Impact Wrestling has suspended Tommy Dreamer following controversial comments he made on Thursday’s Dark Side of the Ring episode.
In a statement obtained by John Pollock of Post Wrestling, Impact said, “We are aware of Mr. Laughlin’s (Tommy Dreamer) comments on “Dark Side of the Ring”. The views expressed by him in the interview are completely unacceptable. We can confirm Mr. Laughlin was suspended this morning with immediate effect, pending further action”.
Earlier Friday, Fightful reported that Dreamer would not be at this weekend’s set of Impact TV tapings in Nashville, Tennessee, saying that staff was informed of his absence during a production meeting Friday. The company has three days of taping and Dreamer is part of the creative team, occasionally still working matches.
Dreamer (Tom Laughlin) came under fire following Thursday’s Dark Side of the Ring that focused on “the plane ride from hell” in which a group of WWE wrestlers got heavily intoxicated prior to and during a 2002 international flight back to the United States — an embarrassment for WWE that resulted in several firings and a lawsuit settlement.
Dreamer, who was on the flight, defended Ric Flair who was accused by flight attendant Heidi Doyle of exposing himself to her, pushing her up against the back door of the plane and putting her hand on his genitals. Flair has denied the claims.
Dreamer said Flair is “not going to impose, by force, any sexual stuff onto anybody. He’s just flaunting…stylin’ and profilin’…like the Ric Flair stuff where everybody’s going to laugh about it. Obviously, somebody took offense to it.”
He later said Flair was being portrayed as a sexual predator.
“It’s a joke. It’s a gag. Today? 1000% inappropriate,” he said. “I have hung out with Ric Flair and have never seen him force his will against anybody.”
On the WWE settlement with Doyle following the incident, Dreamer said, “If that’s how she felt, maybe she should have not taken a payout and went to the fullest extent of the law to put this heinous person in jail. My opinion.”
On Friday’s Busted Open Radio where Dreamer is an occasional co-host, host Dave LaGreca said they are taking the situation “very seriously” and don’t condone any of the behavior displayed on the show. They didn’t go into detail about when and if Dreamer will be back, but only that they are taking the situation seriously and “what will happen, will happen.”
Dreamer has yet to comment publicly on the episode.
Tuesday’s edition of Impact Wrestling on AXS will feature the current champion and next title challenger on the same side as Rich Swann will team with Tommy Dreamer to face Moose and Chris Bey in the main event.
Swann and Dreamer will square off on February 13th’s No Surrender on Impact Plus for Swann’s World title. Swann challenged Dreamer to the match last week as it will be the legend’s 50th birthday.
The show will also feature X-Division Champion TJP (Manik) vs. Rohit Raju in a non-title match with a secret helper that has been assisting Raju; Jordynne Grace vs. Susan in a battle of former Knockouts Champions; Josh Alexander vs. Sawyer Fulton; Havok vs. Tasha Steelz; and an appearance by Private Party and Matt Hardy. Private Party will face the Good Brothers at No Surrender for the Impact Tag Team Titles.
Our live coverage kicks off at 8 PM Eastern.
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Opening video recapped Joe Doering’s path of destruction from last week, plus the EY’s invitation for Cousin Jake to join them. Also, a recap of the main event from last week, where Trey Miguel made his return to join Impact World Champion Rich Swann, Willie Mack, and Tommy Dreamer, when they fought Sami Callihan, Ken Shamrock, Chris Bey, and Moose.
The story behind Havok/Nevaeh vs Fire ‘n Flava goes way back, but as of late, Hogan and Steelz defeated Havok and Nevaeh to capture the vacant Knockout tag team titles, and now Havok and Nevaeh are looking for a rematch. Last week, they jumped them champions during their title win celebration.
Match saw Steelz get an early advantage thanks to Hogan’s outside distractions, allowing Steelz to get Havok off her feet and go after the leg, but as soon as she made the mistake of allowing Havok to make it to her feet, Havok took control of the match.
Steelz tried to regain some momentum, but Havok’s power advantage was too much for her, and ended with a tombstone piledriver from Havok for the win. At one point, Hogan tried distracting Havok again, but Nevaeh was there to take out Steelz during the distraction.
The tag title match is inevitable, potentially at No Surrender.
– D’lo Brown and Matt Striker recapped last week’s Shamrock attack on the referee, security, and Callihan himself. D’Amore blamed Callihan for the attack, suspended Shamrock indefinitely. In addition, Striker and Brown ran down tonight’s card.
– Rich Swann and Tommy Dreamer had a talk backstage about their title match coming up and the main event tonight, where they face Bey and Moose. Swann offered Dreamer to let him do the work tonight so that Dreamer could be at No Surrender healthy. Dreamer took it like he was called old and that he couldn’t hang with the young boys anymore. Good little dissension to fuel their match.
– Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows talked about still being the Impact tag team champions. They hyped teaming with Kenny Omega at tomorrow’s Dynamite. They talked about screwing Private Party before No Surrender.
James Storm and Chris Sabin approached the Good Brothers and confronted them about the post match attack from weeks ago. Sabin challenged them to a title match, but the Good Brothers rejected the idea since they didn’t have anything else to prove. Gallows didn’t want it since they wanted to be fresh for tomorrow’s Dynamite, and so instead proposed for a match next week.
Josh Alexander defeated Madman Fulton (with Ace Austin)
Last week, Josh Alexander had his first sight of success since the dissension of The North, he tagged with Matt Cardona to defeat the team of Fulton and Austin. This week, he’ll try to do it by himself.
Match saw Fulton dominate Alexander from the get go. Alexander tried to go for Fulton’s leg, but couldn’t bring him down for a while. He did eventually manage to use his slight speed advantage to dodge around and catch Fulton with a German, and counter a big boot for the ankle lock. Fulton regained control, chokeslammed Alexander on the apron, a second in the ring for a near fall, when Fulton went for the finish, Alexander countered, hit a Jay Driller, and picked up the win.
Big singles win for Josh Alexander. The feud is likely to continue, but it seems that Alexander can finally start to put The North behind him.
– Brian Myers came down to the ring. He is wearing an eye patch after Eddie Edwards attacked his eye last week. Myers said that he somewhat brought his injuries on himself for being the most professional wrestler, it was bound to end coming face to face with the most unprofessional wrestler — Edwards. He wanted Edwards at No Surrender, but as he was about to say that he was not cleared to wrestle, Edwards ran down and attacked him.
Hernandez rushed the ring and attacked Edwards. Myers told Edwards that Hernandez will face him at No Surrender. Matt Cardona came down and made the save. They seem to be bulding for a Myers vs Cardona thing here.
– Johnny Swinger’s casino seems to be a thing still, he was cashing out on the house’s wins over Bahh and Alisha Edwards. I don’t even know where this is going anymore.
– Backstage, Edwards thanked Cardona for the save and proposed they ask for a tag match against Myers and Hernandez.
Larry D (with Acey Romero) defeated Crazzy Steve (with Rosemary)
Last week, Larry D blamed Rosemary’s plans at Wrestle House for him being cursed and ending in prison after Taya took advantage of the curse. He attacked Crazzy Steve, and thus we have the match tonight.
Match was a speed vs power match. Crazzy Steve started the match with some momentum, but D cut him off after Romero tripped him. D mostly worked over him with strikes and by tossing him around, while Steve kept trying to bite D as a means to cut him off, but it was never enough, and the match ended with D knocking out Steve with an elbow. Ok match, could had been better with more time and less one-sidedness.
After the match, Rosemary faced Larry D and actually intimidated XXXL to leave her and Steve alone.
– Gia Miller interviewed Trey Miguel. He talked about having two crutches, referring to Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz, but now he wanted to show that he could stand on his own.
Sami Callihan interrupted him and brought up that Miguel had the tools to be a good wrestler, but not a top guy on Impact. Xavier and Wentz being his crutches was only an excuse and he was already throwing them under the bus. Callihan pushed some buttons and told Miguel to really think hard on who he wants to be.
– Miller interviewed XXXL about D’s win over Steve. Miller asked about the hesitation against Rosemary, but D said that there was no hesitation, XXXL was ready to take on the whole roster and that they wouldn’t hit a woman.
Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb with a K approached them, offered to help them if they needed someone to hit Rosemary for them. D said that if Decay can find themselves a third person, XXXL and Dashwood are ready for them at No Surrender.
The story between Grace and Purrazzo goes back to the latter’s debut in Impact. As of late, Purrazzo and her mates have antagonized Jazz and Grace, even defeating them not long ago. Last week, Susan jumped the shark and challenged Grace to a singles match.
Jordynne Grace had the power and experience advantage over Susan, but Purrazzo and Lee kept interfering to allow Susan to cut off Grace and maintain control. It would take some time, but eventually between Grace and Jazz, they’d take out Purrazzo and Lee out for enough time so that Grace could hit the Grace Driver on Susan for the win.
After the match, Purrazzo and Lee attacked them and they all ganged up on Jazz and Grace, but suddenly, ODB made her return to the promotion and made the save. Grace seems to be building a veterans group.
– Backstage, Private Party argued to Matt Hardy that Storm and Sabin were trying to get involved in their business. Hardy told them to calm down, they already have the Impact tag title shot secured, but now, they need to focus on tomorrow’s battle royale where they can earn a title shot at the Young Bucks’ titles. Hardy said he had everything under control.
– We got our weekly AEW commercial with Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone. They hyped their Beach Break. Khan said that his time messing with Impact had led him to be more open about making emotional decisions outside of AEW and that’s why he allowed Moxley to go to NJPW. So NJPW and AEW publicity on Impact this week.
– Grace, Jazz, and ODB talked backstage. ODB said that she worked her food truck nearby and dropped to say hello, when she saw the 3-on-2 attack and decided to help.
Rohit Raju defeated X Division Champion TJP in a non-title match
Rohit requested this match from D’Amore, he had expected a title match, but was tricked out of it. As a result of that, Rohit talked to an unknown person for help, so he could defeat TJP here and get the title match he wanted, and finally regain the X title.
Match was really good. TJP worked with submissions, while Raju’s offense was based on strikes and knee attacks. They went back and forward, with Raju having a slight advantage because his strikes were doing more damage, while TJP was relying on reversing and countering Raju into pins or submissions, but not necessarily hurting Raju. In addition, Raju later in the match, started also going after TJP’s arm.
TJP had to change his game to an aerial match in order to gain momentum, but Raju still had done more damage. When TJP tried to hide under the ring as he had before, Raju had been ready for that and had Mahabali Shera hidden under the ring, ready to take out TJP. Shera slammed TJP on the apron and Raju picked up the win. The Desi Hit Squad is back!
Raju vs TJP will be clashing for the title soon, also likely to happen at No Surrender. TJP may need to get back with Fallah Bahh.
– Eric Young and VBD cut a promo explaining why they didn’t attack Cousin Jake last week. They told him that VBD is not open for everyone, but Jake has an invitation if he chooses.
– Miller interviewed Cousin Jake about EY’s invitation to join Violent By Design. Jake said he didn’t have an answer, but he’d give them one next week.
– Brown and Striker ran down next week’s card. ODB vs Kimber Lee, Kiera Hogan vs Nevaeh. Good Brothers vs James Storm & Chris Sabin with the titles on the line. And finally, the Swann vs Dreamer contract signing.
Moose & Chris Bey defeated Impact World Champion Rich Swann & Tommy Dreamer
This was built from last week’s main event, sans Callihan and Trey Miguel that have gone on to have their own program together. Swann and Dreamer will be wrestling for the title at No Surrender.
Prior to the match, we saw Swann make a comment that underestimated Dreamer’s fuel tank, commentary even built on this, talking about his injuries, comparing him to Terry Funk in terms of wrestling at this age, and so on. The story of the match added some dissension there, having Swann be the babyface in peril everytime he got in the ring, and even if he had told Dreamer that he’d do the work tonight, he had to rely and tag in Dreamer in order to survive.
Finish of the match saw Moose set up for the lights out on Dreamer, but Dreamer moved out of the way and sent Moose straight into Swann, who was legal and pinned for the win.
After the match, Moose also attacked Dreamer with another lights out, pretty much telling them that whoever wins on at No Surrender, he’ll come after them. Moose posed with both world titles to close the show.
Final thoughts —
Ok show from Impact. Main event and TJP vs Raju were particularly good. There was some good build towards No Surrender.
Rich Swann’s next Impact World Championship defense is set.
It was announced on Tuesday night’s episode of Impact that Swann will defend his Impact World Championship against Tommy Dreamer at the promotion’s next Impact Plus event, No Surrender. During the opening of Tuesday’s Impact, Swann came out to the ring and called out Dreamer. He mentioned that No Surrender will be held on Dreamer’s 50th birthday, Saturday, February 13, and issued a challenge to Dreamer.
Sami Callihan came down and insisted on getting the next title shot instead. That brought out Chris Bey, as well as Moose, who also wanted a title match. It ended up in a brawl, with Willie Mack coming out to help Swann and Dreamer. However, Ken Shamrock then arrived, leaving Swann, Dreamer, and Mack laying.
Prior to the brawl, Swann informed Callihan, Bey, and Moose that his title match against Dreamer was already set for No Surrender.
Swann, Dreamer & Mack teamed with the returning Trey Miguel to defeat Callihan, Bey, Moose & Shamrock in the main event of Tuesday’s Impact.
Also set for No Surrender is a Impact Tag Team title match, with The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) defending the titles against AEW’s Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy). Private Party defeated Chris Sabin & James Storm on last week’s Impact to earn the title match.
Three new matches have been added for Impact’s next pay-per-view, Hard to Kill.
Sami Callihan will face Eddie Edwards in a barbed wire massacre match. Their match at the end of tonight’s Impact main event ended in a no contest when the video screen showed Edwards’ wife Alisha caged in somewhere in the backstage area. Edwards went to save her, but it was a trap as Callihan’s associate Ken Shamrock jumped Edwards as he approached the cage. Callihan then came in and attacked Edwards with a bat.
A six-man tag team match has also been set for Had to Kill. Eric Young, Cody Deaner & Joe Doering will face Tommy Dreamer, Rhino & Cousin Jake in an old school rules match (a no DQ and no countout match). Rhino & Jake faced Deaner & Doering on tonight’s show, with Deaner getting the win over Jake after a low blow. Dreamer made the save for the team after the match and issued the challenge.
Additionally, Ethan Page and Karate Man will face off against one another at Hard to Kill, despite Karate Man also being portrayed by Page. Page was in a therapy session during a segment on tonight’s Impact with Karate Man, talking about how his career has been derailed since The North lost the Impact Tag Team titles. He ended up getting into an argument with Karate Man, leading Page to challenge him for Hard to Kill.
Other matches slated for the show include Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) vs. Rich Swann & The Motor City Machine Guns, Deonna Purrazzo vs. Taya Valkyrie for the Knockouts Championship, Manik vs. Chris Bey vs. Rohit Raju for the X-Division Championship, and Havok & Nevaeh vs. Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz in the Knockouts Tag Team title tournament finals.
Impact Wrestling returned to the West Coast for this week’s Cali Combat special episode from Port Hueneme, California. The show took place from the Championship Wrestling from Hollywood venue, which looks great, but the ring is considerably smaller than their usual one.
The opening video featured Moose defeating Fallah Bahh, Rosemary’s return, the ongoing story with Ace Austin and the Edwards household, Michael Elgin and Rhino’s feud, the build to tonight’s title matches, and — finally — Tessa Blanchard defeating Dave Crist in last week’s tag team main event.
The Twitch stream was hosted by Melissa Santos. She hyped Ken Shamrock’s return to Impact Wrestling and helped build up his ongoing feud with Moose.
Michael Elgin vs. Rhino ended in a double countout
The episode opened with the biggest match of the night. The match started and they went straight to trading shoulder tackles and forearms. Elgin was the first to be taken off his feet as he rolled out of the ring and stalled. Elgin returned to the ring, but Rhino stayed on the upper hand with a spear to the corner, forcing Elgin to leave the ring again. This time, Rhino followed.
After a couple of strikes outside, Rhino sent Elgin back to the ring. Elgin gained control, stomping Rhino and hitting a couple of Irish whips. They traded chops in the corner until Rhino couldn’t take any more. Elgin hit a scoop slam and several elbows for a two count.
Elgin and Rhino collided when Rhino intended to make a comeback. Rhino went for a running attack, but Elgin caught him with a uranage. Elgin went for a senton, but Rhino moved out of the way, sending Elgin crashing down. Rhino finally made a comeback with some strikes and a big spinebuster for a two count.
Elgin rammed Rhino to the corner and hit a running clothesline before going for a suplex, but Rhino kept blocking it, forcing Elgin to hit a discus forearm and German suplex combo for a two count. Rhino hit a desperation piledriver, but he couldn’t follow up with the pin quickly enough. Rhino hit a superplex, but once again, he was taking too much time to pin Elgin.
Rhino finally tried for the Gore, but Elgin got him with a jumping knee and a huge clothesline. They both rolled out of the ring, where they brawled to a double countout. That got huge boos from the crowd and chants of “let them fight.”
After the bell, Elgin and Rhino kept brawling inside the ring. They traded strikes until referees and security came out for the big pull apart.
Backstage, Elgin cut a promo on Rhino and told him that this isn’t over. Rhino chased Elgin through the halls and they brawled once again, with all the security chasing behind Rhino. This is heating up nicely. These two need to explode in an all-out brawl.
Impact Tag Team Champions The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) defeated Reno Scum (Adam Thornstowe & Luster the Legend) to retain their titles
Luster looks to be in great shape — he has lost some weight and picked up some muscle definition.
Page and Luster started the match with a good old collar-and-elbow lock, but it took mere seconds for Luster to get the upper hand on Page. Luster hit a falling headbutt to the gut and a scoop slam before bringing in Thornstowe. Alexander tagged in. He blocked Thornstowe’s dropkick to gain control, then worked over Thornstowe’s head.
Back from commercial, The North still had control over Thornstowe and worked him over in the corner. Page landed a huge backbreaker for a two count. Thornstowe finally managed to get an opening after dodging a running Page and tagged Luster in.
Luster came in and took out both Page and Alexander with running clotheslines to each corner, a bulldog, and a running knee. Alexander took a huge spinebuster for a two count. Thornstowe hit a foot stomp on Page to take him out, but he still managed to break up a pinning attempt on Alexander.
Luster hit a suicide dive on Page, leaving Thornstowe in the ring to hit a Death Valley Driver on Alexander. But as Thornstowe went for a moonsault, he got cut off in the corner, where The North recovered and hit their finisher for the win. Good match — Reno Scum looked the best they have in Impact.
Backstage, Ace Austin pretended to be injured and asked Alisha Edwards to help him get out of his T-shirt.
Jordynne Grace was in her locker room when Madison Rayne approached her. Rayne, as the locker room leader, felt it was her duty to tell Grace about Rosemary and warned her that everyone who gets involved with Rosemary ends up hurt. Grace told Rayne that she doesn’t need Rosemary.
Havok defeated Alisha Edwards
Alisha managed to dodge Havok for a bit at the start. She got a couple of strikes in, but it was a total squash once Havok caught her.
Havok tossed Alisha around from the hair, hit a backbreaker, and choked her around the ring. Alisha had a hope spot hitting a top rope plancha, but Havok caught her, hit a Tombstone piledriver, and pinned Alisha for the three count.
After the match, Ace Austin came out to look after Alisha. But right behind him was Eddie Edwards, who chased Austin until Eddie mistakenly ran into Havok. Havok chokeslammed Eddie, allowing Austin to take off with Alisha. Eddie sold for Havok afterwards.
The video was then interrupted by Su Yung talking backwards Twin Peaks style.
We got a video promo by oVe where Sami Callihan blamed Dave Crist for last week’s loss to Tessa Blanchard & Tommy Dreamer. Callihan said that he will soon capture the World title — because he doesn’t care if Cage is injured or not. He said that tonight, Jake Crist won’t need help defending against Rich Swann. Good stuff.
We got a video interview from Moose as he walked with two ladies in LA. He looked amazing. The interviewer asked about Ken Shamrock being there in Las Vegas. Moose said that it was all Shamrock looking to get some attention and so Shamrock was coming after Mr. Impact Wrestling himself. Moose said that he’s been putting down legends for a long time and Shamrock was next.
X-Division Champion Jake Crist defeated Rich Swann to retain his title
Jake was sporting a new look with blonder hair, sunglasses, and a new vest. He started quick with a superkick on Swann and immediately had control. They traded reversals in a quick sequence that ended with Jake hitting a diving DDT that Swann countered, hitting a kick instead.
Back in the ring, Swann went for a top rope move, but once again, Jake caught him with a superkick. Jake went to choke out Swann, but Swann escaped and tried to pin Jake with a sunset flip that got a two count. Jake landed yet another superkick to keep Swann down.
Jake dropped Swann on the apron back-first for a two count and again went for the sleeper. Jake hit a Russian leg sweep, then followed with a submission lock.
Swann finally hit a desperation jumping clothesline to get some space to hit a striking combo and send Jake to the floor. Swann followed down and hit a senton from the stage. Swann hit a Savage-like flying elbow for a two count.
Jake hit a DVD for two. He tried for the Buckeye Drop, but Swann countered. Swann hit a kick to the head and the 450, but Jake managed to kick out at two.
Swann kicked Jake in the head one more time and went for the Lethal Injection, but Jake pulled the ref in front of him. That gave Jake enough of a distraction to roll up Swann, pull the tights, and retain his championship. Okay match — not as good as their previous one.
We got a vignette for Tenille Dashwood’s debut. She talked about wrestling all over the world and in some of the best promotions. She said that she wanted to wrestle in the Knockouts division and is going straight for Taya’s title.
We went to the Deaner farm, where The Desi Hit Squad had just arrived. The Deaners immediately made them wear overalls instead of their traditional clothing. Rohit Raju kind of liked it.
The Impact Plus Moment of the Week was Ken Shamrock winning the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship at the first-ever TNA show. Shamrock defeated Malice in the main event, which was refereed by Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat.
Taya gave her address about the Knockouts Championship. She brought up that she is on day 229 — and as of next week, she’ll be the longest reigning Knockouts Champion in history. She said that to celebrate, she will defend her title against someone new and big in Mexico.
Willie Mack defeated Trey Miguel
They worked a speed vs. power match with Miguel initially dodging every advance Mack made. But as soon as Mack got ahold of him, he dropped Miguel with a shoulder tackle. Miguel made Mack chase him around, leading to a sequence of reversals that ended with Mack hitting the Samoan drop and moonsault combo.
Mack, now in control, whipped Miguel around from corner to corner. Miguel went for a Fenix-like arm drag, jumping in the ropes, but Mack blocked it. Mack hit a kick combo in the corner and ended with a running cannonball. Mack went for the stunner, but Miguel countered, then hit a kick and a neckbreaker for a two count.
Miguel and Mack traded strikes in the middle of the ring. Miguel got the better of Mack and went for a top rope move, but Mack blocked with an uppercut. Miguel hit some Cheeky Nandos and the Trey19. He went for a meteora, but Mack caught him with the stunner for the win. Short, fun match.
Melissa Santos interviewed Dreamer about facing Callihan tonight. Dreamer talked about how Callihan is a bad person who is spreading negativity around the wrestling world. He said that tonight, he’ll enjoy beating Callihan up and making the world a better place.
Commentary announced that next week, Rhino vs. Elgin will take place with a falls count anywhere stipulation.
Sami Callihan defeated Tommy Dreamer in a no DQ match
The match started with both men going for the brawl style exchange of fists. Dreamer went for a Bionic Elbow early, but Callihan rolled out to the floor. Dreamer followed as they brawled around the ring. Callihan rammed Dreamer into the ring post. In retaliation, Dreamer attacked Callihan with the timekeeper’s bell and hammer.
Back from commercial, Callihan and Dreamer were facing off with a baseball bat and kendo stick in hand. Dreamer got the better of Callihan with a Russian leg sweep, getting an opening to look for some chairs to bring to the ring. That gave Callihan time to recover and land a kick, dropping Dreamer and getting some kendo stick shots in.
Callihan went for Dreamer’s DDT on some chairs, but Dreamer countered, forcing Callihan to only trip down Dreamer on the chairs for a two count. Callihan hit Dreamer with a chair, but he played to the crowd instead of going for the pin. Callihan set up a chair between the ropes.
Dreamer came back with some jabs and the Bionic Elbow. He faked out Callihan, sending him straight for the chair in the corner. Dreamer then hit a quick DDT for a two count.
Dreamer brought a trash can and a short ladder into the ring, but he ended up being hit by both for a two count.
Callihan set up the trash can in the corner and whipped Dreamer into it, but Dreamer stopped himself and sent Callihan face-first into the trash can with a slingshot. Dreamer followed with another DDT for 2.99.
Dreamer went for a piledriver, but Callihan blocked it with a groin claw and a drop toe hold onto a chair.
Callihan brought out a piece of plywood that he used to set up as a bed between two chairs, with the fans chanting “that’s a table.” Dreamer then countered with a groin claw and a piledriver, but Callihan got his foot on the ropes.
Dreamer set up Callihan on the ladder and went for a flying elbow, but Callihan got out of the way. Dreamer landed terribly on the ladder, becoming easy prey for Callihan to hit him with the Cactus Special on the plywood for the win.
After the match, Callihan went to break Dreamer’s arm between the ladder, but Tessa Blanchard came out for the save. She went to take out Callihan with his own bat, but Jake Crist came out and took her out from behind, leaving her open for a Cactus Special as oVe stood tall in the ring.
Final Thoughts —
Not much for a special episode. It was a fun and easy watch, but it really did feel like a transition show between tapings. The build for Callihan and Blanchard’s title chase moved on in a good way.
Impact Wrestling comes from St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, Canada as the road to Bound for Glory continues. Opening video covered all championship matches from last week and the setups to tonight’s matches.
Twitch stream tonight was hosted by Melissa Santos, who is at the Impact tapings from Fronton Mexico in Mexico City. We had cameos from Ethan Page and Rich Swann.
Moose defeated Fallah Bahh
Bahh has dropped a lot of weight and he was showing a more serious side coming in to this match.
Match started with both men going for the strike exchange. Moose immediately went for the tricks as he tried to step on Bahh’s barefeet and raked the eyes. Moose got control by throwing Bahh to the outside and ramming him against the rails, but Bahh came back with a big running crossbody when Moose started to play to the crowd. Bahh dropped Moose with an over-the-head toss.
Back in the ring, Moose took out Bahh’s knee to regain control of the match. Moose worked over Bahh for a while with stomps and chokes until Moose once again started talking trash, provoking Bahh to hulk up and comeback with a Samoan Drop. Bahh hit a rolling Belly-to-belly for a two count. The exchanced running strikes in the corner before Moose hit a huge Superplex. Moose went for the No Jackhammer Needed, but Bahh dodged it and hit a running hip attack in the corner instead. Bahh went for the Banzai Drop, but Moose got up and hit the NJN for the win. Pretty good opener. Bahh was busted open at the top of the nose, but nothing serious.
Backstage, Dreamer approached Tessa, who told Tommy that she didn’t need his help out there last week. Tommy gave Tessa a history lesson about her grandfather. He told Tessa that he’s not out there because Tully and Magnum asked him to take care of her, but because he believes in her and he wants to stand along Tessa. Good promo, but a bit overdramatic.
We got a video from a forest with Su Yung talking in tongues to her bridesmaids as they carry a coffin with Havok’s name on it.
Josh Mathews and Don Callis ran down the card and announced the Cali Combat special episode for next Friday.
Okay match, it was more of a squash since the story was that Grace was kept caged while Hogan and Rayne worked over Nicole.
The heels started the match getting a cheap shot on Nicole while the referee distracted himself getting Grace out of the ring. After a double team move, Rayne worked over Nicole first, but it didn’t last long as Rayne distracted herself with the crowd and Nicole reversed Rayne’s attack, hit a couple of kicks and a running Meteora for a two count. Rayne managed to push Nicole back to her corner and get Hogan in.
Back from commercial, Rayne and Hogan kept control over Nicole with quick tags, but they started to get frustrated that they couldn’t keep Nicole down for the pin. Nicole finally reversed.
Grace came in and took out both Hogan and Rayne, getting a two count on the latter with a Grace Driver. She quickly tagged in Nicole back again, who pinned the wrong woman in the chaos, allowing Hogan to get rid of Jordynne, leaving Rayne to take out Nicole for the pin.
After the match, Hogan and Rayne teamed up attacking Jordynne until the lights went out and thus returned Rosemary, who speared Rayne and took out Hogan with a Butterfly Suplex.
Kiera Hogan got some “Girl on Water’ chants now that she has blue hair.
Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was the first ever Super X Cup Finals between Chris Sabin and Juventud Guerrera.
Backstage, Alisha Edwards confronted Ace Austin, but Ace made himself the victim saying he didn’t feel safe anymore with Eddie, he said he only wanted to be friends and that he was concerned about her safety too. Alisha’s acting is terrible.
Back from commercial, Ace pretended to had been attacked for Alisha to find him, but unfortunately for him, Eddie also showed up. Eddie was taken away by security and a shouting Alisha.
We got a vignette of Taya walking down Venice Beach with John E. Bravo being a stooge. The stuff with Taya was great, the stuff with Bravo was overly comedic for its own good.
We were getting a card announcement when Josh had breaking news that Rhino and Elgin were brawling outside the building. Elgin rammed Rhino to a truck before getting dragged away from security. Man, this security team is really having a rough night.
Rich Swann, Willie Mack & Rob Van Dam defeated The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel)
All the Rascalz were marking out at RVD before the match, they all wanted to fight him first. This got ‘This is Awesome’ chants before the match even started.
RVD started the match against all three men when they were all taken out with one kick. Mack and Dezmond tagged in and they actually started the match now.
Mack and Swann had control over Dezmond for a while with quick tags and some double team moves. Swann and Dezmond had a nice exchange that lead to the Rascalz gaining control. Now it was time for the Rascalz to do a series of tags and double team moves on Swann, earning Miguel a two count on Swann. Trey Miguel and Rich Swann had another short sequence with reversals, that ended with Swann making a comeback on all three Rascalz.
RVD got the hot tag. He ran over Xavier and Miguel, hit the Split-legged Moonsault on Wentz for a two count. Mack came in illegally and hit the Samoan Drop and Moonsault combo on Wentz, RVD followed with Rolling Thunder, and Swann finished it off with another Moonsault.
Swann setup Wentz for RVD’s Frog Splash, but Miguel took him out, allowing the Rascalz to got for Hot Fire Flame on Swann, now with Mack making the save by pulling Dezmond out of the ring. Miguel hit a Tope Suicida on Mack, leaving Wentz and Swann alone in the ring to get into a great strike-off. Swann won with a great kick combo. RVD finally hit the Five Star Frog Splash, followed by a Phoenix Splash by Swann for the win.
Replace RVD for someone else, and this Swann/Mack vs Rascalz feud could be fantastic.
Melissa Santos interviewed The North. She asked about what is next for them after defeating LAX and The Rascalz. Josh Alexander answered that they’re going to California and taking on all challengers. Next week, they expect competition at Cali Combat. Alexander and Page were awesome here.
Backstage, Rascalz, Swann, and Mack all congratulated each other when Jake Crist came out and teased them all about the X-Division Championship.
The Deaners (Cody Deaner & Cousin Jake) defeated Desi Hit Squad (Rohit Raju & Raj Singh) w/ Gama Singh in a match where the losing team would become the other’s servants
The match started with all four men brawling outside the ring. Deaners took out Rohit early on and hit a couple of double team moves on Raj. Rohit returned to the match and took a gutbuster. Referee tried to get the match in order, sending Cody to the corner, but the distraction allowed the Desi Hit Squad to jump Cousin Jake, but to no avail as the bigger Deaner overpowered them both with a double Suplex.
Back from commercial, Cody Deaner and Rohit Raju are going at it in the ring, with the former getting the better of both Desi Hit Squad members. They’re both sent outside, but as Cody goes for the Tope, Gama grabs his leg from behind. Cousin Jake chases Gama, allowing Raj and Rohit to return and double team Cody and turn the momentum to their side.
Desi Hit Squad kept Cody from his corner with quick tags and occasionally taking out Jake, but after Raj distracted himself with Gama, Cody finally dodged Raj’s running attack and got the tag.
Cousin Jake came in and once again tossed both Raj and Rohit to the outside, with Cody successfully landing the Top this time. Jake followed with a plancha. Jake hit the spear to the corner and a Michinoku Driver for a two count.
Gama once again distracted Jake, allowing Rohit to get a roll up two count. Cody tagged in and set the Time To Give ’Er, but Raj made the save, following with a Rohit Footstomp and Raj Flatliner combo for a two count. Rohit hit a jumping knee and a cannonball on Jake, but failed to land a codebreaker. Deaners then hit the TTG and got the win.
Backstage, Dave Crist told Sami that Fulton is not here, which was Callihan’s plan for tonight’s match. Callihan then cut a promo on Dreamer and Tessa, telling them that they’re taking out Dreamer and that Tessa will never beat Callihan.
Deaners in the back gave the Desi Hit Squad some tools to head over to the farm and start working.
Josh Mathews announced that next week, Rhino vs Elgin takes place. Also, Jake Crist vs Rich Swann for the X-Division title, The North’s open challenge, and a big announcement by Taya Valkyrie concerning the Knockout’s Championship.
Tessa Blanchard & Tommy Dreamer defeated oVe (Sami Callihan & Dave Crist)
Dreamer and Tessa rushed the ring to start the match, sending out both Callihan and Crist to the outside, for Dreamer to land a jumping clothesline and a Sunset Somersault by Tessa.
Back from commercial, Tessa is brawling with Dave outside the ring, Dreamer with Callihan inside the ring. Tessa sneaks up on Callihan, who offers Tessa a handshake, but Tessa rejects it and goes after Sami. Tessa and Dreamer take out Crist, hit Callihan with a double elbow, but before they can follow up, Dreamer is sent to the outside where Callihan hits a Scoop Slam and successfully cut the ring in half on him. Several quick tags between Callihan and Crist, going after Dreamer’s arm.
Dreamer lands a desperation kick and elbow on Crist, but fails to tag Tessa when Sami pulls Tessa off the apron. Dreamer gets another shot with a double bionic elbow and Tessa gets tagged.
Tessa comes in and hits the DDT and Neckbreaker combo on both Callihan and Crist. Tessa lands the corner Magnum on Crist for a two count when Callihan takes out the referee. Tessa and Dreamer hit DDTs on both oVe members to a two count when a second referee comes out. Tessa and Dreamer go for Cactus Specials, but Callihan and Crist low blow their opponents, with only Dreamer getting taken out, but it’s enough distraction for Callihan to return with a kendo stick and take out Tessa. As they go to take out Dreamer, Tessa recovers, takes the kendo stick, sends Callihan to the floor, and hits Magnum on Dave Crist for the pin.
Tessa and Dreamer celebrate in the ring as the show goes off the air.
Final Thoughts —
Okay show, not exactly newsworthy, but the action inside the ring was solid. They sold next week’s episode as a big event that will transition to the Mexico set of tapings.
More than two months removed from the first women’s WrestleMania main event, the WWE women’s division is struggling to regain the momentum it had earlier this year.
In a rematch from Money in the Bank, Becky Lynch will defend her Raw Women’s Championship against Lacey Evans at Stomping Grounds. Bayley and Alexa Bliss will look to improve upon their underwhelming feud from 2017 as they face off for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at the pay-per-view.
A look at what we can learn from the ticket sales to AEW’s All Out show, the ticket demand, how it compares with WrestleMania’s and major UFC events, details on the number, why the secondary market tickets are so limited, why ticket demand was so strong out of the block, reaction of the ticket industry, details on the process used for selling the ticket and what the number mean, and rate of sales for the biggest WrestleMania.
Also have a look at WWE Stomping Grounds, including ticket demand, lineup, thoughts on the matches, interest in Super Showdown and more.
Read a preview of the G-1 Climax tournament, with the lineups, who are the favorites, different storyline directions, what matches will air on television, live broadcast times of every show on the tour and more.
Take a look at Adrian “Lionheart” McCallum and his recovery from a broken neck to become a U.K. star, and the sad ending of his life.
Also look at cities being considered for WrestleMania, what city is a favorite for the next two years, value of WWE to FOX and FOX Friday numbers, WWE gets an Espy, full card for next Takeover, update on XFL, death of AAF and how they are related, more Ric Flair legal issues, funny stories on WWE names, new movie with WWE stars, new TV deal, WWE salaries and revenue, and a WWE star honored.
This issue has a complete rundown of Bellator in Madison Square Garden, the plight of Aaron Pico, notes on the new fighters, pushed fighters who lost and match-by-match coverage.
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THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
John Cena tweeted about today being the 17th anniversary of his WWE debut: “17 years ago today my @WWE journey began. It is FAR from over and has greatly changed over the years. It has given me chances to be brave and vulnerable. Today #FastAndFurious journey begins. Fear, the unknown, growth, and maybe a haircut await. Adapt. Overcome. Never Give Up.”
Roman Reigns spoke to GQ about his diet and managing to stay in shape while battling leukemia: “It’s a little different for me and those with blood cancers. We are very fortunate that we have medications referred to as oral chemotherapy. So what your grandmother was probably going through is far harsher on the system and your body. But there are similar effects when taking these medications. I’ve been on the road now for almost three weeks, and just yesterday I didn’t have an appetite. I was kind of nauseous for the majority of the day. There are some days that are struggles, and some days where it curbs your appetite and you don’t want to eat because you have that nauseous feeling. Before all this happened, I was maxing myself out and working as hard as I could. This has given me a new perspective. Sometimes you have to be smarter and pull yourself back, and that is what I’ve had to do with my diet and my training. Instead of pushing towards a goal relentlessly, I have to listen to my body, see how I’m feeling and what my energy levels are along the way.”
Despite Eric Bischoff’s new role as the executive director of SmackDown, there will be no change to Bischoff’s “83 Weeks” podcast with Conrad Thompson.
The Terry Funk ECW Award Banquet from the night before ECW Barely Legal 1997 was uploaded to the WWE Network as part of this week’s Hidden Gems additions. The WWE Network version of the video is an hour and 46 minutes long.
WWE stock closed the day at $72.20 per share, which was up 1.53 percent from yesterday.
WWE’s YouTube channel uploaded the fatal five-way match between Samoa Joe, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, and Bray Wyatt from Extreme Rules 2017.
While talking about depression and the times he’s dealt with it on the latest episode of his podcast, Tommy Dreamer opened up about wanting to hop the rail at WrestleMania X-7 and murder Paul Heyman and kill himself following the end of ECW and plans for Dreamer at WrestleMania not coming to fruition. Dreamer said he was helped by getting a call from Jim Ross that said WWE was still thinking about him and was going to get a deal done to bring him in.
Jay Lethal & The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas) vs. The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan) has been announced for ROH’s post-Best in the World TV tapings in Philadelphia this Saturday.
ROH uploaded the ladder match between Taven, Lethal, and Marty Scurll from G1 Supercard to their YouTube account.
Junior Dos Santos talked to MMA Fighting about his upcoming match against Francis Ngannou, promising to knock him out. He also expressed interest in facing Deontay Wilder in a boxing match.
Combate Americas beat UFC and Bellator in the ratings this last week. Their show on Univision scored 416,000 viewers, while UFC and Bellator did 413,000 and 386,000 respectively.
Matt Hamill is responding to reports that Dana White wants to overturn Jon Jones’ DQ loss to him: “Well I’m not complaining about jones in the past what he used illegal substance when he fought me.12/6 elbow is illegal. Back to back wins. How about rematch?”
Daniel Cormier spoke about his motivation for his second fight against Stipe Miocic: “The motivation needs to change. Before, it was, ‘I’m going to go and become a double champion.’ Now I need to go and defend this title again and go beat one of the best heavyweights of all-time for a second time. This is not easy.”
The Great Muta will team with Tommy Dreamer against Johnny Impact & Michael Elgin at “A Night You Can’t Mist.” The show is named after Muta and is taking place at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Saturday, June 8.
Former ECW World Champion Jerry Lynn, who works as a coach/producer for All Elite Wrestling, will be the special guest referee for the match.
Muta most recently wrestled in the United States over WrestleMania weekend in New York City last month. He was a surprise entrant in the Honor Rumble match on the ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard pre-show and teamed with Pentagon Jr. & Tajiri against Low Ki & LAX for House of Glory Wrestling.
Impact Plus launched at the beginning of this month, replacing the Global Wrestling Network and serving as a rebranded version of it.
A Night You Can’t Mist is in partnership with Dreamer’s House of Hardcore promotion.
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 and House of Glory joined forces for Code Red on Sunday night, the first live stream on Impact Plus. The show took place at the NYC Arena in Jamaica, Queens.
The main event pit Sami Callihan against Tommy Dreamer in a oVe rules street fight, plus two of Impact’s titles were on the line in matches.
Impact X-Division Champion Rich Swann defeated Evander James, Smiley, Trey Miguel, Ace Austin, and HOG Crown Jewel Champion Mantequilla in a six-man scramble to retain his title
Swann and Mantequilla’s titles were on the line if either were pinned. This was the quintessential X-Division multi-man match with fast action, dives, and big spots.
The wrestlers started with an Impact vs. HOG face-off and brawl. We saw several pair-ups in the ring to do short sequences of counters and big moves. They all hit dives one after the other. They did a Tower of Doom spot, and then went into hitting their signature moves and breaking up each other’s pin attempts.
At the end, it was Austin hitting The Fold on James but getting the pin stolen by Swann after a 450. There’s a similar story being told between Austin and Petey Williams, so it seems Austin is finally going to start chasing Swann on Impact. The HOG guys looked impressive, especially Mantequilla. Smiley showed a lot of athleticism for his size.
– Sami Callihan cut a promo on video, talking trash about Tommy Dreamer and about the older ECW guys that keep coming back for the spotlight.
HOG World Heavyweight Champion Anthony Gangone defeated Moose and Ken Broadway to retain his title
Gangone has the longest combined HOG Championship reigns in the promotion’s history and was the smallest of the three men in the ring here. Being the bigger men, Moose and Broadway were just tossing each other all over the place with bombs and dives. Gangone’s approach was more of a speed one, trying to only take on one man at a time.
The finish saw Moose prepare to hit the No Jackhammer Needed, but then he stopped, flipped off the fans, and left to the back. In the ring, Gangone and Broadway traded a couple of near falls until Gangone hit Dreams by the Waterfall to retain. The crowd died out towards the end. Moose’s walkout was a weak way to get him out of the match.
The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) defeated The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz)
This started out as a fast-paced match, but Wentz got distracted playing to the fans and The North cut the ring in half on him. Xavier came in for the hot tag, which didn’t last long. The Rascalz went for their Hot Fire Flame move too early — Alexander pulled out Xavier, leaving Wentz to moonsault and crash.
The Rascalz recovered and worked as a team. They got a near fall after a second Hot Fire Flame, with Page pulling the referee out of the ring. Wentz and Page brawled outside the ring, with the latter hitting a uranage on the apron.
Back in the ring, Page hit a Razor’s Edge and the Tornado of the North on Xavier to seal the deal and pick up the win. The North are establishing themselves as a top team, and if we had quarterly “Most Improved” awards, Josh Alexander would get a nomination. Great match.
– Matt Striker interviewed Michael Elgin backstage. Elgin talked about sending a message to Brian Cage and sending him to the hospital. Elgin discussed defeating Johnny Impact and Pentagon Jr. on this week’s episode, and Elgin said he’s now going to send Willie Mack to the hospital. It seems like Striker has joined Impact Wrestling — just keep him away from the commentary table.
Blanchard paired up with Strong for a quick sequence of reversals and counters. Violette and Bordeaux came in and low blowed each other, and I had never asked myself if low blows in women’s matches count as DQs.
Violette and Bordeaux actually went on to have a good run with each other, with Bordeaux going for corner hip attacks and a stinkface early, but Violette cut her off as she and Blanchard worked over Bordeaux for a while. Blanchard showed off her submission offense. Josh Mathews and Don Callis speculated whether Blanchard vs. Bordeaux was a tease of the future of the Knockouts division.
Bordeaux made a good comeback and tagged in Strong. She went against both women, but had a couple hiccups when working with Violette. Bordeaux hit a big top rope plancha to the floor.
Blanchard went for a Dudebuster, but Bordeaux reversed it into a Canadian Destroyer. Strong hit a dragon suplex on Violette. She went for a suplex on Blanchard, but wasn’t strong enough to properly execute it. Blanchard hit the corner Magnum and the Buzzsaw DDT for the pin.
This match really exposed how Blanchard and Bordeaux were just on a whole other level compared to the HOG women.
– Melissa Santos interviewed Willie Mack about his feelings about fighting Michael Elgin. Mack just said something about Code Blue and walking out with the W.
Michael Elgin defeated Willie Mack
Really good back-and-forth match that made both look like juggernauts in the ring. It started off as a hoss fight with shoulder tackles and strikes, and as the match went on, it got more athletic and had high impact moves and slams.
They both did fighting spirit spots at one point that built to a clash of clotheslines in the middle of the ring — just two huge behemoths clashing. There were near falls when Elgin hit a Falcon Arrow and when Mack hit his Samoan drop and moonsault combination.
The finish saw Elgin hit a huge lariat and Celtic Bomb, followed by a Buckle Bomb and the Elgin Bomb to finally put down Mack. Best match so far on the show.
After the match, Elgin cut off a turnbuckle with a pair of scissors. He hit a backfist on the ref who tried to stop him. Elgin went to hit a Buckle Bomb into the exposed turnbuckle, but Mack reversed into a slingshot and a stunner.
Mack has a big tag match against oVe on this week’s Impact, so it’s good that he didn’t get laid out, but it also served little purpose for Elgin to take a stunner here. Completely unnecessary post-match angle.
– Striker interviewed Johnny Impact and Taya Valkyrie. Johnny was just arguing and venting over having to deal with meatheads Cage and Elgin, and now having to deal with a crazy Eddie Edwards.
Valkyrie told Johnny that he should rest — because she would take out Alisha Edwards and they’d win the match. They made fun of Eddie and Alisha for being from Boston. Johnny and Valkyrie are so good together.
Johnny Impact & Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie (w/ Johnny Bravo) defeated Eddie & Alisha Edwards
This match had intergender rules, which are different from mixed tag rules. The men and women could fight each other. Johnny and Taya teased Eddie and Alisha for Johnny and Taya being a far sexier couple, with Johnny Bravo applauding. In response, Eddie and Alisha showed they were a fighting couple and started the attack.
The match mostly saw Eddie get the better of Johnny, while Taya would get the better of Alisha, and thus they traded momentum as they tagged in and out. A near fall came when Johnny hit a top rope Spanish Fly and a shining wizard for a two count.
At one point, Eddie hit a dive on Johnny while Alisha hit a top rope plancha to the floor on both Johnny and Taya. The teams traded blows in the ring, ending with both men superkicking their opponent’s spouses before kicking each other down. The fans chanted “This is Impact.”
Eddie and Alisha hit a double DDT on Johnny and Valkyrie for a near fall. Johnny went for the Countdown to Impact on Alisha, but she moved away. Alisha hit a tornado DDT on Johnny, but Bravo pulled the referee out.
Eddie took out Bravo, but Johnny baseball kicked him. In the ring, Valkyrie hit Alisha with Johnny’s Ultimate X cross, leaving Alisha ready for Johnny to pin. This was a really fun match.
Impact Tag Team Champions & HOG Tag Team Champions LAX (Santana & Ortiz) defeated oVe (Dave & Jake Crist) & The New York Wrecking Krew (Chris Seaton & Smooth Blackmon) in a triple threat match to retain their titles
There were lucha tag rules in this match. It started with the wrestlers pairing up for quick sequences before each team had a chance to work on someone in particular and get some of their tag moves in. oVe worked on Santana, who they cut the ring in half on. LAX and NYWK mostly came in and out until the end when they had a good run against each other.
There was a spot with Dave Crist doing a top rope moonsault onto the floor, but his foot landed straight on the metal guardrail and seemed stuck for a second. A minute later, LAX took out Jake Crist in the ring to retain the titles. The referees were looking over Dave right when they cut the camera shot to the announce table, so I wasn’t able to see if he was helped out to the back.
Good match overall except for that scary spot with Dave. NY Wrecking Krew looked good — they have potential and reminded me of something between the Dark City Fight Club and BLK-OUT.
– Tommy Dreamer cut a promo backstage. He said he decides when his career will end and not Callihan. He talked about Callihan being just a kid, while Dreamer has been all over the place. Dreamer said that they’re both going to go all out and never be the same again.
Sami Callihan defeated Tommy Dreamer in an oVe rules street fight match
Callihan jumped Dreamer during his entrance and thus started the brawl at the ramp. They made their way to the ring, where Dreamer got time to recover. They brought out weapons early, trading shots with the actual trash cans from the show. At one point, Dreamer ate something from the garbage.
They used the ring bell, an old ECW Championship replica belt, chairs, water bottles, turnbuckle hooks, and a puppet, among other weapons.
As they started chasing the finish, Dreamer brought out a bunch of Legos, where he hit Callihan with a cutter. Dreamer brought out a door while Callihan got his bat, which Dreamer got straight to his gut before taking the Cactus Special through the door for the loss. Okay match — a lot of weapon spots, but it had a considerably slower pace than the previous match.
Dreamer seemed hurt at the end. Callis and the doctor were looking over him as the show went off the air.
Final thoughts —
This was an okay show. The Impact talent looked strong all around, especially when paired up with the HOG wrestlers, who for the most part looked like indie talent. The production was great — proof that the United We Stand show’s issues were out of Impact’s hands.
Elgin vs. Mack and the tag team triple threat are the two matches I’d recommend checking out.
Impact Wrestling was back at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Saturday to close out two straight nights of television tapings.
– Tessa Blanchard defeated Disco Inferno
Blanchard picked up a quick win.
– Ahead of their six-man tag match against RVD, Sabu & Tommy Dreamer later in the tapings, Moose & The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) cut a promo in the ring and insulted ECW.
– The Deaners defeated The Desi Hit Squad
– Eddie Edwards defeated Killer Kross in a street fight
The Sandman helped Edwards win, giving him a new kendo stick after Kross broke Edwards’ kendo stick at Friday’s tapings.
– X-Division Champion Rich Swann & Willie Mack defeated Johnny Impact & Michael Elgin
Elgin walked out on Johnny after they bumped into each other. Swann pinned Johnny to get the win.
– Non-title match: Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie vs. Rosemary ended in a no contest
Jessicka Havok came out with James Mitchell. She attacked both Valkyrie and Rosemary, then left with Su Yung. Yung was at ringside with Rosemary on a chain after she lost a demon collar match to Rosemary at Friday’s tapings.
Tessa Blanchard made the save when oVe attacked Bordeaux after the match.
– Jordynne Grace defeated Kiera Hogan
Hogan played the heel here.
– Impact Tag Team Champions LAX vs. The Rascalz ended in a DQ
It appeared that The Rascalz won the titles after a ref bump, but the decision was reversed and the match ended in a disqualification.
– Ace Austin defeated Cousin Jake Deaner
The Desi Hit Squad distracted Cody Deaner near the end of the match.
– RVD, Sabu & Tommy Dreamer defeated Moose & The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page)
Dreamer cut a promo to close the show, with him saying RVD has suffered over 100 concussions in his career and is still flying higher than ever. Dreamer mentioned that Impact and ECW are similar in how their rosters had misfits and castoffs.
Impact Wrestling kicked off two straight nights of television tapings at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Friday.
– Disco Inferno won a Knockouts battle royal
Disco Inferno was on commentary and then eliminated Tessa Blanchard to win. Ahead of their Knockouts title match later in the night, Taya Valkyrie came out and eliminated Madison Rayne during the battle royal.
– Rosemary defeated Su Yung in a demon collar match
Rosemary dragged Yung away after winning.
– Killer Kross defeated Eddie Edwards
Kross teased hitting Edwards with Edwards’ kendo stick after, but Kross broke it instead.
– X-Division Champion Rich Swann defeated Michael Elgin by DQ
Elgin was disqualified after hitting the referee. Willie Mack came out to make the save for Swann, then was attacked by Johnny Impact.
– Sami Callihan defeated Fallah Bahh (w/ Scarlett Bordeaux)
– Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie defeated Madison Rayne to retain her title
Rosemary then indicated that she wants a title shot against Valkyrie. Yung was still on the demon collar.
– LAX (Santana & Ortiz) defeated The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) to retain their titles
– Disco Inferno vs. Ashley Vox ended in a no contest
Tessa Blanchard was out for revenge against Disco Inferno, with him running away and causing this match to end in a no contest.
– Dezmond Xavier defeated Petey Williams, Ace Austin, and Rohit Raju in a four-way match
– RVD defeated Tommy Dreamer
The North and Moose attacked RVD and Dreamer following the match, but Sabu appeared and they fought the heels off. RVD, Dreamer & Sabu will face The North & Moose at tonight’s tapings.
Brian Pillman Jr. defeated Tommy Dreamer in a Singapore cane match
Low Ki defeated Fred Yehi to retain the MLW world title
This week’s episode opened backstage where we saw ‘Filthy’ Tom Lawlor outside of Promociones Dorado’s dressing room listening in to an ongoing argument. Inside, we heard Sami Callihan shouting that he wants his money owed to him. Salina de la Renta responded by screaming that he gets what he has earned, and that he has not done anything around here to deserve it.
Her words were much more non-PG and were bleeped out, but let’s just say Callihan, in Salina’s eyes, has not had a smash hit in MLW yet. Tony Schiavone tells us it sounds like Salina is demanding that Callihan take out Lawlor tonight.
Schiavone and Rich Bochinni welcomed us to the show from Miami and hyped up tonight’s Singapore cane match between Tommy Dreamer and Brian Pillman Jr. tonight, along with Dragon Lee vs Rich Swann.
We cut backstage to Low Ki who said has gone through all the word class athletes MLW has thrown at him. He said he is going to ride off into the sunset and retire as the best MLW world heavyweight champion ever.
Dragon Lee defeated Rich Swann (10:43)
Schiavone told us that Lee is considered by some as one of the best high flying luchadores in the sport, but he was unable to show off a lot of his talents as Swann dominated most of this match from the start. He passed by the fans as they tried to high-five him and was extra cocky making his way into the ring. He blew kisses to the fans before telling them all to kiss his ass.
Lee went for a handshake but Swann refused and ran his hand through his hair. We were told this was Lee’s first match in four months as he has been filming a reality TV show in the Dominican. They exchanged arm ringers and arm drags before Swann attempted a headscissor takeover but Lee evaded it with a cartwheel. Lee hit his own headscissors as both then hit double dropkicks, double kip ups and a stand-off much to the delight of the Miami crowd.
Swann’s apparent heel turn was really showing through as he took the advantage again after a cheap shot and landed a barrel load of right hands to the head while Lee was grounded. Lee got a bit of revenge when, on the outside, Swann went for a chop but Lee moved and Swann smacked his hand off the lighting grid.
Both fighters fought up to their knees where they exchanged right hands, they gradually made their way to their feet to exchange some knees to the head. They stumbled to the corner to exchange some step-up kicks to the head. Lee was then on the top rope but Swann kept up his control of the match by bringing Lee to the mat with a jumping hurricanrana. Swann missed his Phoenix splash and was caught with Lee’s sit out powerbomb, the Dragon Driver, out of nowhere for the win.
Swann acknowledged and raised Lee’s hand after the match in what could keep his face character alive for future matchups.
— Backstage, we see Callihan brandishing a hammer and running into Ace Romero. He asked if he has seen Lawlor and if he does, let him know that he is looking for him. He pushed past an old man, who thought he was looking for Tom and Jerry, and stole his sunglasses. Classic bad guy routine.
— We cut to a social media video from Pillman Jr. who told Dreamer that he is tired of him and he said MLW is his field and his playground. He said he was tired of Dreamer politicking him and his father’s legacy, and he is not afraid of him and not afraid of using his own cane in their match later on. He calls Dreamer a phony and said he is bringing his own cane to the fight.
– Backstage, Lawlor tells a guy to tell Callihan that he is warming up in a side room by the kitchen.
Brian Pillman Jr. defeated Tommy Dreamer in a Singapore cane match (9:29)
Pillman came out by himself without the rest of the Hart Foundation and was brandishing a Singapore cane. Dreamer also had his own cane and received a good reaction.
Dreamer hit a few hip tosses and removed Pillman’s jacket and hoodie, only to reveal a nice, smart, patterned dress shirt that Pillman also chose as part of his ring attire tonight to help pad himself from the cane shots. He spat a beer in Pillman’s face as they brawled around the ring. They made their way into the crowd and Dreamer ripped open the dress shirt to reveal another t-shirt.
Pillman fought back and dropped Dreamer, of course, groin first on the guard rail. Back in the ring, Pillman hit Dreamer in the hand with the cane and continued his attack on the hand and fingers. Pillman hit a nice standing dropkick and took control of the cane again. He came off the middle rope with a big cane shot to the head for a two count before going back to Dreamer’s hand and fingers. Dreamer got in a cane shot of his own when Pillman came off the middle rope again but with no luck this time.
Dreamer fought back and got in his flip, flop and fly Dusty Rhodes elbow to the head before getting a two count after a powerslam. He took a chair from underneath the ring and pulled Pillman’s clothes up, revealing his back. He drilled Pillman with a cane shot while he was draped over the back of the chair.
Later, he set up the chair, two Singapore canes and Pillman’s own cane in a pile in the middle of the ring but while constructing this death mount, Dreamer gave Pillman enough time to recover. Dreamer picked him up and was looking for a Dreamer Driver onto the weapons but Pillman slipped out and used a cane for a low blow. He then drilled Dreamer with a DDT style swinging neckbreaker to pick up the three count and the win.
— We cut backstage to Callihan, still looking for Lawlor. He met the guy Lawlor spoke to earlier and he told Callihan he was in the room by the kitchen warming up.
— A promo video then aired for the debuting Mance Warner.
MLW World Heavyweight Champion Low Ki (w/ Salina de la Renta) defeated Fred Yehi (4:30)
It was a slow start as both fighters exchanged holds before Low Ki made his way to the corner where he wrapped up Yehi in an armbar over the top rope. Some good chain wrestling followed before Yehi hit a big slam, and Ki hit a shoulder block. Yehi then locked in a kneebar but Ki ended up reversing but Yehi managed to escape with little damage being done.
The tune of the match changed when Ki cheapshotted Yehi with five big shots to the gut and a stiff looking kick to the ribs. Yehi fought back with a nice looking combination of strikes, stomps, a trip and a dropkick to a seated champion. Yehi got a close two count but Ki escaped and ended up on the top rope. He cracked Yehi over the head with club to the side of the face that temporarily floored the challenger. This is all that the champion needed as he dove off and landed on Yehi’s back with a double foot stomp to pick up the three count and the win in a short but well executed match.
— Backstage, we caught up with Callihan, his hammer, and the poor old man’s glasses, still on his quest to find Lawlor. This building must be huge. He kicked open the kitchen door and slowly made his way to the other side where the door would lead him to Lawlor. He entered the side room and closed the door behind him. We heard a fight ensuing inside and after the grunts, smacks, and clattering died down, the door opened and out walked Lawlor, victorious and brandishing Callihan’s hammer. After a menacing look to the camera he walked off with Callihan seemingly being taken care of by his own weapon.
The Lucha Brothers (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix) defeated Rich Swann & Willie Mack
Fenix and Swann started the match by chain wrestling and having an athletic exhibition into a stalemate. Pentagon and Mack came in and traded taunts at each other until Fenix and Swann got involved and everyone superkicked each other. Pentagon and Mack continued trading kicks. Swann got tagged in. He and Mack double teamed Pentagon and Fenix, but the Lucha Brothers manage to counter with synchronized superkicks.
Pentagon hit a Wazzap Dropkick to Swann, then the Lucha Brothers followed it up with a Fenix spinning kick and a Pentagon codebreaker combo on Mack. They got a near fall after an assisted plancha by Fenix.
Mack came back with a pounce, sending Pentagon to the floor, and then hit a tope con giro. Swann hit a Phoenix Splash to the outside on Mack and Pentagon, and finally, Fenix hit a tornillo on everyone.
Back from commercial, Mack and Fenix were in the middle of a strike-off with knife-edge chops and forearms. Fenix ended up with the upper hand and went for a top rope move, only to be blocked by Swann, so Fenix hit a reverse rana on Mack. Pentagon then dropped Swann with a Fear Factor on the apron, with the assist of Fenix’s foot stomp.
Back in the ring, Pentagon and Fenix hit the leg-scissors splash to pick up the win. Great opening match.
After the match, Impact Tag Team Champions LAX (Santana & Ortiz) came out without Konnan. Ortiz cut a promo putting over the match we just saw and asked who are next for LAX, running down all the teams they’ve defeated in the last year. Santana got the mic and said that they have defeated everyone, but they haven’t given their familia a chance for the championships. Santana challenged the Lucha Brothers for Homecoming. Pentagon & Fenix accepted.
Josh Mathews ran down the card for tonight and announced that next week, we start the qualifier matches for Homecoming’s Ultimate X match.
We got a video package for Brian Cage and Johnny Impact’s World Championship match at Homecoming. Cage cut a good, short promo about doing whatever it takes to finally achieve his destiny and win the World title.
Back from commercial, we were backstage at the LAX clubhouse. Konnan was berating Santana and Ortiz about acting without telling him. Konnan used the Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Mysterio feud as an example that friendly matches with friends tend to become personal when championships get in the way. Konnan walked out on them at the end saying he knows what he needs to do.
Jordynne Grace defeated Katarina
The match started with Katarina trying to grapple with Grace, only to be easily overpowered. Katarina tried changing her game to strikes, but once again, Grace overpowered her. Finally, Katarina relied on raking the eyes to get some offense in and gained control of the match.
Katarina’s offense consisted mostly of trying to choke out Grace and get as many kicks in as she could. Katarina managed to keep the upper hand for longer than she should have, even getting a close two count after a jumping DDT. Grace finally made a comeback when she hit a huge pounce, followed with a running knee to the corner, a running elbow, a Vader Bomb, and used the bear hug for the submission win. The match started sloppy, but it got better as it went on.
KM and Fallah Bahh were backstage talking about losing their chance at a championship match with LAX, but they’re still in Las Vegas, so tonight they are hitting the town and winning some money. After a quick cut, KM and Bahh were crying because they lost all their money. Suddenly, Scarlett Bordeaux made an appearance, telling them that if they want to impress her, there is a lot of competition.
GWN’s Flashback Moment of the Week was the Ultimate X with Low Ki defeating Andrew Everett and Trevor Lee to retain the X-Division Championship.
Backstage, referee Brandon Tolle came into Tessa Blanchard’s locker room, imposing his authority with Blanchard and saying that in the ring, it’s the referee who sets the rules and neither he nor the rest will take Blanchard’s antics, referring to Blanchard punching Tolle a few weeks ago.
Back from commercial, McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Tommy Dreamer, who once again took a swipe at millennials, saying that Eli Drake doesn’t care about the men and women that paved the way for him to be where he is. Dreamer made fun of Drake copying The Rock and Steve Austin’s mannerisms. He said that at the end, people will talk about Dreamer’s career and not Drake’s. Good promo.
Taya Valkyrie defeated Ray Lyn
Valkyrie debuted new music and a new tron video tonight, officially dropping the “Queen” gimmick. The match started with Ray Lyn trying to mock Valkyrie, getting some great offense in, but the match quickly turned around as Valkyrie hit several running strikes to a cornered Lyn.
Valkyrie went for the Road to Valhalla, but Lyn blocked it and got some more kicks in, only to lose focus by trying to mock Valkyrie again. Valkyrie countered Lyn, hit a curb stomp, and locked in a new submission that is like an elevated version of an STF. This was technically a squash, but still a great showing for Ray Lyn.
Tessa Blanchard ran down during Valkyrie’s celebration. Referee Tolle tried to impose his authority, but Blanchard took him out, choking out the ref until the rest of the staff came out to stop her. No one dared to touch Blanchard — until Gail Kim of all people came out and pulled Blanchard off the referee. Valkyrie hit a spear before Blanchard managed to escape.
We got another video package for Impact and Cage’s match at Homecoming. This time it was Impact’s turn to talk. He put over Cage’s undefeated streak, but at Homecoming it won’t be like the rest of Cage’s matches. Suddenly, behind Johnny Impact, we saw a shadow walk into the frame — and it was Killer Kross.
Kross told the camera to get away, since he needed a moment with Mr. Hennigan. Kross once again implored that Impact rely on him for his match with Cage. Impact blowed him off and walked away. Really great execution on Kross’ entrance.
The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier &Zachary Wentz) defeated Mike Sydal & Chris Bey
Mike Sydal is indeed Matt Sydal’s younger brother. Xavier and Sydal did a series of fast-paced reversals. Wentz got tagged in and hit a Bronco Buster on Bey. The Rascalz hit a kick combo on Sydal and followed with stereo tope con giros to the outside. Back in the ring, Wentz hit the Hot Fire Flame moonsault on Sydal for the pin. Short match, but a great showing for The Rascalz.
Backstage, Kiera Hogan was with McKenzie Mitchell. Hogan said that no matter what we’ve seen, she believes that Allie’s soul is still in her because when she had the chance to attack Hogan, Allie didn’t. Hogan begged for Allie to “come home.”
Back from commercial, we were in a mental hospital with Alisha Edwards trying to talk to a drugged out Eddie Edwards, but the doctor took her away and said Eddie needs rest.
We then saw Moose come to visit Eddie. He had a copy of Eddie’s book, but Moose complained that he is not mentioned in the book, nor Alisha leaving Eddie, nor ending in a mental hospital, saying that this book is a farce and that Eddie will stay in this hospital, but that he’ll take care of Alisha.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Drake, who said that his problem is not with hardcore wrestling, but with Impact Wrestling allowing it. Drake said that he never had problems with Dreamer, but it seems he has struck a nerve, and so if Dreamer wants to mess with him, he’ll need to take care of him tonight and make an example.
Back from commercial, Matt Sydal and Ethan Page were talking. Sydal explained that he keeps stumbling along his way to enlightenment. Page tried to cheer up Sydal, but with a certain set of words that triggered Sydal, and so Sydal announced that they will face each other in one of the Ultimate X qualifying matches in order to teach him the path to enlightenment.
Tommy Dreamer defeated Eli Drake by countout
They started the match with Dreamer getting the better of Drake at the collar-and-elbow tie up. Drake tried to change the game into strikes, but Dreamer got the upper hand once again, so Drake decided to walk away and get counted out.
Josh Mathews said that he had word from Impact officials that this match was being restarted under no disqualification rules.
Eli Drake defeated Tommy Dreamer in a no DQ match
The match began during commercials, so when we came back, Dreamer was already beating Drake up the ramp with a garbage can full of weapons being brought out. Dreamer started going around using some of the weapons, including a ring bell shot and using a fan’s cane. Drake suplexed Dreamer on the ramp, finally turning the match around, leading to Drake working over Dreamer inside the ring and getting mostly punches and some weapon shots in.
Dreamer and Drake kept going back and forth, exchanging big moves with a chair. Dreamer hit a DDT for a two count, but as he went for the Death Valley Driver, Drake threw Dreamer into a trash can and hit the Gravy Train for a huge near fall, with Dreamer becoming the first to kick out.
An annoyed Drake put a chair around Dreamer’s neck. Drake hit a baseball swing like EVIL would, leaving Dreamer down for the pin. Not that good of a main event, even with the weapons being introduced.
Backstage, Drake found a few balloons and a card. We didn’t see what the letter said, but Drake seemed surprised as the episode went off the air.
With MJF (Maxwell Jacob Friedman) recovering from a fractured elbow, MLW has announced how they’ll be handling their Middleweight title situation.
There will be a ladder match for the title at MLW’s television tapings in Miami, Florida on December 14. If MJF is cleared to return in time, it will be a five-way match with MJF defending against Andrew Everett, Dezmond Xavier, Kotto Brazil, and Jason Cade. If MJF isn’t cleared, it will be Everett vs. Xavier vs. Brazil vs. Cade to decide the new champion.
Marko Stunt was originally supposed to be in the ladder match before suffering a broken leg at Joey Janela’s LA Confidential earlier this month.
A Singapore cane match between Tommy Dreamer and Brian Pillman Jr. has also been confirmed for the December 14 MLW show.
MLW will be holding tapings at the Scottish Rite Temple in Miami on both Thursday, December 13 and Friday, December 14. MLW has announced that DJZ will be making his debut for the promotion in Miami, and Everett, Xavier, and Dragon Lee will also be debuting as part of the tapings.
