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Happy Thursday folks! Your boy is back from a brief hiatus. Last week I made my way to see the Denver Nuggets choke away a 22 point lead to the Charlotte Hornets it was good fun. Shout out to Robert for taking over last week!

This week we continue our year end recap, and based off the matches they had last week this should be a lot of fun. We’ll also get some more year end awards. Last week Deonna Purrazzo won Knockout of the year, and the Good Brothers won Tag team of the year.

Iceman Intel: George the Iceman reminds us that Chris Sabin will challenge for the ROH World title at Hard to Kill when he faces ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham, he also lets us know Deonna Purrazzo will challenge Rok-C for the ROH Women’s Championship the week after Hard to Kill. Those are actually two really interesting matches so shout out to Impact for lining those up for the coming weeks. 

Before the Impact: Decay def. Zicky Dice & VSK, Black Taurus with the pinfall over Zicky Dice for the win. It’s nice to get a match this week despite the recap show coming next. Zicky & VSK have grown on me it hurts to see them struggling.

– Scott D’Amore is here with Josh for the holiday year end special. D’Amore reminds us that we ended last weeks show seeing Josh Alexander win the championship. He discusses Moose’ taking the title and his reign thus far before taking us to the first match of the night.

Impact World Championship – Turning Point
Moose vs. Eddie Edwards

We’re getting a match from Turning Point just a few weeks ago. Edwards and Moose are in the center of the ring holding kendo sticks laying into each other. This match has clearly been a war as a plethora of weapons are scattered about. Both men are down and W. Morrisey hits the ring. Morrisey drops Edwards with a big boot and Striker reminds us Moose helped Morrisey earlier in the night. Morrisey holds Edwards up and screams at Moose to finish the job. Moose hits a spear on Edwards and covers but Matt Cardona hits the ring to make the save. Referee Brian Hebner was hesitant to count because he’s been part of a bunch of Moose’ shenanigans apparently. Cardona and Morrisey fight their way to the back and Moose gets cracked with a kendo stick shot and a DDT from Edwards. Edwards covers for a close two count before Moose can kick out. Edwards rolls out of the ring and grabs scissors to cut the canvas. Commentary seems a bit confused but I mean we’ve seen this a million times he’s looking to reveal the base of the ring to hurt Moose no need to complicate it. Finally D-Lo says that we know exactly what’s coming. This is taking Edwards a long time. Eddie takes Moose to the corner which is apparently the hardest part of the ring, I mean its not the apron. They exchange reversals before Moose says screw it and kicks Edwards in the groin. Moose with a uranage on the HARDEST PART of the HARDEST PART of the ring. Eddie gets to his feet and Moose hits a big boy spear for the victory to retain his championship.

Rating: **1/2
Review: This was a decent hardcore match but man a lot of shenanigans and the ring being exposed didn’t feel all too special almost felt like an extended inconvenience. I get the purpose but stuff like that should feel a bit more special.

– Kaleb (with a K) is backstage with the Influence and the Iinspiration come in to say they’re interrupting their photoshoot time. Kaleb pulls out his phone and shows them its their time. The Iinspiration blame jet lag on being stuck on LA time. Tenille asks what holiday they’re dressed for ‘stripmas’? Kaleb says they dont even have a photographer so he’s not taking their pictures. JAI FREAKIN VIDAL comes up and has a polaroid. Kaleb says he’s Kaleb with a K, Jai says he’s Jai with an I. The Influence calm Kaleb down and say they have enough photos. Jai poses with the Iinspiration and I freakin LOVE THIS. Jai is awesome and feels like a natural fit with them right now.

– Josh and D’Amore discuss the upcoming Influence vs. Iinspiration match at Hard to Kill before taking us back to the debut of the Iinspiration.

The Iinspiration vs. Decay

Jessie has a rear chinlock on Rosemary and the Iinspiration seem to be showing some promise in their debut according to commentary. Both women take each other down and look for a tag. Havok and Cassie tag in and Havok takes control immediately. Jessie charges Havok but runs into a brick wall. Havok sends both members of Iinspiration into the corner and hits them with a double splash. Havok covers Cassie but she kicks out just in time. Rosemary tags in and they send Cassie into the ropes. Rosemary runs into a forearm and Cassie sends Havok to the outside. Rosemary and Cassie drop eachother at the same time. Jessie tags in and drops Rosemary with a clothesline. Jessie with a jumping forearm into the corner and a suplex to Rosemary. Cassie with the blind tag and they hit the double team on Rosemary. Cassie covers for a two count and Rosemary kicks out at the last second. Both women to their feat and Rosemary with a scorpion deathdrop to Cassie before tagging in Havok. Havok with a spear on Cassie and Jessie makes the save. Havok stares down Jessie and hits her with a forearm for her trouble. Havok looks for a legdrop but Cassie rolls out of the way. Rosemary tries to make the save but gets dropped with a big boot. Havok with a chokebomb to Jessie but Cassie hits her with a kick. Havok with a strong forearm drops Cassie before dragging her to the corner to tag in Rosemary. Havok holds Cassie and Rosemary gets in her face but Cassie shoves her off and sends her to the outside. Cassie with a roundhouse kick to Havok and tags in Jessie they send Havok into the turnbuckle twice. The second one sends her to the outside and they follow her and crash her into the ringpsot again. Rosemary drops Cassie on the outside before sending Jessie into the ring. Rosemary looks for a suplex but Jessie tags Cassie in. Jessie sends Rosemary into Cassie and she eats a knee. Cassie and Jessie hit a tag team powerbomb on Rosemary and Cassie covers for the victory. The Iinspiration are the new Iimpact Knockouts Champions.
Rating: **3/4
Review: This was a solid little tag team match and a good debut for the Iinspiration. I really like what they’ve done since joining Impact. 

 

Knockouts Tag Team of the year: Nominees, Decay, Iinspiration, Fyre & Flava, Jordynne Grace & Rachael Ellering, and Influence. 
Winners: Jordynne Grace & Rachael Ellering. This was actually a bit of a surprise but well deserved. D’Amore says The Iinspiration wont be happy but they’ve hardly been around so i’m sure they’ll be ok.

 

– Eddie Edwards is backstage with Rich Swann, Willie Mack, Rhyno & Heath. They talk down VBD and say they know what to do when the time comes and they’re gonna run through all of them. Willie Mack says he’s got a foot to go up the asses of the Good Brothers. We get a couple more hard to kill puns before Rhyno says he’s going to run through all of VBD with a GORE, GORE, GORE!

– We run down the top ten Impact social media posts of the year. A lot of these were from the second half of the year and featured Impact bringing in outside talent. Christian Cage becoming Impact world champion again was the biggest post of the year.

Slammiversary – Impact World Championship – No DQ
Sami Callihan vs. Kenny Omega

Kenny Omega superplexed Sami off the top rope through a board set on a trashcan. Kenny hits a vtrigger on Sami and lifts him up for one winged angel. Callihan reverses out and lifts Kenny up for a powerbomb but Kenny slips free and kicks Sami in the face. Sami hits Kenny with a tombstone piledriver on a barbwire covered chair. Kenny kicks out at the very last second. Omega rolls outside as Sami fights to his feet. Callihan leans to the outside to grab Kenny. Kenny tosses salt into the eyes of Sami. Sami hits Brian hebner with the piledriver. Sami gets to his feet and eats a belt shot from Kenny. Kenny hits Callihan with a piledriver and covers Sami but theres no ref. Finally a ref hits the ring but its too late and Sami kicks out at two. This causes Kenny to punch the referee in the face. The Good Brothers come out but Sabin and Edwards come out to make the save. Sami hits a stuffed piledriver on Kenny and its a slow count giving Kenny a second to kick out. Don Callis is heated that Hebner was able to wake up and count, cant blame ya brother. Sami grabs a bag from under the ring and pour out a bunch of tacks. Kenny staring down the tacks is a wonderful visual. Callis leaves commentary to distract Sami. Kenny throws the tacks in Sami’s eyes. POCKET SAND. Kenny loads some tacks into his knee for a death v trigger. It doesnt work too well but Kenny hits it and covers Sami for a two. Kenny grabs a handful of tacks and shoves them into Sami’s mouth. Kenny hits a vtrigger to the mouth full of tacks. Kenny lifts Sami up and we get a one winged angel on the tacks. Hebner with the slow count but it doesnt matter Kenny retains the title.
Rating: ***3/4
Review: This started off in the middle and I could do without the ref bumps otherwise it would likely have been higher rated and was probably much better in its full capacity. What a time it was when Impact had both Sami and Kenny available. 

– Josh Alexander is cutting a promo on Moose from Turning Point letting him know his intentions to challenge for the title. The lights flicker and we get an unfamiliar theme. JONAH’s name appears on the screen before JONAH attacks Josh Alexander from behind. JONAH beats down Josh and hits him with three consecutive big guy sentons. Alexander rolls over and eats a FOURTH jumping senton before finally pulling him to the corner and climbing to the top rope. JONAH hits a HUGE splash from the top onto Alexander. Josh is spitting blood but it looks a bit like clown paint i’m just saying, could’ve got a better blood tablet. D-Lo discussing internal bleeding just doesn’t sell me. We cut to a match

JONAH vs. Jai Vidal 

JONAH drops Jai out of midair with a mean shove. JONAH runs right into Jai and drops him immediately. JONAH lifts JAI up for a lengthy delayed vertical before dropping him to the mat. JONAH hits a running senton onto Jai before pulling him to the corner. JONAH with the big splash off the top onto Jai for the victory.
Rating: N/A
Review: This was a decent little squash and I get why it’s being highlighted but i’m not sure it belongs on a best of show. To be fair though, this did make JONAH’s debut feel a lot more important to me.

Slammiversary – X-Division Title – Ultimate X Match
Josh Alexander vs. Trey Miguel vs. Rohit Raju vs. Chris Bey

Raju with a rolling neckbreaker to Trey before setting him on Josh’ neck and hitting a flatliner on Trey from Josh’ shoulders. Rohit off the ropes and hits a double running knee to both Trey and Josh. Rohit points to the title and starts to climb the strutcure. Rohit climbs to the center but Trey pulls him down and hits him with a kick drops him before climbing the turnbuckle. Josh catches Trey in the corner and looks for a superplex. Trey fights out but Josh hits a top rope tbone suplex. Chris Bey gets to his feet and climbs to the top inching his way to the title. Josh crawls the rope and meets Bey in the center of the ring. Bey and Josh exchange chops fighting for the belt. They unsnap the belt and are holding it, they lower it and Ace Austin dives for it but they lift it up. Chris Bey just kind of falls and the bell rings.
Rating: **
Review: Always rough when commentary isn’t on the same page as the match rules. I think Striker was spot on and they rang the bell prematurely but who knows. Its hard when they bring up some of the dumb history and try to relate it to the match at hand. Striker discussed a previous situation where two people came down with the belt so when Bey and Josh are fighting you think one thing only for another to happen. Also not too sure why Bey fell but im sure I missed a devastating strike. I might sound picky but man Ultimate X isn’t too hard to book and for some reason there’s always a thought to get cute with it. 

– W. Morrisey cuts a pretty decent promo about his history and how his fans turned their backs on him. This should’ve felt a bit more intense but it wasn’t bad just a bit monotone.

 

Men’s Wrestler of the Year: Nominees, Kenny Omega, Christian Cage, Moose, Josh Alexander, Rich Swann.
Winner: Josh Alexander. It makes sense but it’d be a whole lot cooler if this guy was actually the Impact champion right now but that’s just me. 

Moose vs. Rich Swann

This is from Sacrifice and we’ve got piped in audio, it sucks but it’s almost better than the natural sound they currently have because their current set of fans feels just a bit too quiet but that’s just me. Swann has Moose down and he’s up top looking for a dive but Moose drops him groin first on the top ropes. Moose meets Swann at the top and looks for a superplex. Swann fights out and starts hammering into Moose with headbutts and overhead chops. Swann bites at the head of Moose and drops him off the top with a straight right hand. Moose catches Swann on the top and hits a sick fall away moonsault slam. Moose has to recoup for a minute and this gives Swann enough time to recover and kickout when Moose finally covers him. Moose rolls to the outside and he’s clearly frustrated. Moose looks for a spear on Swann but Swann moves just in time sending Moose into the turnbuckle. Moose goes for a second spear in the opposite corner and Swann moves. Ok. Swann with the roll up and pins Moose to win both championships.
Rating: ***
Review: This was fun but man Moose is an idiot and I guess that was the story coming out of that match but i’m not a fan of that especially in a unification match but this was definitely a fun match. Also I could be in the minority but i’d prefer a mixture of a real life crowd with piped in noise where it works. It’s not good when there are cheers and fans aren’t moving but I think that added vibe of a bigger crowd could help especially with a live audience but I get that can be tough line to ride and could end up being worse overall.

– Masha Slammovich debuts next week. OH HELLLL Yeah.

– Mercedes cuts a promo on Deonna Purrazzo and tells her to put some respect on her name. She tells Deonna better women than her have tried and failed and challenges her to a match next week. Lets gooo! Pretty interesting to see a few days after Mercedes made her debut for AEW.

– Men’s match of the year: Josh Alexander vs. TJP Ironman match, This is the only ironman match in Impact history. This probably makes sense but it’s an interesting choice, I honestly havent heard about this match at all but I could’ve just missed it. Again, Josh wins another award but would look a whole lot cooler if he was rounding out the year as the champion but what do I know. Oh wow we’re really gonna watch this now. Ok.

60 Minute Ironman Match
Josh Alexander vs. TJP

We get highlights of this one, we’re twenty minutes in and I don’t believe there’s been a fall yet. Josh and TJP exchange roll ups and Josh gets the first fall at less than 40 minutes to go. Petey is coaching up Josh but Fallah Bahh is coaching up TJ. We kill thirty seconds to allow both men to gain their breath. We get some chain wrestling and TJ locks in a cravat. Josh reverses out and hits TJP with a neck breaker. Josh locks in a headlock but TJ forces a rope break as we go to commercial. Back from break and TJP takes Josh down with a crossbody and rolls him up for a two count. TJP locks in a submission and starts slapping the taste out of Josh. Josh regains control and hits TJP with a delayed vertical suplex. There are 24 minutes left and Josh goes for a cover looking for the second pin fall, I appreciate the skipping around because man I’d be bummed at a 30+ minute ironman with only one pinfall so far. Josh sends TJP into the corner and looks to charge him but TJP hops up into a gory special. TJP flips Josh over and we get a roll up battle. I feel like Josh was definitely just pinned for three but what do I know they say he got a shoulder up but I didn’t see it at all. TJP flips it into a submission so he doesn’t accidentally pin josh again. Josh finally rolls to the rope and forces the break. Josh with a German suplex to TJP and we’re going to commercial again. We are back and there’s only seven minutes left and we’ve got some fans as the roster has come out for the match. That’s pretty cool. TJP is still down 1-0 and we get a collision in the center of the ring. I said i’d be bummed at 1-0 earlier but it makes sense at this point and I actually like the decision. Josh looks for the piledriver but TJ lands on his feet and cover Josh for a nearfall. TJP rakes his boot across the face of Josh in the corner and hits him with a running boot. TJP sends Josh into the corner and hits him with another running boot but Josh catches his ankle for the ankle lock. TJP fights free and lifts Josh up for the detonation kick. Josh kicks out at the last minute. Sheesh they got me there. TJP climbs to the top ropes and hits a mamba splash. Josh kicks out at one and a half. Both men slow to get up and we’ve got three minutes left. TJ lifts Josh up and goes for the kick again but Josh catches it and locks in an ankle lock. TJP tries to roll through but Josh sits down into a pinfall attempt. TJP locks in the ankle lock and we go to our final commercial of the night? These commercials are definitely hurting what i’m sure was a great match. Back from break with a minute left and Josh has a submission locked in and we’re talking about Josh running the clock out. TJP struggles for the bottom rope refusing to tap. Josh locks it in even harder but TJP refuses to tap. This is a weird way to build anticipation saying if TJP taps it doesn’t matter. TJP gets up and rolls through for a pinfall at the last second. Wow. We’re going to sudden death. Commentary explains that TJP managed to get to his feet because Josh let go at the last few seconds. We count down to sudden death and TJP can hardly walk. They exchange strikes in the center of the ring. Josh gets control and backs TJP into the corner hitting him with uppercuts. TJP with a headbutt and strike combination to Josh. TJP looks for penalty kick but Josh moves. TJP looks for a standing phoenix splash but Josh moves. Josh hits a c4 and a top rope moonsault. Josh covers for a two count before lifting TJP up. Josh with the powerbomb on the knee and ANOTHER KICKOUT. Josh lifts TJP up and hits the C4 Spike to retain about three minutes into sudden death.
Rating: ***
Review: I’m certain people loved this, but it was not for me at all and the finish made me even less excited. It was cut up really strange and the abrupt commercials definitely did it no justice you combine all that and i’m just not big on this match. Again I bet people loved this and especially in it’s full capacity it was probably awesome, but what I saw didn’t do much for me. I get the idea of TJP getting an adrenaline boost to make a pinfall attempt but Josh should kick out and that should be it. I wonder how an actual live reaction would’ve been to that. I also get the idea of putting it on BTI going into Impact but I might’ve just ran it on Impact or done a 30 minute ironman on impact if you’re worried about time. It was cool but I’d have to watch all of the matches to really say if I think it deserved to win over the rest.