We finally have Impact Wrestling’s next PPV name and date! “Rebellion” will take place on Sunday, April 28th, from the Rebel Entertainment Complex in Toronto. In 2 weeks, we’ll also have a special event, “Uncaged”, with 3 title matches already announced.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv_we_u0V6w]

But for the moment, let’s focus on this week, my friends. We’re still in Mexico, in Lucha Libre land. This week, you’ll meet other stunning Luchadores, Daga, Taurus, Psycho Clown. On the menu this week, viva Mexico again! LAX and Daga will square off against The Lucha Brothers and Taurus. Eli Drake and Eddie Edwards will team up against Dez and Wentz of The Rascalz. Fallah Bahh and Psycho Clown will compete. Jordynne Grace and Kiera Hogan will try again to make Allie and Su Yung come back from the Darkness. We’ll also hear from Tessa Blanchard, Sami Callihan and Rich Swann. 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=LylhErXS79k]

The Nygma’s Chart of the Week

• The Lucha Brothers (Pentagon Junior & Fénix) & Taurus defeated LAX (Santana & Ortiz w/ Konnan) & Daga. After the match, Pentagon grabbed a microphone. He walked up to Konnan, then told LAX he’s got something for them. He mentioned Ortiz specifically and called for another match between the two teams for the Impact World Tag Team titles. In reference to their previous match, he said everyone is talking about it but they all know they can do it again, even better, and asked for the rematch next week. LAX posed with the titles and seemed to accept the challenge. Handshakes sealed the deal. 
• Backstage, Killer Kross told Melissa Santos he was not feeling very good about the main event tonight, everything was going according to plan before Brian Cage interfered in his business last week. He told Cage wasn’t invincible and he’ll learn a tough lesson soon, and added the only thing worse than a pretender is a hypocrite. Moose took over to calm Kross down, saying the best thing to do was stay calm, let Cage and Johnny implode, then went out on the town later.
• Konnan and LAX confirmed in a video bit the rematch for next week, Konnan said he has no problem with the rematch but told Santana and Ortiz. They seemed willing to go along with that.

• Kiera Hogan & Jordynne Grace defeated Dark Allie & Su Yung. Su and Allie were keeping Jordynne double teamed more often than not, until the power went out and Rosemary changed places with Su. She offered the hand to Allie to be tagged in with the big smile on her face, Allie was confused and scared, Kiera took advantage of it and hits Face the Music for the win. Rosemary disappeared, Su never reappeared.
• Scarlett Bordeaux continued her workout by beating up her assistant, close to a pool. 
• Eddie Edwards & Eli Drake defeated The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz). Eddie tried to use Kenny but the referee cut him off. Eli used it on Dez to pick up the win. After the match, Drake told Edwards, who didn’t see the use of the kendo stick, that this was a great example of him not needing the foreign object to be successful.

• Tessa Blanchard announced her suspension is up on February 15th, and Taya Valkyrie could better be ready for the rematch. 
• Rich Swann confirmed everything Callihan said was right. He was 18, homeless and his family wasn’t there, but he met Callihan through professional wrestling and they became like family. Rich confirmed Sami was his mentor, and they grew up together in the business. But he noticed a change in Sami long ago, and what he wants was not best for him. Sami’s always got a place in his heart, but his demands are not good for the family.
• Taya Valkyrie responded to Tessa by upping the risks and making it a Street Fight as well as a Knockouts Championship match.

• Psycho Clown defeated Fallah Bahh. After the match, Psycho Clown met up with Hijo de Vikingo, Aerostar and Puma King in the locker room. He pumped them up for a match against Team Impact in a couple of weeks. Team AAA will be in Mexico and they want to win.
• Backstage, Brian Cage and Johnny Impact were bickering about the main event. Cage promised to keep Johnny safe so he could take the title from him in 2 weeks.
• Killer Kross & Moose defeated Johnny Impact & Brian Cage. Johnny accidentally hit Cage. Before Cage could kill Johnny, Moose hit the Spear and Cage just watched it happen. 

The Nygma’s Nutcracker(s) of the Week

– Pentagon Jr, Fénix & Taurus vs Santana, Ortiz & Daga
We already know the storyline behind this match, let’s see what Daga and Taurus can add to the mix…
Pentagon and Santana started it off, things broke down immediately and everyone traded kicks. Taurus and Daga traded blows in the ring. Taurus hit an elevated flapjack and a dropkick. Action went outside with Daga hitting a no-touch dive over the top rope. Pentagon and Santana in the ring traded chops, kicks, duelling superkicks, then ran the ropes and Santana hit a rolling cutter. Ortiz in, Daga had a kick sequence that dropped Pentagon. Ortiz landed a splash. LAX knocked Fénix and Taurus off of the apron and all 3 men took on Pentagon. Pentagon tossed Daga, avoided offence from LAX in the corner to connect with a monkey flip to Santana onto Ortiz. Fénix hit a kick, a modified 619 in the corner, and a springboard cross body. Ortiz avoided a corner rush and caught Fénix with a Blue Thunder Bomb.

Daga and Taurus traded punches, Daga reversed a whip and they traded corner offence with Taurus coming out on top. Daga hit a duck under into a delayed bridging German suplex. Taurus sprung off of a corner whip attempt and hit a cross body, but Daga winded up dumping over the top rope. Then everyone dove onto the increasing pile of bodies. The last one came from Fénix and everyone was down. Pentagon and Fénix hit a stereo superkick on Ortiz. Fénix walked the ropes and took out Santana and Daga, as Taurus hit a spinning slam. Taurus tagged Pentagon who set for the package piledriver/double stomp with Fénix, the legendary Bumcracker. Pentagon got the pin on Ortiz. 

– Eli Drake & Eddie Edwards vs. The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz)
Strange combination than Mister Hardcore and Mister Anti-Hardcore teaming up, but The Rascalz may have a lot to learn from 2 experimented wrestlers, what Eddie and Eli undoubtedly are.
Eddie Edwards came out with Kenny the kendo stick, contrary to the advice of Eli Drake to let the hardcore side of him go and return to actual wrestling. Drake and Edwards argued a bit about the kendo stick before Wentz and Edwards started us off. They traded wrist locks and leg sweeps. Edwards grabbed a wrist lock, Drake tagged himself in, he and Edwards argued again. Wentz caught Drake with an arm drag. Drake avoided some offence, then Wentz hit a springboard corkscrew plancha. Wentz tagged in Xavier and they hit their double team kick sequence into a stomp. Xavier followed with a leg kick, Drake countered a second one and tagged in Edwards. Xavier got the best of Edwards and tagged in Wentz who hit a tope con hilo. Edwards avoided a whip attempt, Drake cut off Wentz when the referee was distracted with Edwards and on the second rope.

Drake hit a side slam and a pop-up into a backwards powerslam. Drake tagged in Edwards, who went to work with chops along the ropes. Wentz countered an Irish whip with a handstand springboard knee strike, he reached for a tag but Drake was in to take out Dezmond. Wentz hit head scissors, no Dezmond and Drake tagged himself back in. Drake tried a side slam, Wentz countered with a tilt-a-whirl head scissors and tagged Dezmond who ran wild on Drake with a drop sault. Drake unloaded a couple of rights, Dezmond went for a springboard tornado DDT but Wentz was in to help him and they hit a double spin DDT. Edwards tossed Wentz, turned Dezmond inside out with a lariat, then dove on Wentz on the outside. Edwards tried to use Kenny but the referee cut him off, Drake grabbed the kendo stick and hit Dez with it. The Gravy Train followed for the win.

– Johnny Impact & Brian Cage vs. Killer Kross & Moose
Haven’t we seen that before?
Moose overpowered Johnny, who mocked him posing, and landed a kick and a side headlock. Johnny hit a kick, tried a shoulder block but Moose floored him. Johnny connected with a step-up hurricanrana, Moose kipped up. Johnny hit another hurricanrana, Moose was down and tagged in Kross. Cage tagged himself in after Johnny backed into the corner. They started trading blows in the centre of the ring, then traded shoulder blocks, Kross got taken down with a tilt-a-whirl head scissors and a scoop slam from Cage. Johnny tagged himself in to hit a tope-con-hilo and a neck breaker. Johnny tried the Shining Wizard but Moose cut him off, Johnny punched him but that let Kross hit a gut-wrench release powerbomb to take control. Kross tagged in Moose who worked over Johnny on the mat with punches.

Moose hit Cage who tried to come in. As the referee restrained him, Kross and Moose double teamed Johnny in their corner. Quick tags between Kross and Moose as they worked Johnny in their corner. Moose drops Johnny with a chop. Kross tagged in and resumed kicking Johnny on the mat. Kross dragged Johnny close to Cage to mock him, then pulled him away and looked for the Three Amigos. He only hit two, teased the third, but instead slammed Johnny back into his corner and tagged in Moose who connected with shoulder blows to the gut and a chop. Moose teased letting Johnny tag Cage and drove Johnny back to the mat with jumping butt drops to the lower back. Johnny countered the third with a knee to the groin. Moose tied up the legs of Johnny and tagged in Kross. Johnny countered a dragon sleeper into a DDT and both men were down.

Kross tagged Moose back in and cut off the hot tag attempt. Moose connected with a big back suplex. Moose tried another back suplex, but Johnny slipped free and finally tagged in Cage. Cage decapitated Moose with a couple of clotheslines and took out Kross. Cage unloaded some kicks for Moose, then a knee to Kross and a German suplex to Moose. Cage went for the Drill Claw. Kross cut that off but Cage drilled him with kicks. Moose then hit a big boot to Cage to slow him down. Cage to his corner, Johnny tags himself in blind, Moose hit the Go To Hell, but no pinfall as Johnny was the legal man. Johnny connected with a corkscrew crossbody into a Shining Wizard, a clothesline and a superkick then set Kross up for a 619, but Moose cut him off with a kick. Johnny hit an enzuigiri, Cage set Moose for the F5. In the confusion, Johnny kickedCage, Cage nearly killed Johnny with a discus clothesline but hit Kross instead. Johnny and Cage argued. Cage dodged an oncoming Moose who speared Johnny for the win.

The not-Nygma’s Moment(s) of the Week (or the Nygma’s Broken Record Moment of the Week)

Forget about Scarlett Bordeaux…

– Team AAA vs. Team Impact
There’s nothing new in this concept that is suddenly opposing wrestlers who are supposed to partners. In 2017, we already saw that kind of war, James Storm, Eddie Edwards, EC3, El Hijo del Fantasma, Pagano, Texano were involved in it. It’s not something necessary, but that’s only my opinion…

The Nygma’s Award of the Week

– Kenny
Eddie Edwards’ best friend is now becoming Eli Drake’s best friend… Everybody loves Kenny! Tommy Dreamer offered a beautiful gift to Eddie Edwards, but it seems like other would love to play with it too… In his war against hardcore, Eli Drake is playing a wicked game that could infuriate Kenny… And Kenny hurts…

– Rich Swann
We all have a past, it’s a part of our life that has helped us define the person are right now. Rich Swann had the chance to meet Sami Callihan, but also create his own legacy. When I look at Rich Swann’s face, I see a proud Champion, not his past. In a way, I want to thank Sami Callihan for helping him, if the story is true. Whatever happened to Rich Swann before, whether in WWE, in the indies or in his personal life, the only thing that matters to me is the talented wrestler we have the chance to call X-Division Champion. 

– Fallah Bahh
May he win or lose a match, wherever he wrestles, Fallah Bahh is a fan favourite and an absolute teddy bear. There’s a place in his business for every kind of wrestler, grapplers, high-flyers, big men, or behemoths like Fallah. Wrestling needs diversity, just because wrestling is diversity. 

To be eNYGMAtic…

I don’t know what to say about this episode… There were action, talents, but sorry this week, we went nowhere. Impact Wrestling stated the obvious this week, there’s nothing new on the horizon that we already knew. Taya vs Tessa IV was highly expected, LAX vs Lucha Brothers II was predictable (and expected), Allie/Kiera/Rosemary is meant to last a little while, Johnny vs Cage II has been scheduled ever since the Homecoming match ended. Do we move forward this week? I’m not sure. Let’s say this week was a pause, and Impact Wrestling will find its way back to what we all love next week.
On this very Nygma 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.