After the playing of the national anthem, the Rider's Gigolo made his way to the ring for a promo. He eventually introduced Rob the Bull McBride. Portraying the role of Rob the Bull was Brian Hall, who came to the ring in a black singlet like Rob's, with wig and beard. The two continued to mock McBride until Persuasion came to the ring and put both men in their place. Kurt Solo ran in and attacked Persuasion's knee until Santa Claus made the save. Santa revealed himself to be none other than RCW Heavyweight Champion Corey Edsel, who cleared the ring as Persuasion had to be helped to the back.

The opening contest was a Rider's Rumble, where the participants were being drawn at random by the Independent Insiders up on the stage. An interesting situation developed when Slick Ric and Willy G were the first two participants. The two partners were obviously working light with each other early on but tempers flared briefly before both guys agreed to take a walk and concentrate on their tag title defense. Other participants included Ravishing Ritchie, Conceited Kid Bradley North, El Joker, "The Mini Bull" Rob McBride Jr., Lightning Rod, Dope from Colombia (?!), Brian Hall, The Gigolo, Kurt Solo, Bounty Hunter, Larry Isley, Wayne Insane, Hellshock, Mikael Yamaha, Cinnamon, The Masked Men (two of them, at that), and several others, but in the end it was down to Chaos, Delinquent, and Grease Monkey. After Monkey was incapacitated, Delinquent attempted to get some offense in on his partner, but was unsuccessful and decided that he'd take the high road - over the top rope, leaving Chaos and Monkey. Monkey fought back and was actually able to dump the 350+ pounder over the top rope, but Delinquent got the attention of referee Vern Stephens. Chaos slipped back in, hit the Chaos Bomb and dumped Grease over the top rope to win the match and become the King of Rider's.

Up next was a tag team title unification match, as the NEW, ACWA, and FWA-Carolinas Tag Team Champions the $outh$ide Playas took on RCW Tag Team Champions the New Skool Wrecking Crew, Slick Ric and Willy G. As always, the Wrecking Crew had Special K and India at ringside. Willy was a replacement for Lumbee and it showed as he and Ric just didn't have the tag team continuity we're accustomed to seeing from Lumbee and Ric. They hit some nice double-team maneuvers throughout the contest though, including the Hart Attack clothesline for a near fall late in the bout. It seemed as though every time the Playas would get the upperhand, Special K or India would jump on the apron to distract them. Eventually, the Playas decided that the girls were not worth the belts, ignoring K on the apron and hitting a tandem chokeslam on Ric. Willy G broke up the near fall but himself eventually fell victim to the 3P (the Playas Phat Phinish) to add yet another tag team championship to the resume of the $outh$ide Playas.

The Gigolo again made his way to the ring, this time to announce that he had placed a $25,000 bounty on the head of Corey Edsel and had found just the man to take it. Who better than the Bounty Hunter to collect such a bounty? The NEW National Champion came to ringside and said he didn't like Gigolo, but he would agree to take out Edsel for him. Corey Edsel came to the ring and confronted Bounty, leading to their RCW Heavyweight Title match later, which would also occur inside the steel cage.

Up next was a mixed tag match as Gemini Kid and GeeStar took on FWA-Carolinas Cruiserweight Champion Mikael Yamaha and FWA-Carolinas Women's Champion Amber Holly. The men started, but it wasn't long before Gee and Amber got in and mixed it up as well. Gemini continued to work over Yamaha's leg throughout the contest, though Yamaha kept coming back, including a nice series of magistral cradle attempts and reversals which ended in a roll-up for a near fall. Eventually, Gemini was able to score the pin on Yamaha, leading one to wonder just how this victory will effect the FWA Carolinas Cruiserweight Title picture. It promises to be a rough month for Yamaha, who also has to contend with Caprice "Ice" Coleman on December 29th in Graham.

At intermission as the steel cage was being set up, the Independent Insiders 2001 Year-End Awards were presented. The most newsworthy event coming out of the presentation was the $outh$ide Playas, who received Tag Team of the Year, saying that they could not call themselves the best tag team around until they beat one particular team. The $outh$ide Playas called out Christian York and Joey Matthews! No word as come from York and Matthews yet as to whether or not they'll accept the Playas challenge.

Inside the cage, Corey Edsel defeated Bounty Hunter to retain the RCW Heavyweight Title. Bounty controlled much of the match, with Edsel getting in occasional flurries of offense, but always short-lived. Bounty went for the spear but Edsel slipped out of the way and Bounty ended up crashing into the steel ring post. Corey seized the opportunity to roll him up and get the victory to retain his title. After the match, Bounty took his frustrations out on referee Vern Stephens, busting him wide open, and then went so far as to spear Corey on the floor outside the cage. Both Vern and Corey had to be helped to the back.

In the main event, Kurt Solo put his empire, New Empire Wrestling to be specific, against control of RCW and Persuasion. Solo entered the cage first, accompanied by his masked man and the Gigolo. Special referees Brian Hall and the Rider's Enforcer, Hank were both inside the cage for this important match. Persuasion had to be helped to ringside by Conceited Kid Bradley and was obviously favoring her knee. She, along with RCW commissioner Randolph Hedrick, revealed a stipulation that was in the contract Kurt was forced to sign at the Klick, saying that should he put his hands on Persuasion at any point prior to their match, she reserved the right to name a substitute. "Saturday Night Superstar" blared through Rider's as Solo and Brian feverishly locked the cage door. It was then that the masked man unmasked to reveal none other than Rob the Bull McBride! McBride and Solo waged a bloody war inside the steel cage, with Hall constantly breaking up McBride pinfalls and Hank doing the same to Solo. In the end, a miscommunication between Solo and Hall led to a shoving match. After Hall shoved Solo, McBride rolled him up for a nearfall. Solo got up and got in Hall's face until Brian low-blowed him and hit a stunner. McBride scooped Solo up for the Saturday Night Superstar and both Brian Hall and Hank counted the three count. Rob McBride had won control of both NEW and RCW to end the war. Or so we thought. A bloodied McBride took the mic and stated that he had thought about it, and he would be damned if he was going to do to independent wrestling what Vince had done to the major leagues. He didn't want both companies. So he told Solo that if Solo would shake his hand like a man, he would give him NEW back. Solo got up and shook McBride's hand, but then thought better of it and swung, but McBride ducked and the fight was on again. The second Masked Man from earlier in the ring entered the cage, but McBride caught him and rammed both Solo and the Masked Man's heads together. Rob then took the mask of to reveal…Persuasion?! Persuasion was wearing Kurt Solo's shirt and had turned her back on her husband. Rob the Bull was beaten down in the corner until Brian Hall made the save. Solo then proclaimed that since McBride had given him NEW back, and Persuasion had given him RCW, HE now controlled both companies. Not so, said Commissioner Randolph Hedrick, who asked Rob the Bull whether or not he was still retired. Rob responded with a resounding 'No', Randolph said that that made Rob the owner of RCW again, so in short, it was no longer Persuasion's to give. Rob got back to his feet and announced that the Bull was single again! He looked at Hall and merely said "Brian…it worked" as the Redneck Pimp Daddies embraced to end a wild show.

So in the end of the match that was supposed to end the war…we're right back where we started! BUT the issue between NEW and RCW has never been hotter than it is right now, heading into 2002.