By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling TV
Taped in Louisville, Kentucky at Old Forester’s Paristown Hall
Aired July 28, 2022 on AXS TV
Highlights from last week’s Impact show aired which featured Impact crowning a new number one contender to the world title (Alex Shelley) as well as Kushida making his Impact debut by running off Violent By Design after they were stomping on the Motor City Machine Guns. The Impact theme played…
Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt were on commentary. Dave Penzer was the ring announcer…
Entrances for the opening match took place. Footage from Before the Impact was shown of Heath hitting Vincent with a Zig Zag…
1. Eddie Edwards (w/Kenny King) vs. Ace Austin (w/Chris Bey). Ace stalled early on by doing a Too Sweet pose with the crowd. Ace got an early rollup with La Magistral. Ace then did his signature laminated card papercut spot. Ace hit Eddie with a PK from the apron. King distracted Ace at ringside which allowed Eddie to get control. Eddie hit Ace with a chop and tossed Ace back in the ring to work more methodical offense on him. Eddie hit Ace with an Atomic Drop and Belly to Belly for a two count.
Eddie slowed the pace and worked on Ace with methodical strikes. Ace reversed a Backpack Stunner into a victory roll. Ace also reversed a Blue Thunder Bomb. Ace hit Eddie with a knee and dropkick. Eddie came back with an atomic drop. Ace dumped Eddie to ringside. Ace hit Eddie with a Fosbury Flop. Ace hit Eddie with a slingshot legdrop. Eddie used a gamengiri to allow himself to hit Ace with a Backpack Stunner for a two count. Ace reversed a Boston Knee Party with a double face stomp. King got on the apron to distract Ace from hitting Eddie with the Fold. Bey and King jawed with each other. The referee ejected Bey and King.
Before they left, King clocked Bey with a right hand. Ace nailed King off the apron with a High Kick. Bey hit King with a flip dive. Bey and King brawled to the back. Edwards managed to send Ace into the buckle with a Belly to Belly.[c]
Eddie went for rapid pin attempts on Ace back from the break. Ace rallied back with right hands. Eddie ducked a Disaster Kick and nailed Ace with a lariat. Ace dodged a Boston Knee Party and came back with a Disaster Kick for a two count. Eddie reversed a Fold into a Tiger Driver for at two count. Eddie hit Ace with a Die Hard Driver for the clean win.
Eddie Edwards defeated Ace Austin via pinfall in 11:38 of on-air time.
John’s Thoughts: A great match that was taken back by both men being in dead-end dud factions. Honor No More sucks! That’s been established. Oddly enough, Eddie Edwards is the only one who is dominant from the group, and they continue to have him be the only one that racks up clean wins (PCO wins on occasion, but that’s when he’s working babyface away form Honor No More). Ace Austin and Chris Bey feel like the fall guys for “Bullet Club Impact”, which feels like the lesser version of the played out Bullet Club Japan faction. Ace Austin and Chris Bey were way hotter and unique before they attached themselves to Bullet Club, and now they just feel like they’re trying to just hang out with the people they think are the “cool kids” (and sadly, Bullet Club hasn’t been cool in years).
Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt checked in on commentary. They hyped up the Impact Plus Emergence show by running through the advertised card. They also ran through upcoming segments on this week’s Impact…
Gia Miller caught up with Heath [Slater] and asked him about his mission against Honor No More. Heath talked about Honor No More terrorizing Impact and forcing Rhino to be out for months due to surgery. Heath said he’s going to give each and every Honor No More member a wake up call. Heath also called himself “The Red Head Rebel”…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Eh, this feud has been dull. Mostly because Honor No More have been so hapless and dull themselves. Not to mention, Heath is trying to rehash Yoshi Tatsu’s and Frankie Kazarian’s failed “Bullet Club Hunter” gimmick.
A vintage-styled commercial aired to hype up Ric Flair’s Last Match PPV…
Unseen footage from last week’s Impact was shown where Josh Alexander was about to help the Motor City Machine Guns, but he randomly walked into Mahabali Shera in the hallway and brawled with him…
Gia Miller interviewed Josh Alexander about challenging Mahabali Shera later on in this show. Alex Shelley cut off Josh Alexander’s interview where he told Alexander that he hopes that Josh Alexander plows through Shera unscathed because he wants to face the best Alexander for the world title…
Entrances for the next match took place…
2. Laredo Kid and Trey Miguel vs. Johnny Swinger and Zicky Dice. Dice wrestled wearing a fanny pack. Miguel hit Dice with a reverse Feint Kick and swarmed him with kicks. Dice and Swinger retreated to ringside and stalled. For some reason, Dice and Swinger put on S&M masks. Kid and Miguel traded quick tags to double team Dice. Miguel hit Dice with a suicide dive. Dice managed to surprise Miguel with a lariat off a Swinger distraction.
Dice and Swinger actually ended up being able to trade quick tags to dominate Miguel. Miguel managed to hit Dice with a handspring kick. Kid hit Dice with a kick and neckbreaker combination. Dice and Swinger’s double team backfired when Swinger gave Dice’s knee a diving right hand. Trey hit Dice with a diving Meteora. Laredo Kid hit Dice with a Frog Splash for the win.
Laredo Kid and Trey Miguel defeated Zicky Dice and Johnny Swinger via pinfall in 4:01.
They showed more footage from Before The Impact. Before Vincent got hit with the Zig Zag, Heath’s music distracted him which caused him to lose to Bhupinder Gujjar…
Bhupinder Gujjar walked to Brian Myers to continue to demand a Digital Media Title shot. Myers claimed that someone else jumped ahead of the line ahead of Gujjar. Crazzy Steve and Black Taurus showed up and claimed that Black Taurus is number one contender. Myers said that Taurus stepped up to the plate, but was not officially a contender because Scott D’Amore needs to make title matches. D’Amore walked pass them and said the Myers vs. Taurus match was now official. Steve said that Decay will see Myers next week. Myers nervously told Bhupinder that a real champion never says no to a challenge…
Tasha Steelz and Savannah Evans joined Hannifan and Rehwoldt on commentary. Hannifan noted that the next match was going to feature solely local Ohio Valley Wrestling wrestlers. Hannifan said that Impact has an open door policy and noted that the wrestlers in the upcoming match had won a tournament which allowed them to be featured in a match on Impact…
3. Tiffany Nieves vs. Jada Stone (OVW showcase?). Nieves dominated early on with a body slam and two count. Stone hit Nieves with kicks after doing a matrix dodge. Stone crashed and burned off a split leg moonsault and cannonball. Nieves hit Stone with a DDT. Nieves rolled Stone all the way to the ropes so she could pin her with her hand on the ropes for the leverage pin.
Tiffany Nieves defeated Jada Stone via pinfall in 2:03.
After the match, Killer Kelly made her Impact official debut. She no longer has her dreadlocks and MMA gear. She now is wearing more casual clothing and is wearing her red hair straight. Tasha Steelz asked “who dis bitch?”. Kelly got in the face of Tiffany, who tried to jaw with her. Tiffany shoved Kelly. Kelly came back with a smile and pump kick. Kelly put Tiffany in a Half Nelson hold. Kelly dumped Tiffany to ringside and then hit Stone with a Shotgun Dropkick. Kelly hit Stone with an Implant Buster. Kelly slowly left the ring to her music…
Tom Hannifan hyped up Kushida making his Impact in-ring debut for later in the show…[c]
John’s Thoughts: I get that this segment was set up solely as a feeder to Killer Kelly’s debut, but I have no clue why they decided to connect Kelly’s debut to a random OVW “showcase” (that made me feel like I was reviewing NXT Level Up given how rough the wrestlers looked). Weird. What was good though was Killer Kelly’s new look. She seems to have something fun in mind in terms of character, where before she looked like a generic MMA indie wrestler. Looking forward to see what she has planned for this because I’ve always liked her matches and felt like the only thing missing was the next-level presentation. It looks like she found that presentation and it has the potential to be fun.
Eric Young was chatting with Deaner at a stairwell. Joe Doering was also there, but he doesn’t talk. Young ordered Deaner to handle one thing at a time by taking care of the Motor City Machine Guns before taking care of Kushida…
An Alex Shelley video package aired where Chris Sabin, Scott D’Amore, Kushida, Trey Miguel, Sami Callihan, Jimmy Jacobs, Mike Bailey, and (oh shoot) Johnny Gargano talked about how influential Alex Shelley was to pro wrestling and the careers of many wrestlers…
Entrances for the next match took place…
4. Impact World Champion Josh Alexander vs. “The Indian Lion” Mahabali Shera (w/Raj Singh) in a non-title match. Alexander reversed a body slam into an abdominal stretch. Shera came back wtith a boulder toss. Alexander hit Shera with a front kick and used three lariats to dump Shera to ringside. Shera came back with a few strikes and dumped Alexander back in the ring. Alexander pummeled Shera with strikes and hit Shera with his signature crossbody to the back.
Raj tried to shove Alexander into the steps, but then backed down when Alexander saw it coming. Shera tried to rally back with punches but Alexander simply put Shera in a grapevined Ankle Lock for the win.
Josh Alexander defeated Mahabali Shera via submission in 3:13.
Gia Miller interviewed Moose and reiterated the question from previous weeks as to what was Moose’s association with Steve Maclin. Gia asked several times and Moose denied any association. Moose said he’s actually pissed off at Maclin for interfering in his match with Sami Callihan. After denying association again, Moose walked off…
Eddie Edwards and Honor No More were backstage griping about not getting title shots. Eddie led them to “get what we want” and demand title shots from Scott D’Amore. They walked into Scott D’Amore who looked annoyed. Taven said they deserve a tag title shot because they pinned Doc Gallows. As expected, Taven told Scott “Don’t be a Melvin” in his obligatory weekly “Melvin” line. They heard Mike Bennett in the distance crying for help and ended up leaving Scott to go check on him. Eddie stayed behind and asked Scott “where’s Bennett?”. Scott condescendingly told Eddie to be a leader and “good luck with that”. Eddie allowed Scott to walk away by just yelling at him as Scott casually walked away…
John’s Thoughts: Seriously. Scott D’Amore is more protected than Roman Reigns at this point. Nobody can touch him. He fearlessly walks up to heel factions, world champions, 7 foot giants, everyone. He talks trash in their faces. He books then in crappy situations. And no sells everything. He got hit by Moose once, and then two days later, no sells the attack by goofing around in his Team Canada Jersey at Slammiversary. Who’s going to take down Super Scott D’Amore? (While I totally mean this as a joke, my joke isn’t far from the truth in terms of how they book cocky Scott).
A Ric Flair’s Last Match PPV ad aired…
Chelsea Green and Deonna Purrazzo were looking at phone photos backstage talking about hosting a party next week. Jessicka [Havok] showed up and talked about being the life of the party. Taya and Rosemary tried to reign Jessicka in. Rosemary continued to be annoyed with Jessicka while Taya liked Jessicka’s new ditzy personality…
Raj Singh was still in the ring for some reason while Mahabali Shera was still selling his loss on the ground (By looking like dead yamcha on the ground). Raj said he’s not leaving until there’s justice for Shera. The lights went off and on, which lead to Teleporting-hacker Sami Callihan appearing in the ring to give Raj a Pile Driver. Sami took a mic and said that Moose and Maclin have a date with the Death Machine. Sami ended his promo with his Thumbs up, thumbs down catchphrase…
John’s Thoughts: Can we get edgy OVE Sami back? Teleporting Hacker Sami Callihan is starting to annoy me more than Lizard Zombie Callihan (which was his gimmick when he was Luchasaurus’s tag partner with Thunder Rosa as his mouthpiece).
This week’s Ric Flair Flashback moment of the week was the famous Ric Flair and Jay Lethal promo exchange where Jay Lethal did his pretty good Ric Flair impersonation which annoyed Ric…
Gia Miller interviewed Mia Yim about her returning to Impact to become a multi-time Knockouts Champion. She said she came to Impact to wrestle the best in the world. She said that Jordynne is a great Champion but at Emergence she’ll find out why they call Mia Yim “The HBIC and new Knockouts Champion”. Gia Miller asked Mia how having her first loss since returning to Impact last week might affect her heading into her title match. She was cut off due to the feed being interrupted. The show immediately cut to Hannifan and Rehwoldt, who were also interrupted. The show then cut to a camera that was following Scott D’Amore, who discovered that Honor No More were attacking the production truck…[c]
Super Scott D’Amore yelled at Honor No More and said that they went too far and that the network is going to want somebody’s head for killing the TV signal. Bennett said Scott always blames them and that he didn’t want them in Impact since Day 1. D’Amore went back into his cocky tone and said that he’s booking Honor No More vs. Bullet Club in a 10 man tag match (what? Again?).
D’Amore said he could relate with Honor No More because matchmaker Jim Cornette didn’t want Team Canada in TNA back in the day. D’Amore said if Honor No More wins, they get their title shot (tag titles?) and if they lose they are disbanded. Honor No More backed down to the great Scott D’Amore…
John’s Thoughts: Welp, another 10 man tag. At least I hope they lose so they can finally end this loser faction. Can Mike Bennett also get his Miracle character back when they lose too?!? Oh! and one more stipulation! If Honor No More lose, Matt Taven is no longer allowed to say the word “Melvin”!!!
Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt checked in from the commentary table where they ran through the advertised Emergence lineup so far. They advertised the following segments for next week: Rosemary vs. Deonna Purrazzo, Brian Myers vs. Black Taurus for the Digital Media Championship, Giselle Shaw vs. Masha Slammovich, and PCO vs. Doc Gallows in a Street Fight. Rehwoldt hyped up Sanada vs. Jay White and Okada vs. Jeff Cobb on the NJPW AXS show. Rehwoldt hyped up Jordynne Grace vs. Deonna Purrazzo vs. Rachael Ellering for the Knockouts Title, The American Wolves vs. Motor City Machine Guns, Fenix vs. Black Taurus vs. Bandido vs. Laredo Kid, Josh Alexander vs. Jacob Fatu for the Impact World Title, and Andrade and Ric Flair vs. Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett for the Ric Flair Last Match show…
Rich Swann danced his way to the ring for the main event. Hannifan noted that Swann is due a world title shot due to not getting his rematch after losing to Kenny Omega over a year ago. Swann’s opponent this week was Kushida who came out in his usual Marty McFly pre-match ring attire…[c]
5. Rich Swann vs. Kushida. Swann and Kushida started the match with a code of honor handshake. Both men started the match with a test of strength exchange which led to a few stalemates. Hannifan noted that both men are former WWE Cruiserweight Champions. Kushida dragged Swann down with a side headlock.
Both men ended at another stalemate after blocking each other’s strikes. Swann managed to get his first shot in with a hip toss. Kushida came right back with palm strikes. Kushida posed after doing a handstand to taunt Swann heading into break.[c]
Kushida used his legs to hyperextend Swann’s shoulders. Swann came right back with a dropkick. Swann fended off Kushida with forward moving strikes. Swann sent Kushida to ringside with a baseball slide. Swann tried to chop Kushida, but Kushida ducked, causing Swann to hurt his hand on the ringpost. Swann cornered Kushida with ten punches in the corner. Swann hit Kushida with a variation of Kushida’s haymaker.
Kushida got a breather after both men took each other out with a flying crossbody. Kushida hit Swann with a crossbody, Pele Kick, and Palm Strike. Kushida put Swann in a Juji Gatame. Swann tried to break it with a pin, but Kushida went back into the Gatame. Swann got a foot on the bottom rope for the break. Swann and Kushida ended at a stalemate after chopping each other down with strikes. Swann hit Kushida with a hook kick combo and neckbreaker.
Swann hit Kushida with a running mule kick for a two count. Swann crash and burned when Kushida avoided a Phoenix Splash. Kushida hit Swann with his signature hip toss and dropkick combo. Swann reversed a Hoverboard Lock into a Saito Suplex. Swann caught Kushida in the corner with a leaping Frankensteiner. Kushida staggered Swann on the top rope with his signature handstand boots. Kushida hit Swann with a Top Rope Spanish Fly right into a Hoverboard Lock. Swann tapped out.
Kushida defeated Rich Swann via submission in 15:28 of on-air time.
Kushida celebrated his win to close the show…
John’s Thoughts: NXT! NXT! I’m partially kidding. At the same time, I’ve reviewed NXT for dot net the last 5 for so years which included both of these guys featured prominently. This felt like I was reviewing a Black and Gold NXT match given how easy it was for me to transcribe and predict what both men would do due to me seeing their patterns in WWE over the years. That’s not a bad thing. NXT Black and Gold was great pure pro wrestling. I’d argue, that week to week in 2022, Impact Wrestling has some of the best pure pro wrestling on a week to week basis given their recent focus on putting on a good sportslike alternative (this was started when they attained all that Ring of Honor talent all at once).
This week’s show wasn’t as good as last week, but last week’s Impact show was a stellar pro wrestling show with a ton of great in-ring matches. That said, Impact continues to be an entertaining wrestling show with minimal BS (Their BS being the Undead Realm when it shows up and Sami’s Hacking magic). I feel like Impact is in a better spot these days booking wise too because they felt awkward trying to book towards the TNA nostalgia Slammiversary show without much names from the past. Now they’re building towards their storylines without rushing. Hey, there’s light at the end of the tunnel too. Honor No More might actually be over. We don’t wanna see them go away because they’re an evil heel faction. We want to see them go because they are a pointless loser faction that’s holding a handful of main event talent back.
D’Amore is the boss. In what logic is he afraid of employees that he can literally just fire. He’s a former wrestler, a former manager. He knows all the bullshit talent try to pull. And he doesn’t fall for it.
The authority figure constantly at the end of his rope because of the insane asylum that the backstage is, is actually a refreshing take over generic heel authority or ineffectual babyface authority figure.
That little Austin vs. McMahon thing seemed to work out pretty well. I wouldn’t mind if D’Amore did his schtick even 80 percent of the time. But there should be some heels who are so unpredictable or intimidating that even the boss is apprehensive of them. In the storyline universe, wrestlers should be renegades who don’t live in fear of their bosses.