PCW Phase Two: Scorched Earth

The lights began to dim in the UIC Pavillion in Chicago, Illinois. There were over nine thousand seats in the house and far more than half of them had already filled. As the final sound and light checks were being completed, more patrons made their way to the chairs, settling into them, talking amongst themselves. Some of those, especially to toward the front were showing each other the signs they'd made at home especially for the show.

While not every seat was filled, the majority of them were and there was a near tangible excitement pulsing through the crowd. Some had their phones out taking pictures of the well-lit ring or themselves to show they were there.

When the first notes of "The Phoenix" hit, there were a few audible cheers from the fans. The lights from the stage hit, multicoloured light washing over the ring, washing over the faces of the people at attention, some of them standing, in the rows closest to the ring.

Not far into the lyrics, the lights turned red, orange and when they went yellow, Louden Noxious stepped out, raising his hands to the cheers of more of the fans, feeding off the energy of the audience. He walked part of the way but sped up closer to the ring, hopping up onto the ring's apron easily. He slid in through the middle rope and held his mic up high. His hair was spiked up high and wild as always and he wore a black suit like usual, turning around once.

Hello Chicago!

He yelled into the mic, grinning broadly when he heard the swell in the cheers and applause, but waiting for it to die down so he could continue.

Have we got a show for you Tonight!

As he started speaking the music lowered, playing out so he could be heard.

We're starting off the New Year in a big way here at Phoenix Championship Wrestling. Here tonight every one of you is about to witness the last of our first round qualifying matches for both the Women's Championship and the World Championship!

Here comes your first match right from your dreams or maybe your nightmares - Aleister Black Versus Jett Armstrong!

World Championship Tournament: First Round. (Match Three)

As soon as the match was announced, the lights all went out, giving way to Aleister Black. The dark figure stood from his coffin position with the magical ease he always did, and made his way down the ramp and into the ring with the same ominous aura which always surrounded him. He rolled gracefully over the third rope and landed cross-legged in the middle of the ring to wait for his opponent from there. The lights started to pulsate as they came back to life.

Jett Armstrong's entrance turned the whole mood of the place around, making the people and the arena light up with his energy, he bounced and made his fans scream in response to the silence which had preceded him. He didn't seem intimidated by the man waiting for him between the ropes, even as he went in himself, he was clearly the opposing force to the darkness of his adversary.

Twenty minutes went by really fast, and the audience was kept on the edge of their seats the whole time. The tempo changed from slow paced to fast several times, making the fans in attendance gasp and scream. Both wrestlers, true masters of their craft, really raised the spirits in the room, and it took more than one of their finishers for the referee count to go over just the tortuous "two!." Finally, it was Aleister who took the win and did so with a full display of sportsmanship, shaking his opponent's hand at the end and raising his hand when the referee had only raised his,

Louden climbed back into the ring once both the competitors were out of it.

Alright, folks! Let's hear it one more time for Aleister Black and Jett Armstrong!"

Immediately the crowd responded to the announcer's words by cheering for both men. During the match, they had been pumped up. The chanting and cheering had been almost even for both competitors and now they were still amped up, ready for the next match. Some of them already had their signs ready, one already holding a poster of Jinny's face with a red X through it.

That's the spirit! The next match we have for your tonight is between two of the toughest women I've ever seen. This is bound to be a match of sheer strength and some shall we say, questionable tactics?

He shrugged, grinned and shouted into the mic: "Give it up for Jinny and Shaul Guerrero!" to thunderous cheers from the audience.

Women's Championship Tournament: First Round. (Match Three)

Shaul Guerrero's confidence exuded through her every step as she walked with down the ramp, her hips moving with her, her charisma and flair coming into the ring with her. She waited for her opponent while stretching and talking to some of her fans in the front row.

As "Haute Couture" started playing, the audience knew exactly what to do. While some stray fans cheered, the rest knew that Jinny was not a friend of theirs. She was there to be the best, to show people their place, she strutted her way around the ring, making the space front row her catwalk. Stepping into the ring with ease, and outstretching her arms for the world to see her in full grandeur.

The match started early when Shaul started attacking Jinny as she was posing. The bell rang immediately, basically out of panic, and the opponents started strong, not giving one another room to breathe, in big part due to what had been said on social media, and also because both women wanted their shot at the gold. The Queen of Couture used her technical prowess to keep her opponent grounded, but The Guerrero Legacy, the woman who wanted to create a legacy of her own, responded in kind.

Both of them seemed worse for wear as they neared the fifteen-minute mark, all the glamour gone and just the desire to prevail remained. There were plenty of closed fists being thrown around, the referee's four-counts happened often as the opponents kept one another against the ropes to inflict as much punishment as possible. Jinny attempted an acid rainmaker on Shaul, who managed to avoid it and took the opportunity to forearm her and stun her enough to set her up for a masterfully executed Gory Bomb. All her training years paid off as she turned the dangerous Jinny over and pinned her for the three count. 

There were no displays of sportsmanship, even as the fallen Fashionista stood and observed her opponent walk back up the ramp, Jinny wasn't happy with her defeat, and the audience didn't seem to mind as she threatened the referee and walked away, kicking and screaming.

The large titantron and the screens over the ring showed Warren Hearst come from the locker room to the screen room, where Jinder Mahal stood, observing a replay of the contests which had just happened, back to the Black versus Armstrong one, to prepare for who could be his opponent for the finals.

You did great out there last Wednesday, bro! Warren slapped him rather hard on the shoulder to get his attention, and the Maharaja turned around to look at him with some disgust first, and then his sneer turned to a slight smile when he was congratulated.

I bet if he could scream, he would have, with how hard you hit him! The blonde laughed whole-heartedly, and the Indo-Canadian joined in on the laughter after a few minutes.

He didn't even congratulate me on the victory, either! They continued their jolly laugh, but Robbie Sallis joined them as the camera panned out of the two other wrestlers. They went quiet for a moment, stopping their laughter while they were glared at. But they resumed their laughter almost immediately and walked away from the other man, leaving him alone to shake his head.

The screen faded to black.

There were a few scattered cheers but mostly boos or "Aww's" from the people in the audience. At least one fan shouted an off comment at the clearly not present Warren. They were still pumped up from the match. The support for Shaul had been nearly unanimous while Jinny was being booed and chanted against almost just as loudly as Shaul was being supported by the massive gathering.

The spikey haired host pushed his seat back from the commentary table and pulled himself back up onto the apron. He came nearly face to face with a still furious Jinny and held his hands up. She snatched the mic from him and shouted:

This isn't OVER!

into it, throwing it viciously back into the ring behind her. She shoved into him with her upper lip raised condescendingly.

Louden held onto the turnbuckle, only tiptoeing back into the ring to get his microphone again once the enraged fashionista had stomped her way back up the ramp. He dusted off the mic, tossed it upward and caught it with the other hand. 

What do you think of that?

He held the mic outward to the crowd to magnify the reactionary cheers and boos. 

I hear you! Now let's keep that energy up for our second-to-last match of the night.

I bring you The Exotic Goddess, Miss Mandy Leon and her opponent, the ever-dazzling, Charlotte Flair!

Women's Championship Tournament: First Round. (Match Four)

The smoke and flickering lights announced the arrival of the Exotic Goddess Mandy Leon. She came out with her sheer cape and leaned down, turning her body around and looking at the audience through the triangular symbol of the Eye of Nazar. She swung, slapped hands and made her way to the ring with her usual hypnotic rhythm, climbing up the turnbuckle and running her eyes once again through her protective triangle. She left her cape in the corner and waited for the Heir of Flair to step down the ramp.

Charlotte Flair came out to the remixed version of Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra, and the crowd stood, breathless, observing the dominance of the genetic royalty take over the stage, arms spread to her sides, turning slowly with the camera, walking down the ramp the way only a Flair could. She discarded her elaborate cloak before stepping into the ring, cartwheeling around the side of it and doing a split to get inside, trusting her opponent to wait until her entrance was done before performing any attack. Which the Queen of Honor did.

The bell rung. Both opponents locked in with perfect pace and expertise, they took their time and gave the other breathing space as they went on. Step by step, move by move they evened each other out, the referee's work seemed easy this time, as both women seemed to want to rely on nothing but their abilities to win.

Around the middle of the match, a surprise visitor, accompanied by Smoke DZA's Lo Horsemen, showed up. Tessa Blanchard, in street clothes, carrying a very elegant steel chair, sat down in front of the ring, right at the end of the ramp, to watch the match unfold.

Both women continued unphased, but whenever Charlotte, however, small the maneuver, successfully one-upped her opponent, the Queen B would loudly clap and cheer for her, nodding her head in approval, which slowly, but surely got to Flair's head. She stopped, she looked at Tessa from the ring, the continuously got distracted by her "fan" so close to the ring, and the constant lack of focus made her lose when Mandy saw her opportunity to take her opponent and locked her in the Havana Dreams.

Unprepared and distracted, Charlotte tapped to the dangerous move and the Exotic Goddess took this victory for what it was. She stepped away from the ring after being declared the official winner, and an enraged Charlotte stood up to yell at Blanchard. Who's clear response was heard even without the need of a microphone: "I had your back, Charlotte. Guess we're not that similar after all..." With that threatening quote, she stepped away from the ramp, leaving the Genetic Queen confused and fuming in the ring, watching that empty chair, whose former occupant caused her the match.

The fans were going wild. As a whole they were already engaged in the match before Tessa interfered but they erupted as soon as she got involved, one waving a supportive sign for Mandy screamed loud enough to be heard individually.

Louden had his lips pursed like he was making a reactionary whistle as he made his way back into the ring, eyes a little wide, making sure this time to wait until the wrestlers had vacated the ring before entering it himself, giving them a wide berth.

Alright! This is it! The Final Match of the Night! This is bound to get rough. We bring you Mr. Athletic, Jeff Cobb versus the always feared King of the Death Match, Jimmy Havoc!

World Championship Tournament: First Round. (Match Four)

The ring went dark right after the introduction, except for smokey laser lines and a bright, but thin trail of lines outlining the ramp.

Korn's Coming Undone started playing, and Jeff Cobb's shadow spread through the ramp like a terrifying monster, even if his attitude opposed how imposing his figure was, the audience still gave way for him. Quiet at the start and getting progressively louder as he approached the ring, the lights increasing in intensity as he moved by them. He removed his shirt once inside the ring, climbing the turnbuckle with ease and dropping to the middle of the ring to wait for his opponent, rolling his neck and stretching in anticipation, even as the green lights which preceded him turned to a spill of red.

Jimmy Havoc came out slowly, biding his time and waiting for the right moment during Silent Descent's Psychotic Euphoric to walk down the ramp. His red jacket moved behind him, and his long figure spilling in shadows as Cobb's had done, but framed by the eerie red lights on the floor. It turned to his back as he moved and the lighting switched, letting his shadow linger behind him as he stepped inside the ring, fully decided to take the victory for himself and move on to the semi-finals.

AfterJimmy removed his jacket and mask, the match started. The bell rung a little after the wrestlers were already locked in. The background of Cobb's wrestling was evident from the start, tackling and taking down Havoc with ease, working on his shoulders and handling him as if he were weightless.

Havoc turned the match around by showing his own wrestling training, going lock-by-lock with the Olympic beast. After some classic grounded wrestling, Havoc seemed to grow desperate and the match spilt to the outside. He slammed Cobb against the ring post and took a breather himself while the much heavier man recovered from the sudden impact to his shoulder. Around the count of six, Cobb grabbed Havoc and slammed him to the ground with a perfectly executed belly-to-belly suplex, climbing inside the ring and waiting for the King of Goth's to recover. Which he did, just in time to stop the referee from reaching ten.

Twenty gruelling minutes went by, and neither of them looked like they were going to be done soon. But as soon as Jimmy attempted an acid rainmaker, Cobb used his strength to turn it around and take Havoc for a Tour of the Islands, successfully pinning the very suffocated Goth for the three count. The victor was announced, and Jeff Cobb made it as the last person to enter the semi-finals.

Havoc rolled out of the ring and didn't stay much longer, though he nodded almost imperceptively as a silent congratulatory gesture to the other man.

When both of the final competitors left the ring, Louden entered one more time looking as though he was basking in the cheering and chants of the thousands of attendees.

And that concludes our show! The results are in, people! Next week on January 10th, still right here in old Chicago Town's UIC Pavilion, during "Phase Three: Hard Country," you can all hold witness to two of our semifinal matches and two other surprise matches. And on January 20th, we get to experience the conclusion of both tournaments and crown the first Champions of Phoenix Championship Wrestling!

Give it up one more time, Phoenix Fans! 

The lights went dark on Louden's raised mic to the final applause of the patrons.