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Impact: Bully and friends bully Shelley and friends

Bob Kapur

With five titles changing hands at last weekend’s Slammiversary event, and with multiple people having a claim to contend for those titles, there are plenty of combustible elements at play in the Impact Wrestling main event picture. On Thursday night’s edition of Impact, those elements all collided and exploded  – thanks to a catalyst by the name of Bully Ray. It was an explosive conclusion to a strong show full of good matches and the right way to follow up on the pay-per-view.

The show started off with Impact President Scott D’Amore in the ring in front of an appreciative hometown crowd. He thanks the crowd for making Slammiversary  one of the most amazing nights of his life. He says being in the ring reunited with Team Canada members A-1 and Eric Young and NHL legend Darren McCarty was a huge honour for him. He said that now that he has finished his business with Bully Ray, he’s heading back to the office of President. D’Amore previews what we’ll see tonight, including Dirty Dango taking on Santino Marella, ABC getting their Tag Team Championship rematch against the new champs Subculture, a statement from Josh Alexander who returned to action at the PPV, and a match featuring Jake Something, who also made his return.

D’Amore was cut off by the Good Hands – John Skyler and Jason Hotch – who came to the ring and badmouthed him. They threatened to give D’Amore a beating, but D’Amore wasn’t fazed. He made the match between the Good Hands against Rich Swann and Sami Callihan, who made their entrance.

 

Match 1: The Good Hands (John Skyler and Jason Hotch) vs. Rich Swann and Sami Callihan

Swann and Callihan started off hot, but they were perhaps too fired up, and the Good Hands capitalized, sending Swann hard to the floor and slamming Callihan hard on the canvas. The Good Hands double-teamed Swann for a while, until he was able to escape and tag in Callihan, who hit moves on both Hands simultaneously. He hit a really high DVD on Hotch, planting him on the back of his neck, but Skyler made the save. Swann dispatched Skyler with a big Boot to the Head, and then Swann and Callihan hit a Double-Team Crucifix Slam on Hotch to put him down for the 1-2-3.

 

This was a fine opener. The Good Hands’ presentation is better without Brian Myers hanging around, simply by virtue of being without Brian Myers. Swann and Callihan make an interesting team and it will see how long and how far they go in the division.

Winners: Rich Swann and Sami Callihan

In the back, the ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) weren’t happy about having lost their Tag Team Championship at Slammiversary, putting a lot of the blame for that on the Rascalz interfering in the match. But they said they would regroup and regain the titles tonight. The Rascalz – Pete Wentz and Trey Miguel – walked in and trash-talked them, leading to a brawl that Security had to break up. Scott D’Amore ran in and hollered at the Rascalz, then had Security kick them out of the building.

After the room had been cleared out, Johnny Swinger and Zicky Dice strolled onto the scene. Swinger claimed that he’s had dozens of wins but each time they have been overturned by Director of Authority Santino Marella. With D’Amore taking on the DOA role tonight, as Santino is in a match, Swinger pleaded his case to D’Amore, saying he wants a fair shake so he can get his 50 wins which will earn him a championship match. D’Amore walked back that 50-win stipulation and told Swinger if he got only one win, he would get the title match. And set up a match between Swinger and Dice. D’Amore then said that if Swinger lost the match, he would be fired from Impact. Swinger and Dice plotted to have Zicky throw the match, but then D’Amore clarified and said that whichever one of them lost would be fired. Swinger and Dice stared each other down as D’Amore walked away smiling.

Backstage, Gia Miller interviewed Eric Young and welcomed him back from the dead and back to Impact. Eric said he was happy to be back, and he will tell his full story in time, and that a big part of his story is about evolution and change. As he was talking, Nick Aldis sauntered in and tried to form an alliance with Eric Young, saying they shared a love of tradition and history that newer stars don’t. Young said that he isn’t bound to history and won’t let Aldis put him in a box. Young said that in the spirit of tradition, the two of them should go out to the ring and have a match. Aldis agreed and they shook on it.

A video recapped Jake Something’s return to the company at Slammiversary, leading to…

Match 2: Jake Something vs. Kevin Knight

Jake has a new haircut and that with the beard gives him a very 1988 Hercules Hernandez look. He starst the match by battering Knight like this was a 1988 Wrestling Spotlight jobber match, but Knight fires up and makes this a contest after hitting a Springboard Dive that flattens Something on the floor.

 

Knight takes control for a while, but when Knight tries to use his speed to take Something down again, he runs into a brick wall and gets knocked silly. Knight comes back again, but when he goes for a Hurancarana off the top, Something catches him and hits a Super Sit-out Powerbomb off the top – but Knight unbelievably kicks out at 2! Knight continues to use his explosive offense, even shaking off a clubbing Clothesline and stunning Something with a huge High Cross Body. Knight looks to end things with a Springboard Knee, but Something avoids it, and then hits a huge Boss Man Slam on Knight for the pin.

This was a good and competitive match and was a strong showcase for both of these guys. If there’s one complaint, it’s that there was nothing after that big Powerbomb off the top that was at that level of impressiveness – they really should have ended it there, especially since Something was going to win anyway.

Winner: Jake Something

A preview video airs for Emergence, which takes place on August 27th in Toronto, Ontario.

 

Match 3: Courtney Rush (w/ Jessicka) vs. Savannah Evans (w/ Gisele Shaw and Jai Vidal)

Evans’ entrance didn’t air and only the last few seconds of Courtney’s did, which may suggest how much importance this match is perceived to have. Maybe it’s Courtney’s new wardrobe but it looks like she’s trimmed down in the weeks since she’s changed from Rosemary. She was able to put on a good match, despite the limitations of Evans. After a pretty good power battle, interference from Shaw on the outside led to Courtney getting Avalanched by Evans in the corner. But before Evans could go for the pin, she was distracted by the sight of Jessicka getting revenge for her partner by smashing Shaw’s head into the ring post on the floor. At the same time, Jody Threat ran down to ringside to take Vidal out of the equation by carrying him to the back.

 

Evans stomped over to the corner to save her allies and took her eye off Rush. That would be her undoing as she ran into a huge Spear by Rush and couldn’t kick out of the pin.

This was pretty much an angle to presumably set up a six-person tag match.

Winner: Courtney Rush

A highlight reel aired on the new Knockouts Champion, Trinity. She said that she has dreamed about being part of the Knockouts Division as she appreciates its history and legacy, and is proud to follow in the footsteps of past champions.

The Coven cut a pre-taped promo, saying that they are looking to regain their Knockouts Tag Team Championship that they lost to Killer Kelly and Masha Slamovich (who apparently are going by the team name MK-Ultra). And as a first step, they are going to make a statement when they beat Trinity and Dani Luna tonight.

A video highlight package aired touting Impact’s Slammiversary weekend celebrations in Windsor, Ontario. It was noted that this was the highest-attended event for Impact Wrestling in four years.

Tom Hannifan did a sit-down interview with Jonathan Gresham. Gresham said that he wanted to address his not winning the X-Division Championship at the Ultimate-X match at Slammiversary. Gresham complained about the fact that the match was contested under a No Rules stipulation, while he is all about having rules in matches, something that he fought for when he was the Pure Champion in Ring of Honor. He said that the lack of rules might be a signal to him that he doesn’t have a place here anymore.

 

Match 4: Dirty Dango vs. Santino Marella

Dango tried to stall, which seemed like a good tactic, since Marella was able to use his judo and submission skills on Dango when they finally locked up. Dango stopped the onslaught by snapping Santino’s neck on the ropes and then targeted Santino’s back. Santino tried to fight back, but when he picked up Dango for a slam or a throw, his back gave out, allowing Dango to continue the attack. Dango went up top for a Flying Twisting Senton, but Santino moved and Dango crashed to the mat. Santino got up and was ready to end things with the Cobra, but someone in riot gear ran to the ring, jumped up on the apron and stole the puppet, thwarting the move. Santino turned to confront the mysterious interloper and got clobbered from behind by Dango. The hit sent Santino’s head colliding into the mystery man’s helmet, and he was knocked silly and prone for an easy pin by Dango.

 

After the match, the attacker removed his helmet to reveal himself as John E. Bravo. If anyone could use the mask to hide that face, it’s Bravo. Dango and Bravo celebrated as they cockily made their way up the ramp.

This was good for what it was, with Marella showing that he’s still got some chops. It was good that, since this was billing this as a grudge match, he didn’t do any comedy during the match – and even with the Cobra attempt, he didn’t do the big exaggerated movements that he normally does to elicit the laughs, so even that was treated pretty seriously. Bravo is a good hate-able stooge character, so pairing him with Dango could have potential.

Winner: Dirty Dango

In the back, Gisele Shaw and Savannah Evans were heading to the dressing room to change. They bumped into MK-Ultra and tried to intimidate them but MK-Ultra were having none of that noise. Evans and Shaw turned to find a detour, when Jody Threat walked up to them and dumped Jai Vidal on the floor in front of them, warning them to never again force her to make Vidal behave. She left, and Shaw and Evans tried to coax Vidal to get up and go with them. Vidal, though, was curled up in the fetal position, trembling in fear, which was funny.

Alisha and Eddie Edwards were in the back cutting a promo badmouthing Frankie Kazarian and Traci Brooks, and guess who stormed in. Brooks and Alisha started scuffling and their men-folk joined in, forcing the Security team to run in and pull everyone apart.

 

Match 5: ABC (Ace Austin and Chris Bey) vs. Subculture (Mark Andrews and “Flash” Morgan Webster) (w/ Dani Luna) (c) – for the World Tag Team Championship

For a guy named “Flash”, somebody should tell his face. Seriously, dead people have had more vibrant facial expressions. There were some really quick exchanges at the top of the match at a quick – but not ludicrous speed. Subculture took control and spent some time isolating Austin in their corner, both inside and out of the ring, including with a nice Springboard Dive to the floor. They hammered him with various shots and smashes, but Austin finally broke free and tagged in Bey, who fired away with kicks and smashes of his own. Bey hit a nice Brain Buster on Andrews for a 2-count, and later ABC hit a nice Double-Team Torture Rack Kick for what looked like should have been a 3-count.

The match really picked up after that both in terms of speed an intensity. Subculture hit Bey with a really nifty Knee-Lift into a Poison-Rana, but Austin broke up the pin just in time.

 

Webster hit Austin with a huge Flying Dive to the floor, and that was followed up with Bey hitting a Flying Somersault Splash on both the champs.

ABC went for their finishing move, the One Too Sweet  (an Art of Finesse followed by The Fold) on Andrews, but Webster broke up the attempt. As Andrew and Austin went down to the floor, in the ring, Bey went for a Brain Buster on Andrews, but it got reversed into a Stundog Millionaire. All four men were down at this point, and that’s when the Rascalz – who managed to sneak their way back into the building after having been ejected earlier – hit the ring. Wentz distracted the ref and that allowed Trey to hit Webster with a Meteora off the ring steps and on to the floor (hopefully not injuring himself in the process, as when he got up, Miguel seemed to be limping).

 

After that damage, the Rascalz high-tailed it out of there. In the meantime, Bey and Andrews had a series of roll-up attempts, which Andrews finally won, and he was able to hold Bey’s shoulders down for the three-count.

This was a really good match that went a long time, but never felt long or like they had overstayed their welcome. The crowd was hot throughout, and the action kept coming. The biggest complaint is that while the Rascalz interfered and took out Austin, that really had no bearing on the outcome of the match. The ending roll-up sequence went on for a little while after their attack so it was too distant to have been affected by the run-in. And even with Austin out, Subculture didn’t use the man advantage for the win – Andrews rolled up Bey cleanly. So the attack didn’t really matter.

Winners, and still World Tag Team Champions: Subculture

A highlight reel aired of the X-Division Championship match that saw Lio Rush beat Chris Sabin for the title after he attacked Sabin before the match, injuring him. The commentators said there was no update on Sabin’s condition since that match.

 

Josh Alexander returns to the Impact Zone

Before the commercial break, Josh Alexander made his way to the ring to talk about his return at Slammiversary. Unfortunately, when the show came back, there was no audio in the Fight Network feed, so you couldn’t hear the crowd cheering for him and chanting “Walking Weapon”. He took the mic, but unfortunately my lip-reading skills are as bad as Bart Simpson’s (“I assumed I could.”) so I have little idea what he said. I was able to make out something about him being back, and him coming back better than ever.

He clearly looked determined and had his game-face on, and is committed to getting back the World Championship that he had to surrender because of injury and that he never lost. He mentioned Steve Maclin, who never beat him to become champion.

As he talked, the man who beat Maclin for the gold, the World Champion Alex Shelley came to the ring. Shelley was even harder to lip-read because he’s kind of mush-mouthed and they didn’t always film him head-on. He said something about one of them having to wake up. They looked at each other for a minute, but then were interrupted by the entrance of X-Division Champion Lio Rush.

Rush came to the ring and grabbed a mic. He was even more difficult to lip-read because they didn’t show his face for much of the promo, instead showing Shelley’s reactions to what Rush was saying. He did reference exercising “Option C” which, for you non-Impact-regulars allows the X-Division Champion to surrender the title in exchange for a World Championship match.

Before Shelley could respond, Kushida’s entrance video aired on the big screen and he walked down to the ring, wearing the big Red X that he won in the Ultimate-X match at Slammiversary, which he can cash in for an X-Division Championship match at any point. It looked like he told Lio that Lio wouldn’t be able to cash in Option C, because Kushida was going to beat him for the title first.

These proceedings were then interrupted by Bully Ray who came out to the entrance ramp. As everyone turned to look at him, they were blindsided by Bully’s new henchmen Brian Myers and Moose. That unholy trio then clobbered everyone not named Lio Rush who scrambled up the turnbuckle and seated himself away from the fray. Bully held up Shelley and directed Lio to brain the champ with the X-Division title. Lio didn’t and instead slid out of the ring, so Bully, Myers, and Moose beat up Shelley instead as the show came to a close.

 

Editor’s Note: The company has since posted the entire segment on YouTube – you can watch it below:

Impact Wrestling - July 20th, 2023
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St. Clair College Sportsplex – Windsor, ON

Though the technical issues marred the concluding segment, it didn’t really “impact” the overall quality of the rest of the show. The Tag Team championship match was very good and worth going out of your way to see. The rest of the show was strong as well, and was certainly helped by the raucous crowd who seemed to enjoy everything they saw.

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