Andrew’s Impact Wrestling Results & Match Ratings 6.9.20

Sami Callihan, Ken Shamrock and Michael Elgin kick off tonight’s show! Also we get the Knockout’s title match that never happened at Rebellion!

If those aren’t enough, we’re bound to see a few more people return from quarantine, on top of Deonna Purrazzo making her Impact Wrestling return.

Let’s kick things off with the video clip that actually gave Impact a lot of positive buzz for the last week, promoting Slammiversary 2020.

You're not going to want to miss a second of tonight's IMPACT with Slammiversary coming up on July 18th!

We're 30 MINUTES AWAY! #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/xZ2PLwgi1Q

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) June 9, 2020

Ratings:

• Michael Elgin vs Ken Shamrock vs Sami Callihan: Elgin wins via Elgin Bomb – *** ¼
• Tasha Steelz w/Kiera Hogan vs Susie: Tasha wins via Okkurrr – **
• Johnny Swinger & Chris Bey vs Willie Mack & Cousin Jake: Mack wins via Stunner – **
• Jacob Crist w/Cancel Culture vs Crazzy Steve: Jacob wins via Corner Combination – ** 1/4
• Knockout’s Championship: Taya Valkyrie w/John E. Bravo & Rosemary vs Jordynne Grace: Grace retains via Sleeper Hold – *** 1/4 

Results:

Michael Elgin vs Ken Shamrock vs Sami Callihan

Shamrock hits the ring second and goes right after Elgin. Sami uses the blackout magic of his hacker gimmick to enter the ring and just watch the two go at each other. Through about two thirds of the match, Shamrock and Callihan didn’t lockup and almost worked together.

That plays well towards their story where Shamrock has respect for Sami now, but Sami seems reluctant to want to bury the hatchet. After they double team Elgin with a barrage of forearms and kicks, then Sami flips off Shamrock; which sparks the two to finally hit each other. We get a few moments of each man breaking up a pin and taking short control of the match.

Shamrock gets Elgin locked in the Ankle Lock, as Elgin tries to fight out, he climbs the middle ropes; but Shamrock keeps the ankle and pulls back so the turnbuckle pad gets ripped off. Sami stops Elgin from tapping, and then Elgin slams Sami into Shamrock causing Shamrock to be driven into the exposed turnbuckle. Sami rolls out; Elgin hits the Elgin Bomb on Shamrock and wins the match.

Solid opener which still blurs the lines between Shamrock and Sami.

Hmm who attacked Trey last week?

The North are BACK on IMPACT and there's a lot of fingers being pointed over who attacked @TheTreyMiguel. #IMPACTonAXSTV @OfficialEGO @Walking_Weapon @DezmondXavier @zachary_wentz pic.twitter.com/6vXnwnyjJ8

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) June 10, 2020

Tasha Steelz w/Kiera Hogan vs Susie

Surprisingly, no Kylie Rae with Susie, and Susie had more makeup on than usual. That’s not cosmetic judgement from me, more just I’m wondering if it’s supposed to imply more of Su Yung sneaking out.

This match took the normal path that we expected. Tasha and Kiera were teasing Susie, Susie pulled out some impressive offense, Bulldog from the corner, Thesz Press, Judo Throw and even a big Jushin Liger-esque Palm Strike; taking Tasha out of midair. Kiera jumped on the apron, Susie says that’s bad, but the distraction allowed Tasha to hit her Cutter known as the Okurrr…or whatever the thing Cardi B does.

Kiera and Tasha are adorable…gonna die…but still cute as hell.

Do you think @HoganKnowsBest3 and @RealTSteelz are scared of @FearHavok and @nevaehOi4k? #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/62KDLgZgDT

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) June 10, 2020

ImpactPlus Flashback Moment: May 17,2016, Miracle Mike Bennett calls out Earl Hebner for a match

EC3 is involved in this angle, we even get a Tyrus sighting, then there’s a backstage segment with Rhino and Rohit Raju…and Rhino says he has a tag team partner, and he’s got kids. Not sure if it was just for the cheap reference pop, but following up their Slammiversary bumper with a bunch of possible names and a reference…is interesting. 

Johnny Swinger & Chris Bey vs Willie Mack & Cousin Jake

Well this match didn’t really catch my attention since we all know it’s a stepping stone in Bey trying to get a singles challenge against Willie. It was a fine match, but mostly irrelevant. It was a great vehicle to reintroduce Cody Deaner from being out of Canadian quarantine. So this was a serviceable television match,but frankly just a time filler.

Scott D’Amore makes the announcement about the Impact World Title. Ace Austin interrupts assuming he’s going to just be granted the vacant title, Michael Elgin comes out to continue his campaign that he deserves the title, a wild Eddie Edwards appears looking for a fight. And here’s the announcement: 

.@ScottDAmore has made it official!

It'll be @TheTreyMiguel vs. @TheEddieEdwards vs. @MichaelElgin25 vs. @The_Ace_Austin vs. @Tess_Blanchard for the World Championship at #Slammiversary! #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/6hz6kqwo6J

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) June 10, 2020

Jacob Crist w/Cancel Culture vs Crazzy Steve

Not a terrible match. Jake is brought out with all of Cancel Culture (yes RVD and Katie Forbes included), and Joseph calls him Jacob. So we get some solid fast paced action, just not a ton of it, and then Joseph distracts Crazzy Steve allowing Jacob to hit his combination kicks for the finish. Jake’s first win maybe all year…so the Cancel Culture affiliation is working out.

Plus, could you imagine a possible tag team of RVD and Jake Crist?

Knockout’s Championship: Taya Valkyrie w/John E. Bravo & Rosemary vs Jordynne Grace

Jordynne comes out with a slightly different persona, and Taya comes out with more of an entourage than usual. Granted, after seeing the vignettes the last few weeks, we know Rosemary is trying to get Bravo for herself, so a swerve is in the air. But Taya seems completely ignorant to it, and she’s tremendous at character work mixed in with solid wrestling.

She played the usual heel cards early, by baiting Jordynne and powdering out, but Jordynne follows with an angry dive. A good portion of the bumps were focused on Taya’s back, from Jordynne’s power moves to tumbles from the ring to the floor. It should also be noted, that even before Rosemary and Bravo were off chatting like they were on a date, which left Taya high and dry; they seemed to be a little slow on the outside help.

Taya still did a good job making the match competitive, even when she didn’t have much of the heel advantage; but this was Jordynne’s match from the start. Great power moves and weakening the back made it easier for her to unveil her new Sleeper Hold with body scissors.

Since Deonna Purrazzo was hinted at the entire show, we had to assume that this was her return moment. Jordynne shows off a submission just in time for the Fujiwara Virtuosa to show up and make her presence known.

Overall Score: 7/10

While A LOT happened in this episode, the filler match and mostly story stuff could turn some people off. I liked how Ace Austin asked what the point of the tournament was, if he was gonna be jammed in a 5 way…that’s a great logical point like a heel should do. Deonna Purrazzo made a solid return, be it cliche, it was still solid. The North stirring the pot on The Rascalz drama was funny…but it felt completely unnecessary since Trey got added to the 5 way anyway.

Not sure if the “who jumped Trey” story will just fade away or if the assailant will come forward to try and get his spot in the 5 way now. Speaking of moving forward, next week having a TNA Heavyweight Championship match and a Tag Team Championship match; makes for a pretty big show. I like how this feels kind of like the pieces of Rebellion that quarantine took from us, and it still fits nicely into how they had to pivot for the last month or so.

"You know us Canadians, we've always been team players."

👀👀👀#IMPACTonAXSTV @MichaelElgin25 pic.twitter.com/z4H5lHZjNb

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) June 10, 2020

All in all, good show, just perhaps not enough action for everyone.