UNION Open Challenge 2024 (RLS Premium Live Event)

UNION Open Challenge 2024 was a UNION Wrestling Live Event that took place on the 2nd March 2024. It was the first show with this name run by the promotion, though the premise is similar to the previous All Opposed event in 20191.
It was preceded by UNION London Calling in February, and will be followed by the new season's first Live Event, UNION Bring Down The House '24, in March.
==Background==
# Eddie Hamer confirmed the UNION World Championship Open Challenge would open the show on UNION Charged, earlier in the week.
# Hamer also confirmed, in a press call the same week, that Better Than You would be defending the WOTU Tag Team Championships for the final time, with the winners get "an advantage" in any tourney or match going forward to crown a new women's singles title introduced to replace the retiring Tag Team titles.2
# Tammy Washington said going into the event that she hopes the "strongest challenger possible" comes forward to challenge her for the WOTU Inter Championship.
# Nancy Warren would return from injury, asking to face Bella Yang, following her failure to capture the WOTU World Championship, to prove she was in with a chance of challenging herself. Yang would, after losing twice, turn on Warren, smashing her head-first into both the steel steps and apron. Eddie Hamer would declare Warren's challenge for the World Championship void, for now, as she couldn't be cleared to compete, so Warren begged him for an "unsanctioned" Grudge Match against Yang at Open Challenge, which he begrudgingly accepted.3
# New UNION British Champion El Jefe told the crowd at UNION Unleashed that he hoped do them proud at Open Challenge.
# The right to choose opponents for all live event defences of the UNION Tag Team Championships ran out leading up to this event, meaning INVICTA's Zander Adder and Bane would face unknown opposition for the first time in their reign.
# Lara Grey sent a warning out to her potential WOTU World Championship challengers by repeatedly beating down Kelly Gazidis on UNION shows leading up to the event.
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==Card==
# 	Result 	Stipulation(s) 	Finish
D*	Karl Frocht def. Matsuda 	Dark Match 	Frocht submitted Matsuda
1 	Mikey Ace (c) def. Takanobu Endo 	Open Challenge for UNION World Championship 	Ace forced Endo to tap to the End of Days
2 	(Elsa & Gaia Cassidy) (c) def. Better Than You VeteRUNNERS (Jackie Compton & Taki)	Open Challenge for WOTU Tag Team Championships 	Taki submitted to Cassidy's Goddess Lock
3 	Sarah Fenix def. Tammy Washington (c) 	Open Challenge for WOTU Inter Championship 	Fenix pinned Washington following a Fenix Splash
4 	Nancy Warren def. Bella Yang 	"Unsanctioned" Grudge Match 	Yang tapped out to the Canadian Crab
5 	El Jefe (c) def. Piranha 	Open Challenge for UNION British Championship 	Piranha pinned following Top-Rope Hurricanrana
6 	The Deck (The Maverick & Mayhem) def. INVICTA (Zander Adder & Bane) (c) 	Open Challenge for UNION Tag Team Championships	Bane pinned by Maverick after Dead Man's Hand
7 	Lara Grey (c) def. Angel 	Singles Match for WOTU World Championship 	Angel passed out in the Greyhug
*D stands for Dark Match, a traditional occurrence at big UNION Wrestling events where outside or yet-to-debut talent wrestle try-outs or attendance-exclusive bouts.
== Open Challenges ==
* vs. Mikey Ace for the UNION World Championship: Ace's old rival, and esteemed Japanese wrestler Takanobu Endo, best known for his spells in both Japan MIGHTY! Wrestling and Exhibition Wrestling: Japan, made his UNION debut, much the the anger of the champion.
* vs. Better Than You for the WOTU Tag Championships: The VeteRUNNERS, Jackie Compton and Taki, both beloved in this part of Germany, answered the call to become the final team to challenge for the soon-to-be-retired Tag Team Championships.
* vs. Tammy Washington for the WOTU Inter Championship: Sarah Fenix would answer the call for the Inter Championship, coming off the back of several good performances in the weeks leading up to the event, including key wins.
* vs. El Jefe for the UNION British Championship: Piranha, who'd been involved as a friend to the champion in his feud with former champion Harry Daniels, shockingly answered the challenge, giving the two lucha superstars the chance to meet in the ring to see how far respect and friendship goes.
* vs. INVICTA for the UNION Tag Team Championships: The Deck, Maverick and Mayhem, would stunningly return to challenge INVICTA, hoping to avenge their loss to them at UNION Uneasy Alliance.
* vs. Lara Grey for the WOTU World Championship: After being namedropped by her former protégé on UNION Unleashed prior to the event, Angel answered her challenge at the show, itself.
==Aftermath==
To be added...
==Trivia==
* Open Challenge marks the end of the end of the 2023-24 season of UNION shows, after which a revamp of the promotion is planned. This will reportedly see new logos, show designs, and changes to the championships within the promotion, including the confirmed end of the WOTU Tag Team division.4
* Brody Shires was reportedly set to use the guaranteed British Championship shot he won as part of the main event of Uneasy Alliance to make the match here a three-person one, though plans were seemingly changed at the last minute.5
* Squared Circle Insider gave the show a 4 star out of 5 rating, stating that the show never really lulled, had plenty of surprise challengers and shock results, and that the main event was "perhaps a legitimate six-star occurrence".6
==Behind-the-Scenes==
# This was the original name for the show, but I changed it as it sounded... off, to me.
# This is something I've been wanting to do for a while, as I need to both make the women's division stand out, and give it a chance to grow over time without shoehorning in a bunch of unnatural pairings. They'll get a third, completely original, singles title, and certain other concessions, going forward.
# I originally planned for Warren to answer the WOTU World challenge, but then realised I needed a Grudge Match (I often have these more no-DQ style matches on PLEs) for this month, and after watching the apron/head bump in-game, saw a good opening for this pairing.
# This is in-universe babble for the move over to WWE 2K24!
# This was true at one point, but I felt it was too soon given the long-term planning I have for INVICTA as a whole to have them hold all the championships at once, even if just for a few matches, as it turned out.
# The SCI ratings are just my in-universe way of saying how much I enjoyed the show and felt my stories paid off, as well as taking things like the in-game star rating into account. That main event was, actually, probably the best match I've played on the post-2K20 iterations of the franchise.
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