This is an Impact Wrestling Homecoming 2019 review & play-by-play. I’ll detail each match, but it will not include every move. I’ll give my thoughts, but I’m not handing out ratings, so you can come to your own conclusions on those. The term “Homecoming” refers to Impact Wrestling returning to their roots. Featuring the show in the “TNA Asylum” (for the first time since 2010) in Nashville, Tennessee; much like when they ran weekly PPV specials in the early days. The ring & graphics paid tribute to the old school “TNA” look. If you’re only after the results, you can find them here: Impact Wrestling Homecoming Results
Impact Wrestling Homecoming 2019 Review
Impact Wrestling cut back on PPV specials years ago to cut costs, and in doing so they made it easier to build them up. However, despite having since October to hype their Homecoming to The Asylum, several matches lacked build. Nevertheless, knowing they were following a huge event like New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 13 only days after, gave talent the added motivation to deliver.
The show began with a video package of Johnny Impact turning up to The Asylum. Closeups of video reel implied they were looking back at their history. Since Anthem took over they shied away from anything referring to “TNA”, but on this night it seems they were embracing it. Looking back on old footage from The Asylum days, we saw many of the big names who helped build TNA in its infancy: Abyss, Jerry Lynn, AJ Styles, Roddy Piper, Dusty Rhodes, 3LiveKru (Road Dogg, Konnan, R-Truth), Mike Tenay, Don West, Don Callis, Frankie Kazarian, Chris Sabin, Michael Shane, Low-Ki, Vince Russo, Jeff Jarrett, Sting, Sonjay Dutt, Scott D’Amore, Ricky Steamboat, Raven, Jeff Hardy, Monty Brown, Scott Hall, Ken Shamrock, America’s Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm), The Naturals, Christopher Daniels, CM Punk, Jerry Jarrett, and Mr. Perfect.
Josh Mathews opened the show, claiming they had not been back to The Asylum since 2004; but that’s not true. We see contestants from reality TV show “Survivor” at ringside. As the brain child of Don Callis, we finally got to witness the first Ultimate X since Anthem Sports bought the company from Dixie Carter. Ultimate X would decide the new X-Division Champion after Brian Cage cashed it in for a World title shot a few weeks prior.
#1. Ultimate X for the vacant X-Division Championship – Rich Swann vs. Jake Crist vs. Trey Miguel vs. Ethan Page
Trey is competing on his first PPV, and first title match in Impact Wrestling. Ethan Page defeated his mentor Matt Sydal to earn a shot. Dave Crist came out with his brother Jake, but he quickly went to the back shortly after Jake got in the ring. A staredown between all four men. Jake gave the thumbs down before rushing to a corner, and the rest did the same. They all jumped on a cable each and a race for the title’s on. Swann kicked Jake off, then let go of the cable to give him a hurricanrana. Trey did the same thing to Rich. Ethan did the same to Trey, but spiked him right on his head. Just to remind everyone .. AJ Styles is the first X-Division Champion. While fighting on the turnbuckle, Ethan Page picked up Trey and literally threw him at Jake & Rich on the outside! Nice. Ethan gets up on a cable, and Jake fails to stop him. It takes both Rich & Trey to get Ethan down. Superkicks everywhere!
After a superkick exchange, Trey nailed Jake with a neckbreaker. With all four down, the crowd chants “Impact Wrestling”. Rich & Trey scrap on the corner turnbuckle, and Jake tried getting involved but is pushed away. A second attempt by Jake succeeds, as he gets them both with a double cutter from the turnbuckle. Ethan on a cable again .. Jake tries to stop him but is kicked to the floor, followed by a mean elbow drop after Ethan lets go! Cool spot. Crowd claps in appreciation. Rich gets the better of Ethan before Trey finds him again. Some innovative offense from Trey ends with a jumping footstomp to the back of Swann’s head. Trey gets on a cable and gets close to the title, but Ethan cuts him off and has him land on his shoulder, converting it in to a backbreaker. Ethan goes after Jake who’s on the turnbuckle, but Jake pushes him down. Jake uses the cable to swing himself towards Ethan with a huge leg drop!
After some exchanges on the outside, with Jake DDTing Trey and Swann diving on Ethan & Jake, all four men were laid out on the ramp. Something I didn’t notice initially .. but if you watch closely on the left side of the screen, you can see a referee messing with a ladder. He goes over to the wrestlers and tells them something. The crowd’s looking at the ring, as the camera stays panned away. I’m assuming the title had fallen in to the ring by accident, and someone used a ladder to put the title back on the cables so the match could continue. The wrestlers did a good job of stalling while they sorted it out. As Rich climbed on the structure, you can see a man with a suit & tie creeping away out of view .. like he was the one who put the title back up and didn’t want to be seen. Oops!
Trey on the structure .. with Ethan, Rich and Jake looking at him FOREVER! I hate these spots, when they’re just standing there waiting for the guy to dive at them. Trey even felt he had time to pose, as his three opponents stand there waiting .. he goes for the moonsault and they catch him. After they recover, Swann tried yet another dive to the outside, but Jake cut him off with a boot to the face, followed by setting him up for the Tombstone Piledriver on the steel ramp! Jake in the ring, and he shimmy’s across the cable towards the title. His arms are tired and he only gets halfway. Ethan’s up on the turnbuckle and spears Jake to the mat! Ethan rolls to the outside, as Trey gets in. Rich and Trey go at it and they exchange hurricanranas. Rich gets on the cable and goes for the title. Trey notices and goes for the cable too. Rich unhooks the title and places it on his legs, and the bell rings before he even touches the floor (remember the rules folks!). Rich Swann is the new X-Division champion.
Thoughts: Considering none of them had ever worked an Ultimate X match before, you have to respect their efforts. The crowd was well into it, and that’s the main thing. The finish seemingly came from nowhere, and I got no idea why Ethan sold the spear like it hurt him. I’ve seen worse Ultimate X’s, but I’ve also seen a few better ones. It ranged from good to very good, depending on how many Ultimate X’s you’ve seen. Now .. if only Impact would actually focus on building the X-Division this year, instead of doing what they did last year and completely bury it.
#2. Allie & Su Yung vs. Kiera Hogan & Jordynne Grace
Don Callis wearing a 20 gallon cowboy hat on top of his headphones. Commentary plugged the other matches on the card. McKenzie got an interview with Brian Cage. He said it was a long time coming, and no one wanted to give him an opportunity so he made his own by cashing in the X-Division title. He sacrificed so many life moments to get to where he is today. Short & sweet. Long hype video for the upcoming tag match. Don Callis likes Allie’s new look.
Allie tries striking Jordynne but she’s too strong. After a snapmare and running forearm, Kiera tags herself in, and Allie tags Su. Kiera’s on fire as she blasts Su with a running dropkick, clothesline, and hip attack. Allie breaks up the pin, and drags Su back to the corner so she can tag in. Allie dodges a clothesline and rolls outside. While Jordynne distracts the referee and Allie, Kiera climbs the turnbuckle. Su creeps up behind and pulls on her leg so she smashes her face on it. Su & Allie work Kiera over as Jordynne’s still messing around with the ref. They put Kiera in the tree of woe and repeatedly kick her, followed by a neckbreaker. Kiera kicks out of a pin at 2. Su & Allie using the refs five count to double team. Allie hits Kiera with a backcracker and rolls out again.
Some lackluster brawling between Kiera & Su. They run off the ropes and botch a spot where they’re meant to backfist each other. Kiera finally gets to her corner and tags in Jordynne, who runs over Allie. She rolls to the outside and Jordynne turns her attention to Su, who pulls the ropes down and sends her tumbling outside to the floor. Kiera runs by Su and suicide dives Allie. Su runs at Jordynne but is intercepted, and double teamed to the floor. Jordynne gets Allie in the ring, but gets her eyes raked. Kiera tags in and squares off with Allie. Kiera swings Allie to the mat and gets a pin, but Su makes it back in to break it up. Kiera helps Jordynne to hold both Allie & Su in the air at the same time. They collectively powerbomb and powerslam Allie & Su. Kiera almost gets the pin.
The ref is letting it go tornado style. Su spits red mist in Jordynne’s face! Allie hits Kiera with the codebreaker. Su hands Allie the bloody glove, who puts it on and locks in the mandible claw on Kiera. She’s out cold in a matter of seconds and the referee calls it immediately. Su beats down Kiera. She calls out the undead bridesmaids. They enter carrying a coffin. They go to place Kiera in the coffin .. but Rosemary emerges from it! Allie is shocked. Rosemary takes out Su Yung and her bridesmaids with an irish whip! She confronts Allie in the ring, and goes to touch her head. Allie seems to be channeling Rosemary, before snapping out of the trance. She disappears while Rosemary is left smiling in the ring.
Thoughts: The match was fairly average. While you could see the heat between Allie & Kiera, Jordynne’s inexperience and Su’s methodical nature bogged it down. It didn’t matter in the end as it was a setup for the return of Rosemary; who should be able to take the Knockouts Division to the next level in 2019. Kinda sucked seeing Kiera pass out so quickly. After the weeks of hype you’d think Impact would at least have her try to resist the move for a while.
The hype video for Moose vs. Eddie Edwards showing all the highlights, including Eddie’s time with Raven.
#3. Eddie Edwards vs. Moose in Falls Count Anywhere
Moose enters and Eddie wastes no time in ambushing him. They brawl, before Eddie leaps on top of Moose. Chops and headbutts. Moose sends him into the guard rail. You can feel the heat already, they’re really going for it. Eddie tries a suicide dive but Moose catches him, and does a mean looking Kevin Owens powerbomb to the ring apron. And again! He goes for a pin on the floor and gets 2. Moose gets the steel steps and sets it up near a guard rail. He grabs a guard rail and unlinks it, placing it on the ring apron and the steps.
Moose goes to powerbomb Eddie through it, but he counters with a hurricanrana. Moose is sent to the floor, and Eddie suicide dives. “Eddie” chant. He throws Moose in to the fans. They brawl through the fans, going deeper in to The Asylum. A beer can off of the skull Moose. They climb some steps to another area. After a brawl, Moose tries getting away, but Eddie leaps over a rail from the balcony to the floor .. landing on Moose! Sweet visual. “Holy S**T” chant. Eddie bounces a big blue bin off Moose and the camera didn’t pick it up, but I’m sure it hit some fans.
Getting back in the ring, Moose took the advantage by kicking the rope and subsequently low blowing Eddie. Moose shoulder blocks him off the apron. Moose throws loads of chairs in the ring and keeps Eddie down. The crowd chants “more chairs”, but end up booing Moose as he uses an arm gesture to show how much he cares. Eddie is busted open, likely from one of Moose’s stiff strikes. Moose gets on the turnbuckle, but is dazed after Eddie throws a chair at his head. And another! Eddie piles the chairs in one spot, and proceeds to superplex Moose on them! They get up and a slugfest ensues. Exchanging chops, kicks and headbutts. Moose runs at Eddie, but is countered .. and goes flying to the outside through the guard rail!! Moose is broken in half. The fans are shocked and eventually decide to react with “This is Awesome!”
Eddie introduces “Kenny” the kendo stick. I have no idea how Moose is (kinda) standing in the ring so soon after bending a guard rail like that. Eddie tees off on Moose with the kendo stick. Alisha Edwards comes out and stops Eddie. She takes Kenny off him and tees off on Moose! “She’s hardcore!” chant. One last big shot to the head with Kenny, before a underhook DDT sees this Falls Count Anywhere end in the ring. Eddie & Alisha celebrate the win together.
Thoughts: Possibly the second best match of the night, due to its intensity levels and crowd reaction. Was better than it had any right of being, and it’s cool to see Eddie’s transformation in 2018 still working in his favour. With Alisha back at his side after so long, it’ll be interesting to see if it continues to be. Eddie & Alisha finally being able to punish Moose for everything he did was a good moment. Eddie’s learned a lot from his battles with Sami Callihan and Tommy Dreamer. Moose was a trooper for taking the fall through the guard rail, and the many stiff kendo stick shots to the head.
A predictable Sami Callihan close-up promo followed. This match came from nowhere, and it’s difficult to care when there’s been so little build. Sami’s the wrestler of the year? So why is he relegated to the mid-card? No disrespect to Willie .. but I don’t get the point of this. Wasn’t Sami feuding with Rich Swann?
#4. Willie Mack vs. Sami Callihan
The one thing Sami does well is fan participation. Whether it’s “oVe”, or “Sucks!”, the crowd’s invested. Willie ambushes Sami, and knocks Dave to the floor as well. Willie is actually a Luchador in disguise, as he does a jumping hurricanrana and a jumping kick, followed by a rolling dive to the outside on Sami & Dave. Amazing athleticism, if you’ve never seen Willie before, he’s gonna’ shock you. Willie works Sami over. He’s relentless. Dave fails to distract him. Willie paid too much attention to Dave though, and Sami took advantage.
Sami covers Willie’s head with the ring curtain, and follows with a running kick to his head. Sami shakes the guard rail to get the fans going. He works Willie over in the ring. The most disgusting visual of the night is Sami spitting at his hand, and watching his saliva droop down before chopping Willie in the chest. Gross lol. Sami applies a headlock and I guess this is the rest period. The fans will Willie back in to the match, but Sami strikes him down. Josh says all the wrestlers seemed fired up tonight, in which Don replies “they have something to prove”.
Willie is back up and they brawl hard. After a strong kick to the head, Sami leans in to the referee so Dave can interfere. Sami takes advantage and rolls Willie up, but only gets 2. Willie hits possibly the coolest sequence of the match, as he Samoan drops Sami, nips up, and finishes with a standing moonsault! Sami kicks out at 2. Willie shows off his freak athleticism for such a big man. Sami runs at him and is taken for Sky High! Kicks out at 2. Sami powerbombs Willie from the corner .. and hits what Don Callis calls the “V Trigger” for 2.
Sami’s bleeding from the shoulder. Willie hits the stunner! Only 2. Willie trips over Sami’s body and goes to climb the turnbuckle. Sami distracts the ref so Dave can stop Willie from diving from it. Willie punches Dave off, but gives time for Sami to recover and hit him with a forearm. Sami climbs the turnbuckle and executes White Noise .. for a 1-count! Sami is shocked as Willie keeps coming back. A lariat still only gets Sami 1! “Willie” chant. A much bigger lariat sending Willie somersaulting. Piledriver! 1-2-3. Callihan wins.
Thoughts: Despite initially not caring for it, Sami & Willie worked well enough to keep me interested. The 1-counts were shocking, as it shows Willie has another gear he can turn on in the latter stages of a match. Sami doesn’t hold many singles victories on PPV, so I can see the benefit of it in the long-term, but I do wish they’d have built Willie up so it could mean more. At least Willie got his first big singles match on PPV, and his athleticism should ensure regular TV appearances for the rest of the year.
Next up is Eli Drake .. blindfolded? He said everyone can take their blindfolds off and look behind him, as he points out the fencing where Abyss debuted 20 years ago. It’s a new year and if anyone’s fit to be a king .. it’s Eli Drake. He says Abyss won’t get chance to use Janice .. and McKenzie asks if he’s afraid of Janice. Eli says he won’t get the chance as Abyss will go down to the gravy train. Eli’s got monster balls. He wants to end Abyss’ career.
#5. Eli Drake vs. Abyss in Monster’s Ball
Eli blindsided Abyss, but to no avail as The Monster strikes him down. Abyss throws his jacket at Eli so badly he’s forced to catch it so it can cover his face long enough to be squished in the corner. Staple gun time .. in Eli’s chest. Abyss clotheslines him outside. Abyss sets up two tables on the outside, and then throws some weapons in the ring. Abyss tries to chokeslam Eli through the tables, but gets his eyes raked. They fight in the crowd, and Eli low blows him. Eli runs a production case in to Abyss. The Monster runs it back at him. They return to ringside.
In the ring, Eli bounces trash cans and lids off Abyss’ skull. Eli hits him in the head with a tray. After some posing, Eli runs at Abyss and is sent flying to the outside through a table! Callis says Eli “might be dead”. “Holy S**t!”. Abyss pulls out a bag of tacks. He lays them out in the ring, and attempts to chokeslam Eli on to them. He counters and starts picking up some tacks. He tries throwing the tacks at Abyss but misses and hits the referee in the eye! The ref sells it really well. Black Hole Slam! But the ref can’t see so there’s no pin-fall. Abyss goes to look at the ref. Abyss sees Eli is up, so he runs at him, misses, and crashes his head through a chair placed in the corner. Eli almost wins with a pin.
The ref is back but is holding his left eye. Fans chant “We Want Janice”. Abyss hears then and obliges. Eli wants no part of it. Eli swings a chair at Abyss’ gut and he drops Janice. Eli decides to switch the chair for Janice. He goes to hit Abyss with it, but Abyss chokeslams him on to the tacks! Eli literally says “Holy S**t”. Eli somehow kicks out of a pin. Eli throws some tacks in Abyss’ face, then hits him with a chair.
Eli has zip ties .. c’mon. He tries tying Abyss’ hands together but they’re zip ties so it doesn’t work. Awkward! He abandons the zip tie idea and repeatedly strikes Abyss with a chair. Abyss kicks out despite the barrage. Eli’s back is bleeding. Eli gets his paddle and hits Abyss over the head multiple times, breaking it over his head. He gets the victory and holds the broken paddle up high.
Thoughts: Abyss does not have a great record in his own match, so him losing .. even more so after a Hall of Fame induction, was not shocking in the slightest. What was shocking though .. was how they built the match up nicely, only to completely undo everything. If you’re going to tie someone up .. just give ’em some handcuffs. It’s like they didn’t try the spot beforehand. And a paddle to finish? I don’t know man .. it seemed out of place. There were some good spots, especially the “Eli might be dead” table crash .. but in my eyes, the finish just plain sucked.
Next up is Killer Kross who somehow doesn’t have a match on the card. I can’t get enough of his promos, they’re like audible chocolate blended with the purest form of insanity. He’s made his intentions clear many times. He’s coming after Johnny, and he doesn’t make excuses for what needs to be done. He talks about their match “Option C” between Cage & Johnny. But at the end of the night everyone won’t be talking about Option C, they’ll be talking about Option X. Option Cross. Checkmate. In the end, everybody pays the toll. Tick tock.
#6. LAX (c) vs. The Lucha Brothers for the Impact World Tag Team Championship
#6. LAX (c) vs. The Lucha Brothers for the Impact World Tag Team ChampionshipPredicted it would be match of the night before the show aired. I enjoyed LAX’s promo, as they spoke from the heart about their passion for wrestling, and wanting to prove they’re the best tag team in the world. Konnan did not accompany them as he did not agree with them calling out The Lucha Brothers. “Cero Miedo, LAX” chants before the bell. Santana and Fenix start. Some fast action as they dodge each other til Fenix rolls in to a body scissors and takedown. Pentagon Jr. kicks Santana from the apron, and Fenix dropkicks Ortz off. They double team Santana with repeated kicks. Fenix hits a hellish suicide dive to Ortiz. Fenix back in for a powerbomb & double foot stomp combo. Fenix bounces off the ropes and flips to the outside on Ortiz. Santana kicks out at 2.
Santana fights back and pushes Pentagon in to Fenix, who falls off the turnbuckle. LAX double teaming Pentagon with a springboard cross body, senton, and a standing moonsault from Ortiz’s back. Ortiz jumps through the ropes and cannon balls Fenix. Santana floors Pentagon with an Asai Moonsault. LAX double team Pentagon in the ring again with a lionsault & legdrop combo for a 2-count. Pentagon recovers shortly after and they fight around the ring apron, til Fenix pushes LAX to the floor. LAX sit next to each other on the ramp, and Pentagon adjusts them enough to tell us something big is coming. Fenix suicide dives with Pentagon giving him extra boost in to the sitting ducks. Pentagon flip dives everyone, including his brother. “This is Awesome!” chant. Back in the ring, the Lucha Brothers tee off against Ortiz in the corner. Another powerful double team move, but they only get 2. Pentagon is frustrated with the ref.
Fenix dives at Santana from the turnbuckle, but is caught. Santana slams him hard with an Alley Oop, and Ortiz flys with the big splash! While Ortiz is pinning Fenix, Pentagon launches off his back and nails Santana with a Canadian Destroyer!! The crowd give them a standing ovation! “Fight Forever” & “This is Wrestling” chants. Pentagon gets right in Ortiz’s face with a Cero Miedo taunt, and Ortiz reciprocates with a stiff punch to his face. Chopfest! Many Wooo’s! They exchange superkicks. They exchange clotheslines and drop to their knees due to fatigue. Santana & Fenix jump in the ring and have their own chopfest. The ref is letting a lot slide. Having the same ideas. both teams fall to the floor and the crowd applaud. “All These Guys”. Pentagon gets the better of Santana and sets him up for the Fear Factor double team! Pentagon doesn’t rush to cover Santana, and he almost wins the match because Ortiz is slow getting in the ring to push Fenix on to him. LAX fight back and his the street sweeper on Pentagon! It looks like they’ve won, but a flying Fenix comes out of nowhere to break it up!
“Fight Forever”. Santana hits a cutter on Fenix, throws him into an Ortiz codebreaker, and they turn Fenix inside out with a double swinging suplex. You can see Pentagon standing on the outside but is selling the match, so he doesn’t come in to break up the pin. LAX win and retain their titles. LAX are stoked to have pulled through. Konnan enters the ring. He helps the Lucha Brothers up. He admits he was wrong with his comments. He said The Asylum couldn’t be a better place for this historic match. Both teams show sportsmanship afterwards.
Thoughts: There wasn’t much build for it, but on paper they’d easily tear the roof off. The action was incredibly fast paced, and the only (slight) botch was Ortiz being late to breakup a pin. It was a crowning achievement for LAX, but it came at the expense of the Lucha Brothers. While they lost, it should set up a series of matches which pretty much guarantees they’ll get the titles sometime this year. It reminded me of the matches between the original LAX vs. AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels over a decade ago. Will it continue? I hope so. But one of the teams needs to turn heel so it can escalate. Which team though? I’ll leave that up to your imagination.
Gail Kim interview with her pretty, and conveniently shaped referee shirt. She doesn’t like Tessa, even if she respects her for being a great wrestler. She’ll be calling it “down the line”
7. Tessa Blanchard (c) vs. Taya Valkyrie for the Impact Knockout’s Championship
Gail Kim out first and gets a warm welcome. Taya looking psychedelic with her colourful ring gear. Tessa out wearing shades, looking as confident as ever. Tessa trash talks Taya. They lock up, and Tessa ends a sequence by dropping her to the mat. Taya kicks Tessa in the leg. They evade each other, til Taya botches a head scissors, getting nowhere near her head. They whip from corner to corner, and Taya’s using an unusually high amount of kicks. Double stomp to the back of Tessa, who rolls to the outside for a break. Tessa goads Taya in and brawls at ringside. She pushes Taya in to the guard rail. Tessa missile dropkick to Taya’s head against the rail.
Back in the ring, Tessa wrenches Taya’s arm back. Tessa’s taken control. Tessa disrespects Gail Kim. Taya fights back and clotheslines her twice, followed by a German suplex. Tessa tries to DDT her, but Taya reverses into a Northern lights. Another double stomp by Taya gets her 2. She goes for a moonsault, but misses and burns. Tessa spears her for 2 1/2. Tessa misses Taya and hits Gail Kim by accident. Tessa hits the buzzsaw DDT and covers her, but Gail is down. Tessa grabs her belt and goes to hit Taya with it, but Gail grabs it and they have a tug of war. Gail Kim inadvertently hits Taya with it, and reluctantly starts the pin for Tessa, but Taya manages to kick out in time.
Tessa gets in Gail’s face and shoves her. Gail shoves her in to a school girl from Taya and makes a fast count, but Tessa kicks out at 2. Tessa hits the magnum codebreaker on Taya, but still only gets 2. Tessa doesn’t like it and grabs Gail by the throat. Gail Kim fights back and hits Eat Defeat! Taya hits Til Valhalla and Gail counts the pin. Taya Valkyrie is the new champion. She celebrates her emotional victory.
Thoughts: Not as good as their Bound For Glory match, and the only reason I can see them going this way is to setup Tessa vs. Gail down the road. There’s better workers in the Knockouts division than Taya, so she feels like a transitional champion til Tessa or Rosemary have settled their feuds.Gail said she’d call it down the middle, but Tessa literally choked her .. so it was a suitable response. Could’ve been better, but it was all about Tessa and Gail’s interactions than the crowning of a new champion.
Johnny Impact cut a promo next, saying the match tonight is about who has the biggest heart. I guess he didn’t listen to Cage’s promo about sacrifice? He kinda insulted him by saying it’s not about how big and strong he is .. but that’s a lie as it’s certainly something to be worried about. Not much to explain here .. Cage cashed in Option C, they kinda feuded (despite being faces) for a few weeks and here we are.
#8. Johnny Impact (c) vs. Brian Cage for the Impact World Championship
#8. Johnny Impact (c) vs. Brian Cage for the Impact World ChampionshipCage in full cosplay mode as he sports The Terminator look. After the announcements, there’s a staredown between them. Johnny starts things with a stiff shot. He looks to use his speed and elusiveness to bring The Machine down. Cage wants a test of strength, but Impact doesn’t want to as he’s got the advantage. Cage tries hitting Johnny, but he’s slippery. Showing off a bit with his parkour maneuvers. Cage finally catches and slams him for a pin, and Impact kicks out. Cage wears him down in the corner, and gets the thunderclap started. Johnny gets Cage down and applies a cross armbreaker. Johnny gets on the turnbuckle, but Cage trips him and he lands on his face. The crowd is more behind the challenger. Cage gets two backbreakers in quick succession. He “gorilla” flips Johnny across the ring. And another one with extra rotation!
Cage packs Impact up on the turnbuckle and kicks him in the face. He gets Impact on his shoulders for the electric chair drop. They brawl in the middle of the ring. Cage rolls to the outside after a tornado DDT. Johnny climbs the turnbuckle, and flies off with a side sault knee to Cage’s face on the outside! (dunno what it’s called) “TNA” chant. Back in the ring, Impact keeps up the pressure. Discus forearm from Johnny. Cage fights back with a combo of strikes, and a German suplex release for 2. Two rolling neckbreakers from Johnny. The crowd starting to get behind Impact. After some reversals, Johnny slides under Cage (on the ropes) for a snap german. Cage gets up and muscles him in to an F5! Only 2.
Buckle bomb, and then Weapon X .. but Johnny reverses and rolls him up for 2. Cage combo strikes him, runs the ropes and returns with a thunderous lariat. 2 again. Somehow Johnny comes back and downs Cage with a dropkick. Starship pain! 1 ..2 .. kickout! Impact can’t believe it. Top rope Spanish fly!! Johnny looks hurt, and eventually gets a shoulder over .. but Cage kicks out before 1. The Machine enters powerbomb mode and sits down on the third .. but Impact kicks out. Cage hits Weapon X! He covers Johnny, but he gets his foot on the rope before 3. Cage thinks about suplexing Johnny to the outside, but is countered and kicked off the apron in to the guard rail, where The Survivor guys are. They get in his face and provide a distraction. Cage pushes one of them over.
He gets in the ring and Drillclaws Johnny! Cage goes for the pin but the referee is distracted having to hold back the guy he pushed over. Cage screams at the ref to get back in, but by the time he does he can only muster 2. Cage sets him up for a huge suplex off the rope .. but their timing is off. What’s meant to happen, is Johnny goes for the suplex and falls on top of Cage and gets the pin. What actually happens, is they botch the timing and it looks like a train wreck. Johnny pins him and retains the World Heavyweight Championship. Cage grabs the title off the ref and walks around the ring. He shares his disgust with Johnny before dropping the title in his lap. Johnny and Taya celebrated together with their titles. In the remaining seconds, Killer Kross appeared and ambushed Impact on the stage. Taya jumped on Kross to stop him hurting Johnny, but he powerbombed her in to the crowd. “Kill Kross Kill” chant, as he stood relishing the chaos he’d created. “Tick tock”.
Thoughts: Their styles don’t mesh well. Not a pretty match to call. I like Cage, but he looked slower than usual. Either that, or he was purposely slow to make Johnny look better. Considering Cage was undefeated, and all it took was a distraction from two guys we’ve never seen before? It’s telling us officials are not high on him. Killer Kross targeting Johnny for weeks before the show is another hint. Kross is far more rounded as a character, and if Impact Wrestling need a heel leading the way it will be him. His promo work is arguably the best on the roster, and they’re so well-delivered. Kross’ only crutch is his lack of experience in the ring, which could be the deciding factor in keeping the title on Johnny or not. Mainstream attention via movies and reality shows continues to help Johnny stay on top of the mountain; not crowd reactions. So it’s a bit polarizing, but time will tell if something good comes from it.
Conclusion: Impact Homecoming was a mixed bag. Devoid of surprises .. yet intense on occasion, the return home paid homage by dedicating its time to “Total Nonstop Action”. It was a good show, but outside of the LAX vs. Lucha Brothers match it’s hard to say anything else was mind-blowing. Maybe adding Killer Kross, Sami Callihan, or both to the main event would’ve spiced it? But then it would be seen as unfair to Cage, as he cashed in the X-Division title.
Not having Kross on the card didn’t make sense. Only cared for the women’s tag match when Rosemary popped out of the casket. Willie Mack was impressive, but his match was a throwaway. Oh! And I almost forgot about the zip ties .. someone get Eli Drake some handcuffs dammit! And yeah .. I do have to give kudos to Moose and Eddie for delivering. Did anyone notice Scarlett Bordeaux didn’t show up at all? Despite being on the poster? And I guess ending the show with Kross was better than nothing? There’s a lot of work to do, to rebuild the main event scene after losing so many big names the past few years. 2019 should be the year of rebuilding divisions.
And that’s all for this Impact Wrestling Homecoming 2019 review. Please come to your own conclusions in the comments. Thank you for reading! And farewell.
