By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling TV
Taped in Dallas, Texas at The Factory
Aired September 8, 2022 on AXS TV
Highlights from last week’s Impact Wrestling show aired…
Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt were on commentary. Dave Penzer was the ring announcer…
1.”Aussie Open” Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis vs. “Bullet Club” Chris Bey and Ace Austin. Bey and Austin were milking out a too sweet, but were attacked by Fletcher and Davis before they could connect. Hannifan noted that Aussie Open have been establishing themselves in the US via New Japan Strong and AEW Dynamite. Aussie Open traded tags early on to maintain the two on one advantage over both opponents. Austin managed to nail Davis with a Disaster Kick.
Ace hit both opponents with kicks from the apron, all while avoiding his opponents with handstands. Bey hit both opponents with a flip dive. Aussie Open caught both of their opponents in the ring and rammed Ace and Bey’s backs into each other. Davis worked on Ace with forearms. Fletcher worked on Ace with delayed gut punches. Fletcher hit Ace with unique armwrench body slams. Ace escaped with a rollup. Fletcher came back with a knife edge lariat.
Fletcher threw a cheap shot punch at Bey. Aussie Open traded quick tags to cut the ring in half on Ace. Ace slingshoted out of the corner to bring in Bey for the hot tag. Bey cleaned house. Bey hit Fletcher with a kick combo and Sliced Bread. Ace hit Davis with a Fosbury Flop. Bey gave Fletcher a superkick while Ace followed up with a double curb stomp. Bey hit Fletcher with a frog splash. Davis broke up the pin.
Bey and Austin hit Davis with tandem forearms. Fletcher and Davis hit Bey with a nice elevated body slam, while also clearing Ace from the ring. Aussie Open got Bey to his knees with sandwich shortarm elbows. Aussie Open hit Bey with a Double Murphy’s Law finisher to give Davis the pinfall win over Bey.
Aussie Open defeated Bullet Club via pinfall in 7:06.
John’s Thoughts: A really good debut. I liked their presentation here more than on Dynamite where they were just those two guys who hang out with the more popular Will Ospreay. Both men got to really establish themselves here with a unique moveset. I also like that this match was set up last week with an interview segment and they just didn’t show up on TV randomly. Ace and Bey looked really good as a team too and didn’t look like chumps here despite presumably being cannon fodder to the new sensation tag team. I do hope Bey and Ace drop the Bullet Club moniker soon because I feel like both guys were starting to get hot as characters, and their momentum was halted when they became Bullet Club “Young boys” which means they’re the one taking losses for Jay White, Doc Gallows, and Karl Anderson. Being a part of Bullet Club 2022 also makes them feel like dorks who are 3 years too late to the Bullet Club train.
Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt checked in from the commentary table. The announcers ran though upcoming segments, while also plugging Victory Road and Bound for Glory. So far Moose vs. Maclin vs. Callihan is the only match advertised for Victory Road…
Mike Bennett, Matt Taven, Maria Kanellis,Eddie Edwards and Kenny King were backstage. Maria talked about it being a time for celebration with Bennett and Taven picking up the tag titles. King said he agrees with Maria, but they shouldn’t take everything for granted. Kenny King said that they should have the X Division title belt, but the Impact Wrestling company had to get involved and screw them over again.
Eddie Edwards reiterated that he has no doubts with the current crew, but still has doubts about PCO. He said Vincent is off now cleansing PCO of whatever doubts they might have with him. Eddie said that even though Impact wants to stack the deck against Honor No More, he will dispatch Heath. Eddie said Josh Alexander will also make his choice to stand on the right side of the war, with Honor No More…
John’s Thoughts: I feel like Honor No More promos are the same every week. It’s always “they’re screwing us over” and ends with Eddie not trusting PCO. I really hope they break this group up once Bound for Glory passes. They’re holding back way too many talkers who are currently fighting to divide up their limited television time per person. Mike Bennett in particular is a great talker and wrestler, and I feel like he’s been hurt the most by being hidden in the background.
Gia Miller interviewed the former Impact Tag Champions, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson, The Good Brothers. Anderson talked about how they are man enough to admit a loss. Gallows said they see it as a positive because when they win the titles again they can call themselves “9 time champions”. Anderson noted that Bullet Club is not done with Honor No More. Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin showed up, saying the Good Brothers need to multi-task.
Chris Sabin said he’s surprised that The Motor City Machine Guns have never faced The Good Brothers in a two on two tag team match. Gallows said the only real Machine Gun in Impact is Karl Anderson. Anderson said he agrees with Sabin and that The Machine Guns vs. Good Brothers sounds like a Bound for Glory main event, but he’s feeling generous. Gallows said they should do the Machine Guns vs. Good Brothers next week. Gallows ended the promo with his usual Magic Killer, 1-2-3, and too sweet catchphrase…
John’s Thoughts: That was a bit shoehorned, but I totally understand Impact trying to get a Motor City Machine Guns vs. Good Brothers match on what I assume will be Gallows and Anderson’s last day in Impact.
Entrances for the next match took place. Rehwoldt reiterated that every match from now on with Mickie James is a career-threatening match, where if she loses, her career is over…
2. Mickie James vs. Raychell Rose. Mickie started the match with an armwrench. Rose sent Mickie into the corner and hit her with a knee for a two count. Rose worked on James with methodical offense. Rose hit James with a delayed axe kick for a two count. Rose worked on James with shortarm lariats. James came back with a neckbreaker. James hit Rose with a top rope seated senton for a two count. James rallied with right hands. Rose came back with a back elbow. James hit Rose with a Mick Kick. Mickie hit Rose with a Mick-DT for the victory.
Mickie James defeated Raychell Rose via pinfall in 3:16.
John’s Thoughts: Really good stuff here. The Mickie James retirement tour is off to a good start. The nice touch I like here is they are really having Mickie start at the bottom of the ladder by having her wrestle “a local competitor”. Reminds me of those wrestling video games like Def Jam where they have you start off against the jobbers en route to the real challenge. Personally, I really liked the Ric Flair “Career Threatening Match” series and we haven’t seen a similar gauntlet since in any company, so I’m looking forward to this run by Mickie.
Scott D’Amore was chatting with Mia Yim about how well she’s been doing in Impact. Kenny King cut in and joked about Scott and Mia probably talking about anime and comic books. King said he and Scott need to have a big boy conversation so Mia needs to get her ass out. Mia joked about this conversation most likely having to deal with Chippendales (Kenny King is a former exotic Chippendales dancer). King said that if Mia worked at a place like Chippendales, then maybe she’d afford to get her hair done right. Mia left.
King continued to complain about being screwed out of an X Division title win last week. King called Mike Bailey a crackhead and said that the referees shouldn’t have reversed the decision last week. D’Amore went into his usual sarcastic-mode and said he agrees that King just has a beef. King said his rematch with Mike Bailey needs to happen now. D’Amore said he can’t do that because Mike Bailey’s next title defense against Mascara Dorada is already set. D’Amore said if King does want a showcase match he’ll book King in a match against Yuya Uemura for, right now…[c]
Gia Miller interviewed Steve Maclin, saying that even though Maclin’s been denying it, they’ve seen him and Moose coordinate against Sami Callihan and have even been seen having meetings. Maclin said that Gia doesn’t know what she heard. Maclin said that only a fool would go into Barbed Wire Massacre without a plan. Maclin said there is no deal between him and Moose. Gia said if there’s no deal, then why are he and Moose having a tag team match against Decay next week? Maclin said Moose set that up, not him…
Entrances for the next match took place…
3. Kenny King vs. Yuya Uemura. King dominated the early chain wrestling, and even showboated a bit. Yuya and King no sold each others’ shoulder tackles. Yuya managed to put King in a side headlock and then get King to the mat wtih a shoulder tackle. King came back with a drop toehold and headlock. Yuya broke up the move by pressuring King to the ropes. Yuya came back with lariats and a running elbow drop for a two count. King tripped up Yuya from the top rope heading into break.[c]
King worked on Yuya with methodical offense. Yuya got a breather after nailing King with a dropkick. Yuya hit King with a flying forearm and corner splash. Yuya got a two count off a bulldog. Yuya hit King with a chop and Saito Suplex. King hit Yuya with a handstand kick and spinebuster for a two count. Yuya escaped a Royal Flush attempt. King countered Yuya with a Tiger Driver for a two count. King tossed Yuya around ringside. Mia Yim ran out to yell at Kenny King. King tried to pick up the dirty leverage pin, but Yim shoved King’s feet off the ropes.
King grabbed Yim by the hair, but Yim escaped by kicking King in the face. The referee was distracted checking on Yuya. Yuya hit King with a high crossbody for the win.
Yuya Uemura defeated Kenny King via pinfall in 5:30 of on-air time.
John’s Thoughts: Solid win for Yuya Uemura who is a guest to Impact on excursion. I do like that they protected Kenny King to some extent because Impact should be protecting their regulars more because they’re the ones who are on television week-to-week. Yim’s interference was set up well too with both him and Yim trading verbal jabs in the backstage segment.
This week’s Impact Plus Flashback Match of the Week was Bobby Roode vs. Sting from TNA Victory Road 2012. Roode won after Sting accidently hit himself in the head with a steel chair when dropping Roode with the reverse DDT…
Sami Callihan cut a promo. He said he knows that Moose and Maclin are going to come after him two on one at Barbed Wire Massacre. Sami said that’s not going to happen because by the time Barbed Wire Massacre comes around, he’s going to have Moose and Maclin at each others’ throats. Sami ended the promo with his thumbs up, thumbs down catchphrase…[c]
Tom Hannifan plugged a new Joe Doering “Keep Calm and Kick Ass” T-shirt on shopimpact.com. Hannifan noted that 100% of the proceeds will go to Joe Doering to help him in his fight against brain cancer…
The show cut to a cinematic skit featuring Eric Young and Deaner. Deaner was walking around in a grassy field at night while Eric Young was shown smoking a cigar. Deaner yelled for Eric to get out of the house Eric was sitting in. Eric walked out once Deaner called Eric, “Designer”. Eric walked out and asked Deaner if she still believes in the design. Deaner said yes. Young asked Deaner what is the essence of the design. Deaner said it’s “violence”. Other random people in yellow hoodies chanted the world “Violence” along with Deaner. Eric Young did an open arms pose like he was some sort of cult leader…
John’s Thoughts: Between EC3’s Control Your Narrattive and Joe Gacy’s bath robe Schism, I’m a bit worn out on pro wrestling cults. The problem with all these cults is tha they all get a bit pretentious and lose all meaning. Here’s hoping that Eric Young finds a way to make the Violent By Design cult work, but I’m not holding my breath. I kinda just want to see Eric Young go back to either his World Class Maniac or Sanity character. Heck, I’d take paranoid Showtime Eric Young back at this point.
Entrances for the next match took place…
4. Chelsea Green (w/Deonna Purrazzo) vs. Taya Valkyrie (w/Rosemary, Jessicka). Taya dominated the early collar and elbow exchange. Taya gave Green a running crossbody for a two count. Taya tossed Green into the corner and gave her a stink face. Taya hit Green with a meteora in the corner for the two count. Green caught Taya with a boot to the side of the head. Green dumped Taya to ringside. Green dominated for the next stretch of match. Taya escaped out of a butterfly stretch with elbows.
Green hit Taya with a La Mistica slam for a two count. Taya avoided a Yakuza kick and gave Green a knee combo. Taya hit Green with a Blue Thunder Bomb for a two count. Green caught Taya with a Yakuza Kick for a two count. Taya escaped an Unprettier attempt. Taya hit Green with a curb stomp for a two count. Deonna tripped up Taya. Rosemary hit Deonna with a running forearm. Taya rolled up Green for a two count. Jessicka accidentally distracted the referee, which allowed Green to poke Taya in the eye. Green hit Taya with an Unprettier for the win.
Chelsea Green defeated Taya Valkyrie via pinfall in 6:27.
John’s Thoughts: Logical in that the heels get some heat on them as well as the story of Jessicka being a distraction getting some progression. Jessicka is growing on me, but I’m actually a bigger fan on the whole story freshening up Rosemary’s character. I like straight-man Rosemary and it’s a good shift from her more rhetorical character. Plus I like her new haircut to match the shift in character. I’m interested to see where this all ends up once Jessicka “grows up”.
A replay from the end of last week’s Impact aired where Jordynne Grace handed Masha Slammovich a photo calling card. Gia Miller met up with Grace backstage to inquire about why Jordynne did what she did last week. Grace said that Masha is good, but Grace thinks that Masha’s real strength is psychological. Grace said that Masha wins her matches before hand by handing out the death warrants.
Grace said Masha’s intimidation tactics are just as good as Masha’s wrestling. Grace said it may work on other women, but not Grace. Grace said she knows she’s in for the fight of her life, but she’s not going to let Masha get in her head. After Grace left to a random room, she witnessed a bunch of photos of herself plastered on a wall with the words “Masha’s Gonna Kill You” writen over the photos…[c]
Vincent and PCO were in a dark room with a spotlight on PCO. Vincent was talking about light and darkness while PCO was making his usual PCO faces. PCO was presumably being electrocuted. Vincent noted that he was PCO’s light when PCO was all alone. Vincent said his voice is PCO’s voice. Vincent said both of their voices belong to the communial voice of Honor No More. PCO was electrocuted some more as Vincent said that he and PCO are Honor No More. The promo ended with Vincent covering up PCO’s face with a silk sack…
Entrances for the next match took place…
5. Brian Myers vs. Bhupinder Gujjar for the Impact Digital Media Championship. Gujjar started the match with a double leg takedown. Gujjar pummelled Myers around the ring. Gujjar hit Myers with a roundhouse for a two count. Myers rolled away to not get hit by Gujjar’s 2nd rope spear. Myers tossed Gujjar’s head into the ringpost.[c]
Myers worked on Bhupinder with methodical offense. Bhupinder got a window of opportunity after a sling blade. Bhupinder rallied back with running lariats. Gujjar hit Myers with a pump kick. Bhupinder hit Myers with a Samoan Drop for a two count. Bhupinder hit Myers with a cross kick combo for a two count. Myers kicked Gujjar and gave him an Edgecution DDT for a two count. Myers took the title belt to the ring. Bhupinder yanked it from Myers and hit Myers in the head with it for the DQ.
Brian Myers defeated Bhupinder Gujjar via DQ in 5:02 of on-air time.
Bhupinder Gujjar shrugged and walked away with the Digital Media Championship. Tom Hannifan noted that he likes that Bhupinder is standing up for himself…
John’s Thoughts: Interesting, but odd for the white meat babyface to smash his opponent in the head with a title belt and then run off with it. I’ll be ok with it as long as it leads to character development for the fairly vanilla Bhupinder Gujjar. To give both guys credit, both Myers and Gujjar are trying their best to tell a long story. The only problem is it’s over a toy belt that nobody cares about. What Bhupinder needs is character development and what Myers seems to be doing is biding his time until Matt Cardona gets back (He worked the NWA show the weekend this show was taped). I can’t wait to see what Myers and Cardona have in mind for their whole Major Players thing.
Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt checked in from the announce table and hyped up the following segments for next week: Moose and Maclin vs. Taurus and Crazzy Steve, Mike Bailey vs. Mascara Dorada for the X Division Championship, and The Good Brothers vs. Motor City Machine Guns. Rehwoldt noted that another match has been added to Victory Road. It’s Jordynne Grace vs. a hand-picked opponent picked by Masha Slammovich. Hannifan hyped G1 replay matches on the NJPW AXS show…
Gail Kim caught up with Tasha Steelz and Savannah Evans and informed Steelz that Killer Kelly has requested that Tasha join Hannifan and Rehwoldt on commentary while Kelly wrestles Alisha Edwards next week. Kim said Kelly said she likes it when people watch her. Tasha asked “What kind of S&M is that?” to Savannah…[c]
Security Guards were pulling apart Myers and Gujjar with Myers calling Gujjar a cheater and asking for his belt back. Scott D’Amore showed up and told Gujjar to hand him the belt, which he did. D’Amore said he’s also not giving Myers back the belt. Myers asked D’Amore if D’Amore is trying to be the Digital Media Champion? D’Amore said the last thing he needs is the Digital Media Championship. D’Amore said he’s going to hang the title belt over a ladder two weeks from now so Myers and Gujjar can have a ladder match for the belt. D’Amore joked that Gujjar can jump off stuff, kill each other, murder each other, it’ll be great…
John’s Toughts: D’Amore’s smugness actually cracked me up a bit there. That was the right place for his smug too. The belt is worthless and that’s the perfect time to be smug about it. Can we throw Pac and Dana Brooke in there too to unify all the toy belts?
Entrances for the next match took place…
6. Eddie Edwards vs. Heath. Eddie jumped Heath right when the bell rang. Heath rallied back with punches and clotheslines. Heath tackled Eddie in the corner. Eddie rolled to ringside for some respite. Heath brawled with Eddie at ringside. Eddie gained an advantage when tackling Heath upon ring entry. Eddie slowed down the match to a methodicla pace while working on Heath. Heath rallied back with chops and a flapjack. Heath dumped Eddie to ringside.[c]
Eddie hit Heath with a running axe handle for a two count. Eddie went back to his methodical pace. Heath got a moment of respite after both men took each other out with stereo crossbodies. Heath and Eddie traded right hands with Heath rallying. Heath hit Eddie with a leg lariat combo. Heath hit Eddie with an Impaler DDT for a two count. Both men dodged each others’s finishers. Heath hit Eddie with the Zig Zag. Mike Bennett ran in the ring and ate a Zig Zag. Eddie Edwards low blowed Heath while the referee was rolling Bennett away. Eddie hit Heath with a Boston Knee Party.
Eddie Edwards defeated Heath via pinfall in 8:33 of on-air time.
John’s Thoughts: Decent match while it lasted. To Impact’s credit, Heath has done a decent job as one of the more successful faction hunters in pro wrestling. On that end I understand protecting him because I also don’t think it’s worth building up Honor No More at this point. What I do find odd is they haven’t exactly been building up Eddie Edwards as a credible world title contender either.
Eddie took a mic after the match. He said he’s here to handle the bigger business. He said that Honor No More has picked their side of the war, and it’s time for Josh Alexander to make his choice. Josh Alexander made his entrance. Eddie reiterated that even though they are opponents, that doesn’t have to make them enemies. Eddie said there’s a big war going on. Josh said that Eddie is treating this like a war, like the industry has it out for Eddie. Eddie said that’s exactly true. Eddie said he’s here to help Josh because he was in the same spot as Josh.
Eddie said he was at one point blinded by the adulation of the fans. Eddie said he’s been led astray by Impact’s empty promises. He said he sees clearly now and so can Josh. Eddie said that it was time for Josh to make a decision. Josh said his side is whatever is the opposite of Eddie. Josh said they don’t have to wait until Bound for Glory and can do this now.
Bennett tried to blindside Josh, but Josh dumped him to ringside. Josh hit Eddie with chained German Suplexes. Kenny King ran out to pummel Josh. Heath tried to help, but King, Bennett, and Edwards had the numbers advantage. Rich Swann ran out to even up the numbers. Matt Taven ran out to give Honor No More the advantage again. Once everyone was down, Honor No More focused on putting the boots to Josh Alexander.
Eddie planted Josh with a Tiger Driver. Maria Kanellis was out last with the tag titles over her shoulder. Eddie hit Alexander with a Boston Knee Party. Eddie got in Josh’s face with the world title belt, saying that Josh picked the wrong side. Impact closed…
John’s Thoughts: Welp, that was a thing. I respect the effort in trying to build drama towards Josh Alexander vs. Eddie Edwards, but I don’t think that’s possible without months of character rehabilitation for the Honor No More members. It also looks like we’re in store for Honor No More’s latest pointless 10 man tag that they’ll probably lose. The whole “Which side are you on?” story feels forced and fabricated. Eddie’s week-1 promo was good, but it felt like we got the first and last chapter of the story without any development in-between. I totally understand why, because they have to build up Eddie in short order, but as it looks like now, they just can’t. Impact, probably would have been better off booking Josh Alexander vs. Rich Swann, especially since they’ve been consistant in pointing out that Rich Swann is still owed a singles rematch for the World Title.
This week’s episode of Impact was solid as usual. It was essentially solid except for the storyline stuff involving Honor No More, but that’s been the norm recently. What’s interesting is Impact started becoming really good once Honor No More joined. In fact, Honor No More was one of the hot factions in wrestling. Only problem is since then, they’ve lost a majority of their matches and made to look hapless. After all that character damage, it’s tough to pivot them to a serious threat, especially since that serious threat can not take down the all-powerful Scott D’Amore. Aside from Honor No More, Impact is doing a great job with their other storylines with logical progression.
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