Andrew’s Impact Homecoming Results & Match Ratings: 7.31.2021

Impact Wrestling Homecoming, this time with a Homecoming King and Queen gimmick! Ugh…okay let’s see what happens here…

Is anyone really excited for an intergender tag match with no real ramifications aside from filling time and a cute concept to gimmick the event name? No? Didn’t think so.

At least we’ve got an X Division Championship match to look forward to and what could be a fun a Hardcore main event. I guess we’ll just see if they can at least make these tournament matches entertaining.

.@DramaKingMatt is @DeonnaPurrazzo's partner! #Homecoming

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— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 1, 2021

Ratings:

• Alisha Edwards & Hernandez vs Deonna Purrazzo & Drama King Matthew Rehwoldt: Drama King wins via Headlock Driver – **
• Chelsea Green & Matt Cardona vs Thicc Momma Pump & Petey Williams: Green wins via Unprettier – ** ½
• Tommy Dreamer & Rachael Ellering vs Brian Myers & Missy Hyatt: Dreamer/Ellering win via Doomsday Device – ***
• Rosemary & Crazzy Steve vs Fallah N Flava: Steve wins via King Kill 33 – ** ½
• Deaner w/VBD vs Willie Mack w/Rich Swann: Deaner wins via Deaner DDT – *** ¼
• Deonna Purrazzo & Drama King Matthew Rehwoldt vs Chelsea Green & Matt Cardona: Rehwoldt wins via Headlock Driver – ***
• Rosemary & Crazzy Steve vs Rachael Ellering & Tommy Dreamer: Steve wins via Victory Roll – ** ¾
• X Division Championship: Josh Alexander (c) vs Black Taurus w/Havok: Alexander retains via C4 Spike – **** ¼
• Homecoming King & Queen Finals: Drama King Matthew Rehwoldt & Deonna Purrazzo vs Rosemary & Crazzy Steve: Deonna wins via Queen’s Gambit – ** ½
• Hardcore Match: W. Morrissey vs Eddie Edwards: Eddie wins via Chain Wrapped Boston Knee Party – *** ½

Results:

Alisha Edwards & Hernandez vs Deonna Purrazzo & Drama King Matthew Rehwoldt

Alisha and Deonna started off after Drama King did his singing thing to start with. Alisha held her own after Deonna got cocky. Drama King tried to hype up Deonna since apparently intergender fighting is legal. Deonna manages to hold her own a little against Hernandez, but tags out after a few interactions.

Hernandez manhandles Drama King Matt, and then we see a little tag team back and forth. Air Mexico happens, Alisha dives on the group, as things are looking up for Swinger’s Palace, Drama King takes advantage of being rolled in first. Jumps Hernandez part way through the ropes, hits the One Percenter, or whatever he’ll call it, and Virtuosa and Drama King move on!

Chelsea Green & Matt Cardona vs Thicc Momma Pump & Petey Williams

Jordynne and Petey did all the fun Scott Steiner references since they are the Pump Family. Stereo Elbow Drops into a cocky cover for 1, then pushups. Jordynne and Petey both had intergender spots to get over Jordynne’s power and the size disparity so Petey wasn’t as imposing to Chelsea.

After double Steiner Recliners, Petey wiped out Cardona, but the Steiner references were just too much. Too much in the way that it got in the way of Petey and Jordynne trying to actually win. A lot of fun spots, but also just far too gimmicked. So Chelsea caught Jordynne in the Unprettier and wins the match!

Tommy Dreamer & Rachael Ellering vs Brian Myers & Missy Hyatt

Sam Beale goes through the intro and introduces Missy Hyatt as who he found for Brian Myers! So there’s something amusing about Dreamer and Ellering doing the Road Warriors gimmick and Missy Hyatt comes out of nowhere. Hyatt says she doesn’t wrestle…so, we’ve reached an impasse.

Myers puts Dreamer in an armbar, tags in Missy, so she gets in reluctantly. Dreamer refuses to entertain hitting Missy, tags in Rachael and Missy tags right out. The crowd chants “You Still Got It” for Missy, and Myers has to do the work now. Comedy spots of the Flip Flop and Fly, Rachael calls for the Corner Axe Handle but Tommy goes from top rope to bottom, Sam Beale tries to hit Tommy with the clipboard, pisses him off and Tommy rolls out. Sam books it right into a clothesline from Rachael.

Myers tries to take advantage of things, goes for the Roster Cut, gets caught in the Spicolli Driver and Missy is done with the match. Missy walks out, Myers is distraught, Tommy puts him in the Electric Chair, Rachael has the Hawk makeup, so she comes off the top, DOOMSDAY DEVICE! They hit the Road Warriors signature double cover and move on.

Fun match.

.@missyhyatt just taught @sambeale23 more about the wrestling business in 90 seconds than anybody else ever could. #Homecoming @Myers_Wrestling

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— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 1, 2021

Rosemary & Crazzy Steve vs Fallah N Flava

So this was another comedy driven match. Fallah didn’t want to hit Rosemary, Tasha was trying to get him to have an edge, but Fallah couldn’t for quite some time. It took a bit of goading from Rosemary and Fallah just trying to have fun at her expense calling her a weirdo and picking on some of her signature stuff.

Tasha tried to turn the momentum back around once Steve got tagged in. Rosemary got Tasha out of the ring, Steve took advantage of his freshness and speed, hit King Kill 33, and Decay moves on!

Deaner w/VBD vs Willie Mack w/Rich Swann

Deaner starts off quickly because he’s trying to prove himself and rebound from their recent shortcomings in the tag scene. Rich’s job as second is basically just to try and neutralize the interference of VBD. Eric Young manages to get in a few pot shots and even cracks Willie with the VBD flag to set up the finish.

There was a lot of solid action, Willie hits the Pop-Up Forearm, Sitout Powerbomb; with Deaner getting across his neck jamming corner dropkick and his front flip neckbreaker. But after the flag shot, Deaner hits the Deaner DDT and VBD win!

Deonna Purrazzo & Drama King Matthew Rehwoldt vs Chelsea Green & Matt Cardona

This was probably the most competitive match thus far. Purrazzo and Green had some solid back and forth, Drama King tried to take advantage of Chelsea being in, but she eventually gets Cardona in.

We see a nice signature spot where each person lands a move, Deonna even putting Cardona in the Fujiwara Armbar, but this was kind of a fun match. The few times Cardona took shots at Deonna, she acted offended, but Rehwoldt and Purrazzo took most of the shortcuts present. Another hectic spot leading to Chelsea and Deonna being outside, Drama King lands that Headlock Driver again, and the heels go over!

Rosemary & Crazzy Steve vs Rachael Ellering & Tommy Dreamer

Rosemary and Steve kept calling for Tommy Dreamer to be Innovator of Violence. There was an few amusing dueling babyface moments. Rachael and Rosemary licked their palms and shook hands, Steve and Tommy had a stare down, it was just generally good vibes early on.

The rest of the match went…well how we should expect. A few throwback ECW Dreamer moments, Piledriver style Dreamer Driver, some comedic spots, but when Tommy tried to finish Steve by sitting into a Double Legged Cradle, Steve reversed it for the pinfall, and Decay barely pull off the win.

X Division Championship: Josh Alexander (c) vs Black Taurus w/Havok

Alexander usually has the power advantage, but Black Taurus is no push over. This is beautifully paced, with Taurus fusing power and lucha libre stylings, while Alexander stays mostly grounded and unleashes suplexes and great mat work to try to keep the clash of styles deadlocked.

Taurus uses a lot of quick strikes, lucha style counters and a great Tornillo to try to even the score. Alexander gets momentum going with a Northern Lights Suplex and then the Kurt Angle homage of the triplicate German Suplexes. Taurus gets a near fall after the corkscrew splash into a Spear, but Alexander manages to hunt for the Ankle and give himself a small respite while cranking the ankle.

We see counter shot after counter. Alexander charges, Taurus headbutt, Taurus charges the corner into Alexander’s boot, eats a Powerbomb Backbreaker and then the C4 Spike abruptly ends this slobberknocker!

Homecoming King & Queen Finals: Drama King Matthew Rehwoldt & Deonna Purrazzo vs Rosemary & Crazzy Steve

Drama King played up his character when Steve threatened him with biting his face. Said something along the lines of Van Gogh cut off his ear, so he’s willing to risk whatever. We then see Rehwoldt and Steve do most of the wrestling work, which is a little surprising since Deonna prides herself on being Impact’s Wrestler of the Year in 2020.

Steve showed off a lot of solid ring skill, even lays out to try and defend Rosemary’s momentum, but sells injuring his knee on the Plancha. Drama King took a few short cuts, Deonna took a few short cuts, but everything made sense, worked in character and there were close calls for both teams.

After Rosemary got strung across the ropes by Drama King, Deonna takes advantage of that, hits her Gotch Style Piledriver now named Queen’s Gambit, and the Virtuosa and Drama King are King and Queen.

Hardcore Match: W. Morrissey vs Eddie Edwards

Hopefully this is used as a Hardcore Match should be, and as the blow off of the feud. Morrissey took the short cut to beat Eddie at Slammiversary, Eddie managed to get a measure of revenge in the parking lot but it wasn’t an official match.

We get to this Hardcore match, and Morrissey takes quick control using his size before Eddie starts incorporating some weapons to even the score. Chairs, trash can lids and tables galore. Eddie hits Massive Cassidy with a trash can lid, it flies into the crowd, but the fans catch it. Eddie asks for it back, they feed it back to Eddie and you could tell the fans had fun with the interaction.

The crowd also helped this out with verbal jabs at Morrissey and possibly the first ever “No More Tables” chant. Morrissey pulls out a zip tie from his pocket and looks to have things in hand when he sets a table up in the corner, beats on Eddie and it ready to drive him through the table. Eddie dodges, and Luigi Rockets himself through the Massive one and shatters the table. Surge of adrenaline, Eddie breaks the ties, lands a few Kendo Stick shots, wraps the chain around his knee and we get an amplified Boston Knee Party.

Eddie Edwards gives Massive Cassidy his first loss in Impact Wrestling!

Overall Score: 7.25/10

Well let’s be honest here, no one, LITERALLY NO ONE, cared about an intergender tag tournament. Even if the King and Queen gimmick was cute for the name of the show, it was not an enticing reason to watch the show. Granted, none of the matches were terrible, even if some needed heavier comedy or gimmick usage to be entertaining, nothing was bad.

So due to the majority of the show being a worthless tournament, this benefitted from all of the singles matches being worth the wait. Deaner had a quality match and story progression, Alexander and Taurus had a great match, with Eddie and Cassidy pulling off a much better Hardcore match than it had to be.

Matt and Deonna winning adds to their gimmicks well, now Deonna just has to retain against Faby Apache to not look dumb. Josh Alexander continues to be the shining light in the championship picture. Where outsiders or turn coats hold the World and Tag titles, the X Division champ is proud, impressive and damn good at everything he does. IF Jay White isn’t supposed to be the one to take the belt off of Kenny Omega…I’d be more than happy for a return of Option C. Lastly, Eddie and Cassidy can hopefully move forward from here. I don’t want them to tread more water unless things blend. If we could maybe see Moose and Cassidy team up against Sabin and Edwards or something like that, yeah, I’m game then.

Aside from that, the action was good, the story beats made sense; but hot damn was the premise for the show uninteresting. This definitely felt like one of the B Level WWE PPVs that everyone doesn’t care about but has surprisingly great matches.