Once again, AEW Champion Kenny Omega graces Impact Wrestling with his presence, but this week also marks the occasion of ‘The Cowboy’ James Storm’s 1000th match under the TNA / Impact banner as he faces another TNA original: Violent By Design leader Eric Young. Here’s the way I saw the world on Impact this week.
BTI: Roht and Hernandez vs. Fallah Bahh and Shera
This is one of those tag team matches that bring two ongoing stories together. Fallah and Hernandez have, let’s just say, “disputes with money” and Rohit and Shera had a recent split after he was brought back to help Rohit. Fallah took the brunt of the assault before giving the hot tag to Shera.
Hernandez did an over the top rope dive to take out Fallah, and Rohit tried following suit but was stopped by Shera. The “Indian Lion” then went to do his own over the rope dive but Hernandez hit him in the head with a chair as the referee was distracted. Rohit picks up the pin on Shera following a Mumbai Drive knee to the head.
I know this is just a pre-show match and they were rushing for time, but I think they put in way too many high risk dives from big men that people are more used to seeing from high flyers than heavyweights.
Fire N Flava vs. Havok and Nevaeh
I knew that this was probably this team’s last outing, as the stipulation was Havoc and Nevaeh would get a Knockouts tag title shot should they beat the champions in this non-title match. Havoc almost picked up the pin after a sit down powerbomb on Tasha Steelz, but the champions fought back after Steelz hit Havoc with a top rope splash and Kiera got the pin.
Afterwards, Havoc and Nevaeh appeared to have hugged and made up before Nevaeh jumped Havoc and speared her. Nevaeh hit Havoc with a reverse DDT before leaving the ring in disgust at the notion that her former tag partner was actually “the weak link”.
We then go to a backstage interview conducted by Gia Miller with James Storm as he hypes up his 1000th match, which was also the main event. Storm dedicated the match to one of TNA’s founders, Bob Ryder, who recently passed away. He was then joined not only by Chris Sabin and Jake Something, but Storm’s former tag team partner in America’s Most Wanted, Chris Harris.
Another backstage interview came up with Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo and Susan, but before the champion could continue talking about herself Susan went incensed at how Kimber Lee was injured. Before she could finish, Jazz jumped in and started beating down Susan before whacking her head with a trash can.
Sami Callihan vs. Larry D
XXXL, who usually are decked in black, saw a rather odd change as Larry D came dressed in some bright green ring attire. This match stemmed from last weeks’ conclusion of the match between Acey Romero and Trey Miguel when Callihan ran in to save Trey after mocking him for weeks for a lack of passion.
As both these competitors have more of a brawling style, the match was essentially a brawl. Callhan started to rally before Larry flattened him with a discus clothesline, but Callihan kicked out at two. Sami hit a devastating Death Valley Driver for his own count of two.
The two men started hitting each other back and forth while standing on the ring apron, but when Larry tried picking Sami up, Callihan got back in the ring and clawed at Larry’s eyes. The “Death Machine” then piledrove Larry D for the win, but was jumped by Acey afterwards.
Unlike last week, Miguel did not come out to help Sami, a fact that did not go unnoticed by commentary. Nor was the fact that Callihan smiled after the beatdown; the commentators pointed out that Trey didn’t do the same, perhaps indicating he was not as ‘soft’ as Callihan claimed.
Later, Sami found Trey in the back and they started having an extremely heated argument, but this time Callihan said he wanted to mentor Trey and proposed they team up next week against XXXL, which Miguel was absolutely not in favor of. But it’s obviously they’re going to do it; these two guys as a tag team could definitely tear things up in the tag division.
Brian Myers vs. Suicide
This match didn’t last very long, as Myers picked up the win after his ‘Roster Cut’ lariat on Suicide. After the match, Myers got a microphone to answer Matt Cardona’s challenge for a match last week. The “Most Professional Wrestler” declined the challenge, saying Cardona is just trying to get the rub from him.
We then go to Tommy Dreamer backstage when Jazz comes up, saying she wants Deonna. Dreamer said he was booking Hardcore Justice and comes up with this “Ultimate Jeopardy’ match where each side has to give up something. In exchange for a Knockouts title shot, Jazz opts to put her career on the line.
No Impact episode would be complete without a visit to Swinger’s Palace, this time by Don Callis and Kenny Omega. Callis’ intersections with Swinger were downright hilarious, especially the remark about him and Omega having to get tested after they leave.
Callis also puts down a $20,000 bet on Omega beating Swann at Rebellion, after showing Swinger the One Winged Angel video package to the Swing Man on his phone. Nothing like “the most devastating finishing move in the world” and 20Gs to flip the odds.
TJP and Josh Alexander vs. X Division Champion Ace Austin and Madman Fulton
In the midst of Austin’s rise to the peak of the X Division, it’s easy to forget he and Fulton were in contention at one time last year for the tag team titles. As such, their natural fluidity as a team definitely showed in this match against two of Austin’s potential challengers.
The match heavily played up the lack of chemistry between TJP and the Walking Weapon. Both men are superb wrestlers on their own, but as a team there were a few spots that made them look unfamiliar with one another. But while Alexander is a big man with power moves himself, Fulton was literally twice his size and overpowered the Walking Weapons many times.
Although Fulton was taken out at some point during the closing moments, Alexander and TJP’s lack of chemistry was their Achilles heel when Alexander was ready to finish Ace but TJP initiated a blind tag in and hit the Mamba Splash, but Josh tried going for the pin even though he wasn’t legal. This led to the two partners arguing in the ring which allowed Ace to roll up for the win.
These three right now, Ace, TJP and Alexander are in the top spot on the X Division so my view is the only way to settle this is a Three Way Dance for that Championship between these three to finally settle on who is the man deserving to be champion.
We got to another segment of Don Callis trying to show off his One Winged Angel video, this time to a very disinterested Willie Mack when Impact Champion Rick Swann walks in. In what I see is a modern rift of the Austin vs. McMahon feud from years ago, Swann mocks Callis’ mentor The Sheik and said to Don if he wasn’t writing the cheques he would knock the Ray Bans off Callis’ face. In a hilarious response, the 58 year old former “Canadian heavyweight champion” looked like he was ready to throw down hands with Swann until Omega and the Good Brothers trolled in like thugs and started beating down Swann and Mack.
As Callis dashed away for safety, Eddie Edwards broke in to even the odds, chasing Omega and the GB away. This set up a six man tag team match next week on the first edition of the Thursday night Impact with Omega and the Good Brothers facing off against Swann, Edwards and Mack.
But just one night before, the same three former Bullet Club members will face Jon Moxley and the Young Bucks over on AEW Dynamite. Is it just me or have they not really figured out how to properly book an inter-promotional crossover feud beyond just a few guys so far?
That’s why we keep getting the same Impact guys doing six man tag team matches on both companies. This ongoing storyline needs some more AEW talent going over on Impact, but more importantly Impact guys besides Callis, Gallows and Anderson need to start showing up Wednesday nights as well.
Hopefully the Impact move to Thursdays helps them move in that direction.
In addition to the Knockouts title match, Dreamer also announced there will be a Knockouts Weapons match to determine the No. 1 Contender for the Knockouts Championship. We also saw the beginnings of perhaps a return by Susan to “her old self” when Tommy asked to see “Sue”; as you may remember earlier in the night Jazz clonked Susan in the head, which may start to undo whatever James Mitchell did to her on behest of Deonna and Kimber.
The women’s reactions to Dreamer’s match announcement ranged from Tenille totally not wanting weapons to damage her Influencer face, to Havoc and Rosemary totally into it. Alisha Edwards’ reaction was the best, as she begged Tommy to explain what ‘the rules’ were in this match as Dreamer called out for Scott D’Amore or Eddie Edwards to help him.
One last thing before we move onto the main event, was a vignette for someone ‘coming to Impact soon’ in April. There were several letters to the tagline missing, but many fans on social media have said they spell out “Let’s Get Wilde”, implying that former Knockout Taylor Wilde is returning to the company.
James Storm vs. Eric Young
In a nod to tradition, the Cowboy’s 1000th match was against another TNA original, Eric Young, as these two veterans of the company squared off in a classic confrontation, with both sides having equal support at ringside. Storm hit the ‘Eye of the Storm’, which looked like a spinning Razor’s Edge, but EY was able to kick out at two. Young then hit a nice neckbreaker for a two count, but Storm countered with a lung blower for a two count.
Deaner then gets up on the ring apron, Sabin grabs Deaner’s leg and EY gets pushed into Deaner when Storm rolls him up for two. This was when things completely broke down and both sides started brawling. But as their name implies, this was violence by design, as Young went for his patented hockey mask to use on Storm. However, EY was caught by Harris, who decked Young and threw him back in the ring and right into Storm’s Last Call superkick, allowing the Cowboy to get the three.
I really liked how this ended and Matt Striker once again shows why he’s still one of the best wrestling storytellers in the business. Explaining how time away from the ring gives one new perspective, Harris was able to see beyond the brawl at the real threat posed by Young. The show closed off with Storm honouring Ryder for helping to build the company, which was the perfect way to end this episode since they hyped up James Storm’s 1000th match as the centrepiece.
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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