By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling TV
Taped in Nashville, Tennessee at Skyway Studios
Aired June 10, 2021 on AXS TV
Highlights from last week’s Impact Wrestling show aired…
Josh Mathews and D’Lo Brown were on commentary. Dave Penzer was the ring announcer. The show started off with Scott D’Amore already in the ring while his entrance music was playing. D’Amore welcomed Tony Khan to the ring, who came out to AEW Dynamite’s opening theme. Khan thanked D’Amore for being a good host and welcoming him to Impact. Before D’Amore could get into renegotiating the Impact Championship match at Against Odds, Don Callis made his entrance to his Pachelbel entrance theme.
Tony Khan held open the ropes to let Callis in the ring. Callis wondered if Khan and D’Amore were planning of schemeing. Callis praised Kenny Omega and Moose for being great athletes. Callis then ran down Sami Callihan. Callis noted that Sami Callihan is blacklisted in many promotions. Callis went on to list various countries and territories. Callis noted on his first night as EVP of Impact, Sami Callihan busted the eye of Eddie Edwards. Callis then went on to run down the flaws of Sami Callihan by citing examples of Callihan being a loose canon.
After a bit of Callis ranting, D’Amore called Callis a smart man and also talked about how he and Tony have changed their plans on the fly. D’Amore said that he and Khan have settled on Kenny Omega vs. Moose remaining a singles match. Khan recapped his history with Callis and said the one thing he understands is that Callis cares about Kenny. Khan talked about how Omega vs. Moose has to be held in a big venue. After a bit of hype, Khan announced that Omega vs. Moose will happen on Against All Odds, but taped from Daily’s Place.
Khan noted that he doesn’t one someone like Sami Callihan shouldn’t be allowed in Daily’s Place. Callis took control of the discussion and said he was happy with every single thing that Khan and D’Amore agreed to and that he was going to bounce. D’Amore told Callis to stick around. Callis pointed out that Gallows and Anderson won’t be able to interfere because while Moose and Omega are in Daily’s Place, The Good Brothers will wrestle at Skyway Studios on the same day. D’Amore also noted that the winner of the Omega-Moose match will face Sami Callihan at Slammiversary, and that Khan agreed to this. D’Amore’s entrance theme played to end the segment, as Callis expressed his displeasure at Khan and D’Amore’s decision…
John’s Thoughts: So Sami Callihan gets awarded a world title shot at one of Impact’s biggest PPVs of the year, just because he gets his ass kicked by Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson? Eh? Don’t get me wrong! I like that Moose vs. Omega is a singles match again. I just don’t like what they did to their PPV. Either Omega winning is the most predictable thing ever, or Impact goes to the less-interesting Moose vs. Callihan match. This was a bit of a underwhelming segment to be honest. This segment also continued the streak of Scott D’Amore continuing to one-up all the heels in Impact. Callis is his latest victim. (Heck, if D’Amore can talk trash to W. Morrissey without flinching, who would D’Amore flinch to?).
Josh Mathews and D’Lo Brown checked in from their commentary set. They recapped the Khan, Callis, and D’Amore segment. They then ran through some upcoming segments on this week’s Impact show. They also ran through some Against All Odds advertised matches…
Gia Miller tried to interview Kenny Omega, Don Callis, Doc Gallows, and Karl Anderson who ignored Gia and looked disappointed at Khan’s and D’Amore’s decision. Callis told everyone to think positively and that Gallows and Anderson should put a bounty on all their enemies. D’Amore showed up after hearing Callis say the word bounty. D’Amore then revealed that The Good Brothers will be facing Sami Callihan and Callihan’s chosen partner at Against All Odds while Omega is fighting Moose at Daily’s Place. Callis tried to protest, but D’Amore went back into scarcastic mode. After Callis protested, D’Amore added a street fight stipulation to the Good Brothers tag match. D’Amore walked off…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Well, I do like that D’Amore isn’t like what Teddy Long was at points, being a total pushover; but I think D’Amore takes it a bit too far in the other direction. D’Amore doesn’t sell to any heel!
The show cut to this week’s Brian Myers skit where he’s trying to train Sam Beale on how to be a professional wrestler. The graphic noted that this week’s lesson was “Communication”. The show cut to Myers asking Beale what a “promo” is. Beale said it was just an “interview”. Myers said Beale was wrong and that a promo is when you’re answering a question that you were given. Myers said “a promo is a match, and a match is a promo. Myers then told Beale to pretend he was cutting a promo on facing Matt Cardona this weekend.
Beale ended up cutting an 80s style cheesy promo about how he’s going to beat Matt Cardona. Myers cut Beale off because Beale started to praise Matt Cardona’s physique and girlfriend. Beale said he thought he was supposed to build up his opponent so that it means more when you beat them. Myers said that was horrible advise and that Beale should completely run down Matt Cardona and talk about how much Cardona sucks. Cardona ended up walking off…
The show cut to Scott D’Amore talking about how he didn’t like Callis putting a hit out on Callihan and how he booked the Good Brothers in a match to counter Callis’s manipulation. Sami Callihan showed up and accused D’Amore of trying to screw him over. Callihan named off his various enemies to point out that no one would want to team up with him. Tommy Dreamer randomly showed up. Long story short, Dreamer said he was offering to be Sami Callihan’s tag partner due to both he and Sami having a common enemy.
Sami Callihan said “what the hell” and agreed to Dreamer’s offer. Callihan said if Dreamer messes up, he will beat Dreamer’s ass again. Sami walked off. D’Amore pointed out Dreamer saying that Don Callis is Dreamer’s enemy, even though Callis is technically Dreamer’s boss. D’Amore said he doesn’t want Dreamer stirring the pot. Dreamer tried to convince D’Amore that Callis was the enemy before walking off. D’Amore said he didn’t like how Dreamer was waving his finger in his face…
Entrances for the next match took place
1. Rosemary vs. Havok. Rosemary started the match with two spears on Havok for a two count. Rosemary locked Havok in a Muta Lock which Havok escaped. Havok slowed down Rosemary’s rally with an Exploder suplex and a few hip attacks in the corner. The show cut to commercial.[c]
Havok tried to ragdoll Rosemary with a Full Nelson. Havok hit Rosemary with a backbreaker and lariat for a two count. Rosemary escaped Havok’s hold and hit Havok with another spear for a two count. After escaping another hold, Rosemary hit Havok with yet another spear. This time she picked up the victory.
Rosemary defeated Havok via pinfall in 4:15 of on-air time.
After the match, Kimber Lee, Susan, and Deonna Purrazzo showed up to put the boots to Rosemary and Havok. Lee and Purrazzo put Havok and Rosemary in submissions. Susan then took the mic and demanded that Kimber Lee vs. Tasha Steelz happen right now for some reason. The women’s tag team champions then made their entrance for Tasha Steelz’s match…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Hmmmm… I’ll actually congratulate Impact for this one. Not only did Impact not book the predictable Omega vs. Moose vs. Callihan match that they teased last week, but they also didn’t go with the Purrazzo vs. Rosemary vs. Havok triple threat either. I’m ok with this subversion of expectations. I also really liked the simple story of this match with Rosemary resorting on a singular effective move to get the victory. I like in-ring stories built around logic.
2. Kimber Lee (w/Deonna Purrazzo, Susan) vs. Tasha Steelz (w/Kiera Hogan). Kimber Lee blocked a huracanrana and power bombed Steelz into the buckle. Lee went to ground and pound on Steelz. Lee worked on Tasha with methodical offense. Steelz had a bit of a rally with chops, but Lee came right back with a lariat to take down Steelz. Lee pulled down the second rope to dump Tasha to ringside.
Tasha beat the ten count at seven. Lee continued to dominate Steelz for a sequence. Lee hit Steelz with a delayed three amigos for a two count. Lee went for a Swanton on Steelz, but Steelz got the knees up. Both women traded a series of counters. Tasha hit Kimber with a Michinoku Driver for the victory.
Tasha Steelz defeated Kimber Lee via pinfall in 5:44.
Kiera and Tasha brawled wtih Deonna and Susan after the match. Rosemary and Havok showed up and tossed Tasha and Susan aside into the barricade. Rosemary and Havok then attacked Deonna and Kimber. Rosemary hit Deonna with a Wing Clipper. Rosemary and Havok then surrounded Kiera and gave her a double chokeslam. Rosemary and Havok stood tall and the segment ended with Rosemary’s theme playing…
The show cut to a Maclin promo where he talked about it being do or die and how he’s been in a position before where his back was against the wall…
Gia Miller interviewed Josh Alexander about his Ironman Match with TJP last week. Alexander talked about how he waited 16 years to compete in an ironman match and how excited he was to reaching that goal. Alexander said that inspired him to ask D’Amore to line up challengers for him. Ace Austin showed up to taunt Josh Alexander while also saying how he’s going to leave Against All Odds as number one contender. Josh Alexander pointed out how he’s beaten Ace several times. Ace talked about how he always has an ace up his sleeve. He pointed at Madman Fulton…
3. Trey Miguel and Petey Williams vs. Chris Bey and Rohit Raju. Rohit and Petey started off the match with chain wrestling. Rohit dominated the match early on with his speed and a shoulder tackle. Raju countered a Destroyer attempt, but Petey quickly transitoned to a sharpshooter. Trey and Bey tagged in after Raju escaped. Both men took the other’s moves and landed on their feet. Trey backed Bey down with a dropkick.
Petey tagged in and his team both kicked Bey in the back. Bey tackled Petey to his corner and tagged in Rohit. Petey managed to fight off both Bey and Rohit. Ultimately, Rohit knocked Bey off the apron to put the boots to him. Rohit hit Petey with a Falcon Arrow for a two count. Bey tagged in and hit Petey with a Suplex for a two count. The heels traded tags to cut the ring in half on Petey. Trey got the tag and cleaned house.
Trey hit Rohit with a Northern Lights suplex while having Bey locked in the Indian Deathlock. Rohit kicked out of the bridge at two. Petey hit Bey with a tilt a whirl into a Russian Legsweep. Trey hit Rohit with a CQC combo. Raju came back with a jumping knee. Petey hit Rohit with a codebreaker. Trey locked Rohit in the Hourglass Submission for the win.
Trey Miguel and Petey Williams defeated Rohit Raju and Chris bey via submission in 7:29.
Ace Austin and Madman Fulton ran out to put the boots to Williams and Miguel. Josh Alexander ran out for the save. Josh went for the Ankle Lock on Fulton, but Ace backed Josh down with some kicks. Fulton hield Josh in place so Ace could slap him. Everyone else recovered and attacked the larger Fulton.
Josh noted that everyone came together to take out the edge that Ace has at Saturday’s match, which is having Fulton as a bodyguard. Petey Williams hit Fulton with a Super Canadian Destroyer while Bey and Miguel provided a little extra shove. Alexander left Ace lying at ringside. Alexander, Bey, Raju, Miguel, and Williams were all standing tall in the ring as Alexander’s theme played…\
John’s Thoughts: A preview match for Saturday’s number one contenders match that did a good job putting steam behind several aspects. First, they’re continuing to build up Trey Miguel as a standout in the X-Division and have also been doing a great job establishing his Submission Finisher. The ending segment made Ace Austin continue to stand out as the big threat due to teaming with Madman Fulton. Here’s hoping the winner of Saturday’s contender match will not just get a title shot on the following Impact show and rather they try to build towards a program between that person and Alexander, especially if Alexander is going to be pushed as the main Impact singles champion while the world title is being held by AEW’s Kenny Omega.
Gia Miller interviewed Willie Mack and Rich Swann about Mack facing W. Morrissey on this episode while Swann will face Morrissey on Saturday. Mack said that Morrissey beat him last time, but this time it’s a no-DQ match. Mack said Morrissey may attempt to take him down, but at least he’s going to take a piece of Morrisey’s ass with him. Swann told Mack to save some for him because he’s going to get that ass at Against All Odds as revenge for Morrissey jumping him and giving him big boots out of nowhere. Swann offered to have Mack’s back. Mack said that even though he appreciates it, Swann has Morrissey on Saturday and this match is no-DQ. Mack asked Swann to stay in the back, which Swann agreed. Mack and Swann slapped hands to end the segment…
John’s Thoughts: Is it just me, or does the babyface asking his buddy to stand in the back make the babyface look more naive as opposed to looking badass?
The show cut to Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb’s “All About Me” show. Dashwood’s guest was Rachael Ellering. Jordynne Grace also showed up. Ellering said Grace is her tag partner and that’s why she’s here. Kaleb said there was no room on the couch for Grace. Grace said she could sit on the arm rest (even though there was also an empty seat next to the couch). Kaleb offered Ellering a Tenille Dashwood t-shirt. For some reason, Dashwood took the shirt and thanked Kaleb for the gift.
Dashwood then continued to talk down about Grace not being worthy to be on this show. Ellering kept saying that Grace was her teammate. Ellering said Dashwood was disrespecting her and Grace. Ellering challenged Dashwood to a match. Grace cut in and said she would rather challenge Dashwood for all the disrespect. After a bit of banter, Grace yelled and marched off saying that she’s going to demand the match from Scott D’Amore…
John’s Thoughts: They seem to keep trying a bunch of characters with Tenille Dashwood and they all seem to be misses on the dartboard with her. She just isn’t entertaining when told to carry a segment verbally. They seem to be slowly turning her babyface with a more ditzy persona (reminiscent to her old school Emma persona) but she’s not really hitting that out of the park either. What this segment did set up was a match between Dashwood and Grace which should be good and would be another step in the slow turn of Grace against Ellering.
Highlights were shown of the Deaner vs. Crazzy Steve match from Before the Impact. Mathews noted that this was the battle between two of Eric Young’s trained students. Steve ended up beating Deaner with a DDT…
The show cut to a Violent By Design backstage promo. Young hyped up Rhino and Deaner heading to defend the tag titles at Against All Odds. Young then called Eddie Edwards the “Heartbeat” of Impact Wrestling. Young said that heartbeat is sick and that Joe Doering will remove that sickness. Young then talked about how gifted Satoshi Kojima is and how Joe Doering was going to take all those gifts away. Young ended the promo by saying the world doesn’t belong to you, “it belongs to us”…[c]
Entrances for the next match took place…
4. Joe Doering (w/Eric Young, Deaner, Rhino) vs. Eddie Edwards. Doering shrugged off Eddie’s offense with his power advantage. Eddie used a jawbreaker to escape a cravate, but Doering came back with a shoulder block for a two count. Doering hit Eddie with an elbow drop for a two count. Eddie got to a low base to block Doering’s suplex. Eddie reversed the suplex into his own Suplex.
Rhino tried to trip Eddie off the apron, but Eddie shoved him aside. Eddie was about to hit Rhino and Doering at ringside with a suicide dive, but Deaner grabbed Eddie’s leg to invoke the DQ.
Eddie Edwards defeated Joe Doering via DQ in 3:53.
Deaner and Doering put the boots to Eddie after the match. Satoshi Kojima ran out and cleared Deaner from the ring. Kojima and Doering traded punches leading to Kojima dumping Doering to ringside with a lariat. Kojima’s theme played as Deaner and Rhino pulled Doering to the back with Young telling Doering to save his anger for Saturday…
John’s Thoughts: Good for how little it lasted. I kinda hoped it would go longer because we rarely see Joe Doering in singles matches and he comes off as a very competent big man. I’m also wondering. Wasn’t Eddie Edwards supposed to get Appendix surgery? Maybe it was after these tapings? Or he’s fine? I still wish Eddie Edwards would drop the weird Crazy Eddie look though because that’s one of the aspects of his game that’s really keeping anyone from taking him seriously.
Moose got a video promo where he talked about the World Title eluding him throughout his Impact career. Moose said he’ll finally reach that world title goal at Against All Odds. Moose said he was a bit pissed off when Rich Swann beat him for number one contendership before, but that gave him time to reflect and he saw that he took Rich Swann for granted. Moose said that Swann is a true world champion and Swann took advantage of him underestimating Swann. Moose said the better man simply won in that match against Swann.
Highlights of Moose’s great performance were shown from the Hard to Kill where Moose was a part of the trios match also involving Kenny Omega. Moose said if he challenged Omega at the last PPV he truly thinks that he would be world champion now. Moose reiterated the fact that Impact’s world title is held by an AEW wrestler…
Josh Mathews and D’Lo Brown checked in from their commentary set. The commentary team reiterated that Omega has the “home field advantage” by wrestling at Daily’s Place. They announced the following matches for Against All Odds: Kenny Omega vs. Moose for the World Championship, Satoshi Kojima vs. Joe Doering, Tenille Dashwood vs. Jordynne Grace, Good Brothers vs. Callihan and Dreamer, Trey Miguel vs. Petey Williams vs. Ace Austin vs. Chris Bey vs. Rohit Raju to become number one contender to the X Title, Deaner and Rhino vs. Decay for the Tag Team Championship, Deonna Purrazzo vs. Rosemary for the Knockouts Championship, and Rich Swann vs. W. Morrissey…
John’s Thoughts: I like the touch of having Moose and Omega wrestle at Daily’s Place. I hope it isn’t an empty arena affair. At the same time, why couldn’t they have done this on the weekly Dynamite show and maybe hype it up with a Tony and Tony segment or something? As helpful as the partnership with AEW has been I feel like AEW would benefit from acknowledging their partnership with Impact on their AEW show.
Entrances for the next match took place…
5. W. Morrissey vs. Willie Mack in a No-DQ match. Morrissey shrugged off the smaller Mack due to his size advantage (Mack’s a big dude, but Morrissey’s huge as hell). Morrissey worked on Mack with methodical power offense. Mack got a punch in. Mack went for a Body Slam but couldn’t lift up the larger Morrissey. Morrissey gave Mack a clubbing blow heading into commercial.[c]
Morrissey worked on Mack at ringside. Mack took down Morrissey with a chop block to get a little bit of a breather. Mack pulled a chain from under the ring and wrapped it around his hand. Mack punched Morrissey in the leg and kidney. Mack then got the chair and used it to fend back Morrissey. Morrissey stayed on his feet while getting hit by the chair to the back. Morrissey ducked a chair shot and retreated to the ring.
Mack hit Morrissey with a corner splash and inverted cannonball. Morrissey grouned Mack with a Yakuza Kick. Morrissey dragged Mack’s damaged chair into the ring and used it to hit the back of Mack. Morrissey got the chain and yanked it across the eyes of Mack. Morrissey used the apron as a focal point to increase the pain from the chain yank. Morrissey put Mack on the top rope and tenderized his back with chair shots. Mack avoided a corner splash and hit Morrissey with a few kicks.
Mack used Morrissey’s momentum to plant Morrissey with a Body Slam. Mack hit Morrissey with a standing moonsault. Mack worked on Morrissey with chair shots. Mack put the chair under Morrissey and went for the Six Star Frog Splash, but Morrissey rolled away, causing Mack to splash the chair. Morrissey went for an elbow drop, but Mack rolled away and Morrissey gave an elbow to the chair. Mack went for a chair swing on Morrissey but Morrissey big booted the chair into Mack’s face.
W. Morrissey defeated Willie Mack via pinfall in 10:39.
Morrissey was about to do his signature raised fist pose, but decided to do more damage to Willie Mack. Morrissey put a chair on top of Mack in the corner. Rich Swann ran out and nailed Morrissey with a few kicks. Morrissey was staggering, but was also still on his feet. Security guards ran out to separate the two men, but Morrissey broke free and tackled Swann into the turnbuckle. Security almost managed to convince Morrissey to head to the back, but Swann got a chair shot on the back of W. Swann held his ground from in the ring while Morrissey glared at Swann from the ramp to close the show…
John’s Thoughts: I can see this match being divisive for some because it was a bit slow and plodding to start, but I thought it was solid in putting over Morrissey as a devastating Big Man with Mack continuing to really shine as a sympathetic gatekeeper. Morrissey vs. Swann will be a good test to see where Morrissey is in terms of how good he can be in the ring. I wonder if Swann and Morrissey ever wrestled during their times in NXT? Maybe not because they were mostly babyfaces at the time?
This week’s Impact was a solid go-home show for the Against All Odds show, but I’m still waiting for Impact to really go hard in pushing their home-grown talent as standouts, as opposed to relegating them to the X Division. This Impact plus show looks much more entertaining than their last one on paper. I won’t see it live due to me being busy with work this weekend, but the Moose vs. Omega match has me very hyped. That match was hyped up due to Moose’s stellar performance in the Hard to Kill trios match also involving Omega.
“D’Amore doesn’t sell to any heel!”
From a logic standpoint, doesn’t that make sense, because D’Amore has the power to fire talents? Knowing he can fire them if they lay a finger on him, what would he have to be intimidated about? He wields the power.