That Wrestling Show

DLo Brown was injured last week and therefore is still not cleared to return to commentary. So, Mickie James joined Tom Hennefan on commentary for the opening match.

Our opening contest is Tasha Steelz (w/Savannah Evans) vs. Chelsea Green. Green started fast with a huge Shotgun Dropkick and then a stomp on the apron. Tasha survived the quick onslaught and nailed a Codebreaker and then followed up with some big strikes. Green countered with multiple quick pin attempts, then they traded strikes, before Tasha hit a vicious cutter. Green managed to counter her way back in it, going with the power advantage, but Steelz weathered the storm and hit a beautiful Crucifix Bomb for the win. 7.5/10, they did the damn thing. Good opening match. After the match, she addressed Mickie directly. She told her that she about to step on the wrong side of the street. They about to get nasty. She’s gonna send her back home a failure. She’s gonna send her back to her husband a failure. She’s gonna send her back to her SON a failure. That did it, Mickie hit the ring and nailed Tasha, but as she went for the Mickie-T, Evans interfered. They went for a double team on Mickie but Chelsea Green came off the top rope and took them out with a dropkick to Evans, which allowed Mickie to nail Tasha with the Mick Kick.

On BTI, Jordynne Grace defeated Lady Frost to retain her Digital Media Championship. After the match, Matt Cardona came out and challenged her to a match, since he kind of, you know, created the whole Internet Championship idea. Actually makes a lot of sense.

We head back to the ring, where The Influence will take on Decay. Or at least, that was the scheduled match. Before the match, Kaleb distracted them, allowing the Influence to jump Decay, dropping Havok and then throwing Rosemary hard into the post and apparently injuring her. Somehow she convinced Havok to attempt to get revenge in a handicap match.

Coming out of the break, the match was made official. So its now Havok vs. The Influence in a handicap match, and for some god awful reason we get Kaleb on commentary with Tom. Ugh. Influence immediately went to the double teams. Havok somehow overpowered them and fought them off before managing to isolate Madison Rayne. They managed to team up on her again, taking out Havok finally with the Influence. 6/10, Havok actually put a decent fight considering. After the match, the IInspiration appeared via satellite and said Madison can’t trust Tennille, they’ve known her for a decade and she’s only all about herself. Which is why they can’t match the IInspiration.

Ace Austin and Madman Fulton tried to recruit “Speedball” Mike Bailey. John E Bravo interrupted apparently looking for Broomhilda. He decided to check Swinger’s dungeon.

We go back to the ring, where the Learning Tree will take on Morrissey 2-on-1, with Brian Myers on commentary. Morrissey completely destroyed them before hitting a massive chokeslam on Dice and the BQE on VSK. Myers was wholly unimpressed and seriously considering firing both. After the match he said he’s gonna go find Moose. Scott stopped him backstage and said Moose isn’t there tonight, but Morrissey will get what he wants when he faces Moose for the Impact World Championship at No Surrender.

Scott D’Amore cut the ROH Rebels/OG Kingdom off at the pass backstage and put them in a skybox. He told them they can stay and watch the ROH World Championship match and then they gotta go.

We go back to the ring for what should be a barn burner of a match for the ROH World Championship between Jonathan Gresham and Steve Maclin, competing under Pure Rules. Maclin was forced to burn an immediate rope break. Gresham was then forced to do the same thing right after. Gresham then forced him back to the ropes to burn his second rope break. Maclin responded by using his 1 allowed closed fist and cold cocking Gresham. That gave Maclin the advantage, and he hit a huge backbreaker, then locked up Gresham, forcing him to burn his second rope break. Maclin immediately went to the power game and focused on his back. He locked in a Boston Crab, forcing Gresham to burn his final rope break. He immediately switched to a Camel Clutch, taking advantage of the fact that Gresham could no longer use the ropes to escape. Gresham tried to fight out and fight back but Maclin maintained the power advantage and continuously dropped him. Gresham finally got back in it using his ridiculous speed advantage and agility, and strung some moves together before going for a pin. Maclin kicked out, countered, and hit the Crosshairs in the corner. Gresham survived and went after his knee, forcing Maclin to finally burn his third and final rope break. He went for multiple roll-ups but Maclin continued kicking out, and hitting clotheslines. They traded covers for clotheslines a few times, before Maclin went for a Mayhem For All, but his knee gave out on the attempt. Gresham locked in a Figure Four, and they fought through it to the ropes, where Gresham used the ropes to add more torque and turn it into a Figure Four pinfall for the win. That was a very innovative pin. 8.5/10, that was a great match. Gresham is the real deal man. After the match, the OG Kingdom appeared to keep their word as they filed out of the arena.

Back in the ring, we have our next match, which featured Doc Gallows and Joe Doering vs. Heath and Rhino, with Karl Anderson on commentary with Tom. Rhino took it to LG early, but Doc responded. Rhino dropped Doc to the floor, then Heath dropped Doering. They went to break at that point. When they came back from break, Doc immediately took control, using a Deaner distraction to drop Rhino. Doering and LG began the double team, isolating the War Machine. A meeting of the minds as Rhino dodged allowed him to tag in Heath, who came in hot, immediately taking it to Doering. LG managed to tag himself in, and Deaner provided another distraction, and the two of them hit a double Chokeslam on Heath for the win. 7/10, actually a decent match outside of the interference. Rhino looks his age in there these days.

We’ve reached our main event of the evening, and this should be a good match. In one corner we have the legend, one of the World’s Greatest Tag Team, Charlie Haas. In the other corner, we have the standard of Impact, The Walking Weapon Josh Alexander. Chris Sabin joined Tom on commentary for this one, which is fitting. Both guys traded holds immediately, countering hold for hold. Alexander managed to take the advantage and send him out of the ring right before the break. After the break, Josh tweaked his knee, and Haas went to work on it immediately. Haas locked in a deathlock and they traded punches until he let go. They traded pin attempts, then traded Germans. Haas went back to suplexes, then the knee. Josh countered and locked in the grapevined Ankle Lock and got the submission. 8.5/10, great match, though there were a few times where Haas looked a little slow, definitely showing his age and the toll on his body. After the match, the OG Kingdom came out and attacked Josh and Haas (lying bastards), but Heath, Rhino, Eddie, the Souljas, and then Sabin made the save. The Kingdom retreated back to their sky box. Maria said they used to believe in honor, but a change has come. And this change has caused them to reconsider their methods. So this is Honor No More. Haas disappeared after being down for the whole fight with the OG Kingdom. He honestly looked like he might have been legit hurt.

Well, that is that for this week’s show. We have our first match for No Surrender, with Morrissey finally getting his one-on-one title shot. And it looks like Deonna already has a challenger in Maria. And what the hell is going on with the OG Kingdom? Are they here to stay? I guess we’ll find out next week. 7.5/10 for this week’s show, great matches and some good segments to build towards No Surrender.