Impact Wrestling results: Number one contenders crowned

Impact Wrestling returns from Nashville, TN for tonight’s episode, main evented by the finals of the Impact World Title #1 contendership tournament between Ace Austin and Trey Miguel. 

Opening video was a full recap of the tournament.

Impact made a dedication of tonight’s episode to George Floyd and his family. They were silent on social media throughout the show.

Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz defeated Kylie Rae & Susie

Rae and Steelz started the match with a lock-up, a couple of wrist control reversals ending with Steelz pulling on the hair to gain control. Susie tagged in and was mocked by Steelz, but Susie had enough and slapped Steelz. Hogan tagged in and once again Susie controlled her, tagging  in Rae for the double team and a two count.

Steelz once again came in and trash talked Susie into Hogan’s hands for the attack behind Susie’s back. Hogan and Steelz worked over Susie with quick tags, a lot of strikes and trash talk, but eventually Susie hit a desperation bulldog and tagged Rae in. 

Kylie came in and ran wild over both women with running european uppercuts and rolling sentons. She went from the top rope into the Kylie Special, but Hogan kicked out. 

Susie tagged in and went for a fireman’s carry, but Tasha got her with a codebreaker. Rae took out Tasha, but Hogan was there to superkick Rae. 

Susie came back and went for an airplane spin on Tasha, but Hogan cut her off. They superkicked Rae and hit a top rope rana by Tasha and a twisting fisherman’s suplex by Hogan for the win. Good match, the team of Tasha and Kiera is really good.

Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down the card for tonight.

Ace Austin was interviewed about losing to Mack right before the tournament. Ace cut the interviewer off and said that he never dwells on the past. He is only focused on the future, and his future is the World title.

Moose interrupted him and congratulated him for making the finals. Moose sold Ace Austin how prestigious the TNA World title is, making an argument to go after his title, and not Tessa’s. Ace considered it.

Joseph P. Ryan (with oVe) defeated Crazzy Steve

Jake and Dave Crist are out with Ryan by invitation.

Steve started calling Ryan the ‘dick guy’, and thus got slapped by Ryan. Steve, however, reacted by getting fired up and running wild on Ryan, hitting a couple of clotheslines and kicks for a two count. 

Ryan recovered and caught Steve with a great dropkick to cut his momentum off and start working over him. It’s hard to say with the facepaint, but it seemed like Steve was busted open with the dropkick.

Ryan got a couple of near falls before Steve started fighting back and biting Ryan’s hand. Steve hit a running cannonball and was going for the finish, but Jake and Dave Crist distracted the referee, allowing Ryan to superkick a distracted Steve for the win. Boring match, but at least it was short.

After the match, Joseph P. Ryan invited Jake Crist to join #CancelCulture, but Jake had to change his ways and make some sacrifices. Dave tried to talk Jake out of it, but with zero hesitation, Jake hit Dave with a spin kick.

Rohit Raju defeated Chase Stevens

Rohit started strong, clubbing Stevens to the mat, but Stevens came back with punches. Rohit kept that momentum by kicking Stevens’ leg out and hitting a running kneelift for a two count. Rohit kept going after the leg, but Stevens hit a short distance clothesline to stop Rohit’s momentum, getting a two count with a suplex.

Rohit hit a side leg sweep for a two count and followed through with stomps and a falling elbow for another near fall. Chase went for a German, but Rohit countered and dropped Chase with a Reverse STO. Rohit choked Stevens a bit, dropped him with a back elbow, but he kept getting distracted talking to the camera. 

Chase made another comeback with strikes and kicks, hitting a release German and scissors kick for a near fall. Chase went for the second rope moonsault and almost broke his neck on Rohit’s knees. 

Stevens hit a low kick that distracted the referee, allowing Rohit to hit a jumping knee and double stomp for the win. Good short match, Stevens looked in good shape.

After the match, Rohit said he was the most underrated wrestler of the world, which I’ve also been saying. After the promo, Rhino gored him from behind for no reason whatsoever.

Havok and Neveah were interviewed about her arrival to Impact. Neveah said that since Havok was now free from James Mitchell’s hand, she came in to make sure that Havok was doing good, and decided to rejoin her as the unstoppable duo they are.

We got a new episode of Locker Room talk with Madison Rayne and Johnny Swinger. Their special guest was Chris Bey. Swinger was extra excited about his new ‘tag team partner’. 

Madison asked Bey about joining Impact, but before he could answer, Swinger jumped in and put him over in Swinger’s way. Madison asked about going for the X-Division championship, but once again, Swinger jumped in and answered for him, saying he could easily become the X-Division Champion, but that he was going to focus on his new tag team “The Finesse and Bench Press Express”, and they’re making their debut next week against “Willie Mark” and Jake “Ham n Egger”. Chris Bey agreed to team with him if Swinger would help him go after the X-Division title next.

This was great, but Swinger saying Madison “Square Garden” Rayne was the cherry on top.

Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was the World Title KO or Submission match between Drew Galloway and Bobby Lashley at 2016’s Slammiversary.

 Jimmy Jacobs interviewed Jordynne Grace, who said that she had been training in her absence and that she was returning to a far stronger Knockout’s division. Taya interrupted saying that if she was the champion, she wouldn’t have taken time off. 

Jordynne Grace said Taya was right, and she was craving getting in the ring, even offered Taya her title rematch, but Taya wasn’t ready for tonight, so next week it is.

The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defeated Fallah Bahh & TJP in a Tag Team championship #1 contendership match

Rascalz made some jokes about not having people there, but TJP said they were doing it for the fans at home. They bumped elbows, while actually saying they were about to wrestle anyway, but again, it was done as a sign of respect. 

There was some comedy with TJP not getting Bahh to let him start, but once everything was good, the wrestling started. 

Bahh and Dezmond started the match, with Bahh using his size advantage to cut off Dezmond’s attack and showing that Bahh could also do lucha style reversals to Dezmond’s quick attacks. 

TJP and Wentz came in and had a far more serious and competitive sequence of counters and reversals, combined with a lot of chain wrestling in between the ranas and takedowns. Rascalz ended with the upper hand when TJP got too close to The Rascalz’ corner and started double teaming him with an enzuigiri and bronco Buster combo. 

Bahh came in and took on both Rascalz and set up the Poetry in Motion on TJP for a two count. TJP with a suplex and was going for a backplex, but Wentz escaped and tagged in Dez for a kick combo and another two count. 

From here on, The Rascalz worked over TJP with quick tags and double team moves, but TJP managed to dodge them and hit a Tornado DDT, getting his opening to tag in Bahh. 

Fallah ran wild over both men with running splashes, used Dezmond as a longdart to land onto Wentz, followed by a Samoan drop for a near fall. Bahh hit a Hadouken, sending Dezmond into the corner, which was the set up for TJP to hit a Rolling fireman’s carry slam and the stacked-up plancha double team move for a two count.

TJP hit a twisting suplex and a dragon screw. TJP striked Dez over and over again, but eventually, Xavier fired up, hit a combo, and got the tag to Wentz, who came in hot. He took down TJP with a kick combo, a running knee, and finished it with a standing moonsault for a near fall.

Rascalz hit a superkick and foot stomp combo, but Bahh broke the pin, hit a belly-to-belly on Wentz, a Samoan drop on Dezmond, and after a couple of more near falls, everybody was down. 

Wentz took out Bahh with a jumping boot, TJP hit Wentz with a backplex, only for Dez to come in with a Pele kick and get countered into an ankle lock. After a long struggle, Wentz assisted Dezmond with a punch, rolling him over to a bridging pin over TJP for the win. Great match with a cool unique finish. 

Both teams made up after the match and The Rascalz offered a rematch whenever they wanted.

We got a second vignette for ‘The Virtuosa’ Deonna Purazzo. This was even better than last week’s, a lot more character in her promo. She debuts next week.

Rosemary and John E. Bravo walked down the street in what seemed like a work day. Bravo said that he never had this much fun with Taya, and so Rosemary invited him to work for her. Rosemary even tried seducing Bravo, but as he was about to bite the apple, Taya called him on the phone and Bravo ran off.

Michael Elgin barged into the production table and demanded his music get played as he headed to the ring. 

Elgin said that he is the rightful World champion but he keeps getting screwed, and last week, he allowed himself to lose because of Sami Callihan. Incidentally, Sami’s hacking started.

Elgin said that Callihan knew he had nothing on Elgin and thus played his tricks on him. He said that tournament finals were next and he wasn’t leaving the ring until he was declared the #1 contender to the Impact World championship.

Out came Ken Shamrock. Elgin attacked Shamrock and they started brawling in the ring, Shamrock getting the better of Elgin with multiple knees, but when Shamrock went for the ankle lock, Elgin escaped.

Ace Austin came down to the ring for his match. When Trey Miguel was to make his entrance, we suddenly jumped to the back where Trey Miguel had been taken out and Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz called for help. Wentz went after who he thought was the attacker. 

In the ring, Ace Austin said  it was unfortunate, but he may as well be declared the #1 contender. This was interrupted by Wetnz, who tried to attack him. 

Scott D’Amore came down to deal with the problem and said that Wentz could take Trey’s place in this match, but he didn’t specify if he was Trey’s proxy or straight up replacement. Madison Rayne was the one that later made the note that Wentz could become the #1 contender tonight. This is straight out of the Russo era, Matthews defending this was pretty bad.

Ace Austin defeated Zachary Wentz in an Impact World championship #1 contendership match

Wentz started strong, taking down Ace with a running dropkick and the gunckle driver for an early two count. Wentz went straight for punches and stomps, but kept getting pulled away by the referee. Wentz hit a big superkick and more punches, but Ace finally managed to pull Wentz face-first into the buckle to cut him off.

Back from commercial, Ace had somewhat recovered and had Wentz on the floor, where he was dropped on the apron when Wentz swept his leg. Ace kept attacking Wentz on the floor, ramming him to the apron. Ace hit a Back Body Drop onto the ramp. They traded more strikes and whipped each other to the guardrails. 

Ace stomped on Wentz’ hand when he tried to come back to the ring and worked more on his back, only for Wentz to counter Ace and send him towards the rail, followed by more stomps and kicks. Wentz went for a big running attack, but was caught with a spinning kick by Ace instead. 

They made it back to the ring, where they traded kicks. Ace locked in a low abdominal stretch, but Wentz pushed over to the corner. Ace hit a slingshot onto the ropes for a two count. Ace hit a suplex for a two count, only for Wentz to come back with one of his own for another two count.

Ace hit a desperation Stunner to get some space and locked in an armbar for his papercut trick. Wentz came back with a chop, but Ace easily cut him off again with a kick. Wentz still tried to fight back with chops and punches, successfully bringing Ace to his knees, forcing Ace to rely on pulling Wentz’s hair to cut him off. Wentz hit a desperation jumping knee to finally bring down Ace.

Wentz hit a great striking combo, followed up with a jumping knee, a low kick, and landed a standing moonsault for a two count. Ace went for a backplex, but Wentz escaped and kicked Ace. Wentz hit a complex version of an uranage for a two count. Wentz went back for punches. 

Wentz went for a suplex, but Ace rolled over for a two count. Wentz responded with a superkick for another near fall. Wentz went for the swanton bomb, but Ace got his knees up. Ace hit the double footstomp DDT and The Fold for the win.

Great match, but aside from giving us a new match-up, there was no point in doing this angle with Trey Miguel, only for Wentz to lose to Ace Austin. 

A vignette aired with a hooded figure watching a newscast on television, mentioning twenty wrestlers that were released due to the global pandemic. After showing footage of Eric Young, a Bulgarian flag, Gallows, Anderson, Drake Maverick, Curt Hawking, Mike and Maria Bennett, and EC3, the vignette plugged this year’s Slammiversary.

Final Thoughts — 

Ok show, we had some good wrestling, but that final angle with Trey Miguel really left a bad taste in my mouth. With the benefit of the doubt, it may go somewhere later on.