Impact: Everybody’s hunting for Moose

Bob Kapur

Impact: Everybody’s hunting for Moose

After last week’s detour to visit Wrestle House, Impact went back to the normal playbook on Thursday night, as it began the push to its next big PPV, Hard to Kill. With several people eyeing for the World Championship, currently around the waist of Moose, there are a few possible directions they could go. And while Matt Cardona was able to hit the target during the main event, it was W. Morrissey that may have hit the kill shot. All of which lead to some intriguing possibilities of what’s to come.

Matt Cardona calls out Moose

Matt Cardona came to the ring to kick off the show. After whining and complaining about the way he didn’t the World Championship in the three-way match against Moose and W. Morrissey at Turning Point, he then said he wasn’t there to whine and complain about it. He then called out Moose and the World Champion obliged him by slowly stalking his way down to the ring.

Moose condescendingly mocked Cardona’s chances of beating him, and christened him as “Mid Card-ona,” which was a great line. But instead of appreciating the cleverness, Cardona attacked Moose, taking him down and then putting the boots to Moose. W. Morrissey ran in and saved Moose, and then the two of them beat Cardona down until Eddie Kingston ran in for the save. He and Cardona cleaned Morrissey and Moose out of the ring to end the segment. This was a fine opening segment. That said, does anyone want Myers as champion, much less in a title program?

A Violent By Design promo aired. Eric Young said that VBD will be bringing pain to everyone on their way to claiming Tag Team Championship gold.

Backstage, Matt Cardona went up to Impact Executive Vice-President Scott D’Amore, who said that he has booked a tag team match for tonight’s main event: Cardona and Edwards against Moose and Morrissey.

After Cardona left, Rachael Ellering and Jordynne Grace came up to D’Amore and said they want to be in the Knockouts Ultimate X match at Hard to Kill. Before he could say anything, Tasha Steelz and Savannah Evans walked in, and bad-mouthed Ellering and Grace. D’Amore said that he would announce the participants in the Ultimate X match next week. But tonight, Savannah and Ellering would compete one-on-one.

Match 1: Mathew Rehwoldt (w/ Deonna Purrazzo) vs. Chris Sabin

During the introductions, they showed a clip from ImpactWrestling.com where Rehwoldt challenged Sabin to this match in somewhat confusing fashion. Purrazzo joined Matt Striker and D’Lo Brown at the commentary table, and talked about her need to go back to basics to re-climb her way back to the Knockouts mountaintop.

The match started off with some strong technical work by Sabin, but Rehwoldt was able to cool Sabin’s jets with a hard European Uppercut that sent Sabin from the apron to the floor on the outside. Rehwoldt took over, hitting Sabin from all angles with elbows and forearms. Sabin fired back with some kicks, and soon Rehwold was in trouble. This sent Purrazzo scrambling from the desk and on to the apron. She would prove to be the distraction there, and when Sabin turned around, he was hit by a Flying Knee and then End Scene by Rehwoldt. This likely should have been the end of the match, but Sabin kicked out. After that, Knockout Champion Mickie James ran down the ramp and she and Purrazzo brawled on the outside of the ring, with Mickie getting the best of things when she reversed a whip and sent Purrazzo hard into the ring post. In the ring, Sabin avoided Air Rehwoldt and shortly thereafter hit the Cradle Shock for the pin.

This was a decent enough match, though it probably should have ended earlier and with a different result.

Winner: Chris Sabin

In the back, Scott D’Amore was explaining to Chelsea Green that the winner of the Knockouts Ultimate X match would get a future Knockouts Championship match. Green wanted him to name the participants tonight, but he said it would have to wait until next week. As she left, Alisha ran up to Scott demanding he name the competitors right then and there, but he wouldn’t. Then, Jai Vidal ran up to him and asked for a match. D’Amore said that he had an opponent for him: Jonah. This news had Vidal questioning his vitality.

Match 2: Jai Vidal vs. Jonah

Jonah, if you are not aware, is the former NXT star Bronson Reed, who made his debut at Turning Point, when he attacked and injured Josh Alexander.

This was an 80s Saturday morning show style squash. Jonah ran through Jai Vidal like a runaway train, ending things with a Superfly Splash.

After the match, Jonah grabbed a mic and stated his intention was to win the World Championship. But before he did that, he wanted to send a message to Josh Alexander: that to be the best in the world, you have to go through the “Top Dog.”

This was a perfect in-ring debut.

Winner: Jonah

Gia Miller interviewed Trey Miguel who said that he was happy to have retained the X-Division Championship against Laredo Kid and Steve Maclin at Turning Point. But he wasn’t 100% satisfied because, although he had both men covered at the same time, Maclin kicked out. Trey said that his goal is to be the first person to pin or submit Maclin. Maclin then ran in and attacked Trey, and they brawled in the interview area. Maclin tried to choke out Trey with an extension cord, but security pulled him off of Trey. As he fought with them, Miguel climbed a mountain of equipment cases, and he hit Maclin and the security squad with a Somersault Splash, wiping everyone out.

A promo video aired for the upcoming Throwback Throwdown II special, taking place on December 18th on the Impact Plus streaming service.

In the back, Brian Myers’ Learning Tree students, Zicky Dice and VSK, called Myers on the phone to apologize for losing at Turning Point, but he hung up on them. They said they were going to face Rich Swann and Willie Mack tonight to try to turn things around.

Elsewhere in the back, Moose told Morrissey that they had to be on the same page tonight to stop Matt Cardona’s momentum, because if Cardona won the title, Morrissey would never get a shot. Morrissey called Moose out on his BS, saying that despite having Moose’s back so far, he hasn’t yet received the title shot Moose promised him. Moose said that if Morrissey helped him beat Cardona, Moose would give Morrissey the first title shot.

Match 3: Savannah Evans (w/ Tasha Steelz) vs. Rachael Ellering (w/ Jordynne Grace)

They showed UFC fighter Anthony Pettis in the crowd during this match. They started off with some big hits on each other, but Savannah’s power eventually got her the edge and she battered Rachael for a while. In a neat spot, Rachael was going for a Springboard Legdrop during a comeback attempt, but Savannah caught Rachael’s leg and then locked it up so she could stomp Rachael. She continued the beating on Rachael with a big DDT, but when she tried some intimidation mind games, Ellering fired back. Ellering hit a few big hits, like some low Dropkicks and a trio of Running Senton Splashes, which got a close count. Tasha and Jordynne had a confrontation on the outside, which led to Tasha running into the ring but getting flattened by Rachael. Rachael then picked up the spare, picking up Evans and hitting a Spinning Cutter to get the three-count.

This wasn’t the prettiest of matches, but worked in terms of feeling like a fight between two strong and sturdy gals.

Winner: Rachael Ellering

Tenille Dashwood returned and asked Madison Rayne and Kaleb to catch her up on what she’d missed during the weeks she was away. They told her about the new Knockouts Tag Team Champions – this is the Iinspiration of course, but Rayne and Kaleb couldn’t remember their names or their team name, only remembering that they’re from Australia. This didn’t sit well with Dashwood since being Australian is her thing. She went to go confront the champs, with Madison and Kaleb in tow.

When she got to where the Iinspiration were, she was stunned, and she and the Iinspiration all screamed happily at seeing each other, like they were old friends. Kaleb joined in as well to be part of the happy vibe. Madison seemed less enthused about this turn of events.

Match 4: Violent By Design (Deaner and Joe Doering) (w/ Eric Young) vs. Willie Mack and Rich Swann

The story early on was that Swann and Mack had the advantage when Deaner was in there, but would get thrown around by Doering who would come in illegally to do some damage and then leave before the ref’s count. Using that formula, VBD were eventually able to isolate Mack and hit him with double-team moves. During this match, D’Lo Brown on commentary said the words “ugly beautifulness” which is “awkward grammaticality”. As for the match, Mack finally got past Deaner and then tagged in Swann who was on fire, dominating Deaner and even taking Doering out of the equation by dodging a charge on the floor that sent Doering crashing into the ring post. Young tried to get involved and then Deaner tried to use the flagpole as a weapon, but both of those things got thwarted. After that, a Samoan Drop 450 Splash combo put Deaner down for three.

After the match, VBD attacked Swann and Mack, beating them down unmercifully. Rhino and Heath stormed to the ring and took out VBD.

This was a pretty standard tag match. For a while, it looked like VBD would be an unstoppable force – and with Doering on the team, how could they not? But it looks like this is leading to them getting their final comeuppance at the hands of Rhino and Heath.

Winners: Rich Swann and Willie Mack

In the back, Hernandez and Swinger were ruminating over the goings-on last week at Wrestle House. Hernandez showed off his wad of cash, saying that if Swinger had gotten married last week, that would have been the wedding gift from Hernandez. The sight of the money drew in Rohit Raju and Raj Singh, who tried to get them to invest in their new cryptocurrency, Desi-Coin. They complained that the Desi Hit Squad weren’t invited to Wrestle House. Lawrence D sauntered in and said that it was his house, and he didn’t want the DHS there. This led to him challenging Raju to a match for next week.

Match 5: W. Morrissey and Moose vs. Eddie Edwards and Matt Cardona

Edwards and Cardona worked well together in the opening moments, out-thinking their larger opponents and hitting stereo dives onto them, taking us into a commercial. Back from the break, though, and M&M were firmly in control, taking turns punishing Cardona.

Cardona floated over in a Powerbomb attempt by Morrissey and got the hot tag to Eddie, who fared well for himself, until he fell prey to some dirty tactics that saw him get shoved from the top turnbuckle to the floor – ouch. Hurt, Eddie had little he could do to defend himself against the systematic beatdown by M&M, which they kept up for several minutes, using classic dirty tactics to prevent Eddie from tagging in Cardona.

Eddie finally broke free and tagged in Cardona, who went right after the World Champion. At this point, all four men came into the ring, and they hit a parade of Push Kicks on each other that put everyone down like at the end of Reservoir Dogs. Moose and Cardona were the first to get up and they started throwing haymakers at each other. Meanwhile, Eddie hit Morrissey with a Flying Dive from the ring that nearly toppled Morrissey over the ringside barrier and into the laps of the front row.

In the ring, Moose hit Cardona with a Uranage, but Cardona dodged multiple attempts at a second one. In Moose’s last attempt, Cardona turned it inside out, grabbed Moose’s legs, then dropped him into a Reverse Sunset Flip, sitting down on Moose’s chest to pin the champion, one-two-three.

This was a good match, with the highlight being that crazy dive by Edwards onto Morrissey. Not sure that Cardona should be anywhere near the title, but perhaps the turn by Morrissey means that the program will move into that much more intriguing direction instead.

Winners: Matt Cardona and Eddie Edwards

After the match, Morrissey hit Moose with a huge Boot to the Head, knocking Moose out flat. Morrissey celebrated as he headed up the ramp to end the show.

Top image: courtesy of Impact Wrestling

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