By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling TV
Taped in Nashville, Tennessee at Skyway Studios
Aired January 26, 2021 on AXS TV
Highlights from last week’s Impact show aired followed by the intro theme…
Matt Striker and D’Lo Brown were on commentary…
Rich Swann danced his way to the ring for the show-opening promo. Swann talked about how he worked hard all his life to be a pro wrestler and how that all paid off in making him the Impact World Champion today. Swann said he didn’t realize that being a champion would put such a target on his back. Swann said he fights hard and he’s not here to complain. Swann said he actually has different business today. Swann called out Tommy Dreamer.
Swann said that February 13 is both the day of the Impact Plus “No Surrender” show, but February 13 was also Tommy Dreamer’s birthday. Swann talked about how Dreamer has done so much for the industry and the locker room. Swann brought up Dramer never surrendering when he wrestled in ECW. Swann then asked Dreamer if he could defend his title against Dreamer at No Surrender. Striker noted that Dreamer’s win-loss record doesn’t warrant a title match, but his record as a human being might warrant it.
Sami Callihan made his entrance, saying that Tommy Dreamer is continuing to politic his way into matches while Rich Swann continues to embarrass the company by losing to people like Kenny Omega. Sami said he lost his match at Hard to Kill too, but at least he didn’t embarrass Impact. Sami talked about how he deserves a world title shot. Chris Bey then interrupted. Chris Bey said that Februrary 13 is his Birth-“Bey” and he should be challenging for the title. Moose made his entrance. Moose said it’s odd that everyone is afraid to challenge for his TNA toy belt.
Moose noted that Bey and Callihan never beat Moose. Moose then brought up beating the hell out of Willie Mack to get a future title shot at the world title. Swann noted that Swann did give Moose a title shot, but it was Moose who didn’t accept the match last week. Swann said the match was already set and they are doing things on Swann’s time as opposed to Moose’s time. A brawl ensued between the faces and babyfaces. Willie Mack ran out to give the face team the numbers advantage. Mack hit Bey and Callihan with stunners. Mack hit Moose with a Thesz Press. The heels then backtracked up the ramp.
Sami Callihan’s hacker graphics flashed. Suddenly, Ken Shamrock “teleported” behind the babyface team. The heels ran back in the ring and put the boots to the faces. The heels stood tall to close the segment with Sami Callihan’s theme playing…[c]
John’s Thoughts: I totally agree with Big Money Matt last week in saying that Impact’s obsession with “teleportation” is F’n Stupid. Joking aside, this was your usual WWE Smackdown Circa-2010 show opening promo that usually leads to a Teddy Long classic tag team match. Nothing much more than that. Well, they did all that to announce Rich Swann vs. Tommy Dreamer at Impact Plus. I actually wouldn’t mind that match, but Impact is really just throwing out Rich Swann title matches out there with no fanfare. On top of that, I think that Impact is sinking costs into loading up the Impact Plus shows when their weekly themed shows were so much more focused and overall better. This puts them in the odd position to book a PPV for their hardcore fans, forcing them to awkwardly rush towards their own PPV. I really think Impact needs to go back to popping ratings by theming Impact on AXS with the TNA-PPV titles.
Gia Miller caught up with Mack, Swann, and Dreamer. Swann was pissed off. Dreamer cut in and cut a promo saying that he wants a match with the four men that attacked him. Swann said they were marching to D’Amore’s office to demand a match. D’Amore showed up when Swann knocked on the door. D’Amore said he’s okay with making this match but Swann’s team is outnumbered 4-to-3. D’Amore then said he had someone who can fill the last slot in his office. Swann, Mack, and Dreamer all looked excited to see the mystery person, who was off screen…
Matt Striker and D’Lo Brown checked in from the commentary set where they ran through the advertised segments for this week’s Impact episode. They also noted that this week Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz were hosting their “Fire and Flava Fest” (a pun off Kiera’s wrestling name and the Fyre Festival). D’Lo noted that Matt Hardy and Private Party were at Skyway. Striker announced The Good Brothers vs. Private Party (w/Matt Hardy) for the Impact Plus No Surrender…
John’s Thoughts: What?!? So they are wasting their big crossover match for the Impact Plus show? Again, Gallows and Anderson vs. Kassidy and Quen could have drawn people to AXS/Twitch on the weekly edition whereas Impact Plus is a tough sell to the general public that has less disposable income these days to be spending on more streaming services (You’re actually seeing many streaming services start to consolidate these days due to the economic climate of the world). This seems to be counter-productive and a waste of the AEW-Impact crossover appeal. I honestly hope I’m wrong, but I usually have a good sense about business like this.
The artist formerly known as Zack Ryder, Matt Cardona, made his entrance. His entrance music sounds like (and I confirmed this via YouTube) it was done by the band Downstait!
John’s Thoughts: What’s up with all WWE wrestlers that showed up between 2005-2015 having this obsession with the band “Downstait”? I personally thought some of their themes were solid (Like Miz’s “I came to play”, or Ryder’s “Oh Radio”). Meanwhile, Cody Rhodes’s current Downstait theme is not that good. I’m sure Jason Powell has his own opinion on Downstait given that they’ve sung his “favorite” current theme in all of pro wrestling, Dolph Ziggler’s “I’m here to show the world”. I kid! I kid!
1. Matt Cardona and “The Walking Weapon” Josh Alexander vs. Ace Austin and Madman Fulton. Fulton used his size to block Alexander’s chain wrestling. Ace tagged in and picked up where Fulton left off. Alexander turned the tables with a spinebuster on Ace. Cardona tagged in and hit Ace with a flapjack. Cardona gave Ace a lariat to ringside. Cardona hit Ace and Fulton with an assisted flip dive.[c]
Ace caught Alexander with a slingshot neckbreaker for a two count. Ace then worked on Alexander with methodical offense to cut the ring in half on Alexander. Fulton tagged in and hit Alexander with a standing leg sweep for the two count. Matt Striker then talked about how Fulton must have a unique Endocrine system to get all that size. D’Lo then implied that Fulton was a cerebral wrestler. Ace and Fulton worked on Alexander for a stretch.
Alexander managed to tag in Cardona who cleaned house. Cardona hit Ace with a Missile Dropkick and corner lariat. Cardona hit Fulton with a wrecking ball kick. Cardona hit Ace with a slingshot splash. Fulton broke up the pin attempt by Cardona. Fulton dragged Ace to his corner to tag himself in. Fulton slammed Cardona’s head into the buckles. Alexander and Fulton brawled. Ace tried to backdrop Cardona, but the elevation allowed Cardona to hit Fulton with a Ruff Ryder Leg Lariat. Cardona pinned Fulton for the win.
Matt Cardona and Josh Alexander defeated Madman Fulton and Ace Austin via pinfall in 6:26 of on-air time.
Matt Cardona’s Downstait theme played as Cardona and Alexander held their hands up in victory…
John’s Thoughts: A well-worked tag match, but I would like to see both of these babyfaces with more developed characterization in their later matches. Alexander could really use a vignette or two since he is in need of a repackage coming off his run with Ethan Page. Matt Cardona at this point feels like he’s Zack Ryder just making a cameo in Impact as opposed to being his own man (this is reinforced by his short stint in AEW). I like that Fulton took the pin, because it protects Ace, but at the same time Impact really needs to separate Ace and Fulton from the bottom of the card because Ace in particular is the closest thing they have to a homegrown star with tons of main event potential. As solid as people like Zack Ryder, Heath Slater, and Curt Hawkins are (Ironically, the “Stars of WWE Superstars”), Ace is money and someone they should be banking their future on.
This week’s Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the week was “Cold-Blooded” Matt Hardy making his TNA debut entrance…
Rohit Raju was shown talking to someone off screen, hyping him up as a person that can take Rohit back to the top of the X Division…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Hmmm? Interesting? Is Rohit getting his own Madman Fulton? Sounds good to me. Rohit is also someone Impact should be banking on as a future pillar of this company. Can we also repackage Cousin Jake? Jake reminds me of Drew McIntyre in 3MB.
Tony Schiavone and Tony Khan checked in for their weekly Tony and Tony AEW paid advertisement. Khan gave Schiavone a touch on the back and they both talked about how they missed each other and care about each other after being separated on Impact last week. Khan said he cares about wrestling fans unlike Don Callis which is why he is making Dynamite the number one destination for wrestling fans. Khan said he’s treating Impact like a fantasy league. Khan then bragged about Private Party getting a title shot at the Impact tag titles.
Khan also talked about how Gallows and Anderson are wrestling on Impact tomorrow. Schiavone then ran through the Dynamite card. Khan hyped the Good Brothers appearing next week at the Beach Break show. The Tony’s plugged the ticket website to get tickets to the show…
Matt Cardona and Josh Alexander ran into Brian Myers backstage leading to the latest reunion of the former Edge Heads. Myers said that Alexander could have been his tag partner but Alexander settled for Myers’s “Janetty” in Cardona. Myers told Cardona to welcome to Impact while he goes out to beat Eddie Edwards. Brian Myers then made his entrance…
3. Brian Myers vs. Eddie Edwards. Eddie dominated in the early chain wrestling segment. Eddie hit Myers with a dive at ringside. Myers turned the tables after tossing Eddie’s injured shoulder into the buckle. D’Lo noted that the tape on Eddie’s shoulder was a bullseye. Myers worked on Eddie with methodical offense. Myers continued to target Eddie’s injured shoulder. Striker noted that there’s a lot of random new people showing up like Rohit’s mystery associate. Strike noted that Impact might have a Lex Luger at the Mall of America moment.
Eddie caught Myers with a Backpack Stunner. Myers came back with a Pele Kick and Flatliner for a two count. Myers teased the Edge Spear (which Myers never hits, but is a nice ode to his old stable leader). Eddie blocked the Edge Spear with a thumb to Brian’s eye. Brian Hebner disqualified Eddie for continuing the eye poke along with Eddie biting Brian’s head.
Brian Myers defeated Eddie Edwards via DQ in 6:12.
Brian Myers’s head was bleeding after the match to sell Eddie’s bite. Striker said Eddie Edwards is the only person in Impact proudly waving the Impact flag while a lot of bad people are running around. (in what sounded like an overdub) Striker said that after biting Brian’s flesh, Eddie could be considering becoming the “Old Eddie Edwards” (The hell is Striker talking about?)…
John’s Thoughts: Good match bell-to-bell, but the finish has me fearing that “Crazy Eddie” is here to stay in the foreseeable future. That said, Striker’s commentary after the match was very confusing because it was hard to really follow. “Old Eddie Edwards”? I hope we get back there. I don’t remember ROH Eddie biting people in the head in goofy fashion.
Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz were chatting backstage. Kiera said they were worried because the only people that bought tickets to their festival were the ugly people. Johnny Swinger and three women passed by Kiera and Tasha. Kiera told Tasha that she just thought up a terrible idea…[c]
Big Money Matt Hardy was shown hyping up his clients Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen. Hardy took credit for the victory. Quen and Kassidy talked about how they deserve more credit because they put in the work. Hardy said it was good that they decided to hook both legs for the finish. Hardy then said that Private Party needs to both win at No Surrender and in an upcoming number one contenders match for the AEW Tag Titles. Hardy said he was putting a bounty out on the Young Bucks. Private Party didn’t want to be associated with any sports bounties.
Hardy said he’ll reword it as “bonus”. Hardy then started talking percentages of money he’ll end up getting from Private Party. Hardy then said it was time to focus and time for Private Party to start winning…
Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb with a K made their entrances. Striker noted that pride has made Dashwood look unattractive and how being an Instagram influencer has gotten to Tenille’s head. Rosemary and Crazzy Steve made their entrances next. Dave Penzer noted that Rosemary and Steve were a part of “Decay”. Steve was doing his old Decay manerisms as opposed to being the goofy carnival clown…
John’s Thoughts: Seeing old-Decay make their entrance just gave me a bit of goosebumps. Those guys (and Abyss) were so damn good as a unit! I know Impact is teasing us and will make start making Steve a clown and Rosemary shoot lightning in no time. I know this (and hope they give up on that hokey crap). Rosemary was also more realistic, being the badass goth chick instead of the cartoon witch she started playing once Jimmy Jacobs got control of creative.
3. Tenille Dashwood (w/Kaleb Konley) vs. Rosemary (w/Crazzy Steve). Rosemary hit Dashwood with a Sidewalk Slam. Kaleb distracted the referee so Tenille could hit Rosemary with an uppercut from a camera case. Dashwood then beat up Rosemary. Kaleb tossed Rosemary in the ring leading to a Dashwood two count. Rosemary hit Dashwood with a Tarantula Stretch. Rosemary missed a missile dropkick. Dashwood hit Rosemary with an Emma Mite Sandwich for a two count.
Matt Striker randomly gave random facts on January 26 and pro wrestling while Dashwood was working on Rosemary. Rosemary turned the tables by hitting Dashwood with lariats and a Sling Blade. Rosemary hit Dashwood with an Exploder. Dashwood used an STO to knock Rosemary into the buckle. Rosemary hit Dashwood with the Wing Clipper for the victory.
Rosemary defeated Tenille Dashwood via pinfall in 4:55.
Rosemary and Steve did their Decay mannerisms. Matt Striker said a poem about decay being inevitable…
John’s Thoughts: All things considered, that was the cleanest and best Rosemary has looked in a long time, mostly due to her looking like a star and not like the supernatural goof Impact has been presenting her as for over a year. Rosemary is so talented and I hope this is a sign that Impact will go back to the Rosemary of old when she was arguably the hottest star in the company.
Acey Romero and Larry D were chatting backstage. Larry said he should be happy, but he doesn’t like the spell that Rosemary put on him. Rosemary and Steve showed up to taunt Larry. Larry punched out Steve. XXXL backed down when Rosemary got in between. Acey said Rosemary is lucky that XXXL doesn’t attack women…
They cut to a backstage skit where a bunch of the comedy wrestlers were playing cards. Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz showed up to invite Swinger and the girls he brought to Impact to their celebration. They allowed John E Bravo to also come while saying that Fallah Bahh needs to buy a ticket…[c]
An Impact Plus ad aired…
Jordynne Grace and Jazz showed up to intimidate Deonna Purrazzo, Susan Yung, and Kimber Lee. Before Deonna could set up something, Susan cut in and challenged Grace to a one-on-one match next week. Grace accepted with Lee and Purrazzo not liking that Susan jumped the gun…
Alisha Edwards was playing the MC role for Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz’s championship celebration. For a lack of a better term, Alisha was trying her best to act Black (and it was fun in a dorky white girl way). Alisha talked about droping that drip-drip. Striker thought it was funny hearing Alisha say “boricua”. Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz made their entrance and gloated in the ring about being the inaugural Tag Team Champions. The referee called out Kiera, saying this celebration was a dumpster fire.
The guests were disappointed at the ghetto American cheese sandwiches they got. They also didn’t like the Martinelli’s Apple Soda that was the drinks. Alisha spit the Martinelli’s out (Martinelli’s doesn’t taste bad. Alisha must not like the taste of Apple juice). Tasha went to ringside to call out the person in the Stay Puft suit as being Fallah Bahh. Tasha pulled off the mask to reveal that it was Neveah. Jessika Havok showed up to give Keira a lariat. Tasha and Kiera backtracked up the ramp to end the segment…
James Storm and Chris Sabin were drinking beers and chatting backstage. Sabin said he and Storm weren’t done with Hardy and Private Party. Storm said he’s not done with the Good Brothers. Sabin said they aren’t Beer Money or the Guns, but they can still go after the Tag Titles. Storm and Sabin then took shots of Jack Daniel’s…[c]
Kiera and Tasha were recovering backstage, griping about Havok and Neveah attacking them. The random referee guy asked Tasha and Kiera for a refund, which they refused…
4. Joe Doering (w/Eric Young, Deaner) vs. Cousin Jake. Jake is still coming out to Cody Deaner’s entrance theme. Doering quickly gained control after a big boot. Doering worked on Jake with power offense. Jake ducked a crossbody and hit Doering with a top rope dive. The commentators pointed out that Jake got the worst of the move by tweaking his knee. Jake ran right into a running crossbody by Doering. Doering planted Jake with a Chokebomb. Doering hit Jake with a Death Valley Driver-Rainmaker combo for the win.
Joe Doering defeated Cousin Jake via pinfall in 3:13.
Violent by Design put the boots to Jake while Doering teased stompping a chair into Jake’s leg like they did to Rhino last week. Striker noted that the word “pilmanize” is used to honor Brian Pillman for using that move where a body part gets squashed in a chair. Eric Young called off Doering before Doering could stomp on the chair. Eric Young said the world belongs to Violent by Design, not to Jake. Young dropped a Violent by Design hand towel on Jake. D’Lo wondered if that was an invitation to join VBD…
John’s Thoughts: It was refreshing to see Joe Doering in a match for once and this was the perfect way to book him, dominant. He looked good and that was perfect use of Jake in the Cousin Jake character, as a guy who should get squashed. Jake can get his wins once he gets repackaged (and this guy needs a repackage since this guy looks way miscast as the random Deaner guy). Violent by Design are the most consistently booked guys in Impact now and I’m looking forward to see where this leads the faction. Credit to Eric Young for being Teflon since returning to Impact and recovering from his world title loss to Rich Swann.
Matt Striker and D’Lo Brown checked in from the commentary set where they questioned why Eric Young would decide to not take out Cousin Jake. They announced the following segments for next week: Jordynne Grace vs. Susan Yung, Madman Fulton vs. Josh Alexander, Tasha Steelz vs. Jessika Havok, Private Party and Matt Hardy showing up, and TJP vs. Rohit Raju in a non-title match…
Moose made his entrance heading into commercial…[c]
The rest of the entrances for the main event took place. The mystery person was Trey Miguel. D’Lo reminded viewers that Tommy Dreamer will get a world title shot on Dreamer’s 50th Birthday. ..
5. Moose, Chris Bey, Sami Callihan, and Ken Shamrock vs. Impact World Champion Rich Swann, Tommy Dreamer, Willie Mack, and Trey Miguel. Moose and Swann wanted to start the match, but Bey and Dreamer tagged themselves in. Striker noted that Dreamer and Bey have the same birthday. Dreamer took down Bey with a hip toss. Swann tagged in with Dreamer and Swann doing tandem offense heading into commercial.[c]
The face team continued to dominate Bey. Callihan tagged in and trapped Swann in the heel corner. Swann escaped a Package Pile Driver and hit Callihan with a huracanrana. Mack hit Callihan with Mack’s signature Samoan Drop to a Moonsault. Callihan tripped off Mack from the top rope. Shamrock tagged in and trapped Mack in the heel corner. The heels traded tags to cut the ring in half on Mack. Moose power bombed Bey on Mack to give Bey a two count.
Mack got a window of opportunity after nailing Bey with a pop up forearm. Trey and Sami tagged in. Trey hit Callihan with a chop combination. Trey hit Callihan wiht an Atomic Drop and Mandible Claw. Trey hit Callihan with Paydirt. Shamrock no-sold a punch and hit Trey with a Belly to Belly. Everyone then hit their signature moves against each other. Trey ended up surprising Callihan with a Victory Roll rollup for the win.
Trey Miguel, Rich Swann, Tommy Dreamer, and Willie Mack defeated Sami Callihan, Ken Shamrock, Moose, and Chris Bey via pinfall in 8:26 of on-air time.
After the babyfaces left, Ken Shamrock punched the referee and put the referee in the ankle lock. Random referees ran out to stop Shamrock to close the show (where are the babyface wrestlers who had to pass by the referees?)…
John’s Thoughts: It was what it was. Not bad, nothing special. I’m a huge fan of Trey Miguel, but it’s actually a bit disappointing not seeing him in NXT or AEW (especially with WWE doing a solid job off the bat with the presentation of Dezmond Xavier and Zach Wentz). This match felt like filler in the end and I’m not sure what it really does for anyone involved. If I were an AEW viewer watching Impact, why would I be hooked after seeing Trey Miguel show up?
A pretty decent show this week. I do think the commentary team is starting to get better with D’Lo getting more involved. Striker continues to be very good and very bad at points, with the very bad coming out at the most random times with weird things that don’t make sense. The content is still missing something. A handful of their characters are still recovering from bad booking. I’ll give them a little bit of the benefit of the doubt by wondering if the pandemic has hurt their ability to produce vignettes, because we don’t get vignettes anymore on this show. We only get “skits”. I try to give them the benefit, but at the same time, this has been a problem since they’ve moved to AXS, before the demic.
“a pun off Kiera’s wrestling name and the Fyre Festival”
If you have explain the meaning of a pun, then you shouldn’t say the pun.
ROTFL. Downstait still making wrestling themes? I think they are terrible. Just look at how they made Cody and Dolph Ziggler’s themes.