Impact Rebellion night one results: Ken Shamrock vs. Sami Callihan
Impact Wrestling presents night one of Rebellion.
Tonight’s episode is headlined by Ken Shamrock and Sami Callihan in an unsanctioned bout. Also, Ace Austin defends the X-Division Championship against Willie Mack, Rhino and Dreamer team up with a mystery partner take on oVe, Kylie Rae will take on Kiera Hogan, and a 3-way tag team match between XXXL, The Rascalz, and Bahh and TJP.
This was Impact’s first show without a crowd since the pandemic started. They’ve been taping towards the ramp for months, so there was little change from their normal set up.
Rhino, Tommy Dreamer, & Crazzy Steve defeated oVe (Madman Fulton, Jake & Dave Crist)
Dreamer and Jake Crist start the match for their teams. Short wrist control sequence with Dreamer trying to pull off some flips, but still failing at getting the better of Jake. Dreamer tried to do a kip-up and failed.
Steve tagged in against Fulton, but Steve tagged out and in came Rhino. Well, not much of a babyface. Fulton dominated Rhino early on, but when they came to blows, Rhino held his own and managed to push Fulton back, but he still got to his corner to tag in Dave Crist.
Steve once again tagged in. He got a couple of clotheslines and a running cannonball on Dave.
Fulton and Rhino came back in again. They went back to striking each other before Rhino got pushed to the oVe corner where Fulton stopped him with some shoulder thrusts. Dave Crist tagged in, but got easily overtaken and once again Steve is back. These tags feel completely unplanned.
Crazzy Steve got cut off and worked on by the Crist brothers for a bit before he tagged in Dreamer, who came in, took out Jake with the Bionic Elbow and Cutter for a two count before Fulton broke it up. Jake hit a kick combo on Dreamer for a two count, successfully cutting him off.
oVe worked over Dreamer for a couple of minutes until he and Jake Crist collided with double clotheslines. Rhino got the hot tag and took out Fulton and Jake, hit a mini-Gore and belly-to-belly suplex on Dave for a two count.
Dreamer took out Jake to the floor. Fulton tossed Steve over the top rope, but Rhino was there to send Fulton out too. Rhino hit the Gore on Dave Crist and took the win for the team. This was okay. Crazzy Steve was a detriment to the match.
Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne introduced the show and ran down the card. Matthews announced that both Tessa Blanchard and Eddie Edwards are in isolation. It seems that the Impact title match is off.
Josh Matthews had a face-time interview with Eddie Edwards. Eddie talked about not being at Rebellion, as he forced himself to quarantine to protect his family. He said that once things are good, he’ll come back and go right after the championship.
During the break, we got a promo of Crazzy Steve saying that he was back.
Gia Miller interviewed Michael Elgin about the title situation. Elgin talked about going to ROH and NJPW and his voyage to find the best competition and the World championship. Elgin said that both Tessa Blanchard and Eddie Edwards were afraid of him and are avoiding him. Elgin said that he’ll be the World champion by the end of Rebellion.
The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defeated Fallah Bahh & TJP and XXXL (Acey Romero & Larry D)
TJP and Xavier started the match with a collar and elbow lockup and some chain wrestling, and thanks to Romero’s distraction, TJP gained early control. As of this point, the story was that the quick smaller guys were doing everything to dodge XXXL’s attempts to tag in.
TJP kept going for submissions, first an Armbar, then an Octopus Stretch, but Xavier finally tagged in Wentz and hit a combination attack on TJP, took down XXXL and Bahh, and got a two count on TJP.
Wentz locked in a Last Chancery on TJP, but the latter made the ropes. Wentz kept the upper hand on TJP, but Bahh got the blind tag as TJP hit a dragon screw on Wentz. Bahh and TJP hit the double plancha for a two count when Romero broke it up.
Back from commercial, Larry D and Bahh are going at it as the former gets a two count with a spinebuster. Larry D goes after Bahh’s arm and gets a second two count with a kick to the head. Romero tags in and hits a splash for a two count. Larry D locked in a sleeper on Bahh and worked it into an armbar.
Bahh started to make his comeback with a desperation belly-to-belly but wasn’t able to tag out. XXXL hit a sequence of running splash and hip attacks to the corner. Romero and Larry D kept it up with quick tags and mostly strikes, but it was then when Bahh hulked up and hit a huge Samoan drop on Larry D and tagged in TJP.
TJP failed to take down Larry D with dropkicks. He was caught and sent into the Rascalz corner. TJP was taken out by The Rascalz, who tagged in. They lured Larry D to their corner, faked Romero into splashing Larry with a cannonball. They went for Hot Fire Flame, but TJP pulled Xavier out of the ring.
TJP went for a springboard on Larry D, but he was caught with an Uppercut. Bahh took out Larry, Xavier took out Bahh, Romero hit the Pounce on Xavier and got a two count out of it.
Larry D went for a Superplex when Wentz came back, took out Romero, hit a Superkick and Springboard Cutter on Larry D, and set up the Corkscrew finish by Xavier for the win.
After the match, The North sent a message to Impact from Canada. They said that they were not stuck in Canada, but rather making sure that Canada was safe. They said that since they didn’t want to go to the US, they were making an open challenge to Canada’s best.
Miller interviewed Willie Mack and Rich Swann. Mack said that he was really happy to have Swann there to back him up against Ace Austin. Mack said that he wished that they were winning Tag Team gold, but Swann stopped him and told him that the tag titles were in the past and now, it was Mack’s time to become the X-Division champion. Good stuff by Swann.
We got the build-up video package of Mack’s chase to the X-Division championship.
Willie Mack defeated Ace Austin for the X-Division title
Match started, but Ace Austin kept stalling outside the ring, dodging Mack and going for several ten counts. He offered Mack a handshake, but when he tried to trick Mack, he was taken out with a right hook to the jaw.
Ace finally took this seriously and went for a schoolboy on Mack, but Mack blocked him, sent him outside with a strike, and chased him down for more slaps. Back in the ring, Mack went for the Cannonball, but Ace dodged and kicked Mack in the back of the head.
Ace tied up Mack in the tree of woe, kicking and choking him in the process. Ace went for a crossbody, but Mack caught him mid-air and slammed him. He followed up with a standing shooting star press! Mack continued to punch Ace until the referee pulled him off.
Thanks to the distraction, Ace pulled Mack into the ropes for the Guillotine and once again cut him off. Ace hit a Superkick for a two count. Ace kept control with kicks and knees, choked Mack against the ropes. Mack tried making a comeback but kept getting cut off by Ace’s kicks.
Ace went for a Springboard Rana, but it was turned into a desperation Powerbomb by Mack for a two count.
Ace and Mack traded strikes in the middle of the ring, the chops sounded like thunder. Mack finally with some momentum, hit a couple of corner combinations and running Cannonball and finally went for the Stunner. Mack hit the Stunner, but Ace reversed it, flipped over, hit The Fold, but Mack kicked out twice.
Ace went for a second Fold, but Mack countered with a Pop-Up Cutter for a two count. Mack went for the 6-Star Frog Splash, but Ace rolled away to the corner, so Mack turned it into a Coast to Coast instead, but as he took out Ace, he also took out his back.
Mack went for the 6-Star again, but Ace rolled out and Mack crashed on the mat. Ace rolled Mack with the feet on the ropes, but the ref caught him. Ace went to the top rope but was blocked by Mack. Ace slipped down and dropped Mack, went for a Backplex, but Mack blocked, hit a Stunner from there, followed the 6-Star Frog Splash, and Willie Mack won the X-Division Championship. Fantastic match, completely forgot this was an empty arena.
After the match, Rich Swann came out to celebrate with Willie Mack. Backstage, Swann congratulated Mack and told him that they can still go for the tag titles once he’s good to return. Johnny Swinger approached them and told Mack that The Mack and Pack Connection will live forever and asked for Mack’s first title shot. Swann said they were on the way to party and Swinger invited himself.
We got a video package for Kylie Rae. We got words from Gail Kim, Eddie Edwards, and Tessa Blanchard putting her over. Kiera Hogan, however, only talked trash and cut a nice heel promo.
Kylie Rae defeated Kiera Hogan
Rae started the match by folding her t-shirt nicely. Hogan pushed her around until Rae flipped and slammed Hogan and went for an early Smile To The Finish, but Hogan made the ropes.
Rae dropped Hogan with some snapmares. Hogan offered a test of strength, but tricked Rae with a kick and finally got the better of Kylie.
Rae slammed Hogan face-first to the buckle, stomped on her back, hit a running kick, went for the Kylie Special, but Hogan caught her with an elbow and scissors kick for the two count.
Hogan kicked and choked Rae on the corner, then kicked her on the back and got a near fall.
Back from commercial, Hogan was still in control. Rae made a comeback with strikes, but Hogan took her down and landed a running boot for another two count.
Hogan whipped Rae around some more before Rae caught her with a running elbow and a couple of more exchanges, ending with dual superkicks where they took each other out. They went to exchange elbows and chops again and finally, Rae got the upper hand with clotheslines and the Kylie Special. Hogan escaped, but Rae transitioned to a superkick for a two count.
Hogan hit a huge roundhouse kick for a near fall. She went for the fisherman’s suplex, but Rae countered into one of her own. She hit a running uppercut and a cannonball for another two count.
Hogan hit another superkick but started talking trash when Rae got her with the STTF for the win. This was pretty good. Give these women some time, and they can have a great match.
Matthews and Rayne ran down the card for next week. Suicide vs Chris Bey vs Trey Miguel vs Rohit Raju, Joey Ryan vs Cousin Jake, Full Metal Mayhem between Rosemary and Havok, and the conclusion of Elgin’s threat to walking out as World Champion no matter what.
We got the video package for Callihan’s return and feud with Ken Shamrock.
Ken Shamrock defeated Sami Callihan in an Unsanctioned Match
Callihan jumped Shamrock with a dive while the latter was making his entrance. Callihan hit a suplex on the floor as the brawl started. Callihan went for a chop, but that woke up Shamrock, who started striking and kicking down Callihan.
They kept brawling around the ring, mostly ramming each other to the guardrails that were not really protecting anything, against the ring post and to the ramp. Shamrock hit an early crazy plancha from the ramp. He couldn’t even get over the ramp lights, but Callihan caught him.
They brawled to the back where Sami caught Shamrock with a fire extinguisher and some chair shots. Sami took him down with some garbage cans and pulled out a chain. Callihan started striking down and choking with the chain, but Shamrock wouldn’t submit.
Sami went for the kill shot, but Shamrock kicked him and finally took over with strikes. Suddenly, oVe jumped Shamrock and took him down. Fulton started hitting Ken with a garbage can over and over. Sami got his bat, but instead of joining in, he turned on them, taking them out with the bat, as he wanted his one-on-one cowboy fight with Shamrock.
They took it to the parking lot where they slammed each other against the production trucks. Shamrock was getting the better of Sami, but eventually, he got caught with a low punch and a sleeper. Ken fought back, got Sami off and locked in the ankle lock. Sami passed out before tapping, yet granting Shamrock the win.
This was exactly what it needed to be in terms of hiding Shamrock’s shortcomings. Only questionable detail is Callihan losing his first match since his return, but considering that Shamrock is headed to the Hall of Fame, it wouldn’t be productive to have him lose either at this point.
Final thoughts —
This was a really good show by Impact. Four matches worth checking out, where I completely forgot it was an empty arena. This did feel like the stronger card of the Rebellion nights if indeed the World title and the Knockout’s title matches are no longer taking place.