By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling TV
Taped in Pembroke Pines, Florida at Charles F. Dodge City Center
Aired January 12, 2023 on AXS TV
This week’s Impact started out with a highlight package that focused on the Josh Alexander and Bully Ray feud. The package ended with clips from last week’s show closing segment which featured Bully Ray putting Impact EVP Scott D’Amore through a table…
Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt were on commentary. Dave Penzer was the ring announcer…
Hannifan sent the show to a Zoom call hosted by Josh Matthews. Matthews interviewed Josh Alexander and Bully Ray via zoom. Matthews asked Alexander how Alexander feels about Bully Ray’s attack on D’Amore. Alexander said not even a company executive is exempt from Bully’s wrath. Alexander noted that Bully plays by his own rules. Alexander said he hates that people close to him like Jen, Tommy Dreamer, and D’Amore.
Bully cut in to mock Alexander a bit for being worried. Bully said he’s in Josh’s head. Josh said Bully is right, but that shouldn’t give Bully an advantage. Bully said he already has the advantage and that’s bothering Josh. Bully said through years of experience he’s able to notice subtle body language like the little twitches Alexander is currently doing with his eye. Bully said Josh and Scott are trying to push a false narrative.
Bully pointed out that Scott punched him in the face first. Josh noted that Scott ordered Bully to stay at home. Bully asked if him breaking a rule allows an Anthem executive to attack him. Josh rolled his eyes. Bully said Josh is just playing into Bully’s hand. Bully talked about how he does everything for a reason, like not smash Alexander over the head with a chair, like instead beating a close friend like Tommy Dreamer up with it.
Bully said he did all this to trick Josh into asking for a Full Metal Mayhem (a.k.a. TLC) match. Bully pointed out how he invented that match. Bully talked about how he totally agrees he can’t go 60 minutes in the ring with a wrestling machine like Josh. Bully said Josh is like Kurt Angle and even beat Bobby Roode’s title length record. Bully noted that Josh should have kept it as a regular match because Josh excels at those.
Bully asked Josh if Josh has been a part of a match like this? Josh said he hasn’t, but he’s treating it like the fight for his life. He said to get to this part of his career he’s felt every type of pain. Josh tried to end the interview, but Bully kept saying “Shut up, Josh!”. Bully said Josh is going to feel pain, and feel things he’s never felt before. Bully said he’s Bully Ray and will leave Hard to Kill as a three-time Impact World Champion…
John’s Thoughts: I was afraid that the interview wouldn’t come off well due to the low quality video. It did come off low quality, of course, which gave me memories of the pandemic era of wrestling. That said, it ended up being a good and unique interview. I would have preferred more of an in-person format, but they probably had their reasons why Josh Alexander couldn’t be at the last taping. Again, the star of these segments is Bully Ray and he’s doing things really simple and really efficient.
Entrances for the next match took place…
1. Brian Myers (w/Matt Cardona) vs. Heath (w/Rhino). Myers dominated the early chain wrestling sequences. Heath came back with a running clothesline and flying punch. Myers did a Flair Flop after eating punches from Heath. The referee ejected both of the extra men at ringside when they teased getting involved.
Cardona left, but complained that Rhino was the only one doing it. Heath hit Myers at ringside with a cannonball. Myers took down Heath with a clothesline heading into break.[c]
Myers used a baseball slide to trip up Heath. Myers worked on Heath with methodical offense. Heath got a breather after hitting Myers with a jump kick. Heath flapjacked Myers. Heath gave Myers a neckbreaker for a two count. Myers hit Heath with a Pele Kick and Edgeucution DDT for the two count. Heath blocked a Roster Cut, but Myers hit Heath with a spear for a two count.
Heath followed Myers to the top rope and planted him with a Super Power Slam for a two count. Both men traded strikes and fought to the top rope. Myers got a thumb to Heath’s eye. Myers hit Heath with a diving elbow drop for a two count. Heath rolled up Myers for a two count. Heath hit Myers with a Zig Zag for the victory.
Heath defeated Brian Myers via pinfall in 10:49 of on-air time.
John’s Thoughts: A nice match between two men who have spent a lot of time in the same company together. Nothing too fancy, and sometimes simple is fresh. Cool to see Heath wrestle a serious match as a singles. Most of the time he’s either in tag matches, or running in to the ring to screw over the defunct Honor No More. Coming off that main event segment Heath had with Drew McIntyre on Raw in 2020, still has me hoping that Heath drops the Cheese and Crackers tag team gimmick and take himself seriously. Drew did it! Jinder did it! Let’s do this Heath!
The show cut to Ace Austin and Chris Bey cutting a promo in front of a brick wall. Ace noted that he and Bey are back in the United States after a run in the New Japan Junior Heavyweight tag team tournament. They both talked about how well they did in Japan. They ended their promo by giving the camera a too sweet…
Taya Valkyrie was shown huddled on the floor. Apparently she was attacked. Rosemary and Jessicka checked on her and asked who attacked her. Taya said there were four people. Rosemary yelled at a ref who said Rosemary’s match was starting. Rosemary tried to stay with Taya but Taya said that she should take the tag belt with her and wrestle the next match…
Entrances for the next match took place…
2. Rosemary (w/Jessicka) vs. Savannah Evans (w/Tasha Steelz, Gisele Shaw, Jai Vidal). Rosemary shoved Evans to the corner and bit her face. Evans shoved Rosemary away. Rosemary reversed Evans with a deep armdrag and choke. Evans gave Rosemary clubbing blows in the corner. Evans retreated to her corner when Rosemary tripped her up. Rosemary hit Evans and Vidal with a crossbody.[c]
Rosemary worked on Evans with methodical offense. Evans hit Rosemary with a big boot after the the heels in Evans’ corner distracted Rosemary. Shaw dragged Rosemary’s face on the bottom rope when Evans distracted the referee. Evans dominated Rosemary with methodical offense. Rosemary got a moment of respite after a Scorpion Death Drop. Rosemary rallied with running strikes. Rosemary hit Evans with a T-Bone Suplex for a two count.
Evans used a few right hands to escape a underhook. Evans hit Rosemary with a spinebuster and Fisherman Suplex for a two count. Rosemary caught Evans with a spear out of nowhere. Vidal and Steelz got on the apron to distract the referee. Rosemary punched Shaw off the apron. The distraction allowed Evans to hit Rosemary with a Full Nelson Slam for the win.
Savannah Evans defeated Rosemary via pinfall in 9:36 of on-air time.
The four heels put the boots to Jessicka and Rosemary and left them lying…
John’s Thoughts: A good match with the right result. I was afraid for a second that Rosemary would go over despite being in a 2 on 4 situation. With all those distractions, Evans had to go over (and Evans would have been hurt bad credibility wise as a monster who couldn’t win with a +2 advantage). Evans is starting to be protected more, which is good. Good to see Rosemary wrestle more. She’s been very limited since her big injury a few years ago, which has led to a lot of tag team and short singles matches with her. She’s been putting a lot of in-ring time recently and it looks like she might be getting back to form.
This week’s Impact Plus Flashback Match of the Week was Moose vs. Rhino from Hard to Kill 2020. The clip started out with Rhino accidentally spearing the referee for a REF BUMP! Moose was in one of his random colorful cosplays. Moose ended up winning…
The show cut to a Taylor Wilde promo package. She’s “The Wilde Witch” now. She was shown flipping tarot cards and burning effigies. She said she’s calling upon Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. She said she’s also “The People’s Witch”…
John’s Thoughts: Ok? Credit to wrestlers that reinvent themselves, but Taylor Wilde seems to want to reinvent herself every few months. This gimmick also seems very outta left field with no reason as to why she’s randomly into the occult. This may be more random than her character about a year ago where she was the hard working American woman from Canada. This random witch gimmick also comes off as very inferior to Isla Dawn in NXT who does a great witch gimmick. This inferior witch is actually more similar to Isla Dawn’s lame witch gimmick from back in 2018 when she was in NXT UK.
A Mickie James Last Rodeo hype and highlight package aired to promote the Jordynne Grace vs. Mickie James Title vs. Career match…
The Design trio of Deaner, Alan Angels, and Big Kon made their entrance. The ring was set up with a canvas, some “The Design” flags on the ringposts, chairs, and random candles on the ground. Generic Design cultists in yellow hoodies were surrounding ringside (maybe they didn’t get the memo that they’re supposed to wear black and white now that Eric Young is “dead”?). Deaner talked about how Sami Callihan wants to join the Design.
Deaner said Sami needs to get his hair shaved bald. The lights went on and off. Sami was in the ring with a baseball bat. Deaner said Sami needs to calm down and “lose your identity”. Deaner ordered Sami to hand Kon the bat, which Sami did. Deaner said Sami made the right choice. Deaner told Sami about the story of Samson from the Old Testament, where Samson became weak after getting shaved. Deaner asked Sami if he’s willing to become weak.
Sami said sometimes you have to tear yourself down to become stronger. Deaner said Sami’s making the right choices so far and he needs to see this whole process to the end. Deaner said it’s going to be long, difficult, and violent. Sami asked Deaner if he’s going to talk forever or cut his damn hair. Angels opened a chair which Sami sat on. Angels took the scissors and trimmed Sami’s hair.
Deaner encouraged Sami and told Sami to stop caring about the fans because they don’t care about Sami. After Angels trimmed the hair a bit, Deaner picked up the electric razor. Sami took the razor himself and cut his own hair off. He managed to get about 70% of the hair off (I don’t blame him). Deaner handed Sami a mirror. Sami took the scissors and teased attacking Deaner. Sami then calmly handed the scissors to Deaner. Deaner said this was the death of the Death Machine and the birth of “Callihan”…
John’s Thoughts: That segment kinda dragged a bit. It dragged so much that Sami Callihan was calling out Deaner for the segment dragging. The segment was also not interesting to boot. I feel like they’ve skipped some chapters here. Sami Callihan has been through a lot worse rivals terrorizing him and he never turned coat. The hair angle didn’t have much impact here. They didn’t even get a big angle out of it or a match. Reminded me a bit of Ortiz just calmly cutting his own hair about a year ago. On top of this, The Design are just kicking off and haven’t even established their brand yet. This just felt flat overall.
Gia Miller interviewed Gail Kim and wondered if Gail was stepping up to replace Scott D’Amore while he’s injured. Gail said she wasn’t, but Anthem has picked a temporary replacement and will announce that person at the Hard to Kill PPV…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Good on Scott for selling the attack. Last time he was put through a table he showed up 3 days after in his Team Canada attire (back in October 2022).
An ad aired for the Hard to Kill PPV… Entrances for the next match took place…
3. “Speedball” Mike Bailey vs. Anthony Greene. Greene pressured Bailey with strikes. Bailey came back with a clothesline and rapid kicks. Greene sent Bailey into the steel steps at ringside. Green hit Bailey with a Suicide Dive. Greene hit Bailey with a tightrope crossbody for a two count. Green hit Bailey with a Modified Tiger Driver and put Bailey in a Half Crab. Bailey broke the hold.
Bailey sent Green to ringside and jumped on the top rope for a hands free Asai moonsault. Bailey hit Green with a Tae Kwon Do combo. Bailey hit Greene with a standing Red Arrow. Greene ducked a chambered kick. Greene slammed Bailey’s head into the bottom buckle. Green hit Bailey with a modified Blue Thunder Bomb for a two count. Greene went for a Tornado Unprettier but Bailey escaped. Bailey hit Green with a standing Ultima Weapon.
Greene blocked a Cyclone Kick. Both men traded kick counters. Bailey landed his 720 Cyclone Kick. Bailey hit Greene with Ultima Weapon for the win.
Mike Bailey defeated Anthony Greene via pinfall in 6:08.
John’s Thoughts: Good match as usual from Bailey. The guy’s so damn reliable. Anthony Greene continues to look good in the ring every time I see him. I feel like his weird 70s pornstache dude thing holds him back though.
Hannifan sent the show to a Wrestle Kingdom replay ad narrated by Kevin Kelly…
Rich Swann, Jonathan Gresham, and Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry were shown getting ready backstage…[c]
A Josh Alexander vs. Bully Ray hype package aired…
Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt checked in from the commentary table. Hannifan noted that there will be a pre-show which will feature an X Division match between Alan Angels, Yuya Uemura, Bhupinder Gujjar, Kushida, and Mike Jackson (No, not the King of Pop, but the wrestler that’s over 70 years old). They then ran through the advertised Hard to Kill card…
Entrances for the next match took place. Before the match, Joe Hendry cut a promo. He called his opponents are Moose and Moose’s backup dancers…
4. Rich Swann, Jonathan Gresham, and Joe Hendry vs. Moose, Steve Maclin, and Eddie Edwards. Eddie teased wrestling his Hard to Kill opponent Gresham, but he tagged in Maclin. Gresham hit Maclin with a dropkick. Hendry tagged in and exchanged chain wrestling with Maclin. Hendry rallied with shoulder tackles and a swinging power slam. Hendry did a delayed vertical suplex with a squat on Maclin.
Eddie and Swann tagged in. Swann dominated with quick strikes and other offense. Gresham tried to put Maclin in an Octopus Hold, but Moose broke it up. All six men faced off in the ring. Everyone traded punches. Everyone took turns trading strikes wtih Swann being the last man standing. Swann hit Eddie and Moose with a cannonball. Maclin hit Swann with a running heel strike.[c]
The heels cut the ring in half on Swann. This lasted a few minutes. Moose’s game plan was to pull at Rich Swann’s dreadlocks. Swann managed to hit Eddie with an enzuigiri. Gresham got the hot tag. Gresham hit Maclin and Edwards with a Lionsault. Moose tossed Gresham into Edwards for a Blue Thunder Bomb two count. The heels used quick tags to isolate Gresham. Gresham fought out and tagged in Hendry for the hot tag.
Hendry hit Maclin with a press slam. Hendry dumped Moose to ringside. Hendry hit Maclin with a Twisting Fallaway Slam. Moose broke up the pin. Maclin put Hendry in the Tree of Woe. Swann broke a pin. Everyone took turns trading signature moves. Hendry went after Maclin, but didn’t see Moose blind tag in. Moose caught Hendry with the spear for the win.
Moose, Steve Maclin, and Eddie Edwards defeated Joe Hendry, Jonathan Gresham, and Rich Swann via pinfall in 12:42 of on-air time.
Hannifan noted that Moose pinned the Digital Media Champion and is the first person to pin Hendry during his latest run in Impact. Eddie Edwards was alone in the ring after Maclin and Moose went to ringside. The lights flashed and random thunder noises played. The lights went back on and the show closed with Eddie looking confused…
John’s Thoughts: A fun television main event and a good preview to some matches happening at Hard to Kill. Lots of clever offense and all six men had good chemistry. The finish was well done with Moose gaining some credibility with the smart blind tag. Smart to put heat on the heels heading into the PPV.
Decent go-home edition to Impact. No complaints here. Well… that one Design segment did drag a bit. Jason Powell will have you covered later today with the live Hard to Kill PPV review and his audio review will be available as a Pro Wrestling Boom podcast. I’ll actually be around via the PWTorch as a guest on the Greg Parks’ Wrestling Night in America call-in show on Sunday night to discuss Hard to Kill.
>Full Metal Mayhem (a.k.a. TLC) match<<
Ummm…the stips for a Full Metal Mayhem match are different from a TLC match…."full metal" refers to being able to use thumbtacks, chains, ect…