Josh Mathews opened the show noting it’s a “new era of Impact Wrestling”.
Mathews is calling the show alongside Madison Rayne and we are going into the Impact title match to begin the show.
EDDIE EDWARDS VS TREY MIGUEL FOR THE IMPACT WRESTLING TITLE
It started as a stalemate with the two locked in a collar-and-elbow tie-up.
Mathews put over the accolades of Edwards including winning the GHC Championship in NOAH. He added that Miguel could be the next AJ Styles.
Miguel attempted a split-legged moonsault and landed onto Edward’s knees. Miguel bounced off the bottom rope for a low cutter to Edwards on his knees, which was a great spot. Miguel countered the Tiger Driver with a roll-up for two.
Edwards hit the Tiger Driver on the second attempt and Miguel got his shoulder up. Edwards was knocked into the ropes and shot back with the Boston Knee Party for the win.
WINNER: Eddie Edwards in 10:51
They had a good match to start the show and the near falls would have come across stronger with a reaction. Miguel is clearly someone on their list of rising talent as he’s still linked with The Rascalz but is the focused member of the group breaking out as a singles performer.
After the match, Eric Young walked out to set up the next challenger for Edwards and his Impact title. Young backed off and said they would fight on his time.
Wrestle House is their new reality-show concept featuring Taya Valkyrie, Rosemary, Crazzy Steve, Johnny Swinger, The Deaners, Kylie Rae, Alisha Edwards, XXXL, Susie and John E. Bravo and is shot inside a big loft that they said was in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Taya opened a door and Abyss was carrying tacks and was said to be “in purgatory”.
The testimonials are done in “The Stooge Room” and the host of the show is Tommy Dreamer. He said it’s his house and was an investment property to use those ECW cheques before they bounced.
The Deaners and XXXL are about to fight and Susie suggests they call a truce. Cousin Jake responds, “No way, Jose” and Dreamer pops in to clarify “we didn’t sign him”, which was a great line.
Everyone had to find a bed with six beds for the ten of them. There is a ring in the backyard and Crazzy Steve and Acey Romero set to have an impromptu match and the winner gets to sleep in the ring.
CRAZZY STEVE VS ACEY ROMERO
Kylie Rae is the special referee.
Steve suggests they share the ring for their bed, Romero slams Steve and chokes him out for the win. Romero rolls Steve out of the ring.
Back to the arena, Rohit Raju approached TJP and Fallah Bahh and they had Raju put a mask on, cover his face, and speak from a distance. Raju tries to set up a match between Chris Bey and TJP for the X Division title. He played the two against each other as he ran to Bey and said TJP was coming after his belt.
Gia Miller spoke to Ace Austin & Madman Fulton with Austin running down The Good Brothers. They will pay attention to their match against Reno Scum tonight.
The North reacted to losing the tag titles last week. Ethan Page can’t speak, so Alexander cuts the promo and they are the most talented tag team and have a rematch clause. Page is about to cry and walks away.
The Flashback Moment of the Week is from Victory Road 2010 with Beer Money vs. The Motor City Machine Guns.
A video package on EC3 ran with Carter stating he saw failure when he looked in the mirror. He must re-evaluate himself. He doesn’t fear his past and his past is his foe. He will break every attachment to his past and “control his narrative”.
Miller spoke with Moose putting over how fast he beat “Panda Boy” Fallah Bahh. He is the most dominant champion in Impact’s history and will have another TNA title match tonight. He gets upset when Miller brings up EC3 attacking him last week and he won’t invite Carter to face him. Heath walks in and wants the match with Moose. He gets Moose to admit there is no TNA Champion because there is no championship committee, and this sets up a match between them for next week.
Scott D’Amore walks in and we made a crack about his fake contract being “as legit as Heyman & Heyman” and says if Heath beats Moose they will discuss him having a spot on the roster. There was less concern about this being a closed-set than D’Amore had at the pay-per-view regarding Heath.
DEONNA PURRAZZO VS KIMBER LEE IN A NON-TITLE MATCH
After Lee tied up Purrazzo early in the match, Purrazzo escaped and went after Lee’s arm.
They explained that #1 contender Kylie Rae cannot challenge Purrazzo because she is part of “Wrestle House”.
They exchanged chops with Lee missing with a spin kick and Purrazzo hit a side Russian leg sweep and attempted the Fujiwara armbar that was avoided by Lee.
Rayne teased the idea of the Knockout’s tag titles returning to Impact.
Purrazzo kicked Lee’s arm and submitted her with the Fujiwara armbar.
WINNER: Deonna Purrazzo at 5:28
It was designed around Purrazzo’s submission work and focusing on Lee’s arm. It was a decent match and in a different setting with more time they could probably have something more substantial but this was quick and a backdrop for Grace’s attack afterward.
Jordynne Grace walked out wearing a sling, which she tore off and attacked Purrazzo.
Katie Forbes walked into Sami Callihan backstage and thought he was a fan that got backstage. She said if he wants to look at her to go to their website.
A promo for Brian Myers aired with voiceovers of people telling Myers he was “good hand” and to “trust the process” with the idea he is fed up with being talented but underutilized.
Back to “Wrestle House”, the best part of these segments are from Johnny Swinger, who plays off everyone so great with his character. He’s trying to get Crazzy Steve to be his young boy.
The Deaners argued about which one was snoring and Jake denying he snores. Dreamer is revealed to be sleeping in the same bed as Jake and makes a match between the two for the next day.
COUSIN JAKE VS CODY DEANER
Alisha Edwards is the referee and they are fighting over which one snored in the bedroom where one of them has to admit to it. If these elaborate scenarios continue, I’ll be snoring through these segments.
Deaner bows to Jake, when Jake does the same Deaner used a small package for a two-count.
Jake caught him with a spinning slam for the win. Jake apologized to Deaner and helped him up and called a truce. Jake gets the bed and Deaner found a bus to sleep in.
Sami Callihan met with Ken Shamrock and wants his explanation for why they lost at Slammiversary. Shamrock is leaving and doesn’t know when he’ll return.
Forbes tells Rob Van Dam that Callihan was bothering her and Van Dam confronted Callihan, who smirked after he left.
Van Dam and Forbes came out to the ring. Forbes said everyone gets to see her tonight for free instead of paying on her website. Her photos appeared on the screen but with Callihan’s face on her body and Forbes had a tantrum.
Dez and Went did their Rascalz segment as they discussed how close Trey came to win the title. Dez invited Suicide to join them, who had smoke coming out from underneath his mask and he got high with them.
NEXT WEEK:
*Chris Bey & Rohit Raju vs. TJP & Fallah Bahh
*Moose vs. Heath for the TNA title (if Heath wins, he gets a spot on the roster)
*Eddie Edwards’ Open Challenge
*Jimmy Jacobs interviews the Motor City Machine Guns
Mathews and Rayne interviewed Rich Swann over Skype. Swann is disappointed after being out of action for seven months and was re-injured by Eric Young at Slammiversary. He can’t share what the doctors have told him and Young may have “changed his life” and he will be at “The Impact Zone” next week (I hope they don’t send him to Orlando by mistake) and Swann cuts the interview because it’s too hard to talk about his injury.
RENO SCUM VS THE GOOD BROTHERS
Gallows is going as “The Big L.G. Doc Gallows”.
Mathews plugged “Talkn’ Shop-A-Mania” this Saturday on InDemand and Fite TV.
Ace Austin walked out and sat at the top of the ramp allowing Anderson to be distracted and was double-teamed by Reno Scum, who took over until Gallows was tagged in and fired up on Adam Thornstowe.
Luster the Legend was dropped and they hit the Magic Killer to Thornstowe for the win.
WINNERS: The Good Brothers at 6:30
Ace Austin distracted Anderson & Gallows allowing Madman Fulton to attack from behind and the four brawled around the ringside area and up the ramp. They went backstage and continued to fight and then outside to the parking lot ending when Gallows delivered a boot to Fulton, who crashed into the camera and killed the signal to end the show abruptly.
FINAL THOUGHTS
There were a lot of attempts at comedy on this show and it doesn’t land well in this environment. To that end, they’ve started the “Wrestle House” segments that allow them to have a laugh track, but they relied too much on this concept this week and a lot of the comedy was bad.
There were several directions hinted at with Eddie Edwards confronted by Eric Young, The Good Brothers vs. Ace Austin & Madman Fulton, a feud between Sami Callihan & Rob Van Dam, and a rematch between Deonna Purrazzo and Jordynne Grace that all seem to be destinations.
The best match of the show was the opener between Eddie Edwards and Trey but this wasn’t a show reliant on much wrestling beyond simple matches to advance various stories.
For a two-hour show, there was a lot of filler or poor attempts at humor. The “Wrestle House” segments will either be hit or miss based on your enjoyment of the characters. Johnny Swinger is great in that setting and Tommy Dreamer works as the host. I have more faith in Impact to produce comedic segments, but this week was not the best example when we had a conflict arise out who gets to sleep inside the ring and which guys snore when they sleep.
I’m very high on Deonna Purrazzo as the focal point of the Knockouts division with Purrazzo and Jordynne Grace having great chemistry at Slammiversary and continuing that program after tonight’s post-match attack by Grace.
Hopefully, Impact can carry some momentum from Slammiversary and the additions to the roster as there does appear to be a certain buzz for the company regarding what they do with the new talent and shining a light on the existing roster members.
