Impact Wrestling – February 11, 2020: Who Needs Guest Stars?
IMG Credit: Impact Wrestling
Impact Wrestling
Date: February 11, 2020
Location: Fronton Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Commentators: Don Callis, Josh Matthews
We continue our trip in Mexico as well as the road to Sacrifice, which is turning into an In Your House style show. That’s a good idea for Impact given how infrequently they do regular pay per views around here. The big deal this time around is Jordynne Grace challenging Taya Valkyrie for the Knockouts Title. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening recap.
Opening sequence.
Michael Elgin vs. Eddie Edwards
Match #2 in a Best of Five series with Elgin leading 1-0. Elgin slugs away to start and gets two off a belly to back suplex. Eddie’s rolling German suplex doesn’t work so well so he grabs a crucifix for two instead. What looked to be a top rope hurricanrana attempt is countered into a sitout powerbomb for another near fall. Edwards gets dropped back first onto the apron and Elgin tells him to bring it on. A hard clothesline gets two on Eddie but he counters a failed superplex attempt into a failed sunset bomb attempt.
The Elgin Bomb is countered as well so Elgin forearms him in the face. Eddie is right back with a tiger bomb for two so Elgin rolls outside, with Eddie hitting a suicide dive. Back in and Eddie gets two off a super hurricanrana but Elgin takes him down by the arm. The Crossface is countered and Eddie snaps off a German suplex, only to miss the Boston Knee Party. The buckle bomb into the Elgin Bomb finishes Eddie at 10:47.
Rating: B-. These two always work well together and this should set up three more matches between the two of them. Seeing Eddie as the underdog against the monster should be fun as they have some chemistry. Hopefully we get some better stuff out of them, though this one was quite good in its own right.
Video on Taya Valkyrie vs. Jordynne Grace.
Taya says she’s ready and she’s used to having no one believing in her.
Man Man Fulton vs. Daga
Daga starts fast with the kicks to the head before avoiding some stomps. Fulton shouts at him and blocks a hurricanrana but gets sent to the floor anyway. The suicide dive connects and we take an early break. Back with Daga getting choked on the mat and ropes, followed by Fulton’s release German suplex to drop him on his head. Daga Hulks Up though and hammers away before snapping Fulton’s throat across the top.
A running double stomp gets two on Fulton but he’s right back with a swinging chokeslam. Fulton doesn’t let go and hits a regular chokeslam, only to have Daga pop up with a Death Valley Driver. Cue the Crists so Daga hits a running corkscrew dive but the distraction lets Fulton get back up. Daga’s springboard DDT is countered into a northern lights suplex with Daga landing on his head (that looked bad) for the pin at 12:04.
Rating: C. Daga is someone who can do his thing very well while Fulton is starting to gel as the monster. That being said, the ending was downright nasty looking and it wouldn’t shock me if they wrapped it up early. Hopefully Daga is ok because he’s getting better around here and a feud with OVE could be interesting.
Moose is getting a massage and wants some work on his, ahem, lower back because Rhino is a bad pain down there. Rhino takes the masseuse’s place and beats Moose up.
Fallah Bahh vs. Ethan Page
TJP and Josh Alexander are here as well. Fans: “GOO GOO GAGA!” Bahh busts out some cartwheels to start and hits a running splash in the corner as Page wasn’t quite ready for this much athleticism. Alexander offers a distraction though and Page kicks Bahh out to the floor. Back in and Bahh shrugs off the shots to the head, meaning it’s Page being sent into the corner for the running hip attack. Alexander breaks up the Banzai Drop so TJP flip dives onto him, leaving Bahh to small package Page for the pin at 3:56.
Rating: C-. Bahh continues to surprise me as there is no reason for him to be able to do something like that. He pulled it off here though and that was one of the bigger surprises that you could have imagined here. The North vs. TJP/Bahh should be a fun little match too as TJP and Bahh have some shockingly good chemistry together.
James Mitchell wants Jessika Havok to help him find Su Yung. They find Susie and Mitchell is very happy, saying the family is reunited and everything can be better now. Susie follows them but seems to morph into Su.
Rob Van Dam vs. Joey Ryan
Katie Forbes is here with Rob and let’s get this over with as fast as possible. Ryan oils up and tells Rob to touch it but Rob poses and shoves him instead. We get a staredown but hang on because Katie needs to come in for kisses and dancing. The jiggling distracts Joey and Rob kicks him down, with commentary calling out the lack of wrestling for the first three minutes.
Rob kicks him down but won’t use Rolling Thunder so Joey is up with a dropkick to the floor. Back in and Rob pokes him in the eyes and puts him on the middle of the top rope for a jumping kick to the face. Rob loads up Rolling Thunder again but goes outside to see Katie again. That means a dive from Ryan before they head back inside where Ryan makes him touch it. The Plex is countered though as Rob kicks him in the head, setting up the Five Star for the pin at 7:26.
Rating: D-. I’d still like to emphasize that this is the best thing they can do with Rob Van Dam, the biggest star this company has. The Joey Ryan stuff has its place and I don’t think it’s on this show. The problem is the same thing you get with most comedy stuff: how many times can he do the same shtick? We’ve covered this so many times before and it’s not like anything new (or good) is added. If you have to do this, find someone else besides Van Dam.
Su Yung is dragging Mitchell by the neck with a noose. Mitchell blacks out and wakes up in….I think h***?
From Sacrifice 2014: Eric Young retains the World Title over Magnus (Nick Aldis). Yeah remember when THAT was a thing? They showed a lot more of the match here than usual.
Johnny Swinger has all of his cheating weapons ready to help Willie Mack against Shera. Mack tells him to stay right there.
Willie Mack vs. Shera
Gama and Rohit Raju are here. They chop it out in the corner but Raju comes in for the DQ at 47 seconds.
Swinger, save, tag match.
Willie Mack/Johnny Swinger vs. Desi Hit Squad
Swinger gets taken into the corner to start and it’s Shera pounding him down. That’s it for the offense though as Swinger gets over for the tag off to Mack as the fans don’t seem thrilled. A Samoan drop into the standing moonsault crushes Raju and Shera gets double teamed in the corner. Mack doesn’t like the idea of a double clothesline with Swinger so Gama pulls Mack to the floor. That leaves Shera to Sky High Swinger at 3:20.
Rating: D. See, notice what they did here: the whole thing, including the first match, was about as long as the Van Dam vs. Ryan match, including a commercial. Breaking it up like that was a bit of a help, plus Swinger is more entertaining than Ryan. They kept it short and didn’t waste the top guy in the company while keeping Mack busy despite Rich Swann being injured. It’s still not good, but it’s also not as annoying so upgrade….maybe?
Tessa Blanchard isn’t worried about her (non-title….for some reason) match with Ace Austin. Ace comes in to say Tessa is never going to earn daddy’s approval, but he likes women with daddy issues. Tessa beats him up.
Next week: Ace Austin/Reno Scum vs. Tessa Blanchard/Trey Miguel/Tommy Dreamer. They’re trolling us, right?
The announcers are cut off by another Realityislost video, though they acknowledge this one.
Knockouts Title: Taya Valkyrie vs. Jordynne Grace
Taya is defending and has John E Bravo with her. Grace gets jumped at the bell and there’s the running hip attack in the corner. Bravo chokes Grace with the stuffed dog and we take an early break. Back with more of the same but this time Grace gets in a suplex to put Taya on the floor. That means the required suicide dive but Bravo shoves Grace off the top. Somehow the referee is oblivious to this, with commentary pointing out how bad that really is.
Bravo chokes even more, with commentary comparing it to the Houston Astros sign stealing ordeal. Grace is back up with a clothesline and some slams look to set up the Grace Driver. It’s too early for that though as Taya heads to the apron and manages to powerbomb Grace onto the steps (strategically placed by Bravo).
Taya takes her to the stage for Road To Valhalla as Grace is looking a bit done. That’s only good for a nine count as Grace staggers back in to beat the count. Grace is fine enough to Muscle Buster Taya for two but Taya grabs a Bubba Bomb into a cross armbreaker of all things. That’s reversed into a Crossface (minus the arm trap, making it more of a Bank Statement) but Bravo pulls Taya to the rope.
A Vader Bomb gets two with Bravo pulling the referee so Grace pulls Bravo in. Taya spears him by mistake but Bravo gets on top of her to block the top rope backsplash. It turns out that means very little as it just crushes Taya even worse, setting up the Grace Driver to end Taya’s reign at 17:17.
Rating: B-. I can’t complain about the interference too much as Grace won (as she should have) and it’s a case of living by the sword and dying by the sword for Taya, who kept the title because of all the cheating in the first place. It makes sense to put the title on Grace here as Taya was completely out of challengers. Good match too, as the Bravo stuff was the right way to go and they got the ending right, which is what matters most.
Overall Rating: C+. Pretty good show this week as they focused more on their own people instead of all of the guest stars. They needed a show to move some stories forward and that’s what we got here. I liked the main event for the feel good title change and Eddie vs. Elgin (probably) three more times sounds good. Just get rid of the Ryan vs. Van Dam stuff and give us more of the good and we might have something around here.
Results
Michael Elgin b. Eddie Edwards – Elgin Bomb
Mad Man Fulton b. Daga – Northern lights suplex
Fallah Bahh b. Ethan Page – Small package
Rob Van Dam b. Joey Ryan – Five Star Frog Splash
Willie Mack b. Shera via DQ when Rohit Raju interfered
Desi Hit Squad b. Willie Mack/Johnny Swinger – Sky High to Swinger
Jordynne Grace b. Taya Valkyrie – Grace Driver
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