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IMPACT WRESTLING TV REPORT
NOVEMBER 24, 2020 (RECORDED)
THE IMPACT ZONE
AIRED ON AXS TV
REPORT BY DARRIN LILLY, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Matt Striker
-Recap package showing the Johnny Swinger developments in the John E. Bravo shooting, Eric Young and Joe Doering attacking Rhino and Heath Slater, the Rascalz goodbye, and Ken Shamrock attacking Rich Swann.
-Show intro video.
-Scott D’Amore was with John E. Bravo in the hospital. The doctor came in and said Bravo was in stable condition. He said if Bravo pulls through, he might not be the same. Scott promised justice tonight because Johnny Swinger would be in Wrestler’s Court.
(1) KIERA HOGAN & SASHA STEELZ vs. SEA STARS (Delmi Exo & Ashley Vox) – Knockouts Tag Team Title Tournament match
Josh introduced Matt Striker to the audience. This was the first match in Impact for the Sea Stars. Delmi got the early advantage over Kiera. Tasha and Kiera got the heat on Ashley, until Delmi made the hot tag and dominated Kiera and Sasha. Ashley tagged back in and scored a two count on Kiera. Tasha attacked Delmi on the outside and Kiera kicked Ashley out of the ring after Tasha bulldogged her. Kiera hit her finisher on Delmi for the win.
WINNERS: Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz in 8:00.
(D.L.’s Analysis: Kiera and Sasha gel very well as a team. The Sea Stars were impressive in their debut and they would make a sound addition to the tag team scene if they stick around).
-Backstage, Jordynne Grace was watching the previous match on the monitor. The camera pulled back to reveal that Jazz was Jordynne’s partner for the tournament. Gia Miller appeared and interviewed Jazz. Jazz said that she was retiring but wanted to end her career on top, by winning the Impact tag team titles.
-Josh and Matt appeared on camera. Josh said that Madison Rayne was part of Wrestler’s Court, but she would be back next week. Striker said Madison was a great litigator and called her the “Sidney Powell of Impact” (insert facepalm emoji). They ran down the brackets of the tournament and the matches for the rest of the show.
(D.L.’s Analysis: “The Sidney Powell of Impact”? I hope that’s not supposed to be a compliment).
-Ethan Page joined Josh Alexander in the locker room. Page was cheerful and said he had good news. He told Alexander that Doc Gallows would be out 4 to 6 weeks with an injury because someone had taken him out. Alexander was mad because now they couldn’t challenge for the tag belts with Gallows out. Page said they would fix it.
-Johnny Swinger was in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs being walked down the hall by Jake Deaner. [c]
-Wrestler’s Court segment. A voiceover introduced the segment with the old People’s Court music in the background. This was set in a “courtroom”. Madison represented a smiling Swinger. Swinger said this was the best house he ever drew. Madison questioned why he was wearing a neck brace; Swinger said because “McDevitt told me to wear it for sympathy”. Hilarious. D-Lo Brown (referred to in the on-screen graphic as “Dee Lorian Brown” in a callback to his appearance on AEW Dynamite) represented “The Boys”. Jake Deaner was the bailiff and introduced the judge, Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer entered the room humming “Man in the Box” and he hilariously did his entrance pose. His “bench” was a stack of equipment boxes.
Madison objected that Dreamer was the judge, since he was also the one who had accused Swinger of the shooting. Dreamer and D-Lo magically switched places and Dreamer asked “is this better?” After noting that D-Lo looked like Uncle Phil from “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, Dreamer made his opening remarks. Madison made her opening arguments and said that a criminal mastermind would have had to pull off this crime, thus Swinger was incapable of doing it.
Fallah Bahh was the first witness. He said Swinger was bitter that Bravo had chosen Bahh as the best man. Cody Deaner was next. He said he found the gun in Swinger’s bag. Acey Romero followed and said he had found Swinger’s fingerprints on the gun. He named several fingerprints that he also found, including Greg Valentine, Brian Pillman, and Ron Simmons. Swinger presented beer to D-Lo Brown. D-Lo said “Sit yo ass down”. Swinger sat down and told Madison that he had a good feeling about this. Madison said he was reading the room wrong.
Rohit Raju did some mic work, then made his challenge. Suicide’s music played.
(2) ROHIT RAJU vs. SUICIDE
Rohit said Suicide didn’t deserve a chance, so he made it a non-title match. Rohit attacked at the bell. Suicide made a comeback, but Rohit caught him with a punch that sent Suicide out of the ring. [c]
Rohit was trying to take Suicide’s mask. Rohit suplexed Suicide for a two count and continued on offense. The announcers speculated that it could be TJP under the mask. Josh plugged that TJP and Chris Bey would be in the NJPW Super J Cup next month. Rohit continued to try to take the mask.
Suicide had Rohit in a tarantula, then Rohit gave him a back suplex. Suicide hit a Russian Leg Sweep for a two count. Rohit took the mask and celebrated. TJP’s music played and he strutted onstage. Suicide got a sunset flip on Rohit for the win. It was revealed that Suicide was Crazzy Steve.
WINNER: Crazzy Steve in 6:00.
(D.L.’s Analysis: Match was fine but was mostly a backdrop for the mystery of who was in the Suicide costume. Rohit did strong mic work again).
-Backstage, Sami Callihan was hyping up Ken Shamrock for his match. Moose interrupted and said the match would be for the second most prestigious belt in Impact. Moose told Shamrock don’t forget that Moose beat him last time they faced each other. [c]
-Alisha Edwards interrupted Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb. Alisha wanted to know when they would team again. Tenille and Kaleb considered it.
(3) KIMBER LEE (w/Deonna Purrazzo) vs. KILLER KELLY (w/Renee Michelle)
This was the Impact debut for Kelly. Kimber Lee got the advantage at the outset. Kimber Lee had Kelly in a legscissors submission. Kelly made a comeback with a headbutt and a double arm suplex. She did a cartwheel into a kneedrop and charged Kimber Lee in the corner. Kimber Lee fought back and hit a tilt-a-whirl slam. Kimber Lee landed a swanton splash for the three count.
WINNER: Kimber Lee in 3:00.
After the match, Susie’s music played and she walked to the stage. She said that Kimber Lee and Deonna had hurt her friends and that was bad; now her friend is here and it’s going to get really bad. Su Yung’s music played. She entered the ring (as “Susie” stood on the stage with her back to the camera). Su fought Kimber Lee and Deonna. She threw Kimber Lee out of the ring. Su pulled out the blood glove, but Deonna managed to escape. Su walked back up the stage next to “Susie”, who still had her back turned. After Su left the stage, Susie finally turned around.
(D.L.’s Analysis: Good match while it lasted. As someone that is new to Killer Kelly, the match wasn’t long enough for me to see what she can do, but the bit that I saw was really good. Good use of editing with the Su/Susie part of the segment).
-Gia Miller interviewed The Motor City Machine Guns. Alex Shelley said his neck was much better. Chris Sabin said they would go after XXXL, the North, then the Good Brothers for the tag team belts. [c]
-Willie Mack and Rich Swann talked in the dressing room. Mack was mad that the referee stopped the match with Moose last week. Chris Bey interrupted. He asked Mack to leave, but Swann cut him off. Bey said that Swann vs. Chris Bey would make everyone a lot of money. Bey called Mack a loser. Swann and Mack got in his face and Bey left.
-Ethan Page and Josh Alexander walked to the ring. Karl Anderson walked to the stage. He promised a “phenomenal” opponent for Page. The old Impact entrance video and music of AJ Styles played. The “Wee-Nomenal” C.J. Swoggle (Swoggle dressed in A.J. Styles gear) walked to the ring.
(4) ETHAN PAGE (w/Josh Alexander) vs. SWOGGLE (w/Karl Anderson)
Page got on his knees to mock Swoggle, but Swoggle attacked Page with punches and a headscissors. Alexander distracted Swoggle, who turned around into a big boot from Page. Alexander attacked Swoggle on the outside. Page shoulder tackled Swoggle in the ring. Page gloated and dropped an elbow on Swoggle. Page went for the pin but picked Swoggle up at the two count. Swoggle bit Page’s leg, then kicked Page down. Anderson knocked down Alexander on the outside. Swoggle rolled up Page for the win. Page and Alexander were upset afterwards.
WINNER: Swoggle in 2:00.
(D.L.’s Analysis: Pretty much all comedy, although there was a hint of dissension with Page and Alexander).
-Dreamer questioned Swinger on the witness stand. Swinger said he was the O.J. Simpson of professional wrestling. Dreamer asked when the last time he had read a newspaper; Swinger said 1991. Swinger said that he would never shoot anyone and maybe it was someone else. Madison rested her case. Dreamer called Father James Mitchell to the stand. Mitchell said the virgin blood was prized by some people. Dreamer called Rosemary to the stand. Dreamer asked if she ever loved Bravo. She said no and the crowd gasped. She admitted that she was after Bravo’s virgin blood. Bravo suddenly appeared in the courtroom and yelled at Rosemary. D-Lo declared that Rosemary must be the shooter. Bravo said it wasn’t her. He said that he couldn’t see him, but he could smell him. [c]
-Larry D took the stand and was on a lie detector machine. Dreamer asked if he shot Bravo and Larry said no. No deception was detected. Dreamer asked one more time and sprayed cologne. Larry magically turned into “Lawrence D”. Lawrence said he shot Bravo to get back at Bravo for stealing the woman of his dreams. D-Lo declared that Swinger was not guilty. Swinger celebrated and took off his neck brace. Rosemary and Taya Valkyrie glared at Bravo.
(D.L.’s Analysis: That was it? The courtroom segments had some really funny moments. The reveal with Larry D as the shooter was a bit anticlimactic though. I guess they can get out of it by saying it was “Lawrence D” (who is a separate character in their universe) to cover the plothole that Larry D should be going to jail for the shooting. As far as wacky Impact segments go, this was one of the funnier ones).
(5) FALLAH BAHH vs. DAIVARI
Daivari charged Bahh and backed him into the corner. Bahh fought back and delivered a crossbody block. Joe Doering and Eric Young hit the ring and attacked both wrestlers. Eric took the mic but was interrupted by Rhino. Doering and Young double teamed Rhino and beat him down. Josh said that Heath wasn’t there today. Eric took the mic again and said his catch phrase “the world doesn’t belong to them, it belongs to us”.
WINNER: No contest in 1:00.
-Backstage, Swoggle (in his A.J. Styles outfit) told Crazzy Steve (in his Suicide outfit) that he looked ridiculous. TJP joined them. Brian Myers walked through the door, insulted all of them, and walked off. [c]
-Deonna Purrazzo and Kimber Lee approached Father James Mitchell and asked if he could turn their Su problem into a Susie problem. Mitchell said he would do it for a price. Deonna asked what it was and he said they didn’t need to worry about that now, but if they need his help, they’ve got it.
-Josh and Matt were on camera and ran down the matches for next week, including:
- XXXL vs. Motor City Machine Guns
- Rohit Raju vs. Crazzy Steve
- Killer Kelly & Renee Michelle vs. Jordynne Grace & Jazz
- Willie Mack vs. Chris Bey
(6) RICH SWANN (c) vs. KEN SHAMROCK – Impact Wrestling World Title match
Both wrestlers made their ring entrance. [c]
Swann kept avoiding Shamrock with his speed. Callihan grabbed Swann’s foot and the referee made him go to the back. Swann attacked with dropkicks and a kick to the leg. Shamrock caught Swann coming off the ropes and rammed him into the turnbuckles. Shamrock worked on Swann’s ankle. Shamrock stomped Swann and stepped on his fingers. Shamrock had Swann in a front facelock and took him to the mat. [c]
Swann made a comeback with punches and clotheslines. Shamrock cut him off with a kick. Swann knocked Shamrock down with a series of spin kicks. He hit a Rolling Thunder on Shamrock for a two count. Swann landed a kick and a sunset flip, but Shamrock turned it into an armlock. Swann got out of it and climbed to the top rope and hit a frog splash for a two count. Swann got out of a submission by reaching the ropes.
Shamrock had Swann in an ankle lock, Swann rolled out, Shamrock turned it into a choke, but Shamrock was on his back and Swann pinned him for the three count.
WINNER: Rich Swann in 11:00 to retain the title.
After the match, Shamrock attacked the referee and Callihan jumped in the ring. Callihan gave a package piledriver to Swann. Callihan grabbed a baseball bat from under the ring. Shamrock held Swann down, but Eddie Edwards ran to the ring and attacked Shamrock and Callihan. Callihan hit Eddie with the bat, then Shamrock attacked him. Callihan taped Eddie to the top rope. Callihan hit Eddie in the head with the bat. Eddie bled as Callihan gloated. Referees and officials ran to ringside. D-Lo Brown entered the ring and Shamrock dropped him with a punch. Scott D’Amore came to ringside. Shamrock punched D-Lo as Callihan attacked Eddie to close the show.
(D.L.’s Analysis: Good match and an effective show-closing angle. A big win over a name opponent for Swann to add credibility to his title reign. I think there was some editing trickery with the bat shot to Eddie Edwards, but the editing was hardly noticeable.)
FINAL THOUGHTS: It was a packed show with a good title match to cap things off. Matt Striker was okay, but I’m looking forward to Madison Rayne returning next week. I suppose this is the end of the “Who Shot Bravo?” saga. The ending of that angle was lame but I enjoyed the funny moments in the courtroom. Good debuts from the Sea Stars and Killer Kelly. Next week looks to be fun with Willie Mack vs. Chris Bey, the return of the Motor City Machine Guns, and an appearance from Jazz.
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