Andrew’s IMPACT Victory Road Results & Match Ratings: 9.23.2022

Victory Road is here and we’ve got an interesting card on the docket. Delirious challenges Mike Bailey for the X Division Championship, Triple Threat Revolver number one contender match for the X Division, Barbed Wire Massacre and a few higher profile bouts without a huge gimmick.

Mickie James takes on her first real opponent, Gisele Shaw, during this “Last Rodeo” tour she’s doing. Killer Kelly also gets a somewhat legit opponent in Tasha Steelz. We also get Masha’s choice in the Pick Your Poison angle. Max the Impaler will take on Jordynne Grace, as a way to soften up the champion for Masha before Bound for Glory.

So let’s see how this show shakes out!

Results:

• Tasha Steelz w/Savannah Evans vs Killer Kelly: No Contest? – **
• X Division Championship: Speedball Mike Bailey (c) vs Delirious: Bailey retains via Flamingo Driver – ***
• Honor No More (PCO & Vincent) vs Motor City Machine Guns: MCMG wins via Dirt Bomb – *** 1/4
• Mickie James vs Gisele Shaw: Mickie wins via Mick-DT – ***
• X Division Triple Threat Revolver Match: Mia Yim vs Trey Miguel vs Laredo Kid vs Alex Zayne vs Kenny King vs Yuya Uemura vs Frankie Kazarian vs Black Taurus : Kaz wins via Slingshot Cutter – *** 1/4
• Honor No More (Eddie Edwards & OGK w/Maria Kanellis) vs Heath, Josh Alexander & Rich Swann: Eddie wins via Die Hard Flowsion – *** 1/4
• Max the Impaler w/James Mitchell vs Jordynne Grace:  Jordynne wins via Grace Driver – *** 1/2
• Barbed Wire Massacre Match: Moose vs Sami Callihan vs Steve Maclin: Maclin wins via KIA – **** 1/4

Results:

Tasha Steelz w/Savannah Evans vs Killer Kelly

Tasha has had this gimmick of coming down with Disney influenced attire. Mad Hatter, Scar from the Lion King…and today, Ursula. 

Kelly tries to bait in Tasha to come in and choke her, Tasha takes the bait and then they start swinging. Kelly gets the best of the slugfest when she starts incorporating her legs, which she swings them in an interesting way. She even throws a Pump Kick that looks more like a Split that just connected with Tasha’s chin.

Tasha does manage to trip up Kelly on the apron, so she gets a small burst of offense; all while Kelly smiles. Kelly crawling around on the ground and maintaining eye contact even when she’s technically underneath in the match. This definitely screams of a style that probably unlocked a few people’s kinks while watching.

Tasha lands a Shiranui, forward roll Dropkick, into a Rings of Saturn. Kelly powers through (with a little bit of a stumble), sets Tasha in the corner, Fisherman’s Buster into Knees to Face and a German Suplex that Tasha tries to fend off.  Kelly trips up Tasha as she tries to charge the corner, Hesitation Dropkick from Kelly and Savannah interrupts the match a little. Tasha with a desperate Stratusfaction, but only 2, Savannah attacks again this time with a chain, Kelly Stun Guns Savannah and locks in her Killer Klutch with the chain. The referee is going to disqualify her, so she puts the Referee to sleep and Impact officials come out to pull her off.

Sooo…no contest?

X Division Championship: Speedball Mike Bailey (c) vs Delirious

Delirious pushes the pace early in his…unique way, but Speedball eventually takes over with more controlled striking and precision attacks. However, Delirious catches him with his awkward offense and strings together quit a bit, even tying up his wrists and then just throwing him down into the mat. Indelicate offense…but effective.

A Triangle Head and Arm choke has Bailey fading a little, but he manages to get to the ropes and fire back, punctuating his short comeback with the Twisting Shooting Star Press that he does. Delirious counters Bailey, they powder out, Delirious focuses on some big strikes to the back and body. Bailey tries the Flamingo Driver, but the back gives out, Delirious with a Cobra Stretch Backbreaker. Tornado Kicks get countered, Delirious hits a Running Knee of his own, Shadows Over Hell for 2! Strike exchange, Backfists from Delirious, Kicks from Bailey. Standing Moonsault Knees from Bailey, Buzzsaw, no! Cobra Stretch attempt into a Suplex from Delirious. Superkick from Bailey, Flamingo Driver is good and Bailey retains!

That is now 9 defenses for Bailey. You have to think his reign is coming to an end soon, either from his Bound for Glory opponent or Option C. 

Honor No More (PCO & Vincent) vs Motor City Machine Guns

Vinnie and PCO are told to go soften up the number 1 contenders for OGK’s tag gold. You all should know that unless the Steiner Brothers reunite, I won’t ever cheer against The Guns. So…I’m biased here. 

Early on nothing crazy, PCO and Sabin start, they tussle a little, Vinnie and Shelley go back and forth but then MCMG tandem attacks begin. Vinnie starts fighting back once PCO hits the apron to distract Shelley. Satellite Russian Leg Sweep and some tandem work for the Honor No More duo. Vinnie and PCO have a lot of dysfunction, Vinnie clocks PCO a few times accidentally and it looks like we’re heading towards PCO exiting Honor No More.

Sabin starts working over Vinnie, Cradle Shock attempt but Vinnie slips it, fluid Guns action. Stormbreaker style maneuver from Sabin for 2. Double Yakuza on Vinnie, looking for Skull and Bones but Vinnie breaks up the teamwork. Backdrop and both men are down. Vinnie slowly gets to PCO, PCO comes in and murders Sabin in the corner with a hung Codebreaker and a Draping DDT into a nasty Guillotine Leg Drop. Reverse DDT from PCO, tag to Vinnie, Redrum – and Shelley makes the save!

PCO works over Shelley, but Shelley hits the side step and PCO flies to the outside. High Speed Dirt on Vinnie, Double Sole Butts…Dirt Bomb? I think they called their Double Driver Dirt Bomb, its been a little bit since I’ve seen them do it.

Mickie James vs Gisele Shaw

Top wristlock, chain wrestling start. So it’s slow, but showing that Mickie is trying to prove a point and be very methodical. Gisele Shaw eventually breaks out of the Wristlock with an Escalera, into a Rope Walk, Corkscrew, Arm Drag. It’s a little sloppy looking, but never dangerous, just took a beat or two longer than it should have. Mickie however responds by wrestling Gisele down, licking her hand and spanking her.

As I’ve noticed (and many of us as well), Mickie really steers into more of the sexual pop spots. Gisele hits a few strikes and then a Final Cut for 2. Cravat keeps Mickie mostly grounded until she rallies out. Mickie fights out, tries to catch Gisele with a Frakensteiner, Gisele fights her off and dumps her outside. Gisele acts like she’s okay with the count out…charges for a Baseball Slide but Mickie captures her in the ring skirt.

Mickie hits her own sliding attack and starts laying it to Gisele. As soon as they start heading back in, Gisele grabs Mickie during the entrances and flings her into the post. Mickie is still on the outside and Gisele hits a Tornillo. Raining Elbows, into the Cravat again. Gisele really shines when she focuses on her striking ability with a small flair of Lucha. Gisele goes for the Knee, Mickie blocks and forces her into a Split, kicks her while she’s still mid split and hits Knees of her own for 2. A quick few strikes and a neckbreaker give Mickie another near fall.

Full Nelson Backbreaker from Gisele, into a high intensity Flatliner from being bent over her knee. Only 2, Shaw misses with the Spin kick, single like Flapjack from Mickie, Avalanche Thesz Press, kick out by Gisele. Mick-D – NOPE! Enzuigiri from Gisele for 2, so she Exposes her knee to add impact on that V-Trigger style of attack she does. Mickie dodges, counters, Mick-DT and she wins!

The finish definitely looked goofy, but the match in general was solid. 

X Division Triple Threat Revolver Match: Mia Yim vs Trey Miguel vs Laredo Kid vs Alex Zayne vs Kenny King vs Yuya Uemura vs Frankie Kazarian vs Black Taurus

Things start quick, Laredo Kid hits a lot of early high flying offense to take early momentum. Stacks both Mia and Trey together, hits a 450 Splash, tries to pin both of them individually and only gets 2.  Trey eventually counters some of Laredo’s offense, Cheeky Nandos, into the Tiger Feint in the corner. Mia counters him and hits a few big spots, Eat DeFeat on Laredo Kid, and Kid is the first out. Big oof for Laredo Kid.

Alex Zayne is next up. Mia tries to attack him before he comes down to the ramp, he catches her and slams her on the ramp. Trey tries to do something, Zayne stops him, flips back in, and pulls of a combo move of Uranage’ing Mia into Trey only for near falls though. Again Mia takes advantage of being on the top rope, hits both men, tries to follow it up after they powder, but they hit her with the Double Gamengiri. Trey hits the reverse Rana on Zayne, Mia kicks Trey in the back of the head, Crucifix Bomb from Mia to Zayne, and Zayne is eliminated!

Kenny King is next up. This works towards a few weeks ago when Yuya debuted, Mia interrupted the match which cost Kenny the match. So Mia and Kenny have heat, and Kenny tries to leverage the triple threat aspect to his favor. Mia and Trey do start arguing like idiots on who’s gonna fight Kenny. Reverse Powerbomb across the top rope from Kenny, then he hits the Spinebuster on Mia; and Kenny is rolling. Trey and Mia do finally start working together, Mia hits Pay Dirt on Kenny, but he kicks at two and then powders. Mia is too focused on Kenny, Trey and her start to go back and forth, so Kenny Rolls her Up with tights for the elimination.

Yuya Uemura is who we have now. Missile Dropkick entry on Trey, a few quick Crossbodies help him roll pretty fast. Dragon Suplex from Kenny takes the barely upgraded Young Lion down, but only a near fall. Double Overhook Belly to Belly from Yuya gives the young wrestler a chance to fire off one on one with Trey. Trey lights him up with a few kicks, misses the Stomp, Jacky Bryant Snap Kick, Tilt-a-Whirl Argentine Driver gives Trey the pinfall.

KAZ is next! Kenny looks like he’s gonna have Trey and Kaz fight themselves, but tries to shanghai some offense. Kaz doesn’t fall for it, and controls both men for a couple minutes hitting classic Kaz offense, Springboard Guillotine, Running Russian Leg Sweep, just good Kaz stuff.  Pile up in the corner, Trey hits a desperation Meteora, but overshoots the landing so all 3 men are down for a breather. Trey tries to get some fluid action against Kenny, but Kaz plucks him out of the air and chokes him out.

Black Taurus is the final entrant. So next pinfall or submission wins. Taurus dominates early since he’s the fresh man, but then we see Kenny and Kaz pick a few spots to try and keep their chances alive. Taurus has a couple close calls with a few of his bigger spots, Kaz gets a Victory Roll on Taurus, then a Bridging Suplex on Kenny for a double pin, but they kick out. Taurus powders, slingshot Cutter to King and Kaz wins!

Little vignette with Rosemary, Taya, JesSICKa and VXT. Then Bobby Fish shows up. Fish is poking fun at how much heat he’s had lately. So I’d take this, and the rumours about CM Punk not coming back to AEW, as having some weight. Fish’s promo does drag a little, but it stops exactly when it starts to feel too long. He says he’s here to pick a fight and then Raj Singh and Shera show up. 

The crowd trips up Raj during his promo and Bobby pulls the “who are you” angle, and that saves the promo. Shera being turned into a Gatekeeping midcarder is sad, but not unexpected. Raj however is worthless. Rohit Raju was the only talented on from the Desi Hit Squad. 

Honor No More (Eddie Edwards & OGK w/Maria Kanellis) vs Heath, Josh Alexander & Rich Swann

Team IMPACT is flowing early. The only tag that HNM makes early with when Eddie decides to duck Josh in the beginning. Aside from that, Mike Bennet is getting worn out like barn shoes for a good five minutes.

Of course, eventually Honor No More grab a foot, cause some trips, take shortcuts and get back to a level of parity. Nothing about this match as really stuck out beyond usual 6 man stuff. OGK manages to rip Heath and Josh off the apron to keep Rich isolated, but again, nothing really mind shattering. As things start to break down and Josh gets in with Eddie, there’s heavy moves that connect. Blue Thunder Bomb, Back Breakers, its just more of the Kings Road style of match. In which the slow build through the match is part of the story telling and we’re getting to wrinkles. Eddie hits a Tiger Driver after OGK hit a few running spots, only 2. Another Tiger Driver + Just the Tip, and Rich breaks up the pin.

Rich was on the apron, had the chance to tag Josh, but decides to Senton into the pile of Honor No More. Maria and Taven get involved while Rich and Heath are down on the outside, Die Hard Flowsion, and Honor No More wins!

The take away of course is the fact that Rich chose to attack the pile instead of backing up Josh. So the whole conspiracy theory concept will probably continue for Josh. He’s gonna go full DTA at this point, unless Ethan Page returns. 

Max the Impaler w/James Mitchell vs Jordynne Grace

One of the few times I can type the sentence, Jordynne is losing the power game here. Max just ragdolls Jordynne, forcing Jordynne to try and be the agile one. Jordynne chops, and Max doesn’t move. Jordynne tries to lift, and there’s no give. Forearms and rope assisted offense finally starts to rock Max a little, but they get up quickly. Jordynne dives, and Max just whips her down into the apron.

Max literally has Jordynne pinned against the ringpost as they lift her up off her feet by the neck. Max slides in occasionally to break the counts, but just continues to impose their will on Jordynne. Jordynne barely maanges to counter a Powerbomb into a Back Body Dorp, and Jordynne finally isn’t getting beat on. She tries to do something to Max, but Max drives her into the post and then misses a Spear.

Jordynne goes for a bunch of slaps and the Aja Kong style backfist, before a Hip Attack into a Vader Bomb, for 2. A quick burst of offense has really been the first time in a while that Jordynne had any forward momentum here. Max tries to lift Jordynne for a Death Valley, Jodynne fights off, hits the ropes and then eats a Spear from Max for a 2 count.

Sunset Bomb from Jordynne gives her some determination, snap Grace Driver and Jordynne wins!

Jordynne names her Pick Your Poison choice. Allie Katch in a Monster’s Ball Match. I mean…I like Allie Katch, but she’s not nearly the obstacle that Max was. So it really fell flat. 

.@theraveneffect is the NEWEST MEMBER of the @IMPACTWRESTLING Hall Of Fame!#VictoryRoad pic.twitter.com/7uC2tRqPAo

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) September 24, 2022

Barbed Wire Massacre Match: Moose vs Sami Callihan vs Steve Maclin

Maclin coming out in the Punisher paint is pretty cool, while Sami comes out with some flannel looking like Cactus Jack.

After a small stall, Sami incites both men. Sami ducks Moose and Moose ends up Pouncing Maclin through a door. Then Sami hits the Piledriver on Moose, but just starts looking around since he doesn’t want this to end early. Moose goes for a rope run, but stops since he forgot about the barbed wire, Sami tries to take advantage but Moose shoves him into it, and Sami just laughs and screams “I like it!”. Sami tosses Moose and Moose turns it into a Tope con Hilo onto Maclin. Now they brawl on the outside.

Sami slams Moose into the guardrail and clocks Maclin for good measure. Maclin has literally not been able to get out of the gates. Sami goes after Maclin a little and that just ends up pissing him off. So when Sami gets distracted with his theater of pain, Maclin starts to lay into Sami, using the barbed wire, stairs, Sami counters and we start getting to some big haymakers. Lariats, Suplexes, just going for a few different home run shots until they all slowly rise for the Fighting Spirit spot.

Maclin and Moose team up a little on Sami, Moose throws Sami into one side of the ring, then he drapes Maclin over the top of another barbed wire covered rope, Sami pops up and Suplexes Moose into the barbed wire. Sami grabs a barbed wire chair, Maclin and Sami jockey for positioning, but Sami Suplexes Maclin onto the chair. Sami also pulls out a Barbed Wire N64 Controller. See unlike the pen from yesterday, this one is actually a little clever.

Sami puts Maclin in a Crossface with the N64 wire, Maclin fights out, Skuds Moose, Busaiku Knee to Sami, Moose pulls out Maclin and Powerbombs him onto the apron. Chokeslam directly onto the barebed wire, but Sami kicks out. Lights Out attempt, but Maclin hits him with the chair and hits KIA. Sami breaks it up with the barbed wire ball. Sami looks to be setting up a barbed wire table with designs on sending Moose through it. Sami plays to the crowd, Maclin comes up from behind him and locks in a Sleeper. Sami slumps down, then climbs up to the top rope with the barbed wire chair and jumps at Moose. The table doesn’t break, but that’s almost worse since Maclin just buries Moose against the guardrail.

Barbed Wire Bat versus Barbed Wire Trash Can Lid when Maclin gets back in. Sami and the bat win, as he even does the sit out bat drop with the “Bang Bang” flourish for the obvious Foley reference. Slap fight, and then Sami Powerbombs Steve through another door. Cactus Driver ’97 and…Maclin kicks out! Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, Maclin Uppercuts the balls and hits KIA on the piece of Door left in the middle of the ring! MACLIN WINS!

Overall Score: 7.25/10

So fun takeaways here is that Maclin got the big win, so he should be in line for a well deserved push. Josh Alexander should start a becoming an island, which plays into Honor No More’s hands. Bobby Fish showing up could lead to some fun matches and you can’t be mad at Frankie Kazarian being in an X Division Championship match for the first time in like 8 years.

Also I do appreciate that Raven is the Hall of Fame nominee this year. He’s a blast from the past, who wasn’t really active on the roster when they got inducted. So it’s just a little refreshing.

I’m not gonna sit here like the event was super important since none of the matches were really worth going out to find, except for the main event. Nothing was bad, we moved along a lot of storylines and even got a debut I wasn’t expecting. So it’s a decent show. Must see? Nope. But if you’ve got the time and like the product; you won’t be mad.