Impact Wrestling was inside Windsor’s St. Clair College for this week’s episode. The show featured an X-Division title match and a street fight between Michael Elgin and Brian Cage.
Here are 6 takeaways from Impact Wrestling 7/26:
Rhyno Officially Joins Impact Wrestling
Michael Elgin’s street fight with champion Brian Cage never really officially started this week. The main event began with an injured Cage crawling to the ring area while being beaten by Elgin.
Melissa Santos eventually attempted to get Elgin to stop the attack but it was a masked man who looked much like Rhyno who would divert his attention. Unfortunately, Elgin hit the masked guy with a chair. That masked guy was not the real Rhyno, however, and the real one then gave a Gore to Elgin and celebrated in the crowd to end the show.
Jake Crist Wins X-Division Title
Rich Swann’s X-Division title reign came to an end in Windsor. Swann’s loss of the championship was in part due to interference from OVE’s Madman Fulton.
Madman Fulton pushed Swann off the top rope and into a cutter by Crist. This allowed Crist to then hit the Buckeye Drop and win the title.
Swann’s title reign ends at 194 days and 11 title defences.
Tessa and Sami Preview Their Rematch
Sami Callihan and Tessa Blanchard will face each other again on August 2nd at Unbreakable. The show will air live on the Impact Plus streaming app. This time the winner of their match will earn a title shot at the Impact World Championship. Callihan and Blanchard earned the right to face each other for a title shot after winning the Mash-Up tournament together last week.
Sami praised Tessa before disrespecting her at the end of the promo, leading to a brawl between the two. Later in the show, Callihan said he’s going to sick Madman Fulton on her next week.
Moose Wants Stronger Competition
Moose won a squash match this week over Ray Steele. After the match, however, Moose cut a promo about how thought that after beating Rob Van Dam at Slammiversary he would get a chance to earn a title shot. Had he and Eddie Edwards won the Mash-Up tournament they would face each other for the next title shot but that was little consolation to Moose, who feels Impact
Moose then sent a message to Impact management by further delivering a beatdown to Steele.
Rob Van Dam Back In The Win Column
Rob Van Dam defeated Willie Mack this week. The win gets RVD back in the win column after dropping a match to Moose at Slammiversary.
RVD had been complaining in the past about Impact wrestlers using his moves. This may especially be the case for Mack, who has a “6-Star Frog Splash” as part of his arsenal. RVD would manage to win the match with his 5-star version of the move, however. The two would show respect to one another in the ring after the match.
Jordynne Grace Defeats Kiera Hogan, Madison Rayne on Commentary
Madison Rayne, fresh off her heel turn, was on commentary for this match. She also rolled Kiera Hogan back in the ring when it appeared she was going to get counted-out. Despite Rayne’s help, however, Hogan got caught in a clever pinning combination by Grace.
Later in the show, Hogan was interviewed in the back and Rayne interrupted. Although Rayne started off insulting Hogan, the two ended up turning their attention to Melissa Santos. Hogan and Rayne could turn out to be allies rather than enemies in this story, it’s still not clear.
On commentary, Don Callis noted to Josh Matthews that he might not know how to handle himself around a woman as beautiful as Rayne (the two are married in real-life, though this doesn’t appear to be something Impact acknowledges.)
Quick Results:
- Jordynne Grace defeated Kiera Hogan
- Moose defeated Ray Steele
- Rob Van Dam defeated Willie Mack
- X-Division Championship: Jake Crist defeated Rich Swann (c) – New Champion
- Street Fight: Michael Elgin vs Brian Cage – No Contest
Next Week:
