Greetings and Salutations! We are on the eve of the Impact+ special, Sacrifice. I will be in attendance live so be sure to check out my article Saturday AM as I will be reporting on the in-person experience from Windsor, Ontario. Scheduled on this go-home show is:

  • Bully Ray and NE GCW Champion Masha Slamovich VS Tommy Dreamer and Mickie James
  • Time Machine (Motor City Machine Guns & KUSHIDA) VS The Design (Deaner, Kon & Angels)
  • Deonna Purrazzo VS Savannah Evans

I am sure that we will also see story progression as we head to Sacrifice so without further ado, let’s get to it.

The show starts with a recap from last weeks show and we get right into the action.

Time Machine (Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, & KUSHIDA) VS The Design (Deaner, Kon, & Angels) w/ Callihan

The match started off as a great 50/50 affair. This didn’t last long as Sabin and Shelley double teamed Angels and put a target on his arm to set him up for KUSHIDA’s Hoverboard lock. Time Machine did a great job of making sure Angels can’t tag out as they cut the ring in half. KUSHIDA tags into the match and hits  baseball slide on Angels. Kon in the ring and KUSHIDA with a Handspring kick and then a dive onto the The Design on the outside of the ring.

Back to the action in the ring and Angels was back in the match. Angels and Deaner hit a double clothesline in a doomsday device off the shoulders of Kon on KUSHIDA for a 2-count. Sabin comes into the match and connects with a Missile Dropkick on Kon. This kicked off the multi-person trope of everyone hitting a big move one by one. This continued until Angels was left alone in the ring against Time Machine. Time Machine was ready to get to to work on Angels but Callihan enters the ring to protect Angels and gets beaten down via Dropkicks from Shelley and Sabin. Angels is ready to take everyone out with a dive but KUSHIDA flies out of nowhere and locked in the Hoverboard lock on, and Angels could not do anything but tap out.

Winners: Time Machine (Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, & KUSHIDA)

After the match The Design was seen leaving and Callihan was making his case that he was trying to protect Deaner.

We get a back and forth confrontation between Rosemary and your new Knockouts champions, KiLynn King and Taylor Wilde. Wilde was called a charlton and the champions were taken back.

We see a re-packaged Raj Singh in a Vegas-Style promo. Champagne Singh says that he always wins at the casino.

Backstage we see Eddie Edwards and Kenny King. They mentioned that they reconciled after Jay Briscoe’s funeral. King vows to help put Edwards on ice.

Deonna Purrazzo VS Savannah Evans (w/ Gisele Shaw & Jai Vidal)

The match was fairly even with back and forth until Shaw and Vidal distracted Purrazzo tio give Evans the advantage. Purrazzo came back and slapped Evans. Evans comes right back with a Shouler block while Purrazzo was in the corner. Evans was now mocking Purrazzo and this angered Purrazzo enough to vome right bck with clubbing elbows and a Yakuza kick to Evans. Purrazzo then went for her famous Fujiwara Armbar but Evans was able to block it.  Purrazzo made an effort to lock that Fujiwara Armbar for the net little bit but Evans was able to block it or get out of it. Evans catches Purrazzo and goes for a Chokeslam but Purrazzo counters it and once agian went for a Fujuwara Armbar but Evans blcoked it. Purrazzo, unphased went for a Flying Forearm and a Side Russian Leg Sweep and rolled thourgh the sweep to finally lock in the Fujiwara Armbar but Evans made it to the ropes for a rope break.

Evans made her way back up and got some offense in and went for a Full Nelson but Purrazzo blocked it and was about to go for a Heat Seeking Pilediver until Shaw distracts the ref. Vidal grabbed Purrazzo and Evans went for a kick but Purrazzo moved out of the way and hit a Crucifix Driver on Evans for the win.

Winner: Deonna Purrazzo

After the match Shaw, Vidal and Evans bet down on Purrazo. Evans hits the Full Nelson Slam and Shaw followed that up with a Running Knee nailing Purrazzo out to keep her laid out on the Mat.

The Death Dollz are backstage and they are all upset about losing their tag titles. Jessika mentioned that she was going to confront The Coven and get their magic. Somehow Jessika found a casket and when she opened it a light came out of it and Taya Valkyrie closed it shut as they are trying to make sure Jessika doesn’t remember being Havok. As they were talking a hand comes out of the casket and grabs Valkyrie into it thus sending her to AEW for good.

Bully Ray & Masha Slamovich VS Tommy Dreamer & Mickie James

Bully Ray was in the ring and mocked James wanting a fight with her. James accepts and gets to Ray’s face. Slamovich wanted in and Ray tagged her in. Slamovich and Ray kept tagging in and out toying with James but Ray eventually hit a bodyslam and tagged out to Slamovich for good. James got the upperhand and tagged Dreamer into the match who ran straight for Ray. Dreamer with a Cutter for a 2-count due to Slamovich coming in for the save. James runs in and hits a Lou Thesz press on Slamovich. Dreamer back up and he and James hit Stereo Clotheslines to Ray and Slamovich.

Dreamer and James with the momentum in the match. Dreamer grabbed Ray by the legs in a Wishbone Split. James with the Ol Dudley Headbutt on the gonads of Ray. This now has Dreamer and James grabbing a table but Slamovich intercepts and hits a Dive on James. Ray hits a Low Blow on Dreamer and hits a Piledriver for the win.

Winners: Bully Ray & Masha Slamovich

After the match, Slamovich asked Ray to Powerbomb James through a table and Ray obliges. Ray sets up James for a Powerbomb but Jordynne Graces came out for the save. Grace goes to Spear Ray but he moves out of the way and ends up hitting James. Classic….

In the back, Frankie Kazarian tells Swann to talk with Josh Alexander to clear the air since they will team up at Sacrifice and wants to ensure they are all on the same page.

Steve Maclin was seen in Josh Alexander’s locker room and was rummaging through his bag. Swann walked in and stopped him. Maclin claimed that Alexander knew about this.

Joe Hendry cuts a quick in-ring promo and is joined by Dirty Dango. Hendry was trying to speak but Dango tlaked over him. Hendry seemed a bit annoyed by Dango. Hendry said that there are two works to say about him and Dango yelled “Suck it”. Hendry again seemed annoyed but played it cool. This leads us into the next match…

Moose & Brian Myers VS Joe Hendry & Dango

Myers and Hendry are in the ring and Hendry hits a Stalling Vrtical Suplex on him. Dango was tagged in and started to Dance causing Cool Guy Moose to start twitching his leg in rhythm until Moose slapped his leg to stop it. Moose tagged in. Dango and Hendry teamed up and knocked Moose and Myers out of the ring. Dango now mocking Moose and almost got him to do the DX sign. Moose now back in the ring and he picks up the intensity as he sends Dango to the corner. Myers and Moose are now teaming up in Dango but after a few minutes, Dango hits a European Uppercut from the middle rope onto Moose to get the opening to make the Hot Tag to Hendry.

Hendry ran in and took out Myers with a bunch of clotheslines. Hendry with a Fallaway slam on Myers and then hit a running Cutter and went for the pin. The pin was only good for a 2-count. Myers loses control of the match as Hendry hits a Popup Powerbomb and went for the pin but Moose broke it up. Moose ends up hitting a Spear on Hendry giving Myers the chance to hit the Roster Cut to get the win!

Winners: Moose & Brian Myers 

In the back, Swann finally goes to Josh Alexander to clear the air and makes mention of Steve Maclin going through his stuff. Alexander seemed surprised and had no idea about this. A now annoyed Josh Alexander said that he will handle this in the ring…

Josh Alexander is Angry…

Josh Alexander is in the ring and said that he respects Maclin for many reasons including his service to the US military but then said that Maclin is afraid of him. Alexander said that Maclin has waited for others to wear him down because if he lost he would be a soldier without a mission and a forgotten son.

Maclin comes out and said that Alexander was right. Maclin said that he is indeed afraid of failing and waited for the right time to challenge Alexander for the title. Maclin said that he is absolutely obsessed with winning the title. Maclin said that he has been watching Alexander closely for over a year. Maclin shows us footage of him studying and watching Alexander for all this time. Alexander said that he is a fighting champion and would fight Maclin right now. Maclin said no and said that he’s going to wait to fight Alexander in his hometown of Toronto at Rebellion. Alexander and Maclin stare at each other as this feud intensified.

End Scene….

Final Card for Sacrifice on March 24, 2023.

  • Frankie Kazarian, Josh Alexander, and Rich Swann vs. Time Machine (Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, and KUSHIDA)
  • IMPACT Knockouts Championship Match: Mickie James (c) vs. Jordynne Grace
  • IMPACT World Tag Team Championship Match: Bullet Club (Ace Austin and Chris Bey) (c) vs. TMDK (Bad Dude Tito and Shane Haste)
  • IMPACT X-Division Championship Match: Trey Miguel (c) vs. Mystery Opponent
  • IMPACT Digital Media Championship Match: Joe Hendry (c) vs. Brian Myers
  • Busted Open Match: Tommy Dreamer vs. Bully Ray
  • Deonna Purrazzo vs. Gisele Shaw
  • Jonathan Gresham vs. Mike Bailey
  • PCO vs. Kenny King

Breaking News: It appears Mickie James is injured at won’t be wrestling at Sacrifice. This news came out via a tweet from Impact Wrestling:

 

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Impact: March 23, 2023

This was another weak episode Impact as some of the stories aren’t intriguing to me. I am not a fan of Mickie James playing second fiddle to Dreamer and Ray. James should be heavily featured week in and week out. The writing off of Taya Valkyrie was so cheesy but on par with how Impact writes off its characters. The best part of this show was the intense stand-off between Steve Maclin and Josh Alexander. The build towards Rebellion will now go into Full Gear and this was a great start to this feud. Overall, an okay but missable show. I hope Sacrifice is fun!