Originally published at IMPACT Rebellion: Kenny Omega wins IMPACT Championship
Welcome to POST Wrestling’s coverage of IMPACT’s Rebellion pay-per-view featuring the Title vs. Title Match between Kenny Omega and Rich Swann.
The IMPACT Rebellion POST Show will be taking place later tonight with hosts Davie Portman and John Siino. The two are also hosting a live Watch Along throughout the pay-per-view at Twitch.tv/upNXTpodcast. The podcast will be available late tonight on both the POST Wrestling and upNXT feeds.
RESULTS:
*AEW World & IMPACT Unified World Championships: Kenny Omega (c) def. Rich Swann (c) in 23:00
*IMPACT Knockouts Championship: Deonna Purrazzo (c) def. Tenille Dashwood in 9:51
*IMPACT Tag Team Championships: FinJuice (David Finlay & Juice Robinson) (c) def. The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) in 10:30
*Last Man Standing Match: Trey Miguel def. Sami Callihan in 15:24
*Knockouts Tag Team Championships: Jordynne Grace & Rachael Ellering def. Fire ‘N Flava (Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz) (champions) in 9:25
*Brian Myers def. Matt Cardona in 9:42
*W. Morrissey, Rhino, Cody Deaner & Joe Doering def. Eddie Edwards, Willie Mack, James Storm & Chris Sabin in 10:07
*X Division Championship — Three-Way Match: Josh Alexander def. Ace Austin (champion) and TJP in 11:15
*Pre-Show: Havok & Rosemary def. Susan & Kimber Lee in 7:10
The commentary team consists of Matt Striker and D-Lo Brown. Mauro Ranallo will be calling the main event.
Havok & Rosemary vs. Susan & Kimber Lee
Susan pretended she had a back injury, distracting the referee as Kimber Lee snapped Rosemary’s neck on the top rope. Havok received the tag and hit both opponents with the face wash.
Susan began to snap and morph to Su Yung, using the mandible claw on Havok until Rosemary stopped her. Kimber Lee missed Rosemary and struck Susan and led to Havok pinning Susan with a tombstone piledriver.
WINNERS: Havok & Rosemary in 7 minutes and 10 seconds
The only takeaway was the character work from Susan with the hints of Su Yung emerging late in the match.
X DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP: Ace Austin (champion) vs. TJP vs. Josh Alexander
Matt Striker compared 24-year old Ace Austin to Jon Jones and Frank Shamrock as a prodigy and winning a title at a young age. Then, he gave this big speech regarding Ace Austin not getting his own IMPACT Micro Brawler figure and how that means kids are playing with other wrestler’s toys and what it means to the talent that isn’t included in the set. D-Lo Brown informed Striker that Austin is, in fact, part of the Micro Brawlers series.
Alexander hit a combination superplex and side Russian leg sweep to TJP and Austin off the turnbuckle. The three-way spots were very smooth as they transitioned in and out.
TJP hit the Mamba Splash on Austin, Alexander interrupted the cover applying an ankle lock to TJP. The ankle lock was reversed by TJP with a heel hook, Alexander applied an ankle lock to Austin while in the heel hook. The heel hook was broken but TJP used the Octopus submission on Alexander, which was stopped when Austin hit The Fold.
Madman Fulton tripped TJP from the floor. Alexander hit Divine Intervention on TJP and Austin broke the cover. Alexander got the ankle lock on Austin, which was broken by The Mamba Splash and Fulton yanked TJP to the floor.
With TJP on the floor, Alexander hit Austin with Divine Intervention and became the new champion.
WINNER: Josh Alexander in 11 minutes and 15 seconds to win the X Division title
This was a great opening match with three of the stronger talents on the roster. It was a very easy-to-follow three-way match with lots of sequences incorporating all three at once.
Matt Striker explained that Eric Young has a hand-picked replacement for the eight-man tag tonight. There was a taped message from Violent by Design with Young addressing his replacement, who can’t be seen.
Eddie Edwards, James Storm, Willie Mack & Chris Sabin vs. Joe Doering, Deaner, Rhino & W. Morrissey
Eric Young came out with the other members of the team and introduced W. Morrissey (the former Big Cass). He came out looking in great shape.
It broke down with everyone getting involved. Team IMPACT all took turns attacking Deaner until Morrissey entered and attacked them with strikes and tagged himself in. Morrissey stopped Mack from hitting a dive to the floor. Sabin stopped Deaner on top and hit him with a superplex to everyone on the ground.
Mack hit the stunner to Doering, who stumbled to the floor. Morrissey blocked a stunner and hit Mack with a big boot and the East River Crossing for the victory.
WINNERS: W. Morrissey, Deaner, Joe Doering & Rhino in 10 minutes and 7 seconds
Morrissey continued attacking Mack with punches after the match. They kept pushing that Morrissey is “bitter” and her to prove people wrong, which is fine for this audience but for the broader fanbase, I think you need to explain things like that rather than alluding to how he left the national scene. The whole match was designed to showcase Morrissey as their newest big man.
Brian Myers vs. Matt Cardona
They had a nice match and Striker was able to go deeper into the history given he’s known them for so long and explaining how they came up together.
They referenced Myers’ use of an eye patch in the past when Cardona gouged his eye. Cardona hit the Reboot through the ropes and Radio Silence on the ramp. Myers returned with a spear on the floor and the Killswitch for a two-count.
The ending series of events began with Cardona hoisted in the air, coming down and landing badly to injure his knee. The referees came down to check on Cardona while Striker and D-Lo Brown tried to do the “this isn’t part of the show” somber delivery, which is actually painful when the audience has zero belief. Striker even compared it to Chris Weidman’s injury the night before, which was going a tad far.
Myers helped Cardona get up as Striker noted that these two have a podcast together (I guess in between this hatred for one another on television this explains things aren’t too bad between them) and then Myers attacked him and hit the Roster Cut (a running lariat) for the win.
WINNER: Brian Myers in 9 minutes and 42 seconds
The finish was the Fit Finlay special but to pull it off you really need to be convincing and to the modern audience that is so savvy to this stuff, it came off flat to me. The work preceding the end was good and they had a nice match for the time allotted.
Gia Miller welcomed Tony Khan, Tony Schiavone, Jerry Lynn, and referee Aubrey Edwards. They were confronted by Scott D’Amore, who said that Brian Hebner would be the referee before agreeing to have two refs. D’Amore changed his mind after Khan pointed out Brian’s last name regarding whether he would screw someone. Just remember, if the Survivor Series finish was a human being, they would be turning 24 years old this November.
KNOCKOUTS TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz (champions) vs. Jordynne Grace & Rachael Ellering
Jazz is in the corner of Grace and Ellering.
This was a nice match the four had with Grace and Ellering coming off as a unique powerhouse tandem.
They had the heat on Grace for the first five minutes until she made the tag. Hogan and Steelz connected with stereo missile dropkicks.
The big move saw Steelz thrust in the air and went for a cutter on Grace on the edge of the apron.
Steelz was hit with a crucifix bomb on the floor by Grace while Ellering was left to hit her Fallaway Powerbomb and pinned Hogan.
WINNERS: Jordynne Grace & Rachael Ellering in 9 minutes and 25 seconds
Ellering is a great addition to the women’s division of IMPACT, which just lost Taya Valkyrie but continues to have its depth that has made this division one of the hallmarks of the company.
I liked the chemistry between Grace and Ellering while Fire ‘N Flava has improved greatly and their tag title run helped solidify their positions in the division.
LAST MAN STANDING MATCH: Sami Callihan vs. Trey Miguel
This turned into a creative and violent hardcore match with many interesting ideas thrown at the wall.
Miguel was immediately scoop slammed from the ring to the floor. Callihan controlled the earlier portion with the use of a chain and sticking a wrench into Miguel’s mouth.
D-Lo Brown questioned if the founders of pro wrestling ever envisioned this level of violence. I’m sure they were open-minded to its possibility.
Miguel was scoop slammed onto the legs of the table where he was placed between the legs, but the announcers reacted like he was impaled. Callihan used a piledriver off the second turnbuckle but the table didn’t break they were intending to crash through.
On top of the steps, Callihan grabbed Miguel by the balls and hit a piledriver on the steps. Then, Callihan put the steps over top of Miguel for the ten-count but Miguel escaped under the ring and emerged to hit a cutter off the apron through a table and made it up before the count of ten to win the match.
WINNER: Trey Miguel in 15 minutes and 24 seconds
I liked the match as it was a hardcore-style match but they clearly put a lot of thought into the different spots to make it stand out. Miguel played a great babyface and would have benefited from fans being in the building reacting to the daredevil spots and his comeback at the end. These matches are the domain of Callihan and I thought it achieved its intention and Miguel came out of it with a big win.
Gia Miller interviewed Rich Swann and said that Don Callis initially got into his head, but no mind games will work. Swann said it was the biggest match of his career but it’s also the biggest match of Kenny Omega’s career, which is a stretch. He said this is not AEW and its IMPACT’s house and he won’t take his pride nor will he let his family down. He will bring the fight to Omega “all night long”.
IMPACT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: FinJuice (champions) vs. The Good Brothers
D-Lo Brown noted it’s great for IMPACT to have the tag titles being defended in New Japan, which has never happened.
They had the heat on Finlay for a long time before Robinson received the hot tag. It turned into an entertaining tag match from this point onward. Gallows prevented FinJuice from hitting the Doomsday Device on Anderson.
Gallows and Anderson hit Robinson with a reverse neck breaker, but Finlay intervened to stop the Magic Killer. Robinson caught Gallows with an inside cradle and got the pin.
WINNERS: FinJuice in 10 minutes and 30 seconds
There was nothing wrong with the match as both are solid teams and it was a fine match but I wouldn’t say it got to the next gear where you would be adding any more praise than that. Perhaps the finish surprised some that assumed The Good Brothers would take the titles in this one.
Miller interviewed Don Callis because Kenny Omega isn’t available to speak. Callis took credit for this main event happening. Callis has written history and knows how this will turn out and called Omega “the greatest wrestler of the past 3,000 years”, which is a hell of an accolade to claim. “Vision with execution is just a hallucination but tonight we will execute”.
KNOCKOUTS CHAMPIONSHIP: Deonna Purrazzo (champion) vs. Tenille Dashwood
Kimber Lee and Susan were in Purrazzo’s corner while Kaleb with a K was with Dashwood and got heavily involved.
Purrazzo was sent into the corner with a butterfly suplex with Dashwood hitting the Taste of Tenille twice and applying the Muta/Emma Lock, which was broken up as Kimber Lee and Susan got onto the apron. Kaleb yanked Kimber Lee down, Dashwood slapped Susan and Kaleb was sent into the steps by Kimber Lee.
Dashwood with The Spotlight and had the match won when Kimber Lee pulled Dashwood off right in front of the referee, who had no problem with this. This spot sort of took you out of the match for how silly it came off.
Purrazzo got the Fujiwara armbar applied but Dashwood rolled out, Purrazzo hit a pump kick to the chest and the Queen’s Gambit for the win.
WINNER: Deonna Purrazzo in 9 minutes and 51 seconds
The work was fine but the interference is the type of interaction that makes you groan and soured me on it. Dashwood did very well in the match for a pay-per-view performance.
Taylor Wilde appeared and took out Kimber Lee and Susan with a tornado DDT and German suplex while staring down Purrazzo and appears to be the next championship program.
The next major shows on IMPACT Plus are “Under Siege” on Saturday, May 15th, and then its “Against All Odds” on Saturday, June 12th. Both nights coincide with UFC pay-per-views.
The next pay-per-view is Slammiversary this July, but no date was provided. The promo included shots of Samoa Joe, Mickie James, Chelsea Green, Tetsuya Naito, and Kazuchika Okada (using TNA archival footage).
Mauro Ranallo joins Matt Striker and D-Lo Brown for the main event.
They noted that the AAA Mega Heavyweight title is not at stake tonight.
Omega came out with The Good Brothers and Don Callis. Eddie Edwards and Willie Mack are in the corner of Swann.
AEW VS IMPACT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Kenny Omega vs. Rich Swann
Brian Hebner was the referee inside the ring and Aubrey Edwards was on the floor.
In terms of conveying a big-time feel, IMPACT did as much as they could to make this feel monumental and that the state of the company rested on Swann’s performance. There were frequent cutaways to a concerned-looking Scott D’Amore while the AEW contingent of Tony Khan, Jerry Lynn, and Tony Schiavone were seated in the front row.
Early in the match, Swann was sent upside down on the apron and spiked his head. From this point on, Omega worked the neck and was the natural set-up for the One-Winged Angel.
They had a lot of spectacular elements, but it was never overkill and I thought they let a lot of it breathe. There were a few slips including Omega attempting a powerbomb from the top, Swann countering and Omega crashed to the mat. Later, Omega teased a One-Winged Angel off the turnbuckle that Swann countered and was going for a sunset bomb that didn’t work out too well and Omega crashed to the canvas again.
Omega took over utilizing many V-Triggers and hitting a pair of Snap Dragons. Swann recovered and went for a handspring cutter, he missed Omega and took out Brian Hebner, which was the natural groan with the referee bump. However, it was minimal and only led to a spot where Omega had a chair and Aubrey Edwards prevented Omega from using it. It almost seemed like they wanted to tease a BS finish with a ref bump but it was a red herring.
Swann hit the handspring cutter to Omega, used La Magistral cradle but Omega reversed with one of his own for a near-fall. Omega hit another V-Trigger and used Croyt’s Wrath for a near-fall.
Omega took off his knee pad and drilled Swann with more knees as Mack and Edwards watched from the floor and rallied behind Swann, who made a final comeback before missing a Phoenix Splash and falling to a V-Trigger and One-Winged Angel.
WINNER: Kenny Omega in 23 minutes to become the IMPACT & TNA Champion
Omega was presented with both the IMPACT and TNA championships as the show went off the air with Omega posing with his championships.
The main event came off very strong and the commentary of Mauro Ranallo was a great addition. At times, it was tough with three voices trying to get their points across and I think a two-man booth would have been superior but it was a great addition having Ranallo.
This was a cut above everything else on the show when it came to match quality and Swann played an excellent babyface, delivering in a big pressure situation.
It leaves the audience questioning where this goes and how IMPACT gets their titles back, which was the intrigue from the moment this match was announced, and they promised a winner. They delivered a clean ending with one person leaving with all the titles and they didn’t mislead or screw the audience.
For the overall show, I would say a lot of the matches were fine but the main event was easily the top one followed by the X Division opener, and the Last Man Standing Match if you enjoy hardcore style matches.