Impact Code Red results: Callihan vs. Dreamer, title matches

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.

Tessa Blanchard & Violette defeated Scarlett Bordeaux & Sonya Strong

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.