Sami Callihan returned to Impact Wrestling at tonight’s Under Siege event on Impact Plus, taking out Moose.
Moose arrived prior to the main event and said that the Josh Alexander vs. Tomohiro Ishii Impact World title match would not take place, as he was going to hijack the show and demanded Scott D’Amore come to the ring. That was when the lights went out, and when they came back on Callihan was in the ring with a baseball bat. Callihan sent Moose out of the ring and then celebrated with fans.
Callihan suffered a broken ankle back in September that required surgery. He and Eddie Edwards were teaming at the time, and were feuding with Moose and W. Morrissey.
A former Impact World Champion, Callihan has been part of Impact since 2017. He was also set to team with former tag team partner Jon Moxley at a Pro Wrestling Revolver event in October against Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards. However, the match did not take place due to Callihan’s injury.
The Briscoes have added more hardware to their already impressive resumes, earning their first-ever Impact Tag Team title win at Saturday’s Under Siege.
Jay & Mark Briscoe defeated Violent by Design (Deaner & Eric Young) to take the titles, pinning Deaner after hitting a doomsday device and ending the 64-day second reign for VBD.
The brothers returned to Impact for last month’s Multiverse of Matches against the Good Brothers — their first match back in the promotion since the NWA/TNA days in November 2002.
They returned at the post-Rebellion TV tapings several weeks later where they defeated Heath and Rhino to earn the title shot.
The duo are also chasing the NWA Tag Team titles held by La Rebellion and the GCW Tag Team titles held by Bussy (Effy and Allie Katch). They won this year’s Crockett Cup tag team tournament in the NWA and are also 12-time Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions and former IWGP Tag Team Champions.
Mia Yim returned to Impact Wrestling at tonight’s Under Siege event on Impact Plus.
After Taya Valkyrie defeated Deonna Purrazzo to retain the AAA Reina de Reinas title, Purrazzo attacked Valkyrie. Suddenly, the lights went out and Yim’s music played. She made it to the ring and had a staredown with Purrazzo. Yim turned her back to check on Valkyrie when Purrazzo attempted to attack Yim. Yim got the better of the exchange and sent Purrazzo out of the ring as she helped Valkyrie back to her feet. Fightful Select reported that Yim has signed with the company.
Yim originally was part of Impact Wrestling in 2015, first as part of The Dollhouse stable with Taryn Terell and Marti Belle under the name Jade. The following year, she defeated Madison Rayne to win the Knockouts title. She left the company in 2017.
That same year, she competed in the Mae Young Classic tournament in WWE. She later signed with the company and wrestled in NXT until 2020, when she was called to the main roster as part of the Retribution stable under the name Reckoning. However, she wrestled sporadically on the main roster and the group disbanded the following year. After spending most of 2021 off television, she was released from the company on November 4.
Just two weeks after Rebellion, Impact Wrestling returns with Under Siege on Impact Plus, headlined by World Champion Josh Alexander defending against NJPW’s Tomohiro Ishii.
The Newport, Kentucky, special will have five title matches and ten matches overall, two of which will be on the pre-show.
The Briscoes will look for their first reign as Impact Tag Team Champions as they face titleholders Violent by Design while X-Division Champion Ace Austin will defend against former champion Trey Miguel.
Knockouts Champion Tasha Steelz will defend against former champion Havok while AAA Reina de Reinas titleholder Taya Valkyrie will defend against former champion Deonna Purrazzo.
In a ten-man tag team match, Bullet Club’s Jay White, Chris Bey, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, and the returning El Phantasmo will face Honor No More’s Eddie Edwards, Kenny King, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, and Vincent.
In singles action, Steve Maclin takes on Chris Sabin while “Speedball” Mike Bailey faces Alex Shelley.
The pre-show will feature Rich Swann vs. Laredo Kid and Madison Rayne vs. Gisele Shaw.
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Countdown Show
Heath & Rhino defeated Raj Singh & Shera
Rhino began the match with Raj and the crowd immediately chanted “Rhino’s going to kill you!”. Rhino with the early advantage and tags in Heath where the crowd started chanting “Heath’s got kids”.
Not even five minutes in and the crowd looks to be hot for tonight. After some showboating from Heath, Shera with the cheap shot and Singh gained control. After some solid offence from Shera & Singh, Heath countered a second rope attack from Singh and made the hot tag to Rhino.
Shera & Singh attempted to tame the “War Machine” but Rhino proved too much, nailing the Gore on Singh and sending him and Heath home victorious.
Rich Swann defeated Laredo Kid and “Speedball” Mike Bailey in a three-way
Bailey was supposed to face Alex Shelley on the show. No reason was given as to why Shelley wasn’t there, but he worked an indie show in Michigan at the same time this show was happening.
All three men looked to gain the advantage early on but Bailey managed to get the upper hand on Kid with his speed kicks. Swann decided it wasn’t happening and took care of both men on the outside of the ring.
Back in the ring it was Bailey and Swann and fans with respect chants for both men. Bailey with an unexpected modified figure-four and Swann is in pain. Swann made the escape and Kid entered the ring with some return offense.
After some back and forth offense between all three men, Bailey nailed a flipping double knees to Swann inside the ring and followed it up with an asai moonsault to the outside on Kid. Swann followed up with Kid setup for the Phoenix Splash but Bailey with the counter.
Before Bailey could capitalize, Kid nailed Bailey with the Spanish Fly from the top rope. Two count for Kid as Swann broke it up. Swann then hit the Phoenix Splash on Kid for the victory.
Main Card
Gisele Shaw (w/Alisha) defeated Madison Rayne (w/Tenille Dashwood)
With some back and forth offense in the beginning, Rayne gained the advantage and headed up to the top rope but Shaw caught her and nailed her with a superplex. Shaw with a modified enziguri, followed up by a ddt but only got a two count. Rayne quickly countered but Shaw with a spinebuster and we then saw both Dashwood and Edwards get involved. Shaw hit a huge knee and gained the victory as the tag team champions left the ring with a sour taste in their mouths.
– Gia Miller interviewed the Briscoes who hyped their upcoming championship match against Violent By Design.
Chris Sabin defeated Steve Maclin
Some back and forth technical wrestling began the match before Sabin went to the outside against Maclin but was caught and Maclin has damaged the lower back of Sabin. Maclin continued the attack on Sabin’s back and Sabin is in “No Man’s Land”. Sabin hit a tornado ddt followed by a swinging neckbreaker. Maclin with an attempt of a comeback but Sabin proved too strong hitting a huge clothesline and the Cradle Shock for the win.
AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Taya Valkyrie defeated Deonna Purrazzo to retain
It’s Purrazzo with the early attack and advantage, hungry to regain her former title as she focused on injuring the arm of Valkyrie early on. After a few moments of focusing on injuring Taya, Valkyrie managed a small comeback before Purrazzo was able to get back on track.
Purrazzo nailed a Queen’s Gambit but Valkyrie kicked out at two. A frustrated Purrazzo went back on the submission game but Valkyrie was able to reach the ropes to counter. Purrazzo went and grabbed the Reina de Reinas Championship and in doing so, got rolled up by Valkyrie and pinned for the three count.
– Post-match: The lights went out and Mia Yim has returned to Impact Wrestling. She attacked Purrazzo but before she could hit the package piledriver, Deonna escaped and Yim was left hungry.
-Backstage Gia Miller interviewed Trey Miguel regarding his match tonight with Ace Austin for the X-Division Championship. A confident Miguel stated he’s taking back the title tonight.
X-Division Champion Ace Austin defeated Trey Miguel to retain
We saw some back and forth technical wrestling to begin the match before Miguel missed from the top rope and that mean side of Austin countered. Austin went for the fold but missed while Miguel followed with a superkick but missed too. Even playing field and both men went looking for the advantage before Miguel hit an inverted suplex into a dragon suplex.
Both men were back on their feet and Austin with some jaw-jacking before spitting on Miguel. Miguel gained the advantage and after nailing a superkick, hit a split legged moonsault for the two count. Austin with an an attempted feet on the ropes three count but was caught by the referee. A determined Miguel looked to close out Austin but Ace was simply too much to handle as he was hit with a gnarly Fold and a three count to lose in his conquest of recapturing the X-Division Championship.
Austin continues to be the future of Impact Wrestling and it’s only a matter of time before he’s challenging for the World Championship.
Honor No More (Eddie Edwards, Kenny King, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett & Vincent w/Maria Kanellis) defeated Bullet Club (Chris Bey, Doc Gallows, El Phantasmo, Jay White & Karl Anderson)
The bell rang and it’s a gang warfare inside the ring as all ten men are going at it. Both teams battled back and forth before we saw former ROH World Champion battling former IWGP Heavyweight Champion in the middle of an Impact ring. White gained the advantage and it soon became backrake central as ELP, Bey, White and Gallows hit major backrakes on Taven. Anderson attempted a final Bullet Club backrake but was upset by Honor No More.
HNM with the advantage before Anderson was able to land a spinebuster. Tags out to both teams and it was Gallows and King battling it out before King got the tag in. Gallows wiped up both men before we saw ELP and Vincent in the ring mixing it up. A lot of back and forth, quick tag action before we saw White and Taven battling before it’s all ten men in the ring once again. Bey and King became the legal men and after Bey nailed HNM over the top to the outside, Vincent followed it up nailing BC off the top rope.
Back inside, Anderson is distracted by Maria and Bennett was able to capitalize hitting the backpack stunner for the victory as commentary informed us that the Bullet Club lost a multi-man match for the first time in Impact Wrestling.
Impact Knockouts Champion Tasha Steelz defeated Havok to retain
It was a one-on-one match as we saw no signs of Rosemary, Crazzy Steve or Savannah Evans ringside.
Havok with the early power advantage before Steelz is able to capitalize with her quickness. As the match spilled outside, Steelz managed to almost get a count-out victory over the massive Havok before Havok was able to recover. Back inside the ring, both women attempted to gain the upper hand before Havok hit a huge death valley driver but only landed a two count. Steelz mounted a comeback and after managing to land the Blackout on her perseverant opponent, escaped the match and retained the Knockouts Championship.
The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe) defeated Violent By Design (Deaner & Eric Young w/Joe Doering) for the Impact Tag Team titles
Before the bell could even ring, the Briscoes attacked VBD as soon as they entered the ring. It was all out mayhem as the Briscoes were owning Deaner and Young before Doering from the entrance ramp challenged Jay and Mark. Doering hit the ring and mayhem continued before we finally heard the bell ring.
VBD gained the early advantage before Mark Briscoe was seen flying from the skies to the outside. Easily a rivalry I could sink my teeth in right now.
The Briscoes gain the advantage until Doering proved the third man will always be effective. Momentum went back and forth before VBD hit double-team moves and a high angle death valley driver to only land two counts on Mark by EY. A down and out Jay returned to the ring and while they looked to gain momentum, Deaner made the save on a pin attempt by Mark.
It definitely came down to heart in this match as both teams gutted for the advantage in the final moments. Unfortunately for VBD, the Briscoes proved to be too much as they caught Deaner in a Doomsday Device for the victory to become new Impact World Tag Team Champions!
Once again, easily a rivalry I could sink my teeth in.
– Moose headed down to ring ring with a mic. Moose demanded that Scott D’Amore come down to the ring, the main event is not happening and that he’s hijacking the show. Before D’Amore is able to answer Moose’s demand, Sami Callihan returned, nailed Moose with Cactus Driver ’97 and stated he’s back in Impact Wrestling.
Impact World Champion Josh Alexander defeated Tomohiro Ishii to retain
After the traditional World Championship intro, we heard “Walking Weapon” and “Ishii” chants.
While it’s early, it’s not long before we saw the corner power game take effect as the chops hit by both men could have easily off roaded a Mack truck.
It’s “Weapon” vs. “Pitbull”… Think about that for a moment.
This match was all about power, all about that one move that one move that could change the momentum of the match to retain the championship or to win the championship.
After some hard hitting back and forth, Alexander locked in the Ankle Lock but Ishii countered before being locked in the Ankle Lock again. Ishii made it to the ropes and frustration by both men started to set in.
Alexander gained the advantage landing a huge spinning powerbomb but was only able to manage a two count. Both men got to their feet and it’s back and forth action for the World Championship once again with neither man willing to give up.
Both men are up in the corner and Ishii nailed a superplex for a two count. Ishii looked to land his finisher but Alexander on the attack but failed to hit a moonsault. Ishii landed a basement clothesline while Alexander attempted a C4 Spike but failed.
Alexander nailed a powerbomb and while attempting another C4 Spike, was successful pinning the NJPW legend for the victory to remain Impact World Champion!
After losing the X-Division title at Impact Rebellion nearly two weeks ago, Trey Miguel will get his shot at regaining the title this Saturday at Under Siege.
Miguel will face champion Ace Austin after losing the title in a three-way including Austin and “Speedball” Mike Bailey.
Austin is in his third reign as champion while Miguel is looking for his second run with the gold.
Also announced for Saturday’s pre-show: Laredo Kid vs. Rich Swann.
Here’s the full card for Saturday’s special on Impact Plus from Newport, Kentucky:
Impact World Champion Josh Alexander defends against Tomohiro Ishii
Impact Knockouts Champion Tasha Steelz defends against Havok
Impact Tag Team Champions Violent By Design defend against The Briscoes
AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Taya Valkyrie defends against Deonna Purrazzo
X-Division Champion Ace Austin defends against Trey Miguel
Bullet Club (Jay White, Chris Bey, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, and El Phantasmo) vs. Honor No More (Eddie Edwards, Kenny King, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, and Vincent)
Impact Wrestling has two new matches to Saturday’s Under Siege event.
Alex Shelley will face “Speedball” Mike Bailey at Under Siege in a rematch from April’s Multiverse of Matches show. Bailey won the last meeting between the two. Additionally, Madison Rayne will face Gisele Shaw in a pre-show match prior to the event.
Saturday’s Under Siege event airs on Impact Plus beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
Here is the announced card for the special:
Impact Wrestling Under Siege, Saturday, May 7, 8 p.m. Eastern time on Impact Plus —
Impact Wrestling World Championship: Josh Alexander (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Impact Wrestling Knockouts World Championship: Tasha Steelz (c) vs. Havok
Impact Wrestling World Tag Team Championship: Violent By Design (c) vs. The Briscoes
AAA Reina de Reinas Championship: Taya Valkyrie (c) vs. Deonna Purrazzo
Bullet Club (Jay White, Chris Bey, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, and El Phantasmo) vs. Honor No More (Eddie Edwards, Kenny King, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, and Vincent)
Steve Maclin vs. Chris Sabin
Alex Shelley vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey
Countdown to Under Siege pre-show match: Madison Rayne vs. Gisele Shaw
A new singles match has been added to Saturday’s Impact Under Siege as Chris Sabin will take on Steve Maclin for the first time ever.
The two men were in a three-way match with Jay White at last month’s Rebellion that Maclin won after pinning Sabin. Maclin thought the win earned him a World title shot, but Impact VP Scott D’Amore made this match instead.
Maclin will face the no. 1 contender for the title — NJPW’s Tomohiro Ishii — on this Thursday’s Impact on AXS. Sabin comes into the match on a two-bout winning streak.
Here’s the current card for Saturday’s live special from Newport, Kentucky, on Impact Plus:
Impact World Champion Josh Alexander defends against Tomohiro Ishii
Impact Knockouts Champion Tasha Steelz defends against Havok
Impact Tag Team Champions Violent by Design defend against The Briscoes
AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Taya Valkyrie defends against Deonna Purrazzo
This past weekend Impact Wrestling held their Rebellion pay-per-view in Poughkeepsie, NY. The show was headlined by IMPACT World Champion Moose defending his championship against Josh Alexander. The main event bout went about 23 minutes and saw a brand new champion crowned, with Alexander hitting the C4 Spike to win the championship.
Moose held the IMPACT World Championship for a total of 182 days after winning the belt at the 2021 Bound For Glory event in which he invoked his ‘Call Your Shot Gauntlet’ championship opportunity to pin Josh Alexander for the title as he was celebrating with his family in the ring.
What proceeded between both Moose and Alexander turned out to be a very personal story that even featured Moose hitting the Lights Out (spear) on Jen Alexander, the wife of Josh.
During his reign as IMPACT World Champion, Moose successfully defended his championship against the likes of Mike Bailey, Heath, W. Morrissey, Zicky Dice, Matt Cardona, and Eddie Edwards.
On the episode of IMPACT immediately following Rebellion, Moose had a rematch against Alexander in which he lost to him once again.
I had the opportunity of chatting with the former champion all about his feud with Josh Alexander and of course his experience as champion.
“I don’t hate Josh, I actually respect him. I believe in the last year Josh has proved undoubtedly why he is one of the best pro wrestlers in the world and he prevailed at Rebellion and he prevailed again in our rematch that aired last night. I am happy to see what his run is gonna be like, he deserves it, he showed that he’s the standard of what professional wrestling is at IMPACT Wrestling.”
“I was happy with the match, definitely one of my better matches I’ve had,” Moose said in regards to the Rebellion match. “I know everybody says ‘Oh it’s Moose’s best match of his career,’ I feel like everyone says that after I have a good match because they forget about my last match. But it’s definitely one of my better matches. I knew it was gonna be good going in because I am working with a professional in Josh and he’s known for putting on great matches. So I knew I was gonna have a good dance partner.”
Moose also credited the story told for why the main event turned out the way it turned out. “It had people very invested in this match, when you have a super heel villain versus this babyface and everyone wants this babyface to win,” he said. “I don’t know if this is my favorite match in my career, but this is definitely my favorite rivalry that I have had in my eight years of professional wrestling because of how invested the fans were into the match.”
Moose became champion right around the time that IMPACT Wrestling began going back on the road. I asked Moose about the significance of holding the belt.
“I was happy. Usually when they put the title around you, the company is pretty much telling you that you’re gonna be the face of the brand. So when they told me what was going on and the plans they had, I was very proud because I’d been in IMPACT, other than Eddie, I feel I’ve been at IMPACT the longest and I had never been IMPACT World Champion, It was something that I worked my a** off to accomplish.”
Moose also explained how the timing of IMPACT making him champion made sense during the timeline of his run with the promotion.
“I know that a lot of people said that when I wrestled Austin Aries, I wanna say in 2017, maybe 2018; that I should have been IMPACT World Champion then, but honestly speaking, I don’t think I was ready to be champion. I think I was too new in my wrestling career. I didn’t understand what it meant to be champion yet, and I needed time to learn what being champion was all about… and I think they picked the right time at last year’s Bound For Glory to pull the trigger on it.”
Moose also recalls helping with positive vibes in the locker room. “You lead by example, that’s first and foremost,” he said. Moose says he also would bring smoothies and snacks for the guys to help build camaraderie and made sure to always show up extra early before call-time. He described it as a “hard responsibility”, but a “great feeling.”
The next IMPACT Wrestling pay-per-view is taking place on May 7th in Newport, Kentucky titled Under Siege. Announced so far for the show:
Impact World title: champion Josh Alexander defending against Tomohiro Ishii
Impact World Tag Team titles: Violent By Design vs. The Briscoes
AAA Reina de Reinas title: Taya Valkyrie vs. Deonna Purrazzao
Bullet Club (Jay White, Chris Bey, Doc Gallows, El Phantasmo, Karl Anderson) vs Honor No More (Eddie Edwards, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, Kenny King, Vincent)
The rapidly approaching Impact Under Siege had its first five matches announced Thursday — four of them for championships.
In the main event of the May 7th Impact Plus special from Newport, Kentucky, Impact World Champion Josh Alexander will defend against New Japan star Tomohiro Ishii.
Ahead of the Alexander-Moose World title rematch Thursday, it was revealed that a surprise challenger was set for Under Siege and would face the winner. Alexander picked up the victory and Ishii came out afterward for a staredown.
After defeating Decay’s Rosemary at last weekend’s Rebellion, Knockouts Champion Tasha Steelz will defend against Rosemary’s teammate and former champion Havok. Steelz and Savannah Evans faced Decay on Thursday.
After making their return at this month’s Multiverse of Matches, The Briscoes will get their shot at tag team gold as they challenge current champions Violent by Design. The Briscoes returned Thursday and picked up a win over Heath and Rhino. Before the match, they challenged VBD and confronted the champions before it was accepted.
After defeating Deonna Purrazzo for the AAA Reina de Reinas title at Rebellion, Taya Valkyrie will defend against Purrazzo in a rematch.
The feud between Bullet Club (Jay White, Good Brothers, Chris Bey, El Phantasmo) and Honor No More (Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, Vincent, Kenny King, Eddie Edwards) will continue in an ten-man tag team match.
Here’s the current card:
Impact World Champion Josh Alexander defends against Tomohiro Ishii
Impact Knockouts Champion Tasha Steelz defends against Havok
Impact Tag Team Champions Violent by Design defend against The Briscoes
AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Taya Valkyrie defends against Deonna Purrazzo
A date and location have been set for one of Impact Wrestling’s upcoming special events.
Impact Wrestling has announced that Under Siege 2022 will take place on Saturday, May 7. The show will be held at the PromoWest Pavilion at Ovation in Newport, Kentucky.
Newport, Kentucky is part of the greater Cincinnati area.
No matches have been announced for Under Siege yet. The show will air live on Impact Plus and for subscribers to Impact Wrestling’s Ultimate Insiders service on YouTube.
The PromoWest Pavilion will also host a set of Impact television tapings on Sunday, May 8. “May Day” is the name of the tapings.
Tickets for Under Siege and May Day are on sale now.
Under Siege is taking place two weeks after Impact Wrestling’s Rebellion pay-per-view. Rebellion is being held at the MJN Convention Center in Poughkeepsie, New York. The PPV will be headlined by Moose defending his Impact World Championship against Josh Alexander.
