EC3 will be holding a funeral for the TNA World Title belt on next Tuesday’s Impact Wrestling.
In his continuing angle with Moose (the self-proclaimed TNA Champion), EC3 appeared on Tuesday’s show via a projector screen and invited a stressed out Moose to the funeral where he promised to burn the title.
EC3 stole the belt at August’s Emergence event and Moose has been in pursuit of his property ever since. EC3 still hasn’t wrestled for Impact since returning to the promotion where he rose to prominence.
In the featured match of the week, Tag Team Champions Motor City Machine Guns will face Madman Fulton and Ace Austin in a non-title match. Austin and Fulton lost to The North in this week’s main event, and both the MCMG and Fulton and Austin brawled to end this week’s show.
Rosemary and Taya Valkyrie vs. Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz was also announced for next week. This was made after Steelz and Hogan jumped Rosemary and Valkyrie after their win over Nevaeh and Havok Tuesday.
Ring of Honor’s return to television production will include the debut of a wrestler who was part of April’s WWE releases.
PWInsider reported today that former TNA World Heavyweight Champion EC3 is in Baltimore and will make his ROH debut at this week’s TV tapings. Their report has been confirmed by our Dave Meltzer.
EC3 also made his return to Impact Wrestling via a video that aired at the end of last month’s Slammiversary pay-per-view. On this week’s Impact episode, he laid out self-proclaimed TNA Champion Moose and stole his title belt.
ROH announced last week that — for the first time since stopping events in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic — they are returning to producing TV in Maryland this month. “ROH will adhere to a very stringent protocol as well as the regulations set in place by the Maryland State Athletic Commission,” the promotion’s announcement said. “ROH will be instituting the necessary testing and safety measures in a continued effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. There will be no fans or staff who are not essential to the production present during these events.”
The tapings will focus on ROH’s Pure title tournament. Ten of the 16 entrants for the tournament have been announced: Jay Lethal, Jonathan Gresham, Matt Sydal, David Finlay, Tracy Williams, Josh Woods, Wheeler Yuta, Tony Deppen, PJ Black, and Rocky Romero.
After returning at Slammiversary, the Motor City Machine Guns became Tag Team Champions on last night’s episode of Impact.
Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin defeated The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) to win the Impact Tag Team titles, ending The North’s year-plus long reign as champions. This is the second time that the Motor City Machine Guns have been Tag Team Champions in Impact Wrestling/TNA. Their first reign with the titles began in 2010.
The fallout from Slammiversary also included the return of EC3, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson’s Impact TV arrival, Eddie Edwards’ first appearance as new Impact World Champion, and an X-Division title rematch between Chris Bey and Willie Mack.
After a short video featuring EC3 ended tonight’s Slammiversary event, it was confirmed that he will appear on Impact this Tuesday.
Slammiversary ended tonight with a short video that showed EC3 throwing a glass into a wall that displayed the roman numeral III. Later on social media, Impact tweeted a picture of the wall and indicated that EC3 will appear on Impact this Tuesday on AXS TV.
EC3 was one of many who were cut by WWE back in April. Once his no-compete ended at midnight EST on July 18, he streamed a video on his YouTube account. The video showed EC3 heading to the ring and attacking another wrestler in what looked like a garage setting. The video ended with EC3 saying “you have been warned”.
A number of talent either made their return or debuted on tonight’s Slammiversary event including Eric Young, The Motor City Machine Guns, The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows), and Heath Slater.
Rich Swann, who was out with a knee injury, also returned tonight, taking part in the main event.
The Big Takeaway: After doing something different last week, this was a dull show with two meager matches. Mojo Rawley defeated No Way Jose and Gran Metalik & Kalisto saw off EC3 & Eric Young in under two minutes.
Dio Maddin was on the announce team this week alongside Bryon Saxton and Renee Young.
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Mojo Rawley defeated No Way Jose (4:44)
Rawley’s look is absurd at the moment. He has a few lines of blue face paint across his face that look like they were applied at a kids’ party. He also looks like he’s carried an injury at some point in the last few months and is still getting back into ring shape.
For a guy with Rawley’s physical presence and intensity, it feels that it’s already time to hit the reset button on a character that they gave some vignettes and hype to but then quickly gave up on.
They’ve done this match several times before on Main Event and it doesn’t get any more exciting the sixth time around. It’s your basic back and forth and offers nothing creative or new.
After Jose tried to roll Rawley up with a schoolboy, Rawley kicked out and caught the charge of Jose. He planted Jose with an Alabama slam and got the victory.
The Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik & Kalisto w/ Lince Dorado) defeated EC3 & Eric Young (1:54)
Speaking of guys that they’re not doing enough with right now, EC3 and Eric Young have to be right up at the top of that list. And with new opportunities to appear on live television each week and on new networks that can reach new audiences, if I were them, I’d be making a fuss.
As the runtime suggests, they went at this at 100 mph, with Metalik and Kalisto getting all their stuff in as best they could. They teamed up on EC3 and Young with flips and dives and then did stereo suicide dives to the outside.
After a commercial break, Metalik flipped over the top rope to take out EC3, and Kalisto countered Young’s attempt to finish him off, nailing him with the Salida del Sol for the win.
The Big Takeaway: Lacey Evans saw off Dana Brooke in the opener. The team of Cesaro & EC3 then defeated Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins to leave the latter without a televised win since May.
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Lacey Evans defeated Dana Brooke (5:09)
Evans and Brooke faced off against each other on Main Event two weeks back with the result going in the same direction. This was probably a better match all told, with the ending putting Evans over strong.
Evans spent much of the match working over Brooke’s left arm, but Evans does look to have improved in recent weeks. They did a spot where she mimicked Brooke’s one-handed press-ups, but this was otherwise quite a slow, formulaic match.
The ending looked good, with Evans using a sleeper hold, taking Brooke up to the second rope. When she then released Brooke, Brooke lay prone and Evans waited for her to get to her feet. Evans then came off the top with the Women’s Right for the win.
EC3 and Cesaro tagged together in six-man tag action back in June when they teamed up with Robert Roode. They defeated the Lucha House Party then and looked strong again here.
For Ryder and Hawkins, things seem to have returned to normalcy. They are without a televised win as a team since May and are being used more on this show than they are on Raw, where their appearances have been sporadic since they lost the Tag Team titles in June.
Cesaro looked so smooth and comfortable throughout and Hawkins and Ryder both had spots where they impressed. Hawkins came off the top rope to nail EC3 and Cesaro on the outside and Ryder did a tope on them both before the finish.
It was an all-action finish, though, after they had all hit their finishing moves. Cesaro pinned Ryder with the Neutralizer to give these two their first tag team win together.
The Big Takeaway: Dana Brooke defeated Sarah Logan in a rematch from last week where Brooke had suffered a nasty facial injury. The main event saw the random team of EC3, Cesaro & Robert Roode see off the Lucha House Party in under three minutes.
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Dana Brooke defeated Sarah Logan (6:13)
Whether this show will reap any of the benefits of Paul Heyman becoming executive director on the Raw side of things remains to be seen.
The fact WWE acknowledged last week at all here is certainly a positive. Quite rightly, they did a rematch and made a much better go of it. Brooke was smiling and fired up throughout and they kept doing spots where she would get her face bashed.
The finish saw Logan with Brooke on the apron again. She went for the running knee that caused the stoppage from last week, but Brooke had it scouted. Brooke countered and then landed a Swanton Bomb from the top rope for the win.
Cesaro, EC3 & Robert Roode defeated The Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik) (2:40)
This, however, was a negative. If this show does see any changes, it would certainly benefit if they didn’t throw together arbitrary tag matches where the entrance times out-strip the running time of the match.
The first minute was EC3 getting dominated by the pace and tenacity of the Lucha House Party — before the ring filled and the LHP cleared it, posing in unison. And then we went to a break. Yes, a commercial break, in a three-minute match.
I can also confirm that wrestling took place during the commercials.
The last minute was everyone hitting their finishers but failing to get the pinfall. The finish was Cesaro hitting a European uppercut on Metalik as he came off the top rope. As usual, the timing looked fantastic.
The Big Takeaway: EC3 won this week, beating No Way Jose in a fairly dull match. Sarah Logan then made her Main Event debut, losing in a solid — but short — tag team bout with Tamina against Dana Brooke & Natalya.
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EC3 defeated No Way Jose (5:30)
No Way Jose was still sporting his new look. EC3 made a deal of telling the conga line to get lost before the match while he swaggered into the ring.
EC3 grabbed a rare win here. The match was really nothing much to speak of. Jose lacks that sleekness that the more accomplished workers have on the main roster and they were kind of clunky in the last few minutes.
Jose went up to the top rope but was toppled by EC3, who then put him on his shoulders. He hit Jose with a neckbreaker before finishing him with the One Percenter.
EC3 and Jose were both entrants into the battle royal on Friday at Super ShowDown, but this win for EC3 broke up a streak of five straight losses.
Dana Brooke & Natalya defeated Sarah Logan & Tamina (3:16)
It was back in late January that Sarah Logan last got a win — and it was against the same team of Dana Brooke & Natalya that defeated her here. That night, she had tagged with Liv Morgan and things looked very different for Logan.
Logan last appeared on The Shield’s Final Chapter in April and has largely been a bit-part player this year. But she was good here and worked well together with Natalya when they got a little ring time. Brooke also looked to have really improved.
Brooke and Natalya cut the ring in half working over Logan. They hit stereo baseball slides on her on the outside before we went to a break. Logan had Natalya in a modified Calf Crusher when we returned and then they filled the ring.
Natalya took out Logan with a discuss clothesline and then they set up Tamina for their finisher, which was Brooke coming off Natalya’s shoulders with a beautiful swanton. This was pretty decent, but then when Natalya is involved, it often is.
The Big Takeaway: Standard fare this week on Main Event. Natalya carried Tamina to a decent match as Natalya won in the opener, then Cedric Alexander beat EC3 as the pair slugged it out in an enjoyable main event.
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Sam Roberts returned to make it a three-man announce booth alongside Byron Saxton and Renee Young this week. Commentary on Main Event has been in a state of flux for the last few months, with no permanent replacement for Corey Graves in place yet.
Natalya defeated Tamina (5:48)
This was a tough week for the extended Hart family. Last Saturday marked 17 years since the passing of Davey Boy Smith, while this Thursday was 20 years since Owen Hart’s death. Seeing Natalya get a win here — even if it was on Main Event — was a nice touch.
This was Natalya’s first appearance on this show since she submitted Lacey Evans back in February, while Tamina has had to accept a few appearances on Main Event over the last few months. Her WWE career continues to stutter.
Tamina got a lot of offense in as they essentially took the match 50-50 here. After lots of rest holds, Tamina went to put Natalya on her shoulders, but was caught up in a small package. It literally looked like Natalya just rolled off her rather than Tamina actually kicking out.
Natalya then locked in the Sharpshooter and Tamina immediately tapped.
Cedric Alexander defeated EC3 (7:23)
Like a lot of people, I’m not entirely sure what they’re doing with EC3. Moving him up to the main roster has resulted in him being underused and, to some extent, misused. The argument for cutting their losses and moving him back to NXT is strong at this point.
EC3 lost here to Cedric Alexander. The pair then went on to be involved in the 24/7 Championship fiasco on Raw after Main Event was recorded, with both men losing.
Much like the opening bout, this was very much a back-and-forth, 50-50 contest. It looked like EC3 had it when he hit a fireman’s carry cutter followed by what he used to call the Ethan Carter Driver on Impact. Alexander kicked out by the skin of his teeth.
EC3 went for the One Percenter, but Alexander quickly reversed it into the Lumbar Check. Alexander didn’t quite connect perfectly with the move, so it looked a little unwieldy, but it was enough to bag the win for him after a pretty decent match.
A former TNA Wrestling duo was reunited in a dark match prior to last night’s SmackDown in Brooklyn, New York.
Before SmackDown’s post-WrestleMania episode got underway, Luke Harper defeated EC3 in a dark match. EC3 was accompanied by Drake Maverick, who was formerly known as Rockstar Spud in TNA. They were both allies and rivals together during their time in the promotion.
Dixie Carter tweeted about the pairing: “What a fantastic, ‘original’ idea!! Those two are [money] together…. @therealec3 @WWEMaverick #SDLive @wwe”
EC3 should officially be assigned to a brand in next week’s Superstar Shakeup. Maverick is the on-screen general manager of 205 Live and managed AOP on Raw prior to Akam being out of action with a knee injury. Maverick has accompanied Rezar during matches on Main Event since then.
Kevin Owens defeated Sami Zayn in the dark match after last night’s 205 Live. Pat Laprade wrote about the match: “Sami tried to convince Kevin not to fight him. It worked. But he then insulted him. So KO came back and said since both were off Mania, they should be ready for a match. KO did a stunner right off the bat for the quick win. He then did two more stunners, well, just for fun!”
The Big Takeaway: An average show this week. EC3 notched up a win against Tyler Breeze, then Heavy Machinery took their time but managed to defeat The Ascension in the main event.
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EC3 defeated Tyler Breeze (4:48)
EC3’s underwhelming main roster run has certainly had people talking. Earlier this month, he didn’t hold back either. When WWE wished him a happy birthday on Twitter he replied with, “Thanks. Catering was delicious.”
He and Breeze are both being underused at present. Breeze has changed up his look. He has had his long hair cut now and has some new tights, but he is still using the same “Prince Pretty” gimmick that he has been using since he, too, was called up from NXT.
EC3 took the lion’s share in this one, with Breeze getting very close to winning at the end. He looked like he would win with a rana like he had done two weeks ago on this show, but EC3 kicked out and beat him with the One Percenter.
Heavy Machinery defeated The Ascension (7:46)
Otis, Tucker, Konnor, and Viktor were all added to the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal this week, as WWE announced 26 wrestlers for the match. They joined the likes of Jeff & Matt Hardy, as well as Saturday Night Live’s Micheal Che and Colin Jost.
It’s about as good as anyone would have expected for The Ascension, but for Heavy Machinery it represents another solid graduate act from NXT that has not been used well.
This one was much longer than it needed to be and was largely dull as they built it around Tucker getting the hot tag. The Ascension cut the ring in half and beat down Otis forever.
Tucker eventually tagged in and cleared house after Otis and Viktor double clotheslined each other. Heavy Machinery did their normal routine and got the win with The Compactor on Viktor to set the crowd up for Raw, happy.
The Big Takeaway: Tyler Breeze snatched a win from the jaws of defeat against EC3, who was not only just on Main Event rather than Raw again this week, but also lost yet again.
Gran Metalik returned to give the Lucha House Party their full complement this week — and they dismissed Jinder Mahal & The Singh Brothers in under four minutes.
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Tyler Breeze defeated EC3 (4:08)
So, EC3 lost again on this show. Even-stevens booking was not exactly what fans had in mind for him when he was called up to the main roster, but we are where we are.
It was a match that was really all EC3. He pulled out all of his big moves and Breeze played the plucky babyface who tried to capitalize whenever he could. Breeze has been excellent on this show over the last few months.
Breeze was bullied and beaten down and EC3 played a total heel from bell to bell. He had offered a handshake at the start, but it was all a ruse to just slap Breeze’s hand out of the way so that he could punch him in the face.
In fairness, the finish was played up as Breeze stealing one. He was being beaten down and managed to put EC3 into a rana and then made out of there like a bandit. Breeze even looked shocked himself and EC3 was understandably irate.
Tune in next week for more former NXT star burial.
The Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik) defeated Jinder Mahal & The Singh Brothers (3:42)
The pattern every week now seems to be that Mahal and The Singhs go up against a babyface six-man tag team and lose pretty convincingly. Mahal tends to feature as little as possible and the match runs at around three minutes.
This was no different in that Mahal took one small bump and produced one big boot, but he did go on to visibly berate the Singhs after the match as they backed their way up the ramp.
The match was all action given the time that they had, but this week involved Gran Metalik (who had been replaced in this match last week by Tyler Breeze). He dazzled here with his impressive style and was then involved in the finish.
Metalik was the legal man and hit his rope-walk diving elbow drop on to Sunil Singh. Lince Dorado had blind tagged in and followed this up with his Shooting Star Press for the win. Short match. Nice finish, but nothing to it.
The Big Takeaway: EC3 defeated Apollo Crews in a rematch of last week’s main event. Kalisto, Lince Dorado & Tyler Breeze then saw off Jinder Mahal & The Singh Brothers in a pointlessly short bout.
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EC3 defeated Apollo Crews (5:24)
After the outcry last week at him being on this show, losing, and losing to someone who currently means as little as Apollo Crews, EC3 got his win back. In the spirit of 50/50 booking, this rematch looked to be heading the same way until the last 30 seconds.
They did some mat work early on and a lot of rest holds. Crews worked over EC3’s left arm that he continued to sell throughout. EC3 bullied him for a little and taunted him until Crews got the heat.
At the finish, Crews nailed EC3 through the ropes to the outside with an enzuigiri. Crews then rolled him back in and went up top. EC3 got to his feet and pulled the ropes so that Crews tumbled off. This allowed EC3 to hit the One Percenter in the middle of the ring for the win.
A pro to the last, EC3 still sold his left arm after the bell, berating the referee for trying to raise it. He rolled his eyes and made the ref switch sides to raise his right instead.
This was fun while it lasted, but was inexplicably short for a six-man tag that had so much talent on the babyface team. Mahal, who only took two bumps in the match and didn’t tag in, had his right shoulder heavily strapped with kinesio tape.
In the three minutes that they were given, they essentially put on a tag match for The Singhs to get as much ring time as they could. Kalisto and Dorado moved around at 100 mph and Breeze, who was sporting a new goatee, cleared house, looking impressive yet again this week.
After neutralizing Mahal with a superkick, he rolled out of the ring and stayed there. Breeze took out Sunil and Kalisto and Dorado teamed up to finish off Samir. Kalisto used the Salida del Sol and Dorado came off the top with a Shooting Star Press to take the win.
The Big Takeaway: In a match that was virtually identical to their bout last week, Rezar defeated No Way Jose for the second week running. Apollo Crews then defeated EC3 in a mediocre offering.
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Rezar (w/ Drake Maverick) defeated No Way Jose (5:30)
They could have run a replay of last week’s match from Main Event and I genuinely wouldn’t have noticed. This was almost move for move the same match as the one before, running at about a minute longer.
So, just like last week, instead of giving Rezar the chance to look like a real heavyweight threat, he beat up Jose and then spent more than half the match using rest holds.
Rezar had pinned Jose after a big boot and a chokeslam a week ago. This week, it was a clothesline and a chokeslam. Subtle difference, same outcome. I’m not sure what this achieved or why they did a rematch that displayed such little ambition or creativity.
Apollo Crews defeated EC3 (6:47)
I could almost hear the inevitable collective groan when people read the headline of this show recap.
I hear you. We’re all asking the same things: Why is EC3 on this show? Why did he lose? Why did he lose to someone with such little currency? How can they be handling NXT talent like EC3 so misguidedly on the main roster? The list goes on.
Well, anyway, he lost. And the match was okay, but it was nothing spectacular. EC3 used a swinging neckbreaker for a near fall and then they collided in the middle. Crews got up first, got the heat, and came off the top rope with a crossbody for a two count.
EC3 then got some hope, but Crews kicked out of the One Percenter. He then stopped EC3 in his tracks with an enzuigiri before finishing him with the standing moonsault.
EC3 made his WWE Raw in-ring debut this week against an opponent who looks to be on his way out of the company.
In his first televised match on the main roster, EC3 defeated Dean Ambrose on tonight’s episode of Raw. The finish was EC3 winning with a jackknife cradle. It was pushed as an upset on commentary, with Michael Cole saying EC3 beat a former WWE Champion.
EC3 vs. Ambrose was set up during a “Moment of Bliss” segment right before the match. EC3 was Alexa Bliss’ guest. Bliss said EC3 has everything going for him, called him young and good looking, and said she’s heard he has a very large bank account. EC3 didn’t speak on the microphone during the episode.
Bliss wanted to find out whether EC3 would be on Raw or SmackDown, but they were interrupted by Nia Jax and Tamina. Ambrose then came out and interrupted them.
WWE confirmed last week that Ambrose won’t be renewing his contract when it expires in April. Ambrose’s contract status wasn’t brought up on Raw.
