PCW Live: Twilight
Logan Square Auditorium
Austin Aries vs Corvus (With Vipress)
From the beginning of the match, Vipress made both of her fighters drink the potion they were now so used to. Corvus gave Aries an apologetic look while drinking, before closing his eyes from the horrible aftertaste. Aries remained stoic when his turn came, and the brawl began as if they hated each other, Corvus' anger and violence untamed while Aries' precision was enhanced.
After a couple of minutes, Vipress grew bored and stopped Austin in his tracks. "Lay down. He's winning this match." The belt collector raised an eyebrow and laughed in her face, shoving her aside to continue with the punishment he'd been laying on the technician, and she made a second attempt.
"I said. LAY. DOWN." Out of sheer defiance, Aries brought the beaten up Corvus towards Vipress, leaning him right against the corner where she was yelling from, hitting him with the Discus Fivearm and knocking him out, the physical effects of the potion slowly wearing off of the unconscious young man, with Aries standing victorious over him, staring at Vipress.
MJF vs Marty Scurll
Rather than get into the ring, MJF remains on the outside with a mic in hand. “Marty, I know this is your once in a lifetime chance to challenge me and actually get a win in your career that’ll matter, but I personally don’t need this match against you. I have a guaranteed opportunity to be in any match of my choosing and I finally decided that Sami Callihan and I got some unfinished business to handle. I’ll be heading to Moonstruck no matter what, so there’s no point in wasting my time with the likes of you.”
MJF starts to walk up the ramp and Scurll tries to get the referee to bring him back in. Maxwell bows on the stage with a smug look on his face. “Oh, and when I’ll beat Callihan by pinning his pretty, little girlfriend in the centre of the ring. It’ll be the icing on top after having my leg stabbed and damn near cut off by that lunatic. He’s going to understand that I am not someone he should piss off. He’s a disgusting, vile, and depraved vermin—no doubt about that—but he’s no MJF. When it comes down to it, I have the skill to succeed, but him? He’s just classless, worthless, piece of—“
He’s unable to finish as the Future Phoenix Champion comes raging out and attacks him from behind with the belt. Sami beats down on MJF by stomping the foot onto the back. He then drags Maxwells to his feet and tosses him off the stage onto the floor without hesitation. Sami takes the mic and grins. “You can talk shit about that whore until the sun comes up. She ain’t mine anymore...but when you speak on my name with that kind of disrespect? Well, I just have come to remind you of who exactly it is you’re fucking with right now.” Callihan spits on MJF’s fallen body as paramedics come to check on him while security tries to get the champion to leave. “Belt be damned, boy. I’m gone make you squeal like a pig while I’m gutting you in the middle of the ring.”
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From Now On
Hayley sits backstage, patiently waiting for her interviewees to arrive. Several had passed, however, and she was starting to get ticked off. “Where are they?!” She asked the camerawoman multiple times, but no clear response ever came about. As Hayley gathered her things to leave, only then did Kamille coming walking in with a nearly blank face. It was hard to tell what she was thinking until a brow risen as she saw Hayley leaving. The brunette stopped in her tracks and glared in Kamille’s direction. The latest signee hardly reacted. She simply took a step towards the brunette and Hayley realized how much taller and stronger Kamille appeared now that little space separated them.
“...Nick Aldis isn’t coming, I presume?” No answer. “Fine. I’ll just interview you since you’re finally here. Ladies and gentlemen, my guest has finally arrived. Please welcome our latest signed, Kamille Brickhouse!” Kamille gave the interviewer a smile, but something was off about it. “Kamille, thank you for joining us. I see Aldis isn’t accompanying you tonight. Has he sent you to send a message for PCW?” Kamille still did not speak. Rather she took another step towards Hayley, practically sizing her up as she looked over the woman with another smile. This time, Hayley got a shiver down her spine and she tried to back up a little as she cleared her throat. “Is there anything you’d like to say to the PCW fans watching...? Management...?”
Kamille’s smile widens a bit as she snatches the microphone out of Hayley’s hand and turns her back to the camera, revealing a “Strictly Business” jacket with both her and Aldis on the back. She glances over at Hayley and the smile quickly fades. The woman tosses the mic back to Hayley and leaves the interview area with Hayley somewhat fuming for being held up only for Kamille to say nothing.
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Special Challenge
Brian Pillman Jr. vs Loren Armitage
Brian Pillman Jr. vs Loren Armitage
Loren made his entrance as he'd been doing them lately, a flash of blinding light filling the arena and slowly reducing until there was just a red aura around his kneeling form, standing up and vanishing his visor off his face with a movement of his hand.
Brian Pillman followed right after, coming in decided and with the backup from the people chanting his name and cheering for him, which made Loren, sitting on the middle rope with his arms over the top rope, roll his eyes.
The match went as it should, with both highflyers giving it all in the ring, but Loren's moves seemed particularly vicious, his holds pointedly targetting very specifically Brian's right knee, dragging him to the outside with him, leaning the second-generation wrestler against the announce table. "Beyond Tomorrow, Pillman. I have a very special message from an old friend of yours." Without even flinching, Loren ripped a monitor from the table and slammed Pillman with it, getting immediately disqualified from the match and giving Brian the win.
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Cold
Zara stood next to Spike quietly, twirling a piece of her long hair as Trivet fixed the collar of his suit. Despite his outward composure, the man was steaming on the inside. Scarlett had the audacity put his hands on him and it was enough to make him livid. Yet with all this rage building up inside, all the hate he holds within his heart for Bordeaux, he still greeted the cameras with a smile. “Scarlett, you got the advantage over me last week. I won’t lie and say I wasn’t embarrassed. At that moment, I felt humiliated...but only in that moment. Now I’m feeling something else. Now I feel nothing short of rage and the closer we draw towards Moonstruck, the more I find this animosity difficult to contain, but I must.”
Spike twists his head to one side, purposely popping the bone in his neck. A red vein glows under the skin, slightly throbbing as he clears his throat. “I must remain...calm because I don’t want the world to see that side of me until the day of reckoning finally arrives. I don’t want to unleash all that’s been building inside of me since the day Pavor...changed me. Then Vipress gave me something and it’s been...an exhilarating period. I’m no longer just an ordinary man. I am a beast, a demon, a monster—whatever label fits best. I am your worst nightmare, Scarlett. You don’t see it yet, but I am the one who is not only going to end your reign before it even gets started, but I am going to end you with it...”
As he speaks, Zara’s attention starts to drift from the camera and she looks off to the side. He catches her gaze and immediately grabs her chin, forcing her to look at him. “You will compete next week against Bordeaux. Do you understand me?” She nods her head before he lets her go. “Try not to take Zara lightly. She’s not as stupid as she may appear.” Sabre’s eyes widen at the insult, but she did not make a peep as he pushed past her. Once he’s out of side, Zara’s gaze fixates on the screen. Somewhere being broken and enraged, her eyes gleamed with some unidentifiable emotion. She lets out the softest sigh and smiles.
“Next week, Scarlett...you and me.”
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Arisa Hoshiki vs Paige vs Ivelisse Vélez
Paige initially dominates the match as she whips Arisa in the corner. She connects with a running knee to the guy before taking out Ivelisse with multiple clothesline’s. She hooks the leg for a two count and yanks Velez to her feet. She headbutts the woman multiple times before connecting with a scoop slam. Paige looks for the running boot, but Arisa comes rebounding off the ropes with a dropkick to the chest. Hoshiki follows up with a soccer kick to Velez’s chest for the two count.
Ivelisse rolls to the ropes and Hoshiki tries to yank her up. Ivelisse kicks the leg out from under her and follows up with another to the side of the head. She has Arisa folded up while stunned and drops her with a packaged piledriver. Ivelisse tries for the pin, but Paige drags her off. The two women trade shots as Arisa recovers. Paige missed the thrust kick and eats a jumping knee to the face. Velez quickly tosses her out the ring and turns to eat a Brazilian kick to the face for Hoshiki to get the pinfall victory, earning three more points.
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Atwell with Allysin Kay
Allysin waited for Hayley. The brunette was running late, which was unusual for her. Kay raised a brow at the cameraman, but he clearly had no idea what was wrong. The two-toned competitor stood to her feet, clearly thrown off by Hayley’s no-show. Something was off. She had a bad feeling creeping up her spine and she made sure to follow that hunch. The minute she ventured beyond the interview space, she felt a solid object crash right into her back. The way it echoed throughout the hall, it could have only been a steel chair. She was all too familiar with it.
It cracked against her back again as she tried to get to her knees. Once more, it connected with her back and she was completely grounded. The chair was tossed to the floor as Kay’s hair was gripped and head yanked up. The minute she laid eyes on her attacker, all she saw was red. Brian, with a gauze on his forehead from his previous match, gave her the largest grin as his shades covered his eyes. “Who’s the rookie now, Allysin?” Pillman dragged her to her feet and slings the woman into the wall, her back being the prime target yet again. As badly as she wanted to rip his spins from his chest, searing pain kept her on the floor as she gritted her teeth to bear it. “You told me to make you fight me. We’ll I’ve pulled the trigger, AK, and took the first shot. Now it’s your turn...or are you scared you’ll draw blanks?”
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Tornado Tag Team Match
Priscilla & Indigo Kelly vs Taeler Hendrix & Hania
Priscilla & Indigo Kelly vs Taeler Hendrix & Hania
The match begins and all four women are throwing hands in the ring. Taller has Priscilla and slings her across the ring by the hair. She connects with a superkick to the face and Kelly rolls to the outside. Indigo tackles Hania to the mat, drilling in fist after fist into the face until Hania turns them over to claw Indigo across the chest and neck. She drags Kelly to her feet and sends the woman into the ropes for a mule kick. Indigo rolls out onto the apron and Hania looks for a shoulder tackle. Indigo dodges it and gets the knee up before connecting with a leg drop to the back of the neck. Hania tumbles out to the floor as Kelly recuperates.
Meanwhile, Priscilla has the upper hand on Taeler and sends the woman’s shoulder into the ring post. She then wraps the arm around the post and stretches it out, trying to tear the arm out the socket. Hendrix manages to use her power to yank Kelly forward face-first into the post. Taeler shakes the pain from her arm and uses a boot to kick Kelly down to the floor. Taeler than races in for a running kick to the face before sending Priscilla in for a two count. Hendrix starts to slam the face into the mat multiple times before locking in the surfboard submission. Kelly eventually slips out of the hold and counters a clothesline into a neckbreaker for a two count.
Indigo is tossed into the ring and Hania slides in after her. Kelly gets the chop to the chest to stun her opponent before rebounding off the ropes for a big boot. Hania sidesteps her and gets the belly-to-side suplex. She quickly follows up with a shining wizard for a close pinfall. Hania has her up and whips Indigo into the corner. She looks to race forward, but Priscilla dropkicks Taeler in the way. The two collide and Hendrix is livid, immediately connecting with a spin kick to Hania. Her anger will prove costly as Indigo forearms the back of the head before Priscilla follows up with the Osteoporosis to drive the head into the mat for the pinfall.
Kelly celebrates with her Heart of Phoenix Championship before looking to embrace her daughter, but Indigo immediately shoves her back. Indigo glares at Priscilla before pushing past her to glare at Hania while she’s down. “She’s all yours now, mutt.” Kelly steps over Hania and exits the ring as Priscilla scoffs after her, continuing to celebrate. It doesn’t last long, however, as Hoshiki makes her way to the stage with a mic. Kelly looks on in confusion as Arisa makes her appearance.
“My tag team partner is currently out of action, but I know she would not want that to slow me down. She would want me to be the shining star I say I am, so Priscilla? I have the points and now I’m challenging you for your title next week. Be ready for the fight of your life!”
Face to Face
Taya Valkyrie and Mike Quackenbush
Taya Valkyrie and Mike Quackenbush
Mike stands in the centre of the ring with a microphone in hand as the crowd starts to chant his name. He holds a hand up to settle them down before speaking. “While I appreciate your support, I’m not out here for the applause today. I’m out here to stand face-to-face with the very woman who has been hellbent on tearing PCW apart for nearly a year. I’m here to finally confront the woman that lets her jealousy and ego get the best of her at every turn. Tonight, I let this woman know that I am no longer afraid and that I’m going to whatever it takes to make sure she never walks back through those doors.” The fans cheer on his words, but before he attempts to continue, a sudden thumping stopped him in his tracks. The longer he listened, the more rhythmic it became, the closer the noise ventured, and lower his heart sank.
In just moments, Valkyrie made her appearance, banging the end of a sceptre against the floor as she stood on stage. Three more strikes sounded before stopped. The snow-white, fur coat pooled around her equally white, fur boots as she stood tall and proud on stage. Signature earmuffs adorned her cranium and a pair of white shades covered the look in her eyes, but Mike could feel them burning a hole into his face. The smile she had was nothing short of malevolent, but he kept his composure as the woman made her way down the ramp to a symphony of boos. She enters the ring and stands in the centre across from her opponent, but said nothing at all. Rather, for once, she simply kept her mouth shut.
“Nothing to say?” He responded with a look of surprise. “Shocking. Truly shocking, Taya. You didn’t come out here just to get a close-up look at the competition. Don’t show up here just to play games with me. We’re past that now.” Valkyrie smiles and snatches the mic from him.
“You’re right, I didn’t. I was just giving you the opportunity to finish because once I start, I’m not stopping until you really wrap what’s about to occur at Moonstruck around your big head and even bigger nose.”
“Then please,” he says as he leans in over the mic. “Explain to us your grand plan. Let’s hear it, Taya.”
Valkyrie removed the shades from her eyes and she stared him down with a quiet rage that made him take a step back. “Master plan? There was never a plan to get to this point, Mike. You did this to yourself. You wanted to play hero for all of PCW, despite these same people half-assing it week after week after week. They don’t promote, they no-show, they put forth more effort into their other companies than this one, they don’t wanna wrestle certain people—the list goes on and on and on, but it’s okay.
It’s okay, according to you, because the most minimal effort is better than nothing, right? It is passable because that is the sort of standard you have set for yourself your entire career. I mean, even your own little side thing with CHIKARA is a sinking ship, and yet you would swim across any ocean just to save it with your last breath. Pathetic.”
Taya starts to pace a bit as she puts her shades back on. The crowd attempts to boo her, but the way her voice boomed over the mic shook the audience into silence. Literally and figuratively, as the building seem to actually shake as she spoke her next words with even more vigour than before. “You’re fine with PCW having basic standards because it encourages people to do very little, but it’s still something. Raise the bar any higher and half this company suddenly deaf, blind, and stupid. They don’t know how to do their jobs, but I don’t accept that. What I expect is obedience and excellence, and if I don’t get that, consequences follow.
That seems fair to me. Do right or be wronged. There’s no room for questions, hesitation, or rebellion in my world and it is that mindset that has pushed PCW to its grandest heights. Now you want it to dwindle back down to resemble that crumbling, piece of dog crap you call a company in CHIKARA. This isn’t CHIKARA, Mike. It’s not WWE, it’s not AEW, nor IMPACT—it’s Phoenix Championship Wrestling and we push beyond the boundaries, challenge the status quo, and raise the standards. From my standpoint, you’re just holding PCW back.”
“Holding us back? Taya, I’ve let you do what you’ve wanted, but you don’t enforce your ‘rules’ by attacking your talent! You can raise the standards while maintaining some idea of morality, but it’s clear since that night I saw you in the woods that you have lost any sense of goodwill. Whatever is plaguing you has you believing that you have to destroy to create something better in its place, but you don’t have to, Taya.
You can simply build on the foundation already set. That’s why I brought you here! So we could build on what I started and make something better, and for awhile? We had that. Now you just want complete and total control over my company, my baby, my passion—this is my everything. Yes, I have to split my time with CHIKARA because that is my first. I will always include it in my life, but my time here in PCW every single week is nothing to gloss over. I dedicate what time I can because what you just said—it’s unique.
It is a hybrid of all those places you’ve mentioned and then some. It is unlike any promotion in the world and I am doing my best to keep this place from falling to pieces while you stomp through any and everyone that slights you like a spoiled child. You don’t get to break apart my company to feed your ego.”
“MY EGO?!” She screeches and the building seems to shake again as her voice boomed yet again. “This is funny coming from you. It is your ego that made you start a second company, to begin with, Mike. You just couldn’t help yourself, but the job got a little too much for you and you needed help. I didn’t have to offer my expertise, but I did for your sake. Now you’re too proud to admit that without me, this company would be nothing.
All the people I’ve ‘stomped on’ were detrimental to this place’s stability. You can’t make the difficult choices because you so badly want to be the good guy, but you’re right about me. There is nothing left for you to manipulate. No heartstrings to tug on, no empathy to connect with, no sympathy to twist for your advantage, no guilt, no regret—all the things that made me too weak to make the difficult choices. All the things that make you too weak to make those choices.
Let’s face it, you and I think the same way, I just have no problem acting on it. If I need to cut somebody lose because they can’t be bothered to show up, I’ll do it. If I have to threaten to cut matches from the show do to no acknowledgement of it, I’ll do it. If I have to break some faces and snap some necks because their mouths get them into trouble, so be it. I’ve gotten the results I’ve wanted at every turn while you continued to struggle, begging your own roster to do better when you’re supposed to be the top dog. No more of that. Not while I’m here.”
The two stare each other down, but Mike couldn’t tell her expression behind those shades. She smiled and continued. “None of this matters now. You made your choice, I’ve made mine and next week, we’ll make it official. Thing is, though, I’m not going to let you have the upper hand. If you want to set some conditions, I’ll bring my own to the table. You want me to quit and truly mean it, but Mike? If you quit, you don’t get to come back either. Your tenure as CEO ends the very moment you give up. Now, what happens to PCW? Who takes control? I think you know the answer to that.” The crowd starts to boo her again as she laughs into the mic, Mike’s face scrunching up into a hardened expression. “I’ll let you think on it. See ya next week!”