With the next two weeks of Impact being Year in Review shows, Thursday night’s episode would need to give people something really memorable, so that they stay intrigued in the build to the January 8th Hard to Kill pay-per-view. And the final segment of the show – featuring a contract signing between World Champion Moose and challengers W. Morrissey and Matt Cardona – certainly fit that bill. With no small thanks to Cardona’s fiancee, Chelsea Green, who gave viewers something to chair about… er, cheer about.

In the BTI pre-show, Ace Austin beat Hernandez in a really good big man vs. little man match.

A tribute graphic was shown for Jimmy Rave before the show.

 

Match 1: Josh Alexander vs. Rohit Raju (w/ Raj Singh)

The story in this one is that Raju kept targeting Josh’s ribs, which were injured after Jonah’s sneak attack on Josh last week. If there were a drinking game where you took a swig every time the commentators said “ribs,” you’d probably be dead of alcohol poisoning in the first five minutes of this one.

Alexander would mount comebacks, but Raju would go back to the midsection and slow Josh down. At one point, Raju hit a great series of fast attacks: a couple of Drive Bys, a corner Cannonball, and a huge Double Foot Stomp from the top rope, landing on Josh’s ribs, nearly earning the pinfall (and arguably that should have been the end). Josh fought back, and while he was in too much pain to hit a C-4 Spike on his first attempt, he did it on his second try, and that was enough to put Rohit away for good.

 

This was a good match with a good story. Given their card positioning, it makes sense for Alexander to win. Though it would possibly have put the Jonah attack over even more if Raju would have won this one.

Winner: Josh Alexander

Backstage, Gia Miller interviewed the Good Brothers and Violent By Design who formed an alliance last week. The Good Brothers explained that since everyone was coming after their Tag Team Championship, they were willing to bring in the hired guns of VBD. But that contracting VBD doesn’t mean they trust them. Eric Young reiterated that this was purely a business transaction.

Gia interviewed Chelsea Green about her being entered into the Knockouts Ultimate X match at Hard to Kill. Green said she would win that match and become number one contender to the Knockouts Championship. And that her fiancée, Matt Cardona would become World Champion at the end of the show. This brought out Moose, who came up to Chelsea. He said that he liked Green’s loyalty for sticking with a mid-carder like Cardona. Chelsea was undaunted and said that she will like to see Cardona beat Moose.

 

Match 2: Doc Gallows and Joe Doering (w/ Karl Anderson and Violent By Design) vs. Rich Swann and Willie Mack (w/ Rhino and Heath)

Swann and Mack used their speed advantage to keep the big men guessing, including hitting stereo Springboard Dives to take us to a commercial break. Back from the ads and Gallows and Doering used some chicanery to distract Swann and they capitalized with a huge Roundhouse Kick by Gallows to Swann’s head, knocking Swann silly. They beat up Swann for a while until he finally escaped and tagged in Mack, who stunned both Gallows and Doering with hard shots. Swann and Mack were able to take Doering off his feet with a double-team move reminiscent of Total Elimination, and then dropped Gallows with a Flying Crossbody. But instead of going for the pin, they tried for a second move on Gallows, but got caught. Gallows and Doering planted Mack with a Double Chokeslam and that was all she wrote.

 

After the match, VBD and the Good Brothers attacked the other teams and had the 5-on-4 advantage until Eddie Edwards ran down for the save, clearing house with his Singapore cane. Thanks to that assist, the babyfaces were able to clear the ring and stand tall.

This was fine. Hopefully this builds to an eventual match between VBD and the Good Brothers, because that could be an interesting fight.

Winners: Joe Doering and Doc Gallows

Zicky Dice and VSK weren’t on the same page after their loss to Decay last week. VSK was worried that their instructor Brian Myers would be upset, but Zicky told him to relax, as he had gotten them a rematch. VSK wasn’t thrilled but said he’d do it if Zicky was sober for the match. Zicky said he would be, but after VSK left, Zicky made it clear he had no such intentions.

A hype video aired for Jonah. He said that he was the Top Dog and that he was going to beat Josh Alexander until Alexander respected him as such.

 

Match 3: John Skyler vs. Trey Miguel

Miguel’s X-Division Championship was not on the line in this one.

This was a good clash of styles, with Skyler using his power to slow down the speedy Trey. At one point, Trey was going for a running attack, but got cut down by a Springboard Spear by Skyler which looked good. Trey evaded a top rope move and hit two head kicks that staggered Skyler and left him prone for a Top Rope Meteora that kept him down for the three.

After the match, Trey was heading up the ramp when he got blindsided by Steve Maclin. Maclin then stole Trey’s title belt and clobbered Trey with it before dragging Trey’s body up the entrance ramp.

The match was fine. Skyler has no real personality or presence, so that really highlights how much Maclin does, as he continues to impress with his thuggery.

Winner: Trey Miguel

Somewhere in the back, Trey was tied up, bound, and gagged. Maclin was there and told him that he would never give up in fighting for a title shot, even if management wasn’t ready to give him one. This was pretty intense.

 

Match 4: Chris Bey (w/ Hikuleo) vs. Laredo Kid

The commentators were so full of hyperbole about the potential of this match that there was no way anyone could live up to the hype. That said, they really gave it their all to try. They started off pretty fast with some exchanges and counters. But when the action spilled to the floor, Bey took advantage of the distraction by Hikuleo and slowed things down by driving Laredo’s back into the side of the ring.

In the ring, Bey continued to slow the pace, beating on Laredo and distracting the ref so Hikuleo could get in some cheap shots as well. Kid dodged a Flying Elbow attempt and then took over, hitting Bey with a bizarre dive that saw Laredo criss-cross the ropes but do a 90-degree turn to do the jump onto Bey on the floor. Laredo tried to follow up with another top rope move, but Hikuleo threw him down to the floor as the show headed to a break.

When we returned, Bey was in control, but only briefly before Laredo came back, hitting some Moonsaults. But Bey hit a huge Head Kick and a Spinning Driver that got him a two-count. Bey went for a top rope move, but he cockily posed and taunted Laredo who instead hit him with a Super Driver for two. They both went up top and fought on the turnbuckles where Bey got the better of things. He ended up laying Laredo on the top rope and then hit a Double Stomp on him, for a close fall.

 

Bey went for the Art of Finesse, but Laredo Kid blocked it and flattened Bey. Hikuleo tried to interfere, but Kid stopped that noise with a Flying Dive to the floor that flattened Hikuleo. Bey used the time to recover and tried to end Laredo Kid with another top rope move attempt. Kid pushed him down and tried to put Bey away with a dive, but Bey timed it right and caught Laredo in the air with a Cutter that ended things.

This ended up being really good and the finish was a thing of beauty.

Winner: Chris Bey

They showed clips of Deonna Purrazzo coming to last weekend’s ROH Final Battle pay-per-view where she challenged the ROH Women’s Champion Rok-C to a future match. Purrazzo said she wanted to first beat Mickie James at Hard to Kill for James’ Knockouts Championship. And then her match with Rok-C would be for both titles. They showed clips of an autograph signing from earlier tonight where Purrazzo and James got into a verbal confrontation that escalated into a brawl.

Backstage, Impact Executive Vice-President Scott D’Amore and the newest Impact management team member Gail Kim chastised both Purrazzo and James and Matthew Rehwoldt, who was egging on Purrazzo during the brawl. D’Amore reinstituted the no-contact order between the two until their match at Hard to Kill. This time, it extends to Rehwoldt too and if he gets involved between the two, he’ll be fired. Gail then told them that their match at Hard to Kill would be a Texas Death Match.

 

Match 5: Tenille Dashwood (w/ Madsion Rayne and Kaleb) vs. Jessie McKay (w/ Cassie Lee)

This had all the hallmarks of a Wrestle House comedy match in the early moments, but when we returned from commercials, things had gotten more serious, with Tenille delivering some hard hits on McKay, using the ropes to great effect both as weapons or for assistance. Dashwood hit her Low Cross Body in the corner that nearly got her the win.

McKay fought back, and hit some hard shots. A big Split Kick had Tenille down, but Kaleb pulled the referee out of the ring before his hand could hit the mat for the third time. Kaleb accused Cassie of doing it, leading to a skirmish on the floor between Cassie and Madison. McKay came down there to punch out Madison, but when she tried to get back in the ring, Kaleb tripped her up. This left her prone to a Spotlight Kick by Tenille that ended things.

This ended up being pretty good after a silly start. The road towards the inevitable title match continues, and this feud could have some longevity.

Winner: Tenille Dashwood

 

Hard To Kill – Main Event Contract Signing

Scott D’Amore was in the ring and introduced the competitors in the Triple Threat match for the World Championship at Hard to Kill: W. Morrissey, Matt Cardona – who was accompanied by Chelsea Green – , and the champion, Moose. The competitors all sat down at a table that had been set up in the ring.

D’Amore offered Cardona the chance to sign the contract first, but Morrissey grabbed it away from Cardona. Morrissey said that he wasn’t interested in any typical contract signing shenanigans. He said he came to the company to win the world title, and that he would do that at the PPV. He signed the contract and left the ring.

Cardona was up next. He told Moose that Moose would never be able to take away his passion. He said that he will never be more ready to win the title than at Hard to Kill. He signed the contract.

Moose then took the mic. He asked Cardona to think about if he really wanted to go up against Moose, even though everyone knows Cardona will lose. Cardona scoffed, saying Moose was reluctant to sign because he’s scared of losing the title to Cardona. Moose signed the contract, making it official.

Moose said that Cardona has a tough challenge ahead of him. He then told Chelsea that she has a tough challenge ahead of her too. Because she thinks that Matt could be a top guy in the business. But after Moose beats him at the PPV, she has to decide whether to stay with “Mid Card-ona” or leave him like the “whore that you are.” This fired up Cardona and he got into Moose’s face. But then Moose slammed Cardona’s face into the table.

Cardona dove onto Moose and started punching him, but Moose got up and booted Cardona in the head before slamming him through the table. Moose posed over his body with the title as Chelsea could only look on in concern.

Moose left, but then stopped halfway up the ramp before going back into the ring, where he grabbed a chair and wrapped it around Cardona’s neck. He grabbed another chair to use with ill-intentions, but Chelsea grabbed it. Moose won the tug-of-war, but by this time Cardona had removed the chair from around his neck.

He tried to hit Moose with the chair, but Moose dodged it, and Cardona ended up cracking Chelsea in the head with the chair, knocking her out. Moose laughed as he made his way up the bank while Cardona screamed out for help.

 

This was very good on all points. People may not like the chair shot to the head, but it looked pretty safe and Chelsea sold it great. Morrissey’s no-nonsense attitude was perfectly played. And Moose’s evil grin as he walked away from the ring while Cardona panicked was just so dislikeable. This was about as effective a final build as you’ll see.

 

 

Impact: December 16th, 2021
4.5

Sam's Town - Las Vegas, NV

This show had a good mix of everything. From the great match between Bey and Laredo Kid, to the excellent closing segment, this was one that was worth watching.