By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling TV
Taped in Newport, Kentucky at PromoWest Pavilion
Aired May 19, 2022 on AXS TV
Highlights from last week’s Impact Wrestling show aired…
Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt were on commentary…
1. Laredo Kid vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey for a spot in the Ultimate X Match at Slammiversary. Both men started at a stalemate after trading pin attempts. Bailey got a leg scissors takedown and rollup for a two count. Both men showboated with backflips. Kid dumped Bailey to ringside. Bailey clocked Kid with a pump kick. Bailey grounded Kid and hit him with a Vader Bomb Meteora for a two count. Both men traded martial arts strikes with Kid getting the upper hand after a neckbreaker.
Kid caught Bailey with an Asai Moonsault at ringside. Kid hit Bailey with a Michinoku Driver and two moonsaults for a two count. Bailey reversed a huracanrana into a rollup for a few two counts. Bailey caught Kid with a Triangle Moonsault at ringside. Bailey hit Kid with a missile dropkick. Bailey hit Kid with a standing Red Arrow for a two count. Kid blocked aroundhouse with a Uranage. Bailey countered a forearm with a cyclone roundhouse.
Kid avoided an Ultima Weapon into a Magistral for a two count. Kid hit Bailey with a Michinoku Driver for a nearfall. Kid and Bailey traded strikes on the top rope with Kid managing to shove Bailey off. Bailey came right back with a gamengiri. Bailey reversed a Sunset flip into a PK. Bailey hit Kid with a standing Ultima Weapon. Bailey hit Kid with a Chambered Kick. Both men then traded rollup counters with Bailey coming out on top with the win.
Mike Bailey defeated Laredo Kid via pinfall in 9:11 to earn a spot in the Ultimate X Match at Slammiversary.
Tom Hannifan noted that the pin shouldn’t have counted due to Kid’s legs being under the ropes, but he also noted that the referee’s decision was final and it was justified due the bad angle he had while counting the pin…
John’s Thoughts: A fun match in the opening X Division spotfest slot on the show. While there were a lot of spots, this match had more methodical points than you usually see from the day-to-day cruiserweights of Impact. Kid is solid and we’re still waiting for Impact to give him his push. Bailey is very unique with his Karate Striking style that almost no-one other than maybe Mike Sydal or Low Ki employ. The uniqueness of Bailey almost makes him come off like a less grumpy, and more cheery version of Low Ki. Looking forward to the continuation of the Mike Bailey and Ace Austin feud that will happen in Ultiate X.
Hannifan sent the show to Ace Austin, who was in Japan. Ace Austin cut a promo on Mike Bailey talking about how Bailey chose to be selfish rather than align with him. Ace then talked about how he’s the first reigning X Division Champion to wrestle in the Best of the Super Juniors in New Japan. Ace said at Slammiversary he’ll be in his third Ultimate X so he’s prepared to come back to the US…[c]
An ad aired for Slammiversary featuring Josh Alexander. There were “TNA” chants in the background. The ad featured Josh Alexander looking confused after he lifted a random sport coat off the ground, where he found a random crate that had the TNA logo on it…
Matt Cardona and Chelsea Green were shown on their honeymoon. Cardona talked about Rich Swann challenging him for the Digital Media Championship. Cardona then bragged about being out on the islands for his honeymoon. Green talked about how she plans to win the Knockouts championship in the Queen of the Mountain match…
Tom Hannifan and Matt Rehwoldt checked in from the commentary table. Hannifan and Rehwoldt ran through upcoming segments for this week’s show…
2. Deonna Purrazzo, Savannah Evans, and Impact Knockouts Champion Tasha Steelz vs. Jordynne Grace, Mia Yim, and Taya Valkyrie. Grace and Purrazzo started out the match with chain wrestling. Taya and Tasha tagged in with Taya dominating using her power and strikes. Taya hit Tasha with her signature meteora in the corner. Taya got a two count off a Blue Thunder Bomb.[c]
Grace used her power to dominate Tasha. Grace held a delayed Jackhammer for about 30 seconds. Purrazzo and Evans got cheap shots in when the referee was distracted. The heels cut the ring in half on Grace with quick tags. Hannifan noted that Purrazzo lost both of her titles in less than two weeks. Grace got a window of opportunity after reversing Tasha’s suplex into her own German Suplex. Grace slammed Tasha and tagged in Mia Yim for the hot tag. Hannifan noted that Yim beat Gail Kim for the Impact Knockouts title the last time she was in Impact (as Jade).
Yim bocked Tasha by twirking. Yim hit Tasha with a cannonball and power bomb for a two count. Each woman took their turns hitting signature moves. Yim caught Purrazo wtih a Pele Kick. Purrazzo came back with a Yakuza Kick. Evans tagged in. Yim tangled Evans in the ropes so Taya could hit her with a sliding German Suplex. Yim hit Tasha with Eat Defeat for the win.
Mia Yim, Jordynne Grace, and Taya Valkyrie defeated Savannah Evans, Tasha Steelz, and Deonna Purrazzo via pinfall in 7:55 of on-air time.
John’s Thoughts: A decent, house-show style, match to keep the crowd happy. I hope Taya Valkyrie and Mia Yim end up getting vignettes to reintroduce them to Impact. So far they’re just two former Knockouts champs that got released by WWE. That aside, I hope they are sticking around in Impact for a good amount of time. AEW doesn’t exactly feature their women’s division in long segments and Impact is usually the opposite in that they do a really good job innovating in their women’s division (though, they’re going to have a hard task ahead of them to make the crappy King/Queen of the Mountain Match not seem convoluted).
The show cut to Madison Rayne and Tenille Dashwood hosting Rayne’s Locker Room Talk show. Johnny Swinger and Zicky Dice showed up with Swinger noting that he was late for his co-host duties. Zicky Dice still thinks that Johnny Swinger’s dungeon is a BDSM sex club. For some reason, Rosemary and Havok teleported into the scene. Rosemary is still making virgin jokes. Havok tried to challenge the Influence to a tag title match. Dashwood pointed out that Havok has been losing matches, including her last one, and doesn’t deserve a title shot. Zicky Dice stood up and thought that Havok was from “the dungeon”. Havok shoved Dice into swinger. Dice carted Swinger away with Swinger selling ball pain…[c]
Gia Miller interviewed Chris Sabin and noted that Sabin entered Gauntlet for the Gold at number 1 and almost won the match. Miller wondered what Sabin was going to do now? Sabin said he was going to throw out a random challenge to an old rival. Sabin challenged Frankie Kazarian to a match next week. Sabin said they used to call their matches “The battle of the future”…
The Impact Wrestling Flashback Match of the Week aired and it was Chris Sabin vs. Frankie Kazarian from June 25, 2003 on Impact. About 3 minutes of match aired. Kaz won after hitting Sabin with a Spanish Fly…
An Eric Young vignette promo aired. Young talked about growing up poor, but trying the best he could to watch old WWE shows. Young talked about he and one of his current best friends Bobby Roode signed 4 day contracts with TNA in 2004, not questioning the contracts, just to get work. Young talked about how he was slapped around by Scott D’Amore, which led to him becoming “Paranoid” Eric Young, where he was timid and scared of his own pyro.
Young said ultimately he was paranoid about not being able to make a living or money in the pro wrestling business. He said he took all of his opportunities and ran with them. He then ran through his many gimmicks like “showtime”, “the band”, just Eric Young, “Frontline”, and “world class maniac”. Young talked about working with many different people including a “Crazy old man” who discared him like a piece of garbage. Young said he’s currently his realist self, the real Eric Young. He said he’s not a part of anyone’s design now. The end of the promo was a bit hard to hear due to distortion. Young said the world doesn’t belong to you, it belongs to me…
John’s Thoughts: A bit of an abrupt change, but I like Impact taking the effort of moving Young away from the stale Violent By Design act and framing him as a more serious legend for the Impact company.
Gia Miller interviewed Josh Alexander about defending his title against Eric Young at Slammiversary. Alexander said he doesn’t respect what Young does these days, but he looks up to young in terms of what he did for the history of this company. Alexander said Young is in the discussion for MVP of the company in the last 20 years. Alexander said the real discussion should be who is going to lead Impact into the next 20 years and that man can be decided at Slammiversary. Alexander said Young needs to bring the fight of his life to take the title from him…
Entrances for the next match took place. Maria Kanellis joined Hannifan and Rehwoldt on commentary. Hannifan grilled Maria on Mike Bennett lowing Karl Anderson a few weeks ago which Maria denied. Maria said that her boys play by the rules…
3. Matt Taven and Mike Bennett (w/Maria Kanellis) vs. “The Good Brothers” Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson. Bennett and Anderson started the match with a collar and elbow. Both men traded chops and forearms. Gallows and Anderson used quick tags to cut the ring in half on Bennett. Bennett gave Gallows an eye rake to tag in Taven. Gallows turned Taven inside out with a lariat for a two count. Anderson tagged in and the Good Brothers continued to dominate the match.
Bennett got a blind tag and gave Anderson a flapjack on the top rope. Taven tossed Anderson around at ringside. Hannifan grilled Maria on Maria helping Kenny King win last week. Bennett hit Anderson with an eye poke. Taven tagged in and gave Anderson a missile dropkick for a two count. The Original Kingdom traded quick tags to cut the ring in half on Anderson. Anderson rallied back with punches and a chop. Anderson hit Bennett with a spinebuster.
Gallows go tthe hot tag. He gave Taven a series of shoulder blocks. Anderson hit Taven with a flapjack slam for a two count. Bennett gave Andesron a spear when the Good Brothers went for a Magic Killer on Taven. Taven rolled up Gallows for a two count. Bennett hit Gallows with a discus forearm. Bennett hit Gallows with a lionsault for a two count. Bennett accidentally superkicked Taven.
The Good Brothers hit Bennett wtih a double team back suplex. Maria got in the apron to distract the referee. Maria got in the ring to get in Anderson’s face. Mike Bennett accidentally gave Maria a spear. While Bennett was worried for his wife’s well being, Anderson hit Bennett with a Gun Stun for the victory.
The Good Brothers defeated Mike Bennett and Matt Taven via pinfall in 10:36.
Anderson shrugged after the match as the Good Brothers stood tall over Maria and Mike. Rehwoldt said it was shameful the way that Maria’s been winning matches for Honor No More…[c]
John’s Thoughts: I actually liked that the match was focused on forwarding a feud. Not sure where they’re going with the whole Karl Anderson and Maria Kanellis thing (This is stemming from the Kingdom vs. Bullet Club match from many years ago where Maria distracted Anderson with a stripper dance). What continues to baffle me is Honor No More continue to lose all the time unless Eddie Edwards is in the ring?
The show cut to a Sami Callihan promo. The production crew spliced in random static distortion in the promo. Callihan talked about how Moose put him on the shelf. He said he respects Moose because he would have done the same thing to Moose if he were in Moose’s shoes. Callihan said he been thinking for over a year on what he’s going to do to Moose. He said he’s going to make Moose’s life a living hell. He said the Death Machine is coming. Thumbs up, Thumbs Down…
John’s Thoughts: Your usual Sami Callihan promo, and so far I’m ok with him not being presented as a teleporting hacker magician. What I wasn’t a fan of was Impact trying to overproduce his promo by adding all the random Adobe After Effects and sound distortion. My guess is that they want it to come off as edgy but it instead comes off as low-budget and extra. If they want to give Sami the edgy presentation they should maybe go back to the camcorder selfie promos that he and Jon Moxley used to cut, which was what Sami was doing when he was in OVE.
Masha Slammovich made her entrance for the next match…
4. Masha Slammovich vs. Shawna Reed. Masha stomped a mudhole into Shawna. Masha gave Shawna a face wash kick. Masha got the visual pinfall, but she lifted up Shawna for more punishment. Masha hit Shawna with the Snow Plow for the win.
Masha Slammovich defeated Shawna Reed via pinfall in 0:54.
The lights went out after the match. Jessika Havok made her entrance to Decay’s theme. Havok got in Masha’s face. The two women butted heads and jawed with each other…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Good to see Masha finally getting a credible opponent and a real match coming up. Havok has no chance (or she shouldn’t have no chance as to not waste Masha’s buzzsaw push). Masha is sorta like Impact’s version of Asuka in terms of being a buzzsaw and I can see her having similar success if treated right.
A continuation of the earlier Slammiversary ad aired. More classic TNA b-roll footage aired. Alexander opened up the TNA crate and was shocked at a random glowing light…
Raj Singh and Mahabali Shera was backstage. Raj cut the same promo from a few weeks ago about how Bhupinder Gujjar could have joined him. Bhupinder showed up and said that it was time to solve things in the ring. As Singh was trash talking, W Morrissey showed up. Singh said Bhupinder has a giant, but he has a lion. Shera snorted a bit and said “next week, mmmmm”. Raj and Shera left. Bhupinder said he doesn’t need Morrissey’s help. Morrissey said to take it from him, how it doesn’t hurt to accept help from others. Bhupinder said “let’s do it” as the two men shook hands…
John’s Thoughts: Impact continues with their weekly mandatory Bhupinder Gujjar segment
Tom Hannifan and Matt Rehwoldt checked in from the commentary table and announced the following segments for next week: Chris Sabin vs. Frankie Kazarian, Masha Slammovich vs. Havok, Trey Miguel vs. Alex Shelley in an Ultimate X Qualifyer, and Jordynne Grace vs. Chelsea Green. Rehwoldt hyped Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishiii from Dontaku 2022 on the AXS show.
Entrances for the next match took place. Eric Young was back in Violent By Design mode, leading his team to the ring…[c]
5. “The Briscoe Brothers” Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. “Violent By Design” Joe Doering and Deaner (w/Eric Young) for the Impact Tag Team Championships. Doering and Mark started the match. Doering no sold Mark’s punches and shoulder tackles. Doering clubbed down Mark and tagged in Deaner. Jay tagged in and took down Deaner with a clothesline. Mark tagged back in and gave Deaner a brainbuster for a one count. Jay tagged in and hit Deaner with a Yakuza Kick. The Briscoes hit Deaner with tandem kicks.
Jay and Mark traded quick tags and cut the ring in half on Deaner. Mark hit Deaner with a wrecking ball kick and cannonball. Deaner took down Jay with a flying crossbody heading into commercial.[c]
Doering and Deaner cut the ring in half on Jay. Young got cheap shots in while the referee was distracted. Jay fought out and tagged in Mark for the hto tag. mark gave both opponents chops and sent Doering to ringside with a Pele Kick. Mark hit Doering with a flip dive. Mark gave Deaner a straight jacket slam for a two count. Jay gave Doering a yakuza kick. The Briscoes gave Deaner a double team suplex to give Mark a two count.
Deaner escaped a Jay Driller attempt. Doering tagged in and hit Jay with a spinebuster for a two count. Deaner hit Jay with a headbutt. Mark broke up Deaner’s pin. Jay caught Doering with a superkick and huracanrana. Jay hit Deaner with a rolling elbow. Doering held on to Mark’s leg to prevent Mark from hitting the Doomsday Device. Deaner tried to escape the Electric Chair, but Jay sat down on Deaner to pick up the pinfall win.
The Briscoe Brothers defeated Violent By Design via pinfall in 10:26 of tv-time to retain the Impact Tag Team Championships.
Eric Young ran in to put the boots to Jay and Mark. Josh Alexander ran out to clear Doering and Deaner from the ring. Josh and Eric got in each others’ faces. Deaner blindsided Josh with a punch. The Briscoes recovered and dumped Violent By Design to ringside. Josh Alexander handed the Briscoes the tag team titles. Josh Alexander’s theme played as the babyfaces stood tall in the ring to clost the show…
John’s Thoughts: Decent tag team match but nothing special. They did what they had to to blow through VBD’s mandatory rematch. I hope Violent By Design is near the end of their run at this point because all three men could use some refreshing as singles acts. Again, can we get us a Joe Doering singles run? The guy has rare singles matches in Impact, but when he does get a singles match he shines (Gallows vs. Doering from last year was a hidden gem). I’m curious who steps up to wrestle the Briscoes. A part of me doesn’t want it to be The Kingdom, because that would be a Ring of Honor rehash.
Again, Impact continues to be one of the better pro wrestling shows on a weekly basis ever since they gave up on overloading the show with their stupid comedy crap. Good comedy is good, crap comedy is crap and that tends to be what Impact’s comedy is. They did have that one Locker Room Talk segment, but thankfully you can fast forward that if you’re watching on delay.
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