June 30, 2023 / By mobanmarket
The final stop before Friday's Under Siege on Friday has arrived with Thursday's Impact Wrestling on AXS TV.
In the night's featured match, Chris Sabin will take on "Speedball" Mike Bailey in a clash of former X-Division Champions. Sabin will challenge again for the title Friday when he faces current titleholder Trey Miguel.
Ahead of her challenge of Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo, former champion Jordynne Grace will face Alisha Edwards.
Chris Bey will go one-on-one with John Skyler. Bey and Ace Austin will defend the Impact Tag Team titles Friday against the debuting Subculture.
Angels will take on Rich Swann ahead of their trios clash on Friday while Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champion Taylor Wilde will take on Jessicka.
In a tag team match, Kenny King & Sheldon Jean will face Decay (Black Taurus & Crazy Steve). King will face Nick Aldis on Friday.
The BTI pre-show will feature Sami Callihan against Shogun.
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BTI pre-show:
Sami Callihan defeated Shogun
Callihan yelled “Boo this man!” as the match started and the fans did. This was a decent match where Shogun got a little bit of time to show what he could do. Callihan won with a death valley driver after a few minutes in a good match.
Main Card:
After the recap of last week’s events, the show jumped right into the first match.
Chris Sabin defeated Mike Bailey
This match was absolutely outstanding. Sabin and Bailey had a PPV main event level match in the opening of Impact here this week. This is must see.
There is no better match to setup Chris Sabin challenging for the X-Division title than facing Mike Bailey. Sabin tied up Bailey’s foot in the ropes, and then started hitting a few strikes before hitting a hesitation dropkick to the prone Bailey’s face. Bailey got loose from the ropes and did a handspring backflip to dodge a clothesline before hitting the ropes and talking Sabin’s head off with a flying kick.
Bailey hit a running shooting star press for a 2-count. Sabin went for a cradle shock, but Bailey countered into a hurricanrana and then hit a backflip double knees to the chest of Sabin. Bailey hit a moonsault to the floor on Sabin, causing the crowd to go crazy. Bailey hit an enziguri and went for Ultima Weapon, but Sabin tried to counter into the Cradle Shock. Bailey floated to the apron, and Sabin went over into a sunset flip power bomb on the floor.
Sabin went to the top rope and Bailey followed. Sabin kicked him off, but Bailey hit a flying kick and went back to the top ropes. Sabin slipped under the legs and ran up the ropes, hitting a release German suplex off the top ropes. Incredible. Sabin went for Cradle Shock, but Bailey countered into a pinfall attempt. Sabin kicked out and ran straight into a one man Spanish fly for a 2-count. Bailey hit a thrust kick to drop Sabin and hit the tornado kick in the corner. Sabin dodged Ultima Weapon, set Bailey on the ropes, hit a muscle buster, and then picked him up and hit a Cradle Shock for the win. Holy cow, what a match.
– A recap video aired of PCO and Maclin’s feud thus far. Maclin called the video package wasted motion because there was no way PCO was actually going to be at Under Siege after what he did to him recently, so he was going to name his own replacement later in the show.
Kenny King & Sheldon Jean defeated Decay (Crazzy Steve & Black Taurus)
Good match between these two teams, with King getting the win to build up to his match with Aldis.
Nick Aldis joined the commentary desk for the match, putting over Kenny King for his ability. Steve did a neck snap on Jean as the announcers talked about King elevating his game in the time Aldis was away from Impact. Taurus was isolated briefly by Jean, who hit a series of forearms on the grounded Taurus. King mocked Taurus and hit two shoulder tackles, causing Taurus to charge, and King hit a powerslam and tagged out to Jean.
Taurus hit a spinning bulldog on Jean and tagged out to Steve, who went right after Kenny King. Steve hit a cannonball in the corner for a 2-count that Jean broke up. Taurus hit an incredible tope con giro on Jean to the floor, who caught the large man completely. Impressive, at it absolutely crushed Jean, but certainly kept Taurus safe. King, meanwhile, bit Steve as he went for a monkey flip, and King hit the Royal Flush for the win.
King grabbed a mic and said he was glad to give Aldis a front row seat to what he could do, and promised to beat Aldis at Under Siege. Aldis claimed that King couldn’t keep his name out of his mouth because King was trying to make a name at Aldis’ expense. Aldis took his jacket off to fight with King, but King left the ring and said he would see him tomorrow.
– Jessicka was waiting for Rosemary backstage with the hourglass again, but had to put it down to go wrestle in a match against Taylor Wilde.
Taylor Wilde (w/ KiLynn King) defeated Jessicka
This was a nothing match as Wilde quickly hit the Witch’s Wrath for the win on the distracted Jessicka. As Wilde and KiLynn King attacked Jessicka after the match, we see the hourglass hit zero, and someone leaves the Undead Realm. Music hits, and Courtney Rush, Rosemary’s alter ego, ran out to save Jessicka.
Rush was later backstage with Jessicka and Jessicka pointed out how she looked like Rosemary, but wasn’t Rosemary. Rush clarified that Rosemary was someone who possessed her body for the last seven years, and she wasn’t sure why she was there, as there was an agreement Rosemary, but she was going to be a part of the Death Dollz for now. If this means we lose the Undead Realm stuff, I’m happy. I suspect we won’t be losing it though.
Rich Swann (w/ Sami Callihan) defeated Angels (w/ The Design)
Angels got the advantage of Swann in a really clever way, by pushing the apron up into the ring, and as Swann stepped on the apron, Angels pulled it out from under him. Angels then hit a slingshot into the ring post and hit a half nelson suplex for a 2-count in the ring. After a body slam, Swann started to hit some kicks that drove Angels to the floor. Swann hit a flipping senton off the apron and then hit a handspring cutter for a 2-count.
Angels managed to take the legs out of Swann when he was on the middle rope getting ready to hit a phoenix splash. Angels hit another half nelson suplex and then hit a moonsault to the floor on Swann. Angels hit a low down for a 2-count. Swann managed to pull Angels off the top rope and hit a 450 splash for the 3-count.
– The Design continued to assault Swann and Callihan after the match with Deaner hitting Callihan in the face with a baseball bat yet again.
– Alisha Edwards interrupted a Deonna Purrazzo interview saying that Purrazzo was kind to give Jordynne Grace the benefit of the doubt for what happened last week, but she’d soon learn what she and Eddie Edwards learned – that the locker room is full of backstabbers.
– Killer Kelly and Masha Slamovich were brawling backstage and went through a kitchen area to a back hallway where Slamovich choked Kelly unconscious with a cable.
Jordynne Grace defeated Alisha Edwards (w/ Eddie Edwards)
Jordynne Grace laughed at the strikes of Edwards, hitting a bangarang and then the Grace driver for the win.
– Dirty Dango did a pre-taped promo, and talked about how he was done with people being happy to be there, and mocked the younger generation for wanting social media likes more than live crowd reactions. Dango claimed people came to see stars, and that he was one, and it didn’t matter if he loved the business. He basically called all the wrestlers marks. He said Jim Cornette would probably bury this. I will beat him to it. This is not good. Dango said people didn’t pay to seem armdrags, but they would pay to see his arms. I have no idea where this character is going.
– A very good promo video aired for the six-man #1 Contender match for the Impact World Championship.
Chris Bey (w/ Ace Austin) defeated John Skylar (w/ Jason Hotch & Brian Myers)
I am not sure why Hotch got the win last week only for ABC to get a win back here with Bey defeating Skylar, but hey, The Good Hands are going for the titles at Under Siege anyway.
Bey had the advantage early on, using his speed to leave Skylar reeling. As Skylar moved out of the way of a plancha to the floor, Bey landed on his feet and got distracted by Myers and Hotch, so Skylar drove him face first into the ring post. When we came back from the break, Hotch had Bey in a headlock. Bey was able to get out and hit a slingshot into a DDT on Skylar for a 2-count. Skylar hit a spear from the apron into the ring for a 2-count. Bey hit a dropkick on Myers on the floor and then hit the Art of Finesse for the 3-count.
Steve Maclin/PCO segment
Impact World Champion Maclin came out to introduce his opponent for Under Siege, selecting Champagne Singh to face him as a reward for how Singh helped him attack PCO last week. The crowd was not impressed. Singh joked that he was going to finish his story, taking a shot at Cody Rhodes, and that he was going to win the title. Singh actually got a lot of heat here, as he wanted to thank a long list of people that rivaled Chris Jericho’s list of moves in WCW.
Scott D’Amore came down to the ring and Singh claimed D’Amore was on the list. Shera took the list and tried to find D’Amore’s name while D’Amore said the match between Maclin and Singh was not going to happen. Maclin claimed that D’Amore was set against him having the title. D’Amore said he was fine with him being champion, but he wanted him to fight the best in the ring, and he was clearly avoiding that now. This was a good promo from D’Amore.
D'Amore conceded that he did not respectfully hand the title to Maclin at Rebellion, but promised to do so if Maclin fought at Under Siege in a real match. Maclin refused and said he was owed the respect of D’Amore, and that he was the real boss of the company, and D’Amore answered to him and he was going to strap the title around Maclin’s waist regardless. D’Amore agreed that if he could beat PCO, he would.
Maclin insisted PCO wouldn’t be there, but D’Amore was sure, because PCO was there tonight. The lights went out, and came back on and PCO was in the ring. Maclin hit PCO in the face with the belt, but PCO no sold it, grabbed the belt, and took out Shera and Singh before posing with the title. Good angle for the go home episode.
Final Thoughts:
This was a very good show tonight featuring a phenomenal match between Mike Bailey and Chris Sabin, some strong angles and promos, and all of it served to build Under Siege. It seems like Impact does a better job building their Impact Plus specials than they do their PPVs most of the time. I won’t complain though. This was a good show.
Final Impact Under Siege card:
Impact World Champion Steve Maclin defends against PCO in a no DQ matchKnockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defends against Jordynne Grace (if Grace loses, she can't challenge for the title again while Purrazzo is champion)X-Division Champion Trey Miguel defends against Chris SabinImpact Tag Team Champions Chris Bey & Ace Austin defend against Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster (w/ Dani Luna)Impact World Championship number one contender's match: Eddie Edwards vs. Moose vs. Jonathan Gresham vs. Yuya Uemura vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Alex ShelleyNick Aldis vs. Kenny KingThe Design (Deaner, Kon & Angels) vs. Sami Callihan, Rich Swann & a mystery partnerTrinity vs. Gisele ShawPre-show: Knockouts Tag Team Champions The Coven (KiLynn King & Taylor Wilde) vs. The Death Dollz (Jessicka & Courtney Rush) in a non-title matchPre-show: Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry defends against Dirty DangoClick Here: cork gaa jerseys
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