Preview by Josh Nason
Tommy Dreamer is the booker for Saturday’s Hardcore Justice on Impact Plus, a show that will feature a slew of hardcore matches and also a title vs. career match.
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo will defend her title against Jazz who is putting up her career. The former WWE star was going to retire last fall, but started an angle with Impact Wrestling that saw her align with Jordynne Grace recently for the Knockouts Tag Team Title tournament. She also faced Grace in a singles match last month in a losing effort.
The show will feature Grace vs. Susan vs. Tenille Dashwood vs. Havok vs. Rosemary vs. Alisha in a Knockouts title eliminator six-way weapons match.
On the hardcore side of the ledger, Tommy Dreamer will team with Impact World Champion Rich Swann, Eddie Edwards and Willie Mack against Violence by Design (Eric Young, Deaner, Joe Doering and Rhino) in a Hardcore War match.
The rest of the show will feature Brian Myers vs. Jake Something in a hardcore blindfold match; Ace Austin and Madman Fulton vs. Josh Alexander and a mystery partner vs. TJP and Fallah Baah; Doc Gallows vs. Black Taurus; and Shera vs. Hernandez in a Chairly Legal match.
Our live coverage begins at 3 PM Eastern.
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Josh Alexander & Petey Williams defeated X-Division Champion Ace Austin & Madman Fulton and TJP & Fallah Bahh
Alexander’s mystery partner was Petey Williams. Nice to see him back.
Alexander and Bahh started and both attempted shoulder tackles before Bahh sent Alexander to the canvas. TJP and Williams tagged in and Williams sent TJP to the mat early with a hurricanrana. Williams got some more offense in before Austin tagged himself in. Bahh tagged in when TJP was in trouble, but Austin and Fulton took turns cutting off the ring and not allowing Bahh to make the tag.
Williams tagged himself in and hit a slingshot codebreaker on Austin followed by a deadlift german suplex from Alexander. Austin ended up tagging out to Fulton who went on a tear, hitting Alexander with a few big moves. Austin tagged back while Alexander was down, allowing him to perform the helicopter leg drop.
TJP got a hot tag from Alexander and cleared house with Bahh. Williams came in and tried an assisted destroyer on Austin but Fulton broke it up and hit a double chokeslam on Williams and Alexander. The legal men were pretty much lost at this point. Williams nailed TJP with a destroyer while Alexander applied an ankle lock to Bahh, causing him to tap.
Shera defeated Hernandez in a Chairly Legal match
Shera tried to take the fight to the corner and soften up Hernandez to no avail. Hernandez rolled out and tossed a chair in the ring. Shera followed him to the outside and booted Hernandez who was sitting in a chair on the apron. Shera tossed a few more chairs in the ring while Hernandez recovered. Shera set up a chair in between the turnbuckles but Hernandez slid back in the ring and began beating down on Shera.
Shera turned the tide with a phenomenal spinebuster that sent Hernandez reeling to the outside. Hernandez, still in pain, began littering the ring with more chairs. Shera trapped him in the corner once he got back in the ring, perched him on the top rope, and suplexed him into the pile of chairs. Shera attempted a pin, but Hernandez kicked out. Rohit Raju hit the ring and smacked Hernandez in the head with a chair, allowing Shera to get the pin and the win.
— We got a Swinger’s Palace segment. Matt Cardona made fun of Swinger for never having an action figure despite being in the business for “a hundred years.” Tommy Dreamer popped in and said the two will compete in a “Crate American Bash” match tonight.
Doc Gallows defeated Black Taurus
Taurus immediately charged Gallows, but missed the mark a few times. Gallows got in his signature offense with the punches in the corner and taunted Taurus while he was down. Gallows applied a chinlock and started to wear down Taurus. Taurus tried to gain some momentum a few times but couldn’t shake off the “Big LG.”
The match was dragging at this point. Gallows is keeping Taurus grounded to the mat. Gallows threw Taurus into the turnbuckle, who finally turned the tide by springing off the middle rope and hitting a cutter on Gallows. Anderson jumped up on the apron and while Taurus was distracted, Gallows took advantage and planted Taurus with a powerbomb for the win.
Matt Cardona defeated Johnny Swinger in a Crate American Bash match
For this match, there are crates positioned on all four turnbuckles — a unique concept, I suppose. It’s unclear how this match is won.
Swinger went for one of the crates early, but Cardona stopped him. Swinger went for the crate again, pulled out a picture of Scott Hall, and tucked it in his singlet. Swinger sent Cardona to the outside and taunted him while going for the second crate. In the second crate was a mouse trap that snapped on Swinger’s fingers. Cardona took advantage of the situation and hit a few clotheslines.
In the closing sequence, Swinger went to a third crate and found brass knuckles. Swinger tried to hit Cardona but he ducked, bounced off the ropes, and hit Swinger with the Alwayz Ready for the pinfall.
Sami Callihan defeated Sam Beale
Callihan said the most common misconception about him is that he’s a bad guy. Callihan claimed he brought out the one thing that Trey Miguel is lacking: [assion. Callihan issued an open challenge to anybody who wants to get their ass beat by the Death Machine. Beale answered.
Beale tried to take down Callihan, but he shut it down rather quickly. Callihan wrenched Beale’s fingers before biting them as well. Callihan threw Beale to the outside and tossed him over his head with a back body drop. Right before Beale was going to be counted out, he rolled in the ring. Beale tried to catch Callihan in a schoolboy but he shut it down quickly, spiking Beale with a package piledriver for the win.
Jake Something defeated Brian Myers in a hardcore blindfold match
Both guys have bags over their head. This is.. something. No pun intended.
Both guys struggled to find each other. Myers swung a trash can lid and happened to plant Something with it. Myers tried a pin with Something on his chest rather than his back. Something got back up and held Myers by the wrist as he tried a trifecta of clotheslines, with the last one accidentally hitting the ref. Myers pulled off his bag and planted a kick to Something’s jaw. Matt Cardona hit the ring with his crate from earlier, sliding it to Something who hit Myers with it, followed by a black hole slam for the win.
Tenille Dashwood defeated Rosemary, Alisha, Havok, Su Yung and Jordynne Grace in a Knockouts #1 contender weapons match
Susan came out for her entrance but Su Yung’s music hit instead. Yung attacked “Susan” and made her way to the ring instead.
The ring was cleared pretty quickly with each woman having their own individual focus. Alisha stapled Dashwood in the butt while Grace and Havok dueled. Alisha introduced a trash can to the ring to her own detriment as Grace slammed her into it. Yung and Rosemary introduced a rope that they both used to clothesline Havok. Rosemary speared Yung and found a bag of thumbtacks. Alisha DDT’d her into them. Grace and Havok got in the ring and Nevaeh ran down and blew powder in Havok’s face.
Grace hit the vader bomb and went for a pin but Caleb Konley pulled Grace out and superkicked her. Dashwood ran in and stole the pin for the win.
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defeated Jazz in a career vs. title match
Jazz pushed Purrazzo into the corner and delivered a few forearms to send the Virtuosa reeling to the outside. Purrazzo found her way back in and sent Jazz to the canvas with a clothesline. Purrazzo began working the arm.
Every time Jazz tried to make her way back up, Purrazzo had a counter to keep her grounded. Jazz found herself trapped in the bottom rope and Purrazzo took advantage with a basement dropkick. Jazz found a chair underneath the ring and tried to slide it in, but Purrazzo stepped on it.
Jazz slid in and Purrazzo immediately locked on her signature armbar to no avail. Jazz regained her composure quickly and dropped Purrazzo with a Samoan drop. Jazz kept the momentum going and planted Purrazzo with a nasty looking DDT on the chair. In the closing sequence, Jazz tried to continue to hit big moves but Purrazzo got a moment of hope and hit a Queen’s Gambit for the win to end Jazz’s career.
Violent By Design (Eric Young, Deaner, Rhino, Joe Doering) defeated Team Dreamer (Impact World Champion Rich Swann, Willie Mack, Eddie Edwards, Trey Miguel)
Tommy Dreamer was attacked backstage before the match, but Scott D’Amore assured Team Dreamer that there would be a replacement. One person from both teams started the match and every three minutes, another person enters. The match cannot be won until everyone has entered the match. It’s a War Games-style match just without the cages or double rings.
Edwards and Deaner began with Edwards controlling Deaner for the majority of the first time period, hitting a neckbreaker from the top rope. Rhino entered next. Rhino and Deaner double-teamed Edwards quickly. They took turns choking Edwards in the corner with various weapons.
Mack entered next, coming out with chains around his neck and hit the ring. Mack and Edwards clotheslined Rhino with it. Mack brought out a toaster and placed it between Deaner’s legs and punched it with his chain wrapped fist.
Doering entered next and changed the complexion of the whole match and took out Mack and Edwards. Violent By Design took over until Swann made his entrance with a street sign. Swann charged the ring and started swinging for the fences, turning the match in the favor of Team Dreamer.
Young entered the match with a hockey stick. Deaner began choking out Mack with his chain as Young worked on Swann on the outside. As the clock counted down for the final entrant, commentary reminded us that Dreamer was attacked backstage before the match. Miguel came out and took his place.
The momentum of the match changed again with Miguel’s presence. Rhino planted Swann through a table with a gore, but Swann kicked out. Doering set up a table on the outside and got on the apron, but Miguel dove off the top onto Doering into the table in a crazy spot. Mack and Deaner were in the ring when Deaner hit Mack with a trash can lid. Young was in the right place at the right time and spiked Mack with a piledriver for the win.
Final Thoughts:
Hardcore Justice 2021 was a fun precursor to WrestleMania. Coming in just short of three hours, there was a good balance of both hardcore and comedy wrestling. Also sprinkled in there was a great Knockouts championship match between Purrazzo and Jazz, which was my match of the night. The highlights of the show were primarily in the latter half with the undercard being underwhelming for the most part. Petey Williams was a fun surprise for being Josh Alexander’s partner, but i hope Alexander stays in the singles division.
