With 2023 close to wrapping up, Impact Wrestling presents a special Hidden Gems episode tonight.
Tonight’s Impact consists solely of past matches that have never been seen on television before. That includes a bout between Josh Alexander and Yuya Uemura that took place in September. It was Uemura’s final match in Impact before returning to NJPW following his learning excursion.
A street fight between PCO and Deaner is also set to air tonight. Plus, Alan Angels takes on Samuray Del Sol.
In tag team action, Killer Kelly & Masha Slamovich face off against the team of Gisele Shaw & Savannah Evans. There will also be a tag match pitting Tommy Dreamer & Channing Decker against Dirty Dango & John E. Bravo.
Impact is now less than one month away from changing its name back to TNA Wrestling. The name change officially goes into effect starting with Hard to Kill on Saturday, January 13. We’ll see if any announcements regarding Hard to Kill or the post-PPV TV tapings are made tonight.
Samuray del Sol defeated Alan Angels
Solid match here, but nothing special. The crowd in Chicago enjoyed seeing del Sol actually get a win, rather than the typical deal of luchadores losing in Impact.
Del Sol and Angels had a very quick exchange as the start of the match, where neither had the advantage. Sol hit an armdrag that sent Angels to the floor, and as Sol hit a tope suicidia the announcers noted that Angels had only had success at the time by hitting low blows, which lead to speculation that he was compensating for something. I laughed. Angels cut Sol off when he was doing a handstand and threw him into the ring post.
Gia Miller claimed that Angels paid her tons of money to put him over, but she was going to be unbiased, but keep the money. I laughed again. Sol used the bottom rope to pull his shoulder, indicating that Angels may have separated the shoulder when he threw him into the ring post. Angels then hit a shoulder breaker and locked on an arm submission. Sol hit an armdrag and a hurricanrana for a 2-count.
Angels hit a spin kick Hannifan called a halo strike for a two count. Sol hit the Salina del Sol but Angels was too close to the ropes. When Sol went to the top rope, Angels cut him off, but Sol managed to hit a Salina del Sol off the top rope for the win.
MK Ultra (Masha Slamovich & Killer Kelly) defeated Gisele Shaw & Savannah Evans (w/ Jai Vidal)
This was one of the early teaming matches for MK Ultra, but you could see that they had something that worked very early on. Shaw has proven to be a good gatekeeper helping talent adjust to new roles, and this tag match was no different.
Hannifan and Rehwodlt debated the spelling of (SHAWtorage or SHAWntorage) with the latter sounding more like Shawn, as in Shawn Michaels. Killer Kelly and Masha Slamovich showed no interest in this debate though, as they beat on Shaw at the start of the match. Killer Kelly continued the assault on Savannah Evans, but Vidal attacked Killer Kelly behind the referee’s back letting Evans get the advantage.
Kelley managed to hit a DDT on Shaw after some heat, and Slamovich tagged in and hit a huge Yakuza kick in the corner on Evans and then a Death Valley Driver into the corner on Kelley into Evans in the corner, using Kelly as a weapon. Shaw hit a curb stomp on Slamovich to allow Evans to get some control again, but Slamovich hit a double stomp on Evans after kicking out of a pinfall attempt. MK Ultra then hit a double team Ganso bomb for the win.
PCO defeated Deaner in a No DQ match
A rather uneventful No DQ match, but PCO is always fun. I wonder why this one didn’t air on TV until now?
Tom Hannifan said one of the truest things he has ever said when he commented “There is an abnormal brain in PCO’s head.” Correct, my astute friend. Deaner and PCO started this with violence right away, with PCO setting up chairs on the floor, but flying out of the ring into them after a low blow from Deaner. PCO briefly fought back, but PCO was thrown off the top rope into two chairs again, for a two count.
Deaner hit PCO with a chair 3 times and sandwiched a chair between the top and middle rope in the corner. Deaner sent PCO into the chair, but PCO no sold it and hit a clothesline. PCO then hulked up (PCO’d up? Frankenstein’s Monster’d up?) as Deaner hit him with a garbage can. PCO hit a lung blower on Deaner and then a guillotine legdrop from the top rope as the fans chanted for PCO. PCO set Deaner on the apron and hit is flipping senton onto Deaner.
PCO setup a table on the floor and went to the top rope to put Deaner through it, but Deaner cut him off and sent PCO crashing through the table to the floor. Deaner tried to finish PCO off, but PCO fired up and chokeslammed Deaner through a garbage can. The Design ran down and attacked, laying out PCO, but OVE came out to make the save, and Sami Callihan took out Deaner with a Cactus Driver 97 to help PCO. PCO hit a moonsault on Deaner and scored the pinfall.
–A hype video aired for El Hijo del Vinkingo, showing that he will appear at TNA Hard to Kill in January.
–A hype video aired for Will Ospreay vs. Josh Alexander II.
–Josh Alexander cut a promo on Will Ospreay, saying that 2024 is the fresh start he needs after a bad ending to 2023 after his return from injury. Alexander said that he was inspired by the same match Ospreay was – AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels in 2005. This promo was awesome, and about how Alexander wanted to sent Ospreay packing because he is an outsider, despite loving the same company he does.
Dirty Dango & Alpha Bravo vs. Tommy Dreamer & Channing Decker
This was soon after the death of Terry Funk, so it was nice to see Decker and Dreamer honour him here.
I cannot call this a hidden gem, though it was nice to see Channing Decker, a wrestler who has worked the Maritimes scene in Canada. Decker showed some good offence against Dango in the early part of the match, forcing Dango to flee and tag out to Alpha Bravo, who tagged in and wanted Dreamer. Dreamer did an arm wringer and immediately tagged out to Decker, hit a double forearm, and then left the ring. What a worker.
Dreamer tagged back in and hit a hip toss on Dango, before tagging out for Decker to and him to hit a double elbow. Decker then put a sharpshooter on Dango, but Bravo made the save and Dango hit a chop block on Decker. They got the heat on Decker for a bit, but were able to turn it around after a few minutes as Dango stood over his downed partner and Dreamer slingshotted Bravo into the lower regions of Dango as he was standing over him. Decker put the spinning toe hold on Dango while Dreamer hit a DDT on Bravo for the win.
–An awesome hype video aired for Kazuchika Okada coming back to TNA at the Snake Eyes TV taping, and it rightly talked about how Okada is one of the greatest wrestlers to ever do it, being the ace of New Japan, and the leader of a generation of wrestlers. I cannot emphasize how awesome this was, even addressing TNA’s failure to use him well the first time.
Impact Knockout’s World Champion Deonna Purrazzo defeated Taylor Wilde (w/ KiLynn King) to retain
This match was this past summer, and Hannifan and Santino Marella were on commentary. This was a pretty basic match, with Wilde and Purrazzo keeping it simple. Purrazzo outwrestled Wilde in the early portions, but King got involved and allowed Wilde to hit a German suplex after Purrazzo tried to take out King with a heatseaker piledriver. Wilde hit a headscissors into a crossface, and put pressure on Purrazzo, but Purrazo reversed it into a Fuiwara armbar.
Wilde rolled Purrazzo up to escape, and it seemed they lost each other for a split second here, but got back on the same page and Purrazzo hit a Russian legsweep and the armbar again, but Wilde made the ropes. Wilde hit a kick to the head after another distraction from King for a two count. Wilde went for another move, but Purrazzo countered into the Queen’s Gambit for the win.
–Another great hype video aired for Alex Shelley vs. Moose at TNA Hard to Kill.
Josh Alexander defeated Yuya Uemura
This was an awesome match, and a good one to end the episode. The rest of the episode is hit or miss, but this was worth watching.
Rehwoldt noted that he did not get a great send off like this like Uemura did, facing Alexander before he headed back to NJPW. Hannifan noted that no one liked Rehwoldt, and he reluctantly agreed. I laughed. Alexander and Uemura showed a great basic exchange here at the start of the match, but Uemura was not going out quietly, attacking the left arm of Alexander, who had surgery on that arm earlier in the year.
Alexander hit a hip toss and a hard chop, but Uemura fired up with some armdrags of his own, a slam, and an elbow drop for a two count. Uemura controlled the pace for a fair bit here, but Alexander was able to hit a crossbody to Uemura who was seated on the apron. Uemura immediately fired back with a clothesline that sent Alexander to the floor on the other side of the ring. Uemura then hit a tope to the floor.
Uemura went to the top rope for a crossbody, but Alexander dodged. Uemura then hit a flying armbar on Alexander that was reminiscent of Shinsuke Nakamura. Alexander then countered into an ankle lock leaving Uemura screaming in pain. Uemura rolled forward breaking the hold, but ate some hard chops from Alexander. Uemura countered Alexander into another armbar, forcing Alexander to the ropes.
Alexander managed to hit a few German suplexes, but Uemura hit one of his own, dropping Alexander. Uemura hit a dropkick to Alexander, who was in the corner, knocking his headgear off. Uemura trapped the arms and hit an overhead suplex for a 2-count. Uemura went for the crossbody again, but Alexander cut him off. Uemura knocked him off the ropes and then went for the crossbody, but Alexander nailed an elbow as he was coming down, and got a two count. Alexander went for the C4 Spike, but Uemura fought out and hit a weak forearm.
Alexander replied with a knee, but Uemura rolled him up for a two count. Alexander then hit a rip chord elbow and the C4 Spike for the win.
