Impact Wrestling returned for week two of their Best of specials, showcasing the best matches of 2020 as well as their Year-End awards.
The show opened with a Brodie Lee memorial graphic.
Scott D’Amore and Josh Mathews hosted the show. Throughout the night, we had a series of showcase matches, award announcements, and backstage segments building towards Genesis and Hard to Kill.
The two big awards left for this show were Moment of the Year and Match of the Year.
Moment of the Year Award was given to the Slammiversary XVIII debuts and returns, where we saw the return of the Motor City Machine Guns, the return of ECIII, the debut of Heath, the debut of Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows, and the five-person main event with Ace Austin, Eddie Edwards, Trey Miguel, with the returning Eric Young and Rich Swann. Eddie Edwards would go on to win that match to become a two-time Impact World champion.
The Match of The Year was, in fact, the aforementioned Slammiversary XVIII Impact World championship Elimination five-way match between Eddie Edwards vs Ace Austin vs Eric Young vs Trey Miguel vs Rich Swann. That would also trigger the storyline feud between Eric Young and Rich Swann that would build all the way to the main event of Bound For Glory in October.
Matches that were shown throughout the night include:
Willie Mack defeating X-Division champion Ace Austin at Rebellion
Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) defeating Impact Tag Team champions The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) on the July 21st episode of Impact
Manik defeating X-Division Champion Rohit Raju at Final Resolution
They also aired Ken Shamrock’s Hall of Fame induction speech in full.
Other segments throughout the show saw Deonna Purrazzo cutting a promo accepting Taya Valkyrie’s challenge for a Knockouts Championship match at Hard To Kill. She said that Taya is the longest reigning champion of the division, and when she defeats her, she’ll be the greatest champion ever.
We had a couple of skits by some of the Impact roster telling us their 2021 resolutions and plans. Among them were Impact World Champion Rich Swann, Willie Mack, Kiera Hogan, Tasha Steelz, Jordynne Grace, Brian Myers, and Eddie Edwards.
Lastly, Mathews and D’Amore announced the card for next week, including Rhino & Cousin Jake vs. Eric Young & Joe Doering, Moose vs. Mathew Palmer, Eddie Edwards vs. Sami Callihan, and the return of Kenny Omega.
Impact Wrestling returned with a two-week holiday special, showcasing the best matches of 2020 as well as their Year-End Awards.
Scott D’Amore and Josh Matthews hosted the show tonight. Throughout the night, we had a series of showcase matches, award announcements, and backstage segments building towards Genesis and Hard to Kill.
The awards given on this episode were focused on the performers themselves, awarding the best of each division:
Deonna Purrazzo won the Wrestler of the Year 2020. She said that she just wasn’t the Knockout of the Year, the best technical wrestler of the year, but as voted by the fans, the Best Wrestler of the Year, all in less than 7 months since her debut. She invited us all to enter the era of Virtuosa.
Purrazzo also won the Knockout of the Year 2020. She brought up how she became a 2-time Knockouts champion this year, had the best matches of the year, and became the first-ever Ironwoman in Impact history.
Ace Austin won the 2020 X-Division Wrestler of the Year. He cut a promo accepting it, saying that he really just spent only about 4 months in the X-Division, but it was enough for him to win it. He said he’d like to revisit the X-Division soon.
The North won the 2020 Impact Tag Team of the Year. We saw Ethan Page call Alexander on the phone giving him the news, telling him that even if they are going through some hard times, they’re still the best, as voted by the fans. Alexander agreed that maybe this was how things would get better, but when he called back, Karate Man answered the phone and Alexander raged.
Matches shown throughout the night:
X-Division champion Ace Austin defeated Trey Miguel at Hard to Kill
The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) defeating Impact Tag Team champions The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) at Turning Point
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defeating Jordynne Grace in a 30 Minute Ironman Match at Emergence Night 2.
Moose defeating ECIII at Bound For Glory
In addition, we had segments announcing updates on the Genesis and Hard To Kill 2021 cards:
Chris Bey has been added to the Hard To Kill X-Division title match, making it X-Division Champion Manik vs. Rohit Raju vs. Chris Bey.
Taya Valkyrie cut a great promo and made a challenge to Deonna Purrazzo for Hard To Kill.
We got a promo by Matthew Palmer, one of the independent wrestlers that worked as security last week who unfortunately angered Moose in the Willie Mack pull apart. Moose had said that none of these ‘indie wrestlers’ couldn’t hang with him for more than 3 minutes. Palmer accepted the challenge.
The participants and first-round matches to the Super X Cup were announced. The tournament takes place at Genesis on January 9th. Matches are Ace Austin vs. Suicide, Daivari vs. Cousin Jake, Crazzy Steve vs. Tre Lamar, and KC Navarro vs. Blake Christian.
We got a new Christmas-themed commercial from AEW’s Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone. Khan said he could stop Omega from appearing at the Hard to Kill event, but if Impact wanted Omega wrestling their guys, then he’s fine with it. Khan also invited Impact wrestlers to make an appearance on Dynamite. After Schiavone ran down the card for tomorrow’s Dynamite, Khan said he has been looking at Impact’s Tag Team contracts and that Omega better win at Hard To Kill.
Finally, we got a promo by Kenny Omega and Don Callis. Callis brought up a story of how Omega told him as a kid that he wanted to run the wrestling business one day. Omega said he was always meant to be the AEW World Champion, the only championship “worth a damn”. Callis compared Omega’s Impact arrival as a Christmas gift and that he was seven stars right out of the womb. Omega said he was often imitated but never duplicated.
Two new champions were crowned tonight at Impact’s Turning Point event.
The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) won the Impact Tag Team titles, defeating the North following a Magic Killer on Ethan Page. The North only held the titles for 21 days, regaining the titles in a fatal four way match on Impact that also involved Ace Austin & Madman Fulton and The Good Brothers.
This marks the first time both Gallows and Anderson have won the Impact Tag Team titles.
Deonna Purrazzo regained the Knockouts title at Turning Point, defeating Su Yung to win the championship for the second time. In this no disqualification match, Purrazzo pinned Su Yung after catching her with a cradle piledriver. Yung held the championship for 21 days, winning the title at Bound for Glory.
Yung was a replacement at Bound for Glory for Kylie Rae, who did not appear at the event. Rae later announced on her Patreon page that she had retired from wrestling.
After a failed threat of legal action on Tuesday’s Impact Wrestling, Deonna Purrazzo will get her rematch against Knockouts Champion Su Yung on next week’s show.
Flanked by Kimber Lee, Purrazzo’s attorney stated his case to Impact general manager Scott D’Amore and threatened litigation due to Yung beating Purrazzo for the title in an open challenge at Saturday’s Bound For Glory. D’Amore said they could be in legal action for years or Purrazzo could exercise her rematch clause next week which she accepted.
Other action announced for next week:
In a match featuring current and former world champions, Impact World Champion Rich Swann will team with Eddie Edwards against Eric Young and Sami Callihan. Swann defeated Young in an impromptu rematch to open Tuesday’s show and had a backstage run-in with Callihan later on the show.
Ethan Page will face Doc Gallows, made after Impact Tag Team Champions The North and the Good Brothers had a backstage skirmish Tuesday.
The Impact Tag Team and Knockouts titles changed hands tonight at Bound for Glory.
Su Yung won the Knockouts championship for the second time from Deonna Purrazzo after hitting the panic switch in a back and forth match. The match was originally advertised as Kylie Rae vs. Purrazzo. Before the match, Purrazzo cut a promo saying that Rae had no showed and issued an open challenge, which Yung accepted. No one, including the announcers, discussed Rae’s status.
Purazzo held the title for 98 days, defeating Jordynne Grace at Slammiversary on July 18.
The North regained the Impact Tag Team titles, defeating the Motor City Machine Guns, Gallows & Anderson, and Ace Austin and Mad Man Fulton in a four way match.
As the Machine Guns made their entrance, The North jumped the team, with Josh Alexander laying out Alex Shelley with a piledriver on the entrance stage, taking him out of the match. Sabin opted to wrestle on his own.
The finish had Anderson rolling up Alexander, but Alexander kicked out, sending Anderson into the ropes. Page took one of the titles and smashed it into Anderson, allowing Alexander to cover for the win.
MCMG won the titles for the second time on the July 19, 2020 Impact tapings, defeating The North, who previously held them for 380 days.
Ahead of her title defense at this Saturday’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view, Impact Wrestling has revealed that Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo has signed a contract with them.
It was announced on today’s pre-Bound for Glory edition of Press Pass that Purrazzo has signed a long-term deal with Impact Wrestling. Josh Mathews said that Purrazzo will be with Impact for the long haul.
Purrazzo tweeted about signing with Impact: “I’ve been waiting to be able to talk about this publicly!!! I’m happy to confirm and so excited about what the future holds @IMPACTWRESTLING”
Purrazzo was released by WWE during their roster cuts this April. Purrazzo wrote at the time that she had been struggling with wanting to be released by WWE for the better part of the last year.
Impact Wrestling started hyping Purrazzo’s arrival in May. She debuted by confronting Jordynne Grace and putting her in a Fujiwara armbar. Purrazzo then defeated Grace at July’s Slammiversary PPV to win the Knockouts Championship.
Purrazzo is defending the Knockouts Championship against Kylie Rae at Bound for Glory this Saturday.
The card for this Saturday’s Victory Road event has been announced.
Eric Young will defend the Impact World championship against Eddie Edwards. It was Young that defeated Edwards to win the championship back on the September 1 edition of Impact.
Suzie, Su Yung’s alter ego, will challenge Deonna Purrazzo for the Impact Knockouts title. This is prior to Purrazzo’s match at Bound for Glory, when she will face Susie’s friend Kylie Rae.
Other matches that were set up on tonight’s Impact were Tommy Dreamer vs. Brian Myers, Heath Slater and Rhino vs. Reno Scum in an non-sanctioned tag team match, and Rohit Raju defending the X-Division championship against an opponent yet to be announced.
After The Good Brothers confronted The Motor City Machine Guns, a match was made for Bound For Glory pitting those two teams against The North and Ace Austin & Madman Fulton in a fatal four way for the Tag Team titles. Fulton & Ace will get the first shot against MCMG on Saturday.
Here is the card for Saturday’s show, which will stream live on Impact Plus this Saturday at 8 p.m. ET:
Eric Young vs. Eddie Edwards for the Impact World title
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Susie for the Impact Knockouts title
Motor City Machine Guns vs. Madman Fulton & Ace Austin for the Impact Tag Team titles
Heath and Rhino vs. Reno Scum in an non-sanctioned tag team match
To make sure she’s able to wrestle at Impact Wrestling’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view, Deonna Purrazzo will no longer be appearing at Game Changer Wrestling’s The Collective.
Purrazzo announced on Thursday night that she’s decided to cancel her The Collective bookings as a precaution. “Unfortunately, I’ve made the decision to cancel my shows for The Collective weekend,” Purrazzo wrote. “With BFG coming up, my highest priority needs to be staying healthy and leaving adaquant time self-isolate, if need be. This is just precautionary. I’ll see y’all soon, I promise. Stay safe!”
After originally being scheduled for WrestleMania week in Tampa, Florida this April, The Collective is taking place at the Marion County Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana from October 9-11. Purrazzo had been announced for Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport and Shimmer at The Collective.
Bound for Glory 2020 is taking place on Saturday, October 24. Purrazzo will defend her Knockouts Championship against Kylie Rae at the PPV. Purrazzo became the Knockouts Champion by defeating Jordynne Grace at Slammiversary this July. Rae was set up as Purrazzo’s challenger for Bound for Glory by winning a gauntlet match at Slammiversary.
A Knockouts title match has been added to Bound for Glory.
Deonna Purrazzo will defend the Knockouts title against Kylie Rae following events that took place on tonight’s Impact.
Rae’s friend Susie (Su Yung) faced Kimber Lee on tonight’s show. Purrazzo was in Lee’s corner and got involved in the finish. She tried to attack Susie, but accidentally struck Lee, allowing Susie to pick up the win with Su Yung’s panic switch.
After the match, Susie attempted to switch into the Su Yung persona. Rae calmed her down, but it gave Purrazzo the chance to jump Rae, with Susie going after Purrazzo for the save. Purrazzo attacked Susie with a fujiwara armbar, but Rae recovered and tossed her out of the ring.
Once everything settled, Rae told Purrazzo that if she likes to bully people, she’ll face her at Bound for Glory and will take the title from her.
The event, which takes place on October 24, will also have an Impact World title match between champion Eric Young and challenger Rich Swann.
After Josh Alexander and Homicide were announced for this October’s edition of Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport, the show got its first female competitor announced Saturday night as current Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo has been added to the show.
After being released from WWE during the April pandemic cuts, Purrazzo appeared on Impact a month later and won the Knockouts title by defeating Jordynne Grace at July’s Slammiversary. Her finisher is a Fujiwara armbar submission, making her ideal for a show where matches can only end in knockout or submission.
The event is scheduled for Sunday, October 11th as part of GCW’s The Collective weekend in Indianapolis, IN, originally slated for WrestleMania weekend in Tampa, Florida.
This will be the third Bloodsport show under the Barnett name after he took it over from Matt Riddle starting in 2019. The shows feature between 7-10 matches in a wrestling ring with no ropes or turnbuckles.
Impact Wrestling returns from Nashville, TN for the fallout of Emergence, where Deonna Purrazzo defeated Jordynne Grace in a 30 minute ironman match.
Opening video focused on the World title match between Eddie Edwards and Eric Young and RVD vs. Sami Callihan for tonight.
Sami Callihan defeated Rob Van Dam (with Katie Forbes)
Callihan attacked RVD during his entrance and thus started the match with a brawl outside the ring, tossing Rob to the ringpost and into the guardrails. Katie Forbes distracted Callihan allowing Rob to recover and take down Callihan before sending him into the ring.
Once in the ring, Rob distracted himself with Forbes again, giving Callihan the opening to hit a sole kick and regain control, yet there again was Forbes to trip Callihan, not once, but twice when he tried to hit a rolling senton from the apron. Despite all of this, the referee still won’t send her to the back.
RVD started working over Callihan outside the ring, against the ring post and laid out Callihan with the draping leg drop on the rail.
Back in the ring, Rob hit an atomic drop and a bad facebuster, followed by a rolling thunder, but Sami was ready to get the knees up. Callihan hit a toe kick and a low cutter, followed by a couple of clotheslines. Callihan went for the cactus special, but once again Forbes was there to distract which allowedRVD to kick him from behind, followed with the split-legged moonsault for a two count.
RVD went for the 5-star frog splash, but was cut off by Sami, who hit a hangman style neckbreaker for a two count. Callihan went for a piledriver, and yes, once again Forbes distracted Callihan. RVD rolled up Sami, but Sami reversed and took the win with a roll up himself.
After the match, Forbes provoked Sami, so he chased after her, but Rob jumped him and they both stomped him. Forbes hit a running hip attack onto a chair on Sami’s face, followed by the Van Daminator.
Throughout the match, commentary kept bringing up that it seems like age has finally catched up to Rob and that Forbes needs to be banned from ringside.
Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down tonight’s card.
Backstage, Hernandez defeated Bahh in an arm wrestling match. Reno Scum approached them and confirmed to Hernandez that Heath is nowhere to be seen and that they want more money to take out Rhino tonight. Hernandez accepts.
Over at Wrestle House, Rosemary and Taya cut promos about what had been happening to them. Taya came off as a total babyface because it was both Rosemary and Bravo that lied to her and Rosemary got caught keeping everyone locked because of her own personal agenda.
On the other side of the house, everyone is waiting for Swinger to come out dressed as Crazzy Steve, as per last week’s stipulation. Susie got him to finally come out and it wasn’t even that bad.
Dreamer separated Bravo to tell him that he’d be the referee for the Taya vs Rosemary match.
Rhino defeated Reno Scum (Luster The Legend & Adam Thornstowe)
Match started at the ramp where Reno Scum tried to attack Rhino, but Rhino was ready, took them down, and took them to the ring. Unfortunately, the numbers game was too much and Rhino got cut off quickly afterwards by Luster, setting him up for a footstomp by Thornstowe.
Back from commercial, Reno Scum had been working over Rhino with quick tags and their usual clubbing style. Thornstowe got a two count with a standing moonsault. Luster with a falling headbutt.
Rhino finally made a comeback, clotheslining Luster to the floor, but when he set up for the Gore, Luster pulled him out of the ring, only to get Gored instead. Back in the ring, Adam Thornstwe took his belt and was going to attack Rhino, but suddenly whoever was carrying the camera, put it down, got in the ring, and hit the wake up call on Thornstowe, allowing Rhino to pick up the win.
Afterwards, the cameraman unmasked and revealed himself to be Heath. At that point D’Amore came out with security to kick him out.
ECIII cut a promo on Moose, giving him an opportunity to claim the TNA Championship, and if he didn’t, ECIII would start sending pieces of the title until he would. Moose went out looking for him.
Backstage, The Good Brothers are telling stories to some of the crew. Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz walked up, but said they had a match with Ace and Fulton tonight and had to get ready. The Good Brothers said they had all the advice they needed since they had already kicked their butts. Rascalz left and GB continued their story.
Over at Wrestle House, everyone tried to give Bravo some advice. The Deaners confronted Larry D about their stolen beer.
Wrestle House: Susie defeated XXXL (Acey Romero & Larry D) & The Deaners (Cody Deaner & Cousin Jake)
Acey tried to bring up the truce, but Larry was done with the truce. Deaners and XXXL started brawling in the kitchen and onto the rest of the house. Acey and Cody Deaner decided to play ping pong to settle their differences. The brawl continued when Acey and Cody headed to the basement by elevator and stairs respectively. Cody tried to use a bicycle to attack Acey, but missed and crashed into a car.
In another area of the house, Cousin Jake went for the longest spear ever from one side of the house to the other, but Acey made it back in time to save Larry D.
The brawl continued into XXXL’s room, where Cody Deaner discovered their stolen beer. Cody powered up from the anger and hit the give’er to Larry D, but Acey was there to pounce Cody into the bed.
Acey helped Larry D up, but instead rose Lawrence D, the brainwashed version of Larry D, who knocked out Acey with some Ringrust perfume. Cousin Jake joined them and Fujied Lawrence, but right as he was going to follow up, he got interrupted by Susie, who was mad the truce was broken.
We then saw Susie leave the room and close the door behind her. When Dreamer looked into the room, he got scared and declared Susie the winner of the match, who now had all her hands covered in blood. This was all fun and funny, i’m perfectly ok with this.
Fulton and Xavier started the match with the latter using his speed to dodge Fulton’s charges, but soon enough Fulton cornered Xavier, who tried to strike back, but only got a full palm on the face and tossed into the other corner. Xavier managed to land on his feet and tried for a crucifix pin, but Fulton blocked and set up for a powerslam. Xavier escaped and tagged Wentz, and together brought down Fulton with a kick combo that ended with a footstomp by Wentz for a two count.
Wentz tried to continue the momentum by kicking Fulton, but was blocked instead. Fulton started tossing around Wentz before tagging in Ace for a springboard leg drop and a two count. Ace Austin did the paper cut trick on Wentz, set up Wentz for Fulton to hang on the corner and get a two count. Wentz tried to strike Fulton down, but it didn’t work, so instead he hit a jumping knee to get Fulton off him and jump to his corner for the tag.
Ace and Xavier tagged in, Dezmond kicked Ace to his corner, Fulton to the floor, striking combo and dropkick to the back of Ace’s head for a two count when Fulton broke it up. Wentz tricked Fulton to the floor, superkicked and hit a footstomp on Ace. Dezmond and Xavier hit dives on Fulton to get him off his feet, then followed with a splash from Xavier to Ace for the win.
After the match, the Motor City Machine Guns came out to offer them a rematch from their Slammiversary match since The Rascalz were surprised that day and still gave them a hell of a match. They now wanted a match when the Rascalz would be prepared. Ace Austin and Fulton attacked The Rascalz before they could answer, but MCMG made the save.
Motor City Machine Guns vs The Rascalz next week for the tag titles.
We saw Deonna Purrazzo arrive and berate some of the talent for their lack of fashion decency for her black tie celebration tonight. She asked Kimber Lee for support in case Jordynne Grace tried to crash the party.
TJP approached Rohit Raju. TJP said he wanted a shot at the X-Division title, but Rohit told him that he had to wait since Bey was first in line, being the former champion. Rohit told him that if he can beat Chris Bey, then TJP can skip to the front of the line.
Wrestle House: Taya Valkyrie defeated Rosemary
Taya talked trash to Rosemary, telling her that she wasn’t scared of her and her Hot Topic attire. Rosemary talked trash about Slamtown, and so they started trading slaps that turned into punches soon after.
Rosemary went for the upside down, but Taya broke off and kicked Rosemary, followed with a running hip attack and double knees for a two count.
Rosemary tackled Taya to the corner then hit a northern lights suplex for a two count. Rosemary speared Taya, but Taya was able to return with one of her own before they both kicked each other simultaneously.
Rosemary accidentally speared the ringpost, leading Taya to hit the road to Valhalla for the win.
After the match, Rosemary accepted her defeat and said that everyone could leave, but before that, Bravo proposed to Rosemary. Bravo said that she lost her match and that he’ll be Taya’s errand boy, but he still wanted to get married to Rosemary. Taya gave them her blessing. Susie and Kylie were really excited about this. Rosemary said yes. Johnny Swinger was proud because Bravo kept both women in his life.
They’re all finally going back to the Impact Zone. This was all a storyline to build to a Taya vs Rosemary match at the end. Wow.
Back at Impact, the roster is out for the black tie affair. Kimber Lee is the host and introduces the guest of honor — “The Virtuosa” Deonna Purrazzo.
Deonna thanked them all to commemorate becoming the first ever ironwoman in Impact history. She had some backhanded comments for the attendees, but they all toasted for her nonetheless. She said that she was the greatest technical women wrestler in the world and no one would ruin her night. Almost by prompt, Jordynne Grace came out.
Grace said she wasn’t here to ruin the party, she was here to congratulate her. Deonna took her to the limit, but she wasn’t backing down now. Suddenly, Tenille Dashwood made her anticipated return.
She said was taken aback that they had organized a black tie affair for her return. She said that she was back and going after Purrazzo’s title. Tenille said that she is not Jordynne Grace and Purrazzo has never beaten her. Jordynne came back telling Dashwood that no one had beaten her because she’s never there, and before things could be chaotic between the three, out of nowhere, Rosemary teleported everyone from Wrestle House into the ring. Yes, you read that right.
Deonna tried to attack Kylie Rae, but was tossed out of the ring instead. Kimber Lee tried to attack them, but Rae hit her with a superkick. Kylie Rae took the Knockout’s title and posed with it before giving it back respectfully. This was all good up until the return of Wrestle House, Purrazzo, Lee, and Jordynne were all great, Dashwood I never really know if she’s acting, or if that is her real promo skill level.
Gia Miller interviewed Brian Myers about defeating Willie Mack. Myers said that it wasn’t that hard, but next week, he was going to offer him to accept the defeat like a man. Moose interrupted him asking for ECIII and Myers got annoyed he was interrupted.
Matthews and Rayne ran down the matches for next week. We have Locker Room Talk with Kylie Rae and Susie, Chris Bey vs TJP for an X-Division title shot, and Motor City Machine Guns defend the titles against The Rascalz.
Eric Young defeated Impact World Champion Eddie Edwards to become the NEW World Champion
Eddie rushed at EY to start the match, hit an inverted atomic drop and a belly-to-belly, but followed with punches instead of a pin attempt. Eddie started chopping EY down, hitting headbutts. EY caught him with a low kick and got some strikes in himself, but it wasn’t long before Eddie got him with a chop again. EY had to rely on jumping to the apron and snapping Eddie’s neck on the ropes to get himself a breather.
They exchanged punches and clotheslines before the match spilled to the floor, where Eddie dropped EY with a clothesline. They fought on the apron where Eddie tried to suplex EY, but was countered and instead EY hit a neckbreaker on the apron followed by a dropping knee to the neck for a two count.
Eddie tried to chop away, but EY was now in control and took him down with another neckbreaker. He stomped on Eddie’s neck, stood on it against the ropes, then hit another neckbreaker for a pin attempt. Eddie managed to hit a desperation blue thunder bomb to finally stop EY’s momentum.
Eddie started making a comeback with punches and chops. EY hung Eddie from the top rope, but Eddie came back with a step-up kick and a backpack stunner for a two count.
Eddie set up a superplex, but EY blocked it off and punched Eddie off, followed by a diving elbow for a two count. They traded more punches and chops ‘in the middle of the ring until Eddie backed him off to the corner. EY tried to snap Eddie’s neck on the ropes again but Eddie was ready and caught him with a high kick and a plancha to the floor, but it seemed that Eddie’s knee buckled when he landed.
Back in the ring, EY chased the piledriver, but Eddie blocked and hit the tiger driver for a two count because Eddie’s knee hurt and he couldn’t properly pin EY.
EY rolled out of the ring, but Eddie got him with a second tope suicida, once again putting pressure on his knee.
EY went for the title belt, but the referee was there to take it away, yet the distraction was enough for EY to grab his hockey mask and smack Eddie right on the head behind the referee’s eyes. EY hit a piledriver and picked up the win and won the World title. Good match, but an underwhelming title change.
After the match, EY went after Eddie’s leg with a kneebar until security pulled him off.
The end of the show saw Moose enter ECIII’s locker room, where he discovered that ECIII had been stalking him. Moose followed a map and knew where he would find ECIII. This is getting kinda wacky.
Final Thoughts —
Good show, we had some big developments going on tonight, even if there was also a lot of wackiness going on.
Impact Wrestling returns from Nashville, TN for chapter two of Emergence, main evented by the first ever 30 minute Knockout ironman match between the Knockout’s champion Deonna Purrazzo and her challenger, Jordynne Grace. Also tonight, Eddie Edwards defends the Impact World Championship in an open challenge.
The opening video was a rundown of tonight’s two big title defenses.
Impact World Champion Eddie Edwards defeated Rob Van Dam (with Katie Forbes) to retain the title
They started up with a lock up and some quick wrestling for wrist control but Eddie hit an atomic drop and belly-to-belly to send RVD to the floor to recover. Eddie tried to follow with a baseball slide, but Rob was ready for him, slammed him around a bit before sending him back to the ring. Rob instead of following up, was distracted by Forbes that wanted some kissing, allowing Eddie to once again try for the dive and succeed.
Eddie was starting to get the better of Rob, but Katie distracted him and allowed Rob to ram Eddie face-first into the ring post, to drop him on the guardrail for the leg drop from the apron.
Finally, back at the ring, Eddie and Rob traded strikes, but once again Katie interfered while Rob distracted the referee, setting up Eddie for the split-legged moonsault for the two count.
Eddie hit a blue thunder bomb but wasn’t able to follow up with a pin. Rob rolled up Eddie with some body-scissors for a two count. Eddie hit the tiger driver, but RVD kicked out at two.
Eddie went for a top rope frankensteiner, but Rob blocked twice, dropping Eddie on the ropes for a big jumping kick and rolling thunder. RVD went for the 5-star, but Eddie moved away, hit the BKP and picked up the win to retain the title. Ok match, one of Rob’s better as of late.
After the match, Eric Young rushed the ring and attacked Eddie Edwards from behind. He told Eddie that he was taking next week’s title shot.
Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down tonight’s card.
Over at Wrestle House, Taya organized a team-building exercise, a toga party. Johnny Swinger is wearing a fantastic leopard print toga. Also, Swinger has started ‘Fuji-ing’ people, meaning that he throws powder in people’s eyes and he plans to take out all the men in the house to have all the ladies for himself.
Taya was somewhat inebriated in the party and bullied Kylie Rae. Bravo was apparently sad in his room because Larry D and Rosemary are out on their own. The Deaners and Acey Romero are still having problems over stolen beer, and finally Swinger accidentally Fuji’d Crazzy Steve. Tommy Dreamer declared a blindfold match, with the loser having to dress as the winner next week.
Wrestle House: Crazzy Steve defeated Johnny Swinger in a blindfold match
They did a bad joke with a horn that Steve had. Swinger asked for help from the roomies, but they weren’t much help and only led him to a roll-up from Steve. Bad, but at least it was short.
Backstage, Eddie Edwards was out looking for EY, but he’s nowhere to be seen.
We got a great commercial for Bound For Glory featuring EY.
Rhino cut a promo on Reno Scum, challenging them to a tag team match and he wanted Heath as his tag team partner. Rhino is still great.
Eddie headed to the ring and called out Eric Young to have their title match right there and then. EY came out and called Eddie pathetic. He told Eddie that he was five steps ahead of Eddie and that things were gonna go down by his design. He said his attacks on Swann were orchestrated. Eddie told EY that their title match would be next week, but the ass-whooping would start tonight, and thus they brawled and got into a pull-apart in which Eddie accidentally knocked down Scott D’Amore. Good little angle to add some heat to this match.
Gia Miller interviewed Rohit Raju about his title win. Rohit said that he manipulated Chris Bey and now he’s the X-Division champion. He said that he had been a victim of the political games, and so he got himself in a match. He said he’d give opportunities to everyone who never gets them.
We got a new episode of Locker Room Talk with Madison Rayne and The Rascalz as the special guest hosts. They’re having a miscommunication between pot and decoration, but Rayne didn’t let them smoke.
The special guests were Madman Fulton and Ace Austin. Madison brings up the Good Brothers defeating them, causing The Rascalz to laugh at Fulton and Austin. Fulton got hot and wanted to come to blows, but he was calmed down by Ace. It’s nice to see two teams antagonize each other without doing the usual wrestling shtick that leads to fights.
The Rascalz invited Madison Rayne to the treehouse, but she refused. This was all good.
We got a promo by Sami Callihan in his computer room. He blamed RVD over his loss against Eddie Edwards and thus not being world champion. He said that tonight, RVD lost because he is the one now hunting RVD’s head. He said that next week, he’ll be waiting for RVD in the ring.
We got a promo by ECIII, recapping his first world title win over Kurt Angle, saying that being champion was the happiest moment in his life, his greatest achievement, and he couldn’t let it go. He said that everything after that was downhill and that as long as this championship existed, he wouldn’t be able to move on, but he didn’t know how. He invited Moose to join him in destroying the title. This was kinda confusing.
Brian Myers defeated Willie Mack
They started with some counters and reversals on wrist control until Mack caught Myers with a shoulder tackle and an armdrag to send Myers to the corner to recoup.
Myers caught Mack with a surprise knee to the gut, cutting off Mack with some strikes and choked him against the ropes, but Mack came back with a rana and dropkick combo. Myers started to big time Mack, which ended with them trading strikes and going into the ropes where Myers snapped Mack’s throat against the ropes for a two count.
Now in control, Myers worked over Mack’s throat with a sleeper. He swept Mack’s leg for a two count, and went back to a knee to the back and crossface combo.
Mack surprised Myers with a sunset flip pin, but Myers kicked out and once again brought Mack down with a big elbow and went back to the crossface. Myers decided to go for a running attack, only to get surprised by a desperation sky high from Mack.
Mack hit a clothesline, spinning back elbow, scoop slam, and leg drop for a two count. Mack hit the Samoan drop and moonsault combo for another two count. Myers went for the top rope, but Mack stopped him. They traded some strikes, but it was Myers that dropped Mack and followed with a diving elbow for a two count.
Myers went for a DDT, but Mack dodged, only to take a spinning kick for a two count. Myers started talking trash to Mack, who responded with a strike and a book end, but Myers reversed, rolled over Mack, took the pulled the tights and stole the win. Ok match.
We got a promo by Heath calling for the fans to make #Heath4Impact to trend so he’d get the chance to back up Rhino next week.
Back at Wrestle House, The Deaners are talking about Larry D’s recent changes. Rosemary joined the party and was heading out with Larry D, who was now calling himself Lawrence D, before Alisha Edwards stopped her. She called out Rosemary for trying to make Bravo jealous and she was breaking his heart. Taya got drunk and passed out, giving Bravo some free time to go and take Rosemary back. Rosemary was about to break up with Lawrence D anyway, but Bravo jumped in, slapped Larry D out of the hex, and thus, Dreamer called for match time.
Wrestle House: Larry D defeated John E. Bravo
Bravo tried to elbow Larry D early, but didn’t do much damage and instead got taken down with one headbutt. Larry punched Bravo and knocked him out with one strike for the win.
After the match, Bravo came clean and told Rosemary that he had feelings for her. He told Taya the truth about him and Rosemary. Taya blamed Rosemary that they were all trapped in Wrestle House. She challenged her to a winner takes all match next week. Rosemary didn’t understand what ‘all’ meant, but Valkyrie mentioned that it included Bravo.
Next week we have Sami Callihan vs Rob Van Dam, Ace Austin & Madman Fulton vs The Rascalz, and Eddie Edwards vs Eric Young for the Impact World title.
Knockout’s Champion Deonna Purrazzo defeated Jordynne Grace (2-1) in a 30 minute ironman match to retain the title
Lock up to start the match. They remained in a stand still for some time, even after Grace went for a roll up, they still maintained and got up while locked up. Jordynne broke it up and took control of the wrist. Purrazzo reversed, but Grace quickly broke out with an armdrag. Purrazzo started selling her arm.
Purrazzo took down Grace with a headlock, but Grace reversed it to leg-scissors over the neck. Tight control, but Purrazzo escaped with a headstand. Grace went for the headlock but Purrazzo escaped, only for Grace to connect with a shoulder tackle and a couple of arm drags. Grace blocked a kick by Purrazzo, dropped her, and locked in a single leg Boston crab. Purrazzo made the ropes.
Back from commercial, Jordynne was in control, whipping Purrazzo from corner to corner. Purrazzo escaped and played a bit of cat and mouse, tricking Jordynne into a big boot to the face to finally cut her off. Purrazzo slammed Jordynne’s head on the apron before tossing her back in the ring and started to work over Grace’s arm.
Purrazzo snapped the arm over and over. Stomped on the elbow, snapped it over the ropes, dropped her on the shoulder, and sneaked pin attempts in between. Jordynne would try to strike herself to safety, but Deonna wouldn’t break the armbar until Grace made the ropes.
Deonna hit a couple of short-hand clotheslines for a two count.
At this point, there was 10 minutes to go and they were still 0-0, Purrazzo stomped on Grace’s fingers. Purrazzo kept finding ways to snap every joint in Grace’s arm and back into the armbar or kimura position.
Jordynne finally punched Deonna off of her and started using her good arm to attack with elbows and clotheslines. She went for a superplex, but Deonna pushed her down, only to take a big palm strike from Jordynne and a second rope suplex, but Grace couldn’t follow up with a pin.
Both women started trading strikes in the middle of the ring with Grace getting the upper hand and dropping Deonna with a couple of shoulder tackles, followed by two sentons for a two count. Jordynne got Deonna’s back and locked up a sleeper with leg scissors for a submission fall. Jordynne Grace is 1-0 with 5 minutes left.
Grace followed up with a body attack, but Purrazo countered with a running knee and a reverse STO and into the Koji clutch, but Grace made the ropes. Deonna stomped on Grace in desperation, chopped her, but Grace made a comeback with chops and went for the Grace driver, which Deonna fought free from. Jordynne rushed Deonna on the corner but accidentally took out the referee when Purrazzo pulled him in between them. Jordynne Grace hit the Grace driver, but the referee was down and didn’t count the pin.
Purrazzo, using the distraction, hit Grace with the championship belt and stole her first pin to tie the match 1-1 with only a minute to go.
Purrazzo went for a second pin for a two count, transitioned to the armbar, but Grace broke it off. Purrazzo kicked Grace’s arm off then followed with a big punt kick and a German suplex bridge, but Jordynne kicked out. Purrazzo locked in the Fujiwara armbar and transitioned to the Venus de Milo for a submission win with only 5 seconds left, retaining her championship. Great match, Purrazzo and Grace are fantastic!
Final Thoughts —
Great show, the main event is a must watch. The rest of the show was a lot of build up towards next week’s show, which also seems to have promise.
Opening video recapped Jordynne Grace’s win over Kimber Lee, as well as Purrazzo’s promo. It also showed Callihan vs Josh Alexander, which showcased the new union between Callihan and Shamrock.
Nevaeh started the match by spearing Tasha, cutting her away from her corner and hitting a double team with Havok. Havok tossed Tashar to Kiera Hogan to tag in. Hogan, Taya, and Lee all came in and were taken out by Havok with a single strike.
Outside the ring, all the heels ganged up on Nevaeh until Susie hit a senton on them, followed by Havok tossing Alisha military style on them. Havok followed with a dive, and just as Rae was going for her dive, Taya returned to the ring and cut Rae off.
Rosemary and Taya worked over Kylie Rae for a bit, mostly strikes and Rosemary locking in the upside-down. Taya hit an assisted german on Rae for a two count. She followed up with the running hip and knee attacks for another two count.
Tasha tagged in and choked Rae, Hogan then tagged in next and cut off Kylie Rae from making a comeback. Kimber Lee tagged in and went straight for kicking Rae in the back, getting a two count from it. Kylie finally managed to dodge one of Lee’s attacks and got to her corner.
Susie tagged in and ran wild on Kimber Lee, hitting the arach-rana for a two count. Everyone came in to take out each other with their finishers until the last two were Rae and Lee. Rae superkicked Lee, allowing Susie to hit the panic switch for the win.
After the match, Susie was having a small breakdown, hinting that a little bit of Su Yung was coming out. Taya and Rosemary attacked Susie and Rae, while the rest of the women started to brawl with each other. At the end, Kylie Rae superkicked Rosemary and Taya to send them out of the ring.
Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down the card for Slammiversary XVIII and some of tonight’s bouts.
We got a video from Dayton, OH with Ace Austin and Fulton heading to Fulton’s old gym to train, with Fulton being quite reluctant to come back to Ohio after leaving oVe.
We were told that Rhino and Hernandez have been in an arm-wrestling match since last week, with neither giving up.
Backstage, Moose asked Hernandez and Rhino to tag with him tonight. They both rejected him. Before Moose left, he slapped Hernandez, causing him to lose his grip and lose the arm-wrestling match. Rhino wanted his money, but Hernandez wouldn’t have it and told Rhino he’d be in the parking lot.
Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was Suicide vs Kenny King vs Chris Sabin from Slammiversary 2013.
The Deaners (Cody Deaner & Cousin Jake) defeated XXXL (Acey Romero & Larry D)
Jake and Larry D started the match with a collar and elbow lock-up, but neither man had the advantage. They traded a couple of shoulder blocks until D managed to drop Jake, only for him to recover and hit a scoop slam on D. He then tagged Cody for the assisted senton for a two count.
Cody was easily overpowered by Larry D, sending him to the corner to tag in Acey. He came in and dropped Cody several times before hitting a crossbody for a two count when Jake broke it up.
Acey pounced Cousin Jake out of the ring and tagged Larry D for the tandem shoulder block. Cody, however, escaped and faked Acey on to the floor outside the ring. Cody hiit a big boot on Larry, but wasn’t able to follow when D swept him, hit a curb stomp, and powerbombed him. But when Cody was up for the powerbomb, he blind tagged Cousin Jake who rolled up D for the win. The Deaners push is continuing. Good match, but somewhat short.
After the match, XXXL attacked The Deaners. They hit a second rope Romero elbow on Cousin Jake to leave him laying.
Rohit Raju was training in the back when Moose approached him, asking to be his tag team partner tonight. Raju complained that he is always everyone’s last choice, but he still said yes.
Johnny Swinger hyped up Chris Bey in the back. Swinger went to the referee that banned him from ringside to complain. The referee, trying to avoid lawsuits, accepted Swinger as Bey’s second for Slammiversary.
We got a video package recapping the story between Chris Bey and Willie Mack.
After the video, Swinger overheard Chris Bey talking trash about him to Gia Miller. Swinger told Bey that he was on his own on Saturday. Interesting that the turn would come before the match.
We got a recap of Deonna Purrazzo’s debut and feud with Jordynne Grace.
Jimmy Jacobs moderated the contract signing between Purrazzo and Grace. Purrazzo told Jordynne that she wanted her to understand that she was stepping in the ring against The Virtuosa, with greatness and sophistication. Jordynne responded by telling Purrazzo that she needed to understand what she had gotten herself into right now and slammed Purrazzo’s face to the table. Jacobs stopped Jordynne from following Purrazzo after she ran off.
We got a recap of The North’s feud with Ken Shamrock that led to them having to defend their tag titles against Shamrock and Callihan.
Sami Callihan and Ken Shamrock cut promos about what they think about each other, putting each other over as tough dudes. Callihan told the story of the scorpion and the frog, which kinda hints that he is going to turn on Shamrock during the match instead of winning.
Tommy Dreamer & Crazzy Steve defeated Moose & Rohit Raju
Dreamer and Rohit started the match with some wrist control wrestling until Dreamer hit a suplex to take down Rohit and tag in Steve.
Rohit cut off Steve with a kick and tagged in Moose, who came in and tossed around Steve with a fallaway slam. Moose went for the corner tackle, but Steve dodged and tagged in Dreamer for a quick team move. Moose and Dreamer gave us a preview of their upcoming match, mostly striking each other and Moose being cocky.
Dreamer sent Moose and Rohit to the floor. Steve went for a dive, but Moose was able to catch him in midair. Dreamer hit a baseball slide into Steve, taking out Moose in the process. Dreamer went for his own dive, but Rohit returned and took him out with a clothesline. Rohit kept Dreamer down until Moose returned to work on Dreamer with more stomps and strikes.
Moose went for a second rope axe handle chop, but Dreamer caught him with a punch and a DDT. Rohit and Steve tagged in. Steve ran circles around Rohit, snapped his neck, hit a side leg sweep and locked in a submission, but Moose broke it off.
Dreamer and Moose brawled to the floor while Rohit went after Steve, but Steve recovered and hit a second rope DDT for the win.
We saw Ace Austin and Madman Fulton arrive at their old gym.
Out in the parking lot, Hernandez and Rhino started brawling for the roll of money that was up for the arm-wrestling match. Rhino quickly hit a low blow on Hernandez and took the money. Hernandez recovered and tried to choke out Rhino with his bandana. Rhino recovered and tried to choke out Hernandez.
They kept brawling with garbage cans and traffic cones. Eventually, Rhino gored Hernandez into a fence. They eventually decided to split it instead. This was a good brawl, but too long for a story that was built with one minute of arm-wrestling.
We got the video package about the Impact World title being vacated and the separate packages on Ace, Eddie, and Trey Miguel.
We got a further look into Eddie Edwards career, with him talking about the ups and downs of his career and life and how everything has led him to the Impact championship. This was great.
Matthews and Rayne made the final rundown of the Slammiversary XVIII card. Don Callis is returning to the announcing booth on Saturday.
Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz were seen walking down the streets of Dayton, realizing that Ace Austin was around their old gym. They arrived while Ace was berating the gym’s staff/ Wentz attacked Fulton and provoked him, so Fulton chased down Wentz, leaving Ace Austin alone for Trey to confront.
Trey and Ace started brawling around the gym. At one point Ace tossed a chair at Trey, getting some time to dominate him and trash talked, but Trey recovered and continued to brawl. Ace used a broom to attack Trey, once again gaining the upper hand.
Ace used the chair again and choked out Trey. Ace went after the ribs, then chopped him around. It was all Ace Austin until Trey managed to dodge a chop, sending Ace into the cement pillar. They brawled some more around chairs and into a small stage where Trey was to finish off Ace.
However, Fulton re-emerged. Fulton and Trey had a short staredown, but Wentz came back just in time to back up Trey, sending Ace and Fulton packing to close out the show.
After the show, we saw the Slammiversary XVIII teaser commercial, with someone sending in a signed contract to Scott D’Amore. D’Amore was happy with the contract, saying that Slammiversary had just gotten more exciting.
Final Thoughts —
Good go-home show, it made small touches on all the announced Slammiversary matches, either by segments or video packages. The show took a break from delivering hints on debuts and returns, but it allowed the current participants to get their final words in. Nothing outstanding wrestling wise.
New Impact Wrestling arrival Deonna Purrazzo is officially getting a shot at the Knockouts Championship at Slammiversary.
It was confirmed on tonight’s episode of Impact that Purrazzo will challenge Jordynne Grace for the Knockouts Championship at Slammiversary on Saturday, July 18. When she arrived in Impact two weeks ago, Purrazzo confronted Grace and put her in a Fujiwara armbar. Purrazzo also attacked Grace on last week’s Impact and put her in the armbar again.
Purrazzo made her Impact in-ring debut on the episode that aired tonight. She tapped out Alisha Edwards with the Fujiwara armbar. After the match, Grace ran out to the ring but Purrazzo bailed.
A segment where Grace confronted Purrazzo on SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio aired earlier on Impact tonight. In another interview after that, Purrazzo said she came to Impact to become a champion and will only face Grace with the Knockouts title on the line.
Tessa Blanchard defending her Impact World Championship against Michael Elgin, Eddie Edwards, Ace Austin, and Trey Miguel in a fatal five-way match has also been announced for Slammiversary, though Elgin has been suspended by Impact Wrestling “pending further review of allegations of misconduct.”
Impact Wrestling continued their build toward July’s Slammiversary pay-per-view with another show from Nashville, TN.
The opening video focused on Trey Miguel being taken out once again and the investigation that led to a street fight between Eddie Edwards and Ace Austin where Madman Fulton and Austin’s teamup was revealed. We also saw Deonna Purrazzo’s attack on Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace.
Steelz, as usual, started her match with some trash talk until Nevaeh had enough and started throwing chops and sliding lariats, forcing Steelz to leave the ring.
Once back in the ring, Steelz caught Nevaeh with a jumping knee followed by more trash talk, but fully in control, Steelz made sure to not let Nevaeh up, keeping her down with kicks and strikes, and the occasional snapmare when she did get up. Steelz got a couple of near falls with headbutts or straight punches, but it wasn’t enough.
Steelz hit a couple of running attacks and a neckbreaker for yet another two count, but when she went to follow up with a third running attack, Nevaeh dodged and hit a knee strike, clothesline, low dropkick, and a German for a two count. Nevaeh went for her finisher, but Hogan distracted Nevaeh and Havok, allowing Steelz to sneak up behind Nevaeh and roll her up for the win.
**********
– We got footage of Deonna Purrazzo’s interview on Busted Open Radio where she got interrupted by Jordynne Grace. The champion confronted her over her sneak attacks in the last two weeks. This was pretty good.
– Gia Miller interviewed Purrazzo about Grace in which Purrazzo said that she wasn’t interested in brawling with Grace until the title was on the line. Alisha Edwards, not a great actor, interrupted her and challenged her to fight.
– We got the same promo for Slammiversary with the key words “at least one former World Champion”.
– Backstage, Johnny Swinger welcomed Rich Swann and invited him to be the third person in the Swinger and Chris Bey pairing set to take on The Deaners and Willie Mack tonight. Swann said he was still injured and that Mack was his homie.
– The Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was the November 1, 2012, Bully Ray vs. Devon match where Doc Gallows unmasked in yet another Slammiversary tease.
– Ethan Page complained to The North teammate Josh Alexander about Ken Shamrock getting so much praise and respect instead of them, the longest reigning tag team champions. Eventually, Shamrock walked up and heard Page complaining. Shamrock berated him, but then Alexander challenged Shamrock to a match instead.
– Moose forced some referees and people to listen to him about being the World Champion. Crazzy Steve interrupted, calling him a fake World Champion. Moose then gave him a title shot next week as an excuse to beat him up.
**********
Deonna Purrazzo defeated Alisha Edwards
This was a successful in-ring debut for “The Virtuosa” and a complete squash. Purrazzo started the match showing off her technical prowess, quickly escaping a wristlock and locking in a koji clutch before Alisha made the ropes. She kept working on her left arm and kept her down with a short arm clothesline. Alisha had a short hope spot, but Purrazzo came back with a running kneelift and the armbar for the submission win.
After the match, Grace rushed the ring and wanted to fight, but Purrazzo left, saying that it would be when she decided.
**********
– Again, Swinger tried to find a partner, asking Suicide to unmask and join them. Suicide ghosted him and disappeared. Swinger’s next option was offering a lot of money to Hernandez, but Swinger had to beat him in an arm wrestling match first. Swinger lost, so Hernandez passed. Swinger is really fantastic.
– Walking to the back, Swinger tried to get Taya Valkyrie to join them, but she told him off and berated his attire. She was looking for John E. Bravo to which Swinger said, “Say hi to Dino for me.”
Ken Shamrock vs. Josh Alexander
Shamrock came down for his match when The North jumped him during his entrance. Even with Shamrock trying to make a stand, the numbers game was too much as Alexander locked in the ankle lock as Page stomped him. I really wanted to see that match, too.
Taya Valkyrie (with John E. Bravo) defeated Susie
Susie tried introducing herself to Valkyrie, but was met a shove and trash talk. Valkyrie dropped Susie with a takedown, but was suddenly surprised with an armdrag and a schoolgirl for an early pin attempt.
Susie hit Valkyrie with a headlock takedown and a bulldog for another two count. Taya recovered, sidestepped Susie, and hit a german for a two count. Valkyrie and Bravo took turns choking Susie and distracting the referee. She continued with stomps and kicks to the back, trash talking the entire time. She locked in an STF, but Susie made the ropes.
Valkyrie went for the running elbow, but Susie blocked with kicks on all three attempts and hit Su Yung’s arachnarana for a two count.
Susie tried to strike down Valkyrie, but was brought down with a clothesline that got two. Valkyrie kicked around Susie some more, but once again, she failed to land the running knee attack. Susie hit the Thesz Press and a roll up for two. Valkyrie hit a Super Dragon-style curb stomp, but Susie kicked out at two. Valkyrie started blaming the referee and Bravo for not getting the pin.
Valkyrie went for Road to Valhalla, but Susie rolled over for the pin attempt. Valkyrie kicked out, hit a knee, and then successfully hit Road to Valhalla for the win. After the match, she bullied Susie more until Kylie Rae came down for the save. Rae superkicked Taya, but Bravo pulled her to safety.
**********
– Jimmy Jacobs tried to interview Madman Fulton about his alliance with Ace Austin, but Austin was there and said that he did the talking in the team. He said Fulton has almost the most potential in the roster and he will bring it out as Fulton helps him become the youngest Impact World Champion.
– Swinger and Bey met backstage. Swinger introduced Rohit Raju as his partner, but Bey wasn’t having it. Raju said that he didn’t want to be there either, but he bought a used car from Swinger and this was part of the deal.
Chris Bey, Rohit Raju & Johnny Swinger def. Willie Mack & The Deaners (Cody Deaner & Cousin Jake)
Rohit and Cody started with a lock-up and some comedy with Raju pulling on Cody’s beard. Jake and Mack came in and all three hit moves on Raju, ending with Mack’s moonsault for an early pin attempt.
Mack tagged in and Bey tagged in Swinger who took punches and dropkicks by everyone on the babyface team. All six men came in, but it was the Deaners and Mack who cleared the ring.
Back from commercial, Cody Deaner was cut off from his team as Raju was working on him in his corner. Bey sat Deaner on the ropes, hit a step-up enzuigiri, and then a spinning kick for another two count. Swinger came in and mostly did old school dirty tricks. Later, Bey locked in an abdominal stretch, but Cody finally managed to escape and tag out.
Cousin Jake came in and ran wild with lariats and corner spears on everyone until he had Bey down, tagging in Mack, but Mack was taken out by Raju. Jake instead took out Bey with a huge powerbomb, Swinger took out Jake with a swinging neckbreaker, Deaner hit the Give’er on Swinger, Raju hit a jumping knee on Deaner, Mack hit a pop-up forearm on Raju and finally, Bey ensnared Mack with a roll up, but Mack kicked out.
Mack went to hit the stunner on Bey, but Raju saved him. Bey’s reaction was to toss Raju into Mack to get stunned and then use the distraction to hit the Fame-asser on Mack to pick up the win for his team.
**********
– Backstage, Reno Scum bullied D’Lo Brown who was working on some marketing. Fallah Bahh and TJP then confronted them about being accused of attacking Trey Miguel. Bahh and TJP challenged them to a match which Reno Scum accepted.
– Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne announced that Jordynne Grace vs. Deonna Purrazzo is official for Slammiversary XVIII.
Madman Fulton (w/Ace Austin) defeated Eddie Edwards
Fulton has a new theme song and it is pretty good. He has also slimmed down a lot since the last set of tapings.
The match started with Fulton throwing around Edwards until he got a hold of Fulton’s hair. Yet, it wasn’t enough to stop Fulton who kept ramming Edwards into each of the turnbuckles. Edwards eventually landed an atomic drop and hoped to follow with a suplex, but Fulton blocked and hit one of his own.
Edwards managed to catch Fulton with a kick and send him outside, but when he tried to go for the dive, Fulton was standing there ready for him so Edwards decided not to.
Back in the ring, Fulton regained control, continuing to toss him around, even tossing him outside the ring with one hand. Fulton followed and threw him into the apron and a slingshot into the ropes.
Fulton smashed Edwards’ head into the turnbuckle over and over again until Edwards couldn’t stand on his own strength. Fulton went for a suplex, but Edwards blocked mid-air and used the momentum to hit one of his own. However, Fulton was back at his feet immediately.
Edwards tried to chop down Fulton and send him to the floor, this time managing to land a suicide dive on Fulton to bring him down. Still, Fulton got right up. Edwards went back to chops, but Fulton took him by the neck and started choking him, forcing Edwards to have to punch Fulton’s arm away and hit a desperation blue thunder bomb for a two count.
Edwards went for the tiger driver, but Fulton reversed for an overhead suplex. Fulton hit a big tilt-a-whirl sidewalk slam for a two count. Edwards caught Fulton going to the top rope with a enzuigiri and a frankensteiner. Austin stepped up on the apron, but was Edwards knocked him off. Edwards escaped a german, hit a forearm, a jumping kick, and landed the tiger driver, but Fulton still kicked out.
Edwards set up for the Boston Knee Party, but Fulton caught him, hit the End of Days, and took the win. The match was pretty good. If they’re trying to rebuild Fulton as a monster, this was a successful step.
After the match, we saw D’Lo Brown talking to someone on the computer about getting the band back together. We then saw the Aces & Eights vest on his chair. Oh, no.
Final Thoughts:
This was a good show that went by pretty quick with a lot of female action. For a show that was edited at last minute due to the Joey Ryan situation, it came out flawless and nothing seemed off.
