Kenny Omega and his manager/friend Don Callis have proven to be a formidable team, and their partnership has helped Omega capture both the AEW and Impact World Championships. But even though Omega has to face the challenge of Moose on Saturday at “Against All Odds,” perhaps the biggest threat to his title is a formidable new tag team: Impact’s Executive Vice-President Scott D’Amore and AEW President Tony Khan, who joined forces to lower Omega’s odds of retaining the title this weekend.

Indeed, the show started off with D’Amore welcoming Khan to the ring so they could talk about the match. Tony thanked D’Amore for the hospitality, but before they could really get down to brass tacks (and how cool would it have been to see one of them get thrown into some tacks?), Don Callis made his way to the ring. Callis tried to dissuade Tony from allowing Sami Callihan to join the match between Kenny Omega and Moose at Saturday’s Against All Odds, saying that he was too violent to contain, and that he could hurt Omega, which would be bad for Khan and AEW. As Callis ranted about Sami, D’Amore and Khan huddled up. When Callis was finished, D’Amore announced that the match would indeed be a one-on-one match between Omega and Moose.

Khan then said that the match will take place at Daily’s Place, because he could ensure that Sami wouldn’t be at that venue. This initially thrilled Callis. But his joy turned to anguish when D’Amore and Khan agreed that the winner of Moose and Omega would then have to face Sami at Slammiversary.

 

Backstage, Kenny Omega, the Good Brothers, and Don Callis were upset about the prospect that Kenny may have to face Sami eventually. Callis told the Good Brothers to take Sami out of the equation so he wouldn’t be a future threat. D’Amore approached them, and said that on Saturday, while Kenny was in Daily’s Place, they would get a chance to take out Sami – in a Tag Team Street Fight match against him and any opponent he chooses. They weren’t happy, naturally.

The next chapter of Brian Myers’ “How to be a Professional” lessons aired. This wasn’t as funny as last week’s, but it’s still more entertaining than Brian Myers normally is.

Backstage, Sami Callihan wasn’t optimistic about finding a partner because he’s alienated everyone in the world, and screamed to D’Amore that he would take on the Good Brothers 1-on-2 if he had to. Tommy Dreamer came up to them and said that he and Sami had a common enemy in Don Callis, so he would team up with Sami on Saturday. Sami agreed, but said that if Dreamer cost him the match, he would destroy Tommy and left. D’Amore reminded Dreamer that Callis was a company executive and shouldn’t be seen as an enemy. Dreamer tried to warn D’Amore not to trust Callis, corporate position notwithstanding.

 

 Match 1: Rosemary vs. Havok

The stipulation here is that if Havok wins, she will be added to the Knockouts Title match between Rosemary and the champion, Deonna Purrazzo. Rosemary started off aggressively, with two Spears right at the bell, giving her the early advantage. But Havok was able to storm back, and was in control heading into, and coming back from the commercial break. Rosemary avoided a power move and hit another Spear for a two-count, and then a fourth Spear, which got her the win.

As short as this was, this was fine. It sets Rosemary up as a strong contender for Purrazzo this Saturday. As for Havok, as it was a pretty definitive loss, it should bump her down the card pretty far.

Winner: Rosemary

After the match, Rosemary and Havok were showing mutual respect, when they were attacked by Deonna Purrazzo, Kimber Lee, and Susan. Purrazzo locked on Venus De Milo on Rosemary, and Lee tied up Havok. Susan grabbed a mic and berated both Rosemary and Havok. Then she demanded that Tasha Steelz come out for a match against Lee.

 

Match 2: Kimber Lee (w/ Susan and Deonna Purrazzo) vs. Tasha Steelz (w/ Kiera Hogan)

Steelz tried to use her quickness to hit and move, but Lee’s strength was enough to stop the momentum. Lee bullied her around, until Tasha fired up, leading to a nice exchange of chops in the centre of the ring. Lee eventually took over with some more power moves, including a trifecta of Suplexes. But when Lee went for a Swanton, Steelz got her knees up. This hurt Lee, and she was prone for a Twisting Suplex Bomb that put her down for the count.

 

After the match, all five of them brawled, until Rosemary and Havok returned to the ring, and cleaned house. Rosemary planted Purrazzo with As Above So Below, and then she and Havok drove Hogan down with a Double Chokeslam.

This was good. The match was solid, and the post-match stuff was fun. Maybe they answered the question about Havok – after this, it seems like they could be setting up for Havok to join Decay and team up with Rosemary to chase the Knockouts Tag Team titles.

Winner: Tasha Steelz

A hype video for Maclin aired. He’s very intense, and he’s coming to Impact.

Gia Miller interviewed Josh Alexander who said that he was feeling great after his Iron Man Match last week. He said that he would give an X-Division Title shot to anyone, so he was looking forward to seeing who wins Saturday’s Five-Man Number One Contender’s match. Ace Austin and Mad Man Fulton came up to him. Austin said that the only person Alexander should have his eye on is him, since he was going to win that match.

 

Match 3: Petey Williams and Trey Miguel vs. Rohit Raju and Chris Bey

These four will be in the aforementioned Five-Man match this Saturday. This one had some really good fast-paced action, particularly when Bey and Miguel faced off. All credit to Petey who, despite being ten years older than the others, still wrestles at their speed. He was in trouble for several minutes, but avoided a charging attack, leading to Bey and Rohit colliding in the ring. Petey then got the tag to Miguel who was on fire. After some more dizzying action, Petey hit Rohit with a Springboard Codebreaker, and then Miguel grabbed Rohit and locked him into a Cloverleaf Submission, forcing the submission.

After the match, Austin and Fulton attacked Trey and Petey, and left them laying. Josh Alexander ran in, and soon the ring turned into a Pier 6 brawl. It ended with Miguel and Bey assisting Petey in hitting a Super Canadian Destroyer on Fulton. That looked great.

 

For those keeping score, this was the third post-match attack in as many matches on this show. It almost was starting to feel like too many -but then they did that Destroyer, and all is forgiven. The match was a good appetizer for what should be an exciting affair on Saturday. That said, perhaps the even bigger money feud coming out of this would be Josh and Fulton?

Winners: Petey Williams and Trey Miguel

Gia Miller interviewed Willie Mack who said that he would beat W. Morrissey in their No-DQ Match later tonight. He asked Rich Swann to stay in the back for this one, because he wanted to destroy Morrissey tonight and not share that opportunity. Swann agreed, but asked Mack to leave him a few scraps of Morrissey so that he could beat them on Saturday.

It was time for another “All About Me” show with Tenille Dashwood and Kale. Their guest for this week, Rachael Ellering was accompanied with her tag partner, Jordynne Grace. Grace’s presence made it awkward for Dashwood and Kaleb, who are still trying to court Ellering to team up with Dashwood. Ellering told Dashwood that her overtures are now becoming disrespectful of her friend Jordynne, so challenged Tenille to a match this Saturday. But Grace said it should be she who face Tenille, since she’s the one being disrespected. Grace and Rachael then left so they could talk to D’Amore about making the match official.

A Violent By Design promo video aired. Eric Young said that Deaner and Rhino would beat Decay and Doering would beat Kojima on Saturday. Because the world belongs to them.

 

Match 4: Joe Doering (w/ VBD) vs. Eddie Edwards

Eddie tried to out-technique Doering, but it wasn’t long before he got run right over by the big man. Doering then manhandled Eddie, including hitting a great-looking Pump Kick that sent Eddie flying. But Edwards had fighting spirit, and he was able to mount a bit of a comeback. He staved off some interference by Rhino, but couldn’t avoid one from Deaner. The ref saw this one, though, and disqualified Doering. Cue the post-match0 attack and the save by Kojima who even got the better of Doering after their brief forearm exchange.

 

This was pretty much what you’d expec0t. Doering is really a different physical specimen. They haven’t done enough to sell the history between Kojima and Doering. At first blush, Kojima doesn’t even seem to be a credible physical threat to Doering’s size and strength. So hopefully they can deliver this weekend.

Winner, by disqualification: Eddie Edwards

A sit-down Moose promo aired. He said that he’s done many things, but has never been able to win the Impact World Championship. He said that his loss to Rich Swann has motivated him to bring the championship back to Impact.

It’s unfortunate that Moose and Omega weren’t on the same show. While the opening segment was good, a bit of interaction between Saturday’s actual main event participants would have been even more compelling. Even if they didn’t get into a physical altercation, a contract signing or something like that would have helped build some interest. And mixed things up a bit, since most of the build for everything else on Saturday came out of a post-match attack.

 

Match 5: W. Morrissey vs. Willie Mack – No-DQ match

Morrissey got the edge early on, using his powerful strikes to hurt Willie, and then dropped him with a big clothesline to head into the ad break. When we returned, Morrissey was battering Willie on the outside, using the ring apron to deliver some more punishment.

But Mack turned the tables, and sent Morrissey head-first into the ring steps, and then wrapped a chain around his fist and started clobbering him with hit. Mack then smacked Morrissey with a chair a couple of times. Mack continued the beating in the ring, hitting a big Cannonball in the corner. But Morrissey countered another running attack, and then hit some chair attacks of his own, working over Willie’s back and then choking him with it. Morrissey wrapped the chain around Mack’s eyes and started yanking – nasty. And then draped Mack over the top turnbuckle before using him like a pinata, hitting him with the chair a few times.

Mack mounted a comeback with some nice Roundhouse Kicks, and a Standing Moonsault, but Morrissey kicked out.

 

Willie lay Morrissey atop a chair and then tried for a Frog Splash, but Morrissey moved and Willie hit hard. A missed elbow drop by Morrissey gave Mack some breathing room. He tried for a final chair shot, but Morrissey kicked the chair right into Mack’s face, and that was all she wrote. After he pinned Mack, Morrissey dragged him into the corner, and was looking to finish Mack off for good, but Rich Swann ran in for the save. They brawled with each other until a bunch of security guards broke it up and got between them. Swann and Morrissey jawed at each other hatefully to end the show.

This was a decent No-DQ match, a little slower-paced than most and with nothing too insane happening. Mack has really fallen into the lower ranks as of late, and at this point just seems to be there to act as fodder for bigger names.

Winner: W. Morrissey

 

Impact Wrestling - June 10th, 2021
3.5

Skyway Studios - Nashville, TN

While every match and segment ultimately served to hype up this Saturday’s “Against All Odds” event, the way they went about it was a bit too repetitive. Even the one item that was different – the opening segment – could have benefitted with the presence of the actual combatants. Instead, it was a bit of a lengthy talking head segment.