By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling TV (Episode 993)
Taped in Windsor, Ontario at St. Clair College
Aired July 27, 2023 on AXS TV
Highlights from last week’s Impact Wrestling aired… Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt were on commentary. Dave Penzer was the ring announcer…
1. Trinity and Dani Luna vs. “The Coven” Taylor Wilde and KiLynn King. King and Trinity started the match with a collar and elbow that King dominated. Hannifan noted that Trinity made her Impact in-ring debut against Kilynn King. Trinity hit King with a huracanrana, backflip kick, and neckbreaker for a two count. Luna tagged in and took a knee to the gut. Luna rolled up King for a two count.
Both women traded elbows. Luna hit King with a flying forearm. Wilde tagged in and was hit with a Fallaway Slam from Luna. Luna hit Wilde with a basement lariat for a two count. King hit Luna with a neckbreaker against the rope when Wilde distracted the referee. King tagged in and hit Luna with Natural Selection for a two count. King hit Luna with a stalling suplex.
Wilde and King used tags to keep the numbers advantage and cut the ring in half on Luna. Luna reversed King’s suplex and brought in Trinity off the hot tag. Trinity hit Wilde with a rough looking Samoan Drop. Trinity hit Wilde with a Bulldog into the buckle. Luna hit Wilde with a strong German Suplex. King broke off Trinity’s pin on Wilde after a crossbody.
Trinity slammed Wilde into King. Luna tackled King to ringside. Trinity hit Wilde with a Full Nelson Atomic Drop and rollup for the win.
Trinity and Dani Luna defeated The Coven via pinfall in 8:32.
After Dani Luna left, Deonna Purrazzo made her entrance in street clothes. Hannifan noted that Trinity was the first person in Impact Wrestling to make Deonna Purrazzo tap out to a submission. Deonna took a mic and told Trinity that she’ll invoke her rematch clause at Emergence. Deonna made her exit…
John’s Thoughts: A well worked match to give the Knockouts Champion an exhibition win while also giving Dani Luna TV time. I hope Dani get’s a promo, vignette, or something because all she is, is the “Welsh girl that hangs out with the Welsh tag team from NXT UK” (NXT UK never really flushed out her character from what I remember). I’m not the biggest fan of feeding The Coven to Trinity though as they were coming off strong wins as tag team champions, and the moment they lose the titles they are pegged to be enhancement fodder for the singles champ.
A replay of last week’s show closing segment aired, where Lio Rush refused to attack Impact Champion Alex Shelley when Bully Ray and crew held him in place…
This week, Brian Myers and Moose approached Lio Rush backstage. Myers wondered why Lio left them hanging last week. Lio laughed and said if Myers and Moose are questioning Lio’s choices, why are Myers and Moose hanging out with someone like Bully Ray. Bully Ray showed up behind Lio and annoyingly yelled “somebody like, who?”. Rush said he was talking about Bully. Bully said Lio must have balls to say that.
Bully said the reason he’s aligned with Moose and Myers is they can all trust each other. Lio said he’s not here to make friends. Moose said he’s not asking Lio to be a friend. Moose said that Lio is going to have to make a decision someday, or else they will make the decision for Lio. Bully said he’s going to say the cliche idiom “you’re either with us, or against us”, and Lio has until the end of the night to make a decision…
Johnny Swinger was being rolled around by Zicky Dice backstage…[c]
A replay aired of Dirty Dango defeating Santino Marella last week with the help of the returning John E Bravo…
The show cut to this week’s Dirty Dango docu-style interview. John E Bravo was alongside Dango. The first question was, “How concerned were you about your match with Santino?”. Dango talked about coming through the tunnel and suddenly being surrounded by tweakers, drunks, and bums lying on the sidewalk. Dango asked Bravo if he noticed the same thing. Bravo nodded.
Dango yelled that he doesn’t take Santino seriously as an MMA fighter. Dango said Santino is the only person that takes Santino seriously in that respect. Dango said he takes Santino as seriously as an MMA fighter as he takes Bhupinder Gujjar seriously as a professional wrestler, which is not a lot. Dango said what he does take seriously is maybe or maybe not taking Santino’s daughter, NXT’s Bianca Carelli (Ariana Grace), on a date to Applebee’s, but he’d prefer not to say things publicly.
Dango said he hasn’t eaten a carb since 1999. Dango said Bianca’s favorite Applebee’s appetizer is the double fried shrimp with cocktail sauce. Dango looked at the camera and asked Santino “should I call you dad?”. The next question was “Why did you align yourself with John E. Bravo?”. Dango said someone that looks like him, 6’3”, 230 lbs, and 6% body fat. Why would someone like that need security?
Dango said he needs security because he has a loose canon boss in Scott D’Amore, who’s running around like it’s 1998 and Border City Wrestling. Dango said Scott thinks he’s 25 again, hitting people with chairs and Canadian Destroyers. Dango said Santino is running around acting like a Judo Master, with puppet socks, trying to poke guys in the face. Dango said maybe he needs security for people like that.
Dango said he doesn’t want to show up to his first class fight with broken fingers or a busted nose. Dango introduced John E. Bravo. Dango said Bravo trained with Villano VI in Tijuana, Mexico. Dango asked John E, how much time did he spend in Vietnam. John E said he vacationed in Vietnam for 6 and a half days. Dango said that John E spent close to a week in “Viet F—ing Nam” (Forrest Gump reference). Dango said John E Bravo is no longer John E Bravo, he is “Alpha Bravo”…
Zicky Dice and Johnny Swinger made their entrance with Zicky rolling Johnny via his personalized WrestleMania 3 cart. Dave Penzer reminded the crowd that this was for a loser leaves Impact match. Zicky Dice ran back to the back to make his own entrance…
2. Johnny Swinger vs. Zicky Dice in a Loser Leaves Impact Match. Swinger hit Dice with an early Finger Poke of Doom. Dice played possum and rolled up Swinger for two. Dice gave Swinger a shove and rollup for a nearfall. Both men traded a series of eye pokes. Swinger and Dice pulled each other’s eyes. Dice gave Swinger a low blow and body slam for a two count.
Swinger rolled to ringside and asked to be counted out. Swinger hung his head and walked to the back like his career was done. Dice caught up with Swinger and tried to convince him not to give up on his career easily. Swinger said “it’s your time! get in the cart!”. Dice got in the WrestleMania 3 cart and did a pose while Swinger pushed him a bit. Swinger then turned on Dice by giving him a lariat and laughing about it. Swinger picked up the win with his leg on the ropes.
Johnny Swinger defeated Zicky Dice via pinfall in 3:20. Zicky Dice must leave Impact Wrestling.
Matthew Rehwoldt said that Swinger has won his chance to go after the Impact World Title. Swinger was celebrating like he was the Ultimate Warrior, while Dice was holding on to his own head in dismay…
John’s Thoughts: A fun comedy match between two 1980s style jobbers. This was fun. I had no expectations because I knew it was going to be clown shoes going in, but I appreciate Swinger and Dice for putting in effort with good comedy set pieces, especially for long time wrestling fans. Unfortunately the cat was already out of the bag with it being reported everywhere that Zicky Dice and a certain someone else on the roster, wrapped up their run in Impact. Interested to see what Dice does. His Impact run was underwhelming, but I remember him being very entertaining when he was on NWA Powerrr.
Footage aired from Before the Impact. It as Kenny King and Sheldon Jean vs. Joe Hendry and Yuya Uemura. Yuya actually won a match by rolling up the Digital Media Champion Kenny King…
Santino Marella was chatting with Joe Hendry and Yuya Uemura. Santino said they call Dango “Dirty” because he’s a punk with a bad attitude. Santino congratulated Yuya for pinning the Digital Media Champion and said that Yuya might be champion. Yuya said “me… champion?”. Hendry said that Yuya has all the potential in the world and would be a better champion than Kenny.
In broken English, Yuya set up a triple threat for the Digital Media Title between King, Hendry, and Yuya. Santino said he likes the idea, but it’s up to Joe because Joe is entitled a singles rematch against Kenny King. Hendry contemplated a bit and said “what are friends for?”. Hendry agreed to the triple threat. Santino wished Yuya well and told him “Champion”. Yuya yelled “champion”. Hendry asked “how do you say Thank You in Japanese?”. Yuya jumped back into frame and said “Arigato”…[c]
The show cut to the Nick Aldis interview set (he now uses it for promos now that Jimmy Jacobs is gone from Impact). Aldis hyped up his match against Eric Young for later in the show. Aldis said that Young respects tradition and will be served with a large slice of tradition in the form of humble pie from the National Treasure Nick Aldis…
Entrances for the next match took place…
3. Impact Knockouts Champion Masha Slamovich (w/Killer Kelly) vs. Gisele Shaw (w/Jai Vidal, Savannah Evans). Both women traded hammerlocks to start the match. Shaw put Masha in a headlock that Masha reversed into a wristlock. Shaw escaped with a slap to the face. Masha gave Shaw a draping knee and lariat for a two count. Masha worked on Shaw with a modified Dragon Sleeper. Shaw got to her feet and gave Masha a knee to the gut. Shaw tossed Masha to ringside heading into break. [c]
Shaw worked on Masha with a series of uppercuts. Shaw worked on Masha with stomps and a gutbuster for a two count. Shaw worked on Masha with methodical offense. Masha rallied back with kick variations for a two count. The host of Amazing Race Canada was shown in the crowd, and Hannifan noted that Shaw and Gail Kim were recently on the show (Shaw and Kim lost in the first episode). Shaw hit Masha with a Full Nelson Backbreaker and Facebuster for a two count.
Shaw took down the knee pad for her finisher. Masha dodged the knee and gave Shaw a hook kick for a two count. Jai Vidal got on the ropes for the distraction. Kelly tried to counter Jai, but Kelly was blindsided by Savannah Evans from behind. Shaw caught the distracted Masha with her running knee finisher for the win.
Gisele Shaw defeated Masha Slamovich via pinfall in 6:56 of on-air time.
John’s Thoughts: Eh? Don’t get me wrong. It was a well worked match. I just think this loss hurts Masha more than it helps Gisele. Remember when Masha was the most powerful woman in Impact Wrestling? Remember when she was beating wrestlers at the level of Gisele Shaw in under 30 seconds? Part of what didn’t work for me here is Gisele Shaw is still a damaged wrestler in need of a reboot (She has the talent and personality, but Impact has built her up so much as an underwhelming pest). I’d also extricate or replace Jai Vidal and Savannah Evans from the act too because these three don’t have any on-air chemistry aside from being interchangeable pawns for distraction finishes.
Highlights from Jake Something’s singles return from last week were shown…
A Jake Something vignette aired. He was cutting a promo and looking intense. Jake said he came from nothing and born in the dirt. He said when you’re born in the dirt, the only way to go from the bottom is up. He said his dad taught him hard lessons. He said it doesn’t matter how big and bad you are, you gotta be that wild dog chained to a fence and ready to break loose. He said everything he knows is his.
Jake said that because of all those lessons, he can become “Something”. He said that was not a question, but a statement. Jake asked, What’s my Name? Something…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Well, that was something. Pun intended. I like that he’s getting vignettes at least. Last time when he ditched the Cousin Jake Deaner character, they just had him winning and losing 50-50 in matches without any character development. The effort is there this time. Nothing too earth-shattering here. He was just “intense pro wrestler” which are a dime a dozen. I am very hopeful of his upside though because he has all the tools to be a main eventer in any company. He can talk, go in the ring, and has a great look. What more can you ask for (and it still baffles me that AEW and WWE didn’t give him a shot? Speaking of which? Where in the world is Rohit Raju, who also left at around the same time as Jake and had similar upside?).
Tom Hannifan ran through upcoming Impact live events leading up to Bound for Glory which is happening late October. Hannifan then announced that right after Bound for Glory, Impact will head off to their tour of the United Kingdom…
Traci Brooks was talking to her husband Frankie Kazarian backstage. She was trying to convince him to let her ask D’Amore for five minutes with Alisha Edwards in the ring. Kazarian said he appreciates that Traci has had his back since day one, but the last thing he wants is Traci to get hurt. Kaz reminded Traci that Traci has stated that she’s not a wrestler anymore. Kazarian said Alisha isn’t worth it. Traci agreed and walked away with Kaz…
Entrances for the next match took place. Kushida was back to dressing like Marty McFly after a few weeks of wearing different pre-match gear. Hannifan noted that the Time Splitters have wrestled in New Japan and even WWE, but never in Impact as a duo. Rehwoldt noted that The Time Splitters are multi-time tag team champions in New Japan…
4. Moose and Brian Myers vs. “The Time Splitters” Kushida and Impact World Champion Alex Shelley. Moose knocked SHelley off the apron and pressured Kushida in the corner. Kushida hit Moose with a back elbow, but couldn’t get Moose off his feet. Kushida reversed a power bomb into a heel hook. Shelley PK’d Moose in the shoulder. Moose reversed a Hoverboard Lock into a Body Slam. Myers tagged in and took a slap from Kushida.
Shelley got the blind tag in. The Time Splitters cleaned house. Shelley used a hammerlock to toss Myers into the corner. Shelley and Kushida used quick tags to cut the ring in half on Myers. Kushida focused his attack on the arm of Myers. The Time Splitters hit Myers with the Muta Lock-Dropkick combo usually used by the Motor City Machine Guns. Myers ran to ringside which allowed Moose to take down Shelley with a shoulder tackle.[c]
Moose and Myers cut the ring in half on Shelley. While Myers was going for a tag while holding Shelley in place, Shelly lowered his weight to put Myers in a crucifix pin for the win out of nowhere.
The Time Splitters defeated Brian Myers and Moose via pinfall in 4:55 of on-air time.
Moose and Myers put the boots to Shelley and Kushida. Bully Ray ran out to give the heels the numbers advantage. Josh Alexander ran out in a blue track suit to even up the numbers. The heels had the upper hand since Shelley and Kushida were still knocked out. Lio Rush ran out to pummel Alex Shelley with punches. Hannifan noted that it looks like Lio made his decision. Bully cheered on Lio. Chris Sabin ran out to give the face team the upper hand.
Sabin dumped Moose, Myers, and Bully from the ring. Shelley, Sabin, Kushida, and Alexander all surrounded a lone Lio Rush in the ring. Sabin hit Lio with lariats and a superkick. Sabin tossed Rush from the ring. The babyfaces stood tall as Chris Sabin’s theme played…
John’s Thoughts: Good tag match for the time given. No harm in Myers taking the pin here as it’s from the World Champion. I’m also a fan of unorthodox finishes, where matches don’t always have to end after a finishing move. Here’s hoping we get the eventual epic match between Rush and Sabin with Sabin’s title loss being more of an angle to put over Rush strong. They have some interesting dynamics here with Lio, Sabin, Kushida, Shelley, Bully, and Alexander in the same orbit.
This week’s Impact Plus Flashback Match of the Week was Nick Aldis (Magnus) vs. “Showtime” Eric Young for the Impact World Championship from an Impact Wrestling episode in April 2014. Eric Young defeated Nick Aldis to become the new Impact World Champion (If I’m remembering correctly, I think this episode was criticized because Daniel Bryan had to beat Randy Orton, Dave Batista, and Triple H all on the same night to become world champion and Impact had their bearded babyface run a similar gauntlet just a few days after Mania)…
Footage from Before the Impact was shown. For some reason, Heath attacked Alan Angels after one of Alan’s wins…
A promo aired by “The Celestial” Alan Angels. Angels said that Heath is a prime example of a wannabe rock star. Angels said he is a real life rockstar and celestial. Angels said Heath is just jealous which is why he attacked Angels from behind. Angels said he is on the ascent while Heath is on the decline. Angels challenged Heath to a match to prove how much of a rockstar Heath thinks he is…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Were we missing something? Odd to see babyface Heath randomly attack Alan Angels for no reason. Looking forward to a Heath and Angels feud as Angels is finally away from yet another undercard wrestling cult.
An ad aired for the Impact Plus Emergence show…
Footage of Zachary Wentz and Trey Miguel was shown from last week where they were in a parking lot. They were tossing around water bottles and popcorn. Wentz talked about how The Rascalz are coming after Subculture and the tag team titles. They saw Mike Bailey in the parking lot and tossed popcorn at him. Bailey politely walked up to them and asked them for popcorn. Bailey said The Rascalz career will be better if they stopped acting like idiots. Wentz and Miguel mocked Bailey with kung fu noises…
Entrances for the next match took place…
5. “Speedball” Mike Bailey vs. Zachary Wentz (w/Trey Miguel). Bailey took down Wentz with a roundhouse and headlock. Trey tripped up Bailey for the distraction. Wentz hit Bailey with a rope stunner and slingshot senton for a two count. Wentz hit Bailey with methodical knee strikes for a two count. Bailey hit Wentz with an armdrag and dropkick. Bailey hit Wentz with an axe kick combo and Standing Shooting Star Press for a two count.
Wentz ducked two chamber kicks, but Bailey caught Wentz with a delayed chamber kick. Trey put Zach’s foot on the bottom rope for the break. Bailey took Zach off the apron with a Big Boot and Triangle Moonsault. Bailey and Miguel jawed at ringside. This allowed Wentz to hit Bailey with a Half and Half suplex on the apron. Bailey reversed Wentz’s finisher with a Magistral Cradle for a two count.
Wentz came back with a Yakuza Kick. Bailey hit Zach with a chained hook into a thrust kick. Trey dragged Wentz to ringside to save him from Bailey’s Tornado Kick. The referee ejected Trey. Trey took his sweet time to protest and say Bailey’s cheating. The distraction allowed Wentz to spray Bailey with spray paint in the face while the referee’s attention was on Trey. Wentz hit Bailey with a Front Facelock Driver for the win.
Zachary Wentz defeated Mike Bailey via pinfall in 5:55.
John’s Thoughts: Impact is doing a solid job in recent weeks in establishing Zach Wentz as a credible wrestler. Impact and NXT viewers already know how great of a tag team wrestler Wentz is. With all the time spent building up Trey as a strong singles heel, I like that they are taking a bit of time here to establish Wentz strong in a singles capacity. I also like that The Rascalz are finding creative ways to initiate heel distractions and pest moves.
Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt checked in from the commentary table. They plugged the Impact Plus Emergence show for the end of August. Hannifan announced Time Machine and Josh Alexander vs. Bully Ray, Moose, Brian Myers, and Lio Rush for the show. Rehwoldt announced Trinity vs. Deonna Purrazzo for the Knockouts Championship for the Emergence Show. Hannifan shifted focus to the Multiverse United show where Alex Shelley will defend the world title against Hiroshi Tanahashi. Kenny King vs. Joe Hendry vs. Yuya Uemura was announced for next week’s Impact Wrestling Show…
Eric Young vs. Nick Aldis was hyped for after the break…[c]
Hannifan thanked St. Clair College for hosting them as a drone shot of the venue was shown…
Eric Young made his entrance. Young had new music. It started out with lyrics from Johnny Cash’s Cut You Down as the intro and led into emo rock music. His video wall has imagery from the prison that he used to use when he was leader of Violent By Design (Are we getting the return of Eric Young’s random prison?).
He came to the ring wearing a Dr. Doom mask. Hannifan reiterated that Young is “back from the dead” and wrestling in Impact for the first time in 9 months. Nick Aldis made his entrance. Hannifan noted that Eric Young and Nick Aldis were in the same faction in 2009 when Young was the leader of the “World Elite” faction (back when Young was doing his best heel Chris Jericho impersonation)…
6. Eric Young vs. Nick Aldis. Young took down Aldis with an armdrag. Aldis countered with his own set of technical chain wrestling. Young and Aldis took turns skinning the cat on the ropes. Aldis rolled to ringside to avoid a Pile Driver. Aldis called for a time out heading into break.[c]
Aldis pulled up the ring apron to trap Young when Young went for a baseball slide. Young crumpled when Aldis gave him punches. Rehwoldt noted that the apron trap is a signature move of Fit Finlay. Aldis worked on Young with methodical offense. Young used a jawbreaker to escape Aldis’s cravate. Young gave Aldis a back elbow and boot. Young rallied with axe handle strikes and flying elbow.
Aldis came back with a Bell Clap. Young got a two count off a Belly to Belly Suplex. Aldis crotched Young on the top rope. Aldis hit Young with a Superplex for a two count. Young hit Aldis with an Atomic Drop. Aldis came back with a Michinoku Driver for a nearfall. Young got a two count off a crucifix. Aldis hit Young with a catapult. Aldis reversed a dropkick into a Cloverleaf. Young got to the ropes for the break.
Aldis went for a Figure Four which Young reversed into a small package for a two count. Young hit Aldis with a Pile Driver for the clean win.
Eric Young defeated Nick Aldis via pinfall in 9:08 of on-air time.
After Aldis left, Deaner and Big Kon of the Design blindsided Young. Kon hit Young with a Chokeslam. Deaner ordered Kon to do it again. Kon yelled “you’re over” and hit Young with another chokeslam. Deaner ordered Kon to do it again. Kon hit Young with a third chokeslam. Deaner did a T-pose over Young’s body. Kon passed Young to Deaner and Deaner hit Young with the Deaner DDT. Deaner sat on Young like he was a bench to close the show…
John’s Thoughts: A good match between two Impact veterans. Like Zicky Dice, the cat was already out of the bag in terms of Nick Aldis being done with his Impact contract, so a little bit of the drama was taken away. Good match nonetheless and a solid re-introduction to Eric Young. Interested to see what reinvention Young has in mind now that he’s seemingly going to be babyface. Can’t say I’m excited to see him feud with the dead end Design faction, but it makes sense since The Design are the storyline thread that took Young out of the company.
A decent Impact show. Nothing too must-see, but solid storyline development all across the board. Impact has an interesting stretch ahead as it looks like they are doing simultaneous builds towards their two Impact Plus shows, the Emergence and Multiverse shows. I also hope they start looking ahead to their biggest show of the year, Bound for Glory. On top of that, don’t they have a 1000th episode of Impact to build up to?
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