IMPACT Wrestling: Hard To Kill (Jan. 16, 2021) -- Results & Afterthoughts

Hard To Kill (2021) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by Impact Wrestling. It took place on January 16, 2021 at the Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. It is the second event under the Hard To Kill chronology.

The event crowned the reactivated Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship's first champions since 2013, with Fire N Flava (Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz) defeating Havok and Nevaeh to win the titles. The main event saw the AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and the Impact World Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) defeat the Impact World Champion Rich Swann, Chris Sabin, and Moose in a Six-man tag team match. Other notable matches saw Manik and Deonna Purrazzo retain the Impact X Division Championship and Impact Knockouts Championship respectively, with Manik defeating Chris Bey and Rohit Raju in a Triple Threat match and Purrazzo defeating Taya Valkyrie. The event also saw Matt Cardona make his debut in Impact Wrestling, defeating Ace Austin by disqualification.

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The pre-show had the reveal of Madison Rayne's retirement from in-ring competition. She just graduated from college last year, so it's understandable that she would want to walk away from wrestling (at least for a while) and figure out what she wants to do with the rest of her life. Her contributions to women's wrestling - not just limited to IMPACT Wrestling but to the wrestling industry as a whole - are legendary in its own right. She doesn't have to prove anything else to anyone in my book. 

Results:

Singles Match

Brian Myers defeated Josh Alexander

Intergender Tag Team Match

Decay (Rosemary and Crazzy Steve) defeated Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb with a K

This was a cold open for this PPV. This wasn't a bad match, but it wasn't an overly exciting one either. In hindsight, I think that they should have gone with the X-Division triple threat to start things off, but then again, it felt like this show was gradually building up to a crescendo in terms of match quality as the night went on. My biggest complaint about this match is that it felt more at place on one of the weekly television episodes of IMPACT Wrestling rather than a PPV match. 

We would see the members of Decay join Taya Valkyrie at ringside for her match later tonight though. 

Old School Rules Six-man Tag Team Match

Violent by Design (Eric Young, Deaner, and Joe Doering) def. Cousin Jake, Rhino, and Tommy Dreamer

This was an OKAY match, but it was here mostly as a display of force by Violent by Design. Joe Doering is just great and this new direction for Deaner I'm all for instead of him being a stereotypical "southern rassler". Glad to see Eric Young is able to continue thrive as the deranged mastermind of these heel factions.

Tournament Final Tag Team Match for the revived Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship

Fire N Flava (Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz) def. Havok and Nevaeh

This wasn't the best women's tag team match, but it was a fun match to watch bell to bell. I was so happy for Keira and Tasha to pick up the win here too. Havok and Nevaeh did a fine job putting over these two women for their first taste of championship gold in this company.


Even four days later, I'm a little surprised at the lack of widespread support for these ladies. This is the first BLACK (Tasha's technically Afro-Latina FYI) women's tag team in a major American promotion to win a women's tag team championship. This should be getting more attention and praise... Y'know, "For the culture!" I'm just sayin'. Either way, I'm proud of Keira and Tasha. They worked hard for this spot and it was well deserved. I can firmly support their heel antics without being utterly disgusted by it like I was with Sasha Banks and Bayley last year.

Singles Match

Matt Cardona def. Ace Austin (with Madman Fulton) by disqualification

I had to bust out laughing at the former Zack Ryder's debut since Matt Striker was acting like this was a major signing. No one cared when he showed up in AEW and I seriously doubt he moved the needle when he debuted here. The only thing I can say at least now that he's here that means that the Nightmare Family in AEW has one less member to their not-so-angry mob of wrestlers in association to Cody Rhodes, riding off his coat tails.

Triple threat Match for the Impact X Division Championship

Manik (c) def. Chris Bey and Rohit Raju

I jokingly said this during the PPV on Twitter and I'll repeat myself here again too. This match was TOO damn good for it's own good. Stellar match from bell to bell, with Chris Bey being the MVP of this match without a shadow of a doubt. The action kept you guessing from start to finish on who was going to walk away as the X-Division Champion, but it ultimately came down to Manik retaining.


If you don't want to see anything on this show outside of the main event, do yourself a favor and check out this match as well.

Singles Match for the Impact Knockouts Championship

Deonna Purrazzo (c) def. Taya Valkyrie by submission

This was another good title defense by Deonna Purrazzo. Unfortunately, this wasn't the best Taya match that I had the pleasure of seeing. If this was her last match for the company as she was doing the honors on her way out, it could have been a lot worse, so there's that I guess. I personally got a kick out of Susan (Su Yung's newest gimmick/split personality) recording the match on her phone like a stereotypical "Karen", even while her, Kimber Lee, Rosemary, and Crazzy Steve were ejected from ringside. I didn't understand that decision as them not being at ringside had any effect on the remainder of the match.

On the 1/19/21 edition of IMPACT Wrestling on AXS, Taya was found guilty to the attempted murder of John E. Bravo during his wedding to Rosemary. As Taya was being dragged away by the cops, Tommy Dreamer made a joke about her either going to Jacksonville, FL or going "up north" to Stamford, CT to be locked up for three to five years. That's obviously a reference to either AEW or WWE. It would make sense for her to want to join her husband, John Morrison, in WWE, though. I'm guessing that since COVID-19 has limited, if not eliminated completely, all of her international travel to and back to Mexico to compete with AAA, so that would be the most logical bet. Then again, AEW's Women's Division could use more high profile names to beef up that division of women who are clearly not television ready. She could definitely help in that regard. As for a WWE run, I won't deny that I wouldn't mark out for her being a surprise entrant in the Women's Royal Rumble match, but then I would get sad because I know that company wouldn't have the slightest idea how to book her properly. Hell, I wouldn't mind seeing her as a one-off in a future Mae Young Classic as well. Whenever Taya ends up, she's definitely going to be an asset to whatever women's division that she's a part of. 

The saddest part of this narrative is that Rosemary is never able to hang onto the friends that she makes. First she lost her Bunny AKA Allie, and now she lost the Valkyrie. 

In either case, Deonna continues to shine in this role as IMPACT Knockouts Champion. I honestly don't see her losing that title anytime soon, unless they have plans to build up a new challenger during the next set of TV tapings to setup an opponent for her at Rebellion. If I were to guess right now, it would more likely be Tenille Dashwood since she never lost her opportunity at the gold before her unfortunate injury, if memory serves. 

Singles Match

The Karate Man def. Ethan Page via murder.

This is only a portion of the entire "match" if you could even call this one, but it was hilariously stupid in the same vein as the "Broken" Matt Hardy stuff. I don't understand why Ethan Page was so upset and mad at the editing of this thing either. What else was he expecting with this storyline? Steven Spielberg couldn't even do better with this material. While live-tweeting during the show, I had jokingly suggested editing this match like a mirror match in the vein of the old live-action Mortal Kombat video game motion capture sessions, but they went all in with that apparently. All that being said, this TOTALLY fits the narrative that Ethan Page had went completely into the deep end after losing the IMPACT Tag Team Championships. 

I don't know where Page is going to end up next, but I feel bad that we're not getting The North vs. FTR now in any capacity since he's left the company. I have no doubt in my mind that Josh Alexander will continue to thrive as a singles competitor, but man, that was the match at the top of my wishlist of potential bouts between AEW and IMPACT Wrestling talent during this working relationship. 

Barbed Wire Massacre

Eddie Edwards def. Sami Callihan

The biggest takeaway for me with this match was seeing the unique take on the appearance of a barbwire match in modern wrestling. This didn't look completely low key or "outlaw", but instead, IMPACT clearly put some thought into how this should look visually while having enough foresight to allow the guys to have some freedom to be able to do all of their moves without any restrictions. A traditional barbwire match doesn't have any ropes, so you can't rebound off of the ropes or do moves off the top rope (unless you were just flat out crazy like Sabu). In that regard, I tip my hat to IMPACT for constructing this "playground" of sorts with all of that in mind. 

As for a match though, I can't say that I was particularly blown away by this. Going in, you know what to expect from these hardcore matches involving both Eddie Edwards and Sami Callihan, so there wasn't really much to surprise people with. I did get a good laugh at the Nintendo 64 controller being wrapped in barbwire. Anyone who has played one of those for any extended period of time can tell you that the barbwire is overkill and completely unnecessary when that thing can slice up your thumbs no problem all on its own. 

Eddie managed to win the match with one of Misawa's signature moves, so that was an added plus. 

Main Event: Six-man Tag Team Match

Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) (with Don Callis) def. Rich Swann, Chris Sabin, and Moose

Alex Shelley was originally booked to be in this main event, but had to back out of the event, due to unforeseen circumstances. He stated in a separate interview video on social media that IMPACT shared earlier that day that it wasn't COVID-19 nor injury related, but merely a situation out of his control. I'm not going to dwell on it, but I'm hope that he's okay in the long run. 

As a result of Shelley's absence, Moose was named as his replacement. Earlier in the show, Moose confronts his teammates and kept it real for Sabin and Swann. He reminded them both that when he was in the NFL, he worked with numerous teammates that he couldn't stand but he kept it professional and gave it 110%. Tonight would be no different as he bleeds IMPACT Wrestling. This was very interesting too because Don Callis attempted to court Moose too, reminding him not to do anything rash as he still had two more years left on his contract, but Moose didn't back down and even threatened to take Kenny Omega's AEW World Championship after he was done with Rich Swann for the IMPACT World Championship. 

From the way that I interpreted all of this, it made perfect sense as Moose was protecting his future investments. 

As for the match itself, I dare say that this was the best thing on the PPV if that X-Division match didn't occur earlier in the night. Moose was easily the MVP here, leaving me with the feeling that I want to see Moose against Kenny Omega rather than Omega vs. Swann. IMPACT has a few weeks to set this up, but I rather see a triple threat between those guys rathar than Swann against Omega one on one. I was utterly shocked that Omega pinned Swann clean in the finish as I thought they would have had Sabin eat the pin out of all of the names involved here in this match. Omega pinning Swann inserts him easily into the IMPACT World title picture if his quest of belt collecting is set out to start here in 2021. My only fear is how long is IMPACT going to wait around to pull the trigger on Moose as IMPACT World Champion. Between the win over EC3 in their feud and everything since then, this guy is ready made to take that title from Swann. Please don't repeat the mistake they made back at Slammiversary XVI back in 2018. Moose was ready for the main event run after potentially winning the gold from Austin Aries, but he was beaten by Aries only to become his hired muscle shortly thereafter. That shit made absolutely no goddamn sense and hurt Moose in the long-run until now. If Swann loses the IMPACT title to Omega, then Moose absolutely has to be the one to win it from him. It just depends on how long will IMPACT allow Omega to hold their top title while prolonging the inevitable match-up against Moose until Slammiversary (late summer) or Bound for Glory (fall). 

 

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Closing Thoughts:

This was a solid show, topped off by an excellent main event. There's no clear sight on where this partnership with IMPACT Wrestling is going to end up, it's definitely looking beneficial for the IMPACT talents that get to share screen time with the AEW World Champion. Besides with Kenny Omega continuing to make regular appearances on their programming, it's only going to continue bringing more eyes onto their product, so it's win-win all around. 

Looking For Wrestling Alternatives? I Got Ya Covered (Fall 2020 Edition)

The Great Khali hasn't graced a WWE ring in a few years now - not since Jinder Mahal was the WWE Champion, but after the revelation that All Elite Wrestling is working with IMPACT Wrestling in some capacity, I thought it would be a great idea to do an article highlighting some other promotions (at least stateside anyway) that have some easy to access content, especially when you're looking for wrestling alternatives outside of WWE and AEW. 

National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Shockwave

This new show, taking place of their beloved NWA Powerrr series, premiered this week. It only clocked in at a little over 30 minutes, so it made for a nice short, sweet, digestible chuck of wrestling when there's so much out there to check out in any given week. I hope they bring back the "Into The Fire" intro whenever they are able to do Powerrr again regularly. For now, this is a nice substitute. I know things can't be easy right now with the laundry list of departures lately from that company.

Ring of Honor Wrestling

2020 Pure Championship Tournament

I'm not sure that many people are aware, but ROH TV episodes are available for FREE via the FITE TV app/website. The 2020 Pure Championship Tournament starts on Episode #469 and ends on Episode #476. I haven't kept up with their product as closely as I should have, but props should be given to ROH on how well this tournament was presented and the authentic feel to the action to make it feel like a serious, legitimate sport - something that seems to be a foreign concept more often than not in modern day wrestling. Even if you're new to ROH's product, there's something for everyone here as they take the time to introduce each entrant into the tournament individually, while providing time to have them talk about their motivations and why they are here. These sit-down interviews were really good stuff and I was disappointed that more wrestling outlets weren't covering this tournament. That being said, even though the tournament is over and a new champion has been crowned (who you don't have to look too far to find out with a simple Google search), this tournament is worth a look, especially with the talents involved.

All 16 entrants for the 2020 Pure Tournament

Current episodes of ROH can be found on both the Ring of Honor Wrestling website (mainly the past week/current week) and the FITE TV app/website as previously mentioned.

Major League Wrestling (MLW) #TheReStart

They have only started over since shutting down for the last few months due to COVID-19 concerns as of a week in and new episodes of their weekly MLW Fusion series premieres at 7PM EST on Wednesdays. You can watch the episodes on demand on their YouTube channel. I have linked the first two episodes as of this posting below. 

MLW's main draw with their "restart" of sorts is the 2020 Opera Cup Tournament. 

IMPACT Wrestling

If you don't have AXS TV via your satellite/cable provider, then look no further than IMPACT Wrestling's Twitch channel. They broadcast the show live via their channel at 8PM EST on Tuesdays with a repeat on Fridays weekly, free of charge. 

You can also fire up their IMPACT Plus app and watch their One Night Only iPPV events without even having to register for an account. 

I feel that a lot of people have been sleeping on IMPACT as of late, especially when they have one of (if not the best to me personally) the best women's divisions from top to bottom in wrestling here in the United States in terms of booking and diversity of talents involved. With AEW dropping the bombshell that they will be working with IMPACT in some capacity in the near-future, I hope more wrestling fans will be willing to give them a fair chance again. The Dixie Carter/Vince Russo regime has been dead and buried ages ago. 

Besides, if you want to know where to watch IMPACT Wrestling after that cliffhanger that AEW Dynamite left everyone with on Wednesday night, then look no farther than the link below if your cable/satellite provider doesn't carry AXS TV. 

IMPACT Wrestling: Bound For Glory 2020 (Oct. 24, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts

Bound for Glory was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by Impact Wrestling. It took place on October 24, 2020 at the Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. It was the 16th event under the Bound for Glory chronology.

Eight matches were contested at the event, including one on the pre-show. In the main event, Rich Swann defeated Eric Young to win the Impact World Championship. In other prominent matches, The North (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander) defeated The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin), The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson), and Ace Austin and Madman Fulton to win the Impact World Tag Team Championship, and Su Yung defeated Deonna Purrazzo to win the Impact Knockouts Championship.

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The pre-show/countdown to BFG special held the induction ceremony for Ken Shamrock being inducted into the IMPACT Hall of Fame, where The Rock/Dwayne Johnson appeared on IMPACT Wrestling (via satellite) to give a few words into his honor. I'm sure a few people in the IWC and over in WWE's heads exploded to see him on an IMPACT show of all places. 

Never say never in 2020, folks. 

Tag Team Match
The Deaners (Cody Deaner and Cousin Jake) def. The Rascalz (Dez and Wentz)

Six-way Intergender Scramble Match for the Impact X Division Championship

Rohit Raju (c) def. Chris Bey, Jordynne Grace, TJP, Trey, and Willie Mack

This was a fun match to kick this show off to a great start. IMPACT never seems to disappoint with these X-Division openers for their annual Bound For Glory events, and this match was no different. This match served to highlight the athletism of everyone involved in the X-Division with a lot of back and forth action, where I was honestly convinced that anyone could walk away from this match as the champion at one point. Jordynne Grace even held her own against the boys and didn't look like a stranger in paradise doing it either. I loved Rohit's spot where he shouted, "EQUALITY!" before giving her a Ropehung Diving Double Foot Stomp. I was a little scared at first from Jordynne's landing afterwards, but she seemed to be fine.

After jobbing for the better part of a year or two, I have to admit that Rohit Raju is turning me into a fan of his character from his ongoing success as this chicken shit heel that seems to slip out of every close call to capturing his precious X-Division Championship. 

20 wrestler Intergender Call Your Shot Gauntlet Match; where the winner could choose any championship match of their choice.

Rhino won by last eliminating Sami Callihan

Since Rhino won, then Heath also won a full time contract with Impact Wrestling. Had neither Heath nor Rhino won, Rhino would be fired.

This was your typical Royal Rumble-esque over-the-top-rope battle royal with a few surprise entrants, such as Shawn Daivari (who I was surprised that he wasn't going by his previous IMPACT name of Sheik Abdul Bashir), Swoggle (formerly Hornswoggle in WWE), and Tommy Dreamer (who was paying a homage to the late Road Warrior Animal by wearing his merchandise and signature face paint. There were reports going around stating that Heath Slater was originally set to win this match, but Slater ended up getting injured shortly after hitting the ring. Fortunately, Rhino was able to pick up the win instead and save face for this match stipulation. Outside of that, this match easily forgettable, even though it was no less entertaining. 

Singles Match

Moose def. EC3

IMPACT Wrestling was the company that first popularized these "cinematic" matches back with the infamous "Final Deletion" segments with Broken Matt Hardy, so you know they weren't going to allow themselves to be upstaged by WWE and All Elite Wrestling's attempts over the past few months.

I can't say that this is my favorite cinematic match of the year, but this match definitely served it's purpose as I was wondering where they were going with this feud between Moose and EC3. EC3 ultimately became the sacrificial lamb to give Moose the hardened edge that he needed instead of parading around on delusions of grandeur while hanging onto relics of the past. 

Control the narrative. 

If they want to direct Moose towards the IMPACT World Championship in the coming months, then I'm all for it. I'm ready to see what this new and improved Moose can do with this new direction. As for EC3, I don't think this was a burial either. I think he did this to steer Moose towards his true purpose - the IMPACT World Championship. As long as Moose was content with parading around with that relic of the old regime, he would be forever disregarded as a contender and a threat to the proper IMPACT World Championship.

Singles Match

Ken Shamrock (with Sami Callihan) def. Eddie Edwards by submission

The newest member of the IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Fame bested Eddie Edwards in a match that I could have seen them doing on this upcoming episode of IMPACT Wrestling on AXS TV. It wasn't a bad match, just nothing that I could have seen as PPV worthy. The match played to both men's strengths and it didn't look like Shamrock wasn't gassed like he normally looks in singles matches like this nowadays. Plus, the interference from Sami Callihan during the finish gives Edwards the excuse for a rematch too so it's win-win all around. 

Four-way Tag Team Match for the Impact World Tag Team Championship

The North (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander) def. The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) (c), The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson), and Ace Austin and Madman Fulton

This match started off with an injury angle to write Alex Shelley out of the contest, forcing Chris Sabin to go the entire title defense alone. He put up a good fight and definitely proved why he's one of IMPACT's only Triple Crown winners in company history, but in the end, the numbers game got the best of him. I'm still iffy about the pairing of Madman Fulton and Ace Austin, but I thought they did fine with their spots in this match. I really liked how Madman Fulton was chopped down to size while he had Austin on his shoulders. I popped huge for The North picking up the win with everything right again in the world with them as the IMPACT World Tag Team Champions. 

If I could be selfish, I wish The North could have faced The Revival/FTR in this company over going to AEW. That match would have ruled too.

Singles Match for the Impact Knockouts Championship
Su Yung def. Deonna Purrazzo (c) (with Kimber Lee)

Going into this match, IMPACT continued to air the promotional packages and promos from both Deonna and Kylie Rae leading up to the actual match, but when it came time for the match, Kylie Rae was nowhere to be found. Watching this live, I thought it was strange that Deonna came out first being the defending champion, but what was going on was made painfully clear when Kylie Rae was nowhere to be found. I know that a lot of people were upset that this match didn't transpire, despite IMPACT putting a lot of time into promoting the match. Various news outlets are reporting that Kylie Rae suffered some sort of undisclosed injury and wasn't cleared to compete. Su Yung serving as the impromptu replacement was a clever move as they can EASILY write this off as Su Yung reemerging as part of the storyline between Suzie and her best friend, Kylie Rae. 

Whatever they do to explain Kylie Rae's absence, they have an easy and ripe storyline sitting there for the taking with the built-in narrative already established about Suzie and Kylie's friendship over the last few months. 

Suzie has been having "episodes" of Su Yung coming out for months in her matches and it makes absolutely perfect sense that Su Yung would reemerge after the vicious beating that Deonna and Kimber Lee gave Suzie on IMPACT a few weeks ago. Plus, there's no denying that Su Yung fits the occasion with Halloween right around the corner. That's why I wasn't upset that Deonna lost the title here, even though it was announced that she had recently signed a long-term deal with the company despite working without one for the last few months. Hell, she was lucky to be promoted and pushed this high within the division for this long without a contract period. I wouldn't be worried though as they could easily put the title back on her on the next set of TV tapings, depending how they play out the aftermath of this match.

Singles Match for the Impact World Championship

Rich Swann def. Eric Young (c)

After the excellent build to this match over the course of the last few months, we finally have come down to Rich Swann and Eric Young headlining this PPV. Who would have called this as the main event for Bound For Glory 2020 a year or two ago before the pandemic swept up the world? IMPACT has done a masterful job of rehabilitating Eric Young after WWE completely neglected and misused him on the main roster. If I'm perfectly honest, I wasn't too crazy about his NXT run as the leader of Sanity either, but that's besides the point. EY played the part of a sadistic maniac, willing to do anything and everything to put Rich Swann on the shelf for good. Swann put his livelihood and his career on the line and kept coming back for more and more punishment until he was finally to put EY away. That was the narrative of this match and it just worked. My only knock against this match is that it dragged on a little longer than I would have liked, but I get it - it was the final chapter in this monumental feud and they wanted to drive the point home before Swann got his fairy tale ending. 

Not a bad show from start to finish. Both Swann and his real life wife, Su Yung, can both go home happy as IMPACT's resident married couple both holding championship gold.

That was definitely a positive note to end on tonight. 

IMPACT Wrestling - Emergence Night 1 & Night 2 (Aug. 25, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts

On Tuesday, August 18 and Tuesday, August 25, IMPACT Wrestling’s Emergence took over AXS TV for a two-week special event. Personal rivalries will be settled and championships will be on the line.

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Emergence Night 1 (Aug. 18, 2020) Results:

X-Division Championship
 Rohit Raju def. Chris Bey (c) and TJP
Winner: Rohit Raju pins Chris Bey after a double foot stomp to become the NEW Champion!

Rohit Raju picking up the win and stealing the title away from Chris Bey was the upset win of the evening. I thought TJP had this thing pegged to win from how he was dominating this match from bell to bell.

One hell of way to get you pumped for this show in terms of action. The X-Division never seems to disappoint in that regard, despite the fact that almost EVERYONE in modern wrestling works this style nowadays. It's a constant struggle for those guys to continue being innovative and still find ways to stand out in this environment.

Instead of the tagline being "You'll Never See It Coming" for Summerslam, it should have been for Night 1 of this show. Like who seriously saw Rohit winning this match?

TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Moose (c) def. Trey

Winner: Moose retains with the Lights Out Spear

Trey TRIED to put up a good fight against Moose, but the tale of this match was that despite the fact that Trey gave it his best shot, it was ultimately not enough to take Mr. Impact Wrestling down.

EC3 showed up post-match and laid out Moose again, only to take the TNA World Championship into his own hands.

The Good Brothers, Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows def. Ace Austin & Madman Fulton

Winners: Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows with the Magic Killer

Decent match, but I can't say that I wanted to see these two teams fight each other again.

WrestleHouse

Kylie Rae def. Taya Valkyrie (w/ Rosemary as Special Guest Referee)

I get what they are trying to do with Kylie Rae. They want to present her as their "bubbly" babyface like Bayley that has an "edge" about her when the going gets tough. I like that, but her matches tend to be a very hit or miss. The right woman went over here as Kylie Rae is still technically the next number #1 contender for the IMPACT Knockouts Championship before everyone was "trapped" in WrestleHouse

I haven't talked about the Wrestle House concept much if not at all, but I actually really like it. A lot of modern wrestling has a lot of "stupid" things on these shows whether it comes from AEW or WWE that simply insults my intelligence for even tolerating it. This is "stupid" too, but it's not presented as serious. It's a sitcom of sorts presented as a sidebar to the rest of the actual wrestling show, so I don't mind it in that regard. Besides, this makes for a lot of hilarious interactions with a lot of IMPACT's current personalities that wouldn't happen normally otherwise, so I'm all for this in that regard.

As much as I like WrestleHouse as a concept/diversion to what is usually going on the main program of sorts, even I have to admit that a lot of these matches are easily forgettable. I can't knock them too much as these matches never seem to overstay their welcome.

World Tag Team Championship
Motor City Machine Guns (c), Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley def. The North, Ethan Page & Josh Alexander to retain

There were a ton of points in this match where I could have seen this going either way, but I was glad to see the Guns retain. The North can bounce back from this loss and climb back up the tag team ladder that got them to the tag titles in the first place. I doubt they are done with the Guns - not by a long shot. My fear going into this match was that the Guns' victory was just a one-off for the Guns to simply drop the titles back to The North in another month or two at the next PPV.

The Guns can bring some more eyeballs and lapsed fans back to the current product who are curious to see them back with the company. Nothing against The North, but it wouldn't hurt them to work a few non-title feuds in the meantime. Those guys have proven time and time again that they are one of the best tag teams in modern day wrestling right now.

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Emergence Night 2 (Aug. 25, 2020) Results:

Impact World Championship

Eddie Edwards (c) def. Rob Van Dam (w/ Katie Forbes)

I wasn't feeling the idea of putting the title onto Edwards following Tessa Blanchard's impromptu departure from the company, but I can't deny the guy is a work horse. These open challenges are already starting to feel stale, despite the fact that RVD can still go like time has stood still for the guy at times. That just can't be helped when AEW already dragged that concept into the ground with the TNT title open challenges with Cody.

.@TheKatieForbes sets them up, @TherealRVD knocks them down. #Emergence #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/AXZ7eBcd0t

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 26, 2020

I did get a laugh at Katie Forbes' porn star-esque antics at ringside for distractions, but I am more intrigued with what they are going to do with Eric Young's heel run this time around. It makes perfect sense to have him jump Edwards after the match and shoehorn himself into the World title conversation after putting Rich Swann on the bench - seemingly for good.

WrestleHouse

Loser Has To Dress Like The Winner Next Week

Crazzy Steve def. Johnny Swinger

(w/ Cousin Jake as a special guest referee)

Can't say that I have ever have been a fan of these blindfold matches as they tend to be a clusterfuck instead of good in any capacity - no matter what company it is. I didn't care who won this one in either capacity.

Locker Room Talk
Madison Rayne w/ her co-hosts Wentz and Dez.

The Rascalz co-hosted Locker Room Talk with @MadisonRayne but they didn't exactly get along with the guests @The_Ace_Austin and @FultonWorld. #Emergence #IMPACTonAXSTV @DezmondXavier @zachary_wentz pic.twitter.com/lfo2SjKPch

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 26, 2020

I would pop to see Rayne in the Clubhouse and she's TOTALLY a Karen.

EC3 vows to destroy the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Can you blame the guy for wanting to destroy his past? His entire 2nd run of WWE was defined by hype and anticipation of people expecting him to be the same as he was at the height of his popularity in IMPACT, but it never happened - neither in NXT nor on the main roster.

"Destroying this title is the only way I'll be free."

The destruction of the TNA World Heavyweight Championship is the only way @therealec3 can leave the past behind. #Emergence pic.twitter.com/b8bjNgt3hO

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 26, 2020

If EC3 truly wants to reinvent the wheel then he has to burn the book and start over anew.

Brian Myers def. Willie Mack

After seeing him job out for so long on WWE programming, I tend to forget that Myers is actually a decent worker. I totally didn't see him going over Mack here at all. I wonder where they are going with this, especially with Myers taking the Brodie Lee approach to his arrival in terms of referencing the "senile old man" who held him down.

WrestleHouse

Larry D def. John E Bravo

(w/Acey Romero as their guest referee)

This was over QUICK. Larry D dropped Bravo like ton of bricks.

This was ultimately just to get to the icing on the cake where Bravo has the balls to confess his feelings for Rosemary, much to the ire of Taya.

.@JohnEBravo1st FINALLY declared his feelings for @WeAreRosemary but @TheTayaValkyrie is NOT happy. #Emergence #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/ycTdXEkgIM

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 26, 2020

Rosemary made an interesting post on social media shortly afterwards though. In either case, I'm anxious to see Taya and Rosemary rekindle their old rivalry next week. Maybe this will bring an end to WrestleHouse as it was a nice diversion, but everyone here should be moving onto other things sooner more than later instead of wearing out the welcome of this unique concept.

30-Minute Ironman Match for the Knockouts Championship

Deonna Purrazzo (c) def. Jordynne Grace with the score of 2-1 to retain

Nice pair of info cards/tale of tape that they made for this match. 

This was easily the best thing on Night 2 of Emergence and rightfully topped off this show. I can't say that this was a full 30 minutes because this match started roughly 9:32PM after the introductions and I'm sure there was some sweetening and clever editing throughout the commercial breaks to make this fit within the remaining time on this broadcast.

Going into this match, I was convinced that Deonna was dropping the title right back to Jordynne since she's working "per appearance" and hasn't signed an actual contract with IMPACT at the moment. With that being said, I was genuinely shocked to see her retain the gold here. I'm guessing this means that she is set to defend the title against Kylie Rae at Bound for Glory in October.

I wouldn't mind another match between these two women as they have been doing some great stuff here in this feud so far. Jordynne's new ring gear looked great as well. Thicc Momma Thicc (or is it Pump in homage to the jokes that she's Scott Steiner's unofficial daughter?) always lookin' good.

AND STILL Knockouts Champion - @DeonnaPurrazzo!

She defeats @JordynneGrace 2-1 in a GRUELING, HISTORIC Ironman WAR! #Emergence #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/rwMN2Z81Ax

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 26, 2020

Given the way that Deonna won the match, I'm sure Jordynne could argue that Deonna didn't beat her clean and had to cheat to win, but at the same time, Deonna has the bragging rights to claim that she's bested Jordynne not once but twice now since her debut in IMPACT Wrestling. They could easily go to a third set in this series.

My only knock on this match is that it would have benefited with an uninterrupted format on a PPV instead of on free television, but the Knockouts rarely disappoint and I was definitely pleased with what we got here.