Phoenix Rising: Grand Ascension VI Finals Night Results

Johnny Rocket def. Carmen Latour
Laura Tate def. Mason Hayes
Sung Moon def. Maya Minh Sai
Jackson Shaw def. Dominic Stanton
The Foundation def. Nathan Haines and Ryan Donovan
Manny Ramos def. Riley Montgomery
Sung Moon def. Johnny Rocket to enter the Grand Ascension
Laura Tate def. Jackson Shaw to enter the Grand Ascension
The Golden Ambush def. The Marshall Family to retain the Trios Championships

This was every bit the red-hot opener that we anticipated, with Carmen Latour more than holding her own against the always-spectacular Johnny Rocket. But experience won out here, and Rocket would plant Carmen for the pinfall victory, sending him on to the final later in the night.


This wasn't nearly the competitive match that the opener was, with Laura Tate overwhelming Mason Hayes, ultimately wiping him out with a huge chokeslam off the turnbuckle.


Once again, Sung Moon met Maya Minh Sai in the ring, and once again, Sung Moon came out on top, refusing to let Maya get the better of her. The Korean-American took Maya down with a Book End in the center of the ring, and stopped the Cornerstone's efforts to slip into the Grand Ascension.


Jackson Shaw once again proved he's one of AFW's top talents in taking down Dominic Stanton, staying ahead even through Dominic's vicious sleeper hold and finally getting the job done with a brutal snap powerbomb.


The Foundation have a knack for slipping away with victories, and that's exactly what happened here. In the chaos of a late-match brawl, Emma Travers caught Nathan Haines in a flash roll-up, and even as Ryan Donovan trapped Diosa Syringa in an armbar, Emma scored the three-count to get the win. No doubt there will be a rematch when AFW comes back in November... this time with the titles on the line.


Riley's return to the ring was a bit of a shaky one... hard to blame her considering she was up against a supremely motivated Manny Ramos, who simply dominated this match and forced Riley to tap out to a brutal cross armbreaker after a wild sequence of offense.


Sung Moon pulls off one hell of a win here against fellow Houston native, Johnny Rocket... holding out against his experience to land a Scissors Kick, scoring the victory in a fast-paced match that sends the young Academy graduate to the Grand Ascension.


Laura Tate sent a message tonight: there's nobody that's going to stand in her way. Not in AFW, and not at the Grand Ascension, where she's earned her spot thanks to this strong showing against Jackson Shaw.


The Golden Ambush just keeps getting away with it. They've beaten the Foundation. They've beaten Les Beautes Blondes. They've beaten eMo. And now, they've beaten the Marshall Family. They've beaten two of AFW's top trios, Evergreen's best, one of Showdown's most enduring teams... and next month, during the Grand Ascension, they'll defend against a fellow Proving Ground team to try and keep their unbelievable reign going.

Silver Hawk def. Celine Chevalier
Blake Dynamite def. Sophia Moretti
Laenara Kintelas and Urani Whitemist def. The Lightning Cyclones
Kaelara Sentarl def. Ruthless Nicole Alger
Fenix Oscuro def. Angel Leblanc
Selisha RETAINED the Pacific Northwest Championship
Victor Kintelas def. Hugo Dirksen
Kanjirin Tonorian def. Kileas Kintelas
Listalva Anne Heyward def. Kellaron Sentarl and Alexandria Kirison

Bonus: Andrea Hawke def. Lily Lyons

To hell with the rating here, this match was a very, very solid opener that saw Silver Hawk ultimately outpace Celine Chevalier, landing a sharp driver into a standing SSP to pick up the victory and put himself well back into the hunt for the Pacific Northwest Championship.


Blake Dynamite seems to be having some trouble finishing the job as of late. It's why he lost to Angel Leblanc at the World Cup, and it's why he very nearly let Sophia Moretti make the comeback here before he finally managed to hit a Dynamite Cutter and make the cover for the win. Blake's still good, but he may need to figure something out quick before the rest of the roster takes advantage.


At the very least, two-thirds of the SFG are back on the same page and ready to go. Laenara did not look like a woman struggling with any issues here, and Urani re-established herself as the Titan in style: beating the Cyclones at their own game with a colossal moonsault to score the victory.


Kaelara's stubbornness almost got her into trouble here as RNA steadily wore her down, the young Sentarl determined to try and fight for a submission. That was never going to happen, and she may have finally realized it, ultimately landing a Rainbow Bridge despite her arms hanging nearly limp, and got the pinfall.


Fenix Oscuro had no intention of letting Angel Leblanc get even the slightest opportunity against her. She was relentless, and eventually cranked Angel into a brutal Romero variation to force a submission, making it clear that the Malevolent Triad will not bow to the Blondes.


Much to the ire of the Triad, this match went on as scheduled... so Selisha bided her time and allowed the rest of the field to take itself out, taking her shots where she could. Mallory Spaulding got a measure of revenge over Markos Andreas, only to then fall victim to a sharp backdrop from Michelle Rochefort... where Selisha struck, landing a Sky Twister on Michelle almost immediately to win the match and retain her title.


Victor Kintelas is back. There is simply no doubt about it: not only was he dominant in victory against Hugo Dirksen, he picked up the win with a move we haven't seen much of for quite a long time: Patricide. The package piledriver is back on the table... and the entire Pacific Northwest division should be very, very afraid.


Kanjirin Tonorian came into this match with revenge on his mind... and he damn well got it, even though he had to go to war to secure it. Kileas gave him one hell of a fight, a brawl that took them inside and out of the ring, until the World Champion finally landed a scrapbuster slam for the win, staying hot ahead of the Grand Ascension and his title defense against Candace Monroe.


Up until very recently, the thought was that Listalva Anne Heyward was mostly out of the running for the Grand Ascension spot. A recent victory, however, reignited her chances and gave her one last chance to make her way in against Kellaron Sentarl and Alexandria Kirison... and she seized it, refusing to let it go. Queen Anne managed to outlast both of her opponents here, and with a running SSP, she scores the biggest shot of her career... and potentially, if she can win the tournament, a chance to avenge the fallen Little Phoenix.

Ashton Crowe def. The Phantom Thief
Concrete Pete def. Logan Axelrod
Veronika Armstrong and Sayaka Saito def. The Sheridan Brothers
El Evergringo def. Skidmark
Kantar def. Argent
Mercy Devine def. Cinderine Celeste
eMo def. Iris Coleman and Julian Shepard
Shogun def. Tasharun
Rebecca Andrews def. Freya O'Malley

Bonus: Cinderine Celeste def. Mercy Devine in a Landmine Deathmatch

You never know what you're gonna get with the Phantom Thief... and tonight, we got one of his weaker showings, as Ashton Crowe absolutely plowed through him en route to a dominant victory.


It took a hell of a lot to get to this point: Pete and Logan were doing their best to wipe each other out, but after a wild brawl on the outside, Pete finally landed the Cement Mixer in the ring, laying Logan out for a truly hard-fought victory.


The Sheridans, coming off of a frustratingly close defeat on last week's PEWA show, came back home to try and get themselves a better result. Against Veronika and Sayaka, though, on a night that seemed stacked in the odds of the Oakland crew, there just wasn't any way they stood a chance... and Veronika would force Zack to tap out to her Dragon Clutch for the win.


Save for one match later in the night, this was probably the single most hard-fought battle of the entire show. El Evergringo proved himself truly resilient in the face of a size mis-match, and Skidmark tried everything he could to keep the luchador down... but quick thinking and a quick roll-up finally sealed the win for Evergringo and sent him to the Ascension... the biggest event of his career.


Another intense brawl that saw Kantar pull ahead, and steadily assert his authority, with the triple powerbombs flying hard. But it was another one of his standby moves that scored the pinfall, giving Kantar a much-needed victory as he finally gets a win over Argent in Evergreen.


This was not the match that Mercy had talked up. This wasn't the vicious, violent brawl she'd claimed it'd be... not that she didn't try, of course, but this ended without a single drop of blood spilled, somehow. Mercy won, but came away deeply unsatisfied... something she'd rectify after the main card.


eMo had quite a bit of trouble here against the duo of Iris and Julian, who looked strong despite being a first-time team. Still, when Eddy seemed incapable of bringing his unbelievably clutch nature into play, Sookie took it upon herself instead... locking in that familiar facelock on Iris and securing the eMo victory.


Both men in this match took an absolutely tremendous amount of punishment just to stay down. Shogun landed the Will of One more than once, Tasharun hit a Demon's Wrath more than once, but neither man could finish the job for nearly 25 minutes before Shogun threw a truly destructive lariat to finally keep the Demon down for good. Shogun sweeps his matches in the Evergreen ring... dominant, right to the end. But this isn't likely the last time we'll see him around...


How does one stop Freya O'Malley? If you're Rebecca Andrews, you take no chances and go for the finish as soon as possible... and boy, did she. Before this match had hardly begun, Rebecca set up for the Go To Sleep, and that was all it took... Freya toppling over, knocked out cold, and Rebecca moves on to the Ascension in a shocking upset for the ages.


Mercy promised violence. In her first meeting with Cinderine Celeste, she did not get what she was after. As a result, she quickly lined up an immediate rematch, as neither woman was particularly winded from their prior match... this time, setting up a colossal deathmatch that Mercy was certain would give the crowd what they came to see. And it more than lived up to expectations... Mercy may have won the match on the main card, but this ultra-violent brawl would go the other way, a wild spinning headbutt taking Mercy down and securing the win, closing out the night with everything the crowd could've ever wanted to see.

"Lemme get something straight, here. Mercy brings in the big man, a legend like Shogun... starts him off with Logan Axelrod, that's fine. Throws Kantar at him the next month. Fine by me. That man's an Evergreen icon that deserves nothing less. And then... and then, you decide, Mercy, to throw Tasharun at him? That outsider piece of shit that doesn't belong in my fucking ring? You wanna give that piece of trash the big showcase against the guest star... I'm going over your head for this." The image of Kevin Royce fades into view... standing in a backstage ring, surrounded by chairs, some of them likely ones he'd used in previous matches. "People wanna say that Shogun's done with Evergreen... fuck you. Maybe he's done inside Evergreen's own ring. But next month... I'm challenging you myself, Shogun. Right there at the Ascension. You've faced some of the top powerhouses that Evergreen's got... but this? This is legend to legend... and I'm gonna make goddamn sure you never forget this one."

The scene is a dark room, save for the harsh light of fluorescent bulbs hanging from the ceiling, under which is a large leather chair, its back turned to the camera, and various stereotypically Japanese iconography - a katana and kodachi on a rack, a set of decorative armor, porcelain figures, and so on. The chair swivels and turns to face the camera, revealing a tall, well-built African-American man in a tailored suit jacket and slacks, hair tied in tight cornrows, a pair of designer sunglasses over his eyes. He leans forward, fingers laced together, and stares over the frames of his shades right at the camera, a wry grin on his face that is betrayed by the cold look in his eyes, the furrowed eyebrows, the hints of stress lines across his face.

"Heh. For four years, I've been gone from America. Even before the last time I was here, I'd been off doin' my best across the Pacific, making sure my name's on everyone's lips as one of the big bosses of Japanese pro-wrestling. And there's a reason why people call me 'Big in Japan' - it's cause I, a foreigner in uncharted lands, staked my claim as a pillar of the company who hired me, Bushido Prowrestling League.

"And ever since fuckin' 2017, last time I came out this way, once a week, I'd get some talent scout sendin' feelers out to have me come back to the States - 'cause after I got treated as a joke for breaking my cushy-ass football contract to do pro wrestling instead of taking the easy route to being a celebrity, and I made it big as a wrestler here; the people doubtin' me had second thoughts, they realized I'm the real deal. And every time, I've looked at what they offer and laughed in their faces. Cause even now, the best they offer me is a big paycheck to sit on my ass week after week and work part-time. That ain't me.

"Firehawk Sentarl... he should consider himself lucky I took a look at his contract and said, 'Yeah, let's do this.' The money's a part of it, no duh. I'm getting paid handsomely to show up here in the next few days. But it's also about getting recognized, not just as the boss of Japan, but as the boss of this whole goddamn world. It's about finding competition, real competition, and crushing it like I've crushed everything else that's come my way, and the way I see it, this is a perfect chance to do just that.

"Boss-man recruited all of us in this tourney from across the world cause he wants a fresh face to win this tournament, someone to push the champ to the limit. Whether it's that MMA washout Monroe or," he says with a little sneer, "The guy who's been actin like he runs this place for the past few months. He wants big names? He's got one, and when - not if - I win this tournament, I'll be the man to stand up to the champ. When the lights go out in the arena at the end of the year, that belt's gonna be around my waist."

"But, before you go kissing my feet and acting like I turn water into wine, I'm not doing this outta the kindness of my own heart, or outta some sense of honor. To me, there's no honor to be had in that ring. What, you think that 'cause I'm from a company called Bushido Pro, I'm all about that samurai chivalry, Yamato Spirit and stuff? Hell no, I'm out here for ME, to show I'M the big boss of the wrestling world. If that means kicking some asshole in a leather-daddy vest off the top of the mountain, I'm gonna do it.

"But... I'm getting ahead of myself, huh? Talking like the title shot comes first. No, first things first is the Grand Ascension. October 4, a few short nights from now, I make my opening statement for my case to be the actual best in the world. I dunno who I'm up against. It doesn't matter who I'm up against. Whether it's that annoying moron shouting that he's 'Best in the World' every time he can, the luchadores who think they can hang with the heavyweights, the unknown factors, or that crazy nuclear waste dump giant Amazoness of a woman... Whoever it is, they're gonna learn that in Japan, I'm more than just a big fish in a small pond; I'm a damn great white shark in a big sea of predators."