Tag: mike bailey

A four-team tournament to crown the number one contenders for the Impact Tag Team titles will begin on tonight’s Impact Wrestling on AXS TV.

The first bout will see The Rascalz (Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz) take on former X-Division Champion “Speedball” Mike Bailey. The winners will face the winners of ABC (Chris Bey & Ace Austin) vs. Rich Swann & Sami Callihan which doesn’t have a date yet.

Ahead of her title rematch against former champion Deonna Purrazzo at this month’s Emergence, Knockouts Champion Trinity will open the show with something to say.

Digital Media Champion Kenny King will defend his title for the first time as he takes on former champion Joe Hendry and Yuya Uemura in a triple threat.

Now free of The Design, Alan Angels will return to singles action as he faces Heath in what has turned into a grudge match.

The BTI pre-show will see Gisele Shaw take on Heather Reckless.

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George Iceman told us Trinity would open Impact to address her rematch with Deonna Purrazzo, while saying Impact Emergence would have a special guest for only the live audience.

Gisele Shaw defeated Heather Reckless

Shaw gave Reckless a lot in this match before winning, which goes to show that they must see something in Reckless. Shaw got the win after a good match.

Impact Wrestling Main Show

–Trinity came out to open the show, and talked about how Chicago was important to her because she made her Impact debut there a few months ago. Trinity said that the last time she was there she promised she would come back Knockout’s Champion, and she did.

Deonna Purrazzo’s music hit and she made her way down to the ring. Purrazzo said that if they were recreating Trinity’s debut, it’s only appropriate that she came out. She congratulated Trinity on her win, but said the difference between the two of them was that she wasn’t a quitter. The fans chanted “You tapped out” at Purrazzo, which Trinity noted her quitting by submission.

Purrazzo said no one beat her twice, and Trinity said that would. The Coven came out, and both Trinity and Purrazzo looked on annoyed at them, uniting them against the two heels immediately, which was quite funny. KiLynn King reminded Trinity that she faced Trinity on the night of her debut, but King insisted Trinity got lucky.

Wilde decided to give them a card reading, and threw the tarot cards at Trinity and Purrazzo, breaking it down into a brawl. Santino Marella came out as security was trying to keep them apart, so he made a tag match after Purrazzo demanded a tag match right now, even without her gear.

The Coven (KiLynn King & Taylor Wilde) defeated Trinity & Deonna Purrazzo

I am really not sure about the booking of this match. Having your #1 contender lose to someone before the title match means Trinity is defending against someone who lost.

King and Trinity started the match with King using power to overwhelm Trinity. The Coven went for a double clothesline, but Trinity slid underneath both arms and brought Wilde to her corner to hit 6 punches before Purrazzo tagged herself in. Purrazzo ate a flatliner into the middle turnbuckle from Wilde after charging the corner and the Coven started to get the heat on Purrazzo.

Purrazzo made a tag a minute or so later, shoving Wilde back towards her own corner. Trinity came in and hit a bulldog into the middle turnbuckle on Wilde and went to the top rope. King cut Trinity off, and Wilde threw Trinity off the top rope. King tagged in and hit a running knee on Trinity and tagged out to Wilde. Trinity did what was essentially a DDT with her legs on Wilde to tag out to Purrazzo, and she hit a series of moves on King before locking on the Fujiwara armbar.

King spiked Purrazzo with a DDT for a two count after escaping the submission. Purrazzo hit a pump kick but ate a code breaker from Wilde. Trinity hit a flying kick on Wilde, but got caught going for the hip attack on King, who hit a German suplex and everyone was down. King went for the Excalibuster on Purrazzo, but Purrazzo countered into an armbard. Wilde broke it up, and Trinity ran in and tried to kick Wilde, but she ducked and Trinity dropped Purrazzo by accident. KiLynn King then hit an Excalibuster on Purrazzo for the pin.

–The Rascalz were talking about their upcoming match with Mike Bailey and Jonathan Gresham, and Scott D’Amore came up and fined them two weeks pay for interfering in matches last week. He then promised to indefinitely suspend them if they do anything else.

–Alisha Edwards and Eddie Edwards were backstage and Alisha claimed that she ran Tracey Brooks out of Impact again. Jody Threat walked up and said that she did nothing of the sort. Edwards and Threat will be having a match in the near future.

Heath defeated Alan Angels

If you are trying to do something with Angels, this is not the way to get his new character over. The fans love Heath, which is awesome, but with giving Angels a new act, it is critical to get over that he is in a better position. Losing like this (and as often as he has since leaving The Design) tells me he is in a worse position.

Alan Angels left The Design, turning babyface, and then turned heel again within a few weeks with his new rockstar character. Apparently, it wasn’t a babyface turn. I’m also a bit baffled The Design just let him go. Heath was in control for the early parts of the match, but Angels got the heat after dropkicking the stairs into the knee of Heath.

When Heath tried to make a comeback, Angels hit a dropkick to the knee of Heath and hit a DDT for a 2-count. Angels hit an enziguri from the apron and went to the top rope, but ate a powerslam from Heath when he went for a crossbody. Heath went for a wakeup call, but Angels slipped out and hit a backslide. Angels went for a halo strike, but Heath ducked under and hit the wakeup call for the win.

–Eric Young was backstage with Gia Miller to talk about why he wasn’t dead. Only in wrestling. Eric Young promised to show what really happened, and that he wasn’t surprised by what The Design did last week.

Jake Something defeated Davey Vega

This was an awesome squash.

Davey Vega refused a handshake from Something, so Something proceeded to murder him by throwing him around the ring. Vega went for a sunset flip, but Something caught him, lifted him into the air, and hit a huge forearm. Something hit a Vader body press and screamed “What’s my name?” and the fans screamed “Something” before he hit a black hole slam for the win.

–Bully Ray, Moose, & Myers walked up to Lio Rush and said they were happy he made the right decision last week. Rush said again that he wasn’t there to make friends, and Moose said that they didn’t need to be friends, they just needed to be on the same team at Emergence. Ray said that he wanted Rush to experience the trust they had with each other, so there is a six-man tag that was arranged for next week.

–Joe Hendry came to the ring and said that life is short, so you should tell your friends what you think, and that includes letting your friends insert themselves into your contractually entitled rematch for a title they lost. Yuya Uemura came to the ring and turned towards the camera like Joe Hendry, and said, “I am Yuya Uemura! Champion!”

Kenny King (w/ Sheldon Jean) defeated Joe Hendry & Yuya Uemura

This was a really good match. Yuya Uemura is the ace New Japan is looking for, if you ask me. Him and Yota Tsuji really have the charisma part figured out, which is so important. Ren Narita and Shota Umino are great, but they are missing something at the moment.

This was Uemura’s first ever triple threat, though not his first multi-man match as he did several of the Impact six person matches for title shots. Hendry sang his theme at one point and chopped Uemura twice to the beat, which was funny. King said the intro to his theme, and the fans screamed King with him. He’s the heel, so he did not expect this, but then yelled “Chicago knows!” I laughed.

Hendry hit a vertical suplex on King when they came back from break. King and Hendry exchanged uppercuts and strikes in the middle of the ring until King hit a powerslam on Hendry for a 2-count. Uemura hit a crossbody on both men, hitting forearms on both King and Hendry. Uemura hit a back suplex on Hendry for a 2-count.

Uemura went to the top rope again, and Hendry hit a cutter when Uemura came off the top rope. Hendry went for the pinfall but Sheldon Jean pulled him from the ring and King tried to steal the pin, but Uemura kicked out. King shoved Uemura into Hendry and then hit the royal flush for the pinfall.

–Gia Miller was with Mike Bailey and Jonathan Gresham to talk about their match with the Rascalz. Bailey noted that Gresham was unhappy because the rules were not being enforced in Impact, and that they are more than talented enough to overcome any cheating from their opponents. Gresham said that optimism didn’t win matches, but if Bailey had his back, he had Bailey’s. Good promo.

–Josh Alexander, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, and KUSHIDA talked about how they were on the same page for Emergence. Sabin said he would be the first ever 10-time X-Division champion, and KUSHIDA responded with “Maybe.”

–Kevin Kelly joined to talk about the G1 Climax match between Jeff Cobb and Zack Sabre Jr. and Eddie Kingston vs. Tomohiro Ishii, both which are great.

–The Death Dollz were backstage and talked about how they needed a gameplan to get themselves into the knockout’s tag team title match. They went into a huddle to discuss strategy, and said “We want the shot and we’re awesome.” That was funny. They turned around and Crazzy Steve was there, so Rush jumped into Jessicka’s arms. Steve said he needed to talk to Rosemary, but Rush said that they had business to take care of with Santino but would talk soon since they were family. Steve said sadly, “I understand” to end the segment.

The Rascalz (Trey Miguel & Zachery Wentz) defeated Jonathan Gresham & Mike Bailey

Holy cow, this match ruled. What a great match between the two teams. The finish was expected but the match was very good.

Gresham came out with a flag that said, “The Foundation,” his old ROH group. Smoke was pouring out of his octopus mask which looked really cool. The Rascalz sure are a bunch of rascals, as they tried to cheat immediately, but it backfired and Gresham and Bailey were able to hit dropkicks on both.

Bailey did not fall for Wentz bowing to him, and both guys started running the ropes before Bailey hit a kick to the chest of Wentz to drop him. Bailey tagged out to Gresham, who started working over the arm of Wentz. Gresham tied Wentz up like a pretzel, locking in a series of brutal submissions.

The Rascalz hit a low blow on Gresham by kicking the ropes when he was in the ropes and Miguel launched Wentz into a dropkick on Bailey that drove him to the floor. The Rascalz got the heat on the Rascalz, but Gresham escaped by hitting a deadlift vertical suplex on Miguel. Bailey tagged in and hit a running shooting star press on Miguel for a 2-count.

Miguel figure foured the legs of Bailey with his arms from behind and lifted him into a suplex. That looked brutal. Wentz went into a cravate into a DDT again, but Bailey countered out. Wentz and Bailey exchanged strikes including Bailey trying for a thrust kick that Wentz nearly bridged backwards to avoid with it just short of his face. That was awesome.

Gresham and Miguel came in and Bailey sent Gresham into a cutter on Miguel that got a 2-count when Wentz hit a senton bomb off the top rope to break it up, nearly crushing the referee. Gresham hit a powerbomb on Miguel for a 2-count, but Miguel kicked out. Wentz tossed a can of spray paint into the ring as Bailey hit a triangle moonsault on Wentz to the floor, but Miguel sprayed Gresham in the eyes with the spray paint and pinned him for the win.

–A video aired of when Deaner supposedly killed Eric Young, but it showed Young randomly waking up and coughing up blood after the supposed stabbing after Deaner left. Young only had blood on his face, and then dragged himself to a motorcycle before driving away. The video was narrated at this point by Young, asking “What is it to die? What is it to live? Is death final? Why are we so scared of it?” He then said death is final, but he is not dead yet. He said a body can be disposed of, but an idea can’t die. He said he was an idea, and he will live forever. This explained absolutely nothing and was incredibly dumb. What a way to end the show.

Final Thoughts

In all seriousness, I would have rather had James Mitchell conduct some sort of evil ceremony to resurrect Young or something than this. This had no explanation for why Young was still alive, and how he survived a stabbing. Though we never saw a stab wound, it was still implied that he was stabbed based on how Young sold it. This ruined what was otherwise a good episode of Impact for me. Remove this nonsense from the show and it would have been an easy show to recommend.

Impact Wrestling – August 10, 2023

• #1 Contender Tag Team Tournament: Rich Swann & Sami Callihan vs. ABC

• Samuray Del Sol, Laredo Kid, & Black Taurus vs. Bully Ray, Moose, & Brian Myers

Impact x NJPW MultiVerse United 2 – August 20, 2023

• Impact World Championship: Alex Shelley (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

• TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr. & Shane Haste) vs. Moose & Eddie Edwards

Impact Wrestling Emergence – August 27, 2023

• Time Machine & Josh Alexander vs. Bully Ray, Moose, Brian Myers, & Lio Rush

• Impact Knockouts World Championship: Trinity (c) vs. Deonna Purrazzo

• Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Championship: MK Ultra (c) vs. Gisele Shaw & Savannah Evans

• SANADA will be there in person