Impact Wrestling results: Number one contender’s tournament begins

Impact Wrestling returns from Nashville, TN for tonight’s episode, which kicks off the #1 Contenders Tournament for Tessa Blanchards’s Impact World Championship, and headlined by Moose defending his TNA World Championship against Suicide.

Opening video started as a promo for the #1 contendership tournament for the Impact World championship that starts tonight. However, Moose interrupted the video, called in the former voice of TNA, Barry Scott, to do the introduction. The video became a Moose highlight reel, listing his accolades and featured old footage of Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian,  Bobby Roode, Bully Ray, Jeff Hardy, Jeff Jarrett, Dixie Carter, and Hulk Hogan putting him over. This was a hell of an intro.

Hernandez defeated Madman Fulton (w/oVe) in a World Championship #1 Contender first round match

Collar and elbow to start the match, with Fulton having the early power advantage, pushing Hernandez to the corner over and over again. Hernandez hit a headbutt and clothesline, but couldn’t put Fulton down, who even caught Hernandez mid-crossbody. Eventually, Hernandez hit a pounce out of nowhere to cut Fulton’s momentum.

Fulton hit a deadlift suplex over the ropes, followed with a front slam and a plancha for a two count. He had a choke in when Hernandez started to make a comeback. Fulton stomped him down. Hernandez kept fighting, but the Crist brothers were there to distract the referee and aid Fulton to cut Hernandez off again.

Fulton hit a huge sidewalk slam and went to follow with a second rope headbutt, but Hernandez moved away. Fulton tried to throw Hernandez into the rails, but Hernandez came back with a springboard shoulder tackle. Hernandez hit a chokeslam, but Dave Crist put Fulton’s leg on the ropes.

Hernandez went for a tope con giro on oVe, but the Crist brothers stopped him. Hernandez brought them in, took out Dave, then hit a Border Toss on Jake onto Fulton, but Fulton kicked out at one.

Fulton went back into the attack, hit a running splash to the corner, went for a second, but Hernandez blocked. Fulton went for a superplex, but Hernandez blocked and hit a Supermex Splash for the win. This was much better than I expected.

Michael Elgin cut a promo saying that he should be the #1 contender, but Impact keeps putting speed bumps on his way to the championship. He said that whatever happens to the talent on that way will be on Impact’s hands.

Backstage, Fulton was going crazy over losing. Fulton and Dave argued, while Jake tried to calm them down. Crazzy Steve walked up and told oVe that they seemed to be done and kind of implied that he could lead oVe. Dave Crist vs Crazzy Steve for next week.

Joseph P. Ryan walked up and said that it was offensive for crazy people to be calling others ‘crazy’.

Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down tonight’s card.

Kylie Rae defeated Tasha Steelz

Match starts with a lock up, with a little bit of chain wrestling for wrist control and headlock counters. This went on for several minutes, with both women trading momentum. Eventually, the match picked up speed and Rae got the upper hand with arm drags, but when she thought she had it, Steelz dropped her face first on the turnbuckle to cut her off.

Tasha hit a couple of short-line clotheslines for a quick two count. Tasha locked in a sleeper, but Kylie powered up to her feet and slammed Tasha against the turnbuckles over and over again until she released. 

Rae hit the Kylie Special for a two count. Kylie went for a STTF, but Tasha made the ropes. Tasha kicked Rae and hit a top rope crossbody for a two count. Kylie locked in the Smile To The Finish and Tasha tapped out. Good, short match.

Rohit Raju cut a promo about change coming to Impact now that he will become the #1 Contender. He said that he had been there for 3 years and he had not one t-shirt, but now everyone would realize how good he is. He said there is no more Desi Hit Squad, only the Desi Hitman Rohit Raju. Another awesome promo by Raju.

Backstage, Susie walked up to Kylie Rae. Susie didn’t remember Kylie, so they did some stuff about names. Pointless skit.

Kimber Lee defeated Havok

Lee tried to start the match strong, but Havok’s power advantage cut her off as she tossed Lee around a bit. Lee tried to chop herself back into the offense side, but Havok kept cutting her off.

Kimber Lee went for a rana, but Havok blocked her and hit a sit down powerbomb for a two count.

Kimber Lee connected with a spinning Kick and a step-up kick to bring down Havok. Lee choked her against the ropes, and kept up with strikes. Lee locked in a Koji Clutch around the ropes, dropped Haok with a low dropkick, then connected with a kick. She followed with a swanton bomb for a two count.

Kimber Lee went for a crossbody, but Havok caught her and hit a Swinging Side Slam for a two count. 

Halfway through the match, Nevaeh was seen at the ramp watching the match. Havok eventually saw her and got distracted, allowing Kimber Lee to grab brass knuckles, which she used when Havok went for a superplex. Kimber Lee then rolled up Havok and picked up the win. Interesting that Lee debuted cheating.

We got another great Kiera Hogan vignette. She’s calling herself ‘The Hottest Flame’.

We got another episode of Locker Room Talk, with special guest, Ken Shamrock. Swinger and Shamrock have a past and Shamrock remembers. Madison Rayne asked about the last problems that Shamrock has been involved in, to which Shamrock said that people keep coming for him. 

Shamrock said that he is now focused on the Impact World championship, but suddenly, Michael Elgin walked up and attacked Shamrock with a chair, delivered a con-chair-to, and walked away.

We got a promo by Sami Callihan. He talked about Elgin, who according to Sami, has always been trying to copy Sami’s career, except he always fails. Callihan said that next week, he collides with Elgin and that he’ll do whatever it takes to be champion again.

Trey Miguel defeated Rohit Raju in a World Championship #1 Contender first round match

Fast paced sequence of wrist control reversals into a lucha style armdrag exchange, at least until Raju got tired and took down Trey with his slight power advantage. Trey recovered and used his speed for another quick sequence, hitting a jawbreaker and footstomp. 

Trey went for a dive, but Rohit blocked him, kicking him several times . Rohit, now in control, worked over Trey for a while, mostly strikes, slams, and some submission attempts. Rohit hit a jumping reverse STO for a two count.

Trey tried to make a comeback, but got cut off by a fisherman suplex for another two count. Trey finally connected a full kick combination and neckbreaker to bring Rohit down and get a breather. 

Rohit went for a kick combo, but Trey blocked and dodged them all, connected a Pele kick, and got a two count. Rohit came back with a couple of running attacks and a front suplex for a near fall. Rohit whipped Trey and followed with a forearm, tried to do the same, but Trey countered, hit some Cheeky Nandos and the Trey19.

When he went for the Meteora, Rohit caught him with a jumping knee. Rohit hit a swinging neckbreaker, went for another Front Suplex, but Trey reversed into a roll up for the win. Pretty good match, easily the best of the night so far.

Rohit threw a fit after the match.

We got another video of Cody Deaner during his ‘Kwaranteen’, this time talking about loneliness and mental health during social isolation. He said he calls his fellow wrestlers on the phone, which was more like cutting promos on the phone. We got some footage of Cody learning how to dance and doing DDP Yoga. He also tried to wrestle a tree and the invisible man. These are funny.

Over in Canada, we got another match from The North. Before that however, Page cut a promo saying that he hired someone to get them competition. It was another team of geeks. Page is enjoying himself, while Alexander is getting tired of not having real competition.

Impact Tag Team Champions The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) defeated The Smoes to retain their titles

Page superkicked one of The Smoes and knocked him out with one move. They did a Weekend At Bernie’s match, having the unconscious Smoe pretend to participate in the match. Alexander tagged in and killed his opponent with a powerbomb into the knee, an airplane toss, and Page finished him with a top rope body press into Alexander’s backbreaker. The North then hit their finisher and won. This was at least funny. Can’t wait for some real competition either.

Rosemary was at the bar trying to figure out her Tarot fortune and talking to Mr. Mundo. John E. Bravo walked up. They argued about who missed Taya the least. She wondered if Bravo was the ‘love’ that the cards predicted.

Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was AJ Styles vs Matt Hardy from Victory Road 2011.

Backstage, Swinger and Chris Bey had a discussion, with the latter adding some bad blood between himself and Willie Mack

Swinger found Mack and told him that he was getting a big head since he won the X-Division title and told Mack that he was going to add him to the Royal Humble and win the X-Division title. Mack agreed and made the challenge for next week. 

Also set for next week is Rhino vs. Ken Shamrock and Michael Elgin vs. Sami Callihan in the #1 Contendership tournament. Also, XXXL vs TJP & Fallah Bahh where the winners will become the next contenders for the Tag Team titles.

Self-Proclaimed TNA World Champion Moose defeated Suicide to retain his title.

During his entrance, Moose demanded that ring announcer, David Penzer, make special title match announcements for tonight.

Match started as Suicide got a couple of roll ups on Moose. Moose tried pulling from the mask, but Suicide recovered quickly. Moose hit a big Fenix-like Rana on Moose, sending him to the floor.

They started brawling around ringside, where Moose finally got the upper hand, whipping Suicide into the rails. 

Back in the ring, Suicide recovered, blocking Moose’s rush, but Moose caught him on the top rope and tossed him across the ring to finally cut him off. 

Moose worked over Suicide with chops, punches, and big boots when Suicide tried to make a comeback. At one point, they went back to the floor where Moose swung Suicide into the rails and followed with an apron bomb for a 10 count tease. 

Suicide made it back, but was stomped back to the floor for a second time. But this time, Moose went down to talk trash. He tossed Suicide back to the ring, but kept talking trash to the camera, allowing Suicide to connect with a dive.

Back in the ring, Suicide faked Moose on the ropes and hit an apron senton onto Moose. Suicide hit a leg scissors takedown and went for a German, but Moose easily blocked. Suicide hit a big palm strike for a two count. 

Suicide went to the top rope, but Moose rushed him and went for a pop-up powerbomb. Suicide reversed with a rana, landing on his head. Suicide followed with a rolling fireman’s carry slam and a lionsault for a two count.

Moose rammed Suicide to the corner where he stomped him, but got distracted with the referee, and accidentally slammed him. Suicide hit a superkick and an enzugiri. Moose came back with a big boot, and Suicide responded with a shotei and a backfist. Moose went for a top rope shoulder tackle, but Suicide caught him with a codebreaker for a visual pin. However, the referee was down. 

Moose went for the No Jackhammer Needed, but Suicide reversed with a Code Red for a two count. Moose lowblowed Suicide behind the ref’s back and hit the No Jackhammer Needed to retain the championship. This was surprisingly good given the random pairing.

Given the storyline with the TNA Championship, a lot of recently released wrestlers like Eric Young and ECIII were named as people that could come to tell Moose what they thought about him proclaiming himself the champion.

Final Thoughts — 

Good show by Impact. A positive start to the #1 Contender’s tournament, a great main event title defense, and two good debuts for the Knockout’s Division. I barely noticed that there were no people there.