Impact Wrestling live results: Josh Alexander vs. Matt Taven
Former Impact World & X-Division Champion Josh Alexander will take on Matt Taven on Thursday’s Impact on AXS.
While he was hoping to take on Eddie Edwards given his recent betrayal of Impact, VP Scott D’Amore offered Honor No More member Taven instead. Edwards ran down Alexander in a promo last week, opening up the possibility of a match or feud down the line.
Ring of Honor Women’s Champion and AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Deonna Purrazzo will defend both titles against Lady Frost and Gisele Shaw in a triple threat match.
In a challenge laid out last week, Bullet Club’s Jay White and Chris Bey will face the Motor City Machine Guns.
Rhino will look for revenge on Steve Maclin after Maclin turned on Team Impact at Sacrifice, hitting Rhino with a kendo stick which led to Honor No More picking up the win.
Bhupinder Gujjar will take on Larry D while the BTI pre-show match will see Deaner vs. Karl Anderson in a clash between rival members of VBD and The Good Brothers.
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Karl Anderson (with Doc Gallows) defeated Deaner (with Violent By Design) on BTI
After the match, The Good Brothers challenged VBD for their tag title rematch clause.
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Show opened with a graphic for Scott Hall.
Opening video recapped Josh Alexander’s return and his confrontation with Eddie Edwards from last week, which led to tonight’s main event between Alexander and Matt Taven.
Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) defeated Bullet Club (Jay White & Chris Bey)
White defeated Shelley in singles action at the Sacrifice show, but what could have ended in a professional manner between the two, it only escalated last week when White and Shelley had a back and forth on the microphone that ended with both teams challenging each other to this match.
White and Shelley started the match, but Sabin quickly tagged in for a double team move that angered White to tag out. Bey came in and also had some offense on Sabin, but once again, the MCMG’s double team offense easily took down Bey.
MCMG worked over Bey for a couple of minutes, with constant tags and double team moves, even when White tried to attack Sabin and break up a submission, Shelley came in and also locked in White. MCMG were in complete control, tossing both White and Bey to the floor, followed with a tope suicida.
Back in the ring, MCMG went for the Doomsday dropkick, but White finally managed to drop Sabin on the ropes and cut their momentum off after a tope con giro by Bey on both Shelley and Sabin.
Bullet Club, now in control, isolated Shelley and did a good job keeping him away from Sabin. Eventually, Shelley caught Bey with a flatliner into the ropes and tagged in Sabin for the hot tag.
Sabin took down White, dropped Bey with a dropkick mid-dive. Shelley joined in for a couple of double team moves on both White and Shelley.
Sabin hit a tornado DDT for a two count on White. He also tried to go for Cradle Shock, but White reversed into a snap suplex into the turnbuckle. Bey tagged in and ran wild, earning a two count with a spinning neckbreaker on Sabin. Tried to follow with the art of finesse, but Shelley made the save. All four men hit dragon screws on each other, but at the end, it was the MCMGs on top, taking out Bey with the Skull and Bones. White unfortunately broke the pin at 3.1 seconds.
Steve Maclin defeated Rhino
This match comes after Maclin attacked Rhino and the rest of team Impact at Sacrifice as Rhino came close to defeating Eddie Edwards. Maclin said he had no allegiance with either Team Impact or Honor No More.
Both men started the match trading momentum, trading strikes until Rhino finally dropped Maclin with a running clothesline. Rhino maintained that control until he was caught in the ropes and Maclin snapped his neck, successfully cutting him off.
Rhino attempted a comeback, but was again dropped with a DDT for a two count. Maclin tried to follow with a diving headbutt, but Rhino moved out of the way, and the match was back with both men in equal standings.
Rhino dropped Maclin with some clotheslines, but Maclin came back with a backplex. Rhino blocked and reversed a suplex, but as the crowd started to chant for the Gore, Maclin got him with a jumping knee and a Gore by himself for the win.
– Backstage, Kaleb was approached by the IInspiration. They talked to him about knowing he was trying to help them at Sacrifice, and they were not mad, but hope that he gets it right next time.
– Rhino was approached by Heath in the locker rooms. Heath said that they need to get back to work together as a team, they’ve been unsuccessful as singles in the last couple of weeks, so it’s best they get together and go after the tag titles.
Bryan Myers came out to commentary for the next match.
Bhupinder Gujjar defeated Larry D
D and Gujjar challenged each other to a match after D complained to him that Impact had let him go, while they had space in the roster for someone like Gujjar and Singh.
Back and forth speed versus power match. Gujjar got the upper hand early on with a springboard falling elbow, but as he was gaining momentum, Raj Singh came out and distracted Gujjar by accident, allowing D to jump Gujjar from behind.
Larry D beat up Gujjar for some minutes. Gujjar tried to make a comeback, but D just ran over his strikes like a freight train and brought him back again for more offense.
Gujjar finally caught D with a sling blade, a backbreaker, a ripcord knee, and a Samon drop to finally take down Larry D, who still hit a curb stomp for a two count, he attempted a superplex, but Gujjar managed to get him off and hit the second rope spear for the win. Surprisingly good match. Crowd was behind Larry D, but appreciated Gujjar.
Afterwards, W. Morrissey came down to the ring and chased away Myers. Meanwhile in the ring, Gujjar pushed away Singh and sent him to Morrissey’s feet, who dropped Singh with a BQE through the commentary table.
– Mike Bailey meditated backstage when Ace Austin approached him and told him that when he qualifies to the X Division 3-way match at Rebellion, he hopes that Bailey will have his back during the match. Bailey twisted it and said that they’ll have each other’s backs instead.
– Honor No More cut a promo backstage, implying that Josh Alexander needs to watch his back because Honor No More work together. Alisha Edwards approached them, and before he could talk to Edwards, she had to tell off Honor No More in defense of Alexander.
Alisha once again tried to talk sense into Eddie, but she’ll stay behind Impact over Honor No More.
AAA Reina de Reinas & ROH Women’s World Champion Deonna Purrazzo defeated Gisele Shaw & Lady Frost to retain both championships.
After much bickering between Shaw and Frost as they both tried to challenge Purrazzo, the latter decided to offer both of them a title shot at the same time and dealt with them quickly.
Match started with Frost trying to get the early upset pin on either woman, but after not being able, she was kicked out of the ring by both Shaw and Purrazzo, who then focused on each other for some back and forth.
Frost came back and took down Shaw with a plancha, and Purrazzo with a dropkick, but as she set up more offense, Shaw took her down. Purrazzo then was taken out when she went shoulder first into the ring post and crashed and burned. She was able to make it back in the ring to break up Shaw’s pin.
Purrazzo locked in the Fujiwara on Shaw, but Frost locked in a knee bar on Purrazzo. Frost was taken down by Shaw’s full nelson and senton, but Frost came back with her cannonball that she’d been attempting since the start. Purrazzo ran in and dropped both women with a double German.
Frost dropped Purrazzo with a superplex, but she managed to roll out of the ring. Shaw and Frost traded near falls while Purrazzo was out, Frost even hit a blockbuster, but at that point, Purrazzo returned, hit the Queen’s Gambit on Frost, and pinned her before Shaw could break it up. Good fun match.
– Gia Miller interviewed Josh Alexander about wrestling Honor No More while he is getting ready to go for the title. Alexander said this was all training and a warm up for Rebellion. He said he expected Moose to come after him because of the ultimatum to sign the contract.
– We got a recap of the Good Brothers challenging VBD for a title match next week. Afterwards, Scott D’Amore made the match official, called Gallows and Anderson to the office, and told them that the tag division would be at ringside as lumberjacks to make sure that whoever wins, will defend in an 8-team elimination match at Rebellion.
JONAH defeated Zicky Dice
JONAH is coming off destroying PCO at Sacrifice, sending him to the injury list.
This match was just a squash, a lariat and Tsunami was all it took.
After the bell, PCO was brought out in a stretcher, where he was revived. PCO made his way to the ring and brawled with JONAH once again. Security and referees came down for the big break apart until PCO hit the top rope cannonball on everyone. JONAH managed to walk away unharmed from that cannonball.
– We got footage of Tasha Steelz attacking Mickie James in one of James’ concerts from last week.
Miller interviewed James about it and her upcoming match is now being a Street Fight. Chelsea Green once again tried to convince James to be in her corner so she could take care of Savannah Evans. James said that Green is injured and she’d be way more worried about her than taking care of Steelz.
Masha Slamovich defeated Arie
Another squash. Very first move was Slamovich dropping Arie on her head with a backplex, I thought she was dead. Arie tried to get some strikes in, but Slamovich quickly cut her off and hit the Snowplow for the win.
– Miller interviewed Zicky Dice about losing against JONAH. Dice said he had the look, the body, and the charisma, but he just couldn’t figure it out. He thought that maybe he wasn’t meant to be a wrestler. He said he was going to join a wrestling school.
We got a commercial for Johnny Swinger’s new wrestling school “Swinger’s Dungeon”. Lance Storm doesn’t endorse Swinger’s Dungeon. There was an obvious joke about this dungeon not exactly being about wrestling.
– Next week, Violent By Design vs The Good Brothers for the tag titles, and Tasha Steelz vs Mickie James in a Street Fight title match.
Josh Alexander defeated Matt Taven (with Maria Kanellis-Bennett)
This match came about after Taven challenged Alexander to a match after last week’s confrontation between Alexander and Eddie Edwards.
Alexander started the match with the upper hand, pushing Taven to step out of the ring to regain himself. Once back in the ring, Taven did get some offense on Alexander, and as the pace picked up, Alexander was dropped with a dropkick.
Match continued back and forth for a minute before Taven managed to drop Alexander’s right shoulder on the ropes with a leg sweep from the second rope, and a kick to send Alexander to the floor hurting.
Now in control, Taven focused on Alexander’s arm and shoulder with a series of locks and arm breakers. Alexander tried to break away with a ripcord elbow, but Taven dodged and hit a flatliner.
Alexander finally got his hands on Taven and hit a series of Germans, but Taven still reversed the last one into a crossrhodes. He tried to follow with a Liontamer, but Alexander had his knees up.
Alexander finally gained momentum with some clotheslines, forearms, and big boots. Northern lights suplex bridge by Alexander for a two count. Alexander went for the C4, but the damage of the arm was too much and wasn’t able to lift up Taven,who came back with a Purple Thunder Bomb and into a submission, but again, Alexander reversed into more Germans. Taven hit a knee strike, but didn’t capitalize.
Both men traded strikes, ending with Alexander setting up Taven for the running crossbody to the back. Once again, Alexander went for the C4, but Taven blocked and surprised him with a roll up for a near fall. Taven followed with a disaster kick and the climax, but Alexander reversed into the ankle lock. Taven made the ropes.
Alexander perplexed Taven, hit the C4 spike, and got the win.
Afterwards, we saw Moose arrive at Josh Alexander’s home, giving Alexander’s wife Jade the signed contract since they live close by to the Anthem offices and they can go and drop it by in the morning. Moose said hello to Alexander’s kid and left.