Andrew’s IMPACT Emergence Results & Match Ratings: 8.20.2021

Emergence brings us Christian Cage’s first defense of the IMPACT World Championship, an X Division title match and a mixed tag with Deonna and Melina!

There’s quite a few things going on tonight, including a Number One Contender’s match, but it should also be fun to see where this stacks up compared to Triplemania and Resurgence. There’s something interesting to me about seeing how the shows that IMPACT helped promote stack up against one another.

So let’s get to the show and see if Brian Myers shocks anyone!

Results:

• Matt Cardona w/Chelsea Green vs Rohit w/Shera: Cardona wins via Radio Silence – *** ¼
• Tasha Steelz, Savannah Evans, Now Way Jose & Fallah Bahh vs Decay (Crazzy Steve, Rosemary, Havok & Black Taurus): Decay wins via Tandem Spear – ** ½
• Steve Maclin vs Petey Williams: Maclin wins via Michinoku Driver II-B – ***
• Madison Rayne w/Tenille Dashwood & Kaleb vs Taylor Wilde: Madison wins via Roll-Up after Interference – **
• #1 Contender for the World Championship 4 Way: Chris Sabin vs Moose vs Sami Callihan vs Ace Austin w/Madman Fulton: Austin wins via Oklahoma Roll with tights – *** ½
• X Division Championship: Jake Something vs Josh Alexander (c): Alexander retains via C4 Spike – **** ½
• Matthew Rehwoldt & Deonna Purrazzo vs Melina & Trey Miguel: Rehwoldt wins via Small Package – **
• World Tag Team Championships: The Good Brothers (c) vs VBD vs Rich Swann & Willie Mack: Anderson retains via Roll-Up – ** ¾
• Impact World Championship: Christian Cage (c) vs Brian Myers w/Sam Beale: Christian retains via Killswitch – *** ¾

Ratings:

Matt Cardona w/Chelsea Green vs Rohit w/Shera

Cardona dominates early on. Nothing flashy but he uses his size and veteran savvy to stay ahead of Rohit who is searching for an opening. It’s not until Cardona lariats Rohit to the outside, and Shera steps up to take Cardona’s attention, that Rohit manages to pull the apron out from under Cardona’s feet.

At this point we see Rohit put together a few strikes, some really decent offense that he doesn’t usually apply and looks pretty solid. Eventually Rohit’s ego gets in his way, Cardona manages to counter a grapple attempt and then counter Rohit’s counter for the Suplex into a Neckbreaker. Then we see some back and forth.

Cardona throws Rohit into the corner, Rohit dodges the Broski Boot, but Cardona hits a Wrecking Ball Dropkick. Rohit comes back in, creates some offense by rotating through a Sidewalk Slam, and grabs Cardona’s head, Twist and Shout, Twist and Shout into a pinfall, but only 2. Cardona dodges a corner splash, hits the Broski Boot, but Rohit manages to put the brakes on the Radio Silence attempt, jumping Flateliner, but only 2.

Cardona strings a few things together, Middle Rope Dropkick, TKO, and only a 2! The crowd is actually decently behind this match, Cardona is getting frustrated, Shera causes a distraction, Rohit tries a Dirty Pin but the referee sees the feet on the ropes. A small argument with the referee gives Cardona the time to measure up for Radio Silence; Cardona wins!

Shera attacks Cardona after the bell, does the ChokeBreaker, feigns that he’s gonna do his own Broski Boot, but Chelsea gets in the way to stop the assault. Shera respecting Chelsea and not just bowling her over is an interesting wrinkle.

Tasha Steelz, Savannah Evans, Now Way Jose & Fallah Bahh vs Decay (Crazzy Steve, Rosemary, Havok & Black Taurus)

Rosemary and Tasha start things off, but as the crowd gets riled up chanting “Bite Her Face Off” Tasha decides it’s better to tag in Savannah instead of dealing with that. Savannah dominates Rosemary early, then we see a little bit of everyone to a degree. Fallah comes in, Taurus comes in, Taurus hits Fallah with the power and agility of lucha, then Fallah gets pushed into the corner, and Decay attacks him like a Zombie movie. Each apron member biting Fallah causing the crowd to chant “Tastes like Bahh”.

Savannah does her usual against Rosemary, but Rosemary finally starts trying to wiggle away, Tasha tags in, and then Rosemary tags out. Decay quicken the pace, keeping the matchups in their favor as we end with Taurus and Fallah.

Taurus takes an extra beat to hit the Escalera Corkscrew, then Rosemary comes in, Double Spear on Fallah, and Taurus pins for the win!

Steve Maclin vs Petey Williams

They start fighting before the bell, since the buildup has been a little personal. Petey takes some nice early advantage and even almost loses his cool on the outside. The referee allows for a few things on the outside, and Petey stayed fairly in control, until he tried the first Canadian Destroyer.

In typical Petey fashion, he relies too heavily on the Destroyer and tends to start losing ground in the match. Some nice back and forth ensues, Petey locks in the Sharpshooter until he tries to hold Maclin’s arm back and Maclin bites him. So as the hold gets broken and the referee is turning around, Maclin hits the Low Blow, then he hits his Inverted Michinoku Driver for the win!

Madison Rayne w/Tenille Dashwood & Kaleb vs Taylor Wilde

This was a solid match honestly until the overbooked cluster of a finish. Taylor has shown she’s still smooth and clever in the ring, especially after the got caught mid Back Slide, but Taylor utilized the ropes to springboard herself forward into an interesting Lucha Arm Drag.

A few interesting spots, but between Kaleb, multiple camera bags and Tenille getting involved as well, the finish definitely ruined what could’ve been a surprisingly decent match.

#1 Contender for the World Championship 4 Way: Chris Sabin vs Moose vs Sami Callihan vs Ace Austin w/Madman Fulton

Chris Sabin was the linch pin in this match. Early offense revolved around him and who he interacted with. Sami took quick shots, flash attempts at Piledrivers and just nicely explosive spots. Ace showed off his youth and agility, and made it difficult not to be a little impressed when he ran circles around most of the competitors.

At one point all four men are in the ring hitting one another. Sabin Superkicks Moose, Moose powers through it, so Sabin and Callihan exchange a look, tandem Superkick and Pump Kick, but Moose no sells through it still. Ace looks up at the other two in disbelief, and we get a Double Superkick and Pump Kick combination, followed by a Lariat from Sami to finally knock down Moose.

Sami then gets the advantage over Sabin, but Ace gets involved and tries to take advantage, but gets intercepted by a recovered Moose and dropped with multiple Uranages. Moose looks to set up Lights Out, Sami baits attention to the outside, hits him with a chair while the referee isn’t paying attention. Moose stumbles back, Ace rolls him through, grabs tights and picks up the win because of Sami!

Ace’s victory makes me feel like Christian will retain because a match against Christian will help Ace’s career waay more than a match against Curt Hawkins.

X Division Championship: Jake Something vs Josh Alexander (c)

The match starts off competitive and back and forth, but Josh eventually gets the advantage. Josh lays out Jake on the apron along the bottom rope and looks to go for his Diving Low Body Splash. As he connects, Jake catches him on his shoulders, and counters that into a Death Valley Driver.

Jake starts throwing Josh around a little, but Josh hits a Northern Lights Suplex to try and stabilize. That then starts a strike exchange where Jake looks to rock Josh and then he lands a Stalling Vertical Suplex, for a near fall. At this point Jake starts landing big moves over and over, but Josh finds the ropes over and over and clings to them for dear life.

After saving himself multiple times on the ropes, Josh manages to catch Jake, and hits him with locomotion 5 German Suplexes, Bridges into a pin, but Jake kicks and Josh doesn’t let go. So 5 more Germans with the bridge at the end, and still only a near fall. C4 Spike attempt, but Jake fights, Ankle Lock from Josh, but Jake kicks him off. So many haymakers thrown, Blue Thunder Bomd from Josh, Sitout Powerbomb from Jake, a C4 onto the apron almost gives Josh the win by countout. Josh manages to counter the Blackhole Slam attempt, hook in the C4 Spike and finally get the retention pinfall!

Fantastic match, just really damn good!

Matthew Rehwoldt & Deonna Purrazzo vs Melina & Trey Miguel

This was all story driven. It starts with Trey trying to be funny and do a split, but fail, then Melina had a small early burst until Rehwoldt proved he wasn’t opposed to mixing it up and taking short cuts against either wrestler regardless of gender.

Deonna took shortcuts, Rehwoldt took shortcuts, they wiped out Trey and then Deonna ends up blind siding Melina and Rehwoldt pins her with a Small Package for the heels to win the match! It was about as good as expected, but nothing crazy. Does a solid enough job at setting up more story for Empowerrr.

World Tag Team Championships: The Good Brothers (c) vs VBD vs Rich Swann & Willie Mack

LG and Doering start off to continue from their match last night, and this does a good job at setting the stage for anything being possible when both big men are banged up. The match didn’t really have any crazy big spots, it was a solid match with some interwoven tagging so different teams had the advantage, but it was a little paint by numbers.

Rhino goes for The Gore on Gallows after Anderson makes a blind tag, Anderson sees the opening and rolls him up; the Good Brother find a way to retain. Lots of Roll Up wins…so…that is pretty annoying tonight.

Impact World Championship: Christian Cage (c) vs Brian Myers w/Sam Beale

Now most of us know the history between these two, and both competitors played on it during promos and during the match. Cage tried to wrestle a clean match early but Myers found different ways to take early shortcuts.

Sam Beale finally gets involved, but in a dorky bumbling sidekick way. Christian ripped apart his diary, caused him to run away and then he crashed himself into the steel steps and Christian just kinda shrugged and grinned before Myers finally took advantage of…the sortuv distraction.

Myers played the clever role, forced Cage to roll back in since as the fighting babyface, Myers didn’t have to run the risk of only winning by countout. Myers does his sliding trip and it looks like Christian lands funny, so there’s enough solid moments for Myers to have hope spots. As Christian comes back into the ring, Myers hits him with a Spear, which was a great wrinkle, but only a near fall.

So Christian returned the favor a little later as Myers sets up for a Roster Cut, Christian hits Myers with a Spear and then Killswitch pinfall.

Overall Score: 7.25/10

There was a lot of good wrestling in this show. The two worst matches were mostly bad because they were focused on storyline and not in-ring content. But of course the X Division match was the match of the night…hell maybe even match of the weekend. That helped to make Jake Something even in a loss; which yes I feel like I’ve said before, but Jake is proving himself to be a great worker with a solid look…he just needs to talk better.

Melina eating the loss today does lend to possibly winning at Empowerrr. Doubtful of course, but her hitting the speed bump and Deonna just looking like the cocky Queen Bee that she is could bite her in the ass. Cage’s first defense wasn’t too bad, just really didn’t seem like a match he had a big chance of losing to begin with. Now I’m looking forward to Ace Austin’s shot and Cage probably getting the defense but helping to make the kid in the process.

All in all, solid work, a standout great match and a generally easy flowing show. Good stuff for a question IMPACTPlus event.