This season, both the women’s strawweight division and the men’s light heavyweight division will be competing. At the end of the season, Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha fight on the TUF 23 Finale with Joanna Champion defending her strawweight title. Last week, Gadelha’s team won again and now holds a commanding 5-0 lead. She picked Amanda Cooper to fight Jamie Moyle in her quest to run the TUF table!
*****
Dana White opens the show by reminding us that there’s never been a clean sweep in TUF history, and that Jedrzejczyk is now playing “the mental game” and trying to get in the head of Gadelha’s team by saying that Amanda Cooper is “an easy fight.”
We go to Jedrzejczyk’s training session, and she’s brought in TJ Dillashaw to help her team train. He runs them through footwork and posture drills to start, and reminds everyone that “feints win fights” when you fake out your opponent. Moyle says she hasn’t seen any of Cooper’s fights and won’t plan like she did – she just wants to focus on improving overall and getting better at what she does best.
Khalil Rountree talks about staying positive and motivated even though he’s been eliminated. Dana reminds us that there’s always opportunities for someone to come back who was eliminated. We see Rountree breaking down outside because today is his father’s birthday, and he talks about how he used to manage bands like Another Bad Creation and Boyz II Men. His father was killed in an attempted robbery after a show.
Amanda Cooper gives Moyle props at the Team Gadelha training session, saying she wanted to test herself against the toughest possible opponent, and that she plans on doing a lot of striking. “I just want to put on a show and make it interesting. On the feet is the best way to do it.” She says she fought three fights on a torn ACL so nobody’s seen just how good of a striker she can really be.
Cooper reads letters written to her by her family and friends before she left for the show, which leads to a discussion about her dad getting her into boxing at a very young age. “I have a dream and that’s all I want right now is to accomplish it.” This transitions to a night on the town for everybody on the show courtesy of Dana White, complete with a party bus that has alcohol and a stripper pole. Partying ensues!
Amanda Cooper gets dressed up for the weigh-ins. “I look like Jane but I fight like Tarzan.” Moyle gets on the scale and she’s 115.5. Cooper is 115 even. Fight’s on!
* Amanda Cooper (Team Gadelha) vs. Jamie Moyle (Team Jedrzejczyk)
Cooper is in all black and Moyle is in all red for this fight. Moyle is landing some good shots in the exchanges early. Gadelha has to remind Cooper to keep her hands up. Moyle pushes her into the fence looking for a takedown and eats a few knees. Cooper is keeping her balance well and breaks free at 1:33. Cooper is warned to watch her fingers.
Moyle keeps her backpedaling the whole time but Cooper’s striking is getting better as the round draws on, using her natural height and reach advantages. Moyle shoots for a single leg and gets it at 3:27. Moyle stands to drop some bigger shots and nearly gets swept. Jedrzejczyk keeps yelling “STAY HEAVY” but the ref tells her to improve her position. 10-9 Moyle.
Moyle gets another takedown a half minute into R2. Moyle is trying to pull her legs through to improve her position and eventually gets side control at 1:50, but she loses it and has to avoid upkicks. Cooper goes for a single leg but Moyle keeps her balance. Cooper gets a clinch and goes for some knees and elbows over the top. Moyle goes for a takedown and Cooper lands on top. She’s busted Moyle up with the elbows – there’s blood everywhere.
Cooper gets side control and starts raining down big hammerfists and rights that have the ref threatening to stop the it. Moyle goes for a triangle but Cooper slips out. Cooper and Gadelha celebrate like they’ve won before the scores are even announced.
Cooper wins by MAJORITY decision, but the scores aren’t read. Gadelha is 6-0!
Next week’s fight is Abdel Medjedoub (Gadelha) vs. Joshua Stansbury (Jedrzejczyk). See you then!
The show starts with a recap of the Trios title history this season, showing the former champs losing them to Rey Mysterio Jr, Prince Puma, and Dragon Azteca Jr. before that team lost them to PJ, Mundo, and Jack Evans. It transitions to showing Chavo winning the Gift of the Gods Title, then losing it to Cage last week and cashing in the title for a match tonight. Striker runs down tonight’s card, where the former trios champs get a rematch tonight and Matanza battles Cage in the main event.
Son of Havoc vs. Daga
They start off with a fancy series of counters to arm wringers. Havoc is sent down off a tackle, but catches him with a rana. Superkick on the floor by Daga leads to him trying a snake eyes on the post, but that’s countered and Daga is sent in. Havoc trips him mid-ring and gets 2 off a standing moonsault. Daga gets a back suplex into a facebuster for 2. Daga traps him in the corner for mounted punches and a face wash. Daga slams him down and gets 2 off a Muta-style power drive elbow. Havoc lands some standing forearms, and eats punches. Armdrag into a Tequila Sunrise by Daga!
Kobra Moon comes down as Daga hits a corner elbow. Havoc flips out of the corner and hits a series of lariats. Muta-style handspring elbow in the corner and a springboard crossbody gets 2. An apron high kick by Havoc leads to a suicide dive on the floor. Kobra comes up and grabs the ankle of Havoc, leading to Daga hitting a kick up top and then going for a superplex – but eating a gordbuster and a shooting star press. Kobra Moon comes into the ring and caresses Daga in a weird way. She caresses his leg and he kicks her off.
Winner – Son of Havoc
Backstage, Rey works on his spinning backfists while Azteca talks about finding Matanza’s cell. He wants revenge, while Rey tells him that Dragon Azteca Sr. wouldn’t have wanted that. They argue and Prince Puma comes up and says their match is next. They tell him to leave, Rey says that it doesn’t concern him, and he says that as their partnets, it does concern him. Dragon Azteca Jr. is a fairly bad actor, but everyone else was fine here.
Rey Mysterio Jr., Prince Puma, and Dragon Azteca Jr. vs. Trios Champions Jack Evans, PJ Black, and Johnny Mundo
The heel team has red bandanas on now, and Rey is dominated for a bit by a PJ headlock. A shoulderblock gets 2 on Rey. Rey flips out of a schoolboy and hits a buzzsaw kick and a rana. Rey is up on his shoulders and Mundo distracts the ref so that PJ can toss him down and kick him in the nuts. A triple team neckbreaker by the heels gives them more of an edge. Jack comes in, stands on his chest and gets 2 off a standing moonsault.
Jack tells Rey “I think I can, I THINK I CAN” to mock him for trying to make a tag before attacking him. Mundo comes in and eats some punches, but a tilt a whirl takes Rey down again. Rey gets a DDT out of nowhere and tags in Puma. Puma’s headscissors and dropkick take Jack down while the northern lights brainbuster hits Mundo. Corner crossbody leads to a double kick in the corner and then a triple dropkick to PJ from the floor. Flip dive over Puma by Azteca.
Rey goes for a dive, but Jack stops it with a dropkick. Jack promises something big, and gets it as Puma hits him with a superplex off the top onto the pile on the floor. Puma goes for the 630, but Jack is pulled to the floor by his partners. Jack hits a 630 and gets 2.5. Puma hoists him up and lands a modifies GTS. Azteca and Mundo are in, and Mundo accidentally leaps into PJ in the corner. Azteca hits an around the world DDT on Mundo for 2. Azteca avoids the Moonlight Drive, and eats a kick to the nuts. Puma is pissed and kicks Mundo in the nuts – leading to a DQ so the heels retain and the faces have lost their rematch. Puma attacks Taya with a huge kick as well, while Rey tries to control Puma.
Winners – PJ Black, Jack Evans, and Johnny Mundo
After the match, we see Dragon Azteca Jr. meet Matanza. Black Lotus tells him that Dragon Azteca killed her parents, and that the truth hurts. They fight for a bit before he tells her that she knows it isn’t true. Well, they haven’t done much with that story thread for a while – so it’s good to further it slightly here. Cage comes out first carrying the title out like it’s a trash bag. As Matanza comes down, Striker runs down everything Matanza has done – including him beating nine foes in Aztec Warfare to win the title.
Cage vs. Lucha Underground Champion Matanza Cueto
We get a staredown and they immediately go into a Frye-Takayama exchange. Cage rams him, but Matanza doesn’t move. Matanza and Cage barge into each other, which doesn’t give anyone an edge until Cage hits an uppercut. Cage sends him to the floor and hits a flip dive. Cage goes up top and hits a moonsult while Vamp talks about Cage tearing the original LU title up last year. Thank God he did – that thing looked awful.
They fight on the floor and Cage tosses his head into the barricade before pulling the covers off the concrete. Cage taking the time to do that gave Matanza time to heal, and he tosses Cage into the barricades. Matanza lands the multiple Karelin Lifts on the floor, but Cage escapes the third one and lands a forearm. Giant German suplex on the floor by Matanza. Matanza tosses him in the ring and chokes him before hammerfisting his head.
Standing SSP leads to Cage getting his knees up and getting 2 off a neckbreaker. Cage traps him in the corner for a series of lariats. Cage showboats, giving Matanza time to get under him and land an exploder for 2. Matanza picks him up for a pumphandle bridging suplex for 2. Cage jacks his jaw and then lands a basement dropkick after a schoolboy. Matanza recovers and goes for the eyes. Vamp talks about how Matanza’s hands are always covered by blood. Cage lands an X Factor for 2. They each charge into each other with lariats and take one another down with pump kicks.
Cage and Matanza exchange Germans and then no-sell them like Hawk. After three of them, Cage starts to sell and then Matanza sends him down like a basic wrestling takedown, but hoists him up high for a German that looked incredible and gets 2. Cage avoids the Wrath of the Gods, but hits a discus lariat for 2.
Cage hits the power superplex from the middle rope. Flying elbow gets 2 for Cage. Matanza grabs him and lands the Kevin Steen sidewinder back suplex for 2. Cage counters a powerbomb with an Alabama slam and a standing moonsault for 2. Cage goes for Weapon X, but Matanza counters and lands an overhead belly to belly. A sitout powerbomb gets 2 for Matanza.
Cage counters the Wrath of the Gods with a small package for 2. Cage hits a Canadian Destroyer for 2. Cage pulls down the straps and lands a series of kicks, including a superkick – but the Wrath of the Gods gives Matanza the win. This was a pretty exctiing match and definitely worth checking out – it will probably be the match from the show put on El Rey’s Youtube channel later this week.
Winner – Matanza Cueto
To see all of the screenshots taken for the show, just click here.
The Big News: One week before TakeOver, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe had a heated backstage interview.
The Medium News: In their first bit of physicality, Nia Jax laid out Asuka with a power bomb.
The Little Beaver Sized News: The Revival got punked out at the beginning of the show, lost the main event, and then got punked out by American Alpha.
The show started with the former NXT tag champs The Revival coming out for a promo. Next Wednesday at NXT TakeOver: The End ,they will challenge the current champions American Alpha.
Dash and Dawson say that they will be the first ever 2-time tag champions. Dawson called Gable & Jordan excellent amateur wrestlers, but they are great professionals. When The Revival win, Jordan & Gable can go wipe their tears away as the new champs celebrate.
This brought out Tomasso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano. Ciampa said that the entire crowd knows AA is better than them, and they can’t even beat Gargano and Ciampa. Revival laughed at this and called the interrupting duo “undersized bearded guys” and “good hands”, which was pointed out that that is a criticism about The Revival.
Dawson told them to go back to wrestling in bingo halls, while Ciampa brought up them losing in Dallas. Dash told Gargano & Ciampa to come bother them when they have actually accomplished anything. The Revival started walking away when Gargano mocked them. The #1 contenders got back in the ring…and immediately got dropkicked right out of it!
As Revival retreated, they challenged Gargano & Ciampa for tonight.
******
Shinsuke Nakamura did a promo for his match with Austin Aries at TakeOver. He said Aries will bow down to the King of Strong Style.
******
Tye Dillinger pinned Buddy Murphy
It is time for the Perfect 10, and it is also time for Murphy to get his first name back! He lost his manager and his tag team partner, but at least he is facing NXT’s most pushed jobber. Dillinger has won two tv matches as the Perfect 10 up to this point.
The fans were not into Murphy at all and it seemed the only thing they cared about in regards to Dillinger was chanting 10. Tye finished Murphy off with a Fireman’s Carry, but slamming the back of Murphy’s head on his exposed knee which looked close enough to an AA.
******
We had a sit down interview with Finn Balor and Samoa Joe, moderated by Corey Graves.
Balor said he worked for so long at becoming NXT Champion that he didn’t expect the walls to come crumbling down in Lowell, Massachusetts. Joe countered by saying he finally got what he deserved. Joe had to jump through ridiculous hoops (which to an extent he did). Balor said Joe came in with a sense of entitlement and there are 100 guys in the Performance Center who deserve a title shot ahead of him.
Joe scoffed at that and brought up everything starting last August with Finn asking Joe to be his partner in the Dusty Classic and then not saying anything when William Regal wouldn’t give him a title shot afterwards. Balor tried bringing up that they knew each other for a decade, and Joe brought that up and continued to ask why he had to do all these things to get title shots.
Balor noted this is his first ever cage match, but his first ever ladder match was TakeOver:Brooklyn when he beat Kevin Owens. Joe said he would have beaten Balor in Dallas, but they kept having doctors pull him off, giving Finn a chance to recover.
Graves brought up Balor being the future and Balor said he is living in the now, living in the present, and he wants that championship belt. Joe said this is about showing people their place and he will show Balor his place. Graves tried to wrap it up which caused champion and challenger to stand up and go face to face one last time.
This was an excellent segment.
******
Austin Aries submitted Elias Sampson
Aries is 7 days away from a match with Shinsuke Nakamura, a man who defeated The Drifter about a month ago. Sampson has been a lot more aggressive in the ring lately. It helps that he’s been doing so many house show matches with the likes of Nakamura and Balor.
Aries looked good here as well (I know, what a shock) and won with the NXT debut of the Last Chancery. After the match, Aries cut a promo saying that after next week, he will show the spotlight should shine on him.
******
The same video package as last week aired to build up the impending debut of Andrade Cien Almas, which will take place next week at TakeOver.
Johnny Gargano & Tomasso Ciampa defeated The Revival
This is the main event wrestling match. They note that The Revival is trying to become the first ever 2-time tag champs. However, Neville is a 2-time champion, teaming with Oliver Grey and then the aforementioned Graves. The announcers spent most of this match discussing the tag team title match at TakeOver.
The heels cheated to get the heat on Ciampa. Ciampa and Gargano were running wild on the #1 contenders. However, Dawson attacked Ciampa behind the referee’s back when Dash was the legal man. Dash and Dawson do an excellent job of playing defense and giving their opponents so many hope spots on getting the hot tag, so the opponents always make the tag at the best possible time.
Gargano got the hot tag and looked great until he got dropped with a DDT. The finish showed that somebody has been watching The Wrestling Classic recently. In a page right out of Randy Savage vs. Dynamite Kid, Scott Dawson gave Gargano a Superplex, but Gargano tied up Dawson for the pin!
After the match, Revival took out their frustrations on the men that beat them, including giving Gargano the Shatter Machine. They went to break Gargano’s leg, but American Alpha ran in for the save.
******
Next week is NXT TakeOver: The End, featuring…
Samoa Joe vs Finn Balor for the NXT Championship in a Steel Cage Match
Asuka vs Nia Jax for the NXT Women’s Championship
Austin Aries vs Shinsuke Nakamura
American Alpha vs The Revival for the NXT Tag Team Championship
Andrade Almas debuts
That is a lot of A names, eh?
******
The final segment of the show was the official contract signing for the Women’s Championship match next Wednesday.
Nia Jax spoke first, mocking Asuka because all she has done is kick a few girls in the head and while Asuka beat Bayley, Nia broke Bayley. Unlike all the other girls, Nia is the future and is not scared of Asuka.
Asuka said Nia talks too much and if she’s not afraid of Asuka, she should be. Nia pushed her away, so Asuka began throwing punches and kicks. However, Nia caught one of her kicks, lifted Asuka in the air, and planted her with a power bomb!
That is it for this week. Thank you for reading and remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
We roll on to day nine of New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, as the morning of 5/31 brought us more action, this time from the A Block. Matches held on this day were in Hiroshima:
Bushi vs. David Finlay
Nothing wrong with this, but felt like every young lion match you’ve seen. Makes sense as Finlay is a young lion. This was solid, but patterned in other words. Finlay made a comeback, Bushi cut him off and pinned him with the codebreaker off the top rope.
Rocky Romero vs. Matt Sydal
Good match. Solid work here as well. Romero got the heat at one point by dousing Sydal with what looked like a water bottle and gave him a sliced bread on the floor. They went back to the ring exchange some strikes .Sydal took Romero out with a powerbomb and went for the shooting star press but Romero blocked it, throwing him off. Sydal came back with a rana to the floor and pinned Romero with a shooting star press.
Gedo vs. Kushida
Really good match, best out of all four here. Kushida worked on Gedo’s arm throughout the entire match and came back to it whenever he had the chance. Gedo had a lot of offense and looked tremendous. I think he’s secretly the MVP of this tournament even though there has been a lot great matches without him. Kushida went for the armbar but Gedo countered with a roll up and did some great near falls. Crowd was really into this too. Gedo went for the Gedo Clutch but Kushida kicked out. Kushida sinked in the hoverboard lock again and after rolling around to the middle of the ring Gedo submitted.
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Another good match! There were some pre match shenanigans as Taguchi wanted the ref to pat his crotch area. When he refused, Taguchi took out a banana, because he’s wacky, you see. It’s kind of funny as Taguchi can be a pretty great worker at times, but the comedy stuff is total prelim level. There was a cool spot early where O’Reilly went for the leg sweep but Taguchi jumped, then dropkicked O’Reilly in one swift motion. They exchange leg submissions and went back and forth on another another. Taguchi grabbed the leg again and dropped in elbow, and that caused O’Reilly to eventually submit.
Last week on Impact, key matches for Slammiversary were made official. They announced the main event, which will be TNA World Champion Drew Galloway defending against Lashley in a match that can only end by submission or knockout. Also, Jeff Hardy defeated Rockstar Spud and Tyrus in a ladder match to ensure he’ll face Matt Hardy at Slammiversary. However, Ethan Carter III doesn’t get his Slammiversary match with The Miracle. EC3 failed on his Road to Redemption when The Miracle caused a disqualification in the EC3 vs. Matt Hardy match.
Tonight on Impact:
On tonight’s Impact, Galloway and Lashley will participate in “Pick Your Poison”, which means they get to choose each other’s opponents. Furthermore, after losing last week, one could presume that EC3 will attempt to find another way to get his match with The Miracle at Slammiversary.
Show Recap:
-We kick the night off backstage. TNA President Dixie Carter is talking to someone, but we don’t see their face. She recaps the chaos in the last several weeks. She’s desperate to regain control so she is allowing the mystery individual to run Impact tonight.
-In the arena, Mike Bennett and Maria enter the ring. Josh Matthews and The Pope welcome us to Impact and they wonder whom Dixie’s talking to. The Miracle wants to know who is in charge of Impact tonight and calls out the individual. Cue the catchiest music in wrestling and EC3 hits the ring. As EC3 makes his way to the ring Josh informs us that Dixie sent out a tweet just now that EC3 is in charge.
After failing on his Road to Redemption, EC3 simply made his match with The Miracle for Slammiversary. EC3 is giving The Miracle the night off from wrestling, but he’s going to be the custodian. Also, Maria is going to have a job evaluation and EC3 wil mediate the situation between Gail and Maria. EC3 sends The Miracle and Maria away.
Next, Bobby Lashley came out and said that since EC3 had stuck his nose in his business now Lashley is going to get in EC3’s business. EC3 let Lashley know that he had “regulated” his power to Drew Galloway in regards to Lashley. This of course brought out the TNA world champion.
It feels too easy that EC3 was simply put in charge for the night and he can make his match with The Miracle. Also, it seems way to easy for people to in TNA to give other people power.
-Back from commercial in the back. EC3 and The Miracle are in the washroom. The Miracle has to be the custodian and clean the toilets. EC3 had a funny line when he went into one of the stalls and pointed out that somebody had gone “number 4”. TNA is literally doing toilet humor.
King of the Mountain Champion Bram vs. “The Destroyer” Bobby Lashley
TNA World Champion Drew announces KOTM Champ Bram as Lashley’s opponent. This is the first Pick Your Poison match of the night. This was a really good and very physical fight. Bram runs wild on Lashley and sends him to the outside. Lashley takes over on Bram and uses his headband to choke Bram. Lashley uses the chair for the DQ and used two spears after the match. He set up for a third but Drew ran out with a chair for the save. Drew then chased Lashley through the crowd.
Bram’s laying on his back motionless when Eli Drake comes out and cashes in his Feast or Fired KOTM title shot.
King of the Mountain Champion Bram vs. Eli Drake
Eli covers Bram who kicked out at two and a half. Eli tried to take back his briefcase, but Earl wouldn’t let him. Eli and Bram had a short match that ended with Eli scoring the pin and winning the match. Eli is the new KOTM champ.
-Earlier today, The BroMans were hanging out by the pool and recapping Raquel training them. Raquel shows up and lets them know if they want to win the gold they have to learn to focus. The music then became all adult film like and the screen became purple. She wore a bikini and told them to focus on her. Jesse got it but Robbie E. was confused. He wasn’t the only one.
-Back in the washrooms, The Miracle and EC3 are continuing the whole cleaning the toilets thing. Earl Hebner comes out of one of the stalls. Earl said The Miracle isn’t a star and called him a bad word. EC3 informed The Miracle that his next task is going to be as a referee.
-Next, we go to Matt Hardy’s home and property in North Carolina. Josh tells us that Matt is going to sign the contract for his match with Jeff at Slammiversary at his home and has invited Jeff.
-Backstage, Eli is celebrating his title win and is offering people champagne, but knocks it out of their hand each time.
-At Matt Hardy’s home, Matt walks out of the house and tells us he’s invited us and Brother Nero (Jeff Hardy) into his house for the contract signing. This was a cool little video and is very intriguing.
The BroMans (Robbie E. & Jesse Godderz w/ Raquel) vs. Rockstar Spud and Tyrus w/ guest referee Mike Bennett
Josh informs us that the winners of this match will receive a shot at the tag titles at Slammiversary. The story of this match was that The Miracle seemed uninterested and he let the heels cheat. The heels were about to put The BroMans away when Raquel distracted Tyrus by showing him some “stretches”. The BroMans mans took out Tyrus on the outside. Jesse got Spud in the Boston Crab and he tapped immediately but The Miracle didn’t call for the bell. He tried to give Spud a chance, but realized there was no point. The BroMans win the match and get a shot at the tag champions Decay at Slammiversary.
-In the back, Maria is on the phone with Bill Corgan when EC3 approaches. He lets her know that the job evaluation is next.
-Next we get shots of Jeff on his bike and on his way to see Matt at his house.
-In the ring, EC3 orders Allie and Sienna out of the ring. EC3 doesn’t think Maria is doing a very good job as the leader of the Knockouts. EC3 calls out Gail to see what she thinks. EC3 points out that because Maria put her hands on Gail it’s grounds for dismissal. Gail wants a match with Maria but she refuses because she is the leader of the Knockouts. EC3 informs her that she isn’t right now because she’s in a job evaluation. EC3 makes Gail vs. Maria official for Slammiversary. They go face to face and EC3 separates them. Everyone was really good here in particular EC3 who is having a pretty good night.
TNA Knockouts Champion Jade and Gail Kim vs. Sienna and Allie
EC3 made this match right before the commercial break. EC3 and Maria are seated at ringside. Allie was really funny here when she was screeching at EC3. Gail is in control of Allie who is still screeching. The faces use several double team moves on Sienna. Sienna uses several power moves to gain the advantage. Jade got the hot tag and ran wild on Sienna. Jade used the package piledriver on Allie to win the match.
-Back at Matt’s house, Jeff pulls up on his bike as Reby is leaving with Maxell strapped to her chest. She tells him she can’t talk to Matt and wants nothing to do with this. She leaves and Jeff enters the house.
In the house, Matt is playing the piano and Jeff enters. Jeff demands he signs the contract but Matt says they must end this where it began.
-In the ring, The Miracle was mad about the way EC3 has treated him and his wife. The Miracle says he’s not a janitor or referee, he’s a wrestler. EC3 says he lied and The Miracle in fact has a match tonight. EC3 says it’ll be a “miracle” if Bennett’s opponent showed up sober. This obviously brings out James Storm for a match with Bennett.
“The Miracle” Mike Bennett w/ “The First Lady of Professional Wrestling” Maria Kanellis vs. James Storm
Back from commercial and the match is in progress. The Miracle is wearing jeans and not his regular gear. Storm dominates the early moments but The Miracle soon takes over. Storm makes a comeback and hits almost all of his key moves. Storm sets for the Last Call when Maria hands him a beer. Storm teases spiting the beer in her face, but she slaps him which leads to The Miracle scoring the win.
Post match, EC3 confirms their match for Slammiversary. EC3 pointed out that Miracle likes to call himself God but if he’s God then EC3 is his devil. The segment ended with Storm giving The Miracle The Last call.
-In the ring, Al Snow introduced The Tribunal (Basille Baraca and Baron Dax). They cut a promo in French and English. The crowd chanted “boring” and “what” throughout the segment. Al said he beat Grado last week with a wrestling move not using weapons. They showed footage of Al using the Snow Plow to win the match. Grado and Mahabali Shera come out and tried to do comedy that bombed horribly. Grado showed the rest of the footage, which shows Al using weapons. They did some more bad comedy and Al insulted their mother. A brawl broke out with The Tribunal getting the better of the faces.
-We get a recap of the Ultimate X match from last week won by Trevor Lee.
-Next we get an interview with Braxton Sutter, formerly Pepper Parks, who discuss his journey to making it in TNA and his imminent debut.
-Back at Matt’s house, Matt takes Jeff to a room on his property. In the room is a ring, which presumably is the ring the Hardy’s used to train on.
-Drew Galloway is in the ring when Bobby Lashley comes out. Lashley announces Drew’s opponents who are TNA Tag team champs Decay. Josh and The Pope wonder who of Decay is Drew’s opponent.
TNA Champ Drew Galloway vs. Decay (Abyss, Crazy Steve & Rosemary)
Turns out Drew will be taking on all three memebers of Decay. Drew and Decay brawl around ringside to start the match. Rosemary jumps on Drew’s back which distracts him long enough for the heels to take over. Decay tried to double team Drew but he made a comeback and took them out. Drew set up for the claymore, but Rosemary got in his way. Drew teased the Future Shock DDT on Rosemary, but turned his attention to Steve. Abyss scored a near fall with a choke slam. Rosemary pulled out Janice from underneath the ring, which distracted the ref. Lashley snuck in and tried to spear Drew but he moved and Lashley speared Abyss instead. Drew hit the Future Shock DDT on Steve to win the match.
Post match, Drew flipped the bird at Lashley causing the two to have a stare down.
-Back at Matt’s house, they finally sign the contract on a circular table. Matt and Jeff face off in the ring at which point Reby enters with Maxell still strapped to her chest. She yells at Jeff and throws Maxell at him! It’s not actually Maxell it’s actually a doll. Matt hits Jeff with a glass bottle to the back of the head. Matt then gives Jeff the side effect of the apron through the circular table. The table didn’t break and they did this in slow motion. Jeff is left lying on the ground as we fade to black.
Next Time on Impact:
Next week’s Impact is the go-home show for the Slammiversary PPV.
More Super Junior action took place on 5/30 in Tottori as B Block matches commenced:
Will Ospreay vs. Tiger Mask
This was really good. Ospreay moved around great and Tiger Mask was the good grumpy veteran who kept things grounded. At one point, Ospreay hit what looked like an inverted phoenix splash but Tiger Mask got the knees up, took him to the corner and hit a butterfly suplex from the top rope. Ospreay kicked out of that, but eventually submitted to Tiger Mask’s scissors armbar.
Volador Jr. vs. Bobby Fish
Fish controlled a lot of the match and worked on Volador’s leg near the end. Volador went to do something on the top rope, flipped over to the floor but his leg buckled. That allowed Fish to come in and hit a falcon arrow, but Volador kicked out. Fish followed with an ankle lock and submitted him. Good match.
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Ricochet
Pretty good back and forth match. Liger was very competitive and did all of his big moves, including the shotei and the running senton to the floor. Ricochet made a comeback, hit a big time brainbuster but Liger kicked out. Ricochet followed that with his cobra twist submission for the win.
Big E and Kofi Kingston emerge from the back for an in-ring promo, sheepishly trailed by a rather embarrassed looking, singlet wearing, Xavier Woods. The New Day explain that Woods’ travel bag was stolen, thus prompting their largest member to come to his rescue with clothing from his limited wardrobe. Kofi, in his stupidly dated Dr. Evil voice, proclaims Xavier the New Day’s “Mini E”, which doesn’t help the trombonist’s fears that he may not be in possession of a “singlet body”.
The Social Outcasts then interrupt, mimicking the New Day’s entrance with the Bo Dallas line: “Prepare to have a blast and give it up for the Social Outcasts!”. To the surprise of no-one, the Outcasts have Woods’ bag in tow. They raid its contents, which include some red underwear and a ‘My Little Pony’, the latter of which leads Curtis Axel to dub Xavier a “j-brony”.
The Outcasts promise to return the bag if the New Day can defeat them in a match, a challenge that the tag champs eventually accept after a super-serious huddle. They are aware that they squashed these geeks in, like, two minutes on RAW the previous night, right?
The New Day def. Social Outcasts by pinfall
This was much longer than the RAW match, with eight minutes aired and a commercial break in the middle. There was a lot of stalling at the beginning, with both teams wiggling their butts at each other and exchanging Bo/New Day Trains for what seemed like a very long time. Even Lawler was forced to exclaim “we already saw that” after the New Day saw fit to engage in a second train.
The highlight of the match was Woods trying to channel the “power of the singlet” by borrowing moves from Big E’s arsenal, including attempting an early bearhug on Axel that looked completely ridiculous. Later, Woods got the hot tag after the Outcasts got the heat on Kofi for a while, hitting Big E’s running splash on Heath Slater, before playing the big man’s part in the Midnight Hour for the win.
Paige def. Summer Rae by pinfall
A nothing match here, that was enlivened by Jerry Lawler successfully cracking Tom Phillips up with jokes about how much his parents hate him: “Your mother says you’re not her favourite, but you’re an only child!”. After an awkwardly worked, five minute encounter, Paige blocked a spin kick, hit a fallaway slam and the Rampaige to pick up the victory.
Baron Corbin def. Jack Swagger by pinfall w/ Dolph Ziggler on commentary
As much as I usually find Dolph’s misplaced confidence to be highly irritating, his over-exuberant commentary was admittedly very enjoyable here; think the verbal equivalent of Shawn Michaels selling for Hulk Hogan. Although, suggesting that Lawler’s shirt sported “Flava Flav’s chain” is an equally antiquated reference to the one Kofi made earlier.
Corbin’s pre-match inset promo tells us that Swagger is apparently another “technical wrestler” trying to achieve his dreams, while the quickly balding Baron is only here to “hurt people and make money”.
Catty commentary keeps me entertained as Corbin’s resthold-heavy heat runs the risk of boring me to tears. Dolph: “I’ve been kicked by the boot of Swagger and it’s had way more effect on me!”. Lawler responds by mentioning the ten elbows/heart attack debacle. Get over it, folks!
The finish sees Corbin make the ropes to counter the Patriot Lock, before kicking Swagger in the throat while the referee is trying to “create separation”. Corbin then pulls his opponent onto the ropes neck first, before following up with the End of Days and staring at Ziggler after the three count.
Ziggler hypothesises that Corbin might be staring at Lawler, meaning that the final line we hear before the show goes off the air is: “Don’t let him drop an elbow!”. Meow.
Final Thoughts
Considering that the “comedy” on this show is usually the dirt worst, Xavier Woods’ Big E tribute was a pleasant surprise. Save for the announcing however, the second half of the show was a hard slog. Although I like Corbin’s vanilla midget antagonist character, he is far from ready to work long singles matches yet, despite his significant in-ring improvements over the last year.
As we’re heading into the middle of this year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, we’re also going back and taking a look at last year’s G1 tournament. We start off on action in Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center from July 20, 2015.
Tetsuya Naito vs. Bad Luck Fale
Solid match. Fale usually performs pretty well with great performers and this was one of those matches. Naito won with a roll up. Not much more to say about it other than Naito starting the Los Ingobernables phase seems way longer than just a year ago. I don’t know if it’s just time coming to a standstill or I just watch way too much New Japan.
AJ Styles vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Really good. Not out of this world awesome but a great 13 minute match. Good back and forth match with Styles winning after the Styles Clash. What a difference a year makes – AJ’s still the same performer that he was here in the WWE. I really think going to Japan gave him the confidence to be a true main event headliner, like TNA tried to do with him but there were always start and stop pushes that prevented him from really becoming a star. It’s all about the lay of the land.
Hiroshi Tanahashi talked about his match with Kota Ibushi. He said he felt insecure going into the match, mentioning his battles with Nakamura and Okada and wondered what he could do. Eventually, the last day before the match, he decided all he could do was be himself.
Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
It’s so weird the career trajectory path Ibushi chose. He’s here having a match with one of the best babyfaces in world and in one of the biggest promotions, and now he’s in the IGF and wrestling blow up dolls. Sure, he might be in the Cruiserweight Classic tournament coming up but he’s really fallen off the radar with his weird side projects. This was really built up well. Crowd was hot, and it lead to some great near falls. Ibushi as a performer is just stellar- facials, mannerisms, everything. Ibushi isn’t as flashy as Ricochet or Will Ospreay but does enough crazy stuff as a heavyweight that he still stands out. Tanahashi got the win with the high fly flow.
Tanahashi promised to win the G1 in a post match interview. Backstage, Kota Ibushi says he accepted today’s loss as Tanahashi is an amazing performer. Tanahashi says Ibushi is ambitious, and as long as Ibushi is here the future is bright. Oops.
Tanahashi says he was impressed by Ibushi during the match. He was injured during the match, and mentioned his neck injury. The match wasn’t fun, but was interesting. When asked if he would want to face Ibushi again, he said absolutely, as he is looking forward to Ibushi coming back soon. Don’t think he is, unfortunately!
A fun show this week. Main event is great. I guess the underlying theme of the show is that a lot can happen in a year.
Matt Sydal and Michael Elgin vs. Rocky Romero and Yoshi-Hashi
Fun opening match. It’s a unique tag combination and led to some interesting back and forth offense. Elgin looked great, even doing a senton off the apron at one point while doing all of his cool power spots. As Elgin did the senton Sydal went to the top rope for the shooting star press, Romero countered and hit the ropes. He tried to roll up Sydal while holding onto the ropes but the ref noticed. He snuck by with a win regardless in a flash pin.
Jay White, Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi, Kushida & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata, David Finlay, Manabu Nakanishi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Kyle O’Reilly
Kyle worked with Kushida early. When Taguchi tagged in, he worked against Tenzan and acted like he was going to do the Mongolian chops, doing the hand gesture, but did the hip attacks instead. Of course the focus of the match was on Shibata and Nagata, as they are due for a rematch over the NEVER title at Dominion. They spend some time smacking one another until White was tagged in. He put in a great comeback, but ultimately fell to a back drop hold. Pretty solid for what it was.
Chase Owens vs. Tiger Mask
Owens jumped Tiger Mask as he was climbing to the top rope to pose during his entrance, and power slammed him off the rope. Then Yujiro grabbed him and proceeded to carry him all the way to the back and ran back to the ring to tease a count out. Didn’t work as Tiger Mask laid him out and came back in time. Standard back and forth match, just kind of there. Tiger Mask had him in his submission but Yujiro pulled out the ref. Tiger Mask dispatched Yujiro but Chase laid him out, got the ref back in and teased the package piledriver but Tiger Masked escaped, took down Owens and pinned him.
Chase Owens superkicked Kawato after the match because he’s very mean.
Trent Baretta vs. Bobby Fish
Really good match. Baretta has been on fire this tour, and he and Fish already have pretty strong chemistry together. Fish went for a suplex but Baretta reversed it to the floor, sending both men down. Fish worked on the legs but Baretta reversed it into a bridging pin for a nearfall. Baretta went to do something on the rop rope but Fish dropkicked him in the knee and hit a brainbuster from the top rope. When Baretta kicked out, Fish locked in the leg lock again and Baretta submitted.
Yoshitatsu, Captain New Japan and Satoshi Kojima vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale and Kenny Omega
Standard tag match. Omega took the camera to lament about the young lions and how useless they were before the match started. Captian New Japan got some near falls on Omega that the crowd surprisingly got into. Fale helped even the odds for the Bullet Club as Omega went to the top rope and did the high fly flow, mocking Tanahashi. Liked that finish.
Omega beat up Captain New Japan with the ladder after the match and laid him out the same way he did to Tanahashi on night one – or at least tried to, but Kojima and Yoshitatsu broke it up.
Kazuchika Okada, Gedo, Hirooki Goto and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Sanada, Evil, Bushi and Tetsuya Naito
Naito took his usual long time getting to the ring. Milano Collection AT up and left the announcer’s table while Kushida, who was doing guest commentary, was sitting at ringside. Naito goaded him on a bit before Okada flew out of the ring with a senton, crashing into all of Los Ingobernables. This was a really great match, better than some of your usual tag matches you see on these cards. Everyone were looked good. People got into this match big time and were lit when Goto and Evil were duking it out. Okada came in and worked against both Naito and Sanada and looked great. Sanada ended up submitting Gedo with the Skull End for the win.
Everyone beat each other up some more after the match. Yoshi-Hashi came out to even the odds but was laid out by Sanada . Bushi misted Ishii. Naito choked Yoshi-Hashi with what looked like a towel until Okada came back for the save.
Volador Jr. vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
Another good match. They worked really well together and had some cool spots. Liger threw Volador out of the ring and did a big time crossbody to the floor. Crowd was really into this. Liger went to the top rope but Volador came back and hit the spanish fly/C4 off the top rope and pinned Liger.
Ricochet vs. Will Ospreay
They had a tremendous exchange early. These guys move fast and know their body really well, in case you haven’t heard or seen. Ricochet took out Ospreay on the outside and did an amazing step up corkscrew plancha to the floor. Just an array of crazy moves. Ospreay hit an instance looking Sasuke special to the floor then kissed the camera after the match.. Ricochet gave him a death valley driver on the apron and somehow came back with a crazy looking rana. This match was so crazy people were actually chanting “This is awesome” in Korakuen Hall.
Ricochet laid him ou with a northern lights suplex followed by a brainbuster for a near fall and went for the 630 but Ospreay rolled out of the way. Ricochet came back and went for the Benadryller but Ospreay reversed in air, grabbed the leg and slammed him to the floor. He hit the spinning punch then pinned him with the springboard stunner. Amazing spectacle of a match, you kind of have to rewatch it just to see all the crazy stuff that went down.
Ospreay and Ricochet teased like they were going to fight after the match, but shook hands as the crowd chanted “One more match”.
+++++++
Great show with some really great matches and an awesome main event. Check it out when you can, and go out of your way to watch the main event.
The show opened with a recap of the Money in the Bank qualifying matches from RAW on Monday which saw Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Sami Zayn, Chris Jericho and Dean Ambrose earn their spots in that match.
After the opening credits, Michael Cole was in the ring with the Money in the Bank briefcase and called out Dean Ambrose for an interview. Cole congratulated him for winning the first ever Asylum match at Extreme Rules and asked what he would do in order to earn the MITB contract. Before he could answer, Kevin Owens’ music hit and he interrupted from the ramp.
He insulted Cole and warned him to leave the ring before he got there, which he did. He vowed to climb the ladder and become Mr Money in the Bank just like he should’ve done at WrestleM…. and Sami Zayn’s music hit. He finished the sentence. “Like you would’ve done at WrestleMania if it weren’t for me, who is the bane of your existence”. Ambrose made a joke about it and Zayn said “Hey Dean, this isn’t a joke”, which was a nice touch. He said that neither Owens nor Zayn would stop him. They were interrupted by Alberto Del Rio.
He reminded them that he was a former winner and he is going to win again. Zayn announced that Del Rio has to beat Zack Ryder in order to qualify and before he could finish, he was jumped from behind by Owens. Ambrose almost DDT’s him as well but Zayn slipped out.
ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. ZACK RYDER (Money in the Bank qualifying match)
Zack cut an inset promo harkening fans back to his WrestleMania win under similar circumstances. “I’m not supposed to be here but I deserve to be here”. Eden Stiles did the ring announcing in what I’m assuming was her final show for the company. Ryder took the offence early but Del Rio gained control pretty quickly. They went through a commercial break where Del Rio landed the double foot stomp outside the ring from the barriers at ringside onto Ryder. Ryder recovered and got more offence than you’d think, including landing the Broski boot, which Del Rio kicked out of. Del Rio missed the double foot stomp and Ryder hit the Rough Ryder but Del Rio rolled out before Ryder could pin him. Ryder rolled him back in and went for the cover but Del Rio applied the cross arm-breaker to get the win.
WINNER: ALBERTO DEL RIO by submission. Del Rio makes it 6 in the Money in the Bank match with one more to come.
Next up was a recap of Seth Rollins returning at Extreme Rules and the announcement from RAW of Rollins getting the next title shot vs Roman Reigns at Money in the Bank. Rollins will make his return to Smackdown later tonight.
Enzo and Cass are out next.
Enzo does his sing along speech on the ramp before the guys get in the ring. Before he could get any more words out, The Dudley Boyz interrupted things. Enzo had some smack talk for them and then Cass called them out. D-Von accepted the challenge and they made their way down the ramp. Bubba stopped before they got into the ring and said “Not tonight, we’re going to do this at Monday Night RAW”. Bubba then teased the “Get the Tables” spot but instead asked if they could “leave this stinkin’ town”. Cass called them S-A-W-F-T and that was that.
Renee Young was backstage with Lana and Rusev. Lana instructed her that she needs to refer to Rusev as the “Greatest United States Heavyweight Champion of all time”. Rusev called Kalisto a baby and a mosquito and after he plucks the wings off the mosquito, he will never be able to fly again. Good promo. A recap of the 4 way IC title match at the PPV and the Miz-Cesaro qualifying match from RAW aired next.
US CHAMPION RUSEV w/Lana vs. KALISTO
Lana was in the ring with a mic and took over the ring announcing, asking the fans to put one hand over their heart and welcome the Greatest United States Champion of all time. Much better match than the PPV. After a brief period of offence from Kalisto, Rusev took over and dominated him. Announcers told the story that Kalisto was coming into this at less than 100% and didn’t stand a chance and that’s pretty much how it played out. At one point Kalisto tried to bodyslam Rusev and of course his back gave out.
A minute later, he actually hit the bodyslam but then sold his back even more. He did get a two count off a roll-up after Rusey missed a splash in the corner. He then hit the corkscrew off the ropes and a spike rana for a two. Kalisto hit a springboard moonsault on the outside and rolled Rusev back in but only got a two count. Rusev missed a diving headbutt and then Kalisto took forever to climb to the top rope. Kalisto hit a 450 off the top but Rusev got his knees up to block it. Rusev stomped him on the back and then put on the Accolade for the win.
WINNER: RUSEV by submission
Rusev was going for a beatdown on Kalisto after the match but Titus O’Neill came down to challenge him to a US title match RIGHT NOW. Fans were into this, chanting USA but Rusev backed off, which got some good heat. Nice little angle to set up the next US title program. Another recap from RAW aired next, this time of Charlotte ditching the Nature Boy. Mauro called it “an emotional night for the dirtiest family in the game”.
DANA BROOKE VS NATALYA
Charlotte joined the commentary team for this match. Lawler actually criticized Charlotte for what she did with Flair and Charlotte said that it was something coming from him who spent so much time away from home. Natalya put on the sharpshooter 30 seconds in and Charlotte broke it up for the DQ.
WINNER: NATALYA by DQ
Natalya recovered and put Charlotte in the sharpshooter but Brooke broke it up and then they beat her down for a couple minutes. No one saved and Charlotte and Dana posed with the belt while Charlotte’s music played. We got a recap of AJ’s tough week where he lost to Reigns at the PPV, broke up with the Club and lost to Owens in his qualifying match. Renee Young interviewed him backstage and asked what’s next. AJ said he was “this close” to winning the title but he’s not sure what’s next, he’ll have to think of something. It was better than it reads.
Golden Truth was out next with Goldust introducing them and then Truth doing an updated version of his song with new lyrics about the tag team. It will take some getting used to.
GOLDEN TRUTH (GOLDUST/R-TRUTH) VS BREEZANGO (TYLER BREEZE/FANDANGO)
Short match with some miscommunication between Goldust and R-Truth leading to the Supermodel kick from Breeze on R-Truth and Fandango getting the pin off of it. Fans were more into this than they had any right to be but were killed off by the finish.
WINNERS: BREEZANGO by pinfall
Goldust and R-Truth were talking backstage. Goldust says that just because they lost two out of the chute doesn’t make them two-time losers. He claimed that no one will be able to stop them. Breezango stopped by to mock them. Tyler Breeze said “Looks like Goldylocks fell off the beanstalk and cracked his own eggs” and then “nailed it!” as he and Fandango walked away laughing. Goldust went back to his pep talk, egging on the crowd to cheer from them and they actually did. R-Truth said he’s with him and vowed to give it another shot.
Seth Rollins came to the ring for a promo.
Mauro put over that Rollins and Charlotte cracked SI’s Fittest 50 list. I’m surprised that hasn’t gotten more play, to be honest. Despite his heeling on the crowd at RAW, Rollins got a good reception coming out and was smiling. When the music stopped, you could hear booing but what you could see were fans clapping and chanting WELCOME BACK. He played up to the crowd at first and then heeled on them again without really saying anything. Fans were still chanting THANK YOU SETH when he left.
IC CHAMPION THE MIZ w/Maryse vs. CESARO
Cesaro took control early heading into the break but Miz took control during the commercial. Miz worked over Cesaro’s left shoulder for most of the match. Miz got a two count off a backslide and then Cesaro started nailing uppercuts with his good arm. Miz kicked the left shoulder but Cesaro tossed Miz in the air and hit the uppercut for a two. Pretty vocal CE-SAR-O chant from the crowd. Miz hit a short-arm DDT for a two and then tried to undo the top turnbuckle pad. Ref stopped him but Maryse finished the job.
They teased a spot into it which never paid off and then the ref spent about a minute hooking it back up. Cesaro got what would’ve been a three but the ref took too long to make the count. Miz hit an O’Connor roll for two. Cesaro turned that into a sharpshooter but Miz made the ropes to break it up. Miz tossed him out of the ring but Cesaro hit an uppercut from the outside and then went back in and tried to hit his swing but Miz escaped and bailed from the ring. He teased a walkout but Cesaro followed him out, hit the “Very European Uppercut” (called as such by Mauro) and then rolled him back into the ring. Cross body from the top by Cesaro got a two count.
Somewhere amidst all of this, Maryse had removed the turnbuckle again and Miz tossed Cesaro into it shoulder first and then hit the Skull Crushing Finale. Really good match, one of the better TV matches of the year.
