Jeremy’s Impact Wrestling Report 6.16.20

Happy Tuesday, everyone! We’re back for another episode of Impact Wrestling. I’m Jeremy, and I’m amazed to realize I’ve now been doing this for five weeks. Time flies. Anyway, last week was a hell of an episode as we learned the Impact World Championship will be defended at Slammiversary and Deonna Purrazzo made her debut by attacking Jordynne Grace. This week Moose will but the very real, not at all unofficial TNA World Title on the line (yay!) against Hernandez (…oh) while The North defends their Impact Tag Team Titles against the Rascalz. Let’s get into it!

As a reminder, the GoFundMe for Larry’s daughters is still active and if you can make a donation, that would be awesome. Thank you so much to everyone who’s done so thus far.

* Previously on Impact: Deonna shows up at Impact and takes out Grace after the latter defended her title successfully against Taya Valkyrie.

Ladies and Gentlemen — YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE! (AKA Title Sequence)

* The Rascalz are backstage before their Tag Team Championship match and Trey shows up, spooking Wentz. Seems trust is still a little lacking here.

Impact Tag Team Championship Match:
The Rascalz vs. The North

Page starting off against Wentz, and Wentz charges right in with a front dropkick and then takes down Josh who counters when Wentz comes off the ropes. Wentz into the ropes, gets caught and punches his way out of it. Dez tages in, they start kicking into Alexander and Dez gets a two-count. Knee to the gut of Josh, Dez starts jabbing away and decks him in the corner. Wentz in, double-team slingshot over the ropes but Page in to break it up with a boot to the face. Wentz locks in a front facelock, puts Josh in a neutral corner and hits a couple of shots but Josh turns it around and hits one of his own. He tags in Page who hits a double axehandle and chokes Wentz against the ropes. Page dominates Wentz, tags Alexander in who hits a knife-edge chop and beats on Wentz in the corner. He starts beating on Dez in the center of the ring and hits a kneedrop for two. Stomp to the back of Wentz, who fights back with punches but gets taken down. Alexander throws Wentz into the ropes, he somersault flips off and decks Alexander then crawls toward his corner. Hot tag to Dez, and he starts striking away. He slips out of a back suplex, sends Josh into the ropes and hits a dropkick for two but Ethan Page breaks it up. Josh in the corner, Dez charges in for a hard shot. Josh grabs for the hair, Dez responds with an enzuigiri and then rolls away, charges in but gets caught into a spinebuster. Page is tagged in, he starts stomping at Dez and hits a kneedrop for two. Page starts to work the knee and then tags in Alexander, who takes a couple shots while Page holds Dez in place. Alexander mocks Dez and picks him up, bullies him into the corner and tags in Page for some double-team action that ends with a hard clothesline. He mocks Wentz and then starts to slow things down, with measured strikes to a downed Dez. Page with a front facelock into a suplex, Alexander tied in and Page hands Dez off for the delayed vertical suplex. Pin for two, broken up by Wentz. Page is tagged back in, Page cuts off the tag and hits a backbreaker, then holds Dez there to work the back. Elbows to the chest to wear Dez down, but he fights back with forearms and gets up, only to get DDT’d. Alexander is tagged back in for a pin attempt, gets two and we’re off to break.

Back from break and Dez is trying to fight out from a facelock by Page. Page picks Dez up for a powerbomb but he slips out, makes it to his corner and tags in Wentz! Wentz comes in hot, superkicks Alexander and peppers Page with strikes that send him into the corner. He charges in for a high knee, runs and slips out of an Alexander move and springboards off the top. Alexander catches him, but turns around and Dez is on the top rope for what becomes an assisted moonsault! Page sends Dez out of the ring, Wentz hits a big knee and rolls Page through followed by a hard kick to the chest. Standing moonsault gets two and Wentz looks frustrated. He picks Page up, Page fights back with a forearm but eats a boot and Dez is in. Slingshot into a superkick and Wentz up for a double knee on Page, Dez gets two and three quarters! Dez goes up top, but Page ducks the leap but turns around into a series of strikes. Page fires back with a couple of kicks to the head, Dez spins out of a gutwrench and hits a kick of his own and then they kick each other! Wentz and Alexander tag in, it’s chaoes and Wentz hits a Canadian Destroyer but Page breaks up the pin! Page charges at Dez but Dez pulls down the ropes, sending Page outside. He comes off the ropes into a dive, Page catches him and throws him around outside the ring and over the guardrail. Wentz with a dive over the ropes and takes out Page, he comes back in and gets sent into the ropes but leaps onto them, Alexander crotches him and picks him up on his shoulders in a Torture Rack. Tag to Page, catches Wentz and slams him down for the pinfall!

Winner: The North (13:47)
Rating: *** 1/2
Thoughts: That was a great match to kick off Impact. Page and Alexander work really well against Wentz and Dez, and they put together a well-executed match that was able to tell a story without rushing it but still had some good fast-paced action spots.

After the match, Page is hyped as hell and talking about how they showed everyone, only to realize no one was watching backstage. He gets pissed and flips out at the crew member at the monitor who said he was watching. Page rants about how no one is watching as they walk off.

* Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne talk about tonight’s show including Moose’s defense against Hernandez and the street fight between Eddie Edwards and Ace Austin. But something is happening backstage, and we cut to…

* Trey got beat up again backstage while Dez and Wentz were having their match. Dez says they’re gonna go see Reno Scum as we go to break.

* Ace Austin is chilling backstage when Jimmy Jacobs shows up. Ace has no time for Jimmy, who mentions that Trey got laid out. Austin proclaims his innocence despite Jimmy suggesting he’s the prime suspect. Austin named Elgin, Callihan and Hernandez as potential suspects when Edwards comes after him but gets held back.

Kimber Lee vs. Neveah (w/Havok)

Lockup to start and it quickly devolves into traded forearms. Neveah blocks a kick and shoves Lee down which Lee turns into the splits before eating a low dropkick for two. Tasha and Kiera are now out to watch and Neveah is distreacted enough for Lee to take control, hit a kick to the back of the head for a pin attempt. Lee with a knee submission and when Neveah fights out Lee hits a clothesline. Neveah in the corner, Lee hits an elbow and charges in but Neveah is out and then hits some chops. Lee shuts that down with a rake to the eyes and then chokes Neveah on the ropes. She chops Neveah and goes for a suplex, it gets two. Lee is frustrated, she punches Neveah and whips her toward the ropes, Neveah reverses and hits a back elbow followed by a clothesline. Lee goes for a clothesline, Neveah ducks and slams her down and hits a German suplex for two-plus. Neveah picks Lee up, Lee fires back with a series of kicks and a step-up enzuigiri for two. Lee kicks Neveah in the head mockingly, Neveah back up and catches a charging Lee for a twisting DDT for three!

Winner: Neveah (4:34)
Rating: * 3/4
Thoughts: Decent enough for the limited time that they had. There were a couple of awkward transitions in there that hurt things but it accomplished what it had to do.

Afterward, Neveah and Havok walk by Tasha and Kiera and things nearly come to blows but the heels run away and Neveah holds Havok back.

* Backstage, a bunch of crew members are watching Ken Shamrock’s Greatest Hits (only in Impact Plus!) when The North show up and asks to see it. He says if they’re not watching the North, they’re watching nothing and smashes the guy’s iPad.

* A vignette from Cancel Culture slings mud at Mentally Unwell Steven and highlights Jacob Crist’s win over him last week.

* Crazzy Steve then talks about how he’s sick of hearing the word no, when that’s all Cancel Culture can say. They want to put things in little boxes but he doesn’t fit in boxes because he’s a fully-functioning homicidal artist and next week he’s going to use all the colors to make a macabre masterpiece.

Rhino vs. Rohit Raju

Raju attacks Rhino during his entrance and we’re off and running. He lays into Rhino and throws him head-first into the steps, then rolls him in for a pinfall but the match hasn’t started yet and the ref waves it off. Raju argues with the ref, Rhino is up and Raju charges in as the bell rings. Rohit with kicks in the corner, he lays in the punches and climbs up for a choke until the ref pulls him off. He charges in but eats an elbow. Rhino climbs the turnbuckle but gets pushed off to the outside by Raju, which Bill Watts would NOT approve of. Rohit to the outside and he beats on Rhino, then slams his head into the apron a couple of times. Raju in, argues with the ref and then back out but eats a punch to the gut from Rhino. Rhino goes for a bodyslam but Raju slides out and shoves Rhino into the ringpost. Both men in, Rohbit with a pinfall attempt for two. Kicks to the back of Rhino and a punch, Raju drags Rhino to the ropes and chokes him. Rhino fights back, hits some chops, throws Rohit against the ropes but he comes back with a kick and headslam back onto the mat. Elbow drop off the ropes for two. Raju grabs Rhno and puts him in a chinlock, Rhino fights out and whips Raju, Raju counters and goes for a kick, Rhino counters and kicks Rohit in the gut, then nails a suplex. Clotheslines run Rohit over, he goes into the corner and Rhino charges in but Rohit slips out of the way. High knee and a cannonball from Rohit, he goes up top, Rhino ducks leap and charges in with the GORE! GORE! GORE! for three.

Winner: Rhino (4:04)
Rating: **
Thoughts: Solid little match here that didn’t get much time, but still gave both guys some time without seeming rushed or haphazard.

* The Flashback Moment of the week is Kurt Angle being defeated by EC3 for the TNA World Championship.

* Backstage Elgin is on the phone with someone again and says he understands and that’s exactly what they’re gonna do. Jimmy Jacobs shows up and asks about Trey; Elgin denies he’s a prime suspect. He doesn’t jump people from behind where no one can see; he drags a camera man there so the whole world can see. He sends people to the hospital, and he’s not a suspect.

* Susie and Kyle are backstage and Susie says every time she tries to be good, people step on her and maybe she should be bad. Kylie says she likes that Susie’s good and is perfect just the way she is. Taya steps in, mocks Kylie and says that only losers talk like that. Susie says that Taya wasn’t talking like that last week, and she lost. Kylie thinks it’s funny, Taya says they’re super-annoying and in desperate need of a makeover. She walks off and Kylie has to convince Susie to stay good.

TNA World Championship Match:
Moose vs. Hernandez

Moose calls for “You Deserve It” chants from the no one in attendance, then Penzer does the announcements as required by the champion. The bell rings and they get down to it, with Hernandez taking control with a front dropkick and clothesline over the ropes. Hernandez outside and Moose takes over with punches, but Hernandez reverse a whip and sends Moose into the ring post. Moose rolled inside, Hernandez goes after him but gets bulled into the bottom turnbuckle. Moose laying in the stomps and he hits a hammer to the back, then whips Hernandez into the corner. Charging uppercut and Moose grandstands a bit. He whips Hernandez into the opposite corner, then charges in to eat a boot. Hernandez to the top rope and gets dropkicked outside the ring. Moose attacks Hernandez as he gets into the ring and rakes him in the eyes. He sizes up Hernandez for a boot to the head, then mocks him a bit before another one. Third one has Hernandez down and Moose yells into the camera, then rakes at the nose of the challenger. Moose in full control and he leans in to mock Hernandez, slaps him and Hernandez picks Moose up for a slam. The shirt is off and Hernandez whips Moose with it, jaws with the ref and charges into the corner for an Avalanche. SuperMex, and he’s back up for a backbreaker for two. Suplex ountered by Moose, shoves Hernandez into the corner and hits a back kick low blow on the challenger. Lights Out gets three!

Winner: Moose (6:09)
Rating: * 3/4
Thoughts: This match played to the two mens’ strengths, but didn’t ever really get off the ground. It was slow and a bit plodding with a few too many repetitive moments.

After the match, EC3’s music plays and Moose looks worried.

* Backstage, The Rascalz accuse Reno Scum of attacking Trey but they proclaim their innocence. In fact, Trey owes them money and hasn’t returned their texts. They tell Wentz and Dez to question TJP and Fallah Bahh.

* Back from break and we have a segment with Cody Deaner and Jake Something talking about how much they missed each other while Willie Mack sits nearby. Cody says he’s happier than a tornado in a trailer park and a pic in s**t. Willie Mack is not amused. The Deaners play a game of “S’up” and then Jake says that Chris Bey and Johnny Swinger should get a third. They make a lot of jokes about Bey and Swinger. Cody gives Mack a beer and Mack does his best Steve Austin impression. It’s not a terrible impression, all things considered.

Reno Scum vs. XXXL

Thornstowe and Acey Romero are starting off, Romero gets control and tags in Larry D for a doublt shoulder tackle. Luster comes in but gets taken down by the two men. Acey off the ropes for a splash but gets hit by a dropkick from Thornstowe. Thornstowe slams Larry into Luster’s knee and picks him up for an uppercut. Front facelock and Thornstowe pulls Larry over to Luster, makes the tag. Larry fights back to no avail, gets taken down with a punch and Thornstowe back in. They whip Larry back into the ropes and double kick Larry down. Assisted headbut and a pinfall attempt gets two. Larry back up and takes a chop, but whips Adam into the ropes and catches a leap attempt for a power slam. Both men crawling for their partners, tags are made and Acey takes Luster down. Luster into the ropes, kicks Acey but eats a spinning clotheseline. Thornstowe over the ropes and Luster gets a spinning side slam for two. Larry tagged back in, Thornstowe fights both men and gets pancaked between them. Backbreaker to Adam but Luster takes out Acey, then Larry clotheselines Luster. Larry charges into the corner but Adam pulls Luster out of the way, kick to Larry’s head, Luster hits a spinebuster and Thornstowe with an elevated kick off the top for three.

Winner: Reno Scum (4:24)
Rating: *
Thoughts: I’m not a fan of XXXL by any measure, and this match was just lacking all around in addition to being too short to mean much of anything beyond a bit of TV time for both teams.

* Johnny Swinger and Chris Bey are backstage and Bey talks about the Deaners and Willie Mack challenging. He says he’s not here for them; he’s here for the X-Division Championship. Swinger says he has the perfect partner but needs a cellular telephone. He calls someone and asks if he’s finished up with Junior. The person on the other side has a 90 day no-compete clause so he’s calling someone else, an old Outlaw that will do it cheap.

* We get a retrospective on Deonna Purrazzo where she talks about getting into wrestling when she saw an indy show in college and found out that the company had a wrestling career. She talks about her match against Brooke Tessmacher at Knockouts Knockdown in 2014. She says it was a jumping point for her and she got a lot of opprtunities but wasn’t ready for them so she toured around the world and studied different in-ring styles. She wanted to be more than the shy, naive little girl and she now has a point to prove: she’s the best damn women’s technical wrestler in the world. She says she attacked Jordynne Grace because she’s here to become a champion and attacking Grace is the first move on her chessboard. Grace might be powerful, but her arm will break like the rest of them. Grace is playing her game now.

* Grace is interviewed about that piece by Gia and says it was a nice story. If Deonna wanted the best competition, she came to the right place but there’s no point in doing that because she’s not hard to find. If Deonna wanted a shot, she just had to come find her face to face. Deonna attacks mid-interview and locks in the armbar again! Purrazzo walks off as Grace lies in pain, and we’re off to a break.

* Back from break, we get a recap of the Purrazzo attack on Grace before Matthews and Rayne run down next week’s card.

Taya Valkyrie vs. Susie
Cancel Culture vs. Crazzy Steve and Two Mystery Opponents
Willie Mack & The Deaners vs. Chris Bey, Johnny Swinger & Mystery Partner

Street Fight:
Eddie Edwards vs. Ace Austin

Edwards follows Rohit Raju’s move from earlier tonight and attacks Austin as he’s coming out. Edwards beats on Austin on the outside, picks him up and gives him a nasty knife edge chop. Another and then Austin goes head-first into the apron. Edwards walks backstage as Austin crawls to the ring and pulls a chair out from under it. Here comes Edwards with a garbage can full of implements and he tosses the can into Edwards, then slams him with it. Edwards has a garbage can lid but he drops it when Austin hits him. Ace charges and gets bodt-dropped over the guardrail, lands on his feet and goes for a roundhouse which Edwards ducks. Austin is crotched on the guardrail. He says “IT’S TIME” and knife-edge chops Austin but takes a stick to the head out of nowhere! And that’s when we go to break.

Back from break and they’re in the ring, with Austin assaulting Edwards with the trash can. He goes for a pin and gets only one, then twists Eddie’s head and slams the elbow and knee into Eddie. Trash can lid shot and knife edge chops, Eddie is fighting back. A head kick to Edwards and he fires back with a chop. Eddie gets kicked in the back and goes into a corner, Austin with a suplex. Ace goes outside, grabs the cookie sheets and pancakes Eddie’s head with them. Some trash talking and Ace goes for the fold but Eddie fights back and hits a cookie sheet right to the dome. Whip into the ropes reversed, Eddie hangs onto the ropes and when Ace charges he gets thrown over the ropes. Eddie comes off the ropes right into a trash can lid to the head. Ace throws a chair into the ring, jabs a cane into Eddie’s eye and then stomps Eddie in the face. Austin grabs the guardrail, sets it up against the ring and and then goes back after the eye. He picks Eddie up, throws him at the guardrail but Eddie blocks it. Ace goes for the Fold against the guardail but Edwards counters with a belly-to-belly! Both men are slow getting up, but Eddie is up first and he tosses the guardrail aside before grabbing Ace. He tosses Ace into the ring and picks up a parking sign, smacking Austin in the head with it. Ace tries for a wild clothesline, Austin ducks and hits a Thunder bomb for two. Backing sheet to Ace’s back, and Edwards grabs the chair. He cahrges in, but Austin dodges into the turnbuckle and Eddie gets hit on the bounceback! Ace springboard kicks the chair into Eddie’s head and pins for two. Ace frustratedly punches the trash can and it hurts. “I hate street fights!,” he says. Ace sets up a chair, hits Edwards with the parking sign and goes outside for a table. The table is in the ring and gets set up, Eddie tries to get to his feet but gets kicked down by Ace who puts Eddie on the table and smacks him in the face with the sign. Austin up top, but Eddie gets off the table and crotches Ace on the turnbuckle. Eddie up, he tries to suplex Eddie but gets the card across the eyes! Top rope cross body and spinning kick gets two. Austin goes in but Eddie hits Ace with the cookie sheet and hits a tiger driver for a near-fall. Eddie goes under and gets a kendo stick, he climbs in, takes aim but Ace hits a drop toe-hold and sends Eddie face-first into Chekov’s steel chair! Austin swings with the kendo stick but Edwards ducks, Eddie gets the stick and nails Ace with it. He flips the table around and JESUS CHRIST hits a neckbreaker onto the leg crossbar of the table. Eddie back up and he is in the corner, waiting for Ace to get up, but MADMAN FULTON IS THERE! He grabs Eddie and climbs into the ring, choke slams him! Then he picks him up and does it again! Fulton picks Austin up, Ace tells him “easy!” Fulton picks Ace up, Austin hits The Fold, and it’s over!

Winner: Ace Austin (16:20)
Rating: ***
Thoughts: This was a pretty typical street fight, with a couple pretty nasty spots particularly that damned neckbreaker. These kinds of matches suffer a bit more without a crowd than most; street fights play well off of an audience for the “wow” factor. The ending was fine, and I appreciate how hard Impact is getting Austin over here, it’s just not quite as good of a match as it could’ve been in a different environment.

Fulton picks Austin up after the match and Madison Rayne suggests Madman Fulton is the guy who attacked Trey.

After the end title sequence, we get a new promo of the guy in the hoodie having his cocktail as he watches a report that “at least one former World Champion” will make his return to Impact at Slammiversary. We get shots of Eric Young, Ken Anderson, James Storm, Austin Aries, Bully Ray and others along with the former WWE talent.

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

This week's episode of Impact had a higher disparity in wrestling. We had more relative highs but also more relative lows. The middle of the show definitely dragged, but the hot opening and closing segments are worth watching and they're going out of their way to make Purrazzo look like a star. All in all, not as good as the last couple of weeks but far from unwatchable too.