Bullet Club (Ace Austin & Hikuleo) defeated Zicky Dice & Johnny Swinger on the BTI pre-show
*
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The opening video recapped Eddie Edwards victory in last week's 6-Way Elimination #1 Contenders Match.
VXT (Chelsea Green & Deonna Purrazzo) defeated Jordynne Grace & Mia Yim to retain the Knockouts world tag team titles
**3/4
Thumbs In The Middle Pointing Up
Impact world champion Jordynne Grace and Chelsea Green began the match and Grace gained some immediate momentum using her power before Green was able to tag out to Purrazzo.
Purrazzo didn't do much better but when Green came back into the match, VXT started showing why they were champions with Green landing a great DDT on Grace.
Yim was tagged into the match but VXT was working seamlessly at this point and the match was in their hands for the next several moments of the match.
Yim was finally able to make a hot tag to Grace after Purrazzo mistimed a move and it was all Jordynne at this point. Grace showed her power game once again and sent the tag team champions to the outside and then followed up with a double suicide dive alongside Yim.
As Purrazzo was sent back inside the ring, Green caught Grace when she was attempting to get back in as well and VXT shifted the momentum their way. VXT nailed Grace with their pendulum finisher and Purrazzo picked up the victory by pinning the Knockouts world champion to retain the Knockouts world tag team titles.
VXT are looking great as champions so far and I'm curious as to where they go with Purrazzo getting a pinfall victory over the current Knockouts champion.
- A backstage video promo aired featuring Violent By Design. Eric Young stated that they would be victorious against Time Machine later tonight.
- A video promo aired for Bound For Glory taking place on October 8th in Albany, New York with tickets on sale now.
Karl Anderson defeated Mike Bennett (w/Maria Kanellis)
**3/4
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If Mike Bennett loses, Maria will be banned from ringside when him and Matt Taven face The Good Brothers for the Impact world tag team titles in the near future.
The match began and it was referenced that the feud between Anderson and Bennett goes far beyond Bullet Club and Honor No More dating back to the days they were both part of New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Maria may have played a factor.
Anderson was in full control the first few moments of the match and it wasn't looking too good for Bennett as we headed into a commercial break.
We're back from commercial and Bennett was in full control in the center of the ring after switching up momentum during the commercial break. To ensure he was going to remain in control, in only what could potentially be described as the "move of the year", Bennett bounced off the ropes about six times before landing a massive eye poke on a grounded Anderson.
Anderson was fortunately able to recover from such a massive move and after Maria attempted to play interference before getting caught up by the referee, Matt Taven came down to ring.
Before Taven could do anything however, we saw the return of the "Big LG" Doc Gallows who chokeslammed Taven on the ring apron. Bennett soon met his fate as well as Anderson nailed him with the Gun Stun to pickup the victory and prevent Maria from being ringside when The Good Brothers defend the world tag team titles against Bennett and Taven.
Backstage, The Good Brothers were met by Scott D'Amore. D'Amore stated that they would defend the world tag team titles against The Kingdom next week on Impact.
- Backstage, Savannah Evans was being tended to in a medical room by a physician with Tasha Steelz present. After Steelz left the room, Gia Miller attempted to interview her with regards to what took place last week. Before Steelz could say much, Killer Kelly grabbed her from behind and locked in the Killer Clutch. Kelly released her quickly and warned her that next time, Steelz would see it coming.
Bhupinder Gujjar defeated Jason Hotch
**
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Before the match, Digital Media champion Brian Myers made his way to the ring to do commentary.
For anyone unaware, Hotch is the 2022 Gut Check winner. Hotch has a good look but Gujjar could have cared less as this match was a squash and Bhupinder picked up a quick victory after hitting the Gargoyle Spear.
After the match, Myers entered the ring and nailed Gujjar with a cheap shot. Myers then shifted his focus to referee Scott Armstrong and shoved him. Armstrong fought back and Myers was soon met with an unsuspecting Gargoyle Spear by Gujjar. Gujjar covered Myers and Armstrong counted to three and while it wasn't official, Gujjar took off up the entrance ramp with the Digital Media title.
Backstage, Gail Kim was talking to someone before being interrupted by VXT. Purrazzo demanded a Knockouts world title match but Kim said that Masha Slamovich has been on a roll since her debut. Kim stated that Purrazzo would face Slamovich next week with the winner facing Jordynne Grace for the Knockouts world title at Bound For Glory.
- A video promo aired for Victory Road taking place on September 23rd in Nashville, Tennessee.
- Backstage, Scott Armstrong caught up with Bhupinder Gujjar and praised him for his stance against Brian Myers tonight. He then asked for the Digital Media title but Gujjar refused and stated that if Myers wanted it back, he could get it himself.
Josh Alexander defeated Vincent in a non-title match
***
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After the bell rang, it was all Alexander until Vincent was able to capitalize and hit the Red Rum out of nowhere for a two count.
Alexander was able to comeback quickly and after failing to hit his C4 Spike, he locked in the ankle lock but Vincent was able to get to the ropes. Vincent followed up with a guillotine in the middle of the ring but Alexander countered it with a suplex.
Alexander then seized the moment, hit the C4 Spike and that was all she wrote for Vincent as Alexander celebrated another victory.
After the match, Eddie Edwards came out to the entrance ramp with a microphone in hand. Edwards stated that he and Alexander didn't have to be enemies as the industry was doing this to them before telling the crowd in the building to shut up.
Edwards stated he knew what side he was on but what side was Alexander on? Edwards then continued to put down the fans before stating that they could stand side by side against the industry before making his way into the ring.
As Edwards entered and Alexander was getting ready for the unknown, Heath out of nowhere hit the ring, nailed Edwards with the Wake Up Call and left just as quickly as he entered.
- Backstage, Raj Singh was with Shera. Singh stated that they were about to become unstoppable before Moose and Steve Maclin were seen arguing at the bottom of a stairwell. As the two were arguing, Sami Callihan attacked them from out of nowhere and after bloodying up Maclin, Callihan was soon on the receiving end of a beatdown as he was attacked with barbed wire and left laying.
- A video promo aired for Bound For Glory taking place on October 8th in Albany, New York with tickets on sale now.
- A video promo aired on the dominance of an undefeated Masha Slamovich.
Jessicka (w/Rosemary) defeated Alisha
As Jessicka was making her entrance to the theme music of Decay, it quickly switched to a more punk rock theme music style to the dismay of Rosemary.
After the bell rang, it was all Jessicka. It was a squash match at it's finest here folks as Jessicka (looking at how to make the "k" backwards for this recap) nailed Alisha with a spike piledriver for the easy victory.
- A video promo aired for Victory Road taking place on September 23rd in Nashville, Tennessee.
- As commentary was talking about next week's show, Sami Callihan, wrapped in barbed wire, interrupted. Callihan stated that he wanted Moose and Steve Maclin at Victory Road on September 23rd in a Barbed Wire Massacre match.
Time Machine (Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin & KUSHIDA) defeated Violent By Design (Deaner, Eric Young & Joe Doering)
***1/4
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Doering and KUSHIDA started the match and it was quite the contrast as Doering quickly showed his power and grounded KUSHIDA.
While I mentioned earlier that Mike Bennett's eye poke of the millennium may take it for move of the year, Time Machine may have just topped that. With Eric Young laying on the mat face down, Shelley grabbed one arm and leg, KUSHIDA grabbed his other arm and leg and if introducing his lower body to the ring post and being stretched wasn't bad enough, Sabin followed it up with a running dropkick to the face.
OUCH!
After Doering decided that enough was enough at this point and took out Sabin, we headed to a commercial break.
We're back from commercial and Sabin was being schooled by VBD. Young, Deaner and Doering were making frequent tags and Sabin was continuing to be grounded for the next several moments before Sabin miraculously landed in his corner and KUSHIDA was tagged in.
Time Machine went to work at this point with Deaner taking most of the damage before Young was able to briefly capitalize before VBD was nailed on the outside with multiple diving attacks.
Violent By Design managed to switch momentum and after Doering hit Sabin with a powerslam and Deaner nailed Sabin with a diving headbutt, Young hit a diving elbow drop but VBD could only manage a two count.
VBD was frustrated at this point and after failing to put this match away, Deaner was met with a flurry of attacks and Time Machine decided that his time was up. After KUSHIDA and Shelley lent their assistance, Sabin nailed Deaner with a Cradle Shock and it was a 1-2-3 victory for Time Machine.
Overall: Thumbs In The Middle Pointing Down
By: #GeraldRoberts
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