The hype video said Emergence Chapter 1, and I do like that better than night…but no need to get cute with titles. Big television special for Impact! Now most of the television specials have been fairly mediocre in the past, but given the world we live in; I expect this to be treated more like a PPV than just a normal stop gap special.

We get three title matches on this first night! X Division, Tag Team and TNA! We get to see if Rohit is low key a genius, or the biggest jabroni in that locker room. Do The North get retribution, or will the Motor City Machine Guns show them they’re not just a nostalgia act with a fluke victory?

Plus, I want to see Moose cut Trey in half so he gets away from title pictures. EVEN fake title pictures, he’s not worth the effort. Moose has become a fantastic character, and there’s intrigue with the EC3 angle, so no room for Trey. Bye bye Trey, go back to your mom….at least she was over.

"I was elite before being elite was cool."

The @TheEricYoung we see today is him in his purest form. #Emergence #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/aPuph70PuU

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 19, 2020

Ratings:

• X Division Championship: TJP w/Fallah Bahh vs Rohit Raju vs Chris Bey (c): Rohit wins via Dragon Stomp – **** – TITLE CHANGE!!!
• TNA Heavyweight Championship Invitational: Moose (c) vs Trey Miguel: Moose retains via No Jackhammer Needed – ** ¼
• Ace Austin & Madman Fulton vs The Good Brothers: Good Brothers win via Magic Killer – *** ½
• Kylie Rae vs Taya Valkyrie: Kylie wins via Superkick – ** ½
• Impact World Tag Team Championship: Motor City Machine Guns vs The North: MCMG retains via Skull and Bones – **** ½

Results:

X Division Championship: TJP w/Fallah Bahh vs Rohit Raju vs Chris Bey (c)

Beautiful story telling in this match, and a big reminder of how great TJP is in the ring. Rohit starts off the match dapping it up with Chris Bey, and the fix is immediately in. Fallah also does a great job at staying out of everything, playing the perfect babyface second.

TJP put on a clinic, even though it was 2v1 90 percent of the time, TJP always looked to be in control. Great submissions, references back to little Suicide mannerisms, a fantastic Cobra Twist Bomb, just…TJP wow. To Rohit’s credit, the swerve wasn’t in until the very end. Even when Bey accidentally tagged him with a boot, Rohit still broke up the pinfall attempts. Rohit grabbed Bey’s hand as to stop him from tapping, all fantastic heel work. It wasn’t until Bey and TJP are on the top rope, Rohit tosses off TJP and Bey is hanging Tree of Woe style, while trying to get up.

Rohit looks like he’s about to hit something to help Bey, and then the genius washes over his face like a cheesey action movie villain. He gets this huge grin, cackles and Dragon Stomps Bey, with no remorse. Remember, his mother calls him SUN, cause he shines like it!

Great way to kick things off. Bey got finessed, Rohit’s master plan worked out and TJP looks like a beast.

Wrestle House starts with an interesting conversation between Bravo’s stuffed dog and Crazzy Steve’s monkey puppet…yeah…that encapsulates this segment. HAHA!

A real meeting of the minds. #Emergence @steveofcrazzy @JohnEBravo1st pic.twitter.com/2Bh7EYgMah

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 19, 2020

TNA Heavyweight Championship Invitational: Moose (c) vs Trey Miguel

Now it should be no secret that I can’t stand Trey. Don’t get it twisted, he’s a fun wrestler and not a bad Junior style wrestler, but after that Slammiversary promo and most of the time he talks…yeah, he needs a mouth piece or laryngitis.

I really enjoy this General Tsao’s chicken – oh am I supposed to care? Trey is trying to be framed as “the ultimate underdog” but he’s just a dweeb. Moose never really loses control of match, Trey has some flashes but it’s never believable. Moose wins via Spear, that they are now calling the Lights Out? I don’t know. I’m still calling it No Jackhammer Needed.

Post-match attack from EC3, he lays out Moose and then leaves with the TNA title.

IMPACTPlus Flashback Moment: Kurt Angle vs Eric Young, May 1, 2015, Hardcore Justice, Stretcher Match

Willie Mack interview with Jimmy Jacobs gets interrupted by Brian Myers. Myers does the usual “out of touch old man” line. But I can get behind Willie and Myers.

"Joe Biden, you wanna pick your running mate on a Tuesday. Man nothing happens on Tuesday but IMPACT Wrestling. And what should have been trending was #Heath4IMPACT!" #Emergence #IMPACTonAXSTV @HEATHXXII pic.twitter.com/WGeDjIorVK

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 19, 2020

Ace Austin & Madman Fulton vs The Good Brothers

This was a nice start to the actual physical feud between the two teams. Ace and Madman isolated Karl quite often, and came in with a great plan. I also really enjoyed how many of their tandem spots are Fulton delivering the move onto Ace’s knees. I especially like their tandem Snake Eyes while Ace is sitting on the top turnbuckle.

Either way, this match was very back and forth, which is a great way to show that Ace and Fulton are a force to be reckoned with. The Good Brothers don’t get an opening until Fulton gets overzealous with a Big Boot on the outside, that Gallows side steps and Fulton’s leg gets stuck in the guardrail. One Magic Killer later, and it’s time for the beerskis.

Solid match, with hopefully more to come since Madman and Ace seem to work well together.

More Wrestle House shenanigans and Lawrence D awesomeness. Also of course I love the South Park parody with “They took our beer” instead of “they took our job”. Good stuff.

THEY TOOK THEIR BEER! #Emergence #IMPACTonAXSTV @JakeSomething_ @CodyDeaner pic.twitter.com/twSuEMO5VK

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 19, 2020

Kylie Rae vs Taya Valkyrie

Now this is a combination of a real wrestling match and the Wrestle House camp. With Rosemary as the referee there’s a lot of interesting jawing, and even Rosemary gets involved to trip up Kylie at least once. The work is pretty decent if not played up for the setting, and it’s quite fun.

Hard to try and rate this on a legitimate level, so I’ll say I enjoyed it for what it was and the shenanigans that followed. Gotta get my hands on some of that Ring Rust though…Lawrence D is a legend.

Impact World Tag Team Championship: Motor City Machine Guns vs The North

Mooottaahh Ciiittyyy…oh I’m supposed to be impartial here right? Okay then!

In a switch from their first match, Sabin starts off and does a lot of the earlier work. Shelley takes the bigger bumps through the match, but we did get a much better look at Sabin post 3^rd ACL surgery. This had all the trappings of a classic tag team match with great moves, awareness and just all around great work.

The North played the perfect foils, taking a few shortcuts, but when they had the guns vulnerable, posing and ego got in the way of finishing the job. There was a great call back though, when The North went for Northern Assault, Sabin rolled up Page in the Small Package again. Alexander saw this, reversed it and then held Alex Shelley at bay, but it was only a two count.

From there we get the Five Hole Dive, the tandem Chancery/Sliding Kick, even a small taste of the ASCS Rush, before The North fight back. I definitely like how the finish callback was placed a little before the actual finish since it helped build suspense even more. The Guns breaking out Skull and Bones for the finish was also very nice.

Overall Score: 8/10

THIS WAS ONLY THE FIRST HALF! Sheesh, when the worst match on the card is only ranked low because I have zero faith in Trey, that’s a damn good night. Wrestle House was staggered well to add some levity to a serious show. Seeing the build for Brian Myers vs Willie Mack is nice, and yes, Rohit proving that he’s not a jabroni is also amazing.

Little things that Impact has built up for, paid off quite well. Also showing The Good Brothers to be a touch more mortal than expected is nice to elevate the entire tag team division.

It’s a lot to live up to, but next week should be interesting!