, even the Big Bad, so now he wasn’t going to rest until the Rev was as titleless and pissed off about it as he was.  He gave Enya a nod and walked off; Enya threw things to Duck Eko in the ring for the upcoming trios match.

The crowd was a little stunned when Jacques Krieger and S. Mark Starr came out to Rammstein’s “Engel” but they soon moved a click to the side so that the Unified World Tag Team champions could come out.  Starr bowed up to Serge Batroc & Pyotr Caviar on behalf of his client before all three men came down the ramp to boos; on commentary, Steve put them over as a dangerous powerhouse of a trio before “B.O.B.” by Outkast hit the system to bring out the International Players with Jupiter Jones and “Superfine'' Reggie Strong a couple steps behind the College Park Family members.  Cindy Monet wasn’t in tow with them due to her Crush championship defense later on in the show but the Controllers gave the ad hoc Superfine Family a rapturous reception as they hit the ring.  

Both teams huddled after the bell rang, and Reggie Strong stepped to the center of the ring as did Team Batroc's leader.  The next couple minutes saw the rookie go move for move with the Unified World Tag Team champion, to the point where both men's legs got tangled up when they went for simultaneous dropkicks.  When they both got to a knee, Serge looked perturbed and Reggie just hit him with his trademark smile.  Batroc scooted back to his corner and extended his hand, and Krieger tagged himself in to the mild surprise of the champions.

Krieger ran in the ring and dropped Strong with a hard forearm before scowling at the booing Controllers.  But when he turned around, Strong nipped up and rattled Krieger with an enzuigiri before powering Krieger into his corner where Benjamin Valentino tagged him on the back and flew at Krieger with a forearm of his own.  Double snapmare, double basement dropkick and a short two count for Valentino, who kept pressing Krieger with his offense.  A chyron for the AnIIIversary Unified World Tag Team championships match came up as Krieger powered out of a cravate and dumped Valentino with a Saito suplex before hearing yelling from his corner.  Krieger may not speak Russian, but he knew better than to risk his career by not tagging in Pyotr Caviar.  

Krieger made the tag to Caviar but it was Valentino who attacked Caviar from both sides of the plate; clearly he remembered the beating and borderline humiliation he suffered at the hands of the Tracksuit Tsar last week and was clearly out for a bit of get back here.  Valentino threw blows until Caviar was covering up a bit, and even threw in a tight European uppercut before he ran for the ropes.  Suddenly, Caviar spun and almost obliterated Valentino with a discus European uppercut that knocked Valentino for such a loop that he ended up ass over teakettle, between the bottom and middle rope and to the floor.  We got replays of Caviar's power move before we saw a smirking Caviar tag in Batroc, who dropped to the floor and followed up by Irish whipping Valentino into the security barrier.  

Batroc rolled Valentino into the ring, only to get suddenly pulled off the apron by Lucius Patton.  Batroc spun Patton around and threw him into the barrier – but while Krieger and Caviar began to swarm Patton on the floor, it gave the weakened Valentino enough space to crawl for the corner and tag in Reggie Strong.  Valentino speed limped to the corner before flying at both Caviar and Krieger with a tope con hilo that popped the crowd.  Strong got caught up in cheering Valentino on and ate a blindside enzui European uppercut before Serge wrapped him up for…ohh, but not quite, because Reggie landed safely behind Batroc before kicking him in the gut and planting him with a snap Fine and Dandy.  The spinning Michinoku Driver not only came out of nowhere, but it secured the three count for Internationally Superfine to the cheers of the Controllers.  ** ½

| • the International Players & “Superfine” Reggie Strong (w/Jupiter Jones) d. Jacques Krieger & Team Batroc (w/S. Mark Starr) • | 

Reggie rolled from the ring and was eventually joined by Collipark, the announce putting over how much of a hot streak Strong had been on for the past few weeks here: beating Krieger in a one on one match a couple of weeks ago, now beating a tag champion 48 hours away from the PPV.  Strong, Valentino and Patton licked their wounds and exchanged daps before we hit our first big commercial break of the evening.

✨

We came back to Ruckus to a choir about twelve deep on the stage singing an acapella version of Arcarsenal and when they finished singing, we went to Nazir el-Fadal in the ring behind an oval half desk with a couch next to him.   He double tapped an ON AIR sign next to him before standing up and informing the rabble that tonight they were all blessed to be here live in the Arena for the first ever episode of the Nazir el-Fadal Show!  He said that while none of them deserved it, of course, when GRPL+ offered him another pay raise and his own show, he was fine with settling for this for a first guest – especially because once they joined him, he had another bombshell to drop on them.

But before we got to the fun part, we had to get the conductor of the crazy train out here.  So “Dark Mirror” Beckett Carpenter, c’mon down!

“This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Two Of Us” from Siouxsie and the Banshees came on the PA, bringing out Beckett to her usual positive reception from the Quality Controllers.  Steve noted on commentary as the former TV & Unified World Tag titleholder came down to the ring that they and Naz had had a long history in QCW and none of it was good.  Carpenter came into the ring and picked the mic up off the couch, before holding it out to absorb even more of the crowd’s cheers.  Naz looked on with a smirk before bringing up his own mic and saying that since they were getting it steam cleaned over the weekend, Carpenter could park it on the couch and they could get this off of his schedule.  Naz flashed a grin before “pointing out” that ever since sending away the rest of the Scooby Gang, Beckett lost the Duquesne, the Best of 5 series, and now was getting jumped and laid out by someone who technically didn’t even wrestle here anymore.  So if they had to do it all over again, would they keep walking down this road on their own?

“That’s why I’m here, Naz," said Beckett. "I am hoping to learn your secret. You’ve accomplished so much with nobody in your corner. You’ve won a triple crown without an ounce of support. You’ve been a world champion without a single person wishing you luck. You’ve even gotten your own show even though nobody in this audience or in the locker room can stand you. It’s an impressive feat and I salute you.”

Naz fixed Carpenter with a stink eye as they continued. "Now let me ask you a question. What do you do when faced with a ticking time bomb? I mean, you’ve come up short against Razorblade time after time, and I have a similar thorn in my side in Summer Rose, Mason’s equal in talent and unpredictability. If you could tell your past self how not to be completely humiliated by an unstoppable force of nature, what would you say?”

Naz continued to peer at Carpenter before breaking out into wheezing laughter.

"First of all, Carpenter, I worked too hard for too long to have you belittle my Grand Slam, thanks.

Secondly, as usual, your grasp of the past goes back like a goldfish, because you've forgotten Devil's Night the same way Holmes would like the rabble to forget how AnIIversary ended last year.  And far be it from me to mention I beat your precious Mason clean in the middle of the ring before tossing the title up like Prince and strutting through the Hall of Fame like the Allah amongst men I am.  I reiterate: far be it from me.

So let me ask a question back to answer your question: when can I expect my Venmo for my latest lecture from Jihad Finishing School?"

Mirror takes out their phone and narrated their next action for the Controllers:

“pay @goldplatedjackass for: middle finger emoji, mouth talking, poop emoji. Send. You were saying?”

Naz held up a finger and took out his phone (nice Oozing Machismo case, I'll give him that).  "Just need this to go through.  Completely personal.  You understand."

A ding later, Naz nodded and looked at Beckett for the first time.  "Ah! Yesyesyesyes, you wanted me to solve your Summer Rose problem instead of your "best friends" and basically confirmed your fear of loss less than 48 hours away from the biggest show in QCW history.  Inform me when I deal in falsehoods."

"Oh, my Best Friends have my back to make sure the End Times don’t create even more problems. And yeah, you’re damn right I’m scared. Summer is a multiple time world champion who has nothing to lose. I mean, her in ring career is hanging by a thread, she has one foot out the door of the promotion, and she’s afraid she’ll never touch gold again. This is all something you know all too well. Alert me of any prevarication. That’s why I am deferring to you, the subject matter expert."

Naz spun around in his chair so he could speak directly to the camera.  "Notice they said expert.". Naz gave a toothy grin and spun back around to Dark Mirror.

"Dearest Beckett, you should know by now that if I'm in front of you, all I have for you is bad news, and this is more of the same in this case - in fact, the only reason I had you on as my first guest is to inform you of your AnIIIversary match.

You get Summer Rose...

...you get her in an UNSANCTIONED MATCH."

Mirror’s eyes widened and their voice quavered once they lifted up the mic.

“You mean to tell me that I’m going to have to face an unhinged future hall of famer in a match where anything goes and the ref is powerless to stop someone from getting seriously hurt?'

Carpenter whooped and then laughed for a bit before continuing.

“That means I’m free!

Free to unleash hell without even a veneer of sportsmanship. Free to unload every ounce of anxiety, or frustration, or rage on her pretty pretty face! Thank you, Naz, you made my night!

Once I go through her, then I’m free to go for the big one. The 15 pounds of gold. And then, I’ll be in the Grand Slam lounge right along with you! First drink’s on me, Naz!”

el-Fadal stared blankly ahead before a slow smile crept over his face.  

"If you end up joining me in my Grand Slam Guild, Beckett, why of course you know I would be right there watching it happen...the same way you know I've been killing time until it's time for my prize to come home to me.

And if you think being a PALE copy of Nazir el-Fadal is worthy of footing the bill, Young Carpenter, then let me stand here and assure you that one day the real bill will come due between us -- and when it does I assure you I'll get more than a drink from your hide."

Dark Mirror bowed at Naz and smiled. "It’s the least I can do. I’ve already learned so much from you. And when this show gets cancelled, you can at least count on me to help out with the occasional dinner while you get back on your feet. Until we meet again, sensei."

"Back on my feet?!" yelled Naz. "I make six figures alone off GRPL+, you--"

Nice job, Naz, you almost got through your whole debut without a **TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

PLEASE STAND BY** sign going up.

When Ruckus was back on air, the choir was singing "This Town Is Too Big For the Both of Us" as Carpenter headed to the back.  An AnIIIversary chyron for the unsanctioned match popped up on screen as Steve asked Naz about his threats; Naz waved him off and told the monkeys in the truck to roll the clip before he threw out his back carrying the show.

On the heels of that we got a segment from Commissioner Holmes’ office Earlier Today with all four women who’ll face off in the loser leaves town title match at AnIIIversary.  Holmes said he knew that all four of them weren’t going to wait until Sunday and he didn’t want them to - he had a singles match tonight with two of their names on it.  Four queen cards in his head, two of which were queens of clubs, and the women who picked those would face off tonight.  The women started picking cards as Holmes said for the other two women, they could enjoy their luck and their night off, but one thing they weren’t going to do was get involved with the singles match unless they wanted to forfeit the right to fight at AnIIIversary.  They were banned from ringside for the fight – and suddenly we panned over to see Karyn Tisch-Warren holding up a queen of clubs. She didn't seem too angry about it, but then again she was glaring hard enough to give off a sun's energy.

She was glaring at the Women’s World champion…and “Night Sky” Diana Spare was holding up the other queen of clubs and glaring right back.  Lolo Vuitton tossed her card in the air and left the office as Sohla encouraged Karyn to do it for International Lotus and hurt Diana before they made Atlanta.  Sohla left the office as well, but neither Diana or Karyn noticed – the staredown hadn’t ended.  

And that brought us to our next match.

| • “Night Sky” Diana Spare d. Karyn Tisch-Warren in a non-title match • | With both Patel and Vuitton banned from ringside, the Champ won a hard fought back and forth between her and the perpetual thorn in her side.

Things started off chippy and devolved from there, as Karyn barrelled into Diana with a wrecking ball dropkick when she hit the end of the ramp.  Tisch-Warren swarmed her on the floor, wasting no time in whipping her into the steps before following in with a cannonball that sandwiched Diana into the steps and left Night Sky flat on the floor.  Karyn pulled herself together and rolled in the ring, demanding the ref count Diana out.  We got replays of her hot start as the bell rang and the ref put a 10 count on Diana.  Spare started to recover on the outside and started pulling herself up onto the apron before Karyn got a running start and batterrammed Spare, sending her flying into the barricade this time.  Karyn looked almost feral as she stomped around in the ring, and she didn’t need to be miced for us to hear that she was going to end this BS when she took her World title back at AnIIIversary.

Diana rolled back in the ring at 8 to beat the referee's count but Karyn swarmed on her from there.  The Notorious KTW continued to push her advantage and even showed off a hiptoss into a backbreaker for a 2 ½.  Tisch-Warren was way ahead on points but she slipped up on a corner charge that Diana matadored her way away from and the former Women's World champion went flying shoulder first into the post.  She staggered backwards from the impact and got even worse news because Diana had pulled herself to the top rope to dodge her.  With the window of opportunity open, Spare flew off and crumpled Karyn with a Yoshi Tonic that popped the Controllers.  Karyn kicked out a little bit after 2; that was the last time she'd be so lucky in this match.

Diana whipped some righteous ass most of the rest of the way, to the point where even when she staggered Spare with a surprise thumb to the eye, a partially blinded Spare still tagged her with a Question Mark kick behind the ear.  Karyn crumpled but Diana actually kept her from falling and snatched her up before planting her with Patel's Ninth Incarnation and letting out a war cry.  Spare added injury to injury by busting out a slingshot version of Nightfall to secure another win over Karyn.  ***

After replays, you could see Karyn trying to collect herself on the floor while Diana - well, you could read Diana's lips and she was not praying.  A cut to the back showed Patel smashing things in the International Lotus dressing room; another cut showed Lolo Vuitton give a small nod to the screen she was watching before walking out of frame.  

We went to the announce, who put over Spare's inner fire and comeback abilities before we went to our next match with more action from the women's division…

| • Cindy Monet [c] d. Midsomar to retain the Crush championship 🔟 • | The match you think happened given the participants is the one that went down; Cindy clinched her 10th decision with her signature Tightrope in under 5 minutes, but it was more about the post match here… * 1/2

Cindy got the Crush championship back and lifted it high with a triumphant yell, causing waves of orange and yellow pyro on the stage to give way to the signature maroon and white of Collipark before dying down.  As the crowd cheered for Cindy, she asked for and got the mic from Duck Eko.

Cindy said the only thing that made the long months of rehab worth it were crowds like these and being able to stand in front of them as one of the best Crush champions in the history of the title.  After placing the belt on her shoulder, Cindy said that it didn’t matter if it was at AnIIIversary, Devil’s Night, next week’s Ruckus, whenever - her time has come and if you thought she was going to stop at one title you were a bigger loser than Midsomar.  Because Cindy wasn’t going to stop until she stood in front of the world as QCW’s Women’s World champion, no matter who she had to beat.  

Cindy passed the mic off to Duck as “Dance or Die” came back on over the PA; the rest of the College Park Family came out from the back and helped low key celebrate with her on the stage while Cindy seemed almost bashful in taking in the love from the rest of her pack.  Steve hyped up the Beauty & the Beast Mode vs. Wonderful Ward Brothers match to come on the other side of this commercial break.

✨

It turns out that the weeks of Coming Soon will turn into Coming BACK at AnIIIversary, for Mr. Teknik and his club beats are dancing on the grave of TAFKA Anton Stahl, now wearing a partially mesh mask with the German tricolor accenting and going around it in a nice look.  Mr. Teknik is back in two days and we’ll see what a solo run from him looks like.

| • Beauty & the Beast Mode d. The Wonderful Ward Brothers • | Big implications in the semi main tonight, noted by the announce as the participants came down to the ring.  Both teams had their eye on the Unified tags (in the cases of the Wards, regaining them) but failed to win the #1 contendership match that sent the International Players to AnIIIversary.  On last week’s Unleashed, they fought to a time limit draw; even with another ten minutes on the clock, they almost did so again in what could have been the match of the night.

There wasn’t even a feeling out process early, just a Pier 4 that took a couple minutes to settle down followed by Roy Fade and Jason the Great going at it like SEC rivals.  Jason was holding his own until Fade dodged an attack off the ropes and drilled Ward with a pump knee strike that sent him akimbo.  From there, he tossed Jason into his corner and went to work on him with hard body blows before tagging in his partner “Dashing” Pierce Moore, who continued the work with some short range knees to the gut.  Naz put over a more aggressive Moore clearly learning some toughness from Fade in their training sessions as the Baron of Beverly Hills delivered a suplex throw into the turnbuckles that had the crowd aghast and Fade breaking out into a slow grin from the apron as he got tagged back in.

We got a picture in picture commercial while Fade continued wearing down Jason, and then in real time thanks to some help from the Quality Controllers the former Unified World Tag Team champ started getting out from under.  He got separation from Fade as we went back full screen, but when he ran for the ropes Moore cheapshotted him with a kick in the back.  Jason ate it but then turned around and blasted Moore off the apron.  Unfortunately when Jason turned around, Fade clotheslined him out to the floor, and it didn’t take Pierce long to swarm on the fallen Jason.  Fade slid out to the floor and joined in the beatdown of Jason the Great while the Controllers booed.  

Fortunately for Jason, the cavalry was coming and Rich flew in with an Orihara moonsault that wiped out everyone on the outside.  The referee began a 10 count with everyone down and it took Rich a few moments to recover before he disentangled from the pile.  Rich then grabbed his brother and tossed him in the ring to break the count before running to the apron for the tag.  Unfortunately for him, the newly legal Moore had hold of his ankle.  

Fortunately for Jason the Great, he got up in the air to tease an enzuigiri before actually connecting on a Codebreaker that crumpled Moore and gave him an opening to finally tag in his brother and get the Controllers cheering.  

Rich tried to steal a pin only for Moore to kick out, but now the momentum of the fight had pitched over to the champs.  Fade ran into the ring to save his partner, only for Rich to see him coming in and backdrop him into Moore.  Moore caught his partner but Rich fulcrum dropkicked him to almost make Moore give his partner a Styles Clash, and he kept things cooking for the Wards from there. 

He started working over an increasingly depleted Moore and we got a second picture in picture commercial break as he took over the match culminating in Rich tagging Jason back in a little bit after we returned to full screened live time and the former tag champions teamed up to hit a Hart Attack on Pierce to a good pop.  Jason went in for the cover, but Fade broke it up.  Rich vaulted into the ring and clotheslined Fade out to the floor, and the Wards kept up their hot streak.

With Fade down on the outside it looked like in a couple of minutes that the Wards had solved the Californians, and they went for the Cutting Express.  Rich whipped Jason into it, but got rocked by Moore suddenly countering with his own Fresh To Death on Jason as he came in.  Rich went after Moore but Fade launched himself into the ring and then off of Pierce’s back so that he could drill Rich with the Decision, and things broke down from there.  Pierce and Roy exchanged looks before they switched opponents - Moore dropped Rich with a Fresh To Death that sent him bouncing off the canvas, between the ropes and to the floor while Roy propped up Jason and gave him his own Decision that probably rendered him unconscious.  But they weren’t done there; Fade tagged Moore back in and then they hit Jason with a great 1-2 combo of the Fresh To Death and the Decision, and Jason’s foot spasmed once he was out on his back on the canvas.  Pierce got the pinfall with under 5 minutes left, and the crowd deflated once the ref hit 3.  *** ½

We got replays of some of the big moments of the tag war that’d just taken place before we went back to the ring, where both Fade and Moore were barking at the booing Arena about their hardfought victory while the Wards were barely beginning to stir.  Even though he wasn’t mic’d, as B&BMode made their way up the ramp you could hear Fade woofing at the crowd that it was only a matter of time before he & Pierce would be holding down gold.   Naz noted that a big win like that would have them right back in titles contention before Steve promised a look at the AnIIIversary card followed by our main event…right after our final commercial break of the night.

✨

AnIIIversary card rundown

Before we hit the main event, the announce ran down the AnIIIversary card while "Welcome To Atlanta" played in the background.

✨ ✨ ✨ Mr. Teknik returns to QCW to face off against "the Shame of Birmingham" Gerry Greene in a battle of Catch Hell alumni ✨ ✨ ✨

✨ ✨ ✨ Cindy Monet will defend the Crush championship ✨ ✨ ✨ 

✨ ✨ ✨ The Unified World Tag Team championships will be on the line when the College Park Family's International Players take on Team Batroc; will this be another part of Serge's prophecy to come true or will the reunited Players overcome Serge and Pyotr Caviar? ✨ ✨ ✨

✨ ✨ ✨ Summer Rose will face off against "Dark Mirror" Beckett Carpenter in an unsanctioned fight ✨ ✨ ✨

✨ ✨ ✨ The main event will see a fatal four way loser leaves town match between Sohla Patel and Karyn Tisch-Warren of International Lotus, the former two-time champion Lolo Vuitton and the Women's World champion "Night Sky" Diana Spare.  AnIIIversary is going to be a landmark event, especially in the women's division - one woman will hold the title and another one will be forced to grab a suitcase ✨ ✨ ✨

Steve got in a plug for FITE before Naz took a few moments to brag: what can follow last year's show for a main event?  I mean, the high water point in the Feud of the Year in the Match of the Year leading to the Shock of the Year?  No wonder they had to move it out of the Arena!  They should have either razed the joint with the rabble in it or renamed it the El-Fadal Cathedral or something!

Steve sighed, then threw things to Duck for…

| • the main event • |

Unfortunately for all decent people, “Stranglehold” brought out Drake Tremble for the main event in his latest Sisyphusian attempt to get back the TV title he’d lost last year.  Announce noted that Tremble was coming out to the ring alone, which was a rarity since he’d formed the Red, White & True.

“Mota” by the Offspring hit the PA to the pop of the night, but Autumn didn’t show.  Drake was already hectoring the zebra to give him the match and title by forfeit when they restarted “Mota”; yet again, there was no Autumn.

A couple of beats later showed the reason why Autumn had yet to emerge – she was backstage getting jumped by Tremble’s cronies Bobby Bash & “Swamp Trash” Ted Holland.  But Autumn was holding her own, and as it turned out she’d get a little help from a chair swinging Justice Davis, who swung steel on his opponent to kick off this show Bash before turning his attentions towards Holland.  Justice asked Autumn if she was okay as he turned around and laid Ted out, but when he turned back, Autumn was already coming through the curtain.

Great news if you’re a Quality Controller; bad news if you’re Drake.  

| • Autumn Powers [c] d. “The Voice of Freedom” Drake Tremble (w/the Red, White & True) to retain the GRPL+ World Television championship 1️⃣1️⃣ • | Drake had a good game plan, but Autumn’s “beat this asshole into the hospital” plan turned out to be a much better one.  Drake maybe got in five offensive maneuvers the entire match, and that’s counting the eye poke.  Powers folded up the bigger Drake like a Q-4 offsuit on multiple occasions before drilling him with an especially bad-ass looking enzui Hazy Shade of Autumn that added to her lengthy title reign.  **

But that didn’t end the show, no. 

Autumn asked for and got the mic from Duck to cheers from the Controllers, and she held the mic out towards the Arena trying to fit in every last cheer.  Autumn thanked the fans for that warm reception, but said that she had some bad news for them: this would be the last time that they saw her here as World TV champ.  

But the even worse news was for the big spook running around thinking he was like a king, because she was going to overthrow his shit in the main event at AnIIIversary.  She wanted to make it clear right now to her fans here in the Arena and around the world as well as Commissioner Holmes that she was calling her shot, and on Sunday she was cashing in this beautiful TV title to go after the biggest prize, the one singles title that’s eluded her so far throughout her time at QCW.  Powers laid down the TV title in the center of the ring before walking up to the hard camera and saying that she knew people out there thought she was crazy, that she was taking months if not years of her career going after the Big Bad, but she was just as sick and tired of his spooky crap as everybody else here in the Arena.  

And he went too far last week in taking out her friends backstage with a sneak attack, so since he took them from her she was going to take the thing that mattered to him the most: the Unified World title.  She spent her childhood watching horror movies - they gave her an inner strength she had even in the dark times when she didn’t believe in herself - and whether it was in space or the suburbs the same thing happened: the monster wreaked havoc and looked unbeatable…right until they ran into the Final Woman.  So come Sunday, she was going to bury the monster.  In Atlanta, she was going to put a crown on King Spooky’s reign of terror.  At AnIIIversary, on the biggest stage QCW had ever seen, she was going to bring down all of the Rev’s BS with as many Hazy Shades as it took until she was where she was always meant to be: the Last Woman….standing.  Powers flipped the mic behind her and headed up the ramp, leaving the World TV title in the ring while the Controllers chanted themselves hoarse screaming out her name.  A chyron came up for AnIIIversary hyping Autumn vs. the Rev for the Fifteen Pounds of Gold as she fired up more chants from the top step and made A Very Familiar Gesture around her waist. 

The credits box came up and we faded to black.  Next stop Atlanta, and that be right soon.  See you next Friday with another episode of Ruckus and the fallout from AnIIIversary!