With the ROH invasion going on, surprise turns and debuts happening regularly, and forbidden doors opening up all over the place, there was a real danger that the Impact World Championship storyline could have gotten lost in the shuffle. Fortunately, on Thursday’s episode of Impact, an intense brawl between challenger W. Morrissey – who hunted Moose down and attacked him in a hotel room – upped the hostility between the two, and put the attention back into their ongoing conflict.

That segment – short as it was – really showed a new level to Morrissey in particular, and makes it seem more likely that he’ll have Moose’s number when they face off for the title at No Surrender on February 19th.

 

Match 1: Matt Cardona vs. Jordynne Grace (c) – for the Digital Media Championship

Matt Cardona has a new entrance video that starts off with an image of his action figure, which is a neat touch. Interesting that this match would take place on TV – by definition, shouldn’t this title be more appropriately defended on the BTI YouTube show? Or as an Impact Plus exclusive?

Cardona has really been hitting the tanning bed – or the spray – lately. Serious, he hit Hulk Hogan levels of colour, here.

They started off with a show of sportsmanship and respectful of each other. Cardona even looked guilty after he Suplexed Grace into turnbuckles and it looked like she took a bad spill.

 

He got a bit more aggressive after that, but looked conflicted about hurting her. He was in control, but then Grace made some targeted attacks at his leg, and after she chopped him down, even got a close fall after a Jordynne Bomb.
Cardona ramped things up, though, and after a hard shot to the face, he hit a ReBoot, and was shocked when Grace kicked out.

That shock may have led to frustration because after that, Cardona’s tactics changed. He went to the floor to the timekeeper’s table where the title belt was sitting. He picked it up and looked like he was going to smash Grace with it, but the ref took it away from him. As the ref was giving it back to the timekeepers, Cardona picked up a chair and smashed her in the face with it. That staggered Grace and, with an evil smile, Cardona finished her off with Radio Silence to get the pin and capture the championship.

This was okay as far as the match goes, but even with a heel turn, Cardona managed to exude boringness. Seriously, in GCW this guy has personality up the wazoo. It’s like he’s two different performers, and unfortunately, Impact gets the boring paint-drying, grass-growing one. Hopefully he turns up the intensity now that he’s turned. Or if he keeps this bland persona, maybe that is the time to take him off TV and have him defend the title only online where we don’t have to suffer through it.

Winner, and new Digital Media Champion: Matt Cardona

The announcers said that there was some commotion in the back and threw to backstage where W. Morrissey was hunting down The Learning Tree. He beat up a bunch of Brian Myers’ flunkies and then stormed around until he saw Brian Myers, Zicky Dice, and VSK in a hallway.

 

He steamrolled over VSK and threw Dice through a door. He ran after Myers but a bunch of security guards blocked his path.

After the commercial, Impact Executive Vice-President Scott D’Amore was trying to calm Morrissey down. He said that Morrissey would get the chance to take on Myers in a No Disqualification match next week. Morrissey then said he would go find Moose. D’Amore reminded him that he is getting a title shot against Moose at No Surrender on February 19th. He told Morrissey to not tear up the backstage area because Moose was at his hotel and not even in the building. Morrissey, now having Moose’s location, was satisfied, and left – presumably with bad intentions.

Morrissey was great here.

 

Match 2: JONAH vs. Crazzy Steve (w/ Black Taurus and Rosemary)

Steve used his quickness and some mind games to try to confuse JONAH, but it didn’t take too long until JONAH’s brawn outsmarted Steve’s brain. After Steve ran into the wall-like JONAH and crashed hard, JONAH finished him off with a Flying Superfly Splash.

After the match, JONAH was going to hit another one, but Black Taurus defiantly stood in between JONAH and a prone Steve, and JONAH left.

 

This was a good, dominant win by JONAH, en route to an eventual fight with Black Taurus, which should be hella-fun.

Winner: JONAH

In the back, Gia Miller tried to get comments from Matt Cardona, who was heading towards the exit, to get an explanation for his actions against Jordynne Grace in their match. He was unapologetic and said it was all about him becoming the Digital Media Championship. Gia asked him how he thought his wife Chelsea Green would feel about his actions, and he brushed her off, suggesting Gia ask Jordynne’s husband Jonathan Gresham how it feels to be married to a loser.

Backstage, Kaleb and Madison Rayne were upset that they lost to the Iinspiration last week. But Madison said that when Tenille Dashwood comes back to action, she and Tenille will win the Knockouts Tag Team Championship. The Iinspiration came in with a present, and they gave it to Kaleb. They told him to not open it right away, but he did as soon as they left. It was a phone with a picture of the Iinspiration as the wallpaper. Madison saw it and told him to change the picture.

 

Match 3: Steve Maclin vs. Jonathan Gresham

Ian Riccaboni joined the commentary team for this one, while ROH Ambassador Cary Silkin and ROH ring announcer Bobby Cruise sat ringside. This one was not for Gresham’s ROH World Championship and would be competed under standard rules. These were the terms that Maclin requested in order to get a rematch with Gresham, who beat him in a Pure Rules match last time.

Maclin charged right at the bell, but Gresham used some of his quickness to dodge the attack and take over, out-wrestling Maclin and controlling him on the mat. For several minutes, Gresham held Maclin down with a series of headlocks, until Maclin finally used some dirty tactics to hurt Gresham, whiplashing Gresham’s neck on the top rope.

 

After that, Maclin took over and he punished Gresham with some hard power moves targeting Gresham’s spine, like a Backbreaker and Jumping Knee to the Back. Gresham was able to withstand the pian and got back to his feet. He had some luck fighting back, but got caught in a Springboard attempt and Maclin Powerslammed him and would have had him pinned but for Gresham reaching the rope to break the count.

An angry Maclin kept up the attack and even though Gresham was tied up in the ropes, Maclin kept pounding away. Maclin ignored the referee’s instructions and his five-count, so the referee had no choice but to disqualify him.

After the match, a still-angry Maclin put Gresham in the Tree of Woe and nailed him with The Crosshairs. He then put Gresham in a Boston Crab, and wouldn’t let go. Surprisingly, the Honor No More crew ran in to save Gresham, and they delivered a 4-on-1 beatdown to Maclin. As this was going on, Gresham rolled out to the floor, picked himself up, and headed to the back. Honor No More tried to get him to join them in the beating, but Gresham shrugged them off and kept walking.

This was really good, and the excellent chemistry these two showed in their first match carried through here. Maclin is really underrated and it’s great to see him getting a chance to show what he can do.

Winner: Jonathan Gresham

When Gresham got to the top of the ramp, Josh Alexander came out and met him there, and the two of them had a staredown. Alexander then headed to the ring for his match against Vincent.

 

Match 4: Josh Alexander vs. Vincent (w/ Honor No More)

Alexander used his technical prowess and power to dominate early on, but distraction from the rest of Honor No More from the outside allowed Vincent to take over. Vincent hit Alexander with moves attacking from different levels, surprising Alexander with his varied offense, including locking on a deep Standing Guillotine. But Alexander was able to power out of that and deadlift Vincent up for a huge Vertical Suplex.

Before Alexander could follow up with anything too major, the distractions again stopped his momentum and let Vincent capitalize. Vincent put Josh down and then hit sweet-looking Redrum (a big Flying Senton Splash) for a near fall.

 

Vincent tried for some kind of leg sweep, but Alexander reversed it and clamped on an Ankle Lock, until the rest of Honor No More interfered again, this time all hopping up to the apron and threatening Alexander. At that point, Sabin’s Impact brethren – Rich Swann, Chris Sabin, and Rhino – ran down to the ring to even the odds. As the ref tried to gain control, Vincent levelled Josh with a  vicious kick in the ring.

Vincent went for a Sliced Bread, but his ankle – still smarting from the Ankle Lock earlier – gave out. Alexander grabbed the ankle again, dropped a knee on it, and then reapplied the Ankle Lock, giving Vincent no choice but to tap out.

After the ring, Kenny King ran into the ring and blind-sided Alexander, flattening him with a huge F-5 Backslam type move. The Impact crew ran in for the save as King and Honor No More taunted them from the ramp.

This was a good match, and a good build of the storyline. Kenny King allying himself with HNM is an interesting development, but his debut felt a bit flat, as it didn’t seem like a lot of people in the audience recognized him.

Winner: Josh Alexander

Morrissey was shown walking down a hotel hallway. He got to a room and kicked in the doorway. It was Moose’s suite and when Morrissey saw Moose, he immediately attacked. They brawled around the room, and into the kitchen where Morrissey shoved Moose’s head in the freezer and slammed the door on Moose’s head repeatedly, before throwing him into the camera and killing the feed.

This was a good brawl that really showcased Morrissey’s intensity. Check out some of his facial reactions in this one – they were particularly fantastic.

 

Backstage, Honor No More were celebrating their earlier shenanigans, including the arrival of King, who allied himself with HNM. They talked up their match against the Impact crew at No Surrender, saying that they’ve already lost everything, so have nothing to lose in that match. And when they win that match, they will be taking over Impact.

 

Match 5: John Skyler vs. Bhupinder Gujjar

This was a good back-and-forth match early on, with the advantage changing hands a few times. Gujjar hit the first real big move of the night, hitting a nice Scoop Slam on a Skylar running charge attempt. Shortly thereafter, Gujjar hit a Flying Shoulder Tackle off the middle ropes and got the pin.

After the match, Raj Singh came down to celebrate with Gujjar, but Gujjar rebuffed him and left the ring.

This was a fairly standard match. Gujjar has size, skills, and a look, but just lacks in experience. Not sure pairing him up with Singh wouldn’t be better for him at this stage of the game, but we’ll see where this leads.

Winner: Bhupinder Gujjar

They showed clips of Knockouts Champion Mickie James’ appearance in last week’s WWE Royal Rumble match. They showed her entrance, her elimination of Michelle McCool, and her elimination by Lita.

Gia Miller then interviewed Mickie about the Rumble. Mickie said she was proud to represent Impact, but disappointed that she didn’t win the match.

Tasha Steelz and Savannah Evans interrupted her and mocked Mickie losing the Rumble. Steelz said that she would beat Mickie at No Surrender and then did an impression of Mickie making a concession speech about losing the title to Tasha. Things were about to get physical when Chelsea Green came in to even up the odds and Tasha and Savannah left. Mickie then thanked Green for having her back and being a friend. And in the spirit of that friendship, Mickie wanted to offer Green a match next week. It wouldn’t be a title match, since Mickie is committed to defending against Tasha at No Surrender. But rather it would be a friendly competitive match between friends. They hugged and an excited Chelsea left.

This could be interesting. With Cardona’s heel turn earlier, could Green be following in his footsteps next week, and turn the friendly competition into a fight?

Also, it really is kind of surreal to see WWE clips on Impact.

A quick hype video aired for the Quintessential Diva Gisele Shaw. She is coming.

 

Match 6: Masha Slamovich vs. Kaci Lennox

For the past few weeks, Masha has been squashing opponents. This one was no different. It took about three big moves, the final one being the Russian Death Device (a Snow Plow) for Masha to get the win.

 

Masha is killing it. Nothing more to be said about this one.

Winner: Masha Slamovich

Backstage, Gia Miller asked Deonna Purrazzo why she walked out of Mickie James’ State of the Knockouts Division address last week. Purrazzo said that she didn’t need to hear what Mickie had to say because Deonna is the Knockouts Division. She ran down her resume, including her two current championships – the Ring of Honor Women’s Title and the AAA Reina de Reinas Title, and said that next week she will make an open challenge to anyone who wants to compete for either one of them.

 

Match 7: The Bullet Club (Chris Bey, “Switchblade” Jay White, and the Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa)) vs. Jake Something, “Speedball” Mike Bailey, Ace Austin, and Mad Man Fulton

Before the match, Fulton and Austin tried to buddy up with Bailey, though they appeared to be indifferent towards Something, and it appeared he didn’t really trust them too much either.

This started off hot with Bailey and Bey exchanging fast moves, until Bailey got trapped in the wrong corner. After taking hits from every Bullet Club member, Bailey was able to get to his corner, but the dissension between Something and the others allowed the Bullet Club to run over and get in some cheap shots.

Fulton was able to catch Bey and slam him hard on the apron and then he took over, hitting an impressive Flying Clothesline on Bey, and then battering Bey’s back with a Cross Body Splash. Austin and Fulton refused to tag in their other partners and simply took turns beating up on Bey.

But Bey was finally able to get to his corner, and this led to a nice little sequence between Bailey and White followed by one between Fulton and the G.O.D. who nailed him with a Magic Killer in an apparent diss to the Good Brothers.

 

Then for a while, the referee stopped enforcing any rules then and allowed anyone to come in for as long as they wanted, which was unfortunate.

In the end, with most people down, only Something was available for Austin to tag, but Austin still refused. It wasn’t until Austin got knocked down into his own corner that Something was able to tag himself in, doing so with a hard chop to Austin’s chest.

Something hit a series of power moves on the BC members, but their seamless teamwork – and more bad reffing – allowed them to swarm him. White and the G.O.D. held him up for an Art of Finesse by Bey and all four of them surrounded Something as he got pinned. Again, the ref allowed this, looking completely incompetent and impotent in the process.

After the match, Violent By Design and the Good Brothers ran into the ring and attacked the Bullet Club. The show ended with that brawl taking place in the ring.

The Bullet Club stuff feels so disconnected from everything else on the show that it really seems out of place. And judging from the crowd reaction, it all seems kind of flat. It hasn’t helped that Impact hasn’t done anything to educate the fans on this faction and why they are supposed to be a threat… other than the mysterious power they have over referees to make them forget to enforce the rules. There were some neat moments in this one, but overall? Meh.

 Winners: The Bullet Club

 

Impact Wrestling - February 3rd, 2022
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Charles F. Dodge City Center - Pembroke, FL

This was a pretty busy episode with a lot of matches and a lot of stories going on. The centerpiece segment between Moose and Morrissey was different enough from everything else that it stood out – and distinguishing the world title program from everything else is a good thing. The Knockouts Division continues to intrigue, and the ROH invasion storyline continues to heat up. Also… can we get a Gresham vs. Maclin best-of-7 series, please? On the other hand, there’s still the Bullet Club stuff that is doing VBD no favours… and (yawn) Matt Cardona.