Victory Road has come and gone, with all of the champions defending and an Option C declaration. What kind of IMPACT! are we in for building towards Bound for Glory?

Today is a bit of a question mark. How will the promote Christian Cage versus Josh Alexander, will it stay respectful? Do we end up with Mickie and Deonna like most of us can see coming? Does Sami Callihan turn on Eddie after the debacle, or does Sami get it and help him?

Let’s find out!

.@realsuyung's collection of souls continues to grow. #IMPACTonAXSTV @brandilauren_ @Kimber_Lee90 pic.twitter.com/aGIKVpio7m

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) September 24, 2021

Ratings:

• Hikuleo w/Chris Bey vs David Finlay w/Juice Robinson: Finaly wins via School Yard Rollup – ** ½
• Rohit Raju vs Chelsea Green: Rohit wins via Inside Cradle – **
• Willie Mack & Rich Swann vs Brian Myers &VSK w/The Learning Tree: Swann wins via Assisted Crossbody – **
• Ace Austin w/Madman Fulton vs Josh Alexander: Alexander wins via C4 Spike – *** ¼

Results:

The show opens with Scott D’Amore having Josh Alexander come to the ring and effectively just explain what Option C means for the uninitiated. Josh has a solid response, and it provokes Christian to come out and push back on the prospective challenger a bit. Christian’s provocation makes Josh’s decision easier, but Madman Fulton and Ace come out to stir the pot.

Madman and Ace layout both Josh and Christian, so it gives them a common enemy while building the feud from respect to possibly boiling over frustration the closer we get to Bound for Glory.

Hikuleo w/Chris Bey vs David Finlay w/Juice Robinson

 Hikuleo generally plays on the size difference and David Finlay applies the logic of “Ever see what a chainsaw does to a tree”. Finlay would take shots at Hikuleo’s legs before Leo eventually tossed him into the corner or caught him out of midair.

Finlay tries to get be stubborn and grab for Headlocks and head control, which almost works when he goes full Spider Monkey and clings on to Leo’s back and tries to get him to pass out in the Sleeper Hold. Leo rams him into the corner, tries to shrug it off and go for the Chokeslam, Finlay goes Prima Nocta, shoves Leo into the ropes, then trips the big man up and uses the Jacknife Cradle to steal a win.

El Phantasmo shows up after the match to make it a numbers game and make his presence felt.

.@TheSamiCallihan and @TheEddieEdwards are on the hunt for revenge on @TheMooseNation. #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/jLUFLVRWVp

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) September 24, 2021

Rohit Raju vs Chelsea Green

Rohit came out alone and cocky, so that’s a little weird. Chelsea took the fight to Rohit and it wasn’t a terrible intergender match. Chelsea got a little bit of her craziness in as well as some stiffer shots with Running Kicks and strikes.

There’s of course the stereotypical moments where Rohit’s power puts the brakes on some moves, but Chelsea was in control about as much as you’d expect since Rohit is a typical chicken shit heel. Rohit starts to mouth off to Cardona, he looks like he’s going to get spurred to interfere but speaking of interference, Rohit has back up!

Raj Singh comes down to take out Cardona before anything can really happen, but it distracts Chelsea and Rohit gets the Inside Cradle win! Definitely a night of some unexpected returns or debuts.

.@swinger_johnny has written a letter to @ScottDAmore protesting IMPACT heading to Las Vegas. #IMPACTonAXSTV @JohnEBravo1st @SuperMexCTM pic.twitter.com/v3p8GVVJqi

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) September 24, 2021

Willie Mack & Rich Swann vs Brian Myers &VSK w/The Learning Tree

Speaking of more random names I didn’t expect. This makes Bound for Glory and even Victory Road seem much more pivotal with so many roster adjustments.

VSK looks good against Swanny, hell Brian even accepted the tag from VSK and has his moments against Willie Mack. Zicky Dice tried to get involved, Willie Mack knocked him down, but Myers hung him on the middle ropes and VSK hit the Sliding German.

This was an entertaining moment to show that VSK was a trainee that actually has talent where The Learning Tree kind of sucks. Which is punctuated when Zicky gets smacked away again, then Sam Beale tries to chuck Rich Swann off the top rope and Swann dives right into VSK Crossbody style and gets the pinfall victory. Sam Beale is such a dweeb, which is the point I know.

.@MachineGunKA and @The_BigLG are taking a hard earned vacation after their string of Tag Team Title victories. #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/jddvsoGnG6

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) September 24, 2021

So Mickie comes out in all her Hardcore Country glory, still looking like a whole snacc. She challenges Deonna to a title match as we all knew was coming. Deonna comes out looking like a complete Jersey snacc in all her cheetah print mob wife glory. She refuses the challenge, says that she never idolized Mickie and the match does nothing for her. She tells Mickie to earn it because where she’s from respect is earned and not given.

There’s a bit of a brawl, Scott D’Amore comes out, basically says because Mickie is who she is, she gets what she wants. So Scott just plays to the crowd and continues his fan pleasing ways.

IMPACTplus IMPACT! 5/23/2013, Knockouts Championship, Mickie James vs Velvet Skye

Ace Austin w/Madman Fulton vs Josh Alexander

Josh looks to keep Ace on the mat and work him around with headlocks but as Josh takes him to the corner, they break and Fulton makes his presence felt. Ace’s flurry is short lived as Josh lands an Exploder Suplex to regain control. Ace tries to powder and do his hand stand dodge crap, but Josh follows and grabs the Punt Kick foot and locks in an early Ankle Lock to send a message.

The rest of the match is very back and forth with Ace hitting a flurry of strikes and Josh focusing on submissions and suplexes. After Josh hits 5 of the locomotion German Suplexes, Ace grabs the ropes to stop the onslaught. We see the Alexander through the ropes Crossbody, but as Alexander goes to collect Ace, Fulton distracts him again, Ace catches him with a Flip Kick as Josh falls on top of Fulton.

Ace tries to take advantage of the opening, but Josh comes to and catches Ace mid fold, hits the Power Breaker and the C4 Spike for the win!

Christian runs out to make the save, Josh and Christian have a moment of discord where Josh doesn’t seem to want the help. So Madman and Ace look to finish the beatdown, and…”OH MY GOD” Christopher Daniels shows up to save Christian and Josh Alexander. I wonder if Daniels will be involved in the upcoming X Division tournament.

Overall Score: 6.75/10

So this was a very oddly paced episode. A lot of talking segments, vignettes, and story set up. The matches weren’t really anything great, the main event was the best and even that fell a little short of the usual main event quality match IMPACT! tends to put on.

As I mentioned in the recaps, the returns were really pushing the energy of episode. With El Phantasmo, Raj Singh, VSK and Christopher Daniels popping back into IMPACT we’ve got a few new interesting wrinkles to existing stories. Should also be interesting to see what kind of role Christopher Daniels plays in the X Division or the main event.

All in all the show was a decent episode, just not action driven and throwing a lot of story beats at you to keep the train moving for a few weeks until Bound for Glory.