A new Impact Wrestling commentary team will debut at this weekend’s Hard to Kill pay-per-view.
Starting at Hard to Kill this Saturday, Matt Striker will be Impact’s new play-by-play announcer and D’Lo Brown will be on color commentary. Striker and Brown will also call episodes of Impact weekly going forward.
Josh Mathews and Madison Rayne had been Impact’s commentary team. Impact Wrestling announced that Mathews has been promoted to senior producer for their programming. Mathews has also signed a new multi-year contract with Impact Wrestling.
Rayne will discuss her wrestling future at Hard to Kill. It was reported last month that Rayne is leaving Impact Wrestling for a career outside of wrestling.
“My play-by-play career has spanned nearly 20 years — from WrestleMania to Bound For Glory to incredible moments from IMPACT Wrestling on AXS TV,” Mathews said in a press release. “Producing will allow me to have a bigger role in the overall production of our weekly show, PPVs and IMPACT+ Specials.
“This transition has been a great process, Matt and D’Lo are bringing a fresh energy and are ready to go. It was a special year in 2020, and both Madison Rayne and I will always be grateful for the opportunity and look forward to these exciting changes.”
“I’ve always loved professional wrestling. It is a love that unites so many people,” Striker said. “Pro wrestling is a sport and I want to be mindful to call it as such. I’ve learned and grown so much since I began, and I thank the fans — and the critics — for that. It is not lost on me the opportunity that is before me — I can once again lend my voice to the sport that I love. In doing so, I’m poised to describe, analyze, and witness the most advanced athletes the sport has ever seen. I am excited, nervous, thankful, and humbled. I cannot wait to get out there. You will always be able [to] hear the fan in me.”
“I’m very excited to join the IMPACT Wrestling broadcast booth and I know working alongside Matt Striker will be a lot of fun,” Brown said. “I believe in IMPACT Wrestling, with its amazing roster of skilled Superstars and Knockouts — and can’t wait to have the best seat in the house to call all the action. I’m humbled to follow the IMPACT broadcasting path of Don West and Mike Tenay, and most recently Don Callis, Madison Rayne and certainly Josh Mathews. I’m beyond grateful for this opportunity. I know there are big shoes to fill, but Striker and I will do our best.”
Hard to Kill will be headlined by AEW World Champion Kenny Omega & Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) facing Impact World Champion Rich Swann & The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) in a six-man tag match.
AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and Don Callis will be on this Tuesday’s pay-per-view go-home edition of Impact Wrestling.
Omega has been a fixture on the show since the Tuesday after he won the title in early-December as part of a bigger and still developing interpromotional angle with Callis. The announcement said they will be at the Impact Zone, but it’s unclear whether they will be in the facility or in a pre-taped segment on a bus as has been the case in recent weeks.
He will team with Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers at Saturday’s Hard To Kill against Impact World Champion Rich Swann and the Motor City Machine Guns. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows appeared on this past Wednesday’s Dynamite in a surprise appearance to help Omega, reforming their alliance with the Young Bucks to close the show.
The lineup for Tuesday’s show:
Impact World Champion Rich Swann vs. Karl Anderson non-title match
Kenny Omega appearance
Taya Valkyrie (w/ Rosemary) vs. Kimber Lee (w/ Deonna Purrazzo)
Cody Deaner (w/ Eric Young and Joe Doering) vs. Tommy Dreamer (w/ Rhino and Cousin Jake)
In a twist, Moose earned a future shot at Impact World Champion Rich Swann despite losing to Willie Mack in an “I Quit” match at Saturday’s Genesis on Impact Plus.
In the show’s main event, Moose had Mack knocked out following several elbows, rendering him unable to say “I quit.” Moose was preparing to “Pillmanize” Mack’s neck when Swann ran out and asked him to stop. Moose initially refused, resulting in Swann pleading with him and offering him a title shot he had wanted for some time. Moose said the magic words and Mack won as a result.
Swann will be part of a six-man tag at next Saturday’s Hard To Kill pay-per-view, teaming with the Motor City Machine Guns against AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers.
The Genesis show also saw the crowning of the first Super X-Cup winner since 2017 as Ace Austin defeated Blake Christian in the finals of the one night, eight-man tournament.
Ace Austin won the Super X Cup tournament tonight during the Impact Plus Genesis event.
Austin defeated Blake Christian in the finals after a back and forth match. The finish had both men trading strikes in the ring until Austin dropped Christian with a second Fold to pick up the win. Austin had defeated Suicide and Cousin Jake to advance to the finals, while Christian defeated KC Navarro and Crazzy Steve.
In non-tournament matches that took place on tonight’s show, Jordynne Grace defeated Jazz, and Willie Mack defeated Moose in an I Quit match after Impact World champion Rich Swann said he’d put his title on the line if Moose spared a beaten Mack from further assault.
Impact previously held the Super X Cup in 2003 and 2005. They also held one in 2017 under the Global Force Wrestling banner. Chris Sabin, Samoa Joe, and Dezmond Xavier are previous winners of the tournament.
The company will hold their next big event on January 16 with the Hard to Kill pay-per-view. In the main event, Kenny Omega will team with Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows to take on Rich Swann and The Motor City Machine Guns.
The road to Hard To Kill goes through Genesis, an event streaming Saturday on Impact Plus.
While there are no title matches or Kenny Omega appearances scheduled, it will feature the return of the Super X-Cup, a one-night tournament that has been on ice since 2017 that used to feature eight of the world’s top high flyers.
This year’s field is still an impressive one despite pandemic-related travel restrictions as the first round will feature Ace Austin vs. Suicide, Daivari vs. Cousin Jake, Crazzy Steve vs. Tre Lamar, and KC Navarro vs. Blake Christian.
The event will also feature former Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace vs. Jazz in a clash of partners from the Knockouts Tag Team Title tournament. They lost in the semifinals last week and Grace challenged Jazz out of a show of respect.
Finally, in a grudge match, Moose will go up against Willie Mack under “I Quit” rules, meaning no countouts or DQs.
Our coverage starts at 8 PM Eastern.
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Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne opened the show running down the card for tonight.
– We got a video package for Ace Austin and Suicide. D’Amore, Shelley, and Sabin talked about Suicide and who could be under the mask. Austin talked about himself and his greatness and reclaiming the X Division Championship in 2021.
Ace Austin (with Madman Fulton) defeated Suicide in a Super X Cup First Round Match
Good opener. Suicide was quite dominant in this match, using a lot of submissions, and even after being cut off thanks to a distraction from Fulton, Suicide regained momentum over Austin. It wasn’t until the last minutes of the match that Austin gained control of the match, and even then, it was more of a back and forward match.
Suicide got a couple of good near falls, one after a crazy deadlift suplex, but at the end, after another distraction from Fulton, Austin hit the fold for the win.
Austin waits for the winner of Daivari vs Cousin Jake.
– We got a video package for KC Navarro and Christian Blake. Navarro cut a great promo, he’s got a lot of charisma in his voice. Christian sounds down to earth, but not that appealing in the mic. Promos were a contract between looks vs heart for Navarro and Christian respectively.
Blake Christian defeated KC Navarro in a Super X Cup First Round Match
Story of the match was that Navarro was showing that he could do anything that the fan favorite Christian could do, and even more. Match started slow with some mat wrestling, Navarro showing off his superior submission work, constantly playing to the camera. After Christian tried to speed up the match, Navarro came back showing that he could go fast too.
Nearing the end, Christian eventually made a comeback and ran wild for some minutes before hitting a twisting splash for the win.
Christian waits for the winner of Tre Lamar vs Crazzy Steve.
– We got a video package for Daivari and Cousin Jake. Daivari talked about being all over the world and being experienced. Jake talked about his ongoing story with Eric Young, Cody Deaner, and Joe Doering, but also talked about being the biggest guy in the tournament, and using that to win the tournament.
Cousin Jake defeated Daivari in a Super X Cup First Round Match
This was more of a hoss fight than a usual X Division match. A lot of clobbering, a lot of whipping each other from corner to corner, a lot of chops and clotheslines, but also a couple of dives from Jake.
Match saw Jake dominate early thanks to his size advantage, but after missing a crossbody and going neck first into the ropes, Jake was cut off and worked on by Daivari, who focused on the legs. At the end, Jake powered up and made a comeback for a couple of near falls. Last couple of minutes were back and forward action, ending with a big blackhole slam from Jake.
Ace Austin vs Cousin Jake for the semifinal.
– We got video packages for Tre Lamar and Crazzy Steve. Lamar didn’t show much in terms of promo, but not bad either. Steve was actually really good, but just terrible content.
Crazzy Steve defeated Tre Lamar in a Super X Cup First Round Match
Story here is that Steve is too weird for Lamar, who kept getting freaked out by him, his antics, and just kept asking him to ‘act normal’. It wasn’t even just the unorthodox wrestling style, but just Steve trying to lick him during lockups. Eventually Lamar managed to cut him off and get a wrestling match out of Steve.
Crazzy Steve hit a second rope Russian leg sweep to finally slow down Lamar. They traded strikes and near falls, but at the end Steve hit his second rope DDT for the win.
This was surprisingly good, but I feel like Lamar could have had a better match with anyone else. At least he got to show off his acting skills.
Crazzy Steve vs Blake Christian for the second semifinal.
– Gia Miller interviewed Moose about his match tonight. Moose said that Mack made a mistake by requesting an I Quit match against him. He did it out of anger, and this match just happened to make Moose angry too, and so tonight, he’ll send a message to Rich Swann via Willie Mack. Moose said he is not going out there to hear Mack quit, but he is looking into sending him to the hospital, and what of all things, will make Mack quit.
Ace Austin (with Madman Fulton) defeated Cousin Jake in a Super X Cup Semifinal Match
They went for a speed vs size match, even if Austin is not exactly a small guy anymore. Early on, the match saw a lot of Austin running around the ring with quick shots, but once Jake had a hold of Austin, he’d stop him dead on and plant him with one strike.
At one point, Jake hit a dive on both Austin and Fulton, angering Fulton, and from there one, he’d kept getting in Jake’s face, distracting him for Austin to take out and finally cut off. Fulton smartly never laid a hand on Jake.
The action in the final minutes was great, Jake got good near fall with the same slam that he defeated Daivari. Finish saw Austin block a second rope gutwrench suplex from Jake, and follow with a springboard fold for the win. This match was great, Cousin Jake had a great showing this show.
Ace Austin awaits the winner of Crazzy Steve vs Blake Christian semifinal.
– Rich Swann and Willie Mack had a talk backstage. Swann told Mack that he knew Moose was a dangerous man, but he knew that Mack had no quit in him and that Mack wasn’t a stepping stone nor a messenger boy.
Blake Christian defeated Crazzy Steve in a Super X Cup Semifinal Match
Christian is sporting a black eye from the first round match with KC Navarro.
Story here was that early on, in between moves, Crazzy Steve kept talking to his pet monkey in his corner. It was all friendly competition until Christian accidentally kicked the monkey off the apron and Crazzy Steve snapped and went berserk on Christian.
This was another great match for Crazzy Steve tonight. They traded momentum a couple of times, but once they went back and forward for the second half of the match, the action was great. At the end, Blake Christian caught Steve in the ropes and hit a springboard 450 for the win.
Not necessarily heel, but Steve did work a far more vicious style than normal, once again showing that he could be great in the ring if not for pet monkeys and Joker-impersonations.
Super X Cup Finals are Ace Austin vs Blake Christian.
– Miller interviewed Jazz about her match tonight. Jazz said that she had already announced retirement, but she just couldn’t turn down Grace’s invitation to wrestle for Impact.
Jordynne Grace defeated Jazz
Jazz made her Impact debut as the tag team partner or Grace, for the Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament. They managed to defeat the team of Killer Kelly and Renee Michelle, but fell to the team of Havok and Nevaeh. Before Jazz could go and retire, Grace asked for a match.
They had a bit of a hoss fight, back and forward action all throughout, somewhat physical, with a lot of striking between the two, a lot of slamming each other. Jazz doesn’t have a fast paced match, but she can still pull off high impact moves, both in the offensive and defensive sides. It seemed like as the match went on, both women got more comfortable going all out and started pulling out bigger moves and putting some more weight into the match.
At the end, finish saw both women trade roll ups and reversals, ending with Grace picking up the win after reversing an O’Connor roll.
If this was indeed Jazz’s retirement match, she couldn’t ask for a better opponent and a better match, this was great.
– Miller interviewed Blake Christian about the finals. Christian said that his emotions were all over the place, but he was going after Ace Austin, who always has an ace under the sleeve.
Ace Austin defeated Blake Christian to win the 2021 Super X Cup.
Austin sent Madman Fulton to the back at the start of the match, saying he’d win this by himself.
This was really acrobatic, the most aerial match we had seen in the tournament; however, it never looked choreographed or like they were going through sequences. It just happened to be two wrestlers that were comfortable in the air and that happened to spin around while dodging each other.
Match started somewhat balanced between the two, but as it went on, Austin began to be more dominant, while Christian kept having small hope spots and comebacks that Austin would quickly shut down. As the match went on, Chistian’s offense started to pile up on Austin to the point that he had to run away from Christian, who still chased and got near falls after top rope splashes and double foot stomps. Christian even went for the 450 that he used to defeat Crazzy Steve, but Austin dodged it and hit his own senton for a near fall.
Finish was a great sequence with Austin dodging the twisting splash, Christian dodging the fold, and going into pin attempts and reversals that ended with both men just trading strikes in the middle of the ring until Austin dropped Christian with a second fold for the win. Great match.
After the match, Fulton came out to celebrate with Ace Austin. Scott D’Amore came out to give Austin the winner’s trophy and congratulate him.
Willie Mack defeated Moose in an I Quit Match
These two have been feuding over a month now. It all started when Moose started to make moves towards challenging Swann for the world title, and he did it by attacking Mack. Moose and Mack have traded wins, the last one being by ref stoppage when Moose took out Mack, and the latter wasn’t able to defend himself.
This match really suffered from the referee, and the wrestlers for that matter, constantly asking for the I Quit. It wasn’t five minutes that the referee was asking after Moose would get whipped to the guardrail or slammed on the ramp. At one point Moose did start to tell the referee to stop asking.
All that aside, the actual wrestling was good. They went back and forward from the start, trading attacks, some quite physical. They brawled outside the ring for a while before a table and chairs came in to play.
Mack had a good run in the offensive, hitting Moose with a chair over and over and landing a couple of frog splashes on Moose, but not enough to win. Moose would later recover and hit a huge go to hell from the top rope to the floor through a table, this spot turned the match around.
Moose came back with three book ends, Mack responded with a superplex onto a pile of chairs, but neither men would give up.
Finish saw Moose knockout Mack with straight elbows to the face, but he wasn’t done, he mocked Mack for not being able to quit anymore and went to Pillmanize Mack’s neck. Rich Swann came down and asked Moose to stop, he was going too far, Mack was already knocked out. Moose wasn’t stopping, and so Swann offered Moose the title shot he’d been chasing if he’d let Mack go. Moose said that he now had what he wanted and quit.
It’s an interesting way to end the match and somewhat protect Mack from quitting. It’s an end that in any other long match, it would be somewhat infuriating, but the nature of the finish, especially in an I Quit match, does kinda force it go long before pulling the trigger on someone not being able to even quit for themselves. We’ll have to wait and see when Moose vs Swann takes place.
Final thoughts —
A consistently good show inside the ring, just straight up good wrestling with little to no shenanigans.
Impact Wrestling’s first show of 2021 on AXS TV brought in 148,000 viewers and a .04 in the 18-49 demo Tuesday.
The demo was good for 140th on cable for the night.
By comparison, the December 15th Impact did 177,000 viewers and a .04 in the 18-49 demo. That was down from 221,000 and a .08 for the first show after Kenny Omega won the AEW World title with Don Callis’ help.
Impact closed the year with two “Best of” editions. The first brought in 133,000 viewers and a .03 in 18-49 while the second did 103,000 viewers and a .01 in 18-49. Neither charted in the top 150 shows of the night.
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Impact announced three new matches for Tuesday’s show, joining Impact World Champion Rich Swann vs. Karl Anderson in a non-title match.
Taya Valkyrie (w/ Rosemary) vs. Kimber Lee (w/ Deonna Purrazzo): Valkyrie is getting a Knockouts title shot against Purrazzo at January 16th’s Hard To Kill.
Cody Deaner (w/ Eric Young and Joe Doering) vs. Tommy Dreamer (w/ Rhino and Cousin Jake): All six will be involved in a six-man tag at Hard To Kill.
As their respective teams continue to fight their way through to January’s Hard To Kill, Impact World Champion Rich Swann will face Karl Anderson, one half of the Impact Tag Team Champions, in a non-title match next Tuesday.
On Tuesday’s Impact, Swann (pictured) and the Motor City Machine Guns went looking for Anderson, Luke Gallows and AEW World Champion Kenny Omega on their bus but the former Bullet Club members got the jump on them with another beatdown.
The two teams will headline Impact’s January 16th pay-per-view. Omega has been a presence on the show since winning the AEW title at December’s Winter Is Coming as part of a bigger plan with Impact VP Don Callis.
Swann hasn’t lost an Impact singles match dating back to December 2019. Since returning from injury and defeating Eric Young for the title at October’s Bound For Glory, he is 4-0 with four successful title defenses. Anderson is 3-0 in Impact singles matches.
It’s expected more matches will be announced following Saturday’s Genesis event on Impact Plus.
Three new matches have been added for Impact’s next pay-per-view, Hard to Kill.
Sami Callihan will face Eddie Edwards in a barbed wire massacre match. Their match at the end of tonight’s Impact main event ended in a no contest when the video screen showed Edwards’ wife Alisha caged in somewhere in the backstage area. Edwards went to save her, but it was a trap as Callihan’s associate Ken Shamrock jumped Edwards as he approached the cage. Callihan then came in and attacked Edwards with a bat.
A six-man tag team match has also been set for Had to Kill. Eric Young, Cody Deaner & Joe Doering will face Tommy Dreamer, Rhino & Cousin Jake in an old school rules match (a no DQ and no countout match). Rhino & Jake faced Deaner & Doering on tonight’s show, with Deaner getting the win over Jake after a low blow. Dreamer made the save for the team after the match and issued the challenge.
Additionally, Ethan Page and Karate Man will face off against one another at Hard to Kill, despite Karate Man also being portrayed by Page. Page was in a therapy session during a segment on tonight’s Impact with Karate Man, talking about how his career has been derailed since The North lost the Impact Tag Team titles. He ended up getting into an argument with Karate Man, leading Page to challenge him for Hard to Kill.
Other matches slated for the show include Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) vs. Rich Swann & The Motor City Machine Guns, Deonna Purrazzo vs. Taya Valkyrie for the Knockouts Championship, Manik vs. Chris Bey vs. Rohit Raju for the X-Division Championship, and Havok & Nevaeh vs. Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz in the Knockouts Tag Team title tournament finals.
After losing as a team on Tuesday’s Impact, Jazz and Jordynne Grace will square off at Genesis on Impact Plus Saturday.
The match was made after Jazz spoke to Grace about their Knockouts Tag Team Title tournament semifinal loss to Nevaeh and Havok. Grace apologized, saying that she wasn’t there when Jazz was pinned and felt bad that Jazz had postponed her retirement for the tournament.
Grace then said it would be an honor if she could face Jazz at Genesis which Jazz accepted.
Genesis will feature the return of the one night Super X-Cup tournament, Opening round matches include Ace Austin vs. Suicide, Daivari vs. Cousin Jake, Crazzy Steve vs. Tre Lamar, and KC Navarro vs. Blake Christian.
Also on the show, Willie Mack will take on Moose in an I Quit match. The two confronted one another Tuesday during Moose’s three minute challenge match against Matthew Palmer where Palmer had to last three minutes in order to win. A Mack distraction gave Palmer the victory after the timer had expired.
After two months of action, the finals of the Impact Knockouts Tag Team Title tournament are officially set for Hard To Kill.
On Tuesday’s Impact, Havok and Nevaeh defeated Jordynne Grace and Jazz to advance to the finals against Tasha Steelz and Kiera Hogan on Saturday, January 16th.
Havok and Nevaeh beat Tenille Dashwood and Alisha in the first round while Hogan and Steelz beat the Sea Stars in the first round followed by a win over Deonna Purrazzo and Kimber Lee in the semifinals.
Impact announced the revival of the titles at October’s Bound For Glory. They have been on the shelf since 2013 after first being introduced in 2009.
The current Hard To Kill card:
AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson/Doc Gallows) vs. Impact World Champion Rich Swann and The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin/Alex Shelley)
X-Division Champion Manik vs. Chris Bey vs. Rohit Raju
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. Taya Valkyrie
Knockouts Tag Team Title tourney finals: Havok and Nevaeh vs. Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz
The first Impact Wrestling of 2021 will feature AEW World Champion Kenny Omega, Don Callis, and Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers nearly two weeks before they will headline Impact’s Hard To Kill pay-per-view.
The three former Bullet Club members delivered a beatdown to Impact World Champion Rich Swann and the Motor City Machine Guns on the final 2020 regular edition of Impact, setting up their six-man tag match at Hard To Kill.
Tuesday’s show will also feature Jordynne Grace and Jazz vs. Nevaeh and Havok in the last semifinal match of the Knockouts Tag Team Title tournament; Sami Callihan vs. Eddie Edwards in a battle of longtime rivals; Moose vs. Matthew Palmer in a last three minutes challenge match; Rhino and Cousin Jake vs. Eric Young and Joe Doering; and KC Navarro vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Blake Christian vs. Ace Austin in a preview of Saturday’s Genesis Super X-Cup tournament on Impact Plus.
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Opening video was a recap of AEW’s Kenny Omega’s involvement on Impact Wrestling, and how we came about the Hard to Kill main event between Omega and the Good Brothers vs Rich Swann and the Motor City Machine Guns.
Crazzy Steve defeated Ace Austin (with Madman Fulton), Blake Christian, and KC Navarro
These are four of the eight participants that will be wrestling at Genesis for the Super X Cup tournament. This is Ace Austin’s first match in about a month.
This match was a big showcase for Christian, from early on, he had a chance to show off versus Ace Austin. Even when Navarro seemed to be gaining momentum, Christian jumped in, took him out and once again got all eyes on him, at one point getting a big near fall on Austin with a Spanish fly and frog splash combo.
Towards the end of the match, we got a spot with all men taking turns to hit a dive, followed by everyone hitting some big moves, and at the end, Crazzy Steve pinned Navarro for the win.
Commentary sold this win as big momentum for Steve for the Super X Cup, but realistically, it seems prime for Ace Austin to win.
– Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down the up to date card for Hard To Kill, as well as tonight’s card.
– We got the weekly commercial by Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone, once again taking shots about paying for Impact’s bills. They ran down the New Year’s Smash card. Khan took shots at Don Callis’ argument that he was the reason why AEW was created. Khan was in full promo mode tonight.
– Over at Omega’s bus, Omega, Anderson, Gallows, and Callis are all appraising the championships they hold. Callis said that we’re days away from Hard To Kill and they have to win it. Omega said that there is no combination in wrestling that could defeat them.
Cody Deaner & Joe Doering (with Eric Young) defeated Cousin Jake & Rhino
Cody Deaner has shaved his head as part of his new heel gimmick. He looks good. Deaner betrayed Cousin Jake at Final Resolution, when he joined EY’s stable.
This match served as the in-ring introduction of Doering, and the new heel gimmick of Deaner, so from the get go, they cut off Cousin Jake and worked over him for a while. Deaner was just overly vicious, with fast attacks, acting like a deranged man. Match finished when Deaner low blowed Jake after a distraction from EY, getting the pin afterwards.
There was the underlying story that Cousin Jake didn’t want to wrestle Cody and kept trying to talk sense into him, and thus, was easy to cut him off. Rhino however, kept forcing Jake to confront Deaner and finish him off.
After the match, EY was about to piledrive Cousin Jake when Tommy Dreamer ran down for the save, and between him and Rhino, ran off EY and company. Dreamer challenged them to a 3-on-3 old school rules at Hard To Kill.
– Gia Miller interviewed Matthew Palmer about his challenge with Moose tonight. He said that he wanted to get his foot in the door and while tearing up Moose’s shirt was an accident, he was gonna risk it all and face Moose instead of going home with shame.
– Back to this story, Acey Romero is investigating Johnny Swinger about Larry D being framed for Bravo’s shooting. Swinger pointed the finger at the Knockouts.
– Deonna Purrazzo and Kimber Lee came down to the ring. Purrazzo will be defending her championship at Hard To Kill against Taya Valkyrie. Here, she cut a promo on Valkyrie, asking what will be next once she locks in the Fujiwara armbar or hits the Cosa Nostra, does Valkyrie finally accept the reality that she’s done?
Valkyrie and Rosemary came out to confront them. Taya said that she’ll make it easy for Purrazzo to understand, she is the longest reigning Knockouts champion in history and while Purrazzo had an impressive 2020, she has never faced her.
Purrazzo said that Taya’s time has come and gone, Johnny Impact and Bravo are gone from her side, and the only thing she has to cling to is her record, the one that Purrazzo will break once she defeats her.
Taya said that Purrazzo is scared because she knows deep down that at Hard To Kill, she’ll humiliate her and end the era of the Virtuosa.
– Rohit Raju approached Chris Bey, he said that he forgives Bey from weasiling himself into the X Division title match at Final Resolution. Bey said that they won’t be even until he captures the X Division title, and so Raju offered to keep working together to unmask Manik so the title can be decided between them two.
They walked up to TJP, asking if he had seen Manik around. Raju said they wanted a tag match against TJP and Manik. TJP said that he and Manik don’t see eye to eye, but he’ll see what he can do. I’m actually surprised by how good and simple this plan is.
Havok and Nevaeh defeated Jordynne Grace & Jazz in a Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament Semifinal Match
This is the second semifinal of the Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament, the winners of this match advance to Hard To Kill to face off against Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz. Grace and Jazz defeated the team of Killer Kelly and Renee Michelle to advance, while Havok and Neveah defeated the team of Sea Stars.
This was a power vs power match, no matter the pair up, they went for strikes, tackles, and big moves. Match saw both teams trade control, at no point did it feel like it was one-sided. Early on, Havok and Nevaeh cut off Jazz for some minutes, followed by Grace and Jazz cutting off Nevaeh and working over her. At the end, the match broke down to tornado action, ending with Havok piledriving Jazz for the win, Grace had been laid out with a chokeslam a minute earlier.
Jazz looked fantastic, it’s rare to get to see her work as the smaller wrestler when paired up with Havok, but she worked it great.
It’ll be Havok & Nevaeh vs Hogan & Steelz at Hard To Kill. Surprised that Jazz lost at this point, I figured she’d at least make it to the finals, but by all means, she may not be available for the PPV.
– Miller interviewed Rich Swan, Alex Shelley, and Chris Sabin, who said that Impact was built on the backs of guys like the Machineguns and wrestlers like Swann, and they were not gonna allow Omega and company to just come in and think that they run the place.
Swann cut a promo on Omega telling him the title on his shoulder doesn’t say AEW, because this is Impact and he won’t allow any other champion to come in and run his mouth.
Shelley proposed they head over to the bus and kick some butt. Swann, Shelley, and Sabin called out Omega and the Good Brothers, but they were ready and jumped them from behind. They mocked them and stood tall at the end before going back to the bus.
– Backstage, Jazz looked for Grace, who apologized and said that she was frustrated for not being there for Jazz when she got pinned. Grace said that she was disappointed in herself for losing and for bringing back Jazz and having her postpone her retirement. Jazz said that it was all good and that she was happy to be able to mix it up with the young ones one last time.
Grace said that it would be an honor if she had another match in her, against her at Genesis. Jazz accepted.
– Somewhere else in the arena, Purrazzo and Lee asked James Mitchell if Su Yung was finally gone. Mitchell said that Su Yung was gone, but it was complicated, it wasn’t Susie that was left. Out came a well dressed lady, who called herself Susan.
Matthew Palmer defeated Moose in a 3 minute challenge
A couple of weeks ago, during a pull apart between Moose and Willie Mack, one of the indie wrestlers, working as security, tore off Moose’s shirt, angering him, and provoking him to make a challenge to any of these indie geeks to last three minutes with him in the ring.
Palmer tried, but Moose dropped him with two book ends to cut him off, but instead of going for the pin, Moose kept stalking and mocking and striking Palmer. Moose hit a big powerbomb and prepared for the lights out, but Willie Mack came out to distract Moose so Palmer could win out of a technicality. Does Palmer really win if Moose never tried to pin him?
This is just gonna feed the Moose vs Willie Mack feud, and hopefully does something for Palmer in the promotion.
– Ethan Page was having therapy with Karate Man, talking about his career getting derailed after losing the titles. He blamed Impact and the roster, and then he got into an argument with Karate Man and challenged him to a fight at Hard to Kill. I agree, Karate Man is indeed a career derailment, how quickly did the best tag team of 2020 became a joke.
– Matthews and Rayne ran down the card for Genesis, including the Super X Cup, Jazz vs Jordynne Grace, Moose vs Willie Mack in an I Quit match.
Next week Impact’s will be main evented by Rich Swann vs Karl Anderson in a non-title match, kicking off Wrestle Week on AXS.
Sami Callihan vs Eddie Edwards ended in a no contest
The story between these two goes back years, but as of late, Callihan and Shamrock, who had been chasing Rich Swann, came upon Edwards again and re-injured Edwards’ eye, rekindling the feud between the two.
Before the match started, we saw both men already brawling down the ramp, using chairs and baseball bats on each other. They brawled around the ring with weapons for about 10 minutes, with zero objection by the referee, before the match officially started, and no more than 2 minutes in, the referee threw the match out because neither guy would follow the rules and kept pushing him around. The two kept brawling, hit some dives, and at the end, Edwards threaten to attack Callihan with the baseball bat, and so Callihan revealed that he had Alisha Edwards trapped and so Edwards run off to find her, but what he found was Ken Shamrock, who teamed up with Calllihan who once again, attacked him with the bat.
This was terrible, start to finish, the only thing that could save this feud at this point is the return of the American Wolves or something of the like. Edwards vs Callihan has been overdone.
Callihan’s right eye got busted open accidentally, but seemed well at the end.
“Today marks when I WOULD have been a FREE AGENT,” Callihan wrote. “I just RE-SIGNED with @IMPACTWRESTLING, 2 years for BIG money. I got other offers…but I don’t give a damn. This is MY company. I made this company. I will be champion again in 2021.”
PWInsider reported in December that Callihan was expected to remain with Impact Wrestling.
Callihan is a former Impact World Champion. He held the title from October 2019 to January 2020. At Turning Point in November, Callihan unsuccessfully challenged Rich Swann for the Impact World Championship.
Callihan will be in action on the first Impact episode of 2021. He’s facing Eddie Edwards on Tuesday’s show.
Ethan Page, who is no longer with the company as he decided not to sign a new deal, which breaks up The North as a team since Josh Alexander has months left, has pulled all of his merchandise effective now. Pulling merchandise often is a prelude of going to WWE but there is nothing confirmed on that front
Impact Wrestling finished announcing their 2020 year-end award winners last night.
The last two weeks of Impact episodes have been Best of 2020 specials looking back at the past year and revealing the year-end award winners. The full list of winners is available below
X-Division Star of the Year —
Ace Austin
Tag Team of the Year —
The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page)
Knockout of the Year —
Deonna Purrazzo
Wrestler of the Year —
Deonna Purrazzo
Finishing Move of the Year —
The Good Brothers’ (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) Magic Killer
One to Watch in 2021 —
Chris Bey
Moment of the Year —
The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin), Eric Young, and EC3 return and The Good Brothers and the former Heath Slater debut at Slammiversary
Match of the Year —
Eddie Edwards defeats Eric Young, Rich Swann, Ace Austin, and Trey Miguel in a five-way match for the vacant Impact World Championship at Slammiversary
As the build to Hard to Kill continues, Impact will return with a new episode next Tuesday (January 5). The episode will feature an appearance by Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers and the last remaining semifinal match in the Knockouts Tag Team title tournament.
Omega & The Good Brothers will face Rich Swann & The Motor City Machine Guns in the main event of Hard to Kill on Saturday, January 16. The pay-per-view will also feature Tasha Steelz & Kiera Hogan facing either Jordynne Grace & Jazz or Havok & Nevaeh in the Knockouts Tag Team title tournament finals.
Kenny Omega will be on next week’s episode of Impact.
Impact announced tonight that Omega and The Good Brothers would be appearing. Omega has been regularly making appearances on Impact’s programming since winning the AEW World title earlier this month and alligning himself with Don Callis.
Also announced for next week is a tag team match pitting Cousin Jake and Rhino against Joe Doering and Eric Young. Cousin Jake has been feuding with Doering and Young since Cody Deaner turned on Jake and joined forces with Doering and Young.
A match between Sami Callihan and Eddie Edwards has also been announced, as well as a four-way X Division match featuring KC Navarro, Crazzy Steve, Blake Christian, and Ace Austin.
Here is what has been announced so far for the January 5 edition of Impact:
Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers will appear
Sami Callihan vs. Eddie Edwards
Moose vs. Matthew Palmer in a last three minutes challenge match
Jordynne Grace & Jazz vs. Nevaeh & Havok in a Knockouts Tag Team Tournament semifinal
Rhino & Cousin Jake vs. Joe Doering & Eric Young
KC Navarro vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Blake Christian vs. Ace Austin
A new match for Impact’s Hard to Kill pay-per-view has been set.
Deonna Purrazzo will defend the Knockouts title against Taya Valkyrie. The match was announced tonight on the second night of Impact’s Best of 2020 special that aired on AXS.
Purazzo accepted a challenge Valkyrie issued on last week’s special. She said that Taya was once the longest reigning Knockouts champion, and when she defeats Taya at Hard to Kill, she will become “the greatest champion ever”.
Already announced for Hard to Kill:
Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) vs. Rich Swann & The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) in a six-man tag team match
Manik vs. Chris Bey vs. Rohit Raju for the X Division title
Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz vs. either Havok & Nevaeh or Jazz & Jordynne Grace in a tournament final for the Impact Knockouts Tag Team titles
