Impact Wrestling 12.3 Review: Elgin vs Edwards vs Cage!

[cero2k]

Impact Wrestling
December 3rd, 2019
Queens, NY

Show opened with Gabbi Loren interviewing Michael Elgin about the loss. Elgin said that tonight, he’s going to beat someone.

Eddie Edwards vs Brian Cage - No Contest
Both men had a nice short 5 minute back and forward match until Michael Elgin came out and attacked both men. Fans booed. Elgin attacked Eddie mostly until the referees pulled him away. Commentary told us that this match is being restarted now as a 3-way.

Michael Elgin vs Brian Cage vs Eddie Edwards - 9/10
Obviously, Eddie and Cage now teamed up against Elgin for a bit, but Elgin being fresher, was able to dodge them and get the better of them for a while. Likewise, Cage and Edwards working together didn't last long.

This was a great fucking match. Along with the first match-up, this was a hell of a 30 minute opener. It was all 3-way action, back and back and forward, tons of great near finishers given all three men are top talent, and Elgin picking up the win since it just makes sense he was slightly fresher than the rest.


Commentary ran down the card for No Surrender his saturday. Taya vs Havok for the Knockout’s title, Callihan vs Swann for the World title, and Ace Austin defends the title against Eddie Edwards in a table match.

Rascalz Treehouse - The Rascalz were on the Treehouse talking about Ace Austin’s comments on Trey Miguel’s mom. Wentz and Xavier agreed with Ace a bit. In came Trey Miguel’s mom into the Treehouse, with Trey asking her to not be at ringside tonight during their match. Trey’s mom said that other wrestlers bring their moms to the show and asked Trey if he was embarrassed by her, guilting Trey into letting her be there. Trey’s mom is making meatloaf after the match for the Rascalz.

Moose Basketball Segment - Out in the streets of NYC, Moose walked down saying that while he lost to Swann, he is still great as he compares himself to Ali and McGregor on their respective loses. Moose walked up to a basketball court where he bullied two fans who have seen that Moose has been attacking people at the golf course. Moose landed a 3-pointer and the attacked the fans.

ODB Fundraiser Segment - Josh Matthews brought out ODB, who was here to talk about her recent tragedy when she lost her food truck to a fire. Matthews announced that all proceeds of the show were going to help her fix her food truck. This was all shoot.

ODB said she was happy to be home, she explained that she has been working with the food truck for the last 3 years and explained about losing the truck. She said that unfortunately, insurance wouldn’t cover it and thanked the wrestling community for helping her out. She said that Impact always allowed her to be herself and that Impact reached out to her.

Suddenly, Taya Valkyrie interrupted the speech. Taya had some backhanded comments for ODB and then bragged about being the longest reigning Knockout’s champion in Impact history. Taya talked trash and told ODB that she would donate to the fund so she could now afford a fire extinguisher, and told ODB to get out of her ring.

After taking so much, ODB finally knocked down Taya, sending her running away. Taya was amazing here, she can trash talk like no other.

After commercials, commentary informed us that ODB takes on Taya tonight.

Tessa vs Callihan Press Conference - We got footage for a press conference with Matthews and D’Amore talking about Tessa Blanchard vs Sami Callihan at Hard To Kill. Tessa said that she would be professional in her quest and put over Callihan’s work in the last few years. Callihan said that Tessa was a spoiled brat and that she was what was wrong with the new generation of wrestlers because she got everything handed to her. Callihan said he should be glorified for being the only one who actually treated Tessa as an equal, and that on January 12, he’s going to “crack her f***ing skull”. Tessa and Callihan got into a pull apart.

This looked great, but you could tell there was no press there and the pull apart could have used more people to make it seem more chaotic. Good angle nonetheless.

Ace Austin & Reno Scum vs The Rascalz - 7.5/10
Pretty good match, it’s nice to see The Rascalz get into a serious feud for once. This is building Trey vs Ace, but I can totally see Dez and Wentz having their own feud with Reno Scum. Heels got the heat on Dezmond for a while, Trey had the hot tag, he ran wild until he noticed that Ace was making the moves on his mom and went to attack him, but back in the ring, Thownstowe rolled up Wentz for the win.


Grace meets ODB - Backstage, Jordynne Grace told ODB that she had her back. ODB told her that she’ll only leave some pieces of Taya for the PPV.

Swinger meets Ryan - Backstage, Johnny Swinger approached Joey Ryan to complain about ‘these kids today’ that are killing the business for them. Swinger tells Ryan that they should form a Kliq together. Swinger said that he has a match with Petey Williams tonight and when he gives his signal, Ryan should come out and take him out. Joey Ryan agrees and goes back to his phone.

RVD Explains His Actions, Kinda - Rob Van Dam and Katie Forbes came out. Forbes did the introductions. Rob cut a promo saying that he would explain his past actions, but that no one would understand him because no one is as great as RVD and no one would ever want to copy any of them. RVD said that he has been raising the bar for many years already.

Tommy Dreamer came out and challenged RVD to fight Rhino next week, and that he could be the special guest referee. Rob told him that Tommy was living in the past and they’d done this many times already. RVD said that fans always get excited for ECW reunions, but he wants to move on from that because they all keep clinging onto him. Rob passed on the match, but appreciate the offer.

Rhino now came out and brawled with RVD into a short pull apart. Forbes tried to kick Rhino among the chaos.


Swann/Mack meet The North - We got a video package showcasing Swann’s Elimination 6-way performance. Same from the opener. Backstage, Acey Romero and Chris Sabin congratulated Swann. Swann said that it wasn’t his night, but now that it’s behind them, they should focus on next week’s Tag Team Open Challenge for the No. 1 Contendership.

The North walked up and had some comments for Swann going for the title this Saturday. Swann called out Page on his fake comment (which didn’t sound so fake), and told him that next week, they become the No. 1 Contenders for their titles.

Bahh Interview - Gabbi Loren interviewed Fallah Bahh about being attacked by the Desi Hit Squad. Bahh talked and said he is still here and she’s damn right he’s gonna fight back. Pissed off talking Fallah Bahh is great.

Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was ODB defeating Mickey James to win the Knockout’s Championship.

Mitchell & Friends Skit - Somewhere in the Undead Realm, James Mitchell introduced Suzie to Havok. Mitchell told Suzie that if she respects Havok’s space, the three of them will be the best of friends.

Petey Williams vs Johnny Swinger - 4/10
Wouldn't call it a squash because Swinger did get some offense in, but it was mostly Petey hitting his big moves and building to Joey Ryan not coming out when Swinger called for him. Petey locked in the Sharpshooter and tapped out Swinger. Joey Ryan never came out.

Commentary ran down next week’s card. Tessa vs Fulton, Callihan vs Shamrock, Rhino vs RVD, and the Tag Team Open Challenge.

Non-title match
ODB vs Knockout’s Champion Taya Valkyrie (w/John E. Bravo) - 6.5/10
This was probably one of the best ODB matches I've seen and it was all thanks to Taya. Her trash talking and heel shtick is on another level. Match was mostly Taya being in control with ODB having flurries of offense. The big spot was when Bravo took ODB's flask, got drunk, and got motor-boated by ODB, which would later build up again when Bravo, now drunk, wanted more booze and thought he was the champion since he had the title. This wasn't a distraction for Taya, but he left himself open for Jordynne Grace to come out and take the title away, and THAT was a distraction for Taya, who got rolled up by a desperation School Girl by ODB.

Match was nothing special other than Taya's fantastic heel shtick. This felt like some sort of Impact retiremnet match for ODB, giving her a last big win.

Post-show - ODB and Jordynne celebrated together in the ring to close out the show.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Ok show, it started really strong, but it closed out with what felt like a nostalgia send off match for ODB. The stories heading into Hard To Kill are now better cemented, and so I’d say that it was a stronger show for stories than anything else. Opener is definitely worth checking out.