-The show kicks off with Scott D’Amore back in his role as IMPACT Wrestling President addressing his hometown crowd in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Scott thanks the crowd and says teaming with Eric Young and bring in the ring with former NHL all star and 4x Stanley Cup winner Darren McCarty as the Special Enforcer is a moment he’ll cherish for the rest of his life. Scott gets interrupted by the Good Hands, who look like they’re going to rough Scott up, and he throws his headset down as they get into the ring. Scott comes out of his suit jacket and says he has 2 guys who want to fight tonight also, and the segment turns into a match with Sami Callihan & Rich Swann emerging from the back for a match.
-Sami Callihan & Rich Swann vs The Good Hands
Sami & Swann get the victory.
My thoughts: It wasn’t a very long match, but I thought Sami & Swann looked great with the chemistry and some of the combinations they hit to Jason Hotch were pretty great.
We go backstage to the former IMPACT Wrestling Tag Team Champions Ace Austin & Chris Bey talking about how they got robbed out of the titles by the Rascalz at Slammiversary, but tonight is their chance to get them back.
ABC get interrupted by the Rascalz, who get into a fight backstage. Scott D’Amore walks up and pulls them apart with security. He throws the Rascalz out of the building and tells ABC to get ready for their match later tonight.
Johnny Swinger & Zicky Dice walk up and tell Scott how they kept getting screwed by Santino, but now Scott can make it right. Scott makes a match that puts Swinger against Dice in a Loser Leaves IMPACT match.
Next, we go to Gia Miller backstage discussing his return to IMPACT Wrestling at Slammiversary and constantly evolving. Young is interrupted by Nick Aldis, who says he needs someone else to help him against the young talent who are seemingly running the company into the ground. Young says nobody is going to put him inside a box, and that he loves tradition of the ring and people settling their differences, so he challenges Aldis to a match.
We see a really cool Jake Something video package of his return at Slammiversary.
-Jake Something vs Kevin Knight
Something wins an incredible match after hitting INTO THE VOID on Kevin Knight.
My thoughts: for a match where a “big guy” took on a high flier, this was an incredible match on both sides. Cool to see Jake being booked well right out of the gate.
We get an Emergence video package, which is an IMPACT live event on august 27th from Toronto, Canada.
-Courtney Rush (w/Jessicka) vs Savannah Evans (w/Gisele Shaw & Jai Vidal)
Courtney Rush picked up the victory with a SPEAR to Evans.
My Thoughts: Lots of outside interference. Jessicka took out Gisele Shaw on the outside, and Jody Threat took Jai Vidal away. This is just a huge clusterfuck. I want to see both groups do something new and feud with other people or groups. Not interested.
We get a great Trinity video package. It cuts to The Coven, who say it’s not all about Trinity and her Knockouts Title. They mention Trinity & Dani Luna (presumably for a match coming up).
We see a video package of IMPACT Wrestling thanking the city of Windsor, Canada for hosting them.
Jonathan Gresham sits down with Tom Hannifan. He says he wants rules and maybe this isnt the right environment for him.
-Dirty Dango vs Santino Marella
Short match. Dango wins after John E Bravo comes down dressed up as a biker with a motorcycle helmet on and interferes to cost Santino the match.
My thoughts: I didn’t expect a lot out of this match to begin with, but it was pretty decent. The introduction of Bravo to this story is somewhat intriguing.
Gisele Shaw & Savannah Evans are walking around backstage looking for Jai Vidal. They run into MK Ultra and exchange words before walking away, continuing their search for Jai. They turn a corner and find him in the curled up, cowering at the feet of Jody Threat.
We go to another part of the backstage area where we find Alisha Edwards with Eddie, talking shit about Traci Brooks and how they lost at Slammiversary. Both women had to be pulled apart.
IMPACT TAG TEAM TITLES
-Subculture (c) vs ABC
Subculture retained their IMPACT Tag Team Titles due to a distraction from Zachary Wentz and a subsequent attack from Trey Miguel to ABC.
My thoughts: I love this “keeping the Rascalz relevant but also away from the IMPACT Tag Team Titles” for a bit. They can and are still staying very relevant. The feud with Ace & Bey doesn’t necessarily need the tag titles attached to it. Subculture being added to the mix just sweetens the pot and will be amazing once all 3 teams finally square off.
We get a rundown of matches for next week.
IMPACT Knockouts Champion, Trinity, will team with Subculture’s Dani Luna to take on former IMPACT Knockouts Tag Team Champions, The Coven, Taylor Wilde & KiLynn King. Eric Young will do battle with Nick Aldis, and in a “Loser Leaves IMPACT” match, Johnny Swinger & Zicky Dice both out their IMPACT career on the line.
We go to the ring for a status update from Josh Alexander.
Josh declares he’s “100% cleared” for an in ring return and has his sights set on the IMPACT World Title that he never lost. He relinquished the title in Windsor, so it was only appropriate that his return be in Windsor.
Alexander commends Shelley for his victory over Nick Aldis at Slammiversary but asks the biggest question: can Alex Shelley beat Josh Alexander?
This brings Shelley out and the two men stand face to face in the ring as Shelley says he’s ready to give Josh his shot because he wants to prove to himself that he’s worthy of being champion. Next IMPACT X Division Champion Lio Rush makes his way out to the ring and mentions that he could always cash in Option C. This brings Kushida out, who won the Ultimate X match at Slammiversary and earned himself a shot at the X Division Title whenever he wants it. He says Rush can’t cash in Option C until he’s had his shot.
This prompts Bully Ray’s music to hit. Bully makes his way down the ramp. Brian Myers and Moose slide into the ring from behind and attack Shelley and Kushida, Bully gets into the ring and goes after Alexander.
My thoughts: a lot going on here, but it all made sense. Was it necessary to do it all at once? Nope. Did it work out anyway? Yep. I’m fine with this. Lots of moving parts that made sense, and I’m glad to see Moose and Brian Myers being used in this spot instead of some goofy stuff with The Good Hands or even in the tag team title picture – at least for now.
Overall: I thought this was a great show, and got off the heels of a much-needed reset of titles, stories, and fresh matchups.
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