Prelude To A Collision

Crell fills in a little history on the opener as the competitors make their entrances - on top of being old rivals in ICWF, MC Inc and Shooter Load also crossed paths again in this year's World Tag League in ELITE Promotions, in a violent brawl which saw Lance bleeding badly within the first couple of minutes. Shooter Load ultimately opted to take a countout loss there rather than lose in the ring - a move which meant the Mad Cunts only came away with one point instead of two, derailing their chances of catching up with the block leaders, TM32. Lance Murphy, Shaun Irvine and Tony Harrison are all out here as seconds, and the aggro's flying long before the bell rings.

1. Casey Black vs Phil Hunter
No lock-up, no feeling out as Casey and Phil start beating each other up right away. Casey takes control early on, but a sneak attack from Shaun trips him onto his face, putting things in Phil's favour - and it also prompts Lance and Tony to chase after Shaun, leading a big fight at ringside. Seeing as how it's two against one, MC Inc unsurprisingly end up kinda murking Shaun, but Irvine manages to catch Lance with a jab to the eyes and Tony with a low blow. Seeing this enrages Casey and he grabs the ropes, ready to vault out at Shaun - but Phil was apparently playing a bit of possum, as he smashes Black in the back of the head with a brutal Hunter's Mark then rolls him up to snatch the victory!
Winner via pinfall: Phil Hunter

The bell rings but the fight continues, now with Casey and Phil on the outside too, and it's only broken up by security pouring out to hold everyone back.

2. Alex Chambers, Snow Queen VN & Takeo Shima vs Evangelista, Laurel Anne Hardy & Matt Kail
Although everyone mixes it up with everyone at some point, three main pairings emerge here: Takeo and Matt resume their great recent battle; Snow and Evangelista have a grappling exchange that's understandably cagey given that Leanne accidentally injured Snow last year; and Alex is eager to go after Laurel, the wrestler who's consistently had his number in deathmatches. Hardy's pretty clearly in an aggressive mood tonight, and she's more than ready to meet force with force, leading to a ringside fight between the two which only just beats a double countout when all their partners intervene. Back in the ring, the Battlegrounds vets are doing a great job of watching one another's backs and using creative double and triple teams to maintain overall control, but the Wildfire grads are showing flashes of greatness, particularly Takeo, who pulls off excellent combos with each of Alex and Snow. Chambers and Queen aren't seeing eye to eye much though, as best evidenced by the way whenever Takeo's in a pinning or submission predicament, Alex can't break it up soon enough, but whenever it's Snow under fire, he just hangs back and watches disinterestedly. Eventually she stops returning the favour and before long they're arguing, with poor Takeo once again trying to play peacemaker between them. Sadly this state of affairs does nothing to help the fact they're already the underdogs in this contest. Evangelista struggles to hit the Headbreaker on Takeo, but she keeps her cool and rips him off his feet with a wrist-clutch exploder instead. Alex tries to break up the pin again, but is cut off by Laurel with a Gáe Buide.
Winners via pinfall: Evangelista, Laurel Anne Hardy & Matt Kail

Snow and Alex are still arguing as they head backstage, shoving each other a bit, with Takeo desperately trying to stay between them. After watching them leave with a bemused expression, Laurel takes the mic, bringing up that A, she still wants to check off the old GEW ultraviolent match types she never got the chance to do first time around, and B, for reasons unreleated to GEW she's had a lot of aggression recently for which she's still seeking an outlet. So she's laying out the open challenge for Collision Course - she'll take on anyone on the roster, in any match of their choosing, as long as it's one of the OG GEW bloodbaths.

3. Blaine Knox vs Isabella Thorn
Isabella seems more aggressive than usual here, flying at Blaine out of the gates and pummelling him with strikes. The lanky lad is quick to respond to her violence with his own, and this is remarkably intense for an undercard match. In time, Blaine manages to slow down the pace of the match and control her in the centre of the ring with a combination of stretches and suplexes. That is until Isabella - taking a page from her late father's book, in her mounting frustration - bites Blaine's hand! From there she immobilises Blaine with a Tongan death grip, takes control with The Sun Sets In Tokyo, and though Knox does his best to fight back, catching Thorn with some vicious kicks, she's able to trap him with the Oni Drop to force him to tap out.
Winner via submission: Isabella Thorn

Isabella doesn't seem to want to let Blaine go at first, but her brother Ivan is soon in the ring to encourage her to break off the hold. Blaine rolls out clutching his arm and scowling back at Isabella, but she's paying him no mind, as Ivan patiently talks to her and tries to calm her down.

4. Napoleon Collins III & Zeke Colton Spence vs Roscoe Lake & Ryan McGrath
There's a respectful handshake between the two teams before the match kicks off. Collins starts for his team and Ryan is more than fine with the eager Roscoe being first up for his. The action starts off quickly with both men exchanging throws and takedowns. It's an impressive showing from Roscoe early on, who seems to have the slight speed advantage and spends a lot of his time flying off the ropes with strikes and building momentum until Collins catches him with a dropkick that he runs right into. Collins slows Roscoe down with a seated sleeper before tagging in Zeke, who picks up where his partner left off, using rest holds to keep the rookie grounded. Once he's sure the young prodigy's energy is zapped he goes on the offensive with a combination of forearm and knee shots, finishing off with a lariat that turns him inside out. He brings Collins back in who goes to work on Roscoe's leg, using his elbow to target his knee.

Knowing he doesn't have much left, Roscoe manages to kick Napoleon in the face with his free leg and crawls over to his corner... but as soon as he gets within an inch of tagging his partner in, Ryan pulls his hand back abruptly and screams that he has cramp while shaking his hand up and down with clenched teeth. Collins shoots him a suspicious glare before somewhat begrudgingly dragging Roscoe back to his own corner and tagging Zeke in again. Collins and Spence use their team experience to work over Roscoe, keeping him in their corner and tagging in and out. A double suplex sends Lake to the middle of the ring and a flip splash from Spence gets a count of 2.5 after Roscoe manages to lift a shoulder.

Getting the sense that the teenager is tiring, the crowd rallies behind him, chanting his name and willing him on. It seems to work as Roscoe gathers some energy from somewhere, flooring Spence with an enziguiri as he's dragged to his feet! He dives to his corner to make the hot tag, but Ryan jumps down off the apron and waves a hand of dismissal at the ring. The teenager lifts his head and stares at his partner in disbelief as he rounds the ring and walks to the back without so much as a backward glance. Roscoe drops his head back to the mat, exhausted and defeated. Unwilling to take the cheap victory over the youngest Wildfire student, Napoleon and Zeke have a very brief conversation before coming to an agreement. They help Roscoe up to his feet and share a few words before opening the ropes and allowing the aching youngster to get out of the ring. They follow him, and the referee is left with no choice but to administer the ten count as all three men make their way to the back.
Draw via double countout

5. Asher Webb vs Joey Classic vs Myles Taylor vs Velvet Grey
It's chaos rules carnage before long, but first Joey brags to his three opponents about his brawlin' credentials, and the riots he started right here in Virginia with his bloodbaths against Tire Iron O'Donnell... that is until the light tubes come out, at which point Joey powders, calling this some two-bit outlaw mudshow bullshit. He ain't getting paid enough for broken glass! Velvet, Myles and Asher are much all happier to assault one another with weapons. Coby is at ringside lending moral support to his brother, but when Myles cheap shots him, the BiteSize Bros team up for some revenge. Velvet takes advantage of this confusion with a Shooting Star to Myles - but Joey's back and he smashes a light tube over her head to break it up! While they fight their way to ringside, Myles manages to send Coby over the ropes with a back body drop then drive Asher through a light tube log cabin balanced between two chairs with the Reckless Rhetoric for the pin.
Winner via pinfall: Myles Taylor

Myles gets right up in the camera as he exits, and declares that he's coming for Cassie Crowe's Chaos Championship.

A sore and frustrated Roscoe Lake, holding an ice pack to the back of his neck, finds Ryan McGrath in a corridor backstage.

"What the hell was that?" he asks, dumbfounded.

Ryan merely shrugs. "I wasn't feeling too good and you seemed to be doing alright on your own."

"What? Are you blind?"

"Hey, you're the next big star around here, right?" He says it with a smile, but it doesn't look too genuine. "Figured you had it all under control."

"Two against one?" Roscoe snorts.

Ryan grins. "You held your own pretty well from what I saw."

Roscoe closes the gap between them and squares up to the older man. "I needed you and you just bailed."

Ryan gives a short laugh. "You'll get used to that feeling soon, hanging around Mark."

Roscoe frowns. "What does that mean?"

Ryan shrugs again. "I'm sure you'll find out. Don't say I didn't warn you." He pats Roscoe on the shoulder before walking away.

6. Augusta D'Antagoné & RADBOT vs Phreak & Serenity
Phreak and Serenity's bond may not be expressed in the ring that often, nor is it necessarily the psychologically healthiest, but it does mean they're able to work as a pretty strong tag team tonight with Serenity's usual partner, Ligaya Fontaine, engaged elsewhere on the card. RADBOT does actually manage to take control over Serenity for a while, and he and his creator keep her isolated with double teams - but as soon as she finally makes the hot tag to Phreak, he runs rampant and pretty easily puts the combat droid down with some Phreakish Intents.
Winners via pinfall: Phreak & Serenity

7. Ivan Grant vs Shane Tallin
Ivan, notably, is out on his own here; no Isabella to be seen. Even without his sister's usual support he does his best to bring the fight to Shane, and gets to show off his power a few times with big throws and slams. But the veteran rarely ever looks like he's in serious danger of losing here, and sure enough, he's eventually able to put Ivan to sleep with Minutes to Midnight.
Winner via submission: Shane Tallin

8. Daughters of Darkness (Cassie Crowe & Serena Raine) vs Lyra Keston & Revvy King
There's bad blood here with Lyra and Revvy (like most of team Wildfire) wanting some revenge for the Daughters' invasion of the academy and their assault on Roscoe. That makes for a violent match, with King and Keston being extra aggressive, while their opponents take some amount of glee every time they shut them down or land big moves of their own. Eventually, Ryan McGrath wanders down to ringside, and the commentators and fans alike assume he's here to help out his training buddies... so it shocks everyone when he suddenly pops Revvy with a cheap shot and yanks her off the apron! Right at the same moment, Lyra bests Cassie in an exchange and she hits her with the Polar Vortex - but the ref is too preoccupied with Ryan to see it! When he strikes Revvy again, the official calls for the bell!
Winners via disqualification: Lyra Keston & Revvy King

Lyra's furious, seemingly more frustrated at her pin over the Chaos Champion being denied than at her tag team partner being attacked by someone they thought was their friend, as she gets up in the ref's face and insists she had the match won. Meanwhile the Daughters of Darkness find it all most amusing as they head to the back.

9. Ligaya Fontaine vs Troy Gafgen
As well as Serenity, Evangelista also accompanies Ligaya for this match, wanting to see her next title challenger up close as he takes on her cousin. With not one but two friends supporting her, Ligaya does a pretty good job against the Hall of Famer, coming close to upsetting him a few times. Troy, for his part, is eager to show off his technical skills, so he's eschewing power or brawling in favour of mat grappling and submission holds. His weight and reach still prove big advantages though, allowing him to control Ligaya's positioning for extended periods. To her credit, Fontaine manages to draw this one out a lot longer than most probably expected on paper, and even forces Gafgen to use all his rope breaks - but when he manages to trap her in a triangle choke, she taps out almost instantly.
Winner via submission: Troy Gafgen

Evangelista is very obviously nervous about the prospect of facing Troy at Collision Course, but when he makes the classic belt motion around his waist while staring in her direction, she nonetheless raises the title in the air and stares back at him.

10. The Jokers Wild (BlakJak & Spades) vs Oliver Creed & Zanatos
In their second consecutive show teaming up, Oliver and Zanatos mesh pretty well, pooling their toughness, wiles and determination to fight a cagily intelligent match with surgical use of tags and double teams. But the thing is, they're never going to have the rapport that BJ and Spades have, and for every great double team Creed and Zanatos have, the Jokers have two or three. As the minutes tick on it seems more and more likely that the Canadian crazy men have this one sewn up. But Oliver always has a plan, and he manages to send Spades flying towards Zanatos. Spades pulls up just in time, but while those two are distracting the referee by exchanging some angry words, the Messiah turns and catches Jak with a low blow through the ropes, so hard it knocks him off the apron! That allows him to scoop Spades into a schoolboy, and though the Joker kicks out of that, the fact he's now isolated from his partner means he falls victim to The Crucible shortly thereafter.
Winners via pinfall: Oliver Creed & Zanatos

The Jokers ain't happy with how they lost that one, and understandably so... but remember the part about Oliver always having a plan? Yeah. As soon as they get up in the Preacher's face, Spades and BlakJak find themselves set upon from behind by two unknown but gigantic men, dressed all in black with crucifix pins on their lapels matching the one Creed often wears. After clubbing the hell out of the Jokers with stomps and forearms, one levels Jak with a crucifix powerbomb, while the other plants Spades with a mandible claw chokeslam. As if that wasn't enough, one of them then produces a cross and hands it to Oliver, who raises it up high... and light glints off its sharpened base. Creed digs the spike into both of the Jokers, causing them both to begin gushing blood! All the while, Zanatos just hangs back uncertainly, watching, not sure whether to intervene or not. Creed's monsters seem to want to go for him too, but Oliver halts them with a gesture, and simply nods at his tag team partner tonight. Zanatos doesn't know what to make of this, but there's not much time to ask for clarity as the Battlegrounds cavalry arrive! Shane Tallin, Nikki Song, Matt Kail, Evangelista, Laurel Anne Hardy, Cassie Crowe, Serenity, and even Ligaya Fontaine - despite still limping after her fight with Troy - all start heading down the ring to help their friends. Serenity's the first to reach them and she pops a fist at Creed, but he backrolls out of its way and over the ropes, hopping down to ringside with a smirk. His two leviathans grab her, but the others are pouring into the ring now, so he calls his men to his side and after violently slamming Serenity to the canvas, they step out of the ring too, and flank Oliver as they make their escape through the crowd. Shane gives chase as far as the guardrail to prevent them coming back, and Evangelista and Ligaya check on Serenity, while the rest tend to the Jokers.

A shaky camera shot takes over the screen; the cameraman is clearly running to catch up with something or someone. After a few seconds, it becomes clear.

Ryan McGrath is walking down the corridor in a hurry with his bag slung over his shoulder, heading for the exit. He's cut off by Kameron Chase, who's in his ring gear and ready to head out for his match in just a minute or two. He doesn't look happy as he stands in front of his son. "What the hell are you doing?"

Ryan barely looks at his father, sidestepping him silently and aiming to continue on his path but Kam grabs his arm.

"RYAN!"

The younger McGrath yanks his arm free from Kam's grip and mutters "get off me" before continuing on towards the way out. Kam knows he doesn't have time to chase his son and just watches him go with an expression of concern on his face.

11. Kameron Chase vs Lance Murphy vs Nikki Song vs Scott Simmonds
Nobody's coming into what was supposed to be a showcase main event in a good mood. Kam's just had problems with his son, Nikki's just seen her friends the Jokers get assaulted by Creed and his new goons, Lance is still feeling the effects of the brawl that opened the show, and Scott - well, Scott's had an uneventful night so far, but he's an ornery cunt who's barely ever in a good mood anyway. He and Lance are forever rivals and they go at each other quickly, but Scott's attention is somewhat divided as he and Kam have also been having renewed issues in recent months, ever since Scott destroyed Ryan at Open Season (though given Ryan's behaviour tonight, Kam might be rethinking that). As for Nikki she's the low key MVP here, really going all out to show that she belongs in the ring with three former world champions - though she does also get used as a human baseball a fair amount, by both Scott and Lance. At some point Kam and Nikki are fighting at ringside as Crell and Stevie remind us that they won the trios gauntlet together, almost fourteen years ago now, if you can believe it. That leaves Scott and Lance slugging the shit out of one another in the ring. Lance manages to pull Scott into position for The Ultimate Zing and it seems like he has it sewn up - when SHOOTER LOAD jump him from behind! They drag him to ringside and double mudhole stomp him like he defaulted on protection money before grabbing chairs. Scott sees all this as he crawls to his hands and knees, and he simply laughs at his enemy's plight.

Casey sprints out, not quite quick enough to stop Lance getting busted open, but there are huge cheers as he tackles Hunter and Irvine off his buddy. So preoccupied is he that he doesn't even pause to fawn over Scott! With Casey here to even the odds, MC Inc and Shooter Load brawl all the way around the venue, up into the seats. Nikki slides into the ring and pulls Scott into a crucifix pin, but he powers out just in time. Before either of them can do any more, Kam flies in with a lariat to the back of Scott's head that bumps him into Nikki. While Song goes flying, McGrath bundles Simmonds into another rollup, but again Scott kicks free. We get an intense three-way fight which sees all of them hitting each other with big moves and getting near falls, all while the Global Tag Team Champions and their #1 contenders are still going at it in amongst the fans. Kameron gets Nikki up on his back for the Mental Maelstrom, but Scott slides in behind him with a German suplex that takes them both over at once! Scott with Kam on his shoulders and he throws him into a stunner, but as soon as he lands on his haunches, Nikki's right there with a Lightning Wizard. Double jump moonsault to Scott, and fast as she can, she hooks the leg... and gets the fall!
Winner via pinfall: Nikki Song

It's a big underdog victory for the only non-former-world-champ in the field and the fans cheer for it. Kam shakes Nikki's hand before heading to the back, still clearly concerned about Ryan's actions tonight; Scott just rolls out and stomps off somewhere without really looking at either of them. While Song celebrates in the ring, Crell and Stevie run down the Collision Course card as it currently stands, before the feed fades out.