Cazer’s Impact Wrestling Review 10.7.21

Impact Wrestling
Date: October 7th, 2021
Location: Skyway Studios, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: D’Lo Brown, Matt Striker

–  We are only two weeks away from Bound for Glory live in Las Vegas Nevada on Saturday October 23rd. The show is already looking to be a huge one for Impact. Before Impact World Champion Christian Cage and Challenger Josh Alexander can square off for the championship in Vegas they’ll be teaming up on Impact. Last week Ace Austin involved himself in Christopher Daniels Impact Wrestling return against Madman Fulton and Josh Alexander came out to even the odds. Austin was pretty mad about this so he demanded Scott D’Amore make things right. So this week we get Austin and Fulton vs. Cage and Alexander.

We’ve also have continued tension between FinJuice and The Bullet Club. With El Phantasmo making his way to Impact FinJuice realized they may need some back up. So this week we’ll see FinJuice partner with Chris Sabin to take on the dastardly Bullet Club.

Impact’s Knockouts Knockdown tournament is only 48 hours away and the Knockouts are ready to give a preview of what’s to come. Mercedes Martinez makes her Impact wrestling debut in six woman tag action partnering with Tasha Steelz and Savannah Evans to take on Lady Frost, Kimber Lee and Brandi Lauren.

On top of all of that we’ll hear from Heath after making the save for Rhino, and the continuation of the X Division Championship tournament plus much more. Impact last week was a lot of fun let’s see how they follow it up!

Before the Impact: Laredo Kid defeats Matthew Rehwoldt in a fun match im surprised wasn’t on Impact after they’ve built it on the show recently.

– Impact opens with a recap of last weeks Impact featuring the return of The Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels to singles action as well as the main event between W Morrisey and Eddie Edwards. Followed by the typical Intro.

The Bullet Club (El Phantasmo, Hikuleo, and Chris Bey) vs. FinJuice & Chris Sabin

– Big Too Sweet salute to kick off the match from the Bullet Club. Josh Mathews calls this a match with a big fight feel and I’m inclined to agree. Bey and Sabin start things off. Bey backs Sabin into the corner and taunts. Action kicks off with a Chris Bey sunset flip into an attempted cartwheel head scissors from Bey. We get a WRESTLING chant and round of applause for the exchange between Bey and Sabin.

Juice and El Phantasmo tag in and Phantasmo calls for a test of strength. Phantasmo with the fakeout and stomps on juice’s foot. Tossed into the ropes and a moonsault dodged by Juice but Phantasmo with the springboard moonsault connects. Juice regains control and drops Phantasmo with an Atomic drop. Juice tosses Phantasmo into the ropes and drops him with an elbow. Juice tags in Finlay who nearly loses his balance on a springboard double axe handle but it connects. We get quick tags from Sabin then Juice all hitting the Axe handle.

Phantasmo with a finger poke to Juice to regain control. He tags in Bey who goes for an axe handle of his own but Juice reverses and takes control. he starts nailing Bey and Phantasmo with strikes before the numbers get to him. Bey drops Juice with a huge kick but Juice with the kick out at two. Hikuleo tagged in and teases a top rope maneuver but pops down and hits a back rake instead. Juice rolls through to tag in David Finlay who drops Hikuleo with a running dropkick to the knee. Finlay drops Hikuleo into the corner with a drop kick and goes for a cross body but Hikuleo catches him. Finlay slips out but runs into a big boot for his trouble.

Bey tags in and Finlay regains control and tags in Sabin. Sabin drops Hikuleo off the apron before dropping Bey and Phantasmo with a double cross body. Both men get to their feet and Sabin drops both with a step up DDT assisted by Bey’s face. FinJuice and Sabin hit the triple dive outside the ring onto all three members of the Bullet Club outside of the ring. They toss Bey back into the ring. Sabin goes for the cover but it’s broken up at the last second by El Phantasmo.

We see the Good Brothers still on vacation tuned in to the match at hand. Hikuleo chokeslam, splash from Phantasmo and Bey goes for the cover. Sabin kicks out at a last second two count. Bey goes for art of finesse but its countered into a backslide for two. Sabin goes for the Cradle shock but Phantasmo hits Sabin in the groin while the ref is distracted. This is enough for Bey to hit Art of Finesse on Sabin for the victory.
Winners: The Bullet Club in 8:57 
Review: B+ Solid opener with a lot of action and both teams look great, The Bullet Club win after their typical dastardly deeds and FinJuice + Sabin still have a score to settle.

– Knockouts Knockdown is this Saturday on Impact plus!

– Josh Alexander is backstage for an interview regarding his tag team main event. He says the dynamic between he and Christian is interesting because it should be an honor to team with Christian but there’s an issue between them because they have a match on the horizon. Josh says he’s studied Christians career making him the wildcard in their match. He promises to take care of Fulton and Ace tonight giving Christian a front row seat to his Bound For Glory future.

– OH BABYYY Heath is here! We recap last week as Heath makes his way to the ring and grabs a mic. The crowd is excited to see Heath return and he’s humbled by their reaction. He says he’s been out for a year and everyone has had a bad year. Everyone has a story about this year and he does too. He says a year ago at Bound for Glory he was ready to get his Impact contract but the rug got pulled out from underneath him because of his injury. He says the saddest part is he lost his best friend. Heath says he was there for him for about a month before going off the radar. He went on social media trying to reach out to his Rhino but he never even got a phone call. Heath isn’t putting the blame on Rhino because that’s not the man beast that we know. Heath blames Eric Young for abusing Rhino and it’s been really pissing him off. He’s out here today to kick some ass if he has to and to call out his best friend Rhino so they can talk.

Eric Young and Violent by Design make their way out instead of Rhino. Eric Young asks Heath what part of this he doesn’t understand, the Rhino he knew before is gone. Eric says he made Rhino better, stronger, and more pure. He asks how many times they have to get rid of Heath. Eric says Heath can’t speak to Rhino anymore because Eric speaks for Rhino. Eric says Rhino belongs to him and Heath cuts him off saying Rhino doesn’t belong to anybody. Eric tells Heath to listen to him he tells Heath to leave his ring and never come back.

Heath tells Eric he doesn’t hold his head down for anybody. He says he’s busted his ass to get here and he’ll be damned if he’s going to walk out. Eric tells Heath he has to leave or he’s going to force their hand. Heath says who wants to try me before nailing Joe Doring. He gets the upper hand at first but the numbers game gets to Heath. Deaner and Doring lift Heath up as Eric tells the crowd Rhino isn’t coming before dropping Heath with a huge right hand to the gut. They hold Heath on his knees as Eric breaks the VBD sign over the back of Heath’s head. Eric leaves the flag over the fallen body of Heath as commentary asks where the hell Rhino is.

– Willie Mack is interviewed and asked about his chances in the X-Division tournament he begins to give a Scott Steiner promo before getting into a more serious discussion about his opponents next week. He is interrupted by Zicky Dice and Manny Lemons. Rich Swann says if they think they can beat them then he’ll get the match set up with Scott for tonight. Zicky and Lemons go tell Brian Meyers and VSK the good news. Brian calls them idiots for thinking they can beat Swann and Mack after Meyers and VSK lost last week. Brian Meyers and VSK head to Brian’s sweet new bus.

Kimber Lee Brandi Lauren & Lady Frost vs. Mercedes Martinez, Tasha Steelz, & Savannah Evans

– This is a preview for Knockouts Knockdown this Saturday so hopefully we get an exciting match that encourages people to tune in to the tournament. Mercedes and Frost start things off with a lockup. Mercedes shoves Frost into the corner before the ref calls for a separation. Mercedes nails Frost with a huge forearm and goes for another before Frost ducks and tags out. Brandi tags in and Mercedes tags in Tasha because she’s not trying to mess with Brandi right now. Tasha is also worried about Brandi so she tags in Savannah right away. Savannah shows no fear to Brandi and drops her with a big boot. She lays into the grounded Brandi with some stiff lefts and rights as we go to commercial pretty quick in this one.

We come back from brake as Tasha drops Tasha with a big boot in the corner. Tasha then with a running penalty kick dropping Brandi and goes for the cover. Tasha with a knee to the stomach and tosses Brandi into the corner. Savannah and Brandi exchange tags keeping Brandi separated from her teammates. Brandi fights back with some forearms. Brandi and Tasha drop each other with a simultaneous clothesline. Tasha refuses to tag in Mercedes as Brandi tags in Kimber Lee. Kimber Lee with the spin kick dropping Tasha. Tasha gets to her feet before being tossed into the ropes and runs right into a tilt a whirl back breaker. Savannah comes in without a tag and drops Lady Frost. Brandi Lauren locks in a sleeper on Savannah to get her out of the ring. Mercedes Martinez jumps into the ring and drops Kimber Lee with a butterfly suplex. Mercedes goes for the pin but the ref says she’s not the legal woman. Tasha hops in and steals the victory.

Winner: Tasha Steelz, Savannah Evans, Mercedes Martinez in 9:28
Review: C This was alright but the booking was a bit weird. We rushed to break and came back to Mercedes having issues with Steelz and Savannah. Mercedes not recognizing she couldn’t go for the pin was strange considering she’s a vet. I am interested to see where this goes but if we’re hyping up a big event I think a more decisive finish and more focus on a good match would be better.

– Post match the winners argue as Mercedes is mad Tasha took her spotlight. Alisha Edwards hits the ring and beats down Brandi Lauren and Kimber Lee. Security separates the two.

– Flashback moment of the week. Cowboy James Storm vs. Christopher Daniels Genesis 2013.

– Alisha is pissed off backstage and says she wants a match with Kimber Lee. Gail Kim says if she wants to face Kimber Lee it’ll have to be in a Monsters Ball match this Saturday at Knockouts Knockdown and it’ll also feature Savannah Evans and Jordynne Grace. Alisha says bring it on.

– All About me with Tenille Dashwood for All About Me. Madison Rayne is here with Kaleb with a K as always. They talk about how The Influence are number one contenders for the Knockouts Tag Team Championship. They’re giddy over their new tag team move ‘The Collab’. They bring in the hosts for the day The Decay. Tenille has a lengthy censored statement about her new hosts and Kaleb says we have a mature content warning. Rosemary says she must have a little darkness inside her soul after all. Rosemary asks Tenille and Madison if they feel lucky going into their match on Saturday. Tenille says thanks for coming but lets end this early. Rosemary says they’re taking over the show and they’re quite fond of this host body but they could use an upgrade. Tenille is confused as Rosemary touches her, Kaleb starts yelling to get the Decay out of her. Madison tells Kaleb to look up how to exercise a demon. This was funny.

– Moose is backstage with W Morrisey and says in this story the heroes get sent to the hospital. Morrisey says none of this is about friendships. What he and Moose have is an alliance. Moose says they’re taking this alliance to the call your shot gauntlet at Bound for Glory. Moose says when they’re the last two competitors he’s gonna look Morrisey in the eye and say he’s gonna kick his ass because he knows Morrisey is going to do the same.

Black Taurus vs. Steve Maclin vs. Petey Williams
X-Division BFG Title Match Qualifier

– Maclin goes right after Taurus and Petey early but only has control for a moment. Black Taurus takes over with a slingblade to Maclin. Petey catches Taurus not paying attention and sends him into the corner. Petey hits a huge head scissors to Taurus and drops him into the ropes with a drop toe hold. Petey with a dropkick to the back of the hung up Black Taurus. Taurus runs at Petey for a spear in the ropes but Petey moves. Taurus keeps running and dives out of the ring onto Maclin. Petey drops Taurus with a dropkick and then drops Steven Maclin. Petey goes to get back in the ring but Black Taurus goes for a powerbomb on the floor. Petey regains the advantage and hits a leg drop onto Taurus on the apron.

All three men are back in the ring and Maclin drops Taurus with a vertical suplex. Maclin gets Petey in the corner and runs in but gets a forearm for his trouble. Petey and Maclin exchange strikes. Taurus gets involved and sends Maclin into the ropes. He hits an uppercut in the corner then a bodyslam onto maclin. Taurus with the cover for a two count before Maclin kicks out and rolls out of the ring.

Petey gets Taurus not looking and takes control. Maclin back in the ring trying to catch Petey off guard but Petey drops Maclin with a running kick. Maclin tries to regain control going for a powerbomb on Petey Williams who reverses it into a DDT. All three men are down and the ref is counting for some reason. All three men up and begin a strike exchange. Black Taurus comes out on top goes for a crucifix bomb and only gets half of it. He goes for the cover and only gets a two count. He turns his attention to Petey who hits a codebreaker onto Taurus. Petey goes for the Canadian Piledriver but can’t get the upper hand.

Taurus sets Petey in the corner for a tree of woe. Maclin takes advantage and dumps Taurus out of the ring. Maclin spears Petey who is still hung in the tree of Woe. Taurus spears Maclin but Petey hits Black Taurus with the Canadian Destroyer. Maclin hits Mayhem for All on Petey Williams for the Victory.

Winner: Steve Maclin 
Review: B  This was another banger triple threat with a few hiccups but honestly all three men killed it with this one. Black Taurus looks great but I’m excited to see Petey on another run. Maclin was a good pick for the victory here and I’m curious to see how he will match up in the championship match.

– We’re backstage with Christian to discuss tonight’s main event tag with Josh. He tells Fulton and Austin they already know what is yet to come and Josh has the best seat in the house which will help but will also let Josh see first hand he is not in Christians realm. Christian tells Josh to keep his emotions in check and goes to walk off but he is cut off by Christopher Daniels who explains his reason for returning isn’t to relive past glory but to right the wrongs of his past and get the one thing he never held before pointing at the Impact World Championship. He says they’re both men and wanted to tell him to his face, he said they can do it anywhere Christian wants but he wants an opportunity at the championship.

– We get our weekly Johnny Swinger promo as they’re packing up the Casino to get on the way to Vegas.

The Learning Tree (Manny Lemons & Zicky Dice) vs. Willie Mack & Rich Swann

-The Learning tree try to take advantage early but Rich Swann and Willie Mack quickly regain the upper hand as the match gets under way. Rich Swann tosses Manny into the corner and tags in Willie Mack who nails Manny with a huge chop in the corner. He tosses Manny into another corner and teases another chop before hitty a HUGE titty twister instead. Big squeeze the lemons chant. Manny back into the opponents corner and we see Swann tagged in and Swann nails Manny with a huge kick in the corner.

Willie Mack tags in and they double team Manny for a second before Zicky tries to make the save. Zicky tossed outside the ring as Willie lifts Manny up in the air. Rich Swann nails a huge elevated neckbreaker and covers for the victory.

Winners: Willie Mack & Rich Swann in 2:14
Review: N/A too short. This was what it was a short sweet match to get Swann and Mack a victory and continue the issues between them and The Learning Tree.

Post match Meyers and the rest of the learning tree hit the ring. They beat down Swann and Mack after their victory with VSK laying out Swann to close out the beatdown.

– We’re outside the impact executive board room as Scott D’Amore is talking to Deonna Purazzo about last week’s incident. Mickie James shows up at the perfect time and starts assaulting Deonna. Mickie says she was going to kill her and Scott says he knows this has gone too far. He says between now and Bound for Glory there’s a no contact clause. He tells Mickie if she breaks the clause she will lose her title shot and Deonna if she breaks it she will lose her title. Mickie says that’s not good enough and Gail Kim says that they can pick each others opponent over the coming weeks starting this Saturday at Knockouts Knockdown Mickie can choose Deonna opponent. Donna says this is a conspiracy against her and has been for a long time.

-Set for Knockouts Knockdown
Monsters Ball match, The Influence vs. The Decay for the Knockouts Tag Team Titles, The Knockouts Knockdown Tournament, Deonna Purazzo vs. ???

Ace Austin & Madman Fulton vs. Josh Alexander & Christian Cage

Christian and Fulton start things off. Fulton looked awesome last week. Lockup and Fulton slams Christian right on his face. Fulton allows Christian to get to his feet and gets him into the corner. The two exchange strikes before Fulton takes advantage tossing Christian from corner to corner. He runs into the corner but gets booted in the face from Christian. Christian tags in Fulton and they toss Fulton into the ropes going for a clothesline but he drops both men with a double clothesline of his own.

Ace Austin tags in and immediately has the advantage over Josh Alexander. Josh tosses Austin into the corner who bounces out into a MASSIVE back body drop. Alexander lifts Austin to his feet who nails Alexander with a forearm. Austin goes for suplex but takes one from Josh instead. Austin tosses Josh onto the apron and Fulton goes for him. Josh gets nailed with a dropkick from Ace after being distracted by Fulton. Ace drops out of the ring and tosses Alexander back in.

Austin and Alexander begin exchanging forearms before Alexander takes the upper hand. He hits the ropes but is again distracted by Fulton and eats a huge kick from Austin. Ace goes for the cover but only gets a two as we go to another commercial.

We are back and Austin has Josh Alexander in the corner with a boot to his neck. Austin tosses Alexander into the other corner but eats an elbow. Josh goes for a kick but Ace barely ducks and drops Alexander with a kick on his own. Austin goes for the cover and gets a two because he didn’t hook a leg according to D’Lo. Ace tosses Josh into his corner but doesn’t make a tag and Josh Alexander fights his way out of the attack. Ace Austin is tossed out of the ring and may be injured but Fulton tosses him back in to keep wrestling.

Christian is tagged in and gets Austin in the corner for the coveted 10 count punches. He runs at Austin in the corner and eats a boot. Christian drops Ace with a reverse DDT but can’t maintain the advantage for long as Austin wrestles him down and tags in Madman Fulton. Fulton drops huge boots onto Christian in the corner. Fulton tosses Christian into the corner with such force he immediately drops to the mat. Fulton lifts Christian up before dropping his entire weight onto the lower back of Christian as he was getting up.

Fulton lifts Christian to his feet and Christian fights Fulton off with some strikes but Fulton maintains control. Fulton locks in a vice grip style submission on Christian but Christian fights out pretty quick. Christian fights for the tag but Fulton goes for the chokeslam, Christian fights out goes for the tag again but is caught just before the tag. Fulton takes Christian back to the corner and tags Ace Austin back into the ring. Fulton and Austin continue their beat down on Christian, Ace drops Alexander off the apron with a forearm then goes for a double springboard DDT but eats a spear for his effort.

Both men get a tag and Alexander is on fire. He nails Fulton with a number of shots but Fulton goes for a sidewalk slam and Alexander slips out. Alexander in the corner nd Fulton goes for the big boot but misses. Fulton is caught in the ropes. Alexander goes for the trio of german suplexes but Fulton presses him into the corner and tags in Ace Austin. Ace Austin with a huge moonsault onto Austin. They go for a double team chokeslam on Alexander but Christian breaks up the assault. Outside of the ring Christian tosses Fulton into the stairs. Alexander goes for the C4 but Ace fights out. Ace goes for a superkick but is caught in an ankle lock. Ace fights out but is hobbled. He goes for a springboard and lands on the injured ankle. Josh hits Chaos theory on Ace but Christian hit the blind tag. Christian with the Unprettier on Ace Austin and shrugs at Josh before going for the cover. Christian picks up the victory.

Winners: Christian & Josh Alexander 16:28
Review: B+. Great tag match main event, Christian sold a majority and Josh with the hot tag only for Christian to end up getting the win off a blind tag. They did a good job with this match to build to the Bound for Glory main event without forcing a blow up between Alexander and Christian.

Post match: Josh is annoyed about the fact Christian took the win from him but Christian taps him on the shoulder and walks off to end the show.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

We had another fun episode of impact with pretty high highs and not too low lows. The opening six man, the x-division triple threat and the main event tag all delivered. Most segments were pretty interesting though I do wonder if we could've exchanged the Learning Tree segments for the Rehwoldt/Laredo Kid match that happened on Before the Impact. The lows were the Womens tag match not really doing enough to get me excited for Knockouts Knockdown, and the Heath segment was a bit long for my liking. Otherwise another solid output from Impact who continue to perform well with their unique roster.