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Impact Wrestling results: Emergence night one

Posted on August 19, 2020 by Antonio Garza

Impact Wrestling returns from Nashville, TN for chapter one of Emergence, main evented by the rematch between The North and the current Impact Tag Team Champions The Motor City Machine Guns.

Opening video ran down tonight’s card, making allegory comments about the company’s evolution.

Rohit Raju defeated X-Division Champion Chris Bey & TJP (with Fallah Bahh) to become the NEW champion

TJP started the match by hitting a pescado on both Rohit and Bey. In the ring, Rohit and TJP had a nice quick sequence of counters and reversals. Once Rohit was taken out, Bey came in and took his place until he found himself draped in the ropes, waiting for a kick from TJP, but Rohit was there to save him, setting up TJP for a second rope elbow.

Bey stomped and punched TJP while Rohit cheered him on. TJP managed to dodge Bey and Rohit and locked a sharpshooter on Bey. Rohit tried to break it, but TJP got him with a northern lights for a pin attempt while he kept Bey in the sharpshooter. TJP broke it up, but hit the Pentagon armbreaker on Bey.

Rohit cut off TJP and stomped him around for a bit while Bey was out. TJP once again managed to escape and lock a Gory special and a pendulum on both Bey and Rohit respectively. TJP tried to go for Bey’s arm again, but Rohit broke it up and went back to the stomps and falling elbows.

TJP went for a tornado DDT on Rohit. Bey stopped him, but accidentally took out Rohit with a jumping knee. TJP took down Bey with a springboard crossbody, hit a tombstone piledriver, but he went for the mamba special instead and was taken out by Rohit.

Rohit and Bey went for a doomsday device, but TJP got a hold of Rohit and hit a superplex instead, locked the octopus stretch, and when Bey tried to break it, he locked a double octopus stretch into a crucifix pin for a two count.

TJP kicked Bey down, hit a backplex on Rohit, who later recovered and hit a jumping knee on TJP, followed by a running boot, but missed the cannonball. Bey rolled TJP for a two count, kicked him and into a gutwrench pancake for another two count.

Bey went for the finisher, but got a clutch dagger from TJP instead. TJP chased the detonation kick on either man, but couldn’t land it and instead locked in an STF on Bey, but Rohit was there to save Bey.

TJP took out Rohit with a springboard dropkick to the floor, a second on Bey, but as he went for the top rope, Bey stopped him. TJP slipped away and went for a superbackplex, but Rohit and Bey blocked him. Rohit dropped TJP and hit the double stomp on Bey instead of TJP to get the pin and win the championship.

Over at Wrestle House, Crazzy Steve and Johnny Bravo are playing with their dolls talking about Taya vs Rae tonight. Steve then said that the people in the house have started to lose their minds.

In another room, Larry D was getting pretty to go hit on Rosemary. Acey Romero wasn’t happy about it. Acey is a really bad actor.

Backstage, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows cut a promo about Ace and Fulton wanting to get their attention and succeeding. They promised an ass kicking tonight. Pretty good promos.

Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down tonight’s card.

Self-Proclaimed TNA World Champion Moose defeated Trey Miguel to retain the title.

This was speed vs power. It started with Trey going after Moose with strikes, but Moose easily got him by the neck, tossed him to the corner and dropped him with one single chop. Trey tried to come back with kicks, but as soon as Moose got a hand on Trey, he’d toss him around and land a clothesline or uppercut.

Trey went for a lucha armdrag, but Moose blocked him, set him up on the top turnbuckle, and connected with a great dropkick. Outside the ring, Moose punished Trey with chops and dropped him on the apron.

Back in the ring, Moose tossed Trey from corner to corner, stomped on in, choked him, and a big fallaway slam when Trey tried to make a comeback. Moose kept this punishment for a while, and when Trey made another comeback, Moose shot him down again with a dropkick and a two count.

At this point, Moose started talking trash and getting cockier than usual, but Trey finally caught Moose with a superkick and a second spinning kick, Trey landed two more low dropkicks and finally had Moose down. Trey went for a springboard DDT, but Moose blocked him initially, but Trey gathered momentum and hit it anyway.

Trey went for a tope con giro, but Moose caught him in a powerbomb position, rammed him against the guardrail, and hit an apron bomb for the countout win. Trey made it back at 9. Moose went for the lights out, but Trey initially dodged and tried to sunset flip Moose, but Moose simply blocked it, stoop Trey up, hit lights up for the win. Moose was unstoppable.

After the match, ECIII jumped Moose and stole the TNA World Championship.

Backstage, Reno Scum gave Hernandez his money. Hernandez paid them and told them to come see him later for more work.

We got a video package for Eric Young talking about his career and all he has done. This was great.

Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the week was 2015’s Kurt Angle vs Eric Young stretcher match.

Jimmy Jacobs interviewed Willie Mack about Eric Young. Mack said he was talking about Swann when Brian Myers pulled the camera and Jimmy away for his own interview. Myers said that he was sick of being someone’s good hand, talked trash about WWE, and said that he was taking his career in his hands. Mack jumped Myers for interrupting his interview afterwards.

We got another commercial by Heath, making a plea to get #Heath4Impact trending so he could get hired.

The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) defeated Ace Austin & Madman Fulton

Anderson and Ace started the match with the former in control, with the latter only managing to get a shot for every five Anderson would. Gallows and Anderson kept this initial control with quick tags until Ace surprised Anderson with a school boy and Fulton tagged in.

Fulton successfully cut off Anderson from his corner. Ace tagged in again and Anderson regained control, tagging in Gallows back in.

Fulton and Gallows met in the middle of the ring and started exchanging clotheslines with neither men giving an inch. They traded strikes and Gallows finally got some momentum, but Fulton cameback with a clothesline and rammed Gallow’s head to the turnbuckle.

Ace tagged in again, and once again, the Good Brothers regained control, hit a running clothesline and kick combo. Anderson then distracted himself with Fulton, allowing Ace to dropkick him from behind and take him down. Fulton and Ace hit some double team moves, including a scoop slam into Ace’s knees for a two count. Ace did the paper cut trick on Anderson before going for the same double team move, successfully landing it. They went for it a third time, but this time Anderson escaped, hit a spinebuster on Ace and tagged out.

Gallows came in hot, took out Fulton to the floor, hit a fallaway slam and shoulder tackle on Ace. He followed that with a pump kick and called for a magic killer, but Fulton stopped them. Fulton and Gallows brawled to the floor, leaving Anderson and Ace in the ring, with the latter kicking Anderson down and tagging out. Fulton tossed Anderson like a dart into Ace’s knee for a two count.

Anderson started to make a comeback with punches and forearms, took down Fulton in the corner, but Ace caught him back with a kick. On the other side, Gallows and Fulton brawled again, with Gallows sending Fulton into the crowd area.

Gallows tagged in again, hit the magic killer with Anderson on Ace, and picked up the win.

Back at Wrestle House, the group talked about the match. Suddenly the Deaners realized that their beer had been stolen. The suspect Acey Romero and were about to fight, but Susie reminded them about the truce. Larry D started hitting on Rosemary when Bravo walked up, and they agreed to do something next week. Cody Deaner and Cousin Jake are pretty good at this.

Wrestle House: Kylie Rae defeated Taya Valkyrie

Rosemary is the referee for the match.

Rae wanted to shake Taya’s hand, but Taya said that she trained in Mexico and only slapped her hand away. No handshakes in Mexico.

Taya got Rae’s back early on and pushed her around, making fun of her. Rae came back with the same move and got the better of Taya, also tossing her around and inraging Taya who instead went after Rae with punches.

Rae hit a great rana and a superkick, but when Rae went for the running attack, Rosemary tripped her and allowed Taya to regain control. She shoved her to the corner where she bit her hand and put pressure on the elbow.

Taya choked Rae against the ropes, stomped on her, posed for the camera, and shot down Rae every time she tried to strike into a comeback. Suddenly, Rae caught Taya with a lucha armdrag and a superkick for a slow two count.

Taya hit a great Saito suplex for a two count. Taya rushed at Rae, who moved away, causing Taya to almost take out Rosemary, but when Taya turned around, Kylie caught her with a superkick for the pin and won.

After the match, Crazzy Steve tried to tell Bravo that he was blowing his chances with Rosemary.

Matthews and Rayne ran down the card for next week, including Willie Mack vs Brian Myers, and address from ECIII, Eddie Edward’s open challenge, and the first ever 30 minute Knockout’s Ironman match between Jordynne Grace and Deonna Purrazzo.

Impact Tag Team Championships The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) defeated The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) to retain the titles

Sabin and Alexander started the match for their teams. Sabin went for early strikes, but Alexander easily dropped him. Sabin still used his speed to dodge Alexander and take him down with a jumping calf kick, but when he went for a crossbody, Alexander caught him and took him down along with Page. Shelley went for the save, but Alexander and Page also took him down with a suplex and top rope knee combo.

The North, now in control, worked over Sabin with strikes, chokes, and quick tags. Sabin tried to make a comeback and managed to dodge Alexander, who accidentally took down Page with a forearm. Sabin escaped and tagged out.

Shelley came in, dropkicked Page to the floor, went after Alexander with strikes and a low dropkick. Page jumped back into the ring, but was met but the double team moves of the MCMGs, followed with a kick combo for Alexander’s knee.

Back from commercial, Shelley is still in control over Alexander, who is trying to strike his way back to his corner, but Shelley has a deep single leg Boston crab. It took Page to jump in and interfere to break up the submission. The distraction alone was enough for Alexander to recover and kick Sabin off and into Page’s waiting punch. The North hit an assisted DDT for a two count on Shelley.

Page tagged in and cut off Shelley from Sabin, going after Shelley’s back and knee. Alexander and Page both hit backbreakers for a two count when Sabin broke it off. Finally, Shelley managed to counter The North, sending Alexander to the floor and hitting a DDT on Page against the turnbuckle, earning himself the space to tag out.

Sabin came in and took down Page with a jumping forearm and a neckbreaker. Sabin hit a punt kick on Alexander on the apron and followed with a missile dropkick on Page. Sabin hit a tope suicida on Alexander, but Shelley managed to tag in during the jump. Shelley hit an STO on Page with an assist from Sabin’s missile dropkick, but only for a two count.

Shelley and Page exchanged strikes before Shelley went for a sliced bread #2 that Page escaped. However, Shelley hit both Page and Alexander with an assisted sliced bread for a two count.

All four men exchanged superkicks, but Alexander hit a German on Sabin, setting up The North’s finisher for a two count as Page’s pin was cocky and weak. The North went for the northern assault, but once again Page was small packaged, similar to the day MCMG took their titles, except this time Alexander was there to reverse it for a two count for the The North.

Shelley went for slice bread #2 again, but Alexander blocked and hit a backbreaker instead. Sabin caught Page with a tornado DDT, but ate a discus forearm by Alexander, who tried the same with Shelley, but Shelley blocked, hit atomic drop, quick reverse STF into dropkick combo by MCMGs, double superkick to Page and tandem running kick before setting up the skull and bones for the win. Another fantastic match between these teams.

Final thoughts —

Great show by Impact, good wrestling all around. Night two has less matches announced, but with promising outcomes.

Impact adds two title matches, Kylie Rae vs. Kiera Hogan to Rebellion

Posted on April 8, 2020 by Joseph Currier

Coming out of last night’s Impact, five matches have been officially confirmed for Rebellion.

Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace will defend her title against former champion Taya Valkyrie in a full metal mayhem match at Rebellion. Willie Mack will also challenge Ace Austin for the X-Division Championship, and new Impact signee Kylie Rae will face Kiera Hogan.

Tessa Blanchard defending her Impact World Championship against Michael Elgin and Eddie Edwards in a triple threat match will headline Rebellion. Ken Shamrock vs. Sami Callihan is also set for the event.

The Rebellion pay-per-view was supposed to be held at Terminal 5 in New York City on Sunday, April 19, but that was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Impact noted that they were looking at alternative ways they could produce the event.

Impact is taping two months of television in empty arena form over three days in Nashville, Tennessee this week. PWInsider also reported that “there are plans to move forward with Rebellion in some form and perhaps re-tool the PPV as a special Impact on AXS episode or AXS special.”

Impact Wrestling results: Tessa & Edwards vs. Taya & Elgin

Posted on March 25, 2020 by Antonio Garza

Impact Wrestling returns tonight from Sam’s Town Casino in Las Vegas, NV with a full crowd.

Opening video focused on Shamrock being announced as the new inductee into the Impact Hall of Fame and the return of Sami Callihan, who threw a fireball at Shamrock.

Willie Mack defeated Acey Romero, Chris Bey, Daga, Rohit Raju, Jake Crist, Cousin Jake, and Trey Miguel in an X-Division #1 Contendership scramble match

Match started and everyone paired up, but once the ring started to clear, Acey Romero was left standing tall. He took out Mack with a Senton, but was then taken out by Trey, with him and Bey working together with a double missile dropkick.

We then got a great sequence between Trey and Bey with reversals and counters, and a couple of taunts, before ending in a stalemate. Trey offered a hand-shake, which Bey answered with a kick.

Rohit came in and faced off with Bey, who ended up taking a CrossRhodes and fisherman’s suplex. Cousin Jake came as he took out Rohit with a corner spear and a deadlift powerbomb. Jake Crist came in and hit a kick combo on the other Jake to take him out. Mack then came in with the samoan drop and moonsault combo, followed by a suicide dive.

Daga and Trey got in the ring, later joined by Bey for a great three-way exchange with Daga taking both of them out, getting a two count on Bey until Rohit broke up the pin. Daga then took out Rohit with a kick combo but couldn’t do the same to Acey Romero.

Romero took out Daga with a slam and went to the top rope, but Cousin Jake and Crist stopped him. We got a Tower Of Doom spot with Acey on top, everyone but Rohit and Daga were involved, the latter getting a frog splash in for a two count when the former broke it up.

Everyone took turns to hit a knockout strike and take each other out sequentially until Trey locked in submissions on Crist and Bey, which was broken up by Rohit.

We got a couple more finishers, leading up to the usual dive sequence where everyone hits their dive. Acey Romero seemed to have the final spot, but Jake Crist stopped him. Acey hit the pounce on Crist and dove on everyone for a huge pop.

Back in the ring, Cousin Jake hit his finisher on Crist, only for Mack to steal the win with a frog splash. Mack may have hurt Cousin Jake with that frog splash.

Willie Mack vs. Ace Austin for the X-Division championship is now official.

Backstage, Dave Crist hyped up Madman Fulton about their match tonight. Jake Crist arrived and told them that they all need to get back to their winning ways. Jake and Dave argued that Sami Callihan was playing tests on them and that’s why they had to win.

Moose defeated Chase Stevens

Moose jumped Chase before the match, but got distracted trying to get the referee to ring the bell, giving Chase time to recover and get the better of Moose for a bit. Chase hit an early German and an ax kick for a two count. He got another pinfall attempt with a powerslam.

Moose tossed Chase into the ropes and hit the No Jackhammer Needed on the rebound for the win. Total squash.

Moose attacked Chase after the match, hitting him with a chair over and over. He went to Pillmanize his head, but D’Amore came out to stop him. D’Amore distracted Moose and allowed Suicide to attack him. Suicide had a new attire, more DC than Marvel.

Rosemary was again at a bar drinking, talking trash to the patrons and bartenders. She talked about how she spent two years seeking revenge and once she got it, she was empty.

Raven was there and made little notice of her, so Rosemary approached him. Raven talked about revenge and said that revenge is forever, not just two years.

Backstage, Ace Austin and Reno Scum approached Mack to congratulate him. Mack told him that he knows Ace and knows he is all about playing mind games and won’t let him get close. Johnny Swinger also approached Mack and cheered Mack to become the champ because what the fans want is a Mack vs Swinger match for the title.

Reno Scum (Luster The Legend & Adam Thornstowe) defeated The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz)

Reno Scum jumped The Rascalz to start the match and got a quick DVD on Xavier for a two count. From here on, they had control over Xavier and worked over him with quick tags, and mostly strikes and chokes. Thrownstowe got a two count over Xavier with a headbutt and moonsault combo.

Wentz got the hot tag, went wild on Luster with kicks, earning a two count. Rascalz hit a kick combo on Luster, getting another two count. They went for a double top rope move, but Wentz was thrown off, with Adam blocking Wentz. Reno Scum hit a footstomp/curb stomp combo on Xavier for the win. Ok match.

We got a quick glimpse of Su Yung stashing a dagger for tonight’s match.

It was announced that next week Impact is having a TNA-themed retro show.

We got a vignette for Tenille Dashwood. We still don’t know when she returns.

Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was TNA Sacrifice 2008’s LAX with Hector Guerrero and Salinas vs Team 3D.

We got a video package about #CancelCulture. Joey Ryan said that next week, Cody Deaner is being cancelled.

We then got a vignette with Cousin Jake and Cody Deaner talking about shows that have been cancelled. Cody doesn’t know why he’s being cancelled. They kinda made fun of toxic masculinity which wasn’t cool.

We got a promo by Sami Callihan, talking about why he came back to attack Shamrock. He said it was just part of a bigger plan. I just can’t picture Callihan as being computer savvy.

Rhino & Sabu (with Super Genie) defeated oVe (Dave Crist & Madman Fulton) in an old school rules match

Sabu and Dave started the match, Sabu went for the leg takedown, but Dave was stronger and got off. Sabu started hitting punches and clotheslines, so Dave tagged out.

Fulton and Rhino went at it. Fulton had every advantage and went crazy with punches and chokes, but Rhino managed to come back and clothesline Fulton outside. Crist took out Rhino and sent him outside. Sabu then sent Crist to the floor and dove on both him and Fulton.

They brawled outside the ring for a bit. Rhino and Crist went up the ramp, while Fulton and Sabu stayed around the ring. Sabu was the first to use a weapon on Fulton.

Rhino and Fulton went to the ring, Fulton had the upper hand. It soon became a normal tag match again. oVe worked over Rhino until he made a comeback on Dave Crist and tagged in Sabu.

oVe once again gained control over the match, cutting off Sabu. Dave got a two count when Fulton threw him on top of Sabu. Dave started arguing with the ref and allowed Sabu to recover and hit a desperation cutter, before tagging in Rhino.

Rhino came in and took out Dave, hit a clothesline on Fulton. Spinebuster on Dave for a two count. Fulton ate a chair to the gut by Sabu, then Sabu hit a terrible over the top rope flip.

Inside the ring, Dave Crist low blowed Rhino, pushed off the referee, and went to hit Rhino with a chair. The referee took the chair away in what was being billed as an old school rules match. Rhino then Gored Dave and picked up the win.

Somewhere in the Undead Realm, Su Yung arrived. She had her noose with her. Yung roamed around, finding creepy things, until she found Father James Mitchell and Havok. Havok took a weapon, while Yung had a freaking machete. They did some fencing spots until Yung got the noose on Havok and choked her out.

Suddenly, Mitchell’s gimp woke up, broke his chains, and attacked Su Yung with a bat. The Gimp choked Yung, then hit her some more. But when he went for the kill, Yung cut the gimp’s throat with the machete.

Yung tried to kill Mitchell, but Havok jumped her with the rope and choked her. Yung once again recovered and got off. Havok took Yung’s mouth with a hook, but Su Yung locked in the Mandible Claw. She was about to stab Havok when Mitchell stopped her.

Mitchell told Su Yung that she proved she’s the winner and the one to be with him, but he also said that he was tired of both of them and wanted both of them gone. He ordered the minions to take them both out.

Su Yung and Havok were both sent out to the desolate deserts of the Undead Realm, which I’m guessing it’s somewhere in Nevada. This was awesome.

Taya Valkyrie & Michael Elgin (with John E. Bravo) defeated Tessa Blanchard & Eddie Edwards

Elgin and Edwards started but it didn’t last long before Taya and Tessa came in for a quick sequence of reversals. Tessa had the upper hand, but then Elgin tagged in and, while Tessa made a stand, Elgin was too much for her. Eddie tagged in and had a longer run against Elgin.

Back from commercial, Elgin is still working over Edwards, as he tags in and out with Taya, who really had some credible offense on Eddie.

Edwards finally made a comeback against Elgin, hitting a desperation blue thunder bomb. Tessa got the hot tag, who ran wild over Taya. Tessa hit a couple of clotheslines and a cutter to earn a two count.

Tessa went for a samoan drop, but Elgin blocked her. Elgin superkicked Eddie, but it was enough to give Taya the opening to take out Tessa with a double knee for a two count. Elgin and Taya hit a couple of clotheslines to the corner before Taya assisted Elgin with the top rope powerbomb, but Tessa managed to reverse into a rana. Tessa landed the Samoan Drop on Taya and got the tag to Eddie.

Eddie hit Kobashi chops on Elgin then followed that with a baseball slide and an over-the-head belly-to-belly to send him out of the ring Eddie went for the suicide dive, but Taya got in the way. Tessa ran over and knocked off Taya to the floor, followed by Bravo thanks to a double superkick. Tessa and Eddie hit stereo suicide dives on Elgin and Taya to the outside.

Back in the ring, Eddie went for a headscissors on Elgin from the top rope, but Eddie was tossed off. Eddie countered by dropping Elgin on the ropes, leaving him open for a kick and Magnum combo for a two count when Taya broke up the pin.

Tessa went for a top rope Magnum, but Taya distracted her. Eddie took out Taya, but Elgin recovered, hit a discus forearm on Eddie, caught Tessa’s Magnum and turned it into a powerbomb on top of Eddie. Elgin went for the buckle bomb, but Tessa reversed into a poisonrana and a tilt-a-whirl DDT.

Tessa and Taya traded chops in the middle of the ring, then traded superkicks before some miscommunication led to Elgin taking out Tessa with a lariat. Eddie went for the BKP, but Taya stopped him. Elgin and Taya hit a knee and forearm combo. Taya took out Tessa with a plancha. Elgin hit the buckle bomb and Elgin bomb combo for the win.

Great match! Taya completely belongs in this feud. She also ended up with a nasty cut under her eye.

We got a last look at Su Yung and Havok roaming around the desolate deserts of the Undead Wasteland when suddenly, Rosemary appeared. She made peace with them and told them that if they unite, they can go back.

Havok and Su Yung went looking for Mitchell, who tried to talk his way out of this problem. Su Yung tried to kill Mitchell with the dagger, but Havok took it from her and killed him herself. James Mitchell then went to heaven, where Abyss was there with cats. I’m not kidding.

Final Thoughts —

Good show from Impact, it felt full of life. Most of the wrestling tonight was good. It felt somewhat edited, not pushing the Lockdown and the TNA nostalgia show anymore, but there’s still some stuff going towards Rebellion, which has now also been cancelled.

Impact Wrestling results: Jordynne Grace wins Knockouts title

Posted on February 12, 2020 by Antonio Garza

Opening video focused on the build to tonight’s Knockout’s title match between Taya Valkyrie and Jordynne Grace. Also tonight, match two of the Elgin vs Edwards best-of-five series.

Michael Elgin defeated Eddie Edwards in Match two of the Best of Five series

Eddie tried to start the match with a kick, but Elgin was ready and chopped him down, hit an exploder and picked up an early two count, in addition to gaining control of the match. Elgin went for an early buckle bomb, but Eddie blocked, so instead, Elgin went for strikes.

Eddie hit a rolling German, but Elgin no sold and went for a sliding lariat and countered into a crucifix pin for a two count. Eddie hit a dragon screw on the ropes and went for a top rope dive, but was countered into a sit down powerbomb for another two count.

Elgin dropped Eddie with one elbow strike after another and ended up sending him outside. Down on the floor, Elgin kicked and slammed Eddie into the apron.

Back in the ring, Elgin kept the punishment while Eddie could barely stay on his feet. Eddie tried to strike Elgin back, but it wasn’t effective. Eventually, Eddie got an enzuigiri in, but Elgin came back with a German and a dragon suplex, followed by a huge lariat for a two count.

Elgin went for the superplex, but Eddie dropped down with the sunset bomb, blocked by Elgin. Elgin blocked a tiger bomb attempt, but Eddie caught him with a lariat and got the tiger bomb for a two count. Eddie went for the BKP, but Elgin dodged to the floor, where he instead took a suicide dive.

Eddie hit a Diamond-giri, followed with a top rope rana, but Elgin blocked and went for the powerbomb, only for Eddie to counter the rana for another two count. Elbin blocked Eddie’s strike, did a shoulder breaker, and locked in the crossface, but Eddie rotated for the pin attempt.

Eddie hit a short German and a BKP attempt, but Elgin dodged, hit the buckle bomb then followed with the Elgin Bomb for the win. Elgin is now 2-0 in the series.

We got a video package for Jordynne Grace’s chase of the Knockout’s championship, going back a full year when she first debuted.

Gabbi Loren tried to interview Taya Valkyrie. She asked about Taya’s preparedness, to which Taya answered she obviously was, but if she cared about it, she wouldn’t be out there disturbing her. Taya said that no one ever believed in her and no one thought she would be able to retain this long, but now she’s the longest reigning champion.

Mathews and Callis ran down some matches for tonight and for the Sacrifice special.

Madman Fulton defeated Daga

This was a power vs speed match, big vs small. Daga went straight for Fulton’s leg with a low dropkick, but when he tried to follow with a second, Fulton caught him and took him down with one clothesline. Daga went for a rana, but again, Fulton caught him and went for a powerbomb to the floor, but Daga was able to keep the rana and send fulton to the floor, where he followed with a tope suicida.

Back from commercial, both men make it back to the ring, but Fulton again manages to catch Daga and take him down with a big boot and get a two count. Daga goes for a bulldog, but Fulton blocks him, drops him against the ropes and hits a German for a two count.

Fulton snaps Daga’s head against the ropes and keeps up with the forearms.

Daga finally fires up and starts hitting Fulton. He escaped a Scoop Slam and hit a dropkick to Fulton’s back. Daga hit a missile dropkick, then a short DDT for a two count. Daga continued with a superkick and a standing footstomp for another two count.

Daga went for punches, but Fulton grabbed him by the neck, hit two chokeslams and got a two count. Fulton went for a top rope move, but Daga escaped and hit a second rope German, followed by a DVD. The Crist brothers then came down for the distraction. Daga took them out with a dive, hit a top rope Cutter on Fulton, but when Daga went for the Tornado DDT Fulton blocked and hit an End of Days, dropping Daga on his head, and getting the win.

Moose was getting a massage, asking to get some work on his butt because Rhino has been a pain in his ass. Moose said that he is tired of dealing with Rhino, who, just in the perfect timing, came in and attacked Moose. He stole his towel and slapped him with it, making Moose run for safety.

Fallah Bahh (w/TJP) defeated Ethan Page (w/Josh Alexander)

Page starts by jumping Bahh, but fails to keep the momentum when trying to shoulder block him. Bahh in the first minute did a cartwheel, hit a belly-to-belly and sent Page to the outside. Josh distracted Bahh, giving Page the opening to kick down Bahh and regain some control.

Page hit a couple of kicks and a shoulder tackle to take down Bahh. Page went for strikes, but Bahh started to fire up and counter Page, whipping him to the corner and hitting a running hip attack. Bahh hit a samoan drop and went for the Banzai Drop, but Alexander was there to save Page and let Bahh drop into nothingness. TJP made sure to run in and take out Josh with a tope con giro.

Back in the ring, Bahh caught Page with a roll-up and picked up the upset win, earning a tag title shot.

James Mitchell and Havok find Susie. Mitchell is happy that it’s her and not Su Yung, but it turns out, Su Yung seems to have mastered transforming from one to the other and she is tricking Mitchell and Havok.

Rob Van Dam (w/Katie Forbes) defeated Joey Ryan

RVD has a new theme song, they managed to make something worse than RVD’s originally bad theme song.

Joey Ryan started by stalling, putting on oil all over and asking RVD to touch it, which prompted the R-V-D taunt. Katie Forbes got in the ring and made out with RVD, which wasn’t a DQ. Forbes danced in the ring until the distraction was enough for RVD to jump Ryan.

RVD worked over Ryan for a bit with kicks, but he played to the crowd so much that Ryan started his comeback with some punches, a school boy and a dropkick as the fight spilled outside to the floor.

Back in the ring, RVD started to resort to heel tricks, poking Ryan’s eyes. RVD did the crescent kick to Ryan, who was on the ropes, but once again, RVD just played to the crowd and teased doing moves, but instead, he just went for Forbes.

Joey Ryan caught RVD with a tope suicida. In the ring, they traded some near falls before Ryan finally got RVD’s hand on his penis, but Rob was actually able to counter Ryan with a kick. RVD hit the Five Star Frog Splash and picked up the win. Ken Shamrock took the dick flip, but RVD wouldn’t.

We went backstage where Su Yung is dragging James Mitchell with the rope she was hanged with. Su Yung chokes him out and sends him to the Undead Realm again, which is where he lives anyway.

Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was Magnus vs Eric Young from Sacrifice 2014.

Johnny Swinger approached Willie Mack about backing him up tonight, he had the Fuji dust and the roll of quarters ready. Mack told him to stay out of his way.

Willie Mack vs Mahabali Shera (w/Desi Hit Squad) ended in a no contest

Rohit held up Mack’s foot, allowing Shera to jump him to start the match. They quickly got into strikes, with Mack getting most of them in. As soon as Mack seemed to have some advantage, Rohit attacked him. The referee then declared the match a no contest.

Johnny Swinger came down with a chair to run off the Desi Hit Squad, so the match is being restarted as a tag team match.

Desi Hit Squad (Mahabali Shera & Rohit Raju w/Gama Singh) defeated Willie Mack & Johnny Swinger

Desi Hit Squad started the match with control over Swinger. Eventually, Swinger managed to escape Shera and tag in Mack. Willie took down Shera and hit a rolling cannonball to the corner. He landed the samoan drop and moonsault combo on Rohit Raju.

Swinger blind-tagged himself in, but actually managed to hold down Shera for a bit until he suggested a double team move.Mack didn’t want to tag, so Rohit eventually pulled Mack out, Shera took down Swinger, then picked up the win.

Gabbi Loren interviewed Tessa Blanchard about her upcoming match with Ace Austin and his mind games. Tessa said that Ace is a scumbag, but not even a good one at it. Ace approached them and hit on Tessa, who answered in the form of punches until Reno Scum and The Rascalz broke them up. Ace Austin & Reno Scum vs Tessa Blanchard, Tommy Dreamer, and Trey Miguel next week.

Jordynne Grace defeated Knockout’s Champion Taya Valkyrie (w/ John E. Bravo) to win the Knockouts title

Taya jumped Grace to start and goes straight for the strikes and the running hip attacks. Taya distracts the referee to allow Bravo to choke out Grace until Taya is ready to continue with the running knees.

Back from commercial, Taya maintains control over Grace, keeping up the strategy of distracting the referee while Bravo attacks. Jordynne slowly starts to make a comeback with strikes and lands a desperation German. Taya tried running to the outside, but Grace followed with a suicide dive.

Jordynne went for a top rope move, but Bravo was there to toss her down to Taya’s punches. Taya is back to her strategy, adding kicks to Jordynne’s arm and back. Jordynne keeps trying to get strikes in, finally landing a desperation spinebuster.

Both women exchanged strikes in the middle of the ring until Grace hit a couple of scoop slams, ending with the Grace Driver for a two count.

They fought on the apron where Jordynne looked for a piledriver, but Taya got off, kicked out Grace, and actually powerbombed her into the steel steps on the floor. Taya pulled Jordynne to the entrance ramp where she hit the Road To Valhalla for the countout tease. Jordynne made it to the ring at 9, and into a two count by Taya.

Taya went for a top rope moonsault, but Grace pulled her off. Jordynne instead went for the muscle buster for a two count. Taya locked in an armbreaker, but Grace powered into a two count pin. Taya relocked it, but Grace reversed it into a crossface, but Bravo pulled them both into the ropes.

Jordynne hit a Vader Bomb and Grace Driver, but Bravo pulled the referee out of the ring. The referee was pulled back into the ring by Grace and accidentally speared by Taya. Bravo laid on top of Taya to protect her, but Grace hit a top rope senton to take them both out, followed by the Grace Driver for the win. Jordynne Grace has ended the record breaking reign of Taya Valkyrie.

Final Thoughts —

Good show. It started and ended strong, but there was some stuff in the middle that was totally missable.

Impact Wrestling results: Elgin vs. Edwards best-of-five series begins

Posted on January 29, 2020 by Antonio Garza

Impact Wrestling returns from Fronton Mexico in Mexico City for tonight’s episode. Opening video focused on Tessa Blanchard’s title win, her call out of Callihan, and Ace Austin and Taya’s challenge from last week.

El Hijo del Vikingo defeated Josh Alexander (w/ Ethan Page)

A total power vs. speed battle. Alexander started the match bullying Vikingo with that power advantage, cutting him off when Vikingo tried to get some speed. It wasn’t long until he caught him with a springboard dropkick, rana to the outside, but when Vikingo went for a tope con giro, Alexander moved and Vikingo landed on the floor. Alexander got a two count.

Back in the ring, Alexander started working over Vikingo with strikes and stomps. Vikingo made a comeback with an impressive Armbar, but Alexander simply powerbombed him off. delayed vertical suplex by Alexander for a two count.

They got into a slap exchange that ended with Vikingo faking out Alexander and hitting a second springboard dropkick and twisting dive to the floor. Vikingo got whipped to the guardrail, but Vikingo jumped into the rail, into the balcony, and landed a moonsault on Josh. Vikingo took out Page with a twisting Asai moonsault. Vikingo tried to follow with a dive on Alexander, but got caught and powerbombed.

Vikingo recovered and dropped Alexander in the corner, hit a running knee to the face, and hit a 450 for a two count. Vikingo went for a rana, but Alexander blocked and powerbombed him to the knee for a two count.

Alexander went for a second rope move, but Vikingo reversed into a rana. Alexander went for a German, but Vikingo again blocked and reversed into a roll up for a two count. Several more roll ups until Alexander went for the double underhook driver, but Vikingo fully rotated into a dragonrana for the upset pin.

Awesome start to the show. C’mon Impact, get Vikingo a visa already. This got money treatment by the Mexican crowd.

Gabi Loren tried to interview Taya Valkyrie about tonight’s three-way no. 1 contendership match, but Taya had no comments other than Jordynne having no business being in this match.

Moose cut a promo saying that he doesn’t make excuses, but this time, the only reason he lost to Taurus was because of Rhino. Moose said that once he’s done with Taurus, he’s coming for Rhino.

Callis and Matthews ran down tonight’s card. Relevant here is that there are video issues from some ‘hacker’, most likely Callihan.

The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defeated El Pagano & Murder Clown

Pagano and Murder Clown are way over tonight, given that they’re Mexican and Pagano kept making references to La Parka.

Wentz and Murder start the match with the latter easily getting the better of Wentz with a press slam. Wentz hit a rana on Murder, kicked the knee out of Murder and connected with a small kick.

Dezmond and Pagano tagged in. Dezmond ran circles around Pagano until Pagano got a reverse suplex and a running neckbreaker. Pagano chopped and hit Dezmond, who then came back with a striking combo himself before tagging Wentz. Murder Clown pulled both Rascalz to the floor and set them up for Pagano’s tope con giro.

Back in the ring, Murder and Pagano worked over Dezmond with a sloppy monkey flip into a dropkick for a two count that Wentz broke up. Pagano and Murder hit a 5150 on Wentz, which couldn’t wasn’t called as a reference to LAX. Murder Clown followed with a 619 on Dezmond, but Wentz was there to block the follow-up. Rascalz hit a double superplex on Murder, followed by a swanton by Wentz and a tornillo by Dezmond for the win.

This was really sloppy, Pagano is terrible and Murder can’t exactly hang with the speed of The Rascalz.

Michael Elgin cut a promo on Eddie Edwards, telling him that he is the rightful owner of the trophy. He said that he doesn’t need five matches since he already beat him over and over again. He said that he’ll take the trophy and claim the World Championship.

Moose defeated Taurus

Shoulder tackles and lucha arm drags to start the match, with Taurus hitting an early rana on Moose, who came back with chops and into the chop exchange. Taurus hit a plancha to send Moose to the outside then followed with a corkscrew tope.

Down on the floor, Moose managed to whip Taurus to the ring post, but failed to chop him and hit the post instead, but then delivered the same, faking Taurus who went headfirst into the post.

Back in the ring, Moose now had the upper hand and worked over Taurus, at one point going for Taurus’ mask. Moose went from corner to corner striking Taurus until he started getting cocky and failed to land a running elbow to the corner. Taurus took out his knee and hit the second 619 of the night, followed with a diamongiri and a slingblade for a two count.

Moose went for the discus forearm, but Taurus blocked with a striking combo. Moose went for another, but Taurus hit a headbutt.

Moose faked out Taurus, sending him to the ring post shoulder first, then hit No Jackhammer Needed for the win. Good match.

After the match, Rhino stalked Moose and hit the Gore.

Eddie Edwards cut a promo, addressing Elgin’s promo about him talking and talking, but he’s the one that always walks out with the trophy. Eddie said that it could be a Best of a Thousand, but in the end it’s always the same, him keeping the trophy.

Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was James Storm vs Kurt Angle from Genesis 2012.

Gabi Loren interviewed Joey Ryan about Rob Van Dam. Ryan said that he didn’t understand RVD’s reason to go after him and claimed that it’s all because RVD is jealous and worried that Katie wants to touch ‘it’.

Taya Valkyrie came down to join commentary for the following match.

Jordynne Grace defeated Madison Rayne and Kiera Hogan to become the number one contender for the Knockouts title

Rayne and Hogan teamed up against Grace, but Jordynne easily got the better of both, striking them down, dropping Hogan with a Draping DDT, a body scissors on Rayne on to Hogan for a two count.

Jordynne went for the Muscle Buster on Rayne, but Hogan saved her, so in exchange, Jordynne double clotheslined both. Grace couldn’t get the pin due to the numbers game.

Rayne and Hogan finally got the upper hand with a couple of double team moves, mostly kicks and strikes while one of them either held or distracted Grace.

Jordynne made a comeback overpowering Rayne and Hogan with a double suplex. Jordynne slapped both down, gave a scoop slam to each and delivered an ugly Grace Driver on Hogan for a two count when Rayne broke it off.

Jordynne kicked down both women again and went to the top rope, where both women managed to toss her off. Hogan hit an assisted shiranui, but both women tried to pin Jordynne and the referee had to tell them off. The distraction was enough for Jordynne to recover and use Rayne’s arm to choke Hogan for a submission tease. If you use someone’s limb to submit another, who gets the win?

Rayne and Hogan hit a kick combo on Grace to send her down to the floor and finally get a breather, but they started bickering on who should go after Grace, but again, it was enough time for Grace to recover, take out Rayne, hit the Grace Driver on Hogan, and pick up the win and right to face Taya again.

Ace Austin cut a promo showing how he has defeated Trey Miguel twice already. He brought up defeating Tessa Blanchard twice too.

Johnny Swinger approached Willie Mack and told him that they need to work on their teamwork. Mack told him off and said that Swann is his only partner.

In the locker room, TJP got a new attire for the now thinner Fallah Bahh. TJP is wrestling Vikingo next week!

Dr. Wagner Jr. & Daga (w/ Galeno del Mal) defeated Reno Scum (Luster The Legend & Adam Thornstowe)

Daga and Thronstowe start the match with a quick sequence of counters with Daga getting the upper hand until Luster gets tagged in. Wagner tagged in but was overtaken by Luster’s power advantage, blocking a crossbody and turning it into a Scoop Slam, followed by a headbutt for a two count. Luster went for a second rope Diving headbutt, but Wagner moved and got Daga in.

Daga got pulled to the floor by Thornstowe and rammed to the rail to successfully cut him off from his corner. Reno Scum worked over Daga with quick tags and double team moves until Daga made a comeback using his speed to dodge and strike both men.

Wagner got the hot tag and took out both Scum members, hitting dragon screws on each. Samoan drop on Thornstowe, followed by some kind of flatliner by Daga, who then hit a corkscrew to Luster outside. Wagner hit the Wagner Driver for a two count.

Daga came in and took a huge spinebuster by Luster and a DVD by Thownstowe for a two count, broken up by Wagner. Luster got sent out to the floor by Wagner, followed by a rolling senton. Inside the ring, Daga pinned Thornstowe with the Daga driver.

After the match, Jake and Dave Crist returned and attacked Daga and Wagner Jr, while Reno Scum held off Galeno del Mal outside the ring. oVe hit a triple team move on Daga.

Somewhere in the Undead Realm, Susie was walking around until Rosemary came up to her. Rosemary wants to help her find what Susie is looking for, telling her that maybe the answer is not in the halls, but outside. Rosemary wants to turn Susie into her disciple, which Susie agrees to. Next week, Susie vs Rosemary in a friendly exhibition.

Michael Elgin defeated Eddie Edwards in Match 1 of the Best of Five series

Match started with some mat wrestling, some shoulder tackles, and chops, but Eddie quickly focused on taking out Elgin’s knee with a low dropkick and chasing a submission. In return, Elgin went after Eddie’s arm.

Elgin went to the floor, followed by Eddie with a suicide dive. Elgin went for a German, but Eddie landed on his feet instead. Elgin blocked a rana and slinged Eddie to the guardrail.

Back from commercial, Elgin is beating up Eddie with forearms and clotheslines, but Eddie lands a desperation Blue Thunder Bomb to get some space to recover. Eddie drops Elgin with a dragon screw, followed with a diamongiri and a backpack stunner for a two count. Elgin transitions into a single leg crab then into an STF, but Elgin overpowers out to his feet.

Eddie landed a big forearm and went for a Tiger Driver, but Elgin countered with a vertebreaker.

Elgin hit a couple of running clotheslines, but failed to suplex Eddie and instead went for a series of Germans and the sliding forearm to the back to the neck for the two count.

A buckle bomb attempt by Elgin followed, but Eddie blocked. They exchanged strikes, clotheslines, and kicks, with Eddie getting the better of Elgin. Eddie hit a Tiger Bomb, but Elgin kicked out at 2.99.

Eddie went for a top rope Frankenstiner, but Elgin countered into a top rope DVD for a two count. He then transitioned into the crossface and a set of elbows to the neck, locked in the crossface once more and submitted Edwards when Eddie passed out. Really good match.

Final Thoughts —

Good and fun show from Impact. The Mexico shows tend to be hit or miss depending on the matches, and this one had a good set. Not a lot of storyline developments in this show, however. Josh Alexander vs Hijo del Vikingo is worth going out of your way to watch.

Impact Wrestling results: Blanchard & Miguel vs. Valkyrie & Austin

Posted on January 22, 2020 by Antonio Garza

Impact returns to the Fronton Mexico in Mexico City to continue the fallout of Hard To Kill and kick-off the new set of tapings. Opening video featured last week’s angle where Sami Callihan stalked Tessa Blanchard during her sitdown interview.

Tessa Blanchard opened the show coming down to the ring. Tessa cut a promo saying that it felt good standing in the ring as the World Champion. She said that winning the title was just the beginning because now she has a target on her back and that she knows Callihan has a rematch coming. He told Callihan that he is the one that needs to look out for his own good. She said that she can’t wait to be done with Callihan so she can move on to the rest of the roster. Tessa called out Callihan for the rematch, but instead, out came Taya Valkyrie!

Now the longest reigning Knockout’s Champion, Taya, got face to face with Tessa. This being Mexico, Taya was way more over than Tessa. Taya said that she took the Knockout’s Championship in Mexico, and in their last match, she took the AAA Reina de Reinas title in MSG, and she was the one making history. Tessa challenged Taya a match, but they got interrupted by a third champion — Ace Austin.

Ace said that he is also had a good night at Hard To Kill. Ace said that he and Taya have a thing in common, they’ve both defeated Tessa before. Ace said that he could beat Tessa again. Tessa attacked Ace when he implied a night at the hotel, but Taya and Ace teamed up on Tessa until Trey Miguel came out for the save and took out Ace. Strong opening.

Tessa and Trey Miguel team up tonight to take on Ace Austin and Taya Valkyrie in the main event.

We got a video recap of Willie Mack failing to capture the titles from The North at Hard To Kill. This led to Jimmy Jacobs interviewing Willie Mack, telling him that he was incredible at the pay-per-view. Mack said that he was waiting for Rich Swann to come back from his injury. Jacobs asked what he would do for now, to which Mack said he was going to keep on training.

Johnny Swinger walked up and offered to be Willie Mack’s partner if he wanted to chase after the titles, but Mack told him he’d pass. The interview had potential, but then they turned it into a Swinger comedy skit.

Backstage, Taya is arguing with John E. Bravo about being tired of Tessa and wanting recognition. Madison Rayne and Kiera Hogan walked up to Taya trying to recollect their bounty, but Taya told them they had to wait until she was done with Tessa tonight. Taya told them to face off to figure out the order in which she’d fight them.

Taurus defeated Moose and Rhino

The animal kingdom match. Moose started the match by leaving the ring for both Rhino and Taurus to go at it. Taurus early on showed some athleticism, but Rhino had the size advantage. Moose kept trying to trip both men by pulling on their feet. Rhino and Taurus kept going at it.

Back from commercial, commentary tells us that Rhino and Taurus had been going at it during the break. We see that Rhino is starting to set up the Gore, but Moose trips him up again, and finally Taurus and Rhino are tired of Moose and they decide to chase after him.

Moose tried to fight off both men, but he just got beat up and double teamed by both men, at least until they went for pins and the team broke up, which gave Moose the opening to take them out and get them with some kicks and punches.

Moose did good keeping them down, but when he went to try and suplex them, he failed on both accounts, with Rhino actually reversing the Suplex and making a comeback.

Taurus came back and got a two count with a Springboard plancha. Moose hit the Go To Hell for a two count on Taurus. Moose went for the No Jackhammer Needed, but Rhino blocked it, hit a belly-to-belly and set up the Gore, but Moose hid behind the ref.

Moose low blowed Rhino, but Taurus was there to cut him off. Rhino hit the Gore, but in came Taurus with a headbutt and took the pin over Moose. Did not see this coming.

On commentary, Don Callis tried to sell that Moose needed a manager to finally seal the deal with a championship. We’ll see if this goes anywhere.

Gabbi Loren interivewed Jordynne Grace about her future plans. Grace said she’s not done chasing the Knockout’s championship. She said that when Bravo is not in the picture, she knows she can defeat Taya, and said she wants in on that Rayne vs Hogan match for next week.

Joey Ryan was called in for another wrestler’s court, but in Spanish, by a Tommy Dreamer wearing a sombrero that Mexicans don’t really use at all. Ryan just walked out and said he wasn’t doing this again.

Joey Ryan defeated Maximo

Oh boy, this is a pair up for ages. The crowd immediately called for the kiss. Joey called for Maximo to touch it, and Maximo didn’t actually go for it.

Maximo and Ryan traded some lucha arm drags and quick pin attempts before the stand-off. Maximo hit a top rope elbow, but went for the atomic drop and his knee took the force of Ryan’s penis. Joey came back with a dropkick and a dive to get in the offense.

Joey pulled Maximo to his penis, but Maximo countered, kissed Joey, and got a two count from a roll up.

Joey finally made Maximo touch it, hit the Dong-plex, hit Sweet-Tooth-Music, and picked up the win. Short fun match, I honestly expected less of a match.

Loren interviewed RVD and Forbes. Rob said that he hated what he saw in the ring just now, and before Loren could ask a question, RVD walked away.

Michael Elgin cut a promo telling Eddie Edwards that he pinned him and tapped him out at Hard To Kill. He said he is coming for Eddie’s trophy.

Havok (w/ Father James Mitchell & Susie) defeated Rosemary

Rosemary started the match dodging Havok and going after Susie, telling her to leave Mitchell. Rosemary got back in the apron and hit a scary looking jumping rana on Havok. Rosemary jumped on Havok with the headlock, but Havok crushed her against the apron and they started brawling up the ramp. Rosemary went for a German in the ramp, but Havok blocked and hit a samoan drop instead

Back in the ring, Rosemary caught Rosemary with a plancha and a running elbow combo. Rosemary hit a version of the slingblade and the running Last Chancery for the submission tease. Havok broke off and came back at Rosemary with a running clothesline. Havok hit a backbreaker and running kneelift.

Rosemary made a comeback with a desperation jawbreaker, but when she went for the ten punches, Mitchell distracted her. Rosemary hit her mist on Mitchell, but the distraction was enough for Havok to turn the table and Tombstone Rosemary for the pin. Maybe it’s the Mexican fans, but this whole angle feels like it has overstayed their welcome.

After the match, Susie ran away and Mitchell ran out to find her.

Backstage, Gama Singh is telling Rohit and Shera that he’s proud of them winning. Shera told Gama that Raj has been sent away on a spiritual journey. Gama wasn’t happy about it.

The Rascalz are in the Treehouse. Dezmond and Wentz are making fun of Trey’s crush on Tessa. Wentz said he had hooked up from peyote. We got trippy visuals until Pagano and Murder Clown joined them and freaked them out.

Eddie Edwards addressed Elgin’s promo. He said that he is calling his shot on April 19th in New York, but Elgin interrupted him before he did and they started pushing each other until the big pull apart.

Willie Mack defeated Rohit Raju (w/ Gama Singh & Mahabali Shera)

Rohit tried to jump Mack, but Willie was ready and got the better of Rohit with some lucha arm drags, a hurricanrana, and sent him out with a dropkick. Mack went for the dive, but Shera got in the apron and distracted Mack, allowing Rohit to comeback and take down Mack.

Rohit had a lot of kicking offense, getting a quick two count with a foot stomp. Rohit went for the Headlock, but Mack was too big for him. Mack came back with some clotheslines, and running elbows. Shera pulled Rohit out of the ring, but Mack hit a tope con giro on both.

Back in the ring, Mack hit the samoan drop and moonsault combo for a two count. Mack went for the stunner, but Rohit blocked, hit a knee and a cannonball, but missed the foot stomp. Mack hit the stunner and picked up the win.

After the match, Shera attacked Mack until Johnny Swinger came out and actually managed to fend off the Desi Hit Squad for a bit, but Shera dropped him with the Sky High. Gama took out Swinger and Mack with big punches.

Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was the Motor City Machine Guns vs Beer Money Inc from Genesis 2011.

Backstage, The North are making fun of Swann breaking his leg, talking to Hijo del Vikingo, who challenged Alexander to a match.

Announced for next week: Elgin and Edwards start a best of five series, Rayne vs Hogan vs Grace in a Knockout’s championship number one contendership match, and the return of Dr. Wagner Jr..

Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie (w/ John E. Bravo) & X-Division Champion Ace Austin defeated Impact World Champion Tessa Blanchard & Trey Miguel in a non-title match

I don’t fully understand why Taya is wrestling with Ear Muffs, but they look fabulous. Tessa’s entrance had some glitches, obviously coming from Callihan messing with her.

Taya and Tessa started the match with elbows and clotheslines. Taya quickly tagged in Ace, who else fell to Tessa’s headlock takedowns. Trey tagged in and took down Ace with a jumping knee and dropkick. Trey hit a rana and sent Ace to the outside, went to follow with a dive, but Taya blocked him. Tessa sent Taya down too with Ace, and followed with synched dives on Ace and Taya.

Back from commercial, Trey and Tessa have been working on Ace with some double teams, but outside the ring, we see Taya take out Tessa, allowing Ace to get the better of Trey in the ring and turn the momentum on him.

Ace Austin worked over Trey for a while, getting quick two count attempts here and there. Taya came in and also worked on Trey, but the latter would get some openings to get the better of Taya until Ace made the assist. Trey nailed Taya with a forearm, but Taya came back with a big kneelift for a two count.

Ace tagged back in and worked over Trey’s midsection, hanging him on the Tree of Woe for some kicks and a dropkick from Taya. Ace got a two count with a backplex. Submission by Trey that allowed him to to the paper cut spot between the fingers, but Trey finally dodged Ace’s attacks and hit a desperation kick, but unfortunately, Bravo distracted the ref who called the tag illegal. Trey kept fighting and hit a double foot stomp on Ace, and finally got the tag to Tessa.

Tessa and Taya came in with the former catching Taya with a crossbody from the top rope. Rana by Tessa, followed by an elbow and a cutter. Tessa went for the Magnum, but Taya moved and tagged in Ace. Tilt-a-Whirl DDT by Tessa and stereo dropkicks along with Trey.

Trey tagged in and went for a meteora, but Ace dodged. Trey hit a moonsault and flatliner for a two count. Trey went for meteora again, but Taya blocked it and dropped him instead. Tessa took out Taya with a big boot and followed with a dive.

Back in the ring, Ace hit The Fold on Trey and picked up the win. Pretty good match, especially towards the end.

After the match, Tessa and Ace stood tall in the ring.

Final Thoughts —

Ok show by Impact, nothing particularly special. We seem to have a direction for Tessa with Taya, Ace, and Callihan as chasers, and the Elgin vs Edwards Best-of series should be amazing. It’s always fun to see the AAA wrestlers mix it up in these tapings.

ODB added to Knockouts title match at Impact Hard to Kill PPV

Posted on December 6, 2019 by Joseph Currier

Update —

The Knockouts Championship match at Impact Wrestling’s Hard to Kill pay-per-view will now be a triple threat.

Impact announced today that ODB has been added to the title match for the PPV, making it Taya Valkyrie vs. Jordynne Grace vs. ODB. Valkyrie defending her title against Grace had originally been announced.

After a distraction by Grace, ODB pinned Valkyrie in a non-title match on this week’s Impact.

Original —

Jordynne Grace is getting a Knockouts Championship shot at Impact Wrestling’s next pay-per-view.

Impact confirmed yesterday that Grace will challenge for Taya Valkyrie’s Knockouts title at Hard to Kill. The PPV is being held at The Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas on Sunday, January 12, 2020.

When Hard to Kill takes place, Valkyrie will have been Knockouts Champion for over a year. She won the title from Tessa Blanchard at Impact’s Homecoming PPV in January 2019.

Grace pinned Valkyrie in a six-woman tag match that aired on Impact’s AXS TV premiere on October 29. She also defeated Grace & John E. Bravo in a handicap match that aired two weeks ago.

In the main event of last night’s Impact, ODB pinned Valkyrie in a non-title match after a distraction by Grace.

Valkyrie vs. Grace is the third title match announced for Hard to Kill. Blanchard will challenge for Sami Callihan’s Impact World Championship in the main event, and Ace Austin will defend his X-Division Championship against Trey Miguel.

Impact Wrestling media call: Scott D’Amore, Brian Cage, Taya Valkyrie

Posted on October 24, 2019 by Josh Nason

Impact Wrestling co-executive vice president Scott D’Amore, Impact World Champion Brian Cage, and Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie were part of an hour-long conference call Thursday, hitting up a variety of topics on the company’s past and future ahead of their official weekly AXS TV debut this Tuesday.

The whole call can be heard below, but a few highlights:

D’Amore addressed the rumor of the TNA brand returning for one night in April during WrestleMania weekend in Orlando. He said it’s early in the process, but that “we don’t run from our history, we embrace it.”
On Kylie Rae returning to the company, “the door is certainly open if she is interested.”
D’Amore and Valkyrie were asked a lot about intergender matches which D’Amore said they are proud to be at the forefront of. Valkyrie jokingly challenged Cage to a title match and Cage retorted with that it didn’t go well for Valkyrie when they wrestled in another organization.
D’Amore said their rebuilding process is over and that they have spent two years putting out a great product. He talked about restoring trust in the Impact name. He said they had to rebuild that when he and Callis took over two years ago. After a lot of negativity in ’18, he feels they have reclaimed a lot of that trust in ’19, but need to keep at it.”
D’Amore said that other wrestling organizations are competition, but in a good way. “While other companies are competition, they aren’t enemies. For us to success, they don’t have to fail. Competition breeds innovation. We need to answer the challenge,” he said.

Other topics include Joey Ryan’s signing, co-promoting with New Japan Pro Wrestling and WOW, Killer Kross’ status, returning to the UK, some prank calls, and running on Tuesday nights.

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Tenille Dashwood challenging for Knockouts title at Bound for Glory

Posted on September 28, 2019 by Joseph Currier

After debuting for the company last month, Tenille Dashwood is getting her first shot at Impact Wrestling’s Knockouts Championship.

Taya Valkyrie defending her Knockouts title against Dashwood has officially been added to the card for next month’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view. The match was announced on this week’s Impact episode, where Dashwood defeated Madison Rayne in a singles match.

Dashwood’s feud with Valkyrie began when she debuted at Impact’s August television tapings in Mexico City. Dashwood also had her first match for Impact at those tapings, defeating Kiera Hogan.

Dashwood and Valkyrie will be on opposite sides of a six-woman tag match at the Prelude to Glory Impact Plus special in South Bend, Indiana on Friday, October 18. Dashwood will team with Jordynne Grace & Rosemary against Valkyrie, Hogan & Rayne.

The Odeum Expo Center in Villa Park, Illinois is hosting Bound for Glory on Sunday, October 20. Here’s the updated card for the PPV:

Impact World Champion Brian Cage defending against Sami Callihan
Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie defending against Tenille Dashwood
X-Division Champion Jake Crist defending against Tessa Blanchard and three other wrestlers in a ladder match
Michael Elgin vs. Naomichi Marufuji
Moose vs. Ken Shamrock
The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel) vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. and two partners

Impact Wrestling results: LAX vs. The Rascalz, Taya vs. Rosemary

Posted on June 8, 2019 by Antonio Garza

Impact Wrestling returned from the 2300 Arena this week for the final episode of the Philadelphia tapings.

This week’s main event was LAX defending their Tag Team titles against The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz). In addition, Rosemary took on Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie in a non-title match, oVe faced Fallah Bahh & Scarlet Bordeaux, and Kiera Hogan battled Jordynne Grace.

The video recap of last week’s episode touched on the ECW originals taking on Moose & The North, Tessa Blanchard knocking out Glenn Gilbertti, LAX and The Rascalz agreeing to tonight’s match, the street fight between Eddie Edwards and Killer Kross, and the announcement that Brian Cage will return at Slammiversary to defend his World title against Michael Elgin.

The Twitch stream was hosted by Melissa Santos from Impact’s new set of tapings at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York. There were several cameos from the roster.

Ace Austin defeated Cousin Jake (w/ Cody Deaner)

This was a speed vs. power match with Austin using his speed and kicks to take down Jake, but as soon as Jake would get his hands on Austin, he’d stop him and drop him. There was some miscommunication on a spot to get Jake outside for Austin to do his headstand into a kick, so they repeated the spot.

Once outside, Austin dove, only to get caught by Jake and slammed onto the apron. Jake followed with a running splash on the apron too, getting a two count.

Austin went for a Disaster Kick, but Jake just blocked him. Jake went for a spear to the corner, but Austin dodged, distracted the referee, and paper cut Jake’s hand. Austin hit a kick and a famouser for a two count.

Austin worked on the same injured hand, attempting a Kimura or a Vice, but Jake slowly started to power up and flip Austin off. Austin chopped Jake to no avail, so he hit another kick and the Curb Stomp, setting up The Fold, but Jake recovered and hit a huge lariat to earn himself a couple of seconds to recover.

Jake hit a close distance clothesline and a Michinoku Driver for a two count. Jake hit the corner spear, but suddenly, the Desi Hit Squad attacked Cody Deaner outside the ring, distracting Jake enough for Austin to hit The Fold for the win. Pretty good match — both men have a lot of potential.

– Melissa Santos interviewed Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie about facing Rosemary tonight. Taya said that she has moved on from fighting Rosemary and now Rosemary is crawling her way back to the championship. She said that tonight, she reminds Rosemary who she is.

Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie defeated Rosemary (w/ Su Yung) by DQ in a non-title match

The match started and Rosemary stayed distracted with Yung, giving Taya the opening to tackle Rosemary down and deliver a set of strikes, stomps, and hip attacks. Taya hit running knees to the corner.

Rosemary recovered and locked in the Upside Down to earn some distance. She went for a missile dropkick, but Taya dodged and hit a release German suplex in return. Rosemary got a desperation slingblade and a reverse DDT for a two count.

Rosemary hit a spear for another two count. She then followed with a Koji Clutch, but suddenly, James Mitchell brought out Jessicka Havok.

Havok and Rosemary had a staredown before Rosemary went to punch Havok, only to get blocked and taken down with one clothesline. Havok delivered a Tombstone piledriver on Rosemary.

Taya tried to run, but Havok caught her with a chokeslam. Mitchell released Yung from her chains. Yung, Havok, and Mitchell all left together. The match was pretty bad, but the ending angle saved it.

– The Rascalz were in the treehouse preparing for tonight’s main event against LAX. Trey Miguel wants to fight tonight, but he’ll just be out there supporting Zachary Wentz and Dezmond Xavier. Miguel’s character, like Ortiz, seems to be developing a drinking problem.

– The Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was Shane Douglas vs. Raven in a hair vs. hair match from September 17, 2003.

– Backstage, Eddie Edwards thanked The Sandman for his help last week and told him that he can’t accept Sandman’s kendo stick because it’s not Kenny. Sandman drew a face on the stick and Eddie accepted it. This wasn’t good.

– We got a video showcasing Brian Cage’s recovery and him training to get back in the ring.

– Backstage, Michael Elgin cut a promo on Cage, telling him that he has proven that he can destroy Brian Cage. Elgin said that while Cage is at home being a coward, he’s out there sending people to the hospital. Elgin said that next week, he is sending Willie Mack to the hospital once and for all.

Madman Fulton (w/ Sami Callihan) defeated Firework Foxx Vinyer and his partner in a two-on-one handicap match

Fulton quickly took both men down with a double clothesline. Fulton went on to suplex one man onto the other, bite them, take them out with big boots, and hit chokeslams. He delivered a double chokeslam and hit the End of Days on one man onto the other for the pin. Total dominant squash.

After the match, Callihan cut a promo against the Knockouts division and brought out Jake & Dave Crist for their tag match.

oVe (Jake & Dave Crist) defeated Fallah Bahh & Scarlett Bordeaux

Jake and Bahh started the match, with Bahh getting the early advantage thanks to his size. Early on, Callihan and Fulton tried to get involved, so the referee sent them to the back.

In the ring, Bahh hit an elbow and a running splash in the corner on Dave. Bahh went for another, but Dave dodged and tagged in Jake, who came in and managed to cut off Bahh from his corner.

oVe worked with quick tags and kept Bahh down. They choked him against the ropes and went after his eyes over and over again. After a couple of minutes of torture, Bahh started to power up and slapped himself into a comeback, only to get cut off again.

Eventually, Bahh caught Jake with a kick and tossed Dave to the outside, but he still couldn’t tag Bordeaux. Jake thought he could piledrive Bahh, but he ended up getting hit with a Banzai Drop from Bahh. Finally, Bordeaux got the tag.

Bordeaux came in hot and hit a couple of hurricanranas and hip attacks on the Crist brothers. Bordeaux hit a flying crossbody and sent both Crists to the outside, setting them up for a Fallah Bahh tope suicida. Bordeaux followed with a top rope senton to the floor.

Back in the ring, Jake slammed Bordeaux and went for a Doomsday Device, but Bahh blocked Dave, allowing Bordeaux to hit a reverse rana on Jake. Bahh set up Dave for the Doomsday Device, which Bordeaux hit, earning a two count.

Bordeaux got on Bahh’s back and they went for the double Banzai Drop, but Dave dodged, grabbed a roll of quarters, and knocked Bahh out to steal the win.

This match got “this is awesome” chants. Bahh has lost a lot of weight and seems to be trying to change his moveset and do less comedy. Bordeaux looked great here too.

After the match, the Crist brothers attacked Bordeaux, but Tessa Blanchard came out for the save. Blanchard took on both Crists, dodging a superkick by Jake, who hit Dave. She low blowed Jake and hit the Magnum to send them packing. The crowd popped huge for Blanchard — she looked like a superstar.

– Santos interviewed Rich Swann and Willie Mack. She asked Mack about Elgin. Mack said that he’s not scared of Elgin and next week, he’ll teach him what The Mack is all about. Swann told Mack that he’ll have his back.

Johnny Impact interrupted them and told Swann that come Slammiversary, he’s cashing in his X-Division title shot. Johnny’s promo was amazing.

– Out in the parking lot, Callihan berated oVe for being embarrassed in the ring by Blanchard. Callihan threatened Blanchard that they’re not done.

Jordynne Grace defeated Kiera Hogan

Grace offered Hogan a handshake to start the match, but the now-heel Hogan rejected the offer. They started with a short sequence of reversals with Hogan having the speed advantage, getting the better of Grace, who had the power advantage and only needed to get her hands on Hogan to stop her.

Grace got an early two count after a second rope senton. She followed with a delayed Jackhammer for another two count. Hogan pleaded for forgiveness, but instead tried to cheap shot Grace, who caught her with a slap. The distraction was enough for Hogan to get a couple of kicks in afterwards in the corner, earning a one count.

Hogan choked Grace against the ropes and in the middle of the ring with a sleeper. She went for a suplex, but Grace simply used her power and hit her own suplex instead.

Hogan went for a knee version of Eat Defeat for a two count. She kicked Grace until Grace made a comeback and delivered a great desperation spinebuster. Grace slammed Hogan against the corner and hit a running knee and a Vader Bomb for a two count.

Grace went for a superplex, but Hogan escaped and went for a sunset bomb instead. After failing at that, Hogan superkicked Grace’s knee out and hit a neckbreaker instead for another two count.

Grace slammed Hogan for a two count, then followed with the Grace Driver for the win.

This was a great match, Hogan has improved so much since her last one-on-one match on Impact.

– LAX were in their clubhouse. Instead of preparing for their title defense tonight, Santana was sleeping and Ortiz was eating. Konnan berated them for not taking this seriously.

– Backstage, Moose cut a promo on the old ECW wrestlers, saying that they keep coming back and taking spots from others because they need to pay the rent. Moose challenged Rob Van Dam to a match at Slammiversary. Moose said that until RVD says yes, he’ll make his life a living hell.

Impact Tag Team Champions LAX (Santana & Ortiz) w/ Konnan defeated The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) w/ Trey Miguel by DQ

Wentz and Ortiz started the match with some chain wrestling and a couple of reversals, with Ortiz getting the upper hand early. They sped up to a series of reversals, with The Rascalz starting to do quick tags and getting rid of Ortiz after a Bronco Buster by Wentz.

Santana came in and got taken out with a kick combo. With both LAX members outside the ring, Wentz and Xavier dove to the outside.

Back in the ring, Wentz got the first near fall after a Swanton Bomb on Ortiz, only to have Santana make the save.

Back from commercial, both teams were exchanging quick moves back and forth, but LAX got the upper hand with a combo on Wentz, managing to cut him off from his corner. Santana looked for quick pin attempts after a German suplex and a backbreaker. Ortiz came in and got another two count after a combo, which Xavier broke up.

Outside the ring, we saw that Miguel had grabbed Ortiz’s flask and was drinking it.

In the ring, Wentz hit a desperation jumping knee on Santana to get some space and tag in Xavier, who took out Santana, hit a big elbow on Ortiz, and followed with a dropkick to the spine, sending him to the outside. That was followed with a suicide dive.

Xavier hit the wheel kick on Santana, only to get taken out by Ortiz’s enzuigiri. LAX went for roll-ups on Wentz, but Xavier broke them up again. The Rascalz hit Hot Fire Flame, but Ortiz broke the pin up at the last moment. Outside the ring, Ortiz grabbed his flask back, drank a bit, but got hit by Xavier, causing him to mist the referee.

Suddenly, the drunk Miguel got in the ring, hit a meteora on Santana, and pinned him. A second referee came in and counted the pin, but the official referee recovered, reversed the decision, and granted LAX the win by disqualification after Miguel’s interference.

The fans weren’t happy with the finish, but they reacted well to the referee fixing the decision. Overall, this was a good match — these two teams will be having great matches once they get more time.

Final thoughts —

This show felt like it had better direction towards Slammiversary than the previous weeks. The work inside the ring was really good and took precedence over the backstage segments. It was a night where people like Kiera Hogan and Fallah Bahh were out there trying to impress.

Impact Wrestling results: Two title matches, RVD vs. Dreamer

Posted on May 25, 2019 by Antonio Garza

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 results: Johnny & Taya vs. Cage & Grace

Posted on April 13, 2019 by Antonio Garza

Impact Wrestling’s road to Rebellion continued from St. Clair College Sportsplex in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The opening video recapped last week’s show and gave us the build to tonight’s main event of Johnny Impact & Taya Valkyrie vs. Brian Cage & Jordynne Grace.

This week’s Twitch stream was hosted by Don Callis. Melissa Santos was out of commission due to a knee injury.

Moose defeated Zachary Wentz (w/ The Rascalz)

Out of the norm, The Rascalz decided to stay at ringside for Wentz’s match. Moose mocked Wentz before the match and bullied him, provoking Wentz to go for the first strike. Wentz went for wrist control, but Moose easily overpowered him and chopped him.

Wentz took advantage of Moose playing to the crowd to kick him, send him outside, and hit a moonsault to the outside that Moose caught. Moose got sent to the ring post instead.

Wentz hit a couple of running strikes, but Moose again powered himself back and hit a couple of impressive dropkicks. Moose worked over Wentz for the next few minutes, using mostly strikes and tossing him around the ring. But once again, Moose got cocky and started playing more to the crowd and getting distracted with the referee. Wentz found himself outside, where Moose pursued and went for an apron bomb, but instead swept the leg when Wentz tried to escape.

Moose got cocky again, and this time Wentz had the opening to dive on Moose and finally rock him. Wentz hit a couple of running dropkicks, a striking combo, and a corkscrew plancha, but he only got a one count. He hit a knee to finally get Moose off his feet. Wentz went for a plancha, but Moose caught him and tossed him outside onto his partners.

Back in the ring, Wentz got a couple more kicks in, but when he went for the kill, Moose caught him, hit the No Jackhammer Needed, and pinned him for the 1-2-3. Pretty good opener.

Rob Van Dam’s official return was announced for the April 29 Impact tapings. He cut a promo about coming back.

Melissa Santos interviewed Madison Rayne about losing to Jordynne Grace and being back in Impact. Rayne said that she unfortunately lost, but she is back to win the Knockouts Championship and take on the competition. Tessa Blanchard interrupted her, talking trash about Rayne coming back to relive her glories and piggy backing on her. Blanchard said Rayne is just like Gail Kim.

Rayne brought up that she has a winning record against Blanchard and challenged her to a match.

Su Yung vs. Rosemary ended in a no contest

Rosemary jumped Yung and started taking out each of the Undead Bridesmaids one by one. Rosemary kicked Yung to the outside, but the Bridesmaids saved her, so instead, Rosemary locked Yung in the Upside Down. Rosemary went for a spear in the corner, but Yung dodged and worked on Rosemary’s weak knee with several strikes and a single-leg Boston Crab.

Yung went for a dragon leg whip to take down Rosemary, then used the opening to go for her dirty glove.

Rosemary battled Yung, hitting a reverse DDT to get her away. They traded strikes and clotheslines. Rosemary hit a running knee for a two count. Yung came back with a palm strike, but Rosemary recovered and hit a German suplex.

All the Bridesmaids got on the apron, and once again Rosemary went for them. Kiera Hogan came to Rosemary’s aid, but they ended up arguing outside the ring because Rosemary didn’t want Hogan’s help. All the Bridesmaids jumped them and the match ended in a no contest.

After the match, the Bridesmaids tossed Rosemary back in the ring, where Yung locked in the Mandible Claw. Yung hit the Panic Switch on both Rosemary and Hogan to lay them out.

We got a recap and backstage look of the United We Stand show in New Jersey and some comments from talent involved with the show.

Ace Austin cut a promo about losing the six-way match from last week. He said that he was about to win, and blamed Aiden Prince for his loss. He challenged Prince to a match.

The GWN Flashback Moment of the Week was Rob Van Dam vs. Joey Ryan for the X-Division Championship from TNA Turning Point 2012.

Backstage, Killer Kross met with Willie Mack. Kross asked Mack if he liked jazz music. Kross got in Mack’s head by saying that Rich Swann was playing him for a fool. This is an interesting direction, with Kross trying to intervene in Swann’s affairs.

We got a promo by The Deaners saying they’re headed to Impact and they’re getting focused. Good promo and promising gimmick.

The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) defeated El Reverso & Sheldon Jean

Commentary brought up Page and Alexander’s history together, but not as Monster Mafia. This match was a showcase for Alexander and the tag team work of The North.

El Reverso had a hope spot on Alexander, but he stopped him with a Plunge before hitting a twisting facebuster double team. Page tagged in and hit a backbreaker on Reverso. Alexander came back in, locked in an ankle lock, and turned it into a powerbomb backbreaker.

Reverso finally tagged in Jean. He had a good hot tag and hope spot, getting a two count on Page with a flying forearm. Reverso tried to make a stand against both men, but The North picked up the win over Reverso with a double-team maneuver. Great debut for Alexander.

Backstage, Melissa Santos told Gail Kim about Blanchard’s comments. Kim said she would go out to the ring for Blanchard vs. Rayne.

Back from commercial, The North cut a promo about them taking over the tag team division. Good promo by both men.

Kim came down to the ring and joined commentary for the next match.

Madison Rayne defeated Tessa Blanchard

Blanchard, right from the start, focused more on Kim outside the ring than Rayne, who took advantage of the distraction on several occasions. Blanchard got the upper hand on Rayne with a set of running forearms and dropkicks.

Rayne came back with a couple of roll-ups, but Blanchard easily kicked out. Blanchard hit a brainbuster and went to choke out Rayne.

Blanchard kept messing with Kim, striking Rayne right in front of the commentary table. Blanchard hit a corner Magnum, and once again talked trash to Kim instead of pinning Rayne.

Back from commercial, Rayne and Blanchard exchanged strikes in the middle of the ring. Rayne hit an enzuigiri and a Northern Lights suplex for a one count. Blanchard hit a double underhook modification of the Bitter End for two.

Rayne hit a crucifix bomb for a two count. She went for a reverse DDT, but Blanchard blocked it and hit a slingshot suplex, rebounding Rayne twice on the ropes for a two count. Blanchard hit a superplex for two.

Blanchard went for a steel chair and attacked the referee, provoking Kim to take the chair away. It gave Rayne time to recover, and she blindsided Blanchard with a schoolboy to get the upset win.

On commentary, Kim kept putting Blanchard over with comments like Blanchard being able to achieve top level greatness at such a young age and Blanchard reminding Kim of herself. However, Kim said it was unfortunate that Blanchard had a terrible attitude.

Backstage, Eli Drake and Eddie Edwards asked the Lucha Bros for a Tag Team title shot since they beat LAX last week. Suddenly, LAX attacked the Lucha Bros while Drake dragged Edwards away.

We got another vignette for The Deaners. They’re going hard on these guys.

Melissa Santos interviewed Johnny Impact & Taya Valkyrie. They talked about tonight’s match against Brian Cage & Jordynne Grace. Johnny put over Cage as a wrestler, but then buried him for being one-of-a-kind dumb. Valkyrie provoked Santos by implying that Cage and Grace had an affair.

We got an oVe cam promo. They were in some back alley. Sami Callihan cut a promo about giving Swann everything and now Swann will have nothing for betraying oVe. At Rebellion, Callihan will take the X-Division Championship.

Blanchard cut a promo backstage on Kim. She said that she was only thinking of beating Kim at Rebellion, but now that Kim decided to interfere in her matches, it will be personal.

Fallah Bahh was backstage looking for Scarlett Bordeaux, who eventually showed up. Bahh thanked Bordeaux for the save last week. Bordeaux told Bahh that she’ll team with him next week against the Desi Hit Squad.

Impact World Champion Johnny Impact & Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie defeated Brian Cage & Jordynne Grace

This had WWE-style mixed tag match rules with the wrestlers having to pair up by gender, so Valkyrie started the match by trying to provoke Cage into a DQ — but Grace was right there to take her on.

Grace got the upper hand early with a series of shoulder tackles and clotheslines. She sent Valkyrie right into the corner and hit a running knee and a running elbow right before a Vader Bomb for a two count. Valkyrie finally got some space and went to Johnny for the tag, but Johnny actually got off the ring to avoid getting in the ring with Cage.

Grace tagged in Cage instead, forcing Johnny to become legal. They did a small sequence with Johnny escaping Cage’s attacks and getting cheap shots in — until Cage caught Johnny, curled with him, and tossed him like a rag doll.

Johnny hit a springboard corkscrew, but got too cocky to follow up. Cage came back with a clothesline and a backdrop that over rotated Johnny. Johnny tried to find a way to tag Valkyrie, but Cage blocked him until Johnny simply poked Cage’s eyes and got the tag.

Grace didn’t wait and rushed at Valkyrie in the corner, but Johnny was still there to aid his wife and give Valkyrie the opening for a shotgun dropkick. She stomped on Grace for a bit and went for an armbar submission and a curb stomp on the same arm.

Valkyrie hit a running hip attack and the double knees for a two count. Grace hit a desperation running powerbomb. Valkyrie tried to make the tag to Johnny, but instead was talked into stopping Grace — with Johnny again trying to avoid Cage. Valkyrie failed to stop Grace, so Johnny straight up went in to attack Grace, but it was too late as she tagged Cage back in.

Cage ran wild on Johnny with a combo neckbreaker and a huge release German suplex for a two count. Cage went for the F5, but Johnny reversed it into a swinging neckbreaker for two. Johnny went for Starship Pain, but Cage caught him. Cage and Johnny took each other out with a lariat and a kick respectively.

Grace and Valkyrie came in, with Grace hitting a German to throw Valkyrie to the outside. Grace followed with a tope suicida on Johnny, only to be taken out by Valkyrie. Cage then hit a tope con giro on Johnny, tossed him in the ring, and went for the Drill Claw. Suddenly, referee Johnny Bravo buckled Cage’s leg, giving Johnny the opening to hit a shining wizard and win via quick count. The referee got a lot of heat.

After the match, Cage got back up and went after Bravo, but Valkyrie low blowed him and the couple beat up Cage. Johnny Bravo hugged with Johnny and Valkyrie.

Don Callis and Josh Mathews said on commentary that they’ll review all of the recent Johnny Bravo matches since they now suspect Bravo is the only reason Johnny has been able to retain the championship all this time.

Final thoughts —

Good show. With two more weeks to go until the Rebellion pay-per-view, this episode was all about escalating feuds. The wrestling was good all around.

Impact Wrestling Uncaged results: Two title matches, World Cup

Posted on February 16, 2019 by Antonio Garza

Impact returned this week with their “Uncaged” special episode. This was the final show from last month’s tapings at Fronton Mexico in Mexico City.

Tonight’s Twitch stream was hosted by “Disco Inferno” Glenn Gilbertti and Melissa Santos live from the Las Vegas tapings. They answered questions, interviewed several wrestlers throughout the show, and talked to some of the people involved with the NFL Las Vegas Alumni affiliation.

After the show, they featured each of the main event’s competitors doing post-match thoughts. Impact is really making great use of Twitch, having an open time slot, and having live contact with fans.

Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie defeated Tessa Blanchard in a street fight to retain her title

Blanchard came out wearing, according to Don Callis, an original Four Horsemen T-shirt from one of Tully Blanchard’s street fights. Valkyrie came out with a Perros del Mal T-shirt and sporting face paint that looked more like Rey Bucanero than anything else. There was a huge board in the ring with Wera Loca vs. Diamond spray painted on it.

Blanchard tried to attack Valkyrie with a chair on the ramp during Valkyrie’s entrance, but Valkyrie was ready for her, took her down, and beat her up back into the ring. Blanchard set up a chair in the corner and they did a few spots trying to ram each other on the chair.

Valkyrie went after Blanchard’s back with kicks before throwing Blanchard to the outside. Valkyrie went for a tope suicida, but Blanchard caught her with a chair. Blanchard started to beat up Valkyrie, throwing her to the ring post and barricades. Blanchard hit a huge running dropkick to Valkyrie that found herself between the barricade and a chair.

Valkyrie made a small comeback using a cooking plate. Blanchard put a chair around Valkyrie’s neck and rammed her into the ring post — just like Killer Kross did to Johnny Impact a month ago.

Back in the ring, Blanchard choked out Valkyrie with an electrical cord. The cord went around her face, looking a lot more painful than if it had been the neck. Blanchard ripped the Perros del Mal shirt to huge boos by the fans. Blanchard went for a spear, but Valkyrie dodged and Blanchard flew into the chair that was previously set up in the corner.

Valkyrie made a bigger comeback this time. She started throwing Blanchard around the ring, connected with a few clotheslines, and hit the running meteora to the corner. Valkyrie set up the cooking pan between Blanchard’s legs and hit it with a chair.

Blanchard woke up a bit and took down Valkyrie with a chair for a two count. Blanchard started to bring more weapons into the ring. She climbed to the top rope, but Valkyrie caught her with a chair and hit a dangerous looking Samoan drop onto the chairs.

Back from commercial, both were going at it trading forearms. They even did the sit-down strike off, slapping each other back and forth. Valkyrie got the final shot for a two count.

Blanchard speared Valkyrie into the board that was in the corner, but it didn’t break. They went for a second one — and it still didn’t break. It just looked brutal. Blanchard got a two count from both spears.

Blanchard then went to get a table from under the ring. She went to foot stomp Valkyrie’s head on the table, but Valkyrie recovered, threw Blanchard to the outside, and followed with a top rope crossbody.

Back in the ring, Valkyrie set up Blanchard on the table and hit a top rope foot stomp for the pin.

This was a straight up fight. All the spots looked brutal — more than they usually do in other street fights. Great opener.

The GWN Flashback Moment of the Week (as voted by the Twitch viewers) was Dezmond Xavier vs. Taiji Ishimori from the Super X Cup finals at Destination X 2017. Fun match.

Team Impact was interviewed by Melissa Santos. Sami Callihan proclaimed himself as the leader of the team, then Fallah Bahh did some comedy and Eddie Edwards and Callihan almost restarted their rivalry. Eli Drake cut a great promo actually hyping up the team and getting them all together.

Willie Mack defeated Ethan Page

This was a slow, okay match — nothing special to it. They started by chasing each other around the corner — where Mack did a headstand on the top rope, swerving Page, taking him down with a kick, and getting control of the match.

Mack hit a few chops and an actual nipple-twister. Page swept Mack and hit a DDT to turn the match. Now it was Page that got a few chops in. He went for a suplex, but Mack countered with one of his own.

Page hit a second rope enzuigiri for a two count. Mack hit a running cannonball and a Samoan drop/moonsault combination for a two count. Mack went for the stunner, but Page countered with a kick and a suplex for another two count. Mack finally hit the stunner and got the win.

Killer Kross cut a promo telling Johnny Impact that he will need a miracle to win tonight — because if he’s not focused, Kross will take him out and take his championship. Great short promo.

The camera turned, and we saw Mack walk to the locker room. Dave and Jake Crist followed him in and closed the door.

Team AAA was interviewed by Santos. Psycho Clown cut a promo hyping up the team, saying that this is their territory and they will win tonight. Puma King said that this goes beyond AAA — this one is for Mexico.

Sami Callihan came out to the ring. Callihan cut a promo, addressing Rich Swann. He said that everything that Swann said in last week’s interview was “fake news.” Callihan said that for the last few weeks, he’s been offering Swann a chance to join their group, but he gets rejected over and over. He called out Swann.

Callihan told Swann that if their relationship means anything to Swann, he will come out and accept the offer.

Swann came out and rejected once again. Callihan attacked Swann with the microphone. Swann made a small comeback and hit a Phoenix Splash to the outside.

They brawled around ringside and up to the ramp — where Callihan dropped Swann with a piledriver. He then tossed Swann off the ramp onto a table. Good angle — this is surely going all the way to Impact’s Rebellion PPV in April.

Team AAA (Psycho Clown, Hijo del Vikingo, Puma King & Aerostar) defeated Team Impact (Sami Callihan, Eli Drake, Eddie Edwards & Fallah Bahh) in an elimination match to win the World Cup

Callihan and Psycho started the match striking. Callihan had the upper hand until Psycho hit a plancha from the top rope. Aerostar got tagged in and hit a few tornillos and a wacky looking codebreaker on Callihan.

Drake came in and fought Aerostar with some great looking power moves. Hijo del Vikingo then got tagged in. Drake went for the same moves on him, but Vikingo turned a pop-up powerslam into a DDT.

Edwards came in and paired up with Vikingo for a bit before Puma King came in. Puma hit Edwards with a delayed vertical suplex. Edwards hit a backpack stunner and tagged in Bahh. Finally, Bahh and Puma did some lucha teases before the match broke down with all eight men in the ring — where they started brawling.

Team AAA cleared the ring until Drake and Callihan attacked them from behind to keep the brawl going outside the ring.

Psycho hit a tope con giro on Callihan and Bahh. Puma King hit a springboard plancha. Aerostar hit a double-jump plancha, Bahh hit a plancha from the apron, and — finally — Hijo del Vikingo hit an impressive Imploding 450 to the outside. Vikingo went for another one, but Drake cut him off and tossed him on top of everyone.

Back in the ring, Edwards had his kendo stick. Drake took it from him, and as he was about to use it on Puma King, Edwards took the stick from Drake. Amid all this distraction, Puma King pinned Drake with a wacky pin to eliminate him from the match.

Back from commercial, Callihan was working over Puma King. Bahh and Vikingo tagged in, with Vikingo doing speed spots, dodging Bahh, and hitting Callihan with a springboard codebreaker. Vikingo hit a running double knee on Edwards in the corner, but after that great sequence, Bahh caught Vikingo in mid-air and dropped him with a slam for the elimination.

Aerostar came in, but Bahh cut him off with a crossbody. As Bahh went for the Banzai Drop, Aerostar dodged him and used the momentum to roll Bahh up for the elimination.

Callihan and Edwards were left for Impact. Aerostar hit a cutter on Edwards, but he couldn’t follow up on a plancha. Edwards dodged and hit the Boston Knee Party to eliminate Aerostar.

Puma King and Callihan went at it. Callihan hit a powerbomb, V-Trigger, and a piledriver to eliminate Puma King.

Psycho Clown took on both Edwards and Callihan. He initially managed to get some momentum, but the numbers game got to him. Edwards hit the Boston Knee Party, but Callihan threw Edwards out, trying to steal the pin. Psycho kicked out and rolled up Callihan to eliminate him.

The final two were Edwards and Psycho Clown. Psycho hit a big tope suicida. But back in the ring, Edwards capitalized and hit a powerbomb for a two count. Psycho hit a couple of kicks and a Slice Bread Number Two for two.

Edwards hit a few clotheslines, but suddenly, Drake came out with Edwards’ kendo stick and hit him with it, giving Psycho the opening to pin Edwards with La Magistral to give Team AAA the win.

Overall, the match had some good parts with Puma King and Hijo del Vikingo, but it was one of those where the eliminations just happen one after the other because there’s not enough time to properly build any of them.

We got a vignette for the return of Reno Scum in two weeks.

We also got a video recapping the saga between Lucha Bros and LAX, going all the way to the title change from last week. We then got a skit from LAX’s clubhouse with Konnan yelling at Santana and Ortiz for losing the titles. Konnan told them that he is going to get them a rematch, but it’s the last time they face each other, win, lose, or draw.

Allie and Su Yung were talking somewhere in the basement. Allie’s voice has changed. She said that Rosemary is playing mind games. Rosemary crept around the shadows and then disappeared.

Scarlett Bordeaux cut a promo from her hotel room where she was barely waking up.

Impact World Champion Johnny Impact defeated Brian Cage, Moose, and Killer Kross to retain his title

The match started with all four men trading strikes. Johnny took out Moose with a dive. Cage tossed Kross outside and followed with a tope con giro himself. Cage and Johnny went at it in the ring, with Johnny hitting a shining wizard on Cage before Kross and Moose once again got in the ring and double teamed Johnny with a double powerslam.

It was quite early, but they already got the dissension spot between Moose and Kross out of the way with Moose going for the pin on Johnny.

Moose and Kross hit a double powerbomb on Cage, but Moose then tried to roll up Kross from behind. Kross hit a Saito suplex on Moose. Johnny recovered and took out everyone, but he got kicked low by Moose to cut him off. Moose kicked Cage and Kross, then dropped Johnny with a Go to Hell for a two count.

Cage recovered, hitting a Centipede German on Moose and Kross. He brought in Johnny with a deadlift suplex from the apron to the ring. Cage went for the discus lariat, but Kross dodged and hit a Saito suplex on him. All four traded strikes and took each other out. The crowd chanted “Impact Wrestling.”

Johnny made it to his feet first. There was a Tower of Doom spot with Kross as the base and Johnny on top. Kross locked in an armbreaker on Johnny. Moose applied a figure four on Johnny as well, but then Cage went for a dragon sleeper on Kross, breaking the submission chain.

Kross took down both Cage and Johnny in the corner, then hit Moose with a Doomsday Saito. Johnny connected with a springboard kick on Kross for a two count. He went for Starship Pain, but Moose cut him off and hit a senton for a two count.

Moose went for the Game Changer on Cage but got countered with a jumping knee. Cage hit the Drill Claw on Moose for a two count when Kross broke it up. Kross hit a Doomsday Saito on Cage, but Cage fired up and hit a discus lariat.

The finish saw Johnny hit the Starship Pain on one corner on Moose, while Cage hit the Drill Claw on Kross on the other corner of the ring. Johnny went for the pin first, so when the ref counted to three, Johnny got the win instead of Cage.

Overall, a good main event — it was really action packed. The last minutes of the match were really good.

This was a good show — these special episodes are usually good inside the ring. It felt like a mid-season finale heading into the Rebellion PPV, with several storylines escalating into proper feuds, and potentially ending the Taya Valkyrie vs. Tessa Blanchard program.

Next week, Impact returns to Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas, Nevada with Scarlett Bordeaux’s debut.

Impact Wrestling results: World title match, Taya Valkyrie returns

Posted on January 26, 2019 by Antonio Garza

Opening video touched upon Tessa getting suspended for attacking Gail Kim, Brian Cage’s rampage, and the build up of Kross vs Johnny for the Impact World Championship match, among other things.

Impact X-Division Champion Rich Swann defeated El Hijo del Vikingo in a non-title match

Great athletic back and forward match, Vikingo had a great performance and a support from the fans. Match started with a series of reversals and counters, going to a stand off. Vikingo early on, got a lot of unique looking offense in, dropping Swann with a tope con giro. Before getting back in the ring, Swann hit a springboard tope to take control.

Back in the ring, Swann worked over Vikingo’s back, changing his usual style into more of a submission style. Swann locked in an Abdominal Stretch and a Boston Crab. Vikingo on the other hand, kept the high fly style, making a small comeback.

Vikingo countered a top rope splash, catching Swann mid-air and dropping him with swinging Side Slam, getting a near fall after Jackhammer and small-package pin. Finish saw Swann hit a Falcon Arrow for a two count before hitting a second rope 450 to take the win.

After the match, oVe came out to the ring. Sami Callihan cut a promo on Swann congratulating him for all his latest accolades, but made note that all of that is thanks to him. Callihan once again offered Swann the oVe shirt. Callihan explained that when Swann was younger and homeless, it was Callihan that saved Swann and they became Swann’s family.

Swann once again, rejected oVe’s offer and walked away.

Josh Matthews and Don Callis announced that in three weeks, Team AAA Mexico will take on Team Impact on a four-on-four elimination match. Psycho Clown, Hijo del Vikingo, Puma King, and Aerostar represent Team AAA Mexico. Eli Drake, Eddie Edwards, Fallah Bahh, and Sami Callihan will represent Team Impact Wrestling.

Melissa Santos made her Impact debut interviewing Killer Kross and Moose. Kross said that tonight, Johnny Impact’s legacy finally dies and his begins. Moose said that Brian Cage is stuck in immigration and won’t be able to do anything tonight.

Jordynne Grace and Kiera Hogan were interviewed by Santos. They said that they have been training to finally defeat Allie and Su Yung next week. Santos asked about Rosemary’s role, suddenly there was some camera issues and the monitors behind the wrestlers displayed a message that said that this wasn’t Hogan or Grace’s fight.

Impact Knockout’s Champion Taya Valkyrie defeated Keyra in a non-title match

Keyra jumped Taya to begin the match, but that momentum didn’t last long as she countered a headscissors with a back breaker and proceeded to kick Keyra from all sides for a two count.

Keyra landed a huge running dropkick to Taya, if she got knocked out, I wouldn’t be surprised. Taya came back hitting a big one arm backplex and the running knees to the corner for a two count. Taya went for the moonsault, but Keyra blocked her and hit one herself for a two count. Northern Lights suplex by Taya for another two count.

Finish saw Taya hit a sitdown powerbomb and a vicious Curb Stomp before locking in her STF for the submission win. Good return for Taya, some spots were botchy, but they edited them out.

After the match, Josh Matthews interivewed Taya in the ring. Taya greeted the Mexican crowd in spanish. She said that she will defend the championship to everyone backstage, and told Tessa that when she is allowed to come back, she will be waiting for her.

Back from commercial, Rich Swann was interviewed backstage, he accepts to Melissa that Callihan’s claims are true, but there is more to that story. Swann had a great Hayabusa t-shirt on.

The Rascalz did their That’s 70’s Show skit. Zachary Wentz talked in spanish (voice over), tripping out the rest of the gang. They said that they’ll win all their matches tonight.

We got a Scarlett Bordeaux training montage. Her in-ring debut is in 3 weeks.

The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defeated Desi Hit Squad (Rohit Raju & Raj Singh) w/Gama Singh

Dezmond and Raj started the match, with the former getting some offense in, showing off her athletic ability. Wentz and Raju got tagged in, with Rohit getting control of the match when Raj blindsided Wentz.

Desi Hit Squad worked over Wentz for a while constantly relying on dirty tactics like distracting the ref. Wentz eventually managed to make a comeback, getting an opening to tag in Dezmond, who came in and ran wild over Raj Singh.

Rascalz hit their kick combo on Raj and followed with a huge flying plancha over the top rope on to both Rohit and Raj.

Back in the ring, Desi Hit Squad got a two count after an assisted DDT on Xavier. As they went for their finisher, Wentz saved Xavier, got rid of Rohit, and hit the Hot Fire Flame on Raj for the win. Good showing for The Rascalz.

Backstage, Melissa Santos interviewed Johnny Impact. He said he was proud of Taya for coming back. He said that she inspired him to finally take out Killer Kross and he was fully focused on him and Moose. Good promo.

Back from commercial, LAX are in the club house. Konnan said that next week, Taurus and Daga are coming in, and that LAX will team with Daga to take on the Lucha Brothers and Taurus.

Trey Miguel defeated Ethan Page

Match started during the commercial, as the show came back, Ethan Page had control over the match, but Trey Miguel made a comeback hitting an Asai Moonsault.

Back inside the ring, Page once again regained control, working Trey’s back, using his power advantage to easily cut off Trey every time he tried to get some offense in.

Eventually, Trey Miguel managed to sneak in a neckbreaker, leveling Page. Trey followed up with a X19 and a split-legged Moonsault for a two count. Page hit a suplex for a two count.

Finish saw Page go for a fireman’s carry from the top rope, but Trey escaped and hit a 619 and a Fresh To Death for the win.

We got a recap of last week’s Eli Drake promo on Eddie Edwards, where he challenged him to bring back the old Eddie Edwards. Backstage, Eli Drake and Eddie Edwards are talking. Drake tried to talk Eddie to bring out the old Eddie for the big Team AAA Mexico vs Team Impact match. He told Eddie that next week, Drake got them a tag team match against The Rascalz.

Impact World Champion Johnny Impact vs. Killer Kross (w/ Moose) ended in a no contest

Good match, Kross looked like a dominant monster who could have captured the championship if not for Brian Cage’s interference, which also gives Johnny a second ‘fluke’ defense in a row.

Match seemed like it was going to start off slowly, but Johnny hit a huge forearm as they were squaring off, triggering Kross’s viciousness to kick on. The match saw Johnny’s speed go against Kross’ power, as Johnny would dodge and move around Kross, landing a few moves here and there, but then Kross would caught him off, hitting a big power move and break Johnny’s momentum.

Back from commercial, Kross was in control of the match. Kross is chipping down Johnny with a series of forearms, kicks, and chokes around the ring. Johnny went for a tornado DDT, but Kross countered it to a throw before going for a modified Cobra Clutch.

Johnny finally started to mount a comeback as they got into a strike off. Johnny hit a big springboard kick and running knee for a two count. Kross kept tossing Johnny around, getting several near falls here and there, working toward the Krossjacket submission.

Johnny managed to cut off Kross and hit the sliding German, but as he went for Starship Pain, Kross blocked him. Johnny hit a huge springboard Spear for a two count when Kross got his leg on the rope. Johnny once again went for Starship Pain, but Kross dodged and locked in the Krossjacket Choke, but suddenly Brian Cage came in and took out both Kross and Johnny.

Cage hit Moose with the F5, exchanged lariats with Kross. Cage and Johnny ended up teaming up to take out Kross and Moose before getting face to face to close the show.

Overall, a good show inside the ring. There were many storyline developments, but most of them small.

As a side note, Don Callis hosted the Twitch stream during the show, giving additional thoughts on the match ups and answering fan questions. Scarlett Bordeaux joined him after the show for a quick Q&A.

Impact Wrestling results: Impact & Valkyrie vs. Moose & Blanchard

Posted on December 7, 2018 by Antonio Garza

The cold open focused on all of the currently announced matches for Homecoming and the debut of The Rascalz, which seems to have garnered more buzz than expected.

Jake Crist (w/ oVe) defeated Willie Mack in an Ultimate X qualifying match

Good opener. The match started with Willie Mack overpowering Crist and using his athleticism to take the early upper hand. Mack got distracted when Sami Callihan grabbed his foot as Mack was running the ropes, allowing Crist to cut off Mack’s dive attempt and get control of the match.

Crist mostly went for quick chokes, distracting the referee every now and then so Callihan could get some cheap shots on Mack. After a few minutes, Mack finally made a comeback by catching Crist with a big lariat, a pop-up forearm, and a Codebreaker for a near fall.

Mack went for a top rope move, but Crist cut him off and went to hit a superplex, only for Mack to counter and hit an ugly looking sunset flip powerbomb — Crist pretty much landed on his head. He managed to get up and hit a superkick to level out Mack, who followed with an exploder to the turnbuckle for a two count.

Mack placed Crist in the tree of woe and went for a Coast to Coast, but he got stopped by the distraction of oVe. That gave Crist the opportunity to hit a top rope cutter for the win. Jake Crist qualifies for Homecoming’s Ultimate X match.

Back from commercial, Tessa Blanchard cut a promo saying that Taya Valkyrie is nothing more than Johnny Impact’s wife because she doesn’t have the Knockouts Championship. Blanchard said that Valkyrie only has Johnny, but she has Mr. Impact Wrestling himself — Moose. Moose cut a promo too, saying he sent Eddie Edwards to a mental hospital, and tonight he defeats Johnny Impact. Good work by both.

Dark Allie (w/ Su Yung) defeated Heather Monroe

Monroe went for the attack early on, hit a flurry of forearms, elbows, and went for a quick pin, only for Dark Allie to kick out at one and hit a backstabber to cut her off. Allie started her offense with strikes on the mat and stomped and choked Monroe against the ropes. When Monroe tried to make a comeback, Dark Allie simply stopped her and stayed on the offensive. Allie hit a neckbreaker and a senton for a two count.

The finish saw Monroe dodge a superkick, only to catch a second one, followed by a Codebreaker, and Allie finally picked up the win. This was somewhat sloppy and longer than it needed to be.

After the pin, Dark Allie put on Su Yung’s dirty glove and locked in the Mandible Claw on Monroe until Kiera Hogan came down for the save. Hogan tried to talk some sense into Dark Allie, only to be taken out with a forearm by Allie. Su Yung joined the attack, and Dark Allie finished Hogan off with a Codebreaker.

Back from commercial, Willie Mack and Rich Swann were talking about oVe interfering in Mack’s match. Swann doesn’t want to start a war with oVe and talked Mack out of doing so too. Swann asked Mack to back him up next week as he takes on Dave Crist in another Ultimate X qualifying match.

The Desi Hit Squad (Rohit Raju & Raj Singh w/ Gama Singh) defeated Damien Drake & Manny Lemons

Raj Singh started the match against Drake, overpowering him and forcing him to tag Lemons, who is somewhat bigger and made a stand against Singh, only to be overpowered too. Drake came in — and once again got overpowered and taken out with a knee version of the Doomsday Device.

The Desi Hit Squad continued with the double team as they stomped Drake in the corner, making quick tags. Lemons came in without a tag, but he got taken out with a series of rolling cannonballs in the corner. The finish saw the Desi Hit Squad win with a fireman’s carry and jumping knee combination. This was an okay squash.

Backstage, Matt Sydal and Ethan Page were getting ready. Sydal was sharing his teachings, pushing Page to open his third eye. Page was doing curls instead and blowed off Sydal, telling him that he needs to get ready too.

Back from commercial, Katarina was being interviewed by McKenzie Mitchell. Katarina talked about Jordynne Grace coming in and using her to try and get over. She warned Grace that when someone crosses Katarina, they disappear, just like Grado and Joe Hendry got taken out by Murder Clown. She introduced Ruby Raze as her new enforcer.

The GWN Flashback Moment of the Week was Chris Sabin cashing in Option C and winning the World title from Bully Ray at 2013’s Destination X.

McKenzie Mitchell was waiting outside the Impact offices, waiting for Eli Drake to come out. Drake has an invitation from Abyss to a Monster’s Ball match for Homecoming, and Drake was complaining to Impact office that a piece of paper is not how a match should become official, but he will take on the challenge and make an example out of Abyss.

Back from commercial, The Rascalz were doing their That 70’s Show skit, but this time, Scarlett Bordeaux was with them, telling them that she was impressed with their match last week. She then suddenly disappeared into smoke.

Ethan Page defeated Matt Sydal in an Ultimate X qualifying match

This started with both men doing a series of locks and reversals, with Page showing that he has learned Sydal’s style and coming to a stalemate. As Page started getting the upper hand, Sydal got more aggressive, showing that he hasn’t taught Page everything that he knows. That prompted Page’s aggressive side to also come out. Both started going back and forth, with Page using his strength advantage and Sydal using his speed and superior technical expertise.

Sydal took Page down with a jumping kick and started his offense, taking out one of Page’s legs and targeting the head, earning a two count after a running knee to the corner. Page made a comeback as he caught Sydal’s plancha into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker out of nowhere. Page got a near fall after a big boot and hit a cutter on the apron, with both men landing on the floor.

Back from commercial, we found both men chopping each other. Page got the advantage and set Sydal on the corner, only to be countered. Sydal took down Page with a hurricanrana. Sydal started to chase the Shooting Star Press, but Page managed to cut him off and hit a Swanton Bomb for a near fall.

They started trading quick roll-ups and reversals until Page managed to keep Sydal down on one of those for the three count and qualify for Ultimate X. After the match, Sydal put over Page.

We jumped to Shady Acres Psychiatric Hospital with Eddie Edwards playing chess with Raven! Edwards was going crazier saying that he doesn’t belong here, that everyone says he takes things too far, but Raven told him that he hasn’t gone far enough and he shouldn’t allow Alisha or anyone to decide how far he takes his actions.

Raven got Edwards a keycard in order to escape and told him that he owes him one as Edwards ran off.

Back from commercial, Pentagon Jr. and Fenix were backstage and were met by LAX and Konnan, who told them to keep it friendly, even bringing up Daniel Cormier and Cain Velasquez not fighting because they’re in the same camp. He asked both teams that they promise to keep it friendly, but they were already starting to talk about who the best tag team is, and as usual, Pentagon got in people’s faces with his Cero Miedo taunt, causing Konnan to get mad and storm off.

McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Johnny Impact and Taya Valkyrie. Impact said that he is preparing for Homecoming, but tonight he has to take on Moose, and it’s a special night since it’s the first time he and Valkyrie are tagging together. Valkyrie said that tonight, Tessa Blanchard gets a small taste of what La Wera Loca is bringing to Homecoming.

Impact World Champion Johnny Impact & Taya Valkyrie defeated Moose & Knockouts Champion Tessa Blanchard

Impact and Moose started the match, with Johnny getting the upper hand and forcing Moose to run to Blanchard and tag her. The women came in, with Valkyrie working a lucha style and also getting the upper hand until both Moose and Blanchard found themselves outside the ring and taken out by Impact and Valkyrie’s synchronized assault.

Back in the ring, Impact and Valkyrie got distracted playing to the crowd, allowing Moose and Blanchard to attack them and toss them outside the ring.

Back from commercial, Blanchard had control over Valkyrie, working her back with a series of kicks and running knees and taunting Impact to “save her.” Moose tagged in and pretended to attack Valkyrie, but because of the mixed tag rules, he only cheap shotted Impact and tagged in Blanchard again.

Blanchard locked in a really painful looking submission. She started chasing the Hammerlock DDT, but Valkyrie countered, dodged a spear launching Blanchard into the post, and Valkyrie finally made the hot tag to Impact.

Impact came in and ran wild on Moose, hitting a standing Shooting Star Press for a two count. Impact started to chase Starship Pain, but Moose dodged and they began trading kicks. Impact countered a Go to Hell with a rana, but Moose came back with a senton for a near fall, and as he tried to follow with a spear, Impact dodged and hit a neckbreaker, but he was too close to the ropes for the pin.

Blanchard and Valkyrie got tagged in, with Valkyrie controlling the action this time. Blanchard hit a ripcord cutter out of nowhere for a two count and once again looked for the hammerlock DDT. She got countered on and taken out with a German suplex pin by Valkyrie, but Moose pulled the referee out of the ring to stop the count.

Impact dove on Moose, leaving Blanchard open for Valkyrie to hit a curb stomp and lock in an STF for the submission win.

After the match, Moose hit Impact with a spear. Valkyrie got distracted with Moose, allowing Blanchard to hit her from behind. Killer Kross came down, and as Blanchard was about to hit Valkyrie with a chair, Kross stopped her, grabbing the chair off her hands. Brian Cage ran down and took out everyone, sending them away. Cage helped Valkyrie up — and Impact and Cage ended the show by getting in each other’s face.

Overall, this was a fun show for Impact, particularly strong inside the ring and escalating the ongoing stories towards Homecoming. Next week, Moose takes on Cage and Santana faces Fenix. And in the last two Ultimate X qualifiers, Trey Miguel debuts against Trevor Lee and Rich Swann takes on Dave Crist.