QCW Unleashed [s1e15 • Quality Arena]

• Beauty and the Beast Mode d. Crusazdo del Oro and Super Avión
• Christine Kent d. Veronica Vespa
• Danny Castle (w/Summer Rose & Dr. Martin Willliams) d. Lucius Patton (w/Jupiter Jones & Benjamin Valentino)
• the Sound of Thunder d. Fiona Fogg and Hilary Highnote 
   

GRPL+ Presents QCW Ruckus [s3e1 • October 13, 2023]

LAST WEEK ON RUCKUS

• Karyn Tisch-Warren retained the Crush championship over Jane Doe and when the Women’s World champion Cindy Monet came in for the save International Lotus laid out Science Fiction Double Feature

• Both Autumn Powers and Razorblade returned to help Justice Davis beat the Red, White and True

• Katsuji Ootsuka saved his partners the Proper Villains from taking a full Team Batroc beatdown and beat them down, but that caused a controversial DQ that allowed Pyotr and Serge to retain the Unified World Tag Team titles

We got the usual opening culminating in the Revenant’s signature red right hand holding the Unified World championship before purple, gold and red pyro fired off from the stage and over the ring for a decent amount of time.

Steve Vandeblanche (alongside Nazir el-Fadal) welcomed us to a special episode of Ruckus; not only was this the program’s second anniversary show, but it would be highlighted by three championship matches before the night was over.  Before the GRPL+ World TV title, Crush championship or the Women’s World championship would go up in the air tonight, though, we started the show with a grudge match that was weeks in the making.

| •  Justice Davis dco. Drake Tremble (w/the Red, White and True) • | Unfortunately, Dia de los Voorhees didn’t solve this rivalry.  This was more of a brawl than a wrestling match, though the stalemate of the opening minutes ended with the former World TV champ Tremble pulling off a Stun Gun that left newcomer Davis reeling.  Even when Justice fought back he would end up dipping his head too soon after whipping the Voice of Freedom to the ropes; Drake slowed his momentum by holding onto the ropes before lashing out with a snap DDT that got him a two count.

Tremble continued on the offensive and seemed to look to end things with a superplex; however, Davis cut him off when he went to the top rope and both men brawled in the high rent district until Davis undercut Tremble by kicking his leg out from under him, sending the top rope right into his red hats.  Davis shook off the punches and offense he’d suffered before cinching up Tremble - despite his best efforts to fend it off, Davis got under Tremble before he suplexed him off the apron to the floor and hurt himself in the process.  Justice got to his feet first, then grabbed Drake and sent him head first off the announce table.  Davis got in a couple more of those before Tremble kicked his knee out from under him, sending Justice face first into the edge of the table.  Fired up, Drake then tackled them both over the table and sent them to the floor while Steve and Naz called it from the first row.  It was only after he got up that Drake noticed how late the referee was in the count.  Drake went to roll in the ring only for Davis to yank him by the leg down to the floor - when Justice tried to get in at 8 Drake gave him a receipt that yanked him down to the floor - but when Drake tried to dive into the ring, Davis gave him a drop toehold that sent him neckfirst into the apron.  The referee hit the ten count and called for the bell.  Decent stuff, but it was more to set up the post match.  **

Davis quickly got surrounded by Bobby Bash and Ted Holland, who went after him with four fists before Bash tossed Davis into the timekeeper’s area.  They went to check on Tremble but Davis only wanted to check one thing: how well Ted & Bobby could eat chair shots.  Having grabbed one from ringside, Davis immediately got retribution by wallopping both of them with a few tastes of steel while Tremble literally crawled under the ring to avoid taking any further damage before coming out the other side and starting to head up the ramp; he started sprinting once Davis saw him and tried to catch up to deliver a chairshot or 4 to him.  Naz pointed out as we saw Drake flee that the cosplaytriots B team had a tag match against Autumn Powers and Razorblade later in the show so who knew how effective they’d be in trying to beat two of QCW’s biggest stars.

Back at the desk, Steve jokingly called Justice's efforts to definitively best Drake the rivalry that never ends before Naz talked all over him.  El-fadal said that while they were fighting to nowhere, he was making a deal.  He got up, shoved Duck Eko aside to take the mic and jumped up on the announce table to let the Arena know that while they didn't deserve it, next week would feature the exalted return of the Nazir el-Fadal Show and his special guest?

Why, that'd be none other than the Final Woman…Autumn Powers.  Naz tossed aside the mic and sat down at the desk, where Steve wondered what would happen when he had to interview the woman who arguably put him in that chair – and Naz just sat back, kicked his feet up and smiled a smile far too wide to be friendly.

And then the in Arena dance party got underway, as Mr. Teknik came down the ramp for the first title match on this loaded second anniversary card.  The vibes pivoted into the trash when the music changed to Beartooth's "Hated".  Out strode S. Mark Starr and his client: the GRPL+ World Television champion, Jacques Krieger.  Krieger was his usual stoic self as he slow walked down the aisle with the belt over his shoulder.

| •  Jacques Krieger [c, w/S. Mark Starr] d. Mr. Teknik to retain the GRPL+ World Television championship 5️⃣ • | And obviously, he walked out with it over his shoulder after getting the win he had to have to hit the halfway point on his 10 count towards a cash in.

Sometimes styles make fights but the fight gets made by whoever's style wins out.  Mr. Teknik was able to fly around the ring and even ground him on the mat for a little bit.  But Krieger's power was too much for the masked German, who got picked off on a springboard something-or-other and drilled with a snap spinebuster.  Starr encouraged a man who didn't need encouraging to finish the job; the subsequent shotei not only proved to be Krieger's Ace in the Hole but hit so hard Mr. Teknik's mask dislodged and blinded him.  From there, Krieger had a laugh at his expense before driving him into the mat with the Jacqueshammer to get the duke.  ** ½

After replays, Krieger stood sneering with the title while Starr crowed to a camera that his man was not only cementing his legacy as a great TV champion but knocking on the door of a successful cash in and the Unified World championship.   Someone who'd disagree with that valuation?

"Superfine" Reggie Strong, who was watching all this backstage on a monitor before turning to us and saying that maybe Mr. Teknik couldn't do the job, but if he got the chance at Krieger and revenge, he'd make the title Superfine before you could say "DAMN, that boy good!"

Strong walked off the set as Krieger and Starr headed to the back; Steve teed up some commercials for our first big break tonight.

✨

We came back to Ruckus to another vignette for the imminent arrival of Omar Littlefield.  Shot in black and white, it showed him destroying ham and eggers in a ring from increasingly close range while he spoke.

When he spoke he spoke of Detroit raising him crazy and how he came to wrestling as an escape but – but it left him with something he couldn't escape from.  And now QCW wouldn't escape from him.  He wasn't busted, just scarred, and soon?

Very soon…Omar Littlefield would come to the Arena and make it his home.  And once he was done, he would leave QCW with a scar.  

Before the tag screen showed, the face of a newcomer flashed twice; a face disfigured from looked like ropes starkky embedded into it.  When he screamed in the second shot, the screen went black before we saw

OMARLITTLEFIELD

winning ugly since 2017

I’m pretty sure the vignette ended but couldn’t tell you for sure, because we were flying TOTHEBACK~! where Justice Davis was continuing to try to beat the red hat off of Drake Tremble, and Quality Force Security was trying to break them up.  While that was happening, “Stranglehold” was blaring in the Arena, and a tightfaced Ted Holland told Bobby Bash they had work to do.  They limped towards the entryway and missed Davis sending Drake headfirst into a vending machine by a few seconds.  Unfortunately for them, they didn’t have their leader to guide them - worse, Davis had dished out a few chair shots to both of them not half an hour previous - and to put a layer of broken glass in their shit tiramisu, they were about to face off against two of QCW’s best at less than 100%.  

| • Autumn Powers & Mason “Razorblade” Savage d. The Red, White & True • | Maybe Ted and Bobby should’ve come out to Vampire Weekend’s “The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance” instead, as Mason and Autumn dished out an even worse beatdown on them than they suffered in last week’s trios match.  Down the stretch the babyfaces teamed up for a superplex of Bash that sent the 270 pounder into an almost unwitting senton bomb onto his partner, and Holland was easily put in position for a Soul Crusher and match winning Hazy Shade of Autumn after that.  **

After replays, Autumn was standing next to Razorblade with a mic in her hand.  She admitted AnIIIversary didn’t go the way she had hoped, but she was the Final Woman and she didn’t die that easy.  So if the Big Spook wanted to really put her down, he’d give her a rematch at Devil’s Night and try to finish the job.  But when he didn’t - when he didn’t - she’d notch her Triple Crown by being the first woman to hold the Unified World championship and smash another glass ceiling.  Because Autumn Powers waits for no man - she just takes titles off of them.  Razorblade had a wry grin behind her as Mota came on over the PA.   Steve hyped the possibility of Revenant/Powers II at Devil’s Night as we headed into the commercial break.

✨

| • Benjamin Valentino (w/Jupiter Jones & Lucius Patton) d. Dr. Martin Williams (w/Danny Castle & Summer Rose) • | The back end of Ruckus started off with singles action from two men known for their tag work; Valentino as part of the College Park Family and Dr. Williams as part of the End Times.  It was the bad doctor who got an upper hand early by dodging a Valentino corner charge and letting him shoulder the post instead.

With his seconds on the outside shouting encouragement Dr. Williams took aim at the arm over the next few minutes as Julius and Lucius paced the floor.  Martin continued his deadeyed dissection of Valentino and looked to close the deal but made one fatal mistake: in his zest to send Benjamin into the post he soon found the tables turned and his own shoulder meeting the steel.  

Benjamin then took Dr. Williams over with a big release German suplex and started a comeback of his own.  Jones and Patton rooted him on from the floor as Valentino got and kept the upper hand for the rest of the fight.  Even when Dr. Williams’ tank was almost empty he went for what could’ve been a crossface or omoplata, but Benjamin sussed it out and hit a rewind rana.  Williams got a foot on the rope at the death after that, but Valentino pulled him to center and spiked him with a falling reverse DDT that got him the win out of nowhere.  **

After replays we could see Danny Castle and Summer Rose take Dr. Williams away through the concourse while Collipark celebrated in the ring, Naz pointing out that Benjamin’s backup being better probably neutralized the rest of the End Times and let him focus on handling business in the ring en route to victory.

Steve passed along word from Orlando that now that the Amway Center had run their configurations, there would be a couple hundred more seats available for Devil's Night - any interested parties could buy those tickets on QCW's website tomorrow afternoon at noon Eastern time.  250 tickets away from a second sellout, so if you're looking to get to Devil's Night jump on the web tomorrow afternoon or morning and come to Orlando for QCW's fall spectacular!

Unfortunately, into every QCW fan's life a little "Roar" by Katy Perry must fall.  Out came International Lotus to a round of booing, with Crush champion Karyn Tisch-Warren leading the pack down the ramp; her husband Scott Warren-Tisch and Sohla Patel weren't too far behind as usual.  Scott held the ropes open for the ladies and they preened in the ring before getting microphones from Duck.

Sohla kicked off the promo, saying that before the night was over International Lotus would finally have ultimate control over the women's division.  In fact, she was a few short minutes away from beating Cindy Monet again and bringing back the Women's World championship back into the fold.  

Karyn took over the promo, saying that Sohla would join her as a champion by the time Ruckus was over.  But she was going to set the example up next when she defended her own title in the International Lotus Invitational!  Tisch-Warren explained she would put her title on the line against anyone not named Cindy Monet but they would find out the difference between a champion who ran the division and a worker lucky not to be working nights at Dollar General.  Lotus tossed aside their mics and Karyn waved on whoever might come her way.

After a few beats, Mean Season parted the Qualitron to a decent response from the crowd.  While Gaia Green was walking, Winter Wonderland was sprinting to the ring, which caused Scott and Sohla to flee it.  Winter barrelled into Karyn and gave her a double leg takedown before peppering her with punches.  Karyn got out from under only to get dropped by a dropkick, and when she recovered from that Wonderland whipped her down to the mat with an armdrag.

Tisch-Warren scrambled on the mat before landing an upkick and then a couple more to break Winter's armbar.  The notorious KTW charged Wonderland, but Winter backdropped her over the top rope.  Fortunately for her, the champ landed on her feet; unfortunately for her Winter legswept her to send her bouncing off of the apron down to the floor.  Karyn started to pull herself up on the ground but when she got to her feet Winter got in more hit points with a wrecking ball dropkick that sent the four time Crush champion flying into the barricade.  The crowd popped as Winter stood on the stairs and fired them up a little more before we hit the last major commercial break on the night.

✨

Back from the break, we saw Karyn whip Winter into turnbuckles on the opposite side only to run smack into Winter's boots when she countered.  Wonderland ran out of the corner and went for a headscissors, winding her way up then down then back up Tisch-Warren before taking her down to the mat.  In short order a follow up clothesline sent the champ right back out to the floor - but when Winter tried to drop Karyn a second time with the wrecking ball dropkick, Tisch-Warren caught her and went to work.

First there was the capture backbreaker into the apron, which sucked for Winter.  Then what was even worse for the Mean Season member was when Karyn kept hold to pivot and capture backbreaker Winter into the barricade – and Karyn wasn't done there as she pivoted again before spiking Winter into the stairs with a third capture backbreaker.  The crowd was shocked and a little stunned as Karyn smiled evilly on the floor and poor Winter looked like Homer Simpson over the fire hydrant.  Replays of Karyn's backbreaker binge played out for us couch potatoes as she rolled into the ring and sat on a top turnbuckle with a shit eating grin on her face.  

It turned out that Tisch-Warren's confidence was justified; Winter had to drag herself in under the bottom rope by using it and once she was in the ring at 9 her title hopes went out the window in a few short minutes.  KTW won her Invitational with a familiar looking powerbomb backbreaker to set up the Circuit Breaker that tapped Wonderland out just shy of the time limit's halfway point.

| •  Karyn Tisch-Warren [c, w/International Lotus] ds. Winter Wonderland (w/Gaia Green) to retain the Crush championship 2️⃣ • | 

We saw International Lotus celebrating the win while the ref and Gaia helped a clearly aching Winter to the back.  From that scene we whipped around to the announce desk, where Conductor Steve took us down the tracks of the hype train.  We're about a week away from Devil's Night so next week is going to have some viewing opportunities for us on the last stop to Orlando:

⌨️ Unleashed will feature both Jupiter Jones and Beauty and the Beast Mode in action ⌨️

Ruckus is going to have some big fights as sort of the pregame for Devil's Night…

💫  You just saw her continue her record reign for the Crush championship &  Karyn Tisch-Warren will defend the belt again 💫 

💫  A big six man tag to go down will be the ever dangerous End Times teaming with the leader of the Red, White and True "the Voice of Freedom" Drake Tremble to throw down against Justice Davis and the International Players 💫

💫 And the GRPL+ World Television championship will not only be on the line but Pick Your Poison will be present in both "Superfine" Reggie Strong and Jacques Krieger's matches - can one of them get the advantage ahead of their grudge match coming in Orlando? 💫

The World TV title is going to be a focal point of next week's Ruckus but an entirely different title is up for grabs in

| • the main event • |

Since she was already out for the just defended Crush championship, Sohla Patel went from coach to player and Karyn Tisch-Warren did the inverse…but both of their heads whipped around and scowled when "Dance Or Die" began rocking the PA.

Cindy Monet went by many sobriquets but the most important one was Women's World champion.  She came out in her gold and crimson Collipark letterman jacket but waited up so that Jane Doe could second her.

When Jane limped out, she had a cane under her right arm due to Karyn's attacks on her right leg as she handed Jane a pair of consecutive losses in gaining then defending the Crush championship on the past couple of Ruckus…es (Ruckii?).  As they came down the aisle picture in picture showed highlights from Unleashed where Lotus took advantage of Doe’s working hurt to beat Science Fiction Double Feature, Sohla pinning Cindy 48 hours before the title match.  

As Duck made the intros under a lone spotlight, Sohla got in Cindy's face and made a Very Familiar Gesture around her waist in lieu of smack talk; Cindy's response during her introduction was to slowly hold up the belt before literally shoving it in Patel's face, and the referee had to step in and separate them before the bell (methinks you could hear Karyn complaining in South Carolina).

Once it rang a hockey fight broke out in the ring, popping the Controllers something fierce.  That ended when a desperate Sohla thumbed Cindy in the eye and immediately went for her Ninth Incarnation, but the champ slipped out the back and got a running start to hangman Patel against the top rope.  Sohla rebounded into the ring as Cindy got a gleam in her eyes and went for the Tightrope - but Sohla rolled out of the ring before that could happen.  The money behind International Lotus was on the outside bragging about how smart she was when a Monet tope slammed into her upper body and left her wiped out on the floor.

That gave Cindy control over the opening moments of the match, something she kept up despite Karyn's near constant smack talk or the small blips of offense Sohla was able to to get in before the queen of Collipark would find a way to shut her down again.  Steve noted this on commentary and said that Cindy had been on fire ever since coming back, really growing into a champion whether it was the Crush championship or the Women's World.   

Cindy continued her roll by booting Sohla in the face before hitting a tornado hangman that further weakened Patel's neck.  Cindy moved in for the kill as Sohla staggered up - but when she did Patel knocked her out of the sky with a precise dropkick that bought her some much needed recovery time.  We got replays of the dropkick as Sohla got herself fully vertical before trying to stomp Cindy all the way out, always stopping at 4 in the referee's five counts.

Naz praised Sohla for lighting up any screen she appeared upon no matter the size as she choked out Cindy across the middle rope with her knee on the back of Cindy's neck.  It looked like Karyn was going to try to land a cheap shot behind the ref's back, but the zebra wheeled around fast enough to back her up.  Patel actually didn't need Tisch-Warren's help and took over the match, blending occasionally cheating with high impact moves like a big tornado DDT that got her 2 ½ (even though she thought she'd won off of it and had to be told by the ref that she hadn't).  It looked like she was going to try to end the fight in her favor with a superplex, but Cindy fought her off and sent her down with a big gourdbuster before gathering herself up top.  Patel dodged whatever flying attack was coming and Cindy rolled through herself; after they both hit the ropes a couple of times dodging the other they both went for flying crossbody blocks at the same time and collided full speed into each other before bouncing off like pinballs off a flipper.

Both Karyn and then Jane banged on the mat to rally their tag partner, the crowd firmly behind Cindy as both women staggered to their feet.  They ended up backing into each other before spinning around and having a second, even longer hockey fight until they knocked each other to their knees.  Both threw weak clotheslines at the other before Sohla suddenly shot out and dropped Cindy with a basement DDT.  Still staggered, Sohla used Cindy to pull herself up before letting out a war cry and making a throat slash gesture.  Patel hooked up Cindy and looked like she was going for the Ninth Incarnation…but Cindy kicked frenetically before pivoting and hitting Sohla with her own finisher to the joyous shock of the crowd.  Cindy kept hold of Sohla and kept rolling, planting Sohla with a second Ninth Incarnation and she wasn't done before she rolled through and flattened Patel with a sheer drop brainbuster.  Karyn and Scott jumped up on the apron but they both ate cane shots from a suddenly fully mobile Jane Doe, who may have had a small smile on her face as they tumbled to the floor clutching their backs.  

Cindy fired up the faithful and went for a third attempt at the Tightrope.  This one was the charm, and when the ref got to three a successful title defense was in the books.  ***

| • Cindy Monet [c, w/Jane Doe] d. Sohla Patel (w/International Lotus) to retain the Women’s World championship • |

We got replays of the big moments of the match before we went back to the ring to see Jane celebrating by doing the Robot.  Then we saw Sohla draped over the shoulders of Karyn and Scott, clearly barely conscious and not even facing the ring.  But that's not how Ruckus ended.

It ended with Karyn death glaring Cindy with the Crush championship on her free shoulder - and a cut to Cindy sitting on the middle rope holding the top rope open to invite Karyn in while dangling the Women's World championship out at her with her free hand.  Happy second anniversary, Ruckus!

QCW Unleashed [s1e14 • Quality Arena]

• Ian Cook & Gerry Greene d. Blockhead Ferguson & Cliff Foster
• Mr. Teknik d. Hawk Carter
• International Lotus d. Science Fiction Double Feature
• open challenge non-title The Revenant d. Justice Davis
  

GRPL+ Presents QCW Ruckus [s2e48 • October 6, 2023]

LAST WEEK ON RUCKUS

• The Proper Villains notched another win and challenged Team Batroc to put up the Unified World Tag Team championships against them tonight - that match will main event the show

• Jacques Krieger defended the GRPL+ World TV title in under a minute against Katsuji Ootsuka, leaving the Ambassadors champion shaken post match

• Karyn Tisch-Warren won a four way elimination match to regain the Crush championship and called out Women's World champion Cindy Monet afterwards

Unfortunately for us all, this episode began with a pretape from the Red, White and True.  Hannity lite music played in the background while Drake Tremble stood behind a podium with the cosplaytriots’ logo on it, surrounded by American flags and his loyal minions Bobby Bash and Ted Holland.  Tremble thanked all the real Americans listening to him right now and said he heard them refused to be silenced just like he and his boys.  But as bad as the sicknesses were coming over the border, you still had to contend with people from hellholes like Chicago, like Justice Davis.  How it came to be that a drunk and a sicko addict like Davis could even call himself Justice was beyond him, but they would serve true justice tonight –

– and suddenly in black and white, we saw an obscured tombstone before a small hand shot out from the grave in front of it, reaching up for the sky as dirt fell.  Another hand took a few beats to follow it, and then with both hands slowly pulling a figure out of the grave – 

– we somehow returned to Tremble’s pseudo press conference, saying that he would prove that he was right, that their way of life was better than Davis’ and that they would prove it tonight.  Tremble walked off the set, his klan followed, and we went to the standard opening from there.  

Once we were in the Quality Arena, Steve Vandeblanche welcomed us to the show alongside Nazir el-Fadal before hyping up this episode of Ruckus featuring three championship matches with the first of the three happening right now to kick off the program; it might have seemed familiar if you remembered how Ruckus closed last week it was going to seem like a little bit of history repeating…

| • Karyn Tisch-Warren [c, w/International Lotus] ds. Jane Doe to retain the Crush championship 1️⃣ • | 

Karyn got her record fourth title reign started successfully against the woman she beat last week to get the belt back, but Jane didn't exactly roll over on her back and show her belly.  In fact, the early moments of the match saw Doe on the upper hand despite the fact she was wearing a bandage around her right knee after the elimination match seven days ago.  Doe used a flurry of armdrags to send Karyn on an unwanted tour of the squared circle, and a couple of minutes after that she reversed a whip and hit a quebrada that dropped Tisch-Warren.  Doe came up limping a bit after the move hit, but she was able to stay in control for a few beats right after that…right up until Karyn snuffed a heart punch attempt and log rolled Jane down to the mat.

The match didn't end there, but that's where it began unraveling for Jane.  Karyn went from barely to comfortably ahead by ditching her usual backbreaker based offense and throwing the kitchen sink at Jane's leg.  And every time it looked like Jane was going to get out from under something came along to keep her under Karyn's thumb: sometimes thigh kicks, sometimes a shinbreaker and even once Sohla Patel punching her ankle from the outside of the ring.  Jane got off a late heart punch but when she tried to follow up on it Karyn chop blocked her injured leg and sent her down in sections.  Karyn spent the next couple of minutes breaking down the leg before hooking Jane into the Circuit Breaker.   Last week Jane passed out rather than give up; this week she lasted more than a handful of seconds but eventually opted to tap out rather than get her leg further damaged.  ** ½

But after the bell rang, both Sohla Patel and Scott Warren-Tisch hit the ring to stomp Jane Doe out.  The Quality Controllers booed this loudly as Karyn put Jane in the Circuit Breaker again and Sohla went to the floor so she could rummage under the ring until she found a chair she could use.  Sohla slid into the ring but just as soon as she was headed towards Jane she was sliding out of the ring - thanks to Cindy Monet.

The crowd popped as Cindy hit the ring, causing Karyn to flee to the outside.  The Women's World champion checked on her tag partner alongside the referee, but then suddenly she was getting smacked in the back by a chair swinging Patel.  Sohla punted Jane's bum ankle before snatching Cindy up and planted her on the chair with the Ninth Incarnation.  Karyn ran back in the ring and hugged her partner before International Lotus smack talked Science Fiction Double Feature.  "Roar" came up on the PA as Karyn held her Crush championship high and Patel mockingly kicked back dirt onto her fallen rivals, and International Lotus celebrating their attack all the way up the ramp was the last thing that happened before our first major commercial break of the night.

✨

Now that we're in October, hope you enjoy squash!

| • Jacques Krieger [c, w/S. Mark Starr] d. Il Postino to retain the GRPL+ World Television championship 4️⃣ • | Even though Postino lasted a little bit longer than Katsuji Ootsuka did last week somehow, this one was obviously never in doubt.  Jacqueshammer, check please.  DUD

Post match, Starr held up Postino so his client could unnecessarily smack him around some more while the Controllers booed.  But their attitudes would completely flip once someone came to make the save for the USPS enthusiast: "Superfine" Reggie Strong, who probably got jumped at Anniversary by Krieger and even in an impressive suit wasted no time in lighting up the World TV champ.  Krieger couldn't even get a hand on Strong offensively before Reggie sent him from the ring with a clothesline while the crowd roared.  Starr held Krieger back and got the belt while Reggie got the mic from Duck.

Once Strong did, he was far from his usual easy going mood.  Reggie said his entire career had been building to AnIIIversary and his first title shot in QCW - then not only does he get jumped in the parking lot and screwed out of his shot but Krieger actually gets the belt?!  He had to sit at home and heal up watching Krieger strut around with what should be his belt, but on the off chance Jacques couldn't see where he was, he was back in the Arena with all his smooth operators having his back.  Krieger took AnIIIversary from him, so Reggie was going to take the one thing off him that kept Krieger from being just another card in QCW's deck – the GRPL+ World Television championship.  Strong tossed the mic and continued to glare down Krieger and Starr while the crowd showered him in "Superfine!" chants.  

| • The Game Changers d. Beauty and the Beast Mode • | Before this one began, GRPL+ Helpfully Reminded Us That Last Week there was a “Tiki God” Al Buffett v. “These Hands” Roy Fade singles match that ended with “Dashing” Pierce Moore interfering to keep his partner from getting pinned; when Ashley “THEE Influencer” Szabo came in for the save, both the Changers ended up getting laid out by both members of Mode, and thus the longtime rivals found themselves scrapping once again for supremacy.

What turned out to be a minor surprise was the baddies from California honestly dominating ⅔rds of the fight.  At first they were doing so with quick tags and halving the ring, but as the Game Changers started to try and mount a comeback the tactics got more underhanded from B&BM.  

While the Changers fought off what dirty deeds they could, it looked like the rubber was going to meet the road for them as both Fade and Moore got increasingly cocksure of their victory and proved it with taunt after taunt.  An apparently beaten down Buffett got his Hawaiian shirt ripped off of him by Moore while the Controllers got increasingly livid, and Moore added insult to insult by slapping him in the face with the Tommy Bahama collection.  Sufficiently pleased, Moore leapt up for his signature Fresh To Death – and Buffett suddenly took him to the mat in a backslide.  Fade ran into the ring for the save but ran right into a Codebreaker from Szabo, and just like that the former Unified World Tag Team champions had pulled victory from the jaws of defeat much to the delight of the Quality Controllers.  ** ½

Ashley quickly grabbed Al and rolled to the outside where they got their hands raised by the referee, leaving an agog Moore fuming between the ropes as Steve chalked up the win to the championship pedigree of TGC.  Al took a ringside fan’s Polynesian Physic Grog and shotgunned it to get his wits about him before posing for a selfie with them; back in the ring you could see a clearly confused Fade asking Moore what happened.

From there we went TOTHEBACK~!, where Enya Face didn’t teleport in – she was here to welcome her guests at this time, challenging for the Unified World Tag Team championships in tonight’s main event – the Proper Villains, along with Katsuji Ootsuka.  The crowd popped as “the Fury” Jim Jaspers and “the Proper King” Richard Windsor came into the shot, with Ootsuka a few steps behind.  Enya asked the Ambassadors trios champions what their game plan was tonight, and Ootsuka started to answer before apologizing and ceding the floor to his partners.  Jaspers said that the plan was simple: take the titles.  See, this goes back years and years and years, and all because Serge was a self-important [bleep] who wanted Jim to bend the knee, and anyone who knew Old Jim knew that was never going to happen.  Richard got tired of all Serge’s crap like any royalty would, and now their mission in QCW was simple – shut Serge up once and for all.  Once they won tonight, they would hold every single piece of tag team gold, with any luck that Russian bear would eat Serge, and he and the Proper King would reign supreme over the tag team division.  Windsor added that this was a long time coming, and he was going to rejoice in beating the men he helped train because those – pardon his language – jerkoffs had it coming.  Ootsuka nodded and Enya threw to commercials after that.

✨

| • the End Times (w/Summer Rose) d. the Hard Way • | The back half of Ruckus kept the tag division in the spotlight and marked the returns of the End Times and Summer Rose.  After giving the Wonderful Ward Brothers the power of temporary flight the Quality Controllers booed them out of the building.  

They got a little bit happier when ex tag champs and fellow former End Times victims the Hard Way came out of the gates hot and fired up the faithful.  Within minutes they'd cleared the ring of both Danny Castle and Dr. Martin Williams and it seemed like they were on their way to a statement victory to bump them up the tag power rankings.

Summer Rose called over her charges, started a huddle and then broke it off so she could slap them both in the face repeatedly before barking that it was their job to bring about the end – so they'd better get to work.

The End Times robotically got back in the ring and proceeded to wreck the former champions, bringing newfound intensity as poor Paul Fifita and John Goodish took the ass whooping of six men.  It turns out that the statement win would belong to the End Times, who ended the fight with a tornado DDT variant of the Doomsday Device that put poor Fifita to sleep the har…you know.  ** ½

Summer Rose raised her boys' hands post match and said loudly enough to be heard even without a mic that she would have her revenge on QCW, and that anyone who stood in their way could end up sharing hospital space with the Wards.  Between matches, Steve and Naz (in a mild shock) ran down the End Times’ tactics and mentioned it’d be close to Thanksgiving before the Wards could come back.  But Naz also pointed out that Summer’s managerial skills and former championship experience meant that the Times were going to have to be taken seriously and feared, and who knew who she would send her attack dogs after next?

Banter at the announce table was broken up by “Stranglehold”, which unfortunately brought out the Red, White and True for trios action with Drake Tremble leading the charge.  Bobby Bash & “Swamp Trash” Ted Holland flanked their leader as Tremble berated the Controllers. 

“New Day” by the Bouncing Souls brought out Justice Davis to a good pop from the crowd, and Davis’ usual laser focus was replaced by…well, not a wide grin, exactly, but a smile that suggested he had gotten two decent mystery partners in his attempt to finally silence Tremble and his goon squad.  Davis paused halfway down the aisle, shaking his head at Drake’s smacktalk before he pointed behind him up the ramp.

When “Unscripted Violence” hit the PA the roof came off the joint as Mason “Razorblade” Savage returned to QCW and took the side of a man who’s career he inspired, Davis alternatively psyched and thankful as the former Unified World champ shook his hands and whispered some words to Davis while Tremble got increasingly furious in the ring.  

Suddenly the lights went out in the Arena and the Qualitron 9004 whirred to life with footage of someone crawling out of a grave, the same footage that had interrupted the promo Tremble had kicked off the show with.  The figure shook off some dust and started walking towards the camera until everything went black.

Pause.

And cue “Mota” by the Offspring.

And the back up roof that’d been in the process of being built also came off the Arena, because Autumn Powers was back for the first time since AnIIIversary.  The former World TV champion came out to a rapturous reaction as Tremble was almost slackjawed in the ring.  Steve sold the hell out of this, saying that two of the best of the modern era had not only come back but come back together in support of Justice Davis and justice in general.  Powers met Savage and Davis at the mid point of the ramp and they all exchanged pleasantries before Autumn pointed to the ring with one hand and made a throat slash gesture with the other.  The babyfaces smiled before running down the rest of the ramp into the ring together, and you didn’t need to sport a Rolex to know that it was going to be Ass Whoop O’Clock for the outmatched cosplaytriots.  

Things never really got above sea level for the red hats, and they got even worse after Davis and Savage teamed up to send the behemoth Bash into the ring post and busted him open to effectively take him out of the fight.  Faced with the prospect of facing off against QCW’s only ever double champion, a three-time World TV titleholder and the up and coming Davis, Tremble tried to remove himself from the fray under the guise of trying to help Bash get unloopy and left his ostensible protege Holland to the wolves.  Ted showed some fighting spirit but the odds were hysterically against him.  Eventually the white hats took over, and then they took him out: Savage dropped him with a Soul Crusher, which fed Autumn for the Hazy Shade of Autumn, and that set up Davis putting a bow on the bout with his signature Davis Driver, the crowd counting along with Justice and the ref as the three came down to seal the victory.  **

| • Justice Davis, Autumn Powers and Mason "Razorblade" Savage d. the Red, White and True • |

The babyfaces took to separate turnbuckles to celebrate as Steve pointed out this meant that Justice’s long delayed one on one match against Tremble would finally happen next week.  As for the Red, White and True, Holland stared daggers at Tremble for more than a little bit before he helped Drake aid Bobby to the back.  Autumn, Justice and Mason took another curtain call in the ring before we hit our last big commercial break ahead of the main event.

✨

Is the next week of QCW TV going to be loaded?  Does the Pope take a shit in the woods?

⌨️ Unleashed will not only feature International Lotus facing off with Science Fiction Double Feature, but the Unified World Heavyweight champion the Revenant has issued an open challenge for the main event (non-title, of course) ⌨️

And with Ruckus celebrating its second anniversary next week, the show is New Year's Eve loaded with action:

💫  After being able to dodge it for weeks, the Red, White and True's leader Drake Tremble has to go one on one with the newcomer Justice Davis 💫

💫  Karyn Tisch-Warren is doing something with the Crush championship called the International Lotus Invitational and we'll find out more about that next week, hopefully, I guess 💫

💫  Jacques Krieger will aim to hit the halfway point on his march to 10 with another successful defense of the GRPL+ World TV title 💫

💫 And the main event will see Cindy Monet defend the Women's World championship against a member of International Lotus – Sohla Patel gets the shot after what happened earlier and who knows what Karyn Tisch-Warren's going to think about that - and can Jane Doe even back Cindy up after everything Karyn's done to her the past two weeks? 💫

It feels like the only reason the Unified World Tag Team championships aren't on the line next week is because that's what right now is for; and we went from Steve hyping next week's show to him sending things TOTHEBACK~! with Julius Duquesne III standing by with the Unified World Tag Team champions.  

Despite the Controllers already booing, JD3 asked the champions – and Pyotr Caviar piefaced poor Julius out of the shot before handing the mic to Serge.

Batroc said that he was sick of the Villains hounding him and Pyotr for months on end chasing the Unified World Tag Team championships, and they had failed time and time again.  If they wanted to fail again right here, right now, they might as well hit the champions’ music so they could get humiliated again.

On that demand, the creepy whistling and dulcet tones of Rammstein’s “Engel” presaged the arrival of the champions inside the Arena.  God knows they didn’t want to be angels, they wanted another day/month/season lording it over all the other tag teams in a stacked division.  The French Assassin and the Tracksuit Tsar took their usual positions mid-ring, slowly lifting the Unified belts over their heads as red, yellow, white and blue spotlights roamed over their heads.

As they sneered, “I Predict A Riot” by the Kaiser Chiefs took over the PA and out came the Ambassadors trios champions looking to consolidate every piece of QCW tag team gold.  A cut to the ring saw the usually unflappable Serge taunting and waving on Jim Jaspers and Richard Windsor; all “the Fury” and “the Proper King” needed was an excuse and they floored it down the ramp, causing Duck Eko to dive out of the ring right before a Pier 4 broke out in the ring to the joy of the rabidly cheering crowd; ladies, gentlemen, and others…welcome to…

| • the main event • |

Even after the referee called for the bell, the brawls continued; not only that, they spilled out to the floor.  The Villains got a leg up on the fight when Windsor dodged a Serge uppercut and back suplexed him into the apron.  Batroc bounced off and sluiced to the floor but Windsor wasn’t done there – he helped jump on Pyotr and he and Jim started double teaming the massive Russian on the other side of the floor.  The Villains swung for the fences and eventually got Pyotr down to his hands and knees before they teamed up to throw Caviar into the barricade.  But they didn’t stop there – they threw him back first into the apron, then back into the barricade, then back into the apron and back into the barricade.  A joyous looking Katsuji Ootsuka came down the ramp as Windsor got Serge into the ring before bullrushing him into the Proper corner and dishing out some hardcore European uppercuts in a flurry on his own.  He tagged in Jaspers, who followed up with some short range knees to the gut, and the Villains continued the double team effort in the next couple minutes culminating in a crossbody/suplex combo that got them a decent two count before the recovering Caviar came in to break it up with an elbow to the back of Windsor’s head.

Jaspers swarmed onto Caviar and began punching and kicking him out of the ring, leading the referee to try and get the illegal men free from the ring.  Unfortunately for Windsor, while that was happening the ever shady Serge used the opportunity to uppercut the Proper King right in the thrones, and Richard went timber while the crowd booed.  Serge started to crawl for his corner – but no one was there, because Caviar was on the floor crawling for the corner.  Batroc would end up tagging air while Windsor tagged out to Jaspers, and the challengers teamed up for a sort of Poetry in Motion but the Fury leapt off the back of his partner with a pump knee that sent the French Assassin tumbling to the canvas.  But when Old Jim went for the cover, Serge found a way to kick out at 2 ½.  Jaspers was briefly pissed but then a sinister smile spread across his face, and he slowly dropped his Union Jack kneepad to signal that he was going to take his longtime rival down to Fury Road.  Jaspers bounced off the ropes but when he went for his finisher, Serge spun away from the moment of impact and Jaspers went sailing past him.

That’s when the top rope got lowbridged and Jaspers bounced off the apron to the floor.  A desperate Batroc tagged in the man who did the lowbridging, but Pyotr Caviar took the tag and went to the floor eyeing Old Jim.  As Jaspers drew himself up using the barricade, Pyotr Caviar had a better idea: put him through it.

With a running start, Caviar’s flying crossbody sent nearly 600 pounds of wrestler through the barricade and into some unlucky knees of front row fans, causing Steve to get bleeped on G+ for what the whole of Quality Arena would be chanting long and loud soon enough: HOLY SHIT!

A camera got a shot of Caviar’s wince turning into a grin as he rolled over and got into the ring while we got oh so many deserved replays of Caviar’s messed up version of fung shui.  As Caviar demanded the count come faster, Ootsuka was hovering by Jaspers hoping that he could answer it on the outside.  Caviar went to check on Serge in their corner while the count was on, and Jaspers didn’t even start moving until the referee hit 5.  Jaspers got to a knee, and pulled himself up slowly while Ootsuka rooted him on, but Jaspers fell down before pulling himself up, shoving Ootsuka aside so that he could roll in the ring at 9 ¾.  The crowd cheered as Jaspers had just b aaaaa r e l y survived the count, then gasped and screamed as Caviar flew off the top with a 325 pound frog splash that buckled the ring and engulfed Jaspers entirely.  Caviar went in for the cover, but it got broken up by a desperate Windsor flying off the top with a double foot stomp that caught Pyotr in the upper back.  

The crowd cheered the fact that the match was going to continue, and Windsor started to leave the ring only to be snatched up from behind by Serge and thrown into the ring post.  The next couple minutes got uncomfortable to watch as the champions got increasingly vicious in their attack that ended up being Batroc and Caviar grounding and pounding the Villains, it being especially egregious seeing the massive Caviar ragdoll the much smaller Windsor.  The referee tried to get involved on Jaspers' behalf but Serge just barked at her and went back to work; when she went to get Windsor free from Caviar the Russian land monster shoved her on her ass.  

Things continued like that for a few beats and Caviar cackled away while the crowd booed, but pretty soon they would be cheering loudly because Katsuji Ootsuka hit the ring and he wasn't just hitting the ring, he was hitting the Tracksuit Tsar with what appeared to be a police baton, and for the first time in about 20 odd minutes Pyotr Caviar looked human.  Ootsuka tuned him up like a piano while the crowd roared the approval, and it might've continued until he beat Pyotr from a solid into a vapor if it hadn't been for Serge Batroc hitting him from behind.

Then there were several hits - the loafer of Ootsuka catching Serge in the baguettes, and then the baton of Ootsuka trying to turn Serge into pulp just like he'd done to a still fallen Pyotr.  It seemed like this joy could've continued until 2024 but everyone got jolted back to reality by the bell ringing.  The referee looked apologetic but she passed along word to Duck, who had to tell everyone else.  

Due to outside interference, Team Batroc were still the Unified World Tag Team champions. No one was saying Boo-urns after that, and some bullshit chants could be heard under the nega ovation. High quality TV match until the end, though.  *** ½   

| • Team Batroc [c] ddq. the Proper Villains (w/Katsuji Ootsuka) to retain the Unified World Tag Team championships • | 

Ootsuka and the referee had a bit of a back and forth for a few testy moments before the Prince of Punishment threw his hands up in the air and went to check on his partners.  As Team Batroc was barely beginning to stir, with their belts on their stomachs, Katsuji first went to Richard and then Jim to make sure they were in better shape than they had been.  The Villains were both talking to Katsuji as the credits box came up, and whatever Ootsuka said to them landed far better with Richard than with Jim.  By the time we faded to black it looked like Jim was going to go after Ootsuka of all people, but Richard pointed out the beaten down champions and sort of tried to play peacemaker between his stablemates.  Prince and Proper problems aside, see you next Friday night when QCW continues to bring the Ruckus!