AEW World Champion Kenny Omega defeated Rich Swann at Impact Rebellion, winning the Impact World Championship.
Their match was a title for title match, meaning the winner would walk away with both the Impact and AEW World titles. Omega pinned Swann following the One Winged Angel. Swann held the championship for 184 days, defeating Eric Young at Bound for Glory back on October 24.
With tonight’s win, Omega is now champion in three different promotions. He has been AEW World champion since December, defeating Jon Moxley. He is also the AAA Mega Heavyweight Champion, pinning Rey Fenix back back on October 19, 2019.
Prior to the main event, an interview with Tony Khan aired where a second referee, AEW referee Aubrey Edwards, was added to the main event along with the Impact referee Brian Hebner. This did not play into the finish of the match, although Edwards did take away a steel chair from Omega towards the latter part of the match after a ref bump temporarily took out Hebner.
Other title changes on tonight’s show had Josh Alexander winning the X-Division title and the team of Jordynne Grace and Rachael Ellering winning the Knockouts Tag Team titles.
A press conference with AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and Impact World Champion Rich Swann is set for this week’s episode of Impact Wrestling.
Impact Wrestling has announced that a press conference with Omega and Swann will air on this Thursday’s Impact. The segment will build up Omega and Swann’s title vs. title match ahead of Rebellion.
Impact’s teaser for Thursday’s episode shows Omega and Swann having to be separated by security after Omega slapped Swann during the press conference and Swann fought back. AEW’s Tony Khan and Impact’s Scott D’Amore were also shown taking part in the press conference.
Omega and Swann’s title vs. title match will headline Rebellion on Sunday, April 25. The winner will hold both the AEW World Championship and Impact World Championship coming out of the pay-per-view.
At Hard to Kill in January, Omega & The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) defeated Swann, Moose & Chris Sabin in a six-man tag match. Omega pinned Swann after hitting the One Winged Angel.
Omega and Swann again faced off in six-man tag action on last week’s Impact. Swann, Willie Mack & Eddie Edwards defeated Omega & The Good Brothers when Swann pinned Anderson.
This week’s Impact is the show’s second episode since moving to Thursday nights. It will feature the fallout from Saturday’s Hardcore Justice Impact Plus special.
With his victory in the main event of Saturday’s Sacrifice, newly crowned unified Impact World Champion Rich Swann will face AEW World Champion Kenny Omega at the Rebellion pay-per-view on Saturday, April 24th in a title vs. title match.
Swann, the Impact World Champion, pinned TNA Champion Moose in the main event, using a crucifix takedown into a pinning position off a roll-through to get the victory and unify the belts.
Swann and Omega have shared a ring before, most recently at January’s Hard to Kill pay-per-view which saw Omega and then-Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers defeat Swann, Moose and Chris Sabin.
When he first started doing appearances as part of an AEW/Impact angle following his initial title win, Omega and Impact VP Don Callis said Omega was a belt collector and alluded to going for the Impact belt at some point. He is also currently the reigning AAA Mega Champion.
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.
Note: The following contains spoilers for future Impact Wrestling events.
According to Dave Meltzer in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the not yet announced main event for Impact Wrestling’s Sacrifice could play into the AEW/Impact angle for April’s Rebellion pay-per-view.
Meltzer reported that Impact World Champion Rich Swann vs. Moose will headline Sacrifice which was taped during the early-February set of tapings. Both Swann’s title and the TNA title Moose has been claiming is his were on the line with Swann picking up the win and both belts.
Meltzer speculated that would set up Swann vs. AEW World Champion Kenny Omega for the April Rebellion PPV, playing into the angle that Omega is a belt collector — something he said in his first Impact promo back in December.
Sacrifice is set for Saturday, March 13th, exclusively on Impact Plus.
Omega and Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers defeated Swann, Moose and Chris Sabin at January’s Hard To Kill, furthering along the AEW/Impact angle. Omega has been off Impact TV since then, “dealing with business” in AEW.
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.
Rich Swann’s next Impact World Championship defense is set.
It was announced on Tuesday night’s episode of Impact that Swann will defend his Impact World Championship against Tommy Dreamer at the promotion’s next Impact Plus event, No Surrender. During the opening of Tuesday’s Impact, Swann came out to the ring and called out Dreamer. He mentioned that No Surrender will be held on Dreamer’s 50th birthday, Saturday, February 13, and issued a challenge to Dreamer.
Sami Callihan came down and insisted on getting the next title shot instead. That brought out Chris Bey, as well as Moose, who also wanted a title match. It ended up in a brawl, with Willie Mack coming out to help Swann and Dreamer. However, Ken Shamrock then arrived, leaving Swann, Dreamer, and Mack laying.
Prior to the brawl, Swann informed Callihan, Bey, and Moose that his title match against Dreamer was already set for No Surrender.
Swann, Dreamer & Mack teamed with the returning Trey Miguel to defeat Callihan, Bey, Moose & Shamrock in the main event of Tuesday’s Impact.
Also set for No Surrender is a Impact Tag Team title match, with The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) defending the titles against AEW’s Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy). Private Party defeated Chris Sabin & James Storm on last week’s Impact to earn the title match.
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.
As their respective teams continue to fight their way through to January’s Hard To Kill, Impact World Champion Rich Swann will face Karl Anderson, one half of the Impact Tag Team Champions, in a non-title match next Tuesday.
On Tuesday’s Impact, Swann (pictured) and the Motor City Machine Guns went looking for Anderson, Luke Gallows and AEW World Champion Kenny Omega on their bus but the former Bullet Club members got the jump on them with another beatdown.
The two teams will headline Impact’s January 16th pay-per-view. Omega has been a presence on the show since winning the AEW title at December’s Winter Is Coming as part of a bigger plan with Impact VP Don Callis.
Swann hasn’t lost an Impact singles match dating back to December 2019. Since returning from injury and defeating Eric Young for the title at October’s Bound For Glory, he is 4-0 with four successful title defenses. Anderson is 3-0 in Impact singles matches.
It’s expected more matches will be announced following Saturday’s Genesis event on Impact Plus.
Impact Wrestling returned for week two of their Best of specials, showcasing the best matches of 2020 as well as their Year-End awards.
The show opened with a Brodie Lee memorial graphic.
Scott D’Amore and Josh Mathews hosted the show. Throughout the night, we had a series of showcase matches, award announcements, and backstage segments building towards Genesis and Hard to Kill.
The two big awards left for this show were Moment of the Year and Match of the Year.
Moment of the Year Award was given to the Slammiversary XVIII debuts and returns, where we saw the return of the Motor City Machine Guns, the return of ECIII, the debut of Heath, the debut of Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows, and the five-person main event with Ace Austin, Eddie Edwards, Trey Miguel, with the returning Eric Young and Rich Swann. Eddie Edwards would go on to win that match to become a two-time Impact World champion.
The Match of The Year was, in fact, the aforementioned Slammiversary XVIII Impact World championship Elimination five-way match between Eddie Edwards vs Ace Austin vs Eric Young vs Trey Miguel vs Rich Swann. That would also trigger the storyline feud between Eric Young and Rich Swann that would build all the way to the main event of Bound For Glory in October.
Matches that were shown throughout the night include:
Willie Mack defeating X-Division champion Ace Austin at Rebellion
Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) defeating Impact Tag Team champions The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) on the July 21st episode of Impact
Manik defeating X-Division Champion Rohit Raju at Final Resolution
They also aired Ken Shamrock’s Hall of Fame induction speech in full.
Other segments throughout the show saw Deonna Purrazzo cutting a promo accepting Taya Valkyrie’s challenge for a Knockouts Championship match at Hard To Kill. She said that Taya is the longest reigning champion of the division, and when she defeats her, she’ll be the greatest champion ever.
We had a couple of skits by some of the Impact roster telling us their 2021 resolutions and plans. Among them were Impact World Champion Rich Swann, Willie Mack, Kiera Hogan, Tasha Steelz, Jordynne Grace, Brian Myers, and Eddie Edwards.
Lastly, Mathews and D’Amore announced the card for next week, including Rhino & Cousin Jake vs. Eric Young & Joe Doering, Moose vs. Mathew Palmer, Eddie Edwards vs. Sami Callihan, and the return of Kenny Omega.
Impact Wrestling returned with a two-week holiday special, showcasing the best matches of 2020 as well as their Year-End Awards.
Scott D’Amore and Josh Matthews hosted the show tonight. Throughout the night, we had a series of showcase matches, award announcements, and backstage segments building towards Genesis and Hard to Kill.
The awards given on this episode were focused on the performers themselves, awarding the best of each division:
Deonna Purrazzo won the Wrestler of the Year 2020. She said that she just wasn’t the Knockout of the Year, the best technical wrestler of the year, but as voted by the fans, the Best Wrestler of the Year, all in less than 7 months since her debut. She invited us all to enter the era of Virtuosa.
Purrazzo also won the Knockout of the Year 2020. She brought up how she became a 2-time Knockouts champion this year, had the best matches of the year, and became the first-ever Ironwoman in Impact history.
Ace Austin won the 2020 X-Division Wrestler of the Year. He cut a promo accepting it, saying that he really just spent only about 4 months in the X-Division, but it was enough for him to win it. He said he’d like to revisit the X-Division soon.
The North won the 2020 Impact Tag Team of the Year. We saw Ethan Page call Alexander on the phone giving him the news, telling him that even if they are going through some hard times, they’re still the best, as voted by the fans. Alexander agreed that maybe this was how things would get better, but when he called back, Karate Man answered the phone and Alexander raged.
Matches shown throughout the night:
X-Division champion Ace Austin defeated Trey Miguel at Hard to Kill
The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) defeating Impact Tag Team champions The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) at Turning Point
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defeating Jordynne Grace in a 30 Minute Ironman Match at Emergence Night 2.
Moose defeating ECIII at Bound For Glory
In addition, we had segments announcing updates on the Genesis and Hard To Kill 2021 cards:
Chris Bey has been added to the Hard To Kill X-Division title match, making it X-Division Champion Manik vs. Rohit Raju vs. Chris Bey.
Taya Valkyrie cut a great promo and made a challenge to Deonna Purrazzo for Hard To Kill.
We got a promo by Matthew Palmer, one of the independent wrestlers that worked as security last week who unfortunately angered Moose in the Willie Mack pull apart. Moose had said that none of these ‘indie wrestlers’ couldn’t hang with him for more than 3 minutes. Palmer accepted the challenge.
The participants and first-round matches to the Super X Cup were announced. The tournament takes place at Genesis on January 9th. Matches are Ace Austin vs. Suicide, Daivari vs. Cousin Jake, Crazzy Steve vs. Tre Lamar, and KC Navarro vs. Blake Christian.
We got a new Christmas-themed commercial from AEW’s Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone. Khan said he could stop Omega from appearing at the Hard to Kill event, but if Impact wanted Omega wrestling their guys, then he’s fine with it. Khan also invited Impact wrestlers to make an appearance on Dynamite. After Schiavone ran down the card for tomorrow’s Dynamite, Khan said he has been looking at Impact’s Tag Team contracts and that Omega better win at Hard To Kill.
Finally, we got a promo by Kenny Omega and Don Callis. Callis brought up a story of how Omega told him as a kid that he wanted to run the wrestling business one day. Omega said he was always meant to be the AEW World Champion, the only championship “worth a damn”. Callis compared Omega’s Impact arrival as a Christmas gift and that he was seven stars right out of the womb. Omega said he was often imitated but never duplicated.
