By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling TV
Taped in Kissimmee, Florida at Osceola Heritage Park
Aired June 9, 2022 on AXS TV
Highlights from last week’s Impact Wrestling show aired. A Sami Callihan promo aired where Callihan continued to talk about how he’s coming after Moose. A TNA themed intro theme aired…
Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt were on commentary. Dave Penzer was the ring announcer. Hannifan joked about Rehwoldt losing to Rich Swann last week…
1. Tenille Dashwood (w/Madison Rayne) vs. Rosemary. Roselary pressured Dashwood to the corner by the throat. Rosemary beat down Dashwood with clubbing blows. Rosemary tossed Dashwood across the ring with an Exploder Suplex. Dashwood hit Rosemary with a hangman neckbreaker after the distraction from Rayne. Dashwood got a two count. Dashwood worked on Rosemary with methodical offense.
Rosemary hit Dashwood with the Tarantula. Rayne got a cheap shot punch in on Rosemary after the ref was distracted by Dashwood. Dashwood went back to the methodical offense. Rosemary escaped a Full Nelson. Rosemary and Dashwood took each other out with lariats. Rosemary rallied with rinning elbows. Rosemary put Dashwood in a Muta Lock. Dashwood escaped by pulling Rosemary’s hair.
After trading counters, Rosemary hit Dashwood with a German Suplex for a two count. Rayne tried for the distraction from the apron, but Rosemary knocked off Rayne by shoving Dashwood into her. Rosemary rolled Dashwood into a Jackknife Pin for the win.
Rosemary defeated Tenille Dashwood via pinfall in 6:10.
Tom Hannifan noted that Rosemary pinned one half of the tag team champions. Rayne quickly jumped in the ring leading to both heels putting the boots to Rosemary. Taya Valkyrie ran out to punch the heels. Hannifan noted it was odd to see Taya help Rosemary due to Rosemary and Taya feuding in the past. Taya and Rosemary took down the Influence with stereo spears. Taya and Rosemary backed into each other and then teased tension. Rosemary backed down to continue to sell the tension…
John’s Thoughts: A well wrestled match that led to the usual singles loss by a tag champion to set up a title defense. Looks like they’re going with Rosemary and Taya going into Slammiversary as the reluctant tag team partners going after the title. I have to say it is a bit forced and rushed they way they’re putting Rosemary and Taya together. I wonder if Taya pushed for this because she didn’t want to be a part of the convoluted Queen of the Mountain match. If I were Taya, I’d take this random tag match over that contrived mess of a match…
Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt checked in from the commentary table. The commentators ran through the advertised Slammiversary card…
Tom Hannifan hyped up that the Good Brothers were driving to confront The Briscoe Brothers on their farm in Sandy Fork, Delaware…[c]
Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows bantered a bit and played around with the farm equipment while also exploring the farm. Anderson joked that the farm smelled like a Tama Tonga match because it stinks. Gallows and Anderson complained about finding one chicken on a supposed chicken farm. Gallows and Anderson met up with Papa Briscoe. For some reason the background music kicked in.
The Briscoe Brothers pulled up in a pickup truck leading to a brawl. The Good Brothers managed to trap Jay in a tree. Papa Briscoe drew the attention of the Good Brothers by threatening them with a wrench. Mark then chased off the Briscoes with a halberd like farm implement and spear…[c]
John’s Thoughts: An okay skit, but just like the opening match it seems like they’re rushing to The Briscoes vs. Good Brothers very quickly without any real storyline. Gallows and Anderson were better here from a personality standpoint than they’ve been in a while, but they are deciding to play the feud for laughs as opposed to come off as threatening.
An ad aired to hype Josh Alexander vs. Eric Young at Slammiversary…
Heath [Slater] was pacing around backstage. Gia Miller asked Heath for a health update on Rhyno. Heath said that Rhyno needed surgery. Heath said that the doctor informed him that the recovery timeframe for Rhino’s recovery could be months to forever. Heath said Honor No More is about to go through hell and might not make it to Slammiversary. Gia showed concern over Heath deciding to go after Honor No More on his own…
Steve Maclin made his entrance. Hannifan noted that Maclin pinned W Morrissey last week. PCO came out to his Frankenstein’s monster themed music as opposed to Honor No More’s theme…
2. PCO vs. Steve Maclin. PCO roughly dumped Maclin on the apron. PCO speared Maclin through the ropes and ate dirt himself, leading to a bloody lip. PCO hit Maclin with a cannonball suicide dive. Maclin tripped PCO off the top rope to prevent a PCOsault. Maclin hit PCO with a suicide dive which PCO no sold. Maclin planted PCO with a spinebuster on the ramp.[c]
PCO dominated a walk-and-brawl at ringside. Maclin turned the tables by yanking PCO into the ringpost. Maclin went for a whip, but PCO hit Maclin with a rebound lariat. Maclin got PCO to the top rope and hit him with a Superplex. PCO started to “glitch” out and no sell Maclin’s punches. PCO took down Maclin with punches and a snug DDT. PCO hit Maclin with a cannonball. PCO hit Maclin with the Deanimatior.
PCO crashed and burned into the steel steps with a cannonball after Maclin rolled away. Maclin backdropped PCO. Maclin put PCO in a Tree of Woe on the guardrail. Maclin hit PCO with his signature Tree of Woe spear. Maclin kicked the steel steps. PCO then freaked out the referee after he took off his shirt to reveal that his shoulder looked deformed due to a presumably dislocated shoulder.
PCO then fought off the security guards that tried to escort him to the back. While the ref was checking on security, Maclin jabbed PCO in the gut with a chair. Maclin hit PCO with a Dirty Deeds DDT for the victory.
Steve Maclin defeated PCO via pinfall in 8:55 of on-air time.
PCO no sold the DDT and got up to his feet. PCO’s theme played as Maclin backed down up the ramp…
John’s Thoughts: A fun brawl between athletic big men. I like the decision to roll with Maclin to keep up his momentum after he beat W Morrissey clean. I would have had Maclin win a bit more clean here and not use a chair, but it looks like the people who booked this match want to protect PCO to some extent (I thought that they should have just put Maclin over stronger and have PCO get his heat back somewhere else).
The Impact Plus Flashback Match of the Week was the King of the Mountain match from Slammiversary 2008. It was Samoa Joe vs. Booker T vs. Christian vs. Rhino vs. Bobby Roode with Kevin Nash as the guest enforcer. I fast forwarded through 2 minutes of match. Samoa Joe won by hanging the world title belt at the top of the ladder (Yes, KOTM matches work in reverse where you have to hang the belt on a hanger as opposed to take it down. There’s also a penalty box stipulation)…
Tasha Steelz and Savannah Evans walked up to Deonna Purrazzo. Tasha yelled at Deonna for not attacking Mia Yim last week. Deonna said that she never agreed to attack Mia on Tasha’s behalf and that Tasha has the title belt that Deonna wants. Tasha scoffed and walked away. Chelsea Green walked up to Deonna saying that she agrees that Deonna doesn’t need help from anyone, but it doesn’t hurt to get a little help…
Gia Miller interviewed TNA Original Matt Morgan and noted that he’s the new mayor of Longwood, FL. Morgan talked about how TNA made him the man he is today, The Blueprint. He talked about having great matches against Kurt Angle. He said he’s proud of the current generation. Vincent walked up to Morgan and called Morgan a ghost of TNA’s past. Vincent said the legacy of TNA will end at Slammiversary. After Vincent left, Matt Morgan said he doesn’t like Honor No More’s chances at Slammiversary…
Tom Hannifan clarified that because Matt Morgan isn’t an active wrestler these days, he’s not going to be a part of the team with The Machine Guns and Frankie Kazarian…
John’s Thoughts: Hey, that was a better TNA cameo than Shark Boy or Braden Walker. I kinda wouldn’t have minded if Matt Morgan got one of the spots. He’s a politician now, but I always saw him as someone who could have been a top world champion with some company. The guy still looks great. Plus he still towers over people due to his insane height.
Entrances for the next match took place…
3. Impact World Champion Josh Alexander vs. Joe Doering (w/Eric Young, Deaner) in a non-title match. Doering dominated the opening collar and elbow lockup. Alexander got more methodical in his approach to avoid Doering’s power. Alexander got Doering to his knees with a side headlock. Doering it Alexander with a Back Suplex, but Alexander kept the headlock on. Doering went for a chop, but Alexander put Doering in ankle lock position.
Deaner distracted Alexander which allowed Doering to nail Alexander with a flying crossbody, body slam, and elbow drop. Doering worked on Alexander with methodical offense. Doering no sold an arm wrench by Alexander and punched Alexander back to the mat. Alexander fended off Doering with Yakuza kicks and took down Doering with a top rope dive. Doering escaped a fireman carry, but Alexander managed to nail Doering with chain German Suplexes. Doering tried to hit Alexander with the Violent By Design flag. Alexander saw it coming and snatched it. Alexander hit Doering with the flagpole for the DQ.
Joe Doering defeated Josh Alexander via DQ in 6:32.
Alexander gave Deaner a German Suplex. Young teased running into the ring, but decided to back down. Dave Penzer announced Joe Doering as the winner via DQ…
John’s Thoughts: This was probably the best finish they could have gone with, and with that it looks like even they see it as an impossible task to get Eric Young over enough as a credible challenger to Josh Alexander. They were hyping up Doering as undefeated in singles matches so it would have been a waste to feed him to Alexander just for the sake of the impossible task of trying to boast Eric Young somehow. I’d save Doering’s first loss for a more meaningful moment (Can we get this guy a singles run please? Doering is too talented). One thing I’m afraid of is that due to Eric Young being a former protege of Scott D’Amore in Team Canada, that they’ll do a screwjob finish at Slammiversary to build up a Josh Alexander vs. Team Canada feud at Bound for Glory. It’s not worth it.
Gia Miller interviewed Moose outside of his dressing room. Miller wondered how Moose was going to deal with Sami Callihan. Moose said he’s tired of Callihan trying to play mind games. Moose noted that the last guy who tried to play mind games with him ended up being carried away by his goons (EC3?). Moose asked Gia if she thinks Callihan stands a chance against Moose physically. The lights flickered and Moose acted paranoid. Moose said he’s going to find Callihan and fix this…[c]
Tom Hannifan ran though the upcoming live event schedule for Impact tapings and Impact Plus shows…
Footage aired of Ace Austin joining Bullet Club during his time in Japan. They then cut to Alex Zayne confronting Ace Austin and Bullet Club on the New Japan press conference set. The 7 or so members of Bullet Club put the boots to Alex Zayne and then ended the segment with a too sweet…
Tom Hannifan announced that Alex Zayne is the final entrant into Ultimate X…
John’s Thoughts: Does every gaijin heel have to end up joining Bullet Club when they arrive at Japan? I think technically Scott D’Amore is a member of Bullet Club. I feel like Bullet Club continues to show that they’ve jumped the shark, trying to replicate the “golden days” of Finn Balor, AJ Styles, and Kenny Omega. Also, Alex Zayne gets his ass kicked after picking an ill fated fight and is rewarded an X Division title shot? Well, Jack Evans didn’t even have to do anything so at least you could say that D’Amore is offering Zayne a chance for revenge.
Impact’s crappy background music kicked in as the camera followed Moose in the backstage storage area. Eventually the lights flickered and Sami Callihan appeared. The two men brawled into a storage room. Moose beat down Sami and Sami was bleeding from the head. Moose tried to walk away but Sami Callihan had the door key. “Dramatic” Music was playing while Moose was meandering. Sami gave Moose a thumb to the eye. While Moose was selling his eye, Sami ran away laughing. Moose was locked in the storage room…
John’s Thoughts: Ugh. That was underwhelming. I felt like the scene was okay, but it was ruined by Impact’s unnecessary background music that’s louder than the wrestlers. The disconnect of the music really showed when they played dramatic music while Moose was just calmly walking back and forth. On top of all that, Sami Callihan’s return to Impact has been underwhelming so far. I won’t worry too much on that. We’ve seen him in this position before only to come back strong once he has a story to sink his teeth into.
The show cut to the Major Players, Matt Cardona and Brian Myers, cutting a camera phone promo. Cardona noted that even though Swann is the recognized Digital Media Champion, he refuses to recognize Swann as champ and is thus keeping the title belt with himself. Cardona said that while he’s injured, someone needs to carry on the digital media legasy. Cardona awarded Brian Myers the new Digital Media Champion. Myers said it was an honor to be bestowed the title from such a legend of Social Media. Myers said that Rich Swann doesn’t have a twitter account, so why would he be going after the title involving Social Media (good point). Myers challenged Swann to a “title defense” at Slammiversary…
Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt checked in from the commentary table. Hannifan noted that the match was supposed to be Swann defending against Matt Cardona, but since Cardona’s injured Swann will now defend his belt against Brian Myers. Hannifan and Rehwoldt ran throgh the advertised Slammiversary card. They also advertised the following segments for next week: Trey Miguel vs. Mike Bailey, Steelz and Evans vs. Grace and Yim, and The Briscoe Brothers vs. Jay White and Chris Bey. Rehwoldt hyped up Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Juice Robinson vs. Jon Moxley vs. Will Ospreay for the New Japan AXS show…
Entrances for the main event took place. Hannifan reiterated that the babyface team need to find two more members to complete their tag team group for their encounter against Honor No More at Slammiversary. Hannifan noted that the two additions have to be current or former Impact/TNA wrestlers…[c]
John’s Thouhgts: I wonder why they keep stressing that the mystery people might be “current” wrestlers. That would be a real letdown.
4. “Honor No More’ Eddie Edwards, Mike Bennett, and Matt Taven vs. Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, and Frankie Kazarian. Bennett and Shelley started the match off with chain wrestling. Bennett managed to drag Shelley to the heel corner. Shelley fought out and tossed Bennett to the Impact Originals corner. Sabin tagged in for some tandem offense with Shelley on Bennett. Taven tagged in and ate a boot and huracanrana from Sabin. Taven came back with a dropkick on Sabin. Kaz tagged in and gave Taven a blockbuster.
Kaz gave Taven a leg sweep for a two count. Edwards tagged in and took a armdrag from Kazarian. The face team traded quick tags to keep the numbers advantage over Eddie. The face team used triple team moves on all three opponents heading into the commercial.[c]
Shelley hit Eddie with joint manipulation into an elbow stomp. Shelley hiht Eddie with a chop block and neckbreaker. Bennett tripped shelley off the apron he could hit Shelley with a forearm. Eddie hit Shelley with a suicide dive. Bennett planted Kazarina with a spinebuster. Eddie hit Sabin with a power bomb. Eddie sold a numb elbow. Shelley backdropped Eddie and Taven. Shelley fended off Bennett with a boot, but the other two Honor No More members tripped Kaz and Sabin off the apron to prevent the tag. Shelley tried to come back with strikes but Eddie gave Shelley an eye poke.
Shelley gave Bennett a STO on the buckle. Taven tagged in and knocked the face team off the apron. Eddie tagged back in to isolate Shelley. Eddie accidentally nailed Taven with a Yakuza Kick which allowed Shelley to tag in Kazarian who cleaned house off the hot tag. Kazarian had Eddie and Matt pinned simultaneously after putting a Jackknife on Matt and hitting Eddie with a Northern Lights for the two count. Sabin hit Eddie and Matt with a crossbody. Sabin jumped off Taven to hit Eddie with a Tornado DDT for a two count.
Sabin hit Taven with paydirt. Shelle hit Bennett with an assisted baseball slide. Taven hit the pile of wrestlers at ringside with a top rope dive. Bennett caught Kaz with a spear at ringside. Honor No More swarmed Sabin with strikes. Eddie hit Sabin with a Tiger Driver and lifted Sabin into “Just the tip” by Taven. Sabin kicked out of Eddie’s pin at two. Sabin caught Eddie with a Yakuza Kick. Kaz dropkicked Eddie into Shelley’s STO to give Sabin a two count.
Madness ensued. Sabin hit Eddie with a Spike Tornado DDT. Taven shoved Shelley into sabin to break up the pin. Taven reversed a shell Shock into a Climax. Both teams alternated hitting each other’s members with signature moves. Taven distracted the ref so Bennett could low blow Sabin. Eddie hit Sabin with the Die Hard Driver for the win.
Honor No More defeated Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, and Frankie Kazarian via pinfall in 16:47 of on-air time.
Honor No More put the boots to the babyface team. Heath walked out with a steel chair. Heath managed to get the upper hand over the numbers disadvantage. Heath chucked a chair at Eddie and hit him with a Zig Zag. Kenny King and Vincent saved Eddie from getting his leg pilmanized. Honor No More put the boots to the babyfaces due to the numbers advantage. Each Honor No More member took turns pilmanizing Heath’s leg with the chair. Honor No More stood tall over the injured Heath to close the show…
John’s Thoughts: They’re dubbing Kaz, Sabin, and Shelley as “Impact Originals” but the nostaliga doesn’t really shine though when you put them in the ring against the Ring of Honor invaders. That’s because Kazarian, Sabin, Shelley, Bennett, Eddie, and Taven are also very synonymous with Ring of Honor to the point where this felt like a Ring of Honor nostalgia match. That aside, this was a very fun six person tag with action that was hard to keep up with (in a good way). Lots of initial focus on isolation, but also nice tandem moves from both teams. Only thing I would have did different was have Taven or Bennett pick up the pin because Eddie is the only made man in Honor No More to the point where it wouldn’t hurt to put some heat behind the other members, namely the grossly underutilized former Kingdom tag team. Mike Bennett should be a main event player, instead he’s still stuck in his WWE rut where the focus of his character is being “Maria Kanellis’s husband”.
I’m okay with them putting Heath on the shelf as it takes him out of the picture for being a member of the Impact Original tag team due to being a “current” Impact roster member. I hope they have someone satisfying in mind to fill in the two empty slots. I could have seen them go with Heath and Rhino in those slots so injuring them sets the stage for some actual TNA legends to show up. Where the hell is James Storm these days? Anyways, Impact is a solid wrestling show week to week as usual. There was the weird background music and Moose brawl, but that was isolated and harmless. The weakest part of Impact recently is them trying to invoke TNA nostalgia, but not having the talent availability to invoke said Nostalgia. Heck, Jeff Jarrett is locked down in WWE again. All six guys in that main event invoked more Ring of Honor nostalgia.
Moose was locked in a storage room WITH a camera man…I mean, I understand the suspension of believe but for God’s sake, wrestling companies need to really at last not insult EVERY fans intelligence
BTW, PCO bleeding buckets from first his mouth (presumed to be a tooth knocked out when he face planted on the floor) and then the blood literally pouring out of the top of his head at the end isn’t something that maybe should be mentioned in a recap?
There is history between the Good Bros & the Briscoes. The Brothers beat the Briscoes at the Multiverse of Matches & therefore want a title shot based on that. I’m hoping that they don’t win. The Brothers don’t need that title.
And wouldn’t you have to admit that Sabin, Shelley & Kazarian are MUCH more synonymous with TNA/Impact than with ROH?