The show kicked off with new Impact Champion Eric Young coming out for a promo.
Young said he is a world-class man, world-class athlete, world-class wrestler, and a world-class maniac. He called it inevitable he would win this championship.
Alisha Edwards confronted Young in the ring and called him a “coward”. Eddie is going to come back and take what belongs to him, listed off all the obstacles she and Eddie have had, and isn’t scared of Young. Alisha said due to Young, Eddie can’t hold their baby daughter and Young said he didn’t care and was slapped by Alisha.
Young grabbed Alisha and went for a piledriver when Tommy Dreamer used a kendo stick to save her.
Dreamer said he’s a hypocrite because he piledrove women and now wakes up with someone living with that pain. The Edwards’ are his family and Young was allowed to have a home in Impact and he’s a scumbag. Dreamer challenges Young to try and end his career and have a match tonight with any stipulation Young wants.
The promos were strong especially from Dreamer, but the audio was terrible with the overmodulation.
Moose is shown arriving at the airport and boarding a plane.
Rosemary and John E. Bravo were with Taya Valkyrie discussing the pending wedding and Taya wants to throw the “wedding of the century” and take care of all the planning.
CHRIS BEY VS TJP
Early on, X Division champion Rohit Raju walked out to watching ringside.
TJP attacked Bey’s right arm with Bey gouging him in the eye. They went through a commercial and came back with Bey stomping TJP.
TJP hit a series of vertical suplexes while also applying an underhook. He missed with the Mamba Splash and was caught with a spinning wheel kick.
They each struggled for control, TJP blocked a sunset flip got his own roll-up to catch Bey.
WINNER: TJP at 7:35 (of television time)
A fine match from the two, TJP is very fluid and the win sets him up for a future X Division title shot against Raju that Josh Mathews was pushing afterward as Raju was yelling at TJP as he left.
Madison Rayne and Johnny Swinger were back hosting “Locker Room Talk” and their guests were Kylie Rae and Susie.
Rayne asks if Kylie Rae went to “Wrestle House” to dodge Knockout’s champion Deonna Purrazzo and then asks if how well Rae knows Susie.
Purrazzo and Kimber Lee entered and confronted Rae for interrupting the Black-Tie Affair last week. They challenged Rae and Susie to a match next week which they agreed to.
Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz chatted with Bravo about the wedding. The encourage Bravo to stand up for himself and not let Taya run everything. They are willing to teach him and can be their “best groomsmen”.
Brian Myers came out to the ring and he’s “the most professional wrestler” and goes over all his accolades and his acquired sky miles as he addresses Willie Mack. He wants Mack to come out and shake his hand to make things right.
Mack didn’t come out to shake hands or be professional. Impact has granted him a rematch tonight with Myers, who isn’t ready but is forced to have the match.
BRIAN MYERS VS WILLIE MACK
Myers drove Mack’s back into the apron and attacked him with strikes before yelling, “PROFESSIONAL” to the audience at home that was unaware.
Mack fought back with a slam and jumping leg drop for a two-count. Myers stopped the stunner and raked the eye of Mack. Mack tore Myers’ shirt off, the referee took the shirt allowing Myers to kick Mack low and hit an elevated DDT for the victory.
WINNER: Brian Myers at 5:25
It just continues the feud with Myers using the underhanded tactics to win the match. It was a simple match in a tough environment to have a great match, but it was short, and nothing wrong with it.
Jordynne Grace was interviewed and asked where Tenille Dashwood has been all these months? Grace searches for Dashwood in the back and knocks on her dressing room. Caley Konley answered and is her “personal photographer” and Dashwood will return next week.
Taya Valkyrie told Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz to stay away from John E. Bravo and they argued after Taya pretended not to know who Steelz is and led to a match being made.
THE MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS VS DEZ & WENTZ FOR THE IMPACT TAG TITLES
The Rascalz attacked the Machine Guns right away and executed dives to the floor. The Guns got the advantage attacking Wentz’s knee and cutting off the ring while focusing on the knees.
Shelley and Sabin applied simultaneous submissions to Dez and Wentz. Wentz tried to avoid a figure-four by Shelley when Dez hit a standing shooting star press on Shelley.
The Rascalz had the advantage of Sabin and double-teamed him. Shelley returned as Wentz was down with the knee injury. They lifted and slammed Wentz down with their finisher allowing won the match.
WINNERS: The Motor City Machine Guns at 8:37
The North immediately ran down and attacked the champions. Chris Sabin fought back and stomped Ethan Page as Ace Austin & Madman Fulton entered the ring to attack. The North and Austin & Fulton isolated Shelley and Sabin attacking both until Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows saved The Machine Guns and cleared the ring.
Dez went for a dive and was caught before Wentz leaped off the top and took down the heels on the floor.
The idea is that you have four teams gunning for the titles held by The Motor City Machine Guns.
The actual match was easily the best of the show so far with the four working great together. It had enough time to be a very good television match and the post-match sets up lots of possibilities with the depth of their tag teams.
Rob Van Dam and Katie Forbes announced the season premiere of “The Whole F’N Talk Show” next week, so that’s the second talk show on Impact Wrestling.
There was a promo with Sami Callihan stating “it’s all about the numbers” and was a victim of the numbers when he was beaten up after his win against RVD last week. He said Katie Forbes has his number and next week on their new talk show, he promises not to hack it because he has “other plans”. This was edited well to set it apart and fit the Callihan character.
TASHA STEELZ VS TAYA VALKYRIE
Hogan distracted Taya from the floor allowing Steelz to throw her down to the mat.
Bravo got on the phone, making wedding plans while Taya was busy.
Taya stopped Steelz was hitting the Stratusfaction and hit a sit-out powerbomb and caught Bravo on the phone.
Taya hit a spear and the Road to Valhalla for the victory.
WINNER: Taya Valkyrie at 3:39
This wedding planner conflict is just the silliest storyline and you can’t get invested in any of this regardless of the talent involved. The match was fine but it’s the type of lame storytelling that forces you to roll your eyes.
Moose finds his old football coach and asks if he has seen EC3 and he hasn’t. The coach tells him “control your narrative, you’ve been warned” and it’s a sign that EC3 has gotten to the coach, or Moose is losing his mind.
Heath meets with Rhino outside the building and said it was “just like old times” when they were in the ring last week. Heath upset Impact management by sneaking into the building last week. Heath is spending money on all these ads for Impact to hire him and it’s getting costly without a job. Rhino knows where he can get money.
NEXT WEEK:
*Deonna Purrazzo & Kimber Lee vs. Kylie Rae & Susie
*Brian Myers vs. Willie Mack
*XXXL vs. The Deaners
*Kiera Hogan vs. Taya Valkyrie
*The Motor City Machine Guns, Dez & Wentz vs. The North, Ace Austin & Madman Fulton
ERIC YOUNG VS TOMMY DREAMER IN A NON-TITLE MATCH – “OLD SCHOOL RULES”
The two fought around the ring with the use of weapons that were brought out including a chain, trash cans, kendo sticks, chairs, and a plunger.
Josh Mathews reiterated that Rich Swann “will never wrestle again” because of Young’s attack.
It was a typical hardcore match for the beginning minutes but without the reaction of a live crowd, which has always been tough to watch during the empty arena shows.
Dreamer fought back with the bionic elbow. Young clipped the knee of Dreamer and applied a kneebar that Dreamer used a kendo stick to escape from.
Dreamer reversed an Irish whip sending Young into a trash can in the corner, hit a DDT and Young kicked out. Dreamer brought out a table and placed it in the corner of the ring. Young hit Dreamer low. Dreamer stopped him on the turnbuckle but got nailed with the hockey mask and hit Dreamer with the piledriver to win the match.
WINNER: Eric Young in 10:05
Young continued to attack Dreamer with the kendo stick and placed a chair around Dreamer’s ankle and hit it with the kendo stick.
Rich Swann came down in a walking boot and attacked Young with a crutch and sent Young away yelling “you don’t belong here” and was shocked to see Swann back.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Impact had some good character work happening especially with Eric Young and growing the “maniacal maniac” persona by injuring someone each week. The main event was fine for what it set out to achieve as Dreamer is very good with that style but it’s a dead atmosphere and I can’t get into the hardcore matches in this setting. It was less about the quality of the match and more about getting Young into the position of the heel and then revealing Rich Swann at the end.
There is also a lot of silly stuff that isn’t connecting especially the John E. Bravo and Taya Valkyrie story where the conflict is over who gets to plan the wedding. The acting isn’t very good and it’s not like the comedy makes up for the silly premise of the story.
Brian Myers has a good presence and feels like someone trying a lot of different things to make people forget about Curt Hawkins. He’s in good physical shape, is a good talker, and has a great babyface in Willie Mack to oppose him.
The best thing on the show was the tag title match as the Machine Guns have improved the in-ring quality of the show with a variety of teams to work with. The match was very good with The Rascalz and they brought out all the contenders to establish the depth of the division and seems to be teasing a big showdown. They have been smart to limit the matches from Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows and make them feel special when they wrestle as they come off as big stars.
Impact is in a tough position that you can understand as they want to produce television but can’t do it in a normal environment, so you have the empty arena shows. If this show was 60 minutes instead of 120, I feel it would be a lot easier but that’s not the option and they have to do two hours weekly without fans. It’s not like Wrestle House was a gigantic success either where they tried to get outside of the arena setting to do more comedy. It’s a hit-and-miss show but there are some characters to be invested with and a strong tag match on this week’s episode.
