Tonight at Impact Wrestling Rebellion, Full Metal Mayhem in the main event as The Lucha Bros defend the Impact World Tag Team Championships against LAX. Plus, Impact World Champion Johnny Impact defends against “The Machine” Brian Cage with special guest referee Lance Storm! All that and more tonight at Impact Wrestling Rebellion!
Video package kicks the show off.
We are LIVE from The Rebel Complex in Toronto, Ont. Josh Mathews and Don Callis have the call for this week.
Six-Man Scramble: Petey Williams vs. Jake Crist vs. Aiden Prince vs. Ace Austin vs. Cousin Jake vs. Eddie Edwards (w/Kenny)
The action immediately spills outside and Jake knocks down Edwards in the ring. Williams and Edwards exchange inside before landing dives outside, with Williams connecting on a flying hurricanrana outside. Prince sends Crist to the apron, but runs into a springboard tornado kick from Austin. Austin does a dive over the top, but Crist cutters him onto the field on the floor. Williams looks for a Canadian Destroyer on Edwards inside, but settles for a Sharpshooter. Cousin Jake with a snow plow on Williams for a nearfall. Crist takes out Coustin Jake and Austin takes out the field from the apron. Crist lands a flying cutter on Austin for a nearfall and a tope DDT outside. High-impact moves exchanged to the outside and Austin and Prince exchange inside. Edwards knocks out Austin and lands a tiger powerbomb for a nearfall. Williams lands a Canadian Destroyer on Cousin Jake inside and Austin runs in with a sunset flip on Williams.
Winner by pinfall: Ace Austin
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Good, fast-paced, spot-filled opener that didn’t let up.
Video package announces the Impact Plus streaming service.
Video promo from Sami Callihan says Impact X Division Champion Rich Swann says Swann turned his back on his family and he won’t be stepping into the ring with his big brother. Swann will meet the Death Machine and Swann will learn with no disqualfications not to turn your back on family. Callihan says he will break Swann’s legs because he loves him.
Gama Singh introduces Rohit Raju.
Rohit Raju (w/Desi Hit Squad) vs. Scarlett Bordeaux (w/Fallah Bahh)
Bordeaux with chops and slaps. Raju slams her and steps on her. Bordeaux trips him up and steps on him in return. Bordeaux hits a baseball slide onto Raj Singh outside as Raju sidesteps and Raju with a Russian legsweep on the apron. Raju drops Bordeaux inside and lands a snap suplex for a nearfall. Raju holds her head up and Bordeaux slaps and spits at him. Bordeaux kicks out of the corner and lands chops and forearms. Tilt-a-whirl headscissors into a crossface from Bordeaux. Raju struggles and rolls her off. Raju charges in on Bordeaux and she ducks to land a German Suplex. Flying crossbody off the top by Bordeaux takes out the Desi Hit Squad. Gama Singh distracts and it allows Raj Singh to crotch Bordeaux off the top. Raju goes for a stinkface and Bahh gets to the apron for a distraction. Bordeaux kicks below the belt and lands a piledriver from Alabama Slam position.
Winner by pinfall: Scarlett Bordeaux
Rating: 1.75 out of 5 stars
Not a lot of meat to it, but a good effort from Bordeaux made it fun for what it was.
Video package recaps the rivalry between Moose and The Rascalz.
Moose & The North vs. The Rascalz
Moose starts with Trey and Trey with leg kicks Wentz and Dez with kicks and they share quick tags to land sentons. The Rascalz stare down The North and Moose knocks down two with a clothesline before throwing Trey to the corner. Josh Alexander in with a slam for a nearfall. Moose punches Dez down and Dez worked down by Moose and The North. Dez hit with a jumping dropkick from Moose up top and Moose tosses him off the top. Dez lands a tilt-a-whirl DDT on Moose to put him down. Ethan Page and Alexander tag in and clear the apron before Dez can make the tag. Tilt-a-whirl flapjack by Page puts Dez back down. Dez catches himself on the ramp and The Rascalz with flying offense. Shooting star press as Wentz is pushed off the stage lands. Moose catches a Rascal and powerbomb swings him into the barricade. Dez dives off the ramp with a cannonball to take out the field ringside. Alexander and Dez inside. Alexander catches Dez and Trey as they flt at him, but they get pulled down. 619 in the corner lands and a pair of dives land on Alexander, but Page breaks up the pin with a powerbomb. The North with a kick combo on Dez and a Death Valley Driver and spinebuster combo set up a Spear from Moose.
Winners by pinfall: The North
Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars
Good tag match with The Rascalz firing on all cylinders during their comeback, but unable to overcome the power of Moose and The North.
Melissa Santos with Impact World Champion Johnny Impact, Impact Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie, and John E. Bravo. They run down Santos and tell her to just hold the microphone before running down Brian Cage and Jordynne Grace.
Video package recaps the rivalry between Impact Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie and Jordynne Grace.
Impact Knockouts Championship: Taya Valkyrie (c) vs. Jordynne Grace
Grace with an immediate takedown and ground-and-pound. She slides under Valkyrie on the apron and hits an electric chair drop on the apron, followed by a powerbomb on it. Grace with a nearfall inside. Valkyrie sent into the ring post and she hides behind it on the apron to rake the eyes of Grace. Grace gets her by the hair and Valkyrie snaps the arm on the top rope and works it against the ring post. Valkyrie works the arm. Rope-assisted DDT gets a nearfall for Taya and she leg drops the arm for another before going back to the armbar. Grace runs Valkyrie into the corner and falls back in a sleeper to land a clothesline. Grace with slams and Valkyrie with strikes. Grace with a Michinoku Driver for a nearfall. Valkyrie ducks under Grace and avoids a stomp to go up top, but Grace meets her to land a Muscle Buster that Valkyrie barely kicks out from. Pinning predicament for nearfalls sees Valkyrie land knees. Valkyrie headbutts out of a Grace Driver. Grace lands short-armed clotheslines, but favors it and it allows Valkyrie to land Road to Valhalla.
Winner by pinfall and STILL Impact Knockouts Champion: Taya Valkyrie
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Good match with a story that ended up leading to a bit of a disappointing finish.
Melissa Santos with Gail Kim and Gail says nothing got through to Tessa Blanchard. Gail is not coming out of retirement because she misses it. She is coming out of it to teach Blanchard respect.
Video package recaps the rivalry between Impact X Division Champion Rich Swann and Sami Callihan.
oVe Rules for the Impact X Division Championship: Rich Swann (c) vs. Sami Callihan
Callihan gives Swann the thumbs down to start and they exchange pump kicks and superkicks. Leapfrogs and ducks see Swann land a dropkick that sends Callihan out. Swann fakes a dive to staple gun the neck of Callihan and he gets him on the shoulder and forehead outside. Swann throws the weapons into the ring. Swann ducks Callihan inside and tries a sunset flip and Callihan staples the mouth of Swann. Callihan with a running boot in the corner, but he runs into a superkick as he tries again. Callihan sent out and he hits Swann with a baking sheet on a dive attempt. Cactus Special on the apron lands for Callihan. Callihan sets up a guardrail bridge outside and tries to powerbomb Swann out of the ring onto it. Swann works away and beats Callihan down with a chair. Callihan with an exploder suplex onto the opened chair for a nearfall. Swann hits Callihan with the baking tray as Callihan tries to powerbomb him. Swann gets spat at by Callihan and he licks it off his hand. Kicks to Callihan inside the trash can are followed by a suplex on it by Swann for a nearfall. Swann works Callihan over with a warning sign on the ramp. Callihan runs Swann into steel beams on the ramp. Swann with a hurricanrana after swinging from the beam and a Lethal Injection on the ramp. They exchange on the ramp and Callihan claws the groin of Swann to land a piledriver on the barricade bridge outside.
Callihan pulls out a box of Legos inside and spills them all over the ring. Swann blocks a piledriver and lands a Frankensteiner onto the Legos for a nearfall on Callihan. Swann up top and he powders the face of Swann. Piledriver off the top onto the Legos only gets a nearfall for Callihan. Callihan gets a barbed wire bat out and Swann tells him to do it, allowing him to grab below the belt as Callihan winds up. Swann lays him out with the bat and locks in a crossface with the bat.
Winner by submission and STILL Impact X Division Champion: Rich Swann
Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
Intense and increasingly brutal throughout, this delivered on the pre-fight hype until the end.
Melissa Santos with Tessa Blanchard and Blanchard says she keeps hearing about respect when she has earned it and comes from a family of respect. Blanchard says her respect for Gail Kim ended when she put her hands on her. Blanchard says she will teach Gail Kim to regret tonight. Tully Blanchard interrupts and says he will be at ringside for the biggest match of her career. Tully tells her to earn her destiny tonight.
Video package recaps the rivalry between Gail Kim and Tessa Blanchard.
Tessa Blanchard vs. Gail Kim
They get face-to-face and Blanchard with a forearm. Gail Kim floats over in the corner and lands a forearm to stomp Blanchard down. Sprinboard leg drop from Gail gets a nearfall. Blanchard with a hurricanrana and a springboard dropkick that knocks Gail to the floor. Blanchard with a suicide dive to the outside and she taunts Robert Irvine ringside. Gail with a 619 using the ring post and a facebuster on the apron. Gail gets crotched on the second turnbuckle and hit with a Codebreaker for a nearfall. Blanchard with a forearm to stop a comeback from Gail and she drops her on the second rope. Diving elbow drop misses and Gail with an octopus stretch. Blanchard with a backbreaker and Saito Suplex for a nearfall. Blanchard works Gail in the corners. Gail misses diving at Blanchard against the ropes and they both fall to the floor outside. Sharpshooter around the ring post by Gail. Blanchard drops Gail with forearms inside and Gail fires back with forearms and a clothesline. Crossbody out of the corner by Gail gets a nearfall. Eat Defeat blocked and Blanchard sends Gail out to the ramp. Gail blocks a suplex, but Blanchard with a spinning facebuster off the ramp to the floor. Gail barely able to the beat the count back inside.
Blanchard looks for the Buzzsaw DDT, but Gail gets out. Hotshot suplex from Blanchard blocked by a knee from Gail and Eat Defeat connects. Blanchard able to kick out. Blanchard and Gail fight up top and Blanchard bites out of a Dragon Sleeper. Blanchard with a press slam off the top and a flying Codebreaker connects for a nearfall. Blanchard grabs a Cobra Clutch Crossface. Gail gets to the bottom rope, but Blanchard rolls her away to the middle of the ring.
Winner by submission: Tessa Blanchard
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
There was a little miscommunication early in the match, but the back-and-forth down the stretch made it a really good passing of the torch moment in the end.
Post-match, Tessa Blanchard goes and hugs her father and corners Gail Kim in the ring. They hug it out in the middle of the ring and Blanchard cries as he raises Gail’s hand.
“The Machine” Brian Cage slamming a wall backstage and he says nothing will stop him against Impact World Champion Johnny Impact tonight. Cage says he will tear his head off and Cage is going to show him “The Machine.”
Video package recaps the rivalry between Impact World Champion Johnny Impact and “The Machine” Brian Cage.
Impact World Championship (w/special guest referee Lance Storm): Johnny Impact (c) (w/Taya Valkyrie & John E. Bravo) vs. “The Machine” Brian Cage
Cage immediately tackles Impact into the corner and lands a shoulder tackle that turns Impact inside out. F5 gets a nearfall early and a pumphandle facebuster gets another. Buckle bomb connects and sends Impact to the apron. Deadlift suplex back in gets another nearfall. Cage goes for another and Impact goes behind for a German Suplex off the top rope. Cage with short-armed clotheslines in the corner and Impact with a thumb to the eye as Cage shoves Storm away. Impact works Cage down and a standing shooting star press gets a nearfall, but Cage catches him on it and rolls through for a fallaway slam and standing moonsault of his own for a nearfall. To the ramp and Impact lands a Spanish Fly off the ramp and to the floor. Storm checks on both and refuses to call a countout. Impact with a knee against the barricade and Impact calls for Storm to count back inside. Cage busted open and Impact stomps him down inside for a nearfall. Cage fights up momentarily before Impact starts beating him down with ground-and-pound. Valkyrie and Bravo set up a table outside. Impact unable to get Cage up to put through the table, so he hits a Moonlight Driver for a nearfall.
Impact takes Cage out to the apron and Cage goes to the floor to powerbomb from the apron through the table. Bravo tries to hold the leg of Cage and Cage drags Bravo inside. Impact sneaks the title inside and tries to lay Cage out with it. Storm holds him up, but gets dragged out by Taya as Impact hits him with the title to the back. Impact with a baseball slide to take out Storm outside and he throws the title to Taya as he fakes being laid out. Taya gets powerbombed by Cage and Impact lays out Cage. Starship Pain lands and John E. Bravo takes off his suit to a referee’s shirt. Cage able to kick out. Storm superkicks Bravo and Cage stomps Storm from calling a DQ. Drill Claw connects.
Winner by pinfall and NEW Impact World Champion: Brian Cage
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Decent match that got ruined by botching the overbooking, which looked sloppy and lacked any fluidity.
Post-match, Michael Elgin makes his Impact debut and lays out Cage.
Impact announces Slammiversary XVII in Dallas, Texas on July 7.
LAX prepares for the main event in the clubhouse with Konnan hyping them up for Full Metal Mayhem.
Video package recaps the rivalry between Impact World Tag Team Champions The Lucha Bros and LAX.
Full Metal Mayhem for the Impact World Tag Team Championships: The Lucha Bros (c) vs. LAX (w/Konnan)
LAX with stereo suicide dives as The Lucha Bros celebrate with fans at ringside. Santana chops Pentagon against the barricade and Ortiz takes a chair to Fenix. Lucha Bros knock LAX off the apron and land stereo tope con hilos through tables against the barricade outside. Fenix hits Ortiz with a chair and Pentagon with a trashcan on Santana. Ortiz hit with a kick combo and a sling blade inside. Wheelbarrow sunset flip facebuster on Ortiz gets The Lucha Bros a nearfall. Santana worked in the corner and gets a trashcan over his head for stereo superkicks for a nearfall. Fenix gets a table inside and sets one up on the ramp. Ortiz comes in with a pan on The Lucha Bros before getting laid out with it himself. LAX with tandem offense on Pentagon and an inside-out facebuster for a nearfall. Fenix misses a tornado kick in the corner and gets taken out by a cannonball from Santana off the back of Ortiz. Chairs brought in and LAX stomp Fenix down. Chair bridge set up and a double stomp and cutter combo put Fenix through it for a nearfall. Pentagon thrown into the crowd by Santana. Ladder brought in by LAX and The Lucha Bros fight back in the ring. They exchange strikes sitting in the chairs and LAX knock them down to bring in forks. The Lucha Bros stop the attack and throws chairs into the faces of LAX. LAX return the favor and all four men put down.
Fenix sat up top as LAX make another a six chair bridge. Pentagon makes the save by knocking Ortiz to the apron with a trashcan lid. Fenix with a double stomp. Fear Factor stomp and package piledriver through the chairs on Santana gets a nearfall as he barely kicks out. Lucha Bros taken out and LAX set up a ladder inside. Ortiz climbs the ladder, but Fenix walks the top rope and hits a Spanish Fly off the rope and ladder through the table on the ramp. Santana exchanges chops with Pentagon inside and Pentagon hits a Penta Driver through a chair. Santana able to kick out. Ladder set back up in the ring and a pair tables to go with it. Pentagon goes outside and gets a bag of thumbtacks to pour on the table. Santana throws tacks in the face of Penta and superkicks him. They go up the ladder and Pentagon gets caught by LAX. They stab Penta with a fork and powerbomb him through the table.
Winners by pinfall and NEW Impact World Tag Team Champions: LAX
Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
Another hardcore match that ended up building properly and more brutally throughout to the finish.
Post-match, Konnan gets in the ring and tells them to squash it as they cheer each other and hug it out. The Impact roster come out to congratulate the two teams.
Nolan Howell can be reached at nth993@gmail.com for any questions or comments.
