By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling TV
Taped in Nashville, Tennessee at Skyway Studios
Aired November 4, 2021 on AXS TV
Highlights from last week’s Impact Wrestling show aired…
Matt Striker and D’Lo Brown were on commentary…
1. Steve Maclin vs. Rohit Raju (w/Raj Singh) vs. Laredo Kid vs. Black Taurus (w/Crazzy Steve) to become number one contender to the X Division Championship. Maclin and Taurus cleared the ring. Maclin took down Taurus with a lariat. Taurus came back with a sling blade. Rohit hit Maclin with a dive at ringside. Kid hit Taurus with a huracanrana. Taurus hit the wrestlers at ringside with a corkscrew plancha.
Kid hit the pile of wrestlers at ringside with a dive. Raju hit Kid with strikes. Kid came back with corner flying forearms. Raju hit Kid with a neckbreaker Falcon Arrow combo. Taurus hit Maclin and Raju with a Whisper of the Wind. Kid broke up Taurus’s pin on Maclin with a slingshot senton. Kid hit Taurus with a series of huracanranas and a splash. Maclin ran the ropes and hit a suicide dive. After an exchange, Kid hit Raju with a Michinoku Driver for the win.
Laredo Kid defeated Rohit Raju, Steve Maclin, and Black Taurus via pinfall in 5:21 to become number one contender to the X Division Championship.
Miguel and Kid had a handshake after the match. Maclin cut in and hit both men with a lariat. Kid and Miguel recovered and used their numbers advantage to clear Maclin from the ring with stereo dropkicks…
John’s Thoughts: Fun X Division opener. Good to see Laredo Kid get a win for once because I feel like he puts on a ton of good performances in Impact yet is usually on the losing end of things. He’s most likely in as a guest on Impact from AAA, but that isn’t a bad thing and his match with Trey Miguel should be a solid one. I do want to throw more praise for Maclin again. The guy has been showing the right amount of high flying in his offense without overdoing it. Maclin may be the dark horse when it comes to being one of the best overall wrestlers in Impact.
Matt Striker and D’Lo Brown checked in from their commentary booth. The commentary team ran through upcoming segments…
Gia Miller interviewed Madison Rayne, who was with Kaleb, and noted that if Rayne wins she’ll become the third person to hold the Knockouts Title 6 times. Gia wondered if facing Mickie this time will be different. Rayne noted wrestling Mickie a ton of times in many stipulation matches. Rayne bragged about beating Mickie in a last knockout standing match once. Rayne said when she challenges for the title she historically tends to pick it up. Kaleb talked about how Mickie disrespected him and they will get their revenge on her today. Gia wondered if Rayne and Kaleb hosting locker room talk will get in their way in terms of preparing for their match. Gia also noted that they were supposed to interview the IInspiration. Rayne and Kaleb claimed that Gia had misinformation…[c]
Gia interviewed Ace Austin and Madman Fulton. Ace bragged about beating former world champion Chris Sabin last week. Ace showed off a shirt that says “I beat Chris Sabin”. Madman Fulton will be facing Sabin later in the show and he said he was going to rip Sabin apart…
Violent By Design made their entrance. Eric Young was in ring gear and grabbed a mic. Young said Rhino made the wrong decision. Young said that Rhino learned that with choices, there are repercussions. Young said you are supposed to be in Violent By Design forever. Young talked abut being out of action for 6 months and now he’s about to get his hands dirty. Young said tonight he was going to start building a metaphorical monument with it’s first brick being laid tonight.
Eric Young’s supposed opponent made his entrance. The commentators were confused because there was no name graphic and they seemed to be out of the loop to who this random wrestler is. Young said it seemed like the Sam’s Town crowd knew who he was. Young asked the wrestler for his name and he said it was Jai Vidal and he’s from Las Vegas. Young assumed and he confirmed that he was appearing on TV for the first time. Young said that Jai looks nervous and that’s the sign of having “the disease”. Young said he has the cure. Young took off his Jacket to start the match…
2. Eric Young (w/Deaner, Joe Doering) vs. Jai Vidal. Young took down Jai with running clotheslines. Young worked on Jai with methodical offense. Young hit Jai with a Release Power Bomb followed by a Pile Driver for the win.
Eric Young defeated Jai Vidal via pinfall in 1:05.
Striker noted that Vidal bounced off the release bomb into the air…
John’s Thoughts: Nice return for Eric Young who looked good in his first match back. Very strange that they give Jai Vidal the spotlight and John Cena “Ruthless Aggression” routine, only to have him get zero offense in. At the same time I’m all for putting over Eric Young strong because Young is very valuable to Impact’s upper card. Young might have arguably been the strongest heel in Impact right before he got injured.
The IInspiration walked into a random lounge room which had a camera and lighting set up. A graphic for “Locker Room Talk” appeared on the screen. Jessie and Cassie said something didn’t seem right. A random distortion happened and the room changed to violet lighting. Cassie and Jessie tried to run off, but Havoc and Rosemary were outside of the door.
They locked Cassie and Jessie in the room. Cassie was freaking out as they were trying to find the alternate exit, saying she swares she saw Rosemary (which she did). Jessie told Cassie to calm down and they will just calmly find another exit. After the IInspiration left, a mirror had the words “Turning Point” written on in in presumably lipstick…[c]
An ad aired for the Impact Plus Turning Point show…
Gia Miller interviewed Jessie McKay and Cassie Lee. Lee was still freaking out. Gia said if Decay freaks them out, then they need so stay away from Kimber Lee and Brandi Lauren, the undead bridesmaids. Lee asked Gia for tips on how to stay away from Impact’s ghost characters. Gia said when the “ghosts” aren’t in the Undead Realm, they’re usually lurking around the dark parts of the building…
John’s Thoughts: Eh… Campy Halloween humor.
The Good Brothers made their entrance…
3. Impact Tag Team Champions Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. “FinJuice” David Finlay and Juice Robinson in a non-title match. Anderson and Finlay started the match with chain wrestling. Finlay and Robinson traded quick tags to keep the numbers advantage over Anderson. Robinson knocked Gallows off the apron. Anderson sent Robinson to ringside after an eye rake. Gallows hit Robinson with a Big Boot.[c]
Gallows hit Robinson with a punch combination. The Good Brothers cut the ring in half on Robinson. Robinson got a moment of respite after hitting Gallows with a jawbreaker. Finlay and Anderson tagged in. Finlay cleared house and hit Gallows wtih a Plancha. Finlay hit Anderson with a backbreaker for a two count. All four men took each other out with signature strikes. El Phantasmo, Hikuleo, and Chris Bey ran into the ring to attack both teams and cause the referee to call for the bell.
The Good Brothers vs. FinJuice ended in an apparent no-contest in 6:35 of on-air time.
Bullet Club beat up all four wrestlers in the ring. Phantasmo gave Gallows a low blow. Phantasmo hit Anderson in the gut with the title belt…
John’s Thoughts: Well wrestled match, but at the same time as viewers we have no reason to care about Impact’s tag division at the moment. At the moment, it seems like there are a bunch of New Japan Wrestlers (and Chris Bey) randomly having matches without no real context. The Impact version of Bullet Club also comes off as very bland and meaningless. Bullet Club got so much heat in Japan because they’re the elitist and disrespectful gaijins (evil foreigners). In Impact it’s really tough to sell Bullet Club as evil foreigners when it looks like they’re locals. In fact, Chris Bey used to wrestle in Las Vegas for the FSW promotion.
Johnny Swinger tried to sell his random paintings. He told Gia that he was trying to raise money to start a new Casino. Hernandez, who was holding his wad of cash, pulled Swinger aside and said he could help Swinger…[c]
An ad aired for Impact’s Hard to Kill PPV in January…
Dave Finlay and Juice Robinson cut a promo backstage, arguing about Bullet Club always getting in their way when they’re going for the tag titles. Scott D’Amore showed up and said that FinJuice deserve to get their hands on the Bullet Club. D’Amore booked Bullet Club vs. FinJuice in a number one contender’s match and said that there will be a winner next week…
Madison Rayne made her entrance. For some reason, her music and video wall were all Tenille Dashwood’s…
4. Mickie James vs. Madison Rayne (w/Kaleb Konley) for the Impact Knockouts Championship. James got the first pin attempt after an armdrag. James put Rayne in a Full Nelson. Rayne got to the ropes for the break. James hit Rayne with a snapmare and running boots for the two count. Kaleb and James played tug o war with Rayne’s body. Rayne ended up catching a running Rayne with a flapjack.
Mickie went high risk, but Kaleb shoved Mickie off the top rope when Rayne distracted the referee. Rayne worked on James with methodical offense. Mickie escaped a modified Cattle Mutilation. James sidestepped Rayne and rallied back with forearms and clotheslines. Mickie hit Madison with a neckbreaker. Kaleb distracted Mickie which allowed Rayne to nail James with a ripcord cutter for a two count.
Rayne gave James a basement dropkick to send her to ringside. Kaleb tried to slap James, but James ducked and Kaleb slapped ringpost. James gave Kaleb a whip into the ringpost. James hit Rayne with a diving seated senton for the victory.
Mickie James defeated Madison Rayne via pinfall in 7:26 to retain the Impact Knockouts Championship.
John’s Thoughts: A good match where the purpose wasn’t necessarily to present Madison Rayne as a credible threat, but to heat up James by having her overcome the two on one numbers advantage situation with Kaleb and Madison. Impact should give James as many wins as possible to make her eventual torch passing moment mean even more. At the same time, WWE really really dropped the ball in not utilizing James in their women’s main events. She can still go at a high level and is ageless.
After Mickie’s title defense, Mercedes Martinez made her entrance to confront Mickie. Mercedes took the mic and talked about knowing Mickie for a long time and how they always have each other’s back. Mercedes noted that people keep putting Mickie down and all Mickie does is level up and step up to the plate all the time.
Martinez said that while Mickie is looking for challengers, her next challenger is standing in front of her. Martinez said she won the Knockouts Knockdown Tournament which makes her number one contender. Martinez said the OG Badass will see Mickie at Turning Point. The segment ended…
John’s Thoughts: Yo! That should be a fun one. Mickie and Mercedes. I’m surprised they didn’t cross paths in WWE, especially since Mercedes was getting that main roster callup at one point. Mercedes may not be the youngest wrestler out there, but I would argue that she’s top 5 out there when it comes to best overall female wrestlers today. She’s great in the ring, great on the mic, and can tell a bell-to-bell story as good as anyone out there. It was actually fun seeing WWE give her the high production value push in her last run and she stepped up to the plate in terms of making it look good.
Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay were still wandering backstage acting paranoid. They walked into Brandi Lauren and Kimber Lee. The IInspiration asked the zombie ladies that they want them to face “the ghosts” Decay next week. The zombie ladies said nonsensical things and giggled. Lee and McKay assumed that was a “yes”…[c]
Gia Miller interviewed Josh Alexander, Eddie Edwards, and Matt Cardona about their match later on in the show. Alexander was emotional and said that while Suzuki is a legend and Morrissey is one of the biggest wrestlers in Impact history, he’s 100 percent focused on Moose for the moment Moose took away from him. Eddie Edwards got in Josh’s face and told Josh to take Christian’s advise and to not let his emotions get the best of him.
Eddie said he totally understands because Moose tried to end Eddie’s career and even attacked Eddie’s wife. Cardona cut in and said he knows they all want the same thing, but they have to understand that Morrissey and Suzuki are in the match too. Cardona said they have to team up and kick their asses…
Entrances for the next match took place. Striker plugged ticket sales for the Hard To Kill PPV…
5. Madman Fulton (w/Ace Austin) vs. Chris Sabin. Sabin used reversals and quickness to get the upper hand over Fulton. Sabin sent Fulton to ringside with a huracanrana. Sabin went for a suicide dive on Fulton, but he was caught out of the air and chokeslamed into the ring apron.[c]
Fulton worked on Sabin with methodical offense. Sabin managed to dump Fulton to ringside and catch him with a springboard crossbody. Sabin hit Fulton with a leg lariat for a two count. Fulton used his weight to block a Cradle Shock attempt. Fulton put Sabin in a Torture Rack and followed up with a wheelbarrow slam. Sabin recovered and hit Fulton with a Tornado DDT into a Small Package for the win.
Chris Sabin defeated Madman Fulton via pinfall in 4:50 of on-air time.
Sabin retreated up the ramp to avoid the double team…
Striker and D’Lo ran through the Turning Point Card. The following matches were advertised for next week’s Impact show: The Undead Bridesmainds vs. Decay and The Bullet Club vs. FinJuice in a number one contenders match. They also announced Jordynne Grace vs. John Skyler for the Digital Media Championship (I think on their Youtube channel?)…
Entrances for the next match took place…[c]
John’s Thoughts: There’s a part of me that misses Don Callis on commentary. Not only was Callis great as a Color Commentator, but nobody sells the legend of Minoru Suzuki better than Don Callis.
6. Minoru Suzuki, W Morrissey, and Impact World Champion Moose vs. Josh Alexander, Eddie Edwards, and Matt Cardona. Alexander wanted Moose, but got Suzuki. Alexander and Suzuki started off with technical chain wrestling. Suzuki dominated the forearm exchange. Morrissey tagged in and walked right into chain wrestling from Alexander. Eddie Edwards and Moose tagged in. Eddie caught Moose with a Big Boot. The face team cleared their opponents from the ring. Eddie hit Suzuki with a dive heading into break.[c]
The heel team cut the ring in half on Matt Cardona. Cardona managed to tag in Eddie, but the referee didn’t catch it, which allowed the heels to continue to isolate Cardona. Cardona tagged Alexander after giving Morrissey a Codebreaker and giving Moose an Enzuigiri. Alexander gave Moose multiple German Suplexes. He hit Cardona with a rolling senton. Eddie hit Morrissey with a roundhouse which sent him into Alexander’s German Suplex. Eddie hit Morrissey with a blue thunder bomb for a two count.
All six men faced off and traded punches with Alexander’s team getting the upper hand. Suzuki managed to hit Alexander with the Gotch Pile Driver. Eddie tried to attack Suzuki, but Morrissey caught Edddie with a roundhouse. Morrissey hit Eddie with a Power Bomb for the win.
W Morrissey, Moose, and Minoru Suzuki defeated Eddie Edwards, Josh Alexander, and Matt Cardona via pinfall in 11:23 of on-air time.
The winners stood tall over Eddie’s knocked out body to close the show…
John’s Thoughts: A good TV match to give the crowd a taste of Minoru Suzuki during Suzuki’s US tour while also putting heat on some of Impact’s heels. Josh Alexander was rightfully kept away from the finish to keep him heated up. Now that Moose is no longer in the tag team picture, I wouldn’t mind seeing him and Morrissey go off to have formal singles feuds to give Impact some compelling television.
A solid week of Impact as usual. Nothing must see. There was a bit of boring weirdness with the IInspiration, but it was mostly harmless (it came off as a low budget version of the Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams haunted house thing from NXT, and that wasn’t even that great).
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