The Inmates Taking Over

1. Kai O'Hara vs Phreak
It's a tactical yet fast paced opener, which sees the taller, lighter Kai trying to use strikes to control Phreak and open him up for a submission, while his shorter, broader opponent tries to get inside his reach to grapple him to the ground. The veteran Phreak gets the better of it more often, but Kai holds his own well, escaping from clutches and finding a couple of very close near falls. He also gets to demonstrate his resilience by kicking out from both a piledriver and an implant DDT, but Phreak has the grit here and Kai finally gets trapped in the dragon sleeper. He tries to fight out of it, but gets choked out before he can do so.
Winner via submission: Phreak

Afterwards, Kai pounds the canvas in frustration at still not having been able to get himself into the win column. Nonetheless, he shakes Phreak's hand.

2. BiteSize Bros (Asher & Coby) vs Shooter Load (Phil Hunter & Shaun Irvine)
Shooter Load use all of their expert veteran skills to demonstrate why they've held titles on three continents by picking apart Coby and Asher one at a time. Phil is as precise ever, seeming to say to Coby "Ah I see you have legs, enjoy them while you can" before trying to remove them with a variety of submissions that leave the kid facing his corner and in a world of hurt. The one thing the Bros do have in spades is heart and toughness (okay, two things) and they try their best to fight back, despite still being covered in bandages from their deathmatch a couple of weeks ago. But it's just not enough, and eventually Coby gets put out of his misery with an Irvine Intervention.
Winners via pinfall: Shooter Load

3. Alex Chambers vs Takeo Shima
Before the bell rings Alex offers his hand to Takeo, who looks apprehensive and reluctant to shake it after what the other man had put him through two weeks ago. Chambers reminds the younger man that they are friends and that it was nothing personal. After a few long seconds, the two shake hands and Takeo dodges back quickly, expecting a cheap shot, but it doesn't come. The two men back into their respective corners and the referee calls for the bell.

The match starts off rather technically, with both men trading holds and tosses, and Shima gaining the upper hand. It doesn't take long for Chambers to get fed up with actually wrestling though and he levels his opponent with punches, kicks, elbows, knees and eventually a clothesline over the top rope. Alex has some fun on the outside, throwing Shima into anything and everything until he gets bored and they're almost counted out. Once back in the ring, Shima does manage to mount some sort of comeback, even getting a near-fall after a springboard DDT - but it isn't quite enough to keep the bigger man down. Shima tries to take it back to a wrestling match but Alex overpowers him and turns it back into a brawl using every dirty play in the (barely legal) book, including removing a turnbuckle pad and repeatedly smashing Takeo's head into the exposed steel to bust him open. Shima eventually finds himself caught in a guillotine choke in the middle of the ring and he taps out immediately.
Winner via submission: Alex Chambers

Alex keeps the hold locked in for a little longer than necessary with the referee unable to pry him off, but fortunately he does let go while Shima is still breathing. He rolls out of the ring and grabs a folding chair from ringside, tossing it over the ropes and then following it in. Shima has struggled to his feet with the referee's assistance by now and he cowers when he sees Alex pick up the chair. Instead of hitting him, though, he tosses it at Takeo's feet and instructs him to hit him with it. Shima wipes the blood from his eyes, shakes his head and kicks the chair away, prompting some expletives from Alex who picks it up and shoves it into the other man's hands. He turns his back on him, arms outstretched, screaming for Takeo to hit him. Shima actually seems to contemplate it as he raises the chair above his head to the delight of the crowd... only to reconsider and drop it to the canvas. He rolls out of the ring, yelling at Alex that he's crazy as he dabs at the cut on his head and makes his way to the back.

4. 420 B.C. (Ligaya Fontaine & Serenity) vs Cole McGrath & Kameron Chase
As an actual full time tag team, the Deadheads (perhaps surprisingly) have the early advantage on the McGrath brothers, with Ligaya in particular once again demonstrating her skill. A rapid string of pin and submission attempts on Cole at one point almost gets her the upset. But Kam's got something to prove after falling short of becoming the inaugural Chaos Champion, and once he gets rolling there's little 420 B.C. can do to stop him. A Mental Maelstrom to Serenity caps off a dominant comeback.
Winners via pinfall: Cole McGrath & Kameron Chase

5. Myles Taylor vs Snow Queen VN
In keeping with his recent change of attitude, Myles is out to brutalise Snow after she saved Serenity from his wrath at Open Season. But Snow's looking to impress in her first singles match since returning from injury, and she meets his energy head-on, leading to a violent brawl which spills all over ringside. At one point Myles traps Snow's leg in a chair, like he's looking to break her ankle for good, but she manages to dodge his diving stomp and kick the chair into his face, busting him open! A little later though she gets bloodied too when he DDTs her through a light tube, and it gets even worse a couple of minutes later when he grinds her forehead along the apron. Surprising everyone including herself, she roars back with a light tube shot of her own, a blast from her côn staff, and a Blizzard Knee to the outside of the ring. However, Myles is straight up demonic tonight, fighting through everything she dishes out and finally snuffing out a valiant effort with a Reckless Rhetoric through a chair.
Winner via pinfall: Myles Taylor

The bell rings, but Myles has an evil look in his eyes and he grabs the dented chair once more. Snow tries her best to fight back as he lifts her, but a headbutt drops her to her knees, and Myles jams the backrest around her throat before getting up in the camera and yelling that if breaking a neck is what it takes to get attention around here then that's what he'll do. But the boos turn to cheers as Takeo Shima sprints out! He's still banged up from his own match, but he's not going to stand by and watch his friend get destroyed! He snatches up Snow's côn staff and swings it wildly at Taylor, forcing the Southern Born Killer to back up. Myles rolls out of the ring and backs away slowly, glaring murder at Takeo while the latter checks on Snow.

Backstage, who's watching all of this happen with folded arms and a big smile? It's only Alex Chambers! He nods in approval at Takeo's actions, observing that the kid's showing real fire at last...

Augusta D'Antagoné emerges with RADBOT in tow, boasting that thanks to his test run against Cassie Crowe at Open Season, she's been able to recalibrate him for optimal violence. RADBOT himself seems more interested in dancing, but Augusta ushers him into the ring, where she explains that she's created RADBOT to be the ultimate in youth-appeal engineering. And to demonstrate... BEHOLD! She places upon his optical sensors a pair of shutter shades! It's exceedingly rad. Somehow the fans aren't won over, though, given the cheers that go up when Isabella Thorn and Ivan Grant interrupt!

6. Augusta D'Antagoné & RADBOT vs Isabella Thorn & Ivan Grant
RADBOT takes the bulk of this match for his team, with Augusta mainly running interference, though she does mix it up whenever she feels they have a firm enough advantage. She's distracting the referee and making almost certainly illegal mods to RADBOT mid-match to change his performance parameters. The children of Sah'ta Thor aren't easily bullied, though, and they keep each other motivated to stay in this and keep on kicking out. Augusta blasts Ivan in the face with some kind of freeze ray at one point, but Isabella takes her off the apron with a spear through the ropes! RADBOT rolls the blinded Ivan up and almost gets the win, but Ivan's able to kick out at the last moment and he comes back with a crucifix slam to get the pin while Isabella tosses Augusta around at ringside.
Winners via pinfall: Isabella Thorn & Ivan Grant

Afterwards, the indignant D'Antagoné challenges both siblings to separate singles matches on RADBOT's behalf.

GEW's booking committee emerge between matches, led by Dexter Callaghan. The chair announces that the first set of number one contenders to GEW's freshly inaugurated titles will be the tournament semifinalists who didn't face the eventual champions. This means our upcoming title bouts will be Velvet Grey challenging Evangelista for the Phoenix Championship, The Natural Ones challenging MC Inc for the Global Tag Team Championship, and in the main event of the next show, Scott Simmonds challenging Sah'ta Thor for the Chaos Championship!

7. Tony Harrison vs Velvet Grey
Velvet's strong, but Tony's a lot stronger, and he repeatedly gets the better of early grapple exchanges. Velvet's much more adaptable, though, and she shifts tack to drive-by strikes and rebound takedowns which Uncle Tone has trouble catching. He does find a big powerslam which gives Velvet a little trouble, but she kicks out and comes back strong, capping off a big flurry with a Shooting Star to stagger Tony and then a Sweet Dreams to put him down.
Winner via pinfall: Velvet Grey

Velvet makes a belt symbol around her waist after the match. The meaning is clear, in light of Dexter's announcement beforehand: she's coming for Evangelista and her title.

8. The Jokers Wild (BlakJak & Spades) & The Natural Ones (Anson Orlandelli & Russ Lehman) vs Lyra Keston, Napoleon Collins III, Revvy King & Zeke Colton Spence
The two sets of Wildfire grads seem to have put their battle of wounded pride behind them, and they present a unified front against the people who unwittingly caused all that strife in the first place. They need it too, as they're up against probably the two most decorated tag teams in GEW! Zeke and Napoleon are helping to keep the recent conflict between Lyra and Revvy at bay, and all four are fighting smartly with quick tags and inventive combos. The Jokers aren't meshing nearly so well with the Game Knights, and there's a little banter about their records against both each other and the Global Tag Team Champions, MC Inc, but the tandems' respective skill and experience is still enough for them to drive much of the tempo. But things begin to unravel for the vets when Anson and BlakJak start showing off and trying to one-up each other! Russ tries to get them both to focus more on the task at hand, but they're not really listening, allowing Lyra to catch Anson with the Polar Vortex to score the upset as Zeke and NC3 block Russ and Spades! It's a measure of revenge after the wily tricks of the Jokers and Natural Ones caused the rookies so much embarrassment in recent months.
Winners via pinfall: Lyra Keston, Napoleon Collins III, Revvy King & Zeke Colton Spence

After the match the Jokers make a couple of sarcastic remarks about how Anson's gonna want to avoid getting pinned like that when he and Russ challenge MC Inc for their title. Scowling, Anson reminds the clowns that they already had their chance at Open Season, and lost, but Russ steps in between them before things turn angry.

9. Nikki Song vs Oliver Creed
The fans are going absolutely crazy to see former GEW World Champion Oliver back in action again, and the cheers are deafening as he starts tangling with Nikki. However, once he takes control with a slingshot powerbomb for the first big pin attempt of the match, the boos starts to rise, as he knows her left elbow was once surgically repaired and he ruthlessly begins targeting it with stomps, hammerlocks, arm wringers, even grinding his knuckle into the tendon. He's pushing his luck with five counts to boot. But as the GEW fans know, Nikki's heart is beyond question, and she mounts huge comebacks, sometimes with dives, sometimes with submissions. Oliver shuts her down at one point with a Pele kick to her bicep on the same arm he's been working over, but she kips up no-handed and smashes him with a spinning heel kick and then a Lightning Wizard for a two point eight! The crowd are cheering her on as she goes for the bridging armtrap chokehold, and she very nearly gets it locked in, but it's slow work with the pain in her elbow right now, so Oliver manages to escape and wrench her arm in revenge. Nikki picks up the pace and confounds Oliver for a spell, but he catches her with a Devil's Advocate (some might say he got lucky with it) to seize control once more. Now he gets to prove his own athleticism, using rapid strikes and throwing her literally from pillar to post to prevent another comeback. Although she's faster and more dextrous than him, he just needs to keep her from getting an opening, which he succeeds in for a good amount of time. The fact she's visibly lacking strength in her left arm by now is surely helping him - it may not be the most honourable strategy but it's paying dividends. With the noise of the fans swelling behind her she does snap him into a pair of back-to-back huracanranas for a couple of very close pins, but he's able to power free just in time. Everyone assumes it's over when Oliver lands a Lucifer Effect shortly thereafter, but Nikki kicks out right on the three count! However, while she's still on all fours and pushing herself back up, Oliver comes back in with The Crucible to stomp her face into the canvas and knock her out cold. Not satisfied with that, he traps her in the Purgatory Lost choke. Given that she's already basically unconscious, the bell rings right away, though it's hard to hear over the booing.
Winner via submission: Oliver Creed

10. Casey Black, Lance Murphy, Sah'ta Thor, Scott Simmonds, Troy Gafgen & Zanatos vs The Asylum (Evangelista, Laurel Anne Hardy, Matt Kail, Serena Raine & Shane Tallin) & Cassie Crowe
There are almost as many dirty glances passed between the non-Asylum team as towards their opponents. Lance doesn't want to be teaming with his old nemesis Scott. Zanatos doesn't want to team with either Scott or Troy, both of whom have brutalised him over-zealously in recent matches. Thor doesn't particularly want to be teaming with Scott or MC Inc, and Scott doesn't want to be teaming with anybody - not even Casey, who's practically hanging on his hero Scott's side like a puppy. However, they all have a common enemy here tonight, so they're going to try to do their best to make it work. That's not to say the other side are without a little conflict of their own; commentary informs us that earlier today, Serena apologised to Evangelista for not shaking her hand after their match at Open Season - she was just frustrated to lose in the moment, and if she was going to lose to anyone in the tournament she's glad it was her friend. But they're still noticeably avoiding interacting with each other much. Meanwhile, Matt's keeping some distance between himself and Shane, understandably so after recent weeks. Shane is apparently respecting Matt's choice and keeping at least a couple of other people between them at all times, but otherwise he's pretty much just focused on the task at hand. Laurel finds herself taking the lead for their team, directing traffic so nobody else has to risk a conflict flaring back up. Just to add even more chaotic elements, Tony Harrison and the Jokers Wild are bantering back and forth at ringside too.

With over half the field having been in deathmatches at Open Season, bandages and tape abound, and the opening is a bit slow, with a LOT of tagging in and out, cycling through various combos. That's not to say it's not intense - with the various grudges harboured here, people are out for blood. Even Laurel - clearly the most remorseful about the Asylum's part in the fall of GEW, at times seeming to almost willingly offer herself up to the opponents as a kind of penance - gets aggressive once she pairs up with Thor, at one point (while they're trading stiff strikes) yelling at him about what was up that night at Omnes with Lissie Hope and Addy Ainsworth. Thor insists he had nothing to do with that. Laurel doesn't seem to believe him. Troy, too, after Thor tags out to him, his and Hardy's feud all the way back in FRONTLINE not forgotten, while Scott and Shane are absolutely murdering each other any time they come face to face. It's no secret Thor - despite his calculating nature and his newly won Chaos Championship - is bitter about The Asylum's role in him never claiming the original Extreme Chaos Championship (and thus Grand Slam), and that anger comes out with every strike he lands on any Asylum fighter. And Casey's reflexively protecting his crotch with both hands any time he matches the gaze of either UK Dragon, even when they're standing on opposite aprons.

Matt and Leanne, like Laurel, seem regretful, though unlike her they're not about to let anyone else beat them up for it. Serena on the other hand really doesn't seem remorseful at all, while Shane is... oscillating, somewhat, like he's ambivalent about everything. As for Cassie, she wasn't even there for the original GEW, so she doesn't give much of a shit. She's just getting stuck in and relishing the chance to take on so many current and former champions at once, clearly loving it every time she gets to go after Troy, Thor or Scott in particular. One thing is clear though: whatever personal differences the Asylum might have with one another, whatever varied perspectives they might hold on their role in GEW's demise, they're able to basically function as a unit. Matt and Shane aren't communicating a ton, Serena and Evangelista aren't communicating a ton, Laurel's deathseeking is causing her allies some concern, but they're still getting stuck in with double/triple/quadruple/quintuple/sextuple teams and watching one another's backs. The same... cannot be said for the others.

Whenever Scott and Lance tag each other in, they're smacking each other's hands as hard as they can. Their feud over the ICWF World Championship is very clearly at the forefront of both their minds, and it's only a matter of time before they come nose to nose. Thor slides himself between them to try and calm things down, but his and Simmonds' own history, along with their upcoming title fight, means it's not long before they too are arguing. Casey tries to get all three back on the match, to which all three simultaneously turn and yell "SHUT UP CASEY!". He throws his hands up and rolls out, where Uncle Tone takes him in a big hug. The only reason the trio stops arguing is because Serena, Cassie and Shane catch them with a triple dropkick, and the Asylum goes back to controlling their opponents with fast tags and team manoeuvres. Later, it's Zanatos's turn to get into it with Scott when they tag, having not forgotten the powerbomb off the stage. Troy tries to play peacemaker this time, but Zanatos rounds on him too, pointing out Troy hit him in the head with a goddamn cinder block at Open Season. Casey barks at them to get their fucking heads together, which gets the entire squad this time shouting "SHUT UP CASEY!". Apparently abusing the teabag enthusiast is the one thing they can all agree on. That puts Black in a black mood for the rest of the match, barely engaging, including flipping Thor off when it comes time to tag. Thor seems ready to deck Casey, but like Nelson protecting Martin, Lance interjects, and a huge six-way argument ensues.

Serena Raine gives a 'fuck all this' shrug and sprints over, kicking Lance in the spine and bumping him into Zanatos, who shoves Lance back as a projectile to knock Serena down. That's the trigger for things to finally break down fully, as everyone on both sides storms the ring and starts taking swings. Shane and Matt almost find the win with an absolutely sick allez-oop powerbomb / Thank You, Pain combo on Troy, but the subsequent pin gets broken up by Zanatos who drops his whole bodyweight across both Matt and Troy, clearly not caring a great deal if he hurts his own team-mate. As the two Asylum members back up to regroup, Shane offers Matt a fist bump... which Matt does not accept. But they do get stuck back into the carnage together. Everyone's hitting everyone - Evangelista rolls Casey into a clever cradle only to get deadlifted up into The Sickness from Troy (and Casey catches a stray flailing heel to nads in the process, inevitably). Laurel with a Gáe Buide to Troy before he can pin, only for Zanatos to catch her in turn with a Striking Bullet. Lance grabs Serena for The Ultimate Zing, but Matt steps off his old tag team partner's back for a Superman punch - and he gets caught with a Sah'ta Combo after landing. Shane and Scott pick up their battle from Extreme Extravaganza, rolling to the outside and furiously throwing one another into the guardrails and steps. One person who's not especially invested in any of this is Cassie Crowe, and she takes advantage of all the chaos to roll Thor into an inside cradle - AND GET THE THREE! She's just pinned the Chaos Champion and Hall of Famer in her second match with GEW!
Winners via pinfall: The Asylum & Cassie Crowe

Scott and Shane continue fighting, barely noticing the bell. Zanatos drags Thor out of the ring and heads off one way with him; MC Inc go another. Troy bails too, as he's now outnumbered one to seven. The Asylum members all glance at one another before raising their arms together. But Cassie? She's up on the top turnbuckle, punching the air, cackling away with a huge shit-eating grin on her face. She points at the retreating Thor and taunts him for a one-on-one match with his title on the line! He just stares back coldly, betraying nothing, while Scott looks up as he and Shane are pulled apart to inform her that he'll be Chaos Champion a couple of weeks from now. Cassie shrugs and laughs and says she'll fight him instead then. The show ends on this whole tableau.