All Hell Breaks Loose 2

I'm glad I wasn't the only one fooled by the ending of UCW-Wrestling's tag-team video earlier this month [#358], in which it appeared that wet-behind-the-ears newcomer Jax had become the new UCW champion barely a month after his debut. UCW's championship rules look so wide open--anyone who pins, submits, or knocks out the existing belt-holder, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, is the new champ--that I believed that anything could happen, including a sweet, hopeful rookie like Jax getting a full three-count on the devious and blackhearted Eli Black. 

Like others, I was both shocked and pleased by the unexpected turn of events. Shocked because Eli Black, for all his sidewinder ways, seemed all but unbeatable and, more important, exemplative of the rowdy, headstrong competitor UCW draws. Pleased, though, because Jax is one of the best-looking and hardest-working UCW recruits of the past year, whose auspicious start (against his trainer and mentor Axel) promised big things ahead for the kid. And of course also for the sheer beauty of a dewy young hero deposing a jaded and cynical villain.

But there appears to be a catch, a smidgen of bureaucratic order in the company's usual chaos: the pin, submission, or knockout must occur under the oversight of a bonafide referee. UCW even went to the trouble of reenacting an interview (the original lost due to computer failure) that tried to explain the state of the championship belt in the wake of #358. The company offered Jax a title shot, one on one, challenger Jax versus champion Eli.

Last week UCW released this title match [#361], and having now watched it, I'm sitting here, staring at my laptop, my jaw sagging. Just what the hell did I just see? Eli is in prime heel mode. Jax is optimistic about his chances of survival winning the belt. The event's bonafide ref is Quinn Harper, who has, we all know, his own designs on the title. This mix of personalities is volatile, to say the least, and from the start I had presentiments of doom. The presentiments were correct, but the windup was not what I had braced myself for. Even BodySlam says he's never seen an ending like this one. But to say more would spoil everything for those of you who haven't seen the match already, so let me just say that Eli, Jax, and Quinn are true to type and the mix is truly explosive, with a finisher that's for the history books!