Impact Wrestling live results: Mickie James vs. Gisele Shaw title match
Impact Knockouts Champion Mickie James will defend her title on Thursday’s Impact on AXS TV.
James will defend against Gisele Shaw and will be looking for the second defense of the championship she regained in January. This will be Shaw’s first shot at the title. The winner will defend against former champion Jordynne Grace at this month’s Sacrifice streaming special.
Former ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham will take on former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA for the first time since 2018 and for the first time in Impact.
Callihan will take on Rhino following a backstage confrontation last week where Rhino confronted him on why he is aligned with The Design.
The BTI pre-show will feature former X-Division Champion Frankie Kazarian & former Impact World Champion Rich Swann vs. Raj Singh & Shera.
Based on spoilers from the TV tapings, several other matches will take place including a high-profile bout.
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BTA Preshow
George Iceman was in Las Vegas, and talked about how PCO has been seen walking the highway near where he was buried by Eddie Edwards a few months ago.
Frankie Kazarian & Rich Swann defeated Raj Singh & Shera
The highlight of this match was Gia Miller’s commentary. Swann and Kazarian were great though.
Shera and Singh had several minutes of heat on Rich Swann and Kazarian not long after the match started, and it was rather boring for a few minutes. Gia Miller said that she didn’t know how to pronounce the type of car Shera and Singh arrived in, calling it a Lamb-burg-goney. Tom Hannifan said that he would have to teach her some Italian if they went to Rome for an Impact show. She said, “Oui, oui!” in French, which only reinforced the funny line. This was better than the heat segment.
Swann made a hot tag and hit a hurricarana on Singh. Shera broke up the pinfall attempt. Kazarian took him out with a leg drop while Shera was on the apron. Swann and Kazarian hit a double team splash and leg drop, setting up Swann for the 450 splash for the win.
Main Card
A recap aired of the excellent Bullet Club and Motor City Machine Guns main event from last week, along with the segment that setup Mickie James vs. Gisele Shaw for tonight.
–Bully Ray came out for a promo, talking about what he did to Tommy Dreamer at Impact No Surrender. Ray claimed that we all saw social media after No Surrender with Tommy Dreamer challenging Ray to a Busted Open Match. Incorrect. Ray said the challenge was empty because the doctors told him he couldn’t compete, and there was no way this match was going to happen.
Santino Marella came out and a mild “Bobby Ray” chant came from the fans. In what was supposed to be a serious angle, Santino with comedy lines does not add to the seriousness, but he did turn it into a loud “Bobby Ray” chant eventually. Marella then made the match with Dreamer official for Impact Sacrifice.
Bhupinder Gujjar came out and cut a promo in Hindi, and Santino roughly translated it to “Some of a gun!” and booked a match between him and Ray.
Bhupinder Gujjar defeated Bully Ray via DQ
This was not good, to say the least. Not the best start to Impact.
Gujjar took a lot of violence from Ray to start the match, but invited it, begging Ray to hit him. Gujjar faked out Ray and blocked a punch before hitting a series of dropkicks. Gujjar took forever to get on the ropes, and Ray cut him off. Ray grabbed his chain and then turned into a basement dropkick from Gujjar. As Gujjar tried to use the chain Ray low blowed Gujjar.
–Ray went to beat down Gujjar, but Tommy Dreamer ran down to make the save. As Dreamer was going for the Death Valley Driver, Masha Slamovich lowe blowed Dreamer. Mickie James ran down to attack Slamovich. Dreamer saved her from a Bully Ray and chased both Slamovich and Ray off with a chair. This is a massive step down for Mickie James and Masha Slamovich.
–PCO was in the desert, screaming about Eddie Edwards. He then said Edwards didn’t kill the monster and he wanted to fight.
–Josh Alexander was backstage and he asked Rich Swann to be his partner at Sacrifice. Steve Maclin walked up and offered to be the 3rd partner in the match to make sure Alexander did not get hurt at the show, but Alexander told him he already had a 3rd partner in Frankie Kazarian.
Rhino (w/ Heath) defeated Callihan (w/ The Design)
Another bad match. This was more about Callihan and The Design than anything, but you got to tell stories, I suppose.
Callihan and Rhino brawled on the outside with Rhino accidentally chopping the ring post. Callihan hit Russian Leg Sweep on the ramp. When they came back from break, Rhino managed to hit Callihan with a TKO for a 2-count. Callihan yanked the hair of Rhino and pulled him backwards to the mat for a 2-count.
Callihan hit a series of hard lariats on Rhino, and when that didn’t work, he bit Rhino. Callihan hit the ropes but got his foot grabbed by Angels. Callihan turned to confront Angels and Kon nailed Callihan in the face with a chair, leading to Rhino hitting a gore for the win. Callihan was left looking on as Deaner smiled.
–Dango & Santino Marella were backstage and Trey Miguel walked up, complaining about not being booked on No Surrender. Marella talked about an X-Division match for No Sacrifice featuring several NJPW talent, including Rocky Romero.
Johnny Swinger was pushed into the shot by Zicky Dice and he held a measuring tape, attempting to find “a tomato can” to beat in the ring. Miguel threatened him and he backed down, which was funny. Swinger then asked Dango to do the job for him. Dango said the only job he was there to do was Assistant Dictator of Authority.
–We saw what happened in the break for Callihan and Deaner, with Deaner telling Callihan that was step six of the Seven Deadly Steps~! To being initiated into the Design. I ma not sure he had has one any matches since trying to join this group.
Jordynne Grace defeated Alex Gracia
This was a quick squash that saw Grace win with a Grace Driver. Grace looked awesome in this.
–Moose walked up to Joe Hendry telling a story, and he said, with joy, that Dancing Moose arrived. Brian Myers attacked from behind, leading to Moose and Myers beating him down.
–Bullet Club were walking backstage with their titles, including KENTA. The walked up to Josh Alexander, Rich Swann, and Frankie Kazarian, who challenged them to a six-man match for next week. That will be fun.
KUSHIDA defeated Jonathan Gresham
This was a ton of fun. KUSHIDA and Gresham worked a simple match with the arms being the target of both men, and every move and counter was about either selling or damaging the arm. I know KUSHIDA is the guy that needs the win heading towards Multiverse United, but I do hope we see Gresham move up the card soon. A match with Alexander or a match with Trey Miguel would be fantastic.
Gresham and KUSHIDA shook hands after a brief exchange and turned it into a grappling contest as they tried to one up each other. After several minutes of grappling without breaking grip, they eventually met a stalemate. This didn’t last long as they went right back to it, with KUSHIDA going for the hoverboard lock, and then cheekily offering another handshake to Gresham, who slapped the hand away.
Very few wrestlers could work a compelling match with just wrist locks and basic submissions like these two, but they can. KUSHIDA managed to hit a German suplex, but was unable to bridge as Gresham transitioned immediately into a kimura attempt. KUSHIDA stomped the hand of Gresham earlier, so he had trouble locking it on. KUSHIDA countered into an armbar attempt, but Gresham was able to roll back to the ropes to get out.
Gresham found various ways to get a La Magistral cradle, with KUSHIDA and Gresham both favouring their arms after all the submission attempts. The arms they used to shake hands earlier were being battered with the submission attempts. KUSHIDA managed to run at Gresham and hit a flying hoverboard lock into a submission.
–Eddie Edwards was seen driving out to the desert.
–Killer Kelly came down to the ring holding a mic. Kelly called out Taylor Wilde. Wilde came out and said some crappy magic stuff, and Kelly refused to draw a card. Wilde pulled a card with the Tower, saying chaos was coming. The crowd went mild. KiLynn King came in and hit Kelly with a chair. Apparently, King and Wilde are now a group. This was not good. The Persona series of video games uses the Arcanas better.
–PCO was hitting a rock with a shovel.
–Killer Kelly was backstage, and the Death Dollz teleported into the scene, saying that witches can’t be trusted. Rosemary said Kelly was an expert in killing people, but unaware of the dark realm. Rosemary called Taylor Wilde a charlatan and said they would help her. Kelly politely refused, and is apparently a babyface now.
Wilde and King said they were going to continue to practice the dark arts, and Jessicka got excited about magic tricks. Rosemary then said they would put the Knockouts Tag Titles on the line, but if Wilde and King lose they have to stop practicing magic. Valkyrie and Jessicka sang “Witches get stiches” which may have been the best part of this. I definitely would rather be playing Persona 4 Golden or Persona 5 Royal instead of watching this.
–PCO and Eddie Edwards had a fight in the desert with cinematic music. PCO and Edwards brawled until PCO hit an inverted DDT on t he ground. The cinematic music upped in intensity as PCO dragged Edwards to where he was buried months ago. PCO was going to hit Edwards with the shovel, but someone drove up and ran over PCO with a car. Edwards hopped in and got away as PCO laid on the ground in pain. Can I recap the murder mystery of Persona 4 Golden instead of this? No? Oh well.
–Deonna Purrazzo joined the commentary team for the main event.
Impact Knockout’s Champion Mickie James defeated Gisele Shaw (w/ Jai Vidal & Savannah Evans)
This was fine, but on a show that was largely terrible, it could not save it. James and Shaw worked very hard, and Purrazzo’s new alliance with Mickie James could prove to be interesting going forward.
Shaw dumped James to the floor, but missed a baseball slide dropkick. James hit a neckbreaker on the floor. James had an Irish whip reversed, leading to Shaw hitting double knees on James in the corner. James hit a Thesz press on Shaw, but got briefly distracted by Evans and turned into a forearm from Shaw.
Shaw hit a chop that dropped James to the mat. Purrazzo talked about how Shaw won their last match, and why Shaw was a dangerous competitor. Purrazzo was good on commentary throughout this match. James hit a back elbow as Shaw charged the corner and hit a hurricarana to start making a comeback.
James hit a flapjack before kicking up. James went to the ropes, but Shaw rolled to the floor. James hit a Thesz press off the top rope to the floor on Evans and Vidal, but Shaw was able to hit a pump kick that dropped James. Shaw hit a European uppercut on James for a 2-count. James and Shaw exchanged hard strikes, including chops.
James went for the Mick Kick, but Shaw ducked and hit a superkick. Shaw missed a knee strike and James went for the MickDT, but Jai Vidal got on the apron. Deonna Purrazzo pulled Vidal from the apron, and as Evans was distracting the referee, Purrazzo reversed Shaw’s roll up on James for James to get the win.
Final Thoughts
This had to be one of the most missable episodes of Impact I have seen since I started recapping the show weekly. There was some really bad stuff on this one, along with two good matches in Gresham/KUSHIDA and Shaw/James. If you have to pick one thing to watch, make it Gresham/KUSHIDA. Otherwise, skip the rest or settle for my recap.
Matches Announced for Upcoming Shows:
Impact x NJPW Multiverse United
· New Japan Strong Openweight Championship: KENTA (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki
Impact Wrestling (03/16/23)
· Jonathan Gresham & Mike Bailey vs. Crazzy Steve & Black Taurus
· Steve Maclin vs. Heath
· Knockouts Tag Team Championship: Death Dollz (c) vs. The Coven
· Bullet Club vs. Josh Alexander, Rich Swann, & Frankie Kazarian