Because Impact Wrestling’s PPV events are spaced so far apart, there’s a lot of time to develop the storylines and angles that fuel the matches. That can be good, since it allows for feuds to develop logically and not feel rushed. But there’s also a chance that interest will wane before the climax at the big show. This episode did a good job of advancing a few of the storylines, and also in re-integrating Tenille Dashwood as a big name in the Knockouts division. But with a full month to go before Bound For Glory, at times it felt like the show was treading water.
Match 1: Christopher Bey vs. TJP vs. Trey Miguel
The winner of this one earns an X-Division Championship match against Rohit Raju immediately after the match. He actually came to the ring to watch this one and scout out his competition. This one was reminiscent of the X-Division matches of yore, with exciting action too quick to call. Bey hit a dazzling number of flippy-doo moves and nearly got a win over both opponents several times. A neat sequence saw TJP lock a Sharpshooter on Try and a Camel Clutch on Bey at the same time, but neither one tapped out.
There was an awkward moment at one point when Trey appeared to miscalculate his timing on a moonsault and missed Bey who was running towards the corner, but they recovered quickly, and things started up on all cylinders again. A sweet spot saw Trey dive off the top to splash TJP, but TJP moved, and instead Trey got caught by Bey in a High Cutter that assuredly would have won the match, but TJP broke up the pin at the last second. In the end, TJP had Bey in a leglock submission, but Try came off the top and brained TJP with a Super Knee Drop. TJP was out, and Trey covered him for the pin, while Bey’s hurt leg prevented him from making the save. This was really fun, though it’s these kinds of matches that really beg for the reaction of a live crowd.
Winner, and number one contender for the X-Division Championship: Trey Miguel
Match 2: Trey Miguel vs. Rohit Raju (c) – for the X-Division Championship
Trey charged right at the bell, but Rohit side-stepped him, then rolled up Trey, using a fistful of trunks to secure (steal) the win. This lasted about 10 seconds. It was fine, but instead of that kind of mild cheating, Raju could have done something even more weaselly to get the win to make him seem even more of a jerk.
Winner, and still X-Division Champion: Rohit Raju
Backstage, Eric Young said that anything he does moving forward will be the fault of Scott D’Amore, and that EY’s conscience will be clean.
Gia Miller tried to get an interview with Tenille Dashwood, but was stonewalled at first by her photographer Kaleb Konley. She finally came out and basically said that she was ready for her return match tonight when she faces Jordynne Grace.
Match 3: Kimber Lee (w/ Deonna Purrazzo) vs. Susie (w/ Kylie Rae)
They started off with a bit of comedy before Susie took over, nearly getting the pin with a running Bulldog. But Lee stopped the momentum with a big Tilt-a-Whirl Backbreaker that grounded Susie. A nice move saw Lee hit Susie with a hard running dropkick with Susie right against the ropes – ouch! Lee nearly got a pin after hitting a series of unanswered kicks all over Susie’s body and head, and then put on a leg submission, nearly folding Susie’s leg over itself, and then ramping up the pain with a Boston Crab. But Susie wouldn’t give up, and instead fired up, dipping into the Su Yung arsenal for a couple of moves, perhaps not even realizing it. Interference by Purrazzo went wrong, and she inadvertently hit Lee, softening her up for a Panic Switch by Susie who was able to get the pin. After the match, Su Yung tried to break free from Susie, but Kylie calmed down Susie and she was able to suppress the demon. Purrazzo tried to attack Susie, but Kylie fended off the attack. Afterwards, Kylie told Purrazzo that she would be exercising her title opportunity at Bound For Glory on October 24. This was a good match that helped further the Purrazzo/Rae story in the background of Susie’s journey.
Winner: Susie
Another #Heath4IMPACT promotional video aired. This one even featured a Cameo appearance by David Hasselhoff, Flava Flav, Chuck Norris, and Nancy freaking Kerrigan. These are the best things on TV week over week. Not just Impact TV… not just wrestling TV… I mean all TV. Tremendous.
.@HEATHXXII called in some ALL-STAR cameos in the most inspirational and moving #Heath4IMPACT video yet. #IMPACTonAXSTV @Rhyno313 pic.twitter.com/cNUhhfhxsW
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) September 23, 2020
Backstage, the Good Brothers were talking to the Motor City Machine Guns and said something innocuous about the Rascalz who freaked out (maybe they need to go back to the treehouse and chillax?) They screamed a challenge to the Good Brothers, and it was accepted.
The Flashback Moment of the Week saw AJ Styles take on Bully Ray at the 2013 Bound For Glory event in an Anything Goes match. AJ got the win to capture the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.
An EC3 video aired where he gave out Moose’s phone number and said that any information about Moose’s missing TNA World Heavyweight Championship should be reported to that number. For the sake of this report, this reviewer dialed the number, and got the message that the number is connected to a voicemailbox that has not been set up.
Elsewhere, Taya confronted Rosemary for not being there in her corner last week when she lost to Kiera Hogan, since Rosemary wasn’t able to thwart the interference by Tasha Steelz. Rosemary told her that she couldn’t be there because she had been knocked unconscious by Havok. So, Rosemary said that they can mutually help one another with their respective problems, and Taya agreed. They then talked about John E. Bravo and how he was doing with the wedding planning.
Cut to Bravo, who was holding court with a number of the guys – and Alisha Edwards – to try to get them to help with the planning. But they were only there because they wanted to have a bachelor party. Bravo dismissed the Deaners, since Cody had a match to prepare for. Swinger found out that Fallah Bahh was Bravo’s best man and insisted it should be him instead, but Bravo put the kybosh on them having a match tonight to earn the position.
Backstage, Brian Myers was asked about his loss to Willie Mack last week, and he freaked out, flipping over the catering table. Tommy Dreamer came out and chastised him, telling him not to disrespect the company. Myers mouthed off to Dreamer and threatened him, but eventually punked out.
Eric Young Beatdown Segment
Cody Deaner, accompanied by Cousin Jake, was heading to the ring, presumably for a match, but Eric Young attacked them from behind, clocking them both with his title belt. Young then beat Deaner around the ring, using the barrier and the ring as weapons. Deaner fired up and tried to fight back, but eventually fell to a Piledriver that put him down. But the insane champ wouldn’t quit, and then clamped on an ankle lock until a now-recovered Cousin Jake ran in and chased away Young. But as Jake checked on Cody, Eric attacked him from behind, and then put the boots to both of them, before dropping Jake with a Piledriver. Between stomping mudholes in both of them, Eric grabbed a mic and repeatedly blamed Scott D’Amore for the carnage. He also pummeled a couple of security guys for good measure. After a lengthy beating, D’Amore finally came to the ring and pulled Young off the Deaners. He confronted Eric, but then got accosted as well. Young was menacing him until Eddie Edwards ran down for the save. The lengthy beatdown on the Deaners started to drag, and it would have been good to see someone other than Eddie make the save, just to create a new and fresh feud for the title.
Backstage, Eddie angrily confronted D’Amore, saying that he shouldn’t have to wait for a title shot against Young. D’Amore – even more angrily – said Eddie would get the title shot at Victory Road, which takes place on Saturday, October 3.
Match 4: Rob Van Dam (w/ Katie Forbes) vs. Sami Callihan
If RVD wins this match, Katie gets Sami alone in the ring for five minutes. RVD attacked Sami on the entrance ramp, but didn’t fare too well, and Sami beat him up on the floor. Forbes’ interference let RVD turn things around, and he used his educated feet and some vintage RVD moves to take over. After several minutes on the floor, the action finally got into the ring and the match began, with Sami on offense. Some more Katie chicanery let RVD stagger Sami with a big kick before a commercial break. He was still on fire when the show resumed, punishing Sami with a symphony of kicks and some submission attempts. After blinding RVD with some eye rakes, Sami delivered some kicks of his own, but before he could end things, Katie jumped on the apron and blinded Sami with a blast of hairspray in his eyes. RVD easily rolled up Sami for a pin, as Forbes celebrated.
She immediately jumped into the ring and started putting the boots to Sami, even hitting a booty splash to his face. Sami tried to fight back, but each time, RVD would interfere and give Katie the assist. It finally backfired on him, though, and as he went to the top to finish Sami off, Sami threw a chair into his face, knocking RVD to the floor. Sami then turned his attention to Katie, putting her down with a Piledriver and counting his own pinfall victory.
The match was fun – Sami can pretty much work with anybody and it looks good – and the payoff would seem to be the blowoff to this feud. It will be interesting to see who they pair off with these guys next.
Winner of the match: Rob Van Dam
Winner of the war: Sami Callihan
Backstage, Gia interviewed Ace Austin and Mad Man Fulton who said that they should get a tag team title match because they scored the pin for their team in last week’s eight-man tag match. The North took objection to this and said that they were the top dogs in the division. The two teams started jaw-jacking, and nearly came to blows, but ultimately agreed to settle things in a match next week.
Match 5: Jordynne Grace vs. Tenille Dashwood
Kaleb handled the ring introduction for Dashwood – pffft… in terms of being a toady stooge, he’s no John E. Bravo (or Bobo, for that matter). Tenille started off aggressively, but she soon fell victim to Grace’s power game. Dashwood evaded an attack on the floor, though, and Grace got dropped hard on the floor. This allowed Dashwood to pick apart Grace with some vicious stomps and other targeted moves. Dashwood got cocky, though, and when she failed to get Grace up for a German suplex, it left her vulnerable to a few power moves, including a very ugly Michinoku Driver – yikes, it looked like Grace dropped Dashwood right on her head… that was scary. Grace set Tenille up top for a Superplex, but Dashwood pushed her off and into the Tree of Woe, where she was vulnerable for a Top Rope Stomp for a close fall. After a series of reversals and counters, Grace had Tenille up for a Grace Driver, but Kaleb jumped up on the apron. The distraction allowed Dashwood to hit a running Spotlight Kick that dropped Grace for the three. After the match, Dashwood celebrated while Kaleb captured her glory on his camera. This was another good match, the scary spot notwithstanding. I was never as high on Dashwood during her WWE stint as Emma / Emmalina as many others were, and she didn’t do anything particularly mindblowing here, but was good in the villainous role.
Winner: Tenille Dashwood
Backstage, Eddie was leaving the building, when the screen went black all of a sudden. When the picture returned, Eddie was rolling on the floor in pain, which was the final shot of the episode.
Who just attacked @TheEddieEdwards as IMPACT went off the air?! #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/5zn3lvvca3
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) September 23, 2020
IMPACT Wrestling - September 22, 2020
Impact Zone - Nashville, TN
Impact consistently puts on some very good matches, and this week was no exception. The X-Division three-way was a highlight, Sami Callihan can have a good match with anyone, and both women’s matches were strong. The Eric Young beatdown of the Deaners dragged and the payoff of an Eddie Edwards match before Bound For Glory isn’t particularly earth-shattering. But the Heath promo was must-see. A mixed bag of a show this week, and the rating reflects that.