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Impact: The Elite are hunted, but Eddie Edwards gets caught

Bob Kapur

With all of the crossovers between Impact and other companies lately, it sometimes feels like the “forbidden door” is really a revolving one, leading in and out of the Impact Zone. Sometimes that can be good, leading to compelling and exciting matchups. And sometimes it can be a bit unwieldy. But either way, it should be treated as something special. And though the Knockouts segment focusing on Deonna Purrazzo’s upcoming appearance on an NWA event hit a home run in that regard, the main event appearance of AEW’s Frankie Kazarian didn’t quite get the same treatment.

 

Match 1: Chris Bey (w/ “Switchblade” Jay White) vs. Juice Robinson (w/ David Finlay)

Bey started off aggressively, sending Juice to the floor early, where he swung himself under the bottom rope to hit Juice with a creative 619-style move. In the ring, Bey was in control with a sleeper attempt, but Juice was able to stand up and ram Bey back-first into the corner. Bey used his speed to avoid a Juice charge and then went back on the attack, showing more of a vicious streak than ever before. Juice caught him in a running charge and hit a big Spinebuster, that hurt Bey. Juice then found his second wind and hit Bey with some full body attacks. Finlay and White started fighting on the floor, and when Juice was distracted by that, Bey hit the Art of Finesse to get the big win.

After the match, White gave Bey a Bullet Club t-shirt, formally making him a member.

 

This was a fine showcase for Bey in particular. Having him join the Bullet Club should be a good opportunity for him to get some more exposure.  Which is a good thing, because he can do some really impressive things.

Winner: Chris Bey

Gia Miller interviewed the Good Brothers and Kenny Omega. Unfortunately, they didn’t let Don Callis do all the talking, so this wasn’t as good as it should have been. As Kenny yapped on, Violent By Design came up to the Good Brothers and told them they were cashing in their rematch clause against the Good Brothers for the Tag Team Championship at Emergence on August 21.

Gia Miller asked Fire N Flava if they could get past some of the difficulties they’ve been having as a team. They said they were both driven to get back on the right track, though there was some tension in the air.

Homecoming King and Queen coronation / Deonna Purrazzo’s NWA opponent reveal

The arena went dark, and when the lights came on, the “Drama King” Matthew Rehwoldt was in the centre of the ring, wearing his Homecoming crown. He introduced himself which comically earned him some “You still suck” chants. He introduced his tag team partner from the Homecoming tournament, Deonna Purrazzo, who was wearing her Homecoming tiara.

Purrazzo listed off all of her many accomplishments and generally played cocky. This brought out Mickie James, who came to the ring. James told Purrazzo that even though Purrazzo had agreed to defend her Knockouts Championship at NWA Empowerrr, she hadn’t formally signed a contract, so Mickie wanted to do it tonight.

Purrazzo said that she would not agree to sign unless she knew who her opponent would be. So Mickie James introduced her opponent: Melina(!), who came to the ring and stared down Purrazzo. Purrazzo signed the contract, as did Melina.

 

Purrazzo said it was an honour to meet Melina, and at Empower, it would be an honour to beat her. Melina said that she was going to do what Purazzo did: win the Knockouts Championship in her first title match.

Possibly because this was really her first promo in front of a live crowd in over a year, Purrazzo sounded a bit nervous with a bit of a quiver in her voice during this segment, something Matt Striker acknowledged on commentary.

Everyone was really good here. What’s more, they noted that Melina and Purrazzo have never faced each other before, so it really adds some interest. That said, it’s really unfortunate for Impact fans that this fresh match isn’t happening on their own show. But hopefully this is the first of many more of these types of crossovers and some of those will be on Impact’s home turf.

Gia Miller asked Taylor Wilde where she has been recently. Taylor explained that she had been having issues crossing the border as a result of someone reporting her as a security threat – a tip given by someone named Kalvin, with a K. She suspected it was actually Tenille Dashwood’s photographer stooge Kaleb who did it, which is why she laid him out last week. And that she wanted to do the same to Tenille next week.

The newly-resurrected Kimber Lee told her “mother”, the undead Su Yung, that she wanted to gift her with someone’s soul. Okay. It’s good to add something new to Lee and Su, who were kind of drifting after being untied from Purrazzo. We’ll see where this goes.

 

Match 2: Jake Something vs. Daivari vs. Rohit Raju (w/ Shera) vs. Trey Miguel – X-Division Championship contenders match

Fast opening sequence to this one, with Trey and Rohit playing criss-cross, ending with Rohit hitting a nice dive on Jake and Daivari on the floor, and then Trey hitting a Moonsault on Rohit and Jake, culminating with a huge running CrossBody by Jake onto all three opponents as they were sitting on the apron, thereby splatting them against the ropes. That looked great.

 

The match was a good mix of speedy moves by the smaller guys, with Jake supplying the power moves. Everyone got a chance to shine for a bit. But in the end, power won out, with Jake hitting Daivari with the Black Hole Slam to get the pin.

This was a fun match. Jake isn’t the most dynamic character, but he’s certainly a different type of commodity in the X-Division ranks. Him against Josh Alexander should be a good, hard-hitting affair. In a way, it’s a bit disappointing in hindsight that Josh faced Black Taurus at Homecoming, because it could have been more compelling if his chances against a big powerhouse weren’t already established.

Winner, and number one contender for the X-Division Championship: Jake Something

In his dressing room, Rohit Raju was throwing a tantrum about losing his match, and in the course of it, threw a gym bag off-screen. Matt Cardona and Chelsea Green came up to him and Shera, with Cardona upset that the bag nearly hit Green. Before things could get physical, Rohit and Shera left the room.

Gia Miller interviewed X-Division Champion Josh Alexander, who said he was looking forward to defending his title against Jake Something at Emergence. Daivari came up to him and said that he could beat Alexander for the title if given the chance. Alexander said that they will have a match next week, and if Daivari can beat him in that match, then he’d get a future title match.

 

Match 3: Fire N Flava vs. Jordynne Grace and Rachael Ellering

Grace and Ellering were wearing matching gear for this one, which was a nice touch, and a much better look for Ellering. They out-powered Fire N Flava early on, just throwing Fire N Flava around easily. But Steelz was able to float over on a Muscle Buster attempt by Grace, and then sent Grace into the wrong corner, where Fire N Flava are the most dangerous.

They beat her up for a while, but Grace fired up and hit a Double Suplex, buying her enough space to tag in Ellering, who cleaned house, including sending Steelz hard to the floor. Kiera was able to re-gain an edge, but when she looked for Steelz to help end things, Steelz was still groggy on the floor, leaving Kiera twisting in the wind. With Kiera alone, it wasn’t long before she succumbed to the power of Ellering and Grace, and they hit her with an Assisted Swinging Uranage to get the pin.

 

After the match, Steelz climbed back in the ring and she and Hogan stared at each other, both angry and disappointed by the loss. As they looked at each other, a very tall and strong-looking woman dressed in camo entered the ring. On commentary, D-Lo Brown identified her as Savannah Evans. Evans hit Kiera with a Pump Kick right in the face, and then hit a huge Samoan Drop. Steelz watched all of this, approvingly, shooting daggers at Hogan. As Hogan picked herself up off the mat, Steelz glared at her icily from the ramp, flanked by Evans.

This was a good match. As has been reported, this is setting up for Hogan’s departure from the company. It’s sad, because Fire N Flava were very entertaining as a team, and truly highlights of the show when they were given the opportunity. Both in the ring and especially on the mic (the disastrous Fire N Flava Fest being the major exception).

Winners: Jordynne Grace and Rachael Ellering

Gia Miller interviewed Frankie Kazarian about his 6-man tag match tonight, teaming up with Sami Callihan and Eddie Edwards against the Good Brothers and Impact World Champion Kenny Omega. Kazarian name-checked a number of the company’s original stars, of which he is one. He said that he had returned to Impact tonight to continue his hunt of the Elite. He said that Sami and Eddie need to put their differences aside during the match, because destroying the Elite was more important.

Violent By Design went to Impact Executive Vice-President Scott D’Amore’s office and told him they were enacting their rematch clause at Emergence. Out of the office walked Rich Swann and Willie Mack. D’Amore said that since Mack and Swann beat VBD at Homecoming, they earned a title shot too. So the match at Emergence would now be a three-way match.

 

Match 4: Steve Maclin vs. Jah-C

Jah-C may as well be named Local Enhancement Talent. When the ref announced him, he stood up on the middle turnbuckle and posed for the crowd. But he paid for turning his back on Maclin, who attacked him. Maclin continued the beating after the bell rang, pummeling Jah-C, including putting him the Tree of Woe and hitting him with a Low Shoulder Block (they named that move the Cross-Hairs).

 

Maclin continued the beating, even picking up Jah-C during a couple of pin attempts, to continue the beating even more. He eventually won with the Jameson Shot. After the match, Maclin beat up Jah-C some more. He was going for a death blow with a chair, but Petey Williams ran in and made the save.

This was an effective squash, and the resulting Petey-Maclin feud should be good. Maclin has been presented well so far, and if they keep it up, he could be a big star in Impact.

Winner: Steve Maclin

It’s All About Me segment

Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb welcomed everyone to the show. They bad-mouthed Taylor Wilde for beating up Kaleb, and then welcomed Dr. Ross Forman to the show. He sat down, but apparently didn’t understand the premise that on this show, the guest is the one who is supposed to interview Tenille, since it’s all about her.

D’Amore walked in and tagged Dr. Ross out. Tenille tried to get him to say that he was going to fire Taylor Wilde, but of course D’Amore refused. He said that his investigation revealed that Wilde’s accusation that Kaleb sabotaged her security clearance had some merit. But that Wilde would drop any resulting litigation in exchange for a match against Tenille next week. This was over-the-top silliness as most things are that involve Kaleb and Tenille.

Gia Miller interviewed Chris Sabin, who said that after last week, things aren’t over between him and Moose. He said that he would win next week’s Battle Royal to win the number one contendership to the Impact World Championship, and ensure that Moose never becomes World Champion.

 

Match 5: The Good Brothers and Kenny Omega (w/ Don Callis) vs. Sami Callihan, Eddie Edwards, and Frankie Kazarian

Before the bell even rang, the teams started brawling all around the floor around the ring. When the action finally got into the ring, Sami tried for an immediate Cactus Special on Omega, but interference from the Good Brothers broke it up. Still, Omega was in the wrong corner, and he was taking some punishment from Kazarian, until the Good Brothers used some more dirty tactics to help Omega take over.

The Elite beat up Kazarian for a while, but he was finally able to escape and tag in Edwards. He was doing well, until even more Elite cheating resulted in him crashing hard to the mat when trying a top rope move that got thwarted. Eddie then fell prey to a triple threat beating for an extended period.

He eventually go the hot tag to Sami, and from there, the match went off the rails. Referee Brian Hebner apparently embraced the AEW rulebook, since he stopped counting when the Elite double- or triple-teamed their opponents. People ran in and out of the match willy-nilly. All that stuff.

After some of that chaos, Team Impact finally took a page out of the Elite’s playbook. Sami, who was not legal, grabbed Kenny Omega (also not legal) and hit him with a Cactus Special on the apron. As Karl Anderson looked on in disbelief at this turn of events, Eddie blasted him with a Boston Knee Party and pinned him.

 

Eddie Edwards celebrated in the ring, but was attacked from behind by W. Morrissey who clotheslined him in the back of the head. Then, Morrissey hit Eddie with a huge Powerbomb and left Eddie flat in the middle of the ring as the show came to a close.

This was a curious way to end the show. The laying out of the World Champion and a win over his team should really have been the big story, and not the Edwards-Morrissey feud. Yes, they appear to be positioning Morrissey as a star. But there seems to be so much more story to tell with Sami and Omega – particularly after that Piledriver on the apron – so they should have let that sink in some more. And what happened to Kazarian after the match? His crossover from AEW and return to the company should have been a bigger deal (assuming this Impact appearance wasn’t just a one-and-done), and instead he just disappeared. Not a good way to end things.

Winners: Eddie Edwards, Sami Callihan, and Frankie Kazarian

 

 

 

Impact Wrestling - August 5th, 2021
4

Skyway Studios - Nashville, TN

A decent episode this week, highlighted by some good matches and the strong Knockouts segment. With so many companies’ shows being built towards, there’s a lot to juggle. And while some of the execution was really good, some of the balance of keeping their own roster in the spotlight was a bit off.

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