Moose gets past Heath, but gets dropped by a returning Josh Alexander at Sacrifice

Bob Kapur

Moose gets past Heath, but gets dropped by a returning Josh Alexander at Sacrifice

A number of titles changed hands at Sacrifice, the Impact special event that aired on Saturday night: the Influence took the gold from the former Knockouts Tag Team Champions the Iinspiration; Tasha Steelz beat Mickie James to capture the Knockouts Championship; and Violent By Design regained the Tag Team Championship by dethroning The Good Brothers.

World Heavyweight Champion Moose had an easier time than most champions, beating challenger Heath in relatively easy fashion. But then Moose had to face the wrath of the man who he defeated – or some would say, screwed – for the title: Josh Alexander, who made his return to the company in an eventful way, laying out Moose and announcing that the two of them will face off at the April 23rd Rebellion PPV.

It was a dramatic ending to a strong show that included a number of strong matches in addition to the aforementioned title contests.

Pre-Show Match 1: Gisele Shaw vs. Lady Frost

This was a good opener, with both women getting a chance to shine, but neither one doing anything too crazy.

Frost started off outwrestling Shaw, until she was caught in a fancy Headscissors attempt and Shaw kicked her hard in the stomach, freezing Frost’s momentum. They exchanged momentum a few times, with both women hitting big moves. Shaw hit a Twisting Vader Bomb at one point for a two-count. Later, Frost hit a neat Handspring Senton in the corner, which she calls the Snowball Fight. And then Shaw planted Frost with an Ortonesque Hanging DDT. Frost whiffed on a Spinning Head Kick, which was unfortunate because it looked good otherwise, but Shaw sold it like it made contact. In the end, Frost hit the Frostbite (Twisting Moonsault) for the pin.

Other than Shaw calling herself the Quintessential Diva, she doesn’t really exhibit too much character. So hopefully she will show some more personality in the future?

Winner: Lady Frost

Backstage, Gia Miller interviewed Knockouts Champion Mickie James who professed disappointment that her opponent tonight isn’t her friend Chelsea Green, but rather Tasha Steelz. Green walked up – wearing Mickie’s jacket in support of her friend – and said that she wanted to be at ringside for Mickie’s match to help prevent Steelz’ partner Savannah Evans from interfering. Mickie asked Green to not do that, so that Steelz has no excuse when she loses. Chelsea agreed and wished Mickie good luck.

Pre-Show Match 2: Matt Taven and Mike Bennett (w/ Maria Kanellis-Bennett) vs. Rich Swann and Willie Mack

Maria joined Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt on commentary for this one.

They started off quickly with Mack and Swann in control, until some shady tactics allowed the Honor No More boys to drive Mack hard into the apron. But this didn’t keep Willie down for long and soon he knocked them both down with a Somersault Dive to the floor. Some more shadiness let HNM isolate Mack in their corner, but he escaped their double-teaming, and tagged in a fresh Swann. The advantage shifted a few times after that. HNM were going for the Proton Pack on Mack, but Swann intercepted them, saved Mack, and ended up getting the rollup pin.

This was another solid match. Swann and Mack haven’t really made waves on TV recently, but this match was a reminder of how fun they can be. Taven has some major personality and star potential, and it will be interesting to see whether they capitalize on that. Curious as to whether the recent AEW purchase of ROH will affect the Honor No More storyline or not. Might the result of this one be an indication?

Winners: Rich Swann and Willie Mack

Sacrifice – Main Show

Match 1: Jake Something vs. Trey Miguel (c) – for the X-Division Championship

This was a good clash of quickness and aerials vs. smashmouth power.

A great example came early when Trey went for a Hurancarana, but Something blocked it and hit a huge Sit-out Powerbomb for 2-and-three-quarters. Later, Trey went for a Handspring attack but simply got brick-walled by Something. Something dominated with some huge shots, but Trey gutted it out and came back, eventually stunning Jake with a big Twirl Kick to the head, but got repaid with the Shock Treatment, Abyss-style. Trey earned the first “Holy S—” chant of the night with a flying dive to the floor that nearly kept both men out for the count. Back in the ring, though, and Something leveled up, hitting Miguel with a Buckle Chokeslam. Lots of big moves and two-counts, including a makeshift Meteora by Trey that looked nifty. In the end, Miguel blocked a top rope move, hanged Jake up in the Tree of Woe, and hit the Meteora off the top for the win.

This was a really good, hard-hitting match. This may have been Jake’s best showing, and at several times it looked like he had Trey down for good. Hopefully this doesn’t mark the last time these two battle it out, because the clash of styles could lead to some more interesting business.

Winner, and still X-Division Champion: Trey Miguel

Backstage, Gia Miller interviewed Tasha Steelz, who was accompanied by Savannah Evans. Steelz said that Mickie was foolish for not having Chelsea in her corner for their title match. Tasha said she was going to beat Mickie and send her home to her family as a loser.

Match 2: Eddie Edwards (w/ Honor No More) vs. Rhino (w/ Chris Sabin, Willie Mack, and Rich Swann)

With so many people on the outside, this one had the potential for a lot of interference, and early on – in between the big shots exchanged between Eddie and Rhino – that happened. When Maria tried to hand Eddie a Singapore cane, the referee caught her and sent her packing. But the interference from everyone left still continued. In the ring, this was just a slobberknocker of a fight. But eventually, the powder-keg situation on the floor exploded into a big brawl, with Swann hitting a big Somersault Dive to fhe floor, wiping everyone out, and then Mack doing the same off the top to pick up the spare.

As the ref dealt with that chaos, Steve Maclin ran into the ring and hit Eddie with a DDT. He directed Rhino to hit a GORE GORE GORE, but then backstabbed Rhino and clobbered him with the Singapore cane, and headed back up the ramp. A dazed Rhino got up and Eddie threw him a Boston Knee Party for the pin.

This was a chaotic one, with the outside shenanigans being the real story. Having Maclin turn on his team in a very similar manner to how Eddie turned on them at No Surrender was a curious choice. The commentators positioned it as Maclin not aligning with HNM so much as it was he is just reinforcing his lone wolf status.

Winner: Eddie Edwards

Backstage, Kaleb tried to amp up the Influence before they challenge the Influence for the Knockouts Tag Team Championship. But they said they didn’t want him there, because after the weeks of the mind games from the Iinspiration, they’re not confident he can not screw things up. Kaleb was dismayed by the news.

Match 3: The Influence (Madison Rayne and Tenille Dashwood) vs. The Iinspiration (Jessie McKay and Cassie Lee) (c) – for the Knockouts Tag Team Championship

The crowd was solidly behind the Iinspiration in this one, and they certainly wrested like fan favourites in this one. They were in solid control for several minutes, until the match went to the floor and the Influence turned things around with some creative use of the ring posts. They continued to cheat in the ring, tying up McKay in the ropes and hitting her with numerous boots and a Low Cross Body by Tenille. McKay finally tagged in Lee and business picked up. She had a great showing for herself, but the Influence’s cheating stopped her momentum yet again. Kaleb ran down to the ring while the ref was trying to restore order. He slid the title belt into the ring. Dashwood grabbed it, clocked Lee in the head, and a 1-2-3 later and the Influence are your new champs. Kaleb sheepishly celebrated with the Influence and the commentators speculated whether he had intended to slide the title to Dashwood or to Lee.

This was another good match. Storyline-wise, it made sense for the match to go the way it did. But hopefully this means the Iinspiration will now be chasing for the titles, because there aren’t a lot of other good teams remaining to challenge for them.

Winners, and new Knockouts Tag Team Champions: The Influence

Rhino was in Heath’s locker room, telling Heath to focus on his title match against Moose. Heath said he had some doubts in himself, as this was his first real opportunity for a world championship. Anthony Carelli – aka Santino Marella – walked into the locker room and gave Heath a pep talk, telling him to make the most of the opportunity. This worked and Heath got fired up.

Brian Myers was at his own desk at ringside, as he was planning on doing alternative commentary for the next match. W. Morrissey came out for the match and immediately went after Myers, who hid behind his security guards and ran away. Morrissey took out his anger on one of the guards, Powerbombing him through the table.

Match 4: JONAH vs. PCO

This started off as a plodding slugfest with the fight spilling to the floor and the entrance ramp. Back in the ring, PCO popped up after some big hits by JONAH and then they had a chop exchange, which sounds like the name of a great steakhouse in Louisville. PCO hit a Flying Dive to the floor which looked painful. PCO then set JONAH up on the apron and hit a De-Animator (Somersault Senton Splash off the top). But the double-tough JONAH climbed up top when PCO went for another and brought him in the hard way with a Superplex.

They had another exchange in the middle of the ring and exchanged German Suplexes – which, given their respective sizes, was pretty amazing. PCO no-sold a DDT and then popped up again to catch JONAH in a Tsunami attempt, and sent JONAH flying with a Frankensteiner off the top. PCO then went up top and hit a Moonsault for a very close count. They went to the floor and JONAH side-stepped a running charge, sending PCO into the ring steps head first. JONAH then hit PCO with a Tombstone on top of the steps, and then a Powerbomb off the steps to the floor – to which I started my own Holy S— chant at home. JONAH rolled PCO into the ring and hit an ugly Tsunami onto the back of PCO’s head and neck for the pin. After the match, Dr. Ross and another medic came to the ring to check on PCO, but he brushed them away.

This was crazy and some of the moves looked absolutely brutal. At 54 years old, PCO is punishing his body like he’s Darby Allin. Smart move to book JONAH strong here. Again, might this loss for Honor No More suggest a cooling down of that faction?

There appeared to be some technical glitches here with the screen showing overlapping camera shots at some points. But they seemed to go away after this one, so chalk this up to interference from the radio waves that control the monster that is PCO.

Winner: JONAH

Backstage, Gia Miller interviewed “Switchblade” Jay White, who is taking on his mentor Alex Shelley. White said that he wants to beat Shelley in his long-time house.

Match 5: “Switchblade” Jay White vs. Alex Shelley

Shelley out-techniqued White early on, and it seemed like he had an answer for everything his former student tried. It also looked like he wanted to show White that he could out-aggressive him, like when he dropped a knee to the back of White’s head on the apron. But White responded when he got the knees up in a Shelley Springboard attack. From there, they went on for a long time, hitting move after move and sequence after sequence for a long, long time. They both hit big moves and got two counts between setting up for the next big move or sequence. Perhaps this is best represented by the last few minutes of the match: Jay hit a big Uranage that would have ended it, but Shelley got his foot on the ropes to break the count. Alex reversed a move and hit Standing Sliced Bread for two. Shelley tried for the Motor City Stretch, but White reversed it and tried for the Blade Runner, and then Shelley counter-reversed that and locked on the hold until Jay got to the ropes. Shelley tried for a flying dive over the top, but White caught him and hit a Blade Runner that sent Shelley face-first into the apron. White then rolled Shelley into the ring, Shelley reversed it and hit the Blade Runner, but White kicked out, and Shelley locked on the Motor City Stretch. White scrambled out of it, and then hit the Blade Runner for the win. I’m tired just writing all that, and was tired of watching it by the time it finished. After the match, Shelley went to shake White’s hand, but White laughed and walked away.

This went on too long and didn’t really have a smooth flow to the match. Some people will undoubtedly love this one, and the announcers went out of their way to praise the match. But sometimes less is more, and in my view they did too much.

Winner: “Switchblade” Jay White

Violent By Design cut a backstage promo against the Good Brothers. They said that the Good Brothers shouldn’t look past them, lest they end up losing the titles. The Briscoes were name-checked here, as they have announced a Good Brothers vs. Briscoe Brothers match for WrestleMania weekend. Maybe they show up tonight?

Deonna Purrazzo came out for her Champ-Champ Open Challenge for the challenger’s choice to compete for the ROH Women’s Championship or the AAA Reina des Reinas Championship. Chelsea Green came out and challenged for the ROH title.

Match 6: Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. Chelsea Green – for the ROH Women’s Championship

From the beginning, Purrazzo worked over the arm to try to set up for either her trademark Fujiwara Armbar or the Venus De Milo. The plucky Green kept firing back, though, and hit Purrazzo with big shots to try to find an opening. At one point, she slammed Purrazzo’s face into the turnbuckles hard to try to knock out the champion. Later, she hit an Elevated FaceSmasher on Purrazzo. But Purrazzo was single-minded, though, and targeted Chelsea’s arm with ferocity. At one point, she kicked Green’s arm so hard that it had Green screaming in pain and the ref checked on her. Purrazzo tried to check on her, but Green slapped her away. This angered Purrazzo so much that she angrily locked on the Armbar and kept cranking it to the point that Chelsea was rendered helpless and had to submit.

Purrazzo wouldn’t let go until Mickie James ran into the ring, and Purrazzo skedaddled. The medical team came into check on Green and take her to the back, while a helpless Mickie could only look on in concern.

This was really good. Purrazzo with the right opponent can tell a super story, and this match did that. Keeping the ROH title on her was the right move, and it’s exciting to see where they go with her now that AEW’s Tony Khan as purchased ROH and we have some more Forbidden Door possibilities.

Winner, and still ROH Women’s Champion: Deonna Purrazzo

As the medics and Mickie were checking on Green, Tasha Steelz made her way to the ring for her title match against Mickie.

Match 7: Tasha Steelz (w/ Savannah Evans) vs. Mickie James (c) – for the Knockouts Championship

Mickie was still concerned about Green, who was being tended to at ringside. So she didn’t expect to get blasted by Steelz before the bell. Mickie recovered, though, and took her fury out on Steelz, stomping a mudhole in her and hitting her with stomps and kicks. Mickie had Steelz locked in a Crab Submission, but released it in order to run to the ramp to protect Green who was being menaced by Evans. Turning her back on Steelz was a bad idea and Mickie got dropped hard on the entrance ramp and nearly knocked fully out.

Steelz kept up the attack for several minutes. James tried to fight back when Tasha went for a top rope attack, the result being that they both tumbled to the floor from the top. The hit fired up Micke and in the ring, she mounted a comeback. Mickie hit a MickDT and then blasted Evans who came into the ring to distract the ref from making the count. Steelz nearly capitalized on Mickie’s distraction with a Crucifix Bomb pin, but Mickie kicked out. Mickie was finally able to hit a Hurancarana, but then ate the turnbuckle. Steelz went for Stratusfaction, but Mickie escaped it, hit a Flapjack, and went up top. She kicked away Evans who tried to grab her leg, but the timing let Steelz recover. Mickie dove off the top, and Steelz caught her in mid-air with a Cutter. The hard landing was enough to put Mickie down and keep her down for the three.

The match was really good, but the aftermath of the Green injury and her presence at ringside seemed to distract the crowd, who were subdued while she was out there. It’s weird that they would have Mickie lose the title here – the logical storyline they’ve been building was for a Green heel turn to either cost Mickie the title or for her to beat Mickie for it. At some point, one would think they have to pull that trigger. It may not be as compelling now that Mickie is no longer the champ.

Winner, and new Knockouts Champion: Tasha Steelz

Match 8: Violent By Design (Eric Young and Joe Doering) (w/ Deaner) vs. The Good Brothers (c) (w/ Chris Bey) – for the Impact Tag Team Championship

This one had some good moments, with the most interesting being whenever the giants Doering and Doc Gallows were in there together.

Which isn’t to say that it wasn’t good otherwise, because it was, with everyone getting a chance to shine. At one point, they did a big Tower of Doom spot, with Doering hitting a Double Powerbomb while the Good Brothers had Young up top for a Superplex. But smartly, seeing his partner had taken the worst of it, Doering dragged Young into their own corner and tagged himself in. The Good Brothers were still down from the spot, so Doering was able to still maintain control after that, flattening Anderson with a huge Lariat. Meanwhile, Young and Gallows battled up the ramp and Young dropped Gallows with a Piledriver on the entrance stage. Young then ran back to the ring and he and Doering hit Anderson with an Assisted Powerbomb that kept Anderson down for the count.

This was a good match. It’s good to see VBD get their mojo back after being put on the back burner for a little while. The Good Brothers came into Impact two years ago in June. Not knowing their contract situation, it may be possible that this loss was paving the way for an eventual departure to join their buddies in AEW. But time will tell.

Winners, and new Impact Tag Team Champions: Violent By Design

Anthony Carelli joined the commentary team for the main event.

Match 9: Heath vs. Moose (c) – for the Impact World Championship

Heath started off with some hit-and-move offense, but Moose eventually caught him and shut that down, whipping Heath from corner to corner, and dropping him with hard shots, including heaving him halfway across the ring. Heath kept firing up, but Moose would invariably douse that fire with another big power move or, less fancy, just pummeling Heath with a big forearm smash, or a kick, or even whipping Heath hard into the ring steps. Moose then started to get vicious, stomping on Heath’s hand and then his ankle, looking to possibly injure Heath and put him on the shelf. Moose then went old-school, locking on an Abdominal Stretch and delivering some elbow smashes right into Heath’s ribs, forcing a desperate Heath to chomp down on Moose’s hand in order to get him to release the hold. The relief was only temporary though, before Moose took Heath to the floor and dropped him with a pair of Uranages onto the apron. Moose started trash-talking Heath, and this fired Heath up enough that he mounted a comeback. He hit a series of punches that sent Moose retreating to the ground and then Heath hit a Springboard Dive down to the floor. He stalked Moose into the ring and tried for a Wake Up Call, but Moose shoved him off. But a relentless Heath tried again and hit the Wake Up Call for the 1-2-No! Moose kicked out with an inch to go. Moose was able to recover, planted Heath hard with a Uranage, and then hit him with a Spear to finally end the match.

This one had a very old-school feel, almost like an old 80s house show match. They didn’t do anything mind-blowing – and some will likely say it was boring by today’s standards. But Heath didn’t really have any realistic chance of beating Moose, so it made sense that it wasn’t a particularly close match. One could argue that Heath shouldn’t have even been given the title match to begin with, and that’s a fair comment to make. Heath is a fun character, but – no matter that he’s got kids – he should not be main-eventing at this point.

Winner, and still Impact World Champion: Moose

After the match, Josh Alexander ran in from the crowd and slid into the ring. When a shocked Moose saw him, Alexander kicked him in the gut and dropped Moose with the C5 Spike.

Josh grabbed the mic. He said that Scott D’Amore was sent home to get his emotions in check. Alexander said that when he was at home, he had a chance to do that. And he also got the chance to Anthem’s Head Office, and signed a new multi-year contract with Impact. He also signed a contract for a World Championship match against Moose at the company’s next Pay-Per-View, Rebellion, on April 23rd.

The show ended with Moose laying in the center of the ring while Alexander stood triumphant.

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