Rob Van Dam made a surprise appearance in the main event of this week’s AEW Dynamite.
On an episode where Hangman Page & Swerve Strickland selected opponents for each other in Dealer’s Choice bouts, Page chose RVD to face Swerve in a hardcore match in the Dynamite main event.
Strickland defeated Van Dam in the contest, plus Page defeated Toa Liona earlier in the show to set up a number one contender’s match between the two for next week’s Dynamite. The winner of that bout will face Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship at the Revolution pay-per-view on Sunday, March 3.
Wednesday’s match with Swerve was the fourth career AEW match for RVD, and his first since the October 25, 2023 Dynamite where he teamed with Hook to defeat The Dark Order’s Alex Reynolds & John Silver in tag team action.
Prior to that, RVD & Hook defeated Matt Menard & Angelo Parker on the September 23, 2023 Collision episode, plus Jack Perry defeated RVD in a singles match on the August 9, 2023 Dynamite in RVD’s other AEW matches.
It doesn’t look like Rob Van Dam will be stepping away from the ring any time soon.
While appearing on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, the 52-year-old RVD was asked if he ever thinks about how much longer he’s going to be able to wrestle. RVD said it’s not something he really thinks about anymore. He might quit taking bookings one day, but he may never officially retire.
RVD said:
Not really. I mean, sometimes the thought goes through my head like if I’m having a bad travel day for instance: ‘I’m done. I hate this. I just want to be home. Traveling sucks.’ I’ll have those moments inside my head, but they usually don’t last that long.
And I used to think I was going to retire, that was like several years ago, and I thought I was probably close to hanging the boots up. And now I just don’t even think I will. I think I’ll be like Dory Funk Jr. I may quit taking bookings, but I don’t think I’m going to make a big deal out of being retired because the credibility of wrestlers retiring is so blown anyway, you know?
Sabu used to say it’d be cool if we did a retirement tour and we went around the world and wrestled for all the companies that we’ve wrestled for. But the timing of that didn’t work out too well because he finished up before me.
RVD said he doesn’t have a goal that he still wants to accomplish in wrestling. He wrestles because he enjoys doing it. It gives him a reason to stay conditioned and he likes connecting with the fans.
RVD noted that, because he doesn’t have the back issues he used to have, he feels better in his 50s than he did in his 40s.
In recent weeks, RVD has wrestled twice for AEW. He made his AEW debut in a loss to Jack Perry on the August 9 episode of Dynamite. RVD then returned to AEW on Collision last Saturday, teaming with Hook in a victory against Matt Menard & Angelo Parker. The Collision episode took place in RVD’s home state of Michigan.
RVD was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021. He’s a former WWE, ECW, and TNA World Champion.
There were two major business questions after the 7/8 show at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The first is, How much damage did the show do? The second, and far more important to the industry on a world-wide basis is, What is going on with Pride and UFC?
Neither question can be easily answered at this time.
The afternoon of the show saw the buzz for the event hit a fever pitch. It’s personalities and grudge matches that draw, and Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock had the greatest combination of both, plus better television build-up, than any MMA fight in U.S. history. It’s pretty clear UFC officials were aware going in the match that the bout itself couldn’t match the hype. It was put in the middle of the show, with the heavyweight championship match with Andrei Arlovsky vs. Tim Sylvia put in as the main event. Everyone expected a win, and probably an easy win, for Ortiz to build up a match even bigger with Chuck Liddell. During the final week before the fight, with the live event sold out, UFC opened three closed-circuit locations in Las Vegas.
On Saturday, RVD will team with Hook to take on Matt Menard and Angelo Parker in a tag team match. Hook teamed with Orange Cassidy and Kris Statlander on Friday’s Rampage Grand Slam to defeat Parker, Menard, and Anna Jay. This will be RVD’s return to Michigan, where he’s from.
Julia Hart will take on Willow Nightingale in singles action. At Rampage Grand Slam, Hart defeated Skye Blue. Hart continued to attack Blue until Nightingale made the save. It had been pushed on commentary that Hart had been undefeated for all of 2023. Hart was also watching in the crowd during last week’s Collision when Statlander defeated Britt Baker to retain the TBS Championship.
Here is the current lineup for Saturday’s show:
Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks in a Texas Death Match
AEW Tag Team Champions FTR defend against The Workhorsemen (Anthony Henry & JD Drake)
Three-way match for TNT Championship: Luchasaurus defends against Darby Allin and Christian Cage
Andrade El Idolo vs. Jay White
Rob Van Dam & Hook vs. Angelo Parker and Matt Menard
Jack Perry defends the FTW Championship against Rob Van Dam on tonight’s AEW Dynamite.
RVD made his AEW debut last week in confronting Perry and standing up for Jerry Lynn, and issued the challenge for this week.
Also set for the show, The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) will face The Hardys (Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy) in a battle of future Hall of Fame tag teams.
New Women’s World Champion Hikaru Shida will defend her title against Anna Jay.
World Champion MJF & number one contender Adam Cole will appear on the show for a promo segment.
Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli of Blackpool Combat Club will face Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix of The Lucha Bros in tag team action.
Chris Jericho and The Jericho Appreciation Society will have a mandatory meeting on the show.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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AEW Dynamite comes on the air with Excalibur welcoming us alongside Tony Schiavone and Taz, as they throw it to the ring where the Jericho Appreciation Society are already there with Matt Menard introducing their leader, Chris Jericho.
The Jericho Appreciation Society Mandatory Meeting
Everyone is wearing black but Jericho, who tried to start explaining himself, only to be cut off by Daniel Garcia, who said he chose Jericho before everyone else and questions why Jericho won’t do the same for them? Garcia thrusted at Jericho and walked to the back, as Jake Hager took the mic and said that everyone knows they have a lot of options. Everyone knows that Hager “liked that hat” but he doesn’t like Jericho and also walks off. Jericho said to the rest in the ring that everyone had to admit they are bigger stars because they joined the J.A.S. Tay Conti said she used to be proud, but not any longer, she feels sick and not because of her child. Conti said she will go and have her baby, come back next year and win the title without Jericho and quits. Anna Jay said tonight she’s being selfish, tonight she’s winning the AEW Women’s Title, it’s not about Jericho.
Conti & Jay walked off as Angelo Parker said he hates doing this, as he loves being a sports entertainer. Parker did everything he could to make Jericho proud, even hanging upside down in Blood & Guts and almost bleeding out last year, but what has Jericho given him? Parker said he has nothing left to give. Menard said Jericho was his childhood hero, whose t-shirt he bought from his first paycheck as a teenager. When his wife was 8 months pregnant, Jericho heard his story and gave him a job. Menard mentions guys like Eddie Kingston & Kevin Steen, who hate Jericho’s guts and now he understands why.
This leaves Guevara, who immediately slapped the mic out of Jericho’s hands and told him to listen. Guevara put Sting through a table because he’s loyal and he’s not walking out on Jericho. Deep down he thought Jericho would do the same for him, but doesn’t know anymore. Guevara said if Jericho decides to do the right thing, maybe he’ll be there for Jericho before he left through the crowd. The segment ended with Jericho alone, with no one to plead his case to.
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-Renee Paquette tried to get a word with Chris Jericho backstage but Don Callis appears, apologizing if he caused any of what just happened. Jericho said he has an answer, but wants to tell Callis next week, as Callis said he’ll take care of everything.
The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson w/Brandon Cutler) vs. The Hardys (Matt & Jeff w/Brother Zay & Ethan Page)
(I’m happy they got to have this match on Dynamite, as this was a solid opening contest, but not a blow away barn burner. I liked the post match show of respect, as the crowd was into this and cheered both teams throughout. With the lack of tag matches The Bucks have had the past year, this was a good first step ahead of the now official Tag Team Title match happening at All In.)
The Hardys were able to control the action early with double teams that sent Nick to the floor before hitting a double wheelbarrow suplex on Matt for a near fall. A pulling sit out powerbomb in the corner led to a double team cover on Matt that for some reason Rick Knox counted, but Nick broke it up. The Hardys tried Poetry in Motion, but Matt moved and Nick popped Jeff with a corner enzugiri. Nick made the tag and ran wild with his slingshot face buster and moonsault to the floor before laying out Matt Hardy with the Risky Business. Matt faked out a dive and it was Nick that hit a twisting plancha to wipe out both Hardys heading into commercial.
Back and forth action during break with Nick avoiding a Twist of Fate, but Matt Hardy adjusted and spiked Nick with a DDT. Right as Jeff was about to make the tag, Matt Jackson pulled the leg out and The Bucks kept Matt briefly isolated before a double clothesline led to the reset. Both Matt’s slugged it out until Jackson ran right into a Side Effect. Nick & Jeff made simultaneous tags with Jeff dishing out the offense with a legdrop low and snap dropkick to follow. Jeff fought off both Bucks and wiped them out with Whisper in the Wind, but Nick & Matt avoided double Twist of Fates into superkicks and then a 3-D on Jeff. The Hardys avoided the Meltzer Driver and hit dueling Twist of Fates, as Jeff hit a Swanton on Nick for a close two that Matt broke up.
After all of that, Matt Hardy made a legal tag, as Nick was dropped with multiple Twist of Fates, but Matt was able to superkick the leg out from under Jeff, who was going for another Whisper in the Wind. Matt Jackson hit a backslide on Matt Hardy, but rolled through and The Bucks hit the BTE Trigger for the victory.
Post match, The Bucks were about to answer FTR’s challenge from Collision when the AEW Tag Team Champions came out to the ring. After a stare down by both teams, Nick said All In, so the challenge was officially accepted as FTR held their titles high.
-We see footage of Hikaru Shida winning the Women’s Title last week and Excalibur informs us that the title will be defended at All In in a Four Way match. The participants will be Toni Storm, who is exercising her rematch clause, the winner of Saraya & Skye Blue on Rampage, the winner of The Bunny & Britt Baker next week on Dynamite and finally the winner of the Women’s Title match tonight between Shida & Anna Jay.
-Last week Adam Cole & MJF are shown celebrating their announcement of the main event of All In, as Cole has brought MJF to a trampoline park. Cole thinks the place is so cool when MJF seemed visibly annoyed before learning there’s dodgeball. MJF ends up having a field day lighting children up with not only the dodgeball, but with insults as well. Cole said MJF can’t do that, as a little girl walks up, calls them both losers and flips them both off as the bodies of the kids MJF hit with the dodgeball are all laid out behind her. Cole told MJF its ok for one more, as a delighted MJF launched the ball right into commercial. This was a glorious segment; I can’t say enough good things about it. MJF was Adam Sandler in Billy Madison during this video.
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-The Blackpool Combat Club are backstage and said they hope the Best Friends learned their lessons after the Parking Lot Brawl on Rampage. Moxley hopes Trent’s mom Sue got the flowers they sent. Tonight, they pick the bones of their kill and bring up PAC, who they trash talk and said it sucks he won’t be at All In. The BCC doesn’t fear death, death fears them.
Jack Perry defeated Rob Van Dam in a FTW Rules to retain the FTW Title
(This match didn’t go long, but I was really entertained by it. RVD got off his greatest hits and Perry was able to weasel his way to a victory. I have no idea if this was a one off for RVD, but it was great to see him back on a big stage again.)
FTW Rules means anything goes, falls count anywhere, as Perry, who is wearing new gear, attacked during RVD’s intro, but RVD fought back and got his leg trap roll up for a quick two. Perry retreated and wanted a handshake, but RVD was having none of it and was about to hit Rolling Thunder, with Perry bailing outside. On the floor, RVD draped Perry over the barricade and absolutely destroyed Perry with a spinning legdrop off the apron into commercial.
Back from break, Perry was in control, but missed Rolling Thunder. A chair was stuck in the corner and table set up on the floor, as RVD hit a huge monkey flip and running dropkick with a chair in the corner. With a chair on Perry, RVD hit Rolling Thunder, but Perry avoided the split legged moonsault. Perry ducked the Van Daminator and Perry chucked a chair right at referee Bryce. Perry cut off RVD in the corner, but was launched off the top through the table on the outside. RVD rolled Perry back inside and hit the Five Star Frog Splash, got the visible pin, but the ref was down. Referee Aubrey hit the ring for the count, as RVD got two and argued the count. This allowed Perry to hit a low blow and send RVD into the corner chair into a school boy for the win.
-Renee Paquette is backstage with The Lucha Bros and Alex Abrahantes, who said the Lucha Bros fight in the spirit of competition but the BCC fight to hurt people like PAC. Fenix & Penta said tonight they’ll show Moxley & Castagnoli why they’re the best team in the universe.
MJF & Adam Cole make a Zero Hour challenge
MJF welcomed the fans of the Midwest and said previous footage of him saying they are Mid has been heavily doctored. In fact, MJF’s favorite place in the entire U.S. is the Midwest. Cole mentions making history at All In, in a match he’ll beat MJF for the AEW title. MJF asked if Cole wanted to promo battle and said Cole is so skinny and white if this was the 80s, Hogan would’ve snorted him. MJF called him a noodle arm, bobble head, but was cut off by Cole who said he didn’t want a promo battle, as MJF said that he misread the situation.
Cole said he how everyone wanted MJF & himself to win the AEW Tag Team titles, but Cole said he has his eye on another set of tag titles, the ROH Tag Titles, as Cole owes his career to Ring of Honor. Cole ran down his ROH resume and said the only title he never won was the tag titles, which has been held by great teams like the Kings of Wrestling, reDragon & The Briscoes. Cole said they should challenge for the ROH Tag Titles at Zero Hour before All In and head into the main event of the show draped in even more gold. MJF called Cole a sick pervert for wanting him to wrestle twice in one night. MJF said since Cole is his brochacho and he’s a sucker for a cheap pop, as the fans scumbag, they are officially challenging Aussie Open for the ROH Tag Titles at the All In Zero Hour.
Roderick Strong came out from the back screaming, insulted that Cole would want to challenge for the ROH Tag Titles with MJF and not his best friend, a ROH legend like himself. MJF told Strong to get in his car, go home, run up the stairs, cry into his Hello Kitty headphones and listen to Taylor Swift so he can Shake It Off like a bland b*tch. Strong asked if Cole was going to allow MJF to talk to him like that and said The Kingdom was right about him. Matt Taven & Mike Bennett walked out and hugged Strong as MJF said Cole didn’t need him, as Cole shoved MJF and said he didn’t need to say that to Strong as he’s both of their friends. MJF had to be calmed down and they hugged it out before MJF told Cole to go check on his boy.
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Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli defeated The Lucha Bros (Penta el Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix w/Alex Abrahantes)
(Commentary really put over early how it was Castagnoli responsible for PAC’s injury and this action packed tag match is the second dominating victory for the BCC in the past week. The momentum they lost at Blood and Guts has been regained, as Moxley & Castagnoli have been killers, first at the Parking Lot Fight and now tonight.)
Fenix & Penta snuck up from behind and wiped out Moxley & Castagnoli with double dives to gain control right at the opening bell. Penta delivered a top rope double stomp to Castagnoli, while Moxley was flattened by another Fenix dive, which to the surprise of no one, busted Moxley opened. Penta connected with Made in Penta, but Castagnoli kicked out at two. Castagnoli ducked a double superkick and the Lucha Bros collided, as Moxley made the tag and dropped both with a double DDT. Penta spun out of a Death Rider into Sling Blade, as Castagnoli was backed up by referee Aubrey in the ropes, allowing Yuta to pop Fenix in the head with the ROH Title. A press slam into a cutter led to Fenix being isolated during commercial.
Back from break, Fenix was planted with a spike piledriver and Taz talked about how he broke his neck because of a move like that. In a Doomsday Device position, Moxley missed the clothesline and Fenix hit a roll up double stomp onto Castagnoli. Penta ran wild off a hot tag with a cazadora face buster on Moxley and backstabber on Castagnoli. Fenix made the tag and the match broke down before Moxley laid out Penta with a cutter, Fenix kipped up into a huge superkick before all four men were down. Fenix & Castagnoli had a strike battle that led to the comeback spin kick from Fenix as Penta leapt off the top, but was uppercut in mid air.
It was Penta & Moxley’s turn to chop it out, as they teed off on one another before Moxley was planted with a double team stalling piledriver. Right in front of the ref, Yuta grabbed Fenix on the top rope, as Abrahantes started going at it with him, only for Yuta to get hit with a moonsault. As Penta wanted Fear Factor, Castagnoli ripped the mask off, which allowed Moxley to get a roll up and the tights to win it. Post match, The BCC kept attacking, with Castagnoli wearing Penta’s mask as it happened. Moxley screamed that zero respect is what happens.
-Kenny Omega is backstage walking when Alex Marvez approaches and talks about The Young Bucks challenging FTR at All In. Omega said next week he’s sitting down with Jim Ross to discuss his future, Don Callis, Konosuke Takeshita and plans for All In. Marvez wanted a scoop, but he didn’t get it.
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The entire Mogul Embassy made their way to the ring, as Prince Nana ran down the crowd before Swerve Strickland talked about how he, Fox & Nana went to the Buddy Wayne Academy to prove a point and said everyone knows whose house it is. Fox immediately called out Darby Allin, who came out and demanded Fox tell the whole story about how Allin tried to help Fox when he needed it. Fox got to AEW by himself, but is upset Allin didn’t put a word in for him, instead for Nick Wayne. While Fox might have some new friends, Allin has friends too. The lights went out and when they came on, Sting was in the ring, leveling The Gates of Agony & Brian Cage with a bat. AR Fox bailed, as Sting was left alone with Strickland. Sting pointed up to the All In sign, as Strickland was pulled out by Nana as Sting & Allin stood tall. The challenge has been made for London and we learn that Tony Khan made it official, Sting & Allin vs. Strickland & Fox in a Coffin Match.
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Hikaru Shida defeated Anna Jay (w/Matt Menard & Angelo Parker) to retain the AEW Women’s Title
(Every week a match suffers from a lot of it taking place during commercial and unfortunately it was the main event this week. The ending was a little awkward, but Shida ultimately got her first title defense in front of an arena of fans, something she never really got to do during her first title regin.)
Excalibur mentioned how Jay’s debut match in AEW in 2020 was against Shida, as a jumping knee staggered Jay early, following up with ten corner punches. Jay wiggled free and was shoved over the top to the outside where Menard & Parker were quick to trash talk. Jay controlled the entire commercial break, but Shida fired back with a running elbow right when they returned.
Jay rolled to the apron and Shida tried to suplex her back in, but Jay hit a spin kick instead. Both ladies fought on the apron, as Shida hit a pump kick before pulling a chair from under the ring. Shida set it up to launch off of, but Parker jumped in front to run distraction that allowed Jay to smash Shida into the steps. Back inside, Jay got a two count before applying a Queen Slayer, but Shida climbed to the second rope with Jay still on her back and fell off to break the hold. Shida hit the Falcon Arrow, but Jay kicked out. Shida hit the Kitana knee and the ref counted three, despite Parker awkwardly trying to slide in to break up the count.
AEW Rampage 8/11/23
· Saraya vs. Skye Blue with the winner advancing to the Women’s Title All In 4 Way
· Darby Allin takes on Brian Cage
· Orange Cassidy defends the AEW International Title against Johnny TV
AEW Collision 8/12/23
· House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King & Buddy Matthews) defend the AEW Trios Titles against CM Punk & FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler)
Big E cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on the 9/13 Raw to win the WWE championship from Bobby Lashley, signifying his switching brands and reuniting The New Day.
Born Ettore Ewen, the 35-year-old Tampa product was a state heavyweight champion wrestler at Wharton High School and football player, who went to the University of Iowa, and after college, became a powerlifter.
A mutual friend contacted Jim Ross, and he was given a WWE tryout in 2009 and WWE signed him to a deal at that time. He started as Big E Langston in Florida Championship Wrestling, which was shortened to Big E. He was popular due to his personality and those in developmental thought he could be a groundbreaking performer with his leaping ability and agility and power combination.
In 2012, he was brought up to the main roster, and on November 18, 2013, won the IC title from Curtis Axel. But his career took off in 2014 as part of the New Day tag team. The idea started out silly but ended up being tweaked by the three guys in it and the group held the Raw tag team titles twice and Smackdown version of the titles six times.
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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
New NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa spoke to PWInsider about new talent being added to NXT 2.0. “I think that, to me, is the part that’s so exciting. I’m hoping that people pick up on that more and more as the weeks turned into months. This is very exciting. We’re going to see some fresh faces and new match-ups and this is awesome. You know what I’m saying? People got super invested in that NXT, that NXT developing talents and getting their first TakeOvers and stuff. It’s the same thing. Because even then, we had a core group of guys to help lead that push. It’s the same exact thing that’s happening right now. It might take people just a little bit to catch on to that because it’s not exactly what NXT has been presented as over the last, maybe say two or three years. But man, when this thing starts to fire on all cylinders, it’s going to be hard to stop.”
PWInsider reported that casting is underway for season 2 of Young Rock and they are looking for people to play Jerry Lawler, Tommy Rich, Bam Bam Bigelow, Haystacks Calhoun, Gene Okerlund, Big John Studd, Freddie Blassie, Mr. Fuji, and The Great Kabuki. They are also looking to recast several wrestlers from the first season, including Roddy Piper.
Drew McIntyre spoke to GiveMeSport and expressed interest in moving to SmackDown and feuding with Roman Reigns. “I mean, something with Roman [Reigns] is always going to interest me,” he said. He’s on top of WWE right now doing the best work of his career… I think for Roman and I, it’s a case of giving it more time. I just want to keep rolling and keep building that momentum and basically catch up to the momentum that he’s got right now and make it a big big match.”
Eva Marie spoke to the Out of Character podcast about her relationship with Vince McMahon that led her to a WWE return. “When I left, I was always in contact with Vince with the projects I was doing,” she said (h/t WrestleTalk). “He always seeing whether it was movies, TV, or new endeavor business-wise and things of that nature, we were always in conversation. I was always checking in and saying what’s up and things of that nature. The conversation kind of sparked last year and it was one of those things that, I always said I wanted to come back when the time was right and I always let him know that. That way, at any moment at any time, there was never a thought of ‘she would never’ or ‘there’s no possibility for her to come back’.
Bianca Belair was interviewed by Knox County mayor Glen Jacobs (Kane) on his YouTube channel.
Other Wrestling
Rob Van Dam went to Twitter to clarify comments he made regarding Ric Flair during last week’s Dark Side of the Ring documentary on the Plane Ride From Hell. “I haven’t seen Ric Flair’s d***,” he said. “My comment about fans shouldn’t see him doing the helicopter was a response to DSOTR telling me that’s what they were told. They shouldn’t. I don’t want to see it either. 2) I said “trying to make her touch him” referring to his body crowding her space and her backing up like bad breath was in her face.I thought maybe they were playing(from seeing a similar scene at the hotel bar) but I wasn’t interested in naked Ric. Still ain’t. I tried to sleep.” Later, when asked if he saw Flair grab flight attendant Heidi Doyle’s hand and forced her to touch his genitals, Van Dam replied “I can confirm I didn’t see that and I didn’t say that. Creative editing will have people hearing it different ways.”
Bryan Danielson talked to Bleacher Report, expressing interest in a G1 Climax run. “There are things I want to do, but I don’t ever think of them as goals,” Danielson said. “Oh man, I’d love to do the G1. But if I never do the G1 and all I ever do is wrestle in front of 19,000 people at Arthur Ashe Stadium, I think I’m going to be OK, I’m sure. So it’s weird as far that kind of stuff goes because there are so many things you can’t control. I would love to do the G1, but until we get COVID under control, that’s not even possible for me to go quarantine for two weeks.”
PWInsider reported that Sami Callihan underwent surgery for a broken ankle and broken tibia and fibia bones in Nashville and was released from the hospital today.
CMLL has posted the official card order for this Friday’s Aniversario show. The main event, pitting Lluiva and La Jarochita against Dark Silueta and Reina Isis, will be the first women’s main event in Aniversario history.
AEW is advising those that are going to Grand Slam in Queens, New York tomorrow to take mass transit and arrive early. Gates open at 5:30 pm local time. More info can be found here.
Heels last night ticked up to 93,000 viewers, up from last week’s 79,000.
AJPW has announced the brackets for their upcoming 2021 Real World Tag League tournament that begins on November 28, with the finals taking place on December 5 at Korakuen Hall.
Block A has Suama & Shotaro Ashino, Jake Lee & Hokuto Omori, Abdullah Kobayashi & Drew Parker, and Jun Saito & Rei Saito.
Block B has Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi, Tajiri & Super Crazy, T-Hawk & El Lindaman, and Inzanagi & UTAMARO.
Block C has Shuji Ishikawa & Kohei Sato, Yoshitatsu & Seigo Tachibana, Mitsuya Nagai & LEONA, and Kengo Mashimo & Kazma Sakamoto.
Block D has Zeus & Shighiro Irie, Takao Omori & Yuko Miyamoto, Koji Iwamoto & Ryuki Honda, and Koji Doi & Kumaarashi.
Former WWE and ECW star Rob Van Dam will officially be part of the 2021 WWE Hall of Fame class.
WWE announced via Fox Sports today that RVD will be inducted into their Hall of Fame over WrestleMania 37 week. The Hall of Fame ceremony will air on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network everywhere else on Tuesday, April 6.
“It’s a pretty awesome feeling,” RVD told Fox Sports about going into the WWE Hall of Fame. “Just like you probably would imagine, it feels like I’m being acknowledged and appreciated for my body of work. It feels very good. I’m honored. [Fans have] been calling me future Hall of Famer for years and I always just shrug and say, ‘All right, man. As long as you think so.’ But, glad to be among the chosen few this year.
“I’m glad for me and for all the fans. I feel like them being behind me and wanting to see this happen is a win for them as well.”
After last year’s ceremony was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 WWE Hall of Fame classes will both be inducted this year. Here’s the list of inductees:
2020 Hall of Fame class —
The nWo (Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall & Sean “X-Pac” Waltman)
On Friday, Impact Wrestling presented Turning Point from Hazelton, PA, an Impact Plus special that used to be a traditional pay-per-view.
While this show is not going along with current storylines, it did follow up to Bound For Glory with two championship rematch clauses being cashed in. This show was promoted in conjunction with Pennsylvania Premiere Wrestling.
Tessa Blanchard & Jordynne Grace defeated Havok & Madison Rayne
Originally, Kiera Hogan was going to team up with Rayne, but due to an injury, Havok replaced Hogan. Grace was the babyface in peril until Blanchard came in for the hot tag. Blanchard held her own until Rayne distracted her and fed her to Havok. Rayne tagged herself in when Havok was under control, only for Tessa to make a comeback and win with the Buzzsaw DDT in an ok opener.
— Rhino cut a promo backstage, telling Rob Van Dam that his vacation was over and tonight, RV was being sent to the hospital.
PPW Heavyweight Champion Clutch Adams defeated Facade, Evander James, Desean Pratt, KC Navarro, and Charles Mason to retain
The commentary team sold Navarro strong as a potential X-Division wrestler, but Josh Mathews still managed to mention that his KT Tape was all wrongly placed.
The match was mostly one pair of wrestlers competing and then onto another, giving everyone a chance to show their stuff. Navarro, James, and Facade all hit dives with Navarro featuring the most impressive one with the height he got. After another quick run of everyone getting near falls and finishers in, Facade hit a coast-to-coast on Pratt, only for Adams to run in with a flying elbow to steal the pin from Facade. This was an ok match. as no one was particularly impressive. However, Desean Pratt is someone worth developing and keeping an eye on.
— Backstage, Jimmy Jacobs interviewed Moose about his opponent tonight, Fallah Bahh. Moose put over Bahh as a great contender now, but that Bahh wasn’t at Moose’s level yet. Moose is fantastic.
Michael Elgin defeated Mike Orlando
Orlando is a big dude, so Elgin gave him some offense at first. In the end, it was Elgin wrestling circles around him. Elgin mostly chopped and tossed Orlando around the ring. Orlando had a short hope spot landing a suplex, a DDT and a TKO but that only led to a two count. Elgin got some near falls before he hit a powerbomb, backfist, and Elgin Bomb combo for the win. This was not a good match and went way too long.
— Jacobs interviewed Taya Valkyrie about Tenille Dashwood getting a rematch tonight. Taya just said that she probably had to get a favor from management to get this match, but just like at BFG, she’ll take care of Dashwood tonight.
Moose defeated Fallah Bahh
Bahh started the match with momentum, forcing Moose to rely on dirty heel tactics to turn the match around. Moose went to work over Bahh’s leg for a long while, really slowing down the match, but eventually, Bahh started his comeback. The match really picked up from here on as they started trading big moves and near falls. At one point towards the end, Moose superplexed Bahh, but Bahh fired up and came back with a huge lariat for a two count. Moose came back with two running dropkicks and the No Jackhammer Needed for the win.
Bahh has to be top five most improved wrestlers of the year as his moving toward strong style has really helped his matches a lot. This was the best match of the night thus far.
— Jacobs interviewed Rich Swann and Mack about their title shot with The North. They said there is no Rhino or RVD getting involved with their match like how the BFG match should have been. The North interrupted and said that tonight they’ll beat them again, and Swann and Mack won’t have excuses anymore.
Impact Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie (w/John E. Bravo) defeated Tenille Dashwood in a non-title match
Taya was the only champion to get away with not defending her title tonight. Of all the matches so far, this was the one that went straight to the mat for chain wrestling. Similar to Bahh and Moose, this had Tenille have the upper hand over Taya until Bravo interfered to gave Taya the opening to turn the match around. Taya worked over Tenile’s midsection intertwined with occassional interventions of Bravo and Taya’s fake dog, taking shots at Tenille.
Eventually, Tenille managed to dodge Taya’s running knees and start a comeback. Tenille got a two count with a top rope crossbody. They went back and forth trading near falls. Tenille hit her running low crossbody to the corner, but Taya kicked out. Tenille went for the Spotlight, but Bravo grabbed Tenille’s leg, distracting her enough for Taya to sneak up behind and roll her up to retain her title in an ok match.
After the match, Taya and Bravo beat up on Tenille until Jordynne Grace came for the save. Jordynne attacked Taya and ran her off.
Impact Tag Team Champions The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) defeated Rich Swann and Willie Mack to retain
This was a really good match. It started with Swann and Mack in control. Swann was hitting Page and Alexander from all angles, but as soon as The North had an opening to double team Swann, they cut him off from Wilie and proceeded to work him over.
After several minutes of Swann being worked on and several tag teases, Mack finally got the hot tag and ran wild. The match broke down into many double team moves as both teams started chasing their finishers. The North initially got theirs countered and Swann and Mack hit theirs, but the pin was broken up.
Finally, Swann set up the Standing Rana into the Frog Splash, but Page blocked the rana, and Border Tossed Swann to take him out. Both North members brought down Mack from the top rope the hard way with thier double facebuster finisher to retain their titles.
— Sami Callihan cut a promo putting himself over while telling Jake Crist that he can’t be the Golden Draw anymore until he regains the X-Division championship. Callihan then told Cage that tonight, he’ll defeat him again and stay the World champion
Eddie Edwards defeated Mahabali Shera to retain the Call Your Shot Gauntlet title shot
Shera used his size and power advantage to run over Edwards early on, but Edwards came back using his experience advantage and used Shera’s power against him. The match then went on to wash, rinse, and repeat that sequence a couple of times as they closed to the finish with Shera getting ahold of Edwards, cutting him off with power and working over him until Edwards would find a way out.
Edwards eventually and unceremoniously hit the Boston Knee Party for the win. This started good, but ended really weak.
— We got a commercial for the Impact Plus December 7th special from Dayton, OH, No Surrender. Swann is challenging Callihan, provided he wins tonight. X-Division Champion Ace Austin faces Eddie Edwards in a tables match, while Valkyrie defends her title against Havok.
X-Division Champion Ace Austin defeated Jake Crist to retain
This was a heel vs heel match, but Austin was given the more devious role as he was the one pulling out all the dirty tricks behind the ref’s back. He also got to work over Crist for most of the first half of the match.
Crist had a great comeback, hitting a kick combo and later catching Austin’s diving move into a cutter for a two count. Jake went for a Super Cutter, but Austin grabbed the ropes to counter the move and came back with The Fold from the top rope to retain his championship. This was a good match, but somewhat short.
Rob Van Dam (w/Katie Forbes) defeated Rhino by DQ
The brawl started outside the ring as Rhino was making his entrance. After some minutes around the ring, they finally made it into the ring and we got a good look at the new heel RVD, which pretty much consisted of a lot of taunts and a lot of making out with Forbes. RVD even stopped just short of his own signature moves, yet still managed to beat up Rhino.
Eventually, all the taunting and not actually hitting moves allowed Rhino to recover and make a comeback. Rhino superplexed RVD for a two count. Rhino hit the Gore, but Forbes put Van Dam’s foot on the ropes to break the pin. Rhino went for a chair, but the ref took it away. In the distraction, Forbes low blowed Rhino. RVD brought out a table and tried to Gore Rhino, but Rhino blocked him, picked him up, and drove him through the table for the disqualification. This was a fun match, but the fans hated the finish.
After the match, Rhino chased the referee away instead of attacking RVD who simply made out with Forbes in the ring.
Impact World Champion Sami Callihan defeated Brian Cage to retain
The story of the match was that Cage was strong and healed up for this match, and thus none of Callihan’s offense was hurting him. Cage took Callihan on the Tour de Hurt around the ring, slamming him against the guardrail and apron. The champion was desperate and was looking for a countout victory.
It wasn’t until Callihan raked Cage’s eyes and hit a piledriver on the apron that he managed to cut Cage off and gain control. It didn’t last long because Cage recovered quickly, but he was rocked enough so that Callihan could keep up with him. They traded strikes and Cage hit an ugly looking Electric Chair Drop for a two count. Callihan came back with a DVD for another two count and then hit a draping piledriver for another two count.
Out of desperation, Callihan went for the title belt, but the referee took it away. Amidst the chaos, Cage accidentally clotheslined the referee and hit an F-5 for a visual pin, but the ref was down.
Jake Crist came down and Cage took both Callihan and Crist out. Cage went for the Drill Claw, but Fulton came down. Cage endured a Callihan low blow, a Fulton chokeslam, a Callihan belt shot, and a Cactus Special, getting pinned by Callihan in finish a good main event.
The Tag Team title match at Bound for Glory 2019 will be a triple threat.
During last night’s Impact episode, it was announced that The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) will defend their titles against Rich Swann & Willie Mack and RVD & Rhino in a triple threat match at Bound for Glory. The pay-per-view is taking place at the Odeum Expo Center in Villa Park, Illinois on Sunday, October 20.
The North have been Impact Tag Team Champions since defeating LAX (Santana & Ortiz) for the titles this July.
Here’s the updated card for Bound for Glory:
Impact World Champion Brian Cage defending against Sami Callihan
Michael Elgin vs. Naomichi Marufuji
Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie defending against Tenille Dashwood
X-Division Champion Jake Crist defending against Tessa Blanchard, Daga, and two other wrestlers in a five-way ladder match
Impact Tag Team Champions The North defending against Rich Swann & Willie Mack and RVD & Rhino in a triple threat match
Moose vs. Ken Shamrock
The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel) vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. and two partners
Call Your Shot Gauntlet match (winner gets a future shot at the Impact title of their choosing)
Impact Wrestling was at the Freetail Brewery in San Antonio, Texas on Friday night for their Bash at the Brewery Impact Plus special.
It was about 100 degrees in the brewery and they were handing out fans to the crowd. I honestly don’t know how they did it in the ring.
– The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel) defeated Matthew Palmer, Andy Dalton & Steve O Reno
– Impact World Champion Brian Cage and Moose cut promos and looked like they were going to have their match, but Michael Elgin hit the ring and attacked Cage.
Moose and Elgin beat up Cage. Elgin went and got a chair, and Moose stop him from using it and ruining Moose’s match against Cage. Elgin turned around and hit Cage with the chair anyway. Referees and staff came out to break it up, but Elgin ran back in several times to beat Cage up some more.
– RCW Heavyweight Champion Fallah Bahh defeated Anthony Andrews to retain his title
Bahh is the local champion and got a good reaction. Not much to this match. Bahh’s shtick was over, and Andrews didn’t really do much. Bahh countered a crossbody into a Samoan drop, then won with the Banzai Drop.
– Jordynne Grace defeated Jessicka Havok by DQ
Grace is from Austin and also got a pretty good reaction. She did the Young Bucks wheelbarrow facebuster, but Su Yung struck her for the disqualification.
Rosemary ran in for the save and they turned it into a tag match.
Havok and Yung were uneasy partners. Grace did some power moves, but it was mostly the heels dominating. Grace hit a tope, with Rosemary then spearing Yung for the pin. Very basic match.
– Tessa Blanchard, X-Division Champion Rich Swann & Willie Mack defeated oVe (Madman Fulton, Jake Crist & Dave Crist)
Blanchard was the most over and got to be the star of the match. It was funny at the beginning: the crowd was chanting “Tessa B ain’t nothin’ to f*ck with” and Dave Crist yelled “Language!” — so the crowd chanted “F*ck you” back.
Blanchard knocked the Crists around at the beginning and wanted to face Fulton. Fulton tagged in and manhandled Blanchard. Jake got in and took advantage, but Blanchard got up and started laying him out again.
Mack hit a tope con hilo and took out part of the barricade. Fulton caught Blanchard doing the flying codebreaker, so Swann did a Tajiri springboard to knock Fulton forward into Blanchard’s knees. Swann hit a Lethal Injection, then Blanchard hit the diving codebreaker on Dave for the win. This felt like it could have been a match on Impact.
– Michael Elgin defeated Eddie Edwards and Moose in a triple threat match
Moose was added to this due to the attack on Cage earlier. The crowd booed Moose even though it was Elgin who took out Cage. Cage didn’t wrestle on the show despite being advertised for his match against Moose.
There was lots of slugging in this. Elgin hit his really long suplex on Moose, who immediately kipped up. Edwards hit a German suplex on Moose. At one point, Edwards hit a super Frankensteiner on Elgin and sent him right into Moose, but it didn’t look like it connected all the way.
Elgin did a corkscrew senton to Edwards. Edwards pulled out a kendo stick and hit Moose, then the referee tried to stop him from hitting Elgin with it. The crowd was really into Edwards. Elgin powerbombed Edwards once, powerbombed him into the corner, then hit the Elgin Bomb for the win. This could have been an Impact main event.
– The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) defeated LAX (Santana & Ortiz) to win the Impact Tag Team titles
Ortiz played to the crowd more than anyone. The fans started chanting in Spanish, and Ortiz would speak Spanish back to them. There were lots of spots where Santana was in distress and it took a long time to start feeling like an LAX match.
Ortiz got the hot tag and cleaned house. They did a number of tag moves, but Page hit Santana with a title belt and Alexander rolled him up to win the titles. The crowd booed The North but cheered LAX more after the match.
– RVD defeated Sami Callihan in an extreme rules match
RVD is really starting to look old. Unsurprisingly, he was the most charismatic person on the show and got the most crowd reactions. The match moved to the outside and it was hard to see, but Callihan was just taking it to RVD on the barricades for a while.
There was a series of rest holds when they went back inside. Eventually, RVD started showing off his athleticism. Even at his age, he can still do those really limber kicks.
Dave Crist tried to pull RVD off the top rope and Callihan brought in a chair. Tessa Blanchard came down to take out Dave, then RVD used the chair for a Van Daminator. Or he tried to, but missed completely. Callihan kind of sold it, then RVD jumped up and did it for real. RVD hit a frog splash onto the chair for the win.
The show was just fine. It felt a bit short and nothing special happened, but I respect them for doing what they did in that heat. The crowd was appreciative all the way through.
Michael Elgin got a win over Willie Mack ahead of his upcoming title match against Impact World Champion Brian Cage at Slammiversary XVII on July 7.
The North earned a Tag Team title shot at Bash at the Brewery on July 5 by defeating Rob Van Dam & Sabu. The Sandman also wrestled on the show. What year is this?
Two of the six matches on the episode saw wrestler’s pants fall down. The Twitch version of the show was riddled with technical issues during commercial breaks.
Show Recap —
A storyline recap video kicked off the show.
Josh Mathews welcomed us to the Melrose Ballroom in New York.
Mathews and Don Callis talked up the Moose and RVD feud. Moose has challenged RVD to face him at Slammiversary.
The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) defeated Rob Van Dam & Sabu
Sabu got a single-leg takedown, and Alexander rolled to the ropes. Alexander took a chest-first turnbuckle bump. Sabu dropped him with a clothesline. RVD tagged in, hitting a slingshot leg drop, then a vertical suplex.
Alexander forced RVD into The North’s corner. Page tagged in, and RVD hit a spinning back kick, then worked a Fujiwara armbar. Sabu tagged in. RVD and Sabu hit a tandem Rolling Thunder. Sabu used a Camel Clutch, hit Page with a chair, then went back to the Camel Clutch.
RVD got a tag, then he and Sabu used tandem leg drops for a near fall. The North used an illegal double team to gain the advantage on RVD. Alexander hit an inverted atomic drop, and Page hit a backbreaker.
The North used a series of quick tags and worked RVD over in their corner. Page missed a charge into the corner. RVD hit an enzuigiri, then Sabu got a hot tag. Sabu ran wild with a chair and used the weapon to hit a step-up leg lariat.
Sabu and RVD set up a table in the ring. Sabu hit an Arabian facebuster off the top rope to Alexander, sending him through the table. Moose ran out and shoved RVD off the post.
Page used the distraction to jump in and take out Sabu. Sabu’s pants fell down. The North hit their double-team finisher, with Alexander pinning Sabu.
Mathews said that Page and Alexander earned a tag title shot at Bash at the Brewery with their win.
Tommy Dreamer waddled out to the ring, throwing Moose back inside. They teased RVD hitting a Van Terminator, but Moose escaped.
RVD looked good here, considering the mileage on his body. Sabu’s botch and pants falling down were very on-brand.
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During the commercial break on Twitch, they showed a split screen of Don Callis and Melissa Santos. Callis tried to throw it to Santos, but Santos couldn’t hear him. Callis asked why she couldn’t hear him. Santos’ audio wasn’t working either. Callis gave shout-outs to Twitch users in the chat. This was embarrassing.
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Back from commercial, Moose confronted The North backstage. Moose was upset that they beat RVD and Sabu, but didn’t “take them out.”
Havok (w/James Mitchell & Su Yung) defeated Masha Slamovich
Squash city.
Havok no-sold a couple of strikes from Slamovich, then hit a right hand. Havok hit two backbreakers and a vertical suplex. She missed a charge into the corner, and Slamovich fired up. Havok blocked a kick and pushed Slamovich down.
Havok hit a sidewalk slam, then a chokeslam. Havok hit a tombstone and got the pin.
Mitchell cut a promo after the match and said that Rosemary needs to get her anger under control. Mitchell said he was a diplomat when she tried to steal his demon bride, Su Yung. He said she committed the ultimate sin, and put her hands on him.
Mitchell said Havok flattened Rosemary, breaking the spell of the demon collar. He said it’s his personal mission to make sure that Havok becomes the Knockouts Champion and uses Rosemary’s carcass as a launch pad.
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Commercial break time. Santos still couldn’t hear Callis. Callis said they were working on Santos’ audio. Santos’ video dropped out, then Callis’ audio dropped. Callis waved an iPad around.
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Gama Singh introduced Raj Singh and urged the crowd to bow down to him.
Deaner hit a shoulder tackle, some right hands, then a fist drop. Singh rolled outside, and Deaner hit a suicide dive. Singh ended up with a bloody nose after the dive.
Deaner climbed to the top rope, but Singh cut him off. Singh hit a neckbreaker, then a leg drop. Gama Singh connected with a right hand from the floor.
Singh hit a dropkick to the back and got a near fall. Deaner hulked up and hit a series of strikes. Deaner hit a lariat, then the Deaner DDT. Gama jumped on the apron, disrupting the match. Gama feigned a heart attack on the floor.
Raj used the distraction to hit a facebuster for the pin. Deaner looked good here. Singh has good size and a good look, but he’s very green.
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Michael Elgin cut a promo. He promised to send Willie Mack to the hospital later. Johnny Impact interrupted Elgin. He said Mack isn’t going to the hospital if it’s up to Elgin. He said if Elgin needs his help, all he has to do is ask.
Elgin declined help and walked off. Johnny was upset that Elgin didn’t compliment his hair.
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Callis’ audio wasn’t working again. He made some gestures and continued talking as though we could hear him. We couldn’t.
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Rosemary cut a promo. She said Mitchell has a type, monsters. She said he couldn’t control his last monster, what makes him think he can control Havok?
Rosemary told Mitchell they’re on a collision course — and to bring it on.
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The Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week showed the Dudleys and Tommy Dreamer fighting off Rhyno, Spud, King Mo, and EC3, then putting Dixie Carter through a table.
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Callis’ audio was working during this break. He said he enjoyed watching Dixie go through the table. He said he won’t ever go through a table because he’s not a mark.
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Sami Callihan entered the women’s locker room. Tessa Blanchard told him to bring his friend Jake Crist next week to face her.
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Madison Rayne defeated Jordynne Grace
Kiera Hogan came out to join the commentary team for this match. She said she’s done making friends in this business, because she always gets stabbed in the back.
Grace and Rayne locked up. They did some solid chain wrestling, and Rayne used a quick cradle for a near fall. Rayne escaped a side headlock, but ran into a shoulder tackle. Rayne rolled to the apron, and Grace knocked her off into the barricade.
Back inside, Grace hit a back elbow for a near fall. She followed with a delayed vertical suplex for a two count. Grace hit some forearm strikes. Rayne used a Koji Clutch, but Grace sat down into a submission of her own. Rayne escaped, then they traded a series of quick cradles.
Rayne hit an enzuigiri and a dropkick. They stepped to the apron. Rayne rolled to the floor, then took Grace’s legs out. Grace tried to send Rayne into the post, but Rayne blocked. Rayne hit a cutter on the floor. They teased a countout, but both made it back inside.
Rayne tried for a Northern Lights suplex, but Grace blocked it with a front facelock. Rayne used a crucifix bomb for a two count. Rayne went to the top rope. Grace teased a Muscle Buster. Rayne teased a tornado DDT. Grace ended up hitting a Muscle Buster, but only got a two count.
Grace hit a short clothesline. She went to the second rope, but Hogan distracted her. Rayne cut Grace off. Off the distraction, Rayne hit Cross Rayne and got the pin. This was a good match.
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Callis hit a tech guy with a right hand during the break, blaming him for the audio issues. Callis urged viewers to send cards and letters to Gama Singh after his “heart attack” earlier in the show.
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Killer Kross defeated The Sandman
Sandman attempted a sneak attack during Kross’ entrance. Kross intercepted him, but Sandman still managed to get the early edge. He hit 10 punches in the corner and was immediately blown up.
Sandman managed a couple of kendo stick shots, but Kross caught him in a choke, and the ref called a stoppage finish.
Eddie Edwards ran down to make the save for Sandman. Kross escaped before Edwards could get his hands on him. Mathews said that Edwards and Kross’ feud may end with someone in a body bag.
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LAX were shown hanging out in a bar. Konnan said that Ortiz and Santana need to start taking their matches more seriously. The Rascalz entered and said that they’re the best tag team in the world. A brawl broke out, and LAX came out on top.
LAX said The Rascalz will get their rematch. LAX defending their Tag Team titles against The Rascalz is official for Slammiversary.
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Callis read a series of compliments about himself from the chat.
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The Smoke Show
Scarlett Bordeaux and Fallah Bahh welcomed Taya Valkyrie and John E. Bravo to The Smoke Show.
Bordeaux said that if Taya doesn’t defend her title next week, she’ll be stripped. Taya made a stripper joke about Bordeaux.
Bordeaux said she heard that Taya has to face Su Yung next week. Everyone in this segment was unlikeable.
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Mathews and Callis plugged Dreamer vs. Moose, Valkyrie vs. Yung, and Blanchard vs. Jake Crist for next week’s show.
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Callis hyped the main event. He said that Elgin is a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion, and that he beat Kenny Omega for the title. Actually, that was the Intercontinental title.
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Michael Elgin defeated Willie Mack (w/ Rich Swann)
Elgin’s torso and arms were covered in baby oil.
They started with an exchange of strikes. Mack took Elgin off his feet with a shoulder tackle. Mack hit a blockbuster, a dropkick, and an exploder suplex. Elgin rolled to the apron. Elgin pulled Mack to the apron, where they traded strikes. Elgin hit a superkick, then sent Mack to the floor with a dropkick.
After a break, Elgin had a chinlock on Mack. Mack broke the hold, but Elgin hit a dropkick. Mack hit a couple of clotheslines, then a wheel kick. Mack used a leg drop for a near fall. Mathews informed us that Willie Mack loves to have a good time.
Mack hit a spinebuster for a two count. He went for a stunner, but Elgin blocked it. Elgin hit a series of superkicks. Elgin sat Mack on the top rope and hit a superplex for a two count. Mack’s trunks started falling down.
Elgin missed a charge into the corner. Mack hit something resembling a guillotine leg drop, dropping Elgin to the floor. Mack teased a dive, but Elgin pulled Swann in his way. Elgin slammed Swann on the apron.
Back inside, Elgin hit a buckle bomb, then an Elgin Bomb, and pinned Mack. This was a slightly above average TV match.
After the bell, Elgin teased another Elgin Bomb, but Swann made the save. Johnny Impact ran in, making the save for Elgin. Johnny dropped Swann with a spinning uranage.
Elgin shook hands with Johnny. Johnny turned his back, and Elgin hit him with a suplex. Elgin then went after Mack again. He buckle bombed him into the post. The show ended with Elgin making the championship belt motion around his waist.
Rob Van Dam vs. Moose is now official for Slammiversary XVII.
After Moose challenging RVD to the match aired on last week’s episode of Impact, Impact Wrestling officially announced that RVD has accepted Moose’s challenge. Slammiversary XVII is taking place at Gilley’s Dallas in Dallas, Texas on Sunday, July 7.
RVD, Sabu & Tommy Dreamer defeated The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) on the May 31 episode of Impact. The North & Moose attacked RVD and Dreamer on the episode prior to that, with Sabu coming out to make the save.
In the promo where he challenged RVD for Slammiversary, Moose said he’s sick of old ECW legends coming to Impact.
RVD returned to Impact at their United We Stand show over WrestleMania weekend in April, teaming with Sabu against Pentagon Jr. & Fenix. Prior to that match, it was announced that RVD had signed an extended deal that would see him stay with Impact past United We Stand.
Slammiversary XVII will be headlined by Brian Cage defending his Impact World Championship against Michael Elgin. The night before the pay-per-view takes place, the opening night of this year’s NJPW G1 Climax will be held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Impact Wrestling returned from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. The opening video focused on the ongoing story with Rosemary, Eddie Edwards vs. Killer Kross, and last week’s great main event between Rich Swann and Michael Elgin.
This week’s Twitch stream was hosted by Melissa Santos. She had some computer issues at first, and so we got a couple of extra Impact Plus Flashbacks for those watching on Twitch. For the post-show, they aired Moose vs. Eddie Edwards from this year’s Homecoming pay-per-view.
Sami Callihan defeated Fallah Bahh (w/ Scarlett Bordeaux)
The story of the match was that Callihan brought out a more vicious side of Bahh — whether it was to show off to Bordeaux or to survive the match. Callihan jumped Bahh to start things off, but Bahh quickly cut him off with a flying crossbody. Bahh kept control with chops and stomps. Callihan even tried biting off Bahh’s exposed toe, but it was to no avail.
The match spilled outside, where they brawled for a bit with chops. But as they made their way back to the ring, Callihan caught Bahh with a clothesline that dropped him back to the floor.
Back in the ring, Callihan tortured Bahh’s bare foot, biting the toes and twisting them. Callihan locked in a sleeper, but Bahh made a comeback as he hulked up. Bahh came back with a good belly-to-belly and side slam for a two count. Bahh went for the top rope Banzai Drop, but Callihan rolled out of the way, and thankfully, Bordeaux was there to tell Bahh not to dive.
Callihan got a two count with a kick combination, and Bahh was bleeding from the mouth. Bahh hit a Samoan Drop and once again went for the Banzai Drop, but now it was the Crist brothers that came out to help Callihan. Bordeaux confronted both of them and took them out with a rolling senton. Inside the ring, Bahh used the distraction to get a two count on Callihan.
Bahh hit a suicide dive to take out all of oVe. But when he tried to capitalize, Callihan caught him with a draping Cactus Special and pinned Bahh by putting his feet on the ropes. Pretty good opener.
Tommy Dreamer cut a promo backstage talking about the first impressions he had of Rob Van Dam and their history throughout ECW, WWE, and old TNA. He talked about them going at it one last time tonight.
Melissa Santos interviewed Johnny Impact and Johnny Bravo. She asked about helping Elgin last week. Impact was explaining that he wanted to let Elgin keep sending people to the hospital. Elgin walked up to them, and Impact offered to tag together and send Swann and Mack to the hospital next.
Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie defeated Madison Rayne to retain her title
Taya ran around the ring to start the match, but Rayne soon used a spear to stop her and started delivering a flurry of punches. Rayne kept control, getting a two count with a second rope crossbody.
Back from commercial, Rayne delivered a cutter for another two count — and Taya once again decided to run away and leave the ring. Rayne tried to catch Taya with a baseball slide while she was distracted, but Taya was ready for her, caught her leg, and started kicking her hamstring to finally ground her.
Taya focused on Rayne’s leg by stomping her knee over and over on the mat. Rayne tried to make a comeback with strikes, but she had a weak footing that Taya easily broke. Same when Rayne thought she could do a suplex. Taya locked in a single-leg crab, but Rayne made the ropes.
Taya started getting more and more cocky, distracting herself and talking trash and giving Rayne the time to recover a bit. Rayne finally manage to reverse a running hip attack with a kick and a tornado DDT. Taya pulled the referee in front of her to once again cut off Rayne, but it didn’t last long as Rayne returned with a schoolboy for a two count. She transitioned into a single-leg crab, but Taya made the ropes.
Taya connected with two knee lifts and went for Road to Valhalla, but Rayne reversed it. Rayne went for a reverse DDT, but Taya countered into Road to Valhalla for the win.
As Taya was celebrating in the ring, Rosemary suddenly appeared. The crowd popped big. Rosemary tied up Su Yung in the ring post and went to face off with Taya and make her intentions clear — she wants the Knockouts Championship.
We got a Deaners Vignette of them eating Philly cheesesteak. Cody Deaner talked about The Desi Hit Squad stealing their last match and talked about the sacrifices they’ve made to come to Impact.
Backstage, James Mitchell met with Rosemary and told her that they’ve always looked at her as part of the family, but he was starting to get annoyed at Rosemary stealing bridesmaids and Su Yung. Rosemary told Mitchell that they’re done with him and technically told him that she is planning to kill Su Yung.
The Impact Plus Flashback of the Week was Raven and The Sandman’s debut in The Asylum from February 2003.
We had a video recap of Eddie Edwards and his kendo stick. Edwards talked about what the stick meant to him. He did acknowledge it was just a stick, but it was a memento that had been with him in the last months and through his struggles.
Edwards challenged Killer Kross to a fight next week. Edwards had his mouthpiece on and was talking funny.
The Rascalz were in the Treehouse. They were sober and arguing because they were hating their new training regiment. Zachary Wentz proposed they smoke, then they were all happy and ready to train again. Now that they were back to normal, they dominated their training session.
Impact Tag Team Champions LAX (Santana & Ortiz) w/ Konnan defeated The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) to retain their titles
Santana and Alexander started the match with a sequence of reversals and counters. Alexander dominated with his strength advantage and gave Santana a cheap shot to get some control, but Santana managed to tag in Ortiz before he got completely cut off.
Page came in — only to take a couple of double-team moves from LAX. Alexander returned and took out Santana with a running crossbody to the back and finally cut off Ortiz.
The North worked over Ortiz with quick tags and double-team moves, earning a couple of two counts along the way. Page was in with Ortiz, who made a small comeback with a neckbreaker, but Alexander had taken out Santana once again. Ortiz was forced to survive a bit longer until Santana could make it back to the corner.
Santana and Alexander tagged in, with the former running wild over The North. Santana hit a sunset flip for a two count. LAX then used a slingshot into a kick on Alexander for another two count, then The North hit a quick combo on Santana for a two count for themselves.
Santana went for the propelled cutter, but Alexander caught him and tossed him out, leaving Ortiz open for a finisher. Alexander pinned Ortiz and Santana was late to break up the pin, but the ref still counted only two.
The match continued with LAX hitting a cutter, superkick, and Street Sweeper combo to pin Alexander and retain their titles. Great match if we ignore that one botched pin attempt. The commentary team sold it as controversial and said that they’ll review the tape and give The North another title shot if they see fit.
“Disco Inferno” Glenn Gilbertti vs. Ashley Vox ended in a no contest
This was announced as an exhibition match. Before it began, Disco cut a promo talking trash about women’s wrestling and said that he would be doing live commentary during the match. He asked production to cut off Don Callis and Josh Mathews’ headsets.
Disco interviewed Vox and just made fun of her over and over until Vox got tired of his voice and started the match.
Disco still used the distractions to cheap shot her and beat her up a bit, ramming her into the turnbuckle. Disco locked in a headlock and actually called the match while doing it. In a heelish way, he was hilarious.
Disco eventually got tired and hit an old school thumb to the throat behind the ref’s back. He kept talking trash, giving Vox the opening to roll him up for a two count. Vox got some offense in, dropping Disco, but Disco got an opening and hit a stunner but broke up his own pin.
Disco went for a second stunner, but Tessa Blanchard finally came out for the save, running Disco to the back. This was longer than it needed to be.
Blanchard vs. Disco was announced for next week.
Dezmond Xavier defeated Ace Austin, Petey Williams, and Rohit Raju (w/ Gama Singh) in a fatal four-way match
Raju took out Xavier to start the match. Austin then took Raju out, right before Williams hit a couple of moves on both men. Williams went for an early Canadian Destroyer, but Austin cut him off and gave him the Ace finger cut.
Xavier returned and took out Austin. He exchanged some reversals with Raju, who he dropped with a combo right before diving on Austin. Williams hit a dive on Xavier, followed by a Space Flying Tiger Drop by Austin on both of them.
Back in the ring, Austin superkicked both Raju and Xavier. Williams hit the Destroyer on Austin. Xavier came in and Williams was going for another Destroyer, but Raju foot stomped him in the back of the neck and took him out. Xavier kicked Raju and pinned him to take the win. This had fast-paced action but was too short.
Announced for next week: Eddie Edwards vs. Killer Kross in a street fight, Tessa Blanchard vs. Glenn Gilbertti, and Michael Elgin & Johnny Impact vs. Rich Swann vs. Willie Mack.
Rob Van Dam defeated Tommy Dreamer
This was billed as their final match against each other ever. They spent the first few minutes playing to the crowd’s dueling chants and E-C-Dub chants. This was total fan service for the Philly crowd.
They finally started wrestling with a short series of reversals. RVD got the first pin attempt with a rolling leg sweep. Dreamer hit a suplex. They exchanged a couple of reversals, ending in a standoff. It had already been five minutes since they started — this was going slow.
RVD played to the fans and Dreamer tried to roll him up. Dreamer went for the Dusty strikes. RVD countered but was sent out to the floor. Dreamer spat water on RVD, seemingly wanting the match to get extreme — and thus RVD hit the springboard apron leg drop and brought out a chair for the Van Daminator to the corner.
Dreamer set up RVD in the tree-of-woe with a chair and delivered a running dropkick. RVD came back with a Rolling Thunder onto a chair once Dreamer moved out of the way. Dreamer dropped RVD with a DDT onto the chair for a two count.
Dreamer went for a piledriver, but RVD blocked him once. Dreamer hit it on his second attempt, getting a two count. Dreamer went for a diving elbow, but RVD dodged and Dreamer went face-first into a chair with a drop toe hold. RVD delivered the Five Star Frog Splash to pick up the win.
I can’t say it was a good match. Both men looked old, but the spectacle of this match in the old ECW Arena was enough for the live fans to go crazy for it.
After the match, The North came down and attacked both RVD and Dreamer. They mocked them, but RVD and Dreamer made a comeback until Moose came out to aid The North. Moose set up for the spear, but the lights suddenly went out and Sabu returned to make the save.
RVD, Dreamer, and Sabu joined forces to take out The North and Moose to close the show.
Final thoughts —
Overall, this was a good and entertaining episode. The main event felt completely like fan service and somewhat out of context to the whole direction of the show, but nonetheless, this was a fun watch.
Impact Wrestling was back at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Saturday to close out two straight nights of television tapings.
– Tessa Blanchard defeated Disco Inferno
Blanchard picked up a quick win.
– Ahead of their six-man tag match against RVD, Sabu & Tommy Dreamer later in the tapings, Moose & The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) cut a promo in the ring and insulted ECW.
– The Deaners defeated The Desi Hit Squad
– Eddie Edwards defeated Killer Kross in a street fight
The Sandman helped Edwards win, giving him a new kendo stick after Kross broke Edwards’ kendo stick at Friday’s tapings.
– X-Division Champion Rich Swann & Willie Mack defeated Johnny Impact & Michael Elgin
Elgin walked out on Johnny after they bumped into each other. Swann pinned Johnny to get the win.
– Non-title match: Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie vs. Rosemary ended in a no contest
Jessicka Havok came out with James Mitchell. She attacked both Valkyrie and Rosemary, then left with Su Yung. Yung was at ringside with Rosemary on a chain after she lost a demon collar match to Rosemary at Friday’s tapings.
Tessa Blanchard made the save when oVe attacked Bordeaux after the match.
– Jordynne Grace defeated Kiera Hogan
Hogan played the heel here.
– Impact Tag Team Champions LAX vs. The Rascalz ended in a DQ
It appeared that The Rascalz won the titles after a ref bump, but the decision was reversed and the match ended in a disqualification.
– Ace Austin defeated Cousin Jake Deaner
The Desi Hit Squad distracted Cody Deaner near the end of the match.
– RVD, Sabu & Tommy Dreamer defeated Moose & The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page)
Dreamer cut a promo to close the show, with him saying RVD has suffered over 100 concussions in his career and is still flying higher than ever. Dreamer mentioned that Impact and ECW are similar in how their rosters had misfits and castoffs.
Impact Wrestling kicked off two straight nights of television tapings at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Friday.
– Disco Inferno won a Knockouts battle royal
Disco Inferno was on commentary and then eliminated Tessa Blanchard to win. Ahead of their Knockouts title match later in the night, Taya Valkyrie came out and eliminated Madison Rayne during the battle royal.
– Rosemary defeated Su Yung in a demon collar match
Rosemary dragged Yung away after winning.
– Killer Kross defeated Eddie Edwards
Kross teased hitting Edwards with Edwards’ kendo stick after, but Kross broke it instead.
– X-Division Champion Rich Swann defeated Michael Elgin by DQ
Elgin was disqualified after hitting the referee. Willie Mack came out to make the save for Swann, then was attacked by Johnny Impact.
– Sami Callihan defeated Fallah Bahh (w/ Scarlett Bordeaux)
– Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie defeated Madison Rayne to retain her title
Rosemary then indicated that she wants a title shot against Valkyrie. Yung was still on the demon collar.
– LAX (Santana & Ortiz) defeated The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) to retain their titles
– Disco Inferno vs. Ashley Vox ended in a no contest
Tessa Blanchard was out for revenge against Disco Inferno, with him running away and causing this match to end in a no contest.
– Dezmond Xavier defeated Petey Williams, Ace Austin, and Rohit Raju in a four-way match
– RVD defeated Tommy Dreamer
The North and Moose attacked RVD and Dreamer following the match, but Sabu appeared and they fought the heels off. RVD, Dreamer & Sabu will face The North & Moose at tonight’s tapings.
