Impact Wrestling live results: The fallout from Emergence
In the first Impact Wrestling on AXS TV since last Sunday’s Emergence, a new no. 1 contender for the Knockouts title will be crowned.
Ten women will compete in a battle royal with the winner moving on to challenge current champion Trinity at next month’s Victory Road. Participants include Alisha Edwards, Masha Slamovich, Killer Kelly, Gisele Shaw, Jessicka, KiLynn King, Jody Threat, Savannah Evans, Vanna Black and Courtney Rush.
IWGP World Champion SANADA will return to Impact TV for the first time in years as he teams with Jake Something and Frankie Kazarian to take on Moose, Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards.
After defeating Deaner in a no DQ match Sunday, Eric Young will now face The Design’s Kon.
After nearly attacking Tom Hannifan due to a breakdown during a sit-down interview last Thursday, Crazzy Steve will be in action.
As he awaits his X-Division title match against Lio Rush, KUSHIDA will face Drilla Moloney on the BTI pre-show.
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BTI pre-show: KUSHIDA defeated Drilla Moloney
KUSHIDA came out with what looked like a new hairdo. This was a 6-minute match, but as about a good a 6-minute match you can have. We also were told by Gia Miller that Moloney was experiencing an extended period of teen angst into his adulthood. One guy yelled “boo” a lot and the fans laughed.
Main Card:
–The recap video from Emergence aired as Impact went on the air, and it made Emergence look like an all time exciting PPV while driving forward the main stories. This was very well done. Impact has some of the best recap videos in the business.
Alisha Edwards won a battle royal to earn a Knockouts title shot at Victory Road
Participants included Gisele Shaw, Savannah Evans, Edwards, Vanna Black, Jody Threat, Killer Kelly, Masha Slamovich, Jessicka, Courtney Rush and KiLynn King.
Black was the first elimination, being thrown out by Slamovich and Kelly. Kelly was dumped out of the ring by Evans while Slamovich was thrown out by Shaw, meaning that we are likely seeing a tag match between those two teams soon. Rush rushed (pun intended) Shaw and hit a lariat that sent Shaw to the floor.
I missed when Edwards got thrown out, but noticed she was gone as King eliminated Jessicka. King and Threat showed shockingly good teamwork as they eliminated Evans with a flying knee and a dropkick. King hit a big kick and a neutralizer that Claudio Castagnoli would applaud. Threat came back with a pump kick and double knees and a German suplex on King. Edwards ran back in and threw out King and Threat while they were tangled in the ropes to win the match. Apparently she wasn’t eliminated and I didn’t miss it.
– Josh Alexander met with the Motor City Machine Guns after causing them the match at Sunday’s Emergence. Shelley told him that if he wanted a shot at him, he should take care of what he needs to with Maclin. The Rascalz (Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz) walked in and mocked Sabin and Shelley, and Sabin said that he was going to put him in his place later tonight. Good segment.
– Eddie Edwards celebrated with Alisha Edwards because she won the battle royal. She said that everyone thought she was just a champion’s wife, but now they were the real power couple in Impact and she was coming for the title. This may have been the best promo she has ever done.
– Crazzy Steve came out wearing a very creepy mask, and looked almost zombie like with his makeup. Gimmick change achieved. I loved his segments with Tom Hannifan, so we shall see if this translates to the ring well. The announcers really sold this well with Hannifan looking shaken up.
Mike Bailey defeated Crazzy Steve via DQ
Steve started the match by gouging the eyes of Bailey and then taking out the referee. He pulled a fork out and screamed that he was going to take Bailey’s eyes.
Black Taurus came out and tried to talk some sense into Steve, but Steve dropped him and gouged the mask of Taurus. Oops. Not that I wanted to see him actually gouge the eyes of Taurus. He did a better job with the security that tried to pull him off.
– Brian Myers, Moose and Eddie Edwards were backstage, and it seemed like Moose was trying to bring him into their tag team partnership. Edwards insisted he was different from Bully Ray because he was on a roll right now. Bully Ray walked up and said they had a PCO problem. Myers said Bully Ray had a problem with PCO, and Moose reminded Ray of his long list of burned bridges, and they were no longer The Scumbags anymore. Short lived stable right there. You could hear PCO yelling somewhere in the background for Bully Ray.
PCO then chased Bully Ray around the backstage area and stuck his arm through a door to try and get to him like out of a horror movie. Though, unlike a horror movie, PCO responded to Ray screaming “Carl! Stop!” PCO said “You tried to kill me!” Ray insisted that he didn’t, but was trying to kill the monster so the man could come back. He said he set him on fire because he cared about him. That sounds like an abusive friendship right there, but then again, I’ve never been friends with a French Canadian Frankenstein. PCO appeared to listen to this. Weird.
Eric Young defeated Kon
This was a fairly dull match, but Young continued to be a great worker while Kon was aggressively average.
The announcers noted Deaner couldn’t be there due to the injuries suffered in his match with Young. This makes me think he will be running in before the end of it, but I do hope he’d be selling the barbed wire boards for a little longer.. The crowd got into last half of the match when Young hit a Death Valley Driver and Kon kicked out.
Young went to the top rope to hit an elbow, but Kon cut him off but Young bit Kon and hit the elbow drop for another two that the fans expected to be the finish. Young went for a piledriver, but Kon blocked it and hit a Full Nelson slam for a 2-count. Young responded by hitting a piledriver on the floor. Kon barely made it back in and screamed for Young to finish it, so Young hit a second piledriver for the win.
– Lio Rush was backstage and said that he heard that Chris Sabin wanted to get back in the ring with him for the X-Division title. Rush then wondered out loud why he was wrestling Wentz later, showing he wasn’t taking their potential rematch seriously. KUSHIDA walked up and said he wanted Rush at Victory Road and was cashing in his X for the shot.
– Deonna Purrazzo was with Gia Miller and talked about how she experienced opposition before and that she was upset about Jordynne Grace stealing her spotlight at Emergence. Purrazzo then challenged Grace to a match at Victory Road, saying Grace has never been able to beat her. Purrazzo took on a more heelish tone in this promo, which explains why she was on the heel team for the announced matches at Impact 1000.
Chris Sabin (w/ Alex Shelley) defeated Zachary Wentz (w/ Trey Miguel)
Very good match between these two, with Sabin looking awesome as usual, and Wentz showing he can hang with one of the best in the world.
Sabin spent the early part of the match grounding Wentz and working over his shoulder. Wentz was able to recover once he pulled Sabin through the middle ropes and hit a plancha over the top rope. Wentz took this opportunity to try and pay Sabin back for working the shoulder and arm, forcing Sabin to get to the ropes while Wentz taunted Shelley on the floor.
Sabin hit a heel kick to drop Wentz and followed with a Manhattan Drop and a straight jacket release suplex. Sabin hit a tornado DDT for a 2-count. Wentz ended firing back with a superkick and a half nelson slam for a two count. Sabin did a rolling half crab out of Lance Storm’s playbook, and transitioned into an STF. Shelley dropped Miguel on the floor, letting Sabin hit a dive onto both Miguel and Wentz, and hit a cradle shock on Wentz for the win.
Trey Miguel attacked Sabin after the match, but Alex Shelley quickly got to the ring and The Rascalz bailed. It looks like we’re heading toward a MCMG vs. Rascalz match soon.
– ABC was backstage and Austin and Bey congratulated The Rascalz on becoming the Impact Tag Team Champions, noting that they had to cheat to win, although they didn’t begrudge them for it. They are gunning for the tag titles in the near future. ABC accused The Rascalz of paying off The Good Hands to attack them, but the Rascalz said that they did it because it was personal and they would fight them soon.
-Santino was backstage and Subculture walked up asking for their Tag Team title rematch. Sami Callihan and Rich Swann walked up and asked for a title match too because they were screwed by The Rascalz as well. Santino said the MCMG would be facing The Rascalz at Victory Road, so Callihan and Swann could face Subculture and the winner would get The Rascalz. JOYA (Joe Hendry & Yuya Uemura) walked up and scared Santino and made it clear they wanted a title match when Uemura said, “CHAMPION!” but Santino said they needed to climb the ranks.
Kenny King/Tommy Dreamer segment
King said that he wasn’t surprised Toronto hated him, as he was the best athlete the city has seen since Kawhi Leonard. Dreamer came down and talked about how King beat Johnny Swinger as Swinger gave all he could. Swinger apparently learned just before the match that his father-in-law died and had to leave the show early after the match. Swinger and Dreamer texted throughout the night, noting that the women killed it in the ring in the main event.
Dreamer learned that King didn’t watch the match, and didn’t care about anyone else in the company, and with Impact 1000 coming up, he couldn’t accept that. King said he was only Dreamer said if King wanted a top spot, why didn’t he do something about it and try to take out the old guard, putting over Chris Jericho, Sting, and PCO. Dreamer then offered to put his career on the line against King for the Digital Media Championship.
– An incredible video for Awesome Kong aired, highlighting her career, and it ended with Gail Kim announcing she was coming back too, for the all star ten Knockouts tag team match.
– Steve Maclin was in a pre-taped promo, talking about how time makes him dangerous, because he is willing to wait to strike at the right time. Maclin said that it was finally time for him to hit his high value target in Josh Alexander at Victory Road. Good stuff here.
– Will Ospreay will be part of Impact’s UK tour in October as he was announced for Turning Point in Newcastle, England. The show will air on Impact Plus in early-November.
Frankie Kazarian, Jake Something & SANADA defeated Moose, Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards
The mission to establish Something as… something continues. This was a good main event. Rarely is a six-man tag with guys like this bad, and this proves the old rule that Bryan & Vinny had for Raw – end the show with a six-man tag and you will get a great match that the crowd gets into.
When SANADA came out and the voice of Taka Michinoku said, “Just 5 Guys” a fan yelled loudly “I love Five Guys!” and I laughed. Kazarian and Myers started the match, but it wasn’t long before Jake Something was beating on Myers. Poor Myers, he just keeps getting beat up by everyone. He called for a timeout and rolled to the floor while Edwards and Moose comforted him in his distress. Something hit a dive over the ropes onto everyone as the camera cut to Dango & Bravo backstage taking in the match.
Myers was able to start getting the heat on SANADA when Moose hit him with a knee behind the back of the referee. SANADA had a brief comeback by putting the paradise lock on Edwards and drop toeing Myers into Edwards. Moose cut him off though, and soon Myers was back to working over Myers. This heat segment continued for several minutes, and made me realize I want to see Eddie Edwards in the G1 as he chopped SANADA.
SANADA made a tag to Kazarian and he finally got his hands on Edwards. Something came on and dropped Edwards, and Something hit an incredible pop up powerbomb on Moose. This got a massive reaction from the crowd, and I think as long as he keeps doing stuff like that he’ll do fine in this Impact run. Everyone continued to hit moves everywhere until it came down to Edwards and Kazarian, and both men went over the top rope with a suplex attempt. Something dodged a roster cut and got sent Into the Void with Something hit a black hole slam. Honestly, I’d use the pop up powerbomb as a finish instead of that.
Final Thoughts:
Solid episode of Impact tonight that actually setup all the matches at Victory Road quite well, despite the short time to build it. Like AEW, I’m not sure if running nearly back to back Impact Plus events is a good idea, as it is easy to burn out an audience with 3 big shows in 5 weeks, but Victory Road is shaping up to be a great card as well.
Next Thursday:
- Deonna Purrazzo vs. Dani Luna
- Subculture vs. Sami Callihan & Rich Swann
- Lio Rush vs. Kevin Knight
- Josh Alexander & PCO vs. Bully Ray & Steve Maclin
Next Friday’s Victory Road:
- Digital Media Champion Kenny King defends against Tommy Dreamer in a title vs. career match
- Knockouts Champion Trinity defends against Alisha Edwards
- Deonna Purrazzo vs. Jordynne Grace
- X-Division Champion Lio Rush defends against KUSHIDA
- Impact Tag Team Champions The Rascalz (Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz) defend against Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley)
- Bully Ray vs. PCO
- Josh Alexander vs. Steve Maclin