A new match has been announced for Impact on Tuesday.
The company announced on social media that Karl Anderson would be facing one half of the Motor City Machine Guns, Chris Sabin.
“First time ever vs. @SuperChrisSabin. Tomorrow night 8 pm EST #IMPACTonAXSTV @IMPACTWRESTLING #TheMachineGunIsBack.” Anderson wrote on Twitter.
The match comes following a segment that aired during Final Resolution between Anderson, Don Callis, and Kenny Omega. Anderson met Omega in his private bus and reminisced about their days in the Bullet Club. Omega inspired Anderson to bring back the ‘Machine Gun’ of old, citing his finals performance against Kazuchika Okada at the G1 Climax tournament back in 2012.
Anderson proceeded to defeat Ethan Page in a singles match later on in the show. The storyline had been that Page had injured Gallows, putting him out of action for 4-5 weeks. If Page had won, The North would have received a Tag Team title match.
The Good Brothers won the titles back at Turning Point on November 14, defeating The North.
One half of the longest-reigning Impact Tag Team Champions may be done with the company in a few weeks.
As previously reported, Ethan Page’s two year contract is up at the end of 2020 and in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that the belief within the company and with his friends is that he is not going to re-sign.
On his YouTube channel last week, he posted a video from a set of recent tapings where in the end, he alluded to the fact he could be done, including a line asking his fans to wish him the best in his future endeavors because “I f**kin’ need it.”
In a singles match from Saturday’s Final Resolution show, Page lost to Karl Anderson with a tag team title shot on the line for he and The North partner Josh Alexander. Meltzer said he was told Alexander has nine months remaining on his Impact deal so the team would be done for now. The duo are two-time Impact Tag Team Champions and held the titles for a record 380 days in their first reign with the second lasting 21 days.
Page started with the company with limited appearances in late-2017 and joined up with old partner Alexander as The North in April 2019.
Starting Tuesday, Impact has three TV shows left the rest of the year in which they could write Page off.
With Impact Wrestling’s Final Resolution special being taped in advance, AEW World Champion Kenny Omega appeared on the show on the same night as he defended his AAA Mega Championship at Triplemania.
It was announced during Final Resolution that Omega and Don Callis were outside of the building in Omega’s bus. Later in the show, Callis did an interview outside of the bus and was asked if Omega planned on getting involved in the show. Callis said there’s no way he would allow Omega to get involved in Final Resolution. Callis said Omega was there visiting family.
That family ended up being Omega’s former Bullet Club stablemate Karl Anderson. He met with Omega and Callis on Omega’s bus and reminisced with Omega about the good old days. Anderson said he’d love to talk with them all night, but he had to go wrestle Ethan Page. Callis said Anderson could beat Page in a couple of minutes and be back in time for cocktail hour.
Anderson said it might take a little longer than that, but Omega and Callis told him that the Machine Gun Karl Anderson who made the 2012 G1 Climax finals wouldn’t even need a minute to defeat Page. Anderson asked if this was a roast. Callis said they just wanted Anderson to come back so they could get on with the partying. Omega called Anderson an inspiration and asked if the 2012 G1 finalist version of Anderson was gone. Anderson got hyped up and said he’d show them the Machine Gun.
Anderson defeated Page in their match. If Page won, The North (Page & Josh Alexander) would have gotten a shot at Anderson & Doc Gallows’ Impact Tag Team titles. Gallows didn’t appear at Final Resolution following a previous attack by Page.
Omega didn’t appear again on Final Resolution after his segment with Anderson. The segment is available to watch below:
The X-Division Championship changed hands on Impact Wrestling’s final Impact Plus special of 2020.
At Final Resolution on Saturday night, TJP used his former Manik persona to answer Rohit Raju’s Defeat Rohit challenge and pin Raju to win the X-Division Championship. TJP also previously held the X-Division title as Manik in 2013.
In storyline, TJP couldn’t challenge for the X-Division Championship again as long as Raju was champion. Scott D’Amore said no one named TJP could challenge for the title and told TJP to think about what Dusty Rhodes would do.
Suicide answered the Defeat Rohit challenge on Impact two weeks ago. Raju thought it was TJP under the Suicide mask. He agreed to face Suicide but made it a non-title match. Raju unmasked Suicide during the match, but TJP’s music then hit and he walked out to the stage. Raju turned around and was pinned by Suicide, who was Crazzy Steve.
TJP tweeted after winning the X-Division title: “I knew I packed a little heavy before leaving for the #SJcup earlier…looks like I’m packing heavy going home too… #AndNew X Division Champion On to the next one… #ImpactWrestling #FinalResolution #NJPW #SuperJcup”
Raju wrote after his loss: “ABSOLUTE BULLSH*T!!! IT WAS A CONSPIRACY FROM THE START!! WE KNOW WHO’S UNDER THAT DAMN MASK!!”
Raju had been X-Division Champion since defeating Chris Bey and TJP in a triple threat match for the title at Emergence night one this August.
Amid the story that is the alliance of AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and Impact VP Don Callis, Impact Wrestling returns for their final named event of the year: Final Resolution, available on their streaming service and Fite.TV at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
While Omega isn’t set to appear, Impact World Champion Rich Swann will be in action as he defends his title against former X-Division Champion Chris Bey in tonight’s main event. Swann won the championship at October’s Bound For Glory and will be looking for the fourth defense of his title.
The Knockouts title will also be on the line as Deonna Purrazzo will face Rosemary in the first defense of her second title reign. This was made after Purrazzo complained to Impact GM Scott D’Amore after she and Kimber Lee lost to Rosemary and Taya Valkyrie in the Knockouts Tag Team title tournament.
The nine-match card will also feature Karl Anderson vs. Ethan Page with a Tag Team title shot on the line, Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb vs. Alisha and Eddie Edwards, X-Division Champion Rohit Raju’s “Defeat Rohit” Challenge, Tommy Dreamer vs. Larry D in a hardcore match for Larry D’s freedom, Eric Young vs. Rhino, Havok and Nevaeh vs. The Sea Stars, and Hernandez vs. Fallah Bahh with Kiera Hogan as special referee and Tasha Steelz as guest ring announcer.
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We’re on!
Tommy Dreamer defeated Larry D in an Old School Rules Match.
This match came about as a result to the whole “Who shot John E. Bravo storyline”, where Lawrence D, Larry D’s alter ego, was found guilty for shooting Bravo. The result is that Dreamer and D are now wrestling, and if D can win the match, he’ll be free of all allegations.
This was weak. Weapons matches don’t tend to be exciting without fans being loud for the spots, and in silence, the time spent setting up spots feels longer than they should. The match was slow, it started with a brawl outside the ring, and later into the mat. D dominated early on using cooking sheets and chairs, but once he went to use his weight belt, Dreamer woke up, came back and got close to a win after a and a corner dropkick to a chair. At the end, Acey Romero, D’s tag partner in XXXL, came out to help D, and as a result John E. Bravo ran down for the raid, managed to trick Romero into a table, but fell to D’s right hand. All the distraction was enough for Dreamer to hit the DDT and win the match. The wrong person won and now Larry D has to go to jail.
At one point, Dreamer chanted his own “You still got it” chant, it was sad but funny.
Weeks ago, XXXL were getting a push, now they’re likely going to extend Dreamer’s comedy stories.
— Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne running down the card and just announced that indeed, Kenny Omega and Don Callis are outside the venue.
There’s really no story behind this match. Sea Stars debuted for Impact a couple of weeks back for the Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament, in a losing effort to Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz. Havok and Nevaeh however, find themselves in the semi finals of the tournament, going up against the team of Jordynne Grace & Jazz.
This was a squash match with a couple of hope spots for the Sea Stars. After a strong start for Havok and Nevaeh, they cut off Exo and worked over her for a couple of minutes. Vox got the hot tag against Havok and managed to get in some offense, including a suicide dive that ended with Vox being slammed on the apron. Sea Stars had one big spot with a codebreaker into a top rope senton double team move for a near fall, a minute later, Nevaeh got the pin on Exo after a Wheelbarrow assisted cutter. Ok match, Sea Stars have a lot of charisma.
– Backstage, Hogan and Steelz talked about what they would do with the stolen Hernandez money. They’re trying to come up with a plan to keep the money.
Tenille Dashwood & Kaleb with a K defeated Alisha & Eddie Edwards
Story behind this started in the Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament, where Edwards and Dashwood teamed up for the first time. Even in defeat, they decided to stick together, but when Sami Callihan attacked Eddie Edwards some weeks ago, Alisha’s focused changed to her husband, and Dashwood didn’t take it lightly that has was second in priority to Edwards, so now the Edwards tag together to deal with Alisha’s problem.
A tale of two stories. The work between Kaleb and Eddie was really good, even with some comedy added as Kaleb has to pretend he is a geek; on the other hand, we had Alisha and Dashwood, which wasn’t as great while Alisha had the upper hand. Story of the match saw Dashwood and Kaleb cut off Alisha after Kaleb tripped her on and on again. At the end, Eddie got the hot tag and dealt with Kaleb, but as Alisha was getting ready to take them out with a top rope splash, Sami Callihan interrupted them with his hacking skills, allowing Dashwood the opening to take out Alisha and get the pin.
Fun match overall. Dashwood’s heel work was fantastic, her cheap shots on Eddie Edwards, checking her makeup after every big spot, taking selfies during the match, and going after Alisha’s hair.
After the match, Sami Callihan snuck out from underneath the ring, attacked Eddie with a bat and a package piledriver. He went for a second one on Alisha Edwards, but security and referees made the save.
This Callihan vs Edwards feud will continue. Eddie sold the injured eye after the match when the referees checked on him.
– Gia Miller tried to get an interview from Omega’s bus. Don Callis came out. Miller asked if Omega was planning to get involved in tonight’s show, but Callis said that obviously no and that Omega was only visiting family.
Hernandez defeated Fallah Bahh
This one goes far back when Bahh was John E. Bravo’s best man and stole money from Hernandez to pay for the wedding. After many shenanigans and money stealing, Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz stole the money from Bahh, but Hernandez still thinks Bahh has it.
Kiera Hogan is the special guest referee for this match, while Tasha Steelz will serve as the special ring announcer. Hernandez was corpsing at Steelz announcing him “right off the cook-out and he thinks he’s cool because he has Chuck Taylors.”
This was a hoss fight, and a good one at that. A low bar, but this was the best that Hernadez has looked in months, doing springboard shoulder tackles and pescados. They traded momentum until Hogan started twerking while counting a pin for Bahh, costing him the win, and causing him to flip out, telling Hogan to stop being ratched. The distraction allowed Hernandez to recover and attack Bahh with the Superman splash for the win.
After the match, Hogan and Steelz didn’t have the money that Hernandez had just won, and so Hernandez threatened them with a weapon and they ran away.
Hogan and Steelz were also fantastic here, completely stealing the show. Steelz getting on the apron to make a special “5 minutes past” announcement was great.
– Miller interviewed Chris Bey about this being the biggest match of his career. Bey said that this is where he always belonged and that tonight, he was taking the title.
Eric Young (with Joe Doering) defeated Rhino
For weeks now since Turning Point, Eric Young and Joe Doering have been attacking people, among them, Rhino and his friend Heath. Last week, Young and Doering took out The Deaners, and would had been worse if not for Rhino who made the save, and thus today we have this match.
As fantastic as EY is, all I’m thinking about is a Doering vs Rhino match right now. Story of the match was that Rhino had the power advantage over EY and dominated as such, but every time that Rhino started to gain momentum, Doering would distract Rhino, allowing EY to cut him off. Young focused on Rhino’s head, working towards the piledriver.
The big turn of the match came when Young went for a top rope moonsault, only to crash and burn after Rhino moved out of the way. Rhino hit a couple of slams and a TKO for a near fall, but at the end, Rhino accidentally whipped Young into the referee.
Suddenly, The Deaners came out to make sure that Eric Young wouldn’t attack Rhino with his own mask, but suddenly, Cody Deaner turned heel, attacking Cousin Jake with Young’s mask. Young took the mask afterwards, finishing off Rhino for the win. Decent match, Young was a lot less vicious than usually, but given the angle at the end, they wanted to keep him low.
Young seems to be building his new stable and Cody Deaner is the new member.
– Scott D’Amore berated Omega’s security when Karl Anderson walked up and happened to be in Omega’s list, hence the ‘family reunion’ that Callis teased.
Manik defeated Rohit Raju to win the X Division title
Rohit Raju has announced that this will be the final Defeat Rohit Challenge after successfully defending against names like TJP, Crazzy Steve, Jordynne Grace, and others. This challenge is opened to anyone except TJP, but as we’ve seen before, TJP has hinted at using other methods to get to Raju.
Raju cut a promo before the match, calling out his challenger and talking about proving that he was the best X Division champion of this lifetime. Manik came out for the challenge, and we all know that Manik is in canon, none other than TJP. Plus we can see the tattoos.
Manik surprised Raju from behind with a top rope splash to start the match. They had a really fast paced match with a lot of reversals and submission work from Manik. Raju cut him off early and started working over Manik’s head with mostly big moves. Raju, suspecting that it was TJP under the mask, started trying to rip off Manik’s mask, but couldn’t manage it. TJP made a comeback and leveled out the competition, heading to a great second half of the match with a lot of back and forward wrestling. At the end, as they start going for the finish and countering, Manik managed to get a quick pin on Raju and finally dethrone him. This match was great, best so far.
TJP didn’t unmask, so we’ll see whether he works the reign under TJP’s name, or Manik’s.
– Miller interviewed Moose about taking out Willie Mack and what his purpose was for tonight’s show without competition. Moose said that the Swann’s belt is only the second most important title in the promotion, as his TNA title was the most important. Moose said that he’ll challenge whoever wins tonight between Swann and Bey.
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo (w/ Kimber Lee) defeated Rosemary (w/ Taya) to retain the title
Purrazzo has been feuding with Sue Yung and the whole Undead Realm package, and so when Rosemary got a pin on the team of Purrazzo and Lee in the Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament, Scott D’Amore decided that Rosemary was the best contender for Purrazzo since she had been dealing with Yung, James Mitchell, and the Undead Realm.
Rosemary dominated early, but after accidentally crashing outside the ring, Purrazzo rammed Rosemary’s shoulder into the ringpost and managed to cut her off. Purrazzo worked over Rosemary’s left arm, she would switch between locking in submissions to attacks, but as the match went on, she moved her focus to Rosemary’s head, chasing the Cosa Nostra.
Rosemary managed a comeback and tried to take out Purrazzo’s leg, even coming close to winning with the red wedding, but Kimber Lee was there to pull the referee out of the ring. At the end, Taya got rid of Kimber Lee, but the distraction was enough for Purrazzo to hit Cosa Nostra for the win.
After the match, Purrazzo and Lee antagonized Taya, but she took out both women and held the ring. We may be getting Purrazzo vs Taya soon.
– Over at Omega’s bus, Omega, Callis, and Karl Anderson talked about the old days and Big Fat Masa. Anderson said he had to leave for his match. Omega and Callis said that the old ‘Machine Gun’ from G1 Climax would take out Ethan Page in a minute and be back partying with them.
Karl Anderson defeated Ethan Page (w/ Josh Alexander)
The Good Brothers won the titles back at Turning Point, but in order for the The North to get a rematch, Ethan Page has to defeat Anderson in this match. The reason this is a one-on-one match is because Page took Gallows out of competition for a couple of weeks, and in a sense, Anderson is out for revenge too.
Match started with back and forward action, a really aggressive Anderson, but after Alexander tripped Anderson, Page cut him off with a backbreaker. Page worked over Anderson’s back, always keeping him down, or cutting him off when Anderson would try to start a comeback. Eventually, Anderson and Page started exchanging strikes, where Anderson finally got the better of Page. After his big spinebuster, Anderson started chasing the Gun Stun, leading to him and Page exchanging some big moves and near falls. At the end, Anderson hit a jumping cutter and the gun stun for the win.
The North won’t be getting their tag team title match and seem to be heading to their end. There was some dissension after the match, Alexander took off his North jacket while Page pleaded with him that he had a plan and that everything was going to be fine.
Impact World Champion Rich Swann defeated Chris Bey to retain the title
Ever since Rich Swann won the World title, many names have come after him, one of which was Chris Bey, who took the approach of talking trash of Willie Mack and beating him up. Two weeks ago, Bey tagged Swann with the art of finesse, and thus Swann finally agreed to get Bey in the ring.
Match started with a slow pace, but this being Swann and Bey, they couldn’t help themselves and started gaining speed for an X Division style sequence of reversals, and this was the overall pacing of the match. They would slow down when Swann went for Bey’s head, or when Bey would work on Swann’s abdomen and back; yet, they would explode with speed during comebacks.
As the match went on, both Bey and Swann increased the intensity to their moves. Bey started going for torture racks and yoshi tonics, while Swann pulled out a cartwheel phoenix splash. They had a striking exchange sequence, they followed with a pin reversal sequence, but Bey just couldn’t keep Swann down, which started to frustrate Bey more and more. In the same vein, Swann couldn’t keep down Bey with one of his shotgun kicks that he has been winning with, and so he had to hit a second one and the phoenix splash to finally win.
Great match, great pacing, just not as dramatic as most of Swann’s matches as of late. Chris Bey showed that he belongs in the main event scene.
After the match, Moose came out to the ring, looking like a million dollars, TNA title in hand. Moose took the Impact title and gave it to Swann, making a silent impression on Swann that he is coming for the title.
Moose walked to the back, while Swann celebrated in the ring, as the show went off the air.
It appears that Impact Wrestling isn’t quite done with Kenny Omega just yet.
In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that the AEW World Champion will be on this Tuesday’s edition of Impact and “will headline, as least, some Impact PPV shows.”
Impact has yet to formally announce the appearance but could on Saturday during their Final Resolution event on Impact Plus.
Omega and his “invisible hand” Impact VP Don Callis appeared on last Tuesday’s show, giving a long interview in which they said this plan had been in motion for quite some time. Omega said he’s a bit of a collector and the two alluded to him perhaps going after some of the Impact championships. The duo then appeared again on Dynamite Wednesday to reiterate many of the same points.
Impact’s next pay-per-view is Hard To Kill on Saturday, January 16th. While the majority of their named events are on their streaming service, they did hold three traditional PPVs this year.
The Knockouts Tag Team Title tournament will resume on Tuesday’s Impact as Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz will face Taya Valkyrie and Rosemary in the first semifinal match.
Hogan and Steelz advanced with a win over the debuting Sea Stars (Delmi Exo and Ashley Vox) while Valkyrie and Rosemary upset Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo and Kimber Lee on this past week’s Impact to advance.
The winner will face the winner of Jordynne Grace and Jazz vs. Havok and Nevaeh with the finals set for their January Hard To Kill pay-per-view on January 16th. The new champions will be the first team to hold the belts since they were deactivated in 2013.
This is the only match announced for Tuesday thus far as Final Resolution is set for this Saturday featuring World Champion Rich Swann vs. Chris Bey, Purrazzo defending against Rosemary, Ethan Page vs. Karl Anderson with a Tag Team Title shot on the line, and more. The nine bout card will air on Impact Plus.
Promising an appearance from newly crowned AEW World Champion Kenny Omega, Impact Wrestling averaged 221,000 viewers on AXS TV on Tuesday night, up 33 percent from last week.
Impact drew a 0.08 rating in the 18-49 demo, finishing 96th on cable for the night in that category. The previous week’s Impact episode drew a 0.05 rating in the 18-49 demo and was 121st for the night.
On Twitch, last night’s Impact peaked at over 50,000 viewers, up dramatically from what the show usually does on that platform. It more than doubled the previous all-time record for Impact Wrestling on Twitch.
Impact Wrestling also re-aired last night’s episode on YouTube and Facebook immediately after it ended on AXS TV and Twitch.
In addition to Omega’s appearance, this week’s Impact also featured AEW’s Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone appearing on the show in a “paid ad” that essentially mocked Impact Wrestling. Omega and Don Callis were interviewed by Josh Mathews at the end of the show. Omega and Callis also promised a follow-up to the storyline on tonight’s edition of AEW Dynamite on TNT.
Impact Wrestling’s Knockouts Tag Team title tournament is down to its final four teams.
Havok & Nevaeh vs. Jordynne Grace & Jazz and Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz vs. Taya Valkyrie & Rosemary are the semifinal matches for the tournament. It will continue on next Tuesday’s episode of Impact.
The opening round concluded with Valkyrie & Rosemary defeating Deonna Purrazzo & Kimber Lee on this week’s Impact. Rosemary is challenging for Purrazzo’s Knockouts Championship at Impact Wrestling’s Final Resolution special on Impact Plus this Saturday.
Havok & Nevaeh defeated Tenille Dashwood & Alisha Edwards in the first round of the tournament, Grace & Jazz defeated Killer Kelly & Renee Michelle, and Hogan & Steelz defeated Sea Stars (Ashley Vox & Delmi Exo).
Jazz had recently announced her retirement but returned to the ring for the tournament. Grace & Jazz’s first round match was Jazz’s Impact Wrestling in-ring debut.
The new Knockouts Champions will be crowned as the tournament finals take place at Impact’s Hard to Kill pay-per-view on Saturday, January 16. The winners will be the first team to hold the Knockouts Tag Team titles since they were deactivated in 2013.
Saturday’s Final Resolution show on Impact Plus was rounded out Tuesday with a new title match and several other bouts.
Following her team’s loss in the Knockouts Tag Team Title tourney, Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo will defend against Rosemary. She and partner Taya Valkyrie defeated Purrazzo and Kimber Lee, sending the champion to complain to Scott D’Amore who, in turn, made a title match instead.
X Division Champion Rohit Raju will hold another ‘Defeat Rohit’ open challenge against an opponent to be named.
Larry D will face Tommy Dreamer in an old school rules (hardcore) match with the XXXL member’s freedom on the line. He was accused by Dreamer of shooting John E. Bravo, but will be a free man if he can defeat Dreamer Saturday.
Also added Tuesday: Eddie Edwards and Alisha vs. Tenille Dashwood and Caleb With A K; Eric Young vs. Rhino; and Hernandez vs. Fallah Bahh.
Here’s the full card for Impact’s final event of the year:
World Champion Rich Swann vs. Chris Bey
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. Rosemary
X Division Champion Rohit Raju vs. TBA in an open challenge
Ethan Page vs. Karl Anderson where if Page wins, The North earns a Tag Team Title shot
Larry D vs. Tommy Dreamer in an old school rules match where if D wins, he walks away a free man
The Sea Stars vs. Havok and Nevaeh
Eddie Edwards and Alisha vs. Tenille Dashwood and Caleb With A K
Eric Young vs. Rhino
Hernandez vs. Fallah Bahh with Kiera Hogan as special referee and Tasha Steelz as guest ring announcer
Impact Wrestling returns from Nashville, TN for this week’s historic episode, where the newly crowned AEW World Champion Kenny Omega will have his first interview after capturing the title. Furthermore, this is the last stop before the Impact+ special Final Resolution, taking place Saturday on Impact+.
The opening video was a full recap of AEW Dynamite’s World title main event from last week, where Kenny Omega, with the aid of Don Callis, defeated Jon Moxley to capture the AEW World title.
The show opened with Callis and Omega’s bus arriving at the Impact venue, where Josh Mathews will personally interview them both later.
Chris Sabin (with Alex Shelley) defeated Josh Alexander (with Ethan Page)
Alex Shelley made his return two weeks ago and ever since, Sabin and Shelley set their sights on the Tag Team titles, but before that, he’d take revenge on XXXL and The North. On the other side of the ring, The North has been on a downward spiral ever since losing the titles to Anderson and Gallows. They are hoping to earn a title shot at Final Resolution, but before Saturday, Alexander has to take on Sabin.
This was power vs. speed. Alexander dominated about half of the match until Sabin managed to escape Alexander. Towards the end, Alexander regained control but got distracted by his own tag partner, who pushed for Alexander to take Sabin out of action. The distraction was enough for Sabin to recover and roll up Alexander for the win.
With all the buzz around Impact this week, you couldn’t start with a better match. Two of the best wrestlers in the promotion went at it, even if the finish was somewhat weak.
The North is still likely to earn a tag title match at Final Resolution, but given that the MCMGs have gained a win over Alexander, we may be looking into a three-way feud.
– Josh Mathews and Madison Rayne ran down tonight’s card and talked about the upcoming interview with Kenny Omega and Don Callis. They’re really hyping up that the AEW Champion is at Impact.
– Backstage, Chris Bey approached Moose about the main event tonight, where they’re teaming against Rich Swan and Willie Mack. Moose completely ignored Bey but told him that they’ll be talking on Saturday if Bey manages to win the Impact World title.
– We got an old school NWA-style paid ad with AEW President Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone promoting Dynamite. It was also a promo from Khan, talking about how he’s not going to reprimand Omega for breach of contract. Instead, he bought some time from Impact’s programming to invite Don Callis to tomorrow’s Dynamite, where he’ll accommodate him and Omega. Khan even dropped the rumor that he was buying Impact Wrestling.
Brian Myers defeated TJP
This match came from TJP challenging Myers last week after Myers had been bullying himself, Crazzy Steve, and Suicide..
Good match, it got a bit more time than I would have expected. Match started with an arrogant Myers dominating. Soon after, TJP turned things around. The rest of the match was back and forth, with TJP chasing the mamba splash, and Myers mostly hitting big moves. Finish saw TJP land the mamba splash, only to get reversed into a pin for a near fall, followed by a lariat for the win by Myers.
Wasn’t expecting for Myers to win, but I’m sure this will add some fire between the TJP and Rohit Raju story, and hopefully push Myers to a bigger feud.
– Backstage, Cody Deaner told Cousin Jake that he was gonna go out there alone, but Cousin Jake told him that he’d be there to counter Joe Doering. Cody Deaner told him to not get involved no matter what happened.
– Rohit Raju saw TJP backstage and made fun of him for losing yet again. Raju said that at Final Resolution, he is having his final Defeat Rohit Challenge, opened to anyone except TJP. Raju left, but not before TJP wished him good luck in his challenge.
Eric Young (with Joe Doering) defeated Cody Deaner (with Cousin Jake)
For the last couple of weeks, Eric Young and Doering have been attacking random people, Deaner included. So Deaner challenged EY to a match, so he can prove to Young that he isn’t a nobody.
Match saw a fired-up Cody Deaner start strong, but after accidentally going shoulder-first into the ring post, EY turned things around and worked over his shoulder for a while. Cody Deaner managed to make a strong comeback, coming close to hitting a top rope headbutt on Young, but unfortunately for him, he distracted himself with Doering and Cousin Jake, giving Young time to counter by hitting a piledriver to pick up the win.
This was arguably the best we’ve seen from Cody Deaner ever on Impact, even if the match was short and he lost.
After the match, Rhino came for the save before Doering and EY took out both Deaners with piledrivers.
At this point, it seems we’re getting a Rhino vs. Doering match soon, but no real direction for the EY/Doering team.
– Tommy Dreamer confronted Larry D about the whole John E. Bravo shooting. Larry D challenged Dreamer to a match at Final Resolution: if he wins, he gets off scot-free, but if he loses, he goes to prison. Hopefully, Final Resolution is the end to this terrible storyline.
– Afterwards, Dreamer approached Scott D’Amore, who told him that he hated wrestlers making matches. Dreamer wanted to talk about Kenny Omega and Don Callis because he knew these situations tend to send the wrong messages to the locker room. D’Amore was happy about Omega and Callis being there. There you go, seeds for the inter-promotion rivalry being planted.
Taya & Rosemary defeated Deonna Purrazzo & Kimber Lee in a Knockouts Tag Team Championship tournament first-round match
This is the last of the four first-round matches in the Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament. Winners of this match advance to face Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz in the semifinals.
This was one of the better first-round matches we got, both teams meshed nicely together and all went all out. Purrazzo and Lee cut off Taya early on, but once Rosemary came in with the hot tag, all hell broke loose between the four women. Finish saw Purrazzo accidentally kick Lee, giving Rosemary the opening to spear Purrazzo. Taya took Purrazzo out of the ring, leaving Lee for Rosemary to pin.
The semi-finals are set, with Taya and Rosemary facing Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz, and the team of Jordynne Grace and Jazz taking on Havok and Nevaeh.
– Backstage, Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb with a K approached Alisha Edwards about matching outfits. Edwards said that she had bigger problems to deal with right now and berated Dashwood as she needs to focus on her husband. Dashwood was insulted that Alisha didn’t have time for her and told her that she would teach her a lesson.
– Purrazzo and Lee complained to D’Amore that she was being forced to deal with a zombie and the tag team tournament. D’Amore told her that she now had to defend the title against Rosemary at Final Resolution.
– Sami Callihan cut a promo in the ring about being the best since day one. He said that Impact needed Callihan more than he needed Impact. He replayed footage when he took out Edwards’ eye, saying that it meant a lot of ratings, and thus he had done it again two weeks ago.
Alisha Edwards came out. Callihan told her to not even think about it, because she’d break her neck if she got in the ring. With the distraction, Eddie Edwards snuck behind Callihan and got into a brawl until he sent Callihan running with a bat in hand.
Eddie Edwards was all fired up about being back backstage. Alisha told him that they needed to deal with her problem now, so we’re likely getting Dashwood & Kaleb with a K vs. Eddie & Alisha Edwards soon.
Moose & Chris Bey defeated Impact World champion Rich Swann & Willie Mack
There are several stories between these four men. Moose and Bey have been making advances at Swann’s championship by going after Willie Mack. So far, Moose has defeated Mack, but hasn’t earned a title shot yet. Meanwhile, Bey lost to Willie Mack last week but managed to enrage Swann into putting his title on the line at Final Resolution.
Match saw Moose and Bey cut off Mack early on and work over him for about half of the match until Mack hit two desperation stunners on Moose so he could tag out. Swann came in like fire, running wild on both Moose and Bey, Mack joined in a couple of minutes later, but was caught by Moose’s lights out, and beaten up for Bey to simply come in and pin him, getting his win back. Good main event, everyone looked great and it helped build Chris Bey for saturday’s title shot.
At this point, Chris Bey is likely losing his title shot at Final Resolution, but Moose has not a straight path to the title going into 2021.
– After Mathews and Rayne hyped the Omega and Callis interview one last time, we saw Rich Swann all packed up, heading out of the arena. He was stopped by security because ‘the world champion’ had the whole parking lot blocked off. Swann said HE was the champion. The security guard told him that it was Kenny Omega doing so, by order of ‘the world champion’. Swann angrily walked away. More seeds being planted!
Finally, it was time for the Kenny Omega and Don Callis interview. We saw Josh Mathews enter the tour bus where he met Callis and Omega. They started with the ceremonial nameplate change from Jon Moxley to Kenny Omega’s.
Mathew’s first question was to Callis, asking when this whole plan had started. Callis said that this went back 27 years, back when he was trained as a wrestler under the Golden Sheik. They became family, and that is where he met the Sheik’s nephew, Kenny Omega. Callis said he didn’t make a comeback to start a podcast or be a commentator for NJPW, but it was all part of the plan of joining Omega to make history. He said that he already made history by booking Omega vs. Jericho, which subsequently led to the birth of AEW.
Callis said that last week, they made history for a second time by crowning Omega the AEW World Champion, and setting the course of history on the right path. He and Omega are not there to make matches, nor make memories, but make history.
Mathews asked Omega if what happened last week could tarnish his legacy. Omega put it in perspective, saying that if Mathews had a father figure and he saw someone attacking this given father figure, he’d also go after revenge. He tried to adhere to the gentlemen’s agreement but Moxley broke that when he attacked Callis. That is why he did what he did on Wednesday.
Omega said that he has the top matches on AEW, in Mexico, in Japan, in the UK, everywhere, and so he is now here in Impact Wrestling. Omega said that he is a collector, and while he already has the most coveted item in his collection, he was not opposed to adding other coveted items.
Kenny Omega teased having a big surprise for tomorrow’s Dynamite before closing with his signature phrase of goodbye, good night, and BANG! All three men were perfect.
Final Thoughts:
Great show by Impact. They showcased a lot of their best talent with good matches, they kept the comedy and weirdness to a minimum, and played the AEW angle perfectly subtle, though not ambiguous.
With less than a week to go before their final big event of 2020, Impact Wrestling is bolstering the card for Saturday’s Final Resolution, adding The Sea Stars vs. Havok and Nevaeh.
The Stars (Ashley Vox and Delmi Exo) were on the losing end of their Impact debut, dropping a match to Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz in the first round of the Knockouts Tag Team Title tournament. Conversely, Havok and Nevaeh defeated Tenille Dashwood and Alisha in the opening round and will face Jordynne Grace and Jazz in the semifinals.
Formerly known as The Killer Death Machines on the indies, Havok and Nevaeh will be looking for their third straight win while the SHIMMER Tag Team Champions will be looking for their first win in the promotion.
As of now, the Impact Plus show will feature World Champion Rich Swann vs. former X Division Champion Chris Bey and Karl Anderson vs. Ethan Page with a future shot at the Tag Team Titles on the line with more matches expected to be announced Tuesday.
Impact Wrestling has begun their big push for new AEW World Champion Kenny Omega’s appearance this Tuesday on AXS TV.
They tweeted Friday that Omega will appear on Tuesday. Since their weekly TV for the duration of the year has already been taped, it’s unknown whether that appearance took place in Nashville, TN, during those tapings or whether it will simply be a video promo.
From Impact’s website:
“It has been the talk of the wrestling world since Wednesday, but it is still hard to believe. Nevertheless, we have the confirmation: this Tuesday the brand new, reigning AEW world champion Kenny Omega will appear on IMPACT! on AXS TV. There’s so much speculation as to what is happening, what it all means and what comes next – on Tuesday the wrestling world will get some answers.”
Omega won the AEW title for the first time Wednesday with a controversial win over Jon Moxley, aided by Impact VP and close friend Don Callis. The two ran out of Daily’s Place after the win with Callis saying they would explain everything Tuesday on Impact.
After being named AEW’s Wrestler of the Week, Omega tweeted, “The biggest surprise here is everyone swallowing their pride and admitting this openly.”
The big question is whether this will lead to interpromotional matches, the reasons behind it, and whether Omega will be setting up camp in Impact during this storyline. In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer said all that is known is that there will be interaction of some sort.
At the end of Tuesday’s Impact Wrestling, World Champion Rich Swann was out cold at the hands of Chris Bey with the former X Division Champion raising the World title belt above his head.
Shortly after the show aired, the company announced on Twitter that Bey accepted a challenge from Swann for a title match at December 12th’s Final Resolution event on Impact Plus.
Bey had just lost to Willie Mack in Tuesday’s main event when Moose came out to attack Mack. Swann ran out to aid his friend and got hit with Bey’s Art of Finesse finisher instead.
Swann will be looking for his fourth title defense since winning the belt at October’s Bound For Glory. The 24-year-old Bey signed with Impact in February and won the X Division title in July at Slammiversary, holding it for a month.
As of now, the only other match announced for Final Resolution is Ethan Page vs. Karl Anderson with a tag team title shot on the line.
The last quarterfinal match of the Knockouts Tag Team Titles tournament is set for next Tuesday’s Impact Wrestling as Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo will team with Kimber Lee to face Taya and Rosemary.
The winner will move on to face Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz in the second round. Jordynne Grace and Jazz advanced Tuesday and will face Havok and Nevaeh in the second round on a future show. The finals are set for January’s Hard To Kill pay-per-view.
Three other matches were announced for next week:
Josh Alexander vs. Chris Sabin: In a battle of former Tag Team Champions, The North’s Alexander will face the Motor City Machine Guns’ Sabin.
Brian Myers vs. TJP: This was made Tuesday when Myers was insulting Crazzy Steve backstage following his failed bid to win the X Division title. TJP had enough and challenged Myers.
Eric Young vs. Cody Deaner: The former Impact World Champion and new friend Joe Doering continued his string of run-in attacks as Deaner was wrestling Johnny Swinger.
