The four-team tournament to determine the next contenders for the Impact Tag Team titles will continue on tonight’s Impact Wrestling on AXS TV.

Former champions ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) will take on Rich Swann & Sami Callihan in the second semifinal with the winners moving on to face The Rascalz in the finals.

In an X-Division showcase, current no. 1 contender KUSHIDA will take on former champion “Speedball” Mike Bailey.

The former Kalisto in WWE (Samuray Del Sol) will make his Impact debut as he teams with Laredo Kid & Black Taurus against Moose, Bully Ray & Brian Myers.

After the returning John E. Bravo made his surprise return to aid Dirty Dango against Santino Marella, the two will return to Impact tonight as Dango faces Bhupinder Gujjar.

Jody Threat will go one-on-one with Alisha Edwards.

The BTI pre-show will see Kevin Knight take on Champagne Singh.

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Kevin Knight defeated Champagne Singh (w/Shera) on the BTI pre-show

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The opening video highlighted last week’s events involving Trinity & Deonna Purrazzo, Lio Rush, Moose & Bully Ray and The Rascalz picking the victory over Mike Bailey & Jonathan Gresham.

Rich Swann & Sami Callihan defeated ABC in a Number 1 Contenders Tag Team Tournament match

Chris Bey and Rich Swann started the match with both men looking to gain the early momentum with their speed and athleticism. Bey would gain the upper hand and tag in Ace Austin who continued control of the match for the next several moments.

Swann managed to tag Callihan in and ABC found themselves in trouble as Callihan’s style was completely different from their own. After Callihan and Swann took care of Bey, Austin was caught off guard on the ring apron and Callihan seeing this, spiked Austin with his Cactus Driver ’97 on the apron to wipe him out.

With action now spilled to the outside, Bey managed to recover and nailed a beautiful dive off of the ropes to the floor onto Callihan and Swann, taking them both out as we headed to commercial.

We’re back from commercial and the action is back in the ring and it’s all ABC as Swann was getting schooled. After a misfire by Bey, Swann was able to tag in Callihan and action went back and forth for the next several moments with both teams nailing some massive offense.

After another misfire by ABC, this time by Austin, Swann took him out with a hurricanrana over the ropes as Callihan locked Bey in a crossface chicken wing. Bey almost submitted but got a second wind and reversed the chicken wing into a pinning situation for a near three count.

Bey then nailed Callihan with the Art of Finesse followed by The Fold by Austin but Swann was able to save Callihan at the last possible second. Swann managed to send both members of ABC to the floor and then proceeded to wipe out Bey as Austin was able to avoid contact and get back in the ring.

Austin looked as he was about to take care of Callihan and get the victory but out of nowhere, The Good Hands came down to the ring and Jason Hotch pulled the referee out of the ring as Austin was going for the pin. Swann attacked Hotch and they feuded up the ramp but as this was going on, John Skyler slid into the ring and nailed Austin with The Stroke. The referee re-entered the ring and Callihan scored the easy 1-2-3 to advance himself and Swann in the tournament.

– Backstage, Santino Marella was enjoying a moment of peace before being interrupted by both The Coven and the Death Dollz. Both teams stated that they deserved to be in the Knockouts world tag team title match at Emergence. Before Marella could make a decision, Masha Slamovich and Killer Kelly showed up and Kelly stated they would face them all at Emergence.

Dirty Dango (w/Alpha Bravo) defeated Bhupinder Gujjar

Before the match began, Dango grabbed the mic and stated “Man, I hate pro-wrestling”.

Both men looked good early on before Gujjar’s speed and power got the better of Dango but it wouldn’t last long as Dango started using dirty tactics to gain the advantage.

After Dango grounded Gujjar, Bhupinder was able to make a small comeback after landing a knee to the side of the head of Dango. Gujjar attempted to finish the match with his Gargoyle Spear but as he was on the ropes, Bravo shined a flashlight in his face to blind him. Dango took advantage of the situation and finished Gujjar off to get the easy victory.

After the match, Dango grabbed the mic and started putting down pro-wrestling again before being interrupted by Jake Something. Something stated that if he didn’t like pro-wrestling then to get the hell out of it. Dango left the ring and looked to be leaving the area but as Bravo was still in the ring with Something, Dango attempted to sneak up from behind on Jake but failed and got taken out instead.

– A video promo aired with an Deaner ranting about his disgust for Eric Young while Kon stood behind him. Deaner stated that he’s never felt more powerful because of guys like Kon standing by his side. Kon then stated that he was coming for Young.

– Backstage, Gia Miller was with Johnny Swinger. Miller asked Swinger if he gave any thought on challenging for the world title. Before Swinger could say too much, digital media champion Kenny King and Sheldon Jean interrupted. King cut a promo on Alex Shelley before leaving the scene as Swinger questioned Miller on what the internet was.

Jody Threat defeated Alisha Edwards (w/Eddie Edwards)

Threat started the match purely dominating the much smaller Edwards with her power. Alisha would catch a break but her arrogance wouldn’t allow her to fully capitalize on gaining real momentum.

Threat landed her running knee attack as Alisha was draped over the second rope but as she looked to finish her off, Alisha raked her eyes and Eddie followed it up by tripping her from the outside with Kenny. Frankie Kazarian then hit the ring to layout Eddie giving Threat the opportunity to finally hit the F416 and get the 1-2-3 on Alisha.

After the match, Kazarian grabbed Kenny but when he went to swing at Eddie, he unfortunately nailed Alisha instead. Eddie then had to carry an unconscious Alisha to the back as Kazarian was upset about what just took place.

– Backstage, Deonna Purrazzo stated that she wanted to congratulate KiLynn King on beating her last week and issued a challenge to King for a 1-on-1 match.

KUSHIDA defeated Mike Bailey

As you would imagine, this match was going to be a chess game as both men have very similar styles.

The opening moments would see the two men attempting to capitalize early but it was a stalemate until KUSHIDA was able to land a moonsault over the ropes to the outside on Bailey.

KUSHIDA followed up by grounding Bailey but “Speedball” would persevere and after landing some good solid strikes, nailed a running shooting star but could only manage a two count.

With both men looking to hit that one move that would help them gain the advantage, KUSHIDA was able to knock Bailey to the floor with a running handstand attack. KUSHIDA followed Bailey to the outside and attempted to lock in the Hoverboard Lock as we headed to commercial.

We’re back from commercial and both men are back in the ring and KUSHIDA was laying the attack on the left arm of Bailey before focusing on the knee as well. Bailey attempted a comeback but soon found himself on the outside once again. KUSHIDA attempted to capitalize but Bailey moved out of the way sending KUSHIDA now to the floor and Bailey followed up with a springboard moonsault off of the top rope.

With both men back on the inside, they were trading strikes back and forth before KUSHIDA was able to lock in the Hoverboard Lock. Bailey countered with an armbar and after nailing his double knees, he locked KUSHIDA in an armbar again. KUSHIDA wouldn’t give up but he was hurt and Bailey attempted to nail KUSHIDA with his running tornado kick but missed.

KUSHIDA wasn’t able to take advantage of the opportunity however and Bailey attempted to set him up for the Ultima Weapon but KUSHIDA caught him and sent Bailey back down to the mat with the Hoverboard Lock. A resilient Bailey wouldn’t give in and KUSHIDA switched things up and out of nowhere, nailed Bailey with his Back to the Future to get the hard fought win.

– Backstage, Tom Hannifan was with Crazzy Steve in an interview taped earlier in the day. Hannifan stated that Steve specifically requested him to do the interview and Hannifan asked Steve to clarify what’s going on. Steve stated that he felt abandoned by the actions lately of the Death Dollz and Black Taurus. Steve stated that he was legally blind and has been wrestling now for over 20 years. Steve stated that he’s dealt with roadblock after roadblock. Hannifan stated that it couldn’t have been easy but asked about Steve’s family. Steve stated that was an interesting question before a To Be Continued graphic appeared.

– Video footage aired of SUBCULTURE defending the Impact world tag team titles against the Greedy Souls courtesy of Attack! Pro Wrestling. A video promo followed of SUBCULTURE with Dani Luna stating they’re looking forward to defending the titles once again at Emergence.

– A backstage promo aired of a man asking a woman to “say his name” insinuating she was cheating on him. Joe Hendry then appeared followed by Yuya Uemura to Hendry’s music. Hendry was upset that Uemura was using Hendry’s gimmick but Yuya stated they could be tag team champions. The more Hendry thought about the idea, the more he liked it.

– It was announced that Team 3D would reunite after 7 years for Impact 1000, news that was officially announced earlier in the day on social media.

– A video promo was shown highlighting IWGP world heavyweight champion SANADA and his upcoming presence at Emergence later this month.

Brian Myers, Bully Ray & Moose defeared Black Taurus, Laredo Kid & Samuray Del Sol in a six-man tag team match

Myers, Ray and Moose made their entrances first and as Taurus and Kid were at the top of the entrance ramp awaiting the arrival of Del Sol, he never arrived. The cameras cut to the backstage area where Lio Rush had Del Sol pinned down as we headed to commercial.

We’re back from commercial and it was now a 3-on-2 match as Lio Rush had done the dirty work to help out Myers, Ray and Moose. Taurus was in the ring with Myers and after Myers attempted to match power with Taurus, he was quickly overpowered.

Taurus tagged out to Kid as Myers tagged out to Moose and it was now power versus speed but as Moose’s arrogance got the better of him, Kid took the advantage and Moose soon found himself on the outside looking bewildered.

Moose got back in the ring after a small pep talk by Myers and Moose tagged in a hungry Bully Ray who then asked for Taurus. Taurus obliged and after showing Bully he could match power, he soon found himself on the outside as he missed a running knee attack in the corner as we headed to another commercial break.

We’re back once again from commercial and Taurus is back in the ring but it was literally a 3-on-1 against him as Laredo Kid could do nothing but watch on in frustration from his corner.

After Taurus was finally able to ground Moose, he got the hot tag to Kid who managed to take out all three of his opponents seemingly with ease. As Kid was continuing his attack against his opponents in the corner of the ring, Ray pulled the referee in front of him wiping him out. Ray then attempted to pull the mask off of Kid but the lights went out!

Lighting bolts filled up the entrance screen and when the lights came back on, Ray was standing face to face with PCO! Bully was too scared to move and both Moose and Myers were sent flying out of the ring when they tried to attack PCO. Bully joined them and PCO attempted to wipe all three of them out but Bully was lucky enough to move out of the way.

PCO chased him up the entrance ramp to the back and the match continued in the ring with Taurus and Kid looking like they were going to score the victory. However, that wasn’t the case as Moose and Myers got the better of them and Myers landed the Roster Cut on Kid for the victory.

After the match, a frightened Bully Ray telling himself that “I set him on fire, I set him on fire!” was seen backstage running down a set of stairs and hijacking a vehicle outside of the arena. Before he could drive off, PCO had caught up to him but Bully was luckily able to get away as an enraged PCO watched him drive away.

Final Thoughts:

A solid show by Impact continuing to setup matches and feuds going into Emergence on August 27th. It’ll be interesting to see how the Deaner/EY feud plays out and if Kon can be trusted in the end.

The Crazzy Steve interview with Tom Hannifan was intriguing as the character looks to be headed in an entirely different direction which reminds me of Abyss and Joseph Park.

Finally, this was episode 995 of Impact Wrestling and it made me think of how many moments and how many matches I’ve had the honour of witnessing over the many, many years.

Definitely looking forward to Impact 1000 with the return of Team 3D, Awesome Kong and The Beautiful People!

Next Week:

• Eric Young vs. Kon (w/Deaner)
• Rich Swann & Sami Callihan vs. The Rascalz in the Number 1 Contenders Tag Team Tournament final
• Deonna Purrazzo vs. KiLynn King (w/Taylor Wilde)