Impact Wrestling live results: No Surrender qualifiers continue
Thursday’s Impact on AXS TV will see the final two entrants into a no. 1 contender’s four-way at No Surrender be decided.
In one match, Steve Maclin will face Rhino while Eddie Edwards takes on Heath in the other. The winners will join PCO and Brian Myers in the four-way next Friday in Las Vegas.
In a preview of their trios match at the streaming special, KUSHIDA will take on Bullet Club’s Chris Bey. KUSHIDA & the Motor City Machine Guns take on Bey, Austin and the debuting KENTA at No Surrender.
Rich Swann will look to keep his momentum going into his challenge of World Champion Josh Alexander as he battles Kenny King.
Ahead of her challenge of Knockouts Champion Mickie James next Friday, Masha Slamovich will face Alisha.
The BTI pre-show match will see a rematch between former Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo and Steph De Lander (fka Persia Pirotta in WWE NXT).
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BTI Preshow
George Iceman talked about Johnny Swinger’s road to 50 wins, and that Zicky Dice picked a former WCW and WWE star that would get Swinger his first win.
Deonna Purrazzo defeated Steph De Lander
De Lander is green (not just her gear), but this was fine. If she keeps working with people like Purrazzo, she is going to improve a fair bit.
De Lander was significantly taller than Purrazzo, presenting challenges for Purrazzo earlier. Purrazzo ran up the turnbuckle while in a headlock and transitioned into a headlock takeover. Purrazzo soon transitioned into going for the Fujiwara armbar, but De Lander got the ropes. De Lander managed to get an electric chair drop to the apron on Purrazzo to get a 2-count.
De Lander and Purrazzo fought over a suplex until Purrazzo was finally able to hit it. Purrazzo hit a Russian leg sweep for a 2-count, then hit a pump kick after De Lander hit the ropes. Purrazzo hit a standing moonsault for a 2-count. Purrazzo countered right out of a headscissors into the Fujiwara armbar for the submission.
–Gisele Shaw attacked Purrazzo after the match and tried to spill a bowl of chilli on Purrazzo. Purrazzo ducked and Shaw hit Jai Vidal instead.
Main Show
Impact wasted no time this week, playing Chris Bey’s music right away.
KUSHIDA (w/ The Motor City Machine Guns) defeated Chris Bey (w/ Ace Austin)
This was a great match. KUSHIDA made Bey look like a million bucks, and he only got beat due to KUSHIDA’s experience.
KUSHIDA used his technical expertise to floor Bey early on, leading to Bey backing off and asking for a test of strength. KUSHIDA went to work over the arm, hitting it with knees and strikes, setting it up for the hoverboard lock. KUSHIDA continued to make Bey pay, attacking the arm over and over again.
The announcers were putting over KENTA debuting at No Surrender as a big deal, and that is awesome. KENTA is great, and I’m very happy Impact will highlight him as such. On the floor, Bey hit a Tiger feint kick on the floor and then both men hit clotheslines and fell to the floor. Bey and KUSHIDA just made it back into the ring and started exchanging strikes. This exchange was great and ended with Bey hitting a flying clothesline and a Stinger splash. Bey hit a torture rack neckbreaker for a 2-count.
KUSHIDA tried to pull Bey towards him, but he did a mule kick that broke the grip. That was cool! KUSHIDA hit a koppo kick against the ropes and then a flip dive over the corner to the floor on Bey. KUSHIDA punted the arm of Bey and went for the hoverboard lock, but Bey countered out. Bey sent KUSHIDA into the ropes and hit a springboard leg drop to the back of KUSHIDA’s head for a 2-count.
Bey went for the art of finesse, but KUSHIDA countered into an armbar. Bey rolled through into a Gedo clutch for a 2-count, and KUSHIDA countered into a kimura which he turned into a cradle for the pin.
–Santino had a sit down with Bully Ray and Tommy Dreamer, and announced that they were going to do a Busted Open live with David LeGreca. I am not looking forward to this at all. Also, they are doing a beat the clock challenge (which may be a WWE trademark, so oops?) next week to determine who would speak first. This sucked.
Steve Maclin defeated Rhino
Rhino and Maclin had a good brawl in this one, fighting around ringside for several minutes. Maclin got the heat on Rhino, but Rhino turned it around after Maclin missed a big splash. Rhino hit some shoulder tackles and a belly-to-belly out of the corner for a 2-count. Rhino hit a spinebuster on Maclin and called for the gore, but Maclin dodged and hit a spear of his own for a 2-count. Maclin went for the KIA, but Rhino blocked it, so Maclin slipped behind and hit Heath’s finisher for the win.
–Gia Miller was with Masha Slamovich and Slamovich spoke in Russian saying, that she was going to send a message to Mickie James tonight by crushing Alisha Edwards.
–Zicky Dice announced that he found an opponent for Swinger that had a worst record then they had, and out walked Barry Horowitz!
Barry Horowitz defeated Johnny Swinger (w/ Zicky Dice)
This was a horrible match. I loved it. Because it was a funny horrible. The KISS Demon came out (yes, him) and distracted Swinger. Horowitz put an abdominal stretch on Swinger and rolled back into a pinfall.
–Moose claimed he was going to get even with Joe Hendry to Gia Miller, then walked out to the parking lot and started smashing a car with a pipe, not realizing it was Santino’s car, and not Joe Hendry’s. Santino then made a Dot Combat match for them in the future.
Eddie Edwards defeated Heath
This was a pretty good match, with Edwards working his usual Japanese style, hitting Heath very hard, and forcing Heath to hit hard back. I liked it.
Heath and Edwards had a fight here, with Heath hitting a splash in the corner and Edwards hitting a tope suicida to the floor. Edwards and Heath exchanged hard chops, with Edwards getting the better of the exchange after a jab. Edwards choked Heath with his boot and then did a chinlock.
Heath fought out but ate a headbutt from Edwards. Heath hit a leg lariat in response and a knee strike. Edwards immediately fired back with a hard chop, but got hit wit ha power slam from Heath. Edwards hit a huge superplex on Heath before hitting a Tiger driver for a 2-count. Edwards went for the Die Hard driver, but the lights went out and PCO’s lightning could be seen. Heath hit a wake up call for the pinfall.
–PCO appeared behind Edwards and started beating him up, hitting a scorpoion death drop, but Edwards rolled out of the ring to avoid the top rope senton bomb.
–The Design talked about their upcoming match with Kazarian and Yuya Uemura. Deaner said that Callihan and himself would be facing Kazarian and Uemura as they have step five of the seven deadly steps to accept Callihan into The Design.
–We got a another creepy promo with James Mitchell, saying his boss, Rosemary’s father (presumably someone from the dark realm), sent him to deliver a present to the Death Dollz. The Hex were coming for the Impact World Tag Team Championship. Mitchell said the problem with selling his soul was that he rarely got sleep and had lots to work to do, so he was looking to cause some… havoc (or should I say Havok?). James Mitchell is so much better at this kind of thing than Deaner.
Masha Slamovich defeated Alisha Edwards
This was what it should have been, with Slamovich crushing Edwards.
Mickie James joined the commentary team for this match. Slamovich suplexed Edwards all over the ring to start the match. Slamovich hit a German suplex and Mickie James did some MMA math saying that because Grace beat Slamovich and James beat Grace, James can beat Slamovvich. Slamovich hit a snow plough for the win.
–Slamovich continued the assault after the match locking on a rear naked choke on Edwards. James came in to make the save, but Slamovich locked the choke on James, nearly choking her out.
–Crazzy Steve and Black Taurus were backstage, cutting a third creepy promo of the night, and Steven said that if Trey Miguel put the X-Division championship on the line in a match, he would leave him alone. Steve then challenged him to a Monster’s Ball match as Taurus yelled in the background. This was probably the best of the creepy promos, though James Mitchell is a great performer.
–Santino and Dango were backstage with Jonathan Gresham and Mike Bailey, and Santino announced they would have a match at the PPV, but Dango interjected saying they could team next week to face the Motor City Machine Guns. Barry Horowitz walked up and asked for the same deal that Swinger had. Santino then announced Horowitz against Rhino, and Horowitz immediately left saying he’d rather go out on top with his one win. Okay, that was awesome.
Rich Swann defeated Kenny King
This was an excellent main event. Impact was bookmarked by two very good matches, and this was one of King’s best performances in this Impact run, along with the pit fight.
Swann showed that he was ready for Josh Alexander at the No Surrender PPV by hitting some chops and kicks to dominate King in the early part of the match, but King showed him that maybe he wasn’t so ready after taking his head off with a lariat for a 2-count. King missed a springboard legdrop and ate a kick from Swann.
King went for a suplex on Swann, but Swann kneed him in the head on the way up and turned it into a DDT. That was cool. King hit a spinebuster and then verbally sparred with a heckler. King hit a sole butt, Swann hit a pump kick, and King hit a superman punch and a powerslam for a 2-count. Swann hit a poisonrana on King and then hit a sole butt when they both got up. Swann went for a kick, but King caught it and transitioned into a half crab. Both men hit kicks to drop to the mat. Swann got up and missed a phoenix splash, and King hit a tiger driver for a 2-count. King went for the royal flush and Swann countered into a cradle for the pinfall.
–Kenny King attacked Swann after the match and went to use a chair, but Josh Alexander ran down to make the save. Swann went to superkick King, but King ducked and Swann nailed Alexander with the kick and the show went off the air with Alexander looking at Swann while holding his face.
Final Thoughts
This was a decent episode of Impact this week, with two great matches and some decent advancement of angles leading into the No Surrender PPV. If you have to choose what to watch, watch the opening match and main event, and maybe the Slamovich squash. The rest of the show was quite missable, but certainly not terrible.