Impact Wrestling live results: Hard to Kill contract signing
Impact World Champion Moose, W. Morrissey and Matt Cardona — the three men involved in the main event for January’s Hard to Kill — will sign their contracts on Thursday’s edition of Impact Wrestling.
On last week’s show, Cardona defeated Morrissey by DQ and all three men ended up in a brawl with Cardona standing tall.
Ahead of his challenge of Jonah at Hard to Kill, Josh Alexander will battle Rohit Raju. Alexander came out and beat up Raju and Raj Singh last week en route to calling out Jonah for a match.
After teaming last week, Knockouts Tag Team Champions The IInspiration and The Influence came apart leading to Jessie McKay vs. Tenille Dashwood tonight.
Doc Gallows, one half of the Tag Team Champions, will team with Joe Doering of Violent by Design for the first time to take on common enemies in Rich Swann and Willie Mack while in a pair of X-Division matches, champion Trey Miguel will face John Skyler in a non-title affair while Chris Bey takes on Laredo Kid.
Ace Austin vs. Hernandez is set for the BTI pre-show.
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Ace Austin (with Madman Fulton) defeated Hernandez (with Johnny Swinger) on BTI.
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Opening video recapped the ongoing build to Hard To Kill’s main event where Moose will defend the Impact world title against W. Morrissey and Matt Cardona.
Josh Alexander defeated Rohit Raju (with Raj Singh)
This match was booked after Alexander interrupted and attacked Raju’s match last week against Lawrence D.
Alexander started dominating the match, but after trying to take down both Raju and Singh, Raju took advantage of the distraction and cut him off for a couple of minutes in the ring. Alexander had a couple of chances to make a comeback, but Singh was there for the distraction and allowed Raju to cut him off and suplex him into the ropes.
Eventually, Alexander caught Raju with a belly-to-belly and a German to finally stop Raju. Alexander’s ribs were still hurting, so Raju was still able to get a couple of near falls with a bridge, but Alexander reversed into an ankle lock, but released to take out Singh.
Raju came back with a couple of running boots and a double stomp, but Alexander kicked out at 2.
Alexander went for the C4, but was too hurt to get Raju up, so instead took out Raju’s knee, powered up for the C4, and got the win. Really good opener, way more back and forth than I expected.
Josh Alexander will face Jonah at Hard To Kill.
– Gia Miller interviewed the Good Brothers and VBD about their alliance. Anderson said that as the champions, they could use any help they could get, so they took in EY’s offer to work together. Him and Gallows said they don’t trust VBD, but they’re willing to work together.
EY said this was a business alliance and nothing else.
– Gia Miller interviewed Chelsea Green about entering the Ultimate X match at Hard To Kill. She said it was historic and after she won it, she would finally go for the title. She said that Cardona will win the title and they’ll be a power couple.
Moose approached Green and was passive aggressive, talking smack about Cardona to her. He threatened that her marriage to Cardona will be short, even for wrestling standards.
Joe Doering & Doc Gallows (with Karl Anderson & VBD) defeated Rich Swann & Willie Mack (with Rhino & Heath)
These four teams have been feuding separately for months, but last week, we saw the union between the Good Brothers and Violent By Design be born as a means to take down their opponents.
Gallows started the match against both Swann and Mack, who tagged in and out and tried going for Gallows’ arm. Swann and Mack took down both big men with double dives.
Back in the ring, Swann and Mack kept that upper hand until Swann got cut off by Gallows with a big boot after he got distracted by Doering’s presence in the corner. Gallows and Doering worked over Swann’s midsection.
Swann managed to connect Doering with an enzuigi and tagged out. Mack came in and took down Doering and Gallows with some help from Swann. They took out Doering, but when they tried to take out Gallows, Swann was pushed off the top rope by Doering. A double chokeslam on Mack later, Gallows and Doering picked up the win.
After the match, Good Brothers and VBD attacked Swann, Mack, Rhino, and Heath, but Eddie Edwards ran down for the save. He took out Anderson, Deaner, and EY with a kendo stick and a dive, and the rest took out Doering and Gallows to clear the ring.
– VSK and Zicky Dice talked backstage about calling Myers about last week’s loss. Dice said to not call him until they face Decay and get a win.
– We got a promo from Jonah, explaining what being the top dog meant. He talked about the time his father was in prison. He compared it with how he attacked Alexander, but unlike his father, he didn’t have Alexander’s respect and thus would beat him up at Hard To Kill.
X-Division Champion Trey Miguel defeated John Skylar in a non-title match
Commentary sold this match as a speed vs power match, but they were not as mismatched.
Match started with a sequence of reversals where Miguel gained momentum catching Skylar with a dive, only to get cut off with a diving spear as he tried to do so again on the other side of the ring.
Skylar worked over Miguel and got a couple of near falls, at one point countering into a release belly-to-belly into the corner where Miguel almost landed on his neck. Miguel came back with some cheeky nandos and the Meteora for the win. Ok match, could have been better with more time.
After the match, Steve Maclin attacked Miguel on the ramp, took the title and knocked Miguel out with it. Maclin has been asking for a singles match with Miguel, and so he dragged the dead body of Miguel to the back. We then saw that Maclin had kidnapped Miguel, tied him, and seemed getting ready to torture him to get that title shot he wants.
Chris Bey (with Hikuleo) defeated Laredo Kid
Last week, Laredo Kid stood up to the Bullet Club after they bullied the staff backstage. Kid challenged Bey to a match, and thus, here we are.
Match started with a sequence of counters and reversals, with both men going for quick pin attempts.
The match would go back and forth between the both, as Bey would cut off Kid early on, but Laredo would make a comeback outspeeding Bey. It would be until Hikuleo started distracting Laredo Kid that Bey would regain control by ramming Kid to the ring post.
Back in the ring, Bey worked over Kid’s midsection, keeping Kid down and distracting the referee to allow Hikuleo to get some cheap shots in. Bey started getting too cocky and allowed Kid to slowly go for a comeback, but Bey was still able to cut him off and take him down with a flying elbow.
Bey caught Kid on the ropes and went for a springboard leg drop, but Kid was finally able to dodge him and take him out, hitting a dive that didn’t make much sense after Laredo ran the ropes on a different axis than the dive. Kid would go to the top rope to finish Bey, but Hikuleo would once again interfere and push Kid off.
The damage on Kid wouldn’t last long, he regained momentum with a series of moonsaults on Bey for a two count. Bey caught Kid with a huge spinning back kick and a slam, but only got a two count.
Laredo Kid hit an avalanche Michinoku Driver for another near fall, tried to follow with a phoenix splash, but Bey moved out of the way. They fought on top of the turnbuckles where Bey laid Kid on the ropes and hit a foot stomp for yet another two count.
Finish finally saw Kid hit a DDT, a huge senton to Hikuleo, but when he tried to go for Bey, got cut off. Kid managed to push off Bey from the top rope, but Bey was ready with a cutter as Kid dove on Bey with a plancha.
– We got a recap of Deonna Purrazzo showing up at ROH’s Final Battle to challenge Rok-C for the ROH Women’s title. We then saw footage of an autograph signing where Mickie James and Deonna Purrazzo had a confrontation that ended with a brawl.
Afterwards, Scott D’Amore and Gail Kim scolded both women and reinstituted the no contact rule. Kim said that their match at Hard To Kill will now be a Texas Deathmatch.
Tenille Dashwood (with The Influence) defeated Jessie McKay (with Cassie Lee)
Last week, both teams joined forces to take on Decay, but after not finding chemistry, stepping on each other’s toes, and ultimately losing to Decay, Dashwood looks to get back at The IInspiration.
Story of the match was to see who was the bigger heel of the two. There were a couple of mirror spots and a lot of mocking early on. The bulk of the match continued with back and forth action, but as they went on, Dashwood got more dominant after snapping McKay’s neck on the ropes.
Dashwood got a couple of near falls, best one after her diving crossbody to the corner. She tried to submit Mckay with a full Nelson, but McKay fought her off and finally made a comeback. Dashwood went for a small package, but McKay kicked out and took down Dashwood with a big boot for a two count when Kaleb pulled the ref down.
Outside the ring, Rayne, Lee, and Kaleb all got in a fight, but after the distraction, Kaleb tripped McKay and set her up for Dashwood’s spotlight kick for the win. This was way better than I expected, and will surely end with an Influence vs IInspiration title match.
– Striker and Brown ran down the card for Hard To Kill, including the newly added stipulation for Purrazzo vs James in a Texas Death Match.
Hard to Kill World title contract signing
t was time for the Hard To Kill main event contract signing. This time around, the contract signing is taking place in the ring. D’Amore is proceeding with the signing.
W. Morrissey was the first out, and seemed a bit more babyface than usual. Matt Cardona came out second, along with Chelsea Green. Finally, Impact world champion Moose came out.
D’Amore ran down the accolades that the participants have achieved during 2021 before giving Cardona the contract to sign. Morrissey jumped in and took the contract before he could sign it.
Morrissey took the mic and said that this signing wouldn’t be about mind games, he was there to become the Impact world champion, signed the contract, and left the ring.
Cardona took the mic and agreed with Morrissey, the last couple of weeks, he had been dealing with Moose playing mind games, but he was someone that kept coming back after being pushed back and he was ready for Hard To Kill. Cardona signed.
Moose told Cardona that he will once again fail, signed the contract, and told Green that after Hard To Kill, she’s going to have to realize she’s married to a midcarder. Moose insulted Green and a brawl finally broke down.
Moose took out Cardona and put him through the table as Green looked on. Moose posed with the title over Cardona’s body before leaving, but halfway through the ramp, Moose came back to continue the beat down. He tried to Pillmanize Cardona, but Green interfered. The distraction gave enough time to Cardona to recover and get a chair, but when he swung at Moose, the latter dodged and Cardona nailed Green with the chair. Moose retreated as referees checked on Green and the show went off the air. Everyone was good until the unnecessary chair shot.