Pre-Show 74: The Long Hard Road

The stakes were high for Pre-Show 74 as The Long Hard Road to Ultimate Grand Prix was officially laid out! Qualifying matches to guarantee entry into the 40-man random draw Battle Royale were the marquee, while the Duo Division officially launched into 2016 with some of the top combos duking it out in grudge matches spawning from Tournament 63 and the end of 2015!

An eclectic group of frontline contenders qualified for the Battle Royale match:
m0s finally scored payback for being exiled from the KFL with a confident main event win over arch-rival LordSkarlet! Also headlining - The Great Genku confirmed his path back to the title, earning a grudge fuelled win over the man he blames for costing him the Undisputed Championship in a December three-way: "King of the World" Ken! There was much less to recently proclaimed "Chosen One" Damo's win -- his much talked about mystery opponent revealed to be STEROLIZER! Also earning guaranteed entry: m0s' brother Knickxasawrrrr, 2016 tournament upstart SubScorpTile, "The Guardian" CaTigeReptile, and The Alliance's Shen_DuHBK - who took out the Invasion's AcidicWonder!

It was a triumphant day for The Alliance all around! Invasion frontmen ShawnMichaels & The_Rock fell victim to a vengeful grudge challenge from "The Greek Crisis" maxilos & proXade. Meanwhile; Alliance "Superfriends" The_Hurricane & AlbertBeefcake took part in a blockbuster duo clash with Jammer2Omega & Porygonix! The win may've gone with the veteran team, but it's clear J2O & Pory have tremendous chemistry as one of the league's newest up-and-coming combos! A great competitive contest!

Of course, in the #1 contenders match "The United" Shoe & Artanix reminded everybody just how good they can be. They thoroughly put away the challenge of Unknown265 & mwgrant0 to set themselves up with a big Supercard 74 showdown against Hall of Fame Duo Division Champions: "Team Xtreme" Marz & Violent`J! You can bet that's a match fellow ICWW immortals Statix & Banging will be watching very closely. The New Pacific Connection got back into action after a brief hiatus, effortlessly fending off Liam & nif.

The Division 2 Championship made history - Murdoink ending the shortest reign in the title's history when he lost to "Pegaso" Zentile just two days after winning at Friday Night Fights! Sekktor did the hard work, taking out Murdoink early in the match to get his hands on Zentile. Alas; The Portuguese Pegaso was able to do as he did so often in 2015 - sneaking out with the win. Zentile will now defend against Benjamin at Supercard 74, but this feud seems far from over!

Pre-Show 74: The Long Hard Road (January 17th, 2016):
15. m0s comprehensively defeated "The Redeemer" LordSkarlet! [+2] [Battle Royale Qualifier]
14. The Great Genku thoroughly defeated King Ken. [+1] [Battle Royale Qualifier]
13. "The United" Shoe & Artanix defeated Unknown265 & mwgrant0 in a decisive victory! [+2] [#1 Contenders]
12. "The Chosen One" Damo comprehensively defeated mystery opponent STEROLIZER! [+6] [Battle Royale Qualifier]
11. Knickxasawrrrr defeated Mime in a hard fought match. [+1] [Battle Royale Qualifier]
10. "The Alliance" The_Hurricane & AlbertBeefcake defeated Jammer2Omega & Porygonix in a close fought match! [+1]
9. "The Secret Weapon" SubScorpTile defeated NovaStarr [+1] [Battle Royale Qualifier]
8. "The Guardian" CaTigeReptile defeated "The Predator" TonyTheTiger [+1] [Battle Royale Qualifier]
7. "Pegaso" Zentile defeated Sekktor & Murdoink (c) [+1/--/-1] [Division 2 Championship]
6. "Italian Cyclone" Shen_DuHBK defeated AcidicWonder [+1] [Battle Royale Qualifier]
5. "The New Pacific Connection" Statix & Banging comfortably defeated Liam & nif [+1]
4. "Lucifer's Ladder" Corrupt UlcaTron & Corrupt hydraslash d. Bofh & Dolce [+1]
3. Politics & Menas defeated redman & Killswitch [+1]
2. JoelKatz & KittyKat defeated Jerrod & Corrupt MINION. [+1]
1. "The Greek Crisis" maxilos & proXade defeated "The Invasion" ShawnMichaels & The_Rock [+1]

The stage is now set for Supercard 74: Battle Royale - Sunday, January 24th!

7 hopeful fighters are guaranteed for the annual 40-fighter match for an Undisputed Championship shot at the main event of Ultimate Grand Prix! PLUS_ Three title matches are confirmed, with Grand Slam Launch winner ElJobber challenging Hokey for the Undisputed Championship -- "The United" Shoe & Artanix taking it to extremes against Duo Division Champions Marz & Violent`J -- and Benjamin gearing up for Division 2 gold against "Pegaso" Zentile! Stay tuned for more announcements and week 2 of the all-new Friday Night Fights!