“Explosive” Emily Bennett and Hilary Highnote d. “Sinister” Sarah Fowler and Midsomar
Mean Season d. The Sound of Thunder
Pyotr Caviar & Karyn Tisch-Warren (w/Serge Batroc) d. Ashok Banjerjee & Justice Davis
“Tiki God” Al Buffett (w/Ashley “THEE Influencer” Szabo) d. “Dashing” Pierce Moore (w/the Culture)
Quality Arena | Parts Unknown, FL
Aired live on GRPL+ | May 17th, 2024
Ruckus didn't start off with the usual open but with Steve Vandeblanche and Carl Christensen standing between their announce table and the ring. Steve mentioned that tonight's main event was supposed to be QCW National Champion Witchfinder General and Goody Gardner against QCW Women's World champion Lolo Vuitton and Ashley “THEE Influencer” Szabo - but hours ago, this happened:
We cut to the parking lot of Quality Arena on a fan's phone as Mean Season signed some autographs and chatted amongst the faithful before some of them had the opposite of the reaction of their favorites chatting them up. Some fans ran down behind the barricade to get better pictures and/or video of what they were seeing: Lolo Vuitton getting beat down and eventually thrown through a car windshield, but not by Witchfinder or Goody.
For the culprits were a little bit Karyn Tisch-Warren but mostly who put her through the windshield: Sohla Patel. Sohla smack talked Lolo’s limp body as Commissioner Holmes and Quality Force security came out from the building and swarmed the scene.
It turned out all that was playing on the Qualitron 9004 live in the Arena, as well as the aftermath of an unconscious Lolo getting loaded into an ambulance that sped away from the Arena. Holmes read International Lotus the riot act as you might expect and told both Sohla and Scott Warren-Tisch they just earned themselves at least a week’s suspension. He then wheeled on Karyn, saying she was only able to dodge that because four people were going to be going after her in the Golden Gauntlet…and depending on how that went she might find herself next to her friends on the couch sooner rather than later. After putting her on notice, Holmes stomped back to the Arena with security in tow; Scott and Sohla complained about their fates while Karyn death stared the back of his head before breaking out in an evil grin.
Back live, Steve told us and the Quality Controllers that Witchfinder and Goody would face off in the main event against Ashley THEE Influencer and a partner of her choosing per the Commissioner - and it can't be her usual biceps buddy Tiki God since he is one of the four wrestlers Karyn will see in the Golden Gauntlet match as we get closer to crowning a new World Television champion.
Steve then asked the crowd to give it up for the greatest ring announcer in QCW history, Duck Eko, who after applause took the mic from Steve and hit the ring. He asked the faithful if they were ready for some Quality Championship Wrestling, then announced the evening's opening contest (scheduled for one fall) would be a street fight!
And just like that, we were off to the races.
1. Crusazdo del Oro v. Super Avión in a street fight
Sometimes tag teams stay together forever; this isn't one of those times. After he and Crusazdo didn't find much success as a team, Avión turned heel and he and Oro have been at each other's throats since.
Even with them trading wins and punches for weeks, it was still a bit of a surprise when Crusazdo jumped Avión from behind and sent him into the barricade a couple of times before the bell even rang. Avión delivered a double thrust chop to Oro’s throat but when Crusazdo came after him Avión rolled out of the ring. His peace and quiet lasted for seconds until Oro drilled him with a tope suicida that sent him flying backwards over the announce table and almost in Steve and Carl’s laps.
Crusazdo continued rolling on from there, using everything from a kendo stick to a garbage can to put welts all over his ex partner while the crowd cheered him on. Eventually a couple of tables found their way into the mix and after whaling on Avión with cookie sheet after cookie sheet until they were unrecognizable, Oro laid Avión out on the tables and went up top before delivering his signature phoenix splash.
But Avión rolled off at the last second, leaving Oro to eat wood to the groans and horrified gasps of the audience. That bought Avión enough recovery time to roll out of the ring again, but this time he did so to arm himself with a chair. He slid it into the ring and followed; Oro barely had time to get to his feet before Avión threw the chair at him. Crusazdo was still adept enough to catch the chair but he couldn't stop Avión from superkicking it into his face. Avión grabbed him by the mask afterwards and had some choice words for him in Spanish before laying into him multiple times with the chair until after a particularly deep swing, the seat broke off and went flying to the outside.
That chair enhanced beatdown put Avión in the lead, but he secured it by flooring Crusazdo with the top chunk of the steps and hitting him in the ribs with them a couple times before dragging Oro’s mostly limp body to the top rope. Avión scowled at the crowd before taking both him and Oro off the top with Air Superiority - Avión crashing into the mat hard with his ribs, but still driving Crusazdo into the steps back first with the Spanish Fly. Avión crawled over and dragged Oro off the steps before flopping on for the cover that secured him the victory.
Super Avión d. Crusazdo del Oro in a street fight at 11:04
We got replays of the biggest moments from the street fight culminating in the avalanche Spanish Fly into the steps. When we went back to live action, we saw the referee putting themselves between the smack talking Avión and the still downed Crusazdo. Avión limped slightly as he headed to the back, but he kept his fist in the air in triumph as he did.
After that, we saw someone sitting in a dark room, and while they blocked some of the screen you could tell they were rewatching the end of Mayday Payday when Omar Littlefield cashed in to win the Unified World title. A panning out revealed that Beckett Carpenter was the one watching and rewatching their loss. Ashley “THEE Influencer” Szabo’s face popped up next to her friends’ and told them not to dwell on it. “Tiki God” Al Buffett’s face popped up on the other side of Carpenter’s and said he’d taken Ls and lost championships before. But here he was still plugging away, still running down titles. And he hadn't changed the game on the level that Mirror had. They could - and Carpenter held up their index finger before excusing themselves to go to the bathroom and left Al and Ashley exchanging worried looks.
“Do you know what to do? ‘Cause I got nothin’.”
On that cheery note, we headed back to the ring for some tag action.
2. “Explosive” Emily Bennett & Hilary Highnote v. “Sinister” Sarah Fowler & Midsomar
Big spotlight for multiple members of the women's division with the babyfaces having slightly higher profiles and Bennett, I believe, still looking for her first win on Ruckus since joining QCW last year.
It looked like she was going to notch that first win on Ruckus over longtime rival Fowler when the lights went out; when they came back on the same four women who’ve returned (?) to QCW and have interrupted matches the last two shows and ruined the lumberjill Crush championship match at Mayday Payday were beating the crap out of all four of them.
“Explosive” Emily Bennett and Hilary Highnote fought “Sinister” Sarah Fowler and Veronica to a no contest at 8:52
Bonnie Agrippa, Nancy Crowley, Justine Danek and Bella Jolie took down faces and heels alike for a few beats until Quality Force security came out from the back. Right before they made it to the ring, Agrippa snapped her fingers and the lights went out again. When they came back up, the four of them were gone and QFS was surrounding the fallen four women who were in the match.
From that scene of destruction we jumped TOTHEBACK~! where Enya Face brought on her guests - the Ambassadors Trios champions the Culture.
Out strolled “These Hands” Roy Fade, “Dashing” Pierce Moore and the Crush champion Shelley LaVey to a somewhat mixed reaction from the Quality Controllers. Enya plugged their elimination match against looooongtime rivals Fiona Fogg and the Proper Villains later on tonight. Moore said that tonight would see them finally beat the Villains and put them in their rearview mirror so that they could get the Saint Laurents of the division - the Unified World Tag Team belts. The International Players were talking about getting the belts last week but if anyone was getting even more gold around here, it's the Ambassadors of QCW. There was no way that they were going to get passed up when it came to the World Tag titles.
Enya pivoted and talked to Shelley, saying that we just saw her ex partner and some other familiar looking women just swarm on a match, the same way her title defense at Mayday Payday was. It seemed that her ex partner Bonnie Agrippa was the one leading these attacks - did LaVey know anything about them or why they were suddenly happening?
Shelley said she didn't have a clue why they were back and raising hell but she knew there was only one double champion in QCW and wouldn't you know it, Enya was lucky enough to be interviewing her. Her and her squad were already world champions of swag and champions of the world, so if they had to eliminate the competition to become the Unified champs you better believe it was on sight. And as for Nancy…as for Nancy…Shelley looked off in the distance and shook her head a couple times before saying she was ready either way and walking off set. Beauty and the Beast Mode followed her off and we hit a commercial break.
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3. Ashok Banjerjee v. “Tiki God” Al Buffett v. Pyotr Caviar v. Justice Davis v. Karyn Tisch-Warren in a Golden Gauntlet frantic five way match
Before the match we got a video package recapping the announcement of the Golden Gauntlet last week to find a new World Television champion and Ashok eliminating “Dashing” Pierce Moore in last week's main event.
As Al got the match started against a steely eyed Karyn, Carl talked about how rare the style of the Gauntlet was and trying to square the circle of wanting to compete and stack momentum vs. eating the pin and being eliminated. Buffett and Tisch-Warren had a tight back and forth rollup exchange that ended with Al bridging up and out of a two count before spinning Karyn around and planting her with a uranagi while the other 3 competitors looked on. Once he got the upper hand, Tiki God used his power advantage to take it to the former multi time Women's World champion. Buffett even used the notorious KTW as a borderline weight and did some reps with her before delivering a press slam. Unfortunately for Al, when he tried to repeat the move a couple of minutes later a desperate Karyn raked his eyes and scrambled away from Al and scurried to a corner to avoid further damage.
At that point, Pyotr Caviar reached over and tagged himself in, and the crowd oohed because the resident Russian bear was going to face off against one of the few men on the roster who might be able to match his strength. Buffett wasted no time in going after Caviar, throwing a flurry of kicks and forearms at Pyotr once he stepped to fight him. But all it took was Pyotr ducking a springboard crossbody attempt to turn the tides, and Pyotr added injury to injury by drilling Al with a one armed spinebuster that almost won him the match. Al managed a kick out, but that opened the door for Caviar to work over the back and ribs of Buffett with heavy club-like blows.
Al tried to get out from under the attack but Pyotr changed gears and got Al in a sleeper, putting Al at the same kind of disadvantage he’d put on Karyn to start the match. Al started to fade but kept fighting, causing Caviar to change holds into a cravate. As the crowd chanted for him, Al used his knuckles before slowly rising off the canvas and pulling himself up before managing to lift the massive Caviar and drop him with a falling back suplex. This put both men down on the canvas for nearly a 10 count but they both staggered up around 8 with Pyotr a half step ahead of Al. Caviar did manage to duck a Russian sickle, but Caviar took the miss and used it for momentum to propel himself off the ropes into an eclipse disguising itself as a running crossbody.
For the first time in recent memory (maybe ever), Caviar's signature running crossbody was caught. The crowd popped huge as Al cut it off at the pass and strained lifting Caviar before dumping him with a fallaway slam that got the pop of the show; Caviar went rolling on the mat as Al slowly pulled himself up while reaching at his back.
Behind said back, Justice Davis looked at Al then looked at Caviar before tagging himself in. Al had barely gotten back to his feet before JD spun him around and hit him with the Davis Driver; a mixed reaction rippled through the crowd and only got even louder when the 3 count came down.
Justice Davis d. Al Buffett at 15:46 to eliminate him from the Golden Gauntlet
Replays fired off and a chyron popped up shrinking the picture of Al and turning it black and white to match Pierce’s. Back live, Justice got his hand raised. Announce sold JD as making a smart play
“Ode To Joy” brought out ”Upper Class” Broderick Palmer II who uncharacteristically had a steel chair under his arm. He got the mic from Duck, got in the ring and sat down in the chair before saying as much as he loved Beethoven he was requesting it could be silenced so that he could address a major injustice plaguing the world today.
Once the music was cut off, Palmer II said that he should be sitting here as a Unified World Tag Team champion but since he wasn't due to executive overreach it unfortunately left him with no option but to hold up the show until he found redress for his tag partner; simply put for the jackanapes in attendance, he wanted justice for his partner Evan and wouldn't be leaving the ring until he got it.
A few beats went by while the announce vamped, saying he was holding up the show and the elimination tag scheduled up next. Referees started to come out from the back and tried to get him out of the ring but he wouldn't budge; after about a minute and change of this Steve threw to commercial in the hopes they could get this resolved and come back with more Ruckus.
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But that wasn't the case as we came back; using the chair as a line of defense Palmer II was swinging at referees and the Quality Force security who’d come out as well and yelled out that he wasn't ceding the high ground to them until his complaints were addressed and resolved.
His protest was cut off by “Thank God I'm A Country Boy”, which brought out “Swamp Pride* Ted Holland and Robert E. Moonshine to a decent bit of applause from the fans. Ted had a mic and said this wasn't some evening news BS but QCW Friday Night Ruckus and what he and these people wanted was rasslin', not yappin’. And if he wouldn't get out of the ring, they could go down and get him out themselves.
The crowd cheered while Palmer II scoffed before pointing the chair at Robert and Ted. Unbothered, they headed down the ramp and got halfway down before another voice interrupted the scene.
S. Mark Starr came out with his client Jacques Krieger and introduced himself as QCW’s resident fixer; here was clearly a situation that needed fixing. Starr asked the refs and security to stand down, saying that if the wild eyed Southern boys wanted to rassle he had a client looking to show why he’d be a champion again soon. If Mr. Palmer II was amenable to it, he could have Jacques as a partner and the show could keep going. And if he wanted to get justice for his former partner, why, Starr would join his cause and even take it on pro bono for the time being.
Palmer II thought about it for a bit before accepting, the babyfaces were raring to go, and Starr’s grin could be seen from the fourth row (maybe the fifth).
4. “Swamp Pride” Ted Holland and Robert E. Moonshine v. Jacques Krieger and “Upper Class” Broderick Palmer II (w/S. Mark Starr)
At first, Broderick was able to get an Upper Class upper hand on Moonshine and put Robert E. on the receiving end of his offense. Things took a turn when Ted managed to blind tag himself in and help turn the tide as they hit a double flapjack to finally slow down Broderick. The babyfaces took over the next few minutes of the match while Starr paced the floor and tried to coach him up. Somehow, it worked – Palmer II managed to reverse a double team when he switched spots and as a result Moonshine accidentally ended up missile dropkicking Holland. Robert was horrified, which gave BP2 an opportunity to crawl for his corner and tag in Krieger.
Krieger, the biggest man in the fight used his power to knock the white hats off balance for the rest of the match. Jacques’ bully ball helped bail “Upper Class” out as he dropped Moonshine with the Jacqueshammer, but before he could make a cover Palmer II asked to be tagged in. Jacques mulled it over then made the tag; BP2 went up top and flew off with a familiar looking senton elbow drop and went to end the match. Holland came in for the save but ate the business end of a heart punch from Krieger and went down in a heap as the baddies prevailed.
Jacques Krieger & Broderick Palmer II d. Ted Holland & Robert E. Moonshine at 8:08
After replays, Starr grabbed the mic from Duck and cut another promo, saying that Broderick needed help and tied it into QCW regularly disrespecting the people who deserved to be worshiped the most, especially former champions. He was reminding everyone in the back that he was offering a late pass to join his client roster and for the low price of 15% they could ride the express lane to gold and glory in QCW. There would be #JusticeForEvan by the time he got done looking into this, mark his words - and he and anyone smart enough to join him would shine as the brightest starrs, Mark his words. “Hated” came on over the PA as Starr and Krieger took their leave while Broderick watched them depart clearly intrigued by the offer.
5. The Culture v. Fiona Fogg and the Proper Villains in an elimination match
Draped in gold, the Culture came out to mostly boos though you can see them starting to get an undercurrent of the cool heel pop just off of swagger alone. Fogg and the Villains came out together and stayed at the top of the ramp for a few beats before all three of them ran down the ramp and charged the ring. To the shock of no one and the joy of the crowd a Pier 6 broke out with fists flying all over the ring.
Things took a couple of minutes to shake out but the Brits took the upper hand, quickly tagging each other in and out with it becoming obvious that Jim Jaspers was leading the team. While Fiona got in some licks the early moments looked like a Beauty and the Beast Mode/Proper Villains tag more often than not. Things took a turn when Shelley LaVey helped pull Pierce Moore out of a Villains double suplex attempt that gave him a window to lay out both men with a double version of his Fresh To Death cutter. Moore quickly tagged in “These Hands” Roy Fade, who drilled the staggered “Proper King” Richard Windsor with the Decision and a three count later, the Culture had swung the pendulum of the match in their favor.
Roy Fade eliminated Richard Windsor; the Culture lead 3-2.
Jim Jaspers wasted little time in going after Roy Fade and duffing him up in a neutral corner with European uppercuts before Fade reversed and worked Old Jim over with body blows from his Golden Glove winning hands. As they stood midring exchanging Yay/Boo strikes, Ruckus went to the last commercial break of the evening (of course, if you had the app membership you got the live, uncensored action).
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Back from the break where Jaspers ducked a Fade rolling back elbow and landed a hard kick to the chest to send Fade into the corner. Jaspers went for a corner splash but Fade got both boots up to stop “the Fury” in his tracks. Fade quickly dropped his kneepad and flew out of the corner to hit another Decision but Jaspers landed a crisp PK to the exposed knee to send Fade sprawling to the mat. It was Jaspers’ turn to lower his kneepad before he jumped up and drilled Fade with Fury Road and this time when Roy ate the canvas, he stayed down for 3.
Jim Jaspers eliminated Roy Fade to tie the match at 2.
Moore wasted little time in jumping Jim from behind, raining down forearms up and down Jim’s back from both sides of the plate. Jaspers managed to get some separation and shove the Duke of Dashing away but when he went for a European uppercut Moore not only dodged it but threw Jim into the ringpost so hard shoulder first that the Brit almost fell out of the ring off of the impact. Moore strutted for a little bit and hit his pose before lying in wait. Jaspers staggered backwards towards Moore, who spun him around for the Fresh To Death - but Jaspers blocked and dumped Moore with a half nelson suplex out of the Windsor playbook. That suplex shifted the momentum and his hitting Moore with a second one seemed to cement it but Moore wobbily got to his feet and seemed to be trying to power through the pain.
No one might've been more surprised than Moore when Jaspers hit him with his own Fresh To Death, and by surprised I meant flattened. The crowd popped huge as Moore fell victim to his own move and Jaspers quickly followed it up with a trip to Fury Road that put out Pierce's lights.
Jim Jaspers eliminated Pierce Moore to give his squad a 2-1 lead.
That left Crush champion Shelley LaVey as the last member of the Culture and facing a deficit against both Jaspers and Fogg. Showing no fear, Shelley stood ten toes down and landed some forearms with force behind them. Her flurry ended when Jaspers cut her off with a short range knee to the guts then almost took her head off with a pop up European uppercut that LaVey barely survived, kicking out at 2 ¾. LaVey managed a couple more narrow kick outs before getting launched across the ring with an overhead belly to belly suplex. Old Jim raised his kneepad only to lower it again, but that gave Shelley time to roll out to the ring apron and use the ropes to pull herself back up. Jim saw her getting vertical and charged her but Shelley suddenly shot out and landed a gamengiri that staggered Jim. Jaspers was left holding his jaw as LaVey suddenly pivoted and shoved Fogg into the ringpost to send her to the floor. Shelley saw Jim advancing towards her and not only slingshot into the ring but dropped him with a Fresh To Death cutter on the way down to pop the crowd - those who weren't speechless from the shock of the move. Old Jim folded like a K/2 offsuit while Shelley fired herself up and stalked Jasspers. LaVey hit Moore’s pose and then dropped “the Fury” with a standard Fresh To Death before heading up to the high rent district and delivering the Fallen Angel splash. Jaspers was down for the count, and then there were two.
Shelley LaVey eliminated Jim Jaspers to tie the match at 1.
This left the ladies to decide the outcome of the match. Fogg stepped into the ring and got in Cindy’s face, causing LaVey to chirp right back. (I could read their lips, and they were not praying.) Chirping turned into slaps, and the pair of slaps kicked off a hockey fight that popped the Quality Controllers huge. Fogg backed up LaVey with a series of European uppercuts but when she ran for the ropes Shelley followed her in and Cactus clotheslined them both out of the ring. LaVey quickly pulled herself up to the apron and steadied herself before running down the apron and crashing into Fogg with a variant on the Fallen Angel splash. LaVey stood on the stairs and let out a triumphant scream while Fogg tried to recover. Shelley got back in the ring and while Fiona made it back in right before the referee’s count hit 7 the damage had clearly been done. Shelley spent the last few minutes of the trios fight beating the remaining fight out of Fiona before closing things out with her signature Fresh To Death/Fallen Angel 2 piece that signified a comeback win for her squad.
The Culture d. Fiona Fogg and the Proper Villains at 20:28; sole winner was Crush champion Shelley LaVey
Long recap package to mark the highlights and show off the eliminations; after that, we saw Cindy with her Crush championship over her shoulder slowly make her way up the ramp just as the QualiTron 9004 parted and Beauty and the Beast Mode came out to put Shelley on their shoulders and show her off to the crowd, walking to both sides of the ramp. Even the announce couldn’t deny the positive reaction the Culture were getting and were in the middle of praising Shelley for pulling off the comeback when the lights suddenly went out.
When they came back on, four familiar looking women were standing in the ring looking up at the ramp - including Shelley’s former tag team partner Bonnie Agrippa. Bonnie had a slow smile and a golf clap presumably for her former bestie; then her three “associates” all swarmed and beat on the already laid out Fogg while that happened. Quality Force security started coming from the back as Pierce and Roy let Shelley down from off their shoulders, but as security started hitting the ring the lights went out again - and again, the interlopers were gone like a thief in the night when they came back on. The announce, like the Culture, had no idea why these women were reappearing and dealing out beatdowns, but one thing had been clear since Mayday Payday – they, like the rest of the division, were keeping close tabs on the sole survivor and Crush champion Shelley LaVey.
Steve switched gears to talk about next week's QCW TV. It’ll have some high Quality action: Unleashed will have “Tiki God” Al Buffett vs. “Dashing” Pierce Moore as well as the people still in the Golden Gauntlet facing off in a tag match with Ashok Banjerjee and Justice Davis going up against Pyotr Caviar and Karyn Tisch-Warren.
Next week's RUCKUS won't only have the quarterfinals of the Golden Gauntlet, but two title matches: Shelley LaVey will continue to march towards 10 with another Crush championship defense, And per his own request, Omar Littlefield will make his first defense of the Unified World championship in an open challenge to dare anybody on the roster to try and stop him. Does the possibility of getting hospitalized outweigh the Fifteen Pounds of Gold?
And speaking of eternal glory, unfortunately the QCW National Champion Witchfinder General came out for the main event tag alongside his apostle Goody Gardner who was toting the Duquesne Cup she helped him win last month. The crowd's booing was almost as loud as “Shall We Gather At the River?” but nowhere near the level of the look of disgust on both of their faces.
The tenor in the Arena flipped when Muse hit the PA and brought out Ashley “THEE Influencer” Szabo to a big pop. The Duquesne runner up went to both sides of the ramp to fire up the faithful even more before gesturing for someone to come out from the back.
Who ended up joining Szabo was longtime friend if not outright mentor “Dark Mirror” Beckett Carpenter who followed a couple of steps behind THEE Influencer as Ashley power walked down the ramp. By contrast to Witchfinder and Goody’s almost blindingly white gear, the newest member of QCW's Triple Crown Club was dressed in all black like the Omen. As tended to happen when the Game Changers were a trio, Ashley stood on the apron while Beckett stood unmoving near the center of the ring. Upon seeing this, Witchfinder told Goody he’d be starting things off for them.
6. Witchfinder General and Goody Gardner v. Ashley “THEE Influencer” Szabo and a Mystery Partner
The opening moments were surprisingly in favor of Team Jesus early on; Carpenter looked like they were sort of listless in their first match since losing the Unified World championship while Witchfinder looked every bit worthy of the Cup. Carpenter tried reversing a move into a short arm clothesline but WG essentially shrugged it off before dropping Mirror with a big boot. Goody was practically frothing at the mouth to get in the match and General tagged her in before leaving the ring.
The opponent changed but Carpenter's listlessness and luck didn't; as the Quality Controllers got deflated and then increasingly concerned, Gardner brought the fight to Mirror while the announce suggested her listening to Witchfinder's sermons was the source of her aggressive nature between the ropes. Despite being roughly Mirror’s size she maintained control and even got Carpenter in the Tree of Woe before laying in short range shoulder blocks to the gut and putting an exclamation point on the Tree by basement dropkicking them out of it.
The heels continued dominating much to Ashley's exasperation as they drove Mirror’s power meter into the red before seemingly emptying it entirely. Goody demanded to be tagged back in and whispered something to Witchfinder before he agreed. They each grabbed an arm and a leg of Beckett's before tossing them sky high and letting them splat into the mat with a harsh clatter. Goody went in for the cover but Ashley put a stop to that noise by drilling GG with an enzui version of a Meteora that drove Gardner face first to the canvas. Witchfinder came in illegally to land some shots but Szabo stomped his foot to give her the opening she needed to give him a Codebreaker that sent him falling between the middle and bottom rope to the floor.
Ashley dragged Beckett over to their corner and tagged in; Goody got up just in time to eat a Codebreaker of her own even though she managed to kick out at 2 ½ after it. But it was one way traffic for Ashley, who worked over Gardner like a speed bag. Szabo showed off why she was so close to hoisting the Cup as she unloaded her offensive arsenal on Goody, using a press power slam to put the apostle in position to eat a Smash That Subscribe Button from the top rope. Witchfinder couldn't stop the avalanche fistdrop from connecting, but he could've broken up the count. Instead he dropped back down to the floor, shaking his head as the three count came down.
Beckett Carpenter and Ashley Szabo d. Witchfinder General and Goody Gardner at 19:48
We got replays of the heels’ early domination as well as Ashley running roughshod at the end to save the day. Back live, Witchfinder demanded his championship from the timekeeper while behind him, Ashley celebrated the hard earned win on the second rope. She didn't see that behind her, Beckett was on the floor shaking their head sadly before making the walk up the ramp away from thee celebration. As Carpenter parted the Tron without a look back, the credits box came up with our last scenes being General focused on his title and his Cup - and Ashley turning her attention from the crowd to him and his filthy largesse.
Quality Arena | Parts Unknown, FL
Aired live on GRPL+ | May 10th, 2024
The show started with a video package recapping everything that went down on the main card this past Sunday at Mayday Payday.
We saw religious fundamentalists Witchfinder General and Goody Gardener beat the Game Changers in intergender tag action - four ghosts from the past of the women's division ruining the lumberjill Crush championship match by laying out not only the women on the outside but Luz Cruz and Shelley LaVey as well - Ashok Banjerjee actually making Omar Littlefield bleed in the Quality Choice steel cage match for the G+ World TV title before Omar got his revenge and then some, pinning a bloodied Ashok and making the ref count to 5 followed by Ashok getting stretchered out of the Cow Palace while Omar mocked him
Lolo Vuitton overcoming International Lotus interference to get the upper hand and beat Sohla Patel to kick off her third reign as Women's World champion - the main event of “Dark Mirror” Beckett Carpenter, Nazir el-Fadal and the Champ Autumn Powers in a triple threat for the Unified World championship being an instant classic with all 3 borrowing liberally from each other's playbooks in addition to their own (Mirror hitting Nazquil on Naz, Naz drilling Carpenter with hammer and anvil elbows only to get spun around and eat a WMDDT from Autumn, Mirror hitting Powers with a Hazy Shade of Autumn down the stretch) - Naz going for his own Hazy Shade while Mirror had Powers in Look Inward only for the One Man Jihad to whiff when Beckett ducked and send himself flying into the ropes before hitting the floor - the referee checking Autumn's arm and finding it limp before calling for the bell; Mirror celebrating winning the Unified World championship and becoming the newest member of QCW’s Triple Crown club [Jupiter, Naz, Razorblade] while the Game Changers came out in support of their friend and the confetti fell…
🎶 This kind of music, use it, and you get amped to do sh-sh-sh… 🎶
Their celebration coming to a quick end as Omar came back out to cash in the World TV title for a shot at the Unified World title, laying out the Game Changers before the referee could even ring the bell then dominating an exhausted Carpenter (shades of his PPV debut) before laying them out with the Face Eraser to win the top prize in QCW while a bunch of fans were looking on in shock and/or sadness…and that was before Omar lifted the 15 Pounds of Gold and threw them repeatedly into the steel steps (the video stopped at Omar mid throw, though you could hear the crowd's screams while the screen was all black).
The screen stayed black for a bit before an updated version of the opening stinger rolled, closing with newly minted World champions Lolo Vuitton and Omar Littlefield before we zoomed into a sold out Quality Arena for all the fallout from Mayday Payday. Steve Vandeblanche and Carl Christensen barely welcomed us to Ruckus before they got cut off by a Kendrick Lamar song. No, not that one. Not that one, either. Not even that one, but one of his hits from a few years back: “King Kunta”.
The crowd reaction was confusion until a hulking presence parted the Qualitron 9004 and the tenor inside the Arena shifted dramatically. As Duck Eko asked us to please welcome the new Unified World champion Omar Littlefield we could see the 15 Pounds of Gold hanging around his neck with a chunk of it missing after what he did to it on Sunday.
The Quality Controllers kept booing right up until Omar barked at them to shut the hell up before he went out there and hurt somebody. That quieted the crowd and in their absence of noise Omar talked.
He said he showed up barely six months ago and he was already QCW’s measuring stick. Duffing up the Game Changers wasn't nuthin’, being the greatest TV champion of all time was a layup, and ruining all their fun Sunday night by cashing in to get a newer, bigger, better chain just proved that QCW was his to run as he saw fit. If he felt like sending Banjerjee to the hospital, he’d do it - if he felt like breaking Mirror again to prove how easy it was for him to own this place in barely half a year, he’d do it - and if he wanted to put a scar on his title to match the one he's giving QCW then he would. Hell, if he wanted to smash this thing into tiny little pieces and cut his steak with them, he would. Because GRPL+ didn't run QCW, and Holmes didn't either - The Champ did, and he was The Champ. And now that he was The Champ, QCW and the entire world would see exactly what winning ugly truly meant.
Omar tossed aside the mic and headed to the back but as the announce team was putting over his dominant rookie year the Offspring took over the PA from Kendrick and the crowd finally had reason to cheer.
Autumn Powers came out for the show’s opener but right behind her came Quality Force security and most of if not all the other referees on the payroll. Autumn had some words for Omar since there was an ad hoc human wall between them but he just scoffed at her and slapped his (formerly her) World title while continuing to head to the back. Autumn seemed pretty pissed that she couldn't go after Omar and stomped down to the ring with venom in her eyes.
1. Hawk Carter v. Autumn Powers
Autumn is going to be a unanimous first ballot QCW Hall of Famer when the time comes and at present Hawk is just a dude. The former Unified World champion took Hawk’s legs out from under, laid in a few shots and then took him off the board with an enzuigiri Hazy Shade and the standard one to notch a dub quicker than you can cook an egg.
Autumn Powers d. Hawk Carter at 2:18
Replays showed off a big chunk of the match and when we came back to live Julius Duquesne III was on the ramp to interview Autumn post squash, but she just blew by him like he wasn't there and continued to the back. Announce attributed Powers' unusually salty mood to focus after losing the belt on Sunday and noted she had a rematch coming to her for the Fifteen Pounds of Gold.
Before our first commercial break we got an injury update on Mason “Razorblade” Savage, who suffered a sprained ankle and dislocated elbow and would be out for an undetermined amount of time (this is probably why the roster has one fewer member than it did a week ago). Steve promised an update on the Unified World Tag Team championships situation after the next match on the show.
As we went to break we saw “Swamp Pride” Ted Holland warming up in his locker room while Robert E. Moonshine talked him up; elsewhere Super Avión was slipping into his black and blue cape. They're up next.
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2. “Swamp Pride” Ted Holland v. Super Avion
Ted got off to a hot start bolstered by the Quality Controllers rooting him on. Holland took it to the luchadore, who ended up rolling to the floor after eating a floatover DDT from the Floridian. Holland went for a dive but Avión pulled back the ropes and snapped them in Ted’s face to send him sprawling back into the ring. Avión then spent the better part of a minute stomping away on the downed Swamp Pride until Holland rolled out of the ring. Ted got his eyes clear just in time to eat a slingshot huracanrana that sent him flying into the ringpost. The rest of the match was Avión's to lose and he didn't come close to that happening, putting away poor Ted with Air Superiority a few minutes later.
Super Avion d. Ted Holland at 7:44
After replays and getting his hand raised, Avión walked over to a corner camera and said so far he as he was concerned, it was still hunting season so that meant Crusazdo was going to find out it was a long fall down off of his high horse.
Back to ringside, where Steve updated us to the Unified World Tag Team championships situation. With Razorblade knocked out of action for a decent amount of time it was deemed necessary to declare them vacated. Steve said they hoped to have an update soon on how new champions would be crowned before throwing things up to Duck Eko in the ring to make the introductions for the Crush championship match…
3. Shelley LaVey [c] v. Hilary Highnote for the Crush championship
Shelley came out with the rest of the Culture but told them at the top of the ramp that she had this and didn't need them; famous last words.
A hungry Highnote threw everything at the champion and not only put her on the back foot early but kept things that way for about ⅔rds of the match. The crowd got increasingly behind Hilary stringing together her offensive arsenal while Shelley couldn't get out from under, the announce speculating the recent Luz Cruz matches Shelley survived might have opened the door for Hilary to pull the upset. Hilary stayed on the offensive until a desperate LaVey gouged her eyes and lashed out by hitting the Fresh To Death cutter. With Hilary down Shelley went up and went for the Fallen Angel splash but Highnote not only cut her off but took her down with a superplex that left them both splayed out.
Hilary started to get up right when the lights went out in Quality Arena. When they popped back on, Shelley LaVey was the one standing, Hilary was down - and the ring was surrounded by Bonnie Agrippa (Shelley's former tag partner), Nancy Crowley (former teammate of Agrippa and LaVey in the Forbidden Book Club), Justine Danek and Bella Jolie who all had evil grins on their faces. Steve pointed out on Unleashed they'd ruined Hilary’s match and at Mayday Payday last Sunday they’d taken out most of the women's division and ruined Shelley's lumberjill title defense.
They circled the ring while the ref came to and Shelley's gaze went between them and the laid out Highnote. Shelley kept looking at Bonnie for a bit, then hesitantly covered Hilary. The ref crawled into position and made the count while the crowd booed the gift the…ex(?) QCWers had given Shelley.
Shelley LaVey d. Hilary Highnote at 9:08 to retain the Crush championship 6️⃣
They all hopped up on the apron as Shelley got her belt back from the recovering referee, but LaVey started to almost pirouette around the ring as she turned to face all four of them at different points. A buzz started in the crowd and grew into a mixed reaction as Beauty and the Beast Mode came from the back and slid into the ring to back up their teammate. Bonnie nodded as they took up positions around the confused LaVey and got into their ready positions; the crowd and the announce both seemed confused.
Agrippa did the eyes point to Shelley, and then snapped her fingers. The lights went out again, and when they came back up the Culture were standing in a ring that had no one on the apron. Shelley, Roy Fade and Pierce Moore looked around but the women had seemingly disappeared in a Forbidden but familiar way.
Steve and Carl tried to figure out what the hell just happened all the way up to the break but outside of Shelley retaining her title they didn't have the answers. Who did? Because outside of four possible possibilities, it seemed no one did.
More Ruckus after the break.
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We came back to Ruckus with Steve and Carl in a rare spot: in the ring, addressing the crowd. They mentioned that Mayday Payday, in addition to being a great show, caused seismic change in QCW’s title scenes. The Unified World championship changed hands twice in under 10 minutes, the chaotic last second street fight led to a firing and the Unified World Tag Team belts being held up as they mentioned earlier, and we are about to see the new/once again Women's World Champion Lolo Vuitton in action up next.
While they don't know what will happen w/r/t the Unified World Tag Team belts, tonight's main event will start QCW down the road to crowning a new World TV champ. It's happened a couple times before in the modern era, but things will begin with a pool of six contenders and over the next month and a half of Ruckuses one will be eliminated every week until the last survivor becomes the new World Television champion! Crowd liked the sound of that.
As a result of the tag titles match, Mason “Razorblade” Savage was out with an injury; his partner Justice Davis would be taking his place as one of the six participants.
The other five spots would be taken up by several people who nearly walked out of the Duquesne Classic with the Cup. While he wasn't 100% after Payday, Ashok Banjerjee was in the field. “Tiki God” Al Buffett from the Game Changers would be joining him. (Both men got good pops from the Quality Controllers.)
The other half of the field would include Team Batroc’s Pyotr Caviar, “Dashing” Pierce Moore from the Culture, and representing International Lotus - Karyn Tisch-Warren. Every week, whoever took the loss would be eliminated from the Golden Gauntlet and whoever came out of it would have earned their first reign as World TV champion!
4. Goody Gardner v. Lolo Vuitton in a non-title open challenge
Lolo won the Women's World championship for a third time at Mayday Payday and in lieu of a celebration opted to jump on Quality Social to issue a non-title open challenge to the division. Somehow Witchfinder General jumped ahead of everyone, saying that his acolyte Goody would provide a more sterling example at the top of the women's division.
That may have been what the newly minted QCW National Champion WG thought was going to happen but what did happen was Lolo showing off why she was a 3x Women's World champ. Gardner tried to turn things into a brawl early but couldn't hang with Lolo in that environment and win out at it.
The last few minutes were all Vuitton as she locked dominant and on her way to a Bloody Shoe when Gardner went to the floor rather than eat the Yakuza kick, then stayed there and willingly ate the countout loss as the referee counted to 10 and Cindy looked on incredulously.
Lolo Vuitton d. Goody Gardner via countout at 11:59
Goody dismissively threw her hands up at Lolo – right before she got blindsided by Ashley “THEE Influencer” Szabo from the Game Changers. The crowd popped as Ashley threw hands at Goody; the announce noted they were picking up where they left off from on Sunday night and the finals of the Duquesne Classic. As Goody started throwing her own shots at Ashley, suddenly in the ring Lolo was getting spun around and getting laid out courtesy of Witchfinder General and his signature move: Repent.
Ashley threw Goody into the barricade and slid in the ring to go after the General but he slid out as she slid in. Witchfinder pulled Goody up the aisle as Lolo checked on Ashley, champions eventually locking eyes from the ramp to the ring.
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5. Ian Cook & Gerry Greene v. the International Players
This went the way you think it would, with the bigger Catch Hell alums providing maybe a little more resistance than you might expect before going down to the quickness of the former World Tag Team champions. Collipark was represented well as Greene went down to the Playa Hata, a Benjamin Valentino missile dropkick into Lucius Patton's Bass Drop moonsault fallaway slam.
The International Players d. Ian Cook & Gerry Greene at 8:56
After replays they got mics from Duck and said that they might've lost a titles shot a few weeks ago but in 2024 they've been stacking way more wins than losses. So forget being humble - since the tag belts were now vacant, they knew the two handsome brothers and ex champs to fill that void. Whatever Commissioner Holmes decided to do with the belts, the Players had better be in the mix so that they could get their belts back. And that's how simple it all really was. “Gasoline Dreams” hit the PA again as the Players took their leave making Very Familiar Gestures around each of their waists.
Before we got to the main event, Steve and Carl gave us the lowdown on some big matches that'll happen on next week's shows - Al Buffett will go one on one with Goody Gardner, Crusazdo del Oro and Mr. Teknik will face Prince Ootsuka and Super Avión and more on Unleashed.
And Ruckus is going to be full of more Quality level wrestling. The next level in the Crusazdo del Oro/Super Avión feud might be its last as the former allies will face off in a street fight - QCW Women's World Champion Lolo Vuitton will team up with Ashley ”THEE Influencer”Szabo to go against QCW National Champion Witchfinder General and Goody Gardner - and the Golden Gauntlet will hit second gear in a frantic five way.
But the eliminations begin tonight, in fact right now with the loser getting dropped from the World TV title chase…
6. Ashok Banjerjee v. “Tiki God” Al Buffett v. Pyotr Caviar v. Justice Davis v. “Dashing” Pierce Moore v. Karyn Tisch-Warren in a Golden Gauntlet six pack challenge; loser is eliminated from competing for the World TV championship
Out first was Pyotr Caviar to the dulcet tones of “Engel”. As he came down the ramp Steve put him over as the likely favorite while Carl pushed back on that saying that was what made Pyotr a target and thus unlikely to make it through the Golden Gauntlet.
Then “Tiki God” Al Buffett came out to a good pop, looking to add a TV title reign to his Unified World Tag Team ones. Al showed no fear in getting right up in Caviar’s…well, chest if not face. Their staredown got interrupted by Silk Sonic and the emergence of “Dashing” Pierce Moore out to try and bring another championship to the Culture’s trophy case. Moore started to get in the ring but getting glared at by both Al and Pyotr seemed to keep him content to pace on the floor.
Justice Davis was out next, the brawler from the Midwest looking even more grimly focused than usual and in a similar situation to Al as he tried to add his first singles gold to prior tag gold. Moore magically found his way to the other side of the floor as goddamn “Roar” hit the PA and brought out Karyn Tisch-Warren from International Lotus. The notorious KTW was decked out in blue and silver to match the TV title she hoped to take home at the end of the Gauntlet, and the announce put over her headlining PPVs as well as showing her stamina in winning the best of 3 falls match and the Crush Rush in the recent past. Even if she came out to “Roar” you could see Steve and Carl positioning her as a dark horse who could walk out with the belt.
Last out was Ashok Banjerjee and the sixteen stitches in his forehead courtesy of Omar Littlefield roughing him up inside of the steel cage during the back end of their TV title match. Ashok came down to the ring without his usual speed while the announce said he had to have the biggest target on his back since there was no way he was 100% after pissing off Omar at Mayday Payday.
But it was Ashok who insisted on starting the match and Pierce who took him up on it (only two people legal at a time but tags between anyone are legal, Steve explained as they were in the feeling out process). Ashok and Pierce went 50/50 for a stretch until Moore got his boots up on a Banjerjee corner charge and followed it up with a Blockbuster to open a window for more of his offense.
The Duke of Dashing kept the upper hand for the next couple of minutes until Justice Davis blind tagged himself in. Moore turned around into a hangman from Davis that sent him staggering into Ashok, then Davis hit a double spear and covered Ashok for the Gauntlet’s first nearfall.
Crowd seemed split on who to root for between the babyface rookies, but Davis kept the upper hand through most of their exchanges. JD looked like he was possibly going for a piledriver or setting up a powerbomb but Ashok backdropped out of it. Both men got up at roughly the same time but Ashok delivered a step up enzuigiri and followed up quickly with a double arm DDT before he ran out of adrenaline and was down on the mat next to JD. Both men rolled away from each other but Pierce again smelled blood in the water and tagged Davis out. But before he could eat up Ashok, Banjerjee tagged in the Tiki God and rolled out to the apron to catch a breather. Moore immediately tried to hit Al with his Fresh To Death but Buffett countered the cutter by lifting Moore and throwing him nearly halfway across the ring in an atomic powered borderline atomic drop. Buffett used his freshness to run Moore ragged before impressing the faithful with a delayed suplex where he kept Pierce in the air for nearly half a minute straight and even did some squats before completing the move.
But Moore refused to go quietly into that good night, kicking out of half a dozen nearfalls. Feeling himself a bit, Al got into position and mocked Moore's Fresh To Death pre cutter pose before trying to plant him with it – but Pierce managed to shove off Al’s attempt.
And sent him flying into a tag from Pyotr Caviar. Moore tried to tag in Karyn Tisch-Warren but she dropped off of the apron. He tried to get Justice Davis in but JD followed Karyn's lead as did Al. Moore turned around just in time to get engulfed by a Caviar running crossbody, and that was just the beginning. Pyotr rocked Moore with a Russian sickle, then kept Pierce from falling to the mat so he could hit him with a discus version - sending Moore in a backflip down to the canvas with extreme force. Caviar snatched up Moore and planted him yet again with a spinning sit out powerbomb that folded Pierce damn near in half. Caviar got up and left Moore laying before unexpectedly hitting Ashok's shoulder and leaving the ring. The referee counted it as a tag and once Banjerjee confirmed it was a tag, Ashok picked the bones and gave the Baron of Beverly Hills the Decolonizer Driver. By the time the three count finished Pyotr was already parting the Qualitron.
Ashok Banjerjee d. Pierce Moore at 18:52 to eliminate him from the Golden Gauntlet
After replays we saw Ashok getting his hand raised while Karyn smirked in the background, Al applauded and Justice was on the floor staring up the ramp where Pyotr had left. A chyron with pictures of all six participants popped up on screen with Moore's going from color to black and white while shrinking in size. Steve hyped up the next round of the Golden Gauntlet next week as well as the lucha libre street fight while the credits box came up, and after he thanked us for watching another Quality episode of Ruckus the show was done.
