By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling TV
Taped in Nashville, Tennessee at Skyway Studios
Aired April 22, 2021 on AXS TV
[Hour One] The recap package of last week’s Impact Wrestling aired…
Matt Striker and D’Lo Brown were on commentary…
1. “Decay” Black Taurus and Crazzy Steve (w/Rosemary) vs. “The Good Brothers” Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows. Steve and Anderson started off the match with a collor and elbow, which Anderson won with a European Uppercut. Taurus tagged in and the Good Brothers used their quick tags to isolate Taurus away from Steve. Taurus ended Doc’s momentum with a Will O Wisp. Steve and Anderson tagged in with a headscissors neck twist.
Steve hit Anderson with a flatliner for a two count. Gallows broke up Steve’s crossface on Anderson. Gallows dumped Taurus to ringside. Steve dumped Anderson to ringside. Gallows caught Steve when Steve went for a dive. This allowed Gallows and Anderson to hit Steve with a Magic Killer to give Anderson the pinfall win.
The Good Brothers defeated Decay via pinfall in 5:09.
Anderson addressed Finlay and Robinson on the mic. Anderson said 2020 was the worst year for a lot of people, but a great year for the Good Brothers. Anderson said after that year, the Good Brothers got a bit cocky and they thank Finn Juice for showing them that they were starting to slack. Gallows said that FinnJuice showed the Good Brothers that they were slacking a bit. Gallows told FinnJuice to enjoy their moments in Japan because the Good Brothers are going to win on Sunday. The Good Brothers ended the promo by doing a Too Sweet hand sign.
Matt Striker and D’Lo Brown checked in from their commentary set. Striker hyped up Rebellion while also running through the Rebellion card. The commentators also hyped up upcoming segments on this week’s show…
A Rich Swann vs. Kenny Omega hype package aired where the Impact Roster gave their predictions for the Omega and Swann match. The Impact Roster pretty much all picked Swann out of home team solidarity. James Storm talked about how Swann is going into the match as an underdog and he’s picking the underdog to win…
John’s Thoughts: The Good Brothers continue to beat on Decay while they wait for the tag titles to come back to the United States. Not totally their fault that Impact put the titles on ice by giving the belts to Finlay and Robinson (who also haven’t been defending the tag titles according to FinnJuice in the last video package because both men have focused on their singles careers while in Japan for the month). As for Decay, I feel a bit bad that they are being used as meaningless cannon fodder. They have a standout act along with Rosemary and Steve being very good on the microphone. We also don’t really know anything about Black Taurus aside from him being a random guy that looks like a Bull in BDSM gear (and that’s no knock on Taurus who’s really agile and talented in the ring).
A Violent By Design promo aired where Eric Young talked about VBD’s upcoming match at Rebellion. The promo also cut to James Storm giving his thoughts on the match. Both men talked about how their team was going to come out of Sunday as the winner….
2. Susan (w/Deonna Purrazzo) vs. Tenille Dashwood (w/Kaleb Konley). Dashwood got a few pin attempts early on. Dashwood then worked on Susan with a noogie. Purrazzo tripped up and distracted Dashwood to give Susan the advantage heading into commercial.[c]
Susan was bickering with Kaleb at ringside. Dashwood ended up locking in the Dill-Emma on Susan against the ropes. Dashwood then hit Susan with a neckbreaker and Spotlight Kick for the win.
Tenille Dashwood defeated Susan via pinfall in about 3:55 of on-air time.
Striker noted that Dashwood is the number one contender to the Knockouts Title and will challenge for the title on Sunday. Dashwood grabbed a mic and called out Deonna. Dashwood bragged about being an instagram influencer. Dashwood also brought up being a pioneer of the women’s revolution (this is a holdover from her time in WWE where she talked about her and Paige’s match in NXT being the match that started the Women’s Revolution.
Brian Myers cut a promo backstage. Myers talked about how he has evolved as a wrestler while Matt Cardona is living in the past, stuck from the past success of an old YouTube show. Myers talked about coming out of Rebellion with a win against Cardona. Myers ended the promo by saying that all Cardona is going to witness on Sunday is another Roster Cut…
More Impact Roster members gave their thoughts on Omega vs. Swann and most of them still were predicting the home team Swann to win. Gallows and Anderson were the only ones showing support to their Bullet Club teammate…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Myers continues to speak truth and be extremely metta in talking about how Cardona won’t let go of his old Zack Ryder character. I really hope that Myers dispatches Cardona and quickly moves on from “Ryder” and continues to reinvent himself. As for the Susan vs. Dashwood match, an “eh” match between two talented wrestlers with dull characters. This was so Dull that the fake canned cheers didn’t know who to cheer for. Susan can always get her heat back by becoming Susie or Su, but Dashwood really needs a personality transplant because she hasn’t been lighting the town on fire with her rehashes of “Evil Emma” and “Emmalina”, further proving that WWE made the right decision by dumping both characters quickly.
The show cut to a Sami Callihan camcorder promo (complete with “Hacker” graphics). Callihan said that he offered Trey a chance to help him take over everything. Callihan said that he’s going to teach Trey a lesson on Sunday when Trey gets in the ring with the Death Machine. Callihan said after Sunday Trey won’t be able to walk again. Sami ended his promo with his thumb’s up thing…
Mahabali Shera and Rohit Raju made their entrance…
John’s Thoughts: Wait a sec? Didn’t these two break up? I’m not going to complain fully because I was always a huge fan of this pairing, but I feel like we’re missing a chapter in this story?
3. Jake Something vs. Mahabali Shera (w/Rohit Raju). Shera manhandled Something around the ring. Shera even got some cheap shots in on Something. Something had a bit of rally. Shera quickly turned the tables and hit Something with the Sky High for the quick victory.
Mahabali Shera defeated Jake Something via pinfall in 3:18.
The show cut to Trey Miguel hanging out with one of his trainers at his wrestling school. His trainer hyped up Trey to win. Trey was yelling and was angry at what Sami did to him and his students. Trey said he’s going to tear Sami’s legs off on Sunday and he isn’t doing it for anyone else but Trey. A Trey Miguel training montage aired. He apparently looks like he’s friends with Sam Beale again…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Very odd? For the 2nd week in a row Jake Something gets absolutely squashed? Did he piss off someone backstage? I’m kidding about that, but you have to wonder sometimes in pro wrestling. Maybe they’re trying to tell a story, but I thought that story was already told when he dropped the Cousin Jake moniker? I still defend that Something is a wrestler that Impact should be building their company around (along with Rohit Raju and Ace Austin). For some reason, I fear that Jake might be another person that Impact misses the boat on once them become a big star in NXT. Also, Shera and Raju are back together for some reason? What the hell? (But I’m all for them being a duo because I think Raju is a future star and Shera’s weaknesses can be hidden well behind the veil of being a heavy enforcer).
A hype package aired for the X Division Triple Threat match at Rebellion…
[Hour Two] Rich Swann made his entrance with both the Impact and TNA title belts. He was in serious-mode today and not dancing to the ring. Swann brought up the Press Conference last week and said that Kenny Omega claims to be “Mr. 7 Star”. Swann talked about the handshake moment where Omega smacked Swann in the mouth. Swann yelled and said that if Omega wants to put his hands on him then he should do it right now.
Kenny Omega and Don Callis appeared on the video screen where they mocked Swann. Callis talked about how after next week, Kenny Omega is going to make AXS TV proud by being their Impact Champion. Omega talked about being a double world champion already with the AAA and AEW titles and how that justifies his ego. Omega said he’ll be the champion of three companies after Sunday. Callis said Omega needs to buy a new house after that to contain all the gold. Omega mega said Sunday is going to be just another step in Kenny Omega’s world takeover. Omega did his “goodnight” catchphrase to end the promo.
The segment looked like it was about to end, but Moose’s entrance theme started playing. Moose made his entrance wearing a business suit to the ring. Moose told Swann to simmer down and that he’s not here to hurt Swann. Moose said he had a lot of time to take in everything that went down at Sacrafice. Moose said he agrees that Swann was smart in taking advantage of him because he showed his playing hand. Moose congratulated Swann for taking down “The Wrestling God” in Moose.
Moose said Omega is great, but who really showed Swann what pain was all about. Moose said that Moose is bigger, stronger, and faster than Kenny Omega. Moose said he’s also more skilled than Kenny Omega, but Omega has something that Moose didn’t have, three stooges in Gallows, Anderson, and Callis. Moose said he’s wishing Swann good luck on Sunday. Moose said the piece of advise he’s giving Swann is to not lose both the TNA and Impact title
Swann said Moose has nothing to worry about because he’s coming out of Sunday as AEW Champion. Swann said he’s not going to have any issue with pinning Moose again down the road. Swann’s theme played to close the segment…
More Impact roster members gave their thoughts on the Omega and Swann match. The Impact roster continued to stand in solidarity with Rich Swann…
John’s Thoughts: Yo! That was an amazing promo performance by all three men involved. I really liked Moose and Swann flipping on the serious switch for the night, showing that both men can be a world champion promo when they drop the quirkier aspects of their personas. Kenny Omega is also coming off way better as world champion in Impact than he does in AEW and that’s mostly due to him being treated as a big deal along with being given way more promo time than he’s ever given on Dynamite (He also comes off well in Konnan’s AAA promotion where Konnan presents Omega similarly). So far this has been one of the best episodes of Impact in a while and it’s because it is a focused episode dedicated towards making the Omega vs. Swann match must see. Rich Swann still comes off as a man who has no chance, but this promo and episode is doing a good job helping the viewer suspend their disbelief as least for the moment.
A Taylor Wilde return vignette aired, continuing to hype that the TNA legend is returning sometime in April (and we’re almost done with April)…
Entrances for the next match took place…
4. Kiera Hogan (w/Tasha Steelz) vs. Jordynne Grace. Grace dominated early on with a pin attempt and heavy spinebuster. Kiera escaped a Fireman Carry and worked on Grace with strikes in the corner. Grace hit Kiera with a Kinniku Buster. Tasha Steelz ran in and broke up the pin. Dave Penzer announced the match as a DQ.
Jordynne Grace defeated Kiera Hogan via DQ in 1:56.
Kiera and Tasha put the boots to Grace after the match. New entrance music started playing as Rachael Ellering (the daughter of Paul Ellering) made her entrance and helped Jordynne Grace clear the heels from the ring. Grace revealed that Ellering is her mystery partner to help her challenge for the Knockouts Tag Team titles at Rebellion…
The Impact Wrestling Flashback match of the week is Rohit Raju vs. Chris Bey vs. Suicide vs. Chris Bey from Rebellion 2020…
Dave Finlay and Juice Robinson cut a promo from Japan. Juice and Dave continued to mock the Good Brothers. Dave and Juice hyped up their match on Sunday against the Good Brothers…[c]
John’s Thoughts: A decent DQ finish to put some heat on the heels, but I can’t help but feel like they kinda fumbled the debut Rachael Ellering in Imapct. I thought they were better off keeping Grace’s mystery partner as a mystery heading into the PPV as a hook for the PPV. Now the cat is out of the bag and Rachael Ellering isn’t a big name enough to hook viewers to the PPV (whereas debuting at the PPV would have been a great way to boost Ellering as a big deal). Thoughts aside, I really like Impact continuing to boost their women’s roster with more top quality women’s talent (why is it that Impact is able to sign all the best women in the world, while AEW struggles to bring in female stars despite having bottomless pockets? You can easily argue that Impact has the 2nd best women’s roster in all of wrestling right behind NXT’s). Ellering never got a shot in NXT mostly due to injuries I believe (in fact, her dad got way more TV time then her in NXT). I’m looking forward to see what Ellering can deliver on a weekly TV show.
Another hype package aired for the Rich Swann vs. Kenny Omega match at Rebellion. The Impact Roster, heels and babyfaces not named Gallows and Anderson, continued to stand behind Rich Swann. They threw in a clip of Jim Ross where Ross talked about how there’s definitely going to be a winner on Sunday…
Matt Striker and D’Lo Brown checked in from their commentary set. Striker hyped up the programming for AXS’s Wrestle Week leading up to the PPV on Sunday. The commentators then ran through the Rebellion PPV card. Striker asked D’Lo for a prediction and he was the only person on the Impact Roster who copped out on a prediction. Striker joked that Brown got away without giving a prediction…
Violent By Design made their entrance heading into commercial…[c]
5. Eric Young (w/Rhino, Deaner, Joe Doering) vs. Eddie Edwards (w/Chris Sabin, James Storm, Willie Mack). Eddie and Young traded strikes to start off the match. Edwards hit Young with an atomic drop and Belly to Belly. The show cut to commercial after Eddie locked Young in a side headlock.[c]
Young tangled Eddie in the ropes and dumped Eddie to ringside. D’Lo Brown noted that Eddie could have damaged his ACL during that move (a little bit of dark irony in regards to Eric Young). The trios of heels and babyface had a standoff at ringside while Eddie and EY brawled. Young was manhandling Eddie around the ring. Eddie ended EY’s momentum by crotching him on the top rope. Eddie hit Young with a Superplex. Young reversed Eddie’s backpack stunner. Eddie came back with the Blue Thunder Bomb. Eddie fended off Violent by Design with boots. Eric Young picked up the win after the Small Package.
Eric Young defeated Eddie Edwards via pinfall in 11:09 of on-air time.
Violent By Design and the babyfaces brawled all over the ring area. Matt Striker closed the show by hyping up Mauro Ranallo calling the Rich Swann vs. Kenny Omega match at Rebellion…
John’s Thoughts: All the praise to Eric Young, who seemingly wrestled through these tapings with a torn ACL. Dude’s a tough guy and I honestly couldn’t tell when he got injured (It might have been in this match or maybe even the match against James Storm from a few weeks ago). Right next to Kenny Omega, one can argue that Eric Young has been Impact Wrestling’s Most Valuable Wrestler for the past six months due to putting in solid in-ring work and even better promo work. I think it’s a huge loss to have Young seemingly out for the rest of 2021, but I wouldn’t mind if they find a way to keep him on TV somehow while he recovers, mostly due to his solid work over the past few months. Eddie Edwards on the other hand, despite being one of the best technical wrestlers in the world, continues to be a turnoff with his stale “Crazy Eddie” persona. Can somebody give this guy a shave, haircut, and his American Wolf gear back? Somebody call Davey Richards over to save his boy!
As for the rest of the show, this was one of the best Impact Wrestling PPV go-home shows in recent memory and it was mostly due to the focus on building towards the Kenny Omega and Rich Swann main event on Sunday. AEW acts like Impact doesn’t exist most of the time, meanwhile Impact deserves a lot of credit on their end for really putting over the importance of Sunday’s main event. This week’s show also stood out with zero dumb comedy segments (as much as I really like Johnny Swinger’s comedic timing and acting, Impact creative isn’t the best at writing funny comedy). This was a solid go-home and it sold me on the Swann vs. Omega main event, despite Swann having almost zero chance of winning on Sunday (and you can blame AEW for that by making Swann a non-factor on their television).
Shocking to see Rachael Ellering still getting work despite her long history of unprofessional behavior in the ring. She’s worse than Ivelisse.
I’ve never heard this and am struggling to find anything when I’ve searched for it. Do you perhaps mean Tessa Blanchard??
I’m curious what you refer to as well. I admit I’ve certainly not closely followed her career or anything, but I don’t recall ever hearing about anything like that…
The two biggest incidents are with Konami (in Stardom) and Christi Jaynes (I believe it was a WrestleCircus show). There are others, especially in Stardom, and there were some talks about her attitude being why NXT wouldn’t even put her on TV.
She’s openly sandbagged people and yelled at them in the middle of matches because they weren’t working the way she wanted them to. The match with Jaynes came to a literal standstill as they stared each other down because Ellering wouldn’t sell a single move.
Just looked at those now. I’m with you on the Konami match – definitely unprofessional. Not sure about the Christi Jaynes one as it looked to me as if Christi was being the douche there by stopping the match to complaint that Ellering was being a bit stiff. When Ellering tried restarting the match, Christi no sold it.
Ellering started that match going against the plan that had been agreed upon by the booker that night. She was working a completely different match than they laid out and had been trying all day to get the finish changed.