SlamWrestling.net’s resident Impact TV correspondent, Bob, was unable to cover this week’s episode due to other commitments. In turn, stepping up once again for the team is Amos Mina (you can call me a 50% Impact Wrestling rookie), who has taken on the task of writing a semi-clueless recap of the post-Slammiversary 2021 edition of Impact. It should be a fun one!

Kicking off the show, we are given a Slammiversary recap package to help bring the events of the PPV back into the minds of the viewer. You can never go wrong with these, its great for those who might not be familiar with the product, and it sets up perfectly for what’s to come in the show going forward. Just like that, you become way more in touch with storylines and angles than you originally did coming in.

Matt Striker welcomes us into this edition of Impact, further going over what came out of Slammiversary and the matches scheduled for tonight’s show.

MATCH #1: CHRIS BEY versus ROHIT RAJU

Bey makes his entrance first. Prior to the match, we are shown another video clip from Slammiversary. Both footage from the Ultimate X match and from a little interaction between Bey and Raju. Raju tells Bey off in a snarky tone, to which Bey tells Raju that he forgot his shirt. Raju calls him a nerd and Bey then says who’s shirt is it? Camera cuts to a Bullet Club t-shirt.

Bey is quite popular with the crowd and Raju is the complete opposite. Bey chants run wild in the Impact Zone. They start things off with a traditional tie-up and counter each other’s jockeying for position attempts. Bey grabs a hold of Raju’s foot, he’s got an open dragon screw if he wants really. Raju pleads with him not to attack from there and the two engage in a little comedy pinky promise gig. Raju is obviously the sneaky heel and he comes attacking not long after. Bey and Raju are both cocky in their own right, but their egos are clearly clashing in this match. High-flying attacks and multiple Irish whip maneuvers follow. Raju hits a beautiful sweep and taunts to the crowd.

Bey gets the momentum back and sets Raju up in the ropes against the apron. Bey goes to the top but fails to execute the elbow and Raju counters. Raju brings it back in the ring and gets a near fall. Bey’s up against the ropes and Big Shera gets his own attack in on Bey as the ref is turned. Flapjack and flying elbow combo from Raju gets only a count of 2. Raju looks pissed. He wants Bey out for the count. Raju’s eagerness to get the job done quick and nasty allows Bey to swing the momentum back in his favour again. Raju counters the Bey’s finisher with a Russian leg sweep into a crossface. After trading momentum again, Bey catches Raju off guard with a back elbow, to which he follows-up with his Art of Finesse finisher to get the job done.

WINNER: Chris Bey

Post-match, Bey is confronted by Bullet Club leader, “Switchblade” Jay White. It looks like White sent over that BC t-shirt to Bey and he wants him in the club. Bey tells White that he’s a lone wolf and he doesn’t need a band of cronies to help him out. White response by telling Bey exactly how much he has to show for acting alone – nothing at the moment. Bey came out of Slammiversary empty handed. White tells him his offer will expire if Bey doesn’t act soon. Bey looks like he’s at a crossroads.

Don Callis did an interview segment talking about Omega and Switchblade.

Next we have a women’s segment. It’s Mickie James and she’s out here to have a chat with the Knockouts Champion, Deonna Purrazzo. It showed their scuffle at the Slammiversary PPV. “Welcome back” chants in the Impact Zone. Mickie means business and she wants to change the business. Purrazzo makes her way out to the ring. Mickie still wants her on EMPOWERRR and she puts Deonna over. Mickie also puts over the EMPOWERRR show in the process. Deonna sees through Mickie’s proposition. She thinks Mickie is using her as a ploy to put the EMPOWERRR show over. Deonna brings up how she’s so desired in the wrestling world. Deonna wants Mickie to show her respect and apologize, but no can do. Boom kaboom, here comes Gail Kim. I guess Gail is like the mediator and it worked. Deonna and Mickie come to a agreement and the Virtuosa is officially signed for the big women’s show.

A Drama King vignette follows this segment. Long live the Drama King FKA Aiden English? That’s all I know.

MATCH #2: MATT CARDONA, JAKE SOMETHING, & CHELSEA GREEN versus BRIAN MYERS, SAM BEALE, & TENILLE DASHWOOD

Impact returns to the ring with some six-person tag team action. Myers, Beale, and Dashwood are already in the ring. Something, Cardona, and Green make their televised entrances shortly after. Beale and Something begin the match for the two teams. Something overpowers Beale with ease. Cardona tagged in after Something has his way with Beale. Beale tags in Myers and the two men FKA the Major Brothers go at it once again. Long storied history between these two brothers in a sense. But no love lost anymore.

Cardona runs wild on Myers but Tenille distracts her ex and Myers takes advantage. Back suplex from Myers for a 2 count. Beale tagged back in and it looks like a double suplex on Cardona, but he reverses into a double neck breaker. The women are tagged in and they’re ready to go at it again. Green is getting the upper hand on Tenille during the flurry. Green hits a backcracker and face plant kick into the turnbuckle, but Myers is right there to break her pin fall attempt. The women try their hand at beating each other up again and Green looks to be right back in prime position.

Suddenly, Kaleb with a K tries to provide a distraction, but out of the woodworks, here comes Taylor Wilde! She evens things out. Tenille catches Green off guard for a second and tags in Beale. Beale looks like he’s going to absolutely clobber Green, when she knocks Beale into Tenille to send her crashing to the floor, hits her finisher and secures the win.

WINNERS: Cardona, Something, & Green 

Next, we see a recap of the Eddie Edwards vs. W. Morrissey match from Slammiversary. It then cuts to Eddie cutting a promo on how Morrissey cheated to win and keep his record clean. He wants this done again in the parking lot, right now. Edwards is looking for Morrissey and here he comes! These two go at it in an all-out brawl. Traffic cones thrown, they used the production truck, and a trash can. Morrissey even got a drink in and spat in the face of Edwards. Gritty stuff. Edwards gets his hidden kendo sticks out and send the big man Morrissey running.

Interview with Tenille, Brian Myers, and Sam Beale follows.

We got a big segment coming up, here comes “Switchblade” Jay White. The fans are loving it, but he settles them down even though he’s supposed to be the heel. The crowd knows exactly who he is, but Jay White takes it upon himself to bring up exactly who he is again for good measure. He taunts Omega by calling himself, ‘the real belt collector’. Switchblade came to Impact for David Finlay. He uses this time to hype their NJPW match at Resurgence and says David is trying to give resurgence to the Finlay name. He insults David and tells him his father must be disappointed. He says he also stopped by Impact to say hello to the best fans of Bullet Club. The Impact Zone thinks he’s talking about them, but oh no, he’s mocking The Elite. I thought this was hilarious, as I think the whole Bullet Club thing as it is now is just living off of stolen shine amongst each other.

Jay White says this is his era of Bullet Club and there is no place for the Good Brothers in his plans. Callis, GB’s, and Omega make their way out. Callis buries the current incarnation of BC and completely overhypes the Omega era and OG era of Bullet Club. Callis also brings up Jay White’s time as a NJPW young boy. This is really a pissing match between the BC subsidiaries and ‘main’ incarnation. White counters by bringing up his victory over Omega in his final NJPW match. Callis and Omega leave and it becomes the Good Brothers show. Machine Gun and Big Doc want a thank you. Switchblade brings up Machine Gun’s 2012 G1 final lost and tells them they wish to be Jay White.

GB’s attack Jay White and here comes Chris Bey to make the save. It looks like he accepted the offer. Bey and White clean house and the Good Brothers are in shock. It seem Chris Bey is the newest member of Bullet Club.

New X-Division Champion, Josh Alexander, is backstage chatting with Gia Miller on his victory and future plans as champ. Omega confronts Alexander for his comments. But then, it cuts to the Good Brothers again. They’re mad and they want Chris Bey and Jay White next week.

MATCH #3: ACE AUSTIN & MADMAN FULTON versus FINJUICE (DAVID FINLAY & JUICE ROBINSON)

FinJuice is all kinds of fired-up. They’re HYPED! David Finlay starts things off with Ace Austin as they lock up in traditional wrestling holds for a bit. Finlay off an irish whip, hits a back elbow, count of 1. Back to rest holds, Finlay gets up and tags in Juice for high-flying action, as he dives off the top for an assisted elbow drop to Ace Austin’s arm. Juice does some taunts and gets the crowd going. Madman Fulton is not enjoying his antics though. Juice with a slightly delayed elevation suplex to Austin and a flexing taunt to go with it.

FinJuice seem to have all the momentum in this match. They hit another tag team maneuver in the form of a trip, leg drop, and sexton combo. However, Ace Austin counters the final part (senton) at the last second. With an opening, Austin tags in Fulton, where they have a solid few minutes of their own offence. Ace locks Finlay in a hangman’s clutch for a bit, till he starts to throw in some aerial offence to add with the submissions and locks. Finlay tags in Juice once again and all parties from both teams just duke it out. Rolling cannonball in the corner for Juice. Finlay with a springboard splash to Fulton on the outside. Juice’s energy is at maximum capacity, he’s ready to close things out.

Madman Fulton begs to differ as he comes in to lay out Juice with a fallaway slam, but the witty Juice Robinson reverses into a roll-up and gives his team the win.

WINNERS: FinJuice

Post-match, FinJuice is attacked by both Austin/Fulton and the team of Shera/Raju – their opponents from the PPV. I guess no celebration for the hyped boys.

Willie Mack & Rich Swann are cutting a promo when they are suddenly blindsided by Violent by Design. Cool shots in this pre-recorded segment. Really sold me on VBD as ruthless dudes.

We next see Moose, who’s storming into Scott D’Amore’s office looking for a rematch with Chris Sabin. Sabin pops up too and he says who needs a ring, why not settle it here and now? But Scott D’Amore has other plans in mind, the two men can settle their beef next week in the main event of Impact. For now, the two rivals have to wait it out till their scheduled affair.

MAIN EVENT: (C) DECAY – ROSEMARY & HAVOK versus FIRE ‘N FLAVA (KIERA HOGAN & TASHA STEELZ)

SLAMMIVERSARY REMATCH FOR THE IMPACT KNOCKOUTS TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

The new champs, Decay, have their work cut out for them in this main event. The former KO Tag Team champs, Fire ‘N Flava, wanted to invoke their rematch clause immediately. We start things off with Havok and Hogan, and the much larger woman in Havok gets the better of Hogan. Hogan tries to use her athletic ability to outsmart her larger foe, but Havok uses her strength to counter these maneuvers. The two H’s go at it in the ring for a while until Hogan is able to escape a power move and tag in Steelz.

When Steelz comes in, she gets a bit of offence in early, but she soon suffers the same fate as her teammate. Decay is obviously more crazier and seem to be one-step ahead of Fire ‘N Flava. Steelz was able to gain momentum back in her team’s favour though, as she seemed to implement her own rough ‘n tough style to counteract the power of Decay in this match. She became just as ruthless as her foes. Steelz stiffed up Rosemary in the middle half of this match – elbows, forearms, slaps, chops, you name it. She looked angry as she stared at the crowd. She even had Rosemary in a nasty neck crank as she yelled to the camera.

Rosemary managed to escape her beating and tagged in Havok. She went right back to where she began in this match, single-handedly taking care of both Steelz and Hogan. Steelz managed to get a hanging sleeper hold on Havok, where Hogan tried a superkick and accidentally hit her partner in the process. Hogan’s shock and regret left her wide open for a double attack by Rosemary and Havok, as they finished her off to win the match.

WINNERS AND STILL KO TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS: Decay – Rosemary & Havok

 

TOP PHOTO: COURTESY IMPACT WRESTLING.

  • Impact Wrestling - July 22, 2021
2.5

Skyway Studios - Nashville, TN

For a post major PPV episode of Impact, I thought the show was okay. There were definitely bright spots such as Bey versus Raju and then Bey eventually joining Bullet Club later in the show. I thought those were the best parts of this edition of Impact. Everything else to me was sort of filler or mid-tier, nothing I can really rave about. Main event was fine, lived up to expectations of a PPV rematch. Hogan’s Impact tenure is coming to an end, so the dissolution in the match is obviously pointing towards a split between her and Steelz.

Overall, the show was enjoyable. But nothing to rave about. I think a 2.5 star rating out of 5 is fair. First taste of Impact in quite some time and I’m not disappointed at all.