By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling TV
Taped in Nashville, Tennessee at Skyway Studios
Aired June 24, 2021 on AXS TV
By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling TV
Taped in Nashville, Tennessee at Skyway Studios
Aired June 24, 2021 on AXS TV
[Hour One] Highlights from last week’s Impact Wrestling show aired, which featured Don Callis being fired from being the storyline Executive Vice President of Impact Wrestling…
Don Callis and Kenny Omega entered Skyway Studios. Callis told Kenny that they shouldn’t have to take “jobber entrance” to get into Skyway. Callis and Omega were stopped by a doorman who said that Callis and Omega aren’t allowed to enter from the EVP entrance now that Callis is just a “talent”. Callis went on a rant about how important he is to Impact and how he an Kenny should be able to do as they please. Omega and Callis walked past the doorman…
Josh Mathews and D’Lo Brown were on commentary. Dave Penzer was the ring announcer…
1. Rosemary vs. Kiera Hogan (w/Tasha Steelz). The commentary team stressed that a win for Rosemary would mean that Rosemary and Havok would be in line for a title shot against Kiera and Tasha. Kiera ducked out to ringside and ran around the ring to avoide Rosemary. Rosemary got her hands on Kiera in the ring and hit Kiera with a Sidewalk Slam. Rosemary gave Kiera an Exploder Suplex. Rosemary put Kiera in a tarantula.
While the ref was distracted, Tasha tripped Rosemary off the apron. This allowed Kiera to work on Rosemary for a stretch. Kiera would distract the ref during the sequence so Tasha could get cheap shots and taunting in. Jessika Havok showed up to scare back Tasha. Kiera caught Rosemary with a basement dropkick for a two count. Kiera went back to dominating Rosemary for a stretch of the match. Rosemary caught Kiera’s face wash kick and got a moment of respite after flapjacking Kiera.
Rosemary reversed Kiera’s strikes and hit Kiera with an Exploder suplex. Rosemary planted Kiera with a sling blade. Rosemary locked Kiera in a Muta Lock. Kiera got to the bottom rope for the break. Rosemary hit Kiera with a Scorpion Death Drop for a two count. Kiera took down Rosemary with two Roundhouse Kicks for a two count. Rosemary recovered and dragged in Kiera for a Wing Clipper for the pinfall win.
Rosemary defeated Kiera Hogan via pinfall in 7:48.
Josh Mathews noted that Rosemary’s win should put her and Havok in line for a tag title shot. Highlights from last week were shown of Mahabali Shera laying out members of the X Division…
Gia Miller interviewed Petey Williams, Trey Miguel, and Chris Bey. Long story short (my twitch stream was glitching out a bit), Trey and Petey tried to convince Bey to form an alliance with them to counter people like Ace Austin or Mahabali Shera who have alliances of their own…
John’s Thoughts: They’re clearly setting up Rosemary and Havok for a tag title shot. The question is weather Impact is going to make viewers see Havok and Rosemary as a credible threat. Right now they come off as a challenger of the week, but I wouldn’t mind Havok and Rosemary picking up the tag titles. Rosemary would be elevated by having a belt again. I also look forward to the day Kiera Hogan turns babyface and goes back to her really promising “Fire” character (which she used early in her Impact Run as well as in WOW).
Gia Miller interviewed Tommy Dreamer as a follow up to last week’s segment where Callis got fired. Dreamer said he doesn’t like to see someone lose his job but Don Callis deserved what he got and he led himself to his own termination. Scott D’Amore showed up and told Dreamer that he didn’t like that Dreamer kept him in the dark about the Callis firing.
Scott D’Amore then said that he agrees with some of the criticisms that Dreamer had of him (D’Amore) and that he thanks Dreamer for helping the company and having the company’s best interest in mind. Dreamer noted that he’s going to be working with D’Amore more as his consultant. After Dreamer left, D’Amore ranted a bit, not looking pleased at Dreamer being assigned as his consultant…
Josh Mathews and D’Lo Brown checked in from their commentary set. The commentary team hyped upcoming segments on this week’s show…
2. Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. Susan (w/Kimber Lee) in a non-title match. Deonna pie faced Susan to start the match. Susan kept complaining. Deonna dominated the early collar and elbow, but Susan came back and tossed around Deonna a bit. Deonna came back and hit Susan with a fallaway arm breaker. Susan caught Deonna with a back elbow. Deonna came back with a Side Russian Legsweep. Deonna worke don Susan with joint manipulation. Susan was dumped to ringside.
Susan entered the ring and walked right into a straitjacket submission. Susan tried to reverse the hold but got planted by a backstabber. Deonna got the visual 3 count, but she broke her own pin to inflict more pain on Susan. Susan came back with gut punches on Deonna. Susan hit Deonna with a Superplex, but Deonna rolled up Susan into a Fujiwara Armbar for the submission win.
Deonna Purrazzo defeated Susan via submission in a non-title match in 6:54.
Deonna put Susan in a butterfly submission after the match. Kimber Lee pushed Deonna off of Susan. Deonna yelled that she was done with both Susan and Kimber…
Highlights from Before the Impact aired where Fallah Bahh and TJP beat Decay…
The show cut to this week’s Swinger’s Palace segment. Willie Mack and Rich Swann showed up. Mack called Swinger a bootleg Magnum TA. TJP, Fallah Bahh, and the usual Impact undercard wrestlers were also in attendance. This eventually led to Swann proposing a match between TJP and Fallah Bahh vs. he and Willie…[c]
John’s Thoughts: It’s always odd to see a heel vs. heel match, especially with Susan being a pretty boring heel, but I do like the thought of Deonna breaking away from Susan and Kimber Lee. Susan and Kimber served their roles well as the setup women for Deonna, but it also forced Deonna to fall back on cliche heel cheat tactics. Deonna breaking away hopefully would mean she goes back to being a strong heel that doesn’t have to cheat and cower every time.
Don Callis shook hand with Tommy Dreamer backstage and told him no hard feelings. Callis joked about rather being in the street than having Dreamer over his shoulder like D’Amore has now. Callis buttered up Dreamer and said that Dreamer is the heart and soul of Impact. Callis proposed Kenny Omega, Karl Anderson, and Doc Gallows vs. three wrestlers of Dreamer’s choosing. Dreamer ultimately agreed. Callis nonchalantly said that he’s looking forward to ending Dreamer’s career…
Entrances for the next match took place…
3. Trey Miguel and Petey Williams vs. Rohit Raju and Mahabali Shera. Petey dominated Rohit early on with his signature Tree of Woe spot in the corner. Trey tagged in and kept up the pace with quick kicks. Petey and Trey traded tags so they could keep control of Rohit with tandem moves. Shera blind tagged in and blocked off Petey from tagging in Trey. Shera manhandled Petey with power moves. The show cut to regular commercial.[c]
Trey caught Rohit with a chop and paydirt. Shera distracted Trey. Rohit and Trey traded counters with Rohit hitting Trey with a paydirt for a two count. Petey tagged in and caught Rohit with a Russian Legsweep. Petey hit Rohit with a power bomb. Petey went for a Destroyer, but Ace Austin and Madman Fulton showed up at ringside. The distraction allowed Rohit to hit Petey with a drive by kick for the victory.
Rohit Raju and Mahabali Shera defeated Petey Williams and Trey Miguel via pinfall in 5:32 of on-air time.
Fulton and Austin joined in to help Rohit and Shera put the boots to Petey and Trey. Josh Alexander showed up and took down most of the heels. Madman Fulton took down Alexander with axe handle strikes which allowed the heels to get the numbers advantage again. Chris Bey showed up on the ramp and rather than help the faces, he decided to take a selfie video of him standing in front of the ring. Josh Mathews noted that it’s clear that Chris Bey hasn’t picked a side yet…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Not necessarily the most compelling of stories yet, but I do like the attempt of telling an actual story leading into Ultimate X as opposed to doing nothing and just having the spot fest at the PPV. What I do like is Rohit and Ace establishing their big man enforcers as their x factors.
Because Twitch TV is screwing with me I switched over to watching via AXS. For some reason there’s a bunch of Ric Flair car insurance commercials, some even featuring NXT wrestler LA Knight (Eli Drake)…
[Hour Two] Gia Miller caught up with Tommy Dreamer and Sami Callihan and wondered if Callihan was joining Dreamer’s team. Dreamer clarified that he was recruiting Callihan. Callihan agreed because he’d be able to get his hands on Kenny Omega. Moose randomly walked into the scene and said “I’m in”. Moose left. Dreamer wondered if he should have told Moose who the third partner was because Moose probably wouldn’t like it. Sami said “what’s the fun in that? why do you always gotta play by the rules?”…
Rachael Ellering was in the ring cutting a promo in a somber voice. Ellering talked about feeling guilty about “not seeing the red flags” involving her tag team relationship with Jordynne Grace. Ellering asked Grace to come out to the ring. Grace made her entrance. Ellering said she was hoping that she and Grace can work through this together. Ellering said her winning the tag titles with Grace was one of the proudest moments of her life. Ellering started to break down in tears, saying that she was in the lowest point in her entire life a year ago.
She said it was so hard every day to get through to the next day. Ellering said people around her helped her from the darkness and put her into a pool of positivity. Ellering said as good as it was, she started to dislike being put in that pool. Ellering said she then figured out that she was trying to smother Grace in that pool too and she apologizes. Grace cut off Ellering and said she doesn’t give a damn about Tenille Dashwood or anything that happened recently.
Grace talked about her successes over the past few years, like beating the longest reigning Knockouts Champion for the championship as well as competing with men in the X Division. Ellering said she’s sorry and doesn’t want what Tenille has been saying about them to get to Grace. Grace said that if Ellering mention’s Tenille one more time she’ll drop Ellering on her head.
Jazz made her entrance and said she loves both Grace and Ellering. Jazz said she knew that the combined forces of Grace and Ellering could lead to great things. Jazz said there is talk about Grace and Ellering being the shortest reigning tag team champions but they should be working things out because this is just a hurdle. Jazz said Grace’s ego may be getting in the way and she has to work it out.
Ellering said it’s not just Grace, it’s both of their issues. Ellering said she’s not going to deny that being the shortest reigning champs has gotten to her. Ellering said she wants that adversity to be the first brick in the foundation of her and Grace’s success. Ellering said they should see that hurdle as the start of the journey, not the end. Ellering said she would want nothing more than to team with Jorynne moving forward, but she doesn’t know if Jordynne wants the same thing. Jazz said the ball was in Jordynne’s court.
Grace said she doesn’t know right now and needs some time to talk about this. Grace headed up the ramp and left the arena. Tenille Dashwood’s theme played as Tenille and Kaleb made their entrance. Tenille walked to the ring and talked about how Ellering should have teamed up with Tenille instead of Grace. As Tenille was rambling, Ellering cut off Tenille and gave Tenille a hard no to Tenille’s proposal for a team. Ellering said the only time she wants to be in the ring with Tenille is as opponents.
Ellering asked Tenille for a rematch and noted that Kaleb cost her their last match. Dashwood tried to get the jump on Ellering, but Ellering ducked Dashwood’s punch. Jazz punched away Kaleb. Ellering gave Dashwood a spinebuster. Kaleb carried Dashwood to the back as Ellering’s theme played…
Brian Myers was shown coaching Sam Beale backstage…[c]
John’s Thoughts: A strong tag team intervention segment. Rachael Ellering came off better on the mic here and in fact she justified why she’s so sappy at-times in her promos. There seems to be a bit or actual real-life backstory behind her trying to be super positive and it was clairified here when she talked about hitting rock bottom a year ago. I still think this ends with Jordynne Grace turning heel. That still seems to be the plan, but maybe they’re also trying to use this to humanize Grace to the audience and make her a bit more realatable? Let’s see where they go, but I’m intrigued coming out of this segment.
Entrances for the next match took place. Sam Beale had a notepad tucked in his tights for taking notes…
4. Sam Beale (w/Brian Myers) vs. Jake Something. Something slammed Beale to the mat with the first move. Something tood down Beale with a few shoulder blocks. Beale went to ringside for some advice form Myers. Myers distracted Something which allowed Beale to get a few punches on Something. Beale went for a crossbody, but he got caught out of the air by Something. Something hit Beale with a Michinoku Driver.
Beale kicked out at two. Myers gave Beale a chair, but Something stepped on it and kicked it to ringside. Something yelled “what’s my name” and tackled Beale in the corner. Something hit Beale with a Black Hole Slam for the victory.
Jake Something defeated Sam Beale via pinfall in 2:26.
Brian Myers took the mic and said that Same shouldn’t blame himself because everyone should blame someone else. Myers said that Beale should blame Something because Something is not a professional. Myers told Beale that his next piece of advice is to not be like Jake and do everything different from Jake…
Eddie Edwards and Satoshi Kojima were chatting with Willie Mack and Rich Swann. Eddie told Swann that once he and Kojima win, Mack and Swann can get the first title shot…[c]
John’s Thoughts: I get a kick out of the Beale and Myers relationship. Their mentor-mentee thing reminds me of NXT’s Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory relationship where Theory is Gargano’s manchild “son”. It looks like they’re also bringing Something into the fold, which will definitely lead to a Myers vs. Something match in the next few weeks.
Josh Mathews and D’Lo Brown checked in from their commentary set. They announced the following matches for next week:TJP and Fallah Bahh vs. Rich Swann and Willie Mack, Chris Bey vs. Petey Williams, and Kenny Omega, Karl Anderson, and Doc Gallows vs. Sami Callihan, Moose, and Chris Sabin…
Entrances for the next match took place. D’Lo Brown reminded viewers that Violent By Design defend their titles via Freebird rules…
5. “Violent By Design” Joe Doering and Deaner (w/Eric Young, Rhino) vs. Eddie Edwards and Satoshi Kojima for the Impact Tag Team Championships. Kojima dominated Deaner early on with strikes. The show cut to commercial after Kojima took down Deaner with a shoulder tackle.[c]
Eddie and Satoshi traded quick tags to swarm Deaner with tandem moves. Deaner tripped up Kojima and tagged in Doering. Kojima went for gut punches on Doering, but Doering kept Kojima under control with clubbing blows. Deaner tagged in and continued VBD’s momentum. Deaner tagged back in and put Kojima in a sleeper. Doering switch the move to a chinlock when Kojima showed a bit of life. Kojima adjusted his weight to block Doering’s suplex. Kojima hit Doering with a suplex.
Deaner and Eddie tagged in with Eddie rallying. Deaner caught Eddie with a Yakuza Kick. Eddie came back with a Blue Thunder Bomb for a two count. Doering attacked Eddie to prevent him from hitting Deaner with a Tiger Driver. Eddie dumped Deaner to ringside. Kojima dumped Doering to ringside. Eddie and Kojima hit VBD with stereo dives heading into the commercial.[c]
Eddie worked on Deaner with chops and strikes in the corner. Rhino distracted Eddie which allowed Deaner to toss Eddie into the corner. Deaner hit Eddie with a power bomb for a two count. Deaner and Doering cut the ring in half on Eddie and dominated him for about 5 minutes. Eddie Edwards got a window of opportunity after reversing Deaner’s suplex with a Back Suplex. Eddie booted away Deaner to tag in Kojima for the hot tag.
Kojima hit Deaner with a series of axe handle strikes. Kojima hit Deaner with machine gun chops. Deaner attacked Kojima and was sent to the corner. Eddie and Kojima hit VBD with stereo machine gun chops. Eddie hit Deaner in the corner with a Frankensteiner. Kojima hit Deaner with an elbow drop for a two count. Good nearfall, but for some reason Josh and D’Lo did the Vince McMahone “we have a new champion” thing.
Deaner slammed Kojima to the mat, but missed a diving headbutt. Eddie tagged in. Deaner escaped a backpack stunner. Doering tackled Eddie. Deaner hit Eddie with a headbutt for a two count. Doering tagged in and hit Eddie with a Death Valley Driver. Eddie ducked Doering’s lariat and rolled up Doering for a two count. Josh did the “new champs” thing again for some reason.
Eddie kicked Doering and Kojima hit Doering with a Koji Cutter. Doering reversed a Boston Knee Party into a Revolution Bomb for the clean pin on Eddie.
Joe Doering and Deaner defeated Eddie Edwards and Satoshi Kojima via pinfall in 15:34 of on-air time to retain the Impact Tag Team Championships (over 20 mintues when you include both commercial breaks).
Josh Mathews hyped up the Team Dreamer vs. Team Callis match for next week to close the show…
John’s Thoughts: A good tag team match that I thought went a bit too long with two commercial breaks included. Not bad at all, but it could have been tightened up a bit. What killed the match a bit at the end was Josh Mathews and D’Lo going overboard in the Vince McMahon “we have a new champion” call that killed what were very solid nearfalls. Back to positives though. Doering doesn’t get a lot of in-ring time on regular TV, but he utilizes the time he does get effectively. I thought Deaner came off well at the end of that match too, looking like a plucky heel pitbull.
A solid episode of Impact this week. Nothing too spectacular, but I thought Impact did a good job in terms of story and character progression. I also talk about how how Impact’s in-ring quality has improved since they started their working relationship with AEW (It isn’t related at all to AEW, just more like something that happened around the same time frame). Impact does a good job now with in-ring storytelling. Here’s hoping for some solid shows heading into Slammiversary.
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