Tag: Eric Young

Impact Wrestling results: MCMG vs. The Rascalz Tag Team title match

Posted on by Antonio Garza

Impact Wrestling returns from Nashville, TN for the first episode since Eric Young dethroned Eddie Edwards and successfully became the Impact World Champion. 

Opening video touched upon ECIII’s threats to Moose; plus Eric Young defeating Eddie Edwards to win the Impact World title.

Eric Young came down to the ring to open the show. EY said that he was a world class wrestler and champion. He said that ever since his return, it was all by design that he’d end up the World champion.

Alisha Edwards interrupted EY and came down to the ring with a mic in hand. Alisha said that EY was a coward for injuring Swann and Eddie, but Eddie wasn’t going to just sit there, he was going to come back and take what was his, like when he came back from taking a baseball in the eye. Alisha said EY hurt her family, to which EY responded that he didn’t care. 

Alisha slapped EY, so he went to hit a piledriver on her, but Dreamer, who gets involved in every feud ever, came down for the save and ran away EY with a kendo stick.

Tommy Dreamer cut a short promo that said that the Edwards and Swann are like their family. He said that when EY decided to leave, it was Swann and Eddie that kept Impact going for him to return. Dreamer said he was using his influence with the company to get a fight with EY tonight. 

Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne introduced the show and ran down tonight’s card.

We saw Moose traveling by plane to where he believes ECIII is holding his TNA World Championship belt. 

Rosemary, Bravo, and Taya talked about their upcoming wedding. Rosemary told Bravo and Taya that they could take care of the wedding planning while Rosemary would resurrect James Mitchell to officiate a demon wedding. 

TJP defeated Chris Bey

Match started with them exchanging strikes when Bey tried to rush TJP, but the latter got the better of Bey sending him flying with an over the head toss and a pancake, quickly followed by going for an armbreaker, but Bey escaped. 

Rohit Raju came out to watch the match.

Bey turned the offense around, catching TJP with an elbow, sending him to the corner. TJP reversed with a rana, an armdrag, and a springboard dropkick to the floor. 

TJP went for the top rope, but Bey pulled the referee over. But when Bey went to attack TJP, he was caught by an armbar. TJP went for another armbreaker, but Bey raked his eyes and dropped him with a clothesline.

Back from commercial, Bey had been working on TJP by stomping on him, getting a two count. Snapmare and diving lariat for another two count. Bey went for a Gory bomb, but TJP rolled through into a yoshi tonic and into a last chancery. Once again, Bey raked TJP’s eyes and caught him with kicks, covering for another two count. 

Bey locked in an abdominal stretch, countered into a backplex by TJP. Atomic bomb and springboard crossbody by TJP, followed by a modified version of the three amigos, and finally the mamba splash. Bey moved away, hit a spinning kick, and into a springboard cutter, but TJP countered into an armbar, rolled over by Bey into a pin attempt. 

Bey got a torture rack into a cutter for yet another two count. Bey tried to slingshot sunset flip, but TJP used the momentum to roll Bey for the pin. Great opener. 

We got a new episode of Locker Room talk with Madison Rayne and the returning Johnny Swinger. The guests this week were Kylie Rae and Susie. Madison asked about Wrestle House, but didn’t really let them answer and implied that Rae went to Wrestle House to dodge Deonna Purrazzo. Speaking of, Purrazzo and Kimber Lee interrupted the interview and challenged them to a tag match. Rae and Susie accepted. Purrazzo and Lee are great.

Bravo was on the phone when Tasha Steelz and Kiera Hogan interrupted him and started bullying him about being invited to the wedding. Bravo brought up Taya and both Steelz and Hogan told Bravo that he needed to be his own man and that they could be their best grooms-women. They are continuing the story that Bravo can’t stand up against Taya.

Brian Myers came down to the ring. He addressed Wilie Mack, telling him that they got off on the wrong foot. He said that he is a superstar so Mack shouldn’t be upset about losing to him, but that Mack should follow the tradition to pay respect to those who paved the way for the new guys like him, and so he called out Mack to shake his hand.

Mack came out and said that he wasn’t there to shake no hands nor be professional, but that Impact gave him a rematch, right there and now. Myers said that he wasn’t even wearing his gear. Mack is the worst promo on Impact.

Brian Myers defeated Willie Mack

Myers tried to get Mack to shake his hand, but Mack refused, so instead he tried to kick him. Mack caught him with a lariat and a back elbow. Myers dropped to the floor, followed by Mack hitting a pescado. 

Myers dodged Mack getting back in the ring, pulled him out again and dropped him on the apron. 

Myers started stomping and punching Mack, hitting a suplex for a two count. Myers locked a headlock for about 3 hours until Mack tried to come back. Myers tried to clothesline Mack, but missed him, giving Mack the opening to come back with a couple of clotheslines and back elbows. Mack hit a leg drop for a two count. 

Mack hit the Samoan drop and moonsault combo for another near fall. Mack went for the stunner, but Myers raked Mack’s eyes, but when he tried to rush Mack, he got taken out by a huge spinebuster. 

Mack ripped Myers shirt off and threw it, making the referee to turn around and get the shirt of the ring, giving Myers the opening to low blow Mack and hit his DDT finisher for the win. Mack looked like a geek.

Gia Miller interviewed Jordynne Grace about last week’s confrontation with Purrazzo. Jordynne said that she had an issue with Tenille about not being on Impact and then just thinking she can come in and get a title shot. Jordynne told Miller to follow her to Tenille’s locker room so they could ask her right there and now. 

The returning Kaleb Conley answered the door instead, he said that he is now Tenille’s personal photographer and that Tenille wasn’t there. They played a vignette for Tenille’s return next week, and went back to Jordynne’s reaction. This was nice. 

Hogan and Steelz planned out how they’d coach Bravo, but Taya confronted them and told them to not talk to Bravo, if they wanted something, they needed to talk to her. She told them they were not invited. Steelz and Taya got face to face and will wrestle each other later tonight. 

Impact World Tag Team Champions Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) defeated The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) to retain the titles

The Rascalz jumped MCMG with dropkicks while the latter were still mid-entrance, followed by tope suicidas. They hit a couple of running elbows and dropkicks on Shelley, kick combo on Sabin for a two count. 

Dezmond started working over Sabin, got a tag on Wentz for a kick combo and a moonsault for a two count. Shelley blind tagged in and along with Sabin, worked on Wentz’ leg so that he couldn’t even stand up anymore, but he still tried to fight through. MCMG kept the offense on the knee with bars, kicks, and dragon screws. Sabin tagged in and stomped the knees. Shelley hit a rana into a knee stomp, followed by a PK kick from Sabin, and once again, dropped him knee first into the mat.

Shelley locked in a kneebar, and when Dez tried to make the save got caught with an octopus stretch. Wentz finally managed to get Sabin off and hit a standing SSP on Shelley to save Wentz, who hit an enzuigiri to get Shelley off and finally tag out.

Dezmond and Sabin tagged in with the former getting the upper hand with a couple of punches and a kick to Sabin’s spine. Xavier followed with back elbows for a two count. 

Wentz and Shelley got involved with the former taking out the latter, then setting up Sabin for a bridged footstomp for a two count. 

Xavier hit a superkick on Sabin, followed by a jumping knee (the good knee) from Wentz, and went for a hot fire flame, but Sabin moved away, letting Wentz crash and burn. Shelley came back and they hit the reverse STF into a dropkick combo on Xavier, hit the ASCS rush and a new double driver move on Wentz for the win. Great match.

After the match, The North jumped MCMGs and The Rascalz. MCMGs managed to turn things around, but Ace Austin and Madman Fulton came down and attacked them too. The North and Ace & Fulton had a face off before Page told them that each team could get their own Machine Gun to attack. Eventually, The Good Brothers came down and took care of The North, Ace Austin, and Fulton. Rascalz made sure to get the last shot with a couple of dives. Strong display of Impact’s tag team division.

Rob Van Dam and Katie Forbes announced that they got picked for a series, the Whole F’n Talk Show, debuting next week.

We saw Sami Callihan in his computer room cutting a promo about getting his ass kicked last week because Katie Forbes was there, and she’s becoming a pain to deal with. He said that next week, RVD and Forbes are debuting their show, but that he promises not to hack the show because he has other plans. This was kinda bad, not the promo, but the presentation, Callihan has cooled off so much since his feud with Tessa Blanchard.

Taya Valkyrie (with John E. Bravo) defeated Tasha Steelz (with Kiera Hogan) 

Taya and Steelz talked some trash to start the match, but quickly got into strikes with Taya getting the better of Tasha with a shoulder tackle. Taya did some lucha arm drags on Tasha and a running dropkick for a two count. 

Taya was going for a running lariat, but Hogan tripped her, allowing Tasha to get the better of Taya with some European uppercuts and a neckbreaker for a two count. All the while, Bravo is on his phone planning his wedding.

Tasha went for a bulldog, but Taya managed to block and drop her with a sitout powerbomb. Taya confronted Bravo and got annoyed that Hogan was shouting that the wedding was more important than her, so she focused that anger to chop Tasha, hit a pop-up knee for a two count. Tasha hit a big elbow to rock Taya off her feet, but she wasn’t able to follow as Taya hit a huge spear and the road to Valhalla for the win. Taya looked amazing here, total dominance.

After the match, Kiera Hogan jumped Taya, aided by Steelz, but Bravo finally got involved and pulled Taya away. Is this a Taya face turn?

We went back to Moose who went to see his old high school football coach, who he asked for a favor. Moose asked if he had seen ECIII but the coach hadn’t, but before Moose left, the coach told Moose to ‘control his narrative’ and that he had been warned. He ran into several men who wore a hoodie similar to E3 and quickly took them out before leaving.

Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was ECIII & Eddie Edwards vs Moose & Mike Kanellis from 2016.

Rhino and Heath met outside the building talking about last week’s tag team. Rhino told Heath that last week’s stunt kinda upset management, so they talked about what other stuff they can do. Heath said that he needs to start earning some money for more ads and Rhino knew exactly where to get it.

Matthews and Rayne ran down the card for next week, with Purrazzo and Kimber Lee vs Kylie Rae and Susie, Brian Myers vs Mack again, Taya vs Kiera Hogan, The North, Ace Austin, and Fulton vs The Rascalz and MCMGs, and XXXL vs The Deanears. 

Impact World Champion Eric Young defeated Tommy Dreamer in an old school rules match to retain the title

EY rushed Dreamer at the bell, but Dreamer caught him with an arm drag and a couple of scoop slams before going for the kendo stick. EY dodged the attacks and went for the top rope, but Dreamer caught him coming down and sent him to the floor. 

Dreamer pulled out a chain and got it around EY’s eyes. EY came back and attacked Dreamer around the ring. He slammed Dreamer on the apron then rammed him to the ring post. EY pulled the mats and tried to piledriver Dreamer, but was countered with a backdrop. 

Dreamer hit EY with a street sign, pulled out some chairs and went back to the ring where he used some kitchenware to continue the attack. Dreamer set up a superplex onto chairs, but EY blocked him and dropped Dreamer. 

EY, now in control, stomped around Dreamer, going after his head. EY landed a slingshot under the ropes for a two count. EY started using some of the weapons now, hitting Dreamer with a chair on the back, even a second rope steel chair buster, but Dreamer blocked and hit a cutter. 

They exchanged strikes in the middle of the ring until Dreamer hit the atomic elbow and falling elbow for a two count. EY clipped Dreamer’s knee and locked in the figure four leg lock, but Dreamer reached the kendo stick and hit EY until he was released, yet EY kept his offense on the knee with a dropkick. 

EY was whipped into a trashcan, followed by a DDT for another two count. Dreamer brought out a table and set it up on the corner, but EY got him with a low blow before Dreamer could do anything. EY went for the top rope, but now it was Dreamer that dropped him on to the ropes. 

Dreamer went for the DVD to the table, but EY had his hockey mask which he used on Dreamer, followed by the piledriver for the win. One of Dreamer’s better matches as of late. 

After the match, EY went after Dreamer’s knee with a Pillmanizer. Rich Swann came down limping and attacked EY with only one foot. They exchanged some words before the show went off the air.

Final Thoughts — 

Good show by Impact, really strong inside the ring. Storyline wise, they’d set up the seeds heading towards Bound for Glory and it looks promising.

Eric Young wins World title on Impact Wrestling

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Eric Young is the new Impact World champion.

Young defeated Eddie Edwards to win the championship on tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling. The finish of the match had Young strike Edwards with the hockey mask he wore to the ring, then pinned Edwards following a piledriver.

After the match, Young continued to attack Edwards, focusing on the leg that Edwards had injured earlier in the match. Referees eventually had to pull Young off Edwards.

Young has been pushed as one of the top heels on Impact Wrestling following his return to the company at Slammiversary. After being eliminated during the five way match for the Impact World title, Young reinjured Swann’s leg, which led to his in-storyline retirement.

Edwards won the Impact World title that night. He had been defending the title in open challenge matches in recent weeks. Young challenged Edwards to a title match last week.

This marks Young’s second reign with the championship. He last won the title on the April 10, 2014 edition of Impact, defeating Magnus (Nick Aldis).

Impact Wrestling results: Eddie Edwards vs. Eric Young

Posted on by Antonio Garza

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.

The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defeated Ace Austin & Madman Fulton 

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 results: Emergence go-home show

Posted on by Antonio Garza

Impact Wrestling returns from Nashville, TN for tonight’s episode, leading up to the two week Emergence event starting next week.

Opening video focused on Rich Swann’s story, from the injury, to his return at Slammiversary XVIII, to Eric Young’s initial attack at the pay-per-view, and ending with Swann’s retirement speech and second attack by EY. 

Willie Mack and Eric Young were already fighting as the show began. We were told that Mack didn’t wait and went after Young backstage. They brawled for a bit until security tried to break them up, but EY and Mack kept brawling towards the ring.

The referee wouldn’t start the match, so Mack took the microphone and told EY and the referee to start the match already. EY tried to leave, but Mack brought him back the hard way, and once in the ring, the referee finally started the match.

Eric Young defeated Willie Mack

Mack started with control taking down EY with some spinning back kicks and a couple of elbows. EY did manage to snap Mack’s neck on the ropes, but Mack was still able to toss EY to the floor and land a pescado to maintain control and get a two count.

Mack went for a superplex, but EY dropped him after he bit him and hit a diving elbow for a two count. Young dropped a couple of knees and elbows for another pin attempt. Young choked Mack in the corner and went for a double axe handle from the second rope, but Mack caught him with a northern lights bridge for a two count, Young responded with a clothesline to regain control.

EY went back to work for the neck, almost choking out Mack, but Mack made a comeback. He took down EY with a sidekick, a scoop slam, and dropped a knee to the face. Mack hit the Samoan drop and standing moonsault combo for a two count. 

Mack went for the stunner, but EY raked Mack’s eyes to counter. Mack was able to still hit the stunner. Mack teased going for the 6-star frog splash, but instead took out a chair. The referee told him he’d DQ Willie, but Mack said he didn’t care this time, set up a Pillmanizer and went for the top rope. However, Mack wasted too much time talking to the referee, allowing EY to recover, block Mack, and dropped him with a piledriver to pick up the win. Pretty good opener.

After the match, EY called out Eddie Edwards.

Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down the card for tonight, and some of Emergence’s matches. 

Backstage, The Good Brothers were out looking for Ace Austin and Madman Fulton.

We now went to Wrestle House. Taya is getting everyone together to give them good news and another activity. She wants to show them Taya’s Greatest Hits. Cody Deaner told us that Cousin Jake was sick. Alisha Edwards said that Susie was sick too. So Taya played her Impact debut to everyone while she made Bravo give her a massage. 

Johnny Swinger is telling stories to Crazzy Steve, who is eyeing Rosemary, who is eyeing Bravo. So Crazzy Steve sat down with Rosemary and asked her if she’s troubled or something, jealous maybe. 

In another room, Susie and Cousin Jake are going on a date. 

Back on Impact, Reno Scum jumped Rhino and stole back the money for Hernandez.

Jordynne Grace defeated Kimber Lee

Collar and elbow to start the match. Grace got the early advantage with a couple of clotheslines and a sidewalk slam for a two count. Grace whipped Lee from corner to corner; she went for another clothesline, but Lee pulled the referee between them, allowing Lee to catch Grace with a roundhouse kick and gain control.

Back from commercial, Kimber Lee has been working on Jordynne’s left knee, stomping it against the ring and locking in a kneebar. Lee chopped Grace a bit and went for a suplex, but Grace blocked it and reversed to one of her own. 

Grace came back with shoulder blocks and an elbow to the back, ending with a spinebuster for a two count. Lee tried to go for a sunset flip pin that triggered a couple of pin reverses until Lee hit an enzuigiri and German bridge for a two count.

Kimber Lee went for a swanton, but Jordynne blocked her and went for a superplex. Lee heatbutted Grace down and hit the swanton,  but Grace got the knees up, took a hold of Lee with a sleeper, and tapped out Lee. Good short match. 

We got a new episode of Locker Room Talk with Madison Rayne, with guests Rob Van Dam and Katie Forbes. Madison asked how they felt being back to their normal selves. They said it was great and started making out, so Madison just walked out on them. They took over and Katie interviewed Rob instead, they mostly talked about themselves when suddenly Sami Callihan appeared and jumped on Rob. Katie saved Rob from a Cactus special by spraying Sami’s eyes, allowing Rob to recover. They both stomped on Callihan before leaving.

Heath Miller bought a 30-second ad from Locker Room Talk to make a case to get signed by Impact.

Somewhere backstage, Trey Miguel surprised Wentz and Xavier with a Suicide mask. Moose stumbled up to them and berated Wentz who had an ECIII hoodie. Trey had the Suicide mask on, so Moose mistook him and got an invitation from Moose for a title shot next week.

Back at Wrestle House, Taya was still making everyone watch her matches, while Rosemary started eyeing someone that she could make Bravo jealous with. She put a love curse on Larry D. Acey Romero noticed something odd in Larry D when he said that there’s more to life than food, and so they got into a fight so Acey could knock some sense into Larry. 

Wrestle House: Larry D defeated Acey Romero

They started punching each other, Acey hit the first body block to bring Larry down. Acey hit a dropkick, but failed to hit a senton when Larry D moved away. Larry went for the clothesline, but Acey dodged the first, Larry landed a second one and won the match. Larry D dedicated the match to Rosemary.

Susie and Cousin Jake went to their date. They had nothing to talk about. Susie just said she had the runs for some reason.

Deonna Purrazzo cut a promo on Jordynne Grace. She said that Grace had been acting aggressive and ruthless, not apt for a champion, but she did deserve a rematch. She challenged Jordynne Grace to a 30 minute Knockout’s Ironman match at Emergence.

We got a video package for The North vs The Motor City Machine Guns for Emergence. MCMG talked about new teams copying them, while The North talked about being the best because they studied their opponents and were caught unprepared. Winning one time doesn’t mean they’re better than The North.

Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz defeated Havok & Nevaeh in a No DQ match

Tasha and Hogan came out but hid from their opponents. Havok and Nevaeh came out for their entrance, but Tasha and Hogan were there to jump them from behind to start the brawl. Tasha choked Havok on one side, while Hogan and Nevaeh brawled on the other side. 

In the ring, Havok caught Tasha from the top rope and dropped her with a black hole slam. She set her up on the tree of woe and dropped her with an elbow. Havok followed with the running boot, but Hogan grabbed at Havok’s leg to save Tasha, allowing her to take a chair and drop Havok. Hogan and Tasha superkicked Havok to take her out.

Nevaeh jumped to the ring and clotheslined both Hogan and Tasha, then followed with suplexes on Tasha, getting a two count. 

Outside the ring, Hogan tricked Havok into running knee first into the steel steps. Hogan helped out Tasha, attacking Nevaeh from behind with an object. They connected a couple of running dropkicks to Nevaeh in the corner while they kept Havok at bay. Hogan hit a neckbreaker on Nevaeh for another two count.

Havok brought out a table outside the ring. Havok and Nevaeh tried to toss Hogan to the table, but Tasha saved her and all four started trading strikes, ending with everyone getting a kick. Havok went for a tombstone on Tasha, but was saved by Hogan, and instead went for a double suplex, blocked by Havok and reversed into a suplex of her own. 

Havok charged at Hogan and Tasha, but was sent into the apron instead. Havok tried to suplex Tasha to the table, but Tasha blocked and locked in a sleeper. Tasha released, superkicked Havok, and Hogan hit a second, sending Havok to the table.

Nevaeh attacked them with a street sign, but Hogan dodged, hit a swinging neckbreaker, and pinned Nevaeh for the win. Good match, went by quick. Tasha and Hogan are great.

Gallows and Anderson asked D’Amore about Ace Austin’s whereabouts, but he said he didn’t know.

Moose was walking backstage when a video played of ECIII saying he was going after Moose because Moose had decided to become synonymous with TNA.

Dezmond Xavier (with Zachary Wentz) vs Suicide was a no contest

Match started with a sequence of counters and reversals, wrestling for wrist control. Xavier was going for some punches, when suddenly, The Good Brothers came down. 

Gallows and Anderson took out The Rascalz and Suicide, the latter with the magic killer. This felt totally WCW/WWE how they treated their young talent.

Anderson cut a promo saying that they were going to wait all night for Ace Austin and Fulton to come out and fight. Ace and Fulton appeared on the tron, telling them they’re not there, not even in the same state. Ace said they’ll get their fight next week at Emergence. 

Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was Cody vs Eddie Edwards from October 2nd, 2016’s episode of Impact.

Backstage, Rohit Raju approached Chris Bey about losing last week. Rohit tried to get himself into a three-way at Emergence so they could gang up on TJP. Bey accepted since he had already beaten Rohit before. 

We got yet another vignette for Brian Myers. He called himself the most professional wrestler. 

Back at Wrestle House, Susie and Jake ended their really awkward date with Jake kinda provoking Su Yung to come out. Alisha asked Susie if she had done everything she told her for the date, but Susie said her advice was bad. This was enough for Alisha to ask for a match with Susie. Zero patience this lady.

Wrestle House: Susie defeated Alisha Edwards

Alisha started pushing around Susie, causing her to slap Suzie. They had an overplayed catfight spot before the referee, Crazzy Steve, separated them. Susie caught Alisha with a palm strike, but when she tried to follow up, Alisha caught her with a clothesline. They traded some strikes in the middle of the ring before Alisha dropped Susie, but the latter schoolgirled Alisha for the win. The best thing about this was Crazzy Steve as the referee.

After the match, Taya told them all to go back to the house to watch more Taya matches. Kylie Rae objected. Taya told that Rae had never beaten a champion, so Rae challenged Taya. Rosemary stopped Dreamer from calling the match.

Matthews and Rayne ran down the card for Emergence. Next week is Kylie Rae vs. Taya, Moose defending the TNA World title against Trey Miguel, Chris Bey vs. TJP vs. Rohit Raju for the X-Division title, The Good Brothers vs. Ace Austin and Fulton, and finally, The North vs MCMGs for the tag titles.

In Emergence night two, Deonna Purrazzo will defend against Jordynne Grace in a 30 minute ironman match, and Eddie Edwards will hold another open challenge if he can defend tonight.

Eddie Edwards came down for his open challenge. He took a microphone and called out Eric Young for the challenge. Instead, Brian Myers came out. Myers said that in his hands, that belt would become a ‘championship’.

Impact World Champion Eddie Edwards defeated Brian Myers to retain the title

Match started with Myers relying on the ropes to escape Edwards as he was getting pushed around. Eventually, he managed to be the one to push Eddie to the ropes but instead he went for the strike that Eddie dodged, but not the clothesline that followed. 

Eddie and Myers traded some shoulder tackles, but it was the latter that managed to capitalize for a bit, at least until Eddie clotheslined him to the floor.

Back from commercial, Myers is back in the ring, trading momentum with Eddie, who hit an atomic drop and over-the-head suplex. Myers caught Eddie in the ropes and sent him shoulder first to the ring post to finally stop Eddie’s momentum. 

Myers worked on Eddie’s back, ramming him to the apron and a couple of knees for a two count. Myers kept the offense until Eddie managed to send him to the floor and follow with a quick suicide dive. Eddie seemed to hurt his knee, which Myers took advantage of. 

Back in the ring, Myers hit a backplex for a two count, then went into a sleeper. Eddie made a comeback, suplexing Myers into the turnbuckles. Eddie hit a step-up enzuigiri and the backpack stunner for a two count. 

Eddie went for the tiger driver, but Myers escaped and hit an evenflow DDT for a two count. Eddie caught Myers with a superkick, a forearm, and hit the tiger driver, but Myers kicked out at two. Eddie set up for the BKP, but Myers dodged and hit a pele kick. Myers hit the ropes, but Eddie caught him with the BKP on the comeback and picked up the win. Good match, Myers looked okay.

Final thoughts — 

Good show by Impact, quite strong in the ring, and it worked as a go-home show for next week’s Emergence show. 

Eric Young signs exclusive contract with Impact Wrestling

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Eric Young has officially signed an exclusive contract with Impact Wrestling.

In an interview with Sportskeeda, Young confirmed the news.

“Yeah, I am on an exclusive contract with IMPACT,” he was quoted as saying. “ I’m very excited about that!”

“I do have a lot of gas left in the tank,” he added. “ It’s just a question of how much longer I want to do it.”

Young was released by WWE in April as part of wide-ranging cuts due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. He made his return to Impact at Slammiversary, taking part in a five way match for the Impact World title. Once he was eliminated, he immediately took out his frustrations on a returning Rich Swann, attacking his leg.

The angle was continued further on this week’s episode of Impact. Swann announced his retirement due to Young’s attack. As he was being applauded by members of the Impact roster, Young jumped Swann and attacked his leg again.

Young was previously part of Impact Wrestling from 2004 to 2016 before signing with the WWE.

Impact Wrestling results: Two championships on the line

Posted on by Antonio Garza

Impact Wrestling returns from Nashville, TN for tonight’s episode, where both the TNA World Championship and Impact World Championship will be defended.

Opening video focused on Eddie Edwards’ successful defense against Trey Miguel from last week. There was also footage of Heath getting a shot at the TNA World Championship, Jordynne Grace’s return, The Good Brothers’ in-ring debut, and ECIII’s warning video.

Self-Proclaimed TNA World Champion Moose defeated Heath to retain his title

Moose started the match pushing around Heath, who had to come back with strikes and a clothesline to send Moose to the floor. They brawled around the ring, ramming each other into the barricades and stomping each other into the apron. 

Back in the ring, Heath continued with momentum, striking around Moose. But out of desperation, Moose tossed Heath throat-first into the ropes and cut him off.

Moose worked on the throat for a while, choking Heath against the ropes. Heath tried to strike his way back, but was easily cut off again.

As Moose kept working over Heath, he started getting cockier, talking trash after whipping him from corner to corner. But after talking trash about Heath’s family, Heath fired up and started going at him with running strikes, a running knee, and a sidekick to finally bring down Moose for a two count.

Heath followed with another school boy for a second two count. Heath then accidentally tossed Moose into the referee and hit the wake-up call for a visual pin, but the referee was down. Heath woke up the referee, but Moose took advantage to low blow Heath and steal the win. 

Heath will remain unemployed for now, but this was a good showing for Heath, he looked like a completely different person.

Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down tonight’s card, as well as announce the Emergence shows on August 18 and August 25, where Purrazzo defends against Jordynne Grace.

Gia Miller interviewed Willie Mack about Rich Swann’s announcement for tonight. Mack said he didn’t know much, Rich was keeping it to his own. Mack said that he was pissed at Eric Young for what he did to Swann.

We got another promo by ECIII. He said that he achieved all he wanted, but ever since, he got punished by the fanbase and management who were fighting for control of the company, punished because of his last name. He said he would regain the TNA World Championship and finally burn and bury the legacy of that title. He told Moose he was going after him.

Jimmy Jacobs brought out Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin for a sitdown interview. Jacobs asked them about returning to Impact. Shelley said that after all these years, their hard work was paying off and that their separate work had taken them to a lot of success. But after injuries and rehab, they gravitated to each other and started wondering if they could do it again against the Impact roster.

The North finally interrupted them and came down to the ring. Page is still quiet, not even wearing The North’s uniform, so Alexander did the talking. He said that MCMG were being given things by management without earning them, while The North had to earn their shots and keep the titles for so long. Page finally snapped and said that they didn’t beat The North, they beat a North that were not at 100%. 

Shelley said that they would give them their rematch whenever they wanted, even now. Alexander said that they would return at 100% and reclaim the titles at Emergence.

Backstage, Kimber Lee walked into Deonna Purrazzo’s locker room. She said that she doesn’t trust Purazzo can retain against Jordynne Grace at Emergence, so she offered to take Jordynne out if Purrazzo gives her a shot at the title.

We got another installment of Wrestle House. Taya is trying to get everyone together for some bonding exercise and get some of these people to take a shower, so she passed around soap for everyone. Meanwhile, Susie and Cousin Jake are flirting, Kylie Rae is trying to get back to Impact for her title match, and Johnny Swinger is antagonizing Alisha Edwards and getting himself into a handicap match. This is still bad, but at least they’re starting to introduce some stories and motivations for the characters.

Wrestle House: Alisha Edwards & Susie defeated Johnny Swinger

Swinger figured he would start the match by showing his guns, but Alisha and Susie teamed up and went for double team moves. Swinger kept hitting on them, so they pulled his legs and hit a double splash for the pin. This was terrible, worse actually.

Back in the house, Kylie Rae tried to get Bravo to take the hints that Rosemary was tossing at him, so they could all go home.

Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was Sami Callihan winning the Impact World Championship from Brian Cage.

Outside the building, The Good Brothers realized that someone had broken into their car and left opened beers on the floor. Sheriff and security approach them, just in time for Ace Austin to trick Gallows into getting arrested when he accidentally punched the sheriff.

We got another vignette for Brian Myers. Still no debut date.

Eddie Edwards came down for his open challenge, which was answered by Sami Callihan. Iin an awesome visual, when the lights flickered during Callihan’s entrance, there was another shadow there with a chair — Rob Van Dam. RVD took out Callihan with the chair until security took him away. Regardless, Callihan still accepted the challenge.

Impact World Champion Eddie Edwards defeated Sami Callihan to retain the title

Eddie tried to talk him out of the match, but Callihan responded with a slap. Eddie hit a tiger driver immediately for a two count. Eddie kept Callihan down with punches and dropping knees. Eddie went for a running shoulder tackle to the corner, but Callihan sidestepped, sending Eddie shoulder first into the corner and out to the floor. Callian followed with a suicide dive. Eddie managed to recover quickly and return the favor with a dive of his own.

They brawled a bit outside and onto the apron where Eddie went for another tiger driver, but Sami blocked and went after Eddie’s eye. Instead, it was Callihan who dropped Eddie with a Cactus special on the apron. Since Callihan couldn’t pin Eddie outside, he decided to keep brawling and tossed Eddie into the guardrail. 

Back in the ring, Callihan dropped an elbow for a two count, then went right into the choke. They traded boots until the double clothesline left them both down for the ten count tease. They continued trading strikes, but Eddie was trying to chop a protecting vest, so instead he hit a blue thunder bomb for a two count. 

Eddie looked for another tiger bomb, but Callihan blocked. Eddie tried to roll him up instead, but again Sami countered with a kick and a brainbuster for a two count. They traded more strikes. Callihan seemed to try to hit the DVD, but instead hit a version of the GTS and a running forearm for another two count. 

Eddie caught Sami with two elbows and a jumping kick and hit the tiger driver for yet another two count. Sami hit a second cactus special, but Eddie was next to the ropes. 

Callihan brought out a chair, but had second thoughts. He got rid of it, but all the distraction gave Eddie the opening to hit the Boston Knee Party and a shining wizard for the win. Pretty good match, though this could have been promoted for a week.

Back at Wrestle House, Bravo decided to leave both Taya and Rosemary, who were onto Rae for getting involved. Rosemary asked Dreamer for a match with Rae. See, this installment was perfect! Short and Rosemary and Rae played their parts well.

Wrestle House: Kylie Rae defeated Rosemary

Taya is the referee for the match. She antagonized and distracted Kylie Rae to allow Rosemary to jump her from behind. Kylie recovered and took down Rosemary with a nice headlock, leading to some nice mat wrestling with Rae countering Rosemary over and over. Rae covered Rosemary, but Taya wouldn’t count, saying her hand hurt.

Kylie Rae distracted Rosemary telling her she had stolen her nose, but once again, Taya helped Rosemary to realize that it was a trick. Rosemary blocked a superkick and stomped on Rae for a bit, but as she rushed at Rae at the corner, Kylie dodged and hit a running European uppercut, followed by a cannonball, and once again, Taya didn’t count the pin.

Rosemary hit a spear, but Kylie kicked out at the fast count. At this point, Bravo joined the crowd and by chanting for Rosemary, he distracted Rosemary who took a superkick. Taya was forced to count the pin since Rosemary was completely out. Ok comedy match.

After the match, Bravo looked after Rosemary. Bravo said that he couldn’t choose between Rosemary and Taya since Taya had done so much for him. Taya berated Bravo after.

Backstage, Karl Anderson was on a call with Gallows, telling him that he’s getting things fixed. Ace Austin approached him. Anderson replied with an elbow to the face. Fulton jumped Anderson from behind, taking out Anderson.

Hernandez tried to recruit Reno Scum to help him get his money back from Rhino. Reno Scum agreed.

TJP & Fallah Bahh defeated X-Division Champion Chris Bey & Rohit Raju

Bey and TJP started the match, wrestling for wrist control with a series of counters and reversals. It later transitioned into a sequence of ranas and reversals, but it was TJP who drew first blood when he tricked Bey, locked in a quick Pentagon armbreaker, and snapped Bey’s arm. Bahh tagged in and hit a belly-to-belly on Raju, a falling elbow.

Back from commercial, TJP and Bahh have been working on Bey, but thanks to the distraction from Rohit, Bey manages to dropkick TJP and cut him off, finally separating him from Bahh. 

Rohit hit a low superkick for a two count. Pancake and a running dropkick for another two count. 

Bey came in, but TJP caught him with a donkey kick and a tornado DDT to get the opening to tag out. 

Bahh ran wild over Rohit, but when he went for the running cannonball, Rohit caught him with a great jumping knee. 

Bey and TJP tagged in again. TJP hit two amigos and a backplex, then went for a swanton. Bey moved, hit TJP with a spinning kick, then set him up for a flatliner by Rohit for a two count when Bahh broke it up. Bey went for an ozcutter, but TJP reversed it into the cross armbreaker and submitted Bey for the win. Great match.

After the match, Chris Bey threw a fit. TJP vs Bey seems to be where this is going.

Matthews and Rayne ran down some of the matches for next week, including Havok and Nevaeh vs. Tasha Steelz and Kiera Hogan in a No DQ match, Jordynne Grace vs. Kimber Lee, and Eddie Edwads’ open challenge.

Rich Swann came down to the ring for his announcement, back in crutches. Swann said that thanks to heart, love, and support, he was able to become a wrestler. In January, he got injured and was told that he’d be walking with a limp for the rest of his life and thus no more wrestling. He worked hard to rehab and prove that doctor wrong, and finally, he was able to return at Slammiversary XVIII. He managed to pin Eric Young in that match, and EY’s jealousy came back at him and brought him back to seven months ago with a potential career ending injury.

Swann announced that he is retiring. Thanked everyone who supported him, to all the talent in the back who bust their ass for Impact Wrestling. Out came the roster to applaud. Swann made it up the ramp for the final goodbye, and suddenly EY jumped him, broke the crutch on his leg. The whole roster went after EY while Mack and Eddie tended to Swann. Eric Young is making an argument for heel of the year.

Final Thoughts —

Pretty good show by Impact, miles better than last week. Good action inside the ring, several storyline developments as they start to build towards Emergence, and even Wrestle House was watchable.

Daily Update: Booker T, Eric Young, Irene Aldana

Posted on by Bryan Rose

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

JOB LISTING: Web/UI Developer(s)

  • Experience with OnLamp(Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP)
  • GITHUB and Linux command line experience while be helpful as well.
  • CMS – Drupal and WordPress. vBulletin
  • Possible experience with AWS(s3 specifically), Dreamhost, UI development
  • Cloud based hosting experience a plus
  • Javascript also a huge plus

While this is a diverse request this doesn’t have to be just one person! If you fit any part of this please feel free to inquire.

This is not just for projects related to F4WOnline.

WON NEWSLETTER: July 20, 2020 Observer Newsletter: NJPW Dominion and the return of fans, more

The first pro wrestling shows in four months with major crowds took place this past week as New Japan Pro Wrestling ran two major events at Osaka Jo Hall. Our lead story talks about the rules in place for the show, the Weekend of Evil, how the crowd was told to behave and how different it was than a U.S. or Mexico crowd, as well as a look at New Japan booking, the next major shows along with match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results for both shows.

The new issue also covers:

UFC 251, the story behind all the changes to the show, match-by-match coverage, where the main event winners go next and all the business notes on the show, including what you were told and what wasn’t the case.

Reopening of Bellator and questions regarding its leading revenue stream.

Details on the WWE mask policy, the fines, the role of Kevin Owens in this and more.

Wednesday night ratings, looking at AEW, NXT, UFC and even how NASCAR figured in, where the viewers were gained and lost, as well as what every segment on the show did and some of the most staggering news imaginable when it comes to this past week’s NXT show.

WWE Extreme Rules and Impact’s Slammiversary shows coming up.

WWE and Peacock Network dealings, notes on SummerSlam this year, what numbers to look for at WWE Investors call, what factors play into the WWE Network numbers, Paul Levesque talks WWE handling of COVID, Edge talks his triceps injury, Why an angle on Raw nearly didn’t happen when one of the participants turned it down, update on Charlotte Flair, Canadian & U.K. ratings, how WWE relates to sports ratings, Matt Hardy talks Jeff Hardy angle, as well as the most watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network, WWE market value and next week’s top TV bouts.

A feature on the Wednesday night UFC show.

FITE TV bringing a Japanese wrestling doubleheader to the U.S. this coming week with Tokyo Joshi Pro and DDT.  

Ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.

Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week. 

ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].

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WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • Today’s episode of The Bump featured Bubba Ray Dudley, Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura, Tegan Nox, and Robert Stone.
  • Stephanie McMahon talked to AdAge about WWE operating during the pandemic and addressing systemic racism.
  • On his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T spoke about the #NaomiDeservesBetter hashtag that trended on Twitter after her match against Lacey Evans on SmackDown last week: “That Naomi deserves a chance… they can go to hell with all these hashtags as far as I’m concerned, but I’m tired of hearing about ‘em. Don’t nobody deserve a chance, alright? First and foremost, you gotta earn your chance, your spot on the roster. This is not some kind of movement just to pull somebody up just because and I hate to sit here and say this, to even talk this way because I like Naomi. But, as far as the business goes, you get it on your merit alone. That’s it. It’s no buddy systems and I know somebody’s gonna hear me and go, ‘Well such and such got a buddy and that’s why they’re doing it.’ Yeah that may be true, but life is not fair. Sometimes, you gotta make your own breaks. Sometimes you gotta go out there and rise to the occasion when no one else thought you could and the thing is, it may not happen overnight. It’s a consistency thing that goes with that. No one expected me, including myself, to become a six-time world champion, but my persistence as far as going out to the middle of that ring and performing better than all those suckers in the locker room and the suckers in the locker room, they knew it, and the fans, they saw something different and the signs were there for Booker T on a nightly basis. That’s why I say the hashtag Naomi Deserves A Chance, whatever deserves better, I just don’t think that will serve her any purpose. People advocating for her in that way. The way that needs to be put out there from a advocating perspective is her advocating for herself when she goes out to the ring and performs on a high level and the world sees it and that right there, when you do that Naomi, you can not be denied. No one will ever say someone gave you anything and if it happened right now, tomorrow, someone blessed Naomi with the world championship, trust me, it would not feel like she did it on her own. It would have to be a movement for something like that to happen. I would’ve never wanted the world title if it was given to me that way. Me personally I wouldn’t have and Naomi, I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a thousand times. Naomi is perhaps more athletic than every female in that locker room and perhaps 99 percent of females in this business. But psychology and working is two different things, and I just hope and wish that I had my hands on her for one month. Naomi would look at this business a totally different way, and that’s just my thoughts on that.”
  • Naomi responded to Booker T’s comments on Twitter. Sasha Banks posted in support of Naomi: “Don’t feed into useless opinions, no matter who they come from. Keep glowing and shining like you always do. You aint got nothing to prove to anyone #teambad”
  • Today is Shawn Michaels’ 55th birthday. WWE uploaded a Playlist video of his showstopping matches.
  • Matches added to WWE’s YouTube channel today include Randy Orton vs. Cesaro from the February 14, 2014 edition of SmackDown and Dolph Ziggler vs. Rey Mysterio from SummerSlam 2009.
  • William Regal on tonight’s NXT announcement: ”Serving as the General Manager or #WWENXT has been an incredible honor. To see the men and women of this brand over the last couple of months has been inspiring and invigorating. Tonight’s major announcement will be yet another step forward for @WWENXT.”
  • Lita will be Corey Grave’s guest on After The Bell this week.
  • Becky Lynch spoke to the Bella Twins about her pregnancy. 
  • The FOCO Edge bobblehead is now available for pre-order.

Other Wrestling

  • Eric Young made his first podcast appearance post-WWE on Busted Open Radio. Young acknowledged creative problems within the company, saying “It’s hard to get a word in. Even when you’re doing nothing, it feels like you’re just trying to fix people’s mistakes all day, there is no creativity. They want everyone to do things the same, be the same and bump the same and sell the same. And there’s millions of rules, which I’m sure you guys have all heard and talked about on the show at length, and people talk about on the internet and the secret rules. Those change daily and it’s just really hard to understand what’s going on and why it’s going on. The system is flawed.”
  • Bobby Fulton’s son posted a medical update from his father: “MEDICAL UPDATE FROM DAD: Please continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers! Two powerful words IS and WAS. On Sunday morning I woke up and was spitting a large amount of blood out of my mouth. It really scared me, I called Ed Wilson and Josh Hines and they took me to the James Emergency Room. Upon getting back to the room, they gave me a CT Scan, when we got back to the emergency room, I was laying in the bed, and 5-6 people were surrounding me and they said we found the problem. There is an artery in your throat near your nose that the radiation that kind of messed up, and it is finally blown and that’s what’s bleeding, it IS right by where your tumor IS. I asked one of the people standing there does that mean I have cancer, one shook their head up and down yes. They said the artery IS where the tumor IS. They began discussing a plan to take care of this artery, they were going to destroy it and close it down. So I go, and as we’re going the artery IS where the tumor IS. So finally I asked, do I have cancer to another person, and they said we didn’t see any evidence of it (PRAISE GOD!). So I said to another person that they’ve been telling me the artery was near where the tumor IS. That person told me they should have used the word WAS and not IS. And I said, yes it makes a big difference. I’m thankful that at this time, I can say I’m cancer free. I’m thankful for all the prayers and all the love you all continue to show me. That’s why it is always important to choose your words wisely. There’s a big difference between IS and WAS.”
  • PWInsider is reporting that Cody’s open challenge will open tonight’s Dynamite, while Chris Jericho & Jake Hager vs. The Jurassic Express will be the main event.
  • Orange Cassidy spoke to ESPN about his start in the business, the Orange Cassidy character, and his current run with AEW.
  • Sky Sports Italy announced that All Elite Wrestling will be airing on the station.
  • Sports Illustrated talked to Cody about his open challenge segment: “We need to always be aware of the world around us. One of the charming things about what we’ve been doing is we’ve been real and we’ve been transparent. Wrestling exists outside of AEW, we are aware of that. We try to be the best wrestling, and I really think we are, but there is great wrestling outside of us, too. It’s important for us to acknowledge that.”
  • AEW is collaborating with Capcom for two new limited edition t-shirt designs from the Street Fighter video game series.
  • Here are the updated AEW rankings as of July 22.
  • Stu Bennett talked to Chris Van Vilet on the NWA’s future and his movie career.

MMA

  • The Irene Aldana/Holly Holm main event that was set for August 1 if off after Aldana tested positive for COVID-19. Derek Brunson vs. Edmen Shahbazyan will be the new main event, and will stay at three rounds as opposed to the usual five round main event.
  • Combate Americas, which was supposed to return with shows in Miami on August 28, September 11, and September 25, has postponed those plans. Combates Americas CEO Campbell McLaren said in a statement: “This is not a decision we took lightly, and is based entirely on our focus to prioritize the safety of our employees, broadcast partners, fighters and the broader MMA community. We explored many alternatives to avoid this measure, including the possibility of moving our in-studio fights to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the state of is in a similarly precarious situation with COVID outbreaks, and it seems untenable to proceed without taking into consideration the health of those we love.”
  • Holm’s manager Lenny Fresquez told MMA Fighting that they were looking for another fighter for Holm to face, but the plan didn’t come together in time.
  • Nadia Kassem is out of her August 8 fight against Miranda Granger. Granger posted a video on Facebook saying she was pulling out of the match.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: WWF Invasion

CONTACT INFORMATION

Eric Young returns at Impact Slammiversary

Posted on by Josh Nason

After plenty of speculation, Eric Young made his return to Impact Wrestling at Saturday’s Slammiversary.

Rich Swann was announced as the mystery fourth entrant for the vacant World title fatal four way, but Young’s music hit afterward and he said the match was now a five way instead. He was eliminated by Swann during the match, leading to an attack afterward that injured Swann and made him prone to a subsequent elimination by Ace Austin.

The 40-year-old Young spent 12 years with Impact/TNA from 2004 through 2016, winning every title the company had. 

He was released by WWE as part of their April financial cuts after five years in the system. He spent three years in NXT as the leader of the SAnitY stable, winning the tag titles, before they were called up to SmackDown in April 2018.

Toward the end of his run and after being split off from the group following a move to Raw, he was relegated to Main Event matches with the occasional Raw appearance thrown in.

WWE Main Event results: Ricochet vs. Young, Carrillo vs. Benjamin

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Ricochet returned to Main Event, defeating Eric Young in a very fine opening match. Humberto Carrillo then made his show debut with a win over Shelton Benjamin.

Both matches were strong and with the Raw and SmackDown quick recaps, the show was a perfectly fun way to spend 45 minutes.

**********

Ricochet defeated Eric Young (5:28)

This was really strong. Two talented, currently underused performers doing a really good job of warming up the pre-Raw crowd was a pleasure to watch.

Eric Young flipped around for Ricochet extremely well. He tried to work a 205 Live style to fit in with Ricochet and was generally up to the task, and even more impressive given that these two have only worked together once before on TV and that was over a year ago.

Ricochet teased the flip dive to the outside twice before finally hitting it on the third attempt. Ricochet went for his finisher twice, too, but was knocked off the top rope by Young each time.

Eventually, Ricochet was just too quick for Young, who ran out of steam and ability to thwart his plans. Ricochet hit the 630 for the win and the crowd was into it. This was good, solid babyface vs. heel fare.

Humberto Carrillo defeated Shelton Benjamin (5:17)

The impressive Humberto Carrillo made his Main Event debut here after what has been an excellent first run on the main roster. The 25-year-old’s work with Andrade has been outstanding at times and often a contender for the best match on the show. Their Elimination Chamber match is a case in point.

Benjamin has been a regular on Main Event over the last month and has looked somewhat rejuvenated. His matches have been very good and his new cross armbar submission hold has been inescapable until now.

Benjamin went for the move within the first 30 seconds of the match and they did it so well that it looked like total chance that Carrillo was close enough to the ropes to get his legs over them to break the hold. Carrillo worked 100 mph before eating a big boot to the outside; Benjamin stood smoldering and we went to a break.

It was actually pretty impressive what they managed to fit in to such a short match. Benjamin really helped to put Carrillo over. They did a cool spot outside where Carrillo flipped over him into a handstand on the apron and then fell back onto Benjamin and planted him in a DDT.

Carrillo tried to finish things off, but Benjamin rolled out of the way when he came off the top rope. Carrillo landed on his feet, but Benjamin wasted no time in locking in his new submission move. This time, Carrillo managed to stand up to reverse the hold into a cover. Benjamin released the hold and kicked out at two.

Carrillo then put Benjamin in position with a spin kick and came off the top rope with a moonsault for the win.

Final Thoughts —

Two good Main Events in two weeks. Yes, it’s a shame that performers of this quality end up working on a show like this that has such little reach these days, but if you don’t have much time to watch WWE content it’s worth seeking it out as a one-stop shop to catch up on the past week of storylines.

WWE Main Event results: Akira Tozawa vs. Eric Young

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway:

This was a a fun show all around this week. It began with Shelton Benjamin submitting Curt Hawkins, as he continues to experiment with a new, devastating submission hold. Akira Tozawa then beat Eric Young in a strong outing in what was their first ever match together.

**********

Shelton Benjamin defeated Curt Hawkins (w/ Zack Ryder) (4:35)

Benjamin debuted a new cross armbar type submission hold last week in defeating No Way Jose. Byron Saxton and Mickie James don’t know what to call it yet, but it’s clear that with it, Benjamin is looking like a much more fearful entity.

There was a point when Hawkins was on this show almost every week during his 0-269 losing streak. Although it’s been a while, it was good to see him again here. He and Zack Ryder always go down well with a live crowd and there was a fun energy to this match.

They did a spot where Ryder tried to distract Benjamin on the outside, but he was wise to it and ignored him, rolling back in to subsequently post Hawkins. They gave Hawkins hope with a series of clotheslines, but it all came down to the submission spot.

For the submission, Benjamin had Hawkins facedown this week vs. last week where Jose tapped on his back. Hawkins played the pain up way better here, teasing that he might make it to the ropes before having no choice but to tap. 

This match was good and exactly what it should have been. Performers with this kind of in-ring experience always make this show easy and fun to watch.

Akira Tozawa defeated Eric Young (6:17)

This was Tozawa and Young’s first match together on WWE television which made it all the more impressive. They worked really well together, told a good story, and did some fairly intricate stuff that would have fallen flat in less experienced hands.

In one spot, Tozawa teased a dive, but Young had it scouted, so Tozawa jumped the top rope and went for a running punt kick. Young ducked under and swept Tozawa’s legs, forcing him to land on the apron. Young then followed it up with a swinging neckbreaker to the mat. They also did a seriously complicated exchange before the finish that ended with Tozawa launching himself like a lawn dart at Young on the outside. The crowd really appreciated the work throughout here. 

Young did a beautiful top rope elbow drop and Tozawa tried an octopus submission hold, but it all ended when Tozawa threw Young off the top rope and landed a senton bomb for the win.

Final Thoughts:

For any casual fan, this is a really easy show to watch right now. Two fun matches were sandwiched between the best bits from Raw and SmackDown from this week (Cena’s return, Goldberg and Reigns, plus Orton and Beth Phoenix) as well as some fantastic WrestleMania and Elimination Chamber video packages.

In 51 minutes, there’s not much to hate about Main Event.

WWE Main Event results: Cedric Alexander vs. Akira Tozawa

Posted on by F4W Staff

By Skylar Russell for F4WOnline.com

The Big Takeaway:

This week’s Main Event from Everett, WA, had two above average matches that made for a very watchable episode.

Show Recap:

We have Byron Saxton and Mickie James on commentary this week.

Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins defeated Shelton Benjamin & Eric Young (4:18)

This was Benjamin’s first appearance on TV since the Royal Rumble and he teamed with Young, who has been with a carousel of tag team partners over the past few weeks.

Benjamin took out Hawkins with a jumping knee to start the match which allowed Ryder to take advantage early. Ryder quickly lost momentum and Benjamin slammed him a few times before making the tag to Young. Young stomped on Ryder and then tagged Benjamin back in who hit a beautiful snap suplex, followed by a headlock. The crowd got Ryder back into it for a second before Benjamin dumped him over the top rope.

Benjamin later tagged himself back in and backed Ryder into the corner. He missed a flying knee, leading to both men making the hot tag. Hawkins charged Benjamin who quickly made it to the apron. Young and Hawkins had an exchange resulting in a back body drop by Hawkins for two.

A Ryder dive on Benjamin to the outside distracted Hawkins and allowed Young to take him off the top rope. Hawkins regained his composure quickly and Ryder returned to the apron, allowing them to hit the Bro Island Express on Benjamin for the win.

Cedric Alexander defeated Akira Tozawa (7:12)

Tozawa started with a wrist lock and backed Alexander into the corner, which he fought out of quickly. The men locked up again and Tozawa was still focused on the wrist. Alexander did a couple of bounces off the canvas before Tozawa transitioned into a headlock, downing Alexander to the mat. 

Alexander fought him off and backed Tozawa to the ropes before chopping him, but Tozawa turned the tables fast, getting him on the apron and then booting him off. Tozawa went for a dive, but stopped after Alexander moved out of the way. Alexander popped back up on the apron and hit a backbreaker on Tozawa on the ring apron.

Back in the ring after the break, Tozawa got thrown in the air but turned it into a magnificent hurricanrana which sent Alexander outside. Tozawa took the advantage and hit a bullet suicide dive. Tozawa got a two count and was visually frustrated. 

The two exchanged chops and punches for a minute before Tozawa turned  it into a Octopus Stretch, when turned into a rollup count for two. Now both extremely frustrated, they exchanged more strikes leading to Tozawa hitting a beautiful reverse spike rana for a very close two. 

Tozawa headed to the top rope, but Alexander quickly hit him to prevent any offense. Tozawa pushed him off and dove, landing on his feet before Alexander handsprung off the ropes to hit an excellent kick to the head, followed by the lumbar check for the pin. The crowd got into it at the end, which was a plus. 

WWE Main Event results: Natalya vs. Sarah Logan

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Sarah Logan has new ring gear and face paint, but it didn’t help her as she submitted to Natalya’s Sharpshooter. No Way Jose grabbed a rare win against Eric Young, with Young now winless in singles action since July.

Vic Joseph and Byron Saxton were on announcing duties again this week and still no mention of Mickie James or Dio Maddin.

**********

Natalya defeated Sarah Logan (5:13)

Natalya is a perfect example of a wrestler who just works wherever she is needed. Two weeks ago, she was on Raw facing off against Asuka, while last Sunday she was in the Survivor Series five-on-five-on-five women’s triple threat elimination tag match.

Here she was up against Sarah Logan, a member of the women’s roster who — apart from that appearance at Survivor Series — has become a regular on Main Event with little going on right now. 

The pair worked perfectly well together in this one, with Natalya allowing Logan plenty of offense and leading her through five minutes of good back and forth.

The finish was fairly pedestrian. Logan attempted a double knee strike in the corner, but Natalya had it scouted and rolled Logan up for a near fall. Natalya sent Logan into the post and — as she sold it — Natalya locked in the Sharpshooter for the win.

No Way Jose defeated Eric Young (6:36)

Another week, another defeat for former SAnitY member Eric Young. And against of all people, perennial Main Event jobber No Way Jose. 

You have to go back as far as July to find Young in a singles match where he came out on top and — despite sporadic tag team team victories — he finds himself right at the bottom of a stacked roster with no real direction.

No Way Jose matches are never much to shout about and Young looked streets ahead of Jose in terms of in-ring quality. When he gets going, he moves around with such speed and dominance.

The finish came after a commercial break. Young came off the top turnbuckle for a dive, but Jose dodged it and Young landed on his feet. Jose then hit the pop-up punch for the win.

WWE Main Event results: Cedric Alexander vs. Eric Young

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Mojo Rawley squashed a local in the opener. Cedric Alexander and Eric Young had a fine back and forth at the end of the show, with Alexander taking the spoils in the end. 

The announce team has been really changeable for weeks now. This week it was Vic Joseph and Byron Saxton, with no mention of Mickie James. We are to assume that Dio Maddin is still selling the beating he took from Brock Lesnar on Raw two weeks ago.

**********

Mojo Rawley defeated Boston Bob (3:27)

Well, this was new. They stuck Mojo Rawley out for a squash match against a local jobber. You have to question why, when the roster is so huge, but it was okay while it lasted. And, actually, it lasted a little too long.

“Boston Bob” was already in the ring, and since they were in Boston this week, that was the joke. But he did have his own merch, which is more than Rawley can boast. Saxton noted “I know that guy! He stole the last egg roll in catering!”

Why it took over three minutes for Rawley to win this, I don’t know. He looked disgusted throughout and the crowd quickly lost interest. After lots of posturing and beating Bob down, he finally ended things with an Alabama Slam.

Cedric Alexander defeated Eric Young (8:32)

This was vastly superior and went through a commercial break to build to some false finishes and near falls. Cedric Alexander was the star here and this gave him a much needed win — his first since early October.

It’s interesting that out of all of SAnitY, Eric Young has come off the worst. He has jobbed around as a singles wrestler and in random tag team combinations for weeks on this show. It’s clear that they have nothing for him, but he is also portraying a non-entity of a character right now.

Both men were all beat up and had little left in the tank when we came out of the commercial break. Young nailed Alexander with a DDT and then went up to the top rope to hit a beautiful elbow drop. It looked all over — but Alexander kicked out and at that point you could tell that the crowd were invested.

Young yelled at Alexander and then slid off the apron under Alexander’s legs. Alexander ducked his clothesline attempt and hit the Lumbar Check for the win. 

This was a good little match in the end and one of the better matches we’ve had on this show in a while.

WWE Main Event results: Hawkins & Ryder vs. Rowan & Young

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Shelton Benjamin defeated No Way Jose to make it two wins in a row after making his Main Event debut last week. Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins also went two for two, seeing off Eric Young and the new tag partner he had this week — Erick Rowan.

With no Byron Saxton or Dio Maddin, the commentary team was Vic Joseph with Mickie James.

**********

Shelton Benjamin defeated No Way Jose (5:50)

Benjamin made an impressive Main Event debut last week. Despite it being a pity that he has nothing creatively at the moment and so is being used on Main Event, he immediately brought some relevance to the show.

Here against No Way Jose, there was much more of an even feel and he gave a lot of the match to Jose. The first two minutes were all Jose, with Benjamin looking rattled by the approach.

They went back and forth, with Jose hitting Benjamin with a double knee backbreaker before setting up for the knockout punch. Benjamin just about had it scouted before he then popped up and hit Jose with Paydirt for the win.

This was fine, but Benjamin being booked as a merciless wrestler who bullies and torments his opponents — just as he did against Akira Tozawa last week — would be way more interesting.

Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins defeated Erick Rowan & Eric Young (6:08)

Ryder and Hawkins have new ring gear to make them look like a unit. It’s taken long enough, as even when they were Tag Team Champions, they were still coming out to their own individual music and wearing their old gear.

Last week, they saw off Eric Young & Mojo Rawley, but Rowan was infinitely better as a difference-maker here. 

Ryder and Hawkins cut the ring in half in the early going, but when Young knocked Ryder off the top rope to the outside, he tagged in Rowan, who absolutely annihilated Ryder with a charge on the floor.

Young and Rowan softened up Ryder. He played babyface in peril until finally giving Hawkins the hot tag. Eventually, Hawkins sent Rowan outside and launched Ryder on top of him so that he could turn around and cover Young with a sunset flip.

This was a good shock finish, with Ryder and Hawkins celebrating up the ramp while Rowan and Young stayed in the ring shaking their heads in disbelief.

WWE Main Event results: Lucha House Party vs. EC3 & Eric Young

Posted on by James Cox

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.

*********

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.