On the go home show before Impact Wrestling’s Sacrifice pay per view, every title on the promotion will be defended, a number of other matches were booked on the card, and two stunning historical announcements pertaining to the world title picture may flip the wrestling world on its head…again.
Here’s the breakdown and any opinions I have on each segment and match for the March 9 Impact Wrestling on Twitch and AXS TV.
BTI: TJP vs. Madman Fulton
On Before The Impact, the featured wrestling match was X Division Champion TJP facing off against his challenger Ace Austin’s bodyguard, Madman Fulton. This was a classic high flyer vs. powerhouse match where Fulton used his physical advantages to wear down TJP.
But the champion managed to counter, despite several attempts by Austin to interfere, to hit the Mamba Splash for the three count. Afterwards, Austin came in and clonked TJP in the head with the Super X Cup trophy, doing the typical heel pose before their title match this Saturday.
To me, this was an obvious lead-in to something happening to Austin later in the evening on the main show, as he was set to take on another former champion, Chris Bey. A downside is the large and monstrous Fulton is losing to a smaller man. Yes, TJP is the champion but at some point Madman needs to look like he can actually back up the bark he brings.
Jazz vs. Tasha Steelz
In an exhibition match prior to the Knockout’s tag title match on Sacrifice, we see the veteran Jazz picking up the win over one half of the tag champions, giving her and Jordynne Grace the momentum going into Sacrifice when they face Fire N Flava for those titles.
Having one of the challengers tap out one half of the champions makes quite an impression, especially for a seasoned veteran such as Jazz. As with the triple threat match last week where Kiera Hogan went toe to toe with Grace and Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo, Steelz is getting time to show her stuff as a singles competitor.
Rohit Raju and Shera vs. James Storm and Chris Sabin
No surprise that this match stemmed from an altercation at a bar with James Storm involved, but the build up to it stemmed also from something in TNA history as Shera voiced past heat from Storm during his last run. This was a good exhibition match to showcase two potential challengers for the Impact Tag Team Championships.
It was a classic tag team back and forth, with Shera and Rohit ganging up on Sabin before Storm got tagged in and went on a tear. Storm leveled Shera with a sling blade clothesline before Raju kneed the Cowboy in the face. But the heels lost control when Shera entered the ring without being tagged him as Raju was set to get the pin after the knee. As both men argued, Sabin drop-kicked Raju into Shera and sent the big man outside. Raju was then pinned by Sabin and “Beer Guns” got the win.
It’s clear that Rohit Raju is emerging as a workhorse in this company; his previous run as X Division Champion showed that. But during a backstage segment afterwards Shera pinned Rohit to the wall and screamed that he “didn’t need him”, so the future of this tag team is in doubt; it’s hard to Shera do anything on his own at this point because he’s been seen as backup muscle to Rohit much like Fulton is to Ace Austin.
Backstage Segment: Good Brothers / FinJuice Contract Signing
In another wrestling contract signing, Scott D’Amore leaves the contract on the desk for both teams to sign and asks Doc Gallows to return it to him as he’s an aspiring “office guy”, before hightailing it as D’Amore obviously knows how these contract signings end.
The Brothers and Juice and Finlay do a couple of shots of the “Talking Shop” whiskey before they both signed the contract and got on the third round when FinJuice just throws the alcohol in the faces of Gallows and Karl Anderson. The two teams start brawling in the boardroom to end this segment.
I don’t watch New Japan so I am not well versed in the relationship of “young boys” and their mentors, but it seems like FinJuice has something to prove against these tenured veterans in their upcoming Tag Title match. Although I don’t know this team very well, FinJuice are showing that they’re not pushovers, but the feud doesn’t have the traditional heel vs. babyface vibe, as I sense the GB do have some semblance of respect for their former colleagues at New Japan.
Trey Miguel vs. Sam Beale
There was nothing much to the actual match, as Trey quickly tapped out this student from the training school where Miguel trains regularly with some modified sharpshooter-like submission. Afterwards, Sami Callihan came out to mock Trey again for being “weak”. Callihan then did his lights out bit to get in the ring and package piledrive the poor bastard who just tapped out as Miguel looked in horror. Callihan did a second lights out to disappear from the ring as Miguel tended to his friend.
I have to say I am impressed with Trey Miguel’s in ring skills; as part of the Rascalz I thought he was just part of a comedy trio with Des and Wentz, but since coming back on his own he’s been really impressive. I still think this is leading Miguel to a darker path, but we’ll have to see how long this storyline gets dragged out.
Ace Austin vs. Chris Bey
In another great wrestling match between two competitors with very similar styles, Bey and Austin clearly knew each other’s moves and wrestled a mix of technical and high flying in this bout. I liked how Austin made Fulton sit in a chair on the outside and told him not to interfere. It’s like I said last week, Austin needs to show he can beat someone on his own if he wants to look like a credible champion.
Unfortunately for the Super X Cup winner, Austin fell short and lost to Bey after TJP came out onto the ramp and sat down, causing a distraction. Fulton actually got up and chased TJP off before he realized that Bey hit the Art of Finesse twice on his friend for the victory.
So now we have a unique situation where the number one contender for the X Division Championship at Sacrifice has sustained a rare loss going into that match, and Bey now positions himself for a future title shot at the eventual winner this weekend. If this leads to another X Division Triple Threat match, this would make Bey’s second match of this kind for this title since the start of 2021.
Backstage Segment: a ‘hold harmless’ (no DQ) match for Eddie Edwards vs. Brian Myers at Sacrifice
We then get to another backstage segment where Scott D’Amore is doing Scott D’Amore things, specifically going over Brian Myers lawsuit and hearing Myers’ request to ‘erase’ Eddie Edwards from Impact Wrestling. Scott says if Myers needed that thick a document to state his case, then he doesn’t really have much of a case. The EVP then books a match for the “Most Professional Wrestler” and the former Impact World Champion to settle things once and for all at Sacrifice, in a ‘hold harmless’ match.
Myers thought this meant he wouldn’t be harmed, and I admit it my mind went to the legal definition of “allowing one party to protect another party against any future losses or claims that may result from a particular activity.” But it turns out, it just means it’s a no disqualification match, and D’Amore said these two can do what they want to each other, even “kill each other”, which is another nice little laugh out loud moment over Scott’s on air booking decisions.
Not sure if Matt Cardona is going to get involved, but at this point I’m done with Edwards vs. Myers for the foreseeable future. I am wondering how the Cardona/Myers feud will get booked in the future, and both men are ample challengers against any other title holder in Impact.
More Backstage Segments
There were a number of other backstage segments leading to additional matches booked for Sacrifice. Reno Scum and XXXL were seen arguing with each other over their loss last week to GB and FinJuice when Decay came up to both teams. Clearly still rocked from losing to them at No Surrender, XXXL ran off as Reno Scum started jaw-jacking with Decay, leading to a match against Crazy Steve and Black Taurus this Saturday.
We also have another Violent By Design segment as Deaner emerged from his “punishment” when Storm and Sabin walked up to VBD to defend Deaner, but this just led to a mugging by Joe Doering and Deaner as Young warned Beer Guns to mind their own business.
Later Storm and Sabin would draw on their 20 plus year relationship with Young dating back to TNA and angrily wondering what happened to him. Storm and Sabin challenged VBD, with Jake Something emerging asking if he can provide backup to which Storm accepted “as long as Jake keeps his word”. Could this lead to a Jake Something heel turn?
We also got another visit to “Swingers Palace” as TJP returned to place another bet, when who should walk in but the “Walking Weapon” Josh Alexander. Alexander chastises the champion for leaving the prestigious championship on a poker table and said he would be waiting after Sacrifice to have another shot at the X Division Championship.
Oh, and Havoc and Nevaeh are going to face Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb with a K. Very interested to see how a man is going to compete in a match mainly comprised of women.
Again, we see more potential challenges for the Tag Team Championships with these two tag matches being booked on Sacrifice, and Alexander (being a former two time tag champion) emerging as a singles guy giving off a traditional ‘old school’ vibe versus a more flashy competitor like TJP.
ODB vs. Susan
The final match of this evening turns out to be a sort of comedy squash bout featuring Susan challenging the former Knockouts champion because apparently ODB ripped off Susan’s sleeves a few weeks ago. I could smell the setup coming at the end.
What was funny during the match was Susan hitting a low blow on ODB, a woman who may have more metaphorical balls than most men but obviously had no actual genitals, with zero effect whatsoever. Susan also dumped out ODB’s booze, which is a huge no-no. The match ended with ODB picking up the pin after a TKO on Susan, but then Deonna and Kimber Lee came down to beat on the challenger to Purrazz at Sacrifice.
Jordynne and Jazz attempt to make the save, but then Kiera and Tasha come out to join in on the beatdown on the babyfaces. The segment ends with Fire N Flava, Deonna, Kimber and Susan standing tall with all the Knockouts Division championships on display.
As we just celebrated International Women’s Day, this was a great way to showcase Impact’s women’s division and for the last two weeks the closing match or segment featured the women. But the actual closing match would be, with all due respect, be much more important with game changing ramifications.
Big Announcement: Title Unification world title match at Sacrifice. Winner to face AEW Champion Kenny Omega at Rebellion on April 24
Scott D’Amore was set to make a very important announcement and before he did so, he was seen in his office chatting with someone as Moose made his way to the ring to demand Scott deliver his announcement. D’Amore comes out and invites Impact Champion Rich Swann as well.
As both champions stared each other down, the EVP announced that at Sacrifice, it would be a title unification match and the winner would get either the TNA or Impact title to become the unified champion. But that’s not all, the winner this Saturday would go on to face AEW Champion Kenny Omega at Rebellion on April 24 in a title vs. title match!
Impact closes out back to Scott’s office, where the camera pans over to reveal Don Callis, who then calls Omega on his phone and tells him “it’s done…just like we planned”.
So it looks like the idea of the TNA World Championship being a third available title on Impact will be short lived, as Moose is going to be the only man to officially be the recognized holder until Saturday.
With Omega getting a title shot in April, I am now doubting whether Moose will end up as the new Impact World Champion after Sacrifice. The reason is Swann has beef with Omega after being pinned by him at Hard to Kill in that six man tag, so there are scores to settle in that regard. However, Moose has also been red hot for the past year, and he should be an actual champion by this time. But Swann may end up retaining / unifying in order to get that match with Omega.
Which brings me to Omega, because clearly the plan he and Callis have is to basically win every title in the wrestling world and becoming the Impact World Champion would fall in line with that plan. Should Omega be successful, and I think at this point he will be, he will be like Austin Aries during the “belt collector” phase but with significantly larger implications.
Bringing the Impact World title onto AEW programming could finally get some other Impact talent besides the Good Brothers to come over on Wednesday nights, such as Moose who may be hunting for “what rightfully belongs to him”, Swann as well as others.
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
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