Impact Wrestling results: Cage vs Callihan II

A new era of Impact Wrestling begins tonight with their debut on AXS with the fallout of Bound For Glory. They had a new intro theme and look. Show opened with a video talking about Impact’s journey to AXS, their redemption story. 

Twitch stream was hosted by Melissa Santos, who ran down the show. She promoted the Turning Point Impact Plus special show on November 9th. 

Josh Matthews and Don Callis opened the show in the ring, introducing the card for tonight and giving their picks on who leaves with the World Title tonight. Melissa’s reactions to the main event result were great.

Naomichi Marufuji defeated Josh Alexander (w/Ethan Page)

They fixed Marufuji’s title bar for his entrance. 

Collar and elbow to start the match, Alexander tried to start slow, but Marufuji went quick for the kicks and provoked Alexander. They did a quick paced sequence of reversals, Alexander looking good. 

Alexander went for a side headlock, but Marufuji kept reversing him into pins. They did some chain wrestling until Josh came in with a chop and challenged Marufuji to strikes, which has to be the dumbest idea ever. Alexander caught him with a low kick and turned the match around, working on his head for a big until Marufuji countered a whip with a cart-wheel and came back with a kick and a huge chop. 

Marufuji now in control, hit a running Meteora and superkick for a two count. Alexander tried to come back with a Green Bay Plunge and knee drop to the back of the head, but Marufuji kicked out at two. 

Alexander went for a powerbomb, but Marufuji escaped. Alexander countered the Shiranui into a backbreaker. Alexander followed by stomping each of Marufuji’s limbs and went again for the powerbomb, which once again Marufuji countered with kicks. Alexander hit a discus forearm and Marufuji a big bicycle kick before both men collapsed for the double ten count tease. 

They traded chops in the middle of the ring. Marufuji hit the back kick, but Alexander came back with a Torture Rack Spinning Bomb for a 2.99 kick out, commentary ever wondered if that was it. 

Alexander went for Tiger Driver 89, but Marufuji countered with a kick combo, hit Shiranui, and pinned Alexander for the win. Great match, I really hope we get The North in Japan one day.

Marufuji offered a handshake after the match, Alexander went for it, but Page stopped him. The crowd cheered for the hand shake, but Alexander denied at the end. Marufuji wasn’t pleased and gave me the impression that we’ll have another Marufuji match versus The North.

oVe arrived at the arena when security told Fulton and the Crist brothers that they are banned from the arena for tonight’s main event. 

We got the Rascalz at the Treehouse. Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz talk about Trey Miguel’s mom? Fallah Bahh joined them and said he was bummed because Elgin beat him up. They smoke out and suddenly Bahh is a scholar and starts quoting Shakespeare. The Rascalz hyped up Bahh to go and challenge Elgin.

Rosemary, Jordynne Grace, & Alexia Nicole defeated Knockout’s Champion Taya Valkyrie (w/John E. Bravo), Kiera Hogan, & Madison Rayne in a non-title match 

Nicole went for Hogan early on, Hogan tried to run away, but Nicole caught her with a Baseball Slide. Nicole went for a dive, but Rayne cut her off. Everyone got in the ring and Grace and Rosemary beat down Taya and Rayne with tandem attacks. The babyfaces controlled the ring. 

Back from commercial, Nicole and Hogan are wrestling in the ring, but quickly tag out. Rosemary brings in Rayne the hard way and starts tossing her around, going after her with strikes. Nicole once again came in with a big Missile Dropkick on Rayne, but Taya interfered and took down Nicole for Rayne to cut off. 

The heel team worked over Nicole with some quick tags until Hogan came and took a bad bump on a Frankensteiner. We got the X thrown out. Hogan kinda pretend it was faked, but quickly tagged in Taya and Hogan left the ring and stayed out. 

Jordynne tagged in and ran wild over Taya. Grace hit a Vader Bomb for a two count, but Rayne broke it up. Taya looked for the tag, but Hogan was down and Rayne nowhere to be found, so Grace rolled her up and pinned her. Jordynne Grace, who has never challenged for the title, has finally pinned the champion. I really don’t know if Hogan’s injury was legit since it played in to the finish.

UPDATE: Melissa Santos did confirm Kiera Hogan’s injury on the Twitch Stream.

Rob Van Dam, along with his girlfriend Katie Forbes, cut a promo from his pool. He said the same stuff he’s been saying for months, that everyone’s movesets are all based on his moves that he came up with. If it wasn’t for him, there be no Kenny Omega or Young Bucks. He said that he opened the doors to all the new smaller guys. He said he carried ECW and he is tired of carrying promotions on his back. He said that if Rhino wants an apology, to come and find him. “Too good for ECW” RVD is back!

We got a Michael Elgin video package, telling his story from his debut versus Cage and his recent match with Marufuji. Video wondered what was next for Elgin.

Rich Swann & Willie Mack defeated Desi Hit Squad (Rohit Raju & Raj Singh) w/Gama Singh

Desi Hit Squad jumped Swann and Mack to start the match, but they quickly beat them out, got rid of Rohit and hit a couple of double team moves on Raj Singh. 

The match now under control, saw Swann take on Raj until Rohit interfered and distracted Swann, allowing Raj to cut Swann off. DHS worked over Swann with quick tags. Rohit got a two count with a big flatliner. 

Swann caught both men with kicks and a big clothesline on Rohit, and managed to tag in Mack, who came in and hit a running cannonball on Raj, the samoan drop and moonsault combo on Rohit for the two count. 

Swann tagged in, but took a wheelbarrow DDT by Rohit for a two count when Mack broke it up. Mack hit a stunner on Raj, but Rohit took him out from behind. Swann hit the Lethal Injection, but instead of pinning him, tagged in Mack and hit a big double team for the pin. Short match, but good action.

Backstage, we saw Rhino arrive and bully people into finding out where RVD was. Jacobs told him that he was on vacation. Rhino told RVD that he is coming for him and that he’s going to Gore him. 

Moose cut a promo from a golf course. He said that he has defeated all the best in MMA and so now he wanted to show that he was also the greatest golfer of all time. He was going to hit a Hole in One, but hit a green that still had people on it. He bullied the people there and placed the ball in the hole, calling it a hole in one. He said that he’ll be on Impact next week.

Ken Shamrock came out to the ring to addressed his future. Shamrock said that Moosed fired him up, but he was disappointed he had lost. He said that after thinking about it, he concluded that… Out came Joey Ryan to interrupt. 

Joey Ryan got some chants. Ryan ran down Shamrock’s career, but told him to not retire until he touched his penis. Ryan said he is the guy that makes wrestling fun again. Shamrock recognized him as ‘that penis guy’, but said that he was a real fighter and Joey was just a gimmick. 

Joey then challenged him to touch It then if he was a gimmick and said that maybe Shamrock was afraid of tapping out quicker to his penis than to a Gracie choke. Shamrock said that Joey had jumped the gun, because he wasn’t announcing his retirement, but rather telling the Impact roster that he was back and taking on challenges. 

Joey Ryan challenged Shamrock to a match for next week. 

We got a Tessa Blanchard video package. Mostly a quick showcase of her matches. 

Impact X-Division Champion Ace Austin defeated Eddie Edwards in a non-title Street Fight

Eddie started the match dodging a strike by Ace and hitting a Suicide Dive. Eddie and Ace started brawling up the ramp, where Eddie dropped Ace with a suplex. Eddie brought out some trash cans from the back, but Ace was ready to take him out with his Gambit stick. 

Ace now in control, hit Eddie with the trash can, but played around too long, allowing Eddie to comeback and use the trash can too. Eddie got a couple of lid strikes, but Ace came back and hid his apron handstand trick and took down Eddie with a kick to the face. Ace mocked Eddie with his new “Ace Austin 3:16” t-shirt before bringing out a table to the ring. 

Back in the ring, Eddie caught Ace with another lid shot. Ace got him with one too. Ace took some time to set up the table on the corner, giving Eddie time to recover and get him with a superkick. Eddie went for a powerbomb, but Reno Scum came out to aid Ace. 

Eddie hit a belly-to-belly on Thornstowe into the table, but the distraction was enough for Ace to catch Eddie with a top rope leg drop onto a trash can for a two count. 

Back from commercial, Ace had been working on Eddie for a while now. Ace went for a chair shot on Eddie, but Eddie kicked it out, so Ace instead hit an enzuigiri and set up a superplex onto a chair. Eddie slipped out and got Ace with a chair on the back. Eddie hit a super backplex, but couldn’t follow up with a pin. 

Eddie brought out his kendo stick friend, went for Ace, but Ace was ready and blocked the shot with the title belt, hit Eddie with it, and got a two count. Ace took the kendo stick and smashed Eddie before breaking the stick. Ace went for The Fold, but Eddie caught him with a trash can, where Ace flew INTO! Go look up this gif now!

Eddie hit Ace with a chair and setup another table. Eddie went for a Superplex again, but Ace raked his eyes and loaded his wristband with a steel plate. Ace Austin took out Eddie with a backfist and hit The Fold from the top rope into the chair to win the match.

Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was Su Yung vs Havok’s Street Fight from a couple of months ago. This is the match that led to the angle where Su Yung was hung to her death from the staircase, later revealing that she had come back to life.

Back at the Impact venue, we saw Suzie, who everyone recognized as Su Yung, but alive. She didn’t remember who she was before. Interesting development, Impact’s storytelling is top level.

Backstage, Johnny Swinger is hitting on Alisha Edwards until Ace Austin comes to the save. Ace tells Alisha that she wasn’t there for his coronation party, so now he invited her to dinner next week. 

Talking about next week, Bahh vs Elgin, Moose vs Willie Mack, and Joey Ryan vs Ken Shamrock. 

We got a video package of the Cage vs Callihan story, recapping the Bound for Glory match, and Callihan’s interruption to last week’s control center interview for the This is Impact episode. 

Sami Callihan defeated Impact World Champion Brian Cage in a Steel Cage Match to become the NEW Impact World Champion

Cage came out on fire after Callihan, but got caught with the cage door. It wasn’t enough as he just took Callihan and powerbombed him into the cage, tossed him around ringside, lawndarted him to the cage wall. Callihan escaped and ran to the cage, locked himself in, forcing Cage to jump in, looking like a beast!

Once in the ring, the match started, with Cage tossing around Callihan from wall to wall. Cage went for a powerbomb, but Callihan escaped. They exchanged some strikes before Callihan used Cage’s momentum to toss him to the wall, and finally with the opening, used his bat to take out Cage. 

Cage, now busted open, got worked over his head. Callihan bit Cage’s forehead, punched him, raked him against the cage wall. Callihan got a couple of more bat strikes to the torso, but Cage was starting to Cage-Up and ask for more. Callihan went for a running attack, but Cage managed to dodge and Sami went face first into the cage. 

Back from commercial, both men are still down, slowly starting to make it to their feet. Callihan strikes first, but Cage comes back with a kick and so on, they trade strikes until Callihan end it with a huge lariat for a two count. 

Callihan lands a second lariat for another two count. Callihan hits the Cactus special, but playing into the BFG match, Cage kicks out at one again. Cage hits a pop-up powerbomb, a buckle bomb, and goes for the Drill Claw, but Callihan rolls him for a two count. Callihan lands a kicka and knee combo, ending with another Cactus special, follows with a third one, and a fourth one, but Cage still kicked out to the weak pin. Callihan goes for another one, but Cage counters into an Alabama Slam and a discus clothesline for a two count. 

Cage went to escape the cage, but Callihan cut him off. They traded headbutts in the top rope, ending with Callihan dropping and hitting an enzuigiri. Callihan hit a top rope Cactus special and finally pinned Brian Cage to become the new Impact World Champion. Awesome match. Sami Callihan has finally coronated himself, after being the pillar of Impact’s redemption, The Draw is now on top.

Tessa Blanchard came down to the ring, got in the cage, got face to face with Callihan, and like a New Japan challenge, made her intentions clear, she’s coming for Callihan’s title.

Final Thoughts — 

This was a top notch episode for Impact Wrestling, a great debut for AXS. Three great matches, storyline developments all around, just a good overall package. Impact has turned their whole product around and I hope AXS tv gets more eyes on them.