This was a solid opening match. Bateman stands a good five or six inches above Young Lion Knight. In an early exchange, Knight went for a headlock but lost contact with Bateman, who then slipped around back with a waistlock on Knight. He’d later blast Knight with a hard elbow that knocked Knight off his feet.
Bateman slowly worked Knight over with a mix of fundamental wrestling and top-shelf cheap shots and holds. It was subtle, but at one point Bateman locked in a neck crank that was really made to look like a rear chinlock.
Knight landed a beautiful dropkick in an explosion of a comeback. I think “beautiful” is the correct term for this particular dropkick, too. Imagine the height that SANADA or Kazuchika Okada get with their dropkicks with a moonsault landing, a lá Paul London.
Knight landed a basement spear for two. Bateman came back moments later with a rolling elbow, then put Knight away with a tombstone piledriver for the win.
Karl Fredericks, Fred Rosser & Adrian Quest defeated West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs) & Misterioso
Quest and “Big Papi Pump ” Misterioso were in first for their teams, though it was Misterioso and Fred Rosser who were the first to leave an impression. Rosser blocked a few kicks from Misterioso before NJoA’s resident luchador took Rosser out with a handspring back elbow. He then tagged out to Isaacs of West Coast Wrecking Crew, who’d face-mash Rosser a couple times upon entry; “Mr. No-Days-Off ” did not like that, and would pay it back with a couple of hip drops. These two had natural chemistry together.
Later in the match, Nelson and Misterioso darted across the ring to take out Fredericks and Rosser, knocking them off the apron. Fredericks later tagged in and cleaned house, taking out Isaacs. He did a spinebuster. Nelson dove off the ropes and kind of tagged in Isaacs on his way down onto Fredericks. Rosser broke up the pin to make the save for his team. Quest did an Asai moonsault onto the floor onto WCWC, and later Fredericks would pick up the win for his team, pinning Misterioso after Manifest Destiny in the end.
Tag Team Turbulence finals: The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows) defeated Violence Unlimited (Brody King & Chris Dickinson)
Kevin Kelly called this an “all-star match” earlier on in the night, with IMPACT’s Good Brothers taking on ROH’s Violence Unlimited inside a New Japan ring.
“Dirty Daddy” Dickinson and “Machine Gun” Anderson were in first for their respective teams. They took their time early on, both teams in no hurry to rush through the match. Dickinson scored early on after using a dragon screw leg whip and single-leg crab on Anderson before tagging out to his partner, Brody King. Anderson immediately rolled back to the blue corner and tagged in Doc Gallows. Gallows might actually be a few inches taller than the 6’5” King. They banged into each other a couple of times before they started trading blows. King landed a cross-body block off the ropes. It was around this point that Kevin Kelly made a reference to King’s band, God’s Hate, which I very much enjoyed.
Gallows and Dickinson then went at it, with Gallows working over Dickinson until Dickinson returned fire with a dropkick off the ropes. He then tagged back out to King, who came in and did a springboard double-armdrag to the Good Bros. I don’t think he’s ever done this spot on Strong, but he did bust it out a few times while on tour with NJPW in 2019 during their Best of the Super Juniors, which Milano Collection AT lost his mind for on commentary.
When Gallows and Anderson slid to the floor, King went right after them, skipping over the top corner post before launching himself onto both with a somersault cannonball, similar to what Jushin Liger often did. King moves like he’s two feet shorter and 100 lbs. lighter than he actually is, and it’s always amazing to watch. He earned a two-count after planting Anderson with a Black Hole Slam.
King tagged out to Dickinson, but when King hoisted Anderson up for another slam while still in the ring, Anderson raked King’s eyes, forcing King to let him go. From here, Anderson tagged out to Gallows and the Good Brothers went back to working over Dickinson. They used a back suplex + neckbreaker drop combo for two. Dickinson answered back with a swinging DDT that’d make El Samurai proud.
When Dickinson went for his running Death Valley Bomb finish on Anderson, Gallows broke it up. The Good Brothers then put Dickinson away with the Magic Killer to win the match and the tournament. The Good Brothers are the inaugural winners of NJoA’s first Tag Team Turbulence tournament.
Former NJPW president and current NJoA official Kaname Tezuka presented the Good Brothers their Tag Team Turbulence trophies inside the ring after the match. Anderson cut a brief promo afterwards stating that the Good Brothers want the IWGP Tag Team championships and that it didn’t matter which city they’d wrestle for them in Japan because when the Good Brothers want something, they get it.
Final thoughts:
While tonight’s episode was solid, as per usual, it didn’t have the flare NJoA might have hoped for. Each of the Tag Team Turbulence matches over the last three weeks have been very good, but none were outstanding. The tournament was essentially an interesting albeit mildly tedious way of bringing the Good Brothers back into the fold without the booking feeling too forced, but even still, in the end, that’s sort of what the tournament felt like, an angle for Gallows and Anderson to pump them up for their next tour of Japan, whenever that may be.
King shined the brightest in the main event, but the match as a whole felt sort of flat and would most definitely have benefited from having an audience.
NJPW’s Tag Team Turbulence tournament kicked off tonight. It was the first night of the eight-team tournament, with lots of attention on the returning Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson), who have been away from NJPW since 2016.
Tag Team Turbulence, round one: The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) defeated TJP and Clark Connors
Connors and TJP aren’t strangers to each other: They first squared off at the 2019 Super J-Cup, but later joined forces shortly after for NJPW’s Super Junior Tag League that fall. They’d face the returning Good Brothers tonight, who fans have seen most recently on IMPACT and AEW. This was both Gallows’ and Anderson’s first appearance on Strong.
TJP and Connors impressed early on with double-team attacks, with TJP landing a basement dropkick after Connors dropped an elbow on Anderson. Gallows tagged in next, bailing his partner out. A fearless Connors threw haymakers at the 6’8” Gallows, but the veteran absorbed pretty much everything the “White Rhino” threw at him and had him on the mat with relative ease after two high kicks. Alex Koslov accidentally called him “Luke Gallows” in commentary.
Gallows worked Connors over in the middle of the ring, but when Gallows missed an elbow drop, Connors saw his chance to slip away and tag out to TJP. A dazed Gallows tagged out to Anderson. TJP quickly took Anderson out with a springboard uppercut, then took Gallows off the apron with a dropkick for good measure.
The finish came a few minutes later when the Good Brothers made a swift comeback, taking both Connors and TJP out with relative ease: Anderson put TJP down with his signature spinebuster while Gallows eliminated Connors from the ring after another big boot. The two put TJP away with the Magic Killer to win in 8:01. The Good Brothers advance to the second round of Tag Team Turbulence.
Tag Team Turbulence, round one: Yuji Nagata and Ren Narita defeated Fred Yehi and Wheeler Yuta
Narita kicked Yuta low early on. Yuta did a nice job of visually selling the idea that he didn’t want to exchange strikes with Narita. The two went into a smooth amateur-style exchange before both would tag out to their respective partners.
On commentary, Kevin Kelly noted that both Nagata and Yehi have collegiate wrestling backgrounds, and that Nagata would have been an Olympic representative for Japan if he hadn’t turned pro. It should be noted that Nagata’s younger brother, Katsuhiko Nagata, would later represent Japan at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, where he won the silver medal in Greco-Roman (63–66 kg). These two were very good together, Yehi and Nagata. Smooth and “realistic” wrestling from the two in their short exchange.
Nagata would later work over Yuta’s arm, tenderizing it for kohai Narita, who really does stand out on this show whenever he’s on it. Alex Koslov mentioned his excellent match with Chris Dickinson on the show from back in February. Narita has a distinct presence, for sure.
Nagata landed an exploder on Yehi and tagged out to Narita, who quickly fell victim to a barrage of double-team offense from Yuta and Yehi in the blue corner. Yuta used a bridging German suplex for two. Narita later responded with his own suplexes, first with a wristlock suplex followed by a high front suplex for two before Yehi stepped in to break the count. Nagata wasn’t happy with that, so he stepped in to take Yehi out.
Narita then did the “execution” gesture, a thumb across the throat, then whipped Yuta into the ropes and caught him with another high front suplex, this time with a bridge. Narita pinned Yuta in 10:59. Narita and Nagata advance to the semi-finals.
Tag Team Turbulence, round one: West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs) defeated Kevin Knight and The DKC
Right before this match got under way, Kevin Kelly announced that NJPW Strong will have a live taping at Thunder Studios in Long Beach on August 16.
Katsuyori Shibata’s newest pupils, Kevin Knight and the DKC, were amped up beforehand. Knight was able to get the better of Jorel Nelson early. He tagged the DKC in quickly, but Nelson used a jawbreaker on DKC, then tagged out to Royce Isaacs, who would then slam DKC into the corner. The DKC answered back with a flurry of Giant Baba-esque chops, then locked Isaacs into a crucifix on the mat. Isaacs powered out of that, then dropped DKC throat-first onto the top rope with a stun-gun before tagging Nelson back into the match.
At the five-minute mark, Knight landed a high dropkick, tilt-a-whirl slam and basement spear in quick succession. Isaacs answered back minutes later with a cool-looking pump-handle powerslam.
Knight almost nabbed a victory for his team when he used an inside cradle to pin Isaacs for two. It wasn’t enough in the end, though: WCWC would win the match in 7:32 after Nelson used an assisted diving elbow drop off of Isaacs/Knight (Isaacs was holding Knight in a fireman’s carry hold); Isaacs then slammed Knight back-first onto Nelson’s knees for the pin.
Tag Team Turbulence, round one: Violence Unlimited (Brody King & Chris Dickinson) defeated Team Filthy (JR Kratos & Danny Limelight)
The King/Dickinson combo is relatively new. All four in this match have been important cogs in the NJPW Strong machine this year, and Kratos vs. King in a singles main event from a few months ago was arguably one of the best stand-alone matches in the show’s short history.
King and Kratos darted at each other as soon as the bell sounded, crashing into each other with giant lariats. Neither budged. Elbows came next, and still, neither moved. It wasn’t until King exploded off the ropes into Kratos with a running lariat did the Team Filthy enforcer leave his feet. But that, too, was short lived: Kratos was immediately up, then delivered a big running lariat of his own, knocking King to the mat. King, too, stood back up without hesitation and somehow put Kratos back onto the mat with a back body drop before tagging out to “Dirty Daddy” Chris Dickinson.
Dickinson used to be a part of Team Filthy until they turned on him after he challenged leader and current STRONG Openweight champion, Tom Lawlor, to a match. As soon as Dickinson was in the ring, he chased after both Kratos and Danny Limelight, an attempt at personal revenge before really digging into the more competitive aspects of the match.
It was a brief chase, though, because Team Filthy launched straight into an aggressive double-team barrage in their best effort to wear Dickinson out. Dickinson took a good amount of punishment from both Limelight and Kratos before he was finally able to tag back out to King.
Dickinson and King unleashed their own relentless double-team attack next, with King squashing Limelight with an avalanche in the corner before Dickinson sliced him up with hard (and loud) chops. When Dickinson went to charge at Limelight again, JR Kratos, who was standing on the floor, held onto Dickinson’s ankle to distract him. He’d eventually launch Dickinson over his head with a big German suplex, but Brody King pounced on Kratos as soon as he was back to his feet, putting him back down with a lariat. Kratos rolled out to the floor, so King then did a tope suicida through the ropes and crash-landed onto Kratos.
Back in the ring, Limelight went for a low blow behind the ref’s back, but Dickinson blocked it. Dickinson then clobbered him with a lariat that turned Limelight inside out. Finally, and in emphatic fashion, Dickinson laid Limelight out with a deadlift German suplex and running Death Valley Bomb to pick up the win for Violence Unlimited, who now also have advanced to the Tag Team Turbulence semi-finals.
Final thoughts: This was a tight episode with tons of action. Each match was around ten minutes or less, with each of the matches being either good or very good. The main event had the most intensity and energy, plus it had months of backstory already built into it, so it felt big-time despite being relatively short. And I think I speak for a lot of other fans out there when I ask of NJPW: Please give us more Brody King vs. JR Kratos in the future.
Based on tonight’s results, the Tag Team Turbulence semi-finals look like this:
Following Friday’s NJPW Strong, the semifinals are set for the Tag Team Turbulence tournament.
Brody King and Chris Dickinson were victorious over Team Filthy’s JR Kratos and Danny Limelight in the main event of Strong to secure their place in the semifinals.
King and Dickinson will face the West Coast Wrecking Crew duo of Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs, who advanced to the next round with their victory over the LA Dojo unit of Kevin Knight and The DKC.
On the other side of the bracket, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows beat Clark Connors and TJP in a first round match after Anderson and Gallows hit a Magic Killer on TJP.
The Good Brothers advance and will face Yuji Nagata and Ren Narita. Nagata and Narita advanced with a victory over Fred Yehi and Wheeler Yuta.
The semifinals will take place on the Friday, July 23 Strong. Next week’s show will also feature an NJPW Strong Openweight Championship match between Tom Lawlor and Satoshi Kojima.
The Tag Team Turbulence finals will be held on the July 30 episode.
Strong airs Fridays at 10 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World and is available on demand shortly after airing.
Here are the upcoming Strong lineups:
NJPW Strong Tag Team Turbulence, Friday, July 23 —
NJPW Strong Openweight Championship: Tom Lawlor (c) vs. Satoshi Kojima
Tag Team Turbulence semifinal: Yuji Nagata & Ren Narita vs. The Good Brothers
Tag Team Turbulence semifinal: Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs vs. Brody King & Chris Dickinson
NJPW Strong Tag Team Turbulence, Friday, July 30 —
If the Good Brothers are to make it to No Surrender as Impact Tag Team Champions, they will have to get through James Storm and Chris Sabin on next Tuesday’s show first.
A title match between the two teams was announced Tuesday, made after Storm and Sabin confronted Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson about a recent sneak attack. The champions said they didn’t want to do the match on this week’s show because they wanted to be fresh for AEW Beach Break tomorrow.
Private Party will await the winners at next Saturday’s No Surrender show on Impact Plus.
Other matches and segments for next week include:
The contract signing for Impact World Champion Rich Swann vs. Tommy Dreamer for No Surrender
The in-ring return of ODB as she faces Kimber Lee
Kiera Hogan vs. Nevaeh
Cousin Jake giving an answer to Eric Young’s invitation to join his Violent By Design group
It took longer than expected, but The Good Brothers made their AEW debut Wednesday night on Dynamite.
The Impact Tag Team Champions teamed with AEW World Champion Kenny Omega in a win over the Varsity Blondes and Danny Limelight — a preview of their six-man tag team match against Impact World Champion Rich Swann and the Motor City Machine Guns this Saturday on the Impact Hard To Kill pay-per-view.
Omega and Don Callis were backstage with the Young Bucks in preparation for Wednesday’s match. Callis said they would see the Bucks out there, but when he and Omega got to the ring, Callis instead introduced the “World Tag Team Champions” and Omega’s “best friends”, the Good Brothers. Omega, the Brothers and the Bucks had reformed their faction on last week’s Dynamite as a callback to their Bullet Club days.
After the match, Jon Moxley ran out and attacked Omega but the numbers were just too much. The Lucha Bros came out to even the odds and a brawl ensued which brought out the Bucks. They tried to calm down Moxley and the Bros superkicked them instead. The brawl continued and Callis and Omega slinked away while surveying the chaotic scene.
In the summer of 2019, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson re-upped with WWE when it was thought they would sign with the still-developing AEW, referenced in this July 2020 BTE. They were released last April as part of the WWE pandemic cuts and signed with Impact in a June 2020 deal that allows them to also work for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Impact Wrestling’s Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson made their AEW debut on tonight’s Dynamite, saving Kenny Omega from an attack by Jon Moxley and aligning with Omega and The Young Bucks’ The Elite.
Gallows and Anderson’s debut came while saving Omega from an attack by Jon Moxley. The Young Bucks then joined the fray after other members of the roster tried to attack The Good Brothers and Omega.
The AEW announce team heavily pushed this as a reunion of “The Club” and “The Band,” referencing this group’s Bullet Club alliance in NJPW without mentioning Bullet Club by name.
Following Omega’s successful AEW World title defense against Rey Fenix, Jon Moxley ran in to attack the champ with a barbed wire bat. Gallows and Anderson then entered to make the save for Omega. Omega, Gallows and Anderson proceeded to beat down Moxley and an army of undercard talent that hit the ring to try to fend off the attack.
The Young Bucks then ran in, seemingly to fight off Gallows and Anderson. Instead, The Bucks hit Griff Garrison and Brian Pillman Jr. with superkicks as they attempted to attack Omega.
Omega, Gallows and Anderson posed in the ring withe the “too sweet” Bullet Club hand signal and invited The Bucks to join. The Bucks seemed reluctant at first, but threw up the too sweet and the closing shot of the show was the five of them with their hands together in the pose.
The interpromotional angle between Impact and AEW kicked off on the December 2, 2020 Winter is Coming show. Impact executive and longtime Omega friend Don Callis helped Omega win the AEW title from Moxley on that show.
In the ensuing weeks, Omega, as well as AEW announcer Tony Schiavone and AEW President Tony Khan have appeared on Impact programming.
Prior to tonight’s debut of Gallows and Anderson, Callis had been the only Impact performer to appear on Dynamite in this interpromotional angle.
The first Impact Wrestling of 2021 will feature AEW World Champion Kenny Omega, Don Callis, and Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers nearly two weeks before they will headline Impact’s Hard To Kill pay-per-view.
The three former Bullet Club members delivered a beatdown to Impact World Champion Rich Swann and the Motor City Machine Guns on the final 2020 regular edition of Impact, setting up their six-man tag match at Hard To Kill.
Tuesday’s show will also feature Jordynne Grace and Jazz vs. Nevaeh and Havok in the last semifinal match of the Knockouts Tag Team Title tournament; Sami Callihan vs. Eddie Edwards in a battle of longtime rivals; Moose vs. Matthew Palmer in a last three minutes challenge match; Rhino and Cousin Jake vs. Eric Young and Joe Doering; and KC Navarro vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Blake Christian vs. Ace Austin in a preview of Saturday’s Genesis Super X-Cup tournament on Impact Plus.
**********
Opening video was a recap of AEW’s Kenny Omega’s involvement on Impact Wrestling, and how we came about the Hard to Kill main event between Omega and the Good Brothers vs Rich Swann and the Motor City Machine Guns.
Crazzy Steve defeated Ace Austin (with Madman Fulton), Blake Christian, and KC Navarro
These are four of the eight participants that will be wrestling at Genesis for the Super X Cup tournament. This is Ace Austin’s first match in about a month.
This match was a big showcase for Christian, from early on, he had a chance to show off versus Ace Austin. Even when Navarro seemed to be gaining momentum, Christian jumped in, took him out and once again got all eyes on him, at one point getting a big near fall on Austin with a Spanish fly and frog splash combo.
Towards the end of the match, we got a spot with all men taking turns to hit a dive, followed by everyone hitting some big moves, and at the end, Crazzy Steve pinned Navarro for the win.
Commentary sold this win as big momentum for Steve for the Super X Cup, but realistically, it seems prime for Ace Austin to win.
– Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down the up to date card for Hard To Kill, as well as tonight’s card.
– We got the weekly commercial by Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone, once again taking shots about paying for Impact’s bills. They ran down the New Year’s Smash card. Khan took shots at Don Callis’ argument that he was the reason why AEW was created. Khan was in full promo mode tonight.
– Over at Omega’s bus, Omega, Anderson, Gallows, and Callis are all appraising the championships they hold. Callis said that we’re days away from Hard To Kill and they have to win it. Omega said that there is no combination in wrestling that could defeat them.
Cody Deaner & Joe Doering (with Eric Young) defeated Cousin Jake & Rhino
Cody Deaner has shaved his head as part of his new heel gimmick. He looks good. Deaner betrayed Cousin Jake at Final Resolution, when he joined EY’s stable.
This match served as the in-ring introduction of Doering, and the new heel gimmick of Deaner, so from the get go, they cut off Cousin Jake and worked over him for a while. Deaner was just overly vicious, with fast attacks, acting like a deranged man. Match finished when Deaner low blowed Jake after a distraction from EY, getting the pin afterwards.
There was the underlying story that Cousin Jake didn’t want to wrestle Cody and kept trying to talk sense into him, and thus, was easy to cut him off. Rhino however, kept forcing Jake to confront Deaner and finish him off.
After the match, EY was about to piledrive Cousin Jake when Tommy Dreamer ran down for the save, and between him and Rhino, ran off EY and company. Dreamer challenged them to a 3-on-3 old school rules at Hard To Kill.
– Gia Miller interviewed Matthew Palmer about his challenge with Moose tonight. He said that he wanted to get his foot in the door and while tearing up Moose’s shirt was an accident, he was gonna risk it all and face Moose instead of going home with shame.
– Back to this story, Acey Romero is investigating Johnny Swinger about Larry D being framed for Bravo’s shooting. Swinger pointed the finger at the Knockouts.
– Deonna Purrazzo and Kimber Lee came down to the ring. Purrazzo will be defending her championship at Hard To Kill against Taya Valkyrie. Here, she cut a promo on Valkyrie, asking what will be next once she locks in the Fujiwara armbar or hits the Cosa Nostra, does Valkyrie finally accept the reality that she’s done?
Valkyrie and Rosemary came out to confront them. Taya said that she’ll make it easy for Purrazzo to understand, she is the longest reigning Knockouts champion in history and while Purrazzo had an impressive 2020, she has never faced her.
Purrazzo said that Taya’s time has come and gone, Johnny Impact and Bravo are gone from her side, and the only thing she has to cling to is her record, the one that Purrazzo will break once she defeats her.
Taya said that Purrazzo is scared because she knows deep down that at Hard To Kill, she’ll humiliate her and end the era of the Virtuosa.
– Rohit Raju approached Chris Bey, he said that he forgives Bey from weasiling himself into the X Division title match at Final Resolution. Bey said that they won’t be even until he captures the X Division title, and so Raju offered to keep working together to unmask Manik so the title can be decided between them two.
They walked up to TJP, asking if he had seen Manik around. Raju said they wanted a tag match against TJP and Manik. TJP said that he and Manik don’t see eye to eye, but he’ll see what he can do. I’m actually surprised by how good and simple this plan is.
Havok and Nevaeh defeated Jordynne Grace & Jazz in a Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament Semifinal Match
This is the second semifinal of the Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament, the winners of this match advance to Hard To Kill to face off against Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz. Grace and Jazz defeated the team of Killer Kelly and Renee Michelle to advance, while Havok and Neveah defeated the team of Sea Stars.
This was a power vs power match, no matter the pair up, they went for strikes, tackles, and big moves. Match saw both teams trade control, at no point did it feel like it was one-sided. Early on, Havok and Nevaeh cut off Jazz for some minutes, followed by Grace and Jazz cutting off Nevaeh and working over her. At the end, the match broke down to tornado action, ending with Havok piledriving Jazz for the win, Grace had been laid out with a chokeslam a minute earlier.
Jazz looked fantastic, it’s rare to get to see her work as the smaller wrestler when paired up with Havok, but she worked it great.
It’ll be Havok & Nevaeh vs Hogan & Steelz at Hard To Kill. Surprised that Jazz lost at this point, I figured she’d at least make it to the finals, but by all means, she may not be available for the PPV.
– Miller interviewed Rich Swan, Alex Shelley, and Chris Sabin, who said that Impact was built on the backs of guys like the Machineguns and wrestlers like Swann, and they were not gonna allow Omega and company to just come in and think that they run the place.
Swann cut a promo on Omega telling him the title on his shoulder doesn’t say AEW, because this is Impact and he won’t allow any other champion to come in and run his mouth.
Shelley proposed they head over to the bus and kick some butt. Swann, Shelley, and Sabin called out Omega and the Good Brothers, but they were ready and jumped them from behind. They mocked them and stood tall at the end before going back to the bus.
– Backstage, Jazz looked for Grace, who apologized and said that she was frustrated for not being there for Jazz when she got pinned. Grace said that she was disappointed in herself for losing and for bringing back Jazz and having her postpone her retirement. Jazz said that it was all good and that she was happy to be able to mix it up with the young ones one last time.
Grace said that it would be an honor if she had another match in her, against her at Genesis. Jazz accepted.
– Somewhere else in the arena, Purrazzo and Lee asked James Mitchell if Su Yung was finally gone. Mitchell said that Su Yung was gone, but it was complicated, it wasn’t Susie that was left. Out came a well dressed lady, who called herself Susan.
Matthew Palmer defeated Moose in a 3 minute challenge
A couple of weeks ago, during a pull apart between Moose and Willie Mack, one of the indie wrestlers, working as security, tore off Moose’s shirt, angering him, and provoking him to make a challenge to any of these indie geeks to last three minutes with him in the ring.
Palmer tried, but Moose dropped him with two book ends to cut him off, but instead of going for the pin, Moose kept stalking and mocking and striking Palmer. Moose hit a big powerbomb and prepared for the lights out, but Willie Mack came out to distract Moose so Palmer could win out of a technicality. Does Palmer really win if Moose never tried to pin him?
This is just gonna feed the Moose vs Willie Mack feud, and hopefully does something for Palmer in the promotion.
– Ethan Page was having therapy with Karate Man, talking about his career getting derailed after losing the titles. He blamed Impact and the roster, and then he got into an argument with Karate Man and challenged him to a fight at Hard to Kill. I agree, Karate Man is indeed a career derailment, how quickly did the best tag team of 2020 became a joke.
– Matthews and Rayne ran down the card for Genesis, including the Super X Cup, Jazz vs Jordynne Grace, Moose vs Willie Mack in an I Quit match.
Next week Impact’s will be main evented by Rich Swann vs Karl Anderson in a non-title match, kicking off Wrestle Week on AXS.
Sami Callihan vs Eddie Edwards ended in a no contest
The story between these two goes back years, but as of late, Callihan and Shamrock, who had been chasing Rich Swann, came upon Edwards again and re-injured Edwards’ eye, rekindling the feud between the two.
Before the match started, we saw both men already brawling down the ramp, using chairs and baseball bats on each other. They brawled around the ring with weapons for about 10 minutes, with zero objection by the referee, before the match officially started, and no more than 2 minutes in, the referee threw the match out because neither guy would follow the rules and kept pushing him around. The two kept brawling, hit some dives, and at the end, Edwards threaten to attack Callihan with the baseball bat, and so Callihan revealed that he had Alisha Edwards trapped and so Edwards run off to find her, but what he found was Ken Shamrock, who teamed up with Calllihan who once again, attacked him with the bat.
This was terrible, start to finish, the only thing that could save this feud at this point is the return of the American Wolves or something of the like. Edwards vs Callihan has been overdone.
Callihan’s right eye got busted open accidentally, but seemed well at the end.
Two new champions were crowned tonight at Impact’s Turning Point event.
The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) won the Impact Tag Team titles, defeating the North following a Magic Killer on Ethan Page. The North only held the titles for 21 days, regaining the titles in a fatal four way match on Impact that also involved Ace Austin & Madman Fulton and The Good Brothers.
This marks the first time both Gallows and Anderson have won the Impact Tag Team titles.
Deonna Purrazzo regained the Knockouts title at Turning Point, defeating Su Yung to win the championship for the second time. In this no disqualification match, Purrazzo pinned Su Yung after catching her with a cradle piledriver. Yung held the championship for 21 days, winning the title at Bound for Glory.
Yung was a replacement at Bound for Glory for Kylie Rae, who did not appear at the event. Rae later announced on her Patreon page that she had retired from wrestling.
Opening video was a combined recap of both last week’s Impact episode and Victory Road this past weekend. It particularly focused on the ongoing tag team four-way feud surrounding the tag team titles and the Eric Young vs. Eddie Edwards title match.
Tommy Dreamer defeated Brian Myers by DQ
Dreamer got the advantage early on, spilling the match to the floor for a couple of minutes until Dreamer accidentally chopped the ring post, giving Myers the opening to suplex Dreamer on the ramp for the countout tease.
Now in control, Myers worked over Dreamer’s back and neck. Dreamer had a couple of small comebacks but kept getting cut off by Myers at each attempt.
Dreamer eventually caught Myers with a desperation powerslam to stop the momentum. Dreamer hit a cutter for a two count. Myers came back with a sky high for a near fall too.
Dreamer dodged a top rope elbow from Myers, and hit a DDT for a near fall. Myers paid it back, dodging an elbow from Dreamer, and also hit a DDT for a two count.
Myers got a kendo stick, but Dreamer got ahold of it. He stopped himself before he could use it. Myers took the kendo stick and attacked Dreamer for the DQ.
After the match, Myers kept attacking Dreamer with the kendo stick until D’Amore and security came out to stop him. Not as good as the Victory Road match and it’s only going to get worse with weapons.
– Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down tonight’s card, plus an update on the current Bound For Glory card.
– We saw Moose roam around the arena looking for the TNA World Championship belt that is scheduled to be destroyed tonight by ECIII.
– Backstage, John E. Bravo told his groomsmen that he needed them all to chip in for the wedding. Fallah Bahh took on the responsibility to get money. The Deaners, Swinger, and Crazzy Steve all argued about who owed money to who.
Rohit Raju came to the ring and called out anyone that wanted to answer the “Defeat Rohit” challenge. Willie Mack came out, but Raju told him that he already had an opportunity at Victory Road and he had failed to win. Raju asked for new competition and Jordynne Grace came out.
Jordynne Grace defeated X-Division Champion Rohit Raju in a non-title match
Raju stalled as much as he could, not wanting to give the title belt to the referee. In that distraction, Grace rolled up Raju with the O’Connor roll for the win.
Grace thought she had won the title, but the referee announced that since he wasn’t given the title to raise and announce the match as a title match, the title had not been under contest and thus Raju was still the champion. I got excited for Grace as the X-Division champion, but they got me. Grace has a win over the champion, hopefully it leads to a proper title match.
D’Amore waited for Raju at Gorilla position and told him that since he was a great fighting champion, he’d be defending the championship against Willie Mack, TJP, Trey Miguel, Chris Bey, and Jordynne Grace at Bound For Glory.
– Fallah Bahh challenged Hernandez for another arm wrestling match to get the money for Bravo’s wedding. Bahh ended up spilling coffee all over Hernandez.
The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defeated XXXL (Acey Romero & Larry D)
Romero and D jumped The Rascalz during their entrance, eliminating Wentz so they could double team Xavier, stretching and dropping him with a big powerbomb.
XXXL kept Xavier away from his corner with quick tags, strikes, and a couple of power moves. D at one point hit a military press slam into a kick for a two count.
Xavier eventually kicked himself away from D to get the tag to Wentz, who came in with a series of dropkicks to drop D and earn a two count with running shooting star press. He quickly transitioned to a sleeper for the submission attempt. The Rascalz double teamed D when he wouldn’t submit.
Finish saw Romero accidentally lariat D, who was then superkicked by Wentz. Rascalz hit hot fire flame on D for the win. Good, short match.
– We were back with Bahh, who successfully tricked Hernandez into taking a shower to get the coffee off. Bahh managed to steal the money away from Hernandez.
– Jimmy Jacobs interviewed both Dr. Foreman and Rich Swann about Swann’s rehab. Dr. Foreman said that Swann was not only good for BFG, but he was cleared as of today. Suddenly, Eric Young, dressed as a nurse, attacked Swann from behind and went after his recently recovered leg with a kettlebell. Dr. Foreman called for the cops, bless his heart.
– Gia Miller interviewed the Motor City Machine Guns. Shelley said that tonight they’re wrestling Ace Austin and Madman Fulton. They put over Austin’s ability before The Good Brothers interrupted them.
Anderson bragged about being undefeated on Impact, so Shelley responded that they were the better team and thus they were the champions. Gallows told them that they would make sure that they’d take care of them tonight because they wanted to make sure the champions made it to Bound For Glory safe and sound.
Valkyrie and Hogan started the match for their teams, with the former dominating the latter with her power advantage, tossing her from corner to corner. Taya hit her running hip attack and double knee for an early pin attempt.
Rosemary and Steelz tagged in, and once again, the power disadvantage was too much for Steelz, who was just punished from turnbuckle to turnbuckle. It wasn’t until Rosemary locked in the upside down that Hogan kicked Rosemary off the ropes and they successfully turned the match around.
Steelz and Hogan used their speed to keep Rosemary down and Taya off the apron. They got a couple of double team moves and near falls before Rosemary managed to hit Steelz with a backplex out of desperation, but it was enough to tag in Taya.
Valkyrie ran wild on both Hogan and Steelz, getting a two count with a blue thunder bomb on Hogan. She transitioned to a curb stomp and into a STF.
Finish saw Rosemary take out Hogan with a German suplex, but ate a codebreaker from Steelz. When Steelz went to take out Taya, Rosemary got her with a spear and hit standing butterfly bomb for the win. Pretty good match.
All throughout the match, we got the visual of Havok and Nevaeh watching the match in the back.
The Deaners (Cody Deaner & Cousin Jake) defeated Johnny Swinger & Crazzy Steve
Before the wrestling started, the Deaners offered a beer to Crazzy Steve, who drank some and then shared with his monkey puppet. Swinger had to tell him to take the match seriously.
The story of the match was that Swinger couldn’t get Crazzy Steve to secretly hand him the weapons from his gimmick bag, and instead was exposing everything Swinger had to the referee. Fed up, Swinger tried to use the monkey as a weapon, Steve took it away, and so Deaner took advantage, hit a DDT and won.
– We got a recap of Deonna Purrazzo breaking Susie’s arm at Victory Road after she had successfully defended the championship.
Afterwards, Miller interviewed Kylie Rae, who was distraught for not being able to do anything to save Susie. Kimber Lee interrupted Rae and teased her that she should be worried because she would suffer the same fate at Bound For Glory. Rae had enough and jumped Lee, attacking her to the point that Rae herself felt that she had gone too far with the attack.
– D’Amore met with Heath about offering him an Impact contract. Heath thanked D’Amore for the opportunity. D’Amore said that he wanted to write an offer, but Heath jumped ahead and gave D’Amore a proposal instead. Heath asked for more than D’Amore could offer, so they went back and forth on whether Heath had even earned anything. The discussion got the point that D’Amore just straight threw Heath’s papers to the air, rejecting any proposal.
Outside the office, Heath berated Rhino for telling him to reject the WWE offer he had after that RAW with McIntyre to instead join Impact as now he was left with nothing. Interesting development.
– ECIII cut a promo to Moose telling him that it was too late and that Moose had to break his attachment to the past and material possessions. ECIII threw the TNA title belt to the river saying ‘Free Moose’.
– Ken Shamrock was having second thoughts about attacking Eddie Edwards, but Sami Callihan hyped him up telling him that his attack was trending and that he was going to become the old Shamrock. Callihan got Shamrock to rage up and attack an innocent passerby.
– Matthews and Rayne announced the matches for next week, including Hogan & Steelz vs Havok & Nevaeh vs Taya & Rosemary, Kylie Rae vs Kimber Lee, Fulton vs Gallows, and an update on Rich Swann.
Impact Tag Team Champions Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) defeated Ace Austin & Madman Fulton in a non-title match
Sabin and Austin started the match with a series of counters and reversals for wrist control, quickly transitioning into both men exchanging dropkicks before Shelley tagged in.
Shelley and Sabin kept control of the match, working over Austin’s arm with quick attacks and double teams.
After some time being away from his corner, Austin managed to get Shelley’s back and fall to his own corner where Fulton was jumping to get in. Fulton went straight for Shelley, got him with snake eyes and a big boot to turn the match around.
Fulton’s attack consisted of ramming Shelley’s head to the turnbuckle over and over and over. Fulton and Austin hit a side slam and leg drop combo for a two count before Austin did his paper cut trick. They kept working over Shelley’s arm until he managed to trick Austin into hitting Fulton accidentally, and with that distraction, Shelley tagged out.
Sabin got the hot tag and went straight for Austin’s arm and neck, but Austin managed to tag in Fulton, who they sent to the floor immediately.
MCMG tried to double team Austin, but Fulton saved him, so instead they double teamed Fulton for a two count when Austin interrupted the pin with a splash. They hit the reverse STF into a dropkick combo on Austin and went to finish Fulton, but Fulton reversed and hit a double suplex.
Suddenly, The North came out with chairs to attack, but the Good Brothers jumped them before they could. Amidst the chaos, Gallows hit Fulton with an uppercut, giving Shelley and Sabin the opening to hit skull and bones for the win. Great main event.
All four teams eyed each other as the show went off the air.
Final thoughts —
Overall a good show, easy to watch and enjoyable. They properly used all the fallout of Victory Road to add some fuel to the BFG stories.
While the buys for the first Talk’N ShopAMania pay-per-view aren’t public, it apparently did well enough that Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson and Rocky Romero are going to run it back this fall.
On the 700th edition of Chris Jericho’s podcast Thursday, the trio announced that the sequel will air on Friday, November 13th, and will feature a “Ball for a Ball” match between Chad 2 Badd (Anderson) and Sex Ferguson (Gallows) as the main event.
Their initial attempt at a comedic wrestling show debuted on Saturday, August 1st and featured a main event of Badd vs. Ferguson in a Boneryard match. The show was filled with gimmick matches and cameos from Enzo, the Young Bucks, Heath Miller, Rocky Romero, Chavo Guerrero, Mike and Maria Bennett, D-Lo Brown, the Rock’n’Roll Express, Swoggle, Teddy Long, The Flock, and others.
In a past interview with WrestleZone, Gallows said they intentionally left several people off the first ShopAMania in case they did a sequel. The first one was filmed in Gallows’ backyard over several long filming days in early-July and it’s assumed the sequel will also be pre-taped.
Impact Wrestling returns from Nashville, TN for this week’s episode. The show opened with a graphic for Barry Scott, who the show was dedicated to.
The opening video recapped Eric Young’s attack on Eddie Edwards and the subsequent old school rules match with Tommy Dreamer from last week, which led to Rich Swann’s return.
Kylie Rae & Susie defeated Deonna Purrazzo & Kimber Lee
Purrazzo and Rae started the match with a lockdown. Purrazzo quickly gained advantage with her technical skill, and as much as Rae had a chance to reverse, Purrazzo still had the advantage. Rae nonetheless went for a small package for a two count, enraging Purrazzo who tagged out.
Kimber Lee came in and got taken down by Rae with a rana and an arm drag into an armbar before tagging in Susie. The babyfaces hit a couple of running clotheslines on Lee, ending with a double bulldog for a two count. Susie held her own against Lee, but Purrazzo got her with a knee to the back allowing Lee to hit a big boot for a two count.
Lee, now in control, locked a deep single leg and a couple of clubs to the back. Purrazzo tagged in for a double suplex and a near fall. Purrazzo punished Susie with strikes while Susie would find some hope spots, such as a sunset flip pin out of nowhere for a two count. Purrazzo and Lee, however, kept her down.
Susie started to make a comeback with punches, hit an atomic drop, and a flatliner to get Purrazzo off and tag in Rae, who came in hot against Kimber Lee. Rae went for the Kylie special, but Lee blocked it, so instead Rae did a cartwheel to escape Lee and superkicked her, hit a cannonball, and got a two count when Purrazzo broke it off. Rae got rid of Purrazzo from the ring, but Lee was there to hit a German on Rae.
Susie tagged in, but went straight into another German Bridge by Lee for a two count. Lee went for the swanton bomb, but Susie hit the arachrana and the panic switch for the win.
After the match, Susie had some Su Yung episodes, but Kylie Rae calmed her down.
Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down tonight’s card and told us that Rich Swann is in the arena, ready to address the audience.
Backstage, Rohit Raju was confronted by Trey Miguel, who told him that he’d been dodging everyone. Trey asked Rohit for a shot, but Rohit told him that it was still between TJP and Bey who were in front of the line. Trey told Rohit that he wanted a shot after he defeated TJP tonight.
In another part of the arena, Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz approached John E. Bravo, who told them they weren’t the best men. He picked Fallah Bahh, who happened to be there.
XXXL (Acey Romero & Larry D) defeated The Deaners (Cody Deaner & Cousin Jake)
Acey and Cody started the match, with the latter offering a truce, but Acey wasn’t having it and instead kicked him, tossed him to the corner, and along with Larry D, sent him flying and into an Acey senton for an early two count.
XXXL worked over Deaner for a while, mostly strikes, clubbing him on the back to keep him down. Cody eventually managed to escape and tagged in Jake, who hit a corner spear and sidewalk slam on Larry D for a two count. Deaners double-teamed Acey and went to finish Larry D, but Acey recovered and pounced Cody out of the ring.
Cousin Jake slammed Acey Romero, but Larry D was there to knock him out with a straight right to the face for the win.
Trey Miguel defeated TJP
Match started with a great sequence of chain wrestling into pin exchange into a battle for wrist control and into the fast-paced sequence of counters and reversals ending with Trey getting a two count after a standing moonsault.
TJP came back with some beautiful submission work into a sharpshooter, then transitioned into a last chancery for a submission tease, but Trey made the ropes. TJP hit a senton atomico for another two count. TJP kept working the legs, locking in a knee bar with a butterfly. Trey escaped and went for the crossbody, but TJP was ready with a dropkick.
TJP went for the corner ten punches, but Trey blocked, hit some cheeky nandos and went for the Trey19, only for TJP to block it. Trey recovered and hit a spinning kick. Followed with a rana to the floor and a tope suicida.
Back in the ring, Trey went to the top rope, but TJP blocked him and hit a superplex, transitioned into an octopus stretch, but as Trey approached the ropes, TJP transitioned into an ankle lock. Trey made the ropes.
TJP kicked Trey’s hamstrings, hit a knee breaker, but Trey still hit a desperation dropkick. TJP with a big tornado DDT, went for the mamba splash. Trey dodged, hit a standing meteora and a top rope meteora for the 1-2-3.
Commentary sent us backstage to where The North, Ace Austin, and Fulton were taking out The Rascalz. MCMG arrived afterward to check on them. After commercials, a doctor told MCMGs that The Rascalz were not cleared to compete tonight. He gave no answers when Shelley asked about the CT scans.
Shelley and Sabin were approached by Karl Anderson and Gallows and offered to help. Karl is a machine gun, they are machine guns, it all works out.
Rich Swann came down to the ring, still in crutches. Swann said he wanted to do this in the ring and not an office, and so he called out Scott D’Amore to the ring. Swann told D’Amore that not long ago he had to come down here and retire, but as he was home, he saw the man that killed his career become the Impact World Champion, so Swann requested a chance to get in the ring again and fight EY.
D’Amore told him that he was not cleared by the doctors. Swann said that he will be ready for Bound For Glory and that he has a pin over EY, so he deserves a shot. D’Amore doubled down that he is not cleared and that in his condition, going against EY would leave him in a worse situation. Swann said he didn’t care if he ended up crippled after BFG, he wanted his hands on EY. He begged for the match.
Before D’Amore could answer, EY came down and struck D’Amore, but in the distraction, Swann jumped at him and took him down, punched him, forcing EY to run away. EY said that Swann won’t leave BFG alive. D’Amore shut them both up and confirmed the match for Bound for Glory.
Taya approached Rosemary and asked her why she wasn’t there with her for the match with Tasha Steelz. Rosemary said that she had been busy doing a resurrection. Taya asked her to join her. Rosemary agreed but first, she had to do some more wedding stuff.
Willie Mack defeated Brian Myers
Mack punched Myers to start the match, hit an armdrag and dropkick before sending Myers to the floor, where he hit a pescado.
Outside the ring, Myers hit a side leg sweep on the ramp. Mack made it back before the 10 count, but Myers started working over him with a suplex for a two count. Knee to the back and sleeper, but Mack made it to his feet and punched Myers away, only to get his leg swept and Myers went back to controlling the match.
Myers pulled the turnbuckle off and tried to slam Mack, but was blocked. Myers still kept control, taking down Mack with a back elbow, and once again, into the knee to the back and head submission.
Mack powered up and hit a backplex to break Myer’s submission. He hit a clothesline, spinning back elbow, scoop slam, and leg drop for a two count. Mack went for the Samoan drop, but Myers dodged, hit an enzuigiri and big scoop slam for another two count.
Myers went for a DDT, but Mack countered with an exploder. Myers kicked the rope between Mack’s legs and hit the DDT, but could only get a two count. Myers accidentally ran into the exposed turnbuckle and Mack got him with the stunner for the win. Boring match.
Rosemary approached Havok, who she asked for help to resurrect Mitchell since Havok had done the killing. Havok said she wouldn’t help, so Rosemary had to insist, provoking Havok to get physical with her. Nevaeh pulled Havok off and they left.
Moose went to D’Amore and told him that he needed to do something about ECIII, who had been stalking Moose. D’Amore didn’t believe Moose and told him that maybe this was all in his head.
ECIII then showed up in a projector telling Moose that the clock was ticking and that he’d destroy the title soon. Moose called the “Demo God” asking about who to call about stolen title belts, and finally Moose knew what he had to go.
Rhino snuck Heath into the arena, they’re gonna try and get some money from Hernandez.
We got a photoshoot with Tenille Dashwood that was interrupted by Jordynne Grace, who asked why she wasn’t wrestling. She told Tenille that they have a match next week.
Taya jumped Hogan to start, carrying her to the corner and delivering a couple of boots and kicks to the back. Taya slammed Hogan to the turnbuckle and tossed her to the floor.
Hogan tried to build some momentum, but Taya easily stopped her with a back elbow and double foot stomp to the back for a two count.
Hogan caught Taya with a low kick and a running boot for another two count, but when she went for the swinging neck breaker, Taya blocked, hit a big knee, and once again tossed her to the floor.
Taya hit a running clothesline, then a running hip attack to the corner, but when she went for the running knees Tasha pulled Hogan out and distracted Taya, allowing Hogan to run around the ring. Tasha kicked Taya behind the referee. Hogan caught her with a swinging neck breaker and picked up the win. Rosemary never came out to support Taya.
Rhino and Heath approached Hernandez for a rematch. Rhino tricked Hernandez to set with his back to the door so Heath could sneak in and steal the money from the table. Rhino stalled a lot until Heath took the money. Once stolen, Rhino bailed.
Chris Bey confronted Rohit Raju about the rematch he was owed. Rohit told him that TJP defeated him, and so TJP approached them about it. Rohit eventually called for a three-way number one contender match.
Matthews and Rayne ran down next week’s card with Kimber Lee vs Susie, TJP vs Trey Miguel vs Chris Bey for the #1 contendership of the X-Division title on the line, the number one contender then getting their title match against Rohit Raju, and Tenille Dashwood vs Jordynne Grace.
Ace Austin, Madman Fulton, & The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) defeated The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) & The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows)
Anderson and Ace started the match with the former getting the early upper hand, whipping and striking Ace around. Gallows tagged in and kept working over Ace in their corner. Anderson tagged in again and kept the work, but suddenly, with no provocation whatsoever, Anderson tagged in Sabin the hard way.
On the other side, Alexander tagged in, who was taken down quickly by Sabin and a couple of MCMG double team moves. Page jumped in and also took a combo by Shelley and Sabin. Ace followed suit and suffered the same fate. Finally, it was Fulton’s turn, who also ended up on the floor.
Back from commercial, the referee regained control. Shelley and Alexander went at it, but just in time, Page tripped Shelley, which allowed Anderson to cut him off and gain control of the match.
Fulton tagged in and punished Shelley, who tried to chop his way to his corner, but Fulton was unmoved. Fulton and Ace kept working over Shelley, and much like the babyface teams, Ace and Fulton started to have problems with The North on their corner, stealing each other’s tags.
Page and Josh Alexander worked over Shelley until he managed to hit a dragon screw on Alexander and a backplex on Ace to get the tag to the Good Brothers.
Anderson took the hot tag and ran down everyone, getting a two count on Page with a big spinebuster at the end. Gallows tagged in, kicked Fulton down to the floor, hit an assisted backplex on Page for another two count.
GB went for the magic killer, but Josh broke it off. Sabin blind tagged himself in and took out The North with a crossbody and tornado DDT. Sabin sent Ace and Fulton to the floor, followed by a suicide dive.
In the ring, The North attacked Shelley, who managed to counter and, along with Sabin, hit the reverse STF and dropkick combo on Alexander.
In the end, it was Sabin getting a Northern Pass by The North. Ace Austin, who blind tagged himself in, stole the pin over the tag champs.
The North were mad that their pin was stolen, and the Good Brothers are mad that they lost because of the MCMGs. We may be heading into a five-way for the tag titles.
Final thoughts —
Ok show by Impact. Mostly focused on advancing storylines towards Bound For Glory, but we did have some strong wrestling on the show.
The comedic world of Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, and Rocky Romero’s popular Talk’N Shop podcast comes together in a pay-per-view event Saturday night. Talk’N Shop A Mania.
Under their Southpaw Championship Wrestling personas of Sex Ferguson (Gallows) and Chadd 2 Badd (Anderson), the two will main event in a “Boneryard Match,” a cinematic takeoff of the Boneyard match they were part of at this year’s WrestleMania.
The entire show will run 90 minutes and while no official listing of matches has been released, there will be a contract on a tree match and a social distancing battle royal. The event will filmed on Gallows’ property in Georgia between July 6-8 with an average of 14 hours a day of filming, complete with a COVID-19 station.
The event feature a slew of names from the present and past including Chico El Luchador (Romero), Heath Miller, Brian Myers, Mike Bennett, Maria Kanellis-Bennett, The Rock’n’Roll Express, Rhino, Willie Mack, D-Lo Brown, Swoggle, Teddy Long, Lodi, Sick Boy, Scott D’Amore, and more.
Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and Rocky Romero appeared at the top of show in basically a video version of the podcast. They went out of their way to explain what this event was: for fun and to give back to the fans. Gallows did his spot-on Howard Finkel impression. Before they started, Anderson said to the fans, “Thank you for letting us do this.”
If you haven’t figured it out already, please do not expect a typical recap for this event.
Gallows, Anderson and Romero all appeared together in front of Gallows’ house and confirmed to each other that this would “really suck.”
“Oh sh*t, it’s Teddy Long!” The ex-WWE star appeared early on as, apparently, a part of the Social Distance battle royal.
David Penzer was ring announcer, standing in the ring which was set up behind Gallows’ house. It’s a beautiful backyard. Nice digs, Doc.
Next was a promo package hyping Sex Ferguson (Gallows) vs. Chad 2 Badd (Anderson) in a Boneryard Match. Anderson wore a skintight neon green singlet and did some lightning fast martial arts maneuvers while Gallows did a good hybrid Undertaker impression. The graphics for this match really felt like something from an ’80s wrestling show, down to the awkward still shots of the guys.
Chico El Luchador won a battle royal to become the first Talk’N Shop A Mania Champion
Freight Train appeared and put on his mask before getting into the ring. He eliminated Roman Riselli “or whatever his name was” according to Gallows. Chavo Guerrero showed up on commentary. Michael Bennett did a run-in. An imposter Sting appeared which I believe it was Anderson. It sounded like the guys on commentary really enjoyed Freight Train. Brian Pillman, Jr. was in last with Freight Train. Alex Koslov (of NJPW and Mexican strip club fame) did a run-in. His “bearded mother” showed up and she and Pillman teamed up to eliminate Mr. Train.
Chico El Luchador then appeared and eliminated Koslov’s bearded mom to become the first Talk’n Shop-a-Mania 24/7 champion. After the match, Koslov’s mom beat him up while he was cutting a promo.
– The next segment saw Mike Bennett show up in what I think might have been a Ford Aerostar from the ’90s and “sold” Sex Ferguson a bottle of pills, then sped off.
– Cut to ring announcer David Penzer next. He was in mid-sentence: “… and I thought Sturgis was bad.”
“Nature Boy” Paul Lee vs. Frankie Coverdale
Coverdale didn’t get an entrance though he did get a name graphic. Someone in a red Corvette with “WOOOOOO” emblazoned across the windshield drove up Gallows’ driveway. Enter” Nature Boy” Paul Lee. They cut to Maria Kanellis in a singlet posing and then another bigger girl posing in something revealing. Lee took about five minutes to get into the ring and the Talk’n Shop crew loved every second of it. This was basically a parody of an old Ric Flair vs. local jobber match. The two guys wrestled around Gallows’ backyard. Lee locked on a side headlock, then spun around and yelled “Woo!” a lot. The finish wasn’t shown and instead, we transitioned to the next match.
George North vs. Stump Kowalski
Kowalski was the total opposite of Killer Kowalski, who was really tall while North was someone pretending to be George South. Stump hit North with a 2×4 a bunch and the two brawled around the yard, around the pool, and into his house. Inside the house, they found Brian Myers (Curt Hawkins) playing with wrestling figures with Gallows’ sons, one of whom who kicked North in the chest and he collapsed onto Stump.
– Teddy Long came out next and asked Penzer for his money. Penzer didn’t have it. Long then did his “holla holla holla” catch phrase and introduced a team called the ’80s Russians. They went against the Jungle Kittens. It was about two minutes long and one of the Russians pinned a Kitten with a clothesline. The match wasn’t over yet. I guess.
Long cursed on the mic, and then Lodi, Sick Boy and “Yeti” Ron Reis came out. Reis came out in wrapped in some toilet paper but then he realized he was supposed to be doing the old WCW Flock gimmick. Lodi carried a sign that read LODI RULZ. D-Lo Brown appeared next in gym clothes. Rhino was in next in full gear and speared everyone in the ring. Brian Pillman Jr. appeared again. A Kimchee parody named Rimjob appeared. Chavo Guerrero came out riding Pepe the toy horse. He did a frog splash in the ring. “Cold Stone” Willie Mack was next out and stunned a few people. Later, he and Chavo shared beers until Mack kicked Guerrero in the stomach and stunned him, too.
Rory Fox vs. Swoggle
“Rapid Delivery” Rory Fox of MTV True Life fame was out next. He called out Matt Cardona because eleven years ago, Cardona ripped off his trunks and ruined Fox’s career. Myers came out next and called Fox a jobber.
Myers: “I’m gonna give you an opportunity, kid.”
Fox: “Opportunity? I’m 44!”
Myers: “Whatever.”
He then brought out Swoggle as a stand-in and he and Fox had a match. Swoggle ripped Fox’s trunks off to reveal Fox wearing a thong. I guess Swoggle won, because Fox immediately got out of the ring and ran into the woods.
– We saw the finish to Stump Kowalski vs. George North as Stump won after knocking him down a slide into a pool.
– Chico El Luchador was pumping iron backstage when Chavo Guerrero tried choking him during his bench press. Chico called for a ref and demanded he start a 24/7 match in the gym. Guerrero threw Chico into the sauna, hoping he’d sweat into submission. Guerrero accused Chico of being on “the gas” because he is so strong. They exchanged atomic drops before Chavo used a school boy on Chico to win the match and the title. He then told Chico he was going to “have sex all over the belt.”
Chadd 2 Badd pinned Chavo a few seconds later in the next room over to take the title.
Outside, we saw nZo, formerly Enzo Amore. Between rambling and cursing, he also said he lost money because he came to the show. He mentioned Gallows putting himself over in the main event and apologized for giving away the finish.
Pelvis Wesley (Heath Miller) and the Honky Stonk Man (Brian Myers) showed up next, and the bigger lady in the bikini from earlier in the show and another old guy “won” the contract in a tree match.
Talk N’Shop A Mania Chadd 2 Badd defeated Sex Ferguson in the Boneryard match
Penzer made an official announcement for the Boneryard Match. Badd (Anderson) was in a hearse and carried to the ring in a coffin, but the druids dropped him and he fell out. He yelled at the druids and called out Ferguson (Gallows).
A guy played acoustic guitar next and sang a song while Ferguson drove to the Boneryard in an ATV and crashed into the Boneryard. There were lots of insider jokes thrown around while they had a goofy match. The arm of AJ Styles popped up from the “grave” which was a giant pile of mulch. Rory Fox did a run-in and he was still in his thong. Maria Kanellis showed up again and she and Chad 2 Badd did a little merengue dancing before Ferguson inervened, a callback to the New Japan days.
Kanellis then told Gallows she was a mother now and then disappeared. Myers and Miller were sitting in lawn chairs watching the match giving their thoughts and the Rock’N’ Roll Express appeared to say a few choice words to Ferguson and Badd. They set up a gimmick table with photos to sign and nZo showed up. As they negotiated for a price, nZo was superkicked by Ferguson and fell through the table.
There was a flashback vignette in the middle of the match, a spoof of their experiences last year with AEW and WWE negotiations with a September 2019 graphic. The Young Bucks were in the video and they basically did a dramatization of their AEW meeting last year. After the meeting, they showed Anderson and Gallows getting texts from Triple H. They said they were “going up to NY” and the Bucks got angry and superkicked both of them and called them marks, later joking they would go to TNA anyway. Gallows and Anderson were selling and saying something about Aces & Eights.
They cut back to the match where Ferguson and Badd spoofed the Brock vs. Undertaker SummerSlam double pop-up spot. Badd grabbed Ferguson’s ears and tried burying him. Ferguson tried apologizing and asked for a babyface singles run and maybe a title before Badd buried him alive in the Boneryard.
Afterward, Ferguson had a Jason (Friday the 13th) mask on, a possible nod to The Fiend/Bray Wyatt character changes of late.
Two weeks after winning the Impact World title for a second time, Eddie Edwards will defend the belt in seven days against one of the men that tried to win it at Slammiversary.
On Tuesday’s Impact, Edwards accepted a backstage challenge from Trey Miguel for next week’s show. Miguel was in the five-way main event for the vacant World title at Slammiversary but was eliminated by the returning Eric Young. Edwards and Young got in a pull apart brawl Tuesday after Young came out to confront the champion during a promo segment.
Next week’s show will also feature the Impact in-ring debut of The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows) against Reno Scum. The match was made Tuesday when Ace Austin and Madman Fulton distracted the Good Brothers as they were on the street, enabling Adam Thornstowe and Luster the Legend to jump them from behind. Anderson and Gallows fought them off before turning their attention back to Austin and Fulton who drove away.
