BULLET CLUB! HONOR NO MORE! Royal Rumble Mentions! IMPACT is really proving to be the real Forbidden Door. How does this craziness continue?

This was their first show from the most recent tapings. We know the Guerrillas of Destiny will be here, Jay White is also supposed to be around…plus everything keeping Ring of Honor relevant we’ve got a lot to try and fit into two hours.

Any more crazy debuts, returns, or what have you? Let’s get to it!

The IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts World Tag Team champions The Iinspiration have arrived in the IMPACT Zone!@JessicaMcKay @CassieLee #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/Q4WOWMgNqJ

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 28, 2022

Ratings:

• Chris Bey vs Jake Something: Something wins via Into the Void – *** ¼
• The Influence (Madison Rayne & Kaleb) vs The IInspiration: Cassie Lee wins via Code Red Cradle Counter – ***
• Massive Cassidy vs The Learning Tree: Cassidy wins via BQE – N/A
• Johnny Swinger vs Jonah: Jonah wins via Tsunami – N/A
• Chris Sabin vs PCO: PCO wins via Bubba Bomb – *** ¼

Results:

We see they are still selling the D’lo is injured angle, so we get 205 Live flashbacks! Tom is on commentary with Matthew Rehwoldt!

Chris Bey vs Jake Something

Bey starts things off quickly but Jake puts a stop to that with a big right hand that dazes Bey. Bey powders, Jake follows, but it set up Bey to hit an Apron Tiger Feint. He goes for an Asai Moonsault, but Jake catches him and hits Snake Eyes on the apron. Bey bounces to the post, Jake charges and Bey moves to have Jake crash himself into the pole.

We get more of the clash of styles where Bey goes for a few quick shots or high flying haymakers, but Jake seems to return 3 or 4 of Bey’s moves just with one big power move.  There’s a tenacious spot with Bey clinging to Jake with the Rear Naked choke and refusing to let go regardless of being driven into the corner and even flat on the mat.

Jake powers through and manages to drop Bey to break the Sleeper. The action is quick and could go either way. Bey counters Jake’s corner spear, he counters Jake’s Blackhole Slam and we see a beautiful Spinning Heel Kick. Huricanrana, but Jake holds on and turns it into a Sitout Powerbomb. Bey keeps everything moving quickly, he baits Jake into the corner, goes to the top rope and Jake catches him out of mid-air. A small pause for the cause, and Jake creates the momentum for Into the Void himself.

Post-Match G.o.D. run down beat the hell out of Jake, Speedball Mike Bailey makes a save until Jay White comes down and Bailey sells the involvement hilariously. G.o.D. tell us exactly why they’re here and we all knew, Good Brothers gonna fall victim to the Firing Squad.

.@ScottDAmore just made it official!

"You win, you stay! You lose don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!"

Honor No More VS IMPACT WRESTLING at No Surrender! pic.twitter.com/6q7v4lfGso

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 28, 2022

The Influence (Madison Rayne & Kaleb) vs The IInspiration

This is a little stupid but it keeps the story moving. The IInspiration missed the first title match because of covid stopping them from going to Hard to Kill. Now Tenille isn’t available for these tapings I guess, so this is a non-title match.

Madison starts off with Cassie and Madison gets out-wrestled. So Madison tags in Kaleb and Cassie immediately starts making a joke of the situation and Cassie feigns an old Jimmy tap. Cassie again out-wrestles Kaleb and tags in Jessie. Jessie and Kaleb have a weird moment where he pulls her up from a failed Sunset Flip and they have a pause where it almost looks like they’re gonna kiss or something.

The hiccup in the action gives The Influence and opening and a big Superkick from Kaleb connects on Cassie. Madison controls the match and tags in Kaleb. He comes off the middle rope Jerry Lawler style but Cassie counters the move with a Manhattan Drop. Then she retreats to the ropes, he charges, and crotches himself on the middle rope. Madison tags back in since Kaleb has been having issues.

Jessie hits the Shades of Kay which causes Madison to DDT Kaleb. After some shenanigans, a blind tag from Kaleb gives The Influence a close call. But a Code Red kind of counter to a Powerbomb gives Cassie the victory. Watching Kaleb and Madison throw tantrums over the loss is pretty hilarious.

AHH Gisele Shaw is the Quintessential Diva! She’s been on AXS TV before when she was Azteca during WOW from a few years ago. She’s been in the business for a while and isn’t terrible in the ring. I’m looking forward to her honestly.

Something says that did not go the way @The_Ace_Austin planned…@gailkimITSME loved the idea of @FultonWorld/@The_Ace_Austin/@SpeedballBailey & @JakeSomething_ vs The Bullet Club and made it official for next week on #IMPACTonAXSTV!#IMPACTWRESTLING pic.twitter.com/nxZ5Eu9N3x

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 28, 2022

Mickie holds a State of the Knockouts and it’s just a big hype session for the Royal Rumble, to help set the stage that Chelsea Green is still somewhat relevant in the title picture even though Tasha Steelz is the rightful number one contender. It was fine, but went a bit long.

We get about 10 seconds of Jordynne Grace defending the Digital Media title against Kiera Hogan, then she officially accepts Zack, erhm…Matt Cardona’s challenge. And Brian Myers adds like nine guys to the Learning Tree just to throw numbers at Massive Cassidy as he joins commentary.

Massive Cassidy vs The Learning Tree

Tom calls Zicky Dice “If the State of Florida were a person”; super accurate. This is a hilarious Squash match and the commentary makes it fantastic. BQE wins the match for Cassidy.

Brian Myers squares up to Cassidy, and Moose comes down to attack his next challenger. Morrissey fights them off mostly, gets buried under the Learning Tree and goes full Super Shredder but Moose cuts him in half with Lights Out! Myers is amused and Moose poses victorious and looking sharp as hell.

Johnny Swinger vs Jonah

Swingman gonna be a dead man. Jonah gonna take em to the morgue. We do see apparently Dan Lambert is in the crowd. So this could be a return of Dan Lambert to IMPACT. Yeah Tsunami wins, anyone surprised? Jonah tosses out Swinger and looks like he might do more damage, but Decay’s music hits and they seem to have an interest in Swinger. So Jonah allows them to have their fun and do what they will.

Chris Sabin vs PCO

Definitely NOT a match I expected in 2022, especially with the faction seconds around the ring. PCO makes sure the pace is slow and works on Sabin’s left arm. Driving it into the turnbuckles, wrenching over the ropes, dropping hammers into his elbow and of course Arm Wringers. Sabin needs to do a little Junior stylings to roll with the Wringer and now tries the rope runs. Frankenstein doesn’t go down until Sabin goes for the low Dropkick, then a Flying Shoulder Tackle.

Sabin is moving nicely, but PCO calls the refs attention and Honor No More trips up Sabin running the ropes. Eddie Edwards tries to return it in kind, but the referee is staring right at him. Stupid good guy Eddie tries to cheat and he’s just bad at it. Commercial break takes us to Sabin having PCO in the corner for 10 count punches. Springboard Flatliner attempt but PCO grabs him out of the sky and sends him to the outside. Brings him back in just to crush him over the top rope with a car crash lariat. Middle Ropes PCO Senton through the ropes to the outside onto Sabin.

PCO throws Sabin into the steps and just rocks him. Then we see the top corner Senton onto Sabin as he’s draped on the apron. PCO doing those moves you’re not expecting from someone his age or size, but it’s been his bread and butter with his PCO resurgence the last 5 years or so. PCO SAULT – MISSES! Sabin has been getting destroyed and now finally has a second to put things together.

Missile Dropkick, Yakuza Kick and then a Missile Dropkick to the back of the head sending PCO to the outside. Suicide Dive sends PCO reeling into the guardrail! Top Rope Crossbody from Sabin for 2. Cradle Shock attempt but no, Crucifix Cradle near fall and then a big clubbing lariat from PCO and Sabin’s momentum is stunted. Vader Bomb from PCO, Sabin gets the Knees up, kick, running Enzuigiri, Cradle Shock but Honor No More starts making their presence known. PCO is still selling so Sabin attacks all of them, Maria distracts the referee, and the numbers catch up with Sabin. PCO hits the Bubba Bomb and folds up Sabin for the victory!

Overall Score: 7/10

They set up the main event during the show, made it feel like a big deal, and it wasn’t really over booked given all the people being involved. Massive Cassidy dismantling the Learning Tree was comedic and great given the commentary and the way the segment ended with Myers and Moose having their moments.

Bullet Club opened things and made it all feel important, I mean let’s just put it this way. There were a lot of factions being involved, but no one felt lost, it all felt kinda cool and big and even the throw together group of Ace/Fulton/Jake/Speedball felt logical and of course a little campy, but works for the IMPACT presentation. Gisele Shaw being shown and named as the Quintessential Diva could be great since she’s not a WWE hand me down, but she does have a little bit of stroke given her other work. The personality they gave her in the promo makes me feel like she’ll fit into Inspiration/Tenille kind of style, but when they recently added Lady Frost and Masha Slammovich; it’s really great to see a bunch of different women in the division.

Also not gonna lie, I’m a little curious what Dan Lambert will be doing. Given the fact that like 2018 ATT was positioned against Moose, I wonder if there will be any of that animosity or if Moose will align with them since 2018 Moose is not 2022 Moose. Fun threads in this show!