Andrew’s IMPACT Victory Road Results & Match Ratings: 9.18.2021

For just being an IMPACTplus event, Victory Road has a pretty stacked card. Josh Alexander looks to prove himself against one of the most notable TNA Originals Chris Sabin! Christian Cage also tries to fend off the brash Ace Austin in his second title defense!

Aside from the two major title matches, we’re also going to see the Good Brothers defend against Willie Mack and PWI #10 Rich Swann! Oh yeah and the Knockouts Tags are defended as well. Why is it that women’s tag belts seem like a decent idea on paper but the execution is always…let’s call it, lacking?

The rest of the card has some fun matches as well, so I’m expecting a decent night of action to lead into G1 Day 2 tomorrow morning!

Ratings:

• Steve Maclin vs TJP vs Petey Williams: Maclin wins via Mayhem for All – ***
• Black Taurus vs John Skyler vs Jake Something vs Laredo Kid vs Trey Miguel: Laredo Kid wins via Spanish Fly Press Pin – *** ¼
• Taylor Wilde w/Jordynne Grace & Rachael Ellering vs Tenille Dashwood w/Kaleb & Madison Rayne: Taylor wins via German Suplex Hold – ** ½
• NO DQ Match: Rohit Raju w/Shera vs Matt Cardona: Cardona wins via Radio Silence – *** ½
• Bullet Club (Chris Bey & Hikuleo) vs FinJuice: Hikuleo wins via Michinoku Driver – ***
• Eddie Edwards & Sami Callihan w/Alisha Edwards vs Moose & W. Morrisey: Moose wins via Lights Out – *** ¼
• Knockouts Tag Team Championship: Havok & Rosemary (c) vs Savannah Evans & Tasha Steelz: Havok retains via Tombstone Piledriver – ** ¾
• IMPACT World Tag Team Titles: Good Brothers (c) vs Willie Mack & Rich Swann: Good Brothers retain via Magic Killer – *** ¼
• X Division Championship: Josh Alexander (c) vs Chris Sabin: Alexander retains via C4 Spike – **** ½
• IMPACT World Championship: Ace Austin w/Madman Fulton vs Christian Cage: Christian retains via Killswitch – *** ¾

Results:

Steve Maclin vs TJP vs Petey Williams

Maclin got to play the power/mat based guy in this match, so we see a nice balance of styles. TJP does a little of everything, Petey is classic X Division and Maclin is the ground and pound. Early on both TJ and Petey went after Maclin, but also took the open shots at one another. A few interesting tandem spots where one would roll up off a roll up, or unintentionally alley oop the other into a dive.

Maclin does a good job taking both out at different times. A Double Tree of Woe for Maclin to hit his Tree of Woe Spear was a nice spot. But that also gives TJ and Petey a weird sense of comraderie. Hortly after that they work together to try and chop down Maclin. Including taking turns on the corner 10 count punches.

But eventually their issues with each other get the best of brief allegiances. TJ looks like he has things taken care of. Seatbelt Suplex, Otani style Bootwashes to both Petey and Maclin, but Maclin dodges the Mamba Splash. Petey manages to hit the Canadian Destroyer on TJP, but Maclin hits Mayhem for All on Petey…and pins TJP.

Maclin continues his undefeated streak.

Black Taurus vs John Skyler vs Jake Something vs Laredo Kid vs Trey Miguel

This is an odd match since there’s no real build, it’s just people who have been marginally relevant either on BTI or in main IMPACT! storylines last few months.

A cluster of fun moves, random tandem action and car crashes but amazing athleticism. Skyler tried to pick his spots early, but got dumped and then he may have taken extra time selling being out just to stay out of the crosshairs. Jake had his hands on Laredo Kid, Trey hits a Meteora on Jake from the corner, which turns into Jake also DDTing Laredo from the corner.

Black Taurus set the pace most of the time, hitting Lucha moves, power moves and even wiping out Trey and Jake with a middle rope Tornillo. Laredo and Skyler respark some of the spots from their match on IMPACT!, Skyler even tries to grab the mask again, but Laredo is a step ahead. Skyler gets rocked, Laredo then hits a Spanish Fly Moonsault Tesz Press pin….type cool thing. Laredo gets the win from it all, but it was just good fun.

Taylor Wilde w/Jordynne Grace & Rachael Ellering vs Tenille Dashwood w/Kaleb & Madison Rayne

Small thing to notice, during their entrance, Madison and Tenille kinda did the back to back IIconics thing. So I wonder if that is foreshadowing to a potential coming feud or more allies.

The early story to this match was Taylor out wrestling Tenille, but whenever Tenille got in trouble Madison or Kaleb would grab or distract somehow. Rachael and Jordynne played the typical stupid faces who are supposed to be equalizers but they’re always one step behind. Then we see all the seconds get kicked out, and Taylor’s comeback is on.

Taylor starts hitting a few higher impact moves even with the worked over ankle. Tenille almost gets the advantage after the Drop Toe Hold into the buckle and then Taste of Tenille. Spotlight Kick gets avoided by Taylor, Taylor snaps off a German Suplex Hold and keeps Tenille down just barely. But Taylor finally got a little bit of revenge.

NO DQ Match: Rohit Raju w/Shera vs Matt Cardona

Cardona comes out during Rohit’s entrance and jumps him for the sneak attack. Cardona stays hot, but Rohit and Shera manage to fight back 2 on 1 for a little bit, before Rohit decides it’s enough and we hear the bell officially ring.

A bunch of surprisingly solid back and forth. Rohit grabbed whatever he could to neutralize Cardona’s size and power advantage. But Cardona didn’t shy away from any weapon usage either. Cardona does a little bit of a Van Terminator, hits Radio Silence, but Shera pulls Rohit out of the ring. After taking out Shera, Rohit hits the Mumbai Drive-By, but looks for more. Wraps the chair around Cardona’s neck, looks to end his career, but Chelsea Green comes out, dodges the chair, Pump Kick and Radio Silence again gives the Cardona Duo the win.

Bullet Club (Chris Bey & Hikuleo) vs FinJuice

HikuBEYo has some early issues. Chris Bey gets a little too cocky, Finlay checks him a little and when gimpy Juice gets in, he still moves well enough to keep the pressure up. Juice and Finlay had some guick tandem attack, Bey was getting rocked for a while until Bey manages to get a shot on that bad ankle and now Bullet Club starts cooking with gas. Juice gets worked over by both men, eventually gets Finlay back in when Bey is legal on the BC side.

Finlay takes the hot tag well, but he did the dumb thing by talking shit to Hikuleo after dropping him off the apron. Hikuleo slides in, plucks Finlay out of the air with a Chokeslam and then one of the crispest Snap Powerslams I’ve ever seen especially from someone nearly 7 feet tall.

When Hikuleo is finally legal in the ring, it takes a joint effort from FinJuice to knock him out of the ring. Then Finlay goes for a Plancha, Hikuleo moves, goes to slam him, but then Juice jumps out so they stack on Hikuleo. FinJuice throws Hikuleo back in the ring, and Finlay looks to attack but the referee is trying to get him back since he’s not legal. Juice is slow to get in because of the ankle, and Chris Bey sneaks around, and cracks Juice in the ankle with a chair while the referee is distracted. Wounded Juice hobbles in and eats a Michinoku Driver, HikuBEYo wins!

Eddie Edwards & Sami Callihan w/Alisha Edwards vs Moose & W. Morrisey

Things kick off with Sami and Eddie working together well. They go at the bigger men fast, then they actually work together to keep Massive Cassidy in the corner eating chops, Moose tries to break it up and they stack them in the corner and continue chopping.

Early on, the quick tags and generally great tag team basics from Sami and Eddie kept the big guys on the back foot. It was very much a punch and counter punch type of match, where Eddie would fight off Moose, but then Massive would kick him to the outside. They’d take out the Massive one and Moose would take someone’s head off.

It was a damn good match, and then we got to a little bit of gimmick. When the tide turned away from the heels, W. Morrissey went after Alisha. So that left Eddie and Sami prone to attack since they were distracted at different points, then we see the gears turning in Morrissey’s head. He throws Alisha in, Moose laughs and eggs it on, Morrissey Jacknife’s Alisha and has a faraway stare reminiscent to when Bubba Ray used to Powerbomb women through tables.

Eddie pulls himself up, sees Alisha out on the mat and collects her and runs to the back with her. He apologizes to Sami as he walks off, but due to this I think we’re going to see that be the catalyst to them bonding and not thinking it’s a short term teaming. Sami showed no fear, went after the skycrapers, but a Big Boot from Morrissey took down Sami and then Moose speared him with Lights Out.

Solid heel/story win, though the match was actually pretty good before the gimmicking. I look forward to a more straight forward match.

Knockouts Tag Team Championship: Havok & Rosemary (c) vs Savannah Evans & Tasha Steelz

Tasha and Rosemary wrestle to what feels like a bit of a draw, but when Havok gets tagged in, she calls out Savannah. So we get two powerful women trading blows, neither showing fear, but Savannah gets an early advantage. Her and Tasha do a great job tagging in an out, Tasha lights up whoever she’s in the ring with and it gets surprisingly fast paced.

Savannah looks to be a big equalizer, but Rosemary pulls out her own equalizer and hits the green mist on Savannah which basically takes her out of the match. Tasha gets tossed around and dumped out by Havok, Rosemary throws Tasha back in, Tombstone Piledriver from Havok and Decay retains!

IMPACT World Tag Team Titles: Good Brothers (c) vs Willie Mack & Rich Swann

LG and Willie kick things off, and there are noticeable early missteps but the camera work protected it enough. Willie goes from punches in the corner to bringing in Rich, but Rich eats a knee for attempting to intercept and Karl is in. This starts a portion of time where the Brothers dominate and chide the crowd with “Super E-Lite” or something. It’s obnoxious, but that’s also the point.

All four are in and there’s one of those cool move spam spots where Rich hits LG with a Jumping Cutter and then possibly goes for a Lethal Injection or something but eats a Gun Stun for his troubles. After trying to fire back up, Rich does the wrong thing by diving outside, gets caught by LG, LG Powerbombs him into the apron. Willie retaliates on Gallows, steps through the ropes to get back in, and Gallows grabs his foot so Karl takes advantage of the prone Willie with a Gun Stun. Then we set up a Magic Killer and the Good Brothers retain in a decent match, but the finish was never really in doubt.

X Division Championship: Josh Alexander (c) vs Chris Sabin

Sabin really establishes his speed early on. A quick rolling lucha exchange that ends up with an over the back Mexican Arm Drag, and Alexander gets visibly irritated early. Alexander tries to keep things ground, but Sabin is blistering him, even hitting the Apron Senton/Backslide Driver, keeping Alexander off kilter.

Josh hits the low Crossbody through the ropes, but Sabin gets control and brings things back in the ring and keeps it slow. He starts wearing down the neck area with Neckbreakers, just torqueing in a submission and being very calculated. As Sabin keeps on him, Sabin goes to the corner, but Josh catches the high risk move into a Flapjack which he then transitions immediately to the Ankle Lock where Sabin gets to the ropes very quickly.

This however becomes Josh’s moments to work on Sabin. Sabin can’t really find an opening as Josh goes from different submissions, to Gutwrench suplexes and it’s a totally different pace. Sabin tries a flash pin by scooping an Inside Cradle, but Josh gets out of it and re-establishes his dominance. Deliberate pacing seems to be Josh’s forte, but it also seems to be annoying him.

As they go to the outside, Sabin hits a devastating Neckbreaker and we start seeing the pace slowly ramp back up but it becomes more of a counter wrestling marathon. Josh finds a small bit of momentum and goes for his locomotion German Suplexes, but Sabin puts the brakes on after the first one, fights around, and manages to counter into a Grounded Hammerlock which gives Josh some issues. Josh manages to fight out of it, wrestles Sabin down and goes for the Ankle Lock. Sabin tries to roll it into a Cradle, but Josh holds on while he kicks out and keeps it locked, grapevines the leg and Sabin…bridges back into a pin causing Josh to have to break the hold and kick out. Sabin searches for something, a kick connects to Josh’s head which knocks off the headgear, Josh fires back, Sabin is stunned, C4 Spike and Josh retains!

IMPACT World Championship: Ace Austin w/Madman Fulton vs Christian Cage

Our main event story plays out well, but it was to be expected with the brash young challenger trying to get a little flashy and fast while the veteran stays mostly composed and picks his spots. Early on Christian transitioned into a lot of basic but effective moves like a Hammerlock and Bodyblock.

After distractions by Fulton ended up giving Ace opportunities to use the card to cut between the fingers and generally alter the flow of the match, Hebner throws out Fulton, leaving Ace to fend for himself. Ace holds his own as they go back and forth with Christian notably getting the better of the exchange getting to 20 count punches and a Scorpion Death Drop.

When Ace finally finds a few openings he pulls out the card again in front of the referee, but then throws it into the audience as he preps The Fold. Christian intercepts it with a Spear and both are laid out for a beat. Ace retreats to the corner, Christian follows but Hebner is in the middle of things trying to get the action out of the corner. Ace rakes the eyes, Hebner sees none of this, while Christian stumbles Fulton also sneaks back in and throats Christian on the ropes.

Ace attacks and goes for the cover thinking there’s been enough short cuts taken, but Christian kicks out. Then as Ace is setting up something else, Christian counters him into the Killswitch and ends the match.

"Bound For Glory…OPTION C!" @Walking_Weapon has exercised Option C to challenge @Christian4Peeps at #BoundForGlory! #VictoryRoad pic.twitter.com/pNnTdRfsvb

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) September 19, 2021

Overall Score: 8.25/10

Well damn, after the main event Josh Alexander comes out and says 5 words. “Bound for Glory, Option C”. I’m glad they’re going with a well set up story and honestly it would be a fantastic way to make someone that fans could consider a homegrown IMPACT talent. Yes yes, he’s been around for years, but never majorly. So it would be a cool way to start having “IMPACT guys” carry the belt instead of the litany of either classic nostalgia acts or guys that got most of their fame elsewhere.

As for the show, there wasn’t a bad match on the card. The worst one was only Tenille and Taylor because it had the most gimmick and the build was gimmick. So it wasn’t set up as a serious match, thus it shouldn’t really be expected to live up to those standards. But everyone really brought it, from Massive Cassidy’s dark side, Josh Alexander being the real best bout machine, Ace getting made even in a loss and a way to keep the odd couple pairing of Sami and Eddie fresh enough to carry into Bound for Glory.

Really complete and solid show. Damn great stuff, and with Option C being invoked, that means we’re going to have a vacant X Division title. So anyone from that 5 way could get launched into a title picture. I have this weird conflicted feeling in my stomach when an IMPACTplus event is actually better than some of their PPVs lately. Awkward…