Last week, Eli Drake became the GFW Champion for the first time in his career, after an epic 20-Man Gauntlet for the Gold match. But Johnny Impact already made a statement for his first appearance on the Impact Zone. Bobby Lashley was still working with American Top Team, a group of MMA fighters. And oVe continued to impress in the Tag Team division.
This week on GFW Impact Wrestling is brought to you by Miss “Doctor Frenchy” Steph.
Before the show opened, we saw Chris Adonis and Eli Drake arriving at the arena. Lashley and his friends of MMA American Top Team arrived too but Jeff Jarrett again got into an argument with its founder Dan Lambert.
Eli Drake’s celebration
Eli Drake and Chris Adonis made their to the ring, both in suits and with celebratory cigars. Drake said he travelled the world 14 years and now he has the GFW title (find out very soon Drake’s feelings on being the Champion as we interviewed him and Adonis on Wednesday). And he was pissed it took so long to grab it. Drake talked about his win and claimed that no one, not even Jim Cornette, would keep it away from the Championship. But here came Johnny Impact that clearly indicated he wanted the title because he’s a guy who’s had more names than Drake has had titles. Eddie Edwards came to the ring too.
Edwards said that he knew that to get chances, you needed to speak up, so he was speaking up. The recently crowned NOAH GHC Heavyweight Championship stated that because he outranked Impact in the Gauntlet match last week, he deserves a shot at the title. Jim Cornette came with the perfect solution. Tonight the main event will be Edwards/Impact vs. Adonis/Drake. If Drake’s team wins, he doesn’t have to defend the title. If Impact or Edwards gets the pin, they get a title shot.
Backstage, Allie introduced herself to Taryn Terrell and asked her why she was so mean to Gail Kim. Taryn answered by beating up Allie and asking her to deliver Kim her message.
oVe (Dave and Jake Crist) vs. Mario Bokara and Fallah Bahh
The impressive team of oVe made a statement again this week. Dave and Mario began the match, and Dave quickly connected with a big kick and a senton splash. Bahh and Jake Crist were tagged in but Bahh took control.
Bahh missed a leg drop and tagged in Bokara. Jake and Dave quickly connected with double kicks on Bokara and Bahh. The brothers hit their signature high elevation cutter on Bokara for the win. With LAX watching on from their hideout, we could easily understand the new threat in the Tag Team division is called oVe. And LAX was now fully aware of it.
As Jim Cornette was talking with Moose, EC3 came to ask for action. Cornette already had an answer for him as next week EC3 will face El Hijo Del Fantasma for the IMPACT Grand Championship.
Caleb Konley w/ Trevor Lee vs. Petey Williams
The original Canadian Destroyer is back on the Impact Zone, after helping Sonjay Dutt at Destination X. Konley attacked but was quickly stopped by a hurricanrana and a running drop kick from Williams. Lee got involved very quickly, choking Williams on the outside floor. Konley of course, took control, going for pins but Williams was not decided to quit.
Williams rallied with kicks and chops before going for the Canadian Destroyer, his creation and Signature move. But Konley countered and went for a moonsault. Lee tried again to distract Williams but he tossed Konley onto Lee who fell on the floor. Williams then hit a hurricanrana on Lee and the Canadian Destroyer on Konley for the win.
After the match, Lee and Konley attacked Williams but Sonjay Dutt rushed to the ring to save his friend, the same way Williams saved him from Lee 2 weeks ago.
Backstage Karen Jarrett told Sienna and Taryn Terrell she didn’t appreciate how Taryn attacked Gail and Allie. She then booked a tag match for next week, Sienna and Taryn Terrell will face off Gail Kim and Allie.
Richard Justice vs. Kongo Kong
Justice tried and tried again to make Kong move. But a fist in the face and a splash from Kong and the match was over.
After the bell rang, Kong continued to beat up Justice. But Mahabali Shera rushed to the ring, punched Kong enough to make him fall to the outside.
While Johnny Impact was excited about his match, Konnan was telling Low Ki to send James Storm to the hospital.
Low Ki w/LAX (Konnan, Diamanté, Ortiz, Santana and Homicide) vs. James Storm
First match for Cowboy James Storm since Slammiversary last July, when he suffered a severe concussion. But fighting a member of LAX means fighting the whole LAX and enduring a lot of interferences in the match… Low Ki surprised Storm right in the match but Strom quickly outpowered him. Diamante yanked Storm off the second rope and LAX attacked.
Low Ki, of course, got the control back, grounding Storm with kicks. Storm rallied and unloaded an inverted atomic drop, a clothesline, a kick to the back of the head and a side Russian leg sweep. The Cowboy was not done yet. Storm tried a monkey flip but Low Ki landed on the second turnbuckle and hit a double stomp. Low Ki missed the Warrior’s Way, allowing Storm to hit the Eye of the Storm, but Low Ki kicked out. But LAX distracted Storm and the referee. Santana hit Storm with a belt, Low Ki with a Warrior’s Way to secure the victory.
Backstage Garza Jr. wanted to take care of Allie but Braxton Sutter didn’t appreciate. And Grado and Joseph Park found out Laurel Van Ness is from Canada, which won’t help Grado’s issues of staying in the USA. Meanwhile, Lashley was asking the American Top Team group if he should stay in wrestling or quit for MMA…
Eli Drake and Chris Adonis vs. Johnny Impact and Eddie Edwards
Impact and Adonis started the match. But Adonis quickly tagged in Drake. The tags went back and forth so Adonis and Drake could keep Impact down. A tagged-in Edwards sent Drake to the outside, followed by a corkscrew splash from Impact on Adonis over the top rope. Back in the ring, Adonis hit Impact with a bodyslam on Impact. He tried to tag in Edwards but after the beating he suffered from both Drake and Adonis, he was unsuccessful at. When he was finally able to, Adonis distracted the referee and out went Edwards.
Drake and Adonis worked a lot of double team moves on Impact, while Edwards was trying to make the crowd encourage Impact. When he finally was able to enter the ring, Edwards stopped Adonis and grounded him with a blue thunder bomb. Drake was tagged in while Edwards was going to the top, Adonis distracted him. Drake reached the top rope too and hit a Superplex, leaps up to the top rope and hits a beautiful Superplex, all in one motion. Edwards tried to survive Drake and Adonis’ attacks as long as possible, until a nice suplex that allowed him to tag in Impact. A stunning Impact hit a springboard splash and unloaded superkicks on both Drake and Adonis.
Impact grabbed both Adonis and Impact to hit a double swinging neckbreaker. While Impact tried to reach the top floor, Edwards was sent to the floor. Great team work from Drake and Adonis. After a load of shots, Edwards hit a top rope hurricanrana on Drake, Impact hit a stunning corkscrew elbow Borash and Matthews called the Thursday Night Delight, Impact went for the pin but Adonis broke it up. Adonis and Impact went to the floor, while was hitting the Bottom Rung on Edwards for the win. Edwards and impact officially lost their chance to the GFW title.
After the match, Lashley and American Top Team came at ringside and called out the four wrestlers still in the ring. Cornette rushed and told Lashley that if he didn’t keep his team in check, he would lose his title spot at AAA Triplemania event (Triplemania took place last weekend, Impact is taped weeks before it’s aired). He then announced next week Matt Sydal, who earned a title of choice shot at Destination X, will compete against Eli Drake for the GFW Championship. Sydal chose to go for the GFW Championship, something Eli Drake wasn’t happy of. As well as Bobby Lashley…
oVe, Petey Williams, Johnny Impact, and also Taya Valkyrie, Texano and Pagano coming soon, this brood of new talent is all about action and that’s what Impact Wrestling needed more than anything. Too many backstage segments, still some hazy storylines, but GFW Impact Wrestling seems now to be on the right path. If only it could stay on this right path…
All pics and screenshots courtesy of GFW Impact Wrestling.