By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling TV (Episode 990)
Taped in Atlanta, Georgia at Center Stage
Aired July 6, 2023 on AXS TV
Highlights from last week’s Impact Wrestling show aired. The Impact intro theme aired… Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt were on commentary. Dave Penzer was the ring announcer… Entrances for the opening match took place…
1. Eddie Edwards (w/Alsiha Edwards) vs. Frankie Kazarian. Kazarian dominated the initial collar and elbow. Kazarian hit a neckbreaker on Eddie for a two count. Kazarian got a two count off a Fisherman Suplex. Eddie dodged a draping leg drop and hit Kaz with a hip attack to knock him to ringside. Alisha hit Kazarian with a Tornado DDT at ringside when the referee was distracted.
Eddie rallied with chops at ringside. Eddie got a two count after a running clothesline. Eddie raked the eyes of Kaz and crumpled Kazarian with chops. Alisha raked Kazarian’s face on the ropes when the referee was distracted again. Eddie worked on Kazarian with methodical offense. Alisha hit Kaz with a clubbing blow to the back which Kaz no sold.
Eddie punched down Kazarian when Kazarian was distracted by Alisha. While Alisha and Eddie were sharing kisses, this allowed Kazarian to nail Eddie with a slingshot DDT on the apron. Kazarian broke up the ten count. Kazarian hit Eddie with a Guillotine Leg Drop for a nearfall. Eddie hit Kazarian with a Gamengiri. Both men blocked signature moves.
Kazarian hit Eddie with an Unprettier for a nearfall. Eddie poked Kazarian in the eye. Eddie countered chicken wings. Eddie hit Kazarian with a lariat and Tiger Driver for a nearfall. Kazarian hit Eddie with a superkick and shotgun dropkick. The referee was distracted by Alisha. Eddie pushed Kazarian into the referee. REF BUMP!!!
Kazarian and Eddie brawled to the top rope. Alisha hit Kazarian with a kendo stick. Eddie hit Kaz with a Boston Knee Party for the victory.
Eddie Edwards defeated Frankie Kazarian via pinfall in 10:48.
John’s Thoughts: Weird way to get here with the random Killer Kowalski story beat being shoehorned only to be dropped quickly. Good match though which established Alisha Edwards as Eddie’s x-factor. I wonder with Impact’s anniversary show coming up, are they setting up for a mix tag involving Kazarian’s wife Traci Brooks? We’ll see.
A replay aired of last week’s show ending moment where Lio Rush and Nick Aldis beat down Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley…
A post show promo was shown of Chris Sabin putting his title on the line against Lio Rush at Slammiversary. The show cut to this week where Gia Miller interviewed Lio Rush and asked him why he attacked Chris Sabin? Lio said he’s not here to make friends and he’s here for one thing, the X Division Title.
Nick Aldis interrupted the interview and talked about how Lio stuck his nose in his business. Rush reiterated that he’s not here to make friends. Aldis said the only thing they have in common now is they both have their eyes set on gold at Slammiversary. Aldis said their match against the Machine Guns. Aldis said you shouldn’t think a win was in the bag after last week’s attack, because that would be underestimating the Guns.
Aldis said after they get the W tonight they’ll go their separate ways. Aldis told Lio to not let his ego get in Aldis’s way. Aldis left. Rush said “alright”…[c]
A Frankie Kazarian promo aired where he set up the rubber match between them for Slammiversary. Kaz said he was bringing his wife “The Original Knockout” Traci Brooks to his corner to cancel out Alisha…
Everyone was in the ring for the next match…
2. Sami Callihan and Rich Swann vs. Champagne Singh and Shera. Shera and Singh cut the ring in half early on Swann and used quick tags to maintain the numbers advantage. Swann ended up reversing a suplex into a crossbody. Callihan got the hot tag. Callihan caused Shera to DDT Sing with a lariat.
Swann tagged in and hit Singh with poetry in motion. Callihan tossed Shera into Swann’s Lethal Injection. Swann and Callihan hit Singh with stereo superkicks. Swann hit Singh with a back hook kick while Callihan nailed him at the same time with a Cactus Driver to give Callihan the win.
Sami Callihan and Rich Swann defeated Champagne Singh and Shera via pinfall in 3:17.
Brian Myers and Moose were watching the match from Gorilla Position. Gia wondered if Myers and Moose were scouting their competition at Slammiversary. Myers said they don’t need to scout because they are already a great tag team. Gia brought up Moose recently losing to Swann. Moose said Swann and Callihan want reps but reps is not real competition.
Moose said if they want real competition, they should face him and Myers. Myers said Gia is right in that Swann beat him. Moose said that they are going to beat Callihan and Swann next week. After Moose left, Myers berated Gia for forcing him to work at work next week…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Simple and effective way to establish Callihan and Swann as a dominant tag team. I want to see Swann and Callihan have a bit of a run before breaking them up because they do have a bit of a Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens thing between them. I was afraid they were breaking them up early with Rich Swann being conveniently late every time OVE gets attacked, but let’s see if they stick with them as a team for now and double back to that later.
The show cut to footage from Before the Impact where Santino Marella confronted Dirty Dango at the ring. Santino called Dango a son of a bitch for bringing up Santino’s family in their feud. Santino said he’s going to do something he’s never done in his career, destroy someone. He said he’s going to feed Dango grapple pie. He said with that pie he’s going to put ass whip cream. Heath showed up and gave Dango a Zig Zag…
The show cut to the latest Dirty Dango docu-style interview. The first question was “do you still watch wrestling?”. Dango said the last time he watched wrestling was when it was cool, around 1998. He said when he got into the business he found out his heroes weren’t as great as he thought. He said some of his favorites were Juventud “Guerrero”, Blitzkrieg, Villano IV, and Villano VII.
Dango continued to berate the poor construction of the area he was cutting his promo. Dango said he also likes Asya from WCW. Dango said he rather cut a promo here then get in a ring to get injured by a person who’s nervous and doesn’t know what they’re doing. Dango said he was also a fan of “Black Tyrus Sr.”. Dango said “Ed” from the street has more charisma than half the roster.
The next question was “are you prepared for your upcoming match with Santino”. Dango talked about how “Fandango” and the cobra thing got over. He said he’s moved on with his life while Santino is living in 2010. Dango said that Santino is a one hit wonder band, but not a band because he’s not a complement to a group.
Dango said Santino pulls a sock out of his crotch and attacks people with it. Dango said Santino is the equivalent of Yoko Ono showing up at a Beatles concert to start yodeling. Dango said people lining up to buy Santino’s sock merch are like nerdville at a Star Wars convention. The next question was “what about your match with Heath next week”.
Dango said Heath is also trying to hang on to glory days, only adding one new finisher to catch his opponents off guard. Dango admitted that Heath did get one over on Dango on before the Impact. Dango said Heath would be a great forklift driver at Home Depot or Lowes. Dango said Heath might make a great Villano. Dango said what Heath shouldn’t do is try to be Santino Marella…
John’s Thoughts: It may be a bit inside baseball with some references, but for wrestling fans this is some great stuff. Dango has become must-see TV for me and he cut another wonderful promo. Only problem with some of the things he’s lampshading is he’s kinda right, which doesn’t do babyfaces he faces favors (look at how he put the nail in the coffin of Hendry’s toy belt that nobody cares about). I do like him always making sure to randomly put over Black Taurus in promos and curious if that’s a setup for something.
Entrances for the next match took place. Hannifan noted that it doesn’t look like Angels is falling in line with the Design faction…
3. Angels vs. Jonathan Gresham (w/Deaner, Kon). Angels had the early advantage. Deaner berated Angels for not dominating his way. Angels hit Gresham with a suplex. Gresham tripped Angels with a sweep kick and dropped him to ringside with a dropkick.[c]
Gresham worked on Angels with technical wrestling. Angels used his body weight to block a few suplex attempts. Both men teetered, blocking suplexes. Angels got a two count after a Sunset Flip. Angels hit Gresham with a hip toss. Angels caught Gresham with a CQC combo. Angels hit Gresham with a Half and Half suplex.
Angels got a two count off a Northern Lights Suplex. Gresham ducked a Crescent Kick. Both men traded rapid rollups for many nearfalls. Angels got a good one to end the rally. Gresham put Angels in the Octopus Stretch for the victory.
Jonathan Gresham defeated Angels via pinfall in 7:24 of on-air time.
Deaner continued to berate Angels in the ring. Gresham asked Angels for a handshake. Angels told Deaner “I don’t need you” when Deaner ordered him not to accept the handshake. Deaner got in Alan’s face. Deaner tried to poke Angels in the chest, but Alan held it back. Angels accepted Jonathan’s handshake. Kon wouldn’t accept Deaner’s orders either and tried to play peacemaker…
John’s Thoughts: Good to see more progression on the Alan Angels situation and I hope they don’t do the fake-out of having Angels remain on the Design (heck, I’d take Kon and Angels breaking away as a unit). Alan has been fun to watch locally at the Hoodslam promotion in Oakland, CA and I’d like to see him do something on TV other than be a part of a mid-card cult (which he has been in both AEW and Impact). Given how many false breakups of The Design have occurred, I do fear there might be a bait and switch.
Impact Tag Team Champions “ABC” Chris Bey and Ace Austin were cutting promos on their Slammiversary opponents. They were interrupted by the Rascalz team of Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz. Trey was randomly eating a sandwich. Wentz said The Rascalz need to be added to the Slammiversary tag team title match. Bey brought up Wentz winning tag team gold elsewhere (NXT), but never in Impact.
Wentz wondered if he could beat Bey if they can get a shot. Both teams bickered a bit. Trey randomly dropped a bottle of gatorade…
PCO was shown acting weird and playing with live jumper cables. Scott D’Amore was cheering PCO on…[c]
Footage was shown of Impact stars exploring sights at Wagga Wagga, Australia during their recent tour. A lot of the stars were shown hanging at the zoo and at a charity event at a local school…
Footage was shown of Trinity being attacked by Gisele Shaw and Jai Vidal attacking Trinity in recent weeks. The end of the replay showed Shaw taking her time in helping Trinity last week…
This week, Trinity entered the locker room and thanked Deonna Purrazzo for having her back last week. Deonna said she wants Trinity at 100 percent when she beats her at Slammiversary. Trinity took exception to the word “beat” and talked about how Deonna took her time in helping her out last week.
Deonna said to make things clear, neither of them need each others’ help. Deonna talked about her open challenges as AAA and Knockouts Champion. Deonna said she’ll hold an open challenge next week. Trinity said that Deonna better also be prepared to know what’s coming facing her at Slammiversary…
PCO and Scott D’Amore made their entrance with D’Amore joining commentary. The Good Hands came out for a promo. Skyler said they tried to pick a fight with Scott D’Amore, but D’Amore sent out PCO who’s on a leave of absence from reality. Skyler said he can’t tell the difference between PCO and the mutants from Georgia. Skyler said what’s making PCO different is they will lose to these two good hands…
4. PCO (w/Scott D’Amore) vs. “The Good Hands” John Skyler and Jason Hotch in a handicap match. PCO sold no sold the punches of The Good hands and dumped them to ringside. PCO hit the Good Hands with a Cannonball Dive (Good on the good hands for catching him). PCO hit Hotch with a Deanimator. PCO hit Skyler with a Scorpion Death Drop. PCO hit Skyler with the PCO Sault for the victory.
PCO defeated The Good Hands via pinfall in 1:45.
D’Amore said he’s going to join his tag partner in the ring. Hotch put his hands on D’Amore and slapped D’Amore in the face. D’Amore came back with punches and a Sky High. Super Scott was about to go for a Canadian Destroyer on Hotch, but Bully Ray made his entrance. Steve Maclin hit D’Amore and PCO with a chair when they were distracted.
Bully took the chair and hit both opponents, Daring Scott to hit him with a Destroyer. Hotch brought a table into the ring. Maclin handcuffed D’Amore to the top rope with Bully yelling at him. Bully tossed Scott’s gold watch at him. Bully and Maclin gave PCO a double power bomb through the table.
Bully made D’Amore flinch by faking a chair shot against him. Bully tossed PCO down through an entrance ramp door. Bully and Maclin teased attacking Scott again, but decided at attacking PCO. They closed the entrance ramp and the show cut to a camera backstage. Bully choked PCO with chair while Maclin waterboarded PCO with “battery acid”. Bully put lighter fluid on PCO and set him on fire…
John’s Thoughts: A well done segment, but it’s still a bit surreal seeing how strong the booker of Impact is putting himself over as a badass. This is almost Shane McMahon levels of ridiculous. Ey, I’ll take this over Bully feuding with Tommy Dreamer, but again, they are giving the huge mega-push to Scott F’n D’Amore, who Impact viewers have never seen as a badass wrestler (that video package last week did help build up Scott though).
Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt checked in from commentary and were in somber mode when recapping Bully Ray setting PCO on fire. Gia Miller tried to interview D’Amore at Gorilla on if this affects his Slammiversary match, but D’Amore said he doesn’t care because he’s more worried for PCO…
Entrances for the next match took place…[c]
Tom Hannifan noted that Gisele Shaw and Gail Kim recently competed in Amazing Race Canada and have already been eliminated…
John’s Thoughts: Wow, that was quick. I remember Robert Stone (Robbie E) and Brooke Tessmacher having a longer run at that reality show.
5. Gisele Shaw (w/Jai Vidal, Savannah Evans) vs. Courtney Rush (w/Jessicka). Rush wanted a handshake, but Shaw put Rush in a side headlock. Rush came back with an armdrag. Shaw quickly rolled to ringside to avoid a sharpshooter. Rush hit Shaw with a reverse DDT. Jai got on the apron for a distraction which allowed Shaw to nail her with a face wash kick. Shaw pummeled Rush with strikes.
Shaw rallied with running uppercuts for a two count. Shaw worked on Rush with methodical offense. Rush came back with a T Bone Suplex for a two count. Shaw hit Rush with a German Suplex for a two count. Rush reversed a knee into a Samoan Drop. Jessicka attacked Jai Vidal, but Jai got the upper hand by tossing her into the steel steps.
Rush nailed Vidal with a kick to knock him off the apron. Shaw rolled up Rush with feet on the ropes for the leverage win.
Gisele Shaw defeated Courtney Rush via pinfall in 6:13.
John’s Thoughts: Eh, logical booking, but I would rather see Impact get behind the refreshed Death Dollz act rather than the middling Shaw, Vidal, and Evans act. Evans seems out of place and Vidal hasn’t done the team wonders as the discount Kaleb with a K. I would have just put Rush over here and she has been back to her old form in the ring over the past year. Shaw is talented and has a great backstory, but she needs to be refreshed. Having her get a cheap win isn’t a good step in that refresh.
Kenny King was coaching Sheldon Jean earlier in the day. A random lady asked King for a selfie. The lady then tried to stick a dollar down Kenny’s pants. Another random lady tried to tip Kenny but Kenny stopped her. She said she was more of a fan of Kenny’s bachelorette work. Kenny said don’t you dare say his name. “Say his name and he appears, I believe in Joe Hendry, clap clap”
King said that Hendry has made King’s life hard. Jean threatened Hendry with a two on one beatdown. King said Hendry has no friends. Hendry said he has friends and all he has to do is say his name. “Say his name, and he appears, He’s Yuya Uemura. Clap Clap”. King and Jean left. Hendry asked Yuya how do you say Champion in Japanese? Yuya said “Champion”…
John’s Thoughts: I actually feel bad for Kenny. Getting sexually harassed all over Atlanta? Anyways, the Joe Hendry act still does nothing for me, notably because he has the toy belt. I did get a chuckle out of Yuya randomly doing the “Say his name” bit. If anything, I hope it leads to him being more than just generic Japanese create-a-wrestler who has a good look and loses all the time.
Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt checked in from the commentary table. They ran through the advertised card for next week’s Slammiversary show. The following matches were announced for next week: Chris Bey vs. Zachary Wentz, Kevin Knight vs. Mike Bailey, Moose and Myers vs. Callihan and Swann, and Deonna Purrazzo’s open challenge…
Entrances for the main event took place. Hannifan plugged Shelley’s new “yup” t-shirt…[c]
6. Impact World Champion Alex Shelley and Impact X Division Champion Chris Sabin vs. Nick Aldis and Lio Rush. Rush tagged out when Sabin tagged in. Sabin started the match with a test of strength. Aldis escaped and hit Sabin with a shoulder tackle. Aldis took down Sabin with a back elbow. Rush tagged in and did his signature stopping on a dime.
Rush took down Sabin with a dropkick and put him in a Rear Naked Choke. Shelley tagged in and the Guns hit Rush with double PKs. Sabin dropped Aldis from the apron. Shelley hit Rush with a double stomp to give Sabin a two count. Sabin and Shelley used tags to cut the ring in half on Rush. Rush hit Shelley in the back with a bicycle kick.
Shelley dumped Rush to ringside. Rush ran around the ring and Aldis hit Shelley with a lariat.[c]
Aldis and Rush cut the ring in half on Shelley. After a few minutes, Shelley sent the faces of Rush and Aldis into the turnbuckle. This allowed Sabin to take the hot tag. Sabin took down both opponents with kicks. Sabin hit Aldis with a PK from the apron.
The Guns hit Rush with a Magic Killer to give Sabin a nearfall. Rush escaped a Cradle Shock and ate strikes from both Guns. Sabin hit Aldis with a dragon screw into the ropes. Shelley hit Rush with a Dragon Screw into the ropes. Rush dropped both Guns from the apron and hit them with a Flip Dive. Rush hit Sabin with a Michinoku Driver.
Aldis followed up with an elbow drop on Sabin. Rush got a two count on Sabin. Sabin dodged a Final Hour. The Guns hit Rush with their Muta Lock-Dropkick combo. Shelley hit Aldis with a cutter. The Guns hit Rush with a double team slam. Aldis broke up the pin. Aldis put Shelley in a Cloverleaf. Sabin broke it up with a superkick.
Aldis tossed Shelley into the steps. Aldis hit Sabin with a low blow when the ref couldn’t see it. Rush hit Sabin with a spinning roundhouse. Rush hit Sabin with the Final Hour Splash for the win with Aldis holding Shelley back.
Lio Rush and Nick Aldis defeated The Motor City Machine Guns via pinfall in 13:52 of on-air time.
Impact closed…
John’s Thoughts: A logical match to put heat on the two challengers for singles gold. That said, Impact unfortunately booked most of those title pictures in short order with Lio Rush debuting last week and Aldis being turned heel just recently due to Shelley also being recently booked as Champion. Where that hurts is it’s tough to believe in Rush or Aldis getting the straps off the recent champs. Well worked match here though. Lio Rush could maybe use a promo next week because so far he’s just a random guy that stops on a dime very well. Maybe they can make a video package to show Rush’s past with Sabin and Shelley when he was a part of their Search and Destroy faction in Ring of Honor
A focused episode of Impact given their build to Slammiversary. I wonder if they have anything huge planned for the show because the huge “draw” seems to be them going for hometown pop with Canada. Some of the undercard stuff looks fun on paper. I’m actually a bit sold on the Santino vs. Dango match because Dango’s great promos and Santino is switching things up in terms of intensity. Maybe they’re saving the TNA anniversary nostalgia for their 1000th episode special? Hopefully they have a strong go-home push next week for the world title and X Division matches.
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