Andrew’s IMPACT Results & Match Ratings: 1.6.2022

IMPACT has Hard to Kill on Saturday, so we get to see what they do for a Klondike Bar! I mean…Go Home Show…yea…just check out the results.

Masha Slamovich makes her IMPACT debut, all of the women in the first ever Ultimate X match are in action as well as Jonah getting in more work before his big square off with Josh Alexander.

Not sure what will come of tonight, but let’s find out!

"What kind of talk show is this?!"@CassieLee @JessicaMcKay @MadisonRayne @TenilleDashwood @TheJaiVidal @kalebKonley #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/1koZ34pyHv

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 7, 2022

Ratings:

• Lady Frost, Chelsea Green & Tasha Steelz w/Savannah Evans vs Rachael Ellering, Jordynne Grace & Rosemary w/Havok: Chelsea wins via Unprettier – ** ¼
• Jonah vs Jake Something: Jonah wins via Big Boy Splash – ** ½
• Sandra Moone vs Masha Slamovich: Slamovich wins via Northern Lights Bomb – SQUASH
• Mercedes Martinez vs Deonna Purrazzo w/Matthew Rehwoldt: Deonna wins via Venus de Milo – *** ¼
• Johnny Swinger & Hernandez vs Ace Austin & Madman Fulton: Fulton & Ace win via End of Days/Assisted Splash – * ½
• Karl Anderson vs Heath: Anderson wins via Gun Stun – ***

Results:

Lady Frost, Chelsea Green & Tasha Steelz w/Savannah Evans vs Rachael Ellering, Jordynne Grace & Rosemary w/Havok

So things don’t start off well for the Steelz team, but I will say that Rosemary actually looks pretty solid against Tasha. Tasha does a good job bumping and maybe overselling a little to help cover some of Rosemary’s limitations. Savannah takes Rosemary’s head off when the ref isn’t looking and that allows Tasha to get a little offense in. However, Rosemary tags in Rachael and Tasha gets thrown around.

Rachael positions poorly, hits a Back Body Drop but right at Tasha’s corner so she tags out to Lady Frost. Tasha ate a lot of offense, so hopefully for Frost we can see her get a bit of her offense. There’s a bit of a signature spam, Frost gets the shot to show her agility and hit the Outside Moonsault from the turnbuckle into the pile of humanity. Frost throws Rachael back in, Chelsea takes advantage of a quick tag, Unprettier and Chelsea gets the win for her team.

"Anything could happen, but I'm looking forward to it" @TheMooseNation #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/GWHctkFqAz

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 7, 2022

Jonah vs Jake Something

Well I’ve said it a bit lately, I’m still luke warm on Jonah, but his theme slaps like I should be slappin da bass. I’m a little surprised to see Jake in the “enhancement” section again because I thought last year he slowly dug himself out of obscurity, but I guess not.

They go for the power/positioning spots early and then meet in the middle doing the big boy challenge. Jonah knocks down Jake first, but Jake redirects and hits the Flying Shoulder Tackle sending Jonah on his ass. Jonah’s eyes go wide and he fires up a bit. When we get back from the commercial, a more determined Jonah is trying to impose his power with a Rolling Slam, Reverse Grounded Bear Hug, and then Jake flips out of the suplex attempt and goes after Jonah hard. Big Flying Chops, a body press and then even a Dive once Jonah powders. So Jake is doing a good job keeping pace with Jonah.

Short blindside Lariat from Jonah, a big Senton and then he sees his chance and goes for the top rope Splash and picks up the win. Jonah definitely had more than he expected, but still made fairly short work of Jake, which sets an interesting precedent because when Josh Alexander faced Jake last year it was a close contest and one of the best IMPACT matches all year.

Alexander hits the ring, pull apart but the security gets laid out and Jonah stands tall.

Sandra Moone vs Masha Slamovich

Slamovich I saw on NWA Empowerrr and she’s got a very tough MMA style approach. She’s brutal, Russian, looks badass and kills the local talent with a Northern Lights Bomb. She’s definitely got a unique looks that can be very marketable and a solid moveset. Also they gave her a simple yet pretty great theme song.

Mercedes Martinez vs Deonna Purrazzo w/Matthew Rehwoldt

Mickie James comes out for commentary for this match. Deonna attacks Mercedes during her entrance and Deonna isn’t even in her normal fighting attire. So this aggressive and angry Deonna is interesting. Since the Mickie match is a Texas Death Match, I won’t if she’s just trying to go into a more brutal mindset. She looks like most Jersey biker girlfriends at a bar, and more often than not…they’re scarier than the biker boyfriend.

Mercedes is just getting rocked. Not one lick of offense so far, Deonna is just disrespecting and beating the hell out of Mercedes. Finally Mercedes explodes out of the corner with 2 clotheslines and a Saito Suplex. Mercedes goes for a bit of an awkward STS, Rehwoldt gets on the ramp and then tries to dislocate her shoulder. Mercedes retreats to the corner, and Deonna is back on the attack.

Mickie is actually pretty solid on commentary, feels like she’d get cliché if she wasn’t involved in the story, but I’m not mad at her right now. Deonna keeps on Mercedes and it takes Mercedes just falling back into the corner with Deonna on her back, to try and mount some kind of offense. Mercedes manages to get a minute or so of offense, but Deonna puts the brakes on the comeback, but then pulls the Ric Flair. Deonna starts scaling the ropes for no reason, so Mecedes boots her to the outside, lands a Spear on the apron and we go to commercial.

Coming back there’s a strike exchange in the ring. Mercedes wins the strike exchange, Deonna tries to satellite through the Lariat, but Mercedes fights through and spins into a Half and Half Suplex. Multiple short range Kamigoyes from Mecedes, a Running Knee, Air Raid Crash, but Deonna holds onto the arm, rolls her over and hooks in the Venus de Milo. Gorgeous reversal from The Virtuosa.

"I'll be the IMPACT Champion and I'll be alone just how I like it"@TheCaZXL #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/qXHNOl3JEu

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 7, 2022

Johnny Swinger & Hernandez vs Ace Austin & Madman Fulton

I will say Swinger did more than I expected and Hernandez eating the pin was the surprising parts of this match…and that’s where that stops. Is anyone shocked about this?

Karl Anderson vs Heath

Early on both of the extra seconds got kicked out, so it was a legit singles match. Anderson dominated most of the time, showing his G1 2014 prowess while Heath tried to find small openings for Roll-Ups and quick hope spots. But everyone who has seen more than these 2 hours of wrestling knew how this was going.

We’re feeding into a team match, so the heels need the advantage. They always win coin flips or advantage matches because Babyfaces with a man advantage makes no sense. So no one was reinventing the wheel, and nothing was shocking, but it was a solid match. Hell if anything it helped to solidify any lingering doubts about Heath’s health since returning from his injury.

Overall Score: 7/10

As a Go Home for Hard to Kill, this did fine. IMPACT likes to throw in a lot of video packages hyping their main stories, so the Go Homes are either lacking on current vignettes or in-ring action. Thankfully this one skimped on the first part. Now I loved the IInspiration and Influence segment, but I can see how some might find that a bit taxing.

Not every match was great, but it either led into a PPV story or built on an existing secondary storyline. So it was a well laid out show, decent enough action highlighted by Deonna being a Goddess of Wrestling, and I feel like it did a solid enough shot at making the Triple Threat at Hard to Kill feel like a Heavyweight Title fight.

So I’ll see you guys in a few days for Hard to Kill!