Impact Wrestling results: Edwards & Swann vs. Young & Callihan

Impact Wrestling returns from Nashville, TN. 

Last week, Impact ended with the big cliffhanger of John E. Bravo getting shot during his wedding with Rosemary. The opening video of Impact was a fantastic recap of the last months, showcasing all the things that Bravo had done that would give reason to many of the suspects to take him out.

D’Amore opened the show telling Dreamer that  Bravo was in stable condition, but not out of the water just yet. Dreamer, dressed as Sherlock Holmes, said that he was launching an investigation. Well, if anyone had any doubts, this is going to be a complete comedy.

Deonna Purrazzo (with Kimber Lee) defeated Knockouts Champion Su Yung by DQ

Purrazzo is claiming her rematch clause after threatening to sue Impact Wrestling. Purrazzo’s argument had been that she had called out any man or woman ‘alive’ at Bound For Glory, and instead, Su Yung, who she argued is not alive, had come out and defeated her. D’Amore instead convinced her to get her rematch.

Match saw a more aggressive Yung as she went for the mandible claw and the panic switch early on, but Purrazzo, better prepared this time around, kept reversing and targeting the arm. The finish came quick. Yung locked in the mandible claw, and in order to break it, Lee tossed a chair into the ring. Yung and Purrazzo fought for the chair with the latter accidentally getting hit with it in the gut, causing a disqualification. 

The match was too short for it to build a good story, but the wrestling had been good until the weak finish. This finish made it feel like this was a blip on the radar before a bigger match to come.

After the match, Yung took out Lee and Purrazzo and held out the belt.

— Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down tonight’s card, they tried to sell Bravo’s injury as a shoot. 

— Over at D’Amore’s office, Rhino and Heath were ready to sign the contract. Heath is still visibly hurting, but hiding it from everyone but Rhino. D’Amore suspected that something was off with Heath and told him to heal up before signing the contract. He even offered to help with rehab, but Heath tried to play it cool, acted offended, and walked out since he wouldn’t be able to prove that he was ready to go.

— After Heath and Rhino left the office. Barrister R.D. Evans walked in as demanded a new rematch for Purrazzo since the one granted had ended in a DQ. D’Amore gave Purrazzo an Anything Goes match at Turning Point for the Knockouts title. D’Amore acted like he had one-upped Evans and Purrazzo, but given that Purrazzo had Kimber Lee with her, it should be an advantage for her.

— Somewhere else backstage, Rich Swann approached Eddie Edwards about their tag team match tonight. They said they had each other’s backs.

Chris Bey defeated Trey Miguel

Both these men were part of the BFG six-person scramble for the X Division title, which unfortunately for them, lost to Rohit Raju. At this point, both of them had to restart their path to the title.

This was your quintessential X Division match, with the fast-paced reversal start. Bey had control for most of the match, working over Miguel’s neck, and using heel tactics to cut him off when Miguel would start a comeback. Eventually, Miguel did manage to gain momentum, but as he prepared the Meteora, Bey cut him off and hit a second rope flying cutter for the win.

Hard to believe that Bey will be the sole challenger for Raju, but it is likely that he will feud with TJP for the number one contendership.

— We got a new installment of Locker Room Talk with Madison Rayne and Johnny Swinger. Her special guests tonight were Tenille Dashwood and Jordynne Grace, both partnerless as the Knockouts tag team title tournament approaches. 

Grace said that she was confident she’d find a partner. Rayne tried to get Dashwood and Grace to consider teaming since they both are somewhat tied in wins. Grace asked Dashwood about it, but Dashwood instead asked Madison Rayne to team up, which she accepted. Grace walked out, rejected. Everyone was great here, but I really don’t know why they’re doing this with Grace, they better have a hell of a tag partner set up for her.

— Dreamer interrogated referee Brandon Tolle since Bravo had belittled his officiating. Cody Deaner and Swinger then did some comedy about who was next to be interrogated, but they actually had a match coming.

— Rohit Raju came out for the Defeat Rohit Challenge with a great little promo. Raju should get to cut promos on every show. TJP came out, but wasn’t ring ready. TJP asked for an opportunity, but Raju turned him off. Raju said that TJP was always out there trying to steal his spotlight while he had to legit crawl and claw his way to the title. 

TJP answered with a fantastic promo saying that he had put in all the work and had all the accomplishments that Raju wouldn’t even dream about. Raju said that TJP kept talking about the past, but Raju was the present. 

TJP had enough and tossed his hot tea on Raju, and so they started brawling until TJP tossed Raju out of the ring. Great little angle, TJP finally came off as someone serious about chasing the title.

— Gia Miller interviewed Chris Sabin. She asked for updates on Alex Shelley. Sabin said he was doing well, but he wanted to address all these teams trying to divide and conquer over the Machine Guns. He challenged either of XXXL for a match. 

— Backstage, Raju approached D’Amore to do something about TJP. D’Amore said that TJP is getting one last chance at the title, so Raju can defeat him and finally be done with him.

Doc Gallows (with Karl Anderson) defeated Ethan Page (with Josh Alexander) 

Last time we saw these four men, they were brawling backstage after Page slapped Gallows right across the face. Today they faced inside the ring.

Story of the match was that Gallows dominated the ring every time that Page stepped up, and so Page kept getting more and more frustrated that they couldn’t even approach Gallows. Eventually, Alexander distracted Gallows enough so that Page could clip him from behind and finally gain control of the match. Page worked over Gallows for a couple of minutes before he started a comeback. As Gallows was about to finish off Page, Alexander got his ankle, but not even with the distraction was Page able to get the better of Gallows, who hit a big boot and won via pinfall. Ok match, but nothing special, Gallows is not the most exciting man in the ring, but Page makes up for it with his selling.

After the match, Anderson and Gallows cleared the ring and sent The North packing. 

— Miller interviewed Swoggle about being back on Impact. He said that he was so glad to be back on Impact, and that he had always been seen as a joke and so he was here to turn those thoughts around. Brian Myers interrupted him and told him that he’d always be the sideshow freak of wrestling. He pushed Swoggle to the floor and walked away. Swoggle was actually pretty good in the microphone, why he hasn’t been given the chance to talk before confuses me, and this can’t be leading to a good feud. But if it were to lead to Swoggle managing someone to battle Myers, I think we have something here.

Johnny Swinger defeated Cody Deaner (with Cousin Jake)

There’s no story here other than the skit with Dreamer earlier on, as they’re both suspects in Bravo’s shooting. 

The match was all comedy. Deaner kept drinking to gain power and energy, while Swinger kept using old school heel tactics to work over Deaner. Finish saw Swinger try to hit Deaner with a chair, but Cousin Jake stopped him. In the distraction, Swinger used his gimmick fanny pack to attack Deaner for the pin. Nothing match, but I won’t complain about a three-minute match.

— Moose came out to the ring looking dapper. He said in the last few months, he hasn’t been taken seriously, nor has the TNA World Championship. He said that at Bound For Glory, he went to hell and back to reclaim the title and took out one of the best champions in the company’s history. He ran down the names he has defeated all year (mostly older wrestlers), but said that no one talks about Moose, and instead, they talk about Rich Swann. 

Moose played the footage of last week’s attack on Willie Mack and told Swann to ask Mack what pain feels like and that he has been warned. Mack came down and attacked Moose, but was taken out instead and beaten down and choked out with the camera cable. 

Moose was fantastic, he seems ready to get that big title win.

— Over in Swann’s locker room, Chris Bey congratulated him. He told Swann that he should be the next challenger. Swann told him that Bey needed more than just to ask for a title shot, he needed to earn it. Before Bey could make a claim, Edwards came in as the two headed out for their upcoming match. Chris Bey chasing the world championship? Count me in!

— Dreamer said that he had narrowed down his suspects to 10 people. Swinger, Havok, Brandon Tolle, Cody Deaner, Hernandez, Fallah Bahh, Larry D, James Mitchell, Rosemary, and Taya. This was all comedy and not the good kind. 

— Matthews and Rayne ran down next week’s card, including Raju vs. TJP for the X Division title, Chris Sabin vs. Acey Romero, and Rayne/Dashwood vs. Havok/Nevaeh. Also, 11 days away, we get Turning Point on Impact+, where Su Yung defends against Deonna Purrazzo in an Anything Goes match and Moose vs. Willie Mack.

Eric Young & Sami Callihan defeated Impact World Champion Rich Swann & Eddie Edwards

There is a big mix of rivalries between these four men. Last week, we saw Swann retain against Eric Young, but also get threatened by Callihan’s intentions to come after him. Likewise, Edwards has been dealing with Callihan, Shamrock, and Young in the last months. 

Match was the basic tag match with Edwards being the babyface in peril, Swann having the hot tag and running wild, and the final minutes with all four men running in for spots. Towards the end, both Callihan and Young go for their signature piledrivers, but Swann and Edwards both reversed at the same time into a sharpshooter and single-leg crab respectively, leading to Young and Callihan having to stop each other from tapping out.

The finish saw Edwards lock in Callihan in a half Boston crab. Ken Shamrock came down, took out Swann, and distracted Edwards enough for Callihan to get him from behind and hit the cactus special for the win.

Commentary early on tried to sell us that Young and Callihan were too big of an ego to work together, but they ended up working perfectly as a team, even fist-bumping as the show went off the air. 

Final thoughts — 

Good, fun show. We had some really good promos this week, which may or may not lead to feuds beyond Turning Point that is only a week and a half away. A lot of programs still feel up in the air.