Smarkverse

[CakeWalker]

ill add to the board of potential 'updates' lol

 

[CakeWalker]

Episode Six

- The New Japan Cup second half of the first round would continue on NJPW World would come live from the Korakuen Hall - Tokyo, Japan.

-A video package shows replays from the prior week, focusing primarily on MJF and EVIL’s bout with EVIL’s NJPW career on the line. They announce that MJF must now also put his title on the line to even the odds.

- Commentary would then make an official statement on behalf of NJPW management, stating that both Okada and Malakai Black have been banned from the venue this evening and fined an undisclosed amount for their behavior in Tokyo last week. They segway this into presenting the opening contest that includes Tanahashi who himself was not too pleased being caught in the crossfire of Okada and Malakai’s tussle backstage. Fans would also be informed that Vikingo was still place on the Injured Reserve list - and for that reason would not be involved at AAA's Guerra de Titanes this weekend.

- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. QT Marshall

Finish: The crowd would go wild as The Ace came out second to face QT Marshall, who brought Bone Soldier to support him. Commentary mentions that El Phantasmo is nursing his injuries at home after his humiliating defeat to Samoa Joe last week.

QT would try his best but would be outclassed by Tanahashi would seem to only get more and more motivated by QT’s desperate attempts at bending the rules. Tanahashi would nail a brilliant sequence early on and go for the High Fly Flow right away only to be met by Ishimori on the apron. QT hits a superplex to gain advantage, but not before EVIL appears from under the ring, pulls Bone Soldier down and drills him in the head with a chair. QT is distraught as EVIL hits EVERYTHING IS EVIL and runs back into the crowd. DIamond Cutter attempt is thwarted by Tana and reversed into a Bridging Snap Dragon Suplex. QT cannot escape.

Advance: Hiroshi Tanahashi iva pinfall: Dragon Suplex 7:00

- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -

- After the match, behind the curtain, QT Marshall and Bone Soldier are slowly walking by grabbing their necks and looking pretty deflated. MJF storms in.

MJF: Are you guys actually serious right now? You think you can just walk back here empty handed after embarrassing me like that?

Qt:I’m sorry Max, I got distracted by Ishimori being hurt

MJF: I don’t give a rat's ass if he’s bleeding on the floor without a pulse you halfbred dimwit! I pay you to do a job and that was to move forward and make sure Tanahashi didn’t show up for a while afterwards. Was I not clear? Am I not dumbing things enough for you, Marshy?

QT : It won’t happen again

MJF: You damn right it won’t. You were also supposed to watch my back tonight but seeing as you let EVIL make me look like a fool again? Both of you get out of my sight for the night. You called yourself a trainer? No wonder Cody dumped you at the first sign of a better paycheque. You’re on thin ice!

MJF storms off.

- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -

- VIDEO PACKAGE: Shows Cena losing to Tanahashi at New Beginnings but getting back to a huge victory over Jay Lethal at Honor Rising. It then goes to show Takeshita’s tough journey so far in NJPW, where he has had spectacular matches but not the results to go along with them.

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John Cena vs. Konosuke Takeshita

Finish: This match would steal the night as Big Match John would once again show up and Takeshita looking more like the former Ace of DDP than we have seen. Cena would use his massive frame to overpower the Japanese phenom early on, landing some shoulder blocks, a lariat and a military press slam for the first pinfall attempt. Reversal of a quick F-U into a revolution knee turns the match in Konosuke’s favor. Takeshita uses his speed to hit a few running drop kicks and forearms. Cena slides on the outside but Konosuke cuts him off with a dive. Flying Knee by Takeshita but Cena puts him on his shoulders, FU Attempt! Hits.

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Konosuke kicks out! Cena can’t believe it. Forearm and chop battle which Konosuke surprisingly starts to win. Cena cuts him off with a hard punch. Five Knuckle Shuffle hits but Konosuke kicks out again. Cena throws him into the corner. Splash by Cena. Takes Konosuke to the top rope. Set up an Avalanche FU! Off the buckle…but Takeshita flips on his feet to reverse! Hits the ropes and hits the Flying Knee!

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Cena kicks out! The crowd roars as the match continues and both men are unwilling to give up. More back and forth. Proto Bomb by Cena. Kickout be Konosuke! Cena goes for a five knuckle shuffle again. Konosuke gets up miraculously and counters a running Cena with a Blue Thunder Bomb. Cena kicks out. Konosuke dares Cena to get up looking to finish it! Running Knee attempt but Cena dodges and hits a German. Konosuke no- sells and hits a bridging suplex of his own for a close 2.9 count. Running Knee attempt again but Cena dodges, hits the rope and hits his patented Shoulder Tackle. Hits the ropes again for another shoulder tackle part of his 5 moves of dooms but this Konosuke sidesteps and keeps running, hits the rope and hits a Flying Knee at blistering speed! Cover

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Konosuke has done it! Konosuke has upset John Cena!The Japanese crowd goes absolutely mental!

Advance: Konosuke Takeshita via pinfall - Flying Knee 17:30

- Konosuke celebrates on the turnbuckle and thanks the crowd. He goes to John Cena and extends his hand. Cena stands there, hands on his hips and looking dejected. He eventually sticks his hand out and shakes his opponents, following up by raising his hand and pointing at Konosuke as the crowd continues to erupt for the young Japanese star.

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The Clinic (Britt Baker and Mickie James) vs. STARS (Riho and Meiko Satomora)

Finish: The Clinic. Britt Baker pins her rival Riho for the victory. Average length tv matches were everyone looked pretty good but Mickie James' new vicious side would prove the difference as she would attack Meiko on the outside and drive her into the metal steps and slamming her through the announce table to take her out of the match.

- Britt and Mickie would once again call out Black Desire.

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Kris Statlander cuts a promo telling Bea Priestley she’s not going away and insists she’s going to beat her ass and get her revenge. She says if she needs to get through Suzu Suzuki tonight, so be it, bring it on.

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Bandido is about to come out but is accosted by Rush and Andrade of LFI. They tell him he needs more friends and they’d love for him to be part of their group. All he has to do is lay down for Naito, easy! Bandido essentially tells them to piss off and that he has more honor than that. He will never be a rudo.

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Tetsuya Naito vs. Bandido

Finish: Lucha and Naito hybrid style clash into an amazing display for the crowd. Naito would show off why he is the cream of the crop in Japan for the last 10 years with his counter game. Bandido would turn the tables with a huge diving attack to the outside. The match would end with Bandido going for the 21-Plex only for Naito to slip out and reverse it ever so smoothly into a Destino in classic Naito fashion.

Advance: Naito via Destino - 11:00

- Andrade would come out to celebrate with Naito and he would hit Bandido with a hammerlock DDT to add insult to injury. He would throw an LFi card on the chest of Bandido before escaping with Naito as Kota Ibushi would charge the ring to make the save.

- | - | - | - | - | - | -

- We would go to the parking lot where Brock Lesnar’s limo would pull in. Brock and a bandaged Paul Heyman would walk out and get ready to do an interview…only for a very large, hooded man comes out of nowhere and spears Brock onto the concrete. The mystery man would then lift Brock and powerbomb him on the hood of the limo as Heyman would cower in fear. Officials would rush in but it’s much too late for Lesnar, who’s laid out and needs medical attention.

- | - | - | - | - | - | -

View attachment 30718

- Kevin Kelly would inform that fans that The Red Hand (Kenoh & Soya) & Black Taurus would both make appearances on Impact this week - with hint that it had something to do with the AAA PPV thhis weekend.

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Trent vs. Roderick Strong

Finish: A physical and hard hitting match with little fanfare, just violence. Trent would eventually gain the advantage and look to put Roddy away with the backpack driver, only for the Young Bucks to come out and distract the referee long enough for Roddy to hit a low blow and hit his backbreaker finish for the tainted victory.

Advance: Roderick Strong via Backbreaker - 10:00

- Immediately after the match, OC and Ishii would come out and a fight would erupt between them and The Bucks. They would have to be separated by security.

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Kris Statlander vs Suzu Suzuki w/ Bea Priestley

Finish: Bea Priestley would taunt the crowd but eventually turn back, leaving Suzuki to make her entrance solo. Kris would come out next and not wait a moment's notice and start pounding Suzuki with right hands. Match would devolve into trading of hard hits and strikes by both ladies. Nasty German on the apron by Suzuki puts her in control. They fight on the outside. Suzuki grabs a chair and the ref comes out and warns her, so she throws it away. Big spear by Statlander into the guardrail. Both take some time to get to their feet. Both beat the 20 count to get back in. More strikes were exchanged. Uranage by Kris. Kick Out by Suzuki. Suzuki goes for a german, Kris reverses into the Big Bang but Suzuki gets her feet close to the ropes and flips back and falls hard to the outside. Suzuki appears to be cut and bleeding from the forehead. Kris follows to the outside but is blindsided by Suzuki who drills her in the head with a chair, causing an instant disqualification.

- Blood would gush from Statlander's face as an also bloodied Suzu would reign more elbows down and laugh in maniacal fashion.She would escape into the crowd before Justice Squad members rush down to help their friend. We would also see Bea Priestley looking on a monitor backstage, seemingly very pleased with the way this developed.

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RUSH vs. Alex Zayne

Finish: RUSH would make his entrance first. Alez Zayne’s music would hit next, however after a few moments pass, it seems Zayne is nowhere to be found. The tron would record backstage and find Zayne to be laid out and unconscious, with Andrade and Naito walking away casually from the scene.

RUSH would demand the match be started and the referee has no choice to start the match and count the 20, declaring RUSH the winner.

Advance: RUSH via countout - 00:20

- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -

- Ibushi would cut a harsh promo on Andrade and LFI, daring them to interfere tonight. He tells Andrade he’s going to make an example of him and show the NJPW faithful how to deal with bullies.

- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -

Dante Martin vs. Dijak

Finish: MJF removed himself from the tournament so Dante would come out and have no idea who he would be facing. It would not be long for him to find out, however, as Dijak would come out, IWGP light heavyweight champion Mustafa Ali by his side. Dante would look like a star early on but the mismatch is obvious as the more seasoned and powerful Dijak would make his own offense count to slow him down. Dijak would eventually hit a nasty lariat to counter a moonsault attempt by Dante, and finish him off easily with Feast Your Eyes.

Advance: Dijak via pinfall: FYE - 8:00

- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -

- MJF would be walking backstage and ask his bodyguard, Maclin, to wait outside as he goes to use the facilities. However, after he comes out, he finds Maclin nowhere to be found! Seems like MJF is all alone tonight, after all.

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Kevin Owens vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Finish: The battle in the ring would be a masterclass with both men looking like vintage versions of themselves and wowing the crowd. Ishii would gain advantage via a strike trade off and looks to be in control. Eye Poke by Owens followed by cannonball. Stunner attempts are reversed and they tumble to the outside. Powerbomb on the apron by Owens. More outside violence. Ishii hits a suplex onto the steps. Back on the apron both men continue to fight and almost fall various times in a trade off. Ishii has the advantage and looks to Brainbuster Owens on the outside, but he desperately tries to block it. Super Dragon music hits, who we have not seen in some time, and runs down the ramp in an apparent attempt to help his stablemate in Kevin Owens. The ref approaches the ropes but is bumped by Owens break free of Ishii’s grip due to the distraction. Ishii steps to the floor and confronts Super Dragon, nose to nose. Owens looks to take advantage from behind but Super Dragon hits Owens with a superman punch! He takes off his match and reveals it’s Orange Cassidy! Ishii rolls Owens in the ring, hits the Brainbuster and seals the victory! ChAoS gets its revenge for costing Trent earlier in the night

Advance: Ishii via pinfall: Brainbuster - 12:00

Owens is laid out and buries his face in his hands in disgrace.

- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -

- General Manager Kenta Kobashi would announce that due to their constant interference tonight, LFI has been banned from ringside for the following contest.

Andrade vs. Kota Ibushi

Finish: Another showstealer, no surprise, due to the talent involved. Andrade would be on his own but would not look any worse for it. The match would feature all the tropes and moves you would expect. However, Ibushi would hit the next gear before Andrade and show why he is a former world champion. He would hit a Phoenix Splash and a Kamigoye to end it clean.

Advance: Ibushi via pinfall: Kamigoye - 9:47

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Video packages would play retelling the story and stakes of the match before the entrances.

MJF vs. EVIL

Finish: EVIL would do an epic entrance that would play a video of all the different stages and costumes throughout his career. The crowd would go wild as he would come out of a center elevator on the ramp covered in smoke.

MJF would be boo’d mercilessly as he would slowly walk down the ramp, flipping people off and raising his title high in the air.

The main event would deliver more. It would last quite some time as well with some matches finishing early. The high stakes would be apparent, with the ebbs and flows as neither men would allow the other to fully control the match. Bronco Buster embarasses MJF and the crowd loves it. Eye Poke attempt by MJF…reversed by Everything is EVIL!

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Foot on the rope!

Scorpion Deathlock by EVIL! It looks dire but MJF is finally able to crawl to the ropes and roll outside. Chase by EVIL is mistimed as MJF reversed his shoulder first into the ring post. Suplex on the floor. MJF rolls in and demands a count. Evil makes it well before the 20. MJF stomps him down however and continues to take control. He works the right arm and shoulder in hopes to set up the Fujiwara Armbar. EVIL reverses into a cradle pin, MJF manages to kick out. Kitchen Sink stops the EVIL comeback and he falls backwards into the ropes. MJF pounces and takes advantage, nailing EVIL with the Heatseeker piledriver. Cover

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EVIL kicks out! It’s not over yet.

MJF is desperate and tries to force the armbare but is reversed into another pin which he barely gets out of. EVIL mounts a comeback with some strikes to the head and a flying crossbody. Everything Is Evil attempts but MJF grabs the ref and pulls him in forcing EVIL to stumble and let go. MJF continues to hold on to the ref and pushes him towards the corner, luring in Evil behind him. MJF hits the Flair low blow spot (you know the one) , cover!

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EVIL kicks out again. MJF is enraged! He gets up and yells at the ref who is now fed up and yells at him back. Forearm to the back of the head by EVIL but MJF falls forward and also elbows the referee in the head knocking him to the ground. EVERYTHING IS EVIL! Cover…

But the ref is knocked out. The crowd and EVIL are angry. He gets up and pulls the ref towards him and drags him to the cover. Pin again.

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MJF kicks out due to having so much extra time. The ref is barely conscious still as he is somehow made of glass, apparently, damn that Red Shows. EVIL gets up and tries to bring MJF to his feet. MJF deadweights and sneakily reaches into his trunks. BOOM! ring-punch to the skull of EVIL, cutting him open and knocking him out briefly. MJF puts the ring back in his trunk and falls on top of EVIL, grabs his arm and throws his hips to the sky, locking in the Fujiwara Armbar. EVIL struggles but refuses to tap, blood flowing down his face Bret Hart style. The referee finally checks on them but he continues to refuse to tap. He tries to get to the ropes and gets within inches…before MJF rolls him back in the center and pulls even harder. EVIL screams in pain and we hear a loud pop. The referee tackles MJF off and calls off the match, due to EVIL’s shoulder and arm clearly being broken or popped out of their socket. EVIL is writhing in pain but grabbing on to the referee, pleading. However, it is obvious he’s in no shape to continue and the devastated crowd must accept that the match is over.

- EVIL rolls out, holding on to his limp arm, bloodied and battered and tears rolling down his face as he walks to the back, broken.

- MJF is boo’d like no other man has ever been boo’d in NJPW before. He has retired EVIL out of NJPW forever and holds his titles high in the air, laughing arrogantly to close off the show. The MJF era is officially here to stay.

******

N.B. [props to Jeff for writing the result in their entirety 99.1% - as always people contribution to their promotion is as much or as little as they want to themselves]​

 

[Roy Mustang]

Might be my fav NJPW show so far and it was without Okada or Black

 

[Comrade Khan]

Might be my fav NJPW show so far and it was without Okada or Black

ty so much

 

[CakeWalker]

This Thursday - Total Nonstop Action Wrestling will present a special edition of Impact, with a multitude of title belts up for grabs. It will also be the final show in North America - before TNA will go international beginning with a Tour of Europe. Join us at Alario Center, Westwego, Louisiana for a great night of wrestling. ​

 

[Comrade Khan]

 

[Comrade Khan]

Side A
Samoa Joe v Hiromu Takahashi
Naito v Hiroshi Tanahashi
RUSH vs Tomohiro Ishii
Kazuchika Okada vs Toru Yano

Side B
Malakai Black vs Nick Jackson
Konosuke Takeshita vs Kota Ibushi
Dijak vs Rodderick Strong
Will Ospreay vs Johnny Gargano

Stay tuned and thanks for watching this week's episode!​

 

[Samoa Looch]

Another Review Roundup...
~~~~~
NJPW World - Episode #5

Spoiler

- MJF already winning this week for NJPW with that opening promo. EVIL then killing MJF works, but I kinda wonder why The Pinnacle wasn’t out there with MJF from the start. The first match of the night immediately reads like a barn burner. The Matt distraction keeps Ciampa looking good, while losing. Aftermath is intriguing.
- Very nice promo work with Priestley here. Suzuki and Dark Sheik are very interesting additions to Oedo Tai. Kento vs. Takeshita is a nice match up. Not sure where it’ll go with Takeshita, but that small bit afterwards makes me think he’s about to turn. Joe kills Phantasmo, which is of course the right thing to do, after his loss against Punk.
- New cup match is also on point. Shame for Swerve to lose on his NJPW debut, but Ospreay just has to go far in the tournament. Next match is the same. Okada just has to win here and I always like this idea of a Wrestler showing more and more aggression over a certain amount of time, due to storybuilding. Definitely makes me invested in Okada versus Black.
- Good promo by the Clinic and happy for Serena that she got praised by the DMD. That title picture is going to be wild. Very good stuff in the next match then and placing this match directly after the Clinic promo was also a good idea. Then I feel like something got lost, because EVIL accepts MJF’s conditions about him putting his NJPW career on the line. Maybe it was intended to be an off-camera thing, but for that it’s too important, I feel.
- Miro losing per count out, in that way, was great. Especially within a tournament, where you already had multiple clean finishes. Really good idea to thrown something like this in. Shame Yano’s gonna die soon though. The segment after that was also well made, because Okada and Malakai spilling into the scene just makes the show feel more fluid (if that makes sense ). Good thinking to let Takahashi win in the next match, so we don’t see another heel victory due to outside interference.
- Very well-rounded story with Gargano and Ciampa in my eyes and especially with how Johnny’s match went. Can’t complain at all with any of it. Main Event looks amazing too, but I am surprised that it ended in an actual KO. Not sure if I really like that, but overall a great way, including the Okada part, to end the show.

~~~~~
ROH Elite - Episode #7

Spoiler

- With all the stuff going on within the Bullet Club, I almost expect to see an actual presidential debate segment happening soon. It would most definitely also end up in a brawl, but still, it almost feels like it has to happen. Great stuff from Jay and Tama here, as well as from Alexander in the promo afterwards. Josh versus Orton is definitely one of those matches I’m looking forward the most. Shida versus Bunny worked good. Nothing too special, but that’s not bad. Same goes for the Alize/Rok-C segment.
- BC Clubhouse time! ...and it’s fine. Nothing to complain about, but I like the idea of Anderson hiding in the corner of the clubhouse seemingly the whole time. Interesting to see that Jay and Juice win basically clean here and I’m happy there wasn’t any outside interfence during the match, or some run-ins afterwards. More Bullet Time afterwards and I again can’t say anything negative about it. I’m very curious about how different the shows will feel, once all of this hit its finish line.
- Very, very good stuff with the Loser Leaves Town Match, and especially the aftermath, in my opinion. Pretty much everyone involved with this whole segment got something positive out of it, which is rare with so many workers involved. Simple, but good promo from Rose then and the following match was something special with the comeback of The American Wolves. Glad to see them win and Richards getting it over Gresham was the right choice. Gonna be an interesting match up in the future.
- Not gonna lie, I got a bit lost in the next segment. It took me a moment to realize that there wasn’t anything wrong with it, even though it looked that way at first. That’s just my stupidness though, I guess. Bliss wins in the next match, because of course she does. Very intriguing stuff with the spooky light games. That’s gonna be fun to find out where this’ll go. Moose killing PAC was fine and the Triple Dance match was the expected chaotic one, with so many people in and around the ring. Finish works well, thanks to Homicide’s last second involvement.
- EVIL with a very good promo then and he just has to win, otherwise MJF’s gonna have a field day with what EVIL said during it. #KingstonIsROH, but I feel like this idea with that contract is a bit rushed, or could’ve been played out a bit smarter. Of course, it does fit in Kingston’s character, so it’s not completely wrong or anything like that. It’s just I think it could’ve more oomph to it, if this cat of a match of Kingston’s choice would have been let out of the bag at a different point in time. Eddie has to win then, after the whole story and him getting beat down afterwards was smart, in my eyes.
- Good to see the Bastard showing his fire after that Moose attack earlier. I do hope this attack will play into the Match finish later on. Also good to see that EVIL did get the win for his team in that 8-men Tag Match. Anything else wouldn’t have been right. Nothing to complain about the Righteous promo then and Lethal being called the “new shepherd” makes me think this will be something more, which gets a big point from me. Can’t wait to find out who else will be stepping through the great portal and I’m looking forward to Young vs. Dalton.
- Very nice segment from Edge and Christian. I like the idea of them attacking Daddy Briscoe. Good stuff, but they’ll pay a lot for it. Then we have Josh and PAC facing off and sadly it seemed like the earlier attack wasn’t a factor. Don’t get me wrong, it definitely makes PAC look like a million bucks, which I obviously love, but also it kinda takes a lot away from Alexander and Moose. Maybe I expected to much from that earlier stuff though, since there was nothing explicitly said about any specific injury. Yup, the Briscoes are understandably pissed. Good way to put some more oil into that fire. Main Event was alright.

~~~~~
AEW Dynamite - Episode #124

Spoiler

- Damn, that’s a dream match there right from the start. Garcia versus Aerostar… awesome to see and obviously Garcia wins, which is of course fine. I want to know which AAA talent will face him, because there is a lot of dream match potential in it. Danhausen segment for the win too, especially with giving us Baszler in it as well. Also Matt Ryder Very strong start from AEW.
- Decisive victory for H4RL4ND and The Slaughterhouse and that’s good. Monsters have to be booked strong. I’m not on the same page as William Regal here, but that’s because I’m one of the few people who don’t mind a non-finish, if it is presented the right way. Fair enough to book Belair versus Deonna one more time, of course. Ruby’s gonna riot and I’m here for it.
- Pretty good match between JAS and BUSSY, storywise with an absolute fitting aftermath. Hager against Shingo sounds pretty rad, to be honest. Jake Lee winning in the following match is an alright choice, I would say. Good stuff from Gable afterwards and that performance enhancing drugs idea is, at least for me, right on the line between amazing and neckbreaking. I hope this story stays on that line and doesn’t swerve too far to the latter site. Taz promo was again good stuff then and then we got a, for me, surprising win for The Academy. Always interesting to see a Heel versus Heel match as well, so props for that.
- Happy for Omega that he got a well-deserved mini vacation and he’s not wrong. If someone wants his title, that someone has to bring everything. The FTR promo was a alright. Anything else but them going 1-1 next week against Horus & Flamita would be surprising… and probably not ideal right before a PPV. Hager with a dirty win is okay, builds up the anticipation of them finally getting their asses handed to them in a nice way. Main Event was to be expected a brutal, good affair. Deonna as the victorious one fits, in my eyes.

~~~~~
Impact - Episode #915

Spoiler

- Very cool opening with Edge and Christian, with some great throwbacks. Something, I always love. I’m not completely sold on the Jungle Boy stuff though, but we’ll see what further down the path in that regards. Nice promo work from Sterling then and Punk versus KENTA also fit perfectly. Interesting dynamic with Kamille, Bunny and Ford, since it looks like Kamille favors The Bunny a bit. I don’t know if that was intended, or I’m reading too much into it, but that would be an interesting touch to the whole story.
- The next match is a nice lead-in for the following segment and heck, I kinda hope David screws the Bullet Club now. Now, bringing two new titles in at the same time can be a bit much, but what for me doesn’t work is bringing them in during a crossover PPV. I mean yes, the Juicyverse is of course way more fluid and there is a lot of spilling over into different promotions, but it just doesn’t sit right with me that a company would start two new titles, which both could end up at a competing organization, before your own talent even held them once.
- I really like how Kamille is portrayed. Heel gimmick with those characteristics are always fun to watch. Maria’s announcement was alright. Guess at least the Trios Title will safely stay at TNA. Interesting stuff in the Kingston/Dickinson match then and good idea to put some new female talent into the spotlight, with letting them simply wrestle and have nothing take away from their in-ring talent.
- While I like what’s going on with Low Ki, Homicide and Kingston over this show, it feels a bit weird to have Kingston featured that much here, right after the declared to be the newest addition of ROH’s roster. I think ROH and TNA sabotaged each other a tiny bit here, because it feels off, at least for me, that Kingston has this contract segment on ROH, while also having unfinished business in TNA and getting featured heavily right after that as well.
- Shame to see The Osirian Portal lose, but I guess Young needed to get one over the League. Great segment from Mercedes after that. Not a bad way to introduce Alize as a new TNA roster member as well. Ford versus Flair worked like a charme and I wasn’t sure at first about the count out, since The Bunny won her match on ROH via pinfall, so it’s not completely balanced out, but I guess it’s okay. Flair taking the victory like that definitely fits though.
- Suzuki promo was absolute gold then and my god, Ziggler is just a wild addition. In the most positive way, of course. Suzuki-gun definitely looks strong now. Page with the obvious victory then. Can’t complain about that. Man, a Wrestling match contract signing that doesn’t end up in chaos. Kind of refreshing, surprisingly. Okay… maybe that was done, because the Main Event would end in chaos. Classic, good ol’ way to end a go-home show though.

~~~~~
AWA Friday Night Firefight - Episode #007

Spoiler

- Starting off with Jordynne Grace is never wrong. Poor Xia, but Grace is the perfect worker for an Open Challenge story and I’m looking forward to more of that. Theory with a good heel promo, but I don’t see him being an actual threat for Keith Lee at the moment.
- Oooo… Now that’s a match up I love. Shame that it was pretty much a squash, but I do understand why it was handled like this. A new mystery title, huh? Intriguing stuff, especially since it’s been done differently here. At least I can’t recall that I have ever seen a new title being kinda introduced per backstage rumors between Wrestlers.
- Vega wins, which is fine. It fits with what happened afterwards. Good stuff from Ricardo Rodriguez here and I do love him as a Manager by the way. Also fitting that Angel and Humberto also win here. All in all a good show for Rodriguez Enterprise. Dunne and Grimes was alright. Good to see Dunne win.
- A frustrated Drew McIntyre is a very dangerous Drew McIntyre, I’d say. I liked this promo of his and he should be in the World Title picture. ...and then Itoh versus my Nikki Cross. Awesome match up and I’m completely ecstatic about Nikki even getting the win.
- Good stuff from Brian Pillman Jr. here. I can’t remember if this was the last couple of weeks the same, but with Drew, Brian and Theory there were three single “speak to the camera” promos, which is maybe one to much with the size of these AWA shows. At least Theory’s was a tiny bit different though. Ilja winning is completely fine and I like the idea of an AWA Main Event being that technical of a match. Zayn interview was fine afterwards.

 

[CakeWalker]

- Damn, that’s a dream match there right from the start. Garcia versus Aerostar… awesome to see and obviously Garcia wins, which is of course fine. I want to know which AAA talent will face him, because there is a lot of dream match potential in it. Danhausen segment for the win too, especially with giving us Baszler in it as well. Also Matt Ryder Very strong start from AEW.
- Decisive victory for H4RL4ND and The Slaughterhouse and that’s good. Monsters have to be booked strong. I’m not on the same page as William Regal here, but that’s because I’m one of the few people who don’t mind a non-finish, if it is presented the right way. Fair enough to book Belair versus Deonna one more time, of course. Ruby’s gonna riot and I’m here for it.
- Pretty good match between JAS and BUSSY, storywise with an absolute fitting aftermath. Hager against Shingo sounds pretty rad, to be honest. Jake Lee winning in the following match is an alright choice, I would say. Good stuff from Gable afterwards and that performance enhancing drugs idea is, at least for me, right on the line between amazing and neckbreaking. I hope this story stays on that line and doesn’t swerve too far to the latter site. Taz promo was again good stuff then and then we got a, for me, surprising win for The Academy. Always interesting to see a Heel versus Heel match as well, so props for that.
- Happy for Omega that he got a well-deserved mini vacation and he’s not wrong. If someone wants his title, that someone has to bring everything. The FTR promo was a alright. Anything else but them going 1-1 next week against Horus & Flamita would be surprising… and probably not ideal right before a PPV. Hager with a dirty win is okay, builds up the anticipation of them finally getting their asses handed to them in a nice way. Main Event was to be expected a brutal, good affair. Deonna as the victorious one fits, in my eyes.

Was my first time covering for Blaine - so was a very challenging episode to book.
- Glad you liked Garcia doing well - very much worked with Blaine on the idea of him having a big time match down the line against a big AAA taletnt so glad the storying telling liked.
- Alphas vs. Taz - is something I didn't want to mess up for Blaine, but took a few creative freedoms in terms of storyline direction.
Glad you didn't hated. That would have been an abject failure on my part lol

 

[CakeWalker]

- Very cool opening with Edge and Christian, with some great throwbacks. Something, I always love. I’m not completely sold on the Jungle Boy stuff though, but we’ll see what further down the path in that regards. Nice promo work from Sterling then and Punk versus KENTA also fit perfectly. Interesting dynamic with Kamille, Bunny and Ford, since it looks like Kamille favors The Bunny a bit. I don’t know if that was intended, or I’m reading too much into it, but that would be an interesting touch to the whole story.
- The next match is a nice lead-in for the following segment and heck, I kinda hope David screws the Bullet Club now. Now, bringing two new titles in at the same time can be a bit much, but what for me doesn’t work is bringing them in during a crossover PPV. I mean yes, the Juicyverse is of course way more fluid and there is a lot of spilling over into different promotions, but it just doesn’t sit right with me that a company would start two new titles, which both could end up at a competing organization, before your own talent even held them once.
- I really like how Kamille is portrayed. Heel gimmick with those characteristics are always fun to watch. Maria’s announcement was alright. Guess at least the Trios Title will safely stay at TNA. Interesting stuff in the Kingston/Dickinson match then and good idea to put some new female talent into the spotlight, with letting them simply wrestle and have nothing take away from their in-ring talent.
- While I like what’s going on with Low Ki, Homicide and Kingston over this show, it feels a bit weird to have Kingston featured that much here, right after the declared to be the newest addition of ROH’s roster. I think ROH and TNA sabotaged each other a tiny bit here, because it feels off, at least for me, that Kingston has this contract segment on ROH, while also having unfinished business in TNA and getting featured heavily right after that as well.
- Shame to see The Osirian Portal lose, but I guess Young needed to get one over the League. Great segment from Mercedes after that. Not a bad way to introduce Alize as a new TNA roster member as well. Ford versus Flair worked like a charme and I wasn’t sure at first about the count out, since The Bunny won her match on ROH via pinfall, so it’s not completely balanced out, but I guess it’s okay. Flair taking the victory like that definitely fits though.
- Suzuki promo was absolute gold then and my god, Ziggler is just a wild addition. In the most positive way, of course. Suzuki-gun definitely looks strong now. Page with the obvious victory then. Can’t complain about that. Man, a Wrestling match contract signing that doesn’t end up in chaos. Kind of refreshing, surprisingly. Okay… maybe that was done, because the Main Event would end in chaos. Classic, good ol’ way to end a go-home show though.

Was a very hard episode to book - honestly one that was personally one of my worst, but really was the final bridge towards 'Bound By Honor'. I would love to here you thoughts on the PPV - and how some of the bricks that were being laid - end up in the right manner for you. Can't really respond to much - without taking into consideration PPV spoilers.

 

[Comrade Khan]

@BayLooch first off thank you once again for these in depth reviews and very constructive criticism. I find it not only helpful to fix weaker plots or presentations but alslo highligjts things i may have forgotten happened elsewhere. Good stuff. Few things:
-I actually agree with you Evil accepting the challenge should have been bigger. I sometimes shy away from in ring promos n go backstage a lot. Ill balance that going forward
- really glad you liked the Miro direction especially, i felt it risky but a good way to keep him also involved in a kopw feud when he was not slated to win. Felt this was bettee than him losing a bigger match in the semis. Also obviously gives miro a reason to be upset.
-also glad ppl still digging malakai/okada as i didnt want that feud to be a one off while still being involved with other characters around them. Like tanahashi being a bit of a dissapointed dad

 

[CakeWalker]

A final call for @Grim Theft Auto in regards to Week 7 ratings

 

[CakeWalker]

Episode Eight

- ROH would travel to Vermont, with the eighth episode of Elite coming from the Burlington Memorial Center. The start of the show would feature exclusive pre-show content prior to the official main show. The first match of the night would be a Women of Honor contest between Liv Moran and Havok, with Alexa Bliss joining the commentary table.

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Finish: The match would be a clean contest, with Havok proving herself as the better woman by laying out Morgan with a Reverse Piledriver to pick up the match victory.

- Havok would look to dish out a post-match assault on Liv and before Bliss was able to remove her headset and make her way down to the ring, the light in the arena would turn blood red. Music begins to play throughout the arena as Killer Kelly emerges from the back to make her debut. She makes her way down to the ring and stares at Havok, with Jessicka looking far from pleased as she pushes Kelly away from her. Kelly rebounds back though and nails Havok with a Bicycle Kick that stuns Havok before Killer Kelly wraps up Havok in a chokehold and puts her to sleep.

- With Liv slowly pushing herself back to her feet, Kelly would surprise everyone by nailing Morgan with a drop kick that would send Liv to tumble into the ring corner before Kelly would lock eyes with Alexa and challenge her to get into the ring. Bliss gets about halfway there before seeming to change her mind and not allowing herself to be baited and instead walking towards the back.

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- Jay White is backstage hosting his weekly ToJay Show with Chris Bey, Juice and the Good Brothers. White makes it clear that he is not going to allow these indignities to go one any longer and makes it clear that Suzuki-gun did not beat them on Sunday Night and instead the group of rejects cheated. Juice is visibly agitated as he stands behind and shouts ‘cheaters’ out loud - White makes it clear that Bullet Club has a string of wins of the group and that their little war is far from over and that at 20th Anniversary he wants to finally settle it for good. Changing subjects slightly he promises Tama Tonga that this transgression will not go unnoticed by the Club when it comes time to plead his case. He reminds him the number one rule is you don’t stand in the way of business.

- Juice asks David what he thinks he’s doing? He says he accepted the shirt and all he needs to do is fall in line. He’s baffled by why he would pull off the apron when he was about to get the hot tag? He suggests that Finlay may be jealous that they’re not tagging each other anymore, but that can all change when he puts on the colors. When he does, their partnership can finally be for real and for life.

- Karl then adds that leaves us with tonight. He says reDRagon must have some balls to attack the club in the parking lot, demand a title shot and a main event from the Good Brothers all in the same week. Big LG says first they dismantle the Elite empire tonight piece by piece and then when Fale, Owens and Hikuleo recover they’ll make sure the Kingdom comes crumbling down beside them and bring home those freshly minted six-man tag team titles. Bey says all anyone needs to do to get a sneak preview of what that looks like is to catch NJPW World from last night and see Evil’s house burn.

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- The main show would begin with The Foundation standing in the ring with Gresham and Woods standing at the front of the room presenting the ROH World Championship and ROH Pure Championship respectively. Gresham says that the Foundation will continue to pave the way for Ring of Honor in 2022. He has bested every former Ring of Honor World Champion that has accepted his open challenge and Josh Woods continues to show why the Pure Title is the heart. He says though a betrayal threatens to shake the foundation and its facetious Righteousness need to be eradicated before it corrupts this company.

- Williams asks to speak and says before we get to that lecherous liar and his merry band of misfits, we have to address the nasty elephants in the room. He says SCU disrespected the Pure division last week and tried to sully the world title with their dastardly ways when they stopped them in their tracks at Bound. Tracy informs everyone that he and Titus will show any two members of SCU what honor is tonight only to be cut off by Jay Lethal and the Righteous.

- Vincent states that Lethal has seen the error of his ways and very soon he’s gonna clue the rest of the Foundation into what he’s up to. In the meantime, he thinks it’s time they added more gold to their family. He reminds everyone that while they lost to his former teammates in the Kingdom on Sunday, they still have Ring of Honor’s Six-Man titles and all they need is Jay to get gold around his waist. Gresham ignores Vincent and reminds Jay that he beat him at Final Battle and Honor Reigns Supreme already. Jay retorts that it was for the interim Ring of Honor Championship, but now that he’s actually beaten Bandido for the real deal, he’s owed one more shot at him and the championship.

- Karrion Kross’s smoke and theme blares throughout the arena. Kross and Scarlett arrive with the commentary team making it clear that he is now being packaged as Karrion Kross rather than Killer Kross. Kross presents a contract written in his own blood for a Pure Rules Match, but he hasn’t technically beaten every member of the Foundation yet. He doesn’t care about their current riff with the Righteous, he wants Lethal. Lethal makes it clear that this is fine with him and if he has a pound of flesh to get from Kross then so be it. Though, he does thank him for cracking the Foundation and dropping it on Lethal’s head so he can see how flawed it was. Scarlett then proceeds to hand Gresham an hourglass to let him know that his time is still coming. Tick tock, Jon.

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- In the women’s locker room we see Rok-C and Cora Jade talking like old chums. Rok-C thanks Cora for having her back last week. Cora says what are friends for? She says besides, she wouldn’t even be here if Rok-C hadn’t used her stroke as champion to get her foot in the door. Cora replies that Rok-C might not be the champion right now, but she’s so proud of what she’s already accomplished in Ring of Honor and with her final win over her arch nemesis Alize, she’s one step closer to getting it all back. She just needs to get through Toxic Attraction to get to her majesty. Rok-C states she can cash in her chip on Mandy, they have to settle up with Las Sicarias. She continues to make the point it was unfortunate that Alize had to fall in with the wrong crowd like that, but they’re gonna show Las Sicarias why cheaters never win.

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Finish: The match would prove to be an interesting tag team contest, with The Foundation keeping it clean but SCU showing none of the same respect. Daniels would emerge from the back long enough to distract Titus, that would allow Kazarian and Sky to nail Willliams with Double DDT to steal the victory.

- Gresham and Woods would hit the ring with clear urgency to prevent a post match beat down. On their way back up the ramp, Daniels grabs a microphone and makes it clear that he has been in talks and that SoCal Uncensored has another title match in the near future.

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In the back the Lucha Brothers grab a microphone from Ian. Rey Fenix has the TNA X-Division belt on. Penta mentions that Puma tried to stop them from claiming gold and he failed. His brother is the new King of the X-Division. Penta says Puma still has a receipt with his name on it coming to him. Believe. Fenix chips in that as the X-Division Champion he plans to honor the legacy and tradition of this great division against all comers. He promises his fellow “King” Mysterio a rematch for this whenever he wants it.

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- Moose walks out dressed in all black like a man on a mission. He grabs a microphone and addresses his losses to Josh Alexander and Pac over the past few weeks and reveals that he has finally narrowed down the problem. He says he’s had his foot stuck between worlds and had to endure two sets of management colluding against him. Otherwise he wouldn’t have had to defend his belt against two men at Destination X, wouldn’t have had to put his future title shots on the line to get his contractual rematch nor would he have had some half-pint chihuahua all up in his business. He had nothing to gain from facing Pac again after he lost the title to Alexander. He does wish Pac the best in his future endeavors because while he technically got the upset win at Bound By Honor, Moose walked out without a scratch on him and Pac can’t honestly say that.

- He now needs to turn his attention to Ring of Honor and not by engaging in anymore self-destructive feuds with rival promotions because Moose is here for paychecks not brand loyalty. The TNA chapter is behind the ‘Wrestling God’ now and good riddance to that festering litter box. Moose wants to advance his career by garnering new milestones. He’s setting his sights on that little man Jonathan Gresham. He’s gonna become the champion that Ring of Honor needs. Not only will he become the greatest world champion to step foot on this planet once more, he’ll be the greatest in the history of this company. No one carries the title like him, the ‘Wrestling God’.

- He is then cut off by Big Cass who begins to speak by saying as much as he appreciates Enzo coming out to help him two weeks ago, he didn’t come here to make friends so he has no real hard feelings about Moose being out for himself, but like Moose his main aspiration is to become the world champion and that’s why they had an alliance in the first place. So color him surprised when he didn’t come through on his end and he catches a beating from Brock Lesnar. Twice. Cass says it’s time to pay that forward and to leap over him to the title picture. He’s not getting behind Moose.

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- Konnan and Prince Puma are seen walking into Dario Cueto’s office backstage with Prince Puma noticeably holding his newly won GHC National Championship.

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Finish: The match would be a hard fought contest, but with Las Sicarias now without Alize to play interference Rok-C and Cora Jade would be able to capitalize with Jade claiming the win by nailing Diamante with a Spinning Heelkick to keep her down and claim the three count winning the contest for herself and Rok-C.

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- Josh Alexander features in an interview backstage. He’s asked about a title match later tonight that he asked for. He makes it clear that Christopher Daniels is a man on a mission and demanded a title match from him Sunday night and then cost The Foundation a match against Scu in pursuit of a rematch. He retorts that Gresham already handled that business and someone needs to teach him manners. He knows that TNA has a night of champions on Thursday, but he has no problem being the person to teach Daniels a thing or two. He says Gresham should focus on the Righteous and Kross. SCU is TNA’s mess to clean.

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- Dario Cueto comes out on stage and says at Bound By Honor his luchadors did exactly what he said they would do and that was fight and prove they are the best fighters in the world. They brought back with them two rival promotions' titles to prove it. So tonight before there are any rematches, he wants these two men who he knows still have beef with one another to show the world who is the better man, fighter and best champion and send a message to the rest of the world that ROH is the true home of luchadors.

Finish: Fenix and Puma would push each other to their limits and the contest would be a thrilling contest featuring two truly talented luchadores, only for the match to be thrown out by the referee as LAX would storm the ring and proceed to jump Rey Fenix.

- Eddie Kington and Pentagon, Jr. would emerge from the back and proceed to fight LAX out of the ring as Dario Cueto comes out and make it clear that in his temple we don’t stop fights. We promote them and that next week Kingston and Pentagon will team up to take on LAX in this evening’s next contest.

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-Cora Jade and Rok-C are celebrating their big win in the back. Cora says now that they’ve finally settled that beef they need to remove the stench of the Toxic Attraction from a company with honor. Rok-C adds that she couldn’t agree more and says she will take back her women’s world championship from Mandy Rose as soon as the champion stops ducking her for her rematch. She’s proved herself. The pair find themselves interrupted by Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolin with the women’s tag team champions chuckling. Jacy reminds Rok-C that Mandy only said she’d consider it if she beat Alize. There was no promise.

- Cora demands they back off and that Mandy needs to stop being a coward. Her friend has proven her shot time and time again. Gigi laughs and asks who she was again? Jacy reminds Gigi that she teamed with her during the Dusty Classic last year, but that was really the highlight of her career. Cora says she can remind Gigi of who she is in the ring next week if she’s not chicken? Her funeral Jacy says. Gigi giggles as the duo walk off.

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Finish: The ending of the contest would leave everyone confused, as whilst Kingston was reaching to tag in Pentagon - Pentagon would be left stunned as Fenix would dropkick him off the ring apron preventing him from tagging out Kingston. This would allow LAX to claim the victory by finishing off Eddie with the Street Sweeper.

- After winning LAX continue their assault on Penta and Kingston until the Briscoes help clear the ring. The commentary reminds us that Briscoes haven’t forgotten that LAX attempted to eliminate them. LAX and “Rey” walk back up the ramp. “Rey” removes his mask to reveal Sammy Guevara. Sammy celebrates with LAX to reunite Inner Circle.

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- A pre-taped interview plays where Quinn McKay sits down with Tessa Blanchard at the ROH studio. Quinn asks her why she wanted this time to which Tessa says she wants to clear the air in some misconceptions about her and her nuclear heat. She mentions that she hasn’t been on television since the first episode of Elite and has had plenty of time to ponder what exactly was wrong in her career. She pinpoints that she would still be one of the premier stars of this business if Allysin Kay hadn’t tried to tear her down out of pure jealousy the weekend she was to become Impact World Champion. Everything changed for her that fateful week. The narrative shifted and it wasn’t about the first female world champ of a mainstream pro wrestling company. It was this insane woman with nuclear heat. After that she would be stripped of the title, lose her job, twice, and can’t get booked.

- Tessa says she fought, clawed and worked her ass off against some of the toughest men in the sport to get where she was. She had one of the bloodiest wars ever against Sami Callihan in 2019 and the wrestling world should have been talking about her world title match with him come that Hard to Kill pay-per-view in 2020, but instead some insecure former coworkers of hers decided to gossip about her and ancient history. They tried to smear her name and spread awful lies about her. She managed to fight through that and make history that weekend despite it all and become the first woman to win the Impact World Championship. It should have been a happy time in her life, but then the pandemic hit and stalled everything in the world of entertainment. She had Moose running around on Twitter saying he was the real world champion of TNA and she was stuck in Mexico. She was never able to show what she could do as the leader of a company on television.

- She says she was then pressured into returning to the states early, but she wasn’t comfortable leaving Mexico at that time as she had a wedding and she didn’t want to get sick before her vows. She points out that the Tribal Chief hadn’t returned to work for that defunct WWE yet, either, but somehow because of that rumor from Allysin Kay I’m difficult to work with and burning that bridge. She states shortly after her wedding only two months later to do business and drop the Warrior Women’s Championship, but no one talks about that or cares. It’s not sensational enough.

- Tessa starts getting agitated with Quinn when she doesn’t believe she’s sympathetic to her story and begins shouting at her that it’s typical. This is what women do. They tear each other down instead of lifting each other up. This is why men still get ahead. Allysin couldn’t deal with another woman getting the shine and Quinn can’t deal with a woman owning her own narrative. Tessa flips her chair over and aggressively moves towards Quinn. A stagehand tries to break up the fight only to be tossed into the wall and as security tries to control Tessa she begins to choke him out. The feed cuts.

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- The camera would cut backstage where AAA’s Karl Fredricks would be standing. The Alpha Wolf would state he had been impressed by Prince Puma’s performance earlier tonight against Rey Fenix and agreed that it was a shame that the contest hadn’t finished, however he present in Vermont this evening to inform Puma that this weekend at Guerra de Titanes he had been handpicked by Dr. Wagner, Jr. as the man who would challenge for the GHC National Championship this weekend in Mexico. Fredricks would make it clear that unlike TNA, AAA wasn’t going to allow a rival company to steal gold from them and make them look like a bunch of soft bitches.

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Finish: The match would be a banger, although Alexander would remind the rest of the world just exactly why he is the TNA World Heavyweight Championship as he would finish Daniels off by nailing him with the C4 Spike before rolling him over to claim the victory.

- Punk comes to the ring and congratulates him on another successful defense. Alexander thanks Punk for the help on Sunday night and Punk throws out a challenge as a thank you of sorts for the title show and suggests that he couldn’t think of a better night than this week’s episode of TNA Impact Championship Edition. Before an answer could be given SCU tries to take Alexander and Punk out. Scorpio grabs a chair while Daniels and Kaz hold Alexander in place. Ethan Page shows up all smiles and asks Scorpio if he can do the honors before Ethan Page tunis around and hits Scorpio instead as Alexander gets free. The reunited duo and Punk clear the ring of SCUM and embrace in the ring before Alexander and Punk exchange words and shake hands seemingly agreeing to a match this Thursday on Impact.

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- Allysin Kay is with Ian who asks her about Tessa. Allysin makes it clear she no longer thinks about Tessa Blanchard. Her career has taken off in a big way in the time Tessa’s has flatlined. Her more pressing concern is about getting the rematch that is owed to the Hex. Allysin says if Tessa wants to throw temper tantrums and assault people, that’s what she does best so let her. No skin off her nose.

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Finish: The contest would be a tough battle, and the match looked to have been won by Kross only for The Righteous to grab hold of Scarlett and start to forcefully drag her up the ring ramp. Kross flies out of the ring and fights off the entire Righteous, but ultimately gets counted out, with Lethal winning the match but not the title in cheap circumstances.

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- Miro appears in a dimly lit room asking God if he’s lost his way? Has his heart been corrupted by greed? Is that why his god hasn’t spoken to him? He reminds everyone in both the east and the west that the King of Pro Wrestling is on his path once again to be god’s favorite champion. He says he’ll be the holder of the trophy in NJPW until the end of the year and he will hold gold in Ring of Honor. He suggests that perhaps he’s gotten distracted by too many trinkets and side quests when he’s floundered on his main mission. He needs to go back to his first challenge and redeem himself there. He vows to redeem the pure division in ROH.

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Finish: Juice pulls Cody out of the ring and before Juice can do anything, Finlay stops him dead in his tracks. He hands a shocked Juice the BC shirt back. Cody chucks Juice into the ring steps as David walks away slowly with his hands in the air. This distraction would prove to be enough to allow the BC to lose attention, with KOR nailing Anderson with ‘The Nigel’ to claim the victory.

- After the match, reDRagon, the Good Brothers, Juice and Finlay brawl through the crowd. The Guerrillas of Destiny hit the ring and jump Jay and Bey. Tama grabs a mic and blames Jay for the attack on his cousin Fale and their brother Leo. He says unlike Jay he gets shit done. He started the excommunication of Evil and his lame duck house and he made damn sure that the pinnacle finished it. Evil may not even wrestle again. He says this is how Jay needs to handle the Elite and the Kingdom and he vows Jay will share this fate.

- Evil then shocks the Ring of Honor crowd with his arm in a sling because of the brutal match with MJF. He attempts to get in the ring, but can’t because of his arm. Tama mockingly opens the rope open for Evil to get in when the House blindsides GoD. GoD manage to fight off the house and even drags Evil onto the ring. Evil drops to his knees begging for mercy. Tama turns and laughs. Evil then stands up and pulls a pipe out of his sling. He cracks Tama over the head with it as he evilly smirks. The House of Torture then stand victorious as the show comes to a close.​

 

[CakeWalker]

Dynamite #125

The next episode of AEW Dynamite would come live from the Webster Bank Arena, Connecticut. Excalibur would inform the fans that tonight’s show would see both the TNT Championship and AEW Women’s Championship on the line tonight with Lince Dorado defending the belt for the first time against Jake Lee, whilst Deonna would face Mercedes Banks with the hope of becoming the new Women’s Champion. Before anything else though, Excalibur would inform the fans that tonight’s opening contest would see Chris Jericho take on none other than Hirooki Goto before clarifying that neither of each man’s allies would be allowed at ringside during the contest.

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Finish: The match would be a thrilling contest and a great way to kick off the show and the fans would not be disappointed. The match would have a real changing of the guard, only for Jericho to bump the referee and knee Goto in the groin before nailing Hirooki with the Judas Effect. After the match though, Jericho was clutching at his ribs and looked like he suffered some sort of injury during the contest.

- After the contest Goto would be joined in the ring by Shingo and YOSHI-HASHI, with Shingo cutting a promo. Takagi would inform the fans that the three of them intending on making some serious moves going forward and were part of the greatest wrestling faction in professional wrestling and would give shout outs to Tetsuya Naito, Kenny King and Dragon Lee before revealing from this point onwards the three of them were to be referred to as LFF - La Facción de Fukujin.

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- With Jericho nursing himself at ringside still, he would be joined by the rest of J.A.S. at ringside with Shaya and Chris exchanging words before he would be helped backstage by Hager. Garcia would remain at ringside, as Shayna would demand a microphone and clamber up into the ring. Baszler would demand that management send out someone from the back, because there was nothing more she wanted than to kick the ass of someone who didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as her. After a few moments, a nervous looking Aliyah would emerge from the back.

Finish: Baszler would absolutely obliterate Aliyah in a complete squash and crunch her foe by nailing her with the Kirifuda Clutch

- After the contest, Daniel Garcia would enter the ring and congratulate Shayna before facing towards the back and with his AAA World Junior Heavyweight Championship slung over his shoulder. Garcia would demand that whoever was set to face him for ‘HIS BELT’ this weekend at Guerra de Titanes come out from the back. One cue “Painkiller” by Judas Priest would start to blast out, as out from the back would emerge HAYATA. The Japanese sensation would remain on the main stage and just point at Garcia and smile, confirming the contest, with Jim Ross and Excalibur going on to confirm that Daniel Garcia would be defending the belt against HAYATA this Saturday at AAA’s PPV event.

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- MexiSquad would cut a promo backstage where they would make it clear that they were very much looking forward to claiming the AEW World Tag Team Championship belts for themselves, with the added bonus that it would be a glorious occasion to do so on Mexican soil. Rey Horus would make it clear that he was taking matters into his own hands and that he intended to get his hands on Dax Harwood and intended to shine up his head real good and look deep into the crystal ball to discover both his and his partner’s future in the coming months to come.

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Finish: Harwood and Horus would really impress the fans in a clash of opposing styles, and yet still leave the fans wanting more. Dax would be as hard hitting ever, but it would be Horus speed that would give him the advantage and ‘The Man With The Dragon Heart’ would claim a victory by launching him off the turnbuckle and crashing onto Dax with a 450 Splash that would give the MexiSquad a massive momentum boost going into the coming PPV weekend.

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- An angry and incensed Jon Moxley would be standing in the underbelly of the ring resting a kendo stick over his shoulder, where he would be joined by Shota Umino. Moxley would make it clear that as enjoyable as it had been to kicking the living crap out of T-Breeze at Beach Break, there was only one person he cared about getting his mitts on now and that was none other than Johnny Dynamite. Mox would make it clear that he would be laying down this challenge irrespective of whether Dynamite had claimed the AEW World Championship or not. Moxley would make it clear that if it was up to him he would charge into the backstage locker-room and beat the living crap out of Johnny Mundo, Johnny Morrison or Johnny Dishes or whatever other crappy name he was going by - but he knew that management would never forgive him. Instead, he was going to be smart about the situation and would send a challenge to Johnny to face him one-on-one at Revolution.

- Umino would step forward and in broken English make it clear that despite what some people were saying he wasn’t Jon’s sidekick and he was no Robin to Moxley’s Batman. Shota would say that he wanted to take things to a violent level and next week would be waiting in the ring with an array of weapons and was laying down an ‘Anything Goes Open Challenge’ to anyone in the back who wasn’t afraid to get their hands dirty.

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- Mia Yim ‘The HitWoman’ would cut a cryptic promo in which she would reveal that her benefactor had hadn’t any envelope this week with instructions and payment and that the rest of the women’s locker-room would be best sleeping with one eye open because very soon someone was going to get got!

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Finish: Dorado and Lee would put on quite the spotfest with both men offering the fan’s reminder of the great match that had taken place at Beach Break. Dorado would defend the belt successfully for the first time during his reign, by setting up Lee with a Flip DDT before finishing off his foe with the Cara Dorada to end the contest.

- After the contest Taz would reveal that at AEW Revolution a Men’s and Women’s Face of the Revolution match would take place and that in coming week’s General Manager William Regal would announce who would take part in both matches.

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- An angry Charles Gable would be having a raging argument with William Regal backstage in the GM’s office. Gable would make it clear that himself and The Academy of Alphas would be left with no other option, but to go on strike unless HOOK was forced to have a drug test. When Regal would dismiss these demands, Gable would push the matter and question if Regal was taking bribes and that perhaps he was a covert member of team Taz. Regal would laugh at the properstous suggestion and inform Gable that next week he would be facing Powerhouse Hobbs in the ring and that if failed to make an appearance he was going to be suspended indefinitely without pay for the entire month of March. Gable looks furious, but before he could say anything else Regal looked furious and just pointed at the door indicating for Gable to get out of his sight.

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- The cameras would cut to AJ Styles who would be joined backstage by Excalibur. Styles would make it clear that he had been left frustrated to not be involved at all at Beach Break - but as things stood only one thing seemed to make sense in the coming weeks and that was standing in the same ring as Kenny Omega and battling for the right to become the AEW World Champion. AJ would make it clear that he hoped that Omega had enjoyed his R&R in Malibu - because in the weeks to come he was going to make his life a living hell and do everything in his power to prove to TK and all the other shot callers that he was the only man of challenging for the big belt at Revolution.

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Finish: It was clear that Wheeler was heavily motivated by the loss of his partner earlier in the night and as much as Flamita would try to get into Cash’s head with aerial attacks Wheeler wasn’t having any of it and would show off his throwback wrestling style and flatline Flamita by connecting with a Gory Bomb to claim the victory.

- Wheeler though would show Flamita no respect after the match and attempt to rip off Flamita’s mask post-match - only for Rey Horus to charge out from the back and come to his partner’s aid. Wheeler would be quick to exit the ring and would have a cocky grin on his face as he would lift his half of the AEW World Tag Team Championships above his head before wagging his finger and making it clear that neither Horus or Flamita were getting anywhere near his or his partner’s title belts.

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- Bron Rochsteiner would appear in the parking lot and be hitting on a steel chair looking totally out of place as he did so. Rochsteiner wouldn’t hide the fact at how disappointed he had been in the lack of a challenge that Brian Myers had offered him at Beach Break, but now he had the prey of his scent filled heavily in is nostrils and that he sure hoped Cardona was ready for what was coming - because from where he was sitting the road ahead looked pretty rough, in fact it looked as if Cardona was very much in for a rough ride.

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Finish: Deonna would get the honor of featuring in two Dynamite’s main-event in two weeks and would prove to be a worthy opponent for Banks and on a number of occasions would come close to claiming victory and becoming the new champion. Mercedes though would show just how much of a tough cookie she truly was by wrapping up the contest by executing a perfect Bank Statement to secure the victory.

- After the match, whilst being handed the belt Mercedes would grab a microphone and look at Deonna with disdain before uttering three words to close the show ‘not good enough’.​

 

[CakeWalker]

Impact #916

- The fallout from Bound By Honor would see TNA host a Championship Edition of Impact coming live from the Alario Center, Westwego, Louisiana before the company would commence their planned tour of Europe. Don West and Mike Tenay would confirm that tonight would see a number of championship belts up for grabs on tonight’s show - with the show main focus no doubt being the TNA World Heavyweight Championship match between Josh Alexander and CM Punk, with it being the first time that Punk would appear on TNA programming since 2004. West would make the point that Punk hadn’t even made a name for himself at ROH let alone the WWE back then so this would be the first time that a TNA crowd would get to see the very best version of Punk live in the flesh.

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Finish: Blake Christian would make his TNA debut and X-Division debut and put on an impressive performance against veteran X-Division highflyer Amazing Red. Christian would put on a great account of himself and show just exactly why he had been traded for Swerve and would complete his debut by hitting Red with the 2K1 Driver to seal the deal.

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- John E. Bravo would emerge from Rockstar Spud’s office where he would be approached by Renee who would question what Bravo had with Spud. John E. would reveal that after a long and meaningful talk he had come to an agreement with Spud and that Shark Boy would represent the Bravo Brand in a few moments time to challenge Rey Fenix for the X-Division Championship.

- Bravo would then reveal that he had been guaranteed that the Bravo Brand would be a key feature of the promotion’s European Tour and couldn’t wait for the citizens of Europe to see just how talented all three of his boys truly were.

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- Ronda Rousey would cut a promo from a darkened room with only a solitary candle illuminating the room. Ronda would make it clear that she had never had any interest or loyalty in regards to teaming up with Becky Lynch or Toxic Attraction and had only taken part in the 12-woman Elimination Match because she had been guaranteed a future match with Paige VanZant and that tonight was the night that she was finally going to get her hands on the great pretender and remind the rest of the world that there was only one ‘Bad Bitch’ that had been born within the fires of the MMA world.

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Finish: Shark Boy would be greeted with nostalgic pops from the crowd, but at no point during the contest did he look like he was capable of claiming a victory and after a good showing from the veteran wrestler he would finally be finished off by Fenix who would send himself and Shark Boy off the turnbuckle with the Spanish Fly to retain the X-Division Championship.

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- AAA’s Kenoh would appear backstage where he would be joined by Manabu Soya, with both men being ‘The Red Hand’ to Malakai Black’s House of Black. Kenoh would make it clear that he had been counting down the days until he would stand on the opposite side of the ring from his old friend and get to look Katsuhiko in the eyes and call him out for what he truly was - a coward. He makes that point that for such a long time both him and Soya stood by Nakajima’s side but it was only in the last few months that he started to hear dark winds whisper in his his ear and tell him what needed to be done and by going down this road he and Manabu would be recompensed with immense riches and glory. Kenoh would make it clear that a match with Nakajima needed to have finality and that is why he had requested that at Guerra de Titanes the two of them do battle in a Tables Match.

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- Maryse is speaking backstage with Renee, where she informs the backstage interviewer that despite the loss that she and her husband had suffered at Bound By Honor it was nothing but a fluke and it had been marred by the interference of none other than LA Knight, who she had no doubt had been paid by Nick Aldis to try and embarrass her husband. Maryse makes it clear that she is speaking on behalf of her husband, but has a message for the ears of one man and one many alone - Nick Aldis. Maryse makes it clear that now that Marty Scurll has skipped the queue it is about damn time that Nick finally gave her husband what he deserved - a shot at the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship.

- Maryse would find herself being interrupted by Kamille, with Kamille making it clear that both herself and Nick had always been ‘Strictly Business’ but that a man like Nick didn’t owe a low life like The Miz anything. However, she did agree with Maryse that perhaps tonight was the best night for Aldis to finally deal with The Miz and take out the trash once and for all and shut her slimeball husband up for good. Maryse would look to respond only for Kamille to click her fingers, as ‘The House of Bricks’ (The Bunny & Kamille) would jump Maryse from behind and proceed to kick the crap out of her as Kamille would just chuckle to herself before walking out of shot.

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Finish: The match wouldn’t bear any resemblance to a wrestling match and would very much come off as an Exhibition MMA match, with Ronda and Paige intent on knocking the crap out of the other with both women showing their athletic prowess and incredible rates of endurance and resilience. The closer would occur with Ronda pummeling VanZant to canvas with a Reverse Kata-Guruma before fully mounting her Paige and striking her with blow after blow to the face until the referee would dive and knock Rousey out of the way and call for the bell signaling that VanZant had been knocked unconscious during the encounter.

- An enraged Rousey would look furious that she had been prevented in handing a further beating and would reach for a microphone. She would name drop AAA’s owner Dr. Wagner, Jr. and make it clear that she was hungry and desire another next victim next week and would suggest that El Jefe book a match featuring some of the best Women on his roster, so that she would come and kick the crap out of them on AAA’s debut episode of Fury next week. In the background Paige VanZant would look in terrible shape as EMT would place a brace around her neck and be carefully placing her onto a gurney.

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- Rockstar Spud and Tyson Kidd would be caught by cameras arguing backstage, with the TNA Producer Kidd making it clear to Spud that he really needed to start getting grip of the situation and that things were starting to get out of hand with so many of TNA’s belts being held by wrestlers from other promotions. Spud would make it clear that he had things under control and that Kidd had absolutely no authority to tell him how to do his job. Kidd was not backing down though, and would make it clear that the current situation was simply unacceptable and that he was now left to instigate a vote of no confidence in Spud after tonight’s show went off air. Rockstar Spud would be left furious and instructs a security team to remove Tyson Kidd out of the arena, only for Kidd to make it clear that if anyone laid a hand on him he was going to kick the living shit out of them irrespective of what any doctor had to say about his health.

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- Ahead of the match it was announced by Don West that Kamille and The Bunny had been ejected from the arena and would not be paid tonight due to their involvement in the attack on Maryse, whilst Penelope Ford who was a member of ROH had been banned from attending TNA shows until further notice.

Finish: The contest was one that people had been hoping for quite a while and it would not disappoint with both Aldis and The Miz bringing their very best game to the table in a match that would be littered with near falls. The end would come about when it looked as if Nick was on course to retain the ‘Ten Pounds of Gold’ as he would setup Miz to hit the Tormentum only for The Miz to counter the maneuver and shift the momentum against Aldis to connect with the Mizard of Oz and to everyone disbelief hooking Aldis’ legs over to claim the three count.

- Aldis would have a stunned look on his face, as The Miz’s music would start to play as Miz would be handed the belt by the referee. The Miz didn’t look at all interested in celebrating though as he would call for a microphone and demand his music be cut. The Miz would make it clear that his victory tonight had finally proven to the world that he had always been the man most deserving of a shot at the gold, but wanted to make sure there was no confusion on the matter. Miz would lay down a challenge for Marty Scurll to face him next week in Spain and make it clear that once he claimed a win there would be no doubt in anyone's mind who the true villain of pro wrestling really was.

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- The camera cuts backstage where TNA Knockout’s Champion Becky Lynch is joined by her personal enforcer Max the Imapler. Becky would make it clear that Miranda Alize had benefited from beginners' luck and that her win over her at Bound By Honor had been nothing more than a fluke. However, Lynch would make it clear that she was a big believer in the balancing of the scales and that there would be a clear imbalance and questions would be asked of her if she did offer Miranda a shot at her belt. Becky would smile though and make it clear that she had no faith that Miranda was capable of claiming a win over her in a simple one-on-one match and intended to prove exactly that by offering Alize a shot at her belt tonight as she couldn’t think of a better place or time than tonight’s Championship Edition.

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- In the middle of the ring Luchasaurus would stand defiantly and make it clear that Tony Nese had barely touched the sides last weekend at Bound By Honor. Luchasaurus would reveal that he had been made an offer by AAA and had taken it with both hands as he would reveal that this weekend at Guerra de Titanes he would be challenging Black Taurus with the intention of becoming the next AAA Latin American Championship.

- Black Taurus would appear on the titantron screen and in Spanish with subtitles offered would make it clear that a overgrown lizard was no match for a raging bull and that he was looking forward to tearing Luchasaurus apart limb from limb and cementing himself as the very best mercenary and that like any good mercenary he had friends. The lights in the Alario Center would flicker, as Los Mercenarios members Rey Escorpion and Villano III, Jr. would slide into the ring and attempt to a mugging in the middle of the ring, but Luchasaurus would show he was more than capable of defending himself as he would lay out Villano with a Chokeslam before wiping Escorpion off his feet with a perfectly timed Super Kick that would leave Luchasaurus looking strong as hell with Black Taurus just clapping his hands and laughing as he would remain on the titantron looking on.

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Finish: The tag team contest would prove to be an interesting one with both teams competently testing each other, but it would be the Calamar Drunken Kings that would seem to have the edge or it seemed to have less to do with skill and more to do with motivation with Brookes claiming the win by laying out Shelley with the Praying Mantis Bomb to secure the victory.

- Brookes and Takanashi would be joined in the ring after the bell by the rest of La Facción Confederada de América. LFCA’s leader Kenny King would grab a microphone and make it clear that as the biggest gang in pro wrestling continued to grow and with another chapter now working out of AEW it wouldn’t be long until the entire world recognised that the likes of Chaos, Bullet Club and Suzuki-gun were things of a past and that the real future of this business was LFI. Kenny would continue by congratulating Shane Taylor in playing his part and sending a clear message to the rest of the world by taking out Daniels and influencing the result of the ROH World Championship match at Bound By Honor.

- King would make it clear that Daniels was just a victim of his own success, and that the reason why LFCA had got involved was because they had been left with no other choice. If TNA management and ROH both thought they were undeserving of a place on a joint show, then they had been sadly mistaken and Shane Taylor had reminded everyone the true definition of gang warfare.

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- Adam Page would appear in a recorded video in which he would apologize to the fans for not being present tonight, but that he had been presented with a massive opportunity this coming weekend and wasn’t one to turn it down. Before continuing though, Page would make it clear that he was done jumping through hoops for Roman and that he expected the ‘Top Bitch’ to meet him in the ring next week in Madrid - otherwise there would be serious consequences.

- Page would change the tone and make the point that one man’s misfortune often comes at a benefit to others. He would go on to reveal that at Guerra de Titanes, with El Vikingo not medically clear to complete the planned unification match between him and Cibernetico was no longer taking place. However, an alternative match had been booked. A match that would see himself, Pagano, Chessman and NJPW’s Samoa Joe compete in a Fatal Four Way match this weekend - with the winner of said contest earning the right to face Cibernetico later on in the show. Adam would make it clear that he could think of a better way to end the month of February than by becoming the AAA Mega Champion. A graphic would then appear on the screen confirming the contest for this weekend’s PPV in Mexico.

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- Kris Wolf would cut a passionate promo which would be dated having taken place after Bound By Honor went off the air on Saturday Night. Wolf would make it clear that becoming the inaugural TNA Women’s NEX GEN Champion had been a life changing moment in her career and she could show the rest of the world the locker-room that she deserved to be in the position she was in. Wolf would come off very bubbly and warm and make it clear that intended to be a fighting champion and hoped that the wide talent pool of women on the billing would step forward and challenge her for the belt in the weeks and months to come. Wolf would make it clear that she hoped she would have the honor of defending the strap at Turning Point Japan at the end of next month.

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Finish: Miranda would offer Becky a test, but Lynch would remind the world exactly why she had earned ‘THE MAN’ nickname and as soon as Alize made her first real mistake in the contest, she would capitalize and connect with The Manhandle Slam to secure the victory and retain the title.

- Max the Impaler would look to dish out a post-match beat down on Alize, but Lynch would cut herself inbetween Max and Miranda and make it clear that this wasn’t the time nor the place. Mercedes Martinez would hit the ramp and slide in the ring and come to her Los Verdaderos Asesinos partner’s aid. Mercedes and Becky would have an intense stare down and exchange word before Lynch would raise her belt in the air and send a clear message that she very much was the top talent on TNA. Martinez though would just continue to her eyes with Becky and that tension between both women was on another level of intensity.

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- The cameras return to Rockstar Spud’s office where Spud is joined by the TNA World Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers. Spud announced that next week to mark the beginning of the European Tour, Anderson and Gallows were required to defend their belt in a mandatory title defense of the titles. Before he could say anything else, Anderson would interject and inform Spud that actually neither he nor Doc would be actually part of the Tour so that match wouldn’t be possible.

- An angry voice would emerge from behind the camera and producer Chris Park would demand to know how Spud had allowed this situation to occur. For the second time that night, when Spud was under fire from fellow members of the management team he would snap and make it clear to Chris that he had the situation under control and instead would announce that by the time TNA arrived in Europe he would offer up an alternative to rectify the situation. The facial expression of Park though, was clear that he was far more impressed with the situation that was taking place.

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Finish: The contest between Young and Dalton would be an intense battle, but it would end up being marred by controversy.

Towards the end of the match, the titantron would light up and show Wolfe, Damo, Dain and Fulton standing on what looked like a hangman’s gallows with a rope wrapped around Deaner and Doering throat with Killian Dain making it clear that it was now time for EY to make a choice. EY would look genuinely horrified but would end up picking Deaner. Instantly Big Damo would pull a lever as Doering would immediately disappear through a trap door as the footage would immediately be cut off. With Young completely distracted, Dalton was able to fully capitalize on the situation and would leap off the middle rope and connect with Anchors Away! (Diving Headbutt) to keep Young down and reclaim the Global Championship.

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- Backstage Minoru Suzuki and Zack Sabre, Jr. would have a conversation where ‘The Murder Grandpa’ would make his intentions clear that he intended to remain in the United States and focus on his upcoming match with Jay White rather than distract himself by travelling to Europe but intended to reunite with the rest of Suzuki-gun following his sure victory at ROH 20th Anniversary. Minoru would make it clear that he was leaving ZSJ in charge of the group until he got back. Zack would make it clear that Minoru could trust him, and that he was confident that the group victory last weekend was the turning point in the faction’s fortunes moving forward.

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- Backstage Randy Orton would find himself being approached by Edge, Christian and Jack Perry (FKA Jungle Boy). Edge would offer sympathies to Randy and make it clear that Orton had lost his opportunity at becoming World Champion because of unwanted interference from third parties and that whilst all these Forbidden Doors remained open everyone else was expected to suffer because of ratings and surprise factor. Edge would make it clear that he and Randy had been the best of friends and the best of enemies but would make a point that in these trying times they would only be stronger together.

- Randy would make the point that he had never intended or had the desire to rely on anyone else again, but that he had been left with no other choice and would proceed to shake hands and embrace with all three men creating a strong union between all four men with a combination of Edge & Christian and Rated RKO now being a living breathing organism within the same existing being. It was noted that Jack Perry had found himself in a situation, where he was now effectively being mentored by some of the very best wrestlers in recent years with Tenay noting that this was the perfect breeding ground for Perry to become the best in the business.

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Finish: The match would certainly be a dream match for Alexander and ‘The Walking Weapon’ would bring out his very best to the ring, with it being clear that CM Punk was facing a much tougher opponent than he might have expected. Punk though would show his wrestling endurance and manage to kick out of two C4 Spike much to Alexander’s bemusement. The ending of the match would be dirty although Punk would have no idea of what had actually taken place. As Alexander would rebound off the ropes, Rollins would emerge from underneath the ring apron and grab hold of Josh’s foot long enough for Alexander to lose momentum which would allow Punk to connect with a Step-up Enzuigiri that would be transitioned into a Bulldog before locking Alexander in an Anaconda Vice that would leave Josh with no option, but to tap out.

- Everyone in the Alario Center would absolutely lose their mind and rise to their feet as Jeremy Borash would announce that Punk had been crowned the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion and an over-the-top celebration with confetti would take place as ‘Cult of Personality’ would blast around the arena as Punk would proceed to celebrate his monumental victory.

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The cameras would cut backstage where Rockstar Spud was talking on loudspeaker with Ring of Honor’s EVP Scott D’Amore. D’Amore would make it clear over the phone that he wanted to be as transparent and honest as possible, but that unfortunately the likes of The Good Brothers, Rey Fenix and CM Punk would be unavailable to feature on TNA programming until at least after 20th Anniversary had been concluded and it was regrettable that TNA would be without three of their biggest champions during the tour, but that this was the nature of the beast. Spud would be very understanding and made it clear that he valued the relationship that a B-Show like TNA currently had with an A-Show like ROH.​