For the past couple of months, the tension between Moose and Impact World Champion Rich Swann has been palpable, but the inevitable meeting between the two had not been scheduled. That all changed on Tuesday night, when their date with destiny was set for March 13th. But before he could get there, Moose gained something in the form of formal recognition of his TNA World Heavyweight Championship. And he had to “Sacrifice” Something.

 

Match 1: Deaner vs. Jake Something – Tables match

Deaner’s brethren in Violent By Design, Eric Young and Joe Doering, didn’t accompany Deaner to the ring for this one.

Deaner attacked Jake at the bell, but Jake was able to withstand the blows and power Deaner to the ground. When he went to the floor to grab a table, Deaner hit a sliding dropkick to send it into Jake’s face. But Jake got into the ring first, and see-sawed it into Deaner’s face, and while Deaner recovered, Jake bridged it horizontally on the second ropes in the corner. But Deaner avoided a charge, and sent Jake face-first hard into the side of the table. Ouch.

Deaner followed that up by sling-shotting Jake into the underside of the table. The fight spilled to the floor where Jake used the ring barrier and apron to set up a bridge. But he paid for it when Deaner shoved the table right into Jake’s chest. They made their way back into the ring where Jake again took over with his power advantage, including hitting a big Powerbomb. The fight went to the floor again, and they fought their way to the top of the entrance ramp, where Jake was getting the better of things, prompting Deaner to hit a desperate low blow. Jake crawled his way back to the ring, and when Deaner charged him, Jake caught him and hit him with a Twisting Backslam right through a table that was set up beside the ring.

This one felt a bit rushed, especially the ending to the match, which really came out of nowhere.

Winner: Jake Something

After the match, Jake was celebrating when he got blindsided by Moose who ran into the ring and Speared him through a table that was propped up in the corner. Moose grabbed a mic and said that he was taking hostage of the show until he got his title match, even though it had been announced that Rich Swann was away due to injury.

Returning from commercial, some referees helped Jake Something to the back. And then Impact Executive Vice-President Scott D’Amore came to the ramp and told Moose to leave the ring, reminding Moose that Swann wasn’t in the building. Moose refused to leave and demanded a title match.

Jake Something tried to run to the ring, but the referees held him back, and Moose threatened him.

D’Amore finally blew up at Moose. He told him that since he wanted a title match, D’Amore was going to officially recognize the TNA World Heavyweight Championship that Moose had been carrying around for the past year. And that Moose’s title match would be a title defense against Jake Something later in the show. Moose and D’Amore were excellent here.

 

Match 2: Trey Miguel, Josh Alexander, and Willie Mack vs. Chris Bey, Ace Austin (w/ Mad Man Fulton), and Black Taurus (w/ Rosemary and Crazzy Steve)

The team that wins the match will go on to have a Triple Threat match next week, with the winner of that becoming the number one contender for the X-Division Championship.

The opening few minutes saw everyone get a chance to shine, with Miguel and Bey putting on a nice chain wrestling display, and Alexander and Taurus exchanging power moves – and a nifty flying twisting dive by the larger Taurus that looked great. After the commercial, Alexander was in jeopardy, but got out of it with a big neckbreaker on Bey, allowing Josh to escape and make the tag. As the others fought around the ring, it left Austin and Mack to fight it out, and only a last-second save by Mack’s partner stopped Austin from getting the pin after The Fold. Everyone got involved again, with Black Taurus hitting a brutal Bane-style Backbreaker on Miguel. Ouch squared.

In the end, Austin gave Mack a boot to the head from the apron and then Bey finished him off with the Art of Finesse (#BeyBlade) for the pin.

This was good. Black Taurus continues to look like a monster, so putting the title on him would lead to some0 interesting match possibilities in the future. Alexander should really be pushed up the card and move him out of the X-Division chase.

Winners: Ace Austin, Chris Bey, and Black Taurus

After the match, Miguel hit the backstage area where Sami Callihan was waiting. Sami needled him about the loss and repeated his message from last week, saying that Trey had lost all his passion. Miguel snapped and attacked Sami, knocking him to the ground before security broke it up. As an angry Miguel stormed off, Sami lay on the ground, laughing to himself.

The Flashback Moment of the Week was from Slammiversary 2016, where Decay retained their Tag Team Championships over Jessie Godderz and Robbie E in a way overbooked finish.

A Decay promo aired. They plan to win all the championships, starting with Black Taurus, in order to bring balance to the universe. This was cryptic and demonic and well done. The addition of Black Taurus to the faction has really been effective.

AEW’s weekly paid ad with owner Tony Khan and announcer Tony Schiavone was up next. This time, they had a bunch of AEW mid-carders with them like Brian Cage, Ricky Starks, and Britt Baker. The number of titles Khan that Schiavone read off for him gets longer every week, and soon it will rival those of Danaerys Targarean. They insulted Impact and ran down tomorrow’s Dynamite card.

Backstage, Havok tried to convince Nevaeh to not break up, but Nevaeh said she wanted some time and left. Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb approached Havok and suggested she team with Tenille, but Havok said she wasn’t interested and walked away.

 

Match 3: XXXL vs. The Good Brothers  (non-title match)

Early on, Gallows impressed by heaving Larry D with an Overhead Press Slam that looked good. The Good Brothers were in control until XXXL used some cheap tactics to isolate Anderson in their corner. After a lukewarm tag to Gallows, the big man took control, and after a minute, the Good Brothers hit Larry with the Magic Killer to get the pin.

This was a pretty one-sided affair, which was fine. As tag team champs, the Good Brothers shouldn’t have too much difficulty beating a team like XXXL, and they didn’t. Based on the commentary, it would seem that FinJuice will be the next team to go after the gold.

Winners: The Good Brothers

At Swinger’s Palace, Chris Sabin and James Storm were on a hot streak until Rohit Raju and Shera crashed the party and gave them the Bernie Lootz special. Storm got mad and somehow Swinger said he was going to get a match booked between Storm and Raju that Swinger would offer action on. Inexplicably, they showed the last part of this segment again after coming out of commercial.

Backstage, FinJuice were at the bar and the Good Brothers came in. FinJuice sarcastically complimented them on winning their match against XXXL and on their past accomplishments, implying that the Good Brothers are good, but no longer in their prime, and then left. The Good Brothers weren’t pleased. This storyline may be fine for anyone who is aware of – and cares about – FinJuice. But their Impact debut on last week’s show wasn’t anything to write home about to make them feel special. Insider jokes and vague talk about a past history with the Good Brothers isn’t enough to warrant more than a shrug at this point.

 

Match 4: Eddie Edwards vs. Hernandez (w/ Brian Myers)

Originally, Edwards was supposed to face Brian Myers. But Myers came out on the entrance ramp, and said he wasn’t allowed to compete, and then threw it to the video screen where his lawyer Mark Sterling, Esq. said that he had advised Myers to not compete due to his eye injury. He said that a suitable replacement would be found for him, in the form of Hernandez.

Eddie hit Hernandez with a flying dive as Hernandez was making his way to the ring. He went for another attack off the apron, but Hernandez swept his leg out and Eddie crashed hard on the corner of the apron. Hernandez than ran through Edwards in the ring like a wrecking ball. Hernandez went for Air Mex, but Eddie scaled the ropes and dropped Hernandez with a Superplex, and followed that up with a Boston Knee Party shortly after that to get the win.

This was brief but fine. Hernandez is different from most of the roster so his matches are generally fun. The less of Myers the better, so the use of the lawyer for the promo and Hernandez in the ring were both good decisions.

Winner: Eddie Edwards

Myers was walking backstage when Matt Cardona came up to him to apologize for hitting him in the eye last week, which was ostensibly the reason Myers couldn’t wrestle tonight. Scott D’Amore came up to Myers and told him that only Impact’s staff doctor, Dr. Ross, could say whether a competitor was cleared or not to wrestle. D’Amore said that Dr. Ross had cleared Myers to compete, so next week, Myers would need to face Eddie Edwards, and that Cardona would be refereeing the match. Myers was upset by this news. D’Amore took a funny shot at the concept of an Eye For An Eye stipulation.

 

Match 5: Kimber Lee and Susan (w/ Deonna Purrazzo) vs. Jazz and Jordynne Grace

The winners of this match will become the number one contenders to the Knockouts Tag Team Championship.

Jazz dominated Susan early on, prompting Deonna to interfere from the outside, which in turn brought ODB to the ring, and within a minute, everyone was brawling on the floor. To restore order, the referee sent Purrazzo and ODB to the back as the show went to commercial. Back from break and Lee was in control over Jazz. She and Susan worked Jazz over for a while until Jazz was able to headbutt her way out of trouble and tag in Grace. Grace and Jazz nearly got the pin after a Double Suplex on Susan, but shockingly Susan kicked out. Susan used an Ear Twister to hurt Grace, but not enough. Grace ended things with a Grace Driver to get her team the win.

This was a pretty standard tag team match. Susan is the least-interesting persona of the Three Faces of Sue, so maybe the repeat losses may lead to her switching over again? Grace and Jazz facing Fire & Flava should be fun when that title match happens.

Winners: Jordynne Grace and Jazz

After the match, Grace and Jazz went to the back and found ODB knocked out on the ground. They speculated that Deonna Purrazzo was behind the attack. The commentators speculated the same thing, so this suggests that it will be someone else.

 

Match 6: Jake Something vs. Moose (c) – TNA World Heavyweight Championship match

Jake Something attacked Moose during his introduction, knocking the champ down the ramp, and then smashed Moose into the ringside barriers, as the show went to break. Back from the ads, and Something continued to whip Moose into the ringside barriers. He threw Moose into the ring and the ref called for the opening bell. Something tried to continue the assault, but Moose was tenacious, and blasted him with a running block and then a huge Dropkick.

Moose then continued his assault, whiplashing Jake’s head into the mat, sending Jake hard onto the apron, and then whipping him from post to post. Jake tried to fight back, hitting a number of short-arm clotheslines, and then a big Lariat that sent Moose flying head over heels.

Jake went for a  flying attack that Moose avoided, and then Moose took him up top, dropping Jake with a Moose-sized Superplex. Moose went for the Spear, but Jake caught him and hit a Pop-up Powerbomb for a very close count.

The two got into a  slugfest in the middle of the ring, but when Jake went for the killing blow, Moose stopped him with a pair of Uranages, and a Ripcord Lariat. A resilient Jake got to his feet after that, but a Spear – now called Lights Out – put Jake down for good.

This was a good brawl between two big men. Jake impressed much more in this one than in his earlier match, and Moose continued with his recent strong performances.

Winner, and still TNA World Heavyweight Champion: Moose

After the match, Moose grabbed a chair, intending to attack the downed Jake, but Rich Swann ran in for the save. They were about to brawl, but a security team ran into the ring to break them up.

But everyone said he wasn’t there earlier. Are we supposed to believe that he saw what Moose had said and then decided to leave his house mid-way through the show to arrive just in time to confront Moose before the show ended?  That made no sense.

Scott D’Amore came out to the entrance ramp. He announced that Moose and Swann would face off for Swann’s Impact World Championship on March 13th at “Sacrifice.” Moose and Swann glared at each other from across the ring as the show came to an end.

 

 

 

 

Impact - February 23rd, 2021
3.5

Skyway Studios - Nashville, TN

The six-man tag match and the main event were highlights of this show. The unexplained appearance of Rich Swann wasn’t handled well, but the end result – finally announcing the date for the title match – was good. The building of Black Taurus continues, and he could be a dominant force in the X-Division. Jake Something also did well, particularly in the main event where he proved he could really be something. Overall, a pretty decent episode of Impact.