Impact Wrestling results: Sami Callihan returns

Tonight’s Impact Wrestling episode hails from the Coca-Cola Roxy in Atlanta, GA. This was the first episode in the new set of tapings. Madison Rayne replaced Don Callis on commentary for tonight’s show.

Opening video showcased the death of Father James Mitchell at the hands of Su Yung and Havok. 

Josh Alexander (with Ethan Page) defeated Eddie Edwards

Collar and elbow to start the match. They were both equal, but Alexander got to push Eddie to the corner. Eddie tried to come back with chops, but Alexander returned the favor in kind. 

Eddie recovered a bit and hit a belly-to-belly and followed with strikes, but Alexander stomped his foot and cut him off. Eddie sidestepped Alexander to the floor, but the latter pulled Eddie down for more. 

They brawled a bit outside the ring, mostly Eddie chopping Alexander and distracting himself with Page, giving Alexander the time to recover and takedown Eddie with a running boot. 

Alexander started working over Eddie at this point, going after his back. High angle backplex for a two count. Kicks and chops in the corner sprinkled with some trash talk. 

Eddie fired up and started asking for slaps, Alexander obliged, but it woke up Eddie, who came back with chops, sent Alexander to the floor and followed with a suicide dive. 

Back in the ring, Eddie hit a blue thunder bomb for a two count. Eddie went for the tiger bomb, but Alexander escaped. He ate a forearm to the face, took an enzuigiri, but managed to counter the backpack stunner and hit an airplane slam for a two count. 

Both men started exchanging strikes in the middle of the ring; they got into a great chop exchange. That ended with Eddie going Kobashi on Alexander, hitting a clothesline, and ending with a tiger bomb for a near fall.

Ethan Page distracted Eddie Edwards, which allowed Alexander to roll Eddie for the pin.

After the match, The North attacked Eddie until Tessa Blanchard came down for the save. Eddie and Tessa teamed up and sent The North packing. Tessa and Eddie had a little friendly face-off. 

Backstage, Alexander hyped up Ethan Page about beating a main eventer and number one contender. Page was mad that Tessa Blanchard got in their business and said that they were better champions than Tessa could ever hope for. Ethan Page challenged Tessa Blanchard for a match tonight. 

Kylie Rae defeated Cassandra Golden

Golden jumped Rae while she was still smiling at fans. She tossed Rae around the ring for a bit, from turnbuckle to turnbuckle, but when she went for the running attack, Kylie moved out of the way. Rae came at Golden with a flurry of strikes and a roll-up for a two count. 

Kylie kept it up with strikes, connected the Kylie Special for a two count then followed with a rolling cannonball for another two count. 

Kylie missed the Superkick, escaped a Samoan drop then hit a side leg sweep. She followed up with an STF and tapped out Golden. Good debut for Kylie!

Jimmy Jacobs interviewed Kylie Rae about her debut. She said it was amazing to be back and that she knew that Impact was her home. She announced that she has officially signed with the company. 

Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was Scott Steiner’s Math Promo.

Moose came down to the ring to talk about the return of TNA and all the ghosts from the past along with it. He said that he was better than everyone who ever wrestled for TNA, and immediately, Kid Kash interrupted him. 

Kash said that he had been paying attention to Moose for a while and that he agreed that he was amazing, but in his educated opinion, Moose would have never made it in the original TNA. So is he saying that the current Impact can’t hold? Moose challenged him to a fight and to prove it.

Moose defeated Kid Kash

Kash went for kicks early, but Moose blocked him, so Kash hit him with a rana instead, sending him to the outside. Kash went for an over the top rope rana, but just threw himself on top of his head. 

Back in the ring, Kash tried to strike Moose, who simply fired up, hit the No Jackhammer Needed and took the win. Complete squash, Moose proved that the old TNA can’t hold with the current talent of Impact Wrestling. Good for Impact for protecting their roster.

Jimmy Jacobs interviewed XXXL, the new team of Acey Romero and Legendary Larry D about joining Impact. They said that size matters. Fallah Bahh and TJP greeted them and gave them a welcome gift, telling them that the line to the tag team titles is behind them. 

Jacobs interviewed Rich Swann via satellite. Swann talked about how recovery has been hard, saying that he wants to come back so much. He said Willie Mack is going to win the X-Division Championship. 

Ace Austin joined Jacobs and kicked him off the interview. Ace told Swann that Mack will never win the title because he was the weak link in their team. He tried to play tricks saying that Mack wasn’t there to help Swann during his recovery. Suddenly, there was a knock in Swann’s door. Ace said that he cared for Swann so much that he sent Reno Scum to check on him. We then just hear the noise of Swann getting beat up.

Back from commercial, Mack tried to fight Ace Austin for what he did to Swann. 

Sami Callihan came down to the ring, debuting a new theme. 

Callihan said that after he lost the title to Tessa, he decided to set himself aside and do some soul searching. He said that his issues were not just with Impact, but with the whole industry because all companies kept putting over old talent over the new talent and that he wasn’t going to allow Shamrock to take his HOF spot without going through him.

He said that Shamrock wasn’t the most dangerous man in the world, it was him, hitting people with baseball bats and setting them on fire. 

Tommy Dreamer came out to confront Callihan, who immediately cut him off and said that Dreamer was the type of guy always looking to get the rub. He asked the fans to post photos of this moment so Dreamer could trend at least once. Dreamer pulled the nostalgia card and listed a bunch of old-timers who paved the way for guys like Callihan. 

Callihan, tired of Dreamer, attacked him with the mic. Dreamer challenged him to a fight instead. 

Sami Callihan defeated Tommy Dreamer in an Old School Rules match

The match started mid-brawl outside the ring, with Callihan being posted on the corner. Dreamer brought out the weapons, starting with a plunger. Callihan responded with chair shots. Callihan went to kick Dreamer from the apron but was blocked and dropped face-first on the apron. 

Back in the ring, Dreamer used cooking sheets on Callihan to take him down. Dreamer tried to powerbomb Callihan into the fans but was cut off with a groin claw. Dreamer hit the Bionic elbow and some shots with the garbage can.

Dreamer went for a staple gun but was met by a challenging Callihan, who had set up two chairs in the middle of the ring. They exchanged staples until Dreamer stapled Callihan’s groin, followed by a running clothesline. Dreamer hit the ropes but got hit with a drop-toe hold into the chair. Callihan was then sent headfirst into a chair in the corner and a cutter for a two count.

Dreamer tried to piledrive Callihan on a chair, but Sami blocked and hit an STO onto the chair. Callihan set up a chair bridge, but Dreamer blocked and went for a DVD. Callihan blocked and was the one who hit the DVD into the chairs instead. A Cactus special followed, allowing Callihan to pick up the win.

After the match, Callihan tried to take out Dreamer with a senton. Rhino came in for the save. The rest of oVe came out to take out Rhino and Dreamer. oVe was happy to have Sami back. Sami turned off the lights and disappeared, not even oVe knew where he went. Dissension between oVe and Sami brewing?

Rosemary was at a pub offering shots and scaring off the clients. She started talking to someone about once falling in love with a mortal, but she had learned about her mistakes and now was going to take advantage of them. Drunk Rosemary is getting interesting.

We got a video package of Su Yung’s career with Impact, from her debut all the way to the death of Mitchell. Afterward, Suzie was walking around the hallways of Impact. Everyone was avoiding making contact with her. Suzie acknowledged being Su Yung, but that she didn’t like that side of her. 

Cody Deaner (with Cousin Jake) defeated Joey Ryan

Collar and elbow to start the match. Ryan pushed Deaner to the corner, but after a sip of beer, he fired up and got an armbar locked in. Ryan pushed him to the corner again, but Deaner attacked him with strikes, dropped an elbow, and drank the rest of the beer. 

Joey Ryan poked Cody’s eye to gain control of the match. He hit a scoop slam and a knee for a two count. Joey mocked Deaner’s hat and played to the crowd, which only provoked Cody to fire up and come back with strikes. Deaner hit a clothesline and went for the Deaner DDT, but Joey escaped. Unfortunately for Ryan, he escaped into Cousin Jake’s hands, who fed him a beer. Cody Deaner hit the Deaner DDT for the win.

Backstage, Eddie Edwards thanked Tessa for helping him out earlier today, so he offered his help for her match tonight. Tessa said she had this on her own tonight. Eddie was like “cool then”.

Michael Elgin cut a promo. He said that he beat Eddie over and over. He is now stronger than he was before, but Eddie wasn’t. He said that Tessa had bigger balls than everyone in the back, but Rebellion marked one year from him joining Impact, and so his time is coming. As long as Tessa has been undeniable, he’s been unbreakable. 

Next week will have Daga vs Chris Bey, oVe vs Dreamer and Rhino, and Shamrock returns to address Callihan.

Impact World Champion Tessa Blanchard defeated Impact Tag Team Champion Ethan Page (with Josh Alexander) in a non-title match

Before they started fighting, Page mocked Tessa’s size. But in return, Tessa took him down and connected with two dropkicks. Page, angered, simply grabbed Tessa and slammed her down with a backbreaker. 

Tessa tried to come back with strikes, but Page took her down with a back elbow and from there started working Tessa with chokes, whipping her from corner to corner. Tessa fired up and hit a flurry of elbows and strikes, but Page once again cut her off with a shoulder tackle. 

Page started going after Tessa’s back with knees and hit a delayed suplex for a two count. Page hit another backbreaker, even with Tessa punching him. 

Tessa started to make a comeback again but this time, Page had to rely on poking her eyes in order to get her off him. Page continued whipping her from corner to corner, but as Page got cocky, Tessa managed a top rope rana to finally get Page off his feet.

Page rolled out and Tessa followed with a trio of suicide dives, but she distracted herself with Alexander, giving Page some time to recover. Page pulled her into the ring, but Tessa was ready and hit a big tilt-a-whirl DDT for a two count.

Tessa started to set up Magnum, but Page caught her in the middle of the air, pulled her into the corner and connected with an elbow to the face. He followed with a punt kick for a two count. Page set up Tessa on the top rope for a superplex, but Tessa fought him off and dropped him. Page distracted the referee, giving Alexander the opening to attack her, but Eddie Edwards came in to take him out. Tessa hit Magnum on Page for the win.

After the match, Tessa and Eddie had a stare-off, but suddenly out came Elgin, who went to Elgin Bomb Tessa, but both Edwards and Tessa fought back. They all stared at each other to end the show.

Final Thoughts —

This was a really fun show. Two great matches to open and close the show, plus many developments heading into Rebellion.