Knight made his NXT debut by interrupting the TakeOver: Vengeance Day pre-show panel last month. Knight announced his new in-ring name, said this is his game now, and said anyone walking around with the NXT North American Championship or the NXT Championship should make sure they have their eyes open because he’s coming for them.
On last week’s NXT, a video aired where Knight said he will debut on his own terms.
As Eli Drake, Knight is a former Impact Wrestling World Champion and NWA Tag Team Champion. Knight (real name Shaun Ricker) was also part of WWE developmental from 2013-2014, using the name Slate Randall during his first stint with the company.
Here’s the updated lineup for tonight’s NXT:
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler defend against Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez
Non-title match: NXT Tag Team Champions Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher
The Way (NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae, Indi Hartwell, and Austin Theory) attend therapy
The former Eli Drake arrived in WWE on tonight’s NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day pre-show.
During the pre-show, Drake interrupted panelists Wade Barrett, Sam Roberts, and Barstool Sports’ Brandon Walker. Drake cut a promo about joining NXT and announced that his new in-ring name is LA Knight.
Drake insulted the panelists and said that he was injecting a little bit of star power into the pre-show. Drake announced his new name and said NXT might have a stacked deck, but while they’re playing cards — he just walked in rolling dice. Drake said he just changed the game. He mentioned the NXT North American Championship and the NXT Championship and said anyone walking around with those titles should make sure they have their eyes open because he’s coming for them.
Drake ended his promo by declaring that this is now LA Knight’s game.
Prior to signing with WWE, the 38-year-old Drake was most recently with the NWA. He held the NWA Tag Team titles with James Storm from January of last year to November.
Drake is also a former Impact Wrestling World Champion.
Drake, whose real name is Shaun Ricker, was part of WWE developmental from 2013-2014. He used the name Slate Randall during his first stint with the company.
New NWA Tag Team Champions were crowned on this week’s edition of UWN Primetime Live.
Aron Stevens & JR Kratos defeated James Storm & Eli Drake on Primetime Live last night to win the NWA Tag Team titles. The match was originally announced as Storm & Drake vs. Stevens & The Question Mark, but Stevens came out for the match alone. Kratos attacked Storm & Drake, then Stevens said no one could prove Kratos isn’t The Question Mark.
Stevens & Kratos got the win after Kratos low blowed Storm.
Prior to losing the titles last night, Storm & Drake had been NWA Tag Team Champions since defeating The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) and The Wild Cards (Thomas Latimer & Royce Isaacs) in a triple threat match at the NWA’s Hard Times pay-per-view this January.
This is the fourth NWA title change to take place on Primetime Live since the weekly PPV series debuted this September. Trevor Murdoch defeated Stevens for the NWA National Championship in September. Last month, The Pope (Elijah Burke) defeated Zicky Dice for the NWA Television title and Serena Deeb defeated Thunder Rosa for the NWA Women’s Championship.
New champions were crowned tonight at NWA Hard Times.
Ricky Starks defeated Trevor Murdoch in the main event of tonight’s show to become the new NWA World Television champion. Starks defeated Murdoch with the stroke. Starks won a one-night tournament to win the championship, also defeating Tim Storm and Matt Cross.
It was announced on December 14 that the NWA would be reintroducing the Television title, with the first champion being crowned at Hard Times. The design is similar to the NWA World Television title used in Jim Crockett Promotions during the 1980s.
The Women’s championship also changed hands. Thunder Rosa defeated Allysin Kay after countering Kay’s escape from an armbar with a Thunder Driver. This ends Kay’s run as champion after 273 days, defeating Santana Garrett back on April 29.
New NWA Tag Team champions were also crowned on the show, with James Storm and Eli Drake defeating The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express to win the titles. This ends Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson’s fifth run with the titles after 115 days, originally winning them back on October 1.
The show opened with a recap of the story with Aldis and Kamille. Joe Galli opened the show informing us that he was having a third interview with Aldis this week, but that he would keep the interview focused on the next challenger for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship.
Eddie Kingston came out and talked about how he was angry that the Dawsons got involved in his match, and that he was happy the NWA didn’t take away their title shot, but he wants to take out the Dawsons. He said that before he took the tag titles, he wanted the Dawsons and him and Homicide wanted them now. He said he would do it anywhere – the parking lot, their house, the ring.
Marti Belle defeated Crystal Rose
Belle opened the match with a slightly botched headscissors, and a big forearm in the corner. Belle knocked Rose down and ran at the corner, but Rose dodged and hit some stomps and forearms before kneeing Belle in the face. Belle made a come back with two clotheslines and a forearm. Belle hit a running forearm and hit a running hip to the face of Rose before hitting the Pedigree for the pinfall.
The Dawsons came out and talked about how a mystery tag team was facing them tonight.
A hype video aired for Thunder Rosa.
Aron Stevens came out and demanded that the fans listen to him and not make eye contact. He wanted to promote his new movie, Tropical Pirates. The fans chanted “Captain Morgan” as he asked to show a clip from the film. He then said, “When it comes to acting, I have more chops than Ric Flair.” This was fantastic.
Caleb Konley defeated Dan Parker
Parker trashed talked a lot in the early portion of the match, but Konley used some speed and athleticism to stay ahead at every chance. Parker managed to switch it around by pulling Konley off the middle rope and hit a Kitchen Sink before looking on an abdominal stretch. Konley escaped with a hip toss and then an enziguri before Caleb hit a spinning backfist, a slam, and a springboard moonsault for the pinfall. This was a great squash.
Tim Storm came out and thanked Nick Aldis for giving him a shot at the title. He admitted that he lost, fair and square. There was a guy that said, “We love you Tim!” and Tim thanked them and said his mom still loved him. Storm said he had to make decisions about his career. Eli Drake came out said his mom was probably more worried about her son giving up, and that one loss wasn’t enough to take him off the list, the same list that Ric Flair, Steamboat, and Harley Race is on.
Drake said that maybe the ten pounds of gold isn’t in his immediate future, but maybe there is two titles in their future, as Drake asked him to be his tag partner. Storm said he would think about it.
Jocephus asked to make a public apology to James Storm and asked the shake his hand. Colt Cabana came out and he imitated James Storm, took the hat that was being offered, and a beer too. Jocephus threw powder into Cabana’s face and started to attack in the ring. James Storm came up behind him and superkicked him when he turned around. Cabana was about to eat a superkick from Storm, but Ken Anderson pulled him out of the ring.
Nick Aldis and Kamille came out to discuss the next challenger for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. Aldis said that he was going to wait and see who steps up, and if he needs to, he will go to another promotion and see there. Galli asked about Kamille talking for herself again, and Aldis told him off again, and said that she could speak whenever she wanted.
Galli asked what her motivation was for being the insurance policy for Aldis, and she refused to speak. Aldis said that she didn’t want to talk, and when she wanted to, Galli would be the first to know.
And ad aired with a Twitter account at the end saying “@QuestionTheNWA” It seems we have a mystery wrestler coming to the NWA.
Eli Drake came out. Tim Storm joined him, to the roar from the crowd.
The Dawsons defeated Eli Drake and Tim Storm
Dave Dawson started the match with Eli Drake. Drake hit the ropes hard and hit three big clotheslines and a spinning neckbreaker. Drake went for a suplex, but that didn’t work out and Zane Dawson tagged in. Drake hit a neckbreaker and tagged out to Storm. He hit a nice neckbreaker for a near fall. Storm tagged out to Drake and both men hit a double elbow to drop Dawson.
Zane charged at the corner, but Drake got his feet up and hit a bulldog. Dawson kicked out. Storm tagged in and hit a corner charge on Dawson. Storm and Drake manged quick tags as Storm hit some hard elbows. Zane locked on a bearhug on Storm and drove him back into the corner and tagged out to his brother. Dave Dawson went back to the bearhug and worked over Storm’s ribs.
Storm managed to escape and make the hot tag to Drake, and Drake ran wild, but he was soon driven into the corner ring post, and Storm was left alone. Storm tried his best to fight both men off, but the Dawsons hit a combo squash and powerslam for the pinfall.
The Dawsons continued beating on Storm after the match ended, but Kingston and Homicide made the save and drove them off. Nick Aldis came out to check on Storm with Drake, and the show closed. Excellent episode.
After a lack of interest heading into the pay-per-view, Stomping Grounds was a show that exceeded expectations.
Given that there weren’t really any surprises at the PPV, that’s probably mostly due to expectations being set too low. Nothing on the show was dramatically better than it should have been. The PPV succeeded where most good WWE shows do. Even if the build was underwhelming, a talented roster was able to go out to the ring and have good matches throughout much of the card.
A look at the WWE’s move to bring in Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff is the lead story in this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The story talks about what led to the moves, the questions about the moves that aren’t answered, the Heyman-McMahon history, the Bischoff decision, and how Wall Street and AEW fit into this equation.
We also look at the end of the political career of Antonio Inoki, a look at plans for Extreme Rules, business notes on ticket sales for the summer’s biggest events, the business this past week of WWE, the reaction to Seth Rollins vs. Baron Corbin, full coverage of Stomping Grounds with match-by-match rundowns, star ratings and poll results.
We also look at the retirement of Riki Choshu, a look back at his heyday, his awards, his as a headliner and booker and as a creator as well as his retirement mach.
We also look at the July 13 night of wrestling that will be loaded as far as different offerings go, with ESPN+, AXS, WWE Network and B/R Live all offering shows at the same time. We look at how and why this happened.
We also look at changes to WWE television, why the Rollins vs. Bryan match went like it did, and what the internal feeling is about the changes. We also look at the rounds system, 24/7 title news, declines in Raw viewership over the past year in different demos, new WWE signings, WWE injury updates, Noam Dar talks Adrian McCallum, Lio Rush update, WWE canceling shows and why, television industry exec talks wrestling and television landscape and how the mentality of TV has changed, WWE name changes, first Smackdown on FOX news updates and the market value of WWE.
We also look at all the NXT and WWE main roster events over the past week with match results, highlights and other business notes.
We’ve got full coverage of this past week’s UFC show with business notes.
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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight covering Raw and the latest pro wrestling and MMA news. You can send e-mail questions for the show to [email protected]
Some notes regarding the new roles of Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff in WWE. There is more Heyman influence in tonight’s Raw, but he’s had influence for some time. It is not his complete show. Bischoff is starting very soon (likely his fingerprints will be on things starting after the PPV) and will be at the show on Tuesday since the ad went out and they feel they need to have him there, but this week’s Smackdown is not his show. Heyman will continue as a TV character in the role of the advocate for Brock Lesnar and not in an authority position, feeling the authority position is played out. Bischoff’s situation is not confirmed past he was not hired to be a television performer. We’ll have a lot more on the whys this happened in the new issue but the basic stuff talked about in the current issue is accurate as what caused the move and why these were the two guys picked. Both will have influence in long-term booking with their ideas, but it is still Vince McMahon’s show.
Regarding the Impact to AXS story that Voices of Wrestling broke, neither side has commented on it. What we do know is that these talks have been going on for months and we don’t know exactly where they stand past it doesn’t appear a deal is final at this point. Those at Impact have talked about upgrading their television situation, which they have to do, at some point this year, but nothing was said past that.
A correction from yesterday’s report. It was Charlie Morgan who announced at yesterday’s Eve show that she was retiring. She also came out in he speech. We had reported it as Charli Evans.
Highspots will be releasing a new DVD on Championship Wrestling from Florida, directed by Michael Elliot, who did the great video of Bruiser Brody.
Garrett Gonzalez and myself have an interview with Lance Archer going up on the site tomorrow night.
WWE
Paul Heyman on Inside the Ropes (transcript via Fightful) said this about wanting to do a show without authority figures. “The role of the General Manager is played out. I don’t want to do it because its been going on for 20 years and whether you’re the hero General Manager, the villain General Manager… I don’t know how many people really turn on WWE or any form of sports-entertainment to see how a match is made. The show has become too much of, ‘Here’s the story behind the show that you’re watching’, and I think sometimes, people just want to see the show.” He said. “I think people just want to understand who the characters are and see the characters pitted against each other in compelling situations or riveting storylines that have nothing to do with the corporate structure that orders the match because the General Manager needs to sign the contract.”
Roman Reigns is in a Brisk Ice Tea ad from the new movie Hobbs & Shaw where he plays his character Mateo, a brother of Hobbs, who is Dwayne Johnson’s character in the movie.
A story on R-Truth’s segment being the biggest in WWE on YouTube. (thanks to Christopher Cruise)
Mike Mooneyham talks about the Jarrett Parsons Roku channel that airs old wrestling. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
Rise from yesterday in Chicago: D.J. Summers b Regina Honey Badger, Ray Lyn b Sophie King, Miranda Alize b Candy Lee, Kimber Lee b AQA, Neveah & Jessicka Havok won three-way over Zoey Skye & Courtney Rush (Rosemary from Impact) and Ashley Vox and Delmi Exo, Joey Ryan d Dementia D’Rose (this was a comedy match built around Ryan’s super powers penis and D’Rose’s super power butt, at one point the lights went off and it was like they were each touching the other and they had earthquake sound effects go off), Jake Atlas won doors elimination match over Elayna Black, Devon Monroe, Big Mama, Jamie Senegal an Priscilla Kelly, Shotzi Blackheart b Effy-DQ, Cassandro (the Mexican exotico) b Mercedes Martinez,. Lots of talk about Pride month. (thanks to Shannon Walsh and wretlingwithdemons.net)
Pro Wrestling Eve Wrestle Queendom from yesterday at York Hall in London: Yuu b NightShade, Kagetsu d Mayu Iwatani, Laura Di Matteo b Jordynne Grace, Jetta & Erin Angel won three-way to become the first Eve tag champs over Charli Evans & Millie McKenzie and Liivii Grace & Jinny, Su Yung b Session Moth Martina in a hardcore mach, Aria Hoshiki b Roxxy, Jamie Hayter won three-way elimination match to win the Eve International championship over champion Utami Hayashishita and Nina Samuels, Viper b Kay Lee Ray to win the Eve title in what was billed as both women’s last match with the promotion and they’re both with WWE, Rhia O’Reilly b Viper to win title in an impromptu match.
Rockin Ricky Gibson suffered a broken orbital bone and a hematoma on his head and will need surgery after taking a spinning heel kick to the face in a match with Prestige Wrestling on Saturday night (thanks to Frank Culbertson)
Does anyone have any contact info on 70s and 80s wrestler George Welles?
ONE has announced its 100th show for 10/13 at Tokyo Sumo Hall.
Lucha Libre Promotions ran at the Santa Clara Fairgrounds yesterday in conjunction with the Super World Con, which announced all kinds of giant names with a ton of them canceling in the last two weeks because this was a gigantic mess. The wrestling show drew 70 fans for a four-match show that had Mecha Wolf vs. local Payaso de Rodeo, when Puma King had travel issues so they said, and Juventud Guerrera beat Drago in the main event. (thanks to Roy Lucier)
Heather Bandenburg, aka Heather Honeybadger/Rana Venenoa has a book coming out “Unladylike: A Grrl’s Guide to Wrestling” that comes out on 7/11 in the U.K. She talks about how pro wrestling helped her overcome depression and find a path in life.
Pro Wrestling Phoenix had three more shows yesterday at the Omaha Comic Con
Morning: Pat Powers b Purple, El Bigote b Austin Ames, Brett Bishop b Jon West, Con Artiest b Joey Daniels
Afternoon: Branden Juarez b Pat Powers, Joey Daniels b El Bigote, Brett Bishop & Purple & Jon West b Zac James & Xander McIntosh & Austin Ames, Preston Maxwell b Con Artiest
Evening show: Con Artiest b Purple, Branden Juarez b Austin Ames, Mad Dog McDowell & Jon West b Joey Daniels & Xander McIntosh, Brett Bishop b Preston Maxwell
CWE tonight in CFB Shilo, Manitba at the Community Centre Annex at 7:30 p.m. as a free show with Lanny Poffo & Brian Rich vs. Tommy Lee Curtis & Kevin Cannon in the main event. It also includes live brand, a beer garden and fireworks for Canada Day.
Defy has announced Defyance Forever on 8/23 in Tacoma at the Temple Theater. There will be New Japan talent on the show. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 10 a.m., more info can be found on Defy’s website.
The Alabama Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame inducts its 2019 class on Saturday in Oxford, AL. This year’s inductees are Arn Anderson, who spent his early career in Alabama, and will be in attendance. Other inductees include “Action” Mike Jackson, Joshua O’Hagan, and Veronica Fairchild. The event will be followed by the Frank “The Flame” Barnhill memorial wrestling show. Tickets to an exclusive pre-show meet and greet with the new Hall of Famers are $25, while the wrestling show by itself is free. For details, visit here.
Eli Drake was revealed as Nick Aldis’ tag team partner for ROH Best in the World tonight.
Aldis came out during the pre-show and was set to reveal who his tag team partner was when James Storm came out. He said he wasn’t his partner, but wanted to know who it was. It was then when Aldis introduced Eli Drake, using that name.
Drake came out and cut a short promo, saying that he was no longer the hottest free agent in the world and that the NWA and ROH would be turned upside down.
Drake was fired from Impact Wrestling in April after he became critical of Impact’s booking, namely when he was booked in a match against Tessa Blanchard that he was against doing. Drake declared himself a free agent earlier this month.
The NWA confirmed earlier this week that Aldis’ tag team partner had signed an exclusive deal with the promotion.
Colt Cabana was originally set to be Aldis’ tag team partner, but had to pull out of the event due to a hematoma in his quadriceps.
“After 4 years with Impact Wrestling, some ups, some downs, I would like to thank them for the overall great experience,” Drake wrote. “Through those years, I had the fortune of carrying 3 different title belts, having my own talk show (Fact of Life), and was always given the trust to craft my own promos, virtually from day 1. I appreciate the chance that was taken on me and the trust I was given, as well as the friends and experiences I gained along the way. I wish Impact Wrestling nothing but continued success and growth going forward
“Today, I am OFFICIALLY a FREE AGENT”
Impact announced on April 7 that they had terminated their relationship with Drake. His contract with the company was set to expire on May 31 of this year.
Drake last wrestled for Impact at their television tapings in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in March.
Impact originally announced Drake vs. Tessa Blanchard for their United We Stand show during WrestleMania week. Though Drake noted that he had amazing respect for Impact and Blanchard and called her likely the greatest female talent in wrestling today, Drake responded to the match announcement by tweeting that he wouldn’t be participating in a one-on-one intergender match.
Impact Wrestling returned from the St. Clair College Sportsplex for tonight’s episode. The Twitch broadcast was hosted by Melissa Santos, who was later joined by Don Callis.
The opening video was a full recap of the Johnny Impact vs. Brian Cage saga, making special notice of all the double crosses and games that Johnny played the last few months and the involvement of referee Johnny Bravo along the road.
Scarlett Bordeaux & Fallah Bahh defeated The Desi Hit Squad (Rohit Raju & Raj Singh) w/ Gama Singh
Bahh started the match against Raju and then Singh, with Bahh constantly getting the upper hand thanks to his size. He kept playing to the crowd, who were chanting Bordeaux’s entrance song.
Bordeaux tagged in, but neither Singh nor Raju wanted to wrestle her, so she tagged out. Both Desi Hit Squad members tried to jump Bahh, but he got them before they could do anything. Raju tripped Bahh, giving Singh a slight advantage. Singh got a one count with a mafia kick.
Bahh made a comeback and tagged in Bordeaux. She went for a suicide dive, but Raju stopped her. Bordeaux started chopping Raju, provoking him. She hit a rana, tossing him to the outside. Bordeaux held the ropes for Bahh, who hit a suicide dive. Bordeaux hit a top rope crossbody to the floor on both Singh and Raju.
Back in the ring, Bahh and Bordeaux went for running attacks in the corner. Bordeaux gave Singh a stinkface. Raju wanted one himself, except he got it from Bahh. Singh took out Bahh and blocked a German suplex from Bordeaux, who instead hit a jawbreaker.
Bahh hit a belly-to-belly on Singh, setting him up for a Banzai Drop with Bordeaux on his back for the win. Fun match — the fans live were loving it.
The Lucha Bros cut a promo on Eli Drake & Eddie Edwards and their Tag Team title match tonight. They said that no one will take their titles.
We got a training video for The Deaners.
Backstage, Drake & Edwards met and hyped each other up about winning the Tag Team titles tonight.
Tommy Dreamer cut a promo on Madman Fulton. He said that he’d been researching Fulton’s past and brought up the similarities between them. He managed to get the word “sanity” in. Good promo — felt like an old ECW backstage promo.
Dezmond Xavier (w/ The Rascalz) defeated Moose
Xavier went for an early headlock, but Moose simply carried him around. Xavier went for waist control, and Moose countered him with a single hip attack. Xavier went for strikes, and he finally got Moose mad.
Moose caught Xavier’s hand and tossed him around. Moose locked in a bear hug, but Xavier escaped by ringing Moose’s ears. Moose hit a huge snake eyes on Xavier, then followed up by chopping and choking Xavier around the ring, clearly going after the neck.
Moose went for the Go to Hell, but Xavier countered into a rana. Moose replied with a big lariat for a cocky two count. Moose went after Xavier’s back, whipping him corner to corner, standing on his back, and hitting a couple of shoulder thrusts.
Moose missed one last shoulder tackle and ended up outside the ring. Xavier went for a tope con giro, but Moose caught him in mid-air in a powerbomb position and swung him into the steel steps.
Moose was setting up the spear, but Zachary Wentz and Trey Miguel distracted him, giving Xavier the opening to roll up Moose and steal the win. This was almost like a reverse squash — Moose looked great and Xavier was great as the underdog.
Somewhere in the Undead Realm, Kiera Hogan was lurking around and was met by Rosemary, who told her to go away. Hogan said that this also involves her. Rosemary said that both Allie and Hogan keep getting in trouble because they don’t know how to listen.
Hogan got in Rosemary’s face, telling her that she will get involved whether she likes it or not, and so Rosemary beat her up.
Backstage, Moose cut a promo saying production needs to edit the loss out. Moose said that if The Rascalz want to gang up on him, he can play that game too.
The GWN Flashback Moment of the Week was the LAX vs. OGz 5150 Street Fight from 2018’s Slammiversary.
Tessa Blanchard cut a promo on Gail Kim. She said that Kim is trying to stop her from becoming the greatest Knockout because that is all Kim has left. Blanchard talked trash, bringing up Kim’s husband Robert Irvine. Suddenly, it turned out that Blanchard was outside one of Irvine’s restaurants.
Blanchard went into the restaurant and caused some chaos, bullying the patrons and employees. She finally found the chef, who told her that Irvine was not there today. Blanchard berated the poor chef, who was somewhat corpsing.
Back from commercial, Kim was getting the message about the restaurant. Melissa Santos interviewed her about pressing charges, but Kim said that she will handle things in the ring and teach Blanchard a lesson.
Madman Fulton (w/ Sami Callihan) defeated Tommy Dreamer
Callihan hyped up Fulton before the match by slapping him. Once the match started, Fulton easily dominated Dreamer by tossing him around and choking him against the ropes. Dreamer tried to make a comeback, but Fulton cut him off and stomped him down. Callihan went to get involved, and so the referee sent him to the back.
Back in the ring, Fulton kept torturing Dreamer with a bear hug. Dreamer bit Fulton’s nose to get away and went for the 10 strikes in the corner. Fulton grabbed him for a powerbomb, but they spilled to the outside. They brawled for a bit with Dreamer getting the upper hand and dodging Fulton’s attacks, but it would only wake Fulton up.
Back in the ring again, Fulton went for the bear hug. He hit a suplex and a splash for a one count, then put Dreamer back in the bear hug. Fulton hit a sidewalk slam for a two count. He went for a headbutt. Dreamer dodged, but it wasn’t enough to stop Fulton, who just got up again.
Dreamer tried to strike down Fulton with a couple of elbows, but Fulton was still up. Dreamer hit a DDT and went for a kendo stick, but Fulton caught him with an End of Days for the win. Good showing for Fulton, even if he gave a lot to Dreamer.
After the match, Fulton kept torturing Dreamer until Willie Mack came out with a steel chair and brawled with Fulton. The rest of oVe came out to attack Mack until Rich Swann tried to make the save. Callihan choked out Swann and hit the Cactus Special. Callihan Pillmanized Dreamer’s arm while they made Swann watch. oVe has become a really strong stable.
We got another Deaner’s vignette — this time they were on their way to Impact on a tractor. They debut next week.
Backstage, a doctor was telling Swann and Mack that Dreamer has an injured arm and that he’ll need some time to recover. Swann walked away, but now Killer Kross approached Mack. Kross told Mack that every time he goes to help Swann, Mack is the one that ends up banged up. Mack blew Kross off and challenged him to a match next week.
Madison Rayne defeated Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie in a non-title match
Before the match started, Valkyrie cut a promo on Canada. She talked about last week’s match against Jordynne Grace & Brian Cage, and since she is defending her title at Rebellion, she is making the executive decision to not wrestle tonight. Before she could leave, Rayne attacked her to force the match to start.
Rayne hit a rana, tossing Valkyrie outside, which she used to try and run away — except Grace came out and tossed Valkyrie back in the ring. Rayne used the distraction to roll up Valkyrie for the win. If this means that Valkyrie defends against both Grace and Rayne at Rebellion, it will make Grace look bad for helping someone else get in her match.
We got a special interview by Rolando Menendez with Johnny Impact. Referee Johnny Bravo was behind them cleaning Johnny’s pool. Johnny defended Bravo’s new job, talked trash about Cage, and said that at Rebellion, Cage has no idea how deep Johnny Impact can get in order to retain his championship.
This hinted that Johnny has another secret weapon ready to betray Cage at the Rebellion pay-per-view. Great promo by Johnny.
Cage confronted Don Callis about Bravo. Callis told Cage that they have a plan, that they’ll get a special guest referee, and that Scott D’Amore had the answer. Callis immediately called D’Amore to tell him that Cage was going after him for answers.
We cut to D’Amore, who was being told by Callis to run away. They revealed that they don’t actually have a plan, but Cage was already behind them. Cage threatened D’Amore, but Lance Storm suddenly stepped up and told Cage to have some integrity and rethink his actions.
Storm and Cage got in each other’s faces, with Storm telling Cage he won’t go down that easily. D’Amore improvised and announced that Storm will be the special guest referee for Impact and Cage’s World title match at Rebellion.
Impact Tag Team Champions The Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix) defeated Eli Drake & Eddie Edwards to retain their titles
Fenix and Drake started the match, with the latter getting the strength advantage. Fenix and Pentagon went for an early spike Fear Factor, but Edwards came in to stop them. He took out Pentagon, giving Drake the opening to hit a superplex on Fenix for a two count. Edwards and Drake started working on Fenix, who tried to make a comeback — only to get caught by Drake for an assisted DVD.
Pentagon jumped in, but Drake and Edwards also took him out. The Lucha Bros finally recovered and got rid of Edwards to the outside. Fenix dove onto Edwards while Pentagon got a two count on Drake.
The Lucha Bros went for the spike Fear Factor, but LAX came out to attack them. Drake used the distraction to roll up Pentagon for a two count. Edwards tossed Drake the kendo stick, which Pentagon dodged, hit the spike Fear Factor, and pinned Drake to retain the titles. This was way too short for the potential it had with all four men in the ring.
After the match, Lucha Bros and LAX brawled to the back. In the ring, Edwards tried to comfort Drake. It seemed like Drake was turning against Edwards as fans started chanting “Eli is the weak link” — but they hugged it out and Edwards’ song was played.
Oh, there you go. As they started to walk to the back, Drake finally turned on Edwards and attacked him with the kendo stick to close the show. It was a great team that unfortunately was short-lived.
Final thoughts —
Overall, this was a good show. All the main feuds got touched upon tonight as we head into Impact’s Rebellion PPV a week from Sunday. Inside the ring, most of the matches felt more like segments or angles, but they were nonetheless fun to watch.
Impact issued a brief statement today announcing that the company has terminated its relationship with Drake: “Impact Wrestling announced today that it has terminated its relationship with Shaun Ricker, known as ‘Eli Drake’.”
Drake was originally announced as Tessa Blanchard’s opponent for this past Thursday’s United We Stand show, but Drake tweeted on February 22 that he wouldn’t be participating in the match. “I have amazing respect for @IMPACTWRESTLING and @Tess_Blanchard and can see that she is likely the greatest female talent in wrestling today,” Drake wrote. “Although that said, I will not participate in a one on one intergender match.”
Joey Ryan instead faced Blanchard at United We Stand. Drake didn’t have a match at the show, but he wrestled at Impact’s television tapings in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in March and continued his storyline with Eddie Edwards.
This week’s Impact took place at St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, Canada from the newest set of tapings. The Twitch stream was hosted by Melissa Santos.
The opening video recapped the escalating war between LAX and the Lucha Bros, Scarlett Bordeaux defeating Disco Inferno, Gail Kim’s Rebellion announcement, the controversial finish to Killer Kross vs. Brian Cage, and the sad demise of Allie.
Petey Williams defeated Trey Miguel, Idris Abraham, Ace Austin, Jake Crist, and Aiden Prince in a six-man scramble
It had been a while since Abraham was last on Impact. Aiden Prince is a local wrestler from PCW.
The match started with wrestlers pairing up with each other and all of them trying to steal roll-ups on each other. Austin was the first to get taken out with four superkicks at once. Miguel hit a dive on half of the wrestlers in the match, only to get taken out by Austin next after doing some impressive looking headstands on the apron.
Everyone started pairing up one by one, getting a chance to show off before getting taken out. Austin and Abraham were quite impressive — the latter at one point took a plancha from Prince, who somewhat landed on top of his head.
Miguel hit the X19 before Williams locked the Sharpshooter on him. They did a Tower of Doom spot with Prince on top. Williams hit the Canadian Destroyer on Miguel for a two count when the pin was broken up by the rest.
Prince hit a dive, taking out everyone except Williams, who hit a Canadian Destroyer from the top rope on Jake Crist to win the match. Great opener — it got “This is awesome” chants at one point. Crist seemed hurt at the end.
– LAX cut a promo backstage. Ortiz felt that this feud with the Lucha Bros is getting out of hand, but Santana told him that getting here was all they wanted.
Konnan told them that this was all because they had big mouths and it escalated to him getting disrespected and now it was about getting respect. Konnan told them to take care of business against Eddie Edwards & Eli Drake tonight.
– Melissa Santos interviewed Taya Valkyrie. She asked if Jordynne Grace was getting another title shot since Grace won their match by countout last week. Valkyrie was interrupted by Madison Rayne, who said that she wasn’t lost in the Undead Realm, she was “somewhere worse.”
Rayne put her name on the list towards the Knockouts Championship — but Grace came up and said that Rayne couldn’t just cut in line. Valkyrie proposed that Rayne and Grace wrestle for the number one contender’s spot for Rebellion. Rayne was a total heel.
oVe (Sami Callihan & Madman Fulton) w/ Dave Crist defeated Rich Swann & Willie Mack
Swann ran to the ring during the entrance and went straight for Callihan. He stomped and chopped Callihan all over the ring. Willie Mack came in and continued the punishment with power moves — at one point hitting a springboard neckbreaker. Callihan eventually caught Mack with a clothesline when Mack distracted himself with Fulton.
Back from commercial, oVe was working over Mack. Fulton hit a delayed suplex on him. Callihan decided to get into a chop exchange with Mack, which gave him time to recover and hit the Samoan drop and moonsault combo, but Fulton attacked him before he could tag out. Mack would soon after hit a desperation Thesz press and tag Swann.
Swann came in hot, superkicking both Fulton and Callihan. Swann hit the Lethal Injection on Callihan, but he couldn’t land the Phoenix Splash when Callihan moved. He went to hit a pescado, but Fulton caught him, giving the opening for Mack to hit a tope con giro and take out all of oVe.
Back in the ring, Swann went for a Frankensteiner on Callihan, but Fulton held Callihan from behind, helping him block and drop Swann with a powerbomb. Mack saved Swann from the piledriver and went for a crossbody, but Fulton caught him in the middle of the air. Callihan hit the piledriver on Swann to finally pick up the win.
After the match, all of oVe stomped on Swann until Tommy Dreamer came out for the save with a chair. Dreamer faced off with Fulton, but Callihan pulled him away instead.
– Rolando Menendez interviewed Johnny Impact. He told Johnny that his actions were deceptive. Johnny threatened Menendez before saying that he enjoyed being champion and asked what’s the point of being smarter than everyone if you don’t rub it in everyone’s face. Killer Kross walked up, and Johnny told him that he is getting his title shot as promised.
– We got a video from last week’s Rascalz roundtable. Moose once again showed up and bullied them. Moose said that his girlfriend could bring friends and make it a party after next week, when he gets to kick Wentz’s butt. This was pretty funny.
– The GWN Flashback Moment of the Week was Rosemary vs. Su Yung from May 2018 when Yung took out Rosemary with a Panic Switch from the ramp onto a table and then proceeded to lock her in the coffin.
– Rosemary was shown walking in a cemetery, remembering what happened last week in the Undead Realm. Kevin Sullivan actually revealed that he is the father of Rosemary.
Rosemary found Allie’s grave, where she blamed Kiera Hogan for her death because it was James Mitchell that caught her and distracted Rosemary from the battle. She promised to get revenge.
Jordynne Grace defeated Madison Rayne to become the Knockouts Championship number one contender
The match started with both fighting for wrist control and quick pins with a series of reversals. Grace quickly gained control with her strength advantage. Rayne went for a top rope crossbody, but she just crashed against Grace.
Rayne started using her speed to get as many roll-ups and kicks on Grace to finally get her off her feet, but Grace just got back up and hit a big Pounce for a two count. There was then a big senton for another two count as Grace started working over Rayne’s back. Grace hit a backbreaker and sidewalk slam for yet another two count. She continued this dominance for a couple more minutes.
Eventually, Grace went for the Vader Bomb, but Rayne moved away and finally got an opening to recover and get some offense in. Rayne went for another flying crossbody — this time dropping Grace for a two count.
Grace went for the O’Connor roll, but Rayne reversed it into a sleeper. As much as Grace broke it, Rayne wouldn’t let go. Grace got off and hit a torture rack into a bomb for a two count.
Rayne hit a crucifix pin for a near fall. Grace hit the Grace Driver and pinned Rayne to earn a title shot at the Rebellion pay-per-view. Good match, but the crowd was somewhat dead.
After the match, Valkyrie came out and jumped Grace from behind. Grace was making a comeback, but Johnny Impact came out to distract her, allowing Valkyrie to beat her up. Valkyrie hit a curb stomp and set her up for Johnny’s Countdown Splash, but Brian Cage came down for the save and ran the couple to the back.
– Backstage, Ethan Page and Josh Alexander were talking. They talked about being the best from the area and said that Monster Mafia can show they’re the best team — not just in the area, but the world. I’m glad we’re getting Monster Mafia.
Rohit Raju (w/ The Desi Hit Squad) defeated Fallah Bahh
Bahh actually lost some weight since the last set of tapings. Good for him.
Raj Singh distracted Bahh to start the match, giving Raju the opening to jump him, but Bahh was not phased thanks to his size advantage. This was the usual power vs. speed match, with Raju managing to get a lot of offense in as long as Bahh wouldn’t get a hold of him.
After a bit of offense by Raju, Bahh caught him with a Samoan drop and a subsequent crossbody to set him up for the Banzai Drop. Gama Singh distracted the referee, giving Raj the opening to take out Bahh. Raju picked up the win with a roll-up. The match was okay, nothing special, but seeing Bahh wrestle is always a treat.
After the match, Scarlett Bordeaux hit the ring. She distracted Desi Hit Squad, allowing Bahh to take them both out. Bordeaux hit a running hip attack on Raj before Bahh and her celebrated in the ring.
– We got a vignette of Cody and Jake Deaner getting Impact contracts. Looks more promising than the last time we saw Deaner on Impact.
– Josh Mathews ran down the card for Rebellion, announcing that Swann and Callihan will go at it for the X-Division Championship.
– We got a career retrospective video package for Gail Kim. They put her over and how her feud with Awesome Kong had turned the page for women’s wrestling in the United States. At the end, they recapped the current feud with Tessa Blanchard.
– Melissa Santos interviewed Blanchard. She asked about the Gail Kim video and what it felt like to face a legend at Rebellion. Blanchard responded by questioning the “legend” part of the question.
Blanchard said that Kim was a legend, but only in her era of bra and panties matches, not Blanchard’s era. Good promo by Blanchard.
Eli Drake & Eddie Edwards defeated LAX (Santana & Ortiz)
Josh Matthews actually brought up that LAX were just in New Jersey fighting Low Ki & Ricky Martinez, making it seem like this show was live.
Both teams talked trash to each other to start the match. Drake went to cheap shot Konnan, who blocked it and hit Drake. Referee Johnny Bravo kicked Konnan out to the back.
In the ring, Santana and Ortiz jumped Edwards and Drake to start the match. Both teams went back and forth with quick tags and some blind tags in between. There was a lot of double-team moves from both teams.
Santana got the closest to a hot tag, going wild on Edwards. He went for a frog splash, but Drake cut him off and hit a great superplex. Edwards got a two count with a powerbomb. Santana hit a rolling cutter on Edwards, followed by the double inverted suplex, but Drake pulled Ortiz to break up the pin.
LAX went for the Street Sweeper, but Lucha Bros came out to distract Santana. Santana dove on them, giving Drake the opening to hit Ortiz with the kendo stick, setting him up for Edwards’ Boston Knee Party for the win.
Lucha Bros took out LAX with a pair of superkicks after the match. They brought out a table, with Pentagon powerbombing Santana through it to close the show as they stood tall over LAX.
Final thoughts —
A really good show by Impact. The work inside the ring and the build toward Rebellion were both solid.
The Lucha Brothers (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix) defeated Rich Swann & Willie Mack
Fenix and Swann started the match by chain wrestling and having an athletic exhibition into a stalemate. Pentagon and Mack came in and traded taunts at each other until Fenix and Swann got involved and everyone superkicked each other. Pentagon and Mack continued trading kicks. Swann got tagged in. He and Mack double teamed Pentagon and Fenix, but the Lucha Brothers manage to counter with synchronized superkicks.
Pentagon hit a Wazzap Dropkick to Swann, then the Lucha Brothers followed it up with a Fenix spinning kick and a Pentagon codebreaker combo on Mack. They got a near fall after an assisted plancha by Fenix.
Mack came back with a pounce, sending Pentagon to the floor, and then hit a tope con giro. Swann hit a Phoenix Splash to the outside on Mack and Pentagon, and finally, Fenix hit a tornillo on everyone.
Back from commercial, Mack and Fenix were in the middle of a strike-off with knife-edge chops and forearms. Fenix ended up with the upper hand and went for a top rope move, only to be blocked by Swann, so Fenix hit a reverse rana on Mack. Pentagon then dropped Swann with a Fear Factor on the apron, with the assist of Fenix’s foot stomp.
Back in the ring, Pentagon and Fenix hit the leg-scissors splash to pick up the win. Great opening match.
After the match, Impact Tag Team Champions LAX (Santana & Ortiz) came out without Konnan. Ortiz cut a promo putting over the match we just saw and asked who are next for LAX, running down all the teams they’ve defeated in the last year. Santana got the mic and said that they have defeated everyone, but they haven’t given their familia a chance for the championships. Santana challenged the Lucha Brothers for Homecoming. Pentagon & Fenix accepted.
Josh Mathews ran down the card for tonight and announced that next week, we start the qualifier matches for Homecoming’s Ultimate X match.
We got a video package for Brian Cage and Johnny Impact’s World Championship match at Homecoming. Cage cut a good, short promo about doing whatever it takes to finally achieve his destiny and win the World title.
Back from commercial, we were backstage at the LAX clubhouse. Konnan was berating Santana and Ortiz about acting without telling him. Konnan used the Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Mysterio feud as an example that friendly matches with friends tend to become personal when championships get in the way. Konnan walked out on them at the end saying he knows what he needs to do.
Jordynne Grace defeated Katarina
The match started with Katarina trying to grapple with Grace, only to be easily overpowered. Katarina tried changing her game to strikes, but once again, Grace overpowered her. Finally, Katarina relied on raking the eyes to get some offense in and gained control of the match.
Katarina’s offense consisted mostly of trying to choke out Grace and get as many kicks in as she could. Katarina managed to keep the upper hand for longer than she should have, even getting a close two count after a jumping DDT. Grace finally made a comeback when she hit a huge pounce, followed with a running knee to the corner, a running elbow, a Vader Bomb, and used the bear hug for the submission win. The match started sloppy, but it got better as it went on.
KM and Fallah Bahh were backstage talking about losing their chance at a championship match with LAX, but they’re still in Las Vegas, so tonight they are hitting the town and winning some money. After a quick cut, KM and Bahh were crying because they lost all their money. Suddenly, Scarlett Bordeaux made an appearance, telling them that if they want to impress her, there is a lot of competition.
GWN’s Flashback Moment of the Week was the Ultimate X with Low Ki defeating Andrew Everett and Trevor Lee to retain the X-Division Championship.
Backstage, referee Brandon Tolle came into Tessa Blanchard’s locker room, imposing his authority with Blanchard and saying that in the ring, it’s the referee who sets the rules and neither he nor the rest will take Blanchard’s antics, referring to Blanchard punching Tolle a few weeks ago.
Back from commercial, McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Tommy Dreamer, who once again took a swipe at millennials, saying that Eli Drake doesn’t care about the men and women that paved the way for him to be where he is. Dreamer made fun of Drake copying The Rock and Steve Austin’s mannerisms. He said that at the end, people will talk about Dreamer’s career and not Drake’s. Good promo.
Taya Valkyrie defeated Ray Lyn
Valkyrie debuted new music and a new tron video tonight, officially dropping the “Queen” gimmick. The match started with Ray Lyn trying to mock Valkyrie, getting some great offense in, but the match quickly turned around as Valkyrie hit several running strikes to a cornered Lyn.
Valkyrie went for the Road to Valhalla, but Lyn blocked it and got some more kicks in, only to lose focus by trying to mock Valkyrie again. Valkyrie countered Lyn, hit a curb stomp, and locked in a new submission that is like an elevated version of an STF. This was technically a squash, but still a great showing for Ray Lyn.
Tessa Blanchard ran down during Valkyrie’s celebration. Referee Tolle tried to impose his authority, but Blanchard took him out, choking out the ref until the rest of the staff came out to stop her. No one dared to touch Blanchard — until Gail Kim of all people came out and pulled Blanchard off the referee. Valkyrie hit a spear before Blanchard managed to escape.
We got another video package for Impact and Cage’s match at Homecoming. This time it was Impact’s turn to talk. He put over Cage’s undefeated streak, but at Homecoming it won’t be like the rest of Cage’s matches. Suddenly, behind Johnny Impact, we saw a shadow walk into the frame — and it was Killer Kross.
Kross told the camera to get away, since he needed a moment with Mr. Hennigan. Kross once again implored that Impact rely on him for his match with Cage. Impact blowed him off and walked away. Really great execution on Kross’ entrance.
The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier &Zachary Wentz) defeated Mike Sydal & Chris Bey
Mike Sydal is indeed Matt Sydal’s younger brother. Xavier and Sydal did a series of fast-paced reversals. Wentz got tagged in and hit a Bronco Buster on Bey. The Rascalz hit a kick combo on Sydal and followed with stereo tope con giros to the outside. Back in the ring, Wentz hit the Hot Fire Flame moonsault on Sydal for the pin. Short match, but a great showing for The Rascalz.
Backstage, Kiera Hogan was with McKenzie Mitchell. Hogan said that no matter what we’ve seen, she believes that Allie’s soul is still in her because when she had the chance to attack Hogan, Allie didn’t. Hogan begged for Allie to “come home.”
Back from commercial, we were in a mental hospital with Alisha Edwards trying to talk to a drugged out Eddie Edwards, but the doctor took her away and said Eddie needs rest.
We then saw Moose come to visit Eddie. He had a copy of Eddie’s book, but Moose complained that he is not mentioned in the book, nor Alisha leaving Eddie, nor ending in a mental hospital, saying that this book is a farce and that Eddie will stay in this hospital, but that he’ll take care of Alisha.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Drake, who said that his problem is not with hardcore wrestling, but with Impact Wrestling allowing it. Drake said that he never had problems with Dreamer, but it seems he has struck a nerve, and so if Dreamer wants to mess with him, he’ll need to take care of him tonight and make an example.
Back from commercial, Matt Sydal and Ethan Page were talking. Sydal explained that he keeps stumbling along his way to enlightenment. Page tried to cheer up Sydal, but with a certain set of words that triggered Sydal, and so Sydal announced that they will face each other in one of the Ultimate X qualifying matches in order to teach him the path to enlightenment.
Tommy Dreamer defeated Eli Drake by countout
They started the match with Dreamer getting the better of Drake at the collar-and-elbow tie up. Drake tried to change the game into strikes, but Dreamer got the upper hand once again, so Drake decided to walk away and get counted out.
Josh Mathews said that he had word from Impact officials that this match was being restarted under no disqualification rules.
Eli Drake defeated Tommy Dreamer in a no DQ match
The match began during commercials, so when we came back, Dreamer was already beating Drake up the ramp with a garbage can full of weapons being brought out. Dreamer started going around using some of the weapons, including a ring bell shot and using a fan’s cane. Drake suplexed Dreamer on the ramp, finally turning the match around, leading to Drake working over Dreamer inside the ring and getting mostly punches and some weapon shots in.
Dreamer and Drake kept going back and forth, exchanging big moves with a chair. Dreamer hit a DDT for a two count, but as he went for the Death Valley Driver, Drake threw Dreamer into a trash can and hit the Gravy Train for a huge near fall, with Dreamer becoming the first to kick out.
An annoyed Drake put a chair around Dreamer’s neck. Drake hit a baseball swing like EVIL would, leaving Dreamer down for the pin. Not that good of a main event, even with the weapons being introduced.
Backstage, Drake found a few balloons and a card. We didn’t see what the letter said, but Drake seemed surprised as the episode went off the air.
This edition of Impact was all built around the five-on-five turkey suit match, with references to previous Thanksgiving matches. It was full of segments to build both teams and more of a special episode than part of the ongoing storylines.
McKenzie Mitchell opened the show by introducing tonight’s Eli Drake Second Annual Gravy Train Turkey Trot match between Team Eli Drake and Team Fallah Bahh. Drake cut a promo inviting everyone to stick around. They have a raffle they’ll use to select the members of each team.
A GWN Flashback Moment of the Week showed last year’s Gravy Train Turkey Trot match between Team Eddie Edwards and Team Eli Drake. Team Eddie Edwards won when Edwards pinned Chris Adonis, who ended up in the turkey suit. They only showed the end of the match, but the whole segment of getting Adonis to adorn the suit.
Back with Mitchell and Fallah Bahh, the first member of Team Bahh is KM. They did some comedy about food.
Back from commercial, Drake got his first pick from the raffle, which turned out to be Katarina. Katarina tried to reason with Drake as to why she will be an asset.
We got another GWN Moment of the Week, this time recapping 2007’s inaugural Turkey Bowl. Samoa Joe defeated AJ Styles and Chris Sabin with the winner getting $25,000 and Styles having to wear the turkey suit. Stipulations aside, this was a great match.
Back with Mitchell, Bahh grabbed his second team member from the raffle, and it’s Kikutaro! This was a pleasant surprise.
Back from commercial, Scarlett Bordeaux came out with an entourage of the “Sexxy Show” dancers. Bordeaux didn’t say anything after her entrance — we just cut to another set of video entries for her talent search. Videos included Shark Boy and the Michael Jackson impersonator wrestler.
Drake spun the raffle and revealed the third member of his team — Jake Crist. All of oVe came out, hinting that Sami Callihan and Dave Crist will be out there to back Team Eli Drake up. Callihan threaten Jake Crist not to lose.
We got videos from some of the Impact roster talking about their favorite Thanksgiving memory.
Bahh now picked the fourth member for his team. It turned out to be Desmond Xavier, who is already working his stoner gimmick.
Back from commercial, Drake picked his fourth member from the raffle. After making fun of Bahh, he revealed it is Rohit Raju from the Desi Hit Squad, who all came up. Again, Gama Singh hinted that they will all be out there to support Team Eli Drake.
We got another set of videos of favorite Thanksgiving memories with Rich Swann and Trey Miguel.
Bahh made his final selection for tonight, which is Alisha Edwards. KM asked Alisha if she’ll be able to handle Katarina, and then Fallah Bahh said a bad joke (“What type of music do pilgrims listen to? Plymouth Rock.”)
Back from commercial, Drake made his final pick, Glenn Gilbertti! Yes, Disco Inferno is back and is using this match as his entry to the Scarlett Bordeaux Talent Search.
An Ultimate X match to crown a new X-Division Champion was announced for January’s Homecoming pay-per-view. Gilbertti came out again with Mitchell and said he invented the Ultimate X match.
We got a video package with the history of Option C and all the wrestlers that have cashed it in and won the title out of it, ending with Brian Cage’s cash-in announcement from last week.
Back from commercial, Drake, along with his team, cut a promo saying that tonight, none of them will be wearing the turkey suit. Everyone in the team got a chance to talk except Jake Crist since Sami Callihan did the talking. At the end, Bordeaux came in dressed as a pilgrim saying that she’ll be out there scouting for talent.
Team Fallah Bahh then cut their promo. Bahh did all the talking, with KM translating for him. He hyped everyone up.
Team Fallah Bahh (Fallah Bahh, KM, Dezmond Xavier, Kikutaro & Alisha Edwards) defeated Team Eli Drake (Eli Drake, Jake Crist, Rohit Raju, Katarina & Glenn Gilbertti) w/ oVe & The Desi Hit Squad
Before the match started, everyone made the oath that if any of them are the one to get pinned or submitted, they will wear the turkey suit.
Katarina and Alisha started the match, with the latter using her speed advantage to get some offense in and get a few two counts. They tagged in Jake Crist and Kikutaro, who snuck to get control and tag in Xavier. Jake got away and tagged in Drake, which again played on the power vs. speed matchup, with Drake getting control this time.
Raju and Bahh got tagged and Bahh kept control of the match until Gama Singh got in the ring, distracting Bahh and allowing Raju to take out Bahh’s knee and tag in Gilbertti. Drake and Gilbertti started to double team Bahh, but Bahh made a comeback and finally got KM tagged in.
Everyone came in and sequentially locked each other in Figure Four headlocks, with Bahh rolling them into a Human Centipede Boston crab at the end, but suddenly, Bordeaux came out trotting around the ring, distracting everyone, and then just walked to the ramp and sat to watch.
Back from commercial, everyone was back into the match with Team Eli Drake having cut off Kikutaro and working over him. After several tags, Kikutaro made a comeback on Raju and got a tag to Xavier, who ran wild on everyone. Xavier hit a dive on everyone outside, followed by a plancha by Bahh.
Inside the ring, Alisha and Katarina had some near falls. Finally, Gilbertti came in and all of Team Bahh rolled over him — even the ref got a chance to. Bahh went for the kill, but Gilbertti countered and went for the People’s Elbow, only to miss and get pinned by Bahh after a Banzai Drop.
After the match, Josh Mathews reminded Gilbertti that he took an oath that he would wear the turkey suit. Gilbertti said he wouldn’t do it. Bordeaux came down to the ring and told him to put the suit on, and so he did. Bordeaux told him he looked like an idiot before walking out.
This was a one-match show, but everything celebrated reaching that match, and as the Thanksgiving special that it is, it did not at any point feel like part of the canon storylines going into Homecoming nor affecting the seriousness of those stories and the wrestlers involved.
Open challenges, tag team partners and a visit to the Undead Realm were set for Bound for Glory on tonight’s episode of Impact.
It was announced that Allie will meet Su Yung inside the Undead Realm during the show. Allie met with Father James Mitchell and pleaded with him to take her to the Undead Realm so that she could save Kiera Hogan, who was sent there through a coffin by Su Yung. Mitchell agreed to take her there on Sunday.
Eil Drake announced during the show that he will be issuing a special New York open challenge. He made sure to note that the open challenge would only be open to those who were from New York and nowhere else. Drake has been issuing open challenges as of late, most recently losing to La Parka last week on Impact via count out.
Rich Swann meanwhile revealed his partner for Bound For Glory. After the returning Ethan Page was revealed as Matt Sydal’s tag team partner last week, Swann announced this week on Impact that Willie Mack will be teaming with him.
Here is the full card for this Sunday’s Bound For Glory event, which will take place at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York:
Austin Aries vs. Johnny Impact for the Impact World title
oVe vs. Brian Cage, Fenix and Pentagon Jr.
LAX vs. The OGz in a Concrete Jungle death match
Eddie Edwards vs. Moose
Tessa Blanchard vs. Taya Valkyrie for the Impact Knockouts title
Impact announced on Twitter yesterday that Drake had re-signed with the promotion: “BREAKING NEWS: We’re delighted to announce that dummies will be named and shamed long into the future as @TheEliDrake has signed a contract extension with IMPACT Wrestling.”
On last night’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that it’s a multi-year deal for Drake to remain with Impact. Prior to this new contract, Drake had been signing short-term extensions with the company. The most recent one was set to run through July 31.
Meltzer previously reported that there had been talks about Drake in recent months from the WWE side. Going by the name “Slate Randall,” Drake was part of WWE developmental from 2013-2014.
Drake is a former Impact World and Tag Team Champion. He briefly held the Tag Team titles with Scott Steiner in April after winning them from LAX at Redemption.
