Nepotism aside, Fiona couldn't deny Carlo was earning his place in the spotlight by putting on a great show, and the crowd was responding really well to him as he battled through a surprisingly close match with Hilo Keli'i. He seemed to gain a second wind from the crowd's support, a feeling Fiona knew well, and when Hilo pursued him to the ropes Carlo caught him off guard with a devastating springboard roundhouse to the head.

"Oh, [i]wow[/i]," Fiona blurted out, impressed. "That was really clean." Especially considering Carlo had just escaped a punishing submission attempt, there was no way Hilo expected him to be able to pull that off as beautifully as he had.

Carlo went back to the ropes, springboarding again for a graceful moonsault to slam onto the downed Hilo and go for the cover. [i]One, two, three,[/i] and Deguara was the winner by pinfall, to the delight of the fans. The Rubicon Gauntlet was continuing to deliver standout matches, and the next one promised to be no different.

After Carlo had ample opportunity to celebrate his win, the announcers and the graphics on screen introduced the fight coming up after the break: Abby Beatific taking on Tanya Redd.

"So. Who do [i]you[/i] think I've got the better chance of beating?" Fiona asked. "Not that I'm going to root for either of them. Hopefully this match goes twenty minutes and they beat each other bloody by the end of it."