Ballroom Blitz (2018)

AWE Ballroom Blitz (2018) is an episode of Astonishing Wrestling Enterprise run in WWE 2K18. This is the seventh episode of the first season, as well as AWE's first major event.

Background
The big draw of this year's Ballroom Blitz was the crowning of the first ever AWE World Champion. For the first 6 episodes of AWE, a special 24-man, 3-bracketed tournament took place, and the finals of each bracket would take place at the top of the show, with a 3-way Elimination Match in the main event to crown the first World Champion.

In Bracket A, Ray Reed and Michael Sullivan would reach the top of their bracket. Ray Reed had a hard-fought climb, starting with an upset win over Rabid, before clinching the Finals against Xander Rivera. Michael Sullivan, however, had a more cunning ascent, beating Bryce Beauchamp using the ropes for leverage, before getting a countout win over another tournament favorite, Daas Wheedon. Strangely, it would be United We Fall that helped out Rip-n-Ray in a tag match with the West Brothers before this event took place. The reason is only know to Sullivan himself.

Bracket B would feature the Age of Gold's Nethaniel King and Aldo Anthony. Aldo advanced over the likes of Rip Rossi and Thomas Thompson, with Nethaniel King reaching the finals on the backs of Dion Shepherd and Isaiah Fynch, with King making a statement by further assaulting the latter big man after the Semifinal.

Meanwhile, Bracket C would see a true hoss fight take place, with War Bacon facing another member of the Age of Gold, Travis Maverick. War Bacon would crush Kenna Bengal and Lance Maverick to make it to Ballroom Blitz, while the future Big Trav demolished Adam Ultimate and Drake West to reach the final.

After the first round tournament matches for the AWE World Championship, the company would begin to focus on building up a women's division, and by extension, the AWE Women's Championship. Two Qualifying Matches would take place before Ballroom Blitz, with The Phantom Storm entering through a Four Way by pinning Kathy McKay, and Andrea Angel gaining a second chance to qualify by beating Alexia Cannon.

With an influx of new talent, a new singles championship would be crowned at Ballroom Blitz in a 6-Man Ladder Match: the AWE One vs. All Championship. This would be a unique title, as after the initial crowning of the first champion, all subsequent title matches would take place under OvA Open Challenge Rules, where the title would be defended against a mystery opponent on nearly all AWE-sanctioned broadcasts (and beyond)

The AWE Tag Team Championship would also be newly crowned at this event. With a number of teams already established for the division, it was decided that the two that would fight to determine the first champions would come down to the West Brothers and the Pest Friends. The Pest Friends have won tag gold elsewhere, and were chosen based on their early pedigree and chemistry as a team. The West Brothers, despite losing to Rip-n-Ray weeks prior, were chosen off the performance of Drake West in the AWE Championship Tournament, and Ray's entry into the Finals.

Event
Ballroom Blitz would start off with the three Bracket Finals, starting, naturally, with Bracket A, where Michael Sullivan took advantage of Ray Reed trying to give the anarchist a taste of his own medicine with a countout win, but a quick succession of moves would give Sullivan the win. In Bracket B, we would see Nethanial King riding high on his infamous debut on Dino Winwood's "Well Fans, We're Fucked" by wearing a shirt that read "I BROKE DINO'S SOUL." However, this would not help, as he would fall to Aldo Anthony. Finally, Bracket C would go to War Bacon after a hoss fight with Travis Maverick.

In the first of 4 inaugural championship matches, the AWE One vs. All Championship would be determined in a 6-Man Ladder Match. This match featured both newcomers and talents that have already appeared on previous AWE programming. The competitors include the likes of Lance Birch & Tommy Grotto, making their AWE debuts, Jay Marcantel, William Hancock, Birthright's Angelo Grimsley, and eventual winner, Spot Monkey.

Next we would see the crowning of the first ever AWE Tag Team Champions in a Tornado Tag Team Match. After a wild match, Rabid would pin Gary West to secure the Tag Team gold for the Pest Friends. After this, The Phantom Storm would cement herself as the first AWE Women's Champion by defeating Andrea Angel.

Finally, in the main event, what started with 24 comes down to 3, as Michael Sullivan, Aldo Anthony and War Bacon emerge from their brackets to determine the first AWE World Champion in a Three Way Elimination Match. Aldo would eliminate Michael Sullivan first off of a top rope maneuver, before putting away War Bacon to become the inaugural AWE World Champion.

Episode
Ballroom Blitz (2018)