PCW Live: Personal Burial Money
A moment is the most you can ever expect from perfection.
Arisa stands in the ring with a mic in hand and a wide smile on her face. “Hello, everyone! Welcome back to PCW! Did you miss me last week?” The fans cheer her on and the superstar bows as she puts a hand over her heart. “Thank you so much for the warm reception. I’ve missed you, too, but what I’ve missed even more...is competition.” The fans quiet down as Arisa’s face becomes a little more hardened, her demeanor more serious than before. “After Natalya and Frankie made their challenges, I felt as if no one else cared to fight me. I thought that I scared them off, but now...now I think no one cares about Arisa Hoshiki.”
The fans boo that sentiment and start to chant for her. “No, no! It’s okay. It’s my fault. I should be a better, more enticing champion. I should make people want to fight me, so tonight? I want to make a challenge for Sweeneymania and—“
Spiteful cuts off Hoshiki’s speech as Alexa makes her way to the stage with her own mic. Pigtails bouncing and eyes squinting at the champion, Bliss smirks. “Don’t bother finishing that sentence because I’ve just spoken with Taya and she has already made it clear that I have more than enough points to face you at Sweeneymania in two weeks.” The fans applaud that announcement, but Alexa wasn’t done. “You might wanna hold the applause because I’m not finished. Not only will you defend your title, but it will be in a submission match.” Bliss made her way to the ring and steps through the ropes, smirking at Arisa with her hands on her hips.
Arisa nods and gives Alexa a thumbs up, a wide grin spreading on her lips. “That’s fine by me, Bliss! I want nothing more than to prove I’m a capable champion and face you at Sweeneymania. No one has tried to face me since my match with Natalya, so I look forward to it. It’ll be a great match for sure!”
“Oh, I know. And it’ll end with me becoming the NEW PCW Heart of Phoenix Champion after I tap you out. You’ve been coasting by for long enough with mediocre competition, but you now have an opponent who knows exactly what to do to get what she wants. I’m not Natalya or Frankie. I will make you cry and send you packing back to Stardom.”
Arisa’s smile slowly falls as the crowd starts to boo Alexa’s proclamation. “We’ll see about that, Alexa.” Hoshiki holds her title up high in the air and tries to shake Bliss’s hands. Alexa looks the woman up and down before smiling, grabbing her hand only to pull Arisa into a vicious forearm. She drops the champion to the mat and wastes no time following up with the Insult to Injury. She takes the championship in her hands and raises it up high. “It’s my turn now!”
Logan Square Auditorium
Penelope Ford (With MJF) vs Hania
As soon as the bell rings, Penelope ducks out of the ring away from Hania’s wrath. The huntress demands she gets back into the ring, but Ford gave her the finger before waving her off. The referee is forced to back Hania up from the ropes and Ford slowly climbs back into the ring. Hania races back in towards Ford and Penelope grabs the referee and pulls him in front of her in the corner. Hania is growling now as she tries to claw Penelope from behind the referee. Penelope sees an opening and kicks Hania between the referee’s legs, catching her in the thigh. She shoves the referee out of the way and drives a forearm into the face before connecting with a running bulldog.
Ford rolls her over for the pin, but Hania instantly kicks out. Penelope drives fist after fist to the back of the head, not letting Hania get up. She grabs the hair and pulls the huntress into a chinlock. Hania doesn’t tap, but Ford doesn’t dare release the hold. The she-wolf has to slip out from under her and grabs Ford by the hair before slamming the face into the mat repeatedly. She drags Penelope by the leg into the corner before forcing her back into it. Hania gets multiple chops and kicks to the torso before charging in with a high dropkick to the face. Ford drops to the mat and Hania hooks the leg. One...two...t—MJF pulls Penelope from the ring and the referee gives him a warning.
Hania wastes no time using the ropes to springboard into MJF with a crossbody. She forces him up by the collar, connecting with a forearm to the jaw. Ford gets behind Hania with a superkick to the back of the head. She grabs her by the hair and slings the she-wolf towards the ring post. The referee reaches a count of six as Penelope follows up with a leg drop to the back of the head on the floor. Hania is dazed as Ford rolls back into the ring, letting the referee count out the she-wolf.
Once the belly rings, Ford celebrates by mocking Hania. She gets out of the ring and pushes the side of Hania’s head multiple times before the she-wolf suddenly lashes out, throwing punches and biting the arm of Ford until she draws blood. She slings Penelope into the barricade and MJF has to get in between them to protect Ford. Hania doesn’t hesitate to attempt a bite on MJF, but security makes their way to the ring to break it up. Hania stares them down with blood dripping down her chin and grins.
Santos & Callihan vs Diem & Nox
Melissa and Sami made their way to the ring first, ready to conquer the world together, and they expected an easy fight from the often-absent Fear Master and the in-ring novice Somnium, but they were in for a completely different story.
From their arrival, there was no sound of porcelain against porcelain, no hesitation with each step and certainly no fear. The night and day team joined the other two at the center of the ring and the bell rung.
With surprising agility and inhuman resilience, Somnium handled Sami Callihan from the start, taking all the punishment the New Horror could dish and returning it in kind. There was force behind it, but more than anything it was the sting of plastic left behind the punches what made Sami tag Melissa in, and Pavor Nox stepped in.
Before Pavor had the chance to walk Santos through her worst fears, she took him down with a swift baseball slide, trying to keep him distracted enough so that he couldn't enter her mind and fish for a phobia.
The battle went on with constant, quick tags from the Future Phoenix champion and her partner, but Somnium decided to take most of the match by himself, much against his maker's orders.
Just when it seemed like the unnatural resistance of the doll was tiring the married team, Callihan managed to put him away with the Cranial Contusion, not because a piledriver did much to him, but because the other man's strength kept him down long enough for the pin, pressing his shoulders to the mat despite all the kicking and screaming.
The bell rang, and though shaking his head, Pavor helped his partner up, a brief nod towards Callihan as they made their way off the ring and into nothingness.
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The lower you fall, the higher you'll fly.
Hayley had intentions of interviewing Austin Aries, but as she came upon the interview space, Aries is tossed into the wall by Frankie Valentine. The two throw punches back and forth as Indigo Kelly drags Lynch by her red locks across the floor. She slams the face into the wall before pressing her knee into Becky’s neck to choke her. The chaos didn’t stop there. Hania misses a clothesline to Mitchell and eats a forearm to the face as Brian and Balor crash through a supply closet door. As bodies were being thrown, kicked, punched, and bruised, one of the competitors for the gauntlet waltz through the destruction without flinching a bit.
Dark curls elegantly wrapped into a bun and an equally sinister smile to match, Candice approaches Hayley with a smile. “I know you were expecting a much more...refined discussion, but these people just can’t help themselves. You were supposed to see Aries, but...” they both look in his direction as he double teams Allysin with Mark Andrews. They two men stomp down on the woman mercilessly as Candice clears her throat. “Let me guess—you wanted to know what his strategy was? Or if he had any doubts about this match? I’ll save you the trouble of asking the same, full questions and take it from here.”
Candice snatches the mic from Atwell and turns to the camera with a sly smile. Behind her, Webster, Jenny, and Arisa race past in an attempt to dodge Mark Andrews as he goes for a senton out of the blue to Frankie. “Sweeneymania is shaping up to the best show of the year and it’s all thanks to me. My very presence in PCW has completely shifted the playing field and now we’ve got people fighting like wild animals just for a scrap of recognition.” As she speaks, Lynch has Indigo on her shoulders and spins in a circle to knock down Frankie, Mark, and Hania with her feet. Becky then tosses Kelly into Allysin, but Kay catches her and uses the woman’s body to bulldoze Lynch into the wall again. Scarlett comes walking by with her title around her waist. She raises a brow as Pillman leaps off a random table to get to Finn once again.
The champion ducks from a stray boot flying in the air and giggles to herself as she makes her way through the chaos without a single scratch. “Imagine the mayhem I cause when I actually step back into a ring. Regardless of my position on the card and in the gauntlet, I’m going to steal the show by winning my first match on a grand stage for a championship opportunity.” By this point, Allysin freed herself from the brawl, only grab Candice by the bun from behind and drag her into the midst of the chaos. Hayley looks on in disbelief as security tries to break up the fight. As she tries to leave, a steel chair narrowly misses her head as it crashes against the wall. The camera pans out a little further to see Taya recording the brawl while sporting a referee’s uniform.
“It’s such good shit.”
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Tyler Breeze vs Jenny Blake vs Paige
The bell rings and Paige takes out Blake early on with a superkick to the jaw. Blake rolls into the corner and Paige connects with a cannonball to keep her down. She focuses on Tyler and goes for a clothesline, but Breeze ducks and locks her into a flatliner for the pin. Paige kicks out at one. Breeze rebounds off the ropes for a running knee strike, but Paige ducks and rolls him up for a two count. They both go for a maneuver, but Breeze gets the advantage with the sling blade. He hooks the leg on Paige, but Jenny breaks it up immediately.
Blake has him up and looks for the neckbreaker, but Tyler reverses and shoves her off. He springboards off the ropes for a huracarrana to send her flying across the ring. Paige tries to get back in this with a dropkick to the Breeze. He rolls into the corner and Blake was in the opposing corner. Paige capitalizes by racing around the inside of the ring for a boot to the faces of both competitors. She tries to capitalize on Blake with the Scorpion Deathlock, but Jenny fights her way out of it and kicks the woman back. Paige races in for an attack, but Blake counters into the crucifix pin. One...two—Tyler breaks it up with a kick to Jenny’s back.
He yanks Jenny up by the hair and slings her into the ropes, but she evades danger by springboarding off the ropes with a flip over Breeze’s head. She rebounds off the ropes with a handspring elbow attack and follows up with a standing moonsault for the pin. One...two...th—Tyler kicks out. Paige is back in it and tries to capitalize from behind with a Gory bomb, but Blake counters into a sunset flip power bomb. One...two...thr—Tyler connects with a superkick to Jenny’s face. He forces Paige up while Jenny is down and capitalizes with the Beauty Shot to pin the Englishwoman and secure his place in the chamber with ten points.
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The things you used to own, now they own you.
Tyler Breeze is backstage after his match, catching his breath and drinking from a custom made mug. The outside was bedazzled in diamonds with his image painted on one side with his signature selfie pose. Concerned with refreshing himself, Sami Callihan’s presence didn’t initially register in his mind until Callihan scoffs in his direction. Breeze raised a brow and slowly stood to his feet. “Can I help you, sir? Need me to spare a few coins to pay rent?” Tyler chuckles as Sami stares him down without a lick of humor in his expression. “You must feel pretty proud gaining the last chamber spot, but you might wanna rethink what you’ve done. All you did was sign away your life to me...because I didn’t forget about the stunt you pulled last week.”
Tyler steps forward and whispers, ”usually these threats only work when you’re actually intimidating.” Tyler laughs out loud and shrugs his shoulders. “You don’t intimidate me or anyone else on this roster. Hell, even your own damn girlfriend kicked your ass for the championship. No shade to her...but let’s be real here. What waves have Melissa up until then? PCW’s favorite damsel in distress. It shocked us all that you took the L, but then it dawned on me that the tough guy act was just that—an act. And boy, did you fuck up the last big scene.” Sami lightly chuckles and nods.
“Yeah, she kicked my ass, yet I bounced back and beat the champion. Something you failed to do back in December.” Tyler makes a face and Callihan smiles. “Yeah, we didn’t forget that match nor did we forget how badly she kicked your ass to win.”
“So you might want to pull your head from your ass, Breeze, because I’m only allowing you to stand right now in order to made you kneel in the chamber.” Breeze’s jaw tightens, but before he can respond, the first entrant into the chamber makes his appearance with a laugh.
“Children, children—relax. You both made it in the end and you can let out all your pent-up rage in two weeks. Just know that it’ll be for nothing because I plan to win. That title has evaded me long enough.” Jackal steps in between them and looks them both up and down. “You can have your little spin-off show after Sweeneymania, but the camera and spotlight is going to be on me when it comes time to crown a new champion.”
Jackal pats both of their backs before walking away from the area. Both men stare after him with slightly enraged expressions before they exchange glances. Callihan pretends to slice his neck with his finger, grinning at Breeze as he slowly backs away. Tyler remains undaunted, taking another sip of his water as he tries to think of a game plan for the chamber match.
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Mike Quackenbush vs Jonathan Gresham
Special Referee Taya Valkyrie
Special Referee Taya Valkyrie
Gresham and Quackenbush stand in the ring, both men shaking hands as they await their special guest referee. None other than the CEO, Taya Valkyrie, makes an appearance with the oddest uniform to date. Her stripped tank-top was covered in subtle glitter and her shorts had a diamond-encrusted belt. The long, black socks glittered, as well, and even her shoes had a white glow every time she made a step. For some reason, she had a backwards cap on, a whistle around her neck, and two black marks across her face under the eyes. Once she was in the ring, Valkyrie blew on it in both of their faces and they had to cover their ears to block out the sound. “Okay, men! I want a good, clean fight. No hitting below the belt...unless you just can’t help yourself. No eye poking or gouging, no scratching, no biting, and no nipple twisters. Understood?” The two stared at her in confusion. “RING THE BELL!” She blows the whistle again and the match finally begins.
The two men circled the ring as Taya looks on, locking up. They struggle for control, but Mike shows his skill as he gets the side headlock and takes Gresham down. Jonathan struggles momentarily before slipping out and getting his own headlock. He tries for a double undertook suplex, but Mike remains grounded and slips through the legs before sweeping them out from under his opponent. In the next moment, he’s got both legs in hand and turns Greshman over to hook the arms, as well, lifting Gresham off the ground before lightly swinging him back and forth to stretch out each limb. Taya watches Gresham’s face carefully for a submission, but Mike eventually drops him to the mat. He looks for the dropkick and sends Jonathan into the corner. Quackenbush tries for a crossbody, but Gresham sidesteps him and drives multiple firearms into the chest. Taya blows her whistle. “Get out of the corner, chucho! Uno, dos, tres—“
The whistle caught Jonathan off guard and Quackenbush uses the corner to elevate himself and get the huracarrana. Gresham uses his power and swings Mike with his own momentum into a powerbomb and covers him. Taya drops down for the count. One...two...t—Quackenbush kicks out in time. Jonathan has him up from behind, looking for a German suplex. Quackenbush drops on his neck and rolls onto the apron. Jonathan tries to maintain control as he grabs the hair and slams the face into the corner post. Mike slumps against the post as Gresham steps onto the apron. Taya starts the count as Jonathan looks for another suplex, but Mike elbows him back. He delivers a kick to the gut and drops his head onto the apron with a Canadian Destroyer. Both men topple to the floor. Taya keeps counting and reaches six as Quackenbush gets to his feet. He sends Jonathan back into the ring with a pin. One...two...—Gresham is still in it. Mike looks to wrap the arm around his ankle and drops back to violently bend the arm awkwardly. Gresham is rolling on the mat in agony.
Quackenbush follows up by grabbing the arm and forcing Gresham up to his feet. He elbows the arm multiple times before Jonathan forearms him. He whips Quackenbush into the ropes and misses the clothesline. Mike tries for a springboard back elbow as a counter, but Greshman steps up on the ropes to catch him and drop him head with an elevated suplex for the pin. One...two...thre—Quackenbush remains alive. Jonathan lays him down on his side, grabbing the arm between the legs before giving Mike a high-five. He wraps the other arm around the leg and snaps the top one back with a leg snap, remain in the position to bend the arm momentarily. Jonathan transitions into the armbar and Quackenbush capitalizes as he slips through and quickly drives a knee into the back of the head. He forces Gresham up and looks for the Tiger Driver for the win. One...two...thre—Jonathan kicks out in time. Quackebush doesn’t let up as Gresham stands. He rebounds off the ropes and reverses an oncoming clothesline into the Cerebral Lock. Gresham is stuck, struggling to get out of the hold. It looks as if he would tap, but Mike loses his grip and lets him down. He tries for another running knee, but Greshman catches him with a high knee to the face.
He wraps an arm around the neck and gets Mike up high for a torture rack slam. He goes up top in the corner and wastes no time getting the frog splash to hook the legs. One...two...—Quackenbush kicks out with even more fire than seen before. Gresham is in complete shock, staring at his opponent with wide eyes as Quackenbush crawls to the ropes for support. Gresham forearms the back and forces him around to chop the chest before locking Quackenbush into the ropes with the spider lock. Mike’s arms and legs are caught, stretching against the ropes, but Taya has to count it. Gresham releases him at four and springboards in as Mike stands with a dropkick. He locks up the arms around the legs while Mike is down on his side and pulls the legs up for the Tequila Sunrise. Mike struggles to escape, Taya looking for him to submit.
Quackenbush refuses to give up, biting back a cry of agony as Jonathan has him bent worse than a pretzel. He uses his free leg to find the ropes, forcing the breakup. As Mike stands, Jonathan tries for the tilt-a-whirl facebuster, but Quackenbush catches with a backbreaker. Both men are down on the mat and Taya checks on them before starting the ten count. The fans stomp their feet, not wanting this to end, but knowing both men are reaching their limit. They stand together, trading punches. Gresham strikes Mike with a forearm and it’s returned with a chop to the chest. Both men have the same idea of running the ropes, but it’s Jonathan who seems to have the advantage with another tilt-a-whirl maneuver, but Mike quickly counters into the crucifix position and drops Gresham with the Quackendriver IV. He hooks both legs and Taya drops to the mat. One...two...three!
Mike takes the victory and Taya raises his hand high before slapping his back hard. “Good job, chucho!” She blows the whistle in his face, despite how exhausted he was already. Quackenbush tears the whistle from her neck and tosses it into the crowd and the blonde scrunches up her face before lightly kicking him in the kneecap. Mike elbows her in the side before approaching Greshman to help him up. The two men shake hands again and Taya uses her lips to whistle before raising both their hands.