AEW/ROH wrestler Madison Rayne announced her retirement in a promo that was posted to social media on New Year’s Day. Now she’s explaining what went into her decision.
In a recent appearance on Boots to Boots (a podcast co-hosted by the husband-and-wife team of TNA’s Steve Maclin and ROH’s Deonna Purrazzo), Rayne explained that she had been juggling her roles as an agent/producer and as an active wrestler.
“You have to give 100 percent of yourself to both of them,” she said. “And giving 100 percent of myself to two separate things in one day was challenging.
“But also, I’ve always had in the back of my mind this little voice telling me ‘Get out and retire and know when enough is enough.’ People do it all the time, they outstay their welcome in the wrestling business, and I didn’t want to be somebody that did that.”
“At this point, when my full-time job is coach/producer and I love it so much, it was like these two things both telling me it’s time to celebrate your career instead of trying to prolong it past what is necessary,” she contiued. “I’ve done everything that, for me, I needed to do to fill my cup and feel fulfilled.”
Rayne also acknowledged this was not the first time she had announced a retirement. “I semi-retired a few years ago because I thought it was the right thing during COVID,” she said. “I got my business degree, I got my job selling mortgages, I thought, ‘this was my career path now, this is my life, let me force myself to step away from wrestling.’ And it didn’t feel right, it wasn’t the right time.”
Rayne debuted with Ohio Valley Wrestling in 2005. She is probably best known for her time in TNA, where she wrestled off and on from 2009 to 2022 before joining AEW. She has also wrestled for WWE, ROH, and Shimmer, among other promotions.
In a rematch, Rayne and ROH Women’s Pure Champion Deonna Purrazzo fell in defeat to Billie Starkz and Diamante with Rayne getting pinned by Starkz.
In a backstage segment, Rayne was backstage with Purrazzo reflecting on the match and without directly saying the word “retirement,” Rayne said that, “Tonight was exceptionally emotional because this is the end of an era for Madison Rayne.”
“I knew it was coming. This time comes for everyone in their career,” she said, adding that she lost her father in 2025 and when that happened, “I lost a piece of myself” but is finding that purpose again by “coaching…helping with the next generation which is (Purrazzo).”
“That’s not me anymore. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner, a better moment, a better night,” she told Purrazzo, adding it was “the perfect way to end a 20-year ride” and that she loved Purrazzo.
It should be noted that it’s pro wrestling so anything is possible, but she made a mid-November appearance for an Ohio-based indie promotion and in doing media for it, said that she was looking at a final match as she felt she had “slowed” in the ring in recent years.
Rayne has been with AEW since 2022 when she signed as a wrestler/coach with husband Josh Mathews signing on as a producer in 2025. She wrestled 20 times in AEW and eight times in the Tony Khan era of ROH including challenging then-TBS Champion Jade Cargill. Rayne’s final AEW match came against Purrazzo in February 2024.
A fixture in TNA for years, Rayne is a former five-time TNA Knockouts Champion and former three-time Knockouts Tag Team Champion.
Madison Rayne’s first match since February will air this week on HonorClub.
Rayne hasn’t wrestled since losing to Deonna Purrazzo on the February 21, 2024, episode of AEW Dynamite. She returned to the ring on Saturday at AEW’s show at Galaxy Con in her hometown of Columbus, Ohio. ROH announced today that Rayne’s match on the show will air on Thursday’s episode of ROH TV.
.@MadisonRayne RETURNS to Ring of Honor and will be in action TOMORROW NIGHT on #ROH TV!
Rayne appeared to land directly on her head at one point during her last match, which was a loss to Deonna Purrazzo on the February 21, 2024, episode of AEW Dynamite. Although she would later post to social media that she was okay, Rayne went nearly ten months between matches.
“Hi I’m okay! Thanks so much to everyone who celebrated my Dynamite return & those who checked in on me afterwards. To those who have never stepped into a ring but tweeted awful things at me w/ zero knowledge of what actually happened- thanks for watching. Have a great day,” Rayne wrote the day after the show.
ROH TV lineup for Thursday, December 12, 2024:
International Women’s Cup Qualifier: Leyla Hirsch vs. Athena vs. Billie Starkz vs. Red Velvet
ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty defends against Matt Taven
NJPW Strong Tag Team Champions The Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) defend against MxM Collection (Mansoor & Mason Madden)
Toa Liona vs. Lee Johnson
The Outrunners (Turboy Floyd & Truth Magnum) vs. Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari
The Sons of Texas (Sammy Guevara & Dustin Rhodes) vs. TBA
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including the alleged Hangman Page injury and what actually happened and why, Madison Rayne, Shotzi, tons of Dynamite notes, Sting and so much more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Rayne wrestled Deonna Purrazzo on AEW Dynamite last night in what was her first match since an ROH taping in August. Near the end of the bout, Rayne appeared to land directly on top of her head following a move from her opponent. The referee immediately checked on her and Rayne tapped out to an ankle lock shortly after.
Rayne posted to X on Thursday:
Hi I’m okay! Thanks so much to everyone who celebrated my Dynamite return & those who checked in on me afterwards.
To those who have never stepped into a ring but tweeted awful things at me w/ zero knowledge of what actually happened- thanks for watching. Have a great day
Hi 🙋🏼♀️ I’m okay! Thanks so much to everyone who celebrated my Dynamite return & those who checked in on me afterwards.
To those who have never stepped into a ring but tweeted awful things at me w/ zero knowledge of what actually happened- thanks for watching. Have a great day 🙃
The commentary team last night played up Rayne as having been a mentor to Purrazzo. After the match, Purrazzo was attacked by Toni Storm, whom she’ll challenge for the AEW Women’s World Championship at Revolution.
AEW signed Rayne in the summer of 2022 as a coach, although at the time it was not clear if she would also wrestle for the promotion.
AEW wrestler and coach Madison Rayne is hopeful that she’ll be back in the ring soon.
During a virtual signing for East Coast Autograph Auctions, Rayne said she hopes to be cleared to return to the ring within the next few weeks. Rayne said she’s continued to work backstage in AEW despite her injury.
“In the meantime, I am still coaching. I’m still doing several things backstage, growing into new positions within the company, loving every second of it,” Rayne said. “Love my job, love where I am in my career right now. And fingers crossed that in the next few weeks, I will be cleared to get back in the ring.”
Rayne suffered a broken foot while facing Robyn Renegade on a Ring of Honor television taping this April. The match never aired due to Rayne’s injury.
Also during the virtual signing, Rayne responded to a fan who’s hoping to see her compete at AEW All In London. The event is taking place at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, August 27.
“I’m doing everything I can to get myself cleared to get back in the ring before Wembley,” Rayne said. “I miss those trips to the U.K. I miss the fans over there.”
Rayne joined AEW as a coach for the women’s division in August 2022. She’s also competed in the ring for both AEW and ROH.
Prior to joining AEW, Rayne worked for Impact Wrestling. She was a five-time Knockouts Champion for Impact/TNA.
AEW’s new head women’s coach will also be an in-ring competitor.
Madison Rayne, whose signing was announced on Wednesday, will make her in-ring AEW debut on Friday’s Rampage, facing Leila Grey.
Rayne’s debut had been announced during Wednesday’s Dynamite, but her official title of head women’s coach and her opponent were revealed during Thursday’s Dark: Elevation.
During a promo battle involving Rayne, Stokely Hathaway and TBS Champion Jade Cargill on Dark: Elevation, Rayne suggested that she would be challenging Cargill. Instead, Cargill and Hathaway suggested that Rayne face Grey on Rampage.
Rayne accepted the match, but Rayne vs. Cargill looks to be the future direction.
Here is the announced lineup for Friday’s live Rampage:
AEW Rampage, Friday, August 5 —
AEW World title eliminator match: Jon Moxley vs. Mance Warner
AEW Tag Team Championship street fight: Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland (c) vs. Tony Nese & Josh Woods
Job Listing: Onlamp php/mysql developer. Experience with vbulletin and drupal/WordPress a plus. Email [email protected] with subject PHP DEVELOPER with resume.
The life and career of Vince McMahon. His rise, his fall, both sides of the coin, how things could have been different. The fall of the territories, the WCW feud, buying the company from his father, his pre-WWF promotions, announcing, getting on the USA Network, the expansion, Hulk Hogan, Saturday Night’s Main Event, the first WrestleMania, the death of Crockett Promotions, the McMahon family as TV characters, angles with the family he suggested that never happened, a potential sale, Paul Levesque, what brought Vince down, Brock Lesnar, Tony Khan and much more.
WrestleMania 2024
Full coverage of ROH Death Before Dishonor with business notes
SummerSlam and Clash at the Castle notes
Full coverage of the G1 tournament, with business, standings, star ratings and all that good stuff
Full coverage of Saturday’s UFC show
Television ratings for every national wrestling show
Details behind the IWGP Women’s Championship and why
Stardom PPV coverage from last week and the upcoming shows this week
Dragon Gate’s biggest shows of the year this week
Why a top Dragon Gate star left the promotion
Lots of injury updates
New Japan Strong tapings
Tragos/Thesz Hall of Fame induction ceremony notes
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Wednesday News Update
WWE
AJ Ferrari, who was one of the recruits in WWE’s first NIL class, has been charged with sexual battery following a July incident where he was accused of sexual assault. Ferrari was a wrestler for Oklahoma State University until the sexual assault accusation.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Gunther discussed his weight loss: “I was a big fan of the look I had. I loved the foreign heavyweights that would go to Japan and beat up the babyfaces. And I had success. But if I stay stagnant, I’ll fall behind. I always want to be one step ahead. No one ever told me to lose weight. I knew the transition to the main roster was happening, so I wanted to transform into something new. When we moved to Orlando, Marcel [Ludwig Kaiser] and Fabian [Aichner] were a great support. They’re both in tremendous shape, and we created a motivating and productive environment.”
Gunther said that, while the before and after pictures may be drastic, he doesn’t feel that different in the ring: “I see the pictures of the comparisons, and I’m proud of it, but I’m still me. I never had cardio issues before. I always felt very comfortable, so it doesn’t feel that drastic to me. Maybe it does when you look at pictures.”
The Rock tweeted about his feud with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin from the Attitude Era: “There’ll never be another time like this in pro wrestling. Wrestling industry was on FIRE + with a PPV biz model – @steveaustinBSR and I approached every main event with a ‘if we don’t draw PPV’s, then we don’t f*ckin’ eat’ attitude. Fans felt that hunger and passion. SCSA = [The GOAT]”
Mick Foley pleaded with Gmail for help getting his email account back after it was hacked: “Dear @gmail. This is really me – and I really need to get my account back. Please DM me, so we can actually talk on the phone. Having your identity stolen sucks. Please don’t make it any more difficult than it needs to be to get it back. Sincerely, Mick Foley”
On his Hall of Fame radio show, Booker T said he declined an offer for Harlem Heat to have their last match at Starrcast next year:
I was approached actually to have a final match next year at Starrcast. Harlem Heat’s final match, here in Texas. I said, ‘Hell no. We ain’t doing none of that.’ I just had a match a couple of weeks ago, my knee was killing me. I can only imagine what it’s going to feel like next year. Y’all can forget about seeing me do one last match.
The thing is, I’m still working, I’m still having matches. You’re just never going to see me have a ‘last match.’ You’re never going to see me do much in the ring. I’m never going to build up a match like I’m doing a whole lot. ‘One tag in, one tag out. That’s it, I’m done, where’s my check?’ I learned from one of my teachers back in the day, ‘Hacksaw’ Butch Reed. I got to tag with him down in the Global Wrestling Federation, and he said ‘Man, I’m coming in one time. I’m coming out and asking for my check.’ That’s the way you do it.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio this morning, Tony Khan said he’s open to Madison Rayne (who has joined AEW as a coach) wrestling for AEW: “I’m really excited. She’s going to be great for the team. She’s excited. Everyone is excited to have Madison Rayne as part of AEW. I’m not saying she wouldn’t wrestle anymore, we’re open to it. We have other people in the office who do wrestle as part of their schedule, so I’m open to it. I haven’t talked a lot about it because right now, I’m primarily focused on the whole company, but it’s definitely something I’m open to and would like.”
My time in NXT was maybe a day. Triple H, I’m a huge fan of. I think he’s one of the greatest ever. He was one of my favorites when I was a kid. He’s offered us so many great memories that are kind of like my first memories in wrestling. Like the thumbs up, thumbs down, that kind of stuff is the first stuff that I remember watching when I was a kid. That really made me and my family really strong wrestling fans in that area. I mean, it was hard not to watch Triple H during that time. He was plastered all over the WWE product. He was the franchise player.
I think it’s great that he’s taken over. I mean, I don’t know what their plans are over there, but I think it’s great. I think it’s going to give a lot of independent wrestlers great opportunities in professional wrestling at a very high level, and I think that’s good for everybody. More valid places for wrestlers to work is going to create a lot more opportunities for everybody around, and it’s going to create a lot more competition. I think healthy competition, maybe even some unhealthy competition, is good for everybody.
AEW announced on Wednesday that they are expanding their talent relations team, promoting four familiar names within that group, and bringing on former Impact women’s wrestler Madison Rayne as a coach for the women’s division.
Rayne begins her new role tonight as Dynamite heads to her hometown of Columbus, Ohio. The 36-year-old was part of Impact’s last set of TV tapings in Louisville, Kentucky, where she lost to Masha Slamovich and Mia Yim, respectively. It’s unclear if the five-time Knockouts Champion and three-time Knockouts Tag Team Champion will continue to wrestle in any capacity.
Sonjay Dutt, QT Marshall, Pat Buck and Tony Schiavone have all received promotions — three of which are to the vice president level.
Dutt is now the VP of production & creative coordination where “he will coordinate communication of AEW storylines, liaise between post-production and key staff to maintain content workflow, produce ancillary content and mentor new producers.”
Marshall is now VP of show & creative coordination, helping to “manage show elements including planning programs and storylines, character development, overseeing extras and live event logistics coordination.” He will also continue to wrestle.
Buck is now VP of talent development where he “will liaise with talent and production, oversee all coaches, provide input on matches and promos, and lead the talent relations team.”
Schiavone received a promotion to senior producer and special advisor to talent where he will “work directly with talent as part of the Talent Relations team.”
Additionally, AEW announced that Christopher Daniels will continue to serve as manager of talent relations.
Impact Wrestling has announced a battle royal for Thursday’s show.
The match will determine a new number one contender for the Knockouts World Championship.
Participants include Jordynne Grace, Jessie McKay, Havok, Alisha Edwards, Gisele Shaw, Savannah Evans, Rosemary, Lady Frost, Madison Rayne and Tenille Dashwood.
The current title-holder, Tasha Steelz, defeated Mickie James to win the belt at Sacrifice on March 5. She then successfully retained it in a rematch against James on last week’s show.
Thursday’s episode was filmed on March 18 from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
The updated lineup is as follows:
Bullet Club (Chris Bey & Jay White) vs. Motor City Machine Guns
ROH Champion Jonathan Gresham vs. Kenny King in a non-title match
Josh Alexander vs. Madman Fulton
Johnny Swinger’s Chump-Chump Challenge
Jordynne Grace, Jessie McKay, Havok, Alisha Edwards, Gisele Shaw, Savannah Evans, Rosemary, Lady Frost, Madison Rayne and Tenille Dashwood in a battle royal to determine the number one contender to the Knockouts Championship.
Tenille Dashwood is out of the upcoming Digital Media Championship match that will be on the Bound for Glory pre-show.
Impact announced on Twitter this morning that Dashwood is out and Madison Rayne will take her place. She will be one of six people competing for the new championship in a match that will also include John Skyler, Crazy Steve, Fallah Bahh, Jordynne Grace, and Chelsea Green.
“BREAKING: @TenilleDashwood will not be at #BoundForGlory and has requested that @MadisonRayne replace her in the Digital Media Championship Tournament final, which IMPACT management has granted,” Impact wrote on Twitter.
The Digital Media Championship, which was introduced in September, is meant as a secondary title. Both men and women can compete for the championship.
The full card for this Saturday’s Bound for Glory event includes:
Christian Cage vs. Josh Alexander for the Impact World title
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mickie James for the Impact Knockouts title
A 20-person Call Your Shot gauntlet match featuring Rich Swann, Brian Myers, W. Morrisey, and Chris Sabin
Trey Miguel vs. Steve Maclin vs. El Phantasmo for the X Division title
Decay (Rosemary and Havok) vs. The IInspiration (Cassie Lee and Jessica McKay) for the Impact Knockouts Tag Team titles
Heath and TBA vs. Violent by Design
The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows) vs. FinJuice (Juice Robinson and David Finlay) vs. Bullet Club (Chris Bey and Hikuleo) for the Impact Tag Team titles
(Pre-show) Madison Rayne vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Chelsea Green vs. Fallah Bahh vs. Crazzy Steve vs. John Skyler for the Impact Digital Media Championship
Madison Rayne has confirmed she is retiring from Impact Wrestling.
During the closing moments of tonight’s Hard to Kill pre-show, Rayne confirmed that she was retiring from Impact. She talked about her career spanning three different decades, and after twelve years, she was retiring. She said it was time to go home, be a mom, and move on with her life.
It had been reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Rayne was leaving Impact, and a new commentary team for the company was being set. She and her husband, Josh Mathews, had been the commentary team for both Impact Wrestling and Impact’s specials and pay-per-view events. The new commentary team of Matt Striker and D’Lo Brown made their debut tonight on Hard to Kill.
Mathews has since been promoted to Senior Producer.
Rayne first appeared in Impact Wrestling in 2009, aligning herself with Velvet Sky and Angelina Love, The Beautiful People. Throughout her run with the company, she won the Knockouts championship five times and the Knockouts Tag Team titles twice.
Impact Wrestling color commentator Madison Rayne is done with the company and pro wrestling in general as she is taking a full-time job outside the industry.
Dave Meltzer noted that this was a possibility in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter with PW Insider confirming the news Friday. The 34-year-old has not confirmed the news herself on social media.
There is no news on who will replace Rayne in the commentary booth, but Matt Striker did fill in several weeks ago for an episode. Impact’s next original show will be on January 5th as they are airing year in review shows the next two weeks.
After being released from Ring of Honor in 2019, Rayne returned to Impact for the third time as an in-ring competitor and transitioned to the commentary booth alongside husband Josh Mathews earlier this year.
She began her career in the early 2000s with stops with Impact/TNA, SHIMMER, ROH, and even WWE along the way where she worked one match in the 2018 Mae Young Classic, losing to Mercedes Martinez.
The show starts off with Don and Josh talking about Slammiversary with Josh hyping it up as one of the best shows of the year. Josh says that tonight, we’ll see the main event of A Night You Can’t Mist. Josh says that tonight they’ll be walking around to meed some of the Impact Wrestling dignitaries and in the main event, Jordynne Grace faces Madison Rayne and Kiera Hogan in a triple threat.
A highlight reel airs covering Moose vs. RVD from the PPV with RVD saying he underestimated Moose and he was unvictorious. RVD says he doesn’t need to work on himself, he just needs another chance to beat Moose. As far as goofball RVD promos go, this was indeed one of them. Don says this was a great sign of Moose moving up the talent food chain.
Josh and Don talk about the Eddie Edwards and Killer Kross first blood match before a recap airs on that. Kross talks about Eddie having too many voices in his head and Eddie says he loves the mind games. Eddie says that after the match, he has a newfound respect for Killer Kross and that he will be whatever he needs to be. Killer Kross cuts a tearful promo about knowing how crazy Eddie was before Davey Richards, Moose, or even his own wife knew it.
Rosemary cuts a promo on how Twitch gives Impact greater exposure and how they need more hivelings to support it. Melissa Santos does a Twitch video talking about her wedding.
Josh’s voice is shot as he and Don talk about how the PPV was in the “war room”. Josh welcomes His Guest at This Time Jimmy Jacobs. He talks about Monster’s Ball and says it’s chaos – so you can either let the chaos control you or you can control chaos. Father James Mitchell talks about how only one can win a monster’s ball and it’s one of the most dangerous matches in the business. He talks about how Havok being the one he wants to win, but if either she or Su win, they will be co-champion.
Taya calls Rosemary a pawn in her game and says it’s unfair for her to defend against three people. Taya says after winning that she has once again beaten the odds. Mitchell gets one of the best lines of the year in with “I JUST GOT BLASTED IN THE FACE WITH WEAPONS-GRADE ASIAN MIST!” Melissa recaps how great Mitchell was and then talks about the lapdances on her wedding day.
Josh and Don talk to D’Lo Brown joining the company full-time as an agent. D’Lo and his squeaky chair talk about how The North being champions changed things up on LAX really quickly. A rundown of the tag title match then airs. Ethan Page talks about winning the titles and defending them on PPV within three days. The Rascalz talk about how they have to go back to the treehouse and figure things out. The North says they showed they will never lose the titles.
After the match, Konnan delivers a message to The North before saying they have idiot’s luck and it will run out when Santana’s back and they’ll make sure The North’s allies will be a breathing tube and a feeding tube.
D’Lo says that The North is the best team in the world before saying that they’re the best in the company. Don says that they’re the most efficient team in the world.
Melissa Santos hypes up the Fallout show with the lethal lottery returning as a mashup concept with Sami teaming with Tessa against Dave Crist and Trey of the Rascalz.
The Night You Can’t Mist main event airs with Muta and Dreamer facing Johnny Impact and Big Mike. Johnny does a great job stalling and creating movement for Muta to react to, but Muta does show a surprising amount of speed on a takedown and a kneebar before Johnny Chinlock takes over for a while. Big Mike works over Dreamer and then Johnny takes some flip bumps for Muta’s basement dropkicks.
Tommy sets up a super Spicoli driver and drives Johnny through the table that Elgin was lying on the floor. Muta pinned Johnny with the Shining Wizard. Tommy cuts a promo thanking the Philly fans and wanting to go to either AJPW or NJPW because of Muta.
Tommy Dreamer talks in the war room about living his dream at 48 teaming with Muta. He talks about Tessa vs. Sami being the first page of a book and the story will continue on. Don says that Tessa won by losing and the story is still being told. Tessa talks about being the first woman in a PPV match event and Sami says that as The Draw, he’s the main event no matter where his match is placed.
Tessa is shown hitting a trio of dives, but getting caught on the last and being swung side to side into the barricade and eating a death valley driver on the floor. The recap of this made it come off like an all-time classic and Tessa says she won’t let losing go to her heart. Sami says they need to do that match again.
Swann vs. Johnny Impact clips air with Petey talking about it from the war room. Petey says he looks up to both and he loved working both guys. Josh and Don talk about how Don created Ultimate X and Petey says that Johnny’s great, but Swann was unbeatable on that show. Rich says that he faced one of the most athletic wrestlers ever while Johnny says he wants it because it’s an Impact-original title.
Swann says he wants to be the best X Division champion in company history and is shown hitting the Lethal Injection and the phoenix splash. Johnny yells at Johnny Bravo and blames him for the loss. Johnny Impact says that he’s going away and Taya blames him for the loss.
Scott D’Amore talks about the Elgin vs. Cage match. He says he was worried about Elgin because he’s here to put people in the hospital. Josh asks if Cage proved he’s the best out there and Don says that yeah, he was in rough shape at Rebellion, but he proved any critics wrong with the Slammiversary match. Scott talks about “something new coming into the picture” soon and while no one is legally sure who he is, Don says all the smart marks know who he is. A quick highlight reel airs for the match that doesn’t do it justice.
Cage says that the Age of Cage is just beginning and Elgin says that he didn’t fail because Cage couldn’t beat him with his biggest moves. Rhino’s gore is shown and Elgin says that Cage didn’t truly beat him. He blames Callis for being a mark for Cage and bringing in the masked man. Okay, so in-canon on the show, Don Callis runs the show despite “just” being a commentator on-air.
A Tessa Blanchard countdown shows her taking out Taya, Glenn Gilberti, the BFG match with Taya, her title win against Su Yung, and then finally, her beating and retiring Gail Kim at Rebellion. The show has done a fantastic job of getting Tessa over as the biggest star in the company, and the formatting of this show would be perfect as a first one on a new network. If you’re a lapsed fan, it’s a perfect catch-up show. Josh and Don go back to the ring and hype up Impact Fallout.
Jordynne Grace defeated Madison Rayne and Kiera Hogan
Madison gets 2 on Kiera with a small package after awkwardly ending a Grace sunset flip attempt. Grace lands a double suplex and we go to a break. Grace misses a pop-up Vader bomb on Hogan, who gets up and lands a Cro Cop high kick. Kiera stomps on Madison before foot choking her in the corner. Jordynne hits a giant slam on Kiera and hits her with a bridging German while also having Madison in an O’Connor roll.
Madison hits an Alberto-esque double stomp on Grace for 2. Hogan superkicks Grace, but she absorbs it and wins with the Grace Driver.
Madison was tossed out beforehand and looks pissed before jumping her. Hogan then joins in. Don says this is just like a bar fight. Maybe the one from the ’70s original The Wrestler. Josh and Don talk about this being a setup by Hogan and Rayne.
Impact Wrestling returned from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. The opening video focused on the ongoing story with Rosemary, Eddie Edwards vs. Killer Kross, and last week’s great main event between Rich Swann and Michael Elgin.
This week’s Twitch stream was hosted by Melissa Santos. She had some computer issues at first, and so we got a couple of extra Impact Plus Flashbacks for those watching on Twitch. For the post-show, they aired Moose vs. Eddie Edwards from this year’s Homecoming pay-per-view.
Sami Callihan defeated Fallah Bahh (w/ Scarlett Bordeaux)
The story of the match was that Callihan brought out a more vicious side of Bahh — whether it was to show off to Bordeaux or to survive the match. Callihan jumped Bahh to start things off, but Bahh quickly cut him off with a flying crossbody. Bahh kept control with chops and stomps. Callihan even tried biting off Bahh’s exposed toe, but it was to no avail.
The match spilled outside, where they brawled for a bit with chops. But as they made their way back to the ring, Callihan caught Bahh with a clothesline that dropped him back to the floor.
Back in the ring, Callihan tortured Bahh’s bare foot, biting the toes and twisting them. Callihan locked in a sleeper, but Bahh made a comeback as he hulked up. Bahh came back with a good belly-to-belly and side slam for a two count. Bahh went for the top rope Banzai Drop, but Callihan rolled out of the way, and thankfully, Bordeaux was there to tell Bahh not to dive.
Callihan got a two count with a kick combination, and Bahh was bleeding from the mouth. Bahh hit a Samoan Drop and once again went for the Banzai Drop, but now it was the Crist brothers that came out to help Callihan. Bordeaux confronted both of them and took them out with a rolling senton. Inside the ring, Bahh used the distraction to get a two count on Callihan.
Bahh hit a suicide dive to take out all of oVe. But when he tried to capitalize, Callihan caught him with a draping Cactus Special and pinned Bahh by putting his feet on the ropes. Pretty good opener.
Tommy Dreamer cut a promo backstage talking about the first impressions he had of Rob Van Dam and their history throughout ECW, WWE, and old TNA. He talked about them going at it one last time tonight.
Melissa Santos interviewed Johnny Impact and Johnny Bravo. She asked about helping Elgin last week. Impact was explaining that he wanted to let Elgin keep sending people to the hospital. Elgin walked up to them, and Impact offered to tag together and send Swann and Mack to the hospital next.
Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie defeated Madison Rayne to retain her title
Taya ran around the ring to start the match, but Rayne soon used a spear to stop her and started delivering a flurry of punches. Rayne kept control, getting a two count with a second rope crossbody.
Back from commercial, Rayne delivered a cutter for another two count — and Taya once again decided to run away and leave the ring. Rayne tried to catch Taya with a baseball slide while she was distracted, but Taya was ready for her, caught her leg, and started kicking her hamstring to finally ground her.
Taya focused on Rayne’s leg by stomping her knee over and over on the mat. Rayne tried to make a comeback with strikes, but she had a weak footing that Taya easily broke. Same when Rayne thought she could do a suplex. Taya locked in a single-leg crab, but Rayne made the ropes.
Taya started getting more and more cocky, distracting herself and talking trash and giving Rayne the time to recover a bit. Rayne finally manage to reverse a running hip attack with a kick and a tornado DDT. Taya pulled the referee in front of her to once again cut off Rayne, but it didn’t last long as Rayne returned with a schoolboy for a two count. She transitioned into a single-leg crab, but Taya made the ropes.
Taya connected with two knee lifts and went for Road to Valhalla, but Rayne reversed it. Rayne went for a reverse DDT, but Taya countered into Road to Valhalla for the win.
As Taya was celebrating in the ring, Rosemary suddenly appeared. The crowd popped big. Rosemary tied up Su Yung in the ring post and went to face off with Taya and make her intentions clear — she wants the Knockouts Championship.
We got a Deaners Vignette of them eating Philly cheesesteak. Cody Deaner talked about The Desi Hit Squad stealing their last match and talked about the sacrifices they’ve made to come to Impact.
Backstage, James Mitchell met with Rosemary and told her that they’ve always looked at her as part of the family, but he was starting to get annoyed at Rosemary stealing bridesmaids and Su Yung. Rosemary told Mitchell that they’re done with him and technically told him that she is planning to kill Su Yung.
The Impact Plus Flashback of the Week was Raven and The Sandman’s debut in The Asylum from February 2003.
We had a video recap of Eddie Edwards and his kendo stick. Edwards talked about what the stick meant to him. He did acknowledge it was just a stick, but it was a memento that had been with him in the last months and through his struggles.
Edwards challenged Killer Kross to a fight next week. Edwards had his mouthpiece on and was talking funny.
The Rascalz were in the Treehouse. They were sober and arguing because they were hating their new training regiment. Zachary Wentz proposed they smoke, then they were all happy and ready to train again. Now that they were back to normal, they dominated their training session.
Impact Tag Team Champions LAX (Santana & Ortiz) w/ Konnan defeated The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) to retain their titles
Santana and Alexander started the match with a sequence of reversals and counters. Alexander dominated with his strength advantage and gave Santana a cheap shot to get some control, but Santana managed to tag in Ortiz before he got completely cut off.
Page came in — only to take a couple of double-team moves from LAX. Alexander returned and took out Santana with a running crossbody to the back and finally cut off Ortiz.
The North worked over Ortiz with quick tags and double-team moves, earning a couple of two counts along the way. Page was in with Ortiz, who made a small comeback with a neckbreaker, but Alexander had taken out Santana once again. Ortiz was forced to survive a bit longer until Santana could make it back to the corner.
Santana and Alexander tagged in, with the former running wild over The North. Santana hit a sunset flip for a two count. LAX then used a slingshot into a kick on Alexander for another two count, then The North hit a quick combo on Santana for a two count for themselves.
Santana went for the propelled cutter, but Alexander caught him and tossed him out, leaving Ortiz open for a finisher. Alexander pinned Ortiz and Santana was late to break up the pin, but the ref still counted only two.
The match continued with LAX hitting a cutter, superkick, and Street Sweeper combo to pin Alexander and retain their titles. Great match if we ignore that one botched pin attempt. The commentary team sold it as controversial and said that they’ll review the tape and give The North another title shot if they see fit.
“Disco Inferno” Glenn Gilbertti vs. Ashley Vox ended in a no contest
This was announced as an exhibition match. Before it began, Disco cut a promo talking trash about women’s wrestling and said that he would be doing live commentary during the match. He asked production to cut off Don Callis and Josh Mathews’ headsets.
Disco interviewed Vox and just made fun of her over and over until Vox got tired of his voice and started the match.
Disco still used the distractions to cheap shot her and beat her up a bit, ramming her into the turnbuckle. Disco locked in a headlock and actually called the match while doing it. In a heelish way, he was hilarious.
Disco eventually got tired and hit an old school thumb to the throat behind the ref’s back. He kept talking trash, giving Vox the opening to roll him up for a two count. Vox got some offense in, dropping Disco, but Disco got an opening and hit a stunner but broke up his own pin.
Disco went for a second stunner, but Tessa Blanchard finally came out for the save, running Disco to the back. This was longer than it needed to be.
Blanchard vs. Disco was announced for next week.
Dezmond Xavier defeated Ace Austin, Petey Williams, and Rohit Raju (w/ Gama Singh) in a fatal four-way match
Raju took out Xavier to start the match. Austin then took Raju out, right before Williams hit a couple of moves on both men. Williams went for an early Canadian Destroyer, but Austin cut him off and gave him the Ace finger cut.
Xavier returned and took out Austin. He exchanged some reversals with Raju, who he dropped with a combo right before diving on Austin. Williams hit a dive on Xavier, followed by a Space Flying Tiger Drop by Austin on both of them.
Back in the ring, Austin superkicked both Raju and Xavier. Williams hit the Destroyer on Austin. Xavier came in and Williams was going for another Destroyer, but Raju foot stomped him in the back of the neck and took him out. Xavier kicked Raju and pinned him to take the win. This had fast-paced action but was too short.
Announced for next week: Eddie Edwards vs. Killer Kross in a street fight, Tessa Blanchard vs. Glenn Gilbertti, and Michael Elgin & Johnny Impact vs. Rich Swann vs. Willie Mack.
Rob Van Dam defeated Tommy Dreamer
This was billed as their final match against each other ever. They spent the first few minutes playing to the crowd’s dueling chants and E-C-Dub chants. This was total fan service for the Philly crowd.
They finally started wrestling with a short series of reversals. RVD got the first pin attempt with a rolling leg sweep. Dreamer hit a suplex. They exchanged a couple of reversals, ending in a standoff. It had already been five minutes since they started — this was going slow.
RVD played to the fans and Dreamer tried to roll him up. Dreamer went for the Dusty strikes. RVD countered but was sent out to the floor. Dreamer spat water on RVD, seemingly wanting the match to get extreme — and thus RVD hit the springboard apron leg drop and brought out a chair for the Van Daminator to the corner.
Dreamer set up RVD in the tree-of-woe with a chair and delivered a running dropkick. RVD came back with a Rolling Thunder onto a chair once Dreamer moved out of the way. Dreamer dropped RVD with a DDT onto the chair for a two count.
Dreamer went for a piledriver, but RVD blocked him once. Dreamer hit it on his second attempt, getting a two count. Dreamer went for a diving elbow, but RVD dodged and Dreamer went face-first into a chair with a drop toe hold. RVD delivered the Five Star Frog Splash to pick up the win.
I can’t say it was a good match. Both men looked old, but the spectacle of this match in the old ECW Arena was enough for the live fans to go crazy for it.
After the match, The North came down and attacked both RVD and Dreamer. They mocked them, but RVD and Dreamer made a comeback until Moose came out to aid The North. Moose set up for the spear, but the lights suddenly went out and Sabu returned to make the save.
RVD, Dreamer, and Sabu joined forces to take out The North and Moose to close the show.
Final thoughts —
Overall, this was a good and entertaining episode. The main event felt completely like fan service and somewhat out of context to the whole direction of the show, but nonetheless, this was a fun watch.
