Impact Wrestling – August 2, 2019: They Can Do Some Great Stuff
IMG Credit: Impact Wrestling
Impact Wrestling
Date: August 2, 2019
Location: St. Clair College, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Don Callis
This is kind of a weird night for Impact as they’re airing a live special called Unbreakable at the same time as this show. They’ve hyped up matches for both shows, meaning you might have needed to take notes coming into it. One of the bigger matches for this one will see Tessa Blanchard vs. Mad Man Fulton, which could be good. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening recap.
Opening sequence.
Aiden Prince vs. Rohit Raju vs. Zachary Wentz vs. Chuck Mambo vs. Cody Deaner vs. Petey Williams
The winner gets an X-Division Title shot at some point in the future. Deaner goes after Raju to start and their fight heads out to the floor as Mambo and Prince trade flips inside. Wentz comes back in and gets to stare Williams down with the former getting caught in a headscissors. The Canadian Destroyer is broken up so Williams gets in a Sharpshooter with Raju coming in to add a Crossface on Wentz at the same time.
Raju spears Williams down for two with Deaner coming in for the save. Hold on though as Deaner needs to put on his hat. Williams grabs his flag for a posedown and it’s a double suicide dive to take out Prince and Raju. Wentz dives onto them as well and Prince nails an Asai moonsault. Back in and Mambo’s springboard is broken up so Deaner punches Raju some more.
Petey comes in for the Russian legsweep but Wentz breaks up a Destroyer with a jumping knee to the face. Raju makes another save but gets beaten up by Deaner again (it’s not some epic feud people). Deaner’s DDT plants Raju with Mambo springboarding in with an elbow for the next save. Prince comes back in with a brainbuster and 450 to finish Mambo for the pin and the title shot at 9:15.
Rating: C+. This was your usual wild X-Division match and that works well enough, especially for an opener. They do need to bring in some fresh talent, but it doesn’t mean as much when a lot of these names can be interchanged. The X-Division is certainly in a better place than they were in a few months ago though and I’ll take whatever improvement I can get.
Jake Crist is excited about having a new challenger but Sami Callihan tells him to hand over the title. That isn’t happening so Sami talks about Tessa Blanchard instead. Tonight, she can deal with Mad Man Fulton.
Rich Swann warns Tessa about Fulton and the rest of OVE. Tessa appreciates the offer of help but says she has to do this alone.
Havok vs. John E. Bravo
Taya Valkyrie is out with Bravo. John drops to a knee and kisses Havok’s hand, so she knees him in the face. Bravo gets tossed across the ring and no sells a poke to the eye. The chokeslam finishes Bravo at 1:43.
Su Yung pops up on screen and seems to ramble some gibberish, which disturbs Havok.
Josh Alexander is worried about tonight’s Tag Team Title defense while Ethan Page is wondering who they’ll defend against after they beat the Rascalz tonight. Alexander wants some more seriousness.
Stone Rockwell vs. Ace Austin
Austin jumps him before the bell but Rockwell hits a strong clothesline and pulls a springboarding Austin out of the air. A spinning backbreaker plants Austin again but an elbow misses. The Fold finishes Rockwell at 2:15.
Post match Eddie Edwards of all people jumps Austin from behind and beats the heck out of him. Remember that Austin hit on Eddie’s wife.
Madison Rayne, dubbing herself the locker room leader, comes in to see Tessa and wishes her luck tonight. Tessa doesn’t want to hear it and leaves. Madison: “She’s done.”
Video on the Knockouts Division, which has been pretty strong in recent months.
Alisha Edwards yells at Eddie for attacking Ace. She says she doesn’t have time for him being crazy and leaves.
During the break, Moose laid out Stone Rockwell and now back in the arena, Moose says he is a star and no longer responsible for his actions. Cue Fallah Bahh and we have a match.
Moose vs. Fallah Bahh
Moose is in street clothes and gets crushed in the corner. The Banzai Drop finishes Moose at 47 seconds. They’re not wasting time tonight.
Post break Moose wants to know who booked that match.
Mad Man Fulton vs. Tessa Blanchard
Sami is here with Fulton. Tessa forearms away to start and the size difference is crazy. Magnum is broken up with ease and it’s a chokeslam to plant Tessa instead. With Tessa mostly dead, Fulton pauses for some OVE chants and Sami rants about how Tessa earned this. Callis: “Shut up idiot.”
Tessa slaps Fulton in the face and the bearhug goes on with a lot of shaking. In what might not be the smartest move, Tessa pulls out one of his deadlocks to escape. Some running forearms don’t do much though and Fulton big boots her down. Sami throws in a chair and slaps Fulton, but here’s Tommy Dreamer (BECAUSE OF COURSE IT’S TOMMY DREAMER!) to hit Fulton with the kendo stick for the DQ at 5:01.
Rating: D+. I actually groaned when Dreamer ran out because we’re going to get the same speech about how much he loves wrestling and doesn’t have much time left as he gets to attach himself to another story. It’s been done to death already and I really, really don’t need to see it again. But he was in ECW and Callis likes pushing his friends from the company that has been out of business for over eighteen years so this is what we’re getting. The match itself was much more of an angle advancement than anything else, which is fine, though I’m not sure where Tessa goes after getting done with OVE.
Post match Fulton goes after Dreamer but Tessa gets the stick and runs OVE off.
We look at Rhyno returning last week and attacking Michael Elgin. I’m not sure how valuable he is to the company but Impact loves bringing people back in whenever they can.
Elgin gets what Rhyno did but Rhyno is still going to pay.
An unnamed woman comes into the Knockouts locker room and doesn’t introduce herself. Madison introduces herself as the locker room leader but Kiera Hogan comes in and everyone gets catty with each other. The new girl leaves.
Flashback Moment of the Week: Generation Me (Young Bucks) vs. Motor City Machine Guns at Bound For Glory 2010.
Jimmy Jacobs goes up to Brian Cage’s house for an update but Melissa Santos opens the door and asks for privacy. She’ll answer his questions next week.
Impact is back in Mexico City later this month.
Rhyno doesn’t care about legal actions because he had a bunch of money thrown to him to sit in catering for years. Everyone is getting the Gore.
Tag Team Titles: The North vs. Rascalz
Trey Miguel and Dezmond Xavier are defending with no Wentz here this time. North drops Miguel with an early forearm and a quick takedown has Miguel rethinking things a bit. Page comes in and gets caught with a springboard headscissors as Miguel is having a lot more success this time around. Dezmond comes in and starts kicking away at Page, followed by rights and lefts in the corner.
Back to back to back slingshot splashes keep Page down for two but Alexander saves Page from an O’Connor roll. A World’s Strongest Slam onto the apron has Dezmond in trouble for the first time and a spinning suplex gives Alexander two. Alexander puts him in a rack for something from Page but Page is too busy yelling at Miguel. Dezmond uses the distraction to slip out and it’s back to Trey to pick up the pace. That doesn’t last long though as the champs run him over again and take over.
With Dezmond knocked off the apron, Trey gets free and dives over for the tag….but just crashes into the corner. As expected, the hot tag goes through a few seconds later and everything breaks down again. Dezmond hits a huge dive over the top to take down both champs and we take a break.
Back with Page kicking Dezmond in the head but getting stomped in the back for two from Miguel. Page powerslams Dezmond on the floor, leaving Alexander to start in on Miguel’s ankle. A backbreaker gets two and Alexander is starting to get frustrated. The ankle lock is broken up so Alexander goes with a powerbomb backbreaker for two more in a nasty landing. The torture rack flipped into the spinebuster gets two as everything breaks down again.
The double slugout is on with the Rascalz getting the better of it until Alexander lifts Trey up for a powerslam. Dezmond tries a springboard moonsault onto them….and Alexander catches him too. A double powerslam gets two more but Alexander misses his own moonsault. Trey’s top rope Meteora sets up Dezmond’s Final Flash for two and Trey’s rollup gets the same. Dezmond gets sent outside and it’s a cutter into a wheelbarrow suplex, followed by the double Neuralizer to retain the titles at 22:40.
Rating: A-. This was a heck of a match with both teams looking awesome. I’ve liked the Rascalz since they debuted but I’ve been waiting for something to make the North feel important. That’s what we got here as the match was very hard hitting and back and forth the whole time, with a nice bit of doubt as to who was winning. The Rascalz will eventually get the titles and that’s going to be a heck of a moment, but at least we had a great match on the way there.
Post match the North goes to the back, where Ortiz jumps them. The champs fight back but Daga runs in and makes the save, with Konnan helping to chase the North off to end the show.
Overall Rating: B+. Rather good show here as they covered a bunch of stuff and had a very strong main event to close things out. When Impact is on its game and keeps away from the storyline stuff, they can put out some good television and that’s what we got here. What matters most for them is consistency, which has always been a problem for this company. I’ll take a very good show while I can though and that’s what we got here.
Results
Aiden Prince b. Chuck Mambo, Rohit Raju, Zachary Wentz, Cody Deaner and Petey Williams – 450 to Mambo
Havok b. John E. Bravo – Chokeslam
Ace Austin b. Stone Rockwell – The Fold
Fallah Bahh b. Moose – Banzai Drop
Mad Man Fulton b. Tessa Blanchard via DQ when Tommy Dreamer interfered
The North b. Rascalz – Double Neutralizer to Miguel
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I did the 30 day free trial of Impact+ so I watched Unbreakable. Elgin/Edwards had a hell of power vs speed match. The rest of the card wasn’t bad either. I’m interested to see how the world title picture plays out through Bound For Glory.