Impact Wrestling results: Brian Cage & Melissa Santos get married

Impact Wrestling returns to the Sam’s Town Hall & Casino in Las Vegas, NV for the first episode of the new set of tapings as we continue on the Road to Bound For Glory.  Opening video was a wedding package for Brian Cage and Melissa Santos, who are tying the knot in tonight’s show. It had all the cheesiness you could ask for. 

Josh Matthews and Don Callis opened the show, wearing tuxedos, hyping tonight’s wedding, the return of Ken Shamrock. Gabby Loren is the wedding correspondent at the wedding venue, she interviewed Gail Kim who seems to be here really early. 

The North came down to the ring dressed as LAX, mocking them, imitating their entrances. Ethan Page cut a promo making fun at the crowd for expecting LAX. Alexander kept on mocking Konnan and LAX, disrespecting the t-shirt. Alexander said that unlike LAX who had 4 title reigns, they’ll only have one, because they’ll never lose the titles. 

After much trash talk, Konnan finally came down to the ring to confront The North. Konnan cut a promo making fun of them and then said that he has a lot of friends that want to come and beat them up. Page held his own with Konnan on the mic. Konnan brought out Rob Van Dam and Rhino. They brawled and thus we got

Rhino & Rob Van Dam defeated Impact World Tag Team Champions The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) in a non-title match.

Once the brawl came under control, The North had control over RVD for a bit, but RVD quickly turned it around with a Rolling Thunder for a two count. Rhino came in and kept that control over Page. After some more tags, Alexander distracted RVD to give Page the opening to cut him off and finally get him away from Rhino. 

The North worked over RVD with several illegal chokes as they kept distracting the ref. After a couple of more tags, RVD hit a jawbreaker and got the tag on Rhino. 

Rhino got the hot tag over Alexander, who got tossed around the ring. Rhino got a two count after a Belly-to-belly. Rhino set up the Gore, but got superkicked by Page for a two count. RVD came back and traded strikes with Page until they both landed on the floor after a clothesline. RVD seemed hurt, distracting the ref, giving Alexander the opening to go for a belt shot, but Konnan took the title away, allowing Rhino to hit a Gore, followed by RVD’s Frog Splash for the win over the champions. Not the best match, not at the level the tag division has delivered for a while.

Backstage, Gama Singh berated Raj and Rohit over losing to The Deaners. He said that he was forced to go back to India and recruit Shera. Gama told them that they need to start producing. Shera takes on Cousin Jake tonight.

We got the first AXS commercial of the night. 

Back at the wedding venue, Eddie Edwards arrived, who was interrupted by Reno Scum, who distracted Eddie while they spiked his drink. Johnny Swinger showed up too. 

Mahabali Shera (w/Gama Singh & Desi Hit Squad) defeated Cousin Jake (w/Cody Deaner)

Match started and Shera easily overpowered Jake, carrying him to the corner. Jake came back with a clothesline and some strikes, rocking Shera a bit, but after a small distraction, Shera easily regained control with a lariat. 

Shera was under control for a while more, while Jake kept on trying to make a comeback, only to be cut off over and over. Eventually, Jake did manage to gain some momentum and hit the corner spear, but Shera came back with a huge Sky High and a powerslam for the win. Technically a squash match. 

After the match, Cody Deaner faced off with Shera to protect Jake, but the numbers game was too much and ended up taking a powerslam by Shera. The Desi Hit Squad posed over the fallen Deaners. 

Back at the wedding, TJP and Fallah Bahh are arguing with each other about what they’re wearing. Eddie Edwards is already drunk.

Tenille Dashwood defeated Madison Rayne

Collar and elbow lock up to start the match, leading to a sequence of reversals, fighting for wrist control. Tenille ended up getting the better of Madison, running her to the ropes. Madison kept talking trash and Tenille kept playing around with Madison, tripping her and making fun of her. 

The match spilled onto the floor when Rayne tried to leave, but Tenille brought her back the hard way. Tenille hit a slingshot neckbreaker for a two count. 

Madison got some offense hitting a backstabber on the ropes, earning a two count. Madison locked in a Cravate and connected a couple of knees for another two count. A third one after a Sliding Lariat. Rayne hit a ripcord cutter for yet another near fall. 

Finally, Rayne went to the top rope, going for a bulldog, but Tenille side stepped and landed corner Sliding Lariat to get a chance to recover. Tenille landed a bit boot and clothesline for a two count. Rayne hit an enzuigiri and a northern lights bridge for a two count. Madison went for a German, but Tenille blocked her and hit a Neckbreaker and The Spotlight to pick up the win. 

Not particularly a good match, it was too one-sided considering they’re building Tenille for the title.

Back at the wedding, RVD arrived with Katie Forbes, who were met by Rich Swann and Willie Mack. Swann said that since they’re the No. 1 Contenders, they can get their first shot. Mack is wearing a onesie with a T-Rex print.

Tenille Dashwood vs Taya Valkyrie was made official for Bound For Glory.

Ken Shamrock made his return to Impact Wrestling. His arms are out of this world, he looks fantastic for his age. Shamrock cut a promo talking about his memories about being the Impact champion, I think he meant NWA Champion. He talked the fans for the support. 

Shamrock addressed Moose getting in his business and all the trash talk Moose has delivered in the last months. He said that he got an invitation from D’Amore to come to the tapings and confront Moose. He said that he is here to beat up Moose and called him out. 

Moose showed up on the tron in video form. Moose is at Shamrock’s School. He is walking around cutting a promo saying he’s not afraid of Shamrock. At the end, Moose beats up some of Shamrock’s students and mocks Shamrock. Moose was great. The video itself had great camerawork. 

We got an AXS commercial with Eddie Edwards saying that this is their time.

Somewhere in the Undead Realm, Taya finds Rosemary. Taya asks Rosemary that if she takes out Tenille Dashwood, she’ll give her a title shot. Rosemary tells Taya that she’ll need to deal with her problems herself because she doesn’t respect the new Taya. Before leaving, Taya gave Rosemary a matching attire for the wedding. 

Impact Plus Moment of the Week was the wedding of Eric Young and ODB. This was long and terrible. 

Back at the wedding, oVe arrived, only to drop off a wedding gift because they were not invited and Dave Crist had a match tonight. They took the gift back.

At another part of the venue, Dreamer and Swann are giving Cage a pep talk. Ryan Cage, Brian’s brother showed up. I don’t know if this was his shoot brother. 

Madison Rayne tried to explain the Bridesmaids how to walk, but Taya used the opportunity to ask them for a favor about Tenille Dashwood. 

Tessa Blanchard defeated Dave Crist (w/oVe) to qualify to the Bound For Glory X-Division Ladder Match

Dave Crist tried to attack Tessa before the bell, but Tessa caught him and brought the fight. Tessa landed some strikes until Dave pushed her off. Dave cut her off with some strikes, but when he went for a running attack, Tessa deliver a backdrop over the ropes on to the rest of the oVe teammates. Tessa took them out with a Baseball Dive. 

Fulton went to attack Tessa, but Jake pulled him off so Dave wouldn’t get DQ’d. The referee ejected Fulton from ringside. 

Back in the ring, Tessa worked over Dave’s injured hand, but Jake Crist was there to distract Tessa and allow Dave to cut her off once again and regain control. Dave mostly went for kicks and eye rakes on Tessa, a couple of strikes in between. 

Tessa made a comeback after Dave spat on her and woke her up. Tessa unloaded a series of elbows and landed a running kick and superkick. She went for a top rope sunset flip, completely missing Dave, but Dave followed the motion to save the spot. 

Dave blocked the corner Magnum, but failed to land the foot stomp, giving Tessa the opening to hit the Buzzsaw DDT for the win. This was one of the worst matches Tessa has been in for a while. 

After the match, Jake Crist attacked Tessa, but she cut him off. Fulton came back, but Tessa low blowed him, only slowing him down. Fulton hit two HUGE chokeslams on Tessa.

The rest of the show was the wedding. First we saw the bridesmaids and groomsmen prepping up. Madison Rayne talked trash to Alisha for not taking care of Eddie who got drunk. Ace Austin was luckily there to take his spot for the wedding entrance. 

We got a quick rundown of some of the Impact roster at the wedding, mostly funny skits. Finally, Dreamer walked down Melissa Santos. They’re starting the wedding when Taya interrupts it to get herself over saying that she hosted a great bachelorette party, but the wedding looked terrible. She just wanted to make sure no one thought she organized this. 

Ethan Page also interrupted saying that him and Alexander are being disrespected by Impact management. He announced that he is going to start the first wrestler’s union. 

Eddie Edwards returned, completely drunk. He puked all over Ryan Cage. Ace Austin confronted him, but took out Ryan instead. Dreamer asked for another priest, and would answer but The Sinister Minister — James Mitchell. 

Mitchell finished the wedding in the most awkward way he could. He managed to sneak in his hotel card to Melissa. Let it be on record that Cage and Santos were married under the Dark Lord’s church.

Reception was back in the ring. Cage and Melissa were introduced as newlyweds. Once in the ring, they had their first dance, when suddenly, to the surprise of no one, Sami Callihan crashed the party.

Callihan said he wasn’t there to fight, he was happy for Cage and Santos, but said he was hurt because he got kicked out of the wedding. He said he drank all of the ‘gift’. He told Cage that at Bound For Glory, he wants the Brian Cage of old, he wants to beat The Machine and not an injured has been. Callihan toasted for Cage and then, as Cage went to attack him, Callihan accidentally broke the Champagne bottle on Melissa’s head. Callihan actually looked sorry for the accident. Good angle to finish this thing off. 

Final Thoughts — 

For a one gimmick show, all built around the wedding, this was a pretty good show. The wedding itself was one of the better executed ones I’ve seen when it comes to wrestling.