If you carefully read my review of Homecoming, I told you in 2019 we would banish the word “rebuild” from Impact Wrestling’s vocabulary. We saw enough in 2018 and at Homecoming to say now they’re nothing else to rebuild, but everything to move forward. It will be my motto this year, every review will be about how Impact is going forward. Because Impact Wrestling is now a worldwide show, everyone can watch it on Twitch now and that’s incredible.
On the menu this week, tons of action and celebration. Action with Tessa Blanchard, Dark Allie and Rosemary, Johnny Impact and Killer Kross. The Lucha Brothers will square off with Dez and Wentz from The Rascalz. In a rematch of Homecoming, Willie Mack and Sami Callihan will fight again. Celebration with new X-Division Champion Rich Swann and Konnan reuniting with LAX. What am I supposed to add? So no more words, let’s get ready for some action, but your French Enygma Steph way, of course…
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxcZe9Q4_30]
The Nygma’s Chart of the Week
- Opening segment with Johnny Impact who said, if the title is important, what matters a lot more is his wife being hurt. He wanted Kross out here right now, but here came Brian Cage who said he’s the rightful champion. Johnny would not have been done with him until Cage pinned for a 10-count. He asked for a rematch right now but Kross interrupted them. Kross called Johnny the great impostor, told him he likes the new change in attitude and, as soon as Taya was out of the hospital, he planned to put her back in the hospital. Johnny hit a superkick on Cage and dove on Kross. Big brawl in the ring and backstage, until Johnny Impact agreed to give Cage a shot after he dealt with Kross.
- The Lucha Brothers (Pentagon Jr & Fénix) defeated The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier w/ Trey Miguel). Nice handshake after the match.
- Backstage, Kross ranted about how Impact was a failure for needing his Survivor friends to save him. That’s why Kross powerbombed Taya, to wake Johnny up. Kross wanted to know if Johnny knew how to hurt him in tonight’s No DQ match. Tonight, he will be breaking Johnny out of his skin. Tick, Tock!
- Rich Swann celebrated his X-Division title win. The Asylum crowd was yelling, “You deserve it!”. He talked about the history of the division and called himself the No Limit Soldier of the division with no limits. He said he was ready for all comers, so here came oVe. Sami Callihan talked about the rumours of what’s going on with Swann and oVe. He claimed they had a long history but that was not something we get to learn right now. Callihan offered to Swann a spot in the oVe family. He threw him the oVe tee-shirt and Willie Mack arrived.
- The Mack defeated Sami Callihan.
- Konnan, Santana and Ortiz celebrated their reunion. They get Konnan to admit that he was wrong, acknowledging that they kept things together and put on an incredible match at Impact Homecoming. They drink coffee in celebration. Back from break, Callihan was backstage, yelling irately at the Crist brothers. LAX walked past them, it seems these 2 teams l meet again somewhere down the line.
- Scarlett Bordeaux said she’ll declare the winner of her talent search next week. The Desi Hit Squad interrupted her until Scott Steiner showed up and laid them out. He set up a chair and watched Scarlett do her Smoke Show.
- Tessa Blanchard defeated Cali Collins with Gail Kim’s finisher, the Eat Defeat.
- Eddie Edwards was saying he was proud of his win at Homecoming and ready to move on with his life when Eli Drake came to ask Eddie if he wanted to carry the flag of hardcore like Tommy Dreamer or Abyss did before.
- Backstage, Su Yung and Dark Allie were next to a bloody coffin and Allie was worried about Rosemary. She recapped what happened with Rosemary before she disappeared and returned this past Sunday. The lights flickered and the words “One more chance… Rejoin the shadow…” appeared on the coffin.
- Killer Kross w/ Moose defeated Johnny Impact in a no DQ match. Moose and Kross posed and celebrated together inside the ring.
The Nygma’s Nutcracker(s) of the Week
– The Lucha Brothers vs. The Rascalz
It was meant to be a great match, it was just awesome. With the Lucha Rules, no tags necessary, so action everywhere at every moment. But it was also a great moment of sportsmanship when 2 teams are able to shake hands and respect what each team puts in the match.
Pentagon and Dezmond stared a long time until Pentagon unleashed his Cero Miedo and a kick in the ribs. Pentagon’s dive was cut off by a stunner over the middle rope from Wentz, who got sent into the corner by Fénix. A 619 out of the corner put Wentz in trouble, Dezmond hit a dropkick to the floor on Fénix and a slingshot dropkick on Pentagon in the corner.
Zach continued with the Bronco Buster in the corner. Back from break, Rascalz attacked but Fénix replied a suicide dive to send Wentz into the barricade. In the ring, the superkicks into the wheelbarrow splash connected, but Wentz made the save. Pentagon hit a superkick on Dezmond down, but ate a knee in the face, Fénix replied with a kick to Wentz’s face. Pentagon ate some jumping strikes but Fénix connected with the cutter to Dezmond. Pentagon back up unloaded the superkick party, followed by a Fear Factor to Wentz and a Gory Special into a cutter from Fénix to Dezmond at the same time.
– Sami Callihan vs. Willie Mack
Sometimes a rematch can be better than the original one. The fact is, this time, Callihan and Mack had a reason to fight, the storyline is being settled. And that changed a lot of things…
No Crist brothers on the horizon as a double knockdown started the match, followed by an exchange of headbutts. Sami strangled the eyes to gain the momentum. Sami was sent outside and caught a sliding Mack in the ring skirt to continue hammering away. Mack came back with a Rock Bottom onto the apron. A whip into the steps cut Mack off and he got piledriven on the stage.
Mack beat the count of 10 and started to come back with some running shots in the corner. He connected with a Samoan drop into the standing moonsault gets, but Sami bit his hand and hit a Lariat to Remember. Willie Mack replied with a sit-out spinebuster. Sami powerbombed him out of the corner. Mack hit a corner cannonball but the Stunner was blocked. He countered the Cactus piledriver. Both finishers were reversed again until Mack got the win via a roll-up.
– No DQ Match – Johnny Impact vs. Killer Kross w/ Moose
With Johnny Impact being more and more aggressive and Killer Kross decided to make him show more, for sure Kross had a serious advantage in this match…
Johnny Impact wasted no time in starting the brawl and hit stomps at the head in the ropes. Kross ran him over though and hammered away in the corner. They headed outside where Impact hit kicks to the chest. Johnny set up a table and got a chair to Kross’ face. Kross wrapped the chair around his neck and slammed it into the post before crotching Johnny on the barricade. The steps were dragged around but Johnny avoided having his head crushed with a chair. Instead, he knocked Kross back with a chair and then piled the chairs on top of him.
A moonsault crushed another chair onto the pile of chairs onto Kross for the big knockdown. Kross popped right up and they stared at each other down while throwing chairs into the ring. They both picked one up and then dropped them, so Johnny could throw punches in the corner instead. A pelted chair to the face knocked Kross down. Johnny piled up the chairs on him again. Johnny went up top but Moose ran out to shove Johnny through the table at ringside. The Krossjacket choke finished Johnny.
The not-Nygma’s Moment(s) of the Week (or the Nygma’s Broken Record Moment of the Week)
When The Desi Hit Squad meets Scarlett Bordeaux, we already reach the ultimate heights of numbness… But when Scott Steiner arrives and Scarlett is doing a striptease for him, Impact Wrestling has officially become a circus of freaks…
I’m horrified, as a woman and as a fan… This kind of segment makes me remember the bad days of WWE, when Sable was almost naked in the ring or Kelly Kelly was doing lap dances during ECW shows…
The Nygma’s Award of the Week
– Killer Kross
I have already said so many things about Killer Kross. Tonight, we were confirmed he’s not only a great wrestler, but his promos are also legendary. The range of his character is unlimited. Whatever he can say or do, whoever he wants to destroy, Killer Kross makes it legit, credible, and even poetic in the doom he’s spreading.
– The Rascalz
If you were not convinced these 3 guys are the next big thing, the match against The Lucha Brothers stopped every possible question. It could have been a PPV match, all 4 guys were tremendous. Even if I’m not a fan of Their Rascalz characters and attitude, Dez, Zach and Trey have a chemistry like no other in the ring. And it works.
– Eddie Edwards
Can Eddie Edwards be the new flagship of hardcore? That’s a very good question Eli Drake asked him tonight. Is he able to walk into the footsteps of giants like Abyss or Tommy Dreamer? Can Eddie cope with the bloody, messy, nutsy hardcore attitude? In fact, do we really want to let Crazy Eddie and Kenny go? Time will tell…
To be eNYGMAtic…
The fallout episodes from a PPV is usually not the best ones, because they’re all about revenge and celebrations. They have never been a good time to build up a storyline. But Impact Wrestling chose not to push the “reset” button this week, this was a real post-PPV episode and, at the same time, action wise, it was brilliant and some storylines are already on the work. The Johnny/Cage/Kross triangle, Eli Drake and Eddie Edwards, oVe trying to rally The Mack and Rich Swann to their cause, Allie and Rosemary, very interesting program…
For a wrestling promotion that’s taking pride in being a pioneer in the women’s revolution, Scarlett Bordeaux is nothing else but a remembrance of things past. We are in 2019, holy cow… Women in wrestling are strong, powerful and, most importantly, they are wrestlers. Not strippers. On this very feministic and non-blonde note, until next week, never EVER forget to stay #eNYGMAtic…
All pics, videos, and screenshots courtesy of Impact Wrestling. Photomontage by @frenchnygma exclusively for @steelchairmag.