By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling TV
Taped in Nashville, Tennessee at Skyway Studios
Aired March 9, 2021 on AXS TV
Highlights from last week’s Impact Wrestling show aired followed by the Impact intro theme…
Matt Striker and D’Lo Brown were on commentary…
1. Tasha Steelz (w/Kiera Hogan) vs. Jazz (w/Jordynne Grace). Tasha and Kiera started the match off by giving Jazz a condescending applause. Jazz then took down Tasha with a armdrag. Tasha retreated to ringside and stalled a bit with Kiera. Tasha entered the ring and took down Jazz with a side headlock. Jazz escaped and trapped Tasha’s head with a leg scissors. Tasha escaped the move with a handstand.
Jazz took Tasha back down with a headlock, and Tasha reversed it with her own leg scissors. Jazz reversed the move into a half crab which forced Tasha to get to the ropes to the back. Tasha slammed Jazz into the ropes with a drop toehold. Tasha then rallied against Jazz, leading to a neckbreaker and a two count. Jazz reversed Tasha and got two rollups for some nearfalls. Tasha came back with a Falcon Arrow on Jazz.
Jazz quickly reversed Tasha’s Rings of Saturn attempt. Jazz hit Tasha with a Fallaway Slam for a two count. Tasha hit Jazz with a Codebreaker. Jazz hit Tasha with a Michinoku Driver for a two count. Kiera went on the apron for the distraction, but was tripped up by Grace. Jazz locked Tasha in the STF for the submission win.
Jazz defeated Tasha Steelz via submission in 6:01.
For some reason, Matt Striker said that Dave Penzer announcing Jazz as the winner shows that Penzer is giving a great service to the sport of pro wrestling (Striker’s commentary confuses me sometimes). Striker then hyped Jazz and Grace facing Kiera and Tasha at Sacrifice and he noted that they might be the favorites because Jazz added a submission to her arsenal…
John’s Thoughts: This match had it’s good points and bad points. I like the function of the match to put some heat behind Jazz. The match was also better when Tasha Steelz was on offense because we rarely see her in singles matches and she looked very solid. There wasn’t too much bad other than the match slowing down immensely when Jazz was on offense. Jazz has been very good in tag team matches, but I’m guessing she can’t go like she once could when it comes to single matches. That said, it wasn’t horrible, just nothing you would put in a main event or competitive-match slot.
Gia Miller interviewed ODB about ODB’s title opportunity at Sacrifice. ODB talked about being a legend and how she’s about to be a 5 Time “Knocked Up” champ after Sacrifice. ODB said she was going to slap some respect into “the bitch” Deonna. Susan Yung then showed up acting twitchy and requesting a match from ODB. ODB accepted. Susan told Susie that she doesn’t need help for her match against ODB…
Matt Striker and D’Lo Brown checked in from their commentary set. Striker called Susan a “rogue karen”. D’Lo Brown said that Scott D’Amore has a “huge announcement” regarding the Rich Swann vs. Moose title match at Sacrifice. Striker and D’Lo then ran through the advertised segments for this week’s show…
Trey Miguel ran into the student that Sami took aside at Trey Miguel’s wrestling school. The student said that Sami Callihan is not as bad as everyone says he is. Trey said that everything that comes out Sami’s mouth is a lie and that no one knows Sami more then him, Trey, because of how he had to fight him in the past.
The student told Trey that Sami predicted Trey’s exact response and Sami also predicted that Trey would be too much of a coward to accept a challenge from the student. Trey addressed the student as “Sam” and said he’s not going to fight Sam. Sam said that Sami was right that Trey doesn’t have the passion. Trey said that it’s fine that Sam wants to get his ass kicked by Trey. Trey said he’ll end up using that to teach Sam a lesson…[c]
John’s Thoughts: So did Sami Callihan feed this student Fruit Loops and let him watch cartoons while Sami drew weird pictures of him? I kid kid, but the whole “Sami is misunderstood” thing reminded me of Austin Theory’s NXT storyline where he got kidnapped by former TNA wrestler Sam Shaw. Speaking of Sam’s, this “Sam” guy was not ready for TV in terms of acting. Sam’s delivery makes Austin Theory’s acting look Academy Award winning (not to crap on this guy, but his delivery of “Sami was right all along” was comically robotic).
An ad aired for the Impact Plus Sacrifice show…
A Rich Swann and Moose video package aired where both men hyped up their match coming up on Saturday…
2. James Storm and Chris Sabin vs. Rohit Raju and Mahabali Shera. Sabin and Raju started off the match. Sabin hit Raju with a series of strikes, but Raju came back with a sweep kick. Sabin planted Raju with a suplex. Storm tagged in and Sabin hit Raju in the back of the head with a jump kick, leading to a two count for Storm. Storm tossed Raju into Shera so Shera can tag in. Storm and Shera traded fighting spirit strikes.
Storm cornered Shera and gave him the ten punches in the corner. Shera escaped shoved Storm to the mat. Sabin got the blind tag which allowed Sabin to help double team Shera. Sabin got a two count after a Storm bulldog heading into commercial.[c]
The replays showed that Shera and Raju got the advantage due to double team moves. The heels kept double teaming Sabin while the referee was unintentionally distracted by Storm. Raju and Shera then traded tags to isolate Sabin wtih methodical offense. Sabin used a few kicks and a judo roll to bring in Storm for the hot tag. Storm hit Raju with an Atomic Drop and Spinebuster for a two count. Sabin tagged in, kicked off Storm, and hit Raju with a Tornado DDT for a two count.
Raju escaped a double suplex by nailing both of his opponents with knees. Storm and Shera brawled. Storm hit Shera with a botched Sling Blade. Raju caught Storm with a nice knee strike. For some reason, Raju and Shera started to argue over hitting James Storm with a finisher (what? Isn’t this too soon?). Sabin dropkicked Rohit and Shera with a missile dropkick. Sabin PK’d Shera off the apron. Raju reversed Sabin’s Sunset Flip, but he fell right into Storm’s Lungblower. Sabin hit Raju with the Cradle Shock for the victory.
Chris Sabin and James Storm defeated Rohit Raju and Mahabali Shera via pinfall in 6:48 of on-air time.
Striker said that Storm and Sabin are about to crack open some cold ones in order to show respect to the sport of pro wrestling…
John’s Thoughts: Most of that match was really good. Mahabali Shera looked a bit rough. He has improved a lot coming off his time in NXT, but I think he regressed a bit here in bringing back some of the bad flubs he had before being in NXT; but I can give the guy the benefit of the doubt given potential time off due to the demic. Storm, Sabin, and Raju really shined and put on entertaining wrestling. What was was a bit perplexed by is them already teasing tension and breakup between Raju and Shera. They kinda just put them back together a few weeks ago and now they’re already teasing a breakup?
Impact’s four resident enhancement guys (Luster the Legend, Adam F’n Thornstowe, Acey Romero, and Larry D) were all bickering backstage. Rosemary, Crazzy Steve, and Black Taurus showed up. Rosemary taunted all four men for losing to Decay in recent weeks. Rosemary joked about Acey making excuses about being afraid to hit a woman. Acey told Larry that they should go and XXXL ended up walking off. Adam Thornstowe and Luster the Legend then started talking to Decay in their fake tough guy voices. Rosemary proposed a Decay vs. Reno Scum match for Sacrifice. Reno Scum accepted the challenge (while still talking in their Oscar the grouch accents). After Reno Scum left, Crazzy Steve called Scum and XXXL a couple of freaks…
This week’s Impact Plus Flashback Match of the Week was Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley vs. Bobby Roode and James Storm vs. Bubba Ray and Devon for the TNA Tag Team Championships from TNA Sacrifice 2010. After fast forwarding about two minutes, The Motor City Machine Guns ended up winning…
The show cut to Eric Young, Joe Doering, and Deaner backstage. Deaner walked out of a room looking like he hasn’t been getting sleep and looking beaten (did he just go through the Ancient Chinese Warrior training that Boa and Xia Li went through? I kid, I kid). Young said he knows Deaner would get through this and this is only happening because Deaner failed. Young said that all of their healing must be done through violence and violence is the only thing that “the disease” understands. James Storm and Chris Sabin showed up to confront Eric Young.
Storm said what Young is doing to Deaner is wrong. Storm talked about how it feels bad when you work hard to get to where you are in life and someone snatches that away from you. Storm said Young should know exactly how that feels and Young is making Deaner feel the same. Deaner yelled, which led to Violent by Design beating down Storm and Sabin. Young yelled that Storm and Sabin should stay out of their business. Young led Deaner and Doering away…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Maybe James Storm is just jealous that Eric Young is a better cult leader than he was? Joking aside, I wouldn’t mind seeing a short feud between VBD and Storm and Sabin. VBD need to continue to have strong feuds coming off a lot of vignettes and character development. Sabin and Storm are solid role players now and this sure beats having their matches booked in “Swinger’s Palace”.
Brian Myers was meeting with Scott D’Amore backstage. Myers said that Impact can avoid a lawsuit if they just fire Eddie Edwards. D’Amore said he learned in court that the person who spends the most time arguing is usually the person with the weakest case. D’Amore said Impact is willing to go to court with Myers “because that’s kinda what we do”; but D’Amore also brought up that Myers’s real beef was with Eddie.
D’Amore booked Brian Myers vs. Eddie Edwards in a “Hold Harmless” match. Myers was excited and accepted this stipulation because he thought that “Hold harmless” meant that it would be a submission match. D’Amore then told Myers that “hold harmless” actually means No-DQ. D’Amore said that Myers and Eddie can use all the weapons they want and they can even kill each other too. Myers shrugged his shoulders and walked away…
Trey Miguel made his entrance. Sami Callihan then stood on the stage and introduced his new “protégé” Sam Beale, who is the student at Trey Miguel’s school. Sam Beale came out to some very generic music. Striker said that Sami Callihan is praying on a young kid with a dream while also grooming the kid for all the wrong reasons…
3. Trey Miguel vs. Sam Beale (w/Sami Callihan). Trey yelled at Sami from a distance, which allowed Sam to nail Trey with a Northern Forearm. Trey quickly came back with a dropkick. Trey hit Sam with a leg trap suplex and converted it into his modified Kimura for the win.
Trey Miguel defeated Sam Beale via submission in 0:44.
Sami mockingly clapped at Trey from the stage. Trey was about to approach Sami, but Sami threatened to push a button on his smartphone. Right when Trey was about to grab Sami, Sami pushed a button, which caused him to F’n teleport into the ring through the power of his hacker magic I guess. Sami then hit Beale with a Package Piledriver. Trey ran back to the ring, but Sami used his hacker magic to teleport away…
John’s Thoughts: Ugh… Man! And I was liking everything about this segment too! Sami trying to play mind games with Trey, Trey’s intensity, the story behind corrupting Trey’s mentee, the short match length, and ultimately Sami was pulling back on the Hacker Wizard stuff. Then the “only in TNA” crap show showed up and doubled down. Sami used Goku’s Instant Transmission to do two teleports in succession (while also making Trey look like an ass going “uh, where’d he go?”). At this point, it’s not the supernatural stuff that’s the problem. Impact doesn’t know how to tell stories with supernatural stuff! I would say that someone in Impact creative should watch the free season’s of Lucha Underground that are posted online, but I wouldn’t want to do that because that would just inspire Impact creative to write more stupid ass stuff. Ugh.
Chris Sabin and James Storm cut a promo backstage. Sabin said he’s sickened to see what Eric Young has become after all these years. Storm said the only way to kill the snake is to cut the head off. Storm said he’s willing to go through EY’s followers in order to get to the head of the snake. Storm challenged Violent By Design to a match at Sacrifice. Storm said they aren’t coming to stay their signature catchphrases, they are coming to whoop that ass. Jake Something showed up and offered to be at Storm and Sabin’s corner in order to make sure that Eric Young doesn’t interfere…[c]
It was time for this week’s Tony and Tony AEW Paid Advertisement with Tony Sciavone and “The Forbidden Door” Tony Khan. Sciavone noted that AEW Revolution had a good buyrate. Khan then ran through the results of the Revolution show. Schiavone ran through the Dynamite card…
Scott D’Amore was moderating a contract signing between The Good Brothers and FinJuice for Gallows and Anderson’s upcoming title defense at Sacrifice. D’Amore ended up leaving because both teams wanted to spend time drinking bourbon shots. Gallows ended up shilling the Good Brothers merch site. After a few whiskey shots, both teams ended up signing. Finlay and Juice ended up throwing some shots in the Good Brothers faces. This led to both teams brawling (complete with Impact’s horrible background music playing)…
4. “The Inevitable” Ace Austin (w/Madman Fulton) vs. Chris Bey. Ace rolled to ringside and set up a chair for Fulton to sit at. Fulton sat on the chair and started pouting. Bey and Austin started off the match with chain wrestling, leading to an initial stalemate. Ace got a one count after a Northern Lights Suplex. Striker noted that Austin has the size advantage due to Ace’s thigh muscles.
Bey caught Ace at ringside with a wrecking ball kick. Bey hit Ace at ringside with a flip dive. Ace recovered and hit Bey with a PK from the apron. Ace caught Bey with a Fosbury Flop at ringside. Fulton was playing cheerleader, chering on Austin. Ace hit Bey with a Disaster Kick for the two count. The commentators called out Ace for doing the cocky pin, which released the pin. Bey did a fakeout kick, leading to Bey hitting Austin with a Code Red for the two count.
Ace rolled up Bey with a Small Package for a two count. Ace hit Bey with a Final Cut and Whisper of the Wind for the two count. Ace pulled out his laminated card. Bey dodged a Fold attempt. Ace caught Bey with a knee combination. Bey avoided Ace’s kicks and hit Ace with a Gamengiri. Bey went to the top rope, but Ace recovered and hit Bey with a back hook kick. Bey blocked a Superplex from Ace, leading both men to brawling at the top rope. Bey ended up backdropping Ace to ringside.[c]
Bey and Ace traded fatigued punches. Bey got the upper hand once he blocked a few punches and landed clean blows. Ace got another small package for a two count. Ace gave Bey a spinning roundhouse in the corner. Ace hit Bey with a springboard Fameasser for at two count. Ace staggered Bey with a superman forearm in the corner. Bey blocked a Frankensteiner and hit Ace with a diving lariat. Ace blocked Bey’s finisher. Chris Bey hit Ace Austin with a Vertebreaker for a nearfall. Striker and Brown yelled in astonishment.
Bey caught Ace with a One Final Beat DDT. Bey went for his finisher again, but Ace rolled to ringside after Bey spent some time to fire himself up. Fulton stood up to confront Bey while Ace recovered. Ace did a table hopper off Fulton’s back to hit Bey with a leverage roundhouse. TJP showed up and took a seat at the top of the stage. This distracted Ace and Fulton. Fulton ended up chasing TJP to the back. Ace was about to go for the Fold, but the distraction allowed Bey to recover and reverse Ace with a cutter and springboard cutter for the victory.
Chris Bey defeated Ace Austin via pinfall in 15:22 of on-air time.
Fulton walked back to the ring so he could carry Ace to the back…
John’s Thoughts: That match was a must-see sleeper hit. The heel vs. heel setup already had this match fighting an uphill battle in terms of viewer interest but I think the talent level and work overcame that obstacle. This was a unique X-Division match that didn’t regress into your usual Light Heavyweight indie match with choreographed signature moves. Both men essentially worked babyface and we saw a battle between Ace’s leg strength vs. Bey’s reversal ability. I could have done without the distraction finish, but I understand why they went there; because they’re trying to book Ace or Bey against TJP. I also thought it would have been good for Impact to not fall into tired pro wrestling tropes.
The show cut to the weekly Swinger’s Palace segment where John E Bravo lost a bet to TJP over the outcome of the last match. Josh Alexander showed up and mocked TJP for playing around at Swinger’s Palace while he should be preparing for a title defense at Sacrifice. TJP talked about how he beat Alexander and should be able to beat Austin. Alexander said he doesn’t care who wins on Saturday and is just waiting for his chance to challenge for the X Division Championship…[c]
Rohit Raju berated Mahabali Shera backstage. This caused Shera to lift up Raju by the head and pin him to the wall. Shera yelled “I don’t owe you anything! Do you understand!?!”. Shera walked off after dropping Raju…
John’s Thoughts: Are they already giving up on the Shera and Raju pairing this soon? Maybe Shera is leaving again? I don’t know.
ODB made her entrance for the next match. Striker pointed out that people make fun of him for always talking about “the sport of pro wrestling”. Striker said that ODB encapsulates everything he likes about pro wrestling. Susan ended up making her entrance. She has entrance music…
5. ODB vs. Susan Yung. ODB motorboated Susan to start the match. ODB followed up with forearms and chest chops on Susan. ODB hit Susan in the corner with a Bronco Buster, which caused Susan to gag. ODB hit Susan with a delayed fallaway slam.[c]
Susan tried to low blow ODB, but ODB no-sold it because ODB doesn’t have balls. Susan ended up giving ODB punches in the corner, but ODB reversed Susan and slammed Susan’s head into the top buckle. ODB hit Susan with a seated senton for a two count. ODB no sold Susan’s Full Nelson. Susan then transitioned to a sleeper, forcing ODB to slam Susan into the buckle. Susan picked up ODB’s flask and poured all the contents to ringside. This led to ODB hitting Susan with a TKO for the victory.
ODB defeated Susan via pinfall in 4:25 of on-air time.
Kimber Lee and Deonna Purrazzo ran out to blindside ODB. Jazz and Jordynne Grace ran out to beat down the heels. Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz showed up and gave the heels the numbers advantage. Purrazzo put Jazz in a Fujiwara armbar while everyone else got hit by the heels’ signature moves. Striker noted that all three Knockouts Champions were standing tall…
John’s Thoughts: The match served it’s purpose in as a tune-up before ODB’s title opportunity on Saturday. I do hope they pull the plug on the “Susan” character soon because it has been an absolute flop. I had high hopes for it. It should have been fun and ironic to have an “Asian Karen” combined with Su Yung’s great character work. Sadly, Susan has been boring and for some reason she can’t even get “karen heat” which should be easy.
Matt Striker and D’Lo Brown checked in from their commentary set. Striker noted that “the sport of pro wrestling” will evolve at Sacrifice. The commentators announced the following matches for Sacrifice: Deonna Purrazzo vs. ODB for the Knockouts Title, Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz vs. Jazz and Grace for the Knockouts Tag Team Championships, Eddie Edwards vs. Brian Myers in a Hold Harmless match, Joe Doering and Deaner vs. James Storm and Chris Sabin, Reno Scum vs. Decay, Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb vs. Havok and Nevaeh, TJP vs. Ace Austin for the X Division Championship, The Good Brothers vs. Fin Juice for the Tag Team Championships, and Rich Swann vs. Moose for the Impact World Championship. Striker noted that D’Amore still has something to announce about the world title match…
Scott D’Amore was sitting at a board room table speaking to someone off camera about getting a contract signed. Scott was interrupted when he heard Moose’s entrance music. Moose walked to the ring to call out D’Amore. Moose demanded D’Amore tell Moose the big announcement he has for his title match. D’Amore left his board room to head to the ring…[c]
Moose threatened to hold the show hostage (I mean, there’s only 4 minutes left). Scott D’Amore’s entrance theme played with D’Amore making his entrance. D’Amore said he doesn’t intend to disrespect Moose. D’Amore said before he tells everyone the news, he has to welcome Rich Swann to the ring. Rich Swann made his entrance (where he looked focused and didn’t dance to the ring for once). D’Amore talked about how Moose claiming to be a world champion has bothered D’Amore for a year because all Moose did was unearth a belt from a prop locker.
D’Amore announced that the Rich Swann vs. Moose title match will be a Title Unification Match for both world titles. D’Amore then said that wasn’t his big announcement. D’Amore then announced that the winner of the Swann vs. Moose match will ended up wrestling Kenny Omega for Omega’s world title (I’m guessing the AEW one because Omega is also AAA champ). Matt Striker noted that Impact has just broke the internet. Swann and Moose then held up their title belts at each other…
Before Impact could close, the camera cut to the board room to show that Scott D’Amore was talking to Don Callis. Callis was on the phone talking to Kenny Omega saying that it all went according to plan. Impact closed…
John’s Thoughts: You could argue that it is extremely odd to introduce a new world title and then nullify that decision the following week. I won’t argue that because I’m just glad that we’ll finally be done with Moose carrying a toy belt for no reason one way or another. Either outcome this Sunday is interesting. Moose vs. Omega would be fresh and Moose can even play the de facto “home team” babyface if that’s the case. As weak as Swann has looked, you can always count on Swann to put on a Match of the Year candidate when against an opponent who can go.
Given the way they cut the camera back to Callis in the end, I’m almost thinking that Swann comes out on Sunday as the winner and Callis’s plan will come to fruition when Omega takes the title from Swann, leading to belt-collector Omega. Maybe, I’m overthinking that one, but that’s where they might go depending on how long Impact and AEW work together (Maybe Moose will have to end up dragging Booker T’s red toy belt out of the trash). This week’s Impact was pretty solid. The ending segment was noteworthy and aside from Sami Callihan’s magic hacker powers, this was a positive show. If anything, Chris Bey vs. Ace Austin was a hidden gem that you can go out of your way to watch.
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Omega isn’t wrestling for the TNA belt, whoever wins the Swann/Moose match is going to challenge Omega for his title (which sadly again will be a match with an obvious result).
This is from Impact’s website: “Not only that, but the winner will go on to Rebellion on April 24th to face AEW World Champion Kenny Omega in a historic Title vs Title Match!” I remember them saying title vs. title last night. This confirms it.
I still think the outcome is pretty obvious. The journey there though should be really fun.