The time has come for the next Ultra Class Battle for Ash, and this time it's in...Spikemuth? Nope! Turns out, a group of local hoodlums, Team Yell, had lied to Ash so their preferred champion, Marnie, would sweep the match! It turns out that Marnie is trying to raise awareness for her hometown, whose local Dark-type gym is run by her brother Piers, by competing in the World Coronation Series—and she has no intention of losing!
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Beyond the Impossible: Gengar wills itself to the extreme in order to resist being put to sleep by Grimmsnarl's G-Max Snooze, something of which even Marnie was surprised at.
- Broken Win/Loss Streak: Gengar's victory against Grimmsnarl marks his first win in the WCS.
- Disqualification-Induced Victory: Defied. Marnie refuses to win by any means other than a fair match, and she won't accept the WCS counting the match against Ash for arriving late. She gets even further enraged when she learns her overzealous legion of fans in Team Yell lied to him so he wouldn't arrive.
- History Repeats Itself: Like during the Indigo League, Ash winds up being late to a major battle in his career and almost disqualified due to a local Team throwing him for a loop, and his opponent in that match refuses to win by default. The difference this time is that Team Yell didn't kidnap him like Team Rocket, and Ash was only a few minutes late instead of several hours like he was with Ritchie. And unlike last time, Ash won.
- Mirror Character: Marnie's Morpeko, her Signature Mon, is a lot calmer and friendlier than James' constantly Hangry Morpeko, who would gladly eat its owners out of house and home if it meant satiating its hunger.
- Mythology Gag: Like in Pokémon Sword and Shield, Spikemuth is a ghost town run by Piers, the local Dark-type Gym Leader, who prefers not to have Gigantamax battles primarily because his gym isn't over a power spot.
- Scissors Cuts Rock: Subverted. Grimmsnarl is a Dark/Fairy type, while Gengar is a Ghost/Poison type, meaning that both are evenly matched (Grimmsnarl's Dark moves being effective against Gengar's Ghost typing, while Gengar's Poison moves are effective against Grimmsnarl's Fairy typing). Marnie even taught Grimmsnarl a Ground move (Stomping Tantrum) as a counter against the Poison moves, while Ash did the same with Gengar by teaching it a Fairy move (Dazzling Gleam) to counter against the Dark moves.
- Shout-Out: The episode's title homages the famous gag from This is Spın̈al Tap.
- Swallowed Whole: Before Gengar reverts back to normal from its Gigantamax stage, it swallows Grimmsnarl and spits him back out in order to protect itself during the reversion. Marnie didn't expect that move one bit.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Team Yell lied to Ash about the battle being in Spikemuth so Marnie would win by default, wanting her victory to raise awareness for their home and draw in more people to revitalize it.
- When She Smiles: InvokedTrope. Marnie puts her mouth up in a smile (in a Mythology Gag to the games) to thank Ash for a great battle.
