Welcome to POST Wrestling’s coverage of Impact Wrestling’s Redemption pay-per-view from Orlando, Florida.
Nate Milton and I will have a full review show up late tonight on the site.
Josh Mathews is calling tonight’s show with Don Callis.
The opening video package featured highlights from Impact, Lucha Underground, and AAA.
DRAGO VS AERO STAR
The match was announced as “brought you by our partners at Lucha Underground” and Josh Mathews promoted the debut of Season 4 on June 13th with graphic on the screen.
Aero Star hit a corkscrew dive from the top and then leaped off the turnbuckle with a crossbody to the floor.
Don Callis said, “Impact Wrestling is the hot promotion that everyone is talking about.”
Drago landed a spinning tope con giro to the floor. Aero Star hit La Bombita off the top to the floor. Aero Star landed a tope suicida to the floor. The audience was singing along, which is rare in the Impact Zone these days.
Aero Star blocked a powerbomb and hit a cutter coming off the ropes, he went for a springboard and lost his footing, adjusted and hit a springboard codebreaker and pinned Drago.
WINNER: AERO STAR AT 11:36
I had high expectations for this match and thought it could steal the show, it definitely did not and they worked a much slower pace than you would expect. It was an average opener, but I wouldn’t go above that categorization.
Josh Mathews spoke to Matt Sydal earlier in the day, telling Sydal he can defeat Petey Williams on his own (to explain Mathews not being in his corner). These two have no chemistry.
SANTANA & ORTIZ VS ELI DRAKE & SCOTT STEINER FOR THE IMPACT TAG TITLES
Steiner was tagged in early and appeared to be extremely limited movement wise. He hit a belly-to-belly to Ortiz and tossed him to the floor.
Callis compared LAX with Konnan to the New England Patriots playing without Bill Belichick.
Santana had a great sequence of moves onto Drake with a rolling cutter and somersault leg drop off of Ortiz.
Steiner climbed to the top and hit Santana with a top rope Frankensteiner. He applied the Steiner Recliner onto Santana and Ortiz broke it up.
Santana dove off the top to Steiner off the top rather than hit the Street Sweeper onto Drake on the shoulders of Ortiz. This allowed Drake to pop off the shoulders of Ortiz and hit the Gravy Train for the win.
WINNERS: ELI DRAKE (pinned Ortiz) & SCOTT STEINER AT 7:53 TO WIN THE IMPACT TAG TITLES
There was a taped promo from Pentagon Jr. asking if Austin Aries and Fenix are ready.
[wp_ad_camp_1]
TREVOR LEE VS CAGE VS TAIJI ISHIMORI VS DEZMOND XAVIER VS DJZ VS EL HIJO DEL FANTASMA
DJZ called for the air horn several times in the early portion of the match, Callis seemed baffled at what it was.
The audience was chanting for Cage as he waited to be tagged into the match.
Lee used a back rake onto DJZ in 2018. DJZ stumbled into the corner and accidentally tagged Cage in.
Cage ran through everyone, including a superkick and release German to Fantasma. He went for a springboard moonsault off the turnbuckle and slipped on the ropes and fell, he got up and redid the spot.
Ishimori hit his own Golden Triangle to Cage on the floor.
Xavier nearly lost his footing on the rope and attempted a dive and was caught by Cage. With Xavier on his shoulders, Cage caught Fantasma and tossed both.
Fantasma hit his insane tope suicida to Xavier on the floor. He hit a cradle shock and the pin was broken.
DJZ hit a top rope huracanrana to Fantasma, which was ill-timed immediately after the Steiner spot in the last match.
Cage hit Weapon X to Ishimori and the Fantasma made the save.
Cage lifted Xavier and hit the Drill Claw for the win.
WINNER: CAGE AT 12:56
There was some impressive stuff in the match but also some very sloppy stuff too. I would still rank this as the best match we’ve seen so far tonight. They made Cage out to be the monster he needs to be and got a strong win.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Allie, she thinks a lot of people still doubt her despite her proving herself against so many opponents. She has put a lot of people ahead of herself, such as Braxton Sutter, and tonight she fights for herself, her title, and her redemption.
[wp_ad_camp_2]
TAYA VALKYRIE VS KIERA HOGAN
Tessa Blanchard joined Josh Mathews and Don Callis as the match began to announce her arrival to Impact.
Hogan attacked her with a senton and a double foot stomp on the back from the turnbuckle.
Taya hit her with a Saito suplex for a two-count. Taya attacked the back of her neck with strikes, missed in the turnbuckle and ate a superkick. Taya blocked a fisherman buster suplex, caught Hogan and hit the Road to Valhalla
WINNER: TAYA VALKYRIE AT 8:06
The match was a backdrop for Blanchard’s debut and the commentary only focused on Blanchard. This felt like an average television match and nothing more.
Mitchell interviewed Petey Williams, he tried to explain how his chances have increased with Matt Sydal now that Josh Mathews is out. Scott Steiner walked in and explained how Canadian and American math is different as a spoof on Steiner’s famous promo. The two are going to Cracker Barrel after the show and Steiner told Williams to bring his wife.
MATT SYDAL VS PETEY WILLIAMS FOR THE X DIVISION TITLE
Sydal went after the left leg of Williams with kicks. Mathews noted the slow pace of the match as surprising after the first five minutes.
Williams responded with his own leg kicks. Sydal dropkicked the left knee of Williams and he went down.
Williams hit a TKO, then set up for the Canadian Destroyer and Sydal stopped him. The story the commentators are telling is Williams plays to the crowd too much.
Williams rolled through and applied a sharpshooter, Sydal got to the rope. Williams leaped over the top with a codebreaker onto the edge of the apron and Sydal fell to the floor.
Sydal recovered and went for a shooting star press and landed on the knees of Williams. Williams hit the Canadian Destroyer and Sydal rolled to the floor. Williams sent him back in, he pulled Sydal up to the second turnbuckle and called for a super Canadian Destroyer, which Sydal blocked. Sydal missed with the shooting star press, Sydal countered the Canadian Destroyer and pulled Williams into the air and dropped him for the pin.
WINNER: MATT SYDAL AT 11:47 TO RETAIN THE X DIVISION TITLE
This was a well-wrestled match and had a story, but at this point, this show needed a blow away match and this didn’t come close to that level. I did like the match, but that’s been the theme of this show as everything is average, and this show needs to be way above average.
McKenzie interviewed Tommy Dreamer, Moose, and Eddie Edwards. Dreamer cut a promo about black standing with white, men standing with women (Edwards’ wife Alisha was there too), and youth standing with age as a sign they are united against oVe.
OVE VS TOMMY DREAMER, MOOSE & EDDIE EDWARDS IN A HOUSE OF HARDCORE MATCH
There are weapons all around the ring, including ladders, kendo stick, trash cans, and chairs.
They immediately powerbombed Jake Crist onto the edge of the apron.
The crowd is the hottest they have been all night and are chanting “ECW”.
Jake was placed in the tree of woe and Edwards swung a chair into a trash can around his face. Callihan caught Edwards and suplexed him onto a chair.
Moose went for a somersault dive over the top, missing Callihan and crashing onto a ladder set up against the apron and looked brutal.
OVE took over and took out Dreamer after a spinning wheel kick from Jake. Callihan nailed Edwards in the head with a trash can.
Jake came off the shoulders of Callihan with a cutter to Edwards from the shoulders of Dave.
Moose returned and landed that awesome top rope dropkick sending Callihan off the turnbuckle to the floor.
Dreamer put Callihan through a table on the floor with a Spicolli Driver.
Dave brings out thumbtacks and places them on the canvas, Moose returns and saved Edwards, lifts Dave and Edwards hits the Boston Knee Party putting Dave onto the tacks.
Moose dove off the apron to put Dave through a table and Jake leaped and caught Moose with a cutter in mid-air going through the tables on the floor.
Callihan grabbed the baseball bat to attack Edwards, Dreamer appeared with a barbed wire bat and attacked Callihan. Callihan landed a low blow before Dreamer could use the bat and pinned Dreamer.
WINNERS: OVE AT 12:54
Edwards attacked Callihan and used the barbed wire on Callihan. He taped Callihan’s arms to the top rope, Callihan spat at Edwards, Edwards kicked him low and attacked Callihan with kendo stick shots. Edwards snapped and attacked the referee with the kendo stick as well. Tommy Dreamer stepped in to calm him down, he shoved Dreamer down and nailed Callihan with a brutal kendo stick shot with additional shots to Dave and Jake.
Alisha ran in, Edwards turned around and nailed her with the kendo stick by mistake. They cut to Callihan who was bleeding profusely while he was still taped to the rope.
This was easily the most dramatic element on the show and very well done.
The audience was hot for the match, the feud with Edwards and Callihan is over to the people and the post-match angle was presented very seriously. Mathews and Callis were just in shock after Alisha was hit with the kendo stick.
They cut away to a pre-taped promo from Fenix.
[wp_ad_camp_3]
Mitchell interviewed Austin Aries backstage, he stated that Pentagon and Fenix are world-class performers, but they are not the champion. Aries is changing the game and he holds the power with the championship and no one will take that power away from him. He said he can beat anyone 1-on-1 but tonight he faces two men, who are also brothers with his back up against the wall.
ALLIE VS SU YUNG FOR THE KNOCKOUT’S TITLE
Braxton Sutter introduced Su Yung.
Allie stormed to the ring and began the match aggressively with stomps in the corner. Allie climbed to the top and Sutter pulled out her leg and she fell into the tree of woe with the referee turned.
Callis compared Yung to the Great Muta.
Yung landed a somersault dive off the apron to the floor. Yung put on a bloodstained glove but ran into a codebreaker from Allie. The glove is missing two fingers.
Yung hit a running palm strike into the corner, Allie came back with a running clothesline into the opposite corner. Allie fired up for her comeback and landed a pair of sliding forearms into the corner.
Allie hit the superkick onto Yung, but Sutter distracted the referee. Allie slapped Sutter and he fell to the floor. Allie turned around and went for the Panic Switch, which Allie countered with a sunset flip roll up and pinned Yung.
WINNER: ALLIE AT 7:16 TO RETAIN THE KNOCKOUT’S TITLE
Sutter got down on one knee and proposed to Yung as the audience chanted, “bullshit”. Yung blew red mist into his face and applied the mandible claw.
They announced Slammiversary for Sunday, July 22nd in Toronto at The Rebel Complex (the former Sound Academy).
[wp_ad_camp_4]
AUSTIN ARIES VS PENTAGON JR. VS FENIX FOR THE IMPACT TITLE
Fenix hit a springboard spin kick to the head of Aries in the corner and leaped into the air and hit a stunner to Pentagon.
Aries applied the Last Chancery to Pentagon and Fenix broke it with a springboard dropkick from across the ring.
Aries was sent over the top and came down with a huracanrana to Pentagon on the floor. Fenix repeatedly lost balance on the top and finally hit a springboard tornillo to the floor onto Aries and Pentagon.
Fenix sells a rib injury but was playing possum to fool Pentagon and landed a springboard uppercut into the corner. He followed with a muscle buster for a two-count.
Pentagon hit the Pentagon Driver and Aries broke up the cover. Aries attempted a suicide dive and his legs were caught in the ropes, but Pentagon caught him on the floor. Aries back body dropped Pentagon over the barricade.
Aries hit a 450 to both at the same time and both kicked out. Pentagon and Fenix took out Aries with multiple superkicks, Pentagon hit Fenix with a superkick. Pentagon lifted Fenix for the Gori special and simultaneously delivered a package piledriver.
Pentagon snapped Aries’ arm and hit the Pentagon Driver and pinned Aries.
WINNER: PENTAGON JR. AT 16:13 TO WIN THE IMPACT TITLE
Fenix stood in the ring after the match and hugged Pentagon.
The main event was very good, the best match on the show and the audience was into the match throughout. It was a moderately surprising finish with the title change and opens the door for a lot of ideas and a hot commodity in Pentagon Jr. returning.
