By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling TV
Aired September 21, 2019 on Pursuit (simulcast on Twitch TV)
Taped August 15-16, 2019 in Mexico City, Mexico at Fronton Mexico
Impact started off with a cinematic teaser which honored the Impact Wrestling career of Santana and Ortiz, the Latin American XChange. The Epic TNA Narrator Voice guy said that this episode of Impact was going to be in Honor of Santana and Ortiz. The Impact Wrestling intro theme aired…
John’s Thoughts: While I don’t like how they’re throwing the Luchas De Apuestas stipulation out of the window for tonight (maybe they’ll right that later), but It’s cool to see Impact pay so much respect to one of their best home grown acts of all time. It’s good to see an act get the rare wholesome sendoff in this company. Santana and Ortiz definitely deserve it. They’ve carried this company on their backs hands down for the past several years with match after match of the year candidate.
Josh Mathews and Don Callis were on commentary. OVE made their entrance first. Next came the ECW Originals, Tommy Dreamer, Rob Van Dam, and Rhino. They were followed by their teammate Tessa Blanchard. Josh Mathews tried to channel his inner Mauro Ranallo by saying “They look like the Avengers and will this be the end game for OVE?”…
1. “OVE” Sami Callihan, Jake Crist, Dave Crist, and Madman Fulton vs. Tessa Blanchard, Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer and Rhino in a Street Fight. Both teams paired off and brawled with each other. Sami Callihan and Rob Van Dam were left to fight in the ring. Callihan blocked a Monkey Flip. Rob blocked a pump kick. Rob rolled up Callihan with his legscissors toehold. RVD hit Callihan with Rolling Thunder. After RVD and Callihan left the ring, Tessa trapped Dave Crist in the corner and hit him with The Magnum. Dreamer and Jake were left in the ring with Dreamer hitting Jake with a fallaway slam.
Fulton gave Dreamer a boot and then brawled with Rhino. Rhino dominated the punch exchange but couldn’t get Fulton off his feet. Jake distracted Rhino which allowed Fulton go give Rhino a shoulder block. Fulton ran right into Dreamer’s boot. Dreamer got rid of Jake from the ring. Dreamer went for the Dusty Bionic Elbow, but Fulton choked Dreamer. Dreamer bit Fulton’s hand and hit Fulton with a cutter. Fulton came right back with a running clubbing blow to Dreamer. Fulton gave Jake a back body drop to drop Jake on everybody else not named Tommy Dreamer on the outside.
Dreamer tossed Jake outside and went for his old man high risk moves. Dreamer actually did a normal axe handle strike on everyone on the outside. Callis said it looked like someone falling off a building effectively. RVD hit everybody not named Sami and Tessa with a Tope Con Hilo. Tessa and Sami were left to fight in the ring. Sami mockingly shoved his thumb in Tessa’s face. Tessa then yelled back some curse words that were bleeped out and then attacked Sami with some ground and pound. Callis said it was a Spanish curse word (I think through lip reading she said “culero”).
Tessa caught Sami with an RKO. Don Callis called Tessa the reigning Reina de Reinas Champion (uhm, Taya Valkyrie actually won that title back a week ago. They also just aired that AAA show right before Impact on AXS. Can’t blame them fully though, this was taped). Dave Crist got to Tessa on the top rope and Superplexed her on the pile of wrestlers on the outside. The Spanish crowd chanted “Impact Wrestling”. Sami Callihan caught Rhino with a T-Bone suplex which Rhino no sold. Rhino gave Sami a spinebuster.
Jake caught Rhino with his savate kicks. Jake started to dance and wiggle his hips. Callis said that reminds him of Pat Patterson. Dreamer crept up behind Jake and gave him a Bionic Elbow. Dave took down Tommy with a right hand. RVD took down Dave with a heel kick. Fulton hit RVD with Baron Corbin’s End of Days. Tessa broke up the subsequent pin. Tessa ran the ropes and caught Fulton with a Tornado DDT. Fulton landed on his feet, but wobbly. Tessa went for Magnumb but Sami and Jake kept Tessa from launching.
Fulton put Tessa in Military Press to allow Jake to hit Tessa with an assisted RKO. Rob Van Dam just barely broke up the pin. Tommy Dreamer fought off OVE with a kendo stick. Josh Mathews informed viewers that this was a street fight. Rob caught Fulton and Sami with a slingshot Plancha. Rhino and Dreamer set up a table in the corner of the ring. Sami saved Jake by giving Dreamer and Rhino a punch to the balls. Dreamer escaped a pile driver by giving Sami Callihan an Iron Claw to the balls. Jake saved Sami with a cross kick. Rhino Gore’d Jake through the table. RVD gave Jake a 5 star frog splash. Rhino, RVD, and Tommy kept the rest of OVE from entering the ring. Tessa gave Jake a crossface with the kendo stick to pick up the tapout win.
Tessa Blanchard and The ECW Originals beat OVE via submission in 9:50.
Tessa dropped the stick and wrenched on Jake’s neck a bit more after the bell. OVE headed to the back with Sami Callihan ranting to the camera while Madman Fulton carried Jake Crist to the back in Fireman Carry position…
John’s Thoughts: This was a really fun match that exceeded my low expectations (given wrestlers like Rhino and RVD were involved). Everyone did well here. This was a nice mix of a lucha libre spotfest, a house show match, and a Revival match were there were nice logical nearfalls. Not a five star classic by any means, but it is was very fun and entertaining. I will also take this over some random four way X Division match, or a pointless “Golden Magic vs. TJP” match. This match was more eye-catching because there’s storyline behind it. This also might have been the biggest crowd reaction from the Mexican crowd to an all English-Speaker match.
Ace Austin was continuing his playa act, this time by acting like he was beat up and in a wheelchair. Alisha Edwards walked up to Ace Austin with concern for his health. Ace Austin said he was doing this for Alicia. Austin said a herniated disc, broken arm, and cracked vertebrae wasn’t going to stop Ace from supporting Alicia during Alicia’s match against the Knockouts Champion, Taya Valkyrie. Austin questioned why Eddie wasn’t here to support Alicia. Alicia didn’t know why either. Alicia left to get ready. Ace Austin ended the segment by smirking to the camera afterward.
Impact aired it’s first “Top LAX Moment”. This was New-LAX’s first title win. It was Santana and Ortiz (w/Konnan and Diamante) vs. “Decay” Crazzy Steve and Abyss (w/Rosemary) vs. Angel Garza and Laredo Kid for the TNA Tag Team Championships… [c]
Jimmy Jacobs interviewed The North, the team of Josh Alexander and All Ego Ethan Page. Jacobs noted that they were wearing kiddy birthday hats and said it looked like they were going to a child’s birthday party. Page said this isn’t for a birthday, but rather a celebration of LAX leaving Impact Wrestling. Page said he sees everyone in the locker room crying, but it’s not sadness to him but rather everyone’s crying of joy. Page said even Alexander has a look of happiness. Alexander gave Jacobs an angry glare. Alexander said it’s his happy face, but he hates the kiddy hats. Page said he even brought LAX a Mexican Pinata. Page said he’s going to travel the back to find more party animals to have a fiesta. Page put one of those party blow things in Alexander’s mouth and caused him to blow it by jabbing his gut. Page said “Party time” and left while Alexander followed…
Josh Mathews and Don Callis checked in from their commentary table. Josh said he thinks The North are going a bit too far with celebrating the departure of LAX. Callis defended them by saying that The North is just celebrating one less team in the Tag Team Division. Josh hyped LAX’s final match as the main event. Josh also hyped Jessika Havok vs. Su Yung in a No-DQ match. Don Callis said he expects the women’s match to be like a car wreck were you can’t take your eyes off it. Josh advertised a Tenille Dashwood interview. Josh then hyped Brian Cage’s bachelor party and Melissa Santos’s bachelorette party…
Entrances for the non-title women’s match took place next. Josh Mathews said Taya held the title for 257 straight days to shatter the record (according to Wikipedia, Teryn Terrell and Rosemary still have longer reigns. Maybe they’re taking into account something that has to do with Tape Delay, but then Impact should have some sort of graphic or website to clarify that!)…
2. Taya Valkyrie (w/John E Bravo) vs. Alisha Edwards in a non-title match. Taya tried to dismiss Alisha as lessa but Alisha came back with a sleeper hold. Taya quickly shrugged Alisha off and the two women brawled. Suddenly Ace Austin was rolled down the ramp via wheelchair by a “medical person”. Josh wondered what Austin’s pants were. Callis said they were leopard print and Ace is allowed to wear them due to having the world by the balls. Taya hit Alisha with a surfboard curb stomp and got a two count. Callis and Josh argued over Austin’s love for married women. Callis said that it’s ok because Alisha and Eddie are “estranged”. Callis also said it’s ok because “wanting to bang someone’s wife” is a natural human emotion want “to bang”.
Alisha managed to make a comeback. Alisha hit Taya with an awful looking flatliner. John E Bravl dragged Alisha out of the ring to hit the barricade and somehow the child referee didn’t catch this. John E acted like nothing to see here. Ace Austin got out of the wheelchair and hit John E with his signature handstand PK from the apron. Don Callis acted like it was a miracle. Don Callis finally gave up and said he has to admit that Austin may be a piece of garbage now because he used a wheelchair to get over with a woman. Callis then mumbled “I may have done that once”. Taya kicked a shaken up Alisha and hit her with Road to Valhalla for the win.
Taya Valkyrie defeated Alisha Edwards via pinfall in 3:23.
Callis said Ace was valiant because he attacked John E Bravo. Josh said that Ace is a liar because he popped out of the chair. Callis yelled “THAT’S LOVE!!! THAT’S THE LOVE DRUG!!!”. Callis said the love gave Austin energy. Josh yelled that Alisha is married. Callis said that Alisha may be in a loveless marriage. Josh said “this sucks!” (Josh is not wrong with that, but the commentary and Ace are entertaining at least). Callis said God Bless Ace for liking Alisha.
Ace Austin was clapping and acting like his arm hurt. Josh said Ace is a dirt bag. Ace stumbled from the chair. Dumbass Alisha was concerned and called for the “nurse” to help Ace. Josh said someone needs to smarten up Alisha that Ace is fine (right? Tbh, I’m with Josh here. He probably doesn’t want to get yelled at by angry-ass Alisha). Josh and Don bickered over Austin to the break… [c]
John’s Thoughts: This was your usual Alisha Edwards match. Nothing much and mostly used to get over her opponent’s moves. That said, Ace Austin continues to do a great job developing this sleezebag character. For some reason, the most likable person in his program is the man who’s trying to bang someone’s wife. Mostly because he isn’t a dumbass. Another plus from this match is Don Callis’s commentary which is even more of a riot with him siding with Ace Austin (for good reason). Josh Mathews is still in a tough position because he doesn’t want to bury the angle, but it’s very hard to not do it so he has to just participate in fun banter with Callis.
The North were walking around backstage putting party hats and party favors on random people. Josh Alexander threatened to punch people who didn’t party. Page and Alexander then wanted RVD and Rhino to party in honor of LAX leaving. Rhino grabbed the Pinata, ripped it apart, and told The North “I’ll show you fun!”. This scared off The North. RVD then raised his hand and said “I…I like to party”. RVD wondered why Rhino was so mad. Rhino said “I just wanted the f–king candy!”…
John’s Thoughts: If you want to party with Rhino, you have to give him Cheese Wiz and Crackers. Either that or give the guy a Santa Suit and hot girls for him to want to bang. Seriously, Rhino is at his best when he’s a comedy goof and I like that we saw a bit of his strong comedy timing here.
Gama Singh was in the center of the ring, cutting his usual bored ass promo. This time he was introducing Mahabali Shera as the newest member of the Desi Hit Squad. He called Shera “The Indian Big Warrior” (wow, that’s like the world’s lamest name). Mahabali Shera made his entrance, flanked by Rohit Raju and Raj Singh. He was covered in random sheets. Josh said that this is a more “seasoned” Mahabali Shera (due to his time signed with WWE and their Performance Center). Shera droped the sheets. Shera, Raj, and Rohit all knelt down in front of Gama. Cody Deaner and Cousin Jake made their entrance…
3. Mahabali Shera (w/Gama Singh, Raj Singh, Rohit Raju) vs. Cody Deaner (W/Cousin Jake). Josh said it may be time to Giv’r. Shera tackled Cody to the corner right after the bell rang. Shera hit Cody with a nice working punch. He then manhandled Cody around the ring and then gave Cody a lariat. Cody tried to fight off Shera with right hands but Shera no-sold them and gave Deaner a sitdown front suplex. Shera gave Deaner a Camel Clutch on teh ropes. Jake threatened Raj and Rohit to keep them from interfering.
Cody tried to fight back and managed to get a few punches on Shera. Shera nosold the last punch. Shera went for a lariat but Cody sidestepped Shera and gave Rohit and Raj a Suicide Dive. Cody shook up Shera with a rope jawbreaker. Cody went high risk but he dove right into Shera’s right hand. Shera gave Cody a Chokeslam. Shera deadlifted Cody and hit him with a World’s Strongest Slam for the victory.
Mahabali Shera defeated Cody Deaner via pinfall in 2:46.
Shera knelt in front of Gama again after the match as all four Desi Hit Squad members celebrated Shera’s win…
John’s Thoughts: Good start. I do like that Mahabali Shera has improved A LOT since we last saw him (which isn’t saying too much because he was just so limited the last time we saw him). His old matches used to just consist of Lariat, Lariat, selling, body slam, and Sky High in some combination with his moves looking very choreographed. His one good match was against Bobby Lashley (I remember this because of it standing out). Good showcase win, but I would have had him go over a bit stronger given he’s getting the Monster-push. That said, still wait-and-see, but so far so good. And I hope they don’t go goofball because it looked like they were giving Raj Singh a monster push only to have him become a goof. Please don’t bring back the stupid “Shera Dance”! Hell No!
The next “Top LAX Moment” was LAX vs. OGz in a parking lot cinematic…
4. “The Rascalz” Dez, Wentz, and Trey vs. Ares, Toxin, and Australian Suicide. Josh Mathews called the AAA wrestlers “a cast of characters” (which lets you know they’re pointless here). The Rascalzs started the match by flipping on all three random luchadores. The Rascalz then hit the random luchadores with suicide dives. Trey hit one guy with a huracanrana, I think it was the Australian guy. Toxin and Trey brawled. Toxin is the body paint guy. Toxin gave Trey a brainbuster.
Dez hit Toxin with CQC and a cannonball. Dez and the masked luchador brawled. The masked guy gave Dez a backbreaker. Wentz gave the masked guy a corkscrew crossbody. The unmasked guy gave Wentz a flip. He gave Wentz a tilt a whirl huracanrana. Masked guy gave The Rascalz a corkscrew plancha. The long haired guy gave the Rascalz a shooting star press. Josh is not helping out, because he stopped trying to name the guys. Trey hit the masked guy with a Cheeky Nandos and Tiger FEint. Trey and Wentz hit an assisted stomp on The masked guy. THe long hair guy accidently hit the masked guy with a shooting star. Dez and Trey hit their cool looking shove Shooting Star on the long haired guy for the win.
The Rascalz beat three random luchadores from AAA via pinfall in 4:45.
The Rascalz celebrated their win heading to commercial… [c]
John’s Thoughts: A decent showcase for the Rascalz, I guess, but this is definitely worth fast forwarding through. They didn’t even bother to name the other two guys. I think the body paint guy was Toxin, but it also sounded like Josh called several guys Toxin. I think the long haired guy was Australian Suicide based off my past AAA viewing experience, but he was so forgettable there that I’m not sure. Anyway, this was decent, but fast-forward material.
Moose was walking the streets of Mexico. He mocked Ken Shamrock for opening a crappy bare knuckle fighting league. Moose talked about how Mexico is dangerous and he’s here to pick a fight. Moose called someone off screen an asshole. They cut to a different scene with Moose complaining about not finding thugs. Moose then beat up three random guys standing next to a building, complete with bad Lucha Underground music. Moose stood tall and declared himself the World’s Most Dangerous Man…
They cut to Rich Swann, Tommy Dreamer, and Brian Cage in “Vegas” for Cage’s Bachelor Party. Tommy Dreamer may or may not be horny. Cage said he has the bachelor party all set up because they’re going to “cheat” all day, “cheat” all night, and “cheat” like no one has ever before. Cage left the scene. Tommy Dreamer talked with Rich Swann about how he cheated with six girls back in his ECW days…
Jimmy Jacobs interviewed Tenille Dashwood inside of an empty arena. Jacobs called Tenille a world traveled athlete and wondered why Tenille picked Impact Wrestling to wrestle. Tenille said she hasn’t faced a lot of Knockouts and it’s new competition. Jacobs wondered if Tenille had any women in mind. Tenille brought up Madison Rayne. She brought up Tessa Blanchard and said Tessa is very similar to her (Their heel gimmicks are essentially identical, complete with the Aviator shades).
Tenille said the main focus is Taya because of Taya’s championship. Tenille brought up Taya Valkyrie’s first pro wrestling match being against Tenille (At the Lance Storm pro wrestling academy). Tenille said that match didn’t go well for Taya. Tenille said she’s done amazing things just like Taya has (uhm. No disrespect, but can anyone really name anything notable Tenille Dashwood/Emma has done? I can only remember that one time she had a great match against Paige being notable). Tenille said she’s going to make a name for herself and “everything is all about me”…
John’s Thoughts: I like the sitdown interview setting to flush out characters and Jimmy Jacobs or Melissa Santos should do more of these. What I’m a bit confused at is Tenille. She’s a babyface version of “Evil Emma”? I think? Babyface Evil Emma is very bland. Can we bring back the Bubbles? Maybe she can try something different, but we’ve seen her try many things different and nothing has reached the popularity of Bubble Emma. I really liked Evil Emma, but as a heel. Babyface Evil Emma makes no sense. And what’s this “All about me” catchphrase? Eh? Let’s wait and see, maybe it grows on us?
Jessika Havok made her entrance bringing a staple gun to the ring. Su Yung shambled to the ring as usual. Did she lose her UDMOH and bridesmaids?
5. Su Yung vs. Jessika Havok in a no-DQ match. Havok kicked Su off the apron before Su could enter the ring. Callis said it was smart to interrupt Su’s entrance routine to get an early advantage. Havok womanhandled Su around ringside. Su bit Havok’s wrist to avoid getting stapled. Su gave Havok a few kicks but couldn’t get Havok down. Su managed to get Havok down with a Knee of Justice for a one count. Su brought a cookie sheet to the ring. Havok slapped it away and sent Su outside. Su escaped getting thrown like a lawn dart.
She set up a chair ringside. Su slapped Havoc’s face into the chair. Su then Walked the barrier to hit Havok with Old School (Havok forgot to sell it for a bit). Havok escaped and tossed Su into the guard rail. Havok tried to bring a ladder in the ring, but Su drop kicked it into Havok’s face. Josh Mathews said he’s not sure who we are supposed to root for.
John’s Thoughts: No kidding! I’ll actually give it to Josh here. Even he’s not sure who to root for. It boosts his credibility when he doesn’t try to sell storylines that make no sense.
Callis said maybe we’re supposed to root for Havok but maybe not? Su gave Havok a draping Pedigree. Havok ran right into a chair in the corner. Su went for a Schoolgirl, but Havok held strong. Then Su Yung shot the staple from the staple gun into Havok’s vagina (?). Is that how I’m supposed to put it? I don’t know. Callis said “now I’ve seen it all”. Su gave Havok a shotgun dropkick. Su Yung then stapled Havok’s boob. Yep. Su Yung then exposed her bra.
John’s Thoughts: Ok, those last few or so sentences were sentences I never expected to write in a wrestling review.
Su Yung gave Havok a cannonball. Havok kicked out at one and a half. Havok pulled out her “bloody” glove. Callis said he could smell the glove. Havok fended off Su with kicks. Su Yung started convulsing. Havok kicked Su and hit Su with a Tombstone for the win.
Jessika Havok defeated Su Yung via pinfall in 6:07.
Su Yung did the Undertaker sit up after the match and gave Havok a mandible claw. Havok escaped but ran right into a ladder. The audience didn’t really care aside from a few cat calls. Su threw a chair at Havok’s face. Su and Havok then brawled to the back. They brawled for a bit in Gorilla Position then brawled to a stairwell. For some reason, they cut to some poorly edited cinematic shots. Also for some reason, they decided to add bad lucha underground music again. Also for some reason, Havok found a noose and then proceeded to hang Su Yung over the stairwell. Seemingly murdering her? Security guards pulled Su away… [c]
John’s Thoughts: Really? We’re going back to the murdering? And the bad cinematics? And the unnecessary background music? This is not how you pull in a casual audience. It only placates TNA superfans who would say anything is good. Ugh. Lucha Underground was good because it was cinematics done well and logically. Impact can’t do logic and well when it comes to Cinematics so stop! Ugh. I smell the Undead Realm coming back. Please don’t come back! At the same time, who are we supposed to cheer for again. I thought it was Havok last week, but now she just tried to murder a woman. And Josh Mathews doesn’t call the po-lice?
Josh Mathews talked in a serious tone to recap the last segment. Josh said Su Yung has been sent to a hospital and that everyone’s thoughts are with Su. Josh then said “in happier news” Cage is getting married next week…
John’s Thoughts: So Josh is like “Well, we may have just saw a murder on TV, but in happier news Cage is getting Married!”. What?
They cut to Melissa Santos’s bachelorette party. There were a bunch of random ladies and knockouts in the room. Taya brought Champagne for everyone but didn’t pour it for everyone. Taya then held a toast to herself. Suddenly a “Police Officer” entered the room about a “noise complaint”. It was the Officer Joey Ryan Character from Lucha Underground, presumably here to be a male stripper. Officer Joey Ryan started stripping as expected. Taya Valkyrie started gaging when a boxer clad Joey Ryan started to give Melissa a lap dance. Joey Ryan then poured champagne into his trunks…
Cut to Cage’s Bachelor Party. Rich Swann and Tommy Dreamer were observing Brian Cage making weird sex noises (for some reason this reminds me of the random sex noises Vampiro would make on commentary). Swann said Cage was “going hard on that”. Tommy Dreamer said this was turning him on and that Cage was impressive. Dreamer said he was never a part of this kind of “cheating”. Cage was shown in an “orgasmic” position. He then revealed he was not getting a BJ, but rather he was getting horny from trays of donuts in front of him. Apparently, donuts make Cage horny. Cage said it was his cheat day. Cage then started to talk a mile a minute, like he does in real life. Dreamer and Rich wanted to leave. Cage told them to stay because it’ll be a quickie…
John’s Thoughts: Ok, I’ll give them that one. That one got a laugh out of me. First, I really liked the Officer Joey Ryan throwback from Lucha Underground. It’s better than him doing yet another dick suplex in 2019. The Cage party also reminded me of a good Edge and Christian skit from their sketch show on the network (One that Tommy Dreamer still is a part of).
The next “Top LAX Moment” was LAX vs. OVE in Barbed Wire Massacre. The one that had to air on Twitch for some reason because they claimed Pop TV said it was “To hot for TV”… [c]
They aired another Johnny Swinger vignette. This time he hyped up his old car and interacted with the local community…
An ad aired for Ken Shamrock’s Valor Bare Knuckle Fighting league…
Josh Mathews ran through the following matches on the Bound for Glory card: Rascalz vs. Dr. Wagner Jr and two unnamed wrestlers, Moose vs. Ken Shamrock, Naomichi Marufuji vs. Michael Elgin, and Cage vs. Sami Callihan for the Impact World Championship…
6. “The Latin American XChange” Santana and Ortiz (w/Konnan) vs. Rich Swann and Willie Mack in LAX’s Impact farewell match. Josh noted that this was LAX’s Swan song, no pun intended. Right after the bell, LAX and the opposing team shared respectful handshakes. Santana and Rich started off the match. Both men traded hammerlocks. Santana escaped and did a kip up from the ground. Santana and Swann then no-sold huracanranas by using handstands. They then played a bit of footsies. More stalemate occured with them trading armdrags.
Swann and Santana then traded counters until Swann landed the first clean move, a dropkick, on Santana. Santana countered and dragged Swann to his corner. LAX then hit their tandem sentons. Ortiz hit Swann with his freefall splash for a nearfall. Ortiz locked in a Boston Crab on Swann. Ortiz joked a round a bit by doing the Thriller Dance. Swann hit Ortiz with an armdrag and tagged in Mack. Mack landed right hands on Ortiz. LAX took down a running Mack with double enzuigiris.
Santana and Ortiz went with the quick tags to work on Mack in their corner. Mack escaped and got a tag from Swann. Mack and Swann tackled Ortiz to give Swann a nearfall. Mack stopped Ortiz in his tracks with a handstand in the corner. Mack hit Ortiz with his signature Samoan Drop-Moonsault combo. [c]
Mack and Rich cut the ring in half on Angel Ortiz in their corner. After a bit of offense from Rich, Ortiz escaped a headlock with a jawbreaker and lariat on Rich. Mack knocked Santana off the apron to prevent the hot tag. Mack and Rich went back to the isolation game. Ortiz leap frogged Rich and gave Mack a DDT for a window of opportunity. Ortiz got the hot tag and cleaned house. He hit Mack with a high angle high knee followed by a claymore. Ortiz got the blind tag to allow LAX to hit Rich with a surprise flapjack backbreaker. This got a two count.
Callis noted that Rich Swann and Willie Mack aren’t exactly an experienced tag team. Mack caught a flying Santana which allowed Rich Swann to follow up with a blockbuster on Santana while he was in the hands of Mack. Ortiz broke up the subsequent pin. All four men traded fatigued strikes. Mack hit Santana with a Belly to Belly. Ortiz hit Mack with a Dragon Screw. Rich hit Ortiz with a hanging DDT. Santana blocked Swann’s Lethal Injection with a sitout bomb and all four men were left lying in the ring.
Once they all recovered LAX hit Swann with a two power bombs. The second bomb was onto Ortiz’s knees. An “Este Lucha” (this is wrestling) chant ensued. Swann escaped a Street Sweeper attempt. Swann kicked and gave Santana a Frankensteiner. Mack hit Santana with a Frog Splash. Santana kicked out of Swann’s pin and Callis noted that it took a while for Rich to the cover which is why Santana kicked out. Santana fended off both opponents with slaps and pump kicks. LAX showed a bit of agility but Mack and Swann hit stereo superkicks on LAX.
Mack and Swann hit rapid fire strikes on Santana. Rich then nailed Santana with a Lethal Injection. Mack hit Santana with the Stone Cold Stunner. Swann hit Santana with a Phoenix Splash. Mack hit Santana with a Five Star Frog Splash for the victory.
Willie Mack and Rich Swann defeated The Latin American XChange via pinfall in 16:29 of TV Time in LAX’s final Impact Wrestling match.
Konnan joined all four wrestlers in the ring. Ortiz gave Mack and Swann hugs. Mack and Swann helped Santana to his feet. The Babyface locker room entered the ring to pay respects to LAX. The babyface roster then held up LAX in the air as LAX’s entrance music played to close the show…
Oh, crap. But wait? There’s more. Impact decided to do a Lucha Underground post-credit stinger cinematic. This one was in a hospital. Speaking of Rich Swann, his wife Su Yung was on a hospital bed. Doctors tried to resuscitate Su Yung but to no success. Su Yung flatlined. After a little bit of time, Su Yung suddenly woke up and was alive again. This closed out Impact with the Impact signature…
John’s Thoughts: Let’s just pretend like the ending cinematic didn’t exist. Moving along, that was a really good last match for LAX. It was your usual LAX match and usually LAX matches are amazing. A part of me really wishes it was LAX vs. OVE because because that would have been a fun throwback, but you can’t complain too much with LAX vs. the two guys who have been anchoring the Impact main event scene while Cage has been out. While they didn’t try anyting too fancy in the end, a little bit of a tear of joy emerge from me in the end. One can argue that Modern LAX is Impact Wrestling’s biggest success story. Maybe EC3, but they kinda botched him in the end too. LAX was a lot more wholesome. This was great.
Overall, a pretty good episode. I felt like it was dragged down a bit with the terrible Su Yung cinematic attempts, but otherwise it was a fine episode. In fact, I would have done away with the bad cinematics and just put in more LAX stuff. Why not? I would have had some of the babyfaces give some of their favorite LAX memories or matches. Just go all in on this LAX episode. They went about 25% in, in terms of dediating the show to LAX, but that was fine too.
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