Moose will challenge for Kenny Omega’s Impact World title at Against All Odds, set for Saturday, June 12th on Impact Plus.
He earned the opportunity at Saturday’s Under Siege on Impact Plus in a six-way match that also included Trey Miguel, Chris Bey, Matt Cardona, Chris Sabin and Sami Callihan.
The finish saw Sabin hit the cradle shock, but Moose kicked out and then hit three spears on Sabin to pick up the win. After the match, Moose said that he was coming back for what was his, refering to his previous run as TNA World Champion.
Moose recently lost the TNA title to then-champion Rich Swann in a unification bout before Swann lost both titles to Omega at last month’s Rebellion. Omega and Moose were on opposite sides of a six-man tag at January’s Hard to Kill in Omega’s first in-ring action for Impact.
This will be Omega’s first title defense while Moose has never won the Impact World title, but has twice held the now-defunct Grand Championship.
The match saw the Good Brothers interfere to take out Callihan who was using weapons to gain an advantage in the match.
Omega, also the AEW World Champion and AAA Mega Champion, was also in action at Under Siege, teaming with the Good Brothers in a losing effort to Tag Team Champions FinJuice and Eddie Edwards.
The main event for tonight’s Sacrifice will feature Impact World champion Rich Swann vs. TNA champion Moose in a title unification that will set up a winner take all match for April’s Rebellion pay-per-view against AEW World champion Kenny Omega.
Swann and Moose have been at odds for months with Moose finally earning the title shot by losing an “I quit” match in an act of mercy proposed by Swann in exchange for the shot. The two then later reluctantly teamed up as part of a six-man tag with Omega on the other side of the ring at January’s Hard to Kill.
Saturday’s show will also feature four additional title matches as Tag Team champions The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) take on FinJuice (David Finlay and Juice Robinson) for the Impact World Tag Team titles; Knockouts champion Deonna Purrazzo defends against ODB; Knockouts Tag Team champions Fire ‘N Flava (Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz) face Jordynne Grace and Jazz and X-Division champion TJP faces Ace Austin.
The show will also feature Violent By Design (Joe Doering and Deaner) vs. Beer Guns (James Storm and Chris Sabin); Eddie Edwards vs. Brian Myers in a ‘hold harmless’ match; Reno Scum vs. Decay (Black Taurus and Crazzy Steve); and Tenille Dashwood and Caleb with a K vs. Havok and Nevaeh.
Our live coverage of this Impact Plus special starts at 8 PM Eastern.
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We’re on!
Decay (Crazzy Steve & Black Taurus) (with Rosemary) defeated Reno Scum (Luster The Legend & Adam Thornstowe)
Not much story behind this match, both teams challenged each other on the Sacrifice go-home show.
Match started with some good offense from Decay over Luster, they’re starting to show more tag team moves. Reno Scum actually managed to cut off Taurus for the heat for a while before the bull made his comeback and got to tag out. Steve had a decent hot tag, but Reno Scum regained control and it took Rosemary hitting the green mist on Luster for th Decay to pick up the win over Thornstowe at the hands of a Taurus Driver.
Ok match, surprised that Scum got the heat on Taurus so much. If the champions were not the Good Brothers, I could see Steve and Taurus getting some wins and challenging for the titles.
– D’lo Brown and Matt Striker ran down the card for tonight.
Tenille Dashwood & Kaleb with a K defeated Havok & Nevaeh
Dashwood and Kaleb have been trying to recruit partners for a while, and after seeing the issues that Havok and Nevaeh had after losing to Fire ‘n Flava, they decided to try and pick them up, causing some dissension between the team, but at the end, they made Havok and Nevaeh a strong team, and now they’re going to get their taste at them as a team.
Dashwood and Kaleb have been trying to recruit partners for a while, and after seeing the issues that Havok and Nevaeh had after losing to Fire ‘n Flava, they decided to try and pick them up, causing some dissension between the team, but at the end, they made Havok and Nevaeh a strong team, and now they’re going to get their taste at them as a team.
Story of the match was that Dashwood and Kaleb had control as long as Dashwood was in the ring, since Kaleb would do everything to help her, but when Kaleb was in the ring, Havok and Nevaeh would regain control, as Dashwood had no intentions of helping Kaleb.
Match saw Dashwood and Kaleb cut off Nevaeh for a couple of minutes before she turned things around on Kaleb and Nevaeh got the hot tag on Havok. Match came down to Dashwood getting rolled up, only for Kaleb to reverse the roll up and Dashwood stole the win.
This adds into the Havok and Nevaeh losing streak and frustrations of the last months.
– Eddie Edwards went to hype Rich Swann up for his match tonight, and told him he can make history tonight and at Rebellion. Good little promo.
Violent By Design (Deaner & Joe Doering) (with Eric Young) defeated Beer Guns (James Storm & Chris Sabin) (with Jake Something)
As a result of losing to Jake Something, Deaner was punished by Young and Doering for the last weeks. Storm and Sabin confronted EY about his actions and abuse, only to get attacked by the trio. The match was booked, but with the number advantage on VBD, Jake Something offered to be out there for Sabin and Storm.
As a result of losing to Jake Something, Deaner was punished by Young and Doering for the last weeks. Storm and Sabin confronted EY about his actions and abuse, only to get attacked by the trio. The match was booked, but with the number advantage on VBD, Jake Something offered to be out there for Sabin and Storm.
Match was similar to the previous in the sense that when Deaner was in the ring, Storm and Sabin had control of the ring easily, but as soon as he would tag Doering, the momentum would get turned around, so it was thanks to Doering that VBD managed to cut off Storm from his corner and get heat on him.
After minutes of being the babyface in peril, Storm escaped the hands of Deaner and tagged in Sabin for a great hot tag, where he even got Doering off the apron and hurt against the guardrail. Unfortunately, an angered Doering jumped in the ring and decimated Sabin for Deaner to pick up, but Sabin survived.
At the end, all hell broke loose, Deaner and Storm brawled outside, Something and EY too, in the ring, Sabin and Deaner took each other out, and the referee got taken out. Suddenly, Rhino jumped in and gored Sabin, the same Rhino that had also been taken out by VBD months ago. Deaner pinned Sabin for the win and Rhino joined VBD. I take it Heath is not coming back any time soon. Pretty good match.
– Backstage, Gia Miller interviewed Brian Myers who only complained about how unsafe the environment is and how he has adapted to beat Edwards. We also saw Myers pay Hernandez some money,so we know he’ll likely be out there.
Eddie Edwards defeated Brian Myers in a Hold Harmeless Match
The story between these two goes back a couple of months now. As of late, Myers has used lawyers and doctors in order to get out of wrestling Edwards, but after looking through the charade, D’Amore has booked Myers in a no rules match against Edwards so they can finally settle their differences.
Match saw Edwards dominate early on, using mostly wrestling moves. He kept control until the ‘most professional wrestler’ started to take advantage of the no rules stipulation and attacked Edwards with a garbage can lid and cooking sheet. Edwards eventually made a comeback, catching Myers with a cooking sheet shot to the head and dropping him with a superplex on top of a couple of chairs and other trash.
Towards the end of the match, Edwards went to put Myers through a table, only for Hernandez to come out and save Myers. Cardona came out to neutralize Hernandez, and left Myers alone for Edwards to stalk with his kendo stick. Edwards ended up hitting the backpack stunner from the apron through the table on the floor, which I think hurts Edwards way more.
Finish saw Edwards hit the Tiger Bomb, load up his kneepad, and hit the BKP for the win. Good match, weapons were unnecessary.
At this point, this rivalry could end here and let Cardona do whatever he will with Myers going forward.
Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champions Fire ‘N Flava (Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz) defeated Jazz & Jordynne Grace to retain the titles
Grace and Jazz became the #1 contenders to the Knockouts tag team championships after defeating the team of Kimber Lee and Susan about a month ago. Ever since, they’ve feuded with Hogan and Steelz.
Hogan and Steelz are so great as a team. Story here was that Grace and Jazz had the strength and experience advantage, as so they could at any point dominate either of their opponents, but when it came to tag team work, Hogan and Steelz’ work just above them, so on two different occasions, they manage to cut off both Grace and Jazz, and with their double team work and quick tags, get heat for quite a while.
Grace eventually got a great hot tag and ran wild, pairing up with Hogan for some great sequences. Grace’s momentum got cut when Hogan and Steelz hit a neckbreaker and footstomp combo for a near fall.
Finish saw Grace go for a Muscle Buster, but lose it, eat a crucifix bomb and Hogan’s rolling fisherman suplex pin for the win. This was really really good.
Hogan and Steelz are super dominant, they’ll need new contenders after this.
– Gia Miller interviewed Moose about his match tonight. Moose ignored her and told her to watch the match.
Ace Austin (w/Madman Fulton) defeated Impact X-Division Champion TJP to become the NEW CHAMPION!
Ever since winning the Super X Cup, Austin has been asking for his well earned singles shot for the X Division championship, he has jumped every one of D’Amore’s hoops and straight up defeated everyone in the division to finally get his match. It’s a really backwards book if you think about it.
This was a fantastic, back and forward match. The wrestling would transition between submission and chain wrestling into high flying moves into sequences of counters and pin reversals.
The match came down to Austin knocking TJP loopy, but instead of capitalizing, Austin got cocky and tried to use TJP’s signature submission, only to get reversed into a knee bar for a submission tease. From here on, TJP kept going for the leg, but Austin had already made more damage, and kept going for the head until he landed a double stomp DDT and the fold and won the match.
I can’t imagine this will be the last time these two face off, but at least we’ll get a couple of new pair ups with Austin as the champion.
– We got a bad Johnny Swinger’s skip with Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb with a K. This ended up with Alisha Edwards and Tenille Dashwood challenging for a match.
Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defeated ODB to retain the title
ODB made her return to the promotion on February 2nd, saving Jordynne Grace and Jazz from the attacks of Purrazzo, Lee, and Susan. Weeks later, Purrazzo singled out ODB and attacked her backstage. After ODB got her retaliation a week later, the match was signed.
After some early interference from Kimber Lee, referee Tolle sent both Lee and Susan to the back.
Match was a clash of styles, ODB is a brawler, while Purrazzo is a technician that focuses on a limb and works on it throughout the match. The match saw Purrazzo go after ODB’s left arm, trying to counter as much as possible from what ODB threw at her, but with ODB’s particular style and power advantage, she was landing as many moves as Purrazzo was countering. Eventually, Purrazzo’s work was done, she took down ODB with the Fujiwara armbar, transitioned into the Venus de Milo, and submitted ODB. This was short, but quite good, both women worked to their strengths.
– D’Amore booked a 12-women knockouts match for Impact this Tuesday. He didn’t say who was involved other than Dashwood and Alisha Edwards.
FinJuice (David Finlay & Juice Robinson) defeated Impact World Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) to become the NEW CHAMPIONS!
The story between these teams could go all the way back to NJPW, but here on Impact, it’s seniors trying to one up their younger counterparts, except Robinson and Finlay aren’t Young Lions anymore and were ready to fire back. Their back and forward trash talk eventually led to FinJuice challenging for the titles that the Good Brothers obliged.
Good match. Two teams known for their history in Japan, but the match was paced like an American match. We saw FinJuice dominate early on, but after a couple of spots, Gallows and Anderson cut off Finlay for the heat. Finlay had a great babyface in peril run, some good tag teases, but eventually he got the tag to Robinson, who had a good run until the Good Brothers also cut him off.
Towards the end, the Good Brothers failed to hit the magic killer when Finlay saved Robinson. Robinson landed two hands of God, and along with Finlay, got rid of Gallows for enough time to hit a doomsday device on Anderson to win and capture the tag team titles!
I wasn’t expecting the titles to change hands here, seems like we’ll be getting more FinJuice for a while.
Impact World Champion Rich Swann defeated TNA World Heavyweight Champion Moose in a Title Unification Match
A year’s worth of character build for both Moose and Swann finally reaches their climax. Moose, self-proclaimed TNA World Champion, that stole a title belt from a warehouse and actually managed to defend it over a year now seeks to win the Impact World Championship in order to finally get the recognition he deserves. Rich Swann, who came back after a gruesome injury, only to fight and crawl to win and retain the championship, now faces a man that has been stalking him for months, that injured his best friend Willie Mack, and that has been on a rampage for months. After tonight, Impact will have just one World Champion, and that World Champion will have a second opportunity to win more gold as the winner will face off against AEW’s Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship at Rebellion.
It has come to become Swann’s layout for most of his matches, but the super dominant Moose vs the smaller underdog Swann worked out perfectly for the story that these two men had been telling for some months.
The match saw a Moose that started dominant from the get go, even after Swann rammed him head first into several ringposts, Moose absorbed the damage and kept dominating. Swann had a couple of comebacks, but Moose kept cutting him off. It wasn’t until Swann managed to counter a second rope bomb into a headscissors takedown that Swann managed to hurt Moose and get some offense in.
At one point, Swann hit a cutter at mid air on a Moose that was half way down from a top rope shoulder block, only for Moose to kick out at one. Swann followed with a 450 for another near fall.
Moose hit a top rope avalanche Spanish fly, only for a near fall, so he started getting frustrated. He chased the lights out, only to go shoulder first into the ring post. Swann tricked Moose three times, but it still wasn’t enough to put down Moose. Finally, Moose went for one final lights out, but Swann reversed it, rolled over Moose, and got the win. This was a fantastic match.
Rich Swann will go on to face Kenny Omega at Rebellion’s main event, in a title vs title match.
Both the TNA and Impact World titles will be on the line at Sacrifice this Saturday, March 13 on Impact Plus.
At the end of tonight’s Impact show, Scott D’Amore announced that Moose’s TNA title will also be on the line at Sacrifice, setting up a title unification match. D’Amore additionally said that the winner of the unification match would then move on to Impact’s next pay-per view event on April 24, Rebellion, to face AEW World champion Kenny Omega in another title unification match.
Since last year’s Rebellion, Moose has come out with the TNA World Heavyweight title and has spent most of the last year declaring himself champion, despite the title not being recognized in Impact Wrestling. Last month, D’Amore officially reactivated the title and ordered Moose to defend it against Jake Something on an episode of Impact.
Additionally, more matches have been added to Sacrifice, including Violent by Design (Joe Doering and Deaner) facing James Storm and Chris Sabin. The latter team confronted VBD on the way they were treating Deaner, which led to a beatdown.
Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers will face off in what is being called a ‘hold harmless’ match. Myers thought that would mean a no submission match, but D’Amore explained it was a match that had no rules.
Reno Scum (Adam Thornstowe and Luster the Legend) challenged Decay (Crazzy Steve and Black Taurus) to a match following last week’s loss in an eight-man tag team match.
The current lineup for Sacrifice this Saturday includes:
Moose vs. Rich Swann for the Impact and TNA World Heavyweight titles
The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) vs. FinJuice (David Finlay and Juice Robinson) for the Impact World Tag Team titles
Deonna Purrazzo vs. ODB for the Impact Knockouts title
Fire ‘N Flava (Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz) vs. Jordynne Grace and Jazz for the Knockouts Tag Team titles
TJP vs. Ace Austin for the X-Division title
Violent By Design (Joe Doering and Deaner) vs. James Storm and Chris Sabin
Eddie Edwards vs. Brian Myers in a ‘hold harmless’ match
Reno Scum vs. Decay (Black Taurus and Crazzy Steve)
Tenille Dashwood and Caleb with a K vs. Havok and Nevaeh
Kenny Omega is putting his AEW World Championship on the line in a title vs. title match at next month’s Impact Wrestling Rebellion pay-per-view.
This week’s episode of Impact ended with the announcement that Omega will face either Rich Swann or Moose in a title vs. title match at Rebellion on Saturday, April 24. The AEW World Championship and the Unified Impact World Championship will both be on the line in the match.
Swann is the current Impact World Champion, while Moose is the self-proclaimed TNA World Heavyweight Champion. It was announced on Impact tonight that Swann vs. Moose at this Saturday’s Sacrifice Impact Plus special will be a unification match with both of their titles on the line.
Rebellion will be the second straight Impact PPV that Omega has headlined. Omega made his Impact in-ring debut by teaming with Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) against Swann, Moose & Chris Sabin at Impact Hard to Kill this January. The finish of the match was Omega pinning Swann after hitting the One Winged Angel.
Omega retained his AEW World Championship by defeating Jon Moxley in an exploding barbed wire deathmatch at Sunday’s AEW Revolution PPV. With help from interference by Impact Wrestling executive Don Callis, Omega became AEW World Champion by defeating Moxley in December. Omega then made several appearances on Impact programming leading into Hard to Kill.
After the title vs. title match was announced for Rebellion on Impact tonight, there was a brief segment where Callis was shown talking to Omega on the phone and saying that things went just as they planned.
Omega would become a triple champion if he wins the title vs. title match at Rebellion. In addition to holding the AEW World Championship, he’s also the current AAA Mega Champion.
Two title matches have been announced for Impact’s next Impact Plus special: Sacrifice on Saturday, March 13th.
In the main event, Rich Swann will defend his Impact World title against TNA World Champion Moose. The two had another confrontation on Tuesday’s show after Moose defeated Jake Something to retain the newly reinstated TNA title. Scott D’Amore came out after the two were separated and made the Impact title match for Sacrifice.
Moose earned the title show at January’s Genesis, willfully losing to Willie Mack in an “I Quit” match as Swann offered him the title shot if he would stop beating on Mack and quit. Because D’Amore reinstated the TNA title, it’s a possibility the match is eventually made into a title vs. title match.
The other title match announced was Fire ‘N Flava (Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz) defending the Knockouts Tag Team titles against Jordynne Grace and Jazz. The latter team defeated Susan and Kimber Lee on Tuesday to earn the title shot.
Tuesday’s edition of Impact Wrestling on AXS will feature the current champion and next title challenger on the same side as Rich Swann will team with Tommy Dreamer to face Moose and Chris Bey in the main event.
Swann and Dreamer will square off on February 13th’s No Surrender on Impact Plus for Swann’s World title. Swann challenged Dreamer to the match last week as it will be the legend’s 50th birthday.
The show will also feature X-Division Champion TJP (Manik) vs. Rohit Raju in a non-title match with a secret helper that has been assisting Raju; Jordynne Grace vs. Susan in a battle of former Knockouts Champions; Josh Alexander vs. Sawyer Fulton; Havok vs. Tasha Steelz; and an appearance by Private Party and Matt Hardy. Private Party will face the Good Brothers at No Surrender for the Impact Tag Team Titles.
Our live coverage kicks off at 8 PM Eastern.
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Opening video recapped Joe Doering’s path of destruction from last week, plus the EY’s invitation for Cousin Jake to join them. Also, a recap of the main event from last week, where Trey Miguel made his return to join Impact World Champion Rich Swann, Willie Mack, and Tommy Dreamer, when they fought Sami Callihan, Ken Shamrock, Chris Bey, and Moose.
The story behind Havok/Nevaeh vs Fire ‘n Flava goes way back, but as of late, Hogan and Steelz defeated Havok and Nevaeh to capture the vacant Knockout tag team titles, and now Havok and Nevaeh are looking for a rematch. Last week, they jumped them champions during their title win celebration.
Match saw Steelz get an early advantage thanks to Hogan’s outside distractions, allowing Steelz to get Havok off her feet and go after the leg, but as soon as she made the mistake of allowing Havok to make it to her feet, Havok took control of the match.
Steelz tried to regain some momentum, but Havok’s power advantage was too much for her, and ended with a tombstone piledriver from Havok for the win. At one point, Hogan tried distracting Havok again, but Nevaeh was there to take out Steelz during the distraction.
The tag title match is inevitable, potentially at No Surrender.
– D’lo Brown and Matt Striker recapped last week’s Shamrock attack on the referee, security, and Callihan himself. D’Amore blamed Callihan for the attack, suspended Shamrock indefinitely. In addition, Striker and Brown ran down tonight’s card.
– Rich Swann and Tommy Dreamer had a talk backstage about their title match coming up and the main event tonight, where they face Bey and Moose. Swann offered Dreamer to let him do the work tonight so that Dreamer could be at No Surrender healthy. Dreamer took it like he was called old and that he couldn’t hang with the young boys anymore. Good little dissension to fuel their match.
– Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows talked about still being the Impact tag team champions. They hyped teaming with Kenny Omega at tomorrow’s Dynamite. They talked about screwing Private Party before No Surrender.
James Storm and Chris Sabin approached the Good Brothers and confronted them about the post match attack from weeks ago. Sabin challenged them to a title match, but the Good Brothers rejected the idea since they didn’t have anything else to prove. Gallows didn’t want it since they wanted to be fresh for tomorrow’s Dynamite, and so instead proposed for a match next week.
Josh Alexander defeated Madman Fulton (with Ace Austin)
Last week, Josh Alexander had his first sight of success since the dissension of The North, he tagged with Matt Cardona to defeat the team of Fulton and Austin. This week, he’ll try to do it by himself.
Match saw Fulton dominate Alexander from the get go. Alexander tried to go for Fulton’s leg, but couldn’t bring him down for a while. He did eventually manage to use his slight speed advantage to dodge around and catch Fulton with a German, and counter a big boot for the ankle lock. Fulton regained control, chokeslammed Alexander on the apron, a second in the ring for a near fall, when Fulton went for the finish, Alexander countered, hit a Jay Driller, and picked up the win.
Big singles win for Josh Alexander. The feud is likely to continue, but it seems that Alexander can finally start to put The North behind him.
– Brian Myers came down to the ring. He is wearing an eye patch after Eddie Edwards attacked his eye last week. Myers said that he somewhat brought his injuries on himself for being the most professional wrestler, it was bound to end coming face to face with the most unprofessional wrestler — Edwards. He wanted Edwards at No Surrender, but as he was about to say that he was not cleared to wrestle, Edwards ran down and attacked him.
Hernandez rushed the ring and attacked Edwards. Myers told Edwards that Hernandez will face him at No Surrender. Matt Cardona came down and made the save. They seem to be bulding for a Myers vs Cardona thing here.
– Johnny Swinger’s casino seems to be a thing still, he was cashing out on the house’s wins over Bahh and Alisha Edwards. I don’t even know where this is going anymore.
– Backstage, Edwards thanked Cardona for the save and proposed they ask for a tag match against Myers and Hernandez.
Larry D (with Acey Romero) defeated Crazzy Steve (with Rosemary)
Last week, Larry D blamed Rosemary’s plans at Wrestle House for him being cursed and ending in prison after Taya took advantage of the curse. He attacked Crazzy Steve, and thus we have the match tonight.
Match was a speed vs power match. Crazzy Steve started the match with some momentum, but D cut him off after Romero tripped him. D mostly worked over him with strikes and by tossing him around, while Steve kept trying to bite D as a means to cut him off, but it was never enough, and the match ended with D knocking out Steve with an elbow. Ok match, could had been better with more time and less one-sidedness.
After the match, Rosemary faced Larry D and actually intimidated XXXL to leave her and Steve alone.
– Gia Miller interviewed Trey Miguel. He talked about having two crutches, referring to Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz, but now he wanted to show that he could stand on his own.
Sami Callihan interrupted him and brought up that Miguel had the tools to be a good wrestler, but not a top guy on Impact. Xavier and Wentz being his crutches was only an excuse and he was already throwing them under the bus. Callihan pushed some buttons and told Miguel to really think hard on who he wants to be.
– Miller interviewed XXXL about D’s win over Steve. Miller asked about the hesitation against Rosemary, but D said that there was no hesitation, XXXL was ready to take on the whole roster and that they wouldn’t hit a woman.
Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb with a K approached them, offered to help them if they needed someone to hit Rosemary for them. D said that if Decay can find themselves a third person, XXXL and Dashwood are ready for them at No Surrender.
The story between Grace and Purrazzo goes back to the latter’s debut in Impact. As of late, Purrazzo and her mates have antagonized Jazz and Grace, even defeating them not long ago. Last week, Susan jumped the shark and challenged Grace to a singles match.
Jordynne Grace had the power and experience advantage over Susan, but Purrazzo and Lee kept interfering to allow Susan to cut off Grace and maintain control. It would take some time, but eventually between Grace and Jazz, they’d take out Purrazzo and Lee out for enough time so that Grace could hit the Grace Driver on Susan for the win.
After the match, Purrazzo and Lee attacked them and they all ganged up on Jazz and Grace, but suddenly, ODB made her return to the promotion and made the save. Grace seems to be building a veterans group.
– Backstage, Private Party argued to Matt Hardy that Storm and Sabin were trying to get involved in their business. Hardy told them to calm down, they already have the Impact tag title shot secured, but now, they need to focus on tomorrow’s battle royale where they can earn a title shot at the Young Bucks’ titles. Hardy said he had everything under control.
– We got our weekly AEW commercial with Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone. They hyped their Beach Break. Khan said that his time messing with Impact had led him to be more open about making emotional decisions outside of AEW and that’s why he allowed Moxley to go to NJPW. So NJPW and AEW publicity on Impact this week.
– Grace, Jazz, and ODB talked backstage. ODB said that she worked her food truck nearby and dropped to say hello, when she saw the 3-on-2 attack and decided to help.
Rohit Raju defeated X Division Champion TJP in a non-title match
Rohit requested this match from D’Amore, he had expected a title match, but was tricked out of it. As a result of that, Rohit talked to an unknown person for help, so he could defeat TJP here and get the title match he wanted, and finally regain the X title.
Match was really good. TJP worked with submissions, while Raju’s offense was based on strikes and knee attacks. They went back and forward, with Raju having a slight advantage because his strikes were doing more damage, while TJP was relying on reversing and countering Raju into pins or submissions, but not necessarily hurting Raju. In addition, Raju later in the match, started also going after TJP’s arm.
TJP had to change his game to an aerial match in order to gain momentum, but Raju still had done more damage. When TJP tried to hide under the ring as he had before, Raju had been ready for that and had Mahabali Shera hidden under the ring, ready to take out TJP. Shera slammed TJP on the apron and Raju picked up the win. The Desi Hit Squad is back!
Raju vs TJP will be clashing for the title soon, also likely to happen at No Surrender. TJP may need to get back with Fallah Bahh.
– Eric Young and VBD cut a promo explaining why they didn’t attack Cousin Jake last week. They told him that VBD is not open for everyone, but Jake has an invitation if he chooses.
– Miller interviewed Cousin Jake about EY’s invitation to join Violent By Design. Jake said he didn’t have an answer, but he’d give them one next week.
– Brown and Striker ran down next week’s card. ODB vs Kimber Lee, Kiera Hogan vs Nevaeh. Good Brothers vs James Storm & Chris Sabin with the titles on the line. And finally, the Swann vs Dreamer contract signing.
Moose & Chris Bey defeated Impact World Champion Rich Swann & Tommy Dreamer
This was built from last week’s main event, sans Callihan and Trey Miguel that have gone on to have their own program together. Swann and Dreamer will be wrestling for the title at No Surrender.
Prior to the match, we saw Swann make a comment that underestimated Dreamer’s fuel tank, commentary even built on this, talking about his injuries, comparing him to Terry Funk in terms of wrestling at this age, and so on. The story of the match added some dissension there, having Swann be the babyface in peril everytime he got in the ring, and even if he had told Dreamer that he’d do the work tonight, he had to rely and tag in Dreamer in order to survive.
Finish of the match saw Moose set up for the lights out on Dreamer, but Dreamer moved out of the way and sent Moose straight into Swann, who was legal and pinned for the win.
After the match, Moose also attacked Dreamer with another lights out, pretty much telling them that whoever wins on at No Surrender, he’ll come after them. Moose posed with both world titles to close the show.
Final thoughts —
Ok show from Impact. Main event and TJP vs Raju were particularly good. There was some good build towards No Surrender.
AEW World champion Kenny Omega pinned Impact World champion Rich Swann during tonight’s Hard to Kill main event.
Omega pinned Swann in a six-man tag team match, with Omega teaming with The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson and Doc Gallow), while Swann teamed with Chris Sabin and Moose. The finish had Swann scoring nearfalls, one following a 450 splash, but Omega ended the match after cutting off Swann and pinning him with the One Winged Angel.
The match was originally scheduled to feature Swann teaming with the Motor City Machine Guns. However, it was announced on Friday that Alex Shelley would not be able to travel to Nashville for the show due to unavoidable circumstances. He said that he did not have COVID-19.
Omega has appeared on Impact Wrestling regularly since winning the AEW World Championship at AEW Winter is Coming on December 2, aligning himself with Impact Executive Vice President Don Callis.
Impact announced before their main event that their next pay-per-view, Rebellion, would take place on April 24.
Over a month after he made his debut on Impact Wrestling following his AEW World Championship victory, Kenny Omega will step into an Impact ring for the first time in the main event of Hard to Kill.
He will team with Impact Tag Team Champions and former Bullet Club teammates The Good Brothers to take on Impact World Champion Rich Swann, Moose and Chris Sabin in a six-man tag. Moose replaced Alex Shelley who was pulled from the card Friday because he couldn’t make it to Nashville.
In general, the pay-per-view has a little something for everyone as there will be three title matches including new Knockouts Tag Team Champions being crowned, a barbed wire massacre, and a match where Ethan Page will face his alter ego, The Karate Man.
Our live coverage kicks off at 7 p.m. Eastern time as Josh Alexander faces Brian Myers on the pre-show with the main card kicking off at 8 p.m. Eastern.
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PRE-SHOW
Jon Burton, Madison Rayne, and Scott D’Amore are hosting the pre-show event.
We got a backstage segment with Kenny Omega, Don Callis, and the Good Brothers analyzing Moose’s introduction to the main event. Callis hinted putting Moose’s contract over his head, as a means to convince him to aid the Omega, Anderson, and Gallows team tonight.
We got a promo from Sami Callihan. He promised chaos and violence, and while everyone is talking about the main event right now, at the end, they’ll be talking about Barbed Wire Masscre IV.
Brian Myers defeated Josh Alexander
After the dissension between The North, Josh Alexander has been trying to find himself. Myers has been rising in the ranks, but also can’t seem to get the opportunity he feels he has earned. A couple of weeks ago, Myers proposed that Alexander and him joined forces, but after Alexander rejected the idea, the two started a rivalry to show who is the better of the two. Myers has a win over Alexander, who is now trying to show that it was a fluke.
Match saw Myers control most of the match. Early in the match, Myers managed to throw Alexander off the top rope into the floor, and thus successfully cut him off. Alexander made a comeback by striking Myers off the ring and getting some time to recover. They traded a couple of near falls towards the end, including Myers pulling on Alexander’s tights. Myers would end up winning by pulling down Alexander’s headgear, blinding him, and delivering his lariat for the win. Good stuff from both men, they got a good amount of time.
Myers is now 2-0 against Alexander, so at this point a tag team between the two seems less likely.
Impact has added fake crowd noise to the broadcast. It’s taking me off since it has been months, but I’m hoping I’ll be accustomed to it by the end of the show.
Ace Austin and Madman Fulton joined the analysis table. He talked about his rise to the top in the last two years, and that 2021 will be no different, being the Super X Cup winner only two weeks in on the year. Austin said that he should be in tonight’s card, but isn’t.
Madison Rayne announced her retirement from wrestling.
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Matt Striker & D’lo Brown are debuting as the new commentary team.
Opening video recapped the Omega & Good Brothers vs Swann & MCMGs feud, including replacing Alex Shelley with Moose and Swann’s issues with it.
Decay (Rosemary & Crazzy Steve) defeated Tenille Dashwood & Kaleb with a K
Decay reunited on the last Impact episode before the pay per view, when Crazzy Steve came out to counter Kaleb while Rosemary and Dashwood wrestled. Dashwood and Kaleb had been messing with Rosemary about her being left behind now that Taya was focused on the title again.
Story of the match was that Kaleb was a doofus of a wrestler, but a cheating doofus that would cheat as a means for Dashwood to get the upper hand on Rosemary. It would be Dashwood and Kaleb’s overconfidence that would end up costing them the control they had over Rosemary, as they went for the whazzap headbutt that would give Rosemary the opening to counter and tag in Steve. Later on, when they managed to cut off Steve for a couple of minutes, he too got the time to counter them when Dashwood and Kaleb stopped to take selfies.
Finish Steve and Rosemary hit Dashwood and Kaleb with the green mist respectively, leading to Steve hitting the second rope DDT for the win. Ok match, Kaleb and Crazzy Steve had a good performance.
– Striker and Brown ran down tonight’s card.
Violent By Design (Eric Young, Joe Doering, & Deaner) defeated Tommy Dreamer, Rhino, & Cousin Jake in an Old School Rules Match
Young and Doering have been roughing up people for weeks now, Rhino and the Deaners some of their victims. When it seemed like they could get the upper hand, Cody Deaner turned on his cousin and joined EY’s group. Dreamer joined the trio when he came to the aid of Rhino and Cousin Jake after a beating from EY’s group, and ended making the challenge for Hard To Kill.
Violent By Design are all wearing matching gear.
Early on, the match built to the Deaner vs Cousin Jake confrontation, and the Rhino vs Doering one. After some minutes brawling outside the ring, Doering confronted all three babyfaces, wielding chairs, and while he took some damage, Doering was able to bring down all babyfaces, building him as a monster. His match-long story was that no one could get him off his feet, not even with dives, it would take a Gore from Rhino to finally do it.
Towards the end, all men took turns at each other, starting with Dreamer dropping EY on thumbtacks, but after everyone had their turn, it would be Young that would drop Cousin Jake with a piledriver for the win. This was pretty good, Joe Doering is amazing.
During this match, they would occasionally cut to a tri-screen look, either showing three different angles of a spot, or just each of the pair ups in this match.
– We got a segment with Swann and Sabin meeting Moose. Swann told Moose that he didn’t trust him, he said that it should be Willie Mack instead, but Moose had injured him. Moose explained that he hates them both, but when it comes to Impact, he bleeds Impact and he won’t allow any outside to come in and disrespect them promotion. Moose was amazing, total babyface.
Fire & Flava (Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz) defeated Havok & Nevaeh in the Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament Finals
We’ve finally reached the finals of the tournament. Havok and Nevaeh defeated Dashwood & Alisha Edwards and the team of Jordynne Grace & Jazz on their path to the finals. On the other hand, Hogan & Steelz defeated the Sea Stars and the team of Rosemary and Taya Valkyrie to make it to the finals.
This was a power vs speed match. Havok and Nevaeh dominated early on, it wasn’t until Hogan and Steelz managed to double team Havok behind the referee’s back, that they managed to cut her off. It was a bit weird seeing Havok become the babyface in peril, but it helped that Hogan and Steelz are constantly moving, constant attacks, and quick tags, and at the end, it all made sense when she made her comeback and got the tag to Nevaeh. Finish would come a couple of minutes later when Hogan pinned Nevaeh while Steelz held off Havok outside the ring.
There was a spot that seemed to be a tower of doom spot, but instead, Havok turned it into a double powerbomb on both Hogan and Steelz.
The right team won, even in disadvantage, the tag team work between Hogan and Steelz was far superior. This is Hogan and Steelz’ first championships in the promotion.
Gail Kim and Madison Rayne, former tag champs, came out to crown the new champions.
Brian Hebner made his return to the promotion in this match.
– Backstage, Decay approached Taya about backing her in tonight’s match. Taya asked them to stay behind because she wanted to do this by herself.
– Ace Austin and Madman Fulton came out to cut a promo. Austin said that it was a waste of his time to only have him talking in the pre-show, so instead told D’Amore to add him to the X Division match tonight, as he was the rightful winner of the Super X Cup. D’Amore came out and gave him another match instead.
Matt Cardona defeated Ace Austin (with Madman Fulton) by DQ
Matt Cardona is making his Impact debut tonight.
This was a fast paced match, back and forward, but quite short. It all built to Cardona getting close to finishing up Austin before Fulton interfered and attacked Cardona for the DQ. After the match, Cardona cleared the ring.
X Division Champion Manik defeated Chris Bey and Rohit Raju to retain the title
TJP (Manik’s real identity), Bey, and Raju have been feuding for a couple of months for the X Division title, they’ve traded the title a couple of times before. The story comes down to TJP having to mask himself as Manik in order to challenge Raju and win the title, and now Bey and Raju, as they chase the title, are focused on trying to unmask him.
This was awesome. Commentary sold this perfectly, explaining that this was a brawler vs technician vs flyer match. Raju and Bey never pretended to be on the same side, they’ve worked together against TJP before, but have never been friends. The story of the match instead was Bey and Raju racing each other to get their hands on Manik, which led to some great 3 person spots. A great spot saw Manik go for a mamba splash on Raju, but get caught midair by a springboard cutter from Bey.
The match built to Raju finally unmasking Manik, but underneath the mask, was a face painted TJP, that commentary pretended not to recognize.
At the end, all three men traded near falls, constantly stealing them from each other. They had a throwback to how Raju once stole the title from both men. It would be Manik that would get the win with a snap pin on Raju after he had done the work on Bey.
– Backstage, Alisha Edwards pleaded to Eddie to let her be out there with him. Eddie forbade her, he had to do this alone and couldn’t risk having her out there, knowing what Callihan and Shamrock are willing to do. Alisha promised she wouldn’t go out there.
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo (with Kimber Lee & Susan) defeated Taya Valkyrie (with Decay) to retain the title.
After Taya and Rosemary eliminated the team of Purrazzo and Lee from the Knockouts Tag Team Tournament, Purrazzo decided to go after Taya. Purrazzo is out to show that she is the greatest Knockouts Champion by defeating the longest reigning champion in the belt’s history. Taya is on her path to reclaiming such title.
The match, really early on, broke down into a brawl with Rosemary and Kimber Lee wrestling each other outside the ring, Crazzy Steve and Susan arguing, and so the referee sent everyone to the back, leaving only the wrestlers.
Once everything was under control in the ring, Purrazzo cut off Taya and started working on her left arm, as is her usual mode of operation. Yet, this time around, Purrazzo started targeting Taya’s leg too, she would lock in the arm, and pull the leg for a half Boston crab.
In return, Taya’s game was mostly based on striking and big slams or suplexes that could cut off Purrazzo’s offense. The damage was enough though, that when she went for an early road to Valhalla, her knee buckled, so she had to change her offense to submissions or moves like the curb stomp that wouldn’t require putting weight on her knee.
Finish would come soon after Taya’s comeback when Purrazzo hit a Mistica, brought down Taya with the Fujiwara armbar, and finally locked Venus de Milo for the verbal submission. Really good, but not long enough.
Taya cried in the ring after the match.
– We got a comedy skit with Acey Romero and John E. Bravo about the whole shooting thing that I thought had been forgotten. Romero discovered that Larry D had been framed by one of the Knockouts.
Karate Man defeated Ethan Page
The story behind this is that Page had a mental breakdown when he and Alexander couldn’t regain the tag team titles after losing them to the Good Brothers. Suddenly, we were introduced to Page’s alter ego, Karate Man, who he’ll now wrestle.
This was nothing, just Ethan Page doing a bunch of kicks and punches like 1992 Mortal Kombat, including Karate Man ripping Page’s heart out. This was terrible, they broke up The North for this.
For anyone that has never been into cinematic matches or the Undead Realm, don’t watch this. This was Ethan Page figuring out how to use a green screen and double exposure. If anything else, this was the break that the Impact team needed to set up Barbed Wire Massacre.
– Don Callis met with Moose. Callis put Moose over and brought up his contract saying they have a big future together, but that it will be terrible if something happens with Omega tonight and they get sued and they can’t keep contractual obligations. Moose told Callis that no matter who he teams with, he plays to win. Once he is done with Omega, he’ll win Swann’s title, and maybe he’ll show up on AEW and take Omega’s title too. Total babyface!
Eddie Edwards defeated Sami Callihan in Barbed Wire Massacre IV
This feud goes back years and many violent battles. It all rekindled after Edwards backed up Swann after Callihan and Shamrock had made attempts to capture the World title, and thus Callihan once again went after Edwards, his wife, and the eye he once legit injured. This blood feud has reached a level of intensity that not many feuds in Impact history have reached, and that is the famed Barbed Wire Massacre, this being only the 4th installment of such stipulation.
Ring is surrounded by barbed wire, barbed wire weapons, one side of the ring has a cage wall wrapped in barbed wire, bringing me back to old CZW.
Story of the match was that Edwards was wrestling angry and hot headed, and that led him to wreckless risks that the calmer Callihan would take advantage of. Edwards was playing in Callihan’s sandbox, and if he wanted to win, had to either turn this into a wrestling match, or go down to Callihan’s level.
This got bloody really early, it was a couple of minutes that Edwards wrapped barbed wire around Callihan’s forehead to cut him up. Edwards was busted open a couple of minutes later when he went for a tope suicida and Callihan caught him with a barbed wire board that he crashed through.
The brawl continued with both men trading control, utilizing some of the weapons around the ring. Callihan used an N64 controller wrapped in barbed wired, while Edwards used a chair, also wrapped in barbed wire. At one point, both men tried to make this a Taipei Deathmatch, by wrapping their fists in barbed wire.
There was a cool spot where Edwards and Callihan had their hands on each other’s signature weapons, which they decided to trade before going at it. A small glimpse of respect between the two.
Towards the end, we got some big near falls, one where Callihan hit a piledriver from the second rope into a barbed wire board bed. We had a callback to the eye accident but wrapped in barbed wire, only for Edwards to block it with a low blow, hit the BKP and the Emerald Flowsion for the win. This was great, it was brutal and bloody.
After the match, Alisha came out to help Eddie to the back.
– Rebellion pay per view takes place on April 24th.
AEW World Champion Kenny Omega & the Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) (with Don Callis) defeated Impact World Champion Rich Swann, Self-Proclaimed TNA World Champion Moose, and Chris Sabin
This was originally supposed to be Swann and the Motor City Machine Guns, but at the last minute, Shelley announced that he would not be able to travel to Nashville for the match, and thus Impact offices have replaced him with Moose, who is the no. 1 contender to Swann’s World title.
The story here goes back to December when Kenny Omega won the AEW World title thanks to the aid of Impact’s EVP Don Callis. The next week, Omega made his first appearance as the champion on an Impact show, and immediately got to work, befriending his former Bullet Club mates, Anderson and Gallows, but also antagonized the Impact World Champion — Rich Swann.
Moose looks like a million dollars tonight. Good Brothers and Omega came out with Bullet Club gear, they pointed to the logo on several occasions. Don Callis made Omega’s special introduction.
Match had an interesting layout. Both Sabin and Swann had babyface in peril runs, but in between each, the Impact team would have crazy babyface comebacks with all men running wild with dives and triple team moves.
Storyline wise, mostly everything was said before the match, but they made the point that in the Omega and Good Brothers team, only Omega was going for pins, like if the Good Brothers were doing the work for Omega; whereas for the Impact team, all men got near falls on Kenny Omega on different occasions.
It was until the end that the match came down to Swann and Omega. Swann had some great near falls hitting the 450, but at the end, it was Omega hitting the One Winged Angel on Swann for the win. Great match, 100% delivered, Moose was the MVP if you ask me.
The AEW World Champion just pinned the Impact World Champion.
In a twist, Moose earned a future shot at Impact World Champion Rich Swann despite losing to Willie Mack in an “I Quit” match at Saturday’s Genesis on Impact Plus.
In the show’s main event, Moose had Mack knocked out following several elbows, rendering him unable to say “I quit.” Moose was preparing to “Pillmanize” Mack’s neck when Swann ran out and asked him to stop. Moose initially refused, resulting in Swann pleading with him and offering him a title shot he had wanted for some time. Moose said the magic words and Mack won as a result.
Swann will be part of a six-man tag at next Saturday’s Hard To Kill pay-per-view, teaming with the Motor City Machine Guns against AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers.
The Genesis show also saw the crowning of the first Super X-Cup winner since 2017 as Ace Austin defeated Blake Christian in the finals of the one night, eight-man tournament.
Impact Wrestling returns from Nashville, TN for this week’s historic episode, where the newly crowned AEW World Champion Kenny Omega will have his first interview after capturing the title. Furthermore, this is the last stop before the Impact+ special Final Resolution, taking place Saturday on Impact+.
The opening video was a full recap of AEW Dynamite’s World title main event from last week, where Kenny Omega, with the aid of Don Callis, defeated Jon Moxley to capture the AEW World title.
The show opened with Callis and Omega’s bus arriving at the Impact venue, where Josh Mathews will personally interview them both later.
Chris Sabin (with Alex Shelley) defeated Josh Alexander (with Ethan Page)
Alex Shelley made his return two weeks ago and ever since, Sabin and Shelley set their sights on the Tag Team titles, but before that, he’d take revenge on XXXL and The North. On the other side of the ring, The North has been on a downward spiral ever since losing the titles to Anderson and Gallows. They are hoping to earn a title shot at Final Resolution, but before Saturday, Alexander has to take on Sabin.
This was power vs. speed. Alexander dominated about half of the match until Sabin managed to escape Alexander. Towards the end, Alexander regained control but got distracted by his own tag partner, who pushed for Alexander to take Sabin out of action. The distraction was enough for Sabin to recover and roll up Alexander for the win.
With all the buzz around Impact this week, you couldn’t start with a better match. Two of the best wrestlers in the promotion went at it, even if the finish was somewhat weak.
The North is still likely to earn a tag title match at Final Resolution, but given that the MCMGs have gained a win over Alexander, we may be looking into a three-way feud.
– Josh Mathews and Madison Rayne ran down tonight’s card and talked about the upcoming interview with Kenny Omega and Don Callis. They’re really hyping up that the AEW Champion is at Impact.
– Backstage, Chris Bey approached Moose about the main event tonight, where they’re teaming against Rich Swan and Willie Mack. Moose completely ignored Bey but told him that they’ll be talking on Saturday if Bey manages to win the Impact World title.
– We got an old school NWA-style paid ad with AEW President Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone promoting Dynamite. It was also a promo from Khan, talking about how he’s not going to reprimand Omega for breach of contract. Instead, he bought some time from Impact’s programming to invite Don Callis to tomorrow’s Dynamite, where he’ll accommodate him and Omega. Khan even dropped the rumor that he was buying Impact Wrestling.
Brian Myers defeated TJP
This match came from TJP challenging Myers last week after Myers had been bullying himself, Crazzy Steve, and Suicide..
Good match, it got a bit more time than I would have expected. Match started with an arrogant Myers dominating. Soon after, TJP turned things around. The rest of the match was back and forth, with TJP chasing the mamba splash, and Myers mostly hitting big moves. Finish saw TJP land the mamba splash, only to get reversed into a pin for a near fall, followed by a lariat for the win by Myers.
Wasn’t expecting for Myers to win, but I’m sure this will add some fire between the TJP and Rohit Raju story, and hopefully push Myers to a bigger feud.
– Backstage, Cody Deaner told Cousin Jake that he was gonna go out there alone, but Cousin Jake told him that he’d be there to counter Joe Doering. Cody Deaner told him to not get involved no matter what happened.
– Rohit Raju saw TJP backstage and made fun of him for losing yet again. Raju said that at Final Resolution, he is having his final Defeat Rohit Challenge, opened to anyone except TJP. Raju left, but not before TJP wished him good luck in his challenge.
Eric Young (with Joe Doering) defeated Cody Deaner (with Cousin Jake)
For the last couple of weeks, Eric Young and Doering have been attacking random people, Deaner included. So Deaner challenged EY to a match, so he can prove to Young that he isn’t a nobody.
Match saw a fired-up Cody Deaner start strong, but after accidentally going shoulder-first into the ring post, EY turned things around and worked over his shoulder for a while. Cody Deaner managed to make a strong comeback, coming close to hitting a top rope headbutt on Young, but unfortunately for him, he distracted himself with Doering and Cousin Jake, giving Young time to counter by hitting a piledriver to pick up the win.
This was arguably the best we’ve seen from Cody Deaner ever on Impact, even if the match was short and he lost.
After the match, Rhino came for the save before Doering and EY took out both Deaners with piledrivers.
At this point, it seems we’re getting a Rhino vs. Doering match soon, but no real direction for the EY/Doering team.
– Tommy Dreamer confronted Larry D about the whole John E. Bravo shooting. Larry D challenged Dreamer to a match at Final Resolution: if he wins, he gets off scot-free, but if he loses, he goes to prison. Hopefully, Final Resolution is the end to this terrible storyline.
– Afterwards, Dreamer approached Scott D’Amore, who told him that he hated wrestlers making matches. Dreamer wanted to talk about Kenny Omega and Don Callis because he knew these situations tend to send the wrong messages to the locker room. D’Amore was happy about Omega and Callis being there. There you go, seeds for the inter-promotion rivalry being planted.
Taya & Rosemary defeated Deonna Purrazzo & Kimber Lee in a Knockouts Tag Team Championship tournament first-round match
This is the last of the four first-round matches in the Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament. Winners of this match advance to face Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz in the semifinals.
This was one of the better first-round matches we got, both teams meshed nicely together and all went all out. Purrazzo and Lee cut off Taya early on, but once Rosemary came in with the hot tag, all hell broke loose between the four women. Finish saw Purrazzo accidentally kick Lee, giving Rosemary the opening to spear Purrazzo. Taya took Purrazzo out of the ring, leaving Lee for Rosemary to pin.
The semi-finals are set, with Taya and Rosemary facing Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz, and the team of Jordynne Grace and Jazz taking on Havok and Nevaeh.
– Backstage, Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb with a K approached Alisha Edwards about matching outfits. Edwards said that she had bigger problems to deal with right now and berated Dashwood as she needs to focus on her husband. Dashwood was insulted that Alisha didn’t have time for her and told her that she would teach her a lesson.
– Purrazzo and Lee complained to D’Amore that she was being forced to deal with a zombie and the tag team tournament. D’Amore told her that she now had to defend the title against Rosemary at Final Resolution.
– Sami Callihan cut a promo in the ring about being the best since day one. He said that Impact needed Callihan more than he needed Impact. He replayed footage when he took out Edwards’ eye, saying that it meant a lot of ratings, and thus he had done it again two weeks ago.
Alisha Edwards came out. Callihan told her to not even think about it, because she’d break her neck if she got in the ring. With the distraction, Eddie Edwards snuck behind Callihan and got into a brawl until he sent Callihan running with a bat in hand.
Eddie Edwards was all fired up about being back backstage. Alisha told him that they needed to deal with her problem now, so we’re likely getting Dashwood & Kaleb with a K vs. Eddie & Alisha Edwards soon.
Moose & Chris Bey defeated Impact World champion Rich Swann & Willie Mack
There are several stories between these four men. Moose and Bey have been making advances at Swann’s championship by going after Willie Mack. So far, Moose has defeated Mack, but hasn’t earned a title shot yet. Meanwhile, Bey lost to Willie Mack last week but managed to enrage Swann into putting his title on the line at Final Resolution.
Match saw Moose and Bey cut off Mack early on and work over him for about half of the match until Mack hit two desperation stunners on Moose so he could tag out. Swann came in like fire, running wild on both Moose and Bey, Mack joined in a couple of minutes later, but was caught by Moose’s lights out, and beaten up for Bey to simply come in and pin him, getting his win back. Good main event, everyone looked great and it helped build Chris Bey for saturday’s title shot.
At this point, Chris Bey is likely losing his title shot at Final Resolution, but Moose has not a straight path to the title going into 2021.
– After Mathews and Rayne hyped the Omega and Callis interview one last time, we saw Rich Swann all packed up, heading out of the arena. He was stopped by security because ‘the world champion’ had the whole parking lot blocked off. Swann said HE was the champion. The security guard told him that it was Kenny Omega doing so, by order of ‘the world champion’. Swann angrily walked away. More seeds being planted!
Finally, it was time for the Kenny Omega and Don Callis interview. We saw Josh Mathews enter the tour bus where he met Callis and Omega. They started with the ceremonial nameplate change from Jon Moxley to Kenny Omega’s.
Mathew’s first question was to Callis, asking when this whole plan had started. Callis said that this went back 27 years, back when he was trained as a wrestler under the Golden Sheik. They became family, and that is where he met the Sheik’s nephew, Kenny Omega. Callis said he didn’t make a comeback to start a podcast or be a commentator for NJPW, but it was all part of the plan of joining Omega to make history. He said that he already made history by booking Omega vs. Jericho, which subsequently led to the birth of AEW.
Callis said that last week, they made history for a second time by crowning Omega the AEW World Champion, and setting the course of history on the right path. He and Omega are not there to make matches, nor make memories, but make history.
Mathews asked Omega if what happened last week could tarnish his legacy. Omega put it in perspective, saying that if Mathews had a father figure and he saw someone attacking this given father figure, he’d also go after revenge. He tried to adhere to the gentlemen’s agreement but Moxley broke that when he attacked Callis. That is why he did what he did on Wednesday.
Omega said that he has the top matches on AEW, in Mexico, in Japan, in the UK, everywhere, and so he is now here in Impact Wrestling. Omega said that he is a collector, and while he already has the most coveted item in his collection, he was not opposed to adding other coveted items.
Kenny Omega teased having a big surprise for tomorrow’s Dynamite before closing with his signature phrase of goodbye, good night, and BANG! All three men were perfect.
Final Thoughts:
Great show by Impact. They showcased a lot of their best talent with good matches, they kept the comedy and weirdness to a minimum, and played the AEW angle perfectly subtle, though not ambiguous.
Impact Wrestling returns from Nashville, TN for this week’s episode.
Opening video recapped the conclusion of the John E. Bravo investigation and trial, Rich Swann defending the title against Ken Shamrock, and the consequent attack on Eddie Edwards by Callihan and Shamrock.
The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) defeated XXXL (Acey Romero & Larry D)
About a month ago, XXXL re-injured Alex Shelley as a statement that they were serious about chasing the tag team titles. Last week, Shelley announced that he was cleared to wrestle and they are here for revenge.
Good speed vs. power match. MCMGs had early advantage, displaying their tag team proficiency. All good action. XXXL cut off Shelley and worked over him for a couple of minutes before Sabin got the hot tag. Last few minutes were great, with both teams getting a chance to hit their double team moves. MCMGs hit skulls and bones for the win.
Shelley and Sabin could either go back to the tag title scene, or keep feuding with XXXL, who shouldn’t be happy about this loss.
– Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down tonight’s card.
– We saw Sami Callihan and Ken Shamrock arrive at the arena, but Scott D’Amore and security were there to greet them. D’Amore told Shamrock that he was suspended for attacking an official last week when he took out D’Lo Brown.
– Backstage, John E. Bravo confronted Larry D about shooting him. D attacked Bravo, but Tommy Dreamer jumped in to break it up. Dreamer tried to get Larry D to deal with the Bravo situation. Instead, D took out Dreamer.
Jordynne Grace & Jazz defeated Killer Kelly & Renee Michelle in a Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament first round match.
Renee Michelle is making her in-ring debut tonight, while we saw Killer Kelly take a loss last week against Kimber Lee. Likewise, Jazz made her return last week announcing that she was teaming up with Grace on the tournament. Michelle and Killer Kelly look like stars.
The match initially gave us a promising tease of a Grace vs. Killer Kelly match. Jazz was portrayed as a total dominant force when paired up with Michelle.
Match saw a basic formula with Grace getting cut off from her corner, being worked on until she made a short comeback to tag in Jazz, who came in and ran wild against the competition. Finish saw Michelle save Killer Kelly from getting pinned after a Grace driver, only for her to tag in and take an X-Factor by Jazz for the pin. Ok match. While a bit slower than the others, Jazz looked good in the ring.
Jazz and Jordynne Grace advance in the tournament and will be wrestling Havok and Neveah in the semi finals.
– Impact+ flashback moment of the week was the Motor City Machine Guns vs. Generation Me in a Full Metal Mayhem match from Final Resolution 2010.
– Ethan Page cut a promo saying that everyone likes messing with him and accepted that he was the one that took out Doc Gallows. He challenged Karl Anderson to a match at Final Resolution, and if he wins, he and Josh Alexander get a shot at the tag titles. Good promo.
– Somewhere backstage, Alisha Edwards was waiting for Sami Callihan. Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb with a K were there trying to talk to her, but Edwards had her focus on Callihan, who she attacked as soon as he walked by. Edwards was pulled off by security while Dashwood and Kaleb walked away.
Johnny Swinger vs Cody Deaner (with Cousin Jake) ended in a no contest
This was your weekly midcard match that got interrupted by Eric Young and Joe Doering. Swinger tried to make friends with Doering, but was still taken out. Young said that they will continue this until ‘we’ learn that this world belongs to them. I really don’t know what he’s talking about.
– Deonna Purrazzo and Kimber Lee approached Father James Mitchell to ask if he had already taken care of Su Yung. Mitchell said that these things take time and that he didn’t even know where Su Yung was, to which Purrazzo said she knew how to find her.
– Backstage, the Deaners talked in the locker room about having to do something about EY and Doering. Cody Deaner said this wasn’t a ‘we’ problem, he was the one that had to do something about EY next week.
– Purrazzo and Lee came down to the ring and called out Su Yung to come down to the ring if she wanted her contractual rematch. The trap was set and when she got to the ring, out came Father James Mitchell.
Mitchell cut a promo on Yung, saying that she had been a thorn in his side for too long. Tonight, she’d pay for her sins. Mitchell summoned Yung’s bridesmaids, who surrounded the ring. Purrazzo and Lee couldn’t wait and attacked Su Yung, leaving her for the bridesmaids to take her away.
– Moose approached Chris Bey about Bey’s tactics to get himself a World title match. Moose told Bey that if he were to win, Moose would take the title from him.
– Gia Miller interviewed Karl Anderson about Ethan Page’s challenge. Anderson accepted the match because he was out there to take revenge for what he did to Gallows.
X Division Champion Rohit Raju defeated Crazzy Steve to retain the title
Crazzy Steve won himself a title shot against Raju last week when he fought under the Suicide mask and got a quick roll-up after a distraction from TJP.
Match was a clash of styles, where Raju had a lot of trouble countering Steve’s unorthodox style until he managed to cut him off and keep him down with constant kicks and knees, focusing on Steve’s arm. Eventually, Steve powered up and made a comeback, getting a decent near fall with a Koji clutch. Soon after, Raju scored a roll-up and grabbed the ropes for the win. This was surprisingly good for Crazzy Steve.
– Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz revealed that they still had Hernandez’s money. Fallah Bahh approached them about this. When Hogan and Steelz tried to pretend they didn’t, Bahh said he went back and watched the show, and so Hogan and Steelz had to accept they had indeed stolen the money.
They said they didn’t have the money, but that they’d give it to him next week. I hope we are done with this story.
– TJP approached Crazzy Steve and once again, Brian Myers walked by and made fun of them. TJP challenged Myers to a match next week.
– Matthews and Rayne announced next week’s matches, including Eric Young vs. Cody Deaner, Brain Myers vs. TJP, Josh Alexander vs. Chris Sabin, and Deonna Purrazzo & Kimber Lee vs. Taya and Rosemary in the Knockouts Tag Team title tournament.
Willie Mack defeated Chris Bey
In the last couple of weeks, Chris Bey has been trying to get a title shot from Rich Swann, and last week, he happened to talk trash to Willie Mack, which led to this match.
Bey worked over Mack’s leg after he caught him with a low dropkick while Mack was in between the ropes on the apron. Bey dominated most of the match, with the exception of a couple of small comebacks that Mack initiated. The finish, which came out of nowhere, saw Bey go for his finish but Mack blocked, hit a pop-up forearm and landed the stunner for the win. Good match, mostly because of Bey. Seems like a really bad decision to pin Bey right before he goes and challenges for the title.
After the match, Moose came in and hit the lights out on Mack, which brought out Rich Swann, who ran off Moose. Out of nowhere, Chris Bey jumped in with the art of finesse and took out Swann. Bey posed with the title as the show went off the air.
Final thoughts —
Okay show, it went by fast. Most of the storyline developments were to build Final Resolution.
Impact Wrestling returns from Nashville, TN for tonight’s episode.
Opening video focused on the attack on Rich Swann at the hands of Eric Young, with the question on whether Swann will be able to get cleared to wrestle for Bound For Glory. In addition, it recapped last week’s Motor City Machine Guns vs. Ace Austin and Madman Fulton main event that led to the interference of The North and The Good Brothers, setting up tonight’s Fulton vs Gallows match. Finally, they showed ECIII burying the TNA Championship belt for good.
Show opened with Moose complaining to Scott D’Amore that he hasn’t done anything to deal with the ECIII situation and that Moose is booked to wrestle at an undisclosed location. Moose is just asking for management to do things right.
ECIII cut a promo on Moose telling him that he is learning and coming closer to controlling his own narrative. Still a lot of ambiguity, but I’m still hopeful it ends with a Moose and ECIII tag team.
All three teams have been feuding in one way or another for months. Taya and Rosemary have defeated the other teams in tag team matches while the other team interfered, and thus now they are all involved in the same contest. One particular detail about this feud is that Rosemary needs Havok’s aid to bring back James Mitchell back to life so he can carry out her wedding with John E. Bravo.
Story of the match was that Steelz and Hogan avoided getting in the ring, allowing Havok and Nevaeh to cut off Taya, who became the babyface in peril. Steelz and Hogan only tagged in when Taya was at her weakest, but as soon as Taya made a comeback on them, things turned around, and now it was the teams of Taya/Rosemary and Havok/Nevaeh trading tags to work over the heels.
Eventually, chaos spilled out, with all women getting involved. Towards the end, Hogan hit a dive on Havok, followed by Taya with a plancha. But either due to timing or just missing their spot, neither properly caught Taya, who just went straight to the floor.
Finish saw Rosemary spear Steelz and hit the double underhook sitout bomb for the win.
This was pretty good given the teams. Hogan and Steelz have been good since they came together but Rosemary is the one that has shown the most improvement in the last month.
At this point, we know the Rosemary and Bravo wedding is in two weeks, but we don’t have a match for any of these teams for BFG; however, with this win, it seems that Rosemary and Taya can move on towards setting up the wedding episode.
– Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down the card for tonight and Bound For Glory, updating with the new matches announced during the week, including Eddie Edwards vs. Ken Shamrock, Moose vs. ECIII, and the Call Your Shot Gauntlet.
– Backstage, John E. Bravo berated his wedding crew for going over budget on the wedding preparations. Fallah Bahh, his best man, arrived and confirmed he had not secured any money. As we know from last week, Bahh did indeed steal money from Hernandez, and Crazzy Steve figured it out, and thus called him out on it. Defensive, Bahh challenged Steve to a match tonight. No reason why Bahh suddenly wants to keep the money.
– Rosemary approached Havok about getting her help to bring back Father James Mitchell. Havok told her that it had taken a lot to kill Mitchell and that she had done it for a reason, to which Rosemary said that jeopardizing her wedding could break the time continuum for some reason. Havok offered Rosemary a match next week, in which if Rosemary wins, Havok helps her bring back Mitchell. A literal life or death stipulation.
Crazzy Steve defeated Fallah Bahh
Bahh came out tightly gripping the money roll like if it was a forbidden treasure. His whole demeanor screamed Gollum and the one ring. Steve came out and tried to get the referee to find it and for Bahh to lose the t-shirt, but failed.
This wasn’t much of a match. Steve kept trying to grab Bahh’s money and Bahh responded by using his strength to toss him away and save himself. Steve tried to choke out Bahh, but was unsuccessful.
In the end, Steve managed to tear off Bahh’s t-shirt, revealing the money roll, and as Bahh went to cover it, Steve rolled him up for the win. Not particularly good, but at least it was short.
With the reveal, we should expect Hernandez to come after Bahh and potentially the whole wedding crew.
– Rhino met with Heath in the locker room. Rhino told Heath that he felt sorry for what happened to him last week, so he had gone around and pulled some strings to get Heath a spot at the Call Your Shot Gauntlet, and if either Rhino or Heath wins, Heath can get a contract with Impact. Rhino told Heath to get ready since they have a match later tonight.
D’Amore entered and told Rhino that he was a good friend, and brought up that Rhino agreed that if neither wins, Heath is gone, and Rhino will give up his own contract.
This stank of a heel turn by Rhino, but that last detail from D’Amore really clears it off and somewhat telegraphs the finish to the CYSG at Bound For Glory.
Kaleb with a K came out to introduce Tenille Dashwood, announcing that she will be entering the Call Your Shot Gauntlet, as will all the participants of the following match.
Hernandez, Cousin Jake, Alisha Edwards, Rhino, and Heath defeated Tommy Dreamer, Brian Myers, Tenille Dashwood, Johnny Swinger, & Cody Deaner
Matthews confirmed that the participant order was picked at random and thus we now have Myers and Dreamer in the same team, who have been feuding for the last couple of weeks.
Stipulation of this match is that the winning team will have a five way match next week, where the winner will earn the #20 spot at the Call Your Shot Gauntlet at BFG.
This was chaotic, a lot of comedy and really quick spots to try and get everyone in for a short time. Most of the in-ring action came from Hernandez beating up Dreamer, but thankfully, Heath and Myers had a good short run at the end that led to Swinger blind tagging himself in, only to get the Wake Up Call from Heath for the win.
– Backstage, Callihan teased Eddie Edwards, distracting him from Ken Shamrock, who attacked him from behind, and once again went after Edwards’ ankle.
– Jimmy Jacobs interviewed Eric Young about his attack on Swann. EY said that his match at Bound For Glory was unconfirmed at this point and asked Jacobs why Impact thought that it was smart to have Swann miraculously recover and put him back in the ring with the man that caused all the damage to begin with.
Kylie Rae defeated Kimber Lee (with Deonna Purrazzo)
After the attack on Susie by Purrazzo and Lee at Victory Road, Kylie Rae is out to get some revenge for her friend. In the same vein, commentary sold it as Purrazzo using this match to get Kimber Lee to weaken or completely take out Rae before their BFG match.
Rae was super fired up for this match; she wasn’t smiling as usual. She controlled the first half of the match, going for submission attempts and strikes on Kimber Lee, but it wasn’t until she went for a rana from the apron that Lee blocked her and with an apron bomb, turned the match around.
Lee worked over Rae’s head for a while, at one point dropping her with a delayed vertical suplex for a near fall. Rae eventually made a comeback, hitting the Kylie Special for a two count. Lee got another good near fall with a sitdown powerbomb, but at the end, Rae locked in the smile to the finish to make Lee submit. Really good match, great action and the correct amount of heat headed towards BFG.
After the match, Kylie Rae didn’t release the STTF, allowing Purrazzo to attack her from behind. They brawled a bit until Rae nailed Purrazzo with a superkick and cleared the ring.
Prior to the next match, Anderson and Gallows cut a promo saying that at first, they came to Impact for the money, but they’ve realized that they like it, and that they’re the best, but to be the best, they have to hold the Tag Team championships. They promised that they would walk out of BFG the new champions.
Doc Gallows (with Karl Anderson) vs. Madman Fulton (with Ace Austin) ended in a double countout
This was a scary hoss fight, it was more of a brawl than anything else. Within a minute Fulton hit snake eyes on Gallows and they spilled out to the floor for a brawl. They punched and kicked each other around and up the ramp and neither cared when they were counted out.
After the commercial break, we got confirmed that Impact management have restarted the match under No DQs rules.
Doc Gallows (with Karl Anderson) defeated Madman Fulton (with Ace Austin) in a No DQ match
We picked up the match as Fulton and Gallows brawled around the ring, Fulton found a led pipe, while Gallows carried a chair. They then proceeded to hit each other with everything they could find, chairs, metal signs, golf clubs, and whatnot.
Fulton was in control for most of the match, destroying Gallows, but it wasn’t until Fulton tried to con-chair-to Gallows against a chair locked between the turnbuckles that Gallows dodged, sent Fulton head first into the chair, hit a double handed chokeslam on a bed of chairs and picked up the win.
This was great for what it was. Weapons matches are not the best in empty arenas, but this was so brutal that I completely forgot the lack of fans. No sight of the Motor City Machine Guns or The North, but it’s been weeks of all eight men being involved in the same ring, so it was a nice chance of pace to allow two men to fight each other.
– Matthews and Rayne ran down next weeks’ card, including the Call Your Shot Gauntlet #20 spot match, Callihan vs Eddie Edwards, Rohit Raju, Chris Bey, & Jordynne Grace vs Willie Mack, Trey Miguel, & TJP, all competitors in the BFG X-Division Scramble match for the title, and finally The North vs The Good Brothers.
– Eric Young came down to the ring to demand answers on the status of his Bound For Glory match. He hijacked the rest of the show until someone confirmed that Swann had given up.
We saw D’Amore finish the call with either Swann or Dr. Foreman then headed to the ring to deal with Young.
Out in the ring, Young demanded that D’Amore confirm the cancellation of the World title match at Bound For Glory. D’Amore said that Young had done additional and substantial damage to Swann’s leg. After a lot of trash talk by Young, D’Amore told EY that the match is still on because as per medical assessment, Rich Swann’s recovery is ahead of schedule and would be cleared for Bound For Glory.
Irate, Eric Young jumped Scott D’Amore and proceeded to break his ankle. Rich Swann then appeared and laid out Young with a cutter. Young retreated as Swann held up the Impact World title.
This was the perfect execution of the cocky heel getting swerved by the clearance of the valiant babyface, but they couldn’t hold off on Swann’s return and thus ended up spoiling any questions on Swann’s status and making us wonder why Swann didn’t confront Young earlier.
– Before the show ended, we saw Moose finally find ECIII, who told Moose that he was a fraud, whose personality was just a combination of all his idols.
ECIII and Moose started brawling on a bridge, but it ended with ECIII knocking down Moose and laughing at what Moose had become, someone who could be easily beaten.
Moose recovered and attacked ECIII with his fists, leaving him all bloodied up. He walked away with the TNA title as ECIII laughed in the background. This was a bit of the payoff we’ve waited weeks for, but being so close to BFG now, I don’t know what else we can expect for the pay-per-view.
Final thoughts —
Overall a good show building up heat for Bound For Glory.
A rivalry that has been building for months on Impact Wrestling will finally hit a crescendo as Impact Wrestling announced Friday that EC3 and Moose will face each other Bound For Glory at an undisclosed location.
It’s likely that means it will be an attempt at a cinematic match as none of their other match announcements have included that disclaimer.
The rivalry began when EC3 surprised Moose after a TNA Heavyweight title match on a late-July edition of Impact, dropping him and walking away. A month later, he did the same thing at Emergence and stole the TNA belt as he said he wanted to leave behind his past by destroying the title. In subsequent weeks, EC3 harassed Moose by giving out his cell phone number and tricking him into confrontations only to appear on video instead.
After being released during the WWE pandemic cuts, EC3’s return to Impact was announced during July’s Slammiversary. He also is working for Ring of Honor.
Bound for Glory is set for Saturday, October 24th and will feature World Champion Eric Young vs. Rich Swann, Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. Kylie Rae, and Tag Team Champions Motor City Machine Guns vs. Good Brothers vs. The North vs. Ace Austin & Madman Fulton in a four-way.
Next week’s episode of Impact will feature the former Heath Slater’s in-ring debut for Impact Wrestling.
It was announced on last night’s Impact that self-proclaimed TNA World Heavyweight Champion Moose will defend his title against Heath on next Tuesday’s show. The match has a stipulation where Heath will get a spot on the Impact roster if he wins.
Heath interrupted a backstage interview with Moose on last night’s episode of Impact. Moose said he was giving out another invitation for someone to challenge for his title. Heath claimed that the TNA Championship Committee gave him a contract for a title shot. When Moose said there is no TNA Championship Committee, Heath said that would mean there’s no TNA Champion either.
After Moose agreed to give Heath a title shot, Scott D’Amore told Heath that he’ll open up a spot on the Impact roster for Heath if he defeats Moose next week.
Moose has been calling himself TNA World Heavyweight Champion since April. On last week’s Impact, Moose retained the title against Fallah Bahh before being attacked by EC3.
Here’s the full list of what’s been announced for next Tuesday’s Impact:
An open challenge for Eddie Edwards’ Impact World Championship
X-Division Champion Chris Bey & Rohit Raju vs. TJP & Fallah Bahh
Self-proclaimed TNA World Heavyweight Champion Moose defending against Heath
A sit-down interview with Impact Tag Team Champions the Motor City Machine Guns
Rich Swann will appear and give an update on his status after Eric Young attacked his ankle at Slammiversary
Opening video recapped Jordynne Grace’s win over Kimber Lee, as well as Purrazzo’s promo. It also showed Callihan vs Josh Alexander, which showcased the new union between Callihan and Shamrock.
Nevaeh started the match by spearing Tasha, cutting her away from her corner and hitting a double team with Havok. Havok tossed Tashar to Kiera Hogan to tag in. Hogan, Taya, and Lee all came in and were taken out by Havok with a single strike.
Outside the ring, all the heels ganged up on Nevaeh until Susie hit a senton on them, followed by Havok tossing Alisha military style on them. Havok followed with a dive, and just as Rae was going for her dive, Taya returned to the ring and cut Rae off.
Rosemary and Taya worked over Kylie Rae for a bit, mostly strikes and Rosemary locking in the upside-down. Taya hit an assisted german on Rae for a two count. She followed up with the running hip and knee attacks for another two count.
Tasha tagged in and choked Rae, Hogan then tagged in next and cut off Kylie Rae from making a comeback. Kimber Lee tagged in and went straight for kicking Rae in the back, getting a two count from it. Kylie finally managed to dodge one of Lee’s attacks and got to her corner.
Susie tagged in and ran wild on Kimber Lee, hitting the arach-rana for a two count. Everyone came in to take out each other with their finishers until the last two were Rae and Lee. Rae superkicked Lee, allowing Susie to hit the panic switch for the win.
After the match, Susie was having a small breakdown, hinting that a little bit of Su Yung was coming out. Taya and Rosemary attacked Susie and Rae, while the rest of the women started to brawl with each other. At the end, Kylie Rae superkicked Rosemary and Taya to send them out of the ring.
Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down the card for Slammiversary XVIII and some of tonight’s bouts.
We got a video from Dayton, OH with Ace Austin and Fulton heading to Fulton’s old gym to train, with Fulton being quite reluctant to come back to Ohio after leaving oVe.
We were told that Rhino and Hernandez have been in an arm-wrestling match since last week, with neither giving up.
Backstage, Moose asked Hernandez and Rhino to tag with him tonight. They both rejected him. Before Moose left, he slapped Hernandez, causing him to lose his grip and lose the arm-wrestling match. Rhino wanted his money, but Hernandez wouldn’t have it and told Rhino he’d be in the parking lot.
Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was Suicide vs Kenny King vs Chris Sabin from Slammiversary 2013.
The Deaners (Cody Deaner & Cousin Jake) defeated XXXL (Acey Romero & Larry D)
Jake and Larry D started the match with a collar and elbow lock-up, but neither man had the advantage. They traded a couple of shoulder blocks until D managed to drop Jake, only for him to recover and hit a scoop slam on D. He then tagged Cody for the assisted senton for a two count.
Cody was easily overpowered by Larry D, sending him to the corner to tag in Acey. He came in and dropped Cody several times before hitting a crossbody for a two count when Jake broke it up.
Acey pounced Cousin Jake out of the ring and tagged Larry D for the tandem shoulder block. Cody, however, escaped and faked Acey on to the floor outside the ring. Cody hiit a big boot on Larry, but wasn’t able to follow when D swept him, hit a curb stomp, and powerbombed him. But when Cody was up for the powerbomb, he blind tagged Cousin Jake who rolled up D for the win. The Deaners push is continuing. Good match, but somewhat short.
After the match, XXXL attacked The Deaners. They hit a second rope Romero elbow on Cousin Jake to leave him laying.
Rohit Raju was training in the back when Moose approached him, asking to be his tag team partner tonight. Raju complained that he is always everyone’s last choice, but he still said yes.
Johnny Swinger hyped up Chris Bey in the back. Swinger went to the referee that banned him from ringside to complain. The referee, trying to avoid lawsuits, accepted Swinger as Bey’s second for Slammiversary.
We got a video package recapping the story between Chris Bey and Willie Mack.
After the video, Swinger overheard Chris Bey talking trash about him to Gia Miller. Swinger told Bey that he was on his own on Saturday. Interesting that the turn would come before the match.
We got a recap of Deonna Purrazzo’s debut and feud with Jordynne Grace.
Jimmy Jacobs moderated the contract signing between Purrazzo and Grace. Purrazzo told Jordynne that she wanted her to understand that she was stepping in the ring against The Virtuosa, with greatness and sophistication. Jordynne responded by telling Purrazzo that she needed to understand what she had gotten herself into right now and slammed Purrazzo’s face to the table. Jacobs stopped Jordynne from following Purrazzo after she ran off.
We got a recap of The North’s feud with Ken Shamrock that led to them having to defend their tag titles against Shamrock and Callihan.
Sami Callihan and Ken Shamrock cut promos about what they think about each other, putting each other over as tough dudes. Callihan told the story of the scorpion and the frog, which kinda hints that he is going to turn on Shamrock during the match instead of winning.
Tommy Dreamer & Crazzy Steve defeated Moose & Rohit Raju
Dreamer and Rohit started the match with some wrist control wrestling until Dreamer hit a suplex to take down Rohit and tag in Steve.
Rohit cut off Steve with a kick and tagged in Moose, who came in and tossed around Steve with a fallaway slam. Moose went for the corner tackle, but Steve dodged and tagged in Dreamer for a quick team move. Moose and Dreamer gave us a preview of their upcoming match, mostly striking each other and Moose being cocky.
Dreamer sent Moose and Rohit to the floor. Steve went for a dive, but Moose was able to catch him in midair. Dreamer hit a baseball slide into Steve, taking out Moose in the process. Dreamer went for his own dive, but Rohit returned and took him out with a clothesline. Rohit kept Dreamer down until Moose returned to work on Dreamer with more stomps and strikes.
Moose went for a second rope axe handle chop, but Dreamer caught him with a punch and a DDT. Rohit and Steve tagged in. Steve ran circles around Rohit, snapped his neck, hit a side leg sweep and locked in a submission, but Moose broke it off.
Dreamer and Moose brawled to the floor while Rohit went after Steve, but Steve recovered and hit a second rope DDT for the win.
We saw Ace Austin and Madman Fulton arrive at their old gym.
Out in the parking lot, Hernandez and Rhino started brawling for the roll of money that was up for the arm-wrestling match. Rhino quickly hit a low blow on Hernandez and took the money. Hernandez recovered and tried to choke out Rhino with his bandana. Rhino recovered and tried to choke out Hernandez.
They kept brawling with garbage cans and traffic cones. Eventually, Rhino gored Hernandez into a fence. They eventually decided to split it instead. This was a good brawl, but too long for a story that was built with one minute of arm-wrestling.
We got the video package about the Impact World title being vacated and the separate packages on Ace, Eddie, and Trey Miguel.
We got a further look into Eddie Edwards career, with him talking about the ups and downs of his career and life and how everything has led him to the Impact championship. This was great.
Matthews and Rayne made the final rundown of the Slammiversary XVIII card. Don Callis is returning to the announcing booth on Saturday.
Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz were seen walking down the streets of Dayton, realizing that Ace Austin was around their old gym. They arrived while Ace was berating the gym’s staff/ Wentz attacked Fulton and provoked him, so Fulton chased down Wentz, leaving Ace Austin alone for Trey to confront.
Trey and Ace started brawling around the gym. At one point Ace tossed a chair at Trey, getting some time to dominate him and trash talked, but Trey recovered and continued to brawl. Ace used a broom to attack Trey, once again gaining the upper hand.
Ace used the chair again and choked out Trey. Ace went after the ribs, then chopped him around. It was all Ace Austin until Trey managed to dodge a chop, sending Ace into the cement pillar. They brawled some more around chairs and into a small stage where Trey was to finish off Ace.
However, Fulton re-emerged. Fulton and Trey had a short staredown, but Wentz came back just in time to back up Trey, sending Ace and Fulton packing to close out the show.
After the show, we saw the Slammiversary XVIII teaser commercial, with someone sending in a signed contract to Scott D’Amore. D’Amore was happy with the contract, saying that Slammiversary had just gotten more exciting.
Final Thoughts —
Good go-home show, it made small touches on all the announced Slammiversary matches, either by segments or video packages. The show took a break from delivering hints on debuts and returns, but it allowed the current participants to get their final words in. Nothing outstanding wrestling wise.
