The show opened with a recap of the main developments from last week’s edition (of which there were quite a few). The biggest of those concerned the heel turn by Johnny Impact and Taya Valkyrie on Brian Cage, with this episode seemingly set to provide answers.
Moose vs. Trey
Aside from his entrance, Trey went it alone here, meaning that The Rascalz stayed backstage. This was the typical clash of size and style, with Trey having more of an advantage than one might expect against the much taller, stronger Moose. That said, once Moose took over, he did so in style with a huge powerbomb toss onto the ring apron (the hardest part of the ring, don’t forget). Trey was understandably KO’d at ringside, but Moose broke the referee’s count to try and do further damage. This suddenly brought Trey back to life, but it only led to Moose powerbombing him into th side of the steel stairs. Somehow, this didn’t end the match as Moose still wanted to inflict further punishment. Moose hit a huge clothesline that turned Trey inside out as Josh Matthews noted how Trey’s brother was in attendance and had to see that; Don Callis replied “I’d love to see my brother clotheslined like that.” A huge spear by Moose finally ended it. Though excessive on spots at times and with occasional sloppiness, this was still a really good opener which the fans were definitely into it.
Sami Callihan and his OVE crew cut a backstage promo to run down Rich Swann ahead of the main event. Also, Tessa Blanchard was interviewed, and was still upset over Gail Kim attacking her on last week’s show, noting that she is insistent on Gail apologising and firing her from Impact.
KM & Fallah Bahh vs. Eli Drake & Eddie Edwards
During Eddie’s entrance, Josh Matthews noted how it wasn’t too long ago that Eddie was World Champion. This was presumably meant as a compliment, but if there are no plans for him to regain that crown anytime soon, it only makes it seem like his time as champion wasn’t something to remember fondly, especially if it required Josh to watch the GWN to remember it. Fallah Bahh dominated Eli early on, with tags to KM. Eddie tagged in and helped Eli to swing the momentum with some frequent tags and double-team offence of their own. Bahh and KM have ring gear similar to the late Yokozuna, though it suits the larger and facially-similar Bahh far more. Callis in reference to Edwards: “There’s topes and there’s topes, and that was a tope.” Eddie retrieved “Kenny”, his trusty kendo stick (Don: “The most famous Kenny in wrestling right now”), and while distracting the referee, he tossed it to Eli (with Josh noting that Eddie doesn’t let anybody else touch “Kenny”) who whacked KM with it. A Boston Knee Party by Eddie clenched the win.
Arriving at the arena, Johnny Impact and Taya Valkyrie refused to answer Rolando Melendez about why he did what he did last week “Buy a ticket and find out with the other marks”. The vintage TNA match highlights this week came from Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson at Against All Odds 2011 under Ladder match rules, during which the “Let’s go a—hole!” chants were actually designed to show support for Anderson. The reactions by Mike Tenay and Taz to Jeff winning the title were very unenthusiastic.
Rolando tried to speak to Johnny and Taya again, and again he did not succeed. We also had a confab between Rich Swann, Willie Mack and Ethan Page.
Ace Austin vs. Damian Hyde
The newcomer Ace Austin competed in his second Impact match here against Damian Hyde. Damian hailed from Las Vegas (host of this show), though as his name suggests, Austin held the ace card, and sports an ace tattoo (you know, ace as in the playing cards and, ah never mind). This was a good showcase of Ace, with some nice moves including a twisting moonsault to the hard wooden ringside floor (the ring mats were minimal here, presumably at Bill Watts’ request). A number of springboard moves by Austin led to the match-winning Fold after he shouted “Aces up!” Austin looked impressive here as he establishes himself on Impact.
Johnny Impact/Taya Valkyrie Interview
After a video recap of the story so far between Rich Swann and Sami Callihan, we finally got to properly hear from Johnny Impact and Taya Valkyrie, as the World and Knockouts Championship-holding couple discussed their actions from last week. Josh Matthews held the microphone, emitting feels from Tough Enough fans (yes I’m aware that Johnny and Josh were on separate seasons). The question was simply: “why?” Johnny blamed people like Josh and the “internet smart marks”. He said that he was a fighting champion, but said that fans were more interested in seeing him wreck his body than to win, and had dropped support for him once Brian Cage arrived at Homecoming. He questioned why he’d be loyal to people who weren’t loyal to him, and said he cheated on all of them with himself, and loved it. Josh also asked Taya about her match next week with Jordynne Grace, who expressed her superiority over Grace and also slated the marks within the Impact fanbase (notice my lack of speech, erm, marks there), as fans chanted for Jordynne. For some reason, we then had a commercial break during the promo, right as Johnny wrapped it up by saying he only cared about his title and his wife, as they shared kisses. Brian Cage was said to be recovering from a concussion, which is why he didn’t interrupt here.
James Mitchell and Rosemary had a discussion of sorts in a typically dark, strange backstage segment. Rosemary said she wanted the Bunny’s soul, and that she wasn’t afraid to talk to “him” at the undead realm, to the chagrin of James. We also had a recap of Jordynne Grace beating Tessa Blanchard last week to earn a Knockouts title match.
Ethan Page vs. Willie Mack
Willie Mack was definitely over with the Vegas fans here, though I’m not necessarily a fan of the nickname “Chocolate Thunder”. Josh noted that it was when Impact collided with Lucha Underground that we were “first introduced to Willie” (his words, not mine). Though Mack is the larger of the two (though not by much) and was really over, it was Page who controlled the early going, at least until he was caught with a samoan drop and a standing moonsault. A big kick by Ethan at ringside turned the tables back in his favour, and he dominated the next stretch of the contest as fans booed and chanted “Chocolate Thunder!” and “Ethan sucks!” As I randomly noticed the use of gambling-style dice under the Impact logo on the turnbuckles, Willie made his big comeback, culminating in a huge drop kick that sent Page into the corner, followed by Whole Lotta Ass (well that’s what Don calls it). After a DDT by Mack from the opposing turnbuckles, Ethan had one last rally, before Mack wrapped it up with a Stunner. Should it be Steve Austin or Kevin Owens calling Willie out on that? Nevertheless, a big win for Willie, and fans were more than satisfied by the victory for the very charismatic and talented Mack.
Melendez tried to interview Johnny and Taya yet again (let it go Rolando), before they were confronted by Killer Kross, who remained silent yet intimidating. We also had a recap of the Glenn Gliberti/Scarlett Bordeaux situation, leading to Menendez interviewing Gilberti at a bar over some shots. He said his upcoming match with Scarlett would see him awarded six stars, negative five stars for her, meaning one star overall and still one star more than any other women’s match according to him.
Gail Kim was asked about her meeting with Impact officials, with Kim essentially saying that she might have to agree to Tessa’s demands. Suddenly, as Gail walked away, a huge brawl broke out between with LAX and The Lucha Bros with lots of strikes, shouting and swearing. Officials stepped in to break it up as Konnan said that LAX wanted their rematch. We then saw Willie Mack enter a locker room to be followed in by The Crist Brothers. Cue sounds of violence, with Willie walking out unscathed. Go figure.
X Division Championship Match
Rich Swann (C) vs. Sami Callihan
Rich tossed his title aside as he ran down the ramp to ensure that this match got a quick start. It didn’t take long to descend to ringside, where the steel stairs came into play as a springboard for various moves, despite by attempt by Sali to pile drive Rich on the steps. An exploder suplex by Callihan on the ramp allowed the OVE leader to really gain the advantage in this championship clash, with a commercial being accompanied by music (which reminded me of WCW using the same tactic for Monday Nitro, which I’m not sure I really like for a few reasons). Swann battled out of a chinlock, but Callihan quickly regained and thus maintained control. Sami then summoned saliva from his gob and wiped it on his hand to hit a knife-edge chop on Swann (he’s a weird one, that Sami). Soon, Rich mounted a proper comeback and from there we had the big moves that one would expect in a match with championship stakes, including a Swann standing hurricanrana that brought Callihan off the top ropes. As fans somewhat generously chanted “This is awesome!” (since it was adequate at best), Rich hit a 450 splash from the middle rope for a close near-fall, before Sami caught Rich as he attempted a hurricanrana, and dropped him with a powerbomb off the top strand, and when Swann kicked out, Callihan immediately locked in a crossface from which Rich escaped. A horrible-looking spit by Sami into Rich’s face led to Swann punching and spitting back, before hitting a handspring cutter for another close call. Given the big moves, a simple cradle retaining the title for Swann was a surprise. Afterwards, though, Swann was attacked by Callihan, though Swann avoided a chairshot; however, as Rich contemplated using the chair himself, a huge, erm, man walked in the ring and tossed Swann aside. Josh revealed that it was Mad Man Fulton, as he hit Rich with a one-handed chokeslam and officially joined the ranks of OV3. Fulton also levelled Willie Mack with an End Of Days, and Callihan struck Swann with his baseball bat, to close the show.
This was an entertaining episode of Impact with a noteworthy ending. It didn’t have any blow-away matches, but the action that we did see was entertaining on the whole. We also had some decent storyline progression elsewhere, making it a worthwhile edition overall.