By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling TV
Taped July 19-20 in Nashville, Tennessee at Skyway Studios
Aired July 28, 2020 on AXS TV
Impact started off with a “Previously on…” recap of last week’s show…
Josh Mathews and Madison Rayne were on commentary…
1. Eddie Edwards vs. Trey Miguel for the Impact World Heavyweight Championship. The commentators are calling Trey “Trey Miguel” now, but are also talking about how he’s acting like a more serious wrestler now. Eddie and Trey started off with a collar and elbow lockup. Trey kept Eddie under control for the opening minutes. Trey then hit Eddie with a bulldog on Trey’s knee. Trey did a cool looking handstand into a headscissors into a dropkick leading to a one count. Eddie regained control with an atomic drop and Belly to Belly.
Eddie went for several quick pins on Trey for one counts. Trey and Eddie ended up knocking each other out heading into commercial.[c]
Trey and Eddie traded strong style punches in the center of the ring (I kinda miss Michael Elgin’s strong style exchanges where the punches look a bit more snug). Eddie blocked a Come Up Stunner, but Trey reversed the reversal and then nailed Eddie with the Come Up Stunner for the two count. Eddie reversed Trey’s dive into a flapjack. Trey reversed a Tiger Driver into a huracanrana. Eddie recovered and hit Trey with a Tiger Driver for a two count. After an exchange, Eddie nailed Trey with the Boston Knee Party for the victory.
Eddie Edwards defeated Trey Miguel via pinfall in 10:22.
Quickly after Eddie’s victory, World Class Maniac Eric Young made his entrance to confront Eddie. Young teased entering the ring, but he backtracked telling Eddie to “sleep well” and that he’ll do things on “my time”…
John’s Thoughts: A really good opening match. Trey looked good and putting in good performances like this will do him well in the future when Impact decides to get behind him. He seems to be on that AJ Styles/Christopher Daniels path of being a future star (where in the past Jeff Jarrett was pushing Dezmond Xavier of the Rascalz as the future main eventer). I’m willing to see how the reboot of Eddie Edwards goes. The guy has to be rebuilt after two years of acting like Perry Saturn’s Moppy phase. So far, so good. Eddie’s been playing it straight for the last few weeks. The next step, the guy should probably shave and trim his hair. There wasn’t a problem visually with American Wolf Eddie right? His problem back then was his confidence and body language and he’s conquered that.
Josh Mathews and Madison Rayne checked in from their commentary set where they ran through upcoming segments. Josh Mathews advertised Katie Forbes giving a “free preview” of her website’s photos later on this show. He also said “Wrestle House” was premiering…
They cut to the “Wrestle House” show. There was cheesy sitcom music in the background. Rosemary and Taya were chatting. Taya said she had enough and was going to leave. Taya tried to leave but she walked into a “wall of fire” where stock footage of WWE Producer Abyss was trying to hand her a bag of tacks. After more bantering between the wrestlers they cut to a TV Sitcom Intro for the show.
Alisha Edwards was shocked to find out that they were in a reality show. Tommy Dreamer introduced himself as the “voice” of Wrestle House. Dreamer revealed that it was his house. Larry D wondered if it was the House of Hardcore. Dreamer said it wasn’t because he used his ECW checks before they bounced to buy it. More banter ensued…[c]
John’s Thoughts: I’m afraid that the creative team will get a bit too cute, especially with the Rosemary “magic”, but so far I’m liking what I’m seeing. I always like me some Reality-TV Dreamer. Which has me wondering, Dreamer’s backstage comedy skits are usually good ones. I hope he’s the one creatively running this because he brings over the humor that he would do on the Edge and Christian Show of Awesomeness. Ultimately, I hope this is close to the Edge and Christian Show because while it had a rough start, that show ended up being pretty entertaining.
An ad aired for Talking Shop A Mania, which is The Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson wrestling special on Fite TV. The headline match is supposedly the “Boner Yard Match”. They showed Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, and Maria Kanellis recreating their famous New Japan scene where they all stopped their match against the Kingdom to dance with Maria (this was back when New Japan had the Maria Kanellis ass cam and the overly horny Japanese color commentator)…
The show cut back to Wrestle House. Team XXXL and The Deaners were arguing. Susie Yung got in between them and told them that arguments are bad and they should call a truce. Cousin Jake said no way jose to that. Dreamer cut in and said “we didn’t sign him” (there’s that E&C kayfabe humor). Kylie Rae recommended that they air high five to make the truce with social distancing. Johnny Swinger said that he learned you can bow like Mr. Fuji to shake hands with social distance. Everyone but Cousin Jake agreed to the truce. Susie told Jake to agree “for me”. Jake reluctantly gave in.
They cut back to Taya and Rosemary. Taya wondered the reason why everyone was here. Dreamer cut in and said that everyone is here for the opportunity to win a Million Dollars. Everyone celebrated with Dreamer doing a DX crotch chop. Rosemary yelled and telled everyone that it wasn’t true. Dreamer insisted that it was true. Dreamer said he makes the rules and he usually makes income off this six bedroom house off AirBNB. The bedroom revelation caused the wrestlers to all sprint to claim their beds. Kylie and Susie were being too polite with their bed, which caused Johnny Swinger to take his bed.
Johnny Swinger offered Crazzy Steve to be his bed mate and young boy (as in the Japanese wrestling term). Steve disagreed and said he wasn’t desperate. Swinger called Steve a Mizzark. More comedy antics ensued with the wrestlers claiming beds. Steve and Acey tried to claim the ring as a bed. Dreamer called for a “Match time” when both men entered the ring in the back yard. Suddenly through the power of magic, Acey and Steve were in their ring gear. Kylie agreed to be the referee.
2. Acey Romero vs. Crazzy Steve where the winner gets to claim the ring as a bed. I’m recapping this match because they cut away from cinematic camera to a regular handheld. Steve tried to agree to split the ring in half. Romero then chased Steve around the ring as Steve struck sleeping poses. Romero then tossed Steve across the ring. Steve then fooled Ace into gassing himself out. Steve tried to agree to a truce again, but Ace hit Steve with a Atomic Drop into a Sleeper for the tapout win.
Acey Romero defeated Crazzy Steve via submission.
Johnny Swinger said he was proud of his young boy doing good work. The show cut away from the Wrestle House…
John’s Thoughts: Mixed thoughts, but ultimately I thought it was fun. I kinda like that they took the Lucha Underground approach of doing cinematics during cutscenes, and traditional in-ring. Sadly the in-ring here was a comedy indie match. No fault of the producers, but not quite what I was hoping for. As for the comedy, I thought it was solid and Dreamer is definitly bringing over some of his Edge and Christian Show influence to this “cinematic” production.
Rohit Raju ran into TJ Perkins and Fallah Bahh backstage. Bahh handed Raju a surgical mask. Raju was a bit disgusted because it came from Bahh’s hand, but he put the mask on. Perkins forced Raju to wear a neck gaiter. Bahh forced Raju to stand six feet away. Raju tried to tempt TJ Perkins to join the X Division again for some reason. Perkins said he would consider it.
TJ’s answer caused Chris Bey to run off and find Chris Bey. Raju tried to convince Bey that TJ Perkins was coming after Chris Bey’s title and that Bey might need backup to counter Fallah Bahh in the other corner. Bey agreed to let Raju be in his corner when he faces Perkins. The show then cut to an Ozzy Osbourne Travel Show commercial (which tells you I’m not watching via screener this week)…[c]
Gia Miller interviewed Ace Austin and Madman Fulton (I think Gia and Ace are a real life couple?). Ace cut off Gia during her question. Ace talked about two new guys showing up in his ring and cheap shotting him. Ace said the Good Brothers are trying to get their attention and Ace and Fulton are about to look very closely at the Good Brothers vs. Reno Scum match…
A highlight package aired which showcased the TNA career of Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley, the Motor City Machine Guns…
Ethan Page and Josh Alexander were trying to cut a promo backstage. Alexander yelled at Page a bit for being silent. Alexander talked about how the reason is because they’re missing their championship belts. Alexander said The North are as smart as they are talented. Alexander brought up the rematch clause they have as former champions. Page took off his glasses and was about to speak, but instead he pouted a bit and walked off…
This week’s Impact Plus Flashback Match of the week was The Motor City Machine Guns vs. Beer Money Inc. for the TNA Tag Titles from TNA Victory Road 2010. There were multiple referees in the ring for some reason (because it’s TNA?). Somehow, this match ended with both referees counting three counts against the other team. The Hebners agreed to restart the match. They aired about 5 minutes and the Guns won…
John’s Thoughts: I mean, there’a a lot of great Guns finishes in TNA history. And the one they decide to show is the overbooked “Only in TNA” one? They have a lot of returning viewers. I don’t think this is too harmful, but why would you remind returning viewers of some of the reasons they left (this being the illogical overbooked finishes).
Katie Forbes was hanging onto Rob Van Dam, running through some of the photos she’s going to show viewers…[c]
John’s Thoughts: I mean, I get that sex does sell if sold right; but this is just straight up trash and trashy. Didn’t they learn from when they both didn’t increase their popularity many times in the past, even so much as to getting their show banned on Twitch.
The show cut back to EC3 cutting a promo in front of his usual brick wall. He talked about having the longest undefeated streak in TNA history. He then bragged about beating TNA hall of famers in the past. His old theme played for a few seconds and cut off. EC3 said he doesn’t care about any of that. He said he’s destroying all of his history. EC3 talked about how he hates his past and when he looks in the mirror he sees failure.
He said he didn’t fail in his career, but to get to his past successes he had to give up his soul. He said he doesn’t fear his past, because his past is his biggest foe. EC3 said he’s here for the distruction of his past. EC3 said in order to take back his power he must control the narrative…
John’s Thoughts: Another good EC3 promo, but I still have my fears. The production and the delivery is strong. What I fear is the content. It’s borderline pretentious without crossing the line into pretentious (a little bit of street-preacher in there). There is a level of being mopey and self hating. I’m willing to wait on this though, because I have confidence that he pulls it all together. I’m guessing we’ll have to wait and see how this unfolds.
Gia Miller interviewed Moose backstage. Moose bragged about beating the “Panda boy” Fallah Bahh. Moose claimed to beat Bahh in 30 seconds and Gia Miller tried to correct him. Moose said he was throwing out another invitational for the TNA Championship. Miller asked Moose for his thoughts on EC3. Moose said EC3 wasn’t getting an invitation because Moose doesn’t want to conquer EC3’s narrative yet. Heath [Slater] interrupted the interview saying he has an invitation. Slater claimed to have a TNA contract.
Moose said there is no committee. Heath pointed out that because there’s no committee, then there’s no TNA, and no TNA championship. An angry Moose agreed to give Heath a “title shot” next week. Moose left. Scott D’Amore walked up to Heath and said Heath’s contract in hand is as legitamate as something written by “Heyman & Heyman law offices”. D’Amore said since Heath conned Moose into a match, that if Heath beats Moose he can get a roster spot…
John’s Thoughts: Now a part of me likes the hook, but a part of me is really wondering why they are recreating the Heath Slater and Shane McMahon free agent storyline with D’Amore playing the role of Shane McMahon? He might even be using the same lines that Shane used in 2016? Are we going to get Rhino eating Cheese Whiz and Crackers in two weeks? This is kinda making me want to see Heath go back to WWE and continue his program with Drew McIntyre, just for some fresh Heath.
3. Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. Kimber Lee in a non-title match. Lee pummeled Purrazzo early on with forearms. Lee then hit Purrazzo with a huracanrana. Purrazzo rolled to ringside for a moment of respite. Lee caught Deonna in the ring with a pump kick for a two count. Lee used her legs to lock Purrazzo in a Full Nelson. Lee then locked Purrazzo in a body scissors submission. Deonna recovered and then stompped a mudhole at Deonna in the corner.
Josh Mathews said that Kylie Rae can’t challenge for the title because she’s stuck at wrestle house. Both women traded strikes with Deonna getting the upper hand. Lee avoided Purrazzo’s Fujiwara armbar. Lee gave Purrazzo a German Suplex for a two count. Purrazzo dragged Lee off the top rope and hit Lee with the Sacrifice Arm Breaker. Deonna locked in the Fujiwara armbar for the submission win.
Deonna Purrazzo defeated Kimber Lee via submission in 5:28.
Deonna’s entrance theme was interrupted by Jordynne Grace’s generic entrance theme. Jordynne Grace made her entrance with an arm in a sling. Grace entered the ring and then beat up Deonna after revealing her arm wasn’t injured…
John’s Thoughts: Solid showcase match for the new champion and it looks like Kimber Lee will probably be designated as the gatekeeper wrestler moving forward, given the deep depth chart of Impact’s women’s division now. Simple and effective stuff with Purrazzo and Grace afterwards. Given how Grace vs. Purrazzo was arguably the match of the night at Slammiversary, I wouldn’t mind a Grace vs. Purrazzo rematch at Bound for Glory? Maybe sooner (but they had Josh go out of his way to say that Kylie Rae is “stuck in Wrestle House” to explain why Kylie isn’t challenging for the title).
Katie Forbes ran into Sami Callihan backstage. Callihan said he is a former world champ. Forbes walked away, joking that Callihan looked like a fan…[c]
A Talking Shop A Mania ad aired, featuring characters from Southpaw Regional wrestling…
A Brian Myers re-debut vignette aired…
They cut back to Wrestle House. Swinger joked that he stunk up the bathroom and then reoffered Crazzy Steve a chance to share a bed and be his young boy. Steve did a creepy laugh and said it would be a great idea. They cut to The Deaners in a room. Jake was on the bed while Cody slept on the floor. They bantered over snooring. Tommy Dreamer emerged from Jake’s comforter and proposed another match time. Jake wondered if it’s today, Dreamer asked for them to do it in the morning.
Cut to the morning…
4. Cousin Jake vs. Cody Deaner in a Wrestle House match. Alisha Edwards was referee. Both Deaners continued to argue over the snoring. Cody bowed to try to call for a truce. Jake agreed and Cody tried to roll up Jake for a two count. Cody then beat up Jake around the ring. Jake countered Cody with an Irish Whip into a leaping front hip attack. Jake put on Cody’s hat and turned it. Jake hit Cody with a lariat for a two count. Cody hit Jake with a series of punches. Jake hit Cody with a sitout sidewalk slam for the victory.
Cousin Jake defeated Cody Deaner via pinfall in about 3:00.
Alisha Edwards claimed she didn’t know which Deaner so she called Jake “A Deaner”. Jake and Cody then agreed on a truce.They cut back into cinematic mode where Cody was happy when he walked in front of a production RV trailer (or Private Bus?)…[c]
John’s Thoughts: We didn’t need two wrestle house segments this week. Someone in Impact’s editing team needs to learn restraint, and lack of restraint usually leads to some sharks jumping. And can somebody give Cousin Jake another gimmick. The guy has a good look and exhibits great ability, but he’s saddled with the country stereotype gimmick. I don’t want a big man version of Rohit Raju running around too (lots of talent, but pegged as a comedy jobber)!
Sami Callihan ran into Ken Shamrock backstage. Callihan wanted Shamrock’s explanation for losing their Slammiversary match. Shamrock acted biwildered and said he has to go and doesn’t know when he’ll be back. Shamrock left. Katie Forbes then pointed at Sami to RVD saying that Sami was creeping on her. RVD told Sami to hip his distance away from Katie. Katie and Rob left after Sami blew them off…
Rob Van Dam and Katie Forbes made their entrance. Forbes had her stripper money guns. Josh kept hyping up Katie’s “Free.99 preview”. Katie then plugged her website and said she’s showing off things tonight for free.99. Katie’s photos then flashed on the screen, except with Sami Callihan’s face and voiceover over it. After the slideshow, Katie threw a fit. Josh Mathews hyped Good Brothers vs. Reno Scum for after the break…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Uhm? Did somebody let Vince McMahon book some segments for Impact? Either that or Scott D’Amore and Vince have the same sense of humor. I get that feeling sometimes. Anyway, what was that? Why? I’m a fan of good ol’ fan service just like any red blooded American male, but this is just trash at several levels. Didn’t they get banned from Twitch for this trash? And I didn’t need the image of Sami Callihan with a stripper body. So this is how we’re kicking off Sami’s babyface run? The guy was the MVP of Impact for the last two years and now in 2020 he’s a magic hacker and a stripper. Damn 2020.
An Impact Plus Ad aired…
Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz are back to the 70s show segments. Dez said he invited a power ranger, in suicide. Wentz said Suicide is not a power ranger (I agree). Suicide joined the smoke circle. They did a weed smoking montage…
Josh Mathews and Madison Rayne checked in from their commentary set. They advertised Rohit Raju and Chris Bey vs. Bahh and Perkins, Moose vs. Heath for the TNA belt, a MCMG interview, and Eddie Edwards vs. a mystery opponent for the TNA title…
Josh Mathews then interviewed Rich Swann via skype. Rich Swann said he’s disappointed after being on the couch for 7 months, making his return challenging for the world championship only to get put back on the shelf. Swann said Young took away Swann’s opportunity and may have changed Swann’s life. Rayne asked Swann for a medical update. Swann said the doctors are telling him too many things, so much that he’s in a dark place now. Swann said he’ll be by next week with an update for the fans. Swann said he can’t handle it anymore and asked if Josh can end the interview now. Josh agreed…
Entrances for the main event match took place. But before then they cut to commercials featuring the the Ozzyborne travel show…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Hey, last time I was reviewing via AXS it was all Eddie Money commercials, now it’s Ozzy. Anyway, I think Rich Swann has the chance to cut one hell of a promo next week. Key with that is hopefully he drops the Lionel Richie tribute act, at least for one week. Swann showed in his feud with Sami Callihan that the guy can be a main event badass. Swann, despite being a lot smaller, reminds me of babyface Dean Ambrose in WWE (not necessarily the more edgy John Moxley), and that’s not a bad thing. That man was world champ.
The show cut back with 9 minutes left at the top of the hour…
5. “The Good Brothers” Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. “Reno Scum” Adam Thornstowe and Luster the Legend. Karl Anderson and Adam F’n Thornstowe started off the match. Anderson ended up taking donw Thornstowe with a shoulder tackle. Thornstowe tried to run the ropes, but he was taken down by another tackle. Gallows tagged in and threw Kane like boxing punches in the corner. Gallows hit Thornstowe with a series of elbows. The Good Brothers traded tags to work on and keep Adam under control.
Ace Austin showed up at the top of the ramp where he took a seet. That allowed Luster to tag in and body slam Adam onto Anderson. Reno Scum traded tags and worked on Anderson for a bit. Anderson got a window of opportunity after hitting Thornstowe with a spinebuster. Gallows cleaned house off the hot tag. Anderson tagged back in. The Brothers hit Thornstowe with a Magic Killer for the victory.
The Good Brothers defeated Reno Scum via pinfall in 6:29.
Ace Austin distracted the Brothers which allowed Reno Scum to blindside Gallows and Anderson. Gallows and Anderson quickly dispatched Reno Scum (how ineffective are these guys?). Ace distracted Gallows and Anderson again to allow Madman Fulton to blindside them. Fulton actually cleared Gallows and Anderson from the ring. Ace and Fulton brawled with Gallows and Anderson to the back. Josh said they need to send a camera to follow the brawl.
They cut to the back where the two teams were still brawling. Gallows dumped Ace into a pile of cardboard boxes. Ace recovered and both teams brawled to the parking lot. The show cut away right before Gallows went for a big boot on Fulton…
John’s Thoughts: I’m happy that local California Bay Area Team Reno Scum got to make the main event on AXS, but I also understand that these guys are best utilized as enhancement guys for the stars (I do hope that Thornstowe in particular gets a singles run one day though. I got to see that guy have great feuds with people like Jeff Cobb, Brian Cage, Rich Swann, Drake Younger, Jacob Fatu, and other cali standouts. His only weakness is his cartoony promos). Anyway good showcase for the former Bullet Club members. Gallows and Anderson look way more of a big deal in three Impact weeks than they’ve had in their entire WWE run. The only thing I’m not a huge fan of is Ace Austin seemingly being setup as the sacrificial lamb for the debut of the Good Brothers.
Whenever they head to the next set of tapings, I really hope they right ship and do something similar to what Jason Powell proposed last week several times, that they push Ace Austin as the new Fergal Devitt. Anderson and Gallows have been in teams with Devitt and Devitt’s successors (AJ Styles, Kenny Omega, and Cody Rhodes). That sets up Ace as a future main eventer if they go that route. I can also see Ace add a level of menacing to him similar to what they did in New Japan with white meat happy-go-lucky Fergal Devitt to the edgy and quirky leader of Bullet Club.
This week’s show was solid, but I thought that the editing wasn’t too great. It seemed like there were less matches and too much Wrestle House which made way for a comedy Rascalz smoke circle and a dud Katie Forbes segment? Wrestle House wasn’t bad, but it looked like they squeezed two weeks of Wrestle House into one week of show to the point of immediate oversaturation. Everything else pretty much set up a few new programs and new characters. The best part of this show was definitely Eddie Edwards vs. Trey Miguel and it was a good first step in Eddie rehabbing his character.
Wrestle House and trashy Katie Forbes are just further proof that Impact is still run by morons. There’s a reason why they only get 150k viewers every week.