Baltimore Wants Baltimore Needs Baltimore Hits Baltimorphine

1. Kameron Chase def. Scott Simmonds to advance in the GEW Chaos Championship tournament
The two men stare at each other, face to face. Words Are Said. They're quiet, but a few things can be made out. "Ryan" seems to mean "jerk", and I think "California" is some kind of spaceship. They lock up a moment later, shoving each other back and forth around the ring, each trying to get the leverage to heave the other into one of the spiky, spiky boards set up in the corners. Kam is the first to get his spine driven against gusset plates, a couple of minutes in, but when Scott comes in to cannonball him all the way through, Kam dodges and Scott flies through the wood and metal! A little while later, a bed of nails finds itself set up bridging from the apron to the guardrail, with Scott and Kameron trading punches nearby. Kameron tries to send Scott through the nails with a German suplex, but Scott's able to sandbag by grabbing the ropes, and he manages to drag Kam just out of position enough to fling himself backwards off the apron in a kind of backpack semi air raid crash thing to drive Chase through the board instead! Not that Scott gets much better out of the deal; his matted locs are tangled in the wreckage, allowing Kameron to crawl free first.

Once they've brawled their way back into the ring a few minutes later, Scott stuns Kam with a brainbuster into a chair, then rolls him onto a bed of nails. He goes for a Simmondsault - but Kam moves aside and Scott's torso meets the spikes! He winces and thrashes, at least until he gets clobbered with a gusset plate board. Kam sandwiches Scott between the two slabs of death then crushes the entire wood/human grinder with a triangle leg drop! The top board smashes and Kam shoves the debris aside to pin Scott, but somehow Simmonds gets a shoulder up. By now their upper backs both look like dropped hot dogs, and a minute later Kam's forehead joins the party as Scott rolls his face back and forth on a bed of nails. Kameron is left down and out from that; Scott rolls out of the ring and fishes under the apron for a light tube. As he comes back in, though, Kam catches him with a baseball slide to smash the glass into his face! About two thirds of the tube are left intact, and after another brawl, Scott manages to take control again by biting and clawing at Kameron's facial wounds. He forces the Natural Disaster to his knees and raises the jagged edge of the light tube towards his jugular...

...it's ripped from his hands from behind! Scott turns around and gets the tube broken over his head by RYAN McGRATH! Unfortunately for the kid, Scott's only stunned for a moment, but Ryan cut his own hand with the tube, thanks to holding it wrong when he swung. Scott corners Ryan; the rookie tries to escape through the ropes but Scott grabs a handful of his hair with a manic, murderous look in his eyes. He backs Ryan up against a gusset plate board and raises the metal end piece of the light tube, with a ring of shards still attached to it like a lamprey's maw...

Kameron with a low blow to make the save! He scowls at his son, who shoots out of the ring as fast as he can. Kameron drags Scott over his shoulders and delivers a Mental Maelstrom into a nail bed to finally win this gory encounter. Medics help both Scott and Ryan to the back while Kam paces, agitated, as ring crew clean up around him. He shrugs and celebrates making the tournament final for a little bit before dropping out of the ring and heading backstage, presumably to find his son.

2. Zanatos def. Myles Taylor
After being eliminated from the Phoenix and Chaos tournaments respectively in round 1, Myles and Zanatos are both out to prove something here tonight. Momentum shifts throughout the match, but in the end it's Zanatos who finds the win, forcing the Southern Born Killer to tap out to the Falling Bridge.

Backstage, Kameron Chase pushes open the door to the medical room, but he isn't there for treatment (even though he quite evidently needs some!) but to confront the man already in there.

"What the hell was that?"

Ryan jumps slightly, but not enough to inconvenience the medic strapping a bandage around the gauze he'd placed on the younger McGrath's palm. He looks at his dad with a frown on his face. "I saved you!"

"And signed your own death warrant," Kam snaps back at him. "You need to stop acting like this is some kind of joke. It's not a game. You saw what he did to me out there and that wasn't even completely personal."

Ryan shrugs. "You beat him."

"That's not the point. You've been prodding and poking, antagonising him for years. You just cost him a shot at a championship and you hurt yourself more than you hurt him." He gestures to the bandaged hand.

"I can handle myself," Ryan says with an air of confidence.

Kam stares at him for a few long moments and then shakes his head. "No, Ryan. You can't. You have no idea what you've just done, and nobody is going to be able to help you."

He turns and heads back out of the door, with the doctor too late to stop him.

3. MC Inc (Casey Black & Lance Murphy) def. Napoleon Collins III & Zeke Colton Spence to advance in the GEW Global Tag Team Championship tournament
MC Inc were the final Tag Team Champions of the original GEW, and their drive to be the first champions of the new era is apparent in how hard they throw themselves into this tornado match. But Zeke and Napoleon don't make it easy for them, and once again show that they could be a real force to be reckoned with in the division down the line. Lance manages to force a submission over Collins with How To Kill A Cunt while Casey holds Zeke back, but afterwards MC Inc show respect, shaking their opponents' hands.

Matt Kail makes his way down to the ring after the teams exit, tagging the hands of fans on the way, though his expression remains neutral. He grabs a microphone and rolls into the ring, skipping any theatrics and waiting for his music to die down. He paces slowly, and raises the mic.

“It’s been a long time since I first debuted.”

He speaks slowly, visibly still tracing his thoughts as he makes his way around the canvas.

“I debuted right in a GEW ring. Partly because I had connections, but also because I was deemed ready as soon as I was out of the gate. I was told that I had everything it took. And that if I grinded, I worked, and I dedicated everything to this, I would be a World Champion.”

He looks out at the crowd for a moment, and a ‘MK! MK! MK!’ chant breaks out briefly, and sporadically. Matt chuckles a little bit, nods, and continues.

“I did give my everything to this. And, to some credit, I’ve seen some success. I’ve held championships, won some matches. But I’ve never been seen as top tier. Any time a match really matters, I’ve failed. Flat out. Any time I’m faced with a true obstacle, a true test? I can’t get it done. And I’ve been aware of that for a long time.”

The chant attempts to start again, but Matt speaks through.

“Last week though, that wasn’t what happened. Someone decided that they were going to take the opportunity from me. They didn’t show their face, and it’s clear they have a problem with me. And I’ve tried to reason out who it could be. But I can’t seem to find a reason.”

Matt continues to carry on, but a low drone cuts through the venue. Matt stops, quickly checking the surrounding as the noise begins to rise in pitch. It crescendos, resembling a hollow scream echoing through the arena, before it cuts along with the lights. It’s silent for a few, steady heartbeats before Sun Killer begins to play. The music brings slowly pulsing red and white lights, and fog has rolled across the entranceway. In the frame, silhouetted by the flickering lights, is a robed figure. The lyrics kick in, and they begin to walk slowly toward the ring. Only illuminated when the lights pulse.

They take their time, slowly moving toward the ring before ascending the stairs, and then the turnbuckle from outside, looming over the ring, aimed directly at Matt Kail. The lyrics begin to repeat over and over, the lights beginning to pulse brighter, and the figure throws back the hood as screaming lyrics begin. Shane Tallin, eyes black, with strange runic symbols drawn in black on his face, simply stares down at Matt, and hops down to the ring with a thud as the music stops and the lights return to normal.

Shane drops the sleeveless robe to the ground, eyes never leaving Matt. Kail, on the other hand, is staring perplexed at Shane. He doesn’t raise the mic, but can be heard.

“Dude, what the fuck?”

No response, no movement. Tallin just stares across at Kail, darkened eyes not wavering. Kail rolls his shoulders, pulls off his hoodie, and tosses it out of the ring. He raises the mic.

“I don’t know what any of this is supposed to be. But let’s go then!”

The mic is tossed from the ring, and Matt gets low, ready for whatever comes. Just as soon as he lowers his stance though, Tallin is on him. Clearing the distance with speed, Tallin crashes into Kail at full pace. He begins hammering down, elbows crashing in to Matt’s neck and back.

He then wrenches Kail down in the center of the ring. Kail scrambles to his feet, and flicks a superkick out as Tallin barrels in on him again. He catches him clean and Tallin’s head snaps back. He doesn’t fall though, and composes himself, eyes locking back on his target.

Matt mutters something, and throws a pair of elbow strikes at the side of Tallin’s head, dazing him before firing off another rapid fire kick. This one drops Tallin down, but Kail drags him back up and launches him toward the ropes. He follows close, and a wild clothesline rolls both men over and out of the ring.

They crash down hard, and Matt pops to his feet. He moves to charge, but stops dead as he finds Shane to his feet just as fast. A split second pause, and Matt runs forward, but he’s intercepted and Shane snaps off a leg kick as he runs in, and then snatches Matt roughly before lifting him up and smashing him down on the guardrail with an uranagi.

Matt is given no respite after the barricade though, and is lifted off the ground before being whipped into the very same barricade. He crashes down, denting the rails inward. Tallin hoists Matt again and begins repeatedly whipping him around ringside, smashing him against barricades, the ring apron, and every desk and table he can find.

He then tosses Matt back into the ring, and takes his time slowly climbing back in after him. Matt manages to collect himself in that time, and as Tallin enters the ring, he is met by a shotgun dropkick. Tallin crashes roughly into the corner, and Matt takes off, hitting the ropes and coming at Tallin with a big running haymaker in the corner. He hits it a second time, the second time rolling Tallin’s head back viciously. Matt begins to hammer in elbows then yanks Shane down for a Battlegrounds style Uppercut. At this moment though, he gets shoved away, and Shane rockets out of the corner, catching the stumbling Matt with a big switch knee.

Matt crumples to his knees, and Tallin grabs him up immediately, gutwrenching him over one shoulder and violently crashing down with a powerbomb. Matt lays prone after this, not moving much.

Tallin rests his foot on the back of his head, looking down at Matt, a quizzical expression on his face. Matt begins to rise to his knees, and Tallin runs, hitting the ropes twice before leaping over Matt and coming crashing down on the back of his neck with both knees, hitting the Second Shattering and laying Matt out.

Tallin stand over Kail, eyes locked on his unmoving form. He slowly kneels down and says something to Matt, whose eyes at least appear open. He then pats him on the shoulder, as if trying to reassure him, then exits the ring and leaves.

4. Shooter Load (Phil Hunter & Shaun Irvine) def. Alex Chambers & Takeo Shima
Alex and Takeo start off competitively, but sure enough the former ICWF Tag Team Champions get the advantage over time. They manage to isolate Takeo, and take turns stretching the youngster out and dropping him with heavy blows... and now Alex doesn't seem interested in helping him! Even when Shima's stretching for a tag before being dragged back to the Shooter Load corner, Chambers just watches impassively, keeping his own hands folded over the top rope. It's a Pit Trap into the Irvine Intervention and Takeo's out cold, and Alex just hangs back with a slight smile as his partner gets pinned.

Laurel Anne Hardy's backstage, and she's looking very pink tonight, and very... cakey? A cake-shaped dress, icing makeup, cupcake nail polish, and a cake topper fascinator complete with real lit candles. She sings Happy Birthday to Me to herself with a big grin before speaking properly.

"My friends. I would like to apologise from the bottom of my sweet jam filling for my actions last time. My grievance was legitimate but the way I handled it was unprofessional. But... it got me thinkin', y'know? It occurs to me that it's been a long time since the old GEW. Some of the fans of that era might not necessarily have been following wrestling that closely, or even at all, in the last, ooh, decade an' a bit. Some people out there may not understand the growth yours trule has undergone over that period. You might not know that I opened my own deathmatch promotion, Filthy Bazaar, where I once wrestled thirty matches in one day. Four years ago today, actually, wow - that was a special birthday celebration too. Similarly, you might not know that I, f'rexample, unified the XWA Hardcore, Gladiatorial and World Heavyweight Championships into the Supreme XWA Championship, in front of tens of thousands of people in Tokyo Dome, and ended Jericho Shaw's two year undefeated streak in the process. You might not've seen me stab The Man In White in the gut with a piece of glass, or brand Alexander StarrZoë with a literal branding iron, or come back from being impaled on a fire extinguisher bracket, drowned in an ice cream machine, and thrown through a glass window all in the same match to retire Whisper by driving his kneecap through his ligaments with a diving stomp after I lashed his leg to a chair with barbed wire. You might not even be aware that I'm the reason James Ronie, a.k.a. Mr Rottentreats, only has one eye. So, after reflecting on how I could've better handled the slight I was on the receiving end of last show, I realised it was time to bring back an old favourite."

She smiles and winks.

"Open Season. Where better to reopen the door on the Laurel Anne Hardy Deathmatch Invitational? No countouts. No disqualifications. Pin or submission only. All the bloodshed you could ever want. And who's in? Why, anyone who wants to be! However many participants we get, in a full-on free-for-all, all fighting to a single fall. Maybe you! Y'know, if you're a wrestler, who can be covered under GEW's insurance. It's a win-win, right? I get to demonstrate to the GEW fans who might be unaware that I remain, as ever, the most dangerous, most hardy (heh, no pun intended!), most good-at-fighting entity to have ever existed in the history of this or any other planet. You, you get to compete for the incomparable bragging rights of being the one to hand moi my first ever loss in the match type that bears my own name. But even if you don't manage to do that, don't worry! You'll still have the time of your life, I promise. Pure chaos. Pure carnage. Pure violent nonsense. Perfection. I lost an ear in one once. It's a lot of fun. See you there, babes. Stay fabulous."

And she resumes humming Happy Birthday to Me as we fade out.

The camera catches up with Takeo Shima storming down the corridor. The grimace on his face shows clear signs of pain from the beating he took tonight as he moves his head from side-to-side and rubs his shoulder. Alex Chambers is following behind him but soon speeds up a little to get in front of him, then stops once he's cut off his path.

"Are you angry? You wanna hit me?" Alex asks the words with a smirk on his face. "Go ahead, hit me."

He leans forward, putting his hands behind his back and offering his chin to Takeo. The younger man looks at him with a frown and sighs, then shakes his head, rounds him, and carries on walking. Alex rolls his eyes and follows after him. "HEY!"

Takeo doesn't turn around. Alex reaches a hand out and grabs him by the shoulder. "I just left you to get your ass kicked out there."

The rookie attempts to shrug his hand off of him but it doesn't work. Alex tightens his grip and then pulls him around to face him, yelling "HIT ME!"

He does.

Enough is enough it seems. Takeo's right fist connects with Alex's jaw, but the bigger man barely budges. Instead, he grins. "There we go. That wasn't so hard, was it?"

While Alex is clearly satisfied - happy even - Takeo is still fuming, eyes narrowed as he stares at the man who was supposed to be on his side earlier. "What is wrong with you?!" he asks, rhetorically, before storming off. This time Alex lets him go and watches him walk away, the smile widening on his face.

5. Evangelista def. Nikki Song to advance in the GEW Phoenix Championship tournament
Big show of respect. They're old friends, with Nikki of course helping train Evangelista. Knowing one another so well means this is a measured, cerebral match, as they anticipate one another's strongest weapons. There's a lot of trading grapples and pinning predicaments on the canvas, but each woman is able to escape the other in a constant battle of hold and counter-hold and counter-counter-hold. Every so often things speed up with a rapid sequence of springboards and rebounds into running shots, but there too, they're evenly matched. The first fall occurs towards the end of the fourth round, as Nikki manages to contort Evangelista into a cradle to take the lead! But it's just halfway into the next round that Evangelista equalises, when she manages to sandbag a springboard tornado DDT and convert it into a bridging suplex. In the eigth round, Evangelista seems to almost have it won when she traps Nikki in a calf slicer, but the Song Bird is able to hold on until the time expires! Finally, midway through round nine, a desperate Evangelista goes for a springboard moonsault, only for Nikki to dodge it and start to lock in a bridging armtrap choke. They twist round and round as Evangelista fights it... and manages to get into position for the Lime Street Loop! Nikki likewise blocks it and tries to escape, finally managing to lift her opponent up and over in a backdrop suplex! But Evangelista over-rotates and manages to drop behind her, where she snaps off a sudden Headbreaker to get the third fall!

They embrace, with Nikki proudly congratulating Leanne on her win and Leanne admitting she feels like she got lucky and Nikki outwrestled her for most of the match.

6. Sah'ta Thor def. Phreak to advance in the GEW Chaos Championship tournament
This one starts off with the men face to face right in the centre of the ring. This... is the closest they've ever got to seeing eye to eye. Back in the day Phreak never liked or trusted Thor, the husband of his former tag team partner Baby Dogg, and after his initial attempts to make peace were rebuffed, Thor had little time for Phreak either. All of that old emotion comes out here as they start beating on each other in the middle of the ring before going into a grapple and manhandling each other all over the place. They waste little time in trying to throw one another into the exploding barbed wire boards set up at ringside, but they both consistently manage to hit the brakes in time... until Phreak fires Thor with Irish whip, Thor skids to a halt just in time, and Phreak charges in after him - ONLY TO BE MET WITH A BACK BODY DROP! Phreak pounds the floor with his fist as he gets up, and the camera gets a look at the bleeding cuts and scorch marks on his skin. But while Phreak got it first, it's Thor who gets it worst, as later in the match Phreak manages to drop him face-first into a board with a fireman's carry DDT! The fans are sure that has to be it, but Thor manages to kick out somehow. Thor suffers the third one too, as Phreak repays the body drop. Chairs and light tubes come into play shortly thereafter, but neither man can put the other down until at last Thor drives Phreak into the final barbed wire board with the Parasite Eve! As the explosion clears around them, Thor is lying on top of Phreak, and the pin is counted!

After they both recover, Thor slowly extends a hand to Phreak, questioning whether he's earned his respect yet. Phreak stares at it with a scowl for a moment, but shakes in the end.

Backstage, Alex Chambers has found Takeo Shima again. He seems to have recovered from his tag team handicap match earlier in the night and is moving a little more freely now. He tries to walk away from Chambers before he can open his mouth but he's not that lucky.

"Hey, guess what?"

Takeo blows out a breath and closes his eyes. "What?"

"I signed you up for that Deathmatch invitational thingy."

The Japanese youngster's eyes widen. "What?!"

Alex grins. "Yeah, man. It'll be awesome."

"Are you crazy?!" It's not completely evident whether it's fear, annoyance, anger or all of the above contained in Takeo's voice, but he's clearly not happy about the idea.

"Maybe," Alex shrugs. "Don't worry. It'll be fun. I'll be in there with you, too."

For some reason this doesn't seem to fill Takeo with confidence or warm him up to the idea any.

"Like you were tonight?" he grumbles, but this only makes Alex chuckle.

"There was a reason I did what I did tonight," he says. "If you were gonna get legit hurt I would have stepped in."

"It did hurt!" Shima tells him. Loudly.

"There's hurt and then there's hurt-" he puts extra emphasis on the second one. "You were the first kind of hurt."

Takeo stares at him blankly.

"You'll understand eventually." Alex says with a smirk, then pats him on the shoulder as he walks past him. "See you at training. We'll get you deathmatch ready!"

"WE WILL NOT!" Takeo shouts after him but all he gets is a wave as Alex rounds the corner without looking back at him.



7. 420 B.C. (Ligaya Fontaine & Serenity) def. Lyra Keston & Revvy King
Last show, Lyra and Revvy lost their match largely due to Lyra's frustrations about being stuck in a tag team when she wants to be a singles star. This time around, she starts off trying much harder to be a team player and work with Revvy rather than try to do everything herself. However, as it goes on, she starts slipping back into that habit. When she finally remembers to tag out, the fatigue all catches up to her. Revvy comes in hot and takes both of the Deadheads down, but within a couple of minutes the tables have turned again and she finds herself trapped in the Deathcuddle. Lyra's still kinda focusing more on her own recovery than Revvy's predicament, only really taking in the situation right as Revvy taps out.

Between matches, the screen flares into life. Broken, glitching effects gradually transition into a message, which stays there for several seconds:

WEN RADBOT?

More glitches, and the message flickers into a new one:

SOON RADBOT

But that's all we're getting, as it vanishes in a scramble of static and the screen goes dark once more.

8. The Jokers Wild (BlakJak & Spades) def. The Natural Ones (Anson Orlandelli & Russ Lehman) to advance in the GEW Global Tag Team Championship tournament
It's a wild brawl between two teams who barely acknowledge the rules even when it's not a tornado match. The Jokers are a lot more experienced at fighting in parallel, whereas the Game Knights are heavily used to tagging in and out, so the wicked clowns establish early control. A bit of magic cheat codery helps Russ and Anson take over, but Spades and BlakJak respond with some cheating of their own to pull back level. We see a ton of creative double teams throughout, with all four making inventive use of the tornado stip, but once again it's the Jokers who manage to take control of things in the end. A double clothesline sends Russ to ringside, and while the big man is down, they hit Anson with the Murder-Go-Round to get the pin - and revenge for their loss at Extreme Extravaganza.

Before the next match begins, Ivan Grant emerges with a mic in his hand! He looks all business, and sure enough he gets straight into it. He and Cole McGrath have met a few times now, and things have been close every time. So for Open Season, Ivan's proposing they find out definitely who's the better man between them, in a match which will truly test their skill. A two out of three falls match! A moment later, Skillet's Back From The Dead hits and out walks Cole! He joins Ivan in the ring, and accepts the mic from him. After staring at him for a moment with a smile, he simply says "you got it", and they shake on it!

9. Troy Gafgen def. Matt Kail
Matt's clearly still feeling the effects of his assault at the hands of Shane Tallin earlier, but he's absolutely determined to still compete tonight, and Troy's fine with that since it means he still gets a fight and a payday. He doesn't go any easier on Matt just because he's hurt either, which in fairness Matt probably appreciates. The young man from London, Ontario puts in a gutsy performance, fighting through the pain from both his wounds and the beating from Troy, and comes back with big attacks which rock the former GEW World Champion. Time after time, Matt kicks out from one of Troy's biggest hits to land one of his own shortly thereafter for an agonising near fall. Troy's actually starting to get kind of frustrated by how resilient Matt's being, at one point quipping that he remembers why he hated The Asylum so much. In the end, he does find the win with The Sickness, but Matt made him work for it.

Afterwards Troy tells Matt that if he wants a round 2 when he's at fighting strength, he's up for it.

When Serena Raine makes her entrance for the main event, she's accompanied again by Cassie Crowe. Cassie takes a mic in the period between the boos dying down and Velvet Grey's music playing. She thanks the fans for their 'warm' reception, then tells them she's not just a pretty face. For Open Season, she lays out an open challenge! She'll take on anyone brave slash stupid enough to take her challenge up. And since the Baltimore crowd have put her in such a good mood she'll even let her opponent pick the match type, on the night! She closes by sarcastically saying she can't wait to see what the GEW roster has to offer, before turning her attention to helping Serena warm up.

10. Serena Raine def. Velvet Grey to advance in the GEW Chaos Championship tournament
With Kam eliminating Scott from the Chaos tournament earlier in the night, Velvet is left as the only undefeated member of the roster. She clearly means to keep things that way as she starts off like a rocket, overwhelming Serena in the early going; the blue-haired bitch seems like she wasn't expecting this much resistance, and when the bell rings for the end of round one, she seems rattled. But in the break Cassie helps her regain her composure and as the next round begins, Serena matches Velvet's intensity - this time it's the Empire of Blood member who's surprised. They go at full tilt, slamming each other all over the ring hard. Serena lands a dragon suplex into the buckles for a very close two count shortly before the bell rings. The following round, Velvet takes her revenge almost immediately, dropping Serena out of the gates with a rebound roundhouse as they both run the ropes, and she follows up with a deadlift bridging German which Raine only barely kicks out of on the stroke of three. But it's Serena who finally takes the first fall towards the end of round four when she dodges a shooting star, letting Velvet crash into the corner, and drags her into a Blood Rain neckbreaker for the pin! However, being a point up now, Serena gets cocky. She's slapping Velvet around disrespectfully throughout the fifth round, which fires up Grey for a big comeback towards the end of it, which culminates in a spinebuster which bounces Serena's skull off the mat like a bobblehead. In the ensuing pin, Serena manages to get a foot on the bottom rope, but that's her last rope break and she's visibly woozy until the bell sounds again. Cassie once more helps Serena recover, but just a minute into the next round Velvet catches her with some Sweet Dreams and bundles her into a cradle. Serena manages to grab the rope, but it doesn't help her here, and Velvet equalises!

Something about losing her advantage helps Serena shake off her fog, and by the seventh round they're once again going back and forth with big throws. Serena seems to have Velvet where she wants her for a standing moonsault... that's when the screen in the arena suddenly flares into life! It cuts from the action to a shot of Mark Chapman at the Wildfire Wrestling Academy, while the viewers at home are treated to a split-screen view.

"Hey... Hey, Serena. Serena. I heard you've been trying to get my attention."

Serena stops in the middle of the ring, just short of taking advantage of her current upper hand, and turns to the screen. Mood clearly foul.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is this a bad time?" He grins. "Actually I think this is as good a time as any. I mean, you keep calling me out when I'm busy and preoccupied with other things. How's it feel, huh?"

Raine scoffs, and waves the comment off.

"It's not like you wanna win that tournament anyway, right? You're too busy crying like a baby about losing to me and taking it out on others like a little bitch. I guess I should be flattered that you're so obsessed with me but, frankly, it's just irritating."

She yells at the screen, "Or, you're just a bitch!"

"Unfortunately I couldn't be there tonight, though I do endorse the name of the show." A smile and a wink before he gestures to young Roscoe Lake and Blaine Knox running through a sequence in the ring behind him. "I had prior engagements... and, even more unfortunately for you, I'm gonna be busy until-" He takes out his phone and scrolls through it "-until pretty much the end of October. Even then, Laurel has first dibs on a rematch because, you know, she actually deserves it because she lost in a shitty way whereas you, Serena? You just lost. You lost fair and square and you can't handle it so you decide to make yourself feel better by beating up kids who don't deserve it. Nobody likes a bully, Serena. All you had to do was ask nicely, but instead you threw a tantrum. Now you don't get anything."

He shrugs.

"Maybe you should focus on your own career and not what I'm doing."

The camera cuts back to the ring, and Serena is backpedalling a bit, middle finger raised to the screen. Velvet's not looking at the screen, though. She's looking at Serena, crouched in readiness for the Shooting Star, ready to pounce the instant Raine turns around... BUT SHE'S BLASTED FROM BEHIND BY CASSIE! The ref, too, was preoccupied with the screen. When they turn back around, Velvet's lying motionless on the mat. Serena smirks and begins to pull her into the anaconda choke - Velvet, otherwise lifeless, still has a rope break left and manages to hook the bottom cable! The fans explode in cheers as Serena splutters in fury while the ref forces her back; she shoves him aside and comes back in, but gets lifted into the air and ploughed damn near through the canvas with a thunderous spinebuster! One... two... three- SERENA KICKS OUT! Velvet can't believe it, but she's fired up now and she starts beating Serena from pillar to post. This continues into the following round, and it seems like she has the match in hand to meet Evangelista in the final at Open Season - until she runs the ropes and Cassie surreptitiously clips her ankle. She doesn't fall all the way but she stumbles, and it's enough for Serena to catch her with a desperate Violent Serenade. Inside cradle, but Velvet still kicks out! However, Serena immediately transitions into the anaconda choke and Velvet sadly has no choice but to tap out.

Cassie joins Serena in the ring as the fans boo and throw trash, but they just mock them. As the Daughters of Darkness celebrate, Crell and Stevie run down the Open Season card one last time. Scott Simmonds vs Ryan McGrath in a grudge match years in the making, Shane Tallin vs Matt Kail, Ivan Grant vs Cole McGrath, the Laurel Anne Hardy Deathmatch Invitational, Cassie's open challenge, and of course our massive triple main event to the crown inaugural champions of the new era: Kameron Chase vs Sah'ta Thor for the Chaos Championship, MC Inc vs Jokers Wild for the Global Tag Team Championship, and the winner of tonight's main event, Serena Raine, vs Evangelista for the Phoenix Championship!