Impact Wrestling Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from August 4

This was a solid opener between two of the greatest Knockouts in Impact Wrestling history. Purrazzo is at the top of her game and continues to establish herself as one of the greatest in her field today. Rosemary, conversely, is a grizzled veteran who has seen and done it all with the company.

They understood the assignment, provided energy and quality in-ring work and the result was a solid star to the show.

It will be interesting to see exactly where this story with Jessicka is going and how long it will take before Rosemary and Valkyrie see her as a liability.

Result

Purrazzo defeated Rosemary

Grade

C+

Top Moments

Credit: Impact Wrestling

The result of a backstage confrontation, Digital Media champion Brian Myers battled Decay’s Black Taurus in The Most Professional Wrestler’s first defense of the title since winning it.

Myers overcame an early onslaught by Taurus to seize control after ramming him into the ring steps. Taurus mounted a comeback and even delivered the 619 but Myers cut him down with a superkick for a near-fall.

Late, Taurus sought his finisher but Myers poked him in the eye and scored the win with a cheap schoolboy rollup.

After the match, Bhupinder Gujjar sent the champion back into the ring, where Decay stunned him and Guijjar delivered his middle rope spear to send a message loudly and clearly to Myers.

This was a perfectly acceptable wrestling match between two veteran competitors. Myers stuck to the basics, but that is far from a bad thing. He is a traditional, technically sound wrestler who worked overtime to slow down the deceptively athletic Taurus. When that failed, he resorted to cheating to pick up the win.

Taurus is great, as those who watched Ric Flair’s Last Match Sunday night. He showed up and showed out in a Fatal 4-Way match, overshadowing opponents that included Rey Fenix, Bandido and Laredo Kid, and given the names there, that is an emphatic statement

Considering the overwhelming talent, it is a bit surprising that Impact has not found more for Taurus to do.

Result

Myers defeated Taurus

Grade

C+

Top Moments

Credit: Impact Wrestling

A match weeks in the making saw the undefeated Masha Slamovich square off with Gisele Shaw, who was the recipient of the unstoppable competitor’s latest “death warrant.”

To the shock of the Impact faithful, Shaw stunned Slamovich and took her off her feet with a knee to the face that earned the Quintessential Diva a two count. When Slamovich took over and delivered a big German suplex, Shaw kicked out at two.

No one had ever kicked out of anything Slamovich threw at them to that point in Impact.

It would be Shaw’s last gasp effort at making this one competitive as Slamovich put her away with the Snowplow moments later.

This was a great bit of storytelling that did as much to put Shaw over as further enhance Slamovich.

For someone who goes by the nickname “The Quintessential Diva,” she sure as hell provided Slamovich her toughest test to date. She rocked her and nearly upset her, then weathered the offense of her opponent but ultimately, met the same fate as every other Knockout to this point.

Shaw emerges looking far tougher and more credible than she had to this point while Slamovich proved she could overcome a quality opponent who could test her.

This was weeks in the making and it lived up to the hype.

Result

Slamovich defeated Shaw

Grade

A

Top Moments

Credit: Impact Wrestling

Alex Shelley will challenge Josh Alexander for the Impact World Championship at Emergence but before he could make it to the August 12 event, he teamed with Motor City Machine Guns teammate Chris Sabin to battle Violent By Design’s Joe Doering and Deaner.

A competitive, back and forth match saw Deaner striving to prove himself to Eric Young but, ultimately, failing to do so as Shelley continued to build momentum with a quality win entering Emergence.

Not willing to let the loss go unanswered, Violent By Design attacked the competitors, only to be interrupted by Kushida. An interfering Young attacked The Time Splitter, leaving him and the victors lying and standing tall alongside his minions to close out the segment.

The Machine Guns are doing some of their best work more than a decade after they reigned over Impact Wrestling as its top tag team. Shelley and Sabin are so smart, and have such extraordinary chemistry and timing that everything looks so effortless, even as it certainly is not.

They worked very well with VBD here and the result was the best match of the show to this point.

Young having to come in and save the day for Deaner and Doering was a nice touch creatively and begs the question: can the former tag team champions actually do anything to win Young over?

Result

The Motor City Machine Guns defeated Violent By Design

Grade

B+

Top Moments

Credit: Impact Wrestling

Sami Callihan may have his sights set on Moose and Steve Maclin but Wednesday night, he squared off with Raj Singh.

It was not a particularly competitive match.

The Death Machine bowled over Singh, pinning him following a piledriver.

After the match, he called out Maclin and Moose and got them, for better or worse.

Maclin distracted Callihan by pretending to be Moose, then joined the sneak attacking former world champion in a two-on-one beatdown of the rebellious babyface, leaving him lying and further creating questions about their apparent alliance.

This was more about establishing that relationship between Maclin and Moose than anything and in that regard, it was successful. Callihan earned a quick win, only to suffer at the hands of the heels, one of whom he will battle at Emergence (Maclin).

The intrigue surrounding that alliance has done a solid job of carrying this latest chapter of the feud between Callihan and Moose but one has to wonder if the seemingly obvious partnership is actually setting up some sort of swerve at some point down the line.

Result

Callihan defeated Singh

Grade

C+

Top Moments

Credit: Impact Wrestling

The battle between Bullet Club and Honor No More continued in Wednesday’s main event as PCO squared off with one-half of the Impact World Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers, Doc Gallows, in a Derby City Street Fight.

The hard-hitting heavyweight battle saw the French-Canadian Frankenstein endure the pain and punishment fans have come to expect from him. He may have managed to whack Gallows with a chair here or put him through a table there, but he always found himself back on the receiving end of suffering.

PCO tore the ring apart, peeling back protective padding to expose the wood underneath. He paid for it as Gallows delivered the Gas Mask to him, onto said wood. It would not be the last time the madman of Honor No More endured that unprotected squared circle.

Moments later, he suffered a chokeslam through the ring, but fought out of the hole, downed the Bullet Club big man and delivered a fist drop with a glove full of thumbtacks for the win.

This was the definition of “meh.”

The effort from both men was certainly there but the match was really just a series of setups and big bumps with no real structure in between. Throw in some thumbtacks that went into the glove of PCO and ensured he would feel the jagged edge of the items rather than his opponent and you have a chaotic brawl that was little more than throwing fists and taking bumps.

At least PCO scored a big win and should manage to keep Edwards off his back for a few weeks after enduring scrutiny from his fellow Honor No More members.

Result

PCO defeated Gallows

Grade

C-

Top Moments