What Could Happen to the World Title

It’s chaos to begin this episode of Storm. We’re fresh off the heinous attack of World Champion Johnny Gargano last week and we still don’t know how we will move forward. Commissioner Jason Parker is trying to keep things together while veteran mentors William Regal and Rey Mysterio prepare Drew McIntyre and Will Ospreay for what could come.

In the opening match, the House of Black defend their Tag Team Titles against GAW legends Motor City Machine Guns. It’s become the norm now: HOB put on a world-class performance. This is one of the better tag team matches you will see as MCMG go for their record fifth title reigns. But, as they have so often done, Lashley and Nakamura persevered, isolated Alex Shelley and gave Lashley the space to lock in the full nelson and win the match. But we had almost no time to question who might be challenging at Nitro 12 because former two-time champs the Good Brothers appeared on video. They questioned the HOB’s abilities and informed them that Gallows and Anderson were headed to Seattle and will be waiting for the champions.

Backstage, Ember Moon found Lacey Evans and claimed that, since Sonya Deville cheated to beat Moon, Evans is not the legitimate US Champion. Evans, as expected, agreed to face Moon as part of the US Title Barnstorm.

We get a blast from our past as Yun-Son Park enters to face PAC in a rematch of the biggest upset in GAW history. Just like in 2020, Park won after avoiding the Brutalizer and hitting the Hi-Lo Flow. After the match, Park got on the mic. He delivered an impassioned speech about his road to Storm and his part in creating Evolution and he was honest in his regret that he didn’t get to spend more time on Storm. But, according to Park, Swerve Strickland bringing back the Cruiserweight Title was his sign that he needs to do something. So he challenged Swerve to a match for the new title at Nitro and Swerve, speaking on the big screen, accepted.

Backstage, William Regal finds Will Ospreay ahead of the GAW Classic finals later. Regal asked Ospreay to forfeit the match and let Drew McIntyre focus on becoming GAW World Champion while Ospreay has his own matters to take care of. Ospreay, as expected, refused.

The US Title Barnstorm continues but, for the first time, Evans knew her opponent going in. Former champion Ember Moon stepped up to challenge the new champ in a high-paced affair. But the momentum of Evans could not be stopped. Moon tried to hit the Eclipse but she was met with an M9 by Evans that ended Moon’s night.

We all thought it was time for the Classic finals in the main event but, to all of our shock, Commissioner Jason Parker entered. Parker, acting as a spokesman for the GAW board, announced he was canceling the main event. The World Title was being vacated as Johnny Gargano would be unable to defend the title in a timely manner. Therefore, for the first time ever, the GAW Classic Finals would be for the vacant GAW World Championship. In minutes, Drew McIntyre and Will Ospreay went from prospective #1 contenders to Nitro main event.