“The Purifier” Caleb Gray (w/the Chosen) d. Ashok Banjerjee (w/Jacques Krieger)
“Sinister” Sarah Fowler & Midsomar d. Christine Kent & Hilary Highnote
The Cooper Brothers and Kam Ellis d. Hawk Carter & Hellraisers
“Sinister” Sarah Fowler (w/Midsomar) d. Ashley “THEE Influencer” Szabo (w/”Tiki God” Al Buffett)
📺 live on FanDuel Sports Network Florida
📍 Quality Arena in Parts Unknown, FL
Instead of the usual open, we got a highlight package that went longer than usual and showed big moments from the first four years of Ruckus, the wild brawls, crazy high spots, some title changes. The package ended with the words Thank You in gold, cursive writing.
We got Steve Vandeblanche and Carl Christensen on the call for Ruckus’ 4th anniversary show - one headlined by a Cruel Summer rematch where Nazir el-Fadal will try to get back the World championship from the man from the Republic who stole it from him, Omar Littlefield. After some additional hype for the ten team battle royale where the winners get a shot at Hysteria’s World Tag Team championships come Dia de los Muertos, they threw things to Duck Eko. The Voice of QCW welcomed the rowdy Quality Controllers to the 4AS and thanked them for continuing to support QCW before making the introductions for the opening contest…
1. “The Proper Villain” Richard Windsor d. Kam Ellis (w/the Cooper Brothers) at 10:07 Ellis scored a win for Sky's the Limit in a trios match last week and looked good early on in this one. With the power advantage, the powderkeg of StL used his muscle to put Windsor to the canvas early and often. A banged up Windsor rolled out to the floor but when Kam looked to follow up, Richard reached out and yanked Ellis’ arm into the ringpost as hard as he could. Kam’s now injured arm was draped over the top step and Windsor applied a modified cross arm breaker across the steps before bending Kam’s elbow back and double stomping the now mangled arm into the top of the steps. Even hurt, Kam managed to get back in the ring to break the ref’s count at 9, but he was now a one armed man in an ass-kicking contest and Windsor with his new, more sadistic attitude made Ellis pay. The rest of the match was mostly one way traffic for Richard, and even when Ellis put up a brief rally he instinctively tried to throw a lariat with the injured arm. That allowed Windsor to block it with an European uppercut that sounded like it broke bones before the man now calling himself the Proper Villain leveraged Kam down into a crossface. A cut to backstage showed “the Fury” Jim Jaspers watching on a monitor and it was hard to tell if he was more upset about his treacherous ex partner succeeding or the fact that he was surrounded by Quality Force Security that were clearly there to keep him from getting his hands on Richard. Ellis couldn't get his hands on Richard either for what remained of the match; Windsor only needed another minute and change to end things with a half and half suplex. Windsor scowled at the fans as he left to boos while on commentary Carl wondered if the absent Tre Boyd had seen this and was concerned he was going to pull a Windsor on his friends.
A video package hyped up the Dia de los Muertos PPV coming later this month with a Norteño band - the EZ Band, based on what I’ve seen on Quality Social - covering the late, great Ozzy's “Crazy Train” while QCW highlights played. Soon, there were cuts to the Toyota Center and the Houston skyline interspliced in there as well. On the 26th, the last Sunday of the month will see the latest PPV from QCW blast off from the home of the Rockets. It’ll be a spooky good PPV ba dum KSSH
2. The International Players (w/Jupiter Jones) d. Hellraisers at 8:12 The schneid is over for the Players after months of losing, first their World Tag Team championships to Hysteria then the abrupt firing of their mentor Jones. But with him back on the roster after AnniVersary and in their corner tonight, you could feel and see that they had their old swagger back. The Brits came into the match with decent momentum and didn't let the crowd’s taunts get to them but a blind tag allowed Lucius Patton and Benjamin Valentino to connect on a spinebuster into falling reverse DDT that turned the tides in the match. They smartly isolated the smaller Gerry Greene and when his heavy Ian Cook tried to come in to make the save he got a double drop toe hold that sent him right into Greene’s bangers and mash. After clearing out Cook they were able to connect on the Playa Hata for the first time in months, and a depleted Greene had no answer for the avalanche rana into powerbomb combo. Players win, Players win, daaaa Players win! (Too soon?)
The fellas celebrated their first win in months and Science Fiction Double Feature came out to join them in the celebration, but SFDF’s night is just beginning - they'll be in the ten team battle royale to determine new #1 contenders to Hysteria's World Tag Team championships - and that battle royale is next on the decks after we run through a few pesky commercials.
Ruckus returned airing a pretape that happened Earlier Today as the Republic were called on the carpet figuratively and literally by Commissioner Holmes. He and Ig de Catur were across from each other at his desk, neither man hiding their disdain for the other. Holmes said that if he was more like Ig or if his hired goon Omar Littlefield didn't have the World championship for a few more hours he would’ve fired the whole damn lot of them already. But if Ig recognized who ran things around here after AnniVersary and was willing to get kicked down to just being a manager, that would work fine by him. Holmes began to dismiss them when Ig brought up the Malicía/Orion rematch for the National championship at Dia de los Muertos and said that since his client was one half of the probable Rivalry of the Year, the only thing that could make the rematch even better would be a little cherry on top. So what if next week, they engaged in the QCW staple Pick Your Poison - Malicía would pick an opponent for Orion, Orion would pick a victim for Malicía to destroy, and whoever got their win the fastest would be able to pick a stipulation for the title match on PPV. Holmes thought about it for a couple of beats before saying he would run it by Orion and see what they said. Holmes dismissed the Republic as Quality Force Security flanked him and surrounded de Catur, Littlefield, Fernandez, Pyotr Caviar and Ig’s personal security and former QFSers in Republic Enforcement. The Republic accurately read the room and left the Commissioner's office, leaving Holmes to grumble that he should have made Ig work the concession stands.
As the ring continued to fill up with tag teams, we got to see the entrances for the Glam Squad, Justine Danek & Bella Jolie of Hysteria, then “These Hands” Roy Fade and “Dashing” Pierce Moore representing Beast Mode. The twenty deep ring cast eyes at each other as Steve said that once a member of that team was eliminated, the whole team was out of the running.
Once the bell rang it didn't take long for the excrement to smack the cooling device, as Justine sprayed Ashok Banjerjee in the face with black mist before she and Bella set him flying over the top with Jacques Krieger unable to save his partner. (10 • BanjerKriegs by Hysteria) The medical staff and Jacques helped a screaming Ashok to the med bay in the back while Justine cackled in the ring right before getting blindsided by Jane Doe of SciFi Double Feature. With 18 people still in the fray, fights were happening all over the ring whether it was Beast Mode against the Cooper Brothers or International Lotus 2.0 against the Game Changers. It looked like we were about to get a second elimination when Drake Tremble tossed Mare Cooper over the top rope, but the twin representing Sky’s the Limit managed to skin the cat and get himself back into the ring. The Coopers went after Tremble and Fade while across the ring Caleb Gray was preaching to the Glam Squad. Lotus 2.0 and the Game Changers continued to spar while the Squad nodded at Caleb, both shook his hand – and then launched him over the top to the joy of the crowd. (9 - the Chosen by the Glam Squad) Gray and Tremble fumed from the floor while the Squad mocked the faces of the reformed. Steve wondered on commentary if Caleb was now second guessing benching Justice Davis after last week in favor of Tremble while a couple of referees made sure they went to the back. Brawls continued rolling inside the ring as the Glam Squad got jumped by Beast Mode and the All Starr Stable of Evan O'Neill and Prince Ootsuka went after the Coopers as everybody found new dance partners to throw hands at. In the chaos a sort of mini match broke out as the Game Changers faced off against Justine and Bella, and it looked like the former tag champions were winning it on points. Ashley “THEE Influencer” Szabo looked to dump Bella, but Nancy Crowley bit the face of “Tiki God” Al Buffett to get free of him so she could run over and help Bella get Ashley over the top rope. Al staggered over to help but the witches backdropped him to the apron before they hit Buffett and Szabo with stereo superkicks to end their night. (8 - the Game Changers by Hysteria, their 2nd elimination)
14 left as the announce put over the second elimination from Hysteria and the fact that for weeks they’d talked about having the two best tag teams in the world - and maybe there'd be an all Hysteria tag titles match at Dia de los Muertos if Justine and Bella could keep up the roll they were on. Danek and Jolie turned their attention to fighting Science Fiction Double Feature as the Glam Squad and All Starr Stable fought, as well as Lotus 2.0 and the Cooper Brothers, allowing Beast Mode to stick together in a corner and plot next moves. Fade & Moore broke the huddle and then attacked, first helping Lotus with some cheap shots on their former friends the Coopers before changing the scope. With Evan O'Neill on the ropes it looked like the All Starr Squad’s night was about to come to an end when Pierce spun “Fahrenheit” Freddie Valsada around and hit him with a Fresh To Death. Freddie bounced off the canvas and got greeted by Roy Fade’s knee strike. It looked like Poetry in Motion, but it hit hard enough to send the newcomer over the top rope with his partner Cole Grant unable to keep him from hitting the floor. (7 - Glam Squad by Beast Mode) Six teams remaining and things broke down into two separate fights. In one, the All Starr Stable and International Lotus 2.0 got into a loose alliance to double team Science Fiction Double Feature while in the other Beast Mode continued fighting the Coopers with the representatives of Hysteria mostly hanging back and occasionally getting in shots on both teams. Beast Mode took offense and told Hysteria they were just trying to help, which only got them more shots from Danek & Jolie. On the other side of the ring, Evan O'Neill took down both members of Science Fiction Double Feature by plowing through them with a double spear and laying out Cindy Monet and Jane Doe. The smarmy O’Neill then essentially offered them up on a platter to Lotus, who were more than happy to make a meal out of humiliating their summer long rivals. Evan and the Prince backed into a neutral corner while Fiona Fogg and Sohla Patel landed a few clubbing forearms to Feature’s backs before the Stable told Lotus to bounce them. Fiona & Sohla loved the idea and scooped up the Collipark representatives to eliminate them – but Patel’s toss of Monet turned into a head scissors, then Cindy hung on to the top rope to give her more leverage and send the Lotus figurehead crashing to the floor, turning Sohla from the eliminator to the eliminated. (6 - International Lotus 2.0 by Science Fiction Double Feature) Seeing this sent O’Neill running to the rescue - but Cindy & Jane saw them coming and yanked down the top rope to send them flying over the top. To add insult to injury, they wiped out both Lotus reps on their way to taking the Sad Hulk walk to the back. (5 - the All Starr Stable by Science Fiction Double Feature their 2nd elimination overall & in a row)
Lotus and the Stable could fume all they wanted but the FINAL 4 were set: Beast Mode, the Coopers, Hysteria and SciFi Double Feature. The teams sized each other up and exchanged glances until everyone rushed the middle of the ring and a Pier 8 broke out to the loud approval of the Quality Controllers. It looked like Hysteria and Mode had gotten the upper hands but four whips into the ropes turned into four huracanranas from the Coopers and SFDF. Things further dispersed as the ring turned into essentially four one on one battles instead of two tag fights or a four on four. At one point a few beats later it looked like Bella Jolie was going to eliminate Jane Doe, but Doe fought her way off the apron with some forearms and a high kick to get Bella off of her so she could re enter the fray. A minute or so later, a mirror of that played out when it looked like Cindy Monet would get rid of Justine Danek, but Justine fought back by gouging Cindy’s eyes before putting her to the mat with a diving leg lariat. While Hysteria and SFDF were fighting on one side of the ring, the Beast Mode/Cooper Brothers rivalry continued playing out on the other side of the ring. It looked like Pierce Moore might be ready to win the mini battle when he went for a Fresh To Death, but Marc shoved the cutter attempt towards his brother Mare who capitalized by landing a huracanrana that sent Pierce over the top rope. Moore barely hung onto the top rope, causing Marc to come help his brother with the elimination – but didn't see Roy Fade coming, as the former Golden Gloves winner blasted him with a running knee to the back to send him flying to the floor just as Mare’s kick sent Moore down and out next to his brother. (4/3 - the Cooper Brothers by Beast Mode, their second elimination overall • Beast Mode by the Cooper Brothers)
Mare and Fade briefly glared at each other before a Cooperrana (that one’s free, Steve) sent them both to the floor. Some referees tried to get involved but the Coopers and Beast Mode cared less about the battle royale they were now out of and more about punching each other as they have most of the summer; Mare & Fade fought their way through the concourse while Marc & Moore brawled up the ramp and to the back.
And then there were two teams left standing; one outcome led to an all Hysteria match that seemed to be subtly teased for weeks, the other would see the revitalized SFDF earn their way to a shot at the World Tag Team titles and maybe bring them back to Collipark. Cindy, Jane, Justine and Nancy slowly got to their feet and looked at their opponents before charging and kicking off a four woman hockey fight in the middle of the ring. The crowd began chanting “Collipark!” to give the ATLiens a second wind and it seemed to work as Cindy and Jane began using kicks instead of forearms, then took down both Hysteria members with double dropkicks. Feature picked up Justine and sent her flying out to the apron, but a desperation spear by Bella sent Cindy colliding with Jane before they could send Danek out to the floor. Even worse, with Jane out of the picture and Justine in position, QCW”s resident witches fought fire with machine gun fire and came back to take down Monet with their trademark Twelve Feet Under. Quality Arena deflated over seeing SFDF get laid out - well, except the tag champs on the ramp seeing their co-conspirators succeed. Bonnie Agrippa and Nancy Crowley applauded and cackled the imminent showdown against their co-conspirators as Justine and Bella pointed at them with small evil grins on their faces. They picked up Cindy and marched over to toss her from the ring - and as they got Cindy up and over a maroon and cream colored blur flew into the frame with a ballistic crossbody that sent three bodies over the top rope to the floor. When the wreckage cleared, Cindy Monet was on top of Bella Jolie, who was on top of Justine Danek, who unfortunately for her was on the floor. And somehow, some way, Jane Doe was on the apron doing a handstand. (2 - Hysteria by Science Fiction Double Feature, the final elimination and their third overall)
3. Science Fiction Double Feature eliminated Justine Danek and Bella Jolie of Hysteria to win a ten team battle royale and become #1 contenders to the World Tag Team championships at 16:22
Fire up “Elevators (Me & U)” and let the people cheer, because Science Fiction Double Feature have just broken their losing streak in a big, bad way. They're the #1 contenders and they're going to Dia de los Muertos to try and end the Era of Hysteria. Jane flattened herself and rolled in the ring just in time to get bear hugged by Cindy while Bonnie and Nancy hit ringside to check on Justine & Bella. Bonnie shook her head while behind her on the ropes SFDF stood together; Cindy smiled and said that maybe there was a new best tag team in the world. Bonnie’s face went from 0 to 100 real quick before she hissed out a “Get THEM.”; Feature got out of the ring just as all four women in Hysteria hit it. Hysteria began to chase them up the ramp but the referee squad began making a wall in between them just as the rest of Collipark came out from the back to have their teammates” backs and raise their arms in victory. A chyron came up for the World Tag Team championships match as both teams chirped at each other and Steve put over Collipark ending their losing streak just in time for the Fourth Anniversary Show.
TOTHEBACK~!, where Naomi Lee was standing by to interview Nazir el-Fadal ahead of his rematch for the World championship in tonight's main event. The One Man Jihad crowed that he was about an hour away from regaining his World championship, which was appropriate because Ruckus began four years ago as he sought to make the World championship in his image and turn Friday nights into appointment TV. And what better show to become a 4x World champion than Ruckus’ fourth anniversary show? He made the belt happen, he made the show happen, and he was going to make the end of Omar's joke of a title reign happen because he was Nazir el-Fadal, Allahdamn it - known by everyone in his rabble to the corporatized (he said it tho) in the Republic as the Greatest Man Alive. Naz took off ahead of his big match and Naomi teed up a commercial break.
4. Pyotr Caviar (w/the Republic) d. “The Wonderful” Rich Ward (w/Anton Stahl and Jason “the Great” Ward) at 6:38 We came back from the break where Rich used his knowledge of his former teammate to surprise him right after the bell with a beautiful springboard cutter. Rich went for the cover, Pyotr bench pressed him off before 2 and then proceeded to essentially press Rich into a cube. Ward got in a couple of hope spots and went for the springboard cutter again only to get cut off by a European uppercut. A spinning sitout powerbomb and Hit My Music gave Pyotr the win and Ig the opportunity to crow that his squad wasn't done winning tonight.
We returned backstage where Julius Duquesne III was caught in the midst of a College Park Family celebration. He congratulated Jupiter Jones on returning to the roster as well as Science Fiction Double Feature on winning the massive tag team battle royale earlier. Jones said all the clichés were true, there was no place like home…but this was about them way more than him. Cindy Monet said that they were back and better than ever as #1 contenders, and that the World Tag Team titles would be coming back home to the ATLiens in H-Town in a couple Sundays. Lucius Patton stepped in, saying they didn't need to wait to get their hands on Hysteria and challenged Justine Danek & Bella Jolie to face the International Players next week so that he and Benji Valentines could start breaking the spell they’d had over the tag division most of the year. They could ask the Hellraisers about them in case Team Spooky forgot what Collipark looked like when they were at full power. Jupiter said it was old school of him, but he wasn't comfortable swinging on women like that. They were? Patton said he wouldn't hit no lady…but he'd drop him a witch. A laughing JD3 threw things back to ringside and Duck Eko, who made the introductions for the next match.
5. “Night Sky” Diana Spare d. Bettie Rokker (w/Val Curry) at 5:09 Now the former Women's World champion thanks to Lolo’s brass knucks at AnniVersary, the already tightly coiled Spare took that out on Rokker in a squash. Bettie got in maybe five decent shots before Spare absolutely crowned Rokker with a pop up Michinoku driver to win the match.
Diana would end up having words and then a fight with the towering Curry and wound up kicking her ass too, hitting the 6’3” Curry with Nightfall to a pop almost as big as the Shieldmaiden is tall. Spare demanded and got the mic from Duck, saying that as fun as she had kicking some ass tonight she was saving the worst beating for the rematch she was owed against Lolo and would get at Dia de los Muertos. On the 26th, she wouldn't just get her belt back…she would be the Last Woman Standing. Spare tossed the mic back to Duck and stomped backstage, the announcers hyping the first ever Last Woman Standing match in QCW history for the Fifteen Pounds of Gold to come at DdlM before Ruckus took its final commercial break of the night.
Before the Cruel Summer World title match main evented, Steve gave us hype for 💫 next week’s Ruckus 💫:: John Arneson tries to keep his winning streak going against “the Paragon” of the Chosen, Drake Tremble 💫 per earlier remarks the International Players get the match they wanted against Justine Danek and Bella Jolie of Hysteria 💫 we’ll hear from Razorblade 💫 and Malicía Fernandez and Orion are going to dive into QCW staple Pick Your Poison - whomever wins the fastest in their matches will get to pick the stipulation for their National championship match at Dia de los Muertos in a week and a half
Time for the main event. We saw Naz marching through the hallways and past Commissioner Holmes at the Sweet Spot before “So Be It” by Clipse played over the PA to send a wave of cheers through the Arena. el-Fadal went up the stairs and parted the Tron before the camera panned around him to show white and gold pyro exploding on the stage. Naz ignored the cheering crowd, marching down the ramp with Carl saying he looked more than ready to make history & win the World title for a record setting fourth time.
We went from Clipse to Kendrick as “King Kunta” hit the PA and brought out the Republic in force. They began to head down the ramp until Omar held up Ig and had a short discussion. Ig seemed to be in shock but then called the troops over while Steve wondered if this was just mind games, but it turned out that Omar wanted to go this alone. Pyotr Caviar, Malicía Fernandez and Republic Enforcement headed to the back while Omar and Ig made their way to the ring; Naz sat on a top turnbuckle and looked on with a dead eyed stare. The music died down and the lights went out save for a lone spotlight over the ring so Duck could do the introductions. Challenger Naz was introduced first; he came to the center of the ring and continued looking nonplussed while he held up four fingers - then he suddenly spun around and used them all plus the thumb to tag Omar in the face with a slap! Naz got as far as “Do something, bit–” before Omar double legged him down to the canvas and started firing right after right on his head. Duck wisely got the hell out of Dodge while the referee called for the bell.
6. Omar Littlefield [c, w/Ig de Catur] d. Nazir el-Fadal to retain the QCW World championship at 19:38 When that referee called for the bell again it caused chaos to ring out all over Quality Arena. Before that happened, though, we got a Match of the Year candidate between two of QCW’s best even if it did end under a cloud of controversy. Omar looked to punish Naz for the slap after some ground and pound action before powering Naz into a corner so he could slap el-Fadal a few times. After the fourth, Naz went forehead to forehead with the bigger man and dared him to do it again; when Omar tried it, Naz bit his hand before sending Littlefield into the corner and laying into him with a flurry of open handed chops. Omar absorbed them all and shoved Naz across the ring after the seventh before hitting such a high octane shoulder tackle out of the corner that Naz went ass over teakettle and ended up on his stomach. It's not as if Omar goes into these matches with some kind of secret plan, he just overwhelms whoever he's against with power and Naz ate a restaurant quality beating early on. Steve noticed as Omar sat on Naz while he had the One Man Jihad neck first over the middle rope that FDSNF had granted them extra time tonight so with all the commercials out of the way they’d stay with this match until they got a winner.
The opening few minutes were less a match and more a squash for Omar. Even when Naz landed a surprise cross chop to the throat, he foolishly tried to get Omar over in a hiptoss and got a short lariat for his troubles. Omar dragged Naz to a corner and hit him with a Vader Bomb, then another, then piled on with a third & a fourth. But as the announce noted, Omar wasn't trying to win the match - he was clearly out to hurt Naz on Ig’s orders. A clearly depleted Naz rolled out of the ring while the referee started a ten count before he got the fear of Omar put in him and decided to stop halfway through. Omar stepped between the ropes to the floor before getting a running start, then did ¾ of a lap around the ring before sending Naz flying over the announce table with.a wicked Pounce. Steve & Carl were narrowly okay but Naz surely didn't have that in common with them as the multiple replays showed. Now Omar was fine with the ref making a count, sure that a banged up Naz would remain on the outside. But el-Fadal crawled and scraped his way to the ring apron before rolling in under the bottom rope before the zebra could get to 9. Omar’s response was to drag Naz into position and hit him with another Vader bomb. The crowd booed Omar's dominance and he mockingly booed them right back before barking “My world! My title!” Naz was using the ropes to pull himself up as Omar turned around and charged him, but el-Fadal saw it coming and snapped the top rope into Omar's neck. That stunned Omar long enough for Naz to land another couple cross chops to the throat, which had Omar reeling until Naz hit a basement dropkick to the knee that ended up sending Omar draped over the middle rope with his forehead almost touching the apron. Naz slowly climbed up the buckles of the closest corner before turning and flying off, driving both his knees into the back of Omar's head to send him to the floor. The crowd were in full throat as Naz looked like he had a second wind even while he was holding onto his ribs. Omar stumbled to his feet only to be unable to block a PK from Naz that sent him all the way to the floor. The Greatest Man Alive rolled in and out to break the count, and he found a present when Omar made his way up to a knee - the big man had a thin red line of clarin over his right eyebrow that extended to his forehead. Naz didn't have a fin on his back but he was a shark when it came to exploiting an opponent’s weakness, and he grabbed Omar's head before slamming it into the top of the steel steps again and again and again and again. “If you can bleed him, you can beat him!” yelled out Carl in support as Naz again rolled in and out to break up the count. Omar staggered against the dividing barrier and Naz leaped on him before raining down the rights, lefts and even biting away after landing 16 shots to the wound. The former World champion leaned against the barrier and gathered up a handful of deep breaths before trying to muscle Omar into the ring. Despite the nearly 80 pound disadvantage, Naz managed to pull it off…but as he tried to get in the ring himself Ig swiped at his ankles. Naz looked at the splayed out Omar before pivoting and giving chase after de Catur, who showed off a half decent Usain Bolt impersonation on the floor a step and a half ahead of the pursuit. Ig rolled into the ring and Naz almost caught him, but what he actually caught was a massive lariat that sent him somersaulting through the Parts Unknown sky before he turned into a snow angel on the canvas. Ig rolled out of the ring and got to his feet on the floor just in time to see Omar hoist Naz up and drill him with his notorious Face Eraser. Omar covered Naz after connecting with his crucifix powerbomb DDT – BUT Naz became the first person to kick out of it, narrowly kicking out at 2.9.
The crowd went wild as Omar glared at the ref before looking at Ig as if he wanted him to fix it. Ig was clearly heated, but told Omar to repeat it and end this. A huffy Littlefield snatched Naz up to put the final nail in the coffin with another Face Eraser, but Naz not only managed to land on his feet - he then cinched up Omar and delivered the Hamrin Valley Driver to a massive pop. The crowd went ballistic as the One Man Jihad staggered to his feet and made the wipeout gesture with his hands, waving on a clearly rocked Omar. Littlefield stumbled to his feet but he wouldn't be on them long, as Naz served up a dose of Nazquil that rocked the ring. el-Fadal went down for the cover but as the referee’s hand was coming down for a third time, the official stopped and shook his head. Naz went bug eyed as Ig laughed and produced a briefcase from under the ring, QA awash in confusion and anger as Naz had had Omar dead to rights. Naz grabbed the referee by the lapels, but Omar hit him with a low blow and rolled him up - and the referee’s subsequent three count barely took up a normal 2. For the second time since winning at Cruel Summer, Nazir el-Fadal had been screwed out of the Fifteen Pounds of Gold. Ig got in Duck’s face and demanded he name Omar the winner #ANDSTILL champion before Omar stumbled over and lifted Duck off the ground until he did.
The crowd booed the screwjob lustily, some even throwing wadded up programs and beers at Ig and Omar while Steve and Carl wondered what the hell had happened. Commissioner Holmes speed walked down to the ring, causing de Catur, his world champ and his crooked referee to vault the guardrail and leave. Holmes screamed in their direction that this wasn't over and that the referee was fired - but when Ig raised the ref’s hand while cackling, the briefcase came open and money spilled out like droplets down a waterfall. The crooked zebra quickly scooped up the cash while Omar held up the Fifteen Pounds of Gold with one hand and a middle finger with the other. Ruckus went off the air with Steve and Carl complaining in vain about the fast one Ig managed to pull even though he was no longer Commissioner and a fuming Naz getting repeatedly bleeped out while he swore at Holmes from down on the canvas.
Hysteria (Nancy Crowley, Justine Danek & Bella Jolie w/Bonnie Agrippa) d. “Explosive” Emily Bennett & Mean Season
Shelley LaVey ddq. “Sinister” Sarah Fowler (w/Midsomar)
Ashok Banjerjee (w/Jacques Krieger) d. Hawk Carter
📺 live on FanDuel Sports Network Florida
📍Quality Arena 💫 Parts Unknown, FL
A recap package for AnniVersary kicked off the show with Public Enemy & Stephen Stills’ “He Got Game” playing as the background music. Brief clips of the Glam Squad beating w @ s t 3 l a n d e r s in the preshow and Richard Windsor turning on Jim Jaspers to hand the victory to Justine Danek and Bella Jolie of Hysteria on a silver platter gave way to longer highlights from the main card…
John Arneson getting a measure of revenge on the All Starr Stable by pinning Prince Ootsuka and continuing his undefeated streak in QCW 💫💫 Beast Mode using their experience and a couple of timely distractions from Lolo Vuitton to best Tre Boyd and Kam Ellis from Sky's the Limit, a visibly angered Tre (who took the pin) leaving the rest of his friends behind in the ring after the match 💫💫💫 the trios contract match between the Chosen's Caleb Gray, Drake Tremble and Justice Davis against the College Park Family’s International Players and Jupiter Jones, Collipark able to find the former championship levels they’d had before Ig de Catur had unceremoniously fired their mentor the legendary Jones in the spring - dissension clearly evident in the Chosen as Jones earned his way back on the roster by dropping and pinning JD after a Bolt From Olympus and the Quality Controllers cheering wildly as Jones, Lucius Patton and Benjamin Valentino hugged mid ring to celebrate
💫💫💫💫 The champions vs. champions match for the QCW World Tag Team championships as Bonnie Agrippa and Nancy Crowley of Hysteria went against avuncular Irish babyfaces and the Catch Hell Wrestling League tag team champions the Undaunted, the crowd getting behind the high flyers before Bonnie and Nancy were able to ground and corral them - Justine Danek and Bella Jolie getting caught trying to lend some help and then ejected opening the door a little wider that with the odds even Hysteria’s reign of terror might be over, but Agrippa and Crowley avoiding the aerial attacks long enough to plant “Unforgettable” Dave Mullin with their trademark spike brainbuster to retain their tag titles 💫💫💫💫💫 The fellows of Beast Mode following Lolo Vuitton to the ring in the semi-main as she tried to take the Women's World championship off of “Night Sky” Diana Spare, who wasted no time in going face to face with her during the introductions - Spare winning on points until Moore took a tope suicida so Lolo could bail before jumping Diana and giving her a barricade bomb - Lolo.working over Diana but The Champ responding by blocking the Bloody Shoe with a superkick then following up with a poison rana that sent Vuitton spilling to the floor after impact - Diana connected on the tope then took back control of the match, but Lolo “accidentally” took out the ref as she was getting set up for Nightfall - Roy Fade tossed Lolo some brass knucks and she laid out Diana with them to shadily win the Fifteen Pounds of Gold for a fourth time, the heels celebrating up the ramp while Diana was trying to get her bearings 💫💫💫💫💫💫 All that was the appetizer to the LockUp main event with the disputed Commissionership hanging in the balance, Ig de Catur and his Republic Enforcement flanking World champion Omar Littlefield, Pyotr Caviar and Malicía Fernandez while Scott Holmes backed Nazir el-Fadal (of all people), Orion and Mason “Razorblade” Savage - Omar and Razorblade fighting each other raw to begin things with a borderline hockey fight - Malicía joined the fray and her and Omar beating up Razorblade in essentially a five minute handicap match, sending him into the steel links on the outside and drawing color - Orion joining the fray with nunchucks to even the odds, Razorblade able to get his hands on a couple of chairs to even the odds but a desperate Malicía able to hit him with a low blow as the time period ended - Pyotr Caviar coming in with trash cans and operating at full power, the Republic whales on the white hats, Orion getting their mask partially ripped off so Malicía could carve into them with a cheese grater while Razorblade got double chokeslammed onto a pair of chairs, the Republic ruling until the One Man Jihad got LockUp officially started - dodging a charging Pyotr and letting him crash into the back of his pod before pulling out a duffel bag and arming his teammates with their own Greetings From Hayt Corners - the babyfaces swinging the barbed wire kendo sticks well until Omar flipped out, lawn darting Naz into the chain link and beating his back with a chair - the Republic getting the upper hand and the land monsters hitting some double teams leading to Omar hitting a now bleeding Naz with the Face Eraser onto a pile of chairs, only for Razorblade to make the save by busting a glass light tube over Littlefield’s head - Razorblade and Orion neutralizing Malicía by bull rushing her through a pod - Caviar swinging the broken pod pieces to drop them - Omar and Pyotr advancing on Naz with glass light tubes and sending him scurrying back to his pod where he threw a gallon of water at them - it didn't stop them coming but it slowed them down enough for Orion to jam a taser into Omar's ribs to leave him twitching on the blood stained canvas - Naz stabbing Pyotr with a broken piece from a glass tube right in the Kremlins - and Orion and Razorblade taking Caviar out with a barbed wire conchairto - Malicía slowly coming to and realizing she didn't have backup before charging Orion, only to walk into a spinebuster from Razorblade into a bunch of glass light tubes - Ig freaking out on the outside and jumping Holmes, only to get spun around to eat a Bolt From Olympus from Jupiter Jones, who threw de Catur through the announce table - the faces taking turns beating on the hired goons of the Republic, Orion and Naz continuing to swing on them while Savage grabbed a barbed wire covered baseball bat and went to the top rope, then up to the top of a pod while Naz and Orion gestured up at him, Razorblade yelling “QCF’NW!!” before leaping off and driving the bat into Pyotr - Razorblade flopping onto Pyotr, with Orion adding their weight and Naz counting the three with the ref - Quality Arena erupting in cheers as Team QCW were named the winners, all three of them getting their hands raised as Holmes applauded on the floor - gold pyro erupting on the stage as the victors took to turnbuckles to celebrate the win, Razorblade pointing the barbed wire bat at Holmes with a bloody smile while Naz was busy crowing about being Mr. Anniversary and Orion gave high fives to some front row fans. The recap ended with Steve Vandeblanche giddy on commentary proclaiming that the nightmare was over and the real QCW was back in business.
We hit the ring immediately, as Soundgarden's “My Wave” hit the PA and brought out Scott Holmes to a massive pop from the Quality Controllers. Duck Eko, the Voice of QCW introduced Holmes as the Commissioner for the first time in nearly 300 days and it was clear on Scott's face that it was a moment he was looking forward to for months now. Holmes hit the ring and shook hands with Duck and got the mic from him before thanking everyone for coming out to see QCW bring the Ruckus. He knew he was Commissioner because of the hard work of others, and he didn't want to waste any time thanking them publicly. He then called Nazir el-Fadal, Mason Razorblade Savage and Orion to join him in the ring.
Razorblade came down the steps and through the concourse while Orion then Naz made their way down the ramp as the crowd popped huge. Holmes shook hands with Orion then Razorblade; he offered one to Naz, who declined politely by his standards. Holmes said that they had come to his defense and put him back as Commissioner, and for their winning LockUp he owed them all a favor. After thinking about it for a couple of days, he decided the reward they would get would be that they all could get a match of their choosing against anyone else on the roster whenever they wanted it. Naz made sure he was saying any match they wanted, and Holmes reaffirmed it.
Orion spoke first, using a voice disguising phone app and said they’d make it simple - they should be standing here right now as the National champion in addition to a LockUp winner. They wanted Malicía Fernandez for the belt at Dia de los Muertos to settle things once and for all. Holmes said they got it. Naz said speaking of title belts, he went to Holmes a couple weeks before being Mr. Anniversary AGAIN and told him what his price was for the sort of help only the One Man Jihad could provide: the next shot at Omar. And he couldn't think of a better occasion than next week when Ruckus celebrated its fourth anniversary to get back what had been stolen away from him. Everyone turned to look at Razorblade, who simply said “I got winner”. Naz asked Holmes if he could do that, and Holmes shrugged and said he didn't know why not. Naz and Razorblade exchanged glances while Holmes welcomed everybody to Ruckus and told the truck to roll the open.
Not much has changed to the open, actually. Still “Invincible” for the backing music, a little more Hysteria and Beast Mode, Jupiter Jones sprinkled back in the mix and John Arneson added to it. The Cavalcade of Champions has a gap where the National champion should go, allowing Hysteria, new Women's World champion Lolo Vuitton and Omar Littlefield a little more screen time. Steve Vandeblanche and Carl Christensen introduced themselves and hyped that we’d hear from Beast Mode tonight as well as have Batroc v. Krieger in the debut of the 10,000 franc challenge before throwing things to “the Voice of QCW” Duck Eko, who began to make the introductions for our opener…
1. Shelley LaVey d. Midsomar (w/”Sinister” Sarah Fowler) at 4:03 LaVey came out first and for that she was rewarded by Midsomar jumping her from behind as she made her entrance. The referee managed to separate them and checked on Shelley to make sure she was okay, and she was more than fine with the match starting. LaVey was more than fine, she was pissed off. Shelley landed some strikes and clotheslined Midsomar out of the ring. LaVey hit the floor and bounced Midsomar off the announce table ten times before rolling into the ring to break up the count…so she could roll out and do it ten more times to the joy of the crowd. Understandably, Midsomar didn't put up much of a fight after that and LaVey turned things into a full on squash. A pinpoint Pele kick set up the Fallen Angel splash and got Shelley a dominating win. Fowler stared daggers at LaVey post match and Shelley glared right back as the ref raised her hand.
Hysteria cut a promo from their darkened room that only was broken up sparingly by slowly swinging purple and white hyacinth lights. Bella Jolie said she and Justine would bring another win to Hysteria later on tonight and it would be a great pleasure to cast their spell just as they have for the past year and a half. Bonnie Agrippa emerged from the shadows clutching her half of the QCW World Tag Team championships and cackled a womanly cackle before Nancy Crowley popped up in front of her way too close to the camera and screeched “BEST TAG TEAM IN THE [that's a swear] WORLD!” Hysteria joined Bonnie in cackling for a while before she stopped and said “Next victims, please.”. Agrippa flashed a sinister grin and snapped her fingers; a few beats after that, FDSN Florida fired off some commercials.
2. The Cooper Brothers and Kam Ellis d. The All Starr Stable (w/S. Mark Starr) at 11:29 Big win for the Sky’s the Limit trio in beating the former champions of the Stable. As the match began and started going through the feeling out process, Steve noted on commentary that Tre Boyd was nowhere to be seen though online scuttlebutt had him meeting with the Paradigm Talent Agency about possibly expanding his profile with some movie roles. It was the Coopers who first started moving the scales to their side by laying all three opponents out with high altitude dropkicks: first “Upper Class” Broderick Palmer II, then Evan O'Neill and finally Prince Ootsuka. The heels bailed out to the floor but that didn't stop the Coopers from landing graceful tope con hilo while Kam threw in a double axehandle from the apron. The Coopers and Kam worked over BP2 while Carl noticed with no Tre around that they seemed to be showing off that they could do just fine without him if need be. Of course, moments later the Announcer’s Curse struck as a blind tag from Evan O'Neill allowed A Cut Above to land stereo knees to the gut before tossing Marc shoulder first into a neutral corner’s ringpost.
As Palmer II had ended up taking a bit of a beating, the Stable went after the arm of Cooper with Evan and Ootsuka taking turns alternating dirty tricks with their surgical attack on the bad arm. At one point it looked like Marc was going to go down when Evan and Prince teamed up for a double slingshot spear on their side of the ring but Cooper kicked out at 2½ before clutching his injured arm. The Stable employed quick tags and seemed to be in the process of putting a button on the bout when Marc caught BP2 out of nowhere with a spinning back elbow and followed up with a Blue Thunder bomb that left them both down on the canvas. Broddy tagged in Ootsuka while on the other side Marc tagged in Kam, the freshest man Sky’s had. Kam didn't take long to dodge a buzzsaw kick before connecting with a big boot to send O’Neill off the apron. He then started swinging down on the Prince of the Stable and used his power as the biggest man in the match to repeatedly toss Ootsuka around. It was a roll he was on until Starr swiped at his ankle, which allowed Ootsuka the opening to plant Ellis with a thrust kick that sent the California King between the ropes and to the apron. But when Ootsuka tried to follow up with a shoulder to knock Ellis to the floor, Kan surprised and stunned him with a big knee right in the breadbasket. A doubled over Prince was ripe for the picking and Special K plucked him up with a slingshot destroyer, of all things. Kam surely would’ve surely won the match had both members of A Cut Above not come to the rescue before the zebra could get to 3. The Coopers came in to have their boy’s back and in no time a Pier 6 would break out. A Cut Above couldn't out slug the Air Force alums and the Coopers took them out with nearly stereo Lumbar Checks. Ig checked on his former tag team champions while StL put the finishing touches on the fight - Ellis tagged in Marc, who tagged in Mare, who tagged in Ellis again. And then Ootsuka lost at Finisher Bingo as the Coopers flew out of diagonally opposite corners with a 450® splash from Marc and guillotine legdrop from Mare they call Aim High. From a third corner the almost 260 pound Ellis flew off with a picturesque Shooting Star press, and it was his Flight Risk that punched the winning ticket for the long time friends. We got replays of the aerial offensive that had taken down the Stable and came back to the ring to see them getting their hands raised. On commentary, they noted they had gotten the job done without Tre but wondered what would be next for Sky’s the Limit. Bad week to be in S. Mark Starr’s orbit.
Fóotage rolled that was taken after AnniVersary of the Chosen, where “the Purifier” Caleb Gray read “the Righteous” Justice Davis the riot act for dropping the fall in the trios contract match. Jupiter Jones was back and it was his fault! The biggest show in QCW history and they’d lost because of him! “The Paragon” Drake Tremble added that while he could've handled Jones as he had years ago, Justice was all fear and no faith out there; that's why he ended up looking like a buffoon out there trying to keep up with a legend. He was a disgrace to the Duquesne Cup. JD’s nostrils flared and he looked like he was going to swing on the former QCW champion, but of all people Goody Gardner staved off a fight.
Gardner said that the last thing Justice was was a disgrace. He had enough faith inside to get in the ring and defend it, even when Brother Caleb and Brother Drake tried to put the Devil in him but he’d stood beside them and listened to them to keep up his end of the bargain - for heaven’s sake, he’d brought the Cup back to them. Setbacks happened. But if they looked in their heart of hearts they’d remember all the successes they’d had with him and not damn him after a moment where he’d come up short. Now that they’d gotten their fears out of the way, how about a little faith? The entire group stared at the usually quiet Gardner, especially a shocked Davis. Gray looked like he had something else to say but held his tongue; that didn't stop him from striding off. Once that happened, it didn't take long for Tremble and the perpetually silent End Times to follow the leader, leaving a stunned Davis and a Gardner who was literally scratching her head over the turn of events she’d created. Justice stuttered a bit before thanking Goody for her kind words. Gardner stared at him before taking a step closer and saying that she would be a fool to have faith in Him and not in Justice eventually prevailing ... but he had to have more faith, and if he couldn't find it in the good word he should find it between the ropes. Goody gave him a small nod and left, leaving Justice to chew over what she said. The announce team mentioned at the end of the clip that Justice’s redemption might come tonight when he faced John Arneson in the main event. From there, we went back to live action…
3. Justine Danek & Bella Jolie of Hysteria (w/QCW World Tag Team champions Bonnie Agrippa and Nancy Crowley) d. “Swamp Pride” Ted Holland & Robert E. Moonshine at 8:08 Justine and Bella continued Hysteria’s roll as promised earlier against the southern babyface friends in what turned out to be a showcase match. Bonnie and Nancy looked on with pride as their friends folded up the opposition; Holland was pinned by Justine after Team Spooky connected on Twelve Feet Under. Ruckus went to commercial break with each one standing on a turnbuckle and cackling, Agrippa and Crowley letting the World Tag Team championships shine under a Quality Arena awash in purple spotlights.
The back half of Ruckus began with Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red” on the PA and Beast Mode hitting the ring. A chyron on the Qualitron 9004 noted the #ANDNEW Women's World champion Lolo Vuitton while “These Hands” Roy Fade and “Dashing” Pierce Moore strutted behind her all the way down the ramp. Fade and Moore stood behind Vuitton as she put the Fifteen Pounds of Gold in the air with a shit eating grin on her face, causing gold and white pyro to explode on the stage while the three of them mugged for the cameras as the crowd booed them. They got mics from Duck Eko and Lolo spoke first - well, taunted is a better word - telling the fours to shut their hating asses up when a twelve was speaking. Lolo crowed that she had her title back, and it was damn sure her title because no one else in QCW history has held the same title four times before she put Diana's sour faced ass to sleep on Sunday night at QCW’s biggest show of all time. She was the champion of all champions, Miss Thang in the goddess flesh, the four time four time four time four time queen supreme, and none of the heffas in the back were going to change that anytime soon.
Fade walked up to Moore and put his arm around his longtime tag partner, saying that Lolo handled her business at AnniVersary and so did he and Pierce; Beast Mode promised all they’d do is win win win no matter what at AnniVersary and they'd done exactly that with a clean sweep and a return to championship gold. Hell, they’d added another win on Unleashed two nights ago. Facts. Facts! They told Sky’s the Limit they weren't on their level for months then went out and proved it. But if they were honest, it wasn't like Limit was entirely worthless - the only one of them who showed even the slightest possibility of being on Beast Mode’s level was Tre Boyd. Everyone had seen it for weeks since they’d all gotten there, hell, Tre could feel it himself. They could be called whatever but when you kept it a buck they were really Tre and the Boydettes. (Might want to ask the All Starr Stable about that one, Roy.) He was way above them and everybody could see it, which meant that since he was the only one around here worthy of their respect he should ditch those losers and these loser ass fans and run with the winners in Beast Mode. They got dubs, they got championships, and if Tre was as focused on the National as he looked, then he needed real backup and not some bargain basement sidekicks to help him handle business. When they said they were done waiting and they were taking all the turns, they weren't out here selling woof tickets, they were - and here Fade let a small but noticeable evil grin creep up on the corners - they were just speaking the Gospel. And that meant Tre heard them loud and clear. Lolo bragged on her belt and said she’d seen the way Tre had looked at her, and the only thing better than being a champ was getting with another champ. But the champagne wasn't gonna drink itself, the caviar wasn't going to spread itself and deals like this didn't come around too often, so Tre needed to come paint the town red and gold right next to them. Doja Cat hit the PA and Beast Mode used the ramp to the back for their personal catwalk while Steve and Carl wondered when Tre would respond to their offer to join up and what his choice would be.
4. Serge Batroc d. Jacques Krieger (w/Ashok Banjerjee) at 8:22 in a 10,000 franc challenge Flush with de Catur cash, Serge has had a new swagger in his step, a new seasonal residency in Singapore and somehow been even more condescending to the rest of the roster at the same time. This led to a string of Quality Social posts where Serge eventually ended up saying he could beat anybody in QCW in 10 minutes or less and was willing to put up five figures of francs (about $12.5k) to anyone willing to test their wares. Krieger loves a fight and making a little gambling money, and here we are.
The feeling out process didn't last long, as after eating a couple power moves from the powder keg Krieger you saw Serge cocoon himself in the ropes. When Krieger looked to continue the attack, Serge reached behind him and snapped Jacques’ left arm over the top rope in a hangman style maneuver. Batroc pivoted and quickly put a hammerlock on Krieger before throwing him hard into the nearest set of turnbuckles shoulder first. Batroc spent the next couple of minutes working over the arm, at one point taunting Krieger that he could see him coming and was going to dragon arm screw him down to the mat before locking in a Fujiwara armbar. It took a minute to happen but then it did, causing Krieger to scramble for the ropes and eventually hook the bottom one with his boot. Serge hung on until the ref was halfway through saying five, then strutted away. Serge’s premature celebration came to an end seconds later when Jacques spun him around with his good arm and headbutted him right in the teeth. Carl cackled at the desk that he didn't need an arm for that, and with Ashok firing up the crowd and giving encouragement Krieger mounted a comeback. He landed a couple of crisp back elbows and pulled off a one armed slam. Jacques then stepped things a notch by going for a shotei, but Serge ducked underneath it and went to throw the New Jerseyite into the corner only for Krieger to reverse it and quickly follow behind before connecting with a pump knee strike you could hear in the skybox. Batroc took it like a shotgun blast to the chin before flopping onto the mat and rolling out to the floor so that he couldn't be pinned. Ashok made sure to move away from the fallen Batroc as Jacques audibly cracked his neck before rolling out to the floor himself. Jacques started to come after Serge but Batroc dropkicked the bottom half of the stairs into Jacques and his injured arm slammed into the top of the stairs. A sneering Serge grabbed Krieger and threw him bad shoulder first into the ringpost before snatching him up and tossing him back in the ring. To add injury to injury, Serge took little time in hitting the Arc de Triomphe to secure the victory and hang onto his cash with a little over 90 seconds to go.
Right after Duck announced Serge as the winner, a figure accosted him and stole the microphone from him. Quality Force Security hit the scene only for the blonde man to yell at them that he was Richard Windsor, damnit. Maybe they didn't recognize him because he wasn't on his back; maybe they didn't recognize him because he wasn't being used as a public urinal. What really cheesed him off was that he left a storied career in God’s country behind in Great Britain to come to QCW. He did it because he had a partner he thought he could rely on in Jim and the support of the fans. But the past few months had revealed the truth: at his lowest point as a wrestler and a man, Jim was nowhere to be found and the fans were too busy laughing at him to care, and to add sprinkles of broken glass to this homeless man's tiramisu Omar Littlefield’s quote-unquote punishment for his godless actions was a fast track to the QCW World championship. So for everyone asking why he stabbed Jim in the back at AnniVersary, he didn't - they had. But now he'd pulled the knife out and was ready to start inflicting his own wounds. These unwashed toerags thought they’d seen a proper villain? The American school system had let them down once again. He was going to expose Jim as the secret softie he was and show real fury in demolishing that albatross disguised as a partner. Jim and QCW were about to learn what happened when you pissed Richard Windsor off. Windsor shoved the mic back at Duck, flipped QFS a double bird and marched out of Quality Arena; Ruckus hit the last commercial break of the evening while he left through the concourse.
5. Glam Squad d. Hellraisers at 8:44 A comeback win and the biggest one so far for Cole Grant & Freddie Valsada as they narrowly kept their undefeated streak going. Things began well for “Zaddy Longlegs” and “Fahrenheit” as they took the fight to Ian Cook and Gerry Greene. They isolated Cook and wore him down with quick tags and quick offense on the big man which included a sort of backpack senton combo from the newcomers; however, things took a turn for the worse when Grant went for a superkick that Cook dodged before launching him across the ring with a delayed pump release German suplex. Steve put over Cook’s history as an All-Britain Toughman champion as he tagged in Greene and they teamed up on a backdrop bomb. Hellraisers then took over and showed why they had been Catch Hell Wrestling League tag team champions, even if it was Cook doing 90% of the literal heavy lifting with Greene picking his spots. Hate ‘em or love to hate ‘em, the Brits were teaching Tag Team Wrestling 451 and poor Grant was the victim as the black hats kept him from tagging out on four separate occasions to the frustrations of Valsada. But Freddie never gave up, leading Quality Arena in “We Will Rock You” stomps and claps from the apron, even pulling Greene off of a cover from the floor after a Cook cheap shot sent him flying off the apron. Still, it looked like curtains when Hellraisers went for their To Hell With You finisher only for Grant to slip out of the deadlift German suplex and send Ian into Gerry’s flying lariat. Grant blasted Cook in the chin with a textbook superkick and flopped on top of him while Valsada scooped up Greene and atomic dropped Greene on the top rope; “the Shame of Birmingham” went bouncing off the apron and down to the floor as Cook didn't kick out until 6, twice too long to save the match. Grant and Valsada hugged before getting their hands raised on the floor, the announce team giving them praise for finding a way to win even when all hope looked lost.
Before the main event, Steve and Carl also conducted the hype train for 💫 next week’s Ruckus 💫, which is going to be Friday night appointment viewing even more than usual with it being the 4th Anniversary Show for QCW’s flagship: we’ll get a date and location announcement for this month’s Dia de los Muertos PPV | a ten tag team battle royale will determine the new #1 contenders to Hysteria’s tag straps | and in a PPV level main event, the Fifteen Pounds of Gold will be on the line when Omar Littlefield faces the man he took the belt from at Cruel Summer under shady circumstances, the One Mon Jihad, Nazir el-Fadal.
But that main event is then and this week's is coming up next…
6. John Arneson d. Justice Davis (w/the Chosen) by disqualification at 11:46 A tale of two AnniVersaries here; we saw the footage earlier in the show where JD got lambasted for dropping the fall in the trios contract match whereas Arneson won his QCW PPV debut by pinning Prince Ootsuka from the All Starr Stable. With the Chosen surrounding the ring, John seemed surprised when Justice offered him a handshake once the bell rang but Davis merely shook his hand and started working on trying to make amends for Sunday. Arneson and Davis went through a feeling out process early that was fought to a draw, so JD asked for and then got a test of strength. Similarly, that took the better part of a minute to play out before Arneson used his lower center of gravity to take Justice down. The match played out similarly, with Justice able to get in a couple of moves together periodically but never being able to string together a large chain of moves together because Arneson had him too well scouted. The two time former Evergreen Wrestling League champion avoided the biggest hits from the Davis moveset, locking his hands together to avoid being out in a cross arm breaker and avoiding the JDDDT twice - once by scrambling to the ropes and another by bull rushing Justice into the corner before taking him over in a beautiful Northern Lights suplex that got the Cold-Forged Hammer a nearfall with Davis kicking out at 2½. A trifecta of different suplexes later, John set up Davis for the Natural 20 avalanche powerslam he’d used to build his winning streak for the past couple of months but JD avoided it and shoved him down to the canvas. The Iron Dwarf managed to recover pretty quickly from that but not from the tumbleweed JD launched at him from the high rent district that left both men down for a spell. With Caleb exhorting - maybe commanding - him on, Justice mounted a comeback that he hoped would put him on the better side of how the 55/45 match had been going. Davis used his size advantage to keep Arneson down for the next couple of minutes and was even able to land an impressive double stomp off the ropes for a nearfall of his own. Moments later, a series of corner whips saw Arneson get the last counter in when he got his boots up and rocked the reigning Duquesne Classic winner’s breadbasket. Arneson went up to the top rope from there but JD cut his legs out from under him to leave him hung out to dry up high. Davis landed a right hand to keep Arneson in place then followed him up looking for a superplex - but Arneson cut him off with some right hands of his own to JD’s ribs and then some headbutts before hoisting the former World Tag Team champion up and planted him into the mat with his trusty Natural 20. Arneson covered Davis but between 2 and 3 Drake Tremble and the End Times hit the ring and swarmed John, leaving the ref no choice but to call for the bell.
Caleb Gray entered the ring a few beats behind his acolytes but just as Justice was beginning to pull himself off of the canvas. A visibly heated Davis got to his feet and began pulling off Tremble, Danny Castle and Dr. Martin Williams and yelling at them he was fine and he would’ve kicked out - former QCW champion Tremble barked back that he didn't have the killer instinct against Jupiter Jones and now he was getting beaten by a glorified elf. Goody Gardner came into the ring as Justice began to respond to Tremble only to get spun around by Caleb, who assured Justice that his brothers in arms were only looking out for him and had his best interests in mind. Heaven forbid their newest member take two losses in five days, after all. Goody tried to play peacemaker between her allies as Ruckus went off the air with the bickering between JD, Caleb and Drake continuing probably even after Ruckus faded to black.
