In an surprise victory, Alex Shelley defeated Steve Maclin to win the Impact World title at Friday’s Against All Odds in Columbus, Ohio.
Shelley picked up the clean win after hitting his Shellshock finisher in the evening’s main event.
It’s the first World title reign for Shelley who was unsuccessful in besting then-champion Josh Alexander at last August’s Emergence. Shelley had previously held the Impact Tag Team titles three times and X-Division title once. He earned the shot with a win in a six-way no. 1 contender’s match at last month’s Under Siege.
The loss ends Maclin’s relatively short title reign which began at April’s Rebellion with a victory over KUSHIDA for the title vacated due to Alexander’s injury. Defenses against Rhino and PCO followed.
Shelley will defend the title against Nick Aldis at July’s Slammiversary after Aldis earned the shot by winning the first-ever 8-4-1 match earlier in the night.
Aldis was part of a four-on-four tag team match where the winning team immediately moved onto a four-way for the title shot. In a match that included Jonathan Gresham and Bully Ray, Aldis tapped out Heath to earn the win.
Aldis will be looking for his second run with the title and the first since 2014 when he was known as Magnus and the promotion was still called TNA.
Here’s the current card for the Saturday, July 15th pay-per-view in Windsor, Ontario, Canada:
Impact World Champion Alex Shelley defends against Nick Aldis
Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defends against Trinity
Impact World Champion Steve Maclin will look for another successful title defense as he defends against Alex Shelley on Friday’s Against All Odds streaming special in Columbus, Ohio.
The next no. 1 contender will be made in the first-ever 8-4-1 match as Bully Ray, Jonathan Gresham, Heath & Nick Aldis take on Moose, Mike Bailey, Rich Swann & PCO. The winning team will immediately compete in a four-way with the winner challenging for the World title at Slammiversary.
In a pair of Under Siege rematches, X-Division Champion Trey Miguel will defend against Chris Sabin while Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry defends against Dirty Dango.
Tag Team Champions Chris Bey & Ace Austin defend against The Good Hands while Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo teams with Slammiversary challenger Trinity against Gisele Shaw & Savannah Evans.
Other featured matches include Killer Kelly vs. Masha Slamovich in a dog collar match, Frankie Kazarian vs. Eddie Edwards, and a trios street fight.
**********
KiLynn King (w/Taylor Wilde) defeated Nevaeh on the Countdown to Against All Odds pre-show
From Dayton, Ohio, Nevaeh made her return to Impact Wrestling after two years.
King had the early advantage after the bell rang and Wilde was sure to maintain that advantage for her partner from the outside of the ring.
Nevaeh attempted to gain momentum several times but King eventually landed the King’s Curse to get the 1-2-3 after a short uneventful match.
– A video package aired focusing on the ongoing feud between Sami Callihan and The Design leading into their upcoming Ohio Street Fight later on tonight.
Joe Hendry defeated Dirty Dango to retain the Impact Digital Media title on the Countdown to Against All Odds pre-show
Director of Authority Santino Marella made his way to the ring to join commentary before the match began.
After Dango entered the ring, Hendry’s music hit and he came out with a mic, reintroducing fans to his “Divas Reject” music video.
After the bell rang, Hendry gained early momentum causing a frustrated Dango to the outside of the ring. Dango saw a fan with a t-shirt in the crowd and grabbed the shirt and tossed it in the face of Marella, disrespecting the DOA. Hendry went to the outside and landed a neckbreaker on the floor before both men returned to the ring.
Dango managed to gain the advantage after hitting some top rope offence but Hendry quickly had momentum on his side once again. Dango remained resilient and once again went to the top attempting to land the Down & Dirty but Hendry caught up with him.
After Hendry initially was able to stop Dango, he was shoved back down to the mat and Dango attempted the Down & Dirty once again but Hendry moved and Dango crashed and burned.
Hendry capitalized on the missed attempt by Dango, landed a massive suplex followed by the Standing Ovation to retain his Impact Digital Media title.
– A video package aired focusing on the upcoming Impact World title match between Steve Maclin and Alex Shelley.
**********
– A cold open opened the show tonight and honestly folks, Impact Wrestling does some of the best video packages in the business.
Frankie Kazarian defeated Eddie Edwards (w/Alisha)
It was hard to believe this was the first ever singles match between Kazarian and Edwards with their storied careers in Impact Wrestling and both being trained by the late Killer Kowalski.
After some back and forth in the beginning moments of the match, Kazarian looked to have gained control with a great neckbreaker before Edwards was able to send him to the outside where Alisha was waiting with a cheap shot.
Both men were back in the ring and Edwards had the momentum going his way as Alisha continued to help assist her husband from the outside. Kazarian attempted a comeback with a springboard off of the ropes but Edwards sent him to the outside instead and followed it up with a dive through the ropes.
Kazarian wouldn’t stay down however as his perseverance led him to landing a hurricanrana on Edwards over the top rope to the floor. Kazarian attempted to land his spinning legdrop off of the ropes but Alisha once again interfered in the match.
Kazarian followed up by landing the spinning legdrop but Edwards persevered himself and landed a Blue Thunder Bomb but only managed a two count. Kazarian followed up with a reverse piledriver but before he could get the three count, Alisha placed Edwards leg on the bottom rope. The referee caught her however and Alisha was ejected from ringside.
Both men attempted to recover at this point and after what looked like a botched three count by the referee, Kazarian was able to roll Edwards up for a real 1-2-3 for the victory.
ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) defeated The Good Hands (Jason Hotch & John Skyler w/Brian Myers) to retain the Impact World Tag Team titles
Bey and Skyler began the match and after some quick back and forth, Hotch and Austin were tagged in. Austin gained control before Hotch and Skyler resorted to heel tactics to gain the upperhand.
Quick tags were made by The Good Hands to keep Austin grounded but it didn’t last long as Ace was able to make the hot tag to a fired up Bey. Bey took out both Hotch and Skyler before nailing Hotch with the Code Red but only managed a two count.
A miscue by ABC sent momentum back in the way of The Good Hands but after Austin was sent to the outside taking out Myers, it was back and forth by both teams looking to gain that momentum needed to be tag team champions.
The Good Hands nailed Austin with a Magic Killer but Ace managed to kick out at two. Unfortunately for Hotch and Skyler, this would be the end of the night for them as far as offence went. Hotch was caught with the Art of Finesse before Austin nailed him with The Fold to give the champions another day with the titles.
– Backstage, Gia Miller was with Impact Knockouts World champion Deonna Purrazzo and Trinity. They made mention of their upcoming battle at Slammiversary but stated their focus tonight was Gisele Shaw and Savannah Evans.
Masha Slamovich defeated Killer Kelly in a Dog Collar Match
A match between two women that absolutely hated each other, locked in a dog collar with no disqualifications.
After it looked like an even matchup early on, it was all Slamovich with the referee even asking Kelly if she wanted to give up in the opening minutes of the match.
Kelly and Slamovich ended up on the outside of the ring and Slamovich continued her assault by pulling Kelly into the ring post before wrapping the chain around her neck and biting her in the process.
Slamovich dragged Kelly back into the ring but couldn’t capitalize any further as both women hit clotheslines on one another. After getting back on their feet, Kelly managed to gain much needed momentum by landing a running dropkick in the corner followed by a DDT.
Slamovich refused to give up and after landing back on the outside, she was able to hang Kelly over the top rope but Kelly refused to submit.
Back in the ring and Slamovich attempted the Snow Plow but couldn’t execute it. Kelly attempted to lock in her Killer Clutch but failed as well. Kelly was then able to hit a Snow Plow of her own but only managed a two count.
A frustrated Kelly looked to finish the match but before she could continue her momentum, Slamovich was able to lock the chain around the mouth of Kelly. Slamovich followed up by finally landing her Snow Plow to get a massive win over her arch nemesis.
After the match, Slamovich went eye-to-eye with Kelly and after looking like she was going to land a post-match assault, threw her dog collar down and left the ring.
– Backstage, Gia Miller was with the Motor City Machine Guns. Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin stated they were focused on winning titles at Against All Odds.
Chris Sabin defeated Trey Miguel to win the Impact X-Division title
This match had the potential to be a X-Division classic but the arrogance of Miguel wasn’t about to let that happen.
Both men went back and forth in the beginning as Sabin was gearing towards a ninth X-Division championship and after landing a spear onto the outside of the ring, it looked as though the title was about to change hands.
Miguel wouldn’t give in however and after trapping the leg of Sabin, he caught him in an amazing series of submission moves but Sabin was able to escape. Sabin followed up by hitting the Angel’s Wings but only managed a two count. Miguel followed it up with a Cradle Shock but Sabin kicked out at two as well.
Sabin followed up with an avalanche gut buster to Miguel on the top rope and then hit a Styles Clash but could only once again get a two count. Miguel started playing dirty at this point and after getting a can of spray taken away, sprayed a second can of spray paint to the eyes of Sabin but couldn’t get the win.
Sabin recovered and after hitting a massive clothesline, nailed the Cradle Shock to win his ninth X-Division title!
Bully Ray, Heath, Jonathan Gresham & Nick Aldis defeated Mike Bailey, Moose, PCO & Rich Swann in a 8-4-1 8-Man Tag Team Match
Bailey and Ray began the match but before they locked up, Ray tagged out to Gresham. After some back and forth between Bailey and Gresham, Heath and Swann were tagged in and before they locked up, an impromptu dance off took place.
Moose soon tagged himself in and immediately went to the opposite to confront Ray as the two have a heated history. Bailey was tagged back in as he was attempting to gain momentum for his team by climbing to the top rope, he was confronted by Ray and crotched in the process.
Bailey recovered and made the tag to PCO and the French-Canadian Frankenstein quickly started beating down on his opponents. As PCO went to nail his PCOsault to the ring apron, Moose tagged himself back into the match and shoved PCO off of the top rope.
Moose attempted to end the match with a spear to Gresham but ended up nailing his teammate Swann instead. Gresham then sent Moose to the outside and seeing a downed Swann, covered him for the 1-2-3 to help his team advance to a four-way match to determine who will face the Impact World champion at Slammiversary.
Nick Aldis defeated Bully Ray, Heath & Jonathan Gresham in a 8-4-1 4-Way Match
Gresham gained the early advantage coming off the win for his team moments before and after grounding Ray, he nailed Bully with a diving headbutt to the lower midsection thanks to help from Aldis and Heath.
Ray wouldn’t stay down however and after looking for plunder underneath the ring, he was soon confronted by a returning Scott D’Amore on the inside of the ring. Ray told D’Amore he didn’t have the guts to do anything and after Bully turned his back, D’Amore nailed him with a massive chair shot.
With Ray now down and out, the other three men looked to finish the match and move on to Slammiversary. Aldis would be the one to capitalize however and after locking Heath in the King’s Lynn Cloverleaf, Heath tapped out and we now had our new number one contender going into Slammivesary.
– Backstage, Gia Miller was with Impact World champion Steve Maclin. Maclin stated that while guys like Chris Sabin and Nick Aldis were victorious tonight, he was focused on defeating Alex Shelley in the main event.
Purrazzo and Shaw began the match and as you would have guessed it, there was no love lost as both women looked to rip each other apart.
Trinity was tagged in and commentary made reference to the fact that Trinity hasn’t lost a tag team match in her last twenty-three appearances. How about that?
After some back and forth action and quick tags by both teams, Trinity attempted to hit a move from the top rope but after some interference by Jai Vidal, she failed to land her aerial assault as it was broken up by Evans.
Purrazzo got the hot tag in and after locking in the Fujiwara Armbar on Shaw, Trinity landed the Rear View but they couldn’t put Shaw and Evans away. Trinity was taken out and after Purrazzo decided enough was enough, she locked Evans in a Magistral Cradle to gain the win for her team.
After the match, Shaw, Evans & Vidal attempted to destroy Purrazzo with running knee strikes by Shaw by Trinity was able to make the save.
oVe (Sami Callihan, Jake Crist & Madman Fulton) defeated The Design (Deaner, Angels & Kon) in an Ohio Street Fight
As expected, this match was all about chaos, punishment and weapons. Chairs, tables, mailboxes, staple guns and sunset flips were highlights of the opening moments of the match.
Callihan yelled at Fulton to “Get the wire!” and we were greeted with two tables full of barbed wire. Fulton attempted to launch Angels through one of the tables but Angels blocked the attempt and then followed up by nailing Fulton with a barbed wire strike of his own.
Crist and Angels both went to the top rope and after simultaneously jumping off the top, Crist nailed him with a massive Crist Cutter. He could only manage a two count however as Deaner made the save.
Tacks were brought out by Callihan and it was soon a massive trainwreck as Deaner, Kon, Fulton and Crist were all sent through the destruction of the tacks and tables.
Callihan nailed Deaner with his Cactus Driver ’97 but Deaner kicked out. Callihan followed up with a piledriver through one of the barbed wire tables and that was enough to put away the leader of The Design to gain a victory for the newly reformed oVe.
Alex Shelley defeated Steve Maclin to win the Impact World title
It was definitely power and aggression versus speed and technicality in this one.
With both men feeling each other out in the opening moments, Shelley attempted to lock in the Border City Stretch but Maclin was quick to roll to the outside.
Shelley followed up by attacking the left arm of Maclin, stomping on his elbow and locking in an armbar as well before Maclin was able to land a German suplex and take the match to the outside that included a dive through the ropes.
After both men were back in the ring, Shelley attempted to gain the advantage in the match but Maclin’s power game was way too strong and after landing a series of moves including a monstrous backbreaker, Maclin could only manage a two count on the challenger.
Shelley began to mount a comeback and after some near falls, Maclin soon found himself locked in an agonizing figure-four leglock before finally reaching the ropes, removing a turnbuckle pad in the process.
Maclin switched up momentum and after landing a psycho knee, he nailed a brainbuster. Maclin attempted to follow up with his Caught in the Crosshairs but failed. Shelley caught Maclin with a DDT to the apron followed by a Sliced Bread on the floor.
Back in the ring and Shelley went to deliver his Shell Shock but missed and Maclin nailed his KIA but only managed a two count. Both men went to the top rope and Shelley nailed Maclin with a Sliced Bread but again a two count.
Maclin rushed Shelley in the corner but missed and hit the exposed turnbuckle. Shelley looking to siege his moment, fought off Maclin’s attack and finally nailed the Shell Shock to capture his first Impact World title in a hell of a main event!
After the match, the new Impact X-Division champion Chris Sabin came down to the ring to celebrate with his Motor City Machine Guns partner.
Final Thoughts:
What a show!
My predictions on the event sucked but WOW the surprise results.
Sabin, Shelley and Aldis to name a few.
MCMG as individual champions in Impact Wrestling in 2023, forget about it! Impact pulling the trigger on Aldis this quickly, forget about it! Slamovich teasing a tag team with Kelly, forget about it!
I’ve loved Impact Wrestling since the mid-2000’s and 15+ years later and they keep solidifying my love as a fan. Do yourself a favour (that’s not a typo, I’m Canadian) and go out of your way to watch Against All Odds 2023 as the event was solid from start to finish.
With that being said, go out of your way to watch Frankie Kazarian, Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin matches back in the day and realize how good they truly are.
Three matches have been announced for next Thursday’s go-home edition of Impact Wrestling — the final stop before next Friday’s Against All Odds.
After they clashed in a non-title match at Under Siege, Knockouts Tag Team Champions The Coven (Taylor Wilde & KiLynn King) will defend against The Death Dollz (Jessicka & Courtney Rush). The Dollz are also former titleholders.
In a non-title match, Impact Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry will face Sheldon Jean. This was set up in a backstage segment Thursday where Kenny King and Jean confronted Hendry and Director of Authority Santino Marella.
In a preview of the new 8-4-1 match at Against All Odds that will crown a Slammiversary World title contender, Moose & Rich Swann will face Nick Aldis & Jonathan Gresham.
Here’s the current lineup with more expected to be announced in the week ahead:
Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry vs. Sheldon Jean in a non-title match
Knockouts Tag Team Champions The Coven (Taylor Wilde & KiLynn King) defend against The Death Dollz (Jessicka & Courtney Rush)
Moose & Rich Swann vs. Nick Aldis & Jonathan Gresham
The card for next month’s Against All Odds streaming special continues to take shape as Impact Wrestling announced both a new match and match type Tuesday.
Called the 8-4-1, the winner will earn an Impact World title shot at July’s Slammiversary.
Featuring eight wrestlers, the match will begin as an eight-man tag team bout. The winners will then compete in a fatal four-way where the victor will earn the title shot.
The teams are Bully Ray, Jonathan Gresham, Heath & Nick Aldis vs. Moose, “Speedball” Mike Bailey, Rich Swann & PCO. Four of the men have held the Impact/TNA World title before.
It joins the previously announced Steve Maclin vs. Alex Shelley match for Maclin’s World title.
Against All Odds takes place on Friday, June 9th from Columbus, Ohio, and will stream on Impact’s Ultimate Insider and Impact Plus.
Here’s the current card:
Impact World Champion Steve Maclin defends against Alex Shelley
8-4-1 match for Impact World title shot: Nick Aldis, Bully Ray, Jonathan Gresham, Heath, Moose, “Speedball” Mike Bailey, Rich Swann and PCO
Some of the agreements reached for Punk’s return including what happens with Ace Steel
Promotion of the United Center show
Early ticket sales for United Center and all the Collision tapings
Economics of arenas in Chicago
Promotion of the Collision shows so far
Collision later this year against tougher sports competition
Nick Khan talks lots of new potential ideas for television and NXT
The U.K. television landscape
New ways WWE is looking to make money from its major events
A preview of WWE’s two big shows this week, favorites, and business notes
AEW Double or Nothing looked at, including business notes on the show, ideas and angles
Mercedes Mone injured and Willow Nightingale ends up as New Japan Strong women’s champion
A look at the tournament
Lots of thoughts and notes on the show
Mark Davis injury
Angles coming off the New Japan Long Beach show
How tickets moved after Mone was announced
Match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results
Rundown of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, coverage of the biggest matches this pas week and how the tournaments went down
UFC show coverage
The most in-depth look at the ratings for all the national wrestling shows and how they compare with the same period last year, as well as the competition and what the numbers mean
Major wrestling and boxing promotion looking at working with each other
More on the CMLL Anniversary plans
AEW star debuting in AAA
AEW star looks to be done with AAA
Stardom building title vs title match this weekend
Hana Kimura Memorial show
DDT tournament finals
Schedule for Dark Side of the Ring and thoughts
Cain Velasquez trial update
Promotion quietly gets national cable deal
A number of different stars on next MLW tapings
Impact TV lineups
AEW video game update
AEW and profits and losses
Darby Allin and climbing Mount Everest
Tony Khan talks booking team
Notes on Forbidden Door
Thunder Rosa talks battling depression
What stars who believe they can’t appear on Forbidden Door
Ticket sales for upcoming WWE and AEW shows
International TV numbers
Talk about promoting AEW live events
Best merchandise sellers
Update on how UFC pays fighters
Dana White talks Francis Ngannou deal
PFL talks the deal and why it makes sense even if it doesn’t seem to
Tyson Fury and Jon Jones war of words has predictable outcome
Mackenzie Der and divorce issues
Lots of Billy Graham history and Hogan & Flair talk about his influence
Why Hogan and Graham fell out years ago
Graham’s lawsuit against Vince McMahon
Graham’s sellout records in MSG and why they are even more impressive than they appear
Hogan the face of a new company
Women’s’ tag team division issues
Lots of injury notes and updates
Two WWE stars play women wrestlers of the 30s and 50s in a new movie being filmed soon
More on a Ric Flair movie
Kota Ibushi talks WWE
Three WWE athletes going for a world championship berth in wrestling this year
Gable Steveson talks his pro wrestling training
Median age of wrestling Tv viewers for the different shows
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Tuesday Update
WWE
A Carmelo Hayes appearance and Tiffany Stratton holding a “Tiffybration” following her Women’s title win have been added to Tuesday’s NXT.
Alexa Bliss noted that she will return to wrestling. Bliss announced on Tuesday that she and Ryan Cabrera are expecting their first child in December.
Natalya on her quick loss to Rhea Ripley on Saturday: “Just saw Rhea’s interview on Raw last night saying I was distracted. The truth is, I thought I was ready for anything out there, and I just had no reply to her dominance. This is on me.”
Dexter Lumis vs. Akira Tozawa and Candace LeRae vs. Tegan Nox were taped for this week’s Main Event on Monday.
WWE’s YouTube channel surpassed 95 million subscribers this past weekend.
AEW Road to San Diego focuses on Kris Statlander’s return and the fallout from AEW Double or Nothing.
Jon Moxley has been announced for the Pro Wrestling Revolver show on June 17.
Jade Cargill commented on her AEW Double or Nothing entrance: “My colors and entrance was paid homage to my sorority. I am a PROUD member of AKA. It is the oldest Greek-letter organization established by African American college-educated women. very personal but I wanted to bring Greek life to the wrestling world.”
Fuego Del Sol talked on Twitter about being backstage at AEW this past weekend: “I was at my first AEW show since I was injured in February this past weekend. Though the landscape has changed a bit, I’m more motivated than ever. There is so much more I am going to do and this weekend was the refresher of just how much I dare to be great. Soon.”
Jake Roberts is celebrating a birthday today.
Other Wrestling
Superstar Billy Graham’s funeral will be streamed at 3 pm ET Thursday at this link.
Vice is airing a Dark Side of the Ring marathon prior to tonight’s Season 4 premiere.
Nick Aldis talked to Metro about talking to the WWE. ‘I don’t wanna speak too much about my conversations with [WWE]. And I certainly don’t want to imply or suggest that I had a choice of anywhere to go. That would be disingenuous or dishonest. It’s more about, what’s the best option right now? I did need a little bit of a mental break – because I did put a lot of pressure on myself. I’ll be honest, it was kinda heartbreaking to see a lot of my work get undone at the NWA. I needed bit of time to just process it and go, “Hey, what they decide to do now that you’re gone is none of your concern. Your body of work will live on through your fans and that’s it. You build this brand for yourself.” [My wife Mickie James] was good at restoring that confident in me as well.’
G-Raver, who previously wrestled for GCW and was later arrested on drug and DUI charges, will face trial in July with jury selection to begin on July 10.
Billy Corgan talked about finding a potential television partner in an interview with the Toronto Sun. “I’ve resisted taking any outside money, so it’s 100% self-funded so that way if I do find the right partner, I don’t have to bring somebody else along and convince them that it’s good idea,” he said. “And then secondarily, I resisted taking sea level deals just to sort of puff my chest and say, ‘See I’m with Bob’s BBQ Network.’ You know what I mean?”
A match between Low Ki and Minoru Suzuki has been signed for Perth Wrestling’s Crossroads event on August 26 in Perth, Australia.
The road to what Nick Aldis hopes is a future Impact World title match began on Thursday and will continue at this month’s Under Siege.
Aldis will take on Kenny King as part of the streaming special that is set for Friday, May 26th in London, Ontario, Canada. King was on commentary for Sheldon Jean’s loss to Aldis Thursday on AXS TV.
Aldis made his surprise return at last month’s Rebellion and got in a confrontation with Impact World Champion Steve Maclin after his title win. Thursday marked Aldis’ first Impact singles match in six years.
In another new development Thursday, the main event title match between Maclin and PCO will be a no disqualification affair. Impact president Scott D’Amore made the change following Maclin’s attack on Rhino following Maclin’s successful title defense.
Here’s the updated card:
Impact World Champion Steve Maclin defends against PCO in a no DQ match
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defends against Jordynne Grace (if Grace loses, she can’t challenge for the Knockouts title again while Purrazzo is champion)
X-Division Champion Trey Miguel defends against Chris Sabin
Impact World Championship number one contender’s match: Eddie Edwards vs. Moose vs. Jonathan Gresham vs. Yuya Uemura vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Alex Shelley
Nick Aldis vs. Kenny King
The Design (Deaner, Kon & Angels) vs. Sami Callihan and two mystery partners
The following are spoilers from Friday’s Impact Wrestling TV taping at Chicago’s Cicero Stadium which will be followed by another set of tapings Saturday in the same city and venue.
The action taped Friday will air over the next two weeks on AXS TV.
The big news coming out of Friday was the debut of Trinity, the former Naomi in WWE. Her first match will take place Saturday against KiLynn King.
Additionally, Nick Aldis had his first match back in Impact since last June’s Slammiversary and first singles match for the company since 2017.
The results come courtesy of PWInsider:
Moose & Brian Myers defeated Bhupinder Gujjar & Yuya Uemura
PCO, Heath & Rhino defeated Impact World Champion Steve Maclin, Shera & Champagne Singh
Jonathan Gresham defeated Mike Bailey
Ace Austin defeated Zicky Dice
Laredo Kid defeated Jack Price
Trinity debuted with a promo saying she is coming for the Knockouts title. Champion Deonna Purrazzo came out to confront her, followed by Jordynne Grace who reminded Purrazzo she is next up.
Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) defeated Kenny King & Eddie Edwards
The Good Hands (John Skyler & Jason Hotch) defeated Decay (Black Taurus & Crazzy Steve)
Masha Slamovich defeated Killer Kelly
Dirty Dango defeated Johnny Swinger
Rich Swann defeated Angels
Nick Aldis defeated Sheldon Jean
Knockouts Tag Team Champions The Coven (Taylor Wilde & KiLynn King) defeated Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo & Jordynne Grace. Afterward, Trinity saved Purrazzo and Grace from a post-match attack.
The reign of new Impact World Champion Steve Maclin will begin on tonight’s Impact on AXS TV as the events of last Sunday’s Rebellion are felt.
Maclin will be part of a “Changing of the Guard” ceremony to celebrate his win Sunday which was followed by a face-to-face confrontation with the returning Nick Aldis.
Aldis will be on hand Thursday to share his thoughts about why he is back in Impact Wrestling.
In trios action, X-Division Champion Trey Miguel teams with “Speedball” Mike Bailey and Jonathan Gresham against Time Machine (KUSHIDA and the Motor City Machine Guns).
Coming out of Hardcore War, Moose will take on Yuya Uemura while The Good Hands will face Frankie Kazarian in a handicap match.
Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry will defend against Sheldon Jean.
The BTI pre-show will see Heath and Rhino take on Jack Price and Shogun.
**********
Rhino & Heath defeated Shogun & Jack Price
This was a simple tag team match to open BTI with Rhino and Heath looking good.
Main Show —
Impact opened up with a recap of Rebellion, showing Steve Maclin defeating KUSHIDA and Deonna Purrazzo defeating Jordynne Grace to win their respective titles.
Time Machine (Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) defeated Jonathan Gresham, Mike Bailey & Trey Miguel
I am not sure why Miguel was teaming with Gresham and Bailey here, but it didn’t take away from this being a great match. Sabin might be getting a shot against Miguel next.
Shelley & Gresham started the match with a technical exchange before the other men in the match tagged in and out, with Miguel and KUSHIDA, and Sabin with Bailey. KUSHIDA immediately attacked the arm of Miguel, setting up for the hoverboard lock. Miguel escaped to tag out to Mike Bailey, but Time Machine continued to attack arms, going after Bailey’s arm.
Bailey and KUSHIDA exchanged kicks until Sabin and KUSHIDA hit a double cutter on Bailey. Sabin then hit a suicide dive onto everyone. Bailey backflipped through the arms of the Motor City Machine Guns and kicked both of them to send them to the floor. Gresham and KUSHIDA came in and exchanged shoulder tackles.
Miguel hit a low-pe on MCMG, while Bailey hit a moonsault onto everyone. Gresham had KUSHIDA in an octopus stretch, but Miguel blind tagged in. Miguel ended up in the hoverboard lock, while MCMG locked Gresham and Bailey into submissions. They went to an ad break and KUSHIDA and Miguel were the only ones in the ring after.
Sabin tagged in with Bailey, and they exchanged strikes in the middle of the ring. Sabin hit a German suplex off the top rope on Bailey. Miguel fought with Gresham about being tagged in, and he shoved Gresham away only to eat a clothesline from Sabin and immediately try to tag out. Bailey hit Ultima Weapon on Sabin, but since he wasn’t legal, he tried to get Miguel to tag out. Time Machine recovered and Sabin hit the Cradle Shock on Miguel for the pinfall.
– Gia Miller was with Santino Marella who talked about how he wasn’t going to be wrestling often despite his win at Rebellion. Alisha Edwards walked up to complain about PCO, but walked away with a match instead.
Johnny Swinger and Zicky Dice walked up and said they were going to fly in the top luchador in the world for Swinger to face.
Alisha Edwards defeated Tara Rising
This was a fairly quick squash match with Edwards destroying Tara Rising. Jody Threat ran out to save Rising afterward.
Moose (w/ Brian Myers) defeated Yuya Uemura (w/ Bhupinder Gujjar)
This was a great match, with Uemura looking like a star, and Moose worked very hard to make him look good.
Moose and Uemura started with a fast pace. Uemura tried to hit a dive on Moose, but Myers pushed Moose out of the way to eat it. Moose powerbombed Uemura on the apron and then started working over Uemura in the ring with chops and yanking the hair. Moose got the heat over the next few minutes.
Gujjar tried to get the fans behind Uemura as Moose continued to get the heat. Uemura and Moose exchanged forearms until Uemura hit a flying forearm on Moose. Uemura hit a bulldog on Moose before going for an arm trapped suplex, but Moose powered out. Uemura hit a German suplex instead and then a side suplex for a 2-count.
Uemura hit a double underhook suplex from the top rope for a 2-count. Moose ran up the ropes as Myers distracted Uemura, but Uemura shoved him off and hit a beautiful flying crossbody. Uemura rolled up Moose and got a near fall that convinced everyone here in my living room that Uemura was winning. Moose hit a stungun and a spear on Uemura.
– Nick Aldis was backstage and talked about how he was finally back in Impact and wanted to face Impact World Champion Steve Maclin as soon as possible. He wants to reclaim the title he once held and prove that he is the standard in wrestling.
Frankie Kazarian defeated The Good Hands (Jason Hotch & John Skyler) in a handicap match
The Good Hands came out and confronted Frankie Kazarian, claiming that they built the company…even though they have only been with the company for less than a year.
Given this was a handicap match Hotch and Skyler got the heat on Kaz for a little bit, but it wasn’t long before Kazarian hit a slingshot cutter and then a crossface chicken wing on Skylar for the win.
– The Coven cut a spooky promo about Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo saying that she was a fraud. Okay. Not the first feud I’d book for her following her third title win.
– Sami Callihan cut a really good promo about how he was going to destroy The Design with references showing how he winked at the camera during some of the The Design segments. I’m glad this storyline is almost over.
Impact Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry defeated Sheldon Jean to retain the title
Jean yanked the nose of Hendry and then hit a flying kick on Hendry. Hendry hit a running cutter and then a fallaway slam. Hendry then hit the standing ovation to win not long after.
Steve Maclin Changing of the Guard ceremony
The new champion came out for his “Changing of the Guard” segment with several indie guys working as soldiers. The fans chanted “We want Josh!” Maclin talked about how his mission to become champion wasn’t complete. He wanted to beat Alexander in his hometown, and that was the only thing left for him to do.
Maclin then issued an open challenge, and taunted a child in the crowd, threatening to beat him up. Scott D’Amore came down to the ring, and said Maclin was running his mouth about opportunities, and that D’Amore was the one who gave him the opportunities. D’Amore said that he knew Maclin had what it took to be a world champion, but he made excuses for not getting his shot for the entire time he was there.
Now that Alexander was out, D’Amore accused Maclin of trying to dodge Nick Aldis. Maclin said that he was hoping D’Amore was going to stand up and fight him, coming out of retirement, but D’Amore said that while he was tempted, but Maclin did absolutely nothing while they were face to face and attacked him from behind at Rebellion. D’Amore then said if Maclin wanted a Canadian, he could face Perfect Creation One, PCO.
Maclin’s fellow soldiers attacked PCO, but couldn’t beat him down, and just as PCO was about to powerbomb Maclin, he slipped away. It looks like we will be seeing Steve Maclin against PCO at Under Siege.
Final thoughts:
There were a lot of squash matches on this episode of Impact, but it wasn’t a bad show overall. It looks like we have the long term direction of Nick Aldis against Maclin which should be fun to watch.
Next week:
Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defends against Taylor Wilde
Jordynne Grace vs. Masha Slamovich
Impact Tag Team Champions ABC (Chris Bey & Ace Austin vs. The Design (Kon & Angels) in non-title action
Impact Wrestling has announced the lineup for Thursday’s show on AXS TV.
Fans will “hear from” Nick Aldis on the show. Aldis returned to the promotion on Sunday at Rebellion and was on commentary for Steve Maclin vs. KUSHIDA. After Maclin attacked Scott D’Amore in a post-match angle, Aldis made the save and confronted the new champion.
A six-man tag pitting Time Machine against Mike Bailey, Jonathan Gresham, and Trey Miguel will also take place on this week’s show. Frankie Kazarian will face The Good Hands in a 2-on-1 handicap match and Moose will wrestle Yuya Uemura as well.
Joe Hendry will also defend his Digital Media Championship on Thursday when he faces Sheldon Jean.
Thursday’s show was filmed on Monday, April 17, 2023, from the Rebel Entertainment Complex in Toronto, ON, Canada.
Impact 4/20 announced lineup:
Time Machine (Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin & KUSHIDA) vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey, Jonathan Gresham, and X-Division Champion Trey Miguel
Moose vs. Yuya Uemura
Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry defends against Sheldon Jean
Frankie Kazarian vs. The Good Hands (John Skyler & Jason Hotch) in a 2-on-1 handicap match
Former TNA and NWA World Champion Nick Aldis has returned to Impact Wrestling.
Aldis was out on commentary at Sunday’s Rebellion pay-per-view during the Steve Maclin vs. KUSHIDA match for the vacant Impact World title, saying “the deal was done” and that is he gunning for the top prize in the company.
After the match, Aldis had a staredown with new champion Maclin after Maclin attacked Impact president Scott D’Amore from behind following an aggressive presentation of the belt.
Aldis became a free agent in January after his NWA deal expired. Both he and NWA owner Billy Corgan had a very public spat after Aldis badmouthed the company ahead of last November’s Hard Times 3, resulting in Corgan suspending him for the duration of his contract.
Wrestling as Brutus Magnus, Aldis was a member of TNA/Impact from 2009 through 2015, winning the top prize once in addition to the TNA Tag Team titles twice.
Aldis returned for a short four-match run in the spring of 2017 and then for two matches in 2022.
Nick Aldis says he is not sure how he would justify the current NWA product to Harley Race.
On Sunday, Aldis posted a since-deleted video to his Instagram stating that he was leaving the company. Those who saw the video say Aldis called the NWA product “embarrassing” and said he didn’t want to be part of it anymore.
The two-time former NWA World Heavyweight Champion spoke with Sam Roberts recently and clarified his comments.
“It certainly wasn’t intended to be this burial of the NWA or anything like that,” Aldis said. “Why would I do that? I would be burying myself.”
Aldis would later discuss the NWA product straying from what he had originally envisioned it to be.
“What it has become now is not what I envisioned it to be and certainly isn’t what I was laying the ground for it to be, didn’t have the core values that I had tried to sort of maintain. And again, it wasn’t a knock, it was just me saying ‘this isn’t for me anymore.’ I wanted to do an alternative wrestling brand that represented all the things about the NWA that people missed in the current product, whether it be from overproduction or from a different mentality, or a different style, let’s give them all those things.”
Aldis continued to say that he felt the product went downhill after NWA 73 and he lost the world title. He stated the world title angles after he dropped the belt wasn’t something fans were interested in.
“I was presented with the question, what’s different now? Why is it not working now compared to what? And I sort of went, again, you’re forcing me to give you an answer that paints me in this awful light but I’m going, ‘the difference is you had a world title angle that people were interested in and now you don’t.'”
Aldis continued to say the world title picture improved when Matt Cardona was added to the mix but after Cardona was injured, things fell apart again. He said that he was then accused of lobbying for himself to get the belt back.
Aldis said that in late September, his wife, Mickie James, told him about a conversation she’d had with Billy Corgan.
“He and Mickie [James] had a private conversation that he didn’t realize that I was privy to and he goes, ‘your husband is pressuring me to put the belt back on him,’ and you know, for me, that day I went, ‘this isn’t going to work.'”
Aldis continued to say the NWA product also began to go downhill when Corgan became more hands-on with the product.
“Look, the sad truth is and I don’t want to spend the whole time talking about this, but basically, things got harder when he became more hands-on because at first, he was quite hands-off, quite remote, and was just sort of lending ideas and sort of notes here and there. Suddenly, it turned into something else and I’ll try to be as nice as I can about this, he’s not very good at it. I wish it wasn’t the case but again, it’s not really for me to say, it’s for the audience to say and my decision to leave has come from the fact that the audience has left in droves. It’s just not a good decision to be there anymore, it’s not a viable option.”
“Look, I can’t get around it. I’m not saying all of it, but there was enough of it that for me, didn’t pass the Harley Race test and I know people will hear that and be like, ‘Harley, what the hell?’ But you have to understand, Harley Race wanted nothing to do with the NWA because of what it had been prior because it had some pretty dark days. Then he agreed to not only be back associated with it, asked me to come to Missouri to defend the title, to appear on camera, talking to me about being NWA champion and that ended up being the last interview he ever gave on camera before he passed away. That means a lot to me and it was because of how we had presented pro wrestling consistently for three years at that point or whatever. It was we had consistently presented pro wrestling in a serious and dignified way.”
“I started looking at stuff like gags, the social distancing match where the two wrestlers can’t touch each other, and on and on it went with different wacky, silly comedy, nonsensical stuff. I said how would I have justified this to Harley Race?”
Aldis continued to say he attended a Fan Fest event with Mickie James and Bret Hart in the UK the day before WWE Clash at the Castle. He then attended the event the next day. The experience caused him to consider what might be next in his career.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t sit there and go, ‘you don’t think that me and Drew McIntyre but with the right promotional build in the UK, like England vs. Scotland, people kind of care about that.'”
Aldis also spoke about recently having won the Stu Hart Heritage Championship for Dungeon Wrestling in Calgary.
“I just wrestled up in Calgary for Dungeon Wrestling, which is kind of the new incarnation of Stampede Wrestling. Bret [Hart] booked me to wrestle the match and I’m wrestling Harry Smith and then Bret says, ‘I want you to win the title.’ I mean, it’s the Stu Hart title.”
“I was so flattered and thrilled by that and now I’ve taken it on as a sort of personal challenge, I want to see if I can help get that thing going up there for them because it’s the Victorian Pavillion in Calgary and we had a pretty good house.”
NWA owner Billy Corgan isn’t backing down from his decision to suspend former two-time NWA World Champion Nick Aldis, giving his rationale in a spirited defense during a Tuesday appearance on Busted Open Radio.
In a video that was deleted from his Instagram Sunday, Aldis revealed he had given his notice to the NWA and was not complimentary of the company or Corgan. He was then suspended on Monday and pulled from this Saturday’s Hard Times 3 pay-per-view.
Corgan’s main issue is the timing on Aldis vocally criticizing the product when he could do the same thing in less than two months when his deal is up.
“Ask yourself why in a pay-per-view week and with a talent who is leaving the company, does he decide to start blasting me and the product, 55 days before he’s out and he can do whatever he wants to do? Why does he have to bury the locker room and bury the product?” Corgan said.
Corgan reiterated that Aldis was the highest-paid talent in his company the last five years and that their business relationship “proved to be a good bet” with Aldis having his voice heard in both how the NWA was run and how he was booked.
He said Aldis is still being paid throughout the end of his deal and that they simply disinvited him from appearing Saturday. Aldis emailed in his notice to head of talent relations Pat Kenney about a week ago and while Corgan wished he could have heard it from Aldis directly given their history, he was fine with the decision to move on.
However, he is not happy with Aldis turning the focus to himself ahead of Saturday’s show and apparently, he isn’t the only one.
“How do I, as the leader of this company, allow a key talent, the most highly visible talent in the company, up until he opens his mouth and tells people he’s leaving, blast the company?,” he said. “I can’t have a guy like that show up because what message does that send to the locker room? There are a lot of people in the locker room not happy about this. They have to do their job. Why is the focus not on Matt Cardona, Tyrus, Trevor Murdoch, Kamille, KiLynn King, or Chelsea (Green)? The focus is on Nick Aldis, who is not on the show anymore. It’s not animosity. It’s just ‘Why are we doing this?'”
Corgan was confused as to why Aldis was using the NWA and his name to “work an angle” when he’s leaving.
“He’s working something. I don’t know what he’s working, but he’s willing to sacrifice me and the NWA to prove something or get something going or get out early to go do something…This is not cool,” he said.
Corgan said Aldis never came to him to ask for an early release if that is what he wanted and said he told Aldis years ago that if Vince McMahon wanted him to come to WWE, he would release him from his deal.
Corgan also said his decision has nothing to do with Aldis’ critiques of the company.
“I want to remind everybody: everything that he’s said, I’ve been hearing that stuff for years. It’s not like I heard it and got sensitive,” Corgan explained. “Again, I’ve heard all of this stuff privately for years. These are not new criticisms. He and I have battled about the product for years and he’s helped make the product behind the scenes better with those battles. This is not a sensitive reactionary thing.”
Corgan admitted that a few months ago when he ripped on Aldis on Busted Open Radio, they were working an angle that was going to build to something between them in 2023.
He said Aldis wasn’t happy with how he was booked with Corgan rationalizing that he couldn’t just build the company around Aldis or else it would become the Nick Wrestling Alliance.
He also railed against the narrative that he is against women’s wrestling, defending his comments that there isn’t enough top talent available to do a better show than the first Empower event they did. He said they are not in a working agreement with AEW right now and part of the reason is because Tony Khan tried to take credit for Mickie James’ accomplishments in putting Empower together.
He said he told James they would table the discussion for a second Empower for now and has been friends with her for 20 years. He said any related issues didn’t come up until this Aldis situation happened.
“It seems pretty obvious they are after something. She doesn’t work for me. He does. They want to get out early for some reason. Just say you want to get out,” he said.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including Crown Jewel with Roman Reigns and Logan Paul, an update on Loredo Kid, TONS of tournaments coming up in the world of wrestling, all the breaking news from the weekend including Nick Aldis vs. NWA and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
The National Wrestling Alliance has suspended former two-time World champion Nick Aldis.
The NWA released a statement to PWInsider on Monday announcing Aldis will not be at Saturday’s Hard Times 3 or the promotion’s television tapings scheduled for this weekend. He had been scheduled to wrestle Odinson on the pay-per-view.
In a since-deleted video posted to his Instagram on Sunday, Aldis announced that he has given the promotion his notice and intends to become a free agent in January. According to those who saw the video, Aldis also stated he’s had creative differences with Billy Corgan and finds the current NWA product “embarrassing.”
From the NWA’s statement:
“Pursuant to the recent comments made by Nick Aldis, the National Wrestling Alliance has suspended Aldis from the main roster and effective immediately, Aldis will not appear for the Hard Times 3 PPV and Revolution Rumble television tapings in New Orleans, LA on Nov. 12, 2022, and Nov. 13, 2022. As such, the National Wrestling Alliance reserves its right to comment on this matter at a future date.”
NWA Chief Operating Officer Joe Galli later said that it is unclear if Aldis will be scheduled for the company’s television tapings in December.
“This is not a wrestling angle,” Galli also clarified.
Aldis also responded to an article regarding the NWA not running an all-female Empower event this year.
“If some of you are wondering whether stuff like this factored into my decision to give my notice you’d be correct,” he tweeted.
“Also, fans in NOLA: Sorry to disappoint but I was removed from the shows this weekend after giving my notice. I fully intended to fulfill my obligations to the audience but unfortunately the company doesn’t seem to share the same values,” a follow-up post reads.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio in January, Aldis revealed that he signed a contract extension with the NWA. He was also scheduled to challenge Trevor Murdoch for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at NWA 74 but was later replaced in the match by Tyrus.
Corgan appeared on Busted Open Radio in July and explained the change to the NWA 74 main event and also expressed his frustration with Aldis.
“In the case of Nick Aldis, yes, your #1 contender for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Trevor Murdoch in St. Louis. I’ve dealt with this man for over four years, and for every ounce of politicking you see publicly there’s about ten times worse behind the scenes,” Corgan said.
“No one stresses me out more in the NWA than Nick Aldis, no one is more highly paid than Nick Aldis and no one is more unhappy than Nick Aldis.”
In a now-deleted video, former two-time NWA World Champion Nick Aldis posted on Instagram Sunday that he has given his notice to the NWA.
According to those who saw the video, Aldis said he and NWA owner William Corgan have their differences and that the organization has got so embarrassing that he can’t be a part of it any longer.
PWInsider reported that his deal is set to expire in January 2023 and that the issues between the two are legitimate due to the creative direction of the company.
Aldis, who has been with the company since 2017, is set to take on Odinson as part of Saturday’s Hard Times 3 pay-per-view in New Orleans, Louisiana, making the timing of the video noteworthy.
The 36-year-old was set to face NWA World Champion Trevor Murdoch at NWA 74 earlier this year, but was replaced by Tyrus. At the time, Corgan accused Aldis of politicking behind the scenes and that “no one stresses me out more in the NWA than Nick Aldis, no one is more highly paid than Nick Aldis and no one is more unhappy than Nick Aldis.”
Aldis still appeared at the two-night NWA 74 event against Flip Gordon and also was allowed to cut a promo.
