One more step on The Road to Slammiversary XVI, no need to wear your seven-league boots if you want to enjoy each new one. So take a deep breath, because this week is a huge one. Who is going to be #1 contender for the Impact World Championship? Moose? Eli Drake? Is Brian Cage set to become the X-Division Champion? With a no DQ stipulation, what did Tessa Blanchard prepare for Kiera Hogan? And what about The Cult of Lee, LAX, El Hijo del Fantasma, oVe, Eddie Edwards, Tommy Dreamer, Grado? Take a deep breath because no more words, let’s get ready for some action, your French Enygma Steph way, of course…
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4a9_X21uFs]
Grado vs…
Grado and Katarina did the Titanic entrance, and the Titanic sank when Eddie Edwards attacked him with a kendo stick and threatened Katarina. On the mic, Edwards said he was so close to killing Sami Callihan last week, but Tommy Dreamer ruined this moment. He called out Dreamer to expose him. Dreamer headed out to the ring and tried to calm down Edwards. Dreamer claimed he prevented Edwards from making the biggest mistake of his life and that Callihan has been beaten. But Edwards said he didn’t want to “beat” him, he wanted to end him, something Dreamer knows a lot about.
Dreamer said it was a different era, many of his friends can now barely function at 50 due to chair shots and brain damage. Edwards continued with his desire to finish Callihan and ride off into the sunset with his wife, but now she won’t even speak to him. Dreamer said he knew it, something that enraged Edwards as Dreamer talked to his wife. Edwards backed Dreamer into the corner and wanted to know why he was talking to his wife. Dreamer shoved Edwards to the mat. And Eddie got mad… he hit Dreamer with the kendo stick and left the ring.
Backstage, Tommy Dreamer was boiling to Scott D’Amore. Why getting smacked in the head when you’re not even in the roster? He told D’Amore to check his boy and that he was done with this.
Taya Valkyrie vs. Rebel
Rebel was back in the Impact Zone but Taya Valkyrie is the Royalty. So Rebel had a few minutes of fame before Taya unloaded her arsenal of stomps, chops, slams, double knees. Rebel was able to rally and go for a sunset flip but Taya kicked her right in the face. She choked her out into the ropes. Rebel tried again to rally with a kick and rights. A boot followed, a running knee strike too. But Taya avoided the moonsault and hit a spear. The Road to Valhalla finished Rebel. After the match, she reminded the returning Madison Rayne the Impact Zone was her Queendom now. So next week, she will show Rayne why she is not only Lucha Royalty but the Knockouts Royalty.
While Matt Sydal was telling McKenzie Mitchell he had the inner strength to defeat Cage, oVe announced they had new plans to take on everything.
Fallah Bahh & KM vs. Cult of Lee (Trevor Lee & Caleb Konley)
Lee and Bahh started it off. He was sent across the ring and tagged in Konley. He tried to make him move, with the help of Lee, but Konley was thrown into the corner. And here came the horror movie moments with the sandwich splash and the steamrolls on both guys.
Lee had a good idea to strangle the eyes of Bahh so, when KM came to check on Bahh, he thought it was Lee or Konley and hit a Samoan drop on his friend. Double boots from the Cult of Lee who picked up a cheap win. KM was not happy, he pushed Bahh to the mat and said their friendship was done.
In LAX Lair, Santana, Ortiz, The King, and Diamanté were having a drink to celebrate the fact that, next week, they will get a shot at the Tag Team titles. LAX left the lair, leaving King alone. He suddenly had a change in demeanour, looked around the office, sit in the main chair and said: “The world is mine.” Konnan and Homicide will not appreciate…
Number One Contender Match for the Impact World Championship: Moose vs. Eli Drake
From a House of Hardcore event in Philadelphia, we had highlights of the match as it was revealed Moose will face Austin Aries at Slammiversary XVI. Moose swang Drake into the barricade a couple of times and hit a Death Valley Driver from the floor on the apron. Back in the ring, Drake hit shoulder blocks into Moose’s midsection. Moose replied with some machine gun chops but Drake connected with a pop-up powerslam and an elbow drop.
Drake unloaded the strikes until Moose dropped him in the corner. Moose connected with a running delayed dropkick and a Go to Hell. Drake went for the Gravy train, Moose tried a pump kick, but Drake connected with a powerbomb. Moose charged him into the corner, right into the ring post but Drake dropped Moose with a neckbreaker. Both ended up on the turnbuckle, Drake hit a superplex. Drake went for the Gravy Train again but Moose rolled him up, hit the pump kick and the spear for the win. It should have been a great match, if only we could have watched it from A to Z…
No Disqualification Match: Kiera Hogan vs. Tessa Blanchard
Hogan took things to the floor right away and worked over Tessa. Into the ring, Hogan followed with stomps and a splash. Tessa powdered, Hogan kept working her over outside but Tessa finally cut her off with a flapjack on the ramp. Back in the ring, Tessa took control with a dropkick in the ropes, a Saito suplex, an abdominal stretch, but Hogan countered and missed a corner charge. Tessa grabbed a chair and looked for a flatliner but Hogan fought her off. Tessa quickly cut her off and hit the hammerlock DDT. Tessa argued with the referee before and laid in boots to Hogan. The referee pulled Tessa off, so Tessa shoved him down. Hogan threw the chair at Tessa and hit a bulldog onto the chair. Hogan set up the chair, but Tessa cuts her off and hit a DDT onto the chair for the win.
Jake Crist w/ Dave Crist vs. El Hijo del Fantasma
Jake tried to tear at Fantasma’s mask early in the match and connected with some blows on Fantasma’s face and a suplex. He grounded the action with a dragon sleeper. But the AAA Latin America Champion rallied with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Dave tripped up Fantasma, allowing Crist to hit a spin kick. Fantasma then cradled him for the win.
After the match, Dave attacked Fantasma on the floor, Callihan showed up with his bat and smacked Fantasma in the head with it. Callihan tried to take off Fantasma’s mask, but the lights went out. Pentagon Jr. showed up and headed down to the ring. He tossed Dave out, superkicked Jake down, and stared at Callihan who quickly headed towards the ramp. Cero Miedo…
Impact X-Division Championship Match: Matt Sydal (c) vs. Brian Cage
Sydal laid in strikes, Cage didn’t care and knocked him to the mat. Cage pulled him back in, Sydal hit a spin kick and a standing moonsault, but Cage popped up with him in his arms before dumping him to the mat. Cage worked him over in the corner. But here came Jimmy Jacobs and Kongo Kong to distract Cage.
Sydal was able to hit some corner knees and ground Cage, but Cage fought out. Sydal followed with kicks, but Cage tossed him to the corner, cut him off and hit an exploder suplex. Cage connected with the outside in deadlift suplex. Cage went for the F5, but Sydal countered. Sydal went for a hurricanrana, but Cage cut him off and hit a buckle bomb. Sydal rolled to the floor, Cage tossed him back in. Sydal distracted the referee, so Kongo slammed Cage into the steps and Sydal got a count out.
Backstage, Sonjay Dutt was standing over a knocked out Fallah Bahh while holding the “X” card. Sonjay Dutt couldn’t believe it and asked the police to take Petey Williams away. Williams yelled that he didn’t do this. The policeman told Williams to stop resisting, he ended up punching Williams and choking him out with a nightstick. The policeman took off his shirt. Kevin “Killer” Kross took an “X” card, put it on Williams and said to the camera “You should probably call the police.”
After months of great action, here we go again. More to forget than to retain. We can feel a feud coming between Eddie Edwards and Tommy Dreamer, another between Sami Callihan and Pentagon Jr. Some would say it was pretty clever from Sydal to ask for the help of Jacobs and Kongo, I’ll say it will be better to crown Cage at Slammiversary XVI… We finally know who is the mysterious “X” man, nice. This episode was so lacklustre I can’t wait for the next to be sure it was just an accident. And because you agree with me, of course, I see you next week… And never forget to stay #eNYGMAtic…
All pics, videos, and screenshots courtesy of Impact Wrestling. Photomontage by @frenchnygma exclusively for @steelchairmag.