Phoenix Rising: Grand Ascension VI Finals Night Results

The match of Golden Tigress's career. Going in against the wildly popular (and exceptionally talented) Felice Santana, Tigress made it very clear why she's much, much less hated than her male counterpart, putting on a red-hot opener and coming away with a spectacular victory to claim the first piece of singles gold in her career. Felice still remains one-half of the Proving Ground tag team champions, but it's now the only belt she holds after dropping both the Inspire Championship and TIPWF Trios Championships in recent weeks.


Well on its way to being a crazy, typical, chaotic Evergreen tag match... but Eternamente Verde clearly had no intention of letting this opportunity slip through her fingers, and after a truly violent brawl on the outside, she landed her huge leaping cutter on Luci, putting her down for a knockout victory and giving El Verde the shot at Mercy and Trinity in the near future.


The absolute highlight of the first half of the show, and one of the best of the night. Johnny Rocket has had trouble handling Lance Marshall in the past... they've faced each other plenty of times, but Lance has always gotten the upper hand. That changed here on the biggest stage possible, with Rocket enduring everything Lance had to throw his way and came roaring back into the match to finally pick up a win over his fellow Houston native. A big, big win for Rocket that could set him on a collision course with the Spirit of Texas Champion...


Whenever these two teams cross paths, sparks fly. This was an intense tag team matchup between veterans, a match we've seen plenty of times already... but once again, Rilantha De Nav proved the decisive factor here, seemingly unstoppable en route to locking in the Anaconda Vice for a final submission victory. With eternal rivals Firehawk and Kileas not involved in the finish, no doubt the conflict between the Sentarl Alliance and Kintelas Family will continue.


A tremendous showing from Babe Ruthless. Kroll's looked like a monster as of late, but none of it seemed to matter to Babe, who came out defiant, violent, and relentless. She'd ultimately secure a submission with her brutal full-nelson clutch, and Babe Ruthless became the second new champion of the night.


eMo's week leading up to Sky's the Limit was, frankly, disastrous. And with the night starting off the way it did, the scales seemed tipped in favor of a title change here. But never, ever count out one of Evergreen's top factions... especially Eddy Introspect, who ultimately picked up the victory here in his usual clutch fashion. eMo remains the Trios Champions, and their next defense will come from within Evergreen once again.


Kojiro Burai stepped up once again. While Titania was a wrecking ball in the ring, Kojiro was a ferocious force that simply refused to stay down, dishing out every bit as good as he got. The Titanic Bomb simply wasn't enough this time around, and Kojiro retained his championship with his huge running stomp, continuing a reign that's quickly becoming legendary.


Perhaps one of the closest matches Ryan's had since becoming Spirit of Texas Champion... but anymore, his victory seems inevitable. He's been purely unstoppable, and after kicking out of everything Todd Colton could throw at him, Ryan landed the most devastating finisher in AFW, the Widowmaker... and that was that. Ryan stays on top.


The Malevolent Triad was not a major presence for some time. But lately, they've become every bit the threat they've seemingly meant to be... and Fenix Oscuro has suddenly stepped up to remind the Showdown roster that despite being somewhat inactive for a time, she is still the Triad's leader for good reason. This was a devastating combination: Oscuro and Selisha simply outclassed the GOAT, and Oscuro would lock in her brutal Cavernaria variation to secure the win, and the Phoenix Rising Tag Team Championships.


Riccardo De Luca's night started off horrifically bad. Sanya Markov was in charge for the first half of this match, make no mistake, as Riccardo seemed to be trying to meet the powerhouse Russian face-to-face. The moment he stopped trying to do that, the match shifted gears, and Riccardo began to build up momentum. The man known as Perpetual Motion lived up to that name as the match reached its climax... a relentless offense that Sanya did his best to try and stifle, but it wasn't enough... Riccardo came out the other side, victorious, the new Top Prospect Champion, ending one of the most dominant and impressive reigns Proving Ground has ever seen.


Mascara Avispa has been in this position before. Staring down a major champion, looking to come home with the gold... but in the past, it simply hasn't worked out. Time and time again, Avispa's been on the outside looking in.

Not this time.

This was dominance in every sense. And while Candace Monroe seemed to get the better of him on the mat when the two went for it, Avispa certainly didn't give up much there... and he was simply better in every other phase of the match. It's as simple as that: the first man from outside Phoenix Rising's own sphere to hold the World Championship is a man that's fought throughout the organization for years. He's earned this moment, earned this place at the top of the mountain.

"Let nobody ever say, 'Mascara Avispa's a bitch liar,' because when I said I was going to make history, that. Was. No. CAP! And let nobody say that I can't stand my own against anyone of any style. I've been training since I was in high school, I took the Greyhound to Laredo every weekend of my life with my lunch money, with my mom's credit card, with whatever I had to scrounge up to make this dream a reality, and goddamn it THIS IS WHAT IT WAS ALL ABOUT!! The recognition, the acclaim, the opportunity to show that, in the year of our lord 2022, I am the absolute PINNACLE of Phoenix Rising, without a shadow of a doubt! Whether you think of me as an 'outsider' or not, it doesn't matter. NOBODY can deny that on this night, I saw the peak of the mountain, said, 'nah, I can go higher than that,' and not only planted a flag at the apex but declared an even bigger mountain on the range to be the obstacle to overcome around here."

"Four years of grinding and struggling shaped this match! Four years of starting from from the bottom of the card - a young buck with a few strong showings elsewhere to my name - and working my way up, teaming with guys like Phantom Thief, like Blake Dynamite, some of whom had moved on to new places. Four years of wrestling the best in my division like Besos, like Silver Hawk, like Relampaga and Layla Al Amin, and of being on the other side of the ring from people who have a huge weight and height advantage on me like Lance Marshall and WINNING their respect.  Even if I couldn't take back the title, of being considered the bride's maid but never the bride so to speak, I at least had that. Was I frustrated with constantly bumping my head against the ceiling without breaking through? Sure, who wouldn't be. I let that frustration turn me into a miserable, arrogant dick, and even then, it didn't get me gold.  In the end, what mattered more than anything was being true to who I am, plain and simple."

"Now, listen Candace, none of this was personal! ... Well, other than maybe using Kirison's cross-arm clutch on you, that was probably a dick move. But it wasn't out of a need to stunt on you, it was because I knew it would wear you down, take the gas outta your tank, and wear down the shoulders on top of that. That 14, 15 years of training I've had - because this is always a learning process - is what makes the difference between you and me, and for that matter, me and the rest of this company. Not many people under 30 can say they've got that kinda tenure. Everything you could throw at me, I could match, even matwork - because nobody should see me, a junior heavyweight, and think, 'Oh, he must be some spot monkey with no fundamentals.' Nah, I'm a complete package."

"And, I've only scratched the SURFACE of what I can do. In the end, I didn't need any deep cuts - just the move that had gotten me this far up until now, the original flavor of La Avispa. But I'm no one-trick pony, hell no, and anyone who's been watching me over the years has gotta know that. Whoever's up next, whether it's one of the guys who lost their belts on Monday night, someone like Kojiro Burai angling for double gold, or just someone who gets on a lucky streak? You haven't seen ANYTHING yet."

"I don't need to say a lot about this one. You and I have both been around a good while in this business. But even then, you don't know what you're getting into. You've put together a nice, solid career, Archer. But you're going up against a hardcore legend of the Northwest. The most violent, dangerous, devastating son of a bitch ever to set foot in a ring.

Everyone dies? You got that right, big guy.

You first."

"You wanna know something? I don't wanna hear a single word comparing me to this guy. MJF... yeah, OK, let's get this straight: I get why people talk about it. Why the comparisons happen, why they think you and I match up. So, y'know what, Maxie-boy? Let's set the record straight.

All right, so we're both experts at fuckin' up the other guy's arm. Problem: I'm way, way better at it. Don't even try to come at me otherwise, because you and I both know it's what I do best. Better than anyone around.

You wanna talk about 'I can beat you with a headlock takeover', oh, that's real, REAL cute. I don't need to beat someone with a basic move because I don't need to prove shit. I'll beat you with an armbar. I'll beat you with a Destroyer. I'll beat you with an Exploder. Shit, I'll beat you with the move they call the Phoenix Rising Special, tie you up in knots and make sure you stay down. And you WILL stay down, Maxie-boy, make no mistake.

So let's address the last big elephant in the room: both of us are pretty damn good at shit-talking the other guy. I mean, I'm doin' it right now. Difference there? I don't need to take stabs at the low-hanging fruit. I'm dressing you down with the facts: the pure, unfiltered truth. I'm taking my shots where I need to. Wrecking your shit because I know I'm the better man, body and mind. I don't need to come out here and call someone in your family a bitch, just so the crowd will get louder... you listen to them every single time I'm out there and you know I don't need anything else.

It all boils down to one simple fact: you're going up against someone you won't push aside, that you won't be able to make your usual claim. Because fact is, Maxie...

I'm. Better. Than. You."

Laenara Kintelas def. Thunder Rosa
El Verde def. The Lucha Bros
Sanya Markov def. Miro
The Phantom Thief def. Orange Cassidy
Wardlow def. Titania
Freya O'Malley won the battle royal
Kaelara Sentarl def. Kris Statlander (Bonus Match)
Mercy Devine def. Jon Moxley
ReDragon def. The Rising Storm
The Black Dragon def. Samoa Joe
Bryan Danielson def. Rilantha De Nav
Lance Marshall def. Hangman Page
Bonus: The Sheridan Brothers (new and improved) def. Hangman Page and Lance Marshall

Keiko Maeda def. Virginia Caldwell
Aria Kintelas and Christina Wagner def. Wild and Wilde Inc.
HAYATO def. Ziggy Rockefeller
Rin Ryusaki def. Rei Hasegawa
Adrenaline Rush def. The Yoshida Twins
Axel Halldorson def. Arthur Wright
Fresh Suzuki def. SATOMI
La Familia def. The Excellent Blades
Harley Brooks def. Golden Tiger
Bonus: Colt Whitfield def. Damian Shepherd