Impact Wrestling presented a special episode entitled This Is Impact, a showcase of what Impact will bring to the table on AXS TV, an introduction to the major players of Impact, a rundown of what happened at Bound For Glory, bringing everyone up to speed with the current storylines. Also tonight, we get a couple of taped matches from Bound For Glory.
Twitch stream was hosted by Melissa Santos. She read comments from the chat, did some small commentary of what we were seeing on the show, and hyped up what we have in store for next week.
Show opened with a nostalgic look at TNA/Impact’s history. The obvious references of Sting, Styles, Angle, Gail Kim, Hogan, and a quick look at all the world champions Impact has crowned. It was nice.
Josh Matthews and Scott D’Amore ran the show from an event center. Melissa Santos will be doing interviews throughout the show from Los Angeles. Don Callis was in the set of Ace Austin’s new film, where he is looking to interview him.
Matthews and D’Amore talked about some of the returns and debuts we’ve seen lately, like Rhino, RVD, Madman Fulton, Jordynne Grace, TJP, Willie Mack, Tenille Dashwood, and Ken Shamrock. A good, quick rundown introducing some of the players. They made a special showcase for Michael Elgin.
We got a Michael Elgin video package, focusing on his debut, his run against Brian Cage, and his build towards the Marufuji match. They talked about him as a future World Champion.
Madison Rayne (w/Kiera Hogan) defeated Shotzi Blackheart
Hogan, wearing the most amazing attire, joined commentary. I totally thought Shotzi had already signed with NXT, I take it she will be finishing her booking, let’s hope WWE doesn’t botch her.
Rayne tried to bully Shotzi at the start, telling her she is the Locker Room Leader. Shotzi attacked her and got the better of her sending her for a breather outside the ring. Shotzi went for the chase, got distracted by Hogan, and Madison attacked her from behind.
Back from commercial, Shotzi is working on Madison, ramming her to the turnbuckles, but Madison counters and hits a Northen Lights for a two count. Madison locked in a cravate and came close to choking Shotzi, who is only released after a series of knees to the gut by Rayne.
Shotzi came back with a desperation Enzuigiri to make some space. Shotzi hit a running knee and a Swinging Bulldog, follows with a kick and earns a two count. Shotzi hit a 619, went for a second, but Rayne caught her, and hit a Slingshot onto the ropes. Rayne hit the Rayne Check and pinned Shotzi for the win. Good match, Rayne looked great, Hogan was great on commentary.
Matthews and D’Amore talked about the women’s wrestling revolution, talking about the history of the knockouts and what they’ve been doing for years now. This was a short showcase about some of the female talent from the past.
We got a highlight showcase of Slammiversary XVII’s 4-way Monster’s ball for the Knockout’s Championship. This led to a video package about Taya’s rivalries with Rosemary, Su Yung, and Havok. We got promos by James Mitchell and Taya, the latter just showing how natural she is with her promos. Matthews and D’Amore then talked about Taya’s record breaking title reign.
Don Callis interviewed Ace Austin on the set of Austin’s first feature film. Ace talked about being the man of the hour after winning the X-Division title. A lady came in and talked about looking forward to working with Ace tonight, this gave the vibes that Ace is working a porn movie.
Matthews and D’Amore now talked about the tag team division. D’Amore hyped the team of Swann and Mack and the Desi Hit Squad as to teams that are likely to have good looking futures coming up. The North was put over for being strong champions, but also for being responsible to retiring LAX out of Impact. We got a quick highlight of that match.
We got an interview by The North from the Impact offices. They said that next week, all eyes are going to be on them, and so they plan to be the first out of the curtain to show what Impact is about. Josh Alexander made an open challenge for next week.
At this point, we got highlights of RVD turning heel during Bound For Glory. RVD will talk about this next week. Furthermore, we got highlights from the Shamrock vs Moose match too. We got a backstage promo from Shamrock saying that he is not sure what is next for him in wrestling.
We got an ‘live’ interview with Moose. He is still celebrating his win. Moose said he had zero pity for Ken Shamrock, he got what he had coming for him. He said that he is the best multi-sport athlete in the world, and that he’ll show why he is a legend next week. He has started calling himself The Alpha Male on twitter, so maybe that’s a hint.
Melissa Santos interviewed Taya Valkyrie, the longest reigning Knockout’s Champion of all time. Taya and Melissa ran down all the accolades Taya has achieved this year. They showed clips of Taya defeating Tenille Dashwood at Bound For Glory. Taya said he felt amazing coming out of her win last Sunday, she brought up that Tenille was her first match, and that even if Tenille had been in the biggest stages and fought the biggest starts, she wasn’t prepared for Taya.
We got some footage of John E. Bravo being sent to interview random people about how Taya’s reign has improved people’s lives in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Some people had no comments, Bravo hit on all the girls he interviewed, and after the video, Taya was irate that Bravo screwed the interviews up.
Matthews and D’Amore announced that someone has accepted Josh Alexander’s open challenge — Naomichi Marufuji!.
We got a video package of Callihan and Cage’s feud.
The World Champion Brian Cage joined Matthews and D’Amore at the Event Center. Cage said he felt really good from defeating Callihan. Cage talked about being disappointed about being injured throughout most of his reign and that he was ready and looking forward to make up for lost time.
Cage was talking about what was next when Sami Callihan interrupted the interview. Callihan demanded a rematch. Callihan talked trash and said that he sent oVe to his house in Los Angeles, while Cage was stuck at New York. We got footage of oVe in Los Angeles waiting for Sami’s green light. Cage gave Callihan his rematch and told him he’ll tear him apart. Without any crazy gimmicky things, Sami Callihan is turning into a Joker level villain. Good angle.
This was a weird thing for Melissa to recap on the Twitch stream with all the chat telling Melissa to hide from oVe who are supposed to be outside.
Back from commercial, Matthews and D’Amore talked about what had just happened with Cage and Callihan. They announced that Cage vs Callihan will take place inside a steel cage.
D’lo Brown joined the Event Center table to analyse the ongoing rivalry between Cage and Callihan. Brown said that if Callihan can stay inside Cage’s head like he just showed, he speculated that it’s only a matter of time before Callihan is the World Champion.
We got a video package for Tessa Blanchard. It was a highlight reel of the huge rise Tessa has achieved this year, from her feud with Gail Kim to her battles with oVe. They talked that after Bound For Glory, Tessa must be boiling over oVe getting in her business and somewhat costing her the X-Division Championship.
Impact Plus Moment of the Week was Tessa Blanchard vs Sami Callihan from this year’s Slammiversary XVII pay-per-view.
We got another video from Ace Austin’s movie being filmed. It’s definitely a porno.
We got a video package telling the crazy story that Eddie Edwards has gone through the last year, from his feud with Callihan, the eye injury, going crazy, feud with Kross, and his marital problems. At this point, Sami Callihan has been part of most of Impact’s biggest stories in the last two years, talk about being a pillar of the company.
They showed highlights of Eddie Edwards winning the Call Your Shot Gauntlet from Bound For Glory. They speculated that Eddie should go for the World Title, but given his feud with Ace Austin and that they have a grudge match coming, there are hints that Eddie could always go for that. Talking about Ace Austin again, we got highlights from Homecoming’s Ultimate X match for the X-Division Championship.
We’re back at Ace Austin’s movie set. Well, this ain’t PG. Maybe he’s renaming the title to the XXX-Division Championship.
Jimmy Jacobs interviewed Johnny Swinger from LA Live. Jacobs tried to ask what was the difference between wrestling in 1993 and now. Swinger said he is taking one of the young lads and taking him under his wing. Jacobs asked his twitter or social media, Swinger only gave out a P.O. Box. This was funny.
The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz, & Trey Miguel) defeated Dr. Wagner Jr, Taurus, & Aerostar
The AAA team came out with their official porra ruda, straight out of Arena Naucalpan, with drums and vuvuzelas. Wagner is working with his mask on. This match has Lucha Tag rules.
Match started with the Lucha team jump the Rascalz and single out Dezmond. They hit a couple of tag moves between Taurus and Aerostar. Later on, Trey got in the ring, making him legal, but also fell to the Lucha team when Wagner locked in La Tapatia, while Taurus had a headlock, and Aerostar dropped a footstomp from the top rope.
Back from commercial, the AAA team is still under control of Trey, just for Dezmond to return to the ring and clear it out and going one-on-one with Aerostar. Wentz comes in and hits the Bronco Buster. Taurus tags in, who takes a triple combo by The Rascalz. Wagner comes in and strikes out all men, but ends up taking a superkick and footstomp combo by Wentz for a two count.
Rascalz go for a triple dive, but Xavier and Trey get taken out, leaving Wentz open to take out Wagner. Aerostar hits his dive, followed by Trey’s Asai moonsault. Wagner follows with a tope suicida.
Back in the ring, Wanger vs Xavier takes place. Wagner finally takes off his mask and hits a sit down powerbomb for a two count. Taurus lands a huge German and sets up Aerostar for a plancha only for Trey to break the pin.
Wentz comes in and takes out Taurus, but is taken out by Wagner, who is taken out by Xavier, who is taken out by Aerostar, and so on until Trey hits Cheeky Nandos and the Trey19 on Aerostar, follows with the Meteora and The Hot Fire Flame to take the win. Great match. It was kinda crazy seeing Dr. Wagner wrestle on Impact.
Matthews and D’Amore close the show running down next week’s card. Ace Austin vs Eddie Edwards, Cage vs Callihan in a cage match, Shamrock addressing his future, Josh Alexander vs Naomichi Marufuji, and much more. Packed show next Tuesday!
Final Thoughts —
Perfect show to bring you up to speed to Impact if you’ve missed the Pursuit Era. The show did a great job introducing you to the main players, the main stories, the fallout of Bound For Glory, and two pretty decent matches.
Next week, the AXS Era begins.