Impact Hard to Kill live results: Jordynne Grace vs. Mickie James title vs. career
For the first time since last October, Impact Wrestling returns to pay-per-view for Hard to Kill — a show that could feature the retirement of a fixture in women’s wrestling.
That fixture is Mickie James whose Last Rodeo personal challenge to win the Knockouts title or retire has come to its finale against champion Jordynne Grace in a title vs. career match.
Impact World Champion Josh Alexander defends the title against Bully Ray in a Full Metal Mayhem match that will open the main card.
Rounding out the title matches: the Motor City Machine Guns defend the Impact Tag Team titles in a four-way, X-Division Champion Trey Miguel defends against Black Taurus, and Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry defends against Moose.
The next contender for the Knockouts title will be determined in a four-way between Masha Slamovich, Taylor Wilde, Deonna Purrazzo and Killer Kelly.
Jonathan Gresham faces rival Eddie Edwards while Steve Maclin battles Rich Swann in a falls count anywhere in Atlanta match.
Our live coverage begins with two pre-show matches at 7:30 PM Eastern.
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Pre-Show —
KUSHIDA defeated Angels, Delirious, Mike Jackson, Mike Bailey and Yuya Uemura in a six-way
KUSHIDA and Uemura were left in the ring after everyone spilled to the outside soon after the bell ringing. KUSHIDA hit a cartwheel into a dropkick on Uemura. Delirious came in and sent Uemura to the floor before Mike Jackson got in the ring with Delirious. Jackson sent Bailey to the floor, and Bailey hit a moonsault onto everyone.
Mike Jackson then, at 73 years old, hit a suicide dive on everyone to the outside of the ring. Angels got back in the ring and went right after Mike Jackson, but Jackson dodged a corner charge and Angels hit the ring post. Jackson then grabbed the arm of Angels and walked the ropes old school style to a great reaction from the crowd.
Jackson walked all around the ring and then hit a crossbody on everyone. Angels hit a vertical suplex on Jackson, but Delirious and Uemura double teamed Angels. Bailey hit a series of kicks on both men, but ate a dropkick from Uemura, who then suplexed KUSHIDA. Bailey went for Ultima weapon on Uemura, but Kenny King ran out and shoved Bailey from the ropes. KUSHIDA then hit a flying armbar on Angels for the submission.
– They replayed the excellent hype video for Josh Alexander and Bully Ray.
X-Division Champion Trey Miguel defeated Black Taurus to retain
Fantastic match. I am not sure why this was on the preshow, but it was truly awesome. Both guys worked very hard, and while I want Taurus to win that title eventually, the cheating victory sets up potential future matches for Taurus.
Miguel attacked Taurus with speed, doding a flying knee and sending Taurus to the floor. Miguel went for a hurricanrana off the top rope to the floor, but Taurus caught him. It didn’t help much though as Taurus was sent into the ring post. Taurus blocked a meteora and Miguel blocked destination hellhole.
Taurus went for a pop-up Samoan drop, but in midair, Miguel countered into a crucifix driver. Miguel went to the entrance ramp and ran towards the ring, trying to launch in with a springboard giro dive, but Taurus caught him in midair and hit a Samoan drop. Miguel hit a double stomp and yelled at the crowd, but Taurus nailed a series of clotheslines and then hit a pounce that turned Miguel inside out.
Taurus hit a torture rack into a back breaker like Bane did to Batman in the Knightfall comic book arc, and it looked brutal. Taurus got dumped to the floor after charging Miguel. Miguel, the heel, then asked the crowd to cheer. Oops. Miguel did a tope con giro, but Taurus caught him and went for a powerbomb, but Miguel floated over into a code red on the floor. That was incredible. Miguel hit the meteora, but Taurus kicked out.
Taurus and Miguel shuffled for footing on the top ropes, but Taurus got ahead and hit an avalanche gorilla press into the ring, which was incredible. Miguel dodged destination hellhole and hit a cross Rhodes, but the official caught Miguel with his feet on the ropes. Miguel grabbed a can of spray paint from under the ring. Miguel gave the paint to the referee and then pulled a second can from his tights to spray into Taurus’ face before hitting the lightning spiral for the win.
Main Card —
The main card of Impact Hard to Kill opened with a 10 bell salute to Don West while all the wrestlers and staff were on the stage and the fans chanted for Don West. This was beautiful.
Impact World Champion Josh Alexander defeated Bully Ray in a Full Metal Mayhem match to retain the title
This match was all smoke and mirrors, quite overbooked, but it was a good match, nonetheless. This ended exactly as it should have, but the ankle lock while choking Ray with the chain was a better finishing spot. They could have had Jade Chung hand him the chain and then they could transition to that. Still, good match and way better then it would have been if it was just a straight match.
Bully Ray came out first but ran back up the ramp to hide as Josh Alexander came out. Ray ran in behind Alexander and hit him with a chain to the back of the head. The crowd was not pleased with this and booed Ray as he posed with the title. The announcers told us that the only way to win was pinfall or submission, but Full Metal Mayhem is supposed to be a ladder match, as this is Impact’s version of a TLC. That is weird.
Alexander was busted open before the bell even rang, but he told them to ring the bell. Ray immediately powerbombed Alexander through a table for a 2-count. Ray kept going after the wound of Alexander to try and open the wound further. Ray grabbed a cheese grater but ate a punch from Alexander, who then grabbed the grater and punched it right into Bully Ray’s face.
Ray came up bleeding after that as Alexander cleared the table from the ring and added other weapons to the match. Alexander grabbed the cheese grater used it on the face of Ray. Alexander dug under the ring and pulled out a bag of thumbtacks. Ray looked on in shock at Alexander, thinking he underestimated Alexander.
Alexander nailed Ray with a chair on the ramp as Ray ran away from the thumbtacks. Alexander put Ray on a table and climbed a ladder that was on the ramp. Ray stood up and shoved the ladder over and Alexander crashed into the ring and onto the thumbtacks. Ray came into the ring and tried to hit a bully bomb into the tacks, but Alexander countered it hit a rolling fireman’s carry on Ray. Alexander hit a flying knee with a chain wrapped around his knee before locking Ray in the ankle lock while Ray was face down in the tacks.
Alexander wrapped the chain around Ray’s throat and pulled back while holding the ankle lock, but Jason Hotch and John Skylar saved Ray and they hit a 3D into the tacks. Ray got Hotch and Skylar to get tables and zip tied Alexander to the ropes. Tommy Dreamer made his way down the ramp and took out Hotch and Skylar.
Dreamer and Ray faced off, and it looked like Dreamer was going to turn on Alexander by siding with Ray. Dreamer, instead, smashed a trashcan into Ray’s head. Ray then speared Dreamer through a table. Ray grabbed the trashcan and smashed it into the face of the defenseless Alexander, who refused to give up. Jade Chung, Josh’s wife, ran down to the ring and came face to face with Ray.
Ray told her to beg him for mercy. Ray demanded she take her wedding ring off and give it to him, but she low blowed Bully Ray and then hit a cutter after running up the ropes. She then cut the ties off Alexander’s arms and she threw a chair into the arms of Bully Ray before Alexander smashed a chair into the chair that Ray was holding. Alexander and Chung put Ray on a table and Alexander hit a frog splash off the ladder through a table on Ray kicked out, but Alexander immediately locked on an ankle lock and forced the tapout. Jade Chung and Alexander celebrated after the match in the wreckage of tables and weapons all over the ring, and Bully Ray in the middle of it all, bleeding and beaten.
–Mickie James was with Victoria backstage, and she was hyping James up saying that she was going to kill it tonight. Raven showed up and said he wanted to be a part of it tonight too, because he was there for the beginning of her career, and if it was the end, he wanted to be there. This was nice.
Impact Tag Team Champion Motor City Machine Guns defeated The Major Players, Bullet Club (Ace Austin & Chris Bey), and Heath & Rhino to retain in an elimination tag team match
It would have been very difficult for this match to be bad, and this one was far from it. Great tag match.
It didn’t take long for this to spill into wild action everywhere, with MCMG and Bey and Austin flying all over the place. The referee was desperately trying to get control as Matt Cardona and Brian Myers took out Bullet Club and then Heath and Rhino took them out. The bell finally rang when Rhino and Myers were in the ring. Cardona and Myers got the heat on Heath in the early part of the match.
Rhino tagged in and hit a belly-to-belly on Cardona, but Myers made the save and Cardona was able to pin Rhino to eliminate him and Heath after a rake to the eyes. Rehwoldt say that it was FriBEY the 18th and that Bullet Club was in ACElanta. Hannifan said, “I want you to know that I hate you,” after the terrible puns.
Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley got involved at that point, double teaming Ace Austin and working over his legs. Myers and Cardona were back in the ring soon thereafter and hit the Fold on Myers to pin him, leaving the match down to MCMG and Bullet Club. Sabin used his usual face paced offence to kick Austin on the floor and hit a sunset flip on Bey. MCMG hit the magic killer for a 2-count.
It’s crazy how fast Sabin and Shelley move, still at this stage in their career, but Bey and Austin may have been slightly faster, hitting the art of finesse on Sabin, but the Major Players pulled Austin from the ring. MCMG and Bullet Club beat on the Major Players, but they definitely cost Bullet Club the match. MCMG hit the dirt bomb for the pinfall to retain their titles.
– Frankie Kazarian came down to ring as they exited, shook hands with MCMG and grabbed a mic. Kazarian said he was faced with a decision recently, and he to question if he wanted to walk away or bet on himself. Kazarian said he bet on himself and signed a long term contract with Impact Wrestling, and the fans chanted “Welcome home!” Kazarian made his intentions known, but he was going to fight to make it to the top. I like this.
Impact Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry defeated Moose to retain
This match was actually pretty great. The finish was a good way to introduce Santino as the director of authority as well.
Before Hendry could talk like he usually did before a match, Moose slapped the mic way. Hendry decided to slap Moose in response and hit a big spinning powerslam. Hendry hit a stalling vertical suplex on Moose, but Moose stood right up and sent Hendry to the floor. Hendry picked Moose up in a stalling vertical suplex and walked around ringside with Moose above his head before dropping down to complete it halfway around the ring. That was cool.
Back in the ring, Moose hit two big dropkicks in the corner on Hendry. Moose gouged at the eyes and nose of Hendry, using cheep tactics to get the heat for the next few minutes. Moose slapped Hendry, but it woke him up, and Hendry put Moose in a fireman’s carry before tossing him stomach first to the floor. That was really impressive.
Hendry hit a massive cutter on Moose that caused Moose to spin on his head on the mat and go straight vertical with only his head on the mat. That was an impressive visual. Moose kicked out and soon hit sky high on Hendry for a 2-count. Hendry shoved Moose off the top rope, but Moose landed on his feet and ran up the ropes and hit a superplex on Hendry. Moose kicked up before the 10 count, and Hendry did the same and the fans popped loudly for both.
Moose blocked a European uppercut and they moved into near fall exchanges. The exchanged ended with Hendry smashing Moose with a lariat that turned him inside out and a popup powerbomb for a 2-count. Hendry went for the standing ovation, but Moose hit a uranage for a 2-count. Moose grabbed the title on the floor and went to attack Hendry with it, but the referee took it away. Moose low blowed Hendry and then hit a spear for the pinfall.
Some wacky music hit, and Santino Marella came out and said he was the new director of authority in Impact Wrestling. Santino called Moose a cheating “some of a gun” and restarted the match, to Moose’s chagrin.
Not long after the bell rang to restart the match, Joe Hendry was able to hit the standing ovation for the pinfall, retaining his title.
– Kenny King was backstage saying that he was chipping away at the reputation of Baile and that he still had the eyebrow of one of his students on his knuckle. King claimed he was going to snuff out the career of Mike Bailey at the pit fight on AXS on Thursday.
Masha Slamovich defeated Deonna Purrazzo, Taylor Wilde and Killer Kelly in a four-way to become the no. 1 contender for the Impact Knockouts title
Slamovich went right after Taylor Wilde and started beating her on the floor, leaving Purrazzo and Kelly in the ring. Purrazzo tried to get away but Wilde sent Purrazzo bac into the ring. As Slamovich and Kelly were brawling on the floor Purrazzo hit baseball slide on both. Taylor Wilde then hit a low-pe dive onto everyone. Purrazzo hit a crossbody to the floor, seemingly crushing Wilde. Slamovich did a flip dive off the top rope, seemingly crushing Wilde again. That had to suck.
Wilde came back in the ring and took it right to Slamovich hitting chops and elbows in the corner. Killer Kelly went for angels wings on Kelly, but Purrazzo countered into a half crab. Wilde and Purrazzo did the half crab on Kelly, but fought over who would get the submission, so they started brawling after letting go of the submission.
Slamovich came in and kicked both women in the face before turning to Killer Kelly. Purrazzo hit a powerbomb on Wilde. Kelley went for the killer clutch on Purrazzo, but Purrazzo countered into an armbar. Wilde was meant to break the submission but accidentally hit Kelly in the face, who just countered Purrazzo’s submission into the killer clutch. Wilde put a crossface on Slamovich, but Slamovich stood up and hit a snowplow on Wilde into everyone to pin Wilde for the win.
– Raven joined the commentary team for this match, and Gia Miller went to interview Rich Swann, but Steve Maclin attacked him and the match started backstage.
Steve Maclin defeated Rich Swann in a falls count anywhere match
This was a good brawl around the arena, but having so many weapons matches so far on the show kind of diminishes the impact (no pun intended) of having it in this match as I’ve already seen it all. That said, this was still good, and Maclin winning and moving on to face Josh Alexander is the right move.
The audio was incredible messed up on the broadcast while the wrestlers were backstage, with everything being quiet with lots of echoes. The brawled all over the place, fighting out into the street, and almost getting hit by a car trying to leave the arena. Raven said “I hope someone gets hit by a car!” Raven was quite funny in this match, looking more to amuse himself on commentary.
Both men brawled to ringside, and Maclin smashed Swann with a chair to the face, which, thankfully, Swann got his hands up for. Raven chuckled with joy at Swann crashing onto the ramp for a 2-count. He then said, “It amuses me. I like violence.” Swann hit a kick that sent Maclin crashing to the floor, leading Swann to hit a frog splash to the floor. Maclin hit a running powerbomb on Swann on the floor for a 2-count. Maclin was able to hit KIA on one of the ramps exiting the stage area for the pinfall.
Eddie Edwards defeated Jonathan Gresham
This match was awesome. Edwards and Gresham are both so good, and this was a full blown Pro Wrestling NOAH style match with hard hitting action. I loved it.
Edwards wanted to brawl with Gresham but every time he tried, Gresham was able to escape. Edwards did eventually start hitting hard chops that put Gresham in trouble, but Gresham was able to get out of the corner, hitting some arm drags and kicking the arm of Edwards. Edwards worked over Gresham with cheaper tactics, violating the pure wrestling that Gresham likes, choking him against the ropes.
Gresham and Edwards started slapping each other, but Gresham face-planted after a strike looking like he was knocked out. Gresham managed to get up and hit hard forearms, but every time Edwards chopped him, Gresham would go down and get back up. Soon Gresham was begging for the chops and managed to hit a kick to the injured elbow of Edwards from earlier.
Gresham hit a forearm to the elbow, ate a chop, and continued to attack the arm. Edwards tried to get out of it with chops, but Gresham maintained wrist control and continued to attack the arm. Gresham popped up after a chop with an enziguri before stomping the arm and getting a nearfall with a crucifix.
Gresham hit a tilt-a-whirl bulldog for a 2-count. Gresham hit another stomp to the arm and a suicide dive before going to the top turnbuckle. Edwards was able to hit an enziguri on Gresham, stopping whatever he had planned. Edwards countered a rear naked choke from Gresham by causing Gresham to crash face first into the turnbuckle before missing a Boston knee party, but hitting a powerbomb for a 2-count. Edwards hit a tiger driver and then the Boston knee party for the win.
– The lights went out after the match and PCO made his return to Impact, spitting dirt out of his mouth and hitting Edwards with a chokeslam. Apparently he woke up in the desert, walked to Atlanta from Las Vegas with the sand in his mouth and the shovel Edwards buried him with. You might say PCO was… Hard to Kill. I’ll see myself out.
Mickie James defeated Jordynne Grace to win the Impact Knockouts title in a title vs. career match
Mickie James’ Last Rodeo has ended with James saying she would retire if she couldn’t win the Knockouts title, and it had a happy ending with James actually winning the title. Mickie James is not ready to retire just yet, and she is still producing matches at a very high level. This was fantastic, and having James’ family and friends (minus Nick Aldis, who I assume was backstage) celebrating with her.
Mickie James had a spectacular entrance with her indigenous roots honoured. James tried to hit a sunset flip early, and Grace didn’t even budge, showing her strength. James slapped Grace several times, so Grace smashed her with a shot of her own which dropped James. James and Grace exchanged chops.
Eventually, Grace’s power was able to overwhelm James as she stomped in the corner. Grace smashed James into the turnbuckle and went for knees to her face, but James dodged and went to the top rope. Grace followed, but James cut her off and hit a bulldog from the top rope. James got wrist control and walked the ropes before hitting a Thesz press on the ramp.
James went for the MickDT but Grace didn’t let it happen, so James tried a guillotine, but Grace just walked across the ring and planted James on the top rope before hitting a deadlift superplex and a jackhammer for a 2-count. James was determined to win, running at Grace, but Grace hit a huge spinebuster for a 2-count.
Grace went for a tombstone, but James countered into a head scissors for a 2-count. James and Grace went into a series of near falls, ending when Grace hit a spinning backfist. Grace went for the Grace driver, but James countered and hit a Mick Kick before hitting the MickDT. The crowd went insane and reacted in shock when Grace barely kicked out at 2. This was an awesome near fall.
James went for the MickDT again, but Grace blocked it. James hit an O’Connor roll, but Grace turned it into a rear naked choke, but she rolled backwards into a nearfall. Grace got right up and went for the choke again. Grace pulled James away from the ropes and looked to be going unconscious, but James woke up and twisted out of it.
Grace drove James headfirst into the turnbuckle from a fireman’s carry, but James grabbed the ropes and pulled off before sending Grace crashing into the ringpost after a corner charge. James followed this up with a tornado DDT and scored the pinfall. This match was awesome.
Final Thoughts:
This was a perfect ending to a very good PPV. Mickie James and Jordynne Grace closing the show made perfect sense, as it was easily the best feud heading into it, and the storyline has been consistently interesting as James tried to crawl her way back to the top of the Knockouts division.
It gave fans logical progression week by week as she beat people in matches, with heels wanting to end the career, and babyfaces happy to get the chance to wrestle her, on what seemed to be her farewell tour, but it is not over yet. Wonderful ending to a great show. Giant thumbs up, and I am so happy they put the title on James and gave us a happy ending.