Impact Wrestling Review – September 8, 2022
This week’s edition of Impact Wrestling featured Heath looking to get some revenge in an official capacity, as he faced off in singles action against Honor No More’s leader Eddie Edwards. Will the number 1 contender for the Impact World Championship continue his momentum or will he be on the receiving end of a Wake Up Call like so many of his allies?
Edwards is still waiting on an answer from Impact World Champion Josh Alexander- will he join Honor No More? In other action, Aussie Open make their Impact Wrestling debut as they take on Bullet Club. And Bhupinder Gujjar finally gets his Digital Media Championship rematch as he takes on the champion Brian Myers.
On last week’s stellar episode of Impact Honor No More became the Impact World Tag Team Champions for the first time as they overcame the Good Brothers. It will be interesting to see if they spend tonight celebrating or focusing on Heath who squares off with Eddie Edwards. Last week also saw the crowning of new number 1 contenders for both the Knockouts Championship (Masha Slamovich) and the X-Division Championship (Mascara Dorada). With the Bound for Glory PPV and Impact Plus Special Victory Road starting to take shape, let’s see what matches will potentially be added this week.
Impact Wrestling 8/9/22 from The Factory: Dallas, Texas
The opening video focused on Honor No More’s Tag Team Championship victory on last week’s show as well as the return of Mickie James who is going to have an ongoing open challenge, where if she loses any match she will retire. They also aired footage of Eddie Edwards trying to get in Josh Alexander’s head by suggesting Heath disrespected him. Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt welcomed us to the show as we kick off with tag team action.
Match #1 Bullet Club (Chris Bey & Ace Austin) vs Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis)
As stated in the opening, Aussie Open are making their Impact debut here, having wrestled a few times in AEW with Will Osprey. I’ll claim them as my compatriots despite their truly horrible entrance music. They are the inaugural NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions. For those new to this team, Fletcher is the more aerial and agile member of the team, whilst Davis is more solidly built and power-focused. Fletcher and Austin start off the match and Fletcher gets in a cheap shot before the bell then quickly tags in Davis. Aussie Open are quick on the double team with a double clothesline then running kick from Fletcher, followed by a Senton from Davis. Bey gets up on the ring apron but Fletcher brings him into the ring where Davis connects with an upper cut in mid-air. Davis misses a running attack in the corner on Austin who sends him to the outside. Fletcher tries to take out Ace but he avoids the contact and performs his athletic ring apron routine and takes down Fletcher with a kick followed by a superkick on Davis. Bey runs the ropes and dives over the top to take out both members of Aussie Open. Bey and Austin attempt diving moves from the opposite corners but are caught in mid-air by Fletcher and Davis who cause them to collide spine-first in the centre of the ring. Davis mounts Austin and pummels him with right hands, then sends him hard into the top turnbuckle before tagging in Fletcher. Fletcher goes to work on Austin with hard right hands into the ribs followed by a scoop slam. Fletcher slams Austin again and wrenches on the left arm, then hits a clothesline. Fletcher knocks Bey off the ring apron and tags Davis back in. Davis continues to dominate Austin with right hands and tags Fletcher back in. Austin tries to fight to the corner but Fletcher holds on and whips him back into the heel corner where Austin takes out Davis on the apron with a flying forearm. Austin rolls to his corner and tags in Bey who comes in with a flurry of offence. Bey hits a springboard kick on Davis who is up on the ring apron again. Bey rolls through and hits an impressive sliced bread on Fletcher. Austin runs the ropes and takes out Davis with a twisting suicide dive over the top rope. Back in the ring and Austin plants Fletcher with a knee stomp and Bey hits a huge frog splash but Davis breaks up the first pin attempt of the match. Davis tries to fight off both members of the Bullet Club but they perform a double enziguiri on him. Bey goes for the Art of Finesse but Davis catches him and Fletcher nails Austin with a superkick. Davis and Fletcher perform a huge double team back body drop on Bey that catapults him half way across the ring. Aussie Open hit Bey with double team forearms and then their double team finisher, Coriolis, for the win after 7:30.
Winners by pinfall: Aussie Open
Analysis: ***1/2 A fun and fast-paced opening contest that the crowd were right into and fully behind Bullet Club. It was more of an even match-up than a dominant performance, as you often see from a debuting team. This is fine with me as we need good tag team competition in Impact with the uncertainty of the Good Brothers status, the direction of Violent by Design and the fact that the Motor City Machine Guns haven’t been championship-focused for a long time. So there’s not a lot of depth in the division, which is why it’s great to see Aussie Open here and straight into competitive action against another impressive team.
The commentators hyped the Bound for Glory PPV on October 7th and ran down some of the matches, as well as the matches to come tonight including Edwards vs. Heath and Taya Valkyrie vs. Chelsea Green.
Honor No More was backstage and Maria was celebrating Mike Bennett and Matt Taven’s success in their Tag Team Championship match from last week. Kenny King said that whilst that is worth celebrating, they must remain focused and keep hunting the X-Division and World Championship gold. Eddie Edwards said they also had to focus on ‘cleansing’ PCO and once that is complete then they can focus on claiming all the Impact titles. Edwards said that after tonight, Josh Alexander would decide if he was on their side of the war or Heath’s.
Analysis: It was the same, simple promo that they do every week which serves a purpose and doesn’t take up too much time. The doubts over PCO’s loyalty remain.
Gia Miller was backstage interviewing former Tag Team champions, the Good Brothers. Miller asked what was next for Anderson and Gallows. Anderson said there wasn’t time to wallow in defeat and they were still gunning for Honor No More. Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin interrupted and wondered how these two teams have never faced off in “all the years we have been together in Impact Wrestling” (it’s actually only been two!). Gallows said there’s only room for one machine gun in Impact Wrestling and it’s Karl Anderson. Anderson proposed the match for next week.
Analysis: There’s a great match signed for next week. It could definitely have been saved for the PPV but I’m not complaining.
Match #2: Mickie James vs Raychell Rose
It’s win or go home for Mickie James as she faces Rose here. I have never heard of Rose so she’s probably not the one ending James’ career here, that’s just my wild theory. James focuses on the left arm of Rose early in the match. Rose fights out and hits a forearm and a knee strike in the corner for a 1 count. Rose ties James up in middle rope and drops her leg across Mickie’s neck and gets another 1 count. Rose hits a series of short-arm clotheslines but goes for one too many and James hits a neckbreaker. Rose misses a corner attack and James nails her with a Thesz Press off the top and turns it into a pin for 2. Rose runs at James but gets caught by a big kick to the face. James hits the MickDT to keep her career alive after 3:20.
Winner by pinfall: Mickie James
Analysis: **1/2 That was a competitive three-minute match and Rose got a lot of offense in here as we are meant to believe that she had a chance to retire Mickie but we all know that’s not going to happen, at least not at this stage. I’m guessing that is how the structure of Mickie’s matches are going to be like for the near future which is fine as it makes them interesting and more even, whereas if this was under normal circumstances Mickie would’ve just squashed Rose in two minutes. Rose had a unique look at some athletic moves and Mickie carried her to a decent match up.
Backstage Scott D’Amore was with Mia Yim. Kenny King interrupted and told Yim he needed to have a ‘big boy conversation’ with D’Amore. King complained about the referee reversing the decision in last week’s X-Division Championship match against Mike Bailey. King said get the referee and let’s have a rematch now. D’Amore said that Bailey’s next challenger was Mascara Dorada who he faces next week. D’Amore said he had a big announcement for next week. King complained about always having to wait so D’Amore said since he hates waiting so much, King can face the debuting Yuya Uemura…next!
Analysis: King plays the whiny heel well and I hope he does get back into the X-Division Championship picture because he is a fantastic talent.
Gia Miller was backstage with Steve Maclin who insinuated that there has to be some sort of alliance between him and Moose. Maclin said there is no deal between him and Moose, but he has to have some kind of strategy in place before the Barbed Wire Massacre. Miller says that if that’s the case, then why is Maclin teaming up with Moose against the Decay next week? Maclin says he doesn’t know but maybe Moose thought that one up.
Analysis: Another decent match for next week. Impact has been better and building to future shows which I guess is easier when you tape a month at a time.
Match #3: Honor No More’s Kenny King vs Yuya Uemura
NJPW Strong’s Uemura is making his Impact debut in this match and I’ll be honest that I have never seen him in the ring before, but am looking forward to watch he brings to Impact. King is out first looking confident, followed by Uemura to a good reception from the Impact Zone. King mocks Uemura early on by ruffling up his hair after they lock up. Uemura puts King in a side headlock and takes him down with a shoulder block. King takes Uemura off his feet with a drop toehold and backs him into the corner with a series of kicks and chops. Uemura ducks under an attack and drops King with a clothesline for a 2 count. Uemura hits a scoop slam and climbs to the top rope. King grabs the referee and distracts Uemura. King knocks Uemura off the top rope as we go to a commercial break.
(Commercial break)
Back to the action and King sweeps the legs of Uemura, then follows up with a kick to the head for a close 2 count. King tries a stretching submission but Uemura gets to his feet and nails a dropkick. Uemura fights on with forearms and a flying forearm to take King to the mat. Uemura hits a running bulldog for a 2 count. Uemura attempts a Saito suplex after King initially fought out of it. King hits a scorpion kick and a spinebuster for 2. King has Uemura on his shoulders for the Royal Flush but Yuya fights out and comes back with some forearms but King is quickly back in control with a Full Nelson suplex and a Tiger Driver for a very close 2 count. Great nearfall. King throws Uemura to the outside as his frustration sets in. King bounces Uemura’s head off the ring steps. Mia Yim runs down to the ring, due to King disrespecting her earlier in the evening. King tries a roll up and has his feet on the ropes so Yim knocks them off to break up the count. King grabs Yim by the hair so Mia kicks him in the head and Uemura hits a crossbody to pin King after 9 minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Yuya Uemura
Analysis: *** It was a solid, if unspectacular, debut for Uemura here. The finish was a bit weak and cheapens the win a little, but they were playing the surprise factor so it makes sense. I’m sure he has a more devastating finisher than a crossbody in his arsenal. His offense was okay; he spent most of the time countering, so I look forward to a match where he can be in control a bit more and show off a bit more of his flair. I’m not sure where they go with Yim and King, but it made sense after King disrespected her. Maybe it’s just a one-time interaction.
The Impact ‘Flashback Moment of the Week’ was from Victory Road 2012, featuring Sting vs Bobby Roode. Sting hit Roode with the Scorpion Death Drop but hit his head on a steel chair that was set up as he delivered the move, and Roode pinned him. It was a weird flashback to show this week.
There was a pre-taped video from Sami Callihan who said he is always pulling the strings and the Barbed Wire Massacre won’t be a 2 on 1 match because he will have Moose and Maclin right where he wants them.
Analysis: It’s the only match for Victory Road so far.
There was a promotion for Joe Doering’s new t-shirt where the proceeds go straight to helping with Doering’s cancer treatment. Classy stuff from Impact right there.
Next, was a vignette for Violent by Design which saw Deaner wandering around in the dark looking for Eric Young. Young came out of a creepy house and asked if Deaner was sure that this is what he wants. Young asked what the essence of their group was. Deaner shouted “Violence” over and over, until a group of about 10 people in yellow hoodies joined in the yelling.
Analysis: Maybe that points to a new member or two joining the group. We shall see.
Match #4: Chelsea Green w/ Deonna Purrazzo vs Taya Valkyrie w/ Rosemary and Jessicka
Valkyrie backs Green into the corner from the lock up. Green runs at her but cops a kick to the face. Valkyrie follows up with a crossbody and a 1 count. Valkyrie hits an upper cut in the corner and a running hip attack in the corner. Valkyrie hits a double knee attack in the corner for a 2 count. Green rolls out to the ring apron and kicks Valkyrie in the head then throws her to the floor. Green rolls Valkyrie back into the ring and gets a 2 count. Green stomps away at Valkyrie in the corner then hits a series of strikes with Valkyrie on the mat and gets a 2 count. Valkyrie avoids a kick from Green and turns it into the splits, but with Valkyrie down Green is able to lock in a stretching submission. Valkyrie rises to her feet but Green takes her down with a spinning hurricanrana and stomps Valkyrie’s face into the bottom turnbuckle. Ouch. Green misses a kick in the corner and Taya takes her down with a clothesline. Valkyrie with a Blue Thunder Bomb for a 2 count. Green retreats to the corner and comes back with a pump kick for a close 2 count. Green goes for the I’mPrettier but Valkyrie counters and hits a stomp on Green, with Green’s arms pinned so she couldn’t protect her head. That led to a close 2 count. Valkyrie bounced off the ropes but Purrazzo tripped her legs up. Rosemary ran around and took down Purrazzo. Back in the ring, Valkyrie had Green beaten with a roll up but the referee was distracted with Rosemary and Purrazzo. Green pokes Valkyrie in the eyes and shoves her into Jessicka who is up on the ring apron. Green with the I’mPrettier for the win after 6:30.
Winner by pinfall: Chelsea Green
Analysis: *** There was a lot happening there in a six-minute match. The match itself was solid and the interference actually led to a bit more excitement so that was fine. Green’s finisher is a modification of Christian’s Unprettier, except she jumps up instead of just planting the opponent. I think she should use it more often as it did look effective. Good to see her picking up a win here.
There was a replay of Masha Slamovich defeating Deonna Purrazzo last week to become the number 1 contender to the Impact Knockouts Championship.
Backstage, Gia Miller caught up with Impact Knockouts Champion, Jordynne Grace. Grace said the reason that Slamovich has been so successful in Impact so far, is that she can get in the heads of her opponents. Grace showed last week that this won’t be the case with her at Bound for Glory. Grace walked into the locker room and was met with a huge banner that said ‘Masha’s Gonna Kill You’ in capital letters which looked like blood.
Analysis: A short and confident promo from the champ. More psychological tactics from the challenger.
There was a vignette with Vincent and PCO, with PCO in the role of Frankenstein and Vincent as Victor. Vincent reminded PCO that he belongs to Honor No More and his loyalty lies there.
Analysis: The PCO turn/tension continues.
Match #5: Impact Digital Media Championship: Brian Myers (c) vs Bhupinder Gujjar
Myers has been avoiding Gujjar for weeks and when they finally had a match about a month ago, Myers cheated to win. Here’s the rematch. Gujjar is out first looking confident, followed by the champ. Gujjar takes down Myers immediately as the bell rings with a series of right hands. Gujjar whips Myers into the corner and hits a splash, followed by a knee drop. Gujjar hits a superkick and gets a 1 count. Gujjar hits a suplex in the middle of the ring and climbs to the top. Myers rolls to the outside so Gujjar reaches through the ropes to grab him, but Myers slams Gujjar’s head into the steel ring post.
(Commercial break)
Back from the break and Myers is in control. Myers hits a knee to the back and wrenches at the face of Gujjar who is in a seated position. Gujjar makes it back to his feet and takes Myers down with a slingblade. Gujjar cuts off Myers with a right hand and a back elbow, followed by a pump kick. Gujjar hits a rip cord knee strike which sends Myers into the corner. Gujjar hits a big Samoan drop but is slow on the pin attempt and only gets a 2 count. Gujjar hits an enziguiri and a big superkick for a close 2 count. Myers rakes the eyes of Gujjar and hits a kick to the midsection. Myers hits an Implant DDT but only gets a 2 count. Myers rolls to the outside and gets his championship. Gujjar grabs the belt and pulls Myers back into the ring. They wrestle for the belt and Gujjar ends up with it and nails Myers between the eyes with it, ending the match in a disqualification after 7 minutes.
Winner by disqualification and STILL Impact Digital Media Champion: Brian Myers
Analysis: *** I enjoyed the intensity of the match as it had a personal feel to it, but the crowd was pretty quiet for the duration. Gujjar is playing the babyface but the crowd doesn’t really react to much of his offense. The DQ finish continues the rivalry which is fine for a championship that doesn’t feature much. Myers tried to cheat, but Gujjar beat him to the punch.
After the match, Gujjar walked up the ramp with the championship.
The commentators ran down some of the matches for next week:
– Moose and Steve Maclin vs the Decay (Black Taurus & Crazzy Steve)
– X-Division Championship: Mike Bailey (c) vs Mascara Dorada
– The Good Brothers vs the Motor City Machine Guns
Analysis: There are three really solid matches for next week, so it’s shaping up to be a very good show.
Backstage, Bhupinder Gujjar and Brian Myers are fighting over the Impact Digital Media Championship until security intervenes. Scott D’Amore steps in and announces a ladder match for the championship in 2 weeks on Impact.
Analysis: That’s a big stipulation and would’ve been a good addition to Victory Road which only has two matches so far.
Match #6: Eddie Edwards vs Heath
Edwards enters first to a mix of cheers and boos, followed by Heath to a good reaction. The ‘Red Hat Guy’ who used to be at Raw a lot, was shown at ringside (I just found out his name is Rich Achberger, but Red Hat Guy is heaps catchier). There was 17 minutes in the show so this should be given plenty of time. Heath is taking off his shirt when Edwards takes him down in the corner to start the match. Heath hits a flying forearm and a running strike in the corner. Heath hits a running spear in the opposite corner. Edwards bails to the outside to get some separation. The fight spills to the floor as Heath smashes Edwards’ face against the ring apron. Heath takes too long getting back into the ring and Edwards takes advantage to stomp him as he came back in. Edwards chokes Heath against the ropes and taunts the crowd. Heath starts to fight back but Edwards pokes him in the eye. Edwards starts choking Heath using the middle rope. He whips Heath off the ropes but Heath comes back with a kick. Edwards reverses an Irish Whip and takes down Heath with a slingblade for 2. Edwards takes Heath down with a snapmare then walks on his face. Heath is whipped into the corner but avoids an attack and fights back with right hands. Heath clotheslines Edwards over the top rope to the floor.
(Commercial break)
Back from the break and Edwards takes Heath down with a clothesline for a 2 count. Edwards locks in a sleeper but Heath slowly gets up until Edwards hits a headbutt. Edwards clotheslines Heath hard in the corner and goes for a ‘Jericho’ cover for a 1 count, so Heath quickly rolls him up for 2. Edwards was back on the offense with a big clothesline for 2. Edwards whips Heath into the ropes but both competitors line up a crossbody and there’s a big collision in the middle of the ring. The Dallas crowd are firmly behind Heath and he takes control with hard right hands and a big knee strike. Heath with an Implant DDT for a close 2 count. Heath stalks Edwards to set up the Wake Up Call but Edwards holds onto the ring ropes. Edwards misses the Boston Knee Party and Heath nails the Wake Up Call! Heath slowly rolls to the cover but Mike Bennett runs into the ring and he receives a Wake Up Call! The referee is tossing Bennett out of the ring so Edwards nails Heath with a low blow. Edwards connects with the Boston Knee Party for the win after 9 minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Eddie Edwards
Analysis: ***1/2 A competitive match up with a predictable winner. The crowd was right behind Heath as he made his babyface comeback and always pop for his finisher which can come out of nowhere (RKO style). Edwards winning by cheating is certainly not unexpected. This was a solid match but disappointingly didn’t use up all the remaining TV time as Edwards had a promo to cut.
Edwards grabbed a microphone to address Impact World Champion Josh Alexander. Edwards says he has chosen his side in the fight against Impact Wrestling and their executives. Edwards says it’s time for Alexander to do the same. Alexander’s music hits and down he comes looking serious. Edwards reminds Alexander that just because they are opponents at the PPV, it doesn’t mean they have to be enemies. Alexander looks mystified at Edwards claims and says Edwards needs to stop complaining that the deck is always stacked against him. Edwards says he has been led astray by the empty promises of Impact Wrestling. He can see clearly now that he has stepped aside and is against Impact. Edwards says Alexander must now choose which side he is on. Alexander straps on his headgear and tells Edwards that his side is whatever side is across from him. Alexander says there’s no need to wait for the PPV to fight but in comes Bennett with the distraction which allows Edwards to take the upper hand. Alexander ducks a right hand and nails a huge German suplex and another one. Down comes Kenny King and now it’s 3 on 1. King pummels Alexander in the corner but Heath comes back into the ring to help. Heath is swamped by the numbers until Rich Swann runs down for some more back up. Taven is next amongst the chaos and Honor No More take full control. Alexander tries to battle back but the numbers are just too much. Edwards nails Alexander with a Tiger Bomb and the Boston Knee Party.
Impact goes off the air with Edwards holding the World Championship over Alexander and the fans booing his dirty work.
Analysis: An effective segment to get some physicality between Edwards and Alexander. It’s wise for the heel to get the upper hand early in the feud as it draws sympathy for Alexander and the fans will be keen to see him get his revenge. Throwing Swann and Heath in there as allies is smart as that can lead to some big tag matches moving forward. No one thought Alexander was going to join HNM, but it was effective in setting up a big main event segment.
Final Rating: 7/10
It was a solid week of Impact Wrestling. There were no standout matches, however, I enjoyed the opening tag team match featuring the debuting Aussie Open, the main event between Heath and Eddie Edwards was fun and the Digital Media Title feud continued in a competitive match up, despite the fans not really getting into it. Mickie James kicked off her career-saving run in a competitive match and the debuting Yuya Uemura put in a decent showing against Kenny King. I say it most weeks, but once again Impact kept their backstage segments and videos short, effective and meaningful as they added to the storylines of Violent by Design, as well as the Knockouts Title feud. You don’t have to always have 10-minute promo segments in the ring, with another 5 minutes of entrances. That’s why they are able to put together weekly shows that have 5-6 matches, most of which have decent time lengths. Next week has some big matches lined up but we are still fairly light on for our Victory Road and Bound for Glory lineups.
Here’s the Victory Road lineup for the Impact Plus special on September 23:
* Barbed Wire Massacre: Sami Callihan vs Moose vs Steve Maclin
* Pick Your Poison: Impact Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace vs an opponent of Masha Slamovich’s choosing (non-title match)
Here’s the Bound for Glory lineup for the PPV on October 7:
* Impact World Championship: Josh Alexander (c) vs Eddie Edwards
* Impact Knockouts Championship: Jordynne Grace vs Masha Slamovich
I am also expecting Sami Callihan vs Moose/Steve Maclin, Heath vs a member of Honor No More or a multi-man match, a big X-Division Championship match after an announcement next week and maybe a multi-team match for the Tag Team Championships
Any feedback or comments are welcome. My email address is kristian.l.thompson@gmail.com in case anybody wants to get in touch with me and my Twitter handle is @thomok6 as well. Thanks for reading!