After a year away from in-ring action, Trinity (the former Naomi in WWE) will make her Impact Wrestling debut on tonight’s AXS TV show.
She will face KiLynn King, one half of Knockouts Tag Team Champions The Coven along with Taylor Wilde. Trinity laid King out last Thursday as she came to the aid of Deonna Purrazzo and Jordynne Grace after The Coven attacked them.
In a preview of next Friday’s six-way no. 1 contender’s match at Under Siege, Moose, Eddie Edwards & Franke Kazarian will team up against Alex Shelley, Yuya Uemura & Jonathan Gresham.
X-Division Champion Trey Miguel will face Laredo Kid in a non-title match ahead of his title defense against Chris Sabin at Under Siege.
Ace Austin, one half of the Impact Tag Team Champions, will face Jason Hotch of The Good Hands in singles action.
The BTI pre-show will see The Design’s Kon & Deaner take on Zicky Dice & Johnny Swinger.
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Before the Impact:
George Iceman revealed that Dango and Joe Hendry narrowed down the culprit about who attacked Santino.
The Design (Deaner & Kon) (w/ Angels) defeated Johnny Swinger & Zicky Dice
Swinger was an excellent babyface in this match as Deaner and Kon got the heat on him. His selling was fantastic and the crowd actually really got into wanting them to make a comeback. Of course, Dice died after a power bomb from Kon and a DDT from Deaner for the win.
Main Show:
After recapping what happened last week, Impact went directly to Trey Miguel’s entrance.
Impact X-Division Champion Trey Miguel defeated Laredo Kid in a non-title match
This was a great opening match. Miguel and Laredo Kid are both fantastic wrestlers, and I hope we get to see more of these two in the future.
Kid and Miguel had a quick start to the match, with Miguel trying to run away on the floor, and Kid hitting a suicide dive through the ropes at the corner to hit Miguel. As they fought around the ring, Miguel hit a tiger feint kick around the apron onto Kid, who was standing, causing Kid’s legs to be swept out from under him. That was cool.
Miguel and Kid hat some fast exchanges, ending with Kid hitting a flipping DDT on Trey Miguel for a 2-count. Kid hit a few strikes and went for a Michinoku driver, but Miguel slipped out and hit an enziguri. Kid countered at lightning spiral but almost hit the referee. As he turned around, Miguel ripped off Kid’s mask and rolled him up for the pinfall. Excellent match.
Miguel grabbed a mic and trash talked Chicago, saying he was a generational talent, but no one respects him as much as they should. Miguel then said he was going to stay in the ring until everyone respected him. Chris Sabin came out to stop the protest.
Sabin said that Miguel only gets what he gives, and he disrespected the championship by spray painting it. Sabin said he disrespected everyone who held the title, from AJ Styles, to Josh Alexander. Sabin said he was going to show Miguel respect by saying to his face that he was going to beat him at Under Siege to become the first ever 9-time X-Division champion. Miguel walked away dejected. This was really good.
– Trinity was backstage warming up and Jai Vidal walked up, saying the picture he took with her last week got him in trouble with Gisele Shaw. Trinity said that if Shaw had a problem with it, there was an opening for a match at Under Siege. Vidal said that he would tell Shaw.
– A fantastic interview aired with Rich Swann and Sami Callihan talking about their history on the indies and how long they have been friends, and even when they fought, they had respect for each other. Their relationship is why Swann is standing with him now against The Design.
Jason Hotch (w/ John Skylar & Brian Myers) defeated Ace Austin (w/ Chris Bey)
Good match here, showing that if Jason Hotch was indeed a good hand, and if given time, he’ll use it to get over.
Hotch is a good worker, and kept up with Austin well. Both guys started fast, with Hotch starting to get heat after a blue thunder bomb for a 2-count. Austin responded with a forearm and a few strikes, ending with a knee and going for a spin kick that Hotch ducked. Austin did a head scissors into a side Russian leg sweep for a 2-count.
Austin squeezed Hotch’s head between his angles, jumped into the air, and drove it down into the mat. As Austin signaled for the fold, Myers got on the apron to distract the referee. John Skylar pulled Austin from the ring, leading to Chris Bey running over, launching himself off the back of Austin, and kicking Skylar. That was cool.
As Austin recovered and came back in the ring, he ran into a standing Spanish fly from Hotch for a 2-count. Austin slipped out of a torture rack and hit an O’Connor roll, but Hotch kicked out and as Austin went to the rope, Myers punched him, and Hotch rolled Austin up for the win.
– Steve Maclin was backstage and said Shera and Champagne Singh proved their worth last week, attacking Heath. They were back in his good graces, but needed to follow his orders. They agreed.
– Jordynne Grace was confronted backstage by Alisha Edwards, who mocked her for losing last week. Grace scared Edwards off by feinting a punch, and it looks like we’re going to get a match between the two soon.
Trinity defeated KiLynn King (w/ Taylor Wilde)
This was a great match for Trinity. King did a phenomenal job in this one helping Trinity look great. Trinity did very well working a non-WWE style match, as this was a bit more hard hitting than you would normally get, especially with King. Good stuff.
Trinity got a great reaction from the audience as the bell rang, Trinity was all over King in the early part of the match, dodging everything King tried, and hit a splitting leg drop on King for a 2-count. Trinity hit the ropes, but Wilde caught her foot, leading to King attacking from behind and then hitting a big boot that dropped Trinity hard.
King managed to keep Trinity from making comebacks, hitting hard strikes and chops. King did some sort of finger wagging pose at Wilde, and Wilde started swinging wildly at the air. I don’t know why Wilde flailed at the air around her, but it was funny. Wilde choked Trinity on the ropes behind the referee’s back. The referee finally caught them cheating and sent Wilde to the back, while Trinity fought King off as they were on the ropes. Trinity hit a nice crossbody on King for a 2-count.
Trinity hit a blockbuster off the top rope, which she should use as a finish as it looked awesome, but King kicked out. King fired up and hit some strikes in the corner and then a powerslam. Trinity low bridged King, and then hit a heatseaker as King was draped over the middle ropes for a 2-count. King fought through some forearms and punches before hitting a Death Valley Driver for a 2-count. King went for the Excalibuster, but Trinity flipped out and rolled into starstruck, getting the submission on King.
Jai Vidal came out and said Shaw accepted Trinity’s challenge before trying to hit a slap. Trinity blocked the slap, said that she would see Shaw at Under Siege, and then kicked Vidal in the head. I liked this.
– Maclin, Singh, and Shera ran into PCO backstage and they started brawling which resulted in Shera hitting a chokeslam onto the floor (covered lightly by cardboard boxes) before putting two blocks of concrete onto the back of PCO and breaking it with a sledgehammer. PCO screamed about the pain in his back.
– Jessicka was backstage with the hourglass Rosemary gave her. Wilde and King walked up and offered to open the door to the undead realm for her, but Jessicka noted that Rosemary said they were not powerful enough to open the door. King said Rosemary wasn’t always right. Jessicka pointed out Wilde wasn’t either, since she couldn’t foresee King losing the match against Trinity. They did not like this. Neither did I, to be honest. The segment, that is.
Jody Threat defeated Sierra
I just saw Sierra on NWA Power, which was also filmed in Chicago, and she showed her ability to bump well here too, as Threat squashed Sierra hitting a German suplex and a F416.
– Frankie Kazarian was backstage and Eddie Edwards walked up to him, saying that they had to get along tonight if they were going to win. Edwards suggested that Kazarian follow his lead, and Kazarian said that it wasn’t a problem, but he hoped it would go better than Honor No More did.
– Dango was backstage with Zicky Dice and Johnny Swinger. Dice was trying to hand a bottle full of urine to Dango for his drug test. Dango admitted after wrestling Swinger and Dice that they were totally incompetent, and completely incapable of attacking Santino. Swinger nodded and agreed.
Swinger & Dice accused Joe Hendry, who appeared as his name was said. Dango said that it had to be Joe Hendry because he tried to steal Dango’s spotlight. Hendry went to walk away, and Dango pulled him back, so they scuffled, and Dango’s shirt got ripped off, and he had a patch of hair missing on his chest, meaning Dango attacked Santino. Dango then drove Hendry into the wall as Swinger ran away and screamed, “Call the bossman, man!” The announcers claimed that no one saw this coming. I did.
Jonathan Gresham, Yuya Uemura & Alex Shelley defeated Moose, Frankie Kazarian & Eddie Edwards (w/ Alisha Edwards)
This was an awesome, non-stop action, main event. No pun intended on the old TNA name. Really fantastic stuff here. All six guys got to showcase what they can do, and every one of them looked like they could win at any moment, which is what you want out of these matches to setup their 6-way match at Under Siege.
Eddie Edwards was the victim of the babyface team in the opening parts of the match, as they showed solid teamwork, including Alex Shelley sending Moose into a front headlock on Edwards, and then clotheslining Edwards so he accidentally hit a DDT on Moose. That was fun. Moose decided he had enough and attacked Shelley on the floor, finally letting his team get some offence.
Edwards reluctantly tagged in Kazarian, who hit a few moves on Shelley before chopping Moose to tag in. Moose continued the assault on Shelley. Kazarian tried to keep his team honest, by asking for clean tags, but Edwards and Moose largely ignored him unless the referee is looking. Shelley almost got away from Edwards, but Edwards grabbed a sleeper. Shelley hit a knee breaker on Edwards to break it, but Edwards responded with a Boston knee party and chopped Kazarian hard to tag in.
Kazarian went for an unprettier, but Shelley hit a flatliner on Kazarian and tagged out to Uemura, who went wild, hitting uppercuts and throwing Moose and Edwards all over the ring. Uemura hit a back suplex and got a 2-count on Edwards. Edwards managed a blue thunder bomb and tagged out to Moose. Moose hit a backbreaker and a huge powerbomb on Uemura for a 2-count. Moose missed a spear and Gresham tagged in, hitting dropkicks to the knees of Moose, hyper extending the knee, forcing Moose to tag out to Kazarian.
Gresham went for a dropkick to the knee of Kazarian, and Kazarian jumped and hit a leg drop as he was in midair. That was awesome. Shelley and Kazarian got in the ring, and Kazarian put the chicken wing on Shelley, who drove Kazarian back to his corner. Edwards blind tagged in, breaking the submission. Edwards hit a backpack stunner on Shelley, but Uemura made the save.
Kazarian hit a backstabber on Uemura. Gresham hit a high angle German suplex on Kazarian. Moose tried to powerbomb Gresham on the floor, but he slipped out and was sent into a flying crossbody, Tanahashi style, from Uemura onto Moose. Edwards and Kazarian got into a fight in the ring, and Kazarian hit a lariat on Edwards, leading to Shelley hitting Shellshock on Edwards for the win.
Final Thoughts:
This was a really great episode of Impact tonight with very little that stood out as bad. Really good matches, solid angles, and a good build towards Under Siege. I couldn’t ask for more.
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Next Week:
- Rich Swann vs. Angels
- Mike Bailey vs. Chris Sabin
New for Under Siege:
- Trinity vs. Gisele Shaw
