By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling on Pursuit (simulcast on Twitch TV)
Taped June 6-7 in New York City, New York at The Melrose Ballroom
Highlights from last week’s Impact Wrestling show aired followed by the Impact Wrestling theme…
Josh Mathews and Don Callis were on commentary. They checked in from New York City at the Melrose Ballroom. Ethan Page and Josh Alexander made their entrance first. Sabu was accompanied to the ring by the Super Genie. Rob Van Dam was accompanied to the ring by his crappy entrance music…
1. “The North” Josh Alexander and All-Ego Ethan Page vs. Rob Van Dam and Sabu (w/The Super Genie) in a no-DQ match? Josh and Don talked about how Rob Van Dam held the ECW TV Title for several years in a single reign. Sabu and Alexander started off the match. Sabu landed a drop toehold on Alexander to cause Alexander to retreat. Sabu escaped a few of Alexander’s holds and he landed a lariat on Alexander. RVD tagged in and hit Alexander with a slingshot leg drop. RVD got a two count on Alexander after a two count.
Alexander turned the tables and stomped on RVD in his corner. Alexander tagged in All Ego for some tandem offense. RVD countered and hit Ego with a spinning heel kick. Sabu tagged in. Sabu and RVD hit Page with a leg drop combination. RVD hit Page with some shortarm kicks to get a two count. Alexander distracted RVD a bit to allow Page to hit RVD with a boot. Alexander and Page took turns tiving RVD backbreakers. Alexander tagged in and worked on RVD’s calves. Sabu made sure to break the pin attempts. Ego and Alexander foucused on preventing the RVD hot tag with their own quick tags.
RVD escaped the corner with a crane kick to the face of Page. RVD got the tag to Sabu after hitting Page with a rebound enzuigiri. Sabu tossed chairs at the North (this is no DQ?). RVD and Sabu brought a table to the ring and put Alexander on it. RVD and Sabu went for a stereo Frog Splash and Arabian Facebuster combo, but only Sabu executed the move because Moose ran out and shoved RVD off the top rope. Page broke up the pin attempt. Sabu hit Page with a nice Tornado DDT. Alexander (kinda) caught Sabu and hit Sabu with a gutbuster. The North hit Sabu with what looked like a modified Thunder Valley (double flapjack slam) to give Alexander the pinfall win.
The North defeated RVD and Sabu via pinfall in 10:41.
Josh Alexander was bleading at the top of his nose. Moose did RVD’s thumb thing from the ramp. Tommy Dreamer tossed Moose into the ring so he could be attacked by RVD and Sabu who beat up Moose.RVD tried to hit Moose with a Van Terminator but Moose rolled away. Tommy Dreamer’s entrance theme played to end the segment (which is better than RVD’s theme playing)…
John’s Thoughts: A much needed win for the North who were eating a lot of losses to legends recently. The match wasn’t the best looking match, but RVD hasn’t been great in recent showings. Sabu has looked pretty good though for a guy with that much body milage and his age. The Moose interference was a bit odd, but it builds toward his future match with RVD.
James Mitchell was shown coaching Jessika Havok and Su Yung backstage heading into commercial… [c]
Moose met with The North in a stairwell, yelling at them for not having Moose’s back after Moose just helped them. The North brought up Moose’s comments last week about the two Canadian Boys being “not good enough”. Ethan Page bragged about being good enough to beat RVD. Moose called Page a disrespectful Canadian. Alexander got up in Moose’s face and Page said Moose is lucky that Page is holding Josh back from knocking Moose’s teeth down his throat. The North left. Moose called the North bastards and said he’s going to take down not just RVD, but also the rest of the ECW era. Moose called out Tommy Dreamer and said that Moose is still the legend known as Moose…
Josh Mathews checked in from ringside. Josh hyped LAX vs. The North for the Impact Tag Team Championships at the “Bash at the brewery” Impact Plus special…
Jessika Havok, Su Yung, and James Mitchell made their entrance. Havok’s opponent was already in the ring, presumably an enhancement wrestler. Josh Mathews noted that Havok was in Impact before and is a former Knockouts Champion (I forgot about this former champion fact)…
John’s Thoughts: Now, that entrance was pretty cool, creepy, and badass. James Mitchell managing Havok and Su Yung should be a really good thing. Just keep this creative the hell away from Jimmy Jacobs, please? (Jacobs is actually a good writer, but the Undead Realm sucks!!!)
2. Jessika Havok (w/James Mitchell, Su Yung) vs. Masha Slammovich. Havok no sold Masha’s offense and just ran through her. Josh said that Havok looks like a movie villain. Havoc had 100% domination over Masha with suplexes, submissions, and tosses. Mitchell and Su were taunting and doing their mannerisms at ringside. Masha got a few hope strikes in there but Havok no sold all of it and swatted Masha away with a boot. Havok hit Masha with a swinging side slam and choke slam. Havok hit Masha with a Tombstone Pile Driver for the victory.
Jessika Havok defeated Masha Slammovich via pinfall in 3:43.
Mitchell cut a promo after the match. Mitchell said Rosemary needs to take care of her anger management problems because Rosemary’s emotions cause her to leave collateral damage in her wake. Mitchell said he politely came to Rosemary twice after she stole his Undead Bride Su Yung with a demon collar. Mitchell bragged about being a reasonable man and a diplomat. Mitchell said he brought to light the role that Rosemary played in murdering their mutual friend Allie which caused Rosemary to commit the ultimate sin, putting her hands on James Mitchell.
Mitchell said that’s why he unleashed his secret weapon, the Kaiju Queen, Havok. Su Yung could be seen reaching out in awe at Havok (solid acting there). Mitchell said like a Kaiju, Havok squashed Rosemary like Godzilla to Tokyo. Mitchell said this broke the spell of the demon collar (somehow? I don’t care enough to elaborate). Mitchell said that Taya Valkyrie was unfortunately hit by the shockwave. Mitchell said in the end he was basking in the voluptuous beauty and fearful symmetry of Havok. Mitchell said he found a way to pay back his debt to Havok, to make sure Havok is the next Knockouts Champion. Mitchell said he promises that Havok will use Rosemary’s broken and twisted carcass as a launchpad on her road to the championship. Havok’s theme played to close the segment… [c]
John’s Thoughts: Great squash, great promo, great acting by everyone. I liked everything about that segment. I liked everything involving most of these players for the first time in what feels like over a year or so. They brought things back to logic, to championships, to trying to dominate through power vs. illogical hocus pocus. I can forgive Jimmy if he doesn’t try to get too cute and pretentious here (I review Impact/TNA so I will always be guarded). Please don’t do any of those dumb ass cinematics with stupid ass lightning, “hell”, magic coffins, luchasauruses, demon collars, and the works. I actually like cinematic wrestling as Dot Net’s Lucha Underground reviewer. The Undead Realm just had dumb ass writing behind it that got on my nerves (and I’m not the only one).
Josh Mathews hyped Taya’s response to Mitchell’s comments and that this will be on “The Smoke Show”…
Gama Singh said it was time to bow down to Raj Singh… (he actually put more energy than usual in this promo, maybe because it’s his son this time?)
3. Raj Singh (w/Gama Singh, Rohit Raju) vs. Cody Deaner (w/Cousin Jake). Don Callis reiterated that he really thinks that the Deaners are inbred. Raj dominated Cody with strikes early on. Cody came back with a lariat and boots to the gut of Raj. Cody hit Raj with a plethora of punches. Cody went for a suplex but Raj escaped to ringside. Cody hit Raj with a suicide dive. Callis noted that Raj was bleeding at the top of his nose. Rohit distracted Cody going high risk. Raj Singh hit Cody Deaner with the Tower of London for a two count.
Raj hit Cody with a leg drop. Raj distracted the child referee guy so Gama Singh could land a right hand cheap shot on Cody. Raj followed up with a basement shotgun dropkick for a two count. Raj was really bleedign from the nose at this point. Raj took the blood and wiped it on Cody. This caused Cody to “Hillbilly Up” as Callis put it. Cody topped off his Hulk combo with a gut punch and lariat. Deaner hit the “Deaner DDT” on Raj. Gama Singh distracted the referee to prevent the pin attempt. Cousin Jake clocked Rohit with a right hand. Jake put his hands on Gama and Gama feigned a heart attack. Josh said this is like the 4th time Gama has done this. Raj hit a innovative Overdrive to Cody’s arm for the pinfall win.
Raj Singh defeated Cody Deaner via pinfall in 5:27.
Josh yelled about how Josh faked a heart attack. Callis said that Gama told him it was a “false alarm”. Raj did a dance after his rare win…
John’s Thoughts: Solid win for Raj, but just like the prior segment I’m still guarded because Impact has been stubborn for so long. That said, this was a good match and it got over a few personalities as a result. On a side note, I always hated the Overdrive as a finisher ever since the early Smackdown vs. Raw games because it never looked like it could hurt. Raj’s modified Overdrive using the arm instead of head actually looked like a cool wrestling move.
Melissa Santos interviewed Michael Elgin backstage about facing Willie Mack. Elgin said he hates stubborn people and Mack is being stubborn after Elgin power bombed Mack on a truck and had Mack’s number during a match. Elgin said there is an ambuelance waiting for Mack on site. Johnny Impact and John E Bravo interrupted the interview. Johnny was acting like he was talking on the phone to mock Elgin for not following through with putting Mack in a hospital. Elgin said Johnny better keep the hospital on speed dial the next time he crosses Elgin. Johnny said he’s only offering to have Elgin’s back next time. Elgin said he doesn’t need Johnny’s or John E’s help. Elgin walked away. Johnny said Elgin was a narcissist for not complementing him on his hair. John E complemented Johnny on the hair. (and the Twitch chat room exploded into comments as to how now Johnny truly looks like a clone of “The Finest” Kona Reeves)…
John’s Thoughts: Good interview and I like seeing Johnny treated as cerebrial again. I also can’t help but chuckle at everybody on Twitch talking about how now Johnny has evolved into “The Finest” Kona Reeves with the highlights and hawaiian shirt. The original joke a few months ago was that Kona was an Asian version of Johnny.
Rosemary cut a promo in a purple lighted room. Rosemary recapped last week’s segment. Rosemary said she has no time for diplomacy. Rosemary said Havok and Mitchell did attack and did take “our” pet, but some people weren’t meant to be pet owners anyway. Rosemary said that Mitchell has a type, monsters. Rosemary said that Mitchell couldn’t control the last monster (Abyss?) and what should make this different. Rosemary said this is all a big joke (the undead realm? I totally agree). Rosemary talked about how “the shadow” put “us” on a mission to bring the Knockouts title back to “the hive”. Rosemary dared Mitchell to continue the collison course between Havok and Rosemary…
John’s Thoughts: Again, more good stuff from the Undead Realm players! Please, stay the hell away undead realm!!! I miss old Rosemary and we saw a bit here.
Josh Mathews advertised the “Bash at the Brewery” and “Deep Impact” Impact Plus specials…
Johh ran through the advertised Slammiversary matches: Brian Cage vs. Michael Elgin for the World Championship, Moose vs. RVD, and Rich Swann vs. Johnny Impact for the X Division Championship…
It was time for the Impact Plus Moment of the Week. Dammit!!! Why the F is Dixie Carter in the ring with King Mo and the contenders to the WWE 24/7 Championship (Rhyno, Drake Maverick, and EC3)? Oh, this was that one time Bully Ray power bombed Dixie through a table…
Jordynne Grace was shown doing bicep curls with resistance bands… [c]
Sami Callihan walked into the “Women’s Locker Room” (It looks more like a waiting room) while Alisha Edwards was checking on Masha Slammovich. Alisha said Sami shouldn’t be here. Sami said that it’s 2019 and the whole equal rights things allows him to be here. Tessa Blanchard confronted Sami and told Sami he doesn’t belong in the women’s waiting..errr… Locker Room. Sami said he doesn’t like Tessa sticking her nose in OVE business. Tessa said being in the ring kicking their ass is exactly where she belongs. Sami said this will be a different story if Tessa was in the ring one-on-one with one of Sami’s boys. Tessa challenged Jake Crist to a match next week which Sami seemingly accepted. Sami said he’s glad they did this the easy way, as Sami took his bat and left…
Jordynne Grace made her entrance. Her opponent was Madison Rayne who’s video wall still says “The Queen Bee is Back” despite her being back for several months at this point. Kiera Hogan made her entrance to new music to match her heel turn. Kiera also had a new look with blue highlights instead of red. Kiera joined the commentary table…
4. Jordynne Grace vs. Madison Rayne. Kiera said she was scouting her former friend Grace. Kiera talked about how she’s sacrificed for her friends and always gets stabbed in the back. Grace overpowered Rayne early on. Callis conducted an interview with Kiera while Kiera laid out her current motivations. Rayne got in a rollup attempt on Grace. Grace continued to dominate power wise with suplexes and headlocks. Grace continued her momentum with a shoulder block. Grace backtossed Rayne over the top rope sending her to a nasty fall outside. Grace hit Rayne with a delayed vertical suplex for a two count. Kiera said that was “all right”.
Grace hit Rayne with stiff shortarm lariats. Rayne surprised Grace with a vertical Koji Clutch. Grace reversed it into a grounded Gory Especial. Rayne countered into a rollup. Both women traded rapid fire one counts until they escaped out of dizzyness. Grace hit Rayne with two release body slams whle shrugging off Rayne’s chops. Rayne managed to get Grace to the ground after a Knee Plus. Grace slapped Rayne on the apron. Rayne tripped Grace off the apron. Rayne blocked a whip into the ringpost and hit Grace with a ripcord cutter on the floor. Rayne got a two count in the ring.
Rayne got another two count after a Crucifix Bomb. Kiera talked about how her red fire was now a “blue flame”. Rayne tried to fight off Grace but Grace trapped Rayne and nailed her with a spinning Kinniku Buster. Rayne kicked out of the subsequent pin at two. Josh argued that Grace should have hooked the leg. Callis said that Kiera should slap Grace and Josh for not hooking the leg. Grace knocked Rayne to the ground and went high risk but was distracted by Kiera’s condescending cheering. This allowed Rayne to bring Grace back to the mat. Rayne reversed a fireman carry into Cross [Rayne] for the victory.
Madison Rayne defeated Jordynne Grace via pinfall in 10:27.
Kiera continued to clap in condescending fashon. Josh talked about how “the blue flame” distracted Grace…
John’s Thoughts: A well wrestled match that enhanced everyone involved. Impact’s women’s division is suddenly really great after the Undead Realm took the night off. While Kiera wasn’t the most eloquent on the headset, she was really good in connotating her heel persona over the microphone. Don Callis was really good in asking the right question to flush out Kiera’s new transformation to the viewer. The finish was good in that it protected Grace, build Madison because she used a counter to win, and continues the feud between Grace and Kiera. Another solid week for Heel Kiera.
Impact aired a recap video of the Eddie Edwards and Killer Kross feud over “Kenny” the Kendo Stick… [c]
5. The Sandman vs. Killer Kross in a no-dq match? Sandman tried to catch Kross from behind during Kross’s entrance routine, but Kross saw Sandman coming. Sandman managed to gain contol and the ten punches in the corner. Sandman hit Kross in the gut with a Kendo Stick. Kross slipped under a shot and locked Sandman in the Kross Jacket. Sandman passsed out.
Killer Kross defeated The Sandman via ref stoppage in 1:36.
Kross held on to the hold for some extra time after the match. Josh said Sandman was turning blue. Kross let go after he heard Eddie Edwards’s entrance music. Edwards cleared Kross from the ring with a lariat which Kross no-sold by landing on his feet and tilting his head in annoyance. Edwards dared Kross to enter the ring as Edwards held a kendo stick in hand. Kross tested the waters several times and instead told Edwards that “it wasn’t over” from a distance. Kross left calm and sadistically…
It was time for this week’s LAX clubhouse skit. It was shot in cinematic style this week with the multiple camera angles. Ortiz talked about how it was time to celebrate over liquor. Konnan said they shouldn’t be celebrating like this. Ortiz bragged about being multi-time champions and the last TNA tag champs. Konnan said LAX almost lost last week. Ortiz brought up how Trey wasn’t even in the match. Konnan pointed out that the shiner on Santana makes him look like Quasimodo. Ortiz said all that matters is that they’re still champs.
Konnan said that they almost lost because they weren’t on point like decimals and they didn’t treat the Rascalz seriously. Santana said Konnan should have helped take care of Trey. Konnan said he’s retired. Konnan said he thought he heard Laredo Kid in the distance. Instead it was the Rascal trio of Dez, Wentz, and Trey. Santana argued about Trey cheating last week. Trey blamed Ortiz’s alcohol. Ortiz asked Trey where his alcohol be at? Wentz took control of the situation (speaking seriously) and asked for a rematch. Ortiz said that was cute, but not happening. Trey said they want a rematch and it doesn’t matter which pain of Rascalz they face.
Konnan said he respects the Rascalz for what they’re doing. Wentz yelled that LAX should respect the Rascalz for being the best tag team in the world. Wentz shoved Santana. Konnan shrugged and told Santana “Da le” (go on). Santana started a brawl between the two teams that LAX dominated. After leaving them lying, Santana told the Rascalz to show some respect. Then they cut the camera to what I will call “The Dying Richie Cam” (First person POV) view of us watching Wentz get stomped on from his eyes. Santana and Ortiz said that the Rascalz got their rematch. Laredo Kid then walked in and was confused at the situation. He made sure to jack Dezmond’s wallet before they all left… [c]
John’s Thoughts: Aside from the “dying Richie camera” angle, I really liked what I saw from the Rascalz here. Not only did Wentz drop the Michael Kelso act, but it looks like the Rascalz have taking a bit of a more serious turn this week. Is Impact finally getting over their stubborness because they made good on the Undead Realm, Desi Hit Squad, and Rascalz all on the same night? Again, this feels too good to be true, but so far so good.
Fallah Bahh and Scarlett Bordeaux welcomed Taya Valkyrie and John E Bravo to the Smoke Show. Scarlett said she can finally relate with another hot blonde around here who’s also surrounded by hot men. Taya acted disgusted. Scarlett and John E shook hands. John E said the E stands for “Erotic”. Taya said to hurry up because she doesn’t like Scarlett’s weird ass couch. Scarlett offered Taya a swig of champagne from the bottle but Taya said in Slam Town they only drink Perisian champagne, not wine from Queens. Bahh chugged and gagged the champagne.
Scarlett asked if Taya having the pants in the relationship due to the title makes things awkward in the bedroom. Taya said Scarlett should never ask about Taya’s husband ever. Taya said what happens in Slam Town stays in slam town. Scarlett asked “What is Slam Town” and wonder if she can go there. Taya said, absolutely not. Scarlett reiterated the 30 day rule and said that Impact will strip Taya of the title if she doesn’t defend in 30 days. Taya said the word “strip” is something Scarlett would probably be more familliar with. Taya said she’s not worried and she called the Knockouts Division “orcs”. Scarlett said she thinks that she had an orc in college. Scarlett anounced that Taya will defend her title against Su Yung next week or else be stripped of the title. Taya blamed John E for letting this happen as she left with Scarlett’s champagne…
Josh Mathews noted that Taya’s 30 days are running out again. Josh then hyped Tessa Blanchard vs. Jake Crist and Moose vs. Tommy Dreamer for next week. Josh also announced LAX vs. Rascalz for Slammiversary… [c]
6. “Unbreakable” Michael Elgin vs. Willie Mack (w/Rich Swann). Rich Swann tried his best to make Mack’s generic entrance theme dancible. Josh noted that Willie Mack made his debut last year in the Melrose Ballroom (against Matt Sydal and Ethan Page). Elgin and Mack had a stalemate in the collar and elbow. Both men then traded strong style forearms. Next they traded shoulder blocks. Elgin managed to stagger Mack with a few consecutive forearms. Mack surprised Elgin with a Pounce and Blockbuster for a two count. Mack managed to stagger Elgin using his agility and an Exploder Suplex. Elgin rolled to the apron to avoid a Mack cannonball. Elgin dragged Mack to the apron for a strike battle. Elgin superkicked Mack to leave him lying. Elgin then gave Mack a baseball slide to send him to ringside. [c]
Elgin showed off agility by giving Mack a dropkick to get a two count. Mack rallied back with stiff lariats. Elgin responded with a forearm but Mack came back with a high flying spinning heel kick. Mack used a body slam to set up a running leg drop, leading to a two count. Mack planted Elgin with a sitout Uranage for a two count. Elgin nailed Mack with a pump, enzuigiri, and superkick combo. Elgin planted Mack with a superplex and Callis noted that the ring jumped due to all the weight being suplexed. Mack used his weight to block a Elgin Bomb. Elgin crashed and burned into the steel post. Mack hit Elgin’s back with a Triangle Double Stomp. Elgin then used Swann as a human shield to stop Mack in his tracks. Elgin gave Swann a backbreaker. Mack still gave Elgin a baseball slide. Elgin came back at Mack a clothesline, buckle bomb, and Elgin Bomb to pick up the win.
Michael Elgin defeated Willie Mack via pinfall in 8:40 of TV Time.
Elgin took off his wrist tape to initiate a post match attack on Mack. Swann hit Elgin with an enzuigiri for the save. Swann dominated Elgin. Suddenly, Johnny Impact ran out to attack Rich Swann and the Twitch chat suddenly explodes in saying that “The Finest” Kona Reeves is doing an Impact run-in. Johnny Finest nails Rich Swann with a Razor’s Edge into a side slam. Johnny then tried to chum up with Elgin. Elgin gave Johnny a handshake but then gave Johnny a German Suplex. This drew “Big Mike” chants from the crowd. Elgin put on the John Morrison glasses. Elgin dragged Mack by the beard to draw the boos again. Elgin lifted Elgin into power bomb position. Callis yelled “not on the floor!”. Elgin power bombed Mack into the ringpost. Callis yelled “that’s worse than the floor!”. Elgin was the last man standing to close the show…
John’s Thoughts: Another solid Impact Wrestling main event that forwarded storylines while also protecting everyone involved. I feel like Mack gained something in defeat and was protected due to Elgin being a bit cheap by using Swann as a human shield. Mack and Swann have done a great job filling in for Brian Cage in the main event scene and hopefully both men get rewarded for this somehow after Slammiversary. As I mentioned, Mack and Cage have a traveling match of the year candidate in their back pocket whenever they decided to go that direction.
Overall, Impact has been a solid show, but this one was really enjoyable for me. All my criticisms on this show may be subjective tastes as opposed to pointing out flaws in logic. They avoided the Undead Realm, did something with Raj Singh, and the Rascalz got serious are three examples of forward strides this show took. Again, this might have been a flash in the pan. Maybe next week we get double the Undead Realm and 70s show ripoffs. To go back to this week, an enjoyable show. Plus points to the Twitch chat for making my day by making all the Kona Reeves jokes in regards to Johnny Impact’s new look. The tide has turned, especially since people always called Kona an Asian John Morrison.
Peak Twitch Viewership: Around 8,000 viewers from what I saw
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