wrestling / TV Reports
Cazer’s Impact Wrestling Review 7.7.22
Image Credit: Impact Wrestling
Loading...Welcome back folks for another impact wrestling live recap/review with your boy. We are fresh off of impacts latest impact plus live monthly event Against All Odds where we saw Josh Alexander successfully retain his impact wrestling world heavyweight championship against Joe Doering. Now we are here to see the aftermath of the event, the show was fun from top to bottom and it looks like they’re ready to follow up with another exciting episode of impact. Tonight we will see “Speedball” Mike Bailey defending his X Division championship against former AEW superstar Alan Angels. This is Alan’s impact wrestling debut and it’s sure to be an interesting match. Outside of that match there are several other on the card that make tonight’s impact look like it’s sure to be one to watch. So let’s get to the action!
– They open the show with a recap from Against All Odds including highlights from The Good Brothers, AMW & Heath vs. Honor No More. We also see highlights of the main event match featuring Joe Doering vs. Josh Alexander, with Josh successfully retaining his championship against the big man.
X-Division Championship Match
Alan Angels vs. Mike Bailey (c)
Interesting choice to have Alan jump right into the title mix but I dig it as long as it’s not old school TNA style where the newcomer becomes champion in his first match. Alan didn’t get a ton of TV time in AEW but when he did he shined and his work on AEW Dark was pretty underrated because it was commonly overlooked. Bailey’s already showing a great reign as the face of the X-division defeating Trey Miguel in a banger at Against All Odds now he has a chance at another significant defense.
Great reaction for both guys as Alan is from Atlanta so the crowd is certainly familiar with his work. Handshake early but Alan follows with a slap. Both go for a shoulder block neither with an advantage, Bailey leaps over Alan, Alan runs right into a kick to the chest from Bailey, Bailey with his combination kicks into an enziguri that sends Alan to the outside. Bailey with a springboard moonsault to the outside landing right on Angels. Both men on the apron and Angels lands a running uranage on the apron dropping Bailey. Angels on the apron mocking Bailey before hitting a frog splash off the apron onto the back of Bailey. Ouch. Alan covers for a two count. Alan with a running forearm and covers for two. Angels and Bailey exchange chops, Angels with a northern lights and covers for two. Angels off the top right into a kick from Bailey. Bailey with a spinning kick to the chest of Angels. Bailey limping as he heads to the corner, Bailey attempts Ultima Weapon, Angels moves but Bailey lands on his feet, grabbing the knee. Angels with a stomp tot he back and an enziguri. Bailey ducks a clothesline and hits a kick to the face, Bailey runs into a Spanish Fly from Angels. Bailey and Angels exchange forearms then stiff chops. Bailey takes advantage laying into Alan with a series of Chops and a kick to the chest. Bailey off the ropes and a pump kick for Angels but he ducks it, Angels with a big forearm he lifts Bailey up and hits the Halo Breaker and covers Bailey for a two count! Angels attempts a wing snapper but Bailey counters and rolls up Angels for two. Angels up on the top rope but Bailey catches him looking for the Flamingo Driver, Angels counters and hits the wing snapper he covers for two. Angels with the frog splash attempt Bailey moves. Bailey with the spinning kick in the corner and hits Ultima Weapon, Bailey covers for the victory.
Rating: ***3/4
Review: Awesome opening X-Division championship match Bailey and Angels delivered. Angels is definitely over in his home town and the crowd gave him love here making him feel like a big deal right away. The difficulty for a guy like Angels is he doesn’t have an established finisher to many outside of his diehard fans so it’s hard to get fans to bite on the nearfalls. This was a fun match even if the result was never in question, hope Angels sticks around for the long haul.
Post match: Doering and Deaner hit the ring and beat down Bailey and Angels leaving the X-Division champion laying in the center of the ring. Deaner grabs a mic and calls out Josh Alexander but instead Eric Young answers the call out staring down Doering and Deaner before slowly making his way to the ring as we go to break.
– Eric Young asks Doering and Deaner what happened, he says he is the designer and this isn’t part of his design. Deaner says he thought they were doing what he’d want, he says that when Eric couldn’t do it they though Doering could do it. Eric tells Deaner that Doering was undefeated under his watch. He tells Joe he was once one of the most feared men in pro wrestling, and now look at him. Eric says he thought they were better than the worthless fans who can’t see the truth just like everyone in the back is worthless. Eric says maybe the only choice is that he purges them both. Deaner says Eric is 100% correct and he’s speaking truths that Deaner and Doering can see crystal clear. Deaner asks Eric to give them a chance to prove to him that they can make this right. Eric agrees but says it needs to be clear, Eric says that they need to understand this world belongs to him before dropping the mic and walking off.
– Honor No More are backstage, Bennett says no matter how much hard work they put in they get screwed over time and time again. He says Impact wrestling doesn’t want them. Bennett claims they aren’t the problem Impact Wrestling is. Kenny King says they didn’t want them here but they didn’t deserve them. Maria Kanellis says at Against All Odds they suffered a setback, they can’t tolerate Setbacks or failure. Eddie Edwards tells PCO he will have tough decisions to make, he asks how much does he truly believe in their message. PCO attempts to speak but Eddie cuts him off and tells him he wants to see his answer tonight in the ring against Black Taurus. Eddie says failure is no longer an option.
– Deonna is backstage with Gia who asks about her match with Mia Yim tonight. Deonna says that Mia wanted to get some exposure and she’s going to learn her lesson when she meets the Virtuosa. Chelsea tells her that when she gets the Virtuosa she’ll also get Chelsea Green. As they walk off Gail Kim walks up and tells Chelsea she will face Mickie James next week and everyone is banned from ringside. Chelsea and Deonna are livid at this announcement.
Laredo Kid vs. Trey Miguel
I feel like we’ve seen these two mix it up a fair bit over the last six months or so but it has always been a good match up so i’m certainly not complaining. Both men with quick action early ducking and dodging before resetting a bit. Trey sends Laredo to the outside and goes for a dive but Laredo Kid moves Trey with a kick but Laredo catches him and counters following with a strike to the chin. Laredo Kid with a sweet move i’m not sure the move of. Kid on the outside, Trey attempts a moonsault but he’s favoring his leg, he attempts it again and it connects clean. That’s a dangerous move that close to the railings I remember a few years back one of the members of The Kingdom breaking their leg doing that exact move. We go to break as both men recover on the outside.
Laredo Kid attacks the injured leg of Miguel as we come back from break. Laredo Kid with the one leg crab before Trey gets to the rope forcing a break. Laredo Kid with a slap to the face of Miguel then a knee to the chest. Trey to the middle rope but Laredo Kid pulls his leg out from underneath him slamming his head onto the turnbuckle in the process. Laredo Kid locks Trey in a modified figure four but Trey gets to the ropes forcing a break, Trey and Laredo up top, Trey sends Laredo off the top with a forearm then follows with a missile dropkick. Trey with a one legged kip up before laying Laredo with a series of strikes followed by a one legged stomp to the back. Trey with a sweet inside out slam and covers Laredo Kid for a two count. Trey heads to the top but again slips because of the injured knee, some solid selling from Trey. Laredo Kid lifts him up for a michinoku driver and covers for two. Trey with a roll up for two. Laredo Kid lays into Trey with a number of strikes before lifting him up on his shoulders. Trey with a cross rhodes and covers Laredo Kid for the victory. Sweet.
Rating: ****
Review: Another awesome match with a good bit of storytelling from Trey. Typically he’ll sell an injury in the match then have a burst of offense and it’s kind of silly because he doesn’t win off the action and goes right back to selling. That said he did that really well in this match so I’d say he’s improving a great deal in that category. This was a super fun match and I appreciate the finish a great bit as Trey used a cross rhodes for the finish to avoid injuring his knee any further with the meteora. Commentary did a great job selling this match as well.
– Our Ric Flair moment of the week is Ric Flair showing up in a limo to watch AJ Style vs. Kurt Angle. So interesting going back to this time of Impact when they were really spending to bring in top recognizable names. Not sure how people will react to this new weekly segment brought to us by Starrcast.
– Deaner and Doering are backstage looking for Josh Alexander, eventually they cross paths and brawl for a bit before security separates them and Josh yells that this isn’t over.
– They show a video package for Killer Kelly, with her showing a grimy yet sexy side as she’s at some run down motel. Pretty cool video package, I miss this being more common in wrestling, Impact seems to do it very very well.
– America’s Most Wanted are backstage with Gia, they talk about how happy they are about the match they had at Against All Odds, Chris Harris says he got everything out that he needed to but you can never say never. James Storm says you never know where he’s going to show up but for now he has some unfinished business. We follow James Storm as he walks backstage and walks into Moose’s locker room and finds Maclin there, he asks where Moose is at, Maclin tells Storm that he thought his match at Against All Odds was his retirement match. Storm says he’s in his prime and next week Maclin can come bark up a bigger tree if he wants some real competition. I’m all for that match!
PCO w/ Vincent vs. Black Taurus
Black Taurus is someone I don’t think we see enough of but i think him being used sparingly adds a bit of intrigue to him. They lock up and separate early, PCO attempts a shoulder block but hes unsuccessful they yell at each other he tries again and Taurus hardly moves. Taurus with a shoulder block of his own but PCO doesn’t hardly move. Taurus with a running uppercut then sends PCO to the corner and hits an enziguri. Taurus lays into PCO with a series of strikes before lifting him onto his shoulders but PCO counters, Taurus to the middle rope but he jumps right into a choke from PCO. PCO shoves Taurus to the outside before following him tossing him right back into the ring. Taurus on the other side and PCO launches himself into him and they both head outside the ring. PCO with a dive through the middle ropes into Taurus. PCO sets Taurus on the apron and hits the deanimator right into Taurus face OUCH. Replay shows it just hit Taurus on the shoulder which is good but it was cooler when I thought he got hit hard. PCO covers but Taurus kicks out at two. Taurus regains control with a slingblade, then another before heading up top. Taurus with a top rope elbow drop with the injured arm but PCO kicks out at two. Taurus heads up top, he goes for a twisting moonsault but PCO moves and hits Taurus with a forearm to the back of the head. PCO with a reverse DDT before going to the top. PCO with the PCO-Sault in the corner again with the knees right to the face of Taurus, and he covers for the victory.
Rating: ***
Review: This was a solid match even with PCO’s reckless move set leading to a few moves not hitting exactly perfect. PCO is good for what he is, he’s a crazy monster but he’s really broken down at this point of his career.
Post match: Crazy Steve hits the ring to protect Taurus, before Honor No More can attack Heath catches them from behind taking out Kenny King before heading out through the crowd.
– The Bullet Club are backstage as Ace Austin, Chris Bey and The Good Brothers discuss their issues with Honor No More. Ace and Bey discuss how theyre ready for some of that action. Bey says next week we can do Bullet Club vs. Honor No More but he’ll let Chef Gallows tell us the recipe. Gallows says its the same as always, a magic killer a one two three and a just too sweet.
– Brian Meyers is walking around backstage and forces an autograph upon a Swinger fan. Brian makes fun of Swinger and Zicky. Bhupinder walks up on Brian and asks for a match, Brian says everyone cant have a match so how about they wrestle next week and then they can figure it out from there. Swinger offers Bhupinder a discount at the dungeon but he says no.
Shera vs. Rich Swann
This match was set up at Against All Odds. Not a big fan of Shera, which I suppose is the point but regardless probably the least excited i’ve been for a match thus far tonight. Shera charges Swann and he ducks and dodges before laying into Shera with a series of strikes. Shera lifts Swann up by his throat before Swann lays into him with shots to the head that barely affect Shera. Shera catches Swann and lifts him before dropping him right onto the mat. Not sure that’s what he meant to do but it looked pretty cool. Kick to the back of Swann then Shera stands on Swann’s throat. Shera with a knee to the back and a forearm to the back of the head of Swann. Shera slams Swann into the corner chest first. He lifts Swann up by his hair and then strikes him across the face. Shera sends Swann into the corner and follows with a shoulder to the midsection. Then another. Shera tosses Swan across the ring but it’s not very good. Shera with a dive into the corner, Swann moves and kicks Shera in the ankle leaving him in the ropes. Swann with a 619 then a flip onto Singh on the outside. Swann waits for Shera to get up, Shera runs right into a kick to the face. Swann in the ring and nails Shera with a series of kicks to the head then the knees, to the face again and Shera still fighting through, no going down. Swann drops Shera then heads to the middle rope and hits a 450 splash. Swann covers for the victory.
Rating: **1/2
Review: As much as I wasn’t excited for this it wasn’t bad. Pretty decent win for Swann and I wonder if there’s a plan for him in the near future or just a win over a big guy to remind us Swann is a big deal. Not a fan of Shera still, he had a lot of moments where he just didn’t look great in this match.
– The Influence walk up on Gisele Shaw and ask her what the deal is with the image from Masha was all about. Shaw explains it but says at least Tenille looks great. They run down Shaws mistakes and wonder if she can even help them. They say they’ll take care of it themselves but Madison says she still can’t because of doctors orders. Tenille storms off.
– Rosemary is backstage and she’s mad that Havok didn’t make the save for them when they needed it. She tells Taya they’re done dealing with James Mitchell and says she’s going to the undead realm. Taya says she’s going with her. Rosemary tells her she can’t go because people die in the Undead Realm if they’re lucky. Taya says she knows it’s dangerous but she’s not letting her go alone. Rosemary says it’s not safe but Taya insists, Rosemary says fine together next week they find Havok. Gee can’t wait.
Impact Knockouts World Championship #1 Contenders Match
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mia Yim
Deonna Purrazzo and Mia Yim both looking to prove that they’re deserving of a shot at Jordynne Grace’s Knockouts Championship in tonight’s main event. I like this main event because it’s a solid match, either woman could win and i’m pulling for both of them for separate reasons. I can give Impact flack from time to time but they’re hands down the one company that puts a full on legitimate focus on their women’s division. I think it’s because their Knockouts Division is just as big if not a bigger draw than a good part of the Impact Roster and thus have easily earned this attention. Either way Impact wins that conversation every time if you ask me.
Lock up to start this one and both women to the mat looking for similar moves. Yim with a headlock, Deonna sends her into the ropes both attempt shoulder blocks but Deonna says no. They exchange shoves, this is starting fairly slow. Deonna with a drop toe hold and rolls through into a submission. Mia to her feet and tosses Deonna off into an armdrag. Mia with a forearm to the face of Deonna, Deonna slides out of the ring and Mia connects with a dropkick through the bottom ropes. Mia with a dive through the bottom ropes and both women go into the barricade. Mia right to her feet and she wipes the dirt off her shoulders. Mia sends Deonna into the ring and covers for two. She rolls her up again for two. Mia sends Deonna into the corner and lays into her with a forearm to the face. Deonna sends Mia into the corner and ducks a clothesline. Mia with a rana sending Deonna into the corner. Mia attempts a big boot in the corner but Mia catches her and starts working at her shoulder with some joint manipulation as we go to break.
Back from break and Deonna is in control working over the arm of Mia. Both women to their feet, headbutt and both go down and the referee begins his count getting to a count of nine before both get to their feet. They exchange forearms and Mia lays into Deonna with a series of strikes and a clothesline. Mia with a dropkick and she waits for Deonna to get up. Mia with a big boot in the corner. She runs and hits the cannonball, Mia with the cover but Deonna kicks out at two. Mia with eat defeat but Deonna rolls onto the apron, Deonna stands up but eats a big boot from Mia. Mia sets Deonna up for the package piledrive but she counters and hits Mia with a big boot to the face. Deonna covers for two before Mia kicks out. Deonna goes for queens gambit but Mia counters with a backdrop and heads to the top but Deonna tosses her from the top turnbuckle. Deonna charges Mia for a spear in the corner but Mia moves and Deonna goes shoulder first into the ring post. Mia with the code blue and covers for a two count. Deonna and Mia again exchange forearms, Mia with a chop to the chest. They exchange forearms again. Solid minute of various forearms before Mia hits a big boot but Deonna hits the side russian legsweep and goes for an armbar but Mia counters and rolls her up to force a break. Deonna sets up Mia for queens gambit and it connects, Deonna covers and MIA KICKS OUT AT TWO! Deonna is livid, Mia with a package piledriver! Mia covers but Deonna with the kickout at two! Both are slow to their feet, they go face to face and exchange strikes again. Deonna with a slap to the face of Mia. Mia returns with a series of strikes to the face then kicks to the face. Mia with the package piledriver again, she lifts her up and hits eat defeat. Mia covers for the victory!
Rating: ****
Review: Really great main event match. It started off a bit slow but they told a solid story here working over the arm and making Mia give it her all to take the victory and get a championship shot. This was a really good way to set Mia up for a title shot, I wouldn’t have minded either woman winning so this was a fun match and the near falls at the end made it for me.
Post match: Jordynne Grace comes out and claps for Mia offering a handshake. They stare each other down to set up their big championship match.
