Impact Wrestling star Jordynne Grace has her contract with the company expiring in May and there is some talk on what the future might hold for her. The former knockouts champion recently had an interview with Wrestling Perspective Podcast where she talked about a number of things.
During the interview Grace also talked about her future and gave us an idea about her thought process. She first revealed that going to WWE has been a childhood dream for her. However, she explained that it was the only option when she was growing up but things have changed now:
“Okay, so yes, WWE was, I mean it still is, it was my childhood dream forever. But that was the only option back when I was growing up. Now, it’s just like, there are so many doors that you can go through and kind of they’re all like in front of you at the same time. So I mean it’s kind of a handoff.
I love the opportunity that IMPACT has given me, but obviously it’s going to be a lot less money than WWE would give me if I were to go there and they would give me a lot less input on my character. So it just kind of depends on if I get older and I’m feeling like I need to be stacking some money for retirement, then I think that’s a place I would probably go.”
Jordynne Grace then admitted that she honestly has no idea what will happen when her contract with the company expires and everything will depend on the situation at the time:
“Honestly, I have no idea what’s going to happen when my contract is up with IMPACT in May. I have no idea. I can’t foresee the future, and who knows who’s going to offer me something or if I’m going to stay here. I truly have no idea.”
Jordynne Grace has been a significant part of Impact’s knockouts roster since her signing with the company in October 2018. She was the one who defeated Taya Valkyrie for the knockouts title in January 2020, ending her 377 days long reign with the title. She also competed in the Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament alongside Jazz.
She could be a decent signing for both AEW and WWE’s women’s roster and it would be interesting to see if she ends up joining either of the companies after the expiry of her current contract.
Impact Wrestling has announced that its weekly flagship television show is moving from Tuesday to Thursday nights. The first episode in the new slot will be April 8th, 2021.
Impact also announced that the main event of that show will feature Kenny Omega wrestling on the weekly show for the first time. He will team with Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows against Eddie Edwards, Rich Swann, and Willie Mack.
“IMPACT Wrestling has years of history airing on Thursdays, which was the night for high-energy, action-packed matches, starring some of the most high-profile stars in pro wrestling history,” said IMPACT Executive Vice-President Scott D’Amore. “Nothing is changing from that front when IMPACT! jumps back to Thursday nights.”
“The new home, once again, for must-see matches is Thursday nights on AXS TV,” D’Amore added.
NXT is rumored to be moving to Tuesday nights immediately following WrestleMania. If this holds true, it would mean NXT’s first Tuesday night show would be April 13th. On SundayApril 10th, Impact will present Hardcore Justice as an afternoon show so as not to go head-to-head with WrestleMania. Impact’s Rebellion PPV recently moved to April 25th, 2021 from April 24th, likely to not go head-to-head with UFC 261.
BREAKING: IMPACT! will return to its traditional Thursday night time-slot at 8pm ET, beginning April 8.
Impact Wrestling sent us a press release announcing a date change for the upcoming Rebellion pay-per-view. Rebellion will now be held Sunday night, April 25th at 8pm (Eastern).
Rebellion was initially scheduled for the 24th, but was likely moved to avoid competing against the UFC 261: Usman vs. Masvidal 2 PPV.
The event will feature an historic inter-promotional Champion vs. Champion main event. Impact World Champion Rich Swann will face All Elite Wrestling World Champion Kenny Omega in a match that is sure to have the attention of the entire wrestling world.
Impact Executive VP Scott D’Amore touted the significance of Sunday night being the traditional home of wrestling pay-per-views. “Swann vs. Omega, champion vs. champion, title vs. title is a happening that every wrestling fan will want to witness … it just feels right that REBELLION take place on Sunday.”
D’Amore stated that one man will walk away with the top prize from both companies. “This is no gimmick, no sleight of hand. Wrestling fans can take me at my word – either Rich Swann or Kenny Omega will walk out of REBELLION as both the IMPACT and AEW World Champion. History will happen at REBELLION!”
In addition to Swann vs. Omega, Rebellion will feature:
Newly-crowned IMPACT Tag Team Champions FinJuice vs. The Good Brothers, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson.
Title defenses by X-Division Champion Ace Austin, Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo and Knockouts Tag Team Champions Fire ‘N Flava.
For more information, including the Rebellion CELL-ebration virtual fan fest, visit ImpactWrestling.com.
Check out our recap from this week’s Impact Wrestling on AXS TV:
Kenny Omega returned to Impact Wrestling this week. He and Don Callis are gearing up for the Rebellion PPV where Omega will face Rich Swann.
Impact 3/23 Quick Results:
Deonna Purrazzo defeated Jazz
X-Division Championship TJP defeated Ace Austin (c) via DQ – Austin retains title
Rohit Raju defeated Fallah Bah
Trey Miguel defeated Acey Romero
Karl Anderson defeated Eddie Edwards
Kenny Omega and Don Callis Return
Don Callis informed Kenny Omega that Impact Wrestling is his home this week. They spoke about soon he would be standing there as the Impact World Champion after he beats Rich Swann. During the promo, Callis listed off all the wrestlers that Omega was better than, and Omega interrupted to ensure that Kota Ibushi’s name was mentioned.
They both praised Rich Swann but also noted that Omega hit Swann with the 1-Winged Angel at Hard to Kill and pinned him 1-2-3. They played a promo package of Omega hitting his move on multiple opponents, including Swann. Omega played up that nobody has kicked out of the move.
Callis talked about how despite being an executive with Impact Wrestling, his top priority is helping to secure Omega’s legacy.
FinJuice Sends The Good Brothers A Message From Japan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkba29CEnbo
Karl Anderson faced Eddie Edwards in the main event this week. The finish of the match came when Doc Gallows caused a distraction from the ring apron and then hit Edwards in the head with a chair as the ref was out of position. This allowed Anderson to hit a spine buster and pick up the win.
After the match, Finjuice appeared on the big screen from Japan. They were both in the recent New Japan Cup, with Finlay making it to the semi-finals. They took a few shots at the former champions before the show went off the air previewing their title match at Rebellion.
Tony Schiavone and Tony Khan Preview AEW Dynamite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juK6f2eODck
The two Tonys were joined by Don Callis and Kenny Omega this week. Callis and Omega spoke about Omega’s match against Matt Sydal tonight on Dynamite and then left before the ad was done. Khan and Schiavone then ran down the rest of tonight’s card.
Nyla Rose (w/Vickie Guerrero) vs. Tay Conti
The Varsity Blonds (Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrison) & Dante Martin vs. The Pinnacle (Cash Wheeler, Dax Harwood & Shawn Spears) (w/Tully Blanchard)
The Young Bucks & Brandon Cutler vs The Lucha Bros & Laredo Kid
TNT Championship Darby Allin (c) vs. John Silver
AEW World Title Eliminator Match Matt Sydal (w/Mike Sydal) vs. Kenny Omega (w/Don Callis)
TJP Beats Ace Austin Via DQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r78hAf3sehY
Ace Austin retained his X-Division Championship this week against the former champion TJP but only because he lost via disqualification. The finish of the match came when TJP hit a Detonation Kick then the Mamba Splash and appeared to have the match won. Madman Fulton ran in and broke up the pin, however, saving the title for Austin.
After the match, Josh Alexander made the save and prevented Austin and Fulton from delivering a post-match attack on TJP.
Sami Callihan Saves Trey Miguel?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MfaGK9PTcY
Trey Miguel picked up a win over Acey Romero this week after delivering a top-rope meteora. Larry D then attacked Trey after the match but surprisingly, Sami Callihan made the save. Callihan has been berating Trey for weeks and neither Matt Striker nor D’Lo Brown could make sense of why he prevented Team XXXL’s attack.
Deonna Purrazzo Defeats Jazz With Help From Susan’s Shoe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nptzhcr52VA
Jazz had a chance to put herself in a position to challenge for the Knockouts title this week when she faced the champion in non-title action. Purrazzo had Susan with her at ringside, however, and that would prove to be the difference here.
The finish of the match came when Susan helped Purrazzo by putting her foot on the bottom rope to break up a pin attempt. This led to Jordynne Grace charging at Susan but missing and hitting the ring post. Jazz then reached through the ring ropes to grab at Susan but the former Su Yung then hit her with a shoe. This allowed Purrazzo to roll up Jazz and get the 3-count.
“White Meat Babyface” Johnny Swinger has his own casino now. Swinger’s Palace was back this week on Impact. There appears to be some sketchiness with the casino’s business dealings, however. Alisha Edwards, John E Bravo, and others appeared in a promo ad for the casino this week. Swinger got the money to open the casino when he acquired a roll of cash that had been bouncing back and forth between Hernandez, Fallah Bah, and a few others.
Cardona and Brian Myers are long-time friends and tag partners. Myers does not seem happy that Cardona signed with Impact after he did, however. Cardona took part in a sit-down interview this week and challenged his podcast co-host to a match.
Rohit Raju Uses A Handful Of Trunks To Gain The Victory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhT6QYGDFes
Backstage before this match, Rohit Raju was harping on Fallah Bah for having lost all of his money at Swinger’s Palace. It looked as though Fallah was going to get a measure of revenge on Raju in this match but ultimately it would be the former Desi Hit Squad member who would pick up the win. The finish of the match came when Raju used a crucifix pinning combination with a handful of trunks to get the win.
Coming Up In Impact Wrestling
Next week, James Storm will wrestle in his 1000th match under the Impact/TNA banner. He’ll face another longtime Impact/TNA guy, Eric Young.
Next week on Impact Wrestling:
James Storm’s 1000th Impact Match James Storm vs Eric Young
Fire N Flava vs Havok & Neveah (non-title)
TJP & Josh Alexander vs Ace Austin & Madman Fulton
It was reported earlier this week that AEW World Champion Kenny Omega was in Nashville for the most recent set of Impact tapings. The promotion announced today that Omega, along with Don Callis, will be on next week’s episode.
This week on Impact Wrestling, Rich Swann was confronted by Don Callis during an in-ring promo segment. Swann defeated Moose at Sacrifice on Saturday night, meaning he’ll face Omega at next month’s Rebellion PPV.
This will be Omega’s first time back in Impact since the Hard to Kill PPV in January. On that show, Omega pinned Rich Swann with the One-Winged Angel in a 3-on-3 match. Swann teamed with Moose and Chris Sabin against Omega and the Good Brothers.
3 matches have been scheduled for this week’s Impact Wrestling. The X-Division will be on the line when Ace Austin defends against former champion TJP.
X-Division Championship Ace Austin (c) vs TJP
Deonna Purrazzo vs Jazz
Karl Anderson vs Eddie Edwards
Impact is building to Hardcore Justice on April 10th, streaming on Impact Plus. Rebellion will take place on PPV two weeks later on April 24th, 2021. In addition to Swann vs Omega, FinJuice vs The Good Brothers for the tag belts has also been scheduled for the show.
Impact Wrestling is building to a big Rebellion PPV on April 24th, 2021. 2 weeks before that event, Impact will present Hardcore Justice on the Impact plus streaming service on April 10th, 2021.
The event was announced last night on Impact’s weekly show on AXS TV and Twitch. Tommy Dreamer and Scott D’Amore were discussing Impact having lost their tag titles to a team from NJPW and the possibility of losing the world championship to an AEW wrestler when the event was announced. Scott D’Amore told Dreamer he can book the whole card for April 10th. Dreamer then handed D’Amore a piece of paper with the entire match card already written out. Fans weren’t able to see what matches Dreamer has planned, but D’Amore was very impressed with what he saw.
While Dreamer is booking the card in storyline, he’s also a key member of Impact’s current creative team. In a report from the Wrestling Observer last month, it was revealed that Jimmy Jacobs heads up the creative team (reporting to D’Amore) with Tommy Dreamer and Robert Evans contributing.
Upcoming Impact Wrestling Schedule
Next week:
X-Division Championship Ace Austin (c) vs TJP
Deonna Purrazzo vs Jazz
Karl Anderson vs Eddie Edwards
Hardcore Justice – April 10th, 2021
Tommy Dreamer to book card.
Rebellion – April 24th, 2021
Impact vs AEW Championship Kenny Omega (AEW World Champion) vs Rich Swann (Impact World Champion)
Impact Tag Team Championships FinJuice (Juice Robinson & David Finlay) (c) vs The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows)
Impact Wrestling this week featured Rich Swann’s first appearance as the holder of both the Impact and TNA World Championships. Don Callis had something to say to the champ about his upcoming match with Kenny Omega at Rebellion, however.
Impact Wrestling 3/16 Quick Results:
FinJuice defeated Team XXXL
Rhino defeated Jake Something
Rohit Raju defeated Shera
Jordynne Grace, Jazz, ODB, Havok, Nevaeh & Alisha defeated Deonna Purrazzo, Fire N Flava, Kimber Lee, Susan & Tenille Dashwood
Sami Callihan defeated Trey Miguel
Don Callis Confronts Rich Swann
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2DWnmeAnJM
The build to Rich Swann vs Kenny Omega began this week. Swann came out to cut a promo this week dropped in his two championship belts. He was interrupted by Don Callis, however, who debuted new entrance music that plays into his “Invisible Hand” moniker. Callis told Swann that he was the invisible hand helping him in his career in Impact over the last few years. He said he believes in Swann and his talents but eventually moved on to focus more on Kenny Omega. Callis promised Swann that he’s already written what will happen at Rebellion. As Callis left the ring area, Swann was left to ponder all that the Invisible Hand had just told him.
Sami Callihan Delivers Vicious Piledriver On Trey Miguel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeYbkxlqO-8
Sami Callihan is the master of the piledriver. He used several of them to defeat Brian Cage and win the Impact World Championship in 2019 and he used a package piledriver to possibly injure Trey Miguel in this week’s main event. Miguel was on the turnbuckle and briefly turned his attention to the referee and away from Callihan. This allowed The Draw to wrap Trey up and deliver the package piledriver. After the match, Trey continued to sell the move as the commentary team speculated that perhaps it should be banned.
Juice Robinson and David Finlay Are Taking The Tag Belts To Japan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHoZfQCu2l4
The team of Juice Robinson and David Finlay won the Impact Wrestling Tag Team Championships at Sacrifice. They then defeated the team of Acey Romero and Larry D in tag action on this week’s show. After the match, former champions Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows confronted them. The Good Brothers said that FinJuice got lucky at Sacrifice and they want another match. FinJuice then explained they are headed back to NJPW for a tour and won’t be back until April. Later in the show, Scott D’Amore told Anderson and Gallows they can have their rematch at Rebellion.
Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone Run Down St. Patricks’ Day Slam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x3bjElXa_I
The two Tonys were all business this week as they ran down the card for Dynamite this week. A few segments were announced that hadn’t been previously.
Lights Out Match Thunder Rosa vs. Dr. Britt Baker DMD (w/Rebel)
Jade Cargill vs. TBD
Eddie Kingston & Jon Moxley vs. The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows)
Cody Rhodes (w/Arn Anderson) vs. Penta El Zero Miedo
Matt Hardy, Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) & The Butcher And The Blade (The Blade & The Butcher) (w/The Bunny) vs. Bear Country (Bear Boulder & Bear Bronson) & Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus & Marko Stunt)
Rey Fenix vs Angelico
Christian Cage to speak
Tony Schiavone to interview Sting and Darby Allin
Violent By Design Takes Out Beer, Guns, and Something
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syd38b7K0tA
At Sacrifice, Rhino aligned with Eric Young’s Violent By Design faction. This week, he took on Jake Something in singles action. During the match, Chris Sabin and James Storm (who had accompanied Jake Something to the ring) got into a brawl with the other members of VOD. Meanwhile, inside the ring Rhino delivered a Gore to Something and got the win. After the match, VOD had a 4-on-3 numbers advantage and continued the assault on Sabin, Storm, and Something.
Rohit Raju Picks Up Win Over Shera
After losing to Chris Sabin and James Storm at Sacrifice, Rohit Raju and Shera showed some dissension and then were booked for this singles match against one another. Shera seemed as though he had the advantage throughout much of the match. In the end, however, it was Raju rolling his opponent up and then putting his feet on the ropes that earned him the tainted victory.
Jazz Makes Kimber Lee Tap in 6-on-6 Knockouts Tag Match
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2n98p2M6XM
A huge chunk of the Knockouts division was involved in this match. This all stems from some altercation that had taken place inside Swinger’s Palace, the hot new backstage location where rivalries are able to form. There was a lot of action taking place at once in this match but when the smoke settled, it was Jazz and Kimber Lee alone in the ring. Jazz hit an X-factor and then locked in the STF and made the former CHIKARA champ tap. It was later announced that Jazz will face Purrazzo in non-title action next week.
Coming Up In Impact Wrestling
Next week:
X-Division Championship Ace Austin (c) vs TJP
Deonna Purrazzo vs Jazz
Karl Anderson vs Eddie Edwards
Hardcore Justice – April 10th, 2021
Tommy Dreamer to book card.
Rebellion – April 24th, 2021
Impact vs AEW Championship Kenny Omega (AEW World Champion) vs Rich Swann (Impact World Champion)
Impact Tag Team Championships FinJuice (Juice Robinson & David Finlay) (c) vs The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows)
Kenny Omega will face Rich Swann in a title vs title match at Impact Wrestling’s Rebellion PPV next month. Omega will most likely be a fixture on Impact programming in the build-up to the event as well.
According to a report from PW Insider, Omega was in Nashville yesterday as Impact is taping content this week. This would give the promotion several episodes with Omega to build up the match.
Impact is coming off of a big event on Saturday that aired on Impact Plus. Several notable developments occurred at Sacrifice. Rich Swann beat Moose to move onto Rebellion and Kenny Omega. Juice Robinson & David Finlay won the Impact tag-team titles from Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows. Also, Ace Austin defeated TJP to win the X-Division Championship.
The following matches are scheduled for tonight’s episode on AXS TV and Twitch:
Deonna Purrazzo, Susan, Kimber Lee, Tenille Dashwood & Fire N Flava vs ODB, Alisha Edwards, Jazz, Jordynne Grace, Havok & Neveah
Impact Tag Team Championships FinJuice (David Finlay & Juice Robinson) defeated The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) (c) (14:34) – New Champions
At Impact Wrestling’s Sacrifice on Saturday night, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows (The Good Brothers) dropped the tag belts to Juice Robinson and David Finlay (FinJuice).
With the win, FinJuice becomes the 37th team in history to win the belts. They begin the 56th reign in the title’s lineage. Santana & Ortiz hold the record for most combined days spent with the belts (662). Beer Money (James Storm & Bobby Roode) and Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards are tied for the record of most reigns with 5. Ethan Page and Josh Alexander hold the record for the longest single-reign with the belts at 380 days.
Karl Anderson took to Twitter to comment on the loss:
We lost the @IMPACTWRESTLING tag team championships last night to Juice n Finley .. Maybe #BigHoot n I got a little cocky since we are just killin it everywhere right now. Listen, @NJPWSUGABAYASHI San, good friend, please give me call, need to talk .. @The_BigLG#GoodBrothers
Brian Myers was evidently impacted by the loss as well:
I woke up this morning & realized I didn’t pay my condolences to the @The_BigLG belt swinging entrance. You’ll be missed. See you down the road kid. #Sacrifice@IMPACTWRESTLING
Anderson and Gallows’ reign with the titles finished at 120 days. They originally won the titles from Ethan Page and Josh Alexander (The North) at Turning Point. The North had won and lost the titles to the Motor City Machine Guns. Alex Shelley, however, is not able to continue wrestling due to his non-wrestling career until after the pandemic. Chris Sabin has since been teaming with James Storm in Impact since Shelley is not currently able to wrestle.
Rich Swann rolled Moose up into a pinning combination and got the 1-2-3 to close out Sacrifice on Saturday night. With the win, Swann moves on to next month’s Rebellion PPV to challenge Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship.
Former TNA Heavyweight Champion, Moose, took to Twitter to comment on the match and loss.
“Tonight I proved that I’m undoubtedly the Best Big Man in professional wrestling and one of the best wrestlers In the world. I came short of becoming the undisputed champion. Will take time off to reevaluate the past Rebuild Refocus Rebrand and think about the Future,” Moose Tweeted.
The finish of the match came after Moose had missed 4 straight spear attempts, crashing into the corner turnbuckle each time. The loss is seemingly the end of an era for Moose, who had been claiming to be the TNA Champion since the spring of 2020. With Swann moving on to a program with Omega, Moose will look to rebuild as he mentioned in his Tweet.
The show also featured Juice Robinson and David Finlay defeating the Good Brothers for the Impact tag-team championships. Rhino also turned heel and aligned with Eric Young’s Violent by Design faction. Ace Austin beat TJP to win the X-Division title.
Moose and Rich Swann took some INCREDIBLE high risks to unify the IMPACT World and TNA World Heavyweight Championships. pic.twitter.com/d8BUg1MBAQ
Kenny Omega will take on Rich Swann in a Title vs. Title Match at Impact Wrestling’s Rebellion pay-per-view event on April 24. Swann defeated Moose on Saturday night’s Sacrifice event to become the Unified Impact World Heavyweight Champion. Impact Wrestling officially sanctioned the TNA World Heavyweight title on February 23 after Moose began calling himself “Mr. TNA,” claiming to represent the company’s history. Now that Swann has defeated Moose, he has become the undisputed world champion of Impact, with the Impact World title being referred to as the Unified World Championship.
Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore announced during last week’s Impact that the champion of the company would go on to face AEW World Champion Kenny Omega at Rebellion in a Title vs. Title Match on April 24.
Following his loss to Rich Swann, Moose said that he would take some time off to revaluate and think about what he plans to do in the future. “Tonight I proved that I’m undoubtedly the Best Big Man in professional wrestling and one of the best wrestlers In the world. I came short of becoming the undisputed champion. Will take time off to reevaluate the past Rebuild Refocus Rebrand and think about the Future.” Kenny Omega also reacted to the result of the match, posting the following:
Rich Swann and Kenny Omega have faced each other in the ring before, most recently at Impact’s Hard to Kill pay-per-view event in January where Omega teamed up with then-Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers to defeat Swann, Chris Sabin and Moose.
Kenny Omega has made it known that he wants to collect more titles, and if he defeats Rich Swann at Rebellion then he would become the Impact Champion too. Speaking on his future defense against Omega, Swann said, “I’m from Baltimore, Maryland. I’m not afraid to step into the ring with no man. I fear no man and I only fear one thing. The thing is, that is not one thing that I would ever fear. If he (Kenny Omega) wanted to step into the ring and do a Unification… We’ve it. We’ve seen seen him go into Mexico and he beat Loredo Kid in AAA. Do I think he could come into my house and do what he did there? I don’t know. Time will tell.”
Last night on Impact Wrestling, Scott D’Amore announced that the match between Rich Swann and Moose at Sacrifice will be a title unification bout. This seemingly puts an end to the year-long resurrection of the TNA World Heavyweight Championship by Moose.
Technically, D’Amore only recently officially re-instated the title. Moose first began claiming himself to be the title-holder at last year’s Rebellion PPV, however.
Moose Revives The TNA World Heavyweight Title
The spring of 2020 was an interesting time. Impact Wrestling’s planned Rebellion PPV that April underwent some changes due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was instead turned into a 2-night event on AXS TV with no fans in attendance.
At the time, Tessa Blanchard was the Impact World Champion. Fans didn’t know it yet, but she would not return to the promotion. At Rebellion, she was scheduled to defend the title against Eddie Edwards and Michael Elgin. With her out, some improvising needed to take place.
In the midst of this, Moose recovered the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and began referring to himself as the rightful title-holder. It was then decided he would defend that title against Edwards and Elgin at Rebellion. Edwards missed the tapings too and instead Hernandez was thrown in as a replacement. Moose won the triple threat match and defended the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time, albeit unofficially.
Blanchard, meanwhile, would officially be stripped of the title before July’s Slammiversary PPV.
Moose’s Title Defenses
Despite the title not officially being recongnized over the last year, Moose has defended it numerous times. Granted, he usually had to force David Penzer into announcing his matches at title matches, but he won the bouts nonetheless.
Unofficial Title Defences:
Rebellion 2020: defeated Michael Elgin and Hernandez (triple threat rules)
5/12/20: defeated Suicide
5/19/20: defeated Suicide
6/16/20: defeated Hernandez
6/30/20: defeated Crazzy Steve
Slammiversary: defeated Tommy Dreamer
7/19/20: defeated Heath
7/19/20: defeated Fallah Bah
8/18/20: defeated Trey Miguel
2/23/21: defeated Jake Something
When Rich Swann won the Impact World Championship, Moose was quick to refer to it as the #2 title in the promotion. Swann will have a chance to prove Moose wrong about this at Sacrifice.
The Former TNA World Heavyweight Championship
When the company first started, NWA-TNA used the NWA World Heavyweight Championship as its top title. The Impact World Championship wasn’t introduced until 2007. In 2017, with Impact dropping the “TNA” from its name, it was re-branded as the Impact World Championship.
Kurt Angle holds the record for the most reigns with the title (6) and total days spent with the title (608). The longest-single reign with the belt is 256 days by Bobby Roode from 2011-12. Moose’s unofficial reign with the TNA World Heavyweight Championship sits at 333 days as of this writing.
Who Wins Between Moose and Rich Swann?
The question then becomes if Moose can turn this reign with the TNA World Heavyweight Championship into an undisputed championship run. To do that, he’ll have to defeat Rich Swann at Sacrifice. These two have been building up this match for a long time and likely have a special performance planned out for Saturday. With the dangling carrot of a match against Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship next month, this is the biggest match in the careers of either Swann or Moose.
Impact Wrestling is a far different company than it was when it went under the TNA name. The company that once focussed on bringing in ex-WWE stars now seems to have a focus on talented in-ring performers, creative cinematic scenes, and matches, and proving to fans they are not the same company they used to be. With the prospect of an AEW vs Impact World Title match happening next month, this is an important period for Impact Wrestling. On Saturday, we will find out if it will be Moose or Rich Swann leading the charge for the company moving forward.
Impact Wrestling 3/9 was the go-home show for Saturday’s Sacrifice event. Scott D’Amore made a huge announcement as it concerns the main event of Sacrifice and the main event of next month’s Rebellion PPV on this week’s show.
Impact Wrestling 3/9 Quick Results:
Jazz defeated Tasha Steelz
James Storm & Chris Sabin defeated Rohit Raju & Shera
Trey Miguel defeated Sam Beale
Chris Bey defeated Ace Austin
ODB defeated Susan
Key takeaways from the show are below:
Scott D’Amore Announces Impact vs TNA and Impact/TNA vs AEW World Title For Title Matches
In the final segment of the show this week, Moose called out Scott D’Amore to make the major announcement he had promised. D’Amore came out to the ring and brought out Swann as well. D’Amore announced that the match between Swann vs Moose at Sacrifice will be title for title. Whoever wins that match will be both Impact and TNA World Heavyweight Champion. He then announced that the winner will also move on to Impact Rebellion on April 24th to face the AEW World Champion, Kenny Omega, in another title for title match.
The show closed with Don Callis talking into a phone, presumably to Kenny Omega, saying things are going just as they had planned.
ODB Picks Up Win Over Susan Ahead Of Title Clash With Deonna Purrazzo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW9q-XznGIo
ODB picked up a win this week over Su Yung’s Karen-inspired character of Susan. After Susan decided to pour out OBD’s flask, she took a kick to the gut followed by a Samoan Drop for the win.
After the match, Purrazzo and Kimber Lee attacked ODB, trying to soften her up for Sacrifice. Jordynne Grace and Jazz would make the save, however. This brought out Fire N Flava who will defend against Jazz and Grace at Sacrifice. The segment would close with the heel champions standing tall.
Tony Khan & Tony Schiavone Preview AEW Dynamite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_Dn_Ui-exg
The two Tonys were back this week again. They said they were thrilled with the big buyrate they did with Revolution over the weekend. They promoted Christian’s appearance on Dynamite this week and noted that he is one of the greatest champions in Impact history.
Khan also said Omega is terrible at building exploding rings but that doesn’t take away from Eddie Kingston’s sacrifice. They then ran down the card for tonight’s Dynamite.
Good Brothers and FinJuice Sign Their Title Match Contracts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfVCBixH0Lk
At Sacrifice, we will see The Good Brothers and FinJuice clash with the tag-team titles on the line. This week, we saw the two teams sign their contracts. Scott D’Amore presented both teams with their contracts and left, asking both teams to just return the documents after. The 4 men then drank to celebrate beforehand, however. After downing a couple of shots, the two teams broke out into a wild brawl.
TJP Costs Ace Austin Match Against Chris Bey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD6LZ7w87ck
Ace Austin will challenge TJP for the X-Division Championship this Saturday at Sacrifice. He lost this week to Chris Bey, however. TJP came out to the stage area and provided the distraction, allowing Bey to hit the Art of the Finesse for the win. How will this impact the X-Division title picture? Chris Bey may have just earned a future title shot. Josh Alexander would later confront TJP in the back and state his desire to get a title shot as well.
Sami Callihan Continues To Antagonize Trey Miguel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xZr_2RSX9c
Sami Callihan continues to claim that Trey Miguel has no passion, and that’s why he didn’t end up with his partners in another promotion. This week, it was revealed that Callihan has taken a former Miguel student, Sam Beale, under his wing. Miguel then defeated Beale fairly easily in singles competition. After the match, however, Callihan delivered a piledriver on Beale to close the segment.
Jazz Showcases Submission Skills In Win Over Tasha Steelz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZV7h1mw3Ys
Jazz and Jordynne Grace will challenge Fire N Flava for the Knockouts tag-team titles at Sacrifice. This week, we saw Jazz face Tasha Steelz in singles competition. The legend was able to wrap Steelz up in an STF to gain the submission win. If Jazz breaks out that hold at Sacrifice, we could have new champions.
Chris Sabin and James Storm Pick Up Win Ahead of Sacrifice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsloY_mAgYc
Chris Sabin and James Storm picked up a win over Rohit Raju & Shera this week. Sabin pinned Raju with the Craddleshock. Later in the show, however, the duo confronted Eric Young in the back. They noted that the 3 of them helped build this company but Young is no longer the same person he was. Sabin and Storm were then booked against Young’s stablemates, Joe Doering and Deaner, at Sacrifice.
Updated Lineup For Sacrifice
Impact vs TNA World Heavyweight Championship Rich Swann (c) vs Moose
Knockouts Championship Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs ODB
Impact Tag Team Championships The Good Brothers (c) vs FinJuice
X-Division Championship TJP (c) vs Ace Austin
Knockouts Tag Team Championships Fire N Flava (c) vs Jordynne Grace & Jazz
Hold Harmless Match Brian Myers vs Eddie Edwards
Violent By Design (Joe Doering and Deaner) vs. James Storm and Chris Sabin
Reno Scum vs. Decay (Black Taurus and Crazzy Steve)
Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb Konley vs. Havok & Nevaeh
Unified Champion to face AEW World Champion Kenny Omega
Impact Wrestling has announced a big title unification match for their upcoming Sacrifice PPV event this Saturday, March 13 on tonight’s go-home episode of their weekly show.
Moose brought back the TNA world heavyweight championship at Rebellion last April. He has been defending the title against TNA veterans since then and calling himself a ‘self-proclaimed’ champion.
Rich Swann on the other hand, is the current Impact world champion and he won the title by defeating Eric Young at last October’s Bound for Glory PPV event.
Moose had been targeting Swann for a title shot since the Hard To Kill PPV and a title match between the two had been made official for Sacrifice.
Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore then announced during tonight’s episode of Impact that Moose will also be defending his championship at the PPV this weekend in a title unification match.
The winner of the match will become the undisputed world champion of the company and they will then go on to face the AEW world champion Kenny Omega at Rebellion on April 24.
This match is interestingly going to be a title vs. title bout as well which likely means that Omega is on his way to becoming the next Impact world champion.
The reigning Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion spoke about Impact’s women’s division and wanting to work with several competitors in WWE and AEW. Video of the full episode can be found below.
Purrazzo touted the depth of Impact’s knockouts division. “There are so many of those matches with Impact and our roster right now,” she said. “The first person that comes to mind is Tasha Steelz just because we’ve traveled together, trained together, and I just think it’s come full circle for us to be in the same company at the same time. So, first and foremost, it’s always Tasha.”
She also named Kiera Hogan, Naveah and Tenille Dashwood as standouts.
I love WOMEN’S WRESTLING as much as the next person… But being a WOMEN’S WRESTLER has give me the confidence to LOVE MYSELF just as much. ?? pic.twitter.com/7BVgNXWlm2
Purrazzo spoke of a women’s dream match featuring herself, Britt Baker, Chelsea Green and Karen Q vs. WWE’s Four Horsewomen.
“I feel like it’s a cliche answer, but I also feel like each of us individually have like a dream match with these people. So, I feel like us four versus the Four Horsewomen – Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Becky [Lynch] – those four. I think we each would like to wrestle one day or if that opportunity presented itself, it would be a dream match for us. So I’m gonna go with that, whether that’s cliche or not.”
Impact & AEW
Finally, Impact Wrestling’s partnership with AEW opens up the possibility for several inter-promotional matches. Purrazzo has been vocal about wanting to wrestle AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida. She’d also like to work with her best friend, Dr. Brit Baker, in some capacity.
“I’ve not been shy about wanting to have champion vs. champion against Hikaru Shida. I would absolutely love that. I think she’s absolutely phenomenal. She’s kind of been just this strong champion and fixture of their women’s division in AEW. I would absolutely love that if we’re going to do crossover with women. Obviously, Britt Baker is my best friend, so I don’t want to wrestle her, but I’d love to tag with her.”
Impact Wrestling is less than two weeks away from their next big event, Sacrifice on March 13th. This week’s show added several matches to the show.
Impact 3/2 Quick Results:
X-Division #1 Contendership Ace Austin defeated Black Taurus and Chris Bey
Tenille Dashwood defeated Havok
The Good Brothers & FinJuice defeated Reno Scum & Team XXXL
Eddie Edwards defeated Brian Myers via DQ (Referee: Matt Cardona)
Deonna Purrazzo defeated Jordynne Grace and Kiera Hogan
ODB To Challenge Deonna Purrazzo At Sacrifice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aInz3XwBKWc
This match was originally supposed to be just Purrazzo vs Grace but after Fire N Flava interrupted a backstage promo earlier in the night, Kiera Hogan was added to the bout. The finish of the match came shortly after Grace dove to the outside and took out Susan and Kimber Lee. Grace then attempted to deliver a splash to Hogan but Tasha Steelz pulled her out of the ring. This then allowed Purrazzo to roll up Grace for the win.
After the match, as Grace and Tasha Steelz brawled to the back, Purrazzo was left alone in the ring. ODB then bolted out from the back and attacked the Knockouts Champion. Last we saw ODB, she had been attacked and left unconscious in the back. Based on ODB’s actions here, it seems she knows exactly who attacked her. Shortly after, it was revealed that ODB will challenge Purrazzo at Sacrifice.
The Good Brothers To Defend Tag Belts Against FinJuice At Sacrifice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhFyh9A4VFo
Impact Wrestling didn’t waste any time getting Juice Robinson and David Finlay into the tag-team title hunt. There had been dissension between teams when The Good Brothers and FinJuice teamed up to defeat Reno Scum and Team XXXL this week. Later in the show, FinJuice managed to bait the Good Brothers into challenging them to a match for the belts at Sacrifice. Just like that, two of the best tag-teams in the world will clash in just 10 days.
Tony Khan Says AEW and Impact Are On The Same Team
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6h1cNdBDfc
There was a stark difference in attitude from the two Tony’s this week. After Tommy Dreamer was critical of the tone that has been used in the AEW ads as of late, this week Khan stated that AEW and Impact are on the same team. Don Callis, Kenny Omega, and the Good Brothers are on the other team although Khan didn’t specifically say as much. The two Tony’s then ran down the card for tonight’s episode of Dynamite.
Matt Cardona Disqualifies Brian Myers In Match Against Eddie Edwards
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2vX91-GDb0
Matt Cardona and Brian Myers are former tag partners, longtime friends, and podcast co-hosts. They have not gotten along well so far in Impact Wrestling, however. Earlier in the show, Cardona told Myers he was going to call the match “right down the middle” which Myers didn’t like. Then during the match, Cardona caught Myers loading up his elbow pad and disqualified him after he hit Edwards with it. Something is brewing between these two.
Ace Austin Qualifies For X-Division Title Shot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qpd9jNFQIxI
Ace Austin earned a shot at the X-Division title with a win in triple threat action this week. He had actually teamed with Black Taurus and Chris Bey last week in a victory over Willie Mack, Trey Miguel and Josh Alexander in 6-man action with the stipulation that the winning team would face each other this week.
An X-Division match between Ace Austin and champion TJP was then made for Sacrifice.
Sami Callihan Invades Trey Miguel’s Wrestling School
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URlg6ILt6Sc
Callihan continued his harassment of Trey Miguel this week. He has been critical that the former Rascalz member has no loyalty or passion. Callihan showed up at the school where Miguel is a head teacher. He was confronted by one of the school’s trainers, CK3, and a student before the segment cut out.
Tenille Dashwood Picks Up Win Over Havok
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUALio1m0kE
Tenille Dashwood had been lobbying for Havok to be her new tag-team partner but things didn’t work out as planned. Instead, the two would face off in singles action this week. Dashwood picked up the win off of Kaleb Konely’s distraction. She hit the Spotlight Kick on Havok to get the pin. Havok’s tag partner came to the ring and took out Kaleb after, leading to speculation that Havok and Neveah may have resolved their recent conflict with each other.
Coming Up In Impact Wrestling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv-id68ur0I
Impact Wrestling: Sacrifice on March 13th:
Impact World Championship Rich Swann (c) vs Moose
Knockouts Tag Team Championships Fire N Flava (Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz) (c) vs Jordynne Grace & Jazz
X-Division Championship TJP (c) vs Ace Austin
Knockouts Championship Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs ODB
Impact Tag Team Championships The Good Brothers (c) vs Juice Robinson & David Finlay
Don Callis is the latest guest on Gallows & Anderson’s Talk’n Shop podcast. The ‘Invisible Hand’ the Good Brothers for a conversation about the ‘Forbidden Door’ storyline involving AEW-NJPW-Impact, as well as some other interesting topics.
Callis revealed that he and fellow ECW alumnus Joey Styles almost joined WCW in 2001 as their new commentary team.
Vince McMahon and WWE purchased WCW in 2001 for a measly sum, but things almost unfolded entirely differently. Former WCW Eric Bischoff almost purchased the fledgling promotion alongside Fusient Media. Unfortunately, the deal did not go through, as Bischoff and Fusient were unable to secure a television deal in time.
Don Callis’ Brush With WCW
“In 2001 when WCW was about to go out of business, I had a gig lined up with Bischoff,” Callis revealed. “Joey Styles and I were gonna go in and be the commentators.. I was gonna make more money than I ever made, but that deal fell through.”
It was a tumultuous time in the pro wrestling industry. Callis recalls having leverage one minute and the deal falling through soon thereafter.
“All of a sudden, it was like, I went from being able to leverage three companies (WWF, WCW and ECW), to a monopoly (WWE). And I knew when a monopoly happens, guys on top like Jericho do well, but the guys underneath, don’t do well.”
Callis currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Impact Wrestling. He’s also the manager of AEW World Champion Kenny Omega.
Listen to the full episode of Talkin’ Shop with Don Callis at MLWRadio.com.
Impact Wrestling 2/23 featured Moose defending the newly reinstated TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Jake Something. We also got the main event confirmed for Sacrifice.
Impact Wrestling 2/23 Quick Results
Tables Match Jake Something defeated Cody Deaner
Chris Bey, Ace Austin & Black Taurus defeated Trey Miguel, Willie Mack & Josh Alexander
The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) defeated Team XXXL (Larry D & Acey Romero)
Eddie Edwards defeated Hernandez w/ Brian Myers
#1 Contenders For Knockouts Tag Team Championships Jordynne Grace & Jazz def Kimber Lee & Susan w/ Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo
TNA World Heavyweight Championship Moose (c) defeated Jake Something
Key takeaways from the show are below:
Moose vs Rich Swann Confirmed For Sacrifice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dza5Rvv0QCw
In the night’s main event, Moose defeated Jake Something with his Lights Out Spear. After the match, however, Moose wasn’t finished. He continued to attack Jake with a steel chair until Impact World Champion, Rich Swann, made the save. Scott D’Amore then announced that finally Swann and Moose will collide with the title on the line at Sacrifice on March 13th.
FinJuice Takes A Shot At The Good Brothers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TIA0EJb2KQ
Last week on Impact, Juice Robinson and David Finlay made their promotional debut by defeating Reno Scum. The Good Brothers then came out to congratulate them, though Anderson and Gallows appeared to talk down to the team, noting that they were young lions back when they were winning titles in NJPW.
This week, The Good Brothers defeated Team XXXL in non-title action. Later in the show, they ran into FinJuice in the back. Things seem to be getting slightly more contentious between the two teams. Robinson appeared to be complimenting the Good Brothers but then said Anderson is actually just the best at wrestling while hungover.
Broadway Is Closed, But You’ve Got A Front Row Seat At “The Tonys”
Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone opened up their segment this week by saying that even though Broadway is closed, you’ve got a seat at “The Tonys.” Speculation is that somebody feels very proud about that joke.
The two Tonys ran down Impact and then ran down the card for tonight’s AEW Dynamite.
Sami Callihan Has More To Say To Trey Miguel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evJeClZwdGM
Trey Miguel had a chance to get one step closer to an X-Division title shot this week. A 6-man tag match pitted Trey, Willie Mack, and Josh Alexander against Taurus, Chris Bey, and Ace Austin with the winning team facing off next week in a triple threat to determine the next challenger for TJP’s belt. Bey picked up the win for his team by hitting The Art of Finesse on Mack, however. After the match, Miguel ran into Sami Callihan in the back. Callihan continued to tell Trey he doesn’t have what it takes, but this week, Trey answered back by attacking Callihan. Security had to break up the melee.
TNA World Heavyweight Championship Officially Reinstated
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vfgm-w766k
Moose has been the self-proclaimed TNA World Heavyweight Championship for 10 months. Scott D’Amore finally reinstated the title officially on this week’s show. It happened after Moose attacked Jake Something following the night’s opening match.
Something had just defeated his cousin, Cody Deaner in a tables match, when Moose attacked. Moose threatened to hold the show hostage but D’Amore came out, announced the title was reinstated and that Moose would have to defend it in the main event.
JordynneGrace & Jazz Earn Knockouts Title Shot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZhaMFquH2c
Jordynne Grace and Jazz earned a shot against Fire N Flava for the Knockouts tag-team titles this week. They defeated Susan and Kimber Lee after Grace hit a Grace Driver on Susan for the win. When they got to the back, however, they found their ally ODB unconscious after having been attacked by as-of-yet-unknown assailants.
Brian Myers Hires Legal Representation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHfyzHtcOZI
Eddie Edwards was supposed to face Brian Myers in singles action this week. Instead, Myers revealed that he has hired Mark Sterling as his legal representation. Sterling announced that Myers can’t compete tonight because of the unsafe conditions at Impact and his eye injury. Instead, Hernandez is chosen to face Edwards. Edwards then defeated Hernandez with a second-rope Boston Knee Party.
Then later in the night, D’Amore pointed out that Myers has actually been cleared to compete. D’Amore then said next week it will be Myers vs Edwards in an eye-for-an-eye match with Matt Cardona as the referee. D’Amore then just said he was joking about the eye for an eye thing, as nobody in their right mind would book such a match.
Impact Wrestling star Heath Miller will undergo hernia surgery in a few weeks.
He’s been out of action for the past several months. We last saw him action at Bound for Glory in October, when he competed in the “Call Your Own Shot” Battle Royal.
Heath has been getting a lot of messages from wrestlers and concerned fans asking where he’s been. He tweeted a video message on Thursday addressing his condition.
He’s been visiting several doctors in hopes of getting a proper diagnosis and game plan for recovery. Heath revealed that he’s got a sports hernia on the left side of his pubic bone, another hernia on his right side, his abductor muscle is ripped off the bone and he’s got a rip in his abdomen wall on both sides.
“It’s a little bit of a mess,” he joked. He described the situation as “an up and down roller coaster ride of crap.”
Heath finally found a surgeon that will attempt to fix all of his ailments. The procedures are scheduled for March 1st.
You can check out Heath’s video message below. We wish him a speedy recovery!
Impact Wrestling drew its best rating of the year on Tuesday night with an episode that featured the promotional debut of Juice Robinson and David Finlay. According to ShowBuzz Daily, Tuesday’s episode drew 197,000 viewers on AXS TV and a 0.06 rating in the key demo.
The show finished 117th for the night. The top show on Tuesday night was NBC’s “This is Us” and the #2 show was the debut of “Young Rock.”
The rating is up from last week’s go-home show for the No Surrender event. That episode garnered 153,000 viewers on AXS TV and a 0.04 rating in the key demo. The Kenny Omega debut episode on December 8th, 2020 drew 221,000 viewers and a 0.08 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
Interest for Impact’s latest episode likely increased following the No Surrender event on Impact Plus this weekend. It was announced at the conclusion of the show that David Finlay & Juice Robinson would make their promotional debuts this week. FinJuice defeated Reno Scum on Tuesday night before being confronted by The Good Brothers, Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows.
The following matches have been booked for next week’s show:
Winning Team Faces Each Other For X-Division Title Shot Ace Austin, Chris Bey and Black Taurus vs Willie Mack, Josh Alexander and Trey Migue
#1 Contenders Knockouts Tag Team Championships Jordynne Grace & Jazz vs Kimber Lee & Susan w/ Deonna Purrazzo
Tables Match Cody Deaner vs Jake Something
The company also announced this morning that their next streaming event will be on March 13th, 2021.
Sammy Guevara was reportedly sent home from the recent Impact tapings in Nashville. According to a report from Slam Wrestling, Guevara rejected a storyline that would have seen the 27-year-old debut in the promotion.
Chris Jericho is said to have come up with an idea for Guevara to appear in Impact Wrestling. This would take place after he quit the Inner Circle on Dynamite. Guevara, however, is said to have contacted Impact directly with complaints about the creative direction. Impact then contacted Jericho and Tony Khan about Guevara’s comments. It’s not known what Guevara’s complaints were or what he said to Impact.
It doesn’t appear as though Jericho was happy about whatever Guevara said to Impact, however. Jericho is then said to have reached out to his longtime friend, Don Callis, about “banning Guevara” from the premises. Jericho is then believed to have sent Guevara a text instructing him to head home and not attend the tapings in Nashville.
*Update*
The issue was covered recently on an episode of Wrestling Observer Radio.
“AEW and Impact are still working together. From an AEW standpoint, there’s not any heat on Sammy for what he did. From the Impact side, I’m sure there is. That’s just what the deal is,” said Dave Meltzer.
There had been speculation amongst fans online that Guevara could turn up in Impact Wrestling. Evidently, there were plans for this to happen at one point.
At the conclusion of last night’s No Surrender broadcast, Impact announced that NJPW Juice Robinson and David Finlay are coming to the promotion. Private Party and Matt Hardy have been in Impact for the last month. Kenny Omega frequently appeared on the show throughout December and January.
It was revealed during last night’s IMPACT No Surrender event that Juice Robinson and David Finlay would be heading to the promotion this week. Alongside KENTA, that makes three mainstay NJPW stars that have appeared on both AEW/IMPACT programming over the past few weeks.
It’s now common knowledge that All Elite and IMPACT have a working relationship; this began on-screen at the December 2nd ‘Winter Is Coming’ episode of AEW Dynamite. Kenny Omega and Don Callis aligned at the end of that show and Omega began appearing on IMPACT television.
It does appear however that there’s even more to come. Dave Meltzer confirmed on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that NJPW star Kazuchika Okada will be part of the ongoing partnerships between NJPW, AEW and IMPACT. Meltzer also noted that he does not know where Okada will be appearing first; but he stated that he is coming to either AEW or IMPACT.
Kazuchika Okada in TNA
This is another interesting wrinkle in the ‘Forbidden Door’ storyline that seems to be engulfing the major promotions outside of WWE. When Okada was originally in the TNA promotion back in 2010-2011. Whilst there Okada was used as a lower card performer, with a ‘Kato’ gimmick from The Green Hornet.
The way that Kazuchika Okada was used by TNA was so appalling that NJPW cut all ties with the promotion shortly after, vowing never to work with Total Nonstop Action again. Reportedly in 2017, representatives of the now IMPACT Wrestling spoke to New Japan officials. Members of the IMPACT team actually apologised for the way Okada was used earlier in the decade. It’s likely that the people who apologised weren’t even involved in his booking at that time.
If Kazuchika Okada were to make an appearance at an AEW or IMPACT show? It could be a huge power move for all involved. Okada is classed as one of the greatest IWGP Heavyweight Champions in history; there’s plenty of dream match scenarios that could occur if the ‘Rainmaker’ comes to the United States.
Doors between professional wrestling organizations are being opened and walked through with increased frequency lately. As announced on last night’s No Surrender event, NJPW’s Juice Robinson and David Finlay are headed to Impact Wrestling.
At the conclusion of last night’s broadcast on Impact Plus, a video promoting the debut of Juice and Finlay in Impact was shown.
Collectively known as “Fin Juice,” the pair are former IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. They also won the World Tag League tournament in 2019. Robinson is also a former 2x IWGP United States Champion.
Don Callis On Juice Robinson
Don Callis had previously expressed that Juice Robinson was someone he would like to bring into his promotion. On an episode of his old “Killin the Town” podcast in 2018, Callis had the following to say about Juice.
“Juice is a tremendous performer with unlimited likeability and unlimited charisma,” Callis said. “He definitely is a rock star.”
“I really like him a lot,” Callis continued. “He’s a guy you build a company around.”
In the same interview from nearly 3 years ago, Callis made some prophetic statements.
“I agree with a lot of the conjecture online that talks about the fact that there are walls being broken down in the business right now,” Callis said. “I might just be the guy holding the hammer.”
A new one-hour weekly TV show from IMPACT Wrestling – BEFORE THE IMPACT – will debut next Tuesday, February 16, on AXS TV, it was announced last night.
‘BTI’ will air at 7pm ET/4pm PT every Tuesday night on AXS TV® as a lead-in to the action-packed flagship IMPACT! show which airs at 8pm ET/5pm PT.
Nashville-based sportscaster Jon Burton will be BTI’s host. The NewsChannel5 anchor will be joined by reporters Gia Miller and Josh Mathews.
Mathews, who also serves as BTI’s senior producer, said: “BTI will feature in-depth previews of the biggest matches, exclusive interviews with IMPACT Wrestling stars, behind-the-scenes access you won’t see anywhere else and an exclusive match each week.”
BTI will feature exclusive news on the pro-wrestling industry from insider George Iceman – the “Iceman’s Intel” segment is expected to be a highlight of BTI.
“BEFORE THE IMPACT will be IMPACT Wrestling’s version of a pregame show,” said IMPACT Executive Vice-President Scott D’Amore. “Fans have been asking for more IMPACT action on AXS TV and we’re excited to debut a new show and format with BTI.”
The premiere installment of BEFORE THE IMPACT will feature a collision between Team XXXL and the recently reformed, new-look Decay.
The “Forbidden Door” is the phrase used to describe the metaphoric barrier between All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling. According to AEW President Tony Khan, he’s the forbidden door and that door is now wide open. Fans should expect a lot more crossover in the months ahead.
Khan and Tony Schiavone returned to Impact Wrestling this week with their latest ‘paid advertisement’ on the program. Khan says that everywhere he goes, people have been asking when he’s going to open the forbidden door. People want to know, when is New Japan going to come to AEW?
He’s been telling people that he doesn’t know where or what the forbidden door is. “And then I figured it out. The Forbidden door is me! I am the forbidden door!” Khan emphatically stated.
“I just had to open myself, and that comes from being here with you IMPACT Wrestling! Doing these paid ads, I’ve learned so much about myself. I’ve opened myself up to new experiences, and look at all the great things that have happened. We did a great rating for Dynamite this week with IMPACT people there. We had people from New Japan, who knows who is going to be there next week?”
Tony Khan: “Let’s Do This Every Week”
Khan continued, “One thing I do know? The Forbidden Door has been opened. I can’t wait for this week’s main event tomorrow night on AEW Dynamite. One of the biggest matches ever on Dynamite, Falls Count Anywhere, anything goes.”
He then made a huge statement regarding the future of AEW Dynamite allowing talent to ‘cross borders.’
“I just have to say, thank you Kenny [Omega]. Thank you Don Callis, nobody ever expected me to say that. But thanks to you two and everything you’ve done in AEW? You’ve opened me up, you’ve changed me, and you’ve opened the Forbidden Door. I love it, I want to do more big ratings, I wanna have more people show up! Let’s do this EVERY WEEK.”
Tony Khan finished by confirming that the Forbidden Door swings both ways; with IMPACT Wrestling set to see more of the AEW President inside the IMPACT Zone with All Elite talent. You can see this week’s “paid ad” in the player embedded below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxBvL88SkR4
AEW & NJPW
Tony Khan has been outspoken about his desire to work with New Japan Pro Wrestling. Over the past several weeks, we’ve seen the groundwork of a full-blown inter-promotional war coming into focus.
The conclusion of last week’s AEW Dynamite saw the surprise appearance of KENTA, who is feuding with AEW star (and IWGP United States Champion) Jon Moxley. They will square off later this month (2/26) at NJPW’s New Beginning USA event.
This heated feud is just one element of the AEW-NJPW storyline that’s unfolding. Also in play – Bullet Club in AEW and NJPW, AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and IWGP World Champion Kota Ibushi teasing a program.
The main event of Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite will see Jon Moxley and Lance Archer teaming up against AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and KENTA. AEW has billed Moxley as the reigning IWGP United States Champion, another example of relations improving between the two promotions.
The possibilities for the coming together of these promotions is almost limitless. Thus far, we have seen Tony Khan bring AAA, the NWA, Impact Wrestling and now NJPW to AEW programming. Originally it was rumored that the NJPW/AEW ‘deal’ was purely for New Japan to get use of Jon Moxley. As mentioned, the former WWE Superstar is the current IWGP United States Champion, and with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic New Japan wanted to still have use of one of their prized assets. This meant that Moxley would have to work in the United States under the NJPW banner; something that would involve striking a deal with All Elite as he is contracted to only appear on major promotions for them in the US, much like Chris Jericho.
It appears as though the deal has now been completed, with a huge shift in the momentum for the 2nd and 3rd biggest pro wrestling promotions in the world coming together. Once again AEW have managed to make Dynamite, IMPACT and even NJPW Strong appointment viewing.
