Since this is a little delayed, I figured I’d include the Countdown to IMPACT portion as well, which I don’t usually do.

We get the first Clockwork Orange House of Fun match in over 10 years, AMW is back together after more than 15 years as well as two big title defenses. Speedball Mike Bailey gets a chance to defend his X Division title and avenge his only pinfall loss against Trey Miguel. Then the main event is the unpinned/unsubmitted VBD monster Joe Doering, challenging for the IMPACT World Championship.

There’s more to be had, those are just the highlights, so let’s see how Against All Odds hits this year!

Ratings:

• Black Taurus w/Crazzy Steve vs Laredo Kid: Taurus wins via Powerbull – ***
• Dot COMbat – Digital Media Championship: Rich Swann (c) vs Brian Myers: Myers wins via Roster Cut – *** ¼ – TITLE CHANGE!!!
• Chris Bey & Ace Austin vs Motor City Machine Guns: MCMG win via Tandem One Winged Angel – *** ¾
• Chelsea Green & Deonna Purrazzo vs Mia Yim & Mickie James: Chelsea & Deonna win via Backstabber/Spinebuster Tandem – ** ¾
• X Division Championship: Trey Miguel vs Speedball Mike Bailey (c): Bailey retains via Flamingo Driver – ****
• Knockouts Tag Team Championships: Ragnarok (Taya Valkyrie & Rosemary) (c) vs Gisele Shaw & Tenille Dashwood w/Madison Rayne: Taya retains via Small Package – ** ½
• Honor No More (Eddie Edwards, Kenny King, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett & PCO) vs AMW, The Good Brothers & Heath: AMW wins via Death Sentence – *** ¼
• Clockwork Orange House of Fun: Moose vs Sami Callihan: Moose wins via Lights Out – ****
• Knockouts World Championship: Tasha Steelz w/Savannah Evans vs Jordynne Grace (c):  Grace retains by Grace Driver – **
• IMPACT World Heavyweight Championship: Joe Doering w/Deaner vs Josh Alexander (c): Josh retains via C4 Spike – **** ½

Results:

Black Taurus w/Crazzy Steve vs Laredo Kid

A little lucha on lucha violence to kick off the Countdown. A bit of an early stalemate, Laredo goes for a few Mexican style Armdrags, but Taurus blocks showing off his strength advantage. The speed of Laredo gets used against him when Taurus sidesteps in the corner and then Double Knee Arm Breaker followed by a Lung Blower from Taurus.

Laredo fights out of the corner, a bit of back and forth until Taurus slows things down after connecting with a Sling Blade. When they recover, Taurus tries to charge the corner, Laredo fights off, Back Body Drops Taurus onto the top rope and then hits the Outside/In Slingshot Cutter for a near fall. More trades, Taurus has Laredo in a Torture Rack, Laredo turns it into a Crucifix Bomb for 2. Laredo tries the Oscutter but Taurus Spears him mid move and it looks pretty cool/brutal. Taurus tries to continue the advantage, Laredo drops him to the outside, hits a Moonsault and tries to fire back up. Rolls Taurus back in, Moonsault number 2, but Taurus gets the knees up. Pop-Up Samoan Drop only for a near fall.

Taurus takes direction from Steve to head to the top rope, but Laredo cuts him off, Laredo tries the Laredo Fly, but Taurus hits the Avalanche Hammerlock DDT into Powerbull for the win!

Dot COMbat – Digital Media Championship: Rich Swann (c) vs Brian Myers

Myers grabs the belt before the bell and tries to take Rich’s head off but Rich ducks and starts rocking Myers. Myers utilizes some of the computer based weaponry, keyboards, ring lights, mouse chords, but Swann fights back a bit before the style of match assists Myers in being able to even the score. Myers starts choking Rich with a Tripod, Rich hits the Jawbreaker to try and get space, but Myers does his Sliding Trip to stay in control.

Using a Ring Light and 6 Strip, Myers ties Rich to the top rope and then starts taking open shots since Rich is mostly defenseless in this position. But finally Rich fights back with his feet, pushing Myers back, kink in the Jimmies and then he uses his teeth to take apart the knot. Rich starts stringing together multiple strikes, kicks, punches, backfists, all the nice flashy combinations for a near fall. Rich creates a little pile of technology in the corner with 2 Keyboards, a tripod and a monitor, but he took too much time and Myers fights off the attempted offense. Roster Cut countered into a Death Valley Driver into the pile of stuff Rich set up, only for 2.

The crowd is pretty hot for the match and really seem to enjoy Monitor involved combat. Myers shoves Rich’s head through a monitor, but only a 2 count again. Myers gets frustrated, jaws a bit and then the slugfest ensues, they slug it out up the ramp, Myers tries to shoot Rich back down, but Lethal Injection from Rich gives him the advantage now. Rich throws Myers in, walks up the ramp, wants a big dive but Myers swings for the fences and clocks Rich with a Keyboard sending the keys everywhere, Roster Cut, Myers is the new champion! He finally officially has gold in IMPACT (he won the tags with Trevor Lee under the TNA banner, so I’m not wrong by specifying IMPACT, trust me, I know this company)!

Chris Bey & Ace Austin vs Motor City Machine Guns

Shelley is back on his aggressive game. Early on throwing his necklace as Bey and Ace, then during a rope run spot, Bey drops down and Shelley turns it into an STF immediately. Bey gets to the ropes, Shelley is slow to break the hold, but when the break happens Bey retreats to tag in Ace and Shelley allows Sabin to come in. Sabin and Ace start very evenly but Ace actually takes the match to the ground and has a small advantage until a blind tag allows for a tandem move to take Ace down.

Abdominal Stretch, tag to Sabin and a few Tandem Stretch/Rib Kicks work over Ace. Tandem attacks continue with frequent tags, Ace keeps eating a lot of offense until Bey finally tries to break it up. Bey wipes out Sabin, tries to Skin the Cat, but Shelley with the Baseball Slide into Bey’s face sends him to the floor. Ace sends Shelley over, starts getting the best of the two Guns, then we finally see some double team work from the Bullet Club junior heavyweights.

Ace has Shelley in the Fujiwara with the ref on the wrong side, playing card paper cut between the fingers and then Bey gets tagged in. Bey and Ace go for ELP’s over sell ridiculous Back Rake spot. Since Shelley has been cut off so long, it doesn’t look completely stupid, but at least they’re smart and only do one each. Bey does take out Sabin before Shelley can lunge to his corner. Ace tags in, John Woo ‘s Shelley into his own corner, they work him over, Shelley tries to find an opening but Bey rips Sabin off the apron just in time to stop the tag. Misdirection from Shelley causes Ace to kick Bey and Shelley can finally tag in Sabin.

Hot tag, house of fire, taking it to both at once. Ace and Bey are stacked, Yakuza Kick into KENTA style Hestiation Dropkick. Sabin…CHAOS THEORY FISHERMAN SUPLEX for only 2. But I love the shout out to Doug Williams. Missile Dropkick/Double Flatliner combo for another near fall. The Guns try something else, but Ace puts a stop to it and drops out Shelley. Combination strikes from the BC boys, near fall on Sabin. Shelley takes out Ace, Bey misses his move, Shelley tries to block Ace, Cradle Shock but Ace pushes Shelley into the pile to stop the pinfall.

High Speed Dirt gives the Guns the advantage, Tandem One Winged Angel gets MCMG the win.

Chelsea Green & Deonna Purrazzo vs Mia Yim & Mickie James

OKAY, they actually do a mashup of Hardcore Country and Mia’s new theme. And surprisingly, it works really well, I kinda hope they team together again since the song feels a little too good to throw away after just one show.

All four jaw at each other, the heels attack before the bell, but Mia and Mickie turn it around pretty quickly. After the faces mollywop the heels, Mia rolls in Deonna for herself, the bell finally rings and then Chelsea runs into give the heels the advantage again as they keep Mia in their corner. Typical heel isolation and Referee distraction, but it looks good. Mia tries to fight back, Chelsea and Deonna stop her once, but the John Woo hitting both heels allows Mia to get Mickie in.

Mickie goes for the Mick-DT on Deonna, but Chelsea catches her feet in a pseudo Magic Killer, but Deonna just pushes out of the DDT, dropping Mickie like a trash bag of clothes. Pump Kick from Deonna to Mickie and then a Curb Stomp makes the focus very obvious of Mickie’s neck. Deonna and Chelsea take a similar strategy with Mickie they had earlier with Mia. The complete isolation and attacks on the neck has things looking bleak for the babyfaces. Bow and Arrow from Deonna keeps pressure on that Upper Shoulder/Neck area. Chelsea and Deonna go for a combo, Mickie counters and crawls to Mia for the tag. Mia is kicking the crap out of Chelsea.

Few good kicks, Middle Rope Tornado DDT for 2 as Deonna breaks it up. Mickie hits the Avalanche Thesz Press to take out Deonna, Protect Ya Neck gets stopped, Mickie gets tagged in, Mia gets wiped out, Thesz Press misses, Deonna grabs Mickie in a Bear Hug, Chelsea flies in for some tandem Spinebuster/Backstabber. Chelsea and Deonna win.

X Division Championship: Trey Miguel vs Speedball Mike Bailey (c)

Bailey offers the handshake and Trey screams at him like a complete moron spazz and tries to look extremely too intense, which looks laughably stupid. He looks like a 5 year old trying to go Super Saiyan. Thankfully Bailey cuts off Trey’s stupidity drops him back out and hits the Triangle Moonsault to swing things back in his favor.

Trey cuts off Bailey’s offense with a Low Dropkick and Bailey sells that it did real damage. So Trey goes back the leg, and puts together a few strikes and Leg Lock that he rolls through to keep the torque up. Bailey returns the favor a little in the corner with a rope hang Dragon Screw as he then pulls off a quick and frenetic Reverse Figure Four. Each strike from Bailey though causes a sell on the leg. He was selling the bad leg and took too long to pull off the Corkscrew Shooting Star Press, misses and gives Trey a chance to respond and sell HIS leg a little.

This counter…is stupid. Bailey does his Moonsault Double Knees, and Trey lifts up his knees, so Knees crash down on knees. I guess we’re supposed to be setting up essentially for a cripple fight where they both sell their similar injuries to give off some dumb idea of “still being equally injured”. That counter still seems moronic. Gimps kicks with selling and limping, both hit a Dragon Screw eventually then we go into a strike exchange. Bailey hits the PK, sells, feints the Double Knees again, but Bailey expected it, turns Trey and hits the Double Knees on the small of the back. Which seems like a call back, but there’s too much nonsensical movement in the exchange. Tornado Kick in the corner gets countered by Trey and he looks for Meteora.

Bailey moves so Trey lands on the bad leg, cripple fight continues. Inside Out Frankensteiner from Trey takes Bailey from the Apron to the floor. Strike exchange on the apron, both look for suplexes, they both counter, Bailey trips Trey on the apron, Double Knee Backflip on the apron, Tornado Kick back in the ring lands, Ultima Weapon misses, Trey goes for a Cradle, kick out, Running Meteora…Bailey kicks out. Trey sells but looks for the top rope Meteora.

The cut off happens, but then Trey counters and drops Bailey off the rope. Bailey stops Trey with upkicks, FLAMINGO DRIVER from Bailey for the retention!

If a few spots weren’t as stupid and Trey knew how to sell, not like moronic child, this would’ve been a nearly 5 star match.

Knockouts Tag Team Championships: Ragnarok (Taya Valkyrie & Rosemary) (c) vs Gisele Shaw & Tenille Dashwood w/Madison Rayne

Gisele and Taya start off, a little early games from Taya keep Gisele off balance, Gisele tries to go after Rosemary, Taya throws her onto the Middle Rope, hits the Sliding German and Rosemary keeps up the offense. Gisele needs to gauge the eyes to get a chance to tag in Tenille. Tenille gets in a quick shot but never really gets the momentum against Rosemary. Rosemary tags in Taya and Tenille is getting rocked.

It takes a small shortcut for Tenille to get a chance and tags in Gisele. Corkscrew Brainbuster from Gisele and now Taya is getting handled. Tenille comes back in, uses the top rope and a handful of hair to bend Taya backwards as Rosemary yells at the ref causing the distraction. Rope assisted neckbreaker only for 2. Gisele and Taya get into a small chop battle, but Gisele ramps up the intensity with a few different Uppercut variations. Tornado DDT attempt, blocked by Taya, Vertical Suplex, we get the simultaneous tag spot. Rosemary is Slingblading and dropping Tenille left and right, Exploder Suplex for the near fall.

Tenille fights off a little but then gets stuck in the Upside Down. Ref checks on Tenille, Gisele drops Rosemary, Taste of Tenille in the corner, Tenille wipes out Taya, Gisele hits the Corkscrew Splash on Rosemary’s legs. Road to Valhalla/X Factor combination from Ragnarok but Gisele makes the save. Madison trips Taya, Tenille wants Gisele to come in for The Collab, but Gisele wasn’t expecting that. So the delay allows for Rosemary to take out Gisele, Taya small package on Tenille and Ragnarok retains.

Influence beatdown after, as the heels walk away happy with their work, Masha comes out and hands Tenille the envelope. Tenille is Masha’s next victim, Masha freaks out and they all scatter to the back.

Honor No More (Eddie Edwards, Kenny King, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett & PCO) vs AMW, The Good Brothers & Heath

Karl and Eddie start off, LG gets tagged in, Eddie is eating a lot of offense until Taven gets tagged in and dropped over LG’s head and Honor No More continue to eat offense. Heath comes in, flying around a bit looking solid against Taven. A few corner Splashes into the 10 Count punches and Taven is dying. Thankfully for Taven he drives Heath into his corner, hits a Spinning Headlock Driver and then tags in Mike, so OGK strings together some offense to give Honor No More some life.

Kenny King continues to work over Heath, Eddie comes back in and Heath tries to fire up. Telegraphing the Body Drop allows Eddie to kick him, run back in for the attack, but Heath hits the Powerslam. Jimmy James Storm comes in and starts kicking the tar out of Eddie. Kenny tries to come in, gets dropped, James tags Chris Harris against Mike, Hart Attack, throws Taven into Mike, knocks down PCO and then Chris tags James back in but PCO trips James and starts beating on him on the floor. Everyone in Honor No More poses when they have the momentum, away from PCO, PCO tags himself in and they are still jawing at PCO.

PCO hits the Reverse DDT, PCO goes to their corner for a rope move, but Taven tags himself in. Taven misses his Frog Splash, but they still manage to keep James in the ring. PCO gets tagged back in to knock down the TNA squad, and keep on James. PCO uses Karl Anderson as a weapon, looks for the PCO mid rope dive, and Eddie tags himself in causing a “You Suck” chant. This is great heel work from Honor No More since the crowd loves PCO, so cutting him off and treating him bad gets a “smart” crowd to react the way they should be to the heels.

James tags in Wildcat, he levels everyone with big hamhocks, Stalling Suplex for 2 and now signature spam. Spinebusters for everyone! Death Sentence set up, but Taven breaks it up. Wake up Call, Gun Stun, Meltdown and DDT from the faces to keep Honor No More down. Kenny King hits a great Blockbuster, Kenny tells PCO to hit the PCO Sault..but PCO falls of the top rope! Last Call Super Kick, Death Sentence set up….DEATH SENTENCE!

Now did PCO fall on purpose? We getting that Babyface Frankenstein?

Clockwork Orange House of Fun: Moose vs Sami Callihan

Raven is at commentary to watch all of the FUN.

VERY SMART START. Moose’s music plays, he’s dressed in all black, as soon as the lights come back up, Moose is already in the ring, LIGHTS OUT spear connects on Sami. Moose is pissed and he has every right to be. He sets up a table between the ring and the barricade, wants to Uranage Sami, but Sami fights it off. Sami Sabus a chair into Moose’s face and Moose Pump Kicks him for his trouble. Raven calls Moose Bullwinkle…that’s pretty great.

Moose is bouncing a Garbage Can lid off Sami’s head as Sami retreats to the ropes, Moose charges and gets Back Body Dropped through the table he set up earlier. Sami starts redecorating the ring with gates and wooden doors as Moose is selling going through the table. Raven’s Zoloft tone dad jokes during this match is actually wonderful. Almost makes me want to see if his Raven Effect Podcast is still a thing (was never the same after Busby left). Spicolli Driver on the Gate after bouncing Moose’s head off the door. Moose did try to moke the Thumbs Up Thumbs Down, but a Low Blow kept Sami in control.

Sami tries to put Moose in another trash can, but there’s a bottle in it and Moose breaks the bottle over Sami’s face and Moose smiles. Then he carves Sami’s face with the broken glass. Moose sets up the door between two chairs (sounds like a British TV Show), Moose sets up for a Superplex, Sami bites him, Moose hits Go To Hell through the door! Moose breaks the door in half and gives Sami half. You’ve heard of Door Dash? This is Door Duel! Moose wins the duel, and shatters the half over Sami. Tries to run the ropes but Sami hits a desperation Lariat.

Sami wants the Cactus Driver through two chairs, but Moose grabbed a Staple Gun and Staples his foot to counter the move. In the corner, 10 Count Punches turns into Staples in the forehead and Sami Powerbomb’s Moose through the two chairs. Sami goes to retrieve the Staple Gun and then hits Moose with the patented Staple to the Dick! A “You Sick Fuck” chant kicks up. Both men open their boxes of fun, so WHAT’S IN THE BOX! Moose has Legos and Sami has – broken glass! Legos and Broken Glass…we go from a British TV Show to a Pantera song that never made it all the way to the album. Legos to the eyes from Sami, Cactus Driver into the Legos and Moose kicks out! Raven sounds like he’s getting some respect for Bullwinkle Moose.

Grabbing a piece of glass, Sami slices himself and then hits another Cactus Driver into the glass, while Sami points to the Barbed Wire Bat. Camera man in the ring, is Steve Maclin! He low blows Sami and runs him over with the Barbed Wire Bat! Moose recovers enough, hits another Lights Out Spear thanks to Maclin, and Bullwinkle wins!

Knockouts World Championship: Tasha Steelz w/Savannah Evans vs Jordynne Grace (c)

Before the bell Tasha goes for Grace’s legs with a Chop Block and starts stomping the knee. Been a few too many “ambush” spots in this show, but it’s a smart strategy. Grace levels Tasha, Wrecking Ball Dropkick on Savannah, Skins the Cat back up and keeps up the pressure on Tasha. Spinebuster…2 count.

Honestly Tasha just eats a lot of offense, tries to just pick a spot here or there to maybe stick and move, but never really gets anything convincing. Aja Kong Back Fist, into Torture Rack into Torture Rack Bomb gives Grace a near fall. Tasha moves from getting squashed in the corner, opportunistic attacks, counters a power move into the Startusfaction only for 2. Tasha tries a Shiranui for 2 into the Half Crab on the leg she’s targeted a little, but I can’t help but be extremely unconvinced. Grace fights off, trips Tasha and goes for the Rear Naked Choke. Muscle Buster on Tasha but Savannah is on the apron distracting the official. O-Kurrr from Tasha, for 2. Things go to the top rope, Grace counters Tasha into an Avalanche Stalling Superplex. Grace sends Tasha into Savannah, counters the cutter into the Grace Driver.

Meh

IMPACT World Heavyweight Championship: Joe Doering w/Deaner vs Josh Alexander (c)

Doering is trying to keep the early match claustrophobic. Not giving Alexander an inch and just trying to smother him. Alexander powders, then runs Doering around a bit, so when they get back in Alexander tries to stay a step ahead. He ducks the Fun Splash, lands his own Low Crossbody on the Apron, and Alexander does the dumb thing by pandering a little and gets run over by Doering. Alexander is trying to stick and move, but Doering has been able to keep up and catch Alexander when his other opponents would usually be laid out or questioning an attack. Doering returns 3 of Alexander’s Chops with 1 to drop Alexander and then hits that Rebound Elbow for a near fall.

When Alexander gets knocked to the outside you can hear Deaner yelling at him “Is that all you got!?” – Deaner is being a great Hyena. Alexander slips out of a Running Powerslam, tries to string things together but Deaner trips up Alexander and Doering takes control back. Low Rope Elbow Drop for another near fall, with Doering staying on him. A wild punch rocks Doering and Alexander manages to hit a King Kong Knee Drop on the doubled over Doering. Doering is rocked while Alexander has found a second wind. German Suplex attempt is a no, sidesteps Doering, he bounces off the ropes, Rebound German. Alexander tries another, Doering fights and turns it into a Northern Lights Suplex with the bridge, but Doering kicks out. Ankle Lock attempt but Doering kicks him off through the ropes to the apron. Exchange on the apron that Doering gets most of the best of. Doering Lariats him back into the ring and then heads to the top rope but he’s hindered by the damaged ankle.

Avalanche Superplex, C4 Sp- nope Deaner hits the apron from the distraction. Double Axe handle attempt but Chokebomb counter from Doering, Standing Elbow Drop for 2. Revolution Bomb hint, but Alexander counters. German Suplex attempt, blocked once, but then Alexander gets moving, executes the trilogy of Germans but Doering dodges the kick and just a big Vader Hammer drops Alexander. Chain of Sorrow attempt from Doering, Alexander avoids the lariat, hits one of his own, they both run, FUN SPLASH kills Alexander from three quarters of the way across the ring. Near fall, Chain of Sorrow hits…another near fall. Revolution Bomb…but Alexander slips it, Ankle Lock, Grapevine – Doering stands up through the Ankle Lock and Vader Hammer for 2. Revolu-Alexander slips again, Low Dropkick to the bad leg and he drops Alexander with another lariat. Doering Rainmaker and he looks for something else. Strikes, Vader Hammers bully Alexander into the corner. Alexander slips away, Doering swings wildly, Alexander catches him, C4 Spike for the pinfall!

Overall Score: 7.75/10

Now this was pretty damn good. The pre-show was surprisingly good, but I also don’t usually watch it, so I don’t really have any precedent for it. As for the minuses, Knockouts Tag was alright, but the Masha wrinkle at the end makes the story moving forward interesting, yet doesn’t help that match. HOPEFULLY Tasha is out of the singles picture for a while now. She’s really just not believable because of her size and her generally lame moveset. Sure, HBK needed an enforcer, but he also looked impressive on his own (similar to how IMPACT built up Ace Austin), Tasha looks worthless without help; just keep her in the tag division.

PCO’s story in Honor No More could be fun since PCO has been over everywhere Impact has gone. Steve Maclin getting involved with Sami and Moose helps to elevate him to main event players and freshen up that rivalry or move away from it. X Division is in a good position, but with Speedball’s occasional propensity for dumb spots or hit/miss selling, Trey’s selling is god awful. Speedball I can tolerate, and really enjoy him pulling out the Flamingo Driver, Trey needs to stay away from the main picture for the rest of the year until he figures out how to speak and sell. Lastly, the main event was amazing. A nice combination of Japanese King’s Road style, Alexander’s mat based advantage and just hard hits and great grit. Alexander continues to be a MoTY machine.

Awesome show, only really dragged down by the spots that we all expected to drag.