Impact Wrestling Turning Point results: Cage vs. Callihan rematch

On Friday, Impact Wrestling presented Turning Point from Hazelton, PA, an Impact Plus special that used to be a traditional pay-per-view.

While this show is not going along with current storylines, it did follow up to Bound For Glory with two championship rematch clauses being cashed in. This show was promoted in conjunction with Pennsylvania Premiere Wrestling.

Tessa Blanchard & Jordynne Grace defeated Havok & Madison Rayne

Originally, Kiera Hogan was going to team up with Rayne, but due to an injury, Havok replaced Hogan. Grace was the babyface in peril until Blanchard came in for the hot tag. Blanchard held her own until Rayne distracted her and fed her to Havok. Rayne tagged herself in when Havok was under control, only for Tessa to make a comeback and win with the Buzzsaw DDT in an ok opener.

— Rhino cut a promo backstage, telling Rob Van Dam that his vacation was over and tonight, RV was being sent to the hospital. 

PPW Heavyweight Champion Clutch Adams defeated Facade, Evander James, Desean Pratt, KC Navarro, and Charles Mason to retain

The commentary team sold Navarro strong as a potential X-Division wrestler, but Josh Mathews still managed to mention that his KT Tape was all wrongly placed. 

The match was mostly one pair of wrestlers competing and then onto another, giving everyone a chance to show their stuff. Navarro, James, and Facade all hit dives with Navarro featuring the most impressive one with the height he got. After another quick run of everyone getting near falls and finishers in, Facade hit a coast-to-coast on Pratt, only for Adams to run in with a flying elbow to steal the pin from Facade. This was an ok match. as no one was particularly impressive. However, Desean Pratt is someone worth developing and keeping an eye on.

— Backstage, Jimmy Jacobs interviewed Moose about his opponent tonight, Fallah Bahh. Moose put over Bahh as a great contender now, but that Bahh wasn’t at Moose’s level yet. Moose is fantastic.

Michael Elgin defeated Mike Orlando

Orlando is a big dude, so Elgin gave him some offense at first. In the end, it was Elgin wrestling circles around him. Elgin mostly chopped and tossed Orlando around the ring. Orlando had a short hope spot landing a suplex, a DDT and a TKO but that only led to a two count. Elgin got some near falls before he hit a powerbomb, backfist, and Elgin Bomb combo for the win. This was not a good match and went way too long.

— Jacobs interviewed Taya Valkyrie about Tenille Dashwood getting a rematch tonight. Taya just said that she probably had to get a favor from management to get this match, but just like at BFG, she’ll take care of Dashwood tonight. 

Moose defeated Fallah Bahh

Bahh started the match with momentum, forcing Moose to rely on dirty heel tactics to turn the match around. Moose went to work over Bahh’s leg for a long while, really slowing down the match, but eventually, Bahh started his comeback. The match really picked up from here on as they started trading big moves and near falls. At one point towards the end, Moose superplexed Bahh, but Bahh fired up and came back with a huge lariat for a two count. Moose came back with two running dropkicks and the No Jackhammer Needed for the win.

Bahh has to be top five most improved wrestlers of the year as his moving toward strong style has really helped his matches a lot. This was the best match of the night thus far.

— Jacobs interviewed Rich Swann and Mack about their title shot with The North. They said there is no Rhino or RVD getting involved with their match like how the BFG match should have been. The North interrupted and said that tonight they’ll beat them again, and Swann and Mack won’t have excuses anymore. 

Impact Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie (w/John E. Bravo) defeated Tenille Dashwood in a non-title match

Taya was the only champion to get away with not defending her title tonight. Of all the matches so far, this was the one that went straight to the mat for chain wrestling. Similar to Bahh and Moose, this had Tenille have the upper hand over Taya until Bravo interfered to gave Taya the opening to turn the match around. Taya worked over Tenile’s midsection intertwined with occassional interventions of Bravo and Taya’s fake dog, taking shots at Tenille. 

Eventually, Tenille managed to dodge Taya’s running knees and start a comeback. Tenille got a two count with a top rope crossbody. They went back and forth trading near falls. Tenille hit her running low crossbody to the corner, but Taya kicked out. Tenille went for the Spotlight, but Bravo grabbed Tenille’s leg, distracting her enough for Taya to sneak up behind and roll her up to retain her title in an ok match.

After the match, Taya and Bravo beat up on Tenille until Jordynne Grace came for the save. Jordynne attacked Taya and ran her off.

Impact Tag Team Champions The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) defeated Rich Swann and Willie Mack to retain

This was a really good match. It started with Swann and Mack in control. Swann was hitting Page and Alexander from all angles, but as soon as The North had an opening to double team Swann, they cut him off from Wilie and proceeded to work him over.

After several minutes of Swann being worked on and several tag teases, Mack finally got the hot tag and ran wild. The match broke down into many double team moves as both teams started chasing their finishers. The North initially got theirs countered and Swann and Mack hit theirs, but the pin was broken up.

Finally, Swann set up the Standing Rana into the Frog Splash, but Page blocked the rana, and Border Tossed Swann to take him out. Both North members brought down Mack from the top rope the hard way with thier double facebuster finisher to retain their titles.

— Sami Callihan cut a promo putting himself over while telling Jake Crist that he can’t be the Golden Draw anymore until he regains the X-Division championship. Callihan then told Cage that tonight, he’ll defeat him again and stay the World champion

Eddie Edwards defeated Mahabali Shera to retain the Call Your Shot Gauntlet title shot

Shera used his size and power advantage to run over Edwards early on, but Edwards came back using his experience advantage and used Shera’s power against him. The match then went on to wash, rinse, and repeat that sequence a couple of times as they closed to the finish with Shera getting ahold of Edwards, cutting him off with power and working over him until Edwards would find a way out.

Edwards eventually and unceremoniously hit the Boston Knee Party for the win. This started good, but ended really weak.

— We got a commercial for the Impact Plus December 7th special from Dayton, OH, No Surrender. Swann is challenging Callihan, provided he wins tonight. X-Division Champion Ace Austin faces Eddie Edwards in a tables match, while Valkyrie defends her title against Havok.

X-Division Champion Ace Austin defeated Jake Crist to retain

This was a heel vs heel match, but Austin was given the more devious role as he was the one pulling out all the dirty tricks behind the ref’s back. He also got to work over Crist for most of the first half of the match. 

Crist had a great comeback, hitting a kick combo and later catching Austin’s diving move into a cutter for a two count. Jake went for a Super Cutter, but Austin grabbed the ropes to counter the move and came back with The Fold from the top rope to retain his championship. This was a good match, but somewhat short. 

Rob Van Dam (w/Katie Forbes) defeated Rhino by DQ

The brawl started outside the ring as Rhino was making his entrance. After some minutes around the ring, they finally made it into the ring and we got a good look at the new heel RVD, which pretty much consisted of a lot of taunts and a lot of making out with Forbes. RVD even stopped just short of his own signature moves, yet still managed to beat up Rhino.

Eventually, all the taunting and not actually hitting moves allowed Rhino to recover and make a comeback. Rhino superplexed RVD for a two count. Rhino hit the Gore, but Forbes put Van Dam’s foot on the ropes to break the pin. Rhino went for a chair, but the ref took it away. In the distraction, Forbes low blowed Rhino. RVD brought out a table and tried to Gore Rhino, but Rhino blocked him, picked him up, and drove him through the table for the disqualification. This was a fun match, but the fans hated the finish. 

After the match, Rhino chased the referee away instead of attacking RVD who simply made out with Forbes in the ring. 

Impact World Champion Sami Callihan defeated Brian Cage to retain

The story of the match was that Cage was strong and healed up for this match, and thus none of Callihan’s offense was hurting him. Cage took Callihan on the Tour de Hurt around the ring, slamming him against the guardrail and apron. The champion was desperate and was looking for a countout victory.

It wasn’t until Callihan raked Cage’s eyes and hit a piledriver on the apron that he managed to cut Cage off and gain control. It didn’t last long because Cage recovered quickly, but he was rocked enough so that Callihan could keep up with him. They traded strikes and Cage hit an ugly looking Electric Chair Drop for a two count. Callihan came back with a DVD for another two count and then hit a draping piledriver for another two count. 

Out of desperation, Callihan went for the title belt, but the referee took it away. Amidst the chaos, Cage accidentally clotheslined the referee and hit an F-5 for a visual pin, but the ref was down. 

Jake Crist came down and Cage took both Callihan and Crist out. Cage went for the Drill Claw, but Fulton came down. Cage endured a Callihan low blow, a Fulton chokeslam, a Callihan belt shot, and a Cactus Special, getting pinned by Callihan in finish a good main event.