Welcome to this inaugural edition of The IMPACT Assessment, a new weekly feature in which I, Pete Moon, of Brace for IMPACT! and The Pro Wrestling Post Podcast, guide you through the goings-on from the latest IMPACT! Wrestling on AXS. This week it’s the fallout from last Saturday’s Bound For Glory PPV. We saw three new champions crowned! The North defeated Ace Austin & Madman Fulton, The Good Brothers, and The Motor City Machine Guns for the IMPACT Tag Team Championships. In light of Kylie Rae’s absence, Deonna Purrazzo issued an open challenge for the Knockouts Championship. Su Yung answered and defeated Purrazzo to become Knockouts Champion. And after months of attacks and beatdowns at the hands of Eric Young, Rich Swann defeated The World-Class Maniac to capture the IMPACT World Championship. Let’s start the first The IMPACT Assessment 10/27/20 – Bound For Glory Fallout!
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The show opened with Rich Swann and Eric Young brawling backstage. The fight quickly spilled out into the arena, where they brawled around the ringside area. Eric Young then strangled Rich Swann with a sock before rolling him into the ring. Young takes his time on the outside, allowing Swann to get back up and catch him with a kick as he comes into the ring. After some agile offense, Swann climbs to the top rope. Young gets to his feet, tripping Swann off the turnbuckle before stomping him in the corner. A bevy of referees then pours out of the back to separate the two, with IMPACT Wrestling executive Scott D’Amore in tow.
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D’Amore checks on the champion before Eric Young shouts his demands for a rematch. A furious Scott D’Amore screamed back “What is wrong with you?” as Eric Young continued to scream about his right to demand a rematch. “This isn’t how you do this!” D’Amore screamed back, before denying Young his rematch. The World Class Maniac then changed his tune, claiming there’s a conspiracy against him. Rich Swann gets up and tells D’Amore to make the match official. D’Amore sees that Swann is determined to put Eric Young away once and for all, even if it means wrestling barefoot in slacks, and orders the timekeeper to ring the bell.
The IMPACT Assessment 10/27/20
IMPACT World Championship
Rich Swann (c) vs Eric Young
The bell rings and the referees part to let Eric Young sprint to the ring. He meets Rich Swann, who lays into him with chops, pushing him into the corner. Swann then Irish whips Young into the opposite corner and over the turnbuckle. EY lands on the apron and runs up to the rear-left turnbuckle, where Swann meets him. Young shoved Swann off the turnbuckles and tries to follow up with a diving splash, but Swann rolls out of the way. The champion takes advantage of his foe’s mistake, battering him with kicks before bringing him down with a hurricanrana. He tries to follow up with #2, but Young reverses into a powerbomb.
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Eric Young then picks up Swann and brawls into the corner. He tries to send Swann into the opposite corner, but Swann slingshots over him and rebounds with a crescent kick. Swann takes to the top rope for the Phoenix Splash but sees Young barreling into the corner. He backflips off the turnbuckle, and Young swings at him wildly. Swann dodges, running into the ropes for a handspring cutter. He follows up with a phoenix splash for the 3 count victory.
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Winner – And still IMPACT World Champion, Rich Swann
Backstage, Keira Hogan and Tasha Steelz tease Alisha Edwards about not having a partner for the upcoming Knockouts Tag Team Championship tournament. Then Jordynne Grace appears, telling Alisha that she also doesn’t have a tag team partner for the tournament. Grace then offers to team with Alisha in a match against Hogan and Steelz later tonight.
The IMPACT Assessment 10/27/20
Halloween Hardcore Match
Brian Myers vs Tommy Dreamer
We cut back to the arena, where weapons have been strewn about for either man to use. Tommy Dreamer enters in Road Warrior face paint and shoulder pads. He sends Myers to the outside early on, and they brawl around the arena. Tommy Dreamer hits a suplex on the ramp. Myers fights back, slamming Dreamer’s face off the steps, before wandering over to a plastic garbage can on the left side of the ring. Myers tries to pick it up, but it seems to be heavier than he expected. Tommy Dreamer takes advantage of his distracted opponent by hitting him with a walker frame.
After the break, Myers has the upper hand with a kendo stick assisted slingshot guillotine. Myers has a bag of apples that he’s been eating and spitting into Dreamer’s face. He brings a chair into the mix, clobbering and choking dreamer. Myers sets up the chair for something, but Dreamer runs to the ropes. Myers is just a tiny bit faster, sliding under the bottom rope and tripping Dreamer face-first into the folding chair. Dreamer swings the momentum in his favor with a cutter before retrieving a black bag full of thumbtacks and candy corn. He then goes to the top rope, where Myers meets him before getting shoved into the thumbtacks and candy corn for a 2 count.
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Dreamer then retrieves a table, and sets it up in the corner. Myers gets up and clotheslines Dreamer into the candy and thumbtacks. Myers picks up a kendo stick, and taunts Tommy Dreamer as he gets to his feet. Out from the plastic garbage can pops Swoggle, with a set of barbecue tongs. He uses the tongs on Myers’s crotch, allowing Tommy Dreamer to hit the Dreamer Driver onto the table for the victory.
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Winner – Tommy Dreamer
Backstage, Gia Miller is interviewing Heath and Rhino. Rhino is happy that he and Heath are now both working for IMPACT Wrestling. He also announces that he and Heath are going to challenge for the IMPACT Tag Team Championships. Gia then asks about rumors that Heath was injured in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet. Heath insists he’s fine, and the duo send Gia away as we go to commercial.
After the break, Adam Thornstowe and Luster the Legend jump Fallah Baah. Hernandez then asks his captive where his money is. Baah tells him he doesn’t know, but Hernandez isn’t having any of it. He orders Reno Scum to search Fallah Baah, but Baah confesses that John E. Bravo has the money. As Hernandez and his henchmen leave, Fallah Baah pulls a wad of money from his tights.
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The IMPACT Assessment 10/27/20
XXXL vs The Rascalz
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As XXXL enters, Josh Matthews notes that they’re lighter than usual, claiming Acey Romero has lost 100 lbs. The Rascalz do their top rope taunts during their entrance but flip into stereo moonsaults on XXXL to start the match. Wentz tries to open with a tornado DDT, but Acey Romero reverses into a Samoan drop. He sends Wentz into the corner, where Larry D tags in and hits a few shoulder rams in the corner. He tags to Romero, who brawls with Wentz into the corner. Wentz fights out of the corner with strikes and a standing shining wizard. He tries to tag in Dez, but Romero grabs the boot and pulls him back. After some brawling with Larry D, Romero tags in again and sends Wentz into the corner. Wentz responds with a flying knee, creating enough separation to make the hot tag.
Dez unleashes with fists and kicks before hitting a somersault senton on Larry D in the corner for a 2-count. Wentz comes in to even the odds, but Romero counters with a body block. Dez sends Romero out with a Pelé kick but Larry D continues the brawling offense. He knocks Dez inside out with a clothesline but only picks up a 2-count. Larry D then climbs to the top turnbuckle, but Wentz comes to put a stop to this plan. Dez joins his partner to attempt a double superplex, but Wentz sees an incoming Acey Romero. He goes for some diving offense, but Romero responds with an uppercut. Dez follows suit with a backflip and tries to do something, but Romero reverses into a uranage. Larry D follows up with a diving splash to get the pin.
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Winners – XXXL
In the office, Scott D’Amore meets with Deonna Purrazzo, Kimber Lee, and Purrazzo’s lawyer, RD Evans. Evans announces Purrazzo’s plan to file an injunction against IMPACT! Wrestling, taking the show off the air for months unless D’Amore strips Su Yung of the Knockouts Championship. D’Amore tells Evans that he doesn’t have the leverage he thinks he does and goes to the ring to make an announcement he believes Purrazzo would really like.
Backstage, Gia Miller interviews the Motor City Machine Guns. Chris Sabin elaborates that neither he nor Alex Shelley was pinned in the 4-way tag match on Saturday night. He adds that if it weren’t for Shelley’s neck injury, they’d be invoking their rematch clause tonight. Team XXL interrupts, claiming that Shelley’s neck is just an excuse to get out of wrestling them. Sabin insists that they’ll get their match another day and sends them on their way. But as MCMG return to their interview, XXXL attack.
The IMPACT Assessment 10/27/20
Scott D’Amore’s Announcement
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Scott D’Amore takes to the mic, and informs Deonna Purrazzo that IMPACT! Wrestling loves a good lawsuit. However, Purrazzo doesn’t have a leg to stand on. At Bound For Glory, Kylie Rae could not appear, and Purrazzo issued an open challenge. D’Amore tells The Virtuosa that courts aren’t really taking many cases right now, mainly punting them off for another time. He agrees that Deonna Purrazzo has a right to her day in court. But why would she want to drag out a court case for months or even years, when she could just face Su Yung in a rematch next week? Why bring this into the court when she could prove her superiority in the ring?
After a brief “consultation” with Evans, Purrazzo agrees to the rematch. However as the agreement is made official, the lights turn out. The new Knockouts Champion, Su Yung makes her entrance to intimidate The Virtuosa. She grabs Evans and Lee by the throat and spits blood into Scott D’Amore’s face. The Undead Bride then shoves Evans and Lee to the mat to put Purrazzo in the mandible claw to end the segment.
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The IMPACT Assessment 10/27/20
Willie Mack and Rich Swann meet up with The Rascalz to celebrate Swann’s title defense earlier in the night. Moose arrives to tell Rich Swann he’s celebrating being 2nd best. Claims the TNA World Heavyweight Title makes him #1. Moose tells Rich Swann his poor upbringing makes him accept anything he can get his hands on. The Rascalz hold Swann back from brawling with Moose. Mack tells Moose he needs to calm down or they’ll settle it here. Moose tells him it’s up to Moose to decide when he gets a title shot. Back with the Rascalz, Swann has calmed down. The Rascalz send him on his way, he meets Sami Callihan and Ken Shamrock, who inform Swann that both him and Shamrock will be watching him.
After a video package from Ken Shamrock’s Hall of Fame induction, we join The North in the changing room. Ethan Page and Josh Alexander are teaching some security guards the finer points of tag team wrestling. Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson show up to pick a bone with the IMPACT! World Tag Team Champions. Ethan Page then tries to tell the story of the worst investment IMPACT! Wrestling ever made. They backed a pickup truck full of money up to The Good Brothers to sign with the company, but they always lose. The Good Brothers don’t take this insult too kindly and brawl with The North.
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They cut from that footage to Rohit Raju holding a party to celebrate his X-Division Championship defense. However, Raju hasn’t made any friends in IMPACT! Wrestling, so he celebrates by his lonesome. Jimmy Jacobs passes through, and Rohit is just so happy to tell him all about his victory at Bound For Glory. But Jacobs insists TJP basically had the match won before Rohit stole the pin. The Desi Hit Man doesn’t appreciate it and sends Jacobs away.
John E. Bravo tells Fallah Baah that he heard a rumor Hernandez is looking for him. He knows Fallah Baah stole the money, and he knows Baah told Hernandez that he took it. John E. Bravo tells Baah that he’s going to be sending Hernandez back to him if they meet at all. Then he tells Baah he’s no longer the best man.
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The IMPACT Assessment 10/27/20
Jordynne Grace & Alisha vs Tasha Steelz & Kiera Hogan
Jordynne Grace and Alisha Edwards take to the ring to face Hogan & Steelz. Grace and Steelz in the ring first and Tasha demands a test of strength. Grace obliges and puts Tasha on the floor with one hand. Tasha powers up while holding the wristlock, though, and delivers some kicks before Grace sends her out of the ring. As she comes back in, Grace catches her with a slam and a 2 count before Steelz tags in Kiera Hogan. Jordynne tags in Alisha as well. Alisha maintains the dominance and drags Hogan into the corner, in came Grace with a Michinoku driver and an assisted splash from Alisha. Grace goes to pin before the referee reminds her she’s not tagged in as we go to commercial.
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Steelz has control of Alisha as we come back from commercial. She stomps in the corner, tag to Hogan who brawls into the other corner. Alisha takes control with a flatliner. She brawls with Hogan in the center of the ring, who drags over to make the tag. Alisha brawls back to Jordynne Grace but Steelz hits a spinebuster for a 2 count. Hogan and steels try a double atomic drop, but Alisha brawls out, clunking their heads together before stumbling over to tag Jordynne. Grace wrecks house with both Steelz & Hogan, landing several strikes on Steelz in the corner before a vader bomb. Alisha blind tags as Steelz brawls with Grace. Alisha goes to break up the brawl but Steelz dodges the stinger splash. Grace is distraught as Steelz catches the stack-up win.
Winners – Tasha Steelz & Kiera Hogan
The IMPACT Assessment 10/27/20
Jordynne Grace and Alisha exchange shoves, signaling that they won’t be teaming in the Knockouts Tag Team Championship tournament.
Fans outside request a selfie with Willie Mack, Moose attacks. With Mack laid out, Moose demands the camera and we cut to commercial.
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Taya Valkyrie talks with Rosemary about the wedding. Taya tries to convince her to leave John at the altar. She says he’s gone a little crazy lately and Rosemary doesn’t need that. Rosemary says she’s got a much more dastardly plan than leaving John at the altar.
The IMPACT Assessment 10/27/20
Rosemary & John E. Bravo’s Wedding
Back from commercial and the ring is set up with no posts, no ropes, and an arch. The IMPACT Wrestling locker room surrounds the ring in Halloween costumes. Swoggle, The Deaners, Alisha Edwards, Johnny Swinger, Fallah Baah and Taya Valkyrie all come out in procession, followed by John E. Bravo. Then Father James Mitchell makes his return to an IMPACT Wrestling ring. The Sinister Minister looks fantastic, despite having risen from the dead only an hour earlier.
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Then Rosemary makes her entrance, flanked by Crazzy Steve. The Sinister Minister gives a little speech about joining the two tortured souls in unholy matrimony. After offering the floor to objections, he asks the bride and groom to recite their vows. John E Bravo gives vows inspired by The Addams Family. Speaking about how they’re going to be together forever. “And NOBODY is going to ruin this day for me” he says, testing his luck. Nobody stops him. Rosemary gives her vows about John E. Bravo’s ‘virginal blood’ drew her to him. “Nobody on earth can stop us from getting what we want,” she says, again tempting the fates. Nobody answers.
Swoggle comes over with the rings, which John and Rosemary exchange said rings. Father James Mitchell asks the age-old wedding question. Johnny says “I Do,” Rosemary says “We do,” and Father James Mitchell, by the power vested in him by forces below, declares them man and wife. As they go to kiss, the lights go out. There’s a gunshot. The lights come on and John E. Bravo is on the ground, bleeding. Tommy Dreamer asks who shot him before crying “Nooooo!” as IMPACT Wrestling closes.
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