Impact Wrestling live results: Omega/Swann press conference
Preview by Josh Nason
Less than two weeks ahead of their title vs. title match at Rebellion, Impact World Champion Rich Swann and AEW World Champion Kenny Omega will have a press conference on Thursday’s show — one that ends up in a big brawl in footage that aired in the preview video.
The show will also feature Jazz making her official retirement announcement following her title vs. career loss to Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo last Saturday at Hardcore Justice.
Ahead of their clash at Rebellion, Matt Cardona and Brian Myers will choose each other’s opponent for tonight’s show as Impact brings back the Pick Your Poison stipulation.
Former X-Division Champion TJP will face Josh Alexander to continue their recent rivalry and on the BTI pre-show, former tag team partners Havok and Nevaeh will go one-on-one. Nevaeh cost Havok a shot at winning last Saturday’s six-woman weapons match for a Knockouts title shot.
Our live coverage kicks off at 8 PM Eastern.
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Havok defeated Nevaeh on BTI
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Opening video was a recap of Hardcore Justice, where Jazz put her career on the line for a shot at Purrazzo, and lost. Also, last week’s main event, where the team of Rich Swann, Wilie Mack, and Eddie Edwards defeated Kenny Omega and the Good Brothers.
Josh Alexander defeated TJP
TJP and Josh Alexander have been facing each other for months, revolving around the X Division championship, which they both challenge for at Rebellion, in a 3-way match.
The match was a technical competition, with both men being proficient in submission and mat wrestling, with the only difference being Alexander having the power advantage versus TJP’s speed advantage. Because of all the matches they’ve been together in, the story of the match was that they knew each other well and had many of the other’s moves scouted.
This was great, all back and forward action. The match started with both main chain wrestling, but as neither was able to gain control, Alexander relied on his power advantage to slam TJP and gain some momentum. TJP cut off Alexander with some strikes before they headed to the end, where Alexander kept chasing the ankle lock, while TJP went for the arm bar. They traded many reversals as they also started to go for their signature moves, but at the end, it was Alexander hitting the double underhook piledriver for the win. Fantastic opener.
Josh Alexander gets some momentum heading into Rebellion, where he’ll face Ace Austin and TJP in a 3-way.
– D’lo Brown & Matt Striker ran down the calendar for Wrestle Week, preceding Rebellion. In addition, they ran down some of tonight’s matches.
– We got a new vignette for Taylor Wilde’s return. She’s more rockabilly than punk now.
Karl Anderson (with Doc Gallows) defeated Crazzy Steve (with Decay)
Decay were one of the teams that mocked the Good Brothers in the past week after losing the titles to FinJuice. Gallows defeated Black Taurus at Hardcore Justice, so now we have the other halves facing each other. The story coming out of that is that the Good Brothers have been on the edge and more vicious for some weeks now.
Anderson was in control for most of the match, but there were a couple of spots where Steve’s unorthodox style caught Anderson off his guard, but Anderson would regain control. Steve seemed to be getting some momentum at the end, locking in a crossface and the upside down, but Gallows distracted him and allowed Anderson to get him with the spinebuster for the win.
With only one week left before Rebellion, we may either get a tag match between the two next week, or Decay chase the titles if Good Brothers win.
– Over at Swinger’s Palace, Ace Austin asked what were the betting odds he was walking out the champion at Rebellion, but told them they were bad. TJP walked up and was told that his odds were the highest.
Josh Alexander walked in with Petey Williams, who cut the Steiner Math promo, but with Alexander, TJP, and Austin now. The numbers don’t lie.
– Eddie Edwards and Willie Mack came out to the ring for a promo. Edwards talked about losing at Hardcore Justice against Violent By Design, and losses happen. He talked about VBD attacking Dreamer prior to the match, and so he and Mack wanted to challenge them to a fight.
VBD came out. EY told them that they lovede that Dreamer was taken out backstage, but it wasn’t them that did it. Edwards didn’t even care and still wanted to fight.
James Storm and Chris Sabin ran down to even the odds as all men started brawling around the ring. VBD walked away once the babyfaces cleared the ring. Storm challenged them to a 4-on-4 at Rebellion.
– Backstage, Purrazzo checked on Susan when D’Amore met them and told Purrazzo that she couldn’t go out and ruin Jazz’s retirement speech.
– Tenille Dashwood debuted her new show “All About Me”, and opportunity for people to ask her questions about her. Gia Miller was the host, as Dashwood is the guest on every show.
Before Miller could make her first question, Dashwood answered that she was sure she’d win at Rebellion because she was a pioneer of the women’s revolution, she has never failed at anything in her life, and Purrazzo has never defeated her. Dashwood didn’t allow Miller for any follow up questions. Everyone involved was fantastic.
– Jazz and Jordynne Grace came down to the ring for Jazz’s retirement speech. Jazz said that she came to Impact hoping that maybe she could get one last title run, but she had failed to do so at Hardcore Justice. She had felt that fire in her, the same fire from 15 years ago, but at the end, Deonna Purrazzo was too strong and she was the present and future of women’s wrestling.
Jazz talked about how she and Grace failed to capture the tag titles, but thanked Grace for bringing her in and even considering her for a tag team. She thanked Grace and Impact for welcoming her with open arms and letting her have a good last run and allowing her to go out with a bang.
Before Jazz could continue, Fire ‘n Flava came out to make fun of Jazz and tell her to get to it and retire. Grace fired back and told them that this was Jazz’s moment and told them to either shut up, or get in the ring for the talking. Suddenly, a referee walked out and said that by decree of D’Amore, Fire ‘n Flava had to face off Grace and Jazz on the spot. None of them are wearing ring gear, so it’s not unfair.
Jordynne Grace & Jazz defeated Knockouts Tag Team Champions Fire ‘n Flava (Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz) in a non-title match
Caught by surprise, Hogan and Steelz had a rough start, Grace and Jazz started brawling with them outside the ring, bringing them into the ring, where Jazz pinned Kiera Hogan.
After the match, Jazz said she was done and announced her retirement. She thanked the fans and had her proper speech as the roster came out to celebrate Jazz. Both babyface and heels were out, Gail Kim was there too.
For a second there, I was really worried that they were changing the titles to go back on the stipulation. There’s still time.
Backstage, Hogan and Steelz complained to D’Amore about being put in a match, so D’Amore booked the title match. Jazz walked up and said that she was a woman of her word and that she was done, she respected Purrazzo and the stipulation. She said that instead, Grace can be there with a mystery partner, and Jazz knew exactly who. Perfect follow up.
Brian Myers defeated Jake Something in a Pick Your Poison Match
Myers and Cardona are set to wrestle at Rebellion, but tonight, both men are picking each other’s opponents with the Pick Your Poison stipulation. Cardona’s pick for Myers was Jake Something, who defeated Myers at Hardcore Justice.
Match was short, but it got the point across. Something dominated most of the match with his power advantage, forcing Myers to start running away until he was able to catch Something with the roster cut for the win.
After the match, Myers announced Cardona’s opponent. Sami Callihan appeared behind Cardona and attacked him.
Sami Callihan defeated Matt Cardona in a Pick Your Poison Match
Callihan attacked Cardona outside the ring for some minutes before getting in the ring to start the match, but once they did, Cardona caught him with the radio silence for a near fall.
This was a more back and forward match, they got way more time to build up a match. They wrestled in the ring for some minutes, but once again found themselves brawling outside the ring, where Callihan gained some control.
Back in the ring, Cardona made a comeback, hitting the running boot to the corner for a near fall. They traded a couple more near falls, but at the end, Cardona hit a Frankensteiner, went for radio silence, only for Callihan to pull the referee in front of him, use the distraction to hit the package piledriver, and pick up the win. Good match.
After the match, Callihan called out Trey Miguel to the ring. Callihan congratulated Miguel for main eventing Hardcore Justice. Miguel said that Hardcore Justice and the XXXL match was not about listening to Callihan, but because it was the right thing to do and he had issues with XXXL respectively. Callihan said he saw the rage in Miguel and he wanted to help him capitalize on that rage, and so Callihan once again offered Miguel to join him. Miguel rejected Callihan.
Callihan said that he took out Dreamer at Hardcore Justice to allow Miguel to be in the main event, but instead of thanking Callihan, Miguel tried to attack him, only to get taken out with a low blow and a lariat. Callihan attacked Miguel with a chair, ending with an exploder on to the chair.
– Juice Robinson and David Finlay cut a promo from Japan, saying they’ve enjoyed seeing the Good Brothers suffer since losing the titles. They said that whatever the Good Brothers have achieved, they’ve also achieved it too, and at Rebellion, they’ll prove they’re the best tag team.
– Brown and Striker ran down the Wrestle Week calendar. They announced that next week, we get Good Brothers vs Decay, Dashwood vs Susan, and Eric Young vs Eddie Edwards. They also ran down the card for Rebellion, adding Callihan vs Trey Miguel and Violent By Design vs Edwards, Mack, Storm, and Sabin.
– We had the Rich Swann and Kenny Omega press conference. Scott D’Amore and Rich Swann represented Impact, Tony Khan and Jerry Lynn for AEW. Omega was not there. They had questions from Andreas Hale, Mike Johnson, and Gareth Davies.
Khan addressed that whoever wins, be it Omega or Swann, they’ll agree to the commitments of companies, so there is no doubt that one championship will be gone from either promotion. Both Khan and D’Amore promised that there WILL be a winner and that both companies will have referees there.
After a while Kenny Omega and Don Callis finally arrived. Omega was given the chance to have a speech in which he said he had been there before, on the eve of a big match, with everyone’s eyes on him. He compared his attire to Swann’s as an example of how Omega was just on another level, far from Swann. He told Swann he didn’t belong in this stage, he was just a means to an end, and that end was Omega making history. He slapped Swann before a pull apart broke out between the two before the show went off the air.