Among the big shows to take place during wrestling’s biggest weekend was Impact Wrestling’s United We Stand, emanating from the Rahway Rec Center in Rahway, New Jersey to a sold out, hyped crowd.
Ultimate X Match
Johnny Impact vs. Jake Crist vs. Dante Fox vs. Pat Buck vs. Ace Austin
I think @The_Ace_Austin is up to something… pic.twitter.com/4SeTdiTuqZ
— Jordan A. Chaffiotte (@JordanIsOnBrand) April 5, 2019
Ultimate X matches are engineered to be high spot matches and there was no shortage of it here. Plenty of dives to the outside or from the ropes overhead. The craziest spot came from Ace Austin, who ascended one of the Ultimate X rope pillars and plummeted on top of his opponents with an insane dive. Had to have been 20 feet, at least.
Austin would attempt to go for the X, but he’s taken down by Crist. Impact takes advantage and grabs the X for the win and future title shot.
Good call to have this opener the show, bringing the crowd to their feet.
https://twitter.com/ImpactKM/status/1114004741531549696
Team IMPACT (Moose, Brian Cage, Eddie Edwards, Tommy Dreamer) vs. Team Lucha Underground (Aerostar, Drago, Marty “The Moth” Martinez, Daga)
Eight-man tags can be tricky. When a bunch of participants engage in action at once, things can get lost in translation. This was your standard eight-man tag, but the appearance of Tommy Dreamer made a memorable reaction and interaction among the proceedings. Dreamer, in the ring, spat water from his mouth into Edward’s mouth on the floor. Probably one of the grossest sights I’ve seen at a wrestling event – but definitely memorable.
Martinez picks up the win on Dreamer with a Butterfly DDT and it’s on to the next one.
Caption this. #UnitedWeStand @THETOMMYDREAMER @TheEddieEdwards pic.twitter.com/nrBP2pV50T
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) April 5, 2019
Impact Knockouts Championship
Taya Valkyrie (c) vs Rosemary vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Katie Forbes
The crowd was pretty pumped for this contest. Valkyrie and Grace had a natural chemistry that made me wish this was just a match between them. Unfortunately, while a lot of action took place between these women, Su Yung’s interference took away some of the stakes.
Yung and Rosemary fought to the backstage area while, Valkyrie broke up a pin attempt from Grace onto Forbes, eventually picking up the win.
@JordynneGrace is my favorite Jord(ynne)an #UnitedWeStand pic.twitter.com/uhogvQEuf2
— Jordan A. Chaffiotte (@JordanIsOnBrand) April 5, 2019
Promociones Dorado (Low Ki & Ricky Martinez) vs. LAX (Santana & Ortiz) w/ Konnan
Both teams have an intense trash-talk and scuffle session before the action kicks into gear – which I thought was a great way to bring out the heat for this tag. Low Ki still has his air of intensity with the usual cheap shots, trash talk, and beautifully executed strikes and holds.
LAX spent a portion of the match laying into Martinez before Low Ki would blind tag to even things up. This was followed up by a fun back and forth between the teams until Ortiz puts Martinez down with a Death Valley Driver.
Intergender Match
Tessa Blanchard vs. Joey Ryan
Bye. #UnitedWeStand pic.twitter.com/MrMfwh4J2A
— Jordan A. Chaffiotte (@JordanIsOnBrand) April 5, 2019
A huge attraction for this show, with Tessa Blanchard being one of the most legitimate women working in wrestling today and Joey Ryan firmly within his popular, sleazy, YouPornPlex gimmick taking on new heights.
Blanchard, unimpressed by Ryan’s demand to bask and touch his penis, flips him off and delivers some strikes and suplexes in the early going. The crowd is behind both workers at this point before Ryan eventually played up his viciousness and arrogance to grab the heel heat.
We see Blanchard hit some hurricanrana, top rope cannonballs, and tornado DDTs to stave off Ryan’s offence. Ryan delivers a Pumphandle Suplex, the Boobplex, and eventually the YouPornPlex – which Blanchard kicks out of. Blanchard eats a lollipop, takes the superkick and kicks out to a huge ovation. Ryan tries to sew things up with a Mustache Ride, but Blanchard reverses with a Magnum from the top rope for the victory.
It’s a testament to both workers that they kept the crowd engaged and entertained the whole time. It’s on the strength of their dynamic characters that this felt like a cool, special moment for the weekend. (Read at Jordan’s piece on this match here)
X-Division Championship
Rich Swann (c) vs. Flamita
Fast-paced action between these two, as you would expect. A series of reversals leads to Flamita hitting a 619 corner spot and a Tope con Ciro on Swann in the early going. Eventually, we’d see a Tiger Driver and Spanish Fly from Flamita, with Swann bursting out with a Lethal Injection, Frankensteiner and Phoenix Splash to wrap things up.
A fun, spirited match from the X-Division.
Monster’s Ball Match
Sami Callihan vs. Jimmy Havoc
Two extreme personalities in front of a hyped crowd can make all the difference. Havoc and Callihan entered to huge ovations and immediately engaged in their hardcore antics.
With a staple gun on hand, both Havoc and Callihan would be on the receiving of the gun on multiple occasions. Havoc got bloodied from a thrown chair shot from Callihan, upping the intensity of the match. Havoc would also see a piledriver on the apron and several frying pan shots from Callihan for his troubles.
The match went to absurd levels when Sami Callihan squeezed lemons on Jimmy Havoc’s bruises. As payback, Havoc would deliver a series of paper cuts to Callihan’s hands, mouth, and feet – eventually pouring tons of salt on said wounds. These spots drew huge laughs and reactions from the Rahway crowd.
Callihan would eventually put Havoc down with a piledriver on two chairs.
Extreme Dream Match
IMPACT World Tag Team Champions The Lucha Brothers (Pentagon Jr. & Fénix) vs. Rob Van Dam & Sabu
The visual of Rob Van Dam, Sabu, and Pentagon Jr. in the same ring, alone, was worth the price of admission. The match essentially worked around the crowd participating in duelling “Rob-Van-Dam!” and “Cero Miedo” chants before the match kicked into gear.
The action that followed wasn’t necessarily impressive, beyond a cool double-team table spot from RVD and Sabu onto the Lucha Brothers. With the match starting after 1 AM EST, between a 1:30 AM EST end time, it was unfortunate to see a dream match get rushed due to time. Sabu took the fall from Pentagon’s Spike Fear Factor finisher for the win.
Rob Van Dam & Sabu: now available in stereo. #UnitedWeStand pic.twitter.com/Ecd6wnazxa
— STEELCHAIR Wrestling Magazine (@SteelChairMag) April 5, 2019
Considering the stacked card leading into the show, I’ll say that the show was pretty decent. The matches, on the whole, did just what they needed to do. The bigger matches, such as Blanchard/Ryan, Havoc/Callihan, and the main event, had the crowd on their feet and reacting most of the time. It was the later time constraints that ultimately affected the show. But on a weekend when so many events are overlapping, it wasn’t much of a surprise.
Regardless, Impact Wrestling put a good forward in presenting a solid show on wrestling’s biggest weekend.
All pics courtesy of Anton Jackson, Impact Wrestling/KM/Jordan Chaffiotte Twitter accounts.