The Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) will be teaming up on this week’s episode of Impact Wrestling.
It was announced today that Shelley & KUSHIDA will face Moose & Brian Myers on this week’s edition of Impact. The show airs on AXS TV on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
Shelley is the current Impact World Champion. He retained the title against Nick Aldis at Slammiversary earlier this month. Following the match, Shelley was confronted by the returning Josh Alexander.
KUSHIDA won an Ultimate X match at Slammiversary, earning him a future shot at X-Division Champion Lio Rush.
Rush teased on last week’s Impact episode that he could end up cashing in his X-Division title for a shot at the Impact World Championship. KUSHIDA interrupted and said Rush would have to go through him first. The episode ended with Moose, Myers, and Bully Ray beating down Shelley, KUSHIDA, and Alexander. Rush watched the attack but declined to lay out Shelley.
Moose & Myers and Bully Ray lost their respective matches at Slammiversary.
Gisele Shaw vs. Masha Slamovich has also been confirmed for this Thursday’s Impact. The updated lineup for the episode is listed below:
Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA vs. Moose & Brian Myers
Eric Young vs. Nick Aldis
Trinity & Dani Luna vs. The Coven (KiLynn King & Taylor Wilde)
Loser Leaves Impact match: Johnny Swinger vs. Zicky Dice
Former Impact World Champion Josh Alexander has returned after making a surprise appearance at Saturday’s Slammiversary.
After Alex Shelley was celebrating his successful World title defense over Nick Aldis to close the show, Alexander’s music hit and he came out to confront Shelley, later grabbing a microphone to say, “I’m back.”
Alexander is “back” from injury as he had to relinquish the title in late-March due to a torn triceps for which he had to undergo surgery. Instead of facing Alexander, Steve Maclin defeated KUSHIDA to win the vacant title at April’s Rebellion before losing it to Shelley at June’s Against All Odds.
The question of whether Alexander is set to return to in-ring action now will likely be answered Sunday during Impact’s post-Slammiversary TV taping in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
If not, their next set of TV tapings is set for the end of the month in Chicago while their next non-co-promoted monthly event is August 27th’s Emergence.
Impact Wrestling will celebrate their 21st anniversary at Slammiversary from Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
In the main event, Impact World Champion Alex Shelley will defend against former champion Nick Aldis while Shelley’s Motor City Machine Guns teammate Chris Sabin will defend his X-Division title against Lio Rush.
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo will defend against Trinity who is looking for her first run with the gold.
Tag Team Champions Ace Austin & Chris Bey will defend against Subculture (Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews), Sami Callihan & Rich Swann, and Brian Myers & Moose in a four-way.
Knockouts Tag Team Champions The Coven (Taylor Wilde & KiLynn King) will defend against Masha Slamovich & Killer Kelly.
Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry will defend against Kenny King on the pre-show.
Also part of the ten-match card is a five-way Ultimate X match with Mike Bailey vs. Jonathan Gresham vs. Angels vs. Kevin Knight vs. KUSHIDA.
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Jody Threat & The Death Dollz (Courtney Rush & Jessicka) defeated The SHAWntourage (Gisele Shaw, Savannah Evans, & Jai Vidal)
Jai Vidal got in the ring with Jessicka, and it did not end well for him, with Jessicka hit a series of punches that dropped him. Vidal tagged out to Shaw soon thereafter. Jessicka resumed handing out beatings, driving Shaw’s head repeatedly into the turnbuckle before tagging out to Rush, who hit a bulldog on Shaw across the knee of Jessicka. Jai Vidal distracted Rush, leading to Savannah Evans hitting a big boot on Rush on the floor.
The SHAWntourage draped Rush across the middle ropes in their corner and hit several moves as they tagged out to each other. Rush managed to slip out of a Fireman’s Carry from Evans and then hit an inverted DDT to tag out to Jody Threat. Threat ran wild, hitting suplexes on everyone before tagging back out to Rush, who hit a spear on Vidal for the win.
–We saw video of Trinity and Deonna Purrazzo arriving at the arena.
–A video aired about Joe Hendry and Kenny King, and they added some unnecessary goofy music, but thankfully the music didn’t last long, and they retained the humour of this angle.
–Joe Hendry grabbed a mic and talked about Kenny King liking it when he lost his clothes, and this infuriated Kenny King. He said King wanted him to lose some of his clothes – the Impact Digital Media Championship, and since he wasn’t Stripper Hendry, it would be ridiculous for him to lose. This was entertaining.
Kenny King defeated Joe Hendry to win the Impact Digital Media Championship
Rather than being worried about losing his shirt this time, Kenny King threw the shirt at Hendry, but Hendry ducked and hit a stalling vertical suplex on King. Sheldon Jean got the attention of Hendry by running through the ring, leading to King attacking Hendry from behind and then taking out the knees and kicking King in the chest for a 2-count.
Sheldon Jean got on the apron to distract the referee, and he handed King a bowtie, which King used to choke Joe Hendry before putting it on Hendry’s neck. King put a guillotine choke on Hendry, who powered out and hit another vertical suplex out of the choke. Hendry caught King on a crossbody and hit a fallaway slam. Hendry did a hip swivel after realizing he had a bowtie on, and hit King with a back body drop.
Hendry hit a standing ovation on King, but Sheldon Jean put King’s foot on the ropes to break the pinfall. King tried to hit a corkscrew plancha on Hendry who was on the floor with Jean, but Hendry moved. As they got back in the ring, Kenny King rolled up Joe Hendry with his feet on the ropes, and Jean held onto the feet of King to maintain leverage, and King won!
–The great hype video for Alex Shelley and Nick Aldis aired to close the preshow.
Impact Slammiversary Main Card
Impact Slammiversary wasted no time getting into the action, with the Ultimate X match to determine the #1 Contender to the Impact X-Division Championship.
KUSHIDA defeated Jake Something, Mike Bailey, Kevin Knight, Jonathan Gresham, & Alan Angels in an Ultimate X Match
Very good match to open the PPV, with KUSHIDA getting the shot at the X-Division Championship. Love to see KUSHIDA getting used in a top position in Impact.
Jake Something joined the match as a surprise right when the referee went to ring the bell. Kevin Knight almost got the X immediately by climbing Jake Something, but Something grabbed him in a powerbomb position and threw Knight over the ropes onto everyone. Gresham and Bailey ate a double shoulder tackle as Something tried to figure out how to get the X. Gresham, KUSHIDA, Bailey, and Knight hit a quadruple dropkick on Something, only driving him back into the ropes, where Angels hit a Cactus clothesline to take him to the floor.
Gresham and Bailey seemed to team up against Knight and KUSHIDA, forming tag teams briefly. Gresham then hit a suicide dive on Something followed by Mike Bailey hitting a triangle moonsault to drop Something again. Gresham and Bailey started to fight on the ropes a bit about who would grab the X, so they started righting on the top ropes. Angels ran up the ropes and hit a Spanish Fly, and I think he planted himself head first on the mat, as he did not land on his stomach.
KUSHIDA put Angels on his shoulders and Knight hit a standing dropkick on Angels, leading to Angels moonsaulting backwards onto everyone on the floor. Bailey and KUSHIDA fought on one of the posts, with Bailey knocking KUSHIDA off with a kick. Bailey climed to the topand hit a moonsault onto everyone on the floor. That was insane.
Angels grabbed a chair and started hitting everyone, including hitting 5 chair shots on Something. Angels was on the ropes and shimmied over to where Kevin Knight was climbing the ropes and jumped into a poison rana on Knight. Jonathan Gresham tried to cut off Angels, but Angels hit him low. Something climbed the ropes, but Angels jumped off the top rope and hit a low blow. Bailey tried to bring Angels down, but Angels hit him with a low blow too. KUSHIDA punched Angels right in the face and dropped him from the ropes, letting KUSHIDA grab the X for the win!
–Tom Hannifan pointed out former Team Canada member, A1 in the crowd with his family.
–Gia Miller was with Kenny King and Sheldon King backstage, and King said that he did strip – he stripped Joe Hendry off his Impact Digital Media Championship. King cut a promo on Shelley, calling him MySpace, and saying Sabin used to be cool, as X-Division Champion, but he’s like Twitter, whereas King is cutting edge and hit title is the only one that matters. This was a good promo!
Killer Kelly & Masha Slamovich defeated The Coven (Taylor Wilde & KiLynn King) for the Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Championship
This was pretty good, by all standards. Killer Kelly and Masha Slamovich were awesome in this, and putting the tag titles on them is a good call for match quality in the women’s tag division.
Slamovich and Kelly immediately charged The Coven, throwing them around the ring before Kelly hit a pump kick on Wilde and a suplex for a 2-count. Kelly continued the assault, hitting knees and elbows to the face of Wilde. Wilde tagged out after hitting an inverted DDT on Slamovich, telling King to get in there. Slamovich got briefly laid out by King, but Slamovich hit a forward roll into a pinfall on King and immediately leaped into the air and hit a double stomp before tagging out to Kelly.
King dropped Kelly with a boot, but Kelly got right up. King sort of botched a stun gun, so she quickly recovered and hit a flatliner into the middle rope instead. Wilde and King got the heat on Kelly for the next few minutes. King hit running double knees to the face of Kelly in the corner. King missed a senton off the middle rope and it led to Kelly tagging out to Slamovich, who hit a superkick on Wilde, a clothesline on King, a mafia kick on Wilde, followed by a climb up knee strike in the corner and spinning wheel kick for a 2-count on Wilde.
Slamovich hit a buzzsaw kick on Wilde, but King broke up the pinfall attempt. King hit Kelly with a headbutt, and helped set Wilde up to hit a code breaker on Slamovich. King hit a German suplex on Slamovich, but missed her corner knees. Slamovich hit a missile dropkick on King, while Kelly hit a dropkick on Wilde. Kelly and Slamovich tried to hit a double powerbomb on Wilde, but King broke it up. Wilde hit the Witch’s Wrath on Slamovich for a 2-count, but she kicked out. Kelly pulled King from the ring and Slamovich countered the Witch’s Wrath into a Snow Plough for the win.
Team Canada (Scott D’Amore & Eric Young) defeated Deaner (w/ Kon) & Bully Ray
This was all sorts of fun. Not a great match in terms of star ratings, but fun. As a Canadian, it made me smile to see all the Canadiana in it too.
Scott D’Amore came out wearing a robe that he last wore in 2004 when facing Dustin Rhodes. The Canadian National anthem hit, and Eric Young came out to team with his mentor. The announcers were baffled that Eric Young was back from the dead as the crowd (including A1) cheered on the old Impact Wrestling stable reunited. Young started the match with Deaner as the crowd chanted loudly for Young.
Deaner looked terrified, and immediately tagged out to Ray. Young got an arm wringer and tagged out to D’Amore, who did a jumping splits when in the ring. I did not expect that. Deaner tagged back in and ate a leaping kick from D’Amore. Young tagged in and a backdrop into a neckbreaker with D’Amore while pointing at Ray.
D’Amore hit a sky high powerbomb on Deaner for a 2-count. Kon got on the apron and Darren McCarty, the special enforcer, came in to get rid of him, but the referee got distracted by it, letting Ray attack D’Amore from behind. Bully Ray got in the face of Scott D’Amore’s mom, who was in the front row, taunting her while beating on D’Amore.
Eric Young led the crowd in singing “O Canada,” but Ray responded with low blowing D’Amore. Ray did it right in front of the referee, and demanded to be disqualified, but after being shoved a few times, the referee took off his shirt and threw it across the ring. Darren McCarty grabbed the shirt and put it on to become the referee.
D’Amore speared Ray and then made the hot tag to Eric Young, who ran wild, taking out both Deaner and Ray, hitting a rolling lariat on Deaner. Young followed this with a piledriver and got a 2-count as Kon pulled McCarty from the ring. A1 ran in and clotheslined Kon over the top rope, while McCarty hit a stunner on Bully Ray. Young and McCarty split Ray’s legs and D’Amore hit a headbutt to the lower regions off the top rope. D’Amore, Young, and McCarty screamed “Get the tables!” and set one up in the ring as Eric Young ran around the ring waving a Canadian flag.
McCarty and D’Amore hit a chokeslam on Ray through the table. D’Amore hit a Canadian Destroyer on Deaner, and Young flew off the top rope with a flying elbow on Deaner for the win. This was lots of fun. A1, Young, D’Amore, and McCarty all celebrated after the match before putting the Canadian flag on Ray.
Lio Rush defeated Chris Sabin to win the Impact X-Division Championship
I did not expect this to be what it was, but Sabin has an excuse for losing because Rush jumped him before the bell and knocked him out.
Lio Rush attacked Sabin before the bell, hitting a suicide dive on Sabin on the floor, driving Sabin backwards into the ramp. Sabin sold this like he was knocked out. The doctor said Sabin shouldn’t wrestle, so Sabin shoved him away and made his way into the ring. Rush immediately hit a running kick and Sabin went down. Rush hit a spinning kick and then hit the Final Hour, but Sabin kicked out at 2. Rush hit a second Final Hour and won the X-Division title.
Subculture (Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster) (w/ Dani Luna) defeated ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) (Bullet Club) Moose & Brian Myers, and Sami Callihan & Rich Swann to win the Impact World Tag Team Championship
Chris Bey and Mark Andrews started the match with fast offence, before Bey tagged out to Austin, who hit a kick to the face of Andrews, and tried a head scissors. Andrews and Austin exchanged some headlocks while Webster tagged in blind and both men hit a series of high flying moves on Austin.
Webster hit a lionsault on a standing Austin, who rolled to the corner and Rich Swann tagged in. Moose came in and tried to send Swann to the floor, but Swann blocked it and then hit a cannonball off the apron onto Myers. Moose charged ABC, but they low bridged him and sent him to the floor. Bey tried to hit a flip dive, but Moose caught him and powerbombed Bey on the apron.
Myers speared Austin on the apron, and Andrews hit a flip dive on Myers. Callihan grabbed Webster and dumped him over the top ropes onto everyone before hitting a flatliner and DDT on Subculture. Callihan hit a DVD on Webster while Swann followed with a splash for a 2-count. Austin and Bey hit some double team moves on Swann before Moose and Myers ran in and hit stereo powerbombs on Bey and Austin.
Swann tagged out to Andrews because he was about to be killed by Moose and Myers, and Andrews tried to fight Moose, but ate a pump kick. Andrews hit a Stundog Millionaire, while Webster hit Shadows over Malice on Moose for a 2-count. This match completely broke down at this point with everyone hitting big moves, and I can’t keep up with it. Moose ran up the ropes and went for a crossbody to Bey and Swann, but Swann and Bey responded by both hitting a cutter on Moose.
ABC went for the fold/art of finesse on Myers, but The Rascalz ran out and pulled them from the ring, before sending Austin into the steps and neutralizing Bey. Webster responded by hitting a senton bomb onto everyone on the floor leading to Andrews hitting a shooting star press on Myers for the win.
This was a very good match that felt like it could have been better.
Edwards and Kazarian exchanged some basic holds to start, but Alisha Edwards tripped Kazarian, leading to Edwards hitting Kazarian with a brutal chop. Edwards hit the ropes, and Brooks tripped Edwards, letting Kazarian hit a back stabber. Edwards got the advantage back on the floor and hit several hard chops again.
Kazarian ate a Manhattan drop and belly-to-belly from Edwards for a 2-count. Edwards followed up with another hard chop and Kazarian collapsed to the mat. Edwards hit a running back elbow for a 2-count. Edwards continued his attack with hard chops for the next minute until Kazarian ducked under a lariat attempt and hit a German suplex on Edwards.
Every time Kazarian would try to get the advantage back, Alisha Edwards would get involved, including raking the back of Kazarian, which led to Edwards hitting a suicide dive on Kazarian, absolutely crushing him with it. That looked brutal. Edwards trash talked Kazarian’s son while the fans chanted “Boston sucks!” As a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, I can get behind that chant.
After this extended heat on Kazarian, both men ended up facing off in the middle of the ring, hitting Yakuza kicks until Kazarian hit a back elbow and then a clothesline. Kazarian hit a springboard leg drop for a 2-count. Edwards hit a series of enziguris in the corner before hitting the backpack stunner for a 2-count.
Edwards hit a big top rope superplex on Kazarian. Edwards went for the chicken wing on Kazarian, but Kazarian shoved him off and went for the Boston Knee Party, but Edwards ducked. Edwards suplexed Kazarian over the top rope, and both men went tumbling to the floor. Brooks and Alisha Edwards looked on concerned for their husbands, but as they came back into the ring, Kazarian managed to hit a slingshot cutter on Edwards for a 2-count.
Kazarian went for a flying forearm but accidentally hit the referee, then both men hit clotheslines at the same time. Alisha Edwards grabbed a kendo stick and entered the ring. Traci Brooks came into the ring and took the legs out of Edwards and started fighting with her. Brooks hit a clothesline that sent Alisha to the floor. Kazarian locked on the chicken wing and got the tap out, but the referee was out. As Kazarian tried to wake up the referee Edwards hit Kazarian with a kendo stick and followed up with the Boston Knee Party of the 3-count.
Trinity defeated Deonna Purrazzo to win the Impact Knockouts World Championship
Solid match here, with Trinity going over and winning the Knockouts title. This was easily one of the better matches in Trinity’s career, and my recap really didn’t do it justice.
Purrazzo almost got an armbar early on, but Trinity managed to get out. As Trinity tried to pick up the pace, Purrazzo broke it down and started working over the arm of Trinity. This is a very different style match than Trinity would be used to working in WWE, as Purrazzo worked over the arm, continually getting heat as Trinity sold. Trinity got a leg trip, but missed a leg drop and ate a basement dropkick from Purrazzo for a 2-count.
Trinity rebounded with a kick when Purrazzo tried to put her on the top rope, and she hit clotheslines with hir right arm rather than her left. Purrazzo got hit with a face buster and a split legged moonsault for a 2-count. Purrazzo managed to hit the Queen’s Gambit on the apron, and got a 2-count. Purrazzo went for the Queen’s Gambit off the middle ropes, but Trinity hit a series of headbutts on Purrazzo before hitting a full nelson bomb off the middle ropes before rolling into Starstruck, and Purrazzo tapped out.
Impact World Champion Alex Shelley defeated Nick Aldis defeated to retain
This was a very good match, with Shelley working a mat based style and viciously attacking the arm, while Aldis clearly underestimated Shelley’s ability and paid for it. Aldis’ cheating backfiring leading to Shelley hitting Shell Shock proved to be a great finish on a show that had a lot of heel heat.
Shelley started the match spitting water into the eyes of Aldis, but Aldis powerbombed Shelley off the top rope right away, and Aldis locked the Kingsland Cloverleaf on Shelley. Shelley managed to drag himself to the ropes to escape, and the crowd showered Aldis with boos. Aldis slowed the match down and acted as the bully to Shelley for the next few minutes, including catching Shelley as he jumped from the ropes and turning it into a vertical suplex.
Shelley managed to get Aldis’ knee caught in the ropes, and hit a dragon screw through the ropes to begin an attack on Aldis’ left leg. Aldis managed to trap Shelley in the apron and hit a punch before shoving Shelley back first into the ring post. Aldis hit a snake eyes into the apron on Shelley. Aldis tried to suplex Shelley to the floor, but Shelley responded with a stunner across the ropes and hit a slingshot stomp to the arm of Aldis.
Aldis tried to send Shelley into the post again, but he slipped out and sent Aldis face first into the post. Shelley stuck the fingers of Aldis into the turnbuckle and twisted the metal to work over the hand. The fans in the front row told him to break his fingers, so Shelley stomped on the hand to their delight. Shelley hit another dragon screw in the ropes, going back to the leg. Shelley hit a chop block to the knee of Aldis, and Aldis collapsed in a heap. As he was struggling, he raked the eyes of Shelley.
Shelley went back to the hand and wrist of Aldis, snapping the wrist with his feet. Shelley hit a superplex on Aldis. Aldis and Shelley got up and they started exchange punches and chops. Shelley hit Sliced Bread #2 on Aldis before transitioning into the Border City Stretch, but Aldis countered into a pinfall attempt. Aldis went for the Kingsland Cloverleaf, but Shelley went after the fingers and snapped them.
Shelley went for Sliced Bread #2 again, but Aldis caught him and hit a tombstone for a 2-count, and then followed with an elbow drop for another 2. Aldis grabbed the Impact World Championship and went to hit Shelley again, but Shelley kicked Aldis in the gut and went to hit Aldis with the title while the referee protested. Shelley gave the title to the ref, but as he was putting it aside, Aldis low blowed Shelley and hit a Michinoku driver for a 2-count. Aldis tried to hit Shelley with the belt again, but Shelley stopped him and hit a DDT onto the belt by accident, busting Aldis open. Shelley hit the Shell Shock and got the pin to retain his title.
–As Shelley was celebrating, Josh Alexander’s music hit and he made his way down to the ring to face off with Alex Shelley. It’s clear that we are heading towards a big match between Alexander and Shelley based on this, though I am surprised Alexander is back already after his surgery. The fans chanted “Welcome back” as Alexander grabbed a mic and said “I’m back!”
Final Thoughts
This was a good show, but not a great one. That said, I didn’t feel like my time was wasted, and that the matches had finishes that were mostly satisfying or leading somewhere. I was surprised Shelley retained, as I thought Aldis and Alexander would be a bigger match for upcoming shows, but Impact seems to want to establish Shelley as a viable and real world champion, which I’m in favour of. Shelley is still great, and having some of the best matches of his career, and I can’t wait to see him and Alexander wrestle.
Impact Wrestling makes its debut in Australia Friday for the first of two straight nights of pay-per-views from Wagga Wagga.
Friday’s kickoff will feature a rematch for the Impact World title as Alex Shelley defends against Steve Maclin in a rematch from Against All Odds where Shelley won the title.
X-Division Champion Chris Sabin will continue his ninth reign as he defends against former champion Frankie Kazarian and Robbie Eagles. While this will be Eagles’ first Impact appearance, he competed for the title in a four-way for Australia’s WSW back in 2018.
In a pair of non-title matches, Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo will take on Steph De Lander while Tag Team Champions Chris Bey & Ace Austin face Moose & Brian Myers.
Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry defends against former World Champion Eddie Edwards.
The rest of the eight-match card will see Saturday Knockouts title challenger Gisele Shaw against Erika Reid; Killer Kelly vs. Aysha; and Slex vs. Adam Brooks.
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The show opened with “Auntie Sheryl” a native, Aboriginal woman of Wagga Wagga welcoming everybody to the show. The government of New South Wales brought in Impact for this tour.
Slex defeated Adam Brooks (6:21)
Those two natives of Australia have been feuding for years, including a Three Stages of Hell match. Brooks took the blunt of the matches. Slex also was part of NJPW’s recent TAMASHII shows in Australia.
Brooks offered a handshake, but Slex declined. They showed how well they know each other but avoiding most of the other’s offense for the first minute, until Brooks downed Slex with a right hand. Both looked to hit dives until Brooks finally did but got caught by Slex, who slammed him on the apron and got the first near-fall of the night back in the ring.
Brooks kneed Slex in the gut, then suplexed him into the turnbuckles for another near-fall. They battled on top until Slex hit a superplex. They went right into another suplex attempt and eventually both tumbled over the top rope to the floor.
They ran into each other before Slex hit a spinning punch. Brooks came back with a kick and went for a Swanton Bomb, but Slex evaded it, hit a springboard enzuigiri followed by another one, called the Slexecution to win the battle of Australian veterans.
Motor City Machine Guns promo
MCMG cut a backstage promo. Chris Sabin talked about how he once wrestled Frankie Kazarian for the X-Division title 20 years ago in Australia. Shelley said he would beat Steve Maclin tonight.
Gisele Shaw defeated Erika Reid (7:33)
Reid is native to New South Wales and made her Impact debut here. Shaw challenges Deonna Purrazzo for the Impact Knockouts title tomorrow.
They traded wristlocks and headlocks early before Shaw took down Reid with shoulder blocks repeatedly. Reid came back with running elbows into the corner and a suplex for a two count. The ended up outside and Shaw slammed Reid into the ring post shoulder first. Shaw immediately followed up back in the ring and started working over Reid’s arm with kicks and submissions.
Shaw kept mauling Reid, who briefly came back with a few elbows but quickly got knocked down a few pegs again. Shaw rammed Reid into the turnbuckle shoulder-first again, then locked in a mounted arm bar. Reid countered into a roll up for two, then followed up with a big DDT.
Reid sold the shoulder, even trying to knock the possible dislocated joint back into place. She hit a flying hurricanrana on Shaw who was on her knees for another near-fall.
Shaw went back to the mounted arm bar again and then leaned back, forcing Reid to tap out.
Steve Maclin promo
He talked about looking past Alex Shelley toward Slammiversary and it cost him his Impact World title. He said he would not make the same mistake again and would win the title back tonight.
Impact Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry defeated Eddie Edwards to retain (11:42)
Hendry cut a promo before the match, talking about how he was in a good mood because Impact made its debut in Australia, in Wagga Wagga, a “town so great, they had to name it twice.” He said he prepared a special chant for Eddie, since they were on holiday. The chant was “Eddie sucks.” He said the people believed in Joe Hendry.
Hendry dominated early by controlling Edwards’ arm, then took him down with a shoulder block. Edwards tried one of his own, but got knocked down once more and rolled to ringside. Eddie wanted a test of strength, but kicked Hendry in the gut. Hendry quickly went back to shoulder block though. Eddie briefly got back into control, but quickly missed a body press when Hendry just took a step out of the way.
Hendry hit a delayed vertical suplex, then followed with ten punches in the corner. Eddie tossed Hendry out of the ring, hit an inverted atomic drop when Hendry slid back inside and downed him with a clothesline. Edwards hit a few chops in the corner, then thumbed Hendry in the eye. He locked in a choke but Hendry powered out and hit a few uppercuts but Eddie quickly regained control.
Hendry ate a few more chard chops and thumb to the eye, but powered up, hit a few clotheslines and a big fall-away slam. He went for the Standing Ovation chokeslam but Eddie elbowed out. Hendry hit a cutter off the ropes instead for a near fall. Edwards back body dropped out of a power bomb attempt, but couldn’t evade a pop up power bomb seconds later. Edwards hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for another narrow two count. Edwards hit some knee strikes, but Hendry lifted him on his shoulders and threw him to the mat with a Trust Fall.
Hendry went to hit a lariat on Edwards in the corner and lifted him on the turnbuckle, but got power bombed off. Edwards went for the Boston Knee Party but got hit with the Standing Ovation for the win and successful title defense by Hendry.
At the zoo with Impact Wrestling
Steve Maclin, Deonna Purrazzo, Frankie Kazarian, Moose, Killer Kelly and Joe Hendry were at the Wagga Wagga zoo, played with dingos, fed kangaroos and touched snakes in a nice filler segment.
Killer Kelly defeated Aysha (7:09)
Aysha, a native of Australia, battled Killer Kelly from Portugal here. Kelly started out on all fours and intimidated Aysha. Things quickly turned serious when Kelly took Aysha down with a few arm drags then hit some knees and followed with punches in the corner and a running hip attack.
She downed with a running soccer kick on a sitting Aysha, then followed up with another one from the apron when Aysha rolled out of the ring. Kelly followed up with a deadlift delayed fisherman’s suplex for two. Aysha took over by pulling Kelly down by the hair and choking her with her boot in the corner.
Aysha followed up with a Stinger Splash in the corner and a running bulldog for another near fall. Aysha came back with a series of open palm strikes and head butts, then hit a butterfly suplex into the corner. Aysha briefly evaded a Shotgun dropkick into the corner, but seconds later ate one anyway. Aysha came back with a neckbreaker and back stabber for another two-count.
Aysha went for a double underhook DDT but got countered with a Death Valley Driver. Aysha grabbed a bottle of champagne from ringside but got caught be the ref. She grabbed an open one and spit champagne into Kelly’s face who was not all that impressed and took a hearty swig from the bottle. Aysha tried a roll up as Kelly handed her bottle to the ref.
Kelly hit a deadlift high angle German suplex and locked in the Killer Clutch for the submission victory.
Impact X-Division Champion Chris Sabin defeated Frankie Kazarian and Robbie Eagles in a three-way to retain (14:49)
All three men shook hands as the match started. Eagles got the crowd going with “Robbie Robbie Robbie! Oi Oi Oi!” chants.
Sabin got the first few moves in, but quickly clashed with Kazarian before all three men hit simultaneous dropkicks. Kazarian threw Eagles to the outside but got rolled up by Sabin for two. Sabin followed with a La Magistral cradle for two before falling prey to a hurricanrana by Eagles.
Eagles hit a springboard backflip but got floored by a clothesline from Sabin before the champ took both opponents down with clotheslines. Sabin hot a Stroke on Eagles before locking Eagles into an Indian Death Lock and getting an Octopus Hold on Kazarian at the same time.
Kazarian took over by Evading Sabin and dropping a guillotine leg drop on Eagles on the apron. Kazarian hot a back stabber on Eagles from the turnbuckle and a springboard spinning leg drop on Sabin for a two count. Kazarian had Sabin in some sort of double arm bar, then rolled up Eagles as he came wandering by. Kazarian locked Eagles in a Boston crab, then hit a Code Breaker on Sabin when he looked to drop a defenseless Kazarian.
Eagles hot some kicks on Kazarian, thwarted Sabin and took both men down. Eagles launched Kazarian out of the ring, allowing Sabin to hit a running soccer kick on Kazarian and two somersault sentons from the apron on each opponent. Sabin rolled Eagles back into the ring, but Eagles escaped an attack, hit a plancha on Kazarian and locked the inverted figure four leg lock on Sabin.
Kazarian hit an O’Connor roll on Eagles, then followed with a Northern Lights suplex on a charging Sabin to get a cover on both men, who narrowly managed to kick out. Eagles quickly flew in with a kick and got a near-fall of his own with a backpack snapmare slam.
Kazarian snatched Eagles out of the sky with a cutter on a springboard attempt and got a close near-fall, with Sabin making the save at the last possible moment. Sabin punched and elbowed both men, hot a tornado DDT on Kazarian and Cradle Shock on Eagles to pick up the win and retain the championship
– A video on ABC vs. Moose & Bryan Myers vs. Sami Callihan & Rich Swann vs. Subculture for the Tag Team titles at Slammiversary aired.
Impact Tag Team Champions ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) defeated Moose & Brian Myers in a non-title match (15:58)
Myers and Bey started out but Myers quickly escaped to ringside. He teased a test of strength, only to kick Bey in the gut. Bey quickly came back with punches in the corner, a backflip and superman punch. Austin tagged in and the champions double-teamed Mayers for a few seconds.
Moose kneed Austin in the back on a whip in, which got Austin distracted and allowed Myer to hit a running knee. Moose tagged in, but quickly got double teamed when Bey bling-tagged in. Bey hit a tope, then went for a plancha but got caught by Moose and power bombed on the apron. Myers then speared Austin on the outside.
Moose and Myers took turns beating Bey down, with Myers hitting a suplex for a two-count. Myers locked in a chin lock with Bey not able to tag out as Austin still lay hurting at ringside. Moose wen t for another power bomb, which Bey escape via hurricanrana only to be caught with a mighty uranage.
Myers tagged in and choked Bey in the ropes, then tagged Moose again. Bey managed to throw Moose out of the ring, hit a kick on Myers and went to tag Austin, only to watch his partner get dragged from the apron by Moose. Bey hit a sunset flip on Myers, who managed to tag Moose before going down for the cover. Bey escaped a power bomb, then managed to hit a cutter on Moose who was coming in with a springboard move from the turnbuckles.
Bey finally managed the hot-tag and Austin ran wild on both opponents. He got rid of Moose, then hit a spin kick on Myers for a two-count. ABC were looking for One Two Sweet, but Moose dragged Austin out of the ring. Myers hit the Roster Cut on Bey, with Austin making the save at the last second.
Bey went to the top rope, but got hit by a high dropkick my Moose. Moose and Austin battled on the top turnbuckle before Moose hit a superplex on Austin, only for Bey to come off the top with a Frog Splash before getting wiped out with an enzuigiri by Myers.
Moose held Austin for Myers to hit a superkick before they hit stereo power bombs on both ABC members. Myers asked Moose to pick Bey up for him to hit another Roster Cut. Bey shoved Moose into Myers, then rolled up Myers for the pin as Austin grabbed Moose’s legs from the outside.
– A highlight video on fun things to do in Wagga Wagga aired.
Steph De Lander promo
Steph said she lost to Deonna before but will beat her tonight and go home the champion
Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defeated Steph De Lander in a non-title match (9:05)
De Lander briefly played to the crowd but then cut a heel promo to turn the crowd against her.
De Lander shoved Purrazzo down, but received a slap in return. A sunset flip by Purrazzo couldn’t get De Lander down, but she got thrown out of the ring anyway. De Lander then picked up Purrazzo on her shoulders and dropped her to the apron face-first.
De Lander put Purrazzo on he top turnbuckle, hit her with a running boot and suplexed her out of the corner for a near fall. De Lander kept it up with chops in the corner until Deonna ducked and hit a slew of her own. De Lander locked on a bear hug, then went for another pin and argued with the referee when Purrazzo kicked out at two.
De Lander went right back to a chin lock, which Purrazzo eventually escaped from De Lander went for a spear in the corner but Deonna moved and she crashed into the steel post shoulder first. Purrazzo smelled blood immediately and countered a choke slam attempt into an attempt to work over the shoulder. Seconds later, De Lander found herself locked in a Fujiwara arm bar that put pressure on her left shoulder and narrowly made the ropes.
De Lander back body dropped out of a Queen’s Gambit attempt, and took back over, including a big boot for another two count. De Lander grabbed the microphone and told the crowd to shut up, before trying to hit Purrazzo with the mic, which the referee prevented.
This was all Deonna Purrazzo needed to roll her up for two and then lock in another Fujiwara arm bar, this time on the previously injured right shoulder and De Lander tapped immediately.
Impact World Champion Alex Shelley defeated Steve Maclin to retain (21:05)
Both guys milked the crowd for a little before locking up. Shelly quickly forced Maclin to the mat with a wrist lock and retained control of the arm. Shelley transitioned into a hammerlock before Maclin locked in a side headlock. Shelley broke free, got shoulder blocked but quickly locked in a head lock of his own, which he held for a few minutes.
Maclin eventually escaped and hit a few shoulder blocks in the corner, then slammed Shelley’s head into a turnbuckle. Shelley quickly turned the page again and went to town with elbows and chops, then downed the challenger with a running clothesline out of the corner.
Maclin finally hit a back elbow when Shelley hit the ropes and went back to some trusty chops. Shelley launched Maclin to the apron, jumped on his arm and hit a running knee strike from the apron. Back in the squared circle, Shelley dropkicked Maclin’s knee and followed up with a dragon screw. Shelley kept working the leg and locked in a step-over toe hold. Shelley next went to a straight jacket choke which he turned into a back stabber.
After some back and forth, they ended at ringside again, when Maclin hit a uranage on his knee and then belly-to-back suplexed Shelley on the apron twice. Back in the ring, he dropped a knee on the champion’s back and was looking to take Shelley’s back out.
Shelley came back with chops and kicks as Maclin urged him on. Maclin slammed Shelley’s face on his knee, hit a stiff lariat and locked in a Boston crab. Maclin hit a knee to the back as Shelley hung in the ropes, then slid outside, hit a hard slap and bent Shelley around the ring post backwards.
Shelley ended up on the apron and hit a dragon screw into the ropes, which further injured Maclin’s knee. Shelley followed with a stunner into the ropes but landed on Maclin’s knees as he launched himself over the top rope with a splash.
Shelley countered out of another uranage back breaker, then slammed Maclin’s head into the second turnbuckle. Shelley began targeting the other knee in the corner, including a nasty looking dragon screw as Maclin’s other leg was trapped between the ropes.
Maclin turned a Figure Four attempt into a small package but Shelley kept attacking the knee again. Shelley then hit a spinning fisherman’s suplex and went for the Figure Four again which he transitioned into a kind of Paradise Lock before kicking Maclin the face.
Shelley finally got the Figure Four on, but Maclin made the bottom rope. They ended up on the apron where Shelley went for Sliced Bread but got thrown into the post and speared in half. Maclin followed up with a Busaiku knee for a close near-fall. Maclin sold his knee and fell to the mat, Shelley capitalized and hit s superkick before hitting Shell Shock for the win to retain.
Shelley celebrated with his title as the show went off the air.
Final Thoughts:
This was a fun, if not particularly newsworthy show. Most matches felt like warm-ups to what is going to go down tomorrow and at Slammiversary but everyone had their working boots on and the local crowd had fun seeing a mix of Impact’s biggest stars and some of their own local talent. All the matches involving champions were good, the main event felt like an old school world title match, with the working of different body parts by both opponents. It will be fun to see how Impact concludes their mini-tour Down Under tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s Impact Down Under PPV card:
Impact Tag Team Champions ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) defend against the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin)
Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defends against Gisele Shaw
Impact Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry defends against Moose
Frankie Kazarian vs. Steve Maclin
The Natural Classics (Stevie Filip & Tome Filip) vs. The VeloCities (Jude London & Paris De Silva)
On tonight’s Impact on AXS TV, the road to both Slammiversary and this weekend’s PPVs in Australia continues.
In a rematch from Against All Odds, X-Division Champion Chris Sabin will defend against Trey Miguel. This will be Sabin’s first title defense in his ninth title reign while Miguel is looking for his third run.
Nick Aldis will attempt to explain his actions to Impact World Champion Alex Shelley after laying him out with the title belt two weeks ago. Aldis was not on last week’s show out of fear of retribution from Shelley’s fans.
Trinity will look to remain undefeated as she faces Jai Vidal in an intergender match.
Masha Slamovich takes on KiLynn King of The Coven as King & Taylor Wilde continue to look for new Knockouts Tag Team title contenders.
Kenny King will continue his run toward a Digital Media title shot as he faces Yuya Uemura.
The BTI pre-show features Johnny Swinger vs. Bhupinder Gujjar.
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BTI: Johnny Swinger defeated Bhupinder Gujjar
Swinger’s Road to 50 wins continued with Swinger having Zicky Dice assigned as the referee following his training last week. Swinger was finally able to get his first win after Swinger rolled up Gujjar for the fast pin.
Main card:
X-Division Champion Chris Sabin defeated Trey Miguel via DQ to retain the title
This match picked up right where they last left off at Against All Odds with Sabin and Miguel grappling all around the ring, including rolling onto the ramp without letting go of the lock up. Sabin hit a back suplex in the ring for a nearfall. Miguel hit a low dropkick for a 2-count. Sabin hit some forearms as he got up, but ate a dropkick to the face and a Death Valley Driver for a nearfall.
Miguel missed a lionsault and Sabin got up and hit two big boots, including a boot as Sabin charged the corner. Sabin hit a huge superplex on Miguel for a nearfall. Miguel hit a series of kicks and a double stomp to the back of Sabin for a nearfall. Sabin had an STF on, but Miguel slipped out. Sabin turned it into an STF again, and after another roll through, went for the Cradle Shock. Just as Sabin was going to hit it, the returning Zachary Wentz of the Rascalz ran down and hit a flying knee on Sabin to drop him and cause the DQ. The Rascalz then went to continue their attack on Sabin, but Alex Shelley made the save.
Later, Wentz and Miguel were backstage and claimed The Rascalz were back and were here to take what was theirs.
Trinity defeated Jai Vidal (w/ Gisele Shaw & Savannah Evans)
Deonna Purrazzo joined the commentary desk to talk about the upcoming Knockouts title match against Gisele Shaw (this weekend) and Trinity (Slammiversary). Trinity hit a dropkick on Vidal, but as Shaw was distracting the referee, Evans was able to pull the legs out from under Trinity on the apron, letting Vidal get control.
Vidal hit a running elbow for a 2-count. Trinity managed to duck under an attack from Vidal and hit a springboard kick for a 2-count. Trinity hit a Heat Seeker and then locked on Star Struck for the submission win.
Shaw and Savannah Evans attacked Trinity after the match, and while looking like she was going to ignore it, Purrazzo did come into the ring to make the save.
– Moose was backstage with Brian Myers and The Good Hands who were excited that Moose helped them get a win last week. Moose told Myers that he was glad to be working with Myers, but that he needed to ditch the dead weight, looking at The Good Hands. John Skylar asked what happened and Jason Hotch said “I think we just got jobbed!” Humor!
– Tying back to BTI, Johnny Swinger and Zicky Dice were backstage, and Swinger asked for a “sharpie gimmick” to write a win on his poster. A referee walked up and told Swinger that the win was overturned and that Dice (who called himself Zick Patrick) would lose his referee license if he did that again.
Lio Rush defeated Jack Price
Rush made his debut here and moved so fast that I am going to have difficultly recapping it. He slowed it down with a chop in the corner as the announcers put Rush over as a member of CHAOS in NJPW, and Rush soon thereafter hit a handspring kick on Price. Rush soon hit the Final Hour for the pinfall.
– Dirty Dango was backstage cutting a promo on Santino after getting hit by the Cobra last week. Dango talked about how Santino got a job in WWE, and like how Santino was slapped by Jim Cornette, he wondered if someone was doing the same to his daughter in NXT. This was awkward. Santino later responded saying that he was being pulled back into the ring from the comments about his daughter, and in Windsor, Ontario at Slammiversary, he was going to make Dango pay. This was actually a good promo.
– Frankie Kazarian and Eddie Edwards were backstage arguing about what happened in their tag match last week. Edwards said Kazarian’s ego was too big for a tag team, so maybe they’d be better as opponents.
Masha Slamovich defeated KiLynn King (w/ Taylor Wilde)
Slamovich immediately started beating on King, but King was able to cut Slamovich off on a tope suicida to get the heat back in the ring. King put Slamovich in a full nelson, but Slamovich managed to roll forward and hit a double stomp. King hit a lariat to Slamovich for a 2-count. Slamovich countered out of a pump handle into a big sheer drop back suplex.
Slamovich hit a series of kicks on King, including a spinning heel kick for a 2-count. King blocked the Snow plough and hit a big running elbow in the corner and hit a Death Valley Driver for a 2-count. Slamovich hit a series of strikes, ending with a kick to the head of King for a 2-count. King sent Slamovich to the floor with a forearm, but missed a baseball slide attempt. Slamovich hit a twisting tope suicida to the floor on King.
Slamovich sent King into the ring, but Wilde attacked from behind and sent Slamovich face first into the ring post. As King was setting up to hit the Excalibuster, Killer Kelly came out and started choking Taylor Wilde with a chain. Slamovich then took advantage and hit a Snow plough on King for the pinfall.
Kelly and Slamovich faced off, and Kelly had the dog collar and chain around her neck. Slamovich smiled and put the other half of it on her neck again, but this time, it looks like they will be teaming up.
– A fantastic promo video aired about Scott D’Amore and all the people he trained around the world, and how his own wrestling career was significant. He returns to the ring at Slammiversary.
– Scott D’Amore was backstage talking with Gia Miller, and The Good Hands walked up and challenged D’Amore to a warmup match for Slammiversary. Hotch and Skylar soon regretted this as D’Amore accepted the challenge and said they’d have to take on him and PCO. The second half of the team was something The Good Hands did not take into consideration.
Kenny King (w/ Sheldon Jean) defeated Yuya Uemura
Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry was shown in the production truck, waiting to show something relevant to King, King had the advantage throughout the early portion of the match with King hitting a spinebuster for a two count. Uemura hit a dropkick and then a bulldog for another two count before hitting a DDT when they went to break. Uemura missed a crossbody off the top rope and King hit a Royal Flush soon thereafter for the win.
Hendry came out to congratulate King and introduce his new song celebrating the career of King. By celebrating, I mean making fun of him. It was hilarious.
Nick Aldis/Alex Shelley segment
Aldis came out to explain his recent attack on Shelley, and Shelley came out to hear it face to face. Aldis insisted he wanted to be safe, so he secured a seat in the fans for Shelley. Shelley chose to sit with the fans, saying it was an honor. Aldis claimed that Shelley and Sabin tried to show him up in the 10-person tag 2 weeks ago by refusing to tag him in and doing their double team moves.
Aldis said he decided to put Shelley in his place, and that Shelley was a fake revolutionary, as he tried to show up and get rid of people like him. Aldis talked about how all of Shelley’s friends in the wrestling media praised him, but denounced Aldis, and that Aldis represented tradition in wrestling, and the future Shelley wanted to take the business into was a dark place. Aldis called Shelley a transitional champion, and said he was going to humiliate Shelley at Slammiversary.
Shelley told Aldis to shut up, and that he was whining. Aldis said it was his time, and he left the ring to try and shut Shelley up. Aldis and Shelley started brawling, and Aldis raked the eyes of Shelley before sending him into the ring post. Aldis grabbed the Impact World Championship and went to hit Shelley with it again, but Chris Sabin ran down to make the save, pulling the belt out of the hands of Aldis.
Lio Rush then ran in and attacked Sabin and Shelley, and Aldis and Rush beat down both men. It’s notable that Rush was wearing a suit, like Aldis would, so it seems like there is an alliance forming here. Rush hit Sabin in the face the X-Division title like Aldis did to Shelley with the Impact World Championship 2 weeks ago.
Final Thoughts
This was a good episode of Impact, especially with the closing angle where Aldis and Shelley were both fantastic. The addition of Lio Rush into the feud is an interesting one, as they are clearly setting up The Rascalz against the Motor City Machine Guns down the line. I suspect Rush will be getting the X-Division title match at Slammiversary while Shelley of course defends against Aldis.
Next Week:
Jonathan Gresham vs. Angels
Eddie Edwards vs. Frankie Kazarian
Impact Slammiversary
Ultimate X-Match: Mike Bailey vs. Jonathan Gresham vs. KUSHIDA vs. Kevin Knight vs. Angels to determine the no. 1 contender for the X-Division Championship
Impact Wrestling has announced several matches involving Australian talent for its upcoming Down Under Tour.
Deonna Purrazzo is now scheduled to wrestle Melbourne’s Steph De Lander on Friday in a non-title match. Also announced for Friday is Gisele Shaw vs. “The Dreamtime Voodoo Witch” Erika Reid. Purrazzo will then defend her Knockouts title against Shaw on Saturday.
Also announced for Friday is Killer Kelly vs. Aysha, a 23-year-old Melbourne native who has trained with Tyler Breeze and Shawn Spears. She also wrestled on NWA’s Australian tour in April.
Slex vs. Adam Brooks has also been announced for Friday as well. Brooks will then be in action the following day in a triple-threat match with Brian Myers and former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Robbie Eagles.
🇦🇺 @IMPACTWRESTLING's historic debut in Australia just keeps getting more and more intriguing.
2️⃣ days from now, the #DownUnderTour gets underway & new matchups have been added to the already JAM-PACKED tour.
Impact Wrestling’s Down Under Tour takes place Friday, June 30, and Saturday, July 1, from the Equex Center in Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia. Both shows will air as pay-per-view events on FITE TV. They will begin at 5 AM Eastern time and then be available on-demand after.
Lineups for the shows are below.
Friday, 6/30:
Impact World Champion Alex Shelley defends against Steve Maclin
X-Division Champion Chris Sabin defends against Frankie Kazarian and Robbie Eagles in a three-way
Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry defends against Eddie Edwards
Tag Team Champions Chris Bey & Ace Austin vs. Moose & Brian Myers in a non-title match
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. Steph De Lander in a non-title match.
Gisele Shaw vs. Erika Reid
Killer Kelly vs. Aysha
Slex vs. Adam Brooks
Saturday, 7/1:
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defends against Gisele Shaw
Tag Team Champions Chris Bey & Ace Austin defend against Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley)
Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry or Eddie Edwards defends against Moose
The following are spoilers from Friday’s Impact Wrestling TV taping in Atlanta, Georgia, setting up the road to next month’s Slammiversary. The company will hold another set of tapings Saturday in Atlanta as well.
The taping was highlighted by several returns, one of which is was Zachary Wentz of The Rascalz. Known as Nash Carter in WWE NXT, the former NXT Tag Team Champion was released in 2022 after past photos of him dressed as Adolf Hitler emerged.
Wentz has been gone from Impact since November 2020.
The following matches will begin airing over the next two weeks:
Dirty Dango defeated Crazzy Steve. Dango called out Santino Marella after the match which led to Heath attacking Dango from behind.
X-Division Champion Chris Sabin defeated Trey Miguel to retain the title. Zachary Wentz of The Rascalz made his return and attacked Sabin before Alex Shelley ran out to make the save.
Lio Rush defeated Jack Price
Masha Slamovich defeated KiLynn King. Courtney Rush took out King’s partner Taylor Wilde and choked her with a chain. Slamovich then took the other part of the chain and led Rush out.
Kenny King defeated Yuya Uemura. Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry came out afterward and aired a new video making fun of King.
Nick Aldis did an in-ring promo to explain last week’s attack on Shelley. The two then had a confrontation which led to Sabin coming out to aid Shelley. Lio Rush came out to help Aldis and they stood tall at the end.
Eddie Edwards defeated Frankie Kazarian
Sami Callihan & Rich Swann defeated Champagne Singh & Shera
Jonathan Gresham defeated Angels. After Deaner wouldn’t let Angels shake Gresham’s hand, Angels pushed Deaner and left with Gresham
Gisele Shaw defeated Courtney Rush
Chic Donovan defeated Johnny Swinger after Ernest “The Cat” Miller came out and reversed Swinger’s initial win, restarting the match.
Chris Bey defeated Kevin Knight
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defeated Taylor Wilde to retain
Impact World Champion Alex Shelley defeated Brian Myers to retain
Steve Maclin defeated PCO in a street fight. Maclin cut a post-match promo that brought out the returning Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer took out Maclin and cut a babyface promo to end the show. He had taken a leave of absence due to his mother’s passing and his third bout with skin cancer.
Impact Wrestling has released a pair of lineups ahead of this weekend’s double-dip of TV tapings in Atlanta, Georgia.
As previously announced, Lio Rush will make his return to Impact on Friday for the first time since Impact x NJPW Multiverse United during WrestleMania weekend.
In a trio of title matches set for Friday, Impact World Champion Alex Shelley will defend his title for the first time as he takes on Brian Myers, Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defends against former champion Taylor Wilde, and X-Division Champion Chris Sabin defends against former champion Trey Miguel in a rematch.
Here are Friday’s announced matches:
Impact World Champion Alex Shelley defends against Brian Myers
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defends against Taylor Wilde
X-Division Champion Chris Sabin defends against Trey Miguel
Lio Rush appearance
Jonathan Gresham vs. Angels
Courtney Rush vs. Gisele Shaw
Masha Slamovich vs. KiLynn King
On Saturday, Rush will officially return to action as he teams with Nick Aldis against the Motor City Machine Guns (Shelley & Sabin). If he defeats Myers Friday, Shelley will next defend against Aldis at July’s Slammiversary, leading to speculation Sabin could defend his title against Rush at the PPV if Sabin successfully defends his title Friday.
Here are Saturday’s announced matches:
Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) vs. Nick Aldis & Lio Rush
Trinity vs. Jai Vidal
Deonna Purrazzo open challenge
Rich Swann & Sami Callihan vs. Moose & Brian Myers
Mike Bailey vs. Kevin Knight
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Impact’s flagship weekly show will now be seen on DAZN’s linear channel on Sky UK.
The show, seen Thursdays on AXS TV in North America, will now also be available on DAZN HD 1, channel 429 for UK and Ireland viewers on Fridays at 23:00 BST (11 PM).
The latest move is part of a November 2022 deal done between DAZN and Anthem Sports Group which owns Impact. The channel will also air monthly specials, original series, and content from Impact’s library.
DAZN HD 1 was launched on Sky UK in March with a focus on combat sports, women’s football and documentaries.
Two title matches have been announced for Impact Wrestling’s Down Under tour in Australia, both events of which will air live as pay-per-views on FITE.
On Friday, June 30th, new Impact World Champion Alex Shelley will defend the title against Steve Maclin in a contractually obligated rematch.
Shelley defeated Maclin at last Friday’s Against All Odds to end Maclin’s near-two month run with the title.
As of now, Shelley is set to defend against Nick Aldis at next month’s Slammiversary pay-per-view but the result of this match could change that.
On Saturday, July 1st, Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo will defend her title against Gisele Shaw as part of the second event/PPV. These two have battled multiple times over the last year in a variety of matches, splitting two singles matches against each other.
If Shaw is to win the title, she will defend against both Purrazzo and no. 1 contender Trinity at Slammiversary.
Both events will air live at 5 AM Eastern and be available on demand afterward.
Here’s the current lineup for both events from Wagga Wagga, NWS, Australia:
Friday, 6/30:
Impact World Champion Alex Shelley defends against Steve Maclin
Saturday, 7/1:
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defends against Gisele Shaw
New World Champion Alex Shelley and new X-Division Champion Chris Sabin will kick off tonight’s Against All Odds fallout edition of Impact Wrestling on AXS.
Shelley defeated Steve Maclin to begin his first World title reign while Sabin defeated Trey Miguel to start his ninth run with the X-Division title at last Friday’s streaming special.
In the follow-up from last Friday’s first-ever 8-4-1 match, Moose will take on Rich Swann in a clash of former Impact World Champions.
After getting thwarted by a steel chair shot from the returning Scott D’Amore in the 8-4-1 match, Bully Ray will address the Impact Zone. Ray put the Impact president through a flaming table at Under Siege to put him out of action.
After defending the titles against The Good Hands, Impact Tag Team Champions Ace Austin & Chris Bey will face Decay’s Crazzy Steve & Black Taurus in non-title action.
Laredo Kid & Jack Price will take on Champagne Singh & Shera on the BTI pre-show.
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BTI Preshow
According to George Iceman, Bully Ray has complained to Anthem management about Scott D’Amore hitting him with a chair at Against All Odds.
Champagne Singh & Shera defeated Jack Price & Laredo Kid
Singh got the win in a decent match here, with the champagne pop DDT. Heath ran out after the match and attacked Singh and Shera from behind, hitting a wake up call on Singh.
Main Card
The Motor City Machine Guns made their way out to celebrate their title wins at Against All Odds. Sabin talked about how this was a dream come true for both of them, and Shelley talked about how he was always the guy that helped mentor world champions, like Kazuchika Okada, The Young Bucks, Seth Rollins, and others, but he was never the champ. At Against All Odds he finally became the World champion, and he called this the Machine Gun era of Impact Wrestling.
Nick Aldis came down to the ring to face off against his future opponent at Slammiversary. Aldis noted that all 3 of them called their shots, and did exactly what they said they were going to do, with Aldis becoming #1 contender, and the other two winning their titles. Aldis gave Shelley credit, saying that when he first became a wrestler in Impact, he had no idea what he was doing, and Alex Shelley was one of the guys that taught him how to wrestle. Aldis then said, as Shelley’s friend, he was going to do everything he could to win the title at Slammiversary.
Trey Miguel came out onto the ramp, saying they forgot to show him respect. Kenny King came out with Sheldon Jean. I sense a 6-man tag in the near future. Gisele Shaw, Savanah Evans, and Jai Vidal made their way out. Shaw said the red carpet was rolled out for Trinity and Alids, and that the Machine Guns didn’t deserve the titles. Trinity came out and now I sense an 8-person tag match. Trinity confronted Shaw, but Deonna Purrazzo came out and now I have no idea what I am sensing.
Santino came out, I assume to make a match. This segment has gone on way too long and added way too many people to it. Simple is better. Santino announced a 10-person tag main event with Aldis, MCMG, Trinity, and Purrazzo against King, Miguel, Jean, Evans, and Shaw.
–Steve Maclin was backstage and cut a great promo about how the two years it took him to become champion, and now he wasn’t, and he should still be champ. The intensity here was great.
–A recap of OVE defeating The Design. Deaner looked to blame Angels for the job not getting done. Angels blamed Deaner for the loss, and Kon screamed “Stop!” saying this is what Callihan wanted them to be doing. Kon said they needed to claim what was theirs.
We are well over 30 minutes into the show before the first match started, which I am not a fan of, as a lot of the promos could have been cut down or placed differently. Regardless, we got Rich Swann and Moose to open the wrestling portion of the show.
Rich Swann defeated Moose
If you are going to make us wait 30 minutes for the first match, you need to make sure the first match is a good one. This was a good one. Not even close to the best match I’ve seen this week, but it was a very good opening match.
Swann was a fair bit faster than Moose in the first part of the match, but eventually got powerbombed onto the apron before they went to an ad break. Moose hit a giant uranage on Swann for a 2-count when they came back from break. Moose chopped Swann against the posts on the floor twice, but Swann ducked the third Moose chopped the post. Swann ended up on the top rope after another ad break and Moose ran up the ropes and hit a superplex.
Moose then tried the same run and went for a crossbody, but Swann countered with a cutter and got a 2-count. This match has been quite good. Swann missed a middle rope 450 and ate a discus clothesline and a powerbomb for a 2-count from Moose. Moose went for the spear, but Swann rolled him up and floated over into a jackknife pin for the 3-count.
–Heath was backstage and talked about his history in Impact, talking about what is next for him. He said he was about to let everyone in Impact know who he is. This was a good promo.
–Moose was walking backstage and almost got hit by a door that Brian Myers kicked open. Myers talked about how Moose had a rough night at Against All Odds and another one tonight, and Moose did not take kindly to the lecture. Myers assured him that he made a mistake too, as he failed to lead the Good Hands to the tag championship, but Moose & Myers would be able to beat them.
–Bully Ray came out with an official complaint to the Anthem management about Scott D’Amore. Scott D’Amore came out and said that he did go before the Anthem board, and they did decide it was behaviour unbecoming of a company president. D’Amore also said the board recommended he take a leave of absence.
Ray insisted that he leave the ring and admit that he was wrong. D’Amore said that he wouldn’t be able to “Do this” if he was still president, and he tackled Ray and started punching him. Steve Maclin came out and attacked D’Amore from behind. Maclin and Ray grabbed chairs and Ray put a chair across the throat of D’Amore and invited Maclin to hit the legs of the chair with his own chair to drive it into D’Amore’s throat. As he was about to do it, the lights went out, and PCO made the save.
D’Amore then announced that he was coming out of retirement to wrestle Bully Ray & Steve Maclin at Slammiversary with PCO as his tag team partner.
–Maclin and Ray were backstage and Maclin was telling Ray that he was worried about PCO because there is nothing that can ever keep him down. Ray told Maclin to act like a Marine, and that he was just a man. Kazarian said, “He was just a man who took you both out.” Maclin and Ray went to get in the face of Kazarian, but Eddie Edwards walked up to even the odds, saying that since they shared the same trainer in Killer Kowalski, he would have Kazarian’s back, even though they don’t see eye-to-eye. Alisha Edwards was surprised that they were suddenly making peace, but it seems like Kazarian and Edwards might be on the same side for now.
ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) defeated The Decay in a non-title match
Crazzy Steve yelled, “Do you want me to bite his fingers?!” to the fans as he pointed at Chris Bey. Chris Bey did not like this prospect and attacked, soon tagging out to Austin, but Black Taurus came in and the Decay soon had control. Bey and Austin picked up Steve, but he bit them both. He ate a double sole butt from ABC and then a 1-2-sweet for the win.
–The Motor City Machine Guns were backstage to greet Austin & Bey, and they said they were glad those two were the Impact World Tag Team Champions, as the division was in good hands. Bey & Austin said they were happy that MCMG were the X-Division and World champions.
–Bhupinder Gujjar was backstage with Gia Miller, and they talked about his upcoming episode of Diary where they highlight his journey in wrestling. Dirty Dango walked up and said, “Who would want to watch that?” insisting that, insisting that Gujjar was like everyone else in the locker room, simply being passive and not becoming a star, “Except for that bull head guy, because he gets it.” I laughed at him putting over Black Taurus. Looks like we’ll see Gujjar beating Dango sometime in the near future. Gujjar’s story is a good one, and they could use it well to promote him.
–NJPW on AXS this week featured The Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli) & Shota Umino vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii) & Hiroshi Tanahashi for the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship and Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer, both excellent matches.
The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley), Nick Aldis, Deonna Purrazzo, & Trinity defeated Kenny King, Sheldon Jean, Trey Miguel, Gisele Shaw, & Savannah Evans
Good multi-person tag match, with Shelley getting the win at the end to highlight his new title reign.
Purrazzo and Shaw started the match, but as soon as Shaw seemed to have an advantage, Trinity tagged in and attacked. Shaw was able to block a bulldog attempt and send Trinity crashing intho the turnbuckle before tagging out to Evans. When the came back from the break, Kenny King was getting the heat on Nick Aldis.
This continued with the team getting heat on Chris Sabin after Aldis tagged out. Jean hit several 12 to 6 elbows on Sabin before tagging back out to King. This continued for several minutes until Sabin got a got up in a corner charge and hit a tornado DDT before tagging out to Alex Shelley. Miguel tagged in and Shelly ran wild on him, King, Sheldon Jean, and even Jai Vidal on the floor.
Miguel cut Shelley off on the top rope, so Shelley hit a top rope Manhattan Drop on Miguel, which looked unpleasant. Shelley locked on the Border City Stretch, but everyone crashed the ring and a brawl ensued. Sheldon Jean hit a flying leg lariat on Sabin, and King accidentally hit an enziguri on Jean, leading to Aldis taking out King and Shelley hitting Shell Shock on Jean for the pin.
–Nick Aldis grabbed the world title and went to hand it to Alex Shelley. Aldis then turned heel, nailing Shelley with the title. This is a much better fit for Aldis, and he will make a strong heel contender to Alex Shelley as the babyface champion going into Impact Slammiversary.
Final Thoughts
This was a decent episode of Impact, with a ton of angles, and not much wrestling. I would have preferred to cut down on the opening segment by 5-10 minutes and add another match in the middle, but with that said, the wrestling we did get was mostly good. Moose and Swann was good, and the main event was very good. The ABC squash of the Decay was fine. The real story of the show will be the closing angle with Aldis turning heel, a role he is much stronger in than being a babyface.
Impact Wrestling – June 22, 2023
OVE vs. Brian Myers & The Good Hands
The Design vs. Jonathan Gresham & Mike Bailey
Taylor Wilde vs. Killer Kelly
Bully Ray & Steve Maclin vs. Eddie Edwards & Frankie Kazarian
Impact Down Under Tour – June 30, 2023
Impact World Championship: Alex Shelley (c) vs. Steve Maclin
Impact Down Under Tour – July 1, 2023
Impact Knockouts World Championship: Deonna Purrazo (c) vs. Gisele Shaw
Impact Slammiversary – July 15, 2023
Bully Ray & Steve Maclin vs. PCO & Scott D’Amore
Impact Knockouts World Championship: Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. Trinity
Impact World Championship: Alex Shelley (c) vs. Nick Aldis
After winning singles gold at Against All Odds, the Motor City Machine Guns are set to appear on this week’s episode of Impact.
Impact Wrestling has announced that Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin will kick off this Thursday’s Impact. Shelley won the Impact World Championship at last Friday’s special, while Sabin captured the X-Division title.
Shelley dethroned Steve Maclin in the main event of Against All Odds to win the Impact World Championship. Earlier in the night, Sabin defeated Trey Miguel to win the X-Division title. The show went off the air with the two tag team partners celebrating in the ring with their newly won belts.
This is the first time Shelley has ever held the Impact World Championship. For Sabin, it’s his ninth reign with the X-Division title.
We already know who’s first in line for a shot at Shelley’s championship. Impact Wrestling has announced that Shelley will defend against Nick Aldis at Slammiversary on Saturday, July 15. Aldis became the number one contender to the title at Against All Odds.
In an surprise victory, Alex Shelley defeated Steve Maclin to win the Impact World title at Friday’s Against All Odds in Columbus, Ohio.
Shelley picked up the clean win after hitting his Shellshock finisher in the evening’s main event.
It’s the first World title reign for Shelley who was unsuccessful in besting then-champion Josh Alexander at last August’s Emergence. Shelley had previously held the Impact Tag Team titles three times and X-Division title once. He earned the shot with a win in a six-way no. 1 contender’s match at last month’s Under Siege.
The loss ends Maclin’s relatively short title reign which began at April’s Rebellion with a victory over KUSHIDA for the title vacated due to Alexander’s injury. Defenses against Rhino and PCO followed.
Shelley will defend the title against Nick Aldis at July’s Slammiversary after Aldis earned the shot by winning the first-ever 8-4-1 match earlier in the night.
Aldis was part of a four-on-four tag team match where the winning team immediately moved onto a four-way for the title shot. In a match that included Jonathan Gresham and Bully Ray, Aldis tapped out Heath to earn the win.
Aldis will be looking for his second run with the title and the first since 2014 when he was known as Magnus and the promotion was still called TNA.
Here’s the current card for the Saturday, July 15th pay-per-view in Windsor, Ontario, Canada:
Impact World Champion Alex Shelley defends against Nick Aldis
Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defends against Trinity
Impact World Champion Steve Maclin will look for another successful title defense as he defends against Alex Shelley on Friday’s Against All Odds streaming special in Columbus, Ohio.
The next no. 1 contender will be made in the first-ever 8-4-1 match as Bully Ray, Jonathan Gresham, Heath & Nick Aldis take on Moose, Mike Bailey, Rich Swann & PCO. The winning team will immediately compete in a four-way with the winner challenging for the World title at Slammiversary.
In a pair of Under Siege rematches, X-Division Champion Trey Miguel will defend against Chris Sabin while Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry defends against Dirty Dango.
Tag Team Champions Chris Bey & Ace Austin defend against The Good Hands while Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo teams with Slammiversary challenger Trinity against Gisele Shaw & Savannah Evans.
Other featured matches include Killer Kelly vs. Masha Slamovich in a dog collar match, Frankie Kazarian vs. Eddie Edwards, and a trios street fight.
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KiLynn King (w/Taylor Wilde) defeated Nevaeh on the Countdown to Against All Odds pre-show
From Dayton, Ohio, Nevaeh made her return to Impact Wrestling after two years.
King had the early advantage after the bell rang and Wilde was sure to maintain that advantage for her partner from the outside of the ring.
Nevaeh attempted to gain momentum several times but King eventually landed the King’s Curse to get the 1-2-3 after a short uneventful match.
– A video package aired focusing on the ongoing feud between Sami Callihan and The Design leading into their upcoming Ohio Street Fight later on tonight.
Joe Hendry defeated Dirty Dango to retain the Impact Digital Media title on the Countdown to Against All Odds pre-show
Director of Authority Santino Marella made his way to the ring to join commentary before the match began.
After Dango entered the ring, Hendry’s music hit and he came out with a mic, reintroducing fans to his “Divas Reject” music video.
After the bell rang, Hendry gained early momentum causing a frustrated Dango to the outside of the ring. Dango saw a fan with a t-shirt in the crowd and grabbed the shirt and tossed it in the face of Marella, disrespecting the DOA. Hendry went to the outside and landed a neckbreaker on the floor before both men returned to the ring.
Dango managed to gain the advantage after hitting some top rope offence but Hendry quickly had momentum on his side once again. Dango remained resilient and once again went to the top attempting to land the Down & Dirty but Hendry caught up with him.
After Hendry initially was able to stop Dango, he was shoved back down to the mat and Dango attempted the Down & Dirty once again but Hendry moved and Dango crashed and burned.
Hendry capitalized on the missed attempt by Dango, landed a massive suplex followed by the Standing Ovation to retain his Impact Digital Media title.
– A video package aired focusing on the upcoming Impact World title match between Steve Maclin and Alex Shelley.
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– A cold open opened the show tonight and honestly folks, Impact Wrestling does some of the best video packages in the business.
Frankie Kazarian defeated Eddie Edwards (w/Alisha)
It was hard to believe this was the first ever singles match between Kazarian and Edwards with their storied careers in Impact Wrestling and both being trained by the late Killer Kowalski.
After some back and forth in the beginning moments of the match, Kazarian looked to have gained control with a great neckbreaker before Edwards was able to send him to the outside where Alisha was waiting with a cheap shot.
Both men were back in the ring and Edwards had the momentum going his way as Alisha continued to help assist her husband from the outside. Kazarian attempted a comeback with a springboard off of the ropes but Edwards sent him to the outside instead and followed it up with a dive through the ropes.
Kazarian wouldn’t stay down however as his perseverance led him to landing a hurricanrana on Edwards over the top rope to the floor. Kazarian attempted to land his spinning legdrop off of the ropes but Alisha once again interfered in the match.
Kazarian followed up by landing the spinning legdrop but Edwards persevered himself and landed a Blue Thunder Bomb but only managed a two count. Kazarian followed up with a reverse piledriver but before he could get the three count, Alisha placed Edwards leg on the bottom rope. The referee caught her however and Alisha was ejected from ringside.
Both men attempted to recover at this point and after what looked like a botched three count by the referee, Kazarian was able to roll Edwards up for a real 1-2-3 for the victory.
ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) defeated The Good Hands (Jason Hotch & John Skyler w/Brian Myers) to retain the Impact World Tag Team titles
Bey and Skyler began the match and after some quick back and forth, Hotch and Austin were tagged in. Austin gained control before Hotch and Skyler resorted to heel tactics to gain the upperhand.
Quick tags were made by The Good Hands to keep Austin grounded but it didn’t last long as Ace was able to make the hot tag to a fired up Bey. Bey took out both Hotch and Skyler before nailing Hotch with the Code Red but only managed a two count.
A miscue by ABC sent momentum back in the way of The Good Hands but after Austin was sent to the outside taking out Myers, it was back and forth by both teams looking to gain that momentum needed to be tag team champions.
The Good Hands nailed Austin with a Magic Killer but Ace managed to kick out at two. Unfortunately for Hotch and Skyler, this would be the end of the night for them as far as offence went. Hotch was caught with the Art of Finesse before Austin nailed him with The Fold to give the champions another day with the titles.
– Backstage, Gia Miller was with Impact Knockouts World champion Deonna Purrazzo and Trinity. They made mention of their upcoming battle at Slammiversary but stated their focus tonight was Gisele Shaw and Savannah Evans.
Masha Slamovich defeated Killer Kelly in a Dog Collar Match
A match between two women that absolutely hated each other, locked in a dog collar with no disqualifications.
After it looked like an even matchup early on, it was all Slamovich with the referee even asking Kelly if she wanted to give up in the opening minutes of the match.
Kelly and Slamovich ended up on the outside of the ring and Slamovich continued her assault by pulling Kelly into the ring post before wrapping the chain around her neck and biting her in the process.
Slamovich dragged Kelly back into the ring but couldn’t capitalize any further as both women hit clotheslines on one another. After getting back on their feet, Kelly managed to gain much needed momentum by landing a running dropkick in the corner followed by a DDT.
Slamovich refused to give up and after landing back on the outside, she was able to hang Kelly over the top rope but Kelly refused to submit.
Back in the ring and Slamovich attempted the Snow Plow but couldn’t execute it. Kelly attempted to lock in her Killer Clutch but failed as well. Kelly was then able to hit a Snow Plow of her own but only managed a two count.
A frustrated Kelly looked to finish the match but before she could continue her momentum, Slamovich was able to lock the chain around the mouth of Kelly. Slamovich followed up by finally landing her Snow Plow to get a massive win over her arch nemesis.
After the match, Slamovich went eye-to-eye with Kelly and after looking like she was going to land a post-match assault, threw her dog collar down and left the ring.
– Backstage, Gia Miller was with the Motor City Machine Guns. Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin stated they were focused on winning titles at Against All Odds.
Chris Sabin defeated Trey Miguel to win the Impact X-Division title
This match had the potential to be a X-Division classic but the arrogance of Miguel wasn’t about to let that happen.
Both men went back and forth in the beginning as Sabin was gearing towards a ninth X-Division championship and after landing a spear onto the outside of the ring, it looked as though the title was about to change hands.
Miguel wouldn’t give in however and after trapping the leg of Sabin, he caught him in an amazing series of submission moves but Sabin was able to escape. Sabin followed up by hitting the Angel’s Wings but only managed a two count. Miguel followed it up with a Cradle Shock but Sabin kicked out at two as well.
Sabin followed up with an avalanche gut buster to Miguel on the top rope and then hit a Styles Clash but could only once again get a two count. Miguel started playing dirty at this point and after getting a can of spray taken away, sprayed a second can of spray paint to the eyes of Sabin but couldn’t get the win.
Sabin recovered and after hitting a massive clothesline, nailed the Cradle Shock to win his ninth X-Division title!
Bully Ray, Heath, Jonathan Gresham & Nick Aldis defeated Mike Bailey, Moose, PCO & Rich Swann in a 8-4-1 8-Man Tag Team Match
Bailey and Ray began the match but before they locked up, Ray tagged out to Gresham. After some back and forth between Bailey and Gresham, Heath and Swann were tagged in and before they locked up, an impromptu dance off took place.
Moose soon tagged himself in and immediately went to the opposite to confront Ray as the two have a heated history. Bailey was tagged back in as he was attempting to gain momentum for his team by climbing to the top rope, he was confronted by Ray and crotched in the process.
Bailey recovered and made the tag to PCO and the French-Canadian Frankenstein quickly started beating down on his opponents. As PCO went to nail his PCOsault to the ring apron, Moose tagged himself back into the match and shoved PCO off of the top rope.
Moose attempted to end the match with a spear to Gresham but ended up nailing his teammate Swann instead. Gresham then sent Moose to the outside and seeing a downed Swann, covered him for the 1-2-3 to help his team advance to a four-way match to determine who will face the Impact World champion at Slammiversary.
Nick Aldis defeated Bully Ray, Heath & Jonathan Gresham in a 8-4-1 4-Way Match
Gresham gained the early advantage coming off the win for his team moments before and after grounding Ray, he nailed Bully with a diving headbutt to the lower midsection thanks to help from Aldis and Heath.
Ray wouldn’t stay down however and after looking for plunder underneath the ring, he was soon confronted by a returning Scott D’Amore on the inside of the ring. Ray told D’Amore he didn’t have the guts to do anything and after Bully turned his back, D’Amore nailed him with a massive chair shot.
With Ray now down and out, the other three men looked to finish the match and move on to Slammiversary. Aldis would be the one to capitalize however and after locking Heath in the King’s Lynn Cloverleaf, Heath tapped out and we now had our new number one contender going into Slammivesary.
– Backstage, Gia Miller was with Impact World champion Steve Maclin. Maclin stated that while guys like Chris Sabin and Nick Aldis were victorious tonight, he was focused on defeating Alex Shelley in the main event.
Purrazzo and Shaw began the match and as you would have guessed it, there was no love lost as both women looked to rip each other apart.
Trinity was tagged in and commentary made reference to the fact that Trinity hasn’t lost a tag team match in her last twenty-three appearances. How about that?
After some back and forth action and quick tags by both teams, Trinity attempted to hit a move from the top rope but after some interference by Jai Vidal, she failed to land her aerial assault as it was broken up by Evans.
Purrazzo got the hot tag in and after locking in the Fujiwara Armbar on Shaw, Trinity landed the Rear View but they couldn’t put Shaw and Evans away. Trinity was taken out and after Purrazzo decided enough was enough, she locked Evans in a Magistral Cradle to gain the win for her team.
After the match, Shaw, Evans & Vidal attempted to destroy Purrazzo with running knee strikes by Shaw by Trinity was able to make the save.
oVe (Sami Callihan, Jake Crist & Madman Fulton) defeated The Design (Deaner, Angels & Kon) in an Ohio Street Fight
As expected, this match was all about chaos, punishment and weapons. Chairs, tables, mailboxes, staple guns and sunset flips were highlights of the opening moments of the match.
Callihan yelled at Fulton to “Get the wire!” and we were greeted with two tables full of barbed wire. Fulton attempted to launch Angels through one of the tables but Angels blocked the attempt and then followed up by nailing Fulton with a barbed wire strike of his own.
Crist and Angels both went to the top rope and after simultaneously jumping off the top, Crist nailed him with a massive Crist Cutter. He could only manage a two count however as Deaner made the save.
Tacks were brought out by Callihan and it was soon a massive trainwreck as Deaner, Kon, Fulton and Crist were all sent through the destruction of the tacks and tables.
Callihan nailed Deaner with his Cactus Driver ’97 but Deaner kicked out. Callihan followed up with a piledriver through one of the barbed wire tables and that was enough to put away the leader of The Design to gain a victory for the newly reformed oVe.
Alex Shelley defeated Steve Maclin to win the Impact World title
It was definitely power and aggression versus speed and technicality in this one.
With both men feeling each other out in the opening moments, Shelley attempted to lock in the Border City Stretch but Maclin was quick to roll to the outside.
Shelley followed up by attacking the left arm of Maclin, stomping on his elbow and locking in an armbar as well before Maclin was able to land a German suplex and take the match to the outside that included a dive through the ropes.
After both men were back in the ring, Shelley attempted to gain the advantage in the match but Maclin’s power game was way too strong and after landing a series of moves including a monstrous backbreaker, Maclin could only manage a two count on the challenger.
Shelley began to mount a comeback and after some near falls, Maclin soon found himself locked in an agonizing figure-four leglock before finally reaching the ropes, removing a turnbuckle pad in the process.
Maclin switched up momentum and after landing a psycho knee, he nailed a brainbuster. Maclin attempted to follow up with his Caught in the Crosshairs but failed. Shelley caught Maclin with a DDT to the apron followed by a Sliced Bread on the floor.
Back in the ring and Shelley went to deliver his Shell Shock but missed and Maclin nailed his KIA but only managed a two count. Both men went to the top rope and Shelley nailed Maclin with a Sliced Bread but again a two count.
Maclin rushed Shelley in the corner but missed and hit the exposed turnbuckle. Shelley looking to siege his moment, fought off Maclin’s attack and finally nailed the Shell Shock to capture his first Impact World title in a hell of a main event!
After the match, the new Impact X-Division champion Chris Sabin came down to the ring to celebrate with his Motor City Machine Guns partner.
Final Thoughts:
What a show!
My predictions on the event sucked but WOW the surprise results.
Sabin, Shelley and Aldis to name a few.
MCMG as individual champions in Impact Wrestling in 2023, forget about it! Impact pulling the trigger on Aldis this quickly, forget about it! Slamovich teasing a tag team with Kelly, forget about it!
I’ve loved Impact Wrestling since the mid-2000’s and 15+ years later and they keep solidifying my love as a fan. Do yourself a favour (that’s not a typo, I’m Canadian) and go out of your way to watch Against All Odds 2023 as the event was solid from start to finish.
With that being said, go out of your way to watch Frankie Kazarian, Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin matches back in the day and realize how good they truly are.
On a night where all the champions retained their titles, a new number one contender for the World title was made during Friday’s Impact Under Siege and thus, a main event was confirmed for next month’s Against All Odds.
In a six-way match, Alex Shelley picked up the win over Moose, Eddie Edwards, Jonathan Gresham, Yuya Uemura and Frankie Kazarian. The Motor City Machine Guns member got the pin after hitting Shellshock on Uemura.
It was announced shortly after Under Siege that Shelley will face reigning champion Steve Maclin at the Against All Odds streaming special on Friday, June 9th in Columbus, Ohio. Shelley has held the X-Division and Tag Team titles, but never the big prize. He unsuccessfully challenged then-champion Josh Alexander at last August’s Emergence.
Maclin successfully defended the World title against PCO in a no DQ match Friday — one of five champions that left London, Ontario, Canada, with their title reigns intact.
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Bully Ray has returned to Impact.
The former title challenger made a surprise return after Maclin’s victory, attacking Impact president Scott D’Amore. He and Maclin put D’Amore through a flaming table despite the best efforts of the Motor City Machine Guns, PCO and Matthew Rehwoldt. He told D’Amore he would take down the whole company around him.
Ray feuded with then-champion Josh Alexander earlier this year with Alexander successfully defending the title against Ray in a Full Metal Mayhem match. After losing in a Hardcore War match with Tommy Dreamer earlier this year, Ray disappeared for some time only to return tonight.
It was announced that Impact’s Victory Road event streaming special will take place on Friday, September 8th in White Plains, New York. The 1000th episode of Impact will taped the following night in the same venue. Tickets go on sale for both shows on June 2nd.
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Jake Crist made his return to Impact as the mystery man to team with Sami Callihan and Rich Swann in a win over The Design’s Deaner, Kon and Angels. Callihan’s oVe teammate was last seen in the promotion in August 2021 after spending the better part of five years there. He is a former X-Division and Tag Team Champion.
The Motor City Machine Guns are locked into new contracts with Impact Wrestling.
Sports Illustrated reported on Thursday that Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin have re-signed with Impact Wrestling. The terms of their new contracts were not revealed.
“We still love pro wrestling,” Shelley told SI. “We’re still excited about it, and we love wrestling for Impact — and that chance to work with the Impact locker room.”
“Impact is like family to us,” Sabin said. “[Impact president] Scott D’Amore was my trainer. It’s home.”
Shelley & Sabin have held the Impact Tag Team titles together three times. Their first reign began in 2010 and their most recent reign ended just last month.
Motor City Machine Guns will get another shot at the Impact Tag Team titles in a four-way match at Impact and NJPW’s Multiverse United event in Los Angeles on Thursday, March 30. Ace Austin & Chris Bey are defending their titles against Shelley & Sabin, Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis), and TMDK (Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito).
Shelley noted that this is the first full-time wrestling contract he’s signed in almost five years:
This is the first full-time pro wrestling contract I’ve signed in almost five years. I pursued physical medicine, and earning that degree was something I needed to prove to myself. Once I had that security and that confidence, I wanted to be back in Impact. It has the most familial bond. There are people here that have seen me grow up from a teenager to a grown-ass man. That’s special to me.
And some of the best in the world are right here. There aren’t better wrestlers on the planet than ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey, Jonathan Gresham, Kushida and Chris Sabin. I could go on and on –Frankie Kazarian, Trey Miguel, Black Taurus. These guys are phenomenal.
Shelley & Sabin are teaming with Kushida in a six-man tag match against Impact World Champion Josh Alexander, Rich Swann & Frankie Kazarian at Sacrifice this Friday night.
Outside of Impact, Shelley & Sabin are the current NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions and GCW Tag Team Champions.
