Ahead of their newly-announced tag team match at next month's Slammiversary, former Impact World Champions Steve Maclin and Bully Ray will unite on Thursday's Impact on AXS TV.
Before Maclin and Ray take on the unlikely duo of PCO and Scott D'Amore next month, they will face Frankie Kazarian & Eddie Edwards — two men who faced each other for the first time at Against All Odds.
Another set of rivals/partners will unite again as "Speedball" Mike Bailey joins up with Jonathan Gresham against The Design's Kon and Angels as the latter tries to reassess things after Against All Odds.
Killer Kelly will look to rebound after Against All Odds as she faces former Impact Knockouts Champion Taylor Wilde.
In trios action, the reunited oVe (Sami Callihan, Jake Crist & Madman Fulton) return to Impact TV against Brian Myers & The Good Hands (Jason Hotch & John Skyler).
The BTI pre-show will feature the returning Nevaeh against Jody Threat.
Our live coverage will begin at 8:30 PM Eastern once the Impact Ultimate Insiders YouTube feed starts.
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This week's show was taped in Columbus, Ohio, with Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt on the call.
Brian Myers & The Good Hands (Jason Hotch & John Skyler) defeated oVe (Sami Callihan, Madman Fulton & Jake Crist)
oVe reunited at this month's Against All Odds to take out Callihan's rivals The Design in a street fight. Now, they return to battle Myers, Hotch & Skyler — the latter two of which were unsuccessful in unseating Impact Tag Team Champions Ace Austin and Chris Bey at the same event.
This was a fairly standard trios match until Moose ran down to the ring and knocked Crist off the top rope as he was about to hit a big double-team move with Fulton. Callihan and Fulton took chase, leaving Myers to get the tag and hit Crist with the Roster Cut to get the pin and win. Moose and Callihan have an extensive and violent history, so there's more to come.
– Eddie Edwards met up with Frankie Kazarian about tonight's tag team match and they argued about how gain trust with each other. Edwards swore on the grave of Killer Kowalski (their trainer) that he can trust Edwards. The tl;dr: these two met at Against All Odds for the first time ever.
– Callihan was backstage throwing chairs around and Rich Swann came up to him, saying he should have been there to back up Callihan at Against All Odds but he was all tied up. He knows what Moose and Myers are like and swore he would be there to back Callihan up from here on out. "It's a priority," he said. I smell a swerve coming.
Dirty Dango defeated Bhupinder Gujjar
These two had a confrontation last week when Dango dissed the documentary on Impact Plus about Gujjar. Dango, and his new attitude, were unsuccessful twice in unseating Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry.
Dango won a relatively quick match with a reverse DDT that wasn't memorable for poor Gujjar. Dango grabbed the stage manager's cell phone afterward and was filming a video when Santino Marella came out. A distracted Dango was tossed back in the ring by Gujjar right into the Santino Cobra.
– The closing montage of the BTI pre-show match was shown where Jody Threat got a win over the returning Nevaeh with an airplane spin bomb.
Afterward, she and Nevaeh were talking when the latter saw Courtney Rush and Jessicka walk into the backstage area. A conversation about their past characters (Rosemary and Havok) ensued, complete with a wacky camera angle where the Death Dollz had a not-so-secret conversation. Nevaeh suggested they go back to the beginning to help figure out their origin story which the Dollz loved…so they ran away to do just that.
– Zicky Dice was continuing his referee training with Johnny Swinger happily observing. The trainer asked him at what count should a ref break a hold while someone was in the ropes. Swinger had to help him answer correctly and Dice not only got his referee's certificate but his license and a shirt. Huzzah! He also got a speech about he was entering a brotherhood of unsung heroes. Swinger interrupted and said with Dice, he was on his way to getting 50 wins and an Impact World title shot.
Mike Bailey & Jonathan Gresham defeated The Design (Kon & Angels) (w/ Deaner)
The Design failed in their attempt to get revenge on Callihan at Against All Odds, losing in a street fight. Bailey and Gresham were unsuccessful at winning the 8-4-1 match at Against All Odds and thus, were paired up again here for something to do.
Bailey and Gresham showed some nice teamwork, especially on an assisted pop-up cutter that nearly led to a finish with a Bailey armbar on Angels.
Bailey got knocked into Gresham on the outside of the ring and then Angels accidentally knocked over Deaner, also on the outside of the ring. Angels recovered and hit a sweet looking Spanish fly from the second rope for a nearfall.
Deaner then jumped onto the apron and started yelling orders to Angels, distracting him. Bailey hit his tornado kick into the corner followed by Ultima Weapon on Angels for the pin and win. There are problems in The Design!
Here's hoping a Tag Team title challenge is coming for Bailey and Gresham…if they can co-exist.
– Trinity was interviewed by Gia Scott about the possibility of Gisele Shaw winning the Knockouts title during next weekend's Impact Down Under tour, making her Slammiversary title opportunity a three-way. She wasn't concerned and then called out Shaw associate Jai Vidal ("do boy") for a match next week.
– New AEW producer Jimmy Jacobs appeared with a statement from Nick Aldis saying he wouldn't appear on tonight's show due to threats from Alex Shelley's fans after last week's show. Shelley then interrupted and didn't buy it. Jacobs said Aldis would be there next week and when Shelley left, he said it took Shelley 20 years to win the big one and it's already gone to his head.
Shelley then superkicked Jacobs as he and X-Division Champion Chris Sabin stood over him. Farewell, Jimmy.
Killer Kelly defeated Taylor Wilde (w/ KiLynn King)
Kelly is coming off a loss in a dog collar match to Masha Slamovich at Against All Odds while Wilde & King are looking for new challengers for their Knockouts Tag Team titles.
This was a competitive, physical match where Kelly had to deal with King's interference early on. Wilde survived the Killer Clutch by rolling backward, but fell into a roll-up that Kelly held on for the win.
King then got attacked by both Coven members which brought out Slamovich. She teased going after Kelly, but the two then attacked Wilde and King, sending them packing. It appears our next challengers have been found.
– Gia Scott was with Scott D'Amore following last week's announcement he is taking a leave of absence and returning to the ring at Slammiversary. He cut an impassioned promo about his past and while he's not as good as he once was, and will get down and dirty if needs to. He told Steve Maclin and Bully Ray to get ready for he and PCO.
Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry defends against Yuya Uemura
As this was about to begin, Kenny King and Sheldon Jean came out to the ring as King decided to join the commentary team.
Hendry won a competitive match after catching Uemura off a crossbody attempt, rolling through and lifting him up into the Standing Ovation finish for the pin and title defense. Hendry certainly is a big strong boi.
King then grabbed the belt to present it to Hendry, staring at it before pushing it into Hendry's chest. Your next title match is made.
Steve Maclin & Bully Ray defeated Frankie Kazarian & Eddie Edwards (w/ Alisha Edwards)
It is still pretty wild (not Taylor) that Ray is still an active wrestler and part of one of the top angles (not Kurt) in Impact. Maclin will get his World title rematch in Australia, but his path back to the top will likely be delayed for a bit.
This was an entertaining tag match between four veterans. Kazarian got the hot tag with about three minutes to go and went on the attack. He countered a Maclin KIA attempt with a reverse piledriver for two. Kazarian then had the chicken wing on Maclin, but Maclin ducked a superkick attempt that flatted Kazarian. Ray and Maclin hit a combo back suplex/neckbreaker to get the pin and win on Kazarian as a forlorn Edwards looked on…or was he?
That ended a pretty average episode of Impact.
New for next weekend's double-dip of Impact Down Under pay-per-views from Australia:
Friday: Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry defends against Eddie EdwardsFriday: X-Division Champion Chris Sabin defends against Frankie KazarianSaturday: Impact Tag Team Champions Chris Bey & Alex Shelley defend against Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin)
Next Thursday (taped in Atlanta this weekend):
X-Division Champion Chris Sabin defends against Trey MiguelTrinity vs. Jai VidalNick Aldis will explain his actions from last week to Alex Shelley
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