Impact Wrestling (Jan. 11th)
RESULTS: Pentagon Jr. and Fenix over Dez and Wentz in a non-title match, Willie Mack over Sami Callihan, Tessa Blanchard over Cali Collins, Killer Kross over Johnny Impact in a No Disqualification non-title match
-Johnny Impact started the show vowing revenge on Killer Kross for putting Taya in the hospital. He was interrupted by Brian Cage, he said he had Impact beat at Homecoming and Impact was saved by the guys from Survivor. Cage wanted a rematch tonight, but they were interrupted by Killer Kross. Impact superkicked Cage and landed a tope onto Kross on the floor. Impact was taken down as Cage and Kross had their own stare down and Impact was left laying in the ring.
-Pentagon Jr. and Fenix defeated Dez and Wentz in a non-title match in a very good match. Pentagon hit a combination Gori special and package piledriver to both opponents for the finish. Fenix was excellent, as always, and this was a good showcase for Zachary Wentz, too. The four hugged and raised their arms after the match as an endorsement of The Rascalz.
-The live Twitch viewership exceeded 10,000 during the tag match and then fell after they aired the first Ultimate X match from 2003.
-Sami Callihan offered new X division champion, Rich Swann, a spot in oVe. Willie Mack ran out and attacked Callihan before Swann could answer and separated them. Callihan told Swann to “come home” so they are explaining there is a history between them.
-This led to a match between Callihan and Mack, which Mack won after tons of near falls by blocking a sunset flip and hooking Callihan’s leg. During the match, Callihan delivered a piledriver at the entrance and Mack beat the count into the ring. They had a stronger match on this show than at the pay-per-view.
-Scarlett Bordeaux came out teasing a strip show and announced she would announce the winner of her contest for her managerial services. She was interrupted by the Desi Hit Squad with Gama Singh telling her not to and save it for them in private. Scott Steiner showed up and cut a promo putting over the Pursuit Channel and destroyed the Desi Hit Squad and applied a Steiner Recliner to both. Scarlett ended the segment taking off her robe and dancing for Steiner. Bordeaux has a lot of charisma and reminds me a lot of Sunny around 1996 as a strong personality.
-They promoted throughout the night that you can buy the Homecoming…DVD.
-Tessa Blanchard defeated Cali Collins in a short match. Blanchard dominated the match, was about to hit the Buzzsaw DDT, but stopped and instead hit Eat Defeat as a message for Gail Kim. It seems clear that is the long-term destination.
-Eddie Edwards cuts a promo that he is done with Moose and moving on. He was interrupted by Eli Drake, who made fun of the changes he has gone through and seems to be their next program.
-There was a wacky segment with Allie and Su Yung in front of the coffin from Sunday. Allie said that Rosemary came back for her bunny, but her bunny is gone and she gave it to “him”.
-In the main event, Killer Kross had his fists taped and punched a chair into Johnny Impact’s face. He placed a chair around Impact’s neck and ran it into the post (the spot EVIL does.) Josh Mathews reminded us of the time Kross punches a cinderblock into Trevor Lee’s head and “we’ve never seen him since” (it was last week).
-Impact fought back with chair shots and buried Kross underneath a pile of chairs. He hit a moonsault off the steps holding a chair onto the pile. Impact blasted Kross in the face with a chair, placed more on top of him, Impact climbed the turnbuckle as Moose appeared and shoved him off and through a table on the floor. He was rolled into the ring and Kross applied the Kross Jacket choke and Impact went out.
-I watched this show on Twitch and it was enjoyable with the old clips mixed in throughout the show to keep the pace moving. The show focused a lot on building up Killer Kross, who has a great look, is a stronger speaker and acclimated well to a top role on the show. The opening tag match was the best match on the show and Kross did well in the main event position. There is something missing with Johnny Impact as the top babyface champion. There was no follow up with the guys from Survivor on Sunday and made that finish feel even worse in that it was their only way out of the match to involve them.
