Impact Wrestling – October 22, 2019: Straight Out Of The NXT Playbook
IMG Credit: Impact Wrestling
Impact Wrestling
Date: October 22, 2019
Location: Odeum Expo Center, Villa Park, Illinois
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Don Callis
Hosts: Josh Matthews, Scott D’Amore
It’s the first show after Bound For Glory but in this case it isn’t your traditional fallout show. Instead we have a kind of preview/get to know you show for the move to AXS TV. It makes a lot lot of sense to do something like this this here as there is going to be a new audience who isn’t familiar with your product. Couple that with coming off your biggest show of the year and a recap is in order. Let’s get to it.
Here are Bound For Glory’s results if you need a recap.
We open with a look back at some great moments in company history. I’m not sure I’d point out how many legitimately cool things you’ve done, only to wind up where you are.
Josh and Scott welcome us to the show and promise a bunch of Bound For Glory fallout. As it should be.
Melissa Santos is in Los Angeles to talk to Taya Valkyrie later.
New X-Division Champion Ace Austin is now in a movie and Don Callis is on set. The movie set looks rather basic and….oh dang this might go very badly.
We talk about some of the talent that has showed up lately, including Rob Van Dam, Jordynne Grace, Rhino, Madman Fulton, TJP, Willie Mack, Tenille Dashwood and Ken Shamrock. Above all of them though is Michael Elgin, who walked away from Japan for a full time job here, where the stars are. Actually I’m thinking there are some bigger stars in Japan.
Video on Elgin, who came in with a bang and attacked World Champion Brian Cage as part of his path of destruction. I mean, he lost the two World Title shots, but it was quite the path. That match with Rich Swann was very good though.
The announcers are impressed with Elgin.
Madison Rayne vs. Shotzi Blackheart
Shotzi is reportedly WWE bound and Madison brings out Kiera Hogan for commentary. Madison has LRL (Locker Room Leader) on the back of her trunks and makes sure that Shotzi sees it. They yell at each other to start until Shotzi dropkicks her down and hits the reverse Cannonball in the corner. That’s enough to send Madison outside where she sits on Kiera’s lap (Kiera: “This isn’t part of the plan Madison! You didn’t explain this part to me!”). We take a break and come back with Shotzi driving her into the corner and forearming away, only to get northern lights suplexed for two.
The chinlock holds Shotzi down for a bit as Callis talks about how Madison is similar to Bret Hart for wearing pink and being a 28 time Knockout Champion. Shotzi comes back with an enziguri that didn’t seem to connect and we keep looking at commentary talking. A reverse Sling Blade plants Madison and a 619 in the corner makes it even worse. As Kiera talks about Josh not understanding the concept of getting lit, Madison ducks another 619 and catapults Shotzi throat first into the middle rope. A Roll of the Dice finishes Shotzi at 8:38.
Rating: C-. The Locker Room Leader stuff is a good enough source of heel heat and that’s all it needs to be. Shotzi is someone who gets your attention in a hurry and it would make sense for WWE to want to bring her in. She’s a good option for this spot too as she has a bit of a reputation off of her time on the indies that the win means something for Madison without wasting a match on another established name.
We look at the history of the Knockouts, including a clip of Taya retaining the title in a four way Monster’s Ball match at Slammiversary.
Ace Austin is getting his makeup done for his movie and talks about how interesting the role is going to be. A woman in a robe comes up and is rather happy to be his costar. Yeah this is going to get awkward in a hurry. Callis talks about how awesome Austin is for being a champion at 23 years old. Austin is wanted on set and another woman comes up to hit on Don, thinking he’s Dino Velvet, the villain from 8mm.
Now it’s time to talk about the tag teams, with Scott being a Desi Hit Squad fan.
We look at the North getting rid of LAX a few weeks ago.
The North issues an open challenge for next week because no one can beat them.
We look at Rob Van Dam’s heel turn at Bound For Glory.
We look at Moose vs. Ken Shamrock.
Shamrock is disappointed in himself for losing but tomorrow is a new day.
Moose, while celebrating with some friends, says he told us so and Shamrock can now move into retirement. Next week, he’ll prove why he is a legend.
Taya Valkyrie brags about beating Tenille Dashwood at Bound For Glory. After we see a clip of the successful title defense, Taya talks about being ready to go back to Bound For Glory. We see John E. Bravo going to Canada to ask fans about how much better their lives are since Taya has been Knockouts Champion but no one seems to care. Taya is annoyed, as expected.
Next week: Naomichi Marufuji vs. Josh Alexander.
We see Sami Callihan’s pre-match promo from Bound For Glory, talking about how he didn’t want to hurt Melissa Santos but the fans drove him to it. Now he’ll prove that he’s the best.
World Champion Brian Cage is healthy and ready to move forward. After a clip of Cage retaining over Callihan at Bound For Glory, cue Sami to say he wants a rematch. That isn’t happening, so Sami shows a video of OVE stalking Cage’s house. Threats are made so Cage gives him the title match for next week.
Josh and Scott are disgusted.
The World Title match will be in a cage.
D’Lo Brown joins Scott and Josh to talk about how Cage needs to have his head on straight or Sami will win the title.
Video on Tessa Blanchard.
Flashback Moment of the Week: Sami Callihan b. Tessa Blanchard at Slammiversary.
We’re on the set of the movie and the director tries to explain the psychology of the scene.
Video on Eddie Edwards, including his descent into madness at the hands of Sami Callihan.
We look at Eddie winning the Call Your Shot gauntlet match at Bound For Glory. He’ll face Ace Austin for the X-Division Title next week.
Quick look at Ultimate X for the X-Division Title at Homecoming in January.
Scott and Josh on the X-Division, which brings us back to Ace Austin and Alisha Edwards.
We get the first take of Ace’s movie, where he’s a shirtless gardener who wants to mow a woman’s grass (his words). Clothes are removed and yeah this is how they’re debuting on the new network.
Johnny Swinger doesn’t do social media but he has a PO Box for his fan club. He dubs himself Johnny Impact, with Jimmy Jacobs saying we already have one of them. Swinger: “Sounds like a job guy.” Again: a 90s throwback character is fine, but why Johnny Swinger?
Aerostar/Taurus/Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Rascalz
The luchadors are played to the ring by a band and this is under Lucha Rules. The Rascalz get jumped to start and it’s Miguel getting triple teamed. Aerostar is launched into a dropkick in the corner and the surfboard goes on, with Wagner coming off the top with a double stomp.
We take a break and come back with the luchadors posing until Dez comes in for the save. Everything breaks down and Wentz hits the Bronco Buster on Aerostar. A running double stomp hits Wagner for two and it’s time for the parade of dives. Back in and Wagner takes his mask off, allowing Taurus to German suplex Dez into a springboard splash from Aerostar. Wentz is back up with a superkick in the corner and Miguel adds the Meteora. The shove moonsault finishes Aerostar at 10:13.
Rating: C+. This was exactly what it should have been with the Rascalz doing their thing and getting a win over some names who have been built up a little bit around here. It was a good choice to set things up for Bound For Glory and it was the kind of lucha match that you would have been looking for out of these six. It was fast paced and entertaining, so what more can you ask for?
Josh and Scott preview next week’s show one more time to wrap things up.
Overall Rating: B-. They were going straight out of the post Takeover playbook here and it worked just as well. The point of this one wasn’t to do anything huge but rather to deal with what happened on Sunday and get the fans into what Impact is all about. They did that rather well and thankfully didn’t focus on the past. I was worried that this would be focusing on Hulk Hogan and AJ Styles and Kurt Angle and other people who haven’t been here for years but other than a few clips and some mentions, they were barely factors at all. Good intro for the new fans and a nice way of handing the post Bound For Glory show.
Results
Madison Rayne b. Shotzi Blackheart – Rolling cutter
Rascalz b. Taurus/Dr. Wagner Jr./Aerostar – Shove moonsault to Aerostar
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