Impact Wrestling: Rise to Glory (2013-??)

IMPACT WRESTLING

Nov. 28, 2013

The Impact Zone (Orlando, Florida)

The show opens up with a table set up in the ring. Samoa Joe sits on one side, Magnus on the other with the Impact Wrestling World Title Belt sitting in the middle. Dixie Carter is in a lounge chair at the head of the table. 

DIXIE: After a few grueling weeks, we have two legendary warriors that have earned the right to fight at Final Resolution on December 19th for the Impact Wrestling World Title. 

(All the while, Magnus is staring a hole through Samoa Joe, while Joe is rolling his eyes at Dixie’s praise)

DIXIE: I for one can’t wait to see who will be the one to bring prestige back to this championship, and will join me in making a new, greater Impact Wrestling. Between now and then, my door is open for either of you that wants to take the initiative, join my side, the side of good. Pledge your allegiance to team Dixie and together we’ll make Impact a better place for everyone. 

At the sound of this Joe gets up, says nothing and simply walks out of the ring and all the way to the back. 

DIXIE: Ok Magnus, if that’s the way Joe wants to play it, that’s fine. I have no problem with you being the one to join me. 

MAGNUS: Ms. Carter, first of all. I refuse to be anyone’s puppet. I do what I want, when I want. I have cleared my path to the championship, done it all by myself and that’s the way it’s going to be. 

Magnus then echos Joe, getting up and walking out on Dixie. 

While Dixie stands speechless in the ring, Mike Tenay and Taz welcome us to the show. Two big title matches on hand tonight, in the main event Gunner and James Storm defend the World Tag Team titles against Bad Influence. And also, Velvet Sky will get her chance at the Knockouts Title against Gail Kim. 

KENNY KING VS. MANIK

The opening match this week is an X Division showdown between Manik and King, who’s coming off a title match loss to Austin Aries last week. 

King was clearly in a bad mood following the loss and took out his frustrations on Manik. He jumped on him early and kept up the aggression the entire match, finally finishing it off with the Royal Flush. 

Kenny King pinned Manik after the Royal Flush in 15:40.

Rating: ***

King grabbed a mic after the match. 

KING: Austin Aries, just know that I’m not done with you. That is my title and you better believe I’m going to come back to get it. I am the new face of the X Division. That belt should be around my waist. It’s mine!! Enjoy our time with it while you can. Cause I’m coming for it. 

BACKSTAGE WITH CHRIS SABIN AND VELVET SKY

SABIN: Velvet, this is awesome. Finally your chance to prove you have worth. If you step up to the plate and finally carry your weight, we can finally become the Impact Wrestling power couple. Just don’t go back to being Miss Nice Girl. You gotta be ruthless if you want to be a champion. Poke her in the eye, pull the tights, use a chair. Do whatever you need to do to win. 

SKY: (Sarcasticly) Thanks for the encouragement Chris. But I can use your help. 

SABIN: Anything Velvet, what do you need. 

SKY: I need someone to keep an eye on Lei’D Tapa, make sure she doesn’t interfere. 

SABIN: ….. 

SKY: Come on Chris. I need you to be there for me. 

SABIN: Ok, I’ll have your back. 

IN-RING PROMO FROM KURT ANGLE

ANGLE: First thing, I only blame one person for me not having a chance at the world championship, Bobby Roode. Samoa Joe, I respect him as a competitor and wish him the best of luck going for the gold. Roode, I wish you nothing but disaster and misery. And I want to be the one to bring that to you. Get out here right now, so I can kick your ass.  

Roode’s music hits and the It Factor stands up at the top of the ramp far away from Angle. 

ROODE: No Kurt I’m going to fight you right now. You had to know I was not going to let you go on to wrestle for the gold after the way you robbed me of the shot. But the way I see it, the latest chapter in the Roode-Angle saga is all even. It’s 1-1. We need to settle this once and for all. You want to get your hands on me, OK sure, but I’m going to make you wait for Final Resolution. We’re going to finish it, and we’re going to do it in a way where there will be no cheap wins. No accidents. Roode vs. Angle, 30 minutes, Ironman match. 

ANGLE: You’re on!! It’s real. It’s damn real. 

KNOCKOUTS TITLE

GAIL KIM © vs. VELVET SKY

Kim came out with Lei’D Tapa by her side, Sky came out alone. But the challenger showed no fear in going after the champion. 

Kim seemed a bit in shock of the aggression Sky was wrestling with and wasn’t quite sure how to handle her as on more than one occasion she fled the ring to regroup with Tapa. 

Later in the match, Tapa started to get involved physically. As Kim would be able to toss Sky out of the ring, then distract the ref. The second time this happened, Chris Sabin ran down to help Sky. But as he got to that part of the ring, Tapa turned and glared at Sabin, who then retreated back up the ramp. 

Tapa kept glaring at Sabin, turning her attention away from Sky. Sky took this opportunity to grab and chair and then repeatedly strike Tapa with it. Kim looked on in the ring in shock while the ref couldn’t do anything about it. He couldn’t DQ her because Tapa wasn’t a competitor in the match. 

With Tapa taken out of the picture, Sky dropped the chair then back into the ring and went after Kim. By this time it was clear, nothing was going to stop Sky from winning the title. She had her way with Kim for the next couple minutes before finally putting her away. 

Velvet Sky pinned Gail Kim after the In Yo’ Face in 10:21.

Rating: ** ½

(Velvet Sky won the IMPACT WRESTLING KNOCKOUTS TITLE)

The crowd gave her a huge ovation as she was presented the title. Sabin came back down the ring and celebrated with Sky with perhaps over-the-top jubilation. 

Sky at first was happy her boyfriend was happy, but then looked a bit puzzled as Sabin grabbed the title belt, and posed with it to the crowd standing on the top rope. Sabin then put the belt over his shoulder, took Velvet’s hand and left the ring. 

BACKSTAGE WITH JAMES STORM AND GUNNER

Storm is in the trainers’ room getting his knee taped up ahead of their world title match. 

GUNNER: How’s the knee.

STORM: It’s good to go. 

GUNNER: I hope so. I hate to say I told you so that it was a mistake to get in that tournament. 

STORM: That was for the world title. I had to do it. You would’ve done the same. 

GUNNER: I just didn’t want to be the only one thinking about this team. 

STORM: It’s all good. I took a shot, it didn’t work out. But I’m good to go and I’m 100 percent focused on keeping these tag titles. 

GUNNER: Alright, let’s do this. 

The two bro-hug and leave the room. 

KNOCKOUTS TAG MATCH

BLOSSOM TWINS (HOLLY BLOSSOM AND HANNAH BLOSSOM) VS. TAELER HENDRIX AND HEIDI LOVELACE

Four of the newest, youngest knockouts to arrive in Impact Wrestling faced each other in tag team action. Early in the match, ODB did just has she has been the past few weeks, coming to ringside with a lawn chair and what appears to be a 40 ounce in a brown paper lunch bag, enjoying a drink while the match is going on. Actually this week, she was sitting close enough to the crowd she was able to call over the popcorn vendor and get a corn. 

The match itself was fairly non-discript. Neither team picked up too much momentum before losing it to the other side via a counter or a missed move. 

Hendrix got thrown to the floor right by ODB. ODB sat there a second, then put her food and drink down to go help her up. But instead, she hit her with a clothesline. The ref saw it all happened and called for the DQ. Lovelace jumped outside to help her partner, but got a kick to the gut and a body slam on the floor from ODB as well. 

In the ring, the Blossoms weren’t sure what was going on. But they let ODB come into the ring with them, apparently under the impression she was joining there side. But once again, ODB fooled them attacking both. She kicked Holly out of the way then DDTed Hannah before running and doing a charging knee to the corner on Holly. 

ODB then left as all four young knockouts were laid out. 

Taeler Hendrix and Heidi Lovelace defeated The Blossom Twins (Holly Blossom and Hannah Blossom) when Hendrix defeated Holly by Disqualification in 7:31.

Rating: * ½ 

(ODB interfered against Taeler Hendrix)

BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW WITH BAD INFLUENCE

Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian are giving an interview before going for their world tag title shot. 

KAZARIAN: It’s been way to long since we’ve had this kind of opportunity. We’ve been tossed aside in favor of flavor of the month teams, two random singles guys who want to form a quick team. But now is a time to put an end to that. We forced everyone’s hand, made sure no one could overlook us anymore. It’s time to formally recognize us, once again, as the best pure tag team in the world. 

DANIELS: A year and a half. A year and a freaking half since the last time we were champions. You know how long a year and a half is? That’s about the gestation period of a whale. It’s a real long time. And since then it’s just been garbage, garbage teams. The legacy of our belts are tarnished. It’s a joke. Tonight, we will erase all of that. And we will become three-time, World tag team champions, of the world. 

WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH

GUNNER AND JAMES STORM © vs. BAD INFLUENCE

Gunner and Storm got the early jump in the match. They had the size and strength advantage and used it to their favor, forcing Daniels and Kazarian to take a time out and console themselves on the floor. 

Storm initially showed no ill-effects of his knee injury, but that changed when Daniels dropkicked it out. For a while, that put Bad Influence in control, until Storm finally countered catching Kazarian with a Last Call kick. 

But the damage was done by that point. He was too weak to make the cover, but he was able to crawl to his corner to tag in Gunner. 

Gunner took the hot tag and began cleaning house. It looked like his surge would be enough to carry his team to the win, but with Storm nursing his leg, Daniels and Kazarian were able to doubleteam Gunner and take back control. Storm was recovering and blind tagged himself back in and helped Gunner take out Daniels and Kazarian. 

It was a 2-on-2 fight until Kazarian backdropped Gunner over the top rope, then clipped the back of Storm’s knee out, leading him right into an Angel’s Wings from Daniels. A 3 count later and we have new world tag champions. 

Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) defeated Gunner and James Storm when Daniels pinned Storm after the Angels’ Wings in 14:51.

Rating: *** 3/4

(Bad Influence won the IMPACT WRESTLING WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES)

Daniels and Kazarian celebrated their way to the back with their newly won tag titles. Meanwhile, Gunner got back into the ring to console Storm who was still nursing his bad knee. 

Gunner helped him back to his feet only to kick the knee out from under Storm again. He picked him up yet again only to hit him with a powerbomb before leaving the ring as Impact faded out. 

IMPACT WRESTLING

Dec. 12, 2013

The Impact Zone (Orlando, Florida)

The show opens with Samoa Joe pulling up to the arena. As soon as he gets out of his car, Magnus rushes up to him and starts attacking Joe. This sets off a furious brawl in the parking lot that spilled backstage. Before too long, Bobby Roode is on the scene to try and help Magnus, but Kurt Angle was right behind him attacking Roode, which only added to the brawl. 

Eventually a host of officials and other wrestlers were able to come in and separate the four with Dixie Carter jumping in the middle. 

DIXIE: Enough!! You guys all want to go at each other, do it in the ring tonight. Tag team match, Joe and Kurt vs. Magnus and Roode. Now enough of this until then!

Wrestlers slowly start to leave backstage as we go to ringside for the night’s first match. 

X DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP

AUSTIN ARIES © vs. CHRIS SABIN

Sabin came to the ring wearing the Knockouts title belt that belongs to his girlfriend Velvet Sky. Sabin gave a quick speech before the match about being excited about the prospect of being a double champion. 

Aries came to the ring not amused and more excited about trying to shut Sabin up.

Once both settled in, they were in the middle of producing a pretty great match, trading offensive moves with the momentum consistently switching back and forth. 

But Aries took control and hit a brainbuster, which looked to be the beginning of the end. However, it was then that Kenny King rushed the ring to attack Aries and get Sabin disqualified. 

Austin Aries defeated Chris Sabin by disqualification in 10:33

Rating: ***

King kept on the attack, not giving a care that a disqualification was called and the bell was ringing. Sabin, however, did care. He pulled King off of Aries to have words with him for costing him the match. But King was in such a rage, he blew off Sabin and went back after Aries. This time, Sabin responded by tacking King.

The two of them began to brawl, giving Aries a minute to recover. He then jumped in their brawl and all three continued a melee until several officials had to run down and separate the three. 

BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW WITH GUNNER

Gunner is supposed to have a match next against Eric Young, but a moment first to talk to the backstage interviewer who asks him again about James Storm.

GUNNER: First of all, the fact that Storm hasn’t been around here the last few weeks just shows that I’ve been right all along. He lost focus on our team, did someone stupid and got way too hurt to be a good partner. He’s still at home trying to recover, so how’d he ever think he’d be able to help me defend our tag titles? But I’m done with him. I’m ready to carve my own path. Eric Young will just be the first of many. The sky’s the limit for me and I won’t stop until I’m wearing my own gold. 

GUNNER VS. ERIC YOUNG

Eric Young went for a fast start, but Gunner soon put an end of it, catching Young with a slam as he went for a flying move. 

During the match, none other than Dixie Carter came down and joined Mike Tenay and Taz on commentary. Tenay asked what she was doing out there.

DIXIE: Well Mike, it’s my company so I can do whatever I want and don’t appreciate having my actions judged by a talking head. 

Carter gave praise to Gunner and said she definitely as room for someone like him going forward in her new Impact Wrestling. But most importantly, Dixie had an announcement. At Final Resolution next week, Impact is bringing back the Feast or Fired match. Four locked briefcases will be at the ring corners, one has a contract for a World Title Shot, one a contract for an X Division title shot, one a contract for a world tag title shot and another has a pink slip and the person that grabs that case will be fired. She added both Gunner and Young will be among those in the match next week. 

As for the match, Gunner controlled the vast majority of it, putting Young away rather easily. 

Gunner pinned Eric Young after the Gun Rack in 8:02

Rating: **

GAIL KIM VS. BROOKE

Kim came to the ring with Lei’D Tapa at her side as she tried to climb back into contention for a rematch with Velvet Sky for the Knockouts title. 

Kim and Tapa had a small miscommunication at one point, where Kim whipped Brooke into the ropes where Tapa was waiting to trip her up, only to have Brooke reverse it and Tapa caught Kim.

That gave Brooke a momentary advantage but Kim soon rallied back and got the win. 

Gail Kim pinned Brooke after Eat Defeat in 7:11

Rating: ** 1/2

After, Kim called out Sky saying she’s ready for her rematch, any time, any place. 

BACKSTAGE

ODB knocks on a door and one of the Blossom Twins opens up. She says ODB has a lot of nerve coming here, but ODB asks if she can come in, she wants to talk business. They let her in and the door closes. 

ETHAN CARTER III VS. RANDOM FAN OUT OF THE AUDIENCE

Just like he did last week, EC3 challenged any fan out of the audience to come into the ring and try to last 5 minutes against him. 

He ended up picking a muscular man who said his name was Ted. Much like he did last week also, EC3 attacked Ted before the official start of the match. 

He never let up the offensive before eventually putting Ted away with the 1-percenter.

Ethan Carter III pinned Ted after the 1-percenter in 3:09

Rating: DUD

BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW WITH BULLY RAY

Bully Ray is asked after a string of recent losses, what’s next for him. 

BULLY RAY: What’s next? How about next you stop asking stupid questions. What’s next for me is I’m going to do what I’ve done every time I’ve been knocked down for the last 20 years: bounce back. I have proven time and time again, you can never keep me down for too long. I will come back better than ever. 

IN-RING INTERVIEW WITH TAELER HENDRIX AND HEIDI LOVELACE

Both Hendrix and Lovelace are in the ring together calling out ODB. 

HENDRIX: ODB, I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing but I’m sick of it. Are you too worried we’re going to take your spot, make you irrelevant? There’s nothing worse than an old bitter woman trying to cling to days gone by. 

LOVELACE: I don’t care who you are or what you’ve done here. Your time is up. It’s time to make way. 

Responding was not ODB, but rather the Blossom Twins rushing the ring attacking Hendrix and Lovelace. The four engaged in a heated brawl in and around the ring that lasted around five minutes before ODB finally came to the ramp with a mic. 

ODB: Now that’s what I like to see. 

All four in the ring paused and turned attention to ODB. 

ODB: This is much better. I’ll be honest, a few weeks ago when I saw you four all wrestling each other, the match made me sick. You’ve probably noticed I’ve been ou****ching matches for each of you the last couple months. Here’s the deal, myself, Gail Kim, Velvet Sky, we’ve been here for five years or so leading this division. Sooner or later someone new has to take over. Are you four it? Cause from what I’ve seen of you, I’d have to say no. 

This comment drew some disgust especially from Hendrix and Lovelace. 

ODB: You are all pretty girls. But pretty is only going to take you so far. You gotta be able to fight. You gotta be tough. And you’re about as tough as a muppet. All I’ve wanted was to see something out of you. I wanted to see if you got any fight in you. Now, finally, it looks like that might be there. But I’m going to make you an offer. I can help you find something inside of yourselves you probably didn’t even know was there. Make no mistake, I will push you. But if you make it out, you’ll be the type of Knockouts you need to be to take this division over. So who’s in. 

The Blossom Twins exit the ring and went and stood next to ODB, waiting to see what the other two would do. After a minute of hesitation, Lovelace climbed out of the ring, walked over to ODB and the Blossoms and stood next to them. Finally, Hendrix did the same. 

ODB: Ladies, welcome to ODB’s Fight Club. 

BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW WITH BAD INFLUENCE

Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian are wearing their newly won title belts. 

DANIELS: Be honest, we look good in these don’t we?

KAZARIAN: Been way too long. 

DANIELS: Way too long. But we are once again World Tag Team Champions of the World, the way it should be. 

KAZARIAN: It should be us, not some random two guys who get paired by some Lethal Lottery thing. 

DANIELS: Nor some Flavor of the Month tag team that won’t be around for the long run … And speaking of Flavor of the Month. 

C&C Wrestling Factory walks into the scene. 

CAPRICE COLEMAN: Nah, we’re no Flavor of the Month, more like the next big thing. 

CEDRIC ALEXANDER: You want to face a real tag team, here we are. Put up or shut up now. 

KAZARIAN: Yawn. Look guys, you’re new so I’ll let you in on a secret on how things work. Do something before challenging the champions. Beat somebody, anybody. 

DANIELS: Prove yourself before thinking you can be World Tag Team Champions of the World. 

Bad Influence then simply walks away. 

SAMOA JOE & KURT ANGLE VS. MAGNUS AND BOBBY ROODE

The main event was a chaotic as you’d expect. Once all four men made their entrances, the brawl that began in the parking lot at the top of the show was continued in the ringside area. 

It took a few minutes before things finally got situated and an actual match began. Joe and Angle worked well together which gave them an early edge in the match. Magnus turned the tide out on the floor sending Joe shoulder first into the ring post. 

Magnus and Roode worked over Joe’s arm, keeping him away from tagging in Angle. However, Joe was finally able to break through and make the tag. Angle came in and he cleaned house. 

But late, after things broke down again and all four men were fighting in and out of the ring, any semblance of who was the legal man was lost. Angle had Magnus in an Ankle Lock, but Roode was in fact the legal man. He came up from behind, rolled up Angle, grabbing the tights and got the pin. 

Bobby Roode and Magnus defeated Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe when Roode pinned Angle after a roll up in 16:49

Rating: ****

But the fight didn’t stop because the match was over. Angle and Roode kept brawling while Magnus grabbed his baseball bat from under the ring and tried to go at Joe. However, he didn’t see Joe grabbing a chair.

The two went after each with their weapons, neither one thought able to connect. All of a sudden, Dixie Carter’s music played and the boss made yet another appearance. 

DIXIE: Not this way you two. We are looking to find a true world champion to represent myself and Impact Wrestling, not two crazed weapon-swinging maniacs. But if you want to destroy each other, I’m actually going to let you. Because I am making your world title match next week, a ladder match!! Climb the ladder, beat each other with the ladder, I don’t care. I’m just ready to crown the survivor my new world champion!

Joe and Magnus keep staring each other down as the show fades to black. 

Final Resolution Card

World Heavyweight Title Tournament Finals

Ladder Match

Samoa Joe vs. Magnus

30-minute Ironman match

Bobby Roode vs. Kurt Angle

X Division Title Match

Austin Aries ©  vs. Kenny King vs. Chris Sabin

Monster’s Ball

Abyss vs. Hernandez

Knockouts Title Match

Velvet Sky © vs. Gail Kim

Feast or Fired match

Bully Ray, Caprice Coleman, Cedric Alexander, Chavo Guerrero, EC3, Eric Young, Gunner, James Storm, Jeff Hardy, Jessie Godderz, Manik, Mr. Anderson, Robbie E, Sting, Zema Ion