Impact Victory Road live results: Christian Cage vs. Ace Austin
Christian Cage will make his second defense of his Impact World title reign when he faces number one contender Ace Austin in the main event of Victory Road, one of four title matches on the Impact Plus special.
Josh Alexander will put his coveted X-Division title on the line against Chris Sabin who will be looking to dethrone Alexander and end his 140+ day reign. Sabin is looking to become a record nine-time X-Division Champion.
Following Kiera Hogan’s departure from Impact, Tasha Steelz looks to capture gold with her new tag partner Savannah Evans as they challenge Knockouts Tag Team Champions Decay (Rosemary and Havok).
Rich Swann will look to restore his championship mindset when he teams with Willie Mack to face The Good Brothers for the Tag Team titles.
Longtime rivals Eddie Edwards and Sami Callihan will team up to take on a pair of common foes in Moose and W. Morrissey.
New Bullet Club member Chris Bey will continue his feud with David Finlay and Juice Robinson when he enlists the help of fellow Bullet Club member Hikuleo against FinJuice.
Other matches include Matt Cardona face Rohit Raju in a no disqualification match; a six-way scramble match between Laredo Kid, Black Taurus, John Skyler, Jake Something, Suicide and Trey Miguel; a triple threat between Petey Williams, TJP and Steve Maclin; and Taylor Wilde vs. Tenille Dashwood.
Our live coverage begins at 8 PM Eastern.
* * * * * * * * * *
Steve Maclin defeated TJP and Petey Williams
Maclin and Williams had been feuding for some time over Macling being unnecessarily violent with the younger wrestlers, but two weeks ago, TJP decided to play around with them when he placed a bet on Maclin and went out to cost Williams the match.
Even if TJP had been acting a bit heelish and antagonizing Williams, he still went straight for Maclin at the start of the match, as did Williams, who has better reasons to take out Maclin, who has been defeating him since their rivalry started.
At one point, Maclin took TJP to the ramp and took him out with a backbreaker, making it easier for Maclin to focus on Williams. Maclin dominated the match, even when TJP came back to the ring, but eventually, trying to pay attention to two men at the same time was too much. He still managed to hit the corner spear to both TJP and Williams at the same time.
Williams ended up being the one to make the comeback against Maclin with a springboard rana and a DDT for a near fall.
With Maclin being out for a bit, TJP and Wiliams paired up, only for Maclin to return like a bomb and take them out. All men got up and TJP and Williams started to work together to take out Maclin, but they kept distracting each other. Williams sent TJP to the floor and locked in a sharpshooter, TJP returned and went for an octopus stretch, so Maclin just power out of both holds.
TJP got a near fall with a detonation kick on Maclin, tried to follow with the mamba splash, but Maclin moved, and TJP went straight into a destroyer, but he left himself open for a mayhem for all by Maclin, and Maclin pinned TJP for the win. Really good opener, Maclin is being booked incredibly dominant.
Laredo Kid defeated Trey Miguel, Jake Something, Black Taurus, & John Skylar
No real story between these men, other than Kid and Skylar have traded wins in the last couple of weeks. Beyond that, everyone is trying to rise in the ranks for a shot in the X Division.
Match was a good mix of Lucha and power moves. Something and Skylar mostly worked as big powerhouses against Kid, Miguel, and even Taurus, who worked Lucha style. In the tradition of the X Division, there were some good innovative moves, like Miguel hitting a meteora on Something, who had Kid in a draping DDT, or Something taking down Miguel, Skylar, and Taurus with a single body block, or also Something chokeslamming Kid on top of Miguel, while he had Miguel in his hands too. Taurus and Something were definitely the best up until Laredo Kid’s final sequence where he got the win with a Laredo Fly on Skylar.
Laredo Kid challenging for the X Division would seem like a good direction.
Taylor Wilde (with Jordynne Grace & Rachael Ellering) defeated Tenille Dashwood (with The Influence)
These two have been feuding for months, but this is the first time that Wilde has had a fair shot against Dashwood, who always happens to have someone outside the ring to back her up.
This match was laid out like a Dashwood match, with her gaining control early on after her seconds distracted Wilde. Dashwood kept that control for a while until the referee was tired of both side’s interrupting and trying to get involved, and thus sent both The Influence, Grace, and Ellering to the back.
Back in the match, now one-on-one, Wilde and Dashwood went back and forth, trading a couple of near falls until Wilde dodged the spotlight kick and landed a bridging German for the pin. Ok match.
Hopefully this feud is over now.
– Gia Miller interviewed Sami Callihan and Eddie Edwards about teaming for the first time ever. Callihan said that hell must have frozen over, but he told Edwards he wasn’t the bad guy here. Edwards told Callihan to not push it, he joined Callihan because it was the necessary thing to bring down Moose and Morrissey.
After Callihan left, Alisha Edwards asked Eddie to be at ringside since she didn’t trust Callihan.
Matt Cardona defeated Rohit Raju (with Shera) in a No DQ Match
Raju and Cardona had a small rivalry going on for weeks, but a couple of weeks ago, Raju took out Chelsea Green in a match that Raju and Shera defeated Cardona and Green, ever since, Cardona has been hot to get his hands on Raju and get revenge for what Raju did to Green in the sanctioned match.
Cardona jumped Raju and Shera during their entrance, and in return, he ended up getting chokeslammed by Shera before the match. Once the match started, Raju was in control, but was quickly turned around by Cardona.
Raju would regain control after catching Cardona between the ropes and using a chair to go after Cardona’s neck and throat. Back in the ring, he would hit a big running cannonball to Cardona, who had a chair on top. It seemed painful for both men.
Cardona finally made a comeback in a strike exchange that ended with a codebreaker Raju. Cardona followed with the running kick to the chair himself, and later on, a TKO onto a garbage can.
Last couple of minutes saw both men exchange near falls. Raju suplexed Cardona into a bed of chairs and hit a double foot stomp, but Cardona kicked out. Raju was about to finish Cardona with a hair, but was taken out with a low blow, a chair shot, and radio silence for a near fall when Shera broke the pin. Outside the ring, Cardona hit radio silence on Shera on the ramp, but back in the ring, Raju was ready with a drive-by to take out Cardona. Raju went to Pillmanize Cardona, but Chelsea Green came out for the save, and a radio silence later, Cardona got the win. Really good match.
Commentary was really annoying trying to tell me that the actions done in a sanctioned match are heinous when done to a woman, even if the company greenlit the match.
Bullet Club (Chris Bey & Hikuleo) defeated FinJuice (Juice Robinson & David Finlay)
These two teams have been feuding since Jay White debuted for Impact and FinJuice chased after him. Bey was added to the Bullet Club by White, who moved on and left Bey and Hikuleo set up to finish the job and take out FinJuice.
Match saw Robinson get cut off early on by Bey and Hikuleo, Robinson was selling his injured leg, and so that was the point of focus of the Bullet Club throughout the heat run. Robinson eventually made a small comeback and escaped to tag in Finlay, who had a good hot tag, but after a couple of moves, he was also cut off and for a second time, we had a babyface in peril.
Finlay also made a comeback getting rid of Hikuleo over the top rope and a desperation blue thunder slam on Bey to tag in Robinson again.
Robinson came in and took out Bey. Along with Finlay, they took out Hikuleo with a pescado, but as Robinson was coming back to the ring, Bey caught him with a chair on the injured knee, setting him up for a slam from Hikuleo and the pin. Hikuleo looked good.
Moose & W. Morrissey defeated Sami Callihan & Eddie Edwards (with Alisha Edwards)
The story behind this match goes back a long time. Edwards and Callihan are close to being parejas increibles, with a long lasting rivalry that finally forced together when Moose and Morrissey decided to join forces and become the strongest team that Impact has seen in a while. After Cage finally convinced them to work together on the go-home show episode of Impact, they agreed to work together in this match to finally take down Moose and Morrissey.
The match didn’t take long to show that Callihan and Edwards had good chemistry, dominating Morrissey for a bit with quick tags, but once both Moose and Morrissey joined forces inside the ring, they were able to separate Edwards from his corner.
Edwards was in peril for a good long run, but he was able to catch Morrissey with a desperation blue thunder bomb and tag in Callihan. Moose tagged on the other corner, but wasn’t able to stop Callihan’s momentum, at least until Callihan set himself up for Moose to hit a lights out for a near fall.
Moose went for a ripcord elbow, but Callihan dodged and tagged Edwards back in. Callihan and Edwards worked together against Moose for a Tiger bomb, but Morrissey was there to break up the pin. With all four men in the ring, Callihan took out Morrissey, hit an assisted brainbuster on Moose, but Moose kicked out at two.
Callihan tagged in again and tried to piledrive Moose, but ate a big boot from Morrissey, who was taken out by Edwards. Moose tried to come back with a kendo stick, but Edwards dodged and hit a piledriver, taking one from Callihan’s book.
Edwards threatened to use the kendo stick on Moose, but Morrissey reacted by threatening to attack Alisha outside the ring, which was distraction enough for Moose to hit lights out on Edwards.
With both men out, Morrissey and Moose still hit a huge powerbomb on Alisha, at which point the referee called for help from the back. Edwards took Alisha away and left Callihan in the ring, easy to take out by Moose and Morrissey for the win. Really good match, but why this wasn’t a no contest when Alisha was injured, I don’t know.
Knockout Tag Team Champions Decay (Rosemary & Havok) defeated Tasha Steelz & Savannah Evans to retain the titles
Ever since losing the titles to Decay, Steelz has done everything to regain them, pushing Decay into the limit of their patience. She betrayed Kiera Hogan, brought in her new muscle Savannah Evans, jumped Decay, and stole the physical titles.
This match seemed to be starting hot with Decay running after Steelz and Evans, but once the bell rang, it did slow a bit for some striking and tags between Rosemary and Havok. The latter actually challenged Evans directly for an opening hoss fight.
Havok and Evans had a great hoss exchange with shoulder tackles and strikes, unfortunately for Decay, Rosemary was cut off after she ended on Steelz and Evans’ side of the ring after the upside down.
Evans was able to maintain control over Rosemary, but when Steelz tagged in, Rosemary caught her with a desperation crossbody and got the tag back to Havok. We got a second part of the Havok and Evans hoss battle, with both women going for big moves. Once down, Steelz came in, but again, was overpowered by Decay.
Rosemary took a nasty bump in the floor, but she recovered and hit the green mist on Evans. In the ring, the Havok military pressed Steelz on top of Evans, and once back in the ring, Havok pinned Steelz with a piledriver. This was kept short and at a fast pace and it really benefited the match.
– Ace Austin cut a promo about nothing being impossible in wrestling because if Christian Cage was able to return from forced retirement, then Austin could do the impossible and win the title tonight. He said that he is the future of Impact Wrestling and has had to jump over many hoops, but the destination is inevitable, as he has said since day one. Tonight, he becomes the youngest world champion in Impact history.
Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) defeated Rich Swann & Willie Mack to retain the titles
Prior to the Good Brothers regaining the titles at Slammiversary, these teams had feuded over getting a shot against Violent By Design for the same titles. After Slammiversary, it became a two team rivalry as Swann and Mack kept pushing for the tag titles, earning this match after a non-title win.
After really good starting pair ups between all four men, it all came down to Swann and Gallows, with the latter overpowering Swann to cut him off and serve him up to Anderson to seal the deal and take control.
Gallows dominated Swann left to right, going after him with strikes and slams, but it was until Gallows tried to lock Swann in a hold, that Swann wiggled his way into a striking position and fought back, enough to escape and tag in Mack.
Mack ran wild, hit the Samoan drop on Gallows, pop-up forearm and a slingblade variation for a two count. Mack tried to go for the frog splash, but the Brothers managed to cut him off and take him down with a spinebuster after Mack hesitated from a bad landing on his bad knee.
Brothers went for the magic killer, only for Swann to save Mack from it. Mack took out Gallows with a DDT, Anderson and Swann took each other out with cutters. Gallows hit an apron bomb on Swann, but was taken out by a baseball slide from Mack. When he tried to return to the ring, Anderson caught Mack with a gun stun and a magic killer later, the Brothers retained the titles. Good match, the Brothers looked great.
X Division Champion Josh Alexander defeated Chris Sabin to retain the title
In his chase to become the greatest X Division champion, Alexander challenged any former X Division champion in history, and the man to answer that challenge was none other than the 8x champion, Chris Sabin.
Match was incredible. Right from the get go, they went back and forth, and less than five minutes in, we already had a dive from Sabin and a “this is awesome” chant.
Both men focused on each other’s necks, with Alexander taking more damage early on when Sabin dropped him with a neckbreaker and right into the front chancery. Every strike Sabin landed, went straight into the neck. In desperation, Alexander went straight for the ankle lock, forcing Sabin to escape.
Now that Alexander had a chance to regain his footing, he got some offense in, going for the neck again, mixing in neck holds and slams, with quick pin attempts in between. Alexander started to chase the submission win at this point, forcing Sabin to make the ropes. Sabin tried to make a comeback and only got a more vicious Alexander in return.
It was until Alexander went for a you can’t escape combo that Sabin moved out of the way, let Alexander crash and burn, and Sabin was able to get back in the match with a dropkick to the neck of Alexander, followed with a swinging neckbreaker and a draping neckbreaker on the floor.
Alexander finally started to chase the C4, but had to turn it into a powerbomb onto the knee after Sabin blocked it. Sabin started going after the arm, locking a big crossface, but had to turn it into a pin when he lost grip on Alexander, only getting a two. Sabin kept going for the arm, but Alexander countered into a German, and O’Connor Roll, only for Sabin to once again go for a hammerlock. Alexander had to overpower Sabin and drop him with a desperation side slam just to get Sabin off.
Sabin chased cradle shock, but Alexander countered into the ankle lock. Sabin tried to reverse to pins, but Alexander kept the lock in, scissored the legs, so Sabin broke up by rolling back for a pin. Alexander hit one final German and the C4 and won the match. One of the best Impact matches of the year.
Both men shook hands after the match. Josh Alexander has elevated the X Division to heights it hadn’t touched since 2005.
Impact World Champion Christian Cage defeated Ace Austin (with Madman Fulton) to retain the title
Ace Austin won the right to challenge Cage at Emergence, defeating Sami Callihan, Moose, and Chris Sabin. Austin has flirted with the world title before, but has never been able to capture the title.
Match started with Cage bringing Austin down a peg by out-wrestling him and showing off to him, which pushed Austin to getting annoyed and relying on strikes, but not fully taking control from Cage’s hands. It was until Fulton made his presence felt by just standing in front of Cage, that Austin was able to catch Cage with a kick to the back of the neck and finally cut him off.
Now in contro, Austin started working over Cage’s arm and back, and after an exchange, Cage ended up on the floor. Even before he laid a hand on Cage, referee Hebner noticed that Fulton was headed towards Cage and decided to kick him out before he interfered.
With time to recover, Cage came back to the ring and was able to take down Austin with a couple of chops and the second rope back elbow.
Cage landed a reverse DDT for a near fall after Austin was starting to gain some momentum with kicks. Cage went for the spear, but Austin dodged and caught Cage with a spinning kick for a near fall. Cage whipped Austin’s neck on the ropes, but failed to land the frog splash from the top rope. Austin went for the Fold, but Cage surprised him with a spear mid-air.
Austin distracted the referee, allowing Fulton to sneak back and strike Cage, but after a moonsault, Austin only managed a two count. Back on their feet, Cage caught Austin with a Killswitch out of nowhere and got the pin. Good match, but felt rushed.
Before Cage could celebrate, Josh Alexander came out and called for the Option C, giving up the X Division title for a shot at the Impact World Title shot at Bound For Glory!